Wow, not very many reviews on the last chapter, but since it's time for my weekly update, here goes!
-T-
Adeline Wilson sat at the cubicle in her office and slowly wrung out her hands, completely oblivious of the work she was required to do today. A job working with a weekly magazine had never been her idea of how to make a living when she was younger, but here she was. Being the boss of all the other employees was a hard job as well, but at least it made good income.
Normally, she was all business when it came to assigning stories and hiring or firing people, but today she seemed to be in slow motion; little was it known to anyone else, but she had both her sons on her mind and worried that something was terribly wrong. Sitting around all day and waiting for the news about your oldest child's death to be comfirmed was not exactly a relaxing process.
Adeline picked up one of the many pens off her desk and tapped it on her coffee mug impatiently. All she had been doing for the past few weeks was sitting around and waiting for word from Joseph. She hadn't talked to him since the last time he had called, and she couldn't really talk with him that way. She spent most of her free time hoping she would find a letter from him in the mail saying that he was all right, and especially she wanted to hear that Grant was still alive and well. She had been on the internet a few times, searching in American news for any sign of the boy's death, but it didn't even relieve her that she found none. If just one person in that country died, it was more than likely not going to be reported, so it was best to just wait to hear it all from Joseph.
She leaned back in her chair and glanced around the cubicle wall to the left of her, where a man sat typing quickly at a computer. Lately every man reminded her of Slade, and it angered her severely. That lying, cheating, killer who had been proud enough to gamble with her son's life and cost him his voice forever, who had a teenage daughter that no one had even known about, and who probably killed people for a living when he had said he was 'away on business'. And what about Grant? Slade had been the one who had broken the news to her, and he hadn't been very gentle about it. Adeline decided to assume it was true for a second, just to marvle at her husband's harshness over the situation. Grant was Slade's son as well, so how cold-hearted could a father get?
She was so angry that she would have signed the divorced papers in a hearbeat if they had been in front of her, but in reality she was staring at the man in the next cubicle with a look of terrible hatred, and he stopped typing and looked at her strangely.
"Is there something I can do for you, ma'am?" he said warily.
Adeline blinked hard and returned to the present, softening her expression and stuttering, "Oh no, no, I was just- um, no. I'm sorry. Please- uh, continue with your work." She turned back to her own computer and laid her fingers lightly across the keyboard, though she didn't type anything. Now she felt like such an idiot. She glanced at the clock and sighed. She would have to have some word from Joseph soon, or she didn't know what she was going to do.
-T-
Jericho heard faint voices in the distance that sounded as if they were thousands of miles away and struggling to get closer. He opened his eyes slightly and saw a dim light somewhere, but he couldn't quite focus on it yet. He stretched slowly, but a sharp pain quickly drove him back to his original position. Obviously, it was best not to move right now. But what had happened, and where was he? He wanted to ask, but couldn't lift his hands very much to sign the questions. He blinked hard and finally managed to make out four dark figures around him. He sighed heavily in an attempt to moan, and one of the figures moved.
"I believe he is waking up," a thin female voice whispered. Someone touched his arm, and the same voice said gently, "Jericho, are you okay? Please tell us."
He nodded slowly. He didn't feel okay, but he might as well tell her that he was. But who was she, anyway, and the rest of these people around him? And where was he? He wished that he was at home in Tibet in his own bed with his mother standing above him, but his senses told him that he wasn't.
Someone flicked on a small light and now Jericho could focus better. He was in a small space with a single window that was covered with thick blinds, and he recognized it as a hospital room. It reminded him of when he had woken up after getting stitches in his throat a few years ago, and wondered if he was reliving that again, but his throat didn't hurt. The back of his neck, maybe, but not his throat.
Jericho focused on the people around him, blurrily at first, but after he strained his eyes he could make out four of the Titans, and his memory came flooding back to him right to where the bomb and had gone off in the alley. So that was what was wrong with him.
"Hey man, you've been out for hours, are you okay?" Cyborg asked.
This time Jericho didn't nod. Now that he was more conscious, he could feel that his body was in such pain that it was hard to tell what hurt and what didn't. Something heavy was on his right arm. He glanced down and saw an IV. How long had he been asleep, and how long had he been in the hospital? He turned his head towards the closest person and saw Robin. He brought his hands together and managed to sign, "How long?"
"You've been out since late last night," Robin replied, opening the blinds on the window, but no light came inside. "It's nine o'clock now."
So he had been knocked out for nearly twenty hours or so, and it was no wonder. Jericho remembered the bomb, but whatever detail had happened after that, it was obvious that he had taken the blow hard.
"Dude, we were starting to think you went into a coma," Beast boy said seriously, for once. "What hurts?"
Jericho struggled to sit up a little, but when he discovered it was a lost cause, he laid back and signed painfully, "Everything."
Starfire stood up and laid a hand on his forehead. "If you were not injured, I would hug you. We wish for you to be okay now please."
So do I, Jericho thought, and he smiled at Starfire's sweetness, but she was no longer looking at him. "I believe he has the fever," she said.
"I'd say he does," Robin replied. "Somebody should tell..."
Jericho tried to listen to what else was said after that, but even though he fought it, he closed his eyes again and fell asleep.
-T-
Raven sat alone in a small waiting room, her arms crossed and her knees pressed tightly together. She was the only one of Titans who had not been to Jericho's room, and she wanted it to stay that way. Though it was not like her to be like this, she felt mostly responsible for the damage he had taken. Right before the bomb Ravager planted went off, Raven had thrown up a large shield to protect herself and the rest of the team, but how could she have missed Jericho? She had been aiming for everybody, and she had missed him. How could she have messed up with something as serious as that? The rest of the team had escaped damage, but Jericho had taken the explosion head on and now he was the one paying for her mistake.
Raven had kicked herself a thousand times already, but she couldn't let herself feel too bad about it or her powers would get out of control and they might have another explosion of their own here. Secondly, she hated hospitals and had been here for almost twenty-four hours, and it was about to drive her crazy. At least the room she was in was small and quiet, with nobody else in it. There were two chairs, a TV in the right corner near the ceiling, and on the left wall was a window that allowed her to see somewhat into the hall. She was sitting at the opposite wall from the door.
Cyborg came down the hall and opened the door to the room, coming in and letting it fall closed behind him. He smiled pleasantly at Raven, who just looked dully at him.
"Jericho woke up a few minutes ago," he said, walking over and cramming his bulky metal frame into the chair beside her. "He stayed awake long enough for us to tell him what's going on, but then he fell asleep again."
"Did he act like he was in pain?"
"Well sort of, but they've got him on so much medication, it's hard to tell when he's awake and when he's not," Cyborg joked. Then his smiled died when he saw that Raven didn't find it humerous. True, she almost never laughed or smiled, but for some reason he could tell that there was a reason this time. "It's not your fault, you know."
Raven gave him a withering look. "Cyborg, I was negligent."
"But it's not your fault. You tried to protect him from the blast, but you didn't, so-"
"I could have, and I don't know why I messed up," Raven said sternly, but she refused to let her voice rise. She had to keep her emotions under control. Soon she had to get out of this room and go somewhere for some serious meditation. "I know he would have helped me, so he deserves to be helped, doesn't he?" She stood from her chair and let her cloak fall forward over her shoulders. "I'm going home for some rest, and in the morning I'm coming back to heal him."
Cyborg stood too. "Can you do that? I mean, with someone's whole body and everything? I know you've done it with Robin's arm before, and you didn't even fix that all the way. What are you going to do for Jericho?"
Raven stopped walking and glanced back over her shoulder. "Everything I can."
She continued out the door and down the hall a ways and saw Robin, Starfire, and Beast Boy coming out of the elevator. She turned to avoid them, but Starfire flew over quickly and put a hand on Raven's shoulder. "He has fallen asleep again," she said innocently.
"I know," Raven replied. She glance up from the floor. "Robin... I think something should be done about Slade and his new apprentice."
Robin looked at her in surprise, his eyebrows shooting up. "Well yeah, we've always thought that. But you know it's not just that easy."
Raven crossed her arms and leaned against a wall. "Something should be done. For some reason, those two seem to really have their sights set on Jericho."
"Well they apparently don't like that we've got someone else on our side," Beast Boy said.
"Of course they don't, it's just one more person they have to fight against; one more person that's there to foil their evil plans," Cyborg agreed.
Raven suddenly remembered the other day when Jericho told her he had something to tell her about Slade. Maybe Slade had hassled Jericho the same way he had Robin before. But Raven didn't want to tell the others that Jericho had said that about Slade to her. If he had wanted the rest of the team to know, he would have told them.
"So, what exactly do you have in mind to do to Slade?" Robin asked.
"Wait, someone must stay here with Jericho before we do anything," Starfire said.
Beast Boy raised a hand. "I will. But I want to know what's going on in case you need back-up."
Raven narrowed her eyes. "Let's all go outside and I'll tell you what I have in mind."
-T-
The half moon was high in the sky and halfway covered in thin clouds by midnight that night. The city lights could be seen in the distance over the tree-covered hill beside the abandoned sewer below, where a huge chunk of earth had been dug from the ground and then tunneled down straight into the pipe. Four figures moved silently through the dark night, then paused above the sewer to take direction from the leader.
Robin held up a hand to stop the team behind him and listened intently. He could hear water somewhere down below dripping slowly but steadily, and he waved the team forward. Cyborg, because of his size, seemed to be the only one that was having trouble keeping quiet, but he managed. When they reached the entrance of the pipe, Robin held up a hand again, stopping them once more. He pointed to Raven and motioned her inside, and she teleported down into the ground with her powers and traveled down the length of the pipe in her soul self form, which was like a large black, transparent raven.
Raven carefully scanned the sewers with her powers and her senses until she picked up sounds from about a mile down. Still inside the cement walls, she slowed down and then stopped when she caught sight of a single lantern hanging from the ceiling and casting off a light orange glow and reflecting off the shallow water below. A girl, obviously Ravager, leaned motionless against the wall with her hands behind her back, and Raven new it was time to signal the others. She traveled up through the dirt and rocks and shot high up into the hair in her raven form to show the team that it was time to move.
"There's Raven's signal," Robin whispered, and Starfire grabbed his hands and flew towards Raven, who had returned to her normal form, as Cyborg followed behind. Starfire got there quickly and dropped Robin to the ground quietly as he nodded once at her. She nodded in return and brought back both hands behind her head, her fingers bent savagely, and aimed at the spot Raven had exited the ground from, charging up a large starbolt. As she was doing this, Cyborg got his sonic cannon poised and ready, and Robin whipped out a few bombs from his utility belt. They let all three weapons fly at one time, and the explosion was massive as the ground and cement pipe way below were blown to pieces.
In the pipe, Ravager gasped and threw up her hands to protect her head as rock and cement fell down around her. Before the dust and dirt was even cleared, she saw herself glowing black as she was lifted by what seemed like nothing out through the makeshift hole and into the night air. Not surprisingly, she found herself face-to-face with four of the Titans. Jericho was not with them either. Ravager tried to fight against the telekinetic powers that suspended her above the ground, but it was useless. Raven, the source of the power, narrowed her eyes angrily and clutched her hand into a fist, constricting the force she held on Ravager and causing her to cry out.
"Tell us what you want with Jericho," Raven demanded slowly.
Starfire, eyes glowing green, landed on the ground and planted her feet far apart. "You attempted to destroy him. What has he ever done to you?"
"So you don't know?" Ravager teased, gasping from the pressure that held her, but still managing to keep her cool. "Apparently you don't know him very well."
"And you do?" Cyborg said, aiming his sonic cannon directly at her face. "You have some explaining to do here."
Ravager grinned defiantly and managed to reach into her belt and drop a flash bomb. Raven tried to cover her eyes, but it exploded and she was blinded, her concentration breaking, which left her no choice but to let go of her mental hold on Ravager, who dropped to the ground and whipped out a bo staff.
Robin moved to jump her, but Starfire was faster and planted eye beams into the girl's stomach, causing her to drop her weapon and slide across the ground a few yards. Cyborg grabbed Ravager by both arms and held her dangling above the ground as Raven walked forward, her eyes glowing white. "We have a few things to say in Jericho's favor, since he's not here to say it for himself."
"Go right ahead," Ravager said, and she twisted her body around and kicked Cyborg in the face with both feet and sent him reeling. She landed gracefully on the ground and pressed a button on her belt, which started blinking.
"You can call Slade," Robin said, "but we're ready for him too. For Jericho's sake, you're not getting out of this one." He pulled his bo staff out and twirled it a few times around his fingers, making it plain to the girl in front of him that he was ready for battle and wasn't afraid to fight her, even with two less people on the team than he had last time.
Ravager reached into a holster tied to her hip and pulled a sword from its sheath, causing a metallic sound as it swished from the leather. "We'll see about that." She held the sword in front of her. "And I know Jericho's not dead. I saw you take him alive yesterday. So you can stop with the mind tricks." She narrowed her eyes behind her mask. "Me and him have a few things to get straight."
"No," Raven said, the glowing of her eyes even more intense than before. "You and I have a score to settle now. You will pay."
The bright moon above was covered by a thick cloud, and everything went dark.