Thresholding by CidGregor
Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.
This fic is dedicated to Post, for all that he has contributed to its existence. (TLH! TLH!)
Chapter 24
Robin strained and struggled too get free of the large blue hand that was wrapped almost all the way around his waist and squeezing rather uncomfortably, but with no luck. The Gordanian was far too powerful. Not as strong as Starfire, perhaps, but more than enough to keep his own human strength in check.
He almost gagged as the hand lifted him up before the face of its owner, who snarled a hot, foul breath in Robin's own face.
"Fool of a human…you who dared to defy me once before…" He drew Robin even closer, glaring horribly. "Did you really think we would forget?"
"I have…no…idea…what you're talking…about," Robin struggled to say without retching.
"You do not remember us, human? You do not remember how you and your pathetic friends made a mockery of our glorious army? How you bestowed upon us the most shameful defeat in our history? How you stole from us what was rightfully ours?"
And then it clicked it Robin's head, causing an angry snarl to form on his face. "You…you're the ones who attacked my city…you wanted to make Starfire your slave…"
"Heh-heh-heh…is that what the Troq calls itself these days?" the hulking alien growled in amusement.
"Starfire is not a piece of property!" Robin snapped. "You had no right to force her into servitude!"
The Gordanian squeezed tighter, silencing him. "You dare speak to Lord Trogaar in such a manner, you insolent whelp?.!"
"You…won't…get away…with this…" Robin forced out through compressed lungs, one hand struggling to get into a pocket of his utility belt hidden under his wedding costume.
"You humans have no hope of stopping us!" Trogaar countered. "Your Troq allies will fall before us in a matter of hours, and your own feeble species will crumble soon after!"
Robin snarled but could hardly find the concentration to talk, he was so focused on getting at his utility belt. In his peripheral vision he saw Tromand'r and Galfore back to back on one side of him, plowing through Gordanian attackers with almost frightening efficiency. And on the other side…
Robin gasped. "Star…fire…"
To his horror, Blackfire's strong hand was wrapped around her sister's throat, her other hand balled up into a glowing fist.
"No!" Robin shouted. In a flash he had the belt pocket open and the thermal cutting laser he'd been looking for in his hand. He thumbed the activation switch.
ZZZTT!
"ARRRGH!" Trogaar howled in pain as the laser dug into his palm. His grip loosened, and Robin dropped to the floor. In a split second his staff was in his hands and swinging just below Trogaar's knees. It connected with a loud crack, causing the alien to fall forward into Robin's waiting grip.
"HAH!" Robin roared as he caught the enormous thing, used the momentum of its fall to his advantage, and hurled him across the room toward the two siblings.
WHAM!
Not a moment too soon, Trogaar's bulky body crashed into Blackfire before she had a chance to plow a fist into her sister's face. The hand around her throat went limp, and Starfire too dropped to the floor, gasping for breath.
Robin ran to her. "You okay?"
"We must help them!" Starfire insisted, gesturing to her fellow warriors.
Robin took that as a yes, and nodded. "You deal with Blackfire. I'll help Galfore and Tromand'r fight off the Gordanians."
Starfire's eyes flared green in response, and she bolted after her sister, her dress flapping behind her. Robin watched her go for but a moment, then rushed to join the warring Tromand'r and Galfore.
"HRAUGH!" Galfore bellowed, hurling one reptilian body away from him and swinging a wide fist into another. "Keep back, little one!" he insisted of Robin. "Your death cannot be afforded now!"
Robin pounded an approaching Gordanian in the face with a sickening crack. "If you think I'm gonna just sit on the sidelines, forget it," Robin countered. "I'm no stranger to a fight, I'm not backing down."
"Robin, you do not understand, your duties have not yet been fulfilled--" Tormand'r began, but was cut off by the swing of an enemy axe. He caught the flat of the blade between his hands, snarled at its Gordanian owner, and filled it with crackling star-bolt energy. The Gordanian howled in pain and dropped it, and Tromand'r blasted it in the face with another star-bolt.
"My duties can wait!" Robin snapped back. "We have to deal with the Gordanians right now!"
"Where…is…the princess?" Galfore bit out amidst holding back two snarling Gordanian faces.
"She's – HAH! – dealing with Blackfire!" Robin answered.
"Little one, you must get yourself and the princess safely away from here! The union between our peoples depends on it!" he bellowed, shoving away his opponents.
Robin shook his head. "But the ceremony's finished, we can't just -- TROMAND'R, WATCH YOUR SIX!"
"Watch…what?" Tromand'r asked, distracted.
"BEHIND YOU!"
Tromand'r spun around and gasped. Galfore's own adversaries had drawn him away from Tromand'r, leaving his rear exposed to attack; an exposure that a Gordanian was taking advantage of to swing a spear at his head. Tromand'r jerked away a split second too late, and the spear hacked through his long braid of hair, inside which he still kept his most precious possession. The severed braid and the locket within it hit the floor, where it was promptly stepped on by a great, blue, clawed foot with a deafening crunch.
Tromand'r's eyes went dead for a second, staring at the mangled hair and metal. But in the next second, they exploded with electric blue fury.
"Chak'da…nu challis Cathir'n, seles chlorfarkers! FYED!" Tromand'r roared. His eyes blasted twin beams of crackling blue energy, piercing straight though not only the Gordanian who had broken the locket, but a line of perhaps a half-dozen more hulking aliens behind it. All of them fell twitching to the floor, oozing green.
"Robin, you must get to safety, I implore you!" Galfore grunted as he shoved another alien away from him.
The Gordanian was dispatched by Robin's swinging staff an instant later. "And I told you, I'm not leaving! If anything it's you and Tromand'r that need to get out of here! Your entire chain of command would fall apart if you both get killed!"
Tromand'r actually smirked. "Do not worry about us, Robin. The day I fall to a Gordanian is the day I deserve such a dishonorable death."
Robin smirked back. "Likewise…"
"Enough of this farce! DIE!"
Robin's head shot toward the snarling voice; Lord Trogaar was back up, leaping wildly at the Boy Wonder. Robin brought his staff up before him to brace against the alien's ravenous jaws, but it merely bit through the metal and snapped the staff in two. Undaunted, Robin brandished both shorter halves like clubs, darting under Trogaar's guard and pounding the alien's stomach with two quick jabs. Trogaar doubled over, wheezing, and Robin spun in a roundhouse and dug his heel into Trogaar's cheek. The alien fell to one knee, growling and glaring at Robin.
"I'm only going to offer you this once, Trogaar," Robin snapped, pointing a broken end of his staff at the Gordanian'd throat. "Take your troops and leave Earth, and don't ever come back. Save yourselves the bloodshed. Leave us in peace, and we'll do the same."
Trogaar bared his long, pointed teeth in response. "You humans….you are just like the Troq girl…nothing but a race of sentimental fools…just as Komand'r said you were…"
Komand'r…that must be Blackfire, Robin realized. He glared. "Blackfire doesn't know a thing about humanity. If you bite us, you can bet we bite back. And don't forget, we have friends," he added gesturing to the battling Tamaranians around them that were slowly but surely gaining the upper hand on the invaders. Trogaar gazed around at his troops, and was forced to realize the truth of what Robin was saying. Even with surprise on his side, the Tamaranians were still superior fighters. His comrades were falling.
"Call off your dogs, Trogaar, and leave Earth. I won't tell you again," Robin demanded.
Trogaar reared up and took a few steps back, sneering at Robin. "You think you have won some great victory here? You have no idea of the army we possess, boy. Our fleet is almighty, and we will crush whatever pitiful resistance you can offer. You have won this small battle…but you shall lose this war."
He turned to the warring crowd. "FALL BACK!" he bellowed, and those of his troops that were left alive broke away from their opponents and retreated, chased back to their boarding ships by the victorious Tamaranians.
"HAH!"
Starfire rushed at her sister, eyes and hands blazing green.
Blackfire stood ready, matching Starfire's green glow with her own violet hue. "Come get it, dear sister!"
Starfire unleashed a flurry of star-bolts with frightening speed and accuracy at various points on her body. Blackfire twisted and bent gracefully, dodging and dancing around them all with an arrogant smile on her face, and fired back with two glowing purple optics.
"Eep!" Starfire squeaked, and jerked wildly sideways in midair as the twin beams shot past her. Blackfire dashed at her while she was off-balance, aiming another star-bolt-charged fist at her head. Starfire reacted just in time, catching the fist in her palm and pushing back against it. Blackfire swung her other fist forward, but Starfire caught that too. The warring siblings settled on the ground a moment later, both hands clasped together and roaring with green and purple fire. The two pushed with all their strength, each trying to outlast the other, both their faces set into angry stares.
"So…you continue…to hang around those…weakling humans, Starfire?" Blackfire bit out through her strain. "How pathetic of you…a crown princess of our people…to sink so low…"
"Having…friends and loved ones…does not make one 'low,'" Starfire growled back. She leapt up suddenly, dug one heel into the middle of Blackfire's chest, and snapped her other foot upward into her face. Blackfire stumbled backward and clutched her face as Starfire back-flipped in midair and landed gracefully on both feet.
"You wish to know what 'low' is, sister?" Starfire snapped as Blackfire slowly recovered. "'Low' is when one betrays their entire people. 'Low' is when one sells their secrets to one's mortal enemy for nothing more than petty revenge. 'Low' is when one is responsible for the attempted genocide of two entire peoples! I am not the one who is low, sister. That is a dishonor all your own!"
"Oh, here we go," Blackfire drawled, spitting away to one side. "Again with your self-righteous lectures…by X'Hal, don't you ever get tired of listening to yourself?" In the blink of an eye she shot forward and was in Starfire's face before she had a chance to react. Blackfire's fist connected with her stomach just as quickly, and Starfire doubled over in pain, leaving her wide open for a spinning kick to the face that sent her tumbling to the ground.
"You were always the goodie-two-shoes, Starfire," she shot at her sister, hovering a few feet above the ground. "Always like little miss angel, while I was the devil. Everything you did was right and perfect, and everything I did was wrong and evil."
Starfire struggled back to her feet. "I have never once professed myself to be perfect, sister…but the things you are doing….the things you have always done….they are most certainly in the wrong. You steal and blackmail and betray at every turning!"
"Tell it to someone who cares!" she shouted, and lunged forward again. But Starfire was ready this time; she half-leapt, half-flew backward to dodge the fist that plowed into the ground where she'd been standing a moment ago. Blackfire followed swiftly, and Starfire twisted in midair again to dodge another blow that cracked the wall behind her when it missed her jaw. Starfire struck while Blackfire's guard was down for that brief moment, plowing a star-blot into her flank. Blackfire screeched an alien curse and backed away, clutching a smoking burn hole that went through her costume and left her amber skin red.
Starfire hovered on place, staring her sister down. "Not since we were children have you ever bested me in battle, sister…and that will not change now. Save both of us the pain, and surrender yourself!"
"Surrender? To you?.! Don't make me laugh!"
Blackfire's eyes flared and twin beam exploded from them, and Starfire fired her own eye beams in response. The purple and green streams met in midair halfway between the two siblings, creating a raging starburst of energy at the point where they clashed. Blackfire poured her power into the beam, pushing Starfire's back little by little.
"You…won't…stop me!" Blackfire struggled to say.
"I…have never…yet…failed to!" Starfire bit back, and redoubled her own efforts. The green side of the beam pushed back toward the center, and then pressed further, until the beams' point of intersection was a mere few feet from Blackfire.
"No…no…I won't…lose!" she insisted. She diverted a small burst of energy to her hand, and a violet star-bolt flashed into existence. In one fluid motion, she cut off her own beam, leapt sideways, and hurled the bolt at Starfire's head. Starfire blinked her own beam off, but she saw the star-bolt a moment too late. She jerked away from it, but not enough; the bolt drove itself into her shoulder, drawing a fresh agony from the already-scarred skin there. She landed on the ground, holding her shoulder painfully as Blackfire sneered.
"FALL BACK!" a booming Gordanian voice announced all of a sudden. Blackfire's attention tuned to the fight going on around them, and to her annoyance, the Tamaranians had gained the upper hand and were forcing the Gordanians into a retreat. If she expected to stay breathing, she had no choice but to retreat with them.
She turned back to glare at Starfire. "You got lucky, sister dear…but I'll be back to finish this little dance."
And without another word she turned and fled.
"Starfire!"
Starfire turned toward the voice, and saw Robin, Galfore, and Tromand'r running toward her. Behind them, the Tamaranian warriors who remained were busy chasing the Gordanians away to their docking craft.
"Hurry! We must get to the bridge!" Tromand'r shouted. "The Gordanians may already be landing their troops on Earth!"
Starfire nodded her agreement. "Affirmative!"
The foursome hurried through the halls, which were filled with scrambling warriors, pilots rushing to their ships, and officers barking orders.
"You okay, Star?" Robin asked her as he ran beside her flying form.
"I am fine," she responded, still clutching her shoulder. "It is no worse than any other injury we have suffered in our line of duty."
Robin seemed satisfied with that answer, and a new question surfaced. "Blackfire…why is she…?"
"She is…vengeful. That is all," Starfire said sadly. "She does not care about our people, or yours, or even the Gordanians. To her they are all simply means to an end, to get to me. She has…fallen quite far."
Robin only nodded. "We'll stop her, Star. We'll stop all of it."
"I pray that we do…"
The bridge was in front of them a moment later. The doors slid open, and the foursome rushed in, Tromand'r and Galfore already barking orders. Robin and Starfire, however, fell silent as they came to a standstill in front of the bridge's vast main windows.
"Dear God…"
"Nama du X'Hal…"
Hundreds of ships filled the empty void. Monolothic, spiked Gordanian ships, ruby red Tamaranian ships, and dozens of fighters spewing from each. Red and green and blue and violet beams filled the sky, firing from Tamaranians and Gordanians alike and destroying everything they touched.
Space was no longer an endless abyss of black.
It was burning.
The war had begun.