Evil: The Other Side

by Blair Lebeau, SocialButterfli

Summary:

Starfire has always been sweet and innocent. But when Slade realizes her power, he brainwashes her to become his next apprentice and the Titans can only watch as she embraces the other side. Is it possible that Starfire has become truly evil? RobStar

Disclaimer:

You'd think that if I owned Teen Titans, I would have told you by now. But I don't. Still. Damn.

Quote:

"I am most eager to go out and wreak the havoc." –Starfire

Part Three: Evil

Chapter Nine

Her eyes glowed, and as his hand stretched out towards the switch, she fired.

At that exact moment, Slade turned around abruptly, holding up a large mirror. He had anticipated this. Starfire's star bolt ricocheted off of it and hit her instead. It left her dazed, and her vision started to get foggy. She had already lost so much energy that the blow was devastating. She heard Slade's garbled voice saying something about a nice try; then he flipped the switch and everything went black.

And when she awoke, it was like she was born again.

Only this time, she was not so innocent and naive. Not innocent and naive at all. She had all this knowledge of things she never knew, a pessimistic view of life, and a strange hatred for those who were once her friends. What had she been thinking? Memories of her sweet and unsuspecting nature disgusted her. She was grateful to Slade for giving her a new awareness of life and the world around her. She could feel the evil coursing through her veins.

And when Slade asked her if she was ready to join him, she was.

Starfire stared at the deactivated tracking device in the palm of her hand. Now that she had led the Titans into the trap, she had no use for it anymore. But for some reason, she was reluctant to throw it away. It wasn't that she had a desire to turn it back on and let the Titans find her or anything; she just couldn't seem to do away with it for some inexplicable reason. Instead, she put it away in a drawer, just in case.

Now she watched as Slade looked up information on his laptop. She found it ironic to see the evil genius hunched over the keyboard, tapping the keys and reading the information so intensely that it mirrored Robin exactly when he was looking something up on the latest bad guy.

"What are you doing?" she asked, walking around the table so she could look at the screen.

"I am researching your next task," he replied, waving her off. "But it is none of your concern until I have all the information."

"So what shall I do while you do that?" she asked, pouting. "I am most eager to go out and wreak the havoc."

"No," Slade replied, ignoring her distorted version of the phrase. "I don't want you going out. You're not ready to face the Titans yet." Starfire looked confused.

"The Titans? But I thought we annihilated them."

"My dear, if you think a couple hundred robots can finish the Titans for good, you are severely mistaken," Slade said as he tapped some more keys. "If that were true, what would I need you for?" Starfire shrugged.

"I do not know. For company, perhaps?"

"The last thing I need is company," Slade remarked, not bothering to look up his persistent apprentice. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must finish gathering research on the Jewel of Charta." Starfire's eyes got big at the mention of the jewel.

"The Jewel of Charta?" she asked, incredulously. "But that was destroyed!"

"Yes . . . by you," Slade added, his voice indicating that he was impressed by this fact. "But the fragments were rescued and pieced back together. I intend to have you steal it and use it to defeat the Titans once and for all."

"I am still confused," Starfire admitted, sitting down on the metal bed. "Why did we pretend to be battling each other in the storage building when the Titans 'rescued' me? I thought they were supposed to believe that I was the . . . old me, so I would have their trust and be able to lead them into the trap. But what was the trap for if not to finish them?" Slade stopped typing and finally looked up at the inquisitive Starfire.

"My dear, the point of your deception was to weaken them. Did you not see their faces when they realized you deceived them just like little blonde Terra did? They all have a closer connection and stronger bond to you than they did to Terra. They have known your longer and you are the least likeliest person to turn against them. That magnifies their pain a thousand times more. Especially Robin. I was quite impressed with your improvisation of the kiss. We didn't plan that, but it was a perfect addition. Where did that come from?" Starfire shrugged.

"I just felt like it." Slade frowned. The brainwashing procedure was supposed to wipe out her feelings for Robin. He had thought that she kissed Robin out of pure cruelty, but instead she had done it because she wanted to. That wasn't a good sign. It meant that, for a moment, her heart had brief control. Starfire clearly needed more work.

"Yes, you are most certainly not prepared to face the Titans yet," Slade repeated, returning to his research of the jewel. Starfire just sat there, swinging her legs, recognizing that she had been dismissed but not quite knowing what else to do.

At Titans Tower, there had always been something fun to do. Watch the boys play video games and marvel at their excitement in thrashing the others (which she now understood, because being reborn evil made her realize that defeating others was the greatest fun you could have), bother Raven until she broke a light bulb or grew extra eyes, or dance with Robin in the rain . . .

No. That wasn't right. Why would dancing with Robin in the rain be fun?

Starfire remembered the strange feeling she had, like her stomach was fluttering, when she sat next to Robin on the weight-lifting bench, when she held his hand, when she kissed him . . . It was enjoyable. She held a finger up to her lips. Maybe she shouldn't have been so rough when she kissed him. It was an impulse action; they had been so close, and she thought, why not? She vaguely remembered that before her rebirth she had always wished Robin would show such a sign of affection. Since she believed that he was going to die that night, she had figured she might as well experience it. And now she wanted to do it again, softer this time. Robin . . . there was something about him . . .

But then again, he was so damn annoying with his whole save-the-world complex. Why did he have the obsessive compulsive need to help people? It was much more fun to watch them suffer.

"By the way, my dear, I have a new uniform for you," Slade said, interrupting her thoughts. "It is folded up in one of those boxes over there, and I think it suits you much better than that . . . purple thing you have on. Besides, you need something that states the fact that you belong to me."

Starfire walked over to the shelf Slade was gesturing to and searched through the boxes until she came to one that held a black and orange outfit that was made for her. As she fingered the material, she smiled. Yes. She did belong to him.

Robin collapsed to his knees, bruised and bleeding and exhausted and hurt. The broken robots were strewn about him, obvious signs of victory, but it didn't feel like a victory to him.

"Then why does it not feel like a victory?" Robin felt nauseated as he remembered Starfire's words when they destroyed the robots Terra had set on them when she betrayed them. It was his exact feelings now, only she was not there to voice it for him. Because she was the one who caused it.

He felt a heavy hand on his shoulder.

"Come on, man," Cyborg said in a tired, sad voice. "Let's get out of here." Robin nodded, but made no attempt to get up. He knew he didn't have it in him. He was done.

"Just leave me."

"Robin," Beast Boy said. "You can't just stay here."

"Just leave me alone," Robin croaked, his head in his hands. "Please." He had the idea in mind that he might just lay down on the floor and wait until death came upon him. Was it possible to die from heart break? He hoped so, because he couldn't stand the agony anymore. He had a new sympathy for Beast Boy now, what with Terra and all, but this was different. This was Starfire . . . and Starfire was different.

"Sitting here surrounded by what she did isn't going to bring her back," Raven pointed out, bluntly. "It will only make things worse." Normally Robin would have understood her lack of compassion. If Raven took even a second to feel or think about what happened, she would have a mental breakdown. But at the moment, Robin didn't care about his other teammates' limitations. What he cared about was Starfire, but that sweet and innocent girl was gone.

"Okay. If you're not going to get up yourself, I'll do it for you," Cyborg decided, picking Robin up and throwing him over his shoulder. Robin made no protest. He didn't have the energy for it.

He fell into a fitful sleep on the way home. He was trying to escape reality, but his subconscious wouldn't let him forget. His dreams were filled with her, laughing over him as Slade's robots attacked him. Kissing him, leading him on, only to crush him. Beautiful, ingenuous Starfire, always the first one to build him up, now the first one to knock him down.

"Star . . ." he called out, twitching as if to escape from his nightmare. "How could you?" Raven looked over at her curled up leader, his pain screaming at her, tearing down her walls, making it possible to ignore it. She was starting to feel it too, even though she was doing everything in her power to remain apathetic. It was harder this time, because Starfire was the most angelic, forgiving, compassionate person without a single evil thought in her mind. What could Slade possibly have done to her?

"What are we going to do?" Beast Boy asked quietly, breaking the tense silence that followed Robin's outburst.

"I don't know," Raven admitted. "Even though we've dealt with betrayal by one of our own before, this time it's different." Raven took a moment to admire how well Beast Boy was taking this. She didn't even have to read his mind to tell that this was ripping open the old Terra wounds. But he didn't let it show. It had been a devastating blow, but perhaps Terra's deception did have its silver lining. Beast Boy had certainly grown up. He was stronger now.

"It is different," Cyborg agreed. "Terra had a choice." He flicked his gaze towards Beast Boy, but the green changeling showed no emotion at the fact. He had grown used to it. In the end, Terra had done what was right. And in his opinion, that was what mattered.

"How can you be sure that Starfire didn't?" Raven countered. The boys looked at Raven in shock.

"How can you even think that?" Beast Boy asked, outraged. Robin moaned and twitched again, causing his friends to freeze. The last thing they wanted to do was wake him up. They lowered their voices.

"I admit that it's unlikely," Raven whispered. "But Slade is powerful, persistent, and persuasive. He got Robin and Terra to both willingly be his apprentices."

"He blackmailed Robin, using us against him," Cyborg corrected.

"True. But what about Terra?"

"Terra wasn't willing!" Beast Boy cried, but something was nagging him. In a way, she had been. Because Robin had been blackmailed, but she hadn't. She could have come back to them. Instead, she went to Slade.

"Bring it down, man!" Cyborg hissed. Beast Boy winced.

"Sorry. But she wasn't. She just . . . she was just lost. Slade convinced her that he was the only one who could help her."

"Exactly," Raven shot back. "I'm not saying that if Terra hadn't been misled she still would have chosen Slade. I highly doubt she originally had malicious intent. But he made her believe that we didn't want her and that she would only burden us. That's what made her betray us. His powerful, persistent persuasion.Who's to say that he didn't do the same to Starfire?"

"Starfire would never think badly of anyone, though," Cyborg commented. "Especially not us. Terra was unsure. Starfire isn't."

"Can you be sure about that?"

"Yes," Cyborg responded firmly. His tone suggested that the discussion was over. "He did something to her, Rae. Starfire would never do this to us on purpose. Especially not to Robin." Raven took another look at the sleeping Boy Wonder next to her.

"I hope you're right."

Aaand end chapter. This was slightly longer, which is nice because I haven't updated in so long. Sorry about that. Hope this makes up for it.

As for the kiss, some people didn't understand why she did it, but that was explained in this chapter. If you didn't get it, basically, I had Star kiss him to show that Slade's brainwashing doesn't have complete control, at least, when it comes to matters of the heart . . .

Don't have much else to say, so I'll just go right to the reviewers.

Tiffany: lol Even though I highly disagree that I'm the best writer on this site, I definitely appreciate you saying that!

Aurora Starcrystal: I was pretty iffy on whether or not to include the kiss, but I had to, so I'm glad it worked for you!

Mr. Robbie-Poo: Evil Starfire? You might be referring to a quote from The End, which I haven't seen yet, so I can't really say anything about that yet.

Peppermint Sticks: Aww, you are so sweet! Thanks for alllll the compliments you keep giving me, I feel like I don't deserve them! I know so far I've done nothing for your C2, but I'm still learning, so I'll contribute soon, I promise! Sorry!

Mirage992: No, don't apologize, you're right, I definitely rushed it . . . sorry about that. Hopefully I slowed down with this chapter.

Darklight989: You're still the most entertaining reviewer ever.

TTHPfan: Yeah, I heard that there's an evil Starfire in The End, but of course thanks to Cartoon Network we haven't seen it yet. Sigh. I would check the sound clip out, but I don't want to be spoiled! I'll just have to wait . . . double sigh.

xox.Annie Potter.xox: Your vocab's fine, surprising and dramaticcy is exactly what I was going for with the kiss. lol!

Riles: NONONO WRITER'S BLOCK! I'm getting my minions. Actually, you're online, so I'm going to harass you now. I'm so mad at you. And while I'm looking forward to A Date for a Debt's sequel, I WANT TO KNOW WHO THE MURDERER IS MORE! So get crackin', girl, cuz I'm impatient and have stalky, harassing minions. And you think you can tell me update soon or die? Oh no. I think it's you who needs to update soon or die. Yeah. You heard me. It's harassing time.

Sofia: I hope this chapter cleared Starfire's evil status up for you. She didn't escape, and then pulled a Terra on them. Muy, muy triste. (Very, very sad. I'm in a Spanish mood today.)

And that's it for me tonight. Review if you loved it, hated it, whatever. Just make sure to do it!

Blair