Terra was frozen with shock, jaw dropped. Before her was a familiar face, beneath the mask of an enemy she'd faced dozens of times. She heard herself speak but her mind was detached, racing a million miles a minute, in a million different directions. She watched as Red- Jason struggled to his feet. Blood escaped his mouth as he began to speak to her, desperation evident in his tone of voice. "Don't tell the others. Please, I swear it's not what you think." But Terra wasn't sure what to think. Did Raven know? Was he manipulating her? Manipulating all of them?
An image flashed through her mind as she contemplated his motives. It was the look on his face when he looked at Raven. It was a look she'd seen so many times on Garfield's face, especially when he used the words 'I love you'. She cringed at the empathy she was beginning to feel toward this broken, pleading man… villain… in front of her. Again she heard herself speak, the words flowing too fast for her mind to catch up and stop the foolish thing she was about to say. "Get out of my sight. NOW!" He pressed his belt and was gone.
Her teammates collected themselves behind her just a few moments later. "He got away." Her stomach dropped as the lie left her lips. As much she wanted to tell them, she thought it only fair to approach Raven first with this delicate information. After all, if Raven does know Jason is Red X, Terra could understand her actions… her mistake… better than any of the other Titans. A sordid memory of her own betrayal against her team and friends flooded all of her senses. She quickly shook it off and followed her peers back to the T car.
Back at the tower, Raven winced at how horrible Robin looked. Beaten and bruised and half bloody as he sat at the kitchen island. She looked to the others, astonished no one had even a spec of dirt on them, let alone cuts or bruises. She glared at her house mates for standing by while their leader took the beating of a life time. Robin must have noticed because he quickly defended their actions. "I told them to stand down." Her glare instantly snapped from the group to solely him. "What in the hell is wrong with you?" She spoke softly but you could hear the hostility clearly present in her tone of voice.
The others felt the tension and some began to back away, while others tried awkwardly to set their gaze on something else in the room. Robin forced himself to stand, using the counter top to support his stance. "Who the hell do you think you're talking to?" Again, there was no rise in volume but aggression was evident. "Clearly I'm talking to someone insane. Or an idiot. Or both!" Things were escalating quickly. Robin let out a deep, menacing laugh that filled the entire room. "With the way you've been acting, I'M the idiot?" Now voices were raised. The others froze with uncertainty.
"How I'VE been acting? How have I been acting? You don't even see me often enough to make any kind of judgement on my actions!" "Exactly! Avoiding us. Moping around. Sulking in your room every damn day. And all over some GUY! That sounds extremely idiotic to me!" He continued laughing as rage filled Raven's entire being. "You don't know shit Boy Wonder!" The group was shocked and disturbed by hearing Raven curse. She always said cursing was for fools with a minimal vocabulary and therefore had to resort to such vulgarity. "And it's honestly none of your business how I spend my time!" He stopped laughing. "Everything in this Tower is my business! And you never had a problem with that until HE got into your head!"
Terra's stomach dropped. Did Jason get into her head? The way Slade did to her all those years ago. She did her best to ignore the nervousness building within. "Why do you keep bringing him up?! Again, that's none of your business!" The group shifted awkwardly as they watched their two very close friends… their family… go at each other's throats in such a way. "It is if it's affecting your performance on this team!" "MY performance?! Look at you! Which one of us should we be concerned about here? Do you feel big and bad now tough guy? You proud of what you accomplished tonight oh fearless leader of mine?" He tensed at her mocking tone.
He shamefully grew quite, avoiding Raven's intense gaze. He sat back down because it suddenly grew hard for him to stand. Finally someone was bold enough to break the awkward yet tense silence. "We have more important things to discuss." Cyborg spoke with a deep seriousness. "Like what we just faced from what we all thought to be just a normal guy with a fancy suit." Raven's attention immediately averted to this confusing statement made by her long time friend. "What are you talking about?" Terra heard the worry in her voice and thought for a moment that it might have to do with the fact that she DOES know the truth about Red X.
Beastboy spoke up. "Dude, I don't what happened really. But one moment we're watching the battle of the ages between X and Dick, next thing X was bursting with red energy, deflecting any attack we tried. If Terra hadn't smashed that dude with one of the biggest rocks I've ever seen, who knows what he would have been capable of." Raven looked to Terra for reassurance. Terra carefully thought about the words to choose so she wouldn't make it obvious what she now knew. "It must of not been big enough because he was gone when I tracked down where he landed." She let out a nervous chuckle.
This must of lightened the mood because everyone else giggled. Except for the two birds on the team. Robin stern, Raven riddled with worry. Raven took a deep breath, then, as she spoke, tried desperately to hide her true feelings. "You can spare me the details for now. I'm going to heal Robin and we can discuss all this tomorrow." She walked to Robin and teleported him to the Tower's infirmary.
She reached into a couple of drawers. She needed to clean him up in order to see exactly where she needed to heal him. "Take off your uniform." Her monotone demeanor had returned. He silently complied. She ran the alcohol wipes from his feet, up his legs, across his chest, up and down his arms, and finally to his face. He winced in pain the entire time. Breaking the silence, Raven decided to finally speak. "Worth it?" Robin chuckled. "Just what I needed." She rolled her eyes. "Why would you do this?" She began working her magic on his injuries. He let out a shameful sigh. "I don't really know."
Once she finished, she wasted no time giving him a swift smack to the back of his head. "Ow." He chuckled again. "What's the point of having an entire team follow you if just to take on battles on your own?" He coward away from meeting her gaze. "Rachel. I have so much… and just no where to put it." She recalled all the nights they had spent together. The other side of Robin he'd dared to share with her. The boy she began to fall for all those years ago. She saw that boy in front of her now and she forced herself away from falling into old trains of thoughts. She shook her head, partly to rid herself of the memories, partly to show Robin she disapproved of his foolish act.
She grabbed all the used wipes and cloths and attempted to walk to the trash can. Robin grabbed her and pulled her close. Stunned, she dropped what was in her hands. His scent invaded her senses. She grew weak at his touch. She almost lost herself entirely before coming to her senses and pulling away from him entirely. Now all she smelled was desperation. "You're too late boy wonder." Her eyes watered just a bit as she stared into his pleading gaze. Then she vanished.