Paragon Eight - No, there's nothing going on between Kyle and Arisia. He just thinks she's hot. And he likes hot women.
2.
Mount Justice
September 03
11:52 UTC
"Time! Hit the showers!"
Standing in the middle of the large circular training room within the mountain, Nightwing stood tall with a clipboard and pen as he watched the group of young heroes finish an eight kilometer run. Above the white colored track, a large holo-computer displayed the names of those participating with their times across from their mugshot-like pictures. Another time was situated above the information, counting down from a reasonable time to run the distance, forty-five minutes.
Coming to a stop, the group of former Titans huffed and puffed with sweat pouring from their faces. Those who had run the distance earlier sat on nearby benches and rested, waiting for the interim leader to finish taking notes on his clipboard. Among them were Cassandra and Damian who looked like they had yet to break a sweat. They had the fastest times at just under forty minutes, marking them as the head of the class.
Every member of the teams had been tested. Every possible skill they possessed was measured as they rotated through missions, and training sessions. There had not been a day the various machines were not covered in sweat or the indoor circular track had not had the stomping of feet as the young heroes ran everyday. Some even made comments on creating grooves in the asphalt or burning through their shoes from the non stop running.
"Sucks we can't use, use powers." using the collar of his shirt to wipe his brow, Garfield let out a long breath as he made his way over to the bench area.
"Sucks to not have powers...in the first place." Plopping down on a bench, Cissie stuck her tongue out as she exhaled then proceeded to let her hair down. "Ugh, neck's all sweaty."
Floating on his back using one of is constructs, Kyle looked like he was ready for the emergency room and not a shower. "Shin's hurting. Can't walk. Must have...vacation. And school's in two days. I'M DYIN'!"
"Suck it up," Raven told him as she took a seat beside her former Titan teammates. "Admittingly, we fly too much."
"Who ever heard of running eight kilos without stopping or slowing down?" Terra asked as she forewent the bench and sat on the ground. "I'm gonna hate standing back up from here."
"You rooks never trained like this?" Cassie asked. "What were you doing on that island of yours?"
"The usual," Kyle told her. "Unsupervised beach parties, raves, pie eating contests, underground cockfights to the death."
"Poor roosters," Terra commented.
"But great drumsticks," Cissie added.
"Glad you have your sense of humor about you, because you're going to need it after that performance." Joining the group, Nightwing stared them all down with an unreadable look on his masked covered face.
"So how did the new team do?" Mal asked as he toweled off his face.
"Not as good as I have thought they would have done."
"Well we weren't trained to do something like this," Garfield told him, still taking role as leader. "We would run the trails or run a mile in the training center but could use our powers every-so-often. The longest we ever ran was about three kilometers."
"Time limit?"
"We never had a time limit."
"It was all 'do what you can do then do a little more' with us," Raven told the masked vigilante.
"And a lot of the other stuff we did involved us coming up with our own tactics while in a fight," Kyle told him. "We have our own way of doing things."
Nodding, Nightwing wrote down a few more notes on his clipboard. "Hit the showers. You'll know what team you're on after lunch."
Watchtower
September 03
11:54 UTC
Forming up around the large 'U' shaped table in the conference room of the League's orbiting space station, Batman and a few other League members went over all they had discovered while searching for the missing Aqualad and Lilith. Every clue they had was on display overhead as holo-screens displayed still images for all to see.
"So as you can see, with everything we have found, we can only label Kaldur as MIA as well as Lilith. Satellite imagery of the building shows the woman known as Silver Banshee showing up to inspect the building by the looks of it. She must have been there to spy on Lilith but not engage her at the time."
"What about Crane?" Wonder Woman asked. "Have you narrowed it down to when he comes into play?"
"Crane, or Scarecrow, entered the building through the back entrance. What appeared to be him earlier at the front doors, was in fact an inhabitant of the apartment complex. Upon further investigating, I found marks where he pried the lock back to open the door. No other photos were taken as the satellite finished passing over."
"But the question is, why take Lilith and Kaldur?" Flash asked. "Everyone this cult has killed, their body has been left behind."
"My first thoughts were the remaining sacrifices in the riddle Lilith gave us."
Pressing a few keys on his holographic keyboard, Batman pulled up the riddles Lilith mentioned.
"The smart fool would be Riddler. Genius intellect fueled by compulsive lunacy. Kid Devil, the first one sacrificed by the Blood Cult, most likely was the, good within evil, as he had the appearance of a demon but fought for justice like his mentor. Vibe was a dancer, and a dancer would celebrate life trough movement. And based on Lilith's abilities, she would make up the fourth sacrifice as she receives visions via contact, or sees through touch."
"Could Kaldur be the final sacrifice then?" Superman asked as he sat beside a clearly worried Aquaman.
"Lives in darkness but walks in light. While he did participate in the deep cover mission, I have my doubts. My second guess would be Plastic Man, given his background, or even any member of the Outlaws. Terra makes an eligible candidate as she was manipulated in betraying her team."
"With so many potential candidates, then who could it be?"
Looking at the Man of Steel, the Dark Knight narrowed his eyes. "There is one more I have my thoughts about."
Mount Justice
September 03
13:17 UTC
Gathering around the common room, housing sofas, chairs, coffee tables, and other various furniture one would find in a living room, the former Titans with Cassandra and Damian waited for the team results to be posted on the large flat screen TV. Members of the Black ops team were also there as there was a chance they too would be shifted around. Today was a new beginning for the young heroes who were anxious to find out who they would be working with. Even Bart was present, a surprise as he had kept sporadically coming to the cave for any reason other than missions.
With the large group assembled, Nightwing entered the room and brought up a holo-screen for everyone to see clearly along with his personal holo-computer. "Everyone, listen up. This past week, Batman has instructed me to test everything black ops and Titans are capable of, both mentally and physically. You all have been monitored in the field with the few missions we have gone on and in the training room as well. After careful consideration-"
"And Batman's input, I bet," Cissie whisper muttered to Terra.
"-and Batman's input."
Both blondes snickered at Nightwing's words.
"I have selected the teams we will be operating with. Any questions can be directed to myself and I will get back to you after I help find Kaldur."
Bringing up an image on the holo-screen, Nightwing watched as the group of heroes gathered closer to see where they would end up. Not all of them were happy about it.
League: Supergirl, Lantern.
Black Ops: Wonder Girl, Blue Beetle, Kid Flash, Guardian, Bumblebee, Arrowette, Batgirl, Static.
Titans: Robin, Cyborg, Starfire, Beast Boy, Raven, Terra.
"I, I made the League?" Kyle asked. "How could I make the League?"
"Having three Lanterns on there probably has something to do with it," Jaime told him.
"Oh wonderful, Kara! You have also made the League of Justice and I have made the Titans!" Koriand'r said excitedly as she and her 'sister' looked over their new positions.
"Guess I'm not the leader anymore," Garfield said once he saw his place but with a senior black ops member also present.
"Batgirl?" Mal said. "Who's Batgirl? When did we get a new Batgirl?"
Bart could only grin at the large black man's question and looked over to Cassandra.
"Titans?" Tim said as he pulled his glasses down slightly. "Feels like a demotion."
"Demotion?!" Cissie shouted. "How's that a demotion?!"
"Really?" Raven asked. "You move to a newer team and take that as a demotion? Petty much?"
"It's not pettiness, it's knowing I have worked hard to get to where I'm at and now have to-"
"Well maybe I feel going to the black ops team is a demotion."
"Who says the black ops team is a demotion?" Karen asked.
"Hey, calm down!" Kara yelled.
"Oh, look whose throwing their weight around now that she's in the Justice League," someone yelled over the loud arguing.
"Who said that? Come here!" Heading into the crowd, the female Kryptonian looked for the one who made the remark.
Standing beside Cyborg, Nightwing pinched his nose and shook his head. "I should have seen this coming."
"Anyone could have seen this coming," the half man half machine told him. "Since I'll most likely be staying at Titans Tower, what do you want me to do besides the obvious?"
"Help Tim take charge. I'm appointing you second in command under him. And please, try to keep the tower in one piece."
"Being a Titan is not a demotion!" one of the former Titan members yelled.
"Neither is being on the black ops team!" A black ops member rebutted.
"I'll do my best," Cyborg said as he and Nightwing looked over the squabbling team members.
Releasing a sigh, the interim leader of the team pulled up a holo-screen and informed Batman he could go ahead and address the group.
"Members of the black ops team and the Titans," Batman began. "I am aware you may have some issues about your placements but you need to handle this maturely."
Cissie, Robin, and Garfield rolled their eyes at his words.
"You were all chosen for specific reasons and your placements will be determined permanent as I monitor your missions. Myself and others of the League are still going over the incident at Lilith's apartment and are continuing to look for any clues to Aqualad and Lilith's whereabouts. I need both teams to be ready to go once we discover their locations. In the meantime, our current standing on the Blood Cult will be top priority. New evidence suggests we have several candidates for sacrifices we need to keep an eye on, Raven being among them."
Freezing in place, the Gothic teen girl's eyes went wide.
"Why would they be after-" Kyle asked before he was cut off.
"I understand your need to keep some things private, but this is not one of them. You should have informed us on your connection to Trigon and the Blood Cult."
All eyes turned to Raven who began to breathe hard. She wanted to be anywhere but in the room surrounded by those she may have considered friends. "Batman, I-"
"What does he mean by that?" Nightwing asked. "What connection?"
"Raven?" Garfield asked.
"I, I, uh..." How she wished she had mastered her teleportation spell at that moment.
"According to data received by Superboy and Mrs. Martian, and the video feed obtained from Titan Tower, Rachel Roth is directly connected to the being Trigon who the cult is attempting to bring into the world."
"What?!" Terra shouted.
"You're connected to the Bloods?" Jaime asked. "They killed Eddie. They killed Fransisco."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Tim demanded.
"Raven, you should have told us about this," Cassie added.
"I, I tried," Raven told the large group. "I, I just-"
"Two of our friends may be alive right now if it weren't for you," Virgil told her. "You know how that feels? Seeing a friend of yours dead in the street?"
"I, I was-" Raven tried to say.
"Leave her alone!" Coming to her side, Garfield stood between her and the group.
"Garfield, look at what her secret did," Karen told him.
"Raven, why?" Cissie asked.
"I, I just-"
"Despite Rachel's reasons, this is something that should have been known previously by everyone. It was my decision to allow her time to inform you all in her own way, but seeing our position with the Bloods, this information needs to be known immediately. Had we have known this from the beginning, our losses may have still occurred."
"Raven," Garfield said quietly. "Is that true?"
Looking at everyone's face, Raven withdrew into herself. Clutching her arm and running her hand up and down the fabric of her long sleeve shirt, she grew tight lipped and could feel what everyone was emanating. Hurt, anger, betrayal, shock, nervousness, and above all else, the demand of answers radiated from each of their auras.
She felt incredibly small under their collective gazes, sinking her head in between her shoulders and guessing what they were all thinking of her. Before she was part of their little teams, she would not have cared for what they would have thought about her. It was not in her nature to care for anyone besides herself, and yet here she was, not wanting them to think the worse of her but knowing they were doing just that. For all her attempts to remain isolated emotionally from them, she had failed and now felt as if she were the outsider once again. Even though she felt all this, she still did not want to show or tell them that. But that choice, it seemed, had been taken away from her.
"Raven?" Garfield asked again.
"I..." She looked down at the ground and clutched her arm a little tighter. "It's not my fault. I didn't choose to be this way."
"How are you connected to them?" Mal asked.
"...He's my father," Raven said after a breath. "It's not my fault."
Turning, the Goth girl left the living quarters the rest were in and headed for the Zeta Platform. Running after her, Garfield reached out to try and stop her when a large, black form shot up from the ground in the form of a raven. It even cried out, as if giving a warning, making the former field leader of the Titans back off quickly.
Activating the Zeta Beam, Raven turned to face Garfield one last time before heading back to the tower. "I'm sorry."
She then disappeared in the bright light, leaving her friends, Garfield, Terra, Cissie, and Kyle behind in the cave.
Watchtower
September 03
14: 47 UTC
With the latest meeting over, Batman closed a holo-screen he had pulled up of the video feed in the cave in Mount Justice. He did not like what he saw as footage of the teens made it clear a few were not happy where they were at and did not care in the least on the new shuffling of team positions. While he knew there would be negative feelings on the new rosters, he also knew they would have to work it out on their own as there were more important things for him to focus on, that being the revelation of Raven's lineage and how it played into what they were dealing with.
Wonder Woman had agreed with him that was a piece of information that should have been known from the very beginning. Superman had his thoughts on the subject, while both Green Lanterns did not like how the information was 'thrown' at the teams like that. Still, it was Batman's call, and he made it.
"Batman, anyone in the League, come in!"
Hearing the urgent words of Blue Devil, Batman activated the cowl mounted earpiece on his right side. "Batman here, what's your situation, Blue Devil?"
"I need back up at Kid Devil's gravesite, now!"
"What's wrong?"
"It's empty."
Heavenly Hills Cemetery
September 03
14:58 UTC
Crouching down beside an empty grave, Batman and Blue Devil carefully inspected the disturbed ground. All but the headstone was damaged as even parts of the casket littered the area around the final resting spot. No other graves were messed with, meaning Kid Devil's site was the main target of them all.
Standing, Batman turned to Blue Devil who was visibly angered at the travesty that had occurred. "How long have you been here?"
"About twenty minutes. I first noticed it when I arrived and did a quick sweep of the immediate area should any clues be left behind or if the ones responsible for this were still here before calling anyone."
"Judging by the feel of the soil, it has not been long since the grave was disturbed. But that is not what concerns me the most."
"It's the fact the ground was disturbed from within the grave and not out."
As the two Justice League members, discussed the new find, the wind kicked up slightly, bringing with it a slight chill. Nether saw a fast moving presence making it's way to them from behind.