Pairings: Implied RobxStar, BBxRae, BumblebeexCyborg, JinxKidFlash, definate AqualadxSpeedy
Warnings: Sexual situations, bad language, slash, violence, dark situations, threats of rape, implied character death
Genre: Action/Adventure, Humor
Rating: R
Summary: The girls can take care of themselves.
A/N: Yet another chapter that lives up to the 'R' rating. I've been putting this one off for a while now; I knew what I wanted to do, but I didn't want to write it. This one isn't far from the end, and while I'm trying not to rush it I'm definately not going to let it linger. I'm proud of how far out of my usual range this fic is, but at the same time it's creepy enough that I just want it over with.
Dedicated to: Shadow 929, for being there for me and reviewing all of my fics. I really appreciate it, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Drifting in and out of consciousness, strange dreams haunting her. Three voices, soft voices, plotting her demise. This had been her world for three days now, but the worst part of it all had been suppressed for the time being. When she could use it to fuel her rage she would call on the memory, but till then she was content with pretending it had never happened.
"Is she asleep?"
"Yep."
"Good. It's been three days, so if the hypnotism hasn't worked by now, it never will." Neko voice was smug, and she could almost picture the cat girl standing and smirking at her two cohorts.
"Does that mean we can show her now?" Trickster spoke up, voice filled with excitement. Whatever they were planning was something he liked, which automatically meant that it was going to be bad for her.
"Yes. Nightmare, do you remember what you need to do?"
"Of course. Can I make it gory?"
"The gorier the better!" Neko said cheerfully, her silver bell like giggle unnerving. Raven had often wondered how some one who acted so sweet could be so fucked up, and had come to the conclusion that she was probably only like this because she was getting her way. The psychotic female no doubt had a hell of a temper when things went awry, "Oh, darling, wake up!"
Raven's eyes fluttered open as Neko's voice pulled her out of the haze she had been floating in during the villain's conversation. She made sure to stare ahead blankly, not wanting to alert them to the fact that she was more awake then she seemed. Neko tutted and shook her head sadly. "Bad news, little witch. One of your friends escaped." Neko smiled at the shock and hope that spread over the captive's face, knowing the pain would be even worse after that, "But, fortunately, we caught her! Unfortunately, Trickster was a little…over zealous."
Trickster had been standing behind the girl, smiling, his hands behind his back. Now he brought out what he had been hiding, smirking as Raven's face fell and went blank as she tried to suppress tears. The flyswatter that the boy held was covered in blood, but it was what was stuck to the plastic that had convinced the sorceress it was true.
"I'm sorry dear, but she did try to escape." They gave her sympathetic looks, carefully controlling grins, and turned and filed out. Nightmare paused in the doorway and looked over his shoulder, pure white eyes reminding her far too much of the walls of her prison. For a second, the room was turned into a bad dream come to life. Blood, bodies…Beast Boy lay in front of her, shards of glass marring his face and driven deep into his stomach. Then she blinked and all that remained was a horrific afterimage, one she gladly focused on. That, at least, wasn't real.
If she thought only about that, then maybe she could forget about the one bloodstained wing that Trickster had so smugly showed her.
"I thought you said we were going to show her." Trickster whined and leaned against the wall that separated the two cells. The girls had no idea how close they were to each other, and that had been part of the fun. But now the boy wanted to show them, because the worst torture was to have something you wanted but could not have held up in front of you.
"I will. But if she sees them calm after what just happened, she might be suspicious." The leader deadpanned as she explained the situation to the boy that she would always consider to be worthless.
"But...how would she know that they're all in the same room?"
Neko growled under her breath and glared at Nightmare, "If she sees all her little friends in one room, she's going to assume that Bumblebee was there too. Do you idiots understand now?"
The two boys exchanged looks, then shrugged and nodded. The cat girl smiled contently and dragged her claws down the side of Nightmare's face gently, leaving slight indents, "Now, it's show time. You both better have your parts down, because if anything goes wrong, so help me god, I will kill you." She giggled and tapped a code into the keypad next to the door, and the cell door slid open to reveal the other captives.
"Ever think that chick is insane?" Nightmare glared at Trickster and shook his head sharply.
"Shut up. If she hears you, we're dead."
Inside the room, Neko stood in front of the five girls, eyes downcast and hands folded in front of her, "I have bad news for you. I'm afraid one of our experiments went slightly awry. Inside of gaining control over her powers...your friend died."
Jinx, Bumblebee, and Melvin stared. Starfire forced herself to look up, trying to make her drugged mind comprehend what had happened. Kole simply lay on her bed, hearing but not able to react, to scream and rage like she wanted to. Like they all wanted to. Neko smiled gently, then glanced over her shoulder, "Trickster, bring her in now."
The dark haired boy entered the room, carrying the sorceress's body bridal style, her still frame draped over his outstretched arms. There was a wound were her jewel had been gouged out, and marks across her arms and legs were the villains had attempted to recreate Trigon's marks. However, what had most likely killed her was the deep cut that went from her throat to her stomach, "You see, once we realized that we couldn't control her powers, we decided to see what the demon blood had done to her anatomy. She was an amazing science project." Neko giggled and laced her fingers through the dead girl's hair.
The ex-H.I.V.E. student turned her head to stare at the wall as she attempted to choke back the gorge rising in the back of her throat. Sure, she wasn't exactly innocent to crime, to death, to pain. Not only that, but she and Raven hadn't really been friends in any normal definition of the word. Still, to see the hero killed in such cold blood, and to see the perpetrator of the crime so overjoyed by it made even her sick. She couldn't begin to imagine how the girl's teammates and 'daughter' must feel.
The small, blond girl in the corner hung her head, pain written across her features. The recent events had visibly aged the child at least ten years, and as the shock slowly wore off she was sinking into a depression that no one her age should have ever have to feel. Bumblebee simply sat in her jar and stared at the corpse of her friend, unable to tear her eyes away. She really envied Starfire; that girl was so out of it that she probably had no idea what was going on.
Neko's eyes darted around the room and she smirked. Their reactions were just what she had predicted. Anyone who had never worked with a hero before would have expected them to be stronger but she had been watching them long enough to know that there was one very easy way to get to them, and that was their little friends, "Well...I'll leave you alone now. I'm sure you want to mourn." and with that, Neko and the boy left the room, smirking as Melvin's sobs reached their ears.
A few hours later, the three villains sat perched in various parts of the control room. Neko sat up on a ledge she had coated in pillows, Trickster lay splayed out on the couch, and Nightmare sat in a near-by armchair, easily the most dignified looking of the three. Once again the TV was tuned to news and all three watched intently.
"...And in other news, the city council has announced hopes that the extra Titans in town will help solve the recent kidnappings. Atleast five young women, ranging in age from 13 to 19, have been pulled from the streets not far from their homes or businesses. The police are following all leads, but so far have no suspects and have already requested that Robin and the other Titans join the search. The request is still under consideration."
Trickster yawned idly and rolled onto his back to stare at the ceiling, "So, they know about the other chicks we kidnapped. How long do you think it'll be until the Titan geeks make the connection?"
"Probably never." Once the newscaster had switched subjects she had pulled out a magazine, a magazine that her distinctly feline nose was now buried in, "From what I've seen, those idiots are still running around like chickens with their heads cut off."
"Nice analogy." Nightmare leaned farther back in his chair and continued to listen to the newscast. "But we shouldn't be so sure. Pride comes before the fall, oh fearless leader."
Neko hissed and glared at the boy that bad dreams were literally made of, then pulled her magazine back up, "I know what I'm doing, oh foolish minion." Malice and venom dripped from every word and he cringed, instantly regretting his comment.
"Dude, I thought you had learned not to piss her off." Trickster smirked from the couch. It was a lesson he had learned quickly, after she had helped train his powers. She hadn't wasted any time in telling him that how he could express his gratitude, and that was something he had made sure not to forget.
Nightmare glared at the other boy, unable to contain a small sigh of relief as Neko ignored them. He had never been so happy that she had switched into her 'Let's ignore the pathetic males' mode, but he couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling that something was wrong.
"Shit." A masked boy paced back and forth across the control room, ignoring the terse looks on the rooms other occupants. "Shit shit shit shit..."
"Dude, there are little kids in the room, and that's not helping." Speedy glared at the boy wonder, not even flinching as the other boy turned on him.
"Well excuse me! I keep forgetting you two have no stake in this. We're up against a new villain, a villain with immensely dangerous powers if what your boyfriend has told me is true."
The archer's eyes narrowed and he stood, fists clenched, "You pompous son of a bitch! My leader, who just happens to be one of my best friends, was taken by that psychopath! And if you ever talk about him like that again..." The two stood nose to nose, the threat hanging in the air. Neither looked away, even as Teether began to bawl again.
Kid Flash finally stood, eye twitching, "If you two don't shut up and start working together, we might lose all of them forever! Haven't we been over this?"
Beast Boy slammed his head against the table and glared, teeth gritted in frustration, "JUST SHUT UP!" The green boy screamed, not bothering to stand or even look at the others. Timmy's sobs joined Teether's, cracking all the windows in the room almost instantaneously. He buried his face in his arms, trying to hide the tears trickling down his cheeks.
"..." Speedy scowled then turned and swept Teether into his arms, determined to still the child's cries. Aqualad sent Robin one quick glare before turning to help his teammate, while Cyborg and Kid Flash attended to Timmy.
"This is all pointless, man." Cyborg muttered, allowing himself a ghost of a smile as Mas y Menos rushed in to help calm the young boys, "Every second we spend fighting each other is another second we could be searching for this guy. We have a description from BB, and an idea of his powers...we just need to run a scan of known villains."
A beat of silence passed, then Robin nodded and turned to the computers, "Good idea, Cy. If you can keep those two," At this comment he jerked his head towards Timmy and Teether, "entertained, then I'll handle this." Speedy hesitated, about to complain, but was silenced by a look from Aqualad. The last thing they needed was another fight; all that was important now was finding the kidnapper and rescuing their friends.