A month passed before either Nightweaver or Raven would wake up; they'd been running almost entirely on adrenaline the entire time that they were in Apokolips. The Justice League closed the boom tube, and Earth hadn't suffered from a counterattack yet. When news got out to the former Titans that they were both finally awake, all of them came as quickly as they could to visit their injured friends.
"Weaver? Raven?" Nightwing called out as he entered the Watchtower's infirmary. Raven was hovering slightly above her bed, reading a book, while Weaver crawled out of his and stretched out.
"Robin. Good to see you."
"Nightwing."
"Right. Good you're here, though. We need to talk. Alone."
"You don't have to do that. I know you're worried," Raven said, turning to look at them. "Anything you have to say to him you can say to me."
"Rae, please."
"If it's about me, shouldn't I hear it?"
"Raven, I'll fill you in later, I promise. I just want to hear him out." She glared at them, then turned back to her reading. Dick and Simon walked out of the room, whispering to each other.
"I think she's gone through trauma. Something's wrong with her."
"I can tell."
"I just want to get her the help she needs. She got tortured, for god's sake. She doesn't deserve this."
"You're right. Any ideas?"
"We should find her somebody she can talk to. Somebody other than me. Talking to me won't help because I was a part of it."
"I understand. I think it would be best for you two to stay apart for a while."
"Not a good idea. She needs support, and if I pull that out from under her, things will just get worse." They were interrupted by a set of loud footsteps.
"How did you get here?" Nightwing asked Slade as he came around the corner.
"Just wanted to make sure the kid was alright. I'm not here for you."
"I'm fine, Slade. Look, I appreciate the check up, but it's probably not the best idea for you to be here."
"Understood. You come talk to me if you need anything." He left, being replaced soon by Jason Todd.
"Everything alright?"
"Not exactly, but it'll be fine with time."
"What's up?"
"Not now."
"Well look, you remember Arsenal, right?"
"Yeah, he was on the rescue team."
"Well, it turns out that he's gotten himself stuck in a prison in Qurac. We could use some help."
"What about Ollie?"
"They aren't exactly on speaking terms."
"Gotcha. Give me some time."
"I can only give as much as he's got. I'd say you've got a week or so." They shook hands, and Weaver noticed that Nightwing had left.
Well then. He's really trying to be like Bruce.
"Look who's back!" Beast Boy yelled, giving Weaver a high five as Cyborg came through the Watchtower's teleporter behind him, towing along a case behind. Red Hood had left about ten minutes before, and Simon had been trying to process things in his mind in the meantime before going to talk to Raven again.
"Yo man, real sorry we couldn't make it to the rescue op. We were getting set up in Chicago and nobody bothered to tell us."
"Don't worry about it. What you got there?"
"A little present. I still had the blueprints from your last suit, so..." He popped the latches off of the case, revealing a black and blue suit of armor, similar to his old one, but with visible upgrades, specifically to the gloves and boots.
"What's different about this one?" Weaver asked, curious about what Victor had done.
"Nano drills in the extremities."
"Translation?"
"They'll drill into anything you try to climb. Anything you want to stick to, you've got it."
"Sweet."
"I did have to take out the tasers and boot knives. You didn't seem to use them too much, right?"
"This'll work, Cy. Thanks. And really, don't worry about not being able to help. Shit happens."
"So, what are you and Rae gonna do, now that the Teen Titans is gone?"
"I don't know, man. I'm supposed to be helping Red Hood spring Arsenal, but after that, I don't know."
"We'd invite you to come with us, but we're kinda cramped," Beast Boy interjected. Cyborg nodded in agreement, confirming his excuse.
"It's alright. I'll find something."
"Just you? You and Rae not a package deal anymore?" BB asked a little too quickly.
"I don't know right now. She's a little out of it right now. Emotional trauma and all. She had it worse than I did."
"We heard you two were beat up pretty bad when you got back. They had to get Doctor Fate and Zatanna to operate on you two to get you back to normal."
"Well, whatever they did, it worked for me. Raven's fine physically, but I don't think her mental scars are going to heal for a while."
"They aren't," Raven said, having stepped into the room while Weaver was talking.
"Sorry. Didn't mean to talk about you behind your back, they're just worried about you."
"I know. You all are. I'm glad for it, but don't. I'm fine. Just leave me alone." She fell through a portal she opened in the ground, leaving the room in silence.
"She's acting like she did when she first joined the Titans," Cyborg noticed.
"That's not good," BB pointed out, stating the obvious.
"Look, man, you should probably get out of here. I heard about where they've got Roy, and it's not a good place to be. Rae needs some time alone, and you've got a POW to rescue."
"Thanks, Cy. And for the suit, too."
"No problem, man. Any time."
"And you too, little man."
"You aren't much older than I am, turd nugget," BB retorted, insulted.
"I'll see you guys later. See if I can catch up to the Hood."
"Wasn't expecting it to be that fast, Weaver."
"Got some help," he said, walking along beside Red Hood as he clicked his gloves into place on his suit. The HUD spurred to life, entirely redesigned from the last model; it had more detailed life support readouts, and it could automatically identify anybody he asked it to by doing long range analysis on their genetic coding.
Gotta admit. I'm a little impressed. He hopped in the copilot's seat of Jason's helicopter, parked neatly on the Hall of Justice's front lawn.
"Really good hiding spot for your wheels, man."
"Nobody'd dare screw with my chopper. Especially because they don't realize it's my chopper."
"You devious little bastard." They took off, leaving Metropolis in the dust under them as they started on a course south.
"Let me give you a quick rundown. I won't spoil too much. You have been lied to recently, I will give you that. And we're headed to Miami first."
"Just tell me."
"Nope."
"I don't like being toyed with, Jason."
"I'm piloting. I'll toy as much as I want," he said with a smirk spreading across his face.
"You're a dick, you know that?"
"Yeah, I know. I do have a question for you, though."
"And that is?"
"I know you've died before. It was really big to me. I'm still getting over the whole undead thing. But you? You just walked right through it. How the hell did you do that?"
"Hate."
"Hate?"
"Hate. I wanted Sionis dead more than anything else in the world. I didn't care that I was the product of some unnatural process. I came back and I finished the job."
"See, but I don't feel the same way. I want nothing more than to torture the Joker for a few delicious hours before finally planting that final bullet in his brain..." He drifted off for a moment, relishing the thought. "But I can't let that drive me. I wish I could, but it's something I kinda put on the backburner. If I get the opportunity, he's a dead man, but I don't feel like I can go on a manhunt like that."
"Be glad for that, Todd. You don't want to. I thought that killing Roman would bring me some kind of salvation, but it turned out to just be another step in a larger event that I'm sure isn't going to be over any time soon. Hell, I don't even know if he's dead now. I survived that blast, by some mathematical miracle. I've got no guarantee he didn't either."
"You know what makes you the winner, though?"
"Hmm?"
"Black Mask didn't have half the damned Justice League lined up ready to search the multiverse for him." Weaver couldn't help but smile at the realization.
It doesn't matter if he's dead or not. Nobody likes him. The crime lords of Gotham always wanted him dead. He was just a tool the whole time. Yeah, he might have seriously screwed over my life a couple dozen times, but I'm the one that came out on the other side with people who care about me. The only person who cared about him was me - and I'm past that now.
"So, what ever happened to your psycho ex? She didn't die in that fiasco, did she?"
"Pretty sure Nightwing is keeping her in holding in Arkham."
"Keep an eye on that."
"Why?"
"In case you haven't noticed, Arkham is about as effective at keeping psychopaths in as Batman is in keeping girlfriends. Trust me, I speak from experience."
"Can't argue with that. Hell, Joker's screwing the brains out of one of the psychiatrists."
"Quinn? Bitch is downright crazy. And whoever gave her a degree must have been too. I can't see her IQ being above fifty."
"Don't mean to be a buzzkill, but I'm gonna catch some Z's before we get there."
"Weren't you just in a goddamn coma for a month?"
"It's all magic. Gun to my head, I couldn't explain any of it."
"I gotcha. Go for it. I'll wake you up when we get there."