7

"Vash? Vash? Vash, can you hear me?"
Robin's voice broke into the stillness, making him aware of the world once again. Vash slowly opened his eyes, the concerned face of Robin the first thing he saw. He sat up against the force of the throbbing in his head, rubbing one of his temples.
"Uh…" he groaned, "What happened?"
"We were hoping you'd tell us." Wolfwood said.
"Where's Starfire, and Raven?" Robin said, crouching down alongside Vash and gripping the collar of his jacket a little, adding emphasis to his demand.
"Hold up, hold up." Cyborg said, pulling Robin away. "Give the man a chance to recoup."
Wolfwood helped Vash to his feet. The spiky haired man took a long look around, slowly refreshing his memory with his surroundings.
"Wait…" he held up a hand to keep anyone from speaking, "I remember…" then his eyes went wide as it all came flooding back. "Legato!" he cried and spun around, as if he expected he blue haired phantom to be summoned by his words.
"What about him?" Robin said, the urgency in his voice rising as Vash mentioned the dreaded foe.
"He took them." He said. Robin gave a growl of frustration and walked away, afraid he would explode at his friends in his anger. "I'm sorry…" Vash said, and then looked at his feet.
"Don't worry." Cyborg said, placing a comforting hand on Vash's shoulder, "We'll get them back."
"But how?" Millie asked, her stun gun draped over her shoulder.
"Maybe if we find out what they stole it'll help." Beast Boy suggested.
"There's bound to be only so many places a guy like Legato can hide in this city." Wolfwood added.
"Well?" Meryl asked them all collectively, "What are we waiting for?"
"Lets go!" Robin called from his bike, already with his helmet on.

"Try not to move." An unfamiliar voice pierced the darkness. It disturbed what had seemed like a pleasant rest. Her eyes slowly fluttered, rays of light breaking through the night, and then finally they opened completely to reveal her surroundings.
As Starfire moved in her seat, a dozen weapon all cocked and steadier on her.
"Don't move." Legato said. She looked over at where he stood, and then became aware of Midvalley kneeling next to her. He withdrew a needle from her arm, and she hissed with the sting. He looked up at her, and she thought she could almost read genuine sympathy in his eyes. He held the needle up and tapped it.
"Drugs," he explained, "From our world. Should keep you two nice and docile without doing any real damage. I gave her some too." He gestured at Raven, who sat next to Starfire, her head lolling on her shoulder. Raven's eyes rolled up to look at her companion, revealing the awareness that lay beneath them. Starfire began to understand how Raven was feeling as she felt her body going numb, becoming nothing but dead weight to her mind.
"Leave." Legato commanded. "He wants to speak to them alone." And with that he and all the other Gung Ho Guns shuffled out of the hotel room, leaving Raven and Starfire alone. Or so they thought.
After what seemed like a long time, someone cleared they're throat. He was standing behind them, and they could not seem him. But the heard his footsteps coming up behind them, and then he slowly came into their view as he stepped around them and then stood in front of them. He bore a striking resemblance to Vash, but most definitely different. His hair was shorter and lighter, and his eyes did not bare the same open heartiness and warmth that Vash's did. In its place there was only cunning and wicked heartlessness. It let them know just whom they now faced.
"Knives." Raven said, her voice slurred as her lips could hardly move. Knives smiled and nodded his head.
"You would seem to have me at a disadvantage." He smirked. "But the truth is, you are the ones at a disadvantage. Feels like having a lead bodysuit tied around you, doesn't it?" he said. He stepped forward and gave Raven's head a gentle push with the tip of his finger. It rolled to the side limply on her neck, and for a moment she was afraid she would tip over onto the floor. "Tell me" he went on, "Why do you do it?"
"Do what?" Starfire asked as her own words began to slur.
"Waste you're time." He responded. He crouched down and looked her in the eyes, and she saw in him nothing but a soulless pit of emptiness. And at the bottom of her own heart, it made her afraid to face him. "The two of you have so much power, so much potential, yet you squander it on these insects." He gestured toward the window, which overlooked the city. "Why?"
"They're human beings." Raven added, narrowing her eyes, the only gesture she could make to show the burning anger she felt building toward him.
"My point exactly." He hissed. "The two of you are not human. You're purer, stronger, better. And yet you've willingly surrounded yourself with them. And you even waste you're talents trying to protect them from themselves."
"It's right." Starfire said, trying to turn her eyes away from him.
Knives chuckled, and gave her a gentle tap upside her head, causing her to face her lap as her head rolled forward.
"I see I can do some definite good here." He chuckled.
"They're innocent people." Raven added.
"Innocent?" he said, his face blanching with distaste at the word, as if it somehow tasted foul on his tongue. "They poison their own atmosphere. They slaughter each other by the thousands. They disregard all other life, and you call them innocent? Just how many times have they tried to kill the two of you?"
"Those are only a few…" Starfire started to say, but Knives cradled her chin and raised her face to look him in the eyes again.
"Here's the real truth." He sneered. "They aren't going to learn, and they aren't going to improve. They're just going to keep up this self-destructive cycle till they leave their own planet uninhabitable, polluted and ravaged by war. They're a pestilence on this universe, and they must be cleansed away before they can spread. And I'm the one who'll do it."

"A bomb?" Vash said incredulously as he held the ice pack against his head. The other's all sat around, their faces grim as Cyborg gave his assessment."Looks like it." He turned and faced them, the monitor behind him showing a list of the materials stolen. "All the stuff the Gung Ho Guns have stolen thus far is all components for constructing a nuclear weapon."
"That explains why Knives wants it, but what does Slade want that stuff for?" Beast Boy asked from where he perched on the counter.
"Don't know." Cyborg said. "Maybe he's making a bomb too."
"Not his style." Robin said with a frown. "Slade wants control, not destruction. He would rather conquer the world, not blow it away.""But why would he want to build a bomb here?" Meryl asked cautiously.
"Maybe he's planning to bring it back to our world." Wolfwood suggested.
"No, its not that." Vash said. All eyes turned to him as he dropped the ice pack and stood up. He looked up at the monitor, examining the list. His shoulders sagged, the weight of his brother's actions crushing him. "He wants to destroy this world before…" he hesitated a moment, then turned and looked at his friends. "Guys, there's something I haven't told you. I was afraid it would effect what hasn't happened yet. But it doesn't look like I have a choice…"

"Its lonely, isn't it?" Knives said, shifting topics now. He turned from the window and gazed at them. "The two of you, the only superior beings on a planet full of walking, brainless pieces of meat. You can't tell me you don't feel lonely sometimes." He paused for effect, gazing deep into their eyes, probing for reactions.
"Never lonely!" Starfire insisted, "We have friends, we have…"
"They call you they're friends, for now." He said, starting to move toward them again. "But in time, they are going to resent you. Who wants an example you can never live up to? When they see you're superiority, you're strength for what it is, they'll grow jealous. And then they'll grow afraid. And then, then they will start to hate you. And that is a very lonely existence indeed. One that no one can understand…" he placed his hands on their shoulders and leaned in close, bringing his face nearer to them, "Except me."
"That's a lie." Raven hissed.
"Is it? Why do you think I was forced to do all the things Vash told you about. They feared me, and him, both of us. They feared us for our superiority, our difference. They weren't ready to accept their own inferiority. They called us monsters, us! And after all Vash has done for them, they still fear him." He pointed a finger accusingly at the two girls. "And can't you just hear what they'll be calling you: the freak from another dimension, the creature from another planet? They'll be terrified of both of you. But I'm not scared, and I never will be. Can't you see, all I want is…to be you're friend?" He managed to force a smile onto his face, but on him it looked totally false, and they saw through him completely.
"We already have friends." Starfire insisted.
"And none of our friends is a murderer." Raven said, narrowing her eyes.
"They will be." Knives said, leaning in closer still. "Just watch how they slaughter their own world. Perhaps when they move on from this world, they'll devour yours next." He cradled their chins, lifting their faces to look into his eyes. "In the meantime, I suggest you get comfortable where you are. You're not going anywhere for a while."
"There is one thing you can do to make us more comfortable…" Raven said, causing Knives to arch a curios eyebrow. She wished she had full control of her face, so she could smile smartly as she spat "Get some breath-mints."
The punch fell hard across her face, sending her tipping to the side, her head colliding with Starfire's, sending the both of them tumbling over onto the floor. They both grunted with the impact, grateful now that they didn't have a lot of the feeling in they're bodies at the moment. They found themselves face to face with the toes of Knive's boots. He sneered down at them.
"After you've spent some time there, at my feet, you'll start to think different." He chuckled as he stepped out, flicking the light-switch as he went, leaving them both alone in darkness, the only light they had being that within their hearts.
"Whoa…" Was all anyone could manage to say. They all looked at Vash, trying to digest all the information he had just given them. The revelations about himself, Meryl, Millie, Wolfwood, the Gung Ho Guns all being there, and even they're very existence, seemed to much to absorb. But finally, Robin found his voice.
"So that's what he wants to make a bomb for."
"Afraid so." Vash sighed.
"So that makes it all the more important for us to stop him then." Cyborg said, trying to rouse the mood that had set in upon them with Vash's words.
"But how?" Millie asked, cocking her head curiously. "We don't even know where they are."
"Maybe not yet." Robin added, a small, knowing smile starting to play on his lips. "But I think I may know a way to find out…"