Allow Me to Live Like You
Alexnandru Van Gordon
Is it just me, or does it take forever for a story to get updated? Is it just because mine is getting pretty long…who knows? Oh—I'm exceptionally pleased with the amount of reviews I have received for this story. I though I'd be lucky to make it to thirty, but you guys are too kind. I just hope I can keep you guys happy.
Anyway, I have seemed to pick up a fanny feeling for Trigun—Vash the Stampeded rocks, and I'm watching the rest of all the episodes tomorrow. He's so kind, he's the type of person who is a true role model. If you guys like anime, I suggest you watch it—but it's so sad…curse you Legato and Knives…curse your insanity…
Well—back to the subject. Things will be unraveling from here on out and I just wanted to say…Warning: Yes, I know that you mature people reading this are tired of me saying this, but I only rated it PG-13—younger teenscan still read it and I just want them to make sure they still want to read it. I'm warning YOU that I figured out exactly how I'm going to end this and you may shiver when you read the finale of "Allow Me to Live Like You". If you've watched action and horror movies, than you shouldn't be surprised. I'm just saying that the "final solution" is kinda gory. It's no ones fault but your own if you continue on. My hands are clean…
DISLAIMER: Ha. Like I'm capable of creating something as good as that. Don't make me laugh.
CHAPTER ELEVEN: Waking up to a nightmare
Getting mistaken for a guy and kidnapped was one thing. Almost being beaten to death was another…but finding one's way out of this labyrinth…I'd like to call a friend, please…
HW shook her head, staring down one dark hall, then the other, and then the last…She heard of forks in a road—but this was ridiculous! It was one turn after another, running into a Slade-bot here and there with Starfire right behind her. She was feeling better and left with the jumpy alien to find a way out—but not before grabbing that knife. HW's intuition was going off like crazy, though she didn't like the idea of killing another human being regardless if they were good or evil. Starfire, on the other hand, had done the smart thing and snatched up a handful of those "wake-up" darts, pleasant little things HW was grateful for.
Where to now?
With no windows and a thousand doors, she had no idea where they were. Was this some sort of underground laboratory? That was her first guess, and she was going to stick to it.
Starfire sighed loudly and grabbed the doorknob of another door. "This one? The door is blue rather than brown, and a glow is emitting from the other side. Look—" And she pointed to the crack beneath the door.
What a smart girl. HW hadn't noticed that.
"Get ready…" HW whispered, hands cackling softly with electricity. Starfire's eyes began to glow an eerie green as she slowly turned the knob and…
—Slam! Zap!
Starfire went flying back into HW, the back of her head smashing into HW's nose. They both flew back and slammed into the opposite wall, falling to the ground in a miserable heap. HW already had a hand to her sore nose, trying to stop the blood flow.
What was really shocking was the electricity that cackled around them both before dying off. HW sure as heck hadn't done that.
"What in the name of Gotham—"
Laughter erupted from the room and the two girls froze. Looking up, they stared straight into the room, stunned by the man and the electric humanoid.
"Overload…" Starfire murmured.
"Riddler…" HW hissed.
"Well, well, well…what do we have here?" The Riddler stood at the end of the room, leaning idly with his hands on his question mark cane. Overload was in his giant form standing just beside him, a tangle of lightning bolts brought together to look like something of a man. But who knew what he really was?
"I fear we do not have the time for this." Starfire whispered, worriedly. "Time is not on our side."
"I know—I know…but we can't go yet with these two after us. We can take 'em on."
Starfire gave her a questioning look, but HW brushed it aside and helped her newfound friend to her feet. Frowning, they both entered the room cautiously.
"Aren't we a gutsy bunch?" The Riddler laughed, and then turned his head to Overload. "Shall I—or would you prefer to do the honours?"
Overload didn't answer with words. He shot a lightning bolt at Starfire in an instant—but she rolled away and glared at the humanoid with glowing eyes. Her eye rays darted toward Overload but he created a tear in his stomach just before impact. The shot missed him and created a large burn mark on the wall.
"You take on the man." HW told her, helping her once more to her feet. "Let's let fire play with fire."
"But are you not both beings of electricity?" She asked innocently. The question brought laughter to the Riddler but HW simply shook her head with a slight blush.
"It's a cliché."
"Oh…"
Enough.
Winking to Starfire, HW dashed toward Overload as the alien girl soared over toward the Riddler. He swung his cane at her but she darted back quickly, hands and eyes glowing. Once more she released her powers in a straight beam toward her opponent, but again she was defied a quick victory. The man spun his cane and whipped away the starbolts, staff smoking once she stopped. He almost dropped it but blew on it instead, keeping his stance.
Meanwhile, HW was doing all she could to avoid the lightning strikes sent at her by the "Overload". He dodged her own shots with ease and they seemed to be at a stale mate. How exactly were they supposed to destroy a regenerate form of energy? When lightning collided with lightning, nothing happened but a flare of a brighter light and maybe a small explosion or two. Their powers kept connecting.
HW spared a glance at Starfire, just as she herself was knocked back by one of Overload's attacks. The alien girl kept shooting her starbolts, and the man kept whipping them away, attacking with a kick or a swing of his cane. They seemed to be getting nowhere, and wouldn't unless—
"Watch out for his—Ooooooh…." HW cringed as Starfire was struck in the side of the head by the cane. She flew backwards—and so did HW for her lack of monitoring her own opponent. They landed side-by-side, dizzy.
"Any ideas, friend HW?"
She—even surprising herself—nodded. "Just one."
"What is it?"
"You might want to move."
Starfire listened without question and soared back toward the Riddler with a small battle cry. She was determined not to lose.
HW started to laugh, and pointed a finger at Overload. "A Duracell battery has more juice than you do! I bet you couldn't electrocute a fly!"
The electric humanoid released a roar of fury and appeared almost to grow larger in his state, cackling more and striking randomly at the ground by the little bolts radiating off him. He stormed a few steps toward HW before raising his hands and roaring again, preparing to strike with all he had.
HW smiled, and released the flow of her own power throughout her body. It tingled and she allowed a very small amount to flow out through her skin all over her body into the air. She needed to be opened for this.
"Bring it on." She smirked, and Overload attacked.
-Ra-
She woke with a splitting headache to the same horrible scent in the air. Except this time she could handle it, no more unexpected waves of hating emotions to drive her crazy. Her powers were once more under wraps and that was all she wanted momentarily.
Cyborg was suddenly leaning over her, covered form head to toe with what looked like purple goop from…Plasmus? Since when did he get to Gotham.
Since Slade decided to mess everything up.
She sta up and rubbed her head, the sounds of battle cries and gloopy splatters sounding in the background. She gazed around Cyborg briefly and saw both the Green Lantern and Superman taking down what looked like Plasmus. He was in too much of a ruined state to be winning.
"Hey, Raven. What was with the fainting trick?"
She rubbed her head where a nasty bruise was forming. Oh well, she could stand it, but that had been a stupid stunt.
"It's something in the air." She whispered, still dizzy.
He grinned. "That must I guess. It seems everyone is in a bad mood."
"Slade?"
"Without a doubt."
Without a doubt indeed. Who else would come up with the crazy idea to unite all the villains of America—and then who knew how many after that? He had to be behind the gas too. After what Cyborg had told her of Grayson's story, Slade brought emotion-controlling chemicals with him into their time and dimension. If her Slade shot him out of betrayal, there was no doubt he was using his invention to his own advantage. And what a weapon it was…
"We have to find them—Beast Boy and Robin—"
"No one can track them, Raven." He regretted to say. "But the JL received a message a short while ago that Batman had volunteered to look for them. His communicator's signal is weak, but he's in a part of time where crime is low—not quite the style for a crime-fighting-a-holic. I traced his signal on my own communicator and I believe he's found them."
"Them as in—Robin and BB, or them ad in—Robin, BB, and someone we hate…?"
Cyborg grinned again, standing and helping her up. "Exactly."
"Then what are we waiting for?"
-B-
He wasn't surprised when he woke groggily with a splitting headache—it wouldn't be a first timer. Limbs as heavy as lead and doubled vision, he waited until he could hear again until he attempted to move. Even then, he only moved his head, and that was to get a better view of the other captives.
They were in a small dark room, a little eerie moonlight streaming in through the tiny barred window—proving they weren't (I'm just saying this to tell you) underground. All he could see were their shadows until his eyes adjusted to the light, and even then he wouldn't have been able to notice them unless they were struggling.
Red-X and Beast Boy sat up against the wall while he was stuck lying on his side. Red-X was working on his wrists with one of his X's—which broke and he had to drop to grab a new one. And Beast Boy was…unconscious. Why wouldn't he be? He could transform into just about anything and burst out of the room. Why risk it?
He himself was bond at the wrists (behind his back) and ankles, also tied around his knees and, quite painfully, his elbows to make sure he didn't try to grab anything. And although his position on his hip was uncomfortable, he laughed—a rare thing, mind you. He never laughed unless with family—not even at the Joker's jokes.
The conscious hero/thief paused and stared at him. Though he couldn't read X's expression, he could sense he was confused.
"Something I missed?" Red-X asked, continuing on the ropes.
He slowly stopped and sighed. It was just odd…a bunch of kids fighting a mastermind criminal who even the adults failed to kill. And what's more—he wanted one of the kids. His revenge wasn't aimed originally at the adults—it was aimed at the kids.
Why did he keep thinking of them as kids? True, they were youths at the time, but they were heroes—plain heroes and heroines, and that's all that really mattered. That's all they had been trying to prove to the stubborn elders of the day. Why hadn't he seen that before?
Robin…a thousand times over, he apologized to Robin. Such doubt…such disrespect…and he still remembered the day he almost lost his son forever.
It was a the Joker's old saying about dancing with the devil on a pale moonlit night. It annoyed him, especially since that was the last thing he told Bruce before he shot his parents. How dare he bring up such a dreadful memory—how dare he remind him he had no family!
Well, that wasn't entirely true. He still had Robin, which reminded him…
The boy tugged on his cape—probably wanting to know what the letter said. Sometimes he could be so nosy, but that was cute. Oh well, he already knew the hateful story between Batman and the Joker. The letter didn't really have anything inappropriate in it anyway…
He turned around and only hated the Joker even more.
He shivered mentally from the memory. That was so close…so damn close…the only family—aside from Alfred—he had was about to leave him forever. It was one thing not being able to settle down and have kids on his own, and another to have lost his blood family when he was so young, but Robin…Not only was Robin understanding of his situation—having experienced it himself—he was another listener and keeper of his true identity of Batman, and a helping hand who wanted to be something like him when he grew up. There was no one else like him.
He would forever be sorry.
"Where's Robin?" He asked, being unconscious since he saw Deathstroke. He had no idea where he had been taken.
Red-X sighed, having broken another X, and stared at Batman. "Ummm…I think he's in the room next to ours. I work up when I heard them arguing. He was thrown in there a while ago—but he's been quiet since then. I think Slade gave him a dosage of that little serum he keeps duplicating."
That snake…why couldn't he have stayed dead.
True, heroes didn't kill if it could be avoided, but he had to. No batarangs all other weapons destroyed, how else was he supposed to stop Deathstroke—Slade from pushing the button from such a distance. All he saw was the unconscious police officer lying on the ground next to him and a gun… Slade's finger was on the button. No one condemned him for what he had done. Sometimes you just had to fight fire with fire…
"Any plans?" Red-X asked, yet another X breaking. He growled and shot another one from his wrist, continuing uselessly to cut the strange rope.
"Maybe…"
-R-
Pain was a single word…His headache? What words could possibly describe that? It felt like someone hit him in the head with a sledgehammer. Who was he? Where was he? Why was it so dark?
He sat with his back against the wall, head hung forward as though he were a puppet. H e forced himself to lift his head, briefly blinded by the magnificent glow of the full moon outside the barred window. It streamed inside in one long, thick beam, falling on his beaten figure. Had he gotten into a fight? What was he wearing?
Then it all came back to him.
He stared at the uniform with disgust, half of his chest orange, and the other half black. He had changed himself, but after he did he argued with Slade further. That man…he had lost his temper—but not before Robin did. He attacked the moment Slade had stepped too far and that ended consciousness for the time being. He vaguely remembered being carried into here and put safely on the ground before his captor left, saying, "Perfect…"
That made him frown, made him sick to his stomach. The man knew no boundaries, planned to break each law and bend each rule only to satisfy himself and his desires from this innocent world. Well, the world really wasn't all that innocent, but there were still people who were. The majority was never the same as the minority. They were two opposites—therefore the actions if one should not be the data from which a person judged the other. Even though one might appear like the other from an angle…
Just like not all people who were alike were destined to join together…no matter how similar they might be…
He brought up his knees slightly to sit up straighter with his back against the wall, placing his hands on the floor on either side of him to push up. He cracked his next to one side and them the other, his body aching all over. Then he just lay there, uncertain of what he was supposed to do in a state as weak as the one he was in. There really wasn't much he could do until someone came in through that door…and he only knew of one person who would come.
He hated Slade so much…tonight really took first place. But he had to give the man credit—yes, indeed! He earned it, after all. First, he set up one night entirely to prove to the Titans that Robin was capable of going full out insane, and then he strikes again when he's alone. When he finally gets Robin and loses him—he kidnaps his dearest friend and destroys all evidence just to make him look crazier. After he is taken away and tied up because he is believed to be a dangerous psychopath—then the fun begins! He threatens him while he's tied done and kidnaps even more of his friends. Then he gets kidnapped—and the JL and Speedy probably had no idea about this—and what of Raven and Cyborg? Was there anyone who could possibly save them. Robin was weak now—and Slade was sure as heck going to keep him that way. He was under his thumb, bent now to do whatever evil deeds Slade had planned for them.
He cursed under his breath, something he didn't usually do. Oh, what he would give to see Starfire again. During the day, while he watched HW's sour face as her hair was caught, he told her about Starfire. He told HW that he loved the alien…And why did he do that? For some reason, right then, he imagined never seeing her again, never laughing with her again, never getting lost in her eyes again. He had never voiced this feeling to her—even though he knew she loved him in return. He was just scared…scared he would lose her if anyone else ever found out, scared she would grow too emotionally attached to him.
He had known it from day one—one day he would lose and never see her again, and that was probably now. By the time the sun rose she would be dead like Slade explained. Unless…unless, he had already killed her…
Robin fought back the tears, keeping his expression as serious as possible. He knew Slade would return to attempt to persuade Robin yet again, but maybe it would work…or maybe he could hold out for a little longer. There were so many doubts running through his heads, so many questions that had to deal with Slade possibly being right. But it had to be something in that dart…it had to be.
There were two reasons why he was scared. One was his fear that his change of thought was not because of any chemical or trick—just from sensible, and correct words. His second fear…who didn't know his second fear. Soon Slade would return with word of his blackmail and Robin would have to give in. He would be the only apprentice of Slade—Deathstroke the Terminator, and that was what he feared most…
He heard footsteps outside in the hall, and then the door was opened. He refused to look to his right where the door was located, just simply sat in silence, staring out the window at the full pale moon. What he would do to freeze this moment forever, to stay innocent and free one last time. But no. Now was his trial, condemnation, and execution. Except, it wasn't execution…it was imprisonment of the worst kind for the rest of his miserable life…
It was like waking up to a nightmare.
Goddamn you, Slade.
-A-
There you have it. I had a lot of "waking up" scenes because I just realized I KO'd the majority of my characters…Oops. Oh well.
I used this chapter to set up a couple of "need bees" for the end, so don't get angry if it was boring. Besides, it makes it sadder when the people think things over, especially the bad things. I'm sorry, but I just had to peek into Batman's mind and show you his change. I had to show you how much he really cared for Robin. And Robin? The peek into his mind was a major Angst. Doubt is such a powerful thing, and the cruelty of punishment is even worse. Like I said in the story, he has been tried, condemned, and soon to be punished. How…I don't know how you would say it…
I noticed that a lot of you guys have come up with a theory or two in the reviews. I'm impressed, but don't go to far with the "so-and-so" must be dead now, right? Why? Because I'm starting to consider using my ending mistake and creating a third stories to this series. Call me crazy, but I just went over it briefly in my mind and figured out who would do what to start the dilemma. He he he…it all really depends on whether or not you guys are tired of my and this series yet. Yes? No? I think I'll do the third one on separate link on though—unlike this time where I attached the two. Tell me what would be easier for you.
-Thumbs up
-Alexnandru Van Gordon