Chapter 3

-A forest outside London-

It was a moonless night and being such, what happened was completely unexpected. A tavern in London: a dark atmosphere with adequate lighting, rather cozy. One of the patrons had been acting rather strangely; his hands had been shaking, he was sweaty faced and appeared extremely nervous and anxious. He seemed dirty, smelly and unkempt, but who cared? His gold was as good as everyone else's and truth be told, this one's hygiene was no worse than any of the other patrons; it was his behavior that made him truly stand out. Suddenly, the man freaked out, howling in pain, in agony. He stood and started flailing about, he broke the mug he held with one hand. A serving girl, a pretty young lass, attempted to calm him down, but as soon as she approached she was knocked away. The man had inhuman strength, and had the girl stuck the wall she surely would have died, save for the roguish red-haired archer that leapt up to save her. The archer's companion, wearing a black cloak and hood rushed towards the man. The man, snarling and foaming at the mouth like a rabid beast, ran out the door, the hooded man followed him. The serving girl mumbled nervous thanks to the archer, who grinned and whispered his idea of thanks into her ear at which she blushed furiously, but that was all the acquiescence he needed as he promised to return and dashed off after his friend.

The man stopped at the outskirts of the city, looking at the moonless sky and that's when he began to change. He grew taller, his clothes ripped apart as his muscles bulged and grew, his skin blackened covered with a thick coat of fur, his face pushed outwards, the jaw and skin stretching into a lupine muzzle and his teeth became sharp fangs. The werewolf stood, breathing heavily, ready to attack. It howled loudly; the hunt was now on.

Later, near the dark forest outside the city, the archer, Seamus Harper, waited, arrow knocked.

"Here doggy, here doggy!" He called mockingly.

A snarl and a low growl gave way the beast's location. He whipped around and let the arrow fly. The beast had just leapt out at him and could not dodge it; it struck the werewolf in its right eye, the force of the arrow knocked the beast slightly off course, allowing Seamus to jump out of the way. He had three more arrows knocked and ready to fire before the monster even hit the ground. The beast slowly rose to its feet and grasped the shaft of the arrow. As it pulled the projectile out, the eye it had pierced came with it. A viscous liquid spurted from the eye and the eye was suddenly sucked of the arrowhead and back into the socket; the beast blinked and was completely healed. It threw away the arrow and turned towards Seamus.

"Oy! The least you coulda done was give that back you know." Seamus smirked.

The beast roared and charged, but his time the archer was ready for it. He jumped, rebounding several times off of two adjacent trees, until he was at a greater height than the beast and then he somersaulted above its head, firing arrows at it all the while with uncanny speed. He was in a crouched position when he landed another arrow knocked and ready to fire. The beast had taken most of the arrows in the back and while they had hurt the monster, it did not bleed.

"I'll be wanting those back too." Seamus smiled.

The beast didn't even bother to try and remove the arrows. Instead it snarled and turned towards him. An object whizzed out of the darkness at a descending and cut deep into the beast's shoulder before returning to the one who threw it. The wound bled profusely and did not heal, the monster whined in a dog-like manner before snarling and growling as it turned around.

In the tree, standing on a high branch, stood Richard. He was dressed in a crimson hard leather shirt with a symbol of a bird over his heart, dark green pants along with black metal tipped boots with black greaves as well as black metal gauntlets, a flowing black cape and a black mask. He wore a belt with many pouches holding various vials and tools as well as too rods strapped to his thighs. With a swift motion he slipped the boomerang he caught into its pocket holder in his cape. He grabbed the two rods and brought them up in a defensive pose. The beast snarled as it leapt at Richard. It's super-human strength allowed it to reach and destroy the branch upon which Richard stood, but not before he had leapt off, flipping over the beast's head. He landed easily; the two rods uttered a 'snikt' noise, two sharp bright metal points protruded from the ends of each rod, much like a stake. He charged the beast a stabbed it with one of the stakes in the back and then raked it across the monster's back up until it's spine and then pulled it out; another bleeding wound that would not heal. The beast turned and Richard slashed at it, the sharp points easily parting its flesh across its abdomen. Richard jumped back and then tried to strike it with a roundhouse kick. The beast caught him, lifted him off the ground. Richard's face rose to thing monster's chest and he could smell the creature's fetid breath. He smiled confidently and then jammed the two stakes into the beast's chest. The beast howled in rage and dropped Richard, who, prepared for this, rolled to his feet and then jump kicked the beast, pushing the stake even further into its chest.

The werewolf stumbled backwards and halted as it bumped against a tree. It slumped to the ground, quite dead. Its muscles shrank as they atrophied, fur began to fall out and the skin beneath took on a deathly pallor. The skin tore, rotted and turned to dust; its internal organs, muscles and eyeballs liquefied; the cartilage dissolved and the bones collapsed in a pile. Richard stepped over to the pile and retrieved the rods, retracted the points on the tips, returned them to the leather straps on his thighs and turned away. Seamus retrieved his arrows, those that weren't broken and joined his friend.

"Care to tell me what your secret was back there? How'd you hurt it?" Seamus asked.

"Silver alloy, it's effective against vampires, werewolves and many other supernatural monsters."

"Well 'scuse me! I'm used to fighting human monsters, so I didn't know. No need to be snippy."

"What the hell were you thinking?" Richard demanded curtly.

"You mean taking it on by myself? I could handle it." Seamus brushed away his friends concern with his ever-confident smile.

"It would have killed you."

"It couldn't 'a killed me."

"And if it had bitten you, I would have killed you."

"Heh, never would'a happened. But, those monsters are supposed to only come out during the full moon, aren't they? There isn't even a moon tonight."

"Dark times. You know what people say as well as I."

"You buy into this 'End 'o tha world' nonsense?"

"Honestly, I don't know anymore. Strange weather, monsters coming out when they shouldn't… something's wrong with the world, that's for certain."

"And if there was, what can we do about it, we mere mortals? We just do our job and if the end comes, well, there's this girl I know in whose bed I'd like to be when the world ends."

-London, Docks-

Richard hurried into the docks after having changed back to his civilian clothes; the ship, the Virginia Maid was to dock this evening and he was to be there to great its passengers. However, he did have time for a short meeting with one of Seamus' oversea contacts.

At the very edge of the docks, the red-clad archer was speaking with, what seemed to be a half-naked youth, but as Richard approached he saw that it was not a human at all. The person had long, black hair that was slick with water, his eyes had sclera blacker than a starless and moonless sky, he had fins on his forearms and legs, he was thin with slight musculature and had three long slits just under his pectoral muscles on either side of him that were, in fact, gills. He had small, nearly imperceptible fish scales all over his body, but unless he suffered close inspection one would only see natural human skin. He wore simple, but slightly torn shorts and wielded a trident.

"Richard, come here." Seamus motioned him over. "This is Tempest, he has some interesting information to tell you."

"Virginia Dare is not the one in most danger, coming here." Tempest stated bluntly.

"What makes you say that?" Richard asked.

"Dare is a pawn here, someone who is of little importance as an individual and who is greatly important as a symbol. Slade's organization will ensure her good health, for she is, for the time being, of no value to anyone dead. Rather it is the Indian girl, Starfire, who has captured the people's interests."

"Who is interested in her?" Richard asked.

"Well, there's the usual batch who're interested in both Dare and Starfire; the King of Spain, the Tsar, those types. They're interested in all kinds of stuff though, so it's no surprise." Seamus replied.

"The one who seems to be truly interested in her is the countess of Nietzscheia, Katherina Kamandir. There have been more than a few Nietzcheian spies hanging around the oceans, crossing over to the New World at her orders, to find out about Starfire. This has been going on for a bout a year now." Tempest continued.

"That doesn't necessarily mean that this Starfire is in any danger." Richard interjected calmly.

"Also, the Inquisition is casting its eyes this way of late. Somehow I think they're more interested in the heretic non-believer Indian girl than they are in the proper Christian child, Dare." Seamus said.

Tempest turned towards the water, prepared to leave, but he stopped and glanced back at the two youths.

"One more thing… That girl, Starfire… she isn't human." Tempest said before jumping in the water.

"Now what do you suppose he meant by that?" Seamus asked Richard.

"Does it matter? It seems our ship has come in." Richard said, pointing at a docking ship. "Come on."

"He mentioned Slade before… It seems that he might be the real power in England now." Seamus said as he walked beside Richard.

Richard glanced at him, but said nothing.

"The Queen's been giving him more and more authority, which is understandable her being ill and all. The Lords are going to him for favours instead of going to Her Majesty and even the army has started taking their orders from him. And if that weren't enough, the people appear to support him as well, talking about him as if he were the Queen's heir." Seamus continued.

"So?" Richard asked curtly.

"So we have to be careful; I've not been able to find how far his spy network goes. Damn me, but I haven't even been able to find out who works for him locally. Worse still, I can't find out his motives; sure, he seems loyal to the Queen, follows her orders when she gives, seems to uphold her wishes but… There's nothing else, like before he started working for Her Majesty, he didn't exist."

"Then we'll have to keep an eye out for him, wont we?" Richard replied as he stopped at the peer the Virginia Maid was docked at.

Seamus said nothing, waiting for its passengers to disembark. The gangplank was lowered and porters and crewmembers came to and from the ship, refilling supplies and unloading cargo. Finally the three women came off the ship. First was Virginia Dare, a young girl of fourteen years, on the verge of blossoming into a young woman. She wore a simple white cotton dress; she had platinum blond hair and blue eyes. She seemed timid, her eyes darting this way and that, taking all the sites of England nervously.

The Second who came off the ship was Starfire, elegant, proud, beautiful and very a strange sight in England. Her presence was warm and yet commanding, confident and yet friendly, approachable even.

"So that's a savage, eh? I wonder how 'savage' she would be in the bed chamber." Seamus whispered to Richard.

His comments were met with an elbow to his ribs at which he grunted in pain and tried not to show any other reaction.

"This is why I don't like working with you; you can never keep your mind on the job." Richard admonished him.

The last off the ship was Tara Marks as aloof and disgruntled as always. Her eyes looked about the docks as well, not out of nervousness, shyness or fear, but out of vigilance.

"Welcome to England, miss Dare. I am Richard Wayne, I was sent by the Queen to escort you during your stay." Richard greeted them.

"I-I hope Her Majesty is well and I thank her and you for your most generous hospitality." Virginia replied. "These are my companions, Starfire and Tara Marks."

Tara nodded curtly, her expression showing no gratitude. Starfire gifted Richard with a warm smile as greeting.

"A pleasure." Richard said to the two ladies. "Unfortunately, Her Majesty will not be able to receive you at this late hour. I have acquired lodgings at an inn where we will stay this evening. If you would please follow me?"

Before they started off towards the inn, Seamus stepped up, took Virginia's hand and kissed it.

"Milady, I am Seamus Harper, vassal to Sir Oliver Quinn of Ireland. It is an honour and a pleasure to make the acquaintance of such a noble lady." He said.

"Oliver Quinn? The sailors spoke of him a great deal, calling him the Green Hood. They spoke of him as a hero. You must have many amazing tales to tell of him." Virginia said excitedly.

"Speaking of stories," He said, moving to Starfire. "I am sure you have a great many fascinating tales to tell."

"My people have many stories, if you'd like me to tell them." Starfire replied in a partially confused, partially intrigued manner.

Seamus moved to Tara and extended his hand to take hers, but she knocked it away, looking at him coolly.

"I'm out of your league, boy." She told him.

"I'll keep that in mind." He said. If his ego was wounded, he showed none of it. He walked up to Richard and smirked. "I think she likes me."

Author notes:

Another chapter and another cameo with Tempest (Aqualad). The description of Tempest is based off a redesign of that character done by Turin-the-Forsaken on deviantArt. Harper (Speedy) makes another guest appearance; I hope I didn't go overboard with his skirt chasing. To me it seems appropriate, but you might have a different opinion.

Also, Katherina Kamandir has been mentioned again, in relation to Starfire. You've just been given a hint as to who she is, but be quiet if you've figured it out please. And Nietzscheia is a fictional place created by me. If any body knows of a place in Germany that would better suit the story, please tell me.

Last thing:

Beast Boy: Smashing, love! Jolly good laugh... Oh dear! I'm a tommy, a limey, a… a Brit!

Me: And this time it isn't because of hypno screens.

BB: You're just jealous because I sound like a rock star.

Me: Am not.