Haunting Past.
Chapter One.
...
It was a beautiful morning in Jump City. Birds were chirping in the trees. Young kids played at the playground. And people happily walked to their destinations from the streets.
Taking full advantage of the beautiful summer weather, Richard escorted his friends to the top of the Tower, where they were able to enjoy the nice temperature while they did their early training session.
In the past few months, the Titan's training routine involved splitting into pairs. Richard would work with Raven or Garfield, while Kori teamed up with whoever he didn't.
Richard found this practice was working well, and between the daily training and the occasional robbery sending them into the streets, the Titans were shaping up to be a decent team.
On the rooftop, Richard smiled, watching his team, bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready for the day's lesson.
"So, what are you going to have us do today, Boss?" Garfield asked, rubbing his hands together.
"Kori, I'm going to have you sit out for the moment." Richard explained before his smile slowly turned into a smirk as he looked at the two remaining teammates. "You two have been doing well fighting one on one with Kori and I. But today, I want you to try something different. I want you to spar... each other." The pair looked surprised before turning to look at one another. "Close range, no weapons." Richard finished.
They had only fought against one another a couple of times. And they always had some sort of weapon in between them, allowing them to do more distant attacks. Hand to hand combat forced you and your opponent to get exceedingly close, with the only option being close range attacks.
Garfield suddenly grinned. "Finally! I actually have a chance at winning."
Raven narrowed her eyes. "Oh, you think so?" She said, crossing her arms.
"Sorry, Rae. But the only person worse than me in combat is you." Garfield informed her.
"We'll see about that." Raven said, walking onto the mat.
Garfield snickered confidently, joining her and the two of them stood on opposite sides of the padded platform before holding up their fists, taking their defensive stance.
Raven narrowed her eyes at her opponent. She was unimpressed by the high levels of pride and arrogance she was sensing from him, and it made her more determined to try her best in defeating him.
Richard smiled, seeing the two were confident and ready. "Begin." He instructed and the pair didn't hesitate to charge towards one another.
They quickly closed the distance between them, and as soon as they were in arm's length, Raven threw a punch. Garfield quickly dodged before swinging his leg at her with a high kick. Raven quickly ducked, his leg swinging above her head before she bounced back up and threw another punch. Garfield dodged again, countering with his own punch, but Raven swiftly turned herself, evading his hit before turning back with her fist. But this time, Garfield quickly grabbed her arm. Instantly reacting, Raven swiftly countered, turning and spinning herself out of his grip, only to unconsciously press her back against him.
Garfield's eyes widened in response as he glanced down, surprised by the unexpected close proximity. Suddenly, his mind drew a complete blank on any countering moves as unwelcome thoughts surfaced into his head. This whole time, he fought her with high levels of confidence. But now, as her back pressed against his chest, he realized how uncomfortable this was for him.
From the sidelines, Kori couldn't help but smirk as she leaned closer to Richard. "Now doesn't that look formular?"
"Sort of..." He acknowledged, shrugging his shoulders. "But unlike you, Raven has no idea what she just did." He said, glancing at her knowingly.
Garfield was unable to think straight. All he could think about was how close Raven was to him, how nice she smelt, and the fact that her backside was touching his...
Raven quickly grabbed his arm, bent down, and thrusted Garfield over her shoulders, dropping him onto the floor with a thunk!
Impressed by the move, Richard slowly clapped his hands. "Nicely done, Raven." He smiled.
Garfield groaned from the ground and Raven walked up to him, holding her hand out for him to take. "Still think I'm the worst at combat?" She asked with a smirk, helping him to his feet.
He rubbed the back of his head. "That's not fair. I got distracted."
She looked at him curiously. "Yeah, I sensed that. What was so distracting?"
His eyes widened, but before he could attempt to explain himself, each one of their phones began to buzz with an alarm.
Each Titan turned to their leader, watching as Richard's expression turn serious.
"Suit up." He instructed.
The Titans rushed to their respective rooms and with practiced speed, they got dressed into their uniforms and were out the door in a matter of minutes.
As always, in the driver seat, Richard sped down the inner-city streets, his GPS guiding him to the location of the robbery. In the passenger seat, Kori excitedly looked out the window, always enthusiastic for a mission. In the back seat, Raven waited patiently for them to arrive at their destination. While she no longer dreaded missions, she didn't exactly get excited for them. In the seat next to her, the changeling browsed on his phone to pass the time until they got there.
"Are you sure you are settled on Nightwing?" Garfield asked. "The fans have quite the variety of superhero names. Bluebird, Nightwalker, Bluewing, Birdman - I think that one is an ohmage to Batman."
"I am quite content with my name, thank you." Richard informed him. "And you should really be focusing on the mission."
"Yeah, yeah..." Garfield said, disregarding his leader with a wave of his hand.
"Oh, read some of mine." Kori said eagerly, turning to face him in her seat.
Garfield scrolled down before reading. "Firepower, Bombshell Beauty, Orange Oblivion, Goldie, Rapunzel, Starlight, Starshine, Starfire."
"Oh, I like that one!" Kori said excitedly. "Starfire."
"Have you settled on yours yet?" Raven asked.
Garfield sighed, clearly disappointed with his suggestions. "Mine are so lame. Animal Shifter, Goblin Guy, Green Goblin – that's from Spiderman. Animallink. I guess Changeling isn't that bad."
"I wouldn't settle on that one." Raven advised.
"What about Beast Boy?" Kori asked. "I thought you were leaning towards that one."
"I don't know." He said with a shrug. "It seems kind of juvenile."
"Isn't the secret identity kind of pointless, considering your appearance?" Raven questioned. "I can understand why Richard has his, but for you two, I don't really see the point?"
"The point is we are real superheroes, and we need real superhero names." Garfield told her before looking at his phone again.
"It shouldn't matter what we are called, but matter what we do." Raven said.
"While that may be true, it doesn't hurt to have a name for yourself." Richard added.
"Do you want me to read some of yours?" Garfield asked.
Raven shook her head before glancing back out the window. "I don't want one."
"Are you sure, Raven?" Richard asked. "You might regret not having a secret identity."
"I have no identity to protect. I want to be known as Raven for that is who I am."
While Richard respected her decision, Garfield wanted to try and convince her otherwise. But before he was able to persuade her with the names listed off of his phone, the car suddenly jolted to a halt, sending the device flying from his hands.
Richard stared at the active robbery in a jewelry store, his eyes narrowing at the group of villains.
"Titans, go!"
...
The Hive.
Gismo: The technological genius. Don't let this man's small stature and immature banter fool you. His advanced intellect can conquer any problem thrown his way with an inventive solution.
Jinx: The enchanting sorcerous. Despite her outer appearance giving off a cute and approachable vibe, she is not one to take lightly. Her powerful hexes can be very dangerous and mean bad luck for her enemies.
Mammoth: The genetically enhanced giant. While not much of an intense thinker, his insane brute strength helps him compensate in the intelligence department.
This wasn't the Titan's first fight against The Hive. This small group of villains were quite the escape artists when it came to imprisonment. So, once again, catching them in their thieving act wasn't anything surprising.
The Hive wasn't the best at staying under the radar. The team of highly advanced metas were very skilled with their abilities. Their arrogance often made them think they didn't need to keep their mischief on the downlow, hence their loud flaunting of destruction while robbing a jewelry store, which quickly got the attention of the Titans.
Not far from where the robbery took place, Richard quickly chased Gismo down the highly trafficked streets, his sight never straying far from the thief. He threw his wingding at the villain, but with his highly advanced jetpack, Gismo was able to avoid the hit.
Despite his small frame and childlike banter, Gismo was tricky to detain. He had an endless amount of technology at his disposal that helped aid his fight.
Richard knew if he could only be able to get closer to him, detaining him would be simple. But Gismo also knew that and purposely kept his distance as he continued to throw long rang attacks at the hero.
With the speed of his jetpack, the genius could easily flee the scene. But despite his villain antics, he never wandered too far away from his fellow convicts.
Keeping that observation in mind, Richard knew it was only a matter of time before Gismo would loop around and he would have a better chance at catching up to him.
Back outside the jewelry store, Kori's strength was tested as she was forced to stop a vehicle that was violently thrown at her. Testing her strength, she quickly caught the car in the air, and with a satisfied smile, she set the undamaged vehicle down beside her. But she couldn't bask in her self-satisfaction for long before Mammoth came running towards her, his large fist at the ready.
Kori enjoyed fighting Mammoth. The neanderthal was mostly brawn and little brains, and was quite the workout for her with his brute strength and powerful defenses. Despite being relatively easy for her to defeat, she liked to let the fight linger, letting his inhuman strength challenge her.
From the ground, Garfield scurried as a small mouse. Hoping his small size would make him harder to target, he quickly scurried, avoiding each one of Jinx's hexes.
While the sorceress's powers weren't fatal, they did pack quite the punch if hit directly. Unfortunately, Garfield often learned that the hard way.
With a flick of her wrist, Jinx's hex sparked its way down Garfield's trail, zapping the tip of his tail. Shocked by the sudden sting, he jumped, quickly morphing human as he held his phantom tail. But that distraction was all Jinx needed to catch up to him.
Garfield turned around, to see Jinx's menacing pink eyes and crooked smile as she stood in front of him. And with her powers sparking from her hand right in front of him, he found her hexes much more intimidating.
"I guess the cat caught the mouse." She smirked, grabbing his throat with her hand. But before she could spark her magic, an eerie sound distracted her.
Jinx quickly looked down to see the haunting cloud of black energy wrapping around her, constricting her arms and forcing her to release Garfield.
"And I caught the cat." Raven remarked.
From afar, Mammoth spotted his teammate in trouble. Thinking uncharacteristically fast, he quickly grabbed the mailbox in front of him, ripping the box off its hinges and hurling it towards the pair capturing his ally.
Seeing the action, Jinx smiled before quickly jumping out of the way as the mailbox was flung into Garfield, sending him backwards into Raven.
Raven's powers vanished, allowing Jinx to quickly flee as the pair tumbled to the ground.
Despite Jinx being free, Mammoth grabbed the small car in front of him before lifting it up and hurling it at the pair on the ground. But as soon as the vehicle left his grasp, Kori flung her body into him, sending him backwards into a brick wall.
Garfield winced as he reached up and cradled his throbbing head, but as he opened his eyes, he was taken aback by Raven's torso laying across his chest.
Raven's face contorted as she held the side of her head, but before she could look down at Garfield's blushing face, she was met with the sight of a car hurling towards them! Without thinking, she flung her hand up and her energy suddenly formed into a shield, protecting them from the vehicle's collision.
Raven stared in shock and the shield quickly faded away. She turned her surprised gaze to her hands before looking to the person below her, seeing his eyes wide in amazement.
"I love you." He suddenly blurted.
She looked at him, confused as his eyes grew wider and he frantically tried to play off what he had just said.
"-Your powers!" He quickly corrected as she got off of him. "I love your powers! They are amazing!"
She glanced down at her hands again, distastefully this time. "Well, that makes one of us." She commented when their attention was suddenly drawn to a restrained Gismo as he mumbled curses under his breath.
Richard tossed the villain forward before turning to the pair. "Is everyone okay?" He asked.
"I think so." Raven responded as Kori approached them, dragging Mammoth behind her, a metal stop sign bent around his arms.
"But Jinx got away." Garfield huffed.
Richard sighed at that.
If one of the Hive members was free, they all might as well be.
"You two need to work harder on your teamwork." Richard critiqued and the pair quickly rolled their eyes at the comment.
"We did our best." Garfield shot back.
"And you can always do better." Richard responded.
The police finally arrived at the scene, breaking up the back-and-forth passive aggression. The officers surveyed the damages and took away the remaining members of the Hive before once again thanking the Titans for their work.
The car ride back to the Tower was quiet. Richard was clearly disappointed with Jinx's escape. With the sorcerous free, he knew it was only a matter of time before she broke out her colleagues from prison. Despite knowing that his team did their best, he still felt their inability to contain the low tear villain reflected his teaching ability.
In the backseat, Garfield and Raven weren't too happy either. Between Richard's constant critiques and high standards for them, they struggled to meet his high expectations.
But Raven's irritation didn't last long as her thoughts traveled back to her new ability. She was still struggling with the development of new powers, forcing her to wonder how many more there were inside of her.
Seeing Raven's contemplating expression, Garfield couldn't help but assume it was due to what he had blurted out. And without wanting to expose his feelings just yet, he knew he needed to explain his way out of what he had said.
So, when the car pulled into the Tower's garage and everyone exited the vehicle, going their separate ways, Garfield quickly followed Raven, chasing her down the hall.
"Rae, wait up." He said, catching up with her.
Still wrapped up in her own thoughts, Raven was taken aback by Garfield calling out to her.
"About what I said earlier, I didn't mean it." He said, stuttering his words nervously. "I mean, I did mean it – But it's not what you think." He said quickly. "I love Kori. Sometimes I even love Dick - that came out wrong."
Raven looked at him, confused. "Gar, what are you talking about?"
His eyes widened and he quickly smiled. "Nothing. Never mind. We're good."
Ignoring his strange rambling, she shrugged her shoulders and continued down the hall.
Garfield let out a relived breath before turning, seeing that Kori had witnessed the entire ramble. And judging by the amused smirk on her face, she clearly had an opinion on what happened.
"I don't want to hear it." He said quickly, raising his hand.
"That would have been a good time to tell her how you feel." She informed him.
"I said I don't want to hear it." He repeated, walking away from her.
"You can't hide your feelings forever." She said, following behind him.
"Says who." He argued.
"I says." She informed him, causing him to roll his eyes. "Garfield, if you don't tell her soon, then I will!" She threated and he immediately stopped before whipping back around.
"You wouldn't dare." He said, looking at her seriously.
"No, I wouldn't." She told him calmly, confirming her bluff. "Because it has to come from you. But you need to tell her. She deserves to know how you feel." She said seriously. "Tell him, Richard." She said as Richard walked past them in the hall.
"It's really none of my business as long as they use protection, and it doesn't affect the team."
Kori immediately frowned at his help, or lack thereof.
For once, Garfield was actually pleased with what Richard had to say and turned back to Kori, a smug look on his face. "Maybe you should follow our leader's advice."
...
Richard walked into the computer room and sat down at the large desk. He quickly opened the penitentiary log, pleased to see that Mammoth and Gismo made it to the prison and were being contained in their cells. But he also knew it was only a matter of time before Jinx broke into that prison and freed her friends.
Anticipating the prisonbreak, Richard made sure to contact the penitentiaries security system. But he was also on the lookout for any leads or potential spotting of the bad luck sorcerous. It would be best if they were able to find and detain her before she was able to attempt a prisonbreak.
"Care to tell me what's on your mind?" Richard suddenly asked the person who stood behind him in the doorframe.
"I have a new power." Raven informed him.
Giving her his full attention, Richard turned around in his chair to face her. "Tell me more."
"I was able to form some sort of shield with my powers." She explained.
"A forcefield, huh? That's very impressive and useful." Richard said, seeing the positive outlook.
"Garfield sure seemed excited about it." She spoke, her usual misgivings clear in her bitter tone.
"And clearly you aren't." Richard observed.
"Am I ever excited by a new power?" She asked sarcastically.
"I like to think that someday you will be." He commented, turning back to the computer.
Raven sighed at the thought. "Wishful thinking."
...