A/N: Hello, hello again! Well, I was actually going to stave this chapter off a little longer, but seeing as I was close to threatened in some of my reviews( thanx for those by the way!), I'm deciding to get right to business. HBP didn't take me nearly as long as I was hoping it would, two days for two years…yep, I'll be waiting awhile for the seventh book!
I hope you guys like this chapter…it's a bit gritty though.
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Chapter Five: Clipped Wings
Ahren, still exhausted from his ordeal a few hours earlier, was pacing around his room with his head hanging down and his arms locked behind his neck, trying to figure out what the Titans should do next. Their present ordeal was causing tensions in the Tower to reach breaking points, and try as he might, Ahren couldn't summon a vision to help out. Tricky thing being precognitive, the visions came sporadically and were so cryptic; they often only made sense in hindsight. So, he paced and went over ideas as they popped into his head, none of which really seemed possible when he actually spoke them aloud.
He stopped when he started to grow dizzy, and he sat down on his bed, cradling his head in his hands, and wished with all his might he would see something of use. But nothing came. He lifted his head, and looked out the large window on the opposite side of his and Lily's room. He gave a plaintive sigh as he gazed, realizing that they had has much chance in helping their captured leader and friend as likely as the chance that Viper would suddenly decide to start adopting kittens.
" Wish you were here man," Ahren whispered to the ocean he stared at. " We could really use a good idea about now."
" But he is not here," a sad voice said from Ahren's doorway. " And we all need to accept that, and try to come up with some sort of plan. We can't give into this despair, no matter how much we may want to."
Ahren brought his brown eyes to look into a pair of purple ones, and gave Raven a skeptical smile. " Since when are you the optimistic one Raven?"
" Since Starfire's boyfriend was kidnapped by a psychotic villain," Raven answered grimly. " She hasn't even come down from the roof yet…I think she's determined that Robin will suddenly appear there, unharmed and happy."
Ahren's smile slid off his face and he said, " I think we both know that probably isn't going to happen. She probably even knows that, deep down where she doesn't want to look."
" You're more than likely right," Raven said as she sat beside Ahren on the bed. " But that's just how she is. When Slade first took Robin to be an apprentice, Starfire just wouldn't believe for a second that it was somehow true. Granted, we did find out Slade was black-mailing Robin with our lives, but she always refuses to see the more unpleasant aspects of life, never wants to confront reality."
Ahren looked over and caught Raven's eyes with a fierce look. " I think she does see it, because she has dealt with enough pain in her life to know that it's there. She is just clinging to a desperate hope, so don't criticize her for that."
Raven merely took his diatribe stoically and rose off the bed. As she headed towards the door, she looked back over her shoulder and said, " Do you think you could go up and try to talk with her though Ahren? She won't listen to any of us, but she might listen to you or Lily…she always seems to anyway."
Ahren gave the gothic girl a nod and watched her dark form sweep from the room before he directed his gaze back towards the seaside view. He knew Lily had probably already tried to talk with the stubborn alien, so if she was till up on the roof, it meant Ahren was the only one left to give it a shot. He continued to stare at the crashing waves, accurately depicting the Tower's mood over losing their leader. He became so lost in the torrents, he almost didn't realize he wasn't looking at them anymore, but instead at an unknown suburban house's front lawn. He rose off the street swiftly, and looked wildly around, trying to grasp where he was.
He started to walk towards the house, when he saw it burst into flames, promising death to all that were in the house. As Ahren lifted an arm to shield his face from the flames, he felt a small tug on the side of his pants. He looked down, and saw a small, scared looking boy staring at him with wide eyes. It didn't take Ahren long to figure out that this boy had lived in the burning house, and he instantly crouched down to the boy's level to grip his shoulder s comfortingly.
" Where is the bird?" the strange little boy asked him, not blinking the large, gold on gold eyes. " Did you lose it?"
Ahren stared at the child, finding himself unable to answer. Not knowing how else to respond to the question, Ahren nodded his head.
The boy looked at the house for a moment, and then back towards the psychic with a sad look on his face. " I don't want to be bad. I don't want it to die."
Then, without warning, everything from the boy to the burning home all disappeared in a flash and Ahren found himself standing in the middle of a huge field with a large willow tree in the middle. He tried to call out for someone, but still couldn't bring up his voice, so he walked around trying to gain some knowledge of where he was. He walked around for what could have been a few seconds, to a few hours when he saw a young girl standing underneath the willow, humming a familiar tune under breath.
Ahren tried to call out to her, but she looked into his eyes first, her deep azure orbs seeming to pierce into his soul. She motioned him to follow her, and ran to the other side of the enormous tree. Ahren followed the girl without a second thought and stopped when he was beside her, his gazed fixed on what she was showing him.
Where one side of the field was green and full of life, the side she was showing him was black and charred. In place of green, the land seemed to be covered in blood that seeped out of the ground. The clouds were there, but were no longer white, instead were an awful gray mass that seemed to writhing as if it was made up of living things. He choked on the air, a sulfur-like scent that seemed to echo the despair the land depicted. To top it off, he saw what looked to be people, people trapped in this prison, people that were chained to the blood-soaked ground, and people that had no life in their dull eyes.
Ahren tore his eyes away from the horrific scene, knowing why it was so familiar immediately. He had seen it before, seen this outcome once before when he saw a golden-eyes being wreaking havoc in front of a dark, unknown evil that had not revealed itself. He looked over to see that black-haired girl staring at him.
" If you do not stop the snake, all you have worked for will be lost," the girl said in a quiet voice that reminded him of someone he knew. "She is needed to play a role, as the songbird is. The light-bender may still have his companion, but she will not be enough to stop his darkness from taking over."
" How?" Ahren croaked out, the acidic air choking his weak voice. " How do I help Robin?"
She gave a peal of laughter and grasped his hand to lead him back to the beautiful meadow. " You are not able to help the songbird…someone else must do that. You are needed to help the snake."
Ahren stared at the girl, with an incredulous look on his face. " Viper! You want me to help the person responsible for all this! She's trying to kill the 'songbird'! Why should I help her?"
" Because she can still be reached," the girl answered simply, a sad look encompassing her pretty face. " She is what she is because of how she was treated…the one you call Robin understands this, and it is time you do as well. She is needed to prevent that future from happening, which should be enough for you."
Ahren dropped his gaze from her intense stare, unable to fathom how he was going to reach someone as far gone as Viper.
The girl grabbed his hand then, as if picking up what he was thinking, and said, " There is a room in the Tower that is locked at most times. It is a room covered in the past and draped in mystery to all but one. It is there you will find out what you need to know."
Ahren looked up to find the girl smiling at him, and he found himself asking a question before he could even think about what it might implicate. " Are you Robin and Star's child?"
The girl looked at him for a moment, as if she was not going to answer, before she gave her head a small shake. " I am not anyone living psychic. I am merely the personification of hope in your mind. Your mind created me because of what you once saw as someone of hope, I cannot live beyond your inner thoughts. I suppose you can think of me as the force which took over you earlier today if you need an answer."
" But," Ahren said heatedly. " That was destructive! It could have killed someone, or myself, and didn't try to help."
" Your power is not something that can be defined as good or bad, because it can be either or. It all only depends on you."
She gazed at him for a moment, with a look that said she understood how confused he was. " I can no longer show you anything young seer. You must now go back to your world and try to use what I have told for good or ill. Are you ready?"
Before he could answer, the girl reached out and touched his cheek. Everything started to spin around before his eyes, and he crouched down to shield himself from the foliage and destruction whipping around him. He didn't dare to lift his head, and remained in the crouch for what could have been forever, all time lost where he was.
Abruptly, Ahren's head snapped up, and he saw he was sitting on the bed in his room, still in the same position to see the crashing waves outside. He rose quickly, causing himself to have a head-rush, and started to go over everything he saw in his vision. He had no idea what most of it meant, as was usual with his visions, but he kept remembering how the girl had told him to look for answers in a room, that supposedly was in the Tower. For a few minutes, he mulled over everything that could've been a clue as to what room it was, finding nothing until he remembered to very distinct things the girl had said.
" Something the one you call Robin already understands."
" …draped in mystery to all but one."
Sudden realization hit him like a cold bucket of water, and Ahren grabbed a coat from his closet and ran from his room. He ran straight into the common room, past all the exclamations from the other Titans as he ran straight to the stairwell. He glanced at Lily, who wore a puzzled expression, and flashed her a grin before he pelted up the stairs and out of sight.
" What was that about?" Beastboy asked when the stairwell door slammed shut. " Is he on crack or something?"
Cyborg and Jinx both shrugged their shoulders before they went back to their maps of Jump City, trying to pinpoint where Viper might have been hiding out. Raven shot a confused look to Lily, who now bore a huge smile on her face that would rival the Cheshire Cat's grin.
" Why are you smiling?" Raven asked the lavender-eyed girl, a hint of annoyance edged to her voice.
" I think Ahren might've had a vision," Lily said happily as she turned back to her charts, secretly smiling at the dropped papers and pencils she heard after her statement. ' Maybe there is a wee bit of hope after all,' she thought as she looked upwards to where Ahren had ran. ' Just maybe.'
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He had no real concept of how much time had already gone by, but he guessed it hadn't been that long, seeing as he still could think clearly. It had certainly felt much longer, but that probably had to with what he was put through more than anything else. As he started to think about it, he came to the conclusion that he had only been in this abandoned factory for a matter of hours, but she hadn't wasted any time, and had drugged him the moment they arrived. When he came to, he found himself chained against the wall, as he had expected would happen, and she was sitting backwards on a chair, staring at him.
She had told him he looked attractive when he slept, he definitely remembered that, and then she had said that was probably why his girlfriend liked him so much. He had been angered by that, and had struggled against his bonds until she hit him with a fist that was encased in metal with small spikes on the knuckles. He did not need to remind himself how much that had hurt, has he tried to shift his position on the ground and winced as pain lanced across his stomach.
He then recalled how she had 'tested' this glove of hers on different areas of his body, some worse than others, before she said that needed to fetch the rest of her toys. He remembered that room he had been in, there had been a window on the left somewhere, and there were crates that bore a fish logo, which led him to the belief he was in an abandoned fish warehouse of some kind. She had returned to soon before he could get a good glimpse out of the window, and had in fact brought some 'toys' with her.
Judging by how he couldn't breathe well, and the odd angle his ankle was in, he decided that had hurt as well.
He then guessed he passed out, and had been brought here. He wasn't chained up anymore, but he admitted to himself that it probably wasn't needed at this point. He rolled over into a sitting position against a wall and raised a hand to his bruised face and grasped that he no longer had his mask on. A dark look crossed his face, but he pushed aside his anger, knowing all too well that her infatuation with him meant she would want to see his face. He tried to stand, but collapsed with an audible grunt of pain as his legs screamed in protest.
Muttering angrily to himself, he saw the door slide open, and a small, brown-haired girl standing in the doorway with a smirk on her face.
" Feeling alright bird-boy?" she asked with mock concern.
" Of course I am," Robin rasped out quietly, no type of anger creeping out of his voice. " Why wouldn't I be?"
Viper shot the black-haired boy on the ground a strange look, but recovered quickly and walked forward with a small, wooden rod clenched in her hand. " I guess it's time to continue with our therapy session uh?"
Yep, he knew that this was going to hurt too.
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Starfire sat on the roof, humming a tune from her home planet under her breath and holding her abdomen with a free hand, waiting for a miracle she knew was unlikely to happen. It seemed strange that just hours ago Robin had ordered her to fight off the robots, only hours ago she had defeated Slade for good, and only hours ago Robin had willingly left her life to save two young children. The boy had told her that Robin said he was sorry, but that only exacerbated the pain in her heart. It had told her that she would never see him again.
She was very proud of him though, proud of how he had given up everything to help the two kids, everything he could've had or could've been for a horrible fate. She tried telling herself that she would tell their child about how brave her father was, but that didn't ease her mind or heart. So, she conceded to sitting on the roof, hoping that he'd burst through the door and sweep her up into his arms, despite what her mind was telling her.
Starfire closed her eyes as the wind started to whip her red hair into her face, and summoned all of her happy memories with Robin into her mind's eye. She ended up so lost in her own world, that she barely noticed the roof door swing open with a bang. It was only when she heard the familiar voice shout out at her that she registered that she had company.
" Star!" Ahren exclaimed as he swung the door open, a little too enthusiastically albeit, and hurried towards her. " Star, I have some news and I think I need your…wait, are you okay red?"
Starfire looked up startled at the psychic, not having enough time to wipe the tears off her features. " Ahren, you merely frightened me is all. I am just fine though."
" Star," Ahren said with a sad smile as he sat down next to her. " You are a terrible liar. Of course you're not fine; someone you love very much is not in the best place right now and you're terrified. You don't have to be strong right now Star."
She broke down then, burying her head in Ahren's shoulder as he held her shaking form, whispering meaningless comforts in her ear. She choked out, " I j-just do not w-want him to be d-damaged! I cannot-t stay here w-without him by m-me. W-what will I t-tell the b-baby!"
Ahren looked up, shocked by what the distraught alien had just revealed in her emotional outburst. He let Starfire control herself once more, and let her wipe her emerald eyes before he next said anything.
" Starfire, did you just mean what I think you meant? Are you pregnant?"
Starfire looked up into Ahren's wide eyes, and disentangled her arms from his before she whispered, " Would you think terrible of me if that was accurate friend Ahren?"
" What?" Ahren asked, confused by the guilty look on the alien's beautiful face. " Why would I think that bad?"
" I did not think it was considered virtuous on this planet to bear a child before one first 'walks down the aisle'. It is considered illegal is it not?"
Ahren almost started to laugh at the innocent look on Starfire's face, but kept it at a rather large smile instead. " Star, I know you love him, so why would it be bad? If there is love there, it doesn't matter if you and he are married or not! If it's true, I think it's probably the most virtuous thing in our world right now."
" Why?" Starfire asked.
" It's beautiful because you two were able to create something so pure in a world that is anything but," Ahren said fiercely. " Of course they'll be people who say it's disgusting, but why should you listen to that? Star, if you are indeed carrying a child, I think it's safe too say that you just gave this world a bit of hope."
She looked at him for a moment, considering what he had just said. She was happy, even though the circumstances were terrible, and she was happy the child was Robin's. Why should she be afraid of what others would think? Robin and she would be happy, that was all that mattered. She smiled a marvelous smile, and gave Ahren a nod of her head.
Ahren let out a 'woo-hoo' and leapt up from his perch. He hauled Starfire up with him, and spun her around in joy of what she had told him. The two were lost in their euphoria for a moment, before reality slowly started to sink back into the alien princess.
" But," she said sadly as Ahren slowed his spinning and lowered her to the ground. " How are we to rescue Robin? I do not wish to be raising the baby by myself. And, at the moment, we do not have any proposal as how to aid him."
Ahren caught her eye, a look of grim determination echoing back to Starfire. " I actually came up here because I think you can help us there Star. Just listen for a minute to what I'm going to tell you okay?"
When Starfire nodded her head, Ahren took a deep breath and plowed on. " After Raven left my room, telling me to try to get you to come down, I started to stare out my window, trying to piece something together, but coming up with nothing. Suddenly, I wasn't in my room anymore, but in an unknown neighborhood watching a house burn down. A little boy with gold on gold eyes came up to me, and said something about not wanting to be bad, and that we had to help a lost bird.
" Before I could even begin to comprehend what that meant, I was standing in a beautiful meadow, a meadow that had a huge willow tree in the middle of it. A girl with long black hair, and deep blue eyes was standing underneath the tree, humming something under her breath. She motioned me to follow her, and she showed me the other side of the field, a side that was so horrible, it still haunts me now. I had seen the destroyed field before, except it had buildings and such as well, I saw it in a vision that prompted Lily and I to come here in the first place.
" The girl told me how I had to help prevent this from happening, by helping a snake. ' The songbird will be helped by another' she told me. And I asked how I was supposed to help a psychotic maniac, and she told me that there was a room here that would help me. She said the room was covered in the past, and a mystery to all but one…and she also said that Robin already understood that Viper could be reached. I think I know what room will help me, but I need your help Star…do you get what I'm asking you?"
Starfire nodded dumbly, still trying to absorb everything he had just told her. " You need to get inside Robin's room do you not?"
" Yes," Ahren said, obvious relief sweeping through him. " He as old newspaper clippings covering his room from all the fights over the years, and it's almost always locked up. Plus, no one but you as ever been allowed in there with his permission, you're the only one with the code, the only one who knows the 'mystery within' there."
" So," Starfire said slowly, trying to grasp everything Ahren was trying to tell her. " You believe that Robin as information we need in his room. You believe that he as already been attempting to discover more on the Viper woman? Trying to discover how to help her?"
" Sounds like Robin doesn't it?" Ahren asked excitedly. " He thinks that Viper is his fault, so he was trying to figure out how to help her. I think that may have been why he ended up going with her in the first place, that and for the kids. I know it sounds kind of crazy, but it all kind of makes sense right?"
Starfire looked incredulously at the brown-haired, her eyes betraying her obvious doubt. " Are you certain that was his intention friend Ahren?"
" I wasn't at first," Ahren admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. " But, after the vision, I'm sure of it. Robin is probably one of the kindest people I've ever met in my life, and after that girl said he had already known about how to help Viper, I believe that is what he was doing for a week. He wants to help her, help her recover a shred of her humanity, even if that meant worlds of pain for him. My visions are hardly ever wrong…not in a sense of them happening in a sense of how they're shown at least. Maybe he won't be able to do it, but that's why I'm going to help. Can you help me too Star?"
Starfire gave a sigh, and a shake of her head before she looked back up at Ahren. " Of course I will aid you Ahren, I wish for my child to have a father after all. But, do not think I will show the Viper woman any pity! I cannot do that, not after all the pain she as caused Robin, even if he had intended it to be that way. I simply cannot bring myself to feel sorry for her."
" I understand Star," Ahren said as the two of them walked towards the door, and headed down into the Tower. " And, I don't think I can either…but the girl said she as a part to play to help prevent that future I saw, we just need to make her see it."
Starfire gave him a small smile, and nodded her resolutely as they headed down the stairs, and for once since Robin's capture, feeling the familiar spark of hope kindle inside her.
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Raven looked up from her charts and maps when she saw Ahren walk back into the common room, and head straight for the fridge to grab some food for himself and Starfire. She didn't call out to him as he gave Lily an exhausted smile, and a quick kiss before heading back up towards Robin's room, where Starfire was undoubtedly waiting for him. She looked over to Lily, received a small shake of her head from the brown-haired girl, and went back to her own charts, trying to chart where Viper might be.
" Nothing yet uh Lils?" Cyborg said, not even looking up from the computer screen he was typing at.
" No," Lily said tiredly. " Not yet. But, Ahren's confident they'll find something in there. His visions are usually never wrong after all, and it told him to look there."
" But he's been lookin' for three days so far," Beastboy complained as he tossed down his pencil in frustration, coming up at another dead end. " Don't ya think they would've found something by now?"
" There's no way to know that Gar," Raven said, as she looked up from her charts and cast her boyfriend a sympathetic gaze, an oddity for her. " I think we should let them both just do what they need, and we'll do what we need. Robin's not dead yet, I would've felt it."
" How is he doing anyway?" Jinx asked, carrying a pile of old case files to Cyborg, knowing the gothic girl had a connection with their leader ever since he had let her into his mind three years ago.
" In pain," Raven said sadly. " But he's strong…he'll hold on as long as we need him too."
" Do you think we'll even be able to get through to Viper?" the pink-haired sorceress asked, voicing everyone's hidden doubt. " Honestly now."
No one said anything, until Lily raised her head and gazed determinedly at the others. " We can, and we will. We have to put faith in the vision is all, and everything will work out in the end."
No one said anything else, daring to believe the lavender-eyed girl, and continued with their work in silence, waiting for a resolution from the two up in their leader's room.
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He didn't know how much more he could take, especially after today. He felt Raven in his mind, telling him to hold on, telling him that his friends were coming for him, and telling him that everything was going to be okay. However, he was starting to find that mantra hard to believe.
He guessed that he had been here for a week or so, give a few days in case he was unconscious for longer than usual, judging by the light in the window. It was hard for him to grasp that it hadn't been all that long, but sure enough, Viper had confirmed that information earlier that day. She had told him that she had begun reconsidering her plan with him, that he should be thankful he was still alive after a week because that wasn't her original plan. She was considering keeping him alive long enough for Batman to come down to Jump City, and then kill him front of his former mentor.
Personally, Robin was a bit keener on accepting death at the moment. The wooden rod she had started to use was excruciating. She hadn't confided in him where she had received it, but it had some sort of magic or power in it. Whenever she pressed it into his body, he felt such an intense amount of pain, it was unreal. It seemed to cause her pain to just hold it, but that didn't matter to her, and even through all the agony, Robin found himself pitying Viper even more. He had tried to reach her, before and after her work, but nothing seemed to work. Eventually, he just stopped, hoping she'd eventually just finish him off so he wouldn't have to deal with the pain anymore.
But, one thing he did notice affect her was how he never screamed or shouted at her in anger or pain. Occasionally, he would let out a gasp or grunt if something was particularly sharp, but he never swore or cursed her. And that, he knew, was breaking through more than anything else.
Today though, today she had finally broken through the protective barrier he had encased his mind in. She hadn't done anything especially painful, at least not in the physical sense of the word, but she had finally achieved what she hadn't been able to do for a week. He had just been lying on the ground, her use of the wooden rod taking any kind of fight out of him, when suddenly she leaned over him and placed her mouth over his. He screamed in his mind, screamed that he stop her, but couldn't do anything but let her continue. Her hands had roamed and wandered, and he had just let her. When she had lost interest or whatever she called it, he had let out such a painful scream, that it left him hoarse afterwards.
For some reason, she carried him back to his cell then, and left without another word. He didn't care why she left so quickly, so far gone into his pain that he simply didn't care anymore. He didn't care that his friends were looking for him, he didn't care that he wasn't going to be able to help that boy the girl in his dreams told him about two years ago, and didn't care that he would be leaving Starfire. He hated himself for his failure, and didn't care if he died anymore. He didn't deserve her anymore anyway.
He curled himself into a ball on the floor of his cell, and closed off the connection with Raven, a connection she had created three years ago when he was close to death, and let the inevitable truth that he was doomed sink in.
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Starfire and Ahren started their search early the day of Robin's breakdown, deciding they were wasting too much time sleeping. Starfire started with her unfinished stack of files, while Ahren logged onto the computer and started his search again. They both had searched every outlet relating to 'Viper', 'snake', and 'Slade' they could think of, and hadn't found anything of import for a week. Everything just seemed to relate to the ordeal two years ago, and Slade's file, while the largest, only mentioned her as the third apprentice. It was starting to get hopeless, both Ahren and Starfire realized that, and the other Titans were growing anxious at the lack of progress.
" Oh!" Starfire exclaimed after several hours of searching. " We are not discovering anything which we did not already have knowledge of! This is like lookin for a haystack surrounded by sharp objects!"
" Like trying to find a needle in a haystack Star," Ahren corrected her absentmindedly as he scrolled through an intriguing file on an inmate.
" Oh, yes," Star said sadly as she went back to her files. " That is what I me-"
" Hey Star," Ahren interrupted. " Come here for a second, I might have something."
She walked over and leaned over Ahren's shoulder, peering at the screen. " Why are you looking at the file of this Vanessa Bowman?"
" Because," Ahren said as he pulled up a picture of the inmate, and heard the alien give out an audible gasp. " I think she's Viper. I found this when I looked up the prison where Viper was being held, and noticed he had a file on one of the inmates there, which I found strange because I had never heard of you guys fighting a villain named Vanessa Bowman. When I opened it, it was huge, almost as big as Slade's file, and I saw the girl was obviously Viper! And he had info going as far back as her childhood…he's been looking up stuff on her for a long time Star."
He looked over his shoulder and smiled at the shocked expression on his companion's face as she read the comments Robin made and at the papers written on her.
" Is there enough information here for us to utilize?"
" More than enough Star," Ahren said animatedly as he started to bring up pages of Viper's childhood and young teen years. " At least, I think there is…I mean, here for instance. This blog talks about how she was never accepted by her father, something she wanted very much after she discovered her mother died giving birth to her," he registered the fearful look that overtook Starfire's features at his last statement. He smiled and said, " She was an abnormality, her body was weak, and couldn't handle bearing a child of her caliber. You won't have to worry about that Star. Anyway, Robin made the connection that was why she was so angry when Batman set up the crime boss, he was the father she never had.
" And here's another one of a similar vein…some of her foster homes were…well …not the best. She ran away from an abusive home, I think physically and sexually are probably the right ones there, and that was when she ran away to the crime boss. But there are countless homes she was part of, none of them kept her longer than a few months…she probably grew bitter and resentful because of that. No one cared about her…"
Ahren trailed off, his eyes wide and a look of understanding flooding his features as he stared at the screen. Starfire looked at him, and asked, " Ahren, is something the matter?"
" I think," Ahren said slowly, as if still trying to understand what he was saying. " I think I know why she has such a fascination with him Star. It only had to do with Batman at first, but now…it explains why she hasn't killed him! It all makes sense!
" Ahren," Starfire said angrily. " I do not understand what you are trying to say when you make no sense!"
" She wants him to care about her Star," Ahren said as he looked into her emerald orbs. " She wants someone to care about her, and she's chosen Robin. I think Rob surmised that much, and that's why he went so willingly, why he didn't stall her. So, to reach her, we need to show her instances where people have cared about her."
" That would be most unlikely," Starfire snorted angrily, incensed that Viper had chosen to fall for her boyfriend.
" I don't even think she realizes it yet Star," Ahren said patiently, knowing all too well why the alien was angered. " But now we have a way red, and I intend to use it… we need to. I don't know why I have to help Viper, but I do, so I will."
Starfire battled with herself for a moment, before deciding that Ahren was right, and she would need to shrug aside her animosity and jealousy at the present and do everything she could to help. " Yes," she said with a nod of her head. " You are correct friend Ahren. I will help as well…but let us both agree now that she is an ugly, scheming khlorbag who is not worthy of Robin, yes?"
Ahren laughed and nodded his head in agreement at the red-head's request. They both gathered up the items they would need and headed downstairs to see if the others had found out where Viper was hiding. They had been conducting searches of possible places for the last three days, but none yet had been successful.
" Friends," Starfire shouted happily as she and Ahren walked into the common room and spotted Cyborg, Jinx, Lily, and Beastboy sitting around the computer. " We have discovered some very useful information!"
" Great Star," Cyborg said, not one bit excited by the news. " Now all we need to do is find out where this psycho is hiding…DAMMIT!" He slammed his fist down on the console in anger, which caused a few sparks to emit from the machinery. Ahren walked over and pulled Lily into a hug and said, " I'm guessing you guys didn't find anything."
" No," Lily answered softly. " We are running out of places she might head to, and still have no idea where she might be if the next two don't yield any type of clue."
The Titans stood in silence for a few moments, when Starfire broke it asking, " Um, friends…where is Raven?"
" She didn't feel good Star," Beastboy said sadly as he flopped himself onto the couch. " The connection with Robin is tiring her. She can feel the pain he's in, and she is starting to feel strained. She went up our room right before we left, saying she needed to rest. She hasn't come down yet…I think I'll go wake her up though, that way you and Ahren can tell us what you finally found out."
He pushed himself up, and left the room without another word. Cyborg cradled his head in his big hands, and Jinx draped a comforting arm about his shoulders. Ahren gave Lily a gentle kiss, and led her to sit next to him on the couch. Starfire felt a sudden pang of sadness as she watched the two other couples enjoying each other's presence, and she felt overwhelmingly lonely right then.
She hadn't really noticed over the past week because she had been so busy with trying to find information concerning Viper, but now as she waited for Beastboy to come back down, she felt it more than ever. She felt a horrible lump form in her throat, and her eyes started to burn as salty tears formed behind them. More than anything, she wanted Robin back, and to be held in his arms, or sitting on the couch with him. She comforted herself by placing her hands over her abdomen, taking in the warmth she could almost feel coming from her child. She hadn't told anyone else about her baby, taking Ahren's advice that she should wait and tell Robin before anyone else. She cast Ahren a caring gaze, and wanted to voice how thankful she was for his friendship, without which she would surely have fell into despair. She was about to tank him when Beastboy came running back in, carrying a very haggard looking Raven.
" You guys," he exclaimed loudly to get everyone's attention. " I think we may know where Robin is!"
" Truly!"
" Are you jokin' with me man?"
" Really, when, how?"
Raven held up a hand to stay there questions, pain and despair obvious on her face. " I saw where he was when I was sleeping, he was in so much pain…" she trailed off before she composed herself once more. " Anyway, he shut closed off the connection with me, probably through sheer determination, and I felt him give up. Before that though, I saw where he was…it's an abandoned fish factory in the industrial part of town. It wasn't even on our list because it's to near the police station down there."
" She liked fish…" Ahren muttered to himself. " Raven, Star and I found out some stuff, but we need to go now. We'll fill you in on the way."
Without waiting to deliberate whether they all needed to go, all the Titans rushed out to the garage to go and rescue their falling friend.
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Viper paced around the room she had adopted as her home for what could have been hours, but in reality was only a few minutes. She had just locked Robin back in his cell, and she couldn't figure out for the life of her why she had done that. She also couldn't figure out why she was keeping him alive after a week. She knew she had caused him enough pain, but she still hadn't killed him. Why? She had no idea why she was being so weak, she didn't have the stomach for it apparently, but she found that hard to believe. Surely if you can torture someone you can kill them?
At the thought of torturing him, she pulled out the long, wooden rod from her pocket and examined it. It really was beautiful, made with a striking cherry wood, it had sinuous strands of gold winding down the whole of it. It was called an Agien, and she had received it when she was making her way to Jump City with Slade. Her 'master' had been resting, when a shadowed and cloaked figure came up to her and gave her the rod. He had said what it was for, and that she use it against the 'songbird'.
Well, she really hadn't understood why he called Robin a songbird, but she knew that was who he was talking about. She hadn't told Slade about it, and she hadn't seen the figure since then. But, she did use the Agien and it marveled her how much pain it could cause with the slightest touch. Sure, it hurt her to touch it, but she was stronger than most normal people, so it hadn't been so bad.
However, there was a major problem with this plan she had with using the Agien and such on Robin. He never shouted out or yelled at her. Merely took everything she threw at him, and would never stop pestering her about how he knew why she was so angry with him. She had actually grown so annoyed with it, she had shoved the Agien in his mouth to quiet him. She doubted he remembered that, seeing as he had passed out from the pain almost immediately.
But why she had felt compelled to kiss him today, was beyond her. She almost couldn't help herself as he was lying helplessly on the floor, to tired to do anything. She remembered that he hadn't kissed her back, for obvious reasons, but she had wanted him to.
She had wanted him to kiss her back!
When she had pushed off of him, he had let out such a painful cry, she was shocked. Why was her kissing him so painful for him to cry out when nothing else she did even yielded more than a grunt! She had actually felt bad about what she was doing then, for a split-second, and swept up his broken form and carried him back to his cell-like room. She watched him for a moment, through the small window on his door, and she watched him fall into a fitful sleep before she tore herself away.
She stopped her pacing abruptly, and crumpled to the floor with an angry snarl. Why did he still have such an affect on her! Why was she still hesitating destroying him! Why did she care!
It hit her then, an awful truth that she couldn't hide from anymore. It was because she did care. Somewhere between meeting him and torturing him, Viper had fallen in love with Robin. It was by no means a normal kind of love, maybe obsessive love fit more accurately, but that's what it was. She stared at the wall, revulsion with herself filling her being, and let out an angry scream in frustration. She started to feel hot, angry tears leak down her face then, tears that she did not want, but were there anyway.
She wiped her face irritably, forcing herself to control her emotions. How could she let this happen? How could she have been so careless? She had let herself feel attracted to him, and now she was in love with someone who hated her…someone who would never want her…someone who already had a beautiful someone.
" What the fuck do I care!" she growled slowly. " No one else has ever given a damn about me, why should he be any different?"
Hot fury licked her insides then, and she rose off the ground, deciding that by finishing what she had started, she could finally ease her own suffering. She pulled back her long, dark hair then, and started towards his cell, only letting one thing into her thoughts.
' If he dies, I can die at peace. That's all you were meant to do in this life anyway Vanessa Bowman, kill.'
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A/N: Whew! That was long uh? I hoped you all liked it!
If you guys were paying attention, I introduced the big baddie…he's very important later!
I know I focused a lot on Ahren and Starfire, but I needed to for the vision and all.
Remember guys and girls, review, review, and review some more for the heck of it! It fuels me after all! Until next time!
Osco