Look at this, just four days after the last chapter- when plot shows up, the story's easy to write. Read and review, please. Writing this is fun, but so is feedback.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Jinx leaned back against a cushion and took the offered bowl of popcorn. "Thanks, Mammoth," she said.

He grunted. A month ago, she wouldn't have recognized the inflection of that sound. Mammoth wasn't one for words, but he could say more with a few syllables than a politician wouldn't.

Jinx took her time reading the headlines of a local news rag. The biggest news, of course, was the two Titans who had skipped town without a trace. Heroes always got the headlines. The good ones didn't want the attention, but editors liked to sell papers. A couple crime-fighters were gone, no one had seen the mayor-elect since an emergency surgery to remove the bullet, and Deathstroke was in town. There was an article.

Reading about assassins was easy when they weren't targeting her. For once, there was an advantage to being small-time. Anyone with a grudge against her couldn't afford Deathstroke.

It was moments like this that she realized just how far from normal she and her friends were. She was sitting with her legs off to the side, eating popcorn and reading a paper. Mammoth was eating popcorn. Gizmo was maneuvering a remote that made turning the television on difficult, and eating popcorn.

"Show time?" Jinx asked, glancing up from the paper. The headlines with any credibility were gone by page four. Once Elvis was mentioned, the important stuff was over.

"Almost." Mammoth made his way to the kitchen to start a second bag of popcorn. When waiting for some kind of showdown, it only seemed appropriate.

"Where's he going, do you think?" Jinx asked, tapping a finger against her bowl.

"He's heading straight for the house three down from this," Gizmo said. He had picked the neighborhood for an auxiliary base because the prices were good. Color contacts for Jinx, temporary hair dye, and (the worst part) a wig for him, and they became an elusive single mother and child.

Mammoth still smirked at them about it, but they had another place to stay when they wanted to stay out of sight.

"Does anyone even live there?" Jinx asked.

"I've never seen anyone," Gizmo said. "Weird, huh? Whatever's going on, Deathstroke's interested. Think he's still after the politician woman?"

"He shot her in the heart." Jinx had read that in a newspaper that actually believed Elvis was dead. "That didn't work, thanks to Ms. Mysterious. What the heck else can that girl do?" Jinx had a typical response to events and people that had startled her, and it was derision.

"Who knows?" Gizmo wished he had changed the camera earlier. Moving it now could draw attention. He might not always show the most planning, but he wasn't going to risk Deathstroke seeing something.

"He's right in the open. The Titans are going to come running or flying," Jinx said.

"Bets, just to make it interesting?" Gizmo asked.

"What's the wager?" Jinx asked.

"Double dishes for the two losers," Gizmo said.

"I'm in."

"Might as well." Mammoth thought for a moment. "The alien."

"After this morning? The demon," Jinx said.

Gizmo was smiling.

Jinx's eyes narrowed. She didn't like the look on his face. "Go ahead. Say it. You know you want to."

"Your boyfriend."

There was only one response possible for a mature female badass.

Jinx threw popcorn at him. Gizmo retaliated, showing his usual hand-to-eye coordination and hitting Mammoth, who had already eaten his popcorn. Mammoth threw the bowl, Gizmo threw a cushion, and only Jinx was watching the television when Deathstroke stood on the porch of the house.

"Lights, camera, action," Jinx said loudly enough to be heard over a small-scale popcorn war. "Losers of the bet get to deal with the popcorn in the carpet, too." Come on, demon-girl, do something really weird. Jinx would win the bet, Deathstroke would get out of her city, and Jinx could watch out the next time she saw the witch. "He's going."

They untangled two throw pillows, the remote, and the coffee table. Jinx wasn't sure how the furniture had been involved and wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"He's going, all right!" Gizmo checked that his security cameras were automatically recording. There wasn't much chance to see Titans in action without being involved, even if just three would show up.

The door out the house flew outward. Deathstroke jumped over it, and came down as Robin's foot connected with his chest.

All bets were off but no one was commenting.

Deathstroke took just one half step back to balance the blow and came back swinging his fist. Robin ducked, jabbing with his own fist. Deathstroke grabbed the Robin's wrist and moved to throw him, but Robin swept out with his foot. Deathstroke re-balanced, Robin leapt away and had a metal staff in his hand before Jinx could register his hand moving.

"Wow," she said. Far be it from her to say it to his face, but… maybe a few of the rumors about the Titans' leader had some reason behind them.

He was keeping Deathstroke away from that house. Robin was holding off Deathstroke, and the camera could only catch blurs of silver from the staffs. That explained why two Titans had been off the map. That house was being protected, for whatever reason.

Robin was good, Jinx reflected, but he needed-there it was. Backup, brought by the demon. Jinx suppressed a shudder at the black void in the sky.

Cyborg and the demon immediately started helping from a distance while the alien flew into the house. Jinx wouldn't want to be involved in the fight, but it made some kind of viewing.

It wasn't going to be enough, Jinx thought regretfully. She wasn't insane enough to get involved, of course. First rule of criminal enterprise; watch out for yourself. It probably was that politician woman the Brotherhood had it in for, anyway. Sure, the lady didn't deserve to get knocked off, but Jinx wasn't going to go in her place.

Robin had lost his staff, and his right upper arm wasn't at the right angle. Fractured humerus, she diagnosed. Medical jargon wasn't her thing, but you picked up things in hospitals. Cyborg was strong, but it took less than a minute for the staff to catch him hard on the head before the end slammed against his side. The alien was the next to fall. Deathstroke was inhumanly fast, and jumped higher and faster than anyone should. Stupid hero had played it too nice and held back. If she barely put a bruise on Mammoth, how was she going to deal with that assassin?

Changeling was alone in the open doorway when Deathstroke turned to look at the demon.

Jinx supposed she could think of all the Titans by name- but this time, names escaped her.

The last time she had checked, Raven had been grey. Jinx would have noticed a bunch of glowing red marks, writhing trails of black energy, and four red eyes. Especially the glowing red eyes part.

The three of them watched in stunned silence. Deathstroke had been terribly efficient. Jinx had been wrong. The girl that had caught her that morning wasn't a demon. The demon on the television screen almost (almost!) made Jinx think about going legit or at least changing states.

There wasn't a sound in the house, but they could hear a faint pounding noise from yards and yards away as the assassin hit the ground several times. Jinx did hope that the rumors of uncanny healing were true. If they weren't, he wouldn't survive an ambulance ride to a hospital.

The demon paused, and grew. She had been five foot five or so, right around Jinx's height. Jinx couldn't look down at a ranch's roof with both feet (or all her black… whatever that stuff was) on the ground.

They could hear that voice, loud and crackling with a hiss below it that carried much farther than the words.

Definitely a healer, Jinx knew. Deathstroke stood up and nodded before giving a mocking bow. Not just survived, stood up when his legs should have been powder, bowed when his back could have been twisted- and walked away, favoring his left side.

"What was that?" Jinx asked.

"That was you winning the bet," Gizmo said.

She shook her head. "That was just for fun. The two of you wouldn't get all the popcorn out of the carpet."

The demon business had worked. When Jinx looked at the television a minute later, no change.

"Um. Shouldn't she have turned back by now?" Jinx asked, pointing at the demon. She had reduced her height to about eight feet. Well, that was an improvement, but-

Jinx and Gizmo both cursed at the same time. Mammoth grunted, and both teammates knew exactly what he meant. They nodded in agreement.

The demon had scared off the assassin. Great. More power to her.

Now, though…

The demon was looking at her teammates like they were mostaccioli in a buffet, and she really liked mostaccioli.

"Logan-"

"Relax, Tim- I have a plan."

"That's supposed to be comforting? I've heard your strategies on planning. Improvisation-"

Logan flashed his best yes-I-am-that-Garfield-Logan smile. "Got it in one," he interrupted. He walked across the semi-destroyed front lawn, crossing empty space. Raven looked like she could kill them all with a snap of her fingers, but he'd never heard her snap before.

She was taller, somehow. The red markings glowed brightly, beginning to bleed their color into her skin, and four eyes surveyed him dispassionately.

"The city will fall," she said. He could hear the hissing undertone in her voice, another sign that Raven was out of her mind.

"Babe, don't tell me you're trying that again," Logan said, shaking his head. He ignored three stifled reactions behind him. The red had flickered for a fraction of a second. "We've been over this. The city isn't going to just up and fall over just because you say it will, this is California. They built this place better than that-earthquakes, remember?"

"What the hell is he doing?"

"Getting our girl back- I think."

"What did you call me?"

"I told you last time, babe, you're going to cause ten kinds of trouble with the local home insurance rates. You're not on typical policy, but the filers just aren't sure where to lump you when you go all red-eyed on me. I like the look, don't get me wrong, but I like the purple too, you know?

"Come on, Rae, I recognize that look- you're going to chew me out for mentioning it. But come on, it's not like purple is that bad. I mean, you give new meaning to four-eyes this way, and it's confusing for the jewelry store employees. They don't have a thing to match that hellfire red you pull off so well, but they love to go on about amethysts and violet sapphires or whatever until a customer buys."

Something like uncertainty flashed across her face. "You are a disturbed individual. When my father takes control of this world, your death will be fast."

Logan nodded thoughtfully. It seemed to be part of megalomaniac training: always explain your plan in detail at the first opportunity. "You're going to hand the world over to your father on a silver plate? What has he ever done for you?"

She wavered. Logan kept talking.

"If you're going to take over the world, why involve him at all? For that matter, what are you going to do with the world? Most reasons involve money or power. Philanthropy usually doesn't go with the hostile takeover," Logan said.

"He's insane."

"I think that's a foregone conclusion."

"I think that he's getting through."

Her eyes narrowed. Who was this strange human to stand in her way? A friend.No. Her father wanted her to-

Why would she do as her father commanded? She was no flunky to be so easily persuaded. She had no motive for destroying the world. That would take too much time, and would not be worth the required effort.

"Who are you?" she demanded, stepping forward.

"You know the answer to that." Or maybe she didn't. He'd give his own answer. "I'm the guy you aren't going to hurt."

"You are so sure?"

Anyone sane would run like hell at the malice in her voice. Logan promised himself a visit to a shrink after this was done. "Yep."

She didn't understand. Red marks on her arm flickered, and the rush of power sputtered. The weaker part of her mind rushed forward.

You will not hurt him. You will not hurt them.

I am in control, she said to the dissenting voice in her mind.

Trigon gave you control, came the answer. Are you going to give him this world?

No. I am going to destroy this city.

The voice retreated. She turned her attention back to the green man.

There were three other people behind him, ready to fight. If it was a fight they wanted…

"Raven. You don't have to do this," Logan said.

He was afraid, but he still was standing his ground.

"No cute names?"

If she wasn't twice his height and reaching out with thick tendrils of energy, he would have said she sneered. As events were he was too busy to narrate for her. "Wait a second," he said when a black tendril of energy slunk a little too close. "This is when you either spell out your entire evil plan for city and or world domination, give me a chance for last words, or bring me a pizza with whatever I want on it."

"No. This is the point when you learn to be silent." The weaker presence finally was gone. She drank in the power, towering until the other three took a step back.

"Sheesh. You're skipping years of B-movie cliché for one power trip. I guess you really haven't seen all the important movies," he said. "C'mon, babe. At least give me a last sonnet or something."

"A sonnet?"

"On second thought, strike that," Logan said. "Iambic pentameter has never been a strength of mine, and I don't have a rhyme for soda."

Logan held back a smile. The demon had no idea what to make of that.

"In the name of the eight hells, what does soda have to do with a sonnet?"

The question sounded bemused instead of outraged. Time to bring her home.

"Your eyes," he deadpanned. "They're luminous yet dark pools of grape soda."

Logan didn't know if his teammates laughed. He was watching Raven. She wasn't herself. The Raven he knew would said something disparaging after the first 'babe.' He wasn't as fond of the demon version, but she hadn't hurt him yet. "Don't look at me like that, Rae, I'm working on short notice here. Come back to me tomorrow and I'll have something better, like which Crayola shade suits you best."

A blank look. Blank was much better than murderous.

"Right, I know. You were raised by monks, you don't know that Crayola makes the good crayons. You'd probably be blue-violet, but violet just might work. The cloak's trickier, since it depends on light."

Logan's strategy was working much better than he had thought. If he made her mad, she'd probably have four different ways to kill him at her fingertips. Confusion, however, wasn't part of the package.

After this, he'd have to ask her about that. He just might come out of it alive.

"Raven, you're the one that can stop this," he said. "I know you can, babe-"

That was when all hell broke loose.

Maybe that last 'babe' had been one too many, but how many chances was he going to get?

Her power exploded. That was the only word for the solid rush of black. He tensed. It would make any injury worse, and he knew that, but instincts were instincts and he was going to-

Fall on his face. Robin was the one to get him back on his feet.

"What was your plan?" Tim asked, frowning behind Robin's mask.

"Confusing her," Logan said. "Nobody's hurt, so it worked." He dusted himself off. If he had intended to do a face plant, that would have been a spectacular example. Okay, now the important part.

"Raven?"

Logan thought she didn't hear him, at first, but she took a few unsteady steps forward- and her arms were around him, tight, like he would push her away. He didn't. He just hugged her back, a hand in her hair, until they went home to the Tower.