12. Despair
Brother Blood and his entourage, including Rose and Psimon, rode the large elevator down the central shaft of the H.I.V.E. base. Jericho stood among them, hidden inside Sebastian's armor – hidden inside Sebastian himself, and scarcely daring to breathe as his thoughts and emotions raged within him like a silent, chaotic storm.
The Titans, his friends, had all been captured and imprisoned. Cyborg was dying, might already be dead. Raven was being continually tortured. He was alone now, and he was their only hope for escape…just as his father had predicted.
But his father was dead. Killed by a word, spoken by the thin man with dead, black eyes who now stood only a few feet away from him.
He had a half-sister he'd never known existed.
The huge elevator ground to a halt. Jericho blinked and shook himself internally, reminding himself to pay closer attention to his surroundings.
They'd stopped on Level B-7, where Brother Blood's personal chapel and private quarters were located. It was also where Jericho himself had been earlier, his cover identity having been obligated to attend a bizarre sermon Blood had been giving, until an alarm had sounded and he'd suddenly teleported away – leaving Jericho no opportunity to warn his friends that they were walking into a trap.
The hours since then had been agonizing, as he'd learned of the Titans' capture and spent every minute since trying to figure out how to save them…but unfortunately, he and all of the other ceremonial guards had been expected to follow Blood around the entire time, and he had yet to find an opportunity to slip away unnoticed.
But perhaps there may be a chance soon, he thought to himself as Blood stepped off the elevator, followed by six of his armored followers, then turned back to face Psimon and the rest of them.
"Take her down to Operations," he instructed, pointing an imperious finger at Rose, "and see if you can get to the bottom of what she was babbling about earlier, or if she's seen anything relating to this supposed traitor. I shall commune with the Master to inform Him of our progress, and seek His guidance in these matters. I will join you afterward."
"As you wish," Psimon replied, as Rose stood sullenly beside him.
"Salute," Sebastian hissed to Jericho, at such a low volume that it would have been inaudible had they not been sharing the same skull. Seeing the other guardsmen raise their decorative spears, Jericho hastily followed suit, mimicking their movements.
"All praise Brother Blood!" the guards – Sebastian included – all called out in unison. With a satisfied nod, Blood turned on his heel and headed off down a corridor, followed by the six bodyguards he'd chosen.
The rest of them stayed on the lift as it resumed its descent to Level B-9.
Starfire sat at the bottom of her spherical enclosure, head bowed. She stared at her right hand, braced against the curving floor to support her. Willing it to glow. Trying to summon the inner energy, the righteous fury, to generate a starbolt…but there was nothing. Not even a glimmer. And she could not understand why.
Inside the sphere to her left, Beast Boy was doubled over, his gloved hands clutching his head, which was pressed against the floor of his translucent prison. His shoulders shook with anguish, and she could hear him whispering "I'm sorry" over and over like a mantra. Sometimes he addressed his apology specifically to Cyborg, and sometimes to Raven, but in any case, he kept repeating it.
As for Cyborg, he remained slumped in the corner next to the power generators, his visible circuitry completely dark in testament to the damage done by the gaping, empty hole in his chest where his power cell had been physically ripped out. He looked…lifeless. Since awakening in her golden prison, Starfire had not seen him move even slightly. And the longer she looked at him…the more she began to fear that her friend was truly gone. That she may never again see his broad smile, feel his strength as they fought together, or hear his jovial laughter…and the thought was like an insidious poison in her veins, slowly spreading through her body.
A few feet away, inside the primitive metal cage, Raven continued to thrash against her restraints, her frequent, muffled cries a horrible reminder of the painful electrical shocks Gizmo's vile collar was continually inflicting upon her. Though it shamed her greatly, Starfire was trying very hard not to look at her. The sight of her dear friend in such constant pain, her uniform torn, caged and bound in such a humiliating manner…it made her feel physically sick. It was almost more than she could stand.
Wonder Girl, imprisoned in the sphere to Starfire's right, was also presently seated. But she was far from passive, her eyes and head always moving. Always searching, scanning every inch of the room, sizing up their guards…looking for any possible opening, any chance to escape, her jaw set with defiance.
Starfire thought that she should feel the same way. She knew that she wanted to. Why, then, could she not?
Looking past Wonder Girl, Starfire found herself thinking that perhaps she had found her answer. Robin was slumped inside the last golden sphere, his blank stare remaining fixed on the empty spot where Slade…where Slade had died.
And as he kept staring at that spot, Robin looked as though he had lost some vital part of himself. He looked more despondent…more hopeless…more defeated, than Starfire had ever seen him look before.
She hated the way he looked.
"Beast Boy…Beast Boy? …Beast Boy!" Wonder Girl's voice was quiet, but firm. She waited until she was sure she had the green shape-shifter's attention before continuing. "Listen to me very carefully: this is not your fault. Psimon could have pulled that name from any of our minds."
"But…" Beast Boy faltered. "But, he picked me, because—"
"Because he wanted to mess with you," Wonder Girl interrupted him. "He was messing with all of us. But besides which, you heard what Blood said – the name, by itself, was useless to them. They don't know anything else…and that means we still have a chance. So…hang in there, okay? We will get out of this. I promise. Right, Robin…?"
This time, Robin did not even look up. His gaze remained fixed on that spot on the floor, the one where Slade's lifeless body had fallen after the Psimon told him to die. It was almost as if Robin was in some sort of trance; Wonder Girl repeated his name, but still he gave no indication of having heard her.
Beast Boy hesitated, his ears drooping. Frowning, Wonder Girl gave Starfire a meaningful look, to which she nodded in understanding.
"Robin…?" she attempted. "Robin…please. I know you can hear me. Our situation may be dire, but we are all here, experiencing it, together. Your friends are here with you, and they – we need you, here, with us. Please, Robin…tell us what you are thinking."
She waited a long moment, staring as intently at Robin as he was staring at the floor, and feeling as though her heart may burst. Finally, she saw him blink a few times, then he slowly turned toward her. "What I'm…thinking…?"
"Yes, Robin!" she exclaimed, feeling a wild surge of hope. "Please, tell us!"
"I think…" he paused. "I think I…finally get it. I finally understand."
"Understand what?" Beast Boy asked, when Robin didn't immediately continue.
"Him," Robin answered softly, inclining his head in the direction Slade's corpse had been dragged away. "After all these years, I finally understand…Slade. I finally know what he was really after. His fixation on me, and on Terra…his obsession with finding an apprentice…all this time, he was just trying to replace the family he'd lost. It was as simple, and as pitiful, as that." He paused, swallowing.
"And in spite of everything he ever did, and as much as I hated him…now that he's dead…I can't believe it, but…I actually feel sorry for him."
The cargo elevator ground to a halt as it reached Level B-9, where the operational command center of the subterranean base was located. Psimon stepped off the lift and headed purposefully toward the nearest hexagonal entryway. "Bring her," he commanded, without sparing a glance back at the ceremonial guardsmen to whom he'd given the order. The H.I.V.E. troopers stationed on either side of the doorway stood at attention as he approached.
Two of the ceremonial guards stepped forward, intending to seize Rose by either arm, but she quickly stepped away from them. "Don't touch me," she snarled at them. "I'll come on my own."
And so, the procession followed Psimon down the hall.
They eventually emerged into a very large and, predictably, hexagon-shaped room. It was, in fact, three such chambers joined together, Jericho noted as he looked around. Judging by the wide array of view screens, computer stations, control terminals and other important-looking machinery lining the walls, this did appear to be the base's primary command center. On the far wall at the back of the chamber, there was a raised hexagonal platform overlooking the entire room. And there was a decidedly throne-like chair perched atop it – Brother Blood's place of honor, no doubt. In addition to the H.I.V.E. troopers stationed here and there, a number of hooded figures wearing purple robes milled about the chamber and manned the various control stations. Most likely upper-tier H.I.V.E. personnel, he reasoned.
Upon entering the control room Psimon quickly veered to the right, leading the procession along the wall, around a corner and down a narrow hallway. After another turn, this time to the left, the hallway reached a dead end with a single sliding door on the left. A lone H.I.V.E. trooper was stationed next to the door, and stood at attention as the group approached.
Psimon opened the door without acknowledging the trooper, then stood to one side. "After you," he intoned, staring at Rose with a curt gesture for her to enter the room. "That won't be necessary," he added as, once again, some of the ceremonial guards started to move toward the prisoner. "She knows that resistance is pointless at this juncture."
"Whatever," Rose muttered, clearly sulking. However, she did obediently enter the room.
As she stepped past him, Psimon cast a glance over the assembled guards. "The rest of you may return to your posts," he told them, "except for…you."
As he spoke, he pointed directly at Jericho/Sebastian, and the Titan's heart skipped a beat.
"You will remain with us," Psimon ordered. Jericho gave him an obedient nod, unconsciously tightening his grip on his ceremonial spear as he followed the older man into the room.
The room was small and nearly featureless, and was divided in half by a thick, transparent plastic barrier that stretched from wall to wall and from floor to ceiling, perforated in various places by a series of ventilation holes. There were no seams, hatches or hinges anywhere on this barrier that Jericho could see, it simply appeared to be a fifth, transparent wall down the middle of the room. The only furniture present was a plain cot, and that was on the other side of the plastic wall, completely inaccessible from the door.
Psimon held up a hand and a point roughly in the middle of the transparent wall seemed to bend, distort, and finally split open, like a sheet of shrink wrap stretched too thinly. The opening expanded until it was nearly door-sized, at which point Rose reluctantly stepped through it; Psimon then sealed the opening behind her by what looked like a simple reversal of whatever method he'd used to open it.
Folding her arms, Rose sat on the cot and scowled briefly at Jericho, before shifting her glare to Psimon. Who remained standing in the center of the room, facing her, his own hands clasped casually behind him. The room fell silent.
Inside Sebastian's armor, Jericho shifted uncomfortably but remained standing at attention next to the room's only exit, trying to ignore the vague sense of claustrophobia he felt creeping up at the prospect of being stuck in such a small room, and with these people. One of whom, he couldn't help but recall, he'd only just learned that he was related to…and the other, he'd watched murder his father a short time ago.
His grip on Sebastian's spear tightened again. But he couldn't risk attacking…not yet, anyway. Not until he was sure he knew how to free the Titans.
For the next several minutes, Psimon hardly moved a muscle. He simply stood there, staring intently at Rose. He never moved, never blinked; Jericho wasn't even completely sure he breathed. The only sign of activity from him came in the form of a slight, periodic pulsing of the glowing 'circuits' on his blackened, exposed brain.
Rose, for her part, simply sat there glaring back at her captor, her distaste for him more than obvious.
"…Interesting," Psimon finally said. Then he abruptly turned away from Rose, and toward Jericho. "I must go and document this. You will remain here until another guard arrives to relieve you, which will happen shortly. After that, you may do as you please."
He drew the last four words out into an emphasized hiss, as if he were trying to convey some implicit message by them. Jericho was completely confused.
"All praise Brother Blood," Sebastian responded. In his puzzlement, Jericho nearly forgot to add the accompanying salute.
"Hm. If you like." With that, Psimon opened one of his dimensional rifts in the air next to him, stepped through it and was gone.
Rose was on her feet before the visible distortion Psimon's passage had left in the air had completely faded from view. "Quick," she said, "come over here."
Jericho blinked, startled, and automatically pointed to himself in question – realizing a millisecond later that he was the only other person in the room, and feeling quite stupid for it.
"Yes, you," Rose hissed impatiently. "Quickly. We've only got a minute or two before the next guard shows up, and I need to tell you something…Joey."
Before Jericho could react, Sebastian spoke up. "I have no idea who you're—"
"I wasn't talking to you," Rose snapped, interrupting him. "You're the worst part of this whole deal. It's too bad my brother can't save the others without you, but you'll get yours, sooner or later."
"I will tear out your tongue and eat it, you insolent…!" Sebastian snarled.
"Shut up," Rose cut him off, again. "You wouldn't want to blow your cover, would you? Now hurry up and get over here, Joey."
Jericho was sure Sebastian was still fuming, but he did so in silence. Without further hesitation, he stepped toward the plastic wall separating him from Rose and began signing, How did you know who I am?
But she was shaking her head, before he'd even finished his sentence. "I don't know sign language – not yet, anyway. But that doesn't matter right now, I just need to tell you something while I still have time…you have the right to know."
She looked down for the briefest moment, and took a breath before continuing.
"I can't go with them, Joey. I can't go with the Titans. It isn't safe. They can't protect me…not from him. I think we both know that."
He shook his head, but she continued.
"Deep down, you know it's true. You know him better than I do, after all. And besides, she's with them. It isn't safe for you with them, either…but I know I can't talk you into abandoning them, so I won't try. Just remember one thing…be careful who you trust. Don't lose sight of who your real friends are. Keep that in mind, and maybe we'll see each other again someday."
The hint of a smile flickered briefly over her lips, and was gone.
"Oh, one last thing. Dad already placed the charges while the Titans were fighting everyone, earlier. You just need to get a hold of the detonator. Now back up, because the replacement guard's about to come through the door…and good luck."
In the security room, the H.I.V.E. technician who'd been monitoring the video feed from Rose's cell jumped to her feet and turned to head for the door.
"Is there a problem?" asked Psimon, who was suddenly standing in her path.
"Sir! I think I've just found the traitor!" she exclaimed. "I must report this to Brother Blood!"
"Report what?" Psimon replied dismissively. "You saw nothing."
The technician froze. "I…" she stammered.
Psimon's flat, unblinking stare bored into her eyes. "…You were saying?"
"I…I should return to my duties." Turning, the technician went back to her station.
"Indeed." What could have been a smirk tugged at the corner of Psimon's mouth.