Ch. 2 A One-Sided Conversation
At one point in time, Jump City had been an up-and-coming spot for criminals and villains alike to make a name for themselves. A prominent, coastal city of California, with no resident heroes, and an understaffed police force as the cherry on top, the crime rate had been on the rise until that fateful day when an alien prisoner had fallen from the sky. No one could have foreseen the sequence of chance events that would come to pass that resulted in the formation of world's most renowned young superhero team…Robin, Starfire, Cyborg and Raven…the Teen Titans. They were an elite group of fighters who keep the streets of Jump City safe. They had established a network of young heroes across the globe. They had practically saved the world on multiple occasions…
…and they were stuck in traffic.
"Friend Robin? Could we not investigate whether we could procure one of the very loud alarms that the police use when they need getting somewhere quickly?"
The leader of the Titans, who was sat in the passenger seat of the T-car, sighed as he allowed his head to drop to the dashboard. "You've probably got a point Star…"
Raven cleared her throat from her position in the back seat beside Starfire. "You know, Starfire and I could just fly ahead…"
Cyborg eyed the empath in the rear-view mirror.
"Not a chance Raven, we ain't splitting up when it comes to Adonis, especially if we don't know what he's already managed to get his greasy, little hands on."
Raven rolled her eyes as she sunk into the back seat, silently cursing whoever the genius was that came up with the concept of road closures for construction during rush hour. However, she, along with all the other Titans, understood the need for caution in this instance. They had been enjoying a rare day-off and had been in the middle of splitting a pizza in the city when the alarm had sounded on Robin's communicator. Adonis, at one-point in time, a nuisance and nothing more, had escaped from Jump City penitentiary a few days prior. His whereabouts had been unknown until the call came in to inform the Titans that he had been spotted in a new suit of armour breaking into the city's chemical plant. That was where the problem lay. Adonis had managed to break into the plant once before and due to being splashed with some experimental chemicals, had transformed into a creature straight of a horror movie. He'd broken into the tower and ambushed Raven while she slept, leaving her in the Med Bay for almost a week, which with her accelerated healing, may as well have been a month for her and it had taken the other Titans days to track and bring him down. As such, the news that Adonis was already inside the plant…
None of the Titans acknowledged it, but there was a certain heaviness in the air.
Cyborg stepped on the gas as the T-car finally crept passed the red cones that been laid out by city workers which had forced all the cars on the freeway into a bottleneck.
"About goddamn time, I swear, if this dude has gone feral again, I'm going to tear that damn plant apart, I don't care if we don't have a warrant."
Robin raised an eyebrow at Cyborg. "Vic…we tested the chemicals last time. You still have samples back at the tower. If they've still got that chemical, which the city has given them permission to store…they're going to have the same tanks of it again."
Raven pulled her hood up as she prepared to hear an argument that she had heard a hundred times before and while she had never voiced her opinion on the matter, she was actually on Cyborg's side. It's not every day that someone gets splashed with a liquid and transforms into a savage beast…in fact, it simply doesn't happen. At the time, Raven had thought that that transformation lined up with closer to something she could concoct in her room rather than the result of a product from a pharmaceutical plant. Cyborg had grilled the lab technicians at the plant for the process for synthesising whatever was in those tanks, and they had all remained completely silent until the CEO had shown up, flanked by two lawyers and the head of his hired private security agency. He'd offered Cyborg samples of the chemical for his own analysis and said he'd have no issue allowing the police to conduct a search of his facilities. After much convincing, Robin managed to make Cyborg leave, only for the metal Titan to spend the entire next week in the Med Bay lab, trying to reverse engineer the chemical.
He couldn't do it…which only made him more suspicious.
" Cyborg, the police searched the entire property, let alone just the labs. A few issues with animal welfare which they've been told to fix, but that's it."
"Robin…I can't synthesize this, and I have access to every chemistry method known to man…I can't even synthesize it in simulations! It's unstable! I'm telling you, they're doing work waaaay beyond their capabilities' and they're hiding something to do it!"
"Well unless they slip up again…we can't do anything Cy…they're a Jump City business. We can't just go and demand answers from a local because we think he's up to something!"
Cyborg had continued to work on the samples he had, but no matter what he did, he couldn't recreate it and while Raven did agree that they couldn't simply break in and investigate the plant themselves…if they were already inside, who was to stop them from having a look around?
Starfire, who was listening to the debate in the front with interest, politely raised a hand in the back. "Victor. If you believe that they are indeed hiding something nefarious because of the chemical that altered Adonis, what do you believe that could be?"
Cyborg zipped in between cars now that they were past the worst of the traffic as he cast Starfire a quick glance over his shoulder.
"Well, in every analysis I ever did, there was always trace amounts of animal product, but I swear, there isn't an animal that they can legally have whose genes would stabilise the compound…hell I don't think there's a species alive that could stabilise it. So, I think they've genetically altered or mutated some poor creature in there…it's the only thing that makes sense to me."
Robin had heard Cyborg's theory more times that he could count but it seemed outlandish at best. Jump City Chemical Plant had been a staple of Jump for years. It was one of the most important beacons for scientific advancement on the east coast and their workers and CEO were in the news constantly. Videos of the plant were freely available online. Schools went there for tours to learn about what they did. Robin wasn't naïve. He knew that such media could be an excellent form of propaganda. If you choose exactly what the public sees you do, then that is all they'll ever perceive you to be. However, to keep something as big as what Cyborg was suggesting a secret…it was a huge leap to make.
Yet, as the Jump City chemical plant finally began to loom in the distance, an enormous dark building with yellow lights shining out from the uniform rectangular windows along the top, surrounded by enormous pipes and metal tanks, all four of the Titans in the T-car were feeling a new sense of apprehension outside that wasn't caused by Adonis.
After all, the monster that you know isn't as scary as the monster that you don't.
Raven floated over the ruins of what was, at one point in time, probably a very nice reception. Adonis, always one for making a grand entrance, had clearly decided that heading straight for what he was looking for simply wasn't enough and had instead elected to destroy everything in sight. The curved reception desk lay in ruins and white, artificial neon lights hung down from the ceiling, the odd one flickering on and off as they attempted cling to the last dregs of power that were still flowing through it. The front windows had all been smashed in, a chunk of the roof had caved in over what was once the waiting area. Raven rolled her eyes as she turned back to her Cyborg and Robin who were climbing over the ruined entrance.
"Adonis is overcompensating again."
Cyborg grunted as he vaulted over the last of the debris before activating a torch light on his shoulder and scanning the room.
"Yea, well…he's not got much else going for himself so…"
Starfire flew in through the hole in the roof.
"There doesn't seem to be any activity outside, although there are a few chairs that have been relocated to the roof…and a water cooler…"
Robin grimaced as he surveyed the scene in front of him. "Adonis throwing his toys out of the pram if I had to guess…It's okay Star…I'm pretty sure I know which way he went…"
The other Titans turned to follow where Robin was looking to be greeted by a near fifteen-foot hole in the wall, located to the right of the reception desk. Above it, a cracked sign still read: "Employee Personnel Only: Decontamination, Chemical Storage, Biolabs".
Cyborg's eyes widened before he cracked his knuckles. "Aw yea…didn't get to look in the labs by myself the last time before that stupid, tie-wea-"
Robin turned around with a raised eyebrow. "Cyborg, for all we know, Adonis could have already managed to get his hands on what he needs. If we take him down quickly…you can have a look around, okay? But I need your head in the game."
Cyborg looked sheepish for a moment, before he cocked his sonic cannon in anticipation. "Say no more…"
Robin nodded before motioning everyone to move forward. Starfire took the lead, her eyes casting a green glow across the room, ready to shoot a starbolt at a moment's notice should the need arise. Raven and Robin followed shortly afterwards, while Cyborg covered their backs, making sure there we no chance something was going to sneak up and catch them by surprise. Despite the plant having been evacuated, the building wasn't completely silent. With the front windows being blown out, there was. A breeze gently blowing through the hallways, allowing doors to creak and occasionally, in some far-off room, the sound of a glass shattering or debris shifting gave the entire place the ambient soundtrack of a thriller movie. Still, the group pressed on, clearing out hallways and labs as they went.
Raven was the first one to hear the barking.
It started out muffled, much like the sound of neighbour's dog on a Saturday morning when they decided that yes, this is the perfect time for me to wake the whole street. But as the Titans passed through mor doors, the chorus of canines just became louder and louder until they all rounded a corner and were confronted with a set of double doors.
"Canine Subjects: Senior Access Only"
Raven raised an eyebrow immediately. "A room for dogs…what could be so important in there that needs extra security?"
Cyborg forehead creased up at Raven's simple logic. "You've got a point Rae…not like the dogs have big pharma secrets to spill."
Starfire eyed the door, sadness evident on her face. "They all sound so scared…friend Robin, can we please go and at least quell their fear? It will only take a moment?"
Cyborg latched onto Starfire's request without missing a beat. "Yea Robin. Also, they're making a hella of a lotta of noise. We can't hear ol' Adonis skulking around if they're barking up a storm?'
Robin looked at the two Titans who were now staring at him before he turned to Raven for support, who merely shrugged.
"Your call…although the chemical tanks were in the kennels last time…"
Robin eyed Raven, searching for an ulterior motive before making the mistake of turning back to Starfire and looking straight into her big, green, pleading eyes…
He had no chance.
"Okay…we calm the dogs down...but only because we actually can't hear a thing over them."
Starfire gave a quiet giggle of delight before zipping over the door. It was only then she acknowledged the sensor that was designed for scanning employee ID cards.
"Oh…it appears we don't have the access require-"
Starfire moved back in the air in surprise as the doors suddenly became encased in black magic. Raven cleared her throat from behind the Tamaranean.
"I left my pass at home…but I have clearance, don't worry."
With the flick of her wrist, the two halves of the door flew open towards the Titans, sending a gust of wind in their direction. Starfire, having been the closet to the entrance was the first to be able to look inside and as soon as she saw the room they had just gained access to, the smile melted off her face in the blink of an eye. She brought both her hands up her mouth, her eyes almost immediately beginning to brim with tears. Raven could see the room over Starfire's shoulder and even she, as stoic as she usually was, couldn't help but let her mouth drop, her heart plummeting at the sight of what she saw. Cyborg stepped forward to stand beside Starfire, his previous excitement at getting to explore the plant off the path that Adonis had carved dissipating in an instant.
"Oh man…"
Jump City Chemical Plant had not taken the requests to improve their animal welfare standards to heart. The last time the Teen Titans had been here, crates had been stacked on top of each other to a slightly worrying extent, but each container at least only contained a single animal. Water bowls had been present in every single one. Rotas for the animals getting exercise out of their crates were visible on the walls…
Now, stacked cages towered well above even Cyborg's head, each one containing way more dogs than they should have been able to hold. Off to the side, a few stacks of cages had fallen over and peering over, Robin was horrified to see that they weren't empty. Just underneath the chorus of barking, were the sad cries of the poor animals whose cages lay on their side and at angles, carelessly tossed aside like they were worth nothing. The floor was filthy, stained a permanently filthy colour by what must have been years of being exposed to improperly cleaned up waste. In fact, it was only after opening the door for a few seconds did the noses of the Titans start to scrunch up as the smell hit them. Starfire had to cover her nose as it hit her nostrils. Raven tried to look at the nearest animals, a stack of crates containing looked like beagles and noted the stains on their fur. It seemed like cleaning up the kennels had been abandoned long ago…
There was no sign of Adonis having rampaged through here...Cyborg grit his teeth in anger.
No…this horror show was entirely man-made.
"Those...sick…soulless…sons of – "
Robin raised a hand to Cyborg.
"I know Cyborg…and we'll be able to get them for this, I promise."
Robin took reached into his utility belt and pulled out a small camera that he kept for photographing incriminating scenes such as this that he didn't want to disturb. Starfire, who had forced herself to tear her eyes away from the immediate scene in front of her, raised a shaky hand towards the back of the room.
"Robin look…the chemicals are undisturbed…"
Robin didn't miss the sadness in Starfire's voice and honestly, he couldn't blame her. He'd seen so many crimes, so much cruelty between people, but there was something about involving animals in acts of cruelty that really stayed with him. Robin eyed the containers at the back and noticed the other doors that led off the lab. If they had somehow beaten Adonis here, that was good news for them. Rather than leaving the chemicals unprotected to going looking for him…maybe they could lie in wait for him. Robin turned to the rest of the Titans.
"Alright everyone, we set up shop here. Cyborg and Raven, I want you guys to clear out the rooms at the back. Make sure that these are the only vats of this stuff we need to worry about. Starfire, first…you can go right those cages that have fallen over. After that, I want you to go check out the chemicals. Make sure that nothing's been tampered with already. I'm going to take some photos of…all of this. When Adonis wanders in here, we catch him by surprise and take him out."
The remaining Titans nodded, and Starfire flew up to Robin and gave him a quick hug as a thank you for letting her help the poor dogs in some way before drifting off. Luckily for him, the lighting in here was just as faulty as the lights in the reception area, otherwise the Tamaranean may have seen him blush.
Raven and Cyborg both wandered further into the kennels, Cyborg muttering under his breath the whole way about the sick kind of people that could do this and sleep at night. He stopped muttering as they reached the opposite side of the room and turned to Raven.
"Hey Rae…are you able to feel what all these animals are feeling? Or do your powers only work on humans?"
Raven pulled down her hood as she pondered Cyborg's question.
"Animals don't process emotions the same way humans do so it's harder to read them than people. That doesn't mean I can't detect heir general feelings…this entire room…it's weighing on me… they're weighing on me…"
Cyborg grimaced. "We'll get them for this Raven…I swear we'll get them for this."
Raven nodded but didn't seem entirely convinced. She remembered the defence this place had been able to procure the first time…and they'd only become wealthier since then.
"Let's just clear these rooms out first…you take the ones on the left. I'll take the right."
Cyborg nodded, and without another word, Raven turned away from the metal Titan to clear out the rooms on her side of the kennels. She hadn't been lying to Cyborg. This room really was weighing on her. She couldn't pick out any single emotion perse, but she could feel their suffering. It seeped into her senses in the same way that a river slowly ate away at the soil of a riverbank. Nothing about this place sat right with her.
Raven moved from room to room, flicking open doors with her powers and casting a gaze inside. Confronted with only supply cabinets, changing rooms and what looked like some kind of operating table, she was about turn away and find Robin, her mission complete in her mind…until she came to the last door.
So far, every door in this part of the plant had been the same…a stunningly boring wooden build with a single glazed window near the top. This door broke the pattern. A dark metal, with a seal that wouldn't have looked out of place on the latch of a submarine, Raven couldn't help but feel her interest peak at the sudden change of décor choice. She smirked at the sight of the keycard security scanner and with another simple flick of her wrist, she snapped the mechanism off and spun the metal wheel that sealed the door shut until, a resounding clank, Raven felt and heard the bolts come undone. She reached out and grabbed the steel frame and with no short amount of strain she swung the door open to reveal a pitch-black room. Raven raised an eyebrow as she took one step inside and felt for a light switch, a smirk crossing her face as the traced the outline of one on the wall.
Alright…let's see what needed so much security.
Raven flicked the switch and was confronted with…a near empty room. She glanced around in confusion. There were a few desks pressed up against the side, various charts and notes strewn across their surfaces. At the back of the room was some kind of surgical table, a cubby beside it holding sets of scrubs for the uses of lab technicians. Honestly, it looked like someone's office apart from one glaring anomaly...and that was the presence of a single object covered with a tarp in the middle of the room.
Raven brow furrowed at the sight before her. She glanced back outside the door to check if the other Titans were still nearby and upon seeing them all, dotted about the room, she allowed her curiosity to get the better of her and stepped into the side-room fully. She couldn't help but let her mind race a bit as she approached. Unless there were some monumental secrets hidden in those charts at the back of the room, whatever was under this cover had to be pretty important for the chemical plant. Raven's mind drifted back to Cyborg's theory of animals with mutations, and she swallowed, suddenly slightly more apprehensive about discovering the secret that lay beneath.
She shook her head and strode up to tarp with defiance. If there was something under here that could get these people in jail, she had to see it. With that thought in mind, Raven didn't hesitate in walking right up to the object and throwing the sheet to one side. Beneath it, lay a single animal crate, a plastic top preventing her from seeing whatever was inside, so Raven got down onto her knees and peered between the bars.
Raven had seen a lot in her time. She'd been on different planes of existence. She'd seen the inside of a magician's hat. She'd been to outer space…
She had never seen a green dog before.
She recognised it as a German shepherd, its head curled up into itself, with some kind of mechanical device locked around its hind leg. Her heart broke for the creature. At least the other dogs had some artificial light, but still, her mind was whirring at the speed of light. What made this dog so important that it had to be locked away from everything else. Obviously, being green, it must have had some mutation or genetic trait, but a simple change of colour…that couldn't be it…
While Raven was thinking, the German shepherd seemed to finally realise that it had company, it's head slowly lifting from its resting place on the floor of the cage and after a few seconds its eyes opened…
…and Raven had to actively stop her jaw from dropping to the floor.
She had just said to Cyborg that animals didn't feel emotion the same way humans did. She could feel their emotions on a spectrum, but they lacked the definite states of mind that made humans so easy for her to read. Yet, the second this dog opened its eyes, and she stared into completely white eyes, with not a pupil or iris in sight. She felt it immediately…she felt him immediately.
Depression. Loneliness. Pain…and somewhere deep beneath those overwhelming emotions…curiosity.
This animal was thinking like a human.
Raven eyed the dog. "What…what are you…?"
The dog simply looked at her, dead eyes unwavering from the empath, almost as if he was expecting Raven to answer her own question. Raven glanced back over her shoulder. The door she had come in was still ajar. No Titans had come looking for her just yet. She turned back to the cage and with only a slight moment of hesitation, Raven made a swiping motion in the air, resulting in a blade of her powers swiping the padlock on the cage clean in half. Slowly and gently, she reached up and unhooked the latch before opening the door and letting it swing open.
Raven could feel the animal's surprise almost immediately, but he didn't move, instead choosing to simply stare out at the empath. Raven felt odd for a second at the thought of what she was about to do, but she could feel this dog's emotions…so just maybe, he was smart enough for this.
She placed both her hands on her knees and peered into the cage.
"I'm not going to hurt you and if you'll let me…I want to help."
Raven waited for a few seconds with bated breath and at one point, she could have sworn she saw the dogs' eyes narrow. But then, almost as if he had come to a decision, the dog shuffled in its cage before rising to his feet, a slightly shake in his legs, almost as if he hadn't needed to use them in a while. But still, with some visible effort, the dog very tentatively stepped over the threshold of his cage, where he proceeded to sit a few feet in front of Raven. For a moment, time stood still as the empath and the dog simply stared at each other. Raven felt like she was being analysed or assessed as she took the creature in, a far easier task now that he was out in the open. Compared to the other dogs in the plant, he seemed to be in relatively good condition…outside of being green.
Raven cast her eyes onto the device that was around the dog's hind leg before she flicked her gaze upwards to meet that of the German shepherd. She pointed at the small binding.
"Do you want me to get rid of that?"
This time, Raven was almost positive she saw the dogs' eyes widen before it even glanced down at the mechanism Raven was pointing at himself. He glanced back up at Raven, who could feel the creature's nervousness increasing.
"I promise I'm not going to hurt you…please."
Raven could see the hesitation in the German shepherd's' white eyes, alongside the furrowing of a brow which suggested indecision. There was no doubt in Raven's mind that this animal could understand her…she just hoped that he would trust her.
A few seconds past and Raven's hope had begun to wane when the dog rose up on shaky legs and approached Raven slightly before lying down in front of her, the hind leg with the device around it within touching distance of the empath. The dog looked up at Raven with a nervous look but before she could doubt herself, Raven reached out and stroked the animal's back, her hand running through its fur. The dog jumped at the initial contact but composed himself after a second. Raven, satisfied that she had gained the animals trust for the moment, turned her attention to the device and lifted the dogs' leg slightly to get a better look at it.
She had to actively stop herself from grinding her teeth in her mouth. She'd helped Cyborg with the T-car enough to know what circuitry looked like. This was shock collar in the form of an anklet with enough volts to neutralise an animal ten times the size of a German shepherd. Even though she couldn't work out the mechanism for triggering it, she felt disgust welling up inside her regardless. She turned back to look at the dogs' face.
"I can break this off for you if you want…you've trusted me this far."
The dog didn't pull away, but Raven could feel it's white-eyed stare burning a hole into her. It felt like she was being judged…like this animal was weighing up her worth in its mind on the spot and deciding whether she was honest in her intentions.
Then the dog nodded at her.
It was clear as day and Raven made every effort to hide her shock, in case her reaction startled him.
Raven swallowed and glanced at the dog one more time before moving her wrist in a circular motion, resulting in the device around the dog's ankle being surrounded in a sphere made of dark magic. The dogs' eyes widened but he didn't budge, seemingly transfixed by the magic of the empath. Then, with the closing of her fist, the device shattered into hundreds of pieces before Raven dispelled her magic, allowing the remnants of the anklet to trickle to the floor.
Raven gently placed the dogs' leg back on the floor and this time, it was the German shepherds turn to let its jaw drop. If it wasn't for her absolute wonder for the animal in front of her, she would have smirked. She tentatively reached a handout towards the dog.
"Can you help me figure out what you are?"
Before the dog could do anything in response, Raven's communicator crackled to life beside her, Robin's voice came through the speaker, panic evident in his voice, despite the quality of the sound.
"RAVEN! ADONIS IS HERE AND HE'S HEADED YOUR WA-"
Raven never got to hear the end of Robin's message because at that exact moment, the door behind her, as well as much of the entire wall supporting it was promptly blown inwards, sending both Raven and the dog flying backwards with the force of the impact.