Whoa... how long has this been? Hai... My faithful readers and reviewers...I thoughtI could at least get two chapters out before the end of the March Break, but obviously, its not happening. BUT I'm half done Chapter 15 and I do hope you like this chapter, it was a little bit hard to write because this is the beginning of the story climax, and i did have a whole lot of writers block while writing this... So yea... hope you like it, and i promise the next chapter would be out sooner than this one had.
My dedication... acosta pérez josé ramiro because your review was the longest i've ever had. And I am thankful for your constructive critisism ( ? ) and please review again :D!
Wedding Bells
Chapter 14 Pier 106
The place was currently cold and dark.
Starfire shivered underneath the covers. Red X had kept her here for… possibly 2 days? Starfire had completely lost all track of time. Her watch had been removed, as well as her cell phone when X had went on a rampage, stripping all the things that could be used to track her down. And stripping was a good word to use, for she was wearing an overly large T-shirt and a loose pair of jeans. Star had a suspicion that she was wearing X's clothes.
She turned her head to the only window where there was light and saw that it was sunny outside. But the inside was still so gloom.
A drop of water was the only thing that disturbed the eerie quiet. She could always hear the constant dripping of a sink that desperately needs a plumber. There wasn't a lot of light to light up everything in this big place. But it did smell of the sea and she had a shrewd suspicion that they were in one of the downtown piers. With the little amount of light from the little windows, she was able to dimly make out this place.
She knew this place was like Red X's own home, more or less a hideout. But it had everything you would expect to find in a home: TV, computer, fridge, kitchen, bed, and obviously a lab. It was just missing one thing: rooms. All this was in one big room sort of like kitchen/bedroom/living/dinning/laboratory/ room.
Starfire sighed and wiggled underneath the warm blankets.
During that movement, she felt the coldness of her blood trickle down her arms and unto the bed sheets. The small x's on her wrists were cutting into her skin, they probably drain her energy, making her sleep much more than she was used to. They also, no doubt, keep her from using her solar powers, sap her of her strength and rob her of her ability to fly (not that she could summon enough unbridled joy to fly).
Worst of all, the skin around them didn't seem to heal. They were always bleeding. By this rate she would soon die of blood loss, but X seemed confident that she would not die on him.
Sometimes, X would be gone for a long time, this time, he said that he had a special meeting with someone. And, extremely bored, her mind drift.
Maybe the Xenothium stop me from using me powers. Yeah, that's probably how they did it, mess around with my blood… they – Starfire's next line of thought was abruptly cut off when the side entrance was suddenly flung open. Red X stormed in; his body language told Star that he was absolutely livid.
"How dare he! That bastard!" Starfire's eyebrows were automatically drawn into a frown.
"I kept you – " he turned upon Star, whose eyebrows flew out of sight into her bangs in surprise. Red X had never been anything but kind to her in the time that she was here. He treated her more like a guest than a hostage, though she had never forgotten that he was the one that had broke into her house and stole her kidnapped her while she was sleeping. " – and still he insists that I must be kept in ignorance! How can he think that I would hand you over without knowing what he's up to?"
Kory winced but X ignored her. "Yeah, he probably think that I'm stupid enough to had you over to him without even knowing what he is going to do to you once I do. Ha, he's stupider that your boyfriend!"
"He is not my boyfriend!" Starfire shouted back at him, her tone fiercer than she had intended. Red X, however, seemed to suddenly remember she could talk and looked taken aback.
"What? He's not?"
"Of course not!"
"I thought… you guys being… going together on things like…" X sounded, all of a sudden, embarrassed, talking about her private life, Starfire just ignored it.
"I thought he was my boyfriend too." She sighed and kept her eyes down, staring at the blank sheets as though they fascinated her. "But I thought wrong. Boyfriends don't lie or keep you in the dark, right?"
When Red X didn't answer, she looked up and glared at him.
"Right, X?" she asked again, her tone daring him to disagree. But Red X only chuckled in amusement and nodded. She smiled, for she seemed to have gotten him out of his sour mood.
But Red X didn't stop nodding; he was still nodding slowly and pacing around in front of her bed, seemingly talking to himself in an undertone, completely and fully forgetting Starfire was there again. Finally, X looked up at her and appeared to have made up his mind about something, for Kory distinctively heard the words 'It has to be done that way' coming from him as he stopped pacing in front of her and walked towards the computer screen. She heard a buzzing sound that she heard often when a computer is hacking to a signal wave its not supposed to be in.
A couple of minutes of buzzing along with the sound of X continuously typing were the only sounds that Kory heard from a computer in the corner that is currently filled with unreadable numbers and letters. X suddenly stopped and heavily hit the enter key. A few seconds later Kory a computerized voice saying, 'Welcome to the Titan's Tower'.
Her eyes widened in surprise and disbelief.
What is he doing?
Nightwing's called another meeting almost immediately afterwards. And he had looked pretty bad, even for an adoptive son of a billionaire.
The mask was still unable to hide the bags underneath his eyes; his face was as pale as the paper he was reading; Beast Boy swore he looked like death walking.
"Gar, don't." Raven warned him. "He looks like he's going to bite off the head of the first person who talks to him."
"But, Rae… he looks horrible. This Star thing is reminding him of the time when he lost Star 5 years ago." Which was really true, but Nightwing just didn't want to admit it. He stared out the star-splattered night sky, wishing and wishing that he had just told Starfire about Richard Grayson when he had first started going out with her; wishing and wishing and he had done things differently. Sigh… every time… his life seems to be filled with regrets. Can't he ever do anything right?
Terra and Cyborg had just crashed through the door, literally. Splinters of wood, glass, and dirt flew in every direction. But, for once, Nightwing didn't smile at Terra's dramatic entrance, as he would have done any other time. This time, however, he found himself thinking about what Starfire would have said if she had seen that.
He found his eyes tear up again for the millionth time. He had never been gladder of the black mask that shields his eye from the world.
But something must've showed. For Terra couldn't help but look at him queerly. Than she smiled reassuringly, her blue eyes remind him of Starfire's emerald ones. She walked over to him, still smiling gently, and she put her arms around him.
He poured out his heart.
"I am so sorry…" he sobbed into Terra's shoulder.
Raven moved to put her arms around him, whispering, "It's ok… Starfire is a strong girl. She will come out of this alive, and it isn't your fault. Come on Nightwing… Robin… you're stronger than this."
"Raven… you're wrong… its all my fault… Starfire gone, Starfire suffering… it's all my… fault. My fault… again…" Nightwing's shaking voice broke and faded. Cyborg looked at the two girls surrounding their crying leader. He looked down at his hands, suddenly finding them too big. He didn't know what to do with them. Cy glanced towards Beast Boy, who shrugged and walked towards them, wrapping his arms around them in a great, big, group hug.
"You were my leader." Beast Boy said loudly and confidently, "And you still are. Now, we need your leadership to find Starfire, so toughen up, and start leader-ing us. We need you right now. For Starfire." Robin broke away from the group hug and stared at Beast Boy. It wasn't everyday that Beast Boy gives out a speech about something other than video games and Mopeds. Terra looked at Beast Boy as if seeing him is some new light. Cyborg glanced at Beast Boy with something similar to respect in his eyes.
Raven was the first to recover and she said in her usual monotone: "I don't think leader-ing is a word, Logan."
"Aw, Rae, leave it to you to spoil a perfectly good speech with a witty remark." Beast Boy whined. Cyborg snorted and started to laugh.
"My respect for you had just gone from here," he gestured with his metal hand level with his face, "to here." His other dropped to his other past his waist to emphasize the difference. Beast Boy's mouth opened, but before he was able to utter a single word, the big black screen that was the Titan's TV suddenly buzzed.
Then a face appeared, enlarged and menacing. His skull was very visible, despite the dim light of where he was. But the red X on the forehead of the mask was a little harder to see.
"Red X." Nightwing spat out.
"Robin." Red X sneered back.
"Robin…?" Called out a soft voice in the background. The voice suddenly got harder. "I do not wish to converse with him."
Red X's face turned to face Starfire, who was not in the line of the screen. "You don't have to, Cutie. I'll do all the talking."
"Let Starfire go!" Terra yelled at the top of her lungs, while at the same time, Cyborg screamed out: "Kidnapping ain't cool, man. Let the chick go."
"I plan to." X said calmly.
"If you don't we'll - … what…?" Beast Boy looked confounded.
Robin's eyes narrowed. "Why should we believe you? This is a trap, and we will not fall for it."
Raven's eyes were equally slits as she said, just as calmly was X, "Let us see Starfire."
"As you wish, Raven." The Titans saw the screen move as X relocated it to focus on Starfire. Starfire looked about the same as she did before the kidnapping, just a little tired, and pale. On her wrists were Xs and beneath them, blood collected on the sheets. She wasn't, in any way the Titans could see, mistreated, or abused. Just tired and perfectly calm.
All at once, there came bursts of: "Starfire… are you ok?" "Where are you?" "Have you been eating right?" "Hang in there, Star, we will get you out somehow. Oh and I dropped the contract with Vogue. Your not mad are you?" and "I should have never let this happen. I am really sorry, please, Starfire…can you ever forgive me?"
At those, Starfire smiled. "Yes, I am perfectly fine, Cyborg. X has been kind to me. I do not know where I am, Raven. I'm eating quite all right, Beast Boy, jus not pizza all the time. Oh and Terra, I never liked Vogue anyway. And Nightwing," her smile faltered. "No."
The camera suddenly turned back to Red X. "Well, Titans?"
"Where is she?" Raven demanded, since Nightwing looked too crestfallen to demand anything. "Tell us where she is if you're really going to release her."
Red X looked at her for a good few minutes, decided rather or not to answer her, and probably debating whether or not it was a good idea. Finally, he answered, "Pier. 106. Half past 8. Don't be late." And with that the TV screen buzzed and went blank.
"Should we go?" Cyborg asked his leader. Nightwing looked up, determination suddenly laced his features, and he said, quite confidently, "Of course."
"What are you doing, Red X?"
Only the drip, drip of the tap meet her question.
"Do not ignore me, please."
Drip, drip.
"You are defiantly going to return me to my friends, right?"
Drip, drip.
"Please, Red X. Do not ignore me."
Drip, drip.
"Cutie, you are a bitch when you are full of questions."
"So are you going to?"
Red X might've said something, but Starfire didn't hear it. Her head drooped down and her hearing became foggy, as if heard through cotton stuffed in her eardrums. Her sight became blurry and her view of the already dark room became darker still.
And she gave into her tiredness while X removed the xs on her wrist and slung her over his shoulder.
It was 8:15.
A dark raven that was darker than the night sky passed through Jump City, carrying the 5 passengers inside. It blocked out the stars for jus a moment, other than that, the shadow passed unnoticed.
Raven landed everyone down in front of Pier 106. Unfortunately, it was about the size of 6 normal Piers put together. Then the Pier was also 4 stories high, which multiplied the size. So, if it was to be mathematically correct, Pier 106 was 24 times larger than the average pier size.
Nightwing sighed. It had to be the largest pier on the dock.
Suddenly, a light on the 3rd floor lit up. Then a light on the 2nd floor. Terra sent up a rock through the window. It caused the light of the 2nd floor to go off, but it reappeared in the window next door.
Beast Boy became a pigeon and flew up to the 3rd floor window, and automatically, the light turned off. But immediately, as if on signal, a light on the floor right above it turned on, along with the turning on of a light on the 1st floor.
"Titans, now we split up. Obviously, Red X is pulling something. Terra, search the first floor. Cyborg take the 2nd and I'll take the third. Beast Boy, the 4th floor and Raven the Roof and the Sky. Now, Titans, GO!" And with that the Titans all scrambled to their respected floors and searching areas.
Terra's bright blonde hair stood out against the darkness. It seemed to be the only bright in the gloom that was the first floor. The only other thing that would probably stand out would be if her honeysuckle aura was released. Terra hoped she wouldn't have to come to that.
Her footsteps echoed as they walked on wooden planks. She knew she shouldn't have worn her high-heeled designer boots, but hey, they are designer and she only thought that tonight would just be meeting night. How was she supposed to know that she would be chasing after some lunatic who had s sudden change of heart and decided that he didn't want a bounty for kidnapping Starfire anymore?
Terra frowned.
What was Red X's big idea anyway? First he totally messes up Kory's SUV and then he kidnaps her? Maybe he does belong in that Insane thingy in Gotham way more than the Joker should.
Then it begun.
At first it was a faint sound. Just a fragment of a scratch, possibly caused by mouse, or wood decomposition. But the more she tried to ignore it, the louder it became. By the end, she was sure that someone was in the hallways with her. And she was pretty 'creep-ed out'. In her mind, she silently cursed Robin again for having the brilliant idea of splitting up and searching this huge pier by themselves. Doesn't he know that bad things always happen to people that spilt up? What if a monster suddenly jumped out and ate her? It happens all the time. Maybe she –
Terra shook her head to clear all those thoughts. They were pretty jumbled up as it is. She suddenly smiled. She felt so stupid. She shouldn't be scared of some monster! She was a Titan for God's Sake. Even if she did fear, she should always face her fears. And that's exactly what she did.
She let the amber aura envelop her hands, and she turned around…
… only to see a sea of red, eye level lights not so unlike Cyborg's own eyes staring unblinkingly at her.
Terra let out a piercing scream.
Expect the next chapter soon (hopefully)
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3 Sers Grayson