Two things before I get out of the way and let you read:
1) Looking back over Chapter 3, I felt like I had cut major corners by pretending that Titans East already existed, so I went back and edited it a little bit. So Titans East no longer exist, but Steel City is still close to Coal City, and the Titans still know Aqualad and Speedy. It's not really pertinent to this chapter, but it'll come into play later on.
2) I added a link on the bottom of my profile to a website with the lyrics for all of The Forgotten Arm on it. If any of you have read the lyrics or listened to the songs and want to let me know how well I've been doing in my attempts to match the contents and feeling of the songs to the chapters, I would be much obliged.
Disclaimer: I don't own TT or The Forgotten Arm
This chapter is based on the song "Going Through the Motions."
Chapter Four: Anything But Normal
Someone once said that absence makes the heart grow fonder. It was at right about this moment that Starfire decided she would like to kill that person.
Granted, it had been just a day and a half since Robin had left, but Starfire knew it took only three hours to reach Coal City, and that was if you went at the speed limit, which was not something Robin generally did. And anyway, Starfire had had a feeling he wouldn't call when he arrived in Coal. What made her angry, and what made her worried, was that Robin wasn't answering his comm. when she tried to contact him.
Starfire sat on the couch in the living room, flipping her communicator opened and closed. At first she had been trying to call Robin using the computer monitor that took up nearly a wall of the room, but after six or seven tries had reverted to using her personal communicator. The other Titans hadn't said anything, but she knew they were starting to get annoyed by her constant calling. And as Cyborg had hinted, the monitor was needed in case there was criminal activity in the city. Plus, Starfire couldn't pace in circles when she had to be standing in front of a computer.
But she had long grown tired of pacing, and now leaned back in the cushions, flipping her comm. opened and closed and opened and closed and opened and…
"Star, seriously, if you open and close that thing one more time it's gonna break in half."
Starfire placed the comm. on the table and turned to face Cyborg. "I am sorry. I did not realize what I was doing."
"It's okay, just give it a rest for a little while. Go take a walk or something, or see if Raven will go to the mall with you."
Starfire smiled. "I assure you, I am quite content with staying here. And I do not think friend Raven would be interested in attending the mall of shopping with me. It is not an excursion she enjoys in the least."
"Okay, it's just… Don't get stressed out about this. He'll call. You know Robin; he probably just started the solo crime-fighting thing a little early. No big deal." Cyborg tried hard to sound neutral. It's no big deal yet.
Starfire was about to reach for her communicator again but forced her hand to drop by her side. "Actually, perhaps it would do me good to get some air. I will be on the roof if I am needed." She turned to go and, at the last moment, snatched her communicator from the table. Cyborg pretended not to notice.
The roof had always been a place where Starfire felt comfortable and relaxed, and she usually frequented the spot several times a week. But in the past week, since the dust incident that seemed so long ago and had sparked all of this chaos, she had gone to the roof at least once every day. Only once had Robin gone with her, the memories of their kiss and his decision to leave intermingling and leaving her with a bittersweet feeling.
Sitting down cross-legged, Starfire watched the early afternoon sun shine over the bay. She was reminded of the first time she had seen this view, so many years ago the day after she had first met the Titans. The day after she… Starfire blushed now, remembering how she had kissed Robin, throwing her inhibition to the wind in order to learn the English language. It was funny; three years ago she couldn't have cared less who she kissed if it meant winning her freedom. But now… She wondered if it was the years she had spent on Earth or the mellowness she had gained with being free that had changed the way she felt about something as formerly meaningless as a kiss. Maybe it was a little of both. But Starfire hardly counted that as a kiss, much less her first kiss with Robin. And now that she thought about it, Robin had never mentioned that incident again...
Starfire shrugged and opened her communicator, careful not to flip it open and cause it damage. She pressed the button for Robin's communicator and held the small device up to eye level, not really believing he would answer it, but here's to hoping, right?
"Robin, please respond. It is Starfire. If you are able, I wish to speak to you."
Silence.
Starfire sighed and was about to close her comm. when she heard a voice.
"Hey, Star."
"Robin!" Starfire instantly perked up, grasping the comm. tighter in her hand and looking intently for him to appear on the screen. "Robin, I am glad to hear from you!"
"Sorry I didn't call before. I was busy and there were some things I wanted to take care of."
"It is alright." For the moment Starfire forgot how worried and annoyed she had been. "You are in Coal now?"
"I got here yesterday morning."
"And have you found lodgings?"
"Yeah, there's an apartment that was renting out rooms. I just dropped my stuff there and then went to check out some hangouts known for criminal activity."
"Was your investigation successful?"
"I got some names from them. It was mostly retired criminals, the kind that are actually retired. But I got some information."
"Wonderful! Your search is progressing quickly! I am sure you will be done in no time!"
"I'm going to look into an old lab tomorrow that's been in the paper a lot recently," Robin continued, ignoring Starfire's words. "I probably won't be in touch a lot. I'll give you a call if there's time."
"Oh… Certainly," Starfire said, a little hurt that he sounded so cold and unapologetic. "Your mission must take precedence." It was then that Starfire noticed his picture still hadn't appeared on the comm. "Robin, is there something wrong with your communicator? I do not see you on the screen. Perhaps you are running low on the batteries," She said, knowing full well the charge would have been checked twice if not more times before he left.
"Oh. No, there's nothing wrong with it. I just disabled the visual component to make room for more files to be stored."
"You disabled it? Then we will not be able to see-"
"I need to go, Starfire. I'll talk to you later. Tell the guys I say hi."
And with that the connection was closed.
Starfire bit her lip, slightly crestfallen. She tried to make excuses for Robin, for why he was so short with her and seemed to have pushed her and their relationship to the back of his mind. He was busy, she told herself. He was still reeling from the dust, still traumatized from the wounds that episode had reopened. He was just preoccupied in his search. Starfire sighed.
Not that those things weren't true, she thought to herself. It was just that they didn't make anything better.
Starfire sat for a moment more on the edge of the roof, letting the wind play with her hair. When she stood up to go back inside, she had taken not three steps when she heard the alarm coming from in the Tower. She clipped her comm. to her belt and rushed down to the living room, where Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Raven were already gathering around the computer monitor.
"It's Overload. He's attacking a street in the business district." Cyborg typed some commands into the computer and the image of the area under Overload's assault zoomed out to show the surrounding half-square mile.
"He's getting smarter," Raven said. "The plumbing in that area is being remodeled. All the underground water lines are dry right now."
Cyborg nodded. "Then we'll have to take him out the old-fashioned way. Titans, go!" At his words Raven and Beast Boy rushed to the door, lifting to the skies once outside. Cyborg made his way to the garage, pulling the T-Car out of its spot and speeding down the street.
Starfire stood for a moment after the others had left, frowning at the screen. Then she shrugged and rose into the air, following the screeching sound of the T-Car's wheels.
She'd just have to get used to hearing someone other than Robin- even if it was Cyborg- saying, "Titans, go!"
The scene downtown was much the same as any other of the problems Overload caused. Cars were abandoned or overturned, people were screaming, and as usual, not having the good sense to actually get out of the vicinity, and in the middle of it all Overload himself smashed down the street, sucking the electricity from anything he could find.
Starfire and Raven immediately set to hitting him with a combination of starbolts and black energy, Raven careful not to throw anything at him that could be used to his advantage. Beast Boy became a pterodactyl and started dropping pieces of rubbish on Overload from above. At Cyborg's approach Overload turned towards the car, a devilish grin spreading across his artificial face.
"Oh, no you don't!" Cyborg exclaimed, turning a small grey switch on the car's dashboard before leaping out of the car and hitting the villain with a blast from his sonic cannon. At the moment Cyborg had flipped that switch, the car started glowing an even brighter blue. Cyborg and Starfire had come up with the device after Overload had commandeered the T-Car shortly after the Titans had formed. Starfire had explained that while she got her powers from sunlight, too much sun could create an excess of power, and could actually diminish her own powers. The mechanism on the car worked much the same way, essentially creating a concentration of all the electricity the car could muster. Overload had met with this system before, and knew that if he tried to drain the car's power, his own electricity level would be depleted.
Cyborg's cannon hit Overload with enough force to knock him back a few feet, emitting a growl from the being and a swipe of his arm that knocked a hole in a nearby building. Starfire saw the plaster from the broken walls starting to rain down, and rushed over to catch the larger pieces from falling on any civilians.
When the building looked like it was no longer on the verge of partial collapse, Starfire went back to blasting Overload, this time from behind. As she watched Cyborg and Raven continue to throw everything they had at him, and as Beast Boy's elephant form ran up the street from where it had been collecting water to drown Overload out, Starfire sighed. She hated fighting this kind of battle, the battles where brute strength and nothing else mattered. It wasn't even a matter of skill in this type of situation.
When Overload began shrinking and screaming under the onslaught of water, Starfire lowered down to the ground and walked over to her friends. Once Overload was once again merely an electronic card, Beast Boy returned to his human state.
"Dude, that took like twenty minutes! That was like the fastest fight ever!" Beast Boy pumped his fist in the air. "We are so getting pizza!"
"Alright, but unless you plan on eating some real food instead of that tofu junk don't even think about riding in my car."
"Cyborg, did you not just see me turn into an animal? It would be like I was eating myself!"
"I'm pretty sure they don't serve elephant meat, Beast Boy," Raven said as they all turned towards the T-Car.
"That's the point! You don't know what you're eating! It could be, like, horse or something!"
Cyborg rolled his eye. "Whatever."
Starfire got in the backseat next to Beast Boy and put her elbow on the door, propping her chin on her hand and watching the scenery zoom by. She hadn't wanted to spend the day pacing and worrying; she knew that sulking wouldn't change anything, and that it would be good to get her mind off Robin. But now that she was out of the Tower, fighting minor villains and going out for pizza, something just didn't feel right.
TT
Hundreds of miles away, two cities over, Robin was reacquainting himself with fighting on his own. It wasn't a huge adjustment, since he had always spent a substantial amount of time doing training exercises on his own long after his teammates had retired for the night. And it wasn't like he was fighting anyone special- just a few thugs hired by the ex-criminal Robin had wanted to question. Apparently the former crook had decided that even though he was no longer in the business he would hold onto a few of his old habits, as the moment Robin had mentioned his reason for being there the man had snapped his fingers and three thugs had stepped out from the shadows, allowing their boss to slip into a back room where, Robin hoped, he would still be once these cronies were dealt with.
Robin's fighting style was no different now than it had been during many of the smaller battles had had experienced with the Titans. He fought almost on auto-pilot, these minor thugs affording no more of his attention than a small bug. Instead, his mind was occupied by what would transpire after these guys were down and he was able to corner the ex-criminal that had gained enough of Robin's attention that he was willing to spend precious time and energy fighting these amateurs to get to him.
The former criminal was Robert Scatto, and had run the thug-for-hire business for the past twenty-three years, before retiring at the age of fifty about a year ago. Robin had known of Scatto for a while, had even tried a few times to organize a take-down. But ultimately, Jump City- and Slade- had proven to be more important to Robin. And besides, Coal City, while not technically part of Steel City, was generally left under the latter's jurisdiction. But now that Robin had left Jump City specifically to find evidence of Slade's whereabouts, and had chosen Coal City precisely because it housed an admirable number of villains, Robin had thought Scatto a good place to start.
With a few more kicks and a well placed punch to the jaw, three bloodied henchmen were down for the count and Robin rolled his shoulders, stepping over them to the door in the back of the dimly lit room into which Scatto had disappeared. The door was, not surprisingly, locked, and Robin used a small pin from his belt to unlock it. In most circumstances a bomb would have blown away not just the lock but the door itself quite nicely, but being away from the Tower and his surplus of tools, Robin was trying to use more conventional methods. If there was one thing he didn't want to do, it was to have to call his team for help, even if it was only to request that they send him more bombs.
Opening the door and stepping inside, Robin saw he had entered a long hallway off of which a few more doors sprouted. Seeing a light on underneath a door farther down on the left, Robin strode down the length of the hallway and kicked the door, this one unlocked, in.
Robin found himself in a nicely furnished office, much different from the cold, empty rest of the building. At a desk in the corner, illuminated by a softly glowing lamp, Scatto sat, apparently doing paperwork. Now he still held his pen, though it was no longer moving, his face looking up at Robin's unexpected and rather noisy entrance.
Before Robin had a chance to say anything Scatto dropped his pen and smiled. "I see you got past my bodyguards. I guess I should have signed them up for more martial arts classes."
Robin pulled out his bo-staff and took a step forward. "We can either do this the easy way or the hard way. And trust me," Robin stepped up right in front of Scatto's desk. "Both ways will end up with the same results."
The man named Scatto held his hands palm up. "What can I do for you? You know I'm retired, but if you wanted help, maybe wanting to get rid of someone without getting your nice green gloves all dirty-"
"I don't need your thugs, Scatto. I'm pretty sure I've already shown you they're useless anyway." Robin's tone was cold and he held Scatto's gaze steady, a tactic he had picked up that often sent an intimidating chill through his opponents. "I want answers, Scatto. I want to know what you know about a man named Slade."
TT
The pizza parlor was busy today, though not overcrowded, the late lunch crowd waiting at a short line for tables and finishing off pizzas and salads at small tables. At the bar, a few businessmen, likely ones that had escaped Overload's wrath, stood drinking beers and talking loudly. A few paparazzi huddled at the door, but most had instead decided to hang around near the parking lot, where it was easier to hear the Titans speak and where it was less likely to have a picture ruined by some oblivious waiter.
The Titans were given a table as soon as they walked in, and followed the waiter to a small round table on the patio. Starfire sat down in between Raven and Beast Boy, Cyborg taking the seat across from her. After they had ordered drinks and placed their order for a large cheese pizza with mushrooms and a large pizza with sausage and pepperoni, the Titans sat back, enjoying the sunlight and the momentary calm.
"Hey, did you ever wonder," said Beast Boy, putting his elbows on the table and pointing at no one in particular, "Why they call pizza with vegetables on it 'vegetarian pizza?' I mean, plain cheese pizza is vegetarian, too."
The other three looked at him in silence for a moment, many eyebrows raised.
"Actually, that's sort of a good point." Raven said, much to everyone's surprise.
"Well, I guess it's because… I don't know." Cyborg cocked his head to the side. "Huh. Never thought of that before."
Beast Boy smiled triumphantly. As the others continued on this topic, laying out the various facts and opinions, Starfire stared absentmindedly down the street, watching the cars and people pass by, and noticing the absence of the fifth member of her family.
TT
"I want to know everything you know about Slade. And don't tell me you've never heard of him- everyone knows who Slade is." Robin held his bo-staff in one hand, his grip not loose- never loose- but by and large unconcerned.
Scatto smiled again. "Everyone knows who Slade is? Boy, have you looked in a mirror? You're not exactly inconspicuous yourself." He leaned back in his chair and picked up a packet of cigarettes. "Mind if I smoke?" Scatto lit the cigarette and drew in a lungful of smoke before speaking again. Robin absentmindedly held his breath against the billows of smoke. "What do you want to know?"
"When was the last time you heard from him? When was the last time you saw him?"
"Heard from him? Saw him? I'm not that high up on the criminal chain, kid. I ran a small racket in Coal City. Slade was a little out of my league. But the last time I heard of him…" Scatto pursed his lips in thought. "Probably about a year ago."
Robin didn't know whether this was good news or bad news. "And what did you hear?"
Scatto shook his head, a chuckle escaping his lips even as they clenched his cigarette. "Same thing the rest of the world heard."
"Which was?"
"Which was that he had used some blonde broad to take over and that she killed him instead at the last minute." He raised his eyebrows. "It was quite a bit of news for the villain world."
"I'm sure," Robin replied sarcastically. He had seen the gang wars that had taken place since Slade's supposed death at the betrayal of Terra. Then a sudden thought occurred to him. "Coal isn't that far from Jump. How come this city was never destroyed?"
"As I'm sure you know, Coal isn't exactly lacking in the criminal department. Deals were made to keep a few of us protected." The smile vanished from Scatto's lips. "Of course, that deal only extended a few hours, and we were pretty bad off ourselves by the time that bastard went under." He shrugged. "We had a lot of respect for the guy, but don't think that just because we were on the same side he treated us with any deference."
Robin's nostrils flared. "Don't think I know nothing about how he worked just because I'm one of the good guys." He tightened his grip on his bo-staff, suddenly feeling unguarded. "And you've heard nothing since then?"
"Well now that you mention it," Scatto said, in a way that definitely implied he'd been thinking of this long before Robin asked, "I've heard his name a few times around town lately."
Robin's heart started beating faster. "Where? What have you heard?"
"Oh, it's all real hush-hush, just a name here or there. A lot of the guys are saying someone's taking over for him, but I doubt that. A man like Slade, he didn't need more than one living person knowing all his secrets."
Robin swallowed hard. Is this good or bad, he asked himself. It could be taken either way. On one hand, it proved that he was not merely obsessed, and could proudly tell Starfire and the others so. On the other hand, though, it meant that once again Slade had come back to haunt him. "Where have you heard these things?"
Scatto laughed. "You know, I may not be in the business anymore, I may even be willing to give you a few hints, but I'm no big talker. You want names?" He stubbed out his cigarette. "You got money?"
TT
The Titans had long since finished and paid for their lunch, and were now sitting again in the T-Car, heading for the Tower. Starfire had considered flying or even walking home, but had at the last minute decided to ride with her friends. If any of them noticed how quiet she was being, none of them said anything.
Upon reaching the Tower, the Titans got out of the car and made their way to the living room.
"Hey, Cyborg, I challenge you to an ultimate showdown of Mega-Monkeys Four!" Beast Boy jumped onto the couch, not even waiting for an answer before turning on the game and grabbing his controller.
Cyborg picked up his own controller and sat down next to Beast Boy. "Ready to get trampled, grass stain?"
"Ha, ha, you wish!"
Starfire and Raven continued walking towards the elevators. At the fifth floor they both got off.
"I'll be in my room," Raven said, and turned right to walk down the hallway. Starfire turned the opposite direction and headed towards her own room, where she absentmindedly read a book she had recently ordered from Tamaran. The book did little to hold her attention, and she often realized after getting to the end of a page that she had no recollection of what she had just read.
At these points she just shrugged and read on.
TT
Letting out a yell, Robin lashed a foot out at the desk, sending its contents spilling to the floor and causing it to fall backwards, pinning Scatto's legs down. Robin leaned over the toppled desk, grabbing the front of Scatto's shirt. "I did not come all the way here to give you a bribe!" He shouted, his eyes boring holes in Scatto's face. "I did not endure Slade's crap and leave my team and come here on my own to give you a bribe!" Robin lifted Scatto's shirt another inch, pulling him closer upwards. "Now I'm going to ask you again. Where have you heard these things?"
Scatto stared at Robin, his face impassive, doing an impressive job of masking the slight surprise he felt. Finally he licked his lips and spoke. "A man on 37th Street. Name's Packard. He gets all the information, spreads it around. I don't know how much of it's true. He's a shady guy." Scatto frowned. "That enough for you, kid?"
Robin narrowed his eyes before dropping the man's shirt and turning back towards the door. "See you around, Scatto."
Scatto clenched his fists before mumbling an obscenity and pulling himself out from under the desk.
TT
For the next couple hours Starfire lay on her bed, reading her Tamaranian novel and, when that got tedious, rearranging the clothes in her dresser. Later, after she had folded and refolded her clothes and the Titans had had dinner, Starfire declined the invitation to watch a movie with the others, instead grabbing her jacket and heading up to the roof.
The air had become cooler, and before too long the sky would be completely dark. Starfire felt the weight of her communicator from where it was clipped to her clothing, suppressing the urge to call Robin and wish him goodnight.
It was now, once she was standing on top of the Tower, gazing for what seemed to be the hundredth time out at the bay, that she realized why she felt so strange.
Fighting Overload, getting pizza, watching movies… Everyone was going about their day as if nothing was amiss. Everyone was acting normal.
Starfire pulled out her comm. and started opening and closing it.
She was feeling anything but normal.
TT
Hours later, after the sun had set, Robin jumped from rooftop to rooftop, sometimes employing the use of his grappling hook. He had done some background checks on Packard, the man Scatto had directed him to. By the time Robin had finished his research the sky was black and Robin decided that rather than drop by 37th Street tonight he would instead go on a night parole, much like he back in Jump and, years before, in Gotham.
Before he had set out, Robin had placed his communicator on one of his suitcases and went to splash some water on his face. And when he had jumped out the window and back into the night, his comm. had stayed behind.
Spotting a pair of thieves sprinting from what had apparently started as a silent and flawless jewelry robbery, Robin started after them. And as he dropped down before them, fought and detained the pair until the police could arrive, and then continued on his way, Robin reflected that what he was doing felt right. It felt normal.