A/N: Thank you for reading/faving/following/reviewing!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans. Teen Titans belong to DC (which totally stands for disappointing comics) and Warner Bros.
"Mr. Roy Harper? Your name hasn't been scheduled for a meeting with Mr. Queen."
"I'm…um…a family friend."
Wally, seated in the waiting area some distance from the counter, looks up from his phone. Although Roy didn't want anyone to accompany him to come to meet Ollie so sort out the thing about his RoyBots, Wally didn't want him to feel alone. It wasn't that he didn't trust him, Roy is more than capable of handling himself, he's just afraid that things would get out of hand.
He knew Roy was bitter about this so he made sure he'd keep an eye out for him. He see's Roy nod at the lady behind the desk and heading towards his direction, he gives him a smile.
"So?"
"One thirty."
"That's an hour away." complains the speedster, who falls onto the couch with a huff.
"He's Oliver Queen. The most important person in his life is himself." Roy says, void of emotion.
Wally raises an eyebrow, partly agreeing with what Roy said. "How'd you manage to get yourself a slot in Mr. Queen's very busy schedule?" he asks.
"I let her look at my staff card." He replies. Wally then notices how stiff Roy is. Despite saying how he doesn't really care about how Oliver see's him, he's still miraculously on his best behaviour. If this were anyone else, Roy would be lounging on the couch like Wally.
An hour sped by for Roy, though for Wally it was plain torture. Roy had to stop the speedster from moving too much too quickly. Someone came to fetch them to see Oliver, and Wally could see the blood practically drain from the archer's face.
The elevator doors open, and they are led to a glass room, where Oliver Queen is on the phone. The lady motions them to take a seat on the couch, on the glass table are numerous liquors. Roy raises an eyebrow and reaches for a bottle of whiskey, only to have Wally swiftly swat his hand away and glare at him. Roy rolls his eyes and folds his arms.
They hear Oliver end the call. The lady retreats to the elevators again, and are greeted with Oliver's smile that always charms the media.
"Roy Harper! Pleasant surprise!"
"Ollie." the archer says, not even bothered to stand up to greet his mentor.
"Oh, c'mon Roy-boy. Not even a smile? It's been a while you know." Oliver says, taking a seat on the couch. "Wally, how's training going?" he says.
Wally shrugs a little too awkwardly, "good? I guess? Barry says I need to stop eating junk food and focus on nutritious food instead, but I don't see him doing it."
"Hah, hypocrite."
"My thoughts exact-"
"All right, let's drop the niceties and skip the pleasantries, Ollie." Roy snaps. Oliver's eyes widen, and Wally just sighs. "I know you're making duplicates of my designs. Designs that, are not only unfinished, but they belong to me and me alone. You've been producing them under your name, I designed them from scratch, you just plagiarised my creation."
"If it's the credit you want-"
"No! I don't care about the credit anymore." Roy raises his voice, Wally closes his eyes. It's going to be hard to stop Roy's mouth from saying anything he'll regret later. "Stop making them! They're not finalised, they've still got weaknesses. One wrong trigger and two blocks could be gone!"
"I've calculated the percentage of that happening, and it's less than 1%."
"Yeah? Well it should be zero if you ask me! If something goes wrong, they're going to blame you. You fucking slapped your name on something that doesn't belong to you, they're going to go after you if anything goes south. They're not ready to be on the market, and they shouldn't be! I designed them for fun, I wasn't planning on making any.
"You've got to stop producing them, before something happens. It's too dangerous. You know what happens when dangerous things fall into the hands of equally dangerous people! We've all seen it with our own eyes. Oh, and another thing. You sold a portion of them to the black market."
"How did you-"
"I have my sources. I know there are a couple of gangs bragging about how they've done business with worldwide known Queen Industries. It's got to stop!"
"Roy, do you seriously think I am not aware of who my customers are?"
"You're selling to criminals, Ollie!"
"Yes, and for the greater good."
"What greater good is there in something like this? Lives aren't supposed to be up for gambling."
"You think I don't plant tracking devices on them?" Oliver says, tone stern. Both Titans recognise this voice. It is the voice of the Green Arrow. "I exploit them by selling to them. I keep an eye on the crimes, I track down where they are and I put an end to them."
"Are you doing this in Jump or Star? I had to clean up your mess in Jump City, and this isn't even my base of operations."
Oliver sighs, "you know absolutely nothing about business, Roy."
"You know why?" a dangerous gleam sets in Roy Harper's eyes, Oliver has seen it with people who hold hatred in their hearts, he isn't afraid of his protege, just worried about who he's become. "Because you locked me in that room of yours, building your weapons, drafting new technology. How could I know how business works, if all I'm allowed to do is be stuck in a room, designing things you'd claim to be yours?"
Roy gets up and walks past Oliver without so much as a goodbye. Oliver only closes his eyes and sighs disappointedly.
"I'm done being in your shadow. I'm done with being nothing, Green Arrow."
Wally's eyes widen in fear, regretting his choice of not telling Dick about today.
A run in with Cinderblock after dinner wasn't anything out of the ordinary. The Titans put him down without breaking a sweat, but Beast Boy notices something out of place - and it didn't have anything to do with Robin being on vacay (or something). He glances at Raven for confirmation and see's her eyeing Starfire warily.
Yeah, something's definitely up.
They return to the tower and they drop their hero-act. Wally immediantly launches himself at the fridge, with a sighing Roy trailing behind him. Victor stretches, cracks his neck and sighs in content. Garfield stays silent, watching Rae analysing Kori's every movement.
She's more stiff she normal Garfield concludes. Raven seem to have noticed him staring, he blushes a little and heads to his room for a change of clothes. Before he gets back, Starfire announces that she'll be off for patrol and heads to the roof of Titans tower.
"But we just got back!" whines Wally, his mouth stuffed with Vic's pancake.
"Let her be, Wally. This is their city." Roy says, plopping himself down on the couch. Wally hums and continues eating. "You owe them a lot of money, Wal-man." Roy sighs. Wally slowly puts back a few pancakes, a guilty look plastering on his face.
Raven sighs and heads up to the roof where Kori is. She has yet to take off, and Raven wonders why. She transforms into her soul self and emerges behind Kori.
"Mind telling me what's up?" she says, Kori jumps and inhales sharply.
"I did not hear you arrive" the warrior says, her hand to her chest as she evens her breathing.
"I thought you were over that…walking nuclear thing" Raven says, her voice softening ever so slightly. "Or is this about Dick not being in Jump?"
Kori shakes her head and flashes Rae a smile, "It's nothing, friend Raven! Perhaps the absence of friend Richard really has shook my core." her smile turns sheepish as she blushes a faint shade of pink, "There's just a little less energy in the tower" she concludes.
Raven smirks and raises an eyebrow under her hood, "Less energy? Are you kidding?" she says playfully, pulling her hood down. "We've got Kid Flash living in this tower, if anything it's full of energy."
Kori sticks her tongue out and the two laugh.
Okay, so she's not moping as much. That's good.
"All right, I should go and perform the patrolling." she says. Kori takes off into the air, her hair whipping behind her uncontrollably, yet extremely elegantly. Raven sighs and transforms into her soul self once more, shadowing her. It's not that she doubts Starfire's ability, she's just worried. Not to mention, Dick told her to keep an eye on Star ever since the man insulted her.
She's just keeping her promise.
Jason Todd recognises that sound. He knows what's flying nearby when his cheap-and-nearly-broken windows bang like that. He turns off the TV and shuts off the lights. The room is silent for a while, and then a soft, but audible ffttzzzz is heard and the room is empty.
Red X reemerges on the roof of the building next door, he watches Starfire circle around the area. "What the hell" he mutters. He didn't cause the Titans trouble this week, in fact, he teamed up with one just a day ago! What do they want now? He groans internally and gets to higher ground.
If Star wants to talk, he'll be there for her. Not that he'd admit that aloud. He hasn't spoken to anyone lately, and it's refreshing to mess with her. Not to mention, Starfire really struck a nerve the last time he saw her face to face. She surprised him by being that one person who believed that he was good.
He believes that the hero has spot him, as that annoyingly familiar heat comes closer. "So, what brings you here now, Titan?" he greets, his back still turned to her. Starfire raises an eyebrow, clearly not in the mood to deal with X's quips and cocky attitude.
"I came across this." She says, unwrapping some black cloth. She passes it to X with care, both hands cradling the object. X reaches out for it, eyes widening once he realised exactly what it is.
"Where did you get this?" He asks. Wrapped in the cloth was a RoyBot. The ones X and Red Arrow/Speedy were hunting down. "Starfire, how'd you came across this?"
She hangs her head in shame, which makes X more interested in the story she has in store. "C'mon Star, don't leave me hanging."
"I was just...I wanted to explore docks of Jump...and...well, there was the Fire of the guns somewhere, so to fulfil my duty as a Titan, I flew into the warehouse-"
"Hold on, THAT WAS YOU?" X says in a hushed voice, half in rage and half in worry. Though he would never admit, he worried for the Titans. He had been on the other side once, and he knew what it felt like to be taken away from the ones you love. "You could've died! Do you know what these bots do?"
Starfire only smiles. "It is most amusing to have a friend-"
"Who said we were friends?"
"like you. You don't judge me for who I am, and even though you and the titans got off the incorrect lower extremity of the leg below the ankle-"
"Wait what?" - oh 'got off the wrong foot' got it.
"I still believe that one day, you can make peace with the titans."
RedX sighs, and rolls his eyes. "Yeah, sure, Starfire."
"Although, I must say, the explosion was not caused by this object...it was me..." she said, "I am unsure of what to do with this...device. I figured perhaps you would know."
"Um…well, I'll just hold onto it before you blow up that nice little tower of yours." he says, tucking the device into one of his many hidden pockets. Although Starfire has a small smile on her face, X could see right through her.
He could also see looming figure a couple buildings away, watching him and Star. Probably Raven.
"Why the long face?" he asks.
"Oh? I admit, I am not aware that my face is considered-"
"No, I mean, why are you sad?"
Starfire's eyes widen, her normal smile creeping back onto her face. "See we are friends!"
X only chuckles, thinking what the actual hell is wrong with this girl. How can she peacefully talk about her problems with a criminal like himself?
"What say you help me with something? There are bad people trying to sell these bots. I gotta track them down and beat them to it. Wanna help?" X offers. Starfire's head tilts to the left, confusion in her eyes, but she agrees nonetheless.
Raven watches in surprise. She just agreed? Just like that? How could she trust him? Although she didn't sense anything harmful in X (at the moment) they never teamed up with their villains unless it was of the upmost importance. Sure X helped Robin from time to time, but helping Starfire was something else.
The pair headed towards the darker areas of Jump. The areas where crime rates were higher then the rest, where criminals rule the streets, where a civilian wouldn't last a week without being mugged at least once a day.
Raven eyes X suspiciously as he cracks open a lock. He opens the door quietly and leads Starfire downstairs. Raven narrows her eyes and turns into her soul self to follow them inside.
As soon as her soul self enters that building -basement really - all she senses is pain and fear. She tries to concentrate on making sure she's not seen, but there were so many emotions, so much pain. She started feeling dizzy, weak and nauseous. Then she sees them. RedX was freeing the victims trapped here while Starfire targeted the henchmen with guns.
"Don't move, Titan." says a voice. Raven's adrenaline spikes. She kicks her opponent in the stomach throwing him backwards. "You little-"
"AZARATH METRION ZINTHOS!" Crates fly in all directions, making the henchmen fall down on their backs mercilessly.
"Raven!" chirps Starfire, X turns around and glares at the empath. She glares back. He knows she'll want to interrogate him later.
He hears the click of something, he looks up and see's an AK-47 pointed at Starfire. He teleports himself towards the man and attempts to knock him out cold. Raven catches on and flings the forgotten pieces of sharp wood at him. He was quicker, more skilled. Once X was in front of him he pulled the trigger.
Starfire screams.
Raven unleashes hell on the man as the room envelopes in darkness, the only light visible were Raven's four eyes. Two slicing sounds and a scream occurs. She and leaves him unconscious and bleeding on the floor.
Starfire scoops X up, despite his protests and Raven teleports them back into the tower. X hates this. He knows he's in the hospital wing but he hates this. Starfire puts him on a bed. They can't heal him now, there were still victims in that basement.
"Raven, you have to take me back-"
"Stop talking, save your breath."
"There are-"
"I know. There were more people-"
X pulls Raven down by her hood. "Children, Raven." X spits out.
Garfield senses the overwhelming smell of unfamiliar blood and follows the scent. He see's X holding Rae by her hood and he charges at him, only to be stopped by Starfire.
Raven swallows as she hears the word 'children'. She takes a deep breath. "Okay, give me the coordinates and I'll send the Titans."
Location: Wayne Manor, Gotham City
Dick's gears are still turning, trying to wrap around the fact that Jason Todd could be the RedX. Tim's evidence do make sense, everything fell into place. There was just one problem though - Jason Todd is dead.
After a day of training, Dick leads an overly exhausted, yet still enthusiastic Tim back up to the manor. Tim washes up and Dick calls it a day. He also checks his communicator, just in case the Titans called.
0 missed calls. 0 emergency signals.
Dick raises an eyebrow. Maybe he should leave Raven in charge more. No distress signals, no calls for help whether it be stopping Gar from eating too much tofu or a full scale attack on Jump, no Starfire missing him.
His mind lingers on the thought of Starfire. He wonders how she's doing. Sure, he could just call her to make sure she's all right, but Raven distinctly told him to give her some time. Something about evaluating herself, and a possible existential crisis. Something Kori has to do alone.
Dick takes a shower before opening his laptop to check up on the Titans, he supposes he should introduce Tim to them, but then again, it would only make him want to be Red Robin even more…and Dick, being the protective brother he is, wasn't ready for that to happen.
Not after Jason. Not after hearing how he could still be alive.
News of the Titans handling non-metas are on the first page of Jump News, he clicks open the article and finds a picture of Starfire comforting a young child, approximately six by the looks her him. He's proud that they've rescued these children locked in the basement (? Honestly, the world is turning more insane everyday!) with traces of heroine in the blood? Dick's eyes narrow at the article.
He would've known if such things happened in Jump, so why was this unheard of? How did the Titans even know about it?
He calls them on the communicator. Beast Boy picks up.
"What's up, Dick?"
"What's this about saving drugged children?" he inquires, Beast Boy's smile falters, "Don't get me wrong, I'm proud of you guys, but…how did you find out?"
Beast Boy chuckles nervously, Dick can tell because his smile isn't as bright, and guilt is etched on his face. "I think it's best you talk to someone that knows more about this than me? Maybe like, Raven? I don't know?"
He hears a muffled scream.
"Beast Boy, what's going on?" his voice laced with worry.
Beast Boy shakes his head, "Nothing you need to worry about, we've got it under control. Enjoy your trip to Gotham bye!"
Nothing. Yeah right.