Chapter 41: Jinx's day
I dont own tt
IMPORTANT: I need someone to write three chaps in the 15 weeks I'm gone. I'd like any willing authors to submit a review telling me a story they wrote i should read so I can decide who should do it. Not decided yet but I have to decide soon so I can tell everyone, so please do this as quickly as you can.
ALSO: IT IS IMPORTANT TO THE SURVIVAL OF THIS STORY THAT FOUR OF YOU REVIEW AND GIVE ME A WAY TO CONTACT YOU. I NEED VOLUNTEERS TO REPOST THIS STORY IN THE EVENT IT IS DELETED AGAIN IN THE 15 WEEKS OR SO I WILL BE GONE. ALSO, IF YOUR A REGULAR REVIEWER AND I HAVE A WAY TO CONTACT YOU YOU MAY HEAR FROM ME SOON.
TO THE READERS. IT IS LIKELY THIS STORY WILL BE DELETED AGAIN, ITS SAD, BUT ITS A REALITY WE HAVE TO DEAL WITH. IN THE EVENT IT IS DELETED, THE EASIEST WAY TO FIND IT IS GOING TO BE GOING AND SORTING THE STORIES. IN THE TABS IN THE UPPER RIGHT CORNER TELL IT ONLY TO SHOW YOU STORIES OVER 100000 WORDS AND RATED R. IF THIS STORY HAS BEEN DELETED AND REPOSTED IT WILL SHOW UP THERE, AND YOU CAN RECkOGNIZE IT BECAUSE THE WORD 'HOUKOUNIN' WILL ALWAYS BE IN THE TITLE. I'M SORRY BUT THIS IS THE BEST I CAN GIVE YOU. WHILE I AM AWAY I AM GOING TO TRY TO FIND A FEW PEOPLE TO SAVE THE STORY TO THE PC AND CREATE DUMMY ACCOUNTS AND TAKE TURNS REPOSTING IT FOR OTHERS TO READ. PLEASE VOLUNTEER FOR THIS, AND I ALSO NEED SOMEONE STILL TO WRITE A FEW CHAPS WHILE I AM GONE.
To: Rangus. Not quite sure, think its how-ko-nin. Kinda funny that I wouldnt know and I'm the author huh?
To: Everyone who cared to review. Thanks, I'm sorry the fic got deleted again. It sucks. This will be the last chapter I make before going away to Basic Training. I'll be back, and when I am the chaps will get cranked out like crazy!
To: Everyone. Story has hit 260000 words, narrowly the second longest in the cat. (awesomeness) I'm still looking for a temp author to make 3 chaps or so while im away in basic training. Tell me in a review if you would like to do it, and tell me a story you have written you want me to read. I'll ready as many stories as I can and find someone I want to take over and let them know it in a review.
To: Whoever had it deleted this time. Why did you do that? Everyone loves this story, if you dont like it then you dont have to read it. Why would you ruin something so many other people enjoy just because you dont? Its irresponsible and arrogant, to think anything you dont like shouldnt be on the site. This site was made for everyone, not just you. Just leave it be and let those who enjoy it read it, or hell, leave a review telling me about what you dont like and I'll try to explain why its important to the story, I wont change it but i will at the very least try to reason with you as to why its there.
It started out slow at first, on the first day she had Starfires gift. First she stopped by a few 'old friends' and connections to find out if they knew anything about a girl like her running around. None had heard anything. Then Jinx went to the hive- only to find it was closed. The entire complex had caved in on itself since Robins visit, though she didnt know he was ever there. It angered her and led her to believe the hive had simply closed shop and moved elsewhere. She didnt know that the bodies of many dozens of students rest below her feet.
Running out of leads Jinx opted to get a little rough. She was having fun with the suit jumping roof to roof, nothing she couldnt have done before, but it was a bright day and she felt like loosing some pent up aggression. And it wasnt like she could get in any trouble for it right? She still technically was a bad guy (for meta humans switching sides was a load of paperwork) so smacking a few perps around wasnt going to bring her any bad publicity. Sadly, beating the tar out of a fistfull of goons (twice for good measure) produced none of the answers she was looking for- though they did tell her where they stashed all the diamonds they had stolen recently. Jinx collected them for 'evidence', and was on her way with her new best friends.
"Now if I were a cheap imitation of myself, where would I be?" She stopped to think about it for a second, it didnt take long for an answer to come. "Bingo." She said, and headed for the outskirts of town. People had always joked that she'd either be trailor trash or a super-villan, and this 'sister' of hers wasnt exactly a well known super-villain so that only left the one option.
Jinx sought out the dumpiest trailor park she could find- which was pretty dumpy. Just the kind she could raise hell in. She stopped at the managers office and entered without knocking.
"Yea wha you wan?" Came the lazy voice of the manager. To be fair to him he sounded like a three hundred pounder, but he looked fairly cute. He saw her and then smiled a mouth full of black teeth, meth mouth. Nevermind being even remotely cute.
"There any girls with pink hair running around here?" Jinx asked. He looked dumbly at her and she shook her head. "Other than me." He shook his head yes.
"Guh there be a dozen those in hear. Nearly every guh be runnin round with pink hair." A look of recognition crossed his features slowly- very slowly.
"Any with hair stickin up like dog-ears?"
"No. Say I know who you are!"
"Really now?"
"Yeah you that villan girl from the city. Im gonna turn you in for the reward."
"There is no reward." Jinx protested. There hadnt been a reward on her since she had been seen aiding in the android attack.
The manager looked like a man with his mother sitting to his right and a priest to his left and didnt know which way to lean in order to fart. "Wait you lyin!" He got up from behind his desk and started approaching her.
"Gimme a break!" Jinx pushed him back effortlessly, picked his desk up in one hand and gave it a toss out his window. "Better people have tried to catch me and failed." And with that was on her way again.
Alright, so she was all out of ideas. Here she was with a new gadget, an itch to cause trouble, and a whole lot of daylight left. What to do? Well, time to make more trouble. This city was loaded with various meta humans, and if she wanted to work the good guy bracket she had to find herself an arch nemesis. The only problem was she used to be friends or aquatinces with most of them. Oh well, no honnor among thieves. Jumping around above the city Jinx kept an eye out for a bank robbery, jewel heist, mad scientist, or anything that would warrent her interference. The best she got all day was rescuing a cat from a tree that turned out to be an agry racoon mother protecting its young. It would have been nice to know it was a racoon before she crawled down the hole in the trunk after it, but hey, nostra damus didnt build rome in a day did he? Abraham Lincoln didnt free ireland from the brittish because it was easy, now did he? NO! She thought to herself. She couldnt give up now, she was too bored to go home and at this point wanted to bag an arch nemesis so bad she was almost willing to go break one out of jail.
Instead of going home and polishing up on her history like she should have she brushed off the racoon incident, and was almost instantly rewarded for it. Across the street from the park she was in there was a car careening out of control right towards an empty Garbucks coffee house! Jinx prepared to lauch into action but then thought twice of it. Her shoulders slumped in defeat. She would never be able to live with herself if she actually saved one of those annoying coffee houses, and there were enough of them out there as it was!
Jinx did her civil duty and pulled the driver from the burning wreck, handed him over to the police since he was drunk and cheered as the establishment went up in a puff of smoke- covering the neighborhood in putrid smelling coffee smoke. But she was already gone by this time, on her way to the seedier part of town again. "Gimme larsony, gimme a grand theft auto, give me a jay-walker for the love of god." She moaned to herself. She got her wish this time, and more.
In the bad part of town, at the bank that always gets robbed, wouldnt you know it there was another robbery. Fang and Kitty were in the bank vault putting stacks of bills into classic burlap sacks that had green dollar signs on them, a few spider legs stuck out the vault pointing laser blasters around to keep everyone on the floor. The tellers in this bank were so used to this that normal conversations interupted by any gunmen were continued as they laid on the floor. Hey, no biggie, just another robberie. They'll take the cash, break some stuff, say something witty and be gone.
Jinx heard the alarms half a block away and ran to the bank as quickly as she could. She came in through the sun roof, unable to resist breaking something and making a dramatic entrance at the same time. One of the tellers popped her head up over the counter and saw her.
"Jinx its been forever. Your going to have to come back later, Fang and Kitty got here first."
Jinx tried to 'sh' the teller, and remembered that this was the bank she usually robbed. Who was Fang and Kitty? Small fries, she decided, and what the hell were they doing in HER bank? Jinx ran for the vault and looked inside. Inside was a kid with with a spider the size of a buick for a head making out with some girl on a pile of money bags. Jinx's stomach nearly revolted at the sight, and she blew her cover.
"Oh that is nasty and wrong in at least ten differant ways!" She yelled. She slammed the vault door fast on the spider legs sticking out and opened it. Fang was on the floor howling in pain at his broken legs and Kitty was charging at her.
"You stupid little peeping tom bitch!" She made a grab for Jinx's hair but Jinx caught her wrists, an angry vein sticking out on her forehead.
"I came here for an arch nemesis and you want to pull my hair?" She screamed as Kitty shrank in fright. "Dont waste my time!" She yelled and stuffed Kitty head first into a grabage bin, where she began to scream and comically kick her feet which were sticking out the top. Jinx dusted her hands off, congratulating herself for a job well done, but she was forgetting something. A large spider leg came up behind her back and tapped her on her shoulder. She froze in place, her head slowly turning around and seeing the spider foot near her shoulder. She looked from it to the spider boy a few times, her face turning a sicklier shade of white than normal. "You did not just touch me with that! Tell me you did not just touch me with that!" Her left eye began to twitch and she began advancing on Fang, the twitch spreading to her kneck. "I-dont-like-bugs."
Jinx launched herself at Fang, and kicked him in his- his... Well, she didnt know what it was but she kicked him in it very hard. It might have been his mouth. He stumbled backwards but righted himself and charged back at her. Robix dodged a few thrust spider limbs at her, only to get kicked into a janitors closet by the human legs which she forgot to look out for. They were deceptively strong considering the spider legs seemed to do all the walking. Jinx landed hard on the bottom of the closet and a shelf above her spilled its contents in her lap. On the top was a can of insectiside that claimed to kill on contact. She looked at Fang, who was walking slowly towards the closet. "I never wanted a spider for an arch nemesis anyway." She said. She shook the can, threw it out over Fangs head and hit it with a hex bolt. It exploded and enough of the bug mist got on Fang to paralyze him temporarily. Jinx came out of the closet feeling more disheartened than ever.
Kitty, still in the garbage can had somehow managed to right herself. The can was still stuck on her down to her arms but her feet were on the ground. She aimed the can bottom like a spear and charged where she had just heard Jinx's voice. Needless to say she missed and ended up charging full speed into the wall, staggering back and collapsing on Fang who made a pained noise.
"No, if I'm gonna do the hero thing I'm gonna need to find better villans." She kicked Fangs prone figure, still grossed out by him. "If I meet a hero named frog man I'll send him your way."
Once again Jinx took to the rooftops and prowled around for a good nemesis. The seedy part of town had nothing more to offer today, so she tried uptown. Maybe there was a villan running amock that could appreciate the finer things in life. She really wanted someone evil, someone who goes bump in the night. She'd read the titans database but unfortunately the titans three best villans were Slade- dead, herself- retired, and Marcus- also dead. Well, maybe she hadnt been one of the top three but she liked to think that she was.
Jinx spent a few minutes in the park, carefull to keep her distance from the tree with a racoon in it. It didnt seem like she was going to be able to find anything good to do today. A communicator Starfire had had built into the collar beeped. A retractable earpeace and microphone came out in front of her face.
"Jinx we have seen the news. You were most skilled in smiting Fang and Kitty, but if you are finished will you please come home?" Starfires voice came over the line. Jinx sighed.
"I cant. I'm trying to find an arch nemesis."
"Jinx most of us spend our time trying to stay away from our arch nemesis. Why would you wish to find yours?"
"No. I'm trying to get one so that I'll have one to try and stay away from." This was followed by a few moments of silence. She knew on the other end Starfire was trying to understand what she was saying. "Its a status thing."
"So you want to find a nemesis so that you will have a nemesis to stay away from? Why?"
"Because! I just do. I cant find my sister, so I need someone else to fight on the side." She could hear Starfire sigh.
"Please come home. I will share my own arch nemesis with you." Jinx scoffed.
"Yours was your sister, and your not enemies anymore."
This reminded Starfire that she was quite arch nemesisless, but she tried to stay on topic with Jinx. "You are having fun then?"
"Not really. If I come home now can we agree the next costumed bad guy to come to town is mine exclusively?"
"Yes."
"Alright. Coming home now." Well, she still had that winged vamp she could but heads with. He was still hanging around the tower for some reason or another like a guy who couldnt figure out the party was over.
She thought of Starfire, and a smile graced her lips. It was late in the day, but that didnt mean they couldnt spend the rest of it together. Beast Boy was back, she also knew she needed to get a moment alone with him. They were friends and she knew she should spend some time around him but everyone had just gravitated toward him and she wanted to wait for things to settle down so she could have a meaningfull conversation with him, and thank him for what he did. Jinx reached in her pocket and her hand hit the heavy bag of diamonds. There was an old homeless woman sitting on the sidewalk a few feet in front of her, and deciding she could use a few karma points she dropped the bag into her lap. The old womans eyes went wide when the bag spilled open and a few dozen tiny glittering diamonds made a pile on the sidewalk.
Jinx didnt know it but it was the same old woman her daughter had shown some cherity to. The old woman saw her face and pink hair and confused them for the same person. She had encountered Robix a few times and learned her name. She thanked Jinx, thinking she was Robix. "Thankyou Robix your always so nice to me." She said. Jinx looked at her like she was crazy.
"Sorry, what was that?" The old woman focused her cloudy eyes, which took some great effort.
"Oh my, your not Robix. You two look so much alike, you could be sisters, you know. Are you related to Robix? Whats your name?"
Jinx realised with excitement that this old woman was most likely talking about the girl who killed her. She knelt on the sidewalk next to her. "What does Robix look like, does she have pointy pink hair that looks like dog ears?" The old woman chuckled.
"Yes, yes thats her. Are you her sister?"
"Yeah, something like that. Do you know where she lives?" The old woman shook her head sadly. "No I havent seen her in some time now. Did she move away?"
Jinx stood up, her anger threatening to come to the surface. "No, not yet but she's going to." With that she turned and ran down the street, deep in thought. Robix? The name rolled around in her head. An icy chill went up her spine when she remembered how the titans had said she looked like Robin. The name was similar too. But she resembled her as well, and had her powers.
Robin was alone in the garage when Jinx found him. He was washing one of the cars, and his hair was just a little wet. It was slicked backwards just a tad more than usual. It was just like her hair, save for the pink dog ears. That was exactly the way she wore it. She wasnt going to think anything of it but then he lifted the hose towards her, an evil smirk on his features and she realised just how much he looked like her sister. Was it his sister too? There was still something she couldnt see. She had never seen Robin without his mask.
Robin saw something was obviously bothering her so he set the hose down. "Something wrong Jinx?" She almost seemed entranced as she approached him and put her hands up to his face. He backed away a little. "Hey what are you doing?"
"I found out her name. Its Robix, and I want to see your eyes. I want to know if theyre blue like hers." Jinx put her hands down, she had been stupid to think he'd take his mask off for her. He had gone about the tower without it several times since she had moved in, but he managed to keep his eyes in shadow whenever she was around.
"You mean your sister? We know, she looks just like me too." Robin pressed a button to close the garage door, then lifted his hand and removed his mask. His face was blank now, but Jinx could still see that Robix obviously had something to do with him too. Jinx reached up and aranged his hair a little and stepped back. The resemblance was frightening, and when the mischevous look crossed his features again her hand went to her chest where she had been stabbed. Robin replaced his mask and shook his head, returning his hair to where it should be, but now that she had seen it once the resemblance was still noticable no matter what his hair, eyes, or facial expression were like. Jinx leaned against the police cruiser, in a little shock.
"Robin I think she's our sister."
"What?" Robin found it a bit hard to believe, but the only way the titans had seen her was a dead-looking and low detail face Cyborgs computer had compiled from a blurred image. He had seen her face before- but not lived to remember it, making Jinx the only one among them that had seen her face. She was the only one that could really judge. "But that would mean..." A brick settled in both of their stomachs at the same time and they eyed each other cautiously. "Could we actually be siblings?"
Luckily there were things in the med lab to test such things, and they found that they were in no way related. It was a relief. In the excitement Jinx had completely forgotten she was built from scratch, and therefore could not have a sibling who was natural born. Then a cinder block settled in her stomach. She remembered how after the attack she thought Robix had called her mother, and she had written it off as her misunderstanding it. Still in the med lab she grabbed Robin and made him give another drop of blood to the computer, and she produced another herself.
"Alright, now what?" Robin asked her.
"This is going to sound really creepy, but can you get the computer to tell us what it would look like if we had a kid?" Robins hands began flying over the keyboard.
"That does sound creepy." This computer didnt have the ability to process something so complex, so Robin linked up with the JL computer and put its more powerfull mainframes to work on it. A picture came back almost instantly. He recalibrated it a few times, and differant possibilities came up on the screen but all had two things in common. "This is going to be an even weirder question Jinx."
"What is?"
"Did we ever have an affair, and forget about it, then you have a kid and forget about that too?" Robin twisted the monitor for Jinx to see. On it were fifteen differant pictures of what they would look like if they had a child. All were slightly differant from one another, but the pink dog eared hair, and blue cat eyes always stayed the same on them.
"No, cant say we have." Jinx pulled a chair up to the screen after seeing the pictures. She needed to sit down. "It doesnt proove anything right?"
"Its too convincing to dismiss, but we dont have her DNA so we cant say its for sure." Robin pulled up pictures of himself and Jinx, and profiles of them both with rotating DNA double helixes on the screen. A few of the strands on both of them were highlighted. "It says here that your pink hair is a dominant gene, just as dominant as my black hair. Those two clashed, its how she got her coloring. It says here that chances are if anyone else were her father she'd be either all pink or all black. Computer says your eye coloring is very dominant too, again they clashed but mine won out- if its my genes-." Robin hit a few more keys. "Here we go, this is weird too. Appearantly you and I would be incapable of having a son. We don't have the information for it in our DNA, you or I, no matter who we were to have a kid with all we could ever have is a daughter."
"Robin I never told anyone except maybe Star this, but when she stabbed me I thought she called me mother, and later I changed my mind thinking I must have heard her wrong and that she said sister." They sat together for several minutes trying to figure this out. It was shocking, and disturbing.
"Well, I still think we'll have to wait for her to come to us. This raises more questions than answers." Robin held his face in his hands trying to think.
"Do you think it was Slade?" Robin flinched at the mention of the name and stared at her, just saying it left a bad taste in her mouth. "Before he died of course. Think about it, he had it really bad for you. Maybe he took your DNA, and crossed it with mine to make a stronger apprentice or something. Sounds like something he would do just to get at you, attack you with a better version of yourself."
"Makes sense, I cant think of anyone else with the resources, other than the HIVE." Robin shook his head and turned off the computer. "No, I dont want to jump to conclusions about her. She's obviously dangerous, and making guesses could get us hurt again." In a sense Robix, if that was her name, seemed a bit like Slade. She was the dangerous kind of enemy that would go underground on you for months at a time, but when you did hear from her it was always going to be absolute hell. There was rhyme and reason to what she did, unlike most villans who just robbed at will and cause general mayhem. "You might be right, I think you are Jinx, but we cant just assume."
"Then do we even tell the others?" Robin got up from the computer and headed for the med lab door.
"They know what she looks like, and for now thats good enough. We don't need them wondering about this, not until we know something for sure." Jinx beat him to the door and held it shut on him. "What?" Jinx bit her lower lip. Of all the people in this tower it was Robin that she had the hardest time with. He made her uncomfortable, nervous. In her opinion they shared too much in common to be good firends, even if he was something of a kindred spirit. What made her feel kinship to him now was that they had both been victims of Slades cruelty, minutes apart from each other. What happened that night was still enough to make either shudder at the memory, and here they were, looking at something that just stank like Slade.
"What if he's not dead?"
"Come on, Raven said that-" Robin was interupted by Jinx.
"Lots of things get said around here that turn out not to be true. I want to go there. I want to see it and make sure he's actually dead." Robin seemed to think about it for a minute. It felt weird to no end talking about this with him, but there was no way she was going into that cave alone. "Come on he did the same thing to you, died, and now this shit that stinks like him turns up. Don't you tell me your not afraid he's alive somehow. We have to go check." She said in a pleading voice. "Please."
"Alright. But the man burned up into acid that ate away into the rock, how would we know if he's alive?"
"I dont know, there should be something in the hole, if theres not, then maybe we're in trouble."
It was stupid in the end to go alone, considering what they could be dealing with, but it was unspoken between them that this was something they alone shared and they alone should investigate. The car ride was quiet, Jinx sat across from him in the mustang with her arms folded over her chest. It was an uncomfortable silence. These two didnt talk much, again, they shared too much in common to be friends. People who shared this much in common normally turned into lovers or perfect enemies. Bound to their vampires she certainly could not love one another, and living together they couldnt go become mortal enemies, so things just got akward.
"I've never been in your car before." Jinx said, trying to pretend like she was distracted by the interior.
"We really dont talk that much Jinx. Do we go in through the sewers of the cave entrance?"
"Sewers."
Robin parked downtown, wishing he had taken the interceptor instead. Its impossible to find parking for a car eight feet wide and almost twenty feet long. He got a box of glo-sticks from the trunk, and they entered the sewer through a man hole in the parking lot of a gas station. Robin replaced the lid once they were in and hopped down to the smooth concrete below. He shook a stick and cracked it, and green light flooded the area. He took the lead and held it above his head. They quickly got lost, and began finding suspicious things.
"Look at this." Robin said as he picked a round, pointy piece of metal off the ground. It had what looked like blood on it. He showed it to Jinx, who only glanced at it briefly.
"It could be anything, lets go." Robin shrugged and dropped it. It rolled away into the darkness and they continued on, but they began to find more parts of something, covered in an increasingly large amount of dried blood. Jinx began to look disturbed, and became downright frightened when other sings of a struggle surfaced. Large gouges could be seen torn out of the concrete in the walls.
"What the hell happened down here?" Robin asked. Jinx didnt respond. Then something small, the size of a backpack on the floor came into view and Jinx gasped. It was Gizmos tech. She began backing up, not willing to go any further and Robin held the glo stick higher. He couldnt see anything, so he cracked another and rolled it towards the backpack. It illuminated the nearby wall.
"Oh god." Jinx said, and turned around. On the wall about seven feet high there was a large spatter of dried blood and gore. There was another next to it three feet off the ground. Below each was a large pool where blood had collected, and leading away from both were twin trails of dried blood. Jinx collapsed to her knees and began to shake. "They would have had to have bugged Gizmo or something to find them so quick. They must have known they abandoned me, figured Slade would take care of me and wanted to disolve the rest of the team." Sure she wanted Gizmo and Mammoth dead, they were traitors, but she didnt want to see this. It was easy for her to see what happened now. While the titans were fighting Slades robots Troika II had chased them through the tunnels and eventually shot them.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah, no. I cant stay here."
"Alright." It was the closest thing to asking for help she would do. Robin listened to her voice, and her breathing. She sounded like she might be ill, and her body language broadcasted to him she might not be able to stand. Not sure if she wanted help Robin stood at her side a minute, seeing if she would stand on her own. When she didnt he helped her up, and let her lean on him as they went down the opposite way from the bloodstains. They came up on Gizmo's tech and stopped. "Should we take it with us?" Robin asked. She shook her head no, and they left it there. He looked back over his shoulder as they walked away. The broken tech and bloodstains, a creepy monument to her old life. "Love 'em or hate them they were still your team huh?" Jinx didnt answer, just looked away from him and started walking a little more under her own power. When she was satisfied with her distance from the kill scene she stopped and Robin let her lean against the wall.
"I just could have done without seeing that. You know where we are now?" Robin shook his head yes. She looked around herself. Not far from here was the cave where Starfire found her, it was where her new life with Starfire really began. It was ironic that a horrible vicious vampire was the vehicle that delivered her to the tender gentle one she loved now.
"Your thinking about it too, arent you?" It sounded almost accusatory when it left his lips, and thats now how he meant for it to sound.
"I was awake you know, when he got you. I thought he had killed you. What he did, it was so perverse. I pittied you. When he dropped you he looked back towards where I was, and I remember hoping for two things."
"What were those?"
"That you wouldnt see it if he treated me like he did you, and that I'd die before I went through as much of it as you." Jinx got up, ready to go on. For them what had happened that night was tantamount to rape, which was understandable. This was the closest they had come to talking about what they had felt.
"When he dropped me I had an out of body experience, I think." Robin said, walking with her again.
"Oh?"
"Yeah. I saw you, and you know what I thought?"
"What?"
"I saw you laying on the ground, and I thought 'oh that poor girl, why is she sleeping on a cave floor?'." They laughed a bitter laugh together and soon came up on the room where it had all happened. Neither was willing to be the first to go in. It wasnt going in and finding Slade that they were afraid of either, it was going in and finding some kind of proof that he was alive somewhere. They felt like children, afraid to open the closet for fear the boogey man may be inside. He wouldnt still be here if he was, that was a childish fear. But still just the chance that they would go in and find some sing he had not died was terrifying, because that meant there was a chance it could happen again.
Robin went in first. He had to avoid looking at the place on the wall where Slade had mashed his head in and made him scream for him. There was still alof of dried blood there and where he had come to rest on the ground under it. Jinx was right behind him and they quickly found the spot on the floor with scorch marks. They both sighed in relief to see there were still ashes and bone fragments among pieces of gear in the small depression in the stone floor.
"What are you doing?" Jinx asked when Robin produced a jar and began to collect the ash in it.
"I'd feel better knowing he was in a jar in a safe; keep your friends close and your enemies closer." He was carefull not to touch any of the ashes even through his glove, for some fear he might magically resurect the old enemy somehow.
"Should flush them when we get home. It would be fitting, and about all he deserves." Jinx took a larger, orange glowstick from the box he had and cracked it. It was enough to illuminate most of this room. There were two exits, the one they came through, and the one her team had fled down that night. Both met up with the sewer system somewhere. Jinx turned in place, studying the walls. Jinx saw Slade standing in a small alcove, and her chest shook with the scream about to be let loose. There, just sticking out of the shadows was his mask. He was watching them. Robin must have been watching the same thing, because before she could even loose her scream a birdarang was thrown with tremendous force at him. It struck the area right below the mask, and a few sparks lit up as it struck rock, allowing the teenagers to see that it was only Slades mask hung on a bit of rock head high. The birdarang had been thrown with such force that its tip sank all the way into the rock. Jinx's knees wobbled and she sank into a kneeling position as she broke out into a cold sweat. Gods, that had to be close to the scariest two seconds of her life. Nothing happened and she was still breathing heavy. Robin was only slightly more collected than she was.
"Alright, I'm done here." Robin said getting up. He helped Jinx to her feet and she tossed her stick at the mask so she could see it better. Together they approached it, and stared at the mask with disgust for the man who had worn it. Jinx grabbed the mask as Robin worked on pulling out his birdarang.
"You collect this garbage, dont you?" She asked. Robins face made it clear he didnt want it, so Jinx tested her new strength on it. She grabbed it on both sides and tried to snap it. It took less strength than she would have thought, and as she snapped it in half it seemed to be made out of plaster and a bunch of dust rose all about her. She and Robin coughed a bit and she continued to watch him try to pull his birdarang out of the rock. "How hard did you throw it?"
"It would have taken his head clean off, if he was there." Jinx pushed him out of the way and took the fin of the birdarang between forefinger and thumb. Robin watched as she pulled it out of the wall effortlessly and handed it back to him. "Thanks, how did you-"
"Its all in the wrists, now lets get out of here." Jinx dusted off her clothing, seemed there was a little bit of the plaster dust left. Wasnt that odd? That Slade would have a piece of his armor made out of plaster?
Robin lead the way back up through the sewes. Jinx didnt know her way around here, and though she said nothing he knew she was greatfull that he led her around the murder scene instead of through it, even though it was the shorter route. A dizzy spell came over both of them, but they attributed it to sewer gas. They soon passed from it and before much longer they were back in the parking lot and on the way home.
"That was so stupid." Robin said to break the silence. "That we even went at all, we should have known better."
"I really thought he might have been alive somehow. Once I got the idea in my head I couldnt ignore it."
"I know. I thought so too, and thats why we shouldnt have gone alone." It was night now, the sun was just setting out over the ocean. Robin took the scenic route back to the tower, and he caught himself actually trying to think of an excuse as to where he and Jinx had been. Slade was if nothing else a man of extreme will power, if anyone could have survived it would be him, and on the off chance he somehow had, or if his spirit had haunted the place no one would have known where he was. It had just been stupid.
To hell with it, he thought. The sun went down completely, bathing the city in darkness. He got off the bridge and continued around the bay. They were in the docks now, the street lights became further and further apart. He thought he saw something over to the right and turned his head to investigate. He yelled when he saw Slade in the shadows, and this time it wasnt just a mask. He could see his body, his arm outstretched beckoning him to come closer. Jinx saw it too, and screamed. Robin pounded on the gas and they left him in the dust.
"It was him!" Jinx shrieked. She unbuckled and turned around to see if he was giving chase on foot- she knew vampires were fast but could they keep pace with this car?
"I saw, we have to get back to the tower, now!" Slade was ahead of them now in the space between street lamps. Robin began to swerve but Jinx reached over with her own foot and forced him to floor it, he got the idea and pointed his car right at Slade.
"Hit the fucker, mow him down. Vampire or not that should at least hurt him!" They were right on top of him, they could see the white of his one eye through the mask when he vaulted into the air and set himself down on the hood. Her breath caught in her throat and the windshield was torn away. She looked at the dash, they were doing almost ninety. The wind came into the cabin but they could hear his voice over it as if there were no other noise in the world.
"Robin, Jinx, how nice to see you."
Robin broke hard and swung the car around in a 180. They saw Slade go flying off into a dumpster and headed back the way they came towards the bridge. "Towers the other way." Jinx yelled at him.
"So is he." Robin weaved his car through traffic. Jinx picked up the jar that supposedly held Slades remains and looked at it deftly.
"How could he... Theres no way!"
"Oh but I assure you there is." Robin and Jinx looked into the back seat, he wasnt there. They were hearing this in theyre heads! "That little jar holds only a part of me. I've been sleeping in that cave, and it took your visit to wake me up." Robin and Jinx felt something touch the backs of their necks. Both yelled in shock and looked to the back seats again. "It took your scents to wake me up."
They could see the tower from here, but Slade was now running alongside the car by Jinxs window. She jumped away from the door, closer to Robin. "Faster damnit!" Robin swerved and went faster but there was no avoiding this. Slade opened the door and got in with them as if the car were standing still. Jinx clawed at him and fought but it was no use. He reached over as if she werent even there and grabbed the steering wheel. So fast Robin couldnt even react he pulled on it and set the car careening into the side of the bridge. The flimsy guard rail was no match for the car, and they went sailing out into the open air.
"We'll be in touch." Slade promised and stepped out. Robin and Jinx screamed as the car plumeted towards the water from seven hundred feet high. Robin grabbed a grapple out of his belt and shot it back up through the back window, hoping it would latch onto something. He grabbed hold of Jinx. He felt the rope catch just feet from the water and they were pulled together from the back window, but broke several bones being pried from the front seat to the back so fast. The stop was almost instant and Robins arm nearly broke, causing him to let go. They fell the last twenty feet into the watter, and dissapeared under the waves for a moment.
Robin looked around frantically for Jinx. She had hit her head on the way out of the car and he doubted she was concious. He spotted her sinking a few feet below himself. He swam down to grab her, and held her against him. He kicked frantically for the surface and just barely made it. Jinx coughed and sputtered but didnt wake up. Robin kicked as hard as he could to keep them above the surface, and with one hand detatched his heavy utility belt, only to realize seconds later that it had his last grapple in it and he could have used it. "Jinx wake up!" He yelled. "Wake up!" His one leg was broken, he thought, and he couldnt keep above water with her. Oh god, they were going to drown in sight of the tower! Robins mind raced. He and Jinx dipped below the waves a few times, but he kept managing to find the strength to power them back to the surface. The last time they broke the surface he spotted the grapple he had used in the car hanging just a few feet above the water and swam towards it. He pushed himself higher and higher out of the water, reaching for it and holding Jinx in his other arm. If he could just reach it they would be safe. He caught hold of it and pushed the retract button. It pulled them up out of the water. Several times on the way up Robin thought he would lose his strength and let go, but finally they were back on the sidewalk of the bridge. Robin set her down and collapsed spent. He looked at his left leg, the kneecap was sticking out to the side in a way it shouldnt. The car had beaten the hell out of the both of them as they were pulled through the narrow back window.
"Jinx wake up." He said. He went for his communicator, but of course it was at the bottom of the bay now. He rolled Jinx onto her back and found that even unconcious she was still holding the damned jar with Slades remains in it. He held his leg and shifted the kneecap back into place. He was so in shock it wasnt even hurting yet. He checked himself for any other broken bones, but found none.
Jinx bolted upright, so fast the jar almost flew from her hands. She didnt realise she was screaming until Robin clamped a hand over her mouth.
"Its alright. He's gone." Jinx looked around, breathing hard.
"We woke him up." She cried. "He's alive."
"But how?" Jinx seemed to calm down. They were sitting under a street light now, and felt safe for the moment. The dust they had breathed earlier was causing hallucinations, vivid ones. They thought Slade was back but he was not, not in body. Something that remained of Slade, his conciousness, or spirit, indeed had been awoken and was controlling the hallucinations. Their presence in the cave had awoken it, and now it was trying to get into the jar, trying to assume its old body- even if it was just ash.
"I dont know, we saw him!" Jinx felt the jar vibrate, the ashes inside were visibly moving. She screamed and dropped the jar. It rolled into Robins lap. The lid came loose and the ash spilled out onto the pavement. It shook as Slades spirit tried to inhabit it once again. It spread out much to the horror of the two teens and covered an area on the sidewalk the size and shape of a man.
Robin acted quickly, he took a birdarang he kept in his boot for emergencies and cut his wrist open. He thought if his blood had killed Slade before it might do it again. He poured it out onto the vibrating ashes, the blood quickly spread out to the borders of the ash, but no further. Jinx joined him in doing this, and the ash heap began to smoke slightly.
"I think its working." Said Robin, but just as he did so the blood and ash condensed itself, forming a goopy blackish substance. It started moving in different directions and they backed away, wondering if they had done the right thing. It began to smoke again, more heavilly this time and the puddle stopped moving. A terrible scream of pain pennetrated the air, seemingly coming from nowhere, and the puddle zipped away down the bridge towards land, looking for more blood. Robin and Jinx watched, starting to understand what they had just unleashed. Jinx down the opposite way the ooze had gone, to see Slade walking towards them.
"He's back!" She yelled. Robin seemed unworried. He struggled to his feet and went to the edge of the area the street light lit up. He stood there as Slade approached him. Slade stood just on the other side of the light, in the darkness. He went to punch Robin but Robin didnt move. His arm dissapeared as it came into the light, and gradually the rest of Slade dissapeared. Robin looked back over his shoulder at Jinx.
"He's back, but not here. It was just a hallucination. Jinx, our blood, I think we really did bring him back." He sat back down in the light with her. "It was all in our heads, then we poured our blood in the ash."
"How did you know?"
"Because, when we sent him flying into the dumpster he hit it and the dumpster dented, but we didnt hear anything. We were imagining it together somehow." An insane laugh escaped his lips. "We went to make sure he was dead, and in the end all we did was bring him back."
Already far away from the bridge the blood-ash puddle zipped through an alleyway. All it knew was pain, and that it needed more blood. The blood they poured on it was giving it life, but at the same time burning it anyway. Slades spirit forced itself all the way into the puddle, and it took the shape of a man again. It had to find blood, and fast. The blood it has was drying up, and it knew soon it would be a useless heap of ash again if it didnt find more. It found a door and slid under the crack, just in time to join a familly of four for dinner.
Robin and Jinx made their way back to the tower on foot. The hallucinations of Slade were still with them, and even though they knew they were hallucinations it still scared them. At some points the hallucination became so violent and convincing they found themselves together on the beach with their eyes clamped shut. The hallucinations couldnt hurt them in the light, or when they closed their eyes, but if it hit them in the dark it felt so real. It took forever, constantly having to stop or find light, or collapsing to the ground with each other and clenching their eyes shut until the apparition passed, but they made it back to the tower. By then they had figured out that it was most likely some sort of toxin, from the mask when Jinx broke it, but now Slade was really out there, most likely finding more blood and making a complete body.
Robin and Jinx made way to the med lab, carefull to avoid shadows and team mates. Once inside Robin settled at the computer and put a drop of his blood on an analyzation tray. It came up positive for toxins, just as they assumed it would. It was a similar toxin to that used in voodoo. They had plenty of anti toxin on hand, and a few doses later they checked out clean for it. Still not willing to bring this to the attention of the others they stayed in the med lab.
"Damnit!" Robin punched the desk. He had booted the computer to his crime tracking program. Mysterious deaths were being reported all over the city in a random pattern. It was being reported that a strange dark gas kept descending on people, entering them through the mouth, ears, nose, and eyes. They would scream in pain, levitate into the air, and drop down again as a mummified corpse without a drop of fluid in the whole body. Whatever they had unleashed, it had already killed ten, maybe more. In all reports witnesses had seen this 'dark shadow in the shape of a man on the ground' before and after, and as the reports continued to come in some people began to say they had been pushed by some invisible entity. Across town there were more incidents, a featureless man was being spotted running around. He was red, the color of blood, and wherever he went there was death. Now it seemed Slade was rebuilding his body, aquiring more and more blood. The M.O. of the attacks changed.
"Oh god, what have we done?"Asked Jinx as she scanned the reports. Now this thing had a physical body. The death toll climbed to thirty within an hour of when they drove off the bridge. Now the victims were being assaulted all over town by a naked man. He came from nowhere and screamed that he 'must have more' as he grabbed someone. He pulled them away into an alley somewhere nearby, or into an abbandoned building, and when people who had seen what happened caught up all they found was a dead body.
"We've unleashed a killer." Robin told her. And all they were trying to do was make sure he was dead. The death toll eventually reached thirty, and then all at once the reports stopped coming in. Two hours after the incident on the bridge the attacks stopped, and the death toll stopped at thirty four.
Back in the caves Slade found where he had burned to death before. He felt almost good as new, but his body wasnt as solid as it should have been and he knew what he needed. He kneeled in front of the hole in the rock floor and looked down at the few remaining ashes. He bit his finger and blood gushed into the hole, soaking them up. When all the ashes had been soaked up the blood was drawn back into his body, where it became part of him. He felt his bones and muscles harden, and his skin became less plyable. He leaned against the cave wall and laughed, just happy to have a body. It felt so good to be solid again. He lit a cigarrete he had taken from a victim and took a long drag. "Oh it is so nice to be back." As a mortal he had never dared to smoke, it would have slowed him down. Now though he was immortal, and he found the habbit to be fun. He took another drag. "So nice indeed."
He looked at his clothing, also barrowed from a victim. It wasnt his usual garb, and he felt out of place in it. It was going to be so much fun being back. His empire would be waiting for him just the way he left it, his safe house had his regular clothes, which he was eager to put on, and the world, the world contained blood for him. It was all his. Slade got up and began the walk out of the cave. He was in no hurry. He had all the blood he needed for now, and wanted to savor every waking moment after spending so long asleep in the void.
He felt power like he had never had before, he stretched out his senses as far as they would go and he could sense almost every other immortal in the world! He could sense he was far beyond most of them, and those he couldnt kill he knew werent strong enough to kill him. Being dead and coming back must have done something to his power. He was the first. His ashes had laid there for so long, and unlike Marcus, and other vampires, his ashes had not been scattered to the wind, which allowed him to be ressurected. Flight should have been beyond his abilities, but he found he could do it easilly. Once out of the caves he lifted off of the ground and sailed high into the air. He could see the tower from here, but going there and raising hell now wouldnt be as fun as it would be if he plotted it and planned ahead. He took off going east towards his safe house. There was alot to be done now, and he had this new, strong body to do it all in.
His strength had changed, he could feel it. His very nature was differant. He no longer fed on just the blood, the life as it was snuffed out became a part of him. This new power was invigorating, to know he was truly beyond everything! He was Slade again, and he was invincible. He laughed as he flew through the air. In the distance he could see five dots floating in the air. As he got closer he recognized two of them. It was Raven, Starfire, and three others- all immortals. Slade came to a stop in front of them.
"It ends here Slade." Raven said. "They told us what happened, we dont know what you have turned into but we will stop you." Raven put her hands in front of her and a dark ball of energy formed. Next to her was Heavens Plight and Starfire. Blackfire and her sister charged up bolts and waited for her command. Kali and Heavens Plight took fighting stances, Plights sword was drawn.
"You are a monster and you will not get past us!" Starfire had seen the terror in Jinx's eyes. She'd personally drag Slade to hell to stop him from causing that fear in her again. Her sister was silent, but floated a little closer to her. It was Blackfires way of telling her if she wanted to make a charge she would be right behind her. Heavens Plight pointed his sword at Slade and Kali floated out in front of them all.
"NOW!" Kali yelled. She dissapeared and came up behind Slade and held him. All the while Slade was silent. He allowed the titans to pound him with attacks, and Kali was trying to pull his arms off.
"Is this the best you can do?" He yelled. "Your all weak!" He gathered his power in himself, not much of it, and spun on Kali. He spun so fast on her that he had her in a grip similar to the one she had him in before she ever knew what happened. All the while Starbolts and telekenetic blasts hit him in the back, and he was sure he felt a sword poking at him but to no effect. "I've killed so many tonight, but I wonder what its like to drink the life of an immortal." He whispered in her ear, and Kali struggled to get away from him. He laughed and squeezed her to the point he heard her ribs cracking. "But not now." He came nose to nose with her, so close he was almost kissing her, and he wanted to. "I have too much to do, and your all in my way." Slade let go of Kali and pushed away from her. She tried to flip over him in mid air but he floated up and struck her with all his might in the spine. Blood sprayed up at him, he knew he had severed it, and she hurtled towards the earth with such speed she couldnt stop.
Kali couldnt feel her legs. She was falling, and in so much pain she couldnt breath. She tried to stop her descent, but it was useless. She hit the ground going nearly three hundred miles an hour, and made a crater twelve feet deep. All she knew was that she had survived it, she didnt know how injured she was or where exactly she was in the city. She opened her eyes to find she was face up, and sticking out of various parts of her were pieces or iron rebarb. Great, she had landed in a construction site. She let a whimper of pain escape her lips and tried to pull a piece of metal out of her but the pain was too great. Even breathing hurt. There was nothing she could do but wait now, she could hear alot of mortals nearby. They would help her.
The titans high above looked at what Slade had just done to Kali, the most powerfull among them, and then back at Slade. They all went back into defensive stances except Starfire. She lost control of her rage and charged at Slade. Slade backhanded her across the face so hard she spun in the air. Her sister went to catch her and Slade was right there behind her. He grabbed Blackfire by the neck and flung her to the angelic looking one, impaling her midsection on the sword.
Heavens Plight had not even seen what happened it had gone so fast. All he knew was that Blackfire was on his sword. Her mouth opened and nothing but blood came out, she began to fall backwards and Plight was in such shock he couldnt move. The sword left his hands and he watched, horrified as she plummeted towards the earth below. Starfire screamed her sisters name and all three of them chased after her, but Slade caught Starfire by the ankle and held her back as the other two went after her sister.
"Now then, you were attacking me." Slade said and laughed. Starfire growled. He let her go and backed off. "I'll give you one free shot. Make it worth my while." Starfire beared her fangs at him and began charging up as powerfull a bolt as she could.
"Die!" She yelled and flung it at him once it was at full power. Slade stretched his arms out and let the blast consume him. He passed through it, it had done him no harm at all. Starfire was coming at him now, but he had other plans.
"Now, my turn." He rushed Starfire and grabbed her in a bear hug. He had wanted to do this with Kali, but had passed up the oppertunity. Starfire seemed like such a better option. She seemed so innocent as she struggled to get away from him. Still, he would pass up this opportunity as well. Things were best when planned ahead, and he would not deny himself the pleasure later. He threw her away from him, and wondered, what grievous thing could he do to her to make her fear him?
Starfire felt the wind on her skin as she was thrown away from Slade. She tried to steady herself but felt a foot connect with her elbow and shatter the joint. She screamed in pain and was sent hurtling through the air even faster. Next a foot connected with her knee, and shattered it. Before the pain even registered in her brain Slade snapped her other two joints, and sent her hurtling earthwards.
Plight caught up with Blackfire and caught her. He set them both down gently on a roof and pulled the sword from her. She started to recover fairly quickly. He held his wrist out to her mouth and pressed it against her lips. "Drink, this will help." He looked up to try and find Raven, but she was flying away trying to catch Starfire, who was now falling as well. He scanned the sky for Slade only to find he was gone. Blackfire did as she was told and drank from him. It did indeed begin to help, and he watched her wound begin to close. He searched the sky for Slade again, still no sign of him. "My god, what is he?" He asked no one.
A lone paramedic jumped down the hole to where Kali was. He inspected her injuries, there was no way she could be alive. He put a finger on her neck to find her pulse. There was none. He yelled up to the others that there was no rush, and to call the coroner. He was scared nearly out of his skin when the battered woman moved a minute later. He went to her side, and tried to figure out what he should do first. There were just so many injuries, so much blood. How could she even be alive?
"You have something I need, come here." Kali reached out with the arm that wasnt broken and knocked him unconcious. She pulled herself up off the rebarb, and choked back many screams in doing so. She still couldnt feel her legs. She looked to make sure no other EMT's were watching, and drank from the man before lying back down. Let them all assume the man fainted at seeing her injuries. If another EMT came close enough she would let them all assume two had fainted, maybe three even. The world was still nothing but pain. She was going to need alot of blood. Kali inhaled through her nose, it seemed to hurt less that way for some reason. She could smell Blackfires blood on the air. The motherly instincts in her demanded she go find her but she knew she couldnt. She tried anyway, but it was hopeless. The pain was just too much for her. For now she would have to let the others take care of her. She needed to take care of herself, and the sooner she did that the sooner she could help Blackfire.
Raven caught Starfire, and the girl screamed. Raven held her at arms length and understood why. "Oh god, Star!" The girls limbs were twisted beyond belief. Starfire just wouldnt stop screaming, some of her pain actually echoed into Ravens mind, and it almost made Raven drop her. 'Help me' she screamed again and again, but Raven was hesitant to set her down for fear of hurting her worse. The water, she thought. Starfire could be set down in water and it would cause her alot less pain. Raven looked to Plight and Blackfire, who was back on her feet. She looked around and saw Kali, helping herself to a second EMT.
Go ahead. We'll all be okay here. Kali told her. Raven nodded and held Starfire against her, trying to comfort her and heading for the ocean. Her breathing was eratic, labored. Animalistic noises came out of her and she shook with the pain.
"Raven help me." She begged. It hurt so bad, she didnt understand why Raven wasnt healing her yet. All she knew was that Raven could lessen this pain but she wasnt, and a part of her hated her for it. This was a pain beyond tears. "Raven." She pleaded. Raven held her and tried to comfort her, but it was of little use. After a few minutes that seemed like hours to Starfire she felt herself immersed in the sea. Raven set her down in knee deep watter on her back and balanced her in her lap.
"Its going to be alright Star. Just try to hold still for me." The broken girls limbs floated in the water, which made them much easier to heal. Starfire still thrashed against her in pain though. Raven quickly went to work on her arms, which were the worse off. Starfire calmed, and took deep shaky breathes as the soothing healing powers went to work on her.
She floated in and out of conciousness as she bobbed in the waves with Raven. In contrast to the pain the healing energy felt almost pleasurable. It washed away the pain and damage like the water around her would wash away dirt. Raven finished with her arms and moved her, sitting her in her lap and grasping her knees. Starfire flexed her arms, which felt so much better now. She leaned back against Raven and watched the blue energy re-shape her deformed looking legs. "Raven?" She called. She could deal with this pain now, it was so much less than what she had felt ten minutes ago.
"What Star?"
"What has happened?"
Raven thought about it, but didnt know. "I dont know Star, I really dont. All I know is that he treated Kali like a toy." Raven sensed the other three vampires behind her. For Kali to have joined them that fast after what she had been through she must have made some kind of scene. Blackfire and Plight she could tell were hungry and injured, and Kali was floating off the ground to keep the weight off of her.
"Toys get better treatment of that." Kali complained and plopped down in the ocean. The weightlessness felt good. "Raven, I have no idea what the hell is going on. Whatever he is, he's not like us."
"We can still beat him, right?" Asked Blackfire. She was hungry and mad. All she could think about was pummeling Slade, even though it was unrealistic. "Somehow, theres gotta be a way right Kali?" Kali was silent, for a long time. After a few minutes it became clear to Blackfire that Kali wasnt going to answer at all, because the answer was obviously disturbing enough that she didnt want to say it. Kali did pull herself up out of the water and leave to hunt. She was only gone twenty minutes, but it was years to Blackfire, who was hungry. When she returned she was healed, mostly, and fed her.
"What the hell was he Kali?" Blackfire asked. Kali only held her as if she were about to be torn away.
"I dont know. None have ever come back from the final death." Kali was actually floating off the ground, looking almost like she was standing on tip-toes. She needed a little time for her spine to reconnect. She looked to Raven and Starfire, who was just about healed. Their lovers might not be safe anymore, Slade was differant from them all, and what had killed him before might not do it again.
Starfire was healed now, or as healed as she was going to get for now. She stood up in the water shakily, she wobbled and fell to her knees. She hissed in pain but Raven helped her up. "He is a monster! That is all he is!" She yelled angrilly. She felt stupid now for having been so angry at Raven for not healing her quicker. Raven just wanted to get her to the water so she would be as comfortable as possible. "We must stop him, which way did he go?"
"West." Plight said. He had been silent up until now. "And I dont think going after him would be a good idea. Look what he just did to all of you. I dont know what he is now, but it would be best not to fuck with him."
"For now HP is right." Kali said. "We need to get back to the tower and rest. The elders are the only ones who can help us now. Maybe they know something."
Robin and Jinx pounded on the door of the small room they were being kept in. After telling the others what had happened they had been thrown in here for trying to follow the vampires out to fight Slade, it was for their own safety. Kali had advised Starfire and Raven of stuffing them in a closet to keep them out of trouble, and wouldnt you know it thats exactly what they had done!
Tired, hurt, and in no condition to fight Cyborg had taken the lockip out of Robins hair, the backup out of his glove, and the backups backup out of his boot. He had tossed them in as Kali had advised, completely ignoring the power structure and Robins orders not to. Cyborg was sitting outside on the other side of the door holding it closed, so Jinx hex bolts wouldnt even help with the lock.
"Come on Cyborg!" Robin yelled. "If he actually showed up here we'd be stuck in the closet and completely defenseless!" Robin had been yelling this since they had put him in here, and knew just what Cyborg was going to say. It would be the same thing he had been saying the whole time.
"If he's as powerfull as they think he is and came here you'd be defenseless no matter where you were. Your in there as protection from yourself, keep you out of trouble."
"Let me out of here you little bucket of bolts or I'll hex you into so many parts you'll look like a hardware store threw up!"
"Dont think so." Cyborg sighed and leaned back against the door some more. "Come on guys your acting like I'm enjoying this. Its for your own good. They all went to take care of it, when its over we let you out. You two got in enough trouble today. I let you out now, your gonna go try to join the fight, and end up dead or worse."
"Cy can you at least get us some clothes? We're still wet from our little swim here. We're bruised as all hell, tired, hungry, and wet. You can keep us in here but at least help us out." Robin was answered by another sigh and another thud as Cyborg shifted on the other side of the door.
"Really gonna change in front of each other?" He asked doubtfully. He was answered by much cursing and the sound of something breaking.
"Its fucking dark in here you moron so whats it matter?" Jinx again.
"Last time you guys convinced me to get you something you nearly got out, not falling for the same stuff twice guys." Cyborg heard Robin growl, and his leader punched the door. What was worrysome was that Cyborg weighed six hundred pounds and was leaning against the door, but the hit was still hard enough to jar him back a few inches.
"Cyborg I swear I'll vote you off the island if you dont let us out!"
"Okay fearless. Since you put it that way, you can come out." Cyborg opened the door for them, and they walked shakily back into the light and saw why Cyborg had let them out. The others were home. Still, they could finally get back to the med lab and patch up what needed patching.
"One word about coming out of the closet and I swear they will never find a piece of you." Jinx muttered as she followed Robin out. It was unfortunate, but Starfire had thought to remove the clamp on pieces to her suit before she went in, effectively disarming her.
"Raven!" Robin said, going to her and Kali. "What happened?" He and Jinx looked over the ragged immortals, Raven and Plight were the only two who seemed alright.
"Slades back, its like fighting Marcus on steroids, and we dont know if coming after you or Jinx would kill him again. Robin, he's so powerfull, there might actually be nothing capable of killing him." Ravens normal mono-tone was tinged with worry.
"We have to get ourselves together." Kali warned. "Whatever he is, he should still have some kind of weakness. We just have to live long enough to find it and exploit it. We're going to see the elders in the morning, everyone get some sleep. Hopefully the elders will know something that can help us." Jinx felt like a heavy burden had just been laid on her back. For some reason or another she just doubted these elders knew anything that could help them.
Alright people. I leave Wed! This is the LAST chap before then, so I'd like to see the reviews pour in, PLEASE? Worked my tail off on this chap and IT is now the longest chap here, weighing in at over 82 kb and almost 13000 words. Im glad you've all been my readers, and I have enjoyed writting. When I get back the stories takin a turn for the hellish, big time, but of course the titans will always win, so dont worry. I hope I managed to make a big enough cliff hanger to keep you all interested through the 15 I'll be gone.
Can I get a 'HOOHA!'?
(Listens and waits...)