~~~the multiverse continues to shift~~~
Chapter 3: Flash Delirium by MGMT
The next week in Jump City moved pretty smoothly as routines and plans were set up. Donna shared any relevant notes with Beast Boy, which he would use to loosely set up a patrol schedule. Unlike the very strict methods of Robin, Beast Boy tried to keep a lax presence. He felt it would give off a false front of weakness and draw out anyone whose been hiding in the city for too long. Donna was caught off guard by the sound tactic from Gar and approved.
Wally kept up with the Tower's various tech and the T-Car...though more the T-Car, which he promised not to damage and keep in check to Cyborg, but no where did he say he wouldn't poke around to see what made it tick.
Raven and Jinx settled into a nice groove of exchanging books and spell ideas. It was a good form of bonding for the two, and allowed Raven to be social with a girl who was not a complete living battery of happy. After a day or so, Jinx asked what had been bugging her since Starfire left one morning.
"So, what on Earth is this "time of girls" thing?" Jinx grin appearing as she asked.
Raven sighed "Oh, god, okay all it is is girl time. Separate time to relax and be reclusive away from men folk for a night. When it was just me and Star it was necessary as we were out numbered but at the moment..." She trailed as Donna sat at the table with a coffee. "I'm not entirely sure it's needed."
Donna quirked an eyebrow, "Why not? Star must've asked you to keep it up for a reason." Raven grumbled slightly at this. Donna watched her in mild amusement as she sipped her coffee, waiting.
Jinx nodded "It does sound like a good idea. I love Wally to death, but he can be a bit..." She looked down slightly sheepishly, keeping her grin as her cheeks tinged pink "Energetic."
Donna looked at her keeping a flat face, "Well, that explains the dull noises that keep me up." Jinx went a full shade redder at the comment as Donna just sipped her coffee then added, "Seriously, in the name of Athena, move that damn bed away from the east wall or see if he can install sound proofing."
"There's a button on the door keypad that will automatically do that." Raven said without thinking. The other two women looked at her with sudden interest at her knowledge of this feature. Raven's hood suddenly was up in a slight blur as she added on hastily "We added them room-wide after various instances. Star and Robin's first...forays, Beast Boy's late night horror movie-thons in his room. Cyborgs growing love of dubstep was the final straw though."
Roughly a year and a half ago: 1:30 am
Raven had settled into her usual night attire of a tank top and shorts for the night, prepping for bed finally. Robin and Starfire had, thankfully, worn themselves out, the music of movie credits faded from down the hall, meaning Beast Boy was snoozing on his bed, remote in hand. She felt herself begin to sink slowly into sleep before a low rumble started from a ways down the hall. Her eyes popped open as she tried to figure out the source. Various attacks on the tower gave all the Titans a decent understanding of all the kinds of things that can make the tower shake,so she could mentally cross off what and where on that list quickly. As she leaned her head out into the hallway, Raven was joined by an equally curious and tired Beast Boy, who was in his usual shirtless, pj pants night combo. The dull noise continued to rhythmically shake the tower as they wandered down the hall, listening for the source, being joined by Robin, also in just pants (noticeably on backwards) and sporting a bruise here and there on his torso, followed a minute later by a slightly embarrassed Star wearing an over large shirt and a pair of Robin's shorts. The other two didn't blink as they all wordlessly moved to stand in front of Cy's door, his room the source of their lack of sleep. Starfire stepped forward without a word and knocked hard enough to dent the door slightly. The vibrations and noise halted, as the door opened revealing a sheepish Cyborg.
"...Yes?" Vic asked innocently. It did not save him from the glares of the four other teens in various states of tired disarray.
Now:
"...Needless to say, those sound proofing systems were finished before next afternoon." Raven completed the story, before taking a sip of her tea.
"You're distracting from setting up a night where we can have time of girls." Donna said causally, raising an eyebrow at Raven while sipping her coffee.
Raven sputtered lightly into her tea, having been caught. "Fine, we can do it tonight if you want. Set it up weekly afterward." She glared at the other women. "Happy?"
Jinx simply smiled her wide grin as Donna smirked while nodding.
During this, Wally and BB were in the middle of an intense bout of Street Fighter, Beast Boy determined to regain his honor.
"Seriously, it's not right for you to use super speed, dude." Beast Boy said as he tapped away at the controller.
"A) Can't use it, would break the controller. B) Don't need it to kick your green ass." Wally replied, grinning.
Two matches later, Beast Boy was finally on a rebound, slowly breaking down and beating Wally back. He almost won the last round when the towers alarms blared.
"DAMNIT!" Beast Boy yelled as the alarm cut the TV to the alert notice.
"Oh, what a shame." Wally said, tossing the controller lightly on the couch, letting out the breath he had been holding during the match. BB stood up and tapped the control panel in front of the TV to see what the alert was, and a camera shot of Dr. Light busting into a bank came up.
"Looks like someone took the bait." BB grinned. "Alright Titans, let's GO!"
Gotham City, few days ago:
The private jet landed on the tarmac in the setting sun that gave Gotham a looming silhouette. It skidded to a slow crawl, then maneuvering to the private hanger with a large Wayne Enterprises logo on the side. It stopped just short of going into the hanger, lining up near perfectly with the black car parked nearby. A slightly tall, seemingly thin, well dressed balding older man with a neatly trimmed mustache waited calmly as the stairs unfolded from the plane, and the door opened, revealing it's two passengers.
Dick and Kory came down the stairs calmly and immediately walked over to the older man. Initially, the man held out his hand before being caught in a hug by Dick, which he warmly returned.
"It's great to see you, Alfred." Dick said as he broke the hug.
"And it is wonderful to see you in good health Master Dick." Alfred responded, allowing sincere happiness to enter his normal flat British accent. He turned towards Kory. "And this must be your girlfriend, Miss...?"
"Kory Anders, you must be the infamous Alfred I have heard so much about from Boy-from Dick." Kory said, quickly correcting herself, then hugged Alfred herself. Dick winced lightly, hoping she remembered to hold back. For his part, Alfred's face only lightly twitched.
"Well, Ms. Anders, once we get your bags we shall be on our way. Mr. Wayne sends his apologies that he was not out to meet you here but he had some late appointments that needed his attention." Alfred said smoothly. Neither Dick, nor Kory quirked an eyebrow at this, but Dick did rush over to help Alfred with Kory's immense bag.
"She packed half the damn tower." Dick muttered to Alfred, which earned a small smirk from the butler.
"I assure you there's still space in the house, Master Dick." Alfred frowned at the weight of the bag. "My lord, you weren't kidding. Alright, on three young sir, one, two..." And with the unspoken last word, the two managed to carry the bag to the back of the car. Kory just stared innocently into the sky, smiling softly to herself, enjoying the setting sun and the skyline. After a minute of rest, Alfred motioned for them to get into the car, nodding politely at the resting pilot and stewardess of the plane. They waved as he got into the car driving, driving it off out of sight.
On the tarmac a minute later:
The blonde stewardess looked over at the pilot as he sat on the steps that led into the plane, her leaning in the door. "I'm surprised Dick didn't recognize us."
"I'm surprised at how well you rock a stewardess outfit." The blonde, goateed pilot said, smirking as he raised his eyebrows at her. She gave him a slightly deadly look.
"What do you mean surprised?" The question was laced with poison.
"I...uh...mean, I just would have never expected to see you dressed as one. That's all." The pilot stammered, staring straight ahead to avoid eye contact.
"Hrm. Well, if you want to not see me dressed as one, you better find me a nice restaurant for dinner tonight, captain." She said as she walked back into the plane.
"Does it really have to be that long before I can make it up to you?" The pilot asked without looking back. A blouse hitting the back of his head was the response he received.
"Depends on you, doesn't it?" Called her voice from the cabin of the plane.
In the Car:
"Why were Green Arrow and Black Canary flying the plane?" Dick asked almost immediately after the car pulled on the road.
"Extra precaution, Master Dick. Master Bruce tries not to leave anything up to chance, you know this." Alfred replied dryly, not deviating his attention from the road.
Dick grumbled. "That's a load of crap, Alfred. Bruce said it was going to be a civilian crew, meaning it had to have been some sorta test." Alfred said nothing as Dick continued to gripe quietly "Not even in Gotham a second and he's messing with me."
"Maybe Butler-Alfred is right, Boyfriend-Richard, maybe it's simply a precaution on the part of Batman." Kori said, resting her hand lightly on his shoulder. Dick looked at her for a second, recognizing her worry, then relaxed.
"Maybe...I dunno, though. Bruce always does three things at once, at least, with anything. Just...be on your guard." Dick said the last part warily.
"I think you have the hrungthaz, Boyfriend-Richard." Kory said with a small smile. Dick stared at her blankly. Star sighed. "Sorry, it is...a specific anxiety attached to a particular subject or person. Feelings that clog up ones senses. If one has too much, they can cause many problems." She explained calmly.
"There are some Eastern beliefs that have a similar idea, keeping the mind clear of negative thoughts and such." Dick nodded, then sighed "I'll try to keep it barred down, besides, I figure he'll at least be polite to you." he finished with a smirk.
"Well, that is what matters." Kory replied with a smirk of her own.
Jump City; Currently:
By the time the Titans got to the bank, Dr. Light was beginning to make his exit, blinding guards and cops on his way out. They waited for him to get to the street, before Beast Boy coughed loudly.
"Ooooo, ya might wanna to put that back, I think you over drafted." BB said, pointing at the bag over Dr. Light's shoulder.
"Ahhh, the Titans!" Dr. Light said in his usual over dramatic, bombastic tones. He dropped the bag and hopped onto an abandoned car in the middle of the street, staring down at them. "I heard a rumor that the team changed, but I am still prepared for all of you. Even you!" he pointed at Raven, whose flat expression never wavered. "I even made sure to wear special underwear this time so I could keep fighting." Dr. Light put his hands on his hips in a very proud manner.
The Titans stared; Jinx scrunched her face in annoyance; Kid Flash awkwardly scratched the back of his head, at a loss; Wonder Girl simply frowned in a confused manner; Raven's face remained flat save for a minor eye twitch and Beast Boy almost had a look of pity.
"All...right...Titans...go, I guess?" Beast Boy halfheartedly pointed at Dr. Light.
"Wait, what's the plan?" Wonder Girl asked, stopping herself before rushing forward.
"Well, I was thinking we-" Beast Boy began.
"Dude, I got this one, back in a sec." Kid Flash interjected and ran forward in a blur of sparks.
"Flash, ho-" was all Wally heard as he ran towards Dr. Light. A three second fight for this goon, he would hit him, put the money back and go back to the tower for make sure Beast Boy couldn't beat him at the game again. That was the plan before his vision was completely enveloped in white. A blast of light enveloped the area around Dr. Light, causing Kid Flash to skid across the road in a small hail of sparks towards and into a nearby storefront.
"-ld on." Beast Boy finished as Kid Flash crashed into the building. He sighed and looked at Jinx. "Do you want to check on him?"
"He's fine, he'll just need to rest for a few." Jinx said calmly, having seen Wally take plenty of similar falls.
"Take your word for it. Okay, that plan's gone, Raven, Jinx run distractions so Wonder Girl and I can get close, one solid hit should put Light down. Just be careful guys, looks like his suit is doing extra work this time."
The team split, Raven taking to the air, Jinx running forward, their hands ringed with energy as they both went to opposite sides of Light, trying to get him off his guard. Jinx threw a wave of pink energy at the car underneath the doctor, causing it to tilt just enough to throw him off. Light rolled onto the ground, standing up as Raven hovered over him, glaring with four red eyes.
"Are you sure you want to do this again?" She asked, voice twisted in with another, deeper tone of evil inflections.
"That's what the underwear is for." Dr. Light smiled confidently. Raven blinked, four eyes returning to two as she sniffed the air, covering her nose.
"Seriously?" She asked in her normal flat tones as her eyes narrowed at his. The only response she got was a quick blast of energy, sending her flying back. Donna used the distraction to jump up and aim for a solid punch at Light's jaw while a green lion jumped and broke Raven's fall as they both landed with a thud. Wonder Girl's fist hit a force field that was about a foot out from the doctor, which in turn set off another pulse of brilliant white light, causing her to cover her eyes before also being blasted back by a beam of energy from Light.
Raven patted the green lion on the side, letting him know that she was okay. Beast Boy shifted back to normal, grumbling as he watched Jinx flip and maneuver around Dr. Light, keeping him occupied. Raven began to float up, cloak fluttering around her, which caught Beast Boy's eye.
"Just might work." He said as he grabbed at an edge of Raven's cloak and began to tear a strip off . Raven glared down.
"What the hell are you doing?!" She shouted as he finished tearing a decent strip of cloth off.
"Explain later, sorry!" He replied as he ran over to Donna, who was shaking light out of her eyes.
"Azrathian cloaks don't grow on trees you know!" Raven yelled after him as she went to go help Jinx.
"You have a million of these things!" Beast Boy yelled back.
"Twelve is not a million!" She shouted before focusing on getting Dr. Light's attention.
Beast Boy leaned next to Wonder Girl and handed her the piece of cloth, muttering his plan to her, which caused her to grin and nod. Beast Boy looked up in time to see that Jinx and Raven were at either side of Light, both blasting energy that he was deflecting with his own blasts, neither really over taking the other, but still pushing against one another. BB got into a runner's start position, before shifting into a rhino, charging straight at Light as fast as he could carry himself. Dr. Light looked up just in time to see a green rhino smash into the force field, causing it to ripple and fade, but forcing the rhino to stop and get hit with another light pulse. BB shifted back to normal, covering his eyes and jumping back. Dr. Light smiled smugly for about a second before a solid fist connected with the side of his face, sending him careening into a near by car with a thud, denting it and setting off the alarm.
Wonder Girl stood up, lifting the make shift blind fold off an eye, smirking as she looked around.
"Did I get 'em?" She asked, looking around for a second.
"I'll say ya did." Beast Boy replied, standing up beside her, looking at the now very unconscious Dr. Light, who was slumped in front of the car he dented on the ground.
The police came out of the bank that they had holed up in to take cover, as was standard procedure when superheroes and villains had their brawls. They quickly went to arrest Light and slam him into the back of a meta-human holding van they had off to the side. A sergeant walked over to look at the group of exhausted heroes, frowning.
"Where's Robin?"
"He's out of town at the moment, I'm running the team currently." Beast Boy said, perhaps a bit too proudly, enough to cause Raven and Jinx to roll their eyes.
"Oh...well...you did good, looks like you got lucky." The sergeant said, perhaps a bit too sarcastically.
Beast Boy's eye twitched. "So...do you need us for anything?"
"No, usually just thank Robin for the hard work. We need any extra statements or anything, we'll give you the usual ring." The sergeant paused for a moment, before extending his hand, which Beast Boy took and shook lightly.
"Good work, Animal Lad." The sergeant said as he walked off.
"It's Beast Bo-aw forget it." Beast Boy said sadly, before walking back to the team. "You believe that shit?"
"Yes." Raven monotoned.
"Okay, I know you do, but you three-two." Beast Boy stopped as he looked at Donna and Jinx. "Shit, let's go check on Kid Flash."
The Titans wadded through the wreckage of the clothing storefront that Wally had destroyed when using it as an impromptu stopping point. They sifted through clothes, following the scorch marks on the floor until finding him rolled onto his front, scratched up but no worse for wear. Jinx leaned down and tapped his shoulder, then carefully flipping him onto his back.
"You okay there, hon?" Jinx said, small hint of worry as he didn't respond for minute.
Wally groaned and tried to open his eyes, greeted with blurs and flashing sparks lingering in his vision. He moved his arm over his eyes.
"Please, no pictures today. You can get them tomorrow, I'll look pretty tomorrow." He muttered waving his free hand at them in a worn out pushing gesture.
"Told you he'd be fine." Jinx said flatly, eyebrows raising at his statement.
Beast Boy and Jinx helped Kid Flash up and he leaned slightly on Jinx as his sight readjusted. They got out of the building just in time to see the area settling back down to normal, almost completely resettling as a very disgruntled bank manager turned off the car alarm on his very dented, formerly very expensive, well taken care of, car.
Gotham City: Few days ago. Again.
The car pulled up to Wayne Manor just as night was beginning to fall. Starfire got out first just to look at the old mansion. While it looked as if there was a modern face lift or two, it still seemed to reflect the architecture closer to it's early to mid-nineteenth century original construction. It seemed to loom like the nearby city, giving off less a sense of foreboding as the glass and black steel towers of the main city, but it was still present. As Kory stared, taking in the mansion, Dick and Alfred got their bags onto a cart that was already present outside, indicating to Dick that Bruce may already be awake for the day.
"When you said you grew up in a large house, I didn't expect it to be this...large." Star said at last.
"Didn't you grow up in a palace?" Dick asked, amused at her awe of the house.
"I'm royalty, which is something you assured me this country did not have." She turned and looked at Dick with a smile, asking with playfulness "Or was that a lie to cover your tracks, Boyfriend-Richard?"
"We don't have royalty in America. We have something better. Billionaires." Dick said with a grin as he rolled the cart in, after a miniature unspoken argument with Alfred about it. As they walked inside, Kory continued to look up and around the dark, but elegant mansion. It seemed even larger on the inside, the entrance giving off signs of old wealth while surprisingly not coming across as showy. It seemed to be a detail that the Wayne family had worked hard across the generations to build into the very soul of the building; show success, not opulence. She almost didn't notice the tall man standing on the the first flight of stairs that led to the second, then eventually third stories of the main hall.
Bruce Wayne waited patiently for them to enter. Kory noticed he was tall, even without the Batsuit on, and wore a simple black, long sleeved shirt and jeans within the house. It seemed to give the illusion of slimming his figure down slightly, but he was still fairly large and well built. She had also noticed that her guilty pleasure entertainment news shows had not done much justice to his looks, and could easily see how he maintained the image of "billionaire playboy" to the public. He smiled warmly as they approached, stepping down and shaking Dick's hand in an almost forced gesture.
"Good to see you landed safely, Dick." He had an almost calculated kindness to his voice. If Star hadn't seen Dick use the same tricks occasionally, she would have not even noticed.
Dick returned the smile with a fake one of his own, "It was a smooth flight, Ollie's getting better at not crashing planes." He could've sworn he saw a flicker of a twitch in Bruce's eye, but he wasn't sure. Bruce turned to Starfire quickly.
"And you must be this Starfire he has been trying to hide from me." Bruce said in the same delicate tones, taking her hand and kissing it lightly. Kory couldn't help but smile. Yes, he definitely seemed capable of the "billionaire playboy" image.
"You may call me Kory if you wish, as you are my boyfriend's k'norfka." She said pleasantly, trying to ignore the stirring tension between the two men. Bruce slightly tilted his head at the alien word, his blue eyes seemingly thinking it over.
Star blushed slightly, both from the look and the breaking of English "I am sorry, I often forget, a k'norfka is-"
"A Tamaranean word for guardian, often also translating into a word for an adoptive parent." Bruce said almost as if he was reading it from a dictionary. Both Dick and Kori stared at him blankly, completely caught off guard. Bruce smiled, less warm and closer to the one he had whenever he wore the cowl, "When your best friend is an alien and you work very frequently with Green Lanterns, you pick up a few things." The two just nodded as Bruce looked past them at Alfred. "Why don't you give Kory a tour of the house while Dick and I-" His eyes flickered at Dick quickly then back to Alfred "-catch up."
Alfred smiled "Certainly, come this way Miss Kory." He turned to leave before patting Dick on the shoulder reassuringly before he guided Kory upstairs towards the art gallery of the house eastern half of the house.
Dick and Bruce watched them walk away, before allowing all pretense of politeness drop from between them as they walked in step in the other direction towards the western side, where the living quarters and study are located.
"When did you figure out it was Ollie and Dinah on the plane?" Bruce asked, growl almost present in his voice but not quite there.
"When he stared at her legs, then ass pre-flight. I figured it was normal pilot behavior 'til I saw his goatee and then recognized the legs he was staring at. He then caught my eye and winked. Gave it away before we even hit the air." Dick said in a manner he usually reserved for breaking a case down to the team.
"You recognized Dinah because of her legs?" Bruce ever so slightly smiled.
" And you wouldn't?" Dick replied, raising an eye brow at Bruce. A grunt from Bruce was the only response he got. "I'll take that as you would." That got another grunt out of him, causing Dick to smile.
Jump City: In the Now:
The team had decided to eat out while they were still in town. Of course, they went to the usual pizza joint. Well, the normal teams favorite pizza joint, Donna, Wally and Jinx were being introduced to it. They walked into the main parlor to order, and Wally turned to the rest of them.
"I'll go ahead and order, what do you guys want?" He asked quickly; strange how fast he recovered around food.
"Vegan, all the way, man." BB threw in.
"Spinach and Feta white pizza." Donna added
"Tea." Raven stated. When Wally looked at her oddly, she explained. "I usually bum a slice or two off one of the others. So. Tea." She emphasized the last word in a near threatening tone.
"You know I'll just eat some of yours." Jinx said as he started to turn to her.
"Alllll right." Wally dashed up to the counter, glad to be in uniform so he didn't have to pretend to go slow. He looked at the young woman behind the counter, who simply waited, very used to the Titans coming in.
"Let's see, I'm gonna need one Vegan special, one Spinach and Feta white," He looked back quickly at Raven, whose blank face held a great deal of unspoken threat, "Uhm, one tea, and...oh, two cheese, one pepperoni, one sausage and a Hawaiian, why not." The others stared at his back and the order taker had to pause at the end to wait for anything else. Kid Flash looked at her for a second then blinked. "Oh and bread sticks, like four orders of bread sticks."
Wayne Manor; Eastern Wing: A few days ago. Yet again.
"I wouldn't worry too much about the two of them, Miss Kory. They may grate at each other, but it's a more caring relationship than I think even they ever will admit." Alfred responded to Kory's expression of worry as they were out of sight of Bruce and Dick. The lights automatically turned on and off as they walked through the halls, sensors picking up the motion and lack there of appropriately.
"I certainly hope so...they seem to enjoy sting plucking at each other." Koriy said as she looked at the various family paintings and portraits in the hall. She stopped to stare at an empty frame, the edges of the painting torn out. Star squinted at the name plate underneath, which was also scratched out but not removed. "Butler-Alfred, who was removed from here?"
Alfred stopped and turned around to look at the missing painting. "Ah yes, that my dear, belonged to the first Thomas Wayne, from the eighteen hundreds I believe. He was removed from the family and wall after being caught using his portion of the family wealth to fund a devil worshiping cult. After being cut off he seemed to disappear completely, but as you can see, no one really seemed too put out by it." He explained dryly.
"Fascinating." Star said simply, before they turned to continued going down the hall to the full gallery room. It contained various suits of armor from all sorts of cultures, and replicas of incredibly famous paintings, some even looked like originals. She floated up to get a better look, to which Alfred didn't flinch at. Various visits and meetings with many superheroes over the years had deadened his response to such things. As she floated around, she went to an area towards the back on the second level. The art here was less classical, far more modern and admittedly, disturbing. Some made little sense, and the ones that did seemed to involve some form of mutilation or other depravity.
"Butler-Alfred, What is the meaning of this section of the collection of art. It almost seems...out of place." Kory asked, floating down to still look at the row of paintings, still curious despite the subject matter.
Alfred managed to catch up to her after a minute of her walking to see what she was addressing, then smiled softly. "Ah, this is specifically Master Bruce's addition to the gallery."
Kory looked at Alfred wide eyed, looking between the paintings and him slightly confused; "Why would K'norfka-Bruce collect such things?"
"Master Bruce, as you are aware, has always desired to understand the criminal and insane minds that he faces. These are paintings done specifically by inmates from Black Gate and Arkham Asylum. He feels that having these here gives him a tiny bit more understanding of them." Alfred looked over a particularly off setting picture of what appeared to have been a nude female who was in the process of removing her own skin from the head down surrounded by bright orange streaks of oil paint "I must admit, I do find this aspect of his work a bit...concerning." He said as he found the right word. "He even has a piece the Joker did...unfortunately afterward he stabbed the intern overseeing the project in the eye with the brush he used." Alfred said the last part with a sigh, as he pointed out a painting towards the end of the wall. Kory walked over to look at it. It seemed to be a gruesome self portrait of his face, stretching the Jokers features out, distending the smile to uncomfortable levels. It almost seems to have been half covered with another painting he started, resembling a large Gothic mansion, and towards the bottom another image was super imposed, gray blotting out the remainders of the image to put a simple featureless, cloaked, pointed eared figure in a cape painted in black. Over the entire painting their looked to be a faded brown splatter, which Star uncomfortably thought of the attack that seemed to have followed the painting.
"It...is most disturbing in it's excellent quality." She summarized her thoughts before turning her gaze to Alfred. He smiled sadly, nodding in agreement.
"That seems to be something the madman carries throughout all his works."
They stood there in silence, before moving on to other sections of the eastern wing, mostly unused bedrooms and more galleries, which Star enjoyed, but her mind kept wandering back to the collection of mad paintings and wondering to herself 'Is this what Boyfriend-Richard grew up around? This may just explain a great deal.'
Jump City; The now:
They ate outside, as per norm, with their pizzas in front of them, enjoying them thoroughly, Raven stealing a slice from Donna's and Gar's pizzas respectively. Wally had finished the pepperoni, a cheese and was working on the Hawaiian as Jinx had a few slices of cheese and sausage herself. The peaceful moment was ruined as a photographer snapped a shot of very unprepared group.
The picture that would've been in a tabloid the next day had caught Donna mid bite, Beast Boy with a full mouth and crust in his hand, staring blankly at the camera flash, Raven with her hood up sipping tea, a very annoyed Jinx and a somewhat blank Wally holding a handful of bread sticks, ready to shove them in his mouth.
The photographer leaned in near Jinx getting ready to take a picture. "Hey didn't you used to be a villain?"
Jinx's eyes glowed pink and the camera lens snapped before the camera itself seemed to implode. She then smiled widely, "I dunno, didn't you used to have a camera?"
He took the hint and started to run off.
BB looked as the photographer ran away, tripping on a bush as he did so, "Huh, must be new in town."
"Why's that?" Donna asked tilting her head.
"The in town ones learned a few years ago to leave this place alone. Especially after Star and Robin's first attempt at a date." Raven answered taking a sip of her tea. "It's been an odd coincidence that the tabloids have been mostly leaving us alone when we have outings ever since." She looked over at Beast Boy, "You remember how that one's wig caught on fire?"
Beast Boy laughed, "Yeah, and he had to just dunk his head in the fountains over there." he pointed at said fountain. They shared a laugh, causing the other three to stare at them. Raven and Beast Boy looked out at the others, slightly confused.
"What?" They said in near unison.
"This is the nicest we've seen you two be to each other. Ever." Wally said through the last chunks of bread stick in his mouth.
Raven and BB stared uncomfortably at their stares, before a quick use of black energy pulled BB's chair out from underneath him, causing the changeling to fall flat on his ass.
"There. Better?" Raven asked as Beast Boy grumbled, rubbing his backside slightly as he re positioned his chair. Raven watched for a moment, then right before he sat down moved it again.
"Oh, come on, man!" Beast Boy yelled out as he hit the ground again, standing up and moving the chair again, looking at Raven intently. She simply sipped her tea. He motioned at the chair, gesturing an unspoken question. She shook her head lightly. Gar sighed as he went to sit in the chair again before it flew out from under him again, causing him to plop on the ground again. He looked up at Raven, who just shrugged.
"Really?" He asked, remaining on the ground, crossing his arms.
"I could really do this all day but I think I'll stop now." Raven replied in her normal monotone.
"I can sit in my chair then?" He asked calmly.
"Of course." She sipped her tea calmly.
Yet again, he stood up and moved his chair back. He paused, watching Raven intently as she simply stole another piece of his pizza, looking back at him in her variation of innocently, which was apathetically. Beast Boy started to sit down, stopped mid way to watch Raven eat the pizza delicately before fully going to sit down. The chair slid out yet again.
"Goddamnit." Gar resigned himself to the ground.
If the other three hadn't been laughing at the first three, the fourth had them rolling.
Wayne Manor, Western Wing; Still a few days ago.
They approached the study. Without a word, Bruce went over to the large grandfather clock and Dick went to the piano and waited for the time to be set to 10:26 pm, before hitting the three keys that finished unlocking the door to the Batcave. They walked down the steps in silence before stepping into the cave. Little had changed since his last time in the cave, little additions of technology here and there and a display case showing Jason's former tunic. Bruce turned to face Dick after they arrived in the rough main area of the cave.
"So, how's leading the Titan's on the west coast going?" Bruce casually growled out.
"I'd assume you already know, so why should I tell you?" Dick asked in a accusatory tone. Bruce's eyes narrowed but he let it slide.
"Fine. Do you want my assessment, then?"
"I have a feeling I'm going to hear it regardless."
"You're getting too rigid in your routines. Predictable. Also have been getting slightly sloppy in some of your work. The Brushogun incident-" Bruce had begun before being cut off.
"Caught us all off our guard. In case you didn't read the report, which I know you did, corrupt police agents kind of put a damper on things." Dick interjected, keeping his voice at a harsh, level tone.
"It never stopped us here." Bruce replied coldly.
"What's the point to this, Bruce?" Dick cut to the chase, deciding to dodge what he knew was going to be maybe thirty minutes of back and forth.
Bruce eyed him suspiciously for a second, before sighing. "I want to make sure that you're working at your peak. You've relaxed, slacking off. Jump is too safe. I figured while you're here, you can help me do runs in Gotham. A return to your roots. Center you, get you focused for things that may come in the future." He leaned on a nearby railing, folding his arms folded in front of him.
'Authoritative position, Bruce? How old do you think I am, ten?' Dick thought to himself, recognizing the stance. He mulled it over in his brain...it would be a waste to be here and not help Bruce do patrols. But...he inhaled to begin to ask before Bruce cut him off this time.
"Yes, Starfire can accompany you, if you wish. But she'll need to keep a lower profile. I don't want to attract any more meta-human crazies than I already have to deal with. We'll leave that to Clark." Bruce said with precision. His eyes flickered to look behind Dick at the glass case holding Jason's old tunic then back at Dick. His growl fizzled out of his tone. "It would be nice to have you back, as well, if only for a few months."
Dick looked at Bruce hard for a minute, trying to pin what he was thinking about before giving up and extending his hand, which Bruce shook quickly before letting go and turning towards his armory. Dick continued to look at him for a minute before something dreadful dawned on him.
"Does this mean I have to train while I'm here?" Dick failed in hiding the worry in his voice
"Why would that even be a question?" Bruce replied as the armory door opened up to reveal the Batsuit, a dark smile on his face.
Dick winced and sighed. "Goddamnit."
Metropolis; That same evening:
Victor sat at one end of the table, across from him sat his father, Dr. Silas Stone. The main differences in their appearance, aside from the numerous cybernetic prosthesis, were surprisingly little. Dr. Stone was a bit lankier, slightly gaunt in features, and still had hair, though it was graying at the temples. They sat in silence, both awkwardly pushing food around on their plates, occasionally eating some. Dr. Stone spoke up, after ten minutes of this.
"How've you been, Victor?"
"Fine." Vic halfheartedly shoved some food in his mouth. Another five minutes or so passed.
"...How's your aunt in Jump City been?" Dr. Stone asked, still trying to provoke conversation.
"Don't know. Haven't seen her since I moved into the tower." Vic said in an almost Raven-esqe monotone. Time ticked by some more.
"...How have your prosthesis been doing?" Dr. Stone asked. With that, Vic stood up, a bit quickly, letting his heavy metal hands drop to the table, shaking and denting the wood as he did so.
"How the hell do you think they're doing?!" Vic barked, storming out of the room afterwards, leaving Dr. Stone in the half lit dining room to stare morosely at his plate.
A/N: Little shifts here and there keep going. The painting "by Joker" is actually by Dave McKean, the cover of the graphic novel "Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth". Great book, btw. But I'm a Grant Morrison fanboy; I'd recommend anything of theirs. I honestly still am iffy on how I do Bruce in this story, I'm gonna be up front about that. Even in fanfiction, I kinda get intimidated writing a character like Batman. I know, I know, 'fanfic, I can do whatever I want' and all that, but there's that part of my brain that's like "Ya gotta do him right or not at all!" And everyone has their own view of an icon like that. Ah well. As usual, a review would be awesome, Hope to keep up this roll of editing this while finishing up Ch. 11. Which I'm totally not procrastinating on by doing this editing thing. Nope. Not me. Never.
Cough.
-Tearlach