Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, or any related material, although the story idea is mine.
Chapter 7
His heart sunk when he saw that she was not with the other Titans. She must still have been in the medical ward. He didn't blame her, that blow to the head looked like it had hurt. As it was, it was already going to be a long, hard fight with a sore left arm, even if he could use it a little bit. The first to exit the car was Cyborg, then Raven. After a few seconds, Terra and Beast Boy exited as well, the former being dragged along by the blonde, for he was still quite sleepy.
His mission was supposed to have been simple: get in, steal the chip, get out, but something had gone wrong. Even though the information he had received said that the guards changed shifts at this time, one of them had lagged behind and spotted him, putting him in a situation in which he knew he would eventually have to fight his former friends, even if he did get past the guards easily. To this day, he still did not know why they bothered with those guards, it wasn't like they were very good at protecting the city. At this point, their job was basically to call in the Titans and high-tail it out of there.
Now he found himself facing his fomer friends as Cyborg cried out, "Titans, go!" As usual, he did not talk throughout the fighitng, and he could tell that Terra was peeved at this, for in his battle with her, he had been taunting her, and now he wasn't talking? He could just see the gears in her head turning as she threw a couple tons of rocks his way, which he dodged, but only just barely.
Raven seemed to be extremely edgey during this fight; maybe it was because Cyborg kept asking her if she was alright and if she would like to take a rest or something. Apparently, that broken leg was some damage. After firing several blasts of energy his way, she continued her rampage, throwing as many objects at him as she could get her powers around.
Beast Boy, as usual, did not speak during the fight, but rather changed immediately into a gorilla, smashing the ground inches away from Robin, throwing the former Boy Wonder off guard for a split second, giving Cyborg the chance to blast him with his sonic cannon. Though he flew backwards and smashed into the wall, he still managed to get back up and throw a few exploding discs at the bigger man. Unfortunately, he missed and they hit Beast Boy, who was instantly knocked out.
Taking advantage of the Titans' distraction, he ran up to higher ground where he hid for a moment, lingering to watch and see if his former friend was okay. He saw Terra run over to the injured boy, screaming his name as loud as she could. Desperately, she tried to wake him up, shaking him and yelling his name, but he remained limp. As he watched this display, he bit his lip, feeling extremely guilty that he was forced to do this to them. And now Slade knew that Terra had a soft spot for Beast Boy. No doubt the man would try to implement that. Finally, he saw Terra bend down and gently hugged the younger Titan. Beast Boy's eyes flew open and he reached out and hugged her back. At first Terra seemed surprised, but she gladly hugged him tighter, happy that he was once again conscious.
Sighing, he wished he didn't have to hide in caves to watch this interaction. Above all, he wished that he had someone to be there for him when he was down. He remembered the times before when he had been hurt, or even if he had just been feeling low, she had always come to his aid, pulling him out of the mists of misery in the nick of time. Back then...
Suddenly, he heard footsteps behind him and saw Raven standing there, eyes glowing, her face contorted with anger that she was barely keeping surpressed. Her eyes were blazing, and he could see another pair of red eyes fighting to be seen. Obviously, the girl was angry, and he didn't want to know what happened next, so he ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction, but she materialized in front of him.
"You betrayed us, turned your back on all of us, and you never even told us why! Because of you, Starfire has locked herself in her room for the past year! She's determined to figure out why you left us, and she's slowly diminishing, and it's your fault! If you hadn't left us, none of this would have happened. Now she's in the medical ward, and it's all your fault! You've cause pain and agony every time we've seen you! You've turned into a monster!" How ironic that she would use that word- monster, for she was now sporting a second pair of eyes, and all four of these eyes were glowing red. Her mouth was contorted into a sinister grin as at least ten black arms reached out to grab him.
He saw the darkness suddenly as one of the dark hands encompassed him. This darkness was unlike anything he had ever experienced before. He couldn't breathe, couldn't see, couldn't hear anything. The only thing he was aware of was the acute pain in his chest as his heart thumped faster and faster. Then came the agony. His shoulder felt it first, as if it had been torn apart from his body. Then his lungs were being crushed so much so that he could not even gasp for the air that he so desperately needed. His insides were burning as if on fire, and his entire skin felt like tiny needles. This was worse torture than he had ever endured before, even under Slade!
"Raven, stop!" he gasped, trying to reach the girl inside of the madness. He had never known Raven to have the heart to kill, and he hoped that she wouldn't now either, though she seemed desperately close to it. He threw an electric disc into the darkness; it must have hit her, because there was a roar of surprise and he was dropped onto the floor. Gasping for cool, sweet air, he pulled himself back up onto his feet. His uniform was badly torn and he was missing an entire sleeve, baring his injured left shoulder. Shaking his head to regain his senses, he crawled back into the dark recesses of the cave, not daring to look back to see if she was still there.
"Raven?" asked Cyborg's voice from the front of the cave. Holding his breath in anticipation, he waited to see if she would leave.
"Cyborg?" It was Raven's voice- her real voice. She had, thankfully, reverted back to normal. "He's here. I just fought him. I think I might have overdone it."
Knowing that Cyborg would try to find him, he turned and crawled into the very back of the cave. This was the very reason he had chosen this particular cave to hide in to watch; there was a back entrance to the lair from here. He heard the footsteps drawing near as he rounded the corner. He placed his hand on a particular rock. This rock slid down into the earth, opening a hidden door. With what pride and strength he had left, he leaped through the door, listening with satisfaction as it shut, ensuring his escaped. He really didn't want to have another bout with Raven.
"Are you sure he was here, Rae? All I see is rocks!" He could hear Cyborg's voice echoing through the cave. He let go of his breath all at once, sighing in relief, finally safe from his former friends.
"I'm certain, Cyborg. Look everywhere, he may be hiding," Raven's monotone voice resounded behind the wall of rock. He held his breath, hoping that they didn't find the secret entrance. Before, he would have been happy if they could have found him and Slade's hidout, but in his current condition he would have been destroyed before they even noticed where they were.
As if on cue, there was a beeping noise on the other side. "Trouble! Come on, Rae, we'd better get going." This was perhaps the first time he had ever been happy to hear them leave, even if it meant that they wouldn't be able to find Slade's hideout now.
After he was sure that the danger had passed, he looked himself over, noting ruefully that his shoulder wound had been re-opened. With his good hand, he pulled himself through the lair, trying his best to push the memory to the back of his mind, trying not to think about the truth of Raven's words. Everything that had occurred truly was his fault, and he knew it.
"That looked like it was painful," sneered a voice, that annoying, overly-confident voice that he so despised. He was too tired and discouraged to glare at the man, so he just trudged up to his room, where he collapsed on the bed, curling up in a ball as the fullness of the events hit him full on. It was such a horrible experience, and he hardly dared think about. Still, he could not get the image of those glowing eyes out of his mind.
A sudden knock at the door alerted him to Wintergreen's presence. The old butler had brought him a change of clothes and some bandages along with the normal lunch. "Thank you," he said quietly, the first words he had ever spoken to the old man. Wintergreen's eyes lit up and he smiled a true, unhidden smile, happy that the boy was learning something good from his master- respect.
He waited for the old butler to leave before he sat down to eat and bandage his wounds. It was indeed painful, both phsychologically and physically, to have been attacked by someone who he had once been so close to, someone he would have trusted with his life in a previous life. There were times that he would feel so close to his old life, only to have his reverie broken by those he had once been proud to call his friends.
There was no training that day, obviously. What good would it have done him to try and fight when he barely had the strength to stand and walk around his tiny room? He stared out the window towards the tower that shone even during the daytime. He wondered what was going on within those walls; whether Starfire was conscious yet, whether they had figured out the mystery of why he had deserted them, and he wondered whether or not they would accept him back if he did escape.