Teen Titans – Haunted; An Analysis in Red and Orange; Chapter 5: Crying in the Rain
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So? Where in the world of this iconic spectrum on our PTSD scale allow us to scale from a one to ten, just how engrossed in this conflict is our Titan leader is with his mystery mad man?
Maybe we should ask the Titans that question?
/
Raven was kind enough to use her soul self as a shield from the rain for her friends. Beastboy looked positively dreadful; catching a cold did not make him feel any less gorgeous, yet it hit a sore spot within him to lose his temper.
"We had to finish off Cinderblock by ourselves, in the rain, and…."
He convulsed from a rather unique kind of sneeze due to his cold, morphing into an elephant, then taking to human shape and trying to snort the sneeze from his…...
Beastboy's snuffing finally had him admit his own defeat with a mumble, "Great. Now I've got a cold."
That stoic disregard for his teammates, it wasn't ok. Robin was teetering far too close to a brick wall with his nightly obsession. Something, just felt plain wrong.
Rae internally shuddered at the picture of BB's "snot" being why she was so nervous for her leader's mental state, while Robin had not even moved to speak out and interrupt his friend. He was, too cold….
And here we find….?
Out of the earlier PTSD phases of phases 2: Numbness is the last of the second Rescue phase.
Any longer in this state, and a state of no return could very well occur. Raven knew that the boy wonder was in pain, he held himself to the very highest bar, and now?
He was suffering for it, badly.
The words rolled off of the ebony hero's tongue. Raven's thoughts danced about her own mind, knowing that this one fear, would leave her to debate the impossible with her team later on. She could sense their unease as a buzzing gang of flies to rotting corpses.
Retracting his prized bo – staff, Robin spoke. "Slade. He's back."
Cy's response was genuinely too reluctant. With trauma patients, you had to very careful when debating a specific point with the victim. Who was, being Robin, it seemed impossible to convince due to his already stubborn nature. A double whammy.
"You sure it was him? I mean, you kinda' had Slade on the brain lately. Maybe –
Wrong move, so Robin retaliated. Should have just said OK...
"It was him. He's going to create a massive earthquake, and we have three hours to stop it!" Raven and Cy saw the anxiety and fear fizzle from behind their leader's stance. He wasn't supposed to be this dead - set on a case, not without help from his team…
The awkward stalling was cut off by Beastboy's heavy sniffling due to the cold, and the temp dropping from the rain storm wasn't exactly making him feel any less unwell.
Cy still was left in denial, as he went after the topic, trying to dissuade his leader from thinking irrationally as Robin had during the blackmail incident.
"I don't get it. The dude fell into a pit of lava," he went on, emphatically making the scene sound so bizarre, that it was! They were all there. Robin had witnessed Slade's demise with his own eyes.
"Who lives through something like that?" The big question from Cy's lips could not convince Robin to take a step back. Raven also, didn't disregard facing the impossible. Not tonigh, as his eyes confirmed it.
Completely determined.
"Apparently, Slade." Raven somewhat tried to agree with Robin and by her own logic, it wasn't impossible to believe in impossible outcomes in their line of work. Her own opinion of the master criminal was just as valid. She had to test it though against Robin's botched logic…
Beastboy joined in on the discussion, "Yeah. He's pretty…pretty…"
His cold though, had other plans.
Three sneezes and three animals after, the spasm of Beastboy's unfortunate affliction allowed the teen to finish his sentence. Another win for "capybara and friends."
"Slippery…" He sniffed.
Robin; in his decision to take up the task, left Beastboy to worry about his cold later, a sure and tell – tale factor of his returning obsession with Slade. Raven wants to tell Robin herself of the damage his choices were having on his team…. but she'd actually…been…
Afraid to let him go it alone. As were the other Titans.
"We'll worry about how Slade survived later. Right now, all that matters is how we stop him."
~Or, how you get to stop him your way …. ~ Raven thought to herself.
He started spouting orders, knowing the Titans weren't afraid to search for the deadly psychopath on this dark and stormy night. They were heroes, death didn't scare them and never could. Not really.
"Cyborg. Check out the bridge. Raven, take the park. Beast Boy, the pier. Starfire…We're going after Slade."
/
X's last stop - on his list of wanting to go back under witness protection. A call first was in order, and then he had to chuck the belt. Look for the blueprints to make another –
~ Are you so certain that he won't cover his tracks? ~ X's mind buzzed with a feeling of helplessness at the hands of a master assassin. And a hunter, where he'd almost been the man's meal of the week!
~ He was undead, wasn't he? His butler, that grumpy old man will probably just do his dirty work for him for now. And if you get rid of the belt, who's to say he can't just trace you the old-fashioned way? ~
"Ugh! What is wrong with me!" X looked around his flat as he dropped the moping business and picked up his stolen mobile. Unlimited, the one that had zero chips in it to send him back to that fun house of horrors.
He pulled up a number on the nabbed cell that made his stomach twist into knots.
"Les…. Worth a try."
The call went through as it rang over on the other line. With a click, a voice as clear as day answered back to X with a matter-of-fact way about them. Secretary, ok then.
~ Hello? Dr. Leslie's office. Psychology department. Who might this be –
"Ah, y – yes! This is…. Mr. Ja…. Jackson. I need to make, an appointment to speak with Dr. Leslie. At the soonest time that you've got this week, perhaps?" He crossed his fingers.
~ Is this call, long distance? I noticed the number isn't from Gotham City. ~
She waited for the male to speak up. He did, and for some reason she could tell that he was in a bit of a funk by how his anxious emotions flooded the conversation.
He was desperate. Dr. Les needed to know this right away.
~ We can squeeze you in for a phone visit if you –
"No, no…I want to meet in her office. In person. By myself."
Huh. Was he a runaway kid? That did sound pretty plausible by how he'd decided on an office visit instead of a chat online so quickly. Fear? Something else?
~ Alright, Mr. Jackson. You'll need to bring a valid I.D and your insurance information on the same day as your appointment to our office… ~ She went on with the company policy and the penalties of being a no- show. Something he knew enough about to skim over.
~ So, then. We have a slot for…. Ah, at six in the evening on a Friday. Would that be alright for you? ~
"I can make it, and I'll keep you posted if I have to reschedule due to my…work." He lasted added.
~ We'll be sure to let the Dr. know if anything should need to be adjusted then, have a great rest of your evening and see you at the office, until then. ~
"Thanks, will be there at the earliest." A grin? Was he ok with going to see the Batman's personal shrink?
Apparently, seeing freaking death made you do crazy things. Even find closure in the city that had nearly left you a broken figure in a discarded past….
/
The forest clearing rolled into view as the two titans were forced to stay by the same grounds' path that led to where Slade was still possibly hiding among the overgrowth of scented green. The path had been reinforced by gravel and mud, due to the hour long storm. The two things that would make a fight in the rain a problem for Robin, were rain and poor lighting. Especially against Slade.
Letting Robin be, wasn't any fun for the mad man and on occasion, he liked to be the spectator sometimes too.
During the teen's apprenticeship, this had been a well - known fact. The theatrical side to the man were a part of his molded - together personality, as well as his strategic intervening into the Titans' little lives. The deadliest and the part Robin had once exposed was the man's hot blooded temper.
Robin's fists only clenched tighter, until a few soft and reassuring words from behind him pulled him from his hopeless position again, for just a brief moment. Yet, he pitied the voice's resolve. To him, it wasn't ideal but a danger to their mission.
He was too distracted, too unfocused. Slade was right…but sloppy?
"Fear not, Robin. We will stop him."
Star was only parroting his own desire to stop the mad man from enacting his master plan. His, revenge scheme. Itwas just, to pity him, it felt like.
Robin answered back, with some grey area of hopelessness seeping back into his weary voice. Wary, as Slade was not one to be without surprises in store for…. his teammates. And….
His ex - Apprentice. Right. He'd escaped that fate. Once.
Robin grumbled his answer to Star's unfathomable, optimism.
"We have no other choice." Was what he'd chosen to say to her, and to himself.
Starfire's brow furrowed a bit in worry. Slade was dangerous. And dangerously, obsessed with her leader. Right now, that tore at her friend like nothing else in this known universe.
Pulling out of his doldrums for a moment, the Titans communicator on his belt sounded off. A sign, maybe?
Flipping the lid open to find his teammates all at their assigned posts, this was a sure way to have their task finished in time before –
Cy's voice cut off the hero's thoughts. ~ Robin, I'm at the bridge. ~
"Did you find the seismic generator?"
So, demanding…. Cy wanted to shake his head at this mess they'd gotten themselves knee - deep into.
"Man, I can't find diddly. No signs of anything unusual."
Bad call. Robin's anxiety was coming up again. His grip tightened around the yellow piece of hidden circuitry and cool metal.
Whipping over to Raven's end, the same occurred. ~ Nothing here either. ~
Were they kidding?? It wasn't that hard..He wasn't! –
The screen flashed over to the pier.
Robin let his fists grow tighter, ~ Sniff it out, Bb…. come on….one clue for us...~
~ I got bubkis. ~
That fueled Robin to the point that anger and frustration could no longer take a back seat.
Bb's cold came alive as well. Sneezing, he changed into animal after animal upon each spasm of his illness. Robin grew even more impatient. His heart continued beat by the anger he'd now have to wrestle with…
~ They're there. Keep searching. ~ Stay focused. Still, it was hard to not to want to lash out. He needed to keep alert, to not be prone to having a temper...
Not like his worst nemesis.
Another command, another "sneeze – o – change – o" from Bb's link.
With a grunt and the links dying down, Robin felt his boiling angst win him over. He chucked his unit in annoyance into the gravel and wet earth, convinced that if you wanted something done right...
"I told them exactly where Slade put the generators. I should have gone to find them myself." A low growl, as if he'd kill for the opportunity to unmask his boogeyman for real this time. No one else.
Starfire scooped up the battered device as Robin kept walking on ahead, trudging through the mud and silt that squished below his steel toed boots.
"They will be found, Robin. You must have faith in your –
~ Faith won't stop a mad man, Star…. faith will get you all –
Robin raised his widening eyes. Out in the clearing out in front of them, something was there, he could feel it.
Starfire was confused. She called out rather meekly, to her startled friend. Did he hear a tree branch snapping? Maybe, or he was not getting enough of "the zzzs?"
"Robin?"
/
The trees had parted all in a row; right out of a suspense novella, Slade could have been its main antagonist. Holmes's, Moriarty.
Robin's disbelief on his face was indeed, evident. Slade knew he'd won his attention…It was the mask he'd chosen to wear tonight. And in front of his forever nemesis...
Standing out apart from the clearing, it was as if he wanted to be found. Slade never ceased to amaze this tired boy – scout. He'd never stop, unless Robin brought the man to justice right now.
"Tick – tock, Robin. This is going to be easier than I thought. You've gotten sloppy while I was away…" The hiss in his voice was just awaiting a good fight, biding his time until the city was totally destroyed. Time was running out, so Robin charged in. Throwing a handful of his patented disks, they whizzed through the air, hoping to bring down the mad man as this heroic teen seemed to believe could and would happen.
At Slade's feet, they should have taken him out…Not a scratch.
The smoke fell away, wafting for a few seconds more before Robin ran straight into the fog. Slade anticipated this event, and used a palm thrust to send Robin to his knees into the muddy earth – before the boy wonder had forced his body to slip away from an oncoming steel toed boot. The hero rose up to continue on his feet with this messy rush in the rain. His skin was already like ice. A comfort from the painful bruises he'd allowing again to mar his skin. As if he'd allow another round to hit –
He went with it, a…Roundhouse kick!
Slade went to chop down the hero's resolve with a swerve away from the attempt. Not even a hit.
Slade ended up behind the Titan somehow, ending this riot a moment with a hit from his sturdy fist. Robin barely caught the attack as he was sent into the muck again, on his stomach and clawing at the wet dirt.
Starfire's face was there and Slade seems to take to his escape route in a hurry.
She called out to her leader, the storm making him hardest to spot.
"Robin!"
"Starfire! Stop him!"
He was desperate, cold and with wet with mud and grit clinging to his clothing and hair. How could he have let this happen??
Lightening flashed; up on the slope where Slade was clearly to Robin running away, Starfire searched anxiously for the face her friend has spotted, but it was as if…There was only the rain dancing in front of her vision and nothing else.
Robin gathered himself and trudged up the slope to seek out his teammate. No, no…this was all wrong!
His teeth clenched, as she tried to speak to him –
She gasped as her leader lashed out.
Seizing her upper arm with a devastating vice grip, he pointed the finger and lost it.
Why did he even think this would work…And why did she screw up?? WHY?
"What happened??"
Starfire was, shuddering. Her eyes holding back well kempt tears from her friend's dangerous glare, she was actually startled. This wasn't her friend's normal type of behavior. Did he not understand? Could she say nothing at all to have him release her?
"You are hurting me…" She said to her livid leader. He remained unfazed by her shock.
His panting, ragged breath made her pity him. Her one flaw. Her one weakness, exploited by Slade. As Robin's own weakness had –
He shouted at her, making her feel small.
"Slade ran right by you! How could you let him get away?!"
"But…Robin…There was no one there…" Saving her tears for a true calamity, Robin's desperate face stared back, his shock greater than her own as he stared past his friend and into another time. A darker outcome.
Of what he almost done to her. Here, as she'd nearly broken apart with him in the rain.
Thunder and lightening conjoined in the air to make tonight truly a failed attempt for some, yet it remained a shorn example of true teamwork to others.
Wrong. All wrong, because nothing was ever supposed to be simple. Nothing, even if a friend told you all of their pains….you'd still call them a liar.
And yet, she wasn't lying.