Teen Titans: What's Worth Fighting For?

By: Darien Ravier

Chapter 1:

A lone figure stands in the shadows, taking concentrated deep breaths as if he was preparing for a long distance marathon. In his mind, he was preparing for his moment of triumph. Putting a clear focus on what he wanted the most. It had been months since his last encounter with the Teen Titans and since then, he has been obsessed with them. It wasn't until he learned the true nature of each of the Teen Titans that he would finally be able to make up his mind as to which one was the most powerful of the group. There was Cyborg, the half-human/ half-robot whose strength was immeasurable. But Cyborg was of no interest to him. The boy wonder was clearly trained by one of the best fighters in the world: Batman. His fighting ability would soon rival that of Batman's. But a balance of power fight wasn't what he was looking for. Then there was Beast Boy. Next, Raven, the empath/ telepath who could control any inanimate object by will alone. But this was a power that if she lost control of her emotions, she'd lose control of her powers. Too easily exploited. One in particular was of complete fascination: a girl, an alien, Starfire. She had strength that surpassed Cyborg; a fighting style that was different than Robin's, and to top it all off, she had powerful starbolts that could melt anything they touched. Not only could she conjure these things with her hands and throw them like baseballs, she could create an even more powerful beam of them through her eyes. What was her weakness? What would bring her to her knees? What would it take for her to surrender in a fight or collapse in defeat? These questions haunted him for days until finally, the time came and he was ready to discover the answers.

"Brazilian Fighting Championship!"

"World's Stupidest Jail Breaks!"

"DJ Mixmaster's Sweet Rides!"

Robin, Beast Boy, and Cyborg were all standing on the couch, arguing over who was in control of the remote control that sit in front of them, untouched. Soon, the three boys start fighting. Behind them, Raven, finally mastering the ability to tune out the boys, sits hovering in meditation, quietly chanting "Azarath Metrion Zinthos" to herself. Yes, she was finally able to tune out the loud arguing of the boys over the meaningless device. That is, until, a couch cushion smacks Raven right in the face, dropping her out of mid air onto the ground. As Raven gathers herself, Starfire enters the room and sees the three boys fighting in front of the TV. "Raven, what are they fighting over, this time," Starfire asked. Raven, pulling the hood back over her head, walks away, responding, "Thirty minutes of empty distractions." Starfire's eyes light up as she realizes what time it is and casually walks over to the TV. Picking up the remote and sitting peacefully on the couch next to the cloud of fighting next to her, she announces, "Friends, let us put aside our combatative negotiations and enjoy a friendly viewing of 'Love is Enjoyable'." As the fighting stops and the boys look in disbelief at the callousness of Starfire, they look at the TV, which doesn't get more than one note into the theme music before the three boys jump Starfire, who screeches in terror as she is jumped by her friends, who yank the remote away from her hands as she lies in a dazed puddle on the ground. "Perhaps a picture in picture viewing," Starfire says as she dusts herself off. She turns to Robin, just as he snatches the remote away from everyone. "Yes, my choice today," Robin announces triumphantly as he sits on the couch and turns on Brazilian Fighting Championship. Starfire turns to see two men in a wire ring, beating each other bloody. As she grimaces, she asks, "What crimes has that man committed to deserve such punishment?" Cyborg laughs, "None that we know of," as he cheers, "Yeah, knock his teeth in!" Starfire is now completely confused, "Then these men are just fighting for the enjoyment of others?" Robin says, "Some of them actually like this kind of fighting." Starfire looks at the TV to see one man kick the other man's shinbone out of his leg as he drops to the ground in pain as the other continues to kick him. Starfire's jaw hits the floor, "Humans actually enjoy going through this?!" Starfire look back at Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy as they are screaming wildly at the TV. Starfire just inches away.

"A nice flight, yes, that will ease my mind," Starfire thought as she tried to force the images of the bloody carnage out of her head. Seeing one man have his face cut open by another man's fist was one thing, but to watch people cheering for it was something else. "How could people delight in the tormenting of others," she wondered, "Where is the fun in watching one person mutilate another person over something as trivial as cheering?" True, she knew how to fight, and she has committed her fair share of injuries to some pretty nasty people, but they were bad people. She felt a little remorse for what she did to some of them, but she would always remind herself that they were attacking her first. She'd never forget her time on Tamaran as she trained in her first skills of alien martial arts. She was excited to learn that she would be able to be as strong as her sister in a battle and be able to stand up for her planet and whatever cause may cross her path. She was chosen to spar with another student, who had was a few training levels ahead of her. Every punch, kick, and elbow she through was blocked and countered by the more experienced fighter. This angered her, because she knew she was good. She had practiced and here she was being made a fool of. She would not allow it. The next kick the boy threw, she grabbed his leg and in the blink of an eye, dropped her elbow on his knee, which she thought would have been a simple bruise, but she was still unaware of her strength. Her elbow shot clear through his leg, dropping him to the ground, but leaving his leg still in her arm. She panicked and flew the boy to the nearest infirmary. He was okay, but he would never have the use of his leg again. Feeling such remorse over her damaging of something so promising, she vowed never to allow her skills to be used to hurt others directly. That fighter's shin on TV just reminded her of the boy she mutilated. How anyone could cheer for that was beyond her.

She walked through the park to take in the beauty of the world around her. Here she was, isolated from everyone around her, but in the center of the beauty of nature. She wondered if this is the peace that Raven always sought out when she meditated. Starfire's mind was finally starting to relax when a mechanical claw grabs her foot and pulls her to the ground. Starfire looks up to see a six-legged machine, pulling her closer to it by her leg. Starfire looks at it and says, "It is only fair to warn you that I am not feeling quite like myself today!" Starfire lets loose a barrage of starbolts, but none of them phase the machine. Starfire then give it a blast with her laser eyes, which does equally nothing. "Okay, my starbolts aren't working, let's see how it fairs against my strength," she thought, as she tugged on the arm, which made the machine lose it's footing and slide towards her. "Aha, not as strong as I am!" Starfire then swung the machine around and then dropped it on the ground, shattering it into pieces. Starfire stood up, triumphantly, but wondering what provoked this attack. She had no time to consider as two other machines appeared in front of her, all firing their mechanical arms at her. Starfire flew away, but as she did, the machines sprouted rocket packs and took off after her. Starfire tried flying through the trees in an attempt to lose them, but they machines wouldn't lose her. Starfire flew out of the park and into the city with the machines still in hot pursuit of her. She circled around one building and appeared behind one of the machines as she grabbed it by the legs and hurled it almost one hundred and fifty feet to the ground below her. At that moment, the other machine used its claw to grab her by the waist and pull her closer to it. As Starfire struggled, she noticed that two other machines appeared behind the other to join it. Starfire placed one hand on the claw and charged it with a blisteringly hot starbolt. The claw was starting to shake as the heat from the starbolt began to melt through her glove sleeve as she was pulled in closer. Soon, she was almost within reach of the machine, which opened a compartment below it to store her in. "You will let me go now, please!" Starfire said in a panic as she was almost made prisoner of the machines. But in the nick of time, the heat from the starbolt, which has eaten through her glove sleeve, finally forced the machine to let her go as she turned around and blasted the wounded machine with everything she had, which did obliterate it. Smiling, she looked up at the two other machines, which now had gathered two new similar allies. Starfire charged her hands up, ready to deliver another barrage of starbolts, but the four machines took hold of her arms and legs with their mechanical claws. Starfire was helpless as she was flown away.

The machines finally dumped her on the ground an apartment deck, which once she was released, was covered in a protective metal casing. Starfire realized that she was trapped, but before she had the chance to look for a way out, the door behind her opened and a familiar figure stood in front of her, saying, "Are you alright, Starfire?" Starfire recognized the voice instantly; it was the voice of Spike the Mechanic, who had cleaned himself up, dressed in a nice tan suit, and looked very respectable. Starfire, curious as to her surroundings, approached him and asked, "Spike, where am I? Why have these machines brought me here?" Spike said, "Hey, it's okay. I built them to bring you here." Starfire, angry at this sudden imprisonment over someone she thought was an ally, yelled, "Why would you wish to abduct me? What have I done to you?!" Spike nervously replied, "Nothing, nothing. Actually, my life has gotten better now because of you Titans freeing me from Atlas' control." Starfire grabbed him by his shirt and lifted him in the air, "WHY AM I HERE?!!" Spike said, "Take it easy, I don't want to hurt you. I want to protect you." Starfire put him down, "Protect me from what?" Spike, straightening his suit up says, "From Atlas. Ever since Cyborg defeated him, he's been trying to study up on the Titans, learning about them in every way. He doesn't waste his time on humans, but when he learned that not only you were from Tamaran, but that you were royalty, he decided to make you his next challenge." Starfire said, "But he is unable to repair himself, what threat does he pose to me?" Spike looks out of the viewfinder of his window and says, "He's learned how to repair himself, maintain himself. He can operate his own weapons now. He's even learned how to make himself stronger. He wants one final battle with you, and it's to the death."