Well! It's been over two months, and no update. I am so very, very sorry! These past two months have been a whirlwind of activity. But--I finished writing my finals, I moved back home for the summer, and finally found a steady job for the next few months, so I think I'm finally settled! So expect more reasonable updates for the future. I have not forgotten about this story! No sir.
Anyways, yeah, it's been busy, but I'm excited to be working on this again. I've been pretty surprised with the way it's progressed, but also very happy. A pleasant surprise, if you will. But enough of my chatter... On with the story!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Teen Titans OR Frank Booth. Frank Booth created by David Lynch.
Chapter 10: Lost Loves and Old Friends
"Ahhh. There you are. Thought you'd escaped me, did you? Well, you thought wrong!" A cruel smile curled on her lips, her eyes narrowed into a predatory gaze. "Come over here and I'll make it quick."
The green lad returned with a grin of defiance, hands on his hips. "Ha! You'll have to catch me first." He sprinted to his left, ducking around a corner.
"Okay, you asked for it!" Squeezing her fist lightly, the blonde-haired beauty caused a small rippled to appear in the ground beneath the green man's feet. His balance completely lost, he found himself tumbling to the ground. Casually strolling around the corner, the woman put her hands on her hips and stood over her victim in smug triumph.
"You lose." Grabbing his shoulders, she swiftly pulled him to his feet, and into a deep kiss.
Breaking the kiss moments later, Garfield snapped his fingers. "Darn. I was I trying soooo hard, too." He grinned, kissing her softly once again.
Tara shook her head, a devious smile on her face, a strange glint in her eyes. "I hope not. I could have ended that at any time."
"What? Bullshit!"
"Yeah, seriously. I was just toying with you."
"No way... I could have escaped from you at any moment. Any time, anywhere. I can do it. I just don't try because, well..." He softly kissed her one more time, the two closing their eyes for a moment and relishing the feeling.
Her eyes flickering, Tara looked away, blushing. "Okay, I can see where you're coming from. We don't have to keep doing this." She squeezed him tightly and then let go slowly, turning and walking over by the pond nearby, emerging from the side of the ice cream stand Garfield had tried so desperately to hide behind. The green lad walked over and stood beside her, and they stood and observed the ducks swimming in the pond.
"Wish I had some bread." Garfield commented casually.
"Yeah, I know what you mean." She replied softly. After a long pause, she shook her head slowly. "Look at them. Not a care in the world. Just... flitting here and there in the water. And when they get sick of that, they just... spread their wings and fly somewhere else. So peaceful."
"Mmm. Peaceful." Garfield nodded in agreement. He grasped her hand in his, giving a playful squeeze. She stayed riveted to the birds in the water, but she smiled broadly at the sensation.
"I want that life."
"You want to be a duck? I mean, I can do that, but with you, it'll take a lot of effort..."
She laughed, and lightly jabbed his stomach with her free hand. "No! I want a peaceful life like that. Doing whatever I want, whenever I want do. Having humans just feed me at a whim, but not being totally dependent on them. Seems like the life."
"Well, it's a lot harder than it looks. All life is a struggle for survival."
Tara hugged him. "Just let me have this, okay? Just let me have this."
He returned the embrace, rubbing her upper back softly. "Okay. It's alright." There was a silence finally broke by Tara a minute later, her words slightly muffled by his shoulder.
"Do you love me, Garfield?"
The green lad swallowed awkwardly. "Beg pardon?"
She brought her head up, facing him. Her smile returned, as brought as before. "You heard me, ya goof. Do you love me?"
"Well... do you love me?"
Tara gave him a look. "I asked you first. Come on, 'fess up. Quit stalling."
He blushed and looked away, an odd smile on his face. "Well, I--"
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"GARFIELD!"
Raven's voice snapped him back to the present. The sight of the golden-haired figure before him drew up so many emotions, Garfield's head felt like a washing machine. Everything was churning and swirling inside of him.
The blonde figure in the brown suit had begun to raise walls of solid rock, trapping his men inside. She seemed to be beginning some sort of process. He knew he couldn't let her finish.
Raven teleported next to him quickly, a look of concern on her face. "Garfield! What's with you? We're trying to fight her, but... I can't believe how powerful she is. It's just incredible." She stared in shock as a shield of solid rock erupted in front of her as a rebel fired an MP-5 submachine gun. The ground beneath the rebel opened up sudden, plummeting him into a hole. With a sickening crunch, the hole sealed up as though nothing had happened. Garfield's jaw dropped, and he mentally slapped himself into action. He pointed to a nearby prisoner.
"You! What's your name?"
The prisoner snapped out of a horrified reverie. "Uh, Wally. Wally West."
"Okay, yeah, I remember you. Incredibly fast. Awesome. Keep her distracted. I've got to talk to Raven for a second."
The brown-haired man nodded and with blinding speed disappeared, running towards Tara. The blonde figure grinned at his arrival, attempting to erect stone walls to impede his path, only to have Wally dodge each one, coming a split second closer to crashing with each one.
Grabbing Raven by the shoulder, Beast Boy pulled her close to him. "Raven, we've got to get these people out of here. They're no good to us dead. If we can find a way to get out of here and avoid all this bloodshed, it'll be easier. Before, I figured we could just shoot our way out. We can't do that anymore. We've got to be more discreet."
Raven nodded. "I understand that. What do you want to do?"
"I know you can't just teleport them out of here. But can you phase them into the basement? That's how we escaped before, that's how we got in in the first place. I know it's a long shot... they've probably got guards down there, too. But we don't have a choice right now. Can you do that?"
Raven took a deep breath. "It'll take a lot of energy, but you're right. We don't have a choice. I'll do everything I can to make that happen. But what about you?"
"Oh, don't worry about me. I'm going to kill this bitch." A cold look crossed his face, and Raven almost took a step back in surprise. She'd never seen such a look of pure malice coming from Garfield. She swallowed and nodded slowly, unsure of what to say. "It's personal, Raven. Don't worry about me."
"I... understand..." she said slowly, nodding again.
"No more!" he cried, leaping into the air, changing into a peregrine falcon. Whipping at an unnatural speed, he buzzed the brown uniformed figure, cutting part of her ear. With a cold, empty gaze, she turned her sights on the beast that attacked her. Clumps of earth and stones rose into the air, surging like meteors at the raptor, coming close but ultimately missing their mark each time.
"Now," whispered Raven, and a pink-haired rebel surprised her by leaping out from behind the ruins of a wall, aiming square at the blonde's head. She squeezed off several shots, but once again the earth shifted, deflecting the rounds. The earth trembled and surged up suddenly, knocking the pink-haired girl to the ground before it began to roll over on top of her like a wave. The girl shrieked. With a sudden black surge, she was safely on top of a nearby catwalk.
The girl's eyes were wide. "I... I think my life flashed before my eyes."
Raven slapped her shoulder, turning her own gaze towards the blonde woman still determined to kill what was now a green monkey. "Count yourself lucky. Most people only have that experience once."
"You're... you're Raven, aren't you?"
Raven nodded. "Have we met?"
"My name is Jinx. I--"
"Ahhh! The probability girl. I remember you. I wondered what happened to you. But now's not the time for reunion. Come, follow me." She floated down the catwalk, and Jinx followed.
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"Delta Charlie 7, come in. Delta Charlie 7. Over."
"Ahhhhh, fuck. Now what?" the Captain grumbled out loud, his massive hand roughly bringing the radio to his mouth. "This is Delta Charlie 7, over."
"Delta Charlie 7, we need you guys to head to Miller's Crossing and check out Sanctuary. Some Council members were supposed to meet with someone there and they haven't shown up. Over."
"We copy. We're on our way, over." The Captain almost slammed the radio back onto the dashboard.
"What's Sanctuary? I didn't even know anybody on the Council lived in Miller's Crossing."
"You're not supposed to know where anybody on the Council lives anyway. You know that."
"Well, there was this domestic disturbance..."
"That's enough, Frost. Sanctuary's this old church up there. One of Blood's 'spiritual advisers' likes to hang out up there. He's a bit of a... well, lets just say he likes to have company, and he's almost never alone. Anyway, he probably got caught up with... something and didn't bother to let anybody know. It's just a pain in the ass. It's after midnight and Miller's Crossing's at least a half an hour a way, with this weather." As if on cue, the van started to skid on the icy road before regaining control. Their breath held in their throats, both of the cops exhaled simultaneously when Apone regained control of the vehicle.
"Man... I wanted to catch the results of the game tonight. When we left, the Mammoths were up by one, but it was only the first period."
"The Mammoths haven't been the same since they lost Kuznetsov. Now, the Meteors, they play a real sport that can make your hometown proud."
"I just can't talk to you sometimes. I'm just thankful you're not a Monarchs fan."
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John Turbit was a fat, fat man. As hard as someone could try to be polite when describing him, the word "fat" just seemed to ideal to describe the massive girth her sported. He preferred-ordered people, rather--to be called "rotund," "plump," "husky," and his personal favourite, "jolly." As the head of the largest bank and the largest insurance company in all of Jump City, people tended to obey John Turbit. But no matter how much John wished to distort reality, to use his vast influence to bend people's arms behind their backs and use one word that favoured him rather than another that did not, there was no denying that anybody who had ever looked at him at one time or another had thought, even deep within the cold, black recesses of their subconscious, that he was fat. Fat. No other word seemed to do.
Now it was almost one o'clock in the morning, and John found himself sitting in his familiar chair in the city council room, high atop the Wilson Memorial Municipal Office, the city's seat of government. Although he loved his plush leather chair, the endless bounty of cigars (proudly all Cuban; embargoes never affect gentlemen of his stature) and spirits that were available, and the sumptuous dinners and lunches they often took in the room, he was not pleased to be hauled out of bed (in the middle of a notably erotic dream with somebody very taboo) for no particular reason. Blood's man had told him it was "direly important" and that he had no choice, which John took to be quite serious. However, he was now very irritated that he seemed to have been the only person to take this seriousness with any sort of gravity. In short, he was sitting in the middle of an empty room with just his personal manservant.
"Those fucking idiots," he mumbled to himself, rubbing his eyes and trying to stay awake. He glared at his servant. "Well? Where's the coffee, Eric?"
Nodding in understanding, his thin body creating unusual shadows on the polished marble floor, Eric made his way over to the nearby coffeemaker, and began the process of making a cup for his master.
"I should just leave. Ridiculous. One of those escaped metas probably got his picture in the paper or something stupid like that. Blood's all nervous people will remember that large metal prison we happily shelled out millions of dollars for just a few years ago and will have an epiphany that they don't like having it around any more. A worry-wart. No other way to describe him."
"Indeed," came Eric's low reply.
"It was so easy when I took over dad's seat. I was maybe, what, thirty-five?"
"You were thirty-four, sir. It was just after your sister's wedding."
"Right, right. You go to a church potluck one day, you sponsor a little league team the next, and the next thing you know, people think you actually give a shit about them. That's how dad won his seat. That's how he kept his seat. And, like clockwork, that's how I got dad's seat."
"It was a shame, your father's passing."
"Mmm, yeah. Right. So I've been on the city council about twenty-five years now. A quarter of a century. And, sure, we don't have elections anymore, that's great. But I'm sick and tired of having this garbage interfere with my life. Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it."
"Sir?"
"Yes, Eric?"
"Do you recall the hostile takeover you averted for your company when the media 'suddenly' realized your opponent was a metahuman?"
For the first time that evening, John Turbit smiled. "Thank you, Eric. I needed that."
"You need a lot of things, John." came the voice of Brother Blood as he walked quickly into the room, followed by a large section of the council. The tired cluster of men all found their respective seats and began to get settled. With the coffee finally ready, Eric proceeded to pour cups for those in attendance.
John looked sheepishly at the floor. "Good evening, Brother Blood." His tone was filled with a humility that would have made Eric smile broadly, had he allowed himself such a pleasure.
"It's morning now, John. But enough smalltalk. Gentlemen, what I am about to tell you is incredibly important, and vital to our continued success as a council."
Albert Oakes spoke up, his voice shrill. "Something about a prison riot, right?"
Blood waved his hand. "Please, please, just listen to what I have to tell you. We can discuss what this all means when I am finished." Blood waved away Eric's offer of a cup of coffee and continued. "A few days ago, an outside agitator arrived in our lovely city. I don't know where he came from, or how he got in without us noticing, but suffice it to say, he is very real, and he is undoubtedly here."
Michael Hinrich, a former Police Commissioner currently attached to one of Turbit's banks, gasped, "In this building? What are we--"
Blood sighed and rubbed his nose, trying not to scream. "No, not in this building. In the city. Let me try again. As I hope you are all well aware, there is a prison riot currently being suppressed just outside of town. We've also lost power to a gigantic section of a city, something the Army Corps of Engineers is currently struggling to fix. Dozens of National Guardsmen and police have been killed in both of these actions. We have no idea where the people responsible for the blackout are at this moment. This isn't the usual flare-up. This is escalating towards something very unpleasant."
"So what you're basically saying is, some outsider came marching into town one day set on destroying everything we've created?" Oakes rubbed his hand through his beard. "Even in light of the current situation going on outside the city, I've got to admit I'm skeptical. How can some outsider unite and inspire a populace that we've divided and depressed?"
"I understand why you would be skeptical, Albert. It his far-fetched. The story of the One Truth isn't always easy to follow. I've consulted the relevant texts, and it would appear that this has unquestionably been prophesied before. We are at war with a demon, gentlemen. A catalyst set about to topple our perfect society."
Murmurs rose and fell around the room. A skinny man in an ill-fitting suit coughed and spoke up: "Brother Blood, with all due respect, I think it is much more important that we deal with this as a natural, human-metahuman conflict that we must suppress first, and a spiritual apocalypse second. We can't let ourselves fall back on the idea that we will triumph 'because it is written so.' We can't afford not to be pragmatic right now..."
A razor-sharp tone cut the man's sentence off. "Excuse me... Richard, is it?" The man looked indignant at being interrupted, but nodded. "Richard... Wallace, correct?" Blood's eyes began to take on a reddish hue as he spoke, keenly gazing at the man before him.
Recognizing his own name, Richard nodded slowly. His swagger was slowly fading away along with the colour in his face.
"Well, Mr. Wallace, I couldn't agree more. We must be pragmatic in the face of a growing evil. We must not cut corners, we must not rely on hackneyed old tricks and techniques. We must be uncompromising, and ruthless. We must see the monster, who he is, how he behaves, and feel the monster within us. We must think like the monster in order to destroy it. But we must always remember what Nietzsche said, hmmm? He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." Blood's eyes suddenly turned a bright, disturbing red. Within seconds, Wallace grabbed his chest and toppled from his chair, his body hitting the floor with a dull thud, a thin froth of foam seeping from his mouth. The room sat in stunned silence for several moments before returning their attention to Brother Blood. "Mmm... where were we? Yes, right, my point. You men have made great advisers. But leave the spiritual battle between good and evil to me and Citizen X. This isn't some fucking metas going nuts and trashing cars. This... is a war to protect everything we hold dear. This is a war for the very soul of humanity. Whoever wins here, will control the destiny of the planet. And if you can't accept that, keep your fucking mouth shut." Mr. Turbit's eyes slid towards the corpse of Richard Wallace, still lying on the floor.
Clearing his throat, Blood continued. "So long as we're all on the same page now... As you know, Citizen X continues to be kept in a secure location. He's become more relaxed in the past few months, and occasionally has sat in on our meetings. We were never aware of his presence, mind you, but the fact that he left... wherever he is... should tell you enough. This is cataclysmic enough to warrant his attention. Keep that in mind at all times. I'll leave you to return to your warm beds. Let's just do everything in our power to keep things running as smoothly as they have been for the past few years."
Without saying a word, the men stood up and marched from the room, almost keeping in step as they did. When they were all gone, Blood walked over to Wallace's corpse and stood over it, almost admiring it.
"You certainly have a way of making them aware of the gravity of the situation." came the familiar voice of Citizen X from across the room. Blood said nothing in response, simply nodding before he began to clean up the gory mess before him.
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Red X, Cyborg and Starfire slowly trod through the woods, just out of sight of the small dirt road that lead back to Sanctuary. Now and again, they'd hear a siren wail into the night, and they'd instinctively, collectively band tighter together, every muscle in their bodies clenching. Adrenaline coursed through their system freely, their hearts pounding like they were expecting an imminent apocalypse. As each siren slowly faded away, like the dying howl of some distant wolf, they'd breath a silent sigh of relief together, their minds absently waiting for the next moment of panic.
After about a half an hour of walking, Red X paused. Cyborg and Starfire had already taken several steps ahead when they noticed his reaction. They froze in place, swiftly spinning around, trying to downplay their horror as much as possible.
"Red X? Dick? You are okay, correct?" asked Starfire, her voice as solid as steel.
"Y-yeah, you cool, man?" stammered Cyborg, cursing his voice for betraying his feelings.
X nodded absently. "Mmm, yes, everything is fine. I've just got to... go do something. I'll be right back." He shambled further into the woods, gathering speed as he moved on.
Starfire and Cyborg stood in silence, their eyes glued to the road. After almost a minute, Starfire finally spoke.
"Forgive me, but I have to wonder what Red X is doing right now?"
"Hey, relax, Star," comforted Cy, hoping to ease his own feelings. "I guess even revolutionaries have to go number one every once in a while."
Starfire blinked, cocking her head to the side and examining Cy very carefully. "Number one? I am afraid that sentence does not make any sense."
Cy bit his lip, trying not to chuckle and offend her. "Er, never mind. Let's just say he's probably taking care of some... urgent business."
Starfire raised an eyebrow and then shook her head. "The more I think I understand you people, even after all of these years, and the more I find myself getting surprised like this."
Cy slapped her shoulder playfully. "Hey, no worries. I--" His heart leaped into his throat at that moment as he saw the distinct shape of headlights creeping through the trees ahead. The distinctive crunching of tires on gravel, snow and ice made an ominous soundtrack for the vehicle fast approaching in the dreadful weather. Starfire noticed the approaching vehicle within seconds, and the duo remained locked in place. By all rights, they should have fled into the woods, deeper into the shelter of the darkness. But they could not move. Seconds later, a police van rolled by, swift yet cautious from the weather, jet black in colour. Cyborg stood still now not just out of fear, but for survival. If he moved, if he finally snapped and ran, they would undoubtedly see him now. The two Titans stood in the darkness, just a few lines of trees between them and possible death.
As the van roared by, Cy could swear the man in the passenger's seat was staring directly into his eyes. His heart skipped a beat, and he felt like he was going to collapse to the ground, but he stood perfectly straight. He absently found himself wondering why the cop looked so familiar to him...
Just like that, they were gone, rolling further down the road as if nothing had happened. If the cop had seen either of them, he didn't show it. Cy suddenly realized he hadn't taken a breath in what must have been a minute at this point. Inhaling slowly, Cyborg shook his head and turned to see Starfire.
"We... we are very lucky." she mumbled quietly. Cy could only nod.
"Why?" Red X's voice from the wilderness startled them both, and their gaze snapped in his direction. He emerged slowly from the woods, taking confident strides before them. Slapping them both on the shoulder, he pointed down the road and gestured for them to follow.
"There... there was a police car..." Starfire explained meekly.
"Did he see you?"
"Well, no..."
"Then don't worry about it. It's over now. We're alive. We've got things left to do."
They walked on in silence for a few minutes before Cy finally regained the courage to speak.
"Hey, Red... I was meaning to ask you. How the heck are we going to get these guns, anyhow? You've got a plan, right?"
An uncharacteristic laugh escaped from Red X's mouth before he hushed it. Regaining his composure, Red X turned to Cyborg and said simply, "Sure. We're going to walk right in and take them."
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"Hey, I think I saw something in the trees there..." Lt. Frost mumbled.
"What, a deer? Fuck it, I wanna get home at a decent hour." replied Cpt. Apone. And the van sped on.
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"Oh, I am so going to kill you. And I'm going to enjoy doing it, too!" A grin slowly crept onto Tara's lips, giving her a devilish appearance.
"I am shaking in terror," replied Garfield, an equally diabolic smile on his own face. He held his left arm straight up, just out of her reach. Tara leaped to grab his clenched fist, but he shifted into a kangaroo and jumped straight up at the last second, ensuring she couldn't touch him.
"C'mon, that's not fair. You're so short you've got to compensate like that?"
Garfield feigned an offended look. "Does it always have to come down to height, Tara. Besides, tall or not, I've still got it." His smile took on a smug appearance.
Her smile dropped. "Seriously. My mom gave that to me before she... Just give it up, okay. This isn't funny anymore."
"You think I'll believe that! Yeah, right!" Garfield laughed and slowly ran behind the kitchen counter, blocking her path. He turned around and found her expression to be the same. His own smile began to wane. No, no, this is what she wants. She's just playing with you. You know she does this all the time...
"Well... Garfield... I thought our relationship was built on something stronger than this. But if it isn't..." She coughed and turned around quickly, marching out of the kitchen and into their room at the end of the hall, slamming the door.
Logan slapped his own face lightly. Idiot. Was all he could think. Shaking his head, he crept carefully around the counter and towards their room, taking soft steps. He didn't know why he was doing that... He wasn't trying to ambush somebody, or avoid being attacked. She knew he was probably going to come to her. He shook his head again at the strangeness of it all. Finally arriving in front of the door, he knocked, gently.
"What?" came the curt reply.
"Uhhh... I'm... sorry. I didn't know how much this meant to you. Can you open up?" he bit his lip, shaking his head a third time. There was a silence from the other side for what felt like an eternity. He couldn't even make out any footsteps or movement at all. It was as if she wasn't even there.
Finally, the door opened a crack, and a blue eye was visible. Garfield offered a shy smile, but noticed she didn't respond. "Uh, hey."
"Hi, Garfield." No tone. Internally, he grimaced.
"Can I come in. I think I have something that belongs to you."
"Yeah. I think you do." The door swung open and Tara stood there, a very unimpressed look on her face. Garfield walked in and slowly placed the item in his hand on her bedside table. He turned around slowly and tried the shy smile again. Tara smiled back, softly. "Thanks, Garfield. That means a lot to me. She walked over and picked it up, placing it in her pocket. Slowly, she slumped forward slightly, still standing, her back spasming uncontrollably. A worried feeling crept up Garfield's spine and he walked towards her.
"Oh God... Are you okay? I... I didn't think you'd... I didn't think it would..." he stumbled for words. She turned around quickly, her chest still heaving, tears streaming down her face...
And a wide, wide grin betraying her peals of laughter. "Man, I'm sorry. I'm sorry..." she choked out between giggles. Garfield began to frown, confusion tearing through him. "I just... I just can't believe how easily that worked."
"Tara... man, you... had me worried. Why did you...?"
"Don't take it so personally, Garfield. I just had to figure out how to get it back. I knew how competitive you are. This just made things easier. Come on..." She walked over to him as he turned around in outrage, wrapping her thin arms around his waist and kissing his neck. "Don't be like that. It wasn't personal."
"How could you... do that so easily?"
She sighed. "Look, you're thinking too much into this. I wasn't trying to hurt you, Gar. Can we please not fight?"
So many thoughts, all of them so different, so opposite, were reeling in Garfield Logan's mind at the moment. He'd never felt so betrayed. It just seemed so... scary... how easily she'd been able to manipulate him like that. She was just acting, and she knew just how to push his buttons, to play with his emotions. Part of him felt like running out the door and never coming back. But the other part of him...
He turned around and embraced her, and they hugged. Stop being so immature. It was just a little prank, man. You love this girl, right? She's not going to hurt you. Not like the others. He sighed and kissed her on the forehead. She stared into his eyes, and they shared a deep kiss.
After pulling away slowly, Garfield's shy smile crept in again. "So... what was that thing, anyway?"
"Oh, it was nothing, really. Just think of it as a kind of... radio."
"Oh, cool. Did your mom really give it to you?"
She giggled again, and kissed his lips. Pulling away, she shook her head. "No, no... my boss did."
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The jarring crunch of the impact shot up Beast Boy's legs, causing him to almost topple over as he landed on the ground. Regaining his footing, he raised his pistol once more at the woman he'd known so intimately what seemed like another lifetime ago.
"TARA!" he screamed. The brown-suited figure tore herself away from an enraged Wally West currently entangled in a web of stone tentacles. Recognizing the voice, she turned around to acknowledge his presence, a strange smile lopsidedly placed on her face as she observed him.
"Well, well. How's it hanging, Gar? It's been a long time."
Garfield bit his lip, took a deep breath, and hoped to God his voice didn't shake as he screamed. "Tara! What are you doing?"
The grin disappeared and an empty, eerie expression remained on Tara's face. Emotion left her eyes completely. "Get out of my way, Garfield. I've got my orders. Search and destroy."
Garfield laughed half-heartedly, a bitter undercurrent to his words. "What are you, a street walking cheetah with a heart full of napalm?"
"Am I supposed to know what you're talking about? You never were very funny." She raised her arm suddenly, and the ground beneath Garfield's feet tore apart, leaping towards him like a wave of concrete. Crying out in surprise, Beast Boy ducked the attack, rolling along the ground and praying silently he wouldn't be crushed suddenly. He jumped to his feet just as Tara stood applauding him.
"I thought for sure that would kill you. Have you finally quit smoking? You don't even seem to be breathing hard." Gritting her teeth, she clenched her fists, sending debris flying towards him from random angles. At first Beast Boy found himself able to dodge the flying rocks, but finally one caught him in the side of the head, sending him reeling as several other stones slammed into him from all sides.
Can't... change... into an animal... I need this... I need this gun... He thought to himself, trying to shake away the pain. He opened his eyes to find a pair of brown feet just in front of him. Looking up, he stared into Tara's face once again, a smug smile betraying her emotions.
"Ahhh, sweet, sweet Garfield. You're making this even more fun than I ever dreamed. Now you get to watch your friends die." She turned around to find Wally gone, ropes of stone sticking out randomly. "What..." she turned back to Beast Boy, her face changed to one of complete anger. "What did you do?" Her first shot out in his direction and a spiral of rock erupted from the ground, slamming into Garfield from behind and pitching him forward. She marched over to his prone body, grabbing him by the neck and hauling him to his knees. "WHAT DID YOU DO?"
Garfield only offered a meek smile. "I made them all disappear, of course." And with that, he slammed a fist into her stomach.
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Raven groaned, her forehead pressing against the cold concrete of the ground, supported by just her hands and knees. The murmur of surprised voice formed a bizarre Orchestral score to the phasing she had just done. She couldn't see them, but all she could do was picture a strange gathering of people intermingling, like some kind of convention. An ex-superheroes convention. She'd laugh if she didn't feel like puking.
A voice wafting into her ears among the din of the voice. "In heaven... everything is fine..." Opening her eyes slowly in a squint, Raven turned her head slowly to the side to barely make out the pink-haired girl sitting cross-legged beside her, singing softly. "In heaven, everything is fine... In heaven, everything is fine... You've got your good things, and I've got mine." Realizing Raven's gaze, Jinx smiled.
"You okay?"
Raven slowly brought herself up until she was resting on her knees. A feeling of nausea swept over her, and she ignored it. "Yeah, just great. Maybe I'll go swim the English Channel after this." She coughed and slowly stood up, Jinx grabbing her arm and helping her out when her knees began to buckle. "I'm okay. Really. Don't worry."
"But I've got to. I wanna get out of here, and you seem to be the best way out."
Raven coughed again, and leaned on Jinx. "Yes, I'm sure." Taking a deep breath, she pushed off. When she didn't fall on her behind, she knew she was going to be fine. Cloaking herself in dark energy, the shape of a raven glowing behind her, she raised herself off of the ground, her voice booming now. "EVERYBODY, PLEASE LISTEN!" When she had their undivided attention, she continued. "We're going to search this basement... sub-basement... wherever this place is... for some kind of hidden passage, or tunnel, or anything. Anything that could lead to the outside world. We've got to move quickly, as they'll be looking for us soon, I imagine. Be prepared for some surprises in the dark, too-- everybody who still has a weapon, you'll lead the way. I suggest we just follow this hallway and then work our way around from there. Everybody okay with that?" When nobody offered an alternative, she gave a sigh of relief. "Alright then, let's move out!"
Like guiding a river, the giant mass of human bodies began to move en masse in one direction. Raven brought up the rear, keeping a close eye behind them in case of any unpleasant ambushes. She was startled out of her thoughts by a now-familiar voice.
"Hey." It was Jinx again.
"Hi. Did somebody find something?"
"Um, no... I, uh, just wanted to talk to you."
"Oh, okay. What about?"
"Well, uh... it's just... some thing's been bothering me."
Raven raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"
"Well... if you could teleport us here, why can't you teleport us outside?"
Raven sighed. "I didn't teleport you here. I phased us all through the floor. There's a difference."
Jinx nodded. "That's not quite my point."
"Mmm, true. Well, to put it simply... Do you have any idea how many of you there are?
"No." Jinx looked like she knew what Raven was going to say next..
"Well, neither do I. But suffice it to say, I think I'd have a stroke if I tried to move this many people at once. It was hard enough just moving us down a couple of a floors."
Jinx nodded again, looking straight ahead this time. "I see..." There was a brief silence as they moved along with the the crowd. "I guess there's much I don't know. I don't really know anything about anyone..." Jinx mumbled. Surprisingly, Raven found that she looked visibly depressed by now.
There's something not quite right with this girl. She thought to herself. Offering a slight smile, she patted Jinx's shoulder softly. Getting the pink-haired girl's attention, Raven tried to brighten her smile. Not an easy task. "Hey, Jinx."
"Yeah."
"That song you were singing earlier... where did you hear it?"
Jinx tried not to giggle. It sounded like a more mature, refined laugh in the end, but she tried so hard no to giggle. "Why, the Lady in the Radiator taught it to me, of course."
Raven stared at Jinx in silence, observing her beaming expression. Then, she burst out laughing, sending Jinx to laugh as well. "Of course! I feel so... stupid..." Raven wasn't even sure why she was laughing. It felt... weird. Alien. But not altogether an unpleasant experience. There's something to be said for the power of laughter.
"Raven!" A voice snapped to duo out of their nonsensical hysteria. Wally appeared before the cloaked figure as if from thin air. "We've found an exit."
"Excellent!" yelled Raven, serious in a flash. "Guide everybody in that direction. I'm going to keep up the rear for now."
He nodded. "Okay, it shall be done." Wally was gone in an instant, and simultaneously, she could feel the people's directional course shifting.
She closed her eyes briefly and let out a sigh of relief before continuing on her way. Thank God, thank Azar... I just hope all this didn't come at the cost of Garfield's life...
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Lt. Frost shivered in the subzero weather, the torrential blizzard pouring snow continuously into his face. He'd been cursing to himself non-stop for almost five minutes now. At least as long as Cpt. Apone had left him waiting outside the van in case he needed any backup. He'd heard nothing yet, which bothered him. Not because he feared anything was wrong with his dear Captain, but because he would have greatly preferred going inside to watching the perimeter.
"Screw it, I'm getting back in the van. I can see plenty from in there." he mumbled to himself, but a familiar voice tore him back towards the blizzard.
"FROST! FROST!" Apone was running at full-tilt. He'd never seen the captain this way. He almost wanted to describe him as being 'scared,' but that wasn't quite it. It was probably the closest the captain would ever be to being scared, though. "They're... they're all dead. Every last cop. Dead."
Frost couldn't believe it. He stared off to the left of the captain as he tried to catch his breath.
"All dead... You remember Fred Pembroke? I went through the academy with him. He's almost missing his head, after what that bastard did."
"So... so now what?"
"We radio it in, of course. We get men down here, comb the area."
"But the game..."
"Fuck your game. Fred's dead."
Frost bit his lip, knowing he was being stupid. "Yeah, you're right. What about the guy we were supposed to find? The priest."
"I didn't see him. I don't think he's here. Looks like he went AWOL."
"Heh. Figures. Probably got scared and..."
"Stop analyzing, and start radioing. I'm going to see if I can find any foot prints or tire tracks. With this fucking weather, we'll be lucky to find anything."
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"How dare you, Garfield Mark Logan?" Her voice was like a sword cutting the air. The accusation in her words cut him so deeply. It felt as if a blade was wedged between his ribs, embedded permanently in his heart.
But he knew he was right. He knew he was making the right decision. "You don't get it, do you? The man... I can barely call him a man. You can't trust him!"
"Oh? Is that so? And what has our glorious mayor ever done that's made him so trustworthy? Nothing. Wilson is a step towards an efficient, accountable government."
"Aren't you forgetting something?"
She rolled her eyes. "Oh, big deal. So he makes an anti-meta comment now and again. So he's a bigot. You're not looking at the big picture. This city is going to shit, Garfield. And here we've got somebody who can bring us back to the way we were. Christ, we're making Gotham look like Disney World with all this crime. Somebody's got to do something. And I think Wilson's the one."
"Haven't you noticed anything ELSE about Wilson's speeches? How is he going to accomplish all of his goals? The mayor can't directly implement half of what he's offering. He needs to work with the council."
"He'll find a way."
"Yeah, with a gun. Wilson is more trouble than good, Tara. Please..." He reached out and grabbed her hand. She didn't pull away. They'd been sitting screaming at one another from across the dining room table for what had felt to be ages. It was probably an hour at best. "I'm not saying this to hurt you. I'm not insulting you, I'm not saying you're stupid. But we're Metahumans. It's naive to think his offhanded anti-Meta comments are harmless. Men like Wilson are dangerous. Somebody will figure out a way to save this city. Please, please, please, though... don't think it'll be Wilson. Don't work for him."
Tara looked at her dinner plate. Three stray fries remained uneaten, bathed completely in ketchup. She felt Garfield squeeze her hand softly once, twice, three times. She didn't bother to look up. "I need this job, Garfield. You know how things are. But more importantly, I know Wilson. I know him! He's bigoted, sure... but it's just one aspect of his personality. He's so... suave, and powerful, and charismatic, and fascinating... And smart. He's so smart. You've just got to listen to him to believe in him. "
Garfield ripped his hand away and groaned. "Listen to yourself! Tara: YOU ARE A META! He's just pretending to like you, or you haven't told him, or whatever... He's just telling you what you want to hear! You're scum to him. You're shit to him! Fuck his charisma..."
Tara stood up so quickly her chair fell over, landing against the oven with a loud CLANG. "No, fuck you, Garfield Logan." She walked over to the counter, grabbed her keys, and marched out of the apartment, slamming the door as loudly as possible in the process.
Garfield sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. "Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. Where am I headed?"
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"FREEZE asshole! One more step and we'll blow your fuckin' head off!" a platoon of soldiers had materialized behind Beast Boy suddenly as he hauled his fist back for another blow. Tara was groaning and trying to regain her senses. Slowly Garfield raised his hands in the air and placed them behind his head.
Tara slowly looked up, gazing in his eyes with hatred. "Did that make you feel like a man?" She followed up her question by striking him violently in the stomach, causing him to cry out and fall to the ground. She strolled over to the platoon's sergeant with a cocky smile on her face as the rest of the platoon proceeded to bind Garfield's hands and feet, placing a small, battery powered energy dampening collar around his neck in the process. "Thanks. I coulda handled him, but we can't waste time on creeps like him. I've got my orders."
"So we heard."
She nodded. "Well, better neutralize him..."
"Oh! Sorry, ma'am!" The sergeant saluted when she sent a death glare in the young man's direction. "We've got orders to bring this one in alive."
Tara stared at the man with a curious expression. "Oh? And who gave these orders?"
"Citizen X, ma'am."
Tara jerked back in surprise, then bowed instinctively. "Yes, well, of course. What's going to happen to our green friend then?" Her thumb jerked harshly in his direction.
The sergeant fought very hard not to smile. "He's to be delivered to Colonel Booth, ma'am. For... intense interrogation."
Tara shook her head. "Col. Booth? Really?"
"Yes, ma'am."
Tara chuckled to herself. "Poor bastard." She breathed deeply and then slapped the soldier on the shoulder. "Well, I'm behind schedule." And with that, she split open the floor and proceeded towards the basement.
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Red X handed Cyborg the binoculars as the trio lay low on the snow covered hill, small flakes pelting them mercilessly. "Well, there it is."
Cyborg looked into the glasses and, sure enough, a run-of-the-mill National Guard base lay at the foot of the hill before them. "Damn, X. You're a dangerous man to know." He said, handing the binoculars off to Starfire, who examined the base.
X nodded. "I'll take that as a compliment."
"So... if I am to understand this, we are to simply walk into the base, and take the weapons we need?"
"You are correct, Kori."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa..." Cyborg sighed. "I'm sorry, I can't..." Cy trailed off when something seemed to be moving behind them. He rolled over quickly and stared intently into the unyielding snowfall.
Red X seemed to be nothing but a solid tense muscle. "What? What is it?"
Sure enough, directly behind them, as plain as if seen on a sunny day, was a small green boy. He appeared to be sitting cross-legged in the snow, impervious to the deluge. It was the familiar Beast Boy Cy had come to love, his single fang poking out of his mouth, his purple-and-white uniform fitting him snugly. No cigarette dangling from his lips and curses pouring from his mouth. Cy's mouth dropped as he watched him. Beast Boy didn't move a muscle, he simply stared straight ahead. His face radiated a depressed feeling, like he'd just been sentenced to death. Just as quickly as he saw him, he was gone. Only the blowing snow remained.
"Cyborg? Victor? Are you alright?" asked Starfire, her hand on his shoulder.
Cy nodded slowly. "Y-yeah, I'm... I'm okay."
Even with his mask on, Cyborg knew Red X was watching him intently, looking for any sign of weakness. "What did you see?"
Cy looked into the snow one more time before rolling over again. "Nothing. I thought I saw somebody. It must've... just been my eyes playing tricks on me." Red X watched Cyborg silently. "What?"
X shook his head slowly. "Nothing."
"Alright... now, you're telling me we're going to just walk in and take those weapons?"
"More or less, yes..."
Cyborg sighed loudly in frustration. "Okay... You haven't steered me wrong yet."
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Raven stood silently observing as, slowly but surely, the prisoners made their way into the small hole in the wall into the tunnel. It seemed as thought it was taking forever, countless bodies pressing inside at an agonizingly slow pace. She sighed and glanced to her left. In her peripheral vision, sure enough, was the pink-haired girl who'd attached herself firmly by her side.
I didn't really want a "fan" right now. She thought absently to herself.
A few minutes passed by, and finally they seemed to be down at only a dozen or so people. She turned around to face Jinx, trying to initiate some sort of small-talk.
"We're almost there. Are you... excited?"
Jinx nodded emphatically. "Oh, yes! I'm about ready to pop from all of this anxiety."
Raven grinned slightly. "Mmhmm. I can imagine." Their reverie was interrupted by a slight shaking in the ground. The shaking gave way to tremors, and it seemed to be building even further. "Oh, no..."
An odd expression passed over Jinx's face. "That's not an earthquake, is it?"
Raven bit her lip and tried not to swear. "No, I wouldn't bet on it." She began to shove people through the hole, two at a time, roughly but not excessively violent. C'mon, c'mon, c'mon... get out of here!! Get out of here before she...
The ceiling seemed to open up as though it were made of sand, and the brown-costumed blond from before slowly lowered herself in front of Raven. She had a wry grin on her face, greatly contrasted with Raven's deep scowl.
"This was easier than I thought. The only trouble was finding you."
"Yes, well... you're too late. The others must be half-way to Jump City by now," Raven lied hoping she was as dumb as she looked.
Tara laughed. "Oh, you're the funny one, I see. Unlike Garfield."
Something snapped inside Raven like an electric spark, leaping up her spine and causing her to lose control for just a moment. "What did you do to Garfield?" she demanded, regaining control shortly afterwards.
"Garfield? Fat orange cat, eats pasta?"
Raven felt like she could have spat acid at this point. "You know who I mean."
"Riiiight, Garfield Logan. Mmmm. My "ex," if you want to get really technical. Garfield's fine. He's meeting with an old friend of the "family." Frank Booth. Col. Frank Booth."
Jinx clenched her fist absently at the mention of the name. It meant nothing to Raven, but she had a good feeling he wasn't the nicest guy on the block. A thought briefly flickered across her subconscious: What the hell is Jinx still doing here?
Tara sighed. "As much as I like irritating you people with your self-righteous "the world owes me a living" dogma, I believe I have some more important business to attend to." Raising her hand slowly, a column of earth erupted beneath Raven's feeling, spinning continuously, slamming her into the ceiling. Crying out in pain, Raven was barely able to summon a shield to protect herself, the swirling malestrom of loose earth pressing her tightly against the concrete above, restricting her movement.
"Bitch!" cried Jinx, taking a step towards Tara.
Tara looked at the pink-haired creature and shook her head. "Whatever you're thinking of calling me, I've heard it before. So please don't offend me with a limited imagination."
"Put her down or I'll fuck-start your head!"
Tara blinked, and an eyebrow slowly raised. "Well, okay, so that's a new one." Pointing in Jinx's direction, a chunk of stone erupted from behind her, launching like a meteor towards Jinx. Screaming like a cat from hell, Jinx lept into the air, sending three pink bolts towards the rock, shattering it into pieces. A fourth bolt followed, slamming into Tara, tossing her into a nearby wall and causing her to lose control of the earth-tornado, sending Raven stumbling towards the floor. The pale mystic slowly stood up, shielding herself and her ally.
"You did that, right?"
Jinx slapped her hands on her hips. "Dearie, dearie... have confidence!"
Raven turned back towards Tara, who was getting up, visibly shaken. "Give it up, Tara. We've got you outnumbered."
Tara casually brushed some dust off of her shoulder, a look of hatred in her eyes. "Blah, blah, blah... Are you going to bark all day, little doggie... or are you going to bite?"
Eyes glowing red, Raven levitated some debris, as Tara began doing the shame. Ready for battle, they surged towards one another, ready to end it once and for all.
Raven lept to the side, launching a volley of stone and concrete towards Tara, the geomancer countering by smashing them with stones of her own. Rocks zoomed past Raven, missing her by centimetres each time.
A pink bolt startled Raven as it flew past her head, missing Tara and hitting the entrance to the tunnel, collapsing it completely now, sealing it effortlessly in a blanket of dirt. She glanced behind her at Jinx, who seemed to be bouncing all over the place, ready for an all-out confrontation.
She looks like she's been waiting for this for years. She's not doing anything defensive, she's not trying to find cover. She just wants all-out destruction of her enemy, no matter the cost. Raven thought to herself a little worriedly. This girl isn't just weird... she's insane. This Lady in the Radiator stuff, and now this. She almost wants to die.
Raven turned around just in time to dodge a large chunk of ceiling, her shield just barely summoned in time to avoid her skull being caved in. She attempted to levitate more stones, but Tara crushed them into pebbles as she tried to do it.
"I have power over the earth, moron. Try again."
Raven smirked. "All right then." Concentrating, she began to mumble under her breath. Azarath... metrion... zinthos! A loose collection of metals, steel rods and other odds and ends behind Tara began to vibrate, finally erupting forward spontaneously in her direction. Crying out in surprise, Tara stumbled to the ground, covering herself with a stone shield, a large saw blade embedding in the protective earth. Whispering those words again, Raven regained control of the steel objects.
Tara exploded from behind her shield, dodging the second wave of metal attacks. A pink bolt hit her square in the chest as she tried to destroy Raven's weapons, causing her to trip and slam face first into a wall.
Atta girl... Raven thought to herself, sending a welcoming smile in her allies' direction. Jinx's face was devoid of all emotion now, her entire concentration focused on defeating her enemy. Raven looked back at the groaning Tara, blood streaking down the side of her face from an open gash on her forehead.
Raven sighed and began to scream. "Give it up! You're a meta, dammit! Why are you doing this?"
Blood dripped off of the side of Tara's face as she gave the mystic a sneer she would never forget. "Why? Why? Why?" she grit her teeth and clenched her fists. A startled yelp erupted from behind Raven, who turned around in time to see Jinx being sucked into the ground, pulled under by quicksand. Releasing her control on the steel weapons, Raven focused all of her energy on pulling her friend out of the dirt. The anger on Tara's side was much too strong, and within seconds, Jinx was completely covered beneath the dirt. Only a lopsided bump showed where she was buried.
Tara slowly stepped forward as Raven clawed helplessly at the soft earth. "Because I can. You don't know what this is like. I was powerless--figuratively speaking, of course--until these people let me take control. They showed me that with the right group of people behind you, you can do anything you want. And I can, Raven. I can do anything I want. Anything."
Raven closed her eyes, her head limp against her shoulders. "Can you resurrect the dead?"
Tara scoffed, a tight chuckle escaping her lips. "Come on. Be reasonable."
The mystic's eyes glowed a malvolent red now as they shot open, her head swirling towards Tara's direction. "Then you can't do anything you want, now can you?" She declared with a bellowing shout, a large metal rod shooting from the wall, colliding with the side of Tara's head, sending her tumbling towards the ground, a large red gash painted widely across her face, from the right side of her skull and across her forehead, coming to a terminus by her left ear. She groaned lowly on the ground, her voice like a wounded animal. She opened her eyes to find herself enmeshed in dark energy.
"Raven... come on... you're... a peaceful woman..."
Raven was levitating almost two feet off of the floor at this point, four red eyes peaking out from behind her cloak. Wordlessly, she drifted closer to the trapped woman before her.
"Raven... you... you... What are you...?"
"Azarath... Metrion..."
Groggy, Tara clutched her head, trying to regain her strength. "What the hell does that even mean...?"
"ZINTHOS!" The shadow of a large dark bird erupted from behind Raven upon finishing her mantra, soaring across the room and enveloping Tara completely. With a brief flash, both the bird and the girl were gone.
Lowering herself to the floor, the pale figure's eyes slowly faded back to normal. Worry overtaking her once slack features, she turned back towards the lump in the floor, a lump she hoped was not a shallow grave. Using her powers, she began to rip clumps of earth from the ground, until finally a limp body was revealed. Running over, Raven took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, checking for a pulse.
Quiet and faint, she finally felt it. The soft beating of a wounded heart. Although she would not allow herself to celebrate, she did permit herself a very wide smile. Repeating her mantra one more time, the duo disappeared in a flash, reappearing miles outside of the prison, in the middle of a small field. Figthing off a massive migraine, Raven slumped down into the snow, using as much energy as she could muster to form a protective shield for the duo from the blizzard raging before them. After a few minutes, Jinx finally opened her eyes, offering a slight smile.
"Raven... What..."
"It's okay. We're safe."
"I think I just had a near death experience."
"I think we all did."
"Fair enough. Uh... what happened to...?"
"Tara? She'll live. If you can call that living." They both smiled at that. The duo was startled by the sound of crunching footsteps in the snow. Emerging from a nearby gathering of trees was...
"Wally?" Raven raised an eyebrow.
"You girls need a hand?"
"Well, sure. But... how'd you find us?"
"Somebody saw some light over here from the farmhouse. It's just on that hill, see?" He gestured, and low and behold, the farmhouse stood, just barely, on the crest of a nearby hill.
Raven sighed once more, with relief this time. "We made it." He slipped a hand into the snow on the ground and slowly made a fist. "We made it..." she whispered one more time, trying her best not to think about anything at all and just live in one of the few happy moments she'd felt in a very long time.
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The spiraling, empty beer bottle soared past the television, crashing into the wall and shattering. Bits of glass rained down onto the floor. One more fucking thing to clean up... Garfield thought to himself sadly, a fresh, full beer bottle already in his hands. Shaking his head, he took a long pull from the bottle before changing the channel, what he'd set out to do originally.
After a good twenty minutes of watching some French film about poor people living in a housing project after a riot, Garfield allowed himself another smoke. So much for quitting. He thought to himself, sighing as he lit his cigarette. Mere moments after taking his first puff, a soft knock at the door tore Garfield from the moment he was sharing with a stick of tobacco. Noting that it was a commercial, he slowly raised himself to his feet, wobbling a bit from the drink. Stumbling forward, he finally reached the door, and opened it quickly, forgetting the chain was in the door, a loud CLANK and the rough jolt on his arm reminding him of this fact.
"FUCK!" he shouted, much louder than originally intended, the chain slowly sliding off as the door opened fully, revealing the midnight caller.
Tara stood there, looking at the floor, biting her lip. "You've been drinking?"
Garfield coughed. "Yeah, you could say that." Silence. "So, uh, yeah, wanna come in. This movie just started..."
She nodded, and drifted into the room, pulling out a chair from the dining room table and falling into it. Shrugging, Garfield closed the door and moved back to the sofa, sitting down next to his lit cigarette. They sat in silence, staring not at one another, but at the contents of an apartment they both knew intimately. As the movie came back on, Garfield muted and attempted to continue the conversation.
"So... Uh... Look, we might as well just talk about it. Sitting here and saying nothing is driving me crazy."
Tara shifted uneasily. "I don't know if I would have put it that way... but, yeah, I know what you mean." She scratched her arm awkwardly and continued before he could speak. "Garfield... You're very important to me. And I want you to know that if it was anybody else, I'd have put a thousand miles between us by now. But... it just didn't seem right with you. I mean, yeah, you hurt me. You treated me like some child who didn't know what she was doing. I'm not a child, Garfield. And as much as it hurt to be treated with such a condescending tone, I... I just couldn't stop thinking about you."
"I have that effect on women, sure," Garfield noted, letting out a chuckle his heart clearly wasn't into. "Sorry..."
"It's okay." She laid a hand softly on his forearm, and they smiled together, still avoiding eye contact. "You've... you've got to understand. I know what I'm doing. I've survived this long by myself; I didn't do that through sheer luck. Trust me. This will all work out for the best in the end." She began to press herself forward into his chest, brushing her hair against his cheek and smiling coyly. "Let's put all this behind us, and move forward." She slowly brought her face to his, a surreal expression on her face, her lips pursed in preparation for an obvious kiss. "I can see our future together, Garfield. We're both done school, and working... And we've got a nice little house just outside of town. Hosting parties. We'll finally have what we deserve. Everybody will get what they deserve in the end." Eyes closed, she pressed forward and brought her lips to his. They shared a passionate kiss as he grasped the side of her head.
Something deep in the back of Garfield Logan's mind told him to toss her outside at that very moment, to slam the door, lock it, and never look outside again. She was offering him nothing but a world of torment and pain, and for a reason he couldn't quite grasp, he was willingly, mindlessly accepting it. She opened her eyes a little and saw the hesitant look on his face. Not liking what she saw, she frowned and pushed away slowly.
"What is it? What's wrong?"
"This... this future... How much of it comes from the mind of Slade Wilson?"
"Oh, oh no. This is my vision, Garfield Logan. This is my vision of the future."
Feeling remorseful and stupid, the green young man was mentally kicking himself as he started to apologise.
Before he could say anything, she continued. "Wilson will ensure we have that future, yes. But it is my vision in the end."
Garfield's jaw dropped, and the alarm bells in the back of his mind went off once again. "I... I can't do this. I'm sorry. I'd love to just stop thinking and go along with you. But I can't. I just can't."
He saw Tara's eyes mist up once again for just a few seconds before a hard, angry expression poured over her face. "You... you just can't let that go, can you? You're just going to let semantics get in the way of our future together?"
Garfield paused once again, incredibly confused. He turned to the TV, where three teenage boys were examining a gun one of them had found. He sighed. "I just can't do it, Tara. I love you. But I've got to look at the big picture."
"Wilson is..."
"... A politician, yes, I know. Semantics or not, his way of thinking is... too dangerous for me."
Tara said nothing. She bit her lip absently, and shook her head slowly. "If you can't trust him, and you can't trust me. I guess... this is it, then."
A pain settling into his stomach, Garfield nodded. "I guess so."
She stepped towards him carefully and planted a kiss on his mouth. What was originally intended to be a peck exploded, and several seconds later they both pulled away, smiling sheepishly.
"One of us is going to live to regret this, you know." She added, and began to walk back towards the door.
"Keep your eyes on the big picture, Tara."
"I am, Garfield. It's you I'm worried about. If you ever change your mind, and want to know what it's like to experience complete control... you know where to find me. Good-bye."
"Good-bye, Tara."
With that, she walked out of his life, seemingly forever. He sighed deeply and slumped down onto the couch once again, returning to the French movie. He sucked in all of his pain, trying to forget everything he had just felt. He hoped to turn it into just the fossils of the past, harmless shells of an experience. But as the movie rolled on and the need for another drink grew exponentially, her words continued to echo within his mind.
"One of us is going to live to regret this, you know."
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A low, persistent humming brought Beast Boy back to reality, jarring him roughly from the uneasy slumber of his unconscious state. His mouth tasted of dirt and a strange chemical. His eyes slowly blinked open, and a harsh yellow light caused him to groan. His head ached dully, a burgeoning migraine leaving him with the sinking feeling that the worst was yet to come. His last memories before being knocked unconscious certainly didn't add any levity.
Once he recovered his wits, he noted immediately that he was strapped into a bed. Quickly following was the disheartening realization that a collar was fastened snugly around his neck, dampening his powers and leaving him completely helpless. He slowly glimpsed around the room, craning his neck as much as possible, pushing against the straps and the tight metal collar. The low humming was a generator only a few feet away. The light was a single bare bulb, just strong enough to illuminate the room he was in. The more he examined it, the more Beast Boy realized he wasn't inside a building anymore. It appeared to be a tent.
Low voices rumbled just outside the flap across the room. With the hum of the generator, Beast Boy couldn't make out anything that they were saying, or even if they were male or female. It was just a monotonous gibberish. He sighed and shook his head slowly, trying to figure out what, if anything, he could do. His thoughts began to whirl, dark ideas crawling into his head. I hope Raven and the group at least made out OK. I'd hate to think... Beast Boy's mind drifted off, too terrified to continue that train of thought.
The flap of the tent zipped open suddenly, and a stocky man in an immaculately well-kempt military uniform strode in, a scowl etched firmly on his face. His eyes narrowed as he noted Beast Boy's eyes firmly locked on his.
Although he didn't think it was possible, the soldier's scowl furrowed even deeper. "What are you looking at?" He barked, his voice reminding him of the bark of a pitbull Beast Boy had encountered when he was younger.
Looking at the man's feet, Beast Boy let out a soft "Nothing."
The harsh voice exploded once again. "Don't you look at me, fuck!" His tone was like a razor's edge, jolting Beast Boy and causing him to look at the ceiling directly above him, as far away from the man as possible. He could barely make out the man's next words, a simply whisper. "I shoot when I see the whites of the eyes."
Swallowing, Garfield tried to remain calm. He could hear the man trodding towards him. The man stood over him within seconds, looking him over from head to toe, like he was a captured marlin or a trophy buck. The feeling made Beast Boy's skin begin to crawl.
"So, you think you're pretty tough, huh, neighbour?" Beast Boy said nothing in reply, lying as still as possible. He felt his hands begin to shake. "Tough as nails, eh? I could respect that. If it were true, that is." The man moved to the end of the bed, grabbing a pair of pliers from a toolbox on the ground. "You probably don't know me. But my name is Frank. And you and I, we're going to get to know each other tonight. Real well. But the time we're done here, we're gonna be just like old friends."
Beast Boy again said nothing, trying hard not to shake uncontrollably.
The man spoke again. "I guess you have a real history out there with blondie. Lucky you. A little young for me, but... well, never mind that." He noted the look of terror on his captive's face. Dropping the plier's suddenly, Col. Booth stomped towards Beast Boy's head, leaning down so close he could smell his breath. It reeked of beer.
"Lemme just get down to business. I want to know everything. EVERYTHING! I wanna know where your friends are hiding, what they're doing right now, what they eat, how they breath, where they shit. EVERYTHING! If your leader has a limp, you will tell me. If that ghostly bitch that escaped likes to sit on the dryer, YOU WILL FUCKING TELL ME. And you wanna know why?" Beast Boy's eyes were as wide as plates. "I asked you a fucking question, dickhead! Do you wanna know why?" Beast Boy nodded slowly, the collar digging into his adam's apple. "I'm glad you asked." Without any warning, the Colonel unholstered his pistol, drew back the hammer and pressed it hard into Garfield's forehead.
"Because if you don't, I'll have to send you a love letter! Straight from my heart, fucker! You know what a love letter is?" Beast Boy shook his head violently, sweat pouring from his face as he began to hyperventilate. Booth pushed the barrel of the gun into Beast Boy's temple now, causing him to wince in pain. Ignoring his victim's discomfort, Col. Booth continued, his own face contorted into some vicious death mask. "It's a bullet from a fucking gun, fucker! You receive a love letter from me, and you're fucked forever! You understand, fuck? I'll send you straight to hell, fucker!" He put his gun slowly to the side of his own head, grunting as he did so and offering a twisted expression. He pulled the trigger of the gun suddenly, and with a loud, metallic CLACK revealed the gun to have been empty the entire time. Booth reholstered his weapon slowly, staring directly into the eyes of the terrified young man before him. Then, placing his hands around Beast Boy's jaw, he began to playfully slap his face, whispering menacingly as he did so. "In dreams... I walk with you. In dreams... I talk to you. In dreams, you're mine... all the time. Forever."
The Colonel took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, closing his eyes as he did so. He released his grip on the captive's throat and cracked his knuckles. He walked over to a nearby table very quietly, and picked up a silver canister. Bringing tubing from the ending of the canister to his mouth, Col. Booth breathed in deeply, once, twice, three times, then four. He grit his teeth and closed his eyes, and finally opened them after what had to have been a minute. With that, he looked Beast Boy right in the eyes. "In dreams, you're mine... all the time. Forever. Let's play, neighbour."
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TO BE CONTINUED... in Chapter 11, "To Tread On Kings."
A quick note on Frank Booth, I suppose. Booth is the antagonist of David Lynch's 1986 film Blue Velvet. I highly recommend checking it out if you like a good psychological thriller. It's really bizarre, and Booth as a villain just steals the show. His "love letter" speech was just so creepy I had to pay homage to it. He was just character I pictured to be the torture specialist who Beast Boy now has to face. It's not a crossover per se, no. Just a bit of fun.
On one last amusing note, this is what I wrote at the end of Chapter 9: "Chapter 10 will likely be shorter than this one, and should be up soon." Whoops!