Raven threw up yet another force field as a stream of fire tore through the parking lot. They had at least managed to persuade Kon to leave the main city streets, keeping him away from most of the civilians. Now, though, he was the one playing offense, knocking each of them down before they could really get their feet under them again. Kon had started his fight with playful jests, obviously toying with them. He had teased Raven with her lack of appreciation for her gift. Claiming that he alone could have properly handled the powers of what he called a demi-god. Then he had switched to explaining his plans for Marcus once he got to him. Part of her knew he was only trying to pull that side out of her. And that she couldn't do it. But another part was almost tempted to show him what he was actually missing.
Though she wasn't sure if even that would work. Because, despite her building anger, Raven didn't seem to be doing much to the man. She must have caught him off guard last time they met, but this time he was ready. Clearly, he had seen more success in researching her than she had of him. A wave of tremors radiated out from her as she thought of this, her mental serenity slipping a tad.
In the second she had lost herself, Kon sent his own pulse through the earth, knocking her off her feat. Another strike was coming towards her, but a black mass flashed before her as her body was pulled from its spot.
"I told you something was coming." X landed behind a pile of cars with Raven, just as Gar did. Even under the distortion of his suit, she could catch Jason's voice.
"Yeah, something. Could you have been a little more specific?" Gar shot back, looking behind them towards the man attacking their friends. He usually wasn't in this sort of mood, even during battle. But a sense of helplessness was driving him today. Though he was the one more concerned about her, it was actually X that asked how she was.
"I'm fine." She replied. It seemed to her it came out calm and without displaying a bit of anger. But Gar knew better and gave her a look of disbelief as his own irritation rose. Leaving the two of them, he left before he could hear anything else she might say.
"What are you doing here anyway?" She asked, dusting herself off like she hadn't a care in the world.
"He's disrupting my plans."
"Mhm," X looked over at her with his typical emotionless face. For a second he seemed to betray a little bit of concern. Then it was back to business.
"I can lay down a lot of smoke. He's been focusing more on his left, as he keeps throwing people that way. Hit him from the right?"
Raven nodded and X was gone. Taking a deep breath, she pushed herself off the ground and several yards into the air, black tendrils twirling and swatting around her to ward off any attack she might be flying into. No one noticed her dramatic entrance. Off in the distance, Starfire was being thrown through a building. Kon's body twisting to the left as his right hand threw the magic. Smoke instantly began pouring in around Kon from every angle. A gust of wind formed from his hand, wafting a majority away. But it reformed even faster. Taking her chance, Raven charged his right side and threw everything she had at the man she hoped was in the same spot. A break and a dark brown clad arm appeared in her line of fire. Grinning she waited for her shot to hit its inevitable target.
Kon screamed louder than he had all night. But he was just as angry as she was now. No more taunts no more games. Fire shot from his finger tips as he threw streaks of lava back towards her. The blow was easy enough to block and Raven's grin grew even larger. He had trouble with control when he was angry as well. Something she knew all too well to exploit. But as she went to throw her retaliation back at him, a skinny man hopped in front of her.
Stopping mid throw, she pulled back half way. "Of course, Doctor Light who else would have shown up?" Raven let go of her dark energy, slinging it over the man. Even as it passed over his spot, she could see he had vanished. Perhaps he hadn't been there in the first place and it was all just a trick of the light. Kon's anger had calmed hers for a bit. Till a simple trick from such a lesser villain had completely fooled her. Beside her cracks began to form in the parking lot. She had been so close and now Kon wasn't even visible to her. A bolt of electricity warmed her back and she whipped around to see nothing.
Nothing but white.
The pain was unbearable and her hands instantly went to cover her face. Though, too late. Instantly she wanted to see what had happened or how bad off she was, but she couldn't even bring herself to pull her hands away. Without consciously thinking about it, her knees buckled and she sat down, exactly where she had been. She knew she was still exposed in the open, but there was no telling if where she flew was any safer.
"Rae," Gar's arms closed around her just as his voice assured her of his identity. The rocks pressing into her legs eased as she was lifted by the two arms. Her own arms went to find his neck as the muscles in his shoulders began to swarm under his skin. As much as she could, she buried her face into his chest, keeping her eyes tightly shut. Thudding lightly against his chest with each step she clung as tightly as she could. Air began swirling around her and the jolting stopped with one sudden jerk. A queasiness formed in her stomach, similar to when she flew, but this time she wasn't in control. Squirming against the body she wanted to get down, but she was held even tighter. The sounds of screams or rocks crumbling became quieter and quieter, meaning she had to be several yards off the ground. The pit of her stomach dropped and instantly she reacted by clinging to the body again.
"It's okay Raven, we're safe," Gar said. His voice rising above the wind. The repetitive noise of flapping finally broke through the chaos of the battle. With a few more flaps, it stopped and the wind started to die down. A light thump and everything was still. The pressure of his body left as he pulled her away and laid her on the ground. Removing her arms from his neck, she began patting around her. It was dirt of some sort. The initial burning pain had died down and she no longer felt the need to cover her face. Gar's hand brushed her chin and raised it slightly. The tips of a few fingers lightly touched the corners of her eyes.
"Can you open them?" He asked. She honestly tried, but her body refused. Shaking her head she pulled her knees up at the sound of foot steps.
"What happened?" The voice was strange. Leaning her body towards Gar, she gripped the hand under her chin. His free hand wiped her face a few time as he whispered reassurances.
"It's only Jason. It's going to be ok," then his voice hardened and grew louder. "She's blind. Doctor Light's down there now."
"Can't she fight blind till it goes away?" Jason asked, his distorted voice sounding familiar now. He was asking like she wasn't even there. And in the sudden irritation, she forgot about her fear. Before she could shoot back a rhetorical question about anyone's ability to fight blind she paused. There had been more than one occasion she was forced to fight in tunnels or at night with limited vision. The hand almost painfully gripping Gar's slackened and dropped to the ground. X was right, she should be able to do this.
"Not right now," was all Gar said. He wiped her face a few more times. The tears hadn't registered to her till now, there was no telling the damage actually done to the actual tissues of the eyes and right now they probably didn't know what else to do. Gar's body was beginning to pull back from Raven's. His concern and pity dropping away just as her shock and fear were. A hand gripped her shoulder as another body squatted down beside her. Ironically, X's concern was beginning to emerge as he must have started to gather the severity of the situation. This wasn't a simple temporary blindness due to a bright light.
"I'll stay here. You'll do more than I would in a battle like this anyway," X's body stayed in contact with hers as a tearing sound started.
Gar's hand squeezed hers once, he didn't want to leave her and guilt started to appear.
Shaking her head, in what was probably his direction, Raven disagreed, "No, go. I'll be fine. I can't even hear the fighting from here," she lied. Gar's hand left hers. As she heard the new weight pushing on the ground and the sound of giant wings taking flight, she could feel the surge of outrage and desperation. He was going to do whatever it took to protect her.
Sighing she dropped her head. The feeling of cloth at her face startled her. X didn't give an explanation till the make shift bandaid was fully wrapped around her head several times.
"To keep the sun out. I don't think you're eye lids alone will be enough. But," his voice changed direction, "hopefully you'll be going home soon." Yet another pair of footsteps approached them, running with louder thuds than X had approached with.
"Cyborg!" She whispered.
"Yeah," he calmly agreed.
"Get out of here, I'll be fine."
"No," his voice got louder as one hand rested on her shoulder. "She's hurt. She needs medical attention."
"What did..." Cy started, the whirl of his sonic blaster coming to life.
"Cyborg wait he didn't..." Raven also started.
But X stopped them both, "Now! She's been blinded and being out in this bright sun isn't helping." A thud of a footstep came closer and Cyborg started to speak a few times before agreeing and walking over. The sound of his weapon disappearing.
Before she lost her chance, Raven gripped the suit of the man beside her, "Make sure he doesn't get himself killed."
"I'll try," He squeezed her shoulder and left just as larger colder hands wrapped around her, lifting her. This time she wasn't as terrified and leaned into Cyborg as he lightly placed her in the car.
By the time he had gotten her hooked up to all the machines and was beginning to examine her eyes, her panic had fully returned. Her attention was no longer on the fight. That was somewhere else entirely. Now it was painfully quiet. Except for the displeased noises escaping Vic's mouth. He had said the room was pitch black, but that didn't calm her down. Having her eyes open and seeing literally nothing, was horrific.
"Good news," his voice sounded further away as he leaned back, "I think you're body is already starting to heal itself. It's no longer producing tears because the surface cells of your eyes look almost normal. It's just the cells further in. The ones that actually see."
"What does that mean?" Her voice trembled slightly.
"You couldn't be able to see if I turned the lights on."
"For ever?"
He didn't respond right away and metal clinked several times next to her. A drawer opened up even further away.
"It's hard to say," he obviously wasn't happy with his answer. The sound of his voice was even further away than the drawer and much more distant than she felt comfortable with. With everything they had been through she had been in this room dozens of times. Right now though, she couldn't even recall which way the bed faced, if she was next to a wall, or even how many beds there were in the room. Gripping the bed she closed her eyes, pretending it was just another day. There was no reason to need Victor right beside her the whole time. He was at least in the same room. Wasn't he? Her pride was keeping her quiet. Mixed with the knowledge he had more important things to deal with. Like continuing to contact back up options. Her freaking out in a perfectly safe room was the last thing he had to deal with.
Something sounded to her left freezing her still. The machine was loud, louder than anything she had heard in this room before.
"Are you okay?" Victor's voice was only a few feet from her and she jumped with a gasp.
"What?!" Groaning she pointed at her face. "Do I look okay?" The anger in her voice only made her sound bitchy instead of fearless.
"Hey," A hand reached over her and pushed on her other shoulder. "Why don't you lay down? I would feel better if you stayed in here versus going to your room."
The thought hadn't even crossed her mind to seek refuge in her room. She let him guide her back to the middle of the bed before slowly laying down. As she moved, Victor reached around her guiding the IV tube so it wouldn't get caught up till she was comfortable and ready for the blanket.
"Another blanket?" He asked but she shook her head. Surely he was tucking her in so he could leave and let her sleep. Already her body was beginning to sweat at the mere thought of it.
"Alright, try and get some sleep. I'll be right here, okay?" The tone of his voice was almost similar to that used on children. He didn't fully believe she was okay but had to get back to work.
"Hey Vic, what's that sound?"
"What sound?" They both paused as he listened.
"It sounds like a machine. Or an engine of some sort. I've never heard it before."
"The...the air conditioning?" They both paused again, and Raven slowly nodded her head.
"Alright, I'll be right here." He repeated, putting emphasis on every word.
The next few hours were dreadful. Luckily she could hear Victor's voice or computer make some sort of noise for most of that time. Dick began talking, but the sound of his voice lowered as Victor walked out of the room. The door lightly clicked behind him. She could still make out voices but no actual words. Though she tried for several minutes to make out what they were saying, she eventually had to give up and instead her attention went back to her own room. A few dings or beeps were going on around her. One, in particular, had to be several yards away. But the room couldn't be that big. A shuffling accompanied it. This wouldn't be the first time someone shifted their house while they were in it. Gripping her blanket Raven thought about calling out for Victor. But he was talking just as he had been before. If she called him in, it could be for nothing, interrupting his serious conversation with Dick for a simple beep. He would probably walk in to see the room just as he left it. Twisting the sheets tighter she vowed to die by her own stubborn pride. Beside her the swishing grew louder, coming closer and closer.
The door opened again and Victor was there within seconds. His voice shook a little with nervousness, but he held it well.
"Hey, you alright?"
Again her pride prevented any sort of confession, "Yeah, why?"
"Your... well, never mind. Dick called." Sighing he placed a hand on Raven's. "It's over."
"It's over...as in?"
"Kon's been killed."
"By who?"
"He said it was unclear." No doubt he did. The government was rightfully concerned about the hero's over stepping their rights and constantly asked for more and more paperwork on battles involving deaths. Gar's record was pretty clean, and Dick would have done what he could to keep it that way.
"And Gar?" She didn't bother beating around the bush. His fingers wound around her small hand and gripped it tightly.
"He's the only one unaccounted for."