Teen Titans: Half-Life

Chapter 9: H.I.V.E. of the Mind and Darkness of the Soul. (Part 3)

Seconds passed, Ice ages came and went, or so it seemed. It was certainly cold enough, though. The temperature was low but it was the wind that did the most damage. It could pierce clothing and skin to rob you of precious heat and freeze the blood in your veins. It was bad enough on the ground, but Raven and Knives stood atop the Titans Tower, 10 stories into the air and 2 miles off the coast, where the early winter winds were at their worst, unhindered and unbroken by the numerous city skyscrapers. In this place, Knives still stood with his back facing Raven, the two of them standing in silence: watching, waiting.

"Who are you?" Raven broke the silence. The suddenness of the question caught Knives off guard, but it was a question he had been expecting. He paused before answering, the knife in his hand still hidden yet poised to defend him.

"My name is Knives." A simple straightforward answer, but he needed more. Maybe if he struck up a respectable dialog, his heart would stop playing the xylophone on his ribs, "and your Raven, right?"

"That is my name, but do you know who I am?" Raven asked a second question, her voice betraying nothing. She took a step forward, more like a shuffle.

"You are...." How was he supposed to answer THAT? He didn't even really know who he was, "really frightening when pissed off." That was a fact, not a question. Again his eyes darted to the pillar of smoke in the distance.

"I see," was all she said.

"Have we met before?" Knives turned to face her his hand dropping to his side. "Before the incident at City Hall I mean?"

"Possibly." Raven's eyes did not meet Knives'. Her head was slightly turned, and occasionally would nod her head, as if she was listening to someone else talking. "You need to leave this place as soon as possible." Their eyes met for a moment and she turned and headed back to the elevator.

"Hey wait!" Knives called to her retreating form. Moving with surprising speed she disappeared down the stairwell door positioned to the elevator's left. Knives ran to catch up with her, but she had locked the door behind her. He pulled and tugged at the door to no avail, it was constructed more solidly than it looked. The second option was to take the elevator, but he had no idea where she was heading.

There was no point in getting worked up about it, he didn't have much desire to stay here any longer than was necessary. Besides he'd probably see her tomorrow when Robin called for a group meeting. But that's not what was bugging him.

"She definitely knows more than she's telling." Anyone could tell she hadn't been subtle about it. But why would she choose not to tell him? He wish he knew.

He yawned deeply and his jaw cracked in protest. Fatigue and loss of heat had taken their toll. All he wanted now was to place his head on a nice soft pillow and maybe dream of familiar things. 'Yeah, that would be good,' he thought as his finger pressed the elevator call button.

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"You're a coward!" The voice in her head berated her. "He was right there! A quick shove and he'd be sleeping with the fishes now."

"Shut up!" Raven growled a nearby stair railing was wrenched from it recess in wall. It gave a metallic shriek as unseen hands bent and molded it like a giant obscene pretzel. Every time the voice in her head spoke she could feel it wrestle for use of her powers.

"That one is a danger to everyone around you. He should have stayed dead 2 years ago. You need to finish the job, because I tell you to."

"I will not let you harm him or anyone else." Raven collapsed and fell back onto the stairs. The former rail continued to change shape and form ever more impossible shapes.

"You have no choice in the matter my dear Raven. Rage will consume you! You will take his life, it is the only way to save yourself."

"No! Get out of my head!" Raven screamed. Her head felt hot, very hot. In her horror she didn't realize the rail above her was glowing white hot and melting. A rain of molten slag started to drop all around her. Some of it dropped on her clothes and burned its way through to the skin beneath. Some dotted the exposed skin of her legs and stared its fiery consumption. The pain was constant never fading, her clothes had caught fire, soon she would be burned alive on the spot.

"Surrender your power to me and I'll do what is necessary, or die here." The voice laughed and laughed, "Either way one of you must die today." Raven couldn't think through the intense torture and struggle to stay in control.

"I won't allow that father." Raven gave her final defiant gesture before she slammed her head into the concrete wall as hard as she could. If she must die, at least she could elevate the pain. Her head exploded into a flash of color as sparkles danced across her vision and he smashed her head a second time and lost consciousness.

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When she awoke, still she laid upon the stairs where her flaming end had occured. But apart from a splitting headache she seemed to be all right. Her clothes were whole and her skin was still unblemished. The metal rail laid next to her in a dozen or more bent pieces, but it had not melted. Yet the whole stairway looked as if someone had taken a machine gun and sprayed bullets in random directions. Hundreds upon hundreds of holes dotted the concrete wall.

Fits of coughing spasmed her lungs as they tried to remove the large amount of concrete dust she must've inhaled. Her mouth felt as if she had been chewing sticks of chalk for dinner and she was thirsty, desperately so.

Her hand gingerly touched her head where it had hit the wall, and quickly pulled it back. The whole of her head on the right side was swollen. It was sore and intensely tender to the touch. Yet she signed with relief. She was still alive and the voice was gone, for now, but she could still fell its presence. Somewhere in her mind HE was still there. They had been wrong to think the 3 of them could've defeated him. No, they had simply imprisoned him inside her head and now he still sought to control her.

Speaking of her head, she needed to see a doctor A.S.A.P. She might have caused some serious damage to herself, but just as importantly she needed to tell the others about what had happened. They were all in danger, not just Knives and herself, everyone.

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"How is she?" Robin asked.

"I gave her some painkillers and a dose of sleep medicine. It'll be awhile before she wakes up." Replied Knives. "We should get her to a proper hospital, I'm not confident enough in my own skills to attempt surgery myself."

Knives took a seat next to BB. Cyborg and Starfire were also there sitting upon the large couch in the main room. Robin stood before the group, as leader it was hisduty to moderate the group.

"Oh man, first Money now this." Cyborg slowly shook his head.

"Sadness seems to follow us like a Slythhorn hunter." Starfire observed.

"A wah?" Beast Boy raised a brow.

"On my world there is a hunter who feasts upon children who drift away from their families." Starfire answered a look of mild fear spread across her features. "I too was hunted once by such an evil being. Even when I returned to my family it never gave up the hunt."

"So what happened to it?" BB again asked, but Starfire did not answer back. She just closed her eyes and sat quietly.

"All right everyone," Robin clapped his hands for attention, "now is not the time to mope. We need to discuss recent events, but before we do that we need to inform Beast Boy and Starfire on the battle against Money and why we had detained Raven."

"Yeah dude, I'm tired of being kept in the dark"

"Ok," Robin took a deep breath, "it was shortly after you and Starfire left..."

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It all came to a head, shortly after they confronted Money in front of the nearly destroyed Central Bank. Robin, Raven, and Cyborg attacked Money head on like they had before. The plan was for the 3 of them to distract him, while Knives came from behind and, using the last of Robin's Cryofreeze grenades, would stop Money in his tracks, literally. Money didn't know about Knives that was their advantage. Once Money was taken care of, they could disarm Money's power pack at their leisure. At least that was how it was suppose to work.

There were two problems; first was that Money was mentally unstable and highly erratic, second was Raven, she was already injured and control over her powers teetered on the brink. A wrong move here could send either, or both, dangerously out of control.

They gave Knives 5 minutes to circle around the bank and came in from the back door, so to speak. However Money's efforts to break the vault open seemed to be proceeding faster than first glance; they attacked early, that was their mistake. They had caught Money off-guard to be sure and had they waited the agreed 5 minutes Knives would've been in the perfect spot to attack and would've ended it right then and there.

But Knives was not in the perfect spot. In fact he was in the absolute worst spot.

The premature attack caused Money to retreat, if but briefly. He was insane, not stupid. If he hadn't retreated, the 3 teens would've been all over him before he had time to recall his major defenses, which had been sawing away at the vault. He and Knives collided roughly the aftermath of which cause Knives to drop the grenade which detonated harmlessly, freezing a pile of debris cold.

Their surprise attack ruined, Knives kamikaze charged Money who effortlessly backhanded him across the face. He flew back and crashed into the block of ice, momentarily stunned. Then all hell broke loose.

Raven finally lost her cool. Darkness erupted from her clothes and enveloped her body in a sea of dark energy. The power that she struggled day after day to keep in check was once again unleashed. Her eyes glowed an unnatural tone of red, and her breaths came out as hisses and whispers. A hand the color of coal whipped out and grabbed Money around the waist. He screamed in primal fear as she dragged him towards herself. His defenses attacked her; the money swirled about her like a swarm of angry bees. Every time an attack found its mark it cut through only the dark energy, which quickly re-healed itself. It was possible that Raven no longer possessed a physical body, that she was pure energy now, or that Money only managed to hit an illusion resembling Raven.

"Darkness will consume you." Is what Raven had said when she had first grabbed Money.

Robin and Cyborg hadn't been idle, they shouted out to Raven. They implored her to come to her senses. Nothing they said seemed to work, and there was no telling what would happen if Money became submerged in her dark energies, who had passed out from shock, the coins and bills falling to the ground harmless once again.

Knives had recovered as well and joined in the futile attempt to calm the enraged Raven. Robin and Cyborg were nearly on top of Raven, they looked ready to physically restrain her, if that was possible. Knives ran toward Money, wrapped his arms around him and started pulling away from Raven. A second hand reached out and grasped Knives around the neck, slowly strangling and drawing him in. Robin and Cyborg reaching for Raven had only gotten their arms caught in the swirling energies. Nothing could hold back this human tornado as all 4 of them were slowly dragged in.

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It was dark, cold, and lonely. Robin looked around for the others but could not find a single living soul. There was nothing to see, hear, touch, taste, or smell; only darkness.

But there was emotion.

Anger made up most of it; loneliness, helplessness, despair were there; fear, loss, and jealously too. There was also something else, something familiar. Out of all of the negativity there was a single point of hope. It's meaning was beyond him at the moment. He needed to find the others and get out of here.

There was no telling how much time had passed, when Robin heard someone call his name. He didn't have to see who called to know who it was.

"Cyborg!" Robin shouted back and immediately an answer came back.

Robin and Cyborg were together again after only exchanging names a half dozen times. They both agreed to escape this null reality and set out to see if they could find the others.

"Hey Robin." Said Cyborg

"What?"

"Do you think this is what Dr. Light experienced that time?"

The first time they had seen Raven go berserk and pull someone into her dark energies, Dr. Light in this case, he had briefly disappear under her cloak only to reappear seconds later in less than A1 shape. Maybe to the Titans he had only disappeared for a few seconds, but to Dr. Light it had been an immeasurable amount of time. Robin could certainly see how wandering in this negative atmosphere could drive someone mad after prolonged exposure.

"That won't happen to us." Robin gave a smile of reassurance. But as soon as he did, the despair and helplessness doubled in strength and quickly wiped the smile away. It was like carrying a heavy weight on your back, it drove you down into the ground and seemed to get even heavier as you got weaker.

But there was that light of hope. It hovered just out of reach, like an unknown source of light in a darkened room. Always there, helping, yet beyond your vision. He focused on it; blocking out all the other emotions. When he did this, he realized why he had been unable to recognize it at first.

It was love.

But not the kind of love between a man and woman; no, this was the kinship of family. However, Robin knew Raven hated her father, so it must be the love of her mother. It made sense, this feeling of protection and peace. Robin remembered his own parents; they both had died years ago in a tragic accident and he had never been the same. Nothing he ever did would fill that gap, nothing could ever replace his parents.

Loneliness, despair, all of the other emotions surfaced. Robin collapsed under the heavy weight. He didn't want to be here any more, this oppressive feeling would drown him. He understood better now, Raven that is, just a little better.

An explosion of light blinded him, as he was suddenly thrust back into existence.

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In the aftermath of the nightmare they came to discover that 10 minutes had passed since they had been drawn in Raven. In those 10 minutes she had continued the work Money had started. The bank, and all the building surrounding the it for half a football fields length had been leveled. Thankfull noone had been hurt, since everyone had long since evacuated the surrounding area when Money attacked.

As for Money, well, they did eventually find what was left of him. More importantly they found Knives again who clutched the battery pack in his arms. He didn't look much worse than Robin and Cyborg did, logically he had experience the same thing the other two had. However his eyes were red and tears still slid down his cheeks. He had obviously experience something far different, or that he was just Achluophobic. But when they asked about it, he said he couldn't remember.

After that they found Raven asleep under some rubble, thankfully with no further injuries apart from the one in her side. They informed the authorities that the situation had been taken care of and returned to Titans Tower. On the way back, they grew concerned about Raven, when she woke up would she be back to normal or would she go off the handle again. Cyborg, knowing about the prison level in the Tower suggested that they put her there until they were sure it was safe, but Robin would not have it. He would not lock up one of his friends despite what had occurred.

In the end Knives convinced Robin that it was the best thing to do. It was only a temporary arrangement; to protect her as well as everyone else, and not as if they were doing it out of anger or spite.

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After completing the story Robin stood back and waited for Beast Boy and Starfire to fully absorb it. Both of them looked stunned beyond words.

"Wow..." was all Starfire could manage. BB on the other hand surprised everyone when he suddenly jumped off of the couch and shouted,

"The mirror!"

"Right! Of course." Cyborg caught on right away.

"What mirror?" Robin asked suddenly very interested. In his experience if BB said something and Cyborg immediately agreed with it, then it must be good. Understandably it didn't happen very often.

"Remember last time," BB was beside himself with excitement, "Me and Cyborg went to Raven's room to apologize and I found that mirror. It sucked us in."

"That wouldn't have happened if you hadn't been all up in her magic mirror popping zits. Also YOU went to apologize, I went along to make sure you did." Cyborg added.

"Dude, you busted down her door but good, so you had to apologize too."

"Whoa calm down you two." Robin interposed himself between them.

"Please tell us about friend Raven's mirror." Starfire said.

"When Raven last had her 'I am the incarnation of evil' fit we discovered a magic mirror in her room which transported us into her mind." BB explained, "There we found this freaky red demon guy with four eyes and bad breath, going 'Rage will consume you' stomping around like he owned the place and blowing stuff up."

"Right," Cyborg agreed, "Raven, BB and I fought and beat him the stuffing out of him. We though that was the end of it, but that might not be the case. He could have returned."

"So...," Knives was having a little trouble following, "your saying you entered her mind through a magic mirror and That sounds a little too much like 'Alice in Wonderland' and a bit absurd."

"Or 'Through the Looking Glass,'" added Robin.

"Even better," Knives said sarcastically. "So why don't we all pack up and go for a nice holiday romp through another person's most inner thoughts. But not just any other person, this is Raven we are talking about. Not content with getting sucked into her dimension of darkness and despair once already, you now want to return for an encore?"

"I think what BB is trying to say is that we should all go through the magic mirror back into her head for a brief peek to make sure everything is alright and if that big red bad-ass demon just happens to be there, let it eat laser" Cyborg finished with an intimidating point of his sonic cannon towards Knives.

"That's what I've been saying." BB waved his arms and smiled his approval.

"That's the metaphorical equivalent of sticking your head in a lion's mouth while smacking his love spuds with a wet towel, Cyborg. Total Insanity. You can count me out." Knives sounded final on this one.

"Suit yourself." Said Robin with a shrug, "Ok everyone, get something to eat and get ready. In about an hour well head on in."