Yaaay, I got another reviewer. :) Thankee kind sir.
Chapter written to the .hack//SIGN song 'Fake Wings.' God bless Yuki Kajiura. She doesn't have quite the diversity of Yohko Kanno, but within her specialty she definitely matches that composer for eloquence and beauty.
Chapter 5: Glorious Illumination
For the first time since she'd put on a dress back when that nasty Kitten had been around, Starfire was wearing something more modest than her usual outfit. She didn't like feeling so... exposed... to people, not when she knew what they were thinking of her here. Perhaps this was what Raven felt like, constantly hiding within the shadows of her cloak...
"Thank you again for purchasing this wonderfully warm apparel for me, Raven."
"It's just a t-shirt and jeans, Starfire. They took barely ten minutes to buy and almost fewer dollars, considering I got them from a discount store. I'm just glad they fit you. Well, sort of, anyway."
The clothes were indeed a size or two overly large, and thus floppy, rendering her body totally shapeless in their folds, but she liked them even more that way. She looked like someone totally ignorable, which was just how she wanted it.
"I believe I will go see how the boys are passing their morning now..."
"Oh, good. I think I'll go with you. Now that my throat's feeling better I've got some more things to say to our resident shapeshifter."
Starfire was not at all surprised to see Beast Boy immediately change into a kitten to mitigate Raven's anger. Predictably, it didn't work, but he kept the shape anyway... probably because it meant he didn't have to talk. She couldn't help but smile a little at the scene of her dignified teammate arguing with a green house pet. Raven never seemed to realize how unintentionally humorous it was when she held long conversations with Beast Boy when he was in one of his more adorable shapes and incapable of responding. She seemed to know him well enough to mentally fill in his half of the dialogue without much effort.
"Beast Boy, jumping on my lap and purring is not going to make me any less mad at you. You're shedding and green clashes with my cloak! Beast Boy, get down. Get down. I mean it. Ack! Stop climbing on my shoulders you miserable little-"
"Tell me, friend Cyborg, are all Earth cats this hard to dislodge or is Beast Boy merely exceptionally stubborn?" Starfire asked her other teammate, who was watching the scene with just as much amusement as herself.
"Can't it be both?" Cyborg said, chuckling as Beast Boy continued to evade Raven's lunges, both normal and telekinetic, by more or less climbing all over her.
"I don't suppose one of you would like to help me?" Raven growled dangerously at them, as Beast Boy sat on her head looking innocent. "Isn't he supposed to be memorizing his speech for that news conference, anyway?"
"He already finished. I made him say it from memory three times," Cyborg said, carefully picking up the feline and putting it on the bed. "Our little guy's all ready to march up to the world and say he's sorry for the latest crazy thing he's done, ain't that right kitty cat?"
Beast Boy meowed enthusiastically, and walked back over to Raven, apparently intent on exploiting the fact that it was very, very difficult to be angry at a kitten.
"What?" A pause. "Beast Boy, I am not going to pet you. It's just... it's just weird, okay?! If you're not going to turn into a form where I can yell at you properly, then get away from me!" Raven snapped, drawing her hood over her head, but not so quickly that Starfire didn't spot the faintly flushed cheeks.
"Hey, I'll pet him," Cyborg announced, reaching over to rub underneath Beast Boy's chin. "Aww, whozza fuzzy kitty? Whozza fuzzy wuzzy kitty-witty?"
After all the trouble from last night and the days before, it was nice to have the team acting something like normal again. The only thing that wasn't normal, really, was the city outside the room's walls... which she didn't have to go out into just yet. She thanked X'Hal for that fact and, giggling, joined Cyborg in petting Beast Boy, while Raven looked on with an expression that managed to combine surprise, horror, confusion, scorn, and revulsion.
"That's disgusting."
"Some people do not mind being touched as much as you, Raven," Starfire said with a wink (she had learned the gesture only just recently and had been waiting to try it out for a while now). "Indeed, I have often thought that you would be more happy if you allowed people to initiate physical contact with you with more frequency..."
"Just so you know, Star, the fact that you've been having a hard time lately doesn't give you a free ticket for hugs."
"What, so it's not the end of the world again?" Cyborg quipped. "By the way, Star, what's with the new getup?"
She blinked, confused, repressing frustration at yet another Earth phrase she was unfamiliar with. But it was easy enough to discern the meaning from the usage. "If you are referring to the shirt of t and jeans of blue I am wearing, I felt it wise to adorn myself with something more modest, to discourage the wandering eyes of certain fans that can be enthused to excess."
Truth be told, she'd hated abandoning her uniform, even temporarily. But she was sick of having people's eyes on her every moment she was outside, following her like tiny hungry insects. She hadn't been afraid of attention since the time her body had changed oddly in preparation for chrysalis. This time was similar in that she felt a need to hide from the world, afraid of exposure and contact, but also different. The last time, she'd simply been worried that her friends wouldn't like her. Now, all sorts of strangers were liking her... but for the wrong reasons. She was deathly afraid that would never stop, and felt truly alien on the planet again as she hadn't felt for a long time. It was almost as though the Earth she knew had vanished and been replaced with a different planet from another universe. She looked and looked and nothing was the same anymore, except for the Titans.
Robin excepted.
Somehow, Robin was always an exception to any generalization, though. Should she really be surprised that he'd changed his mind about her? She wasn't good enough for him. She would never be able to match his strength of will or spirit. Raven, though... Raven had a chance. Raven was very strong indeed.
A nice vehicle, not a limousine but a step above a normal car, came to take them to the news conference. Robin had not yet returned... but that was no cause for worry! He could take care of himself. The others seemed to think likewise, but acted surprise, for some reason, when she agreed. Hmph. There was no sense in doubting Robin or looking over his shoulder constantly. He was an adult, not a child, and should be treated as one. More than adult enough to make his own... decisions... in life.
That was what she told herself, anyway.
No one had the nerve to suggest she change back into her uniform. She knew it was not suitable attire for a meeting with the people of news, but being clad in her more open uniform in front of so many prying eyes was a thought fit to make her hyperventilate. She had a new definition for fear, and it was worry over what people thought of her body.
The car was a pleasant enough shield from the outside world while it lasted, but when they stepped out, the shock was as great as plunging into ice cold water. The crowd was so thick that the pavement could not be seen, and the noise from it like the roar of a tempestuous sea. And everywhere, there were lights, constant flashing white lights. Cameras. There were far too many cameras. Starfire tried to hide in her baggy clothes, and when that failed, settled for cowering partially in Raven's shadow instead.
Cyborg seemed to take it all in stride, as did Raven. If they were nervous, they didn't show it beyond faint traces of strain in their expressions. Beast Boy, though... he seemed caught between the desire to flaunt before an audience and running away frantically. Fear and bravado fought in practically every movement he made, and more than once she saw him half-raise a hand, then stop, thinking better of whatever gesture he had intended.
Beast Boy read the speech as well as he could, stuttering and fumbling over the words, but with a loud, clear tone that would have done even the ruler of Tamaran proud. It was the only time she could ever recall seeing visible sweat on him, dampening the short fuzz slightly. His hands shook, but it was only noticeable when he shuffled the papers of the speech around, which he didn't do too often, having memorized most of it well enough. At one point, he seemed to freeze in fright as a particularly unpleasant camera bulb flashed its way into their eyeballs, but she discreetly put a hand on his back for comfort and he seemed to draw strength from it, going on and not making any further linguistic errors for almost three minutes after.
There were questions afterwards, of course. And though the barrage seemed innumerable and impertinent, they had all been prepared for it. Most of the answers they had to given were simply explanations on Starfire's actual actions as of late, and the clear existence of an impersonator in Metropolis. More unpleasant, though, were the questions that delved into Beast Boy's supposed nature as a 'known troublemaker.' For that question, she volunteered an answer, very firmly. Beast Boy was playful, sometimes mischevious, but always a stalwart and reliable member of the team. Even when he was cooperating with a known criminal? Yes, she told them, even then. Beast Boy had most likely been led astray by his desire to rehabilitate the woman. Starfire did her best to comport herself as a dignified and patient member of the team, but with each question she felt disgust grow and grow inside. Did these reporters not trust the Titans? After all they had done, why were there still so many doubts to raise? Had they not sacrificed enough of themselves to prove the forthrightness of their natures?
Apparently not. Because the questions went on and on, until the Titans had no more answers to give. She had to call an end to the session... hoping she was not overstepping her authority, was not Cyborg technically second in command? But she could take no more and knew the others felt the same. So she put a very firm end to it, and they left, and the questions trailed after them, along with the staring eyes and flashing cameras. For just a moment, Starfire wondered why she bothered to protect such rude and ungrateful people from the criminals of the world. Perhaps if they were preyed upon more, and forced to defend themselves, they would not be so quick to pass judgement on others who fought for their sakes!
Even when she was back in the car again, the lights from the cameras seemed to follow her, hiding behind her eyes. Sighing, she rubbed her forehead, not even having the energy to relax to try and make the mild ache go away.
"Hey, Star, you okay?" Cyborg. He did play the part of the big brother to all of them so well.
"I am fine, friend, it is a mere ache of the head," she said with a cheerfulness she didn't feel, resting the side of her head on the window.
"You don't look so hot. Maybe you should take some Advil once we're back at our rooms."
"I am supposed to look hot? Beast Boy is sweaty and flushed enough for all of us, yes?"
"Unfortunate but true," Raven muttered, waving a hand in front of her nose. "Go take a shower as soon as we're back, Beast Boy."
"Okay," he said meekly.
They all looked at him in surprise. It wasn't like him to give in to a matter of hygeine so easily. The news conference had worn him out most of all, though.
"Do not worry friend Beast Boy. It was a very difficult ordeal, but now that it is over we have nothing to worry about. This has fixed everything, I am sure."
Beast Boy gave a laugh very uncharacteristic of him: short and sharp, almost a bark. "C'mon Star. Stop playing the cheerful alien for a sec." He sighed and dropped his head down, staring at his feet. "S'too late to fix anything," he muttered, so lowly that she barely heard him.
The words somehow clicked with something deep inside her, and she felt an intense responsive surge of depression that wanted to acknowledge it for truth. Things would never be the same again. The planet Earth itself would never be the same to her again. It was ruined now. Every time she looked at someone, she would be wondering whether they thought of her as a hero or an object of lust. Every time she looked at Robin, she would be wondering who he was thinking of... her, or Raven? Every smile, every fond word, every expression of joy was tainted now, and there was nothing to be done but smile and pretend it was otherwise. If only because she knew no other way to go on.
Perhaps she wasn't the only one to feel in such a way. A silence as sharp and painful as knives held sway in the vehicle for the rest of the ride back. Robin had still not yet returned. It was a bad sign. The conference had been long. An even worse sign was when he failed to answer his communicator. After that, there was nothing to do but consider it an emergency of some sort, even if they knew not what.
"I'm going to try and locate his spiritual self within the city," Raven said finally. "It'll be difficult with this many auras packed so close together, but if I trace along the same route as our old mental connection I believe I can do it."
"Like connect the dots?" Beast Boy asked.
"...sure, why not."
Raven floated off to the girls' room, and Starfire followed. Raven needed to have peace and quiet to do the necessary work, she knew, but this would also be a good time to say something that would otherwise be hard to speak of.
"This spiritual location process is not dissimilar to meditation in its initial stages, is it not?" she asked quietly once Raven was floating in lotus position.
One eye peeked open. "Uh... yeah, I suppose. Why?"
"Would it be possible for me to assist you? I know my... my mental self-discipline, is low compared to your own, but if I can be of any use in finding Robin..."
"Well, I suppose the added energy would be a useful extra framework to lean on. It might make things go a little quicker anyway. But if you want to participate, you'll have to let part of your thoughts and feelings leak over into mine... and if you don't have good control over them, it'll ruin the spell."
Starfire smiled slightly. How convenient. What better way to talk? So long as she kept control of herself, of course. "I will do my best to keep myself under restrain if you will allow me the opportunity, friend Raven."
"Okay... get close to me, from whatever direction you like, and mimic my position. After that I'll start the psychological bleeding over."
"Bleeding over? That does not sound very-"
"Figure of speech, Starfire."
"Oh. Of course." She would learn them all, some day. Even if there seemed no sense to trying to fit in on Earth anymore.
She assumed the lotus position and floated with her back to Raven's own, repressing the urge to lean into it and enjoy the warmth more. It was actually difficult to feel enough joy to fly even such a small height into the air and maintain it, but she managed, mostly by remembering petting Beast Boy with Cyborg.
Their voices came together on the very first attempt without even needing to deliberately try for such. "Azarath, metrion, zinthos. Azarath, metrion, zinthos. Azarath, metrion, zinthos..."
And then she felt, faintly, an oddly intruding sensation. Different thoughts, different feelings, whispering against her own. Colder. Calmer. Lonelier. She shivered a little from it, then relaxed and embraced it, focusing herself on listening and feeling as much of it as she could. There was clear focus of purpose, with self-discipline and the casual familiarity of long practice to funnel it. That was by far the overriding feeling. Below it, though, were other things, things that might have been imagined more than felt, they were so faint and ephemeral. Weariness. Disgust, aimed both inwards and outwards. Pity. Shame. Frustration. An intense desire for hot tea.
Why are you thinking about Beast Boy? Raven's thoughts came clearly, the product of a deliberate sending of information packaged into easily-accessible words.
I need to be happy to attain flight. Beast Boy makes me happy, when he is not being foolish.
He's always foolish, Raven said instantly, but the words were automatic with no real emotional heat behind them.
You are not angry with him anymore, Starfire noted.
I don't have the energy to be angry. I'll be angry some more later. You can bet on that.
This connection you say you have with Robin... it is... useful, yes?
There's no point in trying to be delicate, Starfire. I can tell what you're feeling. You think I have a greater connection with him than you do?
I do not know.
It's like a trail of smoke on a dark night. I can follow it if I try, but just barely. It doesn't mean anything.
Do you say this because you believe it, or because you do not wish to hurt my feelings?
It was impossible to lie when communicating mind to mind. At least, not by any techniques either of them knew. The hesitation was significant, and the next words Raven sent were flooded with shame.
I don't know.
I am remembering when you defeated your father... and you were so glad that Robin had believed in you...
Hey, I've even hugged Beast Boy once, came Raven's flippant reply. You just have to catch me in the right mood.
I hope you are aware that none of us ever stopped believing in you, Raven.
I know. And I'm glad for it. Look, is there something you wanted to say, or...
The words drifted off vaguely, and Starfire couldn't think of the right thing to say back, not immediately. Instead she just sent her emotions, which were much the same as Raven's own. The tiredness, the carefully-hidden, tightly-wound-up ball of shame, the sad but absolute willingness to give in to fate and do whatever was required to keep life normal and peaceful.
You can have him if you want him, she finally said miserably, and only just in time remembered not to let her emotions come too strongly, holding back intense grief with an iron wall of will till the sorrow faded into a steady but weaker ache.
Starfire...
I mean what I say though my lips are unmoving. You are a dear friend to me, Raven... and so is Robin... and I will gladly sacrifice whatever meaningless debt I feel he owes me, if you two would be happy... together...
Raven was awed, and bemused, and almost, almost amused, but the sorrow leaking over from herself, however subdued, was enough to send a resonance of empathetic pain through the both of them that would not stop bouncing back and forth. Starfire felt Raven try to begin something like a denial, something to brush it all aside, but she stopped that before it could begin.
Can you truly tell me you have never thought of it? she asked Raven firmly. And she hoped against hope that Raven would say no and mean it... but she knew that that would not be so. The feelings coming from Raven told her that, as well as her own common sense.
Okay... maybe a little, sometimes... but that doesn't mean anything!
I wonder what Robin would think of it, if you spoke with him.
I don't have to speak with him, Starfire. I don't want to speak with him. It was just a stupid misunderstanding. You can forgive him for it, and forget about it, and everything can go back to normal.
We all wish we could forget many things in life. But we never truly can... can we?
Raven's silence this time was guilt-laden, agreeing and not wanting to admit to it.
Starfire's self-control held, but shockingly, Raven's did not. Perhaps because Raven had to be in control so much of the time... here she had a chance to let go for a change, and the unusual emotional closeness had broken her comfort zone all to pieces anyway. Raven's emotions surged forward and washed over everything, a great black tide of woe and regret. Raven was crying, and Starfire dimly realized she was crying in response to Raven's own tears. Raven wasn't weeping just for the current problem, but for innumerable ones, small things that built up and up underneath layers of faked nonchalance. Tens of thousands of little regrets that could never be fixed. Words, expressions, decisions, people kept at a distance both literal and metaphorical. Images of all the Titans... Terra... Slade... Trigon... a woman Starfire knew through the link to be Raven's mother... Malchior's soothing words from paper and harsh dragon-handed grip... all of it had added up, and never really gone away. One could not really make such things go away. The only thing to do was keep yourself distracted so you didn't think of those things too often.
Starfire let the emotions rock her, and did not resist. And when Raven was done and finally regained control of herself, no comment was made on the unusual event. Everyone needed to lose control every once in a while. People who lived their lives always in control were scarcely living at all.
Sorry about that. I'm going to try and find Robin now, Raven projected, with volume barely registerable to her mind's ears.
Starfire projected a faint smile back. Yes. Let us find Robin.
Their wills entwined, and travelled an old, disused but still recognizable path based on a previously established link and similarity of pysches, and Robin could have no more kept his location from them than a tree could have deflected a bullet. Raven alone could have done it easily enough, though it would have taken time. With Starfire lending her sincerity of will to it, also honed to a mental point, if one duller than Raven's, and the both of them focused with utter intensity on him for various reasons, the mental journey was almost like that of being a lightning bolt striking down.
He was far, but still in the city. Underground, in a clean, metal place with unusually Tamaranian furnishings. He had been hurt... his jaw still ached faintly from a previously terrible wound somehow repaired, and one of his ankles had been seared and remained untended to. He was calculating, doing his best to stay in control, but he was also afraid.
And then Starfire felt... herself... very near Robin. She wasn't as well-trained as Raven, nor as gifted, and would almost certainly not have felt it save for that it was simply her very own self, the most familiar thing in the world, impossible to miss the psychic imprint of. Herself... but with important pieces missing, like the mental equivalent of a person with no legs.
Then the trance broke.
"The imposter has a closer connection to you than we could have ever thought," Raven's voice, her real voice, came, not accusing, just business-like. "I wonder what she is. Anyway, we know where Robin is now, and what his status is. Let's go rescue our commander in chief before he gets himself into any more trouble."
"Yes," Starfire said quietly, landing on her feet and following behind Raven with a slower but meaningful pace. "Let us find this imposter who has taken Robin and lied to the people of this planet about who I am. I have things I wish to say to her."
"Going to say them with your fists?"
"I will say them with anything able to cause her appropriate retribution for her crimes," Starfire said grimly, eyes burning with the desire to blast holes in enemies.
Raven paused and looked back, one corner of her mouth twitching into a tiny part of a smile. "You know, you're scary when you get really mad. And coming from a half-demon, that's a compliment."
"Thank you, friend Raven. I shall take it to be so."
They informed Beast Boy and Cyborg of their findings, and were gathered at the proper location above ground fifteen minutes after that, and two minutes after that they were tearing straight through the concrete of a disused alleyway, ready to descend upon the lair of their foe like the wrath of X'Hal.
The room they exploded into had a table, a couch, Robin, and another Starfire. The coloration was the dead giveaway of her foul duplicate's origins, shades of gray with red eyes.
"Minion of Trigon," Starfire snarled in righteous fury, "I do not know what ill-conceived plans you have made to trouble us, but whatever they are, they are over! You are outnumbered and have no choice but to surrender!"
Almost too fast to see, her evil copy was suddenly next to Robin, fingers tipped with crimson energy poisoned menacingly at his throat. "I am enjoying my freedom. Force me to relinquish it, and I shall relinquish this one of his life..."
Whatever troubles there were between herself and Robin, she still had enough of a possessive streak for this to infuriate her. "How dare you threaten him! Harm one more cell of his skin and I will feed you to the glagaloops of Koruudiu VII!"
"Darker, you don't have to do this," Robin said to his captor, for some reason trying to make peace. What a waste of time. "Just calm down and we can figure out a way for you both exist without ruining it for each other..."
A purple explosion interrupted the attempted negotiation, and Darker was thrown entirely across the room, smashing into a far wall and almost into Beast Boy, who turned into a frog and hopped out of the way at the last moment.
Blackfire floated smugly just behind Robin, the usual arrogant smirk on her lips. "Oh, don't look so confused, sister dear. I've got some payback for your better half... as far as I'm concerned, making her suffer as much as she made me suffer as her slave takes priority over everything else."
"No, don't! Only Starfire can-"
"SILENCE!" Darker snarled, recovered from the impact, hands and eyes fiery infernos waiting to be unleashed on mortal flesh. "You all hate me? All but Robin. But Robin knows. Robin understands. I am better than you," she hissed vehemently at Starfire. "I am a warrior who never hesitates before the strike, a lover who has whatever man she wishes. I am more honest with my desires than you, loved by more people than you, and more a part of this world than you will ever be. Why should I be the one to die this day? Working together as cowards, you may vanquish me with your greater numbers, but just as I came back the first time, I will return once more, and the next time I will be so strong that nothing will stop me!"
Starfire did what came naturally, and looked to Robin for confirmation or denial of the information. Robin knew what was happening more than anyone else did. Robin would not let them down.
"She's right," Robin said reluctantly. "Star, you have to be the one to do it. Otherwise it won't be permanent. Last time you weren't the one to beat her, and that's why she's here now."
"Greeaat, one of the few times we've got a villain on our side, and we can't accept her help without it screwing things up," Raven muttered.
"I know, it's pretty lame, isn't it?" Blackfire said cheerily. "Oh well. Guess I'll just let you two kill each other then, and finish off the winner some other time. Ciao!" With that, she started to fly out of the hole the Titans had made coming in.
Her progress was halted by a flare of light from Darker's eyes that struck her mid-back with a loud hiss. With a scream, Blackfire fell down to the floor, and even Starfire winced at the wound that had burnt off most of the clothing on her back as well as large portions of flesh. With another one of those moves that was too quick to do anything about, Darker was standing on top of Blackfire, a boot pressing firmly into the wound. Blackfire whimpered, as helpless and pathetic as Starfire had ever seen her.
"Oh, no, fifty-three," Darker said with a sickly-sweet voice, smiling in a way that was anything but happy. "I have not yet released you from service. However, I grow tired of your incompetence. You are most churlish, and unpleasant to look upon, and worthless to me even as a slave. I think you will die now."
The second boot descended towards Blackfire's head in a stomping motion. Starfire saw it as though it were something on the television, something completely disconnected from reality. She saw a flicker of black as Raven attempted to put a barrier over the foot, and failed as Darker's strength casually broke the magic. And she saw the expression of utter terror on Blackfire's face before it was crushed into a bloody pulp in one smooth, heartless motion.
"Holy shit," Cyborg murmured faintly, and they all stood in disbelieving horror at the event.
"You... you are a monster..." Starfire finally said, hands shaking with what she hoped was anger.
"Please," Darker said scornfully, flipping her hair and scrapping her boot off casually on the table. "You have been waiting to do that all your life." Then her face brightened, as much as a face of gray could do such a thing. "I think I will postpone our fight to the death and my inevitable victory for a little longer. It is time for me to consult with another companion of mine who has had intentions towards wiping you foolish Titans from this planet altogether. I would have gladly ignored your worthless lives if you had ignored me in turn... but since that is not to be... I will enjoy making you all miserable before crushing you."
They all encircled her, ready to fight, ready to stop her no matter what the cost. It was clear that she couldn't be allowed to go free, couldn't even be negotiated with. Not after what she'd done. She was a monster and had to be slain before any more people were hurt.
"We're not letting you go anywhere," Raven said grimly, debris and furniture starting to hover up around her, encased in black.
Darker's eyes locked with Raven's in clear hatred. "Foolish witch. Always holding yourself above and apart from others, as if that makes you greater than those of us who know to grasp life when it comes. All the arcane babblings in the world will not enable you to stop me. If you are as wise as you pretend to be, you will kill yourself before we meet again. I have many ideas for your doom that will be slow and lingering!" Her gaze took in the rest of the Titans. "As for the rest of you, I will accept you into my household if, at the end, you beg for me to spare your worthless lives. Think on it. Goodbye."
Darker made the same escape maneuver Blackfire had attempted, only dozens of times faster. Starfire followed immediately, but couldn't even tell which direction she had went in! After cursing in Tamaranian and flinging a few useless starbolts in the air, she flew back down to look grimly upon her sister's body.
"She is right in that we are unable to catch her. She is... too fast. Perhaps Raven could..."
"I'll try," Raven acknowledged, picking up the sentence's meaning. "It won't be nearly as easy as tracking Robin was, but I might be able to do it. Still... villains that announce grand plans like that usually take some time to accomplish them. Maybe we should... take care of her... first..." she said, gesturing at the body.
"Dude, I can't even look at it," Beast Boy said. And he was, indeed, facing a wall very deliberately. "People shouldn't ever die in gross ways. Pretty people should die in pretty ways."
"There's no such thing as a pretty death," Robin said harshly. "We'll call in the police to sort through everything here. Starfire, maybe you can contact your home planet? Your people will probably want to arrange for funeral rites."
Starfire stared at the corpse, at the slowly-widening pool of blood, and fought inwardly. She wanted to say that Blackfire deserved that death, and should now be simply thrown away like the trash she was. That was what she wanted to say. What she felt for truth.
"Of course, Robin. I will speak with Emperor Galfore and arrange for the planet to mourn her as they wish. She was a great warrior... even if she often chose the wrong path."
"I can't believe she died like that," Cyborg put in. "Just... squished like a bug. I guess it's easy to forget that life's a fragile thing. How's Star gonna be able to beat that black and white copy, when she's up against that kind of power?"
"She'll figure out a way," Robin said confidently, and ordinarily that confidence would have warmed her heart, but she could only feel the cold. "No enemy's so strong that it's ever beaten her."
"Please do not speak of me as if I am not here," Starfire said quietly.
"Right. Sorry Star."
And then they left the scene of death, and went through an entirely different kind of struggle: one of the red tape, as it was called. The police had to be spoken with. There were harsh words for them over property damage... they had not thought to consider the consequences of tunneling down so far, so close to buildings inhabited for legitimate and legal purposes. Robin bore the brunt of it, for being the one absent for the talk with the people of news, and thus precipitating the entire event on a day that had originally been meant to calm down the public. They wouldn't be calm now. No, they would have even more to talk about, with a former ruler of Tamaran slain so messily. Tamaran would not go to war over such a thing, of course, not when Blackfire had been a notorious criminal and had invited such a fate on countless occasions, but the papers of news would speculate regardless. There would be more and more speculation.
As if there wasn't enough of it.
And as long as her evil self, the ludicrously-named Darker, was alive and free, there would be no end to it, Starfire was certain. The feeling that the world was suddenly louder, scarier, more dangerous, more ugly, would just keep getting worse and worse. And Starfire was, for a rarity, doubtful that she would emerge from the final inevitable conflict victorious. After all, Darker had the world on her side.
As it turned out, they didn't have to wait long to see what Darker's next move was. Two days later, mid-morning, she was watching tv while Raven attempted the strange card pyramid game she used in lieu of meditation lately, when a special bulletin of news appeared, interrupting the most amusing antics of the Full House family.
Her double was on television, with skin, hair, and eyes all disguised to appear as those of a normal Tamaranian again. She was speaking directly to the people of news instead of using messages, this time! Starfire was so angry at such an unpleasant figure interrupting such a pleasant show that she was too busy fuming to catch the initial words. And the camera view, angled directly into Darker's eyes, had an unnervingly hypnotic feel to it. But when she got over it enough to actually pay attention, anger started to fade, replaced with disbelieving horror. No, she wasn't. She wasn't. Even she couldn't do something so... so wicked...
But she was.
Darker was reciting a list of superhero secret identities. For what reason? Starfire had no idea, she'd missed that part. Were the identities real? How could Darker have come by them in the first place? It didn't matter, though, she understood intuitively. Darker had enough sway over people that even if the identities were fakes, a large segment of the population would believe her anyway.
X'Hal. If Superman had been angry before...
"-perman is Clark Kent of the Metropolis Daily Planet. The Flash is Barry Allen, of-"
No, no, no no NO! This would change the entire dynamic between superheroes and the people, the entire infrastructure... she had been around Robin more than long enough to know that this would ruin everything. There might even not be any more superheroes at the end of all the consequences...
She had to stop the speech, she had to stop it now, before it went on any longer and unmasked more heroes. She recognized the fountain Darker was making the speech at, she knew where to find it. There was no time to talk to the others, no time to do anything but fly as if her life depended on it and pound that clorbag varblernelk into dust! She was dimly aware, as she rushed off, that she'd knocked over the card pyramid, and unhinged the door, and that Raven was calling out after her... but she couldn't afford to do anything about any of it.
If the masks were ripped off, it deprived the wearers of the opportunity to ever be honest. Secrets should never be revealed save by their keepers.
Starfire allowed a cold grin, almost just a baring of teeth, to twist her lips as she saw her target and dived, angling through the useless crowd of gullible, stupid, foolish people.
Even Darker hadn't expected it, and Starfire felt a brief surge of triumph as she landed a solid punch to Darker's jaw, knocking the wicked duplicate back twenty feet, through the fountain and into a tree. There could be no gloating, though. No posing. Darker had to be defeated as quickly as possible, she had to, she had to! A second charging strike, still in air, smashed Darker through the tree and down into the ground, covered in dirt, water, and shards of wood and stone. And then it was time to let a starbolt, one of the hottest she'd ever made, fly into the creature... and another... and another... and another...
"Now here is a thing of great interest..." Darker said, completely calmly, not even trying to fight back. "A Titan who attacks someone without provocation... I am sure the many witnesses here will find it as interesting as I do. Stupid, weak girl. No one loves you. The people of Earth love me. Robin loves me."
With a shriek of rage, Starfire sent an unceasing stream of energy into the shallow depression in the ground until it was a deep hole and she couldn't see her tormentor anymore, except for the glow of red eyes. The creature was a monster, nothing better than a monster, and she would make the thing go away!
And still, Darker's voice taunted her, giggling through the words. "Perhaps I am wicked, yes? But if that is so, then why am I still loved? Do you not see? Do you not understand? It is because the people of this planet are also wicked! Wicked people require a wicked goddess to worship!"
Starfire drew back her first for a third punch, but stopped the blow in mid-strike, staring at her knuckles. There was blood on them. Darker's blood... staining them all over... sticky and warm... so much like Blackfire's blood...
The people were yelling. They were crying out encouragement... for Darker! And anger against her! They wanted Darker to win! They thought she was the brute, the monster! Even the sirens crying shrilly through the air were not so loud as the people in their anger and fear and chaos.
Was this heroism, what she was doing? Was this the glory of battle? Was there even such a thing as glory anymore? Had there ever been in the first place, or had it all just been lies everyone told themselves to feel better about killing and hurting?
She was still a warrior, but she no longer knew why.
Starfire wasn't aware of voicing these thoughts aloud, but she must have, however idly, for someone standing nearby replied. A deep voice. A friend's voice... but for some reason, it didn't sound friendly.
"Well, glory, glory, halle-fuckin'-lujiah! Time to sacrifice the fattened calf."
She looked around, confused, too disoriented to think straight. "Cy-Cyborg?"
She looked straight into the barrel a sonic cannon.
It must have been set on full power, because she blacked out on the first blast.
End Part II