Disclaimer: No. I don't own anything you may or may not recognize. So screw off.
Raia: Hey there. I'm Raia, and I'm taking over for Rory because she's sleeping right now.
This is the eleventh chapter of Thicker Than Water. Who knew Rory would actually get this far?
Oh, yeah! This chapter is dedicated to Raidersrule76 for reasons he will eventually figure out. (Hi Carson!)
Since I don't do this much, I'd better just get to the writing.
LATER:
Pogo here. Sorry, but everyone else is out cold for some reason...So my collegue Rei and I will answer reviews.
You understand the word "collegue"?
Shut up.
EMBER91: Oh, okay, no more hitting, then. Just keep reviewing, kay? Heh. Thanks for sticking by this story for so long.
Raidersrule76: Hey, the icing was a temporary thing. Hope it tasted okay. Rory isn't the greatest of cooks...More like a poison specialist. And this one is longer. It's dedicated to you. For a couple reasons. Hope it's up to par.
Read the story already!
Darkfire was lying on his back up in his room. It was very quiet in the Tower. He was thinking about his sister.
Starfire was a lot different than he had expected. She was shorter, for one; but she still looked basically the same as when she left Tameran ten years ago. Well, she was a bit more mature-looking.
What amazed him so much was the fact that she had dedicated her entire new life to the protection of a foreign race. While kind-hearted and pleasant by nature, Tameranians tended to care more for their own than other races. That may have been caused by countless wars, but that was just a guess.
The boy sighed, rolling over to stare at the clock. 5:17. "Why am I unable to sleep?" he muttered to himself in Tameranian. Darkfire's thoughts were drawn to the week's earlier activities, and he squirmed with unease.
Just then, a sound like some sort of earthquake erupted. He stared down at his stomach. "I suppose I need food," Darkfire said matter-of-factly. Silently, he floated up from the bed and out the door.
Outside the Tower, a shadowed pair gazed up at the glassy exterior. One sighed. "It is nice, you know."
The other nodded. "Southern California? Of course. Beautiful weather, perfect terrain, plentiful wildlife, and the ocean right nearby. The Tower is set in such a beautiful place. But," the figure said, smiling slightly, "The view is even more amazing from inside…"
Nodding in agreement, the two made their way up to the door.
"I need to practice my Søkúyen," Darkfire said quietly, almost humming to himself. He loved living in the Tower. It made him feel so safe, and glad that his sister and cousin were protected inside its solid walls.
The boy stopped before the refrigerator, opening it and peering inside. "Let's see," Darkfire said, "That is jam, guøkyen, and that's called turkey, øobalesh. Apples, called guaken or sÌvey, and – AH! GUUDAMESH!" he cried happily, pulling out one of Starfire's multiple noxious puddings. He grinned to himself. "Thank Kori'nyrith for my sister," he said contentedly, sitting at the table to eat.
After a few moments, a dim blue glow emanated from the living room. Curiously, Darkfire moved to the doorway and peered in.
The main computer was glowing. Strange, pale blue calculations were being created and solved within instants, moving and shifting constantly. Darkfire advanced further, staring at the numbers, letters, and symbols moving across the screen, trying to decipher their meaning. Surely, with all the information stored in his head, he could discover what Cyborg's equations meant…
He searched the patterns, looking for reasons, checking the variables.
His inner voice whispered into his ear as the wheels in his mind clicked away. There, that one had to do with the mainframe security. Look, Ryan, it tells of the Tower's dimensions and measurements. Darkfire still couldn't see what was happening.
Then it clicked. Why else would the computer be shutting down the security system, and examining the Tower's architectural design for entrances?
Someone was hacking into the Tower.
A slight feeling of foreboding overtaking him, Darkfire pulled the computer's keyboard out to him, running his fingers smoothly over the flat, glowing keys, asking it a question. Computer. Run search. Find: entrance. Point of reference: breach point.
He tapped the Send Information button and stared helplessly at the screen. The answer came up in almost a split second, and he froze. Swallowing, he raced off.
Behind him, the bluish plasma letters flickered and glowed.
Breach point confirmed. Nearest Entrance: West. Nearest Room: Starfire.
"Owwwwww…That hurt…" One of the teenage 'visitors' had run into a protruding pipeline.
The second partner stuck out her tongue. "That's what you get for not paying attention, dear."
Her partner glared back. "Oh, thanks. You couldn't have told me about the pipe?"
"Nope," she replied perkily.
"God," the other person sighed. "You're impossible."
A voice spoke from seemingly nothing to their right. "That's nothing compared to me."
Both teenagers stopped in their tracks. The second took a step back. "Who are you?" she hissed, taking a fighting stance.
From the shadows emerged a teenaged boy, about the same age as the partners were. His clothes looked like Starfire's, or what was possibly the male version. Eerily, the boy's eyes were glowing a deep ruby red. "Someone you don't want to mess with."
The other teen's head shook from side to side. "Look, pal, we just need to get in the Tower. We don't want to mess with anyone."
"You can't go in," Darkfire informed them. "This is your last warning. Go away, or I will be forced to annihilate you."
The girl's brown eyes narrowed. "We go nowhere," she spat at him.
He shrugged. "Fine. Have it your way," Darkfire said, then pulled back his right hand.
Starfire awoke to the sound of the alarm ringing. Poking her head out of her room, she saw Raven zooming past. "Friend," she began sleepily, "What is happening?"
The girl paused in midair for a moment, turning to face her. "Something is happening outside the Tower," she said. "Cyborg said someone may have breached the security."
She froze. Someone breaching Cyborg's system was nearly impossible. She and Raven flew down to the main room.
The other Titans were gathered around the main computer. Robin was briefing them. "-cameras were disabled by something before the fight began, possibly by opposing powers. Thankfully, the sensors still work."
"But, dude, why didn't the alarm sound earlier?" Beast Boy asked. "Like when they kinda, you know, got here?"
"The security system was running a security channel change when it was interrupted by a search command," Cyborg informed them. "Someone was already inside the Tower when the computer by one of the doors was getting' hacked. They noticed, and they're outside now."
Raven raised an eyebrow. "But we're all here," she observed dryly.
"No, we are not," Starfire said suddenly, noticing her younger cousin watching the older teens converse. "My brother is gone."
Cursing loudly, Cyborg ran another system check. "That musta been what he was doing!" he said, tapping away furiously at the keyboard. "The last search was an SBS. That's a System Breach Search for all y'all computer illiterates out there. I'll pull up the results on the History."
A few more taps, and some word appeared on the screen. Breach point confirmed. Nearest Entrance: West. Nearest Room: Starfire.
The Titans stared at it, dumbfounded. "So that's it," Robin said.
"He was protecting me," Starfire whispered. No one heard her.
It was silent for a few moments. "Uh, Robin?" Beast Boy asked. "Why are we still standing here instead of breaking up the brawl?"
"That's a good question," Raven said, rising a couple of inches into the air.
Robin suddenly snapped out of a deep brood. "Uh – Titans, GO!"
"Look," hissed the girl, "We aren't going anywhere. This is where we want to be!"
All three had taken a momentary pause form their fight, breaths coming in heaves. Darkfire was glaring at the two opposing teens, calculating.
The first rays of the morning sun had spread above the horizon, bathing them in a golden coat of light. Darkfire watched his opponents, remembering the days of his war training.
Both were teenage girls, around fifteen or so. They looked quite a bit alike: a sheet of blonde hair, similar face shapes, similar builds – Like sticks, he thought with bemusement. Two things told them apart: the color of their eyes – blue and brown – and the symbols on their matching black and flat gold uniforms.
Emblems on the center of their chests read "T" and "S".
Although the T reminded him of something, Darkfire decided to show no mercy. They could have attacked his sister, for the Kori'nyrith's sake!
Quickly, he thrust his arm to the side, shooting a starbolt from his palm, and took hold of the bright ruby light. Darkfire pulled the bolt into a long, round whip.
The brown-eyes one snorted. "And what's that supposed to do?" she teased.
He gazed evenly at her. "This," he said simply, and slammed it into the ground.
Somehow, the star-whip crushed itself into the ground, making itself part of the soil. It tore through the dust like an earthquake, the tip of the curled bolt lashing out and snapping at the girl. She stumbled back, shock on her creamy face.
Darkfire narrowed his eyes. "Now. Do you wish to leave, or do I have to MAKE YOU?" The glow of his eyes suggested severe and life-threatening anger.
The other girl, the blue-eyes one, glared at him. "You think you're the only one with powers?" she yelled, eyes radiating with a golden glow. A huge chunk of dirt rose under her feet, separating itself from the Earth. "My powers come from the purest Markovian bloodline! You can't even think you can beat Sierra and me working together!" Indeed, the girl on the ground rose with her sister, pulling another piece of Earth to take her.
Darkfire's eyes widened. This didn't look too good. But then, he remembered something as well.
"You cannot defeat me," he said softly in Markovian.
Both girls stared at him, confused. "You know our language?" Sierra asked.
He smiled evilly. "I know everything," he told them, right before he shot a starbolt right at Terra's heart.
The Titans reached the brawl to find Terra and Sierra facing off against Darkfire. He said something in smooth Markovian, and they reacted with astonishment. Then, he said something in a language that no one knew, but everyone understood.
"I know everything…"
Then, a scarlet beam tore through the air and hit Terra in the chest.
For a moment, it seemed as though time itself had stopped. The girl's blue eyes were wide with shock, and the Titans stared helplessly in horror.
Sierra, however, didn't stop. "Demon!" she screamed, hurling herself at Darkfire, clawing at his eyes and chest. He was shocked that any fool would attack a Tameranian without a decent suit of armor, and she managed to nail the side of his face before he grabbed her arms.
"I am not a demon," he said forcefully in the same language he had used once before.
"Don't move!" Robin yelled.
Darkfire and Sierra both looked over at where he was standing. Cyborg was holding Terra's limp body, and Raven's hands hovered over the girl's heart. Darkfire was confused. "What – they were attacking the Tower!"
"They were coming home," Robin said angrily. "They're the two other Titans on our team!"
He looked genuinely shocked. "…Titans?"
"Yes, Titans," Sierra spat. Darkfire blinked in disgust, seeing as he now had her saliva on his face. "You just hurt my sister! You could have killed her!"
"Actually, he went out of his way not to," Raven interrupted. She had finished taking care of Terra's wounds. "I've seen the sort of damage Starfire's done to people, robots, and buildings. Trust me, if they're anything alike – and siblings tend to be – " Here, she gave Sierra a scathing look " – then Darkfire just made a really weak starbolt so he would just knock her out."
Starfire was giving her brother an odd look.
Sierra didn't notice. "You mean…she is all right…"
"Yeah. Exactly."
She sighed in relief. But before they went in, Robin shot Darkfire a very suspicious look.
"Why did you not tell me there was another two Titans?" Darkfire asked Beast Boy as the two played video games that afternoon.
Although it had caused minor panic, it was discovered that Terra would be completely fine, to the joy of her sister and dissatisfaction of one or more of my reviewers. She had even woken up and was now reporting to Robin, along with Sierra.
Beast Boy bit his lip. "We aren't on good terms," he said through gritted teeth.
Darkfire sensed a bad subject, and abruptly moved on. "What took the rest of you so long?"
"Robin was being stupid," he replied, hacking at Darkfire's character in Tortallan Quest. "He was just staring out into space, sorta, and not really paying attention."
"Oh," Darkfire said simply, slicing the head off of Beast Boy's character.
After a few more rounds, the two gave up and just sat on the couch watching television. Starfire came into the room. "Brother," she said softly, "We need to talk."
He looked at her, and saw that her emerald eyes were full of sorrow. Immediately, the boy sprang up.
"I will 'hang out' with you later, Beast Boy," Darkfire said, and followed his sister to her room.
It was very…pink in Starfire's room. The carpet was pink, the bed was pink, the walls were pink, and everything else inside was the same color as well. Honestly, Darkfire was afraid to touch anything. He just hovered a couple of inches away from his sister.
She pulled out a chair and sat down, head in her hands. Then, she looked up at him.
"You are ill," she said softly.
He was taken aback. What was she talking about? "No, Kori, I'm fine," he told her carefully. "I am not sick."
Starfire frowned. "If you are indeed healthy," she said, "then I must ask you the question, which concerns me."
With a sudden, sickening drop, Darkfire realized what she was talking about. "Um, I, ah, do not really wish to speak of this – "
"But you must," she said desperately, standing. "You must answer me honestly! If you do not, Ryand'r, then you are in what they call on Earth "trouble," and I do not wish for my brother to be in such trouble." Starfire's voice quivered on the brink of tears. "You understand the laws that bind our people, Darkfire. You must answer my question!"
He realized that she was right, although he didn't want to tell anyone about it, not even her.
On Tameran, those with green blood – royal blood – had greater powers than those of the common orange blood did. They could shoot starbolts, an almost exclusive power, and they could fly higher and faster than others of their race could. However, all powers have limits.
Tameranian royal-bloods could only shoot a certain way. There was no changing or adjusting of heat or concentration of the bolt, although they could release more or less. If their bolts were not as strong as usual, there were two possibilities. One was that they were sick. The other, much less likely explanation was that the Tameranian had bound their body, mind, and spirit to something – or someone.
"Ryand'r," Starfire whispered softly, "Who are you bound to?"
Raia: Ooh. A cliffhanger. I am soooo evil.
Anyway, why don't you all review? I bet Rory would like that. Trust me, tell her what you think and she'll do something nice. Like, oh, I don't know, give you a cookie, or something. Oh, yeah, and bonus points if you know where I got the name of the video game that Darkfire and Beast Boy are playing.
So press the little button, why don't you?