Teen Titans: I Need Her

Chapter Three: It really is only a mere question of morals

The young woman opened her eyes and felt extremely disoriented; her head felt groggy and her body was in considerable pain. She managed to sit up and surveyed her new surroundings as she tried to recount what had happened to bring her here. She was lying in an old, dank dungeon with shackles on the wall and no windows. The wooden door in front of her had a tiny window slot; but that was shut at the moment so she couldn't see outside of her cell. Her arms weren't shackled, thankfully, but both of her feet were chained to some very short links on the ground. It was very cold in here and so she pulled her cape closer to keep her warm. My cape? she thought, looking down at what she was wearing. Where in the world did I get a cape? Maybe it was whoever brought me here. And who was it that attacked me? And why did they kidnap me of all people? I really wish I could get some answers here.

The girl struggled with her thoughts to try and remember why she was here and who brought her here and, even, who she was. She looked down at her pale white petite frame and fingered her long, fiery red hair that cascaded down almost to her butt. She noticed a small bowl of water in the corner of the cell, so she crawled over to it, hating the sound of clanking chains as she moved across the floor. She looked into the water bowl and examined her small, bright orange-ish eyes that seemed to be in a perpetual state of glaring. Her skin was so white that, accompanied by her hair, she felt almost like a giant candy cane or something weird like that. Everything she saw didn't seem to fit for some reason, but she accounted for that with the disorientation; claiming that was throwing off her rational thinking. As she took a sip of the water to soothe her dry throat, she heard footsteps outside in the hallway and waited patiently for someone to come and open the door.

She scurried back to a corner and watched as a tall man in a silver and black suit of armor walked into her cell and stared at her. She couldn't see his face very well because it was covered with a black and orange mask, allowing only his eyes to show through. Even though she couldn't see his mouth, she could tell he was smirking at her. "Well hello there child," he spoke gratingly, with an underlying sickeningly sweet acidic tone. "It's good to see you up and about. I was beginning to wonder if you ever were going to awaken. Are you hungry? I can have some food brought to you if you would like?" The woman didn't know how to approach him, so she just asked questions that she needed to know the answers to. "Who are you?" she asked, her voice shaking slightly. "And why did you bring me here? Where am I? And why am I chained up? And who am I? I don't remember anything." She half expected the man to just leave and ignore her and so she was surprised that he took a seat on the bench against the wall opposite her and began to tell her everything she wanted to know.

"My name," he began like he was telling a small child a bedtime story. "Is Slade, my dear. I brought you here after I found you passed out in the alleyway behind my lair. You are in the dungeons of my warehouse at the moment, but I was waiting until you woke up to move you elsewhere. I chained you up because, frankly my sweet, I did not know whether or not you would do me or my comrades any harm once awake. So, you must forgive me for that; I know now you are not out to destroy me or my plans." He paused for a second before brandishing a key and slowly walking over and unlocking her leg chains. The woman pulled her legs into herself and sat there, no longer afraid of the man, but not really approving of him either. He sat back down and continued his story. "You name, I believe you mentioned on the first night you came here, is Raina. You possess great magical powers that allow you to harness energy for your own will and you also have the ability to teleport and read minds."

Raina sat there, taking everything in and letting his info seep into her memory banks. "How long have I been here?" she asked once more, the fear no longer evident in her voice. "One week," he said simply. "Has anyone come looking for me? Like family or friends?" she asked, hoping that maybe she had someone who cared for her. "I am sorry Raina," he said. "But I have been checking the news and I have not heard or seen anything or anyone who is out looking for you. But I do have a suggestion, if you are willing to hear it." Raina slowly nodded and waited for him to continue. "Well, you see," he said, standing up and pacing the room. "I have recently lost a member of my team and I am in the market for a new member. You have incredible powers that I have witnessed and you would make an excellent addition to my team. If you are willing, I would like to suggest a trade; you work for me and while you carry out my plans, I will do all that I can to try and look for where you belong in this great big world."

Raina wasn't sure if she should agree, because something didn't seem right about it. "What kind of work do you need me for? What would I be doing in exchange for your help?" she asked. "Well," he smirked. "You must be very open to all realms of possibility." Raina let his words sink in for a few minutes before she realized what he was asking. "You're a villain, aren't you?" she demanded. "And you want me to help you steal and break into places, don't you?" Slade laughed heartily and Raina's insides went cold with the metallic sound it carried. "Well, my dear, you got my life half correct," he finally managed out. "Yes, I admit, I am a villain, but I don't want you on my team to steal. I am rather more interested in your protection abilities. I want you to help my team fight off those blasted do-gooder superheroes, the Titans. It really is only a mere question of morals, Raina, and I would think you would do almost anything to find out where you belong, is that not correct?" Raina pondered his ideas and wondered if she truly would be able to fight on the side of evil. I certainly have the look for it, she thought. And my powers do seem kind of dark too. I guess it wouldn't be too bad if it would help me find my family or friends or whoever. I think I could work for the bad guys once in my life; well who knows if it is once, maybe I naturally am a bad guy myself.

Raina's thoughts only convinced her more that she needed to find out who she was and so she finally made her decision. "All right Slade," she said, standing up and extending her hand out to him. "I'll take your deal. I'll help you fight, if you'll help me find out where I belong." Slade gave her a firm handshake and then placed his hand on the small of her back and led her out of the dungeon. "Thank you Raina," he said, a smirk hidden underneath his mask. "I will make good on my end of the deal and I hope you keep your side of the bargain as well. Now let's show you to some better living accommodations and get you a new wardrobe. I'm sure a nice bath would do you good as well." Raina thanked him as he took her to a small, but cozy room a few floors up and showed her where everything was. She had a new uniform laying on the bed for her and a warm bath was drawn and waiting for her. Slade left her to clean up and headed to his master control room.

"Gizmo, Jinx, Mammoth!" he shouted, making his three comrades jump. "We officially have a new member to the team. Raina will be used specifically for fighting, no stealing or anything. Got that?" The three nodded mischievously and Jinx even cackled a bit. "Gizmo," Slade spoke up once more. "I need you to create another vial of our Chemical S; one that will start to give Raina some new memories, so she will think our lies are real and will continue to stay on our side." "Yes sir," Gizmo said, getting up to head to his lab. "Right away sir." "Jinx," Slade ordered, glaring at the pink-haired sorceress. "I want you to befriend our new teammate. Show her around once she gets settled in and teach her how to be immoral and seductive; I want her to be the vixen temptress of this new operation. I think she will tickle our dear Robin's fantasies and I want to make her as desirable as possible. Any curse you can come up with to make her as appealing as possible will help. I'm sure she might not need it, but just as a safety precaution." Jinx nodded and went to Raina's room. Slade just turned to watch his video cameras placed around the tower. "Let's see how this new member will affect the Titans. I hope you are ready Robin, because Slade is back, and anything is fair game."

Meanwhile, Back at the Tower

The atmosphere back at the tower seemed almost still; no one talked or laughed much in the past week and even BB and Cy had stopped fighting for a bit. The only one who seemed unfazed was the titans' fearless leader. Richard stalked through the hallways during the day and ordered harshly during missions. Everyone was afraid to approach him; they thought he was angry at what had happened, but none of them could have guessed the real reason for his outbursts. Richard was extremely depressed. He felt like he had failed miserably, not only as a leader, but as a man as well. The next morning after Terra and Richard had fought he had gotten up quite early, hoping to catch Raven off-guard so he could tell her his true feelings. He knocked on her bedroom door, but still he received no answer. He knew that she liked to sometimes watch the sunrise on the roof, so he went up there next. To his dismay, she wasn't there either; in fact, he couldn't find her anywhere and that was just starting to worry him more than anything does.

He figured maybe Raven was still cooling off and he didn't dare ask Terra if she had told her anything. Terra would simply glare or growl at him any time he would even come close to her. Apparently, she hadn't forgotten what he had said about Raven the previous day. But he put aside Terra's brush-offs and figured he could live with them; once he talked to Raven, he was sure everything would be fine and back to normal. Unfortunately, though, nothing was back to normal that day or the day after. By the third day, even Beast Boy was beginning to worry. Finally, as much as everyone knew how Raven hated people in her room, by the fourth day they all decided to take Starfire's suggestion and go in there to check on her. That day was a day to be remembered by everyone. When the titans walked into her room, something seemed amiss. But Raven was not there. In fact, the only thing they could see in the room that was out of place was a little piece of paper atop a pile of clothes. The paper was, in fact, a note from Raven saying that she felt like she was no longer needed on the team and she was leaving and that no one come and look for her. The note was lying on top of her titan's uniform.

None of the titans would accept that their friend would just leave them in the lurch like that and only Richard and Terra knew there could be some underlying reason for her sudden departure. It was this knowledge that made Richard become extremely harsh to everyone, leaving his friends to believe that he was angry that he had lost a team member like that and not because he had anything personal to do with it. Terra seemed to soften her attitude towards him a bit after they found Raven's note because she knew he felt responsible for their friend leaving. What she couldn't figure out, though, was why Raven quit? She seemed perfectly fine with everything and even if they hadn't had that talk, she was still sure she wouldn't have left like that. Two weeks after Raven and Richard's fateful night, Terra began to try and piece the puzzle together and decided that something was not right. She was beginning to think something else had a part in Raven's disappearance and her fears were only confirmed when the titans received a call late that night.

Cyborg and Beast Boy were in the living room playing a video game, Terra and Starfire were chatting in the kitchen, and Richard and Speedy, or Roy who he had revealed himself to be earlier, were comparing weapon similarities in his room. "Dick, Roy," Cy's voice came over the intercom. "Come to the living room. Quick. There's something here you might wanna see." Richard and Roy looked up from their discussion and bolted out of the room due to the urgency and anger in their robotic friend's voice. "Cyborg," Richard said, walking into the room. "What is it? What's wrong?" "There's someone here who wants to talk to you," Cyborg spit out, menacingly. Richard looked up at the screen that was now illuminated with three of his less-than-favorite villains. "Hey there, Robby-poo," Jinx growled at him, winking. "Miss us?" "Barely," he growled right back, anger burning inside that she still used that stupid nickname the dreadful Kitten had given him all those years ago. At least they still don't know my true identity, he thought. Thank god I grabbed my mask before I left my room.

Jinx sneered at him, but she didn't seem to be taken aback at his response. In fact, her smile seemed to grow even bigger and he could have sworn that Gizmo and Mammoth were chuckling behind her. "Too bad," she smirked. "Because we know someone here who has missed you and your little teammates for way too long." Richard didn't have time to think about what she was saying, as the view spanned to the right and another group of people was illuminated. They could only see two shadows behind the spotlight in the completely blackened room, but they all gasped loudly as the taller figure stepped out into the light for all to see. "Hello titans," the figured murmured. "How nice to see you once again." "Slade," Richard spat out, grinding his teeth together, hatred coursing through his veins. "Yes Robin," Slade spoke up. "It is I; you thought you had defeated me all those years ago, but I was merely in hiding, planning my next big event."

"Oh yeah," Richard said, angry at the fact that his greatest enemy was still out there, angry at the fact that he had been lulled into a false sense of security. "And just what big event have you planned for us this time? Are you going to try and get both Terra and I back as your apprentices?" "Oh no," Slade said, almost sounding like he was cooing. "I would be a fool to repeat the same mistake again. Actually, this time, I'm in the market for a new apprentice."

Richard was almost stunned by the fact that Slade was not trying some lowdown, dirty scheme to try and get Terra or himself back on his side, but he wasn't about to let that show to Slade. "Oh really?" Richard questioned harshly. "A new apprentice? Where in the world are you planning to find one of those? Hiding under a rock, maybe?" "Actually Robin," Slade said, folding his hands and glaring at him innocently. "I have already found one. And I found them in my own backyard." The titans all snapped their heads up to see if Slade was really telling the truth. He noticed, and so he dimly lit up the back corner of his room and the titans got a quick look at his new lackey. It was only a brief shot and all they saw was the slender, dangerously curvy figure of a young woman with long, red, fiery hair, who almost seemed to glow with the pale light that was on her. In an instant she was gone again and the titans were perplexed at what had just happened.

Richard suddenly felt a strange feeling, almost like that of lust or attraction as he caught a quick glance of Slade's new apprentice. What the hell? He thought, shaking his head as if he could physically throw his thoughts out. I can't be attracted to this girl! I don't even know who she is. I only saw her silhouette, but still... I can't be attracted to the enemy. Can I? He cleared his thoughts and glared daggers at Slade. "Well, congratulations Slade," he said acidly. "Another mindless drone, I presume? Tell me, what kind of brainwashing did you have to do this time to get your new apprentice? Or have you just skipped the entire talking to, and just implanted a chip in her neck that will kill her if she disobeys you?" Slade scoffed at the young, tortured hero and smirked at him. "Oh no Robin. With this one, I didn't have to use any points of persuasion. The situation just seemed to work itself out." Richard stared his enemy down and he could feel his temple throbbing from all the anger he was feeling.

"Well, little Robin," Slade began once more. "I just wanted to drop a line and let you know I was back in town. I think I'll be going now. I can't wait to see you again." With that the screen went black as the transmission ended and the bittersweet reunion was over. "ARGH!" Richard yelled as he slammed his fist against the table, shaking it and breaking a cup that was residing on the other side. None of the other titans dared to approach him, for they were afraid of what he might say or do in his state of absolute fury. He wheeled around and stalked out of the living room, headed for his bedroom, his mind racing with unanswered thoughts. Damn it! He screamed to himself. What the hell is going on here? He started pacing back and forth across his carpet, trying desperately not to hit anything. First Star breaks up with me, and then I slip into a major alcoholic depression. Next thing I know, I slept with Raven, and then she ups and quits out of the blue with no word to anyone! Now Slade is back and he isn't going after Terra or me. Something is seriously messed up here and I really need to figure it out. Richard spent the whole night wracking his brain on everything that had happened lately and by three in the morning, he was no closer to the answer than he was two weeks ago. Finally, he relented himself to a dreamless state as he could no longer think straight and visions of a dark, mysterious, woman with long red hair flittered in and out of his thoughts before he drifted off into a deep, dark sleep.

A/N: Likey? Likey? Hope so. I know it's going kinda slow, but it will pick up soon, I promise. I leave for school next week, so it might be a little hectic for awhile. I am always looking for reviews and suggestions on everything. I sort of know where I am taking this one, but I am always open to new ideas. Have fun!