Suspicion
Disclaimer: I do not in any way, shape, or form own the show Teen Titans, nor the various DC comics on which this fanfiction is based.
The Titans sit inside their command room, the heart-shaped face of the sorceress Zatanna Zatarra filling the screen before them.
A large, multi-page document made up entirely of a list rests with each of the five, the mood gloomy.
"What're all these things?" Cyborg asks, scratching his head in confusion at the list.
A lot of the items don't even seem to have an English, or entirely human, name on the papers, and the oldest Titan is finding it frustrating, to say the list, trying to guess at what they're looking at.
None of them miss the glare their Goth friend gives the list, her eyes becoming ever narrower with each page she noisily flips through.
"There's been a string of break-ins, mostly in museums and private collections," Zatanna states, waving her own copy of the list around.
Nightwing opens his mouth to voice his thoughts on that, and with a smirk, the sorceress raises her hand, cutting him off.
"Normally, not really our thing, at least not as a group, I know. We were leaving it to the police, for a while now. Things have changed."
"A while," Raven repeats, staring emotionlessly at the sorceress with an upraised eyebrow. "Really?"
A slight blush feathers across her cheeks, and Zatanna forces a cough to cover her embarrassment.
"Once we saw a pattern, and started paying attention, we found that the first in these thefts was roughly two months ago."
"Okay, so it's a lot of stolen objects. Obviously," Beast Boy states, slapping the pile of papers on his knee. "Still not seeing what makes it something you'd be looking at, dude."
Zatanna notices Raven's eyes returned to the list, continuing to become more and more visibly irritated as she goes.
Noticing, Koriand'r looks at Raven with concern.
"What troubles you so, friend Raven?" she inquires, lacking subtlety as usual.
A slight wince crosses Raven's expression, so quick that nobody is sure it ever really existed at all.
"Oh, nothing, Star, just finding astonishment at how terrible this planet is at safeguarding items that are not meant for mundane, human eyes," Raven muses.
"Whaddya mean, Rae?" Beast Boy inquires, failing to notice the darkening blush on Zatanna's cheeks.
"Oh, I think that the one on monitor duty for the Justice League should explain Justice League objectives," Raven responds, smirking at the sight of Zatanna's discomfort.
"Zee?" Nightwing asks, turning his attention back to the screen.
"Ugh… Right… Every item you see on that list is a magical artifact. A dangerous one. Most of them are supposedly ancient relics, and every one of them has some story of terrible power and or origin. The thefts are happening globally, and now, the Justice League has almost every spare member they can find hunting down leads. Hell, I'm only doing monitor duty, as Raven put it so kindly, right now because even Manhunter's out somewhere."
"Wait, so you mean someone's been amassing magical weapons for possibly over two months, and we're getting on this just now?" Nightwing asks incredulously.
Smirking, Raven returns her attention back to the list, flipping through yet another page.
"Hey, we're not talking amateur magicians with parlor tricks here. We've been busy dealing with tracking down rumors of the Injustice League coming back, and a lot of the museums didn't even notice the items missing until we knew to look."
"So… what? They teleport the items out and put fakes in their place?"
"No, that would make it simple," Zatanna sighs. "A lot of the people just didn't even remember there being the items we looked for in the first place, until we brought it up. There's no traces of who's doing it that we've been able to find thus far, and it's too far-spread to just be one or two people."
"Psimon?" Raven inquires with a bored tone, not looking up from the list.
"Possible, but we haven't heard of anything about the guy since the Brotherhood of Evil was thawed out," Zatanna says with a shaking head.
"So what're we lookin' at, here? This seems like any rich magician would have the motivation for it," Cyborg muses, eyes closed in concentration.
"We're hoping for the best. It's been two months, so it might be a bored collector who wants powerful items to show off at parties. But that isn't likely, and the fact that it's been going on for so long, with such a large list of stolen items, says that it's far more likely to be for something bad. Really bad."
Something on the list catches Raven's eye, and all of them cringe away from her as a look far harsher than just irritation colors her otherwise stoic expression.
She voices nothing, though, plans already forming in her mind on how she's going to deal with the item that caught her attention.
"A lot of these are from around New York, especially Gotham and Jump," Raven notes with a rough monotone, once more appearing utterly calm.
"Yes, they are. So we think that it would follow logically that a lot of the items are still in Gotham, and Jump, and a number of other areas. Hence this call, much as I'd love for it to be a social one," Zatanna sighs.
"We'll get on it," Nightwing says, straightening in his seat.
"Well, then, I leave it in your capable hands," Zatanna says, seeming less than inclined to hang up.
"Cyborg, you and Beast Boy head out to a museum that's been hit heavily, and see if you can't find something. A blip in the video, a familiar scent, something. Star, you and Raven-"
"Actually, I think that Starfire and you should team up for this, Nightwing," Raven interrupts, the uncharacteristic interruption surprising their leader.
"Why? No offense, Star," he adds quickly.
"Simple," Raven says as she stands up, letting the list fall back to the table, its contents already memorized. "You cannot fly, but you are a detective. It makes more sense to have the two of us going in different directions, as we can surely cover more ground quickly as separate groups with flight. That, and I know of many of the items on this list, and know of places to begin looking in avenues that, if you or Star were to accompany me, would likely end up causing more work than needed."
With an acknowledging nod to Zatanna, whose mouth is agape at her bluntness, her body gets wrapped in a coating of black.
Without another word, she teleports away from the room…
"What was that about? Haven't seen Raven act like that in a long time," Cyborg muses, staring at the empty floor where their teammate had stood.
Zatanna quickly flips through her list to the page Raven had reacted to, and her eyes travel down the list.
The League had organized the items by language of name origin, followed by country or planet of origin, before the details on where they'd been held and what their potential powers were.
It was a thorough list, and it made finding the item that had set Raven off very easy.
Only one item on the list had the word Zandia in it, and seeing the country's name, Zatanna gave a curse.
"You guys should keep an eye on your friend," she warns, glaring at the item listed.
"Huh? Whyzzat?" Beast Boy asks with a frown.
"You know the deal with her whole demon thing, right?"
Nightwing tenses, eyes narrowed slightly.
"We do."
"Oh, cool the stare, Richard, it doesn't impress me," she says, laughing at his blush.
The others repressing snickers of their own, Zatanna lifts her own list up to the monitor and points at the offending item.
"This thing, right here? The Gem of Blood. It comes from a nation in the Baltic Sea named Zandia, a relatively small island, which is overtly controlled by the Church of Blood."
"Wait. As in Brother Blood?" Cyborg asks, a slight growl forming in his throat.
"Brothers, really. The one you guys tussled with would have been the 8th in the line. They all run the Church, in a cycle of son killing father to take over the powers, the rule, and the magical shawl that supposedly came from the Last Supper."
"So he wasn't just a psycho, then," Cyborg muses. "We took him down a few years back. Why's the gem got anything to do with Raven?"
"The Church of Blood is a cult. One which, around twenty-two years ago, played around with a being calling itself Skaath."
The Titans collectively pale at that, Nightwing's eyes going wide as the connection forms.
"Figured that'd make it click for you guys," Zatanna sighs. "Long story short, the gem's bad news, and either Raven's looking to settle a score or make some deal, and either way it's bad news."
Nightwing sighs, running his hand erratically through his thick black hair.
"Maybe it'd be a good idea to get some help on this. Maybe a mystic with a bit more experience than Raven?"
Cyborg glares at the leader, but his rant is forestalled by a raised hand.
"That list is huge. If Raven's really out there going after one specific thing, ditching us so we won't get in her way, that's the kind of diversion of resources we don't need if we want to help on this. Apparently, the museums here and in Gotham are inept at realizing that the public isn't a good place to put dangerous weapons. Raven seems to know where to track down at least a few, and she was right about covering more ground."
Cyborg's mouth closes as the logic works on him, his head reluctantly nodding in agreement.
"So, think you could pop on down and give us a hand?" Nightwing asks, turning back to the monitor.
"If for no other reason than keeping on eye on her, you guys might need me. Y'know, objectiveness and all that jazz," Zatanna says with a shrug.
The monitor screen flashes with light, and as it clears, Zatanna is no longer standing in front of the monitor…
Editor's Notes:
I'm going to say right now that I actually do like Zatanna as a character. That said, she also can be rather sanctimonious, and you can bet that her interactions with Raven will deal with their first meeting.
That said, I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Either way, let me know, whether your opinion thus far is positive or negative. See you next time!