Calma
Calm
Raven Roth instantly knew that someone, or something, was in her home. Haivng lived in the Tower alone for so long had given the place a certain feel to it. That feeling had been disturbed. Of course the ajar front door and wet footprints just confirmed that someone was inside.
Cautiously Raven slid her purse down her shoulder and gripped the straps. Lacking any other weapon at this point it would have to suffice for now. To avoid making noise Raven flew just a few centimeters (one or two inches) off the ground and slowly made her way around her own home.
The search started and ended in the living room. There on the couch sat a man, hunched over and muttering fierce words to himself. He wore a black outfit that only a superhero would ever think about wearing. A blue falcon on his chest was the only thing that wasn't black on his outfit. The man had shoulder length jet-black hair, very much unruly, and as Raven slowly angled herself to get a better look she could make out that he was in need of a shave. His eyes were covered with a simple mask much like her friend from so long ago.
"Robin?" Raven tentatively called.
The man's head snapped up instantly and he jumped into a defensive position before he let himself see the woman in front of him.
She was dressed in blue jeans, rattle skin boots, a red blouse and white kerchief was tied around her neck. Though she was hovering above the ground and had more pronounced female curves the purple hair and lavender eyes made the man sure of who was standing, floating, in front of him.
"Raven?" The man answered back.
He loosened his stance and Raven could see he had grown up as shoe size had predicted. He had to be near the 175cm mark (5'10") and given the tightness of this outfit it was easy to see that he was still very fit. Of course the eye mask was a clear give away as it had been his trademark those long years ago.
"What are you doing here?" Robin asked.
"I live here." Raven explained flatly. Robin suddenly became aware that she held her handbag like she meant to use it.
"You live here?" He repeated.
"Why not? None of the other boys were here to lay a claim and I know you and Star wanted to have your own place. So you moved and I stayed put." Raven answered.
Upon hearing Starfire's name Robin flinched and Raven instantly knew something was up. Why else would Robin retreat so far into the past?
"What did you two fight over this time, Robin?" Raven asked placing her hands on her hips.
Robin sat back down and placed his face in his hands. "It's Nightwing now but that isn't going to last for much longer. Just call me Richard or Dick, cause that's what I am." Dick said bitterly.
"Nightwing?" Raven repeated. Where had she heard that before? Wasn't he that part time superhero over in Gotham? But if Robin was Nightwing and Nightwing was a superhero, did that mean…
"You didn't." Raven asked accusingly. She had lowered herself to the ground and now stood in front of Dick, towering over him. He groaned into his hands. "After all that talk you gave Star about not fighting crime. Damn it Dick, you made it one of your wedding vows. I was there, I remember. Damn it I was one of the two witnesses at your real wedding."
The other witness had been Beast Boy; Bruce Wayne had preformed the ceremony after getting adorned via the internet.
"What is your phone number? Sure it's been a while but maybe I can talk her into letting you back into the house," Raven paused on her way to the phone and gave him another glance. "Maybe just the city for you."
"Raven."
"What?" Raven turned to face Dick who had his face buried in one hand while he held up a golden ring with the other. Upon closer inspection Raven could make out the three rubies that adorned it and she recognized it as Star's wedding ring.
"She…" Raven couldn't finish the sentence as she watched Dick's shoulders heave. He was trying to stiffen the sounds of his sobbing but when Raven placed an arm around him to comfort him, he cried all the tears he had kept hidden for the past three days of his trek here.
"We'll fix this, Dick, we'll fix this." Raven reassured him as the grown man proceeded to soak her shoulder. Some time later the weeping had stopped and Dick had fallen asleep. Raven gently lay him down on the couch and went to fetch a blanket for him. She had fixed a few problems for the Graysons in the past but it had always been via phone and from Star's point of view. In order to begin helping them out once again she was going to have to find Starfire. Making her way to her room Raven never expected to see anyone coming out of Cyborg's old room.
Koriand'r leaned against an old cherry tree as she watched the first of the invasion fleet landing. The Earthlings in high government positions were still arguing about what the hell the chrome colored crafts were and therefore too busy to even think about deploying the pitiful space defence forces that had. By the time any action was taken against Tamaranian scout forces the full invasion would have occurred and most, Kori prayed a few would get away, of earth's superheroes would be captured and reeducated. After it should be easy since Kori had done her assignment.
At her young age and given her family's situation enlistment was the only real option. As the eldest the duty of helping support the family fell to her since her brother was a full five years younger. So she had enlisted with the Special Services, did everything she could to excel in it and volunteered for the Earth Mission. It was highly dangerous and thus the pay, promotions, and benefits were all high.
The mission was straight forward enough; infiltrate Earth, learn of its defenses and provide recon data for the invasion. After a year of searching and finding no real defence systems, global defences anyway, Kori's mission was changed. She was to gather information about the superpowered being on the planet since they would prove to be the biggest pain to the invasion. In order to do so Kori had had to immerse herself into the world of superheroes and learn how to fit in. That is how she had come to join the Titans when she was 15 and the rest was history from there.
After landing several members of the craft's crew disembarked to secure the area. Upon noticing Kori they all stopped to salute. Kori was dressed in her full uniform, naturally not the one she had first come to Earth in as she had grown out of it in many ways, which was her outfit from her crime fighting days. Lacking clothes at the time she had taken off the corporal insignias only to replace them with the insignia of a major. A dozen years on a foreign planet was one sure fire way to get promoted on a semi-regular basis.
Seeing that they were all far below her own rank Kori didn't bother to salute back and just entered the spaceship to talk to its captain.
"I don't like it and I'm going to check it out with or without your consent." Stone snapped at Tear.
His lord sighed, Tear now that there was nothing he could really do against Stone given his own reliance on him. "I'll consider it as part of your backed up leave." That was all Tear said and Stone had smirked a sly knowing smirk that had once belonged to Tear. It seemed that smirk and its arrogance traveled to whoever held the position of the lone warrior.
And Stone hadn't liked it. The stars had been moving in ways that he knew stars couldn't move. The skies were going crazy and if nothing else Stone was going to find out for himself what in the Heavens was going on and save the equipment he had stored on the surface.
Because of the difficulty of making Shadowsteel Stone only had one suit of it that he wore for combat. The other times he wore a suit of titanium, much like his old Cyborg days except with all the new updates. This greatly reduced his weight as the tech had advanced to where he was just 175 kilos (385lbs), a far cry from his days as a metric ton combatant. Still technology had still not advanced far enough to produce lighter weight power cells and given his general isolation and his body's need to energy he had remodeled himself so that he carried three power cells, each weighing 8 kilos (17.6 lbs).
Seeing as it was cheaper and far easier to obtain parts on the surface Stone kept several spare parts in his old room in the old Teen Titan Tower. His trips there were always at night, around midnight, so that whoever was still living there was not disturbed. Years ago Stone had thought about killing the person that lived in the Tower just to make things easier but he found that the person kept the place up and didn't disturb his old room. Seeing as the person kept the place and didn't disturb his things Stone felt it was only fair to not disturb them and thus his visits were always late at night.
Tonight he was several hours early. The motion of the skies and the sense of an impending doom drove Stone to try and sneak in to change his armor. He succeeded in getting in, the current residents seemed to be fighting and the male had broken down. By the time Stone managed to change his armor, arms, and legs the crying had stopped. Even so Stone stepped out of his room, what were the odds of someone seeing him? After all his room was the furthest from the living room, the closest one belonging to Raven.
However as he stepped out Stone heard a gasp of surprise. Quickly he turned to face the sound and found himself looking into two large lavender eyes. They wavered for a moment then closed, and the girl's body collapsed onto the floor. She had fainted.
For a moment Stone was going to leave her as she was, a heap on the floor, but she looked like she was in a rather uncomfortable position. Picking her up Stone proceeded to the living room. He figured that the male he had heard would be there and Stone could pump him for information about the skies, surely these surfacers had noticed the shifting stars as well.
Given that it had been a three-day trek just to get here and he had not had any news in that period it would be wise to stay for a little while. He could use a few hours rest.
Stone carried the woman into the living room and found her husband asleep on the couch. He looked rather out of it and wasn't too well kept. Stone lay the woman down on the other side of the couch and seated himself in a chair. He would have to watch them so nothing overly dramatic happened. He had no qualms about killing cops; he wasn't going to go back there.
Stone took the time to look at his sleeping hosts. The man was well-built, long black hair and wore a ridiculous black costume and eye mask. The woman seemed more normal. A cowgirl look is what her clothes gave her though her long purple hair and the gem that odd stuck to her forehead were unusual features. Stone just supposed they were both artificial, just the woman's attempt to blend in with whatever fad had struck the world lately.
Raven cautiously opened an eye. She found that she was laying on her couch, Dick at her feet and that the person she had seen as sitting in a chair watching the news. This time Raven controlled her shock. The person looked like Cyborg from his shiny baldhead down to his metal shoes but Cyborg was dead. She had his acid damaged parts in a box in her room. Yet the grays and blues of the mechanical outfit was matched perfectly and the man's torso was only slightly more defined then she remembered it. Despite all of these, Raven wasn't going to get her hopes up. It could just be some chameleon villain, though why they would leave Dick and herself unbound was beyond her.
Quietly Raven muttered those three words; " Azarath Metreon Zinthos." Her eyes turned white and hands were enveloped in a colorless black just as several bands of darkness formed braces and chained the mechanical looking man to his chair.
Raven got up and shook Dick, her eyes never leaving those of the man.
"Five more minutes, Koriand'r." Dick mumbled. A slap swiftly woke him up.
"Koriand'r, a most uncommon name to match your uncommon features." The man spoke fluidly, his words flowing together in a smooth stream, but this did not hide the slight hint of amusement in his voice.
"Let's get a few things straight. First my name is not Koriand'r." Raven snapped at the big armored man.
"Then why would he call by that name?" Stone asked.
"I called you Kori?" Dick questioned Raven as he rubbed his cheek. She was small comparatively but she had a strong arm.
"Second don't interrupt me." Raven bristled. Both men ignored her.
"Short fuse; very unladylike to slap and snap." Stone commented.
"And that wasn't a light slap either." Dick added while still making a point about nursing his cheek.
"SILENCE!" Raven yelled as a gust of air rose up around Raven and ruffled her cloths and hair. Dick cringed and ducked down expecting the air to be filled with flying bits of glass and shrapnel from various unfortunate objects. Instead only the silence filled the air and Raven, despite her fuming state, was somewhat surprised herself. What both of them failed to notice was the fact that Raven's eyes had split temporarily into four red glowing slits. Stone, having a perfect view of her otherwise pale gray face, took note of this most interesting change.
The shock of nothing happening made Raven's features return to normal. The odd threesome remained in silence until Raven broke the silence, fully composed and serious.
"Just how did you get in here?" She asked.
Not knowing to who the question was being directed to both men answered.
"Picked the security system apart." Stone smugly replied.
"Used the old password. You haven't changed them in over a decade Raven." Dick told Raven.
Raven just glared at Dick and Stone in turn. She had never changed the password to the Tower because two members of the old team were dead and she had never expected a distraught Richard Grayson to turn up after Star had walked out on him. That scenario hadn't even entered Raven's mind until it was already a reality. As for her captive picking the locks and bypassing the security system, Raven knew it was only a matter of time. When he was still among the living Cyborg maintained and upgraded the Teen Tower's security systems. After his death it had not been upgraded since, due to Raven's own lack of technological know how and immense cost of hiring someone to do it, Raven knew it was only a matter of time before someone cracked the system. After all, a bunch of ones and zeros can't really protect that reliably.
An alarm sounded and a red light flashed flooding the room with noise. Somewhere in town some crime was being committed and the White Bird of the city, Raven was needed. Ever since the Titans dissolved Raven had donned a new costume, a white copy of her old purple one. A new system was worked out with the city in which they would only call her when it was something that the police couldn't handle. This mostly involved Slade and his superpowered crew as the police force was now to the point where it could handle almost anything.
It needed to be; Raven had made it perfectly clear she wasn't babysitting the city and had let several criminals get away and cause several million dollars of damage. When the mayor and the angry city folk called Raven out she just told them to stop being a bunch of pathetic cowards. After much taunting Raven proved her point by robbing a bank and beat the crap out of the responding police. She had kept the money as well since money was the only thing most people listened too. It not being in that bank made them listen even more. Raven didn't feel bad about keeping the money. She considered it back pay for all the pain and suffering the Titans had endured while protecting the city.
The money had gone to good use. She had bought her café with the money with no problems. After all, during all of her mean streak she had kept her old costume and how many people were actually smart enough to figure out that one Miss Raven Roth was the Raven that the city didn't like? Nearly all of her battles with the Titans had been just them and the villain so there was no hassle whatsoever. After that Raven became known as the "White Bird, Raven" since she changed her costume to white. The city amazingly welcomed her as no one had figured out she was the same Raven that had robbed the city.
"Shit. Dick go get some rope, tie him up, and watch him. I've got to attend to something." Raven dictated. After black binds pinning the man to the chair had been replaced Raven dashed off to her room shedding clothes as she went. Responding to such emergencies like now took longer as Raven no longer walked around in costume. She had to strip out of everything she was wearing and put on the leotard, her shoes, and hood while looking up where she was needed. All in all it took her a good 20 minutes to be flying out of the Tower towards the docks.
Both guys were leaning over looking down the corridor staring at the retreating bare back of Raven as she ran down the corridor. She had gotten out of her shirt awfully quickly and it was evident she was unbuttoning and unzipping her pants as she left their field of vision.
Stone was the first to snap out of it. He calmly drew his attention to Dick who was wondering what could make Raven run off so quickly and why she was stripping in the process.
"Tsk, tsk, Mr. Grayson. For a married man you look as fill you've never seen a woman's naked back before." Stone said with a sly, knowing smile. "Or did you never try taking your wife from behind?" Stone asked.
"Shut up you bastard!" Dick got up and moved to punch the man hard on the jaw. His fist was enveloped in the man's own metallic fist blocking his punch.
Stunned all Dick could do was wonder how the man had managed to free himself so quickly.
"You tie lousy knots my friend. Now sit down and let's talk like civilized men. The is no need for violence." Stone told Dick. Dick didn't sit down choosing instead to stand in a defencive position.
"How do you know I'm married?" Dick asked in a heated voice. His marriage being as it was and his fatigue made Dick miss a few things. How the man knew his man was disturbing but how he knew that he was married was even more so.
"Not too smart are you? You may be wearing a glove over it but the ring on your left ring finger gives you away." Stone replied sinking back into the chair and giving Dick that knowing smile once more.
Dick looked at his left hand and sure enough the slight bulge from his wedding ring was visible. While examining his hand Dick's mind raced. He had seem that smile before someplace and he was trying to placed where. Then it hit him. Who else would seem to be all knowing, have an easy time getting in, and have a stupid smile to boot?
"Tear, you asshole, take off that costume right now before I kick you out of it." Dick growled at the man.
"Close, you may call me Stone. I am Lord Tir'eir's right hand and Lord General of his army." Stone replied.
"Lord Tir'eir? How in the holy hell did he ever become a lord?"
"Well when you own some 15 provinces in the Nine Hells I would think that he would be called lord by many." Stone answered.
"And being 'Lord General' would make you a lord as well?" Dick asked rhetorically.
"The title of Lord General is to distinguish me from all the lesser generals in Lord Tir'eir's service. I rose to lordship a long time ago but being as you are a surfacer I doubted you would bother to pay the proper respect. You surfacers seem to have given up that practice during what you call your Middle Ages."
"Good call, I see no reason to call you such a title anyway. Sure you can get out of ropes but anyone can do that." Dick taunted.
"Perhaps I can give you a reason to respect me. You seem to be a sporting man so I shall make you a wager. If I win in a sparring match you will call me by my title." Stone challenged Dick.
"And if I win?" Dick asked.
"That's up to you to decide." Stone said getting to his feet.
"Deal." Dick was going to make this guy pay for being so arrogant.
'Holy shit' was what Dick was thinking as he watch Stone get to his vertical base.
Dick blinked to make sure he was seeing what he was seeing. The man in front of him was towering over him. Dick knew he was tall, 175 cm (5' 10"), but Stone looked to be about 195 cm (6' 6") and he had a massive chest some one and half times of his own. And Stone was thick; there was no getting around that. Stone looked to easily have a size advantage over Dick but Dick had battle a few supervillains who were bigger than him so he knew a few tricks. One of those tricks was that big guys are slow and being smaller Dick would have the speed advantage. Or so he thought.
The fight was over before Dick knew it. In two steps Stone had closed the distance between them. Stone's quick movement had caught Dick off guard and he could only watch Stone as he drove his large titanium gauntlet into his ribs. Dick double over and Stone grabbing his right arm at the wrist. In a swift move Stone brought his right arm beneath Dick's forearm and gave Dick a second elbow between his existing one and his wrist by driving Dick's forearm down on his own. A quick back elbow to the head knocked Dick out.
Stone caught Dick's body as it went limp. He laid it down on the couch, hooked himself into the Tower's mainframe and began to download whatever information the world had on those moving stars.
While that was happening Stone found a first aid kit and patched Dick up. Stone had forgotten how weak humans were, his usual opponents were the champions of the region and therefore powerful Demons. Dick hadn't enough put up a fight and had been knocked out so easily. Perhaps in six months or so Stone could turn up again and they could spar again on level terms. However the odds would never be truly fair. After all this man was just a surfacer and he was the holy half dead.
But Stone had no time to stay and ponder things idly. He had to get down to the docks. Making sure the Dick was still breathing and wouldn't move too much Stone left a note in Dick's chest that read; "Broken ribs and right forearm." With that Stone disappeared into the night.
"AAARRGGGHHH!" Raven yelled as she hurled a steel beam at Cinder Block. She hadn't seen him in ages but she did know that he was tough, slow and very strong. Cyborg had been the only member of the old team capable of physically matching Cinder Block's strength. To counter his advantages Raven stayed in the air and hurled large objects at him. For some odd reason Cinder Block was trying to avoid her and was only putting up a half hearted defence of himself. Even so Raven's attacks weren't having too great an effect on him.
With her attention on chucking heavy things at Cinder Block Raven didn't notice there was another person in the warehouse with them until it was too late.
Stone flew down the side streets and alleys making good time for the docks. Cinder Block would be there with the information he had gathered waiting for Stone so that they could return to the Hells and safely talk.
What Stone didn't expect to see when he got to the warehouse situated at the docks was Cinder Block engaged in a fight with a much smaller white-cloaked flying person who was using Dark Energy, the black magic of the Hells, to throw things at Cinder Block.
A quick glance at the situation told Stone that both were too engrossed in their fight to notice his arrival. Stone hugged the wall and worked his way around the warehouse until he was behind the assailant and, using his jump jets, leapt up into the air smashing the person to his chest in a vice grip.
The person struggled greatly but Stone wasn't going to let go any time soon.
"Don't tell me you some one this small had you reeling." Stone said is a soft chuckle.
Cinder Block glared at Stone. "You're late."
"Ran into some trouble at my stashing place." Stone replied off handedly.
Raven whipped her head around and saw that she had been caught by the man she had tied up earlier.
"You! What the fuck are you doing here?!" Raven yelled as she renewed her struggle to wriggle free.
The man looked at her with his single eyebrow razed. Shifting her in his arms so that his left arm was pressing against the underside her chest the man used his free right hand to take the hood off of her head.
"I thought so. Your rather rough mannerisms gave you away my dear." The man said to himself more then to anyone else.
"I AM NOT YOUR DEAR!" Raven shrieked.
"I wouldn't even think of that being true. You are, my dear, far too wild for a proper male to take you. Wouldn't you agree?" The man asked his stony partner.
"Stop wasting time Stone. Either take her here or kill her. We've no time." Cinder Block replied curtly.
"Are you suggesting that I take such a rough surfacer?" Stone asked in a faked shock.
"Rumor has it you like it rough."
"Since when did you ever have time to listen to the gossip?"
"Oh, some things travel. They say that on several occasion you've had your…companions screaming and moaning so loudly you woke the whole damned camp."
Raven had had enough. They were both ignoring her and taking about whether or not the one holding her would rape her. Well Raven wasn't going to stay and find out. During the whole conversation Raven had been using her powers to undo the bolts in a nearby steel beam. With an almighty swing Raven struck the back and side of the man's armored ribs.
The resulting collision forced Stone to let go of Raven and within seconds she was high above them, Stone holding his side and Cinder Block looking somewhat amused up at her.
"You're right. She is rather rough for a surfacer. Tell you what, if you ever manage to take her and come out of your tent alive I'll give you that book you wanted."
"Easy enough but we have things to do. Come on."
Stone and Cinder block both disappeared in a flash, Stone having teleported them both to his quarters in Tear's fortress. Once they're Cinder Block helped him take off his breastplate.
"By the gods she struck you hard. She's dented you armor. I'll fix it after we bandage your ribs. How are they?" Cinder Block said.
"Broken or badly bruised." Stone replied in a short breath. This wasn't the first time he had broken his ribs. Given the strength of his average opponents Stone had broken several bones several times. Cinder Block kept track on a chalkboard he kept by Stone's bedside.
"What did you find out?" Stone hissed at his stony friend.
"Not much on the conventional waves. After some hacking into the deeper files it seems that some government installation has spot spacecraft headed towards the surface. One has reportedly landed in Gotham for a short while a few days ago." Cinder Block told him. "I'll get to repairing this." Cinder Block left Stone to think over what he had found out.
Stone hadn't found much else. There was an incident about a craft landing in Gotham but that was all he had found out. Soon his thoughts wondered in two directions. He wondered where Maria was, her healing powers were greatly wanted right now, and why Robin, or Dick now, was at Raven's Tower.
Over the years he had been keeping tabs on all of his old teammates. Beast Boy was married to Terra, both of them finding each other in a small village on the eastern fringes of Tear's territory. He was trying to set the plane's record for the most times hitting a paddleball continuously. Last known he was somewhere in the 1.65 billion.
Robin, Richard Grayson according to his old bio, had become Nightwing and became wealthy. His marriage with Starfire, who's real name was not listed in Stone's data base, seemed to be rather fine. Whatever drove Dick to go to Raven did bother Stone some.
What bothered him more was Raven. She seemed to be doing fine in her social life. She had an established business and a train of would be suitors. This did annoy him a great deal. The relationship they had had, though short lived, never got anywhere nor did it properly end. That lack of closure disturbed the part of him that was still Cyborg. Cyborg wondered if they really had a chance at all of having a life together and to some extent he still had feelings for her. However the side of him that was Stone knew that Cyborg's chances had been slim and that it was an even longer shot with him now as Stone. Besides Stone had an agenda; conquering of the Nine Hells.
Raven's costumed crime fighting life was rather interesting to say the least. She only worked part time it seemed and that made it rather easy for Cinder Block to do his job of cementing Slade's position in the city. Raven did well protecting the city from normal crime but taking on Gizmo, Jinx, Mammoth, and Cinder Block was far too much for just one superhero.
Raven blinked a few times. Cinder Block and the man called Stone had vanished into thin air. Not dwelling on their sudden disappearing act Raven made haste to get back to her home. She knew that Dick wouldn't have let Stone go so easily so that meant that a fight would have broken out. If Stone was there to grab her it meant that Dick had been beaten, not too surprising given his exhausted mental and physical condition, and would probably be in need of her healing powers.
"Fuck." That was all Raven said when she made it back to her place. The main computer was on meaning the bastard Stone had hacked into the system. What he wanted could be figured out later, Raven had to find Dick.
She found him just as Stone had left him, note on his chest as Dick lay on the couch. He was awake and breathing and only after Raven healed Dick's arm and ribs did she slap him.
"What was that for?" Dick asked as he took off all the bandages he had awaken in.
"For letting that bastard beat you and hack into my computer." Raven snapped at him. A light bulb exploded. "Fucking great." Raven muttered to herself deadpan. She was pissed but she had to get her emotions under control. Given her maturity and years of constant practice it was rather easy for her.
"He's a lot faster then he looks." Dick muttered.
"Whatever." Raven replied as she took a look at her computer. It was on news web pages about stars. 'Why would anyone look up stars?' Raven wondered. She decided not to dwell on it for now. It had been a long day and now it was well passed midnight and into the early morning.
"Ok, you can have your old room for tonight. Or if that bothers you then you can take Beast Boy's or any other room. We'll talk more in the morning." Raven told Dick as she made her way to her room.
A/N: Hey, I am alive after all. Turns out the top of my tibia is softer than the normal due to an impact injury and though sports does present a possibility of further damage I should be fine if I'm careful (for those of you who don't know me, safe and sports do not go together. There is a reason my field name is Crazy White).
Well good news to all the people who complain about my grammar and spelling. The Raven's Wings has graciously offered to be my Beta and so she is. So no more bitching about grammar and spelling, ¿comprendes?
I would like to point out that no one bashed me for attacking the European version of honor nor for the reference to the Carnage at Hu Luo Gate in 218 AD, I believe it was. I guess no one is too sharp on Chinese history though I did make some Roman and Greek references that were sort of picked up on. I just rambled off all the names for the Gods of War and the Underworld/Death that I knew. Mars/Ares and Pluto/Hades respectively.
I'm pretty surprised no one said more about Star and what her secret may be. I'm also surprised no one said anything about her miscarriages either.
Terra Basher: There will be summaries for you and everyone else that needs them, myself included. Star knew something and so she left. I live in the time zone GMT 7.
meditaion6: If I didn't make you think different things then the fic would be predictable and you would get bored. Twists add to the fun, change the storyline and allow me to write more.
deathknight sora: What does L33T stand for? This is why you write in English, it's the language we all understand. Besides net speak is just lazy and if you're not careful you'll start talking in slang and sound like an idiot. I've seen it happen before. Within a year this guy I knew couldn't, even when talking to adults, speak proper English without any slang.
Athen884: Well Cyborg is half machine. He is still half human and will grow. He'll reach a height of 6' 6" and weight of 385 lbs, according to his official bio from DC comics. All he has to do is change his parts from time to time. As for Raven, the best place to hide is right in plain site. Plus in the comic world everyone is too stupid to figure out that the Raven living in the Tower and Raven Roth are the same person. Well everyone has their couples. In the old comics Star and Robin did have a relationship. Yeah no one notices BB cause I never wrote about him much. The same often happens to Cyborg unfortunately. That is the problem with odd numbered groups.
j: It is safe, very safe, to say no one has ever written me a longer review before. There was a reason for moving time forwards. I needed the team dead and several things to change and to do that time had to roll along. That skit with Star and Robin was amusing but their reunion will not be quite that simple or happy. Yes Stone/Cyborg is hard to see where the line is drawn. After all they are the same person, just different sides of the same coin. Raven is Raven, I can't explain her in any other way. But I feel that given her position it is understand able. Cyborg came around and changed things for her, and then he just disappeared and left her without closure. I used the reference to the Bloods to set up a sort of social structure. Brother Blood will not make an appearance because Telir can't be resurrected. That will be explained later in the fic as to why.
Fugitive: It is the few that dare to be different and go against society that change history.
Jayman: I am actually glad to see someone that understands my views. The problem is that the half of the country that is tired of the bullshit is mostly Democratic and they have a long history of being the wimps. Republicans have long had the muscle to do the behind the scenes things. There's no arguing about that. So until the Donkeys start acting more like onagers the Elephants will still run the country into the ground. Well they can't do that any more really. We're already hit rock bottom by electing Bush again.
JF-1986: Thanks for the review.
Talon: You are telling me that in the 10 days between your last review and your latest you've become a whole new person? Such a shame I must say. I'll have to consider this a withdrawal on your part I'm afraid. All I have to say is that you are too "americanilized" and that it if you only knew about your country you would see that you are the ignorant one. You after all live in a country that is racist, a recent poll says that all those Americans want to limit the rights of Arab-Americans just because they are of Arab decent. Also a poll taken states that half of Americans believe that Canada and Mexico are in fact states. That is, without a doubt, a very ignorant bunch of people. So my opening chapter is as dull as my last one. You obviously did not pick up on the set ups for all the subplots. Shame.
LNM: Well it all takes time and that is something I have. Your parents are overly paranoid. The Trojans can't be helped, and unless you give someone your exact address and provide a rather suggestive photo of yourself I think you're rather safe.
Dark-Depth: Glad to see more anti Bush support out there. Thanks for the review and suggestion about Raven and Stone.