Disclaimer:
Chris: fourthelement doesn't own Teen Titans.
Felicity: She doesn't claim it, either.
Raia: Also, the aforesaid author does not own anything related to Microsoft. That belongs to Bill Gates.
Matt: So don't report her.
NOTES
Rory: Thanks, guys. This is chapter 10 of Thicker Than Water. How enjoyable! In this chapter, we find Slade going to more desperate measures to get his apprentice. Back at the Tower, our protagonists – Starfire and company – are dealing with a huge problem.
Pogo: What was that about?
Rory: …the chapter.
Pogo: Well, you sounded stupid.
Rory: sigh : Just read it already.
REVIEWS
Ooooh, I am so happy, I just found out I can do this!
EMBER91: Okay, okay, be patient. There IS a little thing called "plot" you know...sheesh! But I'll try to do some of that for you. No, Robin is NOT evil, he's just...MISUNDERSTOOD! Heh, no really. He isn't evil. Yes, um, thank you: Hits Emmers upon the noggin : There ya go, buddy!
Raidersrule76: Fun...allrighty then. What was so fun about chapter nine anyways? The hair thing, or the comics thing? (Starting from chapter 6) Why, yes, he is. Um, yep, rhymie? Saffire is...evil? Or Darkfire? Okay, I perhaps have succeeded in confusing you. Yes, Ryand'r can fly. Quite well thank you. And shoot starbolts. FUN!
MaskBehindtheShadows: Wow...that's one of the best reviews I've ever gotten...Thank you! Oh - I blog too much? Heh...
Sherbet Mayhem: Okay, I'll keep that in mind.
READ ON!
"Fifty thousand. Final offer."
Slade's teeth clenched. Fifty thousand on this new apprentice…plus expenses…Starfire was certainly a costly assistant. "All right," he grumbled. "I have no other choice."
The teenage boy before him smiled behind his mask. "Ah, but that's just the down payment."
"What?" he asked coldly.
He didn't even flinch. Slade knew that he could get into anywhere. After all, he had gotten into the Tower, and the Titans didn't even know it. "One hundred thousand total. Fifty before, and fifty at the end. As a guarantee."
After a minute of silent thought, Slade nodded. "You will get my apprentice," he said in a dangerous voice. "I know you. You're likely to just run off with the tiny pittance that I'll pay you."
"Now, really, Slade," he replied smoothly, "What do you have to worry about? This is me we're talking."
"That's why I'm worried," he shot back. "Now get to business."
"Yes, sir," he said, then backflipped out the back window.
Slade shook his head as he watched the hired thief made his way into the city. That Red X had to be watched at every step.
Starfire gasped, surveying the scene. "No…"
"Please, Star," Robin said softly. "Just do it."
"It is not possible," she gasped.
Raven and Saffire put hands on her shoulder. "You have to," the dark girl said. "If you don't, you know what'll happen."
Her lower lip trembled. "But – But I – I cannot!"
Cyborg moaned. "For the sake of all that is metal, Starfire, just pick a path!"
The Titans were in their living room, playing a video game together. It was a new game, just released, called Teen Titans: The Video Game V: The Quest. The game depicted several of their most amazing adventures, all jumbled into one. In The Quest, Starfire (the character) had to lead her teammates through a Tamaranian jungle. Down one path was a fearsome beast, and down the other was – horror of all horrors – Blackfire.
"But I do not know the path down which resides my horrid sister!" she moaned.
"I believe it does not matter," Darkfire told her. "You can just do the kicking-of-butt in the game that you have done in the real life."
The others nodded. Starfire sighed. "All right," she said. "I shall choose…right."
She hit the left button.
CRASH.
"Not the good dishes, man!" Cyborg yelled as the seven ran to the dark kitchen.
Robin reached for the switch, but nothing happened. "The lights are out," he muttered, and pulled out a tiny flashlight. The beam revealed an odd scene.
A pile of broken china spilled over the edge of the counter and onto the floor. There was no one inside the kitchen, either. They looked around, searching for the cause of the mess. "Beast Boy," Cyborg said, "If this was one of your dumb animals again…"
"It was not," he began indignantly.
Their argument was cut short by a yelp. Saffire, standing near the back of the group, was now suspended in the air, dangling by her long blue hair. They armed themselves. Red X dropped from the ceiling, examining his prey. "What?" he said, clearly shocked. "You aren't Starfire!" He took a closer look. "You're just as cute as she is, though…"
"Let her go, X," Robin growled.
He looked up, apparently noticing the Titans for the first time. "Oh," he said, "It's you." He let go of the frightened girl's hair and kicked the birdarangs from Robin's hand. "I came for Starfire."
"I shall not go in peace," she said from behind him, eyes glowing.
The teen grinned. "Heh," he said. "I thought you might not." A red X-shaped thing came flying at her.
She vaporized it, slowly floating towards him. The other Titans had never seen her so angry. "You will leave my home," she said in a quiet, deadly voice. "You will go. Far away. And you will not return to the Tower."
He laughed softly. "Says who?"
"Says me." An immense beam of green light hit him in the chest. Red X flew backwards and hit the wall behind him. Starfire gently set down to the ground and stared at him emotionlessly. She turned to her friends. Everyone was staring at her; Beast Boy looked a little scared. Weakly, she tried to crack a smile, but she just couldn't.
Raven knelt besides the criminal's body and placed a hand on his chest. After a moment, she sighed. "Azerath metrion zinthos," she muttered. X's body disappeared. "I just sent him to the hospital," the girl informed the now panic-stricken Starfire. "He'll live. He may not have children, and he probably won't be running too soon, but the guy will live."
"What – what happened?" Robin asked. "You've never done that before. Hit someone with a starbolt like that."
Her eyes flinched slightly, full of pain, and she ran off, not even trying to fly. The remaining Titans stared after her. "I don't understand," Cyborg said. "Why's she actin' this way?"
"Her sixteenth year."
Everyone turned to stare at Darkfire, who had picked up an unconscious Saffire and floated to the back of the door. He looked a little embarrassed. "She is in her sixteenth year, soon. In that year, those with emerald blood – the royal bloodline – undergo a second Change. This Change will determine most of the rest of her life."
They looked shocked. Robin was the first to come out of it. "What…what does that mean?"
He stared deeply at him. "It means that all of my sister's most important life processes will take place in this year. For those of pure blood – her, Blackfire, and me – the second change also changes what our abilities are like. Blackfire is late. She has not had hers. But Starfire is right on time, as usual, and it seems that her starbolts are intensifying." Darkfire paused. "There is – something else. Something important."
When he did not speak, Robin prodded him on. "Yeah?"
"During the second Change," he began hesistantly, "Females of my race… differ from the males."
They blinked at him. Darkfire sighed. "During this change, females begin to have the ability to have children," he informed them.
Beast Boy started retching silently behind Robin's back. The aforementioned martial artist was turning quite red indeed. "Chuh-chuh-children?" he stammered.
"Yes, children," he said. "That is why she left. She did not want to explain this to you. I believe on Earth you call this the 'time of month' for the females." He thought a moment. "This is the second Change, right? She didn't fall late like Koma?"
"Yeah, it's the second," Raven said. "And I thought the last one was bad…"
A/n: Mergh. I didn't like that one as much as all the others. I think that chapter seven was, is, and remains my favorite, at least for now. Until chapter eleven, that is...
So – review? Pretty please? With…icing?
Okay, now that was really pathetic. Just review, for God's sake.