[DC] Raven Lunacy (OC in Teen Titans)

[Ace Dreamer]

AN: There are scenes in the second half of this which might... disturb some. 'Advanced nudity' might be one description. I don't think these are NSFW, by 2020CE standards, but, things have changed even over my lifetime... Please be Warned. But, otherwise, enjoy!

---

Walking on the Moon. Not something you generally plan, as a leisure activity. Unless, you're Superman, I guess. But, I'm doing it.

I'm 'taking it easy'. Raven still isn't happy with my spiritual health. I've permission to make light use of my spiritual abilities, which, apparently includes Dimension Walking. But, I'm to avoid chi-stuff, which strains me at all, particularly the combat side. The tie-in between 'spirit' and 'chi'. I could've sworn Master Roshi was sulking.

Raven made it quite clear, in the presence of everyone, that my training was suspended. All my training, bar basic Tai Chi. No, she hasn't told them how I was injured. Nurse took a scan of me, but said she dealt with physical health. Not the sorts of spiritual strain she could see I was suffering from, with her spirit 'sight'.

'Belt and braces' was a motto of my father. Redundant systems, in particular when the consequences of failure are likely deadly. So, Raven loaned me the protection bracelet, to lock on my wrist, and, I'm wearing an alch-tech belt, from last night's salvage. The sort of thing that'd make the bikini fantasies of early 20th Century science fiction magazine artists feasible. I am, of course, dressed a lot more sensibly.

After all, if something goes wrong, I might have to kick somebody. Which reminds me. While I was out, lazing in the city, my boots arrived. My Best Boots. All three pairs. Built to order. With all the little pockets and special hiding places. I've got a pair of knives in them, but, I've not loaded-up anything else. Except, a spare chi-focus crystal, generously provided by Raven. In each boot. You never know...

---

A couple of subjective hours to get from Tower to Moon. I'd started by walking about the Earth, visiting places, looking for best routes off-planet. Not expecting there'd be much in the way of Lunar visitors, so following the well-trod paths wouldn't work. Seeing as I was in my robe, with the cowl up, I didn't expect much danger, but, still cautious.

I found a good route in Japan, a place where 'moon viewing' festivals were traditionally held. Some careful levitation, and the paths opened. Flight is so useful, even with my pathetic speed. I'm pretty sure none of the locals spotted me, but, it seemed a reasonable risk.

Now, on the border, tween Near and Far Side. Near the North Pole. In Nansen Crater. No Moon Base here, of course. And, I don't think I'd easily pull the resources together to build one. Likely years, maybe decades, of work, given my meagre skills. But, I could walk, fly slowly, peer into craters looking for ice, rub a handful of dust, experience that gunpowder smell.

I'd never been to the Moon, before coming to this world. But, I'd shared the mind of someone who'd lived there for years, one of my sisters. A bit of an oversight, on my part, but, there'd always been more things to do, on Earth.

I've my excuse for being here. Trying-out another hobby. A high-quality camera. Taking snaps of Moon, and Earth. Classic Earth-from-Moon stuff, backdrop of darkest velvet pricked with sharp holes. Sharp-edged shadows on Lunar surface. Close-up of my boot-print in Lunar 'soil'.

Nothing professional, but, once developed, they'd entertain me. After all. I'd been.

Walking on the Moon.

---

Down to Earth. Back in the Tower. Subjective and objective time seem to match-up, which is good. I'd prefer to avoid Time Walking. That, according to Raven, can be really, really, dangerous. Though, faster, or slower, into the future, as long as you don't double-back, not too bad.

Again, for practice, I try and dimension walk (d-walk?) around the common areas of the Tower. Tricky. In many cases I could have run, even flown, there more quickly. But, ways of getting from 'A' to 'B', without going through the physical space, in-between, always useful. I do note that I can't get into the sub-sub-basement, where the med-bay is. Best I can manage, and that requires a weird route, delivers me outside the armoured doors. Looks like the more subtle bits of Raven's wards are working well.

Seeing as I'm here, even though I know it's pretty late, seems reasonable to visit... Nurf. Personal names, as this isn't business. Another one, like Raven and me, who normal human sleep patterns evade.

She's started her imprinting process, using the seventh bed, and I can see through the cover a metre, about three-foot, tall, blue figure, in medical whites, lying there. She's unsure how long it'll take, but, apparently there's currently no problems. As I'm here a bit of tinkering with the construction robots, one or two of them need minor repairs or adjustment. I don't think that's bending Raven's instructions. Much.

Nurf says the imprinting can be done in parallel with healing, or flesh-growth. So, I try an experiment. Lie in one of the beds, dressed but bootless, attempt to astral project. Then, move astrally to my workshop, not bothering with little details of it being dark. I can feel the faintest sparks of spirit in my various me-shaped robots, arguably less than deep-frozen vegetables. So, I select one I've put aside, carefully without a latex skin, with certain modifications, but... ready. Batteries fully charged.

Now, for the tricky bit. I've often used the mind interface to drive one of these robots, my radio collar, or, even a test cable. I'm going to try something different... A little careful feeling around, and... Click. I'm in the body. Am the body. A trick previously I'd only known my father to do. Though, a body naked in ways most humans would find horrifying. The voids, the lack of skin...

There's a spare focus-crystal, in a drawer. I'm going to need all the help I can get. Relaxation. Meditation. It doesn't feel like any of the chi-stuff is currently accessible, which is novel. But, seeing as my living body is several floors away, quite reasonable. And...

I'm dimension walking. In a naked, skin-less, robot body. I really hope no one sees me, but, it really is very late.

---

My scouted route seems to work, I'm back outside the armoured doors. Nurse is a little puzzled, but lets me in. And, I walk over, lie-down, in the bed next to the one my living body's in. Sit-up again. Carefully wipe my skinless hands and feet clean. No reason to be rude. And... Lie, again.

Phew! I think I may've got away with that. We'll see. I'll check the surveillance systems, later. Maybe, with Nurse, mark some scenes as 'private'. Maybe some areas of my workshop need better securing? Might be wise to go back over historic records, mark some bits as 'private'? Again, for later.

My robot body is a little 'sticky', but I astral project out of it. Return to my fleshy body, It feels... squishy. A sensation I've hardly noticed since my arrival in this world. Carefully sit-up.

"Am I OK, Nurf?"

"You seem to be. That was pretty strange. My crew got pretty weird, before the end. But, even they didn't body-swap like that. You are skilful. And, yes, I'm impressed."

I turn, kneeling in the bed, and grin at her avatar, on the big screen.

"So. You know what I'd like you to do?"

"Yes, it's pretty obvious. The attachment points and nerve interfaces are quite clear. They match the plans you gave me. Probably best if you put a cover over that bed, put a 'Do Not Remove' note on it. I'll start to see if the support biologicals will grow in their pockets, then, we'll try a few experimental patches of skin. Based on your life pattern, of course."

"Thanks."

"You'd better be careful, though. We transhumans don't want to upset the poor, limited, humans, do we?"

It is with great dignity that I stick my tongue out at her.

And, she grins, widely.

---

AN: Belt and braces, not necessarily a bad idea when you're playing games in hard vacuum...

AN: You might take a interest in spacesuits in fiction...

AN: Tsukimi, yes, there are such festivals...

AN: Yes, it does exist. Lunar ice, well, we'll see how much of that there is.

AN: In case you're interested, transhuman.

Spoiler: Then, there's the Police's little tune...

Maybe you want to check-out the lyrics...

A reasonably 'tame' one:

NASA:

 

[Ace Dreamer]

Raven Lunacy, Episode 32

AN: There's some horror elements in this, from the start. Fair warning.

---

Choking. Can't breathe. Can't move. Can't open my eyes.

I force my eyes open, and my third eye opens with them. I'm lying on my back. In my room, on my bed. Paralysed. There's something crouched on my chest. Not living, or there physically, and it's mother saw far too many horror films while pregnant. Four, red, eyes, Short horns. And, it's breathing in my face.

My chi seems locked-away. Short-circuited, somehow. Even though I can feel I'm wearing my focus crystal. So, I gather my will. Flail at it mentally.

It looks a bit surprised, but not too bothered. I focus. Rip my spirit leg free from my body. Knee it somewhere it's not likely to enjoy. Its hiss flails at me, but I've weakened it's grip. Roll out of my body, leap into the air, float, kick it repeatedly. Till it stops twitching.

Then, I concentrate, fly over, pull a spirit image of restraints and cord from my belt-kit. Don't quite hog-tie it, but it's not going anywhere under it's own power. I grab my knife, make sure there's two knives in my boots.

---

Raven's room, half-a-dozen smaller things are mobbing her. She's barely holding them off. And, I can see her control is fraying, as she stands over her physical body, lying on the bed.

A thrown knife, causes some surprise, and a fallen... imp? A charge, and we've a three-way battle. Two onto five is better than one onto six. That I'm levitating, sometimes inverted, seems to help. Then four, three. And Raven reaches out with paired immense black claws, crushes the final two.

We look at each other.

"What about the others?" I'm not going to worry we said that simultaneously.

---

Kory is floating in the air, beating an imp with her sword. She doesn't seem to be properly conscious, and her body's still lying in her bed. The imp has a shield, held over it's head, as it cowers on the floor, and that's stopping most of the sword blows. A black spike extends from Raven's hand, and it's no more.

Kory floats there, dazed. Raven quickly grabs the teddy bear, in the Raven costume, from the bed. and lures Kory back into her body.

And... The next.

---

There're crunching noises from Garfield's room. Raven sticks her head through the door, then rapidly pulls back, looking a bit sick.

Robin... Raven wraps him in mystic bonds, drives a golden spike through his head, into his pillow. If this is anti-imp possession first aid, I'm not sure I want to learn it.

In Cyborg's room there's a strange, spiritual mess, on his bed. As if someone heavy rolled over in their sleep, and surprised an imp. He's not present, Raven gazes off, says he's having a hot drink.

Terra looks OK, though she's having a nightmare. There's no sign of Master Roshi. What a surprise.

---

Raven knocks on my door, once I've returned to my body. I've thrown my robe on, over pyjamas, forced my bared feet into my boots, while grabbing my 'mystic pouch'. That's still a bit empty, but I've chalk and crystals in it. The wizard-gifted ring's on my finger.

She's fully-dressed, probably by some magic short-cut, and a pair of large, iron-bound, chests are floating in her shadow, behind her. I indicate the faint distortion, on my carpet.

"Good enough. It'll keep till later." After a swift assessment.

She strides towards Robin's room. "I had to pin him, or who knows what the imp'd do with his body. Best to act quickly. On balance, I need your help more than I'm concerned with his privacy."

At his door she says a minor Word, gestures, and I hear locks breaking as it opens. The room is unremarkable, a computer, pretty cutting-edge, on the desk, next to some papers. Bookshelves where I carefully don't look at the titles. Lots of file boxes. A costume on a stand. Neat, but not terminally so. And, on the bed, barely breathing, an unmasked boy.

Who looks unremarkable. And doesn't look at all familiar. Why was he so worried?

I help Raven pull-up the carpet, move the bed to the centre of the room. I notice we're just using physical strength, presumably for some good reason. A circle, with symbols, Raven-drawn around the bed. I get to unpack, set-up crucibles, on stands. Put incense into them. Place candles. From my limited knowledge, Raven's going all-out.

Chanting, I get the lower voice. Mystic gestures by Raven. A black shadow is slowly pulled from Robin's body. It reminds me of Raven's soul-form, for some reason. An imp is held in its jaws, presumably a sacrifice once its job was done.

It glares at Raven, with four red eyes. Then, fades. Raven lets-out a big breath.

"I was wise to be cautious. That looks like one of my father's greater servants. You were attacked by one of his lesser ones. Everything else was imps."

She thinks for a few moments.

"Either one of his clever, multi-level, plans. Or, somewhere on Earth he's got a servant who's a bit mad. Hard to know which."

"Or, something we've not thought of?" It seems wise to ask.

"There's that." And she nods.

---

Early morning. Well before normal breakfast. Everyone's gathered, most looking rather tired. Except Beast Boy, who is smacking his lips, looking a bit puzzled. Master Roshi's slipped in, and looks quite unruffled.

Raven has the floor. Robin is sitting, holding his head.

"Tonight we were attacked by demonic imps, who tried to possess us in our sleep. It isn't completely clear what they wanted, and I didn't get much useful information from the one Sugoi captured, before it was summoned away." She nods towards me, and I nod back.

"I think we can assume that we've got at least one powerful enemy who can summon unpleasant creatures, and somehow sneak them through the mystic defences I've placed around the Tower. Obviously, I'll be investigating."

She looks around.

"Any questions?"

Beast Boy raises his hand.

"Just one. Why can't I get this nasty taste out of my mouth?"

---

AN: Nine points of the law is an old phrase...

AN: This bit on sleep paralysis may interest some...

AN: There's (Mysticism Warning) some strange beliefs around...

 

[Ace Dreamer]

Raven Lunacy, Episode 33

'Benched'. Again. And the Team are out. Investigating. With Terra.

I'm not even supposed to do vigorous physical stuff, now. Never mind anything which strains my spirit, or chi. Apparently last night's astral fight did even more spiritual damage. I don't feel terrible, but, my mental focus, normally crystal-clear, seems a bit... fuzzy. Meditation gives me reasonable clarity, for a while. Then, it goes fuzzy again.

Seeing as I've been left here, I consult with Master Roshi, about what I might do. He thinks for a while, then, suggests really slow Tai Chi Sword drill. Recalling Robin's comment about my poor form, this doesn't seem a bad idea. That I have to be told to slow down, several times, suggests that it was sensible. It does seem to help, centre me, mentally and physically.

Then, on to really slow Tai Chi. Some work with falling carefully, keeping total control all the way to the ground. He has to step-in, catch me, once or twice. Rising to my feet just as slowly. Balance. Then, doing it all again, blindfolded. Obeying instructions, like, "Stop! There's a wall right in front of you".

Always, "Do it again, more slowly". For someone who was being so very careful, Master Roshi was really good at training which tortures. With frustration, if nothing else.

---

We'd done a bit more Tower checking, even before breakfast. I went down, checked Nurse was OK. She hadn't even realised there was a problem, which was both good, and bad. We needed to put-in links to at least the surveillance system for the common areas, so she stayed informed. But, it looked as though Raven's wards had protected the whole med-bay, quite effectively. Of course, there were no sleeping minds there, so, maybe nothing to attract the imps?

Raven had meditated, for a few minutes. Then, gone and fetched the appropriate tools, walked around the outside of the Tower, even levitated around the edges of the top of the 'T'. Come back in, just as most of the team were starting breakfast. Sat down. Breathed out. Started eating.

"Well? You know what's wrong?" Beast Boy, at least, wasn't being patient.

She finished chewing her current mouthful. Swallowed. Glanced over at him, then down again at her food.

"No. All is as it should be. No holes, no ruptures. Nothing."

She took another bite, slowly chewed it. Then a careful sip of her morning coffee. A sigh.

"The defences are solid. But, by their very nature, the way people must be able to come and go through them, including the mail-man, and food deliveries, they have to be 'open', in a way that those on the med-bay are not."

"Where?" Beast Boy looks confused.

Raven looks at him.

"Just kidding! Of course I know about that!" And he pats the back of his head.

Robin's been uncharacteristically silent. Slowly eating his food with total attention. He visibly pulls himself together.

"Right. If we can't find anything wrong here, we're going to have to go out. Looking for trouble. Yes, we'll likely be attacked. But, we'll learn from that, more about our enemy."

---

After a mostly quiet lunch with Master Roshi, I go down to my workshop. Though he did make one comment.

"There'll be times like this, as long as you're being a hero. Where you have to watch your friends go out, maybe get killed. While you're unable to help. All you can do is focus on healing. Not overdoing it. But, you will go out with them, fight alongside them. You just need to pace yourself, learn patience."

I was not wiping a tear from my eye. It was dust or something. Honest.

---

I spent the afternoon working, slowly, on team radios. I could see how to solve the problem with alch-tech, though, I'd likely have to miniaturise some bits.

But, conventional tech, no. There were just so many things that could go wrong, radio 'shadows', reflections from buildings, interference, accidental or intentional. Of course, a grid of repeaters, across the city, would help. Or, maybe using cell phone infrastructure. But, none of that was good enough, under the pressure of combat.

One of the reasons for slow progress was the need to keep stopping, meditating, to regain my focus. During one of those sessions I realised the answer was to ask Raven to enchant the team radios, once I'd done as good a job as I could. Just like my radio collar.

Not a perfect solution, but something with electronics, and having batteries that needed to be charged, would likely keep Robin happy, if nothing else. Either that or I needed to get a physics-bending super-scientist involved, and that meant a whole extra set of issues. Pity it wasn't really Cyborg's field.

Almost reflexively I try and open my third eye. Look around the workshop. Ow. I say. Ow.

After maybe five minutes my head stops swimming, and my physical eyes are no longer blurred. I'm beginning to think that they were quite right in banning me from from any activity. Meditation. Fifteen minutes of that and I no longer feel terrible. How long will it take me to recover from this?

–-

Evening meal, and no sign of the team. Alone, this time, because Roshi's gone off, somewhere. While I was relaxing, reading another Kory-loaned fantasy novel, a phone call from Robin. No, I'd tried to read one of my math books. But, fuzzy head and math do not go well together. Who knew?

"We've met Starfire's sister. Blackfire. After a difficult day. We're doing..." I can almost hear gritted teeth... "team-building, with a visit to a club. Don't expect us back until late."

Well. That happened.

---

Yes, they were late. Arrived back, looking a lot more relaxed than this morning. Though, Starfire's unusually quiet. People supper, go off to bed. I could take a hint, so I also retired.

Raven appeared to have a headache. Apparently 'Goth Boy', whoever that is, spiked her drink. I expect her revenge was legendary.

A couple of hours later. Cyborg has called Raven, she called me, down to the front door. There's a dark-haired girl, dressed in combat clothes, of Starfire's style, though her skin is tanned Caucasian. She's half-collapsed, holding herself up by the door post. No, I don't know her.

"Friend Cyborg? Friends Raven, Sugoi? Don't you recognise me?"

---

AN: Not another cliff-hanger!

AN: I found this bit on cell/mobile phone signal interesting...

 

[Ace Dreamer]

Raven Lunacy, Episode 34

Blackfire. At the Tower. Talking like Starfire. Not suspicious. One. Little. Bit.

Raven looks her over. Sighs. Looks at me. That isn't ominous, at all...

"Sugoi. You are at liberty to refuse this. But, I've little choice. Goth Guy spiked my drink. My psychic powers haven't worked, since then. I'm pretty good at throwing-off things like that, but, I haven't yet." Another sigh.

"With your permission I will magically link to you, and provide the power so that I can use your Third Eye. I doubt that it will be pleasant, but, there shouldn't be... any longer term complications."

"Yes?" My voice didn't just sound small and pathetic, did it?

"Just to be clear. It's a sort of possession." I gulp.

"Yes?"

She looks at me, shakes her head. Gets out a small ritual knife, pricks her thumb.

"Now. Repeat after me. 'I, Sugoi, give permission to my master, Raven, to link to me, just this one time, and only for the purpose of making use of my Third Eye.' ."

I do.

And, it all goes dark.

---

My eyesight returns after a little while. It wasn't actually painful, but it was as if I'd stepped to one side, let someone else run my body. Use my senses. I see a red light fade from Raven's eyes, and a memory slowly surfaces in my mind. Absently, I take the cloth Raven hands me, wipe the smear of blood from my forehead, and hand it back to her. Doing that seems to make things a lot more real.

The memory is of a tide of power flooding into me, kicking my mage sight in, letting me see the river of magical energy running from Raven. Raven is a nova of power, Cyborg is barely there, and there's a dark aura about Blackfire's head.

Another level kicks-in, and with it my chi-sight, showing Raven, Blackfire and Cyborg as living beings connected to the world. Something's... wrong with Blackfire, but, I couldn't tell exactly what.

Then, another surge and my spirit-sight ignites. I'm almost sick at the memory. Cyborg looks OK, though the spirit energies in his metal parts are a bit weird. Raven has a green-purple pool in her stomach area, and her spiritual aura looks far weaker than I've ever seen. Blackfire...

I can see Starfire's spirit hanging over her, with her right fist inside the head of Blackfire's body. She looks to be really sick, but, concentrating. And, I can see bright ribbons of spirit energy reaching out from her fist, into Blackfire's limbs.

That's different.

---

Raven got Cyborg to scan 'Blackfire' for any strange technology. Very little, but he removed what I think was a communicator, and a concealed energy pistol, put them in a lock-box, not far inside the door. Probably sensible.

I helped Starfire stagger Blackfire up to the lounge. Sat her down at a far edge, in shadow. Then, using my radio collar, I tinkered with the building control systems to dim the lounge lights, except for a brightly-lit clear area, near the main doors.

The rest of the team have been summoned, told to take their time to dress properly, but come urgently. Robin was first - I swear he must've trained to dress quickly. Then Beast Boy, who I suspect of having some sort of power to help. Terra, rubbing sleep from her eyes. Finally, Starfire, doing blank-face.

Cyborg stands by the doors, arms crossed, looking grim. At some point Master Roshi has slipped in, but that's hardly surprising.

Raven starts.

"Starfire. What happened to Blackfire? I didn't see her after I... remonstrated with the fool in dark clothes?"

"Yeah! It was really good! She hung him in mid-air, by his pants, put his head in a big drop of water. His make-up ran, and he looked like a goldfish!"

Beast Boy looks around. Everyone's looking at him. "OK. I can take a hint. I'll shut-up." I think I hear him mutter, as he does a strange side-to-side gesture at his collar, "Tough crowd".

"She must have wandered off? Things were winding-down, maybe she had somewhere to go?" Not the best Starfire impersonation I've heard, but not terrible...

Raven just looks at her, "If you want to pretend to be Starfire, you need to smile a lot more".

Starfire floats up into the air, energy flickering about her fists, "Fine! So you found me out! I'm the better sister, anyway, if you want someone on your team, choose me. After all..."

She pulls out a metal circlet, crushes it in one hand, and before we can do anything tosses it into the air, star-bolts it.

"That's the Janus Crown. Or, it was. Even if you can find her spirit, you can never put it back in her body. This is my body now, and I have all her power!"

"I don't think so", Raven pulls out a black gem, that seems to suck the room-light into it. Holds it up. It somehow glows even darker.

A flash of sunlight, that doesn't hurt my eyes, drawn from Starfire's body, into the gem. She falls from the air, on her knees.

"What have you done?"

"I used something Starfire gave me, a prison gem once used on her, by her captors, to restrain her powers. She gave it to me as a 'just in case'. I used magic on it to draw almost all of the solar energy out of your body. Almost all, because I wouldn't want to physically harm you."

Raven looks over at the figure in the shadows.

"Kory? If you want to try and return to your body, I'm make sure you have a safe path."

"No!" Blackfire doesn't seem very happy with the idea...

---

Being currently spiritually blind I can't see much of what follows.

Raven steps forward, draws her ritual knife, and slices her thumb. Then, smears blood across the forehead of the kneeling figure. The knife drops, to hang in the air with a red glow, her other hand is held out, in a sort of grasping gesture. After a little while the kneeling figure slumps to the floor, and Raven closes her grasping hand into a fist.

"I wonder what I should do with this?"

The figure on the ground stirs, "Please, Raven. Do not further harm her".

I'm pretty sure we know who is who, now.

The others haven't moved, much, letting Raven run things. Robin looks grim. Cyborg stoic. Beast Boy has a seriously dropped jaw. Terra... she's fainted. And, Master Roshi is nodding.

Raven strides over into the shadows. "Bring the lights up", she says, absently. I do.

We can all see Blackfire's body, slumped in the chair. Raven touches her free hand to the forehead, concentrates, shakes her head.

"Really thoroughly broken. It's amazing Starfire managed to walk it here. Something essential must have been lodged in the destroyed artefact. The natural mind-body interface?"

Cyborg kneels down, lifts ex-crown dust which trickles through his fingers. Then fades away. He shakes his head. Robin is still standing watching, combat-ready. Beast Boy seems to be looking hard, into the remaining shadows. Roshi kneels next to Terra, carefully rolls her on one side, the recovery position, looks at her carefully, then holds a thumb up.

Starfire rises to her feet, with difficulty, staggers over.

"Will she die?"

"I can't put her spirit back into this body. Not without a lot of work. I could try and create a new body, stuff her into that. But, without a template working body for me to copy, there's no guarantee she'd be stable. And, I need to put her somewhere, she doesn't have the training to survive, otherwise." She sighs, looks at me.

"Sugoi? You're growing flesh, down in the med-bay, on to one of those robot bodies of yours. Empty, but fit to house a spirit. If it's stable, could you bring it up?"

"You know about that?"

"I am your teacher."

---

Over an audio-link I check with Nurse. She's been working hard, the basic organs are all in place, and there's a test patch of skin. That seems... suspiciously quick. The body should be stable to decant, so between us Nurse and I wrangle some robots to bring it up, with a sheet to maintain some dignity.

Interesting that Nurse seemed to think remote control of robots needed a specific request. I'll have to check that out, later.

Beast Boy's obviously decided attack isn't imminent, gone into the kitchen, fetched a large pot of hot chocolate. Good choice.

He's serving it, and Master Roshi takes some to feed to a groggy Terra. As the gurney is worker-bot rolled into the room. Master Roshi helps Terra to a chair, and she looks on, wide-eyed.

Raven inspects the delivered body, lifting the sheet so she, but no one else, gets a good look. Nods.

"A good basis to work from. Sugoi? Give me one of your blank crystals, and get me a little blood from Blackfire's body." It seems wise to obey.

Raven hums to herself, or, maybe conceals words I'd prefer not to hear in that. After a few minutes she holds up a now-orange crystal, and I notice she's stopped holding one hand in a fist. I hand her a now-bloody needle, fetched from my belt medical kit. She nods, absently.

More mumbling, that I try not to hear clearly. The body on the gurney gets longer, grows a bit more... chest. She picks the orange crystal, from where it was hung by a red thread in the air, thrusts it towards the concealed head, and, twists. There's a gasp of air from the body...

Or, I guess I should now say, 'Blackfire'.

She sits up, revealing a face with the same orange skin as Starfire, Blackfire's hair. Clutches the sheet to her, avoiding showing things... some might wish to see.

"What have you Done to me?"

"Saved your life. Now, Sleep."

The figure slumps, again. Raven makes a complex gesture, and the sheet turns to vapour, flows over to cover the empty body in the chair, as the clothes it was wearing do the reverse. There's some magic worth learning for quick change!

Though, the 'red eye' Raven's showing might put some students off. I get the impression she's used a lot more magic today than she'd prefer.

She murmurs in a low voice, just for my ears, "Sorry to steal your robot body, I'll find some way to make it up to you", then turns to Robin.

"Robin?"

He starts, "Yes?".

"Didn't you tell me, privately, there were some interstellar warrants out for Blackfire? But, the space police were still negotiating with US authorities?"

"Yes..."

"I think that", and Raven gestures at the sheet-covered body in the chair, "gets stored in that place you've got in the med-bay, the not-morgue". She gives me a mild look, turns back to Robin.

"And, I think we've got someone to hand to the space police."

---

AN: Raven's doing a lot with foreheads in this - I hope there's not a fetish I don't know about... (I should've (SFW) known better, shouldn't I?)

AN: In case you wondered, tough crowd. Possibly made popular by Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn, but you probably need to go back to Rodney Dangerfield.

AN: Probably wise to mention Janus, though 'Buffy' fans are very likely to be quite aware of his connection with changes...

AN: I expect you all know about the recovery position...

AN: Yes, I know, 'space police' is a very general term. However, better than 'crab Terminators'. Please excuse Raven, she's rather tired.

 

[Ace Dreamer]

Raven Lunacy, Episode 35

So late it's morning. But, we have Starfire back. A few day's sunshine and she should be at full power again. Or, 'tasteless' sun-bed time to speed things up. Unfortunately, the 'dark gem' doesn't have a reverse setting. Raven's unsure what it does with the stolen power.

Master Roshi approaches Raven. Though I notice he waits till Robin's left the room.

"Your battle leader. I'm sure he's good at tactics, but I doubt his strategy. You've been shaken, weakened. Your enemy, enemies, will not give you time to recover, heal. They'll weaken you further. Turn you against each other, if they can. If you can do anything to speed things up, now is the time to do it." He pauses for a few moments.

"Lady Wizard."

And, he bows to her, steps back, nods to the rest of us, and leaves.

"Cyborg, Sugoi, Terra. Help me with these two, and Starfire. The one in clothes we'll put in a locked spare room, she'll sleep as long as I want, the one in the sheet goes down to the med-bay, with the rest of us."

"Raven?" She looks at me.

"When you switched the clothes for the sheet the skin colours changed as well. Original Blackfire is now orange-skinned, clothed Blackfire is white Caucasian. Should we check why?"

She pauses. "Good eyes. I'd missed that."

We search the clothed Blackfire. There's a concealed piece on her harness, about three centimetres (a bit more than an inch) in diameter. A still dazed Starfire looks at it, declares it's an 'image modulator', used by some aliens to fit-in better on other worlds. Raven suggests that it's nice her sister has gifted her that. Though a bit dubious, Starfire accepts it.

---

We're down in the med-lab. The original Blackfire is in a not-morgue tray. Or, as I call it, a 'Suspended Animation Bed'. They're sealed well-enough to stop dehydration, and as long as the power lasts they can sit there, unchanging, forever. Of course, before that she'd had a thorough scan, which Nurse said, first-pass, showed she was physically healthy.

The actual med-beds, if a not-corpse is transferred to one of those, can safely revive them. Though, there's some careful 'handling' requirements. Not a perfect system, but something I'd assembled from salvaged starship 'low berth' spares. Certainly better than dying. No, we're not going to use them for convenient prisoner storage.

Starfire has lain on a bed. Due to doing so previously Nurse has a baseline, for her. Says she's overall healthy, just low in 'cellular energy'. Extra-powerful sun-beds could be rigged, preferably here, so Nurse could be wired directly into sensors.

Next, Raven had a surprise for Terra. "Strip."

"What?"

"Behind that screen. Put on that hospital gown. You collapsed, we are going to check nothing's wrong with you."

Terra gulps, comes out in the gown. In the meanwhile, Cyborg's left us to get on with it. Presumably he thinks Raven can handle Terra.

"And the underclothes. The lot. Everything."

Reluctantly she complies.

Raven looks at her, critically. "Good. There's no longer carefully-hidden magical interference coming from you. Lie down on a bed. Now we check your health. Properly."

This time Terra gives clear readings. Physically, in excellent shape, arguably, too good. Mentally... Her brain, clear distortions, in the emotion-handling areas. Signs of developing issues in her judgement centres. Really, not good news. I'm glad I studied-up, so I can make sense of this stuff.

"Nurse? What do you think?" Raven wants a professional's opinion...

"There's some booster drugs that produce effects like that. Reprogram the body, optimal strength, better reflexes, increased intelligence, faster healing. Short-term, seem to increase self-control. Poor man's super-soldier treatment, or 'instant' athlete, banned in a lot of places." She sighs.

"The reason is... Longer-term, emotional disturbance, possible delusions of persecution, full-blown paranoia, tendencies towards self-harm. Fortunately, no increased cancer risk. Treatable, particularly as it looks like an early case. I can synthesise drugs, antidotes to this one. Once I've done that, probably a week's work, a couple of one-hour sessions a day. Should fix the current level of damage."

"But, Slade said it'd help me control my powers!"

Nurse's tone changes. "Young lady, the increased intelligence will give you short-term better control, longer term, you'll be a lot worse off. You need to work with someone who knows how your powers work, preferably who has them themselves. Or, get and wear some sort of control device, that'll let you learn to control your powers, yourself."

"But... The only one with powers like me is my brother! And, he'll never help me!"

"There are other ways to solve the problem", Nurse continues, "there's several ways to disable your powers, with drugs, or surgery. Or, drastic things like transferring your brain to a newly-cloned body. Those are all procedures that I'd need command authorisation to do."

I've a nasty suspicion I know who Nurse's 'command authority' is...

Raven takes over.

"Terra. You can disbelieve us, think we're trying to trick you in some way. Turn you against Slade, who has your best interests at heart. Or, you can think for yourself, figure out who you trust." She pauses for a moment.

"Who put you somewhere carrying something that opened your sleeping place to a demon invasion? Were you warned about that?" I think Raven's maybe being a bit cruel, but...

"I'll... trust you. For now. But, I'll be watching you! In case you try and trick me."

That sounds a little paranoid, to me, but, maybe justified...

"Nurse?", Terra addresses her, directly. "You'll answer questions for me? Truthfully?"

"I can't lie about medical matters. Be silent, yes. but not lie."

I approve of that. An AI lying, about their core function, is really bad news.

"Am I going to die? Will Slade's drugs kill me?"

"They wont kill you, physically. But, they will alter your mind, your personality, and some would rather die than have that happen."

"Can you stop them? Will I become just a weak teenager, again?"

"Yes, I can halt the changes. You'll keep all your current improvements, except the fast healing. You'll still heal faster than a normal human, though."

"Why doesn't everyone do that, then?"

"Because, unless the doses of antidote are very carefully controlled you'll become very sick. Possibly suffer muscular, nervous, damage. Fortunately, I'm highly skilled in this, some of my previous... patients were fond of... excessive self-medication. And, I had to fix the problems."

Raven coughs.

"Now I've had a chance to look at Terra, without her magical blurring, her problems look similar to those of some over-powerful young magi, in training. A combination of meditation, mental control exercises, and in extreme cases, magical power dampening, and they gain full control of their powers. I'm sure I could enchant, say, bracelets that would let Terra control the limits of her powers."

There's brief silence.

"Would you? What's in it for you?" Not a completely planned question, I think.

"If I don't help you then I think Beast Boy would get very, very, upset. And, he's my friend, so by extension you are."

"Oh."

---

Terra seems a lot happier. Raven has her talisman, a 'nasty piece of work', she says. Draws on the wearer's life force, for power. Terra's OK, because that was reinforced by Slade's drug treatment, but any more normal person... She's gone off to her room, to think about things, hopefully get some sleep.

I get to ask about the suspiciously swift robot skinning. Raven explains that she fast-forwarded the med-bay, a couple of times. The first to see if rest would flush the anti-psychic drug from her body; it didn't, and then it was time to confront Blackfire. The second time while we were actually confronting her. She thought a third time should be, safe, probably, but after that it'd be months before the trick could be safely used. 'Dimensional tides', again.

Before that, I get Raven to lie on a bed. Talk her through taking down her defences, so Nurse can scan her. Apparently she's had them up, continuously, for months, and it was a real relief to relax. Raven had the weirdest readings I've seen. While most of her's standard human, bits of her just go off in directions that don't exist, and that the scanner can't follow. Other dimensions, presumably.

Once the basic scans were done Nurse could siphon the drug from her body. A horrible semi-living, self-regenerating thing, with a psychic component, was our best guess. But, once it was mostly gone Raven's digestive system handled the dregs.

I guess I'm, now, Raven's doctor, so I should discuss her meta-psyche with her...

---

On the last available fast-time 'slot'...

We agree, I'm going to need time to heal my psychic injuries, Starfire needs time in a sun-bed. So, we're the obvious people to benefit. It might be nice to treat Terra, but, she's not urgent, and, we don't trust her, enough, yet.

While I'm there, I can do finishing work on the med-bay, maybe some other light tech stuff. Kory says she can catch-up on her reading, there's a new series of books that she wants to dig into. I'll grab some books, too. Including from Raven's library. And, while I'm there, we can get started on another Geo-bot with living skin.

Looks like Kory would be finished before me, but there's no reason she shouldn't leave early, with sufficient care. It might take me a fortnight to heal, it might be a month. We'll have to see. And, any extra time I could use by starting the Victor-bot, the one with real living-skin. Seeing as he'd agreed, and I'd got his measurements and pattern.

I really wanted to see what he'd say, after looking out through the eyes of a body with no obvious cybernetics...

---

AN: The concept of 'low berth' is from the Traveller RPG, which in turn got it from pre-1980s science fiction, the Dumarest saga, I believe. Cheap travel, no need to feed or water the passengers, quite a low death rate.

AN: Some draw a distinction (Mysticism Warning) between talismans, and amulets, in that the first can provide 'active' effects, and the second 'passive' protection. But, as ever with things mystical, definitions are a bit unclear.

AN: Fortnight, because apparently it's a word not known to some readers.

 

[Ace Dreamer]

Raven Lunacy, Episode 36

Preparations for up to a month's 'holiday'. Robin's been told. That was a difficult decision. Ditto Cyborg and Beast Boy; much easier. Not Terra. Master Roshi? Who knows?

After a bit of thought I realise the smart person to ask is Nurse. In some respects the med-bay will be like a spaceship, cut-off from outside world, needing to be self-sufficient, due to the temporal acceleration. Raven's initial speed-ups drained the batteries pretty deeply, and there's certainly not enough capacity for a month. The planned acceleration is thirty-fold, a month in 24-hours, and while the Tower's power reserves should handle that, I want more redundancy.

So, back to the starship salvage. There were a pair of medium-capacity cold fusion generators, 'fusion lamps', with power cores, that looked good. A third one that was probably repairable, with a little effort. Two of them should run the entire med-bay, and a third would be nice as a spare.

I think I've figured-out how Raven knew so much about my growing a living skin on a robot. She'd had plenty of time in the med-bay, with Nurse, while trying to recover from being drugged. And, I'd not suggested skinning a robot was a private matter - Raven being my teacher was probably enough authority for Nurse to talk about the subject. I think.

That led to a couple of other matters. The med-bay was good for air and water, Victor and I'd ensured that, power looked to be handled. What about the more subtle stuff? Before coming to this world I likely wouldn't have thought about it, but, chi was partly from the environment, and maybe there was other stuff I hadn't thought of. Another rummage in the salvage, and a 'background field generator', needing trivial repair, wired-in to the med-bay. I'm guessing that should handle things.

The other big problem with spacecraft I raised with Raven. When I caught up with her she was giving Kory a replacement anti-possession amulet. Her's was a blackened wreck, after its encounter with the Janus Crown. Maybe it helped save Kory? Hard to tell. Kory mumbled something about needing more astral projection training.

The issue was getting rid of excess heat. Vacuum's a pretty good insulator, and, Space may be cold, but life and machinery easily generate enough heat that only radiators keep you from stewing in your own juices.

She thought for a few moments, then commented that might be why dimensional tides were so important in some magical workings - unless they were right there was nothing to take away excess heat. A very minor modification to the wards, and apparently they now radiate excess heat into some other, empty, dimensional spaces. Nice.

So. Water was recycled, two different ways, handling showers and drinking. And sewage, of course. Nurse could synthesise basic food. We'd got the older auto chef, and some supplies, for variety. Books, videos, some games, for entertainment. Basic exercise equipment. I didn't think we'd forgotten anything...

A last minute thought. Yes, Victor'll have to do without use of the mind interface, for a day.

Guess we'd find out...

---

A couple of surprises. After Raven possessed me, to use my Third Eye, I'd felt a bit awash with magic. Nothing I couldn't handle, but, probably something I could, should, practice with while recovering. She'd used magic while her spiritual powers were locked-away. If I was careful, I think that I could, too, without compromising my healing.

The second thing was a mysterious device in the salvage. It was labelled as a 'synthesiser', but alch-tech has many varieties of those, so, which was it?

Eventually it dawned on me. It was a general-purpose one, a 'Synthesiser'. Rare, expensive, and, oh so useful. Looked like it came with all the required software, too. And, I'm sure I could hack-together a suitable alch-tech computer system to run it.

Yes, it was an older model, looked repaired very many times. But, in good order. And, something as good as having a portable workshop, stuffed full of exotic power tools. Interesting enough, you could even use it as an energy-based 'shower', as well as a personal tailoring system.

Did I jump up and down? Squeal? Any reports of such from Nurse are completely untrue. Honest.

---

We'd had breakfast with the team. Starfire and I. She could walk properly, now, though she still looked weak. Then, we went down for a 'day of medical treatment'.

Now a full day, our time, everything seems OK. Funny to think that only about three-quarters of an hour has gone by for the rest of them. They're 'bunkering-down'. I wish'd I'd had time to emplace the force-field generators, from the salvage, so as to protect the Tower. We could only hope our enemies wouldn't act too swiftly, would wait to see what happened as a result of their demonic attack.

Kory is obviously fretting, but doing her best to occupy herself. After a day of Nurse-monitored intense sun-bedding she's looking far less tired, moving normally, though not showing any super-human abilities. I've taken it easy, though I've got Nurse to make hourly checks. Apparently I'm starting to heal. I'd noticed that it was, a little, easier to concentrate.

For practice, and with Kory's permission, I've been using a medical scanner to check on her. All seems to be OK, and Nurf tells me I seem to be interpreting things correctly. It's nice to have someone to check me, as even around my Dad I was often working on my own.

I've been puzzling about the 'image modulator' that Kory's acquired. Why didn't Victor's scans, at the Tower door, detect it? I'm reluctant to do anything like dismantle it, but, the Synthesiser has some pretty good scanners, so I use those. And... It shows-up as being without any power storage, or external power feeds.

Weird.

---

Another day. I've read a couple more books. Tinkered a bit. Meditated and felt my flows of magic. Lightly exercised. Done some Tai Chi, and, Kory asked if I could teach her the basics. I can't see any harm in that. She managed to lift a few centimetres, maybe an inch, off the ground, hang in the air for maybe ten minutes. Then, had to lie-down, exhausted. A good sign, though.

Day three. A clearer mind, and I think I've an idea about the image modulator. It's psionic. I asked Kory, and she said, "Of course", seemed surprised I didn't know that. I guess, alien tech is alien. But, it's persuaded me, I need to learn the minimal psionic parts of alch-tech.

There's always more to do...

---

A week, and Kory's looking pretty good. Can levitate, fly, charge-up star-bolts.

Reading, listening to, the sped-up reports from 'outside', they seem to be OK, so, she's going to wait a bit longer, until she has a full 'charge'. Maybe another week, based on previous progress, six or seven hours outside time. I could be wrong, but, I think she's partly concerned that someone, apart from Nurf, keeps me company.

Day ten. I'd almost forgotten she was doing it, but Nurf is now ready. She's wandering around, a metre-tall, in all her blue-skinned glory. Poking stuff, listening to music, nibbling snacks, getting used to having a fleshy body, again. Says it's been a couple of centuries, her last body was killed, and life support was critical enough she didn't imprint another one. From her tone, I suspect it's not quite that simple.

Doesn't seem to interfere with her driving the medical systems, though. She sings a duet, with herself, for our amusement. Pretty professional, even though we don't know the language. Kory offers to learn, but Nurf seems a bit dubious about the kiss-to-gain-a-language method. I'd not thought about it, but, why does Nurf speak English? Though, her accent is a bit funny. I'll have to think about that. Or, ask her, but, I'm reluctant to intrude on her already limited privacy.

Two weeks, the full fortnight, Kory is leaving. She's positively brimming with power, and, I certainly wouldn't want to face her in a fight. Terra will probably assume that we've just got really good medical facilities, which we do, but. So, hopefully the time-tinkering will remain a team secret.

---

After Kory leaves I go and check-on my now fully-skinned robot. Before we started, a fortnight ago, and after a little thought, I'd done a redesign, and she's the same height as me, 1.7m, five-foot-six. As opposed to 1.5m, about five-foot, my height before coming to this world. Assuming her main job is as a stand-in, that's sensible.

I can drive her with the radio collar, hear, see through her eyes, feel what she does. It's quite a different experience to the latex-skinned variety. Much richer, far more like having, being in, a fully-living body. The Synthesiser in 'auto tailor' mode handles the detail of clothes and footwear.

I, very carefully, try and astral project. Ow. Very definitely, ow.

The lapses in attention have gone, I now maybe feel as I did before the demon attack. As I was after helping Raven alter her psyche. Though, I think the pattern of injury is different. Nurf says I'm an interesting case, as she's had to rely on her spirit sight to see my injuries, and my spirit being within a living body makes that unreliable.

I can feel flows of chi, again. It's funny how I missed such a recently acquired sense. Manipulating chi, that seems OK on a small scale. Levitation works, flight, stretching-out chi-limbs, striking stuff, I'm putting that off till I feel better.

I seem to have put-on a bit of muscle. My upper-body strength is definitely improved. Maybe not accessing chi did that? Hard to tell. Nurf informs me chi is not a part of her medical knowledge.

---

Three weeks. I'm definitely missing Kory, her cheer, upbeat attitude. I'm even missing Garfield's stupid comments. Raven, I think I miss her most. Nostalgia for the torture that's Robin's teaching - I'm definitely in a bad way. Nurf is nice, but, she's a rather reserved person. She's been reading some of the books Kory left behind. Say's its a novel experience. Took me a while to realise that was an intended pun.

Today I levitated a feather. With psychic power, an 'act of will'. No pain at all. Though, serious exhaustion. I'd remembered that training place Raven took Robin and me to, wondered if I could do the same in a more normal world. Where did I get a feather? Nurf grew one, in a med-bed, for me.

I think I fully understand the Synthesiser, now. It really is an amazingly flexible device. Can make just about everything except living material. Nurf agreed to step into it, and, we made her some casual clothes. She looks... strange in a t-shirt and shorts, trainers. But, seems happy enough. Says it's good enough for an 'old lady' like her.

---

A full month. About breakfast on the outside. I expected time to slowly resync, instead it just suddenly matches. Seems I'm fully healed. but I've got the occasional spiritual twinge. Nurf thinks that will settle, go away, with careful (spiritual) exercise.

No, for the moment, I'm not even going to think about Victor's new body being finished. I'll need to give it some really deep testing. And write him a manual... No. Just no. Not thinking.

So. Healthy, I think. Back to the fray.

That's good, isn't it?

---

AN: This is a bit longer than most episodes, but it seemed sensible to do it all as one chunk. Very little dialogue, loads of description. Hopefully it's not too indigestible!

AN: They say that all fiction reflects the time that it's in, even science fiction, the 'mythology of the future'. And, a lot of the world, Earth's, been in Covid-19 lockdown. Did that effect this story? I don't know. Bits of this are based on things from 2015, I think, getting things done via temporal acceleration. The idea goes back decades, centuries if you include 'walking round the hill' (to Faeryland). And, Geo's not 'self-isolating'. So, you'll have to decide, for yourself.

 

[Ace Dreamer]

Raven Lunacy, Episode 37

Breakfast. Team meeting time? Sometimes it felt like that. It was good to see them all again, after a month.

Of course, for them, it was just a day. So, before joining them I've carefully gone over my memories of our last meeting. I'd (probably) be able to fool Terra, and the rest should be smart enough to go along with it. Probably.

"Good to see you. I'll admit I missed your smiling faces."

Mostly that's... not ignored, but little reacted to. A minute nod from Raven, and Cyborg, a smile from Starfire, and Beast Boy... He gurns at me, then sticks-out his tongue. OK, so it was reacted to.

Robin, who I've noticed is occasionally touching his forehead, looks serious, and addresses me.

"Glad to see you're well. I'm stepping-down our alertness level to 'concerned', from 'battle ready'."

Beast Boy half-whispers to Cyborg, "We've got 'alertness levels'?".

"Shush. There was a memo", he replies.

Robin resolutely ignores them.

"Just to inform you, we've not heard from...", he glances at Raven, "the 'space police', so I'm going to request you take Blackfire down to the med-lab, get her checked and fed, then lock her back in that spare room. That should do for another day. I'm hoping you've had time to write a report on your encounter with... the demons, to go in our files?"

"Of course."

"Professional." For some reason he glances at Beat Boy, I really don't know why...

"I would hope you've avoided unnecessary detail about... identities?"

"Yes."

He clutches his forehead, half-falls from his chair. Raven's instantly supporting him, she looks at me.

"Sugoi. We're going to my room. Swiftly deal with Blackfire then be prepared to travel. Bring your passports." She helps Robin to his feet, over his weak protests. Everyone looks concerned.

"Robin needs treatment."

---

We're in Raven's room. I've grabbed a carry-bag, auto tailor pre-packed, from the med-lab. Left Cyborg to finish-off Blackfire. I think R&R must've gone via Robin's room, because a bird-themed bag's floating along behind Raven. And, there's a major circle laid-out in the centre of her room. Warding, from outside skrying and forces, I think.

Robin is clearly half-conscious, being personally supported by Raven; she looks at me.

"You haven't really talked about your... night trip, a little before the demon attack, but I gather you did more than dimension walk around the city?"

"Yes..."

"This is a guess, but, did you visit Japan?"

"Yes."

"I could teleport Robin and myself there, but it'd exhaust me. If you support Robin and I dimension walk with you then we should get there much easier, and, I can direct you once we arrive in the country. We're going to the Grand Shrine at Ise."

"I know how to get there..."

"Even better. We can leave as soon as you're ready."

---

Our journey is pretty smooth, though it took me an extra effort to pull a half-conscious Robin into my dimension walk. Raven appeared to be coasting along in my wake, and I wondered if she was fully recovered from the last few day's adventures. But, now, not a good time to ask.

At the shrine Raven knew exactly who to talk to, and, I found it was friend-of-a-friend stuff. Her Japanese was excellent, and she's some obvious familiarity with the culture, but, I can sense the magical overtones, so I know she's cheating on both counts.

The 'friend' we wanted was a priest at an obscure Buddhist temple, and apparently he had a reputation as a 'spiritual healer', and, a 'demon breaker'. Useful.

"Ah. Your reputation precedes you, Goddess Who Walks Tween Light And Dark." Raven goes a bit red.

"I do not know how you know of me..."

The priest indicates an ancient-looking telephone in a niche, which may or may not be older than him.

Raven goes a little more red. "but I don't claim to be a goddess!"

"Wasn't your grandfather a god?"

Raven, obviously reluctant, nods.

"So." He waves, obviously dismissing the matter, and peers at Robin and I.

"Hmm. One of these newfangled technology gods? I see you have a bird-shaman, as well."

Raven stamps her foot. "None of us are goddesses, or, shaman!" I notice her skin's gone a little grey.

He looks, carefully, at her. "I'm glad to see your self-control is better. Tell me, if you'd lost your temper like that, stamped your foot, not a long while ago, would the building you were in be standing?"

Raven takes a deep breath, mumbles three words to herself, visibly calms. Grey fades from her skin. "No. You're right. Thank you for your instruction."

She, briefly, bows to him.

He, briefly, grins. "All life is a lesson."

He turns, a little, looks at me. "I was a little cruel to you, too. May the blessings of the Kami of Roads be upon your travels."

There's a soundless flash, in my mind. And, suddenly, a lot of things, routes to travel, how places were laid-out, how people behave, made so much more sense to me. With a major effort I don't stagger.

"Now." He looks, hard, at Robin.

"Lay the poor boy down on that prayer mat. Let's take a good look at him."

---

AN: You all know about gurning, don't you?

AN: Might be fun to visit Ise...

AN: I've used the term 'goddess', here. Strictly speaking the priest is using the term 'kami', which doesn't mean quite the same thing. Also, he's a Buddhist priest, which, arguably complicates things. The relationship between Shintoism and Buddhism in Japan is... complex. Of course, then he uses the term 'Kami', but that's part of a (local) title. And, this bit of the story is translated from the Japanese. So, that makes sense?

AN: I think (Mysticism Warning) shamanism is an interesting subject...

AN: I might admit this is one of those priests.

 

[Ace Dreamer]

Raven Lunacy, Episode 38

Buddhist temple. In Japan. Injured Robin. On a prayer mat. What could go wrong?

An ancient-looking place, with a, single, ancient-looking priest. One who'd already made Raven loose her temper. But, apparently knew a lot about demons, and 'spiritual' healing. Which I doubt involved mystic crystals and tarot cards. Though, possibly incense.

The place seemed... restful, serene. Encouraging of contemplation and meditation. Almost without thinking about it I found myself sitting, on a prayer mat, across from the sitting priest, Robin lying between us. Raven, looking a bit reluctant, also takes a seat.

My third eye opens, without any effort on my part. My spirit-sight shows me the priest's spirit standing-up, leaving his body behind. I glance over at Raven, and I think her eyes are following his spirit, as well.

Robin looks... clenched, and his muscles keep tensing, then relaxing. Obviously exhausted, he's trying to resist something. But, nothing strange is visible, either physically or spiritually.

For a moment my third eye cycles through other modes, but Robin's chi looks OK, there's no obvious magic, except his anti-possession amulet, and while I can see power sources in his utility belt, nothing is obviously active.

I also catch a glimpse of the priest's chi, it's strong, but nothing like the sort of display that Master Roshi shows.

The priest, who hasn't bothered to give us a name, spirit-walks around Robin. Looks thoughtful. Reaches down. Pokes him to no reaction. Leans down, whispers in his ear. Nothing. From somewhere, produces a megaphone. Looks at it. Shakes his head. Puts it away. Thinks for a few moments.

Then, takes a swift step, and kicks Robin in the... fork. Guess the cup I think he wears isn't going to help him against spirit kicks.

Robin sits-up, abruptly. Clutching himself, his eyes and mouth wide-open. But, he also stays lying on the floor. The priest grabs him, pulls him to his feet, hands him an ice-pack. Leans forward, whispers in his ear.

And, suddenly Robin's dressed again. I did mention he was naked, didn't I? My mistake.

Raven is stone-faced. There was not the smallest upwards twitch of the corner of her mouth. There was also not a faint whisper of "I'll have to remember that method". Nothing.

Robin is making a swift recovery, and little seems greatly injured but his pride. He looks around, looks at Raven and I. The priest also looks at us. Raises one eyebrow. We can take the hint.

Raven and I, stand-up, out of our bodies.

---

Robin has leaned down, carefully watching all of us, waved his hand through his body, a couple of times. Relaxes a bit. "Just an illusion, then."

"No..." Raven's not going to let him get away with that. "We're all standing here, in spirit form. Those are our real, physical bodies, sitting there. Or, in your case, lying. Tell me, do you feel any hunger, thirst, physical sensations at all?"

Robin looks a little uncertain, licks his lips. "This could all be a magical trick?"

"No." Raven is quite firm. "You collapsed in the Tower. Sugoi carried you here, to Japan. Yes, you've got your passports. This... gentleman here is a spiritual healer. I'm not... skilled in healing the spirit. Your problem almost certainly stems from the recent demon attack. And, your possession."

Robin's wavering. Raven turns to me, "Could you show us images of what you saw of Robin's possession? You've got a better memory, than me, clearer, anyway. And, my vision of what happened would... show details Robin might be unhappy with."

---

I'd paced out an area, the size of Robin's room. Fixed each location clearly in my mind. Then, taken Raven's word that I'd be able to produce a vision, in this place, so close to the physical.

All seemed to OK. I suspected the priest was helping, in some way, maybe giving me permission. We watched us appear in Robin's room (I'd shifted the viewpoint, a bit, so I'm also visible), Raven thrust the golden spike though his forehead. Robin definitely winced, when he saw that. Then, when we returned physically, the actual exorcism (I skipped the boring set-up parts).

"Very traditional", remarked the priest.

Raven looked at Robin. "Why weren't you wearing your amulet? I know you wear it during the day. Everyone else was wearing their ones."

And, Robin looks uncomfortable. "I... have trouble sleeping while wearing it. It... itches, irritates me, in a way I can't ignore."

"Hmm." We look at the priest. "Why haven't you attuned it? Didn't your shamanic mentor teach you how to do that?"

Robin looks puzzled. "I don't have a 'shamanic mentor'. I've no idea what you mean by 'attune'."

The priest looks at the other two of us.

"I think we have a clue."

---

The priest explains shamanism, that some consider it the roots of all other religion. How they deal in spirits, and that spirits can be linked to humans to empower them. That Robin shows signs of so being empowered, in quite a major way. Which, he denies.

"Where did you get those wings, on your back, then. The ones that look like blue tattoos?"

I thought I'd seen something on his bare back, before he clothed his spirit...

Robin looks uncomfortable. "It's... a secret."

"Did your teacher, your mentor, tattoo you, using a secret ink recipe, which included your blood, in a ceremony, held at sunrise, after you'd fasted for three days, and not slept? Tell you the tattoo would soon disappear, so your secret wouldn't be revealed?"

Robin looks shocked. "You're reading my mind!"

Raven sighs. "It's one of the classical shaman initiation rituals. I can show you the books. He doesn't need to read your mind. Though, the invisible ink trick's new to me. Most shaman are very proud of their tattoos."

Does the priest look a tiny bit smug? "I guessed that bit."

Raven gives him the evil eye. He ignores it. I suspect there's more to his comment. He continues.

"You are an untrained shaman. An open gate to the spirit world. Was your teacher trained in shamanic teaching?" He looks at Robin. "You don't know. I think it unlikely. They'd have explained the tradition that they were part of."

He shakes his head. "You still doubt me." He starts counting on his fingers.

"Your combat style. Based on quick movement. Avoiding or deflecting force. You wear bright colours, to distract your opponents from your hands. Your mind is quick, your senses sharp, your learning swift. All classic signs of someone empowered by a greater bird spirit. There was... a sacrifice, which led to you following your new path, someone or something very important to you. You made a solemn oath."

Robin is looking shocked. I got the impression a nearly-invisible bird was whispering (twittering?) in the priest's ear. It seems to be linked to Robin, in some way. The priest continues.

"A wise man never assumes he's the first to follow a path. Where did the path he walks come from?"

---

Robin will put serious effort into meditation. It's not ideal, but, should help. Raven will weave him a spiritual... not seal, more like shirt. He'll be taught, in his dreams, to use that immaterial garment to cover his spirit. I didn't like the way she looked at me when she said the word 'taught'...

The priest has done something, a bit like a spiritual skin graft, which should help the problem, for the moment. Has told Robin he should avoid 'skipping sleep'. Ha!

And, Robin will be having some serious words with his teacher. Whoever he or she is. I'm carefully not thinking about that.

That'll be fun...

---

AN: Buddhism in Japan is an interesting subject, as is their attitude to spirits - humans can trouble spirits, as well as the other way around.

AN: Thought you might be interested in cups...

AN: Let's mention (Mysticism Warning) shamanism, again.

AN: Told you he was one of those priests... Wasn't it fortunate they'd got a Robin to feed to him?

 

[Ace Dreamer]

Raven Lunacy, Episode 39

Back at the Tower. From Japan. Fun trip. Pity there was no time for shopping.

Actually, I would've liked to visit Akihabara, for the electronics, of course. There's rumours that if you went to the right places you could find robots, real ones, for sale. And, of course it's an otaku shrine, and, maybe I should pay a bit more attention to that stuff.

I guess I could slip back, some night? Thirteen hours time difference would help. I had my Bank of Mammon card, to buy things.

Before we left, with a... thoughtful Robin, the old priest had (of course!) some final comments.

"While I'm glad to see your self-control is improving, lady not-goddess, maybe you should check the spiritual health of your student? She seems to have recently acquired a... spiritual affliction, not uncommon among shaman who over-reach themselves. Strange things start happening around them, not exactly bad luck, just strange."

And he bowed. I could tell from looking at Raven that she wouldn't forget.

Finally, as we set-up to leave, he whispered to me, "Keep on Truckin". Which, meant nothing to me at the time, but proved as strange as I expected (crumb-y?) when I looked it up later.

A little embarrassing, Raven attached a strap to my belt, with a handle on the end. Told Robin to hold on to it, not let go. I guess she didn't trust he wouldn't wander-off as we walked the dimensions, seeing as he was conscious, this time.

On the journey I'd politely requested he help me get in contact with a local university, make sure my medical skills were adequate to be team doctor. And, that he settle his issues with using the med-bay. Seeing as he was a 'captive audience'; though, only on a bit of our path where it's very unlikely we'd be overheard.

I'm glad to report we didn't lose him.

---

The team were pleased to greet us. Starfire wanted to know all about where we'd been, but seeing as Raven looked impatient I agreed to tell her, later. We're going to start regular team meditation sessions, after lunch, create a Meditation Room, usable by anyone, any-time, from which entertainment media and food are strictly banned.

Beast Boy seemed a bit upset about that detail... But, first meditation session, later today. Raven was kind enough to say that once you really got the hang of it, assuming you weren't under extreme pressure, you could get the benefits, anywhere, any-time, without anyone else realising. Even Beast Boy didn't ask any silly questions.

Starfire, in front of everyone, says she wants to improve her astral projection skills. Because, she didn't do a good enough job at fighting the imps. Cyborg says that he, honestly, didn't notice the imps, and Beast Boy looks like he wants to say something, but doesn't.

And... It's off to training, with Robin and Master Roshi.

---

Master Roshi looks at Robin. Holds out his hand. Asks Robin to punch it as hard as he can. He does.

Then, shakes his head, tells Robin to go sleep until he's got a clear head. And, that he'll take this training session. I gulp.

Robin's obviously reluctant, but agrees. And, I'm left with Master Roshi.

"You look different. Stronger, more centred. And, you've picked-up your first curse. Excellent!"

What's this about being cursed? I feel OK!

He looks at me. "The boots are nice." Honestly, I don't puff-up, a little, with pride.

"Why don't you show me what they can do?"

I get to punch him, like Robin did. But, with me, he nods his head. Then kick his hand. He raises one eyebrow. Directs me to start attacking the combat dummies. Then, "Harder!".

I attack without restraint, and... break a dummy. Wow. I didn't know I could do that.

Then, I reveal the concealed boot knives. I didn't really want to, but if you can't show your teacher, who can you show? He gives me some hints on quickly drawing them, care and maintenance. I know most of the later, but it's nice to have it reinforced. Then, the knife I keep holstered, rear of my belt.

I hand it to him, hilt towards him. Initially he doesn't take it, moves around it, inspects it carefully.

"Not bad. A reasonable fit for you. But, it's not 'your knife'. You might want to think about making one, yourself, using whatever methods you're most happy with. Ceremonies, sleeping with it, you figure something out."

"Now. I'll teach you the beginnings of the secret techniques. Which are only shared with those that are worthy. This one took me fifty years to learn properly. Watch as I demonstrate..."

---

I lunch with... Terra's not around, so 'Kory'. Tell her of our journey, some of the strange dimensions we passed through, what little I saw of Tokyo. She obviously wants to talk. Something's troubling her.

"My sister. Blackfire. That's an honour title, like mine, Starfire. We are both princesses, but are both in exile. An agreement to protect our home planet." I nod.

"My sister had a, rare, childhood illness. Robbed her of the ability to fly, which is shared by all our people. I think it made her bitter. When we were trained, showed we were disciplined, no longer children, we were sent to gain our adult powers. It is something all our nobles do. Send their children, to the Psions, to be 'enhanced'. Yes, they are mad, but it's an old agreement, that they hold to. Almost all survive." She sighs.

"I think my sister hoped it would give her the ability to fly. But, it didn't. And, she became more bitter. I think she blamed me, as the 'perfect sister'. It was... not good."

She pauses.

"While we were healing, Raven looked at Blackfire. She is changed. Raven thinks that she should now be able to fly. But, has lost all the other noble powers. I do not know what to think about this."

So, I hug her.

---

Talking to Victor. It's not really his area, but he'll loan me all his books on weapon-smithing. I'm going to make my own knife, then, maybe my own sword.

I show him some of the salvage, that I'd... not made obvious. The sheet, black, metal. 'Bithral', which I think is short for 'black mithral'. And, the dureum film, that strange almost indestructible material that's about twenty-times the density of lead. Ask him about re-making my knife, from bithral.

He tries to flex a bithral sheet, raises his eyebrow, says that should be interesting.

So.

Even more things to do...

---

AN: Could be fun to visit Akihabara (Tokyo, Japan), but make sure you don't step on an otaku.

AN: You really should know, Keep on Truckin.

AN: Mithral, one of the things invented by Tolkien. Other colours of mithral? As well as black I've come across green, but only in things like D&D. Dureum is from Smith's Lensman books.

AN: Then we get to Weaponsmith...

 

[Ace Dreamer]

Raven Lunacy, Episode 40

The next few days are a bit strange. There's multiple reports of fighting from the city, the team plus Terra go out, and rather than going with them I volunteer to stay in the Tower, with Cyborg carrying my experimental team radio. The idea is that we test it out, and, if they need me I can be called in.

As it turns out, they don't. When they get there, to reported scenes of fighting, there's no one. Some blood, which Raven says is non-human, and Beast Boy's nose plus Robin's later tests agree. Signs of energy-weapon use, blackening, a small fire in one case. But, best guess was someone had swiftly but effectively cleaned-up the fight scene.

Reports suggested men in combat armour fighting things described as 'demons'. So, are our enemies fighting among themselves? Hard to know.

On the radio front, as I'd expected, lots of 'blind spots', communication black-outs, heavy interference. Without a lot of repeaters I couldn't see any choice except to use something enchanted. A pity, I'd really hoped to avoid that.

---

Sort of a minor detail, but I've taken the time to go over robo-Blackfire's scans. Really interesting. The living bits match the layout of those on my fleshed Geo-bot, except for an interesting node where the effector nerves interface. My psychic sight sees a bright area, there, and, UV exposure of the skin makes it brighter. Hmm.

There are some interesting differences in the scans of Starfire, not-corpse Blackfire, and robo-Blackfire. The genetics match, as expected, but there's some epigenetic changes in the non-robos. Might this be what the Psion 'enhancement' produces? Nurse seems to agree, but suggests tinkering with that sort of stuff can be... unwise.

I've achieved my aim, though. Written a manual for robo-Blackfire, stored it in a format that, according to Starfire, many alien races should be able to figure-out. Included a small box of spares, for the things most likely to fail, instructions on the manufacture of all the non-living parts. Some useful self-maintenance tools.

Funny thing, though. The chips that I described to Victor, that my father had designed, but I've not had any made in this world. Yet. The ones that allow my style of robot to work, indefinitely, without any external computing support. They're there, in robo-Blackfire. But, where did they come from?

Another minor detail, yes, it's in her manual, but, I wonder if Blackfire will learn to make use of the powerful radios in her head?

---

Now that I'm fitter I've been using my third eye, initially to carefully inspect the med-bay. I'd thought of going out, in my own time, poking around the city, seeing what I could see, but decided to start on a smaller scale. And, I wanted to spend more time with Nurf, when she didn't feel I was forced to be there. Being present if someone was brought-in injured, which fortunately didn't happen, was a pleasant side-effect.

Mostly things seemed OK, though I made a few changes, beefed-up the emergency drainage pumps, into the sump, in case the place became flooded for some reason. Ran some thorough tests on the air flush-and-replace system. Found and repaired some broken ceramic tiling. Nothing major. The Synthesiser was amazingly useful for doing repair work, for example making whole tiles out of broken fragments.

Something was niggling at me, though. I'd become quite familiar with Raven's wards, which protected the place. But, there were traces of her magic where I didn't expect it, in the actual medical hub. I think that the temporal acceleration magic had hidden it from me, before, but it felt like time magic, maybe mixed with something else that I didn't immediately recognise.

I asked Nurf, but she hadn't a clue. Then, with her permission, I took a closer look. Took her physical body along, as a guide, and partly as a test. Dimension walking, into the inside of her medical hub. Very carefully selecting dimensions, so I could see the insides, while not physically interacting with them. Tricky. I backed-off, tried a different route, several times.

I knew, in general terms, what I expected to find, as the hub was alch-tech. On the surface, everything looked good, when I checked the detail...

The original design had been for a core of three 'auto doc' units, integrated to work together, supported by five, more restricted, healing systems. And, paired support systems, with some secondary bits to do things like food synthesis.

However, there was now only one working auto doc, the others had been cannibalised for parts, and two working lesser healers. The support side, that was also barely working. Fortunately, all the power systems looked good, including one that I really didn't understand.

And, I don't have the skill to safely do repairs.

"Did you know about this, Nurf?"

"Of course. I'm a medical technician, I can do basic repairs, swap modules around, but nothing lasts forever. The system works, and I'd hoped some of your salvage could be put to good use."

"Right. I'll have to do a thorough inventory. Consider what could be broken-down for parts. Pity, I like the Synthesiser, but if bits of it are needed for you..."

Nurf looks unhappy. "I hope that wont be needed. I could see how cheerful it made you. Can't you get parts elsewhere?"

"Hmm. I've seen no evidence this sort of technology is known in this world. And, I'm very reluctant to ask Raven for further help, given other choices. There's a feeling of... consequences in doing that. I can think of two other possibilities, though. I'll work on it." I look directly at her, in the strange dimension space we're in.

"Nurf? Do you feel OK?"

"I... I'm not in contact with my larger self, am I? I... live in that computing system, there. This is strange." She thinks for a few moments.

"Does this mean I can leave the med-bay? Wander around the Tower? Visit the outside world?"

"Yes. I'm pretty sure it does."

---

When we returned to the med-bay, physically, dimensionally, avatar Nurf, on the screen, was obviously worried. Remote Nurf, the metre-tall person who'd gone with me, was also concerned, but, she went and lay in a med-bed. After about ten minutes the avatar said they'd resynchronised. Something she thought they could probably do quicker in future, maybe even learn to do without a med-bed.

Remote Nurf got up, and, apparently they were firmly linked again. I got the impression they planned to see what distance limits applied.

I was, again, being niggled with something. I'd been distracted by the repair issues, but on some level I'd also been looking at the magic. Raven's magic. The time and other stuff. It was particularly strong in the single working auto doc.

The last time I'd felt anything like that was when Raven opened the dimensional gateway. In the wall of her 'training' (personal) room. Took Robin and I off to that strange training place...

---

I'd asked Raven. At our next training meet. In her room. About the strange magic. She seemed... pleased.

"Good! I'd wondered if you'd spot that. I'm guessing you'd like an explanation?"

"Please..."

She thinks for few moments.

"I searched, for a long time, for something which fitted our needs. Medical systems like that are often tied into the destiny of many beings, so, finding one that was 'free' was difficult. I could only find broken ones." She sighs.

"So, I looked really carefully at a broken one far isolated from any beings. Lost in 'deep space'. Then, I walked up and down that time-line, searching for... possibilities, it might be best to call them. Very few time-lines are 'pure', there are almost always choices, never taken, which boil-off, dissipate." She floats a goblet over, pours water into it from a jug, drinks. I suspect she uses the pause to ponder, a bit.

"Then, I interfered with destiny. Took some of those off-shoots, strengthened them, wove them back into the time-line. Ones that kept the medical system working, long after it would have failed. Why didn't I just go in, 'acquire' it, before the first major failure? My... instincts were that was a really bad idea. In magic, sometimes, you need to trust your instincts." And, she nods, firmly.

"It was a balancing act, I worked-out later, between attracting the wrong sort of attention and getting a working system. Best as I can figure-out, it all took me several months, of my time." She coughs into her fist.

"You'll recall, that, from watching the pony world, until you first enter a world never-visited before, you can wander, timelessly, up and down it's time-line." She looks at me.

"Thank you." She waves it off.

"It was an interesting and educational exercise. And, after all, I wasn't getting any older."

"On that subject, yes, thank you for explaining, but... Am I getting any older?"

"No. You're not. Part of the conditions I set in your initial summoning. Though, I'd recommend anchoring that in your meta-psyche. I'll loan you a book."

"Thank you."

---

AN: Bit of a background, back-fill, episode. But, I thought it was fun!

AN: So, it's all in the genes, the DNA? Well... You might want to look at epigenetics...

AN: I really don't know why I should be referencing Bell's Theorem... (Actually, it's to do with ideas about reality being 'fuzzy'... And, maybe when someone gives you a list of alternatives, try saying 'all of the above'.)

 

[Ace Dreamer]

Raven Lunacy, Episode 41

Night shopping. In daylight. England. Japan. No planes involved.

I've been, not quite, abusing my d-walk ability. 'Not quite' because a phone call to the Bank of Mammon arranged me 'unconventional traveller' visas for those two countries. Apparently many countries recognise super-powers mean that conventional borders, of land, water or after air travel aren't... practically feasible. So, the visa system keeps them happy. Particularly as I've a passport for both those countries.

Time zones explain the business of me shopping in daylight when it's night at the Tower; eight-hours to England, thirteen the other way to Japan. I recall reading about how international phone calls, and before them telegrams, greatly confused many. Then, later, air travel. And, though this world hasn't got it, yet, the Internet.

I'd considered acquiring a snapshot of the Internet, in a box, via the Bank of Mammon. I doubt it'd be cheap, but, say, a copy taken a moment after midnight, Saturday 1st January 2000CE, from a 'classic' Earth, could be remarkably useful. Not something you show to the locals, though... On balance, seemed best to avoid the risk.

England, a visit to Foyles bookshop. The central London one. Any English book I wanted would be there, and a lot of others, too. My main aim was to get a full set of 'A' Level science books, including maths, as well as books covering the subjects those built on. A full teach-yourself-German course. And, for a lark, the complete (fictional) works of Isaac Asimov. Why? Because.

Coming in over London, out of physical phase, but seeing everything clearly. Quite an experience. Third eye open, looking for any signs I'd been spotted. Fascinating flows of chi, across the capital, the 'buzz', but I appeared to have gotten away with it. Robe to neck-scarf, cash machine visit. Ready to shop!

---

Next trip I might try and see the sights. Tower of London, Parliament Square, Nelson's Column. The Science Museum? Maybe visit the Houses of Parliament, if they're open to that. It'd be nice to check what's in the Docklands, where my Dad... No. Let's avoid that. I really don't want to risk meeting a local version of him.

So. I shop.

I'd have liked more books, but, I had four full carrier-bags, and more seemed... unwise. Yes, I'd gone a bit overboard. They'd have delivered, for me, but I wasn't having that. I want my books!

Struggle to a taxi, taxi to Kings Cross train station. Books in left-luggage locker. I'd noticed that transport hubs had more dimensional 'paths', though, you saw a lot more people, not all of them human, on them.

Focus on looking like someone else, settle on a mix of Master Roshi and the Buddhist priest. A quick glance in a train station mirror and, with my hood up, I don't recognise myself!

Yes, it does occur to me, make my hands look suitably wrinkled, as well.

So, back home to the Tower with a single bag of books, return trip and a second bag, then, I thought I'd got a good route, so, two bags on my last run. I must ask Raven how she can just produce things from behind her back... And, how her robe-pockets never bulge...

---

I've still got reasonable energy and time left, so, a brief shelving of books, a refreshment break, and I'm off to Japan. I hurry, which may not've been wise, some of my short-cuts are really not nice places. Raven-supplied robe and the ability to levitate/fly avoids a lot of issues.

Though, I didn't appreciate the sulphur fumes... Pity I gave Raven her life-support bracelet back.

A little problem on arrival.

But, fortunately I spot the goblin who arrives in my wake. He (I'm guessing here) refuses my generous offer to take him back where he came from, and, waves a knife. A few careful blows and he's more cooperative. Then, hands bound behind his back, a gag to handle attempted biting, and we're d-walking again.

Looking at his chi-flows, and magical aura, I can make a pretty good guess which world I passed through was his home. A step away from there I de-gag him. Much grovelling ensues. Going home is apparently a death sentence, he thought I looked somewhat human, and, he'd heard stories of good eating in the human world.

Presumably why he learned (poor) Japanese. Eating what, he didn't say.

We cast about a bit, I find somewhere we agree doesn't look too bad, a sort of dark wood with magical overtones. And, he gets to stay. I hope this wasn't a bad mistake... Then, I realise, I still look elderly, and maybe male. I need to learn to disguise my voice...

---

Akihabara.

It's as good as the stories. And, yes, there's otaku. I'm back in my normal guise, robe-as-scarf, but... I'm photographed more than once. I'd just been asking where to find old-style robots, when I turned and was snapped several times, by several different people. Young men. I hope that hasn't got any consequences, they did seem so pleased as they hurried off...

I do buy some books, manga, focusing on robots and martial arts. Not that many. Got some funny looks from the bookseller. I firmly decide that their preconceptions are their problem. Then, finally, after electronics shop browsing, get to the robots.

---

It looks like a junk shop, ancient adverts, mostly for fictional robot shows, window crammed with certainly not-new robots and related electronics. A musty smell, inside, and, just detectable, resin from hot solder, and ozone. Initially no one greets me, so I step in the door, look around. I'm pretty sure I'm being watched. My tech-sight kicks-in, and I can see scanning beams flicking over me, a metal-detector field, and, something more exotic, looks like... A smart-gun targeting system???

I don't think it likely anything here will injure me, but, that failure might produce a poor response. So, I look for anything interesting. There's a trickle of power in a badly-damaged robot bear, off to one side. I move over, crouch a little, inspect. Looks like a Japanese... version of a Teddy Ruxpin?

This bear's had a hard time. One good eye, the other is half-missing. Fur that looks like it's been in a fire, all down one side. But, still, somehow I can tell it's cross-eyed. And, he's got a tiny, silver, cross, on a chain. Funny thing, the bear has a faint chi-aura. Maybe a spiritual one? And, it's watching me. I need to know more...

---

The (predictably) ancient shopkeeper isn't much of a surprise, as he shuffles up behind me. I turn, nod politely. Looks me over, in a... calculating way. As if I've passed some sort of test. His eyes look remarkably young.

"Like him? He watches the shop for me."

A wild guess. "It is good that this shop has a spirit to guard it."

His eyes widen, then narrow. "You are not what you seem. Good. Neither am I."

He half-turns, looks at me.

"Well? Are you coming into the real shop?"

---

AN: Yes, Internet-in-a-Box exists. Though, Geo's thinking of something more drastic...

AN: The place to visit for books: Foyles bookshop. Geo wanted (mostly) 'A' Level books. Also, The Science Museum.

AN: I wonder why Geo's interested in this author?

AN: Kings Cross; more somewhere you pass through rather than visit...

AN: Just to repeat this, Akihabara (Tokyo, Japan), and otaku.

AN: Smart guns are particularly known in cyberpunk...

AN: Teddy Ruxpin, because you want to know...

 

[Ace Dreamer]

Raven Lunacy, Episode 42

OK. I'm in Tokyo. The robot shop. Stepped-through a bead curtain. And I'm standing, very still.

Why? Because I can see three smart-guns pointing at me. And, the holes at the end of the barrels look very big.

Good thing I don't have 'danger sense'. Because, if I did, it'd be screaming very loudly at me.

---

Funny thing, I'm more annoyed than scared.

Even though my robe is in scarf-mode it should still stop anything less than an anti-tank round. I think. Yes, I'll be knocked around. But, I wont be really hurt. And, from my limited knowledge of guns, those look a lot more like shotguns, maybe with solid slugs, but, still not tank-killers.

Annoyed. So.

"I count three guns that I can see, pointed at me. That's rude, not to mention highly illegal in Japan. You really don't want me to prove how much I dislike guns. And, whether I've got sufficient bullet resistance to... explain that to you in person."

From behind the curtain of light in front of me I hear a gulp.

"Look. I didn't design this set-up. I inherited it. From a cousin, a distant cousin. Who was probably mad. I'm careful, I don't let civilians in the back. Only the ones the bear likes. Tell you what. I'll change the next step. Make it easier. OK?"

"I'm listening..."

"Right. 'What is the bear's name?'."

Suddenly, I recall my father reading an old science-fiction book. A collection of short stories, I thought. And, laughing. Then, explaining the punch-line to me. Could it be?

"The bear is called 'Gladly'. Because he's cross-eyed. 'Gladly, my cross-eyed bear'. I noticed he was wearing a crucifix."

There is the shuffling of paper, "No, no, no, what? That's a stupid answer! No, no. Well." A cleared throat.

"No one has ever given that answer before, but, it's on the list. And, someone's written 'Ha!' beside it. Did you look through the wall, or something?"

"No, just a lucky coincidence."

"Well. Pass." And I hear the sound of a buzzer, as the gun barrels recede into their niches.

---

Robots. All the robots. The biggest is about ten-metres, maybe thirty-feet high, the smallest, could stand on the tip of my finger. Strangely, most of them are humanoid. Or, maybe not.

Wow. Just. Wow.

My host explains a lot of them are holograms, in this decent-sized warehouse that the shop backs on to. Someone must be very rich. Potentially, anyway. The price of land in Tokyo is phenomenal. No, if there's some dimensional tinkering going on, it's too subtle for me to spot.

There's a long workbench. Maybe half-a-dozen robots are more or less disassembled, being maintained, I'm guessing. But, I can see at least a dozen, off to one side, that look to have been worked-on, but, are now dusty, still broken.

"I think he got them from places, all over the world. Alien invasion, mad science, the lot. Some, he bought from shady characters, who brought them from 'elsewhere'. No questions asked. I think he had the odd robot, damaged, stagger in here. Get repaired by him." He sighs.

"I'm not a bad engineer, can fix most electronics, mechanical problems, even use a number of his weird tools. But, I really don't have his talents." He waves his arms, a bit helplessly - sometimes I've wondered where I learned that gesture from.

The phrase, "Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!" comes to mind.

"Let's have a look at what you're working on..."

---

Well. I've learned quite a bit about robots, and started on an assay of what's here. There're definitely five different technological 'styles', maybe more which have only single representatives.

Reminds me of the way my father analysed different sorts of (sometimes alien) science and engineering... 'Development trees'... Sort of meta-meta analysis... Could you apply that to different sorts of (super) powers, abilities?

I've helped... 'Max', he tells me to call him, get a couple of robots working, and a third mostly fixed. I'm beginning to cut into time I should be using, back home, for sleeping...

Apparently, the holograms stand-in for more robots, which are stored somewhere off-site. But, for one reason or another don't 'fit' in the shop. Looking more closely, I think the roof is only about three-metres, ten-feet, so that makes sense.

No, he hasn't tried to sell me any robots, or robot services. Yet.

I look at the situation. "I need better tools. And, a decent scanner set-up. You've done a good job here, with limited facilities, but things could be better."

Max seems to be... Impressed with my skills. I also get the impression he's a lot younger than he was pretending, and doubt he's reached the age of thirty. But, he's probably an adult.

"There's more tools, in my cousin's old... well, he liked to call it his 'lair'. I'm not prepared to tell you where that is, yet, maybe never. Those are the ones I couldn't figure-out. I might be able to get some of them here, this sort of time next week." He looks up at the clock.

"Right. Four hours ago. You know what I mean!" He's obviously got a bit emotional. Well, at least he's not an otaku. I think.

"Just to show my good faith, I'll get a tool I call a 'build cell', a sort of engineering support tool, shipped here. All the extra bits it needs. I'd really appreciate if you keep it as secret as possible. Nothing sinister, there's a number of patent applications in progress."

He looks interested.

"It should be here by next week. I'll even train you in how to use it effectively. You should be able to stuff a smaller, man-sized robot, in it, use it to do all the diagnostics, and, once it's programmed right, the repairs." Now, he's smiling.

"If you could burn a few CDs with copies of the robot software that you're prepared to part with, I'll take it away and study it. Give you a report on my findings."

He's shaking my hand, hugging me. There's tears in his eyes.

"After Soni disappeared, with no warning, I got this place in his will. I only get paid if I keep it going. The lawyers are really strict. Do surprise inspections. Use 'secret shoppers'. They only see the front shop, of course." I do wonder why he's not got a robot shop assistant, though, maybe that's the bear.

He falls to one knee.

"Will you marry me?"

I just look at him for a few moments.

"I'm afraid I have... other commitments. But, thank you for your flattering offer."

Yes, I swiftly take my leave. With some CDs. But, also yes, I think I'll be back, next week. I'm mad.

Very, very, mad.

---

AN: The Japanese are not gun enthusiasts...

AN: 'Gladly' is not DC character, but can't really be called 'OC', due to appearing in a number of places, including the science-fiction short-story. 'Max' and 'Soni' are OC.

AN: Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!

AN: If you're in customer service, I expect you've heard of secret shoppers...

AN: Yes, I do know what 'Soni' in Japanese translates to.

 

[Ace Dreamer]

Raven Lunacy, Marriage, Terra and Secrets - Episode 43

At breakfast. Again. I feel... a bit light-headed. But, basically OK. Because, I cheated.

After my carefully-paced return from Tokyo, didn't want to bring a goblin home, I'd about 45-minutes to breakfast. So, I visited the med-lab. Explained this was a one-off. But, I needed my night's sleep pretty quickly, so I still got to breakfast on time. And Nurse, slightly reluctant, did the magic.

Guess we'll see how I survive the day. But, before that, Raven's been looking at me with suspicion.

"Didn't you sleep properly...", she glances at Terra, "Sugoi?"

"No?"

"Is it something I can help with?"

"I... overdid it, last night. Tried to do too many things. Got a bit... carried away. Actually, someone proposed marriage to me."

Everyone looks at me.

"But, I turned them down. I'd only known them for a few hours."

Cyborg and Beast Boy look at each other, nod. Then, they do a gesture exchange, which I think mean, 'you', 'no, you', 'no you'. Beast Boy wins, or loses, it's hard to tell.

"I've been proposed to, many times. But, I'm pretty sure it's more of a crush, or, maybe a stalker. You know about stalkers?"

"Only in theory. I think... they wanted me for my mind."

"Well, it's like this... Some people don't see you, they see..." And, he launches into a long and hopefully improbable story about ducks, which I fear has too much truth in it.

---

After breakfast, Terra takes me aside for a quick word.

"How did you get accepted in the team? I know you were the last one who joined before me. Everyone is nice, but, I can tell they're being careful what they say when I'm around."

I think for a few moments.

"It's a matter of time. Not just people getting used to you, but finding they can trust you. I didn't have anything like Slade. But, on the other hand, I'm from a different world, no one can check my background, find out who I was before."

I notice her wince. Maybe that wasn't the wisest thing to say?

"Could be a bit trite, but, give it time. Beast Boy trusts you, Starfire likes everyone, the others are willing to give you a chance. Just... do your best."

She nods, and walks off, head hanging.

---

Robin has news for me at our training session. He's arranged for me to meet someone at a university medical school. Which, I guess is good. Problem is, it's this afternoon. Apparently a slot became open. So, I'll have to explain missing my training with Raven. Wonderful.

I think he's not totally happy with the position he's put me in.

No Master Roshi; who knows what he's doing? Robin comes to a decision, and we go to the secure meeting room. Intercoms Cyborg, checks and more checks. Robin sweeps for bugs, I look around, all I spot is a voice recorder someone's probably left behind. Robin thanks me, puts it outside.

He reaches up, touches the side of his face. Sighs. Takes off his mask. He looks the same as the last couple of time's I've seen his bare face.

"This is a sign of trust. But, it's also practicality. You know what I look like. You're going to be team doctor. If you wanted to I'm pretty sure you could discover my identity. My name is... Dick Grayson."

Suddenly it clicks for me. The 'veil lifts'. I recall Batman and Robin fiction, from my home world. I don't know who the Batman is, but Robin, 'Dick'. Sounds right.

But, weren't there more than one Robin? What about 'Burt'? 'Tim'? Something about ducks? I'll worry about that later. Probably Beast Boy's fault.

I recall that vision, the acrobats, at a circus. Falling. The 'Flying Graysons'. Oh.

"You're not saying anything?" He doesn't seem, quite, to be offended.

"A bit of world-traveller shock. And a vision I had a while back. Secret identities seem... I think the logic of them is different here, in this world, than my home one. Probably."

I slap my hand on the table. That seems to help, a bit. "Right. Practicalities. The medical system best needs a baseline scan of you, in good health. To compare with if you're thought to be injured." I pause, to let him digest that.

"Yes, it can work without one, but, baseline then is 'standard' human near-adult male. Slower diagnosis. And, that wont have things like your fingerprints or your retina pattern on record, if you... lose them."

He boggles, a bit. "You can grow-back lost fingerprints? Lost eyes?"

"Yes. Anything but lost central nervous system. Even bits of that, if you're prepared for re-training time. It's a good medical system."

"Wow. I thought you'd need Cadmus to do things like that."

"There's that name again, but all people will tell me about them is they're 'bad news'." I shrug.

"The system could, in theory, grow an entire human body, from scratch, given a 'pattern' and the right instructions. But, that'd take months, and it'd be mindless. Or, it can store spare body parts, pre-grown, which avoids having to wait to grow them if you've lost bits. Maybe a bit of retraining time for lost limbs if your scan isn't recent." I pause again.

"I'm pretty sure it can do more, but, that's locked behind 'command authorisations', I don't want to mess with until I understand it better."

I'm not lying... Just not telling all I suspect. I know what my Dad's systems can do, and, I'm pretty sure this is a close relative. Doubt our med-bay can move your mind and spirit between living and robot bodies, though. My Dad had to build kit to do that after his Nazi (demon?) 'accident'.

Wonder what I'd do if I had to be polite to super-scientist Adolf Hitler? Who's been experimenting on my best friend? But. Talking to Robin.

"Honestly, though, I want to read all the manuals, probably twice, ideally have a full set of spare parts lined-up. Work-out what the maintenance schedule should be. It was drifting in Space, for lots of decades, and I want to make sure there's no hidden faults or weaknesses."

Robin gives a slow nod. Or, I should say, 'Dick'. Though I'd better avoid thinking that name.

"I can see you've thought this through. I'm sure Cyborg, and... Nurse, will give you as much support as they can. Now." He stands up, puts his mask back on, looks directly at me.

"You'd better go get some sleep. After informing Raven. You'll want to be fresh for your afternoon appointment."

---

AN: You can go look-up details on the love-lives of ducks on your own... Not my problem. Not either my circus nor my monkeys.

 

[Ace Dreamer]

Raven Lunacy, Episode 44

Raven isn't happy. And, I don't blame her. Short-notice changes are annoying.

But, I do make clear to her that this seems to be chance, and that Robin doesn't look to be trying to annoy her.

She twitches, a bit, when I say 'chance'. Reveals she'd set things up to try and detect, maybe figure-out a way around, my 'curse'. Seeing as it's probably a spiritual one, rather than the more common magical variety. And, may be the effects of an injury, 'scarring' so to speak, so this isn't easy. But, she thinks it needs to be done.

Briefly, because she says I need to go sleep, she reveals that her concern is Garfield's also a 'Weirdness Magnet', and, from her studies, having two such on a team can get... rather unfortunate. I do remark that I suspect my father could have also've had this 'talent', and she really winces.

So, off to bed.

---

I awake a little before lunch. Something is making me... twitchy. I consider my current projects, and, I'm drawn to the one which should unlock my magical potential, that I've been reluctant to finish.

A square of plywood, about a half-metre, eighteen-inches, on a side, with a complex runic pentacle. I bite my lip, think, then use my ritual knife to prick the base of my thumb, get the drop of blood to complete the ritual.

Oh. Why did I do that? It was a really stupid thing to do, just before a critical interview. I've heard of the 'idiot ball', I think I just dropped it.

And, yes, of course, a super-deformed version of Robin pops up through the middle of the pentacle. Stopping with his ankles still in the wood.

---

The masked face looks around, the eyes wide. "Call me 'Larry'" he says, in an absent-minded sort of way.

Then, he stops. Focuses on me. His eyes go wider. His eyebrows climb off his head. He stares.

"No. No way. You're not getting me involved in that. I refuse to play. Give my love to the Boy Wonder, Toots. Bye!"

He sinks back into the board, and, there's no sign he was ever there. At all.

What. Just. Happened?

---

It takes me about ten minutes, but I pull myself together. I don't think my shock was natural. It was as if something grabbed my reality, gave it a thorough shake. But, on the positive side, I think I've unlocked my magic.

So. Shower. Dress in my best 'casual smart'. Check I've 'loaded' the appropriate skills, which are in this case as much Medical Science as I can cram into my head, and, what I can remember of my father's 'A' Level sciences. I just hope it'll be enough.

Then, a light lunch. And, the tricky bit.

I'd have liked to d-walk to the airport, an easy destination, hire a car, drive to the appointment. But, I've not got enough room in my head for driving skills. Rude word. So, I'm going to d-walk to the university, stay out-of-phase, scout a good place to materialise, appear, and scarf my robe. So many things could go wrong...

I think I've gotten away with it. Five minutes early. About what I planned. Usual waiting room, better-quality old periodicals, mostly medical. I note the titles. Flip through an interesting-looking one on prostheses.

Janet Green, a medical administrator. Apparently a 'major donor' requested I get a meeting. But, she's not allowed to say who. Really, she should've been more careful about hiding the 'Wayne Industries' headed letter she was consulting. Pretty sure she's just not very good at being sneaky.

As we went around, seeing the department, I caught glimpses which let me figure-out part of the text. "Check if squeamish" was one item, another was "Check practical skills". The autopsy lab was a pretty obvious test, as was a half-dissected student 'practice' body.

I think I did reasonably, commented on my guess as to cause of death. Explained my training was limited, but I'd started from a base as a nurse-practitioner, due to coming from a medical family, after being home-schooled.

Then, I get introduced to a doctor who's one of the lecturers. An older man, with sharp eyes. He questions me mercilessly.

I... don't think I do terribly, but, I'd like to've done better. Asks me why I want to be a doctor. I answer something about social duty and wanting to be useful to society. No, he doesn't mutter "Idealistic idiot", but, I think, overall, he approves of me.

Ms. Green sits to one side, takes notes.

I do ask what their opinion is of 'super-science' being used in medicine. Ms. Green looks at the doctor. He snorts.

"Wonderful idea. If it was just reliable. When I was a junior doctor we had a 'device'..." He does the finger quotes. "Doubled people's healing rates. Amazing. Until we were using it on someone who died. And, later turned into a zombie. No deaths, a lot of scared people. And, of course, we had to stop using it."

He shakes his head.

"If they can explain the scientific basis of it. Get FDA approval. Allow it to be maintained by someone other than themselves. Then, maybe."

He coughs.

"Sorry. A bit of a 'hobby horse' with me."

Ms. Green smiles in a somewhat pained way.

"I think that's it, for the day. I hope you enjoyed your visit. Shall I call a taxi, or will you make your own way?"

We part.

---

Before I leave campus I visit the library. Get referred to an administrator. Pay the fees, including a deposit, to allow non-student access to the library. Though, I don't get borrowing privileges. For that, you need to be staff or a current or (rich) previous student. Meets with my needs.

And, I visit the university bookshop. Restrain myself. Just get a few, carefully-chosen, medical reference books. Base it on what I saw on the doctor's office shelves.

I hope this is the start of a beautiful relationship...

With the university.

---

AN: Idiot ball, just in case...

AN: Super-deformed, also called 'chibi'.

AN: Prostheses.

AN: Janet Green is an OC. It's deliberate that the university isn't named.

AN: FDA.

 

[Ace Dreamer]

Raven Lunacy, Episode 45

I've survived the university. Got use of their library. Raided their bookshop.

Why do I feel this sense of impending doom?

OK, I'm back at the Tower. Catching my breath. New medical books on the shelf. What's that I left over there?

Ah. The ritual board. All my memories of 'Larry', which I'd managed to suppress, flood back. Yes. There's a good reason to worry.

So.

Raven first?

---

Apparently there's beings called '5th dimensional imps'. The basic idea is not to attract their attention. If you do, be polite, try not to lose your temper. They can be helpful, or tricksters. You never know. In general they seem to have limited attention spans.

But, Raven says the Teen Titans, best as she knows, haven't mixed with one.

So, we go consult an expert. Beast Boy.

"Yeah. I know about those. They seem to know about past times that've... changed, so I'm one of the few that recalls them. And, they can see alternate futures. Time travel at will. I wont say the name of the one that bothers Superman, but, Batman had one called 'Bat Mite', dressed-up, badly, like him."

He stares in the air, looks thoughtful.

"Even helped him, once or twice. Had a selective visibility trick, so maybe Batman could see, hear, him, but others couldn't. Some thought he was just a delusion." He waves his finger, in a circle, next to his head. Looks at me.

"So, you've seen one?"

"Yes... Gave the name 'Larry'. Looked like a squished-down version of Robin. Asked to be reminded to him. Assuming 'Boy Wonder' is him."

Beast Boy snickers, then looks (half) serious.

"Ohhh Kay... New one on me. So, you think we're going to see him around? Sounds like he could be fun."

"I don't think so... Something seemed to scare him, make him change his plans. I think. Maybe one of those possible futures? I don't know."

"Don't forget to pass the message on to Robin", remarks Beast Boy.

Raven looks determined. "We're going to do that ritual, this evening. The one we put-off from the afternoon. Get some answers. Then, if you agree, I'll walk in your dreams."

"Kinky!"

We both glare at Beast Boy.

---

I've got a lot to do, but, decide to visit the Meditation Room. Kory is there, eyes closed, floating in the air.

She's pretty deep. I think she recognises me, on some level, decides I'm not a danger.

I float-up, beside her. Start meditating.

I really need this.

---

"I've got all the wards set-up." Raven launches straight into things. "If nothing else, you being around has given me a lot of practice."

Was that... humour? No...

"I think it only proper that I tell you one reason I was so concerned. Apart from you and Garfield... amplifying each other. And your goblin. And your sudden magic cravings. And 'Larry'." She raises one eyebrow. I can only nod.

"I was trained by mystic warrior monks. They aimed to prepare me to resist..." She pauses, looks at her wards. Firmly nods her head. "My father. Trigon."

We both look around. Nothing appears to happen. Good, I guess.

"I was trained to watch out for changes. In me, in those around me. To be on guard." She stops again, takes a sip from her goblet of water. I take one from mine.

"My father..." She swallows. "Trigon. As that annoying priest said maybe I should look to my grandfather. The god... Azar."

What? I start, and look at her. She looks back. I gesture for her to continue.

"Azar is the god of Azarath. He's not known to physically manifest, though he has a... relationship with the leader of the people who live there, and his power has been passed from generation to generation. That leader is called 'Azar'."

She looks at me. "Yes, either they're not very imaginative, or, Beast Boy might be right about 'Kinky'." She coughs.

"A female follower of Azar, not the leader, had some sort of... relationship with him. Birthed Trigon as the result. Azar had originally led the people to Azarath, a place where they cast off the negative parts of themselves. Unfortunately, these accumulated, and the whole somehow merged with the new being so a monster was born. Trigon."

"That was about a thousand years ago. Trigon has only got more powerful, claims to have existed from 'the beginning of Time'. Supposedly rules more than a million worlds. And, has turned his attention to this Earth, a place at the crossroads of many dimensions, a place from which he could wield incredible power."

"But, a place that rejects him. Unless, he uses a key. Me."

We sip our water. Look at each other.

"You wanted to say something? Earlier? But were polite enough to wait until I finished."

"Yes..."

She gestures for me to continue, I take a deep breath.

"I'm unsure if this is relevant. But, my father. He has an ex-wife, who he rarely speaks of. They still send each other letters, though she works in a distant country. In Persian. I happen to know that her name means 'flame', in Persian." I pause.

"Sometimes, when he's feeling poetic, my father's called her my 'spiritual mother', because she was the 'flame that inspired him' to start the medical work, that led to me. Apparently, a Persian name which means 'flame' is Azar..." There is silence.

"Do you think that's important?"

We just sit, and look at each other.

---

AN: This is not a cliff-hanger. Honest.

AN: And Geo will not say, "Raven! I Am Your Aunt!".

 

[Ace Dreamer]

Raven Lunacy, Episode 46

Raven ran her tests. Some of which made no sense to me. Didn't obviously involve magic. Asked me to astral project. Poked my body, (spiritually) poked my spirit.

She's pretty sure. I'm 'cursed'.

And, the (annoying) priest got it right, it is a curse of the spirit, which messes with probability. Makes me a 'Weirdness Magnet'. Almost certainly due to injury when fighting my attempted possessor, which didn't (spiritually) heal right.

Apparently, it's not that uncommon, in certain circles. Shaman on a spirit quest have a rough time. End up with this 'talent'. Can make them outcasts, can make them 'special people', to be valued; depends on their culture.

Raven's found literature, some try and induce this effect, and, there's related effects. Like scaring-off animals while hunting, being 'lucky', which is a lot more positive, and, only noted in more modern times, jinxing machinery, particularly electronics.

But, in a super-hero setting, something you can really do without. Raven thinks we may be able to use something like the healing methods that we used on her spirit to help me. Maybe I'll even end-up 'lucky'? Who knows?

Further investigations to be done in my dreams.

---

I've gotten better a going to sleep while anxious, only takes me about five minutes. Though, half-waking dreams, where the doctor at the university is replaced by my father, wearing a false beard. Who wants to know if I've practical experience of repairing plush toys.

Strange.

Raven rouses my spirit, but instead of astral projection we're going inwards. Into the depths of my mind. To start with, we're doing a scout around, try and determine my spiritual boundaries. Which, is fun, as spirits are more than three-dimensional.

Seeing as I started as an AI my spirit is apparently an unusual shape. This is possibly useful, as that in turn influences my mind, may give me protection both against those who can 'handle' human minds, and those who influence the 'minds' of (advanced) machines. So, I straddle two worlds.

Of course, unless I train, someone who can effect both will just walk-in. More things to learn...

More interesting is following my creative dimension. Apparently, in this group of worlds, that leads to The Dreaming, which is the well-spring of creativity in all local reality. Going there is... strange. We just touch the boundaries, and, a man with stars for eyes, that I last saw in my Roshi-induced vision, nods to me.

I'm not sure I like that sort of attention... Raven agrees with me.

We then go and overlook my past time-line; best to avoid looking at possible futures. I'm a pink worm, that stretches into the past, does a strange jink, and before that is a latex-covered worm, further back a collection of metal boxes.

I stop looking beyond that. It's quite enough. I might be unlucky enough to see a previous incarnation. Knowledge of such can apparently completely bleep-up your current one. Unless, maybe, you're a Buddhist.

Back to more normal territory.

---

Raven seems to think my mind is strangely ordered. Seems to make sense to me, but, I guess I'd think that. A metal-and-silicon foundation, with power and signals flowing through grids of wires, flickering patterns, carefully concealed logic. The 'guts' of my AI and robot self.

Then, above, a more organic look, curves of bright windows, though there's no outside to see through them. Elegant rooms, with seating, for human forms. Even a few potted plants. There're mirrors on some walls, which don't show normal reflections. A few book-shelves, a photo album.

And, something that looks a bit like a gym, with a neat floor grid, a table and chair, a bicycle. I used to hate that bicycle... So many falls...

Another stairway, and I'm happier. Still sparse but more obviously occupied. A lounge with carpet, tv, wall-pictures. The pictures swiftly blank before we get to look at them - I think I did that in time.

There's things like a kitchen, bedroom, bathroom. The odd magazine, book, left on a table. And, crammed book-shelves. Lots of them.

Down a short corridor, we come to an immense library. Before it are rows of index files, their cabinets coded in many different colours. All right. I do have a pretty ordered mind.

Another immense hall, off to one side, full of tools and machinery. A magical workshop in a third hall, a complex gym in a fourth. Then, an almost empty fifth hall, with a few weird science gadgets.

Wandering through the place are robots that look remarkably like me.

Raven stops. Raises an eyebrow. "Yes, I can see you... love to know things. And, how to do... stuff"

---

We follow a hidden corridor, to a secret library, books with unmarked spines. Back-track. Open a secret door in an otherwise blank wall. Climb a narrow stairway.

Now, we're on a balcony, over an immense room. Flows of mostly pale-blue light run around. An overview of my mind. And, if you look from just the right angle, below it my spirit.

There's a twisted area, with a bend around a blackened part. I'm guessing my spiritual injury. "Looks pretty classic", remarks Raven. I'm far from sure she's seeing the same scene as me. She moves us along the balcony, we find a narrow stair, fortunately with a rail, which leads down to my spirit level.

"We're pretty deep here", comments Raven, "But, this is more ordered than any spirit I've ever looked at. Except for that root, which looks pretty organic."

I look where she's pointing, and, yes I can see a sort-of nearly invisible twisted root. But, what grows from it quickly becomes more ordered. The seed of my spirit was from a living being? Who, I wonder?

Carefully, we start to climb. Stepping on the stronger parts. Sometimes I feel a twinge, as one or other of us finds a foot-hold. I can tell this could all go horribly wrong...

We're at the twisted bit. Raven kneels, carefully runs her fingers along it. Watches how I shiver. Sits back on her heels. Inspects the area. "Robin?", she says in a low voice, and traces, pointing with a finger, the way something that I can't, quite, see flows. "What have you done?"

Looks at me. "I think I can see something that should work. Robin... appears to have done something unwise, that could damage your social connections. But, if we replace the twisted part with that dammed flow, over there..." She indicates an orange knot. "It looks as though things should balance. Eventually."

Tilts her head to one side, obviously thinks. "Could you do some math for me? I think it might help." And, she hands me a long scroll, which morphs into a PDA as I take it.

Math is done. I hand her what in her hands becomes a scroll. There's a blur of movement, and it's as if she has a dozen arms and hands, shifting, mostly very delicately, connections.

Then she stops, takes a firm grip on the twisted part of the network. "I'd say 'brace yourself, but, relaxing would be better." She waits until I do.

My world turns back-to-front, inside-out, and is then sucked-up through a plug-hole to fill a basin. Oh. Then, then, it gets really weird.

---

We're back in my lounge, in the 'human' area of my mind. Raven has made tea in my kitchen, and has just poured me a cup. I add milk to taste. Perfect. Then I pour some for her. Slowly, the world stops feeling fragile.

"Both your pupils are the same size again, now. I'm pretty sure that's a good sign." She pulls back from looking in my eyes.

"There was a lot more energy let loose than I expected. I had to fly to get out of there, carrying an unconscious you. But, we got back, OK. My only problem was the room with the elephant-sized dog..."

Somehow I recall that. Raven growled back at the dog, and he backed down...

"How do you feel?"

I consider this, carefully. "A bit shaken, but, I think I'll be OK." I look around.

On a table, turned so we can both see it, clearly, is a graphic novel. It's marked "Detective Comics, Volume 1, 1939", and seems to have Batman, and some gunmen, on the cover.

Raven and I look at each other. Raven breaks first. "I think you'd better put that away, somewhere very, very, safe."

"Yes. I will."

---

AN: Incarnation is an interesting term...

AN: You may not believe it, but some use 'bleep' as an actual swear word. Maybe they've seen too much tv? Think it's funny? I met someone who used 'shuggles'; they said they learnt it from a minor character in 2000AD's Nemesis the Warlock...

AN: The tech, it changes, but PDA. If you're curious, this is Geo's PDA.

 

[Ace Dreamer]

Raven Lunacy - Episode 47

Before we leave. My home-from-home. The lounge in my dreaming mind. I've a question, actually a puzzle, for Raven.

A real puzzle. A wooden jigsaw puzzle, in fact.

It represents my inability to learn an early-acquired talent of my father's. Speed Reading. I can use various systems to get images into my mind, my memory, even OCR them into text. But, to process this, into knowledge, into something I can actually use, I need to read it, not much faster than real-time.

She looks at the puzzle. Moves some of the pieces around. Studies the image of the completed picture on the outside of the box. Thinks for a few moments.

Then, reaches into the box, extracts two pieces. Looking at them, they're not quite right. Empties the rest of the pieces onto the table. Puts a few of them together. Takes the empty box, lifts out a false bottom, reveals two missing pieces.

"I think it best you do the rest yourself. Otherwise, its a grafted-on skill, not something properly 'yours'."

"OK."

---

We're standing outside my body. Raven has a small, green, goblinoid, creature by one ear. She appears to be having to work hard to maintain her grip. The... gremlin? That feels right, is not a happy being.

"I think that's enough for tonight. You get some solid sleep. I'm unsure if this is 'real', but I'm going to deal with it as if it is."

I bow. "Yes, teacher."

---

Waking in the early morning, after a solid four-hours sleep. That's more than I normally need, and a few attempts to doze convinces me I'm done for the night.

Shower, dress. Think for a few moments. Wonder if Oracle is still awake. Visit and secure the conference room. Yes, she is.

As we've done a number of times previously, we chat, she points me to a new hacker site she's stumbled on. I store the phone number for future reference. We have a good time, and it relaxes me a bit. The vivid dream Raven shared begins to slide into the background.

Then, she gasps. There's a groan, and I hear a thud, something her filters would normally hide from me.

I'm elsewhere. This is a firm reminder that I'm not in full control of my dimension walking, or, in this case, astral projection. And, I may never be. Psychic powers are tricky like that.

There's a complex room, stuffed with computers and communications equipment. In the centre, a brilliantly red-headed woman, in a wheelchair, collapsed forward, over a keyboard, her glasses knocked to one side.

I'm here as a spirit, an uninvited one at that. Though, I'm pretty sure, a friend. There's no robots, manipulator limbs, around, so I can't see what to do. I think I may have to be a lot ruder...

Nothing I've done before, but I try and possess just her right arm. A hard struggle, but it works. Push her back into the chair, into a better position. Tap at her keyboard.

On the screen, strange, I can see my body slumped in my chair, back at the Tower. Though, my posture isn't too bad, and my body doesn't seem to be at risk.

Her system... It's thoroughly customised, not at all easy to use. Lots of things I'm pretty sure are driven by keyboard short-cuts. I stop, think for a few moments.

There's a bright red key, top-left corner, of the keyboard. Labelled 'HELP!'. Someone has modified the keyboard so it's an actual key. I press it.

A gruff voice. "What's the problem, Oracle?"

I look at the screen. There's a chat text window open. I type into there. "Oracle has collapsed, seems unconscious. I can't seem to revive her."

A pause. "Who is this?" Spoken, not typed. "What did you do to her?"

"I was chatting, from the Tower, and she gasped, groaned, and I heard a thud. Then I found myself here. And, I'm using her arm and hand to type."

"Sugoi? One of your spirit things?"

"Yes."

A muttered voice. "Robin needs to improve his reports." I'm pretty sure I was supposed to hear that... How? One of those psychic things, I guess.

"I don't know what to do. I don't think I should come here, physically, without permission. Can you give me permission?"

Another pause. "No. I can't. I'll get a... friend to come. Wait."

About thirty seconds, and a roof-hatch opens. A figure... No, it can't be. Oh, I'm in real trouble. Skin-tight blue with a cape. Him.

I type on the keyboard.

"Hi, Superman."

---

Oracle gets whisked to hospital, wheelchair and all. I'm dragged along, apparently still stuck in her arm. He was quite polite, thanked me, but said seconds could be critical.

I don't know what city we fly over, but we're now in a small but seriously high-tech hospital. I'm sure some of the stuff is super-science, bits look like salvaged alien tech.

Oracle is placed on a high-tech bed, fully dressed, and a... force drives me out of her body. I float alongside the bed. Feeling a bit helpless.

There's a small robot off to one side, the attachments look as though it does cleaning. Maybe?

No real mind, but, the faintest hint of a spirit. It feels... fulfilled. With its permission I float into the body, activate a long-disused speaker system, microphone, look through the eye.

A nurse and doctor seem to have come into the room. Superman appears to have just finished briefing them. I can't see Oracle, on the bed, the robot's viewpoint is too low.

"Will she be all right?"

The nurse flinches, the doctor and Superman don't seem surprised. The doctor, without looking over, speaks.

"Looks like you alerted us in time. Initial readings suggest a blood clot detached, blocked critical blood flow. We're handling the problem. Probably an issue building for some time. Could've happened any time. Good someone was... with her."

Superman coughs.

"Might be best if you go home now. You did the right thing. I expect Oracle will contact you, later."

So, I go.

---

AN: In case these are unfamiliar, jigsaw puzzle. I understand some these days are made by laser cutting...

AN: Yeah, OCR.

AN: Gremlins go back quite a way... Of course, there are so many sorts of gremlin, but this one might give you some idea about what Geo's seeing.

AN: Thrombosis, when your repair systems cause you problems...

 

[Ace Dreamer]

Raven Lunacy, Episode 48

I. Am. Not. Happy.

I. Have. Been. Stupid.

I... wish I could hit my problems with a hammer. Like I'm currently hitting bits of metal with a hammer. On an anvil. Using a forge. Traditional style. Sort of.

I'm in my alchemical tech workshop, because there's more spare room there. Also, it doesn't share a wall with Victor's workshop. I know the sound insulation is good, but, there's limits.

I trucked the Synthesiser up from the med-bay. And its support kit. It'd really been there, too long. The rest of the salvage, too. Apologies to Nurf for not doing it earlier. And, am thanked for the company.

Not much company, but the skinned robots, mine and Victor's, are still there. Properly dressed. In med-beds. Nurf's keeping their living bits fed, watered and healthy.

At breakfast the Team talked. Assuming she wants to, and can, we're going to make it quite clear to Nurf she's invited to wander the Tower, outside private areas, as she likes. Share meals with us.

Terra, who's told us all to call her 'Tara', seems happy. Says it means she'll no longer be the newest member of the Team.

There was some banter about who was the oldest, and the youngest, members of the team. Including Master Roshi, he is declared oldest, followed by Nurf. Though, associates, as they're not teens.

Raven and Robin agree we wont discuss who is youngest.

And, both ignore Garfield sticking his tongue out.

---

My arm kept working, hammer to metal, while I was thinking. I've got a good rhythm going.

Part of this is about ritual, as Master Roshi said. Yes, most of the tools, and the forge and anvil were made by the Synthesiser, but, that's not important.

I'm not stupid enough to want to feel uncomfortable, so I'm wearing my robe. And, the forge is gas-heated, not coal, coke or charcoal. There's a pyrometer watching the temperature.

The Synthesiser could work mithral, or 'bithral' which is what I'm planning to use, directly. Could make me a perfectly workable knife. But, it would be... character-less. Without... style. Not a crafted thing.

I'm working a range of metals, and I have my science data book, and engineering manuals, memorised. Also, all the appropriate metallurgical texts. New and old works. on smithing. The making of weapons. I want to know what working bithral feels like, how it changes under the hammer, the colour, the ring, the... taste.

I'm also allowing my magical flows to mix with the various metals, then, drawing them out again. Similarly, flows of chi. Neither feels... quite right. There are many sorts of other energies I could use, but, again, they don't feel right.

I stop. Take a break. A cup of imported English tea, some nice fresh 'cookies' from the auto chef. At least my temper seems better.

I feel a thread of my spirit, reach out, touch the bithral I was hammering. It feels... right. Looks like I'll need those books on blood magic. If I want to get my spirit to become part of the metal...

I'm pretty sure this is going to hurt...

---

I need a break so I scout a route to d-walk, to Tokyo, Japan, the docks. I'm beginning to think I did something stupid on my England visit. Asimov doesn't seem to be an author known in this world, or, at least, known widely. So, that was not the London, England, of this world that I shopped in. Best to be careful with showing anyone my books.

The Tokyo robot shop, yes, that does seem to exist in this world. I have a phone number, I left a message on an answer-phone. Now, to keep my promise, I need to get a build cell, there. So, I need a route along which I can push or drag a small trolley.

Without being burnt as a witch.

According to the Bank of Mammon my visas will cover the UK and Japan of a number of worlds. They are just that good. Also, if I pay a fee, any of my accounts will be marked with the world where the money was drawn. So, I'll be able to tell which London I visited. A worthwhile investment, I think.

The route looks good. I'll only need a brief bit of flying, where I'll need to carry the trolley. Something to do this evening. I've checked where I need to appear at the docks, get my items into the local delivery system, with all proper customs paperwork done, and fees paid. From 'Geo' to 'Max'.

---

A phone call from Oracle. With her usual voice changes. Guarded conversation, apologies on my part, but, thanks from her. We'll talk further, when she feels better. The medical treatment she's under is apparently good for expelling foreign influences, and fixing certain problems, but, doesn't provide instant healing. I get the impression there's other issues, but she isn't at liberty to discuss these.

We'll talk further. I feel a lot better after that promise.

---

Raven cancels our afternoon session. Says she thinks I need more time to 'settle'. Funny thing. Robin cancelled the morning training. Said something similar. Also, I guess he'd heard about Oracle. Roshi just grinned at me, gestured me out the door.

So. I've gone into the city. After 'loading up' my driving skills. Taken a driving lesson. Seeing as they drive on the other side of the road, and I know the UK (and Japanese) road signs, it seemed wise. Bought some maps of the city. 'Real' ones and tourist. Oh, and I paid the (expensive) fee for an immediate driving test. I passed. Quite reasonably, as 'driving' (and using maps) is now a permanent part of my mind.

Next time, I'll be ready.

---

Japan trip OK. Goods delivered. No unexpected goblins. So, a success.

One of the customs men was particularly attentive. I'd gone, as myself, 'Sugoi', that is. And, once the business was done, he'd asked me for a particular favour.

A photograph. Which was not posed, and, I think, taken in SF Japantown, after the fight with the shadows. He wanted it signed 'for his daughter', but, I've a strong suspicion it was really for him. So. I guess. I'm getting known in Japan?

I sign it. In Japanese.

Fame?

---

Back at the Tower. Relaxing. Not a bad day, I guess.

Then, another phone call from Oracle. We move it to the secured area. She's signed herself out of hospital, would like to see me. Tonight. If I can figure-out how to find her.

I guess it's some sort of test?

So, I'm going to make it more interesting. Show her just what I can do. D-walk there, in my robot body. A good field-test. Carrying a medi scanner.

What could go wrong?

---

AN: You knew what a pyrometer was, didn't you?

AN: How will Geo handle fame? I guess we'll see.

AN: Tempting Murphy (some would say 'fate'). Well, Geo has to learn, sometime...

 

[Ace Dreamer]

Raven Lunacy, Episode 49

OK. Logistics. Visiting Oracle.

I'm going to leave my flesh body in a med-bed. Take my robe and Third Eye focus, because I don't have duplicates of those. I'll take the translator, and a standard anti-possession amulet, just-in-case. That and a medi scanner, with fully-charged, and backup, 'batteries', should cover most things.

A smooth move from flesh to flesh-covered robotics. I was pretty sure that would work. But, I feel a little weak, and clumsy. Climb out of the med-bed.

Loot the body! (Dad's friend taught me that.)

Ow. Static? "Nurse? What was that?"

Nurf looks over, from where she's sitting, reading a novel. Avatar Nurf speaks.

"Life energies fluctuated, then stabilised. No obvious health issues. One of your 'chi' things?"

Actually... I feel better. Back to full strength, and, my reflexes seem improved. A little Tai Chi. All seems good. Hmm.

Yes, I can levitate. Pale-blue aura, chi-reach out, pick-up a medi scanner. Funny, I've not tried to use chi in a robot body before. I'd expect some issues...

"Are you sure my human body is OK?"

"All readings nominal. Same readings as when you last pulled a body jump. Don't ask me about chi, you know that's not something I understand. However, I'd suggest you be cautious."

Let's be thorough.

Meditate. Open my Third Eye. That... feels a little strange. My flesh body looks OK, no spirit, obviously, but the anti-possession amulet looks its normal sneaky self. Chi looks a bit low, but, is slowly climbing back up. Tech, nothing unusual. I can see the flows Nurse is using to monitor currently not-me. Magic... Obviously, no robe. Flows look good.

Wait a minute... I look closer. My protective chi-coat, just below my skin. It's gone. What?

Then, I look down, at my robot arm. The chi-coat is there, but, maybe, a little brighter than usual. Tied to my robe, and... yes, there're delicate spirit flows to the amulet on my human body. Interesting.

Certainly worth investigating.

But, later.

---

D-walking is OK, but I've already done that with a 'naked' robot, so hardly surprising. Finding Oracle...

My astral form was suddenly there, no navigation, no feeling of movement. Recalling Raven, people can be 'locations', if you've a strong enough connection to them. I'm a close enough friend of Oracle? Didn't realise.

I fumble around, but, no 'instant jump'. Maybe I can get a direction, if I get a bit deeper into the dimensions? Worth a try.

Try a number of routes, but they don't 'feel' right. Part of the problem, I suspect, is that I just don't know the USA well enough.

I've learned there's a dimensional layer which seems to handle Earth orbit with no need to breathe. Not too difficult to reach. From there, I can tell Oracle is in the US. East Coast.

Have I got any clues? I've not heard Oracle speak without scrambling, so nothing there. Superman, I think he's based in Metropolis, but, he doesn't have a clear accent. The doctor... I can hope he was a local. I think he had a New York accent.

There's a graunching feeling in my head, and, I realise that was a Gotham City accent. Batman is supposed to be based there, and I know both he and Robin are connected to Oracle.

I peer down at the East Coast, and I've got a feeling where Gotham City is. Let's try closer...

OK, I'm over Gotham, though still out-of-phase. I can see, but few should be able to spot me. That tower feels right. Scout around a bit. The front door looks sealed, and, I'm guessing, armoured. There's a side door, inconspicuous, with a ramp, probably good for a wheelchair. A doorbell.

Guess I'd better try...

---

Ring the bell. A delay. A distorted woman's voice from a concealed intercom. "What? It's pretty late. I didn't order anything."

"I'm sorry I don't know whom I'm addressing, but I got a phone call. Asked me to come over. I think I've got the right place."

There's a pause.

"Wait. I'll come down."

I'm pretty sure there're several weapons pointed at me. Both outside the door, and once I step inside. Look like 'murder holes', above.

Nice. Really welcoming.

A screen lights-up. "Who are you?"

"I think I'm a friend. Pressed a red button marked 'Help'. Someone in blue arranged a hospital visit. OK?"

There's a buzz, and a door opens. Yes, it's seriously armoured.

"Come in."

---

We're in a rather untidy but comfortable room. Drinking coffee. Oracle is the red-headed woman I saw previously. And, she's still in a wheelchair. Even through the protection of the robe I can tell she's got a strong grip, as she shakes my hand.

"So. You're a friend of Robin. Did he help you find my hide-away?"

"No... Finding here... I've some problem-solving skills, but I'm nothing like a detective. I didn't even know the right city. But, I used what clues I could think of, Gotham seemed likely, and once I got here I followed my nose."

"On a good day I can tell where... friends are. Seems to be part of my psychic powers."

She sips her coffee, watches me for a while.

"Do you know Gotham well?"

"No, I'm afraid not. This is my first visit. It... doesn't look like somewhere that encourages tourism."

A brief laugh. "You got that right. I'm not a great believer in psychic powers, but there's some strange talents among the super-powered. You always came across as a technical type, though. On the other hand, you did say you were Raven's apprentice, so I guess weird powers make sense."

"What do you think about robotics?"

"Bit of a strange question. Your reputation is pretty good on the subject, I know."

"I've got a reputation?"

"Didn't I tell you? No, I was going to tell you a bit later, then I... collapsed." She swallows.

"I'm training to be the team doctor. I've got access to various weird science medical gadgets. I brought one here, tonight. You can look at it, if you like?"

Carefully, slowly, I open the bag. Extract, hold-up, the medi scanner. She nods. I slowly hand it to her. She turns it over, inspects it.

"Looks hand-made. I can see tool-marks. A hatch. Battery compartment?"

"Yes. It's a medical scanner. Lets someone with the right skills diagnose problems. Even allows a detailed scan, good enough to grow a copy of a body. Accurate finger-prints, retina patterns, scars, tattoos, the lot. No nasty traps, self-destructing clones, reliable."

She raises her eyebrows. "There's people who'd kill to get something like that."

"Like I said, useless without the right training. And, far as I know, no one on this world can do that training."

"But, you've got it?"

"Yes."

"Who knows about this?"

"Raven, Cyborg, Nurse, though she's a special case, Robin, Batman I guess. They know the details. Starfire and Beast Boy know some of it. And, now, you."

"What about you? Don't you count?"

I grin. "Ah, but I'm a robot."

---

AN: Murder holes, just what you need in your hallway.

AN: Just how deep is Geo getting herself? I guess we'll see...

 

[Ace Dreamer]

Raven Lunacy, Episode 50

"You're a robot. You just sat there, drank a cup of coffee. You went white, earlier, when you looked at the murder holes. That isn't a wig, that's either living hair, or the best fake I've ever seen."

"Living flesh over a metal endo-skeleton. A quote from a film that few seem to know of in this world. Well, mostly plastic, metal's too heavy."

A disbelieving look.

"I can show you the sockets on the back of my neck? Where I can plug-in skill chips or interface cables?"

"Those can be added using surgery. There's loads of deluded fools out there that'd do that sort of thing."

I sigh. "Got a good, strong, small flash-light? A small mirror on a stick? If I roll-up the back of my shirt then you can take a look around inside me, through the maintenance seam."

---

A rather embarrassing time later, and, 'Barbara' is a lot more convinced. Yes, I've told her I'm 'Geo'. Looking inside someone, even if they're designed for it, can lead to first-name terms.

She did raise an eyebrow when she saw the knife sheathed on the back of my belt. I promised she could look at it, later.

"You didn't have to tell me that. You're a convincing enough fake that I wouldn't have guessed. So, you have an agenda. Give."

"I will do, but, didn't you promise me a look, seeing as I'm actually, physically, here this time, around your workplace?"

Grudgingly, she agrees.

---

Her 'office' is really impressive. I'd only glanced at it, before, I'd more important things to worry about. And, maybe, the sort of eyesight a spirit has... missed some of the nuances. Still haven't figured how I could hear Batman and Superman, though.

Everything at her fingertips. Computers, comms gear, like auto diallers, multiple varieties of radio, at least one satellite uplink. Fax machines, a Morse key... The lot. I think she could spot my envy. Probably, smell it.

I didn't murmur, "It's so beautiful!", at one point. Honest.

I ask permission to look around, and the queen graciously gives it. Though, I get a look when I levitate up to look at one of the higher features.

"I hope that your anti-gravity, or whatever it is, doesn't damage any of my equipment."

"Don't worry, all natural energies. More likely to make moss grow than fry anything."

"How does a robot get powers which run on natural energies?"

"Ask Robin. He kept training me till I learned it. It was either that or become a super martial artist who could walk through walls, and fly in space. Oh. I learned that later."

Not a bad incredulous look from her. I get another one when I float upside-down to look in her false floor.

"I'm not the world's best acrobat, but I picked-up a few tricks."

Though, looking at her slumped shoulders, that might not have been the wisest comment...

I ask her to explain how she does some of the more complex hacking. That cheers her up, and I think some of this is beginning to make sense to me.

Maybe she'd like to visit the Moon, some day?

But, sooner or later we run out of stuff to look at. And, float, or wheel, back to her lounge. Where, over more coffee, I have to explain myself.

The delay while I show her my knife, and my boot knives, is far too short. Though, the way she can throw my knives, hit a battered dart-board, on the far-side of the room, bullseye or near.

That was worth seeing.

---

The moment of truth.

"I don't like the way you're confined to a wheelchair. So, I asked Raven a hypothetical question, no names, no details." I take a deep breath.

"According to her a major sacrifice in someone's life can be part of gaining new abilities. And, nothing can reverse that sacrifice until a new... balance has been achieved."

She doesn't look convinced.

"I'm sure you were clever, good at solving problems, before you were... disabled. But, did you find that your new skills came remarkably easily, almost as if you were inspired, almost as if someone were whispering secrets into your ear?"

We drink some more coffee. Look at each other. Finally she speaks.

"Why? Why are you torturing me like this?"

"Because, if I believe Raven, there's something... dark, occult, about Gotham. We've seen others who've been transformed by sacrifice, become super-human. All without knowing what's going on. Something... monstrous has happened to them. But, they've survived. Become strong in new ways." I pause.

"No names, people have secrets. But, unfortunately, not all are 'good guys'. And, the powers, which often hide themselves, vary."

"Explain to me. Why robots."

"Once you've mastered your new abilities, and I'm pretty sure you have, new possibilities can open. You could have a robot, looks just like you, see through their eyes, hear through their ears, walk the streets of Gotham on their legs. All while remaining safe, here in your fortress."

She grins, in quite a nasty way. "Good try. You'll have to do better."

OK. I'll have to risk it.

"So, you won't buy the robots? Even a robot assistant to make your life easier? Right. The big one. The one you wont believe."

She cocks her head to one side.

"You don't have to remain crippled. If you want to, you can have the use of your legs back. Yes, you'll probably need to retrain, build-up muscles. But it should all be fixable."

"You still don't believe me?"

"I've had operations. The best doctors. Genius super-scientists. Nothing. Worked."

"But, that was early on? Before you'd established yourself as Oracle? You can never go back, only forwards. I learned that even before I met Raven."

She shakes her head.

"I said I was a robot. You've seen I am. Well, yes, I am at the moment. But, back at the Tower, in a med-bed. My living human body is sleeping. In one of the most advanced medical facilities in the world."

"I lay this robot, down in a bed. I stand up, from the next bed, as a human. Yes, I'm a bit of a special case, with psychic talents. But, I'm pretty sure, if you lie-down in a med-bed you could get up with working legs."

She looks at me, blank-faced.

Then, she's crying in my arms.

After a while, I'm crying too.

Will it all work out?

I hope so.

---

AN: Bit of a tear-jerker, but, sometimes they are...

AN: You might suspect that Gotham isn't a nice place...

AN: You might also suspect Raven's been talking about a certain clown-girl... And, maybe investigated who she's attached to...

 

[Ace Dreamer]

Raven Lunacy, Episode 51

"Oops."

Not, on the surface a scary word. But, under certain circumstances, rather worrying.

You may be thinking 'clothing malfunction', or pratfall. Leaving your passport behind when you go on holiday. Your bag of shopping on your car roof when you drive home from the mall. Even, shredding an old envelope then realising it contained cash.

Me, I'm thinking more a word you don't want to hear from an explosives expert. Or, someone who's employed in nuclear power.

I guess my 'oops' falls somewhere between those. More than involuntary nudity, less than 'Oh look, I'm dead'. So, no 'Darwin Award', for me, quite yet. Though, I'm unsure if those count for robots. But, really not something desirable when dealing with fundamental forces, like life and death.

I'm stuck outside my body.

---

Initially, I didn't know 'why'. Yes, I was in a robot body, but, I'd astral projected out of one before. Returned to 'the flesh'.

But... Having a good memory isn't always a blessing. That robot body wasn't covered in living flesh. There were no 'chi' issues. And, and... Now I think about it carefully, it felt 'sticky', a little difficult to leave.

From there I flashed back to my murder, on the long walk home from the world we'd fled to. That was before I learned astral projection, long before Raven summoned me to this world. My body was latex, not living, skinned. But, it shared one important characteristic. There wasn't enough on-board computing hardware to allow independent operation.

Never really understood how that worked. Somehow my living spirit was substituting for missing hardware? I was a ghost animating a machine? Or, it was one of those dimension-walking phenomena? I needed to be murdered before I could leave that body?

Reduced to pitiful, broken, scraps?

There must be a way to avoid that. I know so much more, have access to far more powerful tools, helpful, powerful, friends.

Particularly the friends.

---

Running the tests...

The Synthesiser shows exactly what I expected. All my hardware looks OK, all my systems are up-to-spec. The medi scanner capability shows my living skin is unchanged, but, that, just like the med-bay scanners, doesn't 'do' chi.

I also try the stand-alone medi scanner I took to show Oracle. As expected, the readings from that match the Synthesiser. I even stand in a build cell, let all the conventional tech tools, the ones living-skin-safe, anyway, scan me. All readings as expected.

Then, down to the med-bay. Lie in a bed. Yes, all matches up.

I know Nurse has deeper capabilities. But, for the moment, they're locked behind 'command authorisation'. And, they're the bits of her systems I trust least, being on the verge of breakdown. Leave alone, for the moment.

Unless I get really desperate.

---

Raven wasn't greatly concerned.

She pointed-out she'd stuffed Blackfire into the robot body I 'donated'. Was pretty sure she could move me back into my living body. After all, it's capability as a 'spirit house' hadn't been wrecked, as the Janus Crown had done to Blackfire.

Though, she's unsure how much brute-forcing the move might damage my robot body. Or, my chi.

That led me to my study of robo-Blackfire. The extra chips, the ones that mysteriously appeared, in her structure. They were, really, arguably, the big difference tween that and my current robot body.

Raven says she didn't realise there'd been 'hardware changes', that her magic had (just!) reshaped that body so it was 'suitable'. All this is one reason I've continued doubts about mixing magic and technology...

She took me to the Tower trophy room. Showed me the glass box with Puppet King, who was, strangely, a wooden puppet.

I could feel magic from the box, but no chi, no life-force, and didn't sense any spirit. Interesting, though, particularly the story about Titan puppets, that sucked their spirits from their bodies, and the way Raven and Starfire were seamlessly switched.

I gather Raven very, very, carefully destroyed those Titan puppets.

Raven informs me her improved defences would prevent that sort of thing happening again, unless it was backed by the power of something like a greater god. She also thinks the anti-possession amulets people carry, these days, would have at least helped.

---

Victor is interested, says it's a fascinating problem.

Though, from a selfish point of view, he's glad I discovered this before he got too invested in the living-skinned Victor-bot I built him. Thinks he can get his contact with S.T.A.R. Labs to make him another small batch of chips. This time, hopefully, with better security about the design, and who they're for.

I remind him that the chips are at least dual-purpose, useful for navigation in 3d, arguably 4d, including time. Though, the associative-memory 'holographic' storage chips are more problematic. Those could be 'sold' as experimental, futuristic, WORM computer-memory chips. Probably credible.

He agrees to give it a try, and, I promise I'll upgrade his skinned-robot, as well as this one.

---

Kory wants to know how it feels different. I have difficulty explaining it, as most of the time our minds learn to ignore details of our bodies, unless they complain. She thinks my comment about being 'less squishy' is fun, and, we laugh a bit about that.

Garfield... He just looks at me. Suggests we share a pizza. Then, says we need to test if my computer gaming skills have changed. To the lab! Well, actually, the console.

Nurf, says she'll help me however she can. She generously doesn't say 'I told you so'. Master Roshi is fascinated, wants to test how my combat skills have changed, observe my chi flows, comments that far worse has happened to people he knows.

I don't talk to Robin. He's a business associate, rather than a friend. Might be one, some day, but, he'll have to open-up a lot more. Also, any report I write for him, sorry, 'The Team', will be cleared by Oracle, first.

Terra, or, 'Tara'... I talk to her. Tell her I've had a... lab accident. But, I should be OK. It's only fair, but, I don't give her any details.

Mostly I talk to her so she wont feel left out.

---

AN: Darwin Awards, because if you don't know, you really should.

AN: There's been associative memory chips for quite a long time... WORM chips are more novel...

AN: Bet you guessed there'd be consequences...

 

[Ace Dreamer]

Raven Lunacy, Episode 52

Suddenly, you're a robot. No need to sleep. So useful. No need to...

OK. I'll admit it. It's a good job this variety of robot can cry.

Thinking back, before Raven 'acquired' me, I'd put a lot of effort into becoming more human. But, I'd resisted that final step, being... transferred into a (vat-grown) human body. I was... afraid. Maybe, felt I'd no longer be special, valued. Just one of the faceless human masses.

The joys of being a teenage robot. No neural pruning. But, we still find ways to make our lives hard. You should see my risk-chasing night-clubbing sister...

And I. I was always the sensible, dutiful, one.

My father's friend was fond of quoting the Python. "Not Dead Yet."

---

I'm going to be practical. Get on with things. Not quite 'business as usual', but there's plenty to do.

I demonstrated the medi scanner to Oracle. Transcribed the scan notation on to paper. Explained that it suggested she needed a carefully-designed program of lower-body movement. Something she might be able to do on her own, but, it'd be hard work.

Of course, she 'wasn't afraid of hard work'. Something I was already pretty certain was the case. I suggested that there were... technical solutions that could help, less drastic than trusting herself to weird medical systems. And, in case she was interested, I'd probably prototype them.

So, I'm building the robot trousers.

Not the normal sort of prostheses that my father had started on, which was more for people who'd survived stepping on mines. Though, various traffic, or industrial, accidents were other possibilities. And, the many medical causes.

No, these were dual-purpose, providing compression, and also allowing slow walking, even stair-climbing. A couple of hours use per day would probably do. And, they could have sensors fitted so she could monitor her health.

The trick was figuring-out the failure modes, and designing them out. Also, building-in redundancy, to handle the failures you could guarantee would still occur.

No super-science. No 'magic'. Just straight-forward human engineering. And, good batteries.

Oh, and I'd made it quite clear she got to keep all copies of the medical scans we did on her. They were her property, and would only be used with her agreement.

---

I'd got something to discuss with Terra, too. I'd seen her fiddling with her Raven-supplied bracelets. The ones that help her control her power. She'd remarked that flying around on a lump of rock wasn't... ideal. So, I'm offering to help her test alternatives.

An offer eagerly accepted.

I also explain ideas about redundancy, and, confusing your opponents. So, yes, normally you have your 'rocky chariot', but, you also have a fall-back, that you try not to use where enemies learn of it.

I explain that I'm guessing her powers only work on natural rock, but, does it need to be in one large piece?

We experiment, and, as long as the smaller rocks are connected together, then, she can move them as easily as one large one. We measure and fit her for a 'parachute' harness, one without the canopy, and, with rows of pockets for flat rocks.

And, yes, she can fly while wearing the harness. Maybe even learn to do a little acrobatics. Pretend it's acrobatic skill that lets her jump on and off rocks? I show her a few tricks I can do with my levitation.

Then, I explain that her opponents would prefer her to have 'simple powers', so she's easier to predict. How you can beat them by managing their expectations. Type 3 instead of Type 2 thinking; working out what they might be thinking about you.

She's now wearing one of the more evil grins I've seen. Why do I think she's got someone in mind to... educate?

I think I'll wait till she gets used to that before mentioning some of my other ideas...

---

Hitting the books...

My father had a limited amount of teaching skill, but, it suited his (generally concealed) forceful personality. I'm more into a cerebral approach, appeals to the intellect. Not to say I couldn't adopt his methods, and, eventually get them to work, but, I think Raven's going to want me teaching people pretty soon.

So, I'm studying education theory, some solidly experiment-based developmental psychology, because I think some educationalists are often not very... scientific. Some developmental physiology, too. I think, in some areas, the locals of this world are a bit... behind the curve.

I'm drawing maps of the local dimensional structure, too. Comparing astral and d-walking. Looking for suspicious gaps, patterns of flow, even how they've changed over time, from some of Raven's older books,

Why? Because I need to go places, other than local, find the spares I need for the med-bay, someone to sell me alchemical technology systems, training. Maybe, a 'hidden world' that I can use. Yes, I know, worlds generally have a good reason for being 'hidden'.

I know there's more than three-dimensional structure to the inter-world paths, but, most travellers will still be using them with a limited mind-set. Or, just sticking to known paths. So, I need to figure-out the mental acrobatics to use those other dimensions.

I'm going to need more math...

---

And, Raven is right. I need to face my fears, understand them. Figure-out what's fancy and what needs practical management. Understand their roots. I'm beginning to think there's something hiding in my memory that I need to dig-out. That'll be fun.

No reason I can't continue with my smithing, working on blades. Training to make best use of the products with Master Roshi. Robin may refuse to use potentially deadly weapons, but that philosophy isn't mine. I need to Master them.

Weapons are tools, after all. And, being human is about using the right tools.

---

So much to do. No waiting for the chips to arrive, or, fall.

I'm wearing the boots, and they're going where I want.

One step at a time.

---

AN: Yes, there are robot trousers; some call them 'bionic'.

AN: Neural pruning, is not actually a gardening activity...

AN: Some rather dark bits in Monty Python and the Holy Grail...

AN: Geo's 'Type 2' and 'Type 3' thinking is about how deeply you use Theory of Mind. You can see this in the more sophisticated work of the 'intelligence' services.

AN: Not quite a 'crisis of faith', but close.

 

[Ace Dreamer]

Raven Lunacy, Episode 53

I'm seducing Robin.

No, not in the physical way. More, if you don't spend time with someone, how do you ever expect to become their friend?

Also, I've explained how, with careful use, and a little experimentation, you can use the med-bay to minimise required sleep. A mistake I admit I made, myself, as I didn't follow proper procedure.

I can see he's interested. But is sure there's some catch. So, I further explain that sufficiently sneaky enemies might try and exploit this, make it a 'bad habit', so you depend on it, then cut you off from that resource.

Robin likes this thinking. Particularly when I make it clear that your enemies may be smarter, or luckier, than you, and figure-out a way to exploit your behaviour you've not thought of. You just have to weigh-up the risks. And, be aware there may be information you don't have.

He asks me where I learned to think like this. I admit I learned from my father, who was a troubleshooter, and sometimes had to deal with those who were clever, but not clever enough to figure-out they shouldn't have attracted his attention.

He really likes that. Starts to, but doesn't say anything. Gives me one of his rare, unforced, grins.

I'll talk to him about how this mixes with him being an unknowing shaman, later...

---

Exploring Jump City, or San Francisco, if you prefer. Not smart to do this on your own. A good idea to have a friend. Or, at least, a companion. 'Friend' might come later.

I make it quite clear to Robin I'm not a detective. I don't know how to assess streets, know who's watching, following, who. Certainly got no idea how to reliably follow people. Or, where to go or who to tap for information. That my stealth abilities are minimal. And, climbing, that's something for daylight and using lots of equipment.

But, I've got quite good senses, with my Third Eye. D-walking can allow movement that few will expect. Just don't expect it to work in combat situations. I can levitate, even fly, slowly, giving access to places otherwise very difficult to get at.

My motivation?

I don't know the city, but I'd like to learn. We need to know what the skirmishing that's going on is all about. Mercenaries fighting demons. The first smells of Slade, the second might be connected to the imps who attacked us. Basically, we need more information.

Normally, he'd scout alone. Yes, I'll slow him down, in some ways. But, I can provide him with resources to make scouting more effective.

He thinks for a bit, says the reasoning seems sound. But, and I'm glad he finally admits this, he's still got his eye on me.

Also, a bird/raccoon/bloodhound might be very useful on a scout, but he needs to ensure there's no... temperament issues. It's pretty clear who he's talking about.

So. We will be scouting. Once we agree on procedures. Such as what to do if one or other of us is injured.

Reluctantly, I've informed him I'm currently cyborged, though not how extensively. And, after I checked this was OK with Oracle, I'd been involved in helping her. I'll let him come to his own conclusions.

Yes, I'm deliberately misleading him.

---

Telling Raven I'm planning on 'city scouting', and with whom.

On balance, she thinks it's a good idea. Robin apparently has his 'shaman shirt', but will need training in using it. And, yes, she wants me involved in that. It'll be fun to be the one with combat training, for a change.

It's made quite clear I'm not, and never want to be, a shaman. She gives a little smile, suggests I check the literature, and consider whether the other alternative is something I'd prefer. No. I'll take 'neither of the above'. Thank you very much.

Generously, she points-out I can't see in the dark. Offers to loan me a 'cat's eye' ring, which has the obvious cosmetic downside. I'll give it a try. Maybe see if I can encourage my Third Eye to learn the trick.

She does make it quite clear if I run-into significant magic use she wants me to run-away. As fast as fits in with being stealthy, or faster if discovered. Says I could do with training in fighting hostile magi, but, she's unsure how best to arrange that.

I see her point...

And, yes, we've been busy with all sorts of things, but it seems smart she, sometime, takes my robe and carefully examines it.

Talk about feeling naked...

---

After I saw Raven I meditated for a while. Focusing on my magical flows. They'd felt a bit different since the 'Larry' incident, which unlocked my magic.

I wanted to know if there were any changes that might assist me scouting. And, if I could tell what the changes were, in fact. Seemed unclear. Felt as though I'd now got some conscious ability to do ritual enchantment. Of some sort. I'd done it before, but, it'd been a rather hit-and-miss affair.

Now? Still unsure. But, something... deep and heavy felt to have begun moving. To do with my robe? I could, just about, feel my magic flowing into it. Pooling. Strange.

Guess I'd have to do a wait-and-see...

---

Consulting with Victor.

I've asked him to rig a portable listening system, parabolic mike, laser mike attached. Sound is his specialist area, after all, and we might find it useful. If it doesn't work either there's nothing to hear or we've clever opponents - either is valuable information. I consider arranging a lead to go in my interface plugs, but, that seems unnecessary complex.

I ask him for ideas about scouting. He suggests I use my built-in radio, scan to see if there's any interesting signals. I'd half-thought of this earlier, but not explored the idea.

Making sure I record anything suspiciously encrypted is also probably wise - means someone wants to keep things private. Cell phone signals often have a different 'taste' to military-style ones, and voice to data, so also worth checking for.

So, sigint, 'signals intelligence'.

---

One more thing with Robin.

Explaining I've been thinking back, am unhappy with my swimming abilities. Or, more my 'not quite drowning' ones. Yes, I can make a little headway, and my flight abilities might help, but it's still a concern.

Robin... agrees. Says swimming lessons are in order. After all, Jump City is coastal, and the Tower's on an island. He'll check whether any of the rest of the team need them. Something to go on the calendar.

Guess I might get some use of that one-piece swimsuit I argued Kory down (up?) to...

---

AN: Befriending Robin? May not work, but...

AN: Running around the Tower, talking to people, not that exciting, but... If you don't prepare, you're likely to fail.

AN: Signals intelligence.

 

[Ace Dreamer]

Raven Lunacy, Episode 54

Raven's taken me. To see the ponies. The pretty-coloured ones. With the horns, the wings, the... stompy feet.

Why? She just grins at me. That grin worries me...

A long trek, and we back-track several times, avoiding nasty dimensions, or even whole clumps of them. I get to do most of the navigation, I think Raven wants to test what I've learned.

My local maps quickly prove inadequate, and I have to start, carefully, exploring, using higher than three-dimensional math. I think I surprise Raven, once or twice, though she's good at hiding that sort of thing. And, I caught her looking pleased, hopefully at my success.

Finally we got close, a dimensional area I recognise from pony-watching with Raven (and occasionally Kory). She carefully steers us away from the actual world her 'alt' lives on, to another in a close-by cluster. This looks far more like a normal Earth, and the continental layout, from Space, looks similar. Yes, I'm wearing that bracelet, again.

We sneak down to the planet, staying off the beaten track, sliding through reasonably dangerous dimensions. She leading, and the way she moves make me pretty sure she's been here before. We appear to be coming in on the West Coast of the United States, staying out-of-phase, see-but-not-seen.

And, yes, that looked like San Francisco.

But...

---

The people, yes, they're human. Vary in height and build in the expected ways, though, on average, they look healthier. Clothing varied, but basically matches. What's different...

Skin, and hair, colours. Purple skin, orange skin, green, red, just about any colour you could imagine. And, either the hairdressing industry works really hard, here, or people come 'out of the box' with striped hair. And, weirder.

I look at a green-skinned girl arm-in-arm with an orange-skinned boy. Yes... I can make a few guesses...

And, I look at a widely-grinning Raven.

"Do you think that Bank of Mammon card you told me about will work here?"

I've a feeling our planned swimming practice may surprise Robin...

---

Back at the Tower. Raven's showed me the basics of a 'stop the clock' manoeuvre, a dimensional travel trick that means you can be away, for a long time, but return a moment after you left. No, not before. That sort of thing is really best avoided. So, back at the ritual circle, in her room, in the Tower.

We took extra time, returning, drew some new maps, worked-out ways to minimise tricky bits. With extra care to avoid populated areas. The amount of time in human-unfriendly atmospheres. A quick step, twist, step, while holding your breath was OK, but we got even those down to less than a handful.

Raven wants to look at my math notes, so, I'll have to tidy them up, write-out stuff I've only got in my head. The university bookshop has been so useful, as has their library. I've got some books on special order, and I'm thinking of subscribing to at least one of the math journals.

---

This morning a surprise. A package. A 'gift from a friend'. Containing computer chips. The sort, from the label, that Victor was still negotiating to get S.T.A.R. Labs to make. They'd had (another!) break-in, and everything was in turmoil.

I showed the team, no reason not to. Victor inspected the chips, the label, mentally accessed the surveillance records. Says looks like it was delivered in the morning mail, by our normal mail-person. Nothing unusual.

Robin, I notice his eyes narrow as he examines the note that was in the package. Delicately grips it, sniffs at it, holds the paper up to the light. Nods.

"Hey, man! I'm the hound dog!" Garfield seems to fear infringement.

Cyborg just grins.

---

Self-inspection. Not a bad idea to maintain good health. But, I'm taking it further. Looking inside, with a medical endoscope.

No, this isn't down my throat, or up other places. I'm going in through my maintenance seam, on my lower-back, along my spine. Checking out my non-living bits. Being a cyborg – there's some overheads.

I could've used various sensors. Tried to use my Third Eye, though it doesn't work as well on myself, and, didn't work with a mirror. But, this, a fibre-optic cable. About as direct as I could be without getting... drastic.

All looks OK. Living and non-living bits. I'd gone all the way up to my 'brain', where there was... more functionality than there should be. I could see where I would want to slot-in those extra chips. But, before then, there was a lot of testing to do. You really don't want to find your brain 'blue screening' on you.

Also, I want to test something. Whether the non-living bits of me were being changed by my 'chi', in some way. So, I use the surgical part of the endoscope, shave a tiny sliver off the plastic of one of my ribs.

And, get a strange glow, pale-blue electric (of course!) flickering across my ribs. It... doesn't feel like my chi, which gives me an aura that colour, or similar limb extensions. It feels... magical.

And, as I watch, the mark left by taking the sliver is gone. OK. That happened. Magic I don't understand affecting my insides.

At least I've got the sliver to examine, but...

I'm going to have to talk to Raven.

---

Later, I get a call from Oracle.

"I call showing the note to Robin cheating!"

"I call it 'using available resources'."

I guessed she might've sent it. But, nice to have it confirmed.

"You hacked the chip specs out of Victor's secure systems? You're trying to make a point, aren't you?"

"I think I made it. They're not secure enough. I think... I'm going to have to make a visit."

I pause. She doesn't say anything else.

"Would you mind if I pop-over? I'll use your side-door, same as last time. Might look as if I'm bringing a friend. Got a couple of things you might like to look at..."

"I'll put the kettle on."

---

AN: Yes, another bits-and-pieces episode...

AN: You recall the ponies, don't you?

AN: Do you think wise people should worry about Raven taking an interest in math?

AN: Endoscope, though you probably knew that.

AN: You likely don't want a Blue Screen...

 

[Ace Dreamer]

Raven Lunacy, Episode 55

Plans are nice. I like plans. But, there's a major issue.

Sometimes they die before they're born.

I'd planned to go see Oracle, as soon as I gathered some bits. But, when I walked through the lounge I discovered the Tower was under attack.

Well, 'attack' might be an exaggeration. More, there seemed to be... an unconventional visitor.

Garfield and Victor had been playing a video game, on the big lounge screen, which is also the main tv. Something with giant monsters and robots, which I'd not played myself, but they seemed fond of.

And... Their game was being interrupted.

A large masked figure had appeared on the screen, apparently by pushing the game they were playing off to one side, in a style similar to some cartoon character tricks. A T. Rex with head-mounted lasers was apparently upset about this, and roaring from it's rapidly decreasing screen space, but he seemed to be ignoring it.

The boys were sitting watching, with opened mouths. I used my radio collar to call the rest of the team via the Tower internal comms, while making sure no alert showed in the lounge. It wasn't clear what else I could do.

---

Fortunately everyone was in the Tower.

We quickly got everyone but Raven, with the inclusion of Terra and Master Roshi. Then, Raven, who'd apparently been in the med-bay, because she joined us with a (annoyed-looking) Nurf. Who looked about my height rather than her more usual shorter self. Experience of Raven suggested she was hiding embarrassment.

Something to ask about later?

The masked figure on the otherwise blank screen appeared to be standing, front-stance, looking at us. Impossible to tell his height without a reference, but he had what's sometimes called a generous build; broad-shouldered and over-weight. Longish red-hair, a domino mask, side-burns, a costume apparently thrown-together from multiple sources.

"I am Control Freak! And I'm here to teach you the power of video!"

I'm guessing he's not on a friendly visit...

He looks over the team, nods at various people, seems a little confused by others.

"Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy, OK. Starfire and Raven, right. You, you're not supposed to have joined, yet." He points at Terra, for some reason.

"There's not supposed to be any adults here!" He glares at Master Roshi, who shrugs.

"And, you, you, you're not even on the cast list!" For some reason he points at Nurse and me.

Gathering himself, he pulls-out something that looks like a remote control 'improved' by a mad scientist.

"Let the games begin!"

---

I'm with Terra, Nurse and Master Roshi. We're watching the big screen. Maybe we should've done something when the lightning came out of the screen, and sucked everyone else in? But, it seemed to happen too fast.

The screen is... dynamic. Sometimes maybe sixteen equal rectangles, sometimes a different arrangement with one larger image and the rest smaller. All showing what I'm pretty sure are different tv shows and films, with the odd video game. The team are full participants. As the sound we hear switches from scene-to-scene, directing our attention.

Control Freak seems to be enjoying himself, in control of the environment. The Titans are being chased, though sometimes they get to chase him, as well as some more static scenes.

I'm pretty sure some of those are old black-and-white productions, and I recognise Star Trek (locally called 'Warp Trek'), Star Wars, and Wile E. Coyote. The last was part of my education, learning to understand others may not see the world as you do.

Seems a mix of child's game one-upmanship and psychological warfare. Terra looks confused, reaches a hand towards the screen, once or twice, then pulls it back. It's obviously outside Nurse's frame of reference. Master Roshi watches, nodding once or twice.

Then, the screens arrange themselves with everyone but Raven and Control Freak in smaller screens round a larger central one. That's the two in a mad science lab, Raven strapped in a chair, attached wires, being monologued at. While they're obviously speaking lips are blurred, speech gently bleeped.

With an immense effort Raven rips her way free, then stops.

Something obviously offends her as she goes white, grey-skinned, then red-faced. Gestures, and Control Freak is now athletically fit. He says something, she goes even more red, gestures more violently, and the bleeping changes to, "... and stay that way!".

Everyone stops moving, just looks.

---

Team now back in the lounge. Screen just white, as it was at the beginning, with now-athletic visitor.

"The little guy was right! Booyah! Infinite snacks with no downsides! If you get prodded right, you can be made to do anything!"

Raven is, honest, not grinding her teeth. Probably good that she can heal.

"Getting gadgets from my future-self worked, too! Hmm. What was his name? 'Larry' I think he said..."

Gloating as various people react.

"Good to let me visit."

He looks us over, switches to a (bad) foreign accent.

"I'll be back."

---

Raven has calmed down. Kory-hugs helped. Garfield has explained 5th dimensional imps, for anyone interested. Victor is studying the Tower's systems, shaking his head.

Robin seems a bit stunned, something shared by others.

"I've... been having a difficult day. My... temper has been short."

Apparently it's Raven confession time.

"You've probably noticed that I've been relaxing some of my rigid emotional control, lately. Trying to enjoy life, smile more, allow myself to get a little upset. But, it's led to me saying things like 'Grow up!' to Nurf."

One or two people nod. Terra looks confused.

"It's... a work in progress. All my life, before coming here, I was taught I needed total control. Or, really bad things would happen. Potentially end-of-the-world things." She sighs.

"No one told me about that!" Terra is obviously concerned.

Raven gives her a little smile.

"It's one of the reasons the Teen Titans exist. The adult super-heroes don't seem to care about the issue, so we're all living, working, together to support each other. And deal with it. Friends."

Terra slowly nods. Nurf is a little wide-eyed, but after a brief pause, follows her.

"I... can put this changed body in storage. 'Defrost' another servitor, imprint myself, business as usual?"

I cough. Mentally crossing my fingers.

"Nurf? This is a new world, new things to learn. Maybe you could try and see if being this new body helps? Would you mind giving it a try?"

She looks a little uncertain, then, nods.

"And, I hereby give you command authorisation to manage the servitors in whatever way you believe is best."

Shock, then, a wide grin. Robin gives me a thoughtful look.

There is much hugging.

---

AN: Just in case, T. Rex.

AN: I expect you know all about cartoon physics...

AN: Want to know how tall, and heavy, American kids were, about year 2000? Maybe useful data for authors?

AN: Front stance, as used in some martial arts.

AN: A necessary part of every education: Wile E. Coyote.

Spoiler: There are alternatives...

Arguably, "I'll be back" is more classic, though.

 

[Ace Dreamer]

Raven Lunacy, Episode 56

Super-villain attack. A pretty good excuse. Oracle accepted it, anyway

So, I'm excused being late.

But, I need to speak to Raven, First.

To apologise.

---

"I'm sorry. We just stood there, doing nothing. It was... like we had to watch. But, not interfere."

Raven starts to say something, then stops. Looks thoughful. Walks to a shelf, takes a book, and flips through it.

"I thought I remembered..." She murmurs. "Yes! Here it is!"

She reads carefully, looks back and forward through a few pages.

"The... intruder. Control Freak. I thought I remembered someone with powers like his. The power to pull things from works of fiction, drag people into them, entrance everyone with the 'story'." She grins, widely.

"He's a Dream Walker, a Mystic Storyteller. They are rare but their greatest weakness is that their... powers cannot directly affect themselves. Unless, it is part of a story, and, that story must be told to others, preferably many others."

"Is he magical?" I hope I don't sound plaintive.

She frowns. "I think it is not quite magic, nor spritual. One of those which are difficult to classify. In fact..." She stares up into the air for a few seconds.

"I don't think he knows what he is. The worlds he takes people are on the edge of the Dreaming, but he calls them the 'tv dimensions'. He said he had an 'atomic-powered' remote control, but, I think it is the dream of nuclear energy, as the ultimate power source, that he's using. I believe he thinks he's some sort of super-scientist."

We look at each other, for a few moments.

I break the silence. "What's his weakness?"

Raven frowns. "You must join him, in telling the story. Add elements that fit, but which turns things towards your advantage. I'm afraid..."

And she sighs. Deeply.

"We'll have to get Garfield and Victor to help. They are the ones who know this battlefield."

---

We're sipping tea, thinking about Raven's theory. Unfortunately, it's difficult to see how we can test it before we next meet Control Freak.

Suddenly, Raven looks worried. "I don't think we can win if 'Larry' is giving him advice. He didn't seem to be properly prepared for who was in the team, but, he still managed to 'win'. What if he's better briefed, next time?"

Everything. Stops.

You know how there's always little sounds? The wind, the creaking of the building, the faint, maybe distant, buzz or humm of something electric? Nothing. Raven's strongest wards can produce that silence, but they have an oppressive weight of their own. I caught sight of a spec of dust, revealed by the light. Immobile. No scents. No pressure from sitting.

Nothing.

A pale lady. In black. With an ankh. Looking a little annoyed. Holding 'Larry' by one ear.

"You know your function, the games you can play. You were given fair warning. But, you tried to cheat, by using a pawn. You've produced an imbalance."

He really doesn't look happy...

"So, you will pay, using your own, personal, energies, for what Raven does next."

Unhappy? He looks like he has... I think someone called it 'cancer of the puppy'.

Raven is grinning in a way I wouldn't want to be on the wrong end of.

"Now, Think." The Lady looks at Raven.

"Petty revenge is one possibility, but, you might want to think on a larger scale. That idea you had for really upsetting your father?"

---

We hang in the air over... Azarath. It's frozen, between moments, but I still get the impression it's a scared city. Magnificent, but the inhabitants are deeply unhappy. The frozen chi flows show that.

"Now. How to upset my father most? Hmm."

Raven gestures, and a mirror appears. On the other side is an immense cavern, with walls covered in man-sized niches, currently empty.

"Check I don't miss anyone, Sugoi. Or anything."

The niches start getting oocupied, faster and faster. Quickly, there's no one left in the city but a single spirit in the central temple. Though, there are apparently living people, everywhere. In place of their natural spirits they have what you could call a dream, a shadow, of one. Even pet animals, and things like rats, are taken.

We float through walls. We are in the sanctury, of the temple. An older woman, and, a living flame. Even though we are outside Time, they still move.

"Azar." Raven addresses them. They both nod.

"I can save the people, but you will have to stand here to face Trigon. If you follow the Story I was given, everyone will die, physically, bar my mother, and she will shelter your spirit."

They nod, again.

And we're back in Raven's room.

---

"Are you all right, Sugoi?"

"I... felt something happen... but, I'm... not sure what it was." I cough. "You were saying?"

"You'd better not keep Oracle waiting any longer?"

"Yes. That sounds right."

Raven gives a tiny smile.

---

AN: (Mysticism Warning) The Dreaming; not quite the DC one...

AN: If you don't know what a lady in black with an ankh is about, might be best you find out...

AN: What's going on, at the end, well, have you heard of need to know? Or, you might want to think about 'it was all a dream', used in reverse...

 

[Ace Dreamer]

Raven Lunacy, Time to Trade - Episode 57

Oracle visit. Take two. Something's... being hidden from me.

I don't know what, but... I think something cosmic happened. Again.

And, I've this nasty suspicion...

Talking to Raven about it wont help.

---

I've done the 'temporal two-step'. I've this nasty suspicion (another one) I'm running out of time. So, using that trick Raven taught me, you can return a moment after you leave. Or, in this case, fit-in extra things without being even later visiting Oracle.

Seeing as I'm outside time, floating above San Francisco, should be unlikely I'm interrupted. So, I'm levitating, focusing on my chi, balancing that with my magic, and psychic energies, feeling around for what I should be doing next.

"Excuse me, miss? What are you doing in the Speed Force?"

---

Ah.

A man all in red, with yellow bits, and a lightning bolt symbol on his chest. Running on the spot. I've read enough to recognise the Flash. One of the big names. I hope I'm not supposed to meet all the founding members of the Justice League...

"I... didn't think I was in the 'Speed Force', and in fact I don't know what that is. I'm Sugoi, Raven's apprentice. She taught me a trick to use while dimension walking. So you don't use-up any time. Once I've figured-out what I'm doing next, I'm going to walk off through the dimensions. Probably that way." I indicate my planned route.

He rubs his eyes.

"Your arm did something really strange, just then. Raven? The Teen Titan? The... one who uses weird magic?"

"Yes?"

"Oh... Kay... So, you're not a new speedster? You're... using magic?"

"Actually, I'm using a psychic power, to dimension walk. I'm not very good at magic. No, I'm not very fast. And, psychic powers aren't easy to use, they don't work well in combat. You can't touch the real world from where we are."

He's obviously thinking.

"I've felt a few, brief, uses of the Speed Force, from this area, so that's why I'm looking around. So, I probably felt Raven, and, you?"

"I think so. Oh. You might want to be careful. We've been attacked, recently. In the Tower. So, Raven's put up defensive magic. I don't know if it might get in your way."

A thoughtful look. "There was some sort of... minor resistance, as I came into the city. Maybe that's what it was?" He obviously comes to a decision.

"I'll let you be about your business. If you need help, ask Robin, he knows how to contact me, through Kid Flash. Bye!"

And he starts to sink down, and is quickly out of sight.

---

I'm scouting the not-quite-local, but not deep dimensions. Being careful to watch the time side of things. Depending on how you look at it there's at least three temporal axes, as well as null-time. You don't want to get stuck in null-time. You'll never notice you've done it, and only outside rescue will help.

It's occurred to me that the vision I had, when Master Roshi 'validated' himself might hold useful clues. I saw paths I've never found on any map, in any of Raven's ancient books. I think I can guess which one would lead home, and others go off into... other multiverses, might be the best description. Places well outside the local dimensional cluster, but not 'homeward'.

One of those feels right. So, I'm checking-out a dimension which seems totally full of pure water. Chemically pure, with a little dissolved air, which is a useful hint. Following the concentration of air, d-walking 'hops', while staying out-of-phase, an immense void, apparently full of air. A 'bubble'? It feels... lifeless, but otherwise safe.

Taking a deep breath, I move out into the air. Nothing... happens. I'm in a new world. One well-off the beaten track. Looking around, endless water, lit by no clear light source. My environmental force field seems OK, so I risk breathing the air within it, and carefully check its sensors. Outside air seems OK, but totally sterile.

There's a speck on the water, in the distance. I lose patience, and d-walk there, frustrated by my slow flying. It's... an immense ship. Built from giant hardwood tree-trucks, cunningly shaped into planks.

My chi-sense says there's no life, on-board the kilometre-long ship. No tech energies, the faintest hint of tree-spirit, in the wood, nothing else. The scale of the thing, the hatches, the doorway in the comparatively small superstructure, if they were humanoid they were giants. I'm guessing ten-metres, about thirty-feet, tall.

I focus, maybe manage to imprint the ship on my d-walking ability? Will that let me come back here, without a search and lots of not-swimming? We'll have to see.

---

I'm back, at the Tower. Staying timeless, and out-of-phase. Need more time to think. I went a lot further, far enough that I was using emergency rations from my belt pouches. Made contacts. Now have a source of spare parts for the med-bay.

The people... were strange. Some human, others resembled the upper, more human, body of the wizard Raven bargained with. 'Drow' I think she said. And, other 'races', though mostly humanoid. Civilized and friendly. I'll need to carefully think about how they're to be paid; new-for-old on a one-for-four basis... I'm guessing they want to study foreign tech. Or cash. They'll take cash.

The... bar that I'd visited...

Full of beings of great power. Major gods and better was my impression. Relaxing, having a good time. Fortunately, the bar accepted my emergency gold coins, and, the bar-lady was kind enough to suggest who might help me, point me to trade representatives. I'd a strong impression doing the wrong thing could've left me far worse than dead...

I know I was gone for... personal-time, days? That feels right. But, I think it was worth it.

So, take a deep breath. Carefully recall my mental state from before I left. Freshen-up. Grab my luggage. And...

We're off to see the Oracle!

---

AN: Two-step, so you don't trip over your own feet.

AN: Drow, who seem to be a TSR invention. (Closest prior seems to be 'trow', a sort of (Scandinavian) troll, I think.)

AN: Once you start messing with Time...

 

[Ace Dreamer]

Raven Lunacy, Episode 58

Not a perfect journey, but a more direct one. At least I know where I'm going, this time. Interestingly, it's the dog whose happily following my trail, and the 'human' in the 'hoodie' that's on a lead.

But, we're off the beaten track, so we manage to avoid meeting anyone.

At the side-door, in the alleyway. I've put the lead away, just before we stepped into phase, 'reality' many would call it. Was I getting too used to d-walking?

---

Checks and counter-checks. I'm reasonably quickly let-in. The murder holes are still as intimidating. Then, it's into the lounge. And, explanations.

I reveal that the 'human' is a water-filled plastic shape, with a minimal skeleton, and effectively just filler for the robot trousers. Hand-over a small booklet, and a CD, so she's got full documentation, care-and-feeding instructions, some fault-finding notes.

I think the large dog, with a backpack, interests her more, though I can tell she's eager to explore the possibilities of the trousers. Introduction time.

"K9.1? This may be your new mistress. Accept and imprint, if she's willing."

The dog goes up to... Barbara. Looks at her. She holds out a fist to be sniffed, watching carefully, avoiding staring into eyes. Accepted. Then, reaches further, offers to touch the shoulder. This also goes well. Then, a brief ear-scritch. Wagging tail shows this is completely irrelevant.

"Do you like her?"

"She seems like a nice dog. One of my regrets is I didn't think it fair to inflict my current... life-style on a dog."

"She's in need of a good home. Are you willing to give it a try?"

"Yes."

"New mistress? What name would you like me to have?"

She stares at the (talking) dog.

"A robot? I can see why you might think I'd like one. I'm going with 'K9.1', for the moment, naming is a serious business, I'll need to think about it. What's the backpack for?"

K9.1 turns her head, and a flap opens on the backpack. A cable snakes out, parts the fur on the back of her neck, plugs-in. The backpack opens, and a skeletal robot arm, with a five-fingered hand, deploys.

Barbara shakes her head. "You've really thought this through. A pet dog with a optional helping-hand. K9.1? Please put that away"

This happens.

Another manual, several CDs. And, we chat over coffee.

---

"You... Look different." I don't think I've changed that much, lately, though visiting a bar full of over-gods does tend to leave an impression.

"What makes you say that?"

"You seem... more real, more... there. Confident in yourself. Have you fixed your... body issues?"

"Not yet..." I focus on myself, use my tech-sight, for some reason, and leap to my feet.

"What?"

Where I was sitting, in my chair, is my robot-self, un-robed, eyes closed, but otherwise intact. I'm... flesh-and-blood, again. When did that happen? Why didn't I notice?

"There seem to be two of you." It's difficult to see how Barbara could be drier.

"I'm a little surprised myself!"

My robot body dissolves, into blue sparks, that I can feel are intensely magical, streams across the room, into Barbara, who fails to dodge quickly enough. And, there's no more robot.

"What?" Yes, we speak in unison.

---

Barbara is standing, a little unsteady.

The wheels of her chair locked, a firm arm on the chair. She's stretching, shifting her weight from one leg to the other, carefully lifting one foot, briefly balancing, then the other. Total concentration.

Why? What have I done to the universe? I don't begrudge Barbara use of her legs, but, that's the second living-skinned robot snatched from me. What am I doing wrong?

I sigh, she glances at me, then goes back to testing her legs.

I rise into the air, twist my pale-blue chi-aura so it cloaks my lower body, bow to her.

"Seeing as my magic seems to be working for you, today... Oh mighty mistress, that was your first wish, do you know what your second, and your third and final wish are?"

The side of her mouth quirks up. No, she doesn't murmur "Nerd".

Still obviously focused on her legs, and the slow knee-bends she's moved on to, she mutters, "I'm guessing world peace is pushing my luck. How about... stopping the Joker, for good. And, yes, I'd like a trip into Space."

---

It's a couple of hours later. We're in the Tower, with Raven, sipping tea and coffee. Oracle has a blur instead of a head, which completely hides even her hair, courtesy of a collar loaned by Raven. We're calming down, taking stock. Oracle, with voice distortion, is half-heartedly talking about improving the Tower's security.

Thinking about it, I realise Oracle's wearing the robot trousers. And, moving in a way that suggests she's dependent on them for walking. I guess some people might know she can't walk, and would be highly suspicious about a 'miraculous recovery'. So, someone out-about, without the robot trousers, can't be Oracle. That's sneaky!

Batman's in the secure conference room, 'talking' to Robin. He's... not happy the Joker's no more, now just a sobbing, broken man. Raven pulled the 'corpse worm' out of him, that seemed to be empowering him, all ten-metres, about thirty-feet, of it. Made sure that didn't kill him.. Pulled a baby worm from Harley Quinn. Fortunately, good psychiatric care may be enough for her.

Ravan plans to dispose of the worms after checking their Gotham roots. Along with any others in whatever is their 'nest'. Should put a severe crimp on a Joker come-back, or future Jokers. Maybe we'll ask Beast Boy if he's any further ideas, seeing as he's the widest knowledge.

The Lunar visit, Raven hung around, in the background, let me lead Oracle through the experience. Walking on the Moon. On her own two legs. Wearing my environmental shield, while I wore Raven's bracelet. Yes, I made sure she'd a camera with her.

One problem.

I'm not sure Barbara is looking at me just as a friend, any more...

Tricky...

---

AN: Hoodie, because fashions change...

AN: Disney's 'Aladdin'; no, Geo can't do a (good) Robin William voice...

AN: I wonder why the term 'lich' might be relevant to the Joker? I think I'll mention 'unknowing shaman' (or, did he do a deal with a Gotham spirit?) while I'm at it...

 

[Ace Dreamer]

Raven Lunacy, Episode 59

Be very, very, quiet. We're hunting Batmans.

Actually... I'm sort of in a 'hide', a sheet draped-over the robot body I'm possessing. In the secure conference room.

This robot has latex-skin, the added chips; if there's any problems with it Raven's confident she can get me back to my human body. And, the lack of a living-skin means this robot's reasonably expendable. Currently, I'm chi-less; lack of anything living tends to do that. And, I'm pretty sure most of my magic is back with my living body.

The robot is a 'demonstration piece' that Raven intends to show Batman, then cover it up again. Batman is apparently using the fact he's here as Oracle's bodyguard to deal with a few other issues. Of which the disposal of the Joker is just the latest.

Currently, Raven doesn't plan for me to meet Batman, face-to-(living)-face. I'm pretty sure she doesn't completely trust him. But, you know what they say about plans...

---

The reveal went well.

Raven explained she couldn't see a reason Batman would need to meet me. Showed-off the robot, replaced the sheet. Unfortunately, if I can't see things my Third Eye is useless, which means I have to fall-back on my far cruder 'feelings'. I can feel two spirits (ignoring my own), two chi-auras, and one powerful magical aura, in the room, but not much else.

"I'm guessing you want an explanation of what happened to the Joker. Simply, I dealt with him, and his... follower, something that should've been done long ago. There's a little more clean-up, to do, but unless a higher power of some sort gets involved... No. More. Joker."

Could that be the gritting of teeth I hear?

"I'm more interested in knowing why you acted, now. Yes, I can see that the legal system is unlikely to be troubled. But, I'd like to know."

There's a brief silence.

"Again, simply, my apprentice asked me to. Normally I steer well-clear of Gotham, I'm an empath, the aura of the city... disgusts me. I believe, in turn, that Oracle asked my apprentice to... deal with the Joker."

"Why should you be able to 'deal' with the Joker, when so many before you have failed?"

"Because, I researched where he gained his power from, influences that infest the occult pall that hangs over Gotham. Something you don't seem to have bothered to do."

Yes, definite grinding of teeth. Then, an out-breath.

"Are you trying to annoy me for some particular reason?"

"No one told Zatanna that failing to help me was a bad idea. You were in a perfect position to do that. But, you did nothing."

"I'm not a magician, I have to rely on others to give me advice on... magic. Both Zatanna and Doctor Fate said you should be left alone. You'll have to ask them if you want to know why."

"Which brings me to Robin. Why didn't you instruct him properly? Leave him open to any spirit that wanted to make use of him? Were you not taught, yourself, the dangers of that?"

"My training was... very limited. Everything else was self-taught. I weighed the need for secrecy against safety. This is the first time either I, or he's, had a problem."

"Both I and my apprentice are giving him lessons, and he is learning quickly. I expect him to soon grasp the basics of spiritual self-defence."

There's another pause.

"You used magic on me, didn't you? So I'd answer your questions, and not realise what was happening?"

"Actually, a subtle mix of magic and empathy. So you engaged better with the world. I note that you don't carry any protective amulets, supplied, for example, by Zatanna or Doctor Fate. Maybe you should re-think that?"

I hear the sound of her getting-up. Help! Is she leaving me here with the Batman?

"The effect will cease when I leave this room. Which I'll do now. I'll prepare you a reading list, of works ancient and modern, so you can begin to improve your education."

---

A longer pause. There's now only one other spirit in the room, though there's a very faint sense of doubling, that I've sometimes noted around Robin. Hmm. Maybe being blind is sharpening my senses? There's no magic, which matches what Raven said, and a powerful chi-aura.

I hear a faint clicking. About a minute later Robin 'knocks' (secure room, you know), then enters.

"B... Batman. Do you want me to sweep the room for eavesdroppers, as per procedure?"

"No. I'm happy with the state of the room. Now, Robin, please report to me the full circumstances that led to you getting magical training."

A gulp.

"Technically, it's not magic. It's spiritual stuff, the sorts of things shaman learn. I've found it difficult, but it does seem to help me make sense of some things that previously confused me. I can easily defeat Sugoi in physical combat, but she's better than me on the spirit level. I'm sure there's things I'll run-into that'll make her look like a bug."

"Could you say for me, with emphasis, 'Holy Smoke, Batman!', please."

Robin does, though I'm pretty sure he's puzzled. Then, he describes the spirit attack, and what followed it.

"Thank you. You might want to compare what you just told me with the reports you send, and what it is proper to both tell and not tell me. Also, we will be talking, in detail, about the censored video of... Sugoi working in her lab on robots, that you circulated, as a fishing exercise to learn more about her."

What? Why didn't anyone tell me about that? Though, I guess Raven said Robin'd done something, and Oracle's been hinting...

"You can go now."

---

Robin's left. All is quiet. I don't even hear breathing. But, the strong chi is still here.

"I know you're in there."

Ahhhhh!

"Good, no flinching. No, I'm not going to Sherlock to your Watson and tell you how I spotted you. I know what you are, I know where you came from, and I've met people from your sort of world before. Fortunately, you've been close-mouthed."

But... I couldn't remember anything! Most of the time, anyway. I couldn't talk! And... it would've upset Raven. And, the others.

"So far you've not made any fatal mistakes. Not bad for a student. But, I'll be continuing to read Robin's reports. Carefully."

I can feel a figure, looming over me, though I can't see anything.

"You'd better not hurt... Oracle."

And, there's no presence, no other spirit, no chi in the room.

How did he do that?

---

AN: The rabbit hunter, himself. Whether he'd use a 'hide', or not... He does need all the help he can get...

AN: Not the 'pall' most people tend to think of...

AN: I'll throw-in shamanism, again, just in case.

AN: Please note, Raven didn't say, "There will be a Test". Batman's not stupid, though, he's probably figured-out that she plans to give him one.

AN: I really don't know why I'd mention this tv series...

Spoiler: Essential education!

 

[Ace Dreamer]

Raven Lunacy, Episode 60

AN: This episode's complex, so it's split into (named) sub-episodes.

---

Blue Team 1

Council of war. Oracle, Victor and me. Only this time, Robin is 'Red Team'.

Though we've not bothered telling him.

I explained Robin had abused his access to the Tower security recordings, and then (according to Raven, who I'd talked through checking) erased his tracks. We're going to ensure that if he tries that again he'd have to work really, really, hard.

OK, 'Blue Team' motto will be "No more Miss Trusting, now I'm mistrusting", with apologies to Victor. Who... He's rather distracted.

Stopping, holding-up a hand, just gazing at it. Feeling the right-side of his face. Yes, he's in his living-skinned robot. I'd unlocked the repaired life-mover capabilities of the med-bay, just for him, after upgrading his robot with the new chips, and the latest anti-shock/vibration plus anti-daisy-daisy support infrastructure. Micro-PK and shrinking are super-powers...

Repaired med-bay? Hadn't I mentioned that?

---

Preparations

I've been running-around since I got away from Batman - I might admit I was a little... miffed.

First I'd worked with Raven, fought her tooth-and-nail, to stay in the robot. Her aim was to stuff me back in my living body, without damaging my spirit, or, preferably, the robot. I'd recalled all the 'stickiness' I'd felt when I tried to leave my living-fleshed robot, myself, tried to reproduce it.

She'd said I'd given her an interesting fight, taught her a few new tricks. She was the fall-back, for Victor, in case there were issues with the med-bay life-mover. I felt he deserved that redundancy.

Next, I'd taken a chance, done a zero-elapsed-time d-walk, to Max's robot shop, in Tokyo, Japan. Apologised I'd not got back to him sooner, said I'd discuss his progress with using the build cell, that I'd trained him with for robot repair, hopefully some time soon. Bought as wide a range of irreparable light-and-compact robot parts as he'd sell me. Into my backpack. Promised a full report on what I could learn from them.

Back to the Tower. A brief but effective class from Raven on how to create and manage a dimensional pocket. I'd had a revelation, 'location is an object property', and my style of magic could manipulate object properties. So, with significant effort, a ritual, really, I could place things, including non-AGI robots, into the 'pocket', then retrieve them at will. Of course, to store them again needed the ritual.

So, broken robot parts from Jump City junk-yards, the totally wrecked bits of the med-bay innards, and enough spare parts to create an advanced alch-tech workshop. In fact, all the requirements for maybe six-months of recycled living. All into the pocket. Because I'm a bit paranoid, I'm taking the Synthesiser and the mind interface. Oh. And, a load of R&R stuff based on my month of isolation recovering in the med-bay.

Raven thought it an interesting 'graduation' project, but decided against joining me. Teen-aged Nurf came along, partly to keep an eye on the med-bay work, partly as an experiment on long-term separation from her core-self, partly to ensure I didn't go mad.

Supplies for her? Into the pocket! We (briefly) discussed things, and I went off, using another zero-elapsed-time d-walk, to England, the one I'd visited before. Shopping. Made sure the pocket contained two-year's supplies for both of us, as a just-in-case.

---

A Year on the Ship

Took us a year, eventually, in what I'm now calling my 'workshop world', building stuff on the giant ship. The beacon I'd got from my tech-supply contact, worked beautifully, and we exchanged old-for-new, as agreed. I've got most of a med-bay I've assembled myself, on the ship, all hidden and secured, as well as the most advanced workshop I could build. And, a few things I'd built from scratch. Some of which I'd sold, through the tech-supplier, to pay for more high-tech parts.

Nurf and I... got to know each other quite well in that year. We agreed, what happened on the ship, stayed on the ship. If nothing else, the power-relationships, back at the Tower, made things... problematic. But, reading drow-supplied romance novels (from my tech-source), only gets you so far.

We'd worked hard to ensure 'command authority' hadn't messed things up, between us. And, Nurf'd done some long-reaching exploration, across many dimensions, via her astral projection abilities. Once she was sure I could keep her body safe. She'd also taken-up oil painting, so as to illustrate some of her astral experiences.

We both are fully-literate in Elven, now. Will we ever use that?

---

Courting Trouble

Back at the Tower, she's resynchronising. I've repaired the med-bay, just about up to original specs. All before shuffling Victor. And, so far, only Raven knows we spent so long away.

I talked it out with Nurf, who with her hundreds-of-years of life told me 'not to be a fool'. It was obvious I'd been falling in love with... Oracle, and it looked like she'd fallen for me, as well. Yes, I'll be telling her, in private, about my ship-life. Nurf was quite firm on that point, too.

---

Blue Team 2

Still. Here-and-now. Tower (information) security.

Encrypt everything, keep stuff readable for as little time as possible. Also, encrypt the meta-data. Hide what the data and meta-data was as carefully as possible. Off-site (encrypted) backups. A couple-of-dozen of them, in the self-destruct servers, randomly-switching between which sets of servers were used each time. And, other 'dirty tricks', like padding with random values, rearranging stored data, (remote) data dictionaries.

That protects the data, what about who can access it? All data (and meta-data) gets ownership meta-data, with only the owner being able to use it. The owner can 'publish' so others can use the newly-published data. Controlled lists of others. Access only allowed after access keys are fetched from off-site. All access logged off-site, encrypted, of course. All (meta) data treated as read-only, no update-in-place. Read-mostly data.

As heavy-handed as we can make it. Some (encrypted) low-grade AI in there, as well, to handle owner recognition. Oracle is really impressed.

We expect all that should, at the very least, slow 'red team', down.

---

A Fortnight of Colourful Scouting

A bit of time off. I grab Kory, and Garfield, drag them to Raven's world of many-coloured peoples. Resync'd Nurf decides not to go. We're... scouting. Yes, that's what it is. Making sure the place is safe. And, working on our swimming, and sun-bathing, staying in human form, relaxing. A fortnight.

If Kory and Garfield have some... fun together, who am I to complain? Kory "Understands the contraception", even with someone as soaked in life-energy as Garfield. I... just need some time, on my own, among people, to recover from my ship-time.

---

Terra-ble Training

Again, back at the Tower. I spend the afternoon with Terra. I'm talking her through enemy psychology, reinforcing the previous lessons.

And, as bait, I'm getting her to meditate on her power. Find its limits. See what sensory abilities she might be able to wring out of it.

After all, 'we're all made of stardust'. And, astronomers call everything but the simplest gasses 'metals'. So, can she stretch what she can sense, affect?

Can she 'do' concrete? Sand? You can do a lot with a few handfuls of abrasive sand...

The manic grin has got larger.

Yes, someone, somewhere, is in for a really bad time. Possibly including sand up the nostrils.

But, I make it quite clear. Here, she's got friends.

---

Robin the City

Evening. I'm going out with Robin. He's... subdued. I tell him, yes, he's still my friend.

But, why didn't he just come and ask me, if he wanted to know more about my background? All that'd cost him was me knowing he was interested. Surely he could've come-up with some logic why it would help everyone for him to know?

I do make it quite clear, if he pulls something like that again, I'm going to tell the whole team.

I'm pretty sure some of them wont be as willing to forgive as me. And, yes. Tonight in his dreams. I'll demonstrate why he needs to learn more 'spiritual flexibility'. All in the cause of good training, of course.

We have a productive evening. Things go well. A lucky stumble across a bar where some of the demon-fighting mercenaries seem to meet. A good place for later surveillance.

Then, Robin disappears.

I'm in deserted city. There's no chi, no spirits, no active-tech. Nothing. And, something magical, and big, is coming my way.

All goes black.

---

A cellar, I think.

I'm manacled to the wall. With really solid-looking chains. No cloak. No boots. No belts. In a magic binding, the symbols of which are beyond the reach of my legs. And... They look designed to bind my magical and psychic powers.

Rude word.

Help?

---

AN: Red Team, because you want people trying hard to test your stuff to breaking point.

AN: If your brain's inorganic, you might be drawn to think of HAL 9000...

AN: 'PK' is the abbrev...

AN: AGI; just to remind you.

AN: Could Geo be referencing What Happens In Vegas? Why? Could be to do with power...

AN: Stardust. Don't forget.

Spoiler: Some would call this a horror scene...