Hello again! AMZ here with the exciting conclusion to "Revenge!" I'm sorry again that this chapter took so long to complete. But I hope it has been worth it. Thanks again to everybody for reading and reviewing this story! I'm very proud of how this story has turned out.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.
And now... on with the show...
Chapter 6: Ghost Dance
Breathing in... breathing in... in... out... in... out... Steady. Constant. Stable.
His own heartbeat was drowning out the sounds around him. Tears poured down his cheeks as he tried with every ounce of strength to ignore the pain and get up. Somewhere, faintly, he could have sworn he heard Star's voice.
Christ, he almost swore it was Cy that had saved him. It couldn't have been. Robin must have gotten free somehow.
Maybe he was just going crazy again. Just like when he was talking to... her.
He nursed his arm, trying to get up and move on, but the pain was just too much. He could barely concentrate by this point. His mind was a buzzing beehive of sensation.
He felt humiliated. He'd let everybody down. Everyone he'd vowed to defend, to avenge.
A twinge of guilt emerged from the back of his mind.
Did I really want to kill him?
A part of him did, that's for sure. He couldn't deny that. While the attack itself wasn't meant to be fatal, he had to admit there was a sliver within his brain, a sliver he had allowed to take control of himself for just a second, that relished the thought that he'd killed Gemini.
He didn't really want him dead. It was just the anger talking. Besides, none of it had been true. It had been just another trap. A surge of sharp pain reminded of what had unfolded.
Suddenly, he felt a presence from behind. Turning his head slowly, he could make out a dark shape approach him. It was moving in an unusual pattern, almost as if it was floating.
"Hold still." came the familiar voice. Seconds later, the pain in his arm began to dissipate.
"What's going on? Who are you?" he mumbled, trying to make out the female-sounding character behind him.
Another familiar, but echoed voice reverberated in the background. "Well, w-well, we-well. It looks like things finally got interesting..."
"I can't make you out, what did you say?" came the first voice again.
His eyes widened suddenly as realization hit him. "R-Raven?" he asked quietly, meekly flexing his shoulder, wincing moments later.
"Hey, Beast Boy. Your arm hasn't fully healed yet. I can't do anything about the bone right now, but I can use a spell that can place a temporary field around it. You won't have full movement, but you'll feel less pain, and there won't be any further damage."
He ignored what she just said, focusing on the fact that she was there helping him. "I thought..."
"I was taking a nap?" She smiled.
"Yeah..." he replied groggily.
"Call this a rude awakening. Now come on. He's cornered."
A real, genuine smile spread cross Beast Boy's face. It had been so long since he felt a smile that wasn't tinged with anger or misery, that it was an alien feeling stretching his skin. But he liked it. He felt good. He felt joy. And it was pure, untainted. Unconnected to hatred. He wished he could feel this way forever. But there was work to be done. And he was sure the pleasure of defeating the Gemini for good would eclipse this feeling a thousandfold.
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Robin stepped towards the Gemini, his foe's back literally against a wall. "I know you're not going to surrender. We've tried that before. But we're not going to kill you. Whether you like it or not, you're coming with us." he declared, drawing his bostaff. The bitter faces of Cyborg and Starfire approached him from either side.
The masked figure's eyes darted from Robin's face to the faces of the other Titans. One by one, with each additional face, he realized just what he was up against. He took a deep breath and let out an exasperate sigh.
"I should have been a pair of ragged claws... Scuttling across the floors of silent seas." he moaned.
Robin shook his head. "I'm giving you one last chance to surrender. Take it."
"Ne-never. It's yo-our move. Choose wisely, O Bird-named boy-king."
Robin sighed. "Raven?"
A cage of dark energy surrounded the visibly surprised Gemini, causing him to cry out. He ran towards the blackness that kept him bound, pounding on the walls of his new prison. He realized he was trapped.
"But... but-t... W-well played..." he admitted, clenched his hands into fists. He turned to his right. "Wasn't it well played? Bah... shut up for a second..." He returned his attention to the Titans. "You can't h-hold me... I'm going to get out of h-here... and I'll finish wha-at I started. I'll kill you all."
"Back to Titans' Tower with you. We're turning you over to the Justice League. You're way too dangerous to give over to the police." declared Cy with a smirk on his face.
"The terror you have reigned upon us all is over." added Starfire, narrowing her eyes.
The Gemini examined the deadly looks aimed in his general direction, and gave up. Slowly, he raised his hands and lowered his head. "Do with me as you wish."
Robin and Cyborg briefly exchanged surprised looks before nodding in agreement.
"Let's go, Raven." said the metallic teen.
Raven nodded. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos..." she started to whisper, and a jet black field began to envelope the team. Within a matter of seconds, the arena was replaced with an endless void. Moments later they found themselves back home in Titans' Tower.
Beneath their initial relief to have captured the terrorist in their midst, the Titans were breathing a collective sigh of joy and relief for another reason. They were finally together again in their Tower. In their home. For the first time since this horror began, all five members of the team were healthy, active, and united under one roof. Eyes scanned pleased faces, and smiles began to spread.
It felt good to be alive again.
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"Raven, hold his arms and legs. I'm not taking any more chances with him." ordered Robin, and she obeyed. Cyborg and Starfire began to remove items in his possession from his pockets, and then they removed his vest. He stood before them bound and unarmed.
"We have a place designated to hold him, correct?" asked Starfire nervously.
"Ohhh, yeah, Star. We've got a great room set aside for this guy. C'mon." Cy gestured and the rest of the Titans followed, with Gemini leading the way just behind the cybernetic hybrid. After taking an elevator down several floors, Cyborg lead the team to a large metal door with a small grated opening.
"I call this the Alcatraz Special. I designed it a few years ago with Slade in mind. Actually, we used a lot of the design that went into making this cell into designing the holding room for Raven when we knew the prophecy would begin." explained Cyborg as he approached a small panel with a single, tiny red dot. Cyborg inserted the pinky finger of his right hand into the red hole. After several seconds, a ringing noise was heard, and the heavy steel door opened. Raven forced their captive inside, and the door heavily slid shut and sealed.
Robin approached the small window and peered inside. "You were wrong about us, Gemini."
The Gemini was whispering to himself. "We have lingered in the chambers of the sea..."
"We're not the forces of evil. The order we maintain ensures the livelihood, the happiness, the peace of millions of people. What you have done, what you attempted to do, was impose your own perverse sense of right and wrong upon everybody else in the most destructive manner possible. To me, that's evil."
"By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown..."
Robin glared at the babbling figure. "You viewed us all as just a symbol to be destroyed. You never once considered that we are an active part of this society you wished to both paradoxically destroy and liberate. I know we aren't all physically human... but we are all living, breathing, feeling people. You chose to ignore that simply to carry out a dangerous agenda. Your fate is out of our hands, yeah... But justice will be served."
"Till human voices wake us, and we drown." Finished the Gemini.
"Friend Raven, is he reciting a spell?" The orange skinned teen asked.
The hooded mystic shook her head. "He's quoting a poem. 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,' if I'm not mistaken. By T. S. Eliot. I think he cited it earlier at the arena, too."
"Very cl-clever. I can s-see your br-rain was n-not d-damaged when I bashed it in." he spat.
Raven's eyes began to glow, and she glared at the man in the cell. A lightbulb in the hallway behind them exploded, scattering sparks around..
The familiar laugh came from their prisoner. "It's m-meaningless. Everything i-is. Th-The ship is s-sinking. You're all dead, you just d-don't know it yet."
The team's changeling finally stirred, stepping forward towards the cell. "Big words from you. We all know you're finished. And if I remember correctly, you've been dead once already." hissed Beast Boy, jabbing a finger in his direction. Gemini backed away from the small window and sat down in the corner. The green hero walked up to the door and slammed his healthy fist against it, his tone growing manic now.
"I may have killed you by accident the first time, but so help me God..."
"Beast Boy!" cried Cyborg, snapping his friend's attention towards him. "Calm down, man. It's okay. We got him. Don't let him get to you like that! He's not worth the aggravation."
B.B. took a deep breath. "Sorry. I'm sorry." He paused, looking at the ground. "I've... I've got to go lay down. I'm sorry, everyone." He left the room very quickly, his head bowed as he walked away.
The Gemini began to laugh before Cyborg slammed a fist against the door.
"Shut the fuck up!" the metallic Titan shouted. No further noise was heard.
Robin rubbed the back of his head. "I'll go contact the Justice League. You guys watch him like a hawk. I still don't trust him."
With that, their leader left the room.
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Laying on his bed, Beast Boy stared at the ceiling above him. Barely blinking, he occasionally rubbed his shoulder and tried not to wince in pain. Raven's spell still held, but he knew it was only a matter of time before he had to let Cyborg look at it. Fortunately, they were almost home free.
It was almost out of their lives forever.
His mind began to wander. Slowly but surely, his eyelids started to droop. Within seconds, he was asleep.
His eyelids flickering as he began to dream, Beast Boy's face became very tight. His expression warped into a face of anguish.
Images flashed through his mind quickly, like some twisted montage from a horror film. Serrated blades held taut to throats. Devilish grins spread on grotesque faces. Maniacal laughter rippled through the corners of his head. His body twisted slightly on the bed as the nightmare progressed.
The knife glinted in a surreal blue light within his dream, the blade poking into the flesh of a somehow familiar throat. The pale skin beneath the blade glistening with red suddenly, a torrential flow of blood leaping out from a freshly cut gap in the flesh. He felt a weakening heartbeat like the dying flickers of a fading fire. The noise stopped and he knew the body was cold.
The laughter continued as the dream ended. Beast Boy found himself wide awake, his eyes bulging out of his skull with fear. He sat up slowly, wincing from his wounded arm.
"No... no..." he whispered to himself, trying to regain his bearings.
Not completely sure of what he was doing, his only thought was to run. Hopping from his bed, he bolted out the door and down the hall..
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Cy took a deep breath before he continued. "So, anyway, the guy goes on and does his routine anyway. Long story short, he does a perfect triple somersault dismount from the rings, the judges give him a 9.7, and Japan wins the gold medal. He does it all on a broken knee. He doesn't even flinch when he lands or anything."
"Truly, this man is a noble warrior."
Cyborg nodded. "Indeed, Star."
"Or completely insane." added Raven dryly.
"Also possible. Which explains why years later, when asked if he would do it all over again if he had the chance, he just said, 'No, I would not.' No further explanation or anything. Just a blunt refusal. Just wouldn't do that to himself again."
The two girls nodded when he finished. "I must confess, I never saw you as a gymnastics buff, Cyborg." admitted the cloaked teen.
"Well, if it's just between me and the girls..." he trailed off. Cy raised an eyebrow and slowly made his way over to the small window in the steel door. He looked inside carefully, before his head snapped back.
"He's gone! He's fucking gone!" he shouted, sticking his finger in the tiny red hole again. The door slid open and the three Titans ran into the room.
There was a small breach in the steel floor, just enough for a slim man to squeeze through.
"How could this have happened? The three of us were outside of this prison cell the entire time!" declared Star, hands on her head.
Cyborg examined the hole carefully. "Acid burns. Acid burns! How did we not smell anything? And how did we not notice this when we disarmed him? How could he have hidden this on himself?" He turned his gaze to their resident empath. "Raven! Where is he?"
Raven's face looked very sour. "I... I can't sense him. I've noticed this before... I just can't sense him. Nobody's this good, and I've broken through numerous psychic defenses before. Unless..." her eyes grew very wide. "Of course!"
Starfire suddenly shrieked, tearing their attention towards her. "Robin and Beast Boy! We have got to locate them!" she commanded, and began to fly from the room. Within seconds, she was in the hallway on her way to the elevator.
"I hate to say it, but we'd better split up. I think Star's got Robin. You find Beast Boy, Rae. I'll do a check of the ventilation system on the computer. Let's go!"
"But there's something..." began to Gothic teen.
"No time! There's a psychopath on the loose!"
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The small metal door slid quietly open, and Robin slowly walked inside, his footsteps echoing as he walked towards the massive screen in the centre of the room. Finally approaching the console, he flipped several switches. The lights came up, illuminating his surroundings as he prepared to send a signal to the Justice League. As he was searching for the proper frequency to send the signal, he noticed an acrid smell wafting throughout the room.
Acid? Don't tell me... he thought to himself, his muscles tightening as tension shot through his system. He turned around quickly and scanned the room, looking for any conspicuous holes or any movement. He took a few steps forward, making his way towards a large mechanical device which blocked the wall behind it. If he's smart...
He slowly made his way to the side of the machine, and carefully poked his head around. His eyes adjusting to the darkness, he saw...
Nothing. Only a tiny insect buzzing harmlessly along.
His disappointment was interrupted by a hand roughly jerking his head backwards. His body stumbling, he found himself locked in a vice-like grip, his arms bound to his sides. Careful maneuvering by his foe ensured minimal movement from his legs as well, leaving him completely at somebody else's mercy. And he knew who it was.
"Gemini..." he hissed, his eyes narrowing. "How in the..."
"A-a-a m-magician ne-never reveals h-his secrets, m-my boy. Boy, the Robin Wonder. Heh." chuckled the familiar echoed voice.
"I hate you. I hate you! I wish Beast Boy had killed you!" Robin spat.
"Yes, w-well, too late now." Robin felt a serrated blade rub up against his Adam's apple. "He's t-telling me-e I sh-should kill y-you. And-d I agree. T-t-time to die." the masked adversary hissed.
A tiny mosquito which had landed upon the Gemini's bladed hand mere moments ago suddenly grew in size to become a very fat green hedgehog, causing the enemy to misjudge his calculations and barely nick Robin's throat, a tiny trickle of blood leaking out to show how much horribly worse it could have been. The error allowed the Boy Wonder just the space he needed to escape. As the hedgehog transformed back into a mosquito and flew away, the Titans' leader spun around quickly, delivering a savage punch to Gemini's midsection, sending him reeling backwards. The dark-clad enemy tripped over the console in the scramble and fell to the ground hard. The mosquito changed into his most familiar form once he was safely beside his leader.
"I owe you my life!" hollered a grateful Robin.
"Don't worry about it. You go get the others. I'll keep him busy." explained Beast Boy
"Your shoulder..."
"I'm fine. Go! Get help!" shouted the shapeshifter, his features dead serious. Robin nodded and ran from the room. Beast Boy returned his attention his enemy, who was slowly getting back to his feet.
"V-ver-ry cl-clever... B-b-beast B-oy." he stammered, his voice pitch markedly different. For once, he sounded tired.
Not even bothering to reply, the green Titan changed into a tiger and lept at his foe, knocking him to the ground. The large feline had the Gemini pinned, placing its teeth carefully on his throat to deter retribution. The Gemini's knee swiftly slammed into the tiger's side, causing its balance to shift. Seizing the opportunity, Gemini slammed a recently freed fist into the creature's front leg, causing it to howl in agony and roll off of the terrorist. Involuntarily, Beast Boy changed back to human form, gripping his shoulder and fighting off tears.
"Sh-shoulder... pr-problem-ms?"
The changeling's breathing was ragged. "Fuck... you..." he groaned, shifting quickly into bear.
Ignoring the pain, Beast Boy stood proudly up on his haunches, towering over his foe. The Gemini crouched into a defensive stance. Swinging a massive paw, Beast Boy caught the Gemini by surprise as he tried to dodge, knocking him off his feet and sending him crashing to the ground. The Gemini attempted to stand upright once again, but the green bruin's paws caught him once again in the chest. With a second swing, the Gemini was sent flying into a wall. The bear charged forward before the dark-clad terrorist could react, grabbing him by the arm with a set of powerful jaws and swinging him once more across the room. His eyes were filled with determination as he continued the rampage, plowing into the prone Gemini. His claws stabbed into his adversary's side, lifting him off of the ground and bringing the two face to face. With his massive skull as a deadly weapon, the shapeshifter head-butted the masked figure twice before dropping him to the ground. The Gemini twitched on the floor.
Beast Boy was almost out of breath by this point. Everything was completely concentrated, he felt nothing of the world outside of this battle. There was a glint of hate once more in his eyes, and his features were set tight on his face. The feeling he knew he had sensed from before when he savagely attacked the Gemini was resurfacing. He remembered the panic when he thought he had killed his foe, and the twinge of guilt from the pleasure he had derived from it.
Gemini was deadly, yes. But... but... he couldn't. He shouldn't. If the good guys started just killing people, how were they any better than the people they were trying to stop? A disturbing thought crept into his head. Killing the Gemini would simply make him become like the Gemini. And the very idea repulsed him. He shifted back into human form as he eyed his fallen foe.
"BEAST BOY!" came a familiar cry.
B.B. turned around to find the remaining Titans staring wide-eyed at his actions. He raised both of his hands. The shapeshifter began to slowly step towards his friends. A great exhaustion swept over him suddenly as the pain in his shoulder erupted back to life.
"No. Not gonna kill him. I won't do it." He briefly stumbled as he collapsed into Starfire's arms. "Consider him in submission." he grunted.
The remaining Titans stared at Gemini's twitching body. Without warning, Raven began to slowly step towards the convulsing enemy.
"Raven... what are you doing?" asked a very tense Robin, slowly drawing a boomerang from his belt. Cyborg readied his sonic cannon after recognizing his leader's action.
"Something we should have done a long time ago." she replied quietly. "Come on... come on..." she whispered to herself over and over.
When she was within three feet of their adversary, he sprang up suddenly, a serrated blade once again jetting from his hand.
"F-f-f-resh-sh b-blo-blood f-for u-ussss!" came Gemini's infernal cry, his voice like rusted metal scraping against a concrete floor.
"I knew it!" The mystic screamed, dodging his clumsy attack. "AZARATH... METRION... ZINTHOS!" she recited, hands pointed towards the threat.
A coil of black energy wrapped itself around Gemini's neck, suddenly wrenching his head from his body. His corpse fell lifelessly to the floor as the head bounced off the ceiling from the force of the attack and dropped into Raven's cradling arms.
"RAVEN! WHAT THE FUCK?" screamed Cyborg, gripping his head tightly between his two hands. Robin and Starfire's jaws dropped in unison.
"Relax." she replied, sighing. "Notice the lack of blood?"
She quickly removed the mask from the severed head in her hands. Beneath the tattered black cloth was an eerie sight. Impossibly smooth porcelain skin covered the bald head and shined in the bright lights. Gaping holes remained where cheekbones should have been. A triangular speaker was placed where his mouth should be. Small pin-holes substituted ears. His eyes were polished white orbs with a gelatinous blue centre, and lacked true eyelids. The optical sensors were fused tightly to what the machine called a skull, servo-motors allowing for rapid movement. Wires dangled from the remains of the Gemini's neck.
"He was... he was a fucking robot?" blurted Cyborg, his jaw slack.
"I remember this... He showed me his face while I was his captive... I had been convinced that he had drugged me into seeing that until now, however." whispered Starfire. "He seemed like some unnatural demon. I could not accept that that was his true face."
Raven nodded. "That's why I couldn't sense him. That's why he would never stop fighting. That's how he was able to move so swiftly. He was just a machine the whole time."
"Yes, an expensive machine. But you have all done me a favour." came a terrifying familiar voice. The Titans turned to the corner of the room, where Slade stood, a hand to his chin.
"Slade!" cried Robin, stepping forward slowly. "How'd you get in?"
"Relax, my dear boy. I'm not here to fight you. I am here to thank you. For you see, a few months ago, I began work on new generation of androids. While I was still pleased with my own abilities, I recognized the limitations of being... just one man. I knew just what I was looking for in a cybnertic soldier... Relentless, cold, calculating. I wanted the ultimate robot assassin. I entered into a partnership with a man named Professor Chang, and together, we named this the Gemini Project. The machine you have destroyed is the Gemini Mk. III..."
"So you sent this after us to test it?" asked Robin, his teeth clenched.
Slade shook his head. "Not quite. Unfortunately, the good Professor and I had a falling out of sorts about the ultimate goal of the project. After destroying his lab, I took the prototype Mark III back with me. It was around this time that I began to notice some... problems with the unit."
"You mean that it was fucking nuts?" asked Cyborg, folding his arms across his chest.
Slade ignored the metallic teen. "It was quickly malfunctioning. At first it was minor details, like a problem with projecting vocals. But things began to turn very dark. It started to talk to imaginary figures. It was a sort of... schizophrenic robot, if you can imagine. I'd catch it have remarkably detailed, yet one-sided, conversations with nothing. Its central processor was clearly beginning to malfunction. I blame Chang, personally. Either his incompetence or his quest for vengeance..."
"Get on with it..." prodded Beast Boy, not about to fool around.
"Yes, well... I finally gave up on the project. While physically the android was at zenith performance, and tactically the machine was brilliant, the fact that its central processing unit was beginning to deteriorate made it a legitimate hazard. Unfortunately, it must have been aware of my feelings as well. When I went to finally destroy it, it overpowered me, locked me in a storage unit, and escaped. I'd been tracking it ever since. And now, you have finished the job I set out to do." There was an awkward silence as the two sides stared at one another. "So, thank you, Titans. You have done me a great favour."
Robin shook his head. "Even if I were to believe you, and you didn't arrange for this android to attack us, you still had a role in its creation. You're coming with us..." he took a threatening step forwards as the rest of the Titans took up defensive positions to aid their leader.
"I'm afraid not, Robin. For I am not actually here." Tossing his boomerang, the Boy Wonder realized the truth of the statement as it passed completely through the one-eyed enemy and dug into the wall. "I am thanking you now, yes. But our little... understanding... means that this isn't over. Certainly not. I look forward to seeing you all again. Goodbye." Placing his hands behind his back, Slade faded from view.
The team stood in silence for almost a minute, staring at where their biggest enemy had once stood. Finally, they all exchanged glances.
"So... he was a hologram?" asked Starfire, scratching her head."It appears so, Star." whispered Robin in disbelief.
"That's... that's it? Is it over?' asked Cyborg, looking from side to side.
"It is. It's finished. I suggest we take this time to realize just how lucky we are to have one another. I know I realize it now." declared Beast Boy in a solemn tone, casting a sideways glance at Raven. The other Titans looked at one another, smiling. Relief spilled over all of them one by one like a waterfall as everything began to sink in.
Starfire lept at her leader, squeezing him tightly before deeply kissing him. Robin blushed in response and scratched the back of his head, grinning nervously. Starfire smiled coyly. He gave her a kiss on the cheek before slowly wandering out of the room, almost tripping over his feet.
Cyborg patted the dazed Beast Boy on the head. "C'mon, B.B. You need to get that arm looked at." The duo made their way towards the medical room silently, Cy's arm around his friend's shoulder.
"Friend Raven? What do we do with the robot's remains?" asked the Tamaranian as she walked over to the Gemini's still body.
Raven looked at the head still in her hands before turning to look at the alien. "Let's take him completely apart, and mail each piece to a different part of the globe." She dropped the hunk of metal to the ground. "Never again. We will never let this happen again."
Starfire nodded in firm solidarity, and they silently went to work.
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EPILOGUE
Just twenty-four hours later, the sun rose over Jump City as if the events of the previous week had never occurred at all. The neutrality of nature was a remarkable thing. Despite whatever terrors are unleashed upon a populace, the sun continues to shine, the wind continues to blow, and rivers continue to flow. The chill of the morning made the good citizens of Jump City move that much more quickly about their early errands. Mothers warmed up cars before taking children to school. Businessmen stamped their feet while waiting for their bus. Smokers shivered outside as they took one final puff before getting the day over with.
Raven stared out the window of the tower, not wishing to risk the frost on the roof. Like any morning, she watched the sun come up over the bay. She took a surprising amount of comfort from the stability of this action now. The sun always set, and the sun always rose. Life went on. She sipped her cup of tea thoughtfully.
"Morning..." came the groggy voice behind her. She didn't bother to turn around. She knew Beast Boy's tone when she heard it.
"Good morning, Beast Boy. You're up early."
The heavy sound of footsteps, and suddenly he was right beside her. "I can barely sleep with his cast on. Every now and again I roll over, and a jolt of pain wakes me up."
She nodded, still watching the view. "I can take a look at it for you later. If you'd like that, I mean. I can at least do something about the pain."
Her friend smiled. "Yeah, that'd be great." He followed her gaze, looking out over the water. After a notable pause, he broke the ice again. "I'd just like to thank you, by the way. With everything that's happened since yesterday, I didn't get a chance."
Raven raised an eyebrow. "Thank me? For what?"
"For helping me. You know, appearing to me, talking to me. Helping me stay sane through this."
Raven bit her lip. She remained silent for an uncomfortably long time. "Beast Boy, I don't know what you're talking about. I was in a coma. My mind wouldn't have been active enough to do anything."
Her friend cast his eyes downward. "But... you must have sent your astral self, or something... I saw you. Several times. You talked to me, kept me sane. You helped us out a lot."
"I really don't know what to tell you..."
"You told me where to find the Gemini, for Christ's sake! It had to be you! Your powers are mysterious, even you don't know the full range of your abilities, right? Even when you were unconscious..."
"My mind would have to be completely cognizant for me to do something like that. One can't just 'accidentally' do magic."
"That's impossible! I saw you! I know I did!"
"From the sounds of things... You felt bad about what happened and the fact that you couldn't do anything to stop it--"
He cut her off quickly, his tone harsh. "Don't call me crazy! I know what I saw!"
Raven adopted a soothing tone. "I'm not saying you're crazy. Don't look at it so negatively, Beast Boy. View it this way: You missed a good friend, and were horrified at what had happened to her, and your mind did something to help you cope. It's natural. You're not crazy. It seems like a viable mental response to something so traumatic."
The green lad took a deep breath, drinking it all in. "You think so?"
"Definitely. And think about this: Whatever it is I helped you with... that means it was you all along. You helped yourself, Beast Boy. You kept yourself sane."
The changeling scratched his head, drinking the information in carefully. "So... it was me... the whole time?" he finally said, the sound of understanding edging into his voice.
"You helped yourself, Beast Boy." She repeated.
"But what about when I had that dream and you told me where to find the Gemini?"
"That's a little harder to explain..."
"And if you didn't tell me where Gemini was... how did you know where to go?" he jabbed a finger at her, a sly look in his eyes.Raven raised an eyebrow. "We traced your communicators. Feeling paranoid lately?"
Beast Boy slapped his forehead and shook his head. "Just a little, yeah. After this week, can you blame me?" He ran his hand through his hair, looking sheepish.She chuckled slightly. "Point taken... To continue, it sounds like you had a mild clairvoyant experience. It''s not unheard of, especially in dreams."
"Wow... cooooool... so I'm psychic?"
Raven finally smiled. "Well, I won't go that far. But you've done something really amazing, Beast Boy. You should be proud of yourself." She put a hand on his shoulder, and he blushed and smiled a massive, toothy grin.
"Thanks, Raven."
She let out a small laugh. "Like I said, I didn't do anything."
"Yes, you did. Just now. Thank you."
Raven averted her gaze, not wishing to let him see her blush. After a brief pause, she returned to look at him. His smile seemed even larger, leading her to suspect he figured out what she was doing. "Come on. Let's go take a look at that arm."
The duo quietly left the room, avoiding each other's eyes. Their smiles stemmed from many things. Relief. Weariness. Euphoria. But most of all, understanding.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AUTHOR'S NOTE
So concludes "Revenge!" I'd like to thank everybody who's taken the time to read it. I had an immense amount of fun writing this, and was so glad to see such a positive response from the readers.
As
I mentioned above, Gemini quotes "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,"
by T. S. Eliot. Which is a really neat poem, albeit a tad
depressing. Also, the story Cyborg tells just before Gemini
escapes is about Shun Fujimoto, who won a gold medal for Japan at the
1976 Olympics in Montreal. I wanted to have Cy tell a completely
random story, and I had just read about that, so I went with it.
I'd like to apologize for taking so long to write Chapter 6. I hit a huge wall before I started this. I'd been writing a lot of papers lately (although I refuse to use that as an excuse), and when I finally began to write "Ghost Dance," I was suddenly stricken with a bit of writer's block. I thought to myself, "Dammit, how in the hell can I get Gemini out of this and make it interesting AND still have it lead to a decent conclusion? I went through a few endings, and a few moderations to the ending you have just read, before I finally came up with something that a) I liked and B) worked well with the story.
The ORIGINAL ending had the Gemini escape from the Arena after a brief battle and, later on, challenge the Titans to a fight to the death at a Graveyard (Hence the title of the chapter, which I kept because I still like the way it sounds). There was a gap between his escape and his challenge where I was originally going to put part of what is now the Epilogue. Basically, B.B. would find out Raven hadn't actually appeared to him, and he'd start to doubt his sanity, but it would all be proven A-Okay in the end. But all in all, I really didn't like the pacing of that ending. Plus, it seemed so awkward to have Gemini escape from the Titans without the aid of his teleportation devices, and, again regarding pacing, for it all to happen so fast. So I scrapped it. I also kicked around the idea of having Gemini declare a winner-take-all, battle to the death with Beast Boy, with the arena rigged with explosives if they didn't do it, but I realized it just wouldn't work. It seemed too over-the-top for the story, and so I axed that too. At that point, I went out, had a coke, and finally worked out the ending you now see. I like it.
Interestingly enough, when I finally decided to have the finale take place in
the Tower, I also debated killing Robin in his final confrontation with the Gemini.. I felt that that
would have been too much at this
point. It really wouldn't have worked in the end, and it would have
just been gratuitous. So everybody lives except the Gemini.
Hooray!
The Gemini was a damn fun character to
write. I had no intention of letting him live through this
series, though. A guy this psychotic, who acts that reckless,
well, he's gotta die. Justice has to be served, as we've heard time and time again. But I
figured that if I he was gonna die in the end, he was going to be damn interesting
while he's around. Having him drop random quotes was one of my
favourite aspects of his character. I tried to make him as
completely detached from society as I could. He's literally a
rebel without a cause.
So, there you have it. The ending of "Revenge!" I'm currently working on some new ideas for Teen Titans stories. The most developed one right now is a sequel to my humour story, "Halloweenies." I've got a bit written down for it already, so I'll try and get that out as soon as possible.
Thanks again for reading! Until next time... Peace! - AMZ-C-Raven