Chapter 9
Silence reigned in the small, silverene room. The attackers had left a minute ago, through the hole the had created, but the two girls inside still felt the adrenaline and fear, and were unwilling to move. The invaders hadn't even come looking for them, so Starfire guessed that they hadn't known they were there at all. It was Nightfire that climbed to her feet first, and opened the door. Her first steps were shaky and careful, ready to dart back to the metal sanctuary, and Starfire went after her. They headed first to the main room where the fight had taken place, and stood motionless in the face of the giant hole in the wall. The setting sun could be seen through it, and that just seemed to make it worse. A thick level of sawdust and debris covered everything,
"Who were they?" said Nightfire, a cold breeze swept through the room making the dust stir briefly.
"I don't know" replied Starfire, equally dead-pan. Nightfire turned to look at her mother.
"What are we going to do?" she said. Starfire shrugged, completely lost. She was used to not having her powers but as the shock wore off and the anger and fear for her friends safety sunk in, she wished she had them more than ever. She looked at her daughter, she was pale and her eyes looked vacant. Starfire imagined she looked the same. She walked to what remained of the kitchen and started opening cupboards.
"What are you doing?" said Nightfire.
"Making us a drink, we're in shock" She went in search of tea-bags as the kettle boiled. Nightfire was also regaining her senses, and she felt that blind frustration that teenagers get for their parents. She was making a drink! Her friends, her father had just been kidnapped, and could be being hurt right now, and she was making a drink! The kettle started to whistle and Starfire poured the water into two mugs with tea bags already in them. Then she reached down into the fridge and got out a bottle of some indistinct alcohol, she poured some into her mug, then paused and looked behind her at her daughter. The girl just stood there, so Starfire put some in her mug too, but not nearly as much. Then she stirred them and put them on the counter in Nightfire's reach. Nightfire took a sip and decided it didn't taste all that bad. Starfire sat down and drank her tea, going over things in her mind. What could they do? Neither of them had powers, they didn't know where they had been taken, though they could find them………What about the police? Too slow. Nightfire however, wasn't being as rational. All she knew was she couldn't lose her father, not after finding him after so long. She downed the rest of her tea and marched over to stand in front of her mother.
"We have to go after them." she stated. Starfire's eyes rolled up to look at her, but she didn't say anything. "We have to. Who knows what's being done to them? We can't just let them be killed, or tortured or who knows what else? He's my father, I can't lose him now." Starfire still didn't say anything. She knew there was nothing they could do.
"Nightfire, we have to trust that they can get themselves out of this." she said.
"But what if they can't? I don't think those guys were playing around. They sent so many to the Tower, imagine how many there must be back at …..headquarters or whatever."
"Darling, please try to understand that there's nothing we can do! We don't have powers, and we don't know how to fight. We're helpless." Starfire hated admitting it just as much as Nightfire hated hearing it.
"Mom, please! I know you can do it, you used to be a Teen Titan! That sort of thing doesn't just go away! Even after twelve years, I believe you still have your powers, and even if you don't, you still have the training and techniques needed for this sort of thing." Nightfire implored. Starfire looked away from her,
"Fine" said Nighfire, " Then help me." Starfire sighed,
"Nightfire, you know as well as I do that you can't save them"
"Yes I can! Mom, I can!" Starfire grew suspicious at her daughters sure tone, and she looked at up her again. Nightfire's shoulders slumped and she held up her hand. She looked at it and concentrated, and sure enough, in a second it was enveloped in a fiery blue energy. Starfire froze in place, she reached out to touch her daughter's hand, and the minute her fingers entered the blue circle, it swarmed over her hand. Starfire felt the pain and pulled away, she looked at her hand and saw the burns. It was real tamerranian energy, alright. Starfire felt proud of her daughter, but also afraid for her safety. She stood up and hugged her daughter as strong as she could, and she didn't even have to fight to breath.
"Can you fly aswell?" she asked.
"No, it's just this."
Starfire grabbed her daughter's hand and dragged her to the gym. She pulled a cover cloth off the wall, revealing special targets put up for her back when she was a Titan. She walked back to where Nightfire was standing.
"Try and hit those." she said. Nightfire had never actually tried her powers out, she knew enough to know that the energy was supposed to fly from her hand, but she didn't know how. Eager not to dissapoint her mother, she looked at the targets and held out her hand. The fire lit up, and Nightfire tried to will it to hit the target. Nothing happened. Starfire took her wrist and positioned it slightly further back.
"You have to try to throw it. Cast it forward at the same time as letting it go."
Nightfire looked back at the target. She felt the power all up her arm, and she threw her arm forward in the direction of the target, at the same time as picturing herself dropping it. The energy didn't so much fly from her hand as fall from it, but it left a nice black mark on the mat.
"You need to be really bursting with righteous fury to get it to go far." said Starfire.
Nightfire really wanted this to work. She thought of the time a kid a boy at school had been bullying her, and gone unpunished, so she'd told her mum and Starfire had written a note to the teacher and then the teacher had yelled at her for telling. She let the feelings swirl and grow, then she threw her hand forward, harder this time. The blue fire-ball fell short of the target by only a couple of inches. Starfire took her shoulders and pushed her forward a bit.
"Try from here." she said. God, what am I doing? she thought, Why am I teaching her to fight? Nightfire tried again, charging her energy, then launching it. It hit the side of the target, damaging it nicely. She turned and smiled eagerly at her mother, who ruffled her hair and said,
"You're a natural."
"So can we try and find the others now?" said Nightfire, "Please?"
" Nightfire, I've already explained to you, we can't save them" Nightfire looked angry,
"You know what Mom? You suck, you're just a coward. You were a hero, and how does a person just walk away from that? Well it looks like you've found a way. Sure, I used to think you were like, this total embarrasment, but then I thought you were cool. Right now it looks like I was right the first time." she said. Her words stung her mother more than she knew, and Starfire turned her back on her and started to walk towards the door.
"Okay, Mom, consider this then, how will you live with yourself if you let him die?" Starfire slowed, her daughter was right. But if they were gonna do this, then they had to do it right. She turned to her daughter,
"Alright Nightfire, you win, but this is not a game. You have to understand that what we are about to do is probably life or death." Nightfire nodded. Starfire paused, she still wasn't sure she could do this. She would be putting her child in serious danger, could she handle it? Everybody deserves the chance to fight for those they love she thought. "Good, you're gonna have to do exactly what I say, okay?"
"Yes"
"Okay, go to your room, put on suitable clothes, jeans, a sweater, that sort of thing. Then meet me back here." Nightfire took off, and Starfire stared after her, before going to her room to change aswell.
Fifteen minutes later, the two women met back at the gym. Their clothes were dark, and nothing fancy. Their long hair was tide up and out of the way. Nightfire was ringing her hands, she was starting to get scared, although she still didn't regret her decision. Starfire silently walked over to a wall and pressed a button. The wall slid away to reveal various knives and guns and other weapons. Nightfire stared at them, normally a sight like that, she would have just thought it was cool,but the knowledge that she would be using them, and that she would need to use them made her blood chill. The edges of the platinum blades glinted maliciously in the harsh, florecent light. Starfire looked at her,
"You don't have to go through with this" she said. Nightfire shook her head,
"I have to"
"Okay" Starfire reached up and took down two small daggers and handed them to her.
"Don't cut yourself." she said. Nightfire wanted to laugh, but she found she couldn't. She noted that the daggers were too small to be any good except at close range. She strapped them on to her wrists, and looked up to see her mother strapping knives on aswell. She gulped as she saw her mother slide a small sword into a sheath along her spine, the hilt hidden by her ponytail.
"Mom, jesus, are you going to be okay with that?" she asked.
"On Tamerran, swords are very special. The royal family receive extensive training."
"Oh, and are you in the royal family?" Nightfire scoffed, expecting the answer to be no.
"Yes, and the rightful heir to the throne since my sister Blackfire got thrown in prison."
"What!" Nightfire was shocked, but she shook it off. This wasn't the time. Starfire then took down a small handgun and slipped it into the waistband of her trousers in the small of her back.
"Can I have a gun?" asked Nightfire,
"No, I don't trust your aim" replied Starfire. Nightfire was hurt but she knew her mother was right. Then her mother took down a shotgun, and Nightfire was shaking in her boots,
"Are we gonna need that?" she asked. Starfire stopped and her expression softened into a more motherly affection.
"I don't know, but I can't leave it up to chance. And don't you agree that this will come in handy if we're faced with a room of people who want to hurt us?" Nightfire nodded. Now they were truly prepared.
