What up my fellow readers. Grrr! I gotta stop saying that. Oh well. I'm sorry I haven't been updating more chapters to this story. Hey, I've got a life too. Oh well. Here it is! The twentieth chapter! Hope y'all enjoy it!
!!!!!WARNING! WARNING! SHADOW AND MAR'I FLUFFINESS AT THE END! REPEAT! SHADOW AND MAR'I FLUFFINESS AT THE END OF THIS CHAPTER!!!!!
Chapter 20: One Down Three To Go
Kariand'r flew across the empty streets of Jump City searching frantically for the enemy. Her light blue eyes began to overflow with concern and dreadfulness of wondering what was going to happen if her and her friends never find Deathstroke. Or if she's already attacking Stevie or Shadow—or even Mar'i.
"No, that won't happen. I won't let that happen." Kariand'r shook her head coarsely. She looked up into the bleakness of the starry sky, hoping that her twin sister and friends were all right. She didn't know what she would do if anything happened to them.
"Aw, worried about your little friends?"
Kariand'r turned alertly, her hands clenched tightly into fist, glowing a luminous blue along with her fiery blue eyes. She looked around the bareness of the placid paved roads only to see the nothingness of what was bestowed to her since her and her friends started the search for Deathstroke.
But that wasn't going to throw Kariand'r off that quickly. She knew Deathstroke was out there and wasn't going to let her guard down even for the slightest millisecond. She was ready for anything the enemy could and would dish out.
"Show yourself Deathstroke!" Kariand'r yelled; her senses on full alert. "I know you're out there! Come on out and let's see what you're made of!"
Silence filled the emptiness that engulfed Kariand'r as she turned her body looking front, back, left, right, up, and down but saw nothing.
Suddenly, a sharp kunai dashed towards Kariand'r with her back turned; ready to pierce itself deep into the young Tamaranean's flesh but was stopped in an instant when Kariand'r turned, facing the agile kunai and zapped it with her powerful light blue Starbolts and watched as the kunai exploded into many pieces.
Her senses were now at their fullest, making her look in all directions making sure there weren't more kunai's coming her way.
Kariand'r gave a determined smirk. "Is that all you got! Come on, you can pose more of a threat than that."
"Is that a fact?"
Kariand'r turned swiftly, jumping high in the air and shooting her cerulean Starbolts at the designated target.
Smoke was everywhere and blocked anything or anyone that would stand where Kariand'r's Starbolts were unleashed. She breathed heavily, looking down upon the spot where she went Starbolt happy and waited patiently as the smoke started to mix with the thickness of the extremely late night air. As soon as the smoke disappeared, Kariand'r was disappointed to find nothing in the fired shot.
She floated there, dumbstruck, but then felt a sharp dose of illustrious anguish invading recklessly into her body.
The enemy grinned viciously, listening to the suffering cries departing from Kariand'r's lips which she found incredibly enlivening; the wet, sticky blood oozing from out of her back wound and sliding across the kunai, dripping off Deathstroke's right hand that clenched the treacherous weapon, was all too enjoyable.
Kariand'r suddenly felt her vision become blurry and witnessed herself becoming light-headed and diminish her train-of-thought.
Deathstroke pulled out the penetrating Japanese weapon nice and slowly so that Kariand'r could still feel the dreadful throe that tainted the inside of her body. Deathstroke gave a satisfying grin as she raised her right leg sent a forceful kick right onto Kariand'r's bleeding wound, sending her colliding with the solid pavement of the streets.
Kariand'r cried out in a horribly clamorous scream. She had no idea a person could feel this much pain and desperately wanted it to go away.
Biting the bottom of her lip so hard it pierced through the skin, making her mouth overflow with the sickly sweet taste of her Tamaranean mixed blood, she struggled to her lift herself up with her arms that wiggled like earthworms and managed to reach for her silver belt, taking out the yellow and black communicator that was given to her. She flipped it open, trying to make contact with Mar'i, Shadow, and Stevie, but failed when a sharp kunai jammed right through the screen of her communicator, making it impossible now for her to make contact with her team.
"There will be none of that my little mixed opponent," Deathstroke said, taking slow steps to the frightened Kariand'r.
Kariand'r tried to lift herself up to her feet and fly off, but the indescribable discomfort was interfering with her brain waves, making it difficult for her to think of happy thoughts. What did it matter anyway, is what Kariand'r was thinking. Even if she could fly off, Deathstroke would just go after her and she wouldn't get very far in the condition she was in.
Deathstroke leaned down so that she was face to face with Kariand'r. She placed a comforting hand on the left side of her cheek and smiled.
"Aw, that ugly wound keeping you from thinking of happy thoughts so you could fly off?" she asked as she reached into her own utility belt and took out what looked like small pills. "Well, let me help you with that."
Deathstroke also took out a gasmask and planted it over her mouth making Kariand'r afraid of what she was going to get dosed with. She watched frightfully as Deathstroke popped open the tiny pills and saw puffs of army green smoke leave the pills and enter into her nostrils, inhaling it.
Kariand'r suddenly felt dizzy and even more light-headed than before. She saw the streets of Jump City and Deathstroke spin and become all fuzzy. Kariand'r didn't even notice she was swaying back and forth like she was a drunk until she finally hit the ground and fell into the blackness of her drugged mined and lost consciousness.
Deathstroke got up to her feet and looked down at her defeated opponent with a victorious smile spread across her face.
"Well, at least you got one of Robin and Starfire's twins," Her father said on the other end of her earpiece.
"I'll take that as a thank you," she said, picking up Kariand'r and thrusting her over her right shoulder and also bending down to reach for her communicator.
"Are you going after Mar'i next?"
"Nope. That'll ruin my whole plan. Next on my list is Stevie, but I'll have to wait for a little while so Mar'i won't know that Kariand'r's missing. Then I'll go after him and the rest is all up to Shadow and Mar'i," she told him, fixing up Kariand'r's communicator so that it worked again and placed it in her utility belt.
"I sure hope you're little plan will work my apprentice."
"Don't worry, it'll work. I'm sure of it. Before you even know it, we'll have all their powers in no time."
Mar'i looked up into the starry sky with her light green Tamaranean eyes thinking about Deathstroke's words. Can she really get rid of her and Shadow's powers and make them normal? Or was this all a trick just to get stronger and destroy the city? Mar'i was very unsure and wished she knew what to do.
Shadow sensed her discomfort and placed his right hand on Mar'i's shoulder, giving her a disarming smile.
"I don't know what to do Shadow," she told him, looking back up at the sky. "I mean, I want these powers gone more than anything else in the world, but what if this is all just a trick? What if, by giving Deathstroke our powers, we're putting ourselves, our family, and the citizens of Jump City and maybe the entire world in danger?"
Shadow gave out a sigh and looked down at his boots. "I know the risks are very high Mar'i, but what if Deathstroke is telling the truth? What if she's just confused? All she really wants is to know what it's like having powers. If we give them to her, we'd be making someone happy and ourselves happy."
Mar'i gave him a smile, but then frowned, taking out her communicator and looking upon it. She flipped it open and tracked down Kariand'r and Stevie, making sure they were all right. A little red dot that was in the shape of an S showed where Stevie was, which was somewhere down town, next to Cook's Electronics and the other dot, in the form of a K showed where Kariand'r was, which was across the bridge.
"See, they're all right," Shadow told her. Mar'i looked back at him and then closed her communicator.
"Maybe you're right. Maybe Deathstroke is just desperate for having power. Maybe we are doing the right thing by giving her our powers. We'll be making someone happy and ourselves happy." She smiled.
"Shadow," she said, her face becoming serious.
"Yeah?" he said, turning his attention towards Mar'i.
Mar'i rubbed the back of her neck and looked away from Shadow's gaze for a while, turning her attention towards the night sky. "If, I mean—when all of this is over, and we all reunite back with our families, what if you're mom still wants you to come back with her? Or what if both your parents decide to move to Azarath. I'm never going to see you again if that happens."
Shadow turned away and looked down at the ground. "I don't know what I'll do if that happens. I don't want to leave you Mar'i."
Mar'i felt tears weld up in her light green eyes. "I don't want that to happen either."
Shadow saw the tears sliding from Mar'i's cheeks and wrapped his arms around her in a gentle hug. This took Mar'i by surprise, but she relaxed and cried into Shadow's lean chest, staining his black shirt with her wet tears.
"Promise me Shadow," Mar'i cried. "Promise me—you'll never leave my side. Promise me."
Shadow held Mar'i close, lacing his fingers with Mar'i's short, ear-length hair. "I promise," he whispered.
Mar'i looked up at Shadow and gave him a smile. Shadow smiled also, placing a gentle hand on Mar'i's left cheek and dried up the tears that were sliding from her cheek with his thumb.
Mar'i's green eyes met with Shadow dark, violet ones. She loved his eyes. So serious and empty with emotion, just like his personality sometimes. She never wanted to depart from Shadow and loved the feeling of being in his strong arms.
"Mar'i," he said in a soft, emotionless whisper as he cuffed the bottom of her chin. Mar'i felt her heart beat a million times faster than a regular heart should and felt a sudden charge of static between her and Shadow that was pulling them closer together. She didn't know if she was moving closer to him, but she did notice that Shadow's face was slowly leaning closer to hers.
"Oh my God," she thought in both shock and excitement. "Is Shadow going to kiss me?"
Haha! You're going to have to wait 'till the next chapter. I'm so evil. Well, I hope you liked this chapter and are ready for the next one. I'll try to post it up soon, but until then, peace out!