A/N: Back to the usual way of things. Without further ado let's get back to the story.
Raven's Justice
Chapter 13: Bereft
Raven's P.O.V.
My eyes opened.
I'm in an unfamiliar place.
Blink.
I was in a desert.
Blink.
It was night.
Blink.
Where were my titans?
Blink.
Azerath my head hurt. But I can't focus on that right now. I have to find my team. Thankfully it was a full moon.
Why do all night events happen during a full moon? It's weird because they always seem to happen on nights like this.
I'm getting off topic, so I began to check my body for any cuts or bruises that I may have missed. I see that my hair was in a braid and reached down my back, and it was rather long.
Now I can't help wondering how much time has gone by?
But before I could go into any sort of detail my thoughts were interrupted by an explosion of sand. As the dust settled a man appeared, he wore a black shirt with a red superman logo on it. He had piercing blue eyes and pitch black hair, and while he was fit he wasn't enormous. Though there was something unique about his appearance? He was growling.
I of course was just staring at him stupidly. My mouth hung open slightly with shock, and my body was filling up with adrenaline, ready for fight or flight.
To calm down the situation I decided to talk it out "Hey, hey are you okay?"
He started panicking and started to rip his shirt apart, he was clearly breaking at the seams. The man then said in an angry whisper, "I don't know."
His voice seemed very familiar. Maybe he had something to do with how I got here. Or maybe he's from my recent past, I guess I'll have to stick around and find out. But he seems just as confused as I am. I don't know why, but I feel as if I should keep an eye on him. He's someone important, either to me or just in general.
So I start off again by saying "It's okay. Can you tell me your name? My name is Raven. I'm with the teen titans."
"You look familiar. Why can't I remember anything? Was I in an accident?" He has this utterly confused look on his face, and I can't help but be empathic.
So I respond with "Maybe, but then I would have been in that accident too. Because you look familiar to me, and I also lost a good chunk of my memory."
There was a awkward pause, and then he said with a hint of anger "Wait did you say a good chunk? As in not all of your memory. Because I have no memory, of anything. Is there something wrong with me?"
I could see that some form of panic attack was about to happen. His already pale skin turned ashy, his breathing began to accelerate, and his eyes began to quickly look from side to side. So I took a leap of faith and I grabbed his hand, which stopped us in our tracks. It felt familiar, and oddly comforting.
"I don't know why you don't have your memories, but I promise you I'll help you figure it out. Now let's stick together and try to find some help, okay?" I say to him. Trying to calm him down, I rub my thumb gently across the back of his hand. He looks at our hands and then back at me, and I can physically see his breathing get back to normal. He looks into my eyes and says
"Okay."
[_[-]_]
Robin's P.O.V.
I have no idea how long I've been wandering this desert.
The sun was definitely not helping. It was beating down on my back like an oven.
Though my head was pounding I was able to gain my bearings rather quickly. I quickly realized that there was a vehicle approaching. I was able to get to high ground before the now confirmed military vehicle passed by.
Talking to myself has always brought me to focus more on the situation. "Those are Bialyan Republican Army uniforms." I bring up my wrist computer and start to research the area, "But what are Bialyans doing in, uh… Bialya? Okay, better question: What am I doing in Bialya? In September? What happened to March?" Now I'm really starting to panic.
For one last ditch effort "Better radio Batman."
Flash Back
Batman then continued with, "Maintain radio silence at all times."
"Or not."
So then I begin to start to analyze my surroundings.
On a pile of rocks about half-dozen feet away I saw a torn t-shirt. It had a red Superman insignia on it. I have no idea where it came from, but I'll just stash that away with everything else.
I just have to keep looking.
[_[-]_]
Artemis's P.O.V.
Some guy said,"Hey, beautiful, wake up."
Ugh, my head.
I was lying on dirt.
I opened my eyes to see that I was in this building of sorts. The guy was sitting in front of me. He had red hair, blue eyes, and he looked about the same age as me. He was wearing this weird black and red superhero suit. Those aren't good guy colors. Then he smiled at me.
So naturally I freaked out.
I leapt back to try to give some space between us.
But then he started saying "Hey, it's okay. It's okay. I won't hurt you. I'm one of the good guys. You know, Kid Flash."
So then I respond back with "Seen Kid Flash on the news. He doesn't wear black." While he does actually look like the Kid Flash from the t.v. I wanted him to give an explanation.
Which he did, well of sorts "Uh, a little unclear on that myself. What about you? A Green Arrow fixation?"
Wait what?
I looked down to see that I was wearing green crop-top, green pants. I had arm guards, a mask, combat items, and boots. He must have had something to do with this, I mean come on. No one else is here. "Who put me in this?"
His face went blank "Wow, I am not touching that with a 10-foot, uh… So, uh, do you know how to use that bow?"
Thank god, I had my bow. At least I have some form of weapon. "Yeah, my dad taught me. Dad. He must have done this. Another of his stupid tests." That made so much sense. He's trying to 'prepare' me. Ugh, why does he keep doing this, I have school and a life. I can't keep doing this.
"What king of tests?"
Knowing him it's probably more extreme than my last test. So I just told him straight "He probably wants me to kill you." While he is cute I would complete the task to get out of this hell hole.
But before anything could happen, we both heard this swishing sound above head. Thankfully one of us was actually thinking and the Kid Flash guy grabbed my hand and we high-tailed it out of that shed. We were just able to get out before it was hit and exploded. The explosion threw us 20 feet back. The shed was completely gone, and there was a crater in its place.
We were able to find our footing when we both saw a swarm of vehicles coming toward us. They looked vaguely like army vehicles; with their tan colors and guns on the roof. But I knew that they most definitely weren't one of ours because they were speaking in some kind of Middle Eastern language. So we started running of course, but I decided after a few hundred that we weren't going to out run a car. So I flipped and crouched on the ground a fired an arrow at the approaching enemy car. That said car blew up and flew over Kid Flash and I.
But there were more bad guys, and they were shooting at us with tanks. And unlike me they were shooting with giant ass tank bullets or something like that.
Then that jackass (the Kid Flash dude) came out of nowhere and picked me up and sped out of the line of fire. While I do enjoy being alive, I don't like to be picked up by random men.
It was like he read my mind or something because the next thing he said was "Sorry. They've got bigger arrows."
I looked back at the wreckage and then realized that I wouldn't have survived going at my normal human speed. Damn.
So I in turn say back "Thanks."
He responded back with "Hey, I told you. Good guy. Now, uh, not to pry, but, uh, what's your name? Oh, and what's this about you killing me?"
[_[-]_]
Raven's P.O.V.
Something is off.
I'm not sure what but, something is wrong.
Right now, let's just call him John Doe and I are traveling through the desert. I was flying, and he was… well, jumping. Apparently he could jump far distances, odd power. But knowing that he has a power puts him on the same level as the titans or maybe our enemies. But since he hasn't done anything yet I'm going to treat him like one of the good guys, for now.
Flying for long periods of time is EXTREMELY BORING. So while we were heading, well…nowhere, I start drift off and before I know it my mind goes blank.
Flash Back
I see the John Doe standing in front of this machine.
An unknown voice then said "Good idea. Go."
Then J.D. then gave me a soft smile and said "Be careful, don't forget I love you."
"Love you too Connor."
Then the memory changed to seeing Connor in a bed, and I was cuddling with him or something and he whispered "Love you, night."
Then I said back as I nestled myself into the curve of his shoulder and said with a yawn "Love you too."
The memory changed then once again and I was in a completely different room. I was sitting on the ground and I was stretching, I looked to my left to see a girl in a green get-up stretching alongside me. But we weren't the only ones, this Connor guy was to my right, a young Robin was to the right of him, and a kid with red hair to the right of him.
My mind immediately got called back to Robin, he didn't look right. His suit was all wrong, and he was a lot younger than me.
Was I in a different world?
Because nothing is making sense.
A voice that I will always remember started talking, Batman said on an over speaker "Team, report to the mission room."
So I guess, these people were my team members. Good to know.
Wait what happened to Robin? Why was I kissing this guy, Connor, why was I kissing Connor? Why was there another Robin?
I'm so confused.
[_[-]_]
Wally's P.O.V.
Once we got far enough away from the bad dudes, I almost immediately setting her down. Not because she's fat or anything because she most definitely isn't. She might be the hottest girl I've ever known. And this isn't because I held her in my arms for a long time or that she threatened to kill me.
So I say as a quick explanation "Sorry. Running on empty. Don't think I've eaten in a while. Been out here over 24 hours, or my cupboards wouldn't be bare." I usually have an extremely high calorie energy bar in a compartment on my arm. But the bar is gone, so I must have eaten it already.
Then out of nowhere this dude comes throws me against the canyon wall.
Stunned I didn't have a chance to fight back. But thankfully Blondie back flipped out of the situation. And of course she looked amazing while doing it. NO. She is a mysterious enemy person, definitely not hot. She then shoots an exploding arrow at his chest, he's still unscathed. So she kept firing those arrows at him, but he just kept going.
A female voice in the distance yelled "Hey, uh… terminator, calm down. I think their friends."
I heard this whooshing sound, another bomb. Apparently I wasn't the only one who heard this, because I saw the black shimmery bubble encase this guy. The bomb then hit the bubble and exploded. The force shot Blondie back.
I saw in that the tanks have found us once again.
"Get the tanks!" My head whipped around to see a petite woman come into picture. She had long purple hair in a simple braid, with a black cloak, combat boots, stockings, and a blue long- sleeved leotard that hooked on her middle-finger.
He then responded with "I got it."
Then all hell breaks loose. He rips the first tank apart, and then moves towards the guy from inside the tank. This guy was using a very large gun at him, but of course it didn't affect him physically. He just grabbed the gun and ripped it apart with his bare hands. He then continued to go at the tank, but failed to realize the second tank was aiming at him. The girl floated down the cliff face and simultaneously raised a shadow shield. His head snapped to where the tank was and then started to tear it up. I was so caught up with the fight I didn't really focus on myself and blondie.
"Whose side is he on?" I turned to my personal damsel.
So I told the blonde "Wanna stick around and find out?" Cause I really didn't. This situation was getting really confusing. Apparently we are friends with these to weirdos, and we were being chased by guys in tanks.
So I picked blondie up and we went running into the dunes, but unfortunately I hit a rock and we went tumbling down a very large sand dune. As we got up some planes went flying over us, and they started to fire. I screamed "Get Down!"
We watched as the planes flew away from us I saw this cloak zoom by after them. And then the planes suddenly smashed into one another. The cloaked figure stopped and flew back to us. When she showed her face I realized she was the girl who was with that guy.
Before I could get a comment out she asked, quite nicely I might add "Do you know who I am?"
"Nope can't say I do. But now that you mention it, you look oddly familiar." I say, and I'm surprised about how honest I was being with her. It just flowed out.
"Same here. How did you do that by the way?"
"My name is Raven by the way. My angry friend back there is part of our team, but he was taken by those soldiers and I'm going to need some help to get him back. By the way I'm a half-demon who has the ability to be telekinetic, telepathic and I can also teleport at some times. I've regained enough of my memory to know that we were a team. Other than I don't really know who you are, either of you."
This made sense, but I didn't want to believe her just yet.
But before we could delve more into this little revelation. We saw smoke come up from behind us. Big plums of black clouds emit from an explosion of sorts, the remnants of our little scuffle from before. Thankfully the trucks were following the smoke and not us.
"I guess we need to keep moving. Since we're all 'friends' now, I can tell you all the stories I told Rob a millions times. You're going to love this one,…"
[_[-]_]
Robin's P.O.V.
I've been wandering the desert for like a really long time. When I first woke up, I was high noon. Now it was night, but that isn't so bad I've got the full moon to guide me a bit.
And I still don't have my memories. That's what's bothering me the most. How am I supposed to function correctly if I don't have the memories from the last 6 months?
So I continued to talk to myself as I moved across the God- forbidden desert. On my map there was only one marked spot, so I thought why not go see what's at the spot. So that's what I'm doing "Wish I could remember why I put a GPS marker here."
I came up to the spot in question, and there was something there. A metal box. So naturally I freaked out, and ducked behind a rock for cover.
And of course I continued talking to myself "Huh. Guessing that's why."
So I then decide to go over to the mysterious box, and investigate. But before I could get even within a half dozen feet of the box, men suddenly appear. The men have large guns, face masks, and a symbol on their helmets. Then they start talking in a language I couldn't understand. It seemed to be some kind of command or something, because they started to rush me. As a precaution I used one of my smoke devices to confuse them. The fight had begun, I used a few of my gadgets at them but that only seemed to piss them off.
As I started my departure they shot at me, those bastards.
But then a familiar sequence unfolded. A blur went to each man and grabbed their guns. He also said "I'll hold that. Thanks."
The fight continued. I got a couple, my quick friend Kid Flash got a couple more. As I was about to get the final two a mysterious force threw them back.
A girl then appeared, she was floating. Odd. But I'm a little preoccupied at the moment. So I go back to the fight at hand.
Kid then takes care of three more guys. And then a green arrow just came out of nowhere and got the last guy who was unfortunately running away. I look around for Green Arrow but all I see is this blonde teenage girl, in a green arrow outfit with a mask, and a bow. Now who's she?
To break the ice of awkwardness I feel approaching I say "KF. Man, it's good to see a familiar face."
"Hey, Rob. Memory loss?" Damn he got straight to the point on that one. He does have the tendency to do that. But at least we didn't have to beat around the bush.
"Six months. Let's hog-tie these creeps and compare notes." When in doubt I like to take charge.
The hog-tying didn't take very long, and so we started to talk. That's when things began to get interesting. The first statement that really seemed to sink in was that I was in a team.
So that's what I said. "So we're a team?"
That's when the pale girl, who I've been recently re-introduced to as Raven, came in and said "The four of us, and this shirtless guy with blue eyes. "
I raised the fragments of the t-shirt I found from earlier, "Then this must be his."
Raven then said "Yes. Did you see him? He was captured by those men, and we need devise a plan to get him back."
I looked around at the team. Artemis was the first to speak up and said "I think we did."
"Feral boy? Some teammate. He attacked us." Ah, he such a way with words. But you gotta love the honesty. Thankfully the yin to his yang responded with "He didn't know who we are. I don't know who we are."
Then I remember my little flash back from earlier, "I remember Batman ordering radio silence. Our team must work for him."
KF of course had something to say back "How do you know we don't work my mentor? Whoa this is so cool." I looked at him; he was touching the lightning bolt on his chest. Which turned out to change his black and red suit into his usual yellow and red suit. And now he is playing with button.
"We look ridiculous. Quit touching yourself. We need our memories back." I couldn't argue with any of these comments, even if they are in a nagging tone.
Raven then comes up with a great idea, "Hey guys is it okay if I try something?" We barely mutter out a yes before I got this sudden pain in my head. Another flash back started up again.
Flash Back
Batman was standing in front of a map, in some sort of cave. He was obviously debriefing the team, "The Watchtower detected an immense power surge in the Bialyan desert. Spectral analysis revealed elements non-terrestrial in origin. Find out what happened at that site. What landed there. Bialya is a rogue state ruled Bialya is a rogue state ruled by Queen Bee and not a member of the league's U.N. charter. All communications are subject to interception. Maintain radio silence at all times. You'll land in Qurac, on Bialya's border, two klicks from the hot zone."
The scene changed to where we landed and I say "You good, Connor. All clear." Ah I guess the angry guy's name is Connor good to know.
The scene changed again, I was with Artemis and we were looking at this operation. She then whispered "The Bialyans control the site."
The scene changes back to the landing, but I heard Aqualad's voice say "Set up here." Wait Kaldur's here, uh oh. The scene then shifts forward, I'm typing on that large object I saw earlier. I say to the team "We'll be up and running in no time."
Kid then says "Jack pot!"
I then continue saying "This site's lousy with Zeta-Beam radiation. Detecting non-terrestrial trace elements from the tent."
Raven then offers " I'll go check that out."
Connor then says "Be careful." Raven walks up to him and kisses him on the cheek, and then turned invisible and floated off into the distance.
It ended and we all say "AQUALAD!" at the same time.
I then start blurting out all these questions like "Where is he? What happened next?"
Raven looked exhausted, and kind of pale. She said in a sad and tired voice "I don't know. That's the last thing I – well, we remember."
I glanced back at KF and Artemis who were holding hands, and once they realized what they were doing they quickly acted like they weren't. It was hilarious. KF then states to break the silence "Uh, we landed 24 hours ago. If Kaldur's been wandering the desert that long, that's not good for a guy with gills."
I checked my map for his signal, thankfully I saw him. But he wasn't moving. So I make this news known to the group "He's close, but he's not moving."
Connor's P.O.V.
Everything has been a blur. A mixture of pain and confusion.
I distinctly remember a guy in a white lab coat saying "Raise to shock level four."
It was hard to differentiate my screams from the sounds of the machines that surrounded me. The desert heat was making this experience a million times worse.
Where was the girl from before? Raven.
She was so nice, and patient. To the best of my knowledge I had never had this type of treatment before. But despite all that she seems oddly familiar and comforting.
Will Raven come back for me?
Raven P.O.V.
I'm so happy that we found Aqualad. Since I'm the person with mind related powers I was checking over him mentally and physically. I tell the team who have been patiently waiting my diagnosis "I can't restore his memories in his current condition. He's highly dehydrated, and without medical attention things can get even more severe."
Robin then asks "Can you call the Bioship from this distance?"
I raise my hands to my temples trying desperately to call out for the ship, but I got nothing. "I'm sorry. The ship seems to be out of range. Kid can you carry him there?" This option seems like a long shot, but it was worth asking.
He gives me this uncomfortable look and admits that "He's too heavy and I'm too low on fuel. Right now, I couldn't even carry her."
Artemis smacks him on the shoulder, and then asks me "Why not just levitate him back?"
"After all the restoration of all your memories, and the dehydration. I don't think I would be able to make all the way to the ship. But before I give out we should probably find Connor. Azerath knows what they're doing to him right now." I say grimly.
Kid Flash said logically "Superboy's indestructible. Just ask those tanks. It's Aqualad who needs your help. Like, now."
Just as he finished his sentence I was overcome by unbearable pain. I got only flashes of images of Connor being tortured with electricity. I know that Connor and I had a special connection, but this was something completely new to me. I never had something like this, not even with my Robin. Once I come out of my daze I say "I can feel Superboy's pain. He's being tortured this very instant. We need to go get him, now."
Robin shakes his head "We need to stay together. "
I decided right there and then that I had to go get him. "I'm sorry but I have to go."
As I fly off into the distance I can hear them yelling after me, but I have to at least try to help Connor. I instantly find the tent where they are holding him. I know that if I just float in and start fighting off everyone I see it would just end in disaster. So I decide to look at this situation cautiously. I double check my visibility. I'm still in my shadow mode, good. So I float around the outside of the tent to where Connor was being held so that all I needed to do was float through the canvas and grab him when they weren't working. I began to feel the minds of the workers within tent, to gage their locations. But that in lies my mistake, there was someone in their who also has telepathic powers.
The only warning of his presence that I got was his voice in my mind, which is extremely hard to do I might add. He said "Well, someone's certainly a glutton for punishment. Psimon says…Forget."
My vision then goes blank.
Suddenly I'm in the Tower's common room. Beastboy and Cyborg are playing some video game, and I'm in my usual spot. But I know this doesn't feel right. I hear his voice again "That's it. Forget like before."
I start to feel drowsy, but before my eyes completely close I mumble "Before…"
The scene suddenly changes, and I instantly know it's a flash back.
Flash Back
I'm floating into the tent. The same tent where I had that intuition to not go into it directly, now I know why.
I hear myself on the mental comm link say to the team "I'm in."
Aqualad is the first to warn me "Good. But tread carefully. Camouflage is not invisible."
"They're testing something, it looks like a metal ball. But that's not the odd thing, it's alive. And in pain."
But before I could do anything about the situation I hear the sing-song voice say "I can see you. And a open mind is a dangerous thing."
I cursed my lack of mental sparing and for leaving my mind open, like an idiot. I quickly let the others know "Someone hacked this link."
The voice then came back and a guy with a gray hood was now facing me. He then slowly dropped his hood as he was saying "Psimon can't catch you, but he can make you all FORGET."
Then the image changed and I saw the entire team screaming in pain, and then wandering off in random directions.
Now I was back in the Tower and there was this white light closing in. I scream "NO! This isn't happening again."
A pulse blasted out of my body and pushed back the light. I raised my hands for more focus, and the light started shrinking faster. But before it could disappear completely the face of Psimon came through. With his see-through head his brain was completely visible, he had pale skin up to his forehead, and also had angular lines of skin wrapping around to the back of his head. He was most definitely not a pretty site.
"Not really your call, little girl."
A black beam hit my body and I was flung across the room. I used my own black beam to start fighting him off. My mind has been spent doing all these things over the past 48 hours, how am I this weak. I used to have these amazing psychic powers, now I barely competent. I'm think that not testing my abilities have com e to bite me in the ass. As soon as I beat this guy I'm training with Martian Manhunter as soon as possible and as often as he can.
Psimon kept taunting me, saying "You have potential but you're too raw, too untrained. And not at all in my league." Now that was just insulting.
I felt a brush on my leg, which was weird because I was in my own mind palace of sorts, and I was floating. I look over to see Connor here. I instinctively grab him into a hug. Psimon then laughs, and I lean back but I keep my hand in Connor's. I never knew how much liked moral support. "You look so relieved. Is that mindless creature supposed to save your mind?"
"No, I'm going to save his." I grab Connor's face with both hands and kiss him. While doing so, I give him back all the memories we've shared together. His escape, the team in all its forms, our first kiss, and our relationship. In doing so, this gave his mind full access to all his memories not just the one's we shared.
We finally broke apart and he just smiled. Our foreheads were pressed against one another's and he just whispers "Kick his ass."
Psimon doesn't think so "By all means. Kick my psychic ass."
I release a new wave of power at him, this time it comes directly from the jewel on my forehead. We start fighting a mixture of psychic rays and physical punches. That last one was mainly from me. At least I'm not lacking in this area of my training.
I feel pressure on my hand and its Connor again.
"Hi Connor, how's it going." I say calmly.
"Not bad. I know tired but I know you can do this." He's says as he ran his thumb across the back of my hand.
"I got this. How can I say know no? Together." We raise our hands.
"Together."
"Now get the HELL out of my head." And in a flash of white light the world in which we were fighting in shattered like glass into reality. A neon green vortex surrounded Connor, Psimon, and I and it grew until it destroyed the tent. The first and last thing I saw was Psimon being sucked into the vortex.
The world suddenly went dark, and all I could think about is did I finish the fight.
Connor's P.O.V.
Once we got out of Raven and Psimon's mind things began to wind down. Psimon got sucked into the Tornado of light. And Raven fainted, which totally understandable she just demolished her first mind duel. Once she collapsed the tornado disappeared and the tent blew up, and thankfully being in the eye of the Tornado allowed us to be able to not feel the force of the explosion.
I caught her on in my arms, which if I do say so is pretty heroic.
We were about to kiss, but then that metal came and interrupted our moment.
Even though we've kissed many times, it would have been memorable. You know what I mean.
But this ball started making R2D2 noises, and even though it interrupted what would have been the kiss of a life time. It came pretty handy in the fight earlier. So I ask Raven "Can I keep it?"
[_[-]_]
We were able to make it to the Bioship pretty quickly.
It didn't hurt that Kaldur was kind of freaking out at the moment due to his lack of memories. But once we got that settled, and I got a new shirt on we were able to cuddle on the way home.
This mission definitely turned out okay. I even think we got to know ourselves a little bit better once it was done.
A/N: I just want to explain why it took so long for me to write this chapter, I had finals. And I also have more bad news there won't be any chapters during the 23rd of June and the 22nd of July, I will be on vacation and will have no access to a computer. I'm sorry this isn't coming as fast as you would like but I still working on it. Thanks for your patience, and I hope you keep reading. And I would like to thank Rae, lissim, Evil Beware We Have Waffles 04, nicolexxx, AryaZEvans, Akirasatansoul, ArellaR, Brakelite, WolfassassinKing, Martenzo, FlopsyTheStingyDingo ,selen123,angelrey, VeeR,Boomer1125, Rose, Vee, MoonlightWolf16, BetaZackFan, wolf40k ,Yusuke Kurosaki , Insane bananas , ,Mizzimus,Nerdy Jiyu,Chromatic Love,chibi-no-baka,Harpy81,kreigspahn, M.I. '85, Rythomas12, , donnabella2k7, shadowhunt54,M19n98b0e, tigergirl1723, jumhalala, silly60, GennytheTigerWolf, MariashaAziza, B00kfan, Snow413, New Moon9889, D-MINI-Q, Mako27, dah1507, Insane Blood Prince, Wolfy-Queen, zeona last, FlopsyTheStingyDingo, Katr5432, Regin, TuTsXxX, and Alaska.
