a.n. Artemis- Thank you very much. Glad you like it. :) ShadowDevil- I dunno, I kinda like Raven waffling back and forth... I haven't really decided myself where she's gonna turn. X3; I should probably make up my mind soon... LoL. Thanks for the review. faLLen-dreamz- hehe... I never check the front page. Wow, they're always making changes. o.O; Anyway, yes... kinda hard for Hotspot to be sneaky when he's so bright. LoL. Poor guy. Oh well. He's one of my favorite guys in here... I've never read the comics, so hopefully I'm not screwing up his character. Moon's Darkness- So that's two votes for Raven to turn evil, one vote for her to stay good. ...not that I'm keeping... score... or anything. -cough- hehe, glad you like it. And even if she doesn't turn evil (not that she won't), I ask you to give me a half hour head start before you come after me with a pitchfork or anything. :) Thank you in advance. lolopixie- LoL! I dunno why but I make X a really hungry guy. He was always checking out the Titan's fridge and everything... and really, tacos are awesome. If it weren't for Taco Bell, we might not have the spork today as we know it. That's the best thing in the world next to duct tape. Okay anyway... yes, I pretend to know looots of things in my writing. XD; Just as long as the people who really know the stuff I talk about don't read this, I should be safe. LoL. Thanks for the review and I'm really glad you've been into the story so far. I actually thought 17 was another slightly boring chapter. o.O; But then again, I have a reaaaally short attention span. Shorter than Beast Boy's. It's ridiculous.. Tritium- LoL, I just don't want too many characters than I know what to do with. I think I told someone else a few chapters back that if there's too many people in the story, it just starts messing with the fire safety hazard things... 'no more than 20 occupants to a story' or something... yeah. :) Glad you like it so far... and maybe this chapter will brighten your Dec . 12th. LoL. Good luck on your exam. gracefulraven- I don't think I've ever told you, but I really like your s/n. :) Hehe, anyway... ooh, so no more renovations? Good. x.x; I'm tired of the numbers being depleted. Thanks for the review and I'll be sure to check out your story. VampireSelene- Eep... Titans East -eye twitch- NEVER! No, I never liked T.E. Speedy and Aqualad are all of T.E. you'll see in here. For the most part, Raven's on her own. psycicflower- Wow. o.o; Ireland's last few hundred years compacted into 5 minutes. LoL. Yeah, don't learn too much about other countries' histories over here. I kinda knew about the potato famine 'cause that's when tons of Irish came to America. They didn't have a much better time here for awhile. o.O; Anyway, was McGillian the only one from Stargate there? His accent changed... hehe. Well, glad you liked the chapter. Everyone seems to like X a little more than Raven... the center of the story is losing her fan support. X3; Oh well, she can hack it. LoL. Hope you'll like this one as well. Aietradaea- ...still wondering how to pronounce that... LoL. I was wondering what happened to you. Glad you still like it and thanks for the review. :) Lai-Ku- Well, at least you're still reading... and I'm excited you still like it. If I can keep your attention, then I must be doing something right. 3

Chapter 18

Over the next few days, Raven excelled in her combat training, both with and without powers. She even managed to complete the maimed robot; with Slade's careful supervision, of course. Suppressing her emotions with less power was challenging, and the dark girl thought she made no progress in that area. However, she had to admit, her meditations were better without the Titans.

During one of the mechanics classes, Raven stopped right in the middle of welding shut a gash on a guard's arm. She lifted the welding mask and looked up at Slade. The robot, still alert during this minor surgery, also looked in that direction.

"You know, I've been thinking. Against the Hive, these robots were pretty useless. They might stand a better chance with some extra weapons or armor," suggested Raven. When the man didn't reply, her helpful expression flopped.

"What do you have in mind?" Slade questioned after a long silence.

"Well, we could upgrade them with weapons and stuff from Cyborg's blueprints." When she couldn't guess Slade's reaction, the girl added a one-shouldered shrug. "Just a thought." Raven pulled down the welding mask and returned to her job of fixing the gashed arm.

"An interesting idea," the man said at last. "However, you will be responsible for upgrading your own robots." Raven stopped welding and again lifted the mask. Underneath was a face with a look of mingled disbelief and desperation.

"It's taken me three days or more just to reassemble one robot- and now I have to work on them? That'll take forever!" The guard looked from one to the other as they spoke, then turned back to Slade.

"Actually, my dear, twenty. And you can make your soldiers work and repair other robots for you. How else do you suppose I keep a standing army?"

Raven, though, wasn't listening. She had zoned out the moment she heard "twenty." Slade had entrusted her with ten more robots- almost like having a squadron under her control. Surprising to the girl, it felt good to gain more power.

Raven quickly finished welding the gash shut and began inspecting her work, while the guard looked around her head at his arm. Slade was on the other side of the table, leaning on his hands, also scrutinizing the job. The dark girl's eyes flicked over to Slade and she stared at him for the longest time, although he didn't seem to notice.

Finally, she seemed to have built up enough courage to ask, "Do you have any kids?" Instantly, Slade's fist pounded on the table, startling both the girl and the droid.

"When are you ever going to let this go?" he barked with a fierceness that took Raven by surprise. When she looked too horrified to answer, the man added with the same fervor, "My wife divorced me years ago after a family dispute and I haven't heard from her since. I don't want to know where she is and I don't care to know where she is. That part of my life is behind me and I would like it if you didn't keep bringing it up almost daily! As for children, that is one thing you will never know, so don't you dare question me about it again! Is that enough information for you?" Raven nodded dumbly, eyes wide. With one final glare at the robot, Slade turned and marched determinedly from the room.

-

Over the past few days, the Hive and their new recruits perfected their plan of assault on the tower. With each new day, Gizmo would announce it was the opportune time to attack Slade, only to be shot down by Jinx. Finally the boy gave up altogether and instead sat off by himself during their conferences, grumbling to himself.

After one conference, he got up and waddled over to his teammates, pushing between Dr. Light and Cinderblock. "Are these numbskulls ready yet?" he cried.

"Of course they're ready," scoffed Jinx, glancing around quickly to make sure no one else was in hearing range. "We're just trying to drive the plan into their heads so much that when we finally do attack, there'll be a less chance they'll compromise us."

"Can't trust any of 'em," Mammoth added with a critical look at the Master of Games.

Jinx sniffed. "They probably think the same about us. But just as long as they follow our orders, defeating Slade and his little girlfriend should be a cinch." She folded her arms across her chest and looked expectantly at her teammates, as if ready for one of them to object.

"Cinderblock and Plasmus are too stupid to do anything but follow our orders. That idiot Dr. Light just wants to get back at Raven, so who cares about him... But Mog can't be trusted. Stupid, monkey-brained, fluffy little..."

"Mog?" questioned Mammoth.

"Yeah, Master-of-Games: Mog," Gizmo replied with his hands moving from right to left with each word. "Get it? Stay with me here. Geez, stupidity must be contagious 'cause-"

"Knock it off," Jinx ordered quickly with a tone of authority. Mumbling, the boy obeyed.

-

Over the past few days, X's group carried on as before, though now Speedy was constantly suspicious of the thief. Aqualad, while taking a break in the Atlantic Ocean to contact the tower, had been informed of X's occupation and instantly sided with Speedy. Hotspot, however, took an objective perspective. He wasn't siding with anyone, and for that he became something of a mediator.

A couple of hours earlier, Aqualad had contacted the hideout again to inform his teammates that he had reached the Mediterranean Sea and was hitching a ride on one of the local sea animals and would be near Monaco soon. Ever since then, the three guys had hung around near the monitors. They didn't venture out even for food.

Hotspot checked a clock above one game machine. "Man, how long does it take him to get to that country? It's, what, by Spain?"

"Base of France, next to Italy, right on the water," X replied quickly. He was checking through the Titans files to find if anything new had occurred. Already they knew files of Hotspot had been accessed, so anymore he wasn't allowed to scout the tower.

"Still..." mumbled the fiery boy.

"I guess it all depends on what he's riding on. Apparently, he isn't blazing trails through the water on the resident goldfish," X added.

"Aqualad knows what he's doing," Speedy shot back, glaring at the thief.

"Never said he didn't."

Hotspot was about to jump in, fearing he'd have to prevent a fist fight, but luckily the argument subsided when Speedy wisely didn't retort. The room fell into silence once again with the occasional spurts of typing almost echoing in the basement.

Awhile later, all three guys were startled by the noise of an incoming transmission. Aqualad appeared on the middle monitor and the others quickly crowded around it. They could see their friend was surrounded by water still, bobbing with the shallow waves. Sea gulls could be heard shrieking in the background.

"Okay, I'm here. Land's in sight," Aqualad panted with great effort, obvious exhaustion slipping into his voice. "Do you have Blackfire's ship pinpointed yet?"

"No, we were hoping she would've contacted the tower so we could get a lock on her. No such luck yet," replied X with a glance back to the corner monitor.

Aqualad blinked, fighting to rid his expression of weariness and maintain some sort of clearheadedness. However, his disappointment was apparent when he spoke. "Okay. I guess I can ask around," the long haired boy sighed. He pinched the bridge of his nose before shaking his head and looking off toward the coast, which his teammates could not see. "I don't wanna get too close to the shore in case the ship is checking for any of us..."

"No, man, you should get some rest. We'll find Blackfire," Hotspot spoke up.

"Yeah," agreed Speedy, "you just swam halfway around the world. Take a break. I'm sure our friend has something up his sleeve still." With an expression bordering mocking, the archer looked at X. The thief vented something his teammates couldn't catch but otherwise remained quiet.

"A break sounds good to me," Aqualad said, pleasantly nodding with drooping eyes. "Call me when you get something." The link terminated but the three remained where they were, staring at the dark monitor.

"So..." said Hotspot after a long silence, looking from one teammate to the other, "what've we got?"

-

Raven was almost late to her afternoon practice outside because she had been preoccupied with her small squadron of robots. She had been upgrading them with spare Cyborg parts, then having them install the parts on each other. As she flew out to the obstacle course, her guards were still working.

On the obstacle course, many of Slade's robots already had patches of the familiar blue skin. Their arms from their elbows down had Cyborg's armor and installations, as well as their legs from the knees down. Their chests were covered in an extra, short breastplate. And on their faces, replacing the red spot, was a Cyborg blue. The soldiers looked much more impressive and much tougher.

Raven smirked as she landed. Slade had actually listened to her. And she couldn't wait to see the Hive's faces if they attacked again.

"Ready?" Slade's voice called from near the base of the tower. The dark girl spread her arms, pushing her cape behind her shoulders, and stood ready to run through the course.

"It'll be a bit different today," said the man. Raven immediately straightened, her head snapping around.

"Different? How?" she questioned cautiously.

"For this session, you will be fighting the robots." A flinch of confusion crossed Raven's face as she glanced at the many soldiers scattered around. Before she could object, Slade shouted, "Begin!"

At that, six guards rushed toward her, their right hands melting into arm cannons. Raven quickly put up a shadow barrier that enveloped her and deflected all the weapon fire. As she hid in her little dome, the dark girl raced to come up with a strategy. She didn't want to hurt the robots too much- she might be the one who'd have to repair them.

When the shield was taxing too much power to stand against the barrage of lasers, Raven sunk through the ground. She surfaced behind the robots and covered them in darkness from the shoulders down, which pinned their arms to their sides. Suddenly a laser shot burned a hole in her flapping cape and the dark girl realized more guards on the sidelines were joining in. She summoned another dark shield, buying time to figure out what she was going to do.

How was she going to stop them all? Raven could just send dozens of piercing black rays all over to slice through the droids, but that would leave such a mess. And the dark girl had strangely developed a liking for the robots. There had to be a way that she could incapacitate them without destroying them. But how?

The girl groaned under the stress. Keeping six struggling robots tied up while blocking Cyborg-enhanced firepower took a great deal of energy- energy Raven was realizing she didn't have much more of. Still restraining her first attackers, the girl discarded her barrier and flew up into the afternoon sky. She figured the setting sun might hide her by blinding the soldiers as they searched for her. Immediately two robots took off after her, flying almost in a random pattern around the tower. A minute later, those two soldiers dropped back to the ground, their bodies bound in shadow.

"Come on, Raven. Defeat them, don't just restrain them," Slade called, impatiently looking for her.

"Defeat them without destroying them?" questioned the dark girl from above. She was carefully watching the remaining upgraded guards, about ten in number, who were all searching for her, their arm cannons following their gazes.

Slade folded his arms across his chest. "So that's what you're doing, is it? Humanitarian, to be sure, but totally unnecessary. And a strategic waste of time."

Raven ignored him; she was still planning. She was all too aware that if she didn't act soon, too much of her power would be drained by holding the eight guards captive. The subtle yet constant throbbing in the section of her mind that controlled her powers reminded her of that frequently.

The dark girl's mind raced: defeat without destruction. She would have to overpower the robots- all of them- enough to shut them down. Maybe... maybe just hitting them with enough force would work. But to try that, she would need all her powers.

The eight soldiers were suddenly released as Raven dropped through the sky, her familiar chant already in progress. She landed on the word "Zinthos!" in the middle of the obstacle course, in the mob of robots.

It sounded almost like a small sonic boom as a wall of darkness radiated from Raven from all sides. All the robots were thrown forcefully back; even the tower shuddered from the power of the dark girl's attack.

Slade, too, although a good distance from the field, found himself knocked off his feet. A slight aftershock that followed prevented him from getting up and left him with a throbbing in his head. The man staggered to his feet and slowly looked around. All the robots were down- even the ones on the sidelines that hadn't been fighting- and Raven was lying in the middle of the course. As he neared her, the man found she wasn't unconscious, but close to it.

The girl gave a pathetic moan upon seeing him. "That was a bad idea." She didn't even attempt to get up. Slade crouched next to her.

"Since when could you do something like that?"

"Just now, I guess."

"A powerful move indeed. Do you think you'll be able to do it again?"

Raven looked up at him with a hurt expression. "Oh, yeah, I should be able to pop right up and give an encore performance. Don't mind the fact that I'm completely spent and I have a massive headache," she spat darkly.

"Women," muttered Slade with a role of his eye. The girl, with much strain, managed to form small, dark orbs around her fists. They were much less intimidating than she had hoped.

Slade clasped a hand on her shoulder. "Calm down, Raven. You're bordering emotional." The man was firm, but fighting back condescension.

"What do you care?" growled Raven weakly. Her eyelids fluttered repeatedly, as if she was somewhere between conscious and unconsciousness, fighting to stay awake.

Slade's grip tightened. "Of course I care for your well being-"

"What about Terra? And Robin? You didn't care about them! You only cared as long as they did what you wanted," the girl hissed with as much ferocity as she could muster. "And when they failed or disobeyed, you didn't hesitate to turn on them."

"Save your strength, Raven," advised the man in a slow manner, "you're wasting your energy yelling at me. And, my dear, you are very different from Terra and Robin."

Raven wanted to retort somehow, but she was much too weak. She had never used so much power in an attack before, and now there was barely enough energy left to suppress her emotions. The dark girl needed to regain her strength somehow, but she felt as if meditating would take too much effort. Her body just wanted to sleep, but her mind wanted to keep arguing.

"Why?" Raven asked in a voice no louder than a whisper. Her eyelids drooped again. "What makes me different?"

Slade observed her for a moment, then replied, "I think you're just mad I snapped at you earlier. That's what all this fuss is about." The man let go of her shoulder and slipped his arms under her back and knees.

The girl's vision blurred; the background dimmed and the shadows grew. Her body ached- she was so tired. But she fought to stay awake. "You... you didn't answer my question." The last thing Raven recalled before completely blacking out was being slowly lifted up.

-

X got up from the corner monitor, stretched, and crossed the room to Speedy and Hotspot, who were racing each other on a two-player arcade machine. There had been no contact with Aqualad since he had arrived in Monacan waters, so the guys had found ways to preoccupy themselves.

Soon a string of triumphant sounds came from the game and Hotspot began dancing around, accompanied by an "in your face!" every once in awhile. When Speedy turned to go to another game, his head jerked back upon seeing X standing so close.

"I have a job for you," the thief informed him flatly.

Speedy arched a brow. "I'm not mugging anyone." Instantly Hotspot stopped crowing and stared wide-eyed at the other two.

"No... I can do that myself. I want you to go to the tower and try to talk some sense into Raven," replied X. "Hotspot can't get anywhere near that fortress, and I think if Raven saw me again, she'd try to kill me."

A smirk played on Speedy's features. "You must be used to that kind of reaction from the ladies by now." Hotspot flinched at that, expecting any range of reactions from X, most of which called for the fiery boy's intervention.

The thief's eyes narrowed. "I hope you're as good at convincing Raven as you are at making insults." Speedy gave a quick salute with two fingers then made for the stairs, grabbing his bow on the way out.

-

Raven was so exhausted that she slept through the rest of the day and only woke with the sun the next morning. Even though the drawn shade cast many shadows in her room, the girl could clearly make out a figure huddled in the corner. Quickly her fists were shrouded in darkness. Even quicker than that, a wave a nausea crashed over her and Raven let the darkness vanish. She flopped back onto her pillow with a pitiful moan. It was dangerous to use her powers now, but Raven was hoping that would soon pass because she figured Slade would have many tests set up for her that day.

The figure in the shadows suddenly became alert, startled awake. Slowly it crawled toward her, constantly searching the room as if it would spot security cameras or motion sensors. A masked head soon popped up next to Raven's bed.

"Hey there."

"Who are you?" the dark girl asked, sitting up. Her eyes, clouded with wariness, watched him carefully, trying to see through him and determine the intruder's intentions.

"We've never met, but I'm a friend of Robin's. I'm Speedy," the boy replied as he stood up and extended a hand. Cautiously Raven shook it.

Looking around, she asked, "How did you get in here?"

"Through the window," smiled Speedy, pointing over his shoulder. Somehow, that didn't surprise the girl anymore.

"Why are you here?"

The archer gave a quick shrug. "Oh, just to stop in, say hi, see why you're working for Slade." Raven's eyes narrowed.

"I do not work for Slade. This isn't some kind of employment."

"Yeah, but when he tells you to fight, you fight; when he tells you to stop, you stop; when he tells you to fly, you ask 'how far.'"

"Where exactly have you gotten this information?"

Speedy smirked at that. "I've heard several people's accounts, I've seen it for myself... I think I'm pretty well informed. I'm also well informed on another subject."

Raven arched an eyebrow, patiently remaining silent.

"I know why your friends aren't here, and I think it's for a different reason than you might think." At that the girl's eyes narrowed again.

"Is that what this is about? You sound like X. He sent you, didn't he?" she demanded with a cold. unreadable expression.

"We're just trying to help, Raven, really. I-"

"X sent you, didn't he?"

"...Yes," Speedy confessed in a low voice. "He just wants you to find out the truth- we all want what's best for you."

"Who's 'we'?" questioned Raven quickly, staring even more critically at the boy. He hesitated.

"Just a few of us," Speedy said at length. "Those who know the Titans and what really happened to them. But what we would like to know is why you're so quick to trust Slade."

To the boy's surprise, Raven was replying almost before he got his question out, "Because he trusts me." While Speedy was groping around for more questions, the dark girl pointed toward her window, a resolute look on her face. "If that's all, I suggest you leave." Her tone, however, was unmistakably an order, and Speedy had no choice but to comply. Slowly, he retreated toward the window.

"You know," he began upon reaching the sill, "for your sake, I really hope Slade is as good to you as you seem to think he is."

Raven tilted her head in consideration as Speedy left her room. What was going on? X, Speedy, Hotspot... were they all in this together? And why did they care so much for the Titans? She didn't anymore.

--
Next Update: December 19th. Christmas next Sunday. Wow. Merry Christmas:D

As I was writing this, I was wondering if I made Raven take too long in coming up with that new attack... or if she was kinda weak this time. /

And... hehehe... I dunno why, but that "resident goldfish" thing is just so funny to me... Are there even golfish in the Mediterranean? LoL, I doubt it.