Chapter 9: Rescue/Reveal

Keith woke up first. Apparently, they had both moved around a bit during the night. Raven had most of the blankets. Keith quietly grumbled and got out of bed. He checked his watch on his nightstand. Somehow, he was still on time for work. He took the time to make breakfast for himself, but he made it at a double quantity so Raven could eat when she woke up. Scrambled eggs and a tall stack of waffles should do the trick.

He tossed his white dress shirt on and was halfway done putting his black slacks on when Raven stirred a bit. Keith smiled and finished pulling on his slacks, walking over to her side of the bed.

She looked up at him, blinking her eyes awake. She smiled and looked at his shirt and slacks. "Go teach em, K." He grinned and leaned down, pecking her forehead.

He snagged his staff and right before he left, he peeked his head back in. "There's food in the kitchen for breakfast. I'll see you either here, or at the Tower." He blew her a quick kiss and left.

His day, again, went as per usual. He was packing up his shit for the end of his day when he got a phone call. His direct line to the Titans. He rose an eyebrow and picked up. "What's up?"

Dick's voice was on the other end. "Nothing super good. The Tower is a mess, and...and Raven got snatched."

Keith's eyes immediately bubbled red and the ring on his finger glowed. He took a deep breath. "Keep the trail warm. And be prepared to stop me if I try to kill whoever did it." He made it back to his apartment in record time, slipping his body suit on faster than he ever had before. Instead of doing just a blindfold across his eyes, this time he did three lines down his face, and THEN the blindfold. He left then, his eyes already glowing red through his eyelids.

When he got to the Tower, he found the whole team stressed out. His entire demeanor was cold. And the other titans shivered when they saw him and felt his barely restrained rage. Keith's eyes opened, shocking the others by their glow. The glow dissipated momentarily as Keith knelt down and examined the cracked tile by the busted window on the 2nd floor.

He narrowed his eyes. "Not a human foot print. The shape, maybe. But it was a suit. More suit than footprint." He turned his gaze to the other titans. "Think for a second on who it could've been. As soon as you give me a name, I'm leaving to go get her."

Dick began to protest, beginning a rant about the team sticking together, only for red highlights to race through Keith's silver hair and across the black body suit he wore. The red part of his ring gleamed brightly. He held his steel staff in one hand, and red hardlight condensed in his other hand as another staff. A lantern insignia appeared on Keith's chest, but this lantern had three different "containers" for the lantern's implied flame. Only one was lit, in a blood red color. "A name." Keith's voice was basically a growl now.

Every titan was very very scared of Keith at the moment. Dick hesitated for a split-second, before he let spill. "The only print that could match that and also have motive would be Adonis. He-" Dick didn't even get to finish. Keith was already gone, running literally across the sky on a bridge he created as he ran.

Keith had seen enough databases to know what Adonis and his suit looked like. In his rage mode, Keith found him in less than 5 minutes. He found Adonis pinning Raven down, gambling that the other Titans would show up. Keith leaped off of his hardlight bridge, just as Adonis was leaning forward to creepily lick Raven's face. Keith came down hard in front of the both of them. Neither had time to react before a hand made of red hardlight manifested in the air and made the sign language movement for "No", squashing Adonis in it. Adonis strained against it for a moment, long enough for Keith to float Adonis away from Raven.

He dropped the hand then, his red staff manifesting in one hand to accompany his steel one. It was almost a no contest. Adonis wasn't anywhere near fast enough. Keith spun both staffs at ludicrous speeds, charging forward again and again with heavy slams to Adonis' face.

When he was done with him, Adonis was breathing, but he hardly looked like Adonis anymore. His jaw was shattered, his nose was broken, the bones of his temple were cracked, and Adonis's left eyesocket had a fracture where his eyebrow was.

Satisfied that this man would be eating through a tube for a rather long foreseeable future, the red glow emanating from Keith died down. His suit and hair returned to normal, and he gunned it to Raven.

She was standing and had watched the whole thing. Keith came barreling toward her and dropped his staff on the way so he had free arms to wrap her in a protective-as-fuck hug. Her brain buffered for a second on what she had seen before she pushed it aside. It didn't really matter. She was more concerned with air at the moment, because Keith's hug was like a vicegrip. He tapped on his shoulder like one would tap out of a submission and Keith let go of the hug. He kissed her forehead and hugged her again, this one much less tight.

The other Titans showed up a second later, finding a very crippled Adonis and Keith and Raven looking...very intimate in their hug. Beast Boy huffed slightly and kicked some rocks off the roof of the building all of this took place on.

Dick sighed a bit to himself. 'Beast Boy, behave yourself please. I beg.' He silently pleaded.

Starfire giggled for a moment. "Finally. It was painful watching them beat around the bush so long." She flew over. Keith moved out of the way so the other Titans could have their moment.

Dick cleared his throat then, looking at Keith and tapping his foot. "So uh...what was all that red, Keith? Wanna fill us in on the three lanterns that were on your chest?"

Keith gulped slightly. "Ah...about that." He began explaining his ring and the experience he had moments before he killed Joker. Hal came floating down from somewhere, having sensed the use of the energy in Keith's ring.

Through the whole conversation, Raven stood next to Keith. They held hands, but they hid it behind Keith's broad back. The less conflict with Beast Boy, the better.