The Cruelest Letter: X
Heres is theeeee next chapter! Thanks for the reviews.
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Chapter Seven: Found
"How we do we find her?"
The titans were all together again. Beast Boy and Starfire had updated Robin and Cyborg of all the information the monk had told them, including all the details about how Raven must defeat Trigon. Now they were in a rush to get to Raven.
"How did you find out it was Slade?" Beast Boy sifted through all the clues put together, not seeing the picture of Raven's scarred stomach.
"It was in the clue. The alpha bet part. Look in the box." Robin was getting irritated, knowing Raven was in trouble.
"Okay. So we know why he was planting the letters. But why the numbers?" He frowned.
"I don't know." Robin growled through clenched teeth.
Starfire knitted her small eyebrows together as she took the notes from Beast Boy. Her eyes followed over the clues. Then they widened.
"But what is this?" She held up a picture.
The titans mouths dropped, "Starfire, where did you get that?" Cyborg felt his stomach turn for the second time.
She cocked her head, "What do you mean? It was right here, in the box. Did you not see it?" She looked into the box again, confused.
"No. No, that wasn't in there." Robin grabbed it out of her hand. He was sure. He obsessed over every little detail. He had checked the box, certainly he did. He checked everything, especially anything that had to do with Raven.
"Then someone planted that there since it's been in the tower."
Robin threw the picture down. "So he isn't working alone. X is in on this too."
He rushed to his room, not before screaming at them to work harder.
Starfire let a fear tears fall from her eyes as she picked up the picture again, shivering as her eyes followed the deeply carved X.
Raven looked up in surprise as Red X burst through the door. He had an odd expression covering his face. He looked as if he'd made some sort of decision. He looked in pain. He looked covered in indecision.
"Raven." He gripped her shoulders roughly, his eyes staring intently into hers. "I have something to tell you."
"What?" She watched his expression, expecting him to turn it into some kind of sick joke. She expected him to either beat her senseless or rip off her clothes and make her feel filthy again.
"Look. The titans will be on their way soon. To find you." He swallowed, "You need to get out."
Raven could only stare at him, confused as ever. Why was he saying this now?
"I can't have earth destroyed." He let his nails dig into her skin, etching the marks into her soft flesh.
"What do you mean?" She finally choked out, letting a little bit of fear seep in.
"I've been in your tower. Your friends went and seen a monk, one who lives in England. He said the only way you'll get your powers back and save earth is to defeat your father. They said a mirror in a box in your closet is the portal."
Raven narrowed her eyes, about to accuse him of lying. She then thought about it more. Yes, monk Zinamu lived in England. Yes, there was a mirror in her closet that was a portal to Azarath, and she had known it would lead her to Trigon.
"This is true..." She trailed off, "But I could never defeat him without powers."
"Yes. That was the other issue."
Raven listened as he droned on about what he heard the titans say. She hoped deep down that he wasn't lying about this. He had been cruel to her. He made her bleed, scream, starve and all but die. Was he lying now? She hadn't actually heard him lie before. Maybe he was torturous, but maybe he also was honest.
"Robin! Robin! Wake up!" Cyborg slammed his fist on the door, denting the metal in the process.
Robin was there within a second, "I wasn't sleeping. What?" He narrowed his eyes. It was true too. It was going on two in the morning and the boy wonder was still up, just like the others.
"I think I know where she is, come on. The others are already waiting."
"What? How did you find out?" Robin sputtered, half upset that he wasn't the one who had found it out.
"The one note had said something about addressing defeat if we didn't figure it out. Those numbers. They were put there for a reason. We calculated the possible address combinations located in and around jump city, and one of them matches a truck factory that's been abandoned for years."
Robin nodded, "Let's go. Prepare for a hard fight."
They all slid into the T-Car and took off. The factory was only about 5 or 20 minutes away, and they were there in no time.
Robin was the first out, running straight to the door, kicking it with anger. The others followed, warning Robin not to do anything. Slade was sure to have a trap.
They walked in, scratching their heads. It was completely empty. Robin angrily stopped up to Cyborg, ready to hurt him.
"Why did you say this was it?"
"I tried all the possibilities. All the others were working small businesses or restaurants. Slade never could've kept Raven there. They don't even have basements."
"Tiiitaannnsss."
Chills went down the titans spines as they turned to see a small, hunched over figure in the dark. It's voice was incredibly creepy and chilling. They walked up slowly to it, not wanting it to pounce.
It looked up. It's face came into the light, a horrid combination of what looked like scars and falling off skin. Also as if it had bathed in acid right before this. It laughed, it's laugh even more horrid than it's face.
"Titans." It giggled, "Not ALL those addresses were restaurants and stores. The answer could have be right underneath you the whole time!"
It kept giggling, a high pitched hyena sound that echoed off of the empty walls. The laugh kept increasing in volume, becoming louder and louder.
"Shit!" Cyborg suddenly screamed out.
"What? What? What is it?" All three remaining titans gathered around him.
"Those addresses. One was to the Titan Tower. But, I honestly thought, no way."
Robin's eyes widened. Underneath them after all...
How the clues kept getting put into their home so suddenly. How they seemed to know what the titans were thinking at all times.
"Let's go."
The laughing became ear splitting, and Starfire squinted her eyes, seeing a glowing number decreasing.
"Robin! It's a bomb."
The titans looked back, seeing the seconds count down rapidly. They ran for their lives barely escaping the loud boom that ensued.
"The bomb has deployed." Slade said to Red X, staring at his computer screen.
"Can I have my money now?" Red X choked out, trying to to look suspicious. After all, he did just tell Raven everything she needed to know to escape this mess.
"After." He hit a button, "I need to signal the troops. They'll be here soon."
Red X gulped.
The titans got back to the tower quickly, storming in. Beast Boy ran and got Raven's mirror. Cyborg and Robin immediately searched for disturbances occurring underneath the tower.
"They're there." Cyborg confirmed, nodding at Robin.
Robin nodded back, "I'll be right back."
Cyborg raised an eyebrow back at him, "What?"
"Just prepare the others."
Cyborg sighed, but a knot formed in his stomach. Something was about to go down, and he could feel it. This was going to be bad. But they had to do whatever they could to get Raven back and save the earth.
Robin returned within seconds, with more red on his suit. The other titans were extremely confused.
He stared at this, "This is the last of Red X's suit that he couldn't steal. We need all the extra help we can get. Red X knows all our weaknesses, remember that."
They rushed to outside of the tower, looking for any form of an entrance to the underground. Cyborg pointed west, noting that that was where most of the disturbances were.
Cyborg knelt down and put him palm on the ground, "They're under there for sure. We have to break through this solid ground though."
"Titans go?" Asked Starfire timidly, preparing a starbolt.
Robin nodded in return, signaling them to attack. Starfire threw his starbolts into the dirt, making a tiny impact in the soil. Beast Boy shifted into a long armed dinosaur and began to dig furiously. Cyborg prepared his cannon and shot the ground, making the final impact.
The ground crumbled and the titans went with it. They looked up, finding themselves near face to face with Slade. He grinned.
"Hello Titans."
A muffled shouting alerted them in the corner. They whirled around to see Raven, their friend, nearly beaten to death and tied up. Robin couldn't help but gasp and feel a sadness overcome him. The sadness quickly turned into a blinding rage.
"I will kill you."
Slade laughed, "Now child, I think you have more important things to worry about. Red X! Let out the apprentices."
The titans felt their jaws drop as they saw themselves facing at least 500 copies of themselves. Growling Robins, Ready to fight Cyborgs, Animalistic Beast Boy's and red hot Starfires.
They looked at each other. How were they supposed to battle themselves? Who knows your weakness greater than yourself?
Meep meep. Big fight next chapter!
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