Mind Trap

Chapter 9

Gar groaned as he slowly regained consciousness. Flickering light seemed to pound at his eyes through their lids, making the pounding in his head worsen. "You have finally awoken, Garfield. In a manner of speaking anyway."

Gar sat up and slowly opened his eyes. He was in a large room, sitting on a rough stone floor, surrounded by rough stone walls, the room seemed to have been carved out of it, the only light came from a small kerosene lantern that flickered from a small table. Next to the lantern was something that Gar couldn't quite make out, it was wrapped in cloth and smaller than the lantern next to it. His wrists were manacled, and chains connected them with bolts in the wall, tethering him to the wall. Trigon sat in a small wooden chair across the room, a gloating smile on his face. "Hey, Trigon. Long time no see. What's up?"

"What's up? You stole my daughter away, and lied to me."

"Yeah, I guess you're kinda peeved about that, huh?"

"Peeved? I am far beyond peeved." Despite Trigon's words, he seemed calm. "I am going to make you suffer for this outrage." Trigon stood and stepped to the side, pulling his chair with him, revealing Raven, unconscious and bound to the wall. She didn't seem to be harmed, she was probably knock out the same way that he was.

"Don't hurt her. Just let her go, and do whatever you want to me." Gar was surprised that he was able to keep his voice steady.

"She is my daughter. I can do whatever I please with her." As Trigon spoke he crossed the room to her, "If I will beat her," he lifted Raven by one arm, waking her up, "then I will beat her." and he sent a fist into her stomach, doubling her over and letting her fall to the ground. "Any questions?"

Gar let out a feral growl as he threw himself to the ends of his chains, snapping his arms behind him. "Leave her alone! Don't lay a finger on her, you bastard!"

"And here is the helpless love, unable to help her." Gar stepped back, letting his sore arms fall to his sides. "But not so helpless, are you? You can help her, Beastboy."

"What are you talking about?"

"You know what I mean. You can feel it, Garfield, Beastboy, you can feel something trying to get out, can't you? A beast insie of you. It wants to protect her." Pain ripped through Gar's head, driving him to his knees. "Almost there, but you still won't wake up."

Gar managed to return to his feet, "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I need Raven to perform a task. Currently, she can not. I think you may help her with it."

"I don't understand."

"I should have used the bird boy's love, he's so much smarter than you, he would already have awakened." He turned back to Raven's still prostrate form, "Of course then I wouldn't get to spend so much quality time with my dear daughter."

"Quality time, right."

"I'm afraid that I haven't much time, you're leaving my current sphere of influence."

"What?"

"As it stands, my power barely extends beyond Earth's atmosphere, I can feel myself growing weaker."

"What are you talking about?"

"Never mind." Trigon walked to the small table, briefly obscuring the light from the lantern. When he stepped back, Gar could see that he was holding the cloth wrapped package. He carefully pulled back the fabric and let it drop to the ground, revealing a large black revolver, "Do you know what this is?"

Gar's eyes widened as the full gravity of the situation settled on him, "Just let Raven go, please."

"She won't be walking out of here, and neither are you. Soon, I will be unable to act, so I must hurry you along." He turned, "Raven, stand up."

Raven shakily climbed to her feet, tears in her eyes. "Please..." She was cut off by the loud retort of the gun. Sparks erupted from the wall near her and a they could here the ping of metal ricocheting off the wall. Raven stood, a look of shock on her face in the ringing silence, until she realized that she was unharmed. To the left of her head, she could see a small crater in the stone.

"Silence, daughter." He turned back to Gar, "I am going to kill her, Garfield, unless you stop me."

Gar threw himself to the ends of his chains again, trying desperately to force the loose manacles off his sore hands. "If you hurt her again, I'll kill you!"

"I think not." He pulled back the hammer of the large revolver. "Time is almost up." He turned to Raven and another shot rang out. Raven jerked against the stone, crying out. She looked down, almost in disbelief at the hole in her shoulder. She clamped one hand over the bleeding wound that she still couldn't feel.

"Leave her alone!" Gar jerked hard against his bonds once again, but could not break them. A now familiar pain ripped through his head, but he managed to keep his feet this time.

"Wake up, Garfield. Wake up and you can save her." He aimed again and fired. This shot hit Raven in the stomach. She stood for a moment before falling to her knees, a thin stream of blood running from the corner of her mouth.

Beastboy let out a feral cry as the small chamber that he was in seemed to shrink. The walls buckled and a huge green gorilla fell out, landing on the metal deck of the ship. A clear, thick liquid poured off his fur as he stood, looking around at the panicking aliens that were running down the hall. A green hand shot out and snagged one, lifting up and pinning it to the wall as he returned to his normal form. "Where is she?"

The alien looked at him terrified, "Who? Who?"

"Raven." Before the alien could respond an alarm started going off. Gar looked back over his shoulder and saw Raven. She was suspended in a liquid filled tank. On a panel over her head a red light flashed on and off. "What does that mean?"

"She's dying."