The war of good and all things dark chapter 3 – Starfire v Scarecrow
Starfire landed as she reached the dark, fog-covered abandoned carnival. As she walked along; like her comrade Cyborg, Starfire too did not know much about the villain she was paired up with. She knew that 'the Scarecrow' was one of Robin's old enemies from when he was Batman's apprentice but that was all she knew. As Starfire went past a carnival booth, she noticed a trail of blood; it looked quite fresh. Starfire looked over the wooden countertop to see a dead police officer. His wallet had fallen out of his pocket and even with the fog, Starfire could just barely make out the name 'Detective Murphy'. There was also an audio recorder near the deceased detective and so; doing what she thought was best, Starfire picked it up and turned it on.
There are 4 new messages. Message 1- Recorded 4 hours, 17 minutes ago.
This is detective Harrison Murphy. I am on a case of 'the paranormal'. Hogwash, if you ask me. I was sent here because someone called in saying they had seen some sort of ghost here at the abandoned carnival. After this is all over, I'm gonna tell the chief about this old place; get it knocked down.
Message 2 - Recorded 2 hours, 8 minutes ago.
Detective Murphy. I've been here for about two hours now and as I suspected; nothing out of the ordinary has happened. I will admit I have been getting quite cold for a while now. The fog started rolling in and it's taking its toll. That's my situation update; I'll update again if I see anything, which I won't.
Message 3 - Recorded 56 minutes ago.
Okay, things ARE starting to get creepy now. A few minutes ago, I saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes so being who I am; I followed my instinct I went to check it out. However, when I got to where I saw the eyes, all I found was a mirror.
Message 4 - Recorded 10 minutes ago.
As Starfire listened to the supposed last message, she could distinctively hear gunshots in the background.
They're coming out of the walls! I need- AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!
Starfire listened closely as the scream died down. As she was about to turn off the audio recorder, she could hear someone breathing over it.
Now madness takes you, forever.
As the audio recorder turned itself off, Starfire looked at detective Murphy's body and began to query how he died. By the look of his body, he had suffered from serious brain trauma and there was bites all over his arms and legs except his blood; for some strange reason, was black.
Starfire then laid down the audio recorder next to its owner and she closed Murphy's eyes. She then mentally promised him that if she could, she would avenge him for being a good man and helper of society. She continued her walk through the carnival until she reached the centre; where there was a large fountain and she noticed someone standing on it. The man had glowing yellow eyes.
"I believe you are the crow that everyone is scared of?" said Starfire. "I suppose you could say that. What's your real name, dear Starfire? Mine's Dr. Crane." said the man who was now identified as Scarecrow. "My real name is Koriand'r and I am here to claim the stone I need to save friend Beast boy from your new evil master." Scarecrow jumped down from his fountain perch; revealing himself and the emerald stone around his neck. "You mean THIS stone?" he asked rhetorically.
Starfire had to admit, Scarecrow was quite a sight to see. He was wearing a mask which portrayed him as well, a scarecrow. He was also wearing dark brown trousers and gloves; he was also shirtless whilst wearing black shoes with bandages around them. To top it all off, he had a strange contraption equipped to his right hand. It had wires coming down his arm which lead to four syringes at the end of his fingers; each containing a glowing orange liquid.
"Yes, that stone. Now to avoid any trouble, I advise you give it to me before I have to resort to kicking the butt." said Starfire as her response to Scarecrow's question. As she lighted up her hands with starbolts and her eyes glowed, Starfire noticed Scarecrow raise his right hand. "Tell me, what demons do you have to fear? Shall we see?" With those words, Scarecrow shot one of the four syringes at Starfire. She did not have enough speed to dodge so the syringe landed in her neck. As she pulled it out, Starfire noticed her scenery beginning to change. The sky was turning from black to a foggy dark yellow, lightning began to strike from the skies and in the distance; the buildings began to fall apart. Starfire looked towards Scarecrow, who was now laughing maniacally. "Poor little Kori, you're in MY world now!"
Starfire did the first thing that came to mind. She shot her starbolts at Scarecrow but found his was immune; the starbolts simply ran through him. "You're in MY realm now. Everything is as real as I choose it to be." Now knowing that her powers were useless, Starfire began to flee the scene. "How much do you think you can take? Does it scare you that I have already defeated you?" Scarecrow called out to her. Starfire just ignored him as she ran into the house of mirrors. Once inside, Starfire found herself lost in the mirrors but could tell by the yellow glow nearby that Scarecrow was close. "I will break you. Your mind will shatter like glass!"
Starfire turned to run further but found Scarecrow a few feet in front of her. There was a cloaked man standing by his side; sword in hand. "And at the end of fear... oblivion." said Scarecrow. With those words, the cloaked man charged Starfire trying to slash here with his blade. After twenty seconds of dodging relentless attacks, Starfire turned the tide of battle by flipping the man onto his back, taking the sword from his hand and jamming it into his stomach. As blood leaked from the cloaked man, Starfire looked up to see Scarecrow had fled. She then lifted the cloak of the man on the verge of death to see... Robin. Starfire was immediately flooded with guilt.
"Robin? Robin! Please Robin, wake up!" Starfire shook her leader whilst his blood flew from him. His eyes opened slowly to see the alien. "Starfire?" he asked. Starfire simply nodded as a response. "Is your mind playing tricks on you?" he continued. Starfire's mouth hang a gape as her love interest's head changed to that of Scarecrow. "Or am I?" Starfire immediately took the sword from Robin's body and shoved it into Scarecrow's face. As soon as she did, the body turned into a black fog.
Starfire knew she couldn't run from Scarecrow forever and she wanted to defeat him to save Beast boy so to get him out of his hiding place, Starfire did the only thing she could do; given the situation.
She destroyed every single mirror in the hall of mirrors.
As she looked around, Starfire couldn't see Scarecrow anywhere but she then found her attention drawn to the shards of glass from the mirrors that she had broken. When she looked long enough, Starfire could just barely see a part of Scarecrow's face in it each shard of glass. "Look around you! These are the broken fragments of your mind!" he shouted. Starfire immediately put her hands over her ears and shut her eyes to block out the corrupt doctor's taunts but to no avail. "What are you trying to do?" Scarecrow asked. "Nothing can block out fear; so nothing can block out ME!" Starfire opened her eyes for a second and discovered that somehow, all of the broken glass from the mirrors had disappeared. As she began her search again, Starfire noticed the Scarecrow walking out of the darkness towards her. She decided to hide and give him a surprise attack but when she saw what was in his syringes, she decided to hide.
Scarecrow had replaced his orange fear toxin with real green poison.
Starfire looked around and discovered a mirror that she had severely damaged but not completely broken so she did the first thing that came to her mind; she hid behind it. Scarecrow began to walk by; searching almost every corner of the hall of mirrors and he probably would've completely passed our hero is she hadn't accidentally caused a shard of glass from her mirror to fall out of place and onto the floor where it smashed.
"Where are you? What are you doing, little Kori?" asked Scarecrow rhetorically as he began to look around the mirror. Every time Scarecrow would search around the mirror, Starfire would mirror his actions and move a little in the opposite direction; hiding herself again. After a few moments, Scarecrow let go of the mirror and began walking on. "You cannot escape my gaze, Koriand'r! You will die here!" Scarecrow called to wherever Starfire was. When Scarecrow turned a corner and was out of sight, Starfire left her hiding place and began to leave but she didn't count on Scarecrow hearing her footsteps and rushing back.
"There you are." he said as he raised his left hand. When he did, Starfire was enwrapped in shadow vines and was deemed immobile. Scarecrow walked towards her until he was a few feet in front of her. "You failed, now suffer." With those words, three figures of shadow rose from the fog; Starfire recognised them immediately and was left speechless as the first figure stepped forward.
"Friend Raven?" Starfire asked the shadow doppelganger. "You should've stood up to him, Star." the Raven twin said as its response. It then disappeared as the second figure stepped forward to speak. "Cyborg?" Starfire asked. "Help us Star! Don't let us die!" the Cyborg twin shouted. As the Cyborg twin too vanished, the last doppelganger stepped forward. This one, of course, was Beast boy. "You've failed all of us, Star. The other three won their fights but you were too weak to win yours!" Starfire noticed that the doppelganger was talking in past tense, as if she had already lost. "Thanks to you, we will die and Curse-ed will live." With those last words, Beast boy's shadow twin turned to fog as Scarecrow stepped forward; about to inject Starfire with the poison.
Starfire didn't want to believe that she had failed her friends; she didn't want to accept that because of her failure, all of her friends would be killed by Curse-ed of the apocalypse. Because she didn't want to believe this, Starfire found determination as she broke free from the shadow vines and flew outside. Once outside, Starfire saw the fountain she had first seen Scarecrow on and immediately noticed the fog was coming from the fountain itself. She then charged up all of her power and strength into one starbolt. "How are you able to resist me? You have enough fear toxin in your blood to drive ten men insane! What are you?" Scarecrow called as he left the hall of mirrors and saw Starfire charging up her attack. As soon as she was ready, Starfire released her charged starbolt at the fountain and it was destroyed.
As the pieces of the fountain rained from the air, Scarecrow began to scream. Starfire turned around to see her enemy becoming enveloped by a bright light. As he was fully consumed, Starfire was blinded by a bright flash and she covered her eyes; when she opened them, the scenery was back to normal and Scarecrow was gone. All that was in the last place he was seen standing in was his scarecrow mask and the emerald that Starfire required. She walked over to the stone, picked it up and put it around her neck. As Starfire began to lift off to fly to Curse-ed's location, she looked towards the carnival booth she had seen detective Murphy in and said "Rest in peace, Harrison Murphy. You have been avenged."