Um…I honestly can't believe I'm doing this, but yes, I'm updating Shadow Creature. Shocker, ain't it? As for the horrendous wait, well…I plead writer's block of the most vicious and severe kind. I was also supremely distracted with Dark Corners and Catalyst, which I'm not updating right now because I'm experiencing writer's block for them as well (mostly Dark Corners). Anyway, enough rambling. A huge thanks to dlsky; your review was immensely encouraging, I'm glad somebody appreciated the depth of the concept.

A warning before we continue: I'm still not positive where I'm going with this, so please forgive if there's a long wait or it gets postponed again. I was honestly on the point of deleting it tonight but then inspiration knocked; where was it before? Who knows. Shut up and read.

No sooner had they broken apart then Raven grabbed his hand, half-pulling, half-levitating him to the door. Her face was suddenly serious, almost stern, as apposed to the sweet smile that had graced her pale lips barely moments before.

"Wha—Hey! Where are we—?" Robin stuttered, eyes wide in surprise and somewhat afraid of what Raven was going to do to him now.

"We need answers, you especially," droned Raven, apparently unaware of the vagueness of her explanation as they zipped down the silent hallway of Titan's tower.

Robin was, if possible, even more bewildered. "At five o'clock in the morning? Raven, what—"

Raven gave his hand an impatient tug as she approached the huge bay window, gathering speed. "Hospitals never sleep."

With that, she gripped his hand tightly and phased through the wall, leaving Titan's tower as silent and undisturbed as any home would be at such hours.

Bane glanced up in interest as the newcomer arrived. Seeing the dark hair and dark expression, however, she merely smirked and returned to her book. She couldn't resist a taunt, all the same. "I presume you approached him after all?"

Venton's glare was fierce, but it had no effect on the red-haired woman. "Brilliant observation, you really do get smarter by the day, don't you."

Her smirk grew slightly as she put down her book, crossing the stone floor to get a better look at him. Their relationship was an interesting one, to say the least. They had been friends in the days before the split, completely inseparable in everything they did. After the split, well…they were merely pawns on the same side of the chessboard. Not generally a situation that encouraged any kinship.

Allowing her eyes to linger on his chest, the tiniest of frowns tugged her ruby red lips. "He wasn't pleased." It was a statement, not a question. Lifting her eyes slightly, she gazed at him from beneath dark lashes. Most people flinched away from her crimson stare, but not Venton.

He grimaced at her, his black eyes taking on a steely glint. "No. No, he wasn't."

Silence reigned for a moment, both simply staring at each other, the one bitter, the other thoughtful. Venton at last broke the silence, as Bane knew he eventually would. "Even so, he gave me one last…chance." He spat the word as though he detested it. "Either I destroy them or I am destroyed myself."

Bane nodded as though entirely unsurprised. Smirking as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, she turned and sauntered towards the stone arch. "Well, we'd best be off then, wouldn't you say?"

Venton's eyes widened in rare surprise. "We?"

Bane nodded silently, amused at his expression.

"On whose authority…?"

She grinned, revealing unnaturally sharp eyeteeth, jutting forward slightly like fangs. "Trigon's, of course."

To Robin's dismay, the next time he could feel his limbs, he was standing in the middle of a hospital lobby, surrounded by crying toddlers, coughing adults and anxious parents. To put it plainly, he was in the middle of a crowd of people in his pajamas, fuzzy slippers and all. His mouth dropped open in horror as his face matched his footgear.

Raven took littleor no notice of his distress, merely pushed and shoved her way through the crowded lobby and up to the front desk, her hand still firmly around his wrist. "I'm looking for…uh…Missy?" she said, starting strong but ending in uncertainty. The woman nodded in recognition, then directed them to the fifth floor. Thanking her, Raven tugged Robin towards the elevator, which, thankfully, was empty.

Boy Wonder at last found his voice. "HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND? What are we doing here in the middle of the night! I'm not even dressed for pity's sake!"

Raven waited calmly until he was done fuming, then said in mock surprise, "Oh, that's right, you aren't dressed. I forgot."

He growled and glared at her, tugging on his t-shirt and attempting to tame his wild hair. "Not funny."

Raven remained silent as the elevator shuddered to a halt, letting them out with a small ding. A flurry of movement and sound accosted them as they stepped out onto the bustling corridor; not one of the people running by stopped to give them a second glance. The empath seemed undaunted, however, and merely dragged Robin through the crowd, her head swiveling from side to side as though calmly searching out a face in the sea of patients and doctors alike. It wasn't long before she appeared to have found it.

"It didn't work."

The woman froze in her tracks, turning to face them with a somewhat strained smile. "What can I do for you, dearies?" she asked, tucking a wild strand of mouse-brown hair behind her ear.

Raven sighed and shook her head in exasperation. "You did something wrong. He's remembering. What did you do?"

The nurse seemed unperturbed, though slightly confused. "What's that, dear?" She shook her head, glancing over her shoulder as someone shouted an order at her. "I'm afraid that I can'thelp you unless you have some sort of physical ailment…?" She trailed off, looking Robin up and down as though taking in every aspect of his appearance. The boy wonder shivered slightly. Those brown eyes semed eerily familiar.

Raven planted herself in front of the poor nurse and folded her arms stubbornly. "I have a stomach ache."

Robin stared questioningly at Raven, wondering what insanity had crept into her brain to make her attack some poor nurse in the AM hours. He opened his mouth to apologize for her strange behavior, but cut off in surprise.

The woman bit her lip slightly, glancing around the hallway…then she took them each by the shoulder and bustled them into an empty hospital room, shutting the door firmly behind her and pulling the curtain across the window. Turning to Raven, she said, in a very professional manner, "Now, what seems to be the trouble?"

Raven sighed. "The trouble is that whatever you did to him didn't work. He's remembering…and painfully at that."

Robin glanced from Raven to the nurse, getting the distinct impression that he was missing something here. He also was pretty sure that Raven was talking about him, as though he wasn't standing barely a foot away from her. Losing all the patience he had at five in the morning in a hospital in sparse clothing, he snapped, "Would someone please explain what the hell is going on?"

Raven whirled on him impatiently. "I already explained it to you. Use your brain."

The nurse, "Missy" as Raven had called her, intervened before Robin could say another word. "Sh, I'm sorry dear. It was wrong not to tell you what happened…I misjudged the situation as I so often do. If you will give me a moment of your time, I will try to explain."

Yeah…kind of a bad place to stop, but I needed to end with a cliffhanger so I'd know where to go with the next chapter. That was probably part of my problem before. Please review, I'll do my best to update more quickly. -Dusty