Chapter 5. Decisions
Starfire flew across the field to get to Raven who was still on the ground, dusting off her cape.
The alien put her arms around Raven and helped her up "Friend Raven, are you ok?"
Raven was glad that the alien girl had not seen her expression before. At first and for a split moment, she felt scared. She hadn't expected to be attacked right out of her portal. Let alone had a few set of sharp teeth just inches above her face.
But then, she also wondered how the other girl figured out where she would appear next.
She was thrown out of her revere when Starfire shook her shoulders slightly to get her attention. "I'm fine Star, lets go to the others."
In the main time, Cyborg had come running and knelt down next to the girl. Using his robotic arm, he scanned the girl to find her vitals. "B, you alright? That was some massive throwing you did there."
Beast Boy snapped out of his surprise and said "Dude! What did you do? I told you not to attack her" he almost yelled at his friend.
"Beast boy calm down, it was just a tranquilizer." Said Robin with a frown.
"Or what? Did you think we were going to let her pummel you around while we watched from the sidelines?" said Raven in an aggravated tone.
"Are you ok Raven?" asked Robin standing on the other side of the unconscious girl.
"yes" she said severely "but I doubt she is" she said motioning to the ground. There was blood all over the girl's left leg, her shirt was ripped on the sides and scratched all over her arms and neck.
Beast Boy asked not taking his eyes away from the fallen girl "Cy? Is she going to be ok?"
"The tranquilizer stopped her enough but the knockdown the beast gave her is a different story. Her pulse is almost nonexistent, and her breathing is ragged. Not mentioning the broken bones… we need to take her to the med bay pronto! … Raven! Can you take her there and hook her to an iv, I'll be there soon" Cyborg said running almost out of breath and leaving no room for discussion.
The empath narrowed her eyes and said "Better yet, you can do it yourself!…"
And with that, she enveloped everyone into a bubble of her dark energy and teleported them to the med bay.
Once there, she levitated the girl to the hospital bed and immediately, the others started to work on her.
Cyborg hooked the iv to her left arm while Robin hooked the heart monitor and Starfire brought an oxygen mask to the girl's face to help her breath.
"Rob, get the morphine going… Star, get the defibrillator , I'm getting a flat line here…" Cyborg was all business now.
Moving everyone around to get the surgery going. A loud "CLEAR!" was heard and a shock of electricity run through the girl's body, finally getting a heart beat.
With that, Cyborg hooked the sedatives in place and the morphine going intravenously.
Then, he looked at the green Titan and the empath and told them " You two get out, we can't have all these people here and I can only tend to one at the time and you two look like you're ready to fall over"
And with that started to work on the girl's injuries while Starfire cleaned the blood and Robin tended to the monitors.
Raven didn't protest. Feeling drained from teleporting so many people at once she was relishing her soft bed, or perhaps meditating to calm herself.
She still had to figure out what had happened that morning. She still was yet to find a reason to complain about it, but found none… so far.
But a green hand stopped her in her tracks and train of thought.
"Rae? Can you heal her?" he said with pleading eyes and a soft begging tone.
"What!?" she turned sharply.
"Please Rae, I hurt her even more when she was already unconscious. I lost control and she's dying… again.. Because of me … but this time, I can do something about it…with your help.. Please!"
"And what will you do once she's awake? Go at it again? Because in that case, it will be pointless of me to even consider…" Raven said thru gritted teeth.
" Did she hurt you?" He interrupted.
" She knocked me down in case you didn't notice" she said. Barely able to control her anger. Her eyes were glowing while small items on the waiting room were being pulverized in dark magic.
"I saw that.. But, did she actually hurt you?" He said, ignoring what was going on around them.
"No but…"
"And she wasn't going to. She was trying to get me to fight her back. And she did, but I wasn't counting on you guys using a tranquilizer on her" he said taking a deep breath.
"So you're saying this was our fault?! She almost yelled. "NO! all I'm saying is that I cannot walk away again while she's fighting for her life…"
Beast boy started to yell but he ended up whispering the last bit as his own words sank in.
Raven had closed her eyes at this point, trying to bring some calm to herself. When she opened back up, they were no longer glowing.
"ok" was all she said. No expression, not even a slight change on her tone.
They walked in the med bay silently and stopped next to Cyborg who had a mask on and gloves while he performed the surgery, with blood stains all over.
The tip of his right hand's fingers were open and had a series of surgical tools in use. Also covered in blood.
Starfire had been hovering over the girl trying to help suturing the open wounds.. Robin was still at the monitors, having no idea on how to help except by getting the readings and call out for occasional disturbances.
Raven stepped next to Cyborg and motioned for him to move. Then lifted her hands over the girl's body concentrating on her healing powers.
Tendrils of her dark magic were making their way into the wounds. Slowly starting to heal the worst parts from the inside.
As broken bones, torn ligaments and muscles were being restored, Raven had an idea of the girl's injuries, not only recent but old wounds, some not properly healed.
Others adjusted at odd angles, perhaps shifted too soon and the old wounds found a better position to scar.
Then Raven had a thought. While she was now a little more that exhausted, she felt strong enough to keep her healing magic going and perhaps take a peek into the girl's mind.
Not a long trip, just enough to see why had she attacked Beast Boy earlier. The thought was disconcerting on itself but even more so that she cared enough to even consider it on his behalf. So, silently she chanted her mantra.
In the main time, the others had gathered a few feet away from Raven. Cyborg had pulled Beast Boy with them while the sorceress settled to perform the girl's healing.
"What do you think you're doing Beast Boy. I told you to take her to rest. Teleporting drains her energy faster when there is someone besides her" Said Cyborg on stern hushed tones.
"I know, but I had to ask. I could not do nothing again and.." said Beast boy in matching tones but was interrupted by Robin "What do you mean again. Where do you know her from?
"shhhh, friends, Raven needs to concentrate and…" Starfire started to say but a sharp intake of air got their attention back to the hospital bed.
The girl had started to wake up, kicking and throwing her arms around as if trying to escape. Raven had backed away a couple of steps and Beast Boy was quickly at her side suddenly shielding her with his body as he once did with a small girl.
Cyborg was already on the other side of the bed with Starfire trying to attach the IV on her arm again and feed her the sedatives.
Slowly but surly. The girl started to move slower until she felt limp on the bed. Robin was already placing the security belts around her legs above her knees, her stomach and across her shoulders.
Beast Boy turned to Raven who had not moved nor said a word all the while. She was paler than usual but her eyes almost wide, seemed to be focused on something far away.
Beast Boy took her hands and squeezed them softly to get her attention. She blinked a few times, taking in her surroundings then settled on Beast Boy's face for a moment before looking down at their hands.
Before any of them could say something, Cyborg spoke again "Alright y'all, everyone needs to get out and rest…" he said directly at Raven and BeastBoy "really rest this time". his voice left no room for argument.
Beast Boy looked at the unconscious girl on the bed then at the tin man, concern in his eyes. "Don't worry B, I'll be watching her closely." Cyborg said.
With one last look at the girl, Beast Boy turned and led Raven out of the room followed by Robin and Starfire.
Once outside, Raven sat on a chair. Starfire was at her right side seconds later with a glass of water which she took reluctantly with a soft "Thanks Star"
Beast Boy was on her left kneeling down next to her. He put a hand on her shoulder "Rae what happened? What did you see?"
"Give me a minute, please" she said taking a deep breath and closing her eyes for a moment.
Robin, who had been pacing on the far end of the waiting room, came to a halt and turned their way. Walked up to them, pulled a chair in front of them and asked "Beast Boy, who is she?"
Starfire asked "Friend Beast Boy, why was she so intent on harming you?"
"Beast Boy, is she who I think it is?" Raven asked arching an eyebrow. He nodded not looking up from the floor.
Raven gasped in understanding, Robin was still confused. "Raven, what's going on?"
When silence was all he got, he said "Can someone explain to me what the hell is going on. Who is she, where do you two know her from.." exasperated.
Starfire put a hand on his arm to calm him down, silently asking him to be patient. He looked at her ready to snap but when he saw her pleading eyes, all he could do was take a deep breath and nodded slightly.
"I didn't tell you everything about the day my parents died. Somehow, she was also aboard. But I failed to save them. I wasn't strong enough.. I didn't know how to turn into anything else other than birds and I couldn't save any of them.".. he said with his head hung and tears running.
Raven took his hand reluctantly but gave him a soft squeeze. Starfire had flown on his other side, kneeling down next to him, hugging him.
"So she came for revenge." Was an statement Robin made trying to make sense of the situation. He started to pace again in front of them. Head bent, hand on his chin in deep thought.
"I'm not sure if is revenge per se." said Raven, bringing everybody's attention to her.
"what do you mean friend Raven? Wasn't it obvious?" said Starfire trying to make sense on Raven's words.
"I went into her mind for a brief moment. Saw bits and pieces of her memories. Not much, but enough to discern the kind of upbringing she had. Her mind is extremely troubled but there is something else… there is a reason to her irrational behavior, but her mind woke up before I could find out what…"
Raven said in a monotone that almost broke at the end. She remembered the flashes of memories. Needles, electric shocks, underwater experimentation. The girl's screams of fear and terror on each procedure.
Chains and screams of someone else. All the while lightning and thunder could be heard on the background, until a pair of piercing, giant crystal blue eyes glared at her from the darkened skies coming out of the fogs of her memories. Raven had managed to say "We can help" before the eyes closed and disappeared.
Raven shuddered involuntarily. But didn't go into detail.
At that moment, Cyborg made his way out of the med bay. Beast Boy looked up at him, got up and was ready to say something, when Cyborg lifted his hand to stop him.
"She's alright B, but we got another situation" Everyone had gathered around him now.
"Her metabolism is like BB's but much faster. She's burning the sedatives and morphine like butter on hot waffles. At this rate she'll be awake in less than ten minutes, so.. Have y'all decided what to do with her after that?"
He looked at them and they looked at each other. "We need to keep her contained." said Robin. Cyborg turned on his heels and headed back to the med bay.
"Dude!, she's not a villain or a prisoner" Beast boy said with more anger in his tone than what he had intended.
"We've seen what she can do Beast Boy. We cannot risk to find out what she's capable of" answer Robin, trying to make him see logic.
Beast Boy just glared but decided that Robin's words made sense. "Let me talk to her" He said calmer now after a few deep breaths.
"And what makes you think she's going to want to talk after what happened?" Robin was now more frustrated.
"Enough!" She walked in between the two boys and said "She's awake"
The two bickering Titans fell into silence. Starfire gasped.
"Can you tell if she's still angry?" asked Robin in an strained voice.
"She is… but she's also very afraid, which might make her violent again"
She glared at her team mates again and said "So you two better stop and come with a solution quick. We have neither time nor room for two rampaging animals in the tower." She looked from one to the other before walking into the med bay.
Beast Boy, Robin and Starfire were left behind in silence.
Beast Boy turned to Robin "Dude, let me try to talk to her. If she's mad at me then I'll take the hit, but I have to find out something." he said and started to walk towards the med bay.
"Find out what?" asked Starfire.
"How in the world is she like me" and with that he went in the room leaving a perplexed Robin and Starfire behind.