Review Responses:
Rose: Yes to your question. But you only see her (and Raven) in action in another few chapters. Well, more or less...(grin) Thanks for reviewing!
They-Call-Me-Orange: You might want to re-read my intro of chapter one. The team didn't actually disband. In this universe, they haven't met each other yet. And don't worry, in my fics, BBRae is a must! LOL. Thanks for reviewing!
Rei: You read my mind child. You read my mind. (By the way, princess numnuts makes an appearance! LOL)
xox.Annie Potter.xox: Your review made me so happy! I'm so flattered! (blush)
Notes:
Is it just me, or does anyone see any link between the Joker (Batman's greatest (or most infamous)enemy) and Slade? It's probably just me and my extremely, extremely delusional head…
Updates will be frequent on weekends, and not so frequent on weekdays. You have been forewarned. (giggle)
Remember:
"Talking"
Thinking, or in some cases, as noted, a flashback
For standard disclaimer, check the bottom of my author's profile.
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Days of Tomorrow
Chapter Two
By Ryuu no Taiyo
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Two years ago, three young men decided to do something a little out of the ordinary, a little dangerous. BeastBoy, the youngest of the three, was seventeen years old. He had green hair (surprisingly it was natural and no dye had ever been able to change it) with matching green eyes. And one of the funny quirks about him is that when he was sick, his skin took to turning green to match his hair. That's why he would usually shut himself up when this happened.
BeastBoy earned his nickname from his abilities, and his green-ness were only secondary effects cause by these abilities. He could transform into any animal he chose to, from an insect to a dinosaur.
Robin was the next one when it came to age. He had been nineteen, yet he had been chosen as the leader of the trio, simply because he had the most experience. He was an extremely talented martial artist with a rather obscure past. He was very agile, able to do things most regular humans couldn't thanks to some pretty rigorous training. He was also very perceptive and a fast thinker.
Cyborg was the eldest, at the time twenty-one years old. He was half-human, half-robot because of an accident from back when he was seventeen. He had earned quite a few nifty upgrades with his 'cyborg half', including a Sonic Canon and half of his vision was based on his heat detectors, so he could basically see through walls and large objects if needed.
This three were misfits in their own, different ways. BeastBoy was practically living on the streets when he had met Cyborg and had basically moved himself in a year before. Robin was an orphan adopted by a billionaire and had everything a guy could want.
Robin had been bored with his life. He had started taking a rather serious interest in sneaking around; using his skills to get in and out of places he shouldn't be in. Then he started pic-pocketing things. Then those little actions kept on getting bigger and the little things more valuable.
Robin had met Cyborg in a video arcade; fighting on this new virtual reality game that allowed them to fight as if they were fist-fighting in real life. Robin had been impressed, and after the fight, Robin had decided to talk a little with Cyborg. The two had connected, and would meet at the arcade three to four times a week. Cyborg ended up bringing along BeastBoy with him.
Cyborg, even though he was careful to hide his hybrid robot parts, was figured out by Robin but he had accepted him like BeastBoy had.
Sooner or later, Robin had slowly revealed his talents at snooping around and stealing things. Then he had revealed that he had been observing the prospect of pulling off a real heist.
Cyborg and BeastBoy somehow managed to bring themselves into the picture. Cyborg was a mechanical genius; he could hack into any system effortlessly and could fix anything. He was also a good muscle for the team. He was very strong. Before his accident, he had been aiming for a football career. But that dream was over now, so what better things did Cyborg had to do?
BeastBoy, who had kept his abilities a secret, ended up revealing them to convince both older guys that he could be useful. BeastBoy didn't want to be left out on this...and he wanted the money.
They pulled off the heist without breaking a sweat. Well, they were apprehensive and nervous, and that could count as a slight problem. But they encountered absolutely no other type of dangerous problem and everything went smoothly.
They split the money three-ways.
Then Robin had told them the real reason he had wanted to pull off something so big.
His adopted father had wanted him back in Gotham. Robin had not specified the reason, but he had wanted to do something special before going back to his hometown. And this qualified as 'special' for Robin.
Why did they use these codenames; Robin, BeastBoy and Cyborg? To preserve their anonymity because Robin was easily rendered paranoid and had made sure they all had one, just in case. Although BeastBoy thought they were cool and simply used his old nickname, Cyborg was a bit doubtful, although he went with it anyways, choosing a name that fit him. Robin had simply used the name 'Robin' and left it at that, without any explanation, even though BeastBoy often tried to pry the truth fro him.
Three weeks after they pulled the heist, Robin, who reverted back to his real name, Richard Grayson, went back to Gotham City. After that, BeastBoy and Cyborg slowly separated, although with no hard feelings, and had ultimately lost touch.
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"Why me?" whined Garfield, as he hit his head against his door. "I always lose my keys! It's not fair! Why can't my brain, like, be smart or something!"
It was maybe eleven o'clock at night, and Garfield was seriously hoping to catch some 'Z's. He was exhausted. The events of the day were really weighing on him. Terra, then that fortune-teller and then he'd got into a mess with an angry taxi driver and … he just needed to get to bed.
He closed his eyes and concentrated. When was the last time he had done this? Transformed?
He couldn't remember.
"Hey BeastBoy."
Garfield shrieked (like a girl) and almost fell over.
Richard sweat-dropped.
"It's just me, BB."
"Dude! You freaked me out of…me…" Richard sweat-dropped.
"You're half-asleep aren't you?"
"How can you tell?" Garfield yawned.
"Oh. Just a hunch."
"So man. S'up? How's Gotham?"
"As usual."
"That's cool. I guess."
Richard had just walked Kori home when he'd remembered something.
Logan…his last name's Logan!
How'd he remember? He'd once heard BeastBoy been called Logan…where was it? He couldn't remember exactly…They were at some restaurant…That's it! At some fancy restaurant that BeastBoy had made reservations at, after the heist to celebrate. He had reserved the table under the name Mr. Logan…
Richard had applauded himself. Nice going, Rob.
He had checked in an address book inside a telephone booth for the name Logan, and had called every Logan in the book. Well, almost. There had only been seven Logans, three were women; one was an old man who definitely could not be BB and that left three other people. He called two, but could not identify there voices and neither responded to the name 'BB'. That left one, a Garfield Logan, who wouldn't pick up the phone, so Richard simply decided to go visit him, as he was pretty sure this was the right Logan.
"Umm…you wanna go in?" asked Garfield, or BeastBoy, nervously, pointing to the door that led into his apartment.
"Yeah." Robin said slowly, as if stating the obvious.
"Uh…just a sec."
He closed his eyes and in seconds it wasn't a human standing in front of Richard, but a fly. A bright green fly.
The fly buzzed into the key hole and out through the other side of the door.
Richard could hear a loud click from the inside and the door opened, revealing Garfield back in his human form.
"Sorry about that. Lost the keys…" he laughed sheepishly, "Welcome to my humble abode!" he announced, closing the door behind Robin who had entered.
Richard almost fainted. The apartment was so dirty…This had to beat a record somewhere. Richard just knew it.
"It is…very humble." Robin said, not able to drive his blue eyes from the mess, in particularly at something that was glued to the wall. It didn't look too…natural.
"What's that?" he asked to the changeling.
"I dunno. Woke up and it was there."
Richard paled.
Garfield ignored him, walking towards an entrance in the wall and flicked on the lights. Making sure not to step on anything, Richard followed.
Garfield sat down in a armchair after wiping it clean of a few objects.
"So. Watcha here for? I haven't seen you in ages!" he smiled at his old friend.
"I'm getting the team together again." Richard started to say, trying to find a more or less clean spot on the couch.
"Really? I'm in!" Garfield said, almost without thinking.
"I thought you'd say that." Richard smiled despite himself. "So, you're ready to bring BeastBoy back?"
"As ready as ever!"
"Good. We're going to Cyborg's place now."
"What? But we just got here!"
"I know. But I need a place to say. I already checked out of my hotel. And I want to explain you guys exactly what we're doing all together tomorrow morning. We're kinda racing against time. I'm really lucky I found you so fast. It's gonna help."
Garfield could not help but notice the gravity in his voice.
They weren't kids anymore, and had no reason to act like one. Their last 'job' had been carried out in a kid-like folly, performed by three teenagers or young adults who had nothing to do with their lives.
Something this time was going to be different.
"Pack anything you think is going to be important, but keep the bag small."
"But-"
"BeastBoy, just do it."
The green-haired boy nodded, and only took his wallet.
He opened his wallet and winced as he only saw a few business cards (he liked collecting them, but often lost them) and a ten dollar bill. He checked another part, and found a picture of him and Terra, smiling at the camera, hugging each other affectionately.
"You ready?"
"Yup."
He tossed the picture on the floor and left not even bothering to lock the door behind him.
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Kori rose early the next morning, waking with the sun as she always did. No matter at what time she fell asleep, she woke up with the sun. Stretching happily, she turned around in her purple sheets and scooted slowly off the bed, a radiant smile gracing her features.
"Oh glorious day!" she said happily, looking out the window.
She lived on the tenth floor and had quite a view from there.
Walking out of her room, still clad in her pink and white pajamas with bunnies and cats on them, she went into the kitchen and took out a bowl and some cereal.
She heard her sister stumble in, probably hung-over.
"Damn. My head hurts."
"Would you like me to-"
"No. I especially don't want you to make anything for me."
"Oh." Her smile faded slightly.
Manda growled at the sun shining outside.
"Fucking sun." she said to herself under her breathe.
"Oh don't be that way, sister. Saturday's are so pleasant."
"Shut up. It's too early to put up with your cheerfulness."
Kori rolled her eyes.
"Here. Take at least some Advil." She handed her sister the bottle.
Her sister grumbled, but swallowed quite a few of them.
"Maybe you should stay inside in bed today…you seem rather unwell…"
As the only response, Manda ran out from the kitchen and into the bathroom, and Kori heard the noises that one makes when one throws up.
"Oh dear." Was all that Kori said, talking another bite from her cereal.
She sighed.
"Manda! I shall be out most of today! Will you be alright?"
"Yeah. Sure. Whatev-" Manda threw up again from the bathroom.
Kori sighed. Her sister would not require her help, she knew that. That's why she didn't even bother asking.
She looked at the piece of paper that she had pinned on the fridge.
Richard cell:
--
-call me anytime :)
"Hmmm…" she murmured, a smile etching itself back on her face. Placing the paper in her second purse (her first one having been left in the car) she went to her room and grabbed a little bit of money. She then headed out.
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Raven left her trailer dressed in a pair of faded jeans and wearing a long dark blue poncho that almost went all the way to her knees. She looked up to the sky and sighed as she saw the bright sky. Oh, Raven had nothing against beautiful days. Just that it attracted more people to the carnival she worked in. And that meant more pesky teenagers. More bimbos to deal with. More 'does Eric love me?' and even 'will I get the Vespa for my birthday this year?'…and so on. That's what Raven couldn't stand. Pushing her dark lavender locks behind her ears, she sighed.
You are such a hypocrite. You're a teenager too.
Maybe so. But I at least have an inkling of intelligence.
Her mind answered nothing to that statement and Raven decided not to give the prospect of another dull, annoying day another thought. She packed a few books in her book bag, placed her quarts crystal ball inside then she put in a heavily packed round flat object. She closed the trailer door behind her and started walking towards the exit of the parking lot.
Behind her trailer stood the sea, and the sun was rising slowly in the sky.
Her flat boots made no noise as she walked on the cement she jumped over a puddle left from last night's rain (although if anyone had seen her, they would have noticed how she had seemed to simply float over the puddle, showing no trace of effort at all). She went to a nearby subway station and effortlessly ran down the stairs (then again, if you had seen her, she seemed to simply float down).
She put in a ticket inside the machine and opened the panels to access the other side of the room, walked through a small tunnel and sat down at a bench, waiting for the train that would take her to Flimsy Station, the station right under the carnival.
The train arrived after a few minutes and she entered it, sitting on an empty chair. To her surprise, the train was rather crowded.
She took a brown-covered book that had no title and opened it. She immersed herself in her reading, her book bag sitting lazily on the chair behind her.
She suddenly felt a flick of air pass by her a bit too quickly, and her book bag was…gone.
She suddenly saw a kid trying to make his way rather quickly to the other side of the compartment.
Getting up, she outstretched her hand.
"Nice try." She said, a rather frightening smile coming on her face. "But you're not going to get away."
The boy suddenly tripped.
Raven yelled:
"Stop that kid! He stole my bag!"
Everybody turned around and a few people held him down. A young man handed her her book bag.
"There you go, young girl. Be more careful from now on."
Raven glared as the man turned around. The kid was let go and stared strangely at Raven. He had tripped on thin air…Raven turned to stay at the kid, who scampered away in fright.
"Whose he calling…little girl…" she growled under her breath.
The train finally arrived at her stop and she got off. Walking up the stairs, ignoring the rush of warm air forcing itself out of the subway because of the pressure, she pushed her short hair off her face before walking across the street. She arrived at the entrance of the carnival.
Time to start another day… a sarcastic thought rang in her mind.
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"So, like dude, you're gonna tell us what the news is?"
Richard, a.k.a Robin, sighed.
Garfield was only wearing his cargo pants and was drinking all the (milk-free) coffee he could find.
Victor eyed BB's cup.
"Um…man…you're gonna die from a bitter caffeine overdose…"
"Nah…This stomach," he patted his stomach in appreciation, "can take anything, 'cept meat."
Robin rolled his eyes.
"Anyways, back to the subject at hand. The reason why I need your help."
"Yeah?" Victor said, frying eggs in a pan.
"You know the old man who took me in? Bruce Wayne?"
"Dude? THE Bruce Wayne?"
"Yeah. Him."
"Like…rich…rich…RICH?"
"Yes BeastBoy."
"Man. You must be loaded."
"Not exactly."
"Huh?"
"Although the press and the mass public have no knowledge of this, Bruce recently lost everything. And he's a little too old to get it back."
"What?" Victor said, "Someone stole from him?"
"Yes and no. They bought out, although not completely legally, quite a bit of his business and his shares. Then they stole from him. And they stole a big amount. Bruce is on the edge of bankruptcy."
"Ouch." Commented Garfield.
"I know who did it though. He's at the head of Slade Inc. I can't get a hold of his real name though. He is completely withdrawn from the public."
"What's Slade Inc do?" asked Victor, curious.
"It's a scientific research company. Electronic, medical…you name it, they work on it. Every scientific breakthrough for the past five years has been thanks to them."
"Now I remember! That's where I got my hologram watch from!" Cyborg said triumphantly.
"You stole it, didn't you?" Richard asked suddenly.
"…"
"HA! He doesn't even deny it!"
"So you must know a little about their facilities."
"Maybe…"
"Thank god." Robin rubbed his eyes. "We're off to a good start. Time's not exactly with us…Bruce has about a month until he loses all his property and it's too late."
"So…you wanna get back what this Slade Inc guy took?" BeastBoy asked.
"Basically."
"So, what do we get out of this?"
Robin suddenly smiled at the two others. Victor and Garfield suddenly cringed at the sudden change of expression on his face. And, also, that the smile was downright evil.
"You really think we're just gonna take back what he stole? We're gonna ruin him. Completely."
The smile that had formed itself on Robin's face now started appearing on the two other's faces.
"Well. Let's get started!" Victor said.
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"Yes. He loves you." Raven invented. She didn't even bother reading her future. This bimbo was getting a little too much on her nerves.
The girl shrieked with happiness. "I knew it!"
"If you already knew why did you come to check with me?"
"Oh…" the girl said, obviously puzzled by the question. "It doesn,t matter! He loves me! He loves me!" Raven watched in disbelief as the girl started dancing a jig.
"Thank you. Come again. Out." Raven said, her voice laced with false sugary sweetness.
The girl left, squealing in delight.
Raven fell on her chair, and elbow resting on the round table, as her hand held her forehead.
"Oh my effin' god…" she said, groaning.
"Bad day huh?"
Raven jumped again.
"Why you?" she groaned again, letting her head fall to bang on the table. The crystal ball quivered under the shock.
"Umm…I owe you money, remember?" said Garfield rather nervously.
It was about three o'clock in the afternoon and Garfield had come to pay Raven.
"I don't want your money remember?" she said in a monotone voice, not raising her head.
"But I'd never live off the shame! Here, I'll put this on the table...and I'll leave…You'll never see me again…ok?"
He left the tent, in a surprising good mood.
Raven, who could almost feel something fishy, raised her head, but he was already gone.
She eyed the twenty dollar bill.
It was folded on itself, so she took it and unfolded it, allowing a piece of paper to drop out.
My name's Garfield Logan, you can reach me anytime at -...PS: You were right about me losing my keys!
Raven stared evenly at the paper, as if trying to burn it with her eyes…
No wonder he had been so cheerful.
"Weirdo." She muttered, stuffing the paper in the book bag at the bottom of her chair.
Honestly, who did this guy think he was? Raven, had she not been the type of girl she was, could have thought him a stalker.
He's not like that. He's just very stupid.
Raven rolled her eyes.
Doesn't matter. I'm never going to see him again.
Then why not destroy the note?
Raven sighed.
Exactly.
Shut up.
Her inward battle was disrupted however, as a tall man in a business suit walked in. Raven stood up.
"Mr. Mod. What are you doing here?" her voice was even, but there was a spark of apprehensive curiosity behind it. Mr. Mod owned the carnival and the circus attached to it.
"You are indeed a newbie, little rabbit," Raven sweat-dropped, "to our family that is this carnival. You joined…in March is it?" Raven nodded.
"Well, you know fully well that this carnival only stays in one city for about two months, and in two weeks, we're moving."
Raven's eyes widened.
"So I shall give you a choice, Miss Raven."
"Which is…?"
"Stay with the circus and move with us…or leave and stay in the city."
Raven didn't answer, but stared at the ground.
"You have 'till tomorrow to give me your answer. Good day, little rabbit-Raven!"
He bowed, talking off his top-hat and walked out of her tent. Mr.Mod was a rather small man, Raven noticed as he left.
"Leave Jump City?" she mused to herself.
Her mind went back to her trailer and the ocean view…from her trailer's window, right next to where her bed was propped up, one had the most amazing view of a sunset. Raven sighed.
The sixteen year old was a native of Gotham, but had moved here with her adopted mother, named Azar, when she was eleven. Azar had disappeared when she was fifteen and Raven managed to keep her disappearance a secret, finished high school, used some money she had saved up to take her driver's license and somehow bought a trailer from a used-car dealer. She had been one year ahead already, so instead of finishing high school at the age of seventeen, she finished it at sixteen.
She was adept in seeing the future, so she filled in a job application to that carnival ('Mad Mod's Amazing Circus and Carnival' and in most people's opinion, the name was very well chosen) and had landed herself a well-paying position as a fortune-teller. Not much of a career, but it was enough to allow Raven to live by herself.
She had never attracted the attention from the government or the authorities about her position. They never knew that this minor was living on her own. Raven managed, because she lived in a trailer, to avoid paying taxes; at least most of the time.
She went outside of her tent for a moment and looked up to the sky.
I don't know what to do now…
I don't have a college education…
I might not be able to find another job…
The prospects that played in Raven's mind sounded rather dim.
I could always use my-
No.
Absolutely not.
She didn't want to be a fortune-teller forever. She wanted a career, she wanted to fulfill her dreams…
She wanted to…
That's enough…
I can't live on dreams. I have to think of the future. What am I going to do?
But nothing came to mind.
"Hey Raven." Saluted a young man who was cleaning up some trash by her tent.
"Hey Freddy."
"What are ya' thinking about?"
"Tell me…are you going to follow the carnival as it moves in a few weeks?"
"My mom works in here…so I suppose so…"
Raven nodded slowly, absent-mindedly.
"I don't know what I'm going to do…Should I go with you or should I stay here and follow other paths…" she said carefully.
Freddy nodded in understanding.
"Well, follow whatever you think feels right."
"Thanks." Raven said, although his advice wasn't very helpful, it was slightly amusing how he tried to help all the same. He made a good janitor.
"Well…things to clean, things to do. See ya!"
Raven said goodbye to Freddy, who was walking the other way.
She went back inside her tent.
I think…I think I know what to do… her mind thought, slightly hesitant.
Raven started packing her things. She was going to close shop early tonight.
As she place the quarts crystal ball carefully in her bag, she spotted the white piece of paper holding the boy with the green hair–Garfield's number.
Pausing a moment, then blinking, she continued to put her things away.
Once outside her tent, she turned around a panel so that it would say 'CLOSED'. She then walked away.
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Dring…driing…
Robin scrambled around, searching each pocket for his cell. Finally finding it in his coat pocket, he opened the flip phone and send into it: "Hello?"
"Hello. Is this Richard?" asked a pleasant, soft female voice.
"Kori! Hi, it's me! How are you?" he said, extremely pleased that it was her.
"I am quite fine. How are you?"
"I'm doing pretty good…" he answered, smiling.
"Would you like to meet somewhere? This evening?"
"You know what..." he paused, "I would really like that. Although not for too long. Where would I meet you?"
"Do you know of Starline Street?"
"Of course." He answered.
"There is a Second Cup Café there. Would you be there around five thirty?" she asked; her voice suddenly timid.
"Absolutely. See you in an hour then."
"Glorious!" her voice radiated with happiness, "I shall see you then!"
"It's a date!" Richard laughed, unknowingly flirting with her again. "See to you soon, Kori."
"You too Richard!"
She hung up before he did, so he closed his phone, thus closing off the connection.
"Who was that?" asked Victor from an other room.
"Someone." Was all Robin answered, but an amazing smile was lighting up his face.
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