Teen Titans- Evolution
Act Zero: To Leave Gotham City
(Author's notes-
Please keep in mind that this is the prelude to my fan fiction, how my main character's situation got to a point where she had to leave Gotham City. The Teen Titans will come in after this chapter!)
Living in Gotham City wasn't ever easy or hard for normal citizens, but growing up in it was rather difficult. Especially if you were like Catherine Torean. While she attended Gotham City High like a regular girl, she was far from regular. It was her greatest fear that someone would find out about her secret, apart from her parents. She had waist length chocolate brown hair, emerald green eyes, and loved the colors purple, gold and black. Her skin was a healthy peach, with a light tan. She wore a purple, slightly baggy sweater, dark blue jeans, and white tennis shoes. Her nick name was Luna Starr, because she was often caught staring at the moon at night, and her room was decorated with crescent moons and stars. She usually could be seen reading an astronomy book, or books about Moon lore.
One day after she turned seventeen, her life changed forever. On her way to school with her friends Akima- a girl with middle-of-the-back length crimson hair that was so curly she looked like she had a perm, and the same green eyes that she had- and Vivian- a girl with short shoulder length blond hair and brilliant blue eyes, there was an attack. Akima wore a green shirt with blue jeans and black shoes while Vivian wore a flowery blouse, black jeans and black shoes. A large explosion ripped through the road, and the three friends were flung backwards. Vivian and Akima were both knocked out by the blast and impact on the wall while Catherine had a nasty headache from it. She looked up and saw a man feared by Gotham City. He had short neon green hair, and a face painted like a clown.
The Joker had appeared.
"Hello dear," His voice cackled. "It's time you come home with me." He reached out to grab her arm to pull her to her feet.
"NO!" She shrieked, letting out a yell that didn't sound like herself at all as she put her hands in front of her. What happened next surprised both of them. A blast of golden white light shot from her hands at the Joker sending him flying in to the opposite end of the street just as Vivian and Akima were waking up. "Guys... you okay?" She asked.
"Feels like my head was just rammed against a bowlder." Akima rubbed her head tenderly as she stood up.
"Well, that's... kind of what happened?" Blinked Catherine as she helped Akima and Vivian to their feet.
"Now, that was a nasty way to say hello..." The Joker's voice came from the other end of the road as he got back up to his feet.
"Uhmmm... Why is the bad guy attacking US? We didn't do anything to warrant getting killed over." Vivian stared, her blue eyes wide.
"Get behind me." Catherine told her friends, and they did just that as she took a protective stance as the Joker approached once more. She spread her arms out to keep them from getting in harms way.
"Don't be ridiculous, dear child. I'm not after them." The Joker gave his high pitched, manic laugh again. "Just you..." He held up what looked like a ball with a button on top that his thumb hovered over.
"Get going!" Catherine shouted at her friends, who didn't need telling twice. The three ran down the road to get away from the Joker. It wasn't like they had enough power to be able to fight him, and the Bat Man was just a myth. Then again, so was the Joker. But he was pursuing them for a reason they didn't understand. Catherine frowned as she ran between Vivian and Akima. If only she could use her powers, then they wouldn't need to run. But no one knew. Not even her friends. She'd done that to protect them from the truth that she was possibly a mutant, born being able to fly before she could walk or talk and shoot energy bolts from her hands and eyes when the moon was out. She would only use her powers as a last defense, and so long as running worked there was no need.
"Now, now... No need to make this difficult." Smirked the Joker, who suddenly appeared in front of the group on the edge of the street they were currently running on. He still held the black ball in his hand with his finger hovering above the red button.
"What do you want from me?" Asked Catherine, sounding braver than she really felt.
"Only the thing that you've been hiding from... well...EVERYBODY." The Joker took several steps towards the trio, as they took several steps backwards away from him.
"What's he talking about?" Asked Vivian, looking over at Catherine, who's eyes were wide in terror.
"Oh nothing, really..." The Joker pressed on, his dark eyes glinting in malice. "Just the ability to use energy bolts powered by the moon. Light from the moon that can be used to make something as simple as water in to a pleasantly destructive weapon, and if used right, can control the tides of the oceans and flood the world."
"Wow... this guy's thinking out of the box with super power madness." Blinked Akima.
"You see... if any one person or super villain were to harness that power PROPERLY, then they could in time rule the world." The Joker came dangerously close to pressing the button on the black ball he held in his hand when he was only a few paces away from the girls, who's legs seemed unwilling to move.
At that moment, something came whizzing through the air, causing the ball in his hand to fly out and burst against the wall on the other side of the street before splitting open by what looked like the Batman's signature weapon, a black Shuriken in the shape of bat's wings stuck in the wall. What appeared to be green gas exploded from the ball.
The girls blinked when a tall, black cloaked figure jumped down from apparently nowhere in front of them.
"That's as far as you go, Joker." Came the dark voice from the figure.
"Dude..." Blinked Akima as the Batman stood up.
What happened next Catherine would find hard to believe, even years later. They watched as the Batman fought with the Joker, who seemed to have an array of weapons apart from that black ball of sleeping gas, or whatever it had been. Until finally with several of the black Shuriken from Batman, the Joker finally vanished.
"Watch your backs, because I'll be back!" The Joker's high laugh echoed on the thoroughly damaged and now broken down street.
The girls stared when Batman turned to face them at last.
"Thank you." Blinked Catherine finally.
"You should be more careful." Said Batman, looking particularly at her. "I've noticed you've been rather careless."
Catherine felt slighted.
"Well excuse me for trying to live a normal life like the rest of my classmates." She said, her eyes flashing gold for a second.
Akima and Vivian looked at each other.
"The thing is, you're anything BUT normal, Catherine." He looked down at her, not at all bothered by her apparent temper. "It's time you accepted who you are. And do something about it. These attacks on you are only going to get worse as time goes on. I'm sure that if the Joker knows about your power, then so do the other bad guys of this city."
"I know it's the wrong time to be star struck... but dude... the Batman is lecturing her!" Vivian whispered so only Akima could hear. And Akima couldn't help but giggle madly at that thought, earning a glare from Catherine.
"If you don't believe me, wait around a few more months to see what happens." Batman took several steps back as Catherine looked at the ground in a foul mood now. She blinked as Batman jumped in to the sky, vanishing at the top of a nearby sky scraper.
Catherine chose to stay as long as she could. But time showed that Batman was indeed right about the attacks getting worse. Soon not only did she get attacked by the Penguin, who tried using his umbrellas filled with the knock-out gas at school, when it was full of classmates, but the Joker reappeared six months after his first attack in the streets. This time it was late at night, after a football game and in the chaos of screaming teenagers, he managed to succeed in capturing her. On this day she chose to wore a purple skirt with purple dress shoes, white knee length socks, a black t-shirt with the right arm cut off, a purple tank top over the shirt, and a gold arm band on her right upper arm. Around her waist was a gold belt with amethyst stones set into gold. She also wore brown gloves. When she finally woke, she found she was in a dark room tied to a chair.
When her eyes came in to focus, she realized that there were shadows of what looked like giant stuffed animals and a huge jack-in-the-box right in front of her. She blinked at it, bemused.
"Crap." She muttered. After glancing around, she saw the moon was full and out. A golden yellow light appeared behind the chair around her hands, and her eyes glowed the same color before she broke herself free. Standing up, she rubbed her wrists. She let out a yell when quite suddenly, the jack-in-the-box popped open, with the giant head flinging at her. She directed her fists right at the face of the overgrown children's toy.
"Let's not get hasty, little girl." The Joker's voice filled the room as a sphere of golden energy appeared around her raised fists.
"I'll show you hasty." She grumbled, sending a blast at the jack-in-the-box, efficiently and swiftly beheading it. She had to jump in to the air as laser beams came from the giant stuffed polar bear facing her from her left. The chair was destroyed on the spot instead of her. She sent another beam of golden energy at the giant stuffed animal. "Always hated giant stuffed animals." She looked around for a way out, but the room was sealed pretty well except for the single window on each wall towards the ceiling that revealed the moon.
The room lit up from a light that she hadn't created, and she looked up at its source. What looked like a giant fifty-four inch flat screen above, near the top of the north wall. This time, it wasn't the Joker, but someone she'd never met. At least she didn't think so.
He was tall, and looked like he was built from sheer muscle. He wore black and red armor, and a mask over his face. The only thing visible of his face was his eyes, which were crimson red to match his armor. The left side of his mask was crimson, while the right was black. His chest plate had the same pattern but reversed, as with the armor on his legs and feet- if those were visible on the screen. The mask he wore hid his face completely, but a long thin black braid hung behind his back to his waist. Four vertical lines on his mask where his mouth should be represented breathing holes, and his eyes were highlighted with a black line on the red side of the mask around the eye, and a crimson line around the eye on the black side of the mask.
"Welcome, dear child." His crimson eyes narrowed as he spoke. "Been a long time."
"Who are you?" She asked, flying up to be eye to eye with the group.
"Let's just say... I haven't seen you since your birth." Came the deep, throaty voice of the man. "A friend of yours here in Gotham City was so kind as to inform me that you were here."
Her eyes turned golden yellow in a spurt of rage.
"What do you want with me? SPEAK." She ordered, her hands clenching in to fists.
"Let's just say, something from you that can enable me to control the oceans of this world." Replied the man.
She let out a yell of rage as she directed the palm of her hands at the screen, sending a blast of energy right at it causing the television to explode when it came in contact with the attack.
"How's that for a no?" She asked, looking around the room that was no only lit by the moonlight shining in through the windows.
There was an explosion from the wall, sending the toys and giant stuffed animals flying everywhere. She looked down at the source and saw the familiar black cloaked figure walking through.
"I heard there was trouble. Let's get you out of here." Said Batman.
Luna turned to fly over to the exit, but she was met by several laser beams zooming towards her forcing her to fly even faster, swerving and twirling on the spot to avoid being struck. She found a sort of pleasure in seeing the stuffed toys blow up or burn to ash upon contact with the lasers from their fellows. She landed in front of Batman, looking back to see the damage with a hidden relish at the sight.
"Are you done yet? We need to get out of here." Batman asked.
"Right, sorry. How did you find me by the way?" Catherine looked up at the figure as she floated alongside him a foot above the air. It was easier to reserve her strength this way.
"I heard the explosion just outside your school and followed the source here. I wasn't sure at first if you were really inside until I saw smoke coming from the ventilators." Batman explained as they moved down the hall. "I noticed you weren't with your friends when they fled the school, as well and figured then that the Joker or someone else might be behind the attack."
Catherine blinked at Batman in surprise at his quick analysis. Then again, she always went everywhere with Akima and Vivian. So that should have been a no brainer to anyone who knew the trio.
Batman led her to the roof of the building without farther incident, where he showed her something else. He pointed at the south end of Gotham City where the signs of yet another explosion could be seen in the distance, with smoke rising in to the already smog filled air above the city.
"Is that...?" She blinked. That was the direction of her home.
"You'd better go quick, I'll be right behind you." Batman looked at her.
She was already flying as fast as she could through the city. She didn't think that whoever the man on the screen was would attack her family, if her hunch was correct. When she landed on her street, she stared in shock.
Her home was a burning inferno, pieces of it collapsing in on itself. The man she'd seen on the screen in the room was standing in front of it, only she crimson red of his armor and eyes visible because of the intensity of the flames casting the shadows on him.
"What... have you done?" She asked, barely able to talk.
"I've made a point, dear child. It's time you've stopped living your fantasy as a normal human being and accept that you are anything but normal." The man turned around, holding two bodies by the collars of the shirt, one in each hand. She only noticed them as he turned to look at her. "Not even the Batman can keep you from that fact."
"Who do you think you are? Destroying innocent people's lives like this?" Her hands were shaking in her rage as she stared at him even when she balled them in to fists. "Let my parents go." She demanded.
"I am Navare. Your worst nightmare, Miss Luna Starr... Or would you prefer Catherine Torean?" He walked over the now burning grass and tossed the bodies of her parents in her direction.
She stared when they landed on the road, flying over to their sides, kneeling down to touch them.
"Mom? Dad?" She said tentatively, looking at them. A lump formed in her throat as she stared. Their bodies were so blackened and burned from the flames, she could barely recognize them as her parents. It was a miracle their clothes had managed to stay on the bodies. Parts of their limbs were burned and bleeding, revealing bits of bone and cartilage. She stumbled backwards when she saw their faces.
"Awe... poor child." Navare's deep voice was mocking her as she stared long and hard at the bodies.
Only the sound of the Bat-mobile pulling up to the scene brought her out of her trance-like state. When she stood up, her eyes were golden yellow again, her hands clenched in to fists with the golden spheres glowing around them.
"You... Monster." Was all she could get out before sending her most powerful attack at Navare. A giant pillar of light shooting vertically at him from her fists once she held them at arm's length in front of herself, chest high. Two beams of golden light came from her eyes at that same moment, combining with the larger from her hands.
Batman walked up to her side, watching the light encompass him. She stayed like that for several minutes before she lowered her hands, the pillar vanishing, and her eyes returning to normal. Only to see Navare still standing there. Only now, he had a weapon in his hands that had blocked the attack. It was a giant, dual ended scythe with large curved blades the shape of Japanese fans, or giant saw blades. The handle of the weapon was black and extended beyond his height to a point where he had to hold it at an angle. Crimson stones at each hilt gleamed in the flames of the burning building behind him, and his eyes shone with malice at her. His thin braid flapped around in the night wind of Gotham City.
"That wasn't very nice, dear child." He said, the sarcasm in his voice with every syllable. "Now it's my turn..." He raised the scythe high in to the air as Batman moved quickly to get in between the two, bringing up his arms to block the scythe as it came down on him with his arms crossed above his head.
Batman twisted his hands around to grab the scythe, but it was pulled away from him with lightning speed as Navare realized what he was about to do.
"So what happened to the Joker being in charge of this operation?" He asked Navare as he sent several of his bat-wing shaped Shuriken at the man.
"Oh? He was never in charge of anything really... we just struck a temporary truce. I'd never want to work with someone so childish anyways." Said Navare, blocking the Shuriken with his scythe. "Besides... I like to work solo most of all." He jumped back, closer to the burning inferno behind him. "Let's light up Gotham City tonight!" He exclaimed, raising the scythe.
Batman and Catherine braced themselves for what was to come.
Navare started spinning the giant scythe as easily as though it were made of feather. Slowly a line of fire seemed to flow from the building, turning the scythe in to what looked like a spinning frisbee on fire. He lowered the burning scythe to his right side before stopping it quite abruptly. In a split second, a disc of fire was flung at Batman and Catherine. The two only just managed to dodge it, but they turned watching the damage it caused.
The disc of fire made contact with the building behind them, another home that was currently empty due to its owners being out late at night. This building was consumed by fire and imploded on itself. Batman shielded his face from the debris of the collapse with his cloak while Catherine brought up a shield of what looked like pure light around herself when her eyes glowed golden yellow. She blinked when Batman took advantage of the moment, running at Navare who had been watching their reactions.
She stared as Batman threw several punches at Navare, who dodged most, and blocked the rest with his scythe. He sent several kicks Navare's way, forcing Navare to swipe the scythe down at Batman. Catherine threw a volleyball shaped sphere of golden energy at the scythe, throwing Navare off his tracks at the double attack allowing Batman to succeed in kicking him in the side of his face.
Navare grew tired of the two rather quickly, having only one real target. He jumped well away from Batman, who immediately began running at him. Raising his scythe high up in to the sky, straight up, he brought it back down. The blade smashing in to the cement of the road he now stood on. The road seemed to rip apart upon coming in contact with the scythe, with bits and chunks of cement tearing up from the ground as a crevice formed. The force of the attack sent Catherine flying backwards when she was knocked off her feet.
Batman was more graceful than she was when it came to the unexpected, and pulled out a single black bat-wing shaped Shuriken from his arsenal, throwing it at Navare's face. The sharp end made contact with the crimson side of the mask, splitting it at an angle from the bottom left of the eye to the top right.
Navare let out a few choice words to Batman, pulling back, holding his left hand over his eye while the scythe vanished as blood poured down the side of his face. Without a word, he slid in to the dark shadows created by the burning buildings and vanished.
Catherine shook her head as she stood up from the spot where she'd fallen. There was a moment of silence as they stood there, before Batman turned to face her.
"So what are you going to do?" He asked her.
"I don't know... leave the city I guess." She replied. "The only thing is, I don't have anywhere else to go. Mom and Dad were my only family, and now..." She paused, looking at the mangled and destroyed forms that were once her loved ones.
"What about your friends?"
"They'll be safer if I'm not here, right? Just because I attract all kinds of trouble doesn't mean they have to risk themselves just to be with me." She said, finally tearing her eyes away from the sight.
"Is that really the right choice for you to make?"
"Like it or not... Navare was right... I've got to stop pretending to be something I'm not. I'll only be endangering people if I stay. My power can't fall in to the wrong hands... right? I don't know where I'll go, but I'll find some place and live there." She said, her mind made up.
"Robin lives to the south in Jump City. He and the Teen Titans can help you if you can make it there." Batman suggested.
Catherine blinked.
"Thanks for all of your help, Batman." She said.
"What should the press know if you're not discovered here?" Batman told her. "They'll wonder what happened."
"Tell them Catherine Torean died with her parents." She replied as she walked down the street. "I'm leaving everything, including that name behind."
She lifted from the ground, and was soon high above Gotham City. She only looked back when the city was well in the distance. She hovered for a while in the cool, night air, the full moon halfway up to the center of the sky blanketing her in moonlight as she gave a silent farewell to her friends, and the family she lost. She hoped the city Batman told her about would provide a better future for her in the end.