Chapter 8. Unwanted call.
Cyborg and Raven entered the holding cell door a few minutes later. Raven watched the scene before them and a pang of jealousy tried to make its way in but she dismissed it. Starfire noticed her uneasiness. "Come friends, let us go rest. There is nothing else we can do at the moment" Starfire said in a hushed tone and pushed everyone out of the room.
Once outside, after the door closed Cyborg turned to Robin "Hey Rob, I need to tell you guys something"
"Lets go to the common room" Said Robin then turned to Raven when noticed she had stayed behind. "Hey Raven you coming?"
She said nothing, just stared at the floor lost in thought. Her shoulders slumped, looking more tired by the minute.
"We'll meet you there" Robin said to the others who had already reached the elevator. He walked up to Raven and after a moment of no change, he put a finger under her chin to get her to look at him. She frowned a little at this but didn't pull away.
"What's the matter?" He asked softly.
"What's the matter with you?" she snapped "I'm not the one in love with you. I don't need you to console me"
"I know I'm not the one you're in love with Raven, that doesn't mean I'm not here for you."
"I don't need your pity, Robin. I need answers". She said thr gritted teeth.
"We all do Raven but sulking in a corner wont help matters". he said as he grabbed her by her shoulders. "As soon as we are done meeting with Cyborg I want you to go and rest. You're exhausted from all the magic you've used today and I need you with a clear head and your strength back up. When that's taken care of, come to my office. I need you to go over everything you found in her mind."
Raven sighed and looked away from him. "That wont explain why he trusts her so much, even after she attacked him. He hasn't seen her in over ten years, for all we know, she could be planning her revenge on him."
"For that same reason we need to gather all the information we can find so we can protect our friend".
"Ok" was all she said. He smiled at her and pulled her into a tight hug and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Come, let go find out what Cyborg has in mind."
Back in the common room, Starfire paced around the room, one arm across her mid section, her other hand on her chin biting her nails every now and then.
"Star, why are you so worried about?" Asked Cyborg not able to watch her worried expression any longer.
She stopped on her tracks and looked at him then flew to his side. "I understand they are close friends but that doesn't help me when I feel the jealousy. Their level of intimacy is far greater than what I have achieved so far and I am yet to tell him about my feelings for him."
"I know Star, but it doesn't mean he doesn't love you. She's like a sister to him and no matter how powerful she is, he will always try to protect her and right now she's going thru a rough moment."
The hiss of the door opening got their attention. Robin walked in first then Raven. "Ok Cy, what have you found out.?"
"I already sent the samples of the pills Meliah took to my dad's lab. I am running on a hunch so we have to wait for the results. Either way, I have set up a conference call for later today with him. We still have a few hours before that, so I suggest we get some sleep."
"What about Beast Boy, should we tell him about the conference call?" asked Raven.
"We probably should. With the sedatives still in her system along with the pills she took. She'll be out cold for at least 24 hours."
They all agreed and left to their respective rooms.
Exhaustion brought sleep easy for Raven but after a couple of hours, she woke up with a start in cold sweat. Images of Meliah's memories flashed in her mind. She looked around. Her room still somewhat dark. Looked at the time and realized it was still early for the conference call.
So she decided to get up and get some tea and some food for Beast Boy. A few minutes later, she appeared thru the floor next to him. He was still in the St Bernard's form curled up by the holding cell. Meliah in deep sleep induced by the sedatives.
She placed the tray on the floor and kneeled down next to the green dog. She pet him softly and rubbed his ears. Sighed and opened a portal on the floor ready to get back to her room when a hand on her arm stopped her.
Beast Boy had woken up and was back in his human form. Raven closed the portal and remained sitting on the floor in front of him.
He smiled at her and rubbed his eyes " Hey" still groggy from sleep.
"Hey yourself. How did you sleep?"
"I was really tired, it didn't take me long to fall sleep. You?"
"I managed a couple of hours."
Then he looked at the tray next to him and said "Aw you brought me breakfast, thanks Rae. .. Will you eat with me?" he asked pushing the tray towards her after he grabbed a piece of fruit.
"I had some tea, but I guess I can take a piece of fruit." She said with a small smile. He smiled broadly in between bites.
After a few minutes, Raven broke the silence.
"Can I ask you something?"
"mmm… anything!" he said after he had swallowed.
"Meliah said she could sense my demonic side, and if I didn't believe her I could ask you… is it true?"
"Yes and no. the animal instincts allows us to sense the presence of anybody around us. Animals are more aware of their surroundings. It serves as a survival tool. They are also more sensitive to supernatural presence"
"So, she's right? My demonic presence gives me away. Why did you never told me that? And why did she say you sense me in a complete different way?" she said with some concern on her expression.
"First of all, you know I don't think you're evil and I would never consider you a demon. But it was the first time she was around you."
"But you never reacted like that when we first met. Why did she?"
"Also an animal thing" He said somewhat embarrassed. "Take lionesses for example. The females are drawn to the male even if he's a stranger in the pack. But if it is another female lurking around, they see each other as rivals".
"So she sees me as the enemy".
"Something like that" He said before taking a sip of his orange juice.
After a moment of silence, she asked "What did you think of me when we first met?" She tried to hide a blush from asking such a personal question.
He thought for a moment, as if not sure what to answer. Then in a low voice he said "It was overwhelming… but I thought you were the most beautiful girl I had ever met".
She was blushing tremendously now but couldn't look away. His eyes were so intense on hers.
Slowly, he came closer and had barely brushed his lips on hers when her communicator went off. They pulled apart with a start.
"WHAT!?" She said with barely contained annoyance.
"Sorry if I woke you up, but I thought that maybe you can come to my office now. The conference call is in one hour so we have time to go over what you saw. And bring Beast Boy with you".
She felt a little panic run on her spine, as if caught doing something wrong. But before anything would show she said " Give me a few minutes, we'll be right there. Raven out."
"What conference call?" Beast boy asked after he saw her close her communicator.
"Cyborg sent a sample of the pills Meliah took to his dad's lab and set up a conference call with him to go over the results. Apparently, he knows something we don't".
"Why are you meeting Robin?"
"He wants to know in detail what I saw in her mind and I guess he thinks you should be there too".
"I don't want to leave her alone. I want to be here when she wakes up".
"I know, but she'll be ok. Cyborg calculated that she'll be out for the great part of 24 hours thanks to the sedatives that are still in her system." Beast Boy gave her a curious look, so she continued "He thinks the pills she took acted like an inhibitor that slows down her metabolism. She wont be able to burn the sedatives as fast as before. At least until whatever she took is out of her system".
He looked back at the sleeping girl then at Raven. Sighed and said "Ok". then got up, offered her his hand to help her stand up. When she did however, he didn't let go of her hand, instead, he pulled her closer.
"Don't think our conversation is over yet, Rae" He said softly and placed a kiss on her hand. She smiled and blushed again. She managed to get a steady hand on his cheek and pecked him on the lips "I was hoping it wasn't over… come, Robin is waiting for us".
And with that, she opened a portal and both walked in it still holding hands. Robin watched them on the screen, smiled and said to himself "I knew it!"
He hadn't meant to spy on them, but while he was talking to Raven on her communicator, he decided to take a look in the holding cell room to check on Beast Boy. But when he saw Raven sitting on the floor next to his green team mate, he soon realized why she had snapped at him when she first answered.
But then he couldn't look away and saw her give the changeling a kiss and disappear on the portal. He turned off the monitor with a smile and thought to himself "I better not let them know I was spying on them and she'll have my head"
A few seconds later there was knock on his door, when he opened it, he quickly noticed they were still holding hands but pretended he didn't see.
"Come in" He told them and motioned for them to take a sit. They let go of each other's hands hoping their leader hadn't notice them yet.
Robin leaned against his desk, cross his arms over his chest and started the questioning.
"Ok Raven, what exactly did you see?"
"They were bits and pieces of painful memories. But what I could gather is that she was being tortured."
"Who did that to her?" Asked Beast Boy. Raven could feel his anger rising.
"I don't know, but the background seemed the same… some kind of lab. There were other noises too. Machines beeping, chains, screams… I also heard thunder right before she woke up. Like a storm approaching. The wind picked up and the water was rising".
"Were they trying to drown her?" asked Robin.
"No. more like mixed memories of when she was on the boat. The storm was the same" she turned to Beast Boy "I managed to tell her we could help" He gave her a small smile.
"Were those recent memories?" Robin asked rubbing his chin in sign of deep thinking.
"Hard to tell. There was no timeline. Not a way to tell how old she was when that happened".
There was silence for a few minutes.
"That could explain her aggressive behavior. I can tell she's not used to the proximity of other people in a friendly environment "
"But she warmed up to me and Starfire soon enough" Commented Beast Boy
"Maybe that was because she already knew you … Starfire, I'm guessing she posed no threat. But with everyone else, she was defensive".
"You call flirting "defensive"?" asked Raven with an arched eyebrow.
"In a way it is. If she's been in the kind of torture you saw then whatever small bit of control she can get can make her feel like she's no longer the victim".
While they pondered on that, Robin's communicator went off. He flipped it open and showed Cyborg on the screen.
"Alright y'all, the conference call will start in ten minutes, so you better head to the common room. My dad also said that Batman will be joining us in the call"
"Batman? How come?" Asked Beast Boy.
"Apparently he knows more about this case than what he let on. Cyborg out".
Back in the common room, Cyborg was setting the monitors and showed his dad on one of the screens.
"Victor, my boy. How are you son?"
"Hey pop, I'm alright. You?"
Dr Stone was about to answer when he saw Starfire flying and landing next to his son.
"My, my… is always fascinating to see how a human being can fly without the aid of wings or mechanical instruments. You must be Starfire, am I right?"
Starfire smiled, she could see the resemblance between father and son. "That is correct. But where I come from all Tamareneans can fly. I'm what humans call an alien".
"You are indeed, my dear. Very pleased to meet you"
Then a black hole appeared behind Cyborg and Starfire where Robin, Beast Boy and Raven came out of.
"Fascinating… teleportation without instruments. You must be Miss raven"
Dr Stone asked with some excitement in his voice. Raven pulled her hood down and with a stoic expression she simply said "Yes"
"I must say Victor, your friends are very beautiful and unique. I am very pleased to finally meet you ladies"
"The pleasure is ours sir" Said Starfire flying up in front of the screen.
"What she said" said Raven in her monotone.
"I think you remember Robin and Beast Boy, dad"
"Dr Stone?" Acknowledged Robin with a nod.
"Sup doc" said Beast Boy.
"Of course I do. Gentlemen, I'm glad you could join us. Now we just need…" But he was cut mid sentence when Batman appeared on another screen.
"Titans? Dr Stone? Lets proceed."
"Of course" said Dr Stone, fixed his glasses and picked up a paper from the desk "The sample you sent me is from a very complex compound that was in trial use a few years ago. But this one however has been fully developed. How did you get it?"
"An old friend of BB's showed up yesterday and after a claws and tooth fight, she was rational enough to remember to take it. The change was incredible. Now she's a completely different person." answered Cyborg.
"I would expect it so. This is a very powerful inhibitor. It was created to be used in extreme cases like your friend's. How did this happened, I am not sure". Robin saw the reluctance on the scientist and Batman noticed Robin's expression.
"It's ok Dr Stone. Go ahead and tell them."
The Doctor sighed. "A few years ago, a colleague of mine presented to the board the prospect of a new serum that had the capabilities of slowing down the metabolism on meta-humans. Of course this came to great shock and even insult to some of the members of the board and after she was flat out denied the funding of the research, she had no choice but to reveal her reasons. Her daughter had come in contact with a serum already infected with some kind of altered DNA and the result was a shape shifting ability that she couldn't control. Specially when upset."
"But someone had been tracking the development and kidnap the mother" continued Batman. "I was able to find Dr Simmons, but by the time I realized it had been a set up it was too late. Their main target had been the girl all along."
"When the girl was found it was in a poor state of mind. So much so that she was being sent to Arkham Asylum for treatment. But she escaped. I tracked her down and managed to get her to take the pills" said Batman
"She's very resourceful. "hard to kill" as they say but of course I never tried. She did present to be a challenge."
"Why had she been traveling like that. Was she running away?" asked Robin.
"Hard to tell. Last time I saw her was a year ago. The sightings of the last few months is the most recent contact I've had with her". Said Batman while transferring a map that looked like the one they had first seen two days ago when they found out about the Phantom.
"We got the news of a power warehouse that had been burned down around this area" Batman said highlighting on the screen the area in question.
"That's one of the main power supplies in Gotham. Why did we never heard of this?" asked Robin
"Because it was considered internal affairs by the company that owned it, but under closer inspection I found it had been used for far more darker purposes to which I'm afraid your friend was victim of, Beast Boy".
Then Batman turned to Beast Boy who was looking at the floor lost in thought. "Beast Boy, I need you to get her to talk. This entire situation has gone out of control"
Beast Boy looked at Batman for the first time "How much out of control can it be, she's in a terrible state.. I don't want to put her thru hell by remembering all that"
"Because I believe she was looking for her mother'' Answered the Dark knight.
"Her mother? What happened to her?" Beast Boy asked more agitated.
" She was kidnapped again but this time for revenge for what your friend Meliah did to the warehouse".
"She destroyed the power plant?" asked Cyborg
"Yes. No casualties, but I'm under the belief she wasn't alone. So again Beast Boy, I need you to make her talk" He left no room for questions.
"I'll do my best" was all Beast boy said.
"What about her condition, once the effect of the pills wears off, her temper will flare again and make it impossible to reason with her" Said Raven
"For that dear Miss Raven do not worry about. I already have a batch of her medication on the way to the Tower, it should arrive this afternoon". said Dr Stone with a soft smile.
"Beast Boy, one more thing…"
Beast Boy turned when Batman called him again. "Yes?"
"I'm afraid I have no good news about her mother. Her body was found a week ago in the outskirts of the city."
Starfire gasped, so did Raven who turned to look at Beast Boy. He had closed his eyes and fell to his knees.