Wow it's been a long summer, and writing these has been a lot slower than I thought... Sozzy many time! Anyways, next chapter is up. Only two more chapters in this story left to go! Enjoy!
PS: I decided to shorten/remove the Wally-Jinx-Mar'i subplot I had introduced back in chapter 26 simply due to time constraints and the fact that it no longer really fits in the story. I tried to include their own scene in here because of their absence last chapter, but it really wasn't working. Maybe next two chapters, but it's up in the air.
The girl didn't come for two weeks. Her daily visits ceased. I did not care for it, but I found myself feeling slightly disappointed every time I heard the door open and it wasn't her. Perhaps I just wanted to get outside of this damned hospital room, and often times she was my best excuse to get some fresh air.
Huh. Fresh air. I'm surprised at myself for wanting fresh air.
For the first time since I've been here, I've come to realize how suffocating this room is. Days without the girl passed and I started to feel empty again. Maybe it's because the girl was the only one who made me feel normal again. Doctors and nurses only reminded me that I was a patient—a handicap. The child forgets that I'm blind, and somehow makes me forget, too.
The girl distracted me from memories of Anna. Sometimes I could even go to sleep without thinking about her. But now I find myself missing Anna again. I think about how she's doing, what she looks like now, whether or not she still has that same laugh. I think about who she's with, and whether she is happy. Maybe she even has a child by now. Ten years had gone by since I've seen her. So much about her could've changed in ten years.
I remember the first time I had met Anna. She was working as a stunt double in an action film and I had come by to support my college roommate, who was also an actor in the movie. The actress that Anna was a double for had recently been involved in a scandal due to a leaked sex video at the time, and when I first laid eyes on Anna, I believed her to be that actress. It was nighttime and the faint light made the two women indistinguishable, so when I went up to speak with her, it was very awkward.
"So I heard about your work lately," I had said to her.
"Oh, I've been doing it for a while, but I guess people didn't know much about it until now," she replied cheerfully. Of course, she had been talking about her work as a stunt double, but I believed her to be talking about the sex tape.
"Oh really?" I said.
She nodded. "The pay isn't bad."
I was astonished. "You get paid to do that?"
"Of course," she laughed. "If I'm good at something, why would I do it for free?" What a foxy lady she was! "Of course, I get paid depending on what I do. Men these days like lots of action—everything has to be fast and explosive. Sometimes I have trouble keeping up." My eyes widened. "Especially car scenes," she added. "I get paid a lot for car scenes."
By this time I had almost fainted. It took a few hours for us to realize that we were talking about completely different people. Perhaps anyone else would be offended that I mistook her for some pornography actress, but this young lady simply laughed it off. I gained a friendship that day, a friendship that became everything to me. I was a physicist back then—a lonely-looking profession, as Anna called it. She asked me if I had a passion for it, and I replied quite honestly that I had a passion for the paycheck. She dismissed this, scolding me for giving my life up to money. I retorted by asking her how being a stunt double—a job in which her body was constantly abused—was so much better. She said to me that it's a hard job, but it's not a lonely one. Her stunt team were like family to her, and at the end of the day, they all get together and make sure everyone's okay. If one of them is injured, everybody visits them at the hospital all the time. They share meals together, drink together, and enjoy their lives together. "Because it's not about the money," she said to me. "It's about being happy. And I'm happy. Now answer me this, Mr. Physicist With Ten Zero's On His Paycheck: are you happy?"
That was a night I would never forget. That was the night I met the woman who taught me how to live. Before her, I was living in monotone, dragging on day after day without a reason to live. But she gave me someone to live for, and something to look forward to in life. She taught me that happiness is a choice; joy is a gift. The moment I met her, my monotone world began to sparkle and burst with color. I met her under the light of the moon, and then my fate began to change.
…
The cloak of night wrapped itself upon the city of Blüdhaven. A quiet hush permeated the city, an unusual event considering the number of gangs that polluted the streets. Perhaps it was because even the city, itself, knew that this night was different from the other nights. This night, there was an explicit intent for blood to be spilt.
Standing on the rooftop of the Blüdhaven Natural History Museum was a lone figure shrouded in the shadows, his deep breathing slow and steady, but precise. The man adjusted the mask over his eyes and gripped the escrima sticks at his waist as a second man approached him from behind, the latter's red cape lying flat on his back in the windless and still night. The former raised a finger and pressed the intercom on his ear. "Beta, set," Nightwing said. He and Superman were Team Beta, the ones who would be the first to attack Blockbuster and distract Amazo when they arrive to the trap.
"Alpha, set," a voice rang over the intercom. Team Alpha was Cyborg and Martian Manhunter—the detection team who would be tracking Blockbuster and Amazo and offering support for Team Beta.
"Charlie, set," another voice said. Team Charlie was Starfire and Wonder Woman—the containment team. While assisting Alpha and Beta when needed, their primary goal was to capture and detain both supervillains.
"Alpha, do you have a visual?" Superman said.
"Blockbuster is within target," Cyborg replied.
"Amazo is approaching closely," Martian Manhunter added.
"Beta, prepare for combat."
Nightwing's hands guided from his escrima sticks to his birdarangs, carefully wielding them between his fingers. He had Blockbuster in sight—a daunting man of eight feet and over five hundred pounds—but Amazo was still nowhere in sight. Nightwing felt the familiar chill before a battle, the shiver that ran down his spine and vibrated throughout his entire body, the adrenaline that began pumping throughout his veins, the quickened pace of his breath. Blood will be spilt tonight, and there was a chance it could be his. He took a deep breath.
"Starfire, Mar'i," he whispered to himself. "Be safe."
"Beta! Now!"
Nightwing quickly sprang into alert. Now? But Amazo was still nowhere near them. No, he must trust the detection team. Their senses are far greater than his. Tightening his grip on his birdarangs, he gracefully flicked his fingers in the air, the projectiles whizzing through the air as they quickly but silently approached Blockbuster. He didn't react, standing still as if waiting for the birdarangs to hit him.
"What is he doing?" Nightwing wondered. In a flash, a figure appeared before Blockbuster, shielding him from the birdarangs. The newcomer blocked the birdarangs with his arms, and easily picked them off as if they were toothpicks stuck to his hands. Superman immediately fired a heat ray blast from his eyes towards the man, who deflected them with his arms as well.
Blockbuster smirked before being suddenly struck from behind by a sonic cannon blast from Cyborg. Nightwing jumped from the rooftop and landed squarely on his feet on the ground below and turned to face Amazo. He was a gruesome figure—humanlike with bulging muscles and veins, wearing green gauntlets and green pants along with a red skullcap. His ears were noticeably pointed and his eye were red, seemingly glowing in the night. The android began to approach Nightwing, which he returned by unleashing his escrima sticks.
"Come at us," he called as he ran forward with a cry. He sprang up into the air with his escrima sticks held up high and forcefully shot them down directly towards Amazo's head. The force at which he threw down the sticks would have been enough to crack a human skull, yet to his surprise, the android caught them effortlessly in his hands. He tauntingly twirled them in his fingers before tossing them and Nightwing aside.
Starfire then joined the fight, firing starbolts from her hands and eyes at Amazo with great precision, but none seemed to faze him. Superman and Martian Manhunter soon joined her, as they were the three best suited for long range combat; after all, getting too close to Amazo would put them at risk of him absorbing their powers. Nightwing, Cyborg, and soon Wonder Woman diverted their attention towards Blockbuster. A battle ensued, though both Amazo and Blockbuster were holding up well against the superheroes.
"You should have stayed in prison," Nightwing said between gritted teeth as he wrestled with Blockbuster. "I'll make sure you regret ever escaping."
"And I'll make sure you regret ever coming to Blüdhaven," Roland Desmond replied with a greedy smile. He threw a fist towards the hero, who adeptly dodged it and countered with a punch of his own, which was blocked by his arm. Cyborg readied his arm, which transformed into a nova blaster cannon, and fired a yellow orb of energy. Blockbuster retaliated by grabbing a recuperating Nightwing and throwing him at the orb. Cyborg rushed at him but was struck from the side by a stray starbolt. Martian Manhunter telekinetically lifted Amazo into the air as Superman and Starfire bombarded him with heat vision blasts and starbolts. Though he grunted with pain, the android seemed to not be damaged by the blasts.
Superman then flew up towards Amazo and punched him squarely in the face. Both fell to the ground and a distinctive mark was left on Amazo's face. Superman then prepared another punch before the android sprang up and grabbed the Kryptonian's face with his bare hands. "Yes…" Amazo sighed. "Power…"
Superman could feel his powers being drained by the android. He placed his hands on Amazo's wrists and attempted in vain to tear them off his face. Still, he smiled. Amazo had fallen into the trap.
"Wonder Woman!" he shouted. "Now!"
Amazo gasped as he felt something wrap around his neck. He released his grip on Superman and turned around to find Wonder Woman levitating before him with her lasso entrapping him. Superman fainted—his powers completely drained—and was caught by Starfire.
Wonder Woman watched as Amazo tried to break the lasso. "Don't even bother," the Amazon princess said. "The Lasso of Truth was forged by the god Hephaestus and is completely unbreakable, immutable, and indestructible. So long as you are under control of my lasso, you have no choice but to obey my commands."
The robot slumped and became limp with no resistance. Wonder Woman loosened her grip on her lasso, believing her work to be done. "One down, one to go," she said, turning around to face Blockbuster.
Before anyone had time to react, Amazo swiftly jumped to his feet and seized her arms, swinging her around him and tossing her onto a nearby wall. "Wrong choice, Wonder Woman," he declared. "While your lasso may be able to weaken the will of human minds, we are unaffected. We don't have a mind you see, only programming." His eyes glowed red as he fired a heat ray beam directly towards her, incapacitating the Amazoness.
"Do you always call yourself using "we" and "us"?" a call came from behind him. Amazo turned around to see Cyborg sprinting towards him with his right arm transforming into a massive mechanical fist. In response, the android gave a grin and gripped his own right hand with the super strength he absorbed from Superman.
"Now program this!" Cyborg roared as the two robots' fists landed squarely onto each other's. He immediately gritted his lip to prevent himself from crying out in pain. Cyborg had very few pain receptors in his nerves, a side effect of being mostly circuitry, but the punch he had just received was especially strong. In pain, but unfazed, he twisted his hand around Amazo's and pulled him into a wrestling position. Placing both of his hands on his foe's shoulders, he head-butted him then tackled him onto the ground. A hole opened in the center of Cyborg's chest plate and fired a sonic blast directly onto the android. As the recoil of the blast sent Cyborg flying, two latches on his shoulders opened as two small missiles were launched into the air and exploded directly on Amazo.
Cyborg did a flip in the air as he landed with ease on his knees. "Booyah," he said. As the smoke began to clear, Amazo regained his position, seemingly unaffected by the punishment he had just dished out. As the Titan began to scan his enemy for signs of damage, he was shocked to find that the android's right arm was in the form of a green sonic cannon. "What the hell?" he cursed. Then he realized his mistake—he had let Amazo touch him, and therefore his powers were absorbed. "Damn," he cursed again. "Yo, Frankenstein! Can't you come up with anything original for once instead of copying other people's powers?"
"Um, I don't mean to be a bother, Cyborg," Starfire commented. "But in the novel, Frankenstein was the name of the scientist, not of the monster as many people believe, therefore your remark was inaccurate."
"Not now, Star."
Amazo smirked as he raised his sonic cannon. "Now take this." A flash of green light erupted from the cannon as it exploded. As the dust cleared off, Cyborg was caught off guard and was punched in the face with a left hook. He anticipated a leg sweep and jumped but was snatched by the neck and flung down into the ground.
Cyborg gasped and panted for breath as he picked himself up from the hole on the ground that was just created. He spat out blood and lifted his hand up onto his face. There was a noticeable crack on his forehead that extending all the way to the nape of his neck. "What was that?" he thought to himself. "My strength isn't enough to crack my armor." He looked up just in time to dodge Amazo's left arm that came slamming down. Cyborg furrowed his eyebrows in thought. "All his attacks are left-handed now," he noticed. "His right arm is inactive—almost as if it was limp." He was surprised as the android's eyes glowed red, and he jumped away just in time to dodge a heat ray blast. "Heat ray? He still has Superman's powers? But he had just absorbed mine when he made that sonic cannon."
Amazo took a deep breath and blew out a strong gust of arctic wind. Cyborg shielded himself behind a car, but heard Wonder Woman, and Martian Manhunter cry out. The majority of the former's body was entrapped in ice while the latter's legs were frozen solid. "Another one of Superman's powers," Cyborg thought aloud. According to his intel, Amazo could only use one superhero's powers at a time. Why then was he still using Superman's when he at previously attempted to use Cyborg's? "That's right… attempted," he realized. "It malfunctioned when he tried to use my powers. That's why his right arm is limp. That's why he reverted to Superman's powers."
"Excellent observation," Amazo complimented as he grasped Cyborg's neck. "Just what we'd expect from one of our own."
"Don't shove me in the same category as freaks like you!" he grunted as he tried to loosen the choking grip.
"We shall see about that." Amazo flew up into the sky as he and Cyborg continued their fight.
Meanwhile on the ground, Nightwing and Blockbuster were squaring off as Starfire rushed to the aid of her frozen allies. "You never seem to give up, do you?" Blockbuster said as he raised both fists and slammed the ground, causing a minor shockwave.
Nightwing jumped in the air and delivered a roundhouse kick to his foe's jaw. "Not until you're in prison and Blüdhaven is safe."
"Blüdhaven? Safe?" the man laughed. "And I suppose I am the bad guy and you're the hero who's come to save the day, is that so? I had hoped you were more mature than that, Nightwing."
"What else could it be then?" the Titan jumped out of the way of Blockbuster, who uprooted a nearby lamppost and swung it at him. He blocked it with his escrima sticks.
"All I want is to keep Blüdhaven safe as well. You are just getting in the way of my plans."
"Keep it safe? You're the one who started all those gangs in the first place!" Nightwing leapt in the air and threw homing birdarangs, which were deflected.
"Precisely," Roland Desmond returned. "I gathered them together into gangs to isolate them, then I started the gang war so they would end up killing themselves, but unfortunately you and Starfire stopped that from happening."
"I've heard enough of your excuses."
Blockbuster merely gave a smirk and ran towards the nearest building, powerfully ramming his feet into the walls and climbing up to the rooftop. Nightwing followed suit. The two men came to the top of the building as a cold wind began to blow.
"Look around you, Nightwing," Blockbuster called out as he royally raised his arms. "Gaze at the world before you: a world full of murder, killing, drugs, adultery, prostitution, corruption, greed, and gluttony. A world full of hatred and fear and terror. A world where its governors and mayors and leaders couldn't care less about the scum beneath them, distributing money and wealth in secrecy, bribing others and doing whatever it takes to get reelection. Such is the world of Blüdhaven. This was my mother's hometown, long ago. Over the course of my life I have lived in many places but none bore the same atmosphere as this city did. The further away from this city I went, the more I felt gravitated to return to it. I came here a year ago with the sole intention to make it a better place. In my own way, I will cleanse this city. I'm sure you can relate."
He paused to take a deep breath of the cold air. A long sigh was exhaled. "I dubbed it Operation Utopia. When I came here, there was crime everywhere. Before, they were all scattered and unorganized, permeating every inch of every street of this wretched city. I brought them all together, all the little pieces, and gave them all names; they obeyed gleefully and branded their own selves—Dragon Tails with their weaponry, Arsenic Candy with their drugs, Apocalypse with their masses. Once they formed together, once they found purpose and union and direction, I would incite a gang war through which they would kill themselves off." His eyes were closed, as if he was fantasizing his dreams and ambitions. "Imagine… a Blüdhaven without crime. A Blüdhaven without fear. I wanted that. A city where its people do not have to live in such terror. Is that not what you want as well? Had Operation Utopia gone accordingly, most of the scum of the city would have been dead by now…" Slowly, his eyes slid open as he lowered his gaze towards Nightwing. "But then you and Starfire forced me to change plans. No matter, for I am always prepared."
With this, Blockbuster removed from his jacket a detonator remote. "Best stay away if I were you," he taunted as he twirled the remote in his fingers.
Nightwing gritted his teeth. "What is that?"
"Medicine," he replied. "The city is sick, you see, and needs to be cured. It's been caught with disease from the moment it was created, and I'm the doctor who will treat it. When someone is sick, see, the first thing you do is you identify the virus, which I've done by creating all those gangs. The second thing is you isolate the virus. At this very moment, I've sent the Arsenic Candy gang all into one location to receive and process a shipment of drugs. Then the last thing you do? You kill the virus, which is what will happen tonight." Again he waved the remote in his hand.
Nightwing's eyes widened. "You wouldn't."
"The scum of the city must be wiped out for it to be clean."
"People will die."
"People who deserve to."
"Who are you…" The Titan gripped his fist as his anger rose. "Who are you to determine who gets to live and die?"
Blockbuster clasped the remote in his hands. With a greedy smile, he declared, "Say goodbye to Arsenic Candy," and pressed the trigger.
An explosion rang throughout the city as the superheroes were temporarily blinded by an eruption of flames about two miles away. Distant screams echoed the streets as the dark sky of Blüdhaven grew a cloud of smoke and death.
Nightwing was paralyzed. "You—," he gasped. "You—killed… them…"
"And they will contaminate the city no more."
Richard Grayson could not respond. His knees became weary as the light of the fires hypnotized him. He could almost feel the hundreds of deaths that just passed. "Wh—," he shuddered. "What are you?"
"I am what the city needs," Roland Desmond said. "I am a silent guardian, a watchful protector."
Nightwing gnashed his teeth. "You," he seethed. "You are nothing like that." He charged to tackle Blockbuster, but in such a shock he tripped and fell.
Everything felt slow. Amazo came to the roof. Walked towards Blockbuster. Cyborg was nowhere to be found. Blockbuster gave Amazo a nod. Before they left, he turned to Nightwing, and with a voice that sounded eerily familiar, he said to him: "Another day, Nightwing. Another day."
Nightwing's eyes widened in horror as his mind recalled words spoken by his nemesis long ago: "Another day, Robin. Another day."
"Slade?" he spun around but found that Blockbuster and Amazo were already gone. "S—Slade," he repeated in a frenzy. "Slade. Slade. Slade." Dick Grayson's eyes were blinded by the fires, his ears were deafened by the screams, his mind was drowned in chaos. He was in hell.
"Slade!" he screamed.
…
Karen Beecher blew a hair out of her face as she munched on a French fry. "I dunno, Vic's been really distant lately. It's like he's a completely different person. I mean he still looks the same, of course, but he acts so differently… Just last night for instance: normally every time we go out to eat he always compliments the meal. 'I had no idea that such and such could be that delicious. Oh man, if only I could go back in time to when we first walked in just so I could eat it all again…' he always says. But gradually he's been saying it less and less. Just last night all he said was 'It was pretty good.' That's it. That's it! I mean I get that maybe he's stressed with this new mission about this Amazo guy or whatever, but this is Vic we're talking about. Victor Stone! He's always in the mood to eat good food. And it was a place my friend Liz recommended, too. You know her right? Mary Elizabeth Kane—her superhero name is Flamebird; she's a close ally of Titans West—has the best food suggestions. So it definitely wasn't the food that was turning him off. And you know what they say; the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Especially with Vic. So if his taste is off, you know his entire being is off. And it's like suddenly I don't even know who my boyfriend is anymore! What do you think, Rae?"
Karen looked up from the sofa on which she lay and tossed another French fry in her mouth. Raven stared at her with an unimpressed face and said in her usual deadpan tone, "I think you shouldn't come to my apartment in the middle of the day, crash into my sofa, eat my food, and start consulting me for relationship advice."
"Come on, Rae-Rae," Karen whined as she put up a pouty face. "You and Gar are so perfect together! You're like—the eighth best couple I know!"—at this, Raven mouthed in semi-insulted surprise at "eighth best couple"—"We all knew you two would get together eventually, and it happened so well! Alright okay, we didn't all know… Okay, nobody knew. And maybe it didn't happen so so well, but you get my point. You have better experience at this than I do. You have empathy powers, right? So help a sister out, will you?"
Raven rolled her eyes and relented, using her powers to construct a sign that said, "PSYCHIATRIC HELP: THE DOCTOR IS IN". "Alright, Juliet," she said sarcastically. "First thing we need to do is analyze you and Victor's relationship. Let's start off with the basics. How did you two meet?"
Bumblebee gave a dull look. "Are you mental?"
"Not yet, but I will be after this conversation's over."
"We met through work. I was undercover in H.I.V.E. spying on Brother Blood, and so was he. You know that."
"I tend to zone out on some things I couldn't care less about so I might've forgotten that detail. Now what caused your relationship with him to grow as more than friends?"
Karen shrugged. "Well… he came over a lot to help set up Titans West when we were first starting up. Later on, the Justice League partnered us up to act as representatives of the Teen Titans organization. Then stuff happened… A lot of stuff happened actually. Complicated things—"
"You and Herald," Raven interrupted.
"Y—yeah. Me and Herald. And—and some other minor things."
"And after you and Herald broke up, you gave Victor a try, then broke up with him to join Oracle's Birds of Prey team that got cancelled before it started, then he dated Sarah Charles, then after that finally you two got together for real."
Karen scowled. "I thought you don't remember the unimportant stuff."
"What's important to my friends is important to me," Raven said in an unconvincingly disinterested tone. "Alright, let's backtrack to you and Herald, though."
"Wha—why? That was years ago."
"Yes, but that was your previous relationship before Victor, and that was your only serious relationship before him, too. There are several stages in a failed relationship. Stage 1: Meeting. Stage 2: The chase. Stage 3: Honeymoon. Stage 4: Comfortable. Stage 5: Tolerance. Stage 6: Downhill. Stage 7: Break up. Right now, you and Victor are at stage four, when you're most likely to start taking each other for granted. When having problems in a relationship, it's good to go over previous ones to remind you why you dated Victor in the first place. So you and Herald. What would you say were the factors that contributed to your failed relationship?"
"I wouldn't really call it a failed relationship."
"The sole purpose of a relationship is to be in union and to procreate," Raven replied as she sipped her tea. "If you're not with him and popping out his babies, by definition you have a failed relationship."
"Do you love your parents?" Karen retorted.
The sorceress raised a single eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
"Do you have a good relationship with your parents?"
"With my mother, yes."
"Are you living with your mother? Are you giving birth to your mother's babies?"
"…That's gross."
"Then you're saying you have a failed relationship with your mom, is that it?" she said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"That's kind of completely different."
"Look Raven, what Herald and I had was great. But I don't think it has anything to do with Vic and I. Maybe you love thinking about all the details and logistics and cogs and screws in things but I don't." Karen picked herself up and composed herself. "If I'm shot through the chest with an arrow," she said metaphorically. "I don't need to know what the arrow's made of. I don't need to know what kind of wood was used, how long it took to make it, where it came from, hell I don't even need to know who shot me. I just need to get it out of my chest." She took a deep breath. "Maybe I'll go talk to Herald about this, after all. Hey, you know what? I feel better now. Thanks, Rae." She took a few more French fries. "You're really good at this therapy stuff. Thanks!"
Bumblebee promptly left.
Raven sat alone as she stirred her tea. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples with her fingers. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos," she groaned. "Azar please save my brain from that mind-numbing conversation." She glanced towards her plate. "She ate all my French fries," she realized annoyingly.
Garfield entered the living room. His eyes widened a bit in surprise. "You ate all those fries?"
"As if."
The man gave a warmhearted smile as he sat next to his wife. "Hey," he said gently. "You're not still disappointed that we got taken off the Blüdhaven mission, are you?"
"What's there to be disappointed about? It's only natural considering I'm carrying life inside me, which is causing my powers to become dormant… Also considering you're getting fat and weak."
"Dude! That last part was so not a reason."
"It might as well be, Blubber Boy," she grumbled. Gar gave a soft smile as Raven sighed. "I don't know," she admitted. "I guess… it's been a while since we were together like that, you know? Just the five of us on a mission to save the world again."
Her husband wrapped his arm around her shoulder, rubbing it reassuringly. "Yeah, I know," he said. "But all that stuff was like ten years ago. Things change. Life goes on, and we can't get ourselves stuck in the past."
Raven silently nodded and gave a shadow of a smile, which to Garfield was enough. "Alright!" he exclaimed as he clapped his hands. "Where are we off to today?"
The sorceress traced her forefinger on the rim of her tea cup. "Let's review what we know," she said. "Malcolm said that his wedding date with Anna was set for March 18th, ten years ago. Days before the wedding, he and Anna had a fight because she felt like she did not belong in his world."
"Right, she was too poor for a rich society person like him."
"March 15th—three days before the wedding—Malcolm sent his mother, Catherine Crowe, to spend a day with Anna in an attempt to prove to her that she can belong. Notably, Catherine Crowe was one of the people most antagonistic towards Anna. This day was the last day Anna was seen. Afterwards, at 1:07 AM, Malcolm received a message from Anna that said, "I can't take this anymore. Let's end all of this. I'm leaving. Don't look for me. I'm sorry." From that moment, Malcolm became insane; he stopped all the clocks in his home at 1:07 and kept all his calendars on the date March 15. Time froze for him because he never wanted to let Anna go."
"And then he became absolutely insane and started kidnapping women and pretending they're Anna."
"Years afterwards, he realized he couldn't keep on lying to himself with all the fake Annas so he started searching for the real one. That's when he enlisted the help of Slade. Eventually Slade did find out where Anna was, but he also uncovered Malcolm's past and connection with Trigon, and refused to reveal her location. After that, Malcolm murdered Slade, and that's the last clue we have."
"Slade… Didn't we hack into his computers a while back?" Garfield was referring to a mission a few months after Slade's death in which the Titans infiltrated one of Slade's hideouts and managed to hack into his database, copying many of his hidden information. Unfortunately for them, much of it was encrypted. "Last time I checked, they were still stored in Dick's computer files—the Titan Mainframe."
Raven nodded and the couple headed on down to their hidden base inside their apartment and launched up the supercomputer. As it powered up, she quickly typed onto the keyboard, opening up the "Slade" files.
"Bypassing security checks…" she muttered. "Accessing database… Decrypting known files… There!"
"Alright," Gar said as he pointed at the supercomputer's screen, reading the files that have been so far decrypted. "Church of Blood… ASIS… Wade LaFarge… The Society… Titans West… Titans East… Tartarus… Project Utopia… H.I.V.E.… Dang, this man had everything on everything."
"Here it is!" Raven said as she pointed at a file marked "Rift". She clicked on the file and scanned its contents.
"Whoa…" the man gasped. "How did Slade even get this all this info?"
"Birthdates, blood types, body weight, height, all of his schools and previous workplaces, the coffee shop he used to frequent… yup, Slade's done his homework. Here it is—information on Anna Havisham." The sound of clicking on the keyboard followed. "Found it. These are the coordinates of the last place Anna Havisham was found. Gar, can you search it up?"
"On it," he nodded as he went across the room to another computer and began searching the coordinates Raven had found. His wife, meanwhile, was quickly reading through the other information on Anna.
"Remember when all of this was our greatest mystery?" she said.
"Dick obsessed over the Crowe case for so many years," Gar chuckled. "Imagine if Slade was on our side. We could've solved the case so much earlier than we did."
"The case still isn't solved," Raven reminded him. "That's what we're doing right now. The case that started so many years ago when Rift stole that fragment of Unobtainium is about to—" She suddenly froze. Her mouth dropped slightly as her eyes gazed at the words: "Cause of Anna Havisham's Death:"
Gar's ears perked at the sudden quietness. He looked over. "Oh my Azar," Raven mouthed.
"What is it?" he asked, sensing something wrong.
"Uh…" she said. "N—nothing."
"What, it's gotta be something for you to suddenly freeze up like that."
"Nothing, it's nothing. I'll tell you later. Did you find the place?"
"Yeah," the changeling nodded. "It's… actually quite surprising."
"Where is it?"
Gar turned to face Raven. "It's Sanctuary," he answered. As he said this, Raven saw for a split second the shadow of Anna's ghost off the corner of her eye, as if in confirmation. "You remember Sanctuary, right?" he said. "That's the place you ran away to when you lost your memory. Why do you think Anna was there?"
She shook her head. "I don't know for sure." Turning around towards the computer screen and glancing back at the text that displayed Anna's cause of death, she added, "But I think it's something big."
…
Bumblebee rode her mini-jet plane in the night sky towards her home in Metropolis, along the way passing by Blüdhaven. "Maybe Raven's right," she thought aloud. "Herald... It's been a while since I've talked to him. Maybe I should go see him again and figure out all of what's happening with Vic." She paused and said to herself and a sadder tone. "Stage four, huh... I wonder what stages five, six, and seven are like. Tolerance... Downhill... Break up..." She shook her head. "Don't think about stuff like this, Karen. Alright."
Clearing her throat, she gave a command to her plane's operating system. "Call Herald." As a tone indicating the call was being made sounded, Karen scratched her head. What was she going to say? "Hey Mal, just calling to check up. Hey, I'm having some relationship trouble, you mind helping me out? Ignoring the fact that we used to be really serious back then..." No, this was crazy.
Before she could change her mind, she was sent to voicemail. "Must be busy," she mumbled. After a beep indicated that she was to leave a message, she simply said, "H—hey, Mal. It's me, Karen. I was just wondering how things were going on with you. Just checking up. Give me a call back when you get this. Buh-bye."
Just as she hung up, her plane shook with the sound of an explosion. The dark night sky gained a fiery burst of red as plumes of fire appeared in the horizon. "What the hell!" Bumblebee exclaimed. Looking towards the direction of the explosion, she realized where it came from. "Blüdhaven!" she gasped. "I've gotta go and help out." Wrenching the steering wheel to the left, she guided her plane towards the source of the explosion. "The others are there!" she said to herself.
As she flew, out of the corner of her eye, she saw two figures on a roof, appearing to be in combat. Curiously, she stared at the two figures. One seemed to be a daunting man with green clothes and red hair while the other was a man with dark skin along with blue metal. "Victor?" she said. The man who resembled Victor Stone suddenly let out a scream as a wave of light poured from him and his circuitry. His blue robotic armor began to shift and started glowing red and yellow as it invaded his human body.
Karen's eyes widened in horror as she saw the transformation occur before her eyes. "Victor!" she screamed.
…
Dick Grayson awoke with a gasp. He then cried out in pain as he clutched his legs, shots of fiery aches surging through his muscles. Slowly, he regained his senses and saw that he was in his bedroom, surrounded by several figures.
"He's awake," he heard.
"Ugh… who's there?"
"It's me." The image of Martian Manhunter slowly appeared. His green hands were outstretched before him, and it appeared that he was healing Nightwing.
"Wh—what happened?"
"You've been out for almost a day," Superman said.
"What happened out there? What happened to the mission?"
"I think you should be worrying about yourself first," Wonder Woman said. She, too, was lying on a bed, seemingly injured. "You took quite a bit of damage out there."
"I'll be fine, just answer my question, someone."
"Typical Birdie Boy, always worrying about everything else other than himself, hm?" Grayson's eyes widened as he looked up to find a woman with long black hair in a ponytail, dressed in a black and orange bodysuit with an orange mask and a black spider etched on her chest.
"Catalina…" he grumbled.
"Oh, such a polite and gentlemanly way to introduce me to your friends," Catalina Flores replied sarcastically. "And I told you to call me Tarantula."
"What is she doing here?" he asked.
"I'm the reason you're still alive so I suggest you keep your little mouth shut unless you have something useful to say, capiche?" Tarantula retorted. Sighing, she walked in a circle around Dick's bed as she explained. "A few days ago, I got a tip that Blockbuster had broken out of prison and that he's rallying the Arsenic Candy gang to process some drugs. Obviously, telling the entire gang to come to one place was just screaming "Suspicious!" so I decided to check it out. Last night I snuck into the warehouse and found explosives everywhere. I barely made it out in time before the entire place was in flames."
Superman nodded and continued, "When the explosion happened, we saw Amazo and Blockbuster escape and realized it was their doing. We all rushed over to the warehouse to help evacuate as many people as possible. It was there that we came across Tarantula who helped us control the damage."
Nightwing grunted and nodded. "Well that's great. Thank you for your assistance, Catalina. You may leave now."
"We already told her everything," Martian Manhunter interrupted. "We may need her now." Before he had time to protest, the Martian added, "Our mission was a complete failure, there were many casualties, and Cyborg is missing."
This was enough to sedate Grayson. "Cyborg is missing?" he repeated.
"We couldn't find him after his fight with Amazo," Wonder Woman said.
"Where's Starfire?"
"Giving a formal report on last night's events to the mayor."
Tarantula, who had been flipping through the channels on the TV, promptly said, "Hey everyone, you might want to hear this." She turned up the volume for all to hear the report on the local Blüdhaven news channel.
"…explosion that shook the city last night at 2:47 AM. Though police are as of yet unwilling to disclose any information, it is believed that several hundred are dead. Though there is currently no clear cause of this tragedy, the masked criminal known as Tarantula was found in the crime scene moments before the explosion occurred. Local vigilantes Nightwing and Starfire as well as some members of the Justice League were also spotted near the warehouse during the explosion. Could there have been some connection between them and the explosion? Here we have an eyewitness…"
"What the hell?" Flash interrupted. "That's not what happened, right? They're twisting everything up."
Tarantula eyed the television. "Elaine Marsh-Morton," she mumbled. "That reporter… Elaine Marsh-Morton, also known as Lady Vic. She was one of Blockbuster's top cronies."
"Blockbuster's censoring the media, making it seem like we're the ones responsible," Nightwing realized. So this was how powerful he was. Even as he was just sentenced to prison, he managed to easily escape and retain his control over the police force and the media. Roland Desmond again proved himself a most adversarial foe.
Just like Slade.
What exactly happened back there? Blockbuster had suddenly called forth the image of Slade in Nightwing's eyes, but there was no possible way he had any connection to him. Slade was dead, long dead. Rift had made sure of that many years ago. But still, Dick had an uneasy feeling about it.
"Oh my God," Wonder Woman suddenly said, snapping him out of his train of thought. She pointed at the television screen. Nightwing glanced over to it and felt a shiver crawl up his spine.
Amazo was on TV, levitating in the air as he gradually descended to the ground. He had the same mischievous grin on his face. The camera then panned over to reveal a second figure, a robot-like figure with red and black circuitry and glowing yellow eyes.
"What… is that?" Jinx gasped.
"Humans of Blüdhaven," Amazo announced into the camera. "We are pleased to announce the genesis of a New Age! The reign of humans is coming to an end, and the reign of machines shall soon begin."
The second figure then approached the camera. "We are the advent of the New Age. Humanity begs for a ruler and we will answer."
"Who—who are you?" the cameraman could be heard asking.
The figure with red and black circuitry with glowing red eyes said in a mechanical voice, "We are known as Cyberion, but once, long ago, you knew us as—Cyborg."
The Titans and the Justice League gasped. Nightwing clenched his fist. "Cyborg, what have they done to you?"
…
Lucie came today. I forgot how many days it's been since she did. She asked me if I still have that paper bracelet she made for me. I kept it, but I hid it under my blanket and lied to her, saying I lost it. I couldn't see her face to know what her reaction was. She told me she's sorry she annoys me all the time, and that she'd understand if I hated her. She said she read through my journal entries. I thought she was crying. She told me that adoption season is coming up in her orphanage. Normally most couples go adopting babies and little kids, so the older ones like her rarely get chosen by anyone, but she said she'll try her best to get adopted. She'll try her best to leave me alone now.
"Why were you always visiting me?" I asked her. "Were you trying to get me to adopt you?"
I sensed that she shook her head. She always did things like that, forgetting that a blind man couldn't see her if she shook her head. "I just…" she answered. "You always looked so sad. I wanted to make you smile."
For some reason, I began to feel angry. "What business do you have trying to make me feel happy?"
"Everyone deserves to be happy," she said in a guilty voice.
I spoke to her in the sternest, grimmest voice I could muster. "Now you listen to me you little girl, and you listen well. My name is Malcolm Crowe. I am a criminal. I've drugged, kidnapped, stolen, manipulated, and killed. I've murdered people. I was literally the servant of the Devil. I could kill you right now without a second's hesitation. It would be so easy. I've done it so many times, after all. I've ended the lives of many innocent people for my own selfish needs. I've almost caused the complete destruction of this entire planet. Now you listen to all that and tell me that I deserve to be happy." My voice was shaking.
Lucie drew closer and gently placed her hand on mine. She said in a quivering voice: "Everybody deserves peace. Everyone deserves to be happy. Mr. Crowe…" She said in the most calming voice I've ever heard, "Now answer me this Mr. Crowe: are you happy?"
I gasped. A vision of Anna appeared before me. Her voice echoed in my mind: "Now answer me this, Mr. Physicist With Ten Zero's On His Paycheck: are you happy?"
Moments afterwards, the girl left. I cried. I wept. I sobbed. For ten years, I had forgotten what happiness was. I had forgotten peace. Raven once told me I was a dead man because I knew no love. I knew no joy. I knew no peace. The void in my heart began to consume me. The emptiness within started to suffocate me. I wanted to die. I wanted to disappear.
Anna. Raven. Lucie. Why are you all so filled with light? How are you all so colorful, so joyous, so alive? Next to you all, I am but a mere shadow, a shell. I am but a lowly sinner within the presence of angels. But now Anna is gone. But now Raven is gone. But now Lucie is going away…
I remember the first time I met Lucie was in the park just outside the hospital. My nurse was with me and we were sitting on a bench under the sunlight. Lucie came to me like a butterfly approaching a snail and asked me if I remembered her. She had been watching me while I was asleep. She had been waiting for the moment I'd wake up again.
Ever since then, everything changed. She made me feel almost alive. Amidst my crying, it struck me that Lucie had no reason to go away. She loved the orphanage. She loved the matrons who took care of her. She loved visiting people at the hospital all the time. She loved it all. I realized with tearful eyes that she was going away for my sake. She was going to try her best to get adopted because I had said she was annoying and unwanted here. And I wept with sadness and sorrow. "Would you please come back?" I mumbled to myself. "Lucie, would you please come back…?" Oh, if only I still had my mind control powers! "Would you please…"
That girl, Lucie. Naïve. Bizarre. Nuisance. Annoyance. She's ultra-hyperactive, her personality is obnoxious, and she clings to me like it's no one's business. At times her antics are like little children, other times she shows the wisdom of a woman. Every moment with her I'm filled with agitation, and yet because of her, the sun feels warmer, the breeze feels cooler, the grass feels softer and the ground seems harder. Hearing her laugh and talk of the beautiful world around her shuts me deeper in my blindness and reminds me of the darkness I live in, but through her voice I suddenly begin to see colors again. I saw reds and greens, blues and yellows. I began to see the world around me through her eyes, and it is beautiful. I feel like a child again. With her, my days are loud, hectic, and exhausting. But without her, my days are dry and barren, as ephemeral as a passing second. I cringe whenever I hear her voice at my doorstep, yet I loathe the emptiness of the room that permeates the air when she leaves. They have a word for this feeling that I can't quite remember. Something I haven't felt in a long time. I felt tears begin to form in my eyes as my heart beats heavily with a sensation that is foreign to me. Bursting with emotion, my mind couldn't contain it and in a rush of adrenaline I swiped my pen and thrust it into the wall behind me, scrawling lines that formed letters and letters that formed words. In the heat of the moment I had forgotten my blindness. In that moment I had forgotten my despair, my darkness. All I wanted to do was to release these feelings that were flowing from me. Lucie… I saw the brown bird we drew and colored together. Lucie… I saw the paper bracelet she made for me out of the paper cone we ate ice cream from. Lucie… I saw her holding my hand as we ran and ran and ran like birds carried by the breeze. Lucie… And so I wrote in scrawls on the wall of my prison of a hospital room with a now dinged pen words that frightened me, but also words that freed me, words that shattered me, words that redeemed me:
My name is Malcolm Crowe.
I am going on a journey.
The moment I met her, my dark world began to burst with color.
I met her under the light of the sun, and then my fate began to change.
~Difficult Words to Say~