The Watchtower:
"All healed up I see?" Nightwing says as he appears in the doorway of the room, in his own costume and with a bag by his side.
"Yeah, stupid concussion passed yesterday." Raven replies as she sits on the edge of the bed as one of doctors is helping getting the casts and bandages off her. "How long do we have?"
"The others are arriving, I bought you this." He says, handing over the bag to her, which she looks into.
"Thank you, but why two?" She asks noticing two cloaks in the bag along with her boots and bracelets as the doctor finishes. "Thank you." She nods at him, as he nods in return and leaves with the remains.
"I didn't know if you wanted the blue or black." He replies. Raven had left the items in Alfred's care before departing for Oolong and she had kept her leotard hidden under the clothes provided.
"Black for the occasion." Raven says as she puts on the cloak and flips up the hood before getting her boots and bracelets on. "Felt strange without them." She notes on the pieces of metal.
"You don't need me to say I still think it's strange you have them?" He asks.
"Like Diana said, it's nice one can still surprise." She says before walking past him and out the door, swiftly followed by him. "You are going to speak?"
"Of course, spent the most of yesterday figuring out what I should say."
"What about the other days?" Raven asks as he walks up beside her.
"Working on something, I'll tell you about it when it's done."
"Thought I've been stuck with monitor duty for a week, I feel like I'm being deliberately kept out of the loop." Raven sighs.
"Only because you tend to come running, with two broken legs if you have to." Richard replies with a smirk.
"Are you calling me stubborn?" Raven asks as they come closer to a pair of double doors leading into the training hall, which had been chosen as the site of the gathering.
"Would you prefer compulsive?" Richard continues.
"Maybe." Raven replies with a smirk as she opens the door, to a mild surprise for her.
The room is full of people, and many of them are too old to be Titans, Raven and Richard knows they are Leaguers. Raven is surprised that they are even here. In one corner, past the rows of seats, stand Cyborg, Beastboy and Starfire. The boys look grim in their black suits, Starfire looks depressed in the black dress she is wearing along with the small veil attached to the small black hat.
Next to them is the remains of the Titans East, all also wearing black, like Starfire, Bumblebee seems the most downhearted of the group. The rest of the room is scattered with similar small groups of two or three. In front of the seats is a simple wooden podium with a row of large pictures of the deceased standing behind it.
"Speedy spread the word about it; it's been an unspoken agreement within the League that in case someone is lost you come to the service if not needed elsewhere." Richard says as Raven scans the room.
"Kara must have brought him." Clark notes as the spot the big teen in the black T-shirt standing in front of the blonde seated on the front row, Raven can see he is firmly staring at the two oldest Titan groups, between them, Raven notices a group of women crowding around a wheelchair bound redhead.
"And Oracle got wind of it." Richard notes as they have an unspoken moment, where they look at each other before Raven heads over to the Birds and Richard for the Titans.
"I see you back and kicking." Barbara notes.
"Still a little sore." Raven admits. "So what brings you up here?"
"We knew Nemesis, worked with him a few times." Dinah says. "League decided to merge the two memorials."
"By the way, you should have taken Croc's head instead of his arm." Helena growls, getting a frosty stare from Barbara.
"Camera recordings were also on the data you sent." She says. "Nemesis often operated in deep cover, but Croc has an amazing nose and ambushed him." She sighs, Raven nods at this.
"I'd like to mention I am now even happier you didn't hit us." Spencer adds.
"Hmm, thought I disabled the camera's." Raven says. "What did you see?"
"The part where you practically punched Zee's jaw off and onwards, including the scuffle you had with Supes." Zinda says. "How is she doing?"
"Jaw has healed just fine, but I am assuming you don't know?" She gets a few questioning looks from the others. "Then I can't tell you the full story, I'm sorry."
"Must be bad." Zinda notes.
"It is." Raven sighs as a group of people enter the hall, Fate, Jason, Inza, Amazo and Zatanna. "Don't push her about it, she is fragile." Raven says, getting a few nods from the Birds before she heads over to the Titans.
"Hey Rae, how are you holding up?" Cyborg asks quietly as she joins them.
"I'm fine." Raven says, thought she had noticed Grief had grown slightly and that she was deliberately not looking at the pictures. "How about you?"
"We're ok." Beastboy replies quietly thought he also looks more downhearted than the other two men.
"Well, it's 11:00 in Gotham, better get started." Nightwing says before walking up to the podium and taps the small microphone once, testing it and drawing the room's attention. Everyone quietly filters into their seats.
Titans West takes up seats on the second row behind Titans East, who were the closest to the Guatemalan twins. While Red Star takes up the last seat next to them.
"Him, Pantha and Wildebeest got close." Cyborg whispers to Raven.
"Hello and thank you all for…" Nightwing starts before the door opens in the back and two people rush in, followed by one walking in his own pace. Jinx and Kid Flash manage to look suitably embarrassed and quickly find their seats at the back. Aquaman remains expressionless, clearly in good time in his own opinion, and calmly walks to find himself a seat.
"Hello and thank you all for coming today for this memorial." Nightwing begins again. "For those of you that don't know me, I was once Robin, the Boy Wonder. I once moved out of Gotham to strike out on my own, there I met four other extraordinary people, people I would come to call friends. Together we would form what became known as Titans West, during our time together we encountered similar young people like ourselves. These people…" He says as he detaches the microphone from its holder and walks to the first picture, displaying the pink haired girl sitting on the caveman's shoulders, both smiling. "Like Kole and the caveman Gnaark, who we met during a mission in the Arctic's lived in a primordial world beneath the ice and snow." He says before moving to the next.
"Hotspot, who Cyborg, Beastboy and I met initially along with Speedy, Aqualad and Wildebeest." He says at the dark-skinned boy giving the photographer a thumb up with his right hand. "Wildebeest spent most of his time in the wilds because of his appearance, till Pantha took him in." The picture of the two is split diagonally, one showing the grown Wilderbeest hugging a squirming Pantha, the other showing Pantha giving a small boy a piggy-bag ride, the boy is Wilderbeest in human form.
"Mâs and Menos, brothers gifted with incredible speed." Bumblebee sobs loudly at the mention of the twins, each giving the audience a toothy grin. "Argent, defender of the British Isle's." Like Hotspot, Argent is giving the thumbs up sign along with a smile.
"And Melvin, Timmy, Teether and Bobby, who I assigned, Raven to watch out for when the threat of the Brotherhood of Evil loomed." Raven lowers her gaze to the ground and sinks deeper into her hood at the mention. "While we may not have spent an equal amount of time with them all, we all knew them to be good people, true friends, true Titans." Raven thinks it is inappropriate that he says that, Richard seems to realize that as well.
"I'm sorry, that was inappropriate. It is true, the ones who hurt us the most, are the ones closest to us. And this unfortunately proves it. The monster, who dealt the greatest blow to the Titans, was not a monster from the deepest pits or wore the face of evil when we met it at first. No, we invited it inside believing it to be a friend only to have it stab us in the back. I… I won't spoil this anymore, please remember our friends as they were, they are in a better place now… thank you." Nightwing says as he fumbles with the microphone holder for a second before taking the last vacant seat on the Titan's West row, next to Raven, the fumbling was a sign how much it was affecting him.
"You shouldn't have mentioned that." Raven whispers.
"I know, this… was what I wanted to say." Richard replies while looking at the ground as he pulls out a small note from a compartment on his arm before handing it to Raven, who unfolds it as Barbara rolls up to the podium after a round of muttering amongst the audience. "I might as well not have bothered writing that." He sighs quietly as Raven reads the note.
"You couldn't remember it?" Raven whispers.
"No." Nightwing admits, he hadn't experienced anything like this since an exam in school after his parents died.
"Thank you Nightwing." Barbara says as she rolls over to the last picture, one of a blond man with blue eyes and a confident smirk on his face. "Thomas Andrew Tresser, was not a man of many words or of many friends due to his job. A job he too very serious, as one must when going deep under cover, as he often was. I had the privilege of working with him on numerous occasions and found him to be a very able bodied agent in the field, but also a kind man when the job was over. Me and those who got to know him, mourn his passing while knowing he passed away the way he wanted to, on the job, thank you." Barbara says before wiping something out of her eye, as a woman in a black sparkling suit takes the microphone from her.
Donna looks surprised as she turns around with the microphone as Barbara rolls away. "I… Er… I can't really claim I knew any of them, only that they were members of honored organizations. But that alone tells me they will be missed as comrades in arms and as friends. And I hope that they would wish you all continue in your efforts to make the world a better place, even if they are no longer a part of it, thank you." She says as she deposits the microphone and sits down hurriedly.
"Raven, can I speak?" Superman asks.
"Hold on." Raven says as she takes a second to clear her thoughts before she changes shape to that of the Man of Steel, who gets up from her seat to the gasps from a few.
"Hello, I will admit it is a bit strange to be standing here today, like this. But as most of you know, I and the others have been stuck in here for a good while now. When we heard about this memorial coming up, I decided to get to know some more about the Titans. And from Raven's memories, I can tell you, they were great people, really they were. The twin's were pranksters, and with their powers they were often the real culprits when Speedy and Aqualad ended up arguing about hair and fish." Superman gets a few chuckles from this.
"Pantha was a proud woman, even prouder when she was inducted and a happy one when she took in Wilderbeest who loved her like a mother. Hotspot was a bit of a hothead, but he had a soft spot for cute animals."He gets a few more chuckles for this, mainly from the Titans who were there to see it.
"Raven felt an almost kindred spirit with Kole, who hid beneath the ice cap to get away from people who would abuse the power she had. Gnaark was afraid for a moment that the Titans would take Kole away from him after he lost an eating contest with Cyborg." A few more chuckles, especially from Cyborg.
"Argent was a good girl, while she had her share of concerns due to her dual heritage, she choose to remain with what she knew, and that was to be human." He halts for a second, knowing the last mention will be the hardest for his host.
"The Kid's, as they would come to be called by the rest of the Titans, were exceptional. Unlike most, their powers manifested at an extremely early age, which caused them to be moved into the custody of a society of monks one by one. There they grew up happily with the monks, till the Brotherhood found out about them and Raven was assigned to escort them to safety." To the surprise of most, Superman's image runs like wax for a second before it reforms, to the Titans it tells how hard Raven is taking it.
"Which she did successfully." Superman continues as if nothing had happened. "Now, the Titans will know how much Raven tries to remain unfeeling because of her powers, but she did feel a lot when around the Kid's, that alone will tell them how much they meant." His shape blurs again.
"If you would all please stand." He continues as everyone does. "What we do when we dress up like this and put ourselves in harm's way, carries the risk dire consequences, we all know this somewhere, and we would be foolish not to think so. But all of us who would risk our lives for a complete stranger, we are heroes to them, as were those who have been lost to us now, please remember them as such, thank you." He says as he lowers the microphone, while he does this he gradually seems to finally melt away leaving the black cloaked Raven behind. She drops the microphone on the ground before she disappears without another word.
Richard bolts out of his seat and out the door before anyone can react, perhaps it is because of the bond, maybe it is because he caught a short glimpse of her eyes under the hood, but he had a feeling that she might do something she would regret.
Back in the room, Cyborg stands up and claps his palms together to get everyone's attention. "Ok, thank you all for coming here today, for those that need, there are refreshments in the cafeteria." He says, the assembly gets up quietly and slowly heads out the door, with a few hugs and greetings being shared between a few.
Richard had been relieved that there was a prisoner in the cell he stormed past, which had left the question of, where had Raven gone? He asks himself this question as he runs into the medical ward of the station to the sound of a crash from somewhere, slowing down at the sight of Mid-Night he walks to the room Raven was treated in, finding the window blocked by a black mass. While he hears the second crash coming from within, he calmly walks to the door and let himself inside.
The room is a mess, but the wards on the walls are holding, most of the lower part of the bed appears to have been melted, causing it to lean unevenly. There's bits of paper and stuffing flying everywhere, the former contents of the bent and punctured waste basket that gets rebounded against the wall as he watches.
The cause of all this is lying on her belly crying her heart out into the remains of the pillow, it moves Richard because events like this one is so rare and at the same time one he didn't want to see. Unheeding of the black lighting coursing over and off her, he walks over to crouch beside her, getting her attention with a hand on her shoulder.
"You… you shouldn't be here." Raven sobs.
"Yes, I should." Richard counters calmly.
"You'll get hurt." Raven continues.
"No, I won't." He says. "It's ok." He continues as he can tell she is trying to battle her emotions back into place.
"I should have been there…" Raven sighs while grabbing the pillow, she tries to turn around to toss it at the door, but the uneven bed has her roll off and into to Richard who also falls backwards, ending up with her sitting in his lap on the floor. "I can't even do that right." She sobs as she tries to get up, only to have Richard grab her wrist and holds her close.
"It's ok Rae, it's wasn't your fault." Richards says as he strains to hold onto her as she struggles a little against him.
"I should have been there to protect them!"
"You can't be responsible for everyone you care about." Richards insists. "No they didn't deserve it, but we all have that stupid chance."
"I should still have been there." Raven whispers in another sob, Richard can tell she is building up the dam again to hold in the emotions that needs to come out.
"Rae, you were the one that told me I should reign in my emotions when Starfire couldn't recognize me. You shouldn't either, it's not healthy and they wouldn't want you to." Raven sniffs as the dam she was building is washed away in her grief and tears.
Richard holds onto her through the entire ordeal that leaves nothing left of the inventory, while first remaining silent; gradually he begins crying as well. Because it breaks his heart to see her like this, and because he blames himself for making the communicators in the first place.
"So, where do you think Rob and Rae went?" Beastboy asks the collective group of Titans East and West sits at the table in the cafeteria.
"Hopefully something the League will let her walk away from." Cyborg grumbles, his mind occupied with images of a gore splattered cell.
"How'd she take it? I mean initially?" Aqualad asks while staring holes in his glass of water.
"Rob said he has never seen anything like it, they found one guy pissing in his pants, Metallo fused to the walls and the Joker with a set of broken ribs. Flash got sent to Azerath when he tried to stop her, and she and Superman tore a hallway apart as he tried to calm her down." Cyborg sighs.
"So what are we going to do about… Terra?" Speedy asks while keeping a heavy note of venom in his voice as he speaks the name.
"Dunno, Rob is tight lipped, but we have been working on a way to neutralize her powers so we can get her off the station." Cyborg says before the table fall silent.
"I wonder how many times the twins we the actual cause of our disagreements?" Aqualad muses to Speedy, deciding to steer the conversation away from the murderer.
"Bet it was just me they were after." Speedy smirks as he thinks back.
"Heh, remember the two ending up in a fight over Star?" Bumblebee adds.
"Yes, I remember that as well." Stafire says, though she remembers she was unsure how to handle the two.
"I remember how annoyed Rae was when she found out about escorting the Kids." Beastboy adds.
"Could just have been because you decided to play operator with her." Cyborg counters with a smirk.
"Oh yeah? Well I remember the time when you lost to Pantha…" Beastboy continues, thus beginning the walk down memory lane and good spirited arguing.
Nightwing and Raven would join them later on, their own grief having run its course and they joined in, contributing their own memories of those lost. Unknown to the Titans, the numerous laughs that came from their table caused a ripple effect in the League, who also became less gloom and began remembering the good times Nemesis had provided.
Authors Notes: Couple of slower chapters. Next up, the quest continues and the mages hit a slight snag.