A PROPER CHAPTER. WHAT.
I am uploading this on borrowed time, so I'll have a huge big reviewer thank next chapter. This one... it may be jumping the shark. Rest assured, the next will be filled with angst-tastic consequences. I promise.
Also, for those of you who enjoyed my butchered Starfire characterisation, I bring you another badly written character.
(Again, please tell me if you hate the apprenticed thing)
Totes don't own the Titans.
FGHJKLKKIOIUYYT FTGYUYGYG TFTFTFFF FYTFFTFF
A weapon.
Exactly what Slade would have thought.
But he couldn't let himself dwell on that.
You aren't even trying to deny it.
Dick eyed the corners of his cell. There had to be a camera in here. They couldn't have left him unwatched. Nothing to see, but since they had Cyborg that didn't mean anything. So you'll have to be quick and you'll have to be subtle.
Using the tiniest movements, keeping in as close to his shadow as possible, he crept out his hand till he found the handle, felt for the edges, and snapped it off. Now he had something sharp, and something heavy.
So far so good.
Are you really going to hurt them?
No, he wasn't. Unless you have to. Which was why he had to get out of here before someone came in to check on him. He couldn't risk having to defend himself.
Not like they'd bother holding back.
Now for the hard part. Dick glanced up at the door. No air vents, it was the only way out. He sized up the hinges- didn't look all that strong- Titans obviously hadn't expected anyone to try to break out of their prison, stupid children- he'd just need leverage, and the tray would give him that.
As soon as he moved they'd know something was up. So you have to be fast.
Dick stopped. What was he doing? What you have to. But they'd never trust him again. Remember Starfire? He bit his tongue. They already don't.
But more than that, this would be him doing what Slade wanted without even being told to. Of his own free will. Deciding and planning, thinking and actively, independently letting himself change, becoming more like-
How honourable that sounds. You would sacrifice them for your self-esteem?
No. Dick felt for the metal handle. He'd never do that.
Right then.
One, two-
He was up, jammed the tray between the door and its hinge, shoved it in again, pulled back his leg and kicked. Something splintered, the sound echoing back across his cell.
Hopefully it hadn't been the tray.
Another kick and the door shifted visibly. It was working. Another and the wood cracked, tray with it, but breaking enough for him to dig out a hole, bashing and breaking with the handle till it was big enough-
And he'd scrambled through, and was on the other side.
That was easy. You're not out yet.
It was dark in the stairwell. Must have been late. What had Starfire said?- Bruce- Batman- was coming in the morning. He'd have to be long gone by then.
Creeping, barely daring to lean on his toes, he began to make his way to the first floor.
The door on the landing was unlocked. Sloppy security. And they're supposed to be heroes-
Dick stopped himself, realising as he did how alarmingly good he was getting at censoring his thoughts.
Anyway, it was better, he reasoned, for him to find problems now, rather than some criminal using them later. When he got back to the Titans, when he got out of this whole apprentice thing, he'd be able to tell them about the locks.
Yeah, keep telling yourself that's going to happen.
And he had to stop insulting them, even internally. They were his team. Batman raised you better, did he?
With the landing door closed softly behind him, he walked into the ground floor shadows. The same pale walls and smell- part pizza, part oil, part Beast Boy- same temperature even. Home.
Dick looked back and forward, up and down. He'd expected- what? Nostalgia? Familiarity? Warmth? They were there, but distantly. He couldn't relax, this place felt treacherous. Too close to the enemy.
It took him a moment to remember the right way out.
Keeping in at the walls, breathing half breaths and checking every corner, he made his slow way forward. The building was a maze. They had never needed this many turns. It was a stupid design anyway- who had decided on the 'T' shape again? Dick snorted, probably Beast Boy and Starfire, and Cyborg would have enjoyed the challenge, and Raven would have been sarcastic but wouldn't have stopped them from wasting their time.
Children.
No, that was unfair, they-
Something's coming.
Not footsteps. Quieter. A whispering, heavy and soft, Raven drifting.
She was the most nocturnal of them, after all.
Dick froze. At least Starfire dashed when she flew, at least she was noisy. It was luck he'd picked up anything at all, and far too late to do anything about it. Trapped, he pulled himself in to the wall. Yes, because she's blind.
The tray handle, sharp at one end, was heavy in his hand.
Could he-?
His staff was blunt, the explosives and birdarangs- stupid word- , even that gun, were long range. Up close you had to hit or kick hard to cause lasting damage. Stabbing someone wasn't-
She was there. Her slight shadow against the wall, he swallowed the dizziness and nausea already rising in his chest. This was exactly what he hadn't wanted.
Raven stopped. She knows you're here. He felt her shudder, felt her glance around and eventually, find him.
"Robin." She was nervous, she was scared. Scared of you. Sounded weird to hear her gruff voice frightened.
Without really thinking about it, he found his footing, twisted the handle to the right direction.
You have to act.
And do what? Hurt Raven? He couldn't. He was frozen.
She didn't attack either, probably knew that any move she made would force him to reciprocate, trying to act like she's still your friend.
Speaking bluntly, quickly and maybe moving slightly away from him, she continued, "I sensed your emotions." She read your mind. Another sign of how much they trusted him. Dick narrowed his eyes, shifted back into the darkness; he couldn't let her see him panic. How could she have done that without him knowing? More importantly, what did she learn?
"I know there's something else going on."
Maybe she saw some confirmation in his expression because she stopped retreating, trying to get a surprise attack in.
"You're afraid of something."
Obviously. You're afraid of her, afraid of all of them, can't hurt them, but they've already hurt you. Tension building in his muscles, getting ready.
Something changed in her, a new decisiveness. She looked at him- towards him, hard to tell what you were seeing in this light- and shuddered, steeling herself. Then, so slowly, she began to come back.
"I…I know what it's like to be afraid." A little closer. Watch out. "I know what it's like to feel like you can't talk." She stopped, tensed, and went on, "But all of you- knowing all of you- it's helping me." She was getting self-conscious, Dick could hear it, "Even Beast Boy." She'd gone to sarcasm, how can you trust someone like that?
"My point is…" she was forcing words out, losing her calm, good time to strike, "I'm trying to say that… we can help you…together."
She meant it. Don't trust her. He was ready to move, does she know that you're armed? Can't do, she wouldn't be letting her guard down like this.
"If you let us," she was trying to make eye contact. He couldn't let her. That might be how she gets into your head. "I know we can-"
He didn't plan it. So you say.
Dick pushed himself off the ground, slammed into Raven, pulled down her hood and forced her back into the wall. Don't let her talk, he found a handful of her cape, forced it between her teeth and held her down. She'd been too surprised to fight back, and though she struggled weakly he was far stronger-
You can't afford to feel guilty.
Pinning her, he had a second to wonder what to do next, but a familiar tingling reached his neck. She didn't need her words? It was weaker than her normal magic, but he could already feel the power pulling at him, lifting him, and as soon as she can talk-
He had to stop her from concentrating-
You can't afford to feel guilty. He couldn't let himself be weak.
So he lifted his hand and plunged the tray handle into her side.