Chapter 13: Problem #1
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As soon as Raven got home she plopped her butt onto the couch.

"Well, that was an interesting day. I should call Matt." She looked at her phone, and then to the kitchen. "After I have some ice cream." The shoes flew off her feet, she flew off the couch, the cookies n' cream ice cream flew out the freezer, the spoon flew into her mouth.

She learned a lot about Beast Boy today. And she got invited in a trip with them in three weeks where she'll get to see them outside of the work place. She'll get to see them by themselves. She'll get to see them at their weakest.

Usually she can empathize with everyone, but this is because of her powers that don't give her a choice. She truly empathized with Beast Boy today. Even though both her parents are not dead, it feels like they are. Her mother died a long time ago. Her father is still out there...somewhere. She doesn't care enough to find out anyways. He never treated her right. She hoped that his parents treated Beast Boy well. They probably did seeing how he ended up.

...

What was she thinking??? She can't grow close with these people. She can't! She has to kill them. A lion doesn't make friends with the gazelle it's chasing; likewise, an assasin doesn't form bonds with her targets.

"Focus, Raven." She stopped shoveling cookies n' cream into her mouth and picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Matt?"

"What's up, Rave?"

"Work. I have a lot of things to tell you."

"Jesus you sound eager. Are you ok?"

"Uh...yeah. I just had half a pint of ice cream."

"What kind?"

"Cookies n'– hey!" Matt broke out into laughter on the other end.

"Sorry sorry. Go ahead."

"Ok first things first, Matt: Where were you at the meeting this morning? Everyone was supposed to be there."

"Oh...right...well, I was late."

"...Ok. Number two: I'm going on a trip with them."

"Oh is it that late spring vacation thing they do every year?"

"Mhm." Raven couldn't help but stuff more ice cream into her mouth.

"You're still eating ice cream aren't you?"

"Mmm." Another spoonful down the hatch. "No, I'm not." He noticed that Raven loosened up a little. He wasn't sure if that was from last night or if it was from the ice cream. If it was from the ice cream he was going to make sure that he gave her more sugar in the future. "Anyway, three: Garfield had an argument with Robin. Again."

"What else is new?"

"This time they told me why."

"Really?"

"Garfield got hammered and stoned on a Sunday night, and Robin acted like his father."

"Ohhh. That's what happened? No wonder they argue every twenty minutes."

"All Gar wants is an apology."

"What did Robin say?" Raven set the spoon down on the counter and threw the empty pint of ice cream into the garbage.

"I don't think I should say."

"Seriously, Raven? You don't care about him do you?" He tried to sound convincing.

"Uh...no. It's just...let's just say that it got kinda personal." Matt sighed heavily.

"Ok. When did you get on a first name basis with the man exactly?" Raven started stuttering as an oncoming blush warmed her cheeks.

"I, well...uhm..."

"Haha!" Matt laughed. "I love getting you nervous. You're cute."

"Stop calling me that, Matt."

"That's even cuter."

"Grr."

"Ha!"

"Fine. You're coming with me to the pet store then."

"Wait what?"

"You know how you told me to fix my problems asap? Well Lucy needs a friend while I'm gone all the time."

"You can't be serious."

"You did this to yourself, Pretty Boy." Raven smirked.

"Come on, Rave. You can't be serious. Is this seriously a problem?"

"Baby steps,Matt. Baby steps."

"Fine I'm on my way." Matt hung up. Was she getting soft?

She felt like she was forgetting something. Forgetting to tell him something.

Oh. Right. The phone call.

She didn't know what was stopping her from saying something. She knew that he should know. That it was important information that someone was threatening to hurt her and knows her secret identity. But she didn't want to tell him. She was hesitant to give up the information. It might cost her, but she decided to wait a little longer.

Matt showed up some 45 minutes later, giving Raven some time to change her clothes.

"Not wearing a dress to work, ever, again."

"Oh really? I saw you walking in the lobby. You looked kinda cute."

"Stop calling me cute." Raven spat back at him.

"Fine. If it makes you feel any better, now you look like some sort of emo preteen." Raven looked at herself. She had a black hoodie on, blue jeans, and black converse.

"Leave me alone, Matt and help me get Lucy. She's been hiding from me ever since I got off the phone with you."

"Isn't she usually all over you?"

"Yes. She loves people. But I haven't seen her since I came home." As soon as she said that a loud hiss came from the floor, followed by Matt's ankles getting decimated.

"Ouch! God f*cking dammit!"

"Lucy!" Raven picked up the cat and she hissed at Matt again. "Bad, bad Lucy!" Raven snatched up Lucy from the floor.

"What the heck was that, Raven?!"

"I have no idea. Lucy is usually very friendly." Lucy hissed again and crawled up on Raven's right shoulder. "Hold on." She bent down to his bloody ankles and her hands glowed blue as she touched the scratches.

Within seconds the scratches turned into light scars.

"Thanks. Now control your cat!" She looked at Lucy on her shoulder and shrugged.

"I suggest you just stop coming here in shorts."

"UGH."

With that they left. Matt didn't stand on Raven's right side though. He physically couldn't because Lucy threatened to scratch his face off every time he tried. The two eyed eachother all the way to the pet store.

The pet store they went into was huge. Huge and organized. Everything had a place and each place had everything. Dog supplies were over there, fish supplies and the fish themselves were in the back, birds and bird supplies were right next to them, cats were over there, and the adoption center was right near the entrance. Clever thing that did. Everyone seemed to notice the adoption center and make a beeline for it. Mindless zombies falling for the ploys of the business industry, just as planned by them. Disheartening for some, enlightening for others.

After thinking about this Raven realized that she's here for the same reason: to adopt another pet.

Hippocratical as she was she wasn't going there first. No she was going to go get cat food and toys then go get the cat.

Luckily for Matt, Lucy had fallen asleep on Raven's shoulder so he could stand close to her again.

"This place is a lot bigger since the last time I've been here." Matt stated as Raven looked for food.

"You have a pet, Matt?" He nodded.

"Sure I do. Three actually. A cat, a dog, and a parakeet."

"Doesn't that get annoying?" Raven hated parakeets. The fact that they whistled and spoke constantly annoyed her to no end. That's probably why Matt liked them.

"Not really. She's actually really shy so she doesn't make a lot of noise. Which is good because my cat hates loud noises."

"Not suprised. Lucy hates loud noises too. That's partially why I shut Agent off. Him working all the time gets kinda loud."

"Yeah my Agent mostly sticks to the living room like I tell her to. Ashly stays in my room."

"Ashly's your cat?"

"Yep. Ashly is a brown tabby, Boots is a beagle, and Dixxy is a canary-winged parakeet."

"Boots?" Raven asked skeptically. "How much Dora the Explorer did you watch before you got him?"

"Ha ha very funny, Raven. I call him that because his fur on his legs is shorter than the fur on his ankles and feet, so it looks like he's wearing boots. I don't get him groomed like that either. His fur just grows that way on its own." He says with a shrug.

"Eh. I guess it makes sense."

"His mother was my dog in my 4th year of college and she died a few months after he was born so I took care of him."

"That's sweet. Wait you could have dogs at your college?"

"I had my own appartment that allowed dogs. My roomates didn't mind her or Boots so they stayed."

"Wish my roomates were as cooperative as yours." Then their conversation stopped as Raven stepped and slipped on a squeaky toy and fell. The sudden force along with the loud noise shook Lucy up and she scratched Raven's neck before flying off into Matt's feet.

Matt picked Lucy up as gently as he could and then made his way to help Raven. Lucy seemed to have forgotten whatever malice she had towards Matt because she sat in his grasp quite calmly.

"Thanks. At least she seems to like you again." Matt shrugged.

"I guess? She's not scratching me so that's a good thing." Raven rubbed the side of her neck. "Ouch." Matt replied looking at the cuts on her neck.

"It's not a problem she's done this before." Raven pulled a bandage from her sweatshirt pocket and quickly patched herself up. "That should be enough until I can get home and disinfect it."

"Don't want you bleeding all over your black sweatshirt." Matt commented slyly. Raven grabbed Lucy from Matt and put her on her other shoulder.

"C'mon, Matt." She replied ignoring his comment.

They got to the adoption center and looked at the cats and kittens in the pen.

"'Scuze me, Miss, wouldja like to adopt a cat?" A female voice with a southern lilt asked behind her. Raven turned around to a very short and pudgy woman with her rose-brown hair in two pigtails draping over her shoulders. Her smile was warm and inviting. Raven didn't return it.

"Yes. Would it be okay if I let my kitten play around in there?"

"Why sure! Wanna make sure they like eachother before you have 'em livin' together!" Could be said for more than just cats.

"Thanks, ma'am." Matt replied. Raven let Lucy into the pen and she sat patiently for something. Probably for one of the cats to come up to her. Quite reflective of the way Raven acts.

Lucy was a small thing. Smaller than most of the kittens there. Especially the full grown cats. The first one that came up to her was a standard grey tabby. "That there's Axel. He likes lookin'. Doesn't do much else than stare at people." The woman explained. Nothing much to him, just as she said. He just sat in front of Lucy and cocked his head to the side. He seemed to be examining her. Although he probably wasn't. Axel soon strode away.

The next one that came up to her was a cat that looked about three years old. A snowy white Persian with green eyes. Interesting thing it was. It was hyper that's for certain. "Ooh! That's Puff! She's always out n' about. Always movin' and never stoppin'!" She quickly circled around Lucy, very exited about something. Probably the fact that there was a new cat. Lucy was not having it though. She hissed at Puff and she dropped her tail and backed away. Not very assertive.

The third one was a blonde birman with two different colored eyes. Blue and green. It was a kitten for sure. Very small, but still bigger than Lucy. "Wow. Seth came out. He usually dodn't decide to leave his cage." Seth examined Lucy for a bit as Axel had done. But Lucy didn't look as complacent as she did with Axel. She looked interested. Seth dragged over a squeaky fish toy to Lucy. Lucy stared at it, and as chewed up as it was, she took it in her mouth and played with it. "Aww! Seth offered your kitty Mr. Flippers!"

"Mr. Flippers?" Matt asked skeptically. "Seriously?"

"Yes!" The woman's face was beaming. "Seth would always attack the other cats if they did so much as went near Mr. Flippers! But he gave 'em to yer kitty!"

Raven put her hand over Seth and he backed away. Raven kept her hand there and Seth slowly came back and slid his head under her palm.

"Looks like he likes you too, Rave."

"Does he wander?" Raven asked the woman.

"Not really no. He's found a way to leave the building on his own yes, but he's never run away."

"Hmm."

Raven and Matt walked out of the pet store with bags of cat food, litter, and toys in their hands, and Seth and Lucy with Mr. Flippers in her teeth on Raven's shoulders.