Legacy of the Tamaranian
Voyage: Discovery

Raven made her way into the tech room of Titan's Tower. If she was going to go out to try and take her mind off her destiny, she needed a very good disguise. The tech room contained what she needed; the image fakeifier rings like the one Cyborg had used to infiltrate Brother Blood's hive.

Unfastening her cloak, she draped it over a nearby chair and put the two rings together to activate them. A flash of light filled the room, and when it was over, Raven, daughter of Trigon, had disappeared. She was replaced. The girl there had Raven's face, but rather than blue, her hair was a very dark brown. Her skin was no longer gray, but normal: Caucasian skin with the appearance of a thorough tan, perhaps so far as to be called Hispanic. Her clothes became a normal-looking navy tee-shirt with the Latin word Flammadea—Flame Queen—across it in white letters. And the rings projected the image of beige khaki pants around her legs.

In short, she looked like a perfectly normal human. With a chakra. Raven decided to put on a headband to conceal it.

On her way out, Raven grabbed an old jacket that matched her holographic pants. It must have belonged to Terra, she thought.

Unsure of exactly what to do, Raven decided to satisfy her most basic of cravings: ice cream. It had been a while, but she eventually remembered the way to a nearby outdoor ice cream shop. The building that sold the ice cream was on a raised brick platform, and all the tables and benches were arranged on a walled patio beside it, so there was a small measure of privacy.

There were actually quite a few teenagers

Raven ordered what the woman who took her order suggested and sat down in a corner at the far end of the patio. It was September, and the place would be closing up for winter soon, but it was still warm tonight. The ice cream was good and comforting. But it still did not really ever manage to take her mind of Slade and her father. Even when it has seemed she succeeded, she had a random thought about the coldness of the ice cream and contrasted it with the flame's of Slade's new power and the hell her father would make of the earth.

"I'll never escape him," she sighed. And with her ice cream gone, she suddenly had the craving for some real food.

"Bad experience?" a male voice said from beside her. Raven hadn't sensed anyone that close, but now she felt a warm mental presence close. She turned, and behind and to the right of her, was a young man. "Sorry, I just overheard. My name is Trevor. Nice to meet you…" he indicated to Raven.

"Um." Raven blinked. The young man wasn't dressed especial fancy, but he was by no means white trash, nor was he ugly. Raven noticed that there were other girls there, wearing more revealing sexier outfits than her holo-disguise, and in the young man who'd identified himself as Trevor, she sensed no deception or malevolent intentions.

"My name is Rae…" she stammered. "Rachel. I'm Rachel."

"Nice to meet you, Rachel." He smiled. "I like your shirt. Heh."

Raven looked down. "Oh, this?" She smiled faintly. Her emotions MUST be kept under control. Especially now that the runes were in place on her body. She had no idea why she'd chosen that word as her disguise.

"I'm a bit of a Latin nerd," Trevor joked. "So, it's getting kind of cold out here. You interested in some warm food?"

"It depends. You know of any places nearby that serve good soup?" Raven had hoped she could get something to calm her nerves. And of course if she'd read Trevor wrong and he was up to no good, she could stand her own ground. After all, like it or not, she was Trigon's daughter…

oooo

"Are we there yet?" Cyborg complained.

"No." Robin shot back in annoyance.

"YES!" Ragnarok quipped. "I have sunk your battleship!"

Speedy smirked. "Yes, but you have only one hit left on your frigate. And there is only one square left where it can be. E5."

"Aw crud. That's ten games in a row." Collin deactivated the computer Battleship program. "How about something a little faster?"

Speedy skimmed through the selection of games. "Samurai Chipmunk Ninja Combat IV?"

"Oh, you're SO ON!" Collin said.

Starfire was herself getting rather annoyed. They were blasting ever closer to her homeworld, and there was no sign the general mood of the five lightening up. Collin continued to challenge Speedy to games, and Speedy continued to win. Cyborg and had gone in an out of mental standby mode. And there were still four more hours of spaceflight left before Tamaran.

"Robin," she said over the communicator.

"Yeah, Kori?"

"Tim… What do you think has happened to my planet? Do you believe what my sister said?"

"I don't know, Star. She has proven herself a liar in the past. Perhaps she just told you this to unnerve you. I thought you were pretty sure."

"I was, Robin. But… I don't want to be. I wish it were not so. I wish us to go there, and find everything in order."

"So do I," Robin said. "For your sake."

oooo

Two hours later the five were in a bit better spirits after they had stopped and stretched and a Thanagarian SpaceWay convenience store. Of course Thanagarian food wasn't quite human safe, but Starfire had eaten it up. Ever since the Thanagarians had tried to destroy earth for a hyperspace express lane a few months back, they had decided to go out of their way to aid the earthers to make up for that terrible mistake, and had requested some Earth-food imported for the rest of the group post-haste.

"So, I've been thinking," Speedy said, "That I really ought to change my alias. I mean, people constantly mistake me for a Speed Force user, or they think that Mas and Menos are me."

"Hm…" Robin ventured, "Well. You have an arsenal of arrows and wear read armor. How about the Red Arrow?"

"No, I can't. The Green Arrow would sue."

"Hm." Now Collin spoke. "You have an arsenal of arrows… and you keep them in a quiver. How about 'Quiver'?"

"Sounds too much like I'm scared to death."

Cyborg tried now, "Let's see. You have an arsenal of arrows, and you shoot them accurately. How' bout… 'Marksman'?"

"I like it," Speedy said. "But I think it's taken… Wait a minute… Arsenal of arrows… why not just ARSENAL?"

"Friend Roy, That is a most marvelous new alias!" Starfire chimed in. "You shall now be Arsenal!"

"w00t!" Ragnarok said. "Thank you, man. Speedy is such a retarded name."

Cyborg sighed. "Are we there yet?"

oooo Back on Earth oooo

The Obstinate Nickel wasn't an excessively high-class restaurant, but it wasn't Ma and Pa's Bean Barn either. So it surprised Raven a bit when Trevor led her there. After about five minutes, the two got a table. They passed that time with small talk, but by the time their food was there, they had moved on to more serious topics.

"So, who is this guy you're trying to escape from? If you don't want to tell me that's OK."

"I… I have some problems with my father," she told him. "He wants me to do very bad things. Things I don't want to do." Why am I opening up to him? Shut up, Rae! Don't tell him anything…

But he seems so… honest.

"Ah, I know how that feels," he said sympathetically.

Raven smiled lightly. "I doubt it."

"I have problems with my father too. Well, not like yours, I suppose. My father actually wants me to do great things. He wants me to become a doctor, save lives. But it just doesn't interest me. You know. You have to be committed to be a doctor, and I'm not. I'd rather travel. That's what brought me to Jump City. Well, that and my big sister's spare bedroom."

"Oh."

Trevor laughed.

"What is it, Raven asked?"

"Oh, nothing… I just… I thought you were angsting over a boyfriend or something."

"I… I'm not allowed to have boyfriends," Raven said. She would not allow herself to have one. Too much baggage.

Trevor seemed hurt by this. "What about just friends?"

"I have friends," she told him. The Titans. They were her friends. Her only friends. They were outcasts with strange powers, just like here. They understood her. So why did she still refuse to tell them about her father? Or was that too weird even for them?

"So, Rachel," Trevor smiled. "It's late, I need to get going. You have a last name?"

Raven felt like panicking, but refused. Panic was another emotion—something that could hurt people. Something that could trigger her powers. Or open the portal she was born to be. She glanced down, and around, looking for something to give her a clue..

Her soup was mostly gone, so she took a drink of the broth quickly, to stall for time…

Broth… No, that was stupid.

Roth... Perfect.

"Roth," she said.

"Rachel Roth?" Trevor parroted. "That's pretty."

Raven stifled a facevault. Now she was sure of it: this guy was in love with her! That… couldn't happen!

"Thanks," she said nervously.

Trevor sat back down, "Bah, I have a key. My sister can wait. Actually, to be truthful, I am thinking about leaving the town altogether. All the costumed freaks in this town attracting more costumed freaks wanting to blow up the world. I heard some orphan girl who could move rocks with her mind attacked a while back and almost blew the place up before it was over. I just can't live in a place like that."

Raven stared wide eyed at him in horror. "Trevor, we… I can't believe…"

"I know, I get this reaction from everyone. 'The Teen Titans are our heroes, they save the town!'" He rolled his eyes. "I even hear fanboys go on about how hot the alien babe is."

Raven gave him the Glare™, "What about Raven?"

"He's the one that can change into animals, right?" Trevor said. "I haven't heard much from fangirls."

Raven would have facevaulted if she weren't in such a bad mood.

"Anyway, I need to be going. Here's my number," he said handing her a piece of paper. "I enjoyed this evening. If you want to meet again, and all."

"Sure thing," Raven said. It was all she could muster while still controlling. her conflicting emotions. This is why she never went out! She felt like kicking herself. Getting involved like this. A definite bad decision. And it was certainly not a sure thing…

Raven paid for the food with the money Trevor had left, and headed out. When her holo-guise abruptly vanished, at first Raven thought perhaps the ring's battery died, but when she saw that the entire thing completely failed to function she got suspicious. Suddenly, a loud crash of thunder resounded through the area along with a bright flash. And when Raven could see again, Thunder and Lighting stood in front of her. "You guys." Raven said.

"Ah. Raven," Lightning's grating voice returned. He held his arm out towards a nearby building and fired a bolt. "Let's have some fun, brother."

And thunder attacked a nearby car, decimating it.

"What are you two doing! I thought you both realized your fun was dangerous and wrong."

"Oh, they did. Did they ever!" said a new voice. A voice all too similar to Slade's. But still somehow different. More youthful, lighter "But then, I got a hold of them."

"Who…?"

And suddenly a figured clad in blue armor that bore an eerie resemblance to Slade's landed. Where he had jumped from, Raven knew not.

"Call me Ravager," the figured in cerulean armor said. "And I'm here to avenge what you freaks did to my father…"

"You shorted out my disguise, didn't you." Raven said. She was really just stalling for time. She couldn't read the mind of the man through his helmet—it must have been made of something pretty heavy-duty.

"Yes," he answered in his so-Slade-like voice. "I'm sure the EMP also shorted out whatever form of communicator you may have been carrying."

Raven quickly decided to send out an empathic impression to Gar and Impulse, and tried to find Mas and Menos. Come quick guys, she thought at them. I need your help. If for no other reason than not knowing what she was up against.

oooo

Space returned to normal outside the cockpit of the T-Ship. They had arrived.

"Oh please, X'hal, no!" Starfire yelled as they came into orbit. Tamaran was there. With a huge smoldering crater near the equator.

Right where the capital had been.

"Are there any life readings?" Cyborg asked somberly.

"I can't tell. Too much radiation interference. Perhaps the city was evacuated, Star."

Starfire didn't even hear him though. She was too busy crying.

Grant Wilson is indeed Slade's son in the comics. His accidental death at the hands of the Titans is what prompted Slade to take a contract on them in the first place. When I get to the Trigon arc, there will be an interesting twist on this tidbit, so don't forget poor Grant!