Raven sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. "Oh Garfield, why am I the way I am?"
He ran his fingers through her hair. "I wouldn't want it any other way."
Raven popped her head back up and moved onto his lap, floating like a snowflake. "Then you're a glutton for punishment. You know what I'm like."
"Helps you appreciate the good times." He replied.
"They'll be few and far between."
He kissed her. "Oh ye of little faith."
"Do you really know what you're getting into?"
"Absolutely." He replied.
"So you're sure you want to be my boyfriend?"
"Yes! I'm sure, so stop asking."
She smiled. "So, for real, right?"
"For real."
She rested her head on his shoulder again and after blinking a few times her normal indigo colored eyes returned. "So what do we do now?"
He grinned. "We tell the others that we're official."
An alarmed expression appeared on her face. "We do? … I mean … can't that wait?"
"We're gonna have to tell them sometime, why not now?"
She buried her face into his chest. "This is going to be so … hard."
"I'll be there with you."
She took his hand and squeezed it. "Of course … OK … I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be, but before we tell them, there's one thing, Gar."
"Yeah?"
"No public displays of affection."
"None? But you're my girlfriend now. And if they know, what's the big deal."
She frowned. "OK, I'll hold your hand. But that's it, at least for now."
He smiled as he took her hand. "Let's go tell them."
She nodded. "OK."
-( scene break )-
The common room was its usual bustling self. Robin and Cyborg were playing on the GameStation while some ear shattering music screeched from a boom box and some guy kept saying "pump it up". Rachel and Starfire were chatting in the kitchen, apparently discussing ideas for Rachel's new superhero costume while the princess stirred some scary looking slop in a heavy duty, cast iron pot. No one noticed the Chromatically Challenged Couple™ as they entered the room. They stopped at the top of the steps that led down in to the cavernous room, holding hands and waiting to be noticed.
"They're all busy, we can tell them later." Raven hastily suggested.
"We can tell them now."
The song Robin was playing on the boom box ended, just as the racing game finished. To Raven's dismay, the changeling cleared his throat rather loudly. She braced herself for the barrage of booyahs and lung collapsing hugs that would certainly follow. The four Titans turned in their direction and stared. A mischievous grin appeared on the tin man's face and he wagged his single human eyebrow. Robin smiled and gave them a thumbs up. Rachel crossed her arms and nodded while Starfire levitated and clapped happily.
"OK, they know, can we go now? There's a new vegetarian place in town, let's go out for dinner." The sorceress whispered to her brand new boyfriend.
"C'mon, we have to tell them, so they'll officially know that we're official."
"I think they already know ... do we really have to do this?"
Clutching her hand, he dragged her down the steps.
"The things I do for love." She moaned to herself as she followed him into the room.
Robin was the first to speak. "I'm guessing you got some news for us."
Starfire, as expected, was unable to contain her exuberance. She ran up to Raven, and lifting her from under her arms as if she was a small child, she spun around, swinging the hapless gray Titan around her.
Cyborg cleared his throat. "So, you guys kissed and made up."
The changeling grinned. "We did better than that. We're now official."
Starfire stopped spinning and trapped Raven in one of her bone crunching hugs.
"Glorious! Glorious! You are now the boyfriend and girlfriend! I will now sing the Ode to True Love, all 3047 verses."
"No!" The guys shouted.
"If you let go of me, you can sing all you want." A blue faced Raven rasped as she struggled to speak.
The princess released her, dropping a wheezing Raven, who landed on her butt, and began to sing the cacophonous Tamaranian symphony. Robin shushed her, telling her she could sing a much abbreviated verse later. He extended his hand to Raven and helped the breathless witch back onto her feet.
"Thank you, Robin. I owe you one." She whispered to him.
"I know she can get carried away." He whispered back.
"I'm surprised she hasn't snapped you in half during your nightly encounters."
"She's come close … wait a minute … you know about that? Oh well, I guess you do. Anyway, we have a safety gesture that I use when she gets out of hand. I pinch her."
"That sounds a bit a harsh." She replied.
Robin blushed. "Well, when we're … you know … it's the only thing that works."
"I don't want to know." She replied. "And don't ask me if Gar and I have such an arrangement."
During all of the commotion almost no one noticed that Rachel stayed behind in the kitchen, that is except for the changeling. He approached the clone until they were face to face.
"Hey." He greeted her.
"Hey." She replied. "I see you conquered my emotionally handicapped sister. I knew you could do it."
"Rach … I'm so sorry … had I known, I wouldn't have …"
She covered his lips with her index finger.
"It's OK, Gar, I have no regrets. I'll always cherish our time together, as brief as it was."
"I'm still sorry I let you down … we had plans and …"
"That's the thing about plans; they don't always turn out the way we hope." She interrupted.
"Rach, you're an awesome girl, don't ever forget that."
"It's OK, Gar, I don't want or need a pep talk. Now you go back with your girl and wow her. And don't worry about her hang ups, she'll overcome them, and quicker than you might think. And don't worry about her going four eyes during your moments of passion; it'll actually be a plus. She'll blow you away."
Rachel began to walk away from him.
"Blow me away?"
Rachel stopped and smiled at him. "Totally, especially the sex, when you finally get around to that. Of course, she might accidentally kill you in the process, but if you gotta go, I can't think of a better way."
Rachel grinned as she resumed walking away. Beast Boy gulped.
I hope she was joking about that.
He turned to search for Raven and found that she was talking with Robin, Cyborg and Starfire. He felt a wave of relief when he saw her calmly chatting with their three grinning friends. She then turned and smiled at him.
Everything was going to be OK.
-( scene break )-
One week later …
The five Titans were congregated in the Tower's hangar. The orange colored T-ship had a companion, a bright red and brand new twin ship which Cyborg had just finished assembling and testing. The side of the red vessel was stenciled in a large bright yellow letters: "Titans South".
"It looks very nice in red, Cyborg." Raven remarked, while she held hands with her beau.
"I wanted to keep this baby for us and give Titans South the old T-Ship. She's got 30% more power than ours, but Robin said that I could upgrade our T-Ship later. Of course, when I do I'll put even more powerful engines in it." He rubbed his hands with glee. "And Raven's gonna help do the upgrade. Of course, that'll be a piece of cake for her, she helped me build the new T-Ship, there's no way I would have had it done on time without her help."
The changeling snickered. "You're becoming a regular wrench monkey, Rave."
"Monkeys are your line of work, not mine." She droned back at him.
He quickly morphed into a cute little spider monkey and hopped on her shoulder. He immediately began to groom her hair, picking at nonexistent lice and pretending to eat them.
"I rest my case." She added in her monotone. "Just don't give me any fleas or lice."
The changeling hopped off her shoulder and returned to his human form. "Hey, I've never had fleas or lice … though I have been both at one time or another."
"Don't remind me … that's disgusting."
"Aw, c'mon Rave, all creatures are special …"
"Which is why you and I don't eat meat … I know … and speaking of Titan vegetarians, where is she?"
No sooner had Raven spoken that the hangar doors opened, revealing the newly named Raptor. She was wearing a jet black unitard that looked as if it had been sprayed on her body. It had a bright red bird of prey on her chest, its wings spread wide and its talons deployed. She wore no cape, but wore a mask similar to the ones worn by Robin and Speedy. As she entered the room she raised her arms while she slowly spun around, flirtatiously showing off her merchandise. The three boys were stunned into drooling silence while their eyes scanned every inch of her body. Raven gave her a hard look.
"Does my butt look that good?" She whispered to her beau.
"It does … you should lose the cape, Rave. You have no idea of just how hot you are." He replied.
"I'll pass … I want villains like Dr. Light to run from me in terror, I don't want him checking me out."
The changeling snickered. "We could take them out while they slobber over you."
She gave him an icy glare.
"You want villains to gawk at my body and lust for me?"
He dug the ball of his right foot into the floor. "Sorry, Rave, I didn't mean that."
He was putty in her hands. Raven smiled inwardly as she focused her attention back onto Raptor, who was walking straight at her. Raptor stopped in front of Raven, grinning salaciously. She planted her hands on her hips and shifted her waist, adopting a rather risqué stance.
"What do you think of my new costume, sister?"
Keeping her signature poker face intact, Raven responded in her best old school, gravelly monotone. "I think that you will be just as popular with the villains as you will be with the citizenry. I suppose you could still change your hero name to Shake It, Don't Break It Girl."
Raptor laughed. "Raven, you made a joke. I'm so proud of you."
Raptor then wrapped her arms around her and whispered. "I know you and Gar will be happy together, just don't forget to be good to him."
"I'm always good to him."
Raptor grinned. "Sister, you know what I mean."
"I'm afraid that I do … look … we'll move forward at our own pace, OK? We aren't all in the same rush to make the two backed monster as you are."
Rachel surprised Raven with a kiss on her cheek. "I know, just don't take forever. I want to be an Aunt someday." She giggled as she released her 'sister'.
She moved onto Starfire. The princess looked sad, as she always hated goodbyes.
"Thanks for being there for me, and thanks for always helping me remember that I'm more than just a clone."
Starfire hugged her. "I wish you well, dear sister. I will do the missing of you. I hope you find happiness as the new leader of Titans South."
Cyborg was next. Rachel levitated up to his face and kissed him on the cheek. The human half of his face blushed a bright red. "I'm gonna miss you, little lady. Go kick some bad guy butt for me."
"You can count on it." She replied as she floated back down to Robin. The two birds exchanged hugs.
"Thanks for making me a member of the family."
"And you'll always be our sister, don't you ever forget that." Robin replied.
Finally, she turned to Beast Boy. The changeling smiled sheepishly.
"You're gonna be awesome, Rach. You're gonna have all those drug running dudes running for cover. And I'm glad you decided to use the hero name I suggested."
"It was a good name, Gar, how could I not use it?"
He dug his foot into the ground. "I'm gonna miss you too, you know you'll always be special to …"
Before he could finish his sentence, Raptor pulled him into a fiery kiss. He flailed his arms the whole time, until she released him.
"Dude! What was that about?"
Raptor turned to Raven, who had crossed her arms and was regaling her clone with an icy glare.
"That was for good luck, plus since you won't kiss him in public, I figured I had one last kiss coming. You can't blame me for that, can you?" Raptor smirked as she levitated up to her cockpit in the new T-Ship. Once she was seated she waved goodbye to her friends and lowered the canopy. The ships turbo jets whined to life as the overhead doors opened, unveiling the blue sky above. Rachel pulled back on the yoke and the red T-Ship lifted directly up. Once she cleared the hangar doors she pushed on the throttle and the engines roared, thrusting her red bird into the sky. Within a few minutes she was no longer visible.
Raven shook her head.
"She just had to do it." She grumbled to her boyfriend.
He grinned. "When she gets a boyfriend, you could kiss him and get even."
"I'll pass, knowing her, she would actually enjoy that, she might even suggest we swap boyfriends. And besides, that's what I have you for." She subtly smiled at him.
Robin was just about to shut the hangar doors when the alarms went off. He ran to a nearby console, followed by his team.
"It's Mad Mod. He's taken over the shopping mall and is holding the shoppers as hostages."
"I can't stand that guy." Beast Boy moaned. "He's such a jerk."
"It doesn't matter, we have to stop him. Titans Go!"
The five superheroes got into their orange jet and took off.
-( scene break )-
Slade was hunched over a console, pushing buttons and reading its feedback. Wintergreen entered the room, carrying a tray with a red cocktail, which he placed next to his master. Slade looked up from the console and looked at it.
"A Cosmopolitan?"
"A festive cocktail, Wilson, but then again we have much to celebrate."
Slade removed his mask and took a sip. "As always, it's perfect. And you are quite right Wintergreen; we do have much to celebrate."
Slade stood up, and with the glass in hand he walked up to a wall with giant screens on it, similar to the ones he used to track the nanoprobes he once injected into the Titans bodies. Each of the five screens was labeled: Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Beast Boy and Raven. And each screen showed a tiny human embryo, high magnified.
"It went without a hitch, Wintergreen, they are perfectly healthy and growing at an accelerated pace. In six months I'll have my own Titans, Titans that will obey my every order without question; they will be my true and faithful apprentices … my Terror Titans."
To be continued?
And that's the end of this story, dear readers. I will write the sequel, but I think I need to take a break to think of a plot.
Until then!