Part 1: Alien Insomnia
Prologue: So Far, So Bad
It was Mid June when it started to happen. The delirium, the convulsions,the nightmares, and the strange injuries that seemed to appear overnight. They consulted every top doctor and scientist from Oxford to Harvard, with no conclusion or answers. They all were wondering what was going on in her alien brain, but they, in truth, knew nothing about her anatomy, her biology, her chemistry, or even why or how she could be emotionally attracted to a different species, much less a different planet from her own. Some experts said it was bad hygiene, while others blamed it on some mutation in her DNA or genes, or something. Then, again, Starfire wasn't human or from Earth. Some even said it was domestic abuse, but they thought nothing like that could ever take place in the tower, between them. It was Starfire who had suffered through all of this. Sometimes, she'd wake up in a sweat, screaming, spitting up black goo, and having raging migraines and convulsions, and with her being an alien, her friends expected nothing less from her. She was being studied and treated in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. While the psychiatrists were running Starfire through several CAT scans, they ordered a new intern, Henry P. Didel, to call her friends to tell them to come pick her up in thirty minutes.
Titans Tower: 9:26 AM
Ring..ring..ring...ring! "Hello?" Robin answered the phone with unusual curiosity and tiredness. It was nearly seven forty-five when Henry called
"Yes, am I speaking to Dick Grayson?", replied Henry.
"Who wants to know?"
"Uh...yes, this is doctor Henry Didel calling on behalf of your friend, Starfire."
"Yes. Is she alright?"
"Oh, yes, she's okay. She's in stable condition. I'm calling to tell you that she will be ready to be sent home in about half an hour."
"Okay. Thanks for calling. Okay, bye." And they both hung up. Robin couldn't help but laugh at Henry's last name. Trying not to laugh, Robin said, "Okay,Mr. Diddle, will do. Bye." and he hung up. He then walked into the common room to find the rest of his friends watching the first season of Everybody Loves Raymond on DVD. Everybody was laughing and seeming to have a good time. They all were enthralled with laughter at one point, even the monotone and low-voiced Raven. They were watching the one where Raymond's dad, Frank, gets a deal writing comics for Reader's Digest.
Robin then walked in the room and said, "Titans, a physician from Johns Hopkins, just called in about Starfire. He said she should be coming out of treatment in half an hour. We should head there, soon."
Starfire's friends headed to Johns Hopkins Hospital, the hospital she had been transferred to last week. It was the fourth one that month, but she was scheduled to be transferred to yet another hospital next month, a psychological center which had yet to be named to them; hopefully it wasn't an asylum. In the meantime, a specialist team of "dreamscapers", a team made up of an extractor, who extracts people's secrets through their dreams, an architect, who fills the dreamspace into which a dreamer brings a subject, a point man, who does the research for backgrounds on the subject, a forger, who is able to manipulate their appearance and a chemist, who makes the narcotics and sedatives used for the mission. At the core, an extractor is a classic con man – he creates a false set of circumstances that manipulate the subject into revealing his or her secrets. The difference is that those false sets of circumstances are created through dreams. The architect often fulfills the role of the dreamer during a heist, but the architect can also teach their designs to another to dream. A Forger is a social con person, able to make others think the forger is something other than they are. It imitates people's mannerisms – and in the dream world, even their very appearance. They are able to manipulate their appearance because in the dream world, a sleeper's body is a projection of their mind. With enough skill a forger can take a wide variety of appearances. The mission, and the operation, was aborted due to the fact that she was an alien, which evidently meant that most Human medicines had either little, no, or transverse effect on her system. After running a few more tests and screenings, she was sent home. On the way out, Robin realized that he forgot to pay the bill!
On the way back to the tower,she discussed and described, with great clarity, her condition. She said it was called Morphosis, one in a series of four life stages haer species has to endure. This stage was the second, and most violent, stage. As she delved deeper into its biology, her friends began to get worried, as she said she was rapidly evolving, and everyone of her species goes through this stage. "You humans call it 'metamorphosis', or 'transformation'?" She then pondered over what she had said and what she would say next with the coldest face anyone of them had seen on her. She then said after a moment of mind numbing silence, "Do you know why I stayed here, on Earth, long after our initial contact?"
"No, why did you say?"
"I stayed because I was blinded by your planet's beauty and hospitality."Her words shocked the others and met with gaping mouths, silent wtfs, and sinking hearts. The Titans all started to get emotional with their options. Even Raven, who usually showed no traces of any emotion, started to shed several tears. Cyborg, who couldn't believe what he was hearing, said, "No, no, no! This cannot be happening! You set us up!" he was now badgering Starfire and Robin, "If you hadn't screwed Robin, we wouldn't be in this mess! The two of you being in love, it disgusts me; the fact that an alien, such as you, Starfire, can even have the same bodily structure as a human astounds me. And you, Robin, are now apparently pregnant with an alien-human hybrid that's probably gonna come bursting out of your chest in a few hours, or something. Isn't that so, Starfire?"
"Yes."
" Hmm...I knew it. If we are to contain this thing inside of you, Robin, some must be expendable. It tears me so to do this." said Cyborg, ready to obliterate Robin with his sonic cannon. Starfire interrupted their argument. "No, please, stop arguing, both of you! I now know what I must do. If you are willing to save this race for the sacrifice of few sentient beings, then please, do so, now."
Robin said back, "What do you mean, Starfire?"
"I mean, you must kill me and yourselves in order to save your species."
"No, I won't do it. I can't do it."
"But, you must!"
"Starfire, we won't abandon you! I...won't abandon you! I love you, Starfire!" Robin was now weeping. Starfire turned to face them all, then rebuddeled grimly with a smirk and a slight chuckle, "Then you are the weakest human I know, Robin. Since you are apparently not willing to sacrifice yourself, or others, then your species' fate is certain." Cyborg pitched back in,"What about me blowing both of you to bits?" For one reason or another, she agreed with him, for once,"Please, go right ahead." Robin then re-entered the conversation,"No, wait, no one has to die now." By then, no one could tell who to trust. In the back of his mind, Beast Boy thought of the suggestion of playing Russian Roulette, but he soon forgot about it, realizing that it was a stupid idea. Raven added on to Robin's point in her usual monotone voice with slight concern and a slight frown, "Either you're going insane, or you're completely sane and dying of this thing you're so exuberant about. It's actually quite funny how serious you are about this." They all stopped to turn and look back at Raven with curious looks and raised eyebrows. "What?", said Raven, then they all looked back at Starfire, anxiously awaiting what she had to say. "You do not understand! I am not dying; this is only one in a series of phases my species has to go through before transcending into adulthood. In humans case, it is like being a teenager." The other's faces became instantly filled with dread when Koriand'r said "one in a series of phases". Cyborg spoke up "Did you say 'more'?" Koriand'r replied,"Yes. And it is only going to get worse." The expressions on her friends faces signaled to her massive dread and angst. Trying to lighten the mood and change the subject, she suggested, "How about we all get some of those 'sand-witches' that are popular on Earth. I discovered a great pla -" without warning, Koriand'r started to have what seemed like a seizure and convulsions, causing her to fade in and out of consciousness. She staggered for a moment, trying to regain her balance, but the disorientation befell her, causing her to tilt and land face first on the carpet. As she laid there, her friends slowly gathered around her limp, but not dead, body that was sprawled out along the carpet in the common room...
