Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, please don't sue me.
AN: All the original team members call Robin, Robin. It's what they're used to and Robin has given up trying to fight it. They do, however, call him Nightwing when there are others around.
Taking the Fight Out of the Girl
Raven was pacing. The rest of the team was supposed to arrive in the next 10 minutes and now she wasn't so sure she could go through with this. It would have been one thing if Robin had told them he had a surprise, but this whole scheme was beginning to make her nervous.
"Robin, I don't know if I can do this."
He had changed back into his Nightwing costume and was setting up the room. She knew that he was going to tell her that it was her idea to begin with and that it was too late to back out, but she could just leave. He really couldn't stop her.
"Look, Raven, it'll be fine. Trust me, they could all use a good laugh and I think this will loosen them up. We make them think you're a new recruit. You show them what you can do, they'll recognize your powers, we'll come clean, and everyone will laugh! It'll be great."
Even though he seemed so enthusiastic she still wasn't sure. Maybe they would be angry that they were tricked. Maybe they would be so mad at her that they would just leave. Maybe she was over thinking this whole thing.
That's when she heard them.
"Ok Raven, go into the hall and wait till I come and get you. Just like we planned okay?"
She nodded her head and walked over to her hiding place. She still wasn't sure about the whole thing. She could just phase through the wall, but then Robin would be stuck there. Plus he knew where she lived so it would be harder to hide from him. She heard them all say their hellos.
"Hey Star, long time no see. How's the League treating you?"
"Oh very well friend Cyborg. You should accept their offer and then we could spend much time together in the common rooms!"
"Sorry Star, I'm happy where I am. Hey B.B., what have you been doing lately?"
"Well, since there haven't been any newbie's in a while I've been brushing up on my game. You wanna play something after Robin tells us about this new kid?"
"Maybe, where is Rob anyway?"
Robin came out from the hallway, greeted everyone and asked them to sit down.
"Now, you all know why you're here, even though I'm no longer the team leader, I know talent when I see it. This new recruit is amazing. I'm sure that she'll be able to impress all of you as she has me."
"She, huh? Exactly how old is this girl," they all glared daggers at Beast Boy, "I need to know for training purposes, you know?"
Raven could practically hear the other team members roll their eyes at Beast Boy's comments. It was good to hear all of their voices again. They all matured in some way, yet they were all the same. She wanted to just come around the corner, sit on the couch, and listen to Robin brief them about their next meeting. She wanted to be 18 again. Be apart of this team again. She wanted the six years away from them to disappear so it would be as though nothing had happened. Of course, she knew this couldn't happen. And she knew that she couldn't make things go back to the way they were. She had her own responsibilities, like being at the clinic in 4 hours. Going back now was impossible and she would just have to deal with that.
"Yeah right, training. Anyway, I caught her in the act today. This guy had a knife up to this girl's throat and she took him down. It was impressive. She's mostly been working little jobs on the street. She didn't want exposure, but I told her we could fix her up with a persona and it wouldn't affect her life too much."
"Rob, why would you make a promise like that? You know this is a hard job. Keeping up a normal life is pretty difficult."
"I know, but Cyborg, I promise you, once she gets into it, she'll never want to leave. She'll be your newest and brightest full timer!"
"Robin, I must agree with friend Cyborg on this matter. It does not seem right lying to a young girl about her duties with the Titans. The truth is always best."
"Fine, we'll tell her the truth. Let me get her."
Robin started to walk over to the hallway when he was stopped by Cyborg.
"You mean she's here", at this point he started to whisper, "we've been calling you Robin this whole time!"
"It's alright Cyborg, she already knows about me. It's another reason why I thought you should meet her. Hang on while I get her."
Robin walked towards the hallway and whispered to Raven.
"Are you ready?"
She double-checked that her image spell was still on and nodded her head.
"Great, let's go."
Robin walked her out in front of the rest of the team. She kept her head down. She didn't really want to look at them. She was scared. Robin had told her that she should come up with a costume and now she was wishing it was something that had more coverage. Of course her first idea was much to close to her old costume so Robin told her to change it to something "completely different". So now she was standing in front of her old friends in a purple midriff halter top with matching shorts. She felt like an idiot.
They weren't exactly welcoming her with open arms. It looked like they were all judging her in their own ways. Beast Boy was eyeing her in a way that made her terribly uncomfortable. So much so, that she shifted her weight to her other leg, in order to lean closer to Robin.
"Hi, I'm Beast Boy, what's your name."
It didn't surprise her that he was the first to speak. He wasn't exactly the most judgmental member.
"Her name is Cannon and she has some pretty amazing powers. Would you guys like a demonstration?"
Cannon? They didn't discuss that one earlier. Just another thing to add to the list of humiliation that was this night. Raven was seriously having reservations about this and she just wanted to run away from it all. The way they were staring at her was almost making her sick. And the fact that Robin was so indifferent about it and so sure that it was an amazing plan made her even more upset.
"Um, Nightwing, I need to talk to you. In private. Right now, please."
Raven walked back into the hallway and Robin followed, excusing the both of them and telling the rest of the team to sit tight. When they were far enough down the hall so the rest of the team wouldn't hear them, Raven began panicking.
"Robin, this isn't going to work. They're going to be mad at me I know they are."
"Raven, it's just a little prank. Actually, it's more of a surprise. They'll be fine, trust me."
"It just seems almost mean to do it this way. You know, they're going to be mad."
"Honestly Raven, I think they'll be more excited to see you, than angry that we played a little trick on them. Let's just go through the rest of it as planned, and if they get really angry, I'll take all the blame. Okay?"
Raven nodded her head, still not believing that this was a good idea, but not wanting to upset Robin. So they walked back into the room, to those scrutinizing faces.
"Sorry guys, Cannon just got a little bit of stage fright. But I'm pretty sure she's ready now, so let's begin."
The set-up was simple, Robin was going to list off her abilities and after a few simple things he was going to say shape-shifting and she was going to drop her image spell. She was almost hoping that they wouldn't believe that it was her. But, it was now or never, and she would soon get her reaction.
"Ok, we'll start with something simple Cannon. How about flight?"
Raven did a few laps around the room and landed where she started.
"Very good, thank you. Now, we'll move onto some offensive moves. You're telekinetic right? Please give us an example."
She was able to lift Beast Boy off the couch without the black energy that would have given her away in a second. But the team didn't really seem impressed by any of this so Robin asked Beast Boy to attempt to change form.
"Dude! I can't change! My powers aren't working at all!"
Raven put him back on the couch and Beast Boy went through a few animal species, just to make sure his powers were back. Robin made eye contact with Raven and slightly nodded his head. This meant that he was going to request the shape shift. She nodded back, knowing that she wasn't ready, but know that it had to be done.
"She's pretty great right? She can even shape-shift. How about it Cannon, show us what you can do."
Raven took and deep breath, closed her eyes and dropped her image spell. She waited a second before opening her eyes again. And when she did, she saw what she was afraid of. Pain, on all of their faces, as if someone had came by and punched all of them. They intimidated her so much that she almost wanted to put her shield up, until Cyborg spoke up.
"Is this supposed to be some sort of joke? Does she think that doing this is going to get her in?"
"I think it's an incredible likeness, don't you? I mean, she's so good. Don't you think she'd look exactly like this now?"
They were all taken aback at Robin's attitude. And Raven understood why. For all they knew she was dead, and Robin was praising someone for pretending to be her. It was hurtful and she wanted to tell them, but her words were sticking in her throat.
"How dare you! Did you put her up to this? Was this supposed to impress us Nightwing? Cause all it's doing is pissing me off! Maybe next she should shift into Terra, or better yet, let's throw her in a Robin costume, so we can have our leader back!"
"It's really me."
Raven hadn't even realized she said it out loud until every one turned towards her. She looked at Robin, who was standing next to her. He smiled and put his arm across her shoulders.
"Surprise!"
Raven couldn't believe he said that. She rolled her eyes hoping that Cyborg didn't use his cannon on the both of them.
"Friend Raven, is it really you?"
She nodded her head.
"Rae, we thought…dude. Where have you been?"
She looked up at Robin, still unable to really use her voice with them.
"Well, I found her when a guy I was tracking down slit her throat. I obviously found it strange when there wasn't a drop of blood at all and then realized it was her."
"You didn't realize anything, I told you. You thought I was affiliated with the guy."
"Hey, I refused to leave your apartment until you told me!"
"You were halfway out the window and wouldn't have turned around if I hadn't slipped."
"That was a ruse."
"I'm sure."
They were talking as if it was old times. But still, she was only talking to Robin. She turned away from him and back towards her teammates, only to realize that Cyborg was walking out of the common room. Robin was about to go after him, but Raven stopped him.
"I'll go."
She flew out of the room and down the long hallway. She was almost scared to continue on, but she did. When she got to Cyborg's old room, she paused at the door. Not really sure what she was going to say to him, she phased into the room and decided to let the conversation come naturally. To her surprise (and slight relief) he wasn't in there. She wondered where he could have gone. He didn't really have ample amounts of time, so it's not like he could have gone to the roof or into the gym. He had to be in one of the bedrooms. Of course, part of her knew that he was in her old bedroom. Part of her knew that before she entered his old room. But maybe she was too scared to face him. The way he had acted when he saw her, was worst than she had imagined. He had actually walked out of the room when he found out it was really her.
Of course, she knew that he had every right to feel the way he felt and do the things he did. And maybe she didn't deserve his friendship, but she at least felt that she deserved the chance to explain everything. So, she phased through the wall, passed through Beast Boy's and Starfire's old rooms and landed in hers.
He was sitting on the bed, in the same place he had the last time she saw him there. She wanted to sit next to him, to have that same bond back, but she knew that she couldn't. Before she was able to speak, he stood up and started interrogating her.
"So, you think because you fooled Robin you can fool the rest of us? You think because the old leader of the Titans says you're someone, you're someone. It doesn't work that way. So, let me guess, is this another one of your schemes Jinx? Cause you've really improved the spell this time. No pink energy at all this time, and you got the look pretty much down."
"Cyborg, it's really me." She lifted some small trinket that she didn't even remember off of the dresser, purposefully using her black energy. Cyborg grabbed the item out of the air and that's when Raven realized that it was her modified communicator. The large yellow T was blacked out. It looked more like a compact mirror. It didn't even have an antenna.
"Cyborg, I'm sorry. I know that I hurt you when I left, but you have to understand that I didn't leave to hurt you! I left because I thought that it would be too hard to say goodbye in the morning. It was best for everyone in the end."
"How do you know what was best for everyone. Maybe it would have been best for everyone if Raven stayed with us. Maybe it would have been best for everyone if we knew where she had gone. Maybe it would have been best for everyone, if we knew that she was alive."
At this point she moved closer to him. She needed him to see that it was her. She knew that he knew it was, his machinery must have been telling him that much, but his human mind wouldn't let him believe it.
"She is alive! And she's right here in front of you. Please don't do this to me Cyborg. I know that I hurt you, and I'm sorry, but it hurt me too. And if you'll let me I'll tell you all about it sometime. But, for now, I need you to believe that I'm here, in front of you. Please, big bro?"
She didn't think she was going to be able to use his nickname tonight. She thought that there was going to have to be some time for them to reacquaint themselves to one another. But it came so easily to her and she thought that it was going to be the only way to get through to him. And apparently it was, because after a minute of silence, he hugged her.
"Welcome home lil' sis."
AN: I thought that this was only going to be 5 chapters but it looks like it's going to be longer, because there are a few more things that I need to get to before the story finishes up. It might take a little longer for the next chapter to come out (still unpacking some boxes and apparently I'm full time at my job now so….time is my enemy) but I hope that your patience will be well worth it. Thanks for all the great feedback! I hope you all enjoy this one and the ones to come.
