Yet again, I don't own the Titans. This is the second to last chapter. I decided to make a fun little everyday conclusion, but it's really pretty tertiary to the story. Please read and review, and yes, I will be doing a sequel. (Thanks for the reviews Solodancer and Bringer of Good Cheer -and beer-)
He'd remembered flying to Sarah, all the while, listening with his powers, hearing Sarah's conversation. Hearing Robin talk to Cyborg. In the short while he'd spent trying to reach Sarah, he'd learned a substantial amount about his new enemies. Enemies... He'd never had a real enemy before. He'd submitted to people, to avoid wasting time and effort fighting. The closes thing he'd had to enemies, before the Titans, were those who took advantage of his abilities, or lack there of, and he was able to avoid them easily enough. He winced as he looked down at his arms, feeling a strange twinge. They were bound behind him, leaving just the weapons that had been bonded to them exposed, the wiring cut to prevent him from freeing himself. He tried to sit up, which was only made harder by the clothing he'd been supplied by the asylum, the white shirt and pants having been made to restrict such movements. It was almost comforting to be back in an institute, to know that he wouldn't have to deal with anyone for a while. The only problem was, there was someone he did want to deal with, but she was gone, taken away for the useless ambitions of someone else. He'd have to get used to it, she'd have wanted him to. She was in a better place anyway, she didn't need to be burdened by his troubles. He said a short prayer, being thankful for the time he had with her, hoping for the strength to move on.
What had happened to him anyway? He suddenly realized that he hadn't just appeared in the asylum, that there'd been events that lead up to it. He closed his eyes, and began to remember...
No, that's not what happened, why am I remembering that?
He watched it replay in his head over and over again. He was in school, his fellow students were walking to class. But those four, in the corner, he remembered them. They always said America needed to be reminded of the need for security. They held instrument cases, but as far as Grey new, they were never in band. The bell rang, and he tried to run to class, having been later than usual, but the school's 'student disturbance' alarms went off. He remembered how that had been the key to their plan's success. He ran on to his class, but of course, because of the alarms, it was locked. There were those guys again, with what looked like small explosive charges. He hid in the doorway, and watched as they placed it on the door and blew the door in. With guns blazing, they marched into the room, the screams of his peers ensuing. He fell to the floor, and vomited, realizing what they'd just done, and what it meant he'd have to do. He was probably one of the few people that could do anything, the police had probably been locked out, the 'student disturbance response system' being designed to lock the needed doors. But they knew their way through the system, and had locked all the doors. He remembered, how they'd split up, and how he, having only a knife one of them had dropped, had to stop them... one by one.
He awoke with a start. His vomit on the cushioned floor in front of him. He had seen it, he'd felt it. That scene had repeated itself that day that he'd lost Sarah. He must've had a nervous breakdown. He felt his cell shake.
'That's strange,' he thought, 'I thought asylums were supposed to hinder insanity, not promote it.' His cell began to fall apart around him.
"We've got an attack on the Jump city asylum," Beast Boy yelled as he monitored the situation from the main computer. "It's on the same cell Grey is in." The team, having been thoroughly shaken by their experience with the boy, was hesitant. Finally Robin spoke.
"We need to go, someone from that organization might be trying to kill him, or worse, set him free," he said.
The team left, just early enough to miss a live video feed showing the reappearance of an old friend.
"Come here boy," the man said to Grey.
"Why?" Grey asked, being fairly confused.
"I can help you with your powers. You can gain control, or you can lose it. Whatever you want. I've seen you fight, we could be powerful allies."
"I don't want power. It's not worth the headache," not feeling social enough to argue his case with the man.
"You could have revenge. Those Titans can't be super heroes without a super villain can they?"
"Look, I've had a rough week, I need to think things over. Just leave me alone."
"I can fix that," said the man, his smirk apparent in his voice.
"SLADE!!!" yelled Robin. "Why can't you stay dead."
The other Titans looked in dismay at Robin. They new Slade wasn't dead, the chemical in Robin's brain had shown them that (ref. Haunted). Robin looked at the others, hoping to find his similar sense of surprise. There wasn't any.
"Why didn't-" he stopped short. "I understand, I'm sorry. I just-"
"We know Robin, we didn't mean to betray you. We simply didn't want you to hurt yourself again." Starfire and Robin shared a glance. It was stronger than what Grey had seen before.
"Are we through with the dramatics..." Slade asked, condescendingly.
"Yeah, we just-" Beast Boy began.
"YOU!!!" Grey had somehow regained his powers, and they all reeled at the earth shattering voice in their heads. His devices had been rewired with stray connectors left over from the walls of his cell. "You must be him." He threw himself at Slade, and a fight ensued.
"Who are you talking about? I'm no one." Slade replied, striking the boys weakened shield with his staff, the shield just barely absorbing the blow.
"Oh, but you are. You have the same voice as Ricks, and not only that, you have the same voice that played over his ears, and you were excited when you first saw me, like some project you had was completed." Grey tried to blast Slade, but slade simply dodged, being much more agile than the slightly hungover Grey.
The Titans looked in disbelief. Slade had plans that stretch back that far?
"No, that wasn't me, but it was a colleague of mine. You see, you've not always been one person's project. I just picked up the tab for my predecessors."
Grey looked at the man, pausing his attacks to analyze him, with an anger that was slowly subsiding. "I see, it still doesn't make a difference. I have one purpose now, and that's to continue on." He lowered himself to the ground. Walking off away from the hospital, and from his memories.
"It's not that simple, boy," Slade said as he launched himself at Grey's back, his now extended foot, connecting just below Grey's neck.Grey fell, rolling clumsily. The Titans, just sat and watched, not knowing who to help. The boy tried to blast Slade yet again, this time nothing happened. He tried his other arm, and only a weak and inaccurate blast was emitted. Slade attacked again and again, Grey not having the will or skill to dodge any of the attacks. He simply absorbed most of the attacks (fairly poorly) and swung again and again. Finally Slade's staff connected with Grey's fist, a sickening crack resounding in the relative quiet. Grey sank to his knees, holding his hand, contorting under the pain of his bruises.
"You've killed before, what's wrong with a few more?" Slade chided.
Grey looked up at the man, anger once again filling his eyes. Anger strong enough that yet again, Raven felt it more than she normally would have. Grey swung at the man with his lame hand... and connected. Slade grunted and fell back. Looking at the boy, happy for the new challenge. The boy attacked again and again, Slade dodging and blocking. Finally, Grey missed, and Slade connected his staff to Grey's back. Grey fell forward, clumsily, but pulled himself up with astounding resolve and quickness. Yet again, he was throwing everything at Slade. Slade swung at the boys stomach. Grey simply stood firm and let it strike, absorbing the blow with a slight waver. He grabbed the rod out of Slade's hands, and snapped it on his knee.
"I will not kill again, so leave." Slade looked at the boy, obviously angered at the stubborn rejection. "It's really not a good idea to kill something you've invested so much in anyway." Grey gave a pained laugh as Slade ran off.
Grey looked at the Titans, who had simply been staring at him. They looked at the boy, battered, bruised, limping, and bloodied, in disbelief.
"Look," Grey began, "I know I held Sarah's death against you before, but I see now that it doesn't matter. I'm sorry for any harm I've caused you." He began to walk off towards his battered cell.
"Wait," Robin started, "you obviously don't belong in there. We've always got extra room at our place anyway. And besides, what you did today, fighting off Slade like that, deserves better than an institution. Besides, with your powers, you could help us help others. I'm sure Sarah would have wanted you to." Robin was taking a serious gamble, mentioning Sarah, and the other Titans new it. They looked at Grey, afraid of what other anger Robin may have evoked.
"You're right. Thank you."
Beast Boy, picking up on Grey's sudden change in attitude, chimed in, "But you're going to need to change your name. Grey isn't a good super hero name."
"Res. Is that good enough?" Grey said, trying to hurry on the conversation so he could get some sort of medical attention.
"What does this 'Res' mean?" Starfire asked.
"Sound resolution. It refers to the quality of a sound. Res is short for it." He was struggling to get his words out, and Raven could tell.
"Look, we need to get him back to the tower." She said, looking at the others seriously.
"Yeah, I could seriously get some sleep." Grey added. All except Starfire laughed, and they walked back to the tower, as Robin tried to explain the joke to her.