1A/N: Would have had this one out on Friday or Saturday but left town for some heavy partying and did manage to survive. Always a plus and of course next weekend will be worse so I will try and finish this story before then because there is no guarantee I'll make it back from my next endeavor. 3 chapters I think. This chapter is a bit transitory but important. Hope it goes well. Responses at end of chapter. That be it.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans so lets not try and sue me since I don't have anything to sue for.
Finding Hope Again
Chapter 11
By: Finalitylife
Richard, with his mask firmly in place and a grim look of determination etched on his face, left Titan's tower, left the home he had been fighting to get back to. However, at this moment, none of that mattered, he didn't matter. All that mattered right now was a kind, beautiful young woman who was suffering and that needed to stop and never be allowed to happen again. Richard clutched Raven's cloak to his side as he ran toward where the locator from Cyborg's arm attached to his belt pointed, moving at speed that even he had thought impossible for a mere mortal. Nighttime was beginning to set in at Jump City, the early, bitterly cold nighttimes that winter brought with it. Richard could see large clouds of his own breath leave his body as he ran though he barely felt the numbing cold, nor the racing of his heart. His mind was too drawn into the task at hand for him to notice anything of a physical nature. He was completely consumed by one thought that repeated over and over in his mind. He had to save Raven. He had to set her free. Richard glanced down at the locator that was acting as his only means to finding his Raven and saw that the location seemed to be on the other side of Jump City. As Richard neared the beginning of buildings, he fired out a grappling hook into the nearest tall building and pulled himself up.
Richard sprinted across the rooftops of Jump City just as he had done so many years ago as Robin. The feeling of jumping from building to building was refreshing, made him feel more than a man, that he was flying. It reminded him of his days in the circus, when a small young boy was still innocent, before he had lost his outlook on the world that only a child can have. Richard quickly saw that he was nearing one of the poorer neighborhoods of Jump City by the fact that the building were becoming shorter and more dilapidated. This was where the signal was bringing him, this did not seem to be exactly the type of place that Slade would hide someone as important and precious as Raven. Another surge of adrenaline hit Richard as he jumped off the last of the tall buildings, letting himself fall toward the street. At the last second, he fired another grappling hook to halt his fall and slowly descended to the street. He was here, he was at the building that the locator told him that Raven was at. Richard was amazed that after all that jumping and running, he had still managed to hold on to Raven's cloak. Of course Richard hadn't realized that he was clutching the cloak with an iron death grip like it was the only thing keeping him alive. Richard took another look at the locator to ensure he was at the right building and he was. In front of him stood an old, run-down apartment building that looked like it was ready to collapse on itself. There was no possible way anyone was living here legally. It wouldn't have shocked Richard to find out that Slade in fact owned this entire building and that there was more than meets the eye to this building. He pulled out a birdarang and approached the building. The whole area seemed to become completely silent as he silently walked toward the door, expecting anything. He slowly opened the door and crept in and was shocked to find...absolutely nothing. The interior looked just as bad as the exterior and only reaffirmed the fact that this building should have been condemned decades ago. He heard the quiet movements of rats scuttering around the old, wood floors and the floor itself creaking as he walked slowly toward where the locator continued to direct him. It led him down a dark, musty hallway, to one specific room at the end of the hallway, where Richard prayed that Raven was behind that door.
Richard kicked the door in and rushed in ready to take out anything that moved but once again only found emptiness and complete silence. Confused, Richard looked at the locator again and yelled at himself mentally when he realized that the locator was telling him that Raven was underneath him. Richard scanned the floor, looking for an opening and eventually found one underneath an old, soiled mattress. Richard threw the mattress aside and pulled open the secret passage which revealed a set of darkened, cement stairs. Richard let out a deep breath. Slade had been right. He would have never found where Raven was on his own no matter how long he looked. This was not some massive underground cavern or elaboratelabyrinth which was more Slade's style. This was some tiny secret passage in a run down apartment building in the very city that two Titan's still protected. Richard couldn't think of one reason he would have ever looked here. Richard slowly descended the stairs, step by step, waiting for something, anything to happen but nothing did. He eventually found himself in another darkened hallway, the only light source from a few flickering lightbulbs that looked ready to burst from the effort of illumination. More rats crept across the floor, making the smallest of noises though easily heard by Richard's trained ears. The hallway was lined with steel doors with heavy locks on them. Richard check the locator again which pointed him to the last door on the left. As he walked down the hallway, he found one of the doors open. Within the room was a metal chair with shackles on it and a table full of menacing tools and objects. Richard felt his body turn cold. That chair could only have one use and Richard just hoped he was not too late, that Raven hadn't suffered anymore than she already had, that Slade hadn't turned his psychotic desire to make people feel pain both mentally and physically on her more than he already had done. Tearing his eyes away from the room, Richard hurried toward the door that had to hold Raven in it. Richard stood staring at the door for a second before starting to pick the lock that kept it shut. After a few minutes, Richard heard a satisfying click and the lock was no more. Clutching Raven's cloak tightly in his hand again, Richard stepped into the darkened cell.
Richard opened the door completely to allow the small amount of illumination from the hallway into the cell. The air felt stale and damp, and had the faintest trace of blood in it. A few rats apparently had been locked in here as they scattered out the door as soon as it was fully opened. Richard narrowed his eyes, picking up a dark, hanging figure across the room that only could be Raven. As he stepped closer, everything was made clear. Raven was shackled to the wall, hanging there as if she was dead. Blood dripped down her arms from where the shackles continued to dig deeply into her slender wrists. Her head hung down, her hair obscuring her face, as she made no motion to point to the fact that she was even alive and knew someone was in the room. However, Richard felt his blood turn cold yet boil at exactly the same time when he saw that her uniform had been ripped open, revealing her bare chest. Richard felt himself growl deep within his own mind, as his entire being called for Slade's blood immediately yet it still prayed that Raven was okay, that Slade had not violated her precious body for his own sick pleasure. Richard cautiously approached Raven and kneeled down so that his face was the same height as hers. He gently whispered to Raven.
"Raven...its me Richard. Please wake up Raven. I'm here to help you, to take you away from all this pain." Richard watched as Raven moved a small bit and as if using all of her strength, lifted up her head so that her beautiful amethyst eyes met the masked eyes of Richard. Richard noticed that her eyes didn't seem to focus on him but rather focused through him. Richard watched as Raven tried to say his name, tried to call out to him, but only a few odd sounds came it. Richard felt a strong pain in his chest. This was his fault. She would never be able to speak normally again because of him. Richard reached up and gently caressed the side of Raven's face.
"I'm here for you Raven. I'm here to save you. I won't let him hurt you ever again." Richard peeled off his mask and Raven's eyes met blue.
"Look at my Raven...I promise that he won't ever touch you ever again. I won't let him no matter the cost." The two stared into each others eyes for what seemed like an eternity, in a cold, darkened cell that was as close to hell as any place on Earth and though no words were spoken, enough was said for this moment and many others as well.. Eventually Richard broke the stare and stood up.
"Alright Raven, time to get you out of those chains." Richard reached up with his metal hand with the intention of snapping the chains that ran into the wall however, he received a jolt of electricity the instant he touched the chain. He let out a startled sound before realizing that the electricity had hit Raven who was twitching from the jolt. Richard quickly dropped back down and again caressed Raven's face.
"I"m sorry Raven, I'm so sorry." Raven slowly looked back up at Richard and gave him a strong look in her eyes, a look that told him that it didn't matter, all that mattered was breaking the chains. Richard slowly nodded and before he could second guess himself grabbed the chain and twisted with all the enhanced strength in his metal hand. The electricity continued to course through both of them but Richard didn't stop. He let out a yell and finally, the chains snapped off from the wall, breaking the connection to allow the current to flow. The instant snapping caused Richard to fall back onto the ground and a limp Raven fell on top of him. Richard instinctively wrapped his arms around her small trembling frame and whispered soothing words into ear.
"Its okay Raven, Its okay. Everything will be okay." Richard felt Raven weakly wrap her arms around him, the shackle still hanging on one of her wrists. The two laid there for a few seconds before Raven, who was still on top of Richard, did the unexpected. She placed a gentle kiss on Richard's lips. Richard was completely surprised when she did it. The kiss was soft and quick and the look in Raven's eyes when she did it told Richard that there were a lot of reasons for it all which he somehow could feel. She wanted to tell him she cared, she wanted to reassure herself that he really was there to save her and this wasn't all just a hallucination, and that if the worst came, she didn't want to die without ever having her first kiss. So many reasons and all Richard could do was simply smile. Richard shifted himself picking up Raven's cloak beside him and wrapped her up in it, covering up her cold body, covering up what Slade had no right to reveal, to touch. He picked up the physically and mentally drained young woman in his arms and began taking her away from this dark place, away from this pain, yet lingering in the back of his mind, a voice whispered, telling him that he could not live up to the promises he had made, that it would still get darker still. Richard didn't want to admit it, but the voice chilled him to the bone.
In another location, Slade sat in his main base of operations preparing for Robin's arrival. Robin still had a few hours though Slade highly doubted it would take that long. He watched the spot where he had told Robin to meet him through a hidden camera, cameras which he had placed all over the city years ago and continued to function for him. It was only a matter of time before he had Robin back and could begin his experimentation to create the perfect apprentice, the apprentice that he knew dwelled in the core of what Robin was. Suddenly, an alarm went off signaling that the door to Raven's cell had been open. Slade gritted his teeth and couldn't help but wear a look of shock on his face when he saw that though it did not last long. Eventually his face turned into a small smirk.
"I don't know how you found my caged bird Robin but I must say I am impressed. I really should have learned not to underestimate you but it seems once again I have. This does complicate things considerably but as always, I am prepared even for this remote possibility. I'm sure you'll be quite surprised by what you'll find when you walk out of that cell with your little bird. Time for a rough first live test of my intended experiment." Slade pushed a few buttons and sat back in his seat with a confidant smile on his face.
Richard slowly walked out of the cell with Raven tightly in his arms. Her body felt cold and couldn't seem to stop trembling. Richard knew that Raven was durable, had a strong constitution and incredible healing abilities but he wondered if everything simply had been too much for her and that maybe she was sick. He didn't know much about her half-demon body to even know if she could get sick. He couldn't remember a single instance when the Titans were still together of her falling ill but the last days had been incredibly hard on her. He just didn't know. As he entered into the dim hallway, a nearby light bulb, finally gave in to its old age and exploded near Richard's head. Richard instantly turned his face away from the debris that erupted out and only felt a few small shards bounce harmlessly off of the back of his head. He had instinctively held Raven tighter to his body when the bulb went, shielding her as best as he could. A cloud of dust from the explosion found its way to Richard's face and he coughed due to it, unaware that Slade had once again found a way to unknowingly infiltrate his nervous system. As his lungs finally settled down, he felt a set of eyes on him. He looked down and found Raven looking up at him with soft eyes and he couldn't help but give her a reassuring smile. She slowly closed her eyes and gently shifted her body into a more comfortable position in Richard's arms. Richard once again started walking toward the exit as fast as he could, intent on getting to a safe house he had in the city, his best hope to hide out and give Raven time to heal though he couldn't get that chilling voice out of his head.
evilsangle: Yeah I'm updating as fast as I can but the job is taking more out of me than anticipated so I do hope the updates are coming quick enough for ya.
xcloudx: Thanks for the reviews from both the last two chapters. Nice to hear kind words every now and then.
Tecna: Thanks for everything you said. A good ole thesaurus always comes in handy when running out of words or in my case on occasions, making up words that sound real. It works for so many instances. Well Im rambling so Ill just say thanks again.
Cherry Jade: Don't worry about it. If ya don't have time, I completely understand. Just don't stress yourself out too much about school. Remember, the first month is optional. Hope you enjoy the chapter. Peace.
zadeon: It really didn't matter what you said. Everything I've written was pretty much planned for months ago. Lets just hope the story keeps up to acceptable standards of quality.
First Commander Miari: Yeah he got lucky finding that thing but I'm sure somehow things will still go bad. I'm sure this chapter helps point to where I'm going. Always trying to get a little bit darker I guess. Well thats it. Peace out Miari.
DeathsLastBreath: I'm just glad your enjoying the story as much as you are and hope it keeps meeting your expectations of what your looking for in a good story. Enjoy the chapter and the next one should be up soon.
