A/N: Good grief, have a cow why don't ya? October was a busy month for me and it doesn't look like November's gonna be any better, I'm sorry really, but I promise I'm not going to be one of those that abandons a story. SO QUIT YELLING AT ME!!! M'KAY?!!

Oh, and moyercat11, Amelia Johnson is Amelia Johnson, sorry for the confusion, she's real as far as this story goes.

Luckily, I get to write this chapter in the fresh air, all I have to look out for is a Cyborg army. I still don't own anything and why is it that I'm also the only person who doesn't have an army of some kind?!!

Chapter 13

"What do you mean gone Beast Boy?" Cyborg still had the little changeling in his grip.

Beast Boy moved back so Cyborg couldn't reach him, "I mean not here. Not in their rooms, nowhere in the Tower, just gone." Cyborg could see it was taking quite the effort for Beast Boy to stay calm.

"Are you sure?" Batman said, "You looked everywhere?"

"Yes!" Beast Boy was moving towards the door, probably ready to sprint off looking for them.

Starfire looked at Cyborg, "Where could they have gone? They would not just leave." Cyborg was about to answer when Raven spoke.

"How much you want to bet it was a certain Doctor who likes to mess with peoples subconscious?" She was looking at Wonder Woman. The Amazonian nodded, "We need to find them, now."

"Wait," Cyborg said, "How could Carlisle have done this? We were all right here."He pointed to the floor to emphasize his point.

Raven had already started for the door, she answered him in an irritated rush, "Yes, and Carlisle was up here," Raven pointed to her head, and then continued, "They were asleep remember? He's in their dreams again, and this time he'll be more careful. He's finally getting the hold he wanted on Robin and Terra. It may not be reversible after this. Oh, crud," She stopped before she reached the door and turned to Diana, "The rest of the letters."

"The others are perfectly capable of tracking them down," WW turned to look at Batman, "You need to find them as soon as possible, Raven and I need to finish with this," she indicated the stack of papers in Raven's grasp, "Trust me, it may be the only way to find out what Carlisle Martin is going to do."

Batman nodded. Cyborg finally managed to speak, "Okay, the first place we should check is the house, then his labs, there are dozens of them."

"I'll take the house," Beast Boy said and raced out the door.

"Star, go with him," Cyborg said. She nodded and flew after her friend. Batman, Cyborg and Superman were taking the labs, while Diana and Raven deciphered the letters to Amelia. They would stay close to the computer in order to stay in touch with the rest of them.

Before they left, though, Batman pulled Diana aside, "What did she mean by irreversible?"

Diana studied him before she answered and chose her words carefully, "She means Martin isn't going to give slack anymore," when he still didn't look like he understood she elaborated, "Sean and Jessica were only able to remember what they remembered because Carlisle hadn't taken over completely, he gave them more free-will than his ancestors gave their armies. The armies were basically drones, the kids are not. Carlisle won't make that mistake again," Diana paused as Bruce's realization sunk in, and decided there was no point in sugar-coating it, "Hurry and find them Bruce; you may not get another chance."

Martin Residence

The house was empty, not a stick of furniture in it. The alarm systems were gone. An outsider might think no one had lived in it for years, never guessing that the house had been inhabited only yesterday. Carlisle Martin knew how to cover his tracks. The only thing left was what couldn't be of any help. It smelled like everything from the floors to the ceiling had been scrubbed with heavy duty cleaner, so that it might be mistaken for a hospital. It was absolutely disturbing.

Beast Boy flipped open his communicator with a defeated sigh and waited for Cyborg to pick up, "Hey B you find anything?"

"Man, this guy could give Batman a run for his money in the 'quiet and sneaky' department," Beast Boy sighed again as Starfire settled on the floor next to him, "What about you?"

"Nothing so far, matter of fact, that's all we've found, nothing. Literally, Martin cleaned house. We haven't even gotten to all the laboratories, why don't you two come and help us?" Cyborg was looking very worn.

BB glanced at Star and she nodded and said, "We will be there," her voice softened to that disarming calm that could melt an iceberg, "We will find them, Cyborg, do not worry."

Beast Boy almost believed her. Almost.

Sean groggily cracked his eyes open. He wanted to sleep some more. He really wanted to get back to the dream he was having. It wasn't as dramatic as the one the night before but it was nice. In this one he was walking through the city with Jessie. They weren't walking to anything he knew of, nor were they walking away from anything, just walking and talking about nothing. It was nice, and for once Father wasn't there.

But he had to wake up. There was some strange buzzing sound that was driving him crazy, and he knew it was coming from outside of his dream. Maybe it was the Titans working on something, or maybe they were cooking, Sean was starving. Sean opened his eyes wide.

This wasn't the Tower. He was on a bed in a small room with no windows and one door. As Sean looked around he saw that Jessie was nowhere in the room and that infuriating buzzing noise was still going. Sean had been wrong, Father was here.

He got out of the bed. There was no way he was just staying in one place for Father to do who knew what to him. He tried to walk to the door but was jolted to a stop by his left arm. Sean turned and starred in horror at his wrist. The heavy chain from the basement was set firmly around his already scarred arm and attached to the bed post. He couldn't leave and he didn't have an alarm this time.

Suddenly the buzzing stopped. The small room was eerily quiet without it. Sean heard footsteps soon after, they approached at an easy even pace, but quickly. Sean froze as the door knob turned.

Bruce where are you?

Martin Laboratory #18

"This guy is good, I'll give him that much," Superman leaned on one of the sterilized lab walls and watched as Batman paced the length of the main hall.

"He had to have left something," Batman was almost talking to himself but Starefire answered anyway.

Even her patience was coming to an end, "But he did not. We have found nothing," She dropped from the air and walked over to her team, "Please, Cyborg, where is the next Lab to search we are running out of time."

Cyborg sighed and didn't look at her, "No where," he glanced at her confused face and said, "There are no more Labs to search, Star. No more houses, nothing. We been everywhere Carlisle Martin ever spent time and all we've found is this." He swung his arm out over the abandoned Research Lab. It was just as empty as the house, with the same bleach smell and sense of horrible foreboding.

"What!" Starfire finally shrieked, "That cannot be! There must be another place, Cyborg we cannot stop here," She wheeled around to face Batman, he was supposed to be the world's greatest detective and all, "You must think." She was almost in tears.

Batman stopped his pacing; "I'm tryi . . ." he froze, and then said very slowly, "Every where he spent time?"

Cyborg looked up at him, "Yeah, we've been to his home and all of his labs, where else do we know to look?"

"The mental institution he stayed in has been empty for a year," Batman was already headed for the door, "It went out of business because it couldn't compete with Dr. Martin's Research Labs."

Titan's Tower

"Where are they now?" Raven sifted through the letters as she spoke to Diana.

"They must have thought of something, they're heading back across town," The Amazonian watched as the blinking dots that indicated the rest of the team glided across the screen, then bent to help Raven. They had gotten through most of the workload and found nothing. They were slowly going stir crazy.

The half-demon was translating a particularly long letter, probably five pages long and had suddenly stopped. Her eyes ran over it faster than Diana could've written it and silently Raven sat up straighter, her violet eyes widening.

"What is it?" Wonder Woman asked quietly. It took a long time for Raven to answer.

"He found it," she murmured. Diana almost didn't hear her.

"What do you mean?"

Raven looked up from the letter as if realizing Diana was there, "He found the stone," she held out the letter for Diana to see, "Mnemosyne's stone."

"Batman pick up now," Diana's voice rang sharp through the comm. link in the Bat mobile. Bruce hit the button on the steering wheel so he could answer.

"Kind of busy here," He said. Cyborg was beside him in the car, Beast Boy, Superman, and Starfire were flying overhead.

"I know but this is important, we may have less time than we thought and a much bigger problem."

"What could be a bigger problem than having our teammates turned into a psycho's drones?" Cyborg asked.

"How about having the whole city turned into drones?" Diana asked back; Cyborg was silent.

"What are you talking about Diana, what did you find?" Batman screeched around a corner, barely missing a light pole.

"Carlisle found Mnemosyne's Stone," Raven was on the link now, "Now he has the ability to take control of the whole city, maybe more."

"I thought you said that finding the Stone was impossible," Superman buzzed in on his connection.

"Well, apparently I was wrong, does that matter right now?" Raven snapped, she calmed a little as she said, "That's not all. He wrote to Amelia about doing this . . . army up better than his ancestors. He only wants young minds that he can shape himself, instead of the brute strength of numbers the ancients relied on so much. He's making some super-smart genius horde."

"He's going to make an army of geeks?" Beast Boy that time.

"Try dooms-day weapon building geeks, grass stain," Raven was being snappy again, "A little more dangerous than you might think."

"Wait," Batman interrupted, "Only young minds?"

The other end was quiet for a long time before Diana answered, "He doesn't want everybody, only the ones he deems worthy."

"Which means . . ." Cyborg dreaded the answer.

Raven answered, "It means he's going to kill off every one over twenty years old, and anyone else who doesn't fit the bill." Cyborg swallowed as Batman floored it.

"Y-y-you s-stay away f-f-from me," Sean's attempt at a confident threat hardly tapped into defiance. Father smiled from the other side of the room, tall and intimidating. Sean had backed himself into the side of the bed he was still chained to. Father closed the door behind him.

"Now, Sean, my dear boy, that's no way to speak to your father," Father began to stride across the room, "I taught you better than that."

"Y-you are not my father," Sean tried to back up farther, but only managed to fall back onto the bed. The room was so small that Father was standing over him within three casual steps. Sean pushed himself all the way to the wall the bed was pushed against. He was trapped, and the wolf's green eyes were kind and gentle. "L-leave m-me alone," Sean said weakly.

Father sighed, a father truly disappointed in his charge, and he reached out a hand to touch Sean's cheek. Sean closed his eyes and turned his head away, but Father cupped his face in his hand anyway, gently pushing Sean's head around to face him, "But I have so many great plans for you," his hand went cool on Sean's cheek, "You and your sister are my prizes, please Sean don't make me do this. Come back to me," Father placed his other hand on Sean's face, "Open your eyes my boy."

Sean couldn't help himself; he opened his eyes. He was looking into Father's green eyes, and at once noticed how kind they were. Sean suddenly felt numb. This man shouldn't seem warm and gentle to him. Definitely not kind. But kind they seemed.

But of course they were kind; this was his father after all. The coldness in Father's hands seemed to vanish as Sean relaxed into those green eyes.

"That's it my son, it's alright now," Father stroked his cheek soothingly, "No more of those horrid people telling you lies . . ." Sean smiled a little and nodded. Then he noticed something else; a tugging at the back of his mind. Green eyes. Where had he seen such soft, lovely green eyes before? Not Father's, but somewhere else.

Starfire's image flashed through his mind. The beautiful alien smiling at him as he tried her orange, explosion cake. The image faltered as he felt his Father's grip tighten, Sean's stomach rolled as he felt the freezing sensation from Father's fingers.

"What did you do to me?" Sean asked suddenly, no stutter this time, and fully confident and demanding, though quiet. His voice seemed to come from someone else.

Father pulled his hands away from Sean's face like he'd been burned, "I did exactly what you let me do," his eyes were no longer consoling. Father looked away from Sean and said, "It won't matter soon, anyway," he sighed and looked back at Sean, "I didn't want to do this, but you leave me no choice," he began to walk to the door, "you and your sister will be mine by morning, whether you like it or not."

Sean thought he was going to be sick. Father wasn't leaving--only pulling in a rolling cot. He grabbed Sean's other hand. Sean's protesting struggles could have been only a minor nuisance for all he knew, Father gave no sign he noticed. He strapped Sean's arm down to the cot with a leather strap, and this time with great difficulty got Sean on his back in the cot, where he continued to restrain him, replacing the heavy metal on his left wrist for the tight leather.

Sean fought with all his strength but finally admitted defeat as they rolled into the hallway.

"Where are we?" he asked hoarsely.

Father laughed deep in his throat, "We're in Jump City's lovely Mental Institution. They have the best bedside manner, don't you think?"

It was a horrible sound, hearing someone laugh at your expense. "Where is Jessie?" Sean asked instead of trying to hit him, even though it would have been futile.

Father actually looked like the answer pained him, "Your sister, I'm afraid shares your stubborn disbelief. She too will have to start over; you'll see her in a moment."

"Start over?" Sean did his best to look Father in the face, but since he was pushing the cot from behind it turned out to be almost impossible.

"You'll know soon enough my boy," Father was infuriatingly calm.

"I'm not your boy," Sean was a little surprised by the anger in his voice, but he didn't care, it felt good to be angry, instead of scared and unsure, and to have a good reason, "I don't want to be your boy. The Titans will be here and so will Batman, whether you like it or not, I won't be your boy anymore."

Before he was even finished with the last sentence, before he could even register what was happening, Sean was again starring at Father's furious eyes. He was towering over Sean with a twisted smile. Father put a hand on either side of Sean's cot, as if making absolute sure Sean couldn't escape his wrath and began to speak in a low hiss.

"The Titans?" he said the word with complete disgust, and chuckled quietly, "Those incapable brats, left you, their only source of order and leadership, to drown in the bottom of a river. Or don't you recall that pleasant little moment of `what once was'?"

Father's hand was suddenly around Sean's forearm, and the freezing sensations ripped their way all the way up his arm, down his spine, filtering into his mind like so many spiders. Images and sensations suddenly slammed into Sean.

The first was falling; falling and not being afraid, it was only water he'd hit after all. But then realizing what was falling in after him; a large, fully loaded box, forcing him down into the murky, cold water. But before he hit, Beast Boy saw him. Good. They would help. Sean was trying to reach for his waist . . . no, that wasn't right . . . Robin was reaching for his belt, but the crate was on his chest, his bottom half pinned underneath. No way to reach the belt.

But it was okay. Beast Boy had seen him fall. He just had to hold on for a little longer, someone would come.

But they didn't. Robin was slowly losing consciousness, and with it the air rushed out of his lungs as he tried in vain to push the box away. Hurry up, guys, please . . . He couldn't help it; he sucked in a breath. His chest seemed to cave in as water rushed into his body, and the pressure of the box was too much, and he was going to drown . . .

Somehow Robin found himself on the bank of the river coughing and gasping for air.

"It's alright my boy. You're safe now," the voice didn't belong to any of his team, but he welcomed the soothing tones. Robin finally looked up at his rescuer through his half unconscious state.

"Wh-who are . . . you?" Robin gasped, he still couldn't sit up. His head was in the man's lap, and the man had his hand against Robin's cheek. It felt nice. Comforting.

"I'm the one who will be taking care of you from now on . . ."

Sean came back to his senses gasping like he had just been pulled from the river. Father had taken his hand away and was speaking again in that low hiss.

"Yes, they forgot that little detail didn't they? I'm the only one who cared enough to pull you out, and this is how you repay me." He was lying. The Titans would never do that.

It was hard for him to speak but Sean managed, "They wouldn't . . . they'll come . . . with Batman . . . and more . . ."

Sean was cut off by Father's laughter, "The Bat? How do you think you caught my eye in the first place child? Batman abandoned you long ago." Once again his hand was on Sean's arm. Sean didn't want to see this, but in some part of his mind he knew this was what was tugging at him every time he looked at Bruce, and that this would hurt.

It started with pain. Not the pain he thought was coming, but actual, physical pain. It was Joker's bullet in his chest he knew, but he couldn't do anything. The sensation ended abruptly. The next weren't what interested him. Richard waking up in the hospital, Bruce and Alfred standing over him.

Coming home, healing, trying to train again, all of it was a blur in comparison to the last image.

"Bruce . . . when can I go out with you again?" Richard asked tentatively one evening in the cave. It was a very touchy subject with Bruce for some reason. He'd asked several times already, but he'd always been told it was too soon. This time he made sure he was healthy, in perfect condition before he asked, he even had the doctor's approval of such physical activity this time.

Bruce stiffened slightly, you would've had to really know him to see it. It took a long time for Bruce to answer, then he finally turned to look at Richard, and took a deep breath, "You won't be."

"But Bruce," Richard whined, not fully understanding, "I'm perfectly healthy. I even have Alfred's approval for goodness sake. I even got him to write me a note, wanna see?" that last statement normally would have made Bruce laugh. But he didn't.

Bruce wasn't looking at him anymore, he was studying the computer screen, "I know Richard. But that's not the point," for the first time The Batman was having a hard time finding words.

Richard was scared, "Then what do you mean?"

"I mean," another pause, "there will be no more Robin." He said the words coolly, like he would speak to a business partner.

Richard couldn't speak for a moment, his insides were exploding, but when he did all he could manage was, "Why?" What had he done? Was this his fault? He could fix it . . . but he couldn't get any of it to come out of his mouth.

Bruce spoke brusquely, "It is becoming too much of a liability . . ." he stopped short; he turned to look at Richard. Bruce opened his mouth to speak again, but Richard didn't let him.

"Liability?" he said, "I'm a liability to you?" he wasn't good enough . . .

"Richard . . ." Bruce tried to call him back but his voice only made Richard run faster up the stairs. No. No, no, no, no, this was wrong. He passed Alfred on the way up and vaguely recalled the kindly butler say his name. He ran up to his room slamming and locking his door. He sat on his bed while sickening thoughts settled into his mind.

He had failed.

It was all his fault.

He wasn't good enough for Batman.

He wasn't good enough for Bruce . . .

"Come on," Diana started for the door with Raven close behind, "We'll have to hurry if we're going to be of any help." Raven only nodded.

If they were fast enough they would probably reach the mental institution just as the others were going in the doors. The flight was quiet and held a tension that only tightened as they landed in front of the abandoned building. The Bat's car was already there as they'd expected so they immediately went in. The chain and padlock on the door were already broken, in the back of her mind Raven was hoping it wasn't one of their team who broke it.

Raven opened her communicator to contact Cyborg, praying that she wasn't putting him into danger by doing so. He picked up.

"Hey Rae, you just get here?" He asked, rather loudly too. She suspected they hadn't found anything.

"Yes," she deadpanned, "Where are you now?"

"Go down the right hallway, you should run right into us. Superman heard some weird buzzing noise a minute ago that we can't identify. We're going to check it out now." He hung up.

"Sean? Sean, come on, snap out of it," Jessie's voice finally brought him to consciousness. He must have passed out in that last onslaught of Father's. Sean flinched at the still raw images in his mind. He turned his head to look at Jessie, remembering that he couldn't sit up for the leather straps.

She was tied down too, to an identical cot to his, "You okay?" he asked. He voice was more of a croak.

Her mouth twisted into a wry smile, "Define `okay'."

Sean didn't offer a definition because his new surroundings caught his attention. He had to stifle his initial reaction to groan or scream . . . or both and more.

The first one had to notice was the color. The whole room glowed a deep blue, like it was completely under arctic water. It was a huge circular room, with tables crowded neatly with medical looking equipment pushed against the walls. The walls were covered in wires and cords all meshed with each other like a living plant. Stranger things covered the walls wherever bare wall could be found. Strange symbols Sean didn't recognize, and probably didn't want to. But none of that compared to the center piece of the whole operation.

A stone. Its shape, size, and texture would have been considered totally plain if one were to see it any other way. It was the color that made it frightening. It was sapphire blue, beautiful, with a hairline crack right down the center. Not only that but it was moving. No, the rock wasn't moving, just pulsing, like a heartbeat. It radiated from within the object, a white center, beating, breathing. Sean could only stare.

"Like it?" Father's voice was close to his ear, so close Sean jumped but didn't bother to try and turn. The straps were unbelievably tight.

"Don't be frightened," Father was saying as he walked up to the stone, yeah, right, "It won't take that long. Not as long as last time anyway, now that you've been exposed." He looked at the both of them as their eyes burned holes into him. He smiled anyway, like he was telling them how well they were doing in school, "You'll both be alright soon, don't worry, I'll make you better."

"Funny," said Jessie, with the same edge in her voice she used when Sean was on her nerves, "I'd be willing to bet we'd have been perfectly fine if you'd left us alone in the first place."

Father was still smiling when he turned to Jessie. He starred at her for so long it made her squirm in her bindings. When he finally spoke his voice was the low hiss again.

"If I had left you alone, my sweet girl, you'd still be a rock, hiding from the world, literally buried in self-pity," Father's voice took on a disgusted tone, "Neither one of you realize what I did for you . . ." He turned away watching the stone, and seemed to come to a conclusion, "But it won't matter. You and the rest of the world won't make such mistakes anymore." He reached out and stroked the stone with one finger.

"What do you mean?" Sean asked. His curiosity could always get the better of him. When Father didn't answer he continued, "That's the stone, isn't it?" Jessie had told him the story Raven told her, and Raven had explained the stones nature. It held, not just the power of one individual of that race, but of thousands. It was a time bomb to anyone who tried to use it, "You can't do what your ancestor's did. That thing is too unstable; it would kill you and anyone else it affects . . ."

"Don't you think I know that?" Father said coolly, he had moved to one of the tables with his back to them, "What do you think all of this is for?" He waved his hand to indicate the calculated mess of unidentifiable equipment, "I've been working for years trying to find a way to only extract what I need from the stone." He turned to look at Sean, his voice taking a lecture tone, "And that's being a bit dramatic; saying it would kill me or anyone else. Honestly Sean where do you get these ideas?"

Jessie scoffed then, "You're the one holding us against our will and you call us dramatic?"

"It's for your own good, Jessica, for everyone's own good," Father said simply.

"You keep saying that!"Jessie exploded, "What does that mean? What, for goodness sake has mankind done to deserve being controlled against their will?"

Father shook his head, "What hasn't mankind done, my dear? Fighting mostly. Destroying themselves out of hate and fear, among other catastrophes. We are going to rectify their mistakes," Father started towards one of the doors, "Now stay put, I have to make sure everything's ready."

They'd been through the whole place. They searched every crack on every floor (and there were twelve, by the way) and found nothing. They had just finished searching the basement; it was truly hopeless.

"What now?" Beast Boy asked. He'd sat down on the dirt covered concrete floor of the basement with his chin in his hands. Raven just shook her head. "Oh, come on!" Beast Boy looked around at them all, "There's got to be something." No one answered.

Starfire was the only one moving, pacing rather loudly over the floor, a dust trail in her wake. They all watched her, just to have something to focus on.

"How does someone just vanish like that?" Cyborg stood next to the league members, mostly talking to himself.

"They do not," Starfire stopped pacing and turned to face him, "Such things do not happen." She stiffened in that stubborn way and stamped her foot a little, "People do not just go away, they have to be someplace," She stamped her foot again. Cyborg always thought that it looked very childish when she did that . . .

Wait a second, "Star, do that again," Cyborg said. Every one gave him a weird look, and Starfire said after a minute, "Do what again, Cyborg?"

"Stomp your foot. In the same place, again," He walked up to her and starred at the floor under her foot. The dirt and dust on the floor was so thick one really could only see parts of the concrete underneath, and if he was right . . .

Star stamped her foot again. A hollow sound emitted from the floor. Hollow. The floor was supposed to be solid cement. "Help me with this," Cyborg said to no one in particular. He started to wipe away the packed dirt on the floor . . . to reveal a metal door built into the floor.

Superman was the first to say something, "If Martin had used this we'd have seen it earlier. He couldn't have gone down there himself and covered the opening again."

"Unless a certain ex-wife did it for him and then ran for it," Batman said as he opened the heavy door. Behind it was a ladder, and down that was what looked like an old subway tunnel, no longer operational, judging by the desolated look.

Now they were getting somewhere.

"Sean . . . Sean it's not working," Jessie said finally, "We'll have to try something else."

Sean tried one more time to pull some slack into the straps. No use, "What we need is something sharp to cut through it."

"Oh is that all?" Jessie snapped, "My bad. I forgot my machete at the last psycho's lab we were in." she rolled her eyes as Sean glared at her.

"That's okay," said a very cheery voice from the door way, "We forgot ours too." A green beaver hopped onto Jessie's cot and began to chew at her straps as Batman cut away at Sean's with a baterang. The other Titans and the rest of the League stood ready for a fight behind them.

"What took you so long?" Jessie asked when she was able to stand and Beast Boy was human again.

BB shrugged, "We had a slight detour, but don't worry about it lets get you out of . . ." The changeling's voice choked out as he gasped and suddenly fell to the ground. The blue glow in the room intensified.

Sean watched as the others went ridged as Beast boy had, all of them clutching their heads in pain. Sean immediately knelt next to Batman, "What's happening?" He asked no one, really, but got a cold answer in return.

"Their minds are slowly shutting down, my boy," Sean looked up to see Father standing over the pulsing stone. His green eyes stood stark against the blue glow. Sean knew there was no wind but something was causing objects in the room to move, fall off tables and shatter, the wires on the walls began to make that loud buzzing noise again, it rose to the point of screeching, the strange symbols began to burn white-hot. Father was drawing power from the stone.

"Stop it!"Sean tried to shout over the noise, but Father only grinned. He started walking towards them.

"It's all right, Sean. You won't have to worry about these horrible people anymore," Father was getting too close. Batman gasped again. Sean looked down at him. He didn't know what to do. But then, what could he do? No one could help him, and he was no match for Father as long as Father had . . .

Sean looked up. Father had stopped at the edge of the writhing group, but that's not what Sean was searching for. It was only half-way across the room, all Sean had to do was get past Father. But how would he break it once he got there . . .

Batman had dropped the baterang. It had slid up under the cot.

Sean looked up at Jessie and saw that she was staring at him. Not scared, but angry. Sean grabbed the baterang from under the cot, "Think you can cover me?" Jessie grinned wickedly at him, and jumped up. Father's grin disappeared as Jessie tackled him to the ground.

Sean only had one chance at this. He ran as soon as Jessie and father hit the ground. He tried to go around them or jump over them, but Father grabbed his ankle, dragging him to the floor. Sean fell hard on his shoulder and felt the baterang dig into his hand as he turned to look at Carlisle Martin. He had kicked Jessie away and still had Sean by the ankle . . . until Sean kicked him square in the face with his other foot. Father let go with a screech of agony that rose over the storm of noise around them.

Sean scrambled to his feet again and raced towards the stone. He could hear Father behind him, already in pursuit, but it was too late. With all his strength Sean jammed the end of the baterang into the hairline crack in the stone, and everything seemed to happen at once.

The crack in the stone widened, glowing white-hot. Every bit of equipment seemed to shatter, even the wires embedded in the walls split open. The screaming noises became unbearable, but it no longer came from the wires. It was coming from Father. He writhed on the floor clutching his head in agony just as he had made the others do.

Sean never really knew what happened next, except that it hurt. He was still holding onto the baterang jammed into the stone, and suddenly felt something hit him . . . hard. He didn't see anything, but it made him let go. The force pushed him back, slamming him onto the floor.

Sean didn't feel the ground beneath him. He couldn't move, couldn't feel anything. All he could do was watch. Memories flooded back to him, threatening to drown him, even the memories Father showed him. He wasn't lying. With every image that flowed into his mind another shock wave hit him.

His parents. Flying. Death. Scared. Bruce. Comfort. Batman. Fighting. The Titans.

Falling.

Slowly the memories settled, and Richard began to find his way out of the flood. He would be okay now. He could feel his heart beat, every breath. And slowly his senses tuned into what was around him. First he noticed was someone supporting his head. The storm was gone; the place was quiet, except for someone speaking. The voice still seemed distant to him. They were saying his name.

"Sean. Wake up, Sean . . ." he was pretty sure it was Bruce, but it was like hearing him through a wad of cotton. He wanted to open his eyes and tell him he was fine, to shut-up, his head hurt. But he couldn't. He was falling again, not into a flood, but just to sleep. That's all he wanted; to sleep. Bruce was still talking, among Starfire's, and other voices, but he couldn't answer.

He would just sleep now. They were using the wrong name anyway.

A/N: Finally! This chapter took forever, so I hope you like it, and I hope I wasn't being too obvious there.

By the way, I'm starting to lose track of questions I have and have not answered (I should have written them down, but I don't usually think that far ahead, sorry) so if you review, just let me know, and I'll do my best to explain everything. I read through it several times, but I still may have missed something.

Until again . . .