Chapter 5: Imprisonment
Darkness…that is what Starfire woke up to. She was in complete darkness and all alone. She tried to talk, tried to call out for Red X, but no one answered.
"RED X! This is NOT funny!" She shouted.
nothing…
"X!" She shouted again.
Starfire squinted, her eyes finally adjusting to the darkness surrounding her. She was in some sort of glass tube. She knew if she really wanted to, she could blast out of it, but she refrained. Starfire leaned back to hear a crunching behind her. She pulled out the large water bottle out from behind her. On it was a note. Starfire gathered a starbolt and read, the green light allowing her to.
You are in here for 3 days…all you may have is water, this is TEST #1
And that was all. She remembered what X had told her. There would be three tests, and this was the first.
She lay back, closing her eyes, and she dreamed…she dreamed about Robin and Raven. What were they doing right now?
Of course, she imagined the worse. In her dream, they were in his bed, kissing and exchanging their saliva.
She thought about Beastboy and Cyborg. She longed to play again, and learn more video games. She only did master one of them. They were probably playing more games right now, trying to get better, and beat each other.
She could imagine them playing, yelling at each other, smacking each other, and getting into their own little fights.
Starfire cried even harder, they were probably much happier without her.
TTTT
Robin and Raven sat on his bed. Robin cupped his hand around her cheek, leaning in to kiss his new girlfriend. He came closer, and closer, lips parted.
Raven turned her head to the side. "I'm sorry, Robin. I can't do this to Starfire. We should try to find her."
"You are totally right. I feel awful. I'm sorry Rae."
"It's okay. I know how you feel and I am going to start meditating and see if I can find her spirit somewhere."
"All right. I am going to work on the Slade case, it probably has something to do with him, since you know, X took her."
"What I am wondering is: Did Starfire really leave because she wanted to, or did X force her to write that."
"I think that she wrote that with the intention of leaving, but when she went up to the roof to think, X took her away, kidnapping her…maybe to use her as his new apprentince." Robin said.
"Yeah, because her bags were all packed." Raven added.
"Exactly." Robin smiled and logged onto his computer.
TTTT
Beastboy and Cyborg, however, were already in Cy's room, searching up on X.
"It says here that X was spotted near the island, staring up at it, but no one turned him in." Cy said.
"It's all your fault! If you didn't lie to her, this wouldn't have happened." Beastboy said.
"You were saying some pretty cruel things about her, man."
"But-."
"Beastboy, shut up! We don't need to worry about why she left, just how we can get her back."
"I saw once…I think it was in 'Planet of the Freakish Monkeys 9'…yes! It was in that movie." Cyborg sat back in his chair, preparing himself for an interesting story, "The evil Cryptyan Aliens came to the Planet of the Monkeys and convinced Princess Yamamota that she was unwanted by her people and friends!" Raven walked in, she could hear the two shouting all the way down the hall,
Beastboy looked up when she entered, but he quickly continued, "The Aliens took the princess away, but before doing that, they placed a chip inside her brain so she would come willingly! Red X put a chip inside Starfire's brain so she would go with him and now, the only thing that can save her is a large magnet called the Callabarkon! It will turn off that chip inside her brain and she will come to her senses!" Beastboy smiled! He figured it out!
"You idiot", Raven slapped him over the head, "She probably went willingly or X kidnapped her. But I highly doubt she has a chip in her brain."
"Why do you think that, Rae. You don't even know what happened last night." Cy said.
"Well, from what I heard, she over heard one of your conversations, but she also…saw something else."
"No…." Cyborg whispered. "I am going to kill Robin! She saw what I did, didn't she?"
"Yes, I feel so horrible…" Raven stared at the ground.
"What is going on!" Beastboy asked.
"Nothing." Raven quickly answered.
"He should know." Cy said.
"Yeah! I should know!" Beastboy yelled.
"Fine….Ill tell you…" Raven sat down on the bed.
TTTT
Starfire lay in the glass tube, secluded from the world. It was horrible…painful to be away from her friends, away from people!
She couldn't stand being alone, but she only had a couple more hours of this imprisonment. Every time she woke up from a good sleep, she found a new water bottle with a new note on it, telling her the hours left.
Starfire couldn't wait until she was out. The anticipation was killing her. This was, she guessed, the worse part…she only had a few hours left of this imprisonment, and she was still in darkness. Starfire gathered a starbolt in one hand, she was bored to death.
She threw the starbolt up a little in the air, catching it again. Starfire smiled…this was cool. She did it again and again and again. Before she knew it, another light appeared before her, a white light mixing with her green light. She let the green light disappear into her hand as smoke filled the tube and Starfire suddenly felt very tired. Her eyes closed slowly, and she was asleep.
TTTT
"I swear! We need to build the Callabarkon! It will turn off the chip!" Beastboy shouted. It had been three days since Raven's confession, and Beastboy was still working on his theory.
"Didn't you listen to anything Rae said?" Cyborg asked, he was pissed off.
"Yeah, but I don't think that Starfire would leave for something like that!" Beastboy yelled back. "Why don't you guys ever believe me!"
"Because you get your theories from fictional videos and movie marathons! Fictional, meaning not real, fake, do you want me to continue?" Raven said, extremely annoyed.
"But-." Beastboy started.
"You know what?" Robin said, "Beastboy might just have some sort of a lead…"
"I knew it!"
"Okay, listen, you said that Cryptyan Aliens,"
"Evil Cryptyan Aliens!" Bestboy corrected.
"Okay…the Evil Cryptyan Aliens came to the Planet of the Monkeys and convinced Princess Yamamota that she was unwanted by her people and friends! Well, maybe Princess Starfire was convinced by Red X that she was unwanted by us, and we were just using her. I saw reports and sightings of him near the tower over the past two weeks, and I think X tried to find whatever he could to get Starfire to feel unloved by us." Robin said.
"That is a good theory, but still, I don't think she would leave for something as petty as that…" Raven said, "I mean, she did catch you and I making out, and she did over hear Beastboy and Cyborg, but the normal Starfire would have talked to us first, she would have done something, it isn't like her to just leave."
"But remember when she was going through her Transformation? She left without even saying goodbye." Robin said.
"But she was humiliated not just in front of us, which she is totally used to, but she was also humiliated in front of the people. Whoever was watching…not just us. She is totally used to humiliating herself in front of us, she doesn't mind, she can make a total idiot of herself in front of us, and still wont care." Raven said, trying to prove her argument, she would not stand for Beastboy's theory being a factual one.
"Okay, we need to do more research, we can't make conclusions yet. It has been three days and we still haven't seen her. With both Terra and I, Slade had us attack within three days of us committing to being his apprentice. We can't be sure yet." Robin sighed.
"Alright dude…" Beastboy said.
"I am going to try to find Starfire. I couldn't before, but maybe this time…" Raven said, walking off to her room.
TTTT
Once again, Starfire awoke to loneliness and emptiness. She looked up, seeing a window…it was night…dark, and cold. She gathered a starbolt in her good hand, her other arm was close to being healed, but she wasn't sure…it was still in the sling; it still hurt when she moved it.
The green light allowed her to see a note next to a plate of food. There was a candle behind the plate. She put the starbolt up next to the wick, lighting the candle. She absorbed the starbolt back into her hand, and picked up the note, reading,
Congratulations Princess Koriand'r! You passed the first test, only one more to go. You will be in this cell for five days, only water will be provided. The window is up there, and you can get out if you want. You haven't eaten in three days, please, eat, but be warned, this meal is the only food you will have for five whole days. The cell is bigger than the glass tube, you may get up and walk around. Five days is all it will take, and your second test will be over.
Starfire clutched her stomach, hearing it roar. She ached, the food looked delicious, but she knew that a bushel of grapes, an apple, one waffle and mustard would not last her a full five days, and in that many days, she will be starved. Starfire carefully took the waffle, splitting it up into little pieces. She separated the grapes from the branch they stuck to. She had no knife to cut the apple though, so she left that alone.
Starfire sat back, talking to herself.
"I can have a little piece of waffle when I get hungry, but then I will have none left in two days. I can have a grape when I become hungry…there are…lets see…eleven grapes that I have separated…that gives me…two grapes a day. There are eight pieces of waffle. I can wait two days to eat the waffle, that gives me two pieces of waffle a day. The mustard can be my treat at the end of the test. I can have half of the apple today, and the other half tomorrow, in place of the waffle! I have it!" Starfire took the note, franticly looking for a pen. "I would very much like a pen, Red X!" Starfire shouted…nothing…she sighed.
"Fine!" she shouted, "I will just memorize my menu!" Her stomach growled again, "Oh…I am so hungry…" she sighed, grabbing the apple, taking a bite, slowly chewing it, and savoring the taste. She closed her eyes and finally swallowed the moist bite of apple, leaving the taste of apple juice on her tongue.
Starfire leaned back on the wall behind her, closing her eyes and taking another bite.
After two more small bites, she placed the half eaten apple on the plate and took one grape and plopped it in her mouth. After eating her meal, she lay down on the cold, hard ground, and slept for six hours.
TTTT
Five days passed slowly…Starfire spent the time sleeping, eating, or playing her new game of catch. She would throw a starbolt up, fly up and catch it. On the fifth day, Starfire knew she would be taken out of her cell for another task, but she had finished all of the food. All except her treat…the treat she had look at for five whole days.
A drop of saliva fell from the corner of her mouth as she stared at the yellow bottle of mustard in the corner of the room. She couldn't stand it anymore. Starfire twisted the top off the bottle, put her lips up to the rim of the bottle, and chugged the yellow 'drink'.
Once she finished the last drop of the bottle, she sat back, waiting for the smoke to once again fill her cell chamber. But that never did happen, instead, she could hear foot steps against the hard cement outside. She heard the jingling of keys and a loud click. The door opened and two dark figures stood in front of her.
"Starfire!" Red X spoke, "You made it!"
"Red X!" Starfire smiled, flying up and catching him in a warm embrace, "I did the missing of you while I have been locked in the cell and glass tube…"
"I missed you too! I am so proud of you." X hugged her back.
"As am I. Congratulations Princess"
"Thank you…" Starfire looked at Slade, shyly, "So what is my next task?"
"What next task? I told you there would only be two. I assume you are hungry, would you like some food?" Slade said, smiling under his mask and holding out his hand. Starfire took it, and he led her to a long table with three plates, two at one end, and a third plate at the opposite. Candles were lined along the beautifully decorated table. On top of the black table cloth were large platters that included a delicious type of pasta, a salad, turkey, ham, potatoes and a fruit plate.
Starfire smiled, staring at the food… "It looks delicious!" She then grabbed her plate and walked down the table, piling food on her plate. After her plate had a large pile of food on it, she sat down and placed the delicate cloth napkin in her lap, picking up the fork and digging in.
While she stuffed her face, Red X stared at her.
"What?" Starfire asked when she realized the villain was staring at her, "Is there something on my face?"
"No…you are perfect." X said, snapping out of his trance, he then picked up his fork and dug in himself.
"Thank you…I am so glad I joined you two."
"You should be…" Slade said from across the table, "Would you get a feast like this at the Titans Tower?"
"No, and I definitely would not have a kind good hearted man with me back at the tower either." Starfire smiled at Red X, letting her foot glide over his shin under the table.
Red X looked strait at her, smiling under his mask, "Slade, would you mind if Star and I take off?"
"No problem, the sun is going to come up soon, I will need both of you in the research area in an hour…Oh, and don't be late…"
"Alright!" X said, standing up. He walked over behind Starfire and pulled out her chair. He picked her up, not letting her feet touch the ground, and cradled her in his arms.
"The sun is coming up?" Starfire shivered. Starfire's powers and strength came from the sun. Without it, she was useless. Her body ached from being so long inside darkness.
"Yeah, wanna go watch?" he asked and she nodded
