The Batcave:

"Raven?...Raven can you hear me?" Bruce asks as the purple haired woman stirs in her bed. "Raven how many fingers am I holding up?" He asks holding up four.

"Waffle?" She mumbles, her mind still asleep.

"Do you know who I am?" He continues.

"Santa Claus." Bruce smiles at her, both answers are part of the mental response program she had designed herself, in case she was captured. It was something all of them have trained themselves to combat truth serums and the like.

"Ollie Ollie oxen free." He says, getting her attention, the code word they agreed on, it was stupid and no one would suspect the dark and gritty Batman of saying it.

"Morning." She says quietly as she forces herself awake.

"Early Sunday evening." He corrects. "How are you feeling?"

"Strapped down, otherwise like a train wreck." She says, noting that her hands and feet were restrained to the bed she is lying in.

"Residue from the fear toxin and Joker Venom, you've had a few vivid nightmares, there's still a slight trace of it in your system. You feel up to telling me what happened?" He asks as he takes up a seat between the two beds on the platform.

"Sure." She shrugs, guessing she would have to free herself anyways. "Richard had headed into town early to get some of the early dealers, I was running the inventory check you asked me to do so I was delayed. Three hours after he left I got the call from the Joker that he had captured Richard, I notified Alfred before following the tracker signal to an old abandoned warehouse. Here I made the first mistake, Harley managed to sneak up behind me as I was scouting out the situation on the ground and I was taken along. I woke up alone in a windowless room, the Joker had a TV placed with me and went on to outline his scheme before the TV blew up. I couldn't make contact with the Cave, radio couldn't penetrate the walls. Anyways, I knew needed to get access to the video surveillance, but the floors were locked down as long as I did not dance to the Jokers tune. First one I had to get through was Dent, but I managed to get him leave on his own volition, he didn't really want to be there."

"You were seen talking to someone on the video feed, or pretending to talk to someone?" Bruce says.

"Hermes, he had a message for me and wanted to let me know he liked how I managed to trick Harvey, he was captured right?" She asks getting a nod. "The message was from Demeter, who warned me about encountering Clayface and possibly someone called Earth's Champion. With that floor cleared, I made my way down to the floor below me, finding it in complete darkness and filled with fear toxin. There I encountered Waylon, I was lucky to survive it." She sighs. "I got the taser knocked out of my hands, leaving me to force him to swallow my mace canister."

"Explains the diarrhea he is suffering from." Bruce nods.

"Crane was on the same level, turns out the Joker had turned out the lights and Crane couldn't find anything in the darkness. I startled him when I found him in a kitchen and he backed into the lit stove he was cooking something on, resulting in him burning and scaling himself. I did what I could for him before I left."

"Crane will make it; but it will take some weeks before he is able to sleep on his back." Bruce shrugs, getting a nod from her.

"Harley managed to sneak up on me again when I made my way to the next floor, I was dumb enough to believe him when he said I wouldn't run into anything. I don't know how far down I fell, but when I came to I needed a few moments to get over it." She says waving her bandaged hands at him. "He told me one of the captives was on the floor. I found out that twenty thugs were as well, along with Clayface, it took me longer to get through his thugs, the cryro-grenades worked like a charm. I entered the auditorium finding Fox and Zsasz there. Zsasz offered me a crazy deal, one I probably shouldn't have agreed to, let him cut me three times and we could leave without further bother."

"You agreed to this?" Bruce asks, getting a nod.

"There was a spark in his eyes, I don't know why, but it seemed like he really was interested in his own proposal, so I let him cut me in the shoulder, leg and my throat, while being unable to move mind you. It was crazy, reckless and stupid, but it just seemed genuine."

"Zsasz, could have killed her for hours on end, he was most likely even with her when you first became aware of her being there. It was risky, but it paid off and Zsasz was contained without any further incident. I know what happened afterwards, Tam left without a scratch, though she might need some counseling."

"That's good. Does Tim know?"

"Came back when he heard, I have him keeping an eye on her in case someone tries something." Bruce says.

"And Richard?" She asks, noticing he was still out in the bed next to her. "And me?"

"You have a cracked rib and two bent, a slight concussion, numerous bruises and cuts, but you should be out of bed in a matter of hours. Richard will need two months in a wheelchair because of the broken bones, and he is covered in bruises and cuts, but Mid-Night and Tompkins assure me he will mend in time, his body will at least." She takes note of this last part.

"They did something more?"

"It's on camera." Bruce sighs, trying to find the words. "Terra was there, he was conscious, it happened before the beatings became too serious."

"Bruce, what did Terra do?" Raven asks as the cold sense of dread makes her stomach knot up, she can see Bruce drop all emotions, replying as Batman.

"She… forced herself onto him."

Ravens reaction is several seconds of mute shock, before she begins struggling furiously to get free all while cursing Terra in several languages. But the restraints were designed to hold her, since no one in the cave could do it if needed. Bruce lets her rage, like he had allowed himself to. Letting her calm down on her own, while she begins hissing slightly.

"Bruce, if you want me to… I will find her and make her suffer for it." She says quietly, battling to keep the tears back.

"I know." He sighs as he gets up and hugs her. "But we can't act on this, not even this." He sighs heavily, telling her how much he wanted to kill Terra himself, before they both fall into silence for several minutes.

"And if she is this Champion of Earth Demeter mentioned?" Raven asks.

"You take her down, and we put her in a hole for the rest of her life." Bruce sighs.

"It might be more than that." Raven says. "The events on Themyscira gave me a new job." She gets his attention with this. "Hippolyta believed an ancient title had once again become necessary. Diana is the Champion of the Gods and thus subjected to their whims. Hippolyta named me the Champion of Themyscira, so that we have someone the Gods have less authority over. Only myself, Hippolyta and General Philipus knows this for now. I am letting you know this because, if Terra is this Champion of Earth I was warned about, then I may end up facing her on Themyscira." She replies, thinking that if the Gods sent word it meant that there was most likely another Olympian involved or someone connected to them in some way.

"What you do as an Amazon, is your choice and duty." Bruce says, surprising her, he is going to let her do it; he just doesn't want to know about it, the two just sit there in silence for several moments before he speaks again. "You did good Raven, you proved again you don't need powers to wear the uniform." She huffs at this.

"It's luck more than skill, Harley could have killed me at the elevator shaft, Zsasz only had to have one bad thought and he could have killed me as well." She sighs. "I need to be better if I am going to continue, I was a rank amateur out there."

"She says after having bested a host of Gotham's most dangerous criminals." Bruce says as he releases her from the restraints. "But work on your flaws and minimize them."

"I will." She nods. "I will stay with him, if it's ok?"

"He will need all of us when he comes to." Bruce says before leaving her to pick out the laptop on the shelf between the beds and begin to writer her report of the horrid incident.

She keeps vigil over him for several hours, passing the time with reading, meditating and something she had developed when forced to wait, but still remain vigilant; pushups, chin-ups and shadow boxing. Alfred complains that her wounds would reopen, when he comes down to her with supper. He sighs when it is his turn to watch Richard, as Bruce is about to head out for the night, much later than usual, and with Raven insisting on going with him.

She is informed that she and Richard had been involved in a solo car crash, Richard having borrowed one of Bruce's convertible's and lost control of the car, sending it, with them in it, down a hill and into a tree. Clark agreed to drive the car, flying away as it went airborne. Diana was worried to hear about the events, but promised not to come rushing unless Raven insisted. Bruce had arranged for Dr. Leslie Tompkins to be listed as their only physician, on paper.

The elderly woman was one Raven had little difficulty warming to, she was like a kindly grandmother sort, but she is always slightly disapproving of their work because of her profession. Bruce had played a rare joke on her and mentioned, during Raven's and Leslies first official meeting, that Raven had been complaining about some back pains when she had to lift something. Leslie had of course tried the usual way of applying pressure to various points, but due to Raven's constitution she had to give up, mentioning she wondered if Raven was a rock. He had then suggested that Raven try and lift something in the Cave. Leslie, like most of Gotham, did not know Raven is an Amazon, due to her lack of recurring media appearances and how the people of Gotham have enough to deal with in their own lives to follow those of others. So the old woman was caught off guard, when Raven casually held the two point five ton Batmobile over her head, while waiting for Leslie to do her inspections. As per League requirements, Raven had to undergo several tests of her powers, finding that with the Godswater in full effect, she is able to lift just shy of twelve tons, Diana assures her it would increase in time with her profession and age, not that it matters to Raven who could increase it with her telekinesis if needed.

When Raven and Bruce return home, several hours later, they find Tim holding the vigil. Through the remainder of the night, they keep changing the guards, hoping Richard would wake up. During her tenure, Raven sets to study the design of the Healing Ray she acquired from Io, writing down a translation of the notes on a block she also brought with her. Io's fear of the Ray ending up mass produced is quickly proved unfounded, the device is part magical, and requires a core of of a metal called 'amazonium', a metal only found on Themyscira. Not wanting to risk making Io's fears becoming real however, she splits up the notes, isolating parts of it, and sends off the different data to Fate, Zatanna, Mr. Terrific and Cyborg, only telling them only that it was part of an abandoned project from Themyscira before being relieved by Bruce.

"Raven, wake up!" Tim shouts while he bangs his fist against her door in the early afternoon, getting her to bolt upright with a groan produces by her injuries. "He's up!" Tim shouts before she hears him running down the hallways.

She quickly throws on the purple bathing robe she discarded in the table chair after having taken a shower, and a pair of slippers before walking quickly down to the cave. Finding Bruce and Alfred re-tending to Richards injuries while Tim stands in the background and watches them while idly chatting, mainly it's Alfred doing the talking. She walks down by the staircase to stand behind Tim, feeling pleased that Richard is smiling slightly as he looks at Alfred. This changes instantly when Richard notices her, immediately begins to back away as he gasps, at the sight of her.

"Master Richard, what's the matter?!" Alfred asks in surprise. "It it just Miss Raven." He says without getting contact with him, while he begins to hyperventilate.

"He's… scared of me." Raven gasps before retreating out of the cave and back to her room, horrified by the look that was in his eyes. "Terra… what have you done?"

"I should have noticed it before." Bruce says as he sits down on her bed, having let himself in, with her leaning against the headboard while hugging her knees to her chest. "Terra's complexion was notably different in the video in comparison to Richards and her hair was dark, missed it due to the… event. She administered a drug to him, some kind of hyper-stimulant she got from Crane." He says, knowing she knew Arkham, for all its modern installments still used black and white surveillance camera's.

"Making him do what would otherwise take months of conditioning." Raven sighs without looking up. "She impersonated me, and made him dead scared of me. This wasn't about him, she did it to get at me, through him... this is my fault."

"No!" Bruce snaps. "This is hers, and no one else's. Richard will recover, it will just take time."

"It might never be the same again." She sighs.

"He will recover and you can still see him, he didn't fear you at all when you were in costume." Bruce says.

"It's not the same." She sighs.

"Raven, I know you need to be there for him, as much as he needs you, but right now I don't think he can handle to see you without it on." Bruce says. "Try at least, before I call up J'onn."

"Richard?" Batgirl asks as she carefully makes her way down the stairs, letting him know she is coming. "Is it ok?" She continues as he looks at her, with something akin to shame in his eyes.

"I don't know what came over me when I saw you… Why are you dressed up, it's only three?" He asks, putting away the newspaper he was reading one handed.

"Bruce thinks you were given something, a conditioner of some sort, and with her…" She stops when he shuts his eyes and breathes deeply. "I'm sorry." She says.

"Don't be, it's ok." He says, calming down. "I guess I will finally get that therapy Vic joked about." He says, trying to draw a smile.

"Yeah." Raven sighs. "But how are you holding up?" She asks after sitting down next to him.

"I feel worse than the night when you saved me from the Slade illusion. Hear you went through hell to get to me?"

"Just a bunch of psychotics, wish I could have gotten there sooner…" She says.

"You got there in time to save as many as you could." He cuts her off.

"I was a rank amateur, Harley got the drop on me twice." She sighs.

"Harley is actually very dangerous, she's agile and quiet when she wants to, and Ivy made her immune to poisons after the two joined up for a period."

"I know, it's the reason why she could move around the floor filled with fear toxin without a gas mask."

"So how about you? You didn't get hurt?" He asks, making her smirk.

"Got hurt plenty, besides from Harley swinging her mallet at my head twice, I got bent ribs form Croc, most of the skin in my palms torn off after Harley dropped me down an elevator shaft. I took numerous hits from a large group of armed punks a few moments later and three precision cuts from Zsasz. Pretty sure I have a concussion from all the hits my head took, but I am still standing."

"Can I have your constitution?" He asks.

"If I could, I would." She says, getting odd silence from him. "You scared me half to death."

"Well, guess we are even then." He sighs as the two of them drift in comfortable silence. "Thanks for coming to get me." He says quietly after a few moments, she gives his hand a little squeeze.

"No problem."

"He has panic attacks just by thinking about mine or Terra's appearance." Raven sighs as she finds Bruce sitting outside the cave entrance.

"I have contacted J'onn to see if there is anything he can do, but he said we shouldn't get our hopes up, chemically induced fears are hard to fix safely. But at least you can still talk."

"We both know it's Batgirl his mind is comfortable talking to." She says as she sits down next to him. "If J'onn can't do anything, I hope we can gradually make him comfortable around me again."

"He will realize he has to face his fears at some point. But till then, he just needs to rest." She nods as he gets up. "I have notified the League that Terra is active again."

"Good, hopefully they get to her before I do." Raven sighs.

J'onn arrives later in the evening and has Richard examined for an hour before announcing that the unnatural fear could be removed by him, but J'onn would have to rewire his brain to do it, and even for him, that is not a safe undertaking. Professionally, his opinion is that it is best if Richard can overcome the fear himself, but that currently the fear is enough to kill him. The Martian stays for another hour, helping with moving Richard from the cave to his room and talking. Raven reveals the plans to the Ray to him, in hopes of Mars having had some similar device, but J'onn can only say he would look into it. He also got to ask how she was coping with the loss of her other abilities, something the League was wondering in the corridors of the Watchtower. But he assured her he could feel her abilities were still there, but it was like there was a block she needed to get past to access them. While that was uplifting, it also meant it was Raven herself that was blocking them, unless someone had implanted it after the battle on Themyscira. But J'onn noted that it might be overcome by sheer force of will on her part.

A week passes by with nothing exceptional happening; Richard has frequent nightmares, which doesn't surprise the others who try to cheer him up during his waking hours. He remarks Raven tries too hard when she appears with a paper bag over her head. Sadly they also find out she can't show him the color of her skin either as it triggers the memories, forcing her to dig out her winter wear and other concealing clothes. It hurts him that it is his mind that's forcing her to resort to disguises like this, in her own home, and they all know it. But she is adamant on helping him recover, even if she has to resort to costumes to do it.

"Uh Bats, you have Raven with you right?" Wally asks as he suddenly appears on the screen on the computer in the cave. Said woman is practicing blind fighting in the training cave.

"I do, why?" Batman asks.

"Uh, you might want to tune in to Jump City Channel 4." The speedster says, getting a raised eyebrow from Batman before he has one of the smaller screens tune into said channel.

"Raven!" Batman yells at the sight, Raven comes running instantly.

"What? Oh no…" She says at sight of the breaking news.

"Earlier today, a figure appearing to be the former Teen Titan Raven arrived on the steps of City Hall, claiming to show the world the real her before tearing the foundation out from under City Hall. Rescue teams are still searching for survivors, but chances are slim due to the excess of the damage done. Hold up, we seem to have gotten hold of Cyborg, Raven's current team member of the San Francisco Titans, we go to him now." The anchorwoman says as the images of the completely flattened building roll over the screen before switching to the image of the cybernetic man. "Cyborg, thank you for joining us, you have news regarding the events in Jump City?"

"I do, having gone over the surveillance videos from City Hall, I can assure everyone it is not Raven who is responsible for this." He says.

"How can you be sure, she is telekinetic after all?" The woman asks.

"Because I know her, and I have seen how her powers affect things." Cyborg says. "See, whenever she tries to affect something, this black aura appears around the object. This aura was not visible in the video. Also I know Raven does not need a rock to stand on to fly, leading us to suspect is an old Titan adversary, dressing up as Raven in an attempt to discredit her."

"Any chance you can say who this is?"

"I can, a geomancer known as Terra, who escaped Arkham Asylum in Gotham when it burned down last year. We implore if anyone sees her, usually transporting herself on a floating rock, do not engage her, she is insane and extremely dangerous, contact your local law enforcement if you do." Cyborg says.

"Thank you Cyborg. We go now to Donnie who has Superman available for a comment from the Justice League." The reporter says before the image shifts.

"Thank you Charlie. Superman, can you confirm the actions in Jump City were not committed by the Justice League member known as Raven?" The unseen man asks the Man of Steel now appears on the screen.

"I can indeed. While we cannot inform the public of Raven's whereabouts at the current time, I can however personally confirm she was thousands of miles from Jump City when it happened." Superman says.

"And the earlier suspicion that a rogue Titan is involved?"

"Terra is our main suspect at the moment." Superman confirms.

"But why the dress up?"

"Terra has a bitter hatred of Raven, ever since their early days in Jump City and she was personally escorted to Arkham Asylum by Raven after she was last apprehended and now seems to be targeting those around her."

"I see and can the League confirm the difference in power's that was reported?"

"We can, Raven is currently on our reserve list as her powers were recently burnt out temporarily and is recuperating. Our hearts go out to the families who have lost in this tragedy and we will not stop before Terra is apprehended." Superman says before nodding to the man.

"Clark, you idiot." Bruce growls as Raven sighs, not everyone in the world would know she was effectively powerless, meaning another can of worms would be coming their way.

"We need to bait her out, before she hurts anymore people." Raven says.

"She won't fall for it." Bruce says. "She will keep making hit and run tactics on you before calling you out."

"No one should have to suffer because of me."

"No. But that is what she wants." Bruce says. "To attack you psychologically before physically, Bane did the same to me."

"By blowing open Arkham, I read the files. But I can't just sit here and watch."

"We will keep other likely targets under surveillance and try and track her movements, but unless we can catch her in a hideout, there is not much else to do."

"Except damage control." She sighs. "I will go and help."

"Be careful." Bruce says, getting a nod from her.

Later:

"Guess I have to ask how it went?" Richard asks from his bed as Raven plops down in the seat next to it, wearing the paper bag again.

"They were scared of me already; they think that I will somehow get Terra to return. And I had to show that I don't have my powers anymore. What do you think I should do?" She asks. "Bruce would want me to endure till she calls me out eventually, while trying to track her down."

"I would say that's the only thing to do, unless you try and call her out, but I doubt she'd bite." He says, getting a sight out of her. "Titans are at the ready?" He asks.

"Yeah, surveillance notified them she was back, Vic will have put them on alert after the attack. I just hope she won't try and sink the western seaboard."

"Good. Is Themyscira at risk?" He asks.

"Not unless she can actually find it, but somehow I have the feeling she will." She says.

"Why that?"

"Demeter sent a letter to me when we were in Arkham, warning me of a Champion of Earth that was coming. And I really worry that Terra is that 'champion'." She replies.

"Unless it's self proclaimed, someone would be assisting her, like Ares or Slade?"

"Ares is a possibility, a very real possibility. Slade? I don't think so, unless he reverted back to his old personality suddenly. I just have the feeling that all of this will get much worse before it gets better." She sighs.

"You will make it, and put her back in her hole." Richard says, giving her a smirk, lifting her mood a little.

"And you are too, when you are back on your feet, promise me you will deal with this." She says, pointing at the bag on her head. "Because I won't be eating in the dining hall with it on."

"I promise, thought you look amusing with it on." He continues.

"Ha-ha."

Author's Notes: bad things are brewing :)