Traitors and Teachers

Chapter 17

"You're adorable!"

"And you need to stop appearing in my base," Slade groaned as he closed the door behind him, somehow not surprised that The Shepardess was sitting on a table waiting for him.

"Well it's not like there is a 'No Trespassers' sign out front!" She grinned.

"Actually there is, along with several defense systems to keep out intruders."

"I'm starting to get the impression you don't want people around," she pouted in mock hurt, smirking at the man as he sat down at the table.

"That is exactly the impression I'm trying to give off."

"Oh posh, if you really didn't want people getting in you wouldn't be visiting them while they are helpless in a medical cot after saving them," her jab earned her a groan from him, and he rubbed his mask as though he could rub his forehead through it.

"You seem to have changed the subject."

"And you are avoiding it!"

"Why are you here?" He tried to cut her teasing, and he was too exhausted to deal with this.

"Why are you?"

"Because I live here."

"But why are you here?" She said again, slower as if that would make her point clear.

"Are you getting philosophical about why I exist?" He groaned again. He really did not want to get into that subject.

"No, although that would be a fun topic. I mean why are you here and not out doing some dastardly crime? Or would you prefer some heroics?" She teased, miming the different actions and was totally unfazed by his glare.

"Maybe I just want some time off."

"A hero is always ready for action," she declared, one hand on her hip and the other pointed straight into the air, as heroically as she could manage.

"I'm not a hero."

"So why do you masquerade as one?" Her teasing tone was gone, and he braced himself for what he was sure was a much more serious conversation.

"I don't masquerade..."

"You run around in a mask and elaborate costume, the only thing you are missing is dance moves," her tone was mocking and sarcastic, and he gave in.

"What do you want?"

"I want Raven. She is falling apart and dangerous, and you aren't helping." At least Slade finally found out what it was she wanted this time. Sometimes The Shepardess wouldn't even give him that and would leave him guessing when the conversation was over.

"I saved her life!"

"Slade saved her life. Rave endangered it. I think that makes you neutral," she rationalized, but either way it wasn't a positive outcome for him.

"How did Rave endanger her?" He hoped she couldn't tell that he was pouting. As Rave he had always protected her in fights, at least to the best of his abilities.

"You really think your romantic entanglement with her isn't causing her to lose control faster? Her powers are emotion based, and you didn't just toss in a wrench, you chucked in a whole tool box into her issues." Slade slammed his hands down on the table and stood, glaring at her full on at those accusations.

"And what about you? You're pushing her. You just suddenly appear and want her. Who are you, really? How do I know this isn't your doing?" He turned the accusations on her, but she merely sneered at his questions and finger pointing.

"If I recall you wanted her to expand her mental powers. You, soaked in her father's demonic magic, you really thought that you might not trigger something? The first time you came back thanks to demons she became a portal. Who knows what was going to happen the second time."

"So this is my fault?" He said this slower, calmer, as he thought about it. Trigon raising him from the dead had triggered Raven's transition to her fate as the portal. Had his second resurrection done something?

"I don't know, I'm not an expert on demon magic. What am I fairly good at is empathy. Empaths have a way of finding other empaths. Birds of a feather, as the saying goes. I could sense her when I traveled close to the city, and I could sense she needed help and was in distress. Would you rather I not try to help someone in need? Or would you rather I help someone who isn't Raven?" He glowered at her before responding, not sure how to accuse her or blame her in a way that made sense anymore.

"It just seems awfully convenient that you show up the same time her powers start getting out of hand," was the best accusation he could come up with.

"Just as convenient as them unraveling when you made her an offer and made her question her position in her team?" She asked in a softer tone with a raised eyebrow before she sighed and continued when he said nothing.

"What? Looking for some big bad reason Raven's life has been so terrible, and desperate for that reason to not be you? Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Maybe it's my fault. Maybe it's Trigon, maybe it's aliens, maybe it's an evil mind control dragon. Point is she is in trouble and needs all the help she can get. Do you want to help or not?"

For several minutes he said nothing, thinking, before he finally answered: "Yes."

"Alright, thank you. That makes things easier. Now you need to make things easier on her. Which means not adding unnecessary emotions to the mix. When she's got a handle on day to day emotions we can carefully add in something else if she wants it. We don't want to hand her an active bomb before she knows how to not set it off." Slade glared at her, not liking how The Shepardess was talking about Raven. Something about her tone felt insulting.

"What, attraction is a bomb now?"

"You saw what she did to that store yard. I think a bomb is a perfect term. Besides, making her believe a lie is only going to make things worse." Slade bit his tongue of a moment, realizing that bomb was an ideal term, along with explosive. But the moment ended when he felt a rush of embarrassment and guilt.

"It's not a lie!"

"Slade, the arch nemesis of the Teen Titans, who has worked for her father, abducted her, and personally assaulted her, puts on a different mask and tries to kiss her. A name change doesn't change what you've done, and it certainly doesn't make things right. You really think you can hide that from an empath and telepath forever? She may be distracted now, but when she gets control over her powers again, she won't be so easily fooled." Every word hurt him more until he was looking at the table instead of her. She was right. Of course she was right. The Shepardess had yet to be wrong. And he hated her for it. But he could only hate her so much because he knew he had done this to himself, and he hated himself even more strongly for what he did.

By the time he had wrangled his self-hate back down The Shepardess had already left, just as quietly and strangely as she had arrived.