IN BLACKEST NIGHT
By: Malaizjan De Jesus
A/N : Okay. This is the chapter that will have the most changes from what I written. Sometimes Prologues write themselves. Sigh. Oh and Baja Mountain Dew is the property of Pepsi Inc. and Taco Bell. I have never found it unless I got to Taco Bell. It is addicting…
In brightest day,
In blackest night,
No evil shall escape my sight.
Let those who worship evil's might,
Beware my power,
Green Lantern's Light! –Hal Jordan, then later Jon Stewart
March 3rd
Metropolis Bus Depot
12:42 am
Bus # 2743
Stara De Parra and her now 12-year-old sister, Soleil De Parra sat in the very last two seats on the semi-full bus. After the latest run-in with Deker from the League of Shadows, the other teen codenamed Starshine was weary of her current situation.
Stara and Soleil have been running from the League of Shadows for last 6 years. They had been without any parents for the last 3. Stara was tired of just surviving. She wasn't even sure what the point was anymore, and today was one of those days. She wasn't even sure why they were after them. At some point, their parents must've crossed them. She believed that much was true.
So Starshine was going to the one place where she had a friend: Happy Harbor. She was hoping to stash her little sister with Aqualad, the protégé of Aquaman, so she could take on the Shadows alone. They would most likely take her out but at least her sister would be safe.
The 12 year old girl with the strawberry-blonde hair was reading her Twilight book, twirling her finger in her hair, which was pulled into pigtails, the hair reaching her shoulders. She wore blue jean overalls with a yellow long-sleeved top under it. A cropped jean jacket was over her clothes. "I can't believe we're going to be back in Happy Harbor."
"I'm stashing you somewhere there. That's all."
"OOooo…think Kaldur will be happy to see you?" Soleil teased.
Starshine ripped the Twilight book out of her sister's hands and popped her in the head with it. "Shut up!" she hissed, a slight blush coming to her face.
Soleil smiled. "Kaldur and Stara sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, second comes marr-" The younger girl got popped in the head again. "OW!"
"Stop singing that!" But Stara could not stop nor hide the coming blush.
Soleil grabbed her book back and looked for her spot so she could read again. "Party pooper!"
"Brat," Stara affectionately whispered. The teen girl adjusted her dark gray zipper hoodie so no one could see her hair or eyes. She eyed the other people on board, seeing if she spotted anyone.
Her combat boots tapped the bus floor, each tap measured and quiet. She was nervous about seeing Aqualad again. Six months had passed and while the up-and-coming Starshine had a couple of fights with the Shadows, she couldn't stop thinking about Aquaman's protégé. She hoped he hadn't moved away. Her plan hinged on that small detail.
Stara was still sore from her last battle from Pyromick. It had been close. In the end, it was her martial arts skills that kept her alive. And then just a few hours ago, she took care of Derek, who tried stabbing her. She only got an hour of sun so her meta-powers were so weak.
That was why she felt her time was coming. For days, the 17 year old girl had peeks into what she was capable of. Even though Pyromick was behind bars, she knew he will bust out and come for her.
Soleil had to be safe.
And Aqualad was that safety net.
Besides, Aqualad had been warned about Firecracker being in Happy Harbor the last time they met. Maybe he could get the League to look into why that was happening.
"Maybe we can stop in Central City," Soleil suggested, trying to be nonchalant as possible.
It wasn't going to work. "For?" Stara asked tightly.
"To stay with Mister Allen."
Stara glared at her sister. "No," she whispered harshly. She wouldn't do it.
She would not endanger her once mentor.
"Please?" Soleil pushed.
"I don't need a grown hero telling me what to do." Star started to mess with the ear piece that was a lifeline to her.
"You like him," Soleil told her sister.
"I do not," Stara answered back.
"Uh huh," Soleil told her, not believing her older sister for a second.
"I don't," Stara said harshly, but she didn't sound convincing.
"Who are you trying to play with here? I may be 12 but I can tell."
"Oh, yeah? How?" Stara asked.
"You're messing with his ear piece."
Starshine dropped her hand from the item in question, an embarrassment blush coming to her.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Redline Buses. We will make three stops before our final destination in Washington D.C. For the teens on board, keep your language clean or your tickets will be revoked. My name's Peter and enjoy your ride." The driver was tall and lanky and his hair was long but seemed okay. He sat down in his seat, got himself situated and the bus slowly pulled out of the depot. "Ladies and gentlemen, we will arrive in Coorsville for a pick up in three hours."
Six Months.
That was too long.
It took a day of sneaking onto the Cave's computer for Kaldur'ahm to finally get the info on all of the De Parras. The leader of Young Justice took the laptop into his lap, looking at all of the history on Starshine's family in the privacy of his own room. Reading through it all was some doing, and it didn't help that there had been a mission the night before. Which slowed him down.
The info did read like a computer file, but Batman was very complete in his data collecting. She had 3 older brothers-Sammy, Stephan and Storm. Storm was her twin. She also had a young brother. Sloan. But all of them were dead. Her parents were dead too. It was just her and her younger sister, Soleil. He learned that their mother, Rachel Martin-De Parra was a pre-school teacher. She met Cory at a Shadows-thrown party fundraiser for a then-lieutenant governor. Cory De Parra, their dad, was an accountant for the Shadows.
Kaldur believed that maybe Stara's dad stole money from the Shadows and it cost him most of his family, not to mention, his own life. Not having the skills of Batman or his teammate, the Boy Wonder, he considered taking time off to track the girls down. Perhaps with Stara's help, they could learn why the Shadows were still after the girls…
But only Stara and Storm were meta-humans. Could Stara's powers hold the key?
"Hey Kaldur?"
The muffled voice of Robin was just outside his door. Aqualad shoved his laptop under his pillow, still open. "Come in, Robin."
The Boy Wonder walked inside as soon as the sliding door allowed him to. The young protégé of Batman noticed that Kaldur had been distracted over the last two missions. The last one was out of character for the Young Justice leader. They had foiled the theft of some tech from a sub-company of Wayne Enterprises. But it turned out that one of the thieves was a member of the League of Shadows. Kaldur had the guy cornered and said something to him. His voice was low so he didn't hear what was said. The villain grinned and whispered something to him, in which the Atlantean promptly punched the villain out cold. He wanted to know what was going on, because Kaldur doesn't use such force unless he was being attacked. "Hey, I was just wondering if you were okay."
"I am well. You?" Kaldur asked politely.
"I'm pretty whelmed." Robin sat on the very edge of Kaldur's bed, so he wouldn't seem as threatening. "So…what was up with you and that guy?"
"There was nothing." Kaldur knew that Robin saw what he did. The last thing he wanted was to get Batman involved.
"I saw that punch. What did the guy say?" Robin asked. He knew now something was up. Kaldur was purposely being evasive.
"He insulted me," Kaldur told the younger teen.
Robin's eyes narrowed. "C'mon, Kaldur. The bad guys are always insulting us. You've been off lately. I don't know if the others noticed but I have."
"I am…uneasy about the rash of Shadows activities." Kaldur wanted to keep his secrets to himself.
"I'm nervous too. The Light is gone, we saved the League and we got Rocket on our team. Whatever the Shadows plan, we'll be right there to stop them. But that's not what's got you all nervous." Robin stood up and leaned against the wall. He saw the corner of the open laptop under Kaldur's pillow. His eyes narrowed. "Kaldur…what are you hiding?"
"Nothing," the leader answered.
It was answered too quickly.
"And I don't believe it." Robin pushed himself off of the wall and walked over to the bed, near the Atlantean's pillow. "What's under the pillow?"
Kaldur sat on his bed, glaring at the youngest member of the team. "Stay out of it," Robin." His voice was tight and he didn't want to out-right lie to the young detective. But he didn't want to reveal anything, for fear that Batman would get involved. One hand went to one of his water bearers on his back.
"Kaldur….whatever it is, I can help." Taking a step closer to the door, he tried to stay non-threatening. Whatever it was, Kaldur had a hand on his weapon. That wasn't a good sign at all. "If you want it on the down-low, then fine. Batman doesn't ever have to know."
Kaldur thought about it for 5 seconds before deciding against it. "I…appreciate the offer. This is something I must do alone."
Robin sighed. He knew that something was up. This wasn't like Kaldur at all. "It's your call. But if you need anything, call me. I will help." Robin took his leave, now planning to hack into Aqualad's laptop to see what was up.
As soon as Robin left, Aqualad breathed a sigh of relief.
"First stop, Central City," Peter announced as he pulled the bus up into the terminal. The half-full bus was anxious to empty and stretched legs. As soon as the all-clear was given, the passengers got off the bus, Soleil and Stara being the last two. Stara went to the sun right away, her eyes closed, soaking up as much as she could.
Soleil was hungry. She didn't want to stop her sister, for her sister was dealing with tender ribs and sore muscles but… "Sis, I'm hungry."
Stara sighed. She finally felt warm. "Okay. Let's find a place."
Soleil De Parra squealed. She took her sister by the hand and led her inside the bus terminal. The pre-teen girl stared in awe at the building that looked so rich in looks. The walls and floors were made of aged marble that looked carved by skilled artists. The ceiling and skyline were made of glass, which allowed sunlight to enter the building nearly unhindered. She looked around for a food stand.
There were several food stands but only one got her attention. She pulled her sister over toward a food place they knew well.
Taco-N-Nacho.
The name was self-explanatory. They had many creations of their two types of food and Soleil fell in love with their specialty-Nacho Pizza. It was basically a cheese pizza with nachos on top.
Soleil walked up to the food stand and smiled. "Hi! One small Nacho Pizza, a large Mountain Dew Baja and six tacos, all soft shells. Hot sauce on the side," she ordered.
Stara smiled. Soleil always had a healthy appetite.
The young lady-she couldn't have been older than 19-smiled at the 12 year old. "Anything else?"
Stara knew better but she did do it. "A small Mountain Dew Baja and a small taco salad." She reached for her wallet. And she was feeling rather odd.
"That'll be $11.23."
Stara looked in her wallet and pulled out the money to pay the girl. Once that was done, they waited ten minutes for their food. The food and drinks collected, Soleil made her way to the brightest spot in the whole place-the middle of the bus station. The hardwood benches were in lines and it was open, so they could see everyone around them. Soleil sat on the one in dead center. Stara sat next to her seconds later, and felt the sun's rays bath her.
Soleil watched as her sister relax a bit. With the sunlight bathing her sister, the younger De Parra knew that her sister could finally recharge. Soleil ate heartily her pizza but saw that her sister was pushing her taco salad around. "Stara? Is it not fresh?"
"I'm not sure I can eat this." Stara knew she wasted what little money they had left grabbing a bite to eat. She wanted to. She felt so weak, and her type of metabolism required her to eat like 20 times a day. But, life on the run doesn't allow such things and she ate less. The street life altered her eating habits. Three to four days between meals was taking a toll on her body.
Starshine hadn't eaten in six days.
"Try. Take a small bite." Soleil stuffed a huge chunk of her pizza into her mouth.
Stara bit into the plastic spoon, taking a small bite. As soon as she swallowed, her stomach rebelled something fierce, like someone stabbed her with a flat-head screwdriver and was twisting it inside of her. Her hand went to her stomach.
Soleil stopped stuffing her face when she saw this. "Sis?" she said with her mouth full.
The young hero waved her younger sister off. Her stomach fought the food in her. She was nervous now. Every time she ate this was happening. She'd go days without food so her sister could eat more. That choice might have led her to an eating disorder because of it. She didn't want to take another bite. It was too much pain to bear. She was still hurting and she wasn't absorbing the sun's rays fast enough to ease any of it. But the girl took another bite. The pain wasn't so intense this time around. But her stomach wasn't settled in the least.
She might not be able to hold it down.
Soleil felt guilty. Her older sister sacrificed everything for her. To keep her alive. It wasn't fair that she couldn't eat anything!
Then Star took a third bite. Her stomach hurt less, but it was still unsettled. By bite five, the stomach pain was gone. But she was full. She felt stuffed, even though she hardly ate anything. Soleil was reaching into the bag for the tacos when she handed the taco salad to her. "You finish this. I'm full."
Soleil took the food, shocked that there was still so much. "Are you sure?" Tears came to her eyes. No way could Stara last much longer like this.
"Yeah." She sipped on her drink.
The younger De Parra took the food and dug in. Soleil was really hungry. She hadn't eaten dinner the night before so all of the taco foods tasted great on an empty stomach. The Baja Mountain Dew was addicting.
Stara mentally went over the money they had left. They could make it to Happy Harbor on $200. As the older teen continued to sip on her drink, her eyes scanned the crowd, looking for anyone out of place. Everyone appeared normal, business execs on their Blackberries or Iphone 4s', parents walking with their kids to their buses, that sort of thing. No one stood out of place to her.
Meanwhile, the young lady at the Taco-n-Nacho studied Soleil and Stara intently. She tapped her earpiece. "Eagle Eye to Lone Shark."
"Go Eagle Eye."
"Target has arrived in Central City. Has not made contact with the Flash. Shall I proceed?"
"Proceed with extreme caution. Target must be returned to the Shadows alive. She escaped Seattle and we lost 7 assassins to the police. We cannot repeat that. Lone Shark out."
Eagle Eye watched the teens get up and walk over to one of the clothing booths farther away.
"Please, sis!? I want a Flash tank top!" Soleil cried.
Of course her sister wanted something Flash. The girl was not subtle in her hints about getting help from Flash. Starshine also didn't want to spend what little money they had left. But when was the last time Soleil had a brand new top? Sighing, Stara opened up the wallet and paid for the tank top. The younger girl squealed as she hugged the shirt to her. "Nothing else."
"Aren't you going to the new opening of the Flash wing of the city's library? The middle-aged merchant asked them.
Stara squirmed under the man's gaze. "No. We're going to miss our bus." Sharshine pulled her sister toward the bus terminal entrance. "Let's go, sis."
Soleil was almost dragged outside. Stara got her sister back onto the bus and the two headed straight for the back of it. "Why did you do that!?" the 12 year old hissed as she sat down.
"Because I didn't want you trying to see Flash. If he saw us, we'd put him in danger. We can't do that to him and his wife." Stara sat down with her arms crossed.
"He's the Fastest Man Alive! He can out-run anyone and everyone!" Soleil told her sister. She glared at her.
"Not his wife. Not Wally," Stara whispered.
"You still think Aqualad's our only chance?" the younger girl asked.
"Yeah." A simple answer as Starshine turned toward the window and closed her eyes.
Soleil clutched her Flash tank top to her chest. "Sis?"
"Yeah?"
"Have you ever wondered what if you had stayed and be Flash's protégé?"
"No."
Soleil De Parra caught the hitch in her sister's voice. Of course Stara did. Her sister had wondered. It was no secret that Kid Flash was Flash's protégé.
But 3 years ago, before they felt to protect him…
He had Starshine to be his protégé first.
***Well, here it is! The first chapter! Why did they leave Flash? Why are the Shadows after Starshine? What is Robin planning to do? Can Aqualad help Starshine at all? The Shadows are following her now. Can Starshine escape their plans, whatever they are? Stay tuned to chapter 2! **