A/N: Welcome back readers, first the disclaimer I don't own anything in this story except the concept and to be perfectly honest I'm not sure I even own that. I'd like to thank all my faithful readers and those of you who review many thanks. Reviews are the only thing that sustains me in between chapters. Now on with the story!
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Chapter 4: Time in a bottle
It had been a month since the incident in Rich's apartment and everyone kept their distance from Rich the way he ask for. Raven was taking it really hard, not being able to talk with him but her fear was keeping her a good distance from Rich and it was tearing her apart inside.
' Why did he do that?' she caught herself thinking but shook her head trying to stop that line of thought, ' No I can't think about him anymore, he told me to get out of he life and I'll do that and maybe he'll see the error of his decision.' She thought but deep down she knew that would never happen, but she couldn't think of a way to make him come around without talking with him. Feeling frustrated she gave an audible sigh and went to class.
Rich on the other hand felt nothing at all, No shame, no guilt, but not even contentment that he expected from having the space he craved. The last mouth seemed to fly by to him to the others seemed like a slow torture.
Jack was the only one who could approach him now without getting a death glare so people just stopped trying to talk to him. Although that didn't stop him from glaring at Jack now and then he was still Rich's friend and was the only person that he could talk to without feeling judged.
As the day was over and the students left for home Jack rushed to catch up with Rich before he got the bus. " Hey Rich wait up!" Jack yelled. Rich turned around to see Jack jogging at him with Kori and Raven close behind. Upon seeing the company accompanying his friend Rich turned around at started heading to the bus again trying to forget that he even heard him yelling.
When they were on the bus Jack came over and sat in the seat next to him with an annoyed look on his face, " Man why didn't you wait for me?"
Rich didn't answer in words, he just glared at him and Jack understood, " Oh sorry I forgot your being a complete ass to everyone now."
" Leave me alone Jack. I don't want to fight you on this but if you're going to talk with me please make sure we don't have any company. You know how shy I am." He said sarcastically.
" Fine but do me one favor." Jack glared at him.
" What do you want this time? If memory serves last time you wanted an answer I ended up with some unwelcome company in my apartment right?"
" Ok fine I'll promise you that I won't do anything like that again but why are you shutting yourself off form them when they only want to help you.' But Jack say the look in Rich's eyes.
" Again everyone thinks I need help. What is it with you people? First the general, then Victor, then Raven and now you what is your deal?"
" We care about you man. Look if people didn't care about you do you think you'd have people offering their assistance like this?"
" I don't trust people like that anymore." Rich replied coldly.
" What do you mean by that?" Jack asked but Rich never answered thinking back to the conversation he had with his adoptive father last month.
: Flashback:
" Dad I think we need to talk." Rich said into the receiver.
" Very well son what do we need to discuss?" the General said. He said son like he was just a solder under his command not like a father would.
" Why did you let privet Masters give me an intervention? I don't see the point in it." Rich asked.
" Remember why you're there Richard. Your there because they said you need time away from the field, and after what happened in Columbia we need to re-evaluated what to do with 'Atlas'."
" What do you mean sir?" Rich said worried about what was going to happen to him.
" Well with the significant loss down there we need to think if we're going to keep the project going. We need to think about other projects and potential for success. I'm sorry son but we might stop the project." He said with a hint of sorrow in his voice.
" So what will happen to Jack and myself sir?" Rich asked.
" That is the reason behind your assignment son, I'm sorry." And the general hung up on his son.
Rich collapsed on the floor. In a matter of minutes not only had he pushed everyone in his life away but he also lost his soul purpose in life because of a financial issue. ' God I hate politics' Rich thought as he went to a room on the far side of the apartment. The room had a punching bag and some free weights in it. Rich went immediately to the bag and took all his pent up fury and anger out on it and as the bag swung back and forth a sick feeling came to the pit of his stomach.
" Why me?" was all he could say and he fell to the floor holding his head trying to force the feelings he was having out of his head.
: End Flashback:
" Yo earth to Rich. Come in Rich." Jack said waving his hand in front of Rich's face trying to snap him out of his daze.
Rich snapped out of it and grabbed Jack's wrist to stop the hand from moving. " What were you saying?"
" I said that you're a self absorbed prick that needs to learn to trust other people."
" I do trust other people. Just not the ones here." He replied.
" Well this is as close as it's going to get." Jack spat back.
Rich ignored the comment and got off the bus at his stop. When he got up to his apartment he noticed the knob was turned differently then when he left it. Thinking that someone broke into his apartment he entered cautiously.
Someone had indeed entered his apartment. She was also sitting on his couch waiting for him to come home. As Rich made his way into the living room eh set his bag down and pulled up a chair to her.
" So are you here to kill me or what?" Rich said looking at the woman across from him. There was something familiar about her but he could place it. She had long brown hair that came down to her mid back, she had deep chocolate brown almond shaped eyes, her body was long and slender but there was something about her that he couldn't place until she introduced herself.
" I understand you've met my daughter Raven? I'm Arella Roth. You've made my daughter quite upset this last month and I thought we needed to talk about this." She said calmly not giving anything away about herself but her name.
" Well I'm sorry but I told Raven to leave me alone but I don't see why it is any of your business what transpires between me and her. Now will you get to the point or will you just leave me alone?" Rich asked giving her a cold stare.
" Fine, I want to know if you know that Raven loves you?" she asked bluntly.
" I know she likes me, love I think would be a heavy handed word for it. I think she just has a crush that I'm sure will go away in time." He brushed it off like some dust on his slacks.
" I don't think so. You don't see her at home. She doesn't come out of her room, all she does now is cry, Hell she won't even take phone calls from her friends. You've made her miserable Mr. Grayson and I'd like you to stop it. NOW!"
Rich just looked at the older woman with a frozen look on his face. He really didn't want to care about Raven and her mother wasn't intimidating him so he did the only thing he could think of. Rich got up, walked over to the hallway door and opened it, " Get out of my apartment and I won't file a report with the police about the breaking and entering."
Arella looked shocked at what he said. Never before had she been talked to that way, " Fine but we will have another conversation about this Mr. Grayson. Count on it." She said.
" Are you threatening me ma'am. I would have expected better behavior from a hero."
" I'm a mother." Was all she said as she walked out his door and out of the building.
" Man what the hell is going on with my life?"' Rich asked himself and want to the fridge to get some cottage cheese out. As he ate the cheese he found himself thinking about the way the others must feel about how he's treating them. So cold and distant almost like he was a leper trying to keep everyone save from him. When he started to regret the way he was acting he quickly pushed that thought from his mind and went back to eating. However he could never shake the feeling that everyone must be saying shit about him. After he finished his food he did some exercises he went to bed, after all tomorrow was a new day.
As usual he woke up, got ready, got on the bus, but something was different about today. When everyone was on they sat away from him. Jack was sitting with Kori no surprise but they all were keeping a two-seat distance from him. This puzzled him but then he thought back to what he told Raven's mom in his apartment and thought that she had a talk with her daughter and warned her to stay away from him, a small feeling of pride swept threw him he finally talked some sense into someone here to leave him alone. As everyone exited the bus Rich had a small smile on his face, Jack noticed this and slowed down to see what he friend was so happy about.
" Yo Rich what's got you in such a good mood today?"
" You must know. Raven and the others finally got the message to keep their distance. You know what I'm glad Raven's mom stopped by last night." Rich said not know that Jack had no clue what he was talking about and it showed on his face with a puzzled look.
" Man I have no idea what you're talking about. We just decided to sit in a different spot for once. To be honest I didn't even really see you since you were slouched in your seat. And what's with this talk about Raven's mom at your apartment last night? What would you two have to talk about?"
Rich had a shocked look on his face, which he covered up immediately, " Raven's mom was in my apartment when I got home yesterday, she wanted to know why I was distant with Raven and made up some stuff about her being all sad and moopy about me not talking to her and what happened in the apartment a month ago. Didn't Raven tell you guys?" Rich asked, intrigued that Jack didn't know this.
" No man Raven never mentioned that her mom had a talk with you. Hell I'm not sure she even knows about it?"
" Well I'll find out today cause I think she asked her mom to talk to me because she's to scared to do it herself. Well see you later in class Jack." And Rich jogged off to class to clear things up with Raven and her mother.
In Science Raven and Rich were paired up for an experiment when Rich leaned over to talk privately with her, " Raven" he said grabbing her attention, " Why was your mom at my apartment yesterday? Did you ask her to talk to me?" he questioned when Raven's face went white.
" No! I had no idea that you and she talked yesterday, I thought you didn't want anything to do with me or the others anymore?" she shot back angrily.
" I don't but when the mother of a fir…. I mean someone I know breaks into my apartment and starts drilling me about her daughter right after I walk in the door I wonder who sent her?" he answered.
" I didn't tell her anything except about what happened a month ago when you kicked us out by threatening us with a gun! Now tell me why would my mother talk to you and about what?"
" YOU" was he only response in a short and angry tone and he went back to the experiment.
As they worked on their teacher Washu was making some notes about their interaction with each other and she smiled with a fox-like grin wondering how she could tell others about this discovery. As she the class period was coming to an end she sent a note to all of Rich's teachers that she was requesting him to help her clean up the room which meant she was going to perform some kind of experiment on him and the others accepted in as it was normal Washu behavior.
As the bell toned and students shuffled out of the room she yelled out, " Mr. Grayson would you mind staying back for a while and help me clean up? Don't worry I notified your teachers that you would be 'helping' me with the room so don't worry." She finished and went behind her desk.
Rich looking around noticed that the room didn't need cleaning and figured that she wanted him to stay behind for something else and he wasn't going to let on that he knew her request was a ruse so he played along. Taking a seat at on of the front tables he waited for the rest of the students to leave the room when he came up her desk and asked, " What did you need Miss Washu?"
" I told you I need help cleaning up and you're the lucky one to help me," she smiled but underneath she was laughing like a mad women, ' Finally I'll see what those 'Atlas' boys are made of.' She thought and pressed a small invisible button on the top of her desk. In the blink of an eye the floor opened up underneath him and he fell into a dark pit.
Rich landed crouched in the middle of a large room filled with test tubes and bunion burners heating some concoction when a examination table came up from behind him and clamped down on his wrists and ankles, immobilizing him. Now Washu walks through a doorway that just appears in the middle of nowhere. " Now my little student lets just see what makes you boys tick." She said walking over to him and blacking a sensor on his head, arms, legs, and a few on his torso. As she began to work on a computer that looked like it is floating in mid air Rich took the time to asses his situation.
' Ok I'm restrained to a table, my science teacher who is now probing me with sensors. If she finds out about me I'm in deep shit with my superiors not to mention they'd probable make Miss. Washu disappear. He didn't want that to happen since she was the one teacher that probably didn't wonder about his past, little did he know that the whole point of his current situation was to find out about him.
" Now Mr. Grayson would you kindly tell me about yourself and please don't leave anything out, this is for science." She said while typing something on the computer.
" I can't tell you anything Miss. Washu I'm sorry."
" Well lets just see if I can find anything out by running a few tests on your body then" and she went to work collecting data fro his body mass, brain wave analysis, and various other tests. As the results came up on her screen, Rich's body and muscle tissue were capable of maximum human physical ability, his mental activity was activating almost 100 of his brain. When Washu saw these results she was shocked. " Well it looks like those boys in the 'Atlas' program make you eat all your green vegetables huh?"
Fear shocked Rich's system, how did she know about 'Atlas' and who else knew. " I don't know what you're talking about teacher and what the hell is Atlas. Sounds like some sort of Greek movie if you ask me?" he said not giving anything away in his voice that he was nervous.
Washu just smirked, " Always the good little solider aren't we? Now there is no reason for you to hid what you are Rich, especially here. Now tell me why you were chosen for his kind of trouble?"
" I still don't know what you're talking about teacher. But please can I go back to class?" he almost begged trying to get out of his restraints.
" Fine but remember that I know Mr. Grayson" she said and tapped a key on her keyboard that released him and transported him back to classroom. Once he got there he got is stuff and almost ran to his next class. He had to tell Jack that the teachers knew about them.
As he was running down the hall he saw Jack in the hall and almost passed him in his rush, " Jack…Jack we need to talk" he yelled noticing that he was with Kori and Jinx who were enjoying a nice casual conversation when Rich ran up.
Looking over at his girlfriend and her friend he walked over to Rich to find out what his problem was, " So Rich what's the deal?"
" They know Jack!" Rich said with authority,
Fear crossed Jack's face with Rich's answer, " Impossible. How could they know about us? There is no way there could be a information leak could there?" Jack asked panicked.
" I don't know Jack but we have to be very cautious about who we deal with," Rich paused for a moment and thought, " You don't think that any of 'your' friends would tell about us would you?' he questioned.
" Not on your life Rich. There is no possible way that any of them would tell, especially after you pulled a gun on them." Jack said angrily.
" Well the information got out some how. So what do we do about this situation Jack, we can't go to the general, he'll just make them disappear and I think that their in a public position so their disappearance wouldn't go unnoticed do you?"
" Well we could try and find the leak ourselves and not tell the general." Jack suggested.
" Ok I can go along with that, but where do we start?"
" With Miss Washu and any other teachers that might have the capability of finding out classified government information."
" Well that puts the list at Miss Washu, Batman, Question, and Principal Fate. I'm pretty sure Question knows about us but he really doesn't converse with the others that I've seen, Batman would most likely know about the existence of 'Atlas' but not all that goes on with it, Washu seemed the same way which is why she was running tests on me, and as for Principal Fate I'm not sure but you can probably bet that the other teacher have talked with him about the matter. But that still leave the question what are we going to do about it?" Rich asked walking down the hall to avoid eavesdroppers.
" For now I think that us sneaking around would only draw attention to ourselves so for the time being lets play innocent."
" Agreed. So what were you and Kori talking about before I interrupted you?" Rich smirked.
" Our date tomorrow night. What to take a long I'm sure we could get Raven to join us if you went." Jack implied.
" You know I won't go with you. I can't face them and there it the whole thing about Raven's mom in my apartment yesterday which I still don't get so to answer your question no I won't go with you." Rich said and walked away leaving Jack to walk back to Kori.
Meanwhile in Fate's office Washu, Batman and Question were talking about what Washu discovered about Rich.
" So they did tamper with their genetics?" Batman said with a particular hatred in his voice.
" Calm down Bruce you said it yourself that you suspected that they did that so why are you so shocked?" Fate asked.
" Because I didn't think that they were so cold hearted to actually do that to kids. It's just not right Fate, I meant there not even old enough to drive so why would they do this?"
" Because it is easer to mold the minds of the young than change the mind of an adult." Question answered joining the conversation.
" So what is your take on this Question?" Fate asked.
" Well if my information is correct Mr. Grayson and Mr. Masters are the only two that are alive today from project 'Atlas'."
" What happened to the others?" Washu asked.
" Word has it that they were on a mission in Columbia and there was a leak and the rest of them were killed. I don't know how Jack and Rich survived but they must have gone through hell to do it." Question said tilting his head at the ground, (for those of you who don't know a mask covers Question's face that you can't see his eyes, nose, or mouth. Thank you for your time now back to the story).
" So what do we do about them?" Fate asked the group.
" Well I think we should do nothing. Right now they don't pose a threat and seem to get along with the other students…." Batman who said cut off Washu.
" Obviously you don't pay attention to Rich then, I haven't seen him converse with anyone since the first couple of weeks. Something must of happened between Rich and the group he would talk with before this happened. And I'm going to find out."
" I'm not so sure about that idea Bruce. The kid might try to hurt you." Fate said knowing what Rich might be capable of.
" Don't worry I'll be fine." He said and left the office. The others left too and the day went on.
After school Rich went home, everything looked fine, noting was out of place but he felt like there was a presence that he couldn't shake. After he looked through the rooms and went back to the living room he sat on the couch and said, " You might as well come out Batman I know you're there." Slowly the Dark Knight walked in the room as if from the shadows themselves.
" Very perceptive of you Richard. I see the training had paid off."
Rich decided that playing innocent with Batman was going to be pointless so he went with honesty, " Well after the shit I've been through you learn to trust what they teach you. Might I ask why you broke into my apartment, I'm sure it's not to talk about my homework." Rich replied and motioned to a chair
Batman sat down and glance around the apartment, " Nice place you've got here. Government checks work wonders for the economy. So I guess you know why I'm here?"
" Yeah but you know I can't talk about it, it's classified."
" That's not what I wanted to talk to you about," Batman said, " I wanted to ask you why you don't interact with the other students? From my information for the first week of school you and Ms. Roth were talking quiet a bit in class."
" She thought I was a puzzle that needed to be solved, now that, that's over she's finally leaving me alone. As for the others they just followed her lead. So was there anything else?"
" Yeah don't lie to me, and tell me what really happened," Batman demanded.
" I'm impressed, your everything that rumors depict you as but the real reason is non of your concern so leave me alone, I'm glad for everything you've done for me in the past but stay out of my life from now on ok?" Rich asked pointing to the door.
Batman got up to leave and when he was at the door he paused, " You know I find it helpful that talking with a friend is more helpful that talking to a superior. Just something to think about."
After he left Rich sat in silence wondering what he was going to do next.
At the Roth residence Raven was fuming.
" How could you do that mother? Now he's even more mad at me." Raven yelled at her mother.
" I just did what I thought would be best for you honey. I was sick of seeing you upset all the time so I thought I could help." She said in her defense.
" Well it didn't help. So just stay out of my business from how on please." She pleaded with her mother when the phone rang, " I'll get it." She said running to the phone.
" Hello Roth household." Raven said.
" Hello is Raven there?" the voice asked.
" This is. Who is this?"
" Raven… sigh it's Rich…. we need to talk."
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A/N: Well no rest for the wicked, I even work on holidays am I nuts. Don't answer that. Anyway R&R I'll read them and laugh, cry, or experience some others emotion but please I hope you enjoyed it.