Chapter Eleven

Road To Redemption

Cyborg sat in his room waiting for Raven and Starfire. They helped him with the T-Car, so now he had to tell them about his nightmares and why they stopped. So while he waited for them, he searched the Internet for some sports memorabilia. He wasn't very successful there. The most interesting thing he found was a foot-ball signed by Steve Young, but he already had one of those. Everything else he found was the sports epitome of crap, and weren't worth the material they were made from. Letting out a sigh of boredom, he looked at the clock in the lower-right hand of his computer.

"Man," he said. "It's almost eleven. Where are those two?"

Almost as if it were on cue, a knock came to his door. He shut off his computer and headed for the door. It slid open when he pressed the button, and sure enough both Raven and Starfire were standing side by side. Both were each dressed in their day-time clothing, implying that neither of them were sleeping.

"We are here," said Starfire.

"Alright," said Cyborg. "Come on in and have a seat."

Raven and Starfire entered the room, the door closing behind them. Raven sat on Cyborg's old and decrepit couch while Starfire simply floated in the air in a sitting position. Raven crossed her arms, and Starfire put her hands on her knees. Cyborg then went back to his desk.

"Alright then," he said as he opened a drawer at his desk. "First off, this is why my nightmares stopped. Where is it...okay, here it is."

Cyborg removed a white medicine container with a Wayne Enterprises logo on it, roughly the size of a cologne bottle. He gently tossed it towards Raven, who caught it with both hands. She observed the container, and realized what they were.

"Sleeping pills..." she said with a curved lower lip. "No wonder your nightmares just suddenly stopped."

"What?" said Starfire with her head cocked slightly to the side. "I do not understand. How is it that pills that cause slumber would hold mares of the night at bay?"

"Read the warning label..." Raven said flatly as she tossed the bottle to Starfire. Starfire caught the container and proceeded to read.

"Warning," she said aloud. "Continuos use may cause side-effects such as nausea, head-aches, dry mouth, and..."

Starfire's arms went limp, and her face grew a look so flat that it rivaled one of Raven's stone-faced looks as it dawned on her.

"Suppression of dreams..." she finished.

"Exactly," said Cyborg.

Starfire opened the bottle to see what the tablets looked like. They were simple, white tablets that looked like breath mints. In fact, they looked exactly like the sugar-pills that Beast Boy had to take due to the severe lack of protein in his diet...

"That's why my nightmares stopped," said Cyborg. "I got sick of being so drag-ass tired all the time, so I bought those to help me sleep and get rid of my bad dreams. Because the fact of the matter is, I don't want to dream anymore, and-"

It was then Cyborg noticed that Starfire was leaving.

"Starfire?" Cyborg said in confusion. "Where you heading?"

"Oh," said Starfire as she turned around to face Cyborg, an innocent smile on her face. "Do forgive me and my current lack of manners, but I am afraid that the forces of nature are calling out to me. I must visit the lavatory, and I shall return shortly. And Cyborg? You may continue the story without my presents here."

With that said, Starfire left. However, neither Raven nor Cyborg realized that she took the medicine container with her...

"So," said Raven. "What about what happens in your nightmares?"

"First off," said Cyborg, his voice going dark and low. "It's not a nightmare. It's a memory. A very bad memory at that. It's of my last day being human, and it makes or last battle with Slade look like a walk in the park. It's that bad..."

There was a long, uncomfortable silence at what Cyborg said. Raven wasn't sure what was more of a discomfort; the silence, or the spring in the couch poking her in the butt. Finally, after a few minutes of dead quiet, Starfire returned.

"I apologize, friend Cyborg," she said as she held the medicine container, slightly embarrassed. "But I did not realize that I still held on to your pills of inducing slumber..."

"It's okay, Star," said Cyborg. "Just set it on the table there."

Starfire did as instructed, and sat next to Raven on the not-so-comfy couch.

"So," said Raven. "Could you tell us about your nightmares now?"

Cyborg knew that this part was coming. He was afraid of it, but he knew that he had to explain it sooner or later. He didn't like it, but it had to be done. He took a deep breath, and decided to start from the top.

"Okay," he said. "It all starts-"

Cyborg's words were cut off by the intruder alert alarm, almost as if fate had conspired to never let Cyborg explain himself. Raven rolled her eyes, knowing that at this rate she'd never find out about his dreams. While Cyborg was relieved for the moment, he knew sooner or later he'd have to explain it sooner or later.

"Oh, come on!" he said in frustration. "Don't bad guys have anything better to do than bother us in the middle of the freaking night?"

"Apparently not," Raven said dully.

"Titans!" Robin's voice said over the intercom. "Big trouble! Get to the living room, now!"

Without hesitation, Cyborg, Raven, and Starfire each ran out of the door and raced to the living room. As they ran down the corridor, (Starfire flew,) they each wondered who it was that broke into the tower. When they made it to the living room, both Robin and Ricochet were waiting for them. Ricochet was pounding buttons on the computer observing the surveillance cameras while Robin watched. Beast Boy didn't make it there yet. Either that, or he was sleeping through the alarm. That thought was cast aside, when a half-dressed Beast Boy came fumbling into the room.

"What did I miss?" said Beast Boy, hoping on one foot while tying his shoe.

"What's going on?" said Cyborg.

"Something broke into the tower," said Robin as he looked at his teammates. "And judging from the giant hole that used to be the main entrance, I'd say that whatever's here isn't human..."

At first, there was a silence as each Titan looked at each other, mentally asking themselves who it could be. Was it Atlas? Could it be Fang? Was the Puppet Master back, or was Soto looking for a new pet?

Finally, Starfire broke the silence.

"Have you had any success in discovering the identity of the intruder?" she said.

"I'm working on it, I'm working it!" said Ricochet as he increased his typing speed. "The cameras are malfunctioning! Every time something gets close, they go to static. It's driving me crazy!"

Just then, the power went down and the lights shut off. The computer screen went blank as well.

"Perfect..." grumbled Ricochet as his shoulders went limp, standing up afterwards.

"Dude!" said Beast Boy as he looked around frantically. "Who shut the lights off?"

Raven had no idea what was going on herself. Her guess was as good as anyone else's. She decided to do a mental scan of the tower, when suddenly...

"Agghh!" Raven yelled in agony, falling to the ground like a rag-doll and grabbing her head.

"Raven!" all the Titans exclaimed, Cyborg rushing to her side.

"What's wrong?" said Cyborg as he held her head up with one hand and supported her back with the other. Raven's head felt like it was being crushed inside of a vice, suffering from severe empathetic feed-back.

"Something..." she said weakly, her eyes shut tight. "In the tower...angry...desperate...evil..."

"I do not like the sound of that..." said Starfire in a worried tone as she held her hands to her chest.

Just then, they heard something that sounded like heavy footsteps. What ever it was, it was coming from the east corridor. Robin, Starfire, Ricochet, and Beast Boy each turned in the corridor's direction, taking battle stances as they did so. They couldn't explain it, but the temperature of the room seemed to grow colder as the foot-steps got louder. Then there came a sound of a cape or cloak swaying about, and the sound of chains lightly being rattled. Then finally, after what seemed like hours, the culprit was revealed.

A man slowly entered the room. A big man, about Cyborg's height. He wore a red cloak with an extremely high collar, and the cloak itself moved as if it were alive. His eerie, green, glowing eyes illuminated the room, and it seemed as if it were his presents that caused the sudden temperature drop. The rest of him didn't look too friendly at all. His outfit was mostly black, his mask had a demonic white wing-like design on the face, a large white v-like insignia dominated the front of his body, chains hung from his side supported by a demon skull for a belt-buckle, and his crimson, silver-spiked gauntlets were the epitome of menacing. The Titans looked on, completely at a loss for words. Who was this guy?

"Who are you?" Robin said in a demanding tone as he drew his bo-staff. At first, the man said nothing, and his eyes curved as if he were disgusted by Robin's words. Clearly, he wasn't impressed.

"Spawn..." he said in his deep, dark, foreboding voice. "My name is Spawn."

"Why have you come to our home, creature?" Starfire said as her hands and eyes began to glow ominously. As innocent and naive as she was, she was not a pleasant person when she was angry. Spawn found a little amusement in this, and decided to play their game. Even though he hadn't come to harm anyone, he might as well have some fun for change.

"I've come for the girl," Spawn retorted. "The one you call...Raven."

Now the Titans heard enough. Starfire, Ricochet, and Beast Boy each awaited Robin's orders, ready for battle to protect their friend.

"Cyborg!" said Robin as he looked at his mechanical teammate. "Get Raven out of the tower and get her to safety! We'll hold this guy off as long as it takes. Go!"

Nobody needed to tell Cyborg twice. He scooped the agonizing Raven up in his arms and darted towards the garage, leaving his friends alone with Spawn.

"Titans!" Robin said the second Raven and Cyborg were out of the room. "GO!"

Ricochet and Robin led the charge, each performing a jump kick in unison. Ricochet decided to get fancy, and his jump-kick quickly became a spinning-kick. Suddenly, a chain shot from Spawn's right side and wrapped itself around Robin's leg. The caught Robin off guard, and before he could react he was hurled towards the kitchen so fast that he crashed right through the titanium wall. Spawn didn't waste another second. He leaped in the air and gracefully performed a round-house kick, colliding with Ricochet's head and sending him careening through the window. This put Ricochet in a tail-spin, for his Spider-Sense didn't see that coming. When Spawn looked forward, a green rhino was charging towards him. Of course, this was no worry. With the right timing, a powerful right-hand jab send the green machine flying backwards at break-neck speed, knocking him unconscious when he hit the wall.

Now, it was Starfire's turn. She took to the air, and two chains flew towards her in an attempt to grab her. She fended off these chains with her eye-beams, and then sent a flurry of Star-Bolts towards her foe. Spawn blocked most of the erratic bolts with his gauntlets, but a few came into contact with his torso.

"Damn," Spawn thought. "Those things hurt!"

Starfire then wasted no time in taking the opportunity to attack her foe. She flew towards Spawn at almost the speed of light, fixing to punch him right in his face. But to her great surprise, Spawn grabbed her fist when it was inches from his face. He then threw her fist in a twirling manner, causing Starfire's body to spin wildly. Her body spun and spun for almost a minute, and when it finally stopped she was so dizzy that she immediately fell to the floor. Her eyes felt as if they were replaced with spirals, and she felt an overwhelming urge to vomit.

"Amateurs," said Spawn before heading down the hall that Cyborg had carried Raven out of...

Meanwhile, Cyborg had been running as fast as his metal legs could carry him. Raven grunted and groaned in agony as she lay helpless in his arms, the pain in her head increasing at a colossal rate. It felt as if some sort of creature was trying to burst out of her brain. She didn't know what it was. He guess was as good as anyone else's. But one thing was for certain; if the pain didn't ease anytime soon, Raven's life would end...

"Hang in there Rae!" Cyborg said. "We're almost there! Just a little more..."

Too late. Spawn appeared right in front of them by phasing through the wall, causing Cyborg to come to a screeching halt. A chain wrapped itself around Cyborg's neck, tossing him behind Spawn and making him drop Raven. Raven hit the floor with a menacing thud, and she curled up into a fetal position due to the pain. Cyborg crashed right through a wall head first, causing his vision to malfunction for a minute.

"Raven!" Cyborg yelled. "Get outta here! The exit's just at the end of the hall! GO!"

Unusually obedient, Raven forced herself to crawl away. Her legs felt like they each weighed two-hundred pounds, and she couldn't concentrate in order to use her powers. So, she painfully crawled away, tears beginning to well up in her eyes.

When Cyborg's vision cleared, Spawn was standing right above him. Cyborg was quick to react, and leaped to his feet and performed a devastating right-hook. Spawn ducked just in time, and countered the attack with an-equally devastating upper-cut. Cyborg landed flat on his back, clear across the hallway. This time, he couldn't get up. As he looked forward, Spawn was slowly walking towards him. Cyborg staggered, forcing his mechanical components to make him stand up.

"Victor Stone," Spawn said coldly, causing Cyborg to become mentally stumped. "I haven't seen you since you were learning how to ride a bike. You've changed a lot since then, I can see. It seems that fate has been cruel to the both of us; something we have in common."

"Okay, freak-show," said Cyborg as he drew his sonic-cannon. "Who are you, and how the hell do you know my real name?"

Spawn used one of his chains to knock Cyborg's cannon away.

"I know a lot more than that..." Spawn continued, his face inches from Cyborg's. "Vicky."

Now Cyborg grew frozen solid. He knew a lot of people in his life, and most of them were dead. People called him all kinds of different nick-names; Vic, Sport, Killer, Slugger, Hot-Head, Big-Vic, Champ, even Cue-Ball. But out of all the different names, only one person in the world called him Vicky. But that was impossible. That guy was dead.

Wasn't he?

"...Simmons?"

Meanwhile, Raven had just about made it to the exit. The pain in her head was getting worse, and her energy was quickly draining.

"What's..." she said so weak that it was barely audible. "Happening...to me?"

Just then, she felt something cold and hard wrap around her ankle. She mustered all her strength to look behind her, and to her horror Spawn was slowly pulling her towards him.

"It's your father," said Spawn, answering her question. "He knows that I'm here, and why I've come. He's trying to off you before I can do my job. What an asshole..."

When Raven was close enough, the chain flipped her over on her back. Spawn leaned down, and clasped his hand around her neck. He slowly stood up, bringing Raven to his eye level. At this point, Raven could feel Death breathing down her neck. Tears were now flowing down her face, and blackness began to engulf her vision.

"Please..." Raven begged. "If you...have come to kill me...do it now. Get it...over with..."

Spawn was infuriated at Raven's remark. He quickly pulled Raven's face to where it was inches from his, and she could smell burnt and decayed fleshed though the cloth of his mask.

"You fool!" Spawn barked. "I haven't traveled four thousand miles on-foot just to kill you!"

Just then, his free hand seemed to catch on fire, burning an ominous green flame. With that hand, he grabbed Raven's face and let the flames engulf her. But the fire didn't burn. It seemed to be...healing. The agony in her head was subsiding, and her powers seemed as if they were being refined. Placed under control.

"I've come to free you..."

In actuality, Spawn was searching her mind. He was looking for the source of Trigon's influence, and he was way too close for Trigon's comfort.

"Trigon..." Spawn growled. "Where are you? Show yourself, you son of a bitch!"

Just then, Spawn located a red-cloaked entity that stood out from the rest.

"There you are!"

The fire burned more fierce than the sun itself, and Raven felt as if some horrible thing had been purged of her body. Like a cancer being completely eradicated, or a tumor being surgically removed. Overall, it felt good. The pain in her head was gone, and her body felt totally relaxed. As the fire subsided, Raven drearily opened her eyes. She took one last look of her savior, and fell into a dreamless sleep. But not before weakly saying...

"Thank you..."

End Of Chapter Eleven

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry if this seems a little rushed, but I can't help it. My bed looks ver appealing right now. Anyway, stay tuned for the next chapter; Titan Return.