The Cursed One
Chapter 10:
Tenth Times the Charm
XXXXXX
Jinx sat on the uncomfortable bed in her small cell. She hadn't moved since a couple of the Justice League hero's brought her there several hours prior. She hadn't really thought of anything either, she just sat there and stared at the rose she held with both hands.
It was quiet, wherever they had put her; she hadn't paid a lot of attention to much of her surroundings since leaving Red-X's mansion. She remembered the colors changing from green and blue to silver and grey. She remembered people talking and yelling at her but it all sounded like static in her head, she remembered people grabbing her and hurting her but she might as well have been a million miles away.
She might as well be dead.
A single tear fell from her pink eyes at that thought, but Jinx couldn't even be bothered to wipe it away. She only stared down at the red rose, as she had been since they found her. Many had tried taking it away from her but they all met with rather unfortunate events when they tried. So they let her be and she watched as petal after petal fell from the rose.
There wasn't much left now, a small pile had already formed on the cell floor below the rose. And as one fell she would say in her head.
Live.
And after the next one fell.
Die.
And the next.
Live.
And the next.
Die.
And the next.
Live.
And the next-
"Jinx?"
The pink-haired girl started at the sudden voice, almost dropping the rose. Instead, holding it tight against her chest, Jinx turned to see a big metallic man standing on the other side of her cell door.
"Cyborg?" She said, surprising herself. She hadn't had the desire to say a word since she was taken here.
"Hey," he greeted, his human eye serious but giving her a small smile nonetheless, "it's, uh, well, good to see you safe."
"You don't have to put on an act," Jinx said, giving him a sad smile of her own in return, "if you want to yell at me you can, everyone else has. I definitely deserve it."
"That's not what I'm here for," Cyborg said, tone as serious as his eye, "and you know that's not true."
Jinx shrugged, choosing to leave that alone as she asked, "So, what did you come here for?"
"Well, uh, to see how you're…doing and if you needed someone to talk to."
Despite the emptiness inside her and Cyborg's obvious discomfort Jinx couldn't help but feel touched by his concern. But with that came a terrible feeling of pain.
"I don't want to be comforted," Jinx said, fixing her eyes on the ground, "I don't want to hear that 'it's going to be okay' or that I'll be fine. Because it isn't okay and I won't be fine. Wally…Wally's dead and it's my fault Cyborg."
"Jinx, you don't-"
"It's my fault!" Jinx insisted, jumping up from the bed, wanting to scream but the chocking sobs keeping her unable to, "I shouldn't…I shouldn't have ever tried joining the Titans. I give people bad luck, whether I want them to have it or not. Everything wrong that's happened since I've joined, every accident, every life lost, everything is my fault. If I never joined, the others wouldn't have broken out, Starfire would still be here, your friends would still be Titans, and Wally would still…"
She couldn't finish, she cried softly but deeply, it closed her throat and shut tight her eyes. The only thing she could manage to get out was:
"I wish I was dead."
"Power doesn't make people bad," Cyborg said, "it's up to you whether you make that power bad or not. A lot of us here don't get to choose whether we have power or not, I think you're the same."
Jinx fell back down to sitting in the bed, losing some of her strength. She wiped her eyes but still felt the tears come.
"This is where I belong," she said, not looking at the metal teen. "I stole Titan's East ship, I sabotaged your car, and I chose to go back to…them. I'm a bad guy, I guess I couldn't escape it, not matter how hard I tried to."
"A bad guy doesn't risk it all to save someone other than themselves. I know a lot of good guys who did worse than you to help the people they cared about."
Jinx looked over then and saw Cyborg's gentle smile, his concerned look, and part of her remembered that it was more than just a boredom of robbing jewelry stores that drove her into the 'good guy' lifestyle.
Just then red light flashed in the hallway where Cyborg was and noise that sounded like an alarm began blaring every second or so.
"What is that!?" Jinx hollered over the sounds, covering her ears.
"Nothin' good," Cyborg said, turning as someone dressed in a blue coat and strange looking hat came running up to him from down the hall.
"You…" Cyborg breathed.
"No time for proper greetings, Cyborg," the man said, turning to Jinx, the young girl gasped when she saw that this man had no face.
"You don't have a face," she sputtered out.
"Yes, but as I said no time for-."
A shockwave then rocked the trio off their feet, a distant sound of an explosion ringing through the nearly empty hallway. The man with no face stood back up and pulled out a ring of keys from his pocket as he did.
"What in the hell is goin' on!?" Cyborg demanded, his arm turning into that cannon Jinx knew only too well.
"An invasion of sorts," the man answered in a calm voice as he searched the keys one-by-one, "robots mostly, though they are very advanced, as you have heard."
"Well shouldn't we be out there stopping them? Shouldn't you?"
"I'm here making the best of an opportunity," the man said, finding the key he was looking for and moving to unlock Jinx's cell. He was stopped short by Cyborg's hand on his arm.
"I was sent by Starfire," the man said. Jinx watched Cyborg's jaw go slack at the same time his hand fell from the man's arm.
"She's here!?" Cyborg exclaimed, "Where? Where is she?"
"I'll explain as we go," he said as he opened Jinx's cell.
Jinx remained on the ground where she fell. Looking from Cyborg's shocked face to the man's lack of face.
"But why are you freeing me?" she asked.
The man with no face walked into her cell and knelt down, extending a gloved hand to her.
"I'll explain as we go."
There wasn't really any time for explaining however. Between dashing through halls, the sounds of intense fighting and shooting, and explosions that continued to throw them off their feet Jinx didn't even have the breathing room to ask this strange man his name. Cyborg kept his intense, concentrated look but he never once went against the man's orders as they ran past heroes locked in deadly combat, heroes that had fallen, unconscious or maybe even dead. It was like he had shut himself out from the rest of the world; his eyes never left the man's back.
Finally, they seemed to reach the man's destination as they came to a dead end at the end of a hallway. However the man pressed a few buttons on a panel in the wall and a door opened, revealing a large room beyond the 'dead end'.
"Are we taking escape shuttles?" Cyborg asked, answering Jinx's internal question of where they were with his own question.
"Starfire is waiting inside that one," the man with no face answered, pointing to what looked like another door at the far right of the room. As the three of them stepped in Jinx saw there were a lot of other doors, she assumed they all led to escape shuttles as well. She made to ask him why Starfire was waiting for them in an escape shuttle but then Cyborg bolted away, running for the indicated door.
Jinx looked at the man with no face. His head was facing her but she could not be sure at all what he was thinking, or even if he was looking at her. He waved his hand slightly, indicating for her to go ahead of him. Cyborg was already at the door, calling for Starfire.
"Who are you?" Jinx asked, not moving.
"A friend," he answered, hand still raised.
"Why are you helping Starfire?"
"Because I know the truth."
"What truth?"
"That Starfire is an ally, not an enemy."
"Then why are you helping me? I'm not an ally."
"Then you don't know the truth."
A nearby explosion nearly shook them off their feet.
"Question, can you open this door?"Cyborg called.
"Your name is Question?" Jinx asked.
"Yes," Question said, after a pause, and raised his hand once again for Jinx to move ahead of him. Jinx stared into his blank face for only a moment before moving quickly to join Cyborg.
Cyborg did not look back at her when she approached and said his name. Jinx could see the hardened expression on his face as he continued to stare at the door. It was so guarded, she could not tell if he was happy or angry, but she knew that it frightened her.
The sounds of clicking drew her attention and she looked back to see that Question was behind them both, pressing buttons on what looked like a console on the wall beside them. She did not see anything there earlier and was going to bring that up when the doors in front of them flew open and she was greeted with Starfire, strapped in a chair with what looked like electricity dancing around her body. The orange-skinned girl looked at them both with panic in her emerald eyes.
XXXXX
I was unsure if I had ever been in a more awkward car ride. I did my best to avoid looking at the Titan's leader as he drove the car but I could tell that every few seconds or so he would send a glare at me or Red-X. The latter had been uncharacteristically quiet, for almost half an hour even. I would look back at him to occasionally to make sure he wasn't dead. His chest would move, indicating he was breathing, but his masked face never moved from the window, his hand on his ribcage. With See-More asleep beside him it had been a long, quiet, drive.
I looked down at the cuffs. They were tight on my wrists but I didn't dare move my hands in case the ever vigilant boy wonder thought I was going to try something. Not that I blamed him.
Raven and the Titans searched us before cuffing us. Red-X didn't have much left for them to take when they searched him. They searched me as well and even tried removing my cloak, just for safe measure, but we all learned then that it had become somehow fused to the flesh in my back and shoulders. I wasn't sure when that happened but when they asked I acted as if that was how it had always been. Red-X had told them See-More would be blind without his new head gear so they let him keep it, thankfully. I wasn't sure if the leader or the green Titan were conscious when See-More…but they made no real objection, just warned him from using it against them. Even if See-More wanted to I don't think he'd have the energy. The Titan's patched up his cuts and bruises but I knew that it was more than just the encounter with that Prince. He had yet to take his Zinothium.
Red-X had said that missing a single day wasn't life-threatening, but I couldn't help but worry. I couldn't help want to break free from these puny cuffs and rip off the head of the human next to me.
Twitch.
I clenched the black and purple claw that used to be my right hand. The cuff barely fit over it and even though the Titan's leader put on a tough face I knew it unnerved him to get close to it. In unnerved everyone. They all knew it wasn't there the first time they met me. Whether Raven shared with them or not they could put the pieces together. I was becoming something else and I couldn't go back, I couldn't make it go away.
How much time did I have left? How much longer could I keep it in control? A year? A few months? Raven didn't tell me but I knew that all this meditation was not a permanent solution. At best it would help me control it for a bit longer. And then…
I glanced at the rear view mirror. See-More was still asleep the window. He was all I had left. The only one left I could keep safe. I worked with Blackfire, I worked so hard to free the friends I had and then what? I left them to their own devices, I left them to suffer and die. Since the day I met Gizmo, Mammoth, and Billy I thought them below me, I saw them as lesser. Annoyances, idiots, useless. But they looked out for each other, they stuck together, they laughed and enjoyed life.
I hated life. I hated what was done to me. I hated what was stolen from me. I tried to fill the void by stealing from others, but it was never enough. How was I better than them? They let me in their group, took care of me, looked out for me. I betrayed them, I despised them, I left them to die. How was I better than them?
I clenched my less demonic hand. There was still See-More, there was still Jinx. Before I lose myself I would do everything in my power to not lose them. I will do anything. Work with Titans, kill these Princes, defeat a planet. I won't lose myself until I know See-More and Jinx are safe. I refuse to.
"Raven and Beastboy are going to scout ahead before we go in," the Titan's leader spoke up.
I took in my surroundings in a sort of daze. We had already arrived at the beginning of the long, dirt, road that led to Red-X's mansion. The Titan's leader had been speaking to his communicator for some time, meaning we must have stopped at some point. It was like waking up from a dream, though I know I never fell asleep.
"What should they be on the look-out for Red-X?"
"Nothing," Red-X said flatly.
"Really?" the Titan's leader pressed, turning slightly in his seat to give Red-X a good glare, "no hidden traps or security defenses? Nothing?"
"Not unless our would be world-conqueror brought any friends that are still in there."
"Keep your eyes peeled, and report in within five minutes," Robin spoke to his communicator, turning away from Red-X and focusing on the long stretch of road in front of them.
"You know, this 'scouting' thing you are so keen on doing would be a lot easier if we had my good friend Kyd take care of it for us."
"The fact that you would call him a 'good friend' is enough reason for me to not have him do it."
"Oh please, like the thought of risking one of our lives instead of your precious teammates' hadn't crossed your mind."
I looked back this time and gave Red-X a glare of my own. His masked face met mine for a few seconds before glancing back at the window with a dismissive grunt. The Titan's leader looked at me for a moment. Maybe he felt grateful, thinking I was backing him up. I really just wanted to stop hearing Red-X's voice. It made it a lot harder to keep the claw under control. It also made it harder to want to keep it under control.
The awkward silence returned in full force for the next few minutes. The Titan's leader keeping a vigilant view of the road before us, Red-X knowing I would rip his head off if he said one more word, and See-More still resting peacefully. All was still in the woods that surrounded the dirt road we were parked on. It was so quiet that when the crackle of static from the leader's communicator started up it made everyone jump and caused See-More to wake up.
"Raven? Beastboy? Is that you? Report!" the Titan's leader commanded as the static continued. Intentionally or not the leader held the communicator so it was easy for the rest of us to see the small screen as he flipped the communicator open. Fuzzy images matched the static noise at first but all at once it cleared up with a hauntingly familiar, strained voice that calmly spoke as the clear image of a bright red sphere took up the screen.
"Welcome…back…my sweet prizes…"
"Who is this? Where are Raven and Beastboy?" Robin questioned, his voice calm but I could see just how tightly he was gripping the communicator, the damnable spines in my shoulder quivered with anxiety.
"They are…kind enough…to…entertain me…though I would…hurry Robin...I…tire quickly…"
Robin opened his mouth to say more but the image was cut to black, no fuzzy images and no static. The leader cursed as he closed his communicator. He sat there in his seat for a moment, his hands clenching the steering wheel of the car.
"Hey man…we're gonna help them…right?" See-More spoke up. The weakness in his voice set me immediately on edge despite my spines informing me that there was only determination on his mind.
"Don't be stupid," Red-X admonished, "we barely escaped last time, and that was only cause Pinky and Kyd took him off guard. He's gonna be ready for us this time."
No thanks to you. I thought, my claw clenching but I fought my desires and did not even look at him. Instead I turned my attention to Robin, who had yet to even move.
"Besides," Red-X went on, holding up his cuffed hands, "you really expect boy scout here to team up with a bunch of crooks, even if it meant saving his friends?"
"He teamed up with us before," See-More pointed out, looking at the back of Robin's head. Red-X did as well for a moment before letting out another dismissive huff and relaxing back in his seat.
"It doesn't matter either way; you and I are not in any condition to fight a Prince who can survive one of Kyd's claw-crushes-head-to-bits techniques."
See-More than looked to me for some clarification. I could only nod. I did crush it, killed it as much as one could kill a mechanical spider. But Raven had informed us that one of the Prince's was mechanical based, similar to Fixit, it was not out of the question that he was just speaking through that spider, much like Number 26 did with that black orb thing.
Before we could discuss any further plan of action Robin suddenly opened the door, stepped out and closed the door again in one fluid motion.
"Whoa hey, what about us man!?" See-More called out with as much strength as he could muster, pressing himself against his window as Robin ran off down the road.
"What did you expect? He's leaving us here because he doesn't trust us." Red-X said with a shrug, "Better off this way anyways. You can break out of those restraints, right Kyd? Cause in case you forgot See-More and I are kind of on a bit of a time line here and I'm pretty sure Mr. Hero took my Zinothium with him."
I nodded reluctantly. I wasn't keen on helping Red-X in any form but aside from Jinx he was the only one who could give See-More the proper injections. Even if I could find where he hides his Zinothium in his maze of a mansion in time I could never bring myself to inject See-More with a needle. The idea of needles never before unnerved me but thinking of doing it to See-More would make my stomach squirm and my hands shaky so Jinx would always be the one to do it when Red-X was gone. Now I really wished I had learned to man up.
"No, Kyd, you need to go help the Titans first," See-More said. I could only stare back at him, bewildered.
"You're joking right?" Red-X said in my stead, "look, See-More, I admire this new leaf thing you've decided to turn but I'm not exaggerating when I say we maybe have less than half an hour, tops, and you really want to risk our lives so Kyd can go running off to go help the people that put us in this predicament in the first place?"
"I do," he said, the same feeling of determination I felt in the spines matched the look See-More was giving me in that moment. Red-X seemed to sense it too.
"Okay, fine, how bout we just save the argument and have him do both? Kyd, you can just teleport us to where the Zinothium is and then go be a hero, I should be able to take care of the rest after-."
"No Kyd can't teleport us, he can't teleport at all," See-More stressed, looking from Red-X to me, "look, man, your changing, and not for the better."
I averted my eyes from See-More then. I felt the fear in the spines mix in with the shame in my stomach.
"It scares me, Kyd, I don't want to lose you, not like that."
I couldn't look at him. I couldn't assure him that wouldn't happen, even if I had the capability of doing so. I could only stare down at the claw and my purple hand. There was nothing left of me that I recognized, I could only imagine how I looked to him, to everyone.
"You have to help the Titans, Kyd, if they don't learn to count on us then we won't be able to avenge Mammoth, Billy, and Gizmo, and we won't be able to keep those Prince's from…killing the other H.I.V.E guys."
"Well that's not asking for too much," Red-X said with obvious sarcasm, but I smiled regardless. I had been so focused on protecting See-More and Jinx, I didn't even think of all the other students we had spent those years with. But of course See-More never forgot, not once.
Willing the claw to listen I forced the cuffs to break with relative ease before opening the car door.
"You aren't serious are you?" Red-X questioned. In response I shot him the worst glare I could muster, even baring my pointy teeth for added affect. It seemed to do the trick as he straightened up and held out his hands almost immediately. "Yeah, okay scary guy I get it, not all past sins forgiven. Just hurry up will you? I'm gonna have to drag See-More to the Zinothium myself if you take too long."
I nodded, not wanting to but trusting him to at leastt keep an eye on See-More. I traded one last look with See-More, half-hoping he would change his mind. He only smiled his famous smile and wished me luck. And I was off, running down the dusty road as fast as my legs could carry me, praying I wasn't too late to fulfill my best friend's wishes.
XXXXXX
"What the hell is this, Question, why is she like this?" Cyborg asked as he and Jinx turned to look at him.
"Get inside the shuttle," Question responded, a gun in one of his hands that he pointed between the two of them.
"If you think that's gonna stop me you got another thing co-!" Cyborg began to say until he was cut off when the hero threw a small, round device that connected with his chest like a magnet. Cyborg cried out as more of that red electricity surged through his body before he fell to his knees. Jinx made to rush to his side but Question held the gun to her.
"Do not move, he is not necessary, if you try to move against me I won't hesitate to kill him."
"Why are you doing this!?" Jinx demanded, feeling herself on the brink of tears again as she looked at Cyborg who remained unmoving. The blue parts of his armor had lost their color and light.
"Get into the shuttle," Question said, keeping the gun trained on her. She looked at the dark, metallic thing.
"No," she said, she felt her desire to cry disappear.
Question trained the gun to Cyborg.
"Now," he commanded, but it was all the time she needed.
With a flick of her wrists the pink energy came alive and hit Question's gun before he could fire. And then he fired, but how unlucky for him for it to suddenly be jammed at the moment before one of Jinx's boots connected with his featureless face.
Jinx did not bother to watch him land before she went over to Cyborg. She knew next to nothing about his machinery but she figured removing the device that was still connected to his chest. When pulling it led to nothing she focused her bad luck into it. Not yet letting her down the device had an unfortunate malfunction and popped off his chest. Still, nothing seemed to change. Human eye closed no light from the mechanical eye.
"Cyborg? Cyborg! Wake up!" Jinx exclaimed, shaking him, "Wake up damn you!"
"Enough games then," I voice said, sounding like Question but…more sinister…darker. Before Jinx could react to it she was hit by a darkness fast and powerful that shoved her away from Cyborg and into the shuttle in less than a second.
The darkness did not leave her though. It overtook her vision, it closed her throat. As Jinx fought to say conscious she could hear it whisper in her head a million things at once. It admired her strength, it admonished its underestimation of her, it complimented her beauty, it wished it could kill her, it threatened her, it adored her. So many conflicting words whispered in her head, they threatened to drown her in their passion.
Wally…
She felt her back hit the ground. She thought she could hear pounding on the door, muffled shouting.
Please…
She allowed her eyes to close. She could no longer breathe; her entire body had gone cold and numb. As the black smoke continued to whisper its thousands of words in her head she felt the tears come.
Save me…
That's when it hit her. She did not want to die. She was broken, she was hallow, but she was not defeated. Not yet. He would not want to see her like this. And if there was really some sort of afterlife after someone died she could not face him if she let herself go like this…
No, before she joined him she would make sure her life meant something. If she was cursed with this power than so be it. Like a dear friend told her not all that long ago, power does not make a person bad.
Jinx was on the brink of death. She could feel it in her body and hear it in the creature's words. But as she focused on life she could feel that one of her palms was lying flat on the floor of the shuttle. The banging on the door was faint, but still there. It would have to do.
With the last of her power that she could muster Jinx sent the pink energy into the ground, sending it into the direction of the pounding. Into the circuitry of the door. It did not take much to cause it to have a rather unfortunate malfunction.
The hiss of a door opening was all Jinx heard before the noise of a hurricane burst into the room. Jinx was pulled out of the darkness as she felt herself become lifted up from the ground. She watched in horror as the smoke creature got sucked straight out of the shuttle and into deep space through the open door, and she was but a second from following.
That is until a large silver and blue figure suddenly appeared in the door, blocking her death with its sturdy form.
Jinx tried to scream his name but the air was being pulled out of her lungs as the deep blackness of space tried to pull them out. She looked up at him. His one eye looked dead and bloodshot. The once dark skin was almost white. He looked back down at her and the look he gave her almost stopped her heart.
A loud tearing of metal caught her attention just a second before he threw her against one side of the shuttle. Not even a moment later various mechanical parts of the shuttle began to ram into him, having been torn away by the pull of space. He held firm to the sides of the door but more and more debris were trying to force their way out. Over the sounds of the blaring alarm Jinx could hear loud creaking. She saw right away that the chair that held Starfire was about to come off its foundation. The electricity was still there, but it seemed more intense, shocking Starfire as she tried to fight its restraints. It looked like she was screaming but there was no sound coming from her mouth.
Jinx tried to move but the force of the pull made it all she could do to remain against the wall. She tried to use her powers but she still felt the cold and the dark of the creature in her mind. She finally began to sob. Was this all she could do? Watch as those that fought for her die?
She felt a deep, breaking in her heart. She thought of her mother for the first time in years. The roses. Her love. How loving her killed her. It was too much to bear.
Jinx screamed even though no sound came out. She screamed for her mother, for Wally, for Kyd Wykkyd, for See-More, for Billy, for Gizmo, for Mammoth, for everyone that she loved and cared for and for everyone that did the same for her. The pain in her heart grew worse; it felt like it was getting shredded. But she didn't care.
It felt good to cry, to scream. Even at the end, this was something she should have done a long time ago.
Then the pain stopped. It was so sudden, so surreal, that Jinx had to stop crying. When she did she opened her eyes and saw that the pink energy was back, but it was swirling around her, similar to the smoke that had attacked her. But it wasn't the smoke, it was still her, it was her power, only stronger.
She moved an arm, just testing it, and the smoke shot out. It encircled Starfire and Jinx watched as the chair she was trapped in miraculously fell backwards, instead of forwards. It hit the console at the head of the shuttle that simultaneously freed Starfire from the electricity just as a different set of doors closed behind Cyborg. The metal man and the debris fell to the ground simultaneously.
Then, the pink smoke was gone.
Jinx slumped to the ground as Starfire stood up and ran for her teammate, calling his name. She looked at her hands. They seemed normal. She felt her heart. It was beating normally.
But before she could any headway on what happened, a sound, similar to really loud thunder, echoed all around them. She heard Starfire gasp, and then scream. Jinx stood up and ran to her. But she didn't get far before she was stopped dead in her tracks.
The new doors that had closed behind Cyborg were see-through, like glass, so it gave her a perfect view of what they were leaving behind. It was the Justice League's space station, or at least, what was left of it. Some force had blasted the entire thing apart; Jinx could only make out pieces of metal and bodies floating in space before the shockwave of that force made impact with their small shuttle, sending it careening through space. Jinx only had the briefest of sensations of her feet leaving the ground before blinding pain hit her in the back of the head and threw her into oblivion.
XXXXXX
Rip them apart. Leave no function. No life.
The claw tore through the little machines like paper. But they kept coming, like a swarm of locusts. It was all I could do to put one foot in front of the other as I cut each one down, one by one.
The oil. To cool and rich like blood. But not the same. I need more. I need better.
They tried to grab me, tried sticking at me from multiple angles, and tried attacking from a distance. But it was like fighting two opponents at once for them. I had given up trying to control the claw; it was only slowing me down and almost got me captured a few times, so I let it do what it willed while I used my cape with the other hand to help in the culling of the machines.
Find the Prince. He must have blood. Just a little bit. If I keep cutting these down I will find the prince and I will tear him up. I have to find him. I have to find him.
How long had that voice been speaking? Since I had given up control? It was the same voice from back when things went so wrong on Tamaran. But right now we had the same goal, or at least the same methods to reaching our goals. And I had to hurry, hurry and save the-
KILLthe Titans. Catch them when they are weak. Distracted. Rip free their limbs, spill their blood. MAKE THEM PAY FOR WHAT THEY-
What they what? What did they do? Number 26 captured Raven, their friend, as insurance. Should I really be surprised that they didn't just sit around and hope that she was okay? They came…Starfire, Robin, Beastboy. They risked their lives for their friend, and they got caught up in that mess just like-
NO sweet child. We are nothing like them. They are prey, we are predator. We will find them and we will kill them like animals. It will feel so good.
I burst through the large doors that led from one of the many "living rooms" into the hallway and just started running. I was already breathing heavy. I hadn't been in a combat like this since Tamara, and I hadn't been doing much but recovering and making sure See-More recovered since then. Even with these demonic bits there didn't seem to be an end to these small machines. If I kept fighting they would wear me down.
Find the Titans. Bathe in their blood before the end. The fruit has ripened…it is time to eat.
I could feel the entire demonic arm tugging me through the halls. The quills on the shoulder were practically dancing. I could feel a chorus of emotions through them. Fear, excitement, anticipation, anxiety, pain.
If we do not hurry we will miss the spoils! Faster child! FASTER!
The claw tried to reach for my cape then. I practically dislocated my own shoulder when I rammed the arm into the wall. I couldn't use the cape. I made a promise with See-More. Still the claw fought.
"It's already too late child."
A voice. Similar to the one in my head, but I could hear it with my ears…ear. I looked around the now strangely quiet hallway but all I found was a mirror just across from me. The figure reflected in the mirror was not me.
It looked like some hunched thing buried in a dark cloak.
"You are coming along so nicely…yes, yes, very promising."
Its voice alone made me hope that I would never get a good look at what it really looked like.
"You lost your ability to speak yes? Yes, of course you have. The red eyes, grayed skin. But oh, the hands! Yes the hands, beautiful! I have never seen them at this stage, truly marvelous. It is a miracle at all that you still fight...but…ah…yes I see that you had some help."
Then it came out. A tongue, white with black veins and as long as a snake. It slithered out from the folds of the cloak and seemed to lick the glass from behind the mirror. A chill ran down my spine. I felt the claw clench on its own.
"He's becoming quite the nuisance isn't he?" It said, and I knew it was refereeing to the claw, "Yes, yes, I am quite sure he is. Oh, it has been such a pleasure being able to finally see you this…close…but I am afraid we must depart for now. But, first, a parting gift. A test to see how developed you truly are…and a chance to give my brother the blood he craves for oh so dearly."
And before I could even get a firm grasp if this was still reality or not he was gone. But he was not replaced with my reflection, although I thought so for the briefest of moments. It was a figure dressed in a black cape and a pointy-eared cowl and he had grey skin and red eyes. The only differences were that he was several feet taller, more muscular, with one of his hands replaced with what appeared to me a large, black hook.
I remember thinking that Robin and his crew were definitely on their own at this point moments before the large figure burst out from behind the mirror.
XXXXXX
To Be Continued…
XXXXXX