Insanity

It's Getting Worse

Robin was the first person to talk, "What was that?"

Rage looked at him, "Which part?"

"All of it, what happened to him?"

Rage ran a hand through his hair, "It's a long story but the short version is that he was neglected as a kid. He eventually got kidnapped and turned into a science experiment and started going insane because of it. He eventually started having visual and auditory hallucinations and all of us were made because of it."

"He was eventually killed by the bastards that were experimenting on him and he had a mental breakdown. I wanted to fuck some shit up and make them wish they were never born but I couldn't, even Cross was pissed."

The heroes wanted to ask more questions but the scene for the next memory was forming and they stayed silent. Danny was in a large room and he was fighting someone, there were several other people around the room but they were knocked out. Danny looked to be about twelve, he looked a bit more like the Specter they knew, he was only wearing black but his white hair and green eyes were present.

Danny punched the man and he was knocked unconscious, Danny groaned, "You're all so weak!"

A man, the one Robin recognized as the director of the project, walked into the room with a look of disinterest on his face. "Or maybe you're just incredibly strong."

Danny growled at him, "What the fuck do you want?"

"Such language from a child, you'd do well to watch your language."

"Or what, you'll cut me open for the thousandth time?"

The director glared at him for a minute before he looked neutral again, "Don't forget the reason you were made."

Danny scoffed, "You didn't make me, and I'm still not going to work for you."

The director mentally sighed, "You will, one way or another."

The scene faded for a few seconds before it came back, Danny was hanging from the ceiling by chains wrapped around his wrists. His clothes were torn up and he was bleeding from more then a few injuries, he looked horrible. The director was in the room and he looked at Danny, "Are you willing to co-operate now?"

Danny glared at him, "I don't care what you do to me you sick bastard. I'll never work for you! Never!"

The director was quiet for a minute before he picked up an already bloody knife, "I suppose you'll need some more motivation then."

Danny spit blood at him and the director finally looked pissed, he didn't say a word as he walked up to Danny. The scene faded and a door appeared, the group walked through it and they ended up in a hallway. This one was different from the ones they'd seen before, this one had more cracks in it and pieces were missing from the ceiling.

The heroes could only see darkness from the holes in the ceiling but for some reason they looked like they were moving, like they were alive. There were a few doors that even had chains on them, there were locks on the chains that looked old but sturdy. The heroes had no idea what was behind those doors but they didn't feel like they wanted to find out.

Everything started shaking and after it stopped Static spoke, "Okay, so where's-." Static was cut off when he yelled in pain and fell to his knees, the other three did the same and Static covered his eyes with his hands. "My eyes!"

Shadow held his head, "My head!"

Rage grabbed onto the fabric of his shirt where his heart was, "My heart." Cross looked like he was in the most pain but he didn't make a sound, he just forced himself to stand. Rage, Shadow, and Static managed to stand as well and Cross ran to a nearby door.

They were a set of black double doors that were clearly separating them from something important. Cross threw open the doors and the heroes looked inside, Specter was inside of the space behind the now open doors. Specter was on his knees with his hands tangled in his hair, he looked like how the ten year old version of him did.

It wasn't long before strange black, almost tar like, things grabbed onto him and started dragging him into what appeared to be some sort of floor. Cross ran inside and started pulling the tar like substance off of him, Rage wasn't far behind. Shadow growled, "Damn it all!"

He and Static ran in and started helping them, once they were able to get him out of the substance they pulled him towards the door. The substance continued to try and grab onto him but Static hit it with ecto-blasts to stop it. Rage and Cross got Specter through the doors and into the hallway, Shadow and Static ran through right after.

The two closed the doors while Rage got some of the substance off of his clothes and Cross make sure Specter was okay. Specter was unconscious but he was alive, Megan looked concerned, "Will he be okay?"

Cross nodded and Rage knelt next to Specter before picking him up, "Let's get out of here before the madness finds us."

The heroes followed the four, they walked for a few minutes before they found a door without any cracks around it. Cross opened it and they all walked inside, the heroes looked around in shock, Specter's mind seemed to be full of surprises. They were currently near a lake with snow capped mountains on the opposite side of the water.

There was long grass everywhere and trees lined the meadow and the rest of the lake, it looked like it went on forever. Flowers dotted the meadow and the heroes stared at everything for a few minutes before Black Canary spoke. "What is this place?"

Rage looked at her, "Specter's safe place, he made it as a coping mechanism."

Superboy looked slightly confused, "He made this?"

"Yeah, this is his mind, he can do anything he wants in here as long as he can think it. Since he needed some way to escape the torture and constant pain he made this place."

Rage set Specter down in the grass and Cross sat next to the unconscious ghost, Shadow and Static chose to stay away from the group. Rage messed up his hair in frustration as he paced and the heroes chose to let him do what he wanted. Robin sat on the other side of Specter and Cross glanced at him but that was all he did.

Aqualad looked at Rage, "Will he be alright?"

Shadow scowled, "Who cares if he's okay or not?"

Rage suddenly disappeared and reappeared in front of Shadow, he grabbed the front of his coat and growled. "Don't test me right now, I'm already pissed."

Shadow rolled his eyes, "Like I fucking care."

Rage growled again before he punched Shadow in the face, Shadow kicked Rage in the chest. The force knocked him back a bit but it pissed him off even more, he grabbed Shadow again and threw him. Shadow quickly got up and tried to punch Rage but Cross stepped in the way and caught his fist.

Robin hadn't heard Cross get up, he must be pretty quiet for Robin to not hear him get up when he was only feet away from him. Cross grabbed Shadow's arm and threw him into the lake, the heroes were shocked but Cross wasn't done. He turned toward Rage and he took a step back, "No."

Cross grabbed him before he could react and threw him into the lake as well before dusting his gloves off. He sat next to Specter again and the heroes saw the two break the surface of the lake and spit out water that got in their mouths. Rage glared at Cross, "Really Cross?!"

Cross just looked at him and Rage rolled his eyes before swimming to dry land, Shadow did the same after a few seconds. Once Rage was out of the water he made a towel appear out of nowhere and dried his hair. Once he was relatively dry he walked up to Cross, "You're an ass."

Cross just shrugged and they both looked at Specter, he hadn't shown any signs of waking up yet. Rage mentally sighed and looked at Cross, "You know this isn't working right, it's only getting worse." Cross nodded and Rage spoke again, "We need to let him out."

Static suddenly spoke, "Wait, we're letting him out?"

Shadow looked at them from where he was trying to get water out of his clothes, "Seriously?"

Cross thought for a second before he nodded, they all knew that if they didn't do something it would get worse. Rage shrugged, "Okay, let's go get him."