I'm Fine (book 2)

Smoke and Mirrors

Nightwing walked onto the bus in a haze. His puffy eyes covered by black aviator sunglasses which kept a sense of anonymity and safety. He sat down in the back left corner of the bus so he could be as far away from anyone and wedged his suitcase in the seat next to him as a barrier. He held his clammy hands together and shakily tried to take a deep breath. His communicator was on silent but he felt the vibration in his pocket. He plugged and earpiece into his ear and kept the communicator low as the bus started to move. Cyborg's face appeared, "Hey man! Sorry to bother you. There's been an accident..."

A little earlier, Beastboy ran out to the floor to scoop up Raven. She was awake but was struggling to breath. "Something is wrong... with Nightwing!" She gasped trying to catch her breath in the smokey room. Beastboy got Raven to her feet and helped her into the hole he dug to get under the burning wall. They found a perimeter wall that wasn't burning so Raven could faze out.

"Go! I still have one room to check! I'll be quick!" Beastboy shouted as Raven nodded and fazed through the wall. Beastboy turned and ran down the stairs into the basement. He turned into a bloodhound to sniff for a scent that wasn't smoke. Originally he was looking for a child or pet but started to catch an unfamiliar stench. Following it into the dark room, he lost track of time.

Cyborg helped Raven to the fire truck to get an oxygen mask. Raven's throat was burning but she felt fine otherwise. She relentlessly watched the building looking for Beastboy to come out but time passed too quickly. "Cyborg!" Raven shouted hoarsely, ripping off the oxygen mask. "Beastboy hasn't come out yet!" Cyborg's human eye got wide when he realized Beastboy had been in the building for 30 minutes now without surfacing. He took off running into the burning warehouse with his locator open on his arm. He got to the top of the stairs and saw the red dot was below him. He stumbled down the stairs to see what had distracted Beastboy for so long.

"Oh no." Cyborg whispered under his breath when he saw Beastboy breathlessly laying on his side, struggling with the wires of a bomb. The timer had 5 minutes left but Beastboy was struggling with a lack of oxygen. "Damn it!" Cyborg mumbled under his breath as he grabbed his arm to call to the others as he helped Beastboy up.

"Get everyone away from the building! There's a bomb in the basement!" Cyborg shouted as he grabbed Beastboy impatiently and threw him on his back so he could hitch a piggy back ride while Cyborg ran up the stairs. They got to the top of the long stairwell as a small part of the roof collapsed above them, raining hot embers of burning wood and debris onto the two of them. Beastboy screamed out in pain as he was knocked off Cyborg's back by a stray 2x4 beam that fell. "No, no, no, no.." Cyborg mumbled as he carefully picked the hot beam off of Beastboy who know had a large burn through his uniform, across his back. Cyborg ran for the door just in time for the building to explode behind them and knock them off their feet. He covered Beastboy with his body as small bits of debris hit his metal back. As their surroundings settled he saw Bee flying up to them. She carried Beastboy off to the ambulance as Cyborg stumbled to his feet. His human ear was ringing as firefighters rushed pst him to control the blaze. He had a hard time maintaining his balance as Starfire helped him back towards the ambulance. He knew she was talking to him but he couldn't hear anything past the ringing. Starfire pushed him to sit down in the back of the ambulance as the doctors addressed Beastboy's back on the stretcher. Starfire waved her hand in-front of his face to get Cyborg's attention.

He watched her lips as she shouted "Hello? Friend!?" Concern grew when he realized he couldn't hear her at all and his ears weren't ringing anymore. Cyborg looked around and took a spare clipboard from the cabinet where they stored various supplies in the ambulance and sketched out on the paper. I CANT HEAR YOU!

Shock filled Starfire's face when she read the message. Cyborg and Raven rode the ambulance back with Beastboy in the stretcher. Cyborg was in no condition to care for Beastboy so they took him to the burn until of the local hospital. Cyborg got his human ear checked out which was just a blown eardrum and needed time to heal. He sat in the waiting room with Raven as he silently worked on the speaker inside his robotic ear. Once his robotic ear was up and running, Cyborg made the call he had been dreading.

"Hey man, Sorry to bother you. There's been an accident..."

"Cyborg? Are you okay? Your ear is taped up!? Wait...where are you??" Nightwing whispered into his earpiece from the bus.

"It's not me, man... it's Beastboy..." Cyborg took a breath in between sentences which hit Nightwing like a ton of bricks. "We were fighting a fire in an old warehouse and a bomb exploded. Raven and I are getting minor injuries checked out and Beastboy is in the burn unit." Cyborg glanced over at Raven who was sitting with an oxygen mask and stitches on her temple.

"Shit..." Nightwing mumbled.

"I've called in reinforcements from Titans East but it'll be tonight before they get here. Starfire and Bee are okay and Raven and I should be soon." Cyborg whispered.

"Okay keep me updated—." Nightwing spoke but Raven cut him off.

"Did something happen with you?" Raven asked with more concern that normal in her voice.

"Wha—what do you mean?" Nightwing caught off guard.

Raven sighed. "I felt something happen when we first went into the building through our mind link. Are you okay?" Raven pressured into a surprised Cyborg's arm.

"Yeah! Uh, just...I'm fine!" Nightwing lied which pissed off Raven more than she was prepared for.

"DON'T LIE!" She snarled as some magazines ruffled on the shelf of the waiting room. Her anger scared Nightwing and Cyborg as the bus Nightwing was on, slowed down.

"Listen, this is my stop." Nightwing whispered, "I promise, I'm fine!" Nightwing hastily hung up as the bus stopped in the block of an old city neighborhood.