Back to Reality, or something like it

Raven stared after Garlo, her body shivering lightly. Him, it was him. He was supposed to be dead, she had held him in her arms, felt his lifeless body against her's. But she had just seen him, sure he was a little taller then before, and much more serious, but those eyes, she would never forget those eyes. Again, like so many other times in just the last twenty four hours, her emotional control fell away. She fell to her knees, looking at the hand that had slapped him, that had felt him, and tears streamed down her cheeks. "It was him, it was him." Her voice seemed foreign to her own ears. She had felt him, for an immeasurable small amount of time, but she had felt him and he was real. She continued to cry. She had lost him, but it was him. He had saved her, and it was him. He was different, but it was him. Before slipping into heavy sobs of disbelief and happiness, she said one final thing to low for her own ears to register. "My Beast Boy."

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Garlo's footfalls were heavy as he followed the corridor to his own room. The few soldiers and civilians passing him in the hall gave him plenty of space, more out of respect then fear. It was clear he was angry though, normally he never made a sound moving through the halls.

The door to his chambers opened and closed after he had entered. At the same instant came a laughter that seemed to resonate from everywhere at once. "Conversation didn't quite go as planned?" Then voice was thick, and deep, coming from countless speakers hidden throughout the walls. On the wall opposite to the door, a large screen brightened to life, revealing the face of a young black man. "Seems someone needs to brush up on how to play the socializing game again."

Removing his mask, the green man sat in a hard metal chair and stared at the computer composite of his old friend. "Vic, I have played the game, as you put it, for too long. I only pretend to be happy for the others, amusing some fantasy of this girl, is not something I plan to do. The only interest I have in her is if she can translate those books or not. If not, then I have no use for her."

Vic, a program made up of the computerized brain patterns of a deceased Victor Stone a.k.a. Cyborg, laughed again. His personality remained in tact, even if his body didn't. "You're lying. I have sensors in ever room in all three Titan bases, and can tell by your stats whether or not your telling the truth. Or did you forget Garfield?"

The look he received would have sent anyone else's blood into a deep freeze, fortunately for Vic, he had no blood. Garlo pulled back his hood and shook his shaggy hair loose. "I didn't forget, and the next time you call me that, I will put that virus right back into your hard drive. Now do something useful and replay the conversation with stats recordings. I want to see if she was lying."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't be such a bitch." The face faded from the screen, replaced by the image of a yellow room containing a meditating woman and Garlo. Watching the stats, and listening to every word. Heartbeat, brain wave activities, body head, all were recorded, Garlo's on the left, the woman's on the right. As the recording went on, only three times did the stats change significantly. Once when the girl had called herself Raleen, but he already knew that was a lie, she had hesitated too long for him not to know. The second were Garlo's when she had said his old code name. He looked at his hand, which had stopped bleeding, until that moment he hadn't even noticed it. The final time was when his mask fell. She had recognized him, though from when and where he didn't know. Sure she was familiar, but he just couldn't place her.

Standing, he pulled the hood over his head and replaced his mask. Vic came back on the screen, an electronic eyebrow raised. "Where are you going?"

"To find out if anyone remembers seeing her around town before last night. Seems odd that she appear out of no where and was heading directly toward the base. If one of the others had sent her, they would have told me." Tossing the stained glove to the floor, Garlo grabbed another from a desk beside the door.

Vic knew something was up, his green friend took interest in little over the past years. He seemed especially interested in this girl though. "You know her?"

The masked man shook his head, "I don't know, she obviously knows me though. Only those who knew me before the war know that Beast Boy's skin was green."

"She says she loves you, or at least who you were."

"Indeed." His back was turned to the screen.

"So what irritates you more, the fact that you can't remember her, or that she gets under you skin?" There was definite amusement in the electronic voice.

"Who said she gets to me?" There was an unreadable emotion in his voice, something Vic found all the more amusing.

"You haven't dropped a knife in two years." He waited until the cloaked figure turned to glare at him menacingly before playing his next card. A picture of the now sleeping woman covered the screen. "She's cute when she sleeps, isn't she?"

The figure stared at the scene. "She needs new clothes. At least she's quiet when she sleeps." He moved to the door.

Vic overrode the open mechanism. "It's time for your pill." There was a slight disappointment in his tone.

Opening an unseen drawer from the desk beside the door, Garlo grabbed one of countless pills. Slipping it under his mask, he swallowed it quickly. The door opened, giving the masked man an exit once more. "Have a few of the books sent to her room."

"She was expecting to be brought to them, you know, let out of the room. She would probably like being allowed out."

Once again he glared at the screen. "Since when do I care what anyone else wants? It's not my job."

A frown crossed the simulated face. "As I recall, the last person you would go out of your way for was....." The look he was given was enough to shut him up. Even best friends had ground they didn't tread.

"Fine, if you think she wants to socialize, let her. Send in Elite and Special Unit soldiers in, one at a time. They are all friendly people, should be enough to talk to. Just keep an eye on the conversations." Once again his foot falls were heavy as he moved throughout the halls.

Vic smiled after he left. The "socializing" was supposed to be a form of punishment for getting under his skin, most Elite and Special Unit members were mean as hell. Born that way, trained that way. He knew a few he could send in that would be nice enough company though. It also wasn't like he couldn't speak with her himself, he had a connection to every room in the facility.

Yes, contrary to what Garlo had meant to happen, this girl would get some good company.

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Raven awoke, having fallen asleep crying. To her surprise, a computer monitor and keyboard had appeared in a compartment that hadn't been in the wall when she had looked around earlier. On the screen was a face she felt like she hadn't seen in ages. It was Cyborg, or at least a fully human version. The face smiled at her, a voice from all around the room speaking. "Hey girl. You're Raleen right? My name's Vic."

"Hi Vic, is this some kind of video phone?" She wasn't sure what was going on, this was definitely Cyborg, or at least in her world it was.

The image frowned. "No, I am a program now. I had a body once upon a time, but it's a long story. Let's just say Garlo kept me alive....sort of."

She smiled, a thought occurred to her, one that reminded her of the Beast Boy where she came from. "He just couldn't bring himself to leave you behind, huh? Just couldn't let you go." She was sure the man she remember would have found a way to save a friend under any circumstances.

"Yeah, he has a hard time letting a lot of things go." There was a sadness in his voice, no matter how he tried to hide it. Suddenly, he brightened. "Hear you havin' trouble remembering things. If you want you can look through some of our video files. Might help refresh your memory. I will monitor everything though, so no funny business."

Raven was about to decline, when she began to wonder about her other friends. Moving toward the keyboard, she thought for a moment. Then she typed in a name. STARFIRE. A menu came up immediately, three settings labeled. Video footage, Digitally Recreated Photos, and Known Information.

Clicking on Known Information, Raven gasped when a picture popped up beside a profile. It was the Tameranian all right, wearing a black uniform with a red cape. On the left side of the chest was a symbol, the same symbol the demons were wearing the night before. A bird outline with four eyes in the center.

The profile read, "Alien girl who has fought against the TM since the beginning of the war. Little is known about this woman, except that she has amazing strength and can throw energy blasts from her hands." Short, but to the point. Starfire, was apparently, working with the demons and the Supreme Leader that everyone kept mentioning.

Raven was in total shock. Backing up, she typed in another name. There was no telling where her other friends were if Star could be turned against the Earth. That meant anyone could.

Quickly she jabbed in TERRA. A menu identical to before came on the screen. In the Known Information file was a picture of the blond smiling. Her outfit was identical to when she had rejoined the Teen Titans so many months before. A small caption was beside her picture.

"Geomancer of extraordinary abilities. Due to complications among the leadership, she was put in charge of Tower Beta, the second formed base for the Titan Menace."

Retracing her steps again, she put in GARLO. A bright red ACCESS DENIED flashed over the screen. Vic's voice filled the room. "Can't let you do that, if you want to know something about him, ask him."

Shaking her head, she decided there were only two more people she wanted to look up. She really wasn't sure she wanted to know what her fate here was quit yet. So instead she typed in ROBIN.

Immediately the screen froze. After a full three minutes, it came up with the words NO FILE FOUND. Wide eyed, she tried another route. DICK GRAYSON. This time it did come up with a file, one marked Red X. Again she looked at the profile and again she was in total disbelief. She didn't bother reading the caption, she knew what he was just by looking at his costume. There, on the opposite side of the red x, on his chest, was the symbol of the Supreme Leader. The man she knew as Robin, was working for the enemy of mankind.

Now she had to know, no matter what. RAVEN. Her fingers flew across the keys. What popped up made her stomach drop. Backing away from the screen, she fell onto the bed. She just lay there, staring.

There was no menu, only a picture with bold letters over it. A red skinned woman glared out at whoever would look at her. Four eyes glowed with intense energy, four arms stretching with claw like hands. Fangs protruded over venomous looking lips. Her hair had turned white, growing long down her back. The words read QUEEN RAVEN, SUPREME LEADER.

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Ok, anyone want to help me name this bad boy?