Although I pwn at the Teen Titans (laughs a sad sarcastic laugh) I do not own them.
Please R&R, do no flame, because this is my first fic, and I would like some inspiration from you guys.
It was cold, damp, and everything Raven thought it would be. The night air was unusually still, and gave all the Titans the feeling that this was going to be another boring and miserable watch. But, of course, they were wrong. Robin, being the least trusting, was falling around perfectly normal bystanders, as if there were any at this time of night.
"You fool," said an all too familiar voice.
Robin spotted a young woman at the side door of a warehouse talking to the silhouette of a tall, well built man. A man who was about the same stature as...
"But Mr. Ricks, I did everything you told me to."
"I told you to wait. You don't wait, you don't fulfill the deal!"
Robin was getting paranoid, of course it wasn't Slade. Still this was something he just had to check out.
"Let me," Raven whispered as she appeared somewhat ahead of him, and entered the shadow of the alley.
Raven desperately wanted something to do. Her mind had been wandering before the disturbance, but she didn't want to meditate, just in case she missed something important.
"Can I just see him once?" asked the woman.
"No, I told you already. You can't see him ever until you make up your debt," the man said.
"But it's been 8 years. How can I know you haven't moved him somewhere else, or that I'll ever see him again."
"You should have that about that before you got sick and had to pay us all that money."
The young woman began to cry. Her heavy cloak drifting further over her face.
"So you're going to cry about it, and do nothing."
"No," the woman said. She looked up suddenly enough to knock the hood of the cloak off the back of her head. She seemed prematurely aged, but Raven could tell by her aura that she was only 22.
"Good, because you've only got two more screw ups. Go to Robert Fohlstead. He has a special item I need. Tell him I'm paying him with this," the man handed her a small cooler, "and he should understand. Your boyfriend gets to have this piece, if that's any encouragement not to screw up this time."
The woman walked away as Raven and Robin disappeared further into the shadows. The man closed the door quietly behind him as he returned to the warehouse. Robin, wanting to know more about what was probably an illegal operation, began to formulate a plan.
"Starfire, Cyborg, I need you to follow the woman in the heavy brown cloak," he said into his communicator. "Raven, you and I are going to investigate Mr. Ricks little operation."
Raven nodded her head in understanding, and flew up to the top of the building. Robin followed, and both began to watch Ricks through the window. He was standing in front of a tall cylinder that had a strange sheen, typing at a small data-pad that was connected to the metal base of the cylinder. After typing for a few minutes, Ricks spoke, and the strange sheen was replaced by a strange liquid clarity and a boy about the Titans' age. He was mostly stripped, except for his underwear. He was thin, but not weak. He had extremely stringy muscles that popped out at certain points, was very tall (probably as tall as Cyborg), and very dirty. However, what grabbed Raven and Robin's attention most were his arms. The inner portions of his lower arms were lined with some sort of machinery that was unevenly grafted to his skin.
Raven tested the boys aura and found that he was in suspended animation. However, Ricks began toying with the data-pad again, and the boy soon woke up. He wasn't totally awake, as Raven noted, but enough for the diodes on the back of his head to be able to send signals to something that could react to them. The boy, drowsy with his prolonged sleep, began to stir, and after catching a glimpse of Ricks, began to flail angrily around. His expression was horrifying. Raven had never seen so much anger in one person before. In fact, Raven was almost overwhelmed by it. Allowing herself to fall out of her deep concentration on the boy, Raven began to notice that Robin was preparing to break in and stop Ricks' experiments.
"Wait," Raven warned, "this may go deeper than we think."
"Good point, I'll set up a camera here so we don't have to stick around all night. We should catch up to Star-fire and the others."
Robin quickly deployed the camera, and he and Raven quietly left.
Star-fire glided quietly behind the young woman. Cyborg, following further behind in his car in silent mode. The woman reached a small apartment building, and began climbing the fire escape ladder.
"You don't need to do that, Sarah" said a man as he emerged from the shadows along the side of the apartment.
"Mr. Fohlstead," she cried with joy.
Star-fire watched as the old man gave her a comforting look.
"I wondered when he'd send you back again. Is that the package?" he said pointing at the cooler.
She nodded.
"Come inside and have some tea. You've had a rough night."
"No I'm fine, I'll just go home after this."
"I thought your landlord kicked you out."
"He did, but I'm staying with some friends."
"Did he let you see Grey?" The doctor intent on keeping the girl company for as long as he could.
"I told you not to say his name," she said in a distressed tone, "No, he said I still had to wait, but I don't know if I can wait two more years."
"You can, and you have to. I know your whole life has been tough. But think about it, you're working with some pretty powerful people. You may be able to get a job with the experiments he will be doing, and then you'll be payed a lot more money than any other job you could probably find. You two have something I've never seen before, something no one can take away no matter what your situation. Most couples can stand to live with each other, but not lose something for each other. Others can go as far as dying for one another, but can't stand a normal day together. You two can do both without any hesitation."
Star-fire reflected on these words. For some reason they seemed to give her a warm feeling, and make her think of Robin.
"Thank you Mr. Fohlstead, but I do need to go home, and you need to get to work on the experiments."
"Very true, thank you Sarah, and please, I know Mr. Ricks is a tough bargainer, but he's just doing what he's told. He has people to answer to also, and he can't be held accountable for something he didn't do."
Sarah walked off with somewhat renewed confidence. As she looked into the night sky, she saw a strange car coming towards her, with it's lights off. "No," she thought, "it can't be them, I didn't do anything I shouldn't have. They can't kill me for being early." She ran off into one of the many adjoining alleys, hoping the car would miss her, or that they'd just give up.
Cyborg stepped out of the car, and signaled Star-fire to fly to the other side of the alley. Cyborg followed the girl into the alley at a jog, hoping only to scare her into bumping into Star-fire, since he hadn't been able to listen to the conversation. Star-fire waited on the other side, and when she was sure of her timing, stepped out in front of the girl.
"Don't be afraid, we only want to help you," Star-fire pleaded.
"Wha- the Teen Titans?" the girl stuttered in surprise.
"Why do you owe that Ricks man a debt, and what has he done to your friend?" Starfire questioned.
"No, I can't tell you, they'll kill him, they'll kill me, and they'll kill you." she began shrieking hysterically.
"I don't think anyone will be killing us anytime soon," Cyborg butted in.
"Can't you just leave me alone. If they see me talking to anyone, they'll kill him, and I'll have worked so long for nothing."
"Who is this 'him,'" Starfire asked.
"My boyfriend, Grey. I had a disease when I was in high-school. The doctors had no idea what it was. They kept trying different treatments, and nothing happened. Grey, kept trying to find different doctors who had dealt with the disease before. None of them new anything. Then he found Mr. Fohlstead. He had connections to a research department who'd found an extremely expensive way to cure the disease. Grey started working for the researchers. But they were working with really dangerous and illegal stuff. So he had to agree to work for them for 10 years. Eventually I was cured, but Grey kept having to work. One day, there was an accident, and he was infected with the disease.They told me because of his agreement, they had to do tests on Grey, and that, he had to pay for the tests, and eventually the cure. In order to pay for the treatment, I had to work for the researchers also. I can't believe I just told you all of that. Please, just forget anything I just said. You can't help me, you'd just hurt me and Grey if you tried."
"I'm sorry but-" Starfire began, but Cyborg interrupted.
"Star, we need to think about this. Please, let us walk you home."
"No thanks," the girl said as she began to recollect herself, "I'll be fine."
She walked off down the alley and disappeared into the street.
