Put the Fire Out | [closed]

[Tim Drake]

{{{Here's the ranking system that is referenced by Robin and Batman, it's of my own making: Classes and Rankings}}}

Robin cast an appraising glance at Olivia and Ruby as the clicking and ringing sounds carried over the small speaker, the sounds of many levels of digital encryption clicking into place, his mask of course hiding his electric blue eyes as he looked at the tiny blond tot and then pointed at a chair and whispered at her mother; "Have a seat? I want to do a quick blood test on Ruby and scan her as soon as I'm--" he held a finger up and turned as a short dual note tone signaled that he was connected to his party...


"What." It was almost more an accusation than a question, and it certainly wasn't a greeting...

"It's Robin--"

"I know, the question was what, as in what do you want..."

"Do you still have the formula for various RDx-6 based toxins?"

"Why?"

"I have a teammate down from a custom blend of RDx-6 with Acenosulfate, and Dextratcromothym, I need an antidote and fast, if you could send me--"

"Who is it?"

Robin let a quick breath out and grit his teeth; Batman was being a real pain right now...

"New recruit, Darkbrand, female, Pyrokinetic about seventeen."

"Build?"

"Five foot seven to eight inches, a hundred and ten or so pounds, slender but mildly athletic, quick and nimble, but stronger than she looks."

"Comparable to?"

"Batgirl two, though not quite as strong, maybe a touch more mobile, and a step faster, plus her powers."

"Beta or Gamma and Kappa then. What level?"

"At least a seven-point-five either way, and with her powers developing I'd even say there's a hint of Omega but it's likely just a trace... How soon can I get the formula?"

"I'm in L.A. now, I can have you a ready made vial in less than half an hour if my pass-code to the tower's med-lab is still good, thirty minuets even if it's not."

"It's still good, I'll send you our current location so you can drop it off."

"I'll administer it myself if you don't mind."

"BUZZ-CLICK!"

Robin looked at his comunacator and then shook his head as he set it back on the table next to the base for the scanner, the device itself softly beeping on standby.

"Olivia? I need to scan Ruby really fast now... Hold her still if you can please?" he raised it up and held it close to the tot and let it read her bio signs...

[Violet Schultz]

"Try it, Darkbrand," Slade's baritone voice taunted. "The second your eyes light up, your boyfriend is history. Then again, he might be a challenge to kill off. We may have to experiment a little to see what works."

Violet's jaw clenched, but her eyes were cold with hatred as she stared down the villain. She could see Will behind the one-way glass, unconscious and helpless to defend himself, a line of blue blood dripping from the edge of his mouth. The steel room had obviously been made with the current predicament in mind. After all of the attempts to get him to kill her, it seemed that Slade had decided to do it himself.

"If you can defeat me, I'll set him free and you both walk. If I defeat you, I'll take you both and neither of you go free. If you walk now, I'll just take him, and you can go free. If you decide to fight, keep in mind that if you use your powers, it will be considered a forfeit, and I'll take him anyway. What's it going to be?"

Though anger and fear mingled in the pit of her stomach, nothing but cold determination showed on her face. As if there was any choice.

"You want me? You've got me," she said, her voice harsh. "I would never abandon him to the likes of you."

Confident satisfaction flashed across his face as a cruel smile of anticipation crossed his lips. With a single nod, he gestured for her to come forward. Her eyes were intent and focused as she did so, and it was clear with the first exchange of blows that she was outclassed in a battle of strength. She backed off for a moment, wiping blood from the corner of her mouth. She was grimly satisfied to see the crack in his helmet from where her foot had connected.

As the fight continued, she depended on every trick she knew to catch him off balance. On the streets, you learned that honor has no place in a fight to the death. You take whatever advantage you can find. It was a knock-down all-out street brawl, only it was fought with the elegance of two dancers, sparring as viciously as two snakes. Both of them had training, in dojos as well as real life, but Violet couldn't seem to gain an edge. She was tiring, but he kept coming at her with as much speed as when they started. An emotion she didn't like to feel crept into her mind: desperation. She couldn't lose this, or all was lost.

The next kick caught her in the ribs, and she heard a crack. Flipping back away, she panted as she clutched the spot. A cough brought the taste of blood to her lips, but her eyes glared with as much fire as she had formerly. Only a touch of her exhaustion showed on her face.

The injury seemed to slow her down too much to keep up, and the next exchange of blows left her on her knees, gritting her teeth against the pain. Like a rebel staring up at her executioner, she glared up at Slade again before he kicked her back down to the cold steel floor.

"It looks like I win," Slade intoned, sounding darkly amused. "But, just for the cheek that you showed in entertaining the notion that you had a chance, I'll show you what happens when someone stands against me."

A sharp crack caused her to jerk her head toward the sound, and she felt the brief flame that denoted a gunshot. She could just barely make out the new stream of blue flowing down his face, as her eyes were blurring from pain. The pain wasn't physical, but it peaked as the thought crossed her mind.

I've failed...

Violet's eyes glowed brightly as her torso rose from the couch, arching her back as if she was in agony. In a flash of lavender flames, the lamp behind the couch exploded, showering her and Blaze with shards of the shattered pottery. Her breathing came hard and fast as she slumped back onto the couch.

[William Talbot]

Will again felt like he had just been toss off a cliff in the the back of a cement mixer, but this time he recovered much faster, and realized he was again observing Violet in a dream, or rather nightmare, as he saw a face and heard a voice that sent chills down his spine, and lit a flicker of anger in the pit of his stomach, still what played out next sent chills down his spine, as he watched the events of the dream play out, right up to the point where he saw Violet start to crack, the sound of the gunshot still reverberating in the dream, like a constant reminder as to what had just happened...

Outside the dream, Will's powers felt Violet's spike for a heartbeat, and the clash sent a single drop of blood running down his nose and over his lips as he squeezed her hand tighter and put out the flames, and contained the explosion to just the few spare feet around them, as he pushed deeper into the link, until, to reuse the first metaphor he had envisioned; Their minds, souls and spirits where like two flames, so close that they started to mingle, and become one flame, a dark blue rather than the pale blue of him and the lavender of her, the the blending of the two flames giving Will an idea.

Pushing into the room Will suddenly burst into flames, his inner flame pushing at hers with an urgency as he reached out to her beaten and worn looking form, his hands resting again on her slender shoulders as he spoke, as much with his mind as with the link and with his inner fire; "Violet... It's not real... Fight it, please... Please..." He reached down, and despite the clashing of their minds, the smoldering of his hands and her clothes, and the lavender and sky toned flames that licked up from the contact, Will lifted her face to look at his, as he pushed one last time over the link, his inner flame turning paler and growing stronger as he pushed at her, and in her dream, in the plane of existence that was in her mind, now shared by his, he leaned in and kissed her, full on the lips, a hand coming up to cup her cheek, as his other arm moved to pull her in close, the landscape fading to an empty black space as he appeared to her at last...

[Violet Schultz]

Violet didn't look up after that sight, using all of her self-control to try to block out the deep well of sorrow, pain, and loss that was ripping itself open in her heart. She could blow the complex with the amount of emotion she was feeling, and she wouldn't survive it. It would probably drain her power past the point of no return. But did it even matter anymore? It would kill Slade, too, and she no longer even cared what happened to her. As long as that man died, what did it matter if she did, too? He had taken the last semblance of love from her, and she couldn't take it. Not again.

Fury burned in her eyes as the tears steamed and evaporated. Slade looked entirely unphased, as if she was a disobediant child who was throwing a tantrum. The build-up of power trying to force itself out through her skin was beginning to hurt, but she didn't stop, and her lavender eyes burned white, rather than their usual purple. The patterns appeared on her skin, their gleaming hue matching her eyes, and she gritted her teeth against the amount of power she was suppressing, and the terrible pain it was causing her. The air around her shimmered with heat as the rising air caused her hair to whip around her face.

The only thing that could have broken through to her was what she felt at that moment; the steady pulse of Will's inner fire, approaching her. But, wasn't he...? She turned her head, the powers draining away as she began to hope... She met his lips gratefully, and she was trembling all over as she embraced him, her mind greeting his with a joyous flare of her inner flame. She barely noticed that the cold steel room was gone, along with Slade and his glaring eye.

"Oh god," she whispered. "I thought you were dead."

For the first time, her hand returned the grip, and squeezed ever-so-slightly. The glow from her eyes, which had been getting steadily brighter from behind the lids, faded away completely, leaving her breathing a little more steadily, even if her pulse was still racing. Still, the poison kept her asleep, open to more nightmares...

[William Talbot]

Will pressed his lips into hers a bit more and then smiled as she sobbed at him, his face bright and relieved as he looked at her then slowly closed his eyes and laughed; "What? Violet I'm right here... sorta... This is all a bad dream, you where drugged somehow, Robin thinks it was the Orange juice... We're communicating over the Link,it's how I got into your mind, or at least this part of it... I've been trying to reach you, but, everything was so intense, and it changed so fast..." Will seemed to shimmer slightly as he stood there holding her closely, a heat that most would have called oppressive, bathed them in comfort, or was it that the comfort of at last being in contact like this allowed their inner fires to well up safely?

Ahh, who cared, right now, despite the undertone of danger and fear, that lurked behind them, Will felt relived and happy that he had broken through the noise and nightmares that had tormented Violet, and now that she was armed with the truth, she could fight back...

"It's okay, you're safe, Robin's working on getting you something to fight this with, and I'm here, you can fight this, I know it... You're stronger that all of this..."

He gave her another kiss, this time on the cheek as he hugged her close then looked around as the blackness started to fade into something else, his grip on her hand still firm...



... his eyes still glowing, but not as brightly now under his eyelids as he heard some of the background noises of Robin and Olivia, as well as a fussing Ruby...

[Violet Schultz]

"So that's what that burning sensation was..." she mused. "You know, whoever did this has a sick sense of humor."

Violet all but growled, her anger rekindling. With her experience, she could usually control her emotions until it was almost an automatic response. In this case, her anger didn't flare, as much as it smouldered, unless the stimulus was extreme enough. Fortunately, she was getting kinda spent from all of the mental and emotional strain. She couldn't summon much of her power even if she wanted to. However, her power tended to surprise her sometimes. The more exhausted she was, the less likely she could control it.

The dreamscape shifted again, and she felt her mind pulled somewhere new. With Will as a point of reference, she noticed the change now. The world of her past appeared around her, this time showing New York as she had seen it when she came to America. Cowering behind an older woman, she slipped off of the boat, six years old and still very small. The customs official didn't even glance down at her.

The docks were such a gloomy place, and she couldn't stand being near so many people... She slipped down an alley, seeking...who even knew what?

The young Violet screamed as a hand grasped her ankle, followed by another which pulled her to the ground. A street urchin's beady eyes glared up at her from a mass of facial hair and dirt. His satisfied smirk told her that he had more on his mind than stealing her money. Even as a small child, she had understood, and terror had struck her. Her eyes began to glow purple, and the man yelled in pain and grasped his hand to himself, smoke rising from his scorched palm. Breaking away, she ran, panting in fear.

She was aware of Blaze's presence, and it brought her to her senses. This memory had haunted her for a long time, but it had been years since she'd thought of it. It had spurred her to become stronger, and had given her awareness of what the world was like for a homeless little street girl like her. Her breathing slowed, but a hint of terror still colored her face. It was like she was experiencing all of this for the first time; the emotions were so real.

[William Talbot]

Will still felt connected to her, even if he couldn't see her, and the memory that played out as a bad dream was like a movie, on a massive screen in front of him, and as he watched, he just whispered, knowing that Violet would hear him; "It's only a dream Vi... It's only a dream..." as he allowed himself to slowly drift from the dream, but still stay firmly connected to Violet over the link...


"R-Robin... Hurry, she's fighting back now, but while her mind is still strong, I can feel her body starting to tire... Please, hurry..." He said hoarsely as his eyes glowed and then opened for a moment before he closed them and went back into her mind, to help anchor her the fact that it was all a dream...


{{{Okay, time for Tim and Olivia to catch up, then we'll get back to the old posting order for the grand finale!}}}

[Violet Schultz]

Violet laughed once, a short bitter laugh. If only it was all just a dream. There were elements of truth in most of those dreams, and that was what scared her. The ones that didn't happen still could happen. She almost wished that Will wasn't there to see all of her weakness, all of the things about herself that she hated. In her life, she had developed a wall between her emotions and the rest of the world, and it was a self-protective instinct. Also, she didn't want him to start to pity her. As if he didn't already. Still, she also feared that without him there to anchor her to reality, she would lose herself in these nightmares.

She felt him return just a moment before the dreamscape shifted again. God, no. Not this place. It was a dark and grungy alley, one that she knew well. The Shadows flanked her as she stepped forward to meet Riley in the middle. He was a huge, dark-skinned teenager with sunken eyes and a menace about his stance that spoke of authority and power, even while his sunken eyes bespoke a certain amount of drug abuse. Despite the lack of spark in his eyes, his expression was hard and cold, like most of their kind. Violet's own expression could've frozen lava.

"Last chance, Schultz," his gravelly voice intoned. "Give up 14th Street, or this will get ugly."

"The Shadows have owned 14th Street since long before I became leader," Violet replied, her voice toneless. "I intend for it to stay that way."

"I hear the 14th Street set doesn't get along with the rest of the Shadows. What do you care if we take them out?" he growled.

"A Shadow is a Shadow, no matter what street," Violet snorted. "Besides, I like them a whole lot more than I like you."

"You're still that cheeky little bitch you were when I first met you," he observed. "I think it's time someone beat that out of you."

A hard smile crossed Violet's face for the first time, and she goaded him with her eyes. With his first swing, the fight was on. Chaos descended upon the alley as her fighters fell upon his, and the battle for 14th Street began. Dodging his swing easily, she stepped carefully between his legs and rammed her shoulder into his solar plexus before sweeping her foot around to dislodge his stance. He went down heavily, but his retorting kick caught her in a glancing blow to the ribs. It still hurt, and it gave him the time he needed to get back to his feet, despite being thoroughly winded.

Striking his throat with a stiff chop, she kicked him back off of his feet for the second time with a powerful shot. His next move was one that she hadn't expected at the time, but it replayed in her nightmares until she hated guns almost as much as she hated Elias. He pulled a gun from his waistband and swung it around, firing two shots as he did. Both gangs scattered from around them as her eyes beheld a new sight.

Instead of herself, it was Will who was sinking to the pavement in front of her, bleeding heavily from multiple bullet wounds. He had thrown himself into the way to protect her, and had taken the shots. Rationally, she knew that two shots were hardly likely to kill him. But the bleeding didn't stop. He didn't get up and take out the threat. He lie on the grimy alley ground, blue blood dripping from his shoulder and his side. She kneeled at his side, trying to stem the bleeding, but nothing was working.

"Silver bullets," the burly gang leader laughed, tossing the gun before he turned tail and ran.

Her heartrate raced on, her body stuck in a panic mode that they were powerless to stop. Her breath came in ragged gasps.

[William Talbot]

Will's head spun, as things changed, and as he watched the dream play out, he was lost wondering how this would turn out, since he wasn't as in tune with this dream as the last time and--


"BANG! BANG!"


He found himself face down, hurting and wondering what on earth had just happened and why he felt like a truck had fallen on his arm.

"Ouch... Dang Violet, what just happened?" he asked as he suddenly was in two places at once, the image of him in Violet's mind bleeding out on the dream-scape, the real deal standing next to her and his pictured doppelganger, his hand moving over his head in a scratching motion as he felt the clashing of fact and fiction swirl about and shake him up some...

Realizing everything that this meant, Will reached out to Violet and took her arm firmly in his hand and reminded her; "It's just a dream Violet..."
William wasn't stupid, he could feel her emotions and sense her thoughts, and while he understood the reasoning, he also was puzzled as to why she would think he thought her weak or that he pitied her, in any way, when he didn't feel pity, but had empathy for her, an understanding that was far beyond pity.


Pulling back Will blinked a bit then looked to Robin and begged; "Robin, please... do SOMETHING, she's starting to break! I don't think she can hold on much longer, the dreams are getting worse!"
Even as he spoke, he gave her hand a squeeze to remind her she wasn't alone and that the dreams weren't real...

{{{I'll post next as Robin and we then go back to the proper posting order}}}

[Tim Drake]

Robin turned and looked at Blaze, and then Darkbrand, then he dug into a small sleeve in his belt and pulled out a small plastic tube with some pills in it.

Twisting open the small package, Robin then pulled the small canteen from the back of his belt and opened it as well, dumped the pills into it, resealed it, shook it up, then knelt down and propped the inert Titan up and then poured some into Darkbrand's mouth, before repeating, careful to let her body's natural impulse to swallow and clear her mouth and throat so she could breathe...

"Caffeine pills, this should help stimulate her some, but with her body's natural defense against outside substances it may not work..." he looked down at Blaze and then nodded to him; "Get back into her dreams Will, she needs an anchor..."

[Olivia Levine]

Olivia and Ruby watched this scene. It as somewhat traumatizing, and scary. "Uh, I'll go upstairs" Olivia said, standing. "After I get Ruby's bottle, then I'll be out of the way completely" she assured the supers. She didn't want to make anything worse, so she stood, and walked out of the way into the kitchen.

It took exactly three minutes for the bottle warmer to warm Ruby's bottles. And right now, three minutes seemed so slow. Olivia pacef back and forth in the small kitchen, is if the more kenetic energy she made, the less potential the bottle warmer would have. Eventually the timer beeped, and Both blondes turned to the warmer, Olivia screwed the cap on tight, and started for the stairs. She didn't want to be in the way, so, the farthest place would be the bedroom.

[William Talbot]

Moving back into the link, and back into the dreamscape, Will found Violet, alone in the alley, only a single hint of the last dream to be found, the gun loaded with silver bullets, sitting there in the street, which was currently dark, and wet with rain.

Moving next to her, Will knelt down and touched her, the now familiar sensation of their minds meeting, the wisps of energy floated up into nothingness as he looked at her and tried to snap her out of it all; "Violet? Vi, please, its just a dream, maybe it's based in facts, or history, or just memories, but this it self isn't real, it's a nightmare brought on by some drug, and as such, it can be beaten..."

Feeling some of the feelings she was wrestling with, Will reached up, and turned her face to him, so he could look at her, his voice soft and calm; "Vi... I'm real, I'm sitting next to you, holding your hand, crying my eyes out and pleading with you, with Tim, to get you to wake up... But YOU have to be the one to fight this mess... I don't think any less of you, and for you to think otherwise is foolish." he said as he held her hand and her shoulder, as the rain in this dream started to come down harder, a soft chill in the air of this place buried deep in Violet's mind...

[Tim Drake]

Robin turned to speak with Olivia as he worked on the scanner, but she was already walking up the stairs, so he called out to her; "Keep Ruby awake until we check her!"

He then went back to Violet to scan her again, to see if the poison was wearing off at all yet, and if the caffeine was working at all, and it seemed that that was the case, if only just...

Slamming his fist onto the coffee table Tim seethed at how helpless he felt, even as he felt that dark foreboding presence that always seemed to well up when he was around...


"How are her vitals?" The Dark Knight asked in his deep rasp, his black visage filling the area that marked the transition between the dining room and the living room.

"Erratic, she's mostly stable, but her heart rate keeps spiking then falling, and her adrenal levels have peaked twice, she's strong, and can recover fast, but I have no clue how much longer she can keep this up without either loosing control of her powers and overwhelming Blaze, or giving out." Robin said as he looked back to the two pyro powered Teens, tears streaming down Will's face as Violet turned her head some back and forth, her breathing shallow again.

"Have you tried--"

"Yes, about five or ten minuets ago."

"And?"

"Her body almost literally burns toxins and purges them from her system, this stuff was made for her or someone like her, and she's metabolizing the caffeine too fast, it’s being used up or burned away before it can really affect her.”

“But it has an effect?”

“Yes, but its nominal.”

“Then give her this.”

Batman then reached into a small case and pulled out one of numerous vials, then handed it to Robin, who opened it and carefully loaded it into a small pressurized injector, which he pressed into her forearm and then activated, the dosage bursting into her bloodstream…

“Give her at least one more dosage within the next hour, and lots of water…”

“Right. Are you…”

“For now, I’m following on some leads on a few people of interest for me.”

“Anyone we might know?”

“Professionally? Only two of them, but I’m not sure if the leads are any good just yet. I’ll keep you informed.”

And with that, Batman turned on his heel and vanished out the back, in the same manner he had showed up…

"Thanks." Robin said to thin air as he looked at the readout from the scanner, which showed that the Anti-toxin was working, slowly but surely, it was countering the poison and allowing Violet's body to purge it from her system...

[Violet Schultz]

The dream began to swirl into a mist, and Violet stood, looking at Blaze for an explanation. This transition was different from the others, not becoming another vision, but fading into blackness entirely. It was as if the entire area was evaporating, leaving nothing but empty space. She looked back around and took a step forward. A purple ripple spread from her foot, bright against the absolute darkness everywhere else. The ripples were the same pale lavender as her flames, and she watched as they disappated into nothingness.

"Well, this is odd," she commented. "I have to say it's an improvement, though. Do you have a clue what's going on?"

She turned to Blaze, who she could somehow see despite the darkness. Were they in her subconcious? Seemed awfully empty for that to be the case, but she didn't see any other explanation. Stepping again toward the darkness, she lit a fire on her hand to illuminate the area. With that lick of flame, the entire area lit, revealing what looked like a warehouse filled with doors standing upright in the middle of the floor. The warehouse was grungy and bleak, though each door was black and pristine. She got the feeling that she shouldn't go near them, curious though they seemed.

"This just keeps getting stranger," she observed.

Her heartrate slowed gradually, returning to a more regular beat. Even though the hallucinogen was being countered, it would take a few minutes for her body to metabolize the toxin as well as the tranquilizer. Even after that, she would want a lot more sleep, preferably dreamless.

[William Talbot]

Will stood there not far off from her, noting that things seemed somewhat better, if not a tad more cryptic, a single nod and light hum his only response to her first comment...

"What is this place?" He asked softly as he stepped next to her, his own powers somehow not quite translating into her mind just yet, his eyes a paler blue then ever before, as his eyes adjusted to the sight of so many doors, pristine and black, with a light sheen on them.
But then he saw one door that instantly peeked his interest, it was the same size as the others, only this one was dark blue, the same ting as Violet's eyes, and it was slightly ajar, as if someone had lazily pushed it shut and not taken care to close it properly.

"Hmm..." Will mused softly as he stepped up to it and looked at it before turning and calling Violet over; "Hey, uh Vi? Look at this..." he said, pointing directly at the blue door...