Chapter 6: Recovery

Thalfarr sat quietly in his cell, occasionally amusing himself by flaring his eyes at a passing human law-officer. This always caused them to start at least a little and was proving to be the only diversion he had while waiting for his release. He'd already tried breaking through the walls and escaping on his own, but that had proven futile- the cell was made of some sort of incredibly strong metal reinforced with a force field, and it was beyond even his strength to damage it. That meant that Thalfarr would have to follow the plan and wait for his companions to release him after they had their prize.

The fact that he had been defeated by a gang of children was galling, even though it had been part of the plan that Blackfire had outlined. He'd built a reputation as a mercenary warrior- rare in the loyalty-focused Tamaranean society, but hardly unheard of- based on his great strength and skill, and he hated to have a mark against that, especially one delivered by such pitiful foes. When Blackfire had the artifact she wanted, Thalfarr intended to ask her if he could have the so-called Titans to himself- with the exception of Starfire, of course. She was his employer's sister, after all, and therefore whatever fate she had rightly earned ought to come from Blackfire's hand. That was only proper.

A guard walked past the front of the cell and paused, studying Thalfarr intently. "Hey, Joe!" he called over his shoulder, "you seen this guy? He's orange, if you'll believe it! Any idea who he is, or what he is?"

Another guard stepped into Thalfarr's line of vision- Joe, presumably. "The Titans brought him in earlier today," he said. "Apparently he was tearing up downtown- and I mean that literally. I'm not sure what he is, exactly, but I think him and Starfire have the same kind of look about them, and he's real strong. Maybe he's from her planet?"

The first guard snorted. "Only in this town do you get an alien locked up in a holding cell and it doesn't make front page news. I don't know whether that's a selling point, or a reason to move to Metropolis fast."

Thalfarr did his best to ignore the inane conversation and began to glance around at the corners of the room outside. The others should have the shard by now- he wouldn't have to wait here much longer.

One of the guards glanced over at him. "Hey," he said, "what are you smiling about? I wouldn't think someone in your position would have much of a reason to be happy."

"I bet you he's up to something," the other one said. "What is it? Talk, alien!"

"My name is Thalfarr," the Tamaranean snarled, satisfied to note both of the guards jump a little. "And it's not what I'm up to that should worry you."

"What are you talking about?" the guard named Joe asked, gesturing with his weapon in a way that was clearly meant to be intimidating but that Thalfarr merely found amusing.

"You should be worrying about that." The Tamaranean pointed at the wall behind the two humans. One of them turned to look and did a double take when he saw the gleaming device perched on it, which resembled a silver oval with four clawed legs. It was one of Kaxdhri'in's toys, similar to the ones she'd leant to Thalfarr that had been so helpful in spreading chaos earlier.

"What in the name of-" one of the guards had time to say before the mobile bomb exploded. The blast tore a massive hole in the wall and sent both humans sprawling to the floor, where they lay still- unconscious or dead, Thalfarr didn't care.

A pair of glowing green eyes shone through the smoke and dust that filled the air, and then Kaxdhri'in glided in through the hole and landed lightly on the floor, looking at the chaos that surrounded her with distaste. She raised her right arm and leveled it at the cell and a thin beam of light shot from her wrist-laser, slicing neatly through the reinforced bars. Thalfarr smiled and stepped out of the cell, kicking one of the guards as he passed. The blow was light, by Tamaranean standards, but it still sent him flying into one of the still-intact walls.

"That was uncalled for," Kaxdhri'in observed.

"I felt like it," Thalfarr said, shrugging- an expression he'd picked up from watching the humans and rather enjoyed. "Come. Let us leave this place." Launching himself into the air, he hurtled through the hole in the wall and left his prison behind. Kaxdhri'in followed.

############

Blackfire groaned and slowly opened her eyes, trying to ignore the pounding in her head. She didn't know what had been in that smoke her sister's wretched little boyfriend had sprayed all over her, but he was going to pay for it the next time they met.

Slowly pulling herself into a sitting position, the exiled princess of Tamaran looked around and realized that she was back in her pilfered mansion and had been lying on one of the couches in the main room. She turned her head slowly to see if any of her "friends" were around- Thalfarr and Kaxdhri'in were nowhere to be seen, but Fireblade was seated in a chair across the room. When he saw she was up he hurried over.

"My lady," he said, "you are awake! Are you well?"

"My head feels like I just plowed into an asteroid, but apart from that I'm fine," Blackfire said. She both appreciated and was amused by the Royal Guard's loyalty, all the more so because she'd never felt anything of the sort for anyone but herself. Then her eyes lit up eagerly. "I had the shard- I know it. Where is it- I want to see it!"

Fireblade lowered his eyes. "I am sorry, my lady. We were unable to keep the Titans from taking it. After you blacked out, we retreated here. Kaxdhri'in used her scanner, but the artifact was no longer in the scholar's house- it seems they took it back to their tower. We failed you."

"What?" Blackfire leaped to her feet and grabbed Fireblade by the collar of his cape. She allowed herself to hover slightly so that she could have the advantage of height and glared down at him with glowing eyes. "You fool! How could you have let that happen? I'm the princess, and you're a Royal Guard- you live to serve me. I need that artifact. You should have gone to the Tower and taken it back!"

"Kaxdhri'in and I cannot defeat all five of them alone," Fireblade said, doing his best to sound calm and rational. "Certainly not while they're behind their security systems. She has gone to free Thalfarr from prison, and I remained here to watch you. We thought it best to gather our team together and make a plan before acting."

He was right, of course- a fact that made Blackfire rather angry. She disliked it when other people were right and she wasn't, though she was clever enough to take advantage of it when it happened. She released her grip on Fireblade and drifted away from him. "I was able to sneak into the Tower before," she said, "but that was before they knew I was an enemy. They're bound to have the place locked up like a fortress now."

"Could Kaxdhri'in not reprogram the system so that its shuts down?" Fireblade asked.

"Not likely," Blackfire snorted. "The controls are all on the inside. No, what we need is a distraction- something big enough to keep the Titans and their tower busy while I sneak inside and get my prize back."

"What do you have in mind?"

"I don't know!" Blackfire snapped. "Shut up and let me think."

Fireblade lowered his eyes. "If it pleases my lady, I will go outside and wait for Thalfarr and Kaxdhri'in."

"You do that." Blackfire watched as he left the room and then lifted off the floor and glided up the stairs and down the hall, towards the room she'd claimed as her own. Inside it was filled with jewels from various worlds, Tamaranean weapons, and a holographic portrait of Blackfire herself that rested on a shelf. It was gaudy, decadent, and indulgent- everything the exiled princess loved.

Getting down on her hands and knees, she reached under the bed and pulled out a nondescript metal box. Blackfire held her hand over it for a moment so that it could read her bio-signature, and after it verified her identity it flashed once and opened. Inside were the shards she had already collected, glowing with a pulsing light that was almost the same color as her eyes. Together they formed a crystal crown, though it was obvious that a piece was missing.

Blackfire lifted the crown from the box and held it for a moment, staring into the crystal depths, and then placed it on her head. As always, she waited for the rush of power to fill her body and soul, but none came. The Crown of X'hal would function only when it was complete, and not before.

"But when it is, sister dear," Blackfire said to herself, "you and all your little friends are going to bow down and admit once and for all that I'm better than any of you. If you hadn't got in my way I would have left you alone- oh, who am I kidding. I'd have crushed you all anyway, but since you've been messing with my plans I'm going to enjoy it a whole lot more than I might have."

She clenched her fist and formed a purple starbolt around it. "After all, what are little sisters for but target practice?"

############

Fireblade stepped out onto the lawn of the mansion and stared up at the sky. Still no sign of Kaxdhri'in and Thalfarr. Shaking his head, he sat down on the grass to wait, sword crossed over his lap.

He'd been expecting Blackfire's outburst of temper, and he knew he deserved it. This was twice now that he'd failed to recover the shard- Royal Guards didn't tolerate that kind of failure in themselves, just as their lords and ladies didn't tolerate it in them. Perhaps had be been human Fireblade would have questioned his lady's actions, but when Tamaraneans gave their loyalty- to friends, to family, to royalty- it was absolute. And one of the reasons that Royal Guards were selected was for loyalty that went above and beyond even others of their species. Fireblade could no more turn on Blackfire than he could cut out his own heart.

Standing, he stretched and then began to swing his sword through a series of practice drills. After several minutes of that he paused and glanced back at the front of the mansion, eyes widening. A piece of paper was taped to the door that certainly hadn't been there before.

Hurrying over, Fireblade took it down and looked at it. He recognized most of the letters, but couldn't read the words- Tamaraneans couldn't learn written languages trough skin contact the way they could spoken ones. Of their team, only Blackfire could read English with any fluency.

Whatever it was, she needed to see it- someone had left them a message, and they needed to know what it was. Fireblade scanned the page again, but he still couldn't make any sense of it. One thing did stick in his mind, however- the bottom of the letter seemed to be signed not with a name, as was customary among the humans, but rather with a large, stylized version of the letter that was called "S".