A/N: The usual disclaimer I don't own the Titans, Justice League, or Star Wars. Well thanks to all you reviewers.
To SickLad: Well all I can say is you'll see.
To Fucking Great: thank you as always.
To Envoy of the Beginning: You people need to be a bit more understanding but thank you for your honesty.
To obliviandragon: Thank you
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Chapter 11: Hard decisions
Shadow Academy
" I want to know it there had been any information leak from that worthless piece of shit Vog'ue. I should have never left him alone on this task." Lady Narssisa said.
" He may be a weakling by ways of the force but mentally he won't break under their interrogation tactics. There should be no worries about it." The tall man said.
" Fine Geraco just make sure that he can't have the opportunity to just in case." Narssisa said.
" It shall be done my lady." Geraco said before leavening. As he left Lady Narssisa smiled to herself.
" Well if he did squeal I'll make sure that the others knows the extent of failure at the Shadow Academy. Now what should I do about this Richard Grayson? I could offer him a place at my side and all the knowledge of the Sith. That alone would entice any Jedi, but just as a precaution I should have a back up plan." The Shadow Academy leader said as she placed both of her hands on the table desk in front of her. As the slender human female spun around her in her chair to look at the large bay window behind her desk she just starred off into space plotting her next move.
Yavin 4: Richard
Richard and Garack were sparring in training room two.
" So I take it you broke it off with Yaegashi then?" Garack asked knowing full well the answer.
" Yeah, I just couldn't take hurting her anymore you know. Besides I love Raven." Richard said throwing a quick jab at the tall Ho'din (see Chapter 2 for physical description) causing him to lose his balance, toppling over.
" Yeah, but I remember you telling Yaegi the same thing about a year or so ago. So what makes Raven so special, when you could have had anyone of the girls here?" he asked.
" It's not about looks Garack. Raven and I have a bond between us something that we share only with each other, besides I've had a thing for her since I was 16. It's hard to get over something like that." He said with a smirk as he dogged Garack's last flying kick. " Besides I don't think Yaegashi and me would have worked out if I ever got my memory back even if I stayed here."
" But you might not have even gotten your memory back if you didn't go to earth. So you can't really say that can you?"
" Maybe, but that's not what's important now. It happened it's over, nothing can change it now." Richard said as he put Garack in a full nelson as he flipped him over his head and set him crashing onto the mat. " Well I guess that does it for today I could use a shower, hey see you at dinner?"
" Yeah, see you then," he said as he walked away but stopped at the door, " And Richard, Good to have you back, even for a little while." And then he left.
' Yeah good to be back.' Richard thought as he went to the showers.
After dinner Raven and Richard were sitting out on a balcony that over looked the forest near the Academy. The two of them just stood out there looking at the stars in a comfortable silent. That didn't last long when a student came rushing to them with a message from Luke. Luke wanted to meet him in his office, saying it had to do with Vog'ue.
When he reached Luke's office and went inside Luke and Mara Jade greeted him. Looking a bit concerned Richard asked what the problem was.
" Someone tried to kill Vog'ue Richard. I think that they were from the Shadow Academy, trying to make sure that Vog'ue didn't tell us anything." Mara said.
" Well I wouldn't put it past them to try something like this. Is Vog'ue still alive?" Richard asked.
" Yes, he's still alive Richard but this leaves something to be discussed."
" And what would that be Luke?"
" Well we know that they know where we are but we still don't know where they are, also I have had reports that Vog'ue has been trying to escape from his cell. Now if he were to manage that it could be very bad for us." Luke said with his hands folded across the desktop.
" Well I think it's time for another one of my 'tricks'." Richard said.
" What did you have in mind?" Mara asked looking worried. She had heard what Richard did to fool Vog'ue into telling him what they knew now but she worried that he might go too far.
" Well we know we can't get close to the Shadow Academy without being detected, and for that matter we don't even know how to find it. But we do know someone that does and can." Richard smirked viciously.
" You're planning on using Vog'ue to take us to the Shadow Academy!" Mara shouted.
" Yep, all we need is a transponder and a listening device."
" Why the listening device?" Luke asked.
" Because I'm almost positive that they would have to broadcast a audio message along with security codes to even get close to the Academy."
Thinking this over Luke asked, " How long do you think it would take you to set all this up?"
" Less time that when we captured Vog'ue himself. Give me by the end of today and I'll be ready tomorrow morning." He said before excusing himself from the office.
Mara turned to Luke, " Do you think that it is wise to let him do this. Besides I'm sure he'll want to do it alone."
" He can handle himself, also I feel that this might be the biggest test of his character yet."
" Exactly why he shouldn't go alone, he still needs someone who can watch his back. If he turns to the dark side we would have a serious enemy on our hands." Mara stated coldly.
" I know that. I also know that whatever would happen to him he would not change. From what I have observed he hates everything the dark side stands for, he'll fight it with every last breath in his body. Of that I'm sure of." Luke said before grabbing Mara's hand, " Now let us get some sleep tomorrow is going to be a busy day."
Tomorrow came, Richard had the tracking and listening devices ready and placed them in a ship in the hanger bay. Fong came up behind him asked, " How do you know he'll go for that ship?" she said still annoyed that he dumped Yaegashi.
" Still mad about that are you? Well I know he'll go for this one because it's the only one in the hanger that I would go to." He smirked.
" Really and why is that?"
" Let's see 1 it's one of the fastest in the hanger, 2 it's a one person craft and 3 it's one of the only ships that doesn't have a registration mark on it." Richard said.
" Well it seems that you have really thought this out to the point of obsession. Now can you tell me why you dumped Yaegi?" she asked crossing all her arms.
" Lets not get into this now," Richard said as he moved away, but Fong stepped in front of him, " now what, I told you that I am not going to get into this with you now so please step aside."
" No we're going to talk about this right now." She said gesturing towards her light saber.
" You really think you can take me Fong? Are you sure you want to try? Or did you forget that you asked me to help teach you some of my fighting techniques?" Richard said moving his hand to his own light saber.
" I just want to get an answer about Yaegashi, now please just answer the question." Fong said re-crossing her arms.
" Fine let's just get this over with shall we?" Richard said ushering her to the door.
After they got to her room, which looked like it hadn't been used in a couple days, they sat down.
" Now tell me why you did it."
" Because I couldn't hurt her anymore. If we had stayed together I would just end up hurting her when I left." Richard said hanging his head.
" Left? What do you mean left? Your staying here right?" Fong sounding worried.
" No I'm not. I have to go back to Earth, it's were I belong Fong and I have the full intent on going back to it." He said not looking up.
" Why?" that was the only question she could think of, " Why do you have to go back?" she starred at him.
" Because it is where I belong, why do you think I really brought Raven with me?"
" You mean you only brought her here as a reminder to go back home?" she asked shocked.
" No but it was one of the reasons. I really wanted Rae to see what I have seen these past eight years while I called this home, but that has changed, I've changed and I can't stay here anymore that I have to go back." He said getting up and walked out the door leaving Fong stunned.
" How could he not think that this was not his home? How could he possibly think that he doesn't belong here? I need to talk to Yaegi about this." And she rushed out to find Yaegashi, ' I wonder if she knows about this?'
" What do you mean Fong?" Yaegashi asked. After running into Fong in the hallway, as her friend tried to explain what Richard had told her.
" I mean he's going back to Earth when he's done with the Shadow Academy. He said that he can't stay here anymore that it's not his home. What are we going to do Yaegi?"
" Wow wait slow down. Are you sure you heard him right? I mean you could have been mistaken right?" Yaegashi asked with a small bit of hope in her voice.
Fong's gaze suddenly hit the floor, shaking her head, " There is no way I'm misinterpreting him, and he made it very clear as to what he meant. I'm sorry Yaegi but he's leaving."
Now Yaegashi was hit harder than when he told her that he was breaking it off with her. If he had stayed she would at least have the shot at getting him back, now he was going away and she would never see him again. She could handle the thought of not being with him but not seeing him that crushed her.
" No I won't accept that, he can't go away again. Not while I can do something about it." She said rushing off to find Richard and discuss this in person. ' So your going back to Earth, well let's just sees you try.' She thought determined.
Interrogation Room 3
" Well Vog'ue I'm sure you want to stop these little 'chats' we've been having now will you please tell me how to find the Shadow Academy." Richard said calmly looking into his eyes.
" You know I can't Grayson, they would kill me, besides I'm starting to enjoy our conversations." He said like a smart ass.
" Well if you don't give me an answer I guess well continue to have our conversations, and by the way I'm glade you enjoy them so much cause it looks like we're going to have a good time for a while." He smirked knowing what Vog'ue was thinking.
' Well not as long as you think Grayson.' Vog'ue thought knowing he was going to 'escape' tonight.
While Richard was thinking, ' if you only knew bastard.' Giving himself an inward smile.
: Time Jump:
The graveyard shift, the best time to do two things well, A; Rob a bank, and B: Break out of jail, and the Jedi Academy wasn't any different right. Wrong. The only way he was getting out was because Richard made it happen for him.
Vog'ue sat in his cell waiting for the guard shift to happen. As the last guard went by Vog'ue reached into his pocket and pulled our a small concoction that he made out of small parts he got from his meal utensils and things he salvaged from his cell that would allow him to short out the security systems on the door to his room. Using the force he floated the shorter through the door jam and to the access panel on the other side of the door. The small device did its job, the door swung open and the guards didn't have a clew until they would check on him in 20 minutes (right). So he used the ventilation system and made it to the hanger, it took him about 30 minutes of crawling threw air ducks to make it but he got luck that no one was in the hanger at the time (again right)
'Man this is too easy,' he thought as the climbed in the ship that Richard knew he would take and flew off the moon.
Richard came out of the shadows in the hanger with Raven beside him and said, " Took him longer than I thought, I used the same route and it only took me 10 minutes to reach the hanger, maybe I made that fan a little too hard to get around." But Raven just looked at him.
" Well not everyone is an escape artist like you, you know it takes others time to get threw all the things you had set up for him so it didn't look too easy." Raven said as she looked into his eyes.
" Point taken, now lets get some sleep. I feel it's going to take him a while to get to his destination and besides we need a little break ourselves." He smiled and wrapped his arm around her as she teleported them to their room
Vog'ue's stolen ship
" Man that was hard, I can't believe that they would have flamethrowers in their ventilation system, and who would make a section electrified? That just seems extreme unless they have some sort of training exercises in there. Only Grayson would go to that extreme. And that fan, that thing nearly killed me." And as he flew off towards the Shadow Academy's last known coordinates he still had no idea that he was being tracked and recorded and the Jedi Academy.
Yavin 4
As Richard was listening in on Vog'ue's conversation with himself he couldn't help but chuckle. " Man that guys nothing but a big baby. Ok I'll admit that flamethrowers were a little extreme but the fan wasn't that hard to get past, well at least not for me." Just then Luke walking into the room that Richard was listening to the feed from the monitoring devices that Richard placed on the ship Vog'ue stole. The room was 14'X16' with computers along the long wall on the right hand side as you walked in the door and wrapped around the back wall ending on the left. Richard was at the station in the back right corner leaning back in his chair looking at the display of where in space Vog'ue was.
Richard knew Luke had entered the room even though Luke didn't make any noise as evidence to his presence. Not turning his head he glanced at the approaching Jedi Master nodding to acknowledge his presence. As Luke made his way to Richard he placed his hand on the computer console and looked at the star chart.
" So it looks like he's heading towards Yaga Minor and the Imperial Remnant. We always thought that the Shadow Academy would be in that area of space but didn't have any conformation. Now it looks like we finally do."
" Yeah and once we get there we will finally be able to stop the Sith once and for all." Richard said with a look of excitement in his eyes. Luke noticed this and got a little worried,
" Richard I know that you want to get this over with and you want to go back home but aren't you taking this a little too seriously. I mean yes we will stop them but you look as if you're going to go and slaughter every last one of them and enjoy doing it. Now that worries me and I'm considering not letting you go on this mission," before he could protest Luke spoke again, " I'm not doing this to punish you Richard, just to make sure that you don't fall, the last thing that everyone needs if for you to turn your back to them and end up hurting them in any way." Luke had a look of sorrow in his eyes and Richard knew he was right.
" Your right Luke I would enjoy hurting those bastards for what they did and what they stand for. Everything that they are is what I've spent my whole life fighting against wither it was here or back on earth it is always the same." Richard looked down and his hands, all of a sudden the memories of Slade came back into his head. How he easily stopped him from hurting Raven any further and how easily he side stepped him and brought the light saber down. He even remembered how effortlessly the stroke was all the way through the strike, he never felt any resistance that should have come from decapitating someone, but it was as if he was just swinging it through the air. Luke's hand brought him back to reality was he felt it on his shoulder. Looking up at has teacher he could tell that that he wasn't ready for this mission,
" I know what you're going though Richard and I want you to know that if it were any other way I would send you on this without hesitation but to be perfectly honest you have to deal with some things first am I right?" Richard just nodded his head, " well I will have to send someone to infiltrate the Shadow Academy. Do you have any suggestions?"
" My first choice would be to send James and Zer, with Fong on stand by if anything were to go wrong." Richard said going mission mode, " I would also have a couple support ships waiting incase they get into any trouble."
" My thoughts exactly now what about Yaegashi?"
" I'm not sure someone for the Shadow Academy wouldn't recognizer her from any description that Vog'ue would have given them." Richard said not really knowing what Luke was getting at.
" No I mean what about her?" he asked again,
" Oh well I thought that it would have reached you by now knowing how gossip travels in this place. We broke up; I've made my choice to be with Raven. Now before you say anything I just want you to know that it took a great deal of thought to work this out but I believe it is the best choice for me to make and I didn't take it lightly." He said while still looking at the floor.
See his determination Luke dropped the subject and went to inform the other Jedi on what the next course of action would be taken in regards to the Shadow Academy.
Shadow Academy
" What do you mean Vog'ue has asked for landing directions? He's suppose to be dead!" lady Narssisa yelled at the chief of operations for the landing bay.
" I'm just relaying what I heard ma'am, We received Vog'ue's identification code and his request for landing above that I don't know anything ma'am." The chief said.
" Well let him land and tell him to come to my office as soon as he can. We have some things to discuss." And she just walked out towards her office to await the failure of a student.
As Vog'ue landed he was told by someone on the flight deck to go to Lady Narssisa's office immediately after landing. Doom filled his thoughts as he made his way to the schools master teacher's office. Upon arrival he noticed that the usually busy hall was disserted giving him the creeps.
" Enter" was all he heard before he even knocked on the door. As he entered the office he noticed the layout of the room. The room itself was fairly large with stone gray walls on all sites the room was shaped like a circle. It has a large window behind the desk, which is in the middle of the room. The lighting was that to be proud of any haunted house, the dim lighting and the glow of the computer screen in front of the head mistress would give anyone the creeps. As a light went on directly over a chair in front of the desk he was told to sit.
When he sat down in the chair a small strip of lights around the top of the room went on. Now being able to see a little better he saw his master.
Lady Narssisa was a rather tall women, around 6'. She looked like she was in her middle thirties although her hair was bleach white, she had a nice body, around C-cup sized breasts and a nice hourglass figure. She was dressed all in black. Her black dress was halter-topped leather down to her back and as full length to her feet. Her white hair was tied into a bun leaving her flawless neck exposed with a black chocker collar around it.
" Now tell me why you failed." She started off with a mask of indifference but underneath she wanted to strangle the man in front of her.
" Well to put it simply we were ambushed Lady Narssisa. The Jedi Academy had somehow learned about our plans and found where we were going to strike next. Before we knew it they sprung their trap and we were defeated. My deepest apologies for failing." He bowed he head in defeat.
" Not only that but you were captured as well, were you not?"
" Yes Lady, I was captured by Richard Grayson and taken prisoner, but I didn't tell them anything!" he added in desperation.
" Of that I'm sure of but since you have failed your graduation you will be forced to retake all your classes from the last three years over again, and this time I expect better results Vog'ue. Also your rank as Darth is also stripped from you. Now get out of my office before I kill you." She said coldly and with out any emotion attached.
" Yes Master I thank you for your mercy." And then he walked out.
' Now what am I going to do about the Jedi Academy. The will no doubt be looking for him and might even find us so I should come up with some sort of plan. And if they do come I should expect Richard Grayson would lead the team. So the best way to stop them would to be through the leader.' And so she went about trying to get a foolproof way of turning Richard to the dark side.
Yavin 4: Briefing room
" Now I want this to be completely understood by everyone," Richard said, " I don't want to have you guys do something stupid. James and Zer you two are going to be infiltrating the Shadow Academy and finding out anything you can about who is in it and pictures on all personnel and students and get that information safely to the rest of us. Now your second objective will be to make sure the Shadow Academy doesn't get any more power for use against us, now do that any way you can," but in his head he was thinking of them blowing that place straight to hell but knew he couldn't say that, "Now Fong, you will be on stand by incase they get into trouble. Now I want sections C through F as support ships for there escape just on the odd chance that they are in trouble while escaping the mission. Now are there any questions?" Richard concluded the briefing while on hand in the back was raised. " Yes."
" Master Grayson I was wondering why you wouldn't be leading this mission yourself?" the student asked.
Waiting a moment before answering he said, " There are a number of reasons as to why I will not be leading this mission, one of them being that I was the one to interrogate the prisoner so I would be noticeable and they would be waiting for me. This mission is dangerous enough without them looking for and recognize one of the infiltration team blowing their cover and most likely getting the whole team killed. Now any more questions?" No one raised his or her hands and as such the briefing was finished.
After the briefing was over Yaegashi was waiting outside the briefing room for Richard. As he stepped out she grabbed his hand and rushed him into a nearby empty room.
" Richard I think we need to talk." She asked.
" Fine what do you want." He said crossing his arms and sitting on the desktop.
" Well, what is the real reason your not going on the mission, cause if I know you at all you would not hesitate to kick there asses."
" Well for one I can't go."
Shock coming over her face she asked, " What! Why?"
" Well Luke forbid me from going. He said that I wasn't ready for this, and I agree with his assessment. The last thing I need is to be confronted with that much dark power and I don't think I could handle that without turning." He said looking at her face.
" No I don't believe you. You would never do something like that. I know…."
" Nothing, Yaegi," he finished, " You saw me on Coruscent I was going to kill him and then what would you say huh? I mean if that wasn't the dark side taking over I don't know what is." He said as he got up and walked out of the room. " Now I would with James and Zer good luck. They're going to need it." And he disappeared.
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A/N: Well what do you think is going to happen and the Shadow Academy? Will the mission go successful? Will Richard have to go in and rescue them? Will I ever finish the story with a happy ending? Please give me some suggestions and as always R&R.