Gotham City Concerto
A Teen Titans Fan Fiction by Jacob McDonald
Opening Notes: For a filler chapter, this one sure is long. A little over 13,700 words. That's a lot of words to put down and not really advance the plot any further. But it's also one of those chapters that needs to be done. Many important points that will developed into future plots are introduced, and a few key elements in relationship building between the characters is explored. This chapter bumps Tara's Story out as my least favorite to write. Still, it has it's moments, and can guarantee a few good laughs. Reposted because I forgot to mention Jinx in the chapter preview for next time. Oops.
Standard disclaimers apply. I don't own Teen Titans, but I sure do write about them a lot.
Chapter 9 - Trials and Tribulations
"Parkson, Laural!"
"Present, Sir!"
"Presly, John!"
"Present, Sir!"
"Regent, Hank!"
"Present, Sir!"
"Ringwald, Joshua!"
"Presnet, Sir!"
"Roth, Raven!"
The violet haired girl wearing the police academy uniform stood in line with the rest of the newly arrived trainees, her head held high, and her body standing at ridged attention. This was her new start. This was where she would prove she had what it took to be a real cop. This was her new life.
Would they except her? Would she be given a hard time for being a former Titan? Would they try to disgrace her, or make an example out of her?
The only solution was to not give them a reason to. She'd just have to be perfect. She would be the best damn cop Jump City had ever seen.
With all this pouring through her mind in a split second, the nineteen year old cadet bellowed out her affirmative.
"Present, Sir!"
"This isn't a summer camp, or some namsy pamsy weekend retreat, Worms. And I call you that because that's what you are. Worms!" Drill Sergeant Blake Willows shouted as he paced back and forth in front of the thirty-five assembled cadets in this class of the academy. "You're the lowest of the low right now! But by God when I'm done with you, you'll be ready for anything these streets can throw at you. Muggers, robbers, murderers... hell, even zombies wont be a problem for you!" No one laughed, "When I'm through with you, you'll be able to look a 'super villain' in the eye and make them piss themselves." he paused in his march and stared at a shorter girl in the middle row of cadets, "You think you can handle that, Cadet Roth?"
"Sir! Yes, Sir!" she bellowed in response.
"Did I say you could talk, cadent?" Raven's eye twitched, but this time she remained silent, "Well?" he shouted, "Answer me, damnit!"
"No, Sir!"
"What was that? I don't think I heard that right."
"Sir! No, Sir you did not give me permission to talk, Sir!"
"Then why did you talk, Cadet Roth?"
"Sir! You asked a question, Sir! I assumed you wanted an answer, Sir!"
"Oh, you assumed... well, Cadet Roth, you'll soon find out that on the real police force, we don't assume things. We wait until we have cold, hard facts to back us up before we go off and let thousands of people die."
Raven fought to keep her Rage at bay, and simply stared straight ahead as Sergeant Willows resumed his pacing, "You will all retire to your bunks now. Woman in bunk house A, men in bunk house B. Dinner is served at 6:00 PM precisely, and lights out is no later than 9:00. You will be mustered at this exact spot, after cleaning your bunks in the morning at 6:00 AM. Be dressed in the supplied workout uniform, and be prepared to sweat off at least ten pounds." Willows took a moment to glare at all of them, "Dismissed."
As one, the group turned and marched in a rather disorganized fashion to the bunk houses.
"Jesus, what a hard case..." Raven looked to her right as she slung her bag down to her lower bunk bed. A rather spunky looking girl with pixy short blonde hair was tossing her own bag on the top bunk above Raven's, "Sarge Willows needs to get a woman."
"He's married." Raven replied in an emotionless tone and began pulling out the supplies she'd be living off of for the next month.
"How do you know?" the blonde asked.
"He was wearing a ring."
The other girl blinked once, "Oh. Hey, my name's Heather. Heather Moxon. You can call me Moxie."
"Pleased to meet you Moxie." Raven nodded to her, "Better start unpacking. We don't want to miss diner. Keep things neat so it's easier to clean."
"Okay... aren't you going to tell me your name? It's kind of the polite thing to do..."
"Are you even from Jump City?" Raven stood up and stared at her.
"Born and raised." Moxie puffed her chest out in pride.
"And no time in the past five years have you seen my face on TV, or witnessed a battle in the middle of down town I was fighting in?"
Moxie fidgeted, "But... it's polite... and I figured you'd want a little bit of normality to your life now that you're not a Titan..."
"My name is Raven Roth. I'm nineteen and I want to be a cop so I can help those in need, and serve my city again, in a legal manner this time." she smiled at the blonde, "That better?"
"Yeah!" Moxie pumped a fist in the air, "That's the spirit! I'm Moxie, like I said, and I'm twenty. I want to be a cop because it's the only thing I've ever wanted to do! My Mom wanted me to go to collage, and I tried it for a few semesters, but this is just... so much cooler. I want to help people, and take down criminals, and-"
"Moxie?" Raven interrupted her.
"Yeah?"
"Do you ever stop talking?"
Moxie stared, "Sometimes."
"Can you do it now?" Raven chuckled a little.
"Oh. Yeah, I guess."
Raven smiled at her and patted her arm, "Unpack."
"Right." and they set about getting out their things. Raven stashed her toiletries and other essentials in the drawer provided her next to their bunk, which was situated in the back of the bunk house, all the way to the left. Around them, other woman were unpacking things as well.
After fifteen minuets of silence, Moxie looked over as Raven sat a framed picture on top of the two drawer unit they shared. It was a recent photo of herself, Jason, and Kylee, all smiling and packed together on the couch of their apartment. She smiled at it and glanced over at Moxie, "My man and my foster child. Jason and Kylee."
"That's a pretty name!" Moxie grinned and placed her own framed picture next to it. It was of a young girl, no older than three, who was grinning up at the camera from where she lay on the floor coloring in a coloring book.
"You're sister?" Raven looked closer. The little girl looked almost exactly like Moxie.
"Nope. That's my daughter." Moxie giggled, "My little angel, Ophelia."
Raven paused and turned to her, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend or anything-"
"Don't worry about it. Lot's of people are a little shocked that I had a kid when I was only seventeen. She's my everything though, and I wouldn't trade her for the world."
"I know the feeling. Kylee's not even really my daughter, and I've only known her for three months, but already I feel like I wouldn't know what to do without her in my life."
"She loose her parents in the zombie attack?" Moxie looked saddened.
Raven nodded, "She was right in the middle of it... I found her wandering in the mess of bodies after the fight was over and took her in. All that carnage... I've been helping her work past it with..." she trailed off and looked away, "With my powers." she finished.
"What all can you do?" Moxie perked up right away, "I've never met a real meta before!"
"I'm not exactly metahuman." Raven shook her head, "I'm more... half human, half extra-dimensional being of untold power." she smiled weakly, "Telekinesis is one of my major abilities, as well as the use of magic. I'm a fairly powerful empath as well."
"Like, mind reading?"
"More like emotion reading. Though I've been picking up snippets of thoughts recently too... I might be developing telepathy as I get older and more practiced."
"That's so cool." Moxie grinned broadly, "What am I feeling right now?"
Raven arched an eyebrow, "You're excited. I don't need empathy to tell you that."
"Well I am! I've wanted to be a cop for like, ever! And my bunk mate is a former Titan! How cool is that?"
"I'm here to be a cop, not a Titan." Raven shook her head, "The Titans are done and gone. I'm moving on."
"Right on. Moving forward!" Moxie pointed to the doors, "Onward! To dinner!"
Raven laughed and they walked out.
Twilight was coming to the park as Kylee jumped up to avoid Jenny's sweep kick. She landed awkwardly, but maintained her footing as the pink haired girl came in again, "Concentrate, Kylee!" Jenny demanded, and Kylee redoubled her efforts.
Jenny continued to throw easy to dodge sweeps and punches in random patterns until she was satisfied that Kylee could dodge them all. She stepped back quickly and bowed. Kylee bowed back, much lower that she did, as a sign of respect.
"We're just about done for the day." Jenny rolled her neck, "Study the books I told you to, and I'll be at your place at around eight tomorrow."
"Okay..." Kylee brushed some sweat off her brow, "Hey, Jenny?"
"Yeah?"
"How's Raven doing?"
Jenny smiled down at her then turned to face the North. She concentrated on the link she had with the purple haired girl and squinted in concentration, "She's... content. A little agitated, but content."
"Okay." the little brunet nodded with a smile, "Thanks."
"Not a problem." Jenny ruffled her hair, "So when are you going to see this Bart kid again?"
"Next Tuesday..." Kylee blushed, "We're going to start our math summer work."
"Sounds like this is going to be a regular thing... you know I can't get you over there like Raven can."
"That's okay. We talked about it, and he can run to my place in like, four seconds or something crazy like that." she shrugged, "It's more convenient."
"Sweet." Jenny smiled and they started walking to the apartment in question, "You going to cook for Jason tonight?"
"I can't hardly cook to save my soul. No, we'll be living off boxed diners and Ego Waffles for the next month."
"I'd say that I'd teach you to cook too, but I suck at it, really. I've never been any good at girly things."
"Hmm." Kylee nodded and looked up at her for a moment, then away.
"What's up?" Jenny looked concerned suddenly.
"You know when we were working on building meditative power flow today?"
"Yeah. What about it?"
"Well... ever since my abilities woke up, I've been able to sense life energies, and magical signatures in stuff... um..." she looked back up at Jenny, "Why didn't I feel any power inside of you?"
Jenny stopped dead in her tracks and stared at Kylee. The younger girl looked back at her with a horrified expression, "Oh no! Jenny, I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories! I just-"
"I can't cast anymore." Jenny finally said, looking down at the side walk, "When I used the Staff of the Arcana, and the Libris Mortis to bring Tara back from her petrified state, we both had to make a sacrifice. She gave up five years of her life, and I gave up my magic."
"Oh no... Jenny..."
"It's okay! I can still fight, and my ability to alter probability is still there... I can't throw hex bolts or anything, but I can make a die roll snake eyes every time, or a can of paint tip over and spill on someone..." she trailed off, "Not that it matters. I'm not a Titan anymore, even if I was one briefly a few months ago. I'll be fine."
"But... your magic..."
"I can still teach you quite a bit, Kylee." Jenny assured her, "Just because I don't have the talent any more, doesn't mean I don't have the knowledge."
"I know..." Kylee blushed, "I guess I just want you to know that I don't care... you're still one of my best friends." and she hugged the former sorceress.
"Thanks, kid." Jenny hugged her back as they stopped outside the apartment, "Thanks."
"Sniper behind you, dude."
"Thanks man." Vic whirled his aim around in the video game in front of him and blasted the hell out of the sniper. Sitting next to him, Gar leveled a small battalion of enemy soldiers with a rocket launcher.
"Nothing beats a round of Guts of Glory after a hard days work." Vic grinned, "You think these punks would learn that they can't beat Team Titan."
Gar snorted in laughter. The Gamestation Live connection allowed them to play with other people over a network, but the two of them were hopelessly competitive when it came to games, and they shot each other almost as often as they shot the enemy, "Dude, we've lost like, seven times in a row."
"Yeah, but we haven't been beaten." Vic grinned, "Take that, rebel scum." and he opened up with a sub-machine gun.
"So how're things at the lab? Still having trouble with the power plant for the prosthetics?"
"Yeah... I hate to say it, but Robin designed a pretty damn good core for the Zynothium. It's relatively stable, and it powers even my systems on just a tiny bit of it." he shook his head as he got nailed and respawned, "The only problem is the government regulation of the stuff. We can't seem to convince the Department of Environmental Affairs that it's safe."
"Is there a way to stabilize it further?"
"I've been working on it, but Zynothium is a highly complex ore. It's synthetic, and we have it well mapped, but it still takes a while to search every isotope and reconfigure it to be more stable."
"Bummer. Hey, I fed a lion today." Gar got hit as well, "Damn."
"Smart ass. That's what you get."
"Is it just me, or is civilian life really boring?"
"Not having enough sex? With Jen around I'm surprised you can even get up and go to work in the mornings."
"We have plenty of sex, dude, it's just..." he sighed and set down his controller, letting himself get capped once again, but not continuing when the screen prompted him to do so, "I watched the news last night."
Vic sighed and turned off the Gamestation, "What'd you see that got you so upset?"
Gar looked away, "The usual. Murder. Destruction. Rape. You know... all those things that make human civilization great." he shook his head and sat back, closing his eyes, "It just makes me wish I was out there. Stopping it."
Vic nodded, "I know how you feel... I don't like just sitting here when we could be making a difference."
Gar sat up and slammed his fists down on the coffee table in front of them, "Damnit! Why do we sit around and not do anything?" he scowled, "If Robin were still here..." Trailing off, he squinted his eyes shut and willed away the tears that threatened to spill over, "Why'd he have to die?"
"He didn't... he was reckless, going after the Joker alone like he did-"
"Don't you fucking say it, Vic-"
"He shouldn't have gone without Batman-"
"I wont let you badmouth him now! Not after he risked so much for us-"
"Gar, he died because he wasn't thinking about us at all! He wasn't thinking about Starfire, or the Titans, or anyone but himself!"
"Robin wouldn't have charged off to fight like that if he hadn't been certain he could win! Something must have happened in that fight to-"
"Listen to yourself! Robin made mistakes, man! He wasn't perfect, and he wasn't a God! He died because he was being foolhardy and reckless and-"
"You listen to me!" Gar shouted, standing up and yelling in Vic's face, "You say one more thing against Dick about how he was acting all stupid and that's what got him killed, and you're not welcome in this apartment anymore!"
As Vic's robotic eye flared red and Gar growled up at him, the door swung open and Jenny strolled in, humming to herself in a happy manner. She stopped when she saw the two of them glaring at one another, "What the hell is going on?"
"Nothing." Vic scowled down at Gar, "I was just on my way out." he stalked over to the door and stormed out, "See ya Jen."
He slammed the door as he left, and Jenny turned back to Gar, "What the hell was that all about?"
"Nothing." Gar shook his head and walked for the hallway, "I'm going to get a shower."
"Okay... have you heard from Tara at all?"
"She left to go meet Brian for their little surveillance thing tonight." he said over his shoulder, "She prolly wont be back until late."
"Right..." Jenny shook her head, "I'll order Chinese..." and she walked to the phone as the water in the bathroom started running.
Raven wolfed down her mostly unrecognizable food in silence as she and Moxie sat together in the Mess Hall. Moxie poked at the gray lump and muttered, "What do you think it is?"
"Nutritious." Raven replied between bites, "It'll give you the energy you need to make it through the day. I suggest you eat up."
"Can't be any worse than baby food..." Moxie shrugged and dug in, wincing only slightly at the taste.
"I've never tasted baby food." Raven grinned, "I got my girl already grown up. She's thirteen in a few months."
"Oh, you're missing out!" Moxie grinned back, "They're best when they're little! All innocent and cute... I'm sure Kylee's a great girl, but nothing compares to holding your own bundle of joy and singing her to sleep..." Moxie sighed, "I miss those days. Ophie is 'to big for that now.'" she quoted with a cute face.
Raven laughed, "They do grow up fast, that's for sure. Just the other day, Kylee stood up to a dork in a hulking red power suit who was trying to crush her!"
Moxie blinked at her, "Are you serious?"
"Oh, um... yeah..." Raven looked over the blonde's shoulder and arched an eyebrow.
Moxie turned and looked just in time to see two large, beefy, male cadets stroll over and take seats on either side of their table, one sitting next to Raven, the other sitting next to her. She looked back at Raven and shrugged.
"We noticed you two ladies were eating all alone over here, and decided you could use some companionship." one of them said. He had light red hair and a broad jaw, with scars decorating his lower arms.
The other meat head spoke up, "Yeah. Can't have the two hottest girls in our class get lonely now, can we?" He was a slight bit taller than his friend, but just as beefy. His brown hair was cropped short in a military style, and he had a large tattoo on his left forearm of a flaming skull.
"Oh, we're not lonely at all!" Moxie bounced in her seat and shot a mischievous look at Raven, who blinked, "We were just getting to know each other. What're you two guys names?"
The red head spoke, "I'm Dan, and this is Barry." he nodded to his friend, "And you are?"
"I'm Heather, but you can call me Moxie, like everyone else. This is-"
"Raven." Barry said, "Yeah, we know. The Titan chick."
"Why does everyone call me that?" Raven looked cross, "The Titans are done and gone. That's why I'm trying to be a cop."
"That's cool! That's cool!" Dan held up his hands, "We can respect that you know? Me, I'm training to do this 'cause I found out how good I am at it. These scars are from all the zombies I killed when the city was under attack."
"Yeah." Raven looked down at her food, "I remember that day too."
"We all do." Moxie said in a cheerful voice, "But it's behind us, and we're in the here and now! What can we help you boys with?"
"Well..." Dan leered at her from where he sat next to her, "I hear we're allowed out on the town a few times while we're here... how's about you and me go out on a date, Moxie?"
"Well! I'm single, so I don't see why not!" Moxie squealed, "That'd be great! Oh, and we could stop by my place for a bit so I can check on Ophie!"
"That your cat?" Dan grinned, "I like cats."
"No, silly! Ophelia is my daughter!" Moxie laughed and ignored the suddenly horrified look on his face, "You know, she like's strong men! You'd be a great dad I bet!"
"Yeah, that reminds me," Raven was catching on now, "I'll have to get a hold of Jason while I'm here. Maybe he and my little girl can meet us somewhere?" she looked at Moxie in an excited manner.
"Yeah! I'll bet Kylee will love to play with Ophie!"
"Well, you know how teenagers are!" Raven and Moxie laughed at that, and Dan and Barry stood up quickly.
"Uh, nice meeting you two girls..." Barry ducked his head and ran.
Dan looked nervous, "Um, yeah... we'll see you at PT tomorrow." and he too fled.
The girls watched them go for a moment, then burst out laughing.
Jason was just finishing washing the dishes when Kylee came running out into the living room. She looked around for a moment before she spotted him, then ran over to him, "Jason! I need your help!" she looked frightened.
"What?" he got a serious look on his face, "What's wrong?"
"There's a spider in my room!"
Silence fell over the apartment for a full fifteen seconds while the two stared at each other, then Jason bust out laughing. Kylee stamped her foot and looked angry, "What?"
"You can stand up to a guy in a huge mecha suit armed with laser cannons, but you can't step on a damn spider?" he slapped his thigh and leaned on the counter to support himself as he almost fell over.
"It's a really big nasty one!" Kylee kicked his shin.
"Ow!"
"Now come help me kill it!"
"Okay... okay. Where's this big, bad spider?"
Kylee led him down the hall, then pointed into her room, towards the far wall, "There it is."
Jason stepped into the room and looked at the wall, "I don't-" he spotted it, "Whoa." The spider was indeed, huge. It's leg span was almost six inches, it was covered in hair, and it moved in that slow creepy way that large hairy spiders do. "Is that a freakin' tarantula?"
"I don't know, but I want it out of my room." Kylee sounded adamant out it.
"No kidding." Jason looked around, "Maybe I can-" he reached for a heavy book, but just before he could lay a hand on it, the large spider hissed and sprang off the wall, landing on his head with fangs flying.
"Fucking hell!" he shouted, and stumbled back, Kylee diving out of the way and screaming.
Jenny and Gar were laughing together, "So then, the guy asks if we have any 'Art Books' since we didn't carry porn mags!" Gar snorted as Jenny finished the story, "So I said to him, 'Sorry dude! Closest thing we have are Nora Roberts books!"
They burst into laughter for several minutes, then calmed down. Gar shook his head, "That wasn't even that funny."
"I know. You think Tara is alright?"
"She's fine." Gar smiled at his girlfriend, "She's with X. What could go wrong?"
Cybrog rubbed his head as Sarah scolded him, "You can't just walk out on your friends like that, Vic!" she was moving about the kitchen, cleaning up dinner in an agitated manner, "Gar's sensitive about Robin's death, you know that! He cried himself to sleep over it for days after it happened! I'm surprised he didn't break down in front of all of us he was so broken up!"
"That doesn't change the fact that Dick was being foolhardy and-"
"You don't know that, though!" Sarah walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, "I know he didn't have the best track record, but can't you give him the benefit of the doubt?"
"I guess... I just... he should still be here. We need him more than we ever thought we did." he sighed and looked up at the ceiling, "Tara is off with Red-X tonight, doing God knows what, Gar and Jenny are clinging to each other for dear life, Raven is going to freakin' cop school, Jason doesn't know what to do with himself since he's been a hero for as long as he can remember, and Starfire is going berserk out in Gotham, if you listen to the news... she's violent, and destructive. Blew off the top of a building last month." Vic looked back at his girlfriend, "We're flying apart. Our friendships can't handle this situation."
"You're a strong bunch, Vic. You'll pull through."
"Eternally optimistic. Heh." he wrapped his arms around her, "Come here."
She giggled as he kissed her, "Now who's being optimistic?" she pulled away, "I have a test to study for."
"So? I have ground breaking scientific experiments to make. Doesn't mean I don't take time out for a good make out session." He shrugged.
"Keep dreaming, Victor Stone." Sarah winked at him and made sure to sway her hips all the way to her desk in the living room.
Jason and Kylee were sitting in the living room on the couch.
Kylee shook her head as she held a hand over the puncture wounds on Jason's right arm. A soft white glow surrounded the wound, and the venom from the spider was pulled out in small green drops as he winced in pain.
"You just had to grab the thing, didn't you?"
"I was on my freakin' head, Kylee. What did you expect me to do? Kiss it?"
"You could have swatted it away..."
"What the hell was a spider that big doing here anyway?" Jason scratched the back of his head with a frown, "I mean... that thing was huge. How'd it get in here?"
"Who knows..." Kylee pulled her hand away and slumped down on the sofa, "There. All done."
"Thanks, kid. You going to be alright?"
"Just a little tiered is all. Healing is easier than casting spells, but it's still draining."
"Just don't over do it." he smirked, "How would I explain it to Raven if she came home and her little girl was dead from having to heal me too much?"
"You can't die from healing someone..." Kylee rolled her eyes.
"Raven did." Jason noted, "She healed Jenny and died as a result."
"She died?" Kylee arched an eyebrow.
"Yeah. Gar and Jenny got into her mind and brought her back though."
"Okay... no more Titan stories tonight. I'm too exhausted to try and figure out what the hell you're talking about."
"You curse too much now..."
"Learned it from you and Raven."
"Only us?"
"Jenny only taught me the really bad words." Kylee grinned.
"Oh, joy. We're going to get teachers calling us and telling us that our kid is cussing out the other students when the school year starts."
Kylee giggled.
"Pssst! Raven! Are you asleep?"
Raven rolled her eyes as Moxie's head dropped down from the top bunk to stare at her. The bouncy girls bright blue eyes shown in the darkness.
"Of course I'm not asleep." Raven growled, "You've been tossing and turning up there for the past two hours."
"Sorry... hey, do you think they'll be working us very hard?"
"Yes. This is a training school meant to make us into effective officers. With the staggering losses the force took during the attack by the Cursed Dead, they're shunting us through faster, and making us full officers sooner, but that doesn't mean they wont ride us just as hard." Raven let her eyes glow momentarily, "Now go to sleep, please?"
"I'm worried about Ophie." the luminescent blue eyes wavered, "We've never been apart for this long before..."
Raven sighed and reached out with her soul-self. A black mist encircled Moxie's head for a moment, then faded. The blonde girl blinked.
"Thanks... I... I don't... feel anything..."
"I 'ate' your fears." Raven replied, "A new talent. Now sleep, Heather. We have a busy day tomorrow."
The next day, Raven ran at the head of the pack of cadets with ease, barely breaking a sweat. Even though she hadn't been on active duty for several months, she was still in far superior shape than the rest of her fellow trainees. For them, this was the greatest adventure of their lives.
For her, this was just a cursory exam.
"Good hustle, Roth." Sarge Willows ran just ahead of her, leading the group in their laps around the training yard, also barely breaking a sweat. For a man in his fifties, he was in exceptional shape, "We'll make a cop out of you yet."
"Yes Sir." Raven replied.
Days seemed to fly past to the former Titans, even as it seemed to crawl by for Raven. While she was training hard to become a cop, they were working and living the lives of normal people.
Gar went about his job as a zoo keeper, feeding animals and making sure they stayed healthy.
Jenny sold books at work, and trained Kylee in almost all of her free time.
Kylee herself trained with Jenny, hung out with Bart, and read when she found a quiet moment.
Jason worked his construction job, helped Kylee with homework, and tended the house while Raven was away.
Victor worked at STAR Labs, helped Sarah with her homework, and saw his friends on a regular basis.
Tara was still unaccounted for, but an e-mail from Brian has assured them that she was okay.
They all lived as if they were normal citizens of Jump City.
The only problem with their lives was that when it came down to it, they weren't normal, and it was only a matter of time before things started to go wrong.
And as it's prone to, things went South almost all at once.
"Alright scum. This is it. Where we separate the cops from the civies." Sarge Willows glared around at the gathered cadets in the Academy gymnasium, "Hand to hand combat is one of the police officers greatest assets. In most situations, you wont be able to use your gun to apprehend a suspect. You'll have to take them down by force; and that usually entails a little bit of a scuffle." Willows paced back and forth in front of the group, "Now I'm not here to teach you any fancy martial arts, and I don't expect any of you to be able to take on a pro boxer any time soon in a fair bout. What I'm here to teach you is how to take a man down, no matter what the situation. I'm gonna teach you to fight dirty.
"Now I know you big guys think you have this section aced hands down. That's not true; sometimes you run into an unexpected problem out in the field. Like a little girl that can kick your ass to hell and back." he paused and glared at the tall red headed man in the back row of cadets, "You think this is funny, MacMason?"
The man in question was Dan, the beefy jock who had tried to hit on Raven and Moxie the first day of training. He wore a large grin, "No Sir."
"Then what's the shit eating grin for, if I may ask?"
"I just can't think of any little girls that can beat my ass, Sir."
"Really?" Willows motioned him forward, "In the ring, son. Cadet Roth!"
"Sir!" Raven stepped forward.
"Whoop MacMason in under ten seconds and I'll let you sit out the rest of hand to hand training."
"Yes Sir." Raven stepped into the ring and faced the tall, beefy man, "Sorry about this, Dan but orders are orders."
"I'm not too worried. Titan or not, I'm twice your size, girl."
Raven just stood in front of him while he raised his fists into a rough boxing stance. Willows blew a sharp report on his whistle, and Dan charged in.
When he was close enough, Raven leapt into the air and planted a hand on his shoulder. Rolling over his head in a tight ball, she lashed out in mid-air with her right foot, catching him in the back of the skull. As he stumbled forward, Raven landed on the ground, and spun about with her left leg, sweeping his feet out from under him. He landed hard on his back, and she was on him in a heart beat, her elbow pressed to his neck.
"That's it!" Willows shouted, and Raven was off of Dan in a heart beat, standing at attention once again, "Winner, Roth! In three seconds." The Sergeant nodded to her, "Just what I would expect from someone who trained under Robin."
"Thank you Sir."
"Go ahead and hit the showers, Roth. You can use the time we're at hand to hand to brush up on your studies."
"Yes Sir." and Raven turned on her heel and marched off, the class of cadets following her with wide eyes.
"Jason?" Kylee walked into the living room and held up a section of the newspaper, "Check this out!"
"Hmm?" the red headed former Titan looked over from where he was seated on the couch watching TV, "What's that?"
"There's going to be a meteor shower tonight! Can we watch it?"
"I don't see why not... we'll have to get somewhere we can see it though. The light from the city will block out most of it." he thought for a second, "We'll check out the hills outside of town. It's wooded, but there's bound to be a clearing somewhere we can see from."
"Awesome! Can Bart come?"
"No."
"What?" Kylee's mouth dropped open, "Why not?"
"Because I talked to Max last Tuesday and I happen to know Bart's in Keystone City right now, training with the Flash."
"Oh." Kylee blinked, "Guess it's just you and me, huh?"
"We can see if the others want to go."
"Great! I'll call around!" and she bounced off to find the phone.
Jason watched her go, then smiled to himself, "She's getting better... thank God."
"Sorry Kylee..." Vic said as he spoke into his arm phone, "Any other night I'd say yes, but I'm so close to a breakthrough on this power supply problem, and I want to see if I can finish it up tonight."
"That's okay, Vic. I'll tell you all about it soon."
"Thanks kid. I'll see you later, okay?"
"Sure! Bye!" and Kylee hung up.
Vic smiled, "She's such a great kid..." he muttered, and stepped out the door of STAR Labs. It was lunch time, and he was hungry.
Well, he was always hungry, but that didn't stop it from being lunch time.
As he strolled down the street, Vic reflected on the argument he'd had with Gar just a few weeks ago. Robin had always been headstrong and reckless, and charging into a building full of high explosives to catch the Joker seemed just like something he'd do. On the other hand, he'd also had Starfire and some other kid to worry about, and he'd seemed so much more mellow before he'd taken off for Gotham.
Was he wrong to be a little angry at Robin for getting himself killed just when the Titans needed him most? A little anger was justified to him, and Gar preaching about how they should only remember the good parts of Robin didn't seem fair to their former leader's memory.
Vic was pulled out of his deep thoughts by the sounds of shouting ahead of him. Looking up across the crowded sidewalks of downtown Jump City, he saw a man standing in front of a jewelry store, a sack of stolen merchandise in one hand, and a gun in the other. He was holding a young clerk from store with the gun to her head, and screaming something.
"Anybody calls the cops and she gets it!" he whirled around and glared at anyone who might have a cell phone, "I mean it! I'll blow her fuckin' brains out!"
Vic frowned and stepped up, pushing his way through the crowd, "Yo! What's your damage, man?"
The robber spun about, and seeing a large man walking towards him, pointed the gun, and shot him in the heart.
Vic stopped and looked down at his chest. A smoking bullet was lodged in his titanium armor, having neatly blown a hole in his suit.
"Hey!" he looked back up, suddenly angry, "Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a suit that'll fit me? This shit's expensive man!" His hand shot off and grabbed the thief's gun, crushing it in his hand. A cable connected Vic's hand to his body still, and he retracted it quickly, causing the man to loose his grip on his hostage.
"Now say you're sorry!" Vic growled as he crushed the man's hand further and forced him to his knees.
"I'm sorry!" the man howled, "I'm sorry I ruined your suit!"
"And the jewelry?"
"I'll give it all back! Here!" and the robber tossed the sack to the stunned clerk, who caught it in fumbling hands.
"Good." Vic smiled, yanked the man to his feet, and slugged him in the face, sending him crashing back to the ground, unconscious.
The crowd around him burst into applause and cheers, and Vic rubbed the back of his head, "Thanks, folks. Just helping out, you know?"
"You! Cyborg!" Vic turned as a cop came running up, "What do you think you're doing?"
"Just helping out!" he held his hands up in a defensive manner, "I defused the situation before it could escalate out of control."
"You're not a Titan anymore, kid." the officer growled out, poking Vic in the chest as he walked up. The cybernetic man dwarfed him. "We've already had to deal with two of your former members mucking things up with their powers, and we don't need you to start doing the same! We'll let you off this time-"
"Man, listen to yourself!" Vic shouted back, loosing him temper, "Where were you, huh? That lady could have gotten her head blown off and you were somewhere chomping on doughnuts!"
The crowd laughed as the officer's face turned red, "Now you listen here, son-"
"Son? Man, I'm only a few years younger than you! Since when is some mid-twenties punk ass cop allowed to call a dude twice his size son?" Vic stepped back and shook his head, "I've got better things to do than listen to you, so if you don't mind, I'll be on my way."
"Wait just a second-"
"Fuck off." and Vic stalked away, the crowd parting in front of the scowling robotic man with wide eyes.
"Sure! I can come, but Gar's gotta' pull a late shift at the zoo tonight." Jenny giggled, "Something about making sure the pandas get it on."
"Ew!" Kylee squealed through the line, "That's gross, Jenny!"
"Hey, not my job." the pink haired girl giggled again, "Anyway, I'm all for it. I'll be over to your place about... oh, about sixish. That should give us enough time to get out to the hills and find a good spot to watch from."
"Awesome!" Kylee sounded excited, "Sarah already said she's working on a special dinner for Vic, and Tara and Brian are still out of town, so it'll just be you, Jason, and me."
"Sweet! We can get in some advanced combat training while we're out. We haven't fought in the dark yet..."
"Aw, man! Jenny!"
"We'll see what Jason has to say." Jenny smirked, "I'll be over in a few hours."
"Okay! See you then!"
"Bye." Hanging up the phone, Jenny walked down the hall to the bedroom she shared with Gar. He was taking a nap in preparation for his third shift at the zoo. Grinning, she stepped into the room, casting off her clothes as she did.
Gar had a pleasant surprise when she woke him up.
Raven was already eating her dinner when Moxie sat down across from her at the table. The bouncy blonde woman had a slightly swollen lip, but she was grinning all the same.
"Rough spar?" Raven asked between bites of gray mush.
"Kinda. I just let my face get in the way of Vicky's fist." Moxie giggled.
"You're the only person I know who could be happy about getting punched in the mouth."
"But I learned something! You should learn to look on the bright side of things, Raven." she winked.
Raven rolled her eyes, "When you're me, there usually isn't a bright side."
"Whatever. Hey, you were pretty impressive in hand to hand today!"
"Like Willows said, I was taught the majority of my combat knowledge by Robin himself. He knew well over a hundred forms of martial art, and he'd trained with some of the best masters from around the world, including the Batman." she shook her head, "Of course I was able to wipe the floor with a thug like Dan."
"He was pretty angry about it." Moxie noted, "You might want to be careful around him for the rest of training."
"Like I said," Raven rolled her eyes again, "He's a thug. If he wants to start something, I'll be happy to finish it for him."
Moxie giggled, "So are we going to see each other's families when they let us out, tomorrow?" she asked.
"Sure." Raven finally smiled a little, "I'll get in touch with Jason and Kylee tonight and tell them to be ready for guests."
"Sweet." Moxie bobbed her head and dug into her mush with gusto.
"You know, you remind me of a blonde Starfire." Raven said after watching her gobble down the unrecognizable food for a moment.
"You mean we're both gorgeous, strong, talented, and would make a great match with Robin?" she fluttered her eyes.
"No," Raven grinned back, "I meant you can both eat alien food like it's going out of style."
Far above Jump City, in the cold depths of space, Martian Manhunter finished checking over the status of the space station he was controlling.
"Repositioning of the Watchtower completed." he droned in his usual monotone, "The meteor shower should miss us entirely."
"Good work, as always, J'onn." a strong voice said from behind the chair the green skinned alien was sitting in. He turned and stared impassively at the tall, muscular form before him.
"I have a brief report, Clark."
"Really? Go ahead." Superman stepped over and looked down at the screen the Manhunter pulled up.
"It would seem that the security systems of Titans Tower were disabled by an unknown override code. They've been down for several hours."
"Hmmm." Superman stood up, "One of the kids decided to go home, huh?"
"It would seem. I have my suspicions as to who it is."
"As do I." Superman shook his head, "I'll take care of it."
"Are you sure?"
"I'll be fine, J'onn." Superman smiled, "I'll be back before the meteor shower. I want to see it up close."
"Ready?" Jason asked as they he, Kylee, and Jenny all piled into his used Achiva.
"Got the telescope right here!" Kylee patted the case of the cheep instrument they had picked up just an hour before.
"And I've got snacks!" Jenny held up a small cooler, "Cookies, juice for the kid, and a bottle of wine for the two of us!"
Jason arched an eyebrow, "What kind?"
"Cheep."
He grinned, "Sweet."
"Can I try some?" Kylee sounded excited.
"In eight years or so." Jason replied as he started the car.
"But you're only nineteen! And Jenny's only eighteen! How come you two get to have some now, but I have to wait until I'm twenty-one?"
"Because it's the responsible thing to do." Jenny grinned into the backseat where Kylee was seated, "And we're just not very responsible."
"Raven would let me try some." Kylee muttered.
"Raven would kill me if I let you try some." Jason remarked, "Now let's get this show on the road."
Vic slammed his fist into the re-enforced punching bag again and again, growled as he pummeled it.
He'd stripped off his suit jacket and tie, as well as his shirt, leaving just his pants on. He never wore shoes with his clothes as his feet worked just fine, and his gleaming titanium armor glowed with a fierce blue light as he worked the bag over.
"Stupid, freakin'..." he paused for a moment, shaking the sweat of the flesh side of his head, "How am I suppose to live a normal life when I'm so... not normal?"
"It's hard, sometimes, that's for sure." Vic whirled around, but relaxed when he saw Superman leaning in the door frame, "I can't count the number of times I've wanted to jump in front of bullets as my alter ego, or rush over and catch falling rocks to save people."
"But you can always just zip away and be back as Superman in less than a second." Vic noted, "I don't have a secret identity, and even if I did, it's be kind of hard to hide all my robotic parts."
"You have to learn to let the police handle their own affairs from now on, Victor." Superman walked over, "The Titans are retired."
"We weren't just some failed experiment, you know." Vic growled back, "We had a home, and a mission... just because the League thought we screwed up-"
"I don't agree with that decision any more than you do, but we had to make it based on public opinion and majority vote from the League members." Superman shook his head, "I'm sorry, Victor."
Vic sighed, "Look, Superman-"
"Call me Clark."
"Okay. Clark..." the robotic young man looked him in the eye, "I don't know how much longer we can do this."
"Do what?"
"Pretend to be something we're not."
Superman arched eyebrow, "What do you mean?"
"We can try to act normal all we want, Clark, but when it comes right down to it, we're not!" he shook his head and walked over to a towel rack, and grabbed on to mop his face with, "Tara's already gone and used her powers a great deal, Raven can't help but use hers sometimes, Gar has a job where he has to use his, and he's starting to get restless, and I know Jason and Jenny want to hit the streets every time they hear about some new threat on the news..." he sighed again, "We're heroes, Superman. Just like you."
"But you're not anymore." the man of steel floated over and placed a hand on Vic's shoulder, "The League-"
"Screw the damn Justice League!" Vic threw Superman's hand away, "You guys didn't tell us we could be heroes in the first place, so why should you be allowed to tell us we can't be heroes anymore? Who gave you that right?"
"We're an internationally recognized force of-"
"I don't want to hear your stupid political crap! This city needs the Titans, Superman!"
"This city," Superman's eyes were suddenly cold, "is under the protection of the JLA now. And this Tower," he motioned around himself, "regardless of how much of it you built with your father's blueprints, belongs to us until we can find a suitable owner to sell it to."
Vic's mouth dropped open, "You're selling Titans Tower?"
"We'll disarm all weapons systems before we do, and-"
"You're selling the Tower?" Vic shouted over him, "You can't sell it! It's my home! It's our home!"
"Victor." Superman floated into the air and motioned towards the door, "I think it's time you realized that it isn't any more. Come on. It's time you were getting back to civilian life."
Vic glared at the man of steel for a moment, then stalked past him out the door.
Superman sighed.
"This seem like a good spot?" Jenny asked as they stepped into a clearing at the top of a hill. They'd been hiking for almost an hour, and it was starting to get dark.
"As good as we'll find, I'm sure." Jason looked around, and nodded, "Hey, Kylee! Let's get set up."
But Kylee was looking off to the North, "Do you hear that?"
The two former Titans were silent for a moment, then both of them nodded in time with a steady beat, "Sounds like music." Jenny commented.
"Yeah. Techno." Jason frowned, "In the middle of the woods?"
He and Jenny looked at each other and both came to the same conclusion, "Rave." they said together.
Three dark forms crept along a ridge over looking a small valley in the hills and woods outside of Jump City. A rave was going on down below, with almost a hundred kids dancing, drinking, and doing all manner of drugs.
There were three long tables set up, two of which held kegs of beer, with the third severing as an impromptu bar, where a young woman was mixing drinks for anyone that wandered over. The DJ was spinning on the other side of the clearing, and the dancers took up the entire space between. Off to one side, several large tents were set up, and couples staggered in and out, grabbing handfuls of condoms from the bowl next to the door flaps.
"Wow." Kylee looked around, "Those girls are gonna get cold later."
"Somehow, I don't think many of them will feel it." Jenny replied, "Hey! I have that top!"
"The blue one that's missing way too much of the mid-drift?" Jason asked, squinting.
"Yeah, except I don't weigh three hundred pounds, so it looks good on me."
"Oh, okay." Jason let his eyes sweep the party, "Think we should try and break this up?"
"Why? We're not heroes anymore, and we don't have any authority over these kids." Jenny shrugged, "I say we leave them alone."
"What do you say about that guy over by the kegs?" Jason pointed.
A tall man with a small camera crew behind him was setting up a smoke machine, and pouring a strange violet liquid into it.
"That doesn't look like fog juice." Jenny nodded, "Want to go question him?"
"Sure. Kylee," Jason turned to her, "stay here. Do you understand me? Here." he pointed to the ground where her feet were planted firmly.
"Okay." she nodded, knowing he was just keeping her safe.
"Let's go." Jenny said, and the two of them melted into the shadows. Kylee couldn't even see them anymore, and they made no sound as they moved away. Letting out a low whistle, the younger girl grinned at seeing her two friends in action.
"Damn." she said.
The camera man started filming as the fog machine man started talking over his shoulder into the mic that was being supplied by the third man in their troop.
"I've got the chemicals all loaded up in this fogger," he said with a grin, "With any luck we'll have the desired results of the experiment soon."
"What results?" a voice whispered from his right.
The leader of the troop jumped a little and turned to see a girl with bubble gum pink hair standing only a few feet away, her head tilted to one side. He laughed nervously, "We want to see if a fog machine adds to the ambiance of this rave."
"Then why are you using that stuff?" she pointed to the empty jug in his hand, "It doesn't look like the normal stuff."
"It's special." he replied evasively.
"How special?" a male voice asked from his left.
The man jumped again and turned to see a frowning red haired man, "Um... well, you see..."
All the while, the camera man was panning back and forth from speaker to speaker, and the man with the microphone was holding it out to catch the sound. Jenny frowned at them and moved around so that she was behind the camera crew.
"Why don't you just spit out what that stuff does before I decide you need more convincing." Jason cracked his knuckles.
"Okay! Okay! It's a special chemical formula that... erm... makes people horny."
Jason blinked, "Excuse me?"
"Yeah. It raises the endorphin levels in the blood, and opens certain receptors in your nervous system so that-"
"So wait..." Jason cut him off, "Is this FDA approved medical research? Or are you just here to shoot a porn movie?"
"Well, we haven't got FDA approval yet, but we're sure it works, and the movie is just kind of... a bonus."
"That's all I needed to hear. Jenny?" Jason started forward.
Jenny grinned and rendered the sound man unconscious with a single, well placed punch. The camera man whirled around, and she grabbed his shirt. Yanking him off his feet, she tossed him aside, slamming him into a tree and knocking him out as well.
The last remaining crooked researcher grabbed his fogger and turned it on the two former Titans. Opening it up all the way, he turned the blower on and a cloud of purple gas poured out.
He grinned as he heard Jenny and Jason begin to hack and cough, but his face quickly fell as the coughing stopped. His two assailants were now shrouded by thick, purple smoke, and it sounded as if they had learned to hold their breath. Dropping the machine, he turned to run-
-and ran straight into Jason's fist. Falling to the ground, he groaned but didn't move.
After a moment, Jenny found the fogger and turned it off. Jason waved away the smoke, which disipated fairly quickly, and then he coughed one last time. He held out a hand and Jenny smiled up at him as she grabbed it and he helped her to her feet.
No sooner was she standing than the both of them locked eyes.
"Oh... shit." Jason said as he took a staggering step forward.
Jenny reached out and grabbed his shirt, running her hand along his chest, "It's just the chemicals. We can repress it. Just don't think about what I look like naked. Or what it feels like with your dick in my mouth. Or how many positions I can bend myself into and fuck the ever living-" the rest of her statement was muffled by his mouth pressing against hers.
Across the clearing, Kylee watched as her foster father and her combat trainer took out the three thugs, cheering all the while. She was a little concerned by the purple smoke, but they seemed to come out of it okay.
Then they started making out.
"What the..." Kylee scrunched up her brow. No way would either of them cheat on their significant others, but as Jason started tugging at Jenny's shirt and she started leading them over to the sex tents, it seemed as if they were pretty set on doing just that.
"Something's wrong." she said aloud. Debating with herself for just a moment, Kylee finally threw caution to the wind and charged down the side of the ridge to head her friends off before they did something they would regret.
Raven looked up from the book of laws and statutes she was studying and smiled off to the North.
"What's up?" Moxie asked. They were sitting together on her lower bunk, going over their books for a test the next day.
"I have an empathic mental bond with a friend of mine from a little adventure we had a few months back. She's having a really good time right now." Raven grinned wider, "Horny as hell."
"Heh. Sounds like someone's getting laid tonight."
"Yeah." Raven went back to her book, "Gar is one lucky man."
"We need to stop..." Jason gasped as Jinx nipped at his throat, "We're not... I mean... we can't..."
"I know..." Jinx moaned as his hands found her ass and squeezed, "But you're so... goddamn Jason..." Reaching down, she started fumbling with his belt buckle, "I need you to fuck me right now. To hell with the tent."
"Jenny... I shouldn't."
"Please... I can't stand it..."
"I think that chemical might be effecting you more than me."
"I got a larger face full of it." she replied, "Now come on... you're hard as a rock. Show me how many of my targets you can hit, archer."
"Jenny!" Kylee was suddenly by their side, and tugging at her friends arm, "Let him go!"
"I told you to stay... hey, Kylee!" Jason grinned down at her in a drunken manner, "You're really developing nicely!"
Kylee choked for a moment before regaining control of herself, "Jason! What did that chemical do to you?"
"Don't listen to him, Kylee." Jenny let go of Jason and knelt down next to the younger girl, wrapping her in a hug. She whispered in Kylee's ear, "Girls are better teachers for your first time..." and her hands started wandering down the shocked thirteen-year-olds back.
A split second decision was made, and Kylee hauled back a fist. Slamming it home into Jenny's neck, she watched at the pink haired girl crumpled, knocked out by the one nerve strike she had taught the girl who had just used it on her.
Jason stared in shock for a moment, then grinned in a drunken manner, "That's my girl!"
"Pick her up." Kylee ordered, "And follow me."
Jason nodded, "Anything for you, babe."
Kylee groaned as she started off, Jason in hot pursuit, with Jenny slung over his shoulder.
As the meteor shower started, Kylee led her friends back through the woods, catching glimpses of the shooting stars through the branches of the trees.
Gar sat on a rock, watching in a bored fashion as a male and female panda went at it in the pen below him. He checked the time on his watch, then made a note on the clipboard he held.
It was with great relief that he felt his cell phone begin to vibrate against his leg. Pulling it out and checking the ID, he flipped it open with an arched eyebrow, "What's up, Vic?"
"Hey man." came the depressed sounding voice of Victor Stone, "Just calling to see how you're doing."
"I'm getting sick of watching pandas fuck, if that's what you want to know."
"Ew."
"Uh huh."
"Hey, about the other day... when we had that argument... I wanted to apologize."
"Don't sweat it man. We disagree on a lot of stuff. I over reacted too."
"Still... it got me thinking. I stopped a jewelry heist today-"
"Whoa! Hold up! You did what?"
"I stopped some dude from stealing a bunch of jewels. He shot me once, but you know how tough my 'skin' is." Vic chuckled.
"Yeah. Way to go, dude!"
The robotic young man sighed, "Not really. The cop that showed up came down on me like a ton of bricks. Told me to never do it again."
"But you saved the day! How can they not..." Gar trailed off in anger, "Damnit! This is why I wish Dick was still around."
"Yeah." Vic sounded even more depressed, "Me too."
"Are you okay dude? I mean, usually you wouldn't let something like this bother you."
"Well, I went back to the Tower for a little workout. You know, work off the frustration?"
"Yeah."
"Anyway, guess who shows up?"
"Um... Superman?"
"Actually, yeah." Gar was a little stunned, but he let Vic continue, "Big Blue comes down and tries to convince me that we need to give up hero work forever, that the JLA has some kind of say in what we do with our lives."
"Bullshit." Gar replied.
"Exactly what I told him. You know what he said then? He told me the JLA is selling Titans Tower."
"What?" Gar jumped off his rock and started pacing, even as the pandas grew louder below him, "To who?"
"They don't have a buyer yet, but it's only a matter of time."
"That's crap! They can't sell our home!"
"Superman says it's not ours anymore."
"They we'll buy it!"
"Where are we gonna' get that kind of money? You'd have to be a billionaire."
Gar was silent. He glanced back at the pandas to make sure they were still okay, then sighed and looked up at the sky.
A shooting star flashed by in the heavens. Quickly squeezing his eyes shut, he made a wish for Robin to still be alive.
Kylee walked into Jason and Raven's room to find Jason had laid Jenny down on the bed, and pulled off her shoes, socks, and pants.
"What the hell are you doing?" she asked in annoyance as she walked over and swatted him with the book she had retrieved from Raven's bookshelf in the living room.
Jason stumbled away from the bed with a grin, "Just making her comfortable."
"Right. Whatever." Kylee shook her head, "Go sit on the couch. I need to get some things."
"But I want to-"
"Jason." Kylee batted her eyes at him, "Go to the couch and wait for me."
"Whoa..." he grinned like an idiot, "Okay!"
As soon as he was out of the room, Kylee scowled, "Stupid... now I know what it's like to baby sit." Moving about the room quickly, she gathered a small glass orb, and a jar of black dust. After tucking Jenny in under the covers, she stalked back out to the living room.
"Hey baby..." Jason was reclined on the couch, "Who's your daddy?"
"Daddy died almost four months ago." Kylee replied, and put the book down on the table. Opening it to a page she had marked just minutes before, she read quickly, then turned to Jason, "Hold still."
Holding out the glass orb, and chanting out a rhythm of strange words, she pulled a pinch of the dust from the jar. "Hopawa sampa kyrin thull... hopawa sampa kyrin thull..."
Jason's eyes glazed over briefly, "I know that language. Brave Bow taught me that..." Kylee continued to chant the Navajo Mystic words, and tossed the black powder in his face. Jason's eyes snapped into focus, and he looked at her as if seeing her for the first time.
"Better?" Kylee asked as she gasped for breath and fell back to her rear.
"Oh... my... God." Jason winced, then clutched his head, "Did I really try to have sex with Jen? And you?"
"Yes."
"And you cleared my head with a spell?"
"Yep."
"Good girl. Did it take a lot out of you? You look winded."
"I just need to rest." Kylee nodded and sat up, "It'll be an hour or so before I can clear out Jenny's head too. She's sleeping right now though, so we should be fine."
"Okay." Jason nodded, then stood up, "Come on. Let's get you to your room so you can lay down."
Raven waited until she heard steady breathing from everyone in the room, and all of their minds were dreaming. She needed to talk to Jason and Kylee about coming home the next day, but they weren't allowed phone calls.
Sitting up, she raised her arms above her head, and let her soul-self surround her. Taking flight as a large black bird of prey, Raven phased through the ceiling of the bunk house, and flew off into the night.
Jason walked into his and Raven's room after taking some pain killers for the headache that was assailing him, but stopped in the doorway when he saw that Jenny was no longer in the bed.
"Damn, that girl recovers quick." he muttered and stepped into the room, "Jenny?" he called out.
"Oh Jasssssoooonnnnn!" her voice came from inside the walk-in closet, and he gulped as he walked over.
"Jenny... you're under the influence of a drug designed to make you want to fuck anything that moves... so please... don't try to- graa!"
Jason toppled over backwards as she dove out of the closet, wearing nothing except one of his old t-shirts. As she began to hike it up and work on unbuttoning his pants at the same time, she giggled, "I'll bet you're dick is twice the size of Gar's!"
"Jenny, stop!" he struggled, but she was using her knees to pin him fairly well.
"Oh come on, Jason! You've fucked Raven, I've fucked Raven... it's like sharing sex through her! This will bring us closer as friends!"
"Jesus Christ, Jenny! Listen to yourself!"
"Just take off your pants!"
"No! Get off!"
"I'm trying to, but you wont help!"
"Not like that!"
"Come on!"
"NO!"
A black form phased down through the ceiling and materialized into Raven a moment later. She was wearing sleep shorts, a JCPD t-shirt, and her feet were bare. As she took in the scene before her, her eye twitched.
"What... is going on here?" she asked, as two red eyes flickered into existence then back out. She was literally shaking with Rage.
"Oh, fuck." Jason's eyes were wide, "This is so not what it looks like."
"Oh really?" Raven growled, "Cause it looks like my best friend and my boyfriend are about to fuck on the bed that I share with you. Pray tell, Jason, what exactly is going on here?"
"Well, you see, we went out to watch the meteor shower, and we found this rave where this guy was about to release this physotropic sex drug into the crowd. We stopped him, but got a face full of the drug in the process, and I'm better now, but Jenny seems to want to have lots of sex." Jason drew a second breath, "And that's all." he winced as Raven growled again.
"You really look like you're fighting it to."
"I am!"
"And you think for a second that I buy that story?"
"You can tell if I'm lying! Scan me!"
"I don't need to scan your thoughts to know that- umph!" Raven fell over backwards as Jenny vaulted off of Jason and tackled her to the floor.
"Mmm... remember when I was going down on you that one time, Rae? Let's do that again."
Raven gasped as Jenny stuck her hand down the top of the shorts she was wearing, "H-holy shit! Unn... God, Jenny..." she grabbed the other girls head.
"Hey! At least I didn't let her get in my pants at all!" Jason darted forward but stopped for a moment as Jenny crushed her mouth to Raven and began to make out with her, "Wow."
"Jason!" Kylee was suddenly standing in the doorway, "Stop staring and help Raven up!"
"Okay, okay." Jason blushed at being scolded by his foster child, and reached down, lifting Jenny up off of his girlfriend. Tossing her on the bed, he knelt down and smiled at Raven, who was blushing and breathing heavily, "Doing okay?"
"I really need a good lay now."
"Okay, this is all just too freaky-disgusting." Kylee staggered into the room, "I'm using the spell to clear out Jenny's head now. Screw resting up."
"Whoa! Wait!" Raven jumped up and stopped her foster child, "What spell?"
"The Navajo Sobering Spell. To clear the spirit quest fuzz out of your head. That much weed? Anyone would need a spell to clear their head." Kylee went to move around Raven, "She's getting back up."
Raven didn't even look behind herself as Jenny was enveloped in a black shroud of energy and pinned to the bed, "Wait a second... that's a fairly advanced spell! I told Jenny to only teach you theory, not spells!"
"Well, I needed to do something before these two fucked each other silly!"
"Language." Raven said on instinct, "And how did you even find that spell?"
"The book is called Native American Curative Spells, Raven. It wasn't that hard."
"And you cast the spell properly?"
"On her first try." Jason spoke up finally.
"Really?" Raven grinned, "That's awesome, Kylee! I'm so proud of you!" and she knelt down and hugged the child.
"Thanks, Raven." Kylee hugged back with a smile, "But... Jenny?"
"Oh. Right." Raven stood up and walked over to Jenny. Holding out a hand, she used her empathic healing ability to sober the pink haired vixen up in half a second.
Jenny stopped struggling against the force holding her down and blinked up at Raven. Then she grinned, "Damn. And I was so close to getting my tongue back in your pussy."
Raven rolled her eyes, "Who needs drugs to do the job when you're already a raging nymphomaniac?" she let Jenny up, and the girl cracked her neck from side to side. Looking around the room, she saw the amused looks Raven and Jason were giving her, and the slightly shocked and disgusted one Kylee was directing her way.
"Hey," Jenny addressed the youngest girl in the room, "in a few years, sex wont seem so disgusting anymore, and that's when you're going to realize that you don't need a dick if you've got a chick." she winked. Kylee blushed.
"Jenny..." Raven rubbed her eyes, "When are you going to learn to just keep your mouth shut?"
"Hey, Jason?" Jenny rubbed the fabric of the shirt between her fingers, "This is comfy. Can I keep it?"
Raven was laughing. Jenny was happy to note that nothing was blowing up. The last time she'd seen Raven laughing like this, they'd been drunk and swapping boy stories in her old apartment. Of course, they were all a little buzzed now as well, so maybe Raven was just a giggly drunk.
Kylee had grabbed the bottle of wine and the basket of food on their way back to the car, not wanting to leave it out in the middle of the forest. Now the four of them sat on the floor of the living room, laughing about their adventures.
Raven had allowed Kylee, who was now dressed in light blue pajamas, to have a few glasses of wine for acting in such an exemplary manner, and the rest of the bottle had disappeared between her and Jenny. Jason had only one glass, which he sipped from slowly, a far off look in his eyes.
"What's up, baby?" Raven asked as she leaned into him, "You look distracted."
"Hmm? Oh, nothing. Just remembering."
"Remembering what?" Jenny asked, sitting forward a little ways. She still wore Jason's shirt, but had pulled on a pair of Raven's cut off short shorts.
"The spell Kylee used earlier was a Navajo spell for clearing the head of a warrior coming down from a spirit quest high. It's hardly ever used anymore, and I'm frankly surprised that I remembered any of the words at all. The mystic language is a little different than normal Navajo."
"You know Navajo?" Jenny arched an eyebrow.
"Where do you think I learned to use a bow so well? Green Arrow certainly didn't teach me. Ollie couldn't teach a rock to stay." he chuckled and shook his head, "I was actually raised on a Navajo reservation from the time I was very young. My parents died when I was five."
"So... when you mentioned Brave Boy..." Kylee blinked at him.
"The man who raised me, and taught me how to shoot. He's like my second father."
"You must have had a difficult childhood." Kylee looked sympathetic.
"It's kind of a requirement for being a hero." Jason chuckled, "My parents died young, Raven was raised in a different dimension and taught to never show emotion, Jenny got caught up with the HIVE, Gar was infected with a deadly virus that his parents barely cured before dying in a boat accident in Africa, Vic was blown up and turned into a robot the same day his mother was disengaged, Dick," he paused, "that's Robin to you. Anyway, Dick watched his parents fall to death while doing a trapeze act, then was raised by the Batman. Starfire... well, I don't know much about her past."
Raven spoke up, "She was sold into slavery to seal a truce between her people and the Gordanians. She escaped after a few years, and wandered the Galaxy until she ended up here."
"Star wins." Jenny said with a grimace, "That's horrible."
"So... my parents were killed by the Cursed Dead." Kylee nodded, "I'm set to be a hero then, right?" she swayed.
Raven arched an eyebrow, "You okay?"
"Sure am!" Kylee giggled, then turned to Raven's left, "Hey! You're over there too!"
"Okay, too much wine for the pre-teen." Jenny stood up, "Come on, Kylee, let's get you to bed."
"Okay, Jenny!" Kylee staggered to her feet, "Are you gonna' teach me like you said you would earlier?" she leered at the pink haired woman.
"How about I take her to bed?" Raven said as she got up and took Kylee's hand. A rather stunned looking Jen just nodded her head.
"Are you gonna teach me then, Raven?"
"I already took a bath with you a few weeks ago. That's as close as you'll get."
"Aw... hey! Bart'll be here next Tuesday! I can have him-"
"Don't even think about it." Raven said loudly as she shoved her foster child down the hallway and into her room.
Jason and Jenny glanced at each other, then burst into laughter.
The next evening found all of the former Titans, plus Moxie and her daughter Ophelia, seated at a restaurant down town. The three year old was sitting on Kylee's lap, and giggling as the teen drew funny pictures on the placemat in front of them. Raven smiled at the sight, and turned to see Moxie smiling at her.
"What?" she asked the blonde cadet. They both wore simple tan uniforms that identified them, and Moxie tugged at the collar a little.
"You're really smiley tonight."
"I miss my family." Raven turned her gaze back to where Kylee and Ophie were drawing, "Kylee is... a wonderful daughter."
"She's great with Ophie. I know who I'm calling when I need a babysitter form now on."
"I'm sure she'd be happy to." Raven smiled wider, "She's so... caring, and maternal. Mature beyond her years."
"You should watch that." Moxie noted, "You don't want her to miss her own childhood."
"Oh, we're always teaching her new things that will get her in trouble. She's gone from being quiet and reserved to swearing like a sailor at the drop of a hat in just four months." Jenny leaned across the table and winked, "I like your hair, by the way."
"I like yours. Pink is awesome."
"You're both deranged." Raven rolled her eyes as the two giggled.
A little ways down the table, Sarah looked back and forth between Gar and Vic with an amused expression. They were tossing ideas back and forth.
"You could go independent with your research! I bet you'd make a mint!" Gar said.
"No way. I need STAR Labs backing." Vic shook his head, "What about your acting career?"
"I don't think I'll be staring in any blockbusters any time soon. What about Jason? Do you think he could get Green Arrow to buy it for him?"
"Dude, Green Arrow is JLA. He wont fork out that kind of cash for something that'll go against the League like that."
"How about Brian? Think he could rustle up that kind of cash in a few months?"
"Knowing him, yeah, but do you want to use stolen money to buy back our home?"
"Not really. Shoot. We're out of options here man."
"We could set up a protest or something..." Vic wracked his brain.
"And do what? Picket the Watch Tower?"
"Point." the robotic young man sighed, "I think we might just have to accept this one, man."
"Something will come up." Gar shook his head, "It has to."
Sarah sighed and looked away.
The next few weeks seemed to fly past to the former Titans, and when Tara and Brian returned to town, their family felt more complete. It was with great pride and joy that they all trooped down to the JCPD training facility for Raven's graduation day.
As the line of thirty six cadets stood in dress uniform, all in a row before a podium, the former Titans silently cheered their friend on from the audience.
Sarg Willows stood at the podium, giving his speech while he eyed every single one of the newly graduated cadets. "As of this moment, every punk with a grudge against 'The Man' starts hating you. You watch your asses out there, and you watch each other's asses. If you don't, those punks will body bag you faster than you can blink.
"You're all walking targets now, and you're in the wrong damn place if you want to make friends. You have to love this job to do it... God knows the pay isn't enough." a round of chuckles followed his remark, "Remember what we've taught you here, and go out there with your heads held high. You're police officers now, and I know you'll all do the force proud. Congratulations, and welcome to the JCPD."
The early evening sunlight glinted off of the shiny badge pinned to Raven's chest, and she saluted Willows along with the rest of her fellow officers.
"Officer Roth! Damn you look fine in that uniform!" Jason swept her up in his arms as Raven jogged up to him after the ceremony. She giggled and kissed him. Kylee was next in line, and she too got a hug and a peck on the cheek.
Turning to the rest of her friends, she grinned at all of them and they grinned back. Suddenly, Raven's face turned serious, "Okay, here's the deal. You're all bad, bad kids, and I wont stand for it any more." she eyed each of them.
"First of all, Brian? What the hell are you even doing here?" they all chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Just a friend here to congratulate a new officer."
"Don't let me catch you, ever."
"Will do." he smiled and nodded.
"Gar," Raven turned to him, "You are to stop cracking criminally un-funny jokes."
"Aw, man!"
"Jenny, no more propositioning minors."
"It was only once! And I was under the influence of a psychotropic drug!"
"Excuses." Kylee rolled her eyes. Jenny stuck her tongue out at the younger girl.
Raven turned to Vic and Sarah, "Stop being so freakin' cute. The rest of us can't stand it."
"Fuck you, Raven." Vic replied in a conversational manner.
Raven looked away from them with a grin, but her smiled faded when her eyes landed on Tara. The blonde looked back at her with a sad smile. "We'll talk later." she said, and Raven nodded. The rest of them all glanced at each other, but shrugged it off.
"So!" Gar stepped up, "Who's up for a party?"
"Where at?" Vic rubbed his hands together, "I'm staving!"
"You're always starving." Sarah rolled here eyes.
"We're headed to Casa de Beast Jinx!" Gar pumped his fist in the air, "We have ice cream, cake, and we'll even let Kylee invite the speedy little kid!"
"Oh joy." Raven grinned, "Just what I want at my party."
The night continued in a celebratory fashion for hours after the graduation ceremony, and by ten, Raven was feeling a bit overwhelmed. She excused herself from the party for a few minutes and ascended the stairs of the building up to the roof, where she sat down on the edge and looked down at the street.
After a few minutes, another presence entered her field of awareness, and she wasn't surprised at all when Tara sat down next to her. The blonde wore simple flare bottom jeans, now shoes or socks, and a tight black tank top. She sighed and stared off at the city lights.
"So," Raven said after a moment, "you wanted to talk to me." it was a statement.
"Yes."
"About?"
Tara didn't reply for several minutes, and eventually, Raven sighed, "I'm sure it was an accident, Tara."
The blonde looked over at her, "I knew you'd be able to tell."
"Murder is something that marks you. Even though the images I'm getting from you suggest self defense, you still feel the guilt for having killed him."
"I'm just... that's not who I am."
"I know that. And you know that." Raven smiled over at her, "You just have to believe it."
"Yeah. Thanks, Raven."
"Any time." Raven stood up, "Now what I want to know is why you think I'm going to let you resume vigilante work now that I'm an officer of the law."
"You can try to stop me, I guess, but we'd level half the city in that little tiff."
Raven grinned, "If I see you out there, we might just have to throw down."
"Get yourself put on the day shift then." Tara winked back, "I'm going Titan again whether you want me to or not, Rae."
"Good."
"Good?"
"Personally, I'll feel safer for my family knowing there's a super powered ass kicker roaming the streets on the side of good again."
"Sweet." Tara grinned, "When do you start active duty?"
"My first day is the 7th." Raven's eye twitched.
"Two days? Putting you out there a bit early, aren't they?"
"The sooner the better. The force is still down on man power since the zombie attack." the purple haired young officer looked over her shoulder, but didn't seem to find what she was looking for.
"So tomorrow is my last night of peace before you start harassing me, huh?"
"Looks like it."
"Great." Tara rolled her eyes, "Let's get back to the party. I want cake."
"Yeah. I'll be down in a minute." As Tara waved and walked back to the stairs, Raven turned and scanned the skyline for a moment. Not finding anything, she shrugged and walked back to the stairs. "Could have sworn I felt a familiar presence." she muttered, but ignored the feeling and went back to her party.
Ona building top a block down the street, a raven haired young man stood in a blue and black suit, with a red haired alien floating next to him.
"When shall we tell them we're back in town?" Starfire asked.
"I'll have to do it slowly." Nightwing replied, "One at a time. While I'm doing that, you can get yourself and Komi set up in the Tower."
"Very well. Who will you contact first?"
"The only true Titan we have right now." Nightwing grinned, "Terra."
Closing Notes: Next chapter will be better, I promise. This is the slow part. The climax is coming. Also, because it's come up in the current TT season airing right now, who can tell me what Madame Rouge's fate was in the comics? Twenty points easy for this one...
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Next Time: Titans Together!
Nightwing, Raven, Cyborg, Changeling, Starfire, Terra, Arsenal, Jinx,Blackfire, Impulse, Seraph, and The Operator. Titans, Go!