Ghosts of the Past
Alexnandru Van Gordon
Alex: Sorry for taking so long you guys. Victor and I have been screaming at each other for days on end and finally the head aches and the noise has just become too much. I'm moving and I don't think I'll be writing anymore…For those of you who think I'm being serious, I'm not. There's no way I'm going to stop writing, I'm not moving, and Victor and I just gave up. We made up on the whole bickering thing and now the show is back on the road.
Victor: yeah—so I take the blame for all delays on both this and the Not Again series which will, by the way, be coming to an end soon—as well as this one.
Alex: I'm serious about that.
Victor: I sabotaged his computer and he fixed that—he always does—but Word was locked (or something along the lines of that) and Alex had his lay-out for the end of the story in there. His other stories usually are just spur-of-the moment type things and his main two series have just been causing him so much…
Alex: Agony might be the word I'm searching for…But without further ado—I give you chapter twelve.
CHAPTER TWELVE: The plan…
He didn't know what to do once he began to attack. 'Just attack' was the first thing that came to mind, but something deep inside of him stirred and he didn't feel as up to the job as he thought he once. He had no idea if it was the fresh air that was giving him a headache or all the screaming from his former teammates—or the fact that Red-X (who came from 'where?" he just might add), but he was having second thoughts.
The others were pretty much taken out, including his once close friend the alien girl who didn't put up any fight after he stabbed her in the gut, but the former thief was just warming up. Robin was ready for a fight too—heck, he had a lot of anger to take out on X for stealing his suit—which, the mask in particular, was quite dangerous—but his adrenaline was just on low again. He had been ill for a while and after just about bleeding his former teammates to death, he had no idea where he'd fin the strength to fight the guy.
"As much as I'd like to beat you up and say it's justified." X muttered, voice warped by the mask. "I know this isn't the real you and that all of this can be changed. Them, on other hand…" He gazed over his shoulder at the groaning Titans slowly removing themselves from the ground. "Well…they're you're friends. They'll forgive you once we all sit down at the tower of yours and sort things through. Miss red-head cutie over there already has."
"Starfire…?" Something inside ached. It wasn't a small pain—although he wasn't sure of what it was in the first place—but it grew immensely and he found his eyes drifting over his shoulder at the fallen girl. She sat on the ground, back leaning against a tree trunk, with a hand pressed over her wound and her eyes pinned on Robin. There was grief in those eyes, but there was also hope…
"Umphfff!" He forgot—Red-X was a thief and always would be not matter what he did for or with society. Taking the side-kick the young man had to deliver was more painful than Robin thought. He went flying back further than where Starfire sat and collided with a few more trees. There was a loud snapping noise as the trunk of the fragile tree began to crack, but luckily the thing stayed in one piece above him.
Ow…
"He forgot—Red-X was a thief and always would be not matter what he did for or with society. Taking the side-kick the young man had to deliver was more painful than Robin thought. He went flying back further than where Starfire sat and collided with a few more trees. There was a loud snapping noise as the trunk of the fragile tree began to crack, but luckily the thing stayed in one piece above him.
Ow…
"You're tired—and so am I. So, let's just pack up and head to your tower before the black and orange robots show up to drag us down to hell again—what do you say?" Red made his way slowly through the trees toward the fallen figure, knelling beside him to look down at his face. "Are you going to pass out on your own or do I have to give you a little push in the right direction?"
Robin didn't answer. He faintly remember seeing the tree begin to lean their way, heard X swear, and then felt himself dragged across the grass into safety.
Then he passed out.
-S-
"Well…that was a failure if I ever saw one." Wintergreen frowned in discomfort and shifted his weight where he stood. Arms crossed and utterly annoyed, he continued. "Either way it would have ended less to our liking. To give him another dose would have only weakened his body more and to have waited would have only given his friends time to figure up some foolish rescue mission."
"It wouldn't have been this way if he—" Slade gestured furiously at the large screen. "—hadn't shown up. I was led on to believe he should have been dead by now…"
Wintergreen muttered a curse under his breath and turned toward the door. It was the child's fault—the boy was supposed to kill the thief before he could manage an escape or before someone could arrive to set him free. Either Kyle let him go or one of the chances happened—either way, if he wasn't dead already he'd soon wish he was…
-V-
Vincent couldn't remember that last time he slept without an interruption. As soon as he had seen Joyce he passed out and slept like the dead for who-knows-how-long, waking to the sound of someone storming down the hall. At first he thought it was X or someone else, but upon hearing the man cursing under his breath he knew it was Wintergreen again. He just hoped he wouldn't find him behind the crates…
The door was opened ajar and the light from the hallway cast a straight line into the dark room. Vincent shifted, just a little to see between two large crates between him and the view of the room, and froze as soon as the line of light grew in width. The silhouette of the old military man stood in the doorway for a while before stepping into the room, kneeling somewhere on the other side of the room. Curious—and as quiet as he could be—he shifted again to see better between the gap…
And nearly gagged.
There was his brother, as bloody and broken as he once was, dead against the wall. At least his eyes were closed where two streams of blood feel down his face from where the bullet blew a hole in his head. But why he looked exactly like Vincent didn't make mush sense to the boy at first…
Unless he died for his younger twin.
Tears swelled in his eyes.
And his breath caught in his throat when the older man paused and slowly gazed over at the crates. Slowly the man stood and began to walk in his direction…
'Please don't see me…' Vincent prayed. He closed his eyes and waited…
"Born a traitor, died a traitor…" Vincent felt the hand grip the front of his sweater tightly before he was lifted off his feet and held up into the air. Then he opened his eyes and stared down at the stoic face examining him. "Whether your brother is in heaven or hell for all the things he has done, I'm sure his soul would be in agony to know his death was in vain."
Vincent said nothing—he had no idea what to say. He was in the hands of the devil now and all that happened to him was up to the wind.
Wintergreen shook his head. "It's such a pity too. Your brother helped us a lot in his task to destroy his little brother and a perfectly good city."
"He's not…evil…" Vincent strained to say. "Not evil…like you…"
"But he was a killer." The man continued, grinning slightly. "Or at least he had the potential of one. He was going to kill you—he tortured you! He told us how to make sure you couldn't escape, and what an amazing discovery that was…" Wintergreen looked at Vincent's bloody sweater, then at his own strong hands which were wet from the sweater. "You can struggle, but you won't get free. You could have—you could have if he didn't betray you…"
"He betrayed you too."
"Because it was a cycle with him, just like how serial killers have the habit of killing and kleptomaniacs have the urge to steal—he betrays people. First you, then me, then you again—until he would finally get bored and try to rid his life of us. And your sister—did anyone tell you about your sister?"
Joyce…?
He didn't want to hear this.
"She was nothing but a traitor too, but at least she had the guts to kill someone. She put a gun to your cousin's head and blew his brains out with the pull of a trigger. Then she met a worse death—but I'm sure no one ever told you this. Everything was told to your parents and you were sent away before you could see her body at the funeral. Closed casket, of course. She was strangled, electrocuted and had her neck snapped in half which wouldn't be a pretty sight at the funeral if you can understand that much…"
Joyce…he never knew she killed someone. And Kyle…what was going on? Was everyone in his family damned with insanity?
He couldn't believe this.
…but he still did, despite his love for his family.
"But that's a story for another day." The older man said. "I don't like having to kill children and I have to admit you lucked out this time because I believe we're now in need for bait…"
-BB-
Gingerly placing the ice bag against the throbbing bump on the back of his head, Beast Boy sat back on the couch next to Robin's unconscious figure and sighed. "Dude…I'm so never getting this guy ticked off at me again. It's just not worth it…"
"It's also not worth having Slade around either." Raven muttered. She resorted to meditation for her healing and sat cross-legged in mid-air in the front of the room. "We can't lock him up, we can't cut him up, and we can't scare him away—"
"We're running out of ideas on how to get rid of him." Cyborg sat down next to BB, just returning from the sick bay where Starfire was resting. Side checked up on and wound stitched, she would be alright until they could call down a decent doctor. Until then they had to make up a plan and hope Slade wasn't going to attack them full force…"
Then Robin stirred, BB leaping into the air and landing on Cyborg's lap as he pointed a shaky finger at their leader. "I-it moved!"
"It has a gender." Raven corrected.
Red-X crouched down by the couch where Robin's head was resting and watched his face with mild interest as the Boy Wonder came too. At first the kid said nothing—and the sat up and stared at them all wildly.
"How did I get here—and why does my head hurt." He rubbed eth back of it and cracked his neck. "What hit me?"
"My foot."
He began to glare at the thief but memories came flooding back.
Starfire…
It was all his fault.
"Are you guys alright?" He asked, staring from member to member. "I didn't mean to do what I did—and where's Starfire? I have to make sure—"
"She's alright, man." Cyborg pushed BB off his lap. Then he shot Robin a grin. "And she asked that question way more times than you before I could knock her out with a sedative. You guys must share some mental connection."
BB shook his head. "Nah—that's Robin and Raven." –and stood off the floor when raven gave him a dirty look.
"Enough with reunions." X cut in. "We have a mad-man on the other side of town who isn't going to wait until you're all peachy before he throws fire our way. Any ideas, oh fearless leader?"
Beast Boy thought for sure Robin would shake his head with a heavy sigh and start to make one up anyway, but he was surprised to see the kid give an honest nod.
"Yes, actually. And I've been meaning to talk to you about it for a while. It isn't anything special…but it should work…"
His answer just about gave everyone in the room a heart attack. This, to say the least wasn't expected.
"But…Slade has the belt—and you told me you needed the suit!"
Robin shrugged. "Yeah, X, about that—what idiot puts all his toys in one utility belt? It's the mask I was worried about and now that I can see you still have it in one piece, I believe my plan just might still work…"
Wouldn't that be the eighth wonder of the world…
-A-
Alex: there you go—another chapter done, and I know it's short but Word keeps closing after an hour (which we just found out) and each time it does that it automatically deletes whatever I wrote. I have five minutes left until it does that again, so this one has to be short—DAMMIT! And I had so much to say this time…
Victor: PS, I'd really like to see an update from Shara Shima's IAFYDS, but Alex told me not to push. I know his sisters are bugging him about it too so yeah…if you haven't read her story yet then I hope you go over there right now and get to it—and tell her in a nice long reviews to update already.
Alex: we'll be seeing you guys around.
Until Again,
Alexnandru Van Gordon
And,
Victor Van Heiring
PS: IMPORTANT: (And this is something that really bugs me) Whoever it is that is sending me e-mail after e-mail after e-mail, in great detail, on the many ways you could kill me and my family just because you wanted to, it would be most appreciated if you'd stop. I don't take well to being threatened and I will go through hell if I have to in order to find out who you are and putting a stop to your nefarious way.
Thank you