"Sir, put the gun down," I speak. Firmly. But calmly. Both hands held up in meditative poise…

He's panting. He's sweating. He's aiming the revolver at me.. ….at my half of the bullet-riddled bank lobby. There are people all around us. Quietly cowering and shivering in silence. Citizens. Tellers. Women and children. I dare not make a move, and neither does a nervously bristle-backed Beast Boy to my side.

All of this reality… …and twenty seconds have iced by…

He's still standing with the magnum in two gnarled hands. He stands in a ring of collapsed, beaten criminal cohorts all around him.

His eye twitches.

I can feel the frenzy and fury emanating from him.

"Sir… …," I stare at him, but don't glare. I speak to him, but I don't snarl. "…. …I will only ask you one more time… … …put the gun down—"

"Or wh-what?" He pants. "Do your worse to me, Titan! I dare you!"

He is too frightened to be angry. He is too angry to be frightened. His legs are nearly giving way.

"Don't make this worse than it already is—" I begin, but don't finish because--

"Shut the Hell up, damn it!" The gun barrel wobbles a bit, and then he's gripping and itching the trigger a little more intimately. "This is so typical of you.. … …so typical of you would-be heroes…"

"Dude…," Beast Boy hoarsely whispers. "…what's he babbling about--?"

"Shhhh," I whisper aside. The eerie air conditioning is clawing at my pale skin. I can't allow the goosebumps to show. Not for the innocent people waiting there in the line of fire. Not for the children-- "Sir, if your actions so much as causes harm to a single ounce of skin to any of the people here—"

"What do you Titans know about p-pain?" The man trembles. He gulps and frowns with a twitching, moist brow. "You'll just beat the crap out of me like your type has beaten the crap out of all my friends and even my old man! I know how it goes.. .. …I've lived in Bludhaven, Gotham, lower Metropolis—all the homes to what you near-do-cruds call 'scum'. You ever stopped to wonder what makes us scum, huh—witch? Maybe because you're always kicking our brains out so that all that's left is blood, blood, blood—Well I'm TIRED AS HELL of bleeding! So if I have to, I'm taking one of you hypocrites with me!"

"What are we waiting for?" Beast Boy hisses aside to me with fists suddenly clenched. "Let's take this joker down!"

"… .. … …." I stare….stare…stare…

"WELL?" The main aims his gun higher. I know it's at my forehead…then Beast Boy's…then mine again. I know. "What will it be?.?.? Beat me to a pulp! It's what you're good at, isn't it? It's the only damn thing you're good at!"

My violet optics wander. I see the cowering faces trembling all around us in huddled bodies like windswept grass. The tears. The faces of naked lambs reflecting on every angle of my chakra stone….

Why can't I just sleep?

"Come on! Come on, you witch! TAKE ME OUT!"


Why can't I just close my eyes…reopen them….and wake up somewhere else?

"Raven?.?.?"

Mother… …not here…. …not now… ….

"Raven… … ..wh-what are we waiting for?"

I don't want to be seeing this….

"I swear to God! This is the end of the damn road!"

I don't want to be hearing this… …

"R-Raven… …Please… .. ..Let's just clean his clock!"

I don't want to be…..

"Bring it! Bring it already! Render me a sack of meat you just LOVE to flatten, you dirty spandex kids!"

I don't want to….

I stand.

He sweats.

He aims the gun at me… …at Beast Boy.. ….at the rest of the bank…

He…

I….