Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans.
Chapter Fourteen – Q & A
"Friend Robin, we have discovered what was wrong with friend Beast Boy. The doctor said he would probably be okay." Starfire said.
"Good Star." Robin replied. "We found out who made the bugs."
"Who?" Raven asked moving closer to Starfire to look into the screen with her.
"Gizmo. We're going down to the prison to ask him some questions." Robin explained.
"Gizmo is the one who hurt friend Beast Boy!" Starfire asked outraged.
"Not unless he has some lackeys helping him. He's been in prison remember?" Robin asked.
"I'll meet you there." Raven said. She was not going to stand and wait for Robin and Cyborg to get answers. This was her problem and she was going to help deal with it. She couldn't do anything for Beast Boy but she could make Gizmo talk.
"No, stay with Starfire." Robin disagreed.
"I can't do anything for Beast Boy. I'm not going to sit here and be useless. I want to hear what the little creep has to say with my own ears." Raven said. She moved away from Starfire. "Starfire, call me immediately if anything happens to Beast Boy. I'll come back." And with that she ran outside and levitated towards the prison before anyone could protest. Gizmo...how had they not thought to question him before? He was tech savvy and he had hacked Cyborgs body. If he could do that, Tower security wasn't likely too difficult. Hell, the H.I.V.E. had managed to get into the tower the first time they met the Titans. Was he Norf? No, he couldn't be because if he was Norf than who had poisoned Beast Boy? And Gizmo had been in some of the fights were the shadow on the taped appeared. So that ruled him out as a suspect unless he was just hiring someone to be her stalker. That made more sense than someone actually being infatuated with her to the point of murder…didn't it? She hoped so. That was a far more friendly outcome than there being a real psychopath out there. But for nine months? And only just now choosing to attack the titans?...Raven sighed. This was giving her a headache. She needed answers.
Upon arrival at the prison she opened her communicator and risked a call to Robin. If Norf was watching he probably had bigger things to worry about than her calling her teammate. No, if he was watching he was probably worried about Gizmo giving them answers…if he wasn't Gizmo. She called Robin.
"Where are you?" he asked, obviously angry she'd disobeyed orders.
"At the prison. Where are you?" she asked.
"Five minutes away. Wait for us before going to see him." he said.
"Fine." She agreed turning her communicator off and going inside. The room was dim. There were a few rows of chairs and a TV playing some talk show she wasn't particularly interested in. A few people sat waiting for their turn to visit an inmate, they stared at her. They were probably surprised to see a Titan not dropping off a new criminal hanging out near a prison. She took a seat and waited for her friends to arrive. There was a line to speak to the receptionist who was a buff looking woman in uniform behind a glass screened counter but, that didn't matter. They were the titans and they would be able to cut all of the people in line. She'd leave that to Robin though. He was better at dealing with people, especially the local law enforcement. They liked the titans and appreciated their help so they wouldn't deny her request, but they defiantly preferred dealing with Robin. He was the closest to them, human. She could save them a hundred times but they'd never be as comfortable with her as they were around him because of her powers and some-what strange appearance. It was a truth she had come to live with.
Robin and Cyborg entered the prison in about five minutes as promised. Robin didn't look happy, but he knew he wasn't going to change her mind and so instead of wasting time arguing he went up to the counter. The people in line moved for him without complaint or question, though they did whisper amongst themselves.
"You really think this is a good idea?" Cyborg asked her as she stood up and made her way over with him to the counter.
"I can't just sit at the hospital and not do anything." She said as Robin turned to face them.
"They're going to put him in the interrogation room for us." Robin said in a way that made her think they had done them a favor. And they probably had. Most of the people here were going in a big room that was more like a cafeteria set up with tables. The prisoners would have their hands cuffed behind their backs and would sit on one side and their visitor on the other forbidden to touch in any way shape or form. That was not the ideal place to do an interrogation, especially not something concerning such a private matter like stalking a titan. It was also a bit embarrassing to admit that someone had managed to do all that damage to the Titans. They were notorious for their victories. Even if they lost a battle they always found a way to get the villain. For someone to just come in, break into their tower, spy on them night and day and take them down one by one…it was an impressive feat. One that made the titans look bad.
They waited silent by the door to enter the inner prison walls. Robin was deep in thought, probably strategizing on how he would get Gizmo to talk. He wasn't likely to give up the information easily. What did he have to gain by it? He was already in prison and Robin would never promise to get a sentence lightened. Cyborg too was strategizing. She drummed her fingers impatiently on her leg. After what seemed like years the door finally beeped and a guard motioned them in. They went through the metal detector and it beeped in alarm to their weapons and all Cyborg's metal parts but, the guard didn't bother trying to search them. Whatever they were packing was fine as far as he was concerned. He led them through another door and down a hall, they took a right and entered a dual room separated by half a wall of cement and half a wall of glass that likely appeared to be a mirror on the other side. One half of the room was dim and the other half was well lit. Gizmo sat in the other side of the room where it was bright. His tiny arms handcuffed behind him to the chair and he did not look happy.
"I'll go in. You two watch and see if you can get anything off his body language." Robin said. "I'll come back if I need you." And with that he entered the other room leaving Cyborg, Raven and the guard who had retrieved them to listen and watch.
"What do you want crud muncher?" Gizmo spat as Robin came in pulling up a chair.
"I want to know what you have to do with this." Robin said putting a bug on the table and cutting to the chase. It wasn't his usual interrogation style. Normally he would have asked a few questions before getting to the point but there wasn't time. They needed to figure things out and get Norf off the streets before anyone else got hurt. Gizmo gasped, appearing worried or agitated for a moment before furrowing his brows.
"What would I know about that?" Gizmo asked.
"You made it. So I assume you had a reason?" Robin said putting it back in his pocket.
"I make a lot of stuff." Gizmo said. "Doesn't mean I know where it goes."
"I think you know where this went and I think you better tell me." Robin said.
"Or what? You ganna lighten my sentence if I tell you?" Gizmo laughed. "Like I won't be out of here in a day?" Gizmo grinned. Robin frowned. He knew Gizmo was right. They'd be back on the streets in a few days max. Either because they broke out or one of the faculty at their school would find a loophole. Someone hadn't read them their rights or something along those lines. It always happened. Every single time. Which irked Robin to no avail, but he couldn't do much about it. Not yet.
"Whoever sent these bugs seems to be involved in some pretty big crimes. I don't think you'll be out of here in a few decades. If you don't tell me who you made this for and how it got into the tower." Robin said.
"You think you're scaring me?" Gizmo laughed.
"Tell me who you made this for." Robin said.
"I ain't telling you nothing you snot munching dirt bag." Gizmo said.
Behind the glass Raven watched in annoyance as Gizmo continued to evade answering Robin's questions. She wanted to rip his throat out, though she doubted it would help them get answers. She tapped her foot impatiently waiting for Robins methods to work and seeing only failure. Cyborg looked almost equally impatient. Whoever had gotten those bugs from Gizmo had hurt his best friend and nearly gotten him killed. He wanted answers just as badly as she did.
"How many times do I gotta tell you I'm not ganna talk?" Gizmo asked, obviously annoyed. "Guards! I want to go back to my cell! Guards?"
Robin asked him a few more times but he only persisted to call for guards rather than say anything else. By the seventh time Robin asked Raven had, had enough. She was done. Gizmo was going to talk, or he was going to get hurt. She burst through the door before Cyborg could realize what was happening and stop her. Robin and Gizmo were equally shocked by her appearance. She slammed the door shut behind her and eyes glowing a faint red she approached Gizmo. She banged her hands on the table, hitting it so hard the sound alone made him wince.
"Who did you make those bugs for?" she asked. Her voice obviously loaded with a threat. He gulped, realizing she wasn't going to be as nice as Robin had been.
"I'm not telling you anything." He said trying to sound sure and angry as before but, his voice cracked a little.
"Raven." Robin said, by his tone she could tell it was his way of urging her to go back into the other room. She shot him a glare and that shut him up for the moment. There weren't a lot of people dumb enough to mess with an angry Raven.
"I'm sick and tired of your games. You're going to tell me who you made them for and you're going to tell me now." She hissed. Her eyes glowing a darker red with every word, by the end of her speech four narrow eyes stared at him. Gizmo gasped, having never seen the female titan like this before. Still, he didn't say anything. He made a gesture by tightening his lips that made it all too clear what he wanted to say. She picked him up by the collar of his shirt, chair and all and threw him across the room. He hit the wall hard and fell with the chair on top of him.
"Raven!" Robin seemed unable to believe his teammates behavior. She ignored him and picked Gizmo up by his shirt again.
"Tell me who you made them for." She ordered again. He looked frightened. And she couldn't help but think that it was a good thing. Robin obviously wasn't scaring him enough and he was a villain. This was how he made other people feel every day, intimidated. He deserved a little taste of his own medicine and she needed answers. If he didn't want to give them than she wasn't going to just go home and cry about it. He was going to give it up or he was going to get hurt. He had helped someone hurt her friends.
"No." he said again. She used her powers to throw the chair across the room again. He screamed as it hit the wall with a loud crash. She picked him up again.
"Tell me who you made them for." She hissed.
"I can't." he said. And with that she used her powers to bend the seat of the chair towards the back of the chair, as if it were a fold up chair, crushing him. He yelled out in pain. "Stop! Stop! I'll tell you." He said. She didn't unfold the chair but she didn't let it go any further. "I don't know his name. He wouldn't give me one. I've never even seen him. He found me online. He told me he was going to get rid of one of the titans. He asked me to make something small so he could monitor the inside of the tower. They're remote controlled so they were easy to get in without needing to be near the tower. He paid me from a Swiss bank account. Twenty thousand dollars all in advanced." Gizmo explained.
"How did he find you online?" Robin asked.
"How should I know? He just sent me an e-mail. I asked how he got it, but he wouldn't say." Gizmo answered quickly as the chair tightened a bit.
"What else did he ask you to do?" Robin asked.
"He asked me to re-route some of the city power a couple days ago, small enough to make no major blackouts but, enough energy to surge the tower with some power for a minute to create a small window of opportunity to get in and then out of the tower by overloading the system for a few seconds." Gizmo said.
"Did he tell you anything you could ID him with?" Robin asked.
"No. I tried to trace him and find him but I got nothing on the bank account and the e-mail came from somewhere hacked. Every time I tried to trace him I got a new IP address always at least two hundred miles apart, sometimes more." Gizmo explained.
"Where did you send the bugs to? Or how did he pick them up?" Robin questioned.
"I installed them all in the tower for him as part of the deal. All I had to do was get them close enough and anytime the door or a window opened they could crawl right in. The remote control isn't a physical remote. It's just software. I uploaded it to a website and he downloaded it." Gizmo explained.
"I want all the e-mails, a link to the website with the software and the receipt for the money." Robin said.
"Good-luck." Gizmo laughed. The chair crushed him a bit more causing him to cry out in pain. "No! I mean my computer got destroyed. I left it sitting on the couch and Mammoth sat on it. I deleted the e-mails from my account, but I had saved copies on my computer. And a copy of the receipt. Just as a record in case he tried anything. The software was deleted on the website. The only extra copy aside from what he has was on my computer."
"You didn't make a backup copy?" Robin raised a brow, skeptical.
"I didn't have time. It took so long to make it and I had other things to do to." He shrugged.
"When did he ask you to do all this?" Robin asked.
"About four months ago. It took two months to finish making all the bugs and program the software." He replied.
"If you know anything else better say it now." Robin ordered.
"I don't. I swear." Gizmo pleaded. Robin waited a moment before looking at Raven.
"Let him go." Robin ordered. She waited another moment, looking at the villain sternly before deciding he had probably told them everything. She dropped him on the floor and they left the room.
"I thought I told you to wait here?" Robin was angry and it was understandable. She paused before replying taking a few calming deep breaths to gain control over herself and her emotions before replying.
"I'm sorry…" she said. In all honesty she was sorry she had let her emotions get the better of her but, at the same time if she hadn't they might not have gotten the information. Obviously Robin's methods hadn't been working.
"We can argue about this later. Why don't we confirm the story with Mammoth and Jinx." Victor said.
"Good plan." Robin nodded. "But this time, you stay put." She nodded in agreement. Gizmo was replaced by Mammoth first and then Jinx. It had been true about Gizmo's laptop but, the other two apparently hadn't known about his bug making business and seemed outraged when they found out he hadn't shared his money with them. The titans left the prison and stood outside for a moment. Robin pulled out his communicator to let Starfire know they were headed back to the hospital. He waited patiently for her to answer but she didn't. He tried again but nothing.
"I think Starfire might be in trouble." Robin said, his voice urgent. Robin hopped on his R-Cycle and sped away. Raven was just about to levitate when Cyborg grabbed her arm.
"You shouldn't be heading out alone right now." Cyborg said pointing to their rented car. "Let's go." Raven followed him. She was too worried about Starfire to really care how she got there and due to her recent loss of self-control it was probably best not to use her powers until after she could meditate. They sped towards the hospital.