Delirium | Titans

Chapter 6

Jason and Katarina each sat in a chair. Ropes wrapped tightly around their wrists and ankles held them to the arms and legs of their respective chairs. They each also had a blindfold tied over their eyes and noise cancelling headphones covering their ears. The two were incredibly pissed off and struggled against the ropes holding them.

Deathstroke held a device in his hand and slowly scanned it over Jason. When it was held over his left leg it beeped and a light on it blinked.

"They are searching for you." He said, his voice gravely and distorted by his mask. "But it is he they shall find."

He stabbed a knife into Jason's leg and started to dig out the tracker, ignoring Jason's screams of pain. He pulled the small disk shaped tracker out of Jason's leg and left the lair.

———

The original titans stood in front of a body tied to a concrete beam. Dick grabbed the hair and pulled his head up so they could see his face.

"Dr. Light," he muttered.

"What the fuck?" Hank asked, looking at the body.

Dick let go of Dr. Lights hair and something shook loose from his wound and dropped onto the concrete floor.

"Is that... Jason's tracker?" Dawn asked, looking up from the small disk on the ground and to her teammates.

"Someone must've cut it out of him." Dick said, staring down at the tracker.

"Well if Dr. Lights dead where the fuck is Jason?" Hank asked.

"He must be working with a partner." Donna realized.

Suddenly a phone in Dr. Lights pocket started ringing. The team all looked towards it. Dick reached into his pocket and grabbed it, answering the call.

"I see you found my gift." Deathstrokes low and distorted voice spoke through the phone.

"Deathstroke," Dick said, "Where are Jason and Katarina?" 

In Deathstrokes lair he reached out and pulled the noise cancelling headphones off of Jason and Katarina. They both raised their heads, alert.

"Oh, you mean your little sidekick and your newest stray?" He asked tauntingly.

"Who the fuck are you calling a sidekick, asshole?" Jason asked angrily.

"Who the fuck are you calling a stray?" Katarina yelled at the same time.

Deathstroke grabbed Jason's head and started punching him repeatedly in the stomach. Jason could do nothing to defend himself and took it.

"You fucking asshole! What the fuck is wrong with you?" Katarina yelled angrily.

All of this could be heard through the phone and the team watched the phone with varying emotions.

"You fucking bastard! Come try that shit with me!" Hank yelled into the phone.

Deathstroke let go of Jason, who slumped forward in his chair and a few footsteps could be heard as he walked over to Katarina's chair. Without any warning there was the sound of a knife plunging into flesh followed by a blood curdling scream of pain.

Every team member winced, hearing every bit of this through the phone. Deathstroke wasn't done though. Katarina screamed again as the knife was twisted, worsening the wound.

"Just tell us what you want." Dick said, he couldn't handle listening to this.

"As I was saying. If you want them back, hand over Rose." He instructed.

The four Titans looked around at each other, listening to the short and painful breathing of the two on the other side of the phone.

"And how do we know you're going to keep your promise?" Dick asked.

"Tonight. Three AM. Embarcadarro Plaza. Outside. Use this phone to confirm." He said in way of an answer.

The call ended and Dick looked up from the phone and around at his teammates.

———

"Fuck." Katarina growled to herself, the knife still lodged in her gut.

She and Jason both still wore their blindfolds but Deathstroke hadn't yet put the noise cancelling headphones back over their ears. She muttered something to herself under her breath. Her eyes seemed to fill with smoke, the whites, her iris's and her pupils all covered by the grayish black smoke that filled their place. Thankfully, nobody would notice the change as her eyes were covered by a blindfold.

She listened carefully for signs that Deathstroke could see what she was doing. Satisfied by the silence she breathed out, wisps of smoke floating out. The smoke writhed through the air and down to the handle of the knife sticking out of her gut. It wrapped around the handle and slowly pulled the blade out.

A small patch of smoke filled the wound, stopping the flow of blood but doing nothing else to heal her. The other wisps of black smoke set the knife down beneath her chair. The smoke returned to her body and the smoke faded from her eyes, replaced by a short flicker of purple in her iris.

She kept her head lowered, chin resting against her chest and whispered seemingly to herself.

"Katarina, I'm sorry but you need to do this yourself." She whispered.

Her eyes flickered purple again and Katarina's head shot up wildly. Shocked by her lack of vision and the fact that she was tied up, she struggled against the ropes. The wound in her stomach sent waves of pain and she had to bite back a scream. Holy shit, what the hell had happened?

She stilled when she heard footsteps. She felt something get close to her ears  but before it could cover them she blurted two words out. Two words that would change everything.

"Theresa Vlahos." She said.

She could feel the person freeze and move what Katarina had guessed to be headphones away from her ears. The blindfold was ripped from her eyes and she found herself staring into the eyes of a terrifying metal mask. A gloved hand closed around her throat and she felt herself starting to choke.

"How do you know that name?" Deathstroke demanded, staring down at her.

Katarina tried to answer but found her words caught in her throat. His hand tightened and she started to cough.

"How do you know that name?" He repeated.

"My m-mother." She choked out.

His hand suddenly released her throat and he took a step back. She coughed violently and out of the corner of her vision she could see that the still blindfolded Jason was alert. She took a moment to catch her breath before looking up into the dark mask of Deathstroke. She smiled faintly at the irony of the situation.

"Hello dad."