Chapter 1: Midlife Melancholy
Raven's white cloak swished around her ankles as she walked evenly into the kitchen on a cloudy Friday morning. Starfire was already at the table, but she looked more than a little distracted. Pouring herself a hot cup of tea, Raven seated herself at the table opposite her friend and idly picked up the newspaper. She took a few seconds to peruse the headlines and then returned the paper to the tabletop, observing once again that Starfire seemed to be a million miles away. The bowl of cereal in front of her had long ago become soggy, and the glass of milk beside it had not been touched.
"Is something wrong, Starfire?" Raven asked. Raven knew well enough that Starfire's emotional mood swings were touchy and that occasionally her balance could be shifted by even something small, but today just seemed…well…different.
"Yes," Starfire finally mumbled, looking up at Raven. "I have become 'boring'. I am no longer a suitable wife for Robin…" Raven resisted the urge to spit out the mouthful of tea she had been sipping.
"Starfire, I've known you for years. The last thing on Earth I would think of you is boring. Why do you say things like that?" Raven asked.
"Robin no longer seems to want to do the 'making love' anymore, and I have seen the way he looks at others…" Starfire began. Raven jumped to Robin's defense.
"Robin would never cheat on you, Star. He loves you too much," Raven said, moving to sit beside Starfire.
"But I have seen his eyes. He even has magazines with other women in them," Starfire replied. Raven shook her head.
"Lots of magazines have female models, Star. That doesn't mean anything," she said.
"But, Raven, these females lack clothing, and I am nothing like them…" Starfire murmured. Tears welled in her eyes but instead of fleeing the kitchen, Starfire sat still, lowering her head and closing her eyes. Raven took a deep breath and slipped an arm around Starfire's shoulders. Raven wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. The thought of Robin with a stack of Playboy magazines made her giggle, but Starfire's misery was almost overwhelming.
"Star," Raven began. "Do you and Robin do the 'making love' the same way each time?" Raven asked gingerly.
"Yes…why do you ask such things? I am doing it wrong? Robin is dissatisfied with me because I have been mistreating him?" Starfire whimpered.
"No!" Raven cried. "No, Star…all I meant was that maybe what Robin needs is a little variety in your love life."
"This…variety…is it difficult to learn?" Starfire asked. Raven smiled.
"No, Star. It's not hard to learn at all…" she replied. "I'll help you. And Star? Those magazines you told me Robin has?"
"What about them?"
"Let him keep them and stop worrying about them. They won't do your marriage any harm if you do what I tell you," Raven said soothingly. Starfire sniffled and nodded.
"Does Beast Boy keep such reading material?" Starfire asked.
"Yes. And believe me, it hasn't hurt anything," Raven replied. Starfire wondered for a moment at Raven's tone of voice, which seemed to be indicating that she and Beast Boy had gotten some sort of positive outcome from reading the magazine. Raven waved off Starfire's look of puzzlement. Before Raven could verbally respond, there was a loud shouting in the hallway.
"MOM!" screamed Olivia. Now age 16, Olivia Arella Logan was no longer a little girl. She had grown tall, though not taller than her brother, and had developed a sort of feisty attitude that occasionally drove her siblings and roommates up the wall. The door to the living area opened and then slammed closed after Olivia as the teen stomped into the room. Raven rose gracefully from her place and folded Olivia into her arms.
"Come on now, baby, it can't be that bad," Raven soothed, smoothing Olivia's long violet hair.
"Tell him to leave me alone! I can't even take a shower in the morning without him supervising me!" Olivia growled.
"Now, Olivia, you grew up with everyone here. By now you should all know well enough what kind of privacy the others need," Raven began. Olivia interrupted her.
"I'm not talking about them! I'm talking about him!" Olivia replied through gritted teeth. Seconds later, Beast Boy came into the room in search of his daughter.
"Honey, I'm really sorry! You didn't lock the door! How was I supposed to know you were--"
Right behind Beast Boy was his older son, and Olivia's twin brother, Toby. Raven took a step back as Toby approached, reaching for his sister's hands. Olivia pulled away and continued to fume, this time directing her anger to her brother. Beast Boy, Raven and Starfire stood by and watched as Toby slowly, carefully, gathered Olivia into his arms and hugged her, skillfully calming her as only a twin truly can. Beast Boy shook his head, Raven sighed, and Starfire softly smiled, glad that the outburst had been contained. Raven quietly marveled at her twin children. Everything that Olivia could dish out in sheer turbulence Toby could sooth with his even-tempered calmness. When Toby became tense and over-stressed, Olivia was often the voice of reason in his head. Raven mused that she couldn't have planned it better herself.
"Everything's just about ready. Are the kids up and around yet?" Robin asked, entering the room.
"Most of them," Beast Boy mumbled.
"We're almost ready, Uncle Robin. Five more minutes," Toby replied.
"What's left to do?" Raven asked.
"Just a few details left. Are you all ready for this?" Robin asked seriously.
"All that remains now is for us to take care of a few things," Robin said when the Titans, East and West and their children had congregated in the living area of the Tower. Minutes later, they were joined by Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman. The youngsters blinked in awe-struck respect. All that is, except Jason. Jason Todd Grayson came forward and briefly wrapped his arms around Batman and Wonder Woman in turn. They smiled at him as if at a beloved grandson and then gestured for him to return to the group.
"This is a big day for all of us here," Superman began. "The next several weeks will be a big transition. Today, those heroes that have been hitherto been referred to as the Titans will cease to be Titans. In their place, you will rise as the new Teen Titans. All of you have been trained literally from your births for this moment. Today, your parents will all be inducted into the Justice League, and will be moving to the Watch Tower. You kids will divide into two teams and resume the hero work that your parents began when they were your age. It will be up to you to work hard and make responsible choices. I know you can all handle that."
"I've watched each and every one of you grow up, and I know you are all capable of what needs to be done. Before this is made official, I think there are a couple of parents here who would like to say a few things," Superman said. Robin came forward and a soft gasp rippled through the group. Robin was dressed in a solid black uniform with a large blue bird across the chest. His mask was still in place, but this time, he appeared much more mature.
"Jason, come here, son," Robin said. Jason obeyed and came to stand before his father.
"When I join the Justice League today, I'll be changing my codename. I will become Nightwing. I'm passing the name of Robin down to you," Robin said. Jason wasn't sure what to say.
"Dad…I've never had a codename…" Jason said softly.
"I know. It's high time you had one, and I know you'll do it justice," Robin said before stepping back into line with the other adults.
"Caleb, come over by me, please," Beast Boy said, coming into the front of the group. Eight year old Caleb edged between his siblings to join his father.
"Caleb, I'm giving my codename to you. You inherited my shape-shifting abilities, so it's only appropriate that you become the new Beast Boy. My new codename will be Changeling," Beast Boy said.
When this was accomplished, Batman stepped to the center of the room and asked Olivia, Mas and Menos to join him.
"Leading a team is a daunting task sometimes. It takes hard work, dedication, and communication. Hummingbird, step forward, please," Batman said. Olivia squared her shoulders and stepped out before the others.
"You will be the leader of Titans West. I know Jump City is in excellent hands with you at the helm of this team. Mas and Menos, you will remain in Steel City and lead Titans East until Rumble is old enough to take the position" Batman announced. Toby smiled and patted Aidan on the back as he beamed with pride.
With all things understood, the elder Titans took the remaining bits of their things and followed their new comrades. When the door closed, the young Titans sat stunned. It was over. Titans Tower was theirs.
"Let's celebrate!" cried Emily.
"What do you say, Team Leader?" Caleb teased, ribbing his sister.
"Knock yourselves out," Hummingbird said softly. I'm going to go freshen up a bit. I'll be back in a while."
Hummingbird emerged from the bathroom 30 minutes later, looking like she had been struck by a semi. She listened for a moment, taking in the sound of the other young Titans reveling in their new-found freedom. With barely a twitch of a smile, Hummingbird retreated to her bedroom. Once there, she sat down on the edge of her bed and flopped backwards onto her back, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. The nervousness that often accompanies new responsibilities fluttered in her stomach and she rolled over onto her side, wrapping her arms around herself. Her new uniform was much like her mother's old one with some modifications. The shape of the bodysuit remained the same, but Hummingbird made the costume dark blue and added red around the neck and wrists. Like Uncle Robin, Hummingbird chose to wear a half cape instead of the heavy cloak that her mother had chosen. The young heroine shuddered a bit and curled up tighter.
"I don't know if I can do this…" she muttered.
"Ever since you were born," said a voice. "There hasn't been a thing put before you that you couldn't accomplish." Hummingbird looked up to a familiar shadow in the doorway.
"Mom? What are you doing here?" Hummingbird said as she sat up. Raven entered the room and sat down on Hummingbird's bed before drawing the girl into her arms.
"Uncle Robin, Uncle Aqualad and I came back one more time to check on all of you," Raven replied.
"I'm scared, mom," Hummingbird said softly. "I'm afraid to mess up."
"Everyone feels like that sometimes. It's perfectly natural for you to feel tense as you take over new responsibilities. Sweetheart, you've always been a leader. You were never content to follow the other kids. Not even Toby, who should have at least been your equal. Ever since you could walk, you've needed to know everything and needed to be in charge. You've finally got your wish, baby. Take it," Raven said, her gentle firmness empowering her daughter. "Come with me, I want you to help me with something."
Raven led Hummingbird to the practice arena and they proceeded inside. The other young Titans were waiting for them, all of them excited and ready to practice their skills.
"Here's your shot. Show yourself what you can do," Raven said. "We'll be watching from the observation room." Raven vanished with this, and reappeared high up in the observation room. Inside, Nightwing didn't bother to look back to see that it was her.
"Do you think she can do it?" he asked.
"There's only one way to find out," Raven replied.
"Isn't this a bit cruel?" Aqualad asked. "You're asking an awful lot of her for her first day."
"The computer is set to create the conditions necessary. The battle will come to a climax and she'll need to make a command decision. She'll exhaust all other resources and then realize that she must send a member of her team into a situation where there is a good chance that they will die," Nightwing explained.
"It's all computer simulated—even the rest of the kids, but most everything that happens will be very real to Olivia. At the time when she needs to make the decision, she won't be able to see us. She'll need to make the decision on her own," Raven added.
Together, the former Titans watched as Hummingbird handled the simulation. As the battle became more difficult, Hummingbird wondered how far the parents were willing to push. Several minutes later, she got her answer. There were two robotic trainers left, but they weren't going down easy. They were huge, and Hummingbird had tried everything to defeat them. It hadn't worked. She looked around her—they were looking pretty rough. She knew she could lose the whole team if she didn't think of something fast.
"Robin!" she shouted. "Go in and use your starbolts! If you get in close enough you can penetrate the metal skin and get the starbolts inside them! It's the only thing that can take them out!"
"Are you crazy?" Robin cried over the din as the others, weakened from the fight, started to drop like flies. She looked up at the observatory, but it was empty. She looked at Robin and repeated her command.
"Jason! Do it now! That's an order!"
Robin did as he was told and charged ahead. Hummingbird hovered in the air and watched as he succeeded in penetrating the covering of the robots and shot his starbolts inside, but that was the last thing she saw before she was hit by the shock wave from the starbolts and was knocked out.
When Hummingbird came to, Nightwing and Aqualad were sitting around her and Raven was holding her.
"You did it, Livie. You beat the simulation…" Nightwing said proudly. Raven held her tight when she stared incredulously at Nightwing.
"Simulation…?" she murmured. "It wasn't real?"
"No, baby, it wasn't real. Everyone's just fine," Raven said, stroking Hummingbird's hair.
"But why…why did you…"
"We had to know if you had what it took to pass one final test: a test to see if you could make a command decision, even if it meant sending someone dear to you to their death. You did it, Olivia. You tried everything but you knew what you had to do in the end. You should be proud of yourself and you should know that all of us are proud of you, too," said Nightwing. Hummingbird hugged them and stood, walking with them back to the living area, where the other Titans were still munching the last of the pizza.
"We saved some for you, Livie," said Robin, pulling a slice from a nearby box. "It's your favorite, that weird-lookin' thing that—" Robin nearly dropped the pizza in his hand as Hummingbird smothered him in a rib-crushing hug. Robin blushed a bit and then smiled, hugging her back.
"Are you okay? Here, have a slice. You've got to be starving. Dad? Are you guys staying too?" Robin asked.
"No, son," said Nightwing with a smile. "We've got to be getting back. We just needed to talk to Hummingbird for a while. We'll all see you guys this weekend for the Autumn Festival here in Jump City, okay?" The kids nodded happily and finally, Hummingbird cracked a smile. With this, Raven opened her arms and transported them back to the Watch Tower.
"Hey," Changeling said gently as Raven returned to their new quarters. Changeling peeled his sweat-soaked uniform from his rippling form and dropped it on the floor. "That was the best workout and combat practice I've had in years. How'd it go with the kids?" Raven smiled softly. "She passed." Changeling smiled.
"I knew she could do it," he said, pulling Raven close to him and hugging her.
"For a minute, I didn't. I didn't think she had it in her to send Jason to his death," Raven said in reply.
"She's gonna be great—they all will—you'll see," Changeling said, beginning to softly kiss Raven's neck. Raven moaned a bit and accommodated him, unclasping her cloak and wrapping her arms around his shoulders.
"Well, Mrs. Logan, are you ready to help me break in our new bedroom?" Changeling said playfully as he undid Raven's uniform and peeled it down and off, revealing her smooth skin. He knelt and took his time planting slow, passionate kisses on Raven's rock hard abdominal muscles. She whimpered softly and dug her hands into his hair, directing his mouth to where she wanted it. Changeling stopped for just a moment to lift Raven into his arms and carry her with him to their bed before he continued, not stopping until they were both too exhausted to stay awake. Changeling purred as Raven snuggled into his arms and the pair fell asleep, smiling and still planting small, soft kisses on one another's lips until sleep finally claimed their consciousness.