to the Night
Chapter Eight
1
October 31, 12:24 AM
Raven crouched by the sofa, huddling on the floor next to Starfire. The two female Titans clutched each other close, trying to pretend that they didn't hear the storm.
They'd long given up on trying to ignore the thumping, screaming and pounding of the Masquerade.
Raven doubted the situation would seem as scary if she knew where the other Titans had gone. But she didn't know, so she sat on the floor in the living room and nearly screamed every time lightning flashed, illuminating the dancing corpses.
Starfire whimpered. "Why does Robin not turn the windows into walls?"
"I don't know," Raven replied, looking into the bloodshot, teary eyes of her friend.
She found no comfort in those eyes and felt sure that Starfire found no comfort in her eyes.
Lightning flashed, the shouting reached a fevered pitch, and the two girls screamed.
"Girls!" Cried Cyborg's voice.
Raven heard heavy feet walking towards them.
She clamped her mouth shut and pulled Starfire closer.
"Girls?" Cyborg sounded puzzled.
"Over here, Cyborg," Raven called. "By the sofa."
They could soon see Cyborg's red eye, glowing softly in the darkness. "Do you know where the others are?"
Starfire shook her head. "I do not know where Robin and Beast Boy are."
Hopefully not with Tim, Raven thought.
"I haven't found Tim, either," the former athlete told them. "I wonder where they got to…"
Raven didn't say anything. There was really nothing to say.
Thunder rolled, lightning flashed, and the girls released sounds rather similar to squeaks. Even Cyborg jumped.
Outside, the Masquerade danced and screamed, sang and bled.
12:01 PM
Raven sat straight up in bed, panting. Sunlight couldn't filter through the heavy curtains, but she noticed that the dark cloth seemed luminous.
Dawn had long broken, so Raven stood and headed to the shower.
She hit the knob, terminating the jet of hot water. Stepping out of the shower and toweling off, she realized that she felt… refreshed.
It seemed crazy. How could she feel so good after the fiasco earlier that morning?
She felt a little guilty— they'd never found Robin or Tim. Or Beast Boy.
Something must have happened. Tim must have made his move. And she hadn't been there to counter it.
Robin and Beast Boy might well be dead because of her cowardice. She didn't deserve to feel as good as she did.
But she entered the kitchen to find Robin in a pair of jeans and a Robin-based T-Shirt. He stood at the counter, pouring Special K into a bowl.
"Where were you last night?" Raven asked, pouring water into her kettle.
"Where were you?" He replied. A moment later, "Would you please hand me the milk?"
The refrigerator door swung open and a gallon jug encased in her power flew out.
He caught it easily. "Thanks."
"Robin, do you know why the security walls failed?"
He shook his head. "I'm about to check on that, though."
"Okay… why the regular clothes?"
"I intend to take a little trip later today."
Beast Boy walked into the kitchen, wearing a strange expression on his face. "Robin's taking a trip? Can I go, too?"
"I sort of wanted to go alone," Robin hinted. He brightened. "There's one good thing about the Masquerade spending the entire night outside the Tower."
"We don't have to scour the city," Raven realized.
"Exactly."
Suddenly, the big screen in the living room filled with Slade's masked face. "Hello Titans," the smooth, sinister, and oddly regal voice intoned. "As you no doubt know, I have resurrected an ancient curse."
"What do you want, Slade?" Robin asked.
"Two demands, Robin. The first, that you meet me at midnight at the Old City cemetery… alone." He paused. "The second, that if you do not return to Titan Tower by the time the Masquerade arrives there, that the Teen Titans disband."
"I'm not sure we can agree to that— especially if not all of us are here." Raven forced herself to say it. The absence of the other Titans didn't particularly bother her, but she wasn't going to pawn the team, and possibly its leader's life, for the negation of an empty threat.
"You have an hour." With that, the image of Slade vanished.
"Great news!" Tim's voice cried. He sounded ecstatic. "I finally translated it all! I know how to break the curse!" Raven again found herself hard pressed to classify the voice's owner as evil.
She watched Robin smile widely.
"How?" He demanded of the younger teen.
"It's a simple incantation, along with a minor blood sacrifice."
At Robin's uncomprehending glance her way, she informed him. "A blood sacrifice means the person or people breaking the curse have to draw on somebody's blood. They also call a major blood sacrifice a 'lifeblood sacrifice,' because it kills the sacrificial object. A minor blood sacrifice can be anywhere from a drop to a nearly fatal amount."
"Yeah, that," Tim said. "Anyway, the curse starts out with energía por energía; sangre por sangre."
"Power for power; blood for blood…" Robin breathed.
"In this case it means that in order to break the curse, the same number of people who made the curse must recite the counter-curse, with the blood of a gypsy from the same company—"
"—Kumpanya," Robin corrected. "But I'm beginning to see." The Boy Wonder smiled.
"We only have an hour to inform the others," Raven reminded them. "We should come up with a plan so that we don't have to give Slade what he wants."
"Which is for the Titans to disband," the changeling finally spoke again. He had, apparently, been shocked into silence.
A wry smile almost quirked Raven's lips. Not necessarily a bad thing… But, on the other hand, if it shocks Beast Boy into silence…
"No," Tim said. "No, if all he wanted was for you to disband, he could have gotten it from the Mayor."
Did Slade tell you to say that? Raven wondered. But aloud, she only said, "We don't have to make this deal. Slade won't expect us to refuse, and I don't think refusal will do any real harm." She poured the now-boiling water into a mug and dropped a tea bag into the steaming water.
"What are you talking about?" Beast Boy looked ready to froth at the mouth. "The city's going to turn into zombies!"
"But Slade doesn't have the Masquerade under his control." She said it in her trademark monotone, with just a slight edge. "If he can't make it any worse, and we can end it, why should we even make the empty effort of appeasing him?"
"The curse won't end before the Masquerade starts," Tim whispered. "If I had just worked a little longer yesterday, we could have ended it last night."
"Well, we can still end it tonight. Robin wouldn't have to go." Beast Boy offered the suggestion with his typical optimism.
"No," the Boy Wonder sighed. "He's got us in a double trap. Even if we end the curse, the Mayor will just order us to disband if we don't take the deal."
"But can't we just re-form, after the Mayor is arrested?" Beast Boy asked. "And why didn't Slade tell us that?"
She restrained an exasperated sigh. "Because it's part of a trap, Beast Boy; if you want to trap your enemy, do you tell him what the trap is?"
"So we take the deal." Raven's knuckles tightened on the mug as Tim said the word we: Tim didn't get to consider himself part of a we— particularly not the Titans' we.
Starfire floated into the kitchen with Cyborg close behind. "Why such solemnity?"
The half-demon noted her Tamaranian friend appeared to have recovered from the events of earlier that morning. Cyborg also looked rested, a first since the entire fiasco began. Their faces paled when Robin explained the situation, but naturally, they agreed with him.
2
1:24 PM
"We'll take the deal," Robin informed his masked enemy through gritted teeth.
Slade only looked at him impassively. "I thought you might." With that, the mysterious villain vanished from the screen.
Well, he sighed. There. I did it. Now what?
The screen before him flashed again, and he smiled wryly. I guess that's what. "Accept message," he snapped.
Superman's visage appears on the screen. "Robin— Batman gave me your message." The Man of Steel looked puzzled. "Just what's going on down there?"
"Weird, nigh unexplainable things. Suffice to say we're dealing with a powerful curse."
"I won't be able to help you." Superman looked genuinely regretful.
Robin felt himself blink several times, and his eyebrow suffered from a thirty-second spasm. "What's going on in Metropolis?"
"I've got some sort of muck monster. It seems bent on eating waste."
Plasmus… but how the hell did it get all the way to Metropolis without us noticing a breakout? His mouth gritted into a scowl. Of course. The Mayor must have secretly pardoned him or something. God damn it, what the hell are we going to now?
"You're fighting Plasmus. He becomes human again when he falls asleep, so concuss him." I didn't really think that Slade would let the JLA help us, did I?
Superman looked surprised, and Robin couldn't help but notice that his mentor would never have allowed such a look onto his face. "Thanks for the help."
Time to pull out the old Batman routine. His lips thinned into a perfectly straight line, and he purged all expression from his face and voice as he asked, "Will that be all?"
The sudden coldness from a leader so usually friendly (or at least human) caught Metropolis' favorite superhero off guard, and it showed. "Uh… yeah, I think... Is something wrong?"
Something is very wrong, you ass. A curse is trashing my city, nobody can sleep, and Slade is running fucking circles around us Titans. "Negative."
The look on Superman's face told Robin that he didn't believe the youth.
Robin didn't care.
"Right then… Superman out." The face vanished from the screen, and Robin sighed.
It may be petty, but just once I'd like to be the one to end a conversation on that thing.
3:00 PM
Batman's face appeared on the screen just when the others had gathered in the living room to work out just how to break the curse.
"Robin." Two syllables, clipped. Only one who knew Batman exceedingly well would have known of the thousands of possible meanings conveyed in that word. Of those people, only Robin could have decided which meaning the voice conveyed, and how to interpret it. 'Son.'
Automatically, Robin felt his hands slide behind his back and his feet slide together. "Yes?"
Batman had ingrained that stance into him since he was nine years old— this was how you answered the com screen in HQ: standing front center, spine straight, hands at your sides or behind your back, head high, and your feet together. You did not say what; you did not say yeah, you said yes.
He learned that right after he learned "Batman is the boss," "one does not say no to the boss," and "Batman makes the rules. Reporting Batman's breaking of the rules to Alfred is a Bad Career Move."
"I have information you may need." 'I want you well armed for this.' "I conveyed your message to Superman." 'I'm still a little disappointed, but that's between us.'
Robin wanted to say, 'spill'. Instead, he replied, "Thank you."
Batman nodded. "Ten days ago, a large creature made of stone broke into the Metropolis blood bank and stole two bags of volunteered blood. Records indicate that the blood belonged to 'Pop' Haly."
"Thank you." Well, at least we won't have to go to too much trouble finding a gypsy whose blood can break the curse… Why in the hell is Tim going white like that?
"I also found that Gotham's most popular missing person was seen entering Jump City. If you come across—"
Tim backed up, knocking over a table and calling Batman's eyes off the Boy Wonder.
"—Never mind. I see you've already found him." Batman's eyes narrowed for an instant. "Deliver him to the proper authorities in Gotham, please." 'Don't make me come down there to retrieve him.'
"We will." Robin told his mentor. "As soon as we sort out the matter here."
"One more item." 'I have one more thing to say. In private.'
"Guys," Robin told the others over his shoulder. "I have something I want to ask Batman. In private."
He didn't see them leave, but he heard the elevator doors slide open, then five sets of feet troop in. The elevator doors closed.
"L-n-g Floor: Stat dot lock." He heard the doors click. "Soundproof underscore active dot l-n-g floor. L-n-g underscore r-m: cameras dot inac dot t. T equals twenty min. A equals twenty sec." He paused, counted twenty seconds, and then said, "We have twenty minutes."
"I want you to come home, when this is all over."
"I don't know if I can do that."
"I know, I know. But I need you here."
"You don't need me. You're getting along just fine without me."
"…maybe not for crime fighting. But I need you here. Alfred misses you."
"…you only need me home because Alfred misses me?" He knew it wasn't true. But he needed to hear the old Bat say it. Even just once. Death had never seemed nearer, and he needed to hear it before he died.
Batman sighed. "Fine. I miss you."
"I miss you too."
"Will you come home?"
"Probably not."
The barely-visible eyes narrowed. You do not say no the boss.
He wanted to cry. But Robin doesn't cry, so he removed the mask in view of another person for the first time since he arrived in Jump City. "I'll come back, after this is over. But only for a little while." Tears fell. "I'll come back if I can."
The Batman mask slipped down too, and suddenly it was an unmasked-Batman staring down at Dick Grayson, and suddenly it didn't matter.
Because somehow, they had gone from two super heroes, to mentor and mentored, to just being father and son.
And it felt good.
3:30 PM
"Tim, tell us everything you remember about after your father kicked you out," Robin said, quietly.
Beast Boy watched the terrified-looking boy intently, trying to figure out just what in the heck was going on. Tim was a Missing Person and Batman had Robin's balls in a jar?
Something was going on here. He smelled a rat. A rat with one eye. A very stinky rat. Not a pleasant smell.
"Look," Tim sobbed. "I don't know, okay?! I just… I just…"
"Friend Tim, do not be so distressed!" Starfire offered, ever cheerful. "We will help you!"
"Yeah, Tim. Helping people is what we do. We want to help you, but you have to talk to us first. We can't fix it if we don't know how and why it went wrong." Cyborg's voice had a calming effect on the boy.
Cyborg calmed everybody down. Everybody listened to Cyborg (when he was worth listening to, anyway). Everybody talked to Cyborg.
In fact, Beast Boy noticed, he and Raven were the only people who weren't trying to coax Tim into talking.
United in silence. It's a freaking miracle! He caught her eye, scooted over to sit next to her.
"What's up?" He whispered.
"I don't trust him," she whispered back.
"Oh…" Beast Boy looked at the shuddering, sobbing youth. "Well, if he's as bad as you think he is, then he's a really good actor."
But something in the boy's posture changed. "Okay, so… so my Dad kicked me out. I didn't know what to do, so I wandered around for a little while. I got mugged— some guy hit me in the back of the head, and when I woke up, I didn't have any of my money with me. Well, I figured I'd just see if I could get along, right? So I got a job at McDonald's, and grabbed my emergency cash from the bank. I slept in a hotel room until McDonald's fired me for no reason. I went through a lot of jobs like that, and a lot of hotels, too." He paused, but nobody asked him anything. After drawing a few shuddering breaths, he continued. "And you guys know about how I started breakin' into empty houses, 'cause I told you, and you know how I did ten days for B&E. And then I got out, and somebody mugged me again. Well, I'd hidden cash in a little locker in the bus station, and I went and got that and saw that I could just barely afford the ride to Jump City. And I thought, 'screw this, man. This city blows,' and I bought the ticket."
Beast Boy noticed that Robin's head was turned completely to Tim. Even through the mask, the changeling could tell that his leader was furrowing his brows.
"And I got to Jump City. It's a five fuckin' day bus ride, but I got here and I got out and I thought, 'Jesus, I'm stupid. Now what do I do?' So I wandered around, and got a job at the Pizzeria. But they fired me in two days, and I was like, 'what happened to two week's notice, huh?'" He stopped, sorted. "Bastards. And then I tried to hold up some guy, and he knocked me out. I woke up, and I was with the same damn guy in this cave or something. It had all sorts of gears in it. And he told me that I could do a job for him and through him for the JLA, and he'd give me a lot of money. I needed it bad, so I took it. And you guys know the rest."
They did indeed know the rest. Beast Boy watched Robin tap his chin.
"Tim, Batman uploaded the police reports regarding you to the Titan Computer. They include witnesses placing you in various establishments, but just before the police would try and retrieve you from one, you would vanish, with management saying either you left or they had fired you. Convenient, isn't it?"
"Are you saying someone orchestrated my various encounters with unemployment?"
"That or you had an ear in the police," Raven commented, her voice dry.
"That's crazy! Who would go to so much trouble with me?"
"There is no 'too much trouble' for Slade." Robin told the youth. Everything about the Boy Wonder seemed grim. "Not if you could prove useful."
"Or you have something he wants," Raven's monotone provided. Beast Boy noticed that Robin's and Raven's eyes met.
"What could I have that Slade would want? I'm just Tim Drake..."
Raven spoke again. "Robin's identity. Slade could easily use that information."
"Wait a minute," Beast Boy cried. "Tim knows who Robin is?"
"Yes," Robin confirmed.
"So you trust this guy more than you trust us!"
Robin shook his head. "No, Tim figured it out on his own, using information very few could gather or remember."
"That's bad, man," Cyborg sighed. "That's really bad."
"I know," Robin snapped. "And if Batman knew, he'd kill me! So don't. Tell. Anyone!"
"Yeah, what's with you and Batman?" Beast Boy demanded. "I mean, usually you're this gung-ho-fearless-leader-everybody-obeys-me guy, and then you go quiet-mousy-yes-man-trembling-eyes, all because this guy in a bat suit shows up on the com screen!"
Robin's eyes narrowed. "Let's just say… the first things I learned when I became Robin were: Batman is the boss, one does not say no to the boss, and Batman makes the rules." He glared at Beast Boy, and somehow the mask didn't diminish the glare's effect. "Batman doesn't tolerate disobedience or sloppiness. He isn't exactly a… friendly… mentor."
"What's the news on Superman? Is he going to help us?"
"He won't. He's got Plasmus to deal with, plus he has to track down Cinderblock… I don't think he's going to put his neck on the line for us."
"Why?"
Robin shrugged. "He strikes me as a law-abiding Boy Scout type. So I guess that's why."
"Hey!" The green-skinned comedian cried. "I was a Boy Scout!"
"I'm not surprised," the Boy Wonder sighed. "The point is, he's generally a law-abiding type, and Jump City is under martial law, and nobody's allowed to enter or leave the city."
"So we're screwed."
"Yeah."
8:00 PM
"I have a movie," Robin told them quietly. "It's a long one, because it was actually a play, but it isn't exactly a comedy, and it's a good movie."
"What is it?" Beast Boy asked.
"The Sting."
"Sounds like horror," Raven said, looking up from her book.
"It's not. It's… Well, you just have to see it. I can't explain it." I was in it in my second year at Gotham's YouthPreparatoryAcademy. "But it has plot twists galore."
"I'm in," Cyborg said.
Raven nodded. "I guess it wouldn't hurt."
"If someone will explain to me the parts an entire viewing cannot."
"I'll explain what I got, Star," Beast Boy informed their Tamaranian friend.
Tim shrugged. "Yeah, I'll watch it, I guess."
11:10 PM
Robin didn't want to admit it, but he was nervous. Sure, he'd battled Slade alone before…
But never at this much of a disadvantage. At least the previous times he'd gotten the right amount of sleep.
"It was a good movie," Raven informed him quietly as he checked and re-checked his gear.
"Thanks," he replied. "Normally, I prefer action… but gangster movies can be fun."
"This one was… fun." The girl admitted. "Though I don't think Starfire understood it all."
"Well, she has Beast Boy to explain it to her."
"Yeah, like that's going to help."
His gaze sharpened on her. She normally wasn't this down on Beast Boy if he wasn't around.
3
11:45 PM
Robin slid the key into the motorcycle's ignition and revved it for a moment.
The moment passed and he sped off into the night for the Old City Cemetery.
11:59 PM
The Cemetery was a mid-sized run-down lot, with four hundred year old graves he could barely see in the night.
He knew of the place by reputation; the superstitious said it was haunted.
Looking at the place in the gloom of All Hallows Eve, Robin could see why. For some reason, the utter lack of anything but tombstones and monuments in the light of the full moon seemed both hauntingly beautiful in a melancholy way and chillingly terrifying.
The graveyard was nothing but hill, graves, and moon.
"I'm glad you could make it, Robin." The regal and sinister voice intoned.
He automatically turned in Slade's direction.
But suddenly Slade was airborne, and a kick threw Robin backwards.
Before he could stand, Slade crouched atop him. He felt gloved fingers reaching towards his face, and he began to struggle.
"Now, now, enough of that, Dick." The other hand slapped him, and the first hand found his mask. The thin strip of cloth that he had become so used to peeled away. "You have the prettiest blue eyes."
November 1, 12:01 AM
Forty-five people danced across the sea, towards Titan Tower.
12:02 AM
"How long can you keep your pretty eyes closed, gypsy?" Slade laughed over the sudden sounds of singing and dancing. "I hope it's a long time, or else you'll join the Masquerade."
"Bastard," Robin growled.
"Try and take me down."
"I will."
And with that, he launched himself in Slade's direction.
12:06 AM
Starfire stared out the windows at the mass dancing on the lawn. There were between forty and fifty people, all laughing and shouting rude words.
Tim looked terrified, but Raven watched the scene impassively.
12:07 AM
He sent a vicious kick towards the villain, knocking him back.
"Oh-oh-oh-oh…" Sang the Masquerade. "Everybody was Kung Fu fighting, those jerks were fast as lightning…"
Robin stopped for a minute, not only to listen for where Slade was, but also to allow his mind time to boggle.
"In fact it was a little bit fright'ning, but they fought with expert timing/ There was funky China men from funky Chinatown…"
"That was the worst song. Ever." Slade commented dryly.
Aha! Robin barreled towards his opponent with a vicious punch. With that, they stayed together, sending each other a flurry of attempted Aikido throws, and then moved into a bit of cutthroat staff-work.
"They were trapping when up, they were trapping when down/ It's an ancient Chinese art, and everybody knew their part/ For my friend, ain't you a stiff, then I'm kickin' from the hip…"
Funny, how similar he and Slade were.
"Everybody was Kung Fu fighting, those kids were fast as lightning/In fact it was a little bit fright'ning, but they fought with expert timing…"
"God, I hate that song," Slade sighed. "Or maybe I just don't like Carl Douglas…"
Robin moved in for the kill, but soon found himself flying straight towards the singing.
..
..
Everybody's trying to say I'm wrong
I just wanna be back where I belong
World turning
I gotta get my feet back on the ground
World turning
Everybody's got me down
Maybe I'm wrong but who's to say what's right
I need somebody to help me thru the night
—Fleetwood Mac, World Turning
=====
You didn't REALLY think I was going to bring those adults into this fic AGAIN, did you?
And I didn't think I was going to make my update deadline (23:30 [10:30 PM] 03.08.04 [8/3/04]). But ha! I did! I bite my thumb at thee, readers!
Freaking LONG chapter, people!
Incidentally, I'm plotting a sequel (though it's a very loose, penciled-in plot). I'm also plotting another fic. Here're the stats:
Title: So Far, So Fast
Summary: AU. Tim Drake and his older adopted brother, Dick Grayson, move to JumpCity looking for a new life. Dick may have found his… but Tim suspects that it involves a court of vampire motorcycle racers.
Would you read it?