Ghosts of the Past
Alexnandru Van Gordon
Alex: Hello people. Just a quick note—someone will die in this story. Actually…I don't know what story so far in this story I haven't killed someone. I think maybe the second one…
Victor: Second note—Kyle starts this chapter. We need to explain something first and through him you will kinda get the idea of what will happen to Robin. I think that's the only reason Alex created him…
Alex: Yep—a test subject.
DISCLAIMER: We should all know the answer to this by now.
CHAPTER SEVEN: Hate lasts longer
—"Of all the things in human nature, hate lasts the longest…"—, -prefers to remain anonymous-
---
He actually didn't do it out of his own free will. He didn't just sit down and think to himself—hey, I want the rest of my family dead—and while I'm at it, I'll kill a few strangers along the way. Would you think something of the sort?...Don't answer that…
"Hey…who are you?" He asked, standing outside the church. The service for Joyce and Jacob was going on inside and all the guests were paying their deepest condolences before it was time to move the corpses over to the graveyard. He didn't want to see his sister's burnt face which was covered up with a shroud, but he had to admit the morgue did a good job with hiding the bullet hole in Jacob's head. Even the priest had a hard time looking at the two murdered victims.
"I take it you're Mr.…Johnson? The youngest?"
"Second youngest." He muttered. Vincent was a few minutes younger than Kyle and he was somewhere in the states right now. Heck—Kyle wanted to go too, wanted to kill whoever got Joyce into such a situation, but what could he do anyway…
"So…your sister is…" The British man nodded his head at the door, a melancholy look striking his face.
"You can't miss her." Kyle replied softly. "She's the one in the coffin."
"Oh…Well then. I guess that means your parents are in there too?"
"No—they're on vacation. What do you think?"
"Well, one would suppose it would create too much of an emotional strain on either of them. I know my father couldn't stay long at my mother's funeral, I simply thought maybe only one of your parents was hosting the service."
He bit his tongue for sounding so rude, and nodded meekly. "No…they're both in there…Why do you ask, and how come you're here. You don't look like anyone we know."
"It's all a matter of revenge."
Revenge? What the heck was he talking about. Was he—
"And…experimentation…" The man tossed something from his pocket and Kyle didn't stick around to see what it did. Right then he ran into the church but something caught him on the back of his head. He was knocked out before whatever happened after happened…
And when he woke gasping for air he would forget whatever it was that happened, angry again at everything and nothing for no apparent reason. Back hurting, he would stretch out and wait in the darkness of the small room he occupied until Wintergreen or someone else came to tell him his next job. He had been finding it increasingly bothersome to stay transformed for such long periods of time, and his energy level had dropped dramatically soon after he started his charade as his older sister. He had been warned—continuing to do so could end in death, but it didn't look like he was going to get much of a break. No…Slade wanted everything to get done now…
There was a knock on the door and Wintergreen entered. Straight backed, he gave Kyle a good look-over before the boy stood to face his elder. "You look…tired…"
Kyle, trying to keep his eyes, grinned slightly and straightened his own back. "I'm…fine…"
"Very well…" Wintergreen knew better than to believe him, but kept his mouth shut about the matter. " I do so believe Miss HW I called for now."
"Got it…" He took the electric gloves up from the desk by the door and slipped them onto his hands…but not before he felt for the chain around his neck with HW's charm on it. Mind drifting to Vincent, he stopped Wintergreen before the man left. "And…how is my brother."
Wintergreen gave a small shrug. "Cat's got his tongue, and I doubt he will live much longer. It doesn't matter anyway—I doubt he can think straight enough to tell us anything important."
Stubborn kid…
Kyle's image shifted and he hid all the dark features on his face with a bright smile which softened into a smirk. At least with the Boy Wonder locked up in the room next to his, Kyle wouldn't have to be secretive anymore.
-R-
He sat on the edge of the bed, staring straight ahead at the far wall…thinking… He had a million things to do—escape, warn the Titans, take down Slade, stop this Kyle before he created massive insanity, and somehow complete all of it without Bruce learning a thing. When people thought Robin was insane once that got him in a load's worth of trouble—he could only imagine what would happen if Bruce found out again. He wouldn't be in Jump City for long…then again, if he failed entirely then it wouldn't really matter anyway. Slade was a quick one…
Still stuck in the straitjacket, he tugged at the sleeves to pull his arms apart just for the heck of it and was met with the same old resistance. It was on so tight too, his shoulders were starting to hurt. He was guessing Slade preferred to keep him immobilized like this rather than typing him up seeing that even boy Wonder was failing to escape it. Too many buckles and too many straps holding his arms perfectly crossed over his chest. His only hope was that someone else took it off soon for him…
Curse the asylum.
Lying back on the bed, he switched to staring at the ceiling. Something would come across his mind…sooner or later…
-RX-
What did they mean—gone? As in, escaped gone or mysteriously missing gone? "Gone" wasn't a detailed answer—it was friggin—
"How?" …And how come Starfire was taking it better than anyone else?
"The camera recorded an unregistered doctor entering the room an hour before we came with Robin's medication. There was no way he could have left—it was just empty!"
Red-X stared daggers at the psychiatrist from behind his mask, but the man must have felt the death-glare all the same. He eyed X nervously and made sure to stay five feet or more away from him with one of the Titans between the two at all times.
"You probably missed something!" X hissed, fighting the urge to hit something. Robin was the one with the plan—and he needed the suit. What good was Red-X in Jump City if he didn't know what Robin wanted him to do?
"You can check for yourself." The man answered meekly. The other Titans exchanged worried glances, but all the doctor could do was shrug helplessly. "No holes—nothing! There's no possible way he could have slipped outside until he was invisible."
Red-X suddenly wished Vincent was there. X and the Titans decided to let him sleep in peace in the tower since he was still a rookie, but he could have gone through the walls and floor to check for catches or something…
But Vincent looked really tired last night…
He didn't wait any longer. Spinning around, he stormed from the office in the general direction of Robin's empty cell. Raven was hot on his heels; the other Titans close behind as she closed in on him.
"What do you expect to find?" She asked, finally levitating when she realized his strides were too wide for her to match. "We've checked it already before you came."
"I don't know—something—anything! Anything would be better than nothing."
"You're taking this too rashly. Just take a moment to—"
He turned the next corner briskly and cut her off with the wall. "Later!" He shouted and headed toward the third door down the hall. Grabbing the lock, he twisted it and turned the knob, pushing it open—
…Well…this was certainly not expected.
HW, sitting crossed legged on the bed, a hand on her upper knee, gave a small salute with her free hand and smirked slightly. "Hey there, Captain. I haven't seen much of you lately…"
Raven ran into him from behind, confused as to why he suddenly halted until she saw who he was looking at. Starfire was the next to see and Red-X finally stumbled further inside when Beast Boy ran into the group.
HW's mask suggested a raised eye-brow as she looked over them—they doing the same in turn. Shock prevented both the Titans and the renowned thief from speaking. "Wow…remind me never to die a second time." She muttered, finally uncrossing her legs and standing. "You look like hell froze over."
"Dude…" Beast Boy breathed, no one stopping him from a witty remark this time. "You're…alive…"
She raised a finger and shrugged her shoulder to adjust the thigh-long cape hanging over her shoulders. "Now—that wouldn't exactly be correct. I'm as dead as dead can be….I just happen to be back for a little recap of my life."
Starfire looked as though she didn't know whether to be happy or horrified. Red-X didn't know what to think either—this girl was…dead…This shouldn't be happening! It's was impossible.
"Recap your life?" Cyborg inquired. "Why?"
She grinned…something Red-X didn't feel too good about. Starfire seemed a little at ease as did the others…but his intuition was telling him otherwise.
"Perhaps I'll explain that another time if I ever get the chance, Titans." Her head turned toward Red-X and confusion spread across the teenagers, a hand extended toward him as if offering help. "It's you that I need to see."
He would have asked why—he would have actually preferred to take up a fighting stance to prepare for tricks, but she was a little too quick. Electricity danced from her fingers and encircled his body, pain like he had never felt before spreading through-out every limb and digit. He thought he was screaming…but he could hear nothing besides the cackle of the lightning and the drumming of the blood rushing to his ears. And then it was over…almost as soon as it had begun.
Raven was the first to act when the attack came, a chant bleeding from her lips. But on the final word the same fate befell her as HW extended her free hand, the other now aimed toward Cyborg. The two Titans were sent flying back, Raven into the hall and Cyborg into the far wall while Starfire and BB took up a defensive position before the new-found enemy. Each appeared unsure…knowing the girl better than the other two.
"Friend H and W…why?" Starfire gasped, eyes watering as her hands glowed.
"Sorry, miss—but I have work to do and I doubt X over here isn't going to come easy."
As true as that sounded, he honestly doubted that he'd be moving much lately. Lying on his stomach on the ground near her feet, he pushed up on a hand and looked up at her. Masked eyes stared down at him as the girl smiled, hands cackling with electricity.
"Let's end this quick—shall we?" HW suggested.
BB's eyes went wide and he took a step forward. "HW—we don't want to hurt y—"
The girl wasn't listening. Her entire body was covered with lightning, spreading it out through the room and into the hall. Red-X felt the dying pain a second time—and this time longer—before it all ended and Starfire collapsed to the floor unconscious, BB barely able to stay up on one knee.
But apparently HW wasn't doing too good either.
She fell to a knee, a hand on the bed behind her to prevent from falling entirely to the floor. Eyes closed, her breathes were heavy and quick, a pale look to her face as she pushed up to stand once more.
So…she wasn't as dead as they thought.
"Whoa…" A hand raised to her forehead, she almost fell from a dizzy spin but somehow kept her balance. "I'm not trying that again any time soon…Now…as for you…"
But when she looked down…no one was there.
-K-
Kyle cursed under his breath. Under the guise of his older sister, he looked around eth room for the thief, but found nothing. The others lie moaning and trying to move—and that left little time to catch the brat and run before he was met with a real challenge. He was lucky this time, catching them off guard in a small space, but the moment the aftershock wore off he'd be in one hell of a bad situation.
Stepping over Starfire, he ran into the hall and searched both ways. Just as he suspected, X had used his belt to turn invisible and run to get help. Unfortunately for him, he decided not to keep invisible for long as he reached the corner and suddenly appeared out of thin air.
Smirking, he followed pursuit, a new idea formulating in his mind…
-RX-
He had to warn them—he had to get the police down there.
At least he knew one thing—Robin wasn't insane.
Returning to normal, he stumbled down the hall fully visible as he turned the corner. Maybe if he pulled the fire-alarm someone else would come and catch that witch off guard…whoever she was. It couldn't be HW—HW was dead…
In as much pain as he was, he didn't appreciate the and that shot up from the floor and grabbed his ankle, tripping him as he tried to catch his balance. Hitting the ground on his left side, he rolled onto his back and prepared to kick his attack when he saw Vincent pushing his way up from the floor.
"Jeez, where's the fire?" The kid muttered softly, not one to be rude. "Sorry I'm late."
"Your sister…" Red-X gasped, finding it hard to breath. "Robin wasn't…insane…"
"What?" Vincent froze…and finished pulling himself from the floor, knelling beside Red-X as he slowly lost consciousness. "What about her?"
"She's…"
She's either really back from the dead or someone was impersonating her rather well. That' exactly what he wanted to say, but a black veil came over his eyes and he fell into the blank cold of his subconscious world. Maybe he could explain it better when he woke up from his black out…
-A-
Alex: Short…and late. I know—please don't kill me. I've been sick lately.
Victor: We'll see you guys later.
Until Again,
Alexnandru Van Gordon
And
Victor Van Heiring