Teen Titans: RotJ :P
Chapter 36: Back To The Basics
Author's Note: Okay, as the title states, it's time for some good ol'fashioned dual-storyline basic stuff right here! …well… sorta… had to give some certain minority Titans a bit of the spotlight! :D ARRIBA!!
Ooooh, bee-tee-dubs, did you guys see all the parallels in the last chapter??? What? SANDWICHES? Noooo. :P Starfire and Robin. Their hearts stop beating in time… or something… NO I'M NOT A SHIPPER WHACHU TALKIN BOUT WILLIS!! x_X It's canon. Go defenestrate yourself.
Anywhos, onwards and upwards!
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The hospital wing was never intended to hold so many people at once…
Well… they never thought they could get beaten so bad with just one team, let alone two…
The chaos was a little too much to watch, Menos decided. He sat nestled in the corner of the large room with his twin brother, Mas, who lay sprawled out on top of a set of couch cushions placed on the floor, the few hospital beds they had needed for those in far worse condition. Although Mas was in terrible pain, his broken legs bound tight in makeshift splints, it was clear to both of them that he was the lucky one, as they helplessly watched the others tend to those who were less fortunate – the entire West Coast Titan team…
Bumblebee sat nearest to them, on the floor, Cyborg's dismantled body strewn around her like an enormous jigsaw puzzle that she had to piece together bit by bit. Every time she lifted her welding mask, Menos caught a glimpse of the ashen, haunted expression on her face, and he understood her terror. For all they knew, Cyborg could be fixed, but the question remained whether he would be Cyborg, or if he would be little more than the robots they had fought earlier… where did the robot end, and the human begin…?
In a bed just beside them lay Starfire, tended to by Jinx. She was possibly in the worst shape of any of them. Just from the look of her burnt, blistering skin gave that impression, but in all reality, it was her internal organs they were all most concerned about… There were already clear signs of damage to a number of them, particularly her heart and lungs. A tube was now breathing for her, and monitors showed her heart rate was not what it should be… basically, they were forcing her to stay alive… There was little else Jinx could do on her own now, except apply ointment to Starfire's once-beautiful skin and bandage it up.
In the next two beds were Beast Boy and Raven, respectfully. Both of them were hooked up to life support, screens monitoring heart rate and brain activity, intravenous cords stuck into their veins to replenish the large volumes of blood each of them had lost. Aqualad was bent over Beast Boy, his own forearm set into a makeshift splint to allow him to help. He had stitched up the boy's head, and some of the worst lacerations in his back, and was now working on bandaging things up in order to get him to the CAT scan machine to check for any problems that could have been caused by his concussion. Speedy was tending to Raven, stitching up her stomach. He had discovered, to the elated disbelief of all, that none of her vital organs had been damaged by Blood's attack.
"So, she'll be okay then?*" Menos asked from where he was sitting. Mas groaned beside him, eyes closed, half-asleep in a pain killer–induced stupor. (* = this is Menos' point-of-view, so we get to understand what he's saying).
Speedy looked over at him with a slightly puzzled expression, trying to decipher his words. "Her brain signature is relatively low," he muttered after a moment, rolling Raven to her side so he could get to her back, pulling bloody gauze away from her open wound in order to stitch her up. "But with luck, she will definitely—"
A loud screeching interrupting him, and every last conscious person in the room snapped their head up to look at the monitors. Speedy spun to look at Raven's, but it wasn't hers that was sounding the alarm.
"He's seizing!" Aqualad shouted, his dark eyes widening in terror as he quickly pulled Beast Boy on his side, the green changeling flopping around on the bed as all his muscles began jerking uncontrollably.
Bumblebee had dropped what she was doing with Cyborg, throwing her welding equipment aside and sprinting over to them. Menos scrambled to his own feet in horror, running to join them, heart running cold as he watched the bed shaking from Beast Boy's violent spasms.
"That's not good, that's not good!" Bumblebee gasped frantically as she began throwing drawers open, searching for something. "Lorazepam! Fuck, where is it?!"
Aqualad was desperately fighting to keep Beast Boy on his side as Menos ducked under the bed to emerge beside Bumblebee, ripping cupboards open looking. He began pulling out bottles and vials, looking at the names. Lorazepam, she had said?
"Here!" he gasped, holding a vial over to Bumblebee, who immediately snapped it up and stabbed a needle into it. She rushed to Beast Boy's side and immediately jabbed the syringe into a vein, releasing the drug into his system.
"Come on, Beast Boy!" Jinx gasped, standing on the other side of them, watching with wide terrified eyes.
After a moment, Beast Boy's movements fell still, the high-pitched siren going silent, replaced with the normal sounds of heart rate. They all looked at one another, and Bumblebee gave the longest sigh imaginable as she set the needle down. She looked absolutely shaken.
"He needs a head scan…" she said after a moment, looking over at Aqualad and Speedy. "He needs one now."
"Get back to Cyborg," Aqualad said to Bumblebee, putting his good hand on her shoulder. "We've got this…"
Bumblebee nodded and stepped back to the dismantled robot as Speedy and Aqualad began getting Beast Boy ready to be wheeled into the next room, where all the fancy equipment roomed.
And then another alarm went off, the room flashing red, the telltale signal of trouble in the city.
"FUCK YOU!" Bumblebee shouted at the blaring alarm, throwing her tools down again and clutching her head in total and complete frustration. Menos watched her with wide eyes. The stress was overwhelming her… he never thought he would ever see her like this…
Speedy had waved Aqualad forward frantically, the injured boy having some trouble pushing Beast Boy away, but managed to do it. The archer to the rest of them. "It's okay! Stay here, Bumblebee! Menos, watch over Raven and Starfire, okay? Jinx, come with me. We're going to take care of this."
Jinx nodded, silent with stunned shock, her catlike eyes stretched wide. She took a last look around at the hospital wing before hurrying forward, tailing Speedy as he rushed from the room.
"This is so not good…" Menos gasped, his fingers fidgeting together as he looked around at everyone who remained in the room, injured or not. "This is really, really not good…"
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For a long time, it seemed like nothing was real anymore... he couldn't tell where hallucinations ended, and reality began...
...his mind and body were breaking apart... everything was a fog of fear and pain...
...at some point, he saw a pair of eyes above him... sparkling blue...
"Mom?" he asked softly, that familiar feeling coursing through him.
"That's right, sweetheart... take your medicine, go to sleep now..."
...something pricked his arm a little... like a pinch...
… then… nothing… nothing but sweet, blissful darkness….
Until now.
…everything was still a haze... he still remembered those blue eyes... but it must have been another hallucination... she was dead...
...dead...
...they had died...
...his soul broke open in terrible agony as he remembered... it wasn't a nightmare... that had actually happened...
…why couldn't all of this have been one terribly long dream…? Then… they wouldn't… be…
…they weren't… they couldn't be…
Oh, but they are, Jay… they are… you know they are…
It was just him and his mind in this room… that terrible voice speaking louder than ever, the scent of its laughter permeating all the cells of his mind… how could it possibly be able to laugh and speak at the same time…? so perfectly…?
…and that thing of flesh and bone connected to his shattered mind… his body… was that what it was? …was it still his body…? It simply didn't seem to want to respond whatsoever… but he still felt its pain… and nothing but pain… it was everywhere… it was the whole world…
Staring straight up… one lone red light… his only physical companion… his bittersweet enemy…
…maybe that's who the voice in his head belonged to… that red light…
…a bit odd, don't you think…? At least guys like John Nash imagined people when they hallucinated… not a talking red LED light bulb…
Time drew out painfully, like nails scratching along all the world's chalkboards in order… just him and his mind… voices and faces flashing through it, terrible flashbacks, just as vivid and terrifying as what he saw during the fear toxin… except this time, it was his own mind plaguing him, not some venom…
they're dead… they're dead they're dead they're dead…
no… they aren't… stop… please stop saying that…
they're deeeaaaaaad… and they're never coming back… and it's all your fault…
laughter rolling… terrible, cold, all the way down til it plunged its claws deep into his heart… or what remained of it…
…all his fault…
…it was… it really was….
…if he hadn't been so stubborn… it… wouldn't have come to this… they wouldn't have…
Are you sorry about it, Jay? asked the red dot. He could see it now, clear as ever, even when he closed his eyes… on it went… are you sad that they're gone? If you're so sad, why don't you cry? Cry, Jay, cry.
…he wished he could… he wanted to… and in a sense, he was… he was sobbing, crying, screaming, within the hollow emptiness that had been his heart… but his body… when was the last time any water had been put into it…? he could tell it was failing on him… his chest was a fireball of excruciating pain, as though something had slammed hard into his ribcage with a tremendous amount of speed, trying to knock his lungs and heart out past his shoulderblades…
…in all honesty… he was surprised the toxin hadn't killed him…
…in all honesty… he wished it had…
…they were gone… so much of him wanted to hope that they weren't… that they had somehow survived… that Starfire's terrible injuries could be healed… that Cyborg could be put back together… well… put back together, and still be Cyborg… that Raven could somehow survive the organ damage that was sure to have resulted from…
If he could cry, he would… if he could scream, he would… his very soul was bleeding, writhing, desperate to be free of all of this… if the world would just let him die… he would without hesitation…
But no… that's not going to be happening, is it Jay…
…was that the security light speaking, or himself…?
…Jay… the name was growing so familiar now…
…he wasn't even sure why they called him Jay…
…but… it didn't matter…. Jay… Robin… Dick… it didn't matter… nothing mattered….
…except…
…at least… there's still someone… he thought numbly, with the tiniest flicker of hope in the darkness of his being… there… there was still a chance…
…no there's not, that voice tried to tell him…
…yes… there is…
…Bruce…
…the Titans may not have been able to save him… but Bruce would… he had before…
…there's still… a chance…
…but did Bruce even know…?
…or… really… would he even care, Jay…?
…shut up… please, just shut up…
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The Author Talks Too Much
Is it obvious to you now? Oh god, it's so obvious isn't it? *covers face with hands* I watch far too much House, M.D.!! So much so that I had to change the name from the brand name "Ativan" to it's generic name, just so it's not SO crazy obvious how much House I watch….
Cough, anyways…. wish I could say the next chapter will be up as quickly, but it wont be. Need to figure out how the next series of events take place... I'll try not to make it too long, mkay? I love you guys! You're amazing for reading all this, and enjoying the ride along with me. Review!! I love me some reviews!!