Ok, so I took chapter five of In His Mind, by doro500, so I really suggest you go read that. I just took the whole thing from Kole's POV. Because I got bored. So enjoy!
Disclaimer:IdonotownTeenTitans,nordoIevenowntheideafromthismarvelousstory.EverythingbelongstoWarnerBrothersanddoro500!
Kole's POV
I woke up with a moan, on cold hard cement. Confusion flooded my brain, as I tried to comprehend my surroundings. My senses were too dull to figure out much. I remembered falling asleep with my head on Jericho's lap last night, outside on the beach. I obviously wasn't there now. A voice slithered into my ear out of the darkness.
"Wake up," they sang in a creepy whisper. My eyes snapped open, and I was suddenly alert. "I'm glad you woke up now. Too late and you would have missed the start of the show. Would have been a shame."
"Who are you?" I demanded, trying to sound braver than I felt. I didn't recognize this man. He wore all black, but his skin was white as paper.
"Monochrome." Chills ran down my spine at the mere tone of his voice, but I hid it well. Monochrome- this was the man who had robbed the bank, and gotten away from Titans South. That reminded me- where was Jericho?
"Whatever you're trying to do- you won't get away with it!" I wanted to stand up, but I discovered that my ankle was chained close to the wall.
"Oh, you're sure of this, are you? Well how can you know that if you don't know what I'm planning on doing in the first place?"
"Well, then, tell me what you're planning!" I was getting less fierce by the minute, and he knew it.
"Gladly, my dear." He put his hands casually behind his back, pacing back and forth while he watched the ceiling. "Revenge. That's what I want. Your little boyfriend ALMOST got the better of me the other day. And almost, is too close for my liking. He needs to be taught a lesson." I knew he must be talking about Jericho, then, so he had to be here somewhere.
"Then why do you want me?" Fear crept back into my voice- and I didn't dare ask what he had planned for Jericho.
"I don't, really. You're pretty expendable." This time I couldn't hide my shiver. "But, when I saw the two of you being all lovey-dovey on the beach, I knew you weren't expendable to him. Lucky for you, he likes you. So I figure I can further torture HIM by torturing YOU. He may not be able to see it, but he'll hear you scream."
"I won't scream," I said defiantly. I wondered why Jericho wouldn't be able to see it- and was afraid of the answer.
"Oh, you will scream- you can be sure of that. And don't think you can just turn to crystal and make it go away, because if you do, I will break you into a thousand pieces, and you will feel that, I'm sure."
It was true. Once, by accident, I was cutting up some fruit with Gnarrk and my hand hit some stray stone or something, and a part of me broke clean off. I felt it, and changed back, crying in pain. Luckily, it was just my pinkie nail, oddly enough, and it grew back eventually. But Gnarrk refused to cut fruit with me for a long time, seeing that it had caused me pain.
But I did not want to give this villain the satisfaction of my fear.
"NO! I won't give in and I won't let you use me to hurt him! I won't scream, no matter what you do!"
Without a word he slaps me, and I almost cry out, after everything I said. He brings back his hand, to do it again, but I become a crystal statue.
"Ha!" he scoffed, standing up and walking to the other side of the dark room. "You act so brave, but I can tell you'll break easy." A bright, fluorescent light came on, momentarily blinding me. When I could finally see, my eyes widened in horror. There was Jericho, strapped vertically to a table. His head hung down to his chest, showing that he was still out cold. A blindfold was wrapped tightly over his eyes, but I couldn't see his face too clearly because he was turned away.
I couldn't stop myself from trembling with fear when I saw all the shiny instruments laid out on a table. Bile rose up in my throat when I remembered the long, painful days in my father's lab. I was dead terrified of what would happen to Jericho.
While Monochrome put on a pair of super-reflective sunglasses, Jericho was beginning to wake up. He lifted his head, unable to take in his surroundings as long as he was blindfolded. Monochrome laughed upon seeing that he was awake, and Jericho froze, going pale. The villain reached up and removed his blindfold, making him shudder. I saw a quick flash in Jericho's eyes that signaled his powers, but it faded when he saw the sunglasses.
"Wakey, wakey," Monochrome taunted. "For a minute there I thought you wouldn't wake up, and that wouldn't be any fun, now would it?" Jericho could only glare forward as he struggled. "Your friend woke up a little before you, but unfortunately, she is hard to crack." Jericho started and twisted his head around until he could see me, still frozen in crystal. Monochrome turned to Jericho again.
"Now-"
"Stop! Please!" I shouted, de-crystallizing.
"SHUT UP!" He screamed- and the next thing I knew there was a stabbing pain in my shoulder. Despite not wanting to scream, I cried out in sudden pain and surprise. I looked down to see a scalpel sticking out of my arm, blood flowing down. I returned to my crystal form, my only escape from the pain. It wasn't as sharp anymore, but it still ached and throbbed. I felt bad for leaving Jericho on his own- I hoped he understood.
Frozen in crystal, I could only watch on in fear.
Jericho struggled ever harder at my getting hurt, fury burning in his eyes like an emerald fire. But of course, the leather straps wouldn't give.
"Well, now that that's taken care of, it's time to teach you, my little friend, a lesson," Monochrome said, his voice chilling me down to my heart with fear.
He turned around, away from either of us. If my heart could beat, it would be pounding. If my lungs were able to take in air at all, I wouldn't be able to breathe for my fearful anticipation. Jericho saw what the man had sooner than I did- and his face only showed sheer horror. I could now hear his quickened breathing, as Monochrome turned enough for me to catch a glimpse at what he had in his hand. Something dangerously knife-like: with a spoonish body and sharp points. Tears spilled down Jericho's cheeks shamelessly. Fearfully. I thought that I would feel a lot less afraid if he wasn't crying.
"This will teach you to stay out of other people's bodies!"
Monochrome held the boy's face, with a palm over his mouth and a thumb and forefinger against his cheekbones. Jericho's face was coated with salty tears, and his head was pinned firmly against the back of the metal board. I wanted desperately to look away, but my own fear, not the crystal, forced me to watch.
Monochrome lifted to the instrument to the eye closest to me- the left one. Inside I screamed at the top of my lungs. Outside, my diamond-like lips stayed as perfectly still and silent as a statue. Clear tears turned crimson with blood, pouring down his face as the man cut deeper and deeper into the socket. I saw Jericho- one of my newest, closest friends -jerking slightly. I knew he would have been thrashing if he wasn't restrained so much.
The twisted man before me moved with such clean precision, as if this was a familiar procedure to him. Eerily, it reminded me of a surgeon, and I would have shuddered.
There was a disgusting, wet, sucking sound, followed by a sickening POP. The eye came out, cradled in the hollow of the wicked instrument, heavily tainted with his blood. Monochrome merely set it onto a rectangular plate, and kept working.
I couldn't take it anymore- I changed back to my normal form and curled up into a ball and pressed into the wall, hiding my face and trying desperately not to make a sound. I was shaking so hard that I couldn't change back for a long time. Trembling, tears began to pour endlessly down my own face, while I held in my sobs.
When I was a statue again, all I could hear were the sounds of the cutting, and Jericho's sharp, labored breathing. I couldn't even comprehend the pain he must be in. I had long forgotten the knife in my arm. It lasted so long, I wanted to die, rather than sit in the anguish of waiting, and not knowing.
An explosion sounded, and I would have jumped if I could move.
"You know, kidnapping Titans from Titans Tower when all of us are there isn't really a bright idea," someone said, who sounded like Raven. Before another word could be said, there was a blood-curdling scream, followed by Argent's mortified cries.
"OH MY GOD! He gouged his eyes out!"
All at once, every single Titan attacked with everything they had. You didn't kidnap and torture one of us without paying dearly for it. It was short- they were vengeful. I thought I heard Starfire deliver the final, powerful blow. She was by far the most protective of us all. I didn't doubt the death of the man who had threatened us.
There wasn't even a second of silence, as Robin ordered them to get Jericho down immediately. I felt someone's presence come near me.
"Kole?" Raven asked. Shakily, I became fully human again, lifting my tear-filled eyes. I saw Pantha and Red Star lifting down Jericho's limp body. Robin had torn off a part of his cape, and was pressing it into the empty eye-sockets to try and stop the bleeding. Everyone else was standing around either over there or over here, waiting to do whatever they could to help. Raven caught my attention again. "Kole."
I tore my eyes away to look at her. She spoke slowly and calmingly.
"Are you hurt at all?" At first I just blinked, but then leaned away from the wall to reveal my arm. She looked very seriously at it, and probably thought of removing the scalpel, then must have decided better of it. With a flick of her wrist blackness encased the chain on my ankle and I was freed. "Can you stand?"
I nodded slowly, and shifted my legs underneath me to bear my weight. She held on to my arms, to make sure I didn't move too fast or collapse. She walked me over to the others, where Herald was already about to open a portal. Robin saw me and swore under his breath- something I was sure he'd done a lot tonight. I was taken through the portal with Raven, followed by Cyborg, Robin and Pantha, still carrying Jericho, and the rest of the Titans South team.
Everything was a blur. I could no longer cry, only stare into space. Jericho was placed on one side of the Med. Bay, and me on the other, a curtain between us. Raven stayed with me, Robin and Cyborg with Jericho, and everyone else waited just outside. The others would be here soon.
"Do you feel like you'll throw up?" Raven asked, continuing to use a slow, calm voice. As she said it, my stomach churned, and I nodded my head. She stretched her hand out and a bucket zipped to it, wrapped in her dark powers. She held it out to me, and as if it knew, my body started to wrench, and my stomach sent its contents in the wrong direction. She left me alone to puke, while looking for more supplies, or maybe helping them on the other side of the curtain. She came back by the time I was done, carrying a few things to patch me up.
"Lay on your side, in case you throw up again," she instructed me. I did as I was told, and she put a blanket over me, making me realize how cold I was. She left my shoulder with the scalpel still stuck in it uncovered. I heard a sound, like metal against metal. It reminded me of the horrid instrument scraping against the metal plate as it placed Jericho's eyes there. I sat up and whirled around, ready to protect myself.
But all there was- was Raven, holding a pair of scissors. I had made myself very dizzy and lightheaded sitting up like that and I wanted to vomit again.
"It's alright, calm down. Everything is over- I promise. Just lay still." I didn't protest in the slightest as she pushed me back down gently. She used the scissors to cut away my sleeve, leaving my wound fully exposed. With her powers, she eased the knife out as painlessly as possible, trying to inflict little damage. When she had finished, she healed some of the deep tissue, before wrapping it up tightly in bandages.
"I healed the worst of it, but we'll wait until morning to heal the rest. Your body's in shock- I don't want to make it worse," she said, pulling the blankets up to my neck, to keep me warm. "You're lucky. Didn't hit an artery or cause any serious damage to your muscle tissue. Now, just get some sleep."
I nodded, though didn't plan on resting. I listened to Raven talking to Robin.
"Is she alright?" he asked, though clearly more focused on something else, on the other side of the curtain.
"Hardly any harm done to her. I think he planned on saving her for later, to get to Jericho. But I'm more concerned for her mental state- she's in some serious, extreme shock."
"I'd be concerned for her mental state if she wasn't in shock, let alone 'extreme'. She watched him get his eyes gouged out. You and I both know images like that never leave you."
"I know. Will he…?"
"Yeah- he'll be fine, eventually. Vitals seem stable, though his blood pressure's low. But he'll be blind the rest of his life, needless to say."
There was more said, but the events of the day were catching up to me. I had woken up from a perfectly restful sleep only an hour ago- yet the trauma left me exhausted. I sank thankfully down into a black, dreamless sleep.
I was planning on taking it farther but I felt that that was a good place to stop, no? I decided to kill Monochrome, sadly, mostly because I don't think Starfire would be able to hold in her temper, and she wouldn't be the only one. I added a few details, here and there, too. I felt bad for Kole, with a knife in her arm the whole time. But, she was in shock, so she didn't really care. If you want to read what happens to Jericho, you have to read the story. Anyways, I think Monochrome is a wonderfully twisted character! Besides Nightmare Child and Changer, he's the best OC villain I've ever seen. Review this, please, and go review In His Mind as well!
