Chap. 24

A Hero Trained, a Hero Made,A Hero inPain

Kestrel stood on the ledge alone. Below her was fifty feet of blackness. Above her, a ceiling covered in stalactites. Fifteen feet below and in front of her, the only other piece of solid ground. She took one last look over the edge, steeling her nerves for the task ahead. Taking a deep breath, Kestrel bent down, stretched her arms forward and leapt into the abyss. For a second, she hung in the air, seeming to move barely move forward. Just as she sensed gravity begin to pull her down, Kestrel felt her talons dig deep into the stalactite. Using her momentum, her hand twisted its grip on the rock and she hurled forward to the next one. With a carefully maintained rhythm, Kestrel moved from stalactite to stalactite, digging deep into each one. Finally, Kestrel reached the last one. With a final push, she launched herself into the air once again. The wall loomed in front of her, but as it drew near, Kestrel suddenly flipped over so that her feet were headed towards the wall. They hit the wall, and Kestrel pushed off, turning over in the air and grabbing a hold onto the rocky wall. With uncanny speed, she repeated the process, flipping down the wall to the ground below.

Yet once her feet touched the ground, the danger continued. Holes suddenly opened up in the floor, and long black columns began to pop out. But Kestrel refused to be daunted. With less then a thought, she began to dart in between the columns, striking each one that rose from the ground. As she struck the columns, they retracted back into the ground. But no matter how fast she could move, Kestrel was not perfect. One column fully rose from the ground, and upon doing so, its top opened, revealing an electronic eye. The eye glowed red for a second, and then red laser shot out, striking Kestrel in the arm as she turned to face it. She let out a grunt of pain, as she grabbed her burned arm. But as she turned back to the column, a fire came into her eyes that matched the burn. Leaping forward, she charged the lone column, her rage painted on her face. But as she charged, she heard the sounds of other columns opening and she knew she'd made a mistake. The lasers slammed into her, striking before she had a chance to fight back. Crying out in pain, she fell to the ground.

The columns whirled around, their open eyes targeting the fallen girl. But before they could fire, they suddenly closed. As Kestrel started to pull herself, she heard footsteps coming over. Suddenly, a black-gloved hand put itself in front of herself. Kestrel looked up and wordlessly took the hand. As she came to her feet, she saw the stern face of the Batman come up in front of her. Before she could even begin to say anything, the Dark Knight spoke. "Not bad…… for a corpse." Kestrel was silent, as he gave his rebuke. "What did you do wrong?" "I-I lost my temper." The girl replied, looking down at the floor. If anyone else had spoken to her like this, Kestrel would have clawed their eyes out. But in front of Batman, all she could do was stare at the pattern of the cave floor and shuffle her feet. "And what would have happened if this had been real?" he asked. "I'd be dead." She answered meekly. "Then you shouldn't do it again. Unless you need to." He answered. "Yes sir. I promise." Kestrel answered.

Batman nodded, and then said, "Again." As he turned to leave, Kestrel sighed then moved to the ladder that led up to the cave ledge where she'd started. Batman returned to the console and began to reset the course. But after a few minutes, he paused. "You're attracting flies." He said dryly, as he turned to face Brett. The bat stood there in shock, his jaw hanging all the way to his chest. With a click, the bat's jaw shut, and then began to move as he spoke. "I said the same things you did, and she thought I was an idiot. How?" Brett asked. "I know how to get them to listen." Batman replied, as he turned back to reset the course. Shaking his head in amazement, Brett turned back to Alfred and Robin who simply stood smiling. "I knew he was good, but goddamn." The bat muttered. "What else did you expect?" Robin asked. "He is a legend." "And quite terrifying to young superheroines in training." Alfred added. "I though I qualified as those too." Brett said with a bemused smirk. "Yeah, but nobody knows about you." Robin answered. "Well either way it doesn't matter. This is going better then I could have hoped. At this rate, Lisa should be ready to go by tonight. She's got way too much respect/fear for Brucie to go against what he tells her. Which doesn't help my ego, but whatever works. Who knows Rob, maybe they'll be a second generation Titans leader in the family yet." "How are the other new Titans doing?" Alfred asked. "After all, Master Dick created quite a legacy with the originals. I can only imagine what their children are capable of." "Overall, very good. We had some rough patches at first, but I think those problems are finally cooling off."

But though Brett's words had the ring of truth, cooling off was something that the remaining New Titans were not doing at the moment. Following Eddie's call they had reached the fire and were aiding the fire department in rescuing tenants from the complex. Unfortunately, the fire had spread quickly and only a few of the tenants had been able to get out before hand. Fortunately, the New Titans were capable of quick organization. Manimal, Metallix, Terra, and Sunblaze were working on getting the victims out while Lightweaver and Owl stayed behind to heal their injuries. So far, the process was working well, but a fire is simply a large flaming chaotic mess, and against such a thing, even the best organization is not enough…….

"Is there anybody there?" Sunblaze yelled, as he moved through the fire-filled hallway. His only response was the crackle of flame. The young boy shook his head and clutched his loaned oxygen mask to his face as he hovered through the building, above the flames. At this point, he and the others had gotten fifteen of the tenants, but the fire chief had believed there to be at least seventeen trapped inside. And the way the fire was going, Sunblaze doubted they had much time to keep looking.

"Hello!" he cried out again, hoping to hear something. And this time, he was apparently rewarded. Over the crackle of flame, Sunblaze could hear something moving behind a nearby wall. "Hold on, I'm coming!" he yelled, as he sped over to the spot. Quickly readying his power, Sunblaze prepared to unleash a starbolt on the wall. But before he could, he heard a bovine cry from the other side. Eyes widening, he quickly moved back down the hallway, as a huge shining animal slammed through the wall, three bodies slung on it's back. As the dust swirled, Sunblaze managed to view enough to see the shining substance slide off the bull's back and return to his normal shape. "Is that everybody?" Sunblaze yelled, as he rejoined his teammates. "Yeah that's it." Metallix answered, as he took one of the tenants, a middle-aged woman, off of Manimal's back and sling her across his shoulders. Sunblaze quickly grabbed one of the other tenants, as Manimal changed into a gorilla and held the other one. "Then call Terra and let's get out of here. There's no way I can stretch enough to protect all of us." Metallix said. Nodding, Sunblaze whipped out his communicator. "Terra, we've got the last three tenants. Get over to the fifth floor fire escape."

"On my way." The earth-mover answered. Sheathing her communicator, Terra moved her earth-platform over to the location that Sunblaze had specified. Once in position, she waited for the others to send the tenants out to her. Meanwhile on the ground, Owl and Lightweaver watched along with the fire chief. "My men say this should be the last load." The chief said, as he watched. "Thank heavens for that." Lightweaver said. "How's the fire control coming?" "We've been able to contain most of the smaller fires, and the larger one appears to be burning itself out." The chief replied. "Are you serious? It looks like it's still blazing to me." Owl replied. "True, but without the smaller fires to feed it, as well as the saturation by my men, it won't last much longer." The chief replied. But as he spoke those words, one of his men came running up to him. "Sir, we've got a problem." He panted. "What is it?" the chief demanded. "One of the unconscious tenants just woke up. She said…" "Are there more people inside?" Lightweaver interrupted. "No, but there is something else. Apparently, the super was doing some insecticide spraying in his apartment. The fumes haven't cleared out yet." "Where is the super's apartment?" the chief asked grimly. "The fifth floor." The fireman replied. Behind the chief, there were two gasps of shock. Grabbing her communicator, Lightweaver yelled into it, "Terra, get them out of there now!"

But it was too late. Just as Terra began to pick up her beeping communicator, the flames reached the super's apartment. Two of the windows of the fifth floor exploded, blasting Terra back with the heat. She pulled up on her platform, trying to block the heat. But as she shielded herself, she saw something fall out of the corner of her eye. It was a figure falling from the sky, flames licking at his purple uniform…… "SUNBLAZE!" Terra yelled in horror, as she dove down. Pushing the platform with all her strength, Terra zoomed downwards, angling herself underneath the young boy. As she moved underneath him, she suddenly swooped up, catching the boy in her arms. His fiery costume burned through her sleeves, but Terra bit her lip and ignored it. Bringing the platform down, she landed right in front of Lightweaver and Owl.

"No!' Owl screamed, as the two of them ran over to Terra. Gingerly getting off the platform, Terra laid the young boy down on the ground. Sunblaze had been hit hard by the flames. The right leg of his costume had been burned away, scorching the flesh underneath. His entire body was covered in ash and burn marks. A huge patch of raw skin covered his face. "Oh Jesus." Lightweaver moaned, as she moved to heal him. But before she could get close to him, Owl was in front of her, kneeling in front of the injured Titan. For a second, the fox was going to tell the girl to stop, that she didn't have the experience to heal him. But then she realized what was really happening, and so she turned to Terra and began to heal the earth mover's arms.

"Hang on, you'll be ok." Owl babbled, as she laid her hands over River's injured body. She tried to focus, tried to bring her powers to full. But her rampaging emotions were too much of an obstacle. River's body healed, but slowly. "C'mon, please." Owl moaned as she tried to make her powers work. But nothing the girl tried would increase the pace of healing. Turning, she prepared to call to her grandmother for help. But before the words came out of her mouth, she felt something grab her arm. Crying out in surprise, she whipped around to see Sunblaze's burned face trying to speak. "The….. others….. those…..people…." he said. "I-I don't know. You're the only one here." Owl replied in shock. At hearing those words, Sunblaze began to struggle underneath her. "What are you doing? You need to be healed!" Owl cried. "Others….. have to….. save them,….." "You can't, you're too weak." "You….. get them…. Forget me….." "No, I won't let you die." "Not…..important…" "Yes you are! I ." "Then…. You're…… wasting….. your time!" Sunblaze spat out. "Forget….. about…. Me! I…. Don't need…. Your…. affection!" "I-I.." Owl stammered, feeling as though she'd been slapped in the face. As she stammered, her powers began to flicker and weaken. The healing would have stopped, had Lightweaver not entered in, activating her own powers and instantly healing the boy.

"Are you ok?" the fox asked, as Sunblaze got to his feet. "We have to get back in there!" he cried out, his mind still focused on his friends. "They might still be alive!" Lightweaver started to answer, but then her eyes widened in shock. "Get back" she yelled, as she pulled both Owl and Sunbaze back. Just as they were out of the way, a huge steel ball slammed down from the sky into the pavement in front of them. As the group watched, it began to change and shift, until it had opened to reveal four unconscious people inside. "Manimal!" Owl yelled, as she raced over to the unconscious boy. Next to her, Metallix regained his normal form. Looking down, he asked, "Are they ok?" "I think so." Terra answered, as she moved to check on one of the tenants. "Good." The New Titan answered, as he sank to his knees, and hit the ground with a thud. Lightweaver and Rivers quickly came to his side. Looking him over, the fox replied, "He's ok, just too much smoke and exertion. Give him a few more minutes." Rivers breathed a sigh of relief, and then he looked over at Owl as she checked on Manimal. She breathed a sigh of relief as she finished checking her brother, then looked at Sunblaze for a split second, then looked away. But in that time, the young boy saw a tremendous amount of hurt in those eyes. Well what did you expect? He thought. She almost lost her friends today. She'll be ok in a little bit. After all, Brett and Sara will be around to talk to. And it isn't like she has anything else to get over.