Gotham City
Safehouse
1:50 A.M.
"All right, that should do it. You're all stitched up."
Rachel wiped off the dried blood from the edge of the wound and stood up. She still had the thread and needle in her hands as she stood watching Dick. Dick grabbed a shirt from his bag and put it on; it covered all the scars Rachel was looking at before.
"Thanks Rae, I appreciate it."
"I wasn't going to miss the opportunity to stab you with a sharp pointy object."
"Gee, thanks."
Rachel had walked out of the room into the living room to put the thread and needle back into the first-aid kit. Dick walked out behind her stretching out his shoulder in the process. Rachel put the first-aid kit back and saw him stretching.
"Don't stretch too much, you'll pop the stitches."
Dick just rolled his eyes and grabbed a second bag from behind the couch. He motioned Rachel over to the couch and sat down, she sat next to him.
"Now that you are officially a member of the Bat-Family, it's my job to fill you in on everything. So…"
Dick turned on the T.V. then hit a button on the remote; a map of Gotham came up on the screen with a dozen red dots at different locations throughout the city.
"These are all safe houses. Batman has a dozen of them throughout the city; we're never farther than a mile from one. We all have access to every single one; in case we need a place to go to lick our wounds or a place to shower and a bed to crash in. Bruce calls this safe house Wayne, I call it safe house Titan."
"Titan? Why do you call it that?"
"I'll show you in the morning."
Rachel went back to listening.
"You access every safe house the same way you access this one. Since you are one of us, you also get access to other things."
Dick opened the second bag he grabbed from behind the couch and started pulling equipment out of it; the first item was an earpiece. He handed it to her.
"Here, this is tuned in to the channel we all use. Every time someone speaks into this, any of us can hear it. So make sure you know who you're talking too."
He pulled out a laptop.
"This is a top of the line Wayne Tech PC. Think of it as a mini Bat-Computer, doesn't have the processing power of the one in the cave; but it will let you access all the files and information the Bat-Computer has. Gives you a direct link to the Bat-Computer and Oracle's in the old Gotham clock tower along with anyone else in the Bat-Family."
Next was a tablet.
"More Wayne Tech. This is basically a portable and more convenient version of the computer. Thanks to Bruce, it's always connected to the internet."
Last was a phone.
"This phone is untraceable and always has a secure line. It also has the contact info of everyone in the Bat-Family. All this is yours."
Rachel was eyeing everything he had given her as it laid on her lap. She had kept up with his rambling but didn't know why she needed all of these things. She had done fine on her own without any fancy gadgets.
"Batman really takes care of his own doesn't he?"
Dick smirked.
"As long as you don't do anything to break his trust. Now, it's almost three A.M. and I didn't sleep at all yesterday so I'm going to get a few hours' sleep. If you get hungry or thirsty there should be food in the fridge, as long as Jason didn't eat all of it while he was here."
Dick stood and walked halfway across the room before turning around and walking back over to Rachel.
"Oh, almost forgot…"
Grayson leaned forward and kissed Rachel, then he pulled away and stood up. Rachel had a huge grin on her face as dick pulled away.
"That's for stitching me up."
"Well if that's what I get for stitching you up, I need to stab you more often."
"Goodnight Rae."
"Night pretty boy."
Dick rolled his eyes and walked down the hall to his room. Rachel decided to stay up and get familiar with the gear Dick had given her. She needed to know how to use it anyway.
Gotham City
Safe house Wayne (Titan)
4:00 A.M.
Rachel was still awake when she heard the door to Dick's room open; he came walking out into the living room cracking his neck and rolling it trying to loosen it up. Rachel had just got done changing her password to the safe houses when she saw Dick. She could tell by the way he looked that he hadn't slept well, if at all. Dick was walking to the kitchen.
"Hey Rae, still awake huh?"
"Yeah, just getting used to this gear. Making sure I know how to use it. Oh and I changed my password."
Dick walked to the fridge and opened it, he pulled his head away since the light hurt his eyes.
"That's good. Glad to see you getting familiar with it."
Dick turned his head back to the fridge once his eyes adjusted to the light. He grabbed a bottle of water and took a sip of it as he walked over to Rachel and sat next to her. He passed the water bottle towards Rachel who took a sip and passed it back. She looked back over to see Dick down half the bottle, she watched as he wiped his lips with the back of his hand.
"Couldn't sleep?"
"I don't sleep remember?"
"You sleep, just not well. I could hear your thoughts and felt you tossing and turning from here."
Rachel shut her computer down as Dick passed her the bottle again, she shook her head and Dick downed the rest. Rachel packed her gear up in the bag and stood up; she grabbed Dick's hand and pulled him up. She turned and started walking down the hall.
"Whoa! Where we going?"
"To prove that you sleep."
Rachel pulled Dick down the hall to her room, she turned on the light and let go of his hand as she walked to the other side of the room.
"Uh, how does this prove that I sleep exactly?"
She didn't answer. She just bent down and started to take her boots off. Dick looked confused as he watched. Rachel then pulled her shirt off, Dick's cheeks got hot and he turned his back to her as she started to undress.
"Come on Grayson, you remember changing in the elevator together right?"
"I had my back turned for most of that Rae."
"Yeah, but as I recall you turned and caught a glimpse. Besides, you're mature enough to have a girl undress in front of you. You don't stare and breathe heavy, or giggle childlike like Beast Boy does."
Dick turned back around to see Rachel in just a bra and underwear. She crawled under the covers and pulled down the covers on the side of the bed by Dick. She patted the bed and looked at him.
"Well, are you going to lie down or what?"
Dick had a panic look on his face.
"Uh Rachel, we're not gonna…"
"Hell no! Why is that always what guys' minds jump too?"
"Well, you are kinda half naked."
"I'm not going to sleep in jeans Dick. Are you going to lie down, or am I going to have to get angry?"
Dick laid down next to Rachel in the bed, he was lying on his back. Rachel turned toward him.
"You say you don't sleep, I bet I can make you get at least two hours of solid sleep."
"Don't make promises you can't keep."
"It's more than a promise pretty boy."
"And how are you going to make me sleep? Magic?"
"Nope, like this."
Rachel moved closer to Dick and draped an arm across his chest; she laid her head against his chest. She could hear his heart beat as her head bobbed with his breathing. Rachel started rubbing Dick's upper arm with her thumb as the two of them laid there. Dick looked down at her.
"So how does putting your head on my chest and draping an arm across me help me sleep exactly?"
Rachel just dug her head into his chest harder and smirked.
"Your heart beat slows, your mind clears, and your body is more at ease when we're close to one another. I can feel your thoughts clearing and when I put my head on your chest your breathing slowed along with your heart beat. Doesn't take being trained by Batman to figure that out."
"You could just use your magic to put me in a deep sleep. You've done it to me before, back when we were Titans."
"True, but I think you like this better."
"Nah. You like this option better."
"And what evidence do you have to support that theory Boy Wonder?"
Rachel could hear Dick's heart skip when she called him that, he hated it when people called him that.
"The fact that if anyone else got anywhere near this close to you, you'd rip them apart at the molecular level with your magic."
"True. But I don't feel you resisting, and I'm pretty sure you've glanced down at my chest a few times."
"Maybe once or twice."
Rachel was the first to fall asleep, she was more content than Dick was. Dick never slept well, especially ever since Blockbuster's death. He still hadn't forgiven himself. He also would always remember the deaths of those around him, his parents, Donna Troy and others he had known. Truth is he was a little bothered by Rachel being this close to him, he was never good with the emotional stuff. After about fifteen minutes though he felt the psylink, the calmness of Rachel eventually passed on to Dick as he fell into a deep sleep.
Unknown Location
Church of Blood HQ
Five Years Ago
Robin was chained to a post by his wrists, his costume was practically destroyed. The torso was torn open, only thing showing was the R on the left side of his chest. His mask was torn in half showing the right side of his face, blood was running down from his cut lip. Both gauntlets were worn down near the wrists from struggling while he was trying to free himself, wrists bloody from struggling since his gauntlets were worn down. His utility belt was lying on the table in the room. Robin had been tied up for almost two weeks with no food or water and tortured, he was captured while sneaking through the halls of the Church of Blood. He had tracked Raven for a week to this location, she was abducted by Sebastian Blood; the High Priest of the Church of Blood. A demonic cult that worshiped her father Trigon; Raven was abducted so Brother Blood could take Raven as his bride and conceive a child with her that would be the perfect offspring of demon and human.
"I'm impressed hero. Two weeks without food, water and torture. You must be strong willed indeed."
One of the cultists was watching Robin, he was heating an iron rod in the fire in the middle of the room. The rod was almost red hot at this point as the cultist grabbed it from the fire and walked over to where Robin was chained.
"Come on hero. All you have to do is convince your friend to conceive a child with our High Priest and we'll let you go back to your wasted life."
Robin looked at the cultist with the rod who was inches away from him.
"Go to hell."
"That is the point of life is it not?"
The cultist took the heated iron rod and pressed it against Robin's back. The smell of burning flesh lingered in the air. Robin screamed in pain.
"You can't keep this up forever. You will break, along with your friend. And when she does, her child will usher in a thousand years of peace with hell on earth!"
"If Sebastian lays a finger on her, I swear that I'll make sure he never walks again."
The cultist put the rod back into the fire and grabbed a pipe. He walked around Robin tapping the pipe on the floor making a metallic clang echo through the room. He swung the pipe at Robin hitting him in the ribs. Robin cried out in pain.
"Oooh, looks like I touched a nerve that time. Oh, I get it. You obviously care a great deal about this woman, that's why you won't agree to our terms."
"I won't agree to your terms because all of you are a bunch of fanatics wasting your time on a wasted cause. Raven won't break, she's the daughter of Trigon. She is more powerful than Brother Blood."
"It matters not. If she does not willingly agree, the High Priest will force himself upon her. Maybe we'll force you to watch before we sacrifice you to Trigon."
"You son of a bitch!"
The cultist was close to Robin's face, Robin lunged out with his forehead and connected with the cultist. He stumbled backwards holding his nose, he looked back at Robin. His nose was streaming blood, the head butt had broken his nose.
"You little brat!"
The cultist clenched his fist and punched Robin in the face. Robin spit blood onto the ground, now his lip was bleeding even more.
"I swear I'll break free, and when I do, you are going to feel more pain than you have ever felt before."
"Keep trying, it'll only tire you more."
The cultist picked up the iron rod again this time he laid it across the other side of Robin's back. Robin started struggling violently to try and break free, but he didn't have much luck. Just as the cultist was about to take another swing with the pipe another cultist entered the room.
"The girl is about to break, everyone is supposed to gather for their wedding ceremony. Afterwards this one will be sacrificed in a blood ritual. His blood will feed the High Priest's child."
The one torturing Robin grinned and looked to Robin.
"You hear that, the child of the woman you care for will be sustained by your blood."
The two cultists began to leave the room, Robin cried to them as they walked away.
"See you soon."
Robin began struggling more, he wrapped the chains around his right wrist and began to pull with all the strength he could muster. The chains dug into his wrists as he pulled until he finally felt the stress in the chain break as his right arm became free. Robin freed himself of the restraints completely, he tore his gauntlets and the rest of the suit on his torso off leaving him with just his boots and pants of the Robin suit. He got some bandages from his utility belt and taped his wrists and hands along with bracing his ribs from two weeks of abuse and raced towards Sebastian Blood's quarters. Robin had to fight through a few dozen cultists until he came to the one who had tortured him. Robin snuck up on him from behind, he kicked the back of his knee sending him to the ground. The cultist recovered and turned around to stare Robin down.
"How did you get free?!"
"Two weeks of weakening the stress point of the chains. Then once I was alone, I fractured the link."
"You will not interrupt-"
Robin landed flurry of punches and a knee to the jaw before the cultist could finish talking.
"I'll interrupt the ceremony. But first I promised you a lot of pain."
The cultist tried to hold his own against Robin but failed horribly, he wasn't trained to fight like Robin was. Robin kicked the cultists' knee cap causing it to break. The cultist fell to the ground in pain, Robin grabbed his left shoulder and put pressure on it.
"No please! I was only following orders!"
"And I was only looking for my friend but yet, here we are."
Robin put all his weight into the cultists' arm and twisted, breaking the bone and dislocating the shoulder at the same time. The sound of bone snapping and screaming echoed through the hall. The cultists lost consciousness as Robin raced to find Raven.
Raven was bound by restraints. Sebastian Blood had kept her for almost a month, she was treated fairly well though. She was fed and given water at the orders of Brother Blood, but she was still a prisoner. Normally Raven could have fought back with her own magic or nullified Brother Blood's magic to free herself but was unable to in this case. Brother Blood had removed Raven's chakra by biting it off. She was afraid to use her powers without the chakra because it kept her darker powers at rest and was afraid to risk her father influencing her.
"I don't understand why you fight your destiny Raven. You and I are going to bring the world their savior. A child whose ultimate fate will be to lead during a thousand years of piece…"
"After slaying everyone save your followers. I will not allow it."
"One faith, will unify the world."
Brother Blood approached Raven, he cupped his fingers around her chin and began to kiss her. First her lips, then down her neck. Raven struggled, trying to free herself with no success. The bonds that held her were too strong. Just as Brother Blood was about to go further the door to his chambers broke off the hinges causing them to fall to the ground with a heavy thud. Sebastian and Raven both looked towards the door to see the cause of intrusion. Robin had fought his way through the entire Church of Blood and was now standing in the doorway staring at Blood with a fire in his eyes that Raven had never seen before.
"Robin!?"
"Raven!"
Robin ran forward tackling Blood to the ground, Robin started punching him repeatedly. Blood used his telekinesis to throw Robin off into a wall.
"You fool! We were in the middle of an intimate moment! You will pay for your intrusion with your blood!"
Brother Blood shot at Robin with blasts of magic. Robin rolled and easily dodged them as he stood to fight.
Robin charged again, hoping that being in close quarters meant less magic use. Sebastian wasn't a master martial artist but he had some level of training. Robin and Sebastian traded blows until Robin knocked him to the ground. Robin was halfway to Raven when Brother Blood had recovered and sent a blast of energy at Robin knocking him to the ground. Robin couldn't recover fast enough due to fatigue of the last two weeks, Blood walked to Robin and picked him up by his throat.
"Can't you see? This is her destiny, to become my bride and from that union sire a chid that will bring in an age of peace for a thousand years."
"If you ever touch her again I promise I'll..."
Blood threw Robin to the ground again. Raven watched in horror as Sebastian threw Robin like a ragdoll.
"What is your obsession with me?!"
Raven was trying to distract Brother Blood, give Robin time to recover.
"Because our Lord and Savior Trigon made you. Because you are perfect in every fashion, and because I REALLY like you."
Robin had recovered just enough to catch a second wind. Brother Blood crossed the room to Robin who was standing again and threw a punch. Robin just flowed around it and countered landing repeated kicks until he finally knocked Blood to the ground.
"Robin… My chakra… Around his neck. Can't use my powers…"
Raven was exhausted from being held captive. She was beginning to lose consciousness, she was lucky she got those words out to Robin. Robin looked at Raven for the first time in a month, he saw the dried blood on her forehead and the wound from Sebastian's bite where Raven's chakra used to be. Robin looked to Blood who was just now beginning to get up from being knocked down. Robin saw the red jewel hanging from a golden chain around his neck.
"I'm on it."
Robin walked over to Sebastian and kicked him in the face causing him to collapse again. Robin grabbed the necklace and pulled, the necklace ripped from his neck. Robin pulled the chakra from the chain and placed it in Raven's palm. Raven closed her eyes and gathered all the strength she had left, her hands encased in magic along with the cuffs binding her and shattered them. She collapsed from exhaustion into Robin's arms as he lowered her to the ground she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.
"He'll never touch you again, I'll make sure of that Rae."
"I lov-"
She wasn't able to finish her sentence. Brother Blood was enraged when he saw the two kiss and grabbed Robin by the throat a second time. He walked him to a wall and slammed him against it then pulled out a sacrificial dagger with a jagged and serrated blade and held it to Robin's throat.
"No! She will be my bride, and she will watch helplessly as I draw this blade across your neck. Then she will watch as you slowly bleed to death, after which I will collect your blood and feed it to our child."
Raven got one last surge of adrenaline and put a black casing over the blade and shattered it, Robin connected with a knee freeing himself from Sebastian's grasp. Robin punched Blood repeatedly until he collapsed.
"Raven, can you..?
"I'll try."
Raven gathered every ounce of strength she had left for one final display of magic, she summoned a portal that sucked Sebastian into it, and he would not be seen again. Robin walked over to Raven and helped her stand up. He draped her arm across his shoulders and helped her walk.
"Where'd you send him?"
"To meet his God. I sent him to my father."
"Harsh, but I guess he had it coming."
"What happened to you? Why is your suit destroyed?"
Robin didn't want to tell her what he had gone through the last two weeks, Raven would just blame herself and she was already vulnerable.
"Let's just say it's been a long two weeks."
"What are we going to tell the others? They'll want to know what happened."
"They don't need to know all the details. Let's keep that between us."
"Dick, I have to tell you something, before it's too late. I-"
He cut her off.
"Shhhh you don't have to say anything Rae. I know, and I do too"
Gotham City
Safe house Wayne (Titan)
5:30 A.M.
Dick awoke from his dream breathing heavily, he thought of it more as a nightmare than a dream. He felt fully rested though, Rachel was right, he slept better in her presence. Rachel had shifted in her sleep and had her back towards Dick, he quietly sat up and got out of bed without waking Rachel. He walked out to the living room and checked his phone for any messages from Bruce or Barbara, there weren't any. He turned on the T.V. to Gotham City News and pulled out Rachel's herbal tea he had brought from Wayne Manor. He started to make her tea, as he turned around he looked out the window of the safe house, the window was one of those tall windows that goes from the floor to the ceiling that took up the entire wall. He saw the sun beginning to come into view rising over Gotham Bay and remembered what he promised Rachel, he would show her why he called it Safe House Titan. He walked back into Rachel's room and wiggled her to wake her up.
"Hey, Rachel. Wake up."
Rachel opened her eyes halfway because they weren't use to the light yet.
"Hey Dick, what's up?"
"I have a surprise for you."
Rachel groaned.
"Dick, you know I hate surprises."
"I promise you you'll like this one, now hurry up."
"Fine."
Rachel stood up and followed Dick, she was slowly starting to wake up as they got into the living room.
"I promised to show you why I call this safe house Titan. So stand right here and look out that window."
Rachel moved to where Dick told her to stand and she looked out the window but didn't see anything.
"What am I supposed to be seeing exactly?"
Dick put two hands on Rachel's shoulders and moved her half a step to her left, he then looked at the clock on the wall.
"Tell me what you see in three, two, one… Now."
Rachel looked out the window and saw the sun rising, at first she didn't see anything special or out of the ordinary, then she saw it. She didn't know what to say.
"Dick is that…? It looks just like…"
Dick finished her sentence.
"Like the view from the tower; the sunrise coming over Jump City Bay."
"It's amazing. I forgot what the view looked like."
"So did I. This isn't exactly the view from the tower but its close."
Rachel stared out the window, she almost forgot where she was. She started to remember old times, she had spent countless hours meditating on the roof of the tower. She would feel the heat of the sun's rays on her skin, the sound of sea gulls calling around her, and the sound of the waves rolling in and breaking on the shore of the island. Rachel was startled when she heard Dick behind her.
"You there Rae?"
"Huh? Oh yeah I'm here. Sorry, just remembering old times."
Dick walked over to Rachel with her tea.
"Here, I grabbed this from the manor before we left. "
A smile appeared on Rachel's face as she took the mug and sipped from it.
"I think you make this better than Alfred does."
"Well, I do have plenty of experience making it."
Rachel went to shower while Dick made breakfast for the two of them. Rachel came out just as Dick was setting the food down on the table. They sat in silence for a few minutes until Rachel spoke.
"So how did you sleep? Did being close to me help?"
"I slept better than I have in a long time."
Rachel could feel his thoughts were distracted when he answered her, he wasn't telling her everything.
"Your thoughts were distracted when you answered, what's wrong?"
"I had a dream about when I saved you from Brother Blood."
"You too?"
Dick was confused.
"Wait, you had the same dream?"
"Yeah. I couldn't stop thinking about it since you just told me about your torture. When I slept, the psylink must have sent my subconscious into yours."
"So we share dreams now? Weird."
Just as the two of them were finishing their breakfast, the T.V. started making a beeping noise.
"What's that noise?"
Dick stood up and started walking across the room.
"The T.V. has a built in secure line comm channel. It's probably Bruce trying to reach us. "
Dick grabbed the remote and hit a button on the remote, Bruce appeared on screen sitting in front of the Bat-Computer.
"Dick, Rachel. I have a mission for you."
Rachel looked over at the screen when she heard that, she wasn't expecting Bruce to give them a mission. Dick looked over to Rachel who was still sitting at the table.
"Rachel, come over here."
Rachel stood and started walking towards the screen.
"What's the mission Bruce?"
Dick got serious again, and emotionally cold. Bruce looked at Rachel then back to Dick making sure they both had eyes on the screen.
"Fourteen hours ago, Luthor found a new host for his Amazo Virus, a man named Armen Ikarus. This virus is a synthetic plague created by Lex based upon the same principles as Professor Ivo's Amazo android, which is able to mimic any meta-human abilities it encounters through the use of an artificial enzyme. This man, destroyed a block of Metropolis before Superman was able to move him outside the city to limit collateral damage. Superman then called the League for backup. It took eleven Leaguers and six hours of fighting to detain Ikarus. Ikarus is being shipped through Gotham with a convoy of A.R.G.U.S. soldiers on his way to Belle Reve. I need the two of you on site to assist if needed. I have already sent word that you two will be watching their backs."
Rachel chimed in.
"No disrespect Bruce, but if it took eleven Leaguers six hours and this thing is able to replicate more powers, won't it copy mine? And if it does how will two people be able to stop it?"
Bruce glared at Rachel, Dick stood up for her.
"She's got a point Bruce."
"You of all people should know I always have a plan Dick. I was able to synthesize a neutralizing agent to counter the enzyme that allow him to replicate powers that the Leaguers were able to administer before defeating him. I am sending five doses of the neutralizing agent and a tranquilizer strong enough to take out Superman to you in a supply drop. The convoy will be coming passed your building at exactly 11:00 A.M."
A picture of the neutralizing agent and its chemical compound showed up on the screen, both Dick and Rachel studied it. Rachel spoke first.
"This compound, it's a mix of boswellia extract and H202. It doesn't destroy the synthetic enzyme, or prevent it from being produced. It just suppresses it for a few hours."
Bruce looked at Rachel with a surprised look on his face.
"I'm impressed Rachel. But you are right, once Ikarus is contained at the only facility that can hold him, the League can find and manufacture a cure."
"Dick looked to Bruce with a smirk.
"Told you she was good."
Bruce looked back at the two of them.
"I'm sending the two of you because my theory is that by sending someone from outside the League, Ikarus will not recognize Dick's fighting skills, or Rachel's powers; and will give you an advantage should he escape."
Dick spoke.
"Understood Bruce."
"You two are the only ones I trust with this mission. I can't be certain to rely upon anyone else in the family for this."
Rachel looked at the screen.
"You can count on us."
"We won't let you down Bruce."
Rachel thought she saw a smile on Bruce's face but assumed it was her imagination.
"I know you won't. Bruce out."
The screen went black.