Chapter 12
Seemore, Mammoth, Billy Numerous, Gizmo, Billy Numerous 2, Kyd Wykkyd, Billy Numerous 3 & 4. After that point Starfire figured it would be useless to continue counting. It was evident that the entire Hive 5 was out and about distinctly not frozen underneath the streets of Paris. What on earth had happened to get them out of deep freeze, and more importantly who helped? All of the events that had happened two days ago did not spell this out in the new future. The return of the Titans East was a return of mixed feelings but
Flash back to the day after Titans East's return.
"That Black Glass is very strange," Starfire thought to herself. She turned over in the air to look at Silky deciding to speak to him on the matter. "She seems to be a little girl that keeps on confusing everyone. When she came out of the shadows she seems very normal, if a bit like myself when unsure of proper behavior. The burn is easy to ignore enough, though it is confusing is on what the color of it is. Burns are supposed to red or pink not black. She appears to be a normal child though."
She then turned over to face the window where the media had begun to gather today and thought sadly, "She is just a normal child."
From the discussions with the Titan East members she seemed to be a only child that didn't know English. No torture was involved in their imprisonment, they had their own furniture, and when she talked to them it seemed like she just wanted to chat as though she was lonely. Aqualad knew many languages and had been trying to teach her more English, Bumble Bee weapons, Speedy hair protocol, and the twins got along well enough with her when the speedsters could speak to each other. The three of them playing a few simple games. Granted there hadn't been the build up of bad feelings with the attack and harm of Beast Boy to factor in, but even with that...
It was not the normal behavior of someone who broke into shops, kidnapped people, attacked a hero team and refused to seek medical attention. It didn't fit together, someone couldn't be that flip flopped and not have it show on a brain scan that had been preformed the night earlier. Bumble Bee said that Black Glass had been sorrowful when taking them down, and gruff yes, but not rude when speaking with them. Black Glass had a motive and an ability, but it didn't seem like she would really become bad when her friend died, torture included. She was far too strong for that to be possible, and the items she had stolen or damaged wasn't pricey-you could find it anywhere.
Starfire's eyes snapped open. You could find those things anywhere, the worst someone could get was a petty thief for taking a couple of napkins and things. Black Glass probably couldn't sell them on the black market if she wanted to, they were next to worthless. The worst was the damage to property and even then, the breaks were all clean. This was just a "big scoop" because of her powers. She hadn't really done anything that bad, her disfigurement and powers the only real difference between her and other cases they had run into.
Before Starfire could wonder any further about her using the unusual phrase "big scoop" in conjunction to Black Glass's case there came a knock came on her door.
"Come in! Come in!" she exclaimed before opening the door for Raven. "Is something wrong friend Raven? You are not as pale as usual, have you had a visit from a mare of the night?"
Raven frowned a little at Starfire's suggestion that she needed a nightmare to put color in her cheeks. The truth was that she did have a nightmare of a sort, but there was still a bit of debate in telling it to Starfire. Casting aside her doubts she explained to Starfire what had happened once she had used her meditation and that before telling Robin she wanted to discus it with Starfire. Starfire found out a unusual connection between the two children after hearing the story.
"It is cute how that they match," Starfire said happily distracted, thinking of the color coordinating between other person's outfit and subsequent person's masks or face.
"Match?" Raven asked worried for her friend's sanity.
"Yes. Her mask is white and gold like his clothes, and her clothes are black with red like his markings! Though, perhaps that is not the case with his eyes being brown," Starfire finished thoughtfully.
"His eyes might have shown red in photos. That or it was cheaper," Raven said absently, thinking on how close the two must have been to coordinate their outfits to each other in such a bizarre way.
"This "Black Cat", she seems a lot closer to what the Titans East said that Sofiya was like. She seems much more innocent and happy at the time of your meeting, if slightly sad. Is that an odd way to speak of it?" Starfire asked slowly in a way that prompted Raven to speak.
"No. She, the girl I meet, wasn't a true person. All of her thoughts feelings and memories, they weren't hers and she knew it. She didn't resent her "real self" though, and that was her own sentiment. The last thing she said to me was that I shouldn't give up on Black Glass because she, Black Cat, existed. That the person I saw outside couldn't be that bad, because she was alive in the only sense she could be. She existed despite anything that could have happened after the girl got on that plane," Raven said softly and a little out of breath with all of the things she had just said.
"At best she may be considered a half-life, or a will of the person who made her memories. I do not someone who is insane or evil could make something like that. Some part of her must still be remediable. I can not condemn someone based on actions they made in fear, nor can I condemn someone who makes an effort to explain themselves and has not yet finished," Starfire stopped for a moment in the sorrow of the child she had not meet but was learning of through Raven, who she gave a quick glance at. She paused for a moment after hearing herself out loud.
"You don't think that she's finished with this yet," Starfire stated finally as a sort of thesis of her friend's story.
"No. She's gone too far to stop herself now. You may want to get some rest. Do you mind covering my shift for guard duty? I'm not sure that I can go and not try to find the little girl I saw. All we can do now is see what she will do."
"Robin would say that we are going in circles," Starfire sighed before hitting her bed and grabbing one of her pillows.
"Circles within circles," said a voice from the doorway.
"Robin!" Starfire exclaimed sitting up. Raven had a small frown on her face.
"Hey. So that's what's been happening," Robin said thoughtfully as Starfire walked up to him.
"Raven only wished to discuss it with me before going to you. There is a lot of pressure on you," Starfire said worriedly.
"I'm fine this pressure is nothing compared to stuff the past. You don't have to do guard duty, I'll take care of it myself," Robin had laughed then to dismiss the tension at the time, which did the trick for the most part, even if it was a bit forced.
After that they all talked and tried not to worry about things to much by attempting to find a lost comb of Starfire's that had disappeared with Silky in the room. It latter turned into a full blown chase through out the Tower with everyone trying to keep Silky from getting away with the comb or eating it. Eventually making it so that the Titans East and Teen Titans were forced to crawl through the vents, swim in the ocean, and almost jump off the building to keep both comb and silkworm intact. It was no pressure though, more like the release of pressure at the time.
Current Time
"The pressure is certainly something now," Starfire thought calmly considering the situation.
The Hive 5 had some how escaped deep freeze and were now attacking the tower relentlessly, endangering civilians, and trying to cause chaos around the fortress. The civilian reporters usually ran away but on an island where can you run? With both the Teen Titans and the Titans East working on it, things were beginning to calm down. Unfortunately the infamous moth army led by Killer Moth with a fuming Kitten and annoyed Fang behind him came to join the party, that and Billy Numerous was living up to his name making things only a temporary victory.
Starfire used her eyes to shoot through the barrier around Killer Moth earning her a nice girlishly high scream. It was somehow more rewarding when the one who was emanating from a male of the human species. Many of those moths were innocent creatures after all, and she did not want to do anything to them, their creator was a very different matter though.
"DADDY!"
Starfire winced before working with Aqualad to bring down Kitten, the girl was a class unto herself for loudest screams in history. Kitten's boyfriend then began causing problems for Starfire's boyfriend and things became a little heated between the two of them. The battle was stopped as Starfire began to shake Kitten by the collar while the two of them began to yell at each other bringing up painful and embarsing things from the past. Kitten was mercifully knocked out by Bumble's Stingers before Starfire could finish with her little montage. Starfire blinked before dropping the girl and looking around at the stunned faces and highly excited reporters.
"Ehehe, forgot myself in heat of battle?" Starfire said, embarrassed by her audience for the shouting match between her and Kitten. The fighting then continued, minus the new comers, who were replaced by more Billys. The sheer number of them was overwhelming at the moment, at least while trying to make sure the civilians were safe and not taken hostage. One unfortunate didn't manage to get on a boat fast enough, the poor female journalist was trapped in Mammoth's crushing grip.
Starfire then saw a red version of her fly by and kick Mammoth behind the head, causing him to drop the girl who immediately bolted. Stunned for a moment Starfire looked down at the battle bellow in confusion. Different colors of the Teen Titans and Titans East were joining into fight to tip the scales, for a moment everyone was surprised until it was clear what side that they had chosen. Robin fought side by side with a blue Beast Boy and pink Raven. None of the other colors had their powers though, a fact that the Hive 5 didn't miss.
"Come on this job isn't worth it," shouted Gizmo.
"Job? Destroying the Tower or even capturing it would be useless in the long run. What sort of job would the Hive 5 take that involved our Tower with even more people being able to guard it?" Starfire thought to herself as she secured Kyd Wykkyd's cape in a way that would make it useless to him.
"Dumb girl! Didn't even come out of this dump! I don't see why there's even a-" Billy Numerous was cut off by two swift kicks from Mas e Menos. The extra hands were proving quite handy in the fight, so long as the two groups of Titans didn't end up messing each other's fighting patterns up. It happened on occasion that they would brush shoulders, however as this was the first real fight since the Paris Incident, it was invigorating for all involved.
No crime was always great, but just practicing fights was not enough for heroes. Black Glass had actually helped them practice harder due to her loud arrival in the city. The motive for the Hive 5 was unknown but the fighting styles were still the same as before, a welcome readjustment to the old times. Bad and good old times that seemed to be trying to make a come back. Starfire punched Seemore in the eye, those were the old times that made people afraid to go to out at night. Times that the Titans would work to make sure never came back.
On the whole they seemed to be heading toward that goal perfectly well. Almost everyone was fully pinned down except for a last few Billy Numerous and Gizmo, who seemed to have taken charge of the Hive 5. He pulled out an unusual gun, quickly leveling it at Robin and shooting before anyone had time to think. Starfire stared in horror as the grenade flung itself at Robin. She tried to go toward him but knew she would never make it in time, nor would Raven's spells manage to save him.
The grenade slammed into Black Glass's chest throwing her backwards into the wall with Robin a step an a half away with a surprised look on his face. All of the colored copies of the Titans glitched at the same time losing their shapes and changing into a bright yellow before shattering into their normal triangular pieces of glass. Starfire looked at the blonde girl and her alone thinking, "Why did Black Glass just save Robin?" Black Glass sat up with difficulty to glare at Robin's attempt to bring her to her feet. Gizmo cursed loudly at the new twist. Everyone continued to stare at the events unfolding before them thinking one thing collectively.
What?
*There I said it! Burns should be pink! Not black! This is me having after getting a call from reality is trying to keep a little more in touch. There is a way for those burns to be black I think. A logical way that could actually exist but would not be practiced as it is most definitely a form of torture.
Also please review, it really makes my day when someone does review: first I go 0.0 then I go :) after that it's just XD. I'm not sure if I can make anymore faces that will explain how much I like seeing people review. Even if it's just constructive criticism. THAT'S THE POINT OF REVIEWING, officially anyway. XD