Traitors and Teachers

Chapter 8

The alarm clock sounded and was clickedoff, the one it was meant to wake up had not slept. He had not slept in days,steadily growing more anxious as he watched the news for her, expecting to seeher back to her introverted, dark, sarcastic, dangerously powerful self. Buther absence permeated the news reports of the Teen Titans, the released reportson her vague and few. Just "an injury" and that she was "recovering." Had hebeen playing poker with the Teen Titans he could have taken all their moneywithout trying. Their faces did not indicate that she was recovering, or evenstable. More often than not, there were only three team members fighting at atime, one was always with Raven. Based on what he had seen, Robin seemed to betaking it the hardest, his fighting growing more aggressive to put down thecriminal as quickly as possible when he wasn't with Raven.

A groan escaped him as he rubbed his faceand ran a hand through his hair, not wanting to get up and face yet another daywhere he would ask himself: 'If I had taken her, tended to her immediately,would she be better?' And then face another day where he did not know theanswer, where he was not sure if she would even survive. Her injuries had been numerous and severe:burns all over her back, legs, feet, and hands; heat blisters where her skinhad better protection; both arms broken; smoke inhalation; and bite and clawmarks. Just the burns would be enough, ranging from first to third degree forthe few minutes he had seen them, but the additional damage from Adonis onlyadded to the trauma.

Adonis. Just thinking about him made theman clench his fists and desire to kill Adonis slowly. He was not a forgivingman to begin with, but what Adonis had done, what Adonis had caused... Hestopped, pushing it from his mind by physically standing and looking at himselfin the mirror. The lack of sleep was beginning to show, dark circles formingunder his eyes.

The thought of his eyes caused a sadsmile to flicker across his face. Even though there was still scaring, a purpleeye stared back at him, not matching his original eye. The eye had been verysensitive at first, so he had continued his routine of wearing an eye patch,only now it was to protect an eye, not an empty socket. But it had steadily grownstronger until it matched the other in ability. It had been disconcerting atfirst, getting used to using both eyes, even just having both eyes, but quicklyhe had adapted. That was when he tookoff the eye patch for good, something he had not thought possible. If he only saw her once more, was onlyallowed to say one last thing to her, he would thank Raven for his eye.

On that thought he stood, dressing andgoing out to get food. He chewed food he did not taste as he looked at papersstrewn about the table. There were no new plans for heists, not until she hadrecovered, he would rather not distract the Teen Titans while one of them wasdying for all he knew. Sure, she had healing abilities, but were they thatgood? Instead his down time was filled with worrying, sketching, or taking outhis frustration on some poor workout equipment. If he did want to help her,even indirectly, the only way he could see doing it was possibly keeping crimedown so her friends could be with her. Even if she passed away, at least shewould die feeling her friend's love for her. Perhaps that could somehow easeit, armed with the knowledge she would no longer be in pain. This idea was whathad first led him to sketching designs of equipment and suits, from theornately detailed to the efficiently simplistic. The mask was proving to be thehardest, a full face mask gave the most protection and privacy, yet most heroesdidn't completely conceal their face. But he wasn't a hero, so why play by therules? Because they might be suspicious of a full face mask, something moretypical might suffice. He was leaningmore towards a mask that covered the top half of his face, his nose up,although that did leave his jaw vulnerable. And then there were the colors,they would obviously need to be different from black and orange.

So many things to consider, he was gladhe didn't make a habit of making new suits often. He considered the pros andcons of various things from the color white to shoulder armor as he worked outand trained to keep in top form. Having a younger body had its advantages, andallowed him to work on things he had not been able to before, such asincreasing flexibility past what it had been. But the new body also requiredstrength training to get his muscles back to what they once were. One thing hehad noticed when he first regained his body: everything was loose. He had notrealized that the age this body was at was so much slimmer, granted it's notlike he had been fat before, but his muscles particularly in his arms and chesthad more years of building. Now he was trying to building them back up again,faster, but building muscles that are already built can be slow.