A/N: I'm just going to get this out of the way right now—I apologize for any grammar and sentence mistakes in this chapter. I am currently taking Latin, in which word order does not matter at all, and my English is suffering greatly. Let me know if you find any mistakes and I will fix them right away. Thanks

Visitors

Chapter 4

Abandoned Warehouse, Jump City

Rowan lay on the cold cement floor of the warehouse that he had awoken in after finding himself transported from the living room of Mia Koji's manor by the Pendant of Anatsu that was connected with the Armor of Strata. His mind was still foggy from the sudden use of magic, but he was coherent enough to look around his surroundings, looking for clues as to where he was being held captive by a complete stranger. He was interrupted suddenly when he felt a familiar presence enter his mind.

:Rowan?: Sage's voice rang through his mind softly:Is that you? Where are you?:

:Sage?: Rowan returned confused. :I thought that this was only possible when we're wearing our armors, but I'm not wearing Strata…:

:It's the Pendants, Rowan: Sage answered trying to comfort his friend that sounded as if he were almost ready to panic. :Are you alright? Do you know where you are? Any clues that you can tell me will help us find you.:

:I'm tied up in a big room of what looks like an old warehouse,: Rowan explained, still confused but when given something to focus on, he was able to control the fear to complete the task. :There are a bunch of dusty boxes laying around. A bunch of them have the logo for WayneTech, and others have Wayne Enterprises logos on their sides. Other than that I can't see anything.:

There was silence for a few moments as he could sense Sage was thinking over this new information. It was broken suddenly with another question. :Do you know anything about who is keeping you captive?:

:He just left a few moments ago. I don't know who he is. He was wearing a full suit of what looked like light weight black body armor, like Kevlar or something along those lines, and a black and orange mask that completely covered his face leaving only one eye visible.

Silence followed yet again and persisted for long enough that Rowan thought that maybe he was going to be left alone with only his thoughts yet again, but eventually Sage 'spoke' up yet again. :Alright, the criminal that has you is named Slade Wilson and he has a tendency to hide in warehouses. Robin is now looking into possible locations where you may be at this very moment. I'll get there to help you as fast as possible. Just hold on ok?:

Rowan sighed mentally:I'll be alright for now Sage. I've got Strata if things get dicey.: He paused for a moment as he heard someone approaching, his bet was probably Slade Wilson returning. :Shit! Sage I have to go, he's coming back.: He then broke off their mental connection before Sage had any chance to reply to his last comments.

Rowan looked up, glaring at the figure of Slade Wilson that was now standing in front of him calmly which only caused the super villain to chuckle evilly. "Well now my young guest, have you changed your mind about telling me what I want to know or will I have to change your mind for you?"

"Go to hell bastard," Rowan spat out bravely only to be taken aback by a hauntingly familiar laugh echoing through the wide nearly empty room. "Dais?..." Rowan whispered, confused at the presence of the Warlord of Illusion.

"Look at you Strata, just lying there helpless…No one to help you…Oh the things that I could imagine doing to a lone Ronin," Dais said as he emerged from the darkness of the shadows covered in his full body, dark pink armor that gave him the appearance of a giant spider. He seemed to float foreword to kneel beside Rowan's side and gripped Rowan's chin painfully in one of his hands. "How easy it would be to break you right now…but we have plans for you…"

Rowan suddenly felt a sharp prick in his arm and stuttered out, "Wh-What did you just do to me?"

Dais laughed at this question. "It's just a little present for you from Sekhmet. Don't worry you'll feel the effects soon enough."

Slade's face then took the place of Dais' causing Rowan to flinch back and his eyes to widen in fear as the poison began to take effect. "Now you'll regret not answering my questions sooner," Slade whispered menacingly.

The two villains backed away from the young blue-haired archer as his mind succumbed to the poison. He whimpered softly to himself as the shadows surrounding him began to swirl with the monsters that could only be found in his deepest nightmares…

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Titans Tower

"BOOYAH!!" Cyborg's joyous should echoed through the tense air in the Titan's control room summoning the other titans and Sage to his side almost instantly.

"Did you find him?" Sage blurted out as soon as he reached Cyborg.

"Well not exactly…" Cyborg confessed looking a little taken aback by Sage's nervousness, reminded more than a little of Robin whenever one of their team was captured by an enemy. He pointedly refused to meet the disappointed expression now settled firmly across the blonde's features. "I cross referenced the information that you were able to give us from your friend along with the coordinates of warehouses that Slade has previously used as his headquarters, and warehouses owned by any of the Wayne Industries. I have narrowed it down to five warehouses."

"Then let's go," Robin's voice came from the back of the control center. "We'll split up and search the warehouses that you found Cyborg." He then walked forward and placed his hand comfortingly on Sage's shoulder. "Don't worry, Sage, we will find him and bring him back…"

"I'm coming with you, Robin," Sage interrupted calmly, effectively hiding his worry from his voice. "There is no way that you could stop me."

He then stepped back from the entire group and pulled a small green marble from his pocket. He held his hands out in front of his body and closed his eyes in concentration. A bright green light filled the room and when it had cleared the air, Sage stood in front of them in his silver and green sub armor. All the Titans stood staring at their guest with their mouths hanging open until he began to walk out the door of the control room. He turned back and asked, "Well are we going or not?"

Robin snapped himself out of his daze and ordered, "Alright then, Sage you're with me, everyone else, split up. If you find anything let everyone else know using the communicators."

Robin and Sage hurried to the garage of Titans Tower and mounted the R-Cycle, closely followed by Cyborg who jumped into the T-Car, and soon they were quickly on their way towards the possible warehouses. Their quick speeds sent adrenaline pumping through Sage's veins even as he tried to locate Rowan through their mental link. Along with feeling himself getting closer to his best friend, he became aware of a deep mindless fear coming from the Warrior of Strata. Sage found himself hoping that the warehouse that he and Robin was the one where Slade was hiding Rowan.

When Sage and Robin reached their target, they immediately and silently made their way inside to search the premise for any signs of Rowan. Sage felt Rowan's fear growing, and whispered to his companion, "He's here, I can feel him."

"Go get him then, I'm going to find Slade to take him down."

Sage nodded in response and quickly followed his link with Rowan to get him out of this mess. He found himself in a large shadowed room, and ran to the center to find the shaking frame of his blue haired best friend. He rushed over and put a comforting hand on Rowan's trembling shoulder. He then saw the ropes that were chaffing at the pale wrists and quickly untied the tight knots. "Rowan…Rowan, talk to me," he whispered gently.

"sage…" Rowan whispered opening his eyes, trying to see past the effects of the drug that had been put forcefully into his system. "get out of here. dais…"

"Shh," Sage returned comfortingly, "It's alright. I'll get you out of here Ro."

An evil cackling laugh echoed through the dusty, still air of the warehouse sending shivers up and down both Sage and Rowan's spines. Rowan's eyes widened yet further, pupils now covering his irises completely. He pulled himself roughly away from Sage's hands and summoned his full power with a cry, "Armor of Strata! Dao Chi!" The dark blue Armor of Strata formed around his slim body with a flash of blue light and swirling cherry blossoms, his golden longbow clutched firmly in a visibly shaking hand. He faced Sage with a scowl crossing his pale features. "Dais! You're going to regret ever keeping me captive!"

Sage's eyes widened as Rowan nocked a golden arrow to his string and aimed it right at Sage's chest. He jumped out of the way as the arrow was loosed, and then he yelled to his friend, "Rowan! Listen to me! What you're seeing is an illusion! I'm not Dais!" He then summoned his own full armor with a shout of, "Armor of Halo! Dao Rei!" Just as the light and cherry blossoms scattered in the air, a golden arrow nicked his shoulder guard. Sage kept moving in order to avoid the shining projectiles, all his attention focused on his friends and not expecting a blow to come from behind him.

He was knocked to the floor, and looked up to see that Dais was standing above him. "Why are you doing this, Dais?" Sage growled out, trying to pick himself off the ground only to be smashed back down by Dais stepping down with his full weight on the young warrior's back.

"Master Talpa wishes for the power of the Pendants. I just couldn't resist torturing both you and Strata before taking them from both of you," Dais answered with a wicked laugh before asking cruelly, "Do you happen to be afraid of the dark, Little Halo?"

Sage then became aware of a chilling darkness beginning to surround his body. Sage's eyes widened in surprise and his hands began to shake from the cold. No, get a hold of yourself, Sage. It's just another one of Dais' illusions to distract you from the problem. As he was trying to stop his physical response to the Warlord of Illusion's attack, Sage suddenly felt a vise-like grip on his sword arm, and was then forced to his feet as it was twisted backward and upwards. The pressure increased to a painful level even after he had risen to his fullest height causing him to groan from the feeling.

The darkness in front of him seemed to part for just a moment to allow him a view of Rowan drawing his bow back to its furthest extent and heard him begin to call his surekill attack just as the pressure in his arm reached its highest level, resulting in the sound of the bones in his wrist breaking from the strain.

Sage's voice cut through the air as he screamed in pain at this new injury causing the power of his armor to flare into light around him, parting the darkness and breaking the illusions in the room. Rowan's eyes were cleared of the sight of his enemy, now seeing Sage as the target of his attack, just as his golden arrow was leaving the string. "SAGE! NO!" he yelled, voice full of dread and guilt.

Sage's voice burst forth in another scream as the energy of Rowan's attack hit his body through his armor. The light of the attack faded around the Warrior of Halo to reveal the arrow had struck and stayed in his gut. He fell to the ground on the verge of consciousness, his full armor disappearing leaving him in his subarmor, lying prone to any further attacks.

Rowan rushed forward to his best friend's side, tears of self hate forming in his dark crystal blue eyes, and fear that Sage was dead lying heavy in his chest. "Sage!" he exclaimed softly kneeling next to his friend, gently pulling Sage's head onto his lap.

Sage opened his eyes halfway and he slowly raised his left hand to touch the side of Rowan's face. "ro…" he whispered as the blue haired archer felt a warmth spread through his entire body that took away the majority of his fear as it faded away to nothing as Sage's hand fell back to his side and his eyes closed.

"I'm so sorry, Sage," Rowan apologized to his motionless friend.

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Elsewhere in the warehouse

Robin silently moved through the shadows of the warehouse noting the signs of recent activity across the otherwise dusty floor. He quickly followed the trail towards the outer portion of the warehouse. He could tell that he was getting closer to the main area of activity when his communicator went off.

He pulled himself as far into a dark corner as he could before flipping it open and answering, "Robin here."

He was greeted by the sight of Cyborg who immediately replied, "Hey Rob, we've all checked our warehouses and they've come out clean. We're on our way to your position now."

"Copy that. Hurry Cyborg." With that Robin closed his communicator and walked towards a door that had been left slightly ajar.

Cautiously moving forward once more, Robin entered the room to see signs of recent habitation that had been hastily abandoned. Caught in the middle of his contemplations, Robin suddenly heard screams cut through the otherwise still air of the warehouse. Turning on his heel he quickly retraced his footsteps and followed the path that Sage had originally taken.

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A/N: Hey! Sorry for the delay on this chapter. I should be able to right more during my next class since it's not Latin! Thanks for reading! Please review.