It was Thursday. Thursday meant grocery day. It meant piling into the Prius and taking the bridge to the slightly-less-than-local supermarket one town over, the one called 'Marty's Mighty Mart'. It was just Raven and the kids today. Garfield was busy. The modest book store that the two of them owned and opperated had been doing enough business to justify relocating to a slightly larger rental space just down the road. Garfield had taken it upon himself to oversee the move, leaving Raven to take over parenting duties. It had been a good morning so far and she had no reason to believe the rest of the day would be any different. Coraline had brushed her teeth without argument and Dylan had only thrown half his Cheerios on the floor instead of all of them. She'd had time to sit and pay a few bills and she had on her favorite pair of black jeans, the pair she always thought made her butt look good (because sometimes even someone like Raven needed an ego boost). With Dylan in his carseat and Coraline safely buckled it was time to set out on her weekly journey to resupply the Logan household with all the various breads and meats and cheeses, fizzy drinks, juices, assorted fruits, veggies and prepackaged diet threatening confections that were vital to maintaining a happy and healthy home life. Business as usual. Just another Thursday.

Raven was lost in thought. Focused on the road, but also busy going over the shopping list in her head, pondering about any last minute necessities she may have over looked; thinking about the current state of their refrigerator and whether or not they needed a fresh supply of double A batteries and lightbulbs. She had doublechecked the pantry before leaving, but could she have missed something? Coraline had been eating more soup lately. Did they need more canned soup? What about dish soap? It was funny the kinds of things that occupied her mind these days. Once upon a time her inner thoughts were consumed almost entirely by life threatening emergencies, deep existental ruminations and mind shattering quandries on the very nature of life, reality and the impenatrable nothingness that lurked the blackest recesses of the human soul. Now the only thing that seemed to matter was making sure there was always enough toilet paper in the house (a lesson hard learned indeed).

"Mo-ooooommmmm"

Coraline's mild whine from the rear of the vehicle shook Raven from her thoughts.

"Ye-eessss?" she replied with the slightest hint of mimicry.

"The song." Leaning forward in her seat, the eight-going-on-nine-year-old stretched out her arm and pointed a finger at the ipod plugged into the dash. She'd been making song requests the entire car ride so far. Every time one song ended she knew immedieately which one she wanted to hear next. Raven would have made a playlist of all of her daughter's favorites if they didn't keep changing. It seemed every other week the child would come to her with some new candidate for 'greatest song evaaaah.'

"In a minute sweetie," replied Raven calmly. "Not while I'm driving. Wait until the next light."

Coraline made a small harumph and slouched down in her seat. Meanwhile Dylan babbled words that kind of sounded like 'carburater' and 'fish pan' and made an awkward reach for his sister's long and pointy ears. It seemed lately the eighteen-month-old had become utterly facinated by the unique appendages the young girl shared with her father, and while Garfield was more than happy to let the boy play with his own to his heart's content such could not be said for Coraline.

"Dylan, stop it!" the young girl whined. "Mom, he's doing it again."

"He just likes your ears," replied Raven, doing her best to hide her smile.

"Well, I don't like it. Make him stop."

She supposed it wasn't nice, but Raven couldn't help but find her daughter's distress at least a little amusing. Nevertheless she did her best to intervene.

"Dylan, stop playing with your sister's ears. She doesn't like it."

It was a token gesture. The child was far too young to understand what was being asked of him, so naturally he went right on reaching, doing his best to get his tiny digits around big sister's enrapturing ears. This of course only caused Coraline to continue to pull away while making lounder and louder mewling sounds. Thankfully it was only a minute or so later that the car arrived at a red light. Coming to a complete stop, Raven quickly grabbed the ipod from the small space just under the gear shift and began hurriedly scanning through the track listing. One swift tap later and the car was suddenly filled with a bass-y synth track, one accented by the high falcetto vocalings of the latest barely post-pubescent pop singer to become the darling of all adolescents everywhere. Hearing her song coming over the speakers, Coraline's distress was immediately forgotten. A wide smile leapt to her cheeks and she began bouncing up and down in her seat, pumping her little fists and lolling her head back and forth to the pounding beat. Dylan, perhaps amused by the music and the resulting actions of his sister, responded by clapping and giggling. He said words that sounded sort of like 'hot dog' and 'bank statement' and began moving his little body up and down in his car seat, doing his best to mirror the older sibling's actions.

Raven for her part merely kept her eyes on the road, only taking the time here and there to smile at the two little ravers in her rearview mirror.

xxxxxx

A short while later the song ended, just in time for the trio to arrive at their destination. Pulling into the parking lot, Raven was a little dismayed to find the place just a bit too full for her liking. A parking space was not readily available when she first entered and it took a few laps around the lot before she finally found one several rows back from the main entrance. Not wasting the opportunity, she swiftly pulled into the space without a second thought. With the vehicle parked, the crew began to unload. Coraline, not neeeding to be told, quickly opened the rear passenger door and hopped down to the pavement below as her mother went to the door on the opposite side and began unbuckling little Dylan from his car seat. As Raven released the buckles, the toddler began saying words that sounded exactly like 'Daddy' and 'Mama.'

"Dah-dee" the boy called. "Mama. Dah-dee."

"You want Daddy?" asked Raven sweetly. "What's wrong? Did you drop him?" Leaning into the car, Raven scanned the vehicle's interior, quickly checking the floor mats and the spaces beneath the seats. "Here he is," she declared after a moment or two of searching. The boy made a high pitched squeal as Daddy was swiftly returned to his waiting grasp.

To avoid any undue confusion it should be noted at this point that the 'Daddy' little Dylan was refering to was of course not his actual Daddy, the one and only Garfield Logan, but rather a toy; his favorite toy in fact. The truth was that while out shopping one day at a local thrift store a few weeks prior, Raven had stumbled upon a most unexpected find: a small and stuffed Beast Boy replica, all green faced and pointy toothed with an oversized head and short, nubby arms and legs, all dressed up in the familiar purple and black of his old doom patrol uniform; a piece of long forgotton memorabilia left over from their old superhero-ing days. Of course she had to have it. It was seldom that they ever saw any of their old merchendise anymore since retiring; however the real treat came later when she gave it to Dylan.

"Look Dylan, it's Daddy," she had said, waving the little doll in front of the boy's eyes, moving it up and down so that it's arms and legs flopped to and fro on it's plushy, little body. Daddy became the name of Dylan's favorite toy that day, much to Garfield's dismay. Dismay because, while the child would merrily shout 'Daddy' and bounce the stuffed play thing up and down in his lap, any attempts on Garfield's part to cajole the boy into calling him 'Daddy' resulted in nothing mroe than slack-jawed gawking and wide-eyed staring. It was a problem that was as frustrating to Garfield as it was utterly hilarious to Raven.

With Daddy safely in Dylan's hand, Raven lifted him out of his carseat. Balancing the child on her hip, she shut the door and called for Coraline to join her. The youngster did as she was told and holding hands the three Logans began making their way out of the narrow confines of the parking space.

"Now watch for cars," warned Raven. "It's very busy."

They had only taken a few steps towards the store entrance when...

"Hey!"

The shout was something akin to a gunshot, ringing clear and sharp over the dull ambient noise of the parking lot. It seized Raven's attention like the jaws of a crocodile around an unsuspecting baby hippo, and turning she found an apparently angry woman fastly approaching her, leaving an idling, four-door, silver Toyota in her wake. She was a good ten inches taller than Raven and much like the former sorceress appeared to be in her early to mid thirties. She wore her blonde hair in a neat ponytail and was wearing a powder blue zip up sweatshirt over black aerobics gear with white sneakers. She was trim and tight and everything about her screamed fintness nut (hard emphasis on 'nut.')

"Did you not see me?" questioned the fitness nut sharply, her voice as shrill as an air raid siren.

"Excuse me?" replied Raven, surprised by the sudden ambush and not really understanding the question.

"That space was mine. I was just about to park there. You didn't see me?"

Raven feeling a little overwhelmed by the abrupt display of hostility threw a quick glance over the woman's shoulder to the still idling vehicle behind her.

"No, I'm sorry," she replied with genuine sincerity. "I guess I didn't."

"You didn't see the blinker?" The fitness nut's eyes seemed ready to pop out of her skull and there was an excess of neck movement with every word she spoke. "I had my blinker on; I was about to park there. You mean you didn't see that shit?"

For a moment Raven was silent as she struggled to acertain whether or not this woman was being serious or if this was some kind of elaborate joke; however her empathic abilities quickly confirmed what she already knew, what would have been apparent to anyone with two eyes and even the worst vision: This. Woman. Was. Angry.

"Okay," replied Raven. "Again...No. I'm sorry. I guess I didn't." She spoke the words slowly, making sure to enunciate each and every syllable so that there was no confusion.

The surprise of the situation had worn off now. Raven was finally starting to get a handle on things and as a result she was beginning to feel less and less inclined to be polite. With each passing moment she could feel her trademark snark and sarcasm desperately seeking to slather itself in every word she spoke and some of her less than reputable characteristics rising up inside her like a ocean tide. Still she did her best to remain cordial. Taking a deep breath, she decided to embrace her better nature and diffuse the situation.

"Look miss," she began. "I sincerely apologize if I upset you, but I-

"Hold on. Are you calling me upset?"

"Uhhh-"

"You do not get to decide that I'm upset, okay? Who are you? Are you my mother? I don't think so. You're not the boss of me!"

From the very beginning of this encounter, Raven's emotions had been something like a pendulum, constantly swinging back and forth between bewildered to irritated and back again.

"I...just wanted to do some shopping," she replied limply, unsure of what even to say at this point.

"Oh what? Like I don't?" the fitness nut practically shrieked. "Like your time's so important? Like I don't got shit to do?"

Raven's brow furrowed as her pendulum swung back to irritated once more.

"Alright, could you please stop swearing in front of my children?" she asked, still trying, but ultimately failing to sound polite.

"You think you're time's more valuable than mine?" shot the fitness nut, Raven's words bouncing off of her thick skull like so many nickles. "I know who you are by the way."

"Who I am?"

"Yeah, I seen you in the papers, on the news sites. You're the superhero bitch, right? The Titanic Trio or some shit. That's you right? You super types, you just think you're so much better than the rest of us, don't you? You think just 'cause you can lift school buses and sneeze lazer beams n' shit, that you can just do what ever you want and the rest of us are gonna just bow down and lick ya boots or somethin' like we're all just so impressed. Well, let me tell you somethin,' lady, I ain't impressed. That shit don't mean dick to me."

"...sneeze lazer beams?" replied Raven, arching an eyebrow.

"You think you're such hot shit? Well, you ain't. You wanna see impressive? I'll show you impressive."

In a surprising and strange move that would sadly only get stranger, the woman swiftly took several steps back. Clapping and rubbing her hands together, she fell forward, landed on her outstretched palms and immediately began a quick succession of flawlessly executed pushups. One could almost see her biceps and trapezius muscles bulging beneath her powder blue zip up as she effortlessly pressed the ground again and again and again.

"You see that shit?" she mocked, not even sounding out of breath. Putting a hand on her lower back, she seemlessly transitioned to pushups of the one armed variety without a hint of hesitation or loss in speed or intensity. "Yeah, I could do this all day, bitch."

"I bet you could," replied Raven, tiredly. She was absolutely drained now. If she'd had a white flag she would have waved it. She looked at her kids who had been very silent throughout the past few unusual minutes. Coraline seemed as much at a loss for words as she, and Dylan's only response had been to cling to his mother's shirt and suck his knuckle as he stared wide eyed at the blonde lady's strange behavior. It was in that moment Raven made a decision. "Look, if the space means that much to you then just take it. Okay? We'll find some place else to park. It's no big deal. Come on Coraline, back in the car."

Raven had caved. She was going to give this lunatic exactly what she wanted. It should have been over, and yet like a car with no breaks, the fitness nut just would not stop.

"Oh yeah, scared now, right?" she goaded.

"Terrified," droned Raven dryly, opening the rear door and placing little Dylan back in his car seat.

"Yeah, I thought so. Run away, super-bitch. Get back in your little freak mobile with your little freak kids."

One could almost here the tires screeching as Raven stopped all movement. For several seconds she simply stood there, hands resting gently on door frame of the vehicle, as she seemingly struggled to process the words that had just been said and the line that had just been crossed. When she started moving again, she did so with smooth, fluid motion, calmly closing the car door and stepping back out into open lot with her arms folded neatly across her chest.

"I beg your pardon?" she asked, her voice as cool and collected as a Buddhist monk.

"You and your kids, lady, are FREAKS!"

Once again Raven was silent, and once again for several seconds she didn't move an inch. With arms still folded, she simply stood and stared. Her amethyst eyes a fixed point.

"Coraline, sweetie," she said finally. "Would you please do me a big favor and make sure your brother is buckled in?"

Coraline, who had not yet returned to the car, turned and looked at her mother. She may have been young, but she could tell an ugly situation happening when she saw it. She'd heard lots of stories about her parent's superhero exploits, but had never actually witnessed any herself. As a result she was unsure how worried she should be. The woman may not have been wearing an outlandish costume or weilding any energy weapons but she certainly was a lot bigger and stronger-looking than her mother.

"Umm...Mom?" the youngster asked, her uncertainty clear in her voice.

"No need to worry," answered Raven. "I'm just going to have a little talk with our friend here."

Still feeling trepidatious, the girl nevertheless did as she was told and climbed into the car. Her mother asked her to close the door behind her and once again she heeded her words.

"Ooooohhh, am I supposed to be scared now?" taunted the woman. "Like you suddenly grew a pair and now I'm supposed to be all intimidated and shit?" She adopted a fighting stance and began shadowboxing, jabbing at the air, shuffling her feet and leaning in and out. "M.M.A, bitch," she cried. "M.M.A! Let's go!"

Raven's only response, however, was to close her eyes and take a deep breath. Her arms moved to her sides and her posture relaxed.

"I'm not going to fight you," she said finally. "And I'll tell you why. Because when I moved here with my husband to this beautiful, quiet, little town, I made a promise to myself to be better than the person I was leaving behind. My whole life has been a near constant battle, a never ending struggle against my darker nature. In my youth I believed I could use my strength to try and make a positive difference in the world and I like to think I did that. But now I realize it was never the only way. I now see that I can make the world a better place just by being a good example to my children, by showing them that might doesn't make right and fighting needn't be the only solution to a problem. I belive that you can be the change you want to see in the world. That being said, I would still like to show what I could do to you if I didn't believe all that."

"Huh?" was about the only word the fitness nut could manage. In a flash Raven's eyes took on an ethereal glow, becoming as bright as floodlights. In one swift and sudden movement, she reached up and gently placed two fingers in the center of the woman's forehead. There was a brilliant flash and all at once the the fitness nut's mind was flooded with the most horrific, nightmare inducing images of burning and screaming and torture ever to be conjured by anyone living or dead, in this world or the next. Ghastly black figures, indescribable attrocities of the most diabolical creation came pouring into the woman's frontal lobe like a 50 foot tidal wave of unstoppable shrieking death. The anguished cries of the damned belted out their song of never ending torment in an unholy chorus. A calvalcade of demons from the deepest recesses scrambled over each other like a mob of rats catching the scent of dinner, becoming a swirling torent of teeth and claws, their cavernous bellies rumbling with desire.

It should be noted at this point that all of this is not nearly as bad as it sounds. In actuality the human mind can only take in so much information, absorb so much horror, before it simply shuts down as a means of self preservation. The end result of a technique such as the one previously mentioned will not result in madness and certainly not death, but rather a kind of catalepsy or trance like state. The victim will remain in this condition for about ten to twenty minutes and then return to normal with little to no memory of anything that happened prior to the event. All practitioners of telepathic abilities knew this and Raven was no exception, though she certainly didn't envy the nightmares the woman would be having for the next couple of weeks.

All at once the glow in Raven's eyes vanished. The fitness nut's arms fell swinging to her sides; her eyelids drooped and her mouth went slack. Raven then quite chivalrously helped her to her vehicle and even parked it for her in a space that had apparently become available during the course of their argument. She then calmly returned to her own vehicle and carefully made her exit.

"I think we'll do our shopping at Tannen's today," she said as they pulled back onto the main roads.

"Mom, what happened?" asked Coraline, completely baffled by the previous events. "What was that lady's problem?"

"Oh, she was just having a hard day, sweetie," answered Raven. "She's just going have a little time out to think things over."

"You mean even grown-ups have time outs?"

"Of course. You're never too big for a time out."

Raven turned the car stereo on and as luck would have it another one of Coraline's favorites came pouring through the speakers. Coraline started to dance, Dylan started to giggle and Raven just smiled and drove on.

End