Two Sides of Law

Chapter Seventeen

Time Passes

ROBIN

I woke up early and got a jump start on training. I found Rae already waiting for me. She smiled warmly to me, eyes sparkling and swimming with new emotion. Over the past two years, Rae had jumped to all new levels with controlling her emotions and powers. Eventually, she didn't need to meditate any longer, though she did so just to remember on some occasions. She stood up, belt jangling. It was her same old belt, just longer. Her cloak was long gone.

"Morning, Nightwing." She greeted. I smiled and made my way over to her to kiss her warmly (A/N: for all you smart people out there, this is two years later and Robin made the jump from Robin to Nightwing… sorry, keep reading…)

"Enough of the mushy stuff." I teased backing up. "Ready…" I sunk into a battle ready stance. "Set…" Rae did the same, reflecting my images. "Go!" I lunged toward her and she stepped to the side. I brought a kick around, aiming for her side. She blocked and went on the offensive with a punch. I leaped back into a back hand spring and blocked a kick. We went on following a similar pattern for the next half hour or so. She finally gave in, winded.

I smirked as if to gloat and she splashed me with water from her bottle. "Thanks. Now I don't have to take a shower."

"Gross." She took a swig from her water bottle and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

Rae and I had been doing these secret sparring sessions every morning for almost a year. After she'd gone with Red X, she'd explained why her powers weren't working during that fight with Slade. Her answer? You guessed it. Emotions (again). Being around X made her slightly nervous, she was upset Beast Boy (now Changeling) had gotten injured, and Star had been bothering her again. She'd even confessed Slade had confused her with his talk. Afterward, I suggested I help her with her hand-to-hand combat just in case such a situation arose on another occasion.

She'd advanced quickly and I soon had a training buddy that was much more evenly matched against me.

The two of us were still dating. It seemed our bond grew tighter every day from the point of a normal relationship and the one through her powers.

The team went on fighting villains as usual. We'd put countless robbers in jail along with several more serious criminals. You're probably wondering what happened to Slade and Red X aren't you? Well, wee Collin is still locked up tight and Slade…well, we still haven't caught Slade. He hasn't struck since that one fight. I've researched and researched, but I can't find anything that could possibly lead us to him. We questioned Collin about it, but he'd said he'd been lying about knowing his location. I'd long since given up. Any trail that had been left would be long gone by now.

We asked Terra what she could tell us about him, but it wasn't anything we didn't already know. Oh, while we're on that subject, Terra's back. Once Rae gained control, she had enough power to bring her back. Terra was still fifteen, but Rae also happens to be able to stop and start time. After much practice and several terrifying near-death experiences, Terra was aged to be nineteen like she was supposed to.

"Hello. Earth to Boy Blunder?" Rae waved her hand in front of my face. Despite my costume and name change, Rae still called me that. There was no stopping her; there weren't that many ways to toy with the name "Nightwing".

"Oh. Sorry. What did you say?" I inquired turning my gaze back to the curvy nineteen year old before me.

"We're still going to the movies tonight, right?"

"Unless you cancel or a villain threatens the city." I said, throwing a flirtatious smile onto my face for the hundredth time that day. I grasped her hand and made my way out of the gym and down the hall to Rae's room. "So I'll see you later, babe. I really need a shower." I told her, kissing her softly. I pulled back to leave, but she pulled me down to deepen the kiss. In seconds, we started a full-on make out session. Towels fluttered to the floor and water bottles plopped. I pushed her against the wall and teased her lips with my tongue. She opened her mouth and let my tongue slide in. My hand wandered to her hip and made its way around the back…

"Dudes, get a room." We broke apart in an instant and turned to see Changeling, the former Beast Boy, standing there with crossed arms. He smirked. Rae brushed some hair from her face and knelt down to pick up dropped items. With a quick peck on my cheek, she disappeared into her sanctuary. Changeling tsked and shook his head. He had a knack for coming at the worst times. "Don't you two forget to use protection, now." I punched the guy in the stomach before walking off. Rae still wasn't ready for that…

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"Two for Wicked Scary III." I said to the clerk.

"Fifteen dollars." He responded in a nasally voice. I slipped a twenty under the window. "Five is your change. Have a nice day." I took the change and money, walking with Rae off towards the snack bar.

"Sure seems happy, doesn't he?" I joked. My date smiled. She adjusted her shirt so that it covered the sliver of stomach showing. We'd both decided to dress normally whenever we went out as not to be disturbed. She had a light purple tank and faded jeans on. I'd gone with jeans as well, and a dark blue "muscle shirt" (as girls call them).

We ordered a coke and medium popcorn with butter (A/N: I've had this wicked craving for popcorn…damn, I should pop some…sorry, go on.).

"Butter substitute?" the guy behind the counter asked. He looked strangely familiar with black hair and a black skull shirt.

"Sure." I replied. Butter substitute? Nice.

"Here you go." the guy handed us the bag and we headed for our theater.

"Rae, was that that Goth kid from the party Blackfire took us to?" I inquired. She looked up at me with the straw from the cup still in her mouth, giving her an innocent look about her.

"Yeah, I think so. He told me to call him Goth."

"Lovely."

We watched the movie in near silence. I could tell Rae was scared. She kept flinching and grabbing my hand. And I could tell that by now, if she doesn't say anything during a horror movie, she is deathly afraid. I smiled and pulled her as close as the armrest would allow. Stupid arm rest.

The movie ended and credits rolled. My dark princess and I made our way out of the theater, tossing unneeded trash. We talked about the film while strolling back towards Titans Tower. Then, suddenly, our communicators rang. Immediately, we both flipped them open, revealing Cyborg in the T-car.

"Man, get to the city prison, and fast!"

"We're on it." I said. Rae enveloped us both in dark energy and we were dumped out inside the prison. Our uniforms had replaced our street clothes.

I looked around to see prisoners with orange suits running about. Plasmus, Cinder Block, and Overload were all among them. Oh yeah. I thought. This is just peachy.

Rae and I attacked the monsters first, thinking them the biggest threat. In minutes, Overload and Cinder Block were secured. But until the other criminals were put back in their cells, Plasmus would run rampant. The other four came bursting in with explosions. Rae sealed their hole as not to let anyone or anything escape. Changeling transformed into a tiger and began herding stray criminals back into their cells. Terra and Starfire joined the efforts while Cyborg, Rae and I held off Plasmus.

The monster shot streams of acidic goo towards us. We dodged and Cyborg shot it with his sonic cannon. Rae ripped spare walls apart, trying to make a container to keep him in. I threw freezing disks to give her some time. Both efforts were futile, and the giant zit flailed an arm and sent me and my girlfriend flying backwards. We got up quickly, riding ourselves of as much goop as possible. I saw Cyborg get thrown back.

"Cyborg!" I exclaimed, running towards him. Out of nowhere, a streak of orange flew toward me from the rafters. It set a kick to my side, sending me rolling. I rolled back into a standing position and looked at my attacker, rubbing my side. His eyes were blue and his shoulder length black hair tangled. Bags had formed under his eyes. He smirked triumphantly.

"Miss me, kid?"

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A/N: So there's the chappie. Thankies for the reviews, I luv you people! Readers who don't review…REVIEW! I luv them…they make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside…Oh, and to the peeps who don't wanna read so much, thinking I'll have like, fifty chappies, don't worry. I'm almost done. Three or four more… TOODLES!