Numb
"You stupid lot couldn't pound your way out of a paper bag!" Violet's blast connected with Beastboy's chest for the third time since she'd started her assault.
He soared through the air and landed, unconscious, next to Starfire, who yelped for her injured friend. She would have helped Cyborg quickly prop him up against a nearby building, had she not her own problems. Her ankle was now swollen to twice it's normal size, and bent at quite an odd angle, shooting her entire leg with pain if she ever tried to move it.
Cyborg, now moved in a defensive position in front of both her and Beastboy, brought his canon out, "Don't make me do this Violet!"
In response Violet first did nothing but hold her stance in the air, heavily taking in breath as another cut found its way onto her face. She was covered with them, the red, jagged lines crisscrossing visibly wherever there was bare skin. These wounds seemed to just appear, all by themselves and with no aid. It was this reason, along with the fact that she wasn't letting an opening form in her defense, that they had yet to lay an attack on her. If she was attaining injuries doing nothing, attacking could wrought perhaps considerably more damage than they wanted.
Violet's piercing eyes narrowed, "Go ahead and shoot me."
"Violet…" Starfire said quietly, worry encasing her voice.
Several more cuts formed on her arms and face, adding to the thin lines of red that dripped down her skin.
She slowly closed her eyes, the red glow disappearing beneath her eyelids, "Please…please just shoot me."
§ § §
"Raven, is it even safe for me to be out here?"
The confines of the black orb Raven had conjured were surprisingly comfortable, and did not trouble Robin's back.
Raven looked down at him as she flew closer to the center of town, "You wanted to go didn't you?"
"Yes, but—"
"Then quit complaining, we're almost there."
Her tone of voice suggested he not argue, and he instantly shut his mouth. As the city buildings rushed past them, the inhabitants most likely hiding in fear of the force field, Robin once again began to contemplate the situation that Raven's unexplainable behavior had created. She had become so unpredictable over the past few weeks. She had also been showing a lot emotion, especially anger, and it confused him why the Tower hadn't yet blown up. The only things that had been broken so far were a lamp, a sofa from the third floor, and Starfire's stuffed cat (much to her dismay).
A sudden jerk in Raven's flight pattern turned Robin back to the world. Something large had hurled straight at them, causing Raven to swerve sharply out of the way. Seconds later, a blue light flashed beneath them and began to rapidly grow in size, swallowing them once it was big enough.
He couldn't see anything through the light, but Robin guessed that it must have been painful when he heard a loud scream.
"Raven!" he called out, still safe within her sphere.
Her screams only intensified as the blue mass around them grew smaller in an attempt to break the only barrier between it and Robin. Fear began snatching at him as he saw the black around him flickering, threatening to disappear and expose him.
And then the screaming stopped.
"Raven!"
No reply.
"Raven, put the shield down!" he pounded on the walls of the sphere.
Why wasn't she answering?
"Raven…?" he sounded desperate now, wanting some sort of sign that she was still okay.
If only she'd let the shield down. He'd be alright out in that blue light, but Raven needed her energy…
Almost simultaneously the light around them vanished and Robin's safeguard dissolved, leaving a distant view of the ground below. It felt, for about a second, that they were just hanging there. Then down they plummeted. Robin frantically searched around for Raven and found her out of his reach and out cold.
Despite their distance he reached, extending his arm as far as he possibly could in hopes of grabbing her. Her cloak became unfastened in the wind, it's owner completely oblivious as it drifted above them. He ignored the searing pain in his back that was quickly spreading throughout the rest of his body. Almost there, just a little bit more…
He was very surprised when a set of fingers closed around his own and in a blur of movement, he felt himself being roughly pulled along by someone until he was dumped very harshly onto a hard surface. He sat up, groaned, and took a good look around himself, scanning for whoever had saved him and whether or not Raven was alright as well. He was on top of a very (emphasis on the very) tall building. Giant letters stood and towered high above him, spelling out the words: Wayne Enterprises.
Robin was soon aware that there was something wet and somewhat sticky on his hand and he glanced down to check it.
Blood?
In slight alarm he quickly checked for cuts or bruises he might have gained but found nothing. The blood wasn't his own.
"Hey."
He jumped back suddenly with a yell as a face dropped upside-down in front of him.
It took a moment but he recognized the smiling, if not certainly scarred, face, "Violet?"
She continued floating upside-down, her hair cascading down, looking like a tangled, black web.
"Aww…you remembered my name," she teased, "And you've gotten some of my blood on you too. How quaint. How's your back?"
With the reminder, Robin immediately felt the pain come creeping back, double in quantity than before when he was back in the air.
Doing his best to ignore it and not show any evidence that he was hurting (and that he was thoroughly freaked that it was her blood on his hands), he said, "You…saved me?"
"Well duh. It's no fun fighting someone who's dead."
Dead. The word rang out to him loudest. Knowing that he had almost fallen to his death gave him goose bumps.
"Raven should be fine, at least alive anyway after that fall, but you with your back…tsk, tsk. Shouldn't have even come out of the tower." she waved her index finger from side to side as she finished, giving her the impression of a mother scolding a naughty child.
Even in his dire situation, he couldn't help but fell a little bit amused as she did this upside-down. She seemed almost childish in her actions.
And then it hit him.
"Wait, you didn't save Raven too?-!"
She replied very simply and very obviously, "No."
Panic was rising within him, "Why?-!"
She righted herself at this point and stared at him for awhile. This made him feel a bit violated, as if she was trying to bore into his very being and make him fidget with the uncomfort of not knowing if his friend was unharmed or not. Her right hand opened from its clenched form, releasing a object too small to be seen properly from a distance yet definitely light enough to be swayed by the wind. The wind played with it for a second before blowing it close enough for him to see it clearly:
A ragged and torn piece of purple cloth.
After several unnerving seconds, when it was gone, forever out of reach with the wind, she blinked twice and answered, "I hate Raven."
With one more slow blink her eyes began to change. They began glazing over with a red tint, emitting a strange force that didn't seem completely human.
A gash split down her arm, "And you know what else I hate?"
Robin was paying little attention to her words. He was more transfixed by her eyes. Something was happening to them, changing them, making them become even more of a solid red color. Then they began glowing as she answered her own question.
"I hate you for ever letting him get what he wanted."
His confused, and he decided about a second later, somewhat stupid sounding reply of, "Wait, what?" was all the time Violet need to throw a ball of blue energy at him.
It hit him at full speed and crashed him into the large Y behind him, leaving a large, cracked dent. He didn't yell this time, and it didn't hurt. He was too numb at that point for that. Perhaps this should've warned him a bit more that this wasn't a healthy sign for his body, but his thoughts were more occupied to the problem that he was having a great deal of trouble moving his limbs. And that slowly, unstoppably, Violet was coming closer, looking as if she had the intent to strangle him.
Which didn't seem too much off from the truth when she gripped her fingers around his throat, "You did nothing. Absolutely nothing."
"Violet, please…I can't breathe…"
"That's the point, stupid."
A single drop of red fell from one eye, "You…did…" another drop, "…nothing…" her words sounded staggered, as if she was struggling to say them, "…at all…" a slow stream began flowing down both eyes, "But…my…"
Her grip tightened, eyes closing in an attempt to stop the red liquid that was pouring profusely.
"Violet…?"
"………"
His face was turning blue. He could feel it. He had the most unusual feeling that something just wasn't right with Violet. Well, okay, that was a given, but there was something deeper here. Her voice didn't sound her own, her actions, heck even the air around her didn't seem as it was before. It didn't seem like Violet.
Please let me reach her, Gasping he asked, "W-what're you trying to say?"
The hold on his throat relaxed slightly.
"My…my…fault…"
Her eyes opened, revealing, thankfully, not red but their normal color. And a desperate sort of look in them as well.
"Take it…"
His neck was completely released, gaining him access to air flow again. He breathed in deeply of the wonderful air.
She stepped back, shaking a bit uncertainly, "Take it off…before I—"
SNAP!
The sound filled the air, echoing off the surrounding buildings. Violet lurched forward and fell on her knees, staying in that position long enough to look around at the damage she had caused. There was blood everywhere. Dull stains were splashed all around the concrete top of the building. Then there was Robin, rubble around him and a giant crack behind, sitting with an amazed look on his face as tears spilled out her eyes.
Not red ones, but pure, clear, salty ones that became tainted with blood as they fell down her face. She'd never seen so much blood…and all her own too…
"It wasn't me…"
With fainting words she collapsed towards the ground, her head falling right into Robin's lap.
He stared at her for some time confused before noticing a faint pulsing light. It was near Violet's head, a small metal looking object, smooth on one side with four tiny spikes on the other. It gave off a green, sort of dead light and now that he was paying attention to it, would beep lowly every now and then.
Violet's head bringing discomfort to his knees, he called out, "Is anyone there? I can't move…"
And end! Sorry I haven't updated in FOREVER. But summer vacation's here and I'll have more time to write. Or maybe not since I'm getting a job that does 6 hours a day Mon-Fri. But it does pay $5 an hour, so I'm happy! My friends think I'm crazy to want to work instead of go to Girl's Camp at the age of 14. No time like now to start saving for college, right? .
