Disclaimer: :slightly muffled but still loud yelling from under bed: I WON'T SAY IT! I ABSOLUTELY ON NO UNCERTAIN TERMS REFUSE:eyes glint as authoress is dragged out from under bed: Oh my…scary lawyers…okaysoIdon'townTeenTitansnowleavemealone! You so don't want to sue me, I'm liticaphobic and would so totally embarrass the crap out of you!
"Are you frightened, little one? You have nothing to be scared of as long as mommy's here…"
"Mama! Mama, it hurts!"
"Shh…hush, little one, it will be alright, I promise. It will stop hurting soon."
"But mama, it's hurting me! Make it stop!"
"It will stop soon, little one. Shh…"
"Mama, your hair! It's on fire! Mama…you're on fire!"
"Hush, now, little one!"
"But Mama, you're burning! The smell—Mama, is that smell coming from you? Mama, I don't understand! What's going on?"
"It's alright, little one, I promise. Go now—go with the nice man for Mama, okay? Be a good boy, little one, promise me you'll be a good boy."
"I will, Mama, I will! But you have to come with me!"
"I love you!"
Crack…CRASH!
"Mama?"
"…"
"MAMA! Mama, come back! Mama!"
"Quiet, kid. She's gone! I'm sorry, but she's gone!"
"No! Mama! Don't leave me! Take me with you! Mama!"
"It's okay…shhh…"
"Mama! Make Mama come back! Please make her come back! Mama!"
"Someone call an ambulance! This kid has some major burns on his stomach!"
"NO! MAMA!"
"Calm down! Someone calm him down! Now!"
"MAMA!"
(THE RUSH)
The child's distressed screams became his own as he bolted upright, tearing off his suddenly searing hot shirt and throwing it away before wrapping his arms tightly around himself, his breath coming out hard and labored as the horrid heat of the room closed in on him.
"Rush, calm down! It's alright, just calm down!" An urgent voice ordered from somewhere near him. A hand touched his sweltering shoulder.
He let out a sharp cry, twisted away from the touch, and then curled into himself, squeezing his eyes shut as the fires continued burning and crackling in his ears.
Two tiny sets of arms wrapped around him. "Daddy, please stop it. You're scaring me." A soft voice said, accompanied by a frightened sniffle.
Reality came crashing down around him, the flames and the pain he had been feeling suddenly extinguished by some unknown force.
Slowly, he pried his eyes open.
He was in a white room. The room he'd entered earlier with the Boy. It was almost like an infirmary of some sort, with only two beds so far as he could see, one occupied by himself while the Boy lay still unconscious, but tossing a little, in the other. There were numerous machines positioned in various sites around the room, all hooked up to either him or the Boy, and in turn to a computer located in the center of the far wall of the room.
Jaelyn was standing on one side of him and the Squirt on the other, both with their arms around him and their faces buried into his sides, and he could feel hot streaks burning down his sides, a different heat from before…this was a liquid heat.
He loosened his hold on himself and snaked his arms around them, still breathing raggedly even as his heart began to slow its frantic beating.
"Are you okay, daddy?" Jaelyn's voice was almost inaudible as she tilted her head up a little so as to look up at him, her eyes wide with fright and blurry with tears.
He felt himself nod and give her a minute but comforting smile. "I'm fine, angel." He assured her, voice hoarse from screaming but genuine all the same.
She burst into tears despite his words. "You were…screaming and…crying and…you…sc-sc-scared me!" She sobbed, burying her face in his side again and holding him tighter.
"I'm sorry." He tried to think of something else to tell her, some words to soothe her, but could think of nothing. "I'm sorry."
"What did you see?" He looked over at the Sorceress, who stood with the other Titans gazing at him, all of them with mixed expressions of fear and sympathy.
He flinched involuntarily at the thought of what he had seen. "Sh-she was burning." He felt his eyes sting. "She burned to death."
"Who burned to death, Friend Rush?" The Dolt asked, voice a whisper.
"My mom." The words were choked out around a strange lump in his throat. He began to shake and couldn't stop himself from continuing to do so.
"I thought you couldn't remember your mom?" Cyborg asked.
He shook his head. "I couldn't. I…c-couldn't…"
His vision went blurry and the room was consumed by flames. He threw his arms up around his head and whimpered, pulling away from the burning objects.
A soothing hand lay on his shoulder. "Caleb?" The voice was familiar, but the name sounded wrong coming from it, and was hesitantly speaking, at that.
He threw his arms around the owner of the voice, breaking down as he helplessly grasped the person. "Make Mama come back. Please make her come back." He wept. "Mama…"
Though the person had initially stiffened at the contact, either his words or tone made them relax and wrap their arms around him, one of their hands running through his hair soothingly. Lips pressed lightly against the top of his head, tickling his hair slightly as the person spoke. "She's gone, Caleb. She's been gone for a long time. Shh, it's okay…"
"What's wrong with him?" The voice was mixed with surprise and contempt and broke him out of his repressed memories.
He hiccupped once and pulled away from the Sorceress, who gave his shoulder a light squeeze before letting him go.
"Nothing." He whispered in reply to the Businessman.
"It didn't look like—"
"It doesn't matter." The Sorceress broke the Businessman off. "Did you find anything?"
"He didn't. I did." The Engineer said as he entered behind the other man.
"Well?" He asked, furiously wiping his eyes.
"I took blood samples from you and your clone to compare. I found no differences between the two except a subtle one—those nanobots are even smaller than ones I've seen before. They're more like a poison that miniature robots. I won't be able to dislodge them like Cyborg was able to do for…the original five Titans when Slade used them. Like Methuss said, an antidote has to be used, but…I'll have to have a sample of the antidote to copy. I don't have enough time to create one from scratch." The Engineer said apologetically.
"We don't have time to figure out a way to get a sample! He's going to die in two days!" The Squirt exclaimed angrily, stamping his foot on the ground.
"Sure we do." He said. "Just give me a few hours."
"After what you just went through, you're in no condition to—" The Sorceress began.
"Neo doesn't have time for me to get in the condition to do something!" He snapped as he threw the blankets off of himself and stood, wavering for a moment before regaining his balance.
"Then what do you plan to do?" The Businessman asked disdainfully.
"I plan to get the antidote." He replied with the same tone.
"So dude, what do you want us to do?" The Comic Relief asked eagerly.
"I want all of you to stay here and watch over Jaelyn, Neo, and Nemo for me." He said, fetching his discarded shirt and pulling it back on.
"It won't take all of us to do that." The Kid pointed out.
"You've obviously never babysat before." He snorted.
"It won't take all of us." The Sorceress said firmly. "And I'm helping you whether you like it or not, because you need help from at least one person."
"You're staying here with the others, Raven—I'm counting on you to make sure none of them corrupt any of the kids."
"I'm not staying here with anyone, I'm going with you." She said, jaw setting stubbornly.
"Raven, please don't argue with me on this."
"I wouldn't if you would just stop being an idiot and see that I'm right. I know you're used to going it alone, but you're part of a team now."
"This coming from Miss Anti-Companionship herself."
"Anti-Companionship, maybe, but when it comes to matters like this I am very Pro-Teamwork."
"Well I'm not. When it comes to this, I work best alone."
"You'll just have to get over it, then."
"No I won't, because you're not coming."
"Yes she is, and I am, too." Cyborg said.
"Me, three." The Original said.
"And—" The Dolt began.
"No, Star, you, Rob, and BB stay here." Cyborg said. "Us four will take care of this."
"I will take care of this." He gritted out.
"Shut up!" Cyborg and the Sorceress snapped.
Stormily, he did as they said.
They were so not coming along.
(THE RUSH)
A/N: For anyone who's confused about what happened at the end of the last chapter, Foxx knocked Rush out and took blood from him to compare with Neo's. So…yeah.