"Damnit, Beast Boy, why is it that every time someone needs you, you disappear?" Robin kicked the side of his car, cursing anew when, not only did his foot throb, but a new, noticeable dent appeared.
"Shit." Robin shoved his hand through his hair, glancing around the hotel parking lot. This had been the sixteenth hotel he had tried, and Beast Boy had not been in a damn one of them. There were seventeen hotels located in Jump City.
With an aggravated sigh, Robin climbed into his car, and marked off the hotel on the Jump City map. Sixteen down, one to go. Robin flicked on the radio, cranking it up as loud as it would go. HIM blared from his speakers, but did little to sate his frazzled nerves.
The early morning sun was starting to rise behind Jump City, the sky a canvas of orange and pink, with a border of midnight black. As he drove through the city, early morning couple jogged down the snow-covered sidewalks, bundled from head to toe in fleece and cotton. A few waved to him as he passed, but Robin was too tired to lift his hand in greeting.
He had wasted three hours searching for Beast Boy. Hours that could have been spent searching through the woods that Starfire had to be in. If it weren't for Beast Boy, Starfire might have been in his arms. It didn't help that Twain had demanded to go home when a thought had stuck him. Robin had no clue what the sudden burst of information had been, but he had been forced to go back to his hotel, let Twain get his car, and start to search for Beast Boy. In other words, Robin was not in a good mood.
Grounding his teeth against a yawn, Robin pulled into the last and final hotel. But he frowned. There were no cars here. Robin pulled around the back of the building and into the garage. Still nothing.
Parking at the entrance and leaving his headlights on, Robin hopped out of his car, flashlight in tow. After a brief glance, Robin realized that this hotel was deserted. Walking back to his car, his heart heavy, Robin reached for the door. His hand paused.
Maybe it would be a good idea to just walk around. Maybe there was something he missed. Sighing, Robin spun on his heel and walked back into the gloomy garage. Keeping the thin beam of light on the ground, Robin trudged forward, his mind racing. If Beast Boy hadn't been at the other hotels, and this one was deserted, where the hell could he be?
Could he be—Robin froze, his gaze jerking to the floor when glass crunched beneath his boot. Eyes narrowed, Robin crouched down. Shards of glass littered the floor, along side a tire track. Someone peeled out of here pretty fast, he mused to himself, rising once again to glance around the area. Moving along slowly, Robin searched for anything that would suggest someone escaping from here. If it were abandoned, why would someone race from a place? And why was there glass littering the floor?
Robin sighed. He was just overreacting. Tire marks and shattered glass didn't mean anything. This could have been from the sixties or something. It could be—
Suddenly, the garage door opened. Robin jerked, dropping his flashlight and reaching for his bird-a-rang that was strapped to his hip. He heard a mild curse, and a body dropping to the ground. Then there was nothing.
Body tense and ready to pounce, Robin moved forward slowly, a frown tugging at his mouth. He really wished he had a gun right about now…But the closer he got, the more he realized that the person lying there was Beast Boy. Even in the dark, Robin could spot the green skin peeking from beneath the tan.
"Beast Boy?" Robin asked feeling mildly guilty at blaming the boy for being unreachable when he noticed his teammate was injured.
"Marty," Beast Boy coughed, flipping on to his back and gazing at the ceiling.
"Marty? What about him? His he hurt?"
Even though dizzy with pain, Beast Boy managed a glare. "No, you idiot. Marty's the White Rose. He…ran after Raven. She's…weak…healed…me." Beast Boy took a deep breath. "Next time I'm one the brink of death, remind me to keep my big corny mouth shut."
Confused at the barrage of information, Robin helped the wounded Beast Boy to his feet. His eyes landed on Beast Boy's bare chest. "Jesus, Beast Boy. What the hell happened? And how the hell are you still alive?" Panic clogged his throat as he studied to entrance wound on his teammates chest. "That had to hit something vital." Oh shit. Beast Boy's not going to…die, is he?
Beast Boy coughed, pressing a clawed hand to the injury. "It did."
Robin felt his one of his worst fear cultivate before his eyes. He was going to lose one of his best friends…
As if reading his mind, Beast Boy said weakly, "Raven healed me. I…the bullet did hit something vital, but she healed me to where I won't die…yet. I'm still bleeding, but somehow, she managed to save me. But now, she's weak. She…I don't know where she is. Marty ran after her. She's hurt, too, Robin. Badly. I think he hit her more than once."
"Hit?"
"Bullet. He…has a son, Marty does. Did the dirty work for him. So we're not dealing with just one sick fuck, Robin. We're working with two."
Robin ran a hand through his hair again. Marty was the White Rose? Once he thought about it, it made sense. But a son?
"Who could his son be?"
Beast Boy stumbled, but Robin caught him quickly, wrapping an arm around his waist while placing his arm over Robin's shoulder. He helped his teammate to the vehicle. Quickly, Robin went to the trunk and pulled out the first aid kit that Twain had added at when he got the car.
As Robin gathered the ingredients he would need to bandage his friend's chest and shoulder, Beast Boy answered through clenched teeth, "I don't know." His breath came out in a hiss when Robin poured alcohol over the wound, his claws digging into the seats. Robin couldn't help but flinch. Never before had one of his friends been shot before, so Robin didn't know what to do. He had dealt with broken bones and deep gashes, but never something so serious as a gunshot wound.
"Do you know where they are?" Beast Boy asked, trying to get his mind off the horrific pain that seared through his torso.
"You mean Starfire? Yeah, I do. But before we can go there, we need Colt, Wyatt, and Ethan. This is something we can't do alone."
Beast Boy managed a pain-filled smile. "The great almighty Boy Wonder submitting to help? Hell must be frozen over."
Robin frowned at him as he wrapped gauze around Beast Boy's wound. "Why are you here?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"This hotel is deserted. There wasn't a single car here when I pulled up."
Robin blinked when Beast Boy stiffened. Thinking he had wrapped the bandage too tightly, he unwound his previous wrap and tried again, this time gently.
"That's not possible. When Rae and I got here, there was a woman at the front desk. She had brown hair and was reading a thick novel…"
Robin frowned again, eyebrows creasing. "Beast Boy, that can't be right. This place was deserted. No one is here."
This time, it was Beast Boy who frowned. "Dude, Raven and I made lo—shit—uh, Raven and I were here last night. That woman gave us a key, and sent us to a room. It was neat, and gold, and there was running water and crap like that. Raven even gave the woman my name, and she typed it into the computer. I mean…hell, I don't know."
Beast Boy sighed, flinching when his wound pulled. "I swear there was someone here last night." He added weakly, lifting dark green eyes to Robin. "Why would someone be here when this place was abandoned?"
"Was someone here when you showed up yesterday?"
"I just told you—"
"No, I mean a car. Where there any vehicles around?"
Beast Boy's frown increased as he thought back to the previous night. "I…wasn't really paying attention. I was worried about Raven, because she was still shaken up about finding Darcy, and I was still freaking for the same reason, so I wasn't even worried about it. Raven didn't notice anything, either. Well, if she did, she didn't say anything. But no one was in the lobby when we came, just that woman. But there was a fire, and the furniture looked brand new. I even remembered thinking about sleeping on the couch instead of getting a room. The lights were on, and the elevators worked. This place was alive and kicking when Raven and I came."
Robin finished up Beast Boy's bandage, pulled of his black Old Navy hoodie, and handed it to Beast Boy, who took it gratefully. Robin paced while Beast Boy carefully worked the shirt over his head.
"This is strange. If this place is running, then why are there no cars? No lights? Nothing? Usually, hotels are always bustling with people. But when I showed up, no one was here."
Beast Boy rubbed a bloodied hand over his cheek, then moved his fingers to rub his temple. "Shit…I don't know what to tell you, other than there was a woman here when Rae and I showed up."
Robin sighed and reached for the discarded flashlight. "Tell you what…I'll go check around inside and—"
"Our car's gone."
"What?"
Beast Boy rubbed dried blood from the corner of his mouth. After a quick once-over, Robin found no cut or scrape anywhere near his mouth, which meant that either Beast Boy had bit the inside of his lip, or had coughed up blood. Robin mused with a sinking feeling that it was the latter of the two.
"The car Raven and I shared. It's not here. Maybe…she did get away. Maybe she went to find Twain. God…all this is happening way too fast. I mean it seems like just yesterday that we were called for this damn mission thing. And now, Raven and Starfire are gone, Darcy's been murdered, and Marty's the White Rose killer. Hell, to add to the plot, I almost died. I just…we've never really gone through something like this before. It all seems like child play, doesn't it? After all we did as a team, this case makes us look like amateurs. I just…maybe we're not ready for this sort of thing. You…you're lucky. If this team ever disbanded, you could go live a normal life. But for the rest of us…well, Rae might be able to pull it off, but I don't think the rest of us could. Cy and I are just too different, and Starfire's so innocent and naive…"
Robin's eyebrows drew together. "Beast Boy, where are you going with this?"
Beast Boy sighed. "I don't know. I still don't feel quite human yet. I'm just rambling."
But Robin frowned. "Not ready for what?"
Beast Boy glanced away from his teammate. "Ready to take on such big tasks like this. Yeah, we've dealt with Slade before, and other psychos, but this…this is different. This is life and death, live or die, fight or lose the one you love. It's…this is real, Robin. This isn't smalltime bank robbers and villains who call themselves stupid names like Control Freak. This is what real people face everyday. And we walked into this case thinking that it was going to turn out like the other one. Simple. Easy. Clean cut. Now I know Slade was never easy, but compared to Marty, Slade was like The Hive.
"We were never really injured when we took down past villains. Yeah, so we had a couple of scrapes and a couple of broken bones with occasional hits to the head, but now, people are dying. It's just scary. To know that this is the type of thing we need to be dealing with. To know that from now on, we might be stuck with this kind of thing instead of the Hive, or Dr. Light. This is what makes us heroes, you know? It was never taking down bank robbers, or high magicians who use magic to steal money. But being heroes will be what sends us to our grave." But then he smiled. "Sorry. Guess I can't take blood loss very well."
Robin searched Beast Boy's eyes, still thrown off about Beast Boy speech. What he said was true, yes, but what had brought it on?
Carefully, Beast Boy slid from the passenger side seat, his face contorting into a grimace.
With one final glance at his friend, Robin walked forward towards the garage door.
"Can I ask you a question?" Beast Boy asked after they had snuck into the building. Robin stopped briefly to pry a bullet from the wall. Holding it up to the light, he found the tip coated in blood.
"Yeah, sure, but tell me, when you came down here, was Marty shooting at you?"
"No. Marty was gone when I woke up. And so was Raven. But there was blood along the wall. And it wasn't mine. It could have been Marty's but…" Beast Boy trailed off, plucking the black bullet from Robin's fingertips. He sniffed it, once, twice, then shoved it back into Robin's hands, his eyes darkening.
"It's Raven's," he muttered darkly, unconsciously covering his wound with the palm of his hand. He flinched, couldn't help, and felt the warm stickiness of blood against his palm.
"Damn," Robin cursed softly, and took the stairs two at a time. When he made it to the first door, he pushed it open. They walked down a narrow hallway, using the thin beam of light from the flashlight to guide them. The hallway branched off, and they decided to take the right door at the end of the left hall.
The door led to the lobby, which, much to Beast Boy's dismay, was empty. A fire no longer burned in the hearth, but the furniture sprawled across the room looked brand new. The early morning light streamed through the bare windows, casting shadows along the walls. Some pictures littered the floor, but the rest were covered by a white cloth and leaned against the wall.
"I don't understand. This morning I stormed out of here, and didn't even think to look around at the place. The door was open when I came back, too. This…doesn't make any sense. "
Spotting the main desk, Robin walked over to it, and, holding the flashlight between his teeth, started to rummage through the paperwork littering the desk. While Robin delved in the desk, Beast Boy let his eyes roam around the large room. How could this place have been abandoned the whole time?
When Raven and he had stopped here, they had never paid attention to the cars, but they had stayed here, made love here. This made no damn sense. If this place was abandoned, why had that woman given them a key? Why had she been here when the place was empty? Why was she not here now?
"There's nothing here. This damn computer doesn't even work." Beast Boy felt his heart drop. The woman had typed something in while Raven and he had stood by. Had it all been a hoax? And if so, why? Why would she lie and give them a key? Why would everything be working, yet be abandoned at the same time? And if this was all a ploy, what where the chances of the actually coming to this place? There were dozens of hotels located in Jump City. So why had they come to this hotel, when it seemed uninhabited?
Beast Boy groaned when a headache pounded at his temples. "Why?" He asked softly, more to himself than Robin. "Why would that woman give us a key if this place was deserted?"
"Hell if I know." Robin came around the desk and stopped beside Beast Boy. "I'd say that this had something to do with the White Rose killer, but that wouldn't make any sense."
"I know. This…shit, I don't understand."
Robin sighed. "Why don't we check out your room and see if we can find anything."
Together they walked to the room Beast Boy and Raven had shared. As they walked down the hall, Beast Boy noticed that the walls were painted, yet completely bare. That was strange for a hotel…
Robin had gawked at the amount of blood covering the floors, and briefly wondered how the hell Beast Boy had survived.
Beast Boy informed him, "Since I'm half animal, my wounds heal faster than human. And, with Raven healing me, she helped increase the amount of time it takes for me to heal. And also, the more blood I lose, the faster the healing process. Strange how it works."
Still shocked, Robin flicked the beam of his flashlight to the wall, and found out what Beast Boy had been talking about. There was a smear of blood against the far wall, and Robin had a feeling it was Raven's.
"Let's get out of here quickly and go get Ethan and the rest of them, okay?"
Beast Boy nodded, his eyes glued to the huge bloodstain on the floor. I really should be dead right now, he thought numbly. If it weren't for Raven, I would be. Which brought Beast Boy back to the fact that he never asked Robin his question.
"Would I be missed if I did die?"
Robin was so shocked at the sudden question that it took him a full minute to answer. "What?"
"I'm not a good fighter."
Thinking that the blood loss had messed with Beast Boy's brain, Robin said, "Beast Boy, I think we need to get you to a hospital."
Beast Boy shook his head. "Robin, I'm dead serious. I've never been good for this team, and I know I never will be. I'm just…a jokester, and not a very good one at that. I always seem to get the team in the worst binds, and—"
"Beast Boy, what the living hell are you talking about?"
He cursed softly, and pressed a hand to his temple. "Robin, I was scared. When I thought I was going to die, I felt so worthless. Everything that I did with the team came back to haunt me. If it weren't for me, Terra would have never gotten under our skin. Hell, even with the Doom Patrol I was useless. I…I'm tired of screwing up. And…well, I just wonder if maybe the Titans will do better without me, once this is all over."
Robin's glare was sharp, sudden. "You've never been one for self-pity, Beast Boy."
"Yeah, but I've never been on the brink of death and wondering if my friends would even care if I was dead or not. Once you think about it, the only real friend I had was Cyborg, and that was only because he wanted someone to crush at video games. Robin, think about it. I've always been a nuisance to you. Remember when those chemicals messed with my DNA structure, and I became a man beast? You were so quick to want to take me down, throw me in jail. Cyborg was hesitant to hurt me, but not you. You threw your little bombs at me without hesitation."
Robin blinked, eyebrows drawing together. "I thought you had hurt Raven…"
Beast Boy plowed his fingers through his hair. "That's the problem. You never had any faith in me. You were always so quick to knock me down."
Robin ground his teeth together. "Damnit, Beast Boy, why are you bringing this up?"
"Because I don't want to end up dying and knowing that the people I thought friends didn't care." Sighing in defeat, Beast Boy chewed on his thumbnail. "Just forget I said anything. Blame it on blood loss, or whatever the hell you want. I just want to find Raven and go home where things make sense."
Robin watched while Beast Boy gathered his things. Their strange conversation was still bothering him, but he had more important things to worry about.
"Beast Boy," Robin said softly, "I'm going to go check on the other room…hey, Raven stayed in here? With you? Like…in the same room?"
"Yeah, what of it?" Beast Boy snapped, his eyes unconsciously drifting to the rumpled bed. His face heated.
"Uh…you didn't…uh, did you?"
Beast Boy said nothing, just continued to gather the clothes Raven and he had discarded earlier. Robin caught sight of the rumbled clothes and cleared his throat.
"Well…"
Beast Boy's glare dared him to say something else, so Robin snapped his jaw shut. Beast Boy and Raven…? Whoa.
"So, uh…" Jeez, what do you say when you find out two of your best friends are sleeping together?
"Robin, it's no different than what you and Starfire had going. Raven and I just…took it a step farther. Dude, you look a bit pale."
Robin opened his mouth, shut it, then shook his head and walked off. He seriously didn't want to think more about the Raven/Beast Boy romance, so he busied himself with knocking on doors. After a brief rap against each door, Robin frowned. No one answered. Knowing the doors would be locked Robin reached for the handle. And blinked when the door opened.
"Well I'll be damned." The floors were covered with a plastic paint-spattered sheet, and along the back of the unpainted room were ten pain cans. The farthest wall was painted a dark burgundy, but at first glance, the wall looked black. Rubbing the back of his stiff neck, Robin lifted his flashlight and searched the walls. It didn't take him long to find a discarded piece of paper. Crouching down, Robin picked it up and read:
Coming soon:
McRyerson and Son Inn
Under construction
Owned by Charles McRyerson and Son
Grand opening—not decided.
Room to be stripped, painted, carpeted.
Grand Total: $546,643,690.00
Tax included.
Robin cursed softly at the total. Who the hell in Jump City could afford a hotel that cost five hundred and forty-seven million? The only one who could would have been…
"The mayor." Robin folded the paper and slid it into his jean pockets. But if the mayor did own this hotel, then who was McRyerson and Son? Maybe… Robin sighed and walked out the door. Hell, he didn't know. None of this seemed logical. If this hotel did belong to the mayor, or whoever the hell McRyerson was, why would someone be here and let Raven and Beast Boy into a room? Why? It made no sense. And, if that were the case, what were the chances of them coming to this exact one? Was it just a coincidence?
Nothing seemed right anymore. When you find out who a killer is, isn't it all supposed to unravel immediately? But now everything just seemed even more confusing.
Beast Boy was leaning against a far wall, his mouth set in a frown and his palm pressed against his chest. Robin opened his mouth to tell him that he needed a doctor, but Beast Boy shook his head. "The quicker we get this done, the better."
Robin wanted to argue, but he knew that Beast Boy could be more stubborn then him. "Let's go get Ethan and Twain first. They're only a couple of miles from here. I don't know where Colt and Harley are, but I'm sure Twain does, so we go get them next, and since Wyatt is so far out in the damn country, we'll get him last. Then, we'll go from there, alright?"
Beast Boy nodded and dropped his hand limply at his side. "Have you found out what this place is?"
They walked back they way they came, and Robin showed Beast Boy the flyer.
"Who the hell is McRyerson?"
"I don't know. None of this adds up."
"That's the understatement of the year," Beast Boy muttered under his breath, and pushed open the stair door.
"Hello, Handsome."
Robin's entire body stiffened at the sound of the syrupy voice. Oh dear God, he knew that voice…
"Is that who I think it is?" Beast Boy asked numbly, and both men turned to face the owner of the voice.
Rebecca grinned and pulled off her brown wig, cocked gun aimed in their direction. "I told you that you would regret ever rejecting me, Robin."
Yes, I know, I know, I'm a horrible updater, but the thing about this is (brace yourself, another excuse) I hate this chapter. I don't know why, but of everything I have written, this is the worst. I'm so sorry if it's confusing, and doesn't make any sense, but I swear everything will add up later. So…yes, the chapter was utterly horrible, Beats Boy was OOC, and I promise no chapter will ever be as bad as this one. But hey, nothing's perfect, right?
