Author's Note: So this is what I was doing while I should have been working on a 4000-word extended essay, studying for history exam, studying Othello, doing a quote journal for Othello, doing Calculus, filling outcollege applications, writing scholarships essays, cleaning my room, and most importantly SLEEPING. And that's only half of a very, very long list. So yeah. You better enjoy this. PLEASE.
On a side note—I'm looking for a COWRITER for my Titans Mini-Project. I've gotten wonderful response to it in the form of too many requests for me to handle on top of everything else. So I need a hand. Anyone interested?
And oh yeah—Tokoyo, this update was prompted mainly by you!! Hope you have a great homecoming!
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in the Teen Titans show or comics.
His mind was numb.
Gar couldn't really think as he sat in the hospital bed—it was hard to. A blanket of nothingness seemed to drop down around him, silencing and muffling his senses to the world surrounding him. He didn't really hear Steve reach his breaking point and explode; he didn't hear the angry battle of voices between his guardian and his doctor. He didn't notice Robin enter the room and pacify the two sides, assuming his natural leader-related pedestal. He didn't hear Dr. Smith calmly but hurriedly explain what the situation was to Robin, didn't hear Steve break down again during her explanation, but this time on the verge of tears. He didn't really notice anything except his overwhelmingly loud breathing, the words of Dr. Smith echoing through his blank thoughts: "…Sakutia…returned…"
"Garfield?"
Gar felt a hand on his shoulder, gently jarring him in an attempt to get a response. Absently, Gar glanced at the green-gloved hand and looked up into the concerned face of Robin, brow furrowed and mouth set in a frown. Staring at the Titan leader, Gar blinked a couple times and began coming back to himself.
"He might be suffering acute signs of shock," Dr. Smith murmured worriedly, fingering her stethoscope as she studied her patient. Robin, however, had seen the barely perceptible shift in Gar's expressionless face.
"Garfield." There was more conviction and determination in Robin's voice as he saw the forest green eyes focus in on his face, leaving the blank, dead look that had been reflected from within their depths only seconds before. Glancing over at Gar as Dr. Smith explained the situation had scared Robin rather nicely—he never wanted to see such an empty look on any of his friends' faces ever again.
"Garfield, I need you to say something so I know you're not a vegetable."
Gar registered Robin looking at him, his mouth moving—it took him a second to actually hear the Titan's words, though. Robin stared at the impassive Gar for a moment, and then saw the younger boy's eyes dilate for a fraction of a second before he blinked and shrugged Robin's hand off. Still feeling slightly dazed, Gar mumbled in all seriousness the first thing that came to his mind…
"Sakutia's such a bitch."
The room was completely silent for about half a second before Robin let out a bark of laughter and Steve Dayton sighed loudly. Dr. Smith visibly relaxed and let a mild smile slip onto her face. "Nice to have you back with us, Mr. Logan."
Gar attempted a grin, but found his lip only twitch slightly instead. He ignored the kind and relieved gazes on him and watched his hands, lying limply in his lap. He felt like he needed to pinch himself, and then he would wake up and he'd be at the Tower in his old bed, all of this a cruel, psychological joke some brutal mastermind villain was playing on him. It's not fair, he thought dully. He'd already been through losing one life and adapting to another more than anyone ever should—and now this? Gar did not feel fear, no; rather, there was an awful and heavy weight in the pit of his stomach, sapping all his energy and strength both physically and mentally. He wanted to just lie down in the hospital bed and pull the sheets over his head. Gar's breathing slowed and he blinked rapidly, realizing with slight surprise his eyes were extremely moist.
"So." He cleared his throat and looked towards Dr. Smith, distracting himself. "I haven't had a head cold for the past two weeks, have I?"
Dr. Smith shook her head slowly. "No, I have reason enough to believe those were probably the early-stage symptoms of the disease taking hold once again. You weren't…" She paused, hesitating as a person about to commit taboo does. "You were never entirely cured of Sakutia, we know this from the old reports concerning you. Instead, it was just forced into a suspended, dormant state—and now, with your powers, or more technically your 'cure' gone, it's attacking your body once again."
Out of the corner of his eye, Gar noticed Robin rubbing a temple, arms crossed and weight shifted—very much like a parent impatient and frustrated with the naivety of a child. Something dawned on him. Turning away from Dr. Smith completely as she finished speaking, Gar looked directly at Robin and said quietly, "You already knew this, didn't you?"
Robin halted in his movements and straightened himself, closely watching Gar's face. He looked as if he was about to deny it, come up with an excuse, but then merely nodded curtly. He wet his lips. "Yeah. Yes, I did."
Steve and the doctor looked at Robin sharply in surprise. Gar watched him expectantly.
He sighed. "I had Batman look at your genetic code after the Main Street collapse, and he evaluated it for me and saw what was coming about two or three weeks ago. He gave me back material to work with and explained the situation to me at a diner."
"Wait a sec," Steve suddenly spoke up, all signs of previous distress dispelled with an inching return of his earlier fury to his voice. "You mean to tell me you have been sitting on this information for three weeks?!"
Robin didn't face Steve and replied calmly, "I had a good reason to." Steve angrily opened his mouth, but Robin cut him off by addressing Gar. "I want to explain what is going on," he said to Gar, rubbing the back of his neck, "because you need to know. I think it's time, though, to let the other Titans in as well…"
Robin crossed his arms nervously, waiting for what Gar assumed to be his permission. "You mean…" Gar swallowed, mouth suddenly dry. "…they're all here?"
"Right outside the door."
Not knowing whether he should be as pleased as he was at that moment when he had just been told his body was again succumbing to a fatal African disease, Gar simply watched Robin for a moment longer before nodding his head slightly. Robin gave him a small smile, and went over to the door.
"FRIEND BEAST BOY!!!"
Buried in a bone-crushing hug, velvety-red locks and the faint scent of mustard in his face, Gar had absolutely no idea what the hell was happening for a good ten seconds before he managed a half-squeak of actual pain.
"Starfire! Get off the little man, your crushing the life outta him for real this time!"
The pressure was relieved slightly, although Starfire still remained glued to him—and he swore he heard a slight sniffling coming from the head digging into his shoulder. Shock wearing off, Gar gave a crooked smile and weakly hugged Starfire back. "Hey, Star," he said into her ear, "you better let go soon or Robin's gonna crucify me outta jealousy."
Starfire laughed, too happy to blush, and finally let go. "Oh, friend Beast Boy, I am ever so happy to meet you again!" Starfire blubbered, holding Gar at arms length. She seemed like she was going to bury him in another hug when suddenly a face Gar knew way too well and had missed way too much popped up between the two, witty and wide grin in place.
"I would say, 'Hey there, grass stain!', but that'd be just kinda awkward."
Gar snorted. "Long time no see, tin man."
Cyborg laughed cheerfully and enveloped Gar in his own sort of bear hug, though not quite as crushing as Starfire's. "You don't know how much we've missed you, man," Cyborg said thickly.
Gar felt a lump from in his throat. "Ditto," he whispered back.
The two friends continued hugging for a moment longer before Cyborg released Gar and backed away to stand beside Robin and Starfire. Gar didn't realize someone else had appeared by his elbow until she softly called his name. "Garfield."
Gar's heart leaped, both startled by the voice and recognizing almost instantaneously who it belonged to. Gar looked up into the softly smiling face of Raven, and was speechless. She was smiling again…
Robin cleared his throat to gain the attention of the room, traces of a smile still on his face from watching the reunion of his team—his friends, his family. Everyone turned to him, and he met all of their gazes individually before focusing in on the three who had previously been outside.
"Titans," he said in all seriousness, "I am going to tell you something now, but I do not want you to panic or freak out in any way, shape, or form, you hear me?" They all narrowed their eyes. "It's important that I'm able to explain everything efficiently, correctly, and quickly—time is not on our side, and I want to get to the bottom of this mess as soon as possible, god help me."
The last part Robin seemed to mutter to himself more than anyone else present, but no one questioned him or interrupted him—suspicion heightened, however. Robin rubbed his temple, and glanced at the floor, getting ready to continue.
"Cyborg, you knew this was coming and I'm sorry you're the only one—Raven and Starfire, I should have told you much sooner." Surprise and then apprehension flashed across Cyborg's face at Robin's words, confusion mirrored in the girls' faces. Robin took a deep breath. "Garfield is in the hospital because the disease that nearly killed him as a child has returned."
Cyborg's mouth was set in a grim line, and Gar heard a quiet gasp from beside him. Gar peered at Raven out of the corner of his eye, and then did a double-take—her navy eyes were glistening, although from fear, shock, anger, or something else, Gar couldn't really tell…
"You mean…" Starfire's voice sounded very small in the silence of the hospital room, only accompanied by the soft, methodical beeping of the heart monitor. "…You mean, Sakutia?"
Throughout the years, each member of the Titans had come to know the basics of the others' past, whether by permission or sneaking—and that was enough. Robin hesitated before answering, as if doing so would make the fact a cold, hard reality. He gulped. "Yeah, Star."
The Titans were silent for a moment as they digested the information—then Cyborg spoke, only directly to Robin. "So does this mean…?"
Robin stared—nodded. He turned to the rest of the room. "I just revealed that I've known for a while that his Sakutia would return—I just didn't know how or when…and there's reason why I couldn't figure it out, why I didn't let anyone know except Cyborg."
He paused, and Gar felt Raven shift irritably beside him; he risked a glance up at her face and saw something that made him smile ever-so-slightly—she was fuming. At least, in her own attempting-to-remain-monotone way…but he knew she was fuming, and knew that meant she was worried about him. Despite the situation, Gar once again felt a giddiness rise in him, and pushed down the slight, happy color in his cheeks. He did want to know why Robin had decided to withhold rather…life-threatening…information—really.
Robin sighed and looked directly at Gar, mask boring into forest-green, inquiring eyes. "Gar…Cyborg and I…we…well, we think—we think someone's after you."
Gar blinked. "After me?"
"…After you."
"What…exactly do you mean?"
Robin threw a glance in Steve's direction at the sound of his voice. He stared into space, scrunching his face into the expression of one struggling, thinking hard about the right thing to say. "I need you all to think back to what we discussed that day when this all happened—when we were attacked, when the street collapsed. So far, Cyborg and I have found a lot of evidence—examining, going back to the site—to suggest what we deduced that day had been correct. But what we didn't know then that we know now is that you were purposefully singled out, Gar. No such thing as coincidence."
Gar felt a familiar sense of dejá-vu. "But why me? How do you know?"
Robin watched Gar steadily, like debating if he could take the blow or not. He sighed again. "The why part I can't particularly answer…but…"
"But what?"
"…The type of radiation dosed out that day was far from an accident—it was made specifically to reverse the exact work that your father's machine—the ES-1403—had done years before."
Gar didn't move, keeping very still—and then shook his head. "No, I—what—?"
Cyborg stepped forward. "I know we don't need to spell it out for you but, come on. Someone wants you to die, man."
Gar kept shaking his head, not really aware he was doing so anymore.
"It all fits together—the radiation was only designed for you, and they even managed to figure out how to keep the Sakutia dormant for a while…" Robin testified his findings, and the words fell rigid, tasteless from his mouth. "If they don't want you dead, they at least want something from you."
The room was silent, absorbing the information. Cyborg peered over at Robin, who was attentively watching Gar's face for his reaction. Sighing, Cyborg decided he should speak. "Gar," he nudged with a soft voice.
Hearing Cyborg, Gar didn't say anything—he simply looked again towards Robin and waited for him to continue.
Realizing Gar wasn't going to break out in a seizure, Robin plowed ahead. "Cyborg and I have been poking around, searching for leads and clues as to what's really going on here. Keeping an eye out for any funny business in or around town, taking a look at police profiles and such—"
"We figured whoever's doing this had connections to your dad," Cyborg interrupted. "Or at least his research. How else would they have known how to use it to their advantage? So I started with his colleagues and friends, looking for any suspicious activity—whether involved with them by chance or not. I've found a couple of what looked like possible leads, but all came out…dead."
Robin bobbed his head. "I've been checking criminal activity spikes and folds, on the off chance that our man might be involved—usually those out for blood do anything in order to get it. But still…"
He sighed.
Cyborg turned to Steve. "Listen, Mr. Dayton—we need to know anything and everything we can know about Gar's parents and their little project. Who was involved, where, and when. Can you do that?"
Steve stared, then shook his head doubtfully. "I really don't know. I received all of Gar's medical documents and his birth certificate when I started taking care of him, but…the state government has all rights to and owns any papers involving him until he's eighteen—and most of anything concerning you, Gar, is confidential. I'll try to glean what I can, but I don't know."
"Right." Robin bit his lip. "The government doesn't really love to cooperate with us all that much, with all the super-hero conspiracy theories flying around. It's gonna be even more interesting since Gar is technically only a citizen now—shit. This'll be fun…"
"Perhaps we could go to the African government?" Starfire chimed brightly, getting everyone's attention. Robin looked thoughtful for a moment before Gar spoke, shaking his head.
"No," he replied regretfully. "They won't know anything. My father was in Africa on diplomatic extensions, with mom's friend acting as ambassador for my parents. The local government was no more than a tribal community—my parents were there because of U.S. dealings with the U.N."
"He's right," Steve agreed. "Their research results would not have been turned in to anywhere but the U.S. and…well, everything was lost in the flood anyways."
No one asked what flood he was referring to.
"So, back to square one," Robin mumbled bitterly. He closed his eyes. "We have no idea who we're dealing with, yet we need to find out. Quickly.
"Raven and Starfire, you'll begin helping Cyborg and I. I kept silent before because I was afraid this—" Robin gestured at Gar in the hospital bed. "—would happen if whoever's out there caught on to the fact that we knew something was up. Now it doesn't matter; now it's a race. We need to find this bastard before he can do anymore damage."
Opening his eyes, Robin surveyed his team before him—Cyborg frowning thoughtfully; Starfire with a worried gleam in her emerald eyes; Raven's piercing, glaring gaze fixed on someone not even in the room; Gar staring straight at him, determined, yet tired, and waiting expectantly. Dr. Smith had been listening to the happenings quietly, and now felt even more dead serious and deathly pale about her job. Steve still sat in the corner chair exhaustion evident in his very form, love and concern for his son written all over his face. Robin set mouth in a grim line.
"Alright. Let's do this."
Click.
"There we go—tell me I work magic."
"You work magic, you friggin' pansy."
Michael sighed as he pocketed the paper clip and bobby pin he had been using to pick the lock. "'Pansy'…? That's what I get for being useful and productive," he drawled, swinging the door open.
Kassie grinned at the view of the hallway provided by the now-open door. "Yeah okay, sorry—you're a friggin' godsend sometimes."
"I try," Michael answered good-humoredly, following Kassie out of the room after she brushed eagerly by him. Glancing left and right to make sure no security or raging Teen Titan was going to push them back into the room, the two quickly took in their surroundings—which wasn't much. Half the lights were off in the hall, the other rooms shut tight and a lone janitor's wash bucket left against the wall. No nurses, doctors, or patients were in sight, and the hall didn't seem to be in use; abandoned and deserted.
"Guess we can't ask for directions," Michael joked. Kassie ignored him, instead peering further down the hall to find exactly what she had wanted to see—and elevator.
"C'mon," she called to Michael as she headed towards it. "We don't need 'em."
Michael frowned, and then jogged to catch up with Kassie. "Whatcha mean? This hospitals huge, no way we're gonna find—"
Kassie snorted. "Gar's in room fourteen-eighty-four by the ICU ward. We're on the…" she paused, looking at a door as they passed, "…eight-hundred floor, and the hospital goes from the bottom to the top, as most things do. We just need to head up a couple floors and make sure we're in the right wing of the hospital."
They arrived at the elevator, and Kassie punched the 'up' button. "We can find that out here."
The elevator doors opened after a few seconds with a small ding.
"C'mon." Kassie practically dragged Michael into the open elevator after her.
"Soooo…" Michael glanced at the floor buttons as the doors slid shut behind them. "How do you feel about floor number eleven?"
Kassie quickly counted in her head. "Sounds like a good choice to me," she said with a shrug. Button number eleven was punched.
Michael and Kassie glanced nervously at each other as the elevator shot upwards after the familiar slight dip, wondering if they would find Gar and if they did, what would happen when they did so. Both were burning with questions and wanted them answered. The two formed a pretty formidable team when it came to things like this, as Steve had found out, but they were still only two high school kids—and it seemed like Gar was turning out to be much more than an ordinary high school kid.
Ding.
The elevator shuddered to a stop. "Okay," Kassie breathed. "We'll find the nearest nurse aid or whatever, pretend we're lost—"
"—which we kinda are…" Kassie glared at Michael for the interruption.
"—and ask for directions to the right hall, I guess." The elevator doors began to open. "Just act natural—we haven't done anything wrong, so—"
As the elevator doors completely opened, Kassie stared in shock at the sight that greeted her, Michael following suit.
The three Titans standing before them looked completely startled as well.
Both groups remained staring for a long second, neither quite sure what to do. Robin looked dumbfounded at the fact that Kassie and Michael, who should have been removed from the sticky situation, were standing in front of him; Cyborg recognized the two that had been outside Gar's hospital door when they had arrived and had been wondering where Raven had dumped them; Starfire didn't remember who the two were but sensed the bewilderment in the air. Michael couldn't believe they had actually nailed the correct floor with one guess; Kassie was torn between demanding what was going on, as before, and the awe at having three superheroes in front of her. When the elevator doors started to close, however, the spell broke—and quite rudely, too.
With a half-grunt, Kassie knocked the doors back and promptly smacked Robin in the face.
"I'm assuming she was following your orders," she snapped viciously as she shoved Robin aside. Robin, more stunned than he had been all day, dazedly watched her back retreat down the hallway before turning back towards Michael. Gracing the Titan leader a sympathetic wink at his reddening cheek, Michael shrugged and also moved forward.
"What you deserved, man," he sighed as he hurried past.
Gar rested his head against the headboard of his bed with a deep breath, staring at the bland, plaster-white ceiling above. His eyelids felt heavy and his limbs immobile—only moments before he had accused Dr. Smith of drugging him during the discussion with the Titans leader only to be smiled at and patted on the head. "No drugs," she had said, "just a body that was still in critical conditions a few hours ago." She didn't mention anything about an incurable and fatal African disease, though the thought of that kind of still hung overhead as well.
"Tired?"
The soft, droning voice caused Gar to lift his head and stare at the girl sitting at the base of his bed, staring herself out the window across from her. The other Titans had left to go back to the Tower to start assignments concerning catching Gar's culprit, and Steve and Dr. Smith had stepped out of the room to talk about government stuff and available treatment for Gar—right now Raven and Gar were, once again, alone in the room. The Titans had decided to stand watch over Gar in six-hour shifts, and Raven had immediately volunteered for the first: no one had the heart to override her stubbornness on the matter, and Gar only knew Robin intended on having someone relieve her early by whispered innuendos that Raven herself might have heard. But Gar didn't really care who relieved who and when or how. For although Gar had probably hit what was considered rock-bottom by most with his life in serious danger and all, he was just short of being the happiest guy around because of two simple reasons.
One, because he hadn't lost the family of friends he thought he had lost.
And two, because of that girl sitting right over there.
Sensing Gar was watching her, and that he hadn't answered her question, Raven turned away from the window towards Gar, focusing the depths of her navy-blue depths on him. Gar nodded slowly in response. Licking his dry lips, he painfully straightened himself up more.
"Yeah, a little," he said quietly, his voice very different from the loud, happy prankster both Raven and he himself had grown used to over the years. And yet, Raven heard a satisfaction in his words that made her lips twitch to a quick smile. "Yeah, I'm a little tired."
Raven surveyed, studied Gar for a long minute, tracing his features with her firm but gentle gaze—the growing dark circles under his eyes, the fading forest-green eyes, the paling skin causing the spatter of freckles on his face to stand out even more starkly. The shaky, exhausted smile cast on his lips, the steady but nonetheless somehow weaker rise and fall of his chest. Whether her imagination was taking hold, Raven couldn't really tell—but she felt as if she were witnessing tendrils of the disease starting to spread across and through Gar's body, right before her very eyes. Her breath quickened.
"Gar," she blurted without thinking. "Are you…afraid?"
Had Gar been a little less exhausted, he may have been somewhat freaked out at the long stare Raven had just given him—but with the question, he understood. It was the look he vaguely remembered his mother giving him as a child when he was injured—when he had first gotten sick—the look Steve gave him whenever he had caught the flu or some stomach virus when he was younger; a look of concerned assessment and worry. And Gar had a pretty good idea that what Raven had seen had not been to her immediate liking or reassurance. He answered her, without thinking.
"Nah," he lied. "Not anymore."
At least, not so much anymore.
"Not anymore," Raven echoed. She shifted her weight on the bed, leaning more towards Gar. It was nice that he had tried to fool her. Again without thinking, she asked bluntly, "How much time?"
Gar didn't answer for a second this time, leaning his head back and staring at the ceiling once more. He wasn't sure if he wanted to tell her the truth.
"Gar?"
He sighed through his nose. "The disease hasn't totally reawakened yet," he began slowly. "It's there, and it's now attacking certain parts of my system, but it's not totally there yet. That's what Dr. Smith said—but once it does…"
Silence.
"I probably have one or two days before that. First, it'll destroy my immune system. If I don't catch something after that, it'll probably be kidney or liver failure that would get me next. After that…" He paused. "Well, there isn't much after that."
Suddenly something was rattling. Gar blinked, and brought his head back down to see his I.V. hanger shaking violently, encased in black energy. But then that wasn't the only thing—the chair in the corner was suddenly rocking, too, and the trash bin by the door and the objects on the sink—Gar's breath caught in his throat. And then, just as suddenly, with a sharp pressure on his knee the all black energy was gone. Dumbstruck, Gar stared at the motionless room…and realized the sharp pressure was still there.
Raven's hand, knuckles white, was gripping Gar's knee, fingers twisted in the stark, white sheets of the bed.
Risking a glance up at Raven, Gar saw she was turned away with her other hand shielding her face from view and with her hood up in place. Her figure was shaking every so slightly. Wracking his mind for an action to take or something to say, he awkwardly stared at her hand for what seemed like an eternity. Then, Gar finally gave in and did what seemed like the right thing to do—he listened to his gut.
Leaning forward, Gar enveloped Raven's hand with his own.
She stiffened in surprise, but then relaxed—her grip loosened, and her fingers began to intertwine with Gar's—
And that was the exact moment Kassie and Michael decided to barge in.