Jump City Symphony
A Teen Titans Fan Fiction by Jacob McDonalds
Opening Notes: Much too long between updates on this story. Sorry. But here it is, and there will be more to follow in a new story arch. If I can keep up. I hope.
Stop looking at me like that!
I know, I know… but I do have a degree to think about. So naa.
Dock Raid
Raven settled lightly on top of a warehouse at the docks in City Section Nine. She pulled out her T-Comp and spoke into it, "All points report. Are we in position?"
Changeling was the first to respond, "I'm set in the water."
Cyborg's voice came next, "I've got all the cameras in place, and I'm standing by inside building 274."
"I am in a good position to provide fire support and direct help should it be required." Starfire spoke up.
"We're all set on this end," the Operator said, "All feeds are recording properly, and everyone's reading loud and clear. GPS on the incoming ship is telling me they have an ETA of twenty minutes."
Raven set her face, "How's everyone else
doing, Operator?"
"Arsenal and Jinx have just arrived at
their destination, and Nightwing and Seraph are just left the Tower."
"Keep an eye on Seraph for me, would you?"
"Blackfire will be taking care of the other two operations tonight, Raven. I'm all yours for the time being."
"Very well." Raven frowned. If anything happened to Kylee…
"We're all set, Raven." Came Cyborg's voice, "Orderes?"
"We wait." Raven replied into her T-Comp, and snapped it shut.
Twenty minutes later, just as the Operator had predicted, the ship was slowly pulling into the docks. It took another half hour to get into position, and another half hour after that to drop anchors and mooring lines. The freighter was immense, and it seemed unusual that it was unloading at a single small dock, rather than one of the larger industrial piers further down the coast.
Raven squinted as two men from the port authority walked down the concrete dock to where a heavy steel gangplank was being extended from the ship. They waited while two men from the ship came down to the dock and spoke to them. Some papers were signed, and the two men from the port authority walked up the gangplank and into the ship.
The two men from the ship stayed behind. One of them pulled out a cell phone and punched a button. As he waited for the other end to pick up, Raven grabbed a pair of binoculars from next to her and centered them on the man's face.
She read his lips as he said two words, "Do it."
Moments later there came the sound of two rapid gunshots, then two more. Raven dropped the binoculars and yanked out her T-Comp, "All Titans hold position!" she hissed into it, "No one move in until we see what they're unloading!"
"Raven, they just killed those guys! That's more than enough to raid the whole ship!" Cybrog replied.
"I'm not risking damage to a ship that could contain an arsenal of Intergang weaponry!" Raven continued to whisper, "They'll be running on a skeleton crew for this kind of covert smuggling, and it'll be easier to take them out on the dock than on the ship!"
"But-"
"Hold position, Cyborg! That's an order!" Raven closed her communicator before he could reply again, and centered her awareness on the ship, searching out life signs. After a few moments she blinked and nodded. She'd been right; there were only twelve men running the whole ship and unloading the freight.
After a few minutes, several platforms with tank treads started rolling out of the ships hold and down to the narrow dock. They were just wide enough, and all of them were covered with tarps. Raven cursed silently, and pulled out her com again, "All points… wait until we see at least ten men down on the dock, then move on my mark."
"Understood." Starfire responded.
"Got it." Came Changeling's voice.
"Can't wait." Cyborg replied.
The men unloading the ship had been at it for forty minutes already, and the crew captain was getting a little edgy, "Let's move it, shit heads! The green Titan makes his sweep of the docks every night in less than an hour, and we still have a third of the product left to unload!"
"This is the biggest shipment we've had yet!" replied one of the workers who was driving one of the huge platforms down the gangplank, "It takes some time!"
"Then make it take less time or we're all gonna be sitting in cells come morning!"
"Right, right." The man waved off the captain's threat and drove on. Scowling at him, the captain turned to check how much more they had to unload.
Standing right in front of him, was Changeling.
"Uh…"
"Hey there." The green Titan said cheerfully, "Long night? You seem cranky."
The captain re-gained his ability to speak and shouted, "The Titans are here! Arm yourselves!"
Changeling's hands shot out and grabbed him by his shirtfront. A moment later, a half-ton mountain gorilla was hurling him down the dock and up on top of one of the platforms. He landed with a grunt, and didn't get back up as his clipboard clattered to the dock below.
As the men started scrambling for weapons, a hail of starbolts fired from the right side of the docks, blasting the treads off the wheels of the platforms that were still moving in a line along it. Several of the men ducked, but two of them dove under the tarps that were covering their cargo.
The three men that were in the warehouse they were loading stuff into (number 274) came running out, screaming. A blue blast from a sonic cannon took one of the men off his feet, and Cyborg came running out behind them a moment later, grabbing another one of them and yanking him up off the ground. He hurled the man over his shoulder and into the wall of the warehouse.
A voice echoed around the area in a haunting rhythm, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" All the tarps flew up off the platforms, and the Titans got a good look at what they were interrupting a moment later.
The two men that had ducked under the tarps had each activated the four drone robots that each platform held. As the mechanical monsters stood up, they were revealed to be just like the one that the Titans had fought outside Raven and Arsenal's apartment some months before.
Raven, floating above the action, shouted into her com, "Changeling, see what you can do about rounding up the remaining men! Cyborg, Starfire! Take out those robots!"
"What about you?" the Operator's voice crackled over the com.
"I'll help where I'm needed." Raven replied, and put away her T-Comp. Holding out her hands, she prepared to use her powers.
Starfire plowed straight down through a drioid and screamed out a cry of rage as she whirled about in mid air and hurled a huge blast of green energy at another one. As it exploeded, she grit her teeth and flew backwards, "Raven!" she called, "There are too many for me to destroy them all! I require assistance!"
A little ways away, Cyborg was ducking behind a stack of crates and poking his head out now and then, firing his sonic cannon at a group of men with laser rifles that had him pinned down. Changeling was in the water as a giant squid, holding three men up in the air with his tentacles.
Raven, her eyes glowing white hot, directed her powers to take hold of several of the deactivated robots and hurl them like projectiles into the active ones. Starfire nodded her thanks and threw another punch, blasting the head off of the one she was struggling with.
Cyborg finally got in a lucky shot and the men firing at him ducked back as one of them went down. A tentacle wrapped around the other two and pulled them off the dock. As they shouted in alarm, they were dunked repeatedly in the water until they lost their guns.
Free from having to contend with the mooks with the lasers, Cyborg jumped out of his cover and tackled one of the last three robots. As he pounded its head in, Starfire grabbed another of them and lifted it above her head. Screaming, she ripped it in half.
Raven watched the last robot make a suicide charge at Changeling, and held out a hand, lashing out with black telekinetic energy.
The robot fell into several pieces before it could make it to the edge of the dock.
Silence descended over the docks as the captive Intergang members moaned in defeat. Raven landed next to Starfire and Cyborg walked over a moment later. "Might as well give 'em here, Gar." He said, motioning the giant squid to hand over the thugs, "We can tie 'em up and call the cops."
Raven surveyed the damage to the area, then turned to Starfire, "Kori, could you gather up the parts of the droids you didn't burn away into nothing and pile them in the center mover?"
"Right away." Star replied and flew off to her task. As Changeling (once again in his humanoid form) and Cyborg went about binding the mooks, Raven pulled out her T-Comp and flipped it open, "Operator?"
"Here." Sarah replied on the voice only, "You guys did really well."
"None of us are even hurt. I'm starting to think this was too easy."
"Well, count your blessings. I just checked in with 'Wing and Seraph. They're doing okay."
"Good." Raven was about to ask another question when she felt a sudden sharp pain in the back of her head. She winced and stumbled a little, then clutched at her hair in agaony, "Oh… sweet Azar… Jenny…"
"Raven?" Sarah sounded freaked out, "Rae, what's wrong?"
"Jenny… Sarah… where the hell is Jenny?"
"She's… Blackfire's working that case, hold on…"
"Raven?" it was Blackfire, "Jinx was abducted a while ago… Roy just caught up to her and is in the process of rescuing her. Wait… hold on."
"No!" Raven shouted, "Blackfire, tell me where they are! She's… Goddess she's so angry! I've never felt her like this…"
"Raven!" Blackfire sounded frantic, "Arsenal is en-rout to the Tower with Jinx and one other wounded. They need help… badly. You have to get back here as soon as possible."
"Call just came in from Seraph too." Sarah cut in, "Nightwing got a little banged up, and so did… uh… Wonder Girl."
Raven shook her head, banishing the cobwebs of rage she felt there, "I'll be back to the Tower in a few minutes. Operator, I need you and Kylee to prep the infirmary for triage."
"R-right…" Sarah didn't sound to comfortable with that idea, "Blackfire is taking over the boards then."
"Right." Raven flipped her com shut and turned to the assembled Titans, "Cy, can you and Starfire handle the loose ends here?"
"Sure… what's wrong?"
"Injuries back at the Tower… Jinx and Nightwing both, plus a few extras… not sure what's going down." Changeling had turned a paler shade of green when his lovers name was mentioned, and he took a step forward.
"Rae… is Jenny…?"
"Roy reported that she was hurt pretty bad… I think you should come with me back to the Tower."
Changeling shivered in fear and worry and nodded, "Right." A moment later, a large hawk was flying towards the bay. Raven watched him gain a thermal and flap higher for a moment, then she too lifted off the ground and flew towards their home.
Kylee was waiting for her when Raven bustled through the doors of the medical level. As she accepted a chart from her foster daughter, Raven spoke, "What's the situation?"
"On who? I've got three Titans banged up…"
"Three?" Raven stopped outside of the infirmary door and glanced inside at Nightwing and Wondergirl. The blonde looked up and waved, and Nightwing gave a weary salute.
"Wondergirl was just offered membership." Kylee looked worried, "I'm happy about that, but Jenny… Raven she's pretty bad."
"How bad?"
"She was tortured… I… I didn't want to do too much before you got here… her mental condition is all over the place right now, and it's all Jason can do to keep her aware of things."
"Great Azar… I'll deal with Jenny. There was one more?"
"Her name is Lilith. She was hurt along with Jenny, but she's in a much better condition… I can heal her easily enough, but she's still really scared."
"Dick can talk to her when he's feeling up to it." Raven put a hand on her daughter's shoulder, "You've done very well, Seraph. Just finish up, then go hit the showers. You'll need to be up early to file a report in the morning."
"Okay." Kylee nodded, then walked to a private room and opened the door. Raven caught a glimpse of a tallish looking red head lying on the table before the door shut. Turning, she walked down the hall to the secondary infirmary and stopped at the half opened door, peering inside.
Arsenal stood next to a bed, holding a damp cloth in one hand, and a set of forceps in the other. In the forceps he had a cotton ball soaked in disinfectant and blood, and was gently dabbing at the back of the prone form of a girl with pink and blonde hair lying perfectly still. As she watched, he muttered things softly.
"Don't worry, Jenny… you're safe now. He can't hurt you anymore, and Raven will be here soon to help you." She moaned something so soft, Raven couldn't hear it, but Arsenal just shook his head, "I know it hurts, Jen, but you have to tough it out… come on, where'd the girl who hacked through half an army of undead monsters go?" she muttered something else, and he laughed a little, "Sure… but only if you get better, okay?"
Raven narrowed her eyes, as she sensed the emotions emanating from her boyfriend. He shouldn't be feeling that way. Not about another woman. Especially not about her best friend.
Stepping into the room, Raven spoke in a cold voice, "Roy. I need you to leave."
He looked over at her, and smiled in relief, "Whatever you say, Raven. If you'll work better while I'm not here-"
"We'll talk about why I want you to leave later. Just get out."
Arsenal looked at her strangely, but nodded slowly anyway, "Sure thing… I'll just… see how Dick's holding up."
"You do that." Raven glared at him as he walked past her, then shut the door after him. As she turned back to Jinx, she was shocked to see her friend sitting halfway up and wincing. She was lying face down, and seemed to be having trouble supporting any weight on her left hand. Raven felt their mental bond twinge.
"Raven…" Jinx rasped, "We didn't… there… nothing happened…"
Raven growled low in her throat, "He still shouldn't be feeling that way about you."
"It's been a stressful night for him… and you know I would never… I mean…"
"I know." Raven walked over to Jinx and pushed her back down gently, "Just lie still while I go over you… can you tell me what hurts the most?"
"My mouth… he yanked a few molars."
"Damn." Raven shook her head, "I can't grow you back teeth."
"That's fine. Just… my left hand and my back… the ribs and the cut on my face can heal on their own."
"I can do it all."
"Raven…" Jinx looked up at her, "Don't die healing me again."
Raven stared for a moment, then nodded slowly, "I'll have Kylee come help in a bit then… after I clean you up."
"Good." Jinx nodded and settled back down, "She doesn't need to see me like this."
"No one should have to see you like this."
"Where's Gar?"
"He's in the main room. I told him I'd call him up after I saw how bad things were. I'll do it after I get rid of most of the blood."
Jinx closed her eyes, "Thank you."
Raven just nodded and held out her hands. As he palms began to glow and heal her friend, the pain started to flare across her own back.
She clenched her jaw down and bore it out.
Some hours later, Cyborg and Starfire walked into the main room of the Tower and made a b-line for the kitchen. "Need… food…" Cyborg muttered.
Starfire giggled, "You are silly, Victor."
"And you're a pretty red headed alien girl who knows she wants a ham sandwich!" he shot back.
Starfire's face lit up, "With extra mustard please!"
"Well alright!" Cyborg walked to the fridge and opened it, bending down to gather his sandwich materials. Starfire floated down to a chair and sat prettily, waiting. As silence fell over them, they became aware of the sound of sniffling and quiet sobbing.
Both Titans leaned back around the corner of the kitchen counter and looked into the living room. There, sitting on the couch, was Changeling, leaned forward with his face buried in the crook of Terra's neck, sobbing into her blonde hair. She had her arms wrapped around his shoulders, and he clutched desperately at her waist. Cyborg and Starfire watched with their eyes wide.
Terra spoke softly, "Gar, it's going to be fine… Raven is here now, and Kylee has quite the healing touch herself. Jenny will be good as new in less than an hour."
"But… you said she… she reported that…"
"Sexual assault is nothing to take lightly, Gar, but it's Jenny. If anyone can bounce back from it quickly it's her. And she has you… you're the most supportive boyfriend in the Tower… not even Dick is as dedicated to Kori as you are to Jen."
"She's… so important to me…" Changeling choked a little, then sat back from Terra, "I don't know… she had better have beat that guy into a bloody pulp…"
Terra looked away, "She shot him."
Changeling paled a little, "Is he… she didn't kill him… did she?"
"No… I guess he was bleeding pretty heavily though. She did blow his boys off."
"No way." Changeling flopped back, "Can't wait to see that press release. How'd Dick take it?"
"He just nodded and told Jenny she'd done good work. Kylee looked a little green."
"I'm dating a real ball buster, huh?"
"And the bad jokes are back." Terra stood up, "I'd say you're done sobbing on me now."
As she turned to walk towards the kitchen, she locked eyes with Starfire and Cyborg. Before she could move any further away, or say anything to them, Changeling's hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, "Terra! I'm sorry… could you… sit with me a little longer? I just… I don't want the others to see me… like this."
Terra blinked at the Titans in the kitchen, then turned back to the green skinned Titan, "Yeah. Yeah, I've got all night."
"Thanks." As she sat back down, he rested his head on her shoulder, "Thanks a lot."
"Any time, B."
As Terra slung an arm around his shoulders, Cyborg and Starfire moved back into the kitchen, and sat in silence, absorbing what they'd just heard.
Lilith lay in on a bed in a dark room, staring over at a display screen next to her. She didn't quite understand all the things that the little girl, Seraph, had told her the bed was monitoring, but she did know she'd been told she was healed to perfection, except for her fingernails. While they no longer hurt, and Seraph had healed them over with a protective layer of skin, the nails would have to grow back on their own.
Looking up at the ceiling, the red haired physic let out a sigh. She'd told Jinx not to go using herself as bait, and now they'd both been hurt. Why didn't any other metas take her powers seriously? She hadn't been lying when she'd told Jinx her powers come and go, but what she hadn't told her was that when they came, they were so powerful it frightened her. The visions were so real…
Suddenly there was a bleeping sound, and a mans voice filled the room, "Lilith? This is Nightwing. May I come in?"
Looking around for any kind of intercom button or microphone, Lilith shrugged. She called out, "I guess."
He must have been able to hear her, because the doors swooshed open and the dark form of Nightwing limped in. Seraph followed behind him in a calm and serene manner, so out of place on a young girl like her. The older Titan pulled up a chair and sat down next to the bed, "How are you feeling?"
"Fine, I guess." Lilith sat up and rotated her middle, where she'd had bruised ribs until just a half hour before, "Seraph really healed me up good."
"Good. It's her first night of active duty, but she's been practicing that healing touch of hers for months." He smiled gently, "If it's not too much troubled, I'd like to ask you a few questions."
"About my powers." Lilith sank back and frowned.
"Yes. And about some other things."
"Okay." Lilith looked down at her toes. "Go ahead."
"We'll start with the nature of your powers. You're psychic?"
"Yeah. I get visions of the future sometimes, and others I can catch a snippet or two of peoples thoughts. Really distracting when you're trying to dance and someone's thinking about sticking it up your-" she stopped herself and looked over at Seraph, who was staring at her with wide eyes, "Um… and I have a touch of clairvoyance, and I've moved a few pencils around a desk." She blushed and looked back at her toes, "That's it."
"Y-yeah." Nightwing had a distinct red ting to his cheeks as well, as if he'd just remembered he was interrogating a stripper. "So… you saw Jinx's attack then?"
"I saw the whole thing. I tried to tell her, but she just kept telling me the future is fluid and that it can be changed… she's wrong… my visions always come true." Lilith closed her eyes, "Always."
"How did your vision end?" Nightwing asked.
"When that bastard put the gun to her head and…" she trailed off, "But… he didn't… he pointed it at me because she wouldn't respond to his abuse. She…" the red haired girl opened her eyes and looked over at the Titans with surprise, "She changed the vision!"
Seraph spoke up, "Strong emotions, great willpower, and powerful feelings of hope can redirect the flow of time. It is fluid, but it takes a powerful person to change it. You're lucky you had Jinx… she's the most stubborn person in the world, other than Cyborg."
Nightwing cracked a smile, "I'd give Batman ten to one odds against those two any day of the week." He stood up, "Lilith, there's no need to keep you in this examination room tonight. I can have someone take you home, or you can crash in one of our guest rooms if you'd like."
"Can I really sleep here? Oh, that'd be awesome." Lilith stood up from the bed and bent down immediately; hugging Seraph, "Thank you for healing me. I'm glad it was you… I'm sure Raven is great and all, but you're just so darn cute!"
Nightwing laughed out loud, "So much for striking fear into the hearts of criminals, huh Seraph?"
She stomped her foot, "Nightwing!"
Lilith laughed too and stood up, "So… where am I sleeping?"
"Seraph will show you. I have to check on Jinx, then file reports… my job wont be over for a few hours yet."
A dark voice echoed from the doorway, "Your job is over for the night." They all looked over to see the dark form of Raven standing there, looking exhausted and stiff, "Seraph, I need you to finish what you can for Jinx, then go to bed. I'll take Lilith to a room, and have Terra send Wonder Girl on her way." She turned her violet gaze on Nightwing, "You go get Changeling and tell him it's okay to come see his girlfriend now, then go to bed. If I catch you filing reports before you've had a good nights sleep, I'm going to send you to the eight pit of Hell."
The three of them stared at her for a moment, then Nightwing sighed and nodded. As he ushered the other two out of the room, he muttered, "Man… I thought I was the leader…"
"Jenny?" Seraph peeked her head into Jinx's room and looked about, "You awake?"
"I'm a ton better than when Jason dragged me in." Jinx replied from where she lay on the bed, "Come on in. Raven said you were going to finish me up."
"Yeah. What do I have left?" Seraph walked in and sat down on the stool next to the bed.
"Just the cut on my face, a split lip, some bruising, some emotional scarring, some horrible memories, and… oh yeah, I'm still missing a few molars." Jinx sounded a little bitter.
"I'm sorry, Jenny." Seraph reached out and grabbed the older girls hand, "No one should have to go through what you did, even if you did it to save Lilith."
Jinx shook her head, "Sorry to dump my anger on you like that." She sat up and turned to Seraph, "Let's just finish up so I can sleep it off."
As Seraph went to work with glowing white hands, Jinx let her mind wander, and spoke out loud, "I wonder if Gar will think any less of me… after what I did."
"You didn't do anything." Seraph responded in a firm tone.
"Oh, Kylee… I could have held out longer… I was weak, and I gave in. I let him see that he could use Lilith against me, and then I had to… well, you'll learn about what I had to do when you get a little older."
"I had sex-ed in school three years ago, Jen."
"Did they teach you about oral sex in sex-ed?"
Seraph stopped her healing and looked up at Jenny in horror, "He made you suck him off? Oh, Jenny! Ew! Ew, ew, ew!"
Jinx stared for a moment, then burst out laughing, "Holy… shit, Kylee, that was funny. If Raven ever heard you say the words 'suck him off,' she'd implode!"
"How can you laugh about this?"
"What else can I do? Wallow in self-pity forever? I'm over it. End of story." Jinx shook her head, "Sure, what I had to do was disgusting and a horrible violation of my body… well, my mouth anyway, but at least he didn't stick it somewhere important…"
Seraph stared for a moment, then looked away, "You're so strong, Jenny."
"I'm not." Jinx reached out and hugged the younger girl, "I'm just as weak as any of the rest of us… I just know how to laugh more."
"I would have shot him in the balls too."
"No you wouldn't have." Jinx squeezed her with a grin, "You wouldn't have been able to aim the gun properly."
Seraph giggled.
Wonder Girl looked up at Terra as they walked to the roof of the Tower and started to ask a question, then stopped. She looked down at her sneakers, then back over to Terra. She opened her mouth again, stopped, and looked away again.
Terra grabbed her by the scruff of her jacket and shook her to a stop, "Will you just spit out whatever the hell it is you're trying to ask? You're driving me nuts!"
Wonder Girl looked a little dizzy when she was let go, but smiled sheepishly anyway, "Sorry. I was just wondering… if you think I'll make a good Titan."
"I think you'll be a great Titan. You have the best one of us to learn with."
"Really? Who?"
"Seraph." Terra looked down at Wonder Girl and saw an arched eyebrow, "What? You don't believe me?"
"Well, I think you or Raven might be a tad more powerful, Nightwing might be a bit better prepared and experienced… heck, I'm more experienced than Kylee."
"Oh, I think you'll be surprised." Terra motioned with one hand and they continued walking, "Kylee has determination and willpower is spades, and she's really a natural at all of this. I think she's going to surpass all of us someday."
"Really?" Wonder Girl still looked skeptical.
"Really. If you talk to any of the old guard… you know, the guys up in the Watch Tower? They'll all tell you it's always been about us kids surpassing them. Everything we've done with the Titans, and the real reason they all have sidekicks in the first place is so that we'll become better and stronger than they are. So that we'll grow up to be the next generation of crime fighters and heroes that will be able to take on the stronger and more dangerous threats of the future."
"Wow… I should talk to Wonder Woman about this…"
"You should… talk to her as much as you can, actually. Nightwing cut himself off from Batman so much that he had to 'die' to really see what he was doing wrong. Arsenal hasn't spoken to Green Arrow in a year, and Changeling doesn't see much of the Doom Patrol anymore… and it hurts them, WG. You can't deny where you come from."
"Who was your mentor?"
"A terrorist and assassin by the name of Slade Wilson. He's called Deathstroke."
"Are you serious?"
"Yep. I don't talk to him much these days either."
"So… have you ever… killed anyone?"
Terra looked away, "Once. And it was as a Titan too… I just… well, never mind about that. It was a mistake. One I'll never forgive myself for. All I can do is continue fighting for the good guys."
"I… see." Wonder Girl grabbed Terra's hand, "Well, I still think you're awesome."
"Really?" Terra looked down at her with a grin, "Thanks kid." She stopped and pushed a button next to a door at the end of the hall they were in. As the door swooshed open, it revealed a staircase leading up to another door, "Roof's right up here. Let's get you home."
"I can fly home on my own, you know."
"Nightwing's orders. I fly you all the way there, and make sure you get in okay before coming back."
"Fine…" Wonder Girl looked mutinous, "You'll just have to keep up."
"I'll just have to clock you with another building if you get to far ahead of me." Terra grinned.
"You're such a brat."
"Ditto, kid. Ditto."
Lilith looked around the room Raven had led her to and arched an eyebrow, "Nice digs."
Raven nodded from behind her, "The Tower is very well furnished. We certienly spent enough money to do it properly."
"Heh." The tall red head stepped over to the bed and sat down, "You know, it's nice hanging out with you Raven."
The dark Titan arched an eyebrow from inside her hood, "Why is that?"
"Well, most of the time, when I'm with other people, I hear a kind of thought buzz… some times I can make it out, others I can't. With you though… it's just silence. I can't hear a thing."
"I have a better trained mind that most people. I block out your pyscic intrusions. Unintentional as they are."
"Is it… rude to intrude?"
"Very." Raven smiled lightly, "You just don't know how to shut it off."
"Could you teach me?" Lilith looked excited, "Oh, if I could just turn off my powers… that'd be great!"
Raven stared at her very seriously, "Lilith… your powers aren't something to be ashamed of. And they're not something you can just turn off and forget about."
"Says you. I wish I didn't have these abilities… they're distracting, and they freak me out."
"If I teach you to control them… will you rethink that statement?" Raven reached up and lowered her hood.
"What?" Lilith looked confused, "What are you talking about?"
"If I teach you how to use your powers," Raven glared in an intense manner, "Would you think about using them for the good of others? Would you think about joining the Titans?"
Lilith let her jaw drop, then scooted back on the bed, "Me? A Titan? Raven I could barely take having my arm twisted tonight… if I'd taken the kind of beating Jinx did… I'd have died."
"She's been trained to take that kind of abuse. You haven't. But you could be."
"I don't want to be!"
"I'll teach you to use your powers, Lilith." Raven drew her hood back up, "We'll speak about it more in the morning. Get some sleep." With that, Raven vanished into the shadows and the door slid shut. Lilith sat still on the bed for several minutes then looked out the window at the moon. She breathed out one word.
"Titans…"
Jinx looked up from the bathroom sink in the suite she shared with Changeling as the door to the bedroom opened up. She stepped back and looked out at her boyfriend as he stepped in, "Hey you!"
"Jenny!" Changeling dashed across the room and grabbed her in his arms, hugging her tightly, "Oh, God! I'm so glad to see you… Raven said you were pretty bad, but it looks like they healed you up okay… you are okay, right?"
"Gar, I'm fine. I just need to do two things before I go to bed tonight."
"Really?" he let her go and looked worried, "Can I help?"
"I sure hope so." Jinx grinned, "I really need to get a terrible memory of having to suck a dick I didn't want to suck out of my head… so I'd like to suck a dick that I do want to suck. Then I want to take a shower… a long, hot shower, where I can have my boyfriend fuck me until I can't remember anything about tonight."
Changeling blinked, and then nodded, "Okay. I'll see what I can do." And he crushed him mouth to hers. She reached down and started to pull off his costume as he shoved the robe she was wearing off of her shoulders and to the floor.
Raven slipped under the covers of her bed and lay down softly next to the still form of Arsenal. After a moment, he stirred and rolled over, slinging an arm across her waist, "Hey." He muttered.
"Hi." Raven sounded meek, "Jason… we need to talk."
"About what?"
"Why you're in love with Jenny."
"What?" Arsenal sat up a little and blinked down at her with sleep-blurred eyes, "What the hell are you talking about?"
"You… you want her. I sensed it tonight… it's why I sent you out of the room when I was working on her." Raven blinked back tears and shoved his arm off of her, "You… how could you?"
"Raven…" Arsenal sat up and rubbed his eyes, "Look, I like Jen. She's a great friend, and yeah, maybe the outfit she was wearing tonight, and all the time I've been spending with her lately have made me want to… well, anyway. I know you don't have selective empathy. You can sense what I'm feeling for you too, right?"
"Of course I can… and I'm jealous." Raven looked away, "My personality matrix is having a field day right now."
"Why are you jealous?"
"Because… you want her the same way you want me… yes, I know you love me in a romantic sense, and her in a friendly kind of way, but still… and I'm jealous because… well… I saw her first." Raven looked away and pouted.
"Oh, that's right…" Arsenal rolled his eyes, "You actually have slept with her…"
"Oh… shut up. Fine. I'm over reacting."
"You are. Now will you let me prove to you that not only are you the only girl for me, but that I'm way better in the sack than Jenny is?"
"I don't know…" Raven looked back over at him with a sly glance, "She's pretty good at going down on a girl…"
"Oh yeah?" Arsenal winked, "We'll see if she can hold a candle to me then." And he ducked under the covers. Raven giggled as he moved around for a moment, then gasped. As she clutched at the sheets, she stared up at the ceiling with wide eyes, "Wow…"
Cyborg stepped into the communication hub of Titans Tower and smiled down at the form of Sarah where she slumbered on the keyboard. A slight whirling noise caught his attention and he looked to the left. A camera was zooming in on the sleeping girl's head, where she was drooling on the keyboard.
Cy walked over to a terminal and sat down, where he pulled up a chair and a keyboard. He typed quickly to an open com screen;
'Blackmail material, Oracle?'
'You have no true comprehension of how funny this is.'
'Sure I do. Canary mailed us the pictures of you doing the same thing two weeks ago.'
'She sent you that? Oh, I'm gonna kill Dinah!'
'Only if you can catch her.'
'You're forgetting Victor… I can see everywhere.'
'…'
'I know the joke about not being able to run after her would be in bad taste, Vic, so I'll make it instead of you.'
'You know I don't think any less of you for your disability.'
'How could you? You had your accident to overcome, and I have mine. I'm dealing just fine.'
'I hear that.'
'Yeah. I hear Jinx got kind of messed up tonight.'
'A little. The girls fixed her up, but it was pretty bad. She's a fighter though, she'll bounce back.'
'Cool. Where did Blackfire get off to?'
'No idea. Why?'
'Her language on the com is deplorable. I was going to reprimand her.'
'LOL.'
'Hey, take Sarah to bed. She had a long night on the keyboard, then she had to prep a medical bay for wounded.'
'Sure thing. Stay safe.'
'You too. Goodnight, Victor.'
'Night O.'
Cyborg shut down the com window, then turned to his girlfriend. With a small smile, he gently scooped her up and let her snuggle into his neck as he carried her to her room.
Starfire left Nightwing snoring lightly in their room and floated through the halls to the nearest open window. From there it was a short flight to the rooftop, and then a quick search to spot the dark form of her sister lying on her back staring up at the stars. The red haired Tamaranian quickly flew down to join the black haired one.
As her sister reclined next to her, Blackfire spoke, "It's amazing… even with the city lights so close and all the light the Tower gives off, you can still see the stars so well from here."
"I have always enjoyed watching the stars from this vantage." Starfire pointed up and Blackfire followed the direction her finger was going, "That is home."
"Really? I've never bothered to find out."
"Why not?"
"Well, someone banished me, so I can't go back anyway, even if I wanted to."
"And you do not want to?"
"No. Not at all. What's there for me?"
"Ryand'r is still there… he would be twelve seasons old by now."
"And Galfor. Can't forget that big lug."
"And… Komand'r, it is home! Why would you not wish to see the beauty of our homeworld once more?"
"There's nothing left for me there, Kori. I'm just… I'm having an Earthling's kid, and I'm adapting so well here… I think a quite lift in the Tower here is good for me… just raising my child and helping you guys fight bad guys from the other side of a com link. It's the most complete and fulfilling life I can dream of."
"So you do not wish to fight once again?"
"Maybe some day. When the baby is able to stand on it's own… at least until he molts his third layer of skin." Blackfire winced, "If he molts. We don't really know what kind of hybrid of our two races he'll be."
"Have you spoken with Red-X any more about these things?"
"Brian has been very understanding. He knows this child will be far beyond anything he's prepared for. He does have a strange obsession with teaching the kid to throw around a ball and catch it with some kind of strange glove. Said his father taught him."
Starfire smiled, "It is called baseball. It is the national pastime of the United States."
"Pff. It sounds boring. I'd much rather teach the child the Kal'zrat Myl. At least that game has some explosions."
"You are silly, Sister."
"You love Kal'zrat Myl. You even won sometimes."
"You let me win."
"Only a few times. And only because I felt sorry for you. But you did win a few on your own."
"Your backhand is sloppy. It is not so hard to find your openings."
Blackfire shook her head and grinned, "Heh. Listen to us… like we never hated each other." She stretched her arms over her head as the silence stretched between them. After a few minutes, Starfire spoke again,
"I never hated you, Komi."
Blackfire was silent again for several moments, then replied, "I know. I just wish I could say the same."
"But… now…"
"I'm a lot like Brian and Tara, really… a bad guy gone good that has to make up for her mistakes… I'm just lucky to have a sister to keep me on the straight and narrow."
Star rolled to her side and used one arm to pull her sister close, "Now and forever, Sister. Now and forever."
An hour later, the two Princesses went to bed, and Terra arrived back at the Tower a few minutes after that. She too retired to her chambers, setting the codes on the security matrix before she did. As the system came up on full alert, the Tower went dark. Terra fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
It was five minutes later when Nightwing woke up.
In ten minutes after that he was in his computer lab filing reports in his boxers and a robe.
Only seven minutes later, Arsenal was walking in, dressed in only a pair of gray sleep sweats. The red haired archer stopped behind Nightwing's chair and looked up at the screen. He read the words of his friends log and frowned.
"Kind of harsh don't you think, Dick? 'The Titans don't seem to be able to handle what this city can throw at us now on our own. Options for improvement are needed.'"
"It's true." Nightwing wasn't wearing his mask, but his voice rumbled with a hint of the Batman, "We were only away for five months before we got back into the game, but the things that took root while we were gone… Roy I don't see how we're going to be able to dig out these weeds on our own."
"You want to call the League?"
Nightwing shook his head, "I don't think that's an option. No, we're just spread too thin. We need… more Titans."
"Well, we're up one now that Wonder Girl has joined up, and Raven says she may be recruiting Lilith." Arsenal raised his hands in a defensive manner when Nightwing turned a depreciating glare on him, "I'm not saying she wont need to be trained from the ground up, but the girl has some power. Power we could use right now."
"Fine… I'll leave her to Raven then. Now what are our other options?"
"Well… we could always hold a world wide recruitment, by placing an ad on TV and then having a massive week long screening process." Arsenal blinked at a file off to the side of the big screen Nightwing was working on that was named 'Post'. "What's that file?" he pointed.
"Never mind that. I don't think we have the resources to carry out that plan. But a recruitment sweep does sound good."
"What about… some of us hit the road and try to find some new members?"
"How about all the combatant Titans hit the road, and we don't come back until we have new members?"
Arsenal laughed and started to shake his head, but stopped. After a few moments of thinking her nodded, "Yeah… yeah, Dick! That's great!"
"Then we'll do it. I'll announce it tomorrow over breakfast."
"Sweet."
Nightwing turned back to his screen and saved his work. He hit the button to turn off the screen, then stood up, "Let's get some sleep, Roy. I've got a feeling you'll be taking a bit of a trip soon."
"I was thinking of going to see Ollie. See if he has any tips on how to recruit."
Nightwing paused, then shook his head, "I'm sure he'll have something in mind."
Arsenal arched an eyebrow as he followed the Titan leader out of the computer room, "What the hell does that mean?" When no reply came, he frowned and dashed after his friend, "Hey! Dick! What does that mean?"
Closing Notes: Nothing. I have nothing further to say.
Next Time: The Titans scatter to the four winds as they search out more young heroes to add to their numbers. Back at the Tower, Sarah and Blackfire are left in charge of three thirteen-year-old super teens with far too much spunk for their own good.