Raging
I own nothing.
I notice that not much gets written with my style, if youve noticed the differances. The way I try to blend first and third person points of view. Is there an actual term for that? Or can i name it? I think ill call it... first n a half person point of view.
Raven left Kali in the med ward under Cyborgs competent care. She needed desperately to clean all the blood off of herself. Cyborg was no less covered, but he didnt wear clothes or have hair. He had nothing for blood to stick to and grime up. Raven snorted at how lucky he was in that aspect. All he needed to do in order to get clean was go through the car wash. She walked through the darkened halls, eventually coming to the main room. She would normally have stopped to congregate with her friends that were there. Beast Boy, Starfire, HP and Blackfire (who was slumped over on the couch) were sitting around the television monitoring the fire on the news downtown. She really couldnt stop to join them, she was filthy with blood. She continued onwards to her room, carefull not to touch anything. She managed to get into her shower like this. She didnt bother to remove her leotard. It was mostly saturated in blood and was too dirty to go in the hamper anyway. She let out a relaxed sigh as hot water hit her body, and watched the blood run off of her in tiny pink rivulets towards the drain.
The last time i was covered in this much blood was when Slade- Before the thought could even be finished it had already caused her body to tense and her pulse to increase drastically. She chided herself for not having better control. She put hat behind her and went back to the task at hand. After three soapings The leotard was clean enough to go in the laundry. She peeled it off of herself, wrung it out, and tossed it into the dirty clothes basket. It landed on top of one of Robins shirts and Raven sighed at her wasted effor. Whats the worst that could happen? It might stain his shirt more red? She went back to cleaning herself off now. The water running off of her eventually turned clear. She applied her soaps, which loosened what little blood remained.
Finally she was finished and stoop in the bathroom with a towel wrapped around herself. She thought of Kali in the medical wing, and how much things had changed. It used to be that no one got hurt. It used to be so simple. She spied her uniform and Robins in the hamper. They stood for a very daunting responsibility. The heroes jobs seemed to only ever get harder. They had faced great evils, some had even cheated death, but there was more on the horrizon. She stared harder at the uniforms. She picked Robins up and held it to her. She wondered, after this next upcoming battle, what would Robin do? Would he ever be able to put this thing away? Raven knew she could. She could give this up easilly and go be a healer. Being a healer would be enough to justify her leaving the hero business in her eyes, to leave the fight for the next generation of vigilanties. Robin, she doubted, would ever see it that way. He would keep fighting as long as he lived.
Raven felt a sense of vertigo, and asked herself if maybe she had cursed Robin with immortality, worse than that, youthfull immortality. She sighed. She and he were in the same boat in that aspect. She had changed at fifteen, about five years ago now. She thought back to that night, it seemed so long ago now. She remembered, how hungry she had been. Robins blood had unleashed the sexual predator in her, and she had explored her new property, in a dizzy state from bloodloss Robin had just been alongfor the ride. Her lips turned upwards almost in a smile. He hadnt exactly complained. Still, she wished they had shared the fortune of her having changed a little older, maybe around nineteen, and also if that night had been put off a few years. She delicately laid his shirt back down on the laundry, and turned to go get dressed.
Raven had always done her best not to pry in peoples minds, some days with more success than others. A thought, or rather a feeling she had been getting more and more from Robin was his frustration, doomed to be locked in a childs body for all eternity. Of course, that was overstating it a little. Raven had her suspicions that Robin had wished to grow a few inches taller. Having seen his face and eyes, she could say it did look like the face of a full grown man, if maybe on the fair side. He had just enough hints of worry lines and laugh lines to make some wonder about his age- if he were a little taller maybe. Raven didnt care, she found him pleasing to look at. If need be, and she was sure at some point it would, Robin could get false identification. Raven had it a little easier than he did though. She had very mature curves, a mature attitude, and a face that could pass for several years older than it actually was. She thought back to Robins... Stature again. He didnt have a Napoleon complex, not by any means. She suspected his desire for height was because he wished more to resemble his father. If it ever became an issue, Raven decided he could get his arms and legs broke and set distant. She doubted he would be uncomfortable for more than a few days, her being a healer and all.
"I contemplate too much." Raven said out loud. She squelched her current line of thought. Now fully dressed she took out her communicator and looked at the positioning screen, wondering where Robin was. The letters Ro and J were superimposed over a small map of the city. It didnt make her uncomfortable for them to be together, and the letters were moving back towards the tower along a street so they werent doing anything intimate. Raven had found it easy to accept what might happen between Robin and Jinx. She understood full well what happened to them otherwise, and if it happened again it wouldnt be something they did of free will. Besides, she knew that Robin still carried enough guilt over it for both of them. Raven was too mature to worry of such things. In fact, when Robin had tried to leave the tower, it had been harder on Jinx than himself. No sooner had he crossed to the mainland than Jinx was reduced to a weak heap of flesh on the floor. Raven didnt like to think of Jinx in that situation. She had been helpless, weak, and in pain. Sprawled out on the floor in a fetal position, the only noise from her was the occasional desperate mewling. Raven had watched that until she couldnt stand it anymore. Worrying about Robin, and the people that might be sharing the road with him if he got this bad, she had actually put Jinx in the cruiser and sent her off.
She closed the communicator, setting it on her dresser. They would be back soon. She laid down on her bed and closed her eyes. Robin would wake her when he got back.
The streets of Jump city were quite. At this time of night, in this part of town they were completely abandoned. Other than the normal inner city orchestra of sounds it was almost like being in a vacuum. Even surrounded by tennant buildings you could get the feeling you were miles from anyone. The distinct sound of Robins bike cut through the silence, its furious engine letting out a scream that could be heard for blocks around. It was as if it were issuing a statement of its authority over the night, welcoming anything else to challenge it. There were no challenges, it continued through the city, devastating its victim- the silence.
On the back of the bike Jinx held on to Robin. She was leaning against him, her eyes clenched shut. The feeling of rapid acceleration and decceleration, and g's in tight corners didnt bother her as long as her eyes were shut. She knew that most of the time if she opened her eyes to see what Robin was doing she would scream at him for being reckless. Robins driving habbits, in the cars and on the bike were enough to make her uneasy, especially considering she hardly knew how to drive. Her first driving experience had been sitting in Robins lap, driving the dodge down a country road trying to evade Rancid and his gang. She worked the steering because she could see better in the dark while Robin worked the gas. She shuddered at the memory of that, trial by nucleur halocaust. She felt the bike slowing down. "ROBIN!" She yelled, trying to get his attention. He heard her the first time.
"I need to stop for gas." He yelled back. His bike was not made for going the distance. It was made to get him where he needed to go as fast as possible, and to hell with mileage. He stopped at the closest gas station to the island, putting down the kickstand and letting Jinx go inside to look around.
Jinx heard the two toned electronic beep as she opened the door. It still felt weird going into these places and not being feared. She had been seen with the titans enough, she supposed. Everyone knew which side she was fighting on. The clerk hardly paid her any attention even, but then again this was the spot Robin and Cyborg normally went to for gas. He was probably used to high profile clients. Jinx decided to kill a few minutes at the magazine stand, rooting through car mags. She had been contemplating getting her own but didnt know much about them. She thought she saw a flash of movement outside on the reflection of one of the glossy pages. She turned around to look and saw Nothing. Robin wasnt even by his bike. She figured he must have gone around the side of the shop to use the restroom, and would be in in a minute. She flipped a few more pages, noting a few she thought were nice. She was completely off guard when suddenly the door exploded inwards, shattering the calm atmosphere. In the blink of an eye she knew that it had been Robins body that had knocked the doors off theyre rollers. She turned on her heel, ready for whatever was coming through the door. Then the report of a gunshot fully registered in her senses. Three armed thugs with shotguns stormed into the gas station, one going for Robin, whose shirt destroyed, exposing the Kevlar armor underneath. It had saved his life. He was just getting up now as one of the thugs smashed his shotgun acrossed his face. Jinx saw the second robber aim his gun at the clerks head. She quickly wiped a hex bolt across the room, hitting him in an upward arc and causing his shot to discharge into the ceiling instead of the clerks face. This left her the one other goon, who was charging his way down the aisle at her. She looked around. Magazines... Auto supplies, cleaning supplies. Cleaning supplies! Jinx reminded herself that she wasnt always a good guy and hexed a row of bleach bottles on the mans flank. They exploded with much force, catching him in the face and eyes. He was left in a heap on the floor screaming in pain. Jinx hexxed a few bottles of windshield washer fluid above him, theyre contents releasing onto the mans face and washing away the bleech. It covered her bases, he was out of the fight, no longer a threat and she had done the right thing by making a half hearted attempt to save his sight. He began crawling across the floor towards a case of bottled water as she leapt towards the front of the store.
"Hold it!" Screamed one of the armed assailants. He took a shot at Jinx, which missed by a mile and loaded a new round into the chamber. He saw that Robin was just now begining to get the upper hand against his comrade, and grabbed the clerk, holding his gun under the mans chin. In his defense, the clerk was very calm. Easilly the calmest man he had ever pointed a gun at. Had to admire that. "Both of you stop fuckin moving or this guy gets a lead lobotomy!" Jinx, still half a room away from him, and Robin, entangled with his associate, both came to a screetching halt. His friend viciously bashed Robin acrossed the temple a final time with the butt of his gun and Robin went down after taking too much abuse.
"Alright, big guy. Now what?" Jinx asked. It was one on two with a hostage, and from the look of the cut on the swollen side of Robins head she didnt think he would be getting up any time soon. She could easilly take them out, but not without risking the clerk.
"Let me blow his head off!" Screamed the man Robin had been fighting with. He aimed his shotgun at Robins neck. "Lett'm talk through a stump!"
"Fuckin cool it!" The leader screamed. "Go help him rinse his eyes out, do it!" His buddy ran off to do just that.
Jinx's brain was trying desperately to figure out a way to get that gun pointed somewhere other than the clerk. "Listen." She said, trying to be reasonable. "I dont need this, alright? Im on prohbation, if that guy dies-" she pointed at Robin "-and I'm the only witness, I go right back in the clink. I used to do this too. Just take the money, and go. I'm not gonna stop you."
"Bullshit!" Screamed the ringleader. "What about cameras? Huh? We was just gonna be in and out, you fucked it all up! They seen his face, and if they get him, they get us!" He gestured at his wounded partner, whos ski mask had to be removed to tend to his eyes.
"Theres a vcr, right under the counter. Its behind the rolls of receit paper." The clerk calmly explained. "If you trash it, then theres no tape."
Go for it, go for it. Jinx begged mentally. lower that gun from that guys head, for just a second. Come on now. He did just that, in order to shoot the tape. When he did Jinx sling a hex bolt acrossed the room that hit he and the clerk full on, knocking them both back into a case of lottery tickets. She spun on her heel just in time to see one of the other gunmen swinging his shotgun at her head like a baseball bat. There wasnt enough time to move it was- every part of her body felt the brutal hit except her head. Her entire collection of muscle and bone felt the shock. Suddenly, slowly, the world began to lose its edges. Sound was the first thing to go, replaced by the sound of a freight train roaring down at her. Her vision was next, fuzzying at the edges as the floor slowly came up at her, it seemed miles away and moving ever slower. She tried to move her arms, but to no avail. Finally, she hit the floor, and joined Robin in blissfull unconciousness. She could feel his presence on the other side of nothingness awaiting her but at the same time ignorant of her, almost in hibernation, and then she was one with him, and they were both completely helpless.
Robin was the first to come to. His mind took much longer than usual to process what his senses were feeding him. He fell back into unconciousness a few times but finally gathered the fortitude to stay awake. He tried to move. His hands were tied behind his back. His belt and gloves and boots were gone, along with his cape. Of all the odd things he hoped his mask was still in place, but shrugged that off. His head was screaming with pain, as was his chest. He had to focus... Focus... Focus... what had happened?
He had been filling the bike with gas, and heard a car pull up on the other side of the pumps. No big deal. He turned his attention to the store, see what Jinx was doing. He watched her for a few seconds.
"Oh shit look who it is!" He heard someone say near the other car. He smiled, great. Another civilian, who no doubt couldnt believe he bought gas in the same place as the famous vigilante and wanted his receipt signed. Robin plastered a false smile on his face and turned around-- and his face dropped. There was a man swinging a shotgun at him, and it connected just as he tried to dodge. He was a big man, easilly twice Robins size and the blow sent him skidding across the parking lot. Two others with Ski masks ran up to him as he tried to get up, his head realing. One leveled the shotgun at his chest and fired from only a foot away.
"Fuuuck." Robin croaked. He concentrated more now on his surroundings. He was in a dark, small place with something warm and lumpy next to him. He could smell blood, Jinxs blood. Thats what was pressed up against him. He worried for her welfare. He held his own breath for a few seconds, just long enough to feel her chest rise and fall against him. She was breathing, good. He could hear engines all around him, and figured he was in the trunk of a car. They had been kidnapped. He growled to himself. Of all the... It would of course have to be some gun weilding thugs that got him. Low level nobodies, in some ways they were more dangerous than Slade. He took deep breathes. He could feel himself slipping into unconciousness again, he had to calm down. Good, got it. "Jinx." He whispered. "Jinx."
"Robin?" Jinx came to momentarily, but fell back asleep. Robin let her. He didnt know the extent of her injuries. Without the use of his hands he managed to repostion them, to lay in a more comfortable position with Jinx. It was kind of calming this way. He feared for her, without light to see how badly injured she was. The steady rise and fall of her chest against his, and her breath on his cheek were the only indicators he had of her condition. He shuddered to think what might happen, if she passed away here with him in the trunk. No doubt Kali, the real Kali, would make short work of dispatching him and unleashing her husband and then-
No! cant think about that right now. He knew Shiva would honnor the arangement Raven made with him, but Kali was more unpredictable. No, stop thinking about it. Alright. "Jinx." He whispered again, trying to bring her around gently. "Come on Jinx, its me. I need your help." He knew she would make short work of these bindings, short work of whatever this car used as an engine, short work of the trunk latch, and then together they would make short work of these criminals. He thought of how poorly the night was going now. It had gone well, well as could be expected anyway with his daughter, he had semi gotten Jinxs support to help with the poor girl, and now this. He sighed, and continued to whisper Jinxs name, and softly nudging her head with his. "Come on." He coaxed gently. His Bonds felt like nylon rope, he wasnt going to break them by himself. There was nothing on the floor of the trunk to rub them on, and no light that he could see to aid him. Jinx, he knew, could see much better in the dark and her powers could be most helpfull with things like rope. He felt Jinx jerk against him once, and he thought she was coming around. Then to his horror she jerked again, and began to convulse. "Jinx!" He hissed. Her head injury must have been more severe than he imagined. He rolled on top of her to try and stop her from thrashing and hurting herself. Instead now she bucked and thrashed wildly, hurting Robin in the process but Robin would rather she hurt him than herself given that she was the one in convulsions. "Just keep breathing Jinx, keep breathing come on." Her breathing was eratic, and scared him. If she arrested there was nothing he could do. All he could do now was hope for the best. As abruptly as the convusions started they stoped, and Robin quickly rolled off of her to avoid putting weight on her chest and making breathing difficult.
"Come on Jinx, I need you to wake up." He prodded. "Just wake up, and take care of these ropes for me. I'll handle everything else, and get you help." She was oblivious of him. Robin hated feeling this helpless. If his hands were free he could at least probe and asess Jinxs wounds. As it were half her skull could be caved in and he wouldnt know about it. Damnit! He needed Jinx for something like this. Her side of the link they shared felt twisted and knotted, eratic. He could only assume that it was a bad sign.
Robin struggled with his rope and thrashed about as much as he could without hurting Jinx. It was no use, and only caused his head more pain. Eventually he had no choice but to settle back down next to her and hold onto conciousness. He had to plan. With his hands tied the best he could hope for was a good kick to the face of whoever opened the trunk. "Jinx, I really need you for this." He whispered. He wished he had his belt. It had a little razor that stuck out the back of it, only about a millimeter in length but sharp enough to split hairs. If he still had that he'd be loose by now. He relaxed, trying to get all the 'if only's' out of his head. He had absolutely nothing going for him, and until something new developed he had to rely on his team to find him. Depending on how far they had driven though he might be out of Ravens reach. Normally she'd be able to sense him just about everywhere, but he knew after a head injury it made him harder to sense. Hopefully they were as good at detective work as he was.
Cyborg and Raven picked theyre way over the twisted metal and broken glass on theyre way out of the convenience store. It didnt look good. The clerks statement was useless, the security cameras were fried, and Robins and Jinxs blood had been found on the floor. Starfire was waiting outside pacing by the cruiser, anger radiating off the normally happy girl in waves thick enough to knock most people down.
"Have you found anything?" She asked hopefully.
"Three white guys as big as offensive linemen driving a mid nineties ford taurus. He couldnt be sure on the color." Cyborg pointed up above the gas pumps. "The lights were out, so anything from green to blue is gonna look black. Even if we had a color theres only a million other cars out there the same make and model, and half a million that look pretty close."
Starfires face fell. Raven had to sympathise, she was feeling as terrible as Star but was better trained to control it. "He said Robin had been shot through the window but got right back up, so we know his armor took care of it. He and Jinx were hit in the head, which is how they managed to take them."
Cyborg got down on the ground and examined the spot the getaway car had parked. There was nothing, a hundred other cars parked right here every day so even if there was something helpfull it would probably have been from them.
"Wait!" The trio turned around as the clerk came running out of the store. He was holding an ice pack to his head but seemed alright otherwise. "I'm sorry." He said. "Its been so busy, such a night I didnt remember this right away. The one guy that did most of the talking, he had a scar I could see, just barely. Its over his left eye, I saw it through his ski mask, and his knuckles are all messed up, like someone who used to do bare knuckle boxing."
"Thanks." Cyborg said. He managed to sound gratefull for the clue but didntthink it would pan out anywhere. He huddled with Raven and Starfire. "Lets face it, we have nothing. I think the best thing we can do is split up. If we can get Blackfire involved one of us will be able to cover every major highway leading out of the city, looking for a car that matches the description. I know she's hurt, and tired, but we really need someone who can fly."
"What about hp?" Starfire asked.
"He cant fly that fast, these guys have a two hour head start." Cyborg took a deep breath. "Bare knuckled boxxing is actually a pretty good lead. They dont do that around here, its too risky. You normally find stuff like that more south towards the border. Starfire I want you to take southeast, Raven, go with her. See if Blackfire will take north, but if she's not up to it dont push her. North, thats where theyre least likely to be, we'll give her the easiest rout."
"Sounds good." Raven said. She nodded to Starfire, who opened her comm to contact her sister.
"Ive got the car, I can cover enough ground but not as much as youtwo so im heading out now. Keep in touch, if you find anything let me know."
"They will have to stop eventually." Raven said. "The one guy took a load of bleach to the eyes. They havent stopped in the hospitals here or any of the nearby ones. You might do well to send a warning to hospitals down south."
"Good thinking." Cyborgs human eye seemed to roll up in his head for a few seconds. "Done. I'm out." He jumped into the cruiser and mashed the gas pedal. It took off furiously down the street, its noise broadcastng its urgency.
The cruiser was airborne as it leaped off the feeder road onto the freeway. In the front seat Cyborg was hunched over the wheel, his heavy foot had the pedal all the way to the floor and she was picking up fast. He hoped this road was free of state troopers, this was the wrong night to pull him over. He flew past other traffic, which saw him coming and gave him a wide berth. He was angry. "Gonna put bells on those two I swear." He grumbled to himself. Just cheap guns with cheaper shots. It was a harsh reality but it reminded him that the team was only human- or mostly human. He grumbled some more over the situation.
He flew down the freeway in speeds excess of one hundred forty miles an hour. Cyborg only ever slowed down to crawl in behind and hassle Ford Tarus's. He would ride in behind them, flashing lights and honking and come within inches of theyre bumpers. He guaged theyre reactions carefully, and none acted like people who had hostages. Mostly he only succeeded in making himself feel like an ass for hassling innocent people and scaring the life out of them. He had to find them before they could change vehicles, if they hadnt done that already. It didnt make sense to him. Low level thugs didnt just kidnap superheroes, even if they got a few lucky hits in. First of all, nobodies wouldnt know what to do with them, and second they wouldnt have many choices as to where to take them. He didnt want to think about what might happen if all wasnt as it seemed. The hunter agency he supposed could feasibly be involved. They did use meta humans, and three huge guys didnt normally just band together to go rob a store right by titans tower and kidnap two heroes who just happened to be there.
"Fuckers." Cyborg cursed. He couldnt be sure of things either way.
A thought occured to Cyborg. He pulled off onto the nearest exit, what he had to do would take too much concentration to keep driving. They couldnt raise Robin or Jinx on the comm, those had obviously been taken. Anyone with half a brain cell would shut them off. The things only had twelve buttons, it wouldnt be hard for anyone to do. Cyborg wondered though, if they could be reactivated remotely. The CMOS batteries in them always supplied just enough power to keep the memories running, if he could hack that he might be able to boot higher functions such as locater beacons. Cyborg tried to use his internal hardware, but it was insufficient. Certain safety protocalls built in that prevented him from being hacked also prevented him from hacking. He needed a computer.
Cyborg found an internet cafe and hurried inside, leaving the car running. Ignoring gawkers he found an empty computer and dialed into the titans remote server. "Can I get a little space? This is official!" He yelled at the crowd around him. He didnt need them seeing passwords he used. He huffed and returned to the computer. He made some tweaks to the communicators protocals. Soon he imagined he would get calls from everyone about the malfunctions as one by one they rebooted and began to beep. One by one the communicators began to flash onto his screen, one at a time. They were imposed over a zoom in/zoom out map. "Jackpot!" He yelled as a large "J" Lit up a few miles from his location. Cyborg closed out the programs he was using and input commands to fry the hard drive. It began to spin out of control, as the magnetic pickups danced back and forth destroying disk surface area. After a minute it sounded like the drive had exceeded 17,000 rpms and there were some popping noises as black smoke emptied out the computer and it finally crashed. Hated to do that, but he couldnt let the records of what he just did be recovered. He would pay the shop owner back as soon as he could.
"Raven, Starfire." He called into his comm as he merged onto a differant freeway. "I found Jinx's locator signal but not Robins. I'm heading for that position right now, it should be on your screens. Keep searching your highway, if I find anything I'll let you know."
A garbled "Understood." Was the only response he got.
Cyborgs mechanical heart raced as he drew closer to the blinking J. Up ahead were some vacant lots, an offramp where several stores had gone out of business. He didnt like the looks of it. He was heavilly tempted to call for backup, but there were no buildings on these lots anymore, and he couldnt see anything hiding in the area with his enhanced vision. When he pulled into the lot te map on his comm downsized, showing that lot only. The J was only a few feet from his position. Taking another look around to be sure it was safe Cyborg put the car in park and stepped out. He followed the signal to a drainpipe. It was too small for Robin or Jinx to fit down, but the grate that covered it had obviously been moved recently. He removed it and pointed his shoulder mounted flashlight down. He reached in and began to pull out Robins gear. Firt were his boots, cape, belt, and gloves. Next was Jinx's boots and belt. He found Jinx's comm and carried everything to the car. He set it down on the hood and began to sort through it. He laid out the contents of Robins belt and in the last pouch found his comm. It felt lighter than it should. Cyborg opened it up and began to fiddle with it. It wouldnt even turn on for him. He popped the back lid and sweat instantly broke out on his human parts.
All of the sensitive components of Robins comm had been removed expertly. The CMOS, the ROM, the higher memory grid emersion modules, and the communication data transfer matrix were all missing. "Oh no." He said quietly. Instantly he knew everything had been set up. They had been had. The robbery was no robbery. It was staged, it was a sting. The hunters had wanted to get at those two. They knew how the comms worked and wanted one. With what they had they could conceivably duplicate the comms, hack the tower, its defenses. A million sickening possibilities hit Cyborg full force. He yelled to himself as he reached for his own comm. They could track them all! Damnit! Not only could they track them, they could do so much more. The hunters only canibalised one comm. This told Cyborg they knew what they were doing. They only needed one for whatever plan they had.
"Oh god." A new and even worse thought ran through his mind. With the voice recognition module, stored in the cmos, they could impersenate the voices of anyone who had a comm! He snapped his comm open and set a wide dispersal communique. "Everyone this is Cyborg. We have been compromised. Our comms are useless, they can be used to impersenate us. Do not respond to me. Do not listen to anything I say after this. Find a safe place, dont tell anyone where it is over the comms. Destroy your comms after this. Just everyone get out of the tower, dont use your comms, dont take them anywhere. Your probably being tracked right now, so move around. Try to stick together but dont go anywhere obvious.
He watched his grid map as 'BB', 'KA', 'HP', and the rest began to blink out of existance. They were in the tower. They were on theyre own. There was nothing he could do to help them right now. One Comm remained on though. Ravens face appeared. "We're on our way." she said.
Cyborg saw a portal open up in the headlights in front of him. Raven and Starfire floated out and were blinded by the lights. Cyborg crushed his comm as did Raven and Starfire. He killed the vehicle and walked over to them. "We cant stay here. They were tracking me up until just now. I'm sure of it." Starfire ran to him, collecting Jinx's things.
"Kali and the others are safe. She gathered them up and left the tower. Thats all she would tell me. Communicating over distances telepathically isnt safe if someones looking for you or the person your talking to."
"We're going to have to trust Kali on this one guys. Robin and Jinx can take care of themselves, or as soon as theyre heads are clear you'll at least be able to find them." Cyborg felt a soft hand brush the back of his head. He looked up to see Starfire and Raven right where they had been, several feet away. He jumped up and turned around just as Red-X materialised on the hood of the car. In a split second his sonic cannon was up and aimed at her. "I really, really never wanted to see that suit again. Whoever you are, you chose the wrong damn night." Starfire and Raven were by his side instantly, prepared to attack her.
"If you want to fight me..." Came the distorted, but obviously femenine voice. " You'll lose a really good oppertunity to find Robin and Jinx." Red-x sat down on the hood, glaring at Cyborg and the vampires flanking him.
"You KILLED her!" Starfire spat. "I only let you live now because she wouldnt want your blood on my hands. Speak!" Boomed Starfire.
Under the mask Robbix broke into a sweat. She wouldnt let it show, but Starfire scared the life out of her. Raven even more so. She tried to supress her fathers memories of her. "Blackfire." She said slowly. "Blackfire killed earlier tonight."
"She killed many!" Railed Starfire. "Make your point and be gone!"
"Let her talk Star." Cyborg motioned to her to be still.
"On the roof, the one in charge. I was watching. She drained him, and turned every bone in his neck into powder. Now, something really interesting happened afterwards. I was hanging around for a little while after she left, and when I left, the guy had a pulse again. A weak one, but it was almost like he was rebuilding himself. If he's still there on that roof, it might be a big help to get ahold of him before he gets away."
Blackfire was floating high above the highway, about to give her communicator a good toss into the horizon when beeped. She knew it was probably the enemy, but let the message come through anyhow. "What?" She asked it. It was Starfire, speaking tamaranian that answered.
"Sister??" Starfires eager voice
Blackfire decided to test her sister. A universal translator, common throughought the galaxy could be used to accomplish this feat. She hated to pick at an old scab, much less even think about it but had to be sure it was Starfire. "Starfire, if its you, I need you to tell me this. Where.Did.You.Get.Your.Blood?" She spoke each word in a differant dialect of Tamaranian, each of which her sister would know, but might throw off a translator program. On the other end she heard Starfire hesitate, and in a shamefull voice reply.
"Marcus."
Blackfire knew it was her sister. For all the hunters probably knew Starfire and herself were both natural offspring of Kali. Her own true lineage, and Starfires was something to be hidden, denied, and never spoken of if it could be avoided. "What?" She asked, lapsing into Tamaranian guttertongue. It was the most diverse of languages on the homeworld, somewhat similar to earths Creole. It was the most difficult to translate, just in case this was being recorded by the hunters. The odds of them ever figuring out what was being said approached somewhere in the tens of millions to one this way.
"The hunter you killed, the last one. He's not dead. We're told he was... putting himself back together. We could use him as a hostage, or for interrogating. He's not dead. We need him."
Blackfire was shocked. Starfire couldnt be lying though, the chances of this being a trap were astronomically small. There was no time to question Starfire though. If she was right she might only have a little time to act. "We'll meet at the place we first encountered them. I'll bring him." She shouted back, and finally crushed the communicator before letting it drop and sped off back towards the city.
Singrifith was still laying on the roof when Blackfire found him. From thirty feet in the air she could tell he was concious, if only barely. His head still hung at an impossible angle, but after observing him for several minutes it snapped back into a more possible position with a cracking that nearly turned her stomach. He writhed in agony as dead nerves were reconnected to controlling tissues, and the synapses in his brain repeatedly misfired. The countless bone shards in his neck were also knitting up, repositioning. Blackfire felt pitty for him, but not much. She felt anger then. How dare he, the enemy, illicit such emotions out of her. He tried to kill her, and lost the battle. She wouldnt feel anything at all if he had the common decency to stay dead. She barreled towards him on the roof, and without even landing scooped him up. He yelled at her, but couldnt muster the strength to fight. Even in the dark she could tell he was still rather low on blood. He was helpless against her, again. She felt the thrill of the predator again, something that ignited in her loins and teeth.
"Put me down." He growled at her. He said it slowly, deliberatly. Blackfire didnt deny him his request and dropped him onto a roof some fifteen feet below. She was impressed by his will when he didnt make a noise other than 'thud' when he landed. She watched him for five minutes or so, as he became more and more his old self. Slowly moving his feet, and flexing his fingers. He said nothing the whole time, and she didnt feel the need to break the silence. He was her enemy, and she hated him with everything she had. They did not need small talk, she only needed blood and the thrill of battle he had given her. Finally after some time he sat up, and glared at her. "So what?" He asked. "You want a prize? Your the first to figure it out, I re-animate. What are you going to do? Kill me again?" He slowly got to his feet, never taking his eyes off her. "You've probably figured out what the whole night was about. I'm not talking. I've killed older things than you. You just fooled me."
"You needed chemicals to augment your strength!" Blackfire hissed at him. "Cheater!" The anger between them was palpable.
Singrifith laughed. "I used strength alone. I didnt want to bother using my powers. This time, I might."
Blackfire knew they wouldnt work. She had drained him. She was immune to him, to his entire bloodline if he had any children. She laughed. "You'll talk." She said in between fits of laughter.
Singrifith dropped into a fighting stance. "Why are you so sure?"
"Because!" Blackfire said. She fixed him with the look of one who was truly mad. "I dont mean to kill you. I aim to make you one of us!" This was it! This was her fight! this was her chance to get back at slade, this was revenge! Her higher reasoning facilities were impaired. The brief look of fear that crossed the mans face only fed her madness. She was going to punish HIM. For Starfire, for herself, for everyone! He was going to bear the responsibility of it all! It would be what Slade had done to her, what Marcus had done to Starfire, all in one. She flew at him with insane speed and knocked him to the ground easilly. She let out a scream that pierced the heavens above and kicked him in the side. Her foot pierced him and he screamed. She withdrew it and watched, fascinated, as his blood ran out over the roof. She eyed the little pouch on his belt he had withdrawn the needle from earlier with sick glee. She mounted him as he tried to double over, reaching for it. She withdrew one of the needles, and stabbed it into his neck. "Fight me!" She screamed. "Like before! Fight me damn you!" She took another and stabbed it in right above his heart. She was almost instantly thrown off of him. She rolled along the roof, reeling from whatever blow he had hit her with. When she stood he was on his feet. The injury in his side had closed.
"I wont become one of you!" He boomed at her, clearly scared. "However its done, I wont do it."
"I'll do all the work." Blackfire cackled. "You'll have no choice but to help us. Your precious order would never take you back."
"I still wouldnt help you."
"But you will, dont you see? Once your one of us, you'll need us. Either you go back to your order and be destroyed, or you leave us to be among the humans, without knowing how to control yourself. You'll kill."
"You killed me!" He shouted, almost indignantly. "You kill without remorse!"
"Only those that hunt us!" Blackfire grew tired of talking. "You'll learn more once your part of the familly. Dont worry." And with that, she closed on him. The adrenaline seemed to have been used up fueling his regenerative powers. He was too slow to dodge her attack. She tackled him to the roof and stradled him once more. She put him in a lock from behind she had oft used on her sister growing up. Pilling him beneath her, face down, with one arm free. She broke it quickly and he screamed in pain.
"Dont!" He screamed. Blackfire only laughed. For the first time in years he was frightened, and lost control of his bladder. Blackfire laughed harder.
Blackfire breathed in the scent of fear, mingled with his own natural scent and urine. It only added to the swoon she felt for him. She nuzzled her face in his hair as she had him pinned. She moaned deeply and nibbled the nape of his neck as he quivered. She didnt bother to control herself, and ground against the small of his back. The motion pleased her. She dragged her tongue up the back of his neck and took some of the ashen blonde hair in her teeth, tugging it playfully. "Stop." He moaned.
"I cant." Blackfire said in all seriousness. She ground again against the battered fragile thing below her. "Once its done," she whispered "You'll find you love it." She broke his other arm at the shoulder and let them both lay on the roof limp, looking like a broken toy. She rolled him over to face her. His small pupils stared straight into space, fixed. His breath was raggid. She siezed his lips with her own, bruising them. She put a hand on his chest to stabalise herself as she reached behind her and removed her top, baring herself to him. The heady scent of his blood, him, and urine caught her again and she ground against him. She moaned in ecstacy, convinced her soul was going to escape her body. She grabbed one of his useless arms and placed his hand on her left breast as she lowered to kiss him again.
"Please." He said one last time.
Blackfire kissed him a third time, more gently. She used her newly developing mental powers to calm him somewhat, until he came back to himself. "Its alright." She whispered, her voice gentle. "You dont get a choice in this. I didnt, my sisters didnt. Your going to be one with us. We're going to love you, in all your beauty." She felt him finally, despite himself reacting to her closeness between her legs. She kissed him again and forced her moan into his throat. She ground against him repeatedly, and despite numerous injuries, he moaned back. She herself concentrated on the scents, and that friction between them. She pulled back from the kiss, not stopping her ministrations. "You'll be mine. You've killed so many of us. I can see it in your mind." She moaned again, he still refused to move his hips with hers but she had, after all, said she would do the work. She felt a tight ball of heat beginning to grow in her core, and knew he wasnt too far behind her. "I'm giving you penance. I'm redeeming you. I'm going to show you how you've been wrong."
"I wont do it anymore! I swear! I-"
"Noooo." Blackfire crooned. "Your mine... Ours. Your going to love us." She continued to move against him, and moved his hands in little circles over her breast, gradually leading to the spot she would drive his hand through to graze her own beating heart. She gnashed her own tongue with her teeth and bled into his mouth as she kissed him. She broke the kiss, taking a deep breath. The infuriating heat in her was growing. He reached his climax beneath her only moments before she did. The scent of his seed drove her over the edge in her animal frenzy. She screamed, and forced his hand into her chest. He screamed with her, and for both the world became dark.
I'm back. Leave one. Like it? Hate it? Love it? Let me know.