#march 7th just told him to set the caption to sorry

[dizzybizz]

well shit,,, yeah, you're right...... *sighs and opens a new canvas in csp*

sampo koski:

[dylan-hague]

Chapter 27

Titans Tower, Jump City. March 3rd, 2018. 5:23 PM.

Kori sat on her bed, looking down at the tablet in her hands. She knew better than to go digging up old business, but still she sat and stared down at the photo on the screen. There in the photograph, looking back at her, was a much younger Tamaranean girl, her emerald eyes brimming with excitement. In her arms holding the camera was a black-haired boy in a green mask, with gloves and boots of the same color, and a red tunic, his yellow cape billowing behind them as they flew over the city below. Starfire and Robin had been inseparable when she arrived on Earth. She shouldn’t have been so naïve… she swiped left across the screen, and the photo moved aside for another one, which Dick had posted on his Facebook this morning… looking into the camera was a beautiful auburn-haired woman, glasses over her blue eyes, lying on her bed with one hand holding a book, the other resting on her round abdomen. “This is what home looks like,” the caption read.

Barbara Gordon. The Batgirl next door.

Don’t misunderstand, Kori loved Barbara dearly. She was caring, and she understood how hard it was for Kori after Dick left. But the romantic affections of a Tamaranean were not the same as those of a human. Humans had the capacity to find love in another if something caused an end to their connection with someone. But for a Tamaranean, that love was undying… once formed, it was nigh impossible to sever. She would always love Barbara… but she should always love Dick.

They talked about it once. Only once. Dick knew that Kori would always feel something for him, and it killed him to think about it. He felt responsible for what she was feeling, but what could he do? He wasn’t going to lead her on, and he knew that his heart belonged to Barbara. It hurt more than anything she’d ever felt before, but she smiled. She told him it was okay. That it wasn’t his fault. Barbara made him happy, and he made Barbara happy. They belonged together. Dick pulled her close, and Kori could still remember how cold his tears felt on her shoulder. He told her she was the best friend he ever had, that there would always be a place in his heart for her. There were days that she wondered if those words were true. But deep down, Kori knew that, while Dick Grayson was many things, he was not a liar. He and Barbara never once did anything to make her feel unwelcome. X'hal, the three of them spent last Christmas together, and it had been one of her fondest memories of the past year. They were so good… so loving. They would be wonderful parents to Tommy.

Tommy... Tommy was all set to arrive in a month. Dick kept on saying he hoped the boy had his mother’s red hair, that he’d come out looking just like her. But if anyone asked Barbara, she would just smile and say she wanted him to look like his father. Sometimes she would joke and say that she could feel the baby leaping around inside her, like a little acrobat. If he jumped like his daddy, odds are he’d look like him too. Personally, Kori agreed with Barbara.

While she was in Blüdhaven that Christmas, Barbara had come to her alone one night. She said that she and Dick understood how painful everything must have been. Dick didn’t want to bring it up, for fear of digging up any hurt Kori had buried, but he and Barbara wanted to ask her to be Tommy’s godmother. Kori couldn’t say yes fast enough; she would love Tommy with all her heart, she promised. And in a way, thinking about holding the little boy in her arms it made everything a little bit easier. Her own little bumgorf… Kori smiled. Dick always got this confused look on his face when she said anything in her native tongue.

As she let her mind drift back through memories of the early days of the Titans, she was quickly brought back to to the world around her by the sound of the front door alert going off. She slowly pulled herself off of her bed, and checked the console mounted in her wall to see who was trying to get inside.

Starfire let out a gasp as Raven appeared on the screen, hunched over and shaking profusely, covered in blood that, judging by her tattered uniform, was like lay her own, and a long trail of the red stuff on the ground behind her.

The older Titan flew as fast as she could through the Tower, and soon found herself joined by her students at the front door. She quickly entered the authorization code, and the doors slid open. Raven fell back through the doorway, her chest quickly rising and falling as she struggled to breathe.

“Raven!” Kori cried as she gathered the girl into her arms. “What happened to you? Where is Damian??”

“He…” the cloaked girl struggled to speak as her eyes drifted closed. “… someone took him…”

Undisclosed location. March 7th, 2018. 3:14 AM.

Damian woke screaming, lurching forward in a panic. He quickly found that unwise, however, as he immediately felt cold iron bands digging into his wrists. His eyes darted all around him, taking in as much information as they could in the dimly lot space he found himself in: cast iron bars stood in place of one wall, and he was chained to the opposite wall, which was made of brick and mortar, and covered in a thick coat of dust. He thought back to the last thing he could remember: he knew he’d been shot. He was just outside of Jump City, and he turned to Raven to ask…

Oh God… Raven.

A light peered out from down the corridor just as the thought occurred to him, and a man appeared on the other side of the bars. His face was hidden beneath a mask, but the scope mounted on his eye was a dead giveaway of his identity: Floyd Lawton.

“Oh, good. You finally woke up,” Deadshot mumbled. “You’ve been out for four days.”

Damian slumped over, hung upright by the chains on his wrists, dead silent.

“Look, kid, this ain’t anything personal…” the assassin went on. “And I hope you know I don’t kill kids. That’s a personal rule. I wouldn’t have shot you if I didn’t know you’d live. But for the price my client put on you? Well… sorry it had to hurt so bad. Bullet was filled with a tranquilizer, so you prob'ly passed out before the pain hit you.”

Damian raised his head, his eyes wide with fear.

“… I need the money for my baby girl. I hope you understand that.” Lawton’s voice showed a touch of sympathy as he spoke. “I know they’re gonna put you through it down here. But I have to take care of my daughter.” The hitman turned away from the bars and looked down at floor. “… my client should be here in a few weeks. I’m sorry it had to go down like this… I’ll be back in a few hours to feed ya. Sit tight, kid.” He started back down the hall, presumably towards the exit…

“… Raven.”

Lawton stopped, turning back to the boy chained up in the cell. “Say again?”

Damian looked into the glowing red scope, where he knew Deadshot could see him. “What… what did you do to my Raven…?”

Lawton grimaced underneath his mask. “Oh… the girl…” he let out a hefty sigh. “My client sent a squad with me to make sure the job got done. Once I put one in your chest, she pulled it right back out, and looks like she closed up the hole too. I…” He shook his head. “They were already on her by the time I came to grab you. Nobody could have lived through that kinda beatin’. I wasn’t gonna get into it, because they prob'ly woulda killed me too. I’m…” Lawton turned and walked back towards the exit. “I’m sorry.”

Damian’s whole body went completely numb. Raven was his silver lining. She was the woman he would hang up his cape for. She was the rain that washed the sins from his soul.

She was his life. She was his heart. She was his everything.

And now, she was dead.

Titans Tower, Jump City. March 11th, 2018. 1:34 AM.

“Jon…”

Raven squinted her eyes as the light flooded into her eyes. Judging by the IV needle she could feel in her arm, the constant beeping of her heart monitor, and the sight of a fresh change of clothes folded up on the mattress beside her, she put two and together to realize that she was back in the Tower Infirmary. Superboy sat unconscious in a chair by her bed, his favorite jacket pulled over his body like a blanket. As soon as she said his name, his eyes opened, and he jumped up to her bedside.

“Raven!” He whispered. “Thank goodness you’re awake! It’s been almost eight days, we were starting to worry that you might not get up…”

“Jon, listen to me.” Raven placed a hand on his to get his attention. “I need you to tell Kori I’m going back to Gotham.

Jon looked her worriedly. "R… Raven, I can’t let you do that. Not by yourself, and especially not right now. You were barely alive when you got back to the Tower, we can’t just–”

“Jon, I’m fine.” Raven sat up, using her magic to restore her strength as she pulled the IV from her arm. “But someone’s kidnapped Damian. I have to find him.”

“No! You don’t have to just run off on your own!” Jon gently placed a hand on Raven’s shoulder. “We’re a team, remember? Let us help you, and we can figure out where–”

“NO.” Raven grabbed Jon by both shoulders as she hopped down from the bed. “No… Jonathan, I have to do this alone… he’s my Damian. I have to take care of him.”

Jon looked into Raven’s eyes for a moment, then let out a sigh in defeat. “… Be careful. Bring him home safe.”

Raven wrapped her arms around Jon’s neck and hugged him tightly. “Thank you, Jon. I promise, we’ll be back as soon as we can.”

Jon put his arms around her, squeezing her gently. “Just… don’t get hurt. You two are the best friends I’ve got.”

Raven stepped back, and changed into her fresh outfit as soon as Jon left the room. Once she was ready, she summoned up a portal and stepped into the Batcave, where Bruce and Carrie were waiting, ready to attack. As soon as they realized who she was, the both of them relaxed.

“Good to see you’re awake,” Batman said grimly, pulling the cowl off of his face. “I’ve already been scanning all of California for a signal from Damian’s tracker, but I haven’t found anything yet.”

Raven looked up at Bruce, recognizing Damian’s icy blue eyes staring back at her. “I don’t think he’s in California anymore. Search everywhere. Not just the country–everywhere.”