The Lonely Bird

Chapter 1

Nearly three years later

We'd lost him. We let him get away. I walked into Titans Tower with the rest of my team, taking steady breaths to contain my frustration. It was supposed to be an easy op. We got an alert of a bank robbery, and it seemed routine enough. Only to discover the thief was one of Brother Blood's cronies. It was a distraction, but we weren't in sync tonight. The new girl kept screwing it up. She lost him. She let him get away. Brother Blood.

"Raven, what the heck were you doing out there tonight?!" Damian's (or Robin to the rest of the world) voice boomed next to me knocking me out of my spiral of thoughts.

"Me?? I was doing the same things I always do. Shouldn't you be asking the Martian if she actually paid attention to any of our training exercises?" My voice dripped with disdain.

"She's new, Raven. The rest of us tried to accommodate her, but you left her behind to fend for herself while you chased after—"

"It was Brother Blood. He was getting away. I left her to hold off his minions. He was the priority."

"If we hadn't shown up when we did, she might've been killed! You left her with 10 of his students and went off on your own against someone you can't handle by yourself!"

I snapped, yelling at him, "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE TRYING TO PIN THIS ALL ON ME! She's the one who slowed me down!" I could feel anger beginning to bubble up inside me. It was getting harder to control. I needed to get out of here now.

I shoved Damian aside and made a beeline for my room. I could feel the anger crawling up my throat, begging to be let out. The night's events already gone from my mind, I began trying to slow my heartbeat and meditate. The anger was feeding on my fear. But I couldn't let it get the best of me. I took a deep breath as I cast out my emotions and locked them away somewhere deep inside my mind. They were there for me to process, but I couldn't afford the danger of feeling them.

I heard a knock on the door and a voice call out to me. It sounded like the new girl, but now was not the time. I ignored her as I retreated deep into the recesses of my mind.

———

I wasn't sure how much time had passed, just enough to be sure the crisis had been averted and I was in control again. I checked the calendar in the main room as I walked in. The incident happened a day and a half ago. When I rejoined everyone, I found the dynamics of my team a bit different. Damian was fuming and refusing to talk to me. Garfield and Wally were acting as carefree as normal. Apparently taking the option of pretending-nothing-happened-and-everything-is-fine. I wish I could take that option. And Miss Martian just seemed horribly uncomfortable whenever I entered the room. She looked like she wanted to talk to me, but I've been told that I have a tendency to give off a scary vibe. So she was avoiding me as well. Kori tried to talk to me, and I appreciated it, I really did. But how do you tell someone that my mother had joined the Church of Blood and their cult rituals ultimately led to her death? That Brother Blood was taunting me because he knows who I am? It's just not something I can explain or that Kori could ever understand.

Though I admit, it was painful having Damian avoid me at all costs. He was my first friend. He rescued me. He and Batman cleaned me up and welcomed me to earth. Damian invited me to join his new team of superheroes in spite of my lack of experience. But he was also a complicated person, and there was no way that I could let him bear my burdens. My problems would remain my own. So I continued to do what I always do: I pushed aside my feelings and kept doing my job.

I walked into the main room of our tower. It had the kitchen, foos ball table, some couches, a tv, just the normal stuff needed to entertain teenagers. I was starving.