Ice gave me a crooked smile as he pushed me into Flores Flower Shop. I
looked around, inhaling the moist sent of the numerous flower arrangements.
The brightly pained walls had many shelves, covered with porcelain
figurines to go with the vases.
It looked completely... normal. Ice reached out and plucked a rose off its stem from a nearby bouquet, and brushed it under my nose.
I snatched it out of his hand and tried to balance the bud back on the stem. There is no way in hell I'm paying for a full bouquet of roses because he was stupid. It balanced for a moment, but then fell off. Ice laughed.
"Fuck you." I muttered. I was NOT in the mood for this.
"Ohhhhh! Sound kinky!" He said winking. What a sick freak. I was about to tell him that I would rip out his eyeball if he dared wink at me again, but I heard footsteps farther in the shop.
"Bonjor?" Ice called in reaction to the sound.
"Oh! Yes, hello!" A plump, cheerful looking woman pranced into sight. She had rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes; she had a fluttery voice that rang throughout the small shop. She had a spotless white apron over her Flores Flowers uniform.
"Ah, Bonjor!" Ice said very officially, "I would like t' know if you b' selling any jaune lilac bouquets." He placed his hands on my waist and smiled. "Dey b' for my petite amie." He added.
If I had a knife, I swear to god I would have stabbed him without hesitation.
"Oh, yes! We certainly have those! There in the back." She turned to show lead us to the back of the store.
"Such a adorable couple!" She murmured happily to herself. Unfortunately I still heard it. I whirled around to face Ice, who just smiled at my anger.
"You...! You...!" I was so angry I couldn't get the words out. He made a "come on" gesture with his hands.
"Avancé cher, Ice don have all jour you know." My face flushed, and I turned to storm out of there. But he grabbed my shoulder, "Icy wouldn't b doing dat, you never save you amis if you leave." I had no choice; I had no other leads where the other were. He was my only option.
"Fine!" I hissed, "Just buy you stupid flowers!!" He smiled,
"Dey b in de back, non?" He chuckled, something was obviously funny.
I hate it when something important is going one and everyone knows but me! I HATE it!!
I had to humor Ice, so I followed him to the back of the store. The flower lady stood there with her permanent smile plastered to her face.
"I was wondering when you two would decide to follow me!" she said with a shrill laugh. Ice guided me to where she was standing. He leaned over to me and whispered in my ear,
"Est-ce que je peux vous toucher ?" I gave him a weird look,
"I don't know what you just said, but toucher sounds like touch, so no. But you are welcome to rot in hell for all eternity." He smiled softly then he looked concerned.
"Hear we are!" The lady said gesturing to a back door she had just unlocked door us, "Have a nice day!" She sauntered off to do whatever florists do. Ice looked to the door, then to me.
"Uh, cher? Ice decide he don' want to buy fleurs anymore."
"What?!? You dragged me all the way here and now you don't want flowers?!?"
"Oui, now lets partez t save you whatevers." He tried to direct me away from the door that had swung open slightly. I felt a cool cross breeze escape from the cracked door. I looked at him suspiciously,
"Why did you bring me here then?"
"Icy just messing wid you! Now lets GO!" He turned and walked a few steps, then turned to see if I was following him, but I wasn't.
"Your lying and I can tell." He made a wild grasp for my hand, but it was already on the doorknob. A blast of cold air hit my face. And instead of flowers, there was a winding staircase that led deeply into the ground. Ice put his hands over his face and groaned in French,
"Ma petite fille. Elle va blesser. Elle va blesser." I ignored his ramblings and looked down the spiraled staircase. I looked up to Ice in amazement,
"How did you? How did she? What?" He looked at me as if he wanted to drag me out of there kicking and screaming.
"De dame de fleur b' wid misure Slade. Yellow Lilac b' de code."
"That's the stupidest code I have ever heard." He looked pityingly at me,
"Der is no such flower as de yellow lilac enfant stupide."
"Hey you asshole! Did you just call me stupid?"
"Non." He was lying and I knew it. I pushed him out of the way and prepared to go down the stairs.
"Cher non, veuillez ne pas aller." He begged. I glared at him,
"Nothing you can say in French or in English can stop me from helping my friends. Why do you care anyway?" He ignored my last question,
"Noting Ice say non? What if Ice b' saying you... dat... you b'..." I tapped my foot impatiently. He smiled apologetically,
"Ice can tink of anyting mean t' say."
"Wow! That's weird! I can think of a million things for you!" I said brightly. He stepped out of my way sighing.
"Ice cant do anyting t' stop you, so bonne chance, you be needing it." I stepped onto the first stair as I quietly shut the door behind me. I heard it automatically lock behind me. I heard his hesitant footsteps fade until I could hear them no longer. I crept down the stairs. Around and around, step after step. I finally reached the last step, and found myself in a dimly lit room.
"Mmmph!" My head snapped around to see a faint outline lying on the floor. I crawled up to the heap on the floor. Starfire!! She squirmed on the floor, and at first I had no idea why. Then I saw that she had been bound and gagged, and had a blindfold over her eyes. I knelt beside her. She thrashed out at me, not knowing who was there.
"Star, STAR! It's me! Calm down!" She immediately stopped,
"Muumni?" I guess that's muffled talk for Naomi. I ripped the tape off her mouth, causing her to gasp. I then took the blindfold off her.
"Naomi!! My friend! You have come to save-" I clamped my hand over her mouth.
"Lets use our indoor voices." I whispered. I untied her as she whispered what I already knew. How Ice had turned them over to Slade.
"Then, I felt a sharp pain in my head, then all was night!" she whispered, "Then I was lying here unable to move!" Poor Star. She can only take so much at a time. I helped her to her feet, and we ran our hands over the walls trying to find a way to the others.
"I have located something!!" Stars voice whispered from the other side of the small room. I rushed over and ran my fingers over a door. I groped for a minute until I found a doorknob. I wrenched it open and was blinded by the bright light form the next room. I squinted as the intense light stung my eyes. I stepped in and paused to let my eyes adjust. Star was blinking furiously beside me; I hoped it was from the light. The room was more of a hallway, I noticed. White tile covered the ceiling and the walls reflecting all the intense light.
But that's not the fun part. No, the fun part was that the hall was filled with narrow beams of red light, criss-crossing all down the hall. I bent over to inspect one of the strands of red light.
"Are they inferred sensors?" I asked Star.
"No, they cant be, Inferred light is invisible unless looked at by a certain lends." What is it then? I put my hand to her head and pluck a strand of deep red hair from her scalp.
"Ow," she looked at me reproachfully.
"If it is a sensor of some sort, chances are it wont pick up on a single strand of hair," I explain, "but be ready for anything." She let her hands and eyes glow green in response. I took the hair and held it out over the stream of light, and let it fall into the light. The smell of burning hair hit the air.
"Its not a sensor, it's a laser!" I conclude. I was happy for a minute because I had found out the answer. Wait... lasers are NOT a good thing. I stood up and looked at the lasers, there was not pattern, just random. But... some once could still squeeze through it if they had to. If I had to.
"What are we going to do?" wailed Star, completely forgetting about what I had said about using our indoor voices,
"Our friends could be hurt or even dead!! And we can not travel to them!" She cupped her hand over her mouth in horror of the thought of them being death. I looked to the door at the end of the hall, past all the lasers. What was Slade playing at? Why did he leave Starfire out for me to find? What was his intention? Well, I won't find out just standing here.
"I'll do it." I said, trying to sound cool about it. Stars hand left her face so she could hit me with it,
"No! I refuse to let you go!"
"Star, why did you hit me?"
"I refuse!" she repeated ignoring my last question. "Fiend, please! Allow me to go in your place. I do not wish for the lasers to pierce you."
"No Star, listen you need to go for help, the police, anything. But I will be the one who goes ." I said firmly. She nodded sadly, if I slipped while winding my way through the lasers... I shut my eyes, no, don't think about that.
"Star go!" I said without showing any fear, if I freaked, she would as well. I couldn't show my fear, for Stars sake. She nodded and hugged me as she whirled and zipped up the stairs. I sighed and faced the stair.
I took a hair tie from my backpack I had brought along and tied my hair in a tight bun so it wouldn't be damaged by the lasers. I took on cautious step over the first laser. Ok, good. I twisted around the next as I lifted my other foot over the one near the ground. I wined my way in and out, above and under.
I'm ok, I thought to myself. Just then I my hand slipped an inch. I cried out in pain as the laser burned my skin. I felt like I was going to throw up, as I smelled the smell of my own burned flesh. Every instinct told me to run in panic, but I calmed my senses and pressed on, ignoring the throbbing of my hand. I arched my stomach over another laser to avoid being sliced in halve. I was almost there. I tilted my head over another stream of light.
A single drop of sweat rolled down my cheek and dripped onto a laser a centimeter away from my face. The lasers flickered for a moment, and then went out. I stayed in the same position, stunned. I cautiously moved my foot into the space where a laser had been. Nothing happened. I slowly straightened up. I ran to the end of the hall as if the lasers would suddenly turn back on and slice me like baloney.
Wait! I thought for a minute. These lasers burned my skin, but when into stand-by when my sweat had dropped on it.
I tiled my head pondering how it had worked. It must destroy molecule chains or something, like my skin. But sweat is a liquid, and the molecules are not really connected the way solid objects are, they are held together by electrical charges. So, the lasers detected an unidentified unconnected molecule structure and when into stand-by. Wow. Studding for those finals actually help! I smiled.
"Stay in school kids!" I said to no one.
I directed my attention to the door. I pressed my damaged hand to my chest as I opened the door with my other. I walked in, tripping over something hard. I shot my hands down to break my fall. My wonded hand stung as the burned skin cracked and started bleeding. I swore horribly and gripped it in my other hand. I looked over my shoulder to see what I had tripped over. Cyborg! I crawled over to him.
"Cyborg?" No response.
"Cy? Are you... ok?" For a second a horrible thought of him being dead ran through my mind, but on a closer inspection, I realized he had just been taken off line. I breathed in relief. I punched a few random buttons, hoping to wake him up. But he didn't.
"Cy! You weenie! Wake up!" I shook his shoulders. His head rolled unconcernedly all around as I shook him. I sighed. I stood up and grabbed him with my good hand and tried to drag him back to the entrance of the hallway I had just crossed. But it was no use; I couldn't drag him with only one hand. I tentative placed my hurt hand on his other shoulder.
I moaned in pain as I dragged him inch by inch back down the hall where the lasers used to be. I finally reached the door where Star and I had entered. Now when Star gets back, she'll find him. I propped him up against one side of the wall limply. His head rolled to one side as his mouth sagged open. I laughed in spite of the situation.
It was truly a Kodak moment. Or it would have been if I wasn't trying to rescue my friends from a mad man. Oh well. I sprinted back down the hall, leaving Cyborg. I returned to the room I had found Cy. I looked around the room for the first time.
There were three different doors on three different walls. One was labeled ROBIN, one BEASTBOY, and one RAVEN. I looked at the doors; Slade was going to make me choose who was more important to me.
I felt anger flair up inside me. Slade was just toying with us!! He didn't take us seriously! If he did, he would have killed us the second he got his hands on us! We were just here for his sick amusement; he loved to beat us down. My face burned in anger. I was going to save them. I am usually easily going and fun loving.
But harming my friends is a line that no one would dare to cross. Unless you're crazy, then I have to beat your ass. Nobody messes with my friends. I started walking to Beastboys door, and then stopped. No, I needed Robin. He knows Slade better than all of us. He knows his tricks.
"Sorry BB," I whispered as I walked to Robins door. I opened it cautiously and poked my head inside. It was pretty dark. I entered completely and saw I was standing on an elevated platform of gray stone. The floor below me was blue and glowed eerily. I looked farther into the massive room. Another elevated platform was a couple hundred feet way, on it was the blurred outline of a figure pacing back and forth, like a tiger in a cage at the zoo.
"Robin!" I called. The figure stopped and looked over to me.
"Naomi? Naomi!!" I laughed in relief to hear my leaders voice. I glided to his island and tacked him in relief to have found him. We sat on the platform elevated above the blue floor embracing. Well, I was more like me strangling him as he gasped for breath; minor details. I finally let go of him, and turned to the glowing floor. I had a bad feeling that it wasn't a good blue glow.
"Where's Starfire?!?" he asked immediately. I smiled,
"Don't worry Romeo, she's safe. I sent her to get help." I saw him relax a bit. Then he looked at me.
"Don't touch the blue glowing floor," Robin commanded me.
"What? But that was the first thing I wanted to do!" I whined sarcastically. He smiled briefly then explained why,
"I 'm not sure what it dose, but when I threw my glove down on it, it disappeared." He held up his gloveless right arm.
"Hmm that is a problem." I looked at him critical. "How are we gonna get you across wonder boy?" I asked. He shrugged. I looked at him some more. I've seen Star fly him around before, hell, she's carried Cyborg! But the people of her world are naturally stronger than earthlings.
"I could try fling you," I said doubtfully.
"Would you drop me?"
"Most likely." I replied as I looked down at the floor. Its blue glowing reminded me of something...like... a river. Without a second thought, I lifted my hands out in front of me. The trunk of a tree exploded form my palms and laid across the entrance platform to the one Robin was stranded on.
Robin without hesitation jumped on, and balanced as he walked on it to the entrance. I flew beside him, steadying him if he started slipping. His feet finally met the gray stone of the entrance. We walked out into the room with the three doors.
He saw the doors with our friend's names on them. We looked to each other and nodded. We split up and I entered Ravens door as he entered Beastboys. I walked boldly into Ravens door. Nothing was going to stop me from saving my friend. I looked around the small room confusedly.
Was it a trick? It was just a normal room! No glowies, or lasers or anything moderately dangerous. My eyes rested on Raven sitting limply in the middle of the room. Something was wrong, I could sense it.
"Raven?" She didn't reply. I took a few steps closer.
"Raven? Are you ok?" Her head hung low, and didn't reply. I put my arm on her shoulder and shook her. She fell backward, her eyes wide open and unblinking. The only thing that let me know she wasn't dead was that her mouth was moving. She was mumbling insanely.
"Darkness is my mask. I hid from the light; I am the shadows that I make. Darkness is my mask. I hid from the light, I am the shadows that I make."
"Raven? Sorry to interrupt your rambling, but we need to leave."
"Darkness is my mask. I hid from the light, I am the shadows that I make."
"Raven STOP!"
"Darkness is my mask. I hid from the light, I am the shadows that I make."
I slapped her with all my might, I felt her skin bruise under the force of my hand. She sat up and blinked, rubbing her face tenderly.
I smiled thinking I had snapped her out of it but, alas no.
She attacked me instead. She knocked me to the floor and send dark energy blasts at me. I rolled out of the way, feeling the ice-cold darkness narrowly graze my ear. I continued to dodge her blasts, not wanting to attack back.
"Raven stop! PLEASE!" I cried as somersaulted out of the way of one of her attacks. She stopped attacking, but got angry.
"Its not fair," she hissed suddenly.
"What isn't?" I asked tentatively, trying to get to the core of her rage.
"YOU get to live in the light, while I have to hide in the dark." She said accusingly. She directed another blast at me. She looked so different; her eyes were wide, and her hair was messy. Her breaths came out in short gasps. She had the look of a complete lunatic. Was this the work of Slade, or had Raven just finally snapped?
"I'm trying to help you Raven," I said as calmly as possible.
"Ohhh SURE you want to help me!! Of COURE you do!! Who doesn't love to build themselves up by telling me what I already know is wrong with me!!"
"Raven," I said firmly, "I'm not here to tell you what is wrong with you. I am going to help you my friend, even if it means I have to kick your ass." I let water fill the enclosed room. I gasped and took to the air. I needed the water to distracted Raven, but I still didn't like it. The water raised to Ravens knees. She looked down in surprise. I took this opportunity to spring up vines from the water and bind her. But she used her powers to snap the vines.
I tried to think of what else I could do, when I felt something hit me. Raven had levitated and pounced on me in mid air. I yelped as she dragged me down. I felt the water enclose me, chilling me to the bone as I thrashed, trying to get way from the water. But Ravens nails dug into my neck, forcing my head under the water. I started to panic and struggled, but Raven only dug her nails deeper, tearing at my delicate skin.
I could faintly hear her yelling in above me, but her words were muffled by the water my head was under. She's going to kill me, I realized as my lungs burned for air, she's going to kill me.
I opened my eyes under water, and saw her face above the water. Screaming at me. This wasn't Raven. Slade had done something to her. Suddenly a green blast filled the room. The grip on my neck loosened and someone dragged my to the surface.
"Naomi!!" Starfire cried. I exploded out of the water, gasping for air. Star shot up beside me and hugged me in mid air. She started crying, but I wasn't sure why. I pulled back, and saw that she was covered in blood.
"Star! Blood!" I cried, looking for an injury on her.
"It is not mine, it is yours." I touched my fingers to my neck where Raven had gripped me. I pulled my fingers tips away and saw my fingers were red. I looked down to see that when Star had entered, she had left the door open, so the water had escaped. I landed on the floor and looked at Ravens unconscious body.
"What happened?" Star asked tearfully.
"I.....I d-d-don't know," I stammered, trying to keep control of myself, "She j-j-just attacked me." I was near tears, but you have to understand; my body roared in pain, I had nearly been suffocated by my best friend, and I was in a mad mans layer. I think I'm allowed to be just a little upset.
Star hugged me again. Its weird, once you have a best friend, a lot of things don't seem important. Like I didn't care she was crying on me, and she didn't care I was bleeding on her. Friendship like that is a nice thing.
Wait, Raven!! I rushed over to her and knelt beside her, and was relived to find her with a steady pulse.
"I just star bolted her," Star whispered beside me uncertainly.
"No, that was the right thing to do," I said quickly. I reached down to Raven and put on of her limp arm around my neck to steady her as Star did the same. Wait!
"What about Slade?" I asked.
"He had long since fled," Star whispered sadly. Oh, well, we'll get him next time. Right now, I just want to get my friends out of here.
"And the others?" I asked as Star and I struggles to support Ravens weight as we carried her out of the room.
"They have all made it outside, I did as you instructed and there are paramedics awaiting our arrival."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It must have looked pretty bad as Star, unconscious Raven, and I walked out of Flores Flowers. I was covered with blood from my hand and neck wounds, and soaked from the water. Star also had blood on her, but it was mine, not hers. And Raven was her unconscious self. Pretty shocking for the huge crowd of by stander outside with the paramedics.
It looked worse than it was, but I still heard screams from the crowd of reporters and by passers. I looked to one of the ambulances and saw Beastboy wrapped up in a hospital blanket. When he saw me his mouth dropped in horror, and he yelled to Robin and Cyborg to get over there.
They all looked fine, except BB had a small burn on his arm, and Robin was still gloveless. The paramedics rushed over to take Raven away, I was hesitant at first, but they promise they were only going to help her. They boys started showering me with questions, and then they saw the expression on my face and stopped.
Then the crowd of reporters swallowed me whole. The cameras zoomed in on my wounds and they all started yelling questions at me. I looked around wildly, feeling overwhelmed.
Starfire got pissed off her ass and screamed at them to get back. I wasn't feeling well. I feel so dizzy. Dizzy.... I think I'm going to throw up. The lights, the noises the screaming, the pain, it was all just too much.
"Stop it! Just stop!" I shrieked, I sank to my knees covering my head with my hands as if trying to protect myself from the world. The cameras went crazy, not wanting to miss a second of a hero during a break down. Robin got furious and forgot about our image for a moment and started cussing out the reporters, yelling at them, telling them to leave me alone. I was a compete mess.
And I was never so frightened as I was now. I don't break down. I just don't. But this was too much. I couldn't think straight. Dizzy.... So very dizzy.
The reporters smelled a front-page story and pushed the others out of the way to get to me. I scrambled back trying to get away from the noise, but they closed in on all sides. My wounds throbbed, and I started to feel lightheaded because of loss of blood.
I swayed dangerously, looked up weakly at the swarm of reporters towering over me. Then everything started to swirl together, and I couldn't make out individual noises. Then everything dimmed and went dark.
StArRy- Awww. So sad! It was all just too much for ickle Naomi! Well, can you blame her?
She got kicked out of the tower, Ice hit on her (what else it new), friends got kidnapped, got her hand burned badly, had to fight one of her best friends, almost got drowned and is a hydrophobic, and her friend hurt her. I think that qualify as a very bad day.
Oh! But A couple of days ago I checked my email, seeing if I had gotten a review or two, and I found NO LESS THAN 18 reviews from Raven A Star. That just made my day for the rest of my life!! I loved your reviews by the way R.A.S.!! They cracked me up!
It looked completely... normal. Ice reached out and plucked a rose off its stem from a nearby bouquet, and brushed it under my nose.
I snatched it out of his hand and tried to balance the bud back on the stem. There is no way in hell I'm paying for a full bouquet of roses because he was stupid. It balanced for a moment, but then fell off. Ice laughed.
"Fuck you." I muttered. I was NOT in the mood for this.
"Ohhhhh! Sound kinky!" He said winking. What a sick freak. I was about to tell him that I would rip out his eyeball if he dared wink at me again, but I heard footsteps farther in the shop.
"Bonjor?" Ice called in reaction to the sound.
"Oh! Yes, hello!" A plump, cheerful looking woman pranced into sight. She had rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes; she had a fluttery voice that rang throughout the small shop. She had a spotless white apron over her Flores Flowers uniform.
"Ah, Bonjor!" Ice said very officially, "I would like t' know if you b' selling any jaune lilac bouquets." He placed his hands on my waist and smiled. "Dey b' for my petite amie." He added.
If I had a knife, I swear to god I would have stabbed him without hesitation.
"Oh, yes! We certainly have those! There in the back." She turned to show lead us to the back of the store.
"Such a adorable couple!" She murmured happily to herself. Unfortunately I still heard it. I whirled around to face Ice, who just smiled at my anger.
"You...! You...!" I was so angry I couldn't get the words out. He made a "come on" gesture with his hands.
"Avancé cher, Ice don have all jour you know." My face flushed, and I turned to storm out of there. But he grabbed my shoulder, "Icy wouldn't b doing dat, you never save you amis if you leave." I had no choice; I had no other leads where the other were. He was my only option.
"Fine!" I hissed, "Just buy you stupid flowers!!" He smiled,
"Dey b in de back, non?" He chuckled, something was obviously funny.
I hate it when something important is going one and everyone knows but me! I HATE it!!
I had to humor Ice, so I followed him to the back of the store. The flower lady stood there with her permanent smile plastered to her face.
"I was wondering when you two would decide to follow me!" she said with a shrill laugh. Ice guided me to where she was standing. He leaned over to me and whispered in my ear,
"Est-ce que je peux vous toucher ?" I gave him a weird look,
"I don't know what you just said, but toucher sounds like touch, so no. But you are welcome to rot in hell for all eternity." He smiled softly then he looked concerned.
"Hear we are!" The lady said gesturing to a back door she had just unlocked door us, "Have a nice day!" She sauntered off to do whatever florists do. Ice looked to the door, then to me.
"Uh, cher? Ice decide he don' want to buy fleurs anymore."
"What?!? You dragged me all the way here and now you don't want flowers?!?"
"Oui, now lets partez t save you whatevers." He tried to direct me away from the door that had swung open slightly. I felt a cool cross breeze escape from the cracked door. I looked at him suspiciously,
"Why did you bring me here then?"
"Icy just messing wid you! Now lets GO!" He turned and walked a few steps, then turned to see if I was following him, but I wasn't.
"Your lying and I can tell." He made a wild grasp for my hand, but it was already on the doorknob. A blast of cold air hit my face. And instead of flowers, there was a winding staircase that led deeply into the ground. Ice put his hands over his face and groaned in French,
"Ma petite fille. Elle va blesser. Elle va blesser." I ignored his ramblings and looked down the spiraled staircase. I looked up to Ice in amazement,
"How did you? How did she? What?" He looked at me as if he wanted to drag me out of there kicking and screaming.
"De dame de fleur b' wid misure Slade. Yellow Lilac b' de code."
"That's the stupidest code I have ever heard." He looked pityingly at me,
"Der is no such flower as de yellow lilac enfant stupide."
"Hey you asshole! Did you just call me stupid?"
"Non." He was lying and I knew it. I pushed him out of the way and prepared to go down the stairs.
"Cher non, veuillez ne pas aller." He begged. I glared at him,
"Nothing you can say in French or in English can stop me from helping my friends. Why do you care anyway?" He ignored my last question,
"Noting Ice say non? What if Ice b' saying you... dat... you b'..." I tapped my foot impatiently. He smiled apologetically,
"Ice can tink of anyting mean t' say."
"Wow! That's weird! I can think of a million things for you!" I said brightly. He stepped out of my way sighing.
"Ice cant do anyting t' stop you, so bonne chance, you be needing it." I stepped onto the first stair as I quietly shut the door behind me. I heard it automatically lock behind me. I heard his hesitant footsteps fade until I could hear them no longer. I crept down the stairs. Around and around, step after step. I finally reached the last step, and found myself in a dimly lit room.
"Mmmph!" My head snapped around to see a faint outline lying on the floor. I crawled up to the heap on the floor. Starfire!! She squirmed on the floor, and at first I had no idea why. Then I saw that she had been bound and gagged, and had a blindfold over her eyes. I knelt beside her. She thrashed out at me, not knowing who was there.
"Star, STAR! It's me! Calm down!" She immediately stopped,
"Muumni?" I guess that's muffled talk for Naomi. I ripped the tape off her mouth, causing her to gasp. I then took the blindfold off her.
"Naomi!! My friend! You have come to save-" I clamped my hand over her mouth.
"Lets use our indoor voices." I whispered. I untied her as she whispered what I already knew. How Ice had turned them over to Slade.
"Then, I felt a sharp pain in my head, then all was night!" she whispered, "Then I was lying here unable to move!" Poor Star. She can only take so much at a time. I helped her to her feet, and we ran our hands over the walls trying to find a way to the others.
"I have located something!!" Stars voice whispered from the other side of the small room. I rushed over and ran my fingers over a door. I groped for a minute until I found a doorknob. I wrenched it open and was blinded by the bright light form the next room. I squinted as the intense light stung my eyes. I stepped in and paused to let my eyes adjust. Star was blinking furiously beside me; I hoped it was from the light. The room was more of a hallway, I noticed. White tile covered the ceiling and the walls reflecting all the intense light.
But that's not the fun part. No, the fun part was that the hall was filled with narrow beams of red light, criss-crossing all down the hall. I bent over to inspect one of the strands of red light.
"Are they inferred sensors?" I asked Star.
"No, they cant be, Inferred light is invisible unless looked at by a certain lends." What is it then? I put my hand to her head and pluck a strand of deep red hair from her scalp.
"Ow," she looked at me reproachfully.
"If it is a sensor of some sort, chances are it wont pick up on a single strand of hair," I explain, "but be ready for anything." She let her hands and eyes glow green in response. I took the hair and held it out over the stream of light, and let it fall into the light. The smell of burning hair hit the air.
"Its not a sensor, it's a laser!" I conclude. I was happy for a minute because I had found out the answer. Wait... lasers are NOT a good thing. I stood up and looked at the lasers, there was not pattern, just random. But... some once could still squeeze through it if they had to. If I had to.
"What are we going to do?" wailed Star, completely forgetting about what I had said about using our indoor voices,
"Our friends could be hurt or even dead!! And we can not travel to them!" She cupped her hand over her mouth in horror of the thought of them being death. I looked to the door at the end of the hall, past all the lasers. What was Slade playing at? Why did he leave Starfire out for me to find? What was his intention? Well, I won't find out just standing here.
"I'll do it." I said, trying to sound cool about it. Stars hand left her face so she could hit me with it,
"No! I refuse to let you go!"
"Star, why did you hit me?"
"I refuse!" she repeated ignoring my last question. "Fiend, please! Allow me to go in your place. I do not wish for the lasers to pierce you."
"No Star, listen you need to go for help, the police, anything. But I will be the one who goes ." I said firmly. She nodded sadly, if I slipped while winding my way through the lasers... I shut my eyes, no, don't think about that.
"Star go!" I said without showing any fear, if I freaked, she would as well. I couldn't show my fear, for Stars sake. She nodded and hugged me as she whirled and zipped up the stairs. I sighed and faced the stair.
I took a hair tie from my backpack I had brought along and tied my hair in a tight bun so it wouldn't be damaged by the lasers. I took on cautious step over the first laser. Ok, good. I twisted around the next as I lifted my other foot over the one near the ground. I wined my way in and out, above and under.
I'm ok, I thought to myself. Just then I my hand slipped an inch. I cried out in pain as the laser burned my skin. I felt like I was going to throw up, as I smelled the smell of my own burned flesh. Every instinct told me to run in panic, but I calmed my senses and pressed on, ignoring the throbbing of my hand. I arched my stomach over another laser to avoid being sliced in halve. I was almost there. I tilted my head over another stream of light.
A single drop of sweat rolled down my cheek and dripped onto a laser a centimeter away from my face. The lasers flickered for a moment, and then went out. I stayed in the same position, stunned. I cautiously moved my foot into the space where a laser had been. Nothing happened. I slowly straightened up. I ran to the end of the hall as if the lasers would suddenly turn back on and slice me like baloney.
Wait! I thought for a minute. These lasers burned my skin, but when into stand-by when my sweat had dropped on it.
I tiled my head pondering how it had worked. It must destroy molecule chains or something, like my skin. But sweat is a liquid, and the molecules are not really connected the way solid objects are, they are held together by electrical charges. So, the lasers detected an unidentified unconnected molecule structure and when into stand-by. Wow. Studding for those finals actually help! I smiled.
"Stay in school kids!" I said to no one.
I directed my attention to the door. I pressed my damaged hand to my chest as I opened the door with my other. I walked in, tripping over something hard. I shot my hands down to break my fall. My wonded hand stung as the burned skin cracked and started bleeding. I swore horribly and gripped it in my other hand. I looked over my shoulder to see what I had tripped over. Cyborg! I crawled over to him.
"Cyborg?" No response.
"Cy? Are you... ok?" For a second a horrible thought of him being dead ran through my mind, but on a closer inspection, I realized he had just been taken off line. I breathed in relief. I punched a few random buttons, hoping to wake him up. But he didn't.
"Cy! You weenie! Wake up!" I shook his shoulders. His head rolled unconcernedly all around as I shook him. I sighed. I stood up and grabbed him with my good hand and tried to drag him back to the entrance of the hallway I had just crossed. But it was no use; I couldn't drag him with only one hand. I tentative placed my hurt hand on his other shoulder.
I moaned in pain as I dragged him inch by inch back down the hall where the lasers used to be. I finally reached the door where Star and I had entered. Now when Star gets back, she'll find him. I propped him up against one side of the wall limply. His head rolled to one side as his mouth sagged open. I laughed in spite of the situation.
It was truly a Kodak moment. Or it would have been if I wasn't trying to rescue my friends from a mad man. Oh well. I sprinted back down the hall, leaving Cyborg. I returned to the room I had found Cy. I looked around the room for the first time.
There were three different doors on three different walls. One was labeled ROBIN, one BEASTBOY, and one RAVEN. I looked at the doors; Slade was going to make me choose who was more important to me.
I felt anger flair up inside me. Slade was just toying with us!! He didn't take us seriously! If he did, he would have killed us the second he got his hands on us! We were just here for his sick amusement; he loved to beat us down. My face burned in anger. I was going to save them. I am usually easily going and fun loving.
But harming my friends is a line that no one would dare to cross. Unless you're crazy, then I have to beat your ass. Nobody messes with my friends. I started walking to Beastboys door, and then stopped. No, I needed Robin. He knows Slade better than all of us. He knows his tricks.
"Sorry BB," I whispered as I walked to Robins door. I opened it cautiously and poked my head inside. It was pretty dark. I entered completely and saw I was standing on an elevated platform of gray stone. The floor below me was blue and glowed eerily. I looked farther into the massive room. Another elevated platform was a couple hundred feet way, on it was the blurred outline of a figure pacing back and forth, like a tiger in a cage at the zoo.
"Robin!" I called. The figure stopped and looked over to me.
"Naomi? Naomi!!" I laughed in relief to hear my leaders voice. I glided to his island and tacked him in relief to have found him. We sat on the platform elevated above the blue floor embracing. Well, I was more like me strangling him as he gasped for breath; minor details. I finally let go of him, and turned to the glowing floor. I had a bad feeling that it wasn't a good blue glow.
"Where's Starfire?!?" he asked immediately. I smiled,
"Don't worry Romeo, she's safe. I sent her to get help." I saw him relax a bit. Then he looked at me.
"Don't touch the blue glowing floor," Robin commanded me.
"What? But that was the first thing I wanted to do!" I whined sarcastically. He smiled briefly then explained why,
"I 'm not sure what it dose, but when I threw my glove down on it, it disappeared." He held up his gloveless right arm.
"Hmm that is a problem." I looked at him critical. "How are we gonna get you across wonder boy?" I asked. He shrugged. I looked at him some more. I've seen Star fly him around before, hell, she's carried Cyborg! But the people of her world are naturally stronger than earthlings.
"I could try fling you," I said doubtfully.
"Would you drop me?"
"Most likely." I replied as I looked down at the floor. Its blue glowing reminded me of something...like... a river. Without a second thought, I lifted my hands out in front of me. The trunk of a tree exploded form my palms and laid across the entrance platform to the one Robin was stranded on.
Robin without hesitation jumped on, and balanced as he walked on it to the entrance. I flew beside him, steadying him if he started slipping. His feet finally met the gray stone of the entrance. We walked out into the room with the three doors.
He saw the doors with our friend's names on them. We looked to each other and nodded. We split up and I entered Ravens door as he entered Beastboys. I walked boldly into Ravens door. Nothing was going to stop me from saving my friend. I looked around the small room confusedly.
Was it a trick? It was just a normal room! No glowies, or lasers or anything moderately dangerous. My eyes rested on Raven sitting limply in the middle of the room. Something was wrong, I could sense it.
"Raven?" She didn't reply. I took a few steps closer.
"Raven? Are you ok?" Her head hung low, and didn't reply. I put my arm on her shoulder and shook her. She fell backward, her eyes wide open and unblinking. The only thing that let me know she wasn't dead was that her mouth was moving. She was mumbling insanely.
"Darkness is my mask. I hid from the light; I am the shadows that I make. Darkness is my mask. I hid from the light, I am the shadows that I make."
"Raven? Sorry to interrupt your rambling, but we need to leave."
"Darkness is my mask. I hid from the light, I am the shadows that I make."
"Raven STOP!"
"Darkness is my mask. I hid from the light, I am the shadows that I make."
I slapped her with all my might, I felt her skin bruise under the force of my hand. She sat up and blinked, rubbing her face tenderly.
I smiled thinking I had snapped her out of it but, alas no.
She attacked me instead. She knocked me to the floor and send dark energy blasts at me. I rolled out of the way, feeling the ice-cold darkness narrowly graze my ear. I continued to dodge her blasts, not wanting to attack back.
"Raven stop! PLEASE!" I cried as somersaulted out of the way of one of her attacks. She stopped attacking, but got angry.
"Its not fair," she hissed suddenly.
"What isn't?" I asked tentatively, trying to get to the core of her rage.
"YOU get to live in the light, while I have to hide in the dark." She said accusingly. She directed another blast at me. She looked so different; her eyes were wide, and her hair was messy. Her breaths came out in short gasps. She had the look of a complete lunatic. Was this the work of Slade, or had Raven just finally snapped?
"I'm trying to help you Raven," I said as calmly as possible.
"Ohhh SURE you want to help me!! Of COURE you do!! Who doesn't love to build themselves up by telling me what I already know is wrong with me!!"
"Raven," I said firmly, "I'm not here to tell you what is wrong with you. I am going to help you my friend, even if it means I have to kick your ass." I let water fill the enclosed room. I gasped and took to the air. I needed the water to distracted Raven, but I still didn't like it. The water raised to Ravens knees. She looked down in surprise. I took this opportunity to spring up vines from the water and bind her. But she used her powers to snap the vines.
I tried to think of what else I could do, when I felt something hit me. Raven had levitated and pounced on me in mid air. I yelped as she dragged me down. I felt the water enclose me, chilling me to the bone as I thrashed, trying to get way from the water. But Ravens nails dug into my neck, forcing my head under the water. I started to panic and struggled, but Raven only dug her nails deeper, tearing at my delicate skin.
I could faintly hear her yelling in above me, but her words were muffled by the water my head was under. She's going to kill me, I realized as my lungs burned for air, she's going to kill me.
I opened my eyes under water, and saw her face above the water. Screaming at me. This wasn't Raven. Slade had done something to her. Suddenly a green blast filled the room. The grip on my neck loosened and someone dragged my to the surface.
"Naomi!!" Starfire cried. I exploded out of the water, gasping for air. Star shot up beside me and hugged me in mid air. She started crying, but I wasn't sure why. I pulled back, and saw that she was covered in blood.
"Star! Blood!" I cried, looking for an injury on her.
"It is not mine, it is yours." I touched my fingers to my neck where Raven had gripped me. I pulled my fingers tips away and saw my fingers were red. I looked down to see that when Star had entered, she had left the door open, so the water had escaped. I landed on the floor and looked at Ravens unconscious body.
"What happened?" Star asked tearfully.
"I.....I d-d-don't know," I stammered, trying to keep control of myself, "She j-j-just attacked me." I was near tears, but you have to understand; my body roared in pain, I had nearly been suffocated by my best friend, and I was in a mad mans layer. I think I'm allowed to be just a little upset.
Star hugged me again. Its weird, once you have a best friend, a lot of things don't seem important. Like I didn't care she was crying on me, and she didn't care I was bleeding on her. Friendship like that is a nice thing.
Wait, Raven!! I rushed over to her and knelt beside her, and was relived to find her with a steady pulse.
"I just star bolted her," Star whispered beside me uncertainly.
"No, that was the right thing to do," I said quickly. I reached down to Raven and put on of her limp arm around my neck to steady her as Star did the same. Wait!
"What about Slade?" I asked.
"He had long since fled," Star whispered sadly. Oh, well, we'll get him next time. Right now, I just want to get my friends out of here.
"And the others?" I asked as Star and I struggles to support Ravens weight as we carried her out of the room.
"They have all made it outside, I did as you instructed and there are paramedics awaiting our arrival."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It must have looked pretty bad as Star, unconscious Raven, and I walked out of Flores Flowers. I was covered with blood from my hand and neck wounds, and soaked from the water. Star also had blood on her, but it was mine, not hers. And Raven was her unconscious self. Pretty shocking for the huge crowd of by stander outside with the paramedics.
It looked worse than it was, but I still heard screams from the crowd of reporters and by passers. I looked to one of the ambulances and saw Beastboy wrapped up in a hospital blanket. When he saw me his mouth dropped in horror, and he yelled to Robin and Cyborg to get over there.
They all looked fine, except BB had a small burn on his arm, and Robin was still gloveless. The paramedics rushed over to take Raven away, I was hesitant at first, but they promise they were only going to help her. They boys started showering me with questions, and then they saw the expression on my face and stopped.
Then the crowd of reporters swallowed me whole. The cameras zoomed in on my wounds and they all started yelling questions at me. I looked around wildly, feeling overwhelmed.
Starfire got pissed off her ass and screamed at them to get back. I wasn't feeling well. I feel so dizzy. Dizzy.... I think I'm going to throw up. The lights, the noises the screaming, the pain, it was all just too much.
"Stop it! Just stop!" I shrieked, I sank to my knees covering my head with my hands as if trying to protect myself from the world. The cameras went crazy, not wanting to miss a second of a hero during a break down. Robin got furious and forgot about our image for a moment and started cussing out the reporters, yelling at them, telling them to leave me alone. I was a compete mess.
And I was never so frightened as I was now. I don't break down. I just don't. But this was too much. I couldn't think straight. Dizzy.... So very dizzy.
The reporters smelled a front-page story and pushed the others out of the way to get to me. I scrambled back trying to get away from the noise, but they closed in on all sides. My wounds throbbed, and I started to feel lightheaded because of loss of blood.
I swayed dangerously, looked up weakly at the swarm of reporters towering over me. Then everything started to swirl together, and I couldn't make out individual noises. Then everything dimmed and went dark.
StArRy- Awww. So sad! It was all just too much for ickle Naomi! Well, can you blame her?
She got kicked out of the tower, Ice hit on her (what else it new), friends got kidnapped, got her hand burned badly, had to fight one of her best friends, almost got drowned and is a hydrophobic, and her friend hurt her. I think that qualify as a very bad day.
Oh! But A couple of days ago I checked my email, seeing if I had gotten a review or two, and I found NO LESS THAN 18 reviews from Raven A Star. That just made my day for the rest of my life!! I loved your reviews by the way R.A.S.!! They cracked me up!