Titans Go!

Scene 9: The Enemy's Next Target

Sleep had not come easy to Raven. When she had woken up the following day, it was 10am. All the worry and anxiety she had been sensing from the others was adding to her own troubled thoughts. Therefore, she was surprised she had fallen asleep at all.

Nightwing was afraid of how he was going to bear the burden of leadership when he had no experience leading most of his new team. Oracle was worried about Nightwing's well-being and how the others would respond to direction. Starfire was struggling to keep her mind in the here and now, though her mind kept going back to thinking about the people she had left behind. Both Cyborg and Beast Boy were not sure how well they were going to fit in with everyone else, as they had not been a part of a team like this one.

Although she knew what the others were feeling, it hardly meant Raven knew what to do to help everyone think straight. Her own abilities in this field were limited. Her power had grown as she had grown older and learned to control it, yet much of that had been achieved through isolation.

Only now was Raven realizing the drawback of her lack of interaction with people. Talking to others about what she felt was not something she had been very good at. Even after she had trapped her father Trigon, she felt like he had still somehow cursed her in more ways than even he knew.

Whatever the case, Raven knew she needed to stop cutting herself from people. That was her best chance in earning their trust. If they could trust her, she would be able to trust them to help her when she needed them. Just like when she had finally defeated her father, she would have the aid of those she could rely on.

For some reason, her mind was drifting back to Roy Harper, the archer who had been sent to arrest her. He had been tasked with stopping Raven, but he had chosen to help her instead. Even when he had first tried to apprehend her, Raven had sensed he could be trusted to help her when the time came.

She didn't know why she was thinking this. Perhaps it was because he had helped prevent the world as they knew it from being destroyed. Perhaps it was because she had often wondered what was doing ever since they parted company. Either way, she could suddenly see what Harper was doing now.

To her surprise, she realized he actually lived here in this city, on the north-east side. This was not what was making her worry all of a sudden. For some reason, she sensed he was in danger. Something told her involvement from Red Hood and Sportsmaster was imminent.

Ignoring the sound of her heart pounding in her chest, Raven telekinetically shoved aside the curtains on her four-poster bed and raced out of her room. She had to find the others. She had to tell them what she had sensed.

However, before she took one step beyond her door, she took a deep breath and told herself to relax. She needed to go to the person who was in the best position to confirm what she had sensed was going to happen. That was when she knew what she had to do. She had to find Oracle.

Closing her eyes, Raven willed herself to find Oracle. She would not have to enter her mind to do this. She just needed to detect her presence. Fortunately, they were in the same vicinity. It would have been much harder if they had been farther apart.

Her first course of action was checking to see if anyone was in their rooms. However, it soon became clear that no one was in their rooms. Extending her search, Raven looked around in the rooms that served as the tower's kitchen and dining room area, as well as the living room. Again, no one was in any of those rooms. So where was everyone?

Suddenly, her senses detected a lot of activity in one of the lower levels. She realized eventually that this was a gym. It seemed that Nightwing had chosen to give the others a tour. It also seemed that Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy had all wanted to try out the exercise equipment down there. Yet once again, Oracle was not among them.

"I'm looking in the wrong places," Raven said to herself out loud. "Everyone else gets up earlier than I do, and Oracle is crippled from the waist down. Why would she go down to the gym? She would go where she would feel more comfortable."

That was when it occurred to her to where Oracle was most likely to be now. Focusing her senses, Raven found herself going down the hall outside the computer room. Finally opening her eyes, she knew where she had to go.

Rather than spend the time walking down to the computer room, Raven simply opened a portal right behind the door instead. She had remembered the last time she had come up behind Oracle unawares. This time, she would not repeat that action. Therefore, as the portal she opened closed behind her, she knocked quickly on the room's door.

"Come in," came Oracle's voice.

Though she could have simply walked through it, Raven opened the door and walked up next to Oracle. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but have you got any new leads on our enemy's next move?"

Oracle looked like she wished she could deliver a new answer. Sighing heavily, she replied, "Nothing new yet, and I've been going through everything we got on the H.I.V.E. and all the photos we took of Red Hood and Sportsmaster."

"Try checking for unusual activity at the north-east side of the city," said Raven. "I think I know who they're going to target next."