Chapter 4: A Little Anarchy

--

"This will be our first time together. Are you sure you're ready?"

Ignoring the wind whipping her hair back, Blackfire looked down at the rooftops. He had been quiet for thirty minutes since they left headquarters. What would it take to make him open that box of his? Did Gotham corrupt him so much that he forgot how to tap into his emotions? No, she shook her head. He never missed a ledge, his grappling hook connected to every telephone pole and fire escape ladder, his mask covered any indication that he wanted to talk to her.

She shifted her weight to the left and decreased flight to reach to his level. Would he notice? Did he notice? Blackfire snorted and looked back ahead. The anticipation grew as she clenched her fists, ready to show Robin what she could do, but would he at least pretend like he gave a damn? "Pretty nice night, isn't it? But then again, who else knows more about the night and darkness than you?"

Robin planted his heel into a loose brick- careful of the trembling foundation under his feet- and sprung forward onto a street lamp. The moonlight illuminated his uniform, causing the silver to glint and making him blink back the temporary blindness. He rubbed his eyes and raised his left arm to check the on-screen radar.

The Titans still hadn't arrived and his new comrades should have killed half the city block still twenty minutes away. What took them so long? Robin had to shut out those thoughts when Blackfire commented on the differences between Robin and Slade.

His eyes wandered to the floating Tamaranean next to him. She appeared so carefree, yet could lift a bus without breaking a sweat. Just like Starfire. At once, Robin shook the thought from his head, crouched, and leaned backwards. He fished through his pockets and pulled out a bird-a-rang.

"I love it when you pull those toys out of your pants."

Ignore her. Robin groaned with disgust and flung the bird-a-rang at a pole one block over. He yanked it twice to make sure it was secure before leaping from the pole and swinging ahead.

Blackfire floated without a clue on how to make Robin talk. Heck, even little Koriand'r provided better conversation than Robin. "So, Slade tells me you're quite the fighter. I guess when you're trained by one of the greats, fighting becomes second nature to you. That and…" she let a chuckle go by as Robin hoisted himself onto the apartment roof, "…becoming his right hand boy wonder."

He squinted at the opposing building, the roof fading in and out like a television on the fritz, and frowned. A bird-a-rang wouldn't connect and, as he checked his pockets, he left his grappling hook in his former uniform. He closed his eyes and tried to come up with more ideas: had this been a week ago, Beast Boy could ride him over as a pterodactyl, Cyborg could throw him like a football in the last seconds, Raven could teleport him there, and Starfire never hesitated to take his hands and fly him across a large gap.

"Damn it, Robin! Look at me!"

As soon as she just shuts up. Robin rolled his eyes and stared at Blackfire for more than his average of two seconds.

"Look, if we're gonna work together from now on, you need to start talking to me! You don't like me, and I can't let my feelings interfere with the mission, but staying quiet all of the time is annoying and it better stop!" She floated inches away from his face, snarling as starbolts graced both of her hands. "Even if you did abandon them, don't abandon me and your new team! We want to help you!"

Robin's mask hid the mild shock in his eyes. Help? This crazy party girl went to jail and she wants to help him? Then what was Slade's job? "I don't want your help."

Letting her shoulders drop, Blackfire gave a weak smile when she received at least one response from Robin. He's crafty, she knew that much, and would do everything to avoid conversation or help. If she hadn't learned to control her urges, she would have already dumped Robin's body in the nearest dumpster. "No, but you'll need it. I don't know or care why you left them, but get over it!

"You're with us, a new society, and a new world that's ready to embrace you! I know you want to focus on the mission, but if I have to talk about the weather to get your attention, you better listen!" She couldn't, wouldn't hurt him. Her eyes ran up and down his armor as she ignored the warmness in her cheeks. Damn him. Blackfire feared Robin would drive her crazy before he did himself.

"The others…can they fight at all?" Robin turned back towards the ledge and threw himself at the next rooftop. He resisted laughing when he heard Blackfire swear under her breath as she joined him.

"Slade showed me the result of your battle with them. Congrats, but he worked with them since. He didn't kill them, but one of them came close to hanging themselves after fighting him nonstop for an entire day. If they didn't die, they improved. At least, that's how he put it. I'm dying for you to see them fight together."

"They got as far as stealing my utility belt and in that span of time since then, they became better? I doubt it."

It was Blackfire's turn to scoff as both her and Robin's communicators trilled. "Just wait. When the time comes, those…crazy kids…would burn the city if Slade didn't have a leash on them. You'd be surprised at what happens when you take three reckless kids and give them some matches and luck."

Robin flipped open his communicator as Blackfire's comment settled. "You make it sound like Slade turned them into killers." He read the onscreen message, pocketed the device and looked to Blackfire and nodded. "Fifteen minutes. Let's move."

"Well, there's something about my sister you should know first…"

--

"How many did you kill?"

"More than you can!"

"Yeah, right. I did eight in already!"

"I'm on seventeen!"

"What?! No pint-sized midget is gonna outscore me!"

Mammoth stepped over the girl's body and punched the concrete surrounding a street lamp, his fist sending cracks throughout the sidewalk. The lamp fizzled, went off, on and off again until it shook free and crashed next to Mammoth's foot. With a feral yell, he hauled the post behind him like a javelin and hurled it towards a light source.

The post crashed through the glass and tore through bricks in zigzag lines. It continued until the top disconnected and crashed through a parked car. The metal crashed through the front hood, igniting the engine. Seconds passed and a spark erupted into an explosion. The car hurled at the top of the fireball, flipping into more complex positions than a yoga master, until it toppled on its side, back, side, and continued in undetermined patterns as it hurtled through the Jump City bank window.

A beat, then fire erupted from the windows. One bloody hand emerged from the wreckage and crawled- with a potted plant- towards her attacker. Mammoth turned when he heard a weak moan from his left and smiled at the woman's attempt to fight back. He wouldn't kill her yet. Best to give her a moment of victory before she died.

"You…you bastard," her voice came hoarse and dry, as if full of sand, "you tried to kill me!"

"Well," Mammoth cracked his knuckles, "guess I didn't try hard-"

A rocket zipped past Mammoth's head and zeroed in on the woman. Her right hand clasped the ground before the rocket impacted and sent limbs flying in all directions. As Mammoth's hand fell at the sight of his lost kill, he narrowed his eyes on the boy behind him, still chuckling and holding that damn rocket launcher. "Gizmo, you stole my kill!"

"Stole?!" Gizmo rocketed in Mammoth's face, their noses meeting. "You didn't mark her! She was lying there and I took the chance!"

"But I hurt her car! I blew up the bank! I deserve the kill!"

"Well, ya didn't! So it's eighteen to eight!"

"'Cuz you cheated!"

"Nuh-uh, barf brain! You're just a sore loser!" Gizmo landed and put away his rocket launcher. He watched as flames leapt from building to building, the spark in his eyes as bright as a child's on Christmas morning. "I mean, Slade doesn't even pay us to blow stuff up and you're complaining? Sure, I'd like some money, but we got the best deal possible! I mean, check this out!" He reached into his backpack and pulled out another weapon.

"What is that? A bazooka?"

Gizmo fired. The force from the unguided rocket when fired knocked him off of his feet and into a fire hydrant. His head rang like bells, but not as loud as the rocket's whistle as it soared through the air and smashed through a clothing store. Three seconds later, fire blazed through like a bolt of lightning. Gizmo squinted and brought his hand up to shield his eyes from the hot white flames. Tears began to prickle in his eyes, but from a mixture of pain and joy.

Mammoth snorted. "That still doesn't count as a kill. Even Jinx would back me up on that." He waited for his backup, but nothing happened. "Hey, where'd she go, anyway? I bet she gave up because she lost the contest."

As the fire's glow began to die down to a normal red and yellow, Gizmo dropped his hand. "Nah, she went to kill some bus driver."

"What bus driver?!" A body slammed into Mammoth's back, forcing his head skyward and his hand towards his spine. He jerked his head towards the corpse behind him. Purple X's littered the arms while a black cat card fit snug into each hand.

"That one." Jinx ran a finger through her hair as purple shockwaves rushed from her fingers. As each wave splashed a window, glass shattered like raindrops and gumdrops. With a twirl of her hand, Jinx summoned a green flame and fired the ball through a window lucky enough to miss a shockwave. Scores of glass shards rained around her as she raised both hands and skipped through the downpour like the first snow day.

The sound of glass popping blending with the roaring flames gave Mammoth reason to glare. "Bunch of show-offs." He grimaced when Jinx showed him that crooked grin.

"Now, now, don't be a sore loser. Slade told us to bring anarchy to the city now that those kids lost their little leader. So as long as something's not burning, we keep firing until they get here." She strode between Mammoth and Gizmo, windows shattering as she passed them, and stopped. "And I don't keep count of my kills, but if I did…" she flexed her finger and scrunched her face for a few seconds, "…thirty."

Both Gizmo and Mammoth stood with their mouths agape as Jinx flung more shockwaves through windows. Thirty? Where did she find the time to kill so many people without bazookas?

"Scrum eating cheater," Gizmo mumbled while fiddling with a detonator. The police precinct's gonna look good up in smoke, he thought as a grin beamed on his face. As his finger glided over the button, a black hand materialized through the ground and snatched Gizmo into the earth.

The moment passed forever until the ground spat Gizmo onto the street. His face, pale as a ghost, refused to stop shaking and fingers clawed at his suit for an itch he couldn't scratch.

While Mammoth went to work trying to snap Gizmo out of his daze, Jinx smirked as she watched that same disgusting blue robe rise out of the ground. Still dresses like a psycho, she thought as he came back. "Took you all long enough to get here. Did you run out of color options?"

"Save it."

An ear piercing shriek cracked through the air as a green pterodactyl landed alongside Raven. Cyborg leapt off and converted his right arm to blaster mode. "What's the matter? Slade beat you too much and forget to tuck you in that you gotta level half of downtown?"

Jinx ran a black cat card across her cheek. "We just wanted to see how you worked without your leader." She walked until she stood in front of Raven, taking the card and using it to draw back Raven's hood. "And you didn't disappoint. You let…" she looked back to Mammoth and Gizmo, "how many did you two get?"

"I got seventeen! This lame-wad scored eight!"

"Hmm…that's pretty low." Jinx turned back to Raven. "Adding to my forty, that's sixty-five. Eesh, you let sixty-five people die. And you sit back and let your leader walk off. Even to a girl like me, that's pretty low."

"Get real!" Beast Boy raised his fist at Jinx. "We don't need Robin to beat you guys."

"Yeah, tell that to the body bags," Mammoth sneered, motioning the burning buildings around him.

"Without your leader," Jinx continued, pressing the card into Raven's neck, "you'll crumble like a skyscraper. I can see it now: Titan Four Killed Due to Lack of Leadership. You were lucky before when he came back to steal his belt, but without him, the robot over here would still be missing his right arm. I'm sure it just scares you to think about the path Robin chose to take."

"Where is he?" Raven interrupted, counting various deaths for Jinx for even touching her.

"What's the time?"

"What the hell difference does that make?"

"Well…" Jinx ran the card in circles, creating a target, "depending on the time, he could be here in ten minutes or ten seconds. I'm sure he'll be disappointed…to come to a fight and find your bodies waiting to greet him-"

Raven's foot connected with Jinx's face. The blow whipped her head back and forced the card into the air.

"Kill them!"

Gizmo readied his rockets. Beast Boy became the beast. Cyborg raised his cannon. Mammoth cracked his knuckles.

Starfire just stood there.

--

"So she's a freak?"

"In a word, yes."

"I could've told you that."

Robin checked the communicator again. Four minutes. Blackfire had turned Starfire's life into a novella without flying into something once. Some, like the speech impediments and lack of contractions, he could have guessed. The anger issues and frequent ripping through walls when enraged, not so much.

"Well, don't forget: I taught her what she knows. I helped her when no one else would. I-"

"Love to hear yourself talk," Robin cut her off as his feet connected with the gravel. "We're getting closer. Tell me about Star after we're done with the mission."

Blackfire paused and raised an eyebrow. "Star, huh? So you gave my little sister a nickname and it's stuck in your head."

"Most of us called her that. It's nothing strange."

"You still have feelings for her. Admit it."

"I'm the one who had to teach her all about Earth. What she may remember forever I can't wait to forget." A slight twinge knocked Robin off-balance and off of the telephone pole. Before he could throw his grappling hook up, Blackfire's hand caught him.

"Well, don't forget that I'm the one saving your butt this time, not her."

Saving the thanks for later, Robin brushed off her arm and checked his arsenal again, to Blackfire's dismay. Ten explosive discs, five electric discs, grappling hook, rope, bo-staff, smoke pellets, seven flash bangs and a hand grenade in case of emergency. All tucked in place, all secured, all ready for battle. Robin ran his hand over every nook and cranny, shook the pellets, and examined the staff for dents more times than he could count.

"Will you knock that off?!"

"Don't interfere." Robin ignored her request.

"What?"

"I want to face her alone. Even if she's about to kill me, stay out of the way and keep the others from helping her."

Eye twitching and fists clenched as power surged throughout, Blackfire whizzed in front of Robin and seized his collar. "Look here: I am not your damn sidekick, boy wonder! That attitude is going to get you killed if you don't let me help you. I don't care if you faced a drugged up scarecrow, amateur riddle master or a damn psycho clown. They're not my sister. She's not even from Earth; unlike anything you've faced and you think you're ready to face her alone?"

"Stop protecting her and let me fight her my way. If you still think of her as your sister that you have to defend, you'll never beat her." Robin snorted and checked his map again, refusing to eye Blackfire. "Feelings just make you weaker."

"Ha! You don't know anything about little Koriand'r, do you? We Tamaraneans live by our emotions. Our power grows through reaching into our emotions. It's the trigger for our bloodlust. Anger equals death." Blackfire shook her head and turned Robin's head so he faced her. "Maybe you are just like him…"

The communicator rang, shaking the both out of their argument as Robin turned on the monitor. Moments passed and between distorted screens, Robin heard Gizmo's voice spitting out taunts before his voice faded. Soon, Jinx, or what Robin and Blackfire thought was Jinx, appeared on screen jumping all over buildings and poles.

"Guys…they're here!" She ducked as a black crescent sliced the pole behind her. "And Black, tell us next time that your sister's a psycho!"

"What's going on with Star?"

"Well…Gizmo annoyed her and she didn't like that, so-"

"She's breaking my arm!"

Blackfire gasped. She brought a finger to her mouth and snorted. "Stupid Koriand'r, what are you doing?"

Then green lightning crackled two blocks over.

"There they are!"

--

Black wisps of smoke filtered over the buildings, blending with the odor of sweat and blood. Pink and black waves clashed through windows and cars while overweight titans collided and became pinballs when colliding with fire hydrants and mailboxes. A blue sonic shot spliced through a homing missile, stopping the whistling and causing shrapnel to rain over the dents in the street.

Jinx leapt into the air and brought her hands together. She brought them behind her back and with an almighty yell, sent a pink shockwave rippling from her hands towards Raven. On impact, the wave bounced off of a black bubble and created a new entrance for the deli. Coming down, Jinx prepared to bring her foot down on Raven's skull, but felt all of her body's weight disappear, making her as light as a feather. The blood rushed to her head and down was up as Raven brought her down to meet her eyes.

"You think you can wreck the city and we'll let you live?"

"Oh, please. If you wanted to kill me, you'd have done it already." Jinx twitched as some of her body's weight returned. "Robin put it in your head: don't kill, but teach a lesson. You had several chances to get rid of me and you didn't." When weight returned to her left hand, Jinx removed a black cat card and whipped it past her nose. "See what happens with a bit of betrayal and some firepower. The city goes kaboom and the Titans can't stop crying because precious little Robin screwed them in the-"

The weight disappeared again. Jinx began laughing, without knowing why, as her body coasted a pickup truck. Her backbone vibrated and head warbled from left to right from the impact, but she didn't care. She groaned as she stood up and arched her back to pop the bones back into place. A wet snap let Jinx know she was whole again as she saw rockets cascading towards her like raindrops. A flick of her hand and pink waves split the rockets in two as Jinx glared at Gizmo. "Hey, watch where you're firing!"

In the air, Gizmo's mechanical wings fluttered as he dodged sonic blasts. One caught the edge of the left wing, throwing off his aim. "What do you expect?! I'm trying to blow stuff up here!" His gaze wandered to the still silent Starfire. "Meh, what's she expecting to find with her eyes closed? I'll show her!" Klaxons rang out and reticules circled around and around until Gizmo found his target. "You're not gonna find Robin-poo standing there like a doll!" Gizmo fired.

Starfire remained. The anger boiled over, subsiding like a volcano on the verge of eruption. As the rockets twirled and flailed in her direction, that volcano grew angry. Her eyes glowed and rage pulsated through her veins. The first rocket clanged against her fist and spiraled, smoke curving in upside down Q's, and exploded in sections.

Others followed. Without lifting her face, Starfire fired several star bolts from her hands. One. Two. Three. Four rockets exploded in a flash of green and black smoke. As metal poured around her, Starfire glared at her target. "Please, if it is death that you desire, do not attempt to hide behind your Earth cannons."

A light bulb dimmed in Gizmo's head as he flew with care in front of Starfire. "What'd you call me, alien brat? Y'know, just because your boyfriend is gone doesn't mean you can start using big words that you don't understand."

Raven prepared to call out and stop Gizmo from committing suicide, but as her body reacted to Starfire's rising killing intent, she decided to let him find out for himself.

"Yeah, I figured." Gizmo fiddled with his communicator until it turned on. "Let Robbie even hear you. His girlfriend is so scared she can't even move without crying about him leaving her again."

"Stop it, Gizmo!" Jinx waved her hands to halt her teammate. "Don't make her any angrier! Her sister warned us about this!"

"If you're gonna stand there and put on the tough girl act, you should go home and sit on your daddy's knee, you baby!"

"No, Gizmo! Stop it!"

"Forgive me, father."

Gizmo turned around too late to see a gloved fist shoot forward. Veins stretched up and down his neck and his chest burned as Starfire began choking every fiber of life out of him. A green aura leaked through her fists, up his arms and ate through Gizmo's wings. The metal cried out in pain until the circuits buzzed.

Kill him.

Starfire's gaze went from that of a child ready to squash a beetle to a tiger ready to rip apart a rabbit. The rage had erupted as she tightened her grip on the neck. She could wring it dry like a towel or snap it like a twig. She wanted to. She had to. He pushed her to this. Robin…she had to wake him up.

"Tell us the next time your sister's a psycho!"

Starfire looked up and saw Jinx screaming into some circle. She clawed at the ground as a black hand dragged her towards Raven. Movement brought Starfire to Gizmo as she saw him try and grab the beeping device on his back.

"Do not attempt to try anything that will injure you further."

She seized the arm. Starfire tugged the arm once, twice, three times as bones popped in and out of their sockets. Like a one sided game of tug-of-war, Starfire pulled at the arm with all of her strength. The veins in her arms grew and teeth slammed against each other as Starfire tried to hear that final pop!

Without a wing or prayer, Gizmo yelled loud enough- he hoped- for someone to hear him. "She's breaking my arm!"

"Because I am unable to reach your neck!"

Gizmo pounded the ground with his free arm and tried wrestling out of Starfire's iron grip, but nothing happened. Jinx warned him. Blackfire warned him. But she looked so pathetic.

Jolts of lightning erupted from Starfire's body and danced in the sky. As the final pop approached, pain throbbed in Starfire's back as a purple ball slammed into her back. Gizmo's body dropped and Starfire rocketed into the ground, her body digging through the concrete until it halted.

"I told you not to get in my way."

"You can thank me later. I just saved his life if you didn't notice."

As her sister's back sizzled, Blackfire watched the green sensation surrounding Starfire begin to shudder and increase in size. "So, she's just halfway there. Good job, little Koriand'r."

Is that Star? Robin took one step, careful of the electricity sparkling through the ground. As he saw her rise, Robin saw a mix of disgust and sorrow in Starfire's eyes. She never growled. She never tried to kill someone. "Starfire, if you're still in there, you and everyone else should leave. We have a job to do."

"Oh, he's asking for it?" Cyborg converted his blaster to normal and charged, but Raven held her arm out. "What the heck, Rav? We can kick his ass right now!"

"Yes, we can, but we can't. Just think how Starfire would feel." She watched Starfire stumble to her feet. "She's trying to keep control and still fight Robin without harming him. This is her fight, not ours." Then she turned to Jinx. "And not yours."

Jinx ran the card across her lips.

"Friend…Robin," Starfire staggered from left to right, her head throbbing from the pain. "I cannot be in a world where we must fight. Do you have regrets about…who you are? About what you have become? Do you not wish to return to your home?"

The new uniform fit snug as Robin clenched his fists. He felt a slight twinge of anxiety and some part of him begged him not to do this, but he cast that thought aside as Blackfire patted his shoulders one last time.

"No, Starfire, I don't."

"I see." Her head dropped. The power was violent, but it felt too good. Robin did not belong to them. He belonged to the Titans, to her. To her. The aura spilled onto the ground and the wind howled throughout the empty Jump City night as Starfire readied a starbolt. "Then I shall proceed to shatter every bone in your body and force you to return to us."

Yes, Koriand'r. Now we shall see.