Ghosts of the Past

Alexnandru Van Gordon

Alex: Hahahaha! I got a sore throat so I'm really stuck at home no matter what I do. Victor ended up getting it too, so he decided to swing down at my place and sleep on the couch! Hahahaha! He's really angry at me now.

Victor: Got that right. OH—AND IS ANYONE ELSE HERE CONFUSED AS TO THE HW IS IN THIS STORY? I want some answers, but Alex won't spill.

Alex: That's because you already know who it is. Go reread my last chapter to Pieces of the Puzzle and you'll find out how it can't be HW. But you know who this mystery person is—you just have to think hard enough about it.

Victor: Hmmm…Can I have your notebook? I want to reread it…

Alex: O.o? Ummm….it's not that important to know. I'll be revealing the truth soon anyhow.

Victor: But still—AHHHHHH! I know who it is! It's—

Alex: (Covers his mouth) Whisper the answer in my ear….Yep—you're right.

Victor: Hurry people—it's so simple that—

SMACK!

Alex: SHHH! They're smart people! They don't need your bickering! Anyways…one of my small OCs is coming into the picture. His purpose is to reveal the mysterious person through his own misfortune.

Victor: You're going to torture another OC? What's wrong with you?

Alex: Read the genre this is in. One of them is ANGST.

DISCLAIMER: Can't, don't and won't ever own them.

CHAPTER FOUR: NOT insane

Red-X was still a little uneasy to enter the T-tower through the front door. He really wanted to sneak in and give them the scare of their life, but he was still on the neutral list of allies and enemies. As long as he was hush-hush about his thieving business now, if he was ever caught again his years in prison would drop to a minimum.

Okay—so there were advantages to being a hero. It didn't mean he'd have to like it…

Standing beside him in front of the door was a small boy of about thirteen. Short blond hair, blue eyes, a thin enough figure to be Robin's size—X thought he was German or Austrian the first time he saw him. The boy never did tell him—he never said a word. He was smart and made a decent fighter, but he was shy to the bone, and he was all about listening to everything you told him. Reminded him of a beaten puppy—one that took a lick'n and persisted on coming back loyally to the master until he was killed.

Adapting the powers of his older sister, Vincent electrocuted himself on the odd days. It made X uneasy to train him at first, but the boy was a quick learner and stayed clear of people when he knew he was storing too much energy. And along with that, being the twin to a boy with the power of selective intangibility—to phase through things of your choice, with the ability to take things with you—he adapted that too. His weakness there was that sometimes he accidentally phased through things if he was scared, and his powers kept him from phasing through people of his blood. That was probably the only way his parents could ever catch the twins.

"Would you mind sneaking in and opening the door." X grumbled, upset at being called down and then ending up locked outside. "Looks like they forgot I was visiting."

Vincent, with a worried frown always on his face, shook his head slowly. Voice barely audible, he gave an honest answer. "That's breaking and entering. I can't do that…"

"They know we're here." X sighed, pointing to the T communicator in his hand. "I tried calling them twice already and no one will answer. What if they're dying in there and can't call for help?"

The guilt trick—it always worked on the kid. And maybe he was so shy and scared because he ended up staying with Batman for two months. Even X had to admit it—there was no way he wanted to get caught by that guy when doing something wrong. He was like a really really mean drill sergeant, someone that only a person like Robin could handle…Hmmm…Hey—Robin did live with the guy at one point in his life. Maybe that was why the kid was such a tough guy…

Vincent sighed in his own defeat and grabbed X's hand. Stepping forward, he walked through the door like it was all a hologram, standing inside the main entrance to the tower in an instant.

X laughed. "I doubt their in trouble though."

"I guessed as much."

X shrugged. The kid was on to his game—had been that way for a while, but he still chose to listen because…it was the right thing to do?

Walking through the tower, X decided to wait in the main room until the Titans returned. The sooner he found Robin, the sooner he could figure out what the kid's plan was. Why did he need the belt now—why not earlier? Did he just recently come across a plan that would keep Slade under wraps, or would keep him killed for good?

Now X was really getting impatient.

Not too soon, the Titans returned, Starfire 'EEK-ing' when she saw Red-X standing in the living room by the couch. It took her a while to remember that he was on their side…for now, anyway…

"Why are you here?" Beast Boy blurted out, his eyes slowly shifting to Vincent—who he waved to with a happy smile, remembering the boy from when he and his family came to pick up Joyce's body.

"Robin called me one day." He replied, sounding warped with the help of the mask's built-in voice-box. "He said he needed the belt that I have—but I'm going to use it for him. Speaking of which…where is he?"

"He is at the house of happy people." Starfire lowered her gaze to the floor. "But I doubt that any of them are truly happy—least of all Robin."

"Huh?" He tried to understand what she was talking about. The house of happy people? Oh—"You mean you sent him to an asylum?"

A slow nod.

What the heck! Why on earth would they send their leader to an asylum—and why now? He wasn't cracking because of the pressure to capture Slade again…was he? Although that seemed logical, Robin was stronger than that. He'd need a certain 'dust' to hallucinate that badly…

"He keeps seeing HW." Cyborg explained, taking a seat at the island counter. "He keep ranting on and on that he saw her and that she talked to him. We had to lock him up for a while—everything finally took a toll on him…"

Red-X clenched and un-clenched his fists—this was ludicrous! But…it made a lot of sense when they put it that way. It wasn't that he thought the guy was good and all…but not even Robin deserved something like that to happen to him. After fighting Slade for so long, it was no wonder they began to worry. Seeing how incredibly similar Robin was to Slade, who wouldn't worry when the Boy Wonder slowly became as insane as the madman? One Slade was enough, but another person just like him…that was going to be hell on earth.

"I still need to see him." Red-X snapped, upset beyond belief now that everything was going backwards. "Where exactly is he?"

"Jump City Asylum." Raven spoke up, standing in the shadows at the far corner of the room. She was probably trying to control her own fury. "But you won't be able to see him until tomorrow—and even then you'd need to call in and make an appointment."

"I'll just teleport it—"

"NO!" They cried in unison. Taking a startled step back, he walked into Vincent who looked just as worried.

"Okay…and why not?"

"That place is a heck of a lot safer than you think." Cyborg muttered, none of them exactly angry at X. "The moment you step inside, you're belt won't work anymore. They have special technology that will only work there and that mean's they'll probably arrest you the instant you get inside. As much as I don't like saying this—we're going to need you." He paused, staring toward the window which looked out across their beloved city. "As soon as we can see Robin again, we promise to take you with us."

He wanted to argue that he could use Vincent to get inside, but the boy would protest against that. There was nothing Red-X could do but wait it out until the storm was through and then pop in to say hi to Robin. As much as X hated obeying rules, now was one of the few times he would have to—no matter how much he hated it.

Suddenly he regretted ever stealing Robin's Red-X suit. Since then, it had caused him nothing but trouble…

-R-

He was running in the dark and he couldn't stop himself. It was misty and it was cold—and he had no idea what he was running from in the first place. It was just a silhouette when he glanced over his shoulder, and he would see nothing more unless it came closer. But he didn't want it closer. He wanted to put as much distance as he most possibly could between him and…it. He didn't even know if it was human.

Continuing to run, he finally saw and opening in the mist and headed for that, his leg muscles pumping as hard as they could to keep away from his pursuer. Then he came to the clearing—falling over the edge of the cliff and falling until—

He woke with a start and sat up in the bed. He was no long restrained down like he used to be when he thrashed about in his sleep, but after a while of acting less…hostile—or so they put it—toward the workers at the asylum, they had deemed him as a healing soul. He still had the infamous straitjacket on as he slept, but they usually took that off him when he awake. It was to keep him from devising plans for escape when no one was watching him in the dead of night. Sure, there was the guard that walked along the halls to make sure all was well, but no one was monitoring him with a camera. Luckily, they respected a hero enough to give him privacy.

Speaking of which, he could hear the clank of the guard's shoes against the polished floor as he headed down Robin's hall. Sometimes, if Robin was awake, he'd stop to talk to the boy. Robin already knew he had a daughter and a son who were great fans of the Titans, and that the girl even took up gymnastic because she loved the flips Robin could do. The guard hadn't told his kids that Robin was in an asylum, and for that he was grateful. At least the people were keeping his insanity a secret.

Who wanted a crazy hero protecting their city anyway?

Kicking his feet out from under the quilt, Robin sat on the side of his bed and watched the tiny barred window on the door for the guard to stop. Sure enough, he did…and a key was fit into the lock…

Robin arched an eyebrow behind his mask, wondering what was going on. Frank never came inside—it was against protocol. Even if Frank believed Robin wasn't crazy, he would stay on the other side of the door like he was ordered to so he wouldn't lose his job. Why on earth would he…

There was a sharp click and Robin stood, facing the door with a frown on his face. He hoped this wasn't a late night visit from the doctor, because—

No…

Robin took a step back and tried to think straight. It couldn't be—there was no way in the world that…It…This wasn't real! This was just another nightmare!

"Hey, kid—long time no see."

Jacob?...That was HW's cousin, the one that died from a bullet to the head. He couldn't be there and he couldn't be walking around like that if he was buried somewhere else in another country. He wasn't real…Robin saw HW's parents take his body with them too…everyone saw that happen…

"How…" Robin was lost for words, the same as he had been when he saw HW. "You can't be real!"

Jacob grinned, shaking his head with a small laugh. "Is that anyway to greet a villain? I thought you'd take up a fight stance and beat the hell out of me, but…" He eyed the straitjacket, the grin widening. "It looks like none of your hands are free. I love the jacket, though—it suits you so well."

Robin growled out an insult and closed his eyes while he thought. This just had to be all in his head…it had to be…

"Don't look so upset, kid. I was just checking in on the insane-o-meter. You know—making sure you knew if you were crazy or not. All in all, I think you're getting the help you need. Just tell me—are you in temporarily, or is this just your room until they send you to Arkham? I heard they let you keep the jacket when you go there…"

Robin had had enough. He tried a high kick toward the apparition—and went straight through it like it was nothing but thin air.

He really was hallucinating…

In defeat, Robin sat down on the bed and stared at the ground as the so-called Jacob stared at him. There was nothing he could do now, but hope he got better and—

"Psst—Robin—WHAT!"

Robin jumped, unfamiliar to the new small voice, He spun around and looked at the far wall, Jacob looking startled as well. Half way through the wall stood Vincent—the boy Robin had seen in Gotham to pick up HW's body. The boy—despite the fact that he was perfectly sane—was staring straight at Jacob, eyes wide.

"Jacob?" The boy gasped, his voice so low that Robin barely heard it. Apparently, Robin wasn't insane… "What are you…You're dead!"

Robin could tell the boy was scared now. All of the sudden, out of the blue, Vincent's foot went through the floor until it reached his knee. He braced against the floor with his hands, muttering something about falling to the center of the earth—and yelped when the so-called Jacob dove toward him. The two went through the floor and were gone…

What…was that all about?

"Someone!" Robin called, kicking against the door with all his might. His right foot began to numb from the pain, but he ignored it. The other inmates began to stir, some of them naturally frightened. This aroused the alarm and the rest of the guards would be sent on their way to see what was wrong.

"SOMEONE!" He called out again, but then he began to worry…

What were the doctors going to think when they heard this story?

-A-

Alex: I'm sorry if this one was short, but I had to cut it here to make the next chapter more exciting. Now you know that Robin isn't insane and that someone is at work behind the scenes.

Victor: Are you going to kill Vincent?

Alex: Maybe.

Until Again,

Alexnandru Van Gordon