Chapter 2: Sick Days
"Achoo!"
The Tower was alive with the sounds of illness. No one knew who had originally brought in the bug or if they did know they were keeping silent. In any event, the disease had spread to everyone except Starfire by the end of the week.
Starfire didn't understand why she remained the only healthy Titan. Perhaps it was her Tamaranian physiology, but it was still very strange. Raven was half-demon, Cyborg barely had any human parts to infect, and Beast Boy's shapeshifting cells should have protected him.
But they were all at least partly human and perhaps that was enough.
Starfire walked into the Main Room with a tray of soup bowls and said wearily, "Friends, I have made the fowl soup for you. And vegetable soup for Beast Boy."
She stared at the chaos.
Robin was trying to chew through the masking tape bonds that were keeping him tied to the couch.
Beast Boy who was buried in a mountain of tissue paper was ringing his infernal bell and complaining that Raven had destroyed the television.
Cyborg had become extremely paranoid about viruses, computer or otherwise, since the 'Crash' incident. He was even more bizarre now that he was actually sick. He was surrounded by air sanitizers, wearing a gas mask, and muttering something about SARS and that the Martians were out to get him.
It was still an improvement on the Biohazard suit and aluminum foil hat he had been wearing earlier that week.
Raven was curled in a ball with a blanket wrapped around her blue nightgown shivering and sweating furiously at the same time. She desperately tried to meditate while tendrils of black energy radiated from her head destroying any fragile piece of furniture in its path.
"Azarath... Azarath... Azar, just kill me now," she moaned.
Starfire's eyebrow twitched.
It wasn't that she didn't enjoy taking care of her friends. It was just that her friends have become 'just plain freaky.'
Two weeks earlier...
It was just shortly after the battle with the Punk Rocket that Robin came down with the sniffles.
Robin, being Robin, reacted predictably and insisted that he wasn't sick. And for a couple battles, he was as superb as ever, but he gradually began to slip.
The final straw broke in the battle with Mumbo Jumbo.
The mad magician cackled. "As you can see, there's nothing up my sleeves. But there's plenty in my hat!" He reached upward.
"Oh, hell no! No more tutus!" Cyborg yelled, transforming his arm into his sonic cannon.
Before he could shoot, Robin threw a birdarang intending to break Mumbo Jumbo's wand. But weariness had taken a toll on his aim and he ended up slicing off Mumbo's white mustache. A hair's width further to the right and Mumbo Jumbo would have become Mumble Jumbo.
The magician fainted dead away.
It was a minor and harmless mistake, but it was the latest in a line of minor and harmless mistakes. Cyborg was forced to relieve the Boy Wonder of command.
The spiky-haired hero didn't take the news well. Actually, he went nuts and had to be restrained.
It was worrying. Robin could be a hothead, butt he usually knew better than to fight when he was less than 100 percent. While Batman would have kept on going even if he had two broken legs, a concussion, and a gut wound, he taught his partners better survival habits.
But fever had wracked the Boy Wonder's mind though his skills were almost as sharp as always.
Starfire had been forced to hide all his uniforms and utility belts, but Robin managed to escape the Tower five times dressed in black pajamas and armed with little more than a knife and fork.
In the latest escape, the other Titans were out on call and Starfire had to capture Robin alone.
"Robin, I do not want to fight you!" Starfire cried, dodging a swarm of chopsticks.
Robin hopped around the island like a grasshopper on steroids. Starfire finally cornered him against a corner of the garage.
Starfire flew at him at full speed. "I have you now!"
Out of options, Robin threw his secret weapon.
Starfire was hit in the face by a bottle of mustard.
"Ooh, honey dijon!"
While she was momentarily distracted, Robin dashed for his cycle. But he collapsed half-way to his goal.
Starfire gently picked the boy up and floated back into the Tower.
Robin had definitely seen better days. His hair lied flat on his head since Starfire in her enthusiasm had hidden his hair gel as well. His mask was held to his face by masking tape because his feverish sweating kept dissolving the adhesive.
"Star?"
"Yes, Robin?"
"I think I'm sick."
Starfire breathed a sigh of relief. Robin was in a lucid state again. It was unfortunate that it wouldn't last for long.
And indeed, a day later, Robin made another escape attempt using flour bombs and Beast Boy's video game controllers as nun-chuks.
It wouldn't have been so bad if the other Titans hadn't all gotten sick around the same time shortly after Robin did. The poor alien girl was now not only responsible for her friends' well-being but for the safety of the City as well.
It was enough to drive a Tamaranian mad.
RING! RING!
The door to Beast Boy's room flew off its hinges and a girl with glowing green eyes trudged in. With a smile that had just a tinge of mania to it, she said, "Can I help you, friend Beast Boy? After all, it has only been two minutes since you last summoned me."
Beast Boy, whose survival instincts were lousy even when he was healthy, ignored the vein popping out of Starfire's head and asked, "Star, could you change the channel for me? I want to see the new Clash of the Planets."
Must... think... happy... thoughts...
"The remote is on the table next to you, is it not?" Starfire asked, hiding her clenched fists behind her back.
"Yeah, but I'm so tired," Beast Boy whined. He wrapped his blanket around his white undershirt and boxers that had little ducks on them. "I don't think I can reach for it."
You seem to have no problem reaching for your bell...
A look of horror washed over Starfire's face when she realized what mean, sarcastic thoughts she was having. She was turning into Raven!
She quickly changed the channel and fled to check on Cyborg. Making her way through the laser fire, avoiding the nets, and vaporizing the tranquilizers darts before they could reach her, she made it into Cyborg's room.
The blue, white, and brown behemoth snarled and threw CDs at her. She had deactivated his built-in weaponry a few days ago. Unfortunately, she was not able to lock him out of the Tower's defensive systems.
"Desist, Cyborg! I have to scan you to make sure the virus is not affecting your mechanical components!"
"I'm not letting you near me with your killer alien germs, Martian scum!" Cyborg screamed throwing a box of floppy diskettes at her.
"For the last time, I am not a Martian!" Starfire shouted back.
"You're an alien, aren't you?"
Starfire was taken back. "Well, technically..."
"Then you have killer alien germs! Eat virus protection, you walking bioweapon!"
Starfire was hit in the face by a Norton Antivirus box.
After two days of Beast Boy's obnoxiousness, Cyborg's paranoia, and Robin's constant escape attempts, Starfire decided to group everyone into the Main Room so she wouldn't have to keep running around the Tower.
Robin had been forced into a straitjacket, had his legs manacled, and was now taped to the couch. Perhaps it was a bit much, but Starfire was tired of chasing him around the island.
Even in his delirium, Cyborg enjoyed video games. He kept swabbing his controller with alcohol wipes though. Beast Boy kept cackling over how he had never won this many times before. Since the two of them were too weak to play anything too adrenaline-pumping, they were playing an exciting game of Pong.
"I am the King of Pong!" Beast Boy cheered. He paused in thought. "Dude, that is sad."
Starfire briefly wondered why while two of her friends had gone more than slightly insane, Beast Boy wasn't drastically affected. Raven would undoubtedly say it was because the green boy didn't have a brain to affect.
Speaking of Raven, it was time to bring the girl down here, a task Starfire was quite wary about doing. In any other circumstance, the alien would have left the sorceress alone and continued treating her in her room as before. Raven was her least annoying patient after all.
But Raven was suffering the most from the disease and Starfire was worried about her. The dark girl was trying with all her might to keep her negative emotions and her powers under control, but that seemed to be making her symptoms worse.
Raven hadn't been able to keep anything solid down for days. She was much thinner than ever. She complained of body aches and the inability to sleep. She had also recently started coughing up blood. Raven desperately needed rest, but she also needed to maintain control.
It was a Catch-22. If Raven kept this suppression going, she would kill herself, but if she didn't she'd kill everyone in the Tower, including herself.
Starfire gently placed a moist cloth on Raven's forehead and tried to coax her into eating some broth. It was a little disconcerting talking to Raven since her eyes were constantly glowing white now.
"If it was anyone else, I would hurt them severely for treating me like an invalid," Raven said in a stuffed-up voice.
"But you are an invalid," Starfire commented, smiling as she got Raven to take a swallow.
"Rub it in, why don't you?" Raven grumbled.
Starfire decided that this was a good a time as any to tell her about moving her out of her room.
"No! Absolutely not! Those idiot boys are bad enough when they're supposedly sane!"
The argument went downhill from there for the next half an hour. Raven kept insisting that she was isolating her for the safety of the Titans.
"How are we to know if you have become dangerous or have hurt yourself if you are in here alone?" Starfire shot back. "And have you not considered that my job would be easier if I did not have to run around our home?"
Raven wrapped herself deeper into her bed. "All very good arguments, Star. I'm sure that there are good ones against them, but I'm too tired to think of them. So just pretend that I did."
Starfire finally lost her patience with Raven. Living in this mental asylum for over a week with virtually no sleep and fighting all the supervillains that had popped up to take advantage of the Titans' absence had battered down her cheery disposition.
"Raven, if you do not come with me right now, I will paint your room pink and purple and I will braid your hair and make up your face while you are sleeping. Now, GET UP!"
"I'm up! I'm up!" Raven cried, struggling to get out of bed.
With Starfire propping her up, they slowly walked down the hallway. Raven turned to the taller girl. "I'm impressed. You do have a mean streak." She smiled evilly. "You're coming along nicely."
Then she fell into a coughing fit, which rather ruined the menacing look she was going for.
Starfire set up Raven with a mattress, a few pillows, and blankets in the corner of the living area. In a rare burst of insight, she also kindly provided Raven with some black earmuffs to block out the noise.
Present...
Starfire checked the bags under her eyes. She spoke to her image in the mirror. "It would be ironic if after surviving Slade, Warp, and the Mad Mod, it was my friends that caused me to expire from sleep deprivation."
She prided herself on seeing the bright side of things and never allowing anything to bring down her spirits for long, but she was only Tamaranian. She worried for her friends and she wondered if she was doing the right thing by following Robin's standing orders not to have the Titans checked by medical personnel.
The illness had only gotten worse. Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Raven were now sleeping soundly for the first time in a week, but that in itself was a cause for concern. Lacking extensive knowledge of Terran physiology, any change was worrisome.
She'd been keeping up a strong front for days, but in the privacy of her bedroom, she allowed herself to cry.
Her communicator beeped.
That was strange. The team at Titans East wasn't due back from their mission off-planet for another week. Starfire wiped away her tears then flipped the device open, revealing the face of someone she loved dearly but wished she would never see again.
"How are you doing, little sister?" Blackfire asked, smirking. "You're looking a little... what is the human saying? Under the weather."
"You are responsible for this!" Starfire yelled.
Blackfire winked. "Got it in one. Banishing me from Tamaran doesn't seem like quite a good idea any longer, does it?"
"It was either that or throwing you in the dungeons for the rest of your life," Starfire said stiffly. "An option that looks better and better."
"Where's that sunny outlook? One would think that you weren't happy to see me," Blackfire teased.
Starfire shook with anger. "If any of my friends are harmed..."
Blackfire waved her hand. "Relax. The virus should die out in another day or so. I just love making your life miserable." Her smile became cruel. "How did it feel knowing you could lose everything that made your life worth living at any instant?"
Starfire was happy that her friends weren't in any real danger, but she hurt knowing her sister despised her so much. She said, "Sister, I wish I knew why you have apparently dedicated your life to ruining mine, but I know you will not tell me. I also know that you will not stop, so I will not ask you to do so. But I must say one thing."
"And what is that?" Blackfire asked curiously.
"I do not care what you do to me," Starfire said softly. "Continue to create your devious plots if you must, but if you try to get at me through my friends again, I swear by X'hal that I will break every bone in your body then shave you bald."
"Do you kiss our mother with that mouth? As much as I love receiving death threats from family, I got hearts to break, star systems to plunder. You know how it is." Blackfire's voice tried to sound airy, but failed. Tamaranians prized their hair greatly and Starfire's promise obviously shook her.
Before Starfire could reply, she heard a female scream from the other side of the Tower.
"Raven!" Starfire cried. She glared at her communicator screen. "You said that the disease would not hurt her!"
Blackfire looked utterly confused. "It shouldn't! I don't understand..."
"You are no help at all!" Starfire shouted. She threw the communicator across the room then flew toward the Main Room.
A miniature tornado was swirling around the room with Raven in the epicenter. Raven was covered in black energy and her hair was standing straight up. She was rolled up in a ball and was screaming like the skin was being ripped from her body.
Beast Boy and Cyborg was hanging onto the couch for dear life since it was the only piece of furniture not flying around. It had been superglued to the floor as an anti-escape mechanism.
Starfire floated in the doorway, not knowing what to do.
Robin lifted his head up and yelled, "You have to take Raven to the containment room!"
Starfire couldn't believe her ears. There had to be more they could do to help than simply locking Raven up.
Robin seemed to follow her thoughts because he shouted, "Star, we'll help her, but we can't let anyone get hurt! It's what Raven would want!"
He was right. There was no other choice. Starfire flew into the tornado fighting against the intense winds. She scooped up Raven's body. The empath felt very light and fragile. The tendrils of black energy were slicing through her amber skin, but Starfire resolutely ignored the pain.
"It will be all right," Starfire said, knowing that she could not be heard over the screaming. She flew down the stairwells toward the foundation of the Tower.
The containment room had originally been constructed as a holding cell for the most dangerous metahuman imaginable. One so dangerous that they couldn't be held in regular City facilities. The walls were made of the strongest metal known to man and its strength was reinforced by Martian and Kryptonian technology. Theoretically, the room could hold Superman himself for at least a limited time.
When the team got together, Raven requested that the room be used if her powers ever got out of control.
It was a struggle, but Starfire finally got Raven into the room. The dark girl had settled down and stopped screaming, but her face was still contorted in anguish.
Starfire said softly, "Raven, I must leave you now, but I promise that we will do everything we can to help you. Please remain strong."
Raven hugged herself desperately and mumbled, "I will stop him... I promise..."
Though she did not know the 'him' that her friend was referring to, Starfire replied, "I know you will."
Starfire walked over toward the door and paused at the entrance. She looked back at Raven who seemed so small and distressed and knew that she could not simply leave her there.
One well-placed starbolt to the controls brought the massive door down, sealing Starfire and Raven inside.
Raven's eyes momentarily turned purple again in panic. "You can't be here! I have to completely release my powers to burn out the virus. You'll be hurt!"
As if in response to her turmoil, a black storm of energy erupted from her body and slammed Starfire against the wall.
With a burst of effort, Raven drew the dark energy back. She panted, "You have to get out of here, Starfire!"
"I can not," Starfire replied, getting to her feet. "And even if I could, I would not. I know what I am doing, Raven. As Val-Yor said, my people can withstand hostile conditions. I am not leaving you."
To the alien's great surprise, Raven actually began to sob. "It hurts... it hurts so much... I don't want you to see me like this... I don't want to hurt you..."
Following her instincts, Starfire crossed the space between her and Raven in less than a second and wrapped her arms around her friend. She said, "I do not care if I am hurt and I will never think less of you. I know how much you value your control. I was once in your body and I know what happens when you lose that control. But if you do not do so now, you will die and I do not wish that. Please, Raven, just let go."
Raven released a deep sigh then everything turned black. The wind howled and the walls vibrated as if struck by a hundred bombs. Raven's body suddenly felt like the inside of the sun and Starfire's skin began to blister and burn.
Starfire simply closed her eyes and gripped Raven tighter.
An eternity passed inside the darkness then Starfire's ears popped. She opened her eyes and her jaw dropped. The supposedly invulnerable walls and ceiling was riddled with dents and gouges.
A weary voice below her said, "You can let go of me now."
"Friend Raven, you are okay!" Starfire squealed, crushing Raven to her in a hug. In doing so, she also aggravated her burns. "Owie!"
"Same here," Raven gasped. "I would thank you for staying, but I'm afraid you'll smother me to death."
Starfire loosened her grip then noticed that Raven's leotard was in tatters. Her own purple clothes were hardly decent themselves. Starfire giggled. "If the boys were to come in right now, we could make a fortune!"
"You've been watching Friends again, haven't you?" Raven droned. Her eyes flickered with amusement though.
"I'll be there for you!" Starfire sang.
Raven groaned.
"ACHOO!"
Raven had healed Starfire's injuries, but she could not eliminate the alien girl's newfound illness. This was no artificially created disease though. This was simply the collapse of the immune system brought about by stress and lack of sleep.
The now healthy Titans were in her room keeping her company. Beast Boy and Cyborg had dragged in a small television and their Gamestation and were playing one of their numerous racing games. Raven was sitting against the bed while reading a novel.
Robin sat on the edge of Starfire's bed and was taking her temperature. He looked at the thermometer and whistled in amazement. "Whew, Star. I'm surprised you haven't combusted." Then perhaps realizing that wasn't the most tactful thing to say, Robin quickly asked, "Is there anything that we can do for you?"
"There is one thing..."
Cyborg paused the game and turned his head toward her. "Go ahead, Star."
Starfire pulled her pink blanket over her head and said, sounding embarrassed, "Please, friends, do not take offense, but I am tired of seeing your faces."
Cyborg blinked. "Now, I just don't know what to say."
Beast Boy shrugged. "I'm not offended. Raven's told me to buzz off so many times that the words have lost all meaning."
"That's not surprising considering that you already don't know the meaning of most words," Raven replied.
"Why I oughta..."
"Guys, take this outside," Robin interrupted, standing out and ushering the team into the hallway. He turned back to Starfire with a smile. "Get some rest. You've earned it."
And so Starfire of the Teen Titans AKA Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran went into her long awaited slumber.
NEXT: Starfire experiences her first Halloween.
Author's Notes
I really like the idea of Starfire and Raven being friends, so I guess that's why I keep putting them together in scenes. I'll to balance things out in the future.
