Of Ashes and Embers

Let the Place Burn

(Robin pov)

It's been about a week since I was kidnapped. I'm hoping the Team is close. That I am close to being rescued. And not just me, Demon too. I wince again as I hear the scream again. I think they took her to the lab. They do that often and it's the only time I hear any kind of pain from her. I'll never forget the screams that echo down the hall to me. They don't let me leave the room much. I have been allowed to do a couple of lessons with Demon, they're in the back of the lab. I was admittedly nervous the first time, but it turns out that lessons are just academic and its usually only the scientists and a guard that are in there with us.

There are several things I have learned over the past week. The first is that Demon is incredibly more skilled and intelligent than we thought. She has to have an IQ that at least matches mine, probably a little higher in some respects if I account for the fact that she's been drugged since I got here. Two: we're in the middle of nowhere. Occasionally I hear a helicopter which, after asking Demon, I know is the only way she knows to really get out of this area. Three: I'm pretty sure that Demon is physically protecting me from whatever the hell it is that they put her through on a daily basis. She comes in everyday with new bruises and injuries. She never tells me what happened, but I have a feeling its because I am here. Four: Demon is not the bad guy here. I am more than convinced that she was kidnapped at some point and tortured into submission before they began training her as Demon. Five: Despite being open to answering most of my questions, she has yet to reveal much about herself. I don't even know her name. She's been called nothing but Demon, Asset, Weapon, or girl since I've been here.

The screaming stops. It's a few minutes later when Demon walks through the door. She's paler than usual and covered in sweat. She's using the wall to support herself and barely makes it to her cot before she collapses onto it. She's got a new black eye and there's some blood on her hands, but I can't tell if she's hurt anywhere else.

"Demon", I call to her gently. Her head stays down, I think she's looking at her hands, but I don't know if her eyes are even open. I stand, cautiously, I don't want to spook her. I slowly place my hand on her back, to rub it, but she flinches violently. I recoil and then realize that my hand is wet. Glancing down I see blood. My eyes shoot back to her. "Your back is bleeding," I tell her, though she probably already knows it.

"Just leave it alone," comes the mumbled reply. Leave it alone? She's bleeding, enough for it to soak threw her shirt and she's not even trying to get it to stop.

"You can't just," I angrily start but a shrill alarm stops me. Demon's head snaps up, eyes wide.

"Stay here," she orders before disappearing out of the room. I don't know why but I follow the order. She's only been gone a couple of minutes, but the alarm is still going off. I decide to try the door. My hands on the handle when I hear it. The first gun shot, followed by more. Then there's the sound of an explosion and yelling. Lots of yelling. What's happening? I smell smoke. The door swings open again, nearly hitting me in the face. Demons there. Fresh blood on her face. I can't tell if its hers or someone else's.

"We gotta go," she pants.

"What", I question. She doesn't answer me. Just pulls me towards the door. We don't get far.

"Don't move Weapon," a guard orders, the barrel of his gun level with her head. The hall behind him is filled with thick smoke and I can't make anything but him out. Demon shifts so she's just a little more in front of me. She's protecting me. Why the hell is the guard pointing the gun at her and not me anyways? "Stand down," he states. Her body is tense, everything readying for getting out of this. The sound of something falling, collapsing, makes it finally click in my head. The building is on fire and it's under attack. And Demon's trying to get us both out. She moves forward. I hear the gun go off at the same time that I see the guard go down. He shot her, or tried to at least. She's pushing me forward now, towards the smoke.

"Twenty steps down," she hisses, clutching at her arm. I nearly trip on the first step but then I count the rest. How the hell does she know the building this damn well? How long has she been here? After counting the twentieth she's pushing me forward, quickly glancing to my right I think I see a flicker of a flame through the smoke.

"Sixty feet," Demon keeps mumbling. "Sixty feet, twenty up." At the end of this we're standing in the doorway of the lab.

"What exactly is the plan here," I ask.

"We have to jump, the only way out without burning to death is the lake," she informs me while guiding to the back of the lab, near where the lessons take place. I can feel the heat of the fire now. The wood is beginning to crumble around us.

"How far down," I ask but decide the answer doesn't matter much when I feel the building begins to feel as if its falling. I think it really is. Demon yanks me to the only window in the lab, breaking the glass with her elbow. She shoves me through it before I can really protest and I find myself falling towards dark water.

(Demon pov)

This fucking sucks. I make sure I see Robin hit the water before I follow him. I am not fast enough. The building follows me. I hope he swam far enough that he isn't caught with it. As soon as I hit the water I try and begin to try and swim away from the cliffside and the burning the building. Let the thing burn, but not burning with it sounded like a good plan. The League was here for Robin. I don't know what caused the explosion. Just that I had to try and get Boy Wonder out alive. I'm almost to the surface when fresh pain shoots through my left leg and I start getting further away from the surface of the lake. Looking down I see that my leg has been caught by wood from the building. I tug on it desperately as the light from the surface gets further from me. I can't get it loose. Fuck. My lungs begin to ache. I grab for one of my knives in the vain hope it will help me get some of the wood off, at least enough for my leg to be freed. It does get some of the wood but that's not where the problem ends The wood hit my leg but I think it's actually tangled in ropes and the wood is attached to that. Fuck. I can't breathe. The wood hits the bottom of the lake and I tug desperately. I'm trapped. I can't breathe. My eyes leave the tangle of ropes and wood to meet the eyes of the boy I knew long ago. There's a loud ringing.

"You've always been a fighter, Scrappy," he states. "You don't have to do that anymore. Stop fighting, you've done that long enough," he tells me. I feel my eyes flutter. The edge of my vision is white. The burning in my chest becomes too much. I breathe and the water fills me. "I'll take care of you kid, you did good, it's time". The world around me darkens into nothingness as the burning takes over, I feel everything and nothing all at once. It's ok. It's kind of peaceful.