Once we reached the Tower, I opened up a shadow portal and flew through it. Once there, I emerged into the Ops Room and reset Cyborg's security before it deemed us as intruders. I then opened another portal and snuck Raven back into her room. Once inside her room, I immediately walked up to her bed and placed her on it. I then slowly, and really, really carefully started to pull her cloak off for her, which was extremely difficult and tedious considering I didn't want to wake her up. I was just about to finish the process when Raven groaned, preparing to wake up. As she began to open her eyes, I leaned into her face and Changed my eyes to my wolf eyes.
"Shhhh. Sleep now, Raven. You need your rest", I whisper as I used my powers of hypnosis on her. Once she fell into an even deeper sleep, I pull off the rest of her cloak and tuck her into bed, taking note of the large hole in her leotard that revealed her navel and beautifully toned stomach. Sorry about that, I said to myself as if I was to blame for her damaged uniform. I then noticed a hook by a mirror a few feet away from her bed. I walked over and hung her cloak from it. As it hung from the hook, I got a good look at all of the blood that she, Flash, and I contributed that stained it. I then look down at myself as I, too was covered in blood. "I need a shower, in the worst way." I was about to walk out into the hallway when I started to look around Raven's room, which had a color scheme of purple and black everywhere.
The mirror at which I stood was diagonally to the right of the foot of Raven's bed, which sat at the far wall directly in front of the bedroom door. The mirror itself was in the shape of a pentagon as it "stood" on one of its five corners. The mirror's border was a very dark purple color. The mirror hung above a set of drawers that were pushed up against the wall underneath. The countertop of the drawers was completely open and clear except for three items. Two of them were vases that sat on either end of the mirror's bottom corner. The one on the left was a skinny orange vase, the other was a fatter yellow one. At first I thought they were just two random vases, as evident by how they didn't match Raven's color scheme, but something about the way they looked told me that they had been used more than once, telling me that they were for more than simply decoration. The third item was a gray hand mirror with a long handle. It was circular-shaped, though it has crescent shapes on the left and right sides, and had four points that were designed to look like horns, each one placed at the "corners" of the circle. There were two red spots on the mirror (a large one on top, and a smaller one on the bottom), both diamond shaped and red, as if to resemble Raven's bindi. Next to the mirror was a post-it note that had been taped to the countertop. It read, "Do NOT Touch! That means you, Beast Boy!".
Point taken, I think to myself as I ignore the mirror and continue to look around the room.
To the left of the mirror and drawers was a golden cauldron that sat against the wall. It was about halfway between the drawers and the wall on the far left. Right above the cauldron were those two ceramic masks that act as a sort of icon to represent the theater. Usually it consisted of two masks, one representing happiness and triumph, and the other representing sorrow and tragedy. However, the one that was supposed to represent happiness had a bit of a dark twist to it as its smile looked more sinister than happy.
To the left of that, was the far left wall, which completely consisted of three large bookshelves. Looking from left to right, the one on the far left consisted of magical items and relics such as jars, powders, and scrolls and such. The other two are the ones that had all the books, but they were completely filled to capacity, as was made evident by the towers of spare books that were piled up in front of the shelf in the middle of the three. Raven was arguably the biggest bookworm I'd ever met.
There wasn't much to the right wall of Raven's room (looking from the doorway) in comparison to the left wall. In the middle of the wall was Raven's closet, which I ignored (I was already snooping around so I drew the line at going through her closet). To the left of her closet was a large brown trunk, which again, I ignored. To the right was nothing but a single shelf that hung on the wall, which had an assortment of scentless white candles. The only other things in her room were her bed's overhang, which if you looked at it from the right angle resembled her cloak, the long, dark purple carpet that stretched from her bed to her door in a sort of zigzag pattern, the two chandeliers that hung from her ceiling (one by the hook where her cloak hung, and the other right above the trunk), and the large window that sat to the right of Raven's bed (the window itself extended from the floor all the way to the ceiling).
With my tour of Raven's room complete, I walk back over to the right of her bed and look down at her once more. I couldn't help but grin as I looked at how peacefully she slept, snoring her cute reptilian snore as she did so. As I looked down at her, I replayed the events that had happened only moments ago. I had witnessed Raven demonstrating displays of power that proved to be both lethal and vicious. Like Raven feared, I did look at her differently, but not in a negative way.
I always suspected that there was something "up" with Raven, I just couldn't put my finger on it. Now that Raven had shown me her true self, I didn't feel turned off by her, in fact I felt more turned on because I felt that I got to know even more about her. After all, it wasn't like it was Raven's fault, it was just the way she was born. And besides, who was I to judge on appearance or powers? I myself was a werewolf. The only thing that Raven's display did was finally spell out to me what exactly she was. Her species was one that I was all too familiar with, due her species and mine being natural-born enemies. However, I didn't care, she was still an image of beauty to me, and I still loved her.
It is official. I, a werewolf, am madly in love with Raven, a half-demon.
I looked behind me at her window, whose curtains were pulled back. As I looked through it and out over the ocean, I saw that the earlier pitch-black sky was slowly starting to lighten up. Figuring that Raven would much rather sleep in after the events of that night, I do her the favor of closing the curtains for her. After that was done, I look back at her again as I whisper, "Sweet dreams, Raven."
Before I step out into the hall, I use my x-ray vision and do a full sweep of the Tower (at least at the current level) from the safety of Raven's room. The other Titans were all asleep in their beds.
As I should be, I groaned to myself, exhausted from my long night. However I couldn't rest yet, not with all of the blood I had on me. Using my shadow portals as shortcuts, I make a pit stop at the Ops Room to grab my toiletries, my towels, and a change of clothes, before heading to the showers. For the sake of consistency, I choose to use Beast Boy's stall yet again. Normally I would relish and enjoy the water, but at that moment, all I wanted to do was go to bed, so the shower was strictly business. Unfortunately for me, there was so much blood to scrub off that I wound up staying in the shower for another hour and a half before finally getting out. After that was a quick drying, followed by the satisfying feeling of clean clothes. I then use one last shadow portal to return to the Ops Room, stuff my bloody clothes in my laundry bag, Change back into my wolf form, and curl up on the couch to go to sleep.
I don't know what time I went to bed, but I do know that I barely got any sleep. If I had to guess, I'd say I probably got somewhere between three and four hours of sleep, which to me felt more like a single hour. I groan in resentment as Cyborg walked in at 6:00 am, opening the curtains and revealing the sun as he did so.
"Good morning, Jump City", sang a cheerful Cyborg to the start of a sunny day.
"Ugh, where's the snooze button", I whine as a cover my face with my paws attempting to block out the sun.
"That's what you get for staying out too late", he said mockingly. "Besides, I know what'll perk you up, waffles! Speaking of", he says as he pulls out his communicator. "Cyborg to Raven, wakey wakey, waffles and bacy! Get 'em while they're hot!" Upon hearing Cyborg yelling for Raven to wake up, I remember that she needed to sleep in, causing me to spring off the couch.
"Wait a sec, Cyborg", I exclaim a bit too defensively.
"What's up? Raven loves waffles." I then make up a quick lie to justify my exclaims.
"It's too early for yelling", I say with a fake yawn. "I'll go wake the others", I say as I begin to walk out of the Ops Room.
"That's cool. You need the wakeup exercise anyway." I made it a point to go to Raven's room first. Using my x-ray vision, I saw that she was still asleep, despite Cyborg's yelling.
Phew! "Raven", I whispered, pretending to call her. "Raven. Oh well, guess she's still asleep", I snicker to myself as I move on to Beast Boy's room. I couldn't knock, since he was only next-door to Raven's room, so instead I gently claw at the door much like a dog would when they want to be let into the house. When no response came, I clawed again, sticking my ear to the door afterwards. Still I heard no response or movement. "Ugh", I groaned as I opened a portal into his room.
His room was an absolute pigsty. Everything was crammed against the right wall of the doorway with the exceptions of his bunk bed (not sure why he had one), and the set of drawers on the left wall of the doorway. Everywhere else was just empty walls, a large window similar to Raven's, and the tall wall mirror that hung directly across from it. As for the crammed walls, every belonging Beast Boy had was either stuffed in a drawer, stacked on top of the furniture, thrown in his closet, or thrown on the floor. Even as a wolf, I found it difficult to walk around the cluttered mess on the floor as I approached Beast Boy's bed. I had to climb the little ladder because he slept on the top bunk.
"Psst! Beast Boy", I whispered as I nudged him with my paw. "Psst! Beast Boy", I said a bit louder as I nudged him again.
"Yeah, Baby. You're not the only one who can shake the earth", said Beast Boy in his sleep as he rolled over.
"Ugh." I then put up a shield around Beast Boy's bed, with the both of us in it, to block out the sound. I then took a deep breath. "BEAST BOY", I shouted. Beast Boy then lets out a shriek as he falls out of bed.
"Dude, what's your deal", he complained as he picked himself up off the ground.
"Oh, good. You're awake", I say sarcastically and unenthusiastically as I deactivate my shield.
"Don't play coy with me! You break into my room, yell in my ear….", he began to rant.
"Cyborg's making waffles", I interrupt him.
"Sweet! Race ya", he says as he runs out of his room without another word. I shake my head at him as I walked out behind him.
Next up on my list of rounds was Robin. With him being on the other end of the hallway, I didn't have to worry about waking Raven.
"Yo! Robin", I hollered as I pounded on his door with my paw. The always-alert Robin immediately opens his door in response.
"Morning, Wolfman", he says simply as he walks past me towards the Ops Room.
"Well, that was easy", I say to myself as I walk next-door to Starfire's room. "Welp, here goes", I say as I slowly lift my paw to knock on her door. Before doing so, the door opens to reveal a super happy Starfire.
"Happy Morning, all", she says with her eyes closed, a large smile on her face, and her arms spread wide for a hug.
"Yeah, Cyborg's making wa—", I begin as I'm interrupted by Starfire as she lifted me up in a bear hug. Her eyes were still closed.
"Oh, hello to you, Beast Boy", she said as she started to rock me. I grunted in discomfort before answering her.
"I'm not Beast Boy, you twit!" Upon hearing my voice, Starfire opens her eyes, realizes it was me she was hugging, and drops me with a huff. She then floats away with her nose in the air as if I offended her.
"Just when I thought we were making progress", I said to myself sarcastically as I picked myself up off the floor. I then walked back to the Ops Room to meet with the others.
I enter the Ops Room to see Beast Boy, Starfire, and Robin, seated at the tables while Cyborg, wearing a chef's hat, was in the kitchen playing around with some bizarre-looking waffle maker that looked almost as high tech as he was. He pushed a button and out came two perfectly cooked waffles on a plate.
"Evil, beware. We have waffles", I say sarcastically (still grumpy from lack of sleep), as I walked over to the foot of one of the tables and sat on the floor (anticipating the probability of eating out of Silkie's food bowl again).
"Wow, it's like Raven was actually here", said Beast Boy.
"Speaking of our friend, where is Raven", asked Robin. I woke up again as I tried to take the attention off of Raven.
"She's meditating", I lied. "She told me she didn't want anybody to disturb her, and that she'll grab some herbal tea later."
"That sounds like Raven", said Cyborg. "Oh well, more for us then!"
Phew, I thought to myself as I let out a sigh of relief. From there we ate a relatively quiet breakfast, at least in comparison to the two previous ones, with the exception of the fact that Beast Boy went into great detail about how he came in fifth place in his video game tournament. Starfire had apparently won second place. There was however a bright side to breakfast. Without Raven having to be there, or me having to say or do anything, Cyborg placed my waffles on the tables with everyone else's meals, meaning I didn't have to eat out of Silkie's bowl anymore as I sat at the table like a real Titan.
After breakfast, we had a couple of hours to kill before our next combat practice, so we spent it lounging around and doing other tasks and chores. Robin sat at the tables polishing his birdarangs, Cyborg put the finishing touches on the repaired wall, Starfire sat and cuddled with Silkie, and Beast Boy and I lounged on the sofa while he flipped through the channels on t.v.. Still feeling slothful and a bit sluggish, I didn't comment or care when the majority of that time was spent watching Beast Boy's short attention span get the better of him as he flipped through every channel at least once. He eventually came to a stop when he manages to find a channel featuring a marathon of "Digimon" episodes.
"Sweet! And it's Season 2, too", he says as he pulls up his legs to sit Indian-style as he watches. As a fan of the show myself I perk up a little to watch. It was the second arc of Season 2. The episode we were watching was the one where Davis tries to get his partner, Veemon to digivolve to his champion form. About halfway through the episode, Cyborg walks by, having finished the wall.
"Don't y'all ever get tired of this kid stuff", he says as he grabs the remote and changes the channel. In response to this, Beast Boy morphs into a wolf and the two of us growl at him. "Okay, okay, I'm putting it back", he grumbles as he switches the t.v. from wrestling back to "Digimon". When we returned to the show, Veemon was in the process of digivolving.
"Veemon digivolve to…. Exveemon!" Moments later, we see the first appearance of Exveemon's signature attack. "Vee Laser", he screams as a laser beam shoots from his stomach at his opponent.
Huh, I wonder if I can do that, I thought to myself. It was around that time that Robin rushed over and flipped the channel. "Well, that happened", I say sarcastically as I lowered my ears in disappointment. Beast Boy then morphs back to his human form.
"Hey! We were watching that!"
"Sorry, Beast Boy, but it'll have to wait", he says as he points at the screen. It was then we noticed a Jump City news report.
"Joseph Briar (Gothic Goon), Jonathan Stevens (Dreads), and Steel City quarterback, Mackenzie Daniels (Flash), were found dead early this morning in Jump City's downtown hotel district" began the newswoman. Police reports have not yet been released revealing the cause of their deaths. However, it has been revealed the Mr. Daniels in particular is missing his head. The police will be holding a press conference later this evening to discuss the evidence that was found at the scene of the crime. In the meantime, they advise that citizens remain out of that district if possible until further notice.
"Whoa", said Beast Boy.
"What do you think could've happened", asked Cyborg. "What do you think, Star? Star", asked Cyborg as he turned to see that she was no longer in the room. "Hey, where'd she go?"
I have a theory, I said to myself. It was then that we heard her scream from Raven's room. Yup, that figures.
"Starfire", yells Robin as he prepares to run to her aid, but she beat him to the punch as she flies into the Ops Room at breakneck speed. As she does so, she rushes past Robin and charges at me.
"What have you done", she screams at me as she holds me up by my throat again. This time I managed to teleport away from her before answering. I was about to ask her for clarification, as if I didn't know, when Cyborg spoke first.
"Come on, Guys! Can't we all just get along?"
"Yeah, what's up, Star", added Beast Boy.
"This is what is up", replied Starfire as she held up Raven's blood-stained cloak. The boys all gasp upon seeing this.
"No", says Cyborg. Starfire then flies over to where my suitcase laid on the floor and opened it. She then pulls out my laundry bag and dumps its contents on the floor, revealing my bloody clothes as well.
"There is more", continued Starfire. "Raven is indeed asleep, but she is also healing herself. And there is more blood on her face."
"Please tell me this is a joke", said a stern Robin. Not sure what to say, I simply looked at him. "Well?"
"Come on, Man. Say something", pleaded Cyborg.
"You didn't do it, did you", asked Beast Boy. I open my mouth to answer but hesitate.
"Beast Boy asked you a question, Wolfman", said Robin. "Did you, or did you not, kill those men?"
"You have to understand, Robin…", I began.
"Did you, or did you not, kill those men", he repeated. I growl in response to being interrupted.
"Like I was saying….", I began again.
"Did you? Or did you not", he repeated again. I let out a sigh in frustration before answering.
"No."
"Then explain this", he said as he pointed to the pile of bloody clothes.
"Daniels killed the other two, and then I killed him." It was only half of the story, but he didn't need to know that right at that moment, if at all.
"You just said you didn't kill any of them."
"No, I said I didn't kill all three of them. That's what happens when you force me to answer "yes" or "no" questions."
"Why, Dude? Why did you do it", asked Beast Boy.
"I did what I had to do. Daniels was too loose of a cannon to release onto the world."
"Who are you to make that call", challenged Robin. It was around this time that I noticed Cyborg had fallen silent.
"One whose number one priority is the safety of others."
"If you truly cared about the well-being of this city, you'd realize that killing is never the answer."
"Oh, how annoyingly noble of you", I said mockingly in response to Robin having an answer for absolutely everything.
"Dude, you killed somebody", said a still shocked Beast Boy.
"Dude, if you're going to wig out like this every time the topic of death comes up, this is going to be a very long day."
"More like the topic of murder", said Robin.
"So what? You think that changes anything? You can call it "murder" if you want, it still doesn't change what I did. I killed one evil man to make this city a better place for everyone."
"Whether it was one or one hundred, killing is a crime, and you should be punished", shouted Starfire.
"And right now, you're looking at about five to ten years in jail for what you did", added Robin.
"Hmmph. Put Starfire in a pair of cuffs first and I might consider it."
"Starfire hasn't killed anybody", said a now defensive Robin.
"Oh, I beg to differ", I said as I looked over at Starfire. As if she had truly forgotten what she did in the past, she gasps at my direct reference to her. "If you don't tell them, I will." Upon hearing me say that Starfire becomes more submissive.
"What are you talking about", asked Beast Boy.
"What I'm talking about is the day I first met Starfire. It was approximately six years ago in the town of Box Elder, South Dakota. An alien girl and her younger sister appeared out of the sky one day and completely leveled an entire school district right outside the gates of a military base." I heard more gasps from the boys as they looked over at Starfire, who neither tried to deny or argue against my accusations. "Their rampage endangered the lives of several hundred people, including the two teachers and three students that Starfire personally killed.
"No way! Starfire did that", asked Beast Boy.
"It was…. an accident", she replied.
"Whereas you killed Daniels deliberately", added Robin.
"Those deaths may have been accidents, but her rampage was not. And I didn't even mention the people who died during the following three terrorist attacks they made on the local police stations."
"But I've never even been to their police stations", she said to Robin.
"Stop pointing the finger at Starfire! She has nothing to do with what you did", said a now pissed off Robin.
"Wrong again, Bird Brain! The fact of the matter is that it's because of Starfire and her sister that I am in this mess!"
"We are", asked a now concerned Starfire.
"I've heard enough! When we recruited you to this team, we were under the impression that you were a hero. But I see now that you're nothing but a cold-hearted killer, and as such, you belong in a prison cell." Upon hearing him say that, Cyborg's right arm turns into a cannon, Starfire's eyes and fists glow green, and Beast Boy morphs into a tiger. "So I'm only going to ask this once, so listen closely. Are you going to come with us quietly", asks Robin as he whips out his bo-staff.
"Or is this going to get loud", added Cyborg as he took aim at me.
"First of all, I may be a killer, but I'm not cold-hearted", I said as I dropped to all fours and Changed into Lobomon. "Second of all, I say to you what I said to Starfire the other day, just you fucking try it", I challenged.
"Titans, go", shouted Robin. From there, the battle was on.