Two weeks had passed since my "lovely" encounter with Madame Rouge. The same amount of time passed since I last saw X. I was starting to get used to his presence. It made my homesickness bearable. But still, I had to get used to the superheroes. It was hard for me at the beginning. Cyborg became like a brother for me, talking about video games and sports came easy to me since my father made sure I knew a little about every subject possible. Beastboy was ok, except the fact that he feared my cat more and more. It seems like my little feline took in my steps. Robin was always a little suspicious of me, since I was an idiot and went out as Catwoman after a few days from my arrival. And the girls… well, they were ok. Starfire reminded me a little of Kelly, with her being hyperactive. Raven was the one I had to protect myself from. It was very tiresome to have an empath and a mind reader trying to enter your thoughts every now and then. From the first day I communicated with her in my head, I held my guard up almost all the time she was around me.
Apart from that, looking at her now, standing in this lounge, it almost seemed as if she was normal. Dressed in blue jeans and a black t-shirt, no one suspected that the girl sitting in front of me, sipping from her cup of tea, while reading a book was a superhero.
"Your cigarette is smoking itself" she said not bothering to look up from her book. I snapped out of it, and put the cigarette out. I made myself comfortable in the chair, trying to catch her attention.
"Do you want to ask something?"
"Yes, could you make the waiter think about us? I need another glass of coke with ice" I rose up the empty glass.
"I am not using my powers, so that you could get another drink. You can waive to the waiter." I searched for the waiter with my eyes.
"He's probably inside" I lighted another cigar and sighted. Right then, the waiter came quickly at us, with two glasses of coke with ice with a slice of lemon each, and a cup of English tea.
"I am sorry I made you wait, miss Wayne" he said, bowing his head a little. I knew I was famous, but this was too much.
"Well, apologies accepted" I said and took both straws in my lips, enjoying the cold drink.
"I suppose that one is mine" I raised my eyes, looking at Raven. She was no longer reading the book, rather looking at me amused. The same perfume that a certain thief was wearing invaded my nostrils.
"I hope you don't mind a pair of lips on your straw" He took a seat next to me, while putting on the table his wallet, phone, cigarettes and car key.
"From you? I'll have to think about it" he took my hand firmly in his own, and lighted a cigar from mine.
"So, only you two? Where is…"
"What a joyous day" everyone turned their head at the redheaded girl that entered the lounge. She carried in her arms two buckets from KFC, full of chicken wings. Her appetite and love for chicken wings amazed me.
"Friend Xavier, welcome! Would you like some wings from the chickens?" his left eyebrow was lifted, and gave me a questioning look.
"I think he'll pass, Star" I responded from him.
'So, what brings you here?" 'you know him' the little voice inside my head was impatient. I felt like I had a little angel and a little devil on my shoulders. Except that I had no angel, and the little devil with his long tail and snake tongue was in my brain. Of course, I knew Xavier, our parents were good friends, and business partners as well.
'You know him from somewhere else' I looked at his figure, more exactly at his strong, ripped chest, and broad shoulders that could be easily seen through his tight black t-shirt. His chiseled jaw, his small forehead, and his short-ravished hair… he looked like a model. And those grey eyes, it looked as if the calm skies before a storm. I was no fool, he was the calm sky before a storm, but I felt as if he WAS the storm as well. With the lightning and the thunders. He was a villain. I couldn't wrap my finger on it, but my senses never lied. His cocky smirk appeared on his thin lips as he looked at me.
"Leona, are you ok?" I blinked twice and looked at them. Raven was curious about my thoughts, I could feel how she send small waves to me, to force my mind to open.
"Why wouldn't I be?" I said trying to take a smoke, but my cigar was out again.
"Xavier said that his father will throw a party for us"
"Really? What for?"
"For finding the diamond. It's like a thank you party" Starfire devoured another chicken and tilted her head a little.
"But he would have to thank Catwoman for that. She is the one who brought it back" I almost chocked with my drink at that statement.
'Yes, she is right, Xavier' a smile formed on my lips. How would that go? Thank you Catwoman for bringing back the diamond that you stole. That would be interesting. My inner goddess was dressed in a fabulous dress with a coat of fur on her shoulders at that thought.
"Well, Starfire, she stole it in the first place, so it would be awkward to throw a thank you party for a villain." What was it with all this prejudice. I was not a villain, or else I wouldn't have threatened Red X if he wanted to steal the scepter. And I certainly wouldn't have stopped that snake with short bob haircut when she wanted to steal that crown made of black diamonds.
"When will the party be?"
"I think in two weeks, but just to be sure, I will take Leona's number and keep in touch" a little laugh escaped my lips.
"Smooth move" I said and took his phone, to give myself a short call, so I could have his number as well.
"So, what brings you around here?" he finally relaxed in his chair.
"I own this lounge, I came to see if there were any troubles in the last days. And I had to run some errands at the museum. We had to increase the security there" he lighted himself another cigar.
"Troubles?"
"Madame Rouge tried to steal something a few days ago from the Egyptian room."
"Like what?" Raven looked at him serious. An ankh made of gold.
"An ankh made of gold" a scarab made entirely of sapphires.
"A scarab made of sapphires" and the most precious thing, the crown of Bastet, made entirely out of black diamonds.
"And the most precious thing, apart from the scepter with the Diamond Hope, the crown of Bastet"
"I start to see the museum like a jewelry shop, not a museum" Starfire and Raven approved with me. That museum was almost full of rare diamonds, and rare artifacts made entirely out of gold. The museum was a sure target.
"Why does your father insist on bringing such valuable objects? In the last three weeks, almost every night someone tried to break in." Raven was right. From what I know, it costed a fortune to have those diamonds rented for a museum.
"He bought them, exception makes the Scepter and the Egyptian artefacts. Those were discovered 15 years ago in the desert. It was a search party paid by my father, for what the archaeologists believed to be a pharaoh from the second dynasty. But it was actually Bastet and Sekhmet's Temple."
"Who are they?" I immediately started explaining, making Xavier smirk.
"Two goddesses from Egypt. Bastet is the cat goddess, depicted as a woman with the head of a cat, and Sekhmet is depicted as a woman with the head of the lioness. They protected the women, and they were associated with war as well
"My people descended from a feline-like race! Maybe there are descendants of those goddesses here. I would like to meet them" Starfire's thinking never stopped to amaze me.
"Starfire, those are only myths" Raven was the daughter of a demon, and was talking to an alien. How could she be that ignorant at that thought? The blue haired girl immediately looked at me angry, yet satisfied because I let my guard down. And up goes the barrier again.
"Yet, you are talking with an alien, and I'm sure you encountered at least one magical being since when you formed the Titans" Xavier was right, apart from fighting that demon, Trigon I think it was his name, there was also that dude that came out of a book, a dragon maybe?
"In every culture there are Gods, and many of them are alike. You try to convince me that there are millions of gods, but it won't work"
"Your father is the Demon King, and you encountered a magic book that let loose a dragon. What is there not to believe?" I glared at her, and turned to look at Xavier, the moment I felt his touch on my left wrist, when he started playing with my Pandora bracelet. I immediately calmed down, and apologized to Raven for the words. We dropped the subject when Xavier told us about his club, Red Vibes, that was opening this Friday, that meant in three days. The drinks were on the house, and as we were heading to our cars, Starfire stopped in front of us.
"Friends, a new jewelry shop opened, may we go inside to see what they have?" We followed her in the shop, after all, we had nothing better to do. The entrance had two marble statues on each side, and even though it was a small shop, it looked chaotic. Only the golden rings where in a window display, the rings, bracelets and necklaces were in small baskets on top of the window display.
"Welcome, I am sorry for the view, but we just opened, and my wife left me to arrange them" I woman in her forties with short blonde hair told us. Her gentle smiled appeared on her red lips as she watched us with her honey colored eyes. I started digging in the basket with necklaces, but not one of them caught my attention. I heard the woman speak on her phone as she put something on a black necklace display stand. I immediately went in front of her to look at a gorgeous pendant made of silver, in the middle was the head of Sekhmet with a sundial on top of her head and wings of a scarab surrounded her head.
"It's purrrrfect" I said to myself stretching my hand to get a hold of it.
"Sorry, hon" the blonde woman said, taking the necklace with the pendant, before I could touch it.
"This handsome man already bought it" I spun around glaring, but saw Xavier smiling at me and lifting the necklace.
"Turn around, gorgeous" he whispered so only I could hear. Happiness started emanating from my body, as he put the necklace around my neck. He clasped it and let it fall on my chest. I looked in a mirror at it, as it slipped between my breasts.
"Lucky necklace" he said picking it up a little. I shivered a little, both from the coldness of the metal, and from his fingertips touching softly my collar-bone.
"Fit for a lady like you" I jumped with my arms around his neck, and I could see clearly that he was taken aback by the gesture.
"You welcome, kitty cat" he put his arms around me and remained seconds like that, till Raven cleared her throat.
"If you are done, it's best if we get going, Robin called, and he needs us at the tower"
"Even me?" she just left the store, probably waiting for us at the car.
"Why is she so stiff?"
"Xavier, friend Raven is not stiff, she just does not like to go out that much"
"But then why did she agreed to go out with…" then it hit me.
"That sneaky son of a bitch" I said under my breath. It must have been Robin who told Raven to stay close to me, in case she can get inside my head. They don't trust me! After all I've been through with Robin since we were little, he was going to play that card with me. I sensed myself calming down immediately. I don't know what it was with him, but it was second time Xavier touched me and I calmed down instantly. He held my hand like I was a child, but I felt safe, and it kind of felt nice too. As we got to the parking lot, he pulled me to the car parked in front of the teen titans van.
"Come on, I'll drive you back" I looked at the black mustang in front of me, then back at Starfire and Raven.
"Tell Robin I'm with Xavier" I said and jumped in the front seat, not bothering to listen to what Raven had to say. The engine roared as we took off. We had been driving for half an hour. The city was way behind us, as well as the sun. I didn't know where we were going. But I loved this lonely road. The only song that was on repeat was Make me feel by Twisted Psykie. I was in a state of trance, just listening to the music. I was grateful that Xavier didn't talked, I needed some time alone with my thoughts. The headlights of the car started being more visible on the road, as the sun went down completely. That was the moment we took a left and we went up a hill. Fifteen more minutes of driving, and we stopped next to a cliff. No trees or houses were up here. turning the engine off, he took his cigars and a lighter.
"When you want to talk, I'll be there to listen" he got out of the car and sat down on the hood of the car. I sighted and followed him. I took a place next to him. I took his cigar and leaned back against the glass. The view was amazing. The city lights were so far away, the ocean waves were lighted by the bright moon and the stars…
"Why are we here?"
"I wanted to turn off the city lights for you, so you could see the stars. But then I thought that my father would probably get mad, so this is the highest place around here, without the pollution of the lights. You could be yourself with the stars.". I looked at the pitch-black curtain draped over the sky, and at the twisted shapes the stars made against the darkness. I felt at peace.
"Now, what are you really doing here?" he asked lighting another cigar. Now that was one of the questions I was afraid. The truth was out of the question, yet I didn't know what to lie.
"I made my parents angry. And since my father sponsors the Titans, he thought it will be a great solution for me to learn" His laugh was colorful and resonated around us.
"Bruce and Patience would do that to their beloved daughter?"
"Yes, and to sum it all, they are in a world-wide honey moon" his laugh persisted after that.
"We'll that's a way to find babysitters" Thinking about what I said, it did sound like they were my babysitters.
"it's not like you'll stay here forever, a couple of days and that's it"
"I hope so." I didn't hope I stayed only a few days. I hope I stayed a few weeks. I needed to kick Robin's ass for making Raven spy on me, and for the fact that he didn't trust me. Yes, I was Catwoman, but that didn't give him the benefit of the doubt. We grew up together, we trained together. Between us it was always a contest. Who is the fastest runner, who is the fastest learner, who can learn to fly the Batmobile first… that last part didn't end up well.
"Are you here?" I blink a few times and saw that Xavier's hand waving in front of me.
"Did you say something?"
"I asked you how do you like the city so far?" Flashes of me being on top of the buildings the first night appeared before my eyes.
"The city is… not what I expected. Even though there are criminals, it's livelier than Gotham."
"Of course, apart from some thieves, we don't have that many criminals"
"Ares, Cinderblock, Killer Moth, Madame Rouge, Plasmus, The Brain, Puppet King, Mad Mod, Overload, Johnny Rancid.…. Now that I think of it, you have too many".
"That's Jump City for you" I closed my eyes and breathed the salty air in.
"Cold?"
"Thirsty" he smirked and jumped off. I followed him with my eyes, curious.
"Catch" he said a few seconds after and threw at me a bottle of coke. He sat next to me and showed me the glass of jack Daniel. I started laughing and took the bottle from his hand.
"You are not allowed to drink, you are driving" I took a sip from the bottle. He took the bottle from my hand and drank a little from it.
"Who says that we are leaving for the next couple of hours" I took risks, but not with a drunk man at the wheel. Since the first sip, we started talking more and more. His life was full of adventures as well. Hours passed by and we were drunk. I started feeling more and more dizzy. We were dancing at the music coming from the car. I was already warmed up from the drink, and was dancing only in my black tank top. I stopped to look at swirling stars.
"Robin is going to kill me" I said laughing and turned to look at Xavier. I didn't see clear, but it was a second too late. Someone strong kicked me in the stomach, making me lose my breath. I didn't have time to react when I was pushed with another strong kick at the edge of the cliff. I barely had time to dig my nails into the dirt. I was desperate, not knowing what was happening. The lights of the car were turned off, but I could see Xavier standing next to the car. I tried to scream but the second I opened my mouth, something sharp slashed my back, making me fall. The last image imprinted on my mind was Xavier at the edge of the cliff, before a sharp pain hit me in the back and darkness surrounded me.