A Response to a Few Reviews:
To LadyEvils - You're right about the leather thing - it totally slipped my mind when I wrote it! We'll say it's fake leather, ok?
To Willow182 - The kid they found was the "Toxin" that fought Robin, as you'll find out in this chapter
To ROBINROX - sorry, but there's more pain for Robin before there's relief
To bofors: here's the link to my art gellery. more pics will be posted as soon as I can scan them!
To All: As you can see by the title, we've chosen for our Robin to be Tim Drake, rather than Dick Grayson. This is just our choice because it fits better with our story. Thank you. Enjoy!
Chapter 10
"The Blood of Timothy Drake"
Bee-boop-bop-a-dee-bloop! Bee-boop-bop-a-dee-bloop!
Beast Boy groaned softly, muttering curses at the world for making his cell phone ring at 6:07 in the morning as he sat up-
Thock!
The changeling moaned and lied back down. He had apparently rolled under the desk in the room whilst sleeping on the floor last night. He rubbed his forehead, trying to stop the ringing in his head.
Bee-boop-bop-a-dee-bloop! Bee-boop-bop-a-dee-bloop!
Or was that still his phone?
After a few seconds of reorienting himself, the green-skinned male managed to free his cell phone from his pocket, "Hullo?"
"Um…" said an unfamiliar feminine voice, "This isn't Cyborg, is it?"
"No." Beast Boy blinked once, gave up trying to keep his eyes opened, and continued dully, "Do you want him?"
"Yes please," the female on the other end said, sounding flustered.
With a single heave, the cell phone was lofted into the air by Beast Boy. It sailed ungracefully towards its target, a perfectly aimed shot. The changeling watched as it made contact with its intention, grinning evilly, "Cyborg, some chick wants you!"
"Ow!" Cyborg cried, rudely awakened as the phone hit his head. It bounced off of him and he had to scramble to catch it before it fell to the floor, "Uh, hello??" he asked into the receiver.
"Cyborg? It's Detective Leigh," came Amy's voice, "The medical examination on the dumpster-kid found something I think you'll be interested in. How soon can you come to the hospital?"
He began to massage the back of his head, trying to comprehend everything, "Uh… isn't it a little early? Maybe like around 7:15…7:30… somethin' that doesn't start with a '6'?"
"Yeah, sorry about calling so early," she said, and he could almost feel the heat that must have been coming off of her face through the phone, "I haven't been home all night…I've been going back and forth from the police station and the hospital since I left you last night. I guess I've gone beyond the point of needing sleep…I'll see you after seven then?"
"Yeah, sure…" Cyborg's large thumb squashed about half of the buttons on the cell phone, powering it down. He glared daggers at Beast Boy and flung the little machine back at him.
Beast Boy caught it ungracefully and pocketed it. "Who was that?"
"A cop. Giving those of us that at least did some work last night information. And by the way, man, your new outfit is just as ridiculous as your old one."
"Dude – I'll have you know Raven said I looked hot in this," Beast Boy protested, gesturing at himself.
"She was humoring you."
"She was not!" the changeling cried, suddenly worried. 'She couldn't have been…could she??'
"I suppose you could always take a look in her mirror if you really wanna know the truth," Cyborg told his friend, shrugging, "But I'm pretty sure I'm right."
"Sorry, Cy," came Raven's voice and they both turned. She was propped up on her elbows, in the bed she and Starfire were sharing. "Not right this time – and sorry, my mirror is not open for public viewing at the moment."
"Just makin' a suggestion is all," he said coolly, refraining from asking the question: "How long have you been listening?" and instead simply saying, "Mornin', Rae."
"Yeah, morning," she said, "So what'd your cop have to tell you?"
"She ain't mine!" Cyborg cried frantically, "And it's a long story, so ask Star when she wakes up. I gotta go eat."
"Ooh! Breakfast sounds good!" Beast Boy cried, jumping to his feet, "I'll come with you!"
"You can come if you want. Females always want 'private time' after all."
Beast Boy's eyes widened slightly, "Whoa…that put a really kinky image in my head…" he said, blushing.
"On second thought, maybe you should stay here," Cyborg said, leaving as quickly as possible.
"Do I even wanna know what the hell you were picturing?" Raven asked.
Beast Boy turned back to her, laughing embarrassedly, one hand behind his head.
* * *
'7:10…that's close enough,' Cyborg thought to himself as he checked the watch implanted in his arm. The other three member of the team had caught up with him at a coffee house a few blocks between the motel and the hospital, and over breakfast, Starfire had explained their encounter with Detective Leigh. After that, Cyborg had explained about the phone call. "Alright, let's go," he said, rising from his chair and grabbing Beast Boy by the pointy ear, "You've eaten enough."
"But I wasn't finished!" the green-skinned teen whined as he was dragged towards the door. Raven slapped a tip down on the table, then she and Starfire followed after the boys.
The trek to the hospital was a quiet one, as the Gotham streets were nearly empty in the early hours of morning. As they entered the hospital lobby, they found Leigh waiting for them, seated off to one side, writing in a small ringed notebook. As the sound of their entrance reached her ears she checked her watch. "You're a little early," she said, rising.
"Hey, I said 7:15ish. Close enough, right?" Cyborg asked, grinning slyly, "I don't believe you've met the rest of my group: the weird one with the green complexion is Beast Boy, and uh…," the android paused, unable to think of a word or phrase to appropriately describe Raven, "That's Raven."
The Azarath frowned slightly, but nodded towards the female cop.
"Nice to meet you both," Amy said, shaking hands with both Raven and Beast Boy.
"Yes…" Raven said, "Cyborg told us you had something important to tell us."
"Straight to business I see," Amy said, "You must be the disciplined one."
"I try."
"If you'll follow me, I'll show you what I was talking about on the phone." Leigh turned and led them to the elevator, up two floors, to a room at the end of a long hallway. She pushed open the door and motioned for them to go inside. On a bed in the center of the room was the young drug-dealer, with an IV tube in one arm, and bandages all over.
"Did he get the number of the bus that hit him?" Beast Boy asked, jokingly.
"Actually, we did," Amy said, "The blood on his hands was identified as belonging to a Timothy Drake. Does that name ring a bell to any of you?"
Cyborg shot a look at Starfire, as if warning her not to start the waterworks, "No, sorry."
Leigh pursed her lips, disappointed. "Well, there's one more thing," she continued, "We found traces of a strange chemical in his blood – certain components of which were the target in an attempted robbery of the Hitachi plant in name of city place."
"That's the last time we saw Robin; we were on that scene, trying to stop a bunch a' thugs!" Beast Boy spoke up excitedly.
"That's not all," Amy said, gesturing to a light-screen covered with x-rays, "The drug seems to have caused a near-total-cerebral shut down. Only his basic life support system is still functioning."
"Why would someone want to do that to themselves?" Raven asked.
"Maybe he didn't," Beast Boy shrugged, "Maybe it was whoever kicked his butt."
Cyborg groaned inwardly. Did Beast Boy not know who Timothy Drake was?
The young man on the bed grunted and they all turned to look at him. "He seems to be awaking," Star said quietly.
Toxin's eyes shot open and began darting around the room. The scent of others was close; the aroma of unsuspecting quarry. The disgusting two-legged creatures swarmed this room, but the smell of animal was apparent as well. Fresh prey, fresh meat. Despite his physical injures, the young man leapt up, sending the IV tower crashing to the ground. He rushed towards the large pack, tiny particles of saliva flying from his mouth. The weak always grouped together.
"Look out!" Cyborg cried, stepping forward and catching Toxin in mid-air, "Leigh – go get somebody with a tranq-gun, or something!" he said, as he wrestled with the seemingly rabid man, while trying not to injure him any further.
"Right," Amy dashed out the door.
"Zinthos!" Raven cried, raising one hand. Black energy surrounded Toxin and pried him off of Cyborg, letting him hover a few feet above the ground.
"What is wrong with him?" Star asked worriedly.
"He smells funny," Beast Boy said, wrinkling his nose.
"What are you talking about??" Raven said, her eyes glowing pure white as she held the spell.
"I meant he doesn't really smell like a human," the changeling said, folding his arms.
"Humans have a certain smell??" Cyborg asked.
"You do."
"Get to the
point!" Raven snapped, a few beads of sweat trickling down her face. Toxin was
putting up more of a resistance to her magic than she would have predicted, and
it was starting to get to her.
"Alright! Alright!" Beast Boy said, getting a little annoyed himself,
"Humans usually have a distinct smell about them, as most animals do. But what
I'm trying to tell you is: he doesn't smell like a human anymore. He reeks of
Neanderthal."
"Probably has to do with whatever he's been pumped with," Cyborg said.
"So what do we do about it?" Raven asked.
"Knock him out," the part-animal, part-human male told her, "See how much he's sweating? The chemicals are practically being drained out of him! His liver must be working overtime. That could actually be dangerous if it doesn't all get out of his system soon." Beast Boy felt rather proud of himself. If there was one thing he knew more about than his teammates, it was anatomy.
As if on cue, Amy returned with a physician armed with anesthetic in a syringe. The doctor stared, puzzled, at the black energy binding the young man, but at a quick nudge from the detective, chose not to ask questions. He stuck Toxin with the needle in the neck and he passed out almost instantly. Raven set him back down on the bed and wiped the sweat off of her forehead.
"How long will it take for the poison to leave him?" Star asked, standing over the unconscious form.
"We're looking into that," the doctor told her reassuringly.
"What will you do with him once he is better?" she asked.
"He'll go back to Juvenile Hall to finish his sentence," Amy said, coming up beside her, then noticing Star's sad face, added, "I really don't have any choice in the matter. I'm sorry."
"It is not your fault," the Tamaran said, "We should probably go now." She turned and headed for the door.
"Nice seein' ya," Cyborg told the detective, "If anything unusual like this comes up again, you now where to find me." With that he trailed Starfire out of the room and Raven followed suit. Beast Boy gave the teenager on the bed a last, sickened look, then hurried to catch up with his super-hero teammates.
* * *
Once outside, Cyborg turned to Beast Boy, "Please tell me you were just faking being an idiot for once."
"What'd you mean? Being smart now makes me an idiot!?"
"No I mean before you started spouting biology stuff," Cyborg said, "You do know who Tim Drake is, right?"
"Yes," he said indignantly, folding his arms and sticking his nose in the air.
"Right. So you know that Tim Drake is Robin, right?" The larger male grilled Beast Boy, hovering threateningly over him.
"What? – I mean, of course I did!"
Raven massaged her temples with both forefingers, willing herself not to say anything insulting, and then raised her head. "At least now we know Robin's here – it's unlikely that whoever kidnapped them would fly him all the way out here just to throw us off."
"Yeah. Now we just need to find a 'where'," Cyborg said, nodding.
"Perhaps we should return to the large trash receptacle where that young man was found," Starfire spoke up meekly.
"Worth a try," Beast Boy shrugged, "Do either of you remember where it was?"
"Sure I do!" Cyborg said, puffing out his chest, "Come on, I'll show y'all."
* * *
"Just looks like a normal, slimy, Gotham alleyway," the changeling said as they arrived (in a surprisingly short time).
"Smells like it too," Cyborg said, wrinkling his nose in disgust.
"Not sure what we're looking for," Raven said, watching a rat scamper past her feet.
"Maybe there will be some clue as to who deposited that man here," Star said, peering into the shadows that covered the far end of the alley.
"Or maybe we'll all need a good bath after this," Beast Boy suggested, peering into the open and very foul dumpster.
"If only our motel had a shower that was clean enough to use," Raven said, turning slightly green.
"Are you saying bugs are dirty?" the changeling asked resentfully, "I'll have you know that I got to know those cockroaches in the shower very well and they're very nice!"
"You talk to cockroaches??" Raven said, then shuddered, "That's it – I'm definitely never taking a shower in there…I'll never be able to tell if you're in there too…"
"I can't believe you would suspect me of being that perverted!" he said, turning crimson.
"I can't believe you two are arguing about this while we have a leader who needs rescuing," Cyborg said, "We can decide if Beast Boy's a peeping tom some other time, okay??"
"Fine," Raven and Beast Boy said together.
"There is nothing here," Starfire said sadly, abandoning her search of the oversized trash can and the surrounding area, "Let us return to our borrowed home."
The other three looked at each other guiltily and nodded.
* * *
'Where the heck- Oh, that's right… I'm still trapped here.' The Boy Wonder looked around, taking in the two guards standing at the door. He began to take himself in, noticing his broken gloves, his tattered cape, and the frayed edge of his collar. Robin could feel dried blood on his mouth and the sweat stains that blotted his shirt unceremoniously. He cracked his sore neck, questions swirling around his mind, "Hey, you!" the leader of the Teen Titans called, "Where's Ivy? Where's Penguin?"
The guards turned to look at him, surprised. "He's back to normal," said one with two black-eyes and a bandage over his nose.
"Better call 'em to bring down another shot," that the second man, pulling out a cell phone and sending a text message. "Don't worry, punk. Penguin and Ivy will be down to see you shortly."
"That's just fine. Seems you forgot to tie me up this time," Robin said, smirking, "Maybe it'll make the odds a little more even."
The guards chuckled, "Yeah…it'll even the odds alright…"
A few moments later, the sound a sliding door echoed through the dark chamber and Ivy and Penguin stepped out of the shadows. Ivy had a nearly-invisible band-aid across her collarbone and Penguin held a newspaper under one arm. "There he is," Ivy cooed, "And looking so much worse for the wear. But no wonder – you had a big night last night."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Robin asked, then he chuckled, "Your serum only lasted one night? Seems like a waste to me, but then Batman always said you had too much faith in your abilities as a chemist, Ivy."
She flushed and pulled a small black remote out of her pocket, slamming her thumb down on its only button.
A jolt of electricity went coursing through Robin's body, dropping him too his knees. After the pain began to subside, he realized there was a thin, black ring around his neck. He had missed that before. Why was he in so much pain? Even a shock of electricity shouldn't have hurt that much.
"Sooner or later you'll learn respect, boy," Ivy smirked, "Until then, Penguin has something he'd like to read to you."
Penguin unfolded the newspaper he was carrying and began to read aloud, "Missing Escapee Found: Recent Juvenile Hall fugitive Thomas Xinto was found yesterday night, abandoned and bloodied in the Dumpster between 22nd Street and Park Avenue. Causes of this disturbing event are as of yet unknown. Thomas is now resting in the hospital, in critical condition. Xinto was a former drug dealer attending therapy and rehabilitation whilst serving out his sentence in the minors' detention center." The criminal millionaire tossed the paper aside, "Your performance was brilliant, my young bird. You and Thomas had quite a go last night," Penguin laughed, putting his fists up as if he was a boxer, "An excellent display of fighting skills for the paying customers."
"I…what…?!?" Robin cried, struggling in vain to get to his feet once again, "What did you make me do?!"
"We didn't make you do anything," Ivy said, "If we had had complete control, Thomas Xinto would be dead right now. That's what the customers want – and that's what we plan to give them." She put one hand on the bars of his cage, while the other hand held up the syringe full of familiar green liquid. "No matter how many times we have to pump you with this – you will kill in the end. Even your noble mind can't fight it forever."
Realization dawned slowly on the Boy Wonder. He hadn't had control, at all. That was why he now wore this collar. But even then, they hadn't broken him. He had not killed, "What's the point of making me fight again? You can't make a person kill against their will," he backed up to the far edge of the cage, wanting to avoid the needle for as long as possible.
Ivy pulled the cage door open and stepped inside. "It's a funny thing – the human spirit," she said, "You hero-types never realize how fragile it is. But will learn in time. Once we find you an opponent who's really a challenge, it'll be kill or be killed – and your survival instincts are much too strong to let yourself die."
Penguin smiled, adjusting his monocle, "You're outnumbered and your brainless teammates haven't a clue as to our whereabouts. This will go much easier if you surrender now. You'll only cause yourself more pain and," he chuckled, "as they say in the entertainment business: the show must go on. You have another performance tonight, after all."
Robin ignored the pompous bird and glared at Ivy, ready for a fight, "What makes you think the drug will work any better than the last time?"
"I've made a few modifications, and I've increased the dosage," she said, squirting the air out of the syringe, "This whole process is just trial and error after all. Now you can either be a good little bird and hold still, or you'll force me to do this the hard way. And I'd hate to bring you to the audience already worn out."
Calculations ran through Robin's head, trying to weigh his options. Fighting would most likely be useless, as would taking Ivy or Penguin hostage. Villains had no morals; they'd just shoot their partner and be done with it. What had saved him last time? What had made him not kill? A picture formed in his head, making his cheek muscles twitch. Starfire…that was it. Robin sat down slowly, assuming a meditative position. Focus was key, "Do what you will. It won't matter," he told Poison Ivy, eyes closed.
"Very good," Ivy said, kneeling down beside him. She took hold of his arm and just like before, sunk the needle into the largest vein. A few agonizing seconds later, she removed it and rose once more. "We'll be back for you in a little while," she told him, "Try and get some rest."
