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: Here it is. It's almost done. Enjoy.
It hurt. Oh, god, it hurt. Her chest ached from the sobs that had been almost constant for the past 3 hours, and her heart felt like it was devouring itself. The other occupants of the small room had finally fallen asleep and she felt a strange mixture of love and contempt. They had left a small girl to cry alone, but at the same time they had held back their tears and comforted her as best they could right up till the point they fell asleep.
She was exhausted. Her body and mind, already weak, were quickly deteriorating under the stress that was far too much for her young psyche to handle. Unknown to her, someone was watching her every move with a panicked sort of intensity. Beyond the mirror was an even smaller, circular room, and within it sat a certain distressed half-demon.
When Trickster had arrived in the room, her only hope was that he had brought more drugged food with him, so that she wouldn't actually have to pay attention to what he was planning to do. Much to her surprise, he had simply smirked and flipped off the lights, leaving her in a darkness that was so sudden that she lost her vision temporarily. After her eyes had adjusted, she had been greeted by an odd glow from the wall. What she had once believed to be a mirror was now obviously a window, and on the other side lay, sat, and hung her friends.
Starfire was strapped to the wall, muttering in a restless sleep. Jinx sat in a chair by her, her broken arm strapped to her in a way that would heal it correctly, but cause her more pain along the way; if they had that much time, that was. Kole lay on a bed, stuck in her crystal form, and Melvin sat beside the bed, head hanging but still awake and sobbing.
Raven whimpered, wanting nothing more then to be angry but feeling only despair. They had captured all of them, abused Melvin, tortured her friends, and killed Bumblebee...she wanted to maim. To be free to get revenge. So why was she crying? Crying was bad! Crying showed weakness, and all she should want to do was hurt Neko and the others.
What had this done to her? They had inhibited her powers, but why was that affecting her emotions? She had always been in touch with them, but because of the spells she couldn't even meditate to find out what was wrong.
And something was seriously wrong.
Bumblebee was pissed. The only good thing was that the little girl had finally stopped crying. It was only because she had fallen asleep, but it still counted. Now was time for action; their captors had had no qualms about killing Raven, so any of them could be next. There was only one problem. How were they going to escape?
Unconsciously she began her usual habit of speaking out loud, for no other reason then to see if her ideas made any sense once they were spoken.
"Star's drugged, can't use her powers. Maybe if she just pretended to eat?" The miniature girl started pacing the length of her jar.
"It wouldn't work. She's too drugged to stop eating drugged food." Jinx's voice broke her train of thought and made her jump. The pink haired girl sat up straight in her chair, eyes bright and oddly alert for someone who had just been asleep. The girls eyes met calmly and they easily began trading more ideas.
"Do you even know Melvin's powers?"
Bumblebee shook her head, "Nope. I doubt she has that good of control over it, anyways."
Jinx's gaze shifted to the jar, "That has holes in the lid, right?"
"Well, considering I'd be dead by now if their wasn't, yes."
"Huh. Try opening it."
The small girl blinked, "What?"
"Try and unscrew the lids. You can use the holes." Jinx's reply was oddly patient, and only someone listening closely could have detected the underlying annoyance that her good mood was trying to hide. Bumblebee caught the emotion and squared her shoulders before glaring at the lid of her prison. It might actually work, surprisingly, though she doubted Neko had been careless enough to not glue the lid on. Still, it was worth a shot.
After steeling herself for a long second she darted upwards and wrapped her right through two holes, and the left through two more about half an inch away. The lid had been punctured downward, so as she fought with it, long cuts appeared in both palms, and she had to move because the original holes were slick with blood. She strained, but, as she had suspected, nothing happened except for getting blood everywhere. With a dejected sigh and a small whimper she flopped to the bottom of the jar, tore off her pant legs to the knees, and began wrapping the wounds.
"Well. That worked. Thanks, Ji-- AHHH!" Glass exploded around her and she went flat against the remains of the jar, eyes wide. Around her lay the smoking remnants of her prison, but she had no idea how it had happened. The shock had frozen her heart in her chest momentarily, and as her body struggled with that and the blood loss, she fainted.
Jinx gaped at the destruction, then turned warily to look at the glaring girl hanging next to her, "Huh. It looks like Star is better."
Their next door neighbor blinked, then frowned. She had seen all of what had just happened, or so she believed, but didn't know what to make of it. Starfire had been watching something in the corner, a look of sleep induced stupidity on her face. Then that had begun to fade, and anger and fear had replaced it. She had glared, her eyes had begun to glow, and something glass had exploded.
She had no idea what Starfire had gotten so angry at, but she really wanted to know. A camera? Maybe, but that couldn't explain the look on her face. Raven had only seen that when someone had tried to hurt one of her friends. It was Star's 'You touch them and I'll kill you' look, and it was really hard to make her mad enough to use that expression.
The effort seemed to have been too much for her, however, as the alien slumped in her bonds and slipped back into sleep, have only escaped the tranquilizers long enough to release that one destructive blow.
All she could do now was sit and watch, and hope her friends made it out alright. Though by now she was convinced that if she escaped from this, anyone who ever attempted to mae her sat back and wait would be destroyed. Painfully.
She was beginning to hate her powers. Sure, they were all confused about one thing or another, but she had no idea what was going on. All she had heard since that terrible announcement had been Melvin sobbing and the others comforting her. Then all of a sudden, there had been a flash of bright green, an explosion, and a piece of glass had 'ping!'ed off of her cheek.
Any and all attempts to turn her head or transform back had been met with a stubborn resistance from her powers, and she was being to fear that they would never escape. Or worse, that they would, but that she wouldn't be able to help.
Robin paced. The others watched. Not overly surprising, but it was really starting to wear on Beast Boy's nerves. He sat on the couch watching his fearless leader walk back and forth, back and forth. The only distraction from the repetitive and oddly hypnotizing movement was the baby that sat balanced on his knee. Teether had only recently learned to walk, so he wanted to explore his new found ability. It took all of the shape shifter's concentration to keep the child in one place, but at least it was a distraction from the incessant back and forth movement.
A few more minutes passed. Robin thought. Robin paced. Back. Forth. Back. Forth.
"Ahh!" Cyborg finally yelled and slammed his fist onto the arm of the couch, "Are you going to tell us what you found out, or just keep pacing? Because if that's all you had planned for today, I'm gonna go back to my room and do more scans!" The threat was half hearted, and his tone was weary, but it did the trick. Robin glanced up, blinked, shook his head to clear it, then turned on the TV. He quickly turned to a news station and motioned for the others to listen.
"Thanks Jerry! And in other news, one of the kidnapped girls was found today. The police are withholding the details, but the girl, Caroline Finney, age 15, was found by the docks. It appears that she died of a heart attack, which the authorities say is strange not only because of her young age, but because of her good health. If you have any details, plea--"
The mask boy hid the screen, then turned to the others, grim faced, "Do you know what this means?"
"That...they found of the girls that was kidnapped?" Kid Flash ventured, blinking.
"Yes, but more then that. Have any of you heard of a villain calling himself 'Nightmare'?"
The others exchanged looks then shrugged, and Cyborg spoke up, "He's a petty thief in the southeast, isn't he?"
"Well." Robin crossed his arms and frowned, "He was. Apparently, about a year ago, a girl showed up and bested him."
"A hero?"
"No. Another villain. Not long after that, both disappeared. No one heard from them for another two months or so. Then there were reports of a duo robbing banks. They found another boy in a town about five hundred miles were Nightmare was from, and all three disappeared. All of this took about three months."
Speedy frowned and leaned forward, "So no one's seen them in nine months? How long would it take them to get here?"
Robin sighed, "That's the unknown factor in all of this. No one seems to know what the girls power is. Nightmare can...well...live up to his name. He apparently creates his victims worst fear, but only in their mind, so that no one else can understand why they're so scared."
"But..." Beast Boy's eyes had widened considerably, "That's what happened to me!" There was a moment of silence as the others considered this, then a collective shudder ran through the room.
It was Garth's job to ask one of the questions that no one wanted to think about, but that needed to be answered, "What is the other guy's power?"
"His name is Trickster." The boy wonder picked up a file from a nearby counter and began flipping through it, "He seems to actually be able to open portals to other dimensions."
"Like Herald?"
"Not exactly. He can store things, and this dimension seems to be his own. His favorite things to hide are bombs, but he stores rope in their too; he was a professional cat burglar before our mystery girl showed up. He can also blend into shadows, and he's used that talent to escape from jail more then once."
"Shit." The archer rubbed his eyes and sighed, "So, how are we supposed to stop them?"
"We can't until we know more about the girl." Kid Flash said grimly, fidgeting in his seat. He had been still for almost an hour now, and all he wanted to do was jump up and run to find Jinx. Needless to say, he wasn't overly happy, but he knew doing that would be suicide.
"One thing confuses me..." Garth frowned, "I thought you said guys had done this for some sick fantasy. Why would a girl make other girls live out their worst dreams?"
Beast Boy slumped in his seat, his ears drooping, "Maybe Trickster and Nightmare are controlling her."
"Nope." Robin leaned against the wall and began playing with a birdarang absentmindedly, "It said in all reports that she was calling the shots."
"Maybe they were wrong!" The others flinched at how harsh Cyborg's voice was, "How good of reporters can they be if they couldn't even find out what her powers were?" The leader simply shrugged helplessly. He had been running through all the scenarios he could think of, but all he had gotten was confused.
"I don't know, Cy."
Kid Flash jumped to his feet, grinning widely, ignoring the others looks of disgust, "Okay, now it's my turn. You guys gather facts, I'll go see if I can find out anything about these three." He was gone before anyone could react, eager to finally be doing something.
"Thanks Jerry! And in other news, one of the kidnapped girls was found today. The police are withholding the details, but the girl, Caroline Finney, age 15, was found by the docks. It appears that she died of a heart attack, which the authorities say is strange not only because of her young age, but because of her good health. If you have any details, plea--"
Neko flipped off the TV, unaware that up a few levels and across town, Robin was doing the same thing. The main difference between the two groups was the mood.
"Which authorities say is strange!" The cat girl crowed, pleased beyond all expectations. "None of the fools will consider her heart attack to be a result of anything but natural causes for at least a week."
"What about the Titans?" Nightmare sat in his usual chair, smirking and watching his leader bounce around the room playfully. She giggled and jumped onto her perch, purring softly.
"Oh, you silly boy. You think those idiots have even noticed that the kidnappings have happened? I doubt they'll ever make the connection. All we have to do is break their little girls a bit more, then we can use them as bait. And once we've defeated them all...well..." she giggled again, "Everyone will know how weak and pathetic they are!"
"The plan is fool proof, Neko!" Trickster grinned at from the couch, her good mood contagious.
She flipped her hair and curled up, her tail wrapping around her as she continued to purr, "Which is a good thing, eh, Trickster?"
He ignored the shot and continued to grin. Soon he would be famous, and it was all thanks to the girl. All they had to do was wait for the rest of the Titans, and he had no doubts that they would come.