Sorry about the long update time. School is being a bitch, and marching in drum line takes up my weekends. So, I'll keep writing, but you'll just have to be very patient. VERY patient... sorry.
CHAPTER 6: Knowledge of the Twice Dead Man
Kind of a weird title, but it works. Raven sort of forces information from Zero about himself. Oh, and your going to need the Bio here. Seriously. Before you read, get the Bio from me. Just E-mail me (e-mail adress is under my profile, I think), or post a review and say something like, "Dude, I need the bio."
DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Teen Titans, except Zero.
Zero awoke that morning, and turned to see if Raven had left. She was no longer in the chair, and the thick blanket was on his bed, so he made the conclusion.
He allowed himself a subtle laugh. He didn't understand people, and she just added to mix somehow. She had snuck into his room last night and tried to touch him.
Why? And why didn't he pull the trigger when he had the chaingun to her face? Maybe it was that feeling inside...
"No." He put the situation into a more logical perspective. "I need a place to stay and hideout. If I didn't, she would've gotten a discount lobotomy. That's it."
Something inside him told him to stop lying.
He got out of bed and surveyed his quarters. Nothing was out of place except his CD player.
"As long as the music inside isn't gone," he groaned. He walked over and opened it up. The music was still inside, and he let out a breath he held unconsciously.
He went to the shooting range across the room, picked up his M82A1 .50 cal rifle, aimed, and...
Raven lay in her bed half asleep, still wondering about this new guy. He was so mysterious, with the old pictures of his high school friends from the forties, and how he looked no older than 18.
A small explosion erupted from Zero's room. Raven literally jumped out of bed.
She was sure s hell awake now.
Raven gathered her obscured senses, and ran to Zero's room. Just as the door opened...
The door slid opened as he squeezed the trigger. The portable cannon erupted and a .50 slug shot forward, hitting the target on the opposite wall. If they hadn't lined the wall with that half-meter thick titanium, the slug would've kept going out into the city.
Zero half expected it to be Raven at the door again, and he knew she wasn't threat to him, so he lowered the rifle and turned around. The brass casing spun to a halt at his feet.
She stood in the doorway, taking in heavy breaths.
"Crap, forgot the muffling," he mumbled.
"Yeah," she gasped. "No shit."
He engaged the safety and set the rifle down.
"Sit down. You're going to pass out by breathing so fast and heavy," he said medically, still keeping his voice flat and emotionless. He learned how to fight off that feeling, but it still bugged the hell out of him.
She sat on his bed and hunched over catching her breath. "Never. Do. That. Ever. Again."
"Muffling is on my to-do list." He walked over to the computer chair and sat facing her. He finally forced himself to say it. "Sorry."
They sat in silence, Raven still hunched over, and Zero sort of staring off to the side. Raven finally spoke up. "Well, as long as we're here," she said looking up. "Why don't we get acquainted?"
He looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Not likely."
"Look at it this way," She started, sitting up. "If I know you better, I can avoid the painful topics of conversation."
"Pain lets me know I'm still here." He mumbled.
She scowled at him. "Look, I'd just like to know how you are the way you are. Is it that difficult?"
"Yes." He walked over to the window and looked out.
"Fine," she said, her eyes beginning to grow dark. "I tried asking nice."
Suddenly, he was engulfed in dark energy, and flung into a wall, where he was pinned. "What the-?!" he said, trying to break free. Then he spotted Raven's eyes glowing with darkness. "What the hell are you doing?!"
"I told you, I know so little about you, and I'd like to get to know you better. Well, now you're not going anywhere. So tell me about yourself."
'Fuck, she's got me trapped. But maybe...' He armed his MAC, and a depleted uranium slug slid into the chamber. 'No, that'll kill us both... FUCK.'
"Look," He said, lowering his head. "I prefer not to relive my life. Or tell you how I got this way. It opens up hell in my head."
"Your life has been a dark one. I can tell. I understand that, because mine is this way also."
The realization struck him. No one had ever understood him, and now, that person that would was standing before him. But if they found they had similarity, and they became friends, she might leave him somehow. All of his friends were dead; killed in combat, and he had watched them die. He couldn't bear to have that happen again. But she was different. Not only was she dark, and not only did she understand, she could save herself if the time came. She had powers to defend herself, he wouldn't have to bare the strain of losing her, and if she were unable, he would save her, at the price of his own life if necessary.
"Alright." He said, staring at the ground. "I'll talk."
She gave a slight smile and slid him to the floor. He landed feet first, and then slumped to the floor. He rested his arms on his knees and continued staring at the carpet. She walked over to him and sat on his right. She sat legs crossed, hands folded in her lap.
"My life..." he said remembering. "My life has been fucked since June 6, 1944."
The pieces of her puzzle suddenly fit. The pictures' dates, his laughing at Disposable Heroes, the mercenary job... he was already dead.
He told her the entire stretch of his life. His friend's deaths, the scar on his eye, his arm and leg; everything. She sat in awe and listened, and began to feel extreme sympathy for the twice-dead man. Zero relived every detail in horror as the memories flooded back into view and haunted him once more.
His life story came to a halt, and they sat in silence for some time. He finally spoke up, saying, "Whenever I told people this, they didn't grasp the dark side of it, and usually they would hunt me down. Eventually, I had to start defending myself. So, I used this and this." He drew his D. Eagle, and raised his left arm. "I had to kill or be killed. But that got a bounty on my head, and now I run from place to place, always looking over my shoulder."
"That's horrible," Raven started, looking at him. "But like I said, my life is also dark like yours. I'm-"
"-Dark like me," he interrupted. They both looked at each other. A silence sat in again. They stared at each other, and the feeling in Zero spike, and a light bulb in the room exploded. "I told my life," he said quickly. "You tell yours."
"Alright. I'll tell," she said.
She told him everything as well. All the stomach turning details of her life came out, and it amazed Zero how incredibly dark it was. It came to match his life's darkness, and almost surpassed it.
"And that's how it all went," she finished. He sat in awe. He never thought anyone could be as dark as him, never as tormented, but she shattered that. She would be the one who understood him. She would be the one.
"It kinda brings up that statement from earlier," she said.
"Dark like me. Yeah." He looked at her and she looked back. His cold blue eyes stared into her warm purple eyes. That feeling spiked again inside Zero, and a .50cal round exploded, firing into the ceiling.
"Whoa!" Zero said jumping up, spotting the hole in the roof. He let himself sigh mentally as the feeling subsided. She cursed at herself for letting her powers go again.
She looked up at him from the ground. He amazed her. His height was astounding; at least six and a half feet tall. He wasn't that muscular; his body was built for speed it seemed. His right arm was scarred beyond belief, with large chunks missing from the muscle, probably from bullets and shrapnel. His eyes were cold and deep, and they were two different shades of blue. His left appendages were both robotic, his leg from the knee down, and his arm from the shoulder. He was the epitome of the living dead, having died twice and still standing. He was...
"...perfect..." Raven whispered to herself.
"What?" Zero said, turning around.
"Nothing," she said quickly.
Zero grunted and went back to the hole in the roof. "Fuck," he grumbled. "I'm gonna have to fix that. And get the muffling up. Damn it, forgot about that."
She laughed a small laugh, and stood up. She walked over to him just as he was turning to go get muffling and plywood.
"Wha-?" he said as Raven pressed her head to his chest. He stared lazily forward raising an eyebrow. "What in hell are you doing?" he asked flatly.
Raven closed her eyes and felt the warmth through his shirt. She listened inside of him. She heard his heart beating softly under the slight hum of electric parts. "Listening."
"My heartbeat is not a special one."
"I'm just making sure." She looked up into his eyes, then turned and left.
When she was out the door, and the door sealed shut, Zero pondered to himself, 'Making sure of what??'
He picked up his D. Eagle. 'I don't understand people, even if they understand me.' He aimed downrange where he stood and pulled the trigger.
A miniature explosion issued from Zero's room as Raven walked down the hall. She jumped, and looking over her shoulder at his door, mumbled, "I'm going to have a hard time getting use to that."