Chapter 14

Clank!

Creeeeeeeeeaak!

K-chank!

The heavy wooden door slid open slowly, two soldiers forcing the doors open manually. Davidson stepped through the door, arms folded behind his back. "Get up ya pale freak."

Subtraho slowly looked up from the wall he had been staring at for the past twelve hours. Light glinted off ancient bottle-cap glasses as he grinned slowly, showing brilliantly white teeth. Standing slowly from his bed, he crossed his boney arms over his emancipated chest. He barely stood four feet tall. Matted white hair clung to his scalp, looking as if it would blow off with a stiff wind. Pale white skin clung to clearly defined bones. He would probably be easier to throw than a basketball.

Davidson scowled slightly, rubbing the forming stubble on his chin. "You're needed, freak."

The white smile did not diminish.

---

Cyborg was sorely tempted to kick the sleeping Gizmo's chair over. Drool was pooling under the midget's head as he snored away on the table. The Immersion Visor was still feeding information to closed eyes, the data scrolling endlessly.

"He's gonna drown in his own drool if he ain't careful," Beast Boy muttered, head tilted back against the wall.

Cyborg snorted, crossing his arms. "That's a great way to die." He smirks. "Can you imagine it?" The android made gurgling noises, thrashing his limbs around for good measure. "Help…glugglug…can't….gurgle…swallow." He was promptly pegged with a cold soldering iron encased in obsidian energy. "Ow! Rae!" Another tool clunked off of his head plate.

Raven didn't even bother to look up from her book. "Call me 'Rae' again, and it'll be your head flying out the window." She looks up, fixing glare on the poor android. "Without your body."

Cyborg's mouth opened to say something in retort…but the computer erupted into a brilliant, bright light. As it dimmed, bottle-cap glasses glinted before a thin face on the screen. "Turn…on your printer…" The thin, gravelly voice crackled from the speakers as the image's mouth moved slightly off time.

"Ummmm…" Cyborg glanced beseechingly at Raven, Beast Boy, and Jinx in turn. Shrugging, he pushed Gizmo out of the way, who promptly woke up, and turned on the rarely used printer. It instantly began whirr instantly, the hologram attachment flickering to life, projecting Subtraho's image.

Then…the image solidified. Gizmo nearly yelped as Subtraho took a physical step forward, checking himself over. "Ahhh…nice."

Cyborg cleared his throat. "Uh, Subtraho?"

Liquidy, grey eyes, pale and listless, stared up at Cyborg. Subtraho let the brilliantly white smile spread across his face. "You…are in need of my services then?" Then, his eyes fell on Jinx. The smile widened.

The pink-haired girl shuddered. "Freaky," she muttered under her breath. Sneak's head popped up from within her hair. "Oooh, he funny lookin'." Little buttons eyes grew wide.

The odd, child-like person ignored the little fox's statement, turning full attention on Cyborg. "Well? I am not to stay awaiting commands for all eternity, am I?"

The android grinned lopsidedly.

---

"See anything?"

Static. More static.

"Yes. And what a view."

Silence.

Gizmo rolled his eyes as he stared at an OS prompt scrolling with text. "An image, ya moron. Gimme an image."

The Immersion Visor suddenly flickered with light and color. Snapshots flickered about and filed themselves to the side as several windows displaying real-time camera panes popped open. Light, shadow, color all converged into a coherent collage of…something. Gizmo's eyes widened as he realized what a certain camera was showing. Throwing the visor off with frightening and reckless speed, he dropped to his knees and heaved his stomach's contents into a wastebasket by his desk.

Subtraho's voice filtered through the speakers, calm as always. "Hmm, I suppose that scalpel would hurt without anesthesia."

Cyborg, clearly horrified, cut his connection short and slumped to the floor. "It's…it's a torture chamber. The…the meta's…they were tearing…they were." He gave a dry heave.

Raven and Beast Boy glanced at each other as Jinx furrowed her brow and sank down beside the android, rubbing his metallic shoulder-plate. Sneak simply huddled under a dirty blanket in a corner of the room, somewhat confused.

Gizmo gasped as he lifted his head from the basket. Shakily rubbing his lips with the back of his hand, he gasped several times, eyes wide and wet. "What…what is that place?"

"A Meta prison-slash-torture chamber, apparently." Subtraho hmmed over the speaker static. "Beastly, really. I mean, the bone saw seems a bit overkill. The giant knives are rather shiny though." A shallow, dry chuckle crackled out.

Beast Boy's lip curled in disgust. "Hey, shut up. I don't wanna hear that."

One could almost hear the frown in Subtraho's voice as it crackled from the speakers again. "Oh, fine. I'm simply stating specifics. Let's try another cy-sect…and maybe that camera over there." More images flickered in the Visor, but no one saw them. As if realizing this, the monitor suddenly displayed stills and camera shots of corridors, stone and cold. "Now, what we have here is a unique Meta holding facility, apparently." The cameras zoomed in on the cell-doors in one window while a cy-sect flicked to and fro, glancing about with robotic insect eyes. Name-plaques came into view. Christopher Crayford, Lemuiel Sivner, Tara Markov. The names went on and on. Meta after Meta could be seen through the insect's eyes, chained by iron and energy-constrictors. "Hmmm, this is Slade Wilson's facilities, correct. How very…odd."

Raven suddenly spoke up. "Why's that odd?" The edge in her voice quite clearly displayed her distaste for the hacker.

"Oh, it's probably nothing." A few more images popped up, displaying torture actually in progress. "Hehe, I suppose you bleeding hearts wish to do something of this little…whatever it is you wish to call it?"

Cyborg stared grimly at the images, his flesh lips set in grim determination. Arms twitched, blood flew…screams tore from the throats of innocents. "Infiltration," he growled through clenched teeth. "Sneak?"

The little fox yawned slowly before making his way over to the android. "Yeah, wa' up?"

"Time to make yourself useful."

---

Raven watched dispassionately as Beast Boy paced back and forth a top the skyscraper, waving his arms at nothing.

"I'm just sayin', I coulda done what the li'l furball's doin'. It ain't that hard, is it?"

Flicking a strand of hair from her eyes, the half-demon sighed exasperatingly. "Just…stick to the plan, all right? I don't want to screw this up."

Making a half-intelligible sound of agreement, the changeling kicked a small piece of paper off the edge.

"Fzztt-Click."

They both glanced up as they're cerebral chips were activated remotely. A pale voice echoed hollowly through their thoughts. "I don't suppose you two are in position yet?"

Raven barely suppressed a snarl of anger before answering. "We are."

Beast Boy merely curled up his lip, not even bothering to answer.

"Good. Subtraho, out."

Click-Fzzt.

Wiggling a finger in his ear, the changeling snarled something under his breath. "I hate him."

Raven simply stared down through the third story windows of the Slade building. The sun had dimmed long ago in the twilight wasteland that occupied the lowest levels. Rats and all manner of alien vermin clammered from their holes and niches, eating trash and enjoying it. It was here where infiltration would begin.

---

Grunting, the hand-sized fox squirmed through the small opening Cyborg had managed to drill through a massive, metal cargo door at the foot of the building. Panting softly for a moment, Sneak zoomed up to the cargo door panel and set it to open before zooming off down the dark corridors, a small earpiece hugging his ear. "Done!"

---

Cyrborg grinned as the little fox's voice rang out between Jinx and himself. Instead of waiting for the door to open, he stepped back, bowing slightly to the pink girl.

Giggling, Jinx touched the metal door with glowing fingers before stepping back as shrapnel flew from the explosion. A gaping hole tore through the door. "Um, I don't really get why you had to get me to destroy it? We could have just...waited for the-"

"Foolish girl." Subtraho's voice rang out from Cyborg's display unit. "An explosion is rather hard to hear in such a big building. And with a lock on the door, the blasted thing won't open even if you set it to. It simply sets off an alarm."

Cyborg simply stared at the human-sized hole in the door as Jinx scratched her pink, gravity-defying hair. "We...want to be heard?"

They could practically hear the smile in Subtraho's voice. "Yessss...Click-Fzzt."

The metal teen was already stepping through the hole Jinx has made, grumbling all the while. "Stupid living virus inviting himself on my screen. Don't wanna see his ugly face. And my connection ain't supposed to fizz like that. Idiot's probably movin' round where he ain't. I oughta..."

Jinx simply smiled sweetly as she followed.

---

Bree! Bree! Bree!

A guard nearly knocked over a cup of questionable brown fluid as he jolted in his seat, having fallen asleep nearly an hour ago. "Bwuh?" A large window looking down into an assembly factory suddenly displayed a map, two red lights blinking. Security cameras and hidden lasers instantly detected Cyborg and Jinx as they made their way down corridors, moved down stairs, and, quite clumsily, gave themselves completely away. The guard, now roused, snorted, before pressing a button.

"Yeah?" The voice crackled over an intercom in the room.

"Yeah, Mark. Get the boys down to first. Two idiots decided they'd crash through." Taking a sip of the liquid, he grunted softly before continuing. "Probably some bums that figured a way in inside." Palming the cup in one hand, he flicked on a switch. "I'll open all frequencies for better contact. I wanna see this."

'Mark' made a sound of affirmation before terminating the link.

And somewhere within the no open frequencies, someone moved.

---

---

Scarlet.

The sands were painted scarlet.

Carnivorous animal carcasses lay splayed open, their bodies furiously destroyed.

Slashed.

Hacked.

A dam of flayed animal corpses backed up the river, the resulting pool a muddy red. Birds and hungry fish dined on the red meat.

Starfire gasped as she stared down at the scene, utterly disgusted. Bruce stood beside here on the cliff buff, simply staring. No words.

"Wha-what happened…" the Tamaranian trailed off.

Sighing, Bruce nodded down at the mess. "This is not a good sign. We have to find Nightwing…now. Let's get down there." Glancing over his shoulder, he made quite sure that the guide was still leaning against the tree, taking a nap. "Before our ever vigilant friend here wakes up."

Nodding, Starfire hefted the faction leader down to the beach. As soon as they set down, Bruce was immediately glancing at the ground, staring at the drops of blood. Making no sound, began following a particularly long trail into the forest. "Come on."

And so they ran through the forest, Bruce somehow knowing exactly where to go. Vines slapped at their faces. Leaves drenched them with dew. Scattered spots of light from the canopy fell across their path, tinged green. Animals chattered at them from the safety of tangled branches. Avian reptiles and mammals stared down at the odd couple from their perches, clicking and poking long, scaley fingers down at them.

Starfire spotted a dibble of blood every few hundred yards, tell-tale signs of a tainted human presence. Bruce, however, was looking at the hurried, clumsy trail his protégé had made through the dense forest. Broken leaves, scuffed rocks, overturned loam, each telling the story of human shoes.

"Stay close, girl," grunted Wayne. "If I lose you in this forest, you might never come out."

Starfire lifted an eyebrow at that. "If I find myself lost, what should stop me from flying above the canopy?"

"I'm not worried about losing you. I'm worried about someone else finding you."

The red-head shuddered at that.

---

Metal glinted in the thick forest as its bearer stared down at a lone, massive bear-like animal, his breathing soft, and his grip tight. Thinking for a single moment, he stabbed the bladed pole into the limb he was perched on. Chuckling softly, the wide-eyed killer showed his teeth to no one as he dove down through the leaves. The animal barely had time to grunt as a flash of black descended on it.

---

Howls echoed through the forest, forcing Bruce to pause. Eyes creased in concentration, he wiped sweat from his nose. Motioning towards the sounds, he began to run.

Starfire, however, impatiently flew upwards. Glancing about, she saw the small clearing where anguished roars rose upwards. Clenching her teeth, she dove down, down, down towards the clearing.

Only to find blood.

Nightwing stood motionless beside the still animal, breathing wildly, his fingers curled slightly. The animal's carcass had been torn open with savage, blunt force. It's jaw was at an odd angle, cracked and bloody.

And the assassin laughed. "Oh, dear, dear me. It seems I've made a mess." Glancing up through disheveled black hair, he grinned at the horrified girl. "I don't suppose you're here to clean it up, hmmm?" Throwing out his arm, he called the bladed pole from the tree to his hand. It swiftly complied.

"What have you…done?" Starfire looked as if she was about to hyperventilate. "N-Nightwing?"

"No!" the killer snarled, waving his arm. The grin swiftly returned. "But I can understand the confusion." He began to walk slowly towards the girl. "Nightwing's taking a little vacation. He got tired of you, you know."

Unconsciously, Starfire floated backwards, bumping into the rough bark of a tree. "I'm…I'm not sure-"

"Shut up! I didn't say you could talk!" The killer waved the pole savagely. "Just listen." Stepping even closer, he let the grin return once more. "You know, you could have been a lot of fun." Nodding matter-of-factly, he chuckling. "Oh so much fun. There was always that element of restraint, though. So...I got rid of that restraint. And now?" Tapping his head lightly with the pole, he looked as if he were thinking. "And now, I've realized that I really don't need you mucking around in my life anymore."

Starfire simply stared, emerald eyes wide and frightened as the berserk assassin continued to speak.

"You were such a distraction, you know." Nightwing reached up and touched a lock of her red hair. "Mm-hm. And, I noticed my efficiency was dwindling." Releasing the hair, he stepped back, playing with the blade. "So, I've made up my mind." The grin became wider. "I'm getting rid of you."

The blade came suddenly, without warning, nearly pinning Starfire to the tree by her neck. Sheer instinct saved her as she became a blur of movement, barely dodging to the side. Slamming into another tree, she began breathing hard, as Nightwing turned upon her, wrenching the pole out of the tree.

Waggling a finger, he came at her again. "Stand still. Can't have you delaying the inevitable, now can we?" Still grinning, he threw the pole like a javelin, slicing a deep scratch on her arm. Gasping, she tried to fly out, clutching her bleeding arm.

Snorting softly, the crazed assassin bounded from the ground to a tree to the air, snagging Starfire's boot. Wrenching downwards, he managed to throw her towards the ground. "Whoa, whoa, baby. Goin' somewhere?"

Starfire slammed into the ground, leaving a shallow indent in the soft loam. Drawing air back into her lungs, she opened her eyes…just to see Nightwing diving down at her, pole first. Instinct took over.

Flash! Flash!

Two starbolts sizzled through the air, striking Nightwing in the shoulder and in the arm. Grunting, the grin faded slightly as the stench of burned flesh and cloth rose about him. Green smoke trailed him like comet tails as he tumbled straight into the ground. The pole was lost in a flurry of dark cloth and blood-drenched skin. Snorting harshly, the assassin stood up, only to get slammed into a tree-trunk by a wide-eyed Tamaranian.

"Nightwing, desist. We have come to help you. To take you back to civilization." Gripping his shirt collar, Starfire kept him pinned against the rough bark, searching for a flicker of recognition in the naked, blank blue eyes of this new Nightwing. "Please," she nearly begged, tears misting her eyes.

And, indeed, a flash of recognition did spark through the crazed mind...only to be swallowed up by unquenchable blood-lust. Snorting harshly, he twisted in her grip, contorting his body into a powerful kick. It connected solidly with her defenseless abdomen.

Stumbling backward, Starfire coughed once before being knocked back harshly by a vicious uppercut to her chin. Before she could even regain her breath, the maddened Nightwing was upon her, raining furious blows all along her body before shoving her harshly in the sternum. "Don't try waking me up, you useless lump of Meta flesh!" Lunging, he struck her in the stomach once more. As she doubled over, he slammed an elbow into her back, knocking her down, prone before him. The grin long gone, he grabbed her limp wrist and swung her with almost inhuman strength into a tree. It splintered, raining sap and wooden shards everywhere. Starfire groaned and slid to the ground, her head bowed.

"See what you've brought upon yourself?"

Starfire slowly opened her eyes, staring at blood-flecked black shoes. They tapped at the ground for a moment, as if an unheard beat were playing before abruptly stopping.

"You should have left me alone. You shouldn't have tried to wake up something buried for so long." Knees came into view as the assassin knelt down in front of her. "Because, while digging, you found something you shouldn't have." A fist swung from nowhere, connecting with her cheek. She bore it in silence, before looking up, her eyes tired and sad. There was no fury in the green depths.

The grin was there, waiting for her. Another fist swung. Another blow struck. Grabbing her hair, he began to pound her face relentlessly, each one harder than before. "You...should...have...stayed...away," he grunted out with each blow. Tossing her head into the fractured tree behind her, he grinned into her face. "But...shoulda, coulda, woulda, right?"

Slam! The tree vibrated as he forced her head back into the tree. "Say somethin'. C'mon. I'm waiting."

Gasping for air softly, Starfire opened her mouth, her lip bleeding. Dripping blood. Her eyes were beginning to swell from the blows. "I...have no regrets."

Those blank, blue eyes twitched. Snarling, the grin faded, leaving only that blind blood-lust. Calling the pole back to his hand, he readied to stab down. "You're no fun anymore."

Starfire simply stared up at him. Not pleading. Not crying. Just...there.

And the blade flashed down.

Hehehe, I am truly evil. The master of the cliffhanger. HehehehahahaAHAAHA-(gets smacked). Ahem, anyway.

Yeah, it's been, um, two weeks, right? No? Two...months? Eh? I forget. I'm such a slacker. So, I give you this. A double Chappie. Yes, almost a full ten pages of happy-happy fun-fun time. No? Yes? Feedback folks.

Anyway, I did lose internet connection for about a month. Now, yes, I realize I could have gotten around it, but...I'm lazy. And I procrastinate. But send many loving reviews (And maybe some not so loving reviews, if you feel so inclined), to bug me. I'll answer...whenever I might. Ehehe? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter(s)(whatever). And remember, a writer is only as good as, um, something to do with fans. Catch ya'll later, eh?

Raz