Paradise Lost: Part 2
Robin sped through the streets replying to an emergency call from the police department: a civilian had spotted Warp in the outskirts of the city, quite near where the Titans frequently had picnics and barbeques. He questioned how it was possible that Warp returned. Starfire had mentioned how, in the future, they had defeated Warp resolutely, yet there the thief was the other night when he nearly killed Starfire. An odd sensation swept through him that night as he barely rescued her from her fall. In those few terrifying seconds, he had to save her, no matter what, even if it meant injury or even death on his part, because he could see nothing in his future, not even with the Titans, without her in it.
He usually relished driving…speeding through the city provided him with a sort of indescribable freedom; to him, it felt like-no, it was freedom as the wind swept up against his face and body…driving made him feel a breath away from flying. But everything had been different the last few days. He had spent a great amount, nearly all of his time, even after she was out of grave danger, in the infirmary, making sure that she was indeed all right and also in private hopes that he would be there when she awoke. Slowly, he let his mind wander slightly…
Robin stood silently as he watched her lay there, breathing but still, her eyes shut. They thought her to be unconscious at first, but upon further inspection by Cyborg's scanners, she seemed to be in a hibernation state. He was relieved to recall the few conversations they had on Tamaranean physiology-how she had mentioned that when Tamaraneans become gravely injured, they enter a state of hibernation. Although she certainly couldn't heal herself as Raven could (though Raven did assist Starfire in healing her slightly), she was recovering slowly.
The crime log he had brought with him was placed aside, abandoned, as he focused his attention on her…how scared he was when he saw her weak and defenseless, simply falling to the ground, and to his own surprise, he found his gloved hands clasping her limp palm within his…and slowly and as delicately as he could manage, he held her hand within his.
The creaking of machinery alerted Robin to Cyborg's presence within the room. Rapidly and slightly abashed, he dropped her hand and pretended to be minutely studying his logbook. "Robin, man, it's all right; you don't need to pretend with us. I understand...completely."
Before Robin could manage some sort of proper response, the titan alarm went off. Quickly checking his communicator, he muttered, nearly growled the name…"It's Warp…"
"Hey Robin, it'll be all right if you stay here and watch over her. We can handle-"
"Cyborg, I need to be there…to fight him. Would you be willing to stay here to make sure she's all right?" He paused for a moment as he realized how much Cyborg and everyone else wanted to face Warp for what he had done…placing a firm grip upon Cyborg's shoulder, he attempted to provide his friend with some consolation. "If anything were to happen to Star…you're the only one who knows how to work all of the medical equipment."
A crooked grin formed upon Cyborg's lips. "I-well go get 'em, Robin." Robin nodded and without a further word between friends he and the other Titans rushed out towards the city where Warp was last spotted.
As he neared the coordinates the police department had provided, he scanned the area searching for his two other teammates and Warp as he pulled out his communicator. "Raven, Beast Boy: report. Where are you?"
"We're on a nearby building, Robin. We haven't seen any sign of Warp." Raven muttered.
"The eagle is still flapping its wings. Roger in and out." Robin shook his head hopelessly as he heard Raven's voice come from Beast Boy's communicator. "Beast Boy, we are about five feet apart; we can share my communicator."
"But you don't know how to speak in code."
"Neither does anyone else."
"Well-it's still cool. Don't you agree Robin?"
Robin ended his role as moderator in their tiff with a terse "I'll search around the park by foot. Robin out."
It surprised him how many memories the park brought back to him as he walked through it, communicator clutched in one hand and his staff in the other. There were those endless summer nights when Cyborg would be at the grill, heating food up for everyone, while he poked at Beast Boy's artificial, tofu-made meat, annoyed that he was using the all powerful Foreman Grill on vegetarian food. Beast Boy would either be having a vivacious argument with Cyborg or he would sit by Raven and pester her until she put her book aside for a moment and whacked him in the head with her book or simply ignored him until he fell asleep. And then there would be Starfire and him, lying upon the grassy fields, staring up at the darkening skies, oftentimes conversing, but sometimes simply content with being in each other's presence. The next free day the Titans had, he would propose a trip to the park-however "un-Robinish" that would be.
"Duuuudddeeee!" Beast Boy yelled through the communicator.
"Beast Boy, report!"
"Dude…like duude…dude…"
There was a brief shuffle before he heard Raven's voice through Beast Boy's communicator. "Robin, it's nothing. I don't see anything." Raven's voice dimmed as she moved away from the communicator, reading to berate the green changeling. "As much as we admire your expansive vocabulary, this is not the time."
"I-but dude…dude…" He continued on, seemingly stuck on the word and tongue-tied.
"I do admit that it must take some sort of talent to have a whole conversation using the word dude. Robin, I think we'll start heading o-"
In frustration, Beast Boy caught Raven by the sleeve and pointed across the street where a red x lay carelessly discarded upon the ground. There was a rather immense factory across the street that manufactured solar power cells. "I-oh…" Rapidly, she picked up the communicator as she levitated into the air, flying across the street. "Robin, actually, we'll be a moment. We need to check something across the street." Beast Boy lagged behind as he transformed into various animals. He changed into a frog, extended his tongue, but finding it unsatisfactory, he rapidly changed into a toad. Finally, as an anteater, his tongue finally became lose, and he quickly leaped into the air, changing into a hawk.
"Dude, Raven, I am never saying the word dude again…keeps making my tongue get all tied up." When Raven didn't respond, Beast Boy continued speaking. "But you know, it wasn't as bad as that other time with that starfish…and man, that time as a sea horse, remember how I -"
"Beast Boy, I don't want to know. And aren't you unable to speak when you're morphed?"
He was about to return with some sort of quip when the two of them spotted Red X dashing out of the factory, no doubt successful. Since the rogue didn't seem to have much stolen equipment on him, Raven assumed that he must have stolen something immensely valuable…perhaps the experimental power core the factory was currently perfecting. "Be very quiet, and we might be able to sneak up on him." Raven whispered, however, her words came too late. Red X had already spotted them, ready to fight.
---
Starfire awoke to the soft, mechanical churn of ventilators. She opened her eyes…her vision slowly focusing and returning as she observed that she was in a white room-it must be the titan's makeshift infirmary. Wondering where her friends were, she sat up, feeling somewhat weak when she observed Cyborg on the other side of the room, rapidly writing upon the clipboard within his hand as he checked a new invention of his. "Cyborg?"
"Starfire, you've woken…" He quickly rushed to her side, making a quite note of the readings upon the machine, and slowly, a grin formed upon his lips and with the fondness of an older brother uttered. "I knew that my girl would make it."
"I thank you, but what has happened…I recall being poisoned and rescued but nothing more."
"Starfire, you've been out for five days…we thought…we were afraid that you wouldn't make it-you're one lucky girl Star, one very lucky Tamaranean girl."
"Five days…that long?"
"Yea, had us all, especially Robin, quite worried."
"I-I am most sorry-"
"Don't be…it was Warp's fault."
"I…" Slowly, the urgency of everything rushed back to her. "I believe that we need to check the status of our communication devices more thoroughly, and where is everyone else?"
"There're on a mission; Warp was just spotted. My…you just want to get back into everything-" Before he could continue speaking and go into an in-depth explanation about how it couldn't possibly be the communication devices that were having problems, she interrupted him with a simple, pleading "Please."
"Star, I'll look into it as soon as I can."
"Cyborg…it is urgent, I believe that Red X may have divulged something to me regarding the communication devices that last encounter." She placed her hands firmly upon the infirmary bed and pushed herself up.
"Hey Star, take it easy." He held her back as she attempted to move from the bed. "You need rest…I'll look into everything right now."
With a slight nod of his head and a smile towards her, he gently shut the door to the infirmary and headed towards the roof of the tower to check upon the status of the communication devices, if only to satisfy his friend. After a quick cursory scan, he found nothing of significance, but recalling Star's pleading eyes, he decided to conduct another scan, a far more detailed one, all the while attempting to call the Titans and tell them about Starfire. He thought, at first, to do his typical sort of all-invasive scan, but then decided against it as he remembered Red X's appearance seemingly from out of no where. As a sort of built-in part of his system that served as an artificial sort of photographic memory, he was able to record all parts of his day.
He flashed through the pervious days as he attempted to contact the Titans. The other Titans, however, seemed to be rather busy at the moment for they didn't pick up their communicators. The Titans' unanimous relief as they found Starfire greatly improving in her condition… Robin releasing his grappling hook and quickly springing up into the air as Starfire was pushed…Warp's seemingly instantaneous appearance as he poisoned Star…Red X creating mysterious holes atop the roof…Red X smirking arrogantly- "Maybe I had help from a friend" although it was physically impossible for someone in this current age to become absolutely invisible, he was that good…anticipation…a slight blunder with Beast Boy. And then the answer was laid before him.
On a whim, he decided to analyze, in detail, everything about the moments before Red X's instantaneous reappearance. It seemed that he had simply emerged from nothingness, which Cyborg knew was absolutely impossible. Despite whatever advanced sorts of technology he had, the mass of the products of a reaction had to equal its product. He replayed the battle scene and minutely and attempted to trace potential areas where Red X could have been…maybe he shrouded himself in such a way that he avoided detection by all of his scanners. He replayed the brief pre-battle and battle scene again, much slower…and then paused at the critical moment when Beast Boy had somehow bumped into him in such a manner that it caused a weak, harmless beam of ionized and visible sound waves emit from his cannon. As he traced the progress of the waves, he noticed how most of them had proceeded in the scientifically plausible straight line as it passed through the air; however, there were a few, no, there were enough for it to be considered some, waves that were oddly deflected, and with a victorious "Boo-yah!" Cyborg punched his fist in the air: he had found Red X.
It was highly possible, he thought, that perhaps, if he had applied the same sound wave technique to the tower's communicators, he might discover something new that his other scanners hadn't yet detected. Applying a similar setting to his sonic cannon, he blasted harmless waves towards to communication devices that laid atop the tower…a moment later, he smirked, Starfire-Red X had been right; the Titans had needed to check their communication devices. Following the deflected paths of the sound waves, he quickly approached those areas of the communicators and rapidly neutralized the affected areas; he was shocked to find so many of the such described affected areas with an especially vast number of wave deflections, but he realized that it meant that whoever had installed them upon the tower's communicators hadn't wanted the Titans to have any outside contact from distant planets…most notably Tameran.
---
Robin found it odd that Raven and Beast Boy hadn't arrived yet; they must have encountered something of significance. He would be facing Warp alone then. For a moment, he considered asking Cyborg to accompany him since Warp had proved to be a somewhat difficult villain with his suit on, but he quickly abandoned the idea; there was no way that he would leave Starfire alone and unattended in the tower, especially when it seemed like Red X and Warp had both targeted her in battle.
"Amazing how you've been caught off guard, twice in these past few days. So we meet again-I thought that the Boy Wonder would be more alert." There he was, Warp, donned in the very same armor he wore when the Titans last battled him. Robin stiffened for a second as he absorbed Warp's words…it explained everything. "You-you and Red X are working together!"
"Observant indeed. Robin, I have an important proposition regarding the fate of Tameran for the Titans to consider."
"And I'm not in the mood to hear it." Without another word, Robin slammed his staff against Warp.
---
Starfire was nearly asleep when she heard a rather loud voice coming from the direction of the main room. Slightly stirred by the noise, she waited a moment. Cyborg-she was nearly certain, was still atop the Titan roof, which left her alone. She considered for a moment, calling out to whoever was making the noise to wait a moment, but upon further contemplation, she decided to be more cautious as she slowly crept from her bed. It could have been an enemy of the Titans…but she wanted to check out the situation for herself before she unnecessarily alerted Cyborg. Slowly, she left her infirmary bed and attempted to move towards the main room…it surprised her how difficult it was for her to float or to even walk, she was vastly weakened, though greatly recovered from her last battle. Walking through the tower as stealthily as she could, she finally reached the main room, slightly out of breath. To her great surprise, there he was, Ryand'r, her younger brother, before her upon the titan's main room's screen. "Sister Koriandr'? We-I have attempted to contact you many times indeed."
Her brother was before her, and she hardly knew what to think. He had grown so much, so very much that his adorable boyish features had mainly been slightly masculinized into those of a healthy and handsome teenage Tamaranean. "Ryand'r! It is joyous to see you! Have you not received my transmissions?"
"Transmissions, sister? We have had much difficulty contacting you. We have not been able to contact Earth for two revolutions of the Centauri moons."
She was surprised by the lack of mirth upon her dear brother's face; he had always been the mischievous one within the family, the one who was always finding ways to make her and everyone else about him laugh. As they spoke of general formalities, both calmly and rather civilly, although she felt an impending sort of pressure upon their conversation-they were both attempting to speak as if everything were normal and perfectly all right, though they clearly weren't. She could not help but to notice how greatly Ryand'r had changed. He was still vivacious, vibrant…his words oftentimes infused with double meanings for the effect of humor, but unlike his childish self, he seemed to merely be humorous for the sake of others; he did not seem to enjoy his own humor any longer. How greatly he had changed from his childhood self.
Ryand'r, in his childhood, had been essentially, a great deal like Beast Boy, except instead of focusing his attention upon jokes, he concentrated on pranks and wrecked mischief all about the palace, although he was too slick, too precious in their parents' and guards' eyes to ever be blamed for any misdemeanor. Repressing a giggle, she recalled a most hilarious incident when Blackfire, in the prime of her vanity period, opened the door to her chambers and was greeted by a large bucket full of Lugripoos slime of the stickiest sort. Nevertheless, the scream that was emitted from Blackfire's mouth was absolutely priceless, and as Starfire attempted to reprimand him slightly for his actions, of how inconsiderate and naughty he had been, she found that she could not say a harsh word to her brother as she saw the mirthful gleam that surrounded his aura.
As Ryand'r grew older, although the pranks became quite infrequent and he appeared to, as many of the court said, "a most refined prince," it was merely a front he exhibited. During court meetings and the royal festivals and celebrations he attended, he was polite and serious, but afterwards, after every royal meeting when he and her had an instant alone, he would tell her everything amusing about their situation…how the ambassador from Gorbank kept chirping as he spoke with his heavy accent, how the haughty lady of Hissim's dress had been worn backwards, how foolishly dependent Lord O'rious was upon his speech writer-the man hadn't seemed to have been able to formulate a sentence without his writer steadfastly, whispering quick phrases into his ear. Ryand'r told very similar anecdotes about the current court of Tameran…the unrefined and boisterous manners of Ph'yzzon, a leading general of the Tamaranean military, who seemed desperate for another taste of war as he sparked very controversial debates among the court of Tameran, and extravagant, slick Karras, who although he was always thought to have been involved in some sort of ethical scandal regarding obtaining money from organizations to have him support their cause, he was not as smooth in regards to the relations he had with the women within his life as he oftentimes entered court meetings dazed.
Yet, though the stories were certainly most entertaining, she sensed that he held little enjoyment in telling them…he acted in the cheerful manner he did, merely to please her. He still was not completely truthful in the manner he presented himself, but this time instead of hiding his comical nature, he masked his seriousness and the great gravity and pessimism he now viewed the world with.
She wanted to confront him…to somehow soothe the rather skeptical manner he seemed to view everything, but her lips refused to budge…what could she say to him after all? That he had changed? Words from her lips could only hurt him or arouse anger. At the tender age when he needed her guidance and company the most, she left him for earth. And every moment as they conversed, she grew more concerned. Why was he making so many decisions regarding Tameran? Although he discussed how he efficiently came to his decisions regarding some controversial events that have occurred, why did he have more input, more advice from those who were trustworthy, such as Galfore? So rather regretfully, she decided to finally turn their conversation towards the true matter at hand. "Ryand'r, you seem deeply conflicted…what is the matter? How is Tameran, truthfully?"
His voice wavered in confidence slightly, and for a moment, he seemed hesitant.
"Please…Ryand'r, you must tell me." She paused, as she feared what he would say of the matter. "Why is Galfore not aiding in these affairs?"
"Affairs on Tameran are not well, sister." He took a rather deep breath along with a hapless sigh and began divulging the bad news. "Gordanian guerilla organizations have been targeting cities for the past three harvest seasons. Blackfire-she has returned and is serving as an informant to Gordanian affairs. And Galfore…he has been missing for two turns of the Centari Moons." He uttered gravely as all of Starfire's fears laid manifested before her.
Although warlike, the Gordanians had not attacked their cities without reason. Due to shortages, in recent years, of energy, planets in the Vegan System all had a severe scarcity of it, so much so that there was an energy crisis. The Gordanians were especially afflicted by this shortage since they were a warring nation and had expended a great deal of their energy resources on their weapons, leaving a very scant amount for more important uses such as food production and climate control. Although Tameran primarily depended upon light energy such as those from the nearby stars, due to recent conditions, they were collecting barely enough energy to be considered sufficient. Thus, the Tamaraneans naturally ended their open trade of energy with all other planets. The Gordanian government was initially quite understanding (comparatively speaking for Tamaranean and Gordanian relations had never quite been stable) in regards to the situation at hand, but as their resources dwindled in number, an increasing number of Gordanian guerilla groups attacked Tamaranean cities; many of which were rumored to have been clandestinely sanctioned by the government.
Tameran had clearly voiced its outrage at the attacks, but the Gordanian did nothing to alleviate the tensions the guerilla groups had caused between the two historically warring planets. They, instead, merely claimed that it was not their responsibility to ensure the well being of Tamaraneans.
With such tensions mounted, Ph'yzzon took the opportunity in urging the planet to go to war with the Gordanians in an attempt to satisfy his war lust. As witness to the atrocities that the Gordanians could and would commit, he brought in his informant-Blackfire. Initially, Ryand'r and Galfore were furious that Ph'yzzon had brought Blackfire within the presence of the court, when she was irresolutely placed in exile by the true Grand Ruler of Tameran, their Princess Koriand'r. But even those opposing Blackfire's return to Tameran soon realized that the information that she had brought with her, however she obtained it, was indispensable and that the court was quite in her debt. According to the former Grand Ruler, when she broke out from her prison and then reclaimed "her" throne, she had aided a fellow prisoner, a Gordanian, to escape along with her. The two soon parted ways after they broke free of their manacles, but upon her exile as she wandered about the planets, she encountered, by chance, her former prison mate. The Gordanian felt so much gratitude towards Blackfire that he, feeling more loyalty towards her than his own planet that punished him, as he ought to have been punished for his crimes, provided her with information that he had accidentally come across regarding Gordanian plans for declaring war on Tameran and was planning on passing the information onto the first Tamaranean he encountered.
And Galfore…since he had vanished, Ryand'r was given the post of Grand Ruler. Galfore had left approximately a week and a half ago, in earth time, for the city of Za'nnoes, on a typical, domestic affairs trip to visit the city and ensure that its citizens received all the supplies they needed. Za'nnoes had recently been plagued by famines and was not only lacking in supplies, but also lacking in faith that there was no hope for the city, that the once grand city known for its rich historical roots would sink to ruins. Haplessly, no sooner had Galfore and his sentry of guards arrived within the city did a large, surprise attack by a Gordanian guerilla organization launch the city into a war zone…from above in the sky, it was submerged in a cloud of thick, seemingly impenetrable dust. So terrible was the fighting, the ferocity in which the Gordanians fought with, that all forms of communication with the city were excised and the troops of the Tamaranean military sent into the city by Ryand'r with the sole purpose of retrieving Galfore safely were still engaged in fierce battle in the outskirts of the city…it seemed utterly impenetrable. And with Galfore temporarily replaced by Ryand'r, Ph'yzzon and his supporters had all tried to persuade him to take some sort of action, since they deemed him a more easily budged ruler, but he stood firm…and for that, Starfire was especially proud of him, though greatly saddened by what he had encountered and experienced…alone.
Ryand'r was soon called away for another court meeting in preparation for peace talks with the Gordanians requested by the Tamaraneans within the next few days, and regretfully, he left Starfire to burden such grave news upon her own mind. She remained in the Titan's main room for several moments later, shrouded in deep thought and worry, her hand trembling unintentionally as she attempted to hold onto the couch to keep herself balanced…after hearing all of the hapless events upon Tameran, she had momentarily forgotten her somewhat weakened state after the Titans' latest battle.
Starfire was not completely surprised by Cyborg's reaction when he saw her out of bed and the infirmary. He was quite furious. "Star, what are you doing out of bed? You had orders from –"
Although she appreciated his concern, more urgent matters needed to be addressed. "Cyborg…I had just received communication from my home. Ryand'r, my younger brother, has just informed me that Galfore has been missing for over a week. I must go to Tameran immediately."
His rage was completely dissipated as he placed a comforting hand upon her shoulder. "Then, we'll all go with you."
"Cyborg, I-we must go now. A week is an excessively long amount of time to be within a war zone; I fear for Galfore's life." And within a few quickly uttered elongated sentences, she explained to him the crisis on Tamaran.
Cyborg was speechless for a moment after he heard of the news. With far less of his usual eagerness, when it came to his new inventions, he uttered "I think I've got just the thing to take us there. It's still in its experimental stages, but I think that it will hold."
"To Tamaran then? We should inform the others."
"I already tried, but they must be caught up in a battle with Warp. No one was responding."
"Should we be concerned?" Although in usual circumstances, Starfire would have advocated going directly to her friends' aid, but however, in the current situation, Galfore was upon her mind and since the other Titans hadn't contacted them with a distress message, she believed that they would be able to fend for themselves at the moment.
"It's just Warp; I think that they'd be able to handle it."
Without any more hesitation, Cyborg turned on his machine, the transporter device and keyed in coordinates after asking Starfire for the approximate location area she wanted to go to on Tameran.
---
AN: So that was part 2. I was actually sort of disappointed in the lack of reviews for this because it does take time to write, and I would appreciate any sort of feedback on this even if it is negative. So if you do read this, please do drop a comment as well.
