A Mirror, Darkly

Ch.1 – Toys in the Attic

She stared at the mask, the empty, slanted eyes staring back at her, measuring her.

Behind her, she felt rather than heard Jinx's step. "Hey, you ready?"

"Yeah." Raven answered, reaching up to pull the shielding back down around the case that held the artifact, before it could be seen. "Told you not to come in here, things aren't all that safe," she chided, ushering the Thief away from her sanctum. And, the latest trophy in her collection. Years since her father's defeat, she'd continued the trend she originally set forward, the chain of events that lead to her being able to defeat him. Working with the Titans, her own growth, her getting an apartment with Jinx. So much had changed since she left Azarath. One thing, being her trend in collecting souvenirs from her adventures. It was, she mused some times, like a more morbid version of the Titan's own evidence locker. Things had changed, since those days.

So had she.

Stepping back into the light of her living room, her roommate trailing behind slightly, Raven picked up her T-Comm, looking back and smiling. "Don't get caught."

Jinx grinned, saluting. "Try and catch me," she lilted, in their familiar parting ritual. Raven folded into the darkness of the doorway, rather than using the door, shifting directly to the Tower Jinx knew. Picking up her own Hive-styled Comm, she snapped it open and grinned again, eyes glinting in the half-light of the apartment's living room.

"Hive, it's showtime."

I OoO I

"Nice of you to join us," Changeling said, rolling his eyes. Since Raven's slight break away from the other Titans, he'd become more and more hostile in his jibes at the quiet empath. Her often slight delay in arriving for muster and alarms being his usual venue to vent this.

Cyborg rolled his eye, swatting the green man on the back, "Lay off, man. She needed space – and so she took it. Some days I wish I could do the same. Place gets crowded."

Nightwing stood before the main display, the meeting room darkened slightly to aid visibility. Titans West assembled in this room, to plan, organize and set up weekly schedules. Cassie sat, fidgeting with her hair, the stylized double "W" on her tank top glinting in the screen's light. Connor, his black t-shirt with his own identifying mark, the "S" of his adopted and half-biological family there in red, looked to the young Amazon and grinned.

"Looks fine, Cass," he commented quietly, making the girl blush slightly. Turning back to screen, and Nightwing's glare, he heard a stifled giggle behind him.

To Connor's left sat the current Flash, his mentor passing on the mantle within the last year. Wally West had settled into the role without much fanfare, his demeanor calming slightly, as he explored the extent of his abilities. Time opened up new possibilities to him, as his power and ability with the Speed Force grew and changed. The loss of his mentor, as well as the knowledge he'd passed on, tempered the hotheaded youth and the current holder of the name Flash passed that stability on to his teammates. "Guys, keep the flirting till after the meeting, then you can go double with the prince and princess," he said in an aside just loud enough to carry, earning him a glare from the two couples present.

Starfire turned back to where she was facing, green eyes closing for a moment as she considered blasting the red-suited speedster. Just a little. Nightwing glanced at her, his eye twitching slightly at yet another interruption, as well as a swipe at his long-past role as Batman's prodigy, the "Prince of Gotham", as it had been serialized. Staring down the room, his blue and black costume seeming to somehow eat the light that wasn't already subdued, Nightwing waited for the assembled to quiet.

"If there aren't any further interruptions..." he began, before turning back to his task. "This week we're breaking some of the patrols down to two's, things have been quiet enough. That's not to say we can relax, but this should give us more training time as well."

Raven looked around the room, memories of the Tower coming back as she allowed. Soon after the Titan's faced the Brotherhood, the league had decided that not only was the team of sufficient ability to train a second segment, a Titans East, but also expand their roster. Members shuffled back from one to the other as needed, but to this day the current attendees were the most common in their west coast incarnation.

"Schedules for patrols and Tower duty rosters for those using the dorms are being forwarded to your Comms," Nightwing concluded, prepared to dismiss them when the alarms sounded, a few groans from the table following.

Cyborg was first to access the workstation near him, voicing the reason behind the klaxon as Nightwing toggled it silent. "Seems there's some issue on the south side. Alarms tripped in an old warehouse, weird. No ownership listed, but it's on the hardline alarm system, and on LexCorp's accounts."

At the mention of one of his benefactor's companies, Connor raised a brow. "Guess that means there's something dangerous or valuable there," he noted, cracking his knuckles systematically as he read over the information printing up on the main screen.

"Means it's our business then," their leader said, in directing them to prepare. "Titans, lets go."

I OoO I

Raven sped along the ground, gathering what information she could by sight alone, wary to touch down or get too close before the rest of the team arrived. Flash was holding a few hundred yards back, waiting for the signal to move in. Cyborg, Nightwing and Changeling were arriving together, while Connor, Cassie and Starfire circled in a more distant perimeter, keeping any new developments from slipping through.

"No movement," she reported, an odd thrill working through her at the thought of the upcoming fight. Regardless of distance, she could feel the emotional states of those inside, and the familiar... flavor, she decided, for lack of a better word, woven into it. Tonight would be fun, indeed.

Nightwing's Comm signal flashed, and his report flashed by, "ETA one minute." Those already on site sighted the vehicle Cyborg was operating, a modified JLA scram shuttle, and the smaller silhouette of Changeling shadowing it.

The fliers kept their vigil, while Raven met up with a practically instantaneously appearing Flash at the nearby junction, where the jet touched down. Wary, the Titans had fought against a few nightmares springing up from the supposedly odd abandoned warehouse before, but one from LexCorp warranted some caution. Labs, stored weapons, or any manner of threat could be waiting, and with the alarms sounding only ten minutes ago, whoever was responsible could still be tripping around inside.

"Cyborg, with me. Gar, with Raven. Flash on recon," Looking to the sky, he signaled the three there to hold in case someone tried to slip by or assist, for the time being. "Titans, move in."

As one the groups did so, Flash moving ahead from shadow to shadow to try and get any information that could help with figuring out the reason for the alarm before they tripped on it. Without warning, he literally tripped on something, and the resulting crash set up a boom throughout the area. "Flash, report," Raven heard Nightwing call, without response.

Reaching out with her empathy, she found him, knocked senseless by an explosive mine, apparently set to detonate by air compression. Something tailored to him. "Dick, we're expected," she relayed, noting the speedster was unharmed, just out of the fight for now. Dispensing with subtlety, she drew on her demonic nature and shifted as she glided, blinking in the suddenly bright night as her demon's eyes adjusted to the world. Beside her Gar Logan, formerly Beast Boy, now under the name Changeling winced, but took on a more appropriate form, that of a large hunting cat, and ran along beside, silently. He never really got used to those four eyes.

Cyborg sped up, his servo's whining as he kept pace with the speedy Detective beside him. "Cover fire once we see hostiles," he announced, shifting his cannon into active mode. Nodding, the Titan's leader leapt up, landing on a riser to get a view of the interior. He didn't like what he saw.

"Hive," he announced to his Comm, pulling his escrima sticks from their holsters on his back. Unable to see the entirety of the interior, he figured it best to draw out any opposition. Launching an impact-grenade loaded with a smoke compound, he followed after, subduing some of the unwary who were nearby and unprepared. A yell, and the lights came up, showing him what precisely was going on.

He again, didn't like what he saw.

Cyborg was just getting into position to lay down cover fire when the first wave hit, sending him and Nightwing careening into the nearby wall. "The hell?" the metal man asked, shaking off the impact as he helped the still reeling Detective up.

"Power armor," was his only reply, as the sound of the things filled the interior. Another blast nearly sent the two through a wall, but they were ready this time, moving out of the way. Raven made her move then, clipping the mechanized suit with a controlled girder, sending it crashing with crushing force into the far wall.

Changeling snarled, shifting up into something more useful, and ramming a nearby suit that swung to bear on him as a rhinoceros, shifting again to a gorilla to haul the armor up and block a blast from another nearby as his first target fell.

Analyzing the suits, Cyborg sighed, shaking his head. "Second-gen enviro suits, made for space and deep sea, fitted with sonic drills. Basically construction units," modifying his own cannon's payload, he sprayed the interior with a pulse, causing the assembled armors to jerk and spasm, and finally fall silent. "Notoriously susceptible to fuse dysfunction, due to faulty quartz harmonics."

"Nice work," Nightwing had begun to say, when he was throw across the room again by a green blur, making Cyborg look to Changeling to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

Raven jerked back a moment before a shadow she didn't recognize sprung up and took a shot at her, a pale grinning face topping it. "More! On guard," she'd managed before her assailant sent her into a defensive roll, a flurry of strikes barely missing her.

Gar and Cyborg stood back to back, spinning to survey the half-lit room, as familiar opponents emerged from the shadows. "Dibs on ugly," the metal man called, rushing the new targets with his cannon leading. He'd barely taken four steps before a counterharmonized blast sent him back into a close-following green shifter.

Shaking his head hard, Gar tried to keep his eyes from watering, "Why does everyone got to use loud noises," he griped, looking at the new assailants.

Mammoth seemed to have adjusted some parts of the armors to suit him, a brief chestpiece and wrist mounted array of the drills on his right arm. Boots of similar design finished the outfitting, giving him an oddly proportioned profile. Aiming the new weapon, the drills blinked in array then fired, the eight combined beams cutting a swath through the floor and wall toward the prone pair of heroes. Beside him, Gizmo worked furiously, a more advanced armor adorning a mockup that would allow him to interface it with his own custom systems.

Raven was having some trouble dealing with the shadow fighter she couldn't be rid of, as he seemed impervious to any physical attack and barely three dimensional, if at all. Frustrated, she again dove into her nature and from the darkness of her hood blinked the four slashes marking her the daughter of Trigon. Pausing in confusion for a moment, her attacker was taken off guard when her cloak seemed to fray and foul at the edges, bleeding out shadow of it's own. "Fight fire, with fire," she murmured, voice rasping from the depth of her cloak. Regaining his footing, the shadow-man attacked again, only to be stunned as a lance of shadow seemed to form and drive through his shoulder, from the cloak the girl wore.

The red slashes brightened, as she pressed the advantage, seeming more a thing made out of shifting cloth and darkness than a semblance of a young woman. The frayed cloak's edges took on an arachnid guise, portions stabbing down into the floor to allow others leverage to strike, all the while those burning eyes settled forward to better watch. Below them a feral smile graced her face. Raven liked when they were difficult, after all.

Nightwing dodged another strike by the masked woman he fought, realizing quickly he was nearly outclassed. Her seemingly jointless stance and attack pattern had him dazed, and each time she struck, needle-small picks of numbness flowed from the impacts. He was getting slower with each strike, and realizing this, allowed one to pass his guard.

"Shocking news, that was a trap," he smirked, as the masked woman made contact with his glove's tazer and was literally blown backwards from the voltage. The Detective pulled one of his combat antitoxins and stabbed the syringe into his leg, hoping the chemical cocktail would have a counter to the spreading cold the woman's strikes had set into his bones.

The battle progressed, all fronts giving and taking ground till Nightwing had decided enough was enough. As he was calling in the air team, a sound like rending metal and collapsing concrete drowned him out, as Gizmo and Mammoth's suits drilled a tunnel strait into the subway access below the warehouse district. "Everyone, in. We have what we came for," a female voice called out, as a pink blur descended from the shadows above.

He realized too late what had been going wrong then, as Jinx flashed his group a smile and dove into the tunnel. They'd been fighting with all their best, but with Jinx's hexes subtly working things against them, unseen from above, they'd been slow to counter and overtake the Hive operatives. Cursing his own lack of attention, knowing the probability-shifting witch was always leading the Hive offenses in some way, Richard launched an explosive disk at the retreating forms, only to have it blow early, caving in the tunnel behind them.

Raven glided up beside him, slowly letting her features shift back into the human. "So... did they get away?"

"This time," he said dispassionately, sighing. "Air team; get Flash to the Tower, see if he needs medical. Connor, need you inside, with me and Cyborg and Gar. Everyone else, regroup at base," glaring around the warehouse, he sighed again. He'd gather information with those staying behind, but otherwise... "Tonight was a bust."

Raven nodded, shifting into herself and back to the Tower in a moment, settling down to a console to enter her report. Shrugging off her cloak, the thing scampered to a wall, before turning to the woman, seeming to pause. "Black tea, strong," she informed it, fingers and attention on the screen before her. Seemingly satisfied with her orders, the cloak shifted on it's own through the wall, off to do it's mistresses bidding.

She'd dabbled with infusing her often-used tools and materials with some aspect of her power, but yet hadn't progressed far. At most, she worried that doing so would make her dependent on them, or lose her edge. So far, she only had the cloak, which was tenuously tied to her will, and her mirror which was a much more dangerous object. The cloak seemed to work best in contact with her, but could be directed to do simple things on it's own. She had considered letting one of her emotional facets possess it directly, depending on what was needed, but the possibilities for disaster there were endless. So, for now it was a dumb servant only.

At least it could make tea, while she did her report. Finishing up on her observations and suggestions, as well as entering any data on the event that occurred, she had to admit, things were going against them there from the start. Tapping her chin, she felt rather than heard the scream from Cassie as the new Wonder Girl caught her cloak moving about unattended. Sighing, she finished the process of entering the report to the database, and folded into shadow, filling the cloak from the inside to the apparent discomfort of the blonde powerhouse.

"Holy... could you get creepier?" the girl asked, shivering as she stood in a baggy t-shirt, apparently intent on making something for a late snack.

Smirking slightly, Raven blinked, and four blank, gray eyes regarded the now wide-eyed girl, as her cloak rippled about, small dark creatures crawling from it's own shadow into the depths, a vicious, viscous cycle of movement. "Yes," the rasp from Raven's lips, splitting wide to accommodate a maw of dagger-like teeth hissed, while she stretched and straitened, towering above the girl.

Cassandra nearly shrieked, but blinked in surprise when Starfire came by, giggling at Raven's display, hugging her regardless. "It was good seeing you again, Raven. Will you be spending the night here, or going back to your apartment?"

Shrinking in on herself and regaining her normal guise in the blink of an eye, the half-demon blinked as well, smiling slightly. "Heading home, have some things to talk to the roommate about," she said quietly, a corner of her cloak retrieving a cup of tea idly and handing it to her. "For now, off to the roof to look at some stars. Want to come?"

Shaking her head, the Tamaranian nodded toward a wincing Nightwing, heading to medical as he arrived. "I will be helping with the data analysis, since I was able to bask today." Raven nodded, remembering how sunny it had been. The chipper princess had all day to sit and laze in the sun, absorbing energy to power her metabolism and abilities. That she'd not used much tonight, must have left her very awake and energized.

"Alright then, I'll be back on my patrol, barring alarms," the enigmatic empath said, floating into a shadow and from the room.

Starfire looked to the shaken blonde, smiling dismissively. "She is somewhat hard to get used to, but she hasn't eaten one of your pets, or a hand, so she must not mind you," turning to the refrigerator, she peered over her shoulder at the still immobile Wonder Girl. "Are you hungry? I was going to make a small something before working on the theft data."

"No," the other girl answered, looking somewhat pale. "I think I lost my appetite."

I OoO I

Raven decided to linger, watching as the dome of sky turned over her slowly. An hour passed and she felt the Tower settle back into it's normal patterns, Richard and Cyborg poring over data, while some slept, others idled, some engaged in the process of courtship. She grinned, drinking that last emotional wave in slightly longer, only dimming it slightly.

"Small snack, nothing too filling," she murmured, 'portaling her empty china directly back into the cupboard. She figured it was sufficient to do so, as she'd not sent any errant tea or traces of her own touch on it, as well. Grinning, she was glad for those idle years after the Brotherhood incident. She'd learned a few tricks to write home about.

Provided, they didn't start an interdimensional war just to kill her, anyway.

Shrugging off her dark thoughts, the Titan yawned, and tucked into her cloak, emerging from the darkened apartment's interior from a veritable rip in the air itself.

"Welcome home," a somewhat weary Jinx called, from her bedroom. Raven padded to the door, rapping softly to bid entry. "It's open," the Thief called, muffled this time.

Using the door, probably the only place she ever did, Raven peeked inside and grinned slightly, at the other girl's cluttered, but functionally diverse room. Her training gear was spread about, small and large weights, a suspended bar, treadmill. On one wall leaned a desk, with designs and blueprints scattered about, while along her bedside an array of gadgets and tools made for a hazardous minefield. Overall, it looked well lived-in. "How was your night?" Raven asked, smirking as the Thief pulled her head out of a helmet, her ponytailed hair snapping back out with an audible pop.

Wrinkling her nose, she huffed slightly, "Victor blowing almost all the fuses on the suits wasn't really much fun, but oh well. We got the big deal done," peering at the Titan from the face-guard, she grinned, "Yours?"

"Boring, as usual. Got to scare Cassie though, so I feel better about it," the smirking empath said, settling down beside the Thief where she sat on the large bed. "What's all this for?" She asked, looking over the armor plating, tapping it with a finger lightly.

Shrugging, the Hive girl tossed the helmet to the side with a hollow clang. "Something on Gizmo's wish-list. He'll probably have a working prototype in a week, maybe less depending on his Halo tourney."

"He going to cheat?"

Jinx snorted, "Hell no. He's such a damn purist about online gaming. Makes me want to throttle his Tourette's right out of him."

Raven laughed quietly, looking up at the ceiling of the Thief's room. Posters were plastered all over, but directly over her bed, was an image Raven never could get used to. A blue-skinned demoness lounged, nude, a very distinct 'come-hither' look on her face as she looked out of the frame. She still couldn't believe she'd let Jinx talk her into posing for that painting. Much less let her make a poster of the print. "Ugh, we need to get you better artwork," she observed, probably for the fiftieth time, seeing herself, at least in image, staring back at her.

"Nah, that one keeps me warm at night," the quirky witch replied, winking at the Titan. "Besides, when are you going to do so?" Again she asked, and again Raven simply smiled, shaking her head slowly.

"For now, you make do with the poster," she answered again, used to the Hive girl's advances. She wasn't keeping herself distant because of either of their day-jobs, as she called them, but more for... personal reasons.

Sighing, Jinx began to undress, preparing for either sleep or a shower. Raven rose and fluffed the girl's hair, earning her a glare. "Goodnight, Jinx," she murmured, suddenly feeling the day's weariness and making her way to her own bed.

"Nighty Nightmare," Jinx called after her, making her smile at her nickname. The first time it had been used, a weary Raven had been far into her demon guise when she said goodnight to the perky witch, earning her that pet name. Not minding, she took it in stride, knowing the girl to actually accept and unlike some, enjoy her time in that form.

Jinx always did have a knack for making her feel at ease. Putting such thoughts out of her mind, she instead let her mind linger on what was in her trophy room, a smile slipping along her lips.

Now there... was some potential. She drifted to her bed, warmed as her empathy soaked the small, bright peak that seemed to say her name, from Jinx's shower. Smirking slightly, she cooled her blush and settled to sleep, knowing tomorrow would be busy, in the light of her roommates success.

A/N: Oho? What? No, I don't know either.