: Engele :
- Day Six -
: Disclaimer :
Teen Titans and all its bishounens / bishoujos are not mine
Only Engele and this pretty plotline is mine
: Credits :
Story credits to both Aoi Akiko & (brother) Alexstar Moonlight
- Day Six -
Three more Titans entered the kitchen / dining area, in various states of wakefulness. "Morning, Mama… Auntie Rae… Unca Cy…" a particularly jovial presence greeted them, passing out PB&J sandwiches cut out into starbursts, love hearts and smiley faces…
"Engele invented a new way of using the cookie cutters," Robin said by way of explanation, letting the sausages sizzle and flipping the eggs to perfection for a more substantial breakfast, "She did the same to Beast Boy's tofu and the fruits in the fridge…"
At their sweatdropping looks, he blinked, "What…? She woke up at five this morning – I had to let her do something to keep her occupied…"
"I'll pass," Raven commented, glaring at the happy-happy faces surrounded by similarly-prepared flowers before depositing the whole share onto her counterpart's plate, who didn't seem to mind and was pouring mint sauce and ground gherkins over them in generous quantities, "Could someone hand me my tea from under the cabinets, please…"
"Obviously she did more than invent a new way of food presentation," Cyborg snickered, climbing into his chair. Engele was building a little house using the PB&J sandwich remains and had employed the salt & pepper shakers as its residence(1), making up silly stories about everyday life. "Speaking of tofu – where is the little grass-stain this morning…?"
"I shall check the whereabouts of our green friend…!" Starfire more than happily volunteered, having finished her first portion, and then some. She zoomed out of the doors and down the halls to where the rooms were…
"So, what have we planned today…?" their masked leader asked the remaining Titans, bringing over the rest of breakfast, "Practice… Patrols… Maintenance & security check—"
There was a scream from down below, and the Titans launched themselves into action. They found the source of the panicked cry, as well as the reason for it.
"Friends…" the Tamaranean reported forlornly, stepping away from the doors still in shock, "One of us has been Beast-Boy-napped…!"
Unca Cy was busy, watching the security feeds for tell-tale signs of intruders of the past night. It boggled him to see that there were no unauthorized persons present during the attack, all ionic signatures corresponding to those within the Tower. At 3:06:27 a.m., Unca BB was there. At 3:07:13 a.m., Unca BB was gone…
Mama and Auntie Rae was busy, too, searching the other parts of the tower for might-be hiding places if this was all a hoax on Unca BB's part. Yet, something told them this wasn't a joke, and that Unca BB was really gone. A bad person had come into the Tower, and the same bad person had taken Unca BB away…
"Where is Unca BB, Robin…?" she queried from her place at the doorway, her voice muffled as she squeezed her toy against her chest, worried-looking eyes peeking over its fluffy head, "Is Unca BB okay…?"
"I don't know, love…" he answered gruffly, grunting as he lifted another piece of ceiling from the floor, "I wish I did…"
Her Robin was the busiest of all, combing through the debris that was Unca BB's room, looking for clues. What frustrated him most was the method and weapon their adversary had utilized – all items within the room had been hacked into several pieces, but they were done so neatly, it looked more like sculpture-blocks ready to be put together again…
"Is he gonna be okay, Robin…?" she pressed, staring down at the almost perfectly-sliced triangular pieces of Unca BB's belt, "Will Unca BB come back…?"
"I don't know, love…" he returned curtly, a million and two concerns flying about his head: Who had taken Beast Boy? How had they taken Beast Boy? Why had they taken Beast Boy? "If I knew, I wouldn't be trying so hard to find out…"
"Will Unca Cy and Auntie Rae and Mama disappear, too…?" she whined desperately, half-unnecessary-panic, half-genuine-concern, "Will they, Robin?
"Will you disappear, too…?"
"I told you, I don't know…!" he hissed fiercely, "Now stop asking ridiculous questions so I can get back to work…!"
But Engele was already gone…
He'd found her in the garden, sobbing quietly into her lilac-and-pink plaything. Though his approach was silent, she could feel his cold, cold presence. She whirled to face him, frightened yet… confused…
This was the man who'd killed her butterfly—
"Why so sad…" he began, holding out his hand to her, "… dear daughter?"
—but this man… he called her 'daughter'…
… that would meant that he was her… father…?
"Go away," she tried weakly, taking several steps towards the trees behind her, "Wanna be alone…"
"Oh, but that's not true…" he reasoned, kneeling down and resting his free hand on his knee, "You don't really want to be alone, do you…?"
She turned away from him, defeated by her own lie, "No… I want Unca BB back… I want Unca Cy and Auntie Rae and Mama here…
"I want… Robin…"
He reached out to take her into his arms, actions comforting. She clung onto his shoulders weakly, willing to take his odd embrace, but not him entirely…
"Then make them stay…" he cooed, tracing purposeful patterns against the back of her neck, lulling her into false security, "Make them yours…
"It's what you want, isn't it…?"
She shook her head and pulled back, sensing his dangerous proposal, "N-no… not like that…"
He caught her and brought her close, preventing her escape. Digits pressed hard against her nape, she froze with a silent scream, limbs locked into place. Over his shoulder, her eyes clouded a ruby-tinged haze, her hair shifting several shades darker. Her fingers bled spirals of thin cords, frizzling into nothing. Behind her, her wings alternated feathers of a different hue…
"Isn't it?" he repeated, eyes narrowing knowingly.
She sagged against him, consciousness not her own, "… yes… Master…"
He'd glanced up to find the doorway empty, which was worrying in usual circumstances, ever more alarming with the current state of things.
"Engele…?"
He forced himself to calm – after all, as long as she was less than three-feet-tall, she wouldn't be able to get too far… even if she did manage to drag random boxes under whichever control panels again…
"Engele…?"
The kitchen hummed with silent activity, but none was initiated by her… The roof area staged an avian symphony, but she was not a spectator… The Game Room murmured a quiet temptation, but she was not there to answer it…
"Engele…?"
He found her in his room, asleep on the floor at the foot of his bed. Littered around her were sheets scrawled with an inexperienced hand, No please Robin… Don't go away… I'll be good, promise… Sorry please sorry…
The papers weighed heavily in his hands, heartbreaking words repeated over and over again. He knelt down beside her and sighed, "Oh, Engele…
"I've done it again, haven't I…?
"… done what again…?" she mumbled, rousing from her nap. Only when she realized who was kneeling in front of her, she snapped awake, shrinking away from him, "… Robin…"
He let the leaves fall from his hands, lunging forward to hold her. She squirmed in his arms, but he was determined to hold on.
"I'm so, so sorry… I didn't mean to lash out at you, but I was busy and focused and frustrated and…" he pressed his cheek to her forehead, "… Engele…"
She sniffled and explained her fears, all the little things coming together, "I was just so scared… I didn't want the bad man to take anymore people away… Not the other Titans… Not you…" she twisted her floppy bunny into impossible twists about the makeshift spine, "Don't go away, Robin… Don't leave me alone…"
"No one's going to leave you alone, Engele…" he soothed, patting her head and stroking the gathering saltwater at the corner of her eyes, "We'll get Unca BB back, and everything'll be okay…"
She buried herself into that promise, hoping to buffer herself with his words…
… little did he know that his words would soon fall, for the enemy was already moving fast against him…
"Robin," Cyborg summoned from the Hanger Bay, his voice bearing grave news, "We've got a situation—
"Starfire's gone…"
"Any luck locating Star?" Cyborg asked as he stalked through the Main Room. Raven shook her head, kneeling on the floor besides Robin as he typed out commands into their mainframe computer, every resource at his disposal put to the test. She was trying to coax Engele away from him so that he would work, but she wasn't too successful as the child seemed steadfast in her place.
"Unca BB's gone. Mama's gone," the angel keened petulantly, "Engele doesn't want Robin to go, too…"
"Why is she speaking in third-person2?" the eldest amongst them asked, frowning slightly. His leader shook his head slightly, "She's withdrawing(2) because she's afraid…" The sorceress explained it further, "It's a way of detaching herself(2) from what the real Engele is feeling…"
"O… -kay…" he frowned, "Engele aside… What've we got?"
"The same for Beast Boy – one minute, Starfire's in the Hanger Bay; the next, she's gone…" the halfling informed, "There is a split-second freeze-frame when her captor attacks – thin tendrils of some sort coming out of nowhere…"
"And then nothing…" the dark-skinned one finished, nodding in understanding, "Bringing us back to the time I found the room – sliced and diced like some sushi-chef disaster…"
"What puzzles me is the lack of reaction on Starfire's part…" the masked one argued, "It's almost as if she wasn't expecting the attack. Here—" he pointed to a blurred image on the screen, "—she's turned completely towards her captor. The next frame—" he jumped the next timed-image, "—she's overcome by whatever her captor used to take her…"
"So we're dealing with an unseen enemy?" Raven suggested, "Or an invisible one?"
"What about shapeshifters? Not like how Beast Boy does it – someone that looks like one of us…" Cyborg proposed, "It'll explain why Starfire didn't feel threatened…"
"But there's been no sign of any intruders in the Tower…" Robin reminded, "The security systems would've traced another's signature if there were… Unless it's someone who's been to the tower befor—"
The power shorted out. "What the—!" "Power grid malfunction?" "SLADE!"
All eyes whirled to the unmistakable silhouette leaning casually against the metallic portal.
"Hello, Robin… I believe you have my daughter…"
"Daughter!" they repeated, staring at their newest addition to the team, found huddled under the chair. Robin came forward, frowning yet confused, "Engele…?"
"Engele…? There is no Engele…" Slade purred languidly, descending the steps to the main area, "Her real name is Innocence… My Innocence…" He stood a fair distance away from the armed Titans, "Innocence, ATTACK!"
"… n-no…" the small one mewled, covering her ears with her hands, eyes squinted shut, "… please, n-no…"
"Nice try, Slade…" Cyborg quipped as Raven floated loosened ceiling panels and Robin his baton, "Titans, TAKE HIM DOWN!"
The fight was swift and brutal, each seeking the advantage of the upper hand. Fueled by the lost of their friends (the kidnapping of the Tamaranean princess a personal agenda for one) and the pseudo-accusation of their charge, the Titans held nothing back against this unwanted addition to their Tower…
Caught within closed quarters, the half-mechanical-machine chose to crush him with available objects rather than risk Swiss-cheesing half their home with charges of blue-white heat. Less inhibited was his magickal counterpart, yielding slashing arcs of dark energy at will, eager to catch him unaware. Furious already with everything against him, their enraged leader simply wanted to beat him unconscious, pitting strength against strengt—
"I do not lie, Robin," the masked one declared suddenly, pausing all assaults against him with a reluctant hostage held against his chest, an arm across her chest, fingers stroking her back, "She is my daughter – my Innocence…" She whinnied pitifully as cold-gloved digits reached her neck, "Innocence, ATTACK!"
There was a strangled cry, like some quiet animal falling prey to a vicious predator. Shades of twilight overcoming hues of dawn – the Titans took an involuntary step back as Robin's angel became Slade's demon.
He cradled her lifeless form, her face downcast. But when she lifted them, soulless eyes stared blankly ahead, manic grin set with murderous mirth.
"Yes, Master…"
Black, black threads(3) – countless filaments flying towards them with deadly accuracy, intending to lead them to their doom… They rained down from the ceiling and anchored themselves into the floor, a web of entanglement cornering them against their will. Metal armor did not shield against it, dark powers could not redirect its path, discs and bird-a-rangs useless to disintegrate it down to nothingness…
"Robin, run!" Raven was the first to fall, her billowing cloak pinned to a wall, limbs looped by several braids of glistening ebony. Three separated strands struck her neck, and the firelights faded from her eyes.
"Go NOW!" Cyborg echoed, waves of sonic blasts doing little to deter the eager tendrils too many, winding themselves round and round his weapon-arm and dragging him down to the ground, massing themselves over him. They wove themselves into a thicker cord and entered his cerebral mainframe, effectively shutting him down.
He'd lost his baton and most of his gadgets to them, thus it was only his agility keeping him one step away from their grasping coils. As yet, his best defense was to freeze them for those scant precious heartbeats as he dodged chunks of falling ceiling, cut into neat triangular-squares…
"You can run, but you cannot hide," his adversary taunted, stepping deliberately after the boy with the angelic demon held to him, "Better to come to me willingly than for them to suffer…"
"You won't hurt them!" the remaining Titan snarled, cornered against a wall of windows. He mocked straight back, "It's not like you to recycle failed tactics!"
"Ah, but you keep forgetting…" Slade disagreed, pressing the metallic cheek to the pale rosy cheek, "… this time, there's this one to think about…"
He froze at her hazed expression, "Engele…"
"Think about it…" he suggested, holding her hand up all the same. Fingers directed a silent symphony of strings, shattering glass in its wake…
/ROBIN…/
It wasn't his nature to be so graceless, but his paralyzed right arm and wounded leg left him little choice in the matter. At least he wasn't dead…
Robin coughed out blood, heaving painfully onto all fours. Rolling onto his back, he realized he had just leapt nearly 80 feet from the top of the Tower to the ground. If there hadn't been a net to break his fal—
… I don't remember installing a net…
He groaned, but stood and pressed himself against a sheltering tree, cradling his unmoving limb to himself. Examining his arm, he found three needle-like structures jutting out of his skin. He pulled viciously at them, watching them lose its rigidity to return to its pliant form, curling in his palm…
He did curse, slamming a fist into the trunk of his chosen refuge. Slade had planted a harbinger of ruin right under his mask, and he'd been blind to it the whole time…! Suddenly, all the little things she said made sense:
"They're my wings. They're the things that hide… me…"
Engele wasn't playing a game in her picture – she meant there was a demon inside her, of similar features but of different feathers…
… five dead faces having Xs for eyes surrounded a crying angel…
Engele wasn't the one threatened and left behind – she was the threat that would see to its fruition…
"Yes, Master…"
Engele the demon would destroy the Teen Titans under Slade's command, blind to all else except her Master…
… but Slade had called Engele, Innocence… And where there was Innocence, Engele seemed to fade away… Was there a significant line between the two warring entities? If there wasn't, then Engele had acted her part most convincingly… If there was—
/ROBIN…/
He looked up, searching wildly for his assumed safety net between him and shadowed sky. Eyes widened with sudden realization as he spotted the lines gleaming in the hues of dawn—
—there were threads everywhere… gold, gold threads…
Forgive me, Titans… you're not gonna like what I'm about to do…
Her powers were exhausted, her small body restricted to limitations. The afternoon had drained Innocence away, leaving Engele to deal with the aftermath. She curled up against the unconscious figures, finding little comfort in their cooling warmth…
"Wake up," she sniffled as she shook them desperately, "Please, please, wake UP…!" She whimpered, "Don't want this… Didn't want this…
"Engele wants her Robin…" she wept into her broken communicator in the tummy of her bunny, "Don't go away, Robin… Don't leave Engele alone…"
Aoi Akiko rambles:
(1) Salt & pepper house-residents…
There's a reason why you shouldn't be up at 5:00 a.m. (the same time Engele woke up) watching Blue's Clues on Nick Junior…
(2) Children speaking in third-person
There's a reason, too, why you shouldn't fall asleep reading child psychology the night before either…
(3) Black threads
Scant mentions beforehand, this is the first appearance of the actual use of black threads by Engele/Innocence. The only other mention were gold threads (see : Day Two :).
Gold threads belong to Engele. Black threads to Innocence. It gets a little more confusing later on, but for now, this is all you need to know…