The night air, while on the roof without her cloak, nips at her skin just enough for slight discomfort. She decides to disappear from the roof, retreating to the gentle warmth of her room. The urge to delve back into her fiction novel has also risen.
This time, she sits on her bed to read her book, worrying her lip between sharp pearls and thrums her fingers against the leather cover. She makes it about two chapters when she mentally feels safe enough to sleep.
She sets the book, her page saved, on the nightstand as she slips under her sheet. She settles into the softness that now surrounds her, closing her eyes. Sleep comes, blessedly less fitful. Not by much, but less than it has lately been.
At some point, she turns to her side with enough force to expedite the slip of the sheet from her slumbering frame. The woman barely notices the change, her hand resting atop her pillow and sighing as she lulls deeper into sleep bit by bit.
Her door hushes open, a shadow fills the soft hall light. Robin's silhouette silently observes the woman with a kind smile. Because of their bond, he has noticed Raven's turn of mood for months now and he does deeply worry. He has heard the even more recent shouts and cries that come from her room. Robin is still very thankful that she still agrees with hang out with the team even if she doesn't participate. As long as she continues to make an effort, he feels like there's a chance she can fight this demon of the mind again.
He is tempted to pick up her bed sheet from the floor, yet the ever lingering chill of her room whispers of warnings as if the very chamber forbids him from entering. Besides, having her door open like this is awkward enough. Instead, he eventually leaves before his presence potentially wakes her up.
Though, some time after, a sleepy gaze opens upon her face. She lets out a short groan, then huffs before stretching out her limbs, pointing her toes and splaying her fingers out as she softly moans. Once all the kinks release, she relaxes with a loving sigh of pure bliss. With a slow inhale, she sits up to glance around her room, her sheet falling in waves from her shoulders to her lap.
There's a hint of... something. Her brow furrows as she scans the room with her third eye. Not sensing anything and coming up empty, she retracts her essence and ponders this strange taste in the air. She could swear she can feel it, but perhaps whatever it was is now obscured by the haze of sleep. With a defeated huff, she brushes her hair from her eyes and burrows under her cover once more.
Painfully slow ten minutes idle by before sleep claims Raven again.
Raven wakes the next morning feeling... giddy, if that is the proper word for this. As if the very air holds it breath to prevent casting hints her way, like her intuition is expecting something to happen. She also feels calm at the same time, again because her gut calls for it. It perplexes and amuses her.
Although her mood, yet again for some reason, seems to have improved- despite the fitful and sporadic rest- she doesn't feel like joining her team just yet. She takes off her leotard and pads to the shower, towel in hand.
Her body goes through the familiar motions of hygiene while her mind is far away in deep contemplation. This emotion doesn't come from a vacuum, yet it also leaves her no matter what she attempts to keep it. This calm feeling is foreign, strange and she wishes to contain it in a jar.
'Tis not the case for her, it seems, as the feel already starts to ebb away into the ether.
She wonders how and when she'll feel like this again, now stepping into her room with her towel wrapped around her lithe frame. Though she is mentally not in a sharp state of mind, she groans in frustration trying to hold unto the calm. But it is gone like mist in sunlight.
She feels cheated and empty, as she stands dressed in her uniform and brushing through her soft hair.
She needs to find the source in this vacuum. Perhaps her only option is to go searching for whatever it is that improves her so.
The day proves to be a drag while she does her usual stalk around the Tower. Even if there aren't any alarms going off, on quiet days like this the team still scans the city for criminal activity during the day. Today is her turn to be part of the watch cycle, in which during her breaks she takes the time to meditate, drink some calming tea, and read. It isn't until six, just as the sun is starting to set, that she enters the room, finished for the day doing hero business.
Meaning she has the nighttime to pursue... whatever that source is.
"Friend Raven!" Starfire exclaims, the alien woman visibly brightening as she is distracted from her conversation with Robin.
"I'm going for a walk. I'll be back later," Raven states, brushing past the couple without another word.
Robin opens is mouth to say something, but Raven vanishes out the door. His chance lost to speak with her.
The cloaked woman flies to the edge of Jump City, heading directly to the park. Isn't this where this all started for her? The morning after visiting the park, she woke up calm. Feeling restless, she briskly strides along the vacant path, crickets chirping their song in the brush.
This is nice, but she leaves for the library. This is where she went day before yesterday where that morning after also gave her that calmness. She peruses the walls of books, enjoying the atmosphere of her most favorite place in the city, but is starting to feel that this is not the source either.
She also trained that day after the library, but with her poor execution, that probably wasn't it as well. So what about this morning. What did she do yesterday that might have triggered the emotion?
She hung out with her friends for the first time in a while and fought Mumbo "Lamo." and she ended the night with a visit to the roof.
All of which don't seem to be the obvious choice for being the source. Sighing, she floats above the rooftops, keeping a watchful eye of the city. As long as she's out here, might as well continue her hero work for the night despite her irritation flaring. Maybe a thief would be unfortunate enough to cross her path. Like the training, maybe she needs some physical exertion.
Though, she seems to be failing at every attempt to recreate the days when she feels most at peace. After catching a handful of ne'er-do-wells, she finds herself on a desolate pier. The full moon casts it's heavenly light upon her and glows upon the black abyss of oceanic depths.
The damp, cold scent pieces right through Raven's cloak as she holds the water's gaze, as if it is staring at her or through her. The sound of it's push and pull striking the wooden structure calms her slightly, yet also unnerves her.
The pale Titan glances up. The bright moon seems to swallow at the stars in the endless sea of indigo as her eyes perceive the starless night though her mind is searching, begging, restless.
Fear flashes through.
What if someone checks on her and finds her to be missing? She told her friends that she went for a walk, but considering that it is now two in the morning, they might worry.
Then she scoffs and sighs. Don't be ridiculous, she mentally tells herself, because it's two in the morning, no one in the Tower will be awake. Or shouldn't be, knowing Robin.
Instead, Raven pulls her cloak closer around her, tearing her eyes away from the sky, choosing to let them rest on the foaming waves once more.
She does eventually return to bed. But the nightmares plague her once more and her morning begins terribly leading into something she would not have expected to happen so soon.
}-{
"Make one more sound, and I'll give you to a pet store for hamster bedding," Slade hisses as he inches around the air vents, not wanting any Titan to raise alarm. The book quiets.
Just in time as well. He's right above Raven's room. With practiced grace, he quietly unhinges a panel and softly lands on the carpet. Practically leaping to the shelves, he spots a single space on the proper shelf is where Slade thrusts annoying dragon. Why Raven hasn't incinerated the tome is beyond him. Nonetheless, it's no longer his problem.
Feeling a weight lifted from his shoulders, Slade turns and pauses completely. The unobstructed moonlight glows upon her gray skin. Her violet hair splays around her head like a purple halo. Her calm breathing parts her lips. That's when he notices that her sheet hanging off her bed. Never mind that she's part demon, is she not cold?
All the layers he wears keeps him warm as well as a superhuman metabolism. But her...
Slade finds the edge of the thin, soft sheet and lays it over her form. His fingers linger on her shoulders. Goosebumps appear on her skin as she softly moans and shifts around. His touch caused that. Her face suddenly seems to be searching for something like she's caught on to a scent and she's trying to find the source.
Shit. He was so distracted with the book that he forgot to bury his presence. Stepping away from the bed before the woman wakes up, he hides his aura and waits in the shadows. If he tries to flee now while her sleep has been disturbed, she'll awake during his escape. He has to wait until she gets back into a deep sleep.
A few minutes pass and in that time, her slumbering form has shifted around countless times. Then, out of the darkness, she groans. He watches the sheet move, noting her toes peeking out as she stretches. Her pleased moans does something to him...
That damned book.
He watches her sit up, entrapped by the purple sheet draping around her like she is Venus rising from the sea.
Those hazy violet pools look straight at him for a fleeting moment, but that second feels much longer to him. Those eyes will now haunt him, even as they close again for the night. Slade makes it out of the tower, but even as he makes a speedy trip home, he simply cannot shake this darkening feeling. As if he left something there, in that forsaken room. The only thing he knows he placed in there was that damned book. And it can't be that.
Distracted, he makes it home and crashes into his bed fully armored. He can't seem to care as violet colors his sleeping mind for the rest of the night.
That morning is hell on earth.
No amount of studying could calm this whirling restlessness and no amount of training or tunnel building does anything to cure him of it. Something has disturbed the already teetering emotional and mental balance within him. As each minute passes, anger tints his vision and takes over another small hold of his psyche. His calm demeanor is losing the cool façade as he makes reckless, unnecessary mistakes and ignores the consequences despite any quiet warnings from the elder man. The raging storm has all but burned him alive. Even Wintergreen couldn't stay in the same room as him for very long in fear of being torched. This general experience is not a new happening.
Several times since the military transformation, Slade has lost control of his anger to become a reckoning force. The more raw the deep anger, the hotter the blood boils. Such heat could only be cooled by the sweat and fatigue developed from a fierce, life-or-death battle. Therein lies the predicament: the closest playmates are other villains and the brat team. Alas, most of the villains here aren't worth the effort and those that are have been specially locked away already, for the time being.
That leaves the Titans.
Should he make an appearance, Robin will most likely throw himself into a frenzy to stay on Slade's tail. That could potentially damper his bounty plans severely. Unless Slade were to lay out a fake trail for Boy Blunder or leave something incapable of tracing. Or, completely throw a wrench into the heroes' plans.
Yes, a long awaited round with the grown team might prove fruitful and possibly cure the restlessness that gave birth to this unrelenting anger.
Red colors the world as Slade begins his plant, a little something to make a trip cross country for at a later date. In the meantime, he directs a Bot to set a bomb under the city streets in the middle of a low population side of town, something unassuming until the reveal for the shock-and-awe as a gift to the Titans. Just a little destruction to draw out the now-adult brats.
By the time the initial explosive display draws away the civilians and brings in emergency services, he's ready to arrive at the scene. He sets another bomb to explode for more confusion amongst the people, making them more likely to call for City Code: Alarm.
Behind him, in a darkened alleyway some distance from the fires, is an array of Bots, still dusty with nearly two years of remaining on stand-by, now standing at attention. These things will, as usual, draw the weaker members away from Slade's focus. All so he may have bring full attention on the stronger ones capable of giving him the fight he wants.
It's time.
The bots, as previously ordered, rush out from the flames forcing the city services to back away. By the time they vacate the area, the Titans arrive.
All as planned.
The street crumbles in a fiery explosion as Robin jumps off his motorcycle, the alien woman landing right behind him. The other Titans ensure the area is secure as is their regulation in order to eventually merge into the League. But little have they realized that in all of their bouts, he has never brought harm to those who can't protect themselves or others unless there's a price or it's personal vengeance.
During this, he steps out into the street without his usual collected stance. The red storm blinding him, his very blood singing for a fight. His human mind, however, still forces the body to wait. He wants Robin's reaction to prompt him further into madness.
This will be an interesting fight.
}-{
Robin takes down another Slade-Bot, fuming that these mechanical proxies are attacking the city, but hoping that the real villain is nearby. He hears Starfire destroy a bot, then gasp. He turns to find her, finding that her gaze is down the street before she zips forward, her hands and eyes glowing green.
As humanly possible, he turns to find what prompted his girlfriend so.
His hopes of seeing the real man suddenly very, very true. Star shouldn't have gone forward by herself, but he supposes that having her bear close witness to his nightly routine hasn't been good for her. But now is not the time to think about that.
Because the man that has bested and beaten Robin several times is standing right there in the city street. Star blasts several starbolts at the villain, but he dodges with uncanny ease. Only dodges. Starefire decides to come in for close combat, zooming in fast. The man simply grabs her outstretched arm and throws her into a building, turning back to the leader.
Robin knows that he should wait for the other three teammates. Starfire has survived far worse than that, so she should be okay. He can't help but worry. So he rushes forward, pulling out his bo staff and leaping for an air attack.
Robin, instead, grunts as he pushes himself off the ground, feeling an ache in his side. Growling, he gets up and proceeds to flurry staff attacks at Slade's head and midsection. Not a single one lands.
"What are you after this time?" He demands, jumping away from close quarters to prevent Slade from getting the upper hand..
Starfire, a little dusty, comes into view overhead, her hands encased in green energy. "You will not get away with whatever you are planning!" She exclaims, hurling the starbolt at Slade.
While the two of them fight, Cyborg confirms the area is now secure while Beast Boy and Raven keep the bots off his back. With the safety of the citizens settled, they can clear the area of the bots now. The changeling morphs into a tiger, bringing down three of the machines as Cyborg blasts through a line of them with his cannon. Through the gap, the Titans can see the current battle down the street.
Seeing the villain that caused her so much grief in her past, she escapes to the closest shadow. She keeps tabs on auras in the face of her cowardice, to make sure that when they need her most, she'll have sensed it. Though she suddenly feels that underlying essence of the calm emotion, but like a seashell on the shore of a beach, slowly becomes consumed by rage.
Robin exerts maximum force while attempting to strike Slade with the staff. His own fury rises as the staff breaks against the wall of a man. Robin falls back, tossing the broken piece aside as he pants.
"Why did you come back? What do you want from us?" He spits out.
However, the other man is unrelenting in attacking now. Not bothering to give words, almost like Robin is fighting just another bot. Maybe he is.
Starfire casts another blast, the villain dodging with eerie ease before he returns to focusing on Robin. Cyborg comes in from above with a great leap, yet the man jumps back, avoiding the sudden crater in the road. Beast Boy tries to strike from the side as a large cat while Slade is distracted with Cyborg. But no matter how his animal jaws snap, they don't find purchase as he is tossed into a light pole. Star throws another bolt, calling out for the changeling.
At this does the villain make a series of back flips to add distance between him and the Titans. Robin notes how uncollected he seems as Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy regroup.
"He keeps dodging, Robin." Starfire murmurs. "I have been unable to hit him even once."
Beast Boy, as a velociraptor, twitches his tail and snarls in Slade's direction as Cyborg adjusts his cannon.
"And he's not gloating or anything. It's concerning." Cy admits, now pointing his weaponized arm at the villain. "What should we do?"
Starfire hums. "Are you okay, Robin? He has beaten your human body quite harshly."
"I'm fine, Star. Let's all try to hit him. If we can manage to knock him out or restrain him, we'll have stopped this man once and for all."
Robin look back at the man, finding that his attention is focused on an alleyway, away from the team like they are inconsequential. Robin throws an explosive birdarang as the man starts turning away. As the smoke clears, the man seems unaffected, his head slowly facing the group.
In a moment, the man vaults forward as he pulls out his own bo staff and lands in the center of the group, swatting away Starfire like a bug and kicking Robin square in the chest. He quickly rolls to the side when the sound of the arm cannon charges up and fires, missing the man entirely. The roar sounds as heavy footsteps bring a green T-Rex close to Slade, but as he goes in for a bite, he suffers a metal rod in his mouth to keep his jaws from closing. This gives the man a chance to toss a smoke bomb down the giant gullet for spice.
An inhuman scream fills the air until Beast Boy reduces to his human form, which Slade takes the opportunity to kick the green man away and flips away from another blue blast from Cyborg. The man hulks towards the metal man only to be stopped by a flurry of green energy pellets. One actually manages to hit, melting through the mask on his right side.
The usually collected bad guy screams like a wild animal, his body visibly growing with the unleashed rage. He snarls then, his hand grabbing a gun from his belt and aims at Starfire. A metal net flies through the air, catching the shocked alien and slamming her into the ground. Leaping into the air, Slade bears his boot upon her, but a rope wraps around his torso and pulls him away before he could land a hit.
Robin pulls the rope hard and fast until Slade wraps a hand around the tight lead and yanks back. The force is enough to send Robin into a face plant with asphalt. The villain relaxes enough for the rope to fall away before he rushes for the fallen male.
Seeing this, Cyborg charges his cannon, though the sound of it attracts the villain's attention. Mid-stalk, Slade's hunched form stills as his head near inhumanly snaps to lock unto Cyborg. With a flick of a wrist before the cannon can finish powering up, the man sticks a small bomb to the mechanical arm. Before Cyborg has a chance to remove the object, a small explosion blinds him momentarily until the smoke clears only to see his arm in curling ribbons and the villain suddenly right in front of him.
With a spin kick, Slade kicks the disabled man's broad chest hard enough to dent it and knock him to the ground. In this silent rage, Slade rips open the chest revealing the inner mechanical workings of the young man and raises a fist to bear down.
Before the villain strikes, Starfire grabs unto the fist, her eyes glowing bright. "Do you think that is wise?"
Wordlessly still, he tosses the woman over his head and unto her metal friend. With the exposed circuits, it shock the alien into unconsciousness and the surge of power knocks out Cyborg.
"Hey, limp dick!" Beast Boy snarls, now recovered from his forced smoking break. "Why don't you finish what you started with me?"
Slade pulls himself to his feet as he faces the youngest member of the team with a stance that oozes pure negativity. Almost as if he is smirking maliciously, he waits for BB's first move. Luckily, Robin joins his side, though Beast Boy does take notice of the slight welt already forming on his leader's cheek.
As if seeing the two of them as a threat, the villain lowers his stance, then his form blurs. In an instant, the two young men both manage to raise their guards before a series of punches and kicks set them back. How he moved to them so fast is beyond their knowledge and current thinking capabilities. They have to focus severely just to ensure these insanely heavy blows don't land. It's like they're not fighting an intelligent, master of martial arts.
Rather, it reminds Beast Boy of the creature Adonis turned into. Like Slade is driven by pure instinct. And no matter what animal he turns into, Slade counters. He tries to leap at the villain as a tiger, not expecting a solid punch to his head, knocking him out cold as well.
Leaving Robin as the last stand. He has trained for this day, for Slade's return. He once thought himself ready for this encounter. Any thoughts now leave him as he can barely stand anymore, wavering on his feet, ready to topple over any given second. The wild man moves for one more blow, which Robin weakly brings his arms up to block despite knowing that it'll do him no good.
That it, until Slade's body freezes in place, a dark aura keeping him still.
With the assault ceased, Robin's mind falls into darkness. Starfire, to no one's surprise, rushes to his aid while glowering at the restrained villain. She pulls their leader from harm's way towards where Cyborg is as he furiously taps at the control pad in his arm, using what energy he has left that is spendable to keep him going should the fight not end anytime soon. He doesn't need to be a vulnerability to the team, especially since he so close to shutting down and rebooting.
Beast Boy is panting, bruises already coloring his lean body. He shifts into a rhinoceros and huffs at Slade while Raven appears out of the alleyway, hurling an orb of dark energy close to the vile man's feet.
"What is your plan this time?" Anger drips from her words. "What have you come here for? What is it that you wish to destroy or take away for your own malicious purposes?"
She casts another blast of magic, this time hitting him.
Yet, no words utter from beyond the now broken mask.
A silver-blue eye stares intently at the woman even as she jolts him with her immense power, throwing him down to the ground.
She knows how close she is to unleashing her emotions. Just seeing the villain again sparks the fear she felt that night on her birthday and every encounter before and after that incident. She wishes to release the ultimate temper tantrum, though she would obliterate her friends in the process.
But she is not a child anymore and Raven made a promise, long ago, to never commit such atrocities again.
And she can sense that he is not balanced, very unlike what the team is used to. There's a storm surrounding him that matches the wrath in his mind.
}-{
The storm vastly subsides with each blow she deals and reality sets back in. He very nearly killed each of the team members because of his lapse in judgment. Not like that was an issue anyway, but the execution could have been better. The perfect kill requires the right state of mind else he'd be no better than the Joker and such goons.
The red fades from his vision as he continues looking at Raven from the shattered street. The cloak flutters gently behind her as she floats inches off the ground. A dark shadow just barely hides the light in her eyes and leaves her slightly grimacing lips in the afternoon sun. Her fists emit the same dark energy that surrounds his fallen form. To have once thought her weak surely is a crime in of itself. She calculates him with those deep violet pools.
And he refuses to speak. Instead, he waits. There will always be an opportunity to make a grand escape before the team can fully apprehend him.
The energy fades from her hands, though. Landing on her feet, the blue cloak covers her body once more as she settles her weight on the broken ground. Her shoulders heave a great sigh as she pulls her hood down, revealing her upset face. Almost like she's disappointed. Those violet orbs, trained on him with an intense ferocity, narrow into slits.
"Leave," she hisses, the single word brimming with irritation.
When she really shouldn't, she drops her magic around him and turns to her friends quickly rushing to Robin. Blue encases her ashen hands as she begins healing the man, who is the most mortally injured of them all. He can't help but stare even as she tells the alien woman to get the team back to the tower.
As the team collects themselves, Raven casts one more mutilating glace at Slade before she leaves as well.
After everything he has done to the Titans, every threat and every fight, and Raven, of all people, is just going to let him go?
The shock of that realization quells the lingering rage from his mind. As he staggers to his feet, he watches the dark woman tend to her teammates. Why doesn't he take this chance to leave? Why does he stand here uncontested, as if his presence no longer means anything? No, his being here still affects them as he catches every glare in his direction from those still conscious.
However, he still doesn't leave. Seeing her bare herself surprises him the most for he knows just how she favors the safety behind her hood's cover. And that hint of disappointment that had twisted her soft face...
What is wrong with him?
The paper dragon is to blame for this. Humans tend to never notice something unless it's mentioned by someone else and now all Slade can see is the beauty in the dark Titan woman. In all she does, out of love and care, in all the studies she keeps up with, in her unique form hidden away from the world by the cloak. And for some god-awful reason, she is letting him go, knowing that Robin wouldn't be pleased by the outcome.
Sirens sound in the distance once more, calling for his time to retreat. He waits at the edge of an alley's shadow as the three team members file away from the scene to the vehicles, catching the last glance Raven casts his direction. Those eyes will haunt him... Damn it all. Even as she leaves with Robin in a dark orb, her presence still remains, lingering in the smokey air and within his body. He swears he can still feel her magic on him.
The sirens' echo is much closer. He escapes into the shadows and treks home. The woman and her anger plagues his wandering mind. It doesn't belong. She needs to be gleefully grinning and her eyes glittering. Not... that. Not what he just saw.
Something is terribly wrong with him.
}-{
Raven teleports Robin and herself to the infirmary in hopes to keep his vitals stable else his condition may worsen without further treatment. When the others return to the Tower, Raven demands Beast Boy and Cyborg join her in the ward. By the time she checks on the two men, Robin comes to, though dreading the pain.
Raven notes that Cyborg is awake, aware, and not badly damaged in spite of the deadly encounter. For now, he simply needs to charge, the rest he prefers to do himself. BB is suffering from multiple bruises and a fractured arm which is promptly put into a splint. Other than that, he needs some fresh oxygen to combat that smoke bomb's effects.
All the while, the Tameranian hovers nearby, playing with a lock of fire red hair. "Friend Raven, may I be of any assistance?"
The pale Titans shakes her head. "No, I have everything under control, but thank you."
Summoning her healing ability, she sits next to Robin and focuses on mending his most hindering wounds. She almost wishes he is still unconscious while she's doing this, but he'd ask these questions anyway. She ends up being the one to state that she let Slade go, though Star gives her two cents that the fight was odd from the beginning and taking Slade into custody might not have worked out if they tried.
Even BB chimes in, saying how his animal instincts were red flagging Slade like crazy. Robin tried to counter that until Cyborg, using his leader voice when he was in charge of Titans East, reminded Boy Wonder that Slade has never taken such cheap attacks before, that the man was unhinged and there's no arguing about it anymore.
Robin quiets down then, just as Raven finishes the healing process. She'll let them rest.
"I'll care for our friends. Why don't you go relax?" Starfire warmly offers.
Raven nods and mindlessly finds her bed, flopping unto the mattress with a sigh, staring at the ceiling to watch the remaining afternoon light inch across the surface. When the streaks move two inches, her thoughts return to earlier.
She had felt the calm feeling again. At a crime scene, no less. What if fighting crime is the source of her new emotion? Though it doesn't explain why the feeling felt alive, why the other end seemed like it was on fire. Something doesn't add up.
She sits up, tired of being in her room all of a sudden. She'll spend her evening in another favorite place of hers in the city.