"How much of a threat is she?" Cyborg asked with a level of concern in his voice that the others had heard only very rarely.
"Imagine her mother on steroids." Changeling replied thoughtfully but his voice still held an uncharacteristic fury. "She has her mother's abilities, she's a shape shifter but she's almost completely invincible."
"Any weaknesses?" Nightwing asked. There was a strange buzzing noise emanating from Nightwings belt which caught everyone's attention. Nightwing pulled out a communicator and looked at it intently. "Um it looks like the League are waiting for us now. But maybe we should wait a while if things are as bad as Changeling thinks they are."
"No." Changeling replied; the fury in his voice had settled as he spoke to his friend. "I spent years chasing this woman and her mother, leave it to me and the Titans."
Nightwing nodded and then began to say their goodbyes to their previous teammates. After their farewells the three newest members of the Justice League disappeared and a bright flash of light. Changeling turned to look at the two teams that still stood before him.
"Alright Dodge Titans we've gotta head home now as well, we've got work to do." Changeling ordered with a slight grin at his new role as leader, he spoke firmly in a way that garnered respect but it was still almost soft and inviting. "Kid Flash you and your team just go about business as usual unless we find something. But if you hear anything let me know and don't take it upon yourself ok?"
Kid Flash nodded in understanding. "We'll be ready."
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The Dodge Titans returned to their own tower which was now the main headquarters for the whole Titan organisation. Billy Numerous and Mr Wykyd were asked to get in touch with any of their old contacts that might have any other news regarding their new threat. At the same time Changeling and Raven moved to Changelings office to delve into their own research, although Changeling knew he had a lot of work to do he asked Raven to join him because he refused to become the obsessive recluse that his previous leader was when it came to hunting down villains. Changeling had one advantage over Nightwing in that regard in the fact that he was trained as a hunter by the tribe in Africa that he was raised in, the only person in the world outside that tribe who knew he was raised their was Raven, so he had a gift when it came down to searching for enemies but most of it was field work; it also helped that he was almost genetically designed to be the world's best tracker.
"I'm not sure what else we will find." Raven commented as she rubbed her eyes which had become quite sore from staring at computer screens. Changeling took note of this and pulled her off her chair and into his lap which made her sigh in comfort.
"I know babe." He whispered to her. "All I'm looking for is a single clue that I could get a scent off or something." That was the truth. Changeling didn't need computers or technology to track anything, all he needed was his nose and his almost unrivalled sense of smell. "I'll tell you what though." Changeling began.
"Hmm?" Raven asked with her eyes still closed as she leaned into his chest.
"Once Billy and Wykyd are done how about you and I go out tonight just the two of us? No matter what they find."
Raven opened her eyes and moved her head so that she could look into his eyes. "I would like that." She said with a hint of happiness in her monotone voice that only he could have heard.
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Half an hour later Changeling and Raven trudged into the common room hand in hand. When they entered they noticed Kole and Jericho lying on the couch together fast asleep with Kole snoring very softly. Seated at the table looking quite defeated was Billy Numerous and Mr Wykyd both looking at a note pad in front of them.
"Find anything guys?" Changeling asked as he walked over to his ex-villain teammates.
"Very little, sorry boss." Billy sighed.
Changeling smiled at his very devoted new best friend and chuckled a bit. "Dude anything is better than what we've got." He stated whilst laying a hand on his shoulder. "So what you got?"
Mr Wykyd frowned as Billy began to answer for them both. "All our old contacts were able to give us were a few villains names that have disappeared over last few weeks. All the names have two things in common; they all would match up nicely with at least one of the main Titans and all of them either have a grudge against us or against heroes in general."
"I suppose she might be setting up her own Brotherhood of Evil?" Raven interjected.
"Wouldn't surprise me." Changeling added. "So what're the names?"
"Only got three so far but my contacts are still digging." Billy continued but sighed as he looked at Wykyd for support before continuing again. "Brother Blood, Scarecrow and um…" Billy trailed off before finishing his sentence and uttering the last name.
"Holy shit…" Changeling breathed. "Brother Blood we could take but Scarecrow? He's some next level shit."
"That was only two names." Raven stated.
Billy gulped hard. "The last one is… well… 'you know who'… the one name we don't mention in front of the boss." Billy looked up at his leader but he felt his stomach drop at the sight of him. Without knowing it Changeling had begun to change; his fangs began to extend and the pupils of eyes became slits like that of a cat. A low feral growl rumbled from his throat.
"Adonis…" Changeling growled. Billy could only nod in response, Billy knew that his friend would never hurt him but the look in his eyes did make him pause for thought. Raven didn't miss a beat; she quickly glided over to her boyfriend and took his hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. No one was ever allowed to speak about Adonis in front of the green shape shifter as it always caused the same reaction. No one outside of the tower knew about the incident that had occurred between Changeling, Raven and Adonis; but let's just say that Adonis tried to push something he shouldn't have on Raven which caused Changeling to come very close to taking his life. Changeling closed his eyes and took a deep breath and then exhaled. He felt his fangs and claws recede back into his body and when he opened his eyes everyone noticed that they had returned to normal. "Thanks you two. Good work." He offered with a smile.
"It's all good buddy." Billy drawled, his mood started to lift a bit. Billy was then greeted by his dark friend who was trying to get attention and then pointing at something on the note pad. "Oh yeah one other thing!" Billy called to his boss who had begun to walk into the kitchen with Raven; his yell had inadvertently awoken the two dozing Titans on the couch. "My contacts said that no one ever see's Gemini only someone that works for her. All they could tell me was that it's a bloke who wears a heavy looking black mechanical armour."
Changeling nodded in thanks at his southern friend. With that finished Mr Wykyd rose to his feet and then moved over to Jericho and began talking to him in sign language. Billy also rose from the table and made his way into the kitchen but what caught Changelings attention was Kole who had also stood up and was now stretching in front of the couch. 'Maybe Kole could help me out with my other problem?' He thought to himself. "Yo Kole!" Changeling called to his pink haired friend. "Can I have a word with you real quick?" He asked. Kole smiled and nodded and made her way over to him and then walking out of the room with him; Raven raised an eyebrow at this but chose not to question it until later.
Outside of the room Changeling could barely wait for the common room doors to shut before he spun around to face Kole. "Kole I seriously need some advice but I need you to swear to me to keep it a secret!" He whispered loudly too her.
"Of course boss. What's up?" She replied with a smile.
Changeling took a deep breath to steady himself. "Ok here goes… I'm going to ask Raven to marry me-"
Changeling was interrupted by a very loud and high pitched squeal from the girl, thinking fast he put his hand over her mouth and tried to hush her which took longer than he expected.
After she finally seemed to calm down he continued. "You done?" She only responded with a nod as he pulled his hand away from her mouth. "Cool coz I really don't know how I should ask her." He confessed.
Kole raised her eyebrow in slight confusion. "You're kidding right?"
"Does it sound like I'm kidding?" He answered a little more forcefully than he meant.
Kole huffed. "Boys." She commented. "How do you think Raven would like it?"
"Well I know she wouldn't want me to do it public because she would get really embarrassed, but I think she'd want it to be memorable?" He guessed.
"You really are clueless aren't you?" Kole quipped which made Changeling groan in a frustrated tone. "What makes you think that the moment when the man she was willing to leave her home for asked her to marry him wouldn't be memorable?"
Changeling took her logic in and mulled it over. "So you think I should just like ask her in our room or something?" Changeling asked. Kole nodded with a smile. Changeling grew a huge smile over his face as he thought about. "Sweet! Coz that's how I wanted to do it anyway!"
"See? You should have just listened to yourself for once boss." Kole added as she turned around and made her way back into the common room.
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Aboard the Justice League Watchtower the three newest members were standing before the leaders of the JLA. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl and The Flash were debriefing the newest League members on what to do and what not to do aboard the Watchtower and in the Justice League in general. The debriefing was soon concluded however it was then when Batman spoke for the first time since the three had entered the large chamber.
"What can you tell us about your former teammate Changeling?" Batman asked whilst keeping his ever stoic face completely expressionless behind his black cowl.
"What do you mean?" Cyborg asked, he was not ready to be interrogated about one of his best friends this early on into his new position.
"Don't worry we're not passing any judgement upon him it is just that we really do know almost nothing about him." Superman added.
"The Doom Patrol are beyond comparison when it comes to keeping who they are a secret." The Green Lantern interjected. "As a former member of the Doom Patrol he has them keeping his identity a secret as well as the know how to do so himself. Even Batman with all of his ways has not been able to discover anything about him."
"It is… unnerving." Batman added honestly, it was rare for him to imply any emotion so when he did everyone knew to pay it extra attention.
"Truthfully we do not know anything about friend Changelings past." Starfire spoke with a hint of dejection in her voice. "I feel that the only one who may know would be friend Raven."
"I see." Superman added softly.
"Look kids you've got to understand that not knowing who he really is a bit of a concern for us." The Flash said. "We wouldn't have paid it much attention if it wasn't for the fact he's now become the leader of the Titans."
"We may not know his past but we do know him." Nightwing interjected firmly. "He is a good man and a good friend."
"Coming from someone who hadn't spoken to him for over four years because of a fight we must take that at face value only Nightwing. I mean no disrespect." The Green Lantern added. Throughout the mild interrogation three voices had been missing from it all. The Martian Manhunter, Hawkgirl and Wonder Woman.
Finally one of them spoke up. "I have no issues with the young warrior." Hawkgirl bellowed loudly, catching almost everyone off guard. "We have seen him fight with honour and mercy for years now, should that not be all that matters?"
"I am most certain that he is no threat." The tall green Martian added.
"We're not saying that he is J'onn." Superman stated respectfully.
Without anyone noticing the owner of the last voice carefully and silently slunk from the room. Wonder Woman was filled with turmoil throughout the meeting. She knew him. She knew who he really was. But even he didn't know that she knew.
She thought she had made her escape perfectly but she wasn't able to hide her retreat from the green eyes of an alien princess.
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It was dark now in Dodge City as Changeling and Raven walked back hand in hand to their tower. Raven had noticed that her boyfriend had seemed almost nervous throughout their date but decided to pay it little mind, she knew her boyfriend well and she knew that he wouldn't keep anything from her.
It was late when they returned home; the rest of their team had gone to sleep hours ago. Changeling led the dark sorceress to their room, Raven was under the assumption they were about to go to bed until Changeling opened the door to their room and lend her in before instructing her to sit on the bed in front of him.
"How was the date beautiful?" Changeling asked kindly as he began rummaging through the draw of his bedside table.
"Very nice thank you Gar." She responded almost cheerfully. "What are you looking for?"
"Something special." He replied warmly.
Raven smirked. "I think the condoms are on my side of the bed." She teased.
The green twenty one year old chuckled. "No something more special." He said as he pulled out a small blue box from the drawer. Raven felt her breath catch when he knelt down in front of her on one knee. Her heart began to flutter and she could feel the emotions raining from the shape shifter. "Rae you are everything to me." Changeling began. "I couldn't and wouldn't go on without you and I know that. I love you way too much to think clearly sometimes but that just makes me happy." Changeling opened the box to reveal a small silver ring with a large amethyst diamond surrounded by small emeralds. There was an inscription on the side of the ring that read 'My Everything'. "Rachel Raven Roth." Ravens eyed darted up to meet the shining eyes of the man she loved. "Will you marry me?"
Ravens world stopped. She felt like she was dreaming but could hear the emotions in her head screaming at her to get herself together. The world came back into focus and through her teary eyes she looked upon the man she loved. "Yes." She breathed. That simple word brought a smile to the green man's face that made her heart flutter. She giggled through her tears and matched his smile with one of her own before leaping into his arms and kissing him like the world depended on it.
Pulling away Raven began panting for the oxygen she needed to get her body back into working order. She watched as the green shape shifter removed the ring from the box and slid it onto her awaiting ring finger.
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It's a short one I know but I felt like I NEEDED to get a new chapter out soon. I'm suffering from a slight case of writers block with this story… I know how I want it to go it's just that this chapter and the next chapter will most likely be set ups for later chapters but important none-the-less. So I'll add loads of fluff to keep it interesting!
Yours sincerely,
D-403