I live for the kill. It's what's been keeping me sane since the day my lover was taken from me by Kanto 13. Ironic, now that I bear the name of the one who slew the person I cared for the most. All my triumphs and all my woes can be traced back to one man and to one planet. Darkseid and Apokolips. Curse and bless my birthplace all at once! How can a man both hate and love his life? I struggle with that question daily. I find my best solution is to simply ignore the struggle and live for the kill.
Imagine my life for a moment. I am without a planet, without a culture, without a family, and without a people. You would look at me and think my glass was plenty more than half empty. I try my damndest not to look at myself that way otherwise I might just curl up in a corner and die. While Tamaran may be no more I still live and I will live for all of my people. Through me our people shall thrive and succeed and in me they will find hope. That is how I choose to view my life. Any other way and Starfire would be no more.
I bear the memories of three women and people honestly wonder why I act so much older than I look. I have three lifetimes worth of experience floating around in my head. Three! Count them good folks. So in a sense I guess I mentally have the experience of someone a century old. The older heroes usually tend to have sticks up their butts. I knew one quite personally. And I just might be that way if not for the life I've led and the ancient alien that is a part of me. The Aurakle in me is what helps make Halo who she is. It is the core of my being.
Sitting here in this prison I contemplate revenge against my betrayer. Superboy would have to answer to me for his ultimate betrayal. To leave me to rot in this unworthy cage! How dare he? His spine will become my necklace in due time. I wonder what my other Furies would think of me now. They would probably poke fun and call me shameful for falling for a stupid boy. The name of Knockout would be one to jester at on Apokolips. I will not see that occur. Not ever!
I've died and come back. Thousands have died by my soulless hands. Yet, they still call me small-time. It seems that no matter what I do and no matter how hard I try the name of Captain Cold will never be respected. Perhaps one day far from now the world will recognize and respect me for who I am. A genius and mastermind who never got his proper due. My time is coming. I can just feel it. Something splendid is going to head my way soon. I'll finally be able to put my intellect to proper use.
"Prison Break"For the JLU2001 Fanfic Group
By: Brent Lambert
Kanto had broken through the guards. Tumbled the security systems and snapped enough nightsticks to make him dream of the bastards. All that had taken him ten minutes. So for 50 minutes he's been staring at the prisoner he came to free. The prisoner who refuses to acknowledge his presence. Over the course of his time here Kanto had heard many pleas from the other inmates with promises of eternal loyalty and unending benefits. Kanto wanted none of that. He knew what he came here for and he wasn't leaving until he got it.
"What if I gave you your freedom this instance? Would you acknowledge me then?"
Len Snart looked up at the servant of Apokolips and snorted, "Freedom is relative. I'd be free of one prison and thrown into another. I am no fool."
"To deny what I'm offering you is the true sign of a fool!" Kanto yelled his impatience swelling.
Captain Cold shook his head as he continued to read The Catcher and The Rye, "You serve Darksied. I know of no more potent way to throw myself into slavery. Being a despot's dog is not my idea of freedom no matter how you might construe it."
Len wanted to be free of this prison more than anything. He hated staring at the same blank walls day after day. He wanted to be free. Revenge would be his, but he would do it on his own terms. If he allowed Kanto to free him he would owe a debt to the man and to Darksied. Stories had crossed his ear of those who failed Darksied and as much confidence as he had in himself Len knew there was still a good chance he might fail.
"I would never think of you as a person to fall for the propaganda of the heroes. Serving Darksied offers many rewards."
"I'm sure you're going to elaborate on these 'rewards'," Captain Cold smirked as he closed his book to hear Kanto out.
The servant of Apokolips smiled. He was beginning to get through to Len Snart. Perhaps upon his return trip home he would speak to the master of some way to diminish his fearsomeness among the villain population of Earth. Too many eager toadstools were in that group to have them all be afraid of Lord Darksied.
"You're making my job harder than expected," Kanto sighed as he folded his arms across his chest as a sign of annoyance.
"I'm a criminal. I make people's lives hard for a living."
"Point taken. Fine, I'll tell you of these rewards. My life has been an extremely long one. I've seen empires rise and fall. Wars come and go. You can't imagine the joy of knowing that time has lost its sway over you. It is a beautiful thing to behold. I assure you," Kanto explained thinking of when he was first made the immortal killer of Apokolips. He was the personal deliver of Darksied's wrath and had been for many centuries. Kanto was a lover of his work.
Cold laughed mockingly, "So you offer me immortality? I had expected something more honestly. Surely your big ol boss can give me more than that!"
Kanto's eyes focused in on Len and admittedly he felt a chill travel down his back, "Answer me honestly Cold. Do you think anything you have done or will do will be remembered a century from now? A thousand years? What I offer you is the chance to outlast your friends and your foes. I offer you the greatest freedom of all. The freedom of eternity."
Len laughed again. Partly at the fact a guy wearing a ridiculous purple and yellow costume had shaken him and partly because he just realized something, "So you're not doing this by the orders of Darksied?"
Pushing up his feather hat Kanto lifted a curious eyebrow at Len, "No. Was I that obvious?"
Cold shrugged his shoulders; "Darksied would have used mind control on me by now."
Finally Kanto asked, "Are you in or should I just move on elsewhere?"
Standing up Cold replied, "I'm in. What's the job?"
"We're freeing an ally of mine to help us with a treasure chase."
Tamaran must be restored. If there is nothing else I succeed at in my life I will bring back my people's home. I won't see my proud race reduced to refugees on some unfamiliar and unfriendly world. All of Tamaran deserves better. For quite some time I've been searching through whatever history of Tamaran remains to see if anything can be found that would help re-create my home. In my intense searching I did find something of worth.
The item is known as the Yughagi Mancur. The best Earth translation for it is The Star of Creation. The item is merely thought to be legend and I would have as easily written it off if not for my experiences on Earth. Often, things that were thought to be legend had some shred of truth to them. So I have now become determined to track down the Yughagi Mancur and restore Tamaran.
Some tell me I should give up and that Tamaran is just lost to Eternity. I refuse to believe that. My home, my people, except more of me than anyone else. I cannot let them down. Finding the Yughagi Mancur will be my sole purpose in life.
I have already found one clue that gives me profound hope. My clue was an ancient Tamarian text that was long believed lost. I found this text on a desolate desert world and it spoke of the Yughagi Mancur being held by a black tyrant. I firmly believe this black tyrant to be none other than Darksied. I can feel in my soul that this man holds the key to bringing back my lost Tamaran.
Charging into Apokolips would be foolhardy. I would surely end up dead, but all is not lost for a minion of Darksied is locked up in an Earthen prison. I will pay this Knockout a visit and see what she can possibly tell me about the Yughagi Mancur. If nothing then I'll move on and develop another avenue of approach. Either way I'm assured to have some fun as I'm sure that Knockout will put up some resistance to my questioning of her. She is after all a Fury and those women were untamable. How they managed to keep her locked away in prison was a feat I could not fathom.
Leaving to see Knockout feels me with more hope than I had anticipated it would. My idea was to keep my enthusiasm to a minimum because it was very likely that I could easily be disappointed. I don't take well to disappointment. It usually ends up with me hitting someone. In this case it'd probably be the Fury, but not like she didn't deserve it. Her hands had probably tortured more innocents than all of the Nazis of Earth combined. Her sister's reign of terror stretched across the ages. I'd be more than justified if I took a few licks here and there.
Snart felt more than justified in freezing a few of the guards here and there. Anyone who could get paid for keeping such a man as himself locked up deserved to be punished. Captain Cold was pure genius and made it known as he walked down the linoleum hallway freezing any guard that dared draw a gun or get to close to him.
Kanto perked up his hat and looked back at his companion, "Having a bit of fun are we? Don't get too carried away. You're going to attract attention."
"I think we've garnered plenty of attention just waltzing down this cell block like we own the place. If anything I'm covering our asses. Something you don't seem to want to have any part in," Captain Cold chastised.
"Your abilities are much more merciful than mines. If I were to get involved there would be a plethora of screams that the inmates would be able to entertain. As it is, I would prefer to keep this operation quick and quiet. Besides I can tell you need to blow some steam," Kanto chuckled.
Snart couldn't even begin to deny that. Every day of his imprisonment had built a little more rage within him. Every day of his imprisonment reminded him of his failings as a man. Len wanted to be above men and to be reminded of just how low he could fall was a rage builder. Kanto was reading him and Captain Cold didn't enjoy it. He much preferred to be the one doing the reading.
"You're right Kanto. I don't need you getting blood on my uniform. It's already in desperate need of a dry cleaning," Captain Cold joked.
And your uniform is in dire need of redesign, Captain Cold thought.
How Kanto managed to be respected amongst the courts of Apokolips with his fluorescent colored uniform was beyond Len. How someone so brightly colored could even be called an assassin puzzled Len even more. Of course he would voice none of those thoughts anytime soon. As much as he couldn't stand to look at Kanto the man was going to be his ticket to respect. A new level of respect. The kind of respect that common criminals give Batman. It would be his for the taking. All he had to do was keep his eyes from screaming at the mess of colors walking in front of him.