Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the Teen Titans.
Chapter 13 The Memory Master
"So now what?" Robin asked Gerard as soon as the nurse left the small room. Robin had gone in for a check up because someone had detected some difficulties when Robin had been "purified", or in other words brainwashed. The teen had gone in with Gerard to see the nurse stationed at the school. She was the same lady who had stayed with Robin when he head gone under the brutal brainwashing the week before.
"This isn't good," Gerard muttered back. He was sitting on a stool in the corner of the room, trying not to look as worrisome as he felt.
The room was small, like any other regular check up room in a hospital or doctor's office. Robin sat on a cushioned table with the regular annoying crunchy paper on it for sanitation. Cabinets, counters, and a sink were on one whole wall. The only difference here compared to a normal hospital room was the table full of knives and saws stationed next to Robin.
Gerard bolted from his spot on the stool and quickly grabbed on of the knives on the table. The second the teen had the stolen object hidden and was back in his corner, the door to the room opened abruptly.
"Good morning, Gerard," the man who was coming in said cheerfully to the teen. Robin watched in amazement as Gerard's whole countenance changed in the wink of an eye. His eyes brightened as the masking smile took over his face.
"'Morning," Gerard responded with as much cheerfulness. The teen was a master at masking his feelings.
The man who had walked in was in his early to middle 50's, yet he still looked strong and young. He was bald with a few brown spots littered across the top of his hairless head. He was basket-ball-player tall with sharp features. He was a very handsome older man.
The man wore tan dress pants with a crisp white shirt and red tie. He held his head high with a wealthy, prestigious air to him. He was a man of order and obedience. Robin summed the man up with a quick note of the look the man had in his observant, ice blue eyes. There was something evil in those eyes that shot a spike of unknown fear down Robin's spine. He had to resist the urge to shiver.
The situation got tighter as Derek walked into the room right behind the man. Robin narrowed his eyes on the teen, but he remained quiet. He knew all too well that this wasn't going to turn out well. All ready his head was kicking into high gear.
"Jenna the nurse told me you, young man, need some last minute tweaks to your brain," the man said to Robin. The man's voice was all open and calm, but his body language said something different. His arms were crossed in front of his large chest and his eyes were unsmiling. Robin didn't fake his skepticism toward him as he set his jaw and glared back at the man in simple defiance.
"He's a mind reader, Robin," Gerard explained. "He is the one who actually 'purifies' the kids who come through here. He's practically harmless." An evil smile flittered across his face before he added, "Just don't get on his bad side."
For a split second, Derek and Gerard shared a rare smile as they looked at each other. Robin watched the interaction with much interest.
"Let's get on with this, shall we boys?" the man said sternly to the two brothers. Right away the room became frozen again. The dead air made Robin shift uncomfortably in his seat. His stomach was making knots before anything had begun. This didn't sit well with the teen. He needed a course of action.
"Tell me exactly what you're going to do inside my head," Robin said to the mind reader standing in front of him.
A chilling smile came the man's lips as he answered, "I go in there and get rid of any unnecessary memories that would cause you to go through any negative emotions. What I'm going to do is simply go through and see if I missed any from our first encounter."
Robin just stared at the man, in deep thought. He was seriously going to have to go through another grueling brainwash! His mind couldn't handle that. He'd break down in five minutes or less. Robin knew exactly where his limits were. But he couldn't say no to it. That would be suicide.
"Go ahead," Robin finally said reluctantly.
"Good boy," the man said with the clap of his hands. Robin paused as a memory returned to him from the shadows of his mind. It was one of Slade saying those exact words. Was it possible that he could get more memories like that?
Robin's stomach tightened as he lay down on the table. The thin sanitation paper under him crinkled and cracked as he shifted into the new position. He stared up at the ceiling, nerves crawling up and down his arms. His mind raced for a solution, a way out of the near dismal future.
"Now, just relax, Robin," the man told the boy calmly.
"I've got a man probing my mind," Robin said sarcastically. "I'm peachy." He flashed the group a tense smile that masked his true triumph. He had a plan.
Closing his eyes, Robin's mind went into complete lockdown. The man put his hands right over Robin's head and closed his own eyes, focusing on the task at hand. The man felt himself penetrate the outer layer of the boy's mind. There was nothing there to see. He quickly passed on to the next layer…and was stopped dead in his tracks.
"Relax," the man said to Robin, trying to keep his calm. "You are resisting me."
"Sorry," Robin muttered back with a slight wince. Gerard and Derek glanced up at each other with expressionless faces before looking back down at Robin and the mind reader.
The mind reader tried again. He frowned as Robin protested against his search at the same place. Becoming quickly frustrated, the man sharply pushed deeper without any warning. The attack sliced through the layer, bulldozing its way deeper into Robin's head.
Robin hissed as sharp pain exploded in his head. "What the hell are you doing?" he asked the mind reader with his eyes squeezed tightly shut. He could now feel the man drilling into another layer of his mind. With him closer, Robin was having terrible trouble keeping him out. The third layer was just as easy to infiltrate.
"Resisting will only cause pain, Robin," the mind reader growled. What people didn't know was that the man went through pain if his victim experienced it too. He winced as he tried to go through the forth layer and Robin objected firmly.
"You're hurting him, Mr. Cardenas!" Gerard pointed out when seeing Robin squirm and wince in pain.
"He is not letting me break through," Cardenas snapped back, barely disguising his annoyance. Gerard quickly backed off, disgust masking his concern. Derek shot his brother a smug smile.
For a few minutes they stood there. Cardenas wrestled wildly with Robin's mind. Robin boldly held off the attacks, slowly giving ground to a battle that he knew he would never win. At times both fighters would wince or grunt with pain.
"Let's give him a break," Gerard suggested after so much pent up silence.
"No!" Cardenas snapped back, shooting Gerard a nasty glare. "His mind is too blocked for him to just relax and give it up to me. Do not interfere, Maxwell!"
The man started to lower his hands closer to Robin's forehead, his fingers coming dangerously close to touching the boy's skin. If contact was made, Cardenas would have full access to Robin's mind. The only problem to this method was that the subject could suffer severe brain damage if Cardenas wasn't careful enough.
"What you are doing is madness, sir!" Gerard spat back. He couldn't sit on the sidelines anymore. He ignored his brother's deathly glare as he said urgently to Cardenas, "Robin is a great addition to the Academy. Doing this might give him brain damage. We can't afford that on this one, sir!"
"Do not question my methods, Gerard!" Cardenas hissed venomously. "You know your place here, boy. Why can't you be more like Derek or your other brothers? You have trouble with every single order I give you these days. Either shut up or leave."
It took everything in Gerard not to scream in frustration. Between the smug smile from Derek and the verbal lashing from the Master, he was having a hard time keeping everything together. A grim expression crossed his face as he gripped the handle of the knife behind his back. He would only use it if he had to. He hadn't been willing to kill for her, but this time he would be ready.
Cardenas's fingers were about to touch Robin's forehead until Robin stopped struggling all together. Cardenas flung his arms into the air in disbelief, colorful words exploding from his mouth. "He passed out!" the man said in anger. "I can't do anything while he is unconscious!"
Gerard let out a short sigh of relief while returning the knife to its hidden place in one of his jean's belt loops. He walked over to one of the cabinets by the door and pulled out an ammonia inhalant. He carefully put the smelling salt right up to Robin's nose and waited for him to wake. It didn't take long.
With a gasp, the teen woke with a start. For a second he curled his nose in disgust of the smell that had woken him. He batted Gerard's arm away and sat up with a groan. "What happened?" he asked.
"You blacked out," Derek answered. "Way to go."
"Jeez! My head feels like its going to explode," Robin muttered as he held his head in his hands. "Please don't tell me you're going to have to probe my head again, sir," he said to Cardenas. He took in a sharp breath as his head ruthlessly tormented him.
"Come back in a week," Cardenas said, his anger well hidden behind a curtain of pretend charm. "We'll pick up what we started at that time," He told Robin. "You still need time to heal from your first 'purifying' session. I shouldn't have tried to do anything to your brain today. I must go now, though. I have other business to attend to."
Robin only nodded. Cardenas and Gerard nodded firmly to each other as their goodbye. Seconds later, both Cardenas and Derek were gone. Gerard let out a long sigh as he sat down right there on the floor of the room. Robin rubbed his forehead with the same sigh.
"Don't make me worry like that ever again," Gerard said to Robin with a grin. He took out the knife and waved it at Robin while saying, "I'll kill you if you make me have a heart attack."
"Making yourself black out hurts," Robin stated with a weak, ironic smile. The two boys looked up at each other, making eye contract. After a pause, the two busted out laughing not because anything that had just happened was funny, but because of the relief rushing through both their systems.
-Beast Boy-
Grumbling
under his breath, Beast Boy leaned against a wall to his cell one
late afternoon. They hadn't fed him in a whole day and his stomach
was beginning to groan for some substance. A painful ache was at the
pit of his stomach, gnawing on whatever food was left in the
changeling's belly.
"Robin better get us
out of here before I starve to death," Beast Boy growled to
himself.
He hadn't been
tested on for a day as well. The hours had been ticking by at a
painfully slow pace for the teen. He was quickly becoming bored.
When he became bored all he could think about was his empty stomach.
It was as bad as being tested.
To
entertain himself, the changeling morphed into a small kitten. He
enjoyed being a cat because those animals could make fun out of
anything. A cat's senses were high tuned and sometimes hard for
the boy to control. If he didn't focus enough, Beast Boy could
become just like a feisty kitten and play with the air if he had to.
Beast Boy
was only seconds into his play when a girl's voice came into his
head.
Hello
little one! The voice said in a kind and
caring tone. Are you new to the Academy?
Whoa!
Who the heck are you? Beast Boy thought back
as if he was talking to Raven in his mind.
My
name is Flora, the voice said. I
can talk to animals in their heads. How did you get here, kitten?
I was
captured, Beast Boy explained in a rush. My
whole team, the Teen Titans, was captured by these people about one
or two weeks ago. I've lost track of time in this stupid cell, but
I'm pretty sure it has been that much time I've been here.
They've been doing tests on me everyday except for today.
Please,
slow down, kitten, Flora thought with
confusion. How are you related to the Teen
Titans? Are you their pet?
No,
I'm not a kitten at all, Beast Boy thought
back quickly. I'm a changeling. I changed
into a kitten because I got bored. I'm Beast Boy from the Teen
Titans. Didn't I tell you this in the beginning?
The
calmness was now gone in the voice as Flora thought to him, Oh
my! So you haven't been brainwashed yet? Can you get free and help
me? I've been here for a whole year! Please, Beast Boy, help me!
Dude,
calm down and chill for a sec! Beast Boy
thought back in a shout. Freaking out will
get us no where. I have no way of breaking free, but I have a team
mate who somehow passed the brainwashing with a few memories in
tack. He will help us.
Please
promise me you will remember to come back for me!
Flora thought to him urgently. He could almost feel her desperation
and leaping hope for freedom. He felt her pain and suffering. He had
only been there for a few weeks and could hardly handle it. She had
been there for a whole year! He didn't even want to think of
himself being in that cell for that long.
Yes,
Flora, I promise, Beast Boy thought back
emotionlessly. He paused as he thought about his next words and
their meaning to Flora before thinking to her, I
swear I won't put one foot out of his building until you are free
from his place.
Beast
Boy, you have no clue how much this means to me. For so long I
thought hope was gone, but you finally gave some back to me. Thank
you, thank you so much!
No
problem, dude, Beast Boy thought with a
prideful grin on his cat face. Hope was a dangerous thing to lose,
but it was easy to gain back again.