Chapter Twelve: Screams Breaking Silence
Robin was on nerve's end after Slade's little display, but he didn't show it. Slade knew about Em. Em was in danger. But he didn't tell her. He didn't want her to worry. Robin had begun to spend prolonged periods of time in his room again. Starfire was stopping outside his door for brief moments again. Silence settled over the Tower again. The only one who didn't understand was Em.
One rainy afternoon, the Tower was beyond quiet. Beast Boy and Cyborg were in Beast Boy's room playing video games. Raven was meditating on her own. Starfire and Robin were shut in their respective rooms. Em was meditating in front of the windows in the main room.
Em felt a sudden pain jolt through her head. She was hovering cross-legged three feet from the ground and fell to the floor. She pushed herself onto her hands and knees, breathing hard. The pain in her head was incredible. She began to sweat. Her strength was being drained by some unknown force.
"What… what's happening?!" she gasped, her eyes widening as it became harder to breathe. She looked up at the rainy windows and screamed. There was someone there, staring at her.
Raven sensed something wrong immediately after Em fell to the floor. She stood up quickly and closed her eyes, trying to figure out what she had felt. Then she heard the scream.
Robin had been pouring over recent theft reports when he heard Em scream. He raced to the door of his room. When he reached the closed door to the main room, he found the other Titans already there. The door had locked itself. Starfire was pounding on it as Cyborg tried to reset the access code.
Em was staring up into a face she had only seen plastered to the walls of Robin's room. A frightful mask gazed down at her through the glass. The man was standing on some sort of hover board, rain streaming down his shoulders. He was holding a small device in one hand. Em assumed that little transmitter had been sapping her strength.
The man broke the window without warning. Em's fire element took over, trying to call on her last reserves of strength. "Get away!" she shouted angrily, eyes flashing with rage. She heard Starfire screaming her name, pounding on the door of the main room.
Starfire slammed her fists against the door over and over. They heard a window shatter and Starfire stopped pounding to listen. They heard Em shouting, her voice deeper than usual.
Raven understood immediately. "Her fire element. Em's in grave danger!" she shouted.
Em's fire element was gaining power over her mind. She was losing control. Her anger was taking up her strength too fast. Em tried desperately to switch back to normal form. But she wasn't strong enough. Fire was taking over.
Em kept fighting, but it was too late. As the masked man took a step toward her, fire dominated completely. At that moment, Em lost control.