Disclaimer: I don't own the teen titans
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Titan Baby
By: Akemi
Chapter Two: Media Attention
The titans were at the end of their rope.
"Little bumgorf, why will you not stop crying?" Starfire asked as she took the baby from Raven. "You have been fed. You have no need for the 'changing'. What is wrong?" The titans had taken care of the baby, whom they had decided to name Sarah, all week and bore the signs.
They had ducked the media's questions of why a member was missing from the team every time they went out on a mission. They were also all deprived of sleep, due to Sarah's midnight and three am feedings; a fact that the media had picked up on and was doing their best to figure out why.
"Do you think she's teething or something?" Beast Boy asked, finding a pacifier and putting it in Sarah's mouth. Silence rang throughout the tower and they all sighed in relief. Sarah promptly spit out the pacifier and continued to cry. They groaned.
"I doubt she's teething BB, she's a month old, two at max." Robin said. "Let me try Star." He said, walking over to Starfire and taking the baby from her. "Beast Boy, I got an idea, come here." As he came over Robin said, "Let's try distracting her, maybe if we're lucky she'll forget what she's crying about." Beast Boy nodded and quickly shape-shifted into a puppy, wagging his tail and barking. Raven covered her ears, as did Cyborg and Starfire. Sarah was shocked into silence at Beast Boy.
They watched as Beast Boy continued to distract her, and soon enough Sarah was happy again. Robin held the baby close again. "There, see? Don't you like being happy?" He asked in a soft tone. Sarah yawned and closed her eyes.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The next day the titans were called out on a mission. Cinderblock was wrecking havoc downtown.
"You go. I'll be fine with her." Raven said; she was feeding Sarah her afternoon bottle. That mere statement let Robin know just how far Sarah had already worked herself into Raven's heart. He nodded,
"Call us if anything turns up," he said. Raven nodded.
They had been told by the commissioner that the police force was searching for any missing babies with Sarah's description throughout the state. However, it was unlikely that she had been kidnapped only to be left on the doorstep of Titans Tower. They had been given permission to keep her while the search continued.
The titans left, leaving Raven to tend to Sarah. As soon as the door closed behind her teammates Raven allowed herself to focus her attention on Sarah once again. Using her powers to keep the bottle in place she reached her hand over to Sarah's forehead, brushing silky chestnut brown curls away from her face; her hair color had been steadily getting lighter the past week. Sarah looked up at her with deep blue eyes rimmed with long black eyelashes. She lifted her hand ever so slightly and latched on Raven's finger. Something stirred in Raven at that moment and the corner of her lips lifted slightly.
Just then the computer in the front of the room beeped and Raven's face was flat again. Something was wrong. They had reset the security alarm to beep from the computer rather than blare the alarm throughout the tower when they were needed; Cyborg always reset it at night of course. Raven put the bottle Sarah had finished on the coffee table and rose to see what the problem was.
When she reached the computer she tapped out a command and a map of titans tower came up. The area lining the roof of the tower was outlined in red. Someone was up there. Not a second later a loud blast right above her head sent her sprawling. Sarah was startled and began to cry.
"Well, well, well." A cold voice said. Raven hurriedly stood up, cradling Sarah to her chest with one arm, her other hand readied with her powers.
Slade stood not ten feet away, surrounded by a massive army of robots.
"I never thought that the reason a titan always stayed behind was for a baby." He began walking forward. Raven backed away a step for each one he took towards her. His eye narrowed, "this should be easy." He said and raised a laser gun level to her face.
Raven glared at him and unleashed a powerful burst of energy directly at Slade.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The titans had arrived at the scene and were busy dealing with Cinderblock.
"RRRRRRoar!" Cinderblock yelled.
Robin attacked him with his Bo staff and Starfire flew behind Cinderblock and began shooting starbolts at him. A Tyrannosaurus rex suddenly smashed headlong into Cinderblock and with a blast from Cyborg's cannon crashed into the street. As Cinderblock stood up and roared in defiance, Robin caught a glimpse of the symbol on his chest.
"Slade."
Cinderblock attempted to take a swing at Starfire who was hovering near his head, but missed and Star blasted him with her starbolts. "Titans!" Robin yelled.
"I see it Robin." Cyborg said and aimed his sonic cannon directly at Cinderblock's chest, at the symbol controlling him. His aim rang true as his sonic blast destroyed Slade's control over Cinderblock. Almost instantly Cinderblock fell over backwards, overwhelmed by the titans and not willing to fight anymore.
"Boo yah!"
"It's over dudes." Beast Boy said as Cyborg and Starfire took Cinderblock and gave him to the waiting authorities. That done, the titans headed back to the T-car, only to be accosted by the media.
"Titans, what was Cinderblock attempting to do?" One reporter asked.
Robin didn't answer. He wasn't about to say Slade was back without some investigating first.
"Where is Raven?" Another reporter asked.
"She's at the tower." Robin replied.
"What is she doing at the tower? Did you have trouble getting Cinderblock under control without her?" The reporter was persistent. Robin didn't answer.
"Titans, let's go." He called. They began to head for the T-car.
"Wait, Robin, can you tell us why one of the members of the team has been absent this past week?"
"It's complicated, sorry."
"What would happen if during one of these times that you came to fight criminals the tower was attacked with only the remaining member inside?" The reporter continued.
"We have a security system, and our communicators. Raven can call us if there's trouble." Robin replied.
"Robin!" Cyborg called running up to him from the T-car. "The tower is under attack!" The T-car was equipped to check the status of the security system at Titans Tower at any time should there prove to be a need.
"Raven," Robin whispered. "Let's go!" His communicator rang. He answered it and Raven's face filled the screen. One of her cheeks sported a bloody cut.
"Robin! It's Slade! He broke into the tower; he's got too many robots. I'm not sure if I can keep Sarah safe." She said hurriedly.
"Sarah! Who's she? Is there another titan in training?" A reporter asked.
"We're coming Rae. Hang on." Robin said and closed his communicator. He turned to look at the tower off in the distance in time to see four figures being thrown from the tower with a blast of Raven's power. "Starfire, fly ahead. Give her some backup." She took to the air and began to head for the tower. The rest of them quickly sped off in the T- car, ignoring the reporters.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Raven was trying her best to fend off Slade's attacks while carrying Sarah. It was proving to be extremely difficult. She hoped the other titans came soon. Just then Starfire flew in through one of the broken windows, firing starbolts as she went and taking out several robots. She landed beside Raven who was in the center of a large group of robots, firing strips of black energy at as many robots as she could manage. There was a protective black barrier encasing Sarah as Raven held her.
"Star!"
"The others are on their way." Raven nodded and the two of them began to blast their way through the robots. Less than three minutes later Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy broke into the battle. Instantly, with the entire titan team attacking Slade's army, the numbers still fighting began to drop dramatically. Beast Boy was rapidly changing from tiger to bear to lion to rhino, taking out several robots. Robin and Cyborg had teamed up and were using a combination of moves to cut a path through the army.
It was several minutes before the last of Slade's army fell.
As they realized they had defeated the army the titans gathered in the middle of the main room. Raven removed the barrier over Sarah and quickly checked her to make sure she was uninjured.
"Is everyone okay?" Robin asked. "Sarah too?"
"Yes." Raven replied. Robin tucked away his Bo staff. He went to Raven and took Sarah from her hold.
"You're not," he said, looking at the cut on her face.
"I'm fine. Slade got a lucky first shot, that's all." She said and wiped her cheek, using a touch of her healing power to leave no sign that she had been injured at all. At the look on Robin's face she said, "Its okay, my shot was luckier, he's over there." She motioned to the far side of the room. Pieces of a robot Slade could be seen among the other robots. Robin nodded and they split up to begin collecting the robots and repairing the damage done to the main room. Raven had proved to be very effective at not letting any robots get past her into the rest of the tower.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
A couple hours later the tower was in much better shape. Cyborg had replaced the broken windows with spares they kept in the basement and the robots had been dealt with. It was only then that Robin shared with the others the symbol that he and Cyborg had spotted on Cinderblock.
"It was a trap." He said. "Slade lured us out with Cinderblock, knowing that one of us would stay behind."
"What are we going to do?" Raven asked calmly. Robin opened his mouth to speak when a beeping from the computer drew the attention of all the titans. Immediately they were in battle mode. Robin had seated himself at the computer and was bringing up the security map of the tower. Cyborg, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Raven had stood. At the whimpering of Sarah in the basinet they had set up in the room Raven went to tend to her. None of them were ready to leave her alone in her nursery just yet.
"Great." Robin said. "The reporters followed us back here; a whole boat full of them. This is ridiculous."
"Reporters?" Starfire asked.
"Did they hear me mention Sarah when I called you for backup?" Raven asked.
"Yeah, I think so." Robin answered.
"Are we going to meet them, Robin?" Cyborg asked. Robin contemplated the idea for a few moments before replying,
"Yes. We're going to have to face the music sooner or later. It might as well be now."
"Well, Sarah's done with her nap. I'll get her ready and meet you guys outside." Raven said and walked out of the main room." Robin motioned to the others and led the way outside.
The titans hadn't stepped more than a few feet out of the tower before the reporters saw them and began their barrage of questions.
"Robin, can you tell us what the disturbance here was about?"
"Where's Raven? Is she sick?"
"Who is Sarah? Is she a titan in training? Is she a pet? Does one of you have a younger sibling visiting?" The reporters weren't giving them a chance to answer their questions. Robin held his hands up.
"We came to try to answer some of your questions. One at a time, please." He said.
"Robin, where was Raven earlier, is she all right, and is she here now?" A reporter asked.
"Raven's fine. She's inside getting Sarah ready to come out." Robin answered.
"Who is Sarah? A pet, a sibling?"
"Neither. Starfire already has her pet anyways. Silkie. Sarah, we found on our doorstep just over a week ago." He paused, sensing Raven's power close by. He turned and saw Raven's soul self appearing from the ground. The reporters were transfixed. Raven soon appeared, her back turned to the reporters.
"Raven! Raven, who is Sarah? What were you doing earlier?" A reporter asked. Raven turned and the reporters were all shocked into silence. Raven was holding Sarah. She had dressed her in one of the outfits they had bought for her; a lavender blouse with matching pants and little white shoes. Raven had also brushed her hair more neatly back into it's ponytail at the top of her head. Sarah's thumb was in her mouth. Her eyes were open and she was looking at everyone. She was still shy from her nap and her other hand was wrapped tightly into the top of Raven's cloak, securing herself.
"I was babysitting." Raven explained.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
A/N: And the plot thickens! How did everyone like the second chapter? Was it any good?
If anyone has any suggestions for scenes they would like to see later on in the story, any funny antics Sarah might pull as she grows up, feel free to let me know. Babies tend to always get in some sort of trouble. :)
Please leave a review!
-Akemi