Chapter twelve: A few Elements
They all took the criminal to the jail cells in the basement of the tower. Robin told everyone to leave while he questioned him. They did so, and everyone else went back to the living room for a bit of rest.
Jason was exceedingly proud of himself for this. All the rest were pretty amazed as well. Congratulations were coming from everyone. Starfire even made here celebratory dish just for him, although there were clear signs this shouldn't be eaten. Terra was especially proud of him for some reason.
"Well done Spark!" she said, "Only your first mission and you caught the bad guy, that's really good. I didn't catch my first bad guy for days after I joined up."
"Don't let it get to your head." Raven added.
"Oh just ignore her, she doesn't know how to congratulate people." Terra said with an evil look toward Raven.
Raven merely walked away.
"Well, I gotta hand it to Robin. This mask is incredible. I probably would be dead now without it." Jason said looking over his new toy.
"Now all you need is a costume to go with it!" Beastboy said, "Wait here, I got some extra you can try out."
Beastboy left the room to fetch his spare costumes. Cyborg was motioning to the door for Jason to run. Just then, Robin entered.
"Hey Jason, that's your criminal down there, so why don't you go keep an eye on him for awhile." Robin said.
"Yeah, sure, I guess." Jason said.
Everyone gave him one last congrats and Beastboy just entered the room when Jason exited, tears were swelling in his eyes as he struggled to hold the large load of laundry. Terra and Raven sat on opposite ends of the couch, exchanging some evil glances. Robin immediately noticed, but decided to stay out of it. What ever was going on between those two was their business. Besides, he knew better than to get in the way of Raven.
Jason made his way to the jail cells. It was a long distance and he nearly got lost a few times when the halls started to look identical. Eventually he did make it to the jail however, and in lay the man from before. Jason grabbed the stool that sat next to the cell and sat down facing the prisoner.
"Hey" Jason said.
No response.
" So, what's your name?"
Jason realized then he should probably keep his identity secret still, but noticed he had left his mask all the way upstairs. The prisoner was now looking at his unmasked face. He tried not to flinch.
"Huh, you look different in casual clothes." the prisoner said.
"You're friend thinks I shouldn't see your faces though. You don't listen to him?"
"Actually I forg… ummm yeah stupid rule I think." Jason tried not to make himself look new or weak.
"Don't worry about it, not like I'm going to do anything to you. To be honest, I shouldn't even be here."
"What makes you say that? We did after all catch you robbing a bank."
"Yeah, I shouldn't have been robbing that bank. I was forced to."
"How so?"
"I was in the wrong place at the wrong time."
The two continued talking for a few minutes before they came to the reason they were both here.
"Must be coincidence," Jason said, "You being here to get revenge on the people who killed your mother, me being here because I killed my parents. Both of us just having some bad circumstances happening to us."
"Coincidence, I'm not so sure. Maybe we were meant to be here."
"I'm not the believer type, so I find that hard to believe. Regardless, we are both here, and from what you said, I don't think you are such a bad guy. Perhaps a bit misguided, but not bad. By the way, how'd you make those explosions and fireballs?"
"It's a long story. Suffice to say, I was born with the ability. How about you?"
"I don't really know. I was told either I came into contact with radiation or something, or I too was born with it. It only decided to really manifest recently. Or perhaps I just started taking notice of it, anyway I have my powers, and that's all that matters. You still haven't given me your name."
"Just call me Cinder."
"Cinder, what kind of name is that?"
"What kind of name is Spark?"
They both laughed at this. Robin came in just then.
"You forgetting something?" Robin said with a scowl as he handed Jason his mask.
"We never reveal our identities to our enemies."
"It's not like I have anything to lose by doing so." Jason retorted, "besides, he still doesn't know my name so we're still good.
"We'll talk later. I'm relieving you." Robin said.
Jason walked past him and made his way back up to the living room. No one was here. Jason assumed everyone was resting. He wasn't very tired, and so made his way to the roof to simply relax and meditate. When he got there, Raven was already doing just that. It was now in the after noon, and the sun was hovering over the horizon. Jason sat down next to Raven.
"Didn't we agree to meditate together?" Jason said with a smile.
"So we did." Raven said without a movement.
The two remained perfectly still for the next few minutes. It was peaceful and quiet. Then Jason started seeing some strange images in his mind. He could see a group of people standing together. He couldn't make any faces except one. The middle person was himself. The rest however, were mere silhouettes. Two of them almost looked like Raven and Terra, but he couldn't be sure. Jason was interrupted by something slimy and smelly hitting the back of his head. His eyes jolted open.
"STANK BALL!" Cyborg and Beastboy yelled in unison behind him. He turned around and collected the mass of dirty laundry and held it in his hand, then stood up.
"Well that was unpleasant." Jason said, "Take this!"
The ball flew straight at Beastboy's head, but he dodged it. Instead, it continued past him to hit Cyborg, who was hiding behind Beastboy. Raven stood up next to Jason.
"Alright, now I'm annoyed. I'm on Jason's team, and it's payback time." she said with an evil grin and grabbing the mass of laundry with her dark power.
"Now now Raven, we can talk about this!" Cyborg pleaded.
"Run away!" Beastboy cried as he took off back toward the door.
The roof seemed to explode with laundry as Raven threw the ball with full forced at the two. The smell was intolerable.
