The Second Curse: A TT Fanfic-CHAPTER 41 - In Case of Emergency
A/N: This is Chapter 41 of my OC Teen Titans Fanfic, The Second Curse. If you have not done so, please read the Prologue first, and then the chapters that precede this one. Note: there is no First Curse; this is not a sequel to anything. Hope you enjoy! : )
PS. Remember what Terra's last words to Beast Boy were in that cave under the volcano? In case you need a refresher, she never said goodbye, and neither did he. She simply hugged him tight and told him, "you were the best friend I ever had." And then in a brilliant flash, she was gone. Rewatch the Aftershock episodes, rekindle those feels. Go on, I'll wait…
Also, sorry for the long wait. I'd only planned to delay this chapter a little bit, to build up the suspense, but even I'll admit it's been way too long. So let's get back into it!
'Raven?'
The girl's blue cape swirled wildly in the wind as she kept her back to Sabbath and erected a massive black wall between herself and the HIVE.
"Jane," she called out over her shoulder. "I know you can hear me, you need to snap out of it!"
"I...I can't stop, there's too much," Sabbath replied weakly, barely able to hear her own voice over the gusting wind filling the gym and the deafening white noise in her head.
"You're still the one in control of it," Raven said, turning her attention fully on the HIVE. "You're the only one who can tell that energy where to go. I know it might seem like it's too much to handle, but you can't let that be your excuse forever. Trust me, and trust yourself, or this will only end badly."
Sabbath tried to make sense of Raven's words through the noise in her head. Her powers were screaming to be unleashed, and it was taking everything she had to hold them back. Tell the energy where to go...she made it sound so simple. She had no idea what was really happening.
Sabbath's marks burned, and for a moment she felt as though they were searing through the layers of make-up she'd hidden them with.
Do not resist, the Dark Man whispered again in her ear. Let your powers expand to their full potential. Reduce all that oppose you to ash.
'No...I can't do that. I can't let my friends get hurt…Sabbath's body shook, and she felt herself mere seconds from giving in to it all. The massive, bolted doors she imagined keeping her powers contained were straining at their hinges, their wood splintering under the immense pressure. 'It's...it's too much to stop, but maybe I can direct it somewhere harmless…'
An idea half-formed, Sabbath tilted her head back and stared up at the ceiling. It was difficult to make out through the bright light and gusting wind surrounding her, but she could faintly see the metal beams and supports that made up the ceiling that were previously hidden behind foam tiles. Burnt out fluorescent lights swayed dangerously from their chains, and bits of insulation and concrete worked loose as the ground continued to quake . That's where she wanted the energy to go. No one would get hurt then. Just up and out...up and out...up...and...
Sabbath gasped as her powers clawed their way out at last, the doors in her mind giving way and shattering with the last fragments of her control. Her skin burned as the pent up energy burst out of her in a brilliant flash, piercing a hole in the sky. Her vision dimmed briefly as her consciousness threatened to fade, and she felt herself sag against the side of the stage. She didn't give herself long to catch her breath, however, as a single desperate thought whispered repeatedly in her mind. 'Beast Boy…!'
Regaining her balance and blinking to clear her vision, Sabbath turned around and finally saw the giant stone dome she'd created. It arched nearly up to the ceiling, and spread from the edge of the stage to out nearly a third of the way across the gymnasium. Panic rising within her, Sabbath ran along the side of it until she found an opening. Finally, near where the dome met the wall, she found a sizable gap. It wasn't much, but she managed to crawl through it. Once inside, Sabbath looked up to the top of the structure. The rough stones met the wall just above where a single emergency light was mounted, and followed the wall all the way down to the floor. The small light was the only thing illuminating the interior of the structure, and in its harsh glare Sabbath saw just how crazy the whole thing looked. Stones of all sizes were packed tightly against one another in a mismatched, unnatural patchwork, and most of them still had paint on them. Sabbath could easily see which pieces had come from the floor, and which ones had come from the walls. Some, though, were completely unrecognizable.
Sabbath shuddered, and shook her head to clear her murky thoughts. 'Gotta find Beast Boy.' Tearing her eyes away from the Frankenstein-like structure she'd created, she noticed several smaller rocks had worked free of the structure and lay scattered around the floor. She briefly wondered if any had fallen and struck Beast Boy, but immediately chased the thought from her mind. She didn't want to imagine anymore harm befalling the changeling. Finally, she spotted him lying at the far end of the structure near its base. 'Right behind where I was standing…'
She rushed to his side and knelt beside him. His tux was covered in dust, and his dyed-brown hair looked wet where it clung to his forehead. Above all, she couldn't help but notice how still he was. She couldn't even see if he was breathing, and that thought turned her blood to ice. She reached out to him on instinct, only to stop just short of touching him. She suddenly felt insecure, and afraid to somehow hurt him. "Beast Boy," she said, pulling her hand away. Her voice sounded soft and weak; she almost didn't recognize it. "Beast Boy, can you hear me?" She wanted to shake him when he didn't respond, but couldn't think of a way to do so that didn't involve touching him. She didn't dare use her powers in any way, either, no longer trusting herself to stay in control. 'Water,' she thought at last. 'That might wake him up. Maybe there's still an unopened water bottle somewhere by the snack table.' She didn't want to leave his side, but she couldn't just sit there and do nothing. 'Maybe he'll be awake when I get back,' she thought as she stood to leave. 'Then he'll probably need something to drink anyway. I'll be super quick-'
She was stopped then, as she turned to leave, by a sudden tug on the hem of her dress. Turning back around, she saw Beast Boy releasing his grip on her dress and struggling to sit up.
"Wait...I'm ok," he muttered hoarsely, raising his free hand to his head. "Don't...don't go yet."
"Beast Boy!" Sabbath breathed, quickly returning to his side and kneeling beside him as closely as she dared. Her hair fell forward over her shoulders, a wild mess of curls, but she ignored it. Her hands fluttered nervously around him, wanting to somehow help him but not knowing how. "Are you ok? Don't move too much. Raven's here, she'll help you." She felt her words tumbling out in an unstoppable torrent, fueled by her nerves and sudden, overflowing emotions. In the distance she could hear the ongoing struggle between Raven and the, but the sounds seemed muffled through the jagged stone structure. Inside, it seemed all she could really hear was Beast Boy's voice and her own nervous breath.
"I'm ok," he said again, propping himself up on one elbow. Finally, he opened his eyes and turned to face Sabbath.
She studied him closely, looking for any indication that he was lying, any sign that he might be injured. But while she suspected he'd sustained bruises, she couldn't see any through his heavy makeup, and she didn't see any blood. "Kara poisoned you," she said at last. "You didn't move for so long, I thought...I thought you might be…"
"Jane, it's ok. Really, everything's fine," he said, bringing a hand up to gently touch the side of her face.
"I should be the one saying that to you," she said in a shaky voice, looking down at the floor. His hand felt cold against her cheek, especially in contrast to the hot blush she felt flooding her face.
His thumb brushed her cheek softly. "Jane, don't cry…"
"I'm not," she hurriedly assured him. Then, brushing her other cheek with her hand, she realized that was a lie. "Ok, maybe I am," she muttered, looking at her tear-streaked hand. She briefly risked a glance at Beast Boy's face, but found his emerald gaze too intense and quickly averted her eyes back to the floor. "I'm sorry," she said. "I was just...so worried that something bad had happened to you, and it would've been all my fault, and-"
"Nothing that happened tonight was your fault," Beast Boy interrupted.
Sabbath was surprised by his serious tone, but knew that if she looked back up at him she'd forget how to talk.
"You didn't do anything wrong. The HIVE did. Kara did. You were the only person who stood up to them. You're a hero, Jane, don't you see that?"
Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks at his words. "You only saw the beginning…" she said softly. "You don't know what happened, what I did…" Flashes of her battle with the HIVE and Kara overlapped in her mind, and she shuddered.
"But I know you," he replied. "I know you did what you had to. But even if you did mess up," Beast Boy added, gently tucking a lock of Sabbath's hair behind her ear before finally withdrawing his hand, "you don't ever have to apologize to me, no matter what, ok?"
"Beast Boy," Sabbath began, but stopped as emotion choked off her voice. She gritted her teeth to stop any further tears, but found she couldn't find the right words to finish her thought.
"No matter what," he repeated, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Cuz I...I mean...we're friends, right? Friends don't have to say sorry, they already just know."
Sabbath didn't know how to respond, and could feel more tears defying her stoic efforts. After a moment, she managed to look him in the eye with a genuine smile. She wanted to hug him then, in spite of her reservations and insecurity. She wanted to somehow show him how happy she was to hear him say that, and how happy she was that he was ok. She studied him then, suddenly needing to reinforce his realness. She took in his honest smile, his deep, trusting eyes, his cool touch on her bare shoulder. Suddenly, it was all too much. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him close. Choking back an emotional sob, she whispered in his ear, "You're the best friend I've ever had."
Sabbath felt his shoulders tense under her grip, and quickly released him thinking she was hurting him. Pulling away, she studied his features again, and found she couldn't identify the expression on his face. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "Did I hurt you?"
Beast Boy didn't respond, and continued to look at her as if he were seeing her for the first time.
"I wasn't thinking," Sabbath said, averting her gaze once again. "I...I'm being weird, just ignore me. I'm going to go get-" Just then, a series of blasts and a heavy crash echoed through the gym. 'Raven must need help,' Sabbath realized. Aloud, she continued, "I'm sorry. I'm gonna go. Um. Stay in here, ok? It's safer. I'll go find a way out." Hating how awkward she sounded, Sabbath stood to leave and hurried out of the stone structure.
In her rush, Sabbath didn't see Robin and Starfire standing in her path just outside the dome. She crashed directly into the Boy Wonder, then nearly stumbled and fell as she tried to reclaim her personal space. He reached out to steady her.
"Jane-Jane! Are you ok?" he said, his hands on her shoulders, his eyes searching her expression through his dark glasses.
"I-me? Are you guys ok? When did you-?" Sabbath's mind whirled with a million questions.
"We are unharmed," Starfire assured her. "Brother Blood's control over our minds has been broken. We are deeply sorry for allowing him to manipulate us."
"What-when did he let you go?" Sabbath asked. It didn't make sense. Why would he release his only bargaining pieces? Looking over Robin's shoulder, Sabbath saw that the rest of the students were awake now, too. None of them displayed the red glow of Brother Blood's influence. Now, instead of looking like brain-dead zombies, they looked like frightened teenagers. They huddled together in groups, some filming the fight between Raven and the HIVE on their phones, others making panicked calls, shouting to be heard over the cacophony of the battle, and the rest simply watching everything with shock and fear.
"That's not important right now," Robin said sternly, releasing his hold on her. "The police will be here soon if they're not here already. We need to get these kids out of here and neutralize the HIVE as quickly as possible."
"But if the police are on their way, shouldn't we leave this to them?"
Robin didn't respond, his expression grim.
"Your local authorities are not equipped to handle these sorts of things," Starfire said carefully, speaking as if she were avoiding a dark truth.
"I...don't understand," Sabbath replied.
"Jane, trust me. We need to get this under control now. If the police think this is out of our hands, they'll call in a team who'll treat this as an act of domestic terrorism."
Sabbath paled at the seriousness of what she was hearing. "You don't mean…"
Robin nodded gravely. "They have a 'zero-tolerance policy' for this kind of thing," he added. "They'll act first and ask questions later."
Sabbath remembered then what Kara had said about the S.W.A.T team putting a bullet between her eyes. "Tell me what to do," she said firmly.
"Get these people out of here," Robin said. "Starfire and I can handle the HIVE, and once he's finished rebooting Cyborg can help out, too."
Glancing around the gym, Sabbath spotted Cyborg sitting propped against a wall. His eyes were closed, but she spotted a faint blue light pulsing through his left sleeve and took that to be a good sign.
"And Raven can take care of Beast Boy," Robin added.
Sabbath couldn't find the words to reply, so she simply nodded in agreement.
"You hear that, Raven?" Robin said, and only then did Sabbath notice the communicator in his hand.
"Loud and clear," Raven replied through its crackly speaker.
"Alright," Robin said. "Titans...GO!"
With that, the teens broke off in different directions. Sabbath immediately focused her attention on the students all standing around the far side of the gym, and the doors behind them leading out to the hallway. 'That's probably their easiest way out,' she thought. The other doors led directly out to the parking lot, but going out that way meant walking them all through the battle zone.
Sabbath raised her hands in a placating gesture as she approached the frightened students. "Everything's going to be alright," she said, shouting to be heard. "I'll get you out of here, ok? Just stay calm, and stick with me." Her body shook with adrenaline as she addressed the crowd; she hoped it wasn't noticeable.
The students parted around her as she approached the doors, and while some of them looked doubtful at best, Sabbath definitely had their attention. "This is the safest way out," she told them, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt.
"But it's locked!" came a voice from within the crowd.
"Yeah!"
"Don't you think we tried that?!"
'I hadn't really thought that far yet,' she thought. Sabbath eyed the round, metallic device sealing the doors. It had no buttons or keyholes that she could see. 'What's even keeping this thing on here?' she wondered, raising a hand to its cold, smooth surface. She briefly considered melting it off the doors, or maybe just knocking the doors out of their frames all together with a big enough boulder, but she didn't trust herself to try any of those things with so many people standing so close. 'Anything I try is going to be too dangerous…' she thought. 'Maybe I'm the real danger here after all…'
Then, before her dark train of thought could betray her lack of confidence, a small blue figure emerged from the crowd. "I think I might be able to help with that."
Surprised, Sabbath turned and spotted a familiar face. "Sam…?" Sabbath hadn't seen the girl since she'd tased Cyborg. She figured the girl had run out of the gym, but it seemed she'd gotten caught up in the chaos with everyone else.
"I think it's just a big electromagnet," Sam continued. "I think, uh, this should be able to short it out?" With that, she raised the taser. It looked like a black brick about the size of a cellphone, but two metal prongs jutted dangerously from one end. "It's still got some charge left in it…"
Sabbath eyed the blue-haired girl suspiciously. Sam looked miserable; her makeup had streaked down her face, her once-blue dress now marred with dirt and water stains, and her hair was a tangled mess. Sabbath couldn't think of a single reason to trust the girl after what she'd done, but she was desperate to free the students. She had to try something. At last she held out her hand and said, "It's worth a try."
Sam held the taser with two fingers as she placed it carefully in Sabbath's open hand. "Just squeeze the button on the side," she said softly.
Sabbath barely heard her over the ruckus in the gym, but considering the taser only had one button on it and she'd already seen it in action, it wasn't too hard to piece together. Wrapping her fingers around the taser, Sabbath ordered the students to step back. Then, she stabbed the prongs of the taser against the center of the device, squeezed the button and watched blue-white electricity arc violently into the air. Sabbath forced herself to not flinch away from the crackling sparks, and after a moment the lock split down the middle and crashed to the floor at her feet. Sabbath kicked it aside and thrust the doors open, never before feeling so grateful to see the scuffed lockers and flickering fluorescent lights. Looking up and down the hallway, Sabbath verified that the coast was clear before ushering the students out of the gymnasium.
"Come on, let's go!" she called out, holding the door open as the panicked students flooded into the hall. "Everyone head for the main entrance, I'm right behind you!"
The students hurried past her, some chattering nervously amongst themselves, others still yelling into their phones, some simply crying and running. Sam was the last one out. Sabbath took one last look into the gym before closing the doors. Inside, she spotted Robin and Starfire squaring off against Mammoth, Jinx, and Gizmo. Brother Blood was sitting bound by rings of black energy, though Raven was now nowhere to be seen. 'She must be in the dome with Beast Boy,' Sabbath thought. The green boy hadn't looked so good when she'd left him. 'Raven will help him,' she assured herself as she pulled the gym doors shut. 'Although...Raven didn't look so great either…'
"Jane…?" Sam's voice said from behind her. It seemed the girl had stayed behind, instead of escaping with the rest of the students.
"Not now, Sam!" Sabbath snapped as she dragged the nearby check-in table in front of the doors, hoping to delay anyone who might try to follow them.
"I...I just wanted to say I'm-"
"Sam would you get out of here?!" Sabbath interrupted, finally turning to face the blue-haired girl. "Just go, ok? Unless you want to stay behind with your new HIVE friends." She then brushed past the girl without another word. Further down the hall, Sabbath caught up with a couple of students who had stopped at their lockers.
"What part of 'get out' do you not understand?" she said, slamming their lockers shut and pushing them towards the exit.
"Hey!" one of them protested.
"I need to get my bag!" another one whined.
"Forget it!" Sabbath yelled, not believing what she was hearing. Her wings flared out behind her in frustration, but Sabbath told herself it was the ferocity in her tone that had the students suddenly scurrying away down the hall.
Sabbath realized then that she couldn't trust any of the teens to have remained level-headed enough to call the police. Annoyed, she paused at the nearest fire alarm and yanked the lever. Nothing happened. Sabbath blinked, dumbfounded. She stared at the lever, reading and re-reading the simple instructions. The words "PULL DOWN" were printed on the white, T-shaped handle. She had pulled it down. Nothing had happened. Not understanding what she was seeing, Sabbath pushed the handle back into place, then pulled it out again. And again. Still nothing.
"Those, don't work," Sam said from behind her.
Sabbath's marks prickled, and then she smelled smoke. Turning around, she saw why.
Sam was emerging from a nearby science lab holding a flaming roll of paper towels. "Students kept pulling the alarm as a prank," Sam explained casually, stretching her arm up to wave the makeshift torch under the nearest sprinkler head. "The school got fined by the fire department every time, so the principal disconnected the alarm switches. But if there's really a fire, the system should still-"
Suddenly the sprinkler erupted in a torrent of icy water, dousing Sabbath and the blue-haired girl. The paper towel roll fizzled out almost immediately, and Sam let it fall to the floor. The piercing cry of the fire alarm rang out through the halls, echoing off the rows of lockers.
Sam grinned triumphantly at Sabbath through the downpour.
Sabbath stared at her, completely lost for words.
"Now come on, let's get out of here!" Sam shouted over the alarm, hurrying past Sabbath.
Sabbath stood there for a moment longer, numb to the icy spray. She glared after the blue-haired girl, wondering how she could act like nothing had happened. How could Sam attack them one minute, then act so casual and friendly the next? Maybe she was regretting her decision to side with the HIVE, but it didn't matter. Regret didn't change her actions, or even begin to make up for them. Unsure if she was angrier at Sam for betraying them, or herself for trusting the girl, Sabbath sighed in frustration. Once Sam was out of sight, Sabbath continued making her way towards the exit. She couldn't think about all of this right now. All that mattered was the mission at hand. 'I have to let the police know we've got this under control.'