Waves crashed on the island as the morning continued on. The sun shined down from a steep angle as it rose, leaving a long shadow from Raven leading into the Tower where her friends stood staring at her in mass confusion. But the confused silence didn't last long when Starfire burst with joy seeing Raven.
"My friend!" Starfire exclaimed as she rushed over to Raven wrapping her arms around her with all her strength, "I am so pleased to see you safe and unharmed!"
"Seriously..." Raven emphasized, "not a good time."
"Raven?" Terra said surprised to see her. She approached Raven from behind Starfire's hug, "what... How did you..."
"Can we talk about that later?" Raven said angrily shrugging off Starfire. She then pointed to the steel collar around her neck, "JUST GET THIS OFF ME!" She shouted so loud the Titans jumped in fear and their faces went pale as if the end was coming. And for good reason too. The only times they have ever seen her angry like this, it never ended well. But this time... there was no sign of her power anywhere.
"Uh..." Cyborg said shyly, "I'll... see what I can do..."
Raven walked past them and Cyborg followed her to the couch of the living area. Raven sat down with a loud sigh and sat up straight so Cyborg could get a good look at it. Cyborg leaned forward towards her and looked at the collar with a sense of bewilderment. The symbols on it were reminiscent of his research on Trigon not too long ago. He scanned the collar as the other Titans gathered around the two.
"Looks like it's just made of refined steel," Cyborg concluded as he finished his scan, "I can have it off in an in a minute or two."
"Just hurry," Raven said. She sounded anxious like a piece of her identity was missing.
Robin looked at Raven with a serious intensity. Everything about this didn't seem right to him and yet... Something about this also seemed eerily familiar to him.
"So..." Robin began, "why didn't you just... let yourself in?" he sounded like he was probing for certain answers.
"I didn't think I could," Raven answered sharply, "Slade was able to completely stop my powers. What else could he have done to me with this thing? Not to mention I never use the front door. I always teleport inside."
Robin's face grew more intense as he watched Cyborg fiddling with a few gadgets he was using on the collar. He was not convinced.
"So what happened then?" Robin continued, "how did you escape?"
All the Titans looked at Raven and paid close attention to what she was about to say.
Raven looked at them as if unsure of what to say, "I... I don't wanna talk about it," she spat in frustration, "I just want this off me." She looked down as Cyborg finally managed to break the collar free. It fell to the ground next to the couch with a loud clang like a broken cymbal.
Raven closed her eyes and raised her hand to her neck and began rubbing it like her neck was raw.
Robin knew something was up. Even though is was normal for Raven to not talk about things, this was different. She was distant and hard to read but lately she was starting to grow more in touch with her emotions. But now she seemed like she had reverted back to her old closed-off self.
Raven looked back up at the others. She noticed one Titan was missing, "where's Beastboy?" She asked.
"He's still in the medical wing," Cyborg answered. He felt like she should have known that and it made him wonder if she was really ok, "I gave him some medicine. He should be back to normal soon." Cyborg gave a small smile as if he was trying to comfort her.
Raven grew a small smirk. Cyborg saw this and it gave him a bad feeling. He has seen a lot from Raven lately. Especially when it came to Beastboy. A pause with an awkward silence filled the room as tension started to fill the air.
"Speaking of..." Cyborg said trying to excuse himself from the awkward tension, "I'd better go check on him." He stood up straight and started heading to the hallway door.
Raven stood up immediately after he began making his way out of the room and began to follow Cyborg, "I'll go with you." She said quickly.
The rest of the Titans looked at each other. Raven was acting weird. Well... A different kind of weird. She wasn't acting like Raven at all. Acting like this after an encounter with Slade... this couldn't be good.
As the two exit the room to go check on Beastboy Starfire looked at Robin with an uneasy expression.
"I know our friend does not act, the normal, but that was... strange, yes?" She asked him.
Robin couldn't help but agree with her. Everything about this seemed completely wrong. It didn't make sense. Why did she ring the doorbell? Why didn't she just let herself in? What happened that would make her not want to talk to her friends about her encounter with Slade?
Terra watched as Robin was scouring his mind for an explanation. She may not be as close to Raven as the others but she too could tell something was off.
"Robin?" Starfire asked again wondering what he was thinking.
Starfire's voice snapped him out of his pondering trance and he looked at the two girls, "I'm not sure. But I don't like it." He voice had a fierce sense of distrust behind it.
Cyborg and Raven were walking side by side down the hallway to the medical wing. Cyborg felt as if the awkward tension followed him out of the living area and he couldn't help but feel pressured to talk to Raven to see if he could lighten the mood.
"So..." Cybrog began, "uh... I'm... glad you made it back safe." He gave her a nervous smile.
Raven stared straight ahead as if ignoring him. She didn't even seem to think Cyborg was next to her. She remained one step behind him as if she were following him like she didn't know where she was going. This put Cyborg in an even deeper tension. He didn't like this. Something was very wrong.
"You sure you're alright?" He asked sharply.
Raven looked at Cyborg and realized he was talking to her, "huh? Yeah. I'm fine."
"Well... Just to be safe I'll run some tests on you when we get to-" Cyborg couldn't finish as Raven loudly interrupted him.
"No!" Raven said sternly.
Cyborg stopped in the hall and looked at Raven confused.
"I mean... No. You don't have to do that," Raven said softly. She didn't sound convincing like she was hiding something.
"Ok," Cyborg said sternly having had enough of this mind game, "what's up? This isn't like you. You wanna tell me what's going on?" He asked like he was demanding answers.
"Let's just get to the medical wing and then I'll tell you," Raven said trying to dodge his questions.
"I don't think so," Cyborg retaliated, "what's going on with you? You're acting... well... weird."
"Isn't that how I always act?" Raven asked like she was genuinely wondering if she normally acted weird.
"Not like this," Cyborg shot back, "lately you've been more... I don't know... Normal."
Raven looked down and started to wonder what that meant. She didn't know what else to say.
"Listen... after everything we've been through and after you and Terra literally faced Slade alone, I think there's nothing wrong with being on the safe side and double checking everything." Cyborg sounded very convincing. He was right. There was no harm in doing a quick check up just to be safe.
"I just don't want to, alright?" Raven said sternly. She was being adamant about not having anyone talk to her or check on her well being.
Usually this would be normal to Cyborg but after everything that's happened he wasn't sure this was normal anymore.
After a long and painful silence he let out a heavy sigh and agreed.
"Fine. But I still think it would be good idea to at least run a few tests." He insisted as he continued walking down the hallway.
Raven looked up at him like she was denying his advice and followed closely behind him. As they reached the medical room, the door slid open and the two walked inside and approached Beastboy's bed.
"Cy! What happened?! The distress signal went off and I was totally freaking out! No one told me what was going on and I wanted to come help but I didn't want to slow you gus down! Is everyone ok-" Beastboy was talking so fast the two could barely understand him.
"Yo, dude!" Cyborg interrupted trying to calm him down, "chill! Everyone's fine," he paused and looked at Raven, "sort of..." He walked over to his bedside and began checking fluids and the levels of each medical device Beastboy was still connected to.
Beastboy let out a sigh of relief and looked at Raven, "what happend?" He asked softly.
"Nothing," Raven said back. She seemed to only give short one-word answers.
"Uh... O...k..." Beastboy respond not believing her.
"Raven and Terra ran into slade late last night while they were trying to recover Terra's memories," Cyborg filled him in since Raven obviously wasn't going to.
"What?!" Beastboy exclaimed as he began to freak out again, "you ran into Slade?!" He paused and let the rest of the situation sink in, "wait... YOU TRIED TO GET TERRA'S MEMORIES BACK?!" Beastboy was beyond shocked. From what he could remember Raven and Terra did not get along at all.
"He attacked us," Raven respond in her dark monotone, "we escaped. What else is there to know?"
"A lot," Cyborg immediately respond with frustration, "like how you managed to get away without your powers? And how did Slade find a way to stop your powers?"
"What's it matter?" Raven shot back, "we're back aren't we?"
"Uh... Slade stopped your powers?" Beastboy said completely confused.
"Yeah man," Cyborg answered for Raven, "she had this collar thing around her neck that had weird symbols all over it like the ones from when we fought Trigon."
"Dude..." Beastboy said with complete concern, "Slade has turned into the ultimate butt kicking machine."
"Yes," Raven said with a dark smile, "he has."
The boys looked at her like she was crazy. She didn't sound like she was worried but more impressed that he was capable of such things.
Beastboy began to get nervous around her. Even he could tell something was off after speaking to her for just a few minutes. Something about her seemed familiar... something he's seen before. Not so much a visual aspect... but a feeling. Almost like a sixth sense kind of feeling.
Raven saw their reaction and tried to correct herself. She changed her expression to concern and spoke softly, "but we'll find a way to stop him."
Cyborg and Beastboy looked at each other with a sense of worry. Cyborg continued to replace the IV bag and filled a syringe with more of his own medicine and administered it to Beastboy.
"How are you feeling?" He asked his green friend trying to change the subject.
Beastboy lifted his arm and tried flexing. He winced but the pain was not nearly as intense as before, "a lot better actually. That stuff you're giving me is really doing the trick!" he chuckled.
"Well yeah," Cyborg laughed back, "it's my medicine after all." He praised himself proudly. He looked at the screen that showed Beastboy's bodily injuries. What once showed tons of red dots indicating damages and tears was now dwindling fast. Nearly half the dots were gone showing a quick recovery for Beastboy, "I'd say a few more of these and you should be back to normal."
The two friends exchanged glances of hope and happiness for his speedy recovery. They both couldn't wait for him to be back in action. However, Raven remained silent at the foot of Beastboy's bed. She didn't have the look in her eyes that she had before. That look of desire for the shapeshifter in front of her. Instead she stared at him with a sense of detest. Even though she was trying her best to hide it.
"Raven?" Beastboy asked softly trying to get her to talk to them, "did you uh... get Terra's memories back?"
Cyborg looked at Raven wondering the same thing. No one had asked Terra yet and she hadn't said anything about it. When she didn't answer Cyborg decided enough was enough and started walking to a separate bed next to Beastboy's. Raven turned her gaze from Beastboy and watched Cyborg closely.
"Alright. That's it," he said aggressively, "take a seat." He motioned her to the bed and had a look of impatience on his face.
"No," Raven spat back. She was being very stubborn about having someone check on her. This was frightening to the boys. They began to get even more worried.
"Raven..." Beastboy said softly. But his voice merely drifted by Raven as she returned her harsh gaze back to Beastboy.
"I said no," Raven repeat herself. She then turned and left the room without another word.
Beastboy and Cyborg looked at each other. They've never been more concerned for her than now. It brought a lot of questions to their attention.
"Dude..." Beastboy said softly.
"Yeah," Cyborg respond, knowing exactly what his best friend was thinking, "something's not right."
The day dragged on and the sun had peaked and began its decent to the distant horizon. The Titans grew restless as all their questions about Slade still had no answers.
Raven was no where to be found now. As if she disappeared without a trace. Terra and the others were in the living area surrounding a half eaten pizza that they all ordered for dinner. However, most of the Titans weren't hungry. There was a strange and ominous atmosphere in the Tower and everyone was feeling it.
Meanwhile in the medical wing Beastboy snored loudly catching up on his prized beauty rest. The door to the medical room slid open as Raven entered. As the door slid shut she approached his bed as quietly as she could. She stood over him looking down at his weakened body as he slept. A dark smile crossed her face as if she had sinister thoughts prowling her mind.
The room went cold with a chilling feeling of something dark. Something evil. Beastboy sensed this in his sleep and woke up to see the horrifying smile on Raven's face looking down at him.
"Uh... Raven?" He asked with a slight tremor, "what... what are you doing?"
Her voice changed and it didn't sound like Raven at all. Instead when her lips moved a familiar Russian accent escaped from her that sent Beastboy's eyes wide in panic.
"I'm finishing vwhat I started..."