In the past few days, Stephanie Brown had been much quieter than usual. It was understandable, with her fast friend on a solo journey, but it still upset Gar to see a fellow bubbly partner lose her bubble. Thus, Garfield had decided to make it his personal mission to cheer her up.
His jaunty knock on her door brought Steph off of her bed, and she did smile a bit to see him. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Nothin’ at all, just thought you might like some company,” he grinned, and stepped inside, gesturing at her .
Steph’s room was furnished, but sparsely—unlike some of her teammates, Stephanie went home in between their training weekends. Her bed had a few colorful pillows and a teddy bear, and there were pictures and a couple of posters taped to the walls. But compared to his own room, Gar couldn’t help thinking it didn’t look like home.
"So I was thinking," Gar stated, bouncing on the edge of Steph’s bed. “I’ve been Beast Boy a real long time now. D’you think I need a new handle?”
“Maybe if you’ve had it so long you should keep it. It’s gotta be doing something right.” Steph returned to her cross-legged seat across from him.
“Maybe, but doesn’t it gotta grow up sometime? Who wants to be Beast Boy when they’re old enough to be Beast Man? Man-Beast?” he mused. “How does that sound?”
“Don’t be Man-Beast,” Steph said firmly. “That’s gross.”
“Well, okay, I got a couple more,” he bounced again, putting his hands up in front of his face and parting them like a curtain. “How about…the Human Zoo?”
Steph wrinkled her nose in thought. “Too much Circus.”
“Okay then, alright, tough crowd.” Gar cracked his knuckles and tried again. “What about…Mister Shifter?”
She snorted. “You’re
not serious?”
“Nah, I’m not. But made’ja smile,” he grinned, and leaned back against the wall. “Man though, these things are hard.”
“Got any others?” Steph asked him, no longer hiding her giggles.
“Well, there’s one more,” he admitted. “I was sort of thinking Chimera…you know, made up of all kinds of other animals. But kinda goes over some heads.”
“Chimera,” Steph tried out the sound. “I like it.”
Gar let his gaze drift again, and it fell on a family photo. A younger Steph stood with a tall, round man’s arm around her shoulders. He was smiling, a bright, even, showbusiness smile that Gar instantly recognized.
“Hey, neat! I didn’t know you knew the Cluemaster.”
“Know him? That’s my dad,” Steph said, reaching a finger up to touch the picture. “Kinda thought that was common knowledge.”
“Well, lot of Browns out there,” Garfield recovered. “I used to be on his show, y’know. Well, every so often,” he laughed. “B-list Celebrity weeks. Not like any of us had anything better to do.”
“Yeah, I remember,” Steph chuckled as she thought back.
In the good old days, Arthur Brown had been a TV star, the host of a cult quiz show that he had designed himself. The puzzles and problems had kept him entertained to write, and the job had kept his small family fed. But Arthur’s wife fell ill, her sickness taking its toll on the family. Arthur’s constant distraction and mistakes on-air led to his show’s cancellation, and his investigation into her death found that her medication had been more dangerous than they had ever known—the chemical left untested but pushed through to market by WayneTech executives. His crusade led him to take the Cluemaster as a costumed identity, finally ending in capture by the Batman.
“He’s out, right? Gar asked her, trying to phrase the question delicately.
“Yeah, a while now. And he swears he’s straightened out,” Steph answered, falling back onto her bed with a bounce on the mattress. “Only did it for us, he says, so no reason to go back to vengeance. And he did help get enough evidence on those WayneTech guys, so he only had a short sentence.”
“Great!” Garfield looked at her face again and had to ask, “That
is great, right?”
“Yeah, no, it is,” Steph tried to smile and heaved a little sigh. “It’s just been weird since he’s got back from jail. He’s trying to work but his heart’s not in it anymore. I know he misses the show. And he just sits there all depressed all night and that makes
me depressed too, and I just can’t get over having a jailbird dad.”
“Hey though, he’s still a good guy,” Gar assured her. “Sure he’ll get something to get him back on top. Remember, I knew him. And I am a superb judge of character,” he added with a wink.
She laughed. “Oh yeah, if the great Man-Beast approves, what’s the trouble?”
Gar gave her a friendly shove and their giggles echoed around the bare room.
*****
The sun was starting to dip low over Titans Tower, sending golden-pink light down onto the two figures who walked the grounds. Raven glided along the small paths built through the blooming garden. Some of the blossoms had been brought by boat, but many were native to the small island. As the summer had taken hold, their scents and colors had taken over the land, and Raven was peacefully enjoying the sight and smell.
Behind her, Juan was enjoying a different sight. The way Raven’s arms and legs moved, perfectly graceful and in sync as she walked the path, made the speedster feel clumsy and oafish by comparison.
He hadn’t had any kind of ulterior motive for inviting her to take a walk with him. Nope. Not at all.
“So…” Juan cleared his throat, and stepped faster to catch up to her.
“Yes?” Raven’s dark, clear eyes landed on his, and he could see that otherworldly focus that made her so fascinating.
“Just... ‘so’,” he scratched the back of his head. “We haven’t really gotten to talk a lot, huh?”
“From my observations, you do not seem to talk very much in the first place,” Raven answered calmly.
Juan wasn’t sure how to feel about being observed, and put the comment to the back of his mind. “I guess I seem sorta quiet, si? But only compared to my sister,” he joked, his laugh becoming a clearing of his throat when Raven didn’t join in. “So, yeah, you just haven’t gotten to know me en mi propio.” He winced as he caught himself slipping into Spanish with his nerves.
But now, Raven smiled. “You are so anxious. There is no need to be.” She slowed her pace, coming back to walk next to him.
“You sure about that?” Juan kicked at the ground. “You wouldn’t be the first white girl I scared away en Español.”
“First, I’m not sure that I am what you would identify as ‘white’,” Raven said with a small chuckle. “And second, I understood you perfectly.”
“You speak Spanish?”
“Not speak, no. But it is part of my power to understand it,” she explained.
“So, what exactly is it you can do?” Juan asked, glad to finally have an intelligent question. “I’ve seen you practicing and all, but it’s real vague.”
“I am an empath,” she said quietly, unused to explaining. “I can feel the emotions of others, and they give me strength.”
“And that becomes super-powered energy blasts?” Juan’s eyebrows were raised.
“It becomes energy, yes, and feeds my soul-self. It may be too complicated to fully discuss now.”
“But that doesn’t explain why—“
“When one can sense the meaning behind the words, the language doesn’t matter.” Raven was still walking slowly and evenly, pausing every so often to watch a bud shake in the wind, or a small creature scurry out of sight.
Keeping his own steps small, Juan still watched her, listening intently. “That’s…strange, but useful, no? How’d you wind up like that?”
He instantly regretted asking the question, as Raven went quiet. “It is a long story not suitable for a fine evening,” she finally said. “I would rather talk about your life,” She added with a small twitch of her lips.
“Me?” Juan laughed a little and looked at the ground. “Don’t know there’s much to tell. Doesn’t matter much who I used to be, I figure.” He found himself talking longer than he had meant to, describing his childhood with Carla, her “mala influencia” and the way he had followed her led to petty vandalism. “We were never, y’know, criminals,” he clarified, aware of Raven watching him closely. “Just getting into trouble. We didn’t have anything better we could do. Now we do.” He paused, both walkers turning a corner in the path around Titans Tower. “I think these powers are the best thing that ever happened to us.”
Raven could hear the words he left unsaid. “But?”
He sighed very quietly. “But I don’t think she knows why.” He continued, speaking faster, the words pouring out under her violet gaze. “She doesn’t get how good we have it here. She doesn’t care about helping people, I think she just likes an excuse to beat people up. Not that she’d go bad or anything,” he added even more hastily. “But she thinks she’s cooped up. She doesn’t see how good it is this way, not even when we’re home and she can see how it’s worse, how useless we used to be out there in the streets.”
“I doubt you were ever useless,” Raven said gently, touching a soft hand to his shoulder. She was smiling when Juan looked into her face. “I understand your fear. But I am sure that your sister will come around, with your buena influencia,” she added.
Juan smiled just a bit wider. “I thought you didn’t speak Spanish.”
With a dignified look back at him, Raven kept walking, circling the path for another lap. “I can learn.”
*****
The big-screen TV in the Titans’ lounge blared fighting music and flickered light over the faces of Carla and Victor as they faced off on the sofa. They had sparred each other during their training earlier in the day, but they put more bragging rights into the fighting game on-screen, where their powers were evenly-matched. Vic was the current champion, but Carla’s animated fighter was holding her ground tonight.
“Get ready to hand over that crown, mi amigo,” she taunted, her thumbs furiously flying over the game controller.
“Don’t you get cocky, chica!” Vic laughed and jerked his controller wildly, making his character duck Carla’s blow. “Game ain’t over yet!”
“Ain’t got long to go, though!” Carla grinned ear to ear as her fighter rammed into Vic’s on the screen. The “game over” logo flashed red light over their faces as the twilight fell over Titans Tower, the skylight letting pink and violet tinges shine through.
“HA! Beat that!” Carla pumped a fist into the air. “Say it, come on!”
“'Kay fine, you beat me.” Vic put the controller down and rested his hands behind his head. “But you won’t next time. I’ll get that title back.”
“You won’t.” Carla bounced up to turn off the game, and an old sit-com flickered on the TV screen instead. She leaned back on the sofa, still celebrating. “I been practicing way too much, you’ve just been going by what you already knew.”
“Oh yeah, practicing on Cass was gonna give you a great challenge,” Vic laughed, but there was something bittersweet in the sound.
Carla shrugged, feeling that same twinge of sadness. “Gave me a chance to try out different stuff.” She paused. “It’s too loud around here without her.”
Victor leaned back farther, looking up at the waning sunset. “Not like anyone’s making extra noise to make it up.”
“You sure Green-Genes isn’t?” Carla laughed, picking up the controller again just to have something to do with her hands. “Just different s’all. She really stunk at this game,” she added with another chuckle. Kasumi had been trained to fight more dramatically than any other assassin in history, and it had given Carla some small satisfaction to beat her at a fighting game if nothing else.
Vic shrugged. “I never played her.”
“So she fights by watching right? Knows what you’re gonna do with your body language? So every time we played she kept trying to look at me instead of the screen,” Carla explained, her hands talking with her, pointing and gesturing. “And when she learned to watch what she was really doing, she was still trying to judge by the animation what I was gonna do. Never got the hang of it, and too late now,” she finished, half-watching the TV.
Vic had been watching her face carefully. “Didn’t know you liked her that much,” he remarked.
She responded by launching a throw pillow at him. “What do you know, Stone? Why does everyone keep saying that?”
“'Cause you never seem like you like anyone,” Vic chuckled. “I liked her, too. Gonna be different, that’s for sure.”
“I guess Spoiler’s gonna have to learn to be sneaky,” Carla said with a wrinkle of her nose. “Why do I not see that happening?”
“We’ll turn out fine.” Vic kicked his feet up on the sofa. “And who knows, not like she died. Always could come back when she’s found herself. And then you can be all sappy about missing her to her face,” he added, and swatted the second pillow out of the air.
Carla put her head back on the sofa. “She coulda been great on our streets. Imagine the Riaz brothers trying to prank her,” she laughed at the mental image. “I’d have had some real competition, no? Would’ve had to work to be best.”
“Know what you mean. No-nonsense, wouldn’t take any crap. She coulda gone far. Must be that’s why you like her.”
Carla shrugged. “So much like my friends back home, sabe? Shame something like that had to go to waste. We should have been better friends.”
Vic stood up and stretched, the rosy sky reflecting in the shimmer in his skin. “You probably are. At least, as far as Cass thinks. I think we were all pretty important to her.”
Joining him in his stretch, Carla let herself smile a bit “Probably. Really thinks she’s coming back?”
“Hell, I know I would if I went off,” Vic grinned back at her, and the two of them left the TV running when they left the room.
*****
“It’s just still weird being away from home,” Stephanie sighed, her back laid flat on the floor and her legs bent up over the bed. “If I could fly out of here an be back in the morning, that’s all I’d ever do.”
“Yea, well, I like having someplace else to be.” Gar returned to his comfortable cat shape on the pillow.
“If you shed on that,” Steph warned him, pulling herself back up straight. “You go home between weekends though, right?”
“Yeah, I do. But I can’t really pretend it’s not easier on Steve when I’m away for a while.”
Steph sat up straighter. “Really? Why?”
“Just, I’m me,” Gar laughed and shrugged his shoulders. “Doesn’t bug me, really. Just he likes it quiet. And I’m not.”
“Sounds like he shouldn’t have had kids if he likes quiet more than you,” Steph grumbled.
Gar shifted back to human. “Well I mean, he’s still done good. He and Rita adopted me. Anyone who sits through taking in a weird little green kid is okay by me,” he said, just a touch defensively.
“Well sure, of course he is,” Steph said quickly. “Um…is it okay for me to ask?”
“You? Yeah, of course,” Gar smiled now. “Not like I haven’t given interviews and things. I was pretty inspirational for a while,” he added with an extra wink.
I was seven, so yes, I remember Mom and Dad. We were out on safari, and all three of us got sick with this weird disease. I remember Mom wasn’t worried at first, but we got back to the village a day later and everyone was scared. I don’t remember a lot of the specifics, but there wasn’t any cure for what we had.”
“That’s terrible,” Steph said softly, squeezing her teddy bear. “But you must’ve found one?”
“Mom and Dad were big-time scientists, so they started working right away. But I know they were hurting more than they let on. By the time they did figure out the cure, it was just about too late.” Gar paused now, swallowing before he continued “I blacked out for maybe a day. When I woke up, I was back in the village and everyone was celebrating. They found the cure, but they only had enough time to make a dose for me. So they couldn’t get any.”
Steph dropped the bear, and crawled over on the bed to hug Gar instead
“They were happy, though,” he assured her, the normal bright smile still on his face. “I pulled through, that’s all they really wanted. Rita Dayton was my mom’s best friend, so I got back from Africa and moved right in with them. I think she had to beg Steve to go along with it, but he let up in the end. And then once I got my powers straight, Rita let me in the Doom Patrol, and the rest is pretty much history,” he finished with a grin, then added, “And there were the movies, too. Steve liked those best.”
“Yeah, is he a sci-fi fan?”
“Ha, hates it. But I was making pretty good money,” he laughed. “So that made him happy to have me around.”
Steph didn’t say anything for a minute. It didn’t sound to her like Steve Dayton was such a great parent. But she didn’t want to say so to Gar’s face. “Tell me about the Doom Patrol then, that must’ve rocked,” she said, and changed the subject.
“You bet it did.” Gar bounced on the bed. “We did everything! Went all over the world, fighting some of the worst guys ever, it was amazing. Me and Rita, and Cliff and Larry and the Chief. Best family I could have. So I know my real Mom an Dad are still happy I found them.”
Steph smiled at him, put at ease by the joy in his eyes at the memories. “That’s so great. Maybe I’ll get to meet them all someday, right?”
“Well…”Gar hesitated, then sighed. “I don’t know where they are.”
“You don’t?”
“No one does. We all vanished at least a year ago. I don’t remember anything…they found me in that lab with Vibe, but no one else has turned back up yet.”
“Oh Gar…” Steph bit her lip, not knowing what to say, still somewhat baffled by the calm and relaxation on his face, even after so much tragedy.
He flashed her another smile, squeezing her forearm. “Look, it’s okay. They’re looking. And I turned up, right? So Rita and the others are gonna have to eventually. Don’t feel so bad, okay? It’s all good.”
Steph bit down harder on her skin, and nodded, then burst into laughter at the monstrous face Gar made at her. “If you say so…then I guess it is.”
“It is,” he assured her again. “Everything always turns out alright in the end. So why worry about it? If the Doom Patrol was still around, I wouldn’t be here,” he added with another genuine smile. “So everything for the best.”
*****
“I really don’t know anything about you.” Juan reached a hesitant hand to touch Raven’s shoulder as they walked in the sunset, the faintest stars finding their way into the sky. She didn’t say anything to respond, but they had been talking long enough that he felt able to ask again. “You just showed up, out of nowhere, with all these powers, and nobody knows a thing about who you really are.”
“I have kept very much to myself these last years,” she answered quietly.
Juan kept his hand in place, zipping just ahead of her on the path and facing her. “We got a green kid, we had a mute assassin, few freaks of accident…do you think you’re gonna have anything stranger to say?” he asked, a self-deprecating smile on his lips.
Raven looked back at him, her shoulders shaking with the barest laugh. “No, Juan. It’s only…there has been no one who needed to know. I have been a long time silent.”
“You don’t have to be any more, Rachel,” he told her, standing still with the darkening wood around them, finding her more beautiful than ever in the twilight.
She took a very deep breath, and began to walk with him again. “First…Raven is my true name. Rachel Roth was only meant to keep me hidden. I overheard the name when I arrived in America. I’ve used others in other nations.” She spoke slowly and evenly, her voice level and calm. “I have been running from the H.I.V.E since a few weeks after I arrived here. That’s been my only goal, until I found the Titans.”
“But…where is ‘here’?” Juan asked her, keeping up easily with her steps, but not her words.
“Earth,” Raven said simply, pausing again before she continued. “It is difficult to explain. My home is a place called Azarath. You won’t know of it. It isn’t part of this plane of existence. I know you don’t understand,” she said, cutting him off before Juan interrupted again. “There are a few in this world who do. But it doesn’t matter very much. It is enough to say that it was difficult to leave, and it will be even more difficult to return, if I ever should.”
Juan nodded. “Think you’re right…No entiendo. But I think I know enough…what’s Azrith like?”
She chuckled gently. “Azarath,” she repeated, pronouncing the word clearly. “And it’s beautiful. I don’t know how to explain its tranquility to someone who has never known it. But I’ve found similar peace in the rituals of some religions in the East. All who reside there know joy, and calm, and rapture…” she trailed away, a deep sigh all that could express the longing in her heart. “It’s very…very hard to be here. Away from paradise.”
“Then…why did you leave?” Juan asked gently, as the tower came back into their sights on the path.
Raven’s voice was little more than a whimper. “I did not want to,” she answered, and said more firmly, “I don’t wish to talk about that. Suffice to say that I am…unique, even among my people. I had no choice.”
Juan swallowed and reached for her hand again. She stopped walking, and he moved up behind her, his head close to hers. “I’m so sorry,” he murmured to her.
“Thank you,” she nodded her head, and gave his hand a squeeze before beginning to walk again. “We should return…it’s getting late.”
“Yeah. We should,” he agreed, walking with her slowly, still hand-in-hand until they reached the door to the tower. “Um….thank you, for telling me all this.”
She turned to look into his face again, and a true smile crept onto hers. “Thank you for listening.”
*****
As the stars began to shimmer in the sky, the lights flickered on in Chicago one by one. Victor and Carla watched the patchwork of windows and storefronts weave together with the darkening sky, their legs dangling off the top edge of the roof of the tower. From this height, they could see the movement in the city, across the calm water. Privately, neither had ever felt more isolated.
“We could go hit the streets,” Carla suggested.
“Nah. Wouldn’t be the same as home.”
They sat together with their thoughts until Carla spoke again. “If we’d just stayed in that one night, nothing would have changed. We’d be the same old kids, same old streets, no weird powers, no super-team.”
Vic shrugged. “Yeah, probably.”
“Don’t you wonder, though?” she pressed, turning to look at him again. “How much better it’d be?”
“I don’t really think it’d be better,” Vic answered, still watching the city.
Carla stared, and smacked her friend’s strong shoulder. “You kidding me?”
“No,” Vic said more strongly. “Not a bit. I don’t know, maybe I’m just getting used to this, but I don’t regret it.”
“I ain’t never gonna get used to this,” Carla muttered. “The fights are pretty sweet, I guess. But it’s too different for me.”
“That’s the thing.” Vic finally turned back to look at her again. “Of course it’s different. But I think that’s a good thing. You remember what I used to be like? Starting fights, stealing, ripping up other peoples’ stuff?”
“Good times,” Carla said dryly.
“I always had a gift for fighting,” Vic continued, ignoring her. “Broke my parents’ hearts with it. They always used to beg me to fight to protect others, not hurt them. I never listened, but now I kinda don’t have a choice.”
“So, what you’re saying is this whole big scary Cyborg thing is just you being a momma’s boy?” Carla teased, hitting his arm again.
Vic laughed, pulling himself up to stand and look over the water at the city. “Maybe. Think it’s better than being a street punk, at least.”
“Sticks us both hanging out with all the other weirdos, though.” Carla rolled her shoulders.
“Sure, but weirdos aren’t so bad. Been spending way more time with Logan than I ever expected.”
“I thought he got on your nerves.”
“Well yeah, he can. But I keep thinkin’ back to the way he helped me out right after I got my powers. We just talked for a whole night trying to get me used to the idea. With him just listening and giving me advice. Made me feel bad about being too hard on him lately. He ain’t bad at that game, y’know,” he added with a laugh. “as Champion, you’re gonna have to play him now.”
Carla rolled her eyes and faked a groan. “Dios mio, imagine that one’s victory cheer.” She threw back her head, leaning back on her arms to look up at the sky. “Yeah, he’s not so bad. Corny and irritating, but not so bad.”
Vic sat back down at the edge of the roof with her. “He knows what he’s talking about, anyway. Been doing this weirdo thing a lot longer than we have. Knows the good side of it.”
“Good side like, super-baddies are strong enough to actually challenge you?” Carla asked with a mischievous smile.
Vic raised his eyebrows and stood again, headed back for the stairs inside. “Dunno what you’re talking about.”
Carla followed him in, shaking excess energy out of her arms. “Yes you do. Hell, best part of the game, as far as I care.”
“Okay, so it’s a perk,” Vic admitted. They closed the heavy roof door behind them, leaving the echo of their footsteps under the starry sky.
*****
Dinah was suspicious of the quiet around the tower, but she welcomed the chance to get her investigative and paperwork done. The computer had been running for hours, searching every program Oracle could hack for several topics all at once. So far today, nothing had come up. There had been a small reference to Azarath in an ancient manuscript, but it wasn’t enough of a lead to follow. The Doom Patrol file laid empty, as it always did.
There may have been a ping of information about Red Hood, but Dinah didn’t have time to confirm the hit. A breaking news report opened up on her screen—sent straight from Oracle’ desk—and Dinah prepared immediately to take the team out into the field.
Ravager was yelling from the rooftop of a Chicago mall, the sword sharp in his hand and the panicked sounds of civilians breaking through the skylights and store windows.
“All these people are dead, unless the Teen Titans show their faces without their little secret weapon, Red Hood. Come and get me, Titans, and let’s see how well you really fight!”
