Teen Titans: I Need Her
Chapter Five: Maybe being a villain is my calling
Richard spent the next four days endlessly researching Slade, trying to figure out his new apprentice, Raina. He didn't know which was more frustrating: the fact that he couldn't find out anything about her or the now stubborn fact that he was inexplicably drawn to this mysterious enemy. Richard sighed, putting down the papers in his hands and rubbing his temples. With great strength, he managed to get up and go into the kitchen to get some food. Terra was the only one there when he walked in and so he made himself a sandwich and sat opposite the forceful blonde with whom he shared the same thoughts about Raven's disappearance.
"Hey," Terra managed to say in between bites of her pizza. "Nice to finally see you again. What's it been, two, three years?"
Richard half-smirked at her. "Ha ha, very funny Terra. You know I've been working on the Slade case, trying to figure out who this Raina is."
"Yeah, I know," she said. "I kinda figured with Slade being back, you would go all obsessive again. But I'm not complaining." She added quickly, seeing his look of contempt. "That Raina is definitely something different, I tell ya. Slade really isn't joking around with her; I think he really is trying to take us down for good. No half assed ploys to get you or me back this time around. I just can't help but think he's holding something over her head, ya know?"
Richard glanced up from his food, confused. "No," he said slowly. "I don't know. What are you talking about?"
"Well," she sighed, finally giving up on the now cold pizza in front of her. "I just have this weird feeling about everything. You know, when we were in that warehouse fighting the H.I.V.E. and Raina came in, at first I wasn't afraid of her, and I'm still not. There was just something unsettling about her; like maybe she wasn't always evil like that, maybe she's just like us in the sense that Slade is holding something over her head. That was when I told her we'd help her, that whatever Slade was holding over her, we could take care of it and she wouldn't have to worry about it anymore."
She paused. "Then she told me that Slade wasn't holding anything over her, that he was helping her. I didn't have a clue what she was getting at then and I still don't know now. But just knowing Slade and how he works..."
"He's up to something," Richard interrupted, his anger rising at the thought of Slade's devious tricks. "And something tells me that Raina doesn't think anything of it. Maybe you are right Terra, maybe Raina really isn't all that bad and Slade is really just messing with her like he did with us."
Terra shifted in her seat, not really wanting to see what Richard's reaction would be to her next words. "Yeah, Dick," she said quietly. "I know it all seems plausible, and I can't help but think it's the truth too. But I think we all need to be prepared just in case that isn't really what Slade is doing and Raina really is evil."
Richard just nodded and finished off his sandwich.
He really didn't want to think he was falling for someone who could willingly be part of Slade's group. Even worse, he didn't want his friends to think bad of him for falling for someone with such a shady repertoire. Deep down inside, Richard had to believe there was good in Raina, that his body was responding to what lay underneath the villainess's cold, uncaring demeanor. He just had to believe it; this was along the lines of everything he had felt for Raven when she first joined the Titans, and he had given her a chance, so why not this girl as well? Richard got up from the table, washed his dish and went to head up to the roof to think about everything.
"Dick?" Terra called before her could leave.
"Yeah?" he said, not turning around.
"Promise me you won't go and do anything stupid? I, we all know how bad you get when Slade is involved, so can you please just promise me you'll be safe and careful this time around? We already lost Raven....I don't think we could stand to lose you too."
Richard's shoulders slumped as he turned around and the corners of his eyes grew wet at the mention of his lost love. "I promise," he whispered after a second, before turning back around and heading up to the roof. "I promise."
Raina woke up that morning, still pleased in the fact that she had accomplished her first mission and that Slade had finally turned up the heat on his worthless minions. He had been pushing Gizmo and Mammoth all week after the warehouse incident, giving Raina and Jinx some time off to train individually and get to know each other better. Raina already felt a bond with Jinx from the very beginning and she liked the pink-haired rebel more than anyone else, including her new host. Jinx had seemed hesitant at first about sharing her life with the new girl, but she soon opened up quite freely after Raina had made a comment to Slade about feeling uneasy around the former H.A.E.Y.P. students.
"Jinx?" Raina asked suddenly, coming out of her trance-like state and turning to her teammate on the opposite side of the gym. "Can I ask you something that's been bugging me for a few days?" J
inx landed her roundhouse perfectly and came over to sit down on the floor next to her. "Sure, Rainy," she spurred, using the childlike nickname she had coined. "What's troubling your devious little mind there?"
Raina sighed heavily at the nickname she wouldn't let anyone else use and rolled her eyes.
"Well, when I was helping out at the warehouse earlier in the week, I noticed something about the Titans that has been bugging me ever since. I tried asking Slade about it, but he seems obsessed with making those little snotrags better; something which I think is a lost cause."
Jinx giggled slightly, nodded her head in agreement, and let her new friend continue.
"Anyway, moving on... as I am sure you know, Slade had me studying the Titans' profiles left and right; I had read and reread everything in those folders so many times that I probably knew more about them than they did about themselves. Well, when I was on the mission and fighting them, I noticed something odd and I felt like something was out of place, or rather missing from its place."
Jinx leaned back on her elbows and narrowed her eyes at Raina. "What do you mean?" she asked. "What in the world could have been missing from its place?"
"A Titan," Raina answered simply, gauging her companion's reaction. "The third girl to be exact. Raven, the half-demon from Azareth."
"I know who she is," Jinx snapped, eyes growing wide. "But what would it matter if she wasn't there? It just made things easier, didn't it?"
"Well, yeah," Raina growled, angry at her friend's lack of concern. "Of course it was easier. But Slade had me prepared to fight her, regardless of anything else and she wasn't there. But what really got me, was the fact that none of the Titans seemed to be worried about her. I should know; I read their minds before I went in to fight. So, what I want to know is, if Slade doesn't really know what happened, or if someone isn't letting on that they know what is going on. Do you know anything about why she wouldn't have been there?"
Jinx fidgeted for a second before she abruptly stood up, brushed off her skirt, and looked down at Raina. "Listen, Rainy," she hissed. "I really shouldn't be talking to you about this, I don't know exactly how Slade would feel if I was the one to tell you. If you really are that desperate to know, then I suggest finding our 'wonderful' boss and asking him yourself. Good luck."
With that, she spun on her heel and rushed out down the hall to her room. Truth be told, Jinx wasn't intentionally being curt with her redheaded coworker, she was, in fact, more worried than anything as she plopped down on her bed and pulled out her communicator.
"Slade," she said, not pausing to wait for an answer. "We have a problem."
It took a few minutes before the device crackled back at her and Slade responded. "What kind of problem?"
"It's Raina," she answered. "She was asking about Raven today. Wanted to know why she wasn't at the warehouse."
"Well," he demanded harshly. "What did you say? What did you tell her?" Jinx sighed as she heard the unmistakable panic in his voice.
"Nothing. I told her to go find you if she really wanted to know. Normally I wouldn't have bothered you, but I wasn't sure if we had thought this part through. What exactly are we going to tell her about Raven?"
"Simple," he cooed, using the tone that still sent shivers down her spine after all these years. "Meet me in the lab. And bring Raina too. It's time to tell her of the horrible fate of the indestructible sorceress."
Jinx didn't bother responding to him, she just stood up and went to go retrieve Raina from the gym. When she found her she simply told her she was taking her to see Slade so he could explain to her what had happened and why he had not told her before. She felt a slight pang of guilt lying to her new friend, but she quickly pushed away, writing it off as a side-effect of not having anything to eat yet today.
Raina sat there quietly in Slade's lab as she waited to find out the answer to the question that had been haunting her since the mission. Of course, the incomparable Robin had also been haunting her since that night, but she wasn't about to let on that not only had she enjoyed seducing the dark hero, but she had undoubtedly fallen for him as well, and hard at that. She waited for what seemed like an eternity and when Slade finally spoke she was not prepared for what he was about to tell her in any way, shape, or form.
"My dear Raina," he began, holding his hands behind his back and pacing in front of her, throwing little glances at Jinx off to her side. "I, first of all, hope that you were not offended with the way Jinx answered your question. It was quite rude, but you must understand that she had very good reasoning. You see Raina, I neglected to tell you about the missing Raven because I did not want to burden you with unnecessary emotions and, to be frank, I was not even sure you would question her disappearance, making my job all the easier."
He paused and stopped to sit down in front of her. "Raina, I do not want you to feel any remorse for what I am about to tell you; it was unavoidable and I am sure that whatever happened, it happened with very good reasons. I do not know, I will admit, exactly what transpired in the alley where I found you, I only know that when I found you, you were not alone. In fact, I thought that it was my lucky day; I had found a young woman who could possibly help me at the same time a very strong enemy of mine had been taken out."
Raina's eyes flickered with an unknown emotion for a moment before the urge to feel sad was repressed by something inside and she let Slade continue.
"I don't know how it happened or even why it happened, but the most I can gather is that you and the other girl must have met in the alley and a fight ensued. And, as any true fight goes, one was bound to win and one to lose. Obviously, you were the winner in that case."
Raina felt truly sorry she could not remember defeating this person, but not sorry that she did. "Are you trying to tell me that I killed this Titan? This invincible Raven? That I managed to accomplish a feat that no one has ever been able to do before?"
Slade nodded. "Yes Raina. You killed Raven outside my lair. You defeated a very worthy opponent."
Raina just shook her head. "But I don't understand; if Raven was a true Titan, then why would we have fought like that? I don't remember anything, but from the way you made these heroes out to be, they wouldn't just get into a fight with any random person they saw. No matter what was said or anything."
"All that is very true," Slade reassured her. "The Titans are very righteous beings. One thing, though, that I have thought might make more sense, is the fact that we have found something out about your origins. It appears, dear, that you also hail from Azareth. Maybe, and I might be going out on a limb here, but just maybe you and Raven met in the alley, recognized each other and then fought. Again, as I said before, I know not of what was said or exchanged between you two; only that when I found you outside, you were barely breathing and Raven was dead."
"That still doesn't explain why we would have fought! Even if I was the one to attack first for whatever reason. The Titans always fight to protect and when they are facing villains it is only to defeat, not to kill," Raina sputtered.
Beneath his haunting mask, Slade's lips curled upward as he put the final touches on his master plan. "Yes that's true," Slade simply replied. "But, alas, Raven was no ordinary Titan. She was...er... different... from the others. Raven has had problems before with controlling her emotions; these problems lead to her almost killing an associate of mine. Not to mention, she did slay her father not too long ago. You see, the other Titans have always been very careful around her and I am sure they have thought endlessly about getting rid of her. You probably did them a favor."
Raina leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. "Well that would definitely explain why none of the other Titans were thinking about her; why none of them cared that she wasn't there at the warehouse."
I can't believe I don't remember killing this girl, she thought emotionlessly. I'm not really worried about killing her if she really didn't mean that much to the Titans. Sheesh, if I feel this careless about a murder I committed that I don't even remember, then maybe I was evil before Slade found me. Maybe being a villain is my calling. Everything does feel somewhat right, being here and all, I mean. Save for the whole falling-in-love-with-the-enemy-thing; that doesn't exactly scream 'Bad Guy!'
Raina simply shrugged at everything and left the room, leaving Slade just standing there and Jinx looking quite perplexed.
Raven really is dead, she thought, shaking her head and turning around to go back to her room. I absolutely hated her, but she was the only one worth it when it came to kicking Titan ass. Raven might be gone, but Raina is here now; I guess I can finally have someone to call a trustworthy partner, that's even better than having some stupid opponent.
She plopped onto her bed and closed her eyes, falling fast asleep in a few minutes. Meanwhile, back in the lab, Slade walked out the door and back into the training room where he had left the boys to their session.
"You two," he said cooly, glaring at the two imbeciles sprawled out on the floor. "I can't believe how pathetic you are. Raina was right, I don't know why I ever kept you two worthless idiots. You're completely useless. Get up and get out of my site before I take her suggestion and get rid of you two for good. Now!"
Gizmo and Mammoth hopped up quicker than they ever had, apologizing profusely to their boss and running down the hall, they left out the alley door and kept running until they had reached some swanky, dank bar on the far side of town.
"Scrum-buffing Slade!" Gizmo shrieked, slamming his glass down and turning to look at his oversized and uneducated companion after they had been there for almost an hour. "Who does he think he is anyway? Calling us useless and pathetic and taking that pit-sniffing Raina's side! He would be so lost if it weren't for us; all it would take was one simple phone call and his whole plan would be blown wide open! I, we did so much for this little game he's playing, but do you think he remembers that? That he's grateful for all the help we contributed? No, of course not. He's got Raina now and that's all that matters. Boy if the Titans ever found out what really happened, Slade wouldn't have anything to hold over them, now would he?"
"Why don't you tell us what really happened then?" came a burly voice from behind the evil accomplices.
Gizmo's eyes went wide and Mammoth nearly spit out his food all over the counter.
"Shit!" he screamed as a large hand closed over his head and yanked him out of his seat.
"I'm waiting..." the voice said once more, tapping his heavy foot impatiently on the floor.
Meanwhile, across town,
Raina couldn't take it anymore and so she had dug around in her closet to find something remotely normal-looking and left. The training and silence that had overcome the lair after her talk with Slade had been too much and she decided she needed to get out and go do something. Slade never really gave her any rules regarding her leaving and she had just seen Gizmo and Mammoth hurl themselves outside so she figured what harm could it do if she went out to a club for the night?
Raina finally settled on a very low cut white halter top that left her back completely bare and her chest once more visible to those halfway across the country. She found a black leather mini-skirt with tiny slits on the sides and black stiletto heels buried in her closet. She let her hair hang down loosely, cascading back and forth against her hips as she sashayed into the club she had found while out walking.
It was a well-known place for the seedier-type of people, hosting a dark and gothic-type club in the basement and a kind of crappy motel on the upper floors. Like most of its customers, the place was cheap, easy and smelled a little funky, but Raina found comfort in the despair there, just wanting to find a place where no one knew her and she could let go for the evening. Little did she know, but tonight was going to be a major turning point in her life and the next twenty four hours would hold incredible pain for all those involved.
Cyborg paced in front of the two chairs in the solitary back room of the bar, glaring at his 'guests.' He had gotten a call from HotSpot that the two were bumming around town and so him, Beast Boy and Robin had gone to see what they could get out of them.
"So, are you guys gonna talk, or are we going to have to beat it out of you?" he demanded harshly. Mammoth and Gizmo struggled incessantly against their steel ropes but it was to no avail, they were not going anywhere anytime soon.
"You asswipes really wanna know what we know?" Gizmo yelled at his ultimate enemies as they stared at him.
"Yeah," Beast Boy piped up. "That would be nice. I mean, we really haven't got all day to just sit here and watch you rot. I'm getting hungry."
Mammoth snorted at the little green guy and growled at him, remembering the wonderful sandwich he had been eating not too long ago.
"Fine," Gizmo relented. "I'll tell ya. But youse guys gotta promise to let us go after I tell you. Got it?"
Cyborg walked over to him and leaned down so he was eye level with him. "You know you're not really in any position to be demanding things, don't ya half-pint?" he spat.
Gizmo only stuck his tongue out at him. In a record time that would have embarrassed the Flash, Robin was at his side and throttling his neck.
"Listen, you puny little munchkin," he growled, releasing his shirt and throwing him back on the ground. "Just tell us what you know and we'll spare your life for today!"
Gizmo just gulped and chuckled nervously. "Heh heh. Alright, well here's what we know," he managed to squeak out. "You see, Slade found Raina in the alley outside his lair..which I am not telling you zit-poppers where it is! Anyway, she's some rebel assassin or something from Azareth and she doesn't remember anything about her past. Slade promised her he would help her find out whatever she wanted to know in exchange for her help, or rather her protection. Raina agreed and the rest is history; she's working with us now which is something we're not too happy about since old Slade decided she was more valuable than us."
Robin eyed him warily, trying to figure out if his story was the real deal or not.
"Truth?" he asked, folding his arms over his chest.
"Truth," Gizmo repeated, smiling forcibly.
Robin just nodded over at Cyborg who hesitantly went over to the stupid duo and untied them, watching them as they ran as fast as their legs could carry them back to their headquarters.
"I can't believe we let them go. Are you sure they were telling the truth? I mean, that all seemed way too easy," Cy murmured.
"Yeah," Beast Boy squeaked. "They didn't even tell us anything useful!"
"Yes they did," Robin replied coldly, uncrossing his arms and heading for the door. "They gave us more information on Raina, which is what we have been waiting for. Cy, you and BB head back to the Tower and see what you can find out with this new information we have. Any leads you can get tonight, send Terra, Speedy and Starfire out to follow up on them."
"Sure," Cyborg replied, his good eye narrowing. "But where are you going? We don't even know where to begin?"
They started to follow Robin as he went outside, hopped onto his R-cycle, revved the engine and started to drive away.
"I'm going out," he answered in a tone rivaling that of the Goth Girl's infamous monotone. "I need to go somewhere and think about stuff." Beast Boy just shrugged as he clambered into the T-car with Cy and they left for home, leaving their brooding leader to sort out whatever demons were plaguing him once more.
A/N: Sorry it's kinda short and all, but I promise the fun stuff is coming up soon! Next chapter if possible! Maybe a little bit of a lemon (Is that the right word? I have no idea what these fruity words mean!!! :) ) and some more action. I promise everything will be revealed shortly. In the meantime I hope this will do. I should be updating The Only Way and Wild, Wild West in the next week or two. Enjoy!