Jump City Symphony

A Teen Titans Fan Fiction by Jacob McDonald

Opening Notes – Oh… you know. Bla bla, I sure hope I get the time to write more soon, bla-buh-bla-bla… Seriously, I'm stressed beyond all reason with work and school starting in a month (only two semesters left!) trying to find an agent for my publishable writing, and on top of all that, my wife and I just bought a house. Yeah, 'cause I needed the added stress of lawn mowing and roof repair, right?

Standard disclaimers apply. I don't own Teen Titans.

Chicago Nights – Omen

Lilith Clay stepped out into the cold night air of Chicago and sighed in relief as she pulled a pack of cigarettes out of her pocket. Quickly pulling one out and lighting it, she put it to her lips and took a deep drag. Looking back behind her she muttered, "Stupid… O'Hare Airport no smoking policies…"

As she turned back forward she was suddenly aware of Raven standing right next to her on the side she hadn't been turned to. Lilith jumped a little and curse, "Don't do that!"

"Then stop smoking. It's bad for you." Raven frowned at her.

"Please." Lilith rolled her eyes, "You're so not going to mother me and hen peck me this whole trip are you?"

"Of course not. But if we're going to be team mates then you're going to have to learn to get along with me, and if you're going to get along with me then you have to take better care of yourself."

Lilith sighed as she ashed her cigarette on the ground, "First of all, I'm not going to be your team mate. You offered to teach me how to control my powers, and I accepted. I said I'd think about joining the Titans after that." She glared, "Second of all, smoking is my one vice, aside from kinky sex. But I don't count that one."

"Heh." Raven shrugged, "Right."

Lilith laughed a little, "What? You're not going to rag on me about having sex with guys who are practically strangers without using any protection?" she waggled her eye brows and leered at Raven in a suggestive manner.

Raven grinned right back, "Why would I? It's not like I haven't done the same thing in the past." As Lilith's mouth dropped open and she dropped her cigarette, Raven turned to see a man pushing a cart towards them, "Oh look, here's our luggage. Be a dear and hail a cab, would you Lilith?"

"So what's the move here, anyway?" Lilith asked as she and Raven sat in the back seat of the cab that was driving them to their hotel.

"We get checked in to the hotel and relax." Raven shrugged, "It's kind of late to start any kind of real training tonight."

"Training…" Lilith winced, "You make it sound like I'm going to be running laps and doing push ups."

Raven looked at her.

Lilith frowned and shook her head, "No. Hell no. You said you'd help me control my powers, not try to make me the next Titan!"

"Lilith, physical training is part of it. You have to master your body if you're going to master your mind."

"Not this mind. I just need to know how to shut it off and turn it on. That's it."

"I don't know how to teach you that. What I can do is teach you how to control it and use it. With that will come greater peace of mind."

"You told me-"

"You're getting agitated Lilith… calm down."

"No! You lied to me!"

"I told you I'd help you control your powers."

"You didn't say anything about using them though!"

Raven frowned, "It's kind of a package deal."

"You're a real bitch, you know that?"

"Lilith-"

"Shut up! I don't want to hear it!"

"Seriously, if you don't calm down your powers will-"

"I said shut up!" Lilith screamed.

Man that girl is a bitch.

"What did you just say?" Lilith swung her head around and glared at the taxi driver. He glanced back at her and blinked a little.

"I didn't say anything, Miss."

And crazy… why do I always get the crazy ones?

Lilith stared. His lips hadn't moved. "No… oh no…"

She's hot though… I wouldn't mind sticking it in her-

"Don't even think that pal." Lilith growled.

"What?" He glanced back at her even more confused.

"Stop, Lilith." Raven told her, "He doesn't even realize he's thinking what he is. You have to understand the nature of your powers before we can begin to refine them."

"Is she reading my mind?" the cab driver sounded freaked out.

"Unfortunately… and there she goes." Raven watched as Lilith's eyes grew wide.

Suddenly there were voices filling her head… hundreds of them. Thousands. People thinking about work, about what they were going to do that night, about lovers and enemies, about love and hate, about right and wrong, about life and about-

Lilith looked out the window and gasped, "There's someone out there who's going to kill his wife!"

"Who?" Raven asked calmly.

"I don't know! I just heard him thinking it… he's going to… oh God…" she grabbed the door handle and shouted, "I have to find her and warn her! I have to-"

Raven's ice cold fingers were suddenly on her temples, "Sleep, Lilith." She said.

And Lilith slept.

When she woke, the red haired young woman was lying in a large, comfy bed in a richly decorated hotel room. Moaning, she sat up and looked around. It seemed nicely furnished… better than any hotel room she'd ever stayed in before anyway.

Getting up, she glanced at the bedside clock and saw it was just after two in the morning. She was still wearing her jeans and t-shirt from the flight in to Chicago, but her sneakers and socks had been removed.

The room she was in was the bedroom area of a two room suite, and she could hear the TV from the sitting room. Padding over, she walked in and looked around until she saw Raven. The dark haired girl was curled up on the couch, reading a book while she sipped a mug of tea. She wasn't even paying attention to the TV.

"You're awake I see." She stated as she sat her mug down and marked her place in her book.

"Yeah… how did you make my powers stop freaking out like that?"

"I put you to sleep." Raven shrugged, "You turned yourself off after that."

"Oh… I… there was a woman in danger… did you help her?"

Raven sighed and sat her book aside. "Sit down, Lilith." She motioned to a chair. Lilith sat and watched as Raven struggled with her thoughts for a moment, then spoke, "My powers… aren't like yours. I'm an empath. I sense emotions and feelings, and I can manipulate them to an extent. While I am developing trace amounts of telepathy as I grow older, I don't have nearly the capacity for it that you do. Even if I had left the cab and started looking, there was very little chance I'd have been able to find the man who was going to kill his wife."

"So… you just let him go?"

"Lilith, there are almost three million people living in the greater Chicago area… it would have been impossible. Plus I had you to worry about."

"But… I sensed him! It couldn't have been far!"

"That's just it… we don't know the range of your telepathy yet. Or the scope of how far ahead in time your visions extend. Or how much control you have over the minds of others… we need to test your limits, and work on refining your focus so you can direct your powers how you want them to work."

Lilith was silent as she stared off at the TV. The local news had just come on. The top story was about a man who'd viciously stabbed his wife to death just five hours earlier.

"When do we start?" she whispered.

"In the morning. Let's get some sleep for now." Raven stood up, "Come on… the sleep spell I used on you should still have you drowsy."

"Yeah…" Lilith stood up and they walked to the bedroom.

"Lilith!" Raven shouted, "Hold on! I'm coming for you!"

"Raven…" she muttered back, "No… its okay… I've seen this…"

"Lilly, don't move! Stay right where you are and I'll get you!"

She looked down to her side and saw her own hand lift up. It was stained red. The rock next to her head was covered in the same bright red liquid, "Wow…" she murmured, "That's a lot of blood…"

"Shit, shit, shit!" Raven cursed, "Lilly, I can't get to you directly. I'll have to go up and around. Just hold tight!"

She nodded weakly, but didn't really hear Raven's words. Dropping her hand, she looked straight ahead as a bright light seemed to zoom towards her. She smiled. Ah… so this was what the end felt like.

Her eyes widened a little more, "Raven… I'm there… I'm… here…"

Lilith sat up with a start. Looking around frantically, she finally placed herself as being in the hotel room she and Raven were staying in. The dark haired empath slowly sat up in the other queen sized bed and looked over at Lilith with blurry eyes. Her hair was a mess and the white tank top she wore drooped off one shoulder.

"What did you see?" she muttered as she rubbed sleep from her eyes.

"I saw… I don't know. There was… you were there and you were freaking out… I think I might have been hurt." Lilith looked scared.

"Hmm." Raven nodded, "Visions of that nature can be disturbing." She looked over at the clock, "Let's get up and get cleaned up. We should hit the gym before it gets too crowded."

Lilith nodded and glanced at the clock as well. It was just past six. Shaking her head, the red haired woman swung her legs out of bed and headed for the shower.

Raven was pumping her legs and arms on the elliptical right next to Lilith, sweating lightly as she increased her pace. Lilith was sweating like a pig and huffing as her hair stuck to her moist forehead.

"How… the hell… are you doing this?" she demanded of her workout partner.

"Aside from the rigorous police training I went though not long ago?" Raven arched an eyebrow at her friend, "Robin drills us just about every day. It's not all fun and games when you're a Titan."

"Sure." Lilith huffed, then concentrated on her workout. After a moment, Raven spoke again.

"Try something for me." She ordered, "Just concentrate on your body as you stress it. Try to feel a sense of oneness with yourself. Ignore the rest of the room… it's just you. I'm not even here… just you."

Lilith wanted to roll her eyes, but for some reason she found herself following orders. She gradually began to let go and feel just herself. The burning in her legs from the stair climbing motion, the pressure in her lungs from the air being forced in and out of them, the coolness on her skin where the sweat was beading and the AC was blowing air across it… Into this oneness came Raven's voice in her mind.

Good… now if you can hear me, I want you to expand that singular awareness away from yourself until you can feel me too. I'll try to help, so it should be easier your first time.

Again, Lilith followed directions and tried to feel all the sensations of her body, and also the sensations happening just beyond it. After a few minutes, she began to push her awareness out until she could feel the tingling of another mind at the edges of hers. Pushing a little more, she found she was hearing Raven's thoughts.

Good. That was very good. Feel my body now too. Feel everything about me.

Lilith did. She began to mumble, "Your back hurts… the sports bra only helps so much. You're cold… colder than you should be, but that doesn't bother you. Why?"

I'm part demon. My body temperature is naturally lower than yours.

"Oh. Your feet are sweaty though, because your socks are too thick. There's a scar on your left shoulder, and some on your arms… zombies?"
Yes.

"Also… a scar on your soul… some… blackness."

My demon essence. My Father's legacy.

"Right." Lilith pushed more, "You're worried about Kylee… and you want to sleep next to Roy again… who's Roy?"

Arsenal.

Oh. You call him Jason.

It's his middle name. He's been opening up more lately though, accepting his parent' death and getting in touch with his past.

That's so sad. My parents are gone too.

Most of us are orphans. Only Robin and Bart still have parents, but Robin can't tell his father who he is, and Impulse's mother lives in the 31st Century.

Wild. I… I'm not talking. I'm thinking and you're hearing me.

We're connected. Do you want to try to push further? I can try to help.

Lilith considered it for a moment. Yes.

Okay. Push out. Find the other people in the room. Don't use your eyes, just find their minds.

Lilith did. She pushed and felt a kind of bubble around herself. When she made it larger, she could feel more. Hear more. Wrapping it around a leggy blonde in the corner who was working her abs, she heard more thoughts.

… those two on the ellipticals. How does the red head have such great abs? And her ass is awesome! The one with purple hair is pretty hot too… I'd kill to have a body like that.

She has a great body! Lilith thought at Raven.

Yes. But she works hard for it and we hardly look like we're trying. And your ass is pretty awesome.

"Heh." Lilith laughed a little out loud and focused on a slightly cubby man at the weigh bench.

Wonder if she'd want to have lunch? I mean, what's the point of these business trips away from my wife if I can't get a little action now and then? Maybe not her, but the goth chick looks like she might be a bit more lonely… easier to get in bed…

Lilith frowned. Is everyone in here thinking about us?

Yes. Raven replied, and Lilith felt a smile in her voice. We're smokin' hot.

"Gag." Lilith stopped her workout and turned to Raven, "I get enough of this while I'm dancing. Let's move on."

"Sure." Raven nodded, "And Lilith? That was very good for your first time."

The red head blushed a little, "Thanks."

After the two young women were showered and they had gotten a bite to eat at the hotel restaurant, Raven declared it was time to take a walk. Lilith went with the flow and followed the young sorceress out on to the busy streets of Chicago, both of them bundled in two sweaters to ward off the cold.

"So why are we taking a walk?" she asked her mentor.

Raven smiled, "You have to get used to using your focus to block out unwanted thoughts and visions. I'm more or less taking a rough and tumble way of doing that."

"How's that?" Lilith looked worried.

Raven grinned in an evil manner as she reached out and touched the red head's temple with one finger, "By turning you on and letting you learn how to shut yourself off while we're in the middle of the Chicago lunch rush."

Lilith was suddenly bombarded with the thoughts of everyone around her and Raven. As they were walking on an extremely busy sidewalk downtown there were quite a few minds hers was touching. She hissed as the pain of it crashed into her head.

"What the hell did you do to me?"

Raven's reply was quick and sharp, "I opened up your psychic thresholds all the way. Concentrate Lilith! The same thing you did this morning to intentionally grab other people's thoughts applies here as well, just in reverse. Find your center, but instead of pushing your awareness out, bring it in and shield your mind with it."

Lilith reached up and clutched her head, "Raven! I can't!"

"Yes you can! Focus!"

Taking two deep breaths, Lilith focused. She began to ignore the pain as the babble of voices in her head grew maddeningly loud in volume. She found the warmth in the depths of her body and focused on her own heartbeat. She slowly began to build that warmth into a tangible feeling that she could wrap around herself, much like the awareness bubble she had felt that morning.

It took her several tries, but soon she had the bubble wrapped around her own mind, blocking everything else out. She basked in the silence for a few moments before turning to Raven again, "That was a mean trick, Rae."

Raven shrugged and took a bite of her cake.

Lilith blinked, "Um… what the hell?"

"We stopped at a café almost an hour ago. I sat you down and ordered you some coffee. You should try this chocolate cake though… it's divine."

Lilith looked around and saw that they were indeed sitting at a small table outside a café. She blinked back at Raven then lifted her coffee to her lips and sipped it. It was barely warm.

"How long was I… um… focusing?"

"Almost three hours. I held your arm and walked you around for two of those. Then I got hungry, so I stopped us here."

"That… you… what the fuck, Rae?"

Raven shrugged again, "It takes time to learn how to do these things, Lilith. When I was learning losing focus would mean that a building or two would be destroyed. You don't have the power backlash that I do though, so throwing you into the deep end was the best way for you to learn. Trust me when I say that it'll be easier from now on."

Lilith growled anyway, "You're a real bitch, you know?"

"I'm not here to endear myself to you. I'm here to teach you how to deal with your powers. It's hard. It's not fun. It actually kind of sucks sometimes. But it'll help you in the end."

"I don't need this right now… I'm just so…" she searched for a word to describe how furious she was with Raven for pushing her into that kind of pain and madness without warning but couldn't because her head was still pounding, "I'm pissed." She finally settled on.

"I understand. But there's more to do still, so keep your focus and drink something. You'll need the boost to your mental awareness to-"

"No." Lilith growled, "I'm done with you for now. I'll see you back at the room later tonight."

"What?" Raven looked honestly surprised, "Lilith, you can't just wander off in the middle of Chicago. Where will you go?"

"I'm a big girl. Older than you, in case you've forgotten. I have my ID, and I'm going to a bar. I'm going to drink myself stupid and forget about this little stunt you pulled and maybe… maybe, I'll have forgiven you by tomorrow."

With that she stood up and stomped off, her long read hair flipping as she went.

Raven sighed and looked back down at her cake. "Stupid girl." She muttered.

Two hours latter Lilith was sitting in the corner of a bar by herself, sipping a rather strong gin and tonic. It was her fifth, and she couldn't exactly remember the name of the place she was in, but the buzzing in her head was dying down, and she was able to let her mental defense slip a little.

She'd been flicking her awareness out to listen to people for the past half hour or so, grudgingly admitting that maybe Raven had the right idea when it came to teaching her because, honestly, turning her powers on and off was much easier now. As she mused to herself, she poked at the mind of a guy sitting at the bar watching a hockey game.

Come on, come on! He was thinking, Stupid Wings! They win every damn game they play these days… What the hell is this… He reached down and pulled out his cell phone. Flipping it open, he read something and flipped it shut. Fuckin'… if the bitch can't learn to use the damn computer, why'd she blow a thousand dollars on the laptop? Why did I even marry that stupid cunt? Seriously! His thoughts trailed off into a series of complaints and he gulped back his beer with surprising ferocity. Lilith pulled away from him and shook her head, focusing instead on a twenty-something girl sitting at a table with a man who looked to be about ten years older than her.

She was talking to him about some kind of investment strategy for the business firm they both worked for, but her thoughts were completely different. Lilith found this strange duality fascinating about people.

…wonder if he's really faithful? I could get a leg up if I can get him to sleep with me… either he'll feel he owes me a favor, or I can blackmail him by threatening to tell his wife…

"What a bitch." Lilith muttered.

"Who is?" asked a young man who slid into a seat across the table from her.

The red haired young woman blinked at him. He was about six feet tall, good looking, and he wore designer clothes. Not the kind of guy you'd expect to see at a downtown bar on a Tuesday night.

"Who the hell are you and what the fuck do you want?" she asked in a clipped tone.

He arched an eyebrow, "My name is Peter Thorp, I'm a movie producer, and I'd like you to be in a film."

She blinked at him, then burst out laughing. He just smiled at her and after a moment, she decided to poke at his mind. As she calmed herself down, she read his surface thoughts.

Her eyes widened, "Holy shit, you're not lying!"

"Nope." He smiled wider.

"Huh." She decided to dig deeper. Ah, of course.

"You want me to be in a porno?"

"I'm not exactly that kind of producer…"

"You make movies where girl take off their clothes and have sex with one of your paid actors. How are you not exactly a porn producer?"

"Um…"

She rolled her eyes, "Look, I know you think I'm hot and drunk, and you're right. I am hot, and I am drunk. But I'm also a meta. I can read your mind, so you can't really lie to me."

"You can read my mind?" he grinned, "What number am I thinking of?"

"72,875." She replied without blinking, "It was your taxable income last year. And you had Special K for breakfast because you want to watch your weight because your sister told you she thought you had gained a few pounds last time you had to go over to her place and break up a fight between her and her husband before it got physical."

His eyes widened and she shook her head, "Damnit." She ground her teeth, "I hate doing that."

He slowly stood up, backed away from her and walked away.

Lilith sighed. She didn't feel much like getting wasted any more.

Drunk and alone, Lilith wove a not exactly straight path along the mostly deserted sidewalks of Michigan Avenue, winding her way back to the hotel. She stared out at the black roiling expanse of Lake Michigan with a bit of awe. Her mental shields were firmly in place despite her inebriated state, so she was able to take in the full majesty of the large body of water from within the peaceful confines of her own mind.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" whispered a soft but familiar voice from right in front of her. The red haired beauty looked up and saw Raven there.

"How did you find me?"

Raven replied in the same soft voice, her eyes never leaving the lake, "I'm not limited to just detecting your mind. Even though it's shielded from me right now, I can still seek out the… presence of those I'm close to."

"My presence?"

Raven considered for a moment, "Your soul, I suppose." Her violet eyes blinked once, "I have a much stronger connection to Jinx actually. She's been very frustrated these past few days."

"Isn't she in Gotham with Nightwing?"

"Mmhm." Raven nodded absently, but gave no sign of intending to continue their conversation. Lilith shrugged and looked back out at the lake.

"It's like the ocean back home." She muttered, "But it feels wrong some how."

"No salt on the air." Raven replied, "Lake Michigan is all fresh water."

"It smells… good. More pure, but still… it stinks." Lilith wrinkled her nose, "Does that make any sense at all?"

"Of course. Why do you ask?"
"I'm just… I'm questioning so much about myself and my life these days… do I really want to keep dancing? Should I try and go back to school? Should I go find that guy and tell him I'll do the porn movie?"

"I'll recommend against going into porn." A shadow presented itself on Raven's cheek. It took Lilith a moment to figure out she was barely smiling.

"Sure." The red head smiled and looked back out at the water. She thought about her life for a moment, and all the things that could happen. She heard Raven whispering almost right in her ear then, and her thoughts narrowed.

"Focus on what you're feeling… seeing into the future is an uncertain thing Lilith, as it's fueled by emotion, not mental powers. Find your own future. Search your heart." Lilith did so. It came to her surprisingly easy, considering all the work she had had to put into her mental shield. She simply looked inward, and she saw. Raven's voice was barely audible now, "What do you see?"

"I see darkness." Lilith whispered back, "I see so much pain and suffering… but I see joy, and life and light and... oh, Raven…" a tear trailed down her face, "I see what could be… what is coming… I see…" she snapped back to reality, "I see the Titans."

"What?" Raven's voice was sharp now, louder, "Lilly, tell me what you saw."

Lilith turned her own green eyes to Raven's purple ones, hers still a little out of focus, "He's going to die."

Then Lilith saw something she'd never seen before, even though she'd only known Raven for a short time. Raven was scared. The psion whispered, "Who?"

"I… I don't know." Lilith shook her head, "It's gone now."

Raven sighed. "Great." She muttered.

Lilith stared at her for a long moment, "You called me Lilly."

"Hmm?" Raven looked up, "Sorry, do you not like it? I can call you Lilith."

"No one's called me that since my Mom died."

"Oh… I'm sorry… I won't-"

"No! It's okay… you can… you know, if you want to."

Raven blinked back at her then smiled a weary smile, "Thanks. Let's go back to the room… Lilly."

A wave of black energy wrapped around them, and they were gone from the lakeside in a matter of moments.

The next morning Raven started teaching Lilith meditation. The older girl took to it with surprising ease, and when Raven questioned her on it, she simply replied, "You think I got this body by not doing a lot of yoga?"

After their successful mediation session, they worked out again. Lilith continued to mentally communicate to Raven all the things she was hearing, and Raven continued to mentally chuckle at them. The two of them were getting along much better, a mutual friendship having been formed between them somehow.

So it was with good humor that Lilith posed a question to her friend later that afternoon, "So, Rae… why are we standing on the observation deck of the Sear's Tower with a pair of binoculars?"

Raven smiled back, "Nervous?"

"Terrified is more like it. Are you going to open a window and see if I can fly like you now too?"

"Of course not. You'll never have that power." Raven waved off her concern, "We're going to test the range of your telepathy."

"Ooooh." Lilith grinned, "I've always wanted to do this. Are we gonna sneak looks into people's offices across the way and see if I can tell what they're thinking?"

Raven grinned back, "That's exactly what we're going to do."

Lilith squealed with delight.

Raven handed her the binoculars, "Have it, Tiger."

An hour later, Lilith still hadn't gotten bored of the game, "And the guy on the thirty-second story of the Hancock Center, ten windows from the left? He's trying to decide if he can get away with having a hooker come up to meet him when he's working after hours tonight!"

"Why do you only tell me about the people that want to have sex?" Raven was sitting next to her as Lilith practically leaned over the guard rail on the observation deck.

"Because they're the interesting ones. Well, except for the guy who was composing the poem… that was pretty cool."

Raven chuckled, "Go further. Turn the magnification on those suckers up to full… you should be able to see the suburbs from here if you do… Robin made those things powerful enough."

Lilith grinned and cranked up the magnification. Raven was right; she could see all the way out to the malls and shopping centers just past downtown. She focused on the small figures of the people moving in and out of a tall building that she placed as a multi-level department store.

"Come on…" she muttered to herself, "What are you thinking?"

And then, faintly, she heard the woman she was aiming at.

…socks for Hunter and Blake, and Tom's going to need new jeans soon… I wonder if he's gained any weight… he LOOKS like he's still got a 34 waist…"

"Oh my God…" Lilith whispered, "That has to be…"

Raven took the binoculars from her and checked the gauge, "About five miles away. Pretty good." She smiled and handed them back to her student.

Lilith grinned and started rambling about what she saw, "This guy hates his car… the woman with the really unflattering slacks just met her Weight Watchers goal, good for her! This kid is going to shoplift a few CDs, the guy with the cowboy hat misses Nashville, and the dude in the trench coat…" she trailed off, "Oh… shit… Raven!"

"What? What is it?" Raven stood up and looked off into the distance, even though she couldn't see what Lilith could, "What do you sense?"

"He has a bomb." She whispered, "He's going to take the whole place out."

Raven was suddenly all business, "I'm going, Lilly. It's going to be dangerous." She paused, "I hate to make this so sudden, but… are you in or out?"

Lilith paused as well, for what seemed like an eternity. She had so much to live for; so much she wanted to do. She had talent now. She could help people. She could help…

"I'm in."

The two women appeared in the parking lot, and started walking for the entrance at once. Lilith shook of the cold, "That teleportation shit is creepy." She muttered.

"Get used to it." Raven replied in a clipped tone. "Can you sense the target?"

"Third floor. He wants to be on the fourth when he blows the bomb… maximizes impact that way."

"So he's done his homework then."

Lilith surprised herself when she replied, "Yes, he has." She shook her head, "I'm really into this guys brain… he thinks this place robbed him of his pension… he's going to make an example out of them… how does that even make sense?"

"Madness rarely makes sense." Raven replied. "I assume he's being casual? Not attracting attention?"

"Right on. He's going to take the elevator to the fourth floor… now."

"Then we take the stairs. Let's go."

They sprinted up the stairs. Lilith was glad she was in pretty good shape, but was once again reminded just how awesome Raven was. The Titan didn't even seem to be breaking a sweat as she burst out the doors and on to the fourth floor. "Where, Lilith?"

"Middle of the store. That's where he wants to blow it."

"Stay back. I'll take him down."

"I can help."

"By staying back and telling me what he's thinking. Find my mind, talk to me telepathically… it'll be faster that way." Raven started walking to the middle of the store.

"Right." Lilith was suddenly nervous. The man they were hunting was really crazy. He was capable of killing everyone in the building if he set off the bomb, and he-

"Raven, he has a gun." She said. She started to move forward but Raven held up a hand and she stopped

"Duly noted."

And she continued walking without looking back.

Look into his mind Lilly… tell me what's going to talk him down…

Lilith looked, Nothing. His course is set… a surprise might slow him long enough for you to get the trigger device from him though… it's in his left coat pocket.

What kind of surprise?

He doesn't think anyone has noticed him yet…

So I let him know someone has.

Exactly.

Raven made it to the center of the store. The bomber was walking right towards her.

Lilith watched.

Raven held out a hand as the man made it up to her. He arched an eyebrow at her, "Yes?" he asked, calm as a summer day.

"Give me the trigger device and I won't hurt you." Raven replied in a cold tone, the temperature around her dropping by several degrees.

The man's eyes widened. A full second passed, then a flurry of motion exploded between the two. Raven dove for the man's pocket, hoping to get the trigger before he could think to protect it, and the man jumped back, plunging his hand into coat and yanking a pistol from a shoulder holster. He fired two shots.

Screams erupted all around the store as Lilith shouted in horror, "Raven!"

The Titan girl had jumped back, taking only a grazing shot across her leg. She limped a little, but pressed her attack, grabbing the man's wrists and forcing the gun towards the ceiling. She wrapped her finger around his and started pulling the trigger for him.

"You shouldn't play with these things…" Raven grunted as she struggled with him, counting the shots. The magazine wasn't extra long, so it couldn't have more than-

"Eleven." Raven muttered to herself as she pushed him aside and reached for his pocket once more.

He was fast, but Lilith's thoughts were faster. Punch coming from your left!

There was a solid thud as his fist slammed into Raven's side, knocking her down as the air left her lungs.

YOUR LEFT RAVEN!

Stop shouting in my head and let me fight!

Use your powers!

I AM!

Black tendrils of energy lanced out and wrapped the man tightly, stopping him from running. Raven stood up slowly, wincing at the pain in her side. She had a bruised rib.

"So much for that." She said as she walked over to him, "Now, I'll take the trigger and you'll-"

His arm shot out and slapped Raven across the face. She stumbled and her powers blinked out. She shook her head to regain her focus and looked back at him, "What in the hell…?"

Her eyes widened. In his left hand, the man held the trigger device. In his right, he held a small cylinder with blinking lights on it. He grinned.

"It's a metahuman psychic dampener. Lexcorp makes 'em… my brother works there, got me this little beauty 'cause the crazy guy next door to me lights himself on fire some times…"

"You're fucking kidding me." Raven deadpanned.

"Afraid not. Now back off or I blow us all up."

"You're going to blow us all up anyway." Raven rolled her eyes.

"Raven!" Lilith's voice came from somewhere behind her, "I can't hear his thoughts anymore!"

"I know." Raven called back, "Stay back."

"Back off, bitch." The man growled.

Raven started to back up, then just as quickly darted forward. She grabbed the man and fell back with him, planting a foot in his gut as she did. She rolled on her back and used all her strength to throw him towards the other side of the store.

He hit the ground hard, and even though he kept his grip on the dampener, the trigger flew from his hand. As soon as his finger was off of it, a high pitched beeping started emanating form his body.

Raven and Lilith both froze as the bomber slowly stood up, dropping his coat to the floor as he did. The explosives were wrapped around him like a girdle. His grin told them everything they needed to know.

"Okay," Raven noted, "so… maybe not one of my better plans."

"You think?!?" Lilith shrieked.

"You two are dead! No way you can out run this boom!" the man started laughing like crazy. It seemed he couldn't stop.

Raven was at a loss. The dampener would keep her teleportation powers from working, so there was no way to get rid of the bomb, she didn't know if she could get close enough or if she was fast enough to disarm it, and she still had Lilith to worry about-

Her eyes snapped over to Lilith. The red haired girl was looking up at a sign directly above where the man was standing. It was long, and read, "Women's." Raven hadn't even noticed they were in the clothing department. The sign was at least fifteen feet long, and it looked solid and heavy. It was being held to the ceiling at two points by two cables.

And one had taken a stray round as she had emptied the gun of it's bullets a short time ago. It just happened to be the one furthest from the man.

The crazy man with the armed bomb that was standing right in front of a large window.

Raven's eyes widened as Lilith turned to the clothing rack next to her and yanked one of the detachable arms off of it. She turned back to the sign and shouted, "Hey! Asshole!"

The man stopped laughing and looked at her dumbly. Lilith grinned and looked him right in the eye, "Did you know I can see the future? My name is Omen. And have I got a sign for you!"

Lilith hurled the bar at the sign hanging above the man and her aim was dead on. The cord holding it broke, and with only one cord now holding it up, the sign swung down at the man like a battering ram. It hit him full in the chest, and blasted him back off his feet, through the window, and out into the air beyond in a shower of broken glass.

There was a lull. It seemed like time had slowed down for a moment. Raven's eyes were wide with shock, Lilith's eyes were wide with excitement, and the bomber's eyes were wide with surprise.

The bomb exploded when the man was ten feet past the edge of the window.

Raven coughed as she pulled herself out of a pile of clothes and twisted racks, thanking Azar that her powers had kicked in as soon as the bomb had gone off and the dampener had been destroyed. She had manadged to protect herself, but Lilith had been much closer to the blast than she had, and all those windows and glass-

"Lilly!" Raven shouted, waving aside some of the dust that was thick in the air. "Lilly can you hear me?"

The store was decimated. Raven only hoped that they'd bought enough time for most of the shoppers to get out after the gun shots had started. There was rubble everywhere, and a gaping hole in the side of the building. Looking across the expanse that revealed the floor below them and part of the floor above, Raven saw Lilith splayed out on a hunk of rock.

"Lilith!" she shouted, "Hold on! I'm coming for you!" she started to lift up off the ground to fly, but something in the back of her mind wouldn't work right.

Her focus was all over the place. Worry for her friend, and a light buzz that was still there from the dampener were shorting out the powers that really took concentration.

"Lilly, don't move! Stay right where you are and I'll get you!" Raven shouted again. She tried her powers, tried to focus, but she just couldn't summon the mental fortitude. "Shit, shit, shit!"

Looking around desperately, Raven picked out a route around the crater in the side of the building, "Lilly, I can't get to you directly. I'll have to go up and around. Just hold tight!" and she started picking her way through the rubble to get to her friend.

Lilith heard Raven shouting at her, and her dream from the night before came back to her. Her ears were ringing from the explosion, and she'd hit her head when she fell down… no wonder she could barely hear Raven in the dream.

"Raven…" she muttered back, "No… its okay… I've seen this…" Raven shouted something else, but she really couldn't hear. Looking down to her side, she lifted her hand and saw what she expected to see, "Wow… that's a lot of blood…"

The red liquid stained her hand and the rock next to her head. The rock was rubble from the building exploding, and the red was blood. Funny, she didn't really feel much pain.

Raven shouted something again, and even though she couldn't really hear too well, Lilith nodded anyway, albeit weakly. She looked up, straight ahead and saw the bright light. It was coming right for her.

Was she dying? Was this death? It didn't hurt at all… much better than she thought it would be, especially from getting blown up. Maybe she was paralyzed.

But wait… if she was paralyzed, then why could she still move her arm? And he legs? Yep, she could move her legs.

Looking back up, she saw that light was sill coming at her.

"Raven…" she muttered as her eyes went wide, "I'm there… I'm… here…"

The world snapped back into focus, "Ga!" she shouted, "I need to be over there!"

Lilith hurled herself to the side just as a light fixture from the floor above crashed down where her head had just been. Rolling to her feet, the red head scrambled up off the bit of rubble that was threatening to fall into the hole any second and on to more stable wreckage. She looked down at her hand and saw a long cut on her arm that was only now starting to sting, but no other injuries. She touched the side of her face, and felt wetness there though. Confused, she turned and found a mirror that was miraculously still intact.

Her ears were bleeding. The explosion shock wave had burst her ears. That's why she couldn't hear anything!

Then Raven was at her side, holding a glowing hand to her right ear, wincing as Lilith's hearing came flooding back rather quickly. "Are you okay, Raven?"

Raven nodded, "Not a scratch on me. I won't be able to hear out of my right ear for a day or so though… I'll fix your left one after that, but I can do your arm now if you want…"

"No, don't hurt yourself anymore than you have to…"

Raven looked up at her, "How'd you know my healing powers caused me pain?"

Lilith blinked back at her, then grinned, "Because I can read your mind, silly!"

Somehow, there were no deaths. Multiple injuries, some of them quite severe, but the police and EMTs seemed confident that everyone would make it. Raven and Lilith got checked out at the ambulances, then gave their statements to the police. When asked their names, they glanced at each other.

Raven spoke for herself, "Raven. I'm with the Titans in Jump City."

"A Cape. Great." The detective taking their statements sighed, "I hate doing Cape paperwork. Who's your friend?"

Lilith paused for just a moment then, staring at Raven the whole time, replied, "I'm called Omen. I'm with the Titans too."

"Perfect." The detective rolled his eyes, "And the perp died how?"

"We couldn't get the bomb off of him in time," Raven shook her head, "There was nothing we could do except try to minimize civilian causalities."

"Alright." The cop shook his head again, "Fuckin'… Capes. Gonna be a late night tonight…" he continued to mutter as he walked away.

Raven and Lilith looked at each other for a beat then burst out laughing. As they turned to walk back to the hotel, Raven eyed her friend with a smirk, "Omen, huh?"

"Do you like it? I thought it sounded really cool." Lilith gushed.

Raven laughed again.

The two young women found themselves walking down by Navy Peer, mostly deserted in the colder months, but still with a few hot dog vendors around, and several of the souvenir hawkers still shilling their wares.

As Raven paid for two double dipped ice cream cones and handed one to Lilith, she asked her friend, "So how did you survive the explosion any way?"

Lilith shrugged, "I knew it was going off soon, so I made sure I was behind a rack of heavy jackets. Never underestimate the stopping power of twenty layers of women's wool coats."

Raven giggled, "I guess. Mostly the Titans get by on highly advanced anti-ballistics body armor. It stops everything from knives and arrows to bullets and lasers."

Lilith shuddered, "I'm not looking forward to that part. It sounds so dangerous."

Raven nodded, "It is. But if you're serious about this… and I really hope you are… then we'll make sure you're a hundred percent field ready before we send you out into combat. You'll be regulated to a support position anyway. Like Kylee."

"Now I think what I did today was pretty impressive for my first time, but that kid… man talk about brave." Lilith smiled, "You must be the proudest mom ever."

"She's not really my daughter you know." Raven smiled as well.

"I know, but still… she's becoming everything you hope your kids become. Kind, and brave, and smart, and tough, and she's got that spunky happy streak in her that makes everyone around her feel so… good, I guess."

"Hmm." Raven nodded, "She does have that, doesn't she. And I am proud, it's just…" she shook her head, "While you pulled your little drunken stunt last night I got called back to Jump to help the kids fight a really nasty monster from outer space." Lilith arched an eyebrow but Raven ignored her look, "By the time I got there they had already taken care of it but… they were all banged up. Even Wonder Girl looked a little worse for wear and she's the toughest one of the Teen Titans…" Raven stared at her ice cream, her good mood lost, "I worry about her. So much."

Lilith's hand on her shoulder made her look up, "Rae, she's a real pro already. She's good at what she does, and she's got that whole team to back her up. She'll be great, and you know it."

"I do." Raven nodded, "But I still worry. Mothers do that."

"Do you want me to look and see what I can see?" Lilith lifted both her eyebrows, "I can't guarantee you'll like though… visions are funny like that."

Raven stared for a second. Would she get another death prophesy like she had last night? She silently debated for a moment, "Would you? For me?"

Lilith nodded and handed Raven her ice cream. She stood still in the middle of Navy Peer and cleared her mind and dug deep in her own soul, looking for the feelings of gratitude and awe she felt towards Seraph.

After a moment, her cheeks turned red and she let out a little, "Eep!"

"What?" Raven looked stressed, "What did you see?"

"Um… I know what her outfit is going to look like in about five years… and I know who she'll be dating… I mean, man they were really going at it…"

Raven put a hand on her forehead, "Great, she's going to be a slut like her foster mom… It'd have to take a lot to make you blush like that…"

"Don't you know it, sister." Lilith laughed and they continued their walk back to the hotel.

After a moment Raven leaned over and nudged her, "So who's the lucky guy gonna be?"

Lilith smiled back at her, then leaned down and whispered in her ear.

Raven jerked back and stared at her with a wild grin and wide eyes, "No! Really? No way!" Lilith just nodded her head and grinned wider. "Aw… Roy is gonna flip out when he hears this!"

Later that night, Raven stepped out of the bedroom of their suite and shut the door quietly. She walked over to the couch and sat down on it, wearing only a white tank top and her underwear. She picked her T-Comp up off the table and flipped it open, punching in a hail code.

A moment later a dark face appeared on the screen, "What, Raven?"

Raven rolled her eyes, "Take a deep breath, count to ten and try to talk to me like you're not Batman, Dick."

Nightwing sighed, "I'm sorry. I can't find Jenny anywhere."

"Have Oracle look into it."

"I am."

Raven sighed, then closed her eyes. After a moment, she opened them again. "She's stressed, angry and feeling like she has something to prove. I caught a glimpse of the moon behind a tall spired building."

Nightwing looked up at the sky, "West of Wayne Tower then. That'll help. Now what can I do for you?"

"Lilith is joining. Her code name will be Omen."

"Does this have anything to do with the bomber that blew up a department store today?"

"Um… yeah."

"The DEAD bomber that blew up a department store today?"

"We couldn't have saved him if we'd tried. I'm sorry Dick… I know you don't like it when-"

"Don't." Nightwing shook his head, "I'm sorry I got snappy. We can't save everyone." He looked away from the com, "I have to go. Will you two be much longer?"

"A week, I think." Raven noted, "I want to be sure she has a solid grasp of her powers before we head back."

"Agreed." He nodded, "Call me if you have any updates."

"Will do. Raven out." And she flipped her com shut.

Tossing it down on the table, she leaned back. "Another Titan for the fold." She muttered, and then frowned, "Which 'he,' Lilly? Who's going to die?"

Closing Notes – It's not even that long. It just took me a year and a half to write. God, I'm such a slacker… More soon… I hope.

Next Time – Cyborg and Changeling's Super Day