Chapter 12

What's Next?

Raven scrunched her closed eyes halfway between waking and dreaming and opened them a moment later. She was in the recovery wing at Titan's Tower, but how did she get there? The last thing she remembered was losing control. Raven suddenly remembered fighting, screaming, someone calling out to her. Slowly she pushed herself up onto her arms and prayed that she hadn't hurt anyone. Sitting by her bed was Batgirl, who turned at her movement and smiled.

"Hey there, sleepy, how're you doing?" she asked.

"What…?" Raven mumbled as Batgirl helped her sit up. "What are you doing here?"

"That demon Etrigan decided that you might be a threat and the Justice League decided to try and eliminate that threat," Batgirl said, honestly. "The Titans fought hard to get you out alive and I decided that I would tag along. If that's how my mentor acts around my friends, then I don't want to be his sidekick anymore."

"Friend?" Raven asked. "You…you're not scared of me?"

"You helped me when I needed it most. Whatever your family heritage is, I don't care," Batgirl said stubbornly. "You saved me; I wanted to return the favor." Raven allowed herself a small grin as Batgirl continued. "So, how do I contact Robin?"

"There's a comm. button on the wall. It'll broadcast to the whole tower, but you can just call Robin, Starfire, Cyborg and Beastboy if you want," Raven answered. Batgirl hopped up and hurried to the button Raven had mentioned.

"Robin, Starfire, Cyborg and Beastboy to infirmary," she said. It wasn't but a moment later that three of the four called entered the wing. All of them happy to see Raven awake and well.

"Raven, are you well?" Starfire asked.

"Better, not well," Raven answered. "I can still feel it there and I need to seal it off before it becomes too wild."

"Let us help," BB said.

"Ya, we've helped you before," Cyborg said. Batgirl looked around.

"Where's Robin?" she asked.

"Probably on the roof. The comm. system doesn't work up there," Raven said.

"I'll talk to him," Batgirl said. "You guys do…whatever it is that you need to do." With that, Batgirl left and headed to the roof as the four she left behind began to meditate.

Up on the roof, Batgirl found Robin sitting on the edge with his knees to his chest as he watched the sun rise. It had been two days since they'd left Gotham behind and no one had seen much of Robin. Batgirl grinned and sat down beside him with her legs tucked neatly underneath her.

"What's on your mind?" she asked.

"I have to go back," Robin said. Batgirl was surprised by this.

"What?" she asked. "They just tried to take Raven away, and you want to go back and help them?! What's going through your spiky little head?"

"We have to go back," Robin said, stressing the word "we". "Part of being human is being responsible for each other and helping each other. If I don't go back I'll regret it for the rest of my life." Batgirl paused and looked out at the sun. A memory came back to her of the boy she was sitting beside years ago and she smiled to think that he'd grown up.

"Do you remember the first time we met?" she asked suddenly. Robin looked surprised but grinned as the memory flowed back to him.

"You were so jealous that I had been made Batman's partner after all the trouble you went through. You were upset because I got to train with him, I learned his identity and only after a week of knowing him," he said.

"We were both so irresponsible, rambunctious, and as I recall, you wanted to prove yourself to Batman because you knew that I'd been his sidekick for longer than you," Batgirl said. Robin chuckled.

"Remember the first villain team up we took down?" Robin asked.

"Oh, do you mean the part about the chemical, or the fact that you crashed a giant moth into the building?" Batgirl teased.

"What was it you told me?" Robin asked.

"What? You mean when I told you to go play on another roof?" Batgirl asked. They both started laughing at their reminiscing. So much time had passed, they'd both grown up so much and yet, somewhere inside, they were still the mischievous sidekicks who got into trouble.

"So much time has passed," Robin said a few minutes later. "So much has changed. I've changed. You've changed and apparently Batman has too. I just don't know what to think anymore." Barbara looked at him and gently slipped off her mask to reveal her blue eyes and red hair.

"Dick, you've always known the difference between right and wrong," she said.

"Not anymore, Barbara," Robin said. "After so many battles here, the line between good and evil has become blurred. I don't know if I can trust myself anymore."

"Dick," Barbara said. Robin looked at her and then back out at the sun, now fully above the horizon.

"I haven't used my real name since I left," he admitted. "Duel identities means duel responsibilities, and I don't have the time to deal with that."

"Alright, Robin, when you don't know what's right or wrong, just stop over-thinking and do what your heart tells you is right. No one gets it right one hundred percent of the time, but you get it pretty close most of the time. Just think about," Barbara said, standing up. As she walked away, another thought occurred to her and she turned back.

"To tell you the truth, I'm jealous," she said. "You've got this great home, with great people and a responsibility you can handle. I have my home with my dad and Batman, and neither of them think that I can handle myself. You're incredibly lucky, but you just need to take a step back and take a look in order to see it before it's too late." Batgirl pulled her mask back up and headed for the door.

"Oh, and Raven woke up a few minutes ago," she said. She reached for the door and Robin grabbed her hand.

"Two things," he said. "First, you've been away for three and a half weeks, what makes you think that your dad isn't worried?" Batgirl looked shocked. She had completely forgotten about her father.

"He's going to kill me," she said, pulling away from Robin.

"Secondly," Robin said. "I think I might have a plan." The two of them headed back down to the infirmary where the others had finished with whatever it was they were doing and Raven was having a little food prepared by Cyborg. Oddly enough, there was what appeared to be a devilish mirror sitting on the side table.

"Robin, you're here," Starfire said, floating over to greet them.

"Ya, I am," he said. "Raven, glad to see you up and well again." Raven smiled as he continued. "Listen, we've got a lot of work to do. We're going back to Gotham." Everyone looked surprised.

"Why would we go back there?" Cyborg asked. "As far as I'm concerned, it's their problem."

"That's just it, it's not only their problem; villains from our home towns are there as well. They're our responsibility and we need to deal with them," Robin explained.

"I guess," Beastboy said.

"Raven, are you up for it?" Robin asked. Raven nodded.

"This may not be our fault, but it is our problem to deal with," she said. "I'll go back and prove to them that I'm more human than they know."

"What did you have in mind?" Batgirl asked.

"Thinking outside the box," Robin said. "Those villains are expecting us to come back and save the day as heroes, and we are, but that's not the whole picture." Everyone looked at him curiously. "We're also kids," he continued. "That's how we're going to beat them. I need to pick up something, so I'll be gone all day, but while I'm gone, I want you guys to compile a folder of every villain that you saw and are likely to be there. I don't want us going in unprepared. Now, we've got a lot of work to do, so let's get to work."

It took some convincing, but Robin was able to convince all of the Titans to join in on the plan. Robin returned to Gotham secretly to pick up something from his old home and surprisingly got out without being seen. Two days of preparing, repairing and upgrading later, the team was ready. Robin also had a surprise for Batgirl. The night before they left, he called her down to a room that they used to repair their equipment and vehicles. Batgirl was curious, but didn't ask. Sitting in the center of the room was her old motorcycle, but all new.

"Oh, Robin. You didn't," she said.

"Oh yes we did," Robin said. "Cyborg and I gave your old bike an upgrade similar to mine. You'll be able to shoot missiles, use a rocket booster and a few other things that I'll tell you about later. What do you think?" Batgirl was at a loss for words.

"Robin, it's wonderful," she said.

"I figured you deserved it," Robin said. "If we want to have any hope of surviving this next battle, we need to be ready."

"But your plan-" she tried.

"Will come together nicely if you have this," Robin said. "Now, about those other upgrades." Robin told her all about her new bike and by morning, they were ready.

And so, on the third day at dawn, the team headed out on a mission no one really wanted to go on. However, they had all agreed that the villains there were their responsibility, so they prepared for the worst.

The last thing they heard was Robin's familiar call. "Titans, Go!"


Author's note:

So, what do you think "thinking outside the box" means in this case? I hope you've got some ideas, because I'm halfway between half an idea and being stumped. Please message me if you have a suggestion! Or if you want to criticize. I'd love to hear from you so don't hold back on the comments! Love ya lol :);)