65. ACT II: Red Aviary
The catwalk went on for miles and miles. Acid dripped from the ceiling and mud caked the metal surfaces. Everything was boiling and steaming around him as he ran along. His boots clanked loudly against the floor. His lungs heaved and his black spikes of hair started to bend and melt with sweat. Somewhere in the distance, a strobe of light danced against a red, red sky.
"R-Robin!!" a voice cried out from a black horizon.
"I'm coming!!" the Boy Wonder panted. His face was pale beneath his eyemask. Chills ran through his thirteen year old body.
The catwalk started to rust beneath him. Bits and pieces falling out from under. There was more and more mud.
Mud everywhere.
Brown against the black and sizzling with the acid that dripped from the ceiling.
And beyond that the immortal red with its dancing strobe.
The factory crumbled around him.
Robin gasped.
He lost his footing.
His leg broke through the rusted catwalk and he tripped forward with a grunt. Acid fell onto his cape and slowly ate into his agile form.
He strained and grunted. He couldn't move.
"R-Run, Robin!!" a voice sobbed from the far horizon. "Can't you see? I'm not real!!"
Robin bit his lip and looked ahead.
Shaking.
She was flailing in the center of a churning mass. The mud was eating her from the inside out. Her round eyes bulged and her black hair shattered as the acid and rust swallowed her whole.
"NOO!!!!" Robin shouted. "Get out of here!! Stay alive!! STAY ALIVE!!!"
She disappeared. The factory rippled like waves. The mud laughed and the acid flew and everything crumbled and rattled down a maelstrom of urban Hell.
"AAAAAAAAAAHH!!!" Robin bellowed as he clawed at the rusted walls of life and tried to escape the inevitable plunge into the endless sea of red. His voice shouted out to her. "Come back!! COME BACK!!!!!!!!!"
FLASH!!!
Everything froze.
Robin was standing still on bluffs overlooking black waters.
He shivered.
His lungs couldn't breathe.
Far off…alone and mournful…..a single lighthouse stood against a crimson sky. Its single strobe flung around, sliced through the frigid stillness, and exploded into the Boy Wonder's face.
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"Augh!!" Robin shot up in bed. Sweating. His shoulders heaved as he hyperventilated….then slowly rested his lungs. He swallowed and hugged his knees to his chest and rocked himself until the chill dissipated.
His eyemask clung desperately to his face. He never took it off while in the City or the Tower. Not even when he was sleeping.
He ran shaky hands through his hair and sighed heavily.
"Damn……………..," he muttered.
He always hated that dream.
Slowly, Robin looked to the side of his bed.
A bedside table with a drawer rested there. Silently.
He took a breath. He uncurled, shifted towards the bedside, and swung his legs over in a sitting position.
He grabbed the handle to the table drawer and slowly slid it open.
There was a single item inside. A framed photo. Plain and inconspicuous.
Robin gently picked it up and held it out in front of him with bare hands.
His eyemask rounded and he sighed.
The photo was two years old, taken from a single security camera snapshot at a bus terminal. Dozens of middle-class citizens dotted a courtyard beneath two escalators leading up to a higher tier. The image was grainy, and lines of video disruption laced the bottom and bottom right edges of the picture. It was the most meaningless and insignificant piece of documentation one could imagine. And yet, Robin's eyes were glued to it. Specifically glued to a lonely little figure huddling to herself at the bottom of one of the two escalators. A fuzzy image of a person with dark hair and a thin coat shrouding her drooping shoulders.
The Boy Wonder swallowed. Until recently…he had cut back on looking at this one photo. But as of late…he was returning to routine. He was looking at it every morning as he woke up.
"Why didn't you run…..?" he murmured.
Knock Knock Knock!
Robin gasped. He blurred and quickly put the framed picture away in its drawer.
"J-Just a minute!!" he called out.
He kicked the covers off him, jumped out of bed, gave his head a few seconds to recollect the rushing blood, and padded over to the door.
He clicked the wall panel with his fingers.
SWHOOOP!!
The door opened and there stood Starfire, pleasantly standing up straight with her hands folded in front of her.
"Greetings and pleasant morning to you, Robin," the Tamaranian smiled. "I apologize if I am intruding…."
Instantly upon seeing her, a warmth crept over Robin's body and chased away the chills that awoke him. He smiled and said: "Hey there, Star. You're not intruding at all. What's up?"
"Well…," the alien's green eyes trailed and she blushed. "…yesterday evening you seemed quite adamant when you proposed that we perform morning calisthenics together, and being that it is ten o'clock and the calisthenics have not yet transpired, I was worried that perhaps you were stretching my femur."
Robin blinked behind his eyemask. "Stretching your femur?"
"Er…."
"Oh! You mean 'pulling your leg!'"
"Y-Yes…hehehe!" Starfire blushed. "That is the vernacular of correctitude!"
"No way, Star! I wasn't joking! I was serious! I slept in, is all. Thanks for waking me up. Just lemme get my outfit on and we'll do some exercises together!"
"Glorious!!" Starfire clasped her hands together. "I am most excited about sharing with you the Tamaranian art of aerial stretching and accuflight!"
Robin sweatdropped. "Uhm….Star? I-I'm not sure I can learn any exercises that actually involve flying."
Starfire blinked. "I could carry you."
The Boy Wonder blushed. "Uhhh…w-we'll take it as it comes, okay?"
"Hehe…okay."
"Be with you in a minute," he smiled and closed the door.
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Thirty minutes later, atop the rooftop of the Tower, Starfire and Robin stood side by side. Their limbs gracefully flexed and stretched beneath them as they performed identical movements of Tai Chi. Their fingers stretched together and their arms flowed like mid-air water. The July Sun was warm and life-giving as it filtered down and bathed them. Beyond the glittering Bay, the City stretched bright and inviting…
…and safe.
"I must admit, Robin….," Starfire spoke aloud, breaking the silence. "The arts from the region earthlings call 'the Orient' seem to encompass a large fraction of your gifted abilities."
"You mean martial arts?" Robin remarked, crouching on his legs and rising back up with gliding arms. "Or this Tai Chi exercise?"
"'The Above Of All'," Starfire remarked. "Perhaps it is the exotic nature of Oriental techniques which you have studied which makes crimefighting in this region much easier in contrast to the uneducated criminals."
"I think I know what you mean, Star," Robin nodded amidst his movements. "But really…all of this is just what my mentor taught me."
Starfire smiled. "Do you mean the Bat?"
Robin chuckled. "Batman."
"I see," Starfire nodded. A beat. "He is quite a frightening individual. It must have been harrowing learning under his tutorship."
"More or less," Robin mused. "I'm a great fighter because of it. That's for sure."
Starfire glanced curiously at him with her emerald eyes. "And what of the other half of Batman? Was he a….father to you?"
Robin froze in his exercise. His eyes blinked behind his mask. "Well…..h-his alter ego…..sure."
Starfire bit her lip. She looked down. "I am sorry, Robin. I know how much you wish for us not to pry into your…y-your secrets."
Robin shook his head and smiled warmly at her. "It's okay, Star. I just….well…..I n-need a secret identity, and Batman too. Heck, he probably needs one even more than I do. It's as simple as that."
"Yes…..," Starfire nodded listlessly. She gazed off towards the City.
Robin craned his neck. "Star? Is something the matter?"
"I am….curious…….," she turned and looked at Robin. "You do have…'another life', correct?"
Robin slowly nodded.
"I wonder….if in that 'other life'….do you have friends? Like the Titans? Do you have other people who know you, embrace you, and make you feel at home?"
Robin took a deep breath. He thought about a reply for a couple of minutes before finally managing: "To tell the truth…Star….I-I'm beginning to like 'this life' a heck of a lot more." He shook his head. "I have barely anything to go to when I'm not Robin."
"Barely anyone as well?" she asked.
He slowly nodded.
She exhaled. "That is unfortunate…"
"Why do you say that, Star?"
"Because….b-because it sounds lonely."
Robin placed a hand on her shoulder. "Starfire…..I assure you. I am anything but lonely. Because I have the Titans. I have friends like you." He smiled.
Her lips curved and she softly giggled with her eyes shut as a breeze came by and kissed them both.
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BEEEEEEP!!
-click-
RATTLE—Chu-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-ung-CLANK!!!
The chain-linked, elevator doors slowly came to a stop after opening vertically.
Four prison guards stood around the body of Jinx. She was clad in a reflecting orange jumpsuit. Her hands were manacled together in front of her. Her pink hair hung down tightly behind her head and her cat-eyes were thin and bored.
Slowly, the four guards marched forward…surrounding her and urging her on down the bleak, concrete hallway lined with special holding cells. Through thick blocks of plastic, the likes of Fang, Control Freak, Killer Moth, and Mumbo Jumbo could be seen…sitting lethargically on plain cots behind thick, glowing force fields.
Behind the procession of guards, Beast Boy and Raven marched alongside a well-dressed warden.
They collectively eyed Jinx…watching for any sudden moves.
But the sorceress was silent. She followed every move and direction of the guards as they brought her to her cell…lowered the force-field…and prodded her forward.
On soft feet, she slowly stumbled in through the doorframe and walked over to a cot on the far side.
A single guard walked in with a key, unlocked her handcuffs, and walked back out…leaving her inside to rub her arms and sigh into her seat.
The door was closed and the warden drifted past Raven and Beast Boy to a console, upon which he entered an eight-digit code.
BEEP!!
THWOMMMM!!!
The force field hum and came to life.
Jinx's body flickered beyond the dancing light.
"Thank you for being present to provide extra security during the prisoner's lockup…," the warden said to the two Titans. "She's proven herself to be a lot more dangerous than the other eccentric rogues in our collection."
Raven nodded. "Your caution is wise. We are more than willing to help."
Beast Boy looked up. "What about…ya know…her former friends? Where're they?"
"In another section of Omega Wing," the warden said. "Everyone of the facility's council agreed it would be harmful to hold her too close to the cells where Mammoth and Gizmo are located." He took a breath and looked in through the plastic sheet of the cell window.
Jinx stood silently on the cot. Her cat eyes gazed forlornly at the floor.
The warden shook his head. "So young….leave it to H.I.V.E. or Slade to corrupt these little people and turn them into terrorists a decade early."
"Evil is evil," Raven droned. "It's best to hold them here."
"I just do my job," the warden said, walking back towards the elevator. "Your presence is needed no longer. Extend your leader our thanks. Hopefully we won't have to force you to come back here anytime soon."
The guards went to their posts. Raven and Beast Boy stood alone in front of the cell.
A beat.
"You know…she hasn't been her usual…….um……'evil laughter apprentice bad girl' self since they took her away from the frigate."
"So what?" Raven lifted an eyebrow. "She's in prison. She's down."
"But I think it's more than that…," Beast Boy whispered. "Don't you remember what Slade did to her?"
"I only remember what he did to all of us…," the dark girl droned. "What about you?"
Beast Boy blinked. He sighed. He slowly turned…walked over to the cell door…and stood on tip-toes to look at Jinx through the plastic sheet.
She was silent.
The changeling opened his mouth: "Do you still have the locket?"
Slowly, she looked up at him Tired cat eyes. She swallowed and throated: "No."
Beast Boy's eyes looked down. He uttered: "Y-You're still thinking about them….aren't you?"
Jinx frowned. She slowly swiveled onto the bed and laid on her side.
"Ya know….your sisters?"
"I don't have any sisters," she spat…facing away from him.
"Who knows!! Maybe you do!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "Slade was a liar and a manipulator. You think he deceived you?? He deceived us all the time! Who knows if he was telling the truth when he said what he did?!"
"I frankly don't care anymore….," Jinx hummed. "Do me a favor…and go away…."
"………," Beast Boy sighed. "Well…someone will be looking for them."
"Lost cause…..'Fate' and 'Fortune' are merely words. There's no destiny in my future now……."
Beast Boy leaned back down and sauntered by Raven.
"Satisfied?" she quirped.
He glared at her. "Don't you ever have any happy thoughts?"
She slowly nodded. "Herbal Tea and a literary conversation with Martian Manhunter."
"…………."
"…………"
"…………you're such a nerd." Beast Boy blurted and marched off down the hall.
Raven smirked ever so slightly and followed.
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A half-hour later, the two were leisurely strolling down the streets of the City towards the Tower.
They were taking their time in returning.
"It's been over a week since Slade and Dagger bit the dust and nothing worse than a purse snatching has transpired. Don't you find that as odd?"
"Yeah….sure….," Beast Boy nodded. His mind was elsewhere.
Raven went on: "We've not had a calm like this since right after the City was won back from Slade's previous takeover. At that time, even the criminals were recoiling in aftershock from the to-and-fro power shift. I can't imagine how much they're being thrown off now."
A beat.
"Beast Boy??" Raven glanced to her side.
The changeling had walked over to a vendor selling fresh flowers. He grabbed a bundle of daisies from the stands and offered the seller a couple of dollars and three coins. The seller took them, smiled, and bowed her head.
Raven walked over, hands under her robe. "Let me guess…," she spoke monotonously. "You want to go visit The Place on the way home?"
Beast Boy nodded. "I-I was thinking of that, yeah…," he swallowed and looked innocently at her. "D-Do you mind if you come and join me, Raven?"
She shook her head. "Not at all, Beast Boy. Not at all…."
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The two wandered into a crater of stone and earth…separated from the rest of the City by a makeshift park with metal railing surrounding it. Sunlight filtered in through a hollow cave as the Titans walked slowly up to a spot of granite and stopped. They looked up.
The girl stood…encased in stone. Her name engraved on the slab beneath her. The signature of the Titans honoring her memory and legacy.
Beast Boy shuffled over, knelt, and planted the bundle of daisies down. It reminded him of the gold in her hair.
She sighed and stepped back besides Raven.
Silence.
"The reason I….I-I feel a need to help out Jinx…," Beast Boy spoke, "…is because—in some ways—she's a lot like the apprentices that came before her. Both Robin and Terra were used by Slade. And in the end…we found out that both were worthy of compassion. Even Terra…who betrayed us and tore at our hearts and tried with all of her might to kill us off…she was good in the end, ya know?? Maybe we were right at some time to hate her. But she was really a good person. And she was evil only because she was confused and abused…forced to do stuff for Slade. Made to hate us. I-I wonder if—in response to that—we've made ourselves ready to hate anyone who fills in her shoes? We just got over assuming Noir was nothing but pure evil. And now we realize how wrong we were in hating him. I realized how pathetic I was in wanting him dead. And with Jinx….I-I feel that you and I and everyone else is repeating the pattern all over again. We're hating her for what she was. For what she did. And—in the end—maybe it wouldn't hurt to show her compassion. Even if she did try to kill and torture us for Slade many times…she was still acting out on behalf for two sisters she believed in. Slade was using her just as much as he used Terra before she…b-before she faded away. It's too late now for us to show Terra our love. But Jinx is still alive. Should it be too late for her too?"
"She was a villain before Slade used her…," Raven mumbled. "And she is still a villain now. As cold as it sounds…she breaks the pattern. She's different from all the other apprentices."
"I-I just can't believe that…," Beast Boy shook his head and stared at the granite statue, sighing. "I just can't……."
Silence.
Raven leaned in to face Beast Boy. "You know…we'll find a way to save Terra. We haven't entirely given up on her."
Beast Boy slowly nodded and looked towards the ground.
"Who knows….maybe we're all growing up after all."
A beat.
He glanced up. "Say…where did Cyborg say he was going today?"
"Where else?" Raven blinked. "Phaser Labs with Noir."
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CL-CLICK!!
"There…," Cyborg smiled and applied a tiny, sparking tool to the metal joints. "New and improved from the last time you tried it. Give it a shot."
I blinked under my shades.
I lifted my left arm up…performed a natural thought…and a set of five, titanium fingers flexed instantly. It was so 'real' that I jumped as if startled.
"Heheheheheh….," Cyborg chuckled and patted my back. "Ain't it wyrd at first? Now imagine having two fake hands. And imagine those fake hands being able to turn into all sorts of funky shit. You, my friend, are lucky."
I rolled my black eyes and smirked at him. I looked back at my new left 'hand'. A shiny, silver skeleton of whurring engines and minute circuitry. The cybernetic piece pivoted gracefully on a silver disc that encased what was once a stub of flesh. An intricate operation with Cyborg himself in the director's chair supplied me with the metal extension two-third of the way up my forearm. My radius and ulna were grafted into a metal framework with plastic ligaments, while miraculous wires connected and completed my missing synapses and gave the silver hand attached to my limb a synthetic aura of 'feeling'.
"Try saying something," Cyborg smirked.
I looked up at him. I grinned wide.
I cleared my throat, steadied myself, and with a slight bit of extra effort—combined the metal fingers with the flesh of my right hand's fingers to hand sign: 'I am your father'.
Cyborg laughed his head off. "You're a riot, Noir. Pure riot. You'll be getting used to that thing in no time."
I nodded…staring at the metal joints and mechanisms.
"I'll be back," he patted my shoulder and walked off. Inside the laboratory, a handful of police workers sat at other tables…enjoying and practicing the flexibility of their own, new limbs. They were the clerks and officers from the City Police Department who were there the night Viper paid a visit and rid them of their right hands. Cyborg's technology came just in the nick of time for them as it did for me.
But he was not alone…
Cyborg walked to the far side of the room where a circular pad of sorts rested against a metal wall where scientists shuffled and worked on instruments of various sorts.
"Come show yourself, old man!" the android Titan smirked, his hands to his hips. "I wanna talk to you!"
"But you can talk to me now!" mused a disembodied voice. "I am grafted into the computer here, ya know."
"Only cuz I dragged you here and installed your neural net myself," Cyborg rolled his human eye. "Now come on…lemme see you again."
"Oh, alright. But I swear…if ever you're in my position, the physical body seems nothing but tiresome."
The lights dimmed on his side of the lab. The circular pad hummed. Suddenly, blue bands like lightning bolts shot up from the floor and flashed and crackled in chaotic strobes. Cyborg and a few other people watched as—once again—pure energy filtered upward from the power banks and converted to matter in a Star Trek fashion. Soon, the clean and gentlemanly clothed figure of Simon Stone stood before his nephew atop the pad. He shrugged and showed off the suit with a dry smirk.
"What do you think? I have a whole slew of outfits to choose from. Kinda retro this stuff, huh? Makes me want to boogy."
Cyborg sniffed forth a chuckle and pointed: "Ya know…that thing isn't a toy. Wait till we build a bigger once and then you can dance all you like."
"Still, I'll be cooped up in this stuffy laboratory!" the Uncle in synthetic flesh uttered with a slump. "But…given the circumstances, I suppose the very last thing I must do is complain." A beat. He folded his arms and smiled: "Looks like you've been quite the busy beaver. Got your friend a new hand to play with, huh?"
"I guess you could say that," Cyborg grinned. "But believe you mean, he earned it. I'm sure he'll make good use of it in the future."
A beat.
The Uncle was staring at his nephew with a soft smile. He spoke warmly: "I'm proud of you, Victor. I really, truly am."
Cyborg took a deep breath and replied with a slightly shaky voice: "I'm just glad you're still around, old man."
I smiled over at the scene.
I looked back at my new limb and did a 'hand puppet' with it.
Well…not all things are gone…
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Dear Diana,
The City is at peace.
Since Slade's and Dagger's downfall, it's almost been downright ludicrous and boring to be a superhero. At least that's the case in these parts. I can't imagine how Metropolis or Gotham City are doing. The Titans here are so bored…we've resorted to going out to Chinese Restaurants and renting Barbara Streisand DVDs for Movie Night here at the Tower.
Don't ask, it's a long story. But basically, the reality is obvious. Slade and Dagger were major, criminal influences on the events of this Town. With them gone, the average thugs and thieves of the street have nothing to hide under or cower behind. The result is a calm…an ever-permeating aura of tranquility that is both a blessing to our citizens and a curse to our sanity. But, I suppose we'll make the best of it as we can.
In fact, that job seems to be in the hands of my titanium buddy, Cyborg. Since our last visit to Phaser Labs (which is why I'm able to type this to you right now, Diana…ahem) he's boiled up in an enthusiasm and a fervor unprecedented, and every fiber of his being seems poised to leap up into the air and propose:
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"A VACATION!!! WOOO-YEAH!!!"
I was jolted out of my typing with a gasp. I looked with twitching black eyes as the android bounded down from the elevator and slapped a map down onto a table between couches where Raven was reading a book and Beast Boy was indulged in a Game Boy.
"A vacation?" Raven droned, an eyebrow lifted.
Robin and Starfire looked up from the kitchen unit where they were making sandwiches.
"Think about it!!" Cyborg beamed. He pointed at a line of red ink carved into the map of the Eastern Seaboard and Appalachians. "We cruise along the beach, go west through the Smokey Mountains, see the sights, and then head out West to wherever the road takes us!!" Cyborg gestured. "It could be a real good test for the T-Car, and we can all just kick back and relax and watch the scenery go by! Together!"
"Dude!" Beast Boy jumped. "That sounds so cool!!"
"Hehehehe!" Starfire clasped her fingers together. "Glorious!! An asphalt trip!"
Robin sweatdropped. "Road trip." He coughed.
"Oh."
"An interesting idea…," Raven droned. "…but we can't leave this City or the Tower."
"Why not?!" Cyborg jumped. "This place is a ghost town for crime lately anyways! And quite frankly, I think we all deserve some down time!"
"You're right about that, that's for sure…," Robin nodded, scratching his chin with a gloved hand and smiling. "But Raven's got a good point. We can't just leave this City alone as it is. What kind of heroes would we be?"
"Then—like good little heroes—we'll work out a way so that we can leave the City without it being alone!! Come on, guys!! Work with me here! We'll never have another opportunity to do something like this again!"
Everyone else was silent as we looked at the map on the table. We considered it. Our hearts jumped at the possibility—even Raven's, I am convinced.
I looked at the fresh silver of my new, metal hand and sighed.
West……this is all about going West.
My black eyes blinked under the shades.
But……I-I'd be with my friends. So it'd be okay……
I sighed with relief, smiled, and swung back to the computer.
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Dear Diana……
Uh……l-let me get back to you.
Sincerely,
Noir