The Red Right Hand

One Moment

They both stared at it as it lay on the table before them, its face written in a hand Dick had not seen in years. However, now it held more structure and arrogance than it once had. Raven glanced over at Dick, his eyes stormy as they rested on the message that bore itself on the white paper.

Hey Boy Wonder, long time no see. Word on the street is you wanna meet with me. Now normally I wouldn't even acknowledge this kinda request, but I'm amused so I'll allow it—on one condition, of course. You have to do me a favor.

You see, there's a certain clown in Gotham, who has something that belongs to me, and well, I want you to get it back for me.

Now, I know what I'm asking is dangerous, and even something Bruce would consider reckless. But I get the feeling you don't really care about that anymore—do you?

Well, if you accept this mission, contact X. He'll fill you in on the details. Also, feel free to rough the clown up a bit for me, or kill him (I'd prefer that). And one last thing, I will not take failure as an option. You want your meeting, you better do the job. Even if you have to pry it out of him.

Well good luck with your decision, Grayson. Either way, I guess we'll see what kinda metal you're really made of. Have a great fucking day, Dick.

—JT

"That's a colorful farewell," Raven muttered sarcastically. "So what are we gonna do?"

Dick looked over at her stone faced, "Well, if we want to move forward, then we have to do it," he said, picking up the letter and peering down at it. "So the real question is, do we wanna move forward?"

Raven crossed her arms and looked down at her feet, her cloak draped around her small form. It was clear she wasn't completely sold on the idea, but she didn't want to say it.

"Do we really need him?" she asked looking back up at Dick again.

He nodded and placed the letter down, leaning his arms on the table for support.

"Jason knows everything about the drug trade, and the criminal underworld. He has access to knowledge and information we can't get on our own."

Raven let her hand rest on the table as her body leaned into it, her long glove stretching the length of her fair arm. "What's the plan?"

Dick glanced over at her questionably, "You still wanna do this?"

"Only if you think Hell's empty?"

_____________________________

The day had finally arrived, the day Dick and the other Titans thought would never come—Raven's graduation.

The ceremony had finally come to an end. The team standing beneath the hot spring sun as Dick and Victor looked on trying to find the dark-haired girl in the horribly large crowed. They were of course accompanied by Gar and his girlfriend Jillian, as well as Kory and to some surprise, Donna.

Dick hadn't seen Donna in months, not since he and Kory'd broken up, but the two actually went back quite a bit. For a while the two were actually pretty close, almost as close as he and Barbara. However, Dick always look at Donna as more of a sister. So it didn't surprise him when Donna had led him away from the flock.

"So it's really over?" she asked as they walked through the thick crowd.

Dick let out a heavy sigh and looked back at her regretfully, "Yeah."