Author note: If you are a new reader; first of all welcome, and do check out; Raven Rising, Book 1; New Gotham Adventures that leads up to this.

Disclaimer: I dont own the Teen Titans, Justice League or other DC characters that appear here.

Two hours later the Titans are packing the last bits into the newly-built T-ship that had been transported to the station hangar yesterday. They aren't bringing a lot gear for the actual mission, just a few things for the trip. Beastboy has a few comics, Raven having taken a book and a fresh cloak provided by Alfred, apparently Bruce figured the other one would not survive the trip with Green Lantern. Nightwing and Cyborg haven't brought anything since they will be flying the ship. The time between the induction and now has been spent on first a few rounds of congratulations from Leaguers and Titans alike, then Raven was carted aside to be informed of a few League details as well as getting a communicator. The last hour Raven spent in a shower, getting everything Mogo off her body and clothes. The shower of course freshened her up for 10 minutes, before the tiredness returned with a vengeance. Right now she can't wait to get going so she can get some sleep.

"Got everything you need?" Batman asks Nightwing who is checking everything in his pod, remembering all of the controls.

"Yeah, except for Blackfire, we are ready to go." He replies without looking at the man.

"John is getting her." Nightwing nods at him.

"You look tired." Diana notes as she looks at Raven, who for the sake of staying awake, is standing on the ground next her pod. Raven has made one small adjustment to her attire after showering, without the need to hide them; she now openly wears her bracelets on the outside of her sleeves, which makes half of them stand out against the black fabric and under the blue cuffs.

"Being awake so long will do that." Raven replies in a tired voice.

"And you are sure you are up to this?"

"For Starfire, I would go if missed three weeks. But I will get some sleep on the flight, took us about a day last time we went to Tamaran."

"Well I will wish you luck, it sounds like your bargaining chip has arrived." Like Raven, Diana has picked up the swearing of a certain alien woman.

"Let go of me!" Blackfire snaps as she is being led by Green Lantern who's holding onto her left upper arm. She is again sporting the heavy pair of handcuffs from the Hall, which she is wearing so she won't be able to break free while in flight.

"Take it easy your highness, you're going home and we are sending an escort with you." John says as he guides her into the hanger, Blackfire freezes when she sees her escort.

"You can't be serious?! They'll kill me!" She says and digs her heels into the floor refusing to come any closer. John scoops her up in a green bowl and keeps walking.

"I'm sure they will try not to." He says as he drops her into the center seat, the one Beastboy usually occupied. The seatbelts close around her, restricting her movement even further, courtesy of Raven before the hatch is closed over her. Nightwing takes a look at her before he stands up in his pod.

"Ok, everyone, I hope you have what you need and Beastboy I hope you have visited the bathroom." He adds the last part with a smirk, remembering the last time they went to Tamaran.

"Dude I just came from there!" Garfield replies with his wounded pride as he jumps into his pod.

"Go with the gods Raven." Diana says as Raven floats up into her pod.

"I will Diana, take care."

"Here, you might need this." Batman says to Nightwing as he tosses a metal cylinder up to him, Nightwing gives him a questioning look before Batman nods his head in Raven's direction.

"Ah, thanks." Nightwing replies as he realizes what it is and what it's for.

"Good luck." Batman replies before exiting the hangar with Diana in tow before its sealed.

"All 'right yall, ignition sequence is started and we are good to go!" Cyborg says loudly apparently pleased his ship is coming to life, for some reason he halts the ship at the open hangar doors.

"Did you forget something?" Nightwing asks over the intercom, hoping Beastboy wouldn't suddenly remember something when they were halfway out of the solar system.

"Aren't you supposed to say something?" Cyborg replies, Nightwing smirks realizing what it was.

"Titans GO!" He yells as they blast out of the hangar and into the depths of space.

They are passing Mars after roughly 30 minutes of flight; Cyborg had explained that they needed to get out of the solar system before they can jump to light speed, or risk smashing one of the asteroid belts that lurks between the outer planets. All the while Blackfire has been straining to get comfortable in her seat while keeping quiet and eyeing Raven for some reason.

"You know Raven, the League wheeled some freak into my cell who claimed she was you." Raven ignores her. "She couldn't have been you, since I know you. You are too weak to be anything like that, but if she hadn't actually bit me, I would have offered her a job to work on my sister." The others in the ship try to catch glazes at Raven without turning their heads while wondering if Blackfire thought Raven would somehow flip and break her free.

"Cyborg, do you need me to get out of the system?" Raven asks continuing to ignore Blackfire.

"Hmm nope, Nightwing and I can take it from here."

"Good, I need some rest so can you keep the orange idiot quiet?"

"Oh no, looks like I accidentally switched off Blackfire's intercom." Cyborg replies in a mock apologetic tone. "Anyways, sleep tight Amazon."

"I will." Raven says, before reclining her seat and tries to get comfortable under her cape, after a moment she reaches for a switch and shuts off communication to the others as well.

"I see she turned us off as well." Nightwing notes to the others.

"So how long did you know Rob?" Cyborg asks, it had not gone him by that neither Batman nor Nightwing acted surprised when Diana revealed the big secret.

"We found out by accident two days before she went off with Green Lantern, naturally it was Batman that noticed. After that we had her tell the story."

"So how did you react?" Beastboys asks.

"At first I was mildly surprised, but it only really sunk in later that night when we had Diana and J'onn over for dinner. Like you my jaw dropped when Diana greeted Raven like an Amazon. So what do you guys think about it?"

"I think I'm still in the process of taking it in. Had you asked me before the meeting if I thought Rae was an Amazon I would have smacked you for mixing her up with Star." Cyborg replies.

"I only got one question. Can she get me over there?" Beastboy asks hopefully, getting a laugh out of Cyborg and smirk on Nightwing.

"Gar if you did, the Amazons would probably kill you." Nightwing replies, knowing it was probably true.

"Nah, come on, I can be really sneaky on a jungle island."

"In that case they will kill you then probably serve you as dinner." Cyborg adds while thinking of a terrified green boar getting chased through the jungle by a group of spear wielding women.

"Cy, yuk." Nightwing adds.

"So what do you think Rob?" Beastboy asks, keen on some payback.

"Initially I was like Cyborg, but I am happy that Raven has a new home where people like her. Actually I am a little worried that she might one day move to Themyscira permanently and forget all about us."

"She'd never do that, but why Rob? Afraid you won't get a chance to make a move on her?" Cyborg teases, knowing where Beastboy is going, Nightwing sighs again, he has been cornered again.

"Ok, all right, yes like her like that and I would like to be in a relationship with her. But I like her too much as a friend to risk losing her friendship if she doesn't feel the same. Are you two happy now?" He asks in an agitated tone, oddly enough they both remain quiet apparently they were expecting him to deny it.

"Just remember Rob, its Rae we are talking about. And you can't win a war of attrition against her, especially over an emotional matter." Cyborg says quietly. "And you answer to me if you hurt her." This last part brings a smile back to Nightwing's face.

"She's an Amazon now Cy, if anyone will get hurt, it's going to be me."

"I think he may have a point there Cy." Beastboy quips, remembering the deeds Raven had done.

"Yeah, I guess, but just so you know!" Cyborg continues in a warning tone, it matters little to him that Raven is more powerful, he is still her unofficial big brother.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt her." Nightwing assures. "So how about you two matchmakers?" The ship goes oddly quiet at the question.

Raven sleeps almost 20 hours straight waking up as the ship begins to shake as it slows down to exit the light speed journey.

"Morning Rae." Cyborg greets as she leans up, being the only one able to overwrite Raven's decision to turn off the intercom in her pod.

"If you say so." She grumbles. "Where are we?"

"We are just coming out near the Vega star-system." Cyborg replies while Raven gets her seat positioned correctly, both Beastboy and Nightwing are sleeping as well, the same with Blackfire who had nothing else to do other than fume, stare at Nightwing's hair or Beastboy and sleep. Raven eyes begin scanning the space around her as they come back out into real space. "Looking for something?"

"A precaution hopefully." Raven replies before she spots a large blue sphere hanging in space to her right, it is too far away to tell, but Raven lowers her mental defenses to check. "Mogo is that you?"

"I am here if needed." Raven smirks, it was nice to know someone familiar had been selected for the request.

"Care to explain?" Cyborg asks.

"Can you see that planet over there?" She asks while pointing.

"Yeah, what about it?" Cyborg replies.

"I heard from the Lanterns that Vega is a very bad patch of space these days, if we have to run, make for that planet; the cavalry will be there."

"Ok, I guess you made arrangements with someone, I will program the pods to head for it if needed." Cyborg replies.

"Be careful." Mogo sends, for some reason Raven wonders why a planet should care about things that are so small in comparison to it.

"We will."

"According to the charts Green Lantern provided us with, we are now officially inside the Vega system." Cyborg says while looking at a display in front of him. The others awoke an hour after Raven.

"Blackfire, is there any blockades in here you would like to talk about before we run into them?" Nightwing asks after having Cyborg turn on her intercom again.

"Why should I tell you anything?" Is the sour reply from the empress.

"Because if they think we are hostile they might decide to blow us apart." Raven adds calmly, Blackfire fumes some more before answering.

"There's the orbital defenses and the fleet docks we have to bypass, they are stationed around Tamaran. But they shouldn't bother us if you pretend to be mercenaries or pirates."

"Sounds like charming company." Nightwing replies.

"Best money can buy." Blackfire smirks back before turning her attention to Raven. "Getting scared little bird?" She asks in a mock concerned tone, Raven rolls her eyes.

"I don't do fear. At least not of anything you can come up with." She adds the second part as she feels a sudden stab of fear in her three friends.

"HA! You're just acting; I can taste your fear from here." The three male Titans wonder if Blackfire has a death wish.

"I'm an empath remember, I and from what I can see, you are the one you describe. Let me guess, you are afraid someone has taken your throne while you were away?" Raven asks calmly, the other Titans smirk as she receives no reply other than grumbling.

"Whoa, that's one freaky looking planet." Beastboy says as they pass a dark planet that has large rock spikes reaching from the surface into space, if one painted it yellow it would look like a star for a Christmas tree.

"Okaara." Blackfire and Raven replies simultaneously, which freaks out everyone. As Raven looks at the planet she can feel an emotion coming from it, only one, and it comes from one tiny being. Raven blinks a few times as memories flood her, images of the Guardians making a trade with a bipedal dog-like alien; the Guardians hand over an object covered in cloth while they receive a small box. The alien looks pleased as it pulls the cloth away to reveal what looks like an orange lantern battery. Raven feels one thing from the planet and only hears one word spoken in the memory.

"MINE!" As the alien holds the lantern it is over come with an overwhelming sense of greed.

"Umm, Titans to Raven?" Beastboy asks noticing the vacant stare in Ravens eyes, she blinks a few times returning to the real world.

"Sorry, just a memory the Guardian had of the place. Blackfire, am I correct in the Warlords don't actually live on Okaara?"

"They live on the planets moon. Why?"

"Just curious." That she can feel the greed from here, Raven guesses that whatever is radiating it would not share a planet with anyone. She makes a note to ask either the Lanterns or preferably Ganthet about it if she meets him again.

"Okaara itself is a barren world but no one ever goes there, at least not anyone that has ever returned." Blackfires words make sense to Raven; anything setting foot on the planet would undoubtedly be desired as property.

"Not even your army?" Cyborg asks, remembering being told of the invasion Blackfire had conducted.

"We had nothing to go there for, but the Warlords would bow to my whishes and now they do." She replies with an evil smirk.

"Tamaran dead ahead." Nightwing calls as a small pink sphere grows larger in front of them.

"I do hope you'll like what I have done with the place." Blackfire says with a smirk. As they come closer the first obstacle appears, the orbital defense system. The system consists of hundreds spheres that contain weapon systems, scanners and generators that can form a shield around individual spheres or the entire planet if needed. They all hanging motionless in a grid that is the first line of defense, it is enough to deter any but the most determined attacker. Cyborg is impressed at the tech, and worried.

"I suppose the system won't activate unless told to?" He asks.

"It scares potential soldiers away if they get shot at before asking for a job." Blackfire says proudly as they pass between three of the spheres. Cyborg notes the grid is triangular in design; some places there are larger holes than the one they pass through, meant for bigger ships than his.

Behind the orbital defense system, Cyborg notes that several huge structures hang in space, each a dock for the ships too large to enter Tamaran's atmosphere. His scanners tell him that the area's around each dock is an anthill with smaller ships coming and going in an endless stream. Raven notes Victor's unease at the amount of potential hostiles and picks up her microphone, setting her channel to only him. Fortunately Beastboy is too awestruck to care that the sight might be dangerous, and Nightwing is as always radiating determination.

"You ok?" She asks.

"Yeah, just need some time to figure out how to get past them all if we have to."

"I may have an idea, but it will depend on how much Blackfire's subjects miss her, hang on I will need to talk to Nightwing." For some reason Cyborg feels better already as Raven switches channel.

"Nightwing."

"Yeah, what's up Raven?" He replies.

"Do you have any ideas how to get past all of this?" She asks, wanting to know if there is an alternative to what she is thinking.

"We can't count on Her Highness' goodwill on this, so I am thinking of something else." He replies, sadly to Raven that's a sign he didn't have a quick answer on hand.

"A suggestion?" She asks.

"Go ahead."

"As far as we know, the only one Blackfire cares about is herself. If we just get Starfire handed over, we risk Blackfire ordering everyone to shoot at us when we leave." Nightwing nods, he had reached the same conclusion, if you can torture your own sister for four years, blowing her up from afar is nothing. "What if Blackfire is still with us when we leave?"

"They will at least hesitate." He surmises. "But how will we do that if she has been handed over to her people?"

"I remember the outlay of the palace fairly accurately, Blackfire will most likely head directly to the throne room once freed."

"To make sure no one has taken it from her." He continues.

"Yeah, I can take her before she gets there while you get ready to get out as fast as possible."

"And the risk is?" He asks.

"The risk is that her people don't want her back or someone has taken the throne in her absence and is just waiting for the chance to make sure she's not going to be a problem."

"And when they chase us? Those people will come after us if we kidnap her and this ship is not made to run and fight all the way back to Earth." He argues.

"We won't have to, Cyborg has programmed our pods to head to a planet just outside the system where some friendlies will be waiting."

"You asked the Lantern Corp?" He asks, guessing who it is.

"I was uncertain if Ganthet could get the other Guardians to agree, but apparently Blackfire is on their wanted list, along with quite a lot of other people in here." Richard grows a smirk.

"So we get in, get Star back, kidnap her sister and then blast out of the system? Sounds like a typical Titan mission, I'll let the others know." He smirks. Next to Raven Blackfire tries to guess what they are talking about, she gets a little worried as Raven turns to her and smirks a little before her eyes grow black for a second.

"What did you do?" Raven looks over at her again raising an eyebrow. "I demand to know what you did to me!" She shouts.

"I didn't do anything." Raven replies. "Put a piece of my soul into her top so I can pinpoint her location." She sends to Richard.

"Nice."

"I won't stand for this! I demand to know what you did!" Blackfire continues.

"Too bad, you're sitting down." Beastboy says before bursting in to laughter along with Cyborg, which breaks the tension both were feeling towards the situation, Blackfire just stares hatefully at Beastboy while growing red in the face. This is underlined when they begin entering the atmosphere.

Soon enough they are heading towards the capitol where the royal palace is seated, as the city comes into view, the Titans are surprised; it looks very little like the city they remembered. Where the buildings were once far apart with many small parks and gardens in between, they are now cramped and all of the once vacant space has been taken up by new structures that just by the looks tell the Titans that Tamaran has shifted from the joy-seeking culture it once was into an industrial nightmare.

"Very 1920'ties." Nightwing says out loud as he observes the streets below, to him it's like looking at pictures of a coalmine community in a developing nation.

"Thank you, I modeled it after book I read on Earth." Blackfire smirks, the others remain quiet.

"Royal Palace up a head." Beastboy says as they pass though a smoke cloud and sees a huge structure that once was the Royal Palace.

"Royal Fortress is a better word for that thing." Nightwing thinks. Where it once had thin towers that reached high into the sky, it is now a massive squat structure that is wider than it is high. Once made only of slightly pinkish stones it is now dull grey concrete. As if in mockery of what it once was or defiance against what it has become, the old palace spires are still visible in some places, making a stark contrast between the colors.

"Home sweet home." Blackfire says as the ship lands on a vacant platform near the base of the palace. As they touch down, several royal guards with spears rush to the ship. Raven is the first to open her pod to the outside world, almost choking at the smell of the pollution in the air.

"Move your ship! You can't park here!" One of the guards shouts angrily at Raven in taramanese. She looks at him for a second as the others opens their pods as well, Beastboy coughing.

"Easy, we have come to negotiate." Raven replies while holding up her hands indicating she doesn't want to fight.

"Traders park at the spaceport, now move it!" The guard orders, Raven uses her powers to pop open Blackfires pod and lifts her out, letting her dangle a few feet over the ship.

"Put me down!" Blackfire shouts while pulling at her restraints, the two guards eyes grow wide at the sight of the fuming monarch.

"Your Highness!" The shouter exclaims before lowering his gaze before turning to his comrade. "Get the negotiator, now!"

Shortly after an official looking Tamaranian in a long flowing purple robe emerges onto the platform, followed by several more guards who quickly surround the ship.

"Your Highness! What is your command?" The negotiator asks as he also lowers his gaze.

"What do you think you idiot? Get me free!" Blackfire snarls back, the man quickly nods at her before motioning for the guards who begin to advance; they take one step before Blackfire has Cyborg's sonic cannon aimed at her head. "No you idiot, do you damn job!" Blackfire shouts in surprise while trying to get her head out of the way.

"Of course, of course a thousand apologies you Highness. Lower your weapons!" The guards obey quickly and take a step back.

"We won't negotiate like this, you can keep three guards; we assure you won't need more. If our demands are met, you get your monarch back and we leave. If we see one hostile gesture, we leave with her." Raven says sternly while floating down to the ground to stand in front of the negotiator.

"You, you and you, stay." The seven other guards quickly leave the platform. "There, what do you wish?" He asks.

"Her sister; Starfire." Raven replies flatly while staring the man down, who stares back in disbelief.

"You would trade the monarch for the slave?!" He asks, completely forgetting his ruler is within earshot and with a cannon pointing at her head.

"Careful or it will be the cripple for Starfire; it will be all we ask." Raven says without breaking eye contact.

"Do it you fool!" Blackfire yells as Cyborg's cannon begin to hum, which is purely automatic and not actually the sound it makes before it discarges.

"Of course, of course you're Highness." The man stammers before turning to one of the guards. "Get the slave up here!"

"Call her that again at your own peril." Raven warns in a low and dangerous voice as one of the guards disappears, the man visibly cringes.

"How's it going?" Beastboy asks from behind Raven.

"They are getting her, Cyborg get the ship ready." She replies without turning, the other three sit down in their seats as Cyborg turns the ship around so the engine exhausts are facing the doorway. Raven lowers Blackfire onto the ground next to her, letting the woman stand on her own feet while making sure her hands or arms can't move.

A few minutes later, two guards exits the doorway carrying a stretcher between them, it takes all of Raven's willpower not to leap to the side of the figure on it. Though it was unintentional, she is suddenly glad none of the others can see the figure she knows is her long lost friend. Once she always wore her light purple top and skirt along with her tall boots, now she is only dressed in brown rags that have clearly never seen wash, neither has Starfire it seems as Raven can see the lice jumping out of her thin hair that's fallen out in places. She is clearly malnourished; her once athletic body is little more than a skeleton with a layer of skin over it. A layer of skin that tells volumes of the abuse the poor woman has endured; there are old scars that have healed in an ugly fashion in very visible places like the slash across her midsection. Others like the one on her right cheek are very recent, telling the abuse continued even in Blackfire's absence. Through the thin layer of skin and muscles on Starfire's limbs, Raven can see some of her bones have been broken at some point, some healed wrongly. As far as Raven can tell she is unconscious as she doesn't stir. The cold logical part of Ravens mind tells her Starfire is most likely condemned to a wheelchair for the rest of her life if she doesn't die before that. But the loudest voice she is trying to silence is Rage and her brood, who is literally screaming at her to rip Blackfire limb from limb, somehow she manages to uphold her stone cold façade.

"Put her down, gently." She instructs the guards who comply, Starfire twitches slightly. Raven unclasps her cloak and covers her friend in it; the others don't need the distraction for the next part. "Blackfire, go." She instructs and lets her influence on Blackfire disappear. Raven stares straight ahead as she picks up Starfire in her arms, she cringes on the inside as she notes Starfire weights almost nothing and her bones that pokes into her skin. At her own side of the ship she levitates up to the top and sees the others waiting, their eyes grow wide at the sight of the starved face under Raven's hood.

"Don't look, don't speak." She says sternly, quelling the exclamation about to burst from the three. "We need to remain cool or we won't live to give her the attention she needs." As she gently puts Starfire into the center pod she spies Blackfire, the negotiator and the guards disappear in thought the doorway. "Get ready to leave; I got some garbage to collect." She says before she closes Starfire's pod and disappears.

"Get these blasted things off me!" Blackfire shouts at her underlings as she keeps walking in brisk pace towards her throne room, using the narrow corridors leading from the landing pad. "And get ready to blow those pathetic worms out of the sky!"

"At once your Highness!" The negotiator agrees behind her. "Quickly, get the engineers!"

"I am afraid your barbaric ruler is going to be wearing those cuffs for some time to come." A flat but menacing voice sounds form up ahead causing the group to halt as a figure appears before them, one with four glowing red eyes.

"Guar…!" Blackfires command is drowned out by the sound of the ceiling collapsing behind her, crushing the guards beneath it along with the right leg of the negotiator. Blackfire does not turn away as the figure quickly closes the distance between them raising a fist as it comes close, Blackfire doesn't even attempt shield herself before a fist thunders into her face, breaking her nose and knocks her into the rubble behind her.

As Raven advances to retrieve the unconscious Blackfire, she passes the trapped and whimpering negotiator. "Pl…please don't hurt me." He pleads while holding his arms up to shield himself, Raven only halts and snarls at him before backhanding him once.

The others are waiting anxiously for Raven to get back, even if it has only been a minute, but they are still startled as Raven appears in her demon form with Blackfire slung over her shoulder. "Let's get going!" She says quickly as she shoves Blackfire roughly into the cramped space behind her own seat.

"You got it Rae." Cyborg says as the ship begins to lift of the ground as Raven jumps into her seat and seals the pod.

"We don't have much time before they find out, Cyborg show us why we let you build this thing alone." Nightwing says from up front, guessing Raven had to deal with a group of guards to get to Blackfire.

"Thought you'd never ask." Cyborg smirks. "BOUYA!" He shouts, as he engages the thrusters and the ship responds by blasting into the sky, leaving the Royal Palace far behind.

R&R :)