Slade knocked on her door for the fifth time. He groaned in annoyance and opened it. He looked around and saw that the lights were off. The curtains were opened, but he quickly noticed Raven lying in the bed. He saw her eyes closed and the mirror in her left hand held slightly. He walked towards her and stared at her. Her skin shimmered in the moonlight and her face looked so innocent. He got carried away and raised his hand to her face. His big finger felt her soft cheek. He went from one finger to his entire hand. He cupped the left side of her face, admiring her. He fought the urge to simply take off his mask and kiss her soft lips. His other hand went to the purple lock that fell across her face. He tucked it behind her small ear. He was about to turn and leave until Raven's eyes suddenly bolted open.
He took a step back, quickly letting go of her face. He felt his face get warm behind his mask, knowing that she caught him. He placed his big arms behind his back and looked at the floor.
Raven sat upright on the bed. She knew that he was staring at her, and although she hated to admit it, it made her feel good.
"I told you…"
Raven ignored the comment from Lust and got off the bed to straighten her uniform out. She cleared her throat and looked at the awkward Slade. "Um, is there something that you wanted to tell me?"
Slade inwardly kicked himself for looking so stupid. He nodded his head. "You have your first mission in two days."
Raven nodded. "Will I get my powers back?" Raven lifted her wrists.
"I have not considered that just yet. I want to see your strengths without your powers."
"You already know that I am not good at it."
Slade chuckled. "You are improving, however. Now come, I will go over the mission plans and train you for it."
Raven gave a small gulp and walked out the doors, following Slade.
Aqualad and Speedy sat at one of the tables in the common room. They had just come from a search and were waiting for the others. Cyborg and Bee walked through the doors with Nightwing and Starfire in tow.
"Any luck guys?" Bee asked her team.
The men shook their heads in silence.
"Who knows, she might just show up at the door perfectly fine," Speedy said.
Nightwing scoffed at the comment. "I wish it was that easy."
Speedy mumbled. "It really could."
Mas, Menos, and Changeling came through the doors with no luck as well.
"Slade is doing a good job of hiding his tracks," Cyborg said, typing away on the main computer.
"Of course, dude. It's Slade." Changeling said, "That's his thing."
"Guys! I found another signal!"
"You will be infiltrating the chemical building compound at night. Be careful not to set off the alarms. There will be guards that need to be taken down. Make it quick and swift. Then, you will enter the area that holds the chemical. It's fragile so take caution. Secure the item then make your escape. Understand?"
Slade turned to Raven who simply stood at the screen in front of her. Slade left marks, but she barely understood his plan. She didn't feel like hearing him repeat it, so she simply nodded to agree. Slade could tell that she didn't understand, but shrugged it off.
"Prepare for training."
Raven felt her stomach jumped from anxiety and fear. She wondered what this training would lead to. She placed her hair in a tight ponytail and followed him out of his office.
Raven walked down the now familiar hallways. She no longer questioned about what was inside the many doors. She still had no clue of what was inside, but she had an idea. The closer they came to their destination, the more her body felt...weird. Raven looked up at Slade who had his back turned. She wondered what he thought about. She wondered if he ever got lonely living in such a large estate with only himself and Wintergreen. She shrugged it off and continued walking.
"Psst, Raven, look at those thighs."
Raven couldn't try to ignore the command, but she found herself looking at Slade's large legs. She could see the strong muscles through his suit. She bit her lip and averted her eyes.
Lust purred. "Mhm, all muscle."
"Lust! How are you able to talk to me? Leave me alone."
Lust chuckled. ''Raven, your lust for Slade is so strong. As a result, I have more power."
Raven rolled her eyes at her annoying emotion and walked faster, wondering when they will finally make it to the gym.
Slade opened the metal door and walked straight to a small area to take off his shoes. "Take your shoes off."
"I'll take more than my shoes off for you, big guy."
Raven blushed at Lust's comment. She composed herself and nodded, already knowing the drill.
"To prepare you for the guards at the compound, I'm going to use these bots," Slade said while looking down at a control pad. He pressed a button and three Slade-bots came to life. They creaked a bit from the lack of use but they were functioning just fine.
Raven gulped and looked down at her bare hands. "Are you sure I can't use my powers?"
Slade looked back at her. He rubbed his masked chin and simply replied, "Yes."
Raven groaned in frustration and mumbled a curse underneath her breath. Slade heard the comment and cranked the robots a level harder as a result.
The bots found their way to the mat, waiting for Slade's command.
"Begin!"
Esta muy calor!" Menos fanned his small body with his little hand as he and his brother sat on a rock near a rushing geyser.
"Sí mi hermano! Necesito algo frío." Mas said.
Changeling looked back at them lying around. He turned to Starfire and smirked. "You know, Star, if you kissed one of them, you could understand what they're saying."
Starfire glanced at the twins who heard Changeling's comment. Mas gave a smoochy face while Menos slicked his hair back. She shivered and turned away from them. "I am fine with not understanding what they are saying."
Changeling laughed at Starfire's uneasiness.
"Guys! Quit goofing around keep looking. Slade should be around here. My tracker says so." Cyborg looked down at his arm, pressing more buttons.
"Maybe we should split up. This area is quite large." Nightwing said.
"Why a geyser spring?" Aqualad said. "I'll shrivel up."
"Don't worry, fish boy." Speedy snickered and wrapped a strong arm around Aqualad's head, giving him a noogie. "The sooner we do this, the faster you get to go back to your fish tank."
Bee rolled her eyes at her teammates. She hated when they acted immaturely. She felt like a mother to them.
"Changeling goes with Mas and Menos; Star with me; Aqualad, Speedy; Cy, you're with Bee. Break!"
The pairs dispersed to different areas of the spring. There were many columns as well as geysers that were planted all around. The geysers would explode without warning, putting almost everyone on edge.
Nightwing and Starfire walked through columns of stone. Nightwing could still feel Starfire's cold attitude towards him from their dinner. He felt bad that he couldn't give her what she wanted, but he felt justified for not doing so. He meant well. There are way too many events happening right now to focus on something like marriage.
Nightwing kept his focus by searching, but he also noticed Starfire and how beautiful she looked in the night. She didn't have a smile on her face and seemed to be giving him the cold shoulder. He cleared his throat, indicating that he was about to talk.
"Star.."
She ignored him.
Nightwing took a hold of her hand and brought her to him to look into her green orbs. "Star, I'm sorry that I hurt your feelings." He rested his forehead on hers and his hands wrapped around her waist. "You know that I love you with all of my heart. I want you to be my wife. I want you to be the mother of my children and die with me, but right now is not the best time for marriage. Don't you understand?"
Starfire stayed silent for a small moment then pushed Nightwing from her. "I understand Nightwing. Work comes first, then me." She wrapped her arms around herself and continued searching.
Nightwing silently groaned and cursed when he saw her walk away from him. He never seems to do anything right. He pouted and followed her.
Starfire didn't know how to feel about Nightwing. She understood that things were too hectic at the moment, but she didn't her eyes, love conquers all. And in all reality, she needed some form of happiness to keep her going on at the tower.
"On my planet, when a couple truly loves each other, they will do the ritual of mating."
Nightwing looked at her, surprised to hear her speak.
"They go away to a remote area for however long they desire. Some leave for days and others would leave for years." She sat on a fallen column, staring at her feet. "They would leave the stress of their lives, completely forgetting them. When they come back, their relationship would be much stronger. Stronger to handle the problems they left."
Nightwing sat down next to her. "It sounds like a honeymoon."
"What is this honeymoon?"
"It's something newlyweds will do after their wedding. They'll go on vacation together, the two of them to enjoy their new life together."
Starfire smiled, "That sounds the most adorable."
"Well, aren't you two cute?"
Nightwing and Starfire quickly got to their feet to the sound of Slade's voice. They saw him standing on a tall rocky column. His hands behind his back and his cold eye glaring.
"Slade! Where's Raven! We're fed up with your games." Nightwing got his bo staff out, and Starfire's hands and eyes glowed green.
"Raven is busy at the moment. She's a good helper at the house."
Starfire started to throw her green bolts at Slade in a frenzy. She wanted his mask to crumble beneath her feet. He has brought so much turmoil to her family and was tired of dealing with it. "You will return friend Raven this instant!"
Slade jumped off the column that was destroyed from the impact of Starfire's bolts. He ran away, dodging them. Nightwing was on his tail too with his staff in hand.
Starfire shot her eye beams at her target and managed to hit Slade on his calf. He grunted and rolled to the ground. There was some smoke coming from his leg due to the heat. He went back to his feet and hid behind another column. He heard Nightwing's loud footsteps and left his hiding space in the nick of time. Nightwing's bo staff connected with the stone where he used to stand. Slade slowly backed away and brought out his own weapon. He and Nightwing started to clash, each jabbing at each other below the belt. The sound of metal echoed throughout the spring. Starfire flew towards Slade. Her fists connected with his back, slamming him into a stone wall.
Aqualad and Speedy joined them when they heard the commotion. He saw Nightwing and Starfire attacking Slade and decided to chime in. Speedy brought out his bow and arrows and started firing them at Slade. Some came into contact with him while another connected with the stone above him. The stone exploded , breaking it in half.
"Nightwing, Star! Move!" Aqualad warned.
Starfire grabbed onto Nightwing and flew him to safety before the rock could crush them both. Nightwing glanced back and saw Slade get crushed by the rock. He felt uneasy thinking of what the remains would look like when they remove the rock later.
Cyborg whistled. ''Y'all didn't hold back at all." He looked down at the large slab of stone. He kicked the cladded hand of Slade that was poking out. "C'mon grass stain. Get this rock."
Changeling turned into a rhino and used his large green horn to lift the stone over the mangled body.
Everyone surrounded what they thought would be a corpse but was annoyed to see mechanical parts instead of organs.
"Damn it!" Cyborg exclaimed before turning away from the remains. He had hoped that was actually Slade underneath that rock.
Mas and Menos were picking at the parts and looking at them with interest.
"Boys get away from that! You don't know if it'll explode or anything." Bee said putting her hands on the boy's' shoulders.
"!Mira! Hay un video en la cabeza!" Menos said while being pulled back by Bee.
Nightwing quickly looked at the rubble and looked at the screen of Slade.
"Hello Titans, it seems you have reached my message. If you want to see your friend, I suggest you meet us on Thursday at 10pm at the top of the chemical compound in Kensington City. Until then…"
The screen went black and a red number countdown started to appear.
"Move! Get away from it!"
Everyone scrambled away from the rummage before a large explosion erupted in the spring.
"Ugh! Why does he need to install bombs to everything he makes!" Changeling said in an annoyed attitude.
Slade looked down at the control pad. A message appeared saying, 'Message Delivered'.
He smirked underneath his mask in content knowing that the Titans now knew where to meet up. He looked up at Raven who was doing well fighting off his bots. He nodded his head in approval when he saw Raven give one of his bots a good kick to the head. She was ready for Thursday.
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