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: Okay, run while you can. Please. I not only have an idea for a sequel, I have an idea for a sequel to the sequel. They're dark, creepy, and hopefully will not be written. However, if they are, this will lead directly into them. So, if you like this for some reason, leave now before you're stuck reading way more then you should have too.
Dedicated to: My (no longer) silent stalker. xDI hope you feel better soon!
They had searched for hours, and yielded no results. The return to the Tower had been eerily quiet, and the tension was making them all nervous. Robin would have given anything to have Raven with them, to make a sarcastic comment to break the silence, and Cyborg desperately missed Starfire's never ending stream of questions.
Once home, they split up to research, forgoing the third meal in a row without realizing it. Even if their hunger had registered in their exhausted brains, none of them would have been up to eating.
Surprisingly, it was a mistake that made the breakthrough they needed. Beast Boy had clicked a wrong link while surfing the database, and had stumbled across a police report detailing an attack by three mysterious villains that had occurred 10 months back and four states away. He had alerted the others and they had gathered immediately.
"It's Nightmare, all right. The details fit his M.O. perfectly." Robin stood in the front of the control room, the report displayed on the TV so that they could all see it. "And figuring in the timeline, it's safe to say his partners were Trickster and our mystery girl."
"So, can we contact them?"
The masked boy turned a bemused eye on Cyborg. "Already did. They gave me contact info for one of the witnesses. Apparently her husband was killed by the girl."
"How did she not get a good look at her?" Speedy sat on the couch, leaning forward intently. "You think you'd notice something like that!"
"She did. The description is just very…skewed. The attack happened fast, and the woman was in shock."
Beast Boy jumped to his feet, smiling for the first time since the girls had been kidnapped. "Dude! So we just talk to her, and work from there!"
"If she couldn't describe this girl then, then I doubt that almost a year passing will have helped. She's probably forgotten." Aqualad spoke up from his perch between Speedy and Cyborg. Beast Boy seemed to deflate, and sunk back into his seat.
"Oh yeah…"
"We do need to talk to her though. And we need to do it face to face." Robin began to pace, arms folded behind his back and eyes narrowed.
"So we take the t-ship to talk to her."
"Right. But we can't all go."
They paused and traded glances, then all sighed, almost in unison.
"I should stay here. Teether likes me, and I can watch over him and Timmy." Beast Boy glanced at the two young boys, who lay on the end of the couch, fast asleep.
"I'll stay too. I'll watch the twins." Aqualad jerked his thumb towards Mas y Menos.
Robin nodded to the two boys, then eyed the others grimly. "So. Cyborg, Speedy, and I will go."
"Hey! Don't forget about me!" A red blur appeared in the room, a blur that smirked as the others jumped.
"Stop doing that!" Cyborg flailed his arms at Kid Flash, who ignored him.
"I'm in too."
Speedy snorted and rolled his eyes. "Are you sure you can sit still for a five hour trip?"
"Yep! When do we leave?"
The leader paused, at a loss for words, then scowled. "As soon as the ship is ready. We need to get going. They've been gone for four days, and every minute we waste is another minute off their life expectancy."
"It's ready." Cyborg stood and headed towards the door. "Let's get going."
The others trailed after him, throwing glances back at the ones who had elected to stay, and hoping that nothing would happen while they were gone.
"Y'all sure we're right about this?"
Robin frowned. They were two hours into the trip, and up until now it had been silent. Even Kid Flash hadn't spoken up. "What?"
"What if we're wrong about this?"
Speedy answered before Robin could. "It's the only lead we have, so we have to at least try."
"That's not what I mean. What if we're wrong about the girls?"
"I don't know about you, but I'm pretty convinced they were kidnapped."
Cyborg rolled his eyes, ignoring the fact that Robin couldn't see him. "Yeah, but do they need us to save them?" The silence that greeted his comment was thick was confusion. "C'mon. You guys have been fighting next to Rae and Star and Bee for a while now. They're not weaklings."
"They were kidnapped! I don't care if you're worried or not, but I'm not leaving Jinx there!" Flash's voice was terse, and he had lost his trademark grin.
"Hey, man! I'm worried about all of them! Jinx, Kole, Raven, Bee, Starfire, and Melvin! But damn, they have never needed us to save 'em! Remember the time I asked Kole how a little thing like her fought? Rae and Star almost jumped me." He paused, letting the others absorb this. "They're heroes too. We can't forget that."
"Cyborg, heroes or not, they were kidnapped. If some one get kidnapped, they need help no matter who they are." Robin stared ahead grimly.
"Yeah, but man...we've all been acting like they're weak little girls that have no chance if we don't rush in and save 'em!"
"I'm not leaving them there. I don't care how much the statistics change if you're a hero, they need our help."
Cyborg sighed into the oppressive silence, hoping the others wouldn't end up making a stupid mistake because of their worry.
"Ms. Cavere? May we speak with you?"
The woman that had opened the door eyed them cautiously. She was middle-aged with graying hair and had the look of someone who had lost a lot of weight in a very short period of time. Her eyes were a dull blue, and she viewed them with nothing more then a weary disdain and fear. "What do you want?"
"My name is Robin. I'm with the Teen Titans, from Jump City. We spoke on the phone."
"I already told you, and the police, and the press that I don't remember a damn thing! Why can't you all just leave me alone?"
"Because, ma'am. We believe your husband's killer is in our city, kidnapping young girls."
Dorsey Cavere, who had been Dorsey Tamic only ten months ago, hesitated then stepped back from the door slightly. "Come in. I doubt I'll be able to help, but I'll try."
"It all happened so fast. We went to pull some money so that we could go shopping. It was a few days from our godson's birthday, and we knew just what we wanted to get him." The harried woman sat perched on an over-stuffed chair, avoiding the eyes of the four boys mashed together on her couch. "We drove up, got out of the car, and a blur appeared. This...creature attacked my husband and slash at his cheek, then disappeared."
"Slashed his cheek?"
"Yes. The autopsy said it looked like a cat had attacked him."
"What killed him?"
"They said he was poisoned. The claw marks were filled with poison."
"Robin calling Beast Boy. Beast Boy, are you there?"
"Yeah. What's up?" Beast Boy and Aqualad stood in front of the monitor, each holding one of the young boys. Robin stared down at them, his expression a mix of grim disbelief and shock.
"We got a hold of the woman. Her husband was killed by something that she describes as a 'monster with cat-like reflexes. Not much to go on, but I need you two to start searching as soon as possible."
"Got it. Anything else we should look for?" Aqualad frowned as the masked boy paled visibly.
"Y-yes. Poison. If anyone has died of a mysterious poison in the last year, check into it. Robin out."
The two stared at the blank screen, then turned to each other. "Aquadude?"
"Yeah?"
"Did he say poison?"
"Yeah."
"...Fuck!"
"Her name is Neko." For once, the speaker was not Robin. Aqualad and Beast Boy stood in front of the others, displaying a fuzzy looking photograph. "She has no powers, per se. She's...some kind of genetic mutant."
The green boy took up the story. "Neko apparently means 'cat' in Japanese. Don't know how she found that out, but it fits her. She's half-cat. Tail, ears, fur, the whole bit. She's 16, and started raiding medical supply shops three years ago, on the west coast. That's how she made the poison."
"That means she's in town." They all turned to Speedy, who flushed lightly but continued. "If she can't teleport, and Nightmare and Trickster can't, they have to be in town. It wouldn't have been safe to transport three superheroes very far, even if they're drugged."
Robin nodded. "You're right. So we have a place to start looking. Kid Flash, can you search the city? Just a quick look around. If you find anything, come back; don't try anything stu-" Before the last words were out of his mouth, the speedster was gone. " -pid. Great."
"So what do we do?"
Ignoring his annoyance for the time being, the masked boy turned to assembly of Titans, all staring at him. "We need to start searching. Flash might find something, but we need to fan out and do more detailed explorations. We'll start where the girls body was found, and work from there."
"Right! Are we splitting into teams?" Beast Boy had sat down, and was now perfectly still except for his knee, which was bouncing Teether gently.
"Yes. But we need someone to stay with them." He motioned to the young boys and tried to ignore it as the changeling's face fell.
"Yeah...okay..." He looked down at the infant, then frowned and looked around the room. "But you have to promise to come get me if you find anything."
"He's already stayed here. I'll watch them." Speedy forced a smile, but his tone was one of disappointment and wariness. Timmy had already bitten him twice, and it was obvious that he expect the child to do it again.
The green boy shook his head. "No. They like me, and I like them, and..." His voice caught. He wanted to say something, to tell them that it was Rae would have wanted, but that sounded so final. It made it sound like she was already dead. With a swift shake of his head, he hugged Teether gently, then looked at the others. "Go. I don't care. Just promise you'll call if anything happens."
"We will BB." Cyborg laid a heavy hand on his friends shoulder, his one human eye filled with worry for his young friend. After brief murmurs from all of them, they filed out of them room, leaving just in time to miss the tears as the flowed freely down Beast Boy's cheeks.
"Speedy calling Cyborg. You there?"
"Yeah. Find anything?"
"No. You?"
"Nothing. Robin hasn't called in a while though, and neither has Aqualad."
"Shit."
"Don't worry, man. They're big boys."
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I can't worry. Bee was a big girl, and look what happened to her."
"Cyborg?"
"Yeah?"
"Sorry man. I didn't mean it."
"Yeah. Listen, I've got to get back to work. I'm sure they'll check in soon."
"Right. Later man."
"Later."
"Robin calling Cyborg. Robin calling Cyborg!"
"Whoa, calm down! What's up?"
"I need you to get a hold of Speedy and Aqualad right now!"
"Why?"
"Kid Flash found something. I need you guys to get your asses over here right now!"
"You...what?"
"You heard me! Get over here now!"
The boys grimaced and covered their noses as the scent of the sewers hit them. "Of course they're in the sewers. Why the hell do they always have to be in the sewers?"
"Quiet, Speedy!" Robin held his cape up in front of his face, and shuddered. "We need to get in there, now." The group stood in front of a small steel door set into the concrete walls of one of the sewer pipes. Kid Flash had stumbled across it by pure accident, and after questioning all the vagrants nearby he had found out that a boy dressed completely in black had been seen in the area multiple times.
Mas y Menos had conveyed the message to everyone that they couldn't reach by communicator, and they had all gathered. Beast Boy stood in the back, fuming, and finally spoke up. "Dude! Why did we bring them?"
Aqualad glanced over his shoulder where Bobby stood, holding both of the children. "Because. None of us were willing to stay behind."
Gnarrk grunted in agreement, then focused on the door, scowling. "Gnarrk!"
"Quiet." Robin snapped again, then scowled. "The doors locked. So much for subtly..." He threw a small disk at the door, then dived backwards. The others followed, as the explosion that followed deafened them momentarily, and blew the door from its hinges. Once they had their equilibrium back enough to stand, then masked boy threw out his hand. "Titans go!"
They traversed the dark corridors silently, as if trying to make up for the noise created while destroying the door, and all they managed to do was get extremely lost. Ten minutes past, then twenty...still nothing. That alone was eerie; why weren't they being attacked? As if this thought had triggered it, a net placed under their feet jerked up, and they found themselves jumbled together in midair.
"Ow!"
"What the hell?"
"Ah! What am I touching?"
"Gnarrk!"
"Ahhh!"
"Where are they?"
"Crap!"
The cries of outrage and fear echoed around the hallway, and Robin struggled to get his arms loose; they had gotten trapped under his body and someone was crushing him, making it impossible to get free. "Flash! Get out of the net!"
The voice that answered him was muffled. "Would if I could, but I'm crushed between Bobby and Cyborg!"
"Where are the kids?" Beast Boy's frantic voice was the next to speak up.
"They're okay. Bobby's still holding them." Speedy answered him, anger obvious. "And I'd say their lungs are working perfectly, at least."
Silence fell as they each fought. Beast Boy suggested shifting into a large animal, and the frantic disagreements from those around him came almost in unison. Suddenly, the net jerked slightly, and they all yelped. Something flickered in the corner of Aqualad's eye and he froze. The others followed his example, watching the figure, and the next thing they knew they were surrounded by shadows, each posed aggressively and holding the boys lives in their hands.