Chapter Five: Unwelcome Visitors, Unwelcome Changes
"Be careful with that!" Karl Mannheim said angrily to his employees. Despite costing twice as much as his previous mercenaries, Karl had the sinking feeling that they were also twice as incompetent, as he watched them take the large crate out of the military transport with anything but care.
Hopefully the tranquilizers he asked Wolfe's New York Special Projects Division would have been effective enough. And hopefully the fake clearances he had provided the Air Force with would 'check out', as they said here in America. In these post 9/11 times, any overzealous official could spell a great deal of inconvenience. The last time someone had come close to uncovering Wolfe's alternative activities, the cost for bribes and assassins had caused Cassius to fly into a blind rage.
"I said be careful with that!" he shouted to the incompetents who were now loading the crate onto the truck.
"Goddam Nazi," one of them said to his friend, when he thought he was out of earshot. Karl did hear it, but he didn't take any action. In fact, he admitted to himself, he rather liked the comparison, he mused as he got into his car and followed the truck to the test facility outside the city.
(scene change)
"Did you really have to do that, Blackfire?" Pyurit'i asked, but without rancour, as they flew away. They had just visited another club whose owner had quite run out of gratitude, and had several large burly men inform the ladies of this. Of course, those large burly men were soon reduced to large burly men whimpering on the dance floor, but no sense in overstaying one's welcome anyway.
"My, my, are you tired? Don't worry, we'll be back by bedtime," Blackfire teased.
"I hope we are; after all, I know how cranky you can get when you don't get your beauty sleep."
"At least I get beauty sleep," Blackfire retorted. She didn't know how much she had missed her old flame until tonight.
They flew in silence over the rooftops of Jump City for a while, enjoying the scenery, before Pyurit'i said, "You know, I met your friend, Raven. She seems to be a nice person."
A feeling of guilt, small for now, emerged within Blackfire. "Oh, yeah, Raven. Yeah, she's a nice person to… to…"
"You like her, don't you?" her ex-chambermaid asked.
Before Blackfire could reply, the sound of a scream rose above the urban din.
(scene change)
"C'mon, hand over the poise, and nobuddy gets hoit!" the thug said, pointing his gun at the frightened teenager.
"Here! Take it! Take it! Please, just don't hurt me!"
"Hoit ya? Who wantsta hoit ya? I'm gonna do anyting but hoit ya…" the thug continued, the lust in his eyes growing as the woman's terror became more and more apparent. "Dat's right, dis ain't gonna hoit a bit…"
"Oh really?" a voice said from behind him.
The thug turned around, just in time to see Blackfire's fist heading straight for his face. Staggering backwards, his nose bleeding and broken, he raised his gun. "I'b godda maige you pay bor dad! You're bine!"
"Sorry, but she's already taken," Pyurit'i said as she landed behind him. Pulling his arm back, she then twisted it, causing him to shout out in pain as he dropped his gun. Then, spinning him around, she kneed him in the groin, causing him to stagger backwards, where he immediately found himself facing Blackfire, who wasted no time in punching him again. He actually pirouetted backwards, and after saying "Stoopid heroes", his eyes crossed, collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
"I think this is yours," Blackfire said, handing the grateful girl her purse back. "Here's a tip: If you're going out alone, bring some protection; or else go out with someone." Blackfire knew she was sounding irritatingly stuffy, but there you go.
"But I'm not alone," the girl said indignantly. "He's with me," she said angrily, pointing to a young man, who had apparently just come back.
"Jessie! I called the cops, so hold on- Hey, who are you guys?"
"These two are the ones who saved me, Rick! Where the hell were you?"
"I had to call the police!"
"Call the police? That thug was threatening my life, and you ran off screaming!"
"He had a gun, Jessie!"
"I noticed!"
Blackfire leaned over to Pyurit'i. "I think we should leave these two lovebirds here, while they wait for the police."
After they were airborne again, Pyurit'i turned to Blackfire. "You've changed, Blackfire."
"What?"
Pyurit'i laughed. "I knew a Blackfire who caused half the law enforcement agencies of half the Galaxy no end to grief and who caused every rich citizen to turn their homes into fortresses at the slightest rumour of her appearance and then rob them anyway, but the person I see here could give the Lantern Corps a few lessons."
"Come on, it was just one person," Blackfire said, somewhat embarrassed.
"Yes, but you impressed the Centauri into dropping all charges against you, and considering what you did, that must have taken some doing."
"More like I fell for one of their tricks," Blackfire grumbled.
"Maybe you did. But that doesn't mean you should have stayed." She stopped mid-air, and held Blackfire's hands in her own. "You could have run at any time, but you didn't. Why?"
"Hey, what can I say? Earth is a fun place," Blackfire shrugged.
Pyurit'i nodded, and as they flew on, she asked, "So, what do you think of Dawn?"
"What?"
"'Dawn', what do you think of it? I mean, I don't see people calling you or your sister Komand'r and Koriand'r, do I?"
"'Dawn'," Blackfire mused, thinking it over in her head. "I like it- it certainly sounds better than Pyurit'i anyway. But why the change?"
"It's what I asked your friend Raven to call me."
"Oh yeah, Raven," Blackfire replied, an anxious look crossing her face.
"Raven," Dawn agreed, her arms crossed. "Is there- is there something between you two?" she asked. "Because if there is, I don't want to get in the way," she added.
How did you know? Blackfire almost said. Instead, she asked, "What makes you think that?"
"Well, this evening, when I went up to introduce myself to Raven, we got around to talking about you, or at least, I did, and she got a little evasive, just like you did just now."
"Dawn, look, you've got nothing to worry about. Raven and I, we're friends, good friends, but that's it," Blackfire told Dawn.
"If you say so," Dawn said, but she sounded unconvinced.
Blackfire didn't blame her; she wasn't really convinced of that herself.
And when they landed on the top of the Tower later that night, they gave their excuses and went their separate ways.
(scene change)
"You're back early," Beast Boy said, from in front of the television.
"And you're up late," Blackfire replied. "What're you doing?"
"Nothing much; just finished watching the Monster Monster Movie Marathon. You and Pyurit'i have a good time?"
"Yeah, we did. By the way, you can call her Dawn now; that's what her name means, anyway."
"'Dawn', huh? Okay then- er, where is she?"
"She decided to sleep in her ship. Said she was used to it." Blackfire said flatly.
"Oh, okay," Beast Boy replied, not really noticing what she had said. "Er, Blackfire?"
"Yes?"
"It's about Raven."
Oh no, not another one. Blackfire placed her hand on her forehead. "Beast Boy, it's late at night, and I'm tired-"
"Hey, I get it, no sweat," Beast Boy said dejectedly.
Blackfire sighed. Dawn was right; she had changed. "I was going to ask you to make this quick."
"Gee thanks!" Beast Boy said. Then, becoming more nervous, he asked, "Well, er, I did say this was about Raven, well, um…"
"Beast Boy," Blackfire said, daggers in her voice. Changed is one thing, nice was another.
"Well, it's actually about um, me. But it's got a lot to do with Raven, you know?"
Blackfire sighed. This night wasn't over yet, it seemed. "Beast Boy, shut up, sit down, and then you start telling me what's wrong."
She should have spoken to Raven instead.
(scene change)
Raven lay in her bed, staring at her ceiling, wondering what was happening to her, no knowing if there was anything she could do about it.
The mirror she had in her drawer was not just a portal; like all mirrors, it reflected what it had to, and that particular mirror reflected her mind. As her mind fractured, so did the mirror, and that was disturbing to say the least.
She did not- could not believe what was happening to her, but the evidence lay on her table, its stark appearance for all to see. A small crack, near the top, at the middle, small, but deep. She tossed and turned, trying to sleep, but all her efforts met with no success. Her thoughts rang through her head, affording her no rest. Their cacophony grew even more insistent, some cajoling, some urging, some threatening. Raven shut her eyes as she tried to control her emotions, tried to quiet herself as she had done before, but this time, she was fighting back.
Eventually, her agonized mind could not suffer anymore. It was either she went mad, or-
Raven sat up in bed and screamed. Her cupboard expelled its contents, sending her clothes flying everywhere in front of it, before it toppled over and an unseen force crushed it. Her possessions so carefully arranged on her mantelpiece flew from their places and broke into pieces against the opposite wall. Her windows shattered, sending pieces of broken glass into the ocean and the rocks below, as the force of her unrestrained will ripped her balcony railing off its foundations. The Tower resounded with the roaring of a hurricane.
Her mind registered nothing but release.
(scene change)
"What's happening?" Blackfire shouted over the noise, Beast Boy at her side, Dawn catching up. Despite not feeling anything, they were still deafened by the roaring, as if there was nothing to block it.
"I don't know, but it seems to be coming from Raven's room!" Cyborg told her, the other Titans behind him.
"Thank you for the obvious!" Blackfire replied. "Raven! Raven!" she shouted, banging on the door.
"Let me try!" Cyborg told her. Blackfire stepping aside, Cyborg moved to punch the door down.
"Dude! Is that such a good idea!" Beast Boy asked.
"You got a better-"
Raven's doors flew outwards, flattening Cyborg against the wall, and this time the Titans did feel the typhoon-force wind as it took them by surprise. Robin would have been smashed on a wall himself had Starfire not caught him in time, while Beast Boy turned himself into a squid and managed to clamp the outside of Raven's door as Blackfire and Dawn struggled to steady themselves.
And then, as suddenly as it had begun, the tempest stopped.
Cyborg pushed the ruins of the steel doors off him, and rubbing his head, asked, "What the heck just happened?"
Looking in the room, they were taken aback when they saw the amount of damage, but they were even more shocked when they saw raven, sitting up in her bed, holding herself and shivering, as she chanted her mantra over and over again in a whisper.
She raised her head, but what she intended to say, even she did not remember. All Raven could recall, much later, was what everyone saw. She raised her head to speak, and then, fell back on her bed, unconscious.
