"You bastard, Luthor! I'm gonna kick your ass..." Weaver said as he tried to break out of his restraints. Luthor stared at him.
"Silly child. You fight for people who would sooner see you in jail."
"Raven just risked her life to save mine."
"Because they need you to catch us. They don't care about you."
"Is that what you think?"
"Absolutely."
"Good. 'Cause I don't give a rat's ass what you think. They'll be here for me soon."
"I lost him, Robin."
"What do you mean, Raven?"
"Luthor showed up and took us off guard. He's their prisoner now."
"Do you know where they went?"
"I have no clue..."
"We'll get him back, Raven. Did he have his communicator?"
"He didn't have a GPS chip."
"Damn... It might be a while. How are you holding up?"
"I don't know. It might not be safe for me to come back."
"Do what you need to do. We'll be waiting for you when you get back."
"Thanks." She shut the communicator and sat in the cave. It wasn't like her to just sulk like this, but she felt terrible. She should have been able to catch Luthor, should have saved him. He wasn't in his right mind yet and he wasn't ready to fight. It was her fault, all over again.
"An interesting trophy, Lex... I like it," Slade hissed, staring at Weaver from his chair. His hideout had been transformed into a sort of metal throne room; he was leaned over, one hand on his chin.
"Screw. You."
"You do realize that they aren't coming for you, right? They don't care that we have you. You're literally down the hall from them and they aren't coming for you."
"How do you...?"
"You think I didn't notice that you two were so close? You haven't moved in five years. You've doomed them all."
"We'll beat you! We'll beat all of you!"
"You poor, poor idiot. You think this is about us and them? It isn't. It's about *you*."
"What?"
"I've been tracking you since you were figuring out what puberty was. I care about you. They don't! They want to use you to further their goals, and then they'll throw you away like used trash! You ARE trash! You were homeless until you became a pawn in their game! Why would they try to save a lowly thief who isn't even dangerous enough to steal anything worthwhile?"
"You don't know anything about any of them!"
"Do you want proof, Nightweaver? Do you? Because if you forced one thought through your thick skull, it would all make sense!"
"What could you possibly have?"
"You've been here for a month. Four weeks. Four! They haven't made one move to save you. In fact, they haven't even tried to attack!" Weaver's heart dropped like a rock.
"No. You're lying. I've been awake."
"That containment field releases drugs periodically. You've been asleep for all but what you remember. They're just sitting in your little hideout. Joking about you. Making fun of how you got captured."
"That can't be true. Batman wants to help everybody. Raven cares about me too much to abandon me like that... Robin and I are friends."
"You're nothing to them."
"Raven, are you sure you're alright?" She had returned, and Robin had noticed her sulking in a corner.
"He was everything to me."
"What do you mean?"
"He was our hope, our fight. He never gave up. He trusted all of us, trusted me to keep him safe... I trusted him to keep me safe. And now he's gone because of me."
"He isn't gone. He's trapped. That's entirely temporary."
"I still couldn't save him."
"You're under a lot of emotional distress." He could feel the air get thicker as she started to get irritated. "Calm down."
"Don't tell me to calm down!" she snapped. One of the computer monitors shattered, the glass falling to the floor.
"Raven, we're going to save him. We just need to find him. It's my top priority, I promise." He put a supportive hand on her shoulder and squeezed, trying to force some of the anger out of her. She calmed down a bit, but still looked like she felt guilty. Cyborg piped up.
"Got a general area scan of where he is. Without the GPS it's hard to tell, but the communicators send out a weak signal constantly. He's within the next ten miles." Her eyes softened with hope momentarily, but faded back.
"Ten miles is a pretty big area, Cyborg."
"We'll search every inch."
"There's no point."
"Are you saying you want to give up on this now?"
"People come, and people go. There's nothing you can do to stop it."
"Don't talk like that," Beast Boy said. He had overheard the conversation and walked over. "He's not exactly my favorite guy in the world, but he's a good person. We're gonna find him."
"I'm not getting my hopes up. Stop trying."
"They haven't been sitting around for a month."
"Raven never loved you. She's been with that green bug this whole time."
"She wouldn't lie to me. She said she needed me."
"Needed you to catch us! She didn't lie, you misunderstood!" Weaver kicked the energy orb that surrounded him, to no avail.
"I'm sick of this talk. Open this up and fight me, you coward." Slade laughed.
"Be careful what you wish for." He grabbed a remote and pressed a button, turning the field off. Weaver pulled himself towards the mercenary but Slade backhanded him in midair. He fell to the ground and rolled, standing and sliding but facing his nemesis. He tried to tase Slade, but he batted the darts away with extraordinary precision. Weaver tried to punch him, but Deathstroke grabbed his arm, twisted it, then headbutted him in the nose. He felt a crunch.
His damn nose had broken. Again.
He aimed low and tried to hit Slade in the stomach; his attack did nearly nothing to the villain. He punched Weaver twice, then tripped his legs out from under him. He hit his head hard and blinked, trying to get the stars out of his vision.
When he came to, he was eye-to-barrel with a shotgun.
"You have two choices. Join us, and I spare you. Defy us, I blow your brains out this very moment."
"Why should I join you?"
"They left you to die. I'm offering you a chance to come back to your true calling."
"Screw off, Slade. I'd rather die."
"Very well." He pumped the shotgun, and Weaver closed his eyes. He heard the shot, and everything got dark again.
But not entirely dark. Opening his eyes, he saw a plate of dark energy standing between his face and the shotgun. Turning, he saw Raven standing in the doorway, ready to fight.
A/N
No, I couldn't resist a mid fight scene cliffhanger.
I also couldn't resist pointing it out, cause I'm self indulgent.
Hope you're enjoying!
