OMG! I found the notebook! It was in my aunt's fridge! Yes, fridge! This fic was almost forgotten among my more current fics… So glad I found the notebook though… Took long enough! Hope you enjoy.
Chapter 3- Disturbing Truths
"So this thing already had sleeping powder?" Robin looked down at the ground where the snoring guards lay.
"Well they ain't just heavy sleepers now are they?" Cyborg looked at Robin stupidly.
"Okay… Let's just try and gather the facts…" Raven took a deep breath. "We know that some was stolen a while back and that there was a witness… Harper did you say?" Raven questioned. Robin and Star both nodded so she went on. "We know that this thing we just faced wasn't human and that he just stole some more sleeping powder but he must have already had some. So where does that leave us?"
"Dude, we have to interview Harper…" Beast Boy told the rest of them, sounding sure of himself.
"Or interrogate him… But I really think I know that name from somewhere…" Robin brought up again.
"Let's go ask the cops where we can find this dude…" Beast Boy led the team out of the crime scene.
OoOo
"Gotham…" the cop answered. He lives in a mansion a few blocks down from the Wayne Manor…. The address is 77645 Brigstion. Good luck getting in… He doesn't normally like visitors…" the man told them, almost knowingly.
"Thank you!" Starfire called after him. The team got into the car and began driving to their destination.
"It doesn't make sense…" Cyborg rambled on down the highway. "Stealing sleeping powder? What real good is that gonna do for a guy whose a freakin' shadow?"
"Don't know… But we're going to find out," Robin sounded so sure the team believed it.
"What I don't understand is how he can switch from 2 dimensional to 3 dimensional…" Raven shook her head. "It takes an absolute master to do that… I would know."
"Perhaps this um… this "man" is a master. Perhaps he was the one to steal the powder before. Maybe he has a boss he must work for?" Starfire tried her hardest to answer the questions all 5 of them were asking themselves. Cyborg curved off the highway with ease and into the city of Gotham, Robin's hometown.
"Dude, my brain hurts just thinking about all this stuff…" he looked out the window at the small stores and civilians in them.
"Tell me when you spot it…" Cyborg made a right turn onto Brigstion. "Wow! Look at these… not houses… MANSIONS!"
"That's exactly what they are…" Robin now remembered exactly who Harper was. In fact, Chris Harper and his mentor were friends in business. Chris had a son named Roy. Roy Harper had been best friends with Robin all through elementary and junior high... The thing that really had made them stop being friends was the fact that Batman had decided he would also train Roy, and now he was Speedy. It had been so long ago Robin had forgotten the real name of the boy.
"I almost forgot that you grew up here…" Cyborg glanced over at the boy wonder, who appeared to be deep in thought.
"Ya… Dude you probably lived in a place just like this…" Beast Boy sounded excited at this thought. All the Titans' finally saw the entrance to the biggest mansion in the middle of the block. "Dude…"
"Wow…" Raven gaped at the huge double doors that must have gone up 5 stories. Starfire's eyes widened tremendously.
"Don't remind me…" Robin growled deeply. Cyborg looked at the iron gates at the entrance. He hit the button on the speaker.
"Hey, it's the Titans' and we got some business with Mr. Harper…" he spoke into it.
"Do you have an appointment?" a female voice came back, sounding accusing.
"No… But it's an emergency…" Cyborg mumbled in annoyance.
"I'm sorry sir but you have to make an appointment."
"Listen, we're the Teen Tit-"
"Look, I'm Richard Grayson, Bruce Wayne's kid, and I need to speak to Mr. Harper. Unless you want to be sued I suggest you open up that gate and let all of us in, right now," Robin interrupted and leaned over Cyborg so he could speak into the phone.
"Oh… I'm sorry Mr. Grayson… Go right in…" the gates opened slowly, allowing the Titan's onto Harper property.
"Dude look at the authority you have! Even more than a Titan! That is SO sweet!" Beast Boy laughed maniacally. "Imagine where you could get us in with that power!"
"Forget it Beast Boy… Robin's not going to…" Raven started, but stopped when the door was pulled open for her by a butler.
"Here you go Miss…" he took her hand and helped her out.
"Thanks." She answered abruptly, not liking people to help her, the independent person she was.
"This is going to be fun…" Cyborg smirked as they walked into the "house" of Chris Harper.
OoOo
"He'll be with you in a moment… But I thought you said that you were Richard Grayson…" the up-tight looking female shot daggers there way. Her hair was pulled up in a neat blonde bun and she was wearing a stiff gray suit with a stiff gray skirt and matching black shoes. You could tell she wasn't good with children, or teenagers.
"Oh… Um… Ya well ya see…" Robin started, but couldn't think of anything to say. Of course no one but his friends and Batman knew that he was in fact Richard Grayson, and he wanted to keep it that way.
"Send them in Jody…" came a loud and deep voice from a speaker above them.
"Go in…" she sighed, pointing to a glass door to the Titans' left. They walked over to it and entered the man's office.
OoOo
"So you're telling me that you're the Teen Titans and you are here to interrogate me about that robbery I saw like 30 years ago?" Mr. Harper looked at them strangely. He had a bad comb over with his fading red hair and a small nose. His eyes were a bright blue. Chris Harper did in fact, look like a business man.
"Yes. We flat out need this interrogation or, to put it nicer, "interview" with you. We're at a dead end here and if we don't get some info we don't know what this think is capable of…" Robin told the man, basically saying, 'We're interrogating you now, no questions asked.'
"You will only have to answer a few questions. All it will cost you is a tiny bit of your time. It is not as if we are accusing you of anything." Starfire added just incase this man got the wrong idea. The others nodded their heads. He sighed and looked down at his hands which were folded on his desk.
"How long is this gonna take?" he asked, "I have a plane to catch in like 5 hours so it better be quick…" Robin smiled.
"Oh it only takes about an hour or so man, no need to worry about catching your flight!" Cyborg waved a hand nonchalantly threw the air.
"Fine, I'll come. But you folks better be right about the time frame…" he stood up and walked toward the door.
"Promise…" Beast Boy spoke up, and held his fingers up in scouts honor. The man nodded and motioned for them to follow.
"We're taking my limo. I'll have your car placed back at Jump City P.S and my driver will bring you back there when we're done. I'm leaving out of Jump anyway…" he told them. It was his turn to have no questions asked.
"Sweet, a limo! Are you serious?" Beast Boy squealed excitedly.
"Joy…" Raven rolled her eyes as they walked into the elevator.
OoOo
"Okay first question…" Robin paced back and forth as he spoke. "Could you give a description of what this person/thing looked like?"
"Sure can… No facial features, no muscles… Nothing but a dark fill in of a man…"
"I see… And did you try and stop him?"
"Are you nuts? Of course I tried to stop him but he disappeared… Scratch that, it was as though he flew into the wall!"
"Well then… Why were you in the building so late at night?"
"I was trying to find our new business cell phones… I wasn't supposed to get them till the morning after I'll admit. It was a mistake okay!"
"There's no need to get riled up…" Robin went on, quite used to "interviewing" people, "Did this man steel anything besides the sleeping powder?"
"A couple jewels maybe… Some money too…"
"Did he say anything to you?"
"Yes…" Mr. Harper seemed to shiver at the thought.
"What did he say?"
"Nightmare… He… he said his name was nightmare and he would be the shadow that haunted my dreams… He said he would drive me insane for sleep for the rest of my life…" the man choked up a little. Robin shivered now too.
"Has he?"
"Yes… For 30 years…" terror came to the man's eyes… He stared off blankly into space. His face then became stern… "Until recently… Recently as in like a month ago it stopped… I don't know why…"
"Thank…thank you for your time sir… I'm sure we have enough information for now… But, do you know anyone else with information on this man?"
"Nope… Sorry, can't help you there…" the man's face loosened up a little.
"You can leave…" Robin grabbed a file from off the table and walked out of the room.
OoOo
"What'd he have to say about it?" Cyborg questioned as Robin walked out, slightly shaken.
"He… Listen to the audio later…" the leader snatched out the tape recorder from his pocket and handed it to the mechanical teen.
"Robin, are you okay?" Raven asked, sensing something wrong with her friend.
"I'm fine." He slammed out the door and toward the limo, eager to get back to the tower and do more research.
"That dude's got some serious issues…" Beast Boy mumbled. Raven and Cyborg nodded, but Starfire merely looked guiltily at the floor.