Soulfrenzy

Chapter 10 – Deliberations

"So what should we do about him?"

Cyborg folded his arms and glanced at the monitor, where their prisoner was still patiently sitting.

"We give him to the police, like every other criminal we catch!" Beast Boy said. Receiving hard looks from the other three, he blushed and added, "At least, that's where my vote is."

"If we put him in a normal prison, he might break out," Robin replied. "There's no way we could help them design a cell that could hold something like him. And I'm not even sure he wants to escape. His motive is completely unclear."

"I'm not so sure he has one," Cyborg added. "Look at him. He just glances around that room and hangs his head. I'm startin' to think that he was telling the truth."

"So what?" Beast Boy asked, his courage returning. "You all saw what he can do. He's dangerous, and mad freaky!" He sprouted horns for reference. "We can't just, like, let him walk around all monster-like!"

"But we can't jail an innocent person, either," Robin said firmly. "If he really is... possessed by something, then we can't hurl him into a jail cell and forget this ever happened. Something else is going on here, and we need to figure out what it is."

Beast Boy felt differently. "A time bomb is what's going on! He's literally next door to Starfire! Do you not care about that?"

"Of course I care about that!" Robin's voice spiked dangerously. "That's why I don't want to move him for no reason. The interrogation room is secure. If we just take him out -"

"BB's right, though," Cyborg interjected. "We can put him in the container I built for Raven. That should keep him -"

"That's not our primary concern right now," Robin said heatedly. "It'll be better if we just get a plan of investigation together to get to the bottom of this, before an incident even happens."

"You can't just discount her like that!" Cyborg snapped back. "She's your girlfriend, man! You can't ignore the fact that -"

"Can we stop talking about Starfire!?" Robin yelled. The room went dead silent. "This isn't about her, or me! This is about finding out what is inside him so that we can put another threat to the city to rest. Everything else is second to that. It's what she would want, and it's what you should want."

"I can't believe this!" Cyborg threw up his hands. "I'm half metal, but I'm more human than you are! Starfire was -"

"ENOUGH!" Raven strode among them from the shadows she had been leaning in before. "We are tearing ourselves apart, and that is neither making Starfire safer nor bringing this case closer to conclusion." There was an uncomfortable pause, but Cyborg finally exhaled.

"Fine," he said. "Do you know anything about this, though? Now that you've seen it up close?"

Closer than you know, Raven thought. She shrugged.

"My books have detailed some vague accounts of demonic possession, but it's nothing like this. Demons are usually intelligent, or they don't have the mental capacity to dominate a human. And they never do it part time. I'll have to speak with him directly if I want to understand this better than I already do."

"What?" Beast Boy almost squeaked. "Again? He, like, just said that he could go all "flame-on" again! Why would you want to go in there?"

"I can pass through the wall if I need to," she replied calmly. "You're free to come with me if you want, but you'd probably fall asleep in the meantime."

Beast Boy prickled at her comment, but said nothing more. Robin looked at her appraisingly, then nodded. "If that's what you want, then we'll be watching."

"No." She shook her head. "If he can sense us watching – and we have no reason to think that he doesn't – then earning his trust will be difficult. It would be better if you tried to recover while we speak."

"No way," Cyborg objected. "There's no way we're -"

"Cyborg, your battery was heavily damaged, and most of you didn't fare any better. I can handle it. Just rest."

He frowned, but finally sighed again.

"I don't know why you want this," he grumbled. "But the mysticism thing is your gig. Just tell me when the team's getting back together."

The door hissed open and then shut with a clang as he departed. Beast Boy huffed, realizing that the prisoner was not going to prison after all, and followed him.

Robin walked over to the monitor and gazed up at it silently. Raven placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You too, Robin," she said as gently as she could, eyeing the scars on his face. He said nothing, merely reaching up to the monitor and shutting it off.

"I'm staying here," he said. "I'll do what you think is right, but I'm staying here."

"Robin-"

"I'm not losing anyone today. We came close enough."

His eyes flitted through the mask to Starfire's bedside; he walked over to it and sat there resolutely, back turned to Raven. "I won't interfere; just be careful."

In the light of the medical equipment, combined with the new scars along his face, Raven noticed how old he looked. He placed his hands beneath his chin and bent forward, looking intently on Starfire's inert body.

Robin...

Raven exhaled through her nostrils in the slightest resemblance to a sigh, then pressed the control panel to the interrogation room. The doors opened with a hiss.