Alright it's been awhile since my last update, this is because I wanted to improve my writing skills a bit before I posted anything. I intended for this to be much longer but I figure this was all that needed to be said. I have changed the story to an M rating because the more I thought about it I couldn't think of a way to write it without there being some major violence.
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File 2: Trust
Day break came; sunlight was piercing through the white curtains into Robin's plain room shrinking the shadows significantly. Only the young Titan wasn't there to greet it. He was up, as usual, helping Cyborg run tests on the strange nameless goo inside the many barrels and jars that took up a good space inside the living room sized storage room that had once been a place for miscellaneous car parts.
Upstairs Starfire and Raven were starting their day. Star was busy making herself an omelet while taking a sip of cool water. Silky was curled up by her side on top of the table resting. On the other side of the room in front of the large window Raven levitated herself and had put herself into a deep state of meditation that nothing could break. Except.
"GOOD MORNING TITANS!" Beast Boy shouted as he entered the room.
Being unprepared Raven fell from the small height she'd levitated herself to. Angrily she turned round and quickly made her way in front of the green Titans path. Teeth bared and now blood red eyes burning into the green eyes of the shape shifter.
"Uh heheheh…..sorry Raven." He nervously said, not wanting to be lectured this early.
"Just make sure it doesn't happen again." Raven spoke, the red eyes gone, though her angry tone stayed. "Or I'll let Silky use you as an after breakfast toothpick." She added.
Slinking away from the now moody Titan Beast Boy walked over to the fridge. Opening it up he thought about what he could eat, his stomach growling throughout. Feeling creative he decided upon leftover tofu lasagna that he'd made the previous night. Popping it in the microwave he turned around to see Silky.
"And how are you doing today little guy?" He sweetly asked the grub as he motioned his hand toward it to pet it. He received a growl and a warning bite. Not wanting to learn how to write left handed Beast Boy quickly withdrew his hand and stepped back. "What's wrong with him? Star did you feed him a habenero again?"
"I did no such thing; he's just a little hungry is all."
"Well he can be hungry all he wants if it means giving up my button mashing hand!"
Starfire ignored Beast Boy and turned her attentions to Raven, who'd now gone back to her meditation. "Friend Raven, you have not eaten yet. Would you perhaps want one of my omelets?"
"No, but thank you anyways. If anything you should concentrate on yours before offering to others."
Starfire raised her right brow in confusion. "What do you mean?" She tuned to the stove and gasped, "My omelet!" The omelet had been burning during the last half of the conversation. Although this didn't bother the alien girl as she ate it anyway. Beast Boy looked on wondering how she could eat it.
"You sure you don't want to just make another one Star?"
"This is fine," She then cut it in half and placed it in front of Silky; who ate it up quickly, "Besides it's not just my breakfast."
Seeing the two eat the mostly burnt food started to upset the young shape shifters stomach. It didn't help when Star started slathering her half in mustard. A loud ding was heard to his right, his lasagna was done. "Ugh….I don't think I'm in the mood to eat anymore…"
"Oh, Beast Boy?"
"Yes Star?" the changeling weakly asked
"Friend Raven and I were going to go to the mall of shopping later today. Do you think you could watch Silky for me?"
"On one condition. If you can return Run and Panic for me."
Raven couldn't help but laugh; the memory of last night continuously played through her head. "You couldn't even play past the first half."
"Hey! First off you were scared too and secondly I just got bored of it." He said; an irritated look on his face.
"Don't worry we'll take it back, drive all the scary monsters away."
"I feel so much better." Beast Boy sarcastically replied. He turned his attention back to Star, "Are you sure it's okay leaving Silky to me? In case you forgot he did just try to bite me."
"Like I said he just needed his breakfast." Picking up Silky and putting him into Beast Boys arms she smiled and said, "See?"
"Oh! I guess you did just need your food little guy." A low and almost inaudible growl caressed Silky's lips making Beast Boy shiver.
-Basement-
"Cyborg, you found anything yet?" Robin asked the tin man.
"Not a thing. No matter how many times I look through this microscope or scan it nothing changes."
"We have to keep looking. This...Whatever it is may still be dangerous. Even if it isn't radioactive."
Lazily Cyborg took another look through his microscope. Until her heard a distinct buzzing sound hovering beside his left ear. Damn it, he thought as he swatted vigorously at the fly. Stupid fly get away from me! Fed up with the fly Cyborg clapped his hands together and crushed it. The fly soon fell onto the small dish that Cyborg had used to safely look over the goo. Oh damn it! I don't want to have to dig it out! He thought as he took one last look into the microscope; his eyes soon widened at what he saw next.
"Yo Robin take a look at this." Cyborg yelled as he waved his hand, motioning the capped teen to come over.
Upon hearing the yell Robin dashed over to Cyborg. "What's wrong!"
"The fly in the dish! Look at it!"
"Huh?" confused over what had been said Robin leaned over and looked into the small scope of the microscope. He saw the fly, at least now he knew Cyborg didn't fry a circuit, it had landed on the far side of the dish, onto of the goo. The fly was still twitching not having been crushed to die. Robin couldn't see anything until he looked closely around the fly; the goo was attaching itself to the fly. Soon in enveloped the entire body and started making its way inward.
"Cyborg, what's going on?" Robin asked impatiently as he continued to watch.
"I don't know, it's like the goo, or whatever you want to call it, is taking over the fly."
"What? But how can that-" The teen stopped when he saw the fly move again, all the goo went from the dish into the fly and now the fly looked normal. Its wings were no longer crushed its legs weren't detached from the body. It stood and looked up at the two titans curiously. Sensing that it wasn't welcome the fly beat its wings and flew off but didn't get far as a jar and its lid sealed it in.
"Close up the barrels I don't want any more of this stuff getting out." Robin ordered the jar in hand.
"You going to pay a visit to our cell guy?"
Robin nodded, "He has some answers and I intent to get them out of him."
-Beast Boys room-
On the upper levels of the tower Beast Boy was in his room carefully watching Silky. Starfire and Raven were already on their way to Jump Mall, Beast Boys game with them, so all he could do was play it safe. He wasn't about to let Silky out of his sight or his room for fear of the worm sneaking off. Then he'd have to find him before Star came back. So for the time being he decided to just listen to music while staring down the worm. I guess I've got a couple of hours at the most before they come back, He thought, Hmmmm what to do what to do. I can't just stare at Silky the whole time.
Deciding Silky would be fine Beast Boy started rummaging around his sty of a room and was able to find his old dusty, yet overplayed, Game Boy on the bottom bunk of his bed. I guess this'll have to do since I can't bring the console in my room, he thought with a sigh. When he turned around he was surprised to find Silky on the top bunk, staring him down. He mentally jumped, "Are you trying to freak me out? I thought I was the bored one." Ignoring Silky Beast Boy sat down on the lower bunk and started up his game fully aware of the stare Silky was still giving him. A beep went off in the changeling's pocket. He took out his communicator and flipped it open, an image of Cyborg popped up.
"Beast Boy here."
"Hey BB Robin is interrogating that guy right now, I need you to come help me out down here."
"What do you need help with?"
"I need you to throw out that PIECE-OF-JUNK-MOPED! I told you to throw it out weeks ago and it's taking up room down here!"
"Hey it is not a piece of junk it's just needs a tune up."
"A tune up means that it can be fixed, does this look fixable to you?" Cyborg turned his communicator around to show a hunk of metal that used to be a moped, the handles were about to break off, the foot pedal was in the engine, oil was seeping out from under it, and the seat was torn up. "Come down here and throw this out pronto."
"Okay okay, gees!" With that Beast Boy closed his communicator and went back to his game, I'll throw it out after this, He thought.
Climbing down, Silky make his way to the bottom bunk and crawled next to Beast Boy.
-Interrogation room-
"I told you I can't tell you anything."
In frustration Robin slammed his fist down on the table, "You're not in the position to not answer my questions! Now tell me what this stuff is!"
The interrogation hadn't been going so well. Robin had brought the man into the room and shackled his wrists to the table. He started asking simple things like what was in the barrels and who he was working for; he got nothing.
"If I could tell you I would have already done so." The man said, his head staring down at the table. "But I can't."
"Then maybe this will change your mind," Robin left the room leaving the man puzzled. In a few seconds he came back holding something in his right hand and put it on the table, it was a jar with a fly hitting the glass, trying to break free.
"A fly? How thoughtful it's the one thing Santa never brought me." The man sarcastically replied.
"I bet he never brought you one that came back to life either."
This sparked interest in the man who now looked the young Titan in the eye. "What are you getting at?"
"While Cyborg and I were taking a closer look at the stuff in the barrels he killed this fly. It landed in a little disk we he was using that had some of-"
"You took it out?" The man angrily interrupted, "It's not supposed to be out! You need to have that fly incinerated!"
"And why should I do that?" Robin knew he had the man; it was about time he was in the mood to start answering questions.
"….Like I said I can't tell you…"
"Then I guess it's safe to let it go, right?" The Titan placed his hand over the jars lid while watching the man's facial expression. He slowly started to screw off the lid, but before he could do it fully the man protested.
"You got me, I'll answer you, just don't open the lid."
Robin screwed the lid tight, mentally grinning. "Now you'll tell me what we're dealing with, a chemical, a virus, or some kind of bio weapon?"
"How bout none of the above, it's a living being so-to-speak."
"And you and the people you work for made it?"
"No. None of us knew how we got it. It was just there one day. We did tests of our own on it but didn't come up with much."
"You didn't look into who might have sent you it?"
"It was a letter with no return address. It was there, nobody knew how and nobody cared. To us it was something we could use for our own gain."
"Do you have a name for it?"
The man shook his head, "We just referred to it as Eldritch"
"How does it work?"
The man leaned forward, getting ready for a long explanation. "It works like a shape shifter, always changing to suit its environment, but instead of making its own form it kills off whatever it can and turn exactly into what it killed, its voice, its height, its eye color, even right down to the DNA signature." He let out a heavy sigh, "After the first day one of the scientists, Cathy, snuck off to get some alone time with Eldritch and run experiments of her own. She put a mouse in an empty observation room with it; filmed the whole thing as it happened, for the first hour nothing happened so she left with the camera to get a drink. When she came back the mouse was still there, but Eldritch was gone."
With a raised eyebrow Robin pushed the subject further. "Did you ever find out what happened?"
"Yes, luckily at the time one of the security cameras was running. We saw the mouse being attacked by Eldritch who'd begun to dissolve the body of the mouse and made itself into said mouse."
Robin arched his brow and pressed the subject, "But Eldritch didn't dissolve the fly; it just went into it."
"Probably didn't want to give itself away….. Has anyone been alone with it?"
"Just Cyborg, but he's half metal and from what you've been telling me I doubt it can imitate anything metallic; or else it would've been out of your hands a long time ago. It also wouldn't be able to trick CY's circuitry." Robin added.
The man took in a deep sigh of relief, "Then we should dispose of it while we still have a chance," A question he tried to burry nagged at the man's brain, "Have any of your team been acting… unlike themselves?"
-Basement-
Back in the basement Cyborg had been busy tuning up the T-car when he heard the elevator door open behind him. He turned around to see Beast Boy getting out with Silky wrapped in his arms.
"BB what took you? It's been-," He looked at the clock on the wall, "forty minutes."
"Sorry I was really getting into my old Game Boy." He replied as he walked over to the metal man who let out a sigh.
"It's alright, but why'd you bring Silky down here? Couldn't he have just stayed in your room?"
"Yeah and let him eat up my room while I'm away? No thank you." With that the changeling turned and made his way to his old moped. Even in its condition Beast Boy still looked at it like a prized possession, it was of course what saved the world from evil tofu (Check Episode 'Employee of the Month') not to mention it was a 'chick magnet.' Setting Silky down he turned into a gorilla and started lifting away the parts, having to stop along the way to pick back up parts that fell off, and took them away.
Cyborg went back to tuning up his car, blowtorch in hand. After breakfast he'd been fixing up his whole car and was just about done. Relighting the torch he began his work again. Unknown to Cyborg Silky was currently eyeing him from the top of a short stack of boxes. His many feet prepared to jump at the chance. He jumped, launching himself with full force at the metal man with his teeth bared. Cyborg's sensors activated and he spun around so fast it'd give anyone whiplash.
Silky latched on to Cyborg, who was now violently trying to shake the bug off, and began snapping at him. "Silky! What the hell's gotten into you!" nothing but loud growls and snaps came from the larvae as it managed to bite into the metal man's shoulder. Seeing no alternative Cyborg grabbed and threw Silky against the nearby stack of boxes.
"Dude! What are you doing!" yelled Beast Boy; who'd just came back to see CY launch Silky.
"The damn bug attacked me that's what!"
"What? That doesn't-"
"I'm telling you the truth!" Cyborg interrupted but was soon himself interrupted by another series of growls mixed with shaking boxes.
Unexpectedly Silky leapt over the two and scuttled at a high speed toward an open air vent. Cyborg readied his arm cannon and charged it and was about to fire when Beast Boy got in his way giving Silky time to escape.
"What are you doing? I could have gotten-"
"What am I doing?" Beast Boy questioned, "What are you doing! Firing at a friend?"
"That 'friend' nearly downgraded me!" Cyborg couldn't even think of how he should go about yelling at Beast Boy. At the least he'd think his best friend would take his word. The two soon dropped the matter when Cyborgs' communicator sounded off leaving Beast Boy to find Silky. "Cyborg here."
Robins' image filled the screen. "I just finished with the interrogation."
"What'd the man have to say?"
Robin caught Cyborg up with what the man had told him. Eldritch, the scientists, leaving CY more interested in the contents of the barrels. Robin caught sight of the metal man's shoulder; or more importantly the bite marks. "Cyborg, what happened?"
Cyborg looked at him dumbfounded; still thinking about everything Robin just told him. Once his mind snapped back to the fight, "Silky; that's what happened! It started attacking me like a dog with rabies! Beast Boy is searching for him now; but if I ever get my hands on that-"
Robin impatiently interrupted, "Cyborg I want you to meet me in the interrogation room, now." Robins' image abruptly canceled off screen.
-Interrogation room-
By the time Cyborg entered the interrogation room he found Robin and the man chatting over coffee; though Robin wasn't having any.
"Okay Robin what's going on that you couldn't tell me over the communicator?" Cyborg questioned still slightly annoyed from the argument he and Beast Boy had earlier.
Robin turned from the man to Cyborg. "I want you to tell him everything you told me; about your fight with Silky."
Cyborg turned to the man who was now all ears. He sighed, "I was fixing the T-Car when our friend Beast Boy came down to throw out him moped; he brought the overgrown bug with him. As soon as BB left I went back to fixing up the T-Car, that's when Silky started attacking me." The man's gaze was still as he motioned for Cyborg to continue. "It attempted to bite me until it gave me this mark on my shoulder," He pointed to the engraved teeth marks on his right shoulder, "after that I threw him and that's when BB came back and started arguing with me."
The man closed his eyes and sighed. His nervousness was growing and beads of sweat ran down his back. Without opening his eyes the man asked one question; a slight quiver in his voice, "Has Silky ever acted like this toward you before?"
Cyborg didn't have to think about that question, "Not that I can remember. At least not like this; he attacked me mercilessly." Cyborg noticed the man was shaking with sweat running down his forehead.
And I was so close to preventing something like this from happening, Thought the man. He opened his eyes and calmed his voice. "I have reason to suspect, almost with no doubts, that Silky came into contact with Eldritch." He took another sip of his coffee and continued. "But to be sure we need to catch him. Is your whole team here?" Robin shook his head. "Then you should call him back; anybody who's been in contact with Silky may be infected."
- Jump City Mall: Clothing Department –
Raven stood outside one of the changing rooms at a preppy clothing store. But it wasn't as if she was there because she wanted to be. It was in fact Starfire who'd dragged her there to look at dresses; if she had gone with Trigon this place would've been the first to have been destroyed. It was to her relief that her communicator sounded off giving her something to distract herself with until Starfire was done.
Unfortunately for her it wasn't a call; but more of a rushed text that read, 'I need you and Star back at the tower. We have a problem.' Raven frowned and slipped the communicator back onto her belt. She knocked on the changing room door, "Starfire, Robin wants us back at the tower-"
"I know, I received his message as well" Starfire interrupted, Raven raised an eyebrow. "Friend Raven, could you help me zip up my dress?" As soon as she said this Starfire unlocked the door.
Raven opened the door and stepped inside to help the alien-girl.
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I don't know when I'll get to the next chapter but luckily I know what's going to happen next. I just need the time to write it. So please leave a review! =)