Chap. 22

Into the Dark

The (old) Titans stayed at the Tower for a long while, enjoying the celebratory beer and talking about what had happened. The kids were of course, happy to listen to their parents talk about their successes. Martin especially enjoyed hearing about his efforts from his parents. It was a marked contrast to the reluctance the boy had shown before. But like everything else in life, the endless praise came to an end, when the Titans decided it was time to go home. True to his word, Brett gave the kids the next day off as a reward for their mostly excellent first battle. The Titans, old and new, went home that day feeling proud of themselves and each other. That night, each of the New Titans went home feeling as though they could take on the world. Except for one.

While her friends effortlessly entered sleep, dreaming of their next accomplishment, Katie sat up in her bed, thinking about what had happened today. But instead of the battle, she was focusing on her talk with Rivers. "Friend? I'm just his friend?" she muttered, as if the word had some new meaning she was still comprehending. "Am I just kidding myself? He probably doesn't even notice anything about me." She wondered sadly. "I guess I am just fooling myself. He probably already likes some other girl. I should just forget about him." But then she shook her head. "No, I can't. Maybe I should just be his friend. It's probably the best I can hope for." Katie would have continued in this vein, but suddenly there was a knock on the door.

"Is everything ok?" Raven asked from outside the door. "Sure." Katie answered, trying to act as though it was true. "Honey, I'm an empath. You really can't hide your problems from me." Raven said. "Something's wrong, do you want to talk about it?" Katie started to say something else, then just shrugged and said, "Sure, why not?" With that, Raven opened the door and walked over to her daughter's bed. Sitting down on the end, she asked, "Now what's wrong? Was it the battle today?" "Kinda." Katie said, as she stared down at her bed sheets. "OK, what does kinda mean?" Raven asked. "Well, there was this point where I was gonna get impaled by this card." "And that's what scaring you? If it's that, I can help you deal with it." Raven said. "No, no, it's not that I'm afraid. But what happened was that before I got hurt, Rivers came down and he destroyed the card. I said thanks, and then he said that he'd always help his friends."

"And that's a problem? You are his friend." Raven said. "I know, and I'm glad, but I…well…." Katie murmured, not really wanting to say what was really on her mind. But sometimes, our parents can see into our minds, regardless of superpowers. "Do you want to be more then friends?" Raven asked. Katie still didn't give an answer, but that just made it obvious. Raven smiled and said, "Have you told him about this?" "What? Of course not!" Katie said, her head popping back up. "I mean, I don't even know if he feels the same way." "Well honey, he isn't going to just come up to you and say it." Raven said. "I know that this isn't easy. I mean, I didn't even notice that your father was in love with me." "Really?" Katie asked. "Totally. When I finally got past Trigon, I didn't know anything about love. I was happy that I finally had your grandparents, but I wanted someone else that would love me as a partner. But I didn't know anything about how to get it; I was just waiting for it to fall into my lap. It led to some serious problems, I can tell you that."

"So what did you do?" Katie asked. "Your dad got hurt one day on a mission protecting me. That's when I realized how much he cared about me. He was unconscious in the hospital for a few hours, and when he finally woke up, we sat down and talked. Then I kissed him." "No way!" Katie said with a grin. "Yeah." Raven said back. "It all just grew from that." "Do you think that we can put Rivers in the hospital then?" Katie asked. "Too easy. Besides, if he does feel the same about you, he'll do something about it sooner or later. But there's nothing wrong with trying to make him act a little bit sooner. Just be careful." "Mom!" "Well I do have to say these things you know." Raven said. Katie just shook her head and said, "Thanks Mom." "Anytime honey. Now get some sleep." Raven said, as she leaned over and kissed her daughter on the forehead. Katie smirked a bit, and then buried herself under the covers as Raven walked to the door and shut off the light. As the empath shut the door, she looked back and shook her head. "He probably doesn't even realize it, if he's anything like Robin and Star. You'd better be willing to work on him, Catherine."

A few days later….

"Are we there yet?" Lisa moaned for at least the fifth time. "What do you think?" Robin asked his daughter as the landscape continued to move around them. Or should I say, under them. Robin and Lisa were currently zooming over the countryside at 150 mph and 20,000 feet. Neither of them had a pilot's license, but it didn't matter because they weren't in a plane and they weren't flying the vehicle involved. Brett had made a few calls the day after the battle and after speaking with Bart Simpson and the rest of the WILDB.R.A.T.S, he'd regained possession of the old BRAT-Mobile, which was currently flying them across the country in it's flight mode. The guys had been keeping it in the old HQ back in Springfield, and after hearing about the New Titans, they'd been more then happy to give them some help. "Hey, everybody needs a cool ride." Bart had said. The BRATS had also been sure to keep the car in good condition, so Brett had been able to get behind the wheel again quite easily. It was a good thing too, because the fastest of the Titans wouldn't have been able to make this trip in less then six hours, and the T-Ship and T-Car were still being rebuilt by Cyborg.

"I still don't see why we need to go all this way for some stupid training." Lisa grumbled. "We wouldn't have to if you could control yourself." Brett said. "Hey, I stopped him didn't I?" Lisa snapped. Robin sighed and said, "Lisa, for the millionth time, it doesn't matter. Stopping the bad guys is less important then what we do with them. We have to treat them fairly, not use them for 'warnings." "Why? They're supervillians, they're not in pre-K." Lisa muttered. "I don't care!" Robin yelled back. "Just because they're evil does not mean we sink to their level! What you did was what Mumbo would have if roles were reversed. Do you want to be like that?" Lisa didn't give an answer, but just sank further down in her seat.

Sighing, Robin pressed the button on the side door and pulled the front side window back up. "Where did this come from?" he muttered as he looked back out at the landscape. "Definitely not Star. Maybe you and Blackfire?" Brett suggested as he steered through the clouds. "I mean, she was definitely P.O.'d 24-7, and you… well you could get pretty intense Rob." "Yeah but I always knew what was too far." Robin said. "She doesn't seem to care." "Lisa just needs control. And if this doesn't work, you know that nothing else will." Brett said. "That's what worries me." Robin said. He would've said more, but then a button on the control panel began to glow. "Ah we're here.' The bat said. "Thank God for the GPS system." Rolling back the window, he yelled, "Hey Lise, we're here." "Finally." Was the sullen reply. "Oh this will be fun." Robin said.

As the super-car began its decent through the clouds, Lisa looked down through the window, trying to see where she was going. She knew it had to be important, if Brett and her Dad were willing to fly across the country to the outskirts of Gotham. Supposedly, there was some trainer here for her. Lisa only had a couple of ideas, but she knew that it couldn't be him. He was an urban legend, and if he was real, a founding member of the Justice League. He would have better things to do anyway. She didn't really care about the trip; she just wanted to know who the hell was supposed to train her. Better yet, what sort of training it was. God, what if this was some kind of superhero shrink? The last thing that she wanted was to sit on a couch and talk about her feelings. "Naw, even they're not that lame." She whispered as the clouds began to part. Lisa finally got a good look at the place they were headed.

Amazingly, it looked like an old mansion on the top of a hill near the ocean. The BRAT-Mobile swung by the back of the house, landing in the back area. The car returned to it's normal form, and the three passengers departed. "Place hasn't changed a bit." Robin said, as he looked over the mansion. "Well, you know how important redecorating is around here." A voice said from the patio. The group looked over to see somebody standing by the patio door. He was an older man dressed in a tuxedo, balding, but projecting an air of quiet dignity. "Alfred!" Robin said happily as he ran over to the old man. Smiling, the man gave Robin a strong hug. "It's good to see you too, Master Dick." Alfred said as Brett and Lisa walked up to them. Breaking their embrace, Alfred said, "And I see this is the esteemed Nightstalker." "Please, call me Brett." The bat said. "Rob's told me a lot about you. I'm quite impressed." "Ah. Master Bruce has told me quite a bit about you as well. Most inspiring. And this must be Ms. Lisa. A pleasure." Alfred said, as he took the girl's hand and delivered a light kiss to it.

"Um, thanks." Lisa said, unused to the attention. "If you don't mind, how do you know my dad and Brett?" "Why, I helped to raise Master Dick." Alfred said. "After his parents' death, he was taken in as Master Bruce's ward. He spent many eventful years here, before taking off on his own." "And I did pretty well, didn't I?" Robin said. "Wait a minute." Lisa said. "If this is that Alfred you told me about, then is this is Bruce Wayne's house? Why are we here? I don't think a soft millionaire is gonna train me very well." At that, all three men just smiled. "Follow me my dear, I think I can give you an answer." Alfred said, as he walked back inside the mansion.

The group followed the old butler inside, as Lisa gaped at the hugeness of the mansion. The main room alone seemed to be the size of her house! "I can't believe you left here, Dad." She said as she looked around. "It's not as hard as you think." Rob answered. "Ah here we are." Alfred said as he stopped in front of a grandfather clock. Reaching over to the clock face, the butler set the hands to a certain time. Suddenly there was a click from behind the clock, and it suddenly pulled away, revealing a doorway that stretched down into what looked like a cave. "Shall we?" the butler said, as he walked down. Robin followed him, and Brett began to follow, only to notice that Lisa was just staring. "You coming?" he asked. "Huh? Oh sure. Hey, how does Alfred know about you? I mean, I thought Dad was Robin in secret." "He was, but there's a lot of other secrets too." Brett said simply, as he continued down the stairs. Lisa quickly followed.

The stairs did indeed lead down into a cave, one that seemed to stretch for miles. As the group traveled down, Lisa noticed the system of lights that was strung along the walls. This place had been in use for a long time, that much was obvious. As to who used it, well Lisa was starting to rethink her theories. Suddenly, there was a screeching noise from above, and a pack of bats suddenly flew past. The others paid no mind, but Lisa leapt back in fear. They flew up from the cave, swarming around her and generally freaking her out. But then Brett turned and let out a series of strange, high-pitched shrieks. Almost instantly, the bats flew back down the stairway. "You never really forget your native tongue." Bret said, as Lisa looked at him with surprise. "Don't worry, you get used to them." Robin said, as they continued to walk. Lisa shivered but kept walking. Finally, the group reached their end. The long stair way exploded into a gigantic cavern, laced with computers and equipment. Lisa looked around in amazement and even Brett look surprised. But then she saw something that took her breath away. Sitting in front of the huge computer view screen, typing away was a man, wearing a long black cape. The man typed for a moment more, then stopped and got up. Turning around, Lisa saw his face. Bruce Wayne had been lucky; at fifty plus, the only sign of age was a couple of gray streaks near his temples. Some said this was due to exercise, other said it was his stress less nights. But what Lisa saw gave her a much clearer answer; the bat symbol on his black and gray costume.