FicWad

Teen Titans season 6 fan fic episode 8
Donna
By B. Borneo

As soon as the alarm rang, Donna’s eyes opened up quickly and she slammed her fist on the clock. Yawning, she stretched her arms as she slowly crept out of the bed. She had a good feeling about today. She always had one since she had joined the team a year ago. Putting on her jumpsuit, she reminisced about when she became a titan: before her time, she used to be the sidekick to the legendary superheroine Wonder Woman. After spending many adventures and journeys in the sidekick business, Donna had decided she had to go off on her own to discover herself. After a while, she had convinced Wonder Woman that this was the best option and was granted release from her duties. After a long trek, Donna Troy found herself in Jump City, where the crime rate was on the decline due to a group of heroes called Titans having saved the day multiple times. Going through town, Donna came across the group when she saw them fighting against a criminal called Dr Light and seeing an opportunity to help, she went right in and assisted the group in defeating the mad scientist. Grateful for her help, their leader Nightwing, invited her to have a membership on the team which Donna graciously accepted. She remembered it fondly and was grateful to be surrounded by wonderful friends. Pulling her hair back into her signature ponytail, Donna exited her room to go grab breakfast with her new found family. She walked herself from the bedroom to the lounge area where, as she was about to pour herself a bowl of cereal she was startled by a loud “Surprise!” behind her. Dropping the milk and cereal box, she turned to find Beast Boy and Cyborg holding a cake towards her with a single candle on it, Starfire floating while holding a banner, and Nightwing, Raven and Kid Flash, holding their hands up in excitement. The banner read “Happy 1st Anniversary” on it. The one consistent thing she noticed of them was that there was a big happy smile on her friend’s faces. The group then noticed how they startled Wonder Girl and their faces turned to embarrassment. “Oops. Didn’t mean to scare you,” apologized Beast Boy. He gave the plate to Cyborg before bending down to help pick up the mess. Beast Boy scooped all the cereal he could off the floor and helped place it back in the bowl. “Thx, Gar” replied Donna as she soaked with a towel what was left of the milk on the floor. Getting up she placed the bowl on the counter along with the rag and turned to her friends. “So, what’s the occasion here guys?” she asked. Nightwing chuckled slightly at the remark. “You don’t know? It's your one year anniversary of being a titan! I thought we could celebrate.” Donna blushed with both delight and embarrassment. She didn’t expect her joining of this wonderful team would entitle her a celebration. But at the same time, she could appreciate this kind gesture. Accepting her cake from Cyborg, Donna grabbed a knife and slowly ate her cake as she walked towards her friends. “Guys, you shouldn’t have!” she exclaimed. Suddenly, Starfire let go of the banner, swooped towards Donna and gave her a great big bear hug. “But we wanted to! Because we love you and wanted to show how special it is that you have joined our team!” Wheezing from the squeeze, Donna managed to get an arm free and tried her best to yank herself from Starfire’s grip. “Thanks….. Star!.... But….. you are…Crushing…my spine!” she managed to gasp out. Realizing this, Starfire released Donna, allowing her to regain her breath and footing. “Sorry,” said Starfire. “Still working on being gentle.” Regaining her breath, Donna swung her hair back and approached Nightwing, Kid Flash, giving them each a hug and giving Raven a handshake, respecting her personal space in regards to hugging. “Thank you, guys, really! I’m glad I could make a sizable contribution to the team.” Nightwing grinned. He didn’t know Donna long but knew she was a trusted ally that could do good for the people of Jump City. He never got to know her as a sidekick either during their days as wards as the JLA preferred to keep sidekicks out of their “more important duties”, leaving the young teens at home or on patrol. It seemed that a lot of the ex sidekick titans had left their mentors for that reason. Despite her being usually upbeat and chipper, Nightwing felt like there was something about her past that affected her that she was hiding, but didn’t want to say. Watching as Donna sat on the couch in the lounge, talking and laughing with Cyborg, Raven and Beast Boy, Nightwing shrugged and decided to join them. He leaned himself on to the back of the couch and folded his arms as he watched his teammates talk and have fun, before interrupting for a question. “Since this is your anniversary as a Titan, what do you want to do today? Anything! You name it!” he offered. Turning around to face him, Donna’s face turned into a concentrated expression as she tried to think of an idea. After a moment, she came up with one. “I hear Jump City opened up a new art museum! I’ve been wanting to go for a while.” Nightwing looked at the others before folding his arms and nodding his head. “Whatever you want, Wonder Girl!” Excited, Donna leaped up from the couch and ran to the elevator. Before she went down, she opened the door long enough to let Beast Boy, Raven, Starfire, and Cyborg into the elevator and allowed it to go down, leaving Nightwing and Kid Flash in the room alone. After a moment, Nightwing heard the elevator return to their floor. As he walked towards it, Kid Flash tapped him on the shoulder. “Yes?” asked Nightwing curiously. Kid Flash smirked and folded his arms, with a darkly curious glare on his face. “I thought everyday was preparation for Slade. What’s with this party all of a sudden?” Nightwing sighed. Placing his arm behind his head, he struggled for a beat to explain this change in routine. “I just figured that, since Donna was the latest member of the team and that, well, it’s not easy being the new guy on the team, I figured it would be nice to let her know we appreciate her.” He shrugged then walked towards the elevator. Kid Flash rolled his eyes and followed suite. Entering the elevator, he pressed the down buttons and allowed the doors to close.

Miles away, in a deserted island, 2 explorers docked their small boat near the beach and started observing their surroundings. After a while one of them came across a dingy looking seal. They had heard on the island lay the prison of a rumored goddess named Circe who was said to turn humanity into animals. One of the explorers pulled out an ancient ritual they had discovered long ago and read it out loud. Suddenly, the seal shook rather violently and snapped apart, knocking the 2 explorers down to their feet. Out from the seal came a woman, beautiful but deadly looking, with flowing dark hair and a green skirt hanging down from breasts to foot. Her eyes were a crimson red, almost the same shade as blood. The 2 explorers screamed and attempted to flee from what they had seen. Unfortunately, a puff of smoke appeared in front of the explorers on their way to their boat, stopping them in their tracks. The woman stood in the area of the smoke and smiled evilly. Stunned, the one explorer stood, stunned, as Circe lifted a finger towards his companion and a bolt of lightning shot from her finger tip, striking the fellow explorer where he stood. Where his companion once stood, now remained a small pig, wearing the clothes of the human he once was. The remaining explorer screamed in terror and attempted to run the other direction, only to feel an invisible force drag him backwards into the grip of Circe. Turning him around telekinetically, she grabbed the man’s throat and held it tightly. “Where is Donna Troy?! Where is the one known as Wonder Girl?!” she demanded loudly. Struggling through his breath, the explorer finally spoke. “The only…. Wonder Girl I know….. Is in Jump City…. With the teen titans!” Getting what she needed, Circe dropped the man and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. The explorer, after catching his breath, retreated towards his boat in a mad panic.

Pacing through the mountains of art pieces decorating the walls of the museum, Donna wished she had 18 eyeballs as there were a hundred beautiful paintings, sculptures and decoratives and it stunned her to be in their presence. Followed by her friends, Donna waltzed down the hallway and entered a room filled with oil paintings surrounding a statue of Hippolyta. Donna walked towards the statue and pointed it out to her friends. “OMG, guys! They got Hippoylta!” she shouted excitedly. The group looked confused. Starfire then raised her hand. “Um uh, who would Hippolyta be?” she asked curiously. Donna let out a soft laugh, before catching her breath. “OMG! You guys really need to catch up on your Greek history! This is Wonder Woman’s mom! And she was my archery teacher back on Themyscira! I can’t believe they actually have this here! So cool!” The others walked over and observed the statue. Cyborg looked up and down at the statue and nodded impressed. “I’d bet she could give Arsenal a run for his money!” he exclaimed. Donna chuckled. “Yeah, she was pretty darn good.” She then realized something. Diana! “Wait right here!” she said before running off down the hallway. Nightwing smiled. He was happy that just for today, there could be some actual joy for his teammates and that they could just have fun and forget about the stress for a change. After a minute, Wonder Girl called back to them. “Guys, I found it!” she shouted. The group walked down the hall to catch up with her. As they were walking, Cyborg looked around at the other patrons at the museum. He noticed some kids there looking at them with awe and excitement. This warmed his cybernetic heart. A few years ago, these patrons would scoff at someone like him: a near human. A freak even. But now, after doing so many heroic deeds for the city, he felt like more of an idol than a robotic monstrosity. It made him feel special. They found Wonder Girl standing in the center of the room looking up in awe. The others looked up too and felt their jaws drop. In front of them stood a hand carved statue of a woman holding a shield, wearing a golden tiara and laced with a red and gold outfit, similar to Donna’s, complete with a blue skirt with white stars printed on it. Nightwing was the first to figure out who this could possibly be. “Is that… Wonder Woman?” he asked. Donna nodded excitedly as her gaze never left her mentor. “She’s beautiful. Isn’t she?” Nightwing nodded in agreement and observed the statue. He unfortunately, never had much of an encounter with her during his sidekick days. Everytime Batman had a mission with the Justice League, Nightwing was always left at home with Alfred, the reason being he was too young for what Bruce called “grown up business” thus, leaving him without many confrontations with the league. He figured that Donna, Wally Tempest and Arsenal had similar issues with their old mentors. Wonder Girl walked around the statue and observed it up and down. “She looks as great as I remember her.” She then felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to Nightwing. “Out of curiosity, what was she like?” he asked. “I never got to see her much so I wouldn’t know.” Donna looked a little shy at the question but after a breath she explained. “She was like a big sister to me. Every adventure we went on we always had an amazing time. Sure, there were some scary moments when we each thought we would die, but we always overcame our struggles and saved the day.” Nightwing was only half listening as he was comparing what she was saying with his experiences as a sidekick. Honestly, being Batman’s ward wasn’t as easy as Donna’s experiences with Wonder Woman seemed to be, as he often felt, despite Bruce being the closest thing he had to a father, he could also be unfair and controlling of his life and superhero tactics. There were even nights where he would go off on a solo mission and be gone for hours without a word of reason or logic to it and expect him to take it. But now was not the time to ponder on these things. Getting his head back to reality, Nightwing walked towards Starfire and put his arm around her. Smiling, she held it closely. After she was done observing the statue, Wonder Girl walked over towards Raven excitedly. “Hey, Raven! I think I heard that there’s an exhibit on the next floor featuring some Azrathian art! Wanna check it out?” Raven folded her arms and chuckled lightly with a bashful expression on her face. “ Yeah, no thanks. Between what happened with my father and Slade’s powers, I think I just need a break from Azarath for a while. But, according to the map, there’s a gallery dedicated to gothic artist Giotto that’s supposed to be good.” Beaming, Wonder Girl nodded and walked with Raven to the stairs. Before ascending, Donna turned to the others. “You guys can walk around. We’ll meet up in an hour.” she said. Winking, she continued up the stairs with Raven leaving the others to figure out what to do. Luckily for Beast Boy and Cyborg they already knew what they wanted to do. “Food Court?” asked Beast Boy. “Food Court,” agreed Cyborg. The 2 walked down the lower half of stairs and descended to engorge themselves in food. Standing in the middle of the hallway, Nightwing folded his arms and turned to Kid Flash and Starfire. “What do you two want to do?” he asked. Starfire and Kid Flash both put their pointer fingers and thumbs to their chins and thought for a moment. After a beat, Starfire figured out an idea. “Oooh! How about we discover the Japanese exhibition? I hear it has some of the most wonderful fashion on its display!” Nightwing looked at Kid Flash. “Kid Flash, you in?” he asked. Kid Flash looked at his watch and shrugged. “I have plenty of time to kill. Last one’s up is a rotten egg!” he announced. And just like that, he was gone in a blur and a breeze, sprinting rapidly up the stairs. Nightwing and Starfire smiled at each other. “Unless there’s a mop puddle in his path, we’re rotten eggs for sure” Nightwing joked. The 2 chuckled to each other before running to catch up with Wally up the stairs.


Circe walked through the streets of Jump City unhindered. As she looked at her surroundings, she saw various citizens walk out of her path with looks of shock and disgust. Probably, she suspected, from her unusual otherworldly attire. She smiled. It was good bringing intimidation towards lowly peasents. Observing the city, she knew that it would take ages for her to find Donna Troy by foot. Reaching into her satchel, Circe pulled out her spell book and quickly looked for a spell. After a few flips, she found what she was looking for, and uttered an incantation for a spell that could allow her to track Donna via her essence. Finding it, she smiled and held out her hand. She could feel the essence growing stronger as she paced in its direction. After a half hour, she opened her eyes and saw that her spell had successfully led her to what looked like a museum. Circe smiled. Revenge was closer than she could imagine.


Despite not being part of her culture, Donna could appreciate the art pieces of Giotto. She could see why Raven was a fan of his work as the designs, architecture and religious symbolism were all of high quality. Donna folded her arms and turned towards her friend. “I can see why you like these.” “Yeah,” replied Raven. “His works have always appealed to me because they reminded me that there still could be hope for everything. That there could still be good in the world.” Raven tilted her head in a deep thought process. This saddened Donna as she could feel her friend somewhat doubting those thoughts being true, now that the titan’s arch enemy had returned and had been antagonizing them for weeks. It was unfair. Life shouldn’t be that hard for either of them. “There still is,” assured Donna, resting her hand on Raven’s caped shoulder. Looking up at Wonder Girl, Raven smiled and nodded. “I know,” she replied. The two continued to observe the paintings for a while, until Wonder Girl felt something tapping her leg. Turning around, the 2 looked down to see a little girl, wearing a green dress and pigtails, holding a pen and what looked like an autograph book. She had a sweet smile on her face, that would charm anyone. “Are you Wonder Girl from Teen Titans?” she asked. Donna looked at Raven who nodded and then back at the girl. “Why, yes! Yes I am!” she proclaimed proudly. The girl held up her pen and autograph book towards Donna’s direction eagerly. “You’re my favorite Titan! Can I have your autograph?” Donna chuckled. “Of course!” she replied. Bending down, she grabbed the girl’s pen and quickly signed her name in the book, before patting the girl’s head and sending her off back to her parents. She walked back towards Raven who had a smirk on her face. “What?” asked Donna. “Oh, nothing,” replied Raven, still smirking. Donna raised her eyebrow. She looked back at the girl then to Raven. “Hey, it’s not everyday someone asks you for an autograph.” she said. Raven nodded and the 2 continued to observe the art. Suddenly, they felt the room shake. Looking around, Donna and Raven saw pieces of rubble collapse from the ceiling and crash onto the ground loudly, splattering into smithereens. Raven turned to her right and noticed a giant slab of rubble about to crash onto a confused family. She knew by the time the family realized the rubble was collapsing on them, it would be too late. Thinking quickly, she swooped up towards the family, raised her hands and chanted “Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS!” and a burst of black energy emerged from her hands creating a shield. The rubble crashed onto the shield and rolled quickly onto the ground. Raven then turned her head to the family and exclaimed to them “Get outta here! Now!”. The family complied and ran towards the entrance hall as quickly as they could. Wonder Girl, observing the area while ducking ceiling rubble, noticed the girl who she gave an autograph earlier running to catch up with her mother. Unfortunately, the girl tripped onto the ground and Donna looked up to see a massive piece of ceiling detach and start to fall right above the girl. Panicking, Donna whipped out her lasso of truth and threw it around the girl’s waste. Tugging, she quickly yanked the girl into her arms and out of harm’s way as the ceiling smashed onto the ground. Donna panted heavily as she cradled the girl in her arms, the panic starting to fade. Her eyes then locked with the little girl’s who smiled happily. “Holy Cow! I just got saved by Wonder Girl! I can’t wait to tell the kids at school!” Donna smiled briefly, before running with the child to her mother. She gave the girl to her mother and advised them to get out of the museum as quickly as possible. Running back to the room she was in, she found Raven evacuating the remaining patrons from the room and the rubble was no longer collapsing from the ceiling. Donna looked at Raven with curiosity. “What happened? Why’d it stop?” she asked. Raven shrugged. “No clue. One minute the ceiling was collapsing. Next, it stopped.”. Before she could say anything else, a shadow loomed over the two girls. Donna and Raven looked up to see what looked like a thin woman wearing a dark, flowing dress with black hair, floating down from the hole in the ceiling, arms spread out extravagantly. The 2 walked back, arms up and ready, and allowed the woman to land on the ground. When Donna got a good look at her face, her jaw dropped and her senses froze. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t speak. She was petrified to the spot. The woman locked eyes with Wonder Girl and let out a frightening smirk. “We meet again, Wonder Girl! Your destruction is inevitable!”

Beast Boy and Cyborg had never been to an art museum food court before, but after today, they felt they had been missing out. The 2 had gotten a table to themselves and engorged themselves on some of the most delicious burgers they’ve tasted in their lives. Beast Boy luckily managed to secure a tofu burger as he refused to eat any meat as he empathized with the animals he could transform into. “Mmf. I haven’t tasted a burger this delicious in years!” said Cyborg happily, with a mouthful of beef. Beast Boy nodded in agreement as he chomped into his tofu burger. “We should come here more often,” he remarked. “ I swear this place has better food than most of the pizza joints in this city.” “Mmmhmm.” replied Cyborg as he continued to eat his burger. Suddenly, multiple footsteps could be heard from outside the food court and the 2 heroes looked out to see multiple patrons running for their lives toward the museum exit. A confused Cyborg looked at Beast Boy who shrugged, with a perplexed look on his face. Swallowing their food, the 2 ran out of the court and into the hallway. Looking around, Cyborg found a fleeing patron and grabbed their attention. “What’s happening?” he asked urgently. The patron regained his breath and explained to Cyborg what the emergency was. “ There’s a crazy woman upstairs who destroyed the ceiling! She just made the ceiling collapse and floated into the place! She’s fighting Wonder Girl and your friend with the cloak!” Cyborg looked at Beast Boy who nodded. Cyborg looked back towards the patron. “Ok, get out of the building and find safety. We’ll take care of whatever’s happening upstairs. K?”. The patron nodded and then headed towards the exit. Cyborg and Beast Boy then ran up the stairs as fast as they could to tend to the emergency.

In another wing of the museum, Nightwing, Starfire and Kid Flash were observing some art done by roman painters. After a moment, the trio felt the ground rumble slightly and turned towards the archway out and noticed various patrons running for the exits in panic. Nightwing and Starfire then looked at each other, nervous. “Trouble?” asked Starfire. “I think so,” responded Nightwing. “Kid Flash?” “On it!” replied Wally as he grabbed Nightwing and Starfire by the waist and zipped them towards the source of the danger.


Donna still stood, shocked and silent, at the presence of this powerful enchantress, her mind frozen with fear. As the woman lowered herself to the ground, Raven stood in front of her and raised her hands defensively, emitting a pair of purple energy shields. “Who are you? What do you want?” she demanded. The woman just stood there cackling at the question. “My, my, another enchantress like myself.” the woman taunted. “Which dimension do you hail from? New Genesis possibly? Shadowlands?” Raven gritted her teeth. This conversation wasn’t going anywhere. “I repeat: who are you?!” she asked once more. The woman gleamed at Raven before her focus shifted to a still petrified Wonder Girl. “You didn’t tell your friends about me? I’m hurt. I doubt you could have forgotten Circe, goddess of Sorcery and you're soon to be a destroyer.” Raven walked backwards, hands still raised, and stopped next to Wonder Girl. She looked at Donna and whispered “You know her?”. But Donna didn’t respond. Raven turned her head and noticed she hadn’t moved an inch since Circe had crashed into the building. “Wonder Girl? You ok?” she asked. Still nothing. When Raven looked back, she noticed Circe aimed her open palm towards the pair and let out a golden bolt of energy from her hand, speeding towards Wonder Girl. Thinking quickly, Raven tackled her friend to the ground,avoiding the energy bolt that struck the wall behind them. She looked around at the wreckage to make sure of their safety before turning to check in on her friend. “Wonder Girl, what’s wrong?” she asked. Donna shook her head and turned to Raven. “It… it’s her!” she exclaimed, hyperventilating. Raven raised an eyebrow confused before helping her teammate to her feet and turning back to Circe. Donna fell back to her feet and crawled back panicking. Circe cackled. “Ha! Even a year later, she can’t bear to the sight of the one true goddess of sorcery! Without Wonder Woman by your side, girly, you are nothing!” Donna continued to panic as Raven looked back and forth towards her friend and to Circe in confusion. She could tell these 2 have had a history together and, judging by Donna’s reaction, it was apparently a very traumatic one. One that might even rival Raven’s own trauma with her father, Trigon. Raven finally turned back to Circe and held up her hands in a defensive position once again. “She’s not alone!” she said. “You got that right!” yelled another voice. Circe, Raven and Donna turned to the left end of the entranceway and saw Cyborg and Beast Boy walking up to the battle, Cyborg with his arm turned into his signature cannon and Beast Boy with his arms folded and a fighting smirk on his face. Then suddenly, the group felt a gust of air breeze towards them from the other end. Looking they saw Nightwing, Starfire and Kid Flash on the right end, all ready for battle. “Who are you and what do you want?!” demanded Nightwing, aggressively. Circe once again cackled and pointed in Nightwing’s direction. “Someone who you’ll wish you never met, boy!” she jeered. Nightwing walked forward, escrima out and ready, and locked eyes with her. “Did Slade send you?” he asked. Circe shook her head, still smiling. “No mortal man commands Circe! Circe makes the mortal man beg for a command before her feet!” she boasted. Raven rolled her eyes at the remark. “Ugh, another bad guy who talks in third person. Like I haven’t seen those 20 times in my life.” Having enough of this nonsense, Nightwing looked towards Cyborg and shouted to him, “Cyborg now!”. Cyborg nodded and, lifting his arm cannon, launched a blue ball of energy towards Circe’s direction She smiled and raised her hand, conjuring a rectangular golden shield of energy, causing Cyborg’s laser blast to bounce off the shield and soar towards Cyborg and Beast Boy’s direction. Panicking, the 2 jumped out of the way and ducked behind a nearby statue for protection. Taking advantage of the attack, Nightwing launched himself into the air and tried to land his escrima onto Circe, but unfortunately for him, she had anticipated this. Reaching out, she grabbed his throat tight and squeezed. Nightwing dropped his weapons as he freed his hands to try to wrench her hand from his throat, gasping for air. Circe smiled, without a hint of remorse in her eyes. Suddenly, a green bolt of light appeared and struck Circe’s hand, causing her to drop Nightwing to the ground. Before he touched the ground, Nightwing suddenly felt himself floating as air returned to his lungs. Looking down, he saw a black and purple bed of energy levitating him from the ground as to cushion his fall. His eyes darted up to see Raven, extending her arm towards his direction, conjuring the failsafe. “You ok?” she asked, concerned. Nightwing nodded and got to his feet. The 2 then looked up to see Starfire launching herself towards Circe at full speed, grabbing her by the shoulders and ramming her to the wall forcefully. “Don’t you ever touch him like that!!” she shouted angrily, her eyes glowing green with rage and fury. With all her strength, Starfire kept Circe pinned to the wall by her arms and applied pressure thoroughly. Circe frowned. Thinking of an exit, she wrestled her left hand free and pointed her index finger towards Starfire’s waist. A golden streak of energy burst from it and struck Starfire in the chest. The impact launched Starfire across the room and into the archway near the exit, back first. Nightwing ran up to the archway and looked up at the hole that Circe made by hurling Starfire. “Starfire! Are you ok?!” he shouted up. He then saw an orange form crawl out from the hole, breathing heavily and resuming to levitate. “Yes.. I’m fine!” she shouted back down. Nightwing grinned. He then saw Starfire bolt from the hole and make another charge at Circe, engaging her in mortal combat. He then felt a hand lay on his shoulder and turned to see it coming from Raven. “We’ll handle this. Go check on Wonder Girl!” she advised. Nightwing nodded and ran towards Donna’s side as Raven flew herself to engage Circe in battle as well. Nightwing ran up to a still panicking Wonder Girl who was being tended to by Kid Flash. “How is she doing?” Nightwing asked Kid Flash, nervously. Kid Flash had a very nervous expression on his face. “She’s been hyperventilating for a bit now and I haven’t been successful in calming her down.” Nightwing looked back and forth from Wonder Girl to Raven and Starfire’s battle with Circe, trying to figure out what to do. He then came to a decision. “Let’s get her out of here and come back to fight.”. Kid Flash nodded and the two heaved up Wonder Girl and started taking her to the exit.

Cyborg peered above the base of the statue to observe the current fight. He saw Starfire and Raven both trying to bombard Circe with bolts from each of their hands, only to have them repeatedly deflected into the walls around them. He ducked back down and turned to Beast Boy. “Well what’s happening?” Beast Boy asked, crouched down behind the statue base. “Nothing good. Circe appears to be doing a number on the girls.” Beast Boy frowned. They were in a tough situation and he didn’t know what to do. After a beat though, he got an idea. “Hey, Cyborg! I think I got a plan,” he told his friend. Cyborg bent down to listen. “ I’ll go turn into a hawk and distract Circe, while the girls get away and you supercharge your arm cannon and take her out!” Cyborg thought about it for a sec before looking up at the action once more. “I don’t know, man. Sounds kind of risky.” Beast Boy looked above the statue ledge and then back to Cyborg. “You got a better idea?” he asked sarcastically. Cyborg frowned. There wasn’t much of an alternative he could think of in this scenario. So, he nodded and Beast Boy smiled confidently.

Starfire felt herself being thrown to the ground hard by another one of Circe’s magic blasts. The pain was incredible, probably due to the ceramic material used on the floor almost breaking her back. She heaved herself up and looked next to herself to find Raven also being floored by Circe. She also hunched up but rather slowly as she took a harder fall than Starfire. Circe floated down, her arms outstretched theatrically and a wide grin on her face appeared. “Ah, yes,” she said, referring to Raven. “I recognize those abilities. Azrathian. Would I be correct, girl?” Raven got to her feet and locked eyes with Circe. “What of it?” she growled aggressively. She was starting to get sick of this sorceress. “I’ve decimated many of your kind in the past, my dear. Soon, you will be nothing more than another statistic.” Raven gnashed her teeth as she started to prepare another spell when something caught her eye. Behind Circe, Raven noticed what looked like a green crow near the ceiling opening, flapping its wings rapidly. “Yoo hoo! Right here, witch! Come get me!” shouted Beast Boy. Circe turned to him and her smirked returned. She stretched out her hand, unleashing another bolt of magic from her palm. Beast Boy flew out of the way and the bolt hit another wall. Circe continued this practice as Beast Boy flew around the room rapidly, soaring past each bolt of magic. Cyborg ran from the statue and towards Raven and Starfire, the latter of whom had just gotten back to her feet. He stood in between the two and started to rev up his arm cannon, much to the girl’s confusion. “What are you doing?!” asked Raven, concerned. “Trust me!” replied Cyborg as the blue light on his arm cannon grew brighter. Raven looked at Starfire who shrugged, and the two stepped back cautiously. The energy blast bursted from the arm cannon and soared through the air and headed towards Circe’s direction. Circe, still distracted by Beast Boy, didn’t notice the ball of energy until too late. Turning around, she witnessed the ball of light heading in her direction and opened her mouth in shock. The bolt struck her in the chest, sending her across the room and through the wall into the room behind it. Beast Boy reverted back to his human form, landing to the ground carefully. Running towards his friends, Beast Boy leaped in the air and gave a hard high five towards Cyborg proudly. “See?! I told you that would work, dude!” he exclaimed.
Cyborg smiled. “Yeah, yeah you did.” he replied. Before they could celebrate any further, Starfire approached and pointed towards the hole in the wall. “Do you think we defeated her?” she asked nervously. Before anyone could answer, the wall suddenly exploded in front of them. Chunks of wall flew towards the four of them at max speed with no signs of stopping. Raven pushed herself to the front of the group, holding up her hands and creating a purple energy shield, blocking the chunks from hitting them. The chunks fell to the ground with a massive thud. The force shield disappeared and Raven kneeled to the floor, panting heavily. This fight had taken a lot out of her. The four looked towards the wall to see Circe pacing herself towards the middle of the destroyed room. “Enough of this!” she shouted. “You four are not worth my time! I am here for the one you call Wonder Girl! Tell her to seek me out or I’ll harm the people of your fair city! Don’t worry. I’ll make sure she knows how to find me!”. She cackled as a gust of smoke emerged from the ground and clouded Circe’s form. After a few seconds, the cackling and the smoke faded and Circe was far gone from the spot. Cyborg ran up to the spot and observed it for a sec. He gritted his teeth. “She got away.” he hissed. Raven got to her feet and turned her head towards Beast Boy and Starfire. “You guys ok?” she asked. The two nodded. Raven smiled hopefully. “We should probably go catch up with Nightwing, Kid Flash and Wonder Girl. Tell them what happened.” Cyborg hesitated for a second before agreeing. The four ran down the hall and toward the exit as fast as they could.

Nightwing and Kid Flash had finally made it to Cyborg’s car, carrying Wonder Girl in their arms. Luckily, she wasn’t that heavy so she was fairly easy to carry. The two opened the car door and gently lay her onto the car seat. She finally stopped hyperventilating, now taking slower, deeper breaths. Nightwing’s face was filled with concern for his friend. “Wonder Girl? What happened back there?” he asked. She didn’t respond. Instead, she crunched up her legs and held onto them tightly as tears streamed from her eyes. This wasn’t good. Nightwing knew at this moment that she obviously had some history with this “Circe” woman. Looking behind him, Nightwing saw Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy and Cyborg stumble out of the museum, looking weary and wounded. He noticed Starfire holding her left arm in pain, and saw it covered in scrapes and bruises. Concerned, Nightwing ran up and quickly embraced her before checking in on her injury. “Are you guys ok?” he asked. Cyborg nodded while Beast Boy gave a thumbs up and Raven weakly nodded. “What happened to Circe?” “She vanished, dude” informed Beast Boy, sticking his thumb backwards. Nightwing frowned. This wasn’t good. This woman was pretty dangerous from what he saw and her being on the loose could be very destructive. “We need to find her,” he proclaimed. The rest agreed. He then turned his attention to Starfire’s arm. “Is your arm ok?” he asked. Starfire winced in pain, but tried to suck it up. “No, I’m fine. I can manage.” she murmured. She tried to bend her arm, but her teeth gritted from the pain of it, releasing her arm. Nightwing held it gently in his arm. “Here, let's go back to the car and patch it up.” he suggested. She weakly nodded. He helped Starfire to the car as he opened the trunk and pulled out a first aid kit. “How’s Wonder Girl doing?” she asked as Nightwing wrapped gauze around her bruised arm. “Not good. She’s been distraught since she saw that witch.” He finished wrapping up her arm and exchanged nervous looks with each other. “If it’s ok, I would like to accompany you and Cyborg on the drive back to watch after Wonder Girl.” He looked at Donna then back at Starfire. He nodded. “I think that would be ok”. She smiled before opening the right car door and entered into the back seat. Nightwing smiled a little. Another thing he admired about Starfire was her kindness towards those in need. He then walked up to Cyborg as Raven entered the left car door and Beast Boy went to talk with Kid Flash. “Anyone hurt?” Nightwing asked. Cyborg shook his head. “My scanners picked up nothing in regards to the injured or casualties. As far as I can tell, everyone got out alive.” Nightwing was relieved. He wasn’t sure if he could take another life being destroyed because of their quarrels. There was something else on his mind. “What about damages? How much do we owe them?” he asked. For the past few years, the titans had done their best to pay for the damages their battles had caused Jump City over the past few years. They had to scramble to get money by taking regular jobs and various odd jobs a few times and nearly got the tower bankrupted from all those payments. “Don’t worry.” responded Cyborg. “I talked with the curator on the way out. He said that this place is insured. Made sure to read up about the events of this city before he built this place.” Nightwing smiled. This was just their luck. Things were going their way. Somewhat. There was still two things that were problematic for the current situation: Wonder Girl’s breakdown and a new villain rampaging through Jump City. It had to be attended to. Nightwing nudged his head toward the car and Cyborg nodded and got into the driver’s seat. Before Nightwing got into the passenger side, he looked at Beast Boy and Kid Flash. “You guys don’t mind flanking the car do you?” he asked. Kid Flash gave a thumbs up and Beast Boy winked. Nightwing smiled. Getting into the car, he watched as Cyborg out in the keys, turn the wheel and drive off with Kid Flash running on the left of the car and Beast Boy flying in the form of a hawk on the other side.

The titans had been driving for about 10 minutes since their skirmish at the art museum and the aftermath was hazy. Donna was still hunched up in the backseat of the car, having broken down since her encounter with Circe. Starfire and Raven sat in the backseat with her to try to comfort her to no avail. Nightwing sat in the passenger seat, listening to the police radio Cyborg had installed in his car for any news on Circe’s whereabouts while Kid Flash sped next to the car on one side and Beast Boy as a hawk flanked the other side. After a while, Cyborg slowed the car down slightly and briefly looked back towards the girls. “How’s she hanging in?” he asked. Raven looked towards Donna, who’s back was being stroked sympathetically by Raven, and then back to Cyborg with a glum expression. “Well, she’s stopped hyperventilating, which is a start” she said. Cyborg nodded before turning back to the road. Needing to say something, Nightwing turned down the police radio and looked towards Donna with a concerned expression on his face. “Wonder Girl?” he said. She tipped her head up from her lap with tears streaming down her eyes. “What?” she asked. Nightwing was somewhat hesitant to ask at the moment due to Donna’s current mental state but knew it had to be questioned. “If you can, can you please explain what the conflict is between you and this….Circe woman?” Donna sucked up her tears and tilted her head towards Nightwing. Gathering her strength, she explained her story with Circe. “A year ago, when I was still Wonder Woman’s sidekick, I had entered a relationship with a human guy. His name was Ronnie and we had been going steady for at least 2 months. I tried my very best to keep him out of my superhero life until last year. When we were on a date, Circe, who is an old enemy of me and Diana’s, tried to attack me to make sure Diana would have no back up in her next encounter with her. I tried to protect him as best as I could from harm’s way but in the end, she shot him with one of her transformation blasts and turned him into a pig. She escaped and I was deeply mortified and scared. I took him back to Themyscira for help. We figured that the change would become permanent after 24 hours if we couldn’t get Circe to change him back. Me and Diana spent the next day trying to discover Circe until we discovered her hiding in a distant island in the pacific. We fought her for hours but it was only just a distraction to wait out the time until Ronnie’s transformation was permanent. After a while, I defeated her but it was too late. The time had ran out and his transformation was complete. Diana built a prison on the island for Circe as I returned to Themyscira. I apologized several times to Ronnie for failing him, but I don’t even know if he understands considering the transformation may have affected his mind too.” She then took a deep breath and continued. “I cried myself to sleep for 2 days before I made a decision. I had to leave. To find myself. To better myself. To not make that mistake again. I packed up, said my farewells to Diana and headed to Jump City. I had heard about you guys so I went to find you. To Join you and find a better life. To free myself of my failure and my trauma!” After she finished, Donna wiped the tears off her face and closed her eyes in shame. Nightwing bit his lip. He had been down that roller coaster before so he could sympathize with her plight. “I..I’m sorry to hear that.” he said. He turned back to the windshield and slammed his head against the headrest in frustration. All he wanted that day was to give their new teammate a day to remind them of their love and appreciation and now she was in pain and distress all because of a new supervillain showing up. He wished he could have one day without a villain making things worse. He looked back again to offer support, but from what he could tell, Starfire and Raven seemed to be handling things fine already. He gave a weak smile before turning his attention to Cyborg. “Wanna turn on the police radio in case Circe did any more damage?” he asked. Cyborg nodded and turned on the police radio he installed in the car. Immediately, a voice came on. “Unit 6, we just got some reports of criminal activity at 45. Julius Ave. Strange lady wearing a cloak reportedly turned about 7 civilians into pigs and flew off with them. Demanded that Wonder Girl find her, over.” Cyborg turned it back off immediately after that and looked towards Nightwing. Nightwing looked back towards Donna who looked to be even more panicked than before after what she heard on the radio. Starfire did her best to calm her down by stroking her back softly. Nightwing’s face was plastered with concern. Turning to Cyborg, he said.“Let’s go check it out,”. Cyborg nodded and slammed the accelerator.


The group managed to get to the scene of the crime quickly and were prepared to investigate. Nightwing had to pull a few strings with the cops to let them through the police tape to inspect the area, but it was worth it in the end. Wonder Girl and Starfire remained in Cyborg’s car, due to Donna’s panic attack. Starfire opted to stay to comfort her friend. The rest of the group scouted the area in case of any evidence that could lead them to Circe. After a few minutes they came up with nothing. Nightwing approached Cyborg who had been scanning the area to see if he found anything. “Anything yet?” he asked. Cyborg shook his head. “I looked everywhere, but my scanners picked up nothing. If this chick wants us to find her, she’s sure not making it easy.” Nightwing nodded in agreement before folding his arms. While they still had some time, Nightwing was still nervous about the fates of those civilians. Not only that, but he also felt guilty about the day he promised Donna. All he wanted to do was make her feel appreciated as their latest teammate and now it was going downhill because that crone was making trouble for them and giving Donna a panic attack. He then turned to Raven, who was kneeling on the ground near a black spot where Circe had left a black blast mark. He approached and looked down towards her. “Found anything?” he asked. Raven looked at him and nodded. “I think so. This blast here has a distinct magical essence. I think I might be able to track the essence to the one who casted it. AKA Circe.” Nightwing smiled. “Good job, Raven.” She smiled back as the two went back to the car where Cyborg, Beast Boy and Kid Flash were waiting for them. “Well, what’s the scoop?” asked Cyborg who was leaning on the car, arms folded. “Raven may have figured a way to track Circe down. We’re going to follow her to the source, so if anyone wants to sit in the last seat in the car…” before he could finish that sentence, Beast Boy was already jumping up and down with his hand raised in the air in excitement. Nightwing sighed. “Ok, Beast Boy you can get the empty seat.” Beast Boy smiled and ran into the car. Nightwing and Raven looked at each other and rolled their eyes.


They drove for about 20 minutes following Raven’s tracking. No one in the car said a word to each other as they were still processing what just occurred. They encountered many foes in their past but this one was different. She obviously had more power than Slade but not as powerful as Trigon was. Nightwing knew this mission was going to be one of their hardest. After a while, Raven turned to the windshield and held out her hand. “Stop. I think We found her location,” she informed them. Cyborg slammed the brakes and the car stopped in front of what looked like the side of a large hill and in the middle of it was a massive opening. The group got out of the car as Raven lowered herself to the ground and Kid Flash skidded in front of the opening. Beast Boy slammed the car door as he exited the car and raised an eyebrow looking at the opening. “A cave? This is her hiding spot?” he asked, confused. Raven turned to him and nodded. “This is as far as her essence goes.” she confirmed. Beast Boy folded his arms and grimaced. “Great. Just how I wanted to spend my day. Trudging in a disgusting cave.” Nightwing started to approach the cave when he suddenly remembered Wonder Girl. Turning around towards the car, he saw Wonder Girl slowly trudging out of the car looking out of it and being followed by Starfire. He was concerned about her coming along on this mission considering her reaction earlier. “Wonder Girl? Are you sure you want to come with us?” he asked. Donna looked up at him and slowly nodded her head. “I brought this on to you, guys. It's only fair I come with you to help.” Starfire walked up towards Donna and placed her arm on her shoulder. “You know, you don’t have to if you feel like this is a little much for you,” advised Starfire. Donna smiled weakly but shook her head. “I can do this. I’ll be fine.” she assured her friend. Nightwing nodded and then looked towards the others. “Ok, Titans! Here’s the plan so far: we go in, stay together, and check every corner. When we find Circe, we approach taking her out cautiously. Got it? Good. Titans! Go!” He then ran into the cave as the rest of the group followed him.

The cave was no cave the titans had seen before. The path lead to a massive land mass filled with several stalagmites and few stalactites. There were about six passageways surrounding the north side of the cave, all covered in blackness. Nightwing approached the passages, observed them for a few seconds, then turned to Raven. “Raven, you think you can sense which one she went through?” he asked. She nodded and then closed her eyes as she pressed her fingers to her forehead in concentration. After a beat, she opened her eyes and pointed at the centermost tunnel. The group nodded and headed down the direction of the tunnel. They walked down the tunnel, which felt like forever, for a few minutes, when Raven walked towards Donna and walked alongside her. “Hey, I just want to let you know.. I’m sorry for what happened to your boyfriend.” she said. Donna looked towards her friend as she shedded a quick tear. “It’s ok. I’m not dating again after that anyway.” she replied as she wiped away the tear. Raven grimaced at that. She could understand how it felt to give up something to protect the ones you love. “I know what it's like to give up something to protect others. A few years ago, on the last birthday I had, my father sent Slade to come after me and hurt my friends. Ever since that day…since what everyone went through, I decided not to celebrate my birthday ever again.” Wonder Girl raised an eyebrow in surprise. This was something she did not expect to hear from Raven. “Never again?” she asked. Raven nodded, sadly. “I’m just worried that if I did, my friends could be hurt again. And I don’t want that to happen.” Donna grimaced. The speech made her think hard about her decision. Is this worth sacrificing something I love? She thought. She could definitely tell it didn’t make Raven happy, but she also understood the reasoning behind it. After a beat. Nightwing held out his hand. “Wait!” he said. The group stopped, looking confused. Nightwing pointed at the end of the tunnel and there was a bright light at the end of it. They ran down the tunnel and eventually came up to a line of stalagmites. The group ducked down behind the stalagmites and peeked over them. In front of the stalagmites, there was a rocky space in the middle of the room where, in the center, stood Circe, pacing impatiently. Suddenly, a snorting noise could be heard. Nightwing’s eyes darted towards the other end of the cave and saw, being protected by an orange energy field, 7 pigs running around, snorting loudly. His eyes widened. It was the civilians. One thing he noticed about them was that they retained some element of their previous selves such as hair and imperfections like age spots. This was serious. Nightwing bent down and turned towards his teammates. “Ok, I think I got a plan: Raven, since you're the only one on the team that knows magic, we need you to try to take out Circe the best you can. Got it?” Raven nodded her head. “I’ll try but her magic is on a different level than mine.” she explained. Nightwing looked at her. “Just do what you can. Starfire, you and Cyborg will guard the entrance and make sure Circe doesn’t get out. Me, Beast Boy, Wonder Girl and Kid Flash will try to get the civilians out until we can find a way to turn them back. K?” Donna looked down for a sec but then lightly nodded. “Good” whispered Nightwing. “Titans, go!” Starfire and Cyborg quickly rushed towards the tunnel entrance while Nightwing, Beast Boy, Wally and Donna slowly crawled towards the area where the pigs were at. Raven on the other hand walked right out from the stalagmites and stood behind Circe who’s back was still turned towards the group as she was monologing to herself. “Where is that star spangled brat? She should have been here hours ago! With the magical essence I left behind.” “How about you accept me as a substitute then?” exclaimed Raven as she hovered from the ground defensively. Circe grinned evilly. “Well, well. Back for round two, witch?” she snarked. Raven frowned as her eyes turned black as night. “I’m here to stop you before you hurt anyone else. I’m not alone either.”. She nudged her head towards the tunnel passageway where Starfire and Cyborg stood in guard position. Starfire’s hands were glowing green with energy while Cyborg had his arm cannon on guard. “Don’t even think about escaping.” proclaimed Cyborg. Circe frowned and looked at Raven angrily. She then held out her hand towards her opponents direction, with a golden ball of energy forming in her palm. Pulling her arm back, Circe tossed the ball like a baseball towards Raven’s direction. Raven smirked confidently at this, raising her hand, she uttered “Azarath Metrion Zinthos!” and swiped her hand down quickly, letting out a streak of black energy. The energy flew into the golden energy ball Circe had thrown, causing it to bounce back into her. Circe fell to the ground with a massive thud, causing the room to shake. The energy field holding the pigs hostage then faded allowing the pigs to run around the room, panicked and snorting. Nightwing looked at Kid Flash who winked back towards him, zipped around the room and gathered all the pigs. Unfortunately for him, Circe picked herself off of the ground and pointed her finger towards Kid Flash’s direction. A bronze stream of energy shot from it towards Kid Flash’s direction. Wally unfortunately turned around too late and was struck with it. A gust of smoke emerged from the zap, causing everyone but Circe to cover their faces from the smoke. When it evaporated, all the pigs ran away and in the middle of the floor sat a skinny hog wearing a yellow and red jumpsuit with red flowing hair on it. It was Kid Flash! Wonder Girl gasped and fell onto her back. She lifted herself up and held out a hand in shock. “Wally! No!” she shouted. Horrified by what they just saw, Cyborg and Starfire ran over towards Kid Flash to check on his new form. Nightwing and Beast Boy grabbed most of the pigs and ran over to help Donna while Raven kept her focus on Circe. She looked back towards Kid Flash with a look of shock on her face. She had been distracted by the swine running around and unfortunately didn’t notice until it was too late. Turning towards Circe in anger, Raven’s eyes glowed a piercing black light. “Turn him back! Now!” she demanded. Circe cackled evilly. “Never, child! Not even your magic will be able to restore your friend back to his natural form!” In anger Raven held her hands up to the ceiling and covered the stalactites in black energy before sending them towards Circe’s direction. Circe held out her hand and a golden stream of energy soared out of her palm and shattered each rock. As she continued to fight Raven, Beast Boy in a panic, ran over to grab Kid Flash’s pig form. He lifted his friend up to his face with a frightened look on his face. “Kid Flash! Are you there?! Speak to me, dude!” he begged. After a beat, Wally’s pig form opened his mouth and let out a loud “oink!”. Smelling its breath, Beast Boy turned his head away and waved his hand back and forth in front of his face in disgust. “Ugh. Bro, when we change you back, we really gotta get you to take some tic tacs.” He then ran to the tunnel holding Kid Flash under his arm to get him to safety. Before he left, he turned around to see Raven still fighting with Circe, Cyborg collecting the rest of the pigs, and Nightwing and Starfire trying to help Donna up to her feet. Looks like they have everything under control, he thought to himself. Placing Kid Flash’s pig form to the ground, he waited until Cyborg ran up with the rest of the hogs as he gently placed them down. “You got this?” he asked Beast Boy. Beast Boy nodded before turning himself into a green hog. “Ok, guys, follow the leader! Lets move out!” he told the other pigs. He ran down the tunnel as the other pigs followed him. Cyborg meanwhile, ran over towards Nightwing and Starfire who were helping Donna stand from the shock. “Is she ok?” he asked, concerned. Nightwing looked at Donna’s face, the look of panic and shock still on her face and then to Starfire, who gave a nervous facial expression. “Not sure,” he replied. Before he could say anything else, the group heard a massive blast sound from behind them. Looking at the area where Raven and Circe were fighting, Cyborg and Nightwing’s jaws dropped in horror while Starfire’s eyes widened. On the ground, instead of Raven was a gray skinned pig with purple hair and a blue cloak. “Raven!” shouted Starfire in horror. She held up her hand and shot a green bolt of energy towards Circe. Circe smiled and a gust of smoke appeared in front of her. The green bolt went through the smoke, before it could disappear, leaving no trace of Circe. Starfire quickly ran and grabbed the pale pig and ran back towards her friends. Wonder Girl looked at it, shocked, putting her hand to her mouth in horror. Tears then started to roll down her eyes. “Not you too, Raven” she murmured. Nightwing then carried Donna to the cave entrance and looked back towards his team. “Titans! Retreat!” he said and the group ran down the tunnel. As they were running Cyborg looked back towards the other end of the tunnel before looking back towards Donna in concern. “Ok, you gotta tell us how you defeated her last time!” Donna, still being supported by Nightwing, looked towards him distressed. “We were in a brutal fight. Circe had nearly beat me to death before turning her attention to Diana. She tried to kill her, but luckily, I dragged myself towards Circe and I used an herb I had obtained Moly to stun her magic. It worked and both me and Diana brought her down and imprisoned her.” Nightwing looked towards her and smiled briefly as he ran. “So, all we need is that moly and we're good?” he asked hopefully. Donna weakly shook her head. “That herb is 6 hours away on Themyscira and by the time we get it, it might be too late!” she explained. Nightwing’s smile faded. He was nervous now. What are we supposed to do? He thought. By that point, they had fled from the tunnel and back into the main chamber. Taking the lead, Cyborg looked back at the others, frowning. “Well, we gotta think of something! Because if we don’t-” before he could finish he collided into something in front of him. Rubbing his head in pain, Cyborg opened his eyes to see Beast Boy sitting on the ground, rubbing his head in pain as well. “Geez, due. Are you trying to give me a concussion?” Beast Boy asked, annoyed. Cyborg got himself to his feet and helped Beast Boy to his. “Sorry, man.” he apologized. Beast Boy smiled until he looked behind Cyborg and at Starfire. In her hands rested the pig transformed Raven, oinking calmly but primitively. Beast Boy’s jaw dropped in shock. “Raven!” he shouted. He ran towards her and lifted her from Starfire’s hands in a nervous panic. “First a bunny and now a pig? I’m the only one who’s supposed to turn into an animal here!” he exclaimed. Starfire looked down in sadness in regards to Raven’s condition. Cyborg then tapped Beast Boy on the arm to get his attention. “We can deal with that later. Where are Kid Flash and the civilians?” he asked. Beast Boy put the pig Raven back in Starfire’s arms and looked back towards Cyborg with a confident expression on his face. “Took care of them. I placed them in your car so they can’t go anywhere until we change them back!” he said, placing his arms at his side with suave. Cyborg’s face dropped in annoyance at the statement. “You put a bunch of pigs in my car?!” Beast Boy looked confused at the response. “Well, I didn’t want them to run away and I couldn’t put them in the trunk without suffocating them,” he explained. Cyborg's face palmed himself before pointing his finger at Beast Boy in anger. “If they chew up any of my modifications, I’m not going to be happy,” he said. Nightwing frowned and got in between the two of them. “Ok, guys, we can discuss this later. Right now, though….” then suddenly, a golden jet of energy launched from the ceiling and struck Cyborg square in the back. He disappeared from the spot and in place was a pig covered in cybernetic parts, oinking wildly. The group gasped before looking up at the ceiling for the source of the attack. In the air, Circe was levitating herself above the group with an evil grin on her face. The Nightwing gasped,but unfortunately let his grip slide as Donna once again buckled to the ground in panic. Nightwing and Beast Boy kneeled down to the ground to try to comfort her and gather pig Cyborg. Starfire, on the other hand, had it. She gave pig Raven to Nightwing and approached the area where Circe was floating above. “Starfire! What are you doing?” asked Nightwing, desperately. She didn’t answer. Instead, clenching her knuckles and allowing her eyes to glow bright green, she launched herself towards Circe’s direction in a fit of rage. “LEAVE MY FRIENDS ALONE!” she shouted as she shot green blast after green blast towards Circe’s direction. With the agility of a woman much younger, Circe dodged each bolt that came at her swiftly, before grabbing Starfire’s neck as she attempted to punch her. Getting up, Nightwing looked towards Circe and Starfire in horror as the latter struggled with getting free of Circe’s grip. “Starfire!” he shouted in fear. He then pointed towards Circe angrily. “Put her down!”. Circe smiled. “If you insist, dear child.” She then extended her index finger in Starfire’s direction and shot another jolt of energy towards her face. The next thing Nightwing knew, an orange, red haired pig started falling from Circe’s arms towards the floor rapidly. He gasped. Running towards her, Nightwing scooped her off the ground and ran back to the others. Looking up, the three remaining titans watched as Circe lowered herself to the ground. She laughed evilly as she landed. “4 down, 3 to go. Which one of you is foolish enough to challenge me again?” she gloated. In anger, Nightwing put the pug Starfire to the ground and turned towards Circe in anger. “Turn my friends back now!” he demanded in anger. Circe smirked. Holding up her hand, a bolt of energy shot out, blasting the ceiling. Rocks fell fast from towards the spot Nightwing, Beast Boy, Donna and the pig versions of their friends. They reacted quickly: Nightwing jumped out of the way, while Donna rapidly scooped up the pigs and Beast Boy and flew them into one of the cave passages before the rocks could smash on the ground. Getting to his feet, Nightwing whipped out his escrima and looked back towards where Circe was, only to find she had disappeared. He looked up at the ceiling to find nothing but blackness. Suddenly, he felt himself lifted from the ground and forced towards the nearest wall. He looked towards the centermost cave and saw Circe emerge from it, her hand raised towards him. Nightwing struggled as much as he could to get free of the telekinetic grip, but it was no use. Circe approached him, slowly but coldly. “You really think you can stop me, boy? My, you have but many delusions inside that brain of yours” she snarked. Nightwing gritted his teeth in anger. Then he noticed something behind her: the form of a green tiger pouncing from the last cave on the right, launching itself towards Circe. Nightwing grinned. Before Beast Boy could sink his claws into her, Circe reached out her other hand pinning Beast Boy to the wall on the other end of the room. He turned back to normal as he struggled to free himself as well. Circe laughed maniacally as she forced the two harder on to the walls. “Stop!” a voice shouted. Circe turned around, arms still extended, to find the source of the voice. She eventually tracked it to a stumbling Wonder Girl who was tearing up with fear and distraught. “Please let them go!” she begged. Circe smirked. “If you insist,” she jeered. She then telekinetically tossed Beast Boy into Donna, knocking them both to the floor and with her free hand, sent a bolt of energy towards Nightwing’s direction and in a flash, what remained of him was a fat swine with a blue and black outfit on and black hair. As Donna and Beast Boy got to their feet, they looked upon the transformed Nightwing as he squeaked frantically. Donna gasped at the sight of it. Beast Boy on the other hand, jumped towards the spot and grabbed him. He ran towards the cave entrance to evacuate Nightwing into the car with the other pigs, but unfortunately, Circe had other ideas. She raised her hands and swung them down, causing a flurry of massive rocks to crash in front of the cave entrance, knocking Beast Boy down and causing Nightwing to escape from his arms and run frantically. Beast Boy got to his feet, wiping the dirt from his outfit and then turned towards Circe. “You're sick, you know that?! All we wanted was to give our friend a special day and you had to come and ruin it. I’ll say this once and you better listen: turn our friends back!” he demanded. Circe grimaced for a second before looking towards Donna who was meekly putting her arms up into fists, in an attempt to intimidate Circe. She chuckled cruelly. “Your friend is brave, young Troy. Pity, your beloved wasn’t as strong when I turned him into the swine he is!” Donna’s tears formed once more as she went to her knees in emotional distress. In anger, Beast Boy turned himself into a bear and charged towards Circe’s direction. Circe once more shot a bolt of gold energy towards Beast Boy, only to be met with a massive surprise: Beast Boy still remained as he was. No green pig. Just a green bear continuing its charge towards its prey. Donna, looking up at the action, was also surprised by this. Beast Boy lept and slashed Circe’s arm knocking her to the ground. She screeched in pain as she tended to her bleeding wound. Donna, relieved, got up and ran to hug Beast Boy. “Hey, hey, no need to get all sentimental.” he responded. Releasing him, she smiled. “I’m just glad you're ok. How did her spell not affect you?” she asked. Beast Boy pondered on that for a beat, looking at himself before finally figuring out the possible reason. “Well, she can turn people into animals right? If you think about it, I’m already all of the animals in the world so her spell can’t affect me. She can’t turn me into something I already am.”. The pair took a quick moment to laugh at that remark. Then suddenly, a blue energy blast struck Beast Boy sending him across the room in a heartbeat. A worried Donna quickly ran over to him and carefully lifted his head up. “Gar! You ok?” she asked, concerned. Beast Boy opened his eyes and suddenly gave a goofy smirk. “ Just (hiccup!) peachy” he exclaimed, rather drowsy. Donna looked back at Circe aggressively. “What did you do to him?!” she yelled. Circe held her arm in pain as she gritted her teeth in anger. “Your friend is intoxicated! If I can’t change him, I can remove his core senses!” she sneered. Donna didn’t know what to do at this point. Beast Boy was intoxicated, their friends were pigs, and her old nemesis was about to destroy her. If that wasn’t bad enough, Circe reached out her hand again and telekinetically dragged Donna into her grip. She struggled as Circe’s grip tightened on her throat. Retching her neck a little, she looked back to check on Beast Boy who had gotten to his feat, but was stumbling drunkenly in circles by the cave wall. “Hey, does anyone (hic) have a pizza to (hic) drink?” he murmured. Donna then turned back towards Circe and slammed her free fist onto the cut marks on Circe’s arm hard. Circe howled in pain as she let Donna down on the ground and cradled her wounded arm as she stepped back. Donna breathed heavily from the choking and turned towards Beast Boy. Flying in the air, she swooped towards him and wrapped his arm around her shoulder as she supported his drunken form. Rising from the ground, she soared into the nearest tunnel in a hurry. She knew she was leaving her friends as pigs behind, but she didn’t know what else to do at this point. She flew as fast as she could, holding Beast Boy in her arm as tight as she could before finally making it to the end of the tunnel. Emerging, she saw it was basically a dead end until she looked at the ceiling and saw various rocky platforms above. She flew up with Beast Boy to the nearest platform and hid with him behind a giant stalagmite. Breathing heavily, Donna quickly covered Beast Boy’s mouth so as not to draw attention to them and listened as Circe approached the inside of the cave. “You can’t hide forever, Wonder Girl!” she shouted. “I still have your friends! And after a few hours, the transformation shall be complete and they shall forever be swine! Just like I turned your beloved into one!” Donna gritted her teeth in anger upon hearing her mention that, but at the same time, felt like there was nothing she could do at the moment but listen on. “You won’t come out then, huh? Fine. I have an unlimited amount of life on my hands so I can wait you out for however long I need to!” she laughed as her footsteps could be heard marching out of the cave. After a bit, she exhaled with relief as she finally released Beast Boy who stood up waltzing around clumsily as he tried to keep his balance. “Wouldn’t you agree that (hic) Raven (hic) looks hot without her hood? (hic)” Donna looked up at Beast Boy with intrigue for a sec before shaking her head in annoyance. “Gar, this isn’t the time! We gotta figure out how to get our friends back!” she retorted. Getting up, she once again slung Beast Boy onto her shoulder and carried him to the end of the tunnel on the platform. When they got to the end, she lay him down as she tried to think of what to do next. “Ugh, what do I do now? My friends are pigs, my nemesis is back, Gar is legless. There’s gotta be something I can do!” She then slumped onto the wall and crouched on the floor. Tears streamed down her eyes. “First Ronnie. Now you guys. Why am I such a curse? Why am I destined to fail and lose everything?” she murmured to herself. What could she do now? She failed just about everyone in her life at that point. And now, Circe was having the last laugh. Suddenly, she thought of something. Lifting her head, she wiped away her tears and walked up to Beast Boy “Gar, you think you can sit still here for a bit while I deal with Circe?” she asked. Beast Boy gave a silly grin and waved his hand in front of his face slowly. “Have you noticed how (hic) big my hands are? (hic)” he said. Donna gave a slightly awkward smirk. He’ll be fine. Leaving him laying on the wall, she ran down the tunnel and leaped from the ledge onto the ground. Getting up, she bent her head and sighed in nervousness. This is it, she thought to herself. This had to be done. To save her friends. To avenge her failures. For Ronnie. This had to be done. No time to be a coward. Breathing heavily, her expression turned to a look of strength and assertiveness. A smile curved on her lips. She was ready. Having her lasso at the ready, Donna ran down the cave tunnel to face her enemy and confront her destiny.
It had been 12 minutes since Circe had threatened Wonder Girl and now she was growing impatient. All she wanted was to destroy the girl responsible for her year of imprisonment on a deserted island. This opportunity could not be missed. On the other side of the cave was an energy field keeping Wonder Girl’s titan friends as pigs together to make sure they didn’t get away. She then heard some footsteps behind her and turned to the nearest cave. Exiting the cave was Donna Troy, aka Wonder Girl, with a hesitant expression on her face and lasso in hand. Circe grinned confidently. “So you’ve finally come to perish for your friends?” she snarked. Donna frowned. She wasn’t playing around this time. “No. I’m here to free them from you.” she said. Circe laughed at it. “As you wish!”. She then lifted her hand to conjure a ball of orange energy from her palm. Wonder Girl then held her hand in protest. “Not like that though,” she proclaimed. Circe looked confused. “What?” she asked, annoyed. Donna grinned slightly. “ If you were really so powerful, you wouldn’t have to rely on magic. You could take me out with nothing but your bare hands. Right?” Circe looked down for a sec, trying to process what Donna had just described to her before lowering her hand. “Yes,” she said finally. “I suppose there is some truth to your claim.”. She then snuffed out her ball of energy and darted her eyes back to Donna. “What do you propose then?” Being cautious, Donna folded her arms and kept her gaze locked with Circe’s. “A duel. Without magic. Just our bare hands and that’s it.” Circe looked intrigued. This could be an opportunity for her to finally rid herself of this girl and prove how superior she was in hand to hand combat. But Donna wasn’t done talking yet. “I’d also like to place a bet on this.” she said. Circe’s eyebrows lifted. “A wager, then?” she responded, interested. “Name your price”. Donna smiled. Things were going according to plan so far. So, she went on. “If I win, you release my friends and the civilians from being pigs and you leave us and this city alone for the rest of your life.”. “And if I win?” asked Circe. Donna sighed. “Then you can have me in place of them.” she explained remorsefully. A spark of interest gleamed in Circe’s eye. She was interested. “Deal!” she responded. Donna’s eyes never left Circe’s as she responded and prepared herself for this duel. She threw her lasso to the side and slowly took off her wristbands, throwing them to the other side of the room. It had to be a fair fight after all. She raised her arms up in a defensive position, her eyes remaining locked on Circe like a bull to a red flag. The latter made the first move by charging towards Donna at full speed, her arms out ready to snatch her prey. Donna quickly leaped above Circe’s head on to the other side of her as she stopped herself before running into the cave wall. Circe then turned her head viciously, her face as feral as a wild animal. Wonder Girl held out her hand and made a “bring it” hand motion towards Circe. Circe furiously charged at Donna and blindly swung her arms towards her in a vicious manner. Donna swiftly dodged each of the punches with the speed of a cheetah before doing a swing kick, clocking Circe in the chest and knocking her to her knees. Regaining her footing, Circe then did a tuck and roll before grabbing Donna and tackling her to the floor. In turn, she quickly kicked Circe off of her, into a nearby cave wall, hurting Circe’s back.
Circe got to her feet and snarled angrily at Donna who had a confident smirk on her face as she breathed heavily from exertion. “Is that all you got?” she snarked. Circe made another charge, this time grabbing Donna square in the waist and bull rushed her into the nearest wall before squeezing her free hand upon Donna’s exposed neck. Donna could hardly breathe as the fist tightened strongly around her neck. Struggling, Donna quickly kicked Circe in the chest, causing her to release Donna on the ground as she clenched her chest in pain. Donna slumped to the ground softly. Now having had enough, she quickly charged towards Circe and punched her as hard as she could multiple times. Circe hardly had time to dodge or block as the younger of the two continued to wail until Circe collapsed to the floor with Donna on top of her. She then raised her fist once more to land another punch as Circe closed her eyes in fear of what was to come. She then opened her one eye before the other to see Donna instead standing over her with her arms to her waist and a smile on her face. Circe looked confused. “I won!” Donna announced proudly. Circe crawled to her feet and looked at Donna in anger. Her nose flaring as her locked eyes on Donna furiously. If looks could kill, Donna would be dead by now. Circe held out her hand angrily towards Donna’s direction, shocking her. “No! You could not have beaten the all powerful Circe! You will die! You will DIE!” she shouted. She then began shooting blasts of orange energy towards Donna’s direction at a rapid pace. Donna jumped and dodged each of the blasts as she leaped towards the pig holding area where her friends were kidnapped. Leaping through the air, she quickly grabbed the pig forms of Nightwing and Cyborg and held them out in front of her as they were struck by the orange energy. When she landed on the ground, Donna no longer saw a pair of swine in front of her but a pair of men in their early 20s, sitting on the ground, scratching their heads on how they got there. “Ugh. What happened?” Nightwing asked, confused. Cyborg stood up slowly as he regained his balance. “Yeah, last I remember, I saw an orange light heading towards me and then, suddenly, I’m here.” Donna quickly grabbed them by the arm and started dragging the two to the other side of the room while continuing to duck Circe’s blasts. “No time to explain! Let's go!” she shouted. She dragged them into the tunnel she was in earlier and after a moment finally stopped dragging the two. She then turned to Cyborg. “Vic! Blast the ceiling!” she told him. “What?” “Just do it!”. Cyborg nodded and turned his arm into his arm cannon. Aiming at the roof of the tunnel, a blue blast of energy released itself onto the ceiling causing multiple rocks to come down and block the entrance. A confused Nightwing looked towards Donna. “Wonder Girl what is happening here?! Why are we blocking the exit?” She smiled and put her hands on Nightwing’s shoulder. “I got a plan.”

An angered Circe approached the tunnel with raging intensity in her heart. But in the middle of the cave was a pile of giant boulders blocking her pathway in. Circe raised her hand and sent a bolt of orange energy into the blocked path, smashing the rocks into smithereens. She then slowly approached the cave where Wonder Girl had hid earlier to find it deserted without a trace. “Where are you?!” she shouted. Her voice echoed around the cave. No one answered. Circe wasn’t having this nonsense any longer. “Coward!” she bellowed furiously. Suddenly, a deeper male voice could be heard from above. “Not a coward. Strategist.” She looked above and saw a man wearing black and blue garments emerge from the shadows above and lock his legs around her head and chest. Nightwing twisted his body and Circe was forced to the ground on her front side. Quickly releasing her head, Nightwing pounced on her hands and held them tightly down. “Wonder Girl! Now!” he shouted. Circe looked up from the ground to find Wonder Girl levitating from the ceiling, lasso in hand with a ticked off look on her face. She tossed the lasso to Nightwing who, after tying her hands down, wrapped the rest of the lasso around Circe’s body, tightly pinning her to the ground. Finishing the job, Nightwing got to his feet and ran to Donna’s side as they looked at the defeated Circe with confidence. Donna rested her foot on Circe and nudged her face up where she bore a vicious expression on her face. “Now..” said Donna. “I want you to tell me who truly won the fight we had in the entrance way.” Without warning or control, Circe felt both her vocals and her mouth moving without any will to it. “I was defeated by Donna Troy. AKA Wonder Girl. She beat me with no powers. Even with all my strength and experience, I could not beat a mere child.”. She then felt her impulse control finally return to her mind. A confused Circe then turned to Donna with a look of hate on her face. “And what did that accomplish?” she asked. “Trying to flaunt your ego?”. “And cut!” said a deep voice from the shadows. Circe turned to the shadows to see Cyborg walk out, holding his arm in front of him and a smirk on his face. He then pressed a few buttons on his arm and a recording of Circe’s admit of defeat started to play. Circe’s eyes widened in horror.
“What trickery is this?” she asked. Donna and Nightwing walked up on either side of Cyborg and folded their arms. “That..” began Nightwing. “...is recorded evidence of yourself admitting that you got beat by someone you admit is weaker than you.” Circe frowned. She wasn’t sure where this was heading but for all she knew, it could be nothing more than cheap parlor tricks. “So? There is no possible way for you to reveal this to the world!” Donna raised her eyebrow. “Oh really?” she responded. This was it. This was the time to finally stick it to her enemy here. She looked towards Cyborg and rested her hand on his shoulder. “Vic, please show Circe how we intend to spread the message, human style.” Cyborg nodded. Pressing some buttons on his arm, a holographic display popped up showing a view of an audio recording next to a command that read “upload” on it. “So, here’s the deal, lady: once I press this button, this recording will be broadcasted to the entire internet, which stretches to the entire planet, exposing your inability to defeat someone without the use of your powers.Could be pretty embarrassing couldn't it?” Circe’s eyes widened in horror. If that information got out, her reputation as one of the world’s most powerful goddesses would be diminished. She would no longer be seen as a force to be reckoned with but a fraud to be heckled at. It couldn’t be true. It just couldn’t. “You're bluffing!” she exclaimed. “You must be bluffing!”. “Trust me.” responded Cyborg as he paced his finger towards the upload key. “I never bluff.” In a panic, Circe struggled in the wrapped lasso to free herself and stop the madness that could threaten her career. Unfortunately for her, the lasso was too tight. Finally relaxing, she turned towards Wonder Girl, face sweating, with a desperate twinkle in her eye. “Please don’t! I beg you! I’ll do anything! Name your request!”.

Having got what she wanted, Donna unfolded her arms and approached the tied up Circe. She knelt towards her, her smirk now forming into an expression of toughness and stoicness. Her moment had come. “How about a couple requests? One: you turn the civilians and my friends back to normal. Two: you turn yourself into the police. Three: you vow never to use your powers again as long as you live. Do all this, and your secret will be safe with us, indefinitely.” Circe looked nervously at her three captors with fear in her eyes. After a beat, she nodded in compliance.

Donna stood by the cave entrance with her friends as she watched Circe being escorted into the police car by the cops. It was done. Her friends and the other civilians were returned to their normal state. The civilians were taken home by the police who had thanked the titans numerous times for saving their lives. As the police car drove away, Donna felt a hand lay on her shoulder and she turned to find it belonged to Nightwing who had a proud look on his face. “You did good out there today. You’ve overcome your fears and saved us.” Donna smirked. She knew he was right. She did something good today. She defeated the witch Circe by exploiting her greatest flaw: her pride. The panic attacks had stopped. It felt good. If only Diana could be there to see this. She would be proud of the warrior she became. She then walked towards Raven, Starfire and Kid Flash who were waiting by Cyborg’s car to head out as the police car took off. Starfire lifted her head towards Donna, a look of concern still shined in her leaf green eyes. “So, now that this evil crone is defeated, has the trauma now ceased?” she asked. Donna nodded. “Yeah, Star. I’m good now.” she responded. Starfire then smiled and gave Donna a massive bear hug, nearly breaking her spine. “Oh I’m so happy to hear of that, good friend!” she exclaimed, joyfully. After a few seconds, she released Donna, allowing her to catch her breath. Raven and Kid Flash chuckled to themselves at that and started to enter Cyborg’s car until Raven realized something was missing. “Wait a minute. Where’s Beast Boy?” she asked. Her question was then answered after hearing a groan come from the cave entrance. Nightwing and Cyborg looked next to each other to find a plastered Beast Boy stumbling out of the cave with a goofy expression on his face. Well, one goofier than usual, thought Cyborg. Nightwing raised his eyebrow in confusion. “Uh, Beast Boy? Are you alright there?” Beast Boy turned his head towards Nightwing as he started to hobble back and forth like a man with a barbell for a head. “I’m (hic) just fantastic! (hic)” he responded. With that, he fell flat on his face with an obnoxious sounding moan. Nightwing looked at Wonder Girl who quickly ran over to Beast Boy to help him to his feet. “Circe hit him with a spell to make him intoxicated after she couldn’t turn him into a pig. But don’t worry, this is only temporary. Will be gone in a day. You’ll see!” Propping Beast Boy up, she gently nudged him towards the direction of Cyborg’s car and watched as he twirled around, drunkenly. By the time he approached the car, his legs gave out and he slumped towards Raven’s direction. She quickly held out her arms and caught Beast Boy as he landed softly in them. Looking up and down in brief confusion, suddenly, a little smile appeared on her face followed by red cheeks. Noticing this, Donna’s jaw dropped slightly. She was blushing. Donna then watched as Raven positioned Beast Boy upright before resting his left arm around her body and wrapped her arm around his waist, supporting him. “Alright, you. Let's get you home and into bed.” she said as she escorted Beast Boy into Cyborg’s car. Donna stood dumbfounded at that sight. So much so, Nightwing approached her in concern. “Uh, what is it?” he asked. Donna looked towards him with an eyebrow raised. Between Beast Boy claiming he thought Raven looked hot without her hood and Raven’s blushing, she didn’t know what to make of this. Could it be? She thought. After a beat, she shook her head. “Nothing.” she responded. Nightwing nodded and followed Cyborg as they approached the car. Raven then exited it as she had buckled Beast Boy’s drunken form into the car seat. “Ok, he’s all set. Coming, Wonder Girl?”. The group turned to her waiting for her response. After a beat, she looked towards them with a smirk on her face. “You guys go. I’m gonna check out the museum one more time. I’ll be home in an hour.” Nightwing gave her the thumbs up and watched as she flew herself back to the city.


Donna returned to the museum later that night. Luckily, despite the ceiling being under construction earlier that day from the battle, she was still allowed inside as gratitude for having stopped Circe that day. As Donna approached the second floor, she went towards the hall that contained the statue of Diana Prince AKA, Wonder Woman. Donna looked up at the mighty figure as she knelt in front of it, her face beaming with a hopeful smile. “Hey, Diana. I know this isn’t the real you, but I believe this is probably the closest I’ll ever get to talking to you for a while. I just wanna let you know I finally did it. I took down Circe. I know! Took me long enough.” she said with a chuckle. “Wasn’t easy though. I almost ran away from this problem, but I managed to overcome it and save my friends. I avenged Ronnie as well. Hope you guys in Themesycara are still taking good care of him.”. She then looked down and sighed for a breath moment before thinking of how to finish out the conversation. She then tilted her head back up with a tear of joy streaming down her eye. “You’d be proud of me, Diana. Thank you for all you’ve taught me.” On that note, she got up, waved goodbye to the statue and flew out the open ceiling where construction workers were still in the middle of repairing it. As she approached the tower, Donna knew that whatever came next for her in life, she’d be able to handle it now. Everything would be alright



The End.