Firestorm
Teen Titans/Batman: The Animated Series
By Amos Whirly
Chapter Ten: "Solitude Standing"
"You're kidding, right?" Beast Boy's voice was tight and strained as he gaped openly at the flashing screen in the Batcave.
"Siberia?" Cyborg echoed. "What is she doing in Siberia?"
"So much for my desert paradise idea," Beast Boy moaned and promptly morphed into a fat polar bear, whining piteously.
"According to the little information the computer could find," Bruce said as he continued to type on the keyboard, ignoring the wails of the foul-tempered polar bear behind him, "Raven's first known location after you all left the city was Rome. Seems she stayed there for about a month before she moved on."
"Why was she in Rome?" Nightwing wondered.
"Maybe she wanted to talk to the Pope," Cyborg shrugged, earning a glare from both Nightwing and Bruce.
"Where did she show up next?" Barbara asked.
"She left Rome and pretty much disappeared for a couple of years," Bruce reported. "Her last recorded stop was a small outpost in northern Siberia. She apparently went out there with a Dr. Grishenko who was studying underwater organisms under the ice. She signed up with his expedition."
"She went with someone?" Beast Boy sounded suddenly concerned.
"Dr. Ingrid Grishenko," Bruce said. "She was a biologist from Moscow."
"Was?" Nightwing asked.
"She died recently of exposure," Bruce said. "Her body was discovered outside a Siberian hospital."
"Whoa," Cyborg whispered. "How recently?"
"Last week."
"Oh, well, that's encouraging," Nightwing grumbled.
"Now, now," Starfire crossed her arms, "you do not think that Raven would have—"
"She was always mental," Cyborg snorted. "Maybe the doctor ticked her off."
"Gee, Cy," Beast Boy scratched the back of his head. "Even if she was crazy, I mean, she was all right. We were all a little nuts anyway."
"Did anyone check the station?" Nightwing asked.
"Yes," Bruce said, "but they didn't see anyone. There was no sign that anyone had ever lived there."
"If there was no one there," Cyborg pointed out, "wouldn't that mean logically that there's still no one there?"
"Logically," Bruce answered and hit a button. "I thought the same thing until I checked the thermal readout of the area." Another screen popped up on the viewer covered in brilliant colors. "See the oblong structure at the center of the screen?"
"Yeah," Beast Boy nodded.
"That's the station," Bruce replied.
"Why is the station orange while the surrounding area is blue?" Starfire asked.
"Because the station is reading around eighty degrees Fahrenheit," Bruce smirked.
"I see," Nightwing muttered. "So it's being heated."
"There's someone there," Barbara put in, "but that doesn't mean it's this Raven."
"It's the best shot we've got," Nightwing said, straightening and moving toward the back of the cave where his costume was hanging.
Starfire stood skeptically in front of the mirror in the hallway, eyeing the clothing she was wearing. Barbara had loaned her a pair of warm pants and a long sleeved shirt, and Tim had secured a green woolen hat with flaps over her long red hair.
"I feel very strange," she admitted.
"You look strange," Tim shook his head.
"Tim," Barbara elbowed him.
Starfire turned and bowed her head, smiling beautiful, "Thank you so much for the warm clothing. I am quite certain the frost shall not bite me."
Tim sniggered aloud.
The three of them returned to the Batcave where Nightwing was crawling into the cockpit of his jet. Starfire lifted into the air and settled in the seat behind him.
"Beast Boy," Nightwing leaned over the edge of the cockpit and glared at the green-haired man who was hurriedly consuming the last of the tofu pizza Alfred had managed to make.
"'Kay!" he swallowed the last huge bit and morphed into a lizard, scrambling up the side of the jet and flopping into Starfire's lap. "Alfred, baby, you're the best!" he waved a three-fingered hand at the prim butler who was gathering up the dishes.
"Thank you, sir," Alfred sighed as Tim laughed loudly.
Cyborg and Bruce stood at the front wheel.
"Be careful out there," Cyborg said.
"You guys just watch out for Blackfire," Nightwing deadpanned. "She'll be coming back."
Bruce nodded, and the glass closed around the cockpit. Bruce watched Nightwing guide the jet out of the Batcave and vanish into the expansive darkness of the outside world.
Alfred sighed as he gathered up the last plate and patted Cyborg on the back. "Come, Master Cyborg, I'm certain you could use a spot of tea."
"Sure," Cyborg grinned and followed the butler up the stairs, followed closely by Barbara and Tim, leaving Bruce to stare after the jet in silence.
The jet landed smoothly in a tall drift of hard packed snow. Starfire was already shivering obviously before Nightwing opened the cockpit.
"There's the station," he pointed to the dilapidated structure less than a quarter mile away.
Beast Boy morphed into an extra-hairy polar bear and started lumbering through the snow toward the station. Starfire buried her fingers in his warm fur and walked beside him. Nightwing led the way.
After what felt like an eternity, they reached the station. Nightwing knocked on the door, and they waited. No answer. Finally, he knelt and pulled a lock picking kit out of the bag around his waist. He picked the lock with little difficulty, and pushed the door open.
The room beyond was dirty, empty, and silent. The three travelers hurried out of the blustery wind and shut the door behind them, and darkness surrounded them.
"Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing," Nightwing muttered under his breath. "Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before."
"Huh?" Beast Boy growled from under the polar bear's voice.
"'The Raven' by Poe.
Starfire lifted her hand and formed a green orb of light around her fingers, filling the room with green light.
The instant the green light touched the multiple surfaces in the room, however, the room seemed to melt, changing from a dirty storage shed to a tidily kept science station with lab equipment, computer screens, and data charts.
No one moved as the room altered around them.
Starfire let her light fade as the light in the room took over.
"O-kay," Beast Boy murmured, returning to human form. "That's weird."
The far wall shivered strangely, and a figure slowly faded into view. She seemed to blend in with the white wall, her colorless cloak billowing as she levitated. Nightwing, Beast Boy, and Starfire watched her lower to the floor and stand. She did not turn to them.
It seemed she had grown neither in weight or stature since the Titans had parted. If anything, she had lost weight.
"Raven?" Starfire whispered, taking a step forward.
The woman in the white cloak did not move.
For a moment, Starfire felt a thrill of terror surge through her limbs. Memories of that forgotten future flashed before her eyes, seeing a white-cloaked Raven, unreachable and distant, a prisoner in her own mind.
"Raven, it is I. Starfire." Starfire stopped just behind the small cloaked form. "Beast Boy is here as well. As is Robin – who is now called Nightwing – and also called Dick when he is not wearing his costume."
Nightwing hung his head and shook it tiredly.
"You shouldn't be here, Starfire," a low, gravelly voice whispered from the confines of the darkened hood. "None of you should be here."
Nightwing allowed a sigh of relief to bow his shoulders. At least she recognized them. "We need your help, Raven," he said.
"Come on, Raven!" Beast Boy bounced to stand beside her. "The Titans are back together!" He reached to pull her into a hug.
She moved before any of them saw it, her neck twisting, her eyes flashing an impossible color of white, and flinging Beast Boy across the room and into the wall, holding him there.
Shocked silence fell over the room.
"Do not touch me," she hissed in a voice not her own.
She blinked, and the shining light from her eyes faded again to shadow. Beast Boy slid to the floor, still gaping at her.
"Raven," Starfire frowned, "we are your friends. We have come to ask you for your assistance."
"I have no friends," Raven returned her unseen gaze to the wall.
"You're wrong, Raven," Nightwing took a step closer to her and stood beside Starfire. "We're your friends. We always have been."
Raven turned and pulled the hood away from her face. "I have no friends," she repeated. "I will not allow myself to have them. Not again."
The jewel on her forehead was red as blood and shone in the dim light. Her smooth perfect skin remained pale gray-lavender, and her hair though longer was still violet and thick. Her violet eyes were foggy though, no longer clear, and filled with an agony she tried with every ounce of her soul to hide. She had traded her deep blue cloak for a white one, and her old ensemble had been replaced by warm white robes.
"Raven," Starfire took a deep breath. "My sister has returned, and we need your help to defeat her."
Raven's left ear twitched as she closed her eyes. "Leave. Now."
"But, Raven?" Beast Boy struggled back to his feet. "We need you."
"No, you don't. It's not worth it. Any plan you have I'll destroy."
"This is about Grishenko, isn't it?" Nightwing glared at her.
Starfire watched nervously as the wall behind Raven began to boil great large bubbles as if it were a soup on a stove.
"How did you know about Ingrid?" Raven's voice was barely a whisper.
"That's who you came out here with," Nightwing continued. "A biologist."
"My friend," Raven's voice shook, the boiling wall behind her beginning to shine, the heat melting the paint. She shook her head violently and glared at them, the wall falling quiet. "I do not wish to think about her."
"Raven," Starfire took another step toward her and held out her hand, "do you not remember all the times we shared together? All the hanging out we did? You taught me to meditate, to still my mind and find an inner peace within my heart. Allow us to help you as you helped me."
"No one can help me," Raven would not look at her.
"Raven."
"I killed her."
Starfire jerked her hand back, and Beast Boy gaped in astonishment at the confession.
"Why?" Nightwing demanded.
Again, the wall began to boil.
"I didn't mean to."
"How did it happen?"
"I don't know."
"Nightwing, knock it off," Beast Boy glared at him.
"You killed her, and you don't know how?"
"Nightwing, please," Starfire whispered.
"It just happened," Raven's voice was rising in pitch. "I didn't mean for it to happen."
"Tell me how it happened, Raven."
"Dick, stop!" Starfire pleaded.
"Raven, now!"
"It was Trigon!" Raven screamed, the force of her rage suddenly erupting around her in a storm of black energy that drove them all backward four feet. Beast Boy crashed back into the wall, Nightwing lost his balance and fell to the floor, and Starfire knocked a table over.
After five minutes of a storm of black energy swirling around them, Raven managed to bring it all under control again, drawing the darkness within her slim frame with a gasp of pain. She sank to her knees and sat there.
"It was Trigon," she whispered. "Trigon. Trigon."
Starfire stood and knelt beside her. "Your father?"
"Ingrid and I met at a university in Rome," Raven whispered. "She was studying marine mammals in artic conditions and was looking for support. I had gone to Rome looking for—for something. For some kind of peace."
"Raven."
"After the Titans split, the defenses of my mind began to weaken," Raven seemed to fold in on herself. "Even at the slightest hint of emotion I could level an entire building. So I went to Rome in search of something to keep my mind focused. I had been there once a long time ago and found it restful. Instead of peace, I found Ingrid."
Nightwing leaned against the wall, listening carefully.
"She understood me," Raven looked up, her cloudy eyes full of tears she would never shed. The wall began to boil again. "She understood that I needed to be alone, but she knew I needed something to keep my focus. We left Rome together and gathered support. And we came here. To this station. We were here a year, learning about the life beneath the ice. I helped her with her experiments. She left me to my meditation."
"Gee, Raven," Beast Boy knelt at her other side. "You must have been lonely."
Raven stood and walked to the single window, the motion causing her cape and robes to flutter. "No. No, I made progress. I trained my mind, I tamed my soul. After a year together, I found I could laugh again, I could smile again." The entire station shivered as Raven clenched her fists. "Then, the dreams started."
"Dreams?" Nightwing asked.
"Trigon."
"Do you have your mirror?" Starfire asked.
"I couldn't use it anymore," Raven sighed, closing her eyes and calming herself to keep the station from collapsing. "He was too strong, and I was too weak."
"Did you tell Ingrid?" Beast Boy whispered.
"Not in so many words," Raven's head lowered. "I had warned her before we left America. I had warned her that I was unstable, that my mind was disturbed, that I had powers that could destroy her. She wouldn't listen. I tried to tell her when the nightmares started that she needed to go, but she wouldn't listen." Her fists clenched again, and a shudder of fury shook the station to its foundations. "She wouldn't listen."
Starfire and Nightwing exchanged a fearful glance.
"Every night," Raven continued, "Trigon came into my mind, invading, tearing down every emotional wall I had built. He left me like an open wound and beat my soul till it bled. I woke one morning, and Ingrid was dead."
Beast Boy lowered his gaze.
"Blood," Raven wheezed, her eyes beginning to flash again and dark energy starting to swirl around her white-cloaked body. "Blood in her nose, her mouth, her ears. Her eyes were blank. Staring."
"Raven!" Starfire snapped.
Raven started at Starfire's voice and glanced at her.
"It was not your fault," Starfire stood and set her jaw.
"I killed her."
Starfire braced herself and flung her arms around Raven's slight shoulders. Raven's eyes erupted in white light, and the room filled with dark energy. But Raven did not throw Starfire away. Instead, she allowed her to hold on. Starfire whispered something continuously, and Raven leaned her head against Starfire's shoulder.
Nightwing watched and eyed the station again.
Something did not seem right about the situation.
Raven killed someone in her sleep? Granted, her mind had always been unstable, but even Trigon had to use the mirror to reach others around her.
Something was not right.
A knock sounded suddenly on the door, and all activity in the room ceased.
"Who could that be?" Beast Boy curled his lip.
The door exploded inward, and a storm of gunfire poured into the room.