Raven awoke with a groan, still groggy from the anaesthetic "Uhhh… what happened?" a thrill of horror ran through her as she realised that she couldn't feel her hands, horror which bowed out to terror when she tried to move but failed a panicked look revealed the cause; her body was pinioned beneath a thick metal band.
"Rae."
Raven craned her neck in an attempt to locate the source of the sound spotting the hulking silhouette of Cyborg standing in the shadows to her right, the tell-tale glow of his cybernetic eye telling her that he was facing her.
"Cyborg! What happened, where are we? Why can't I move!"
Cyborg sighed and turned away before answering, which rated a 7 on Ravens 'really not good signs metre'
"We're at Fixit's workshop; the other's don't know where we are…"
"Don't worry there're fine" he added, seeing the panicked look that crossed her face.
"As for what happened and why you can't move… don't you remember? The foundry? Cinderblock?"
At the mention of Cinderblock Ravens mind cast itself back to the events earlier that evening
Cinderblock, an old foe and not usually a real problem, but tonight the giant had broken into a foundry, and whilst Cinderblock on his own was bad enough, Cinderblock with an almost endless supply of projectiles was far far worse.
They had trailed Cinderblock to the foundry and engaged him there, sure he was flinging jagged shards of metal at them like it was going out of fashion but they could handle that. Until that is, he got lucky; an offhand blow with a girder caught Starfire squarely in the head, sending the Tameranian hurtling backwards into Robin with such force that it removed them both from the fight.
In her shock, Raven let her protective barrier fall as she turned towards them and Cinderblock seized his opportunity
Shlict
It hurt surprisingly little, Raven still considered that odd. She had always thought that losing a limb would be painful… and yet her arm lay a scant three feet away, neatly shorn off at the elbow and all she felt was numb… and a niggling feeling that there should be more blood.
WHAM
Cinderblock's fist slamming into her face ended Ravens internal universe, sending the wounded psion flying to land limply against the far wall.
Lying comatose, as she was Raven was easy pickings for the granite Giant and was pummelled mercilessly; Cinderblock repeatedly landing punishing blows to her chest and legs before a brief flicker of demonic power healed Raven enough to feel him stamping on her remaining arm with a sickening crunch.
Just in time for Cyborg and BB to arrive, fresh from their triumphant encounter with Johnny Rancid.
"Raven"
"I-I remember Cinderblock escaped… we tracked him down to"
Raven fell silent, the newly awakened memories and pain still too fresh.
"Yeah, that about sums it up" replied Cyborg darkly
"So… Why am I here?" queried Raven operating on conversation autopilot
"You were badly wounded, too badly wounded for the doctors, so I took you here"
Too bad for the doctors…Raven had never even needed a doctor before, her demonic blood healing her faster then any physician and if their combined efforts hadn't been enough what had Cyborg done?
"Cinderblock?"
Cyborg gave a derisive snort before answering "Dust. Me and Star kinda flipped out, we saw you lying their and…" he trailed off, obviously the recollection hurt him as well as her.
"Why can't I move?
"I didn't want to hurt yourself when you saw…" he sighed sadly "but I suppose that you'll have to decide that for yourself." He gestured to Fixit listlessly
"Fixit, release the restraints"
Raven jerked in surprise as Fixit emerged from the shadows, she had not even noticed his psychic presence let alone his physical one.
Fixit glanced at Cyborg and nodded gravely, the androids eyes glowing a deep electric blue.
The bands holding Raven to the table retracted soundlessly and she sat up, immediately feeling something different about her centre of balance.
Raven brought her hands up to her face and gasped; they weren't her hands anymore, they looked like sleeker versions of Cyborgs, only a deep blue and violet where his were white and chrome. As a test, she slowly rotated both wrists, watching in stunned silence as they made smooth 360 degree revolutions.
"We had to replace your entire left arm and most of your right" Fixit's calm analytical voice jerked Raven from her reverie "the lower right leg was shattered beyond repair and was also replaced, in addition you suffered numerous broken ribs, a punctured lung and severe blood loss compounded by your injuries. As a result over 40 of your body is now mechanical"
Raven merely listened numbly, still too shocked to fully comprehend what the android was saying.
"H…how long have I been out?"
"a week, the reconstructive work was quite extensive." Came Fixit's simple, toneless reply
A week? She'd been asleep for a whole week?
Unnoticed by Raven her now metallic hands were tightening into fists, tearing furrows in the steel of her bed.
She turned to Cyborg, still standing in his dark corner of the room and to her shock found him crying?
"I'm sorry Rae, It was the only thing I knew that could save you…I panicked…I- I'm sorry." He hung his head in shame.
"For what?"
"Huh?"
"I said for what? Why are you sorry"
Suddenly Raven was angry; all shock forgotten in this fresh burst of rage, she attempted to stalk over to Cyborg, but staggered, unaccustomed to her new legs.
"Well…I"
Raven gave up on her attempt at walking and flicked a mental switch, rising up off the floor and gliding over to him rising as she did so until they were face to face.
"Are you sorry you saved my life? NO? Are you sorry that I can walk and touch things again?"
"No… I-"
"No, you're sorry about making me a 'freak' like you aren't you?"
Cyborg cast his eyes down in defeat
"…Yes."
"You idiot!"
Cyborg flinched back, but Raven kept on him, punctuating her angry words with a sharp jab to his chest that yielded a soft clang with each impact.
Fixit watched the unfolding scene from his own corner humans were certainly odd creatures. If he had truly understood the concept the android felt sure he would find this moment comical; the hulking form of Cyborg quailing in the face of Raven's much smaller and unsteady one, But since he lacked such faculties Fixit merely contented himself with staring serenely.
"When are you going to learn that you aren't a freak? You think having a few tin limbs makes you a monster do you?"
"Well…no but I-"
"I have to meditate daily, go through my life knowing that I'm nothing more then a vessel for a demon and you think that you're a monster?" She gave a bitter laugh and looked down at her metallic hands.
"Well then, I guess we're monsters together then aren't we"
Cyborg stared at her nervously before placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"No, I'm not a monster… and neither are you."
An awkward silence passed before Cyborg spoke again.
"So… do you want to head back now? They're probably going nuts looking for us, I left in kinda a hurry"
"Yes… let's go back."
Finally done!
This chapter was a pain to write, it started off easy but was a real bastard to end…
Please review this story and my others, I have more Teen titans stuff on the way, and may just hurry up about it if some reviews come my way…
Till next time
Ps: a cookie to whoever can guess where this reference is from: Deflagrate muri tempi et intervalia!