7: Forgiveness
Raven felt numb. She was remembering the panic he was in when they pulled him through the portal. He screamed her name, that they had to send him back, that she needed him. He begged them. He didn't speak to anyone for days, but there was nothing they could do.
"I thought I would die there. I knew that I could keep myself going for a few more years once we got the hydro generator going, but I never expected to be found, and I was okay with that." She was searching for comforting words, something, anything that could help him begin to heal, but there was nothing. "I know on this side it was only a couple days, but there it was somewhere closer to half a year."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I'm telling you now."
"Cyborg- I don't know what to say..." He began to explain himself further, justifying something so ireprehensible as falling in love under a certain death sentence. It made her feel like the walls were closing in slowly. Justification she didn't need. She was a romantic at heart, believing fervently in silly ideas like freedom beauty truth and love, even though she couldn't freely express it. She was cursing they fact now more than ever, because if this was that kind of story, she had been an albeit good intentioned but nonetheless cruel antagonist, and she had taken him away from his happiness. She felt heated guilty tears on her face. She felt the glass hit her when she blew out a computer monitor. She felt sick with herself. She felt like a demon.
As Cyborg started to smell the electricity in the air he knew what was coming, and his monitor cracking and firing glass into the air only confirmed it. He moved to Raven instinctively to protect her from the onslaught of emotional chaos. He wiped a tear from her cheek and pulled her close, wrapping his heavy arms around her to shield her from any debris as glass and metal swirled around them like a dark storm. "I'm sorry Raven." He said.
She felt his cold metal hand on her cheek. He was apologizing to her. For making her cry? No, She thought. He knows why I try. He knows why I can't bear him leaving. He knows that I love him. He's apologizing for reminding me that I'll never be her. This is where I belong, in his arms, but my powers are lashing out. I have to concentrate. Stop feeling angry. Stop feeling sorrow. Stop feeling love. Stop feeling guilt.
He let her cry. He shouldn't have told her, knowing how strongly she might react, but as much as he hated seeing her like this, he was glad he did. He hated keeping something like this from her and she deserved to know. He loved her. He loved Seracym, but it was time to let her go. With this book, his searching was over. His future lay only ahead, with Raven.
The room was now a cacophony of dark spiraling magic and miscellaneous glass and machinery. He held tight as he felt the particles scratch and cut his human flesh and bounce off the rest of him with sharp 'tinks'. He'd been through this before
The storm began to die down. When the debris ceased swirling Cyborg released his hold on Raven and looked down into her beautiful amethyst eyes. She was a mess, but Cyborg doubted he'd ever seen someone look so beautiful while crying.
"I'm sorry cyborg-I didn't know."
He gently pulled her chin up with two fingers and kissed her softly, pulling her body closer at her waist. They parted only inches before she laced her arms behind his neck and pulled him into another passionate kiss.
Meanwhile Robin was preparing to go on a completely work related mission, that the justice league itself had assigned him, while Starfire moped nearby. She asked questions solemnly, in a tone that nearly broke his heart.
"Why can I not go in your stead?"
"It's an undercover mission. We don't want her to know that we're collecting Intel. She already knows me and I have an excuse to visit, so it won't seem suspicious." His perfectly good answer was evidently not good enough, as she still looked hurt beyond all reason.
"What does this girl look like?" Her inflection on the word 'girl' was similar to 'clorbag' and made Robin smile.
"It doesn't matter Starfire. She's a potential colleague, and that's all. You two would probably get along!"
"Perhaps." She remarked with disdain. "All the more reason for me to go with you."
"I'm sorry star, not this time." He felt truly awful for pulling out of the garage and leaving the tower, but he needed to find out more about Olivia and weather or not she was a potential team mate.
He couldn't concentrate fully on the task at hand until he pulled up to the old apartment building. A window swang open overhead and the petite girl leaned precariously over the sill.
"I'll Buzz you in!" Robin smiled and nodded as he jogged up the steps and up to the top floor apartment. Olivia met him in the doorway.
"Nice uniform." She said with a raised brow.
"I'm on call today, hope that's alright."
"Of course, come in."
He entered the spacious apartment and was met with a whole new collection of pictures sitting neatly filed on a coffee table.
"I like your hair like that!" She commented.
"Oh, thanks! Starfire convinced me to leave it down."
"Awe..." she looked at him with a funny little half smile.
"What?"
"That's cute is all..."
Robin sighed in annoyance. "Were not a couple if that's where you're going with this."
"Oh! Sorry, I just figured, you seem like an inevitable couple."
"It's okay. A lot of people assume that were dating, and she's an incredible person, but..."
"Not your type?"
"That's not it, she's a teammate. I'm the leader. There's a certain amount of professionalism expected from me, and I'm happy to maintain that."
"So- Are you gay?"
"NO! Wow, no. Girls are just really complicated. Being a hero is stressful enough without all the relationship stuff, and I'm not above blaming my position as team leader to avoid having to deal with that."
She laughed. "That's understandable. What's she like?" She seemed really interested.
"You two would probably get along. I was just telling her that today actually."
"That would be so cool, she's like female superman!" He laughed and agreed.
"Are these the villains month pictures?" He motioned to the files on the coffee table.
"Yeah. Feel free to go through them, some turned out pretty good."
He was very intrigued, and started filing through carefully. He was hoping that she'd have one of his nemesis, though he doubted it. She had managed to snap one of batman, so who knows. He perused the collection of evil doers and realized that they were world wide.
"How did you manage to find Cheshire?" He asked incredulously.
"I went to Hong Kong a few months back."
"You never cease to impress me with your dedication to stalking." She laughed and pulled the Cheshire shot aside.
"I track the movements for months before I go, all for one picture." She considered the frame for a moment. "Do you want to see?"
"See what?"
"My office! Come on." She pulled him by his hand down a hallway and into a dark room. She flipped a switch and the room was bathed in light revealing miles of craft floss pinned in lines across maps of various places. Pictures of villains were pinned here and there and sticky notes were thrown into the jumbled mess as well. To any normal person, Olivia's office was a discordant mass of cryptic nonsense, but Robin thought it was brilliant.
"My god. You're almost as neurotic as I am." He mumbled.
"You flatter me Robin." She smiled at the walls triumphantly. "Here's where I finally pinned down Cheshire, oh and here's the brother blood line in yellow- haven't gotten him on film yet, but I think he's in a town called Blüdhaven, near the great lakes. There've been some reports-"
"What about Slade?"
"Slade?" She asked, looking confused.
"Where's his line?" He was looking over the boards as if he'd just missed it.
"He doesn't have a line. I decided if I'm going to live in jump, I'm going to stay off his radar." She looked at the papers splayed across her desk solemnly.
"You're afraid?" Their eyes met, and the silence that filled the room made the question seem rhetorical. She sighed and busied herself by organising the desktop.
"I'm just a photographer. I'll expose as much as I can, but not everyone wants to play the big hero."
Just as Robin was about to respond, a blast from the other room made the building lerch suddenly, knocking them both to the ground.
"What-" Olivia was drowned out by another blast, this one sounded closer. The building shook again, and Robin crawled closer to Olivia, pulling her under the desk and opened his communicator.
"Cyborg! Report!"
"Robin! We've got reports of explosions along 45th street, looks like Kitten!"
"Kitten?! Oh you've got to be kidding me. Okay, I'm on sight, dispatch immediately, over and out." Robin growled and rolled from under the desk, ready for action.
"Wait!" Olivia shrieked. "What's going on?"
"It's an old villain, the blond girl with the moths." She rolled from under the desk as well, full attention on his explanation. "Sorry Olivia, I've got to go take-" a third explosion rocked the building. "I've got to go!" With that he sped off to fight. Olivia stood in her office in shock. Moths? She knew the killer moth girl is nuts for robin, that they'd been spotted going to prom together, and nothing sells papers like a pretty girl wreaking havoc on the city.
"This should be good." She reasoned, grabbing her camera and running towards the action.