Chap. 5
The Morning After
Raven didn't sleep too well that night. Sara's comments played in her mind for hours, never stopping. She could feel anger growing in her, but of course Raven couldn't let it out. She tried to calm herself. After all, Brett had thought the same thing about her when they had first met and he got over it. But that logic wasn't enough. Raven was sick of having to defend herself all the time. Ever since her birthday, she'd had to worry every time she looked in the mirror about who she was. Sometimes, she felt like she was just denying the inevitable, that she was just a monster waiting to emerge.
Thankfully, Brett had been there to try to keep her going. He kept saying that maybe Raven was a demon, but that wasn't all she was. After some time, Raven had really started to believe it. She didn't need some stranger trying to decide her fate from day one right now. Of course, this was a stranger that meant a lot to Brett, so maybe she should cut Sara some slack. Sighing, the empathy attempted to bury her thoughts, and laid back down on the pillow. After some time, she finally managed to fall asleep.
The sun shone brightly the next morning. Golden beams shone through the glass walls of the Tower, as the Titans and B.R.A.T.S began breakfast. "Hey, who took the Count Cocula?" Milhouse asked as he looked inside the empty pantry. "I haff nue idea." Robin got out through a mouthful of the missing cereal. "That stuff'll rot your insides anyhow." Bart commented as he took another spoonful from his own bowl. "This from somebody who eats a cereal called "Sugary Sugar Flakes"?" Nelson asked. "Hey, they've got two daily vitamins. Besides, it's sweet, and refreshingly addictive." "Just the qualities that you should have in a breakfast cereal." Martin said, as he ate his own breakfast of eggs and milk.
Just then, the doors opened and Brett and Sara walked into the room. "Sleep well?" Bart asked with a smirk as he turned to face them. "You'll never know." Brett replied with an equally devious smirk as he sat down and helped himself to some breakfast. Sara however, was a bit more difficult, as she didn't have much taste for eggs or sweet cereals. She finally managed to settle on a box of corn flakes that the Titans had bought by accident and some raisin bread. Sitting down next to her husband, she began to eat, playfully nudging Brett as he ate. Of course, he played along as well, and until Raven came down, it was a rather cute thing to watch from the usually stoic Nightstalker.
The empath came down a few minutes later, having just finished her early meditation. "Morning." She said, as she walked down to the coffee pot and poured herself some herbal tea. Sitting down, she commenced with her breakfast ritual of quietly drinking tea and reading the paper. "You gonna eat anything Raven?" Sara asked. "I'm not that hungry." Raven replied, not looking up from her paper. "Really? You sure?" At this point, Beast Boy said, "Trust me Sara, if Raven doesn't want any breakfast, don't press it." "Yeah, we still haven't cleaned all the tofu egg off the ceiling from the last time." Cyborg commented, looking up at the yellow stains on the ceiling. "I see." Sara said. "I'll get something to eat later after the signing." Raven said. "Signing?" Sara asked, as Brett seemed to start a bit. "Margret Weis is going to be at a bookstore today. She co-wrote Dragonlance and Brett and I were going to get autographs." "Ahh." The fox answered.
Brett however, slapped his forehead and said, "Aw no, that's today!" "Yes. It's been on the calendar for weeks." Raven answered. "I'm sorry Rae. I promised Sara that I'd meet her and B.B. for lunch when he gave her a tour of the city today. It's the same time as the signing, I completely forgot" "It's ok Brett. You go with her, you didn't know I was going to be here." Sara answered, trying to settle it. "Yeah, but I don't want to disappoint you after just one day." Brett said. "I'm sorry Rae, but I'm gonna have to take a rain check." Raven was quiet for a moment, then she slowly nodded. "I'll get another signature for you." She said. "Thanks Rae. I really appreciate this." Brett said. "Great." Raven muttered. Pushing her chair back, she got up and walked out of the room. As she left, Brett looked at the others and asked, "How'd that go?"
Raven walked down the hallway to her room, trying to keep her feelings under control. She couldn't believe that he had forgotten the signing. They'd been talking about it for weeks. And then, she tries to just act like she didn't do anything to ruin it? God, why don't I just…. No Raven. Calm down, it's not her fault. Just take your mind off it.
As she entered her sanctuary and shut the door, she tried to figure something out to calm her down. Eventually, she decided to sit down and work on her poetry. Raven sat down at her desk and took out a piece she had been working on for the past few weeks. Raven had been crafting this piece with much more emotion then she had with any anything before. It concerned all the major events of her recent life, up to her birthday, Brett, and everything else. Raven had detailed all of her pain, fear, and anxiety into the poem and it truly was a powerful piece. Raven wanted to read it at the café in two days at open mike night. Still, it just didn't feel right yet. Raven needed to add the proper flair to it, and as she began to write, she was fully prepared to do so. However, Raven had barely put pen to paper when the alarm began to sound throughout the Tower. "Figures." She sighed, as she got up and raced to the Tower garage, where the T-Car and BRAT-Mobile were ready and waiting to take them to the site of the disturbance.
The two hyper-cars raced over the bay and shot through the city streets, guided by the signal of the alarm from the city's Power Plant. "So what is it this time?" Bartman asked over the radio in the BRAT-Mobile. "According to the report, it looks like Dr. Light this time." Cyborg answered. "Didn't we just lock him up?" Beast Boy asked. "Apparently, even his fear of Raven isn't enough to keep him there forever." Neuron answered. "He sounds like my kinda guy though." Lightweaver answered from behind Bartman. "Sadly, he's not half the man you are." Raven replied from the T-Car. "Uh, ok." The fox answered, just as both cars arrived at the Plant.
Both teams exited the cars, expecting to find some sort of wreckage site. Instead, they found what looked like a normal power plant. "Subtle? That's not usually his style." Robin commented, as he looked around. "Well, he must be around here somewhere." Starfire said, as if she was trying to reassure Robin that he hadn't missed anything. Suddenly, the front of the building exploded, blasting both teams back in a spray of debris. "I think we found him." Beast Boy said, as he knocked rubble from out of his ear.
Indeed, Dr. Light stepped out a few seconds later. But this was not the villain that they had known before. The good doctor had substantially increased the power of his suit. It was now a huge battle suit that covered his entire body and gave him about six feet in height. Weapons sprung from all over his armored form; the only part of him uncovered was his face. "Hello Titans, I glad you were here to see the new light." He sneered from the suit. "Now, I shall bring into my new day!" With that, bursts of red light shot forth from the cannons mounted on his shoulders. Thankfully, Cyborg and Whimpernel canceled it out with bursts of high intensity sound. "Sorry, but it's not daybreak yet!" Robin yelled, as he leapt forward, Birdarangs flying from every direction.
Light however, simply raised an energy shield, which the Birdarangs harmlessly exploded against. "And I thought you were bright." He sneered as he shot forth another blast of light at the boy wonder. Again Robin dodged it, which gave Starfire an open shot. Her starbolts came forth, aiming right for the center of the suit. However, Light raised his hands and the starbolts stopped in midair. "You think you can use space-light against the master of light?" As he moved his hands, the starbolts suddenly tripled in size, and then shot back into the heroes. Then they exploded in a huge blast of energy, blasting everyone back.
"OK, he couldn't do that before." Heatstrike gasped as he tired to get back on his feet. "How in the hell did he get power over starbolts?" Polar asked. "In essence, they're just energized solar light." Neuron said. "He must have increased his control to the level where he can control every kind of light." "Yeah? I think he might've met his match though." Polar said, pointing to the spot where Lightweaver had come up to face the doctor.
"Well, I've never seen you before. I always enjoy showing new faces the light." Light said, as he shot more of the red light at his new foe. Lightweaver just raised her hand and this time, Light's attack halted in midair. As the Doctor stared in shock, the Knight said, "I've seen the light before, and frankly, I know more about then you do." Lightweaver replied, as she shot the light back at the Doctor. The blast hit Light hard, ripping a huge chunk out of his armor. As the circuitry sparked, he sneered and fired another burst at Lightweaver. But he hadn't figured out the plan that his foe had come up with.
"Now!" Lightweaver yelled, as she quickly dodged the blast of light. Suddenly, Nightstalker and Raven appeared behind the Knight. The two of them waved their arms in a circular motion and suddenly and huge black vortex appeared in between them. The light-beam flew into it and disappeared. "What is this?" Light cried in horror, remembering the last vortex he had been sucked into. "Don't worry, it's not for you." Raven said. "It's just for your power." Suddenly, Light realized a draining sensation coursing through his body. Looking down, he saw that Lightweaver was sucking all of the light energy out of his suit and sending it into the vortex. The process was fast too; the suit was already incapable of keeping Light upright. He fell to his knees, as his weapons were drained of their power.
All but one. Light always kept a back-up plan and today was no different. Reaching behind his belt, the doctor drew forth a grenade like device. Pulling the trigger, he threw it at Lightweaver. The device exploded and since it was not a light weapon, Lightweaver could not absorb the impact. She was hurled into one of the outer walls of the power plant. "Sara!" Nightstalker yelled out. Dropping his hands, he ran over to the prone form of his wife. However, in his haste he made a critical error. Raven was now left with the task of holding the vortex of conflicting energy by herself. It was a task that she was not powerful enough to do alone.
"Brett! Help!" the empath yelled, as she struggled to keep the vortex under control. The black form began to swell, the power within it no longer trapped. Sweat ran down Raven's face as she put every last piece of energy she had into keeping the vortex under control. But it just wasn't enough. The vortex exploded in a huge wave of black and white. Raven and Dr. Light were hurled back into the walls. The last of Light's armor broke apart as he slumped forward. It was only then that Nightstalker turned back to the battle. "Shit!" he swore, realizing his mistake. He helped Lightweaver to her feet, and then the two of them ran Raven. Neuron, Beast Boy, and Robin managed to overtake them however. As the rest of the heroes restrained Dr. Light, these three helped Raven to her feet. "Are you ok?" Robin asked, as the Knights returned to the scene. Slowly, Raven pulled back her hood so that they could get a better look. A long cut ran across the whole of her forehead, leaking blood down her face. 'Stalker hissed. Reaching out with his hand, he said, "Lemme heal that." But Raven pulled back from his touch. Before anyone could say anything, she tore a piece of her cloak off, wrapped it around her forehead, and began to walk back to the T-Car. But not before everyone had seen the angry expression on her face when she'd pulled away from the Shadow Knight.
