Chapter 26
Still Here...
Donna shot up covered in a cold sweat and breathing heavily. Looking around the room she was in, she realized that she had another nightmare. Her heart rate began to lower as she calmed down.
"Montezuma…" Donna muttered to herself as she relaxed and turned towards her window.
"Yes, it's me." A voice came from behind her.
Donna spun around to see a very familiar man standing in the corner of her room, looking right at her.
"Hi there, Cortés." Montezuma greeted as he waved at her, "Ready for round two."
Donna locked up in fear as he began to approach her. Her nerves quickly got the best of her as her breathing began to pick up.
"You're not real!" Donna told him, "You can't! Polybius said you were dead!"
"Oh, that is true. I am dead." Montezuma said, "But I will always be a part of you."
"No…" Donna said.
"Yes!" Montezuma said, "Everywhere you go, I'll be there."
"No!" Donna said louder.
"Oh, come on." Montezuma said, "You may be too stubborn or too stupid to realize it now, but one thing you will learn is that I am forever a part of you. The mark I have left on your mind will always be there. And the best part about this is nobody can help you! Especially that dumbass Polybius."
"Don't talk bad about him!" Donna ordered.
"Oh! Struck a nerve." Montezuma commented, "But let's be real here, you are really dumb to think that he's your friend."
"Shut up!" Donna ordered, "You're not real! You don't know anything about him or me!"
"Do I?" Montezuma asked, "You'd be surprised to discover what I do and do not know about both of you. Like how Polybius is a cold-hearted monster. Or how you're just a weak, scared little girl."
"Shut up!" Donna said loudly, but not at the point of shouting.
"Face it, Cortés! Face the truth! The truth is that you are weak. Aren't you Amazons supposed to be strong independent women. Who don't need no men? Well, you are the exception to that rule. You ain't one of them. Had it not been for Wonder Woman, you wouldn't be here."
"I'm not weak!" Donna replied.
"Oh, really?" Montezuma asked, "The way I see it, from the day you were born, you have had people saving you. From when you were just an infant and Wonder Woman saved you from that fire and brought you here. From all the times, your sisters bailed you out on this island. To when I kidnapped you, and you couldn't fight or escape me. Why you acted like a scared little bitch when I captured you. Barely putting up any resistance. Pathic! But that's typical of you."
"No, it's not!" Donna countered.
"Is it?" Montezuma asked, "It was Polybius who had to save you from me. Face it, you've been the damsel in distress your whole life. Always being saved and not the savior like you now crave to be."
"And I am going to change that!" Donna countered.
"No." Montezuma countered, "No. While some people were made to be saviors, you weren't. To put it in terms you may understand: There are three types of people in this world. Sheeps, dogs, and wolves. The sheep need to be protected from the wolves, and the dogs do that. And you, Cortés, are a sheep while Polybius is a dog, and I'm the wolf."
"I'm not a dumb sheep!" Donna replied, "That's not true!"
"Oh, it is." Montezuma countered, "You are no Amazon, and will never be the strong hero you want to be! And at the end of the day, you will be all alone once your sisters realize how much of a disappointment you are! But don't worry. I will always be here with you, Cortés. You'll always have me."
"Shut up!" Donna shouted, tears starting to form in her eyes.
"And Polybius will abandon you." Montezuma went on, "Once he realizes that all he is putting all this time and effort into someone as deplorable as yourself, he will leave you. Polybius is known for cutting ties after all."
"SHUT UP!" Donna shouted as she began to cry.
"Never." Montezuma replied.
After this, her mother came bursting through the door to her room, causing Montezuma to fade away into nothingness. Donna was sitting on her bed, crying, and her mother moved to comfort her.
"Are you alright, Donna?" Her mother asked her as she came to her side.
"No!" Donna quickly replied.
Her mother quickly wrapped an arm around her to comfort her as Donna continued to cry.
"What's wrong?" Her mother asked in a warm tone.
"I'm sorry, mother." Donna replied.
"Sorry for what?" Her mother asked.
"For being such a failure." Donna replied.
"What are you talking about?" Her mother asked, "You are no failure."
"Yes, I am!" Donna countered, "I'm not a strong independent woman like you want me to be. Like my sisters. I'm weak and helpless."
"Who told you that!?" Her mother demanded.
"Montezuma." Donna replied.
"Well, that's certainly not true!" Her mother countered, "I can't believe you would believe him for even a second."
"But, he's right!" Donna countered, "Since the day I was born, I've always had to have other people save me. From Diana to my sisters here to Polybius. Somebody has always had to stick their neck out for me! I'm just a sheep waiting to be hunted down and killed by wolves when the dogs finally got to sleep."
"You are no sheep." Her mother replied, "You are a dog, I promise you that."
"How?" Donna asked, "All I do is sit here all day and wait for the next thing to happen if it happens."
"Donna, listen to me." Her mother told her, "You are far stronger than you give yourself credit for. You underwent six months of torture without any relief. You were trapped in his basement for a long time, and you survived. That seems pretty strong to your sisters and me."
"And?" Donna asked, "All that means is I'm a strong sheep."
"No!" Her mother said, "I've heard what happened to you, and I know from my long experience that there are a lot of people, men, and women alike, who couldn't survive the kind of torture you went through. And you should be proud and grateful you came out alive."
"Really?" Donna asked, looking up at her mother.
"Yes." Her mother replied with a warm smile.
While Donna and her mother shared a warm moment, back on the East Coast of the United States, things weren't so warm.
The Titans had gotten a garbled distress call from Cyborg about Brother Blood. And while they were all extremely upset with him for leaving, they knew they couldn't turn their backs on him. So they all hopped in the T ship and took off for him.
On their way there, Polybius couldn't help but think about how angry he was at Cyborg for leaving. This wasn't the first time he had done this, but this one was by far the most serious.
In Polybius's mind, he thought that Darkbius and Hostbius were right. And in that little ride, the two had in that 1940s Ford car was all lies. Cyborg had just told him that and kept telling him that over and over to fool Polybius. And Polybius hated being fooled.
Regardless, he knew he had to go along on this mission. There was a part of him that was telling him that Cyborg's decision had nothing to do with the mute. Instead, it was purely based on his desire to be the leader of the Titans. And now being offered his chance with his own team, he had to take it, regardless of what Polybius or the others felt. And if that was the case, Polybius had to respect that.
That didn't matter now as the Titans East tower came into view, and the team went into mission mode.
Meanwhile, back in Jump City, Nathan stood naked in his bathroom and stared at himself in the mirror. He had a dead look in his eyes as he just looked endlessly into the mirror.
"This is getting ridiculous." The voice of the build-a-babe said, "I don't understand what is wrong with you? I give you simple tasks, and yet you manage to screw them up."
"I know." Nathan replied in a monotone voice
"And I don't think your mommy could take much more to what I have been doing." The voice added.
"I know." Nathan replied again, the same tone.
"But, now that I have you under this new sense of control and guidance, maybe now you'll listen to me. And then you can get your personality back!" The voice declared.
"Yay." Nathan replied with zero enthusiasm in his voice.
"Okay." The voice started, "I'm going to give you a simple task, and if you win, you'll get your personality back for a few hours before I turn you back into this zombie. Alright?"
"Yes." Nathan replied.
Hours later, back in Steel City, Polybius looked up at Cyborg with a confused look. Despite beating Brother Blood, he was still unsure of the other Titan.
"Something wrong, Polybius?" Cyborg asked.
The mute nodded but didn't bother to pull out his notebook or phone to elaborate on it. Instead, he just turned around and walked away.
"Yo!" Cyborg called out, "Dude, hold up! Tell me what's wrong."
Polybius looked back and texted Cyborg that the two would talk about it back at the tower alone. After that, Polybius got back on the T ship and waited for them to leave.
Meanwhile, back on Paradise Island, Donna woke up and looked around her room. After last night, she had been on edge. She could hardly sleep and really had just been lying awake with her eyes closed for the rest of the night after her mother left.
She wished she could reach out and contact Polybius. While her mother was comforting, Polybius always seemed to know how to handle her situations far better than anyone else.
Then again, by reaching out to him, she knew she was proving Montezuma right. She was supposed to be a strong independent woman. She wasn't supposed to need Polybius. She was an Amazon. Not some weak little girl who was waiting for a prince charming to save her.
"What's wrong with me?" Donna asked herself as she looked in her mirror.
Shaking her head, Donna laid back down in her bed. She had zero motivation to do anything today. All she wanted to do was lay down and forget about Montezuma and what he said. Even though it was all true, and she knew it.
A few hours later, back in Jump City, Polybius and Cyborg sat in the former's room in the rocking chairs, and Polybius began to text Cyborg his problems.
'So back when we had that little car ride in that 1940s vehicle. Tell me, were you serious and truthful about what you said, or were you lying to me?' Polybius texted to put it as bluntly as possible.
"I don't understand what you're asking." Cyborg replied, "Why would I lie to you."
Polybius then went on to explain that this wasn't the first time that Cyborg and left the team but by far the most serious. And Polybius was growing tired of seeing the same cycle happen over and over. He expressed that he thought that Cyborg needed to make up his mind about this team and stop sending everyone on this roller coaster of emotions he had been putting them on.
"Look, Polybius, I'm sorry that I made you all feel this way." Cyborg said, "But I think that this previous time was my last time leaving the team."
The mute shook his head. This wasn't the first time he had heard that. In fact, he had heard that every time Cyborg and left, which by this point in time, was a total of five times.
"Look, Polybius, I'm so sorry." Cyborg said again, "However, at the time, it just seemed like it was a better option for me. Ya know. I'd get my own team, be my own leader, become a man! But now I realize that I don't need that to be one. I am already a man. No, a strong man!"
Going to his phone, Polybius texted back a response.
'A strong man stands up for himself. A stronger man stands up for others.' Polybius texted.
"I do stand up for others." Cyborg replied.
The mute shook his head.
'In some ways. But honestly, I feel like the people you screw over the most are us. I'm not going to go into detail about the others, but we always seem to be at the receiving end of your crap. And you love to take it out on us. And I'm growing tired of it! I hate it when people play with emotions, yet to me, that is all you seem to be doing. Saying one thing and then doing another thing that doesn't counterbalance what you said.' Polybius texted.
Cyborg was quiet for a long time before he responded.
"You are right." Cyborg finally replied, "I have been a terrible friend to everyone, especially you. And I understand why you don't believe me when I say one thing because I often do a different thing. But while I may be half robot, I am still half-human, which means I make mistakes, and we all got problems."
Polybius then stood up and texted Cyborg one last thing before exiting his own room to go tend to his garden.
"Everybody's got their problems. Everybody is going to say the same thing to you. It just matters how you solve them. And what are you going to do?" Cyborg read the text out loud.
Meanwhile, back in Nathan's home, he laid in his bed, just coming back from a successful mission. It was by far one of the worst pains he had ever experienced. And while he did complete his mission, he still hadn't been given his personality back yet.
"Good." The voice said, "You actually did something right! I'm slightly impressed. It's taken you long enough."
"Thanks." Nathan replied in a monotone voice.
"Well, to prove to you that I am a voice of my word, I will grant you your personality back." The voice said.
Nathan then blinked his eyes a few times before sitting up in his bed.
"What the hell?" Nathan asked, "Why did you do to me?"
You know why." The voice stated, "But anyway, if you keep succeeding, then you will get your personality back permanently."
"Why are you holding that hostage?" Nathan asked.
"Because." The voice said, "I need to do a few things to you, like deflate your ego."
"I don't have a big ego." Nathan said.
"And that is exactly why I am doing this for you." The voice said.
Nathan shook his head before changing the subject of the conversation.
"So this persona of a thief I have been taking on." Nathan said, "Why am I doing it again?"
"Because it's all part of the plan." The voice replied, "And you'll understand once this is complete."
"Man, I'm so sick and tired of playing these games!" Nathan said, "Just leave me alone. Please."
"Nope!" The voice said happily, "Not until you have fulfilled your role in my plans."
Meanwhile, back on Paradise Island, Donna sat on the steps of the temple, still shaken by what had happened the night before. She was spacing out when a familiar friend took a seat next to her.
"Hey, Donna." The friend said, startling her, "You alright? Didn't mean to startle you."
"Yeah, Zenobia, I'm fine." Donna replied.
Before Donna had been kidnapped, Zenobia was her best friend. Donna wasn't the only girl saved by her older sister Diana and brought to the island. She had brought quite a few girls to the island in her time. Donna was lucky that she was the first one, so she got taken in by the queen.
"Don't try to fool me." Zenobia said, "We've been friends for too long, and I know when something's up."
"I just had a horrible nightmare about him last night." Donna half lied, "That's all."
"Him?" Zenobia asked, "Montezuma, or Polybius?"
"Montezuma." Donna replied, "I just can't stop seeing him. Every time I go to sleep since I got back here, I see him."
"But when you were with Polybius, you didn't?" Zenobia asked.
"Only after we got to know each other." Donna replied, "When we didn't know each other all that well, I had them constantly. And every time the Titans were forced to leave me alone to go out on missions, I'd always feel uneasy. Like I do now."
"Uneasy?" Zenobia questioned.
"I don't know how to explain it to you." Donna said, "It's just, even though I know he's not there, and that he's dead. I just can't shake the feeling that he is. That' 's plotting to do something horrible to me."
"Unless you're with Polybius?" Zenobia asked.
"Yeah." Donna answered.
Zenobia thought about this for a moment.
"I'm no expert on this kind of stuff, but what I think you may want to do is visit Polybius." Zenobia offered, "I know you want to!"
"I do." Donna admitted, "But how will seeing Polybius help me?"
"Well, seeing as how you feel safe around him, maybe if you see him again, it'll reassure your mind that while Montezuma may be apart of you, Polybius is as well. And that Polybius is far stronger than Montezuma."
Donna sort of got what she was saying, but that didn't help her.
"I mean, yeah, that sounds logical." Donna replied, "But I don't want to be this damsel in distress. I want to be the savior, not the saved. And if I go back to Polybius for that, then I feel like all I'm doing is just surrendering myself to that persona."
"Maybe." Zenobia replied, "But maybe not. Perhaps if you go and save Polybius, then you'll feel better about yourself. I mean, we're all damsels in distress at some point, the evil dragon at some, and the saviors at others. The point is, you can't fight fate. What happened to you will happen for a reason because it's been pre-decided by the Gods."
"I'm not so sure." Donna said, "I never quite hopped on the fate train. Otherwise, to me, it would seem that all of our choices aren't our own."
"But think about it!" Zenobia said, "If you hadn't been kidnapped by Montezuma, then you would have never met Polybius, gotten so close to Diana, experienced man's world, and we wouldn't be sitting here and having this conversation right now! And while what Montezuma did was horrible to you, maybe, in the long run, it'll be a good thing."
"How?" Donna asked.
"I don't know." Zenobia said, "Maybe you'll become the second envoy to man's world. Maybe you'll fall for Polybius. Maybe Polybius was just there to set you down another path. I mean, he has taught you a lot for being a mute. I mean, my gosh, you don't look at people like your mom does. She sees a man and assumes they're all alike. But from my understanding, from what Polybius taught you, is that you need to judge people based on their person and what they stand for. Maybe you were supposed to bring that way of thinking to this island to help open our minds and reconnect ourselves more thoroughly with the outside world."
Donna took in the information that Zenobia had just told her. Everything she had just said made sense. Maybe her purpose was not necessarily to return to man's world, but rather bring the thinking of one man to her island to open up the Amazon's minds. Maybe that was her purpose.
But then again, that wasn't what she, and her heart, wanted to do. She wanted to be like Polybius. She envied him, his open-mindedness. His forgiveness. His willingness to, as he had put it once, write a blank check to a person for anything and everything up to and including his own life. All because he didn't want what happened to him to happen to them.
She wished that she was more like him in every way of her life.
"But who knows." Zenobia said after a short pause, "Maybe I'm wrong. Only time will tell us what happens."
"Yeah…" Donna said as she thought harder about what her friend Zenobia had said.
Meanwhile, back in Jump City, someone else too was thinking hard about life. That person was Cyborg, who was sitting at the dining table by himself. He had his head hung low and hands together. There was no one else in the room at that time, but that didn't last long as Raven walked.
"Something troubling you?" Raven asked as she looked over at Cyborg.
"Hm?" Cyborg questioned, looking at her "Oh, it's just something Polybius texted to me."
"What is it?" Raven asked.
"This." Cyborg said, showing her the text, "I don't fully understand what he means by this."
Raven quickly read what Polybius had and thought about it. She took a seat across from the metal Titan and began to speak.
"He is right." Raven said.
"How?" Cyborg questioned, "When I was with the Titans East, they told me to stay with them, and y'all were telling me to come back. That seems like two opposite things to me."
"You're taking it to literal." Raven corrected, "I think what he was trying to mean is that in the end, what everybody says doesn't matter. While words can be written in stone, the endless march of time will erode them down and turn them into sand to be washed away by the tide of time and forgotten. But actions have a far longer-lasting impact on people than words do."
"And what does he mean by that last bit?" Cyborg asked, sort of picking up on what she was saying.
"Well, when you blow up the stone, the words they once held are gone forever. And since nobody is going to take the time to restore the stone, it will forever leave its mark. But the scar from the blast will always be there. For any passerby to see and remember." Raven explained.
"So what you're saying is that actions speak louder than words?" Cyborg asked.
"In short, yes." Raven said.
"Great." Cyborg said, "What a way to say that."
"Well, you gotta think about it from Polybius's perspective." Raven said, "We all know that at one point in his life, he had his voice. And that at one point in his life, he had been through something horrible. And as he would probably put it, those were really humbling experiences. We don't know all that much about him, really. In fact, I'd say out of everyone here, he is the one I, no, we, know the least about."
"And that's cause he can't talk?" Cyborg asked.
"Exactly." Raven said, "I mean, just imagine that happening to you. You just lose your voice one day and live in constant physical pain. He's not even able to call for help when he needs it. The only time I've ever seen him weak is because I just happened to run into him by chance."
"Oh?" Cyborg questioned, unaware of this.
"I won't go into detail about it because it's not relevant." Raven quickly said, "But what I will say is that Polybius can't just get up and go ask for help. He has to hope that the person he is trying to get the attention of will give him that attention he needs so he can hopefully get his message across. And even then, he doesn't always get that message across. So then he would be left on his own and in the dark all by himself."
"Woah." Cyborg said, now catching onto what Raven was saying.
"I mean, just think about how terrifying that can be." Raven said, "To think that he lives his life, relying on other people to give him their attention. And if they feel like being rude, then he gets screwed over."
"Yeah." Cyborg agreed.
"And we don't even know about the things he hides from us." Raven said, "We don't know what kind of baggage he carries. It's more than likely he carries scars from that. Who knows, maybe this whole time he has been seeing hallucinations, and we could never know."
It was ironic that Raven was saying that at that moment. As in the bathroom, Polybius was standing in front of the mirror, accompanied by Darkbius and Hostbius. He stood with no clothing on and was looking at his branded chest. It had four numbers on it. 1 4 5 and 3 in that order.
"1 4 5 3." Darkbius said out loud as he stood behind Polybius "That's all you are. Just a number."
"Too bad, you just can't put down the fight for one second of your life Polybius." Hostbius followed up, "You could be more than that. You could be me!"
"Or better yet, back where you belong." Darkbius followed up, "Face it, pretty boy, you just killed your friendship with Cyborg. He'll never forgive you for this!"
"No, sir!" Hostbius commented.
"Now face it, Polybius." Darkbius went on, "You are destroying all of your friendships one by one. Starting with Cyborg, to Robin, to Beast Boy, to Starfire, and to Raven. And even with Donna too. You failure."
The mute shook his head as he couldn't help but feel like the two were right.
"Now, get yourself washed, you disgusting monster." Darkbius said, backing off of him, "You smell like a rotting corpse."
Polybsiu then turned away from the mirror. He went over and began getting dressed when suddenly the door burst open.
"Ah!" Beast Boy shouted, quickly turning back, only catching a glimpse of the now shirtless Polybius "Sorry, I thought this was empty!"
And there you have it! Chapter 26. Thank you for taking the time to read it and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day!