Disclaimer: When I am rich enough to buy TT I'll let you know…
Chapter 3: If Only I Had A Heart
Raven stepped into the living room. It was silent; it had been a long time since the place had been quiet.
She grinned to herself; she really should have done this sooner. Yet the satisfaction of their betrayed faces was delightful. She licked her lips and walked toward the couch. Soundlessly she sat, nothing moved.
This would have been the perfect time to meditate; too bad she no longer needed to. Raven ran a hand through her locks, she was halfway done. She knew from here on it would be a little trickier; the last two were more cautious and quick to put situations together.
The last two were least pure. They were more guarded.
"Hey Raven?" A voice came from across the room, just on time.
"Yes?" Raven turned to look at the sooty boy. He was grinning holding up a wrench at the doorway.
"You want to help today?" Cyborg asked.
"Of course," Raven cooed getting up. She made sure to keep her face placid since her hood was down.
As if in preparation for this day previously she had made sure she'd see each of them alone.
"Hey where's BB isn't he usually glued to the game?"
Raven shrugged, "I think they were having a sale at the mall on games."
Cyborg nodded immediately believing her. It delighted her how willing they were to trust her. They never would have guessed she would turn on them. Raven walked toward Cyborg carefully watching his joints.
Cyborg however did not notice the malice in her gaze. He was already musing about his latest baby, a t-cycle, it would be faster and better equipped than even Robins. He had already drawn up the blue prints and was depending on Raven to help him with the heavier parts.
Smiling he turned and lead Raven down the stairs toward the garage. He noticed the out of place quietness of the tower.
"Man Raven, its so quiet in the tower, what did everyone die?" Cyborg chuckled.
Raven had started watching the boy walk on. For a moment she thought…
"Maybe Starfire went with Beast Boy," She added evasively.
Cyborg seemed to accept this too nodding, his boots plummeting on the tower floors. He took them down a few more flights of stairs. Raven looked to her hands to notice the flowing black energy, it was just crawling to get at the boy.
Quickly she placed her hands under the shadows of her cloak. She took a quick look around. The corridors they had passed were still empty. Just as she had planned Robin was probably up in his room researching some leads on Slade.
Not that it would matter in a few hours.
They stepped into the garage. She knew it was nearing dinnertime as the orange sun bathed through the garage windows.
"Alright I've been working on this blueprint. I wanted to start some of its construction with your help." Cyborg mumbled off happily rummaging through tools to get to his blue prints. He placed the wrench he had been carrying on the table.
"With the heavy stuff?" Raven asked bemused. Shutting the door to the tower she stepped into the garage.
"Exactly." Cyborg pulled a few sheets of blue lines paper out. Wrinkled and dusty as always. His back was still to Raven.
She closed a little distance between them. She itched with anticipation; the human life was so fragile. Her hand brushed the cluttered table. A smirk whipped its way onto her features when she saw the glinting metal.
Her pale fingers clenched over the smooth cold wrench. The one many times she had held while working on projects with Cyborg. The one he had just sat down.
"Hold on a second, there's a little smudging," Cyborg was still leaned over the table scribbling and erasing on the paper. He had heard Raven shuffle behind him assuming she was finding a place to sit.
Raven raised the wrench in perfect precision. She stepped closer. His right side was so close now.
Raven paused arm raised right behind the sidetracked titan. He was humming slightly to himself. The girl smiled wickedly and brought down the metal.
With a sickening crunch it hit Cyborg across the side of his head. He let out a low groan and slumped to the ground. The pen in his hand rolled freely into the growing puddle of blood.
Raven took a quick look at the puncture. There was a bloodied spot that was already rising in an angry purple bruise. The girl dropped the wrench and it clanged to the floor. Her powers swam about eagerly. She could feel her eyes glow red and she began her chant…
Cyborg carefully opened his eye. Crushing pain immediately suffocated him. His mind swam unable to place anything beside the immense agony from his head.
He tried to raise a hand to touch his head. His arm didn't budge. He tried his legs, nothing.
He tried to sit up. His vision blacked a moment and his head spun. Sitting up wasn't going to work. He looked down at himself; shackles bound him to a metal table.
Cyborg tried to remember. How had he gotten here? He looked around himself.
It looked familiar, tools and blueprints littered about. But it was dark, had the sun set?
He could feel the blood trickle down his right temple. He tried to move; surely he could get to his canon?
When he finally got his arm a few inches he pressed the button on his left arm. Nothing happened. He jammed it again, silence crept into the room. He looked over the computerized part of him. It wasn't on; it was as if someone had taken out his battery pack. Yet his human side still worked.
Panic swept him. This was too familiar to the things of nightmares.
A memory finally arose. He had been in the garage. Raven was with him. Was Raven in trouble too?
Quickly he looked around. It caused his head to contract painfully, the blood rushed to his temple. He groaned setting his head back down. How had anyone gotten into the tower? Where were all the other titans?
"Calm your questions." A cynic voice came from nowhere and everywhere all at once. Cyborg froze; the voice seemed familiar but distant. He tried to remember who it was.
He peered into the looming darkness wishing his heat sensors were working. What he wouldn't give to have his flashlight working…
"H-hello?" Cyborg could have hit himself for letting his voice waver.
"Mm there's no need to be afraid," The voice continued. Cyborg felt his human parts tingle. It was that feeling just after a bolt of lightening, that static charge. He searched the black again only to come up fruitless.
"Who are you?" Cyborg tried to make his voice sound strong. His head pounded with the concentration. A muffled groan escaped his throat.
"You should know," The voice was soft; he felt breath on his face. He didn't dare move. The lighting suddenly grew brighter. He followed the light to see a shade had been pulled up from the window.
Light sped its way in a slender path to pass over Cyborg. He blinked a few times adjusting to the light. Carefully he moved his vision to see his captor.
He froze. It was too much to comprehend, his head banged about and his temple filled with the lively fluid. He closed his eyes tight and opened them again. He wasn't imagining things; Raven was standing over him a Cheshire smile in place.
She looked completely frightening. Pale skin and dark eyes that almost looked red. She had a glowing hand on Cyborg's chest, the mechanics a dark black.
"Raven? What is all this?" Cyborg quickly spoke. Raven had begun moving her hand across his mechanical parts.
"This is your end." She smiled insincerely. Her hand stopped over a small blue wire. With precision she quickly pulled at it, effectively snapping it off.
Cyborg shifted quickly gasping. He felt the wire be pulled out; it had been connected to a nerve.
"How could you?" Cyborg was suddenly cold, resentful even. He had trusted her, like a sister even. What the hell was she doing?
"Like this," She hissed pulling out another wire. This time Cyborg cried out. His nerves resonating all the way to his throbbing head.
Raven reached up touching his temple. Cyborg could feel her touch the slippery liquid. It gathered on Ravens fingers. She slid her hand down smearing red across his dark skin.
Her canine teeth bit into her bottom lip to contain herself. She pulled a few more of the small strings watching the boy writhe in his bondage. He had developed a cold sweat, his movements making it impossible for his head to stop bleeding. It had already developed into a dark black bruise.
"Lets see if the tin man has a heart." Raven smiled moving down to Cyborg's chest. Her hands gripped the plate on his chest almost taunting herself.
Cyborg fidgeted watching her every move. Raven had gone insane. She was going to kill him. She was going to…
And suddenly the missing titans made sense.
"You killed them," Cyborg whispered heartbroken. Raven had just started to pull at the metal but froze at his statement. Cyborg felt his world collapse upon itself-his friends, they were…dead.
"And after you I'll have only one left." She snickered licking her lips. Cyborg immediately knew who the last was. Their leader. He could only hope Robin would stop her, stop this madness.
She turned back pulling on the plate. It cracked, bolts clattered to the floor. Cyborg groaned feeling like his insides were being sucked out. Finally it came off. Carelessly she threw it to the floor.
It clattered somewhere in the dark. He looked down at his gadgetry. It was still working, but very slowly. There were black tendrils wrapping in some of the circuits. It explained why he wasn't able to move his robotics but still move his human parts.
He wasn't in control of his body anymore. That scared him more than death; it had always been his fear.
"I know you have nightmares like this," Raven mumbled almost reading his mind. She was still belt over him excitedly looking for the "heart".
Cyborg couldn't think of anything to say. It was all beyond words. Sure Slade had been evil, but evil within boundaries. This was just psychotic.
"Ahh there we are," Raven muttered. Cyborg's breath caught in his throat, she had found it. It was one of his last human parts, the part he had always treasured, and after protecting it for so long it was about to be ripped away.
It was still in fact a human heart, hidden far behind the metal. He tried to push back against the cold metal to his back. He couldn't escape.
"Good-bye android." She spat it like a dirty word.
Cyborg saw the flash of black. There was an expansion of power, black everywhere.
Raven pushed her power outward; it reached off the tips of her fingers like hungry demons. It latched on to Cyborg's heart, constricting it immediately. Cyborg felt himself almost choking internally. Oxygen exhaled his lungs as he felt himself being crushed from the inside. He knew in a moment he would be among the dead, he welcomed the release from this horrifying evil.
The black physic power pressed again on his heart. Blood exited the chamber overfilling the arteries. She could hear him gasping; she could almost feel the delectable pain radiating from him.
In the slender light from the setting sun Raven laughed. A cold heartless laugh for the three she had killed.
She removed her hands from over his chest glad she had used her powers instead of her hands. Blood was already dipping across his chest through the circuitry. The mangled insides immediately turning black. The metal that had once been a shiny silver now splattered with the glittering red.
Raven stepped back into the shadows, the smile still in place. The light of the garage fading now as the last traces of sun disappeared. In the absence of light the blood was a chilling black…
Another dead, one to go which should be the best chapter. Might be an epilogue if all the questions aren't answered. Little strange trying to do Cyborg's human/machine parts. I assume somewhere in that machinery he has a heart. Thanks for the reviews.
:Bloody Fae: