Fallout
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.
Zatanna stares Raven down, her amusement entirely out of place.
"Well, which one is it, Raven? Is she a thief, a friend of thieves, or a spook?" she demands.
Raven considers her options, the cell phone weighing heavily in her pocket.
Cyborg, too, seems uncomfortable, apparently true to his word on understanding the situation.
Finally, Raven decides on tried and true sarcasm and distraction.
"Or perhaps the Justice League doesn't take much to top. It took anonymous tips to bring your attentions to the thefts to begin with, so you guys don't seem too on top of things. I don't honestly care where her intel comes from, just that it's always right and she didn't steal them."
"I don't believe you," the sorceress growls. "Even if it's true, that you're returning a ton of these items on perfectly on the level information, there are damn sure to be a lot of items you haven't returned."
Raven's eyes narrow at the accusation, the red in her eyes glowing brightly.
"So that's it. You truly think I'm the thief behind a worldwide heist scheme," Raven bites out, even the thought making her ill.
The others all stare in wide-eyed shock at them, waiting with baited breath for Zatanna to deny it.
"You're amassing a power for an eventual attack on the scale of your father. You're stealing them with the help of a convict who skated on a life-term imprisonment for murder after escalating from theft after she left the Titans," she replies.
"It makes sense," Nightwing adds, though he seems not nearly as convinced.
Raven ignores him, approaching the sorceress far more quickly than a human would be capable.
"Whoa, whoa, hang on, you're dating Jinx!?" Beast Boy asks, staring in shock at the psychic. "She totally bailed on us. The hell're-"
"Garfield-"
"Shutting up, I know," he grumbles, glaring at her.
"Zatanna, I've given you your only warning. Think on this. Were I a demon as you assume, and had you insulted a loved one as you have, what reason would I have to not separate your head from your neck?"
The tone, more than the question itself, sends Zatanna several steps back, her eyes wide.
"As for Jinx, she was screwed over. Heavily. In fact, I've been toying with the idea of launching a formal investigation into the senator and judge who made sure she had no chance of fighting for her justified defense on the part of an incapacitated man."
"That's bull! She'd have called someone-"
"Everything about it was crooked. As I said earlier, I know when someone lies to me. She didn't. This was months ago, when I had absolutely no reason to believe her, and I still did. She didn't get a phone call. In fact, she was sent to Belle Reve and almost killed over it, numerous times, because she was on our side."
"Then you could call the warden right now and-"
"You wanna' piss off Amanda Waller by wasting her time?" Cyborg asks, interrupting her and surprising them all.
"What?"
"I told you, too. I know the whole thing. Her story's on the up-and-up. She killed the son of a senator, who was beating the shit outta' some chump. He didn't show up to court, and the senator pressed on the judge's pious hang-ups about metas. She was denied her rights, put in a closed court, and shipped off without any chances to contact anyone."
Zatanna remains unfazed, something alien moving in her gaze that sends Raven's skin crawling.
Once more, it vanishes the instant she notices it, but this time she's sure of its existence.
"Which is all utterly irrelevant. She's on our side. She's done your job a lot better than you have, Zatanna."
"Which still seems to imply she has a very personal idea of where to look. At best an enabler. The two of you make more sense than anyone else. You can teleport, you can hide from senses and mess with awarenesses, and you can mess with cameras and electronics. She can more than make people confused with her powers. I've been reading up. She could fry memory with a controlled hex bolt. And both of you are magic users, who would have every reason to be the thieves."
As Zatanna lists off her reasonings, the others notice the air in the room becoming distinctly colder.
As if matching the change, Raven's eyes lose their red glow, the purple becoming an almost icy shade.
"By that logic, you could be behind it, too, Zatanna."
The sorceress's eyes widen almost comically at that, her jaw snapping shut.
The others turn their gaze to her, their thoughts obvious.
"I'm not!" she shouts, as if scandalized.
Raven pauses as her words register in her mind. A nagging thought slips into her mind, one that gives her reason to be more wary of the sorceress.
Putting the sensation off for when Jinx's presence will help her sound her thoughts out, she returns her mind to the problem at hand.
"No, you aren't. Or at least, you're on the lower rungs of my list of potential suspects. But your logic is too weak to settle on any culprits," Raven argues. "Come up with better reasoning before accusing me."
"Right now, give me anyone else who would be a better fit for being able to do this all on their own? We've been looking for an organization this whole time, but if it's really just one or two especially dangerous and skilled sorceresses with a penchant for thievery and being criminals, that would've made it a lot harder for us. So go ahead, tell me how my logic's unsound, Raven," Zatanna sneers.
"Do you want an alphabetical list, or a chronological one?" the psychic snarks back.
Her hand comes up, her index finger rising between Zatanna's eyes.
"Teleportation's a factor? Kydd Wykkyd can do that and he's not to the best of my knowledge even a magician. You, Etrigan, myself, Doctor Fate, Wotan, and innumerable other magic wielders have mastered what is, essentially, a pretty basic technique for anyone with magical talent."
"And how many can do it without any manifestation?" Zatanna returns. "I leave smoke everywhere. Fate comes through a giant, glowing ankh. Etrigan's got fire all around him whenever he pops in. Maybe Wykkyd, but he's nowhere close to the power he would need to be at to pull it off. You, on the other hand, come through literal darkness, which interferes with electronics and is hard to spot in even dim lighting."
"Fair enough. But your smoke is theatrics, you can slip through that hat of yours, or through thin air if you want. As could someone like Wotan. We'll go out on this thin limb of thought you're calling reasoning. Off the top of my head, I can think of three people right now who are among my biggest suspects, who would both be more than powerful enough to do this and would have the reason to do it. That alone tells me your reasoning is narrow-sighted if you immediately conclude I'm the culprit."
"Oh? Do tell?"
A twitch of irritation goes through Raven at the sorceress's tone, her eyes narrowing against her.
"If you're going based on my method being hard to pinpoint due to the darkness I use, there's the Shade. If you're assuming it's me because I can do such feats as hide myself from you that, I'm sure, seem astounding to you due to the difference in our skills, then there's also Morgana Le Fey and Circe. There. Three people off the top of my head that would easily fill your broad scope."
The others stare at Raven in shock, her open mockery utterly unexpected.
"No, please, I'm sure you've got a witty retort. I can keep going. I have a long list of people I'd think capable of these thefts before I got to your name, so we could do this as long as you wish to waste my time on something so utterly simple, if you want."
Without warning, Zatanna's fist lashes out for Raven's throat, her eyes narrowed in humiliated rage.
Smirking, the psychic sidesteps her swing and brings her foot out, sending her sprawling forward with her own momentum.
"Really? I'd say you've embarrassed yourself enough this night already. Do I really need to put you on the floor before you get a hold of yourself, Zatanna?" Raven asks with a small chuckle.
"Oh, I bet you'd love to get me on the floor," Zatanna snarls as her body moves into a spin.
The kick is well-executed, signs of learning from the Batman himself shining in the perfect balance of her swing.
Her leg moves in a blur, moving to smash Raven's neck and send her wheezing to the ground.
Despite the power behind the move, her kick soars over Raven's ducked head, the half-demon's eyes narrowing in irritation.
Her hand wraps around the sorceress's ankle, holding her in place on the verge of falling.
Muscles creak under her grip, Zatanna's face contorting into a wince at the sensation of crushing steel on her joint.
"Were it a year ago, maybe even a few days ago, I would simply let your persistence in irritating me go and head off to meditate. I'll give you this warning once, Zatanna, and you ignore me at your own considerable risk. Do not think you can come at me with just your fists."
The sound of something snapping in the air draws her attention to her side, where Nightwing's metal bo staff points at her head.
"I'll extend that warning to you as well, if needed, Richard."
"Enough!" Cyborg shouts, his eyes narrowed dangerously. "Rae, put her down. Dick, you don't drop the staff, I'm going to bend it in two."
The half-machine's irritation rolls through Raven in waves, making her wince as it adds to her own.
Forcing her shields back into place, she feels something slip away from her mind as she lets Zatanna go.
The sorceress screeches as her tether disappears, her utter lack of balance sending her onto the floor.
Only a thin sheet of black light keeps her from smashing her face, her eyes widening in surprise as she's slowly uprighted by Raven's soul-self.
Nightwing doesn't move, his narrowed eyes locked on the half-demon before him.
"You don't pick fights here," he says through gritted teeth.
"I picked the fight. Of course. Truly, I'm at fault for her being so easily goaded from me pointing out why she's simple-minded to accuse me on such weak bases," Raven laughs.
Zatanna stomps up to her then, eyes narrowed.
"Personal space," Raven muses at her proximity. "I've warned you, so if you're getting this close, then it must be out of something other than thinking to swing at me again. I assure you if that's the case, only one angry woman's allowed this close to me, and you aren't her… though I suppose that wouldn't really matter to you, would it?" she ponders.
The statement takes Zatanna off-guard almost as much as it does Raven herself, her eyes widening as she ponders what could cause her to voice such a thing.
Before she wonders on it too much, though, she notices Zatanna's expression.
The sorceress's face shows many things in that moment. Shock, understanding, and rage are there. But a burning pulse of anger sweeps through Raven at the utter lack of sorrow or regret.
Raven moves to stand a mere inch from the startled sorceress, her eyes narrowing.
"The hell're you talking about?" she demands. "I haven't done-"
"Do not finish that lie. It's very unwise to lie to my face. You can posture a higher moral ground than Jinx and I due to our past actions and blood all you want, but at least when we started dating, we were both single," Raven hisses out.
She doesn't realize the volume of her accusation until she feels the shock rippling through the room.
Instantly, her eyes widen, a sense of dread creeping across her spine.
"What did you say?" Zatanna demands, her eyes narrowed to slits.
"Just a point of thought, the next time you try to go high and mighty on me, that you should consider yourself able to argue ethics and morality if your record is unblemished, which I imagine it isn't entirely" Raven says, hoping the others don't connect the dots because of her.
By the feeling of terror coming from Nightwing, and the anger and shock coming from Cyborg first, and then slowly Beast Boy and Starfire, she knows her wishes will not come true.
"Raven, what're you talking about?" Cyborg asks, though his glare is focused on Nightwing.
"Absolutely nothing beyond speculation, on a topic I have no business knowing or talking about," she sighs with a last-ditch effort to negate the words that her mind hadn't fully worked through before they escaped her.
Zatanna's eyes narrow even further, and her arm pulls back in preparation to swing at the psychic.
But then, a look of pain crosses her expression, and the limb drops limply at her side, the hints of tears beginning to form.
Raven's own mood quickly goes lower, the regret of her statement mounting with every second of Koriand'r's growing sadness.
"F-Friend Zatanna?" the alien princess asks, unable to keep the quiver from her voice.
Zatanna's tears begin breaking free, and her body starts shaking.
"I-"
"I fucked up," Nightwing finally speaks, his voice vibrating with regrets of his own.
"H-How long?" Kori asks, her own tears forming as her fear is turned to reality. "How long has the… affair," she says, finally remembering the word Raven used, "been ongoing? And how long has Friend Raven known?"
"I… I figured it out yesterday," Raven says, her mask gone in the face of her emotions. "I… I didn't intend to do this to you, Kori. I'm a complete bitch."
"You did n-nothing, Friend Raven," Starfire argues, her voice quivering as she rises to a stand. "I… wish to be alone for a while."
Her utterly broken tone pushes Raven to motion, quickly materializing before the alien.
Before, hugs had been a rare thing even with her one female friend.
Now, it comes easily as she pulls the alien into her arms, feeling the weight of her head on her shoulder.
Nightwing stares at the women, his own pain and anger clear through his mask.
"Kori, I'm so sorry, I-"
Kori's head snaps up, her expression cutting his speech off.
"I do not want sorries, Richard. I… I do not know what I want. Perhaps an explanation… When I am not… volatile."
With a bone-crushing hug to Raven, the alien vanishes through the door, the psychic's own eyes burning as they stare at the ground.
"You bitch," Nightwing hisses, eyes narrowed to a murderous glare on her.
Raven's head snaps up, the others shocked at the tear tracks on her grey skin.
"I assure you, Richard, you cannot make me regret my words more than I do. All the same, do not dare to blame your actions on me."
"You didn't tell her out of loyalty, you told her to win a petty fucking argument," he snarls, stomping towards her.
Raven's sadness vanishes in the wake of her anger. Anger at all three of them, her own part not deniable.
Cyborg advances then, his fist slamming into the side of Nightwing's face.
With a grunt, he falls to the floor, blood leaking from his split lip.
"Rae ain't the asshole here. How long you been screwin' Kori over? Ain't you always goin' on 'bout how we have to be moral paragons for everyone?"
"He isn't wrong," Raven tells the metal man, staring at her former leader. "I didn't… I was hoping he would man up and tell her. It wasn't my place to say anything… I was absolutely not in the right using it for spite… I didn't expect this when I took all my emotions back in."
"I was planning on telling her," Nightwing growls.
"Of course you were. Eventually. Maybe after a month or two of fucking them both," Cyborg growls, his eye narrowed dangerously at him.
"We were both planning on telling her," Zatanna cuts in. "It takes two… It wasn't like we planned for this to happen."
"And you," Cyborg growls, turning on the sorceress. "The hell!? You knew him when he was younger. Shouldn't you have known better than to get wrapped up in this?"
Zatanna's eyes go to the ground, tears shining in her gaze.
"I came here to keep watch on Raven and ended up being here for a lot longer than I expected, which meant a lot more stress… There's no excuse, for what either of us did, but at least we were planning on softening the damned blow."
Her eyes rise up to narrow at Raven then, and this time, the alien sensation of her gaze doesn't go away.
Raven's own gaze narrows, a mental limb moving to the sorceress to find what it is as a very unpleasant sensation takes hold.
"What's done cannot be undone. I came here for a reason, Richard, and it was not this. That said, this is undoubtedly the source of our problem. If you think with your upper head for a few seconds, you would not immediately jump to agreeing with the theory that I would betray those I've protected for 7 years alongside of you."
His eyes narrow in anger once again, the discussion a fine distraction for them all.
"Because you're in such a fantastic position to convince me right now," he snarls.
"I regret my handling of that. However, no matter that I needlessly hurt my friend or that you two are nowhere close to being able to lecture me on the morality of my dating, I would still have no need to convince you of anything."
"Frankly, I think it's pretty stupid of you to think that, anyway," Cyborg adds. "Rae's been nothing but a help with this whole damn investigation, and by extension, that means that Jinx has been, too."
"Victor, you don't think this is all a little too convenient?" Zatanna asks with a frown. "Look at this mess. With just a few words, she completely avoided any of my questions."
Raven's eyes narrow at that, and she floats towards the sorceress with a red glow to her gaze.
"Then let me make things crystal clear, Zatanna Zatarra. I have not stolen anything. I am not part of the people who have, nor is Jinx. Whether you believe me or not is irrelevant. And if you decide in your blind, prejudiced arrogance, or your possession, or whatever has made you such the fool that you are, that you can threaten me or my love, I will teach you what regret really is."
"Is that a threat?" the woman responds with grit teeth.
Raven's lips curl into a smile at this, sending a shiver through Zatanna that, for just a brief moment, shoves a spike of fear through the haze of her mind and pushes her body into an instinctive backpedal.
The others in the room shiver as a strange sensation floods the air, and Raven's hair floats wildly around her, whipped by a wind they can't feel.
"It is not a threat. It is a geas. I don't know why you so soundly assume me to be the mastermind of the thefts your organization had to receive help to notice, much less why you assume me evil when I had to save all of you, because you were so arrogant to begin with."
Zatanna cringes at the tone of the psychic's voice, the fog clearing utterly from her mind and making her realize just how poor her goading and decision making has been for months.
Just as she begins wondering what caused such a change, the fog snaps back onto her mind, with a force almost powerful enough to send her to the ground.
Her psyche is compressed, and the fog takes a firm hold, becoming Zatanna after her months of resistance.
"Know this, Zatanna. Whatever force drives you, whether it's truly just you alone in your mind or the influence of another, I will not tolerate your ego to persist. I'm going to leave, and if you ever see me again, you'd better hope for your own sake that you've overcome whatever stupidity bounces around within that cavernous bubble that lies beneath your hair."
If not for the utterly terrifying presence Raven's threat fills the room with, both Beast Boy and Cyborg would have certainly laughed at the insult.
As it stands, they are just as frozen as Nightwing and Zatanna, even if they aren't as afraid as the sorceress.
Zatanna's eyes suddenly fill with a silver light, and her hands point at Raven.
"Ffo kcab!"
A magical wave rushes forth from her hands, and her eyes widen in shock as a shell of black light slams into existence around Raven's body.
Her spell smacks into it, and the force whips back around.
Raven's soul-self disappears in wisps of black smoke as Zatanna slams into the ground, not visibly hurt but very clearly shocked.
"What-"
"Your spells do not have any hold on me, anymore than your fists would," Raven interrupts with a shrug. "Remember that, were I decide to retaliate right here and now, you would have been the initiator after more than adequate warning against such actions. As it stands, I'm just too tired of you to waste more of my energy. Stay down, and do not rise again until I've taken my leave, if you have any inkling of self-preservation instinct."
Zatanna gasps, even her fogged mind knowing the wisdom of staying on the floor.
With a grunt, Nightwing slowly rises, his hand fisting in her cloak as he stares down at her.
"You're acting a lot like the demon you claim not to be right now, Raven," he mocks.
"Because I will not tolerate prejudices anymore?"
She laughs at the notion, advancing on her former leader in the same way she had the witch.
"No, Richard, I am not a demon. I'm not human, either. As I said, a very enlightening two days. I undid what the monks did to me in my youth. For the first time, I'm just me, and I'm through catering to fears of me that have no warrant. One side-effect of this is that I'm no longer going to tolerate insults based solely on what I can do."
"So you deal with this by doing exactly what you can do? Might want to rethink that," Richard mocks.
"You think that is what I can do? Throwing a simple spell back at its caster? If that is what you're afraid of, then I really did overthink your intelligence, Richard. Though I suppose the fact that you so readily jumped onto a theory-"
"I didn't readily jump onto the theory. You've been acting off for months, which makes sense considering Jinx. I wanted to believe it was the thieves stealing things. I sent Zatanna after you into Gotham hoping she'd come back telling me she was wrong. And every single action you've taken in the last months made a lot more sense when she gave me that report. It makes more sense that you two would be able to do all of it than most other thieves, and it'd explain why the criminals never told us anything, since there are a lot of them that're terrified of you."
Raven pauses at that, the lack of untruthfulness warring with the sense of wrongness coming from him and clashing in her mind.
Finally, her irritation wins out, a new light on his actions not making for much better of a picture.
"Then you would have not publicly aired everything. You would have asked for my side of the story, in private. I can admit that I have also erred with my handling of things. But you would assume after a one-sided, biased account that I'm not only a thief, but a villain, despite all I've gone through to avoid that fate. You would have trusted her report but verified on your own, if you were any decent detective."
His eyes narrow at that, his body stiffening as he takes a threatening step towards her.
"You've got a lot of arrogance yourself. Zatanna gives me that report, and then you go missing for nearly 24 hours. You then show up, after ignoring every single call that I made to you, and you look like when you were turning into the gem for Trigon. The idea that you have, in fact, been acting as a villainess is not so hard to buy anymore."
"Then you're an idiot," Raven hisses.
His eyes narrow at that, both at her and at Cyborg's agreeing nod of his head.
"You're suspended from the Titans, effective immediately. If you want back in, you'll turn everything you haven't already returned to the Justice League."
"Even were I to have any more items at present to give, the Justice League let these items get stolen in the first place! The only one I'd trust with them would be Doctor Fate, and I don't exactly have a V.I.P. pass to his Tower to hand them off. Do not mistake my regret for Kori's pain for weakness to your petty threats spurred on by self-loathing. I was planning on resigning when I came here."
"I think that might be a good idea," Cyborg adds, glaring at the former Boy Wonder. "If this is how you treat your friends, I'm not havin' any of it. I thought you learned from the whole Red-X stuff about goin' behind backs."
Nightwing winces, releasing his grip on Raven.
"You're dangerous, Raven. I can't let you just go on your own. Why do you think I-"
His words return Raven's rage, her sadness entirely vanishing as red once again glows in her eyes.
"Kept me under constant watch? I won't be a threat to you, Richard. To do so would be sinking to your pathetic level. Unless, of course, you plan on using your hidden cell to mentally stunt me for the rest of my life at your convenience… Well, if you could, at any rate. I destroyed it earlier, on my way here."
His eyes widen in surprise, seeming truly shocked.
The expression, and the bubbling up of all her negative emotions, becomes too much for Raven, and she quickly finds herself laughing in his face.
"You really thought yourself so subtle around me that you kept your little contingencies secret? Something's been wrong for weeks, and imagine my surprise when I found you planning something only Deathstroke could be proud of."
"Raven-"
"I have some friends other than Jinx. With some help, I destroyed every hint of your plans. Not just for me, either. Cyborg, Beast Boy, Starfire, and Jinx are removed, too, as are a few other people of interest. Your plans are gone, Richard. And I've gotten some guarantees in place."
"What-"
Nightwing's question is cut off as Raven's hand wraps around his throat.
Her eyes narrow to slits as she pulls him through the air towards herself.
Even Cyborg stares in shock at the display of strength, muscles they'd never seen on her before flexing as she brings her former leader off the ground.
He wheezes at the pressure on his windpipe as she pulls him to within an inch of her body.
"If you ever try putting the plans I've removed, which I've no doubt you've memorized, or any of the remaining plans in your secret folder, into action, very, very bad things will begin happening. The least of which being the Justice League's attention being brought to your unfitness as a leader. I'm not impressed with them, but they have more than enough authority to remove you. Were it not for the fact that your treachery is currently unrelated to your ability to coordinate missions effectively, this meeting would've occurred with you already in a cell of your own. And that's only in the case of the other Titans. If you hurt my personal friends and loved ones, Richard, I will show you what a demon I can truly be."
She drops him then, his body immediately backpedaling.
Her statement sends the man reeling, his emotions making him seem almost as broken as Kori.
A small, very vindictive part of her revels in his misery, wishing to make him feel as miserable as she knows her friend to be.
"Richard, if she's tellin' the truth about that, I'm done," Cyborg intones, glaring menacingly at the man.
"So am I. And I'm going to make sure the others find out, too," Beast Boy adds, appearing ready to lunge at the man.
Before he can reply, the monitor between them comes to life as video begins coming through.
When the image resolves in, Doctor Fate's upper body fills the screen.
"Am I… interrupting something?"
"Nah, we were just 'bout done," Cyborg states, Nightwing cringing at his tone. "What can we do for ya', doc?"
"Actually, I was calling to talk to Raven. I unfortunately could not find personal communicator numbers, so I thought this the best way to contact her."
All eyes are on Raven as she moves to stand in front of the monitor, eyebrow raised in question.
"I was recently looking into some things, and I saw a very grim, unpleasant future. What I've been seeing has changed since I saw that, once you started to send the magic in those items out. I feel something great will come from the service you're doing the universe, though it's certainly very beneficial that dangerous items cannot be used by dangerous people anymore."
Nightwing and Zatanna both wince, Cyborg glaring at the pair in response.
"I just thought you should know that your work has been making things better, and not just in an immediate sense."
"And your timing is entirely coincidental, I'm sure… Thank you," Raven responds with a nod, the gratitude in her voice shocking.
"Before I go, I also wanted to tell you that, as you did with the goblet of Erszbet Bathory, some items are better suited dealing with the core of their very existence. Some items cannot be defeated by simply draining them."
"I shall work on my skill, Doctor," she responds with another nod.
With that, the feed cuts off, Nightwing and Zatanna's faces turning redder by the second.
"I-"
Raven turns to face them, her anger clear in her expression.
"Much like Koriand'r, I don't want an apology. I don't want anything from you, Richard. Your utter humiliation is more than enough."
She quickly jerks something out of her pocket, her communicator seeming to crack under her white-knuckled grip.
With a swipe of her arm, the device lands in Cyborg's outstretched hand.
"Richard, I'm officially resigning from the Titans. That is what I came here for today. You and Zatanna can go fuck off with your arrogance, that you were so damn right that you didn't even bother checking your facts in my absence."
Cyborg and Beast Boy both stare at her in shock, not remembering ever hearing the psychic curse before.
"Where are you going to go?" Nightwing inquires, cringing at the red glow to her glare.
"I don't have to tell you a damn thing. If you're worried about me becoming a vengeful demon, you can shove it. I know where I'm wanted, and Jinx treats me after several months a lot better than you have after 7 years of working together."
Her expression softens as it moves to Cyborg.
"You are not included in this statement, Victor. You've been an element that has kept me from not returning at all, for a while now. Should you choose to, you, Kori, and Garfield will not go ignored when contacting me. You'll know where to look if you want to get in touch with me."
The metal man nods, his own expression grim.
"Gonna' have to set up a meet at some point. Haven't seen that girl in ages. I'm glad, for botha' ya'."
"Thank you, Victor. Pass the message to Kori?"
"You should do it," he disagrees.
"I hurt her, too," she states with a shake of her head. "It would be better coming from you."
"Alright… And tell Jinx sorry for me, then. I would've helped her in a heartbeat if I'd known."
A smile creeps across her lips, and his eye widens in shock as she pulls him into a quick hug.
"She knows. See you around, Victor."
Nightwing moves towards her, teeth grit and eyes narrowed.
"Raven, you're not just leaving. You started this damn team, and Doctor Fate notwithstanding, there are still a lot-"
He grunts under the sudden impact, dropping to his knees and gasping for breath.
Raven stands over him with her fist at her side, her soul-self glowing black around her knuckles.
"Do not press your luck, Richard. I should kill you and Zatanna both for what you planned to do to me, and frankly, I would be perfectly justified. My new emotions are, at any rate, far too raw and new to test me any further than I've already allowed. You don't get to have an opinion on my actions."
He remains gasping as she falls into the floor, her portal snapping shut behind her and leaving Cyborg and Beast Boy to glare at their possibly very soon to be ex-leader on the floor…
**********************
Raven appears outside of the bookstore, moving unseen through the walls in a series of portals.
When she comes to a stop, she stands next to Jinx, who sits sipping a coffee at a table, removed from anyone's view.
Feeling her lover's presence, Jinx looks up and gasps, immediately shooting to her feet.
"Rae, what happened? Did-"
Raven pulls her into a hug, feeling the burning of her eyes grow worse as she rests her head on the meta's shoulder.
"I am not hurt. Not physically, anyway."
"I'm gonna' kick his ass," Jinx snarls.
"Been there, done that. Let's just go home?" she inquires.
Her tone makes Jinx shudder, the sound not one she wants to hear ever again.
She quickly slaps a bill onto the table and tightens her own hold on the psychic's body.
They fade into the floor, unseen by anyone else, a strange sense of melancholy rippling through the store the only proof they'd been there to begin with…
***********************
Author's Notes:
Edit 10/28- I don't know how I missed it, but an entire segment was duplicated. That's fixed now. Thank you Spikesagitta for pointing it out!
This turned out a lot more vindictive than originally intended. I think it's better for it, actually. I didn't think to show the good and the bad of Raven's change, originally. At any rate, I hope you've thoroughly been enjoying yourselves as I have writing it.
Be sure to tell me your thoughts, both on what I've done well and what I haven't. One thing to note is that I'll be participating in the NaNoWriMo in November and I don't have enough of a backlog built up for the second part of the story yet to carry me through. As such, chances are good that updates will be once per week during November. Since I'll be in the writing spirit, though, I may end up writing enough to throw extra chapters in occasionally.
Either way, see you all next time, and I'm glad that you're enjoying thus far along with me!