Today, Starfire was the one to visit the infirmary, specifically to see Bumblebee. It was early the following morning. The team had not yet formally talked about what happened, but she knew they would soon. And then they would have to focus on that. But in this moment, Starfire's mind was on other things. She had decided to come visit Bumblebee. Starfire had visited Bumblebee before, but Bumblebee always seemed to be sleeping or about to sleep when Starfire did visit. Starfire thought that maybe this time would be different.
Starfire was relieved to see that Bumblebee was awake, and the window was drawn, letting the sunlight in. It helped to brighten up the normally dim and quiet room. When Starfire walked over, Bumblebee turned and looked at her. She looked… not exactly happy, but not displeased to see Starfire either.
"Hey, Starfire. What's up?" Bumblebee said. Her voice still sounded slightly weak, but much better than before. Not that Starfire was an expert in human health. She certainly looked better. Her arm was still heavily bandaged, though.
"I am… just fine. And how are you, Bumblebee?" Starfire was making an effort to talk like an earth human. As she had gotten older, she had become increasingly self-conscious about sounding like a foreigner on earth. So, she had made an effort to learn earth syntax and verbiage. This was complicated by the fact that there was no single way of talking on earth. It varied by nation, and sometimes even by city. In particular, American speech tended to rely heavily on slang, euphemisms, and informality. Something that Starfire still had difficulty with.
Bumblebee raised an eyebrow at Starfire. "You don't look fine, girl. Not that I'm one to talk." Bumblebee limply raised her severed arm.
Starfire smiled weakly, and half raised a hand. "I assure you, I am… I'm cool." Now, Bumblebee raised both eyebrows.
"Do people still say that?" Starfire said. "Cool?"
"Yeah, they do." Bee said.
"What about 'tight', and 'dope'?"
Bumblebee laughed. "Why don't you have a seat?" she pointed to a nearby chair. Starfire pulled the chair up and sat down. She fidgeted slightly in the hard plastic chair. She then noticed Bumblebee looking at her.
"We never talked much before, did we?" Bee said. Starfire put her finger to her lip.
"I… suppose we haven't."
Bumblebee nodded. "Yeah, I guess I always spent more time with… Cyborg, then the rest of you guys." She suddenly became quieter. For a long moment, there was silence between them. Starfire didn't like long silences.
"I heard that you and Cyborg had a disagreement." Starfire said.
"Oh, you heard that, huh?" Bumblebee said.
"…Yes?" Starfire said meekly.
Bumblebee shrugged. She scratched at the bandages on her arm. "Yeah, well… He thought I should get a new robot arm. I don't want to. I just… don't want to. I don't want to change myself like that." Bumblebee looked at Starfire seriously. "What do you think?"
Starfire raised her eyebrows. "I…" Starfire thought a moment. "I think that things change whether we want them to or not. And we don't always have a choice in the matter. Sometimes horrible things happen. To yourself. To your friends, and family. Or even your entire world. And in the aftermath of the death and destruction, you need to carry on, and take responsibility. Even if it means giving up what makes you happy."
When Starfire finished talking, Bumblebee sat there, and just blinked a few times. Then she leaned forward and put a hand on Starfire's. "We're not still talking about me, are we?"
Starfire looked at her, and felt a tear on her cheek. "I should…" she started to get up, but Bumblebee held onto her hand.
"Look, I know we're not close friends." Bee said. "But maybe that'll make it easier to talk. Sometimes it's just easier to talk to someone you don't know that well."
Starfire looked down. Bumblebee gently released her grip. Starfire began to talk. "Robin… Nightwing… we used to date. Years ago. But then, the disaster happened on Tamaran, and I had to stay there. Someone had to rule. And now…"
"You want to get back together with him?" Bee said. Her voice was low and gentle.
"I don't think he wants that." Starfire said.
"Did he say that?" Bumblebee said.
"Not exactly. But… When I look at him… its different."
"Well, he's not a kid anymore." Bumblebee said. "Unless he wants to buy beer or cigarettes." Starfire looked at Bumblebee, quizzically.
"Sorry, just a joke. Trying to lighten the mood."
Starfire sighed. "You are right. He's not who he was then. And neither am I. I guess I need to figure how who we are now."
Bumblebee nodded. "I guess I can relate to that. Not that I'm trying make it about me."
Starfire looked at Bee's bandaged arm. "But it was about you, before I changed it to be about me. We should continue talking about you now. You're still thinking about the prosthesis."
Bumblebee was quiet for a minute. "I know what I said earlier. And I stand by that. But if I don't get it, what'll I do? This is hard. It would change me. I know I'm already changed, but… What do you think I should do?" Bumblebee looked at Starfire. Starfire saw a hint of vulnerability in Bumblebee's eyes that she hadn't seen before.
Starfire considered for a moment, and then took a breath. "If you feel that there is no one depending on you, then I feel you should do as you please."
Bumblebee looked down at the sheets. The sun from the open window shone directly on Bumblebee's face, highlighting her brown eyes. Her eyes started to water, although Starfire thought it was probably the sun. Bumblebee closed her eyes and turned her head. Again, the sun. "And what if other people do depend on me?" She finally said.
Starfire pondered this for a long moment. Her face was pensive, yet soft. "Then do what you must."
Bumblebee sat there a minute, not saying anything. The sun now shone on them both. Eventually she said, "Look, it's a beautiful day out, you shouldn't be spending it in here."
"What about you?"
Bee shrugged her shoulders. "They told me I can probably start walking around today, after they do a couple tests."
Starfire nodded. "I'm glad. But if you don't mind, I will stay here a little longer."
Bumblebee smiled. "Nah, I don't mind at all."
In another part of Jump City, the police station was busy, as was usual at this time of day. It was late afternoon, rush hour. People getting off work, kids getting out of school. Everyone out and about. More crimes being committed. More car accidents. And it was like that almost every day. These were the thoughts of the police captain as he sat at his desk.
The captain had his own office, although the door was open at the moment, in case there was something important he needed to hear. There often was. There was a stack of papers on his desk. His helmet was in his locker, along with some other equipment. Without his helmet, he looked like an ordinary man in early middle age. He had a thick black mustache, and short hair. He ran his hand along his short hair, smoothing it back the way he liked. The sounds of officers walking about, many of them still in their body armor, could be heard clearly. Distractingly. The captain closed his eyes, trying to block out the noise. It was so hard to focus on getting important work done.
"Gonzales." A voice said loudly. The captain opened his eyes, and saw one of his subordinates at the door, holding a file of papers. "The boss wants you to take a look at this, Gonzales."
Captain Gonzales scowled. "That's captain to you, sergeant."
The sergeant snorted. "Yeah, right." He threw the file on Gonzales' desk and left without saying another word. Gonzales sighed. He reached for the file and opened it. It contained a bunch of papers, much of it text. But also a few pictures. Pictures of the incident from a few days earlier. He examined snapshots of the Titans getting into a fight with the two psycho kids, and "his" police force getting involved. Siding against the titans, of course. There were a few surprisingly clear photos. Including one of Nightwing holding the goth girl, Raven. He had had multiple run-ins with the two of them.
I told those damn kids not to get involved. He thought to himself. I warned them multiple times. Not like anyone listens to me. He spent the next several minutes flipping through the papers. His scowl only deepened. At this rate he would start getting wrinkles soon. He looked up at the clock on the wall. His shift was over. Time to go, finally. He would take the file with him. He had a pretty good idea of what "the boss" wanted him to do. He sighed deeply.
After putting his equipment away, he left the precinct and went to his car. Used and beat up. Though it was getting cold, he didn't bother warming it up, and just drove off. As he was driving, he couldn't help but feel that he was being watched. But every time he looked around, he didn't see anyone.
After some time, he made it back to his apartment building. It wasn't pretty, but it was clean. More or less. He entered the building and went up the stairs, his apartment being on the top floor. He got to his place, and put the key in the door. He opened it and turned on the lights. He quickly shut the door, and put his head against it for a minute. He slowly lifted his head and turned around, and saw someone sitting on his couch. He froze.
"Hello captain." Nightwing said.
"Y-you…" Gonzales said. He frantically looked around.
"Looking for this?" Nightwing held up a gun. The captain's gun. Gonzales froze. Nightwing tossed the gun, and it slid along the floor. Gonzales quickly reached for it.
"I took the bullets out for you." Nightwing said. "Just to be safe." Gonzales picked up the gun, and examined it. Empty. His arms dropped to his sides. Nightwing was now standing up, and took a few steps closer. He was young, lean, and muscular, whereas Captain Gonzales was middle aged with a spare tire. And he had no weapons or armor at the moment. Gonzales knew how to throw a punch, but Nightwing definitely knew a lot more than that.
"What do you want?" Gonzles said in a level voice. He was used to raising his voice and using intimidation tactics in situations like this. But something told him that wouldn't be a good idea here.
"Your men attacked us." Nightwing said.
"I wasn't there when it happened." Gonzales said.
"You're saying you have nothing to do with this? No authority over them?"
Gonzles gritted his teeth. "I… I warned you to stay away. You've interfered too many times. With what's going on in this city…"
Nightwing stepped closer to him. They were face to face. Nightwing pressed his hand against the door behind Gonzales. "Interfered with what? What is going on in this city exactly? Tell me."
Gonzales' breaths were shallow, but he clenched his teeth. "I don't have to tell you shit." Nightwing narrowed his eyes.
"Look, I'm trying to do this the easy way. We can do it the hard way if you want."
Gonzales clenched his fists. "You can't just come into my home and threaten me. Who do you think you are?"
Nightwing's face moved even closer. Almost nose to nose. "You're working for Slade. He's a psychotic monster who will destroy this city if given the chance."
"That's not what he sa-" Gonzales said, but stopped himself. He looked away.
"What did he say?" Nightwing said.
"I can't tell you anything. They'll kill me." Gonzales' voice was barely above a whisper.
"I've heard that before." Nightwing said.
"Look… you don't know how big this is. They… they have eyes and ears everywhere. If they find out you're here…" He let the thought hang. Nightwing took his hand off the door, and backed up.
"We can keep this quiet." Nightwing said.
"Please go. Now." Gonzales said. Nightwing stood there a moment, and then spoke.
"Okay. I'll go then. Let me know if you change your mind. Its only the fate of the city you swore to protect." Nightwing walked past him and opened the door.
"What are you doing?" Gonzales said.
"Leaving, like you asked."
"Out in the hallway? Out the door?"
"Taking the stairs will be good exercise." Nightwing started to walk off.
"You can't stop him." Gonzales said, though not too loudly.
Nightwing paused in the hallway. "We've stopped him before. Worse than him."
"Then why is he still here? Why is this happening?" Gonzales' voice sounded angry, but also desperate. Nightwing didn't respond. He walked down the stairs, and left the apartment. Gonzales closed the door. This time he turned around and made sure no one was there. He was alone now. He let out a deep breath. "Shit."
"How's your leg doing?" Rose said. She stood several feet away from Grant with her arms folded. He was laying on a cot, his broken leg in a cast. He looked down at his leg, and then tilted his head back and glanced at her.
"Still broken. I know we heal fast, but its still going to take more than a few days." Grant groaned. "I wish Slade would let us drink. The one friggen thing he obeys the law on. I can probably take the cast off in a couple days, at least."
Rose stood there impassively as he spoke, arms still folded. "If you're done, we've got a problem." She walked over to a table on one side of the room, and picked up a remote. She aimed it at one of the monitors on the other wall. She pressed a few buttons, and the picture changed. There was footage of an apartment building.
"This was from last night. Recognize the place?" Rose said.
Grant squinted. "Looks familiar, but…"
Rose pressed another button. The picture changed to inside the apartment. The camera showed two men talking. One in normal clothes, the other in spandex. Grant sat up.
"Well, shit." Grant said.
"Yeah." Rose said. "Not surprising."
"Do you think he said anything?"
"Looks like he's saying a lot." Rose stood there, the glow of the screens on her face. Her expression remained stony as she watched. Unlike Grant, whose face changed between confusion, annoyance, and mild amusement.
"Guess we should let Slade know." Grant said. Rose turned to look at him.
"We don't need to bother him with this. Let's just take care of it ourselves."
"I think Slade would want to know." He now sat on the side of the cot, his legs on the floor, leaning forward.
"Look daddy's boy, he told us that if this guy gets out of line, we can nail him. He looks pretty outside the line to me, so let's go deal with him. Right now. Slade will appreciate our proactiveness."
"You're more sure of that than I am." He also folded his arms. "Besides, I can't do anything right now, remember? Give me a week and we can deal with it together."
"We might not have a week." Rose tossed the remote aside, and began raising her voice. "Things are ramping up. Slade has his own plans for this city, and we need to kill these goddamn Titans soon. But it's gonna be hard to do that with cops shooting their mouths off."
Grant looked at the floor. "Look, I hear you, Rose. But I need to heal. Sorry."
Rose stood there a moment, and then shrugged. "You know what? Not a problem. I can deal with this old man alone." She walked over to her swords that she had left on a nearby seat. She picked them up, and armed herself with them.
"Gonna give him a stern talking to?" Grant said sarcastically.
"That's one way of putting it." She finished putting the sword in the scabbard. "I'm going to try to find out exactly what he said. Who knows? He says the right thing, maybe I'll even let him live." She grinned at him, and he returned the expression.
Captain Gonzales again arrived at his apartment. This time, he checked to make sure no one was there before closing the door. He looked around. It wasn't a big apartment. One bedroom, one bathroom. The bedroom was directly in front of him, and the bathroom was to his right. He closed the door, and cautiously stepped in. After what happened yesterday, he was on edge. He wondered if anyone knew what happened. No one at the station had said anything. He hadn't heard anything from Slade, or the two psycho kids. But what if Nightwing came back?
He continued moving around his apartment, checking his bathroom. Then his bedroom and closet to be sure. As he looked in the closet, he heard something in his ear. He quickly turned, but there was no one there. He looked for a minute, and then heard something in his other ear. A buzzing sound. He turned again, taking a step back. He saw what was making the noise. A fly. He got annoyed at being startled like that, and swatted at it. He watched it fly away. He sighed. He had just gotten off from work, and just wanted to relax. It was the end of the day, and it was getting dark out.
He walked back into the living room area. He picked out some casual clothes to put on. Jeans, T-shirt. He laid them on the table. He was a bit slovenly at home since he lived alone. He took off his clothes and went into the bathroom. He showered. He took a long, hot shower. He stood there with the water running down his body, until the water started to turn cold. Then, he grudgingly turned off the shower and got out. He toweled off and then walked back to his living room to put on fresh clothes. When he walked in, there was once again someone sitting there waiting for him. It was not Nightwing.
"Hey, Gonzales." The girl called Ravager said, sitting on his table cross-legged. "Been a while. Miss me?" Gonzales stood there, frozen. He didn't have his gun, or… anything. He was naked and vulnerable.
"I thought you'd at least be wearing a towel." Ravager said. "Not that I care." She stood up, and stepped towards him. He backed up a step, and looked for something to use as a weapon if he needed to. Slade's goons only came to his apartment to threaten him.
"This is my home." He said. "You can't…"
"I can do whatever I want. Unlike you. Now, I'm going to ask you a few questions. Think before speaking, old man. Why was Nightwing here yesterday? What did you talk about? What did you tell him?"
Gonzales stood there, slowly shaking his head. He opened his mouth, but didn't say anything. Ravager pulled out a sword. "Cat got your tongue?" she said.
"I didn't say anything." Gonzales said. "He asked me questions, but I didn't tell him anything."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you sure? Sure looked like you were talking about something."
"I told you, it was nothing. I just told him to leave." An edge crept into his voice.
Ravager smirked, and examined her sword. "You know, I want to believe you, but you've been disobedient before. Refusing to kill people we tell you to. Not arresting the Titans. You didn't even show up for the raid on Gizmo's place."
"I have more important things to do." He said. He was collecting himself, but also perspiring visibly.
"We tell you what's important, old man." She said. I need to teach you-"
Gonales reached off to the side, and grabbed what he could. An umbrella. Ravager grinned. "That won't save you. You're helpless as a little baby without your armor and guns." She readied her sword.
Gonzales scowled. "And if you didn't have your sword I'd knock you senseless, you little brat." He snarled. He raised his voice at her. She paused. Ravager shrugged, and threw away her sword. It slid to the other side of the room.
"Okay Mr. Tough Guy, show me what you—" before she could finish the sentence, he threw a punch without warning, ramming his fist into her jaw. Her head arched back, but her body stood in place. After a second, she looked back at him. She touched her jaw with her hand. "Not bad. That actually hurt a little. You're stronger than you look."
Gonzales was caught off guard by this, but quickly recovered and threw another punch, this one at her midsection. She caught it. She yanked his armed, and twisted his wrist. He struggled, but she broke his wrist without letting go of it. The pain caused him to fall to his knees.
"You get just one free shot." Her words dripped with smug contempt as she spoke. "Now tell me what you said." His only response was to curse at her and call her names. Ravager tsk'd.
"Sounds like you're tired of life." She said. "I'll help you with that." She grabbed his throat, choking him. She squeezed her fingers around his neck. He couldn't breathe. Murdered by a teenage girl half his size, in his own apartment, and he didn't even have any clothes on. Not the most dignified way to die. As his vision began to go dark, he thought that at least none of this would be his problem anymore.
Suddenly, the hand released from his throat. He blinked. He looked up, and saw that both of her arms were now restrained by… tentacles? Green tentacles. Ravager struggled furiously against the octopus that was suddenly in Gonzales' apartment.
"Alright guys, I got her." The octopus said. "But… maybe not for long." Ravager roared, and pulled her arm forward so hard that it half tore out one of the tentacles. It lay there dangling by a thread. The pain caused the octopus to lose its grip on her other arm, and she flipped the beast to the floor. It then turned into Beast Boy. Ravager then did a forward flip onto the floor towards her sword. For his part, Gonzales was still recovering from the pain in his wrist, and almost dying. He was still on his knees, no time to react to what was going on.
As Ravager picked up her sword and reached for her other weapon, the window to the apartment shattered, and Starfire flew through. Starfire turned her head and saw Ravager. Ravager threw a barbell that was lying on the floor, but Starfire swatted it away. She then fired her eye beams at Ravager. Ravager dodged, and got into a fighting pose. But then another presence entered behind Starfire. A black shape came in through the window, and then materialized as Raven. Ravager watched them both, not noticing Beast Boy pouncing at her, now in wolf form. He knocked her to the ground, and tried to bite her. She held him off with her strength, and then used her leg to flip him backwards into the wall. Ravager jumped to her feet, only to be attacked by Starfire. Starfire punched Ravager in the face, knocking her back a few steps. Starfire then threw several more fists, but Ravager was able to dodge these. Barely.
"Surrender!" Starfire said. In response, Ravager dropped her sword to the floor, and got on one knee, holding her hands up. Starfire was surprised, and just blinked. The next second, Ravager propelled herself off the floor into a back flip, kicking Starfire in the face. Ravager landed on her feet and ran for the door. Raven threw a chair with her magic, but Ravager simply caught it and tossed it aside. Ravager then kicked down the door and ran out of the apartment.
Ravager ran into the hallway, only to immediately get blasted in the abdomen by a laser blast. The blast had burned her and knocked her back to one knee. Breathing hard, she looked up and saw Cyborg standing in the middle of the hallway.
"Give up, Ravager." She turned and saw Nightwing standing at the top of the stairway at the end of the hall. She and Cyborg were in the middle of the hall, in front of the railing. Starfire stood in the doorway.
"You're outnumbered." Nightwing said. "Just come with us quietly." Ravager glanced from him to Cyborg. Starfire stepped into the hall. Without saying a word, Ravager propelled herself into the air and jumped over the railing, down into the stairwell. The others were shouting something at her as she fell down.
Ravager adjusted her legs in midair, but apparently not fast enough. She hit the landing below, and landed on one of her legs wrong. Not bad enough to break it, but probably at least a sprain. If she had been a normal human, the injury would have been worse. She fell over and fell down some of the stairs. After a few seconds she slowly got up, but the others had followed her down by that point. Nightwing was standing above her on the stairs, and Cyborg was at the top. Starfire had flown down the stairwell, and Beast Boy, as a monkey, was climbing down too. Ravager backed away from them, moving towards the exit. She took a step backwards, keeping an eye on them. She then noticed that Gonzales had come out, and was looking down at her as well. While distracted with this, Ravager suddenly gasped. Her knees buckled and she fell to the floor. Standing above and behind her was Raven. Raven was holding out her hand, flat. While Ravager wasn't looking, Raven had come up behind her and hit her with a knife edge chop. The others looked at her.
"What?" Raven said. "I know some martial arts."
As Ravager lay on the floor, semi-conscious, the others all came down to assess the situation. Gonzales came down as well. He approached the girl who had almost killed him a minute ago, and looked down at her as she lay there.
"So… what happens now?" he said. Raven had been looking down at Ravager, but now looked at Gonzales, up and down.
"Oh." She said. "Ummm." Gonzales looked at her quizzically.
"Mr. Police Captain." Starfire said, standing next to him. "It would appear you have forgotten your clothes." Gonzales looked down, remembering he was still naked.
"Dude, put some pants on!" Beast Boy said.
Within the hour, the Titans had all returned to the tower. But this time not empty handed. They had brought a Ravager back with them. She had been cuffed, with everyone keeping a watchful eye on her. On the ride back in the T-Car, she didn't resist. But once they got to the tower, she fought back and tried to escape. Starfire punched her hard in the face, and she stopped resisting.
Once inside, Ravager was brought to an interrogation room, and cuffed to a table. She was bruised and battered. She sat there looking blankly ahead, not saying anything. They left her alone in there, for the time being. There was a two-way mirror on the wall, and on the other side of that mirror were the Titans, watching her. All five of them were there.
"Think she knows we're here?" Beast Boy said.
"I'm pretty sure she knows." Cyborg said.
Starfire walked up to the glass. She tilted her head, examining this strange, dangerous girl. Ravager didn't move her head, but her eye turned to look at the glass. "Does she see me?" Starfire said quietly, looking back at the others.
"She shouldn't be able to." Nightwing said.
"I suppose one of us should… interrogate her." Starfire said in a low voice.
"Not it." Raven said.
"Soon." Nightwing said. "We need to think about how we're going to handle this. Slade and the other Ravager might come looking for her. And they might want to talk to our other guest too." he turned to Cyborg.
"How's he doing, by the way?" Nightwing asked.
"He seemed fine." Cyborg said. "His arm's all bandaged up."
"You know, I had to spend a whole day in that guy's apartment as a fly." Beast Boy said. "The guy's a slob. And I had to watch him eat meat." Beast Boy had entered the apartment at the same time Nightwing did. But when the captain got there, he only saw Nightwing.
After the attack at the apartment, the captain was allowed to come back to the tower with the Titans. Not that they were friends now, but he would likely have been killed if they left him to his own devices. It's not like he could go to the police for help. He was allowed to stay in a room that wasn't being used on a lower floor, and was once again dressed. However, he was being kept under lock and key for the moment. They didn't trust him to wander around freely.
"So, now we have two people to get answers from." Nightwing said.
"Which means we have the advantage for a change." Raven said.
"Yeah, but after that what are we going to do with them?" Cyborg said. Nightwing walked over to the glass. He folded his arms. Cyborg's question was left hanging as Nightwing looked in on their prisoner. A monster in chains.
End Notes: I wasn't originally planning to have a chapter from an oc's point of view. But in this case I felt that it was warranted for this specific chapter. Also, in case anyone is bothered by the captain being naked in that one scene, I'll just say that it was not intended to be sexual (notice I didn't describe any body parts). This was done for two reasons. One, to illustrate how vulnerable he was in that situation. He not only had no armor or weapons, but was literally naked, which is as vulnerable as you can get. Two, partially for comedy. Like the part at the end where everyone (including the captain) realizes that he's still naked. Feel free to say if you thought it was unfunny or distasteful though.