"Jason?" I could see him across the room, strapped to a chair and looking around, determined. He was in the same clothes he'd been wearing in the club, the only difference being the blood stain on the front of the shirt. Likely from the blood trailing down the side of his head from the corner of his brow or the split of his full lip. "Jason!" I ran over to help him, but no matter how much I pushed myself I didn't seem to be getting any closer.

I stopped, looking around at our surroundings too, trying to see if there was anything telling about it. The room was nearly entirely white aside from a glass wall behind me, cold metal door to the far right and the black chair Jason sat in. Looking out the window, there were dozens of people walking through what looked like an open lobby. Outfits ranged from tactical armor to normal business clothes a few lab coats with clipboards. I felt a faint scratch of familiarity to it, but before I could dwell on it any further I turned at the sound of the door.

I tensed immediately, watching Hurricane close it behind him, eyes fixated on Jason.

As stubborn as ever Jason met his blue eyes fiercely, smirk fixed across his lips. "Just can't get enough of me, huh?"

Hurricane didn't take the bait. "Have you thought about our last conversation? Suddenly remember something useful?" It was still so odd to me to hear his soft, accented and kind voice speak such pointedly threatening words.

"I did, actually," Jason answered. "And I have something to tell you."

"Lovely, what is it?"

"You can beat the shit out of me all you want, but Madalyn still won't go to you. She's just not that into you, dude."

I flinched even before Hurricane's fist connected with Jason's face, knowing it was coming. Jason laughed, spitting out a glob of blood on Hurricane's shoes before speaking again. "Is that the best you got?"

"Stop!" I yelled pointlessly as Hurricane's fist connected with his gut. Neither one of them responded to my cry or acknowledged my presence.

Jason coughed up a forced laugh, bent in on himself. "I've been tortured and almost killed by Deathstroke, man," he huffed. "You're gonna have to do a lot better than this."

"If you insist," Hurricane said darkly.

I saw the electric sparks on his fingertips before Jason did. Even knowing that for some reason they didn't seem to hear me. I couldn't help but yell out "No!"

Jason let out a pained cry, his skin paling as the electrical currents went through him. Hurricane had only touched him briefly with two fingers, but it was more than enough to leave Jason convulsing seconds after removing them. "Tell me what I want to know and we'll let you go free," Hurricane said. "Don't, and you'll die."

"Will I?" Jason chuckled breathlessly, keeping up his tough guy act through the pain. "Because, and this could be the fried brain talking but, if you kill me for not giving you information then the end result would be the same as if you didn't. You'll have learned nothing, which would bring me joy in my final moments, and you'll only have succeeded in making her hate you even more. Not to mention ensue the wrath of my many ass kicking friends. Seems to me like I'm winning all around." He smiled cockily at Hurricane, the split in his lip bleeding more with the action, painting some of his teeth red.

"Friends like the real Robin?"

Jason didn't miss a beat. "Bitch, I am the real Robin. Untie me and I can give you a refresher on that."

Hurricane's face twitched with annoyance. "You're not Emmy's Robin. The one she's clearly in love with."

"Hmm, no," Jason conceded, making me suspicious. After everything he'd said and been through, it made no sense that he would suddenly give information up. "Though, to be fair, I don't know an Emmy personally. Bet she'd fucking love me though."

"Who is the real Robin?" Hurricane bellowed, face reddening in frustration. "Was it that guy she was with at the club?"

"If you're talking about Maddie, I'm that guy she was with at the club. I'm Robin, fuckface, get over it."

"You're not. She doesn't love you, she loves him—"

"Right back at you, man," Jason said condescendingly.

Finally, his insolence had gotten the best of Hurricane. The room got dark, reminding me of an impending storm, while Hurricane's face went blank and clouded. Where before there had only been tiny sparks flitting from his fingers, now they were engulfed in enough electricity to power a city. He moved them towards Jason, in what suddenly seemed like slow motion, and I screamed out pointlessly again for him to stop.

I willed for the dirt beneath the building stones to grow plants, trees, anything that could sprout between them and save Jason. When nothing happened, I felt my cry build up in my chest before unleashing.

My body rose with the sound until the next thing I knew, I was bolting upright in my bed. The sound slowly died out in my throat as I took in my surroundings; room filled with the overgrown foliage I'd wished for in my sleep. I tried to take a steadying breath to call them back where from where they came, when I looked beside me and stopped breathing altogether.

Held above the spot he'd been laying, Dick was struggling against a vine that was desperately trying to close around his neck. The tendons in his hands were prominent beneath the skin as he fought to hold it at bay, but I could see thorns had begun growing too, cutting into the soft skin of his neck.

Clearing the horrified shock from my mind, I focused all of my efforts on getting him free. Unfortunately, in that same moment, my room door busted open to reveal the other Titans on the other side. They caught sight of Dick, suspended by the plant as he was, and their faces ranged from surprised to angered and scared. Once I got him free a few seconds later, he dropped back on to the bed beside me as the rest of the foliage rescinded.

I moved forward to check on Dick but, the room air suddenly felt scorching as Kory charged in. Her eyes were a sudden and shocking green, her hair mystically ablaze. Heatwaves shimmered off her hands the way it did concrete on a summer day.

It was my turn to freeze in surprise as she hovered on the other side of Dick. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" she demanded of me fiercely. "Did you think you were just going to kill Dick right under our noses?"

"I wasn't trying to- it wasn't intentional, okay? I would never do anything to hurt him—"

"Yeah? And what the fuck is that? Lovebites?" She gestured to the breaks in his skin where the blood very slowly made its way down his neck.

"It's nothing," Dick answered her but looked at me. "Madalyn didn't do anything."

"Who are you trying to convince of that?" a gruff voice said from across the room. My eyes darted over, falling on Hank's tall figure hovering just behind Conner at the doorway. "Us, yourself or her?"

I felt another scream building in my chest but bit down on my lip to keep from releasing it. When Dick spoke again, he turned to look at his friends. "I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything; it's the truth. Madalyn didn't do anything and wasn't trying to hurt me. She was having a nightmare and the plants reacted to protect her. That's it."

"That's it?" Kory scoffed. Even though she doubted him, I could feel the air begin to return to normal as she dialed her powers down. "Am I just supposed to take comfort in the fact that the girl with night terrors can botanically stake me in her sleep, by accident?"

"To be fair, Rachel can release like a horde of demon energy and kill us all. Usually while she's awake, but probably in her sleep too," Gar said tentatively, drawing all eyes to him. He shrugged awkwardly, green hair quivering atop his head. "I mean, I'm just saying that it wouldn't be the first time one of us unintentionally hurt another."

"Kid has a point," Dawn's soft voice added from beside him. "All of us have nearly killed someone else here at some point. And we haven't all had control at the time."

"Being brainwashed or memory wiped or whatever, is hardly the same thing," Kory countered. "She had a nightmare and nearly killed Dick. Hell, you all felt this place; she almost took down this entire building."

"But she's friends with Dick and Donna, so she's good, right?" Conner spoke up, throwing me off with the mention of Donna. I couldn't help but flinch; if she'd still been alive, she would be on my side too, I was sure. She would've found a way to kick everyone out then poke fun at Dick while I piggy backed the amusing moment with a joke of my own.

Instead, I was surrounded by a junior Justice League judging me without knowing me.

I was surprised when it was Dawn that said first," Yes, she is." We'd always been as friendly as can be for people who spent the bare minimum around each other, but her vote of confidence was still a shock to me. I gave her a small appreciative smile that she returned with a nod.

I looked over to Kory who seemed more surprised by my support than I did. "Listen," I started, drawing her attention back to me. "It's hard for you to trust me because you don't know me; I get it. But I promise you, what happened was not intentional. I would never hurt Dick or anyone else here if I could control it. I didn't even know anything was happening until I woke up and ended it. Apparently, when I sleep, my powers have a mind of their own. You can ask Jason, it happened with him a few times since I met him."

"Jason's not back yet," Conner offered, innocently snapping me back to the reason for all of this.

"What do you mean he's not back yet?" I asked, looking around at all of their face before focusing between Kory and Dawn's. "I thought you went out looking for him."

"We did, but there wasn't any sign of him anywhere," Kory answered with a shrug. "But he's Jason, so I'm sure he'll turn up eventually. This is just what he does."

"What about his tracker?" I turned to Dick, his features betraying the concern he'd been trying to hide the night before.

Gar was the one who gave me my answer. "I just checked the computers a little while ago and they haven't been able to pin down his location. I even hacked some of the cameras in the area of the club you went to, but I didn't find anything there either. Facial recognition shows him entering the club, but not leaving."

"And no one thought it would be a good idea to mention any of this sooner?" Dick said darkly, looking around at everyone.

"We were otherwise preoccupied," Kory said pointedly. Even with my attention split, I could tell the words were directed at me.

Fortunately, I'd reached the point where his slights weren't bothering me anymore. Unfortunately, it was because of something way more concerning.

"That was the dream," I said distantly, recalling the images to my mind. "That's why they attacked. My dream...wasn't really a dream..."

"What do you mean?" Dick questioned, searching my face for answers. "What about your dream?"

Everyone else in the room seemed to fall away as I looked over at him, my mind busy trying to work through the facts swirling in my brain. "Dick, I don't think it was a dream," I answered honestly. As questionable as the statement may have been, I could tell he took it serious because of my use of his name. "What I saw and what happened here are connected. Hurricane has Jason, he's in trouble. Or worse...he may already be dead."

Poor Jason, always finding himself in trouble. Even in my own story he can't catch a break 😫

What are your thoughts on this chapter? Do you think what Maddie saw was just a dream? Let me know what you think in the comments below! ☺️