Title: I can
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, Angst
Rating: R
Summary: The girls can take care of themselves.
A/N: Going to be longer then I thought, but there shouldn't be more then two chapters left. Have fun.
There are a lot of overlapping scenes in this, but I thought it was necessary.
"Why are we here again?"
Robin rubbed at his temples, attempting to ignore Beast Boy. They had heard the same question ten times, mainly because he had fallen asleep during the briefing, and they were all too tired to explain it too him again.
"BB, if you had actually paid attention you would know!" Cyborg snapped at the changeling. Their patience was already worn thin, and none of them could put up with the others for long, and it was starting to show even around strangers.
Beast Boy's ears drooped and he whimpered, "I'm sorry! I just haven't been sleeping well, and..." He flailed his arms, hoping the others would understand what he couldn't currently explain.
"Let's just go. They're expecting us." The boy wonder's voice was harsh and the others winced slightly, following him into the tall building warily.
"What if this lead is a waste?" Speedy didn't even realize he had spoken until Robin yelled at him.
"Then at least we'll have done something good! Now get your ass in gear!"
This mission was quickly becoming even more urgent. They had all learned an important lesson since this had begun; if they lost the girls, they were screwed. Starfire had discovered her importance to the team when she traveled to the future. But did Raven know that she was the only one that could control Beast Boy and keep them on task?
Did Bumblebee know that without her, Cyborg fell to fighting with her team because he couldn't deal with them without her help? Did Melvin realize that she and Raven were the only ones that Teether and Timmy listened too, and that without her, Bobby had a tendency to growl at them? Kole had to know how much she meant to Gnarrk, that he had trouble dealing with society even with her, but that without her he simply curled up in a corner. And Jinx had had as big of an influence on Kid Flash as he had had on her.
Without the girls, they were frustrated, fighting, working hard but getting nowhere.
Did they even know that? If they didn't…and they died…
Thoughts of this nature were evident on every face as a man in a dark blue suit walked towards them briskly. Once he stood in front of them he held out his hand for the leader to shake. "Robin? Hello. I'm Lieutenant Wade. I'm in charge of the investigation."
The boy wonder shook his hand, still looking grim, "Nice to meet you. What do you know?"
"Well." The man hesitated, "The death is very unusual. She was young, in perfect health, but her heart had literally exploded in her chest. It was almost like she had been scared to death."
"What?"
"Yes. It can happen. In fact, it happens to animals like rabbits on a regular basis. Humans are harder to kill this way, though, so the kidnappers had to be doing something fucking horrible to her, if you'll pardon my French."
They already knew this, but the lecture did manage to erase any lingering hopes. Nightmare was indeed in town, and that could only mean the Trickster and the mystery girl were too.
"Alright." Robin shook his head, trying unsuccessfully to eliminate thoughts of failure, "So, what can we do to help?"
The control room was quiet for once. Nightmare was still asleep, Trickster was off somewhere, practicing no doubt, and she had time for herself.
The cat girl stretched then began to pace thoughtfully. She hadn't visited her prisoners for a few hours now, but Raven was no threat, and all of the others had gotten double amounts of stun drug last time they had been fed.
This was all going so perfectly! It had taken longer then planned, but that was all right. Raven's room had been hard to construct, and it had taken lots of testing before it was ready for her. It was all worth it now though. None of them would ever escape.
One of the only problems was the need for test subjects. They would have used people with no connections, but that might have react differently. The hypnotism needed to be keyed for it's captive; young, female, introverted, with lots of loved ones to exploit.
What amazed her most were the spells. They had been hard to track down. Ones to control her powers, and underneath that, more subtle ones that she had no doubt missed. They controlled her mood, making anger impossible to feel. All Raven could feel was apathy, and depression, if they had worked right, and considering the way she had reacted to Bumblebee's 'death', she was sure they had.
Neko giggled, then flopped on the couch and smiled. She would visit the little demon soon, and perhaps she would find out if the prisoner could feel anything else. The cat girl was bored with mind games; the next time she visited her captives, she meant to show them what her claws could do.
"I'm hungry."
Jinx turned her head slightly to look at the girl. It had been hours since Trickster had been in to feed them, and she didn't know if the idiot had forgotten, or if this was simply another torture method, "I know Melvin. I am too."
"Is Bumblebee awake yet?" The young girl lay hunched her corner, too weary to strain her neck to look at the table where the unconscious girl laid.
"No."
"...Starfire?"
"No."
Melvin's face scrunched up and Jinx turned, not able to deal with tears this point. She never expected what came next.
"aaaAAAHHH!" The girl was nine. In other words, young, even for the Titans. She had never experience horrors like this. True, none of them had, but she had no defenses built. She was mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted. She had seen her big sister/mother figure's corpse, and she could not deal with it anymore. She wanted to go home, and with no way of doing that, she simply did what all children do at least once.
She threw a tantrum.
"I want Raven, I want Bobby, I HATE YOU!"
Jinx shrunk back in her chair, eyes wide, as rocks simply appeared in front of her and aimed themselves at the mirror. The screams and sound of glass shattering mingled together, and it took her a few seconds to realize that two new voices were in the mix.
"MELVIN!"
"WHAT THE HELL?"
Trickster walked through the corridors of their lair, smirking to himself. He had found more storage space in his little dimension, and that meant a chance for more havoc to be wreaked.
He entered the control room and waved to his leader, who gave him a cheery smile in return, "Hey. Trickster, how much extra stun potion did you give them? I need to know when they'll be awake enough to feel pain."
"...Stun potion?" Amazing how quickly she could destroy his good mood. Her smile faded slightly and she began to walk towards him.
"Yes, extra stun potion. You know, the stuff you were supposed to give them the last time you went in to feed them?"
"Oh! Yeah! Um." He grinned and shrugged, "Give 'em another hour."
Her smiled returned and with a nod and a giggle she hopped up onto her perch. Sure, he hadn't actually fed them, but an hour would give him enough time to feed them a little less them the usual dose, and they would be in the mood she wanted them to be in. He planned on doing it right away. But he had time for a few rounds on the game station, right?
Raven sat staring into the window, watching her friends, eyes dull. Melvin looked like she was about to cry again. Jinx was turning away, a pained look on her face. Then suddenly, the little girl began to scream.
"I want Raven, I want Bobby, I HATE YOU!"
She barely registered what happened next, saving herself by reflex and not thought. She strained forward, head ducking down, and winced as a shard of glass struck her shoulder. As much as it hurt, it could have been much worse, and she counted herself lucky for that.
After a few seconds it registered that her friends could now see her, and sat up straight, interested in life for the first time in days. "MELVIN!"
Bumblebee woke slowly, the murmur of voices sounding very dream like. Jinx…and Melvin. Somewhere in the back of her mind she realized that Starfire must still be asleep, no doubt exhausted from fighting the drugs enough to break the jar.
Suddenly, she heard screams, then a crash, then a voice that she had never expected to hear again.
"MELVIN!"
She bolted up, the sounds working together to finally bring her fully back to consciousness, and she screamed her question to the girl that she believed to be dead. "WHAT THE HELL?"