TT Story - Raven: Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Prisoner

Raven drifted, weightless, in the endless darkness. She could sense the light, and struggled towards it. It evaded her, but her spirit continued to fight for it. Slowly, she began to grow aware of the soft surface her body was laid on. Her eyes fluttered open and she found herself looking up at a plain, dark, wooden ceiling. Where was she? What happened to her?
  Raven’s violet eyes slowly closed in on themselves as a splitting headache began spreading across her skull. And she groaned as she remembered what had happened. That foul-smelling cotton. She must have had a bad reaction to the chemical. Damn you Slade! she thought.
  The thought of Slade had her sitting up. She groaned again as her head throbbed. Where was he? Where was she? She looked around and found that she was in a small cell-like room, with only the bed she had been lying on. She saw two wooden doors; one was heavy and bolted the other thin and warped, and ajar. She went to investigate. Inside was a tiny cupboard sized room that held a toilet and a wash basin. Raven guessed that the heavy door was the exit from her prison. She went to the basin and splashed her face, hoping it would revive her a little. Back in the first room, she took a closer look around. As she had noticed before, the ceiling was wooden, though it looked somewhat mouldy and damp. The walls and floor were plain concrete making the room rather cold and dark, especially since there was no window. The bed was simple and covered in rough patchwork blankets and a rather lumpy pillow.
  Raven sighed. Not much to live on. She’d go crazy in a few days, no doubt. Looking down at herself, she found that no clothing had been removed; her cloak was still on, but slightly wrinkled now. Then she noticed that she hadn’t been completely untouched; on her left wrist was a plain, silver, metal band. She lifted her wrist to her eyes, examining the foreign object. Peering closely, she noticed that on the inner side there was something that looked like a circuit board that went the whole way around the band, but on the inside where it could not be easily seen. It was also so that it touched her skin at all times. Raven shivered; she suddenly felt rather invaded, and she could see no way to get it off. Perhaps it was a tracking device to make sure she did not escape. Damn you, Slade! she thought again.
  As if her mind conjured him, suddenly Raven heard the scraping of a large key in a rusty lock and then her door swung open. There stood Slade, framed in the doorway. Without a word, he turned and closed the door behind him then faced her… and just stared at her. Raven crossed her arms, not giving him the satisfaction of her asking him what he wanted. He would have to tell her if he wanted her to know. “Well well, Raven… quite a surprisingly easily capture. I expected to have more trouble from you. Though I must say, you did seem rather… preoccupied.”
Raven deigned to raise a lofty brow, regarding him with contempt.
“Have you nothing to say?” he said with a chuckle.
“What would you have me do?” Raven replied with heavy sarcasm. “Beg for my life or the life of my friends? Beg for mercy? Plead for my release? You can forget it. Though I am curious as to what you could possibly hope to achieve by taking me.”
Slade chuckled again. “I’ve always admired your spirit, Raven.” He began to advance on her, but she stood her ground. “What I hope to gain, Raven, is Robin’s demise. He will find that his love has been captured, by none other than his mortal enemy. I intend to keep him in pain for as long as it takes; he will find no trace of you for months until one day, when he is at his weakest, I will confront him somewhere of my choosing and we will fight to the death. For you.”
Raven’s eyes had grown wider and wider. She mastered the shock quickly, however, and managed to speak with scorn. “It will not work.”
“Oh really? And why is that?” he said sarcastically.
“Because he doesn’t love me.”
Slade could see that she had tried to say this without emotion, but he had heard the note of dejection. So she loved him. Even more surprising to him was his stab of sympathy for her. It was a little difficult to see her as a powerful enemy when she looked so small and delicate, her violet eyes wide and innocent looking.
What was this? He was thinking like a fool! She was not just a girl; she had more power than he dared imagine!
  Seeing that he was distracted for a second, Raven tried to summon her powers and send a jet straight for his chest. “Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS!” She stumbled back, horrified. Her powers! Gone!
“Nice try, Raven. See that metal band on your wrist?” He grabbed her left wrist and pulled her towards him. “Neutralises all your powers.” He said in a low voice.
Lifting her arm, he slowly pulled her closer until their faces were inches apart (Raven’s looking up at his since he was at least a head taller than her). “So don’t… even… try.” He said slowly and emphatically.
  He flung her away from him so she fell backwards onto the bed. He stood looking down at her.
“And about what you said, that Robin doesn’t love you, we shall see.” He turned to leave, then, remembering something, looked over his shoulder at her. “Meals will be brought to you by only me at mealtimes and you will be allowed some fresh air twice a day, escorted by only me.” With that, he left, the heavy door swinging shut behind him and the key grinding in the lock.
  Raven’s breath rushed out of her and her whole body went limp on the bed as she relaxed her muscles. What was she going to do? If Slade told the truth, Raven would go for months without practicing to control her powers or even using her powers. It would take her ages to get the same level of control again. Damn that man! The small room suddenly seemed to be closing in on her and she felt extremely claustrophobic. The air felt thick and heavy. How could she survive here for months? She was going mad already!


*End of Chapter 2.