ONLY HUMAN
Chapter 9
"DETENTION"
There was only so much cyborg could take in one-day, raven bringing terra to the tower was not one of the things he wanted to deal with right now. Specially when a pissed off star fire was trying to kill said girl, raven how ever was handling it as best she could, why? Well she had decided that terra and star fire should go a couple of rounds just so star fire can let off some steam as it were.
"So you're going to stop them any time soon?"
"Maybe"
"Raven, come on enough is enough"
"Fine, ill go stop star fire you detain terra"
On the battle grounds near the beach star fire rushed towards terra and punched with all her might; terra how ever counter with a rock shield and frowned, the alien girl had blown half of it off. That only attested to the anger the tamaranian was feeling towards her, she doubted that if this battle kept going she would be victorious. Fortunately for her she saw raven and cyborg heading towards then, that distraction how ever caused her and she felt star fire is fist connect with her head. Lucky for her raven had managed to block most of the punch is strength using her force field.
"Friend raven!?"
"I think that's enough"
"How can you say that? After all she has done!"
"I know but….I just know that"
A brief image of robin flashed in her mind and she wondered if he was trying to communicate with her trough her bond, after all robin is rules didn't allow him to cross the line when it came to bad guys, maybe he was influencing her to not kill terra or let star fire do the same. Cyborg walked towards terra and helped her up, the blond took his hand a bit hesitant and the android smiled, she should be afraid, after all she had put them trough she should feel all the guilt in the world.
"You're not going to beat me up?"
"Nah, but I am confining you to your room"
"Can I ask why?"
"Because that's not how we work, besides robin is the leader until he is okay we hold off all decisions"
At the mention of robin is name terra looked at the ground and shock her head, this whole thing had been her fault, if she had only told them what was happening if she would have been open with them then maybe none of this would be happening. It was too late for that and as star fire and raven arrived both girls glared at her, star fire however just rushed off; she could not stand the sight of her.
"I guess she is still mad at me huh"
"Yes, as am I so please just go with cyborg I need to meditate"
Raven faded off and cyborg shock his head, the whole team was falling apart, terra noticing the un easiness in her old friend smiles at him and tries to cheer him up.
"For what is worth I am sorry about all of this"
Cyborg looked at her and nodded.
"Ok girl ill listen"
She smiled a shy smiled and as they walked inside the tower she began to talk, as per raven she was in her room looking at her spell books with a deep brown, she wanted to do some research on there bond. As an azarath child she had only been told that it was to early for her to learn of what a bond truly meant, now that she was grown up she didn't know who to turn to, azarath was dead and all she had was the vast library the elders had given her. If only she could find something that would give her any indication as to what she was feeling, the bond was growing stronger and she didn't know how to deal with it, robin is intervention in her battle with terra told her that it had surpassed the boundaries of what a normal one should be.
"Why could I hear your thought? I could feel you emotions your very soul"
She asked aloud and as if by an act of magic a book fell from its shelf and landed on the floor with a loud Thud, she frowned when she recognized the cover; it was a book she had tried to read a long time ago. A book her mother had given her, unfortunately, its pages were blank, lifting the book of the ground, she was surprised to find a different cover on it. Opening it up she noticed that the inside of the book was filled with writings, illustrations and all kinds of symbols.
"You were too young to know"
Turning around she found herself staring at her mother, the ghostly figure floated behind her a small smile on her lips. This was azar herself standing before her.
"H-how is this possible?"
"Your mother and I each had a hand in writing that book, now that you have found some one to open your heart too, you will be able to read its pages and learn from it"
"Azar, h-how?"
"Find happiness daughter and know that we will always be there for you"
With those words, the figure vanished and raven knew that it had only been a magical projection coming from the book. Turning towards the book once more, she opened it and began to read it. It was time to find out just what azar's words meant and what a bond really meant for her people.
"Any change star?"
The alien girl shock her head and looked on at the figure of her friend laid in the bed with tubes sticking out of his body, even tough he was now in stable condition she still felt that he could be lost to them, the last battle had showed her how fragile they truly were. More importantly, it had showed her that robin despite his skills in battle was just a mere human, one who could die by the slightest mishap. Cyborg had not come out of it unaffected, being blown up had showed him that despite his strengths and enhancements he was still a human, just like robin.
"He is in stable condition, but no change since last we checked"
"I see"
She looked at him and frowned, cyborg is words always seem to imply so much more, as he checked the machines over she noticed the worried expression on his face and frowned, there was something the man was not telling her.
"Something is wrong and you don't wish me to know, why?"
The moment he froze made her realize that what ever he was keeping from her was something big, and by the looks of it, it had something to do with the boy wonder.
"It's nothing star just"
"Please do not try to protect my feelings, I wish to know"
Finishing his regular maintenance of the machines around robin he turns towards her and shakes his head, he knows how over emotional star fire can be. However, something in the alien girl is voice and demeanor made him concede, she was part of the team she had a right to know.
"If he doesn't wake up soon…I'm afraid he will end up in a coma"
"He will wake up, he just has too"
The sobbing that he hears makes him frown, the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her, walking over to her he opens his arms and star fire falls into them tears streaming down her face. He wants to make it better but he knows that he can't, he knows that only robin can made very thing right, he smiles and closes his own eyes, he had never realized how much robin had on his plate; how much he had to deal with, robin was definitely the glue that keep them together. He just hoped that he would wake soon.
Kid flash looked on from the doorway and frowned, this whole thing was a complete mess, the attacks were over for now but he knew that it wouldn't be long before they started up again and with out the others they were sunk. Rushing towards the living room or main control room he Access the com link and tries to contact the others only to find the signal is being blocked; no incoming or out going transmission are getting troughs.
"Oh no"
Rushing towards the other panels, he can see that they all have the same problem; the whole systems seem to be faulty. Rushing towards the second floor he stops in front of terra is room; he only hesitates once but knows that this has to be done, stepping inside the blond looks at him with a raised eyebrow. That how ever changed when she saw the worried look on his face.
"What's going on?"
"How serious are you about helping out?"
"Deadly"
"Good, cuz I think were going to need it"
"Why?"
(JUMP CITY BAY)
Slade smiled and nodded in approval, gizmo had done well, the titan tower was now completely cut out from the rest of the world. Now all they needed to do was wait and see if this was being detected by outside forces, if they were then they would simply intercept them and keep them from the tower. What worried him was the dark knight is warning, if he truly was roaming the city then he had to be careful, to not grab the bat is attention, for that he needed to conceal his movements. That how ever was proving more difficult than he had hoped it would be the batman was good, too good. So far his entire look out post had been taken out with out so much as an effort, not only that who ever had done the taking down had left not a clue as to whom it could be.
Slade how ever was no fool; he knew all to well whom was the one mocking up his plans left and right, now all he had to do was try to remain calm, and delay any action against the titans. At least until he could figure out just how the bat was monitoring his operations and acting on the city with out him knowing. Until that happened however, he was going to keep messing with the titans, making them second guess themselves and fraying there nerves so much that when the attack happened they wouldn't know what hit them nor would be able put up much of a resistance.
"Sir Scans have detected some bio sings on the titans is shore, how should we proceed?"
"Human?"
"Animal sir, but no indication that is there changeling"
"Probably nothing but let's send a distraction just in case, send cinder block into the city"
"As you wish sir"
Small attacks with no pattern what so ever, what better way to throw them off, specially with out robin. He smiled behind his mask and waited, that is all he could do. For now, as for the bio sings on the shoreline of titan's tower, two sea turtles turned away from the beach and headed back under water; they had seen enough it was time to report back to there master.
Aqualad looked at the two figures on the ground and frowned, while wonder girl was already up and about beast boy was down, whatever brother blood had done to him or giving him had yet to wear off, tram had examined him but as far as he knew the green changeling was ok. Looking at bumblebee, he noticed the way she was trying to keep calm, he wished, he could look as compose as she did, he himself was worried.
"When we go top side, we should leave beast boy here"
Aqualad nodded at bumblebee, turning towards wonder girl he could see the anger in the amazon is face, he knew that she was beating herself up for letting beast boy get hurt.
"I agree but we should let tram take care of him, we might be going into a battle once were out of here"
Wonder girl knew that aqualad was right yet she couldn't help but feel as if they were hinting at something else, as for bumblebee, she could see the logic in aqualads is words. Yet she still was hesitant to go into battle; they had just gotten out of one battle and were going straight into another one. That didn't sound so bad, then again they weren't all 100 so going into one so suddenly did make her a bit concern on the out come of such battle.
"Don't you think we should wait a while, I mean we just got out from one battle and I don't know about you but I am not feeling all that well to take on a second one"
"None of us are feeling well, but we can't stand around doing nothing"
"Why?"
Aqualad frowned at her, but before he could say, any thing wonder girl stood right next to bumblebee and slapped her hard against the face.
"Is this the kind of warrior you are!?"
"What the hell is your problem?"
"We come to aid you, we provide you with assistance and yet when we asked the same you hesitate!?"
Bumblebee glared at her and reached for wonder girl is shirt, holding her at a level gaze both of them remained silent and aqualad shock his head. this wasn't helping any one. Bumblebee how ever was not done, pushing wonder girl away she walked out of the small room they were in.
"You know she might have a point"
"She is concern for her own well being, what kind of a hero is she"
"The one that has a valid point, how much help do you think we can offer the others if we rush into battle the way we are?"
"Enough, that is all they others would need from us"
She too walks out and aqualad is left in the main room of the cave alone, glancing at the far off wall he sees the pair of eyes staring at him, he smiles and shakes his head.
"You just had to wake up at this precise moment didn't you?"
"Had to see what all the fuzz was about"
Beast boy smiled and aqualad shock his head, it was glad to have his friend back but that also made a predicament of things, no doubt the changeling would side with wonder girl and go off to the titan's tower. Despite there condition they would go and fight if they had to and no matter what he did or say, they would not listened.
"You feeling ok?"
"Yeah, ill be ready to go in an hour or so"
"You know you're not ready to fight"
"I know, but I can't leave my friends with out back up"
"Very well then my friend lets let the two ladies cool there heads and then we can make way, soon as my turtles arrive that is"
"Let's hope they have some good news for a change"
Aqualad nodded and beast boy smirked, closing his eyes he fell back into a deep slumber, if a battle did await them then it was better for him to be as rested as possible. The atlantian how ever was more concern with the two ladies that seem to be at odds end, but if he were to intervene, he could end up making things a lot worse.
( TITANS TOWER)
"What do you mean you let her out because we might need her?"
"Look I all for punishment and all but you saw what I saw right?"
Cyborg had and it worried him, the tower is systems were being affected by something that not even he knew how to stop, that could be a sing that an attack was imminent or that some one was trying to keep them off balance. Either way he knew that kid flash was right in letting terra out and putting her on monitor duty, while it was true that the long ranger communication systems and sensors were off line the ones near there island were working perfectly, if any one tried to sneak up on them they were going to be ready for them.
"How do you know we can trust her?"
This came from star fire who was glaring at the girl a few feet from them, cyborg wanted to say something but knew a that star fire is question was a valid one, terra could be a mole and was just playing another game just like she had done not to long ago.
"I will monitor her movements if any thing looks odd I put her back in her room personally ok"
"Yeah for now, star fire?"
"I am okay with it, as long as I can keep an eye her as well"
Kid flash and cyborg nodded, desperate times called for desperate measures. Kid flash walked towards terra is side and star fire looked at cyborg with a frown.
"How well do we trust kid flash?"
"Wish I knew how to answer that but he is a friend of robin"
"Terra was our friend once"
"That's why you're keeping an eye on both of them"
Star smiled and nodded, she would make sure to watched them carefully, after all she didn't know kid flash all that well and if a friend like terra had betrayed them how easily would it be for another to do so? Too easy as far as she was concern, cyborg however was worried that this train of thought would lead star fire down a path that would make her suspicious of every new comer to there team.
"Have you spoken to raven?"
"No, she is in her room and refused to open her door"
"I see"
Raven is body was in her room, but her mind was not, after chanting a spell she had found in the book she found herself opening her eyes to a chaotic mind. The place was buried deep underground and as far as she knew it was a museum of some kind, looking at the area she found it to be as intimidating as it was impressive. But as far as she knew, the spell was supposed to let her see trough her bond, to connect her with the person on the other side, and yet here she was in some unknown location. That how ever changed when she saw the teen standing on the far side of the cave, he was looking up at the bats around the cave.
"You shouldn't be here"
The boy turned towards her and she was surprised at the deep blue eyes that stared right back at her, the all too familiar features were there but despite that, she couldn't believe that she was here.
"W-were is here exactly?"
She was nervous, the bond it couldn't be this strong, it was impossible. All she knew about them was the fact that emotionally and mentally the bonded people shared a link but only as faint as intuition, nothing like this.
"My home, were I was born"
She raised an eyebrow and was surprised to see the slight smile on his lips; she knew the smile and the realization made her shiver. This deep of a connection, it was almost unheard off.
"W-were you were born?"
"The boy wonder at you service!"
The clothes he was wearing changed and before her stood robin, only his outfit was different, it was the first costume she had ever seen her him wear. The one that he had made out from the remains of his circus costume.
"Were in the bat cave?... this is the bat cave"
"In all its glory, look there is my birth"
Following were he was pointing at she saw him out of costume before a man she had only heard about. The batman stood before the kid, raven felt intimidated but knew that this had been how robin came to be, she heard the oath and now knew why he couldn't allow her to kill terra.
"You don't kill"
"I took an oath to protect those who couldn't protect themselves, to follow the law"
"What about Richard?"
Raven saw the stairwell lit up, it lead to a doorway high on top of the bat cave, the robin before her faded and she smiled. Now she knew why he was having trouble waking up, his mind was as fragmented as hers was, the only difference was that he didn't have the discipline she had. The shock, the trauma he had suffered to his body had broken the stable balance his mind kept, so now that the balance had been broken his mind was as fragmented as hers and with out her stable control he was having trouble putting himself out it.
She smiled and walked up the stair and shock her head, she remembered the spell that had brought her here and now she understood how it was supposed to work, the book told of a bond between lovers, between siblings and bonds of friendships. She now knew which bond she had. They were in love with one another, it wasn't just one person in love with the other, it was both of them, and both felt these feelings for one another. That scared her, she stopped walking up the stairs and hesitated, she loved him and he loved her. It should be as simple as that but some how she knew it wouldn't be.
"What do i do now?"
cOnTiNuEd……
