Teen Titans: Wild, Wild West
Chapter Four
Ab: Damn right 'Yay Rob/Rae!' I love them together, as evident by all of my stories! ;) Hope you like my new chappie!
Lain the Fluff-Master: OMG I love it when you review! It makes me feel all warm and tingly inside knowing that there actually is someone out there who thinks my stories aren't as dumb as I tend to think they are sometimes. I already updated I Need Her for ya and so this one is for you too! Enjoy!
Little Death Strike: Hey, glad you love it so much! I hope you like my new installment
Terra had been quite easy to persuade, apparently, Victor had said, saying after he asked to talk to her privately outside it only took a mere twenty minutes to jog her memory and get the old Terra back.
"So how come she isn't here with us?" Richard asked, after Victor had finished telling about his encounter with the enthusiastic blonde. "I mean, if she got her real memories back, then why is she staying here? Why isn't she going to come with us to the Inn?"
Victor chuckled quietly. "Simple Dick," he said, suddenly sounding rather sullen. "The memories that Slade gave her? Well, they made her friends with not only Garfield, but with someone else too."
Richard arched an eyebrow at his good friend. "Oh really? Well who else does Terra know here? And why does that entitle her to stay here and not come with us?"
"Well," Victor said. "She's staying because she is going to keep an eye on this someone and she's going to try and jog her memory for us and get our friend back." He paused for a moment.
"Well?" Richard asked impatiently. "Who does Terra know Vic?"
"Raven..."
Victor cringed for a second, hoping greatly that Richard wouldn't freak out or anything at the mention of his old crush's name. Richard only smiled softly, scaring Victor more than if he had actually gone off the handle and hurt him.
"So do I," Richard said, never turning his head to look at Victor.
"What do you mean?" Victor asked, perplexed. "So do you what?"
"I know Raven too," Richard stated matter of factly. At Victor's look of utter confusion, he elaborated. "I met her tonight. I wasn't able to jog her memory, but I did get her to try and meet up with us later."
"Wait a minute," Victor said. "I don't get it; how did you see Raven tonight? I thought you were with Star tonight?"
Richard finally looked at him, a twinkle residing in his amber eyes. "Star?" he questioned incredulously. "No way man. That wasn't her. It was Raven I spent the evening with upstairs."
Victor just stared at him, mouth agape. "Are you kidding me?" he asked astonished. "Are you trying to tell me that was Raven up there tonight performing? That beautiful redhead with the incredible legs? And the amazing voice? And the sexy body? That was Dark Girl?!"
"Yep," Richard chuckled, remembering the feel of her warm, soft lips atop his. "That was Raven all right. Trust me on that one."
Victor just shook his head, not believing that gorgeous woman on stage was their resident Goth. Victor had always felt like a big brother to her, and he knew that she was quite pretty in her own right, but he never knew she could possess that much beauty; he knew now how his old buddy here had fallen head over heels for this exotic angel. Raven never showed that side of her, ever, but obviously Richard had seen through all of that, and not to mention Raven had probably shown him a different side of herself, considering she had harbored very deep feelings for their old leader from the very beginning.
"So, where exactly are we heading?" Richard asked, bringing Victor out of his mangled thoughts.
"Oh yeah," he said startled. "Well, Terra said that we could find Garfield on the outskirts of town. Apparently he owns the local ranch there, and he is always renting out his animals to whomever needs them, including the good ol' sheriff. She said just to keep heading straight and we would eventually find him."
Richard nodded. "That's good, because that's the direction we need to head in anyway to find the Inn tonight."
"Inn?" Victor asked. "What Inn? Why are we going to some Inn tonight? I just figured if we fixed BB tonight, then we would just crash at his place."
"We could, we could," Richard said, looking up and seeing the ranch coming into view ahead. "But when I talked to Raven, apparently there is an Inn over on the edge of Gotham Village that her cousin owns. Her cousin that just happens to look just like Starfire, who just happens to be married to one Roy Harper."
"You're kidding me?" Victor laughed. "Star and Speedy are married here? Well, that's what she has always wanted ya know? Although, I don't think Roy wants to be married much; he doesn't exactly seem like the type to settle down and all. I mean, I know he loves Star more than anything and he would definitely do anything for her, but I think he's got cold feet when it comes to marriage. Boy, he sure is going to have fun when we help him get his memory back: married to the girl he is hopelessly in love with and owning an Inn in an old western village. Wonder if they have a brood too?"
Richard chuckled, remembering his old friend's problems with commitment. "Yeah, he seriously might freak on us!" he exclaimed. "Besides, we definitely have to head there, even if we can't help Gar right off the bat. I told Raven if she could get away tonight, to meet us there later on. That way I can talk to her more privately without Wilson hanging over us. And to get her memory back too, ya know?"
Victor scoffed loudly at him. "Psh, yeah right Dick," he smirked. "I'm sure you just want to talk with her."
Richard looked at him indignantly. "And just what is that supposed to mean?" he demanded.
"Hey dude," he said, patting his back. "Let's face it: that Raven up there was way more appealing than the usual Raven back home. It's all right, though, to think that because I know you care for her either way, this way just makes it easier; I know that you love her. Everyone thought that you left because you didn't care for her and you couldn't handle someone caring about you that much that you didn't feel the same for.
"But I know the truth, I mean, I saw all the looks you gave her, all the special little talks you had with her, the time when you would go out of your way just to do something for her; you cared for her more than anyone ever could I think. I know that you left because you did love her and you couldn't risk losing her, or worse, hurting her by putting her in danger. We fight some seriously major goof balls everyday, and Slade is at the top if them for sure, but I know that it wouldn't take much for one of them to notice how much you cared for Rae, and then try and take her out to get to you."
He paused, considering his next words. "And I had a feeling the moment I saw you that if you saw Raven here, some emotions might run pretty high again. Raven said that finally last year she had gotten over you; she said that it was obvious you didn't feel the same for her, even after she changed herself drastically in hopes you might actually come back." Seeing the look of bewilderment and confusion on Richard's face he continued.
"Yeah, man after you left all those years ago she went and locked herself in her room for about six months and wouldn't come out for anything. Finally she came out one day, completely drained and told us that she had been training constantly; apparently she wanted to be able to control her emotions, thinking it was what you wanted. But when a year passed by and she still didn't hear from you, she just kind of shut down.
"She rarely came out of her room other than to help us on a mission, and she never smiled, not that she smiled much before. But at least she smiled every now and then, ya know? Personally, I think it was a load of bullshit when she said she was done pining over you. Raven could never stop feeling that way about you, she was in far too deep and you can't just throw away such strong feelings of love like that.
"Besides, I have a feeling this Raven might be a little more willing to put herself out there and go for you in this world, regardless of the fact that she said she was over you. I know she still feels that way for you, but if you hurt her here too, I have a feeling Raven might not take it too well. So I would watch yourself with her, because I think it's going to be really hard to get her back once we're out of here."
"Why do you say that?" Richard asked, cocking his head to the side. "What would make this Raven any different from the old Raven?"
"I'm just saying that I think that Raven might take it a little differently," he explained. "You see, Man, the Raven here is, well...normal... and I think that will strike a cord with her once we're out of here. Listen, Dick, when you left, Raven thought it was because of her, which wasn't too far off I suppose. But the thing is, she thought you left because of her, because she wasn't normal. And here she is normal, well as normal as this made-up world can be; to her, this world lets her be everything she thought you wanted her to be. If you let her know that you're falling for her here and then you leave her once we're back home..."
"I'd probably lose her forever," Richard said, understanding what his friend was getting at. "I understand. Listen Vic, I really do care for Raven, and you have to understand that I wish I could have stayed more than anything. Raven means the world to me, and I hate myself for what I did to her, but I would have hated myself even more if I had stayed and one of my enemies hurt her to get to me."
"I know, I know," Victor reassured him, stopping in front of the wooden gates leading to Garfield Logan's Rent-A-Ranch. "But listen, none of that really matters right now; at the moment we need to get into character and try to get our little grass stain back, got it? You ready to see how much damage Slade did to our Tofu-lovin' BB?"
Richard took a deep breath and nodded his agreement. "Yeah, I'm ready. Let's get it on."
The two walked slowly into the ranch, looking around at all the horses, cows, sheep, goats, et cetera, trying desperately to not look inconspicuous. About halfway up the walk, a little tanned man with brown hair came out of the front door, took off his hat and started waving it at the duo.
"Hey there Vic!" he called, walking down the steps to meet his guests. "Haven't seen you in a while, not since Wilson took over the jail anyway... How've you been?"
"Garfield," Victor exclaimed, reaching him and enveloping him in hearty handshake-turned hug. "Yeah it's been quite awhile. I've been doing okay, ya know? Working on Sheriff Wilson's mechanical problems and whatnot. Hey, I want you to meet a good friend of mine who just got into town today. Gar Logan, meet Richard Grayson; Dick, this is my old Deputy, Garfield."
Richard smiled at the little man and reached out to shake his hand. "Nice to meet ya, Gar," he said. "Vic here talks very highly of you."
"Same here, Dick," Garfield laughed. "Vic should think highly of me; I mean, I was his right hand man for way long. So, what brings you two here tonight?"
Victor shifted uncomfortably, something Garfield failed to notice, and took a deep breath. "Well actually, Gar," he said. "We came here tonight because we wanted to talk to you about something important."
"Important, huh?" Gar questioned, raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms over his chest. "Just how important are we talking about here?"
"Like possibly life and death important," Richard quipped. Logan shifted his gaze back and forth between the two men as if trying to decide if this was some silly little joke or not.
"Hmm, life and death, you say?" he questioned, rubbing his chin and pondering what to do next. The two men nodded fervently at him and he seemed to be taking their solemnity into great account.
"Well, if it's as important as you say it is," he began again, turning around and heading back into his house. "Then we better head inside so that nobody can just walk up and disrupt us. Besides, I was just in the middle of dinner so there's no sense in discussing important matters on an empty stomach, as I always say, so why don't you two join me inside for a nice meal."
Victor and Richard just followed him inside, Vic looking more worried about what food he was going to find on the table as opposed to the hard task of getting his little buddy's memory back. Richard looked around at the quaint little ranch house amazed that any home that BB owned, in reality or crazy alternate universe, could ever look so clean.
Garfield motioned for them to sit down at the tiny dinner table and he disappeared into the kitchen to retrieve whatever food he had been cooking before they arrived. Victor and Richard sat down across from each other, neither one speaking about what they had to do tonight, only knowing that it had to get done any way possible.
Garfield returned moments later with a few covered pots and Victor physically tensed, afraid to know what lay underneath the numerous tops. "Now I know it's not a lot," Garfield apologized, lifting the tops off the pots and dishing food onto their plates. "But I wasn't really expecting any company. Well, actually I was countin' on my girl, Terra, to swing by but she phoned me earlier sounding more strange than ever and said she was going to be workin' late tonight. Well guys, dig in!"
Richard just stared at the food on his plate as his eye twitched uncontrollably in disbelief. Victor just kept looking up from his plate to Garfield and then back down again, utterly confused by what he was seeing. Garfield had just dished onto their plates a heaping portion of beans and franks, a barbecued chicken breast and an eight ounce steak.
"What?" Garfield asked, offended that his guests were not eating. "Hey Vic, I know I'm not the best cook in the world, but you don't have to look at me like I'm crazy and feedin' ya pig slop or something!"
Victor couldn't find his voice to say something back to his old deputy, but Richard managed to squeeze out a few words.
"Now, I'm not saying that this looks terrible or anything," he chimed in. "Because, in fact, it looks damn delicious! But what I want to know is.... where is the salad? Or the tofu-parading-as-meat-specimens? And the soy milk? Where is all the healthy, non-animal food?"
Garfield just snorted as he looked at Richard funnily. "Salad? Soy milk?" he asked incredulously, shaking his head. "And I don't even want to know what this tofu crap is that you're ramblin' on about, but what else would I have on my table? I mean, I raise animals for a living, so why would I bother eating all that healthy dirt product? It's just plain gross, dude!" With that he grabbed his steak and began shoveling it into his mouth like it was air and he hadn't eaten anything in a week.
Victor raised an eyebrow at his formerly green friend and looked down, shaking his head. "That's just wrong, man," he muttered. "Slade is majorly sick in the head, yo."
Richard nodded his agreement and started to eat his chicken, which was surprisingly really good, maybe even the best he had ever had.
"What does the sheriff have to do with me eating meat?" Garfield piped up, looking at the ex-sheriff concernedly.
"Huh?" Vic asked, confused. "I didn't mention the sheriff."
Garfield raised an eyebrow and looked at his old friend like he was insane. "Um, are you feeling okay there, Victor?" he asked. "You just said he was sick in the head; I don't know why, but that's what you just said."
"No," Richard interrupted. "He didn't say Sheriff Wilson was, he said that Slade was the one who was majorly sick on the head.... You don't know him, well you do, but not really... but he's from where I live...back..somewhere..."
Garfield really started to get confused as the two men in front of him made him think there was something going around in the water back in town.
"Yeah, I know," Garfield said. "Sheriff Slade Wilson.... I mean there's only one Slade I have ever met in my life and I don't think that's a common name anywhere. But still, what does he have to do with me eating meat?"
"Wait a minute," Richard demanded, dropping his fork and focusing his complete attention on the little man next to him. "Slade is the sheriff? He's the one running everything?"
"Um yeah," Garfield replied, feeling quite awkward. "Victor knows that he's the sheriff. I mean, how could he not? He was the one who kicked us out of office just because he wants to get his hands on Jump Town for whatever reason. He's a slimeball."
Richard just stared down at the food on his plate and clenched his fists by his side. "I can't believe the sheriff was Slade and I didn't even notice," he said forlornly. "Most of all, I can't believe that I left Raven in the hands of that bastard. To think that he was the one making her do all those rotten things, I just can't even fathom..." He trailed off and Victor noticed how he was blaming himself for the horrible condition his good friend was in.
"Hey Dick," he consoled. "Don't beat yourself up over Rae's condition; she's a tough bird, you know that. It's gonna take a hell of a lot more than some sleazy sheriff prostituting her to his friends to break her. I didn't even notice it, even with all these memories Slade gave me to start out with."
"WHAT?!?!" Garfield screamed, jumping up from the table and knocking his chair over. "What are you two talking about?!"
Vic took a deep breath and turned to face his best friend. "Okay, just relax Gar," he said soothingly. "I know this is probably all sounding a little strange to you but just let me explain. You see, you're not who you think you are; in fact, you don't even look like yourself, in reality you are actually all green and you can shape shift. You see, what happened was-"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Garfield said again, this time more sternly as he sat back down and began to eat out of frustration. "I wanted to know what you were talking about Raven for? She was like my best friend when we were little, but I haven't seen her since her parents died and I just figured she had gone to live with her cousin Kori over in Gotham Village.... But from what I can gather you just said is that Slade is claiming her as his property and forcing her to sleep with his cronies and some other kind of sick shit like that? I mean, am I right? I don't even know what to do with that stuff you said about me being green, though. That was just weird."
"Yeah Gar," Richard said solemnly. "Slade is doing that to Raven; I know, it hurts me too. She means a lot to me, more than you'll ever know."
Garfield just looked completely pissed as he sat there in silence, not believing his best friend was practically someone else's prisoner and he didn't know.
"Terra must work with her everyday at that stupid saloon," he said quietly, not looking up from his plate. "And not once has she ever said anything to me, nothing. I just can't believe poor Raven has to go through all of this."
"I know it's a shock," Vic said, placing a hand over by Gar. "But she can handle herself, I know she can. Rae never took shit from anyone, never, and you know that."
Gar just smiled sadly as he ate more of his meal. "Yeah, I know," he said before stopping to look at Vic questioningly. "Wait, did you just call her Rae? I didn't think anyone ever called her that, that was my nickname for her when we were little. How do you know it? You barely even knew her."
Victor and Richard exchanged knowing glances as they knew now was the time to help Beast Boy. Victor sighed and started to tell him everything about his real life; he told him of all his hobbies, his abilities, his past excursions with the Titans while the little man just sat there and took it all in begrudgingly. But it was when Vic was talking about the first time Terra joined the team something happened and Gar's eyes rolled back in his head as he passed out and fell face first into his food. The other two jumped up to help him, but the second they touched him he sprang up, screaming.
"Oh Geez," he said after calming down. "I had the worst dream, dude, I mean, I dreamt that Slade took us all and then put us into this crazy ass western world and I was some rancher type person and then..."
He stopped talking as he looked at his surroundings and saw Victor and Richard looking at him concerned, but pleased with themselves for jogging his memory. "Oh, no," he sighed, shutting his eyes and shaking his head. "It wasn't a dream was it? That's really Nightwing there and I'm really not green anymore, am I?"
Victor laughed and slapped BB on the back. "Ha! No man, but Welcome back," he said, sitting back down and resuming his eating. "This really isn't a dream. Spooky, ain't it?"
Garfield nodded and looked over at the man he used to know as the Boy Wonder, the former Teen Titan leader, Robin. "It's really you, huh?" he asked.
"Yeah it is man," Richard said. "Slade is using me to get you guys out of here. But it really is me.... and I think, depending on what happens in here, that maybe, just maybe... a reunion might be on order. But I'm still not sure, I have a lot of issues still, ya know?"
"Heh, yeah, I understand," Gar said, getting up to give his old friend a warm hug. "But either way, it's good to see ya. It's even better that I get to call you Dick, but I'm glad that you're stuck here with us. Umm, hey.... how did Raven take you being here, since you've already seen her and whatnot?"
"Actually," Richard said, rubbing the back of his head nervously. "Raven doesn't have her memory back yet. I wasn't able to help her yet, but she's supposed to meet us later at Starfire and Roy's Inn if she can get away. I'm hoping to make some headway there."
Garfield nodded and sat back down. "Yeah, just be careful, ok? And be prepared for anything too, man. She hasn't exactly been chipper lately if you know what I mean? What?!" Garfield turned to face Victor as he had started chuckling and it was beginning to annoy him.
"Hey I know I'm not always Mr. Sensitive back home," he argued as Vic kept laughing and smirking at him. "But it's nothing to laugh at!"
Vic managed to laugh only once more before he contained himself and pointed in front of the formerly green guy. "Oh I ain't making fun of you for that," he smirked. "I was just laughing at the situation in front of ya. I mean, it's kind of nice seeing you shove meat into your mouth after all these years of you pushing tofu down our throats back home. I was just admiring the irony that Slade apparently has."
Garfield turned a deep shade of green, rivaling that of his natural color, as he looked down at the meat products he had eaten just recently.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed, running outside and throwing his head into the pig trough and taking huge gulps of water to get the taste out of his mouth. Richard and Victor followed, each howling with laughter at the sight and Garfield finally came up for air and glared at them.
"You saw me eating meat and you didn't stop me?" he demanded. "How could you? That is just so cruel! Do you really hate me that much?"
The duo just kept laughing at the little man as he stayed outside for another ten minutes, shoving grass and vegetables into his mouth from the animal's pens. When they finally ventured back inside Garfield asked them about what they were going to do now.
"Well," Richard said, taking charge as he was so used to doing. "I figure we can use some of your horses out there and head to Kori and Roy's tonight. I told Raven to meet us there tonight if she can, and I'm sure she'll be able to. Once we get there, we'll work on Kori and Roy's memory and then when Raven gets there, if you don't mind, I'd like to handle her myself.
"After that, well, I hadn't really thought about it, but I think we probably need to head back here to Jump Town. Slade said after three days one of his comrades was going to open the portal back home and then we're out of here. I'm assuming the rest won't be too bad too handle, but you never know, I mean, we might need all the time we can get with them. You and Terra were the easy ones, and Vic here didn't even need any help."
"You guys already found Terra and helped her?" Garfield asked.
"Yeah man," Vic said. "She was pretty easy to fix; of course all I had to do was mention all the memories of you and she was back like that!"
He snapped his fingers accordingly and Garfield grinned at the thought of him being the trigger for his girlfriend's memory. The three talked for a few more minutes and then they went outside, found a few horses and began their journey over to Gotham Village. Little did they know, but once they reached Gotham Village they were in for way more than they ever could have imagined.
Next Chapter: Victor, Garfield, and Richard head to Gotham Village to find Kori and Roy and jog their memories. Raven talks to Wilson about going away for the weekend. And, um, some other stuff that I haven't decided yet. ;)
A/N: OK, how was it? I know that not much happened, but it is quarter after four in the morning and I think I'm done for the night, er, morning, I guess. Let me know what you think. Review please!
