A/N: IT'S MY FREAKIN' BIRTHDAY! And since I've had a good (damn good, actually) day, I've decided to release my final chapter early to make everyone else have a good day too. So enjoy and let me know what you've thought of the two stories.
Chapter 9
Robin glanced at the time on his communicator for at least the fiftieth time. Next to him, Mas Y Menos were fidgeting with anticipation. As he watched the last few stragglers wander down to the end of the block and disappear down the next one, Robin pressed the speaker button.
"Move in. Now," he whispered, then switched screens.
While waiting for the time to pass, Cyborg had taken the oral description of the insides of the church and put them into a digital map, then downloaded it into each Titan's communicator. Furthermore, proving just how much of a techno junkie he was, he altered them to be able to show where, inside or out of the building, each Titans was.
Robin saw that Speedy and Cyborg were half way through the underground pipe while Starfire and Bumblebee were each on nearby rooftops. Beast Boy was extremely close to the church and moving around sporadically, probably as a small animal or rodent. Aqualad was a bit farther down the block, checking for any accidental bystanders that may have been passing by.
Silently and quickly, Robin and the speedsters made their way through the back of the church towards the sanctuary, which Bumblebee had described as a command center of sorts.
"I don't like this," he mumbled, earning two confused stares. "It's way too easy. We should have been detected or stopped by now."
"Yo, Robin," Cyborg called through the communicator. Robin flipped it open to see a very concerned Cyborg looking back at him. "We've got a problem."
"Robots?" Robin guessed.
"Worse," Cyborg revealed. "This pipe has a leak. A major one. It's filling up on us at rate of two inches per second."
"Abort!" Robin commanded at a strained whisper. "It's a trap!"
Mas Y Menos looked at him like he was crazy. Robin nodded for them to fall back but before they could, an explosion blew away their escape route. They were now forced to go forward.
"Be prepared," Robin warned them, stalking forward carefully. As he entered the sanctuary, he tripped at the sight at the altar.
"Dios mio!" Mas Y Menos exclaimed together.
"Don't go up there," Robin instructed, having recollected himself. "It's probably a trap. That can't really be Raven."
"And why not?"
Another explosion from behind them blew all three boys forward to land on the pews. Robin looked up to see Slade standing on the balcony.
"We meet again," he said, slightly amused. Around them, robots began appearing from everywhere. Mas Y Menos looked at each other and nodded, clasping hands and running circles in the sanctuary. Using their joined arms, the tripped up every robot in their path. In the few moments of distraction, Robin made a more scrutinous glance at the altar.
"She is real, Robin," Slade commented, jumping down from the balcony. "That much I can assure you. Whether or not she is still alive, that I cannot."
From his side, Robin's communicator went off.
"This is Cyborg. We need some help down here. Both exits are sealed and the water's just about to fill the pipe."
"You really had no chance, boy," Slade critiqued. "But you always play the optimist until the end, don't you? Always preaching that good will overcome evil."
Slade was slowly stalking forward as Robin backed toward the altar at the same pace.
"But you know better," Slade continued, his tone causing the hairs on Robin's neck to stand on end. "You realize that fighting the good fight doesn't necessarily mean that you'll win."
For a moment, Robin faltered. Realization was beginning to set in.
"Really, Robin," Slade chuckled. "You lied to your own teammates and deceived them once again. I really didn't think you had it in you."
Robin ignored him and made a break for the altar. Slade made no quick attempt to follow, as if knowing that the effort of the teen leader was futile. Once he reached her, Robin immediately felt for a pulse. There was one, but it was slow and faint. He quickly cut the ropes that had been holding her to the cross and felt dead weight lean into him. He turned around and saw Slade little more than three meters away, his arms crossed behind his back as if he were waiting for something.
"You should learn from the past, boy," Slade advised. "You weren't able to save her then, you won't be able to save her now. And you have no thief to payoff to bail you out this time."
"Who said I had to be paid?"
Slade turned just in time to see a boot meet his face. Red X landed in the pulpit next to Robin and immediately gave him a wicked shove to the side. A moment later, the entire pulpit blew to pieces. Neither X nor Robin was spared a second to regain themselves as they were both attacked by a swarm of robots, forcing Robin to set down Raven lest she be hit by the attacks meant for him.
Raven had begun to regain consciousness due to the jostling and looked up in wonder at the battle raging in the sanctuary. For no reason she could fathom, Red X and Robin were fighting side by side against Slade's robots. She didn't have long to ponder on it though, as she was roughly pulled up by the arm and dragged away from the scene.
"That little wretch," Slade hissed, dragging her up the stairs by her arm since her injured legs failed at keeping up. "He really does want to die."
"It's your own fault," Raven muttered. Slade stopped abruptly and pulled her up to eye view.
"What?"
"The deal was that he'd tell you when and how the Titans would attack, and you'd take him off your death list," Raven clarified. "He didn't say anything about not helping the Titans."
"I see," Slade contemplated, continuing up the stairs to the roof. "That little turd is smarter than I gave him credit. No matter, I've always been good at multitasking."
On the roof, Slade dragged her to the west side of it and tied her to the cross that had half collapsed due to age. From a hidden pocket, he pulled a remote and stood waiting. Starfire was the first to confront him.
"Give us back our friend, vile one," she demanded, her fists and eyes glowing green.
"No," Slade denied, and pushed the first button on the small remote. From beneath her, a hole blew through the roof of the church, blowing up debris into Starfire's face. Blinded for the moment, Slade threw a vicious kick into her ribs that sent her soaring.
When he'd turned around, Raven had one hand free and Bumblebee, in her miniature form, was quick at work freeing the other one. They both looked up as Slade grabbed Raven by the neck and tore her away from the broken cross and dropped her in the whole he'd just created in the roof. Raven held on to bits of the roof to keep from falling down into the burning church, wondering how long she would be able to hold on with the deep wound in one of her arms.
A tiny cry caught her attention and she looked up to see Slade attempting to crush Bumblebee, still in her miniature form, within his grasp. Starfire rammed him in the back, causing him to drop Bumblebee onto the roof, but the unconscious Titan merely went sliding down to the edge. Raven cried out as she went over the edge, but was relieved a few seconds later when Beast Boy jumped onto the roof, holding her over his gorilla shoulder. He barely had time to react and catch Starfire, who was thrown at him by Slade.
"Never send a robot to do a man's job," Slade commented, shaking his head. He once again pulled out the small remote and pressed another button. Instantly, Raven heard three bombs go off in succession from within the church.
"One support beam left," Slade commented, waving the remote in front of her. "Care to place a bet on how many Titans I can kill with in one shot?"
Slade suddenly went flying over her.
"Probably the same number as usual. None."
Red X now stood where Slade had only moments before, the remote now in his hand.
"They're like roaches," he continued. "They could probably survive a nuclear war."
"And are you one of those roaches?" Slade asked, moving his head from side to side to crack his neck.
"Not in this lifetime," X snorted, tucking the remote down the back of Raven's uniform and ignoring her sqwauk of protest.
"Raven!"
As Slade and Red X began to fight, she looked down into the burning remnants of the church. The way she twisted to see caused the remote to shift in her uniform and ultimately fall into the fire below where Robin was half dragging Cyborg along with Speedy and Menos was helping a limping Mas.
"Just stay there!" Robin yelled. "We'll be right up there!"
She rolled her eyes, thinking to herself just where did he think she was going to go?
When she looked up again, Red X was down and Raven knew he wasn't getting up. For the umpteenth time that night, she cursed the X device that was stuck to her forehead, preventing her from doing anything but hanging on for life to keep from falling any farther through the hole. As she helplessly watched, Slade approached the downed thief, picking him up by the neck, as well as one of the thief's shuriken.
"This is the end of my troubles with you, boy," Slade announced. "It really has been a pleasure to kill you."
"You can't do this, Slade," Raven cried. "You—"
"You can't stop me," Slade roared back, raising his arm to slash the young thief's throat.
"Grant Wilson!" Raven yelled. It had the desired effect, Slade stopped moving.
"What?" he growled. "What did you say?"
"His name is Grant Wilson," Raven told him. "And I know you don't want to kill him."
Slade dropped the thief and walked over to Raven, using her cloak to pull her up out of the hole.
"You're lying."
"I'm not," Raven argued weakly. "Take his mask off and see for yourself."
Slade unceremoniously dropped her on her butt and turned back towards the thief, only to find him gone. Raven tried to crawl away, but Slade used her cape to pull her back to him. Once she was in his crushing grip, he leaned forward and whispered in her ear.
"That was a dirty trick," he hissed.
"It wasn't a trick, I swear," Raven cried. "You can't kill him!"
"And what makes you believe that?" Slade inquired, watching the remainder of the Titans stand up and move into attack position. "Maybe I wanted to find him so I could kill him myself."
"No, Slade Wilson," Raven said quiet enough that only he would hear. "You would not kill your own son."
And then it happened. A loud explosion followed by a deep and metallic creek instantly made everyone's stomach drop: the last of the weight bearing beams was collapsing. The bits of the roof they were standing on began to crumble beneath them and smoke rose with new fervor from the fire below, marring everyone's vision.
Shadows were all that could be seen through the smoke clouds by the news helicopters that were circling the building. The evening news rolled a clip of a tall shadow holding a small one, and a mid-sized shadow sneaking up on them. The tall shadow suddenly went down, and the medium shadow made off with the small one.
A pressurized shot was fired and the camera caught sight of a couple dark figures swinging away from the burning building. A gun shot was fired from the roof of the building, bringing the camera's focus back to the church just in time to watch it collapse completely. When the camera's view panned back to the dark figures making their escape, they were gone.
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Robin came upon them in a sewer ditch. Neither of them were moving, with Raven lying on her back across X's chest, who's back was slowly sinking into the muck. Much to his relief, he could see from where he stood that Raven's chest was steadily rising and falling as she breathed.
Haphazardly, Robin made his way down the top of the ditch, sliding down most of it. He managed to not land on his butt at the bottom, but knew that he probably didn't smell to nice with all the crap he'd accumulated on his uniform on the way down. Carefully, he approached the two, unable to determine X's state from where he was.
"'Bout time you got here."
"I wondered if you lived through it," Robin said. X shifted shakily, groaning with the effort.
"My last disappearing act," X admitted. "I'm spent."
"Yeah, well, I just came here for Raven," Robin stated. "After I've got her and am on my way, I don't care what you do…but if I were you, I'd leave here through the sewer pipes and head north. Less patrols that way."
X gave a small chuckle. "Thanks, kid. But I'm not leaving this ditch."
"What?"
"I told ya," X groaned as he slowly pushed Raven off his chest, "I'm spent."
Robin was speechless. There was a solid piece of metal, probably no more than a half an inch in diameter, protruding slightly from his chest. The way it sat, Robin could tell that he'd landed on it on his back, possibly puncturing his left lung, and dangerously close to his heart. The sound of sirens brought him back to the situation.
"Sounds like it's time for you to be off," X commented weakly. Robin kick-started himself and gathered Raven into his arms. He headed to the open sewer duct and climbed in.
"Hey, do me one favor," X called from behind him. Robin paused in his tracks. "Kiss her goodbye for me."
Robin took off down the sewer pipe at a fierce pace. X sighed in relief, then coughed, frowning at the bitter copper taste of blood in his mouth.
"And such is a heroic ending."
X craned his head to the top of the slope to view none other than Slade.
"Screw you."
"Such cruel words for someone who has such a kind offer."
"Whatever you're selling, I ain't buying."
"Hear me out, in the last few minutes of your meager life," Slade insisted. "I am willing to put all that's happened between us out of mind and save your life tonight."
"If?" X prompted.
"If, you swear right now to be a loyal apprentice to me," Slade offered. "And later, a partner."
"No."
"Why not?"
"I'm ready to die."
Slade stood there for a moment, then shrugged. "Suit yourself."
In the next moment, he landed just a few feet from X in the ditch and walked over. "But I do want to know something before I go."
"What?"
"I want to know just what you look like under that mask," Slade said, pulling the fabric off. He stared for a few moments before tossing the mask to the side. "She lied."
"Who?"
"That little witch. She lied to me."
Slade began walking back up the slope. Or at least, that's what X thought Slade was doing. X's vision had gone somewhat blurry and he was really tired. He could no longer hear Slade and his mind was beginning to wander towards a dark place.
"I just can't figure out how she knew my name," he murmured, letting the heavy feeling of lethargicness take over . "I don't remember ever telling her…"
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She could hear beeping. Stretching out with her senses, she could feel an IV in her left arm. Feeling outside of her body, she could sense a familiar presence in the chair a few feet away from her, and a ways after that, she felt the rest of the Titans.
"Good morning, Raven."
Raven opened her eyes and sleepily blinked at Robin.
"How'd I get here?"
"I brought you."
Raven was silent for a few minutes, reaching out with her healing ability to finish repairing the damage that her friends had worked laboriously to heal.
"So, why am I here?"
"You don't want to be?"
"I thought that I was kicked out of the Titans."
Robin was quiet for a moment. "I was wrong for doing that."
"What, and you think that just saying you were wrong fixes everything?" Raven asked, incredulously.
"I know it doesn't fix everything," he started. "Hell, I know it doesn't fix anything. But you need to know that at least I realize it."
It was quiet for a few minutes. "So then, what now? Do we just pretend that the last week never happened?"
"No," Robin answered. "What happens next is up to you. It's your choice if you want to come back to Titans West with us, or stay here with Titans East, or…I don't know. Whatever."
"I'll have to think about what I want to do," Raven decided.
"Take your time," he advised. "Meanwhile, I'm going to go tell the other Titans that you're awake."
"Robin," Raven called out before he could leave the room. "What happened…to him?"
He had his back to her, and he was glad for it. His gaze dropped to the floor for a moment before he turned his head slightly and spoke over his shoulder. "He dumped you in a sewer ditch when he realized he couldn't make it with the both of you and took off. I don't know where he's at right now."
There was silence for a moment.
"You're lying."
Robin finally looked at her, hearing her quiet sobs as she pulled her knees to her chest and cried into them.
"Raven, I…"
Robin really didn't know what to say. He figured she might be able to feel through their bond what had truly happened, and decided that he'd might as well tell her the truth since she could probably sense it anyway.
"Somehow he got you back from Slade and shot a tether line to the west," Robin explained, sitting back down in the chair he'd just vacated. "We all knew the roof was collapsing, so we all did the same. Slade took one shot. I don't think he was trying to hit either of you, but he did sever the tether line and we lost sight of you all together.
"With the roof collapsed, and Slade nowhere in sight, and we all decided it was best if we could find you before trying to find him. We split up, some of us in the air, some of us on foot. I knew that X would be trying to hide, so I decided to check the sewer pipes. That's when I found you.
"It looked like he had hit the ground hard and rolled, but something went wrong. I don't know if maybe he hit the ground too hard or hit a slick spot but the two of you were thrown into the spill off of the dump. You landed okay, he didn't.
"He told me to take off with you and leave him there. Even though I really disliked the guy, I didn't want to leave him there, but I knew from his wound that if I moved him, I'd probably just make things worse. So I picked you up and walked away. And I didn't look back."
He watched her sobbing silently, wishing he could comfort her in some way, but also knowing that he was the last person she probably wanted anything from. He did offer his hand, gently sliding it over her fisted ones. She immediately grabbed it and squeezed hard, letting out a loud sob.
She pulled on his arm, accepting a shaky embrace and crying wholeheartedly. Her sobs slowly died out leaving only sniffles in their wake and they sat there for a while in silence. Finally Robin pulled back and took her head in both hands, then placed a kiss on her forehead.
"He wanted you to have that," he explained, just before pulling away again. "I'm going to go tell the others that you're awake."
"Robin."
"Yeah?"
"I've decided. I want to go back with you. Back to Titans West."
"Are you sure?"
"It's where I belong."
"Alright," Robin smiled. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a communicator, setting it on the edge of the bed. "Welcome back to the Titans."
Epilogue
Another week had passed and almost back to normal. Still, Raven felt like she'd come full circle.
"Pizza!"
"Down, boy."
"Mustard!"
"Star, I told you that you aren't supposed to bring condiments from home."
"I didn't. Silkie brought it."
"Hey! No slug-things on the table!"
"Or the pizza!"
"Doesn't this town have a leash law?"
Back home, sitting on the balcony of the Pizza Palace, celebrating her triumphant return to the Titans, Raven smiled. Everything felt normal again. Even if Robin was staring at her again. She gave him the evil eye and he smiled widely.
"Silkie, you musn't devour other disks of gooey goodness other than our own," Starfire scolded her pet slug.
It's good to be home.
Robin raised his glass in a silent toast. It's good to have you home.
"Dude, we agreed, no anchovies," Beast Boy complained. "Why are there little fishies on my pizza?"
"You pick off the fishies, I pick off the tofu," Cyborg explained. "That's the fair way to do it."
"I'm going to get more napkins," Raven declared, standing. "I have a feeling this is going to be a messy night."
"Oh, friend Raven," Starfire spoke up. "Will you ask for the Whip of Miracle as well? Silkie likes it on his pineapple and mushroom pizza."
After a resounding 'eww' from everyone else at the table, Raven made her way inside the Pizza Palace to pick up more napkins from the order counter. She took the entire stack without hesitation and turned back to see the Titans looking around on the floor outside for something.
She knew exactly what they were looking for when it slinked across her boot.
"Eww," she groaned, and with a sigh of defeat, bent down and picked the slug up. When she stood, she stared right at a white tee-shirt. Her gaze slowly traveled upward until she lost her breath in a gasp.
The blond curls were pushed back behind his ears and the scar on his cheek was slightly bowed due to the fact that he was grinning. She caught his blue eyes and time stopped.
"Hey," he said, making time move forward again.
"Hey," she repeated, dumfounded. A million things were running through her mind but she couldn't put any of them together to make a sentence.
"Silkie!"
Starfire's squeal tore Raven's gaze away as the red-headed alien retrieved the goo-ing slug from Raven.
"Thank you friend Raven for finding Silkie before the chefs!"
"Chefs?" Raven repeated, confused.
"Yes, Beast Boy speaks of horrible stories of chefs that catch stray pets and put them into their cooking," Starfire explained. "Who is this friend of Raven?"
Raven almost tripped standing still. She looked over at him, at a loss of what to say.
"Grant Wilson."
Raven just stared, slightly slack-jawed.
"Well, Grant Wilson, friend of Raven," Starfire continued, "please come join us in the eating of the yummy disks of goo."
"I would, but I'm just passing through," Grant declined. "I just happened to see Raven and wanted to say 'hey.'"
Starfire shrugged, then enveloped Silkie into a monster hug and squeed all the way back to their table.
"Just passing through," Raven repeated after she finally found her voice again. "How did you--"
"Don't think about it," he advised her, stepping close. "It'll just give you a headache."
He leaned forward and kissed her. Had she been anywhere else but in the middle of a pizza parlor surrounded by people, she might have jumped into his arms and kissed him back. Instead, she stood there like a mannequin, still frozen in place from shock. He smirked at her when he pulled away.
"Where are you going?" she asked, hoping that she didn't sound desperate.
"Don't worry," he assured her. "I'll be seeing ya again soon."
With that, he walked out. After a minute or two, Raven coaxed her legs into moving again and walked out on the patio with her friends.
"So Raven, when do we get to meet your boyfriend?" Beast Boy taunted.
Raven blinked at him, realizing that everyone had watched them part ways. She put on an evil smirk and patted him on the head none too gently. "When you grow up, kid."
Everyone laughed, save Beast Boy, who glowered, but supper continued on anyway. After a brief stop downtown to take care of Plasmus, the Titans headed home for a movie binge. They all retired to bed as dawn's light crept over the bay, and Raven didn't see the note on her bed until she laid down on it.
"What the…" she murmured, pulling the now half crumpled paper from underneath her.
I told you they'd let you
back in, little birdie.
You'll see me when you're
dreaming, I'll see you
while you're dreaming.
She laughed out loud and dropped the note on the floor. Just for kicks, she decided that as of tomorrow, she was going to switch rooms with Robin and see just how far the thief got.
Yeah, things were back to normal.
A/N: Ok. So. It's the END. Hard to believe that from outlining to writing and posting the finished product it's been 22 months. Almost two years. Sheesh. All I can say to that is thanks for stickin' with me. Through writer's block and computers crashing, I made it through. Thanks again for your support! Future prospects? Well, no plans for another sequel or anything like that. But then again, I did think that about the last story...