72. Hidden Sun part 4

Black wires.

Green bolts.

Crucified to a wall.

Panting.

Chest cramped by metal shackles.

Shrunken inside a slab.

Wandering bodies.

Panting.

"Ready to juice 'em……"

More green bolts.

A twinge.

A spark of pain.

Gasping.

The man's face slides into view.

Computer equipment and black wires forming a halo.

The forbidden laboratory.

Darkness and darkness.

Panting.

The man grins.

"All good to go, sir!"

"Let's see what more you've got inside of you…little freak."

The green bolts flash upwards.

Tensing muscles.

Banging around inside the slab.

White hot pain.

Everything turns green.

Emerald fire.

Gasping…twitching…

"Yes…"

Writhing…burning…

"Yes………"

A cry for Mommy and Daddy.

Emptiness.

A dark nub of green pain.

Alone in the universe.

The bolts rise.

The man's grin glints.

"Show me that anger of yours………show it all to me……"

The boy screamed.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"!!!!!"

Nova'm woke up with a jerk. He was sweating all over. But there was more than sweat coating him. He was wet from top down. Like just coming out of the shower. Soft pitter patters echoed around him.

As he came down from the dream's waves, he breathed easier and easier. He hugged himself…flexing arms that were once skewered. Curling a chest that was once electrified. Bit a lip that had once opened wide in a howl.

Trembling, Nova'm looked around with weak eyes.

He was against a rock wall. Shading him like an umbrella was the root structure of an ancient tree. It was hoisted up a meter and a half above the earth where the soil was once higher against the mountain. Rain and crumbling rock had eroded the dirt away, but the tree remained. Like a cross section. The bulk of the trunk hugged the rockface and shadowed Nova'm completely.

Protected him from the soft rain.

Nova'm sniffed. But he wasn't cold. Actually, he was surprised he hadn't caught a bug or something. The last thing he remembered was sobbing in Starfire's arms. Yes…he was able and willing to remember that. He was trying to figure out what happened since then. And why he was so warm.

He gasped.

He was burning. But not like the burning Booker had subjected him to. Rather…it was a burning deep inside. A wholesome warmth.

Nova'm shuffled about on his knees, craned his fair head, and looked out at the forest.

He blinked.

He glanced up.

Sitting up above on a branch jutting out of the very same tree shading him was Starfire. Her feminine legs dangled and her casually dressed body leaned against the trunk as she smiled and looked off into the drizzling forest.

And she was singing…

"Jiiiruhh lekor-sanaah. Hablorkin-swaye laney-ruh. Tam'ran nu X'Hal de-blork-sinaah. Enflaven da ren may-ruh…"

Nova'm listened silently, his lips parting in an unconfessed wonder.

Starfire's voice joyfully drifted through the pines in the softest of breaths. She was like a red songbird, descended from the blue threshold of the sky and constellated together by pinprick strobes of a world unknown to him. And yet…burning all at once in his heart.

It pulsed with each note that drifted out of her.

"Yur. Yur. Yur-clay bragah. Vega nu X'Hal de-fleecee. Dri. Dri. Dri-Flyn senthar. Dri-Flyn senthar da ren kai-ruh."

Her voice lingered…was swallowed into silence.

A wet strand of hair or two dangled as she slowly turned her head, looked down, and smiled at the boy.

"It is a beautiful day for the sky to cry…," she said.

"The song," Nova'm blinked. "What does it mean?"

Starfire giggled. She said: 'It is a beautiful day for the sky to cry!'"

Nova'm blushed. "Oh. I didn't understand a word of it."

"Did your heart burn when I sang it?" she asked.

"…….," he nodded. "Yes…..I-I guess it did…."

Starfire leaned against the tree while on the branch and looked out into the wet wilderness. "There are….few things on this planet called Earth that reminds me of Tamaran. I suppose it is a blessing. I eagerly embrace every opportunity that I find to be reminded of who I am. And where I am from."

Nova'm hugged himself and looked at the ground. "I envy you…"

Starfire made a mock look of surprise and grinned down at him. "Oh do you, now?"

He was silent.

She jumped off the tree and effortlessly drifted down till she stood up above him.

"I could have sworn you were far too distrusting of what information of my culture I had to offer you!"

"I…..I-I don't know anymore…," he blushed.

She smiled. She knelt down and softly spoke to him: "I do believe that is the most honest statement I have heard uttered from you yet."

He looked at her. "Why are you doing this?"

"Hmmm?" she leaned her head to the side innocently.

"Why are you here? Why are you trying to teach me things?"

She grinned. "Why do your parents take care of you?"

He thought for a while. Then he said: "Um….b-because they love me?"

"Love is something that translates itself in so many different boundaries," she spoke. "On Tamaran…there are at least twenty-seven distinct categories of 'love'. And if you must know…at least three of them I have attributed to you."

He bit his lip. "R-Really?"

She nodded. "Mmmhmmm. Honor…Respect…and….," she lingered. She giggled softly, "…siblinghood."

He looked at her funny.

She reached over and cupped his chin. "You remind me so much of my younger brother. He is only seven harvests old. He lives back on Tamaran with my mother and father. They cherish him dearly now that both I and my sister have taken our trips through the galaxy, and thus are absent." She squinted her green eyes and smiled, amused. "Howbeit…my brother certainly grows his hair long and red like all Tamaranian boys. And—I must admit—you hurl a starbolt with far greater magnitude than he has ever attempted!"

Nova'm felt something slip…and he smiled.

"If you would only see yourself now…," Starfire murmured. "Your joy. It is slipping through. I can sense it."

Nova'm sighed at that and looked away. He hugged himself and stammered: "Joy is only temporary. Tomorrow comes with Booker and his creeps always saying bad things to Mom and Dad. And then…th-they could take me in again…"

"You are afraid?" she asked.

He nodded. "I am….," he clenched his eyes closed as he admitted breathily. "I am afraid."

She laid a hand on his shoulder. "Tamaranians know fear as much as joy, Nova'm. Sometimes….the emotions are interchangeable. I b-believe it is liken unto the cyclic nature of the Oriental Yenna and Yangtze."

"Yin and Yang…," Nova'm corrected her. He was suddenly smirking again.

"See!" Starfire pointed. She giggled explosively. "Joy and fear! Interchangeable! The Tamaranian psyche is not so impossible to grasp, inasmuch as you realize that Tamaranians are just as paradoxical as humans!"

"I don't know any Tamaranians…," he mumbled.

"Do you know yourself?"

He was silent.

She thought aloud. "Hmmm….well, do you know me?"

He looked at her. He blinked. "Kor….Kori….K—"

"Koriand'r," Starfire nodded with a smile. "Koriand'r daughter of Myand'r and Luand'r."

Nova'm blinked. "Are Tamaranian names always so goofy?"

She chuckled. "Only if you think about them so heavily. Your name is Tamaranian. You know that, right?"

He glanced at the drizzle coming down through the pine. "I always knew it was freakish…"

The smile left Starfire's face. "Nova'm…I wish you would not—"

"Sorry…," he shuddered and looked off. "I'm just….I-I…….s-sorry…."

A beat.

Starfire closed her eyes. "I am full of sorrow, Nova'm. I am full of sorrow for you. To think…to imagine…that all your life you have been separated from your own people. And on top of that…you have been forced to think so lowly of yourself…."

"I believe you…," he said.

She opened her eyes. "You do?"

He looked at her. He pointed at his chest. "I can feel it. I don't know how….but I can. Wh-When you feel sorry for me…"

She leaned her head to the side. "Then do you feel it when I am happy for you? Or when I am concerned for you?"

"Maybe…."

"Maybe??"

"What difference does it make?" he grunted, stood up, and paced over to the rock wall. "All that burning and stuff….that green energy….it's evil."

"No! It is not!" she exclaimed. "Whatever would make you—"

"You don't know what Booker has done with it…," Nova'm glared.

"…..," Starfire blinked. She stood up over him. "Nova'm….what has that monster done to you?"

He hugged himself.

She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Nova'm? Has he hurt you?"

He trembled. "I only hurt myself. He makes me angry. When he makes me angry….that stuff burns inside of me and…and…."

"Yes?"

"It hurts," he bit his lip. His green eyes watered. "It hurts me….and s-someday…it will hurt others."

"Nova'm…."

He spun around, frowning. "It's a hidden evil!! Inside of me! A hidden evil!! Booker's got it now! He keeps getting it!! Every time he captures me! I'm such a freak! I should just die and rid the world of the evil energy he keeps gathering!"

Starfire gasped. "No! No, Nova'm! You must not wish for death!"

"Why not?!"

"It is one of the gravest transgressions of Tamaranian being! Life has its joy, and life has its suffering. But life in and of itself is sacred and precious! As exalted as the nature of X'Hal herself! To wish for death is to malign the very sacredness hidden inside each and every one of us!!"

"Maybe for you!" Nova'm shook. "But I've been alone all my life, remember?! How does that make me Tamaranian?!"

She stood over and pressed a hand to his heart. "THIS is what makes you Tamaranian, Nova'm. This burning…it is not a hidden evil. It is a hidden sun….like the Vegan star of Tamaran nestled inside of you all along. It was most unfortunate that you were lost as you were. Forced to know nothing but yourself in this chaotic world called Earth. But this burning inside of you could not stay alone forever. It reached out…and I felt it. And the moment I saw you saving those children—I sensed it and I knew….I knew, Nova'm…you would not be alone anymore."

He bit his lip and shook his head. "I-I can't feel it! I can't feel this like you can! Is it because you're older! That you've been around more Tamaranians?! Why is it?!"

She smiled and held his shoulders. A wave of joy surged outward from her center and nestled itself in Nova'm's burning heart. The two were soon in a communion of gloriousness.

"It is not because I am older, Nova'm. Nor is it because I have lived my life around our own people. But rather…it is because I am free. Like you yourself are free. Only….you need to realize it."

He stared at her, jaw agape.

"Nova'm…," she winked a green eye. "Look at yourself…"

He blinked. He glanced down. "WHOAH!!"

The two of them were well over fifteen feet in the air. Floating together. A green aura about their figures. The wave of joy Starfire had summoned filled them both while she was talking, and a sense of boundless confidence defied gravity in pure Tamaranian fashion.

Nova'm instinctively clutched ahold of her in a death-grip hug.

She chuckled merrily and pushed him back. "I am not the only one flying, Nova'm. You are."

"But….B-But…."

"Relax," she pushed him off.

"AACK!!"

He flinched…drifted…and bumped into a tree in reverse. He gasped. His legs were dangling in mid air still. He felt as if an invisible wind was lifting him up. He hovered effortlessly. Panting. And—as horrified as he was—he didn't fall. He didn't collapse. Because suddenly the flight felt so….so….natural. He felt the burning intensify…and it crossed into every dangling limb he had.

Nova'm looked up at Starfire….flushed and shocked.

She grinned. "Embrace the joy, Nova'm….it is twelve earth years overdue."

The boy blinked at her. His face was blank…but slowly coming into fruition. He muttered: "Mom and Dad….," his voice was soft. Ever so slightly, his lips curled. "They were safe today…s-safe because you and the other Titan was there…"

"Very safe indeed," Starfire nodded.

"Booker…..you guys would have kicked his butt, wouldn't you?"

She giggled. "A good thrashing of the proverbial donkey!"

Nova'm suddenly laughed. A high-pitched, childish laugh that betrayed the man he was forcing himself to be. "And you….you talk funny!!"

Starfire planted her hands to her hips and performed a mock pout. "Now how is THAT something to be joyous about?!"

He laughed even more…hugging himself and twirling in mid air. He drifted to a stop with a long exhale. His green eyes bright and full of life. A smile on his face that could not come off.

"I….I feel like the stars are falling…."

"Here…," Starfire reached a hand over. "Let me show you how to raise them up again…"

He smiled and gently hooked his fingers around hers.

She lifted up into the air…and he followed behind her like a cape.

In a glorious fashion, Starfire weaved them through the drizzle of rain, around bodies of pine trees, up and over branches, and down low to scour the foot of the mountain. It was a gentle drifting, not that of a rollercoaster. But Nova'm was nonetheless thrilled. His free hand floated out like a wing. An angel rediscovering himself. And Starfire reveled in the moment. In giving salvation to a relic of her people and lore.

But Nova'm was not a prince in her eyes. Not anymore. He was something of another plane. Something destined for only her to explore.

She spun the two of them up to the top of the forest canopy and drifted into a 'standing' position in mid air.

Nova'm caught his breath and chuckled. He clung onto Starfire as the girl Titan smiled at him and said:

"I wish to give you my word, Nova'm…"

"Y-Yes, Koriand'r?"

"No matter what happens…no matter how frightening this world may be…," she narrowed her eyes. "I will protect you. I feel it is my duty. I feel it is my place. You are far too precious to drop like the stars and rain. I will do all in my power to assure you of that…"

He nodded. "I-I believe you….I-I really do…."

A beat.

He swallowed and hid his face in her shoulder. His voice was shaking. "Th-Thank you…Koriand'r…."

She smiled. "If you like…..you can call me 'sister'."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Cyborg and Robin stepped into the top-covered T-Car. Rain pitter-pattered against the titanium body and glass windows. With a computer chip, Cyborg turned the computer system of the vehicle on. He kept the motor off. The a/c unit switched on and diminished the warm air of incubated summer vehicle gradually.

"So….you're trying to tell me that those creepy men with the badges from the other day were phonies?" Cyborg exclaimed.

"I'm not looking for phonies…," Robin muttered, shelving the circular disk with Booker's voice in a motorized drawer popping out of the dashboard. "It's villains I'm looking for."

"We're a long way from prison, man."

"So are these creeps," Robin's eyemask thinned as he pushed the drawer closed. "And that's what bothers me."

"You think they were ever legit?"

"Most probably," the Boy Wonder nodded as the computer started to analyze the voice of Booker. Running a match in the T-Car's portable database for a match. An identity. A background. "Unless the FBI got super corrupt since the last time I checked, these people changed somehow."

"When was the last time 'you checked'?" Cyborg asked with a curious human eye.

"Back with the Bat."

"Ahhh…back with the Bat."

"Yup, back with the Bat."

"I like the sound of that. Sounds like a sitcom—"

"Did you patch a call through to the Tower?"

"…….ahem. Yes I did, your stiffulness."

"Good," Robin flipped a switch and a screen popped open on a dashboard. It flickered blue and hummed to life. "This is Robin calling the Tower. Has anyone responded yet?"

"Snkkkkktttkkkt!!!---llo? Hello? Robin? That you, man?"

"Speedy??"

A redheaded face with eyemasks appeared on the screen…smirking.

"Hey there, BW. Wanna check on your pets or something? I got news for you, man. You took Beast Boy with you!"

"This is serious, Speedy…."

"It always is with you."

"I'm gonna send you a network transmission from the T-Car's computer. I want you to patch it through the mainframe of the Tower."

"What are we cooking up, exactly?"

"A search in the vocal audio archives."

"Whatsit?"

"Doing a crosscheck on a voice I recorded."

"Ahhhhh. Ya know, Robin, isn't it simple to just put a glass to your ear and lean against the hotel wall wherever you're staying?"

"It's a long story," Robin shook his head. "From what it looks like, though, a bunch of people are threatening this local family in North Carolina. They claim to be FBI agents…but something's fishy. And I mean Japanese fishing boat fishy."

"That's weak, man. Hopefully the computer will come up with something. How'd you follow this one up? Aren't you supposed to be vacationing your butt off?"

"Starfire met this boy….and we both think he's Tamaranian."

"And lemme guess…this intrigues these FBI guys…"

"Like a fetish."

"Ha ha ha! No shit!"

There was a voice on the other side of the communication frequency that sounded distinctly like Green Arrow angrily uttering: "Ward! Watch your tongue before I skewer it with an arrow!"

"All right! All right! Please! Not the soap arrowhead!!" Speedy shook his head on the viewscreen. "Sheesh……superheroes…they act as if the world owes them something……"

"Did you get the signal yet?"

"Already processing, BW. Hold onto your cape for a few seconds, k?"

Cyborg leaned in, smiling: "Speedy! 'Sup, dawg?"

"Hey, if it isn't everyone's favorite clunker?!"

"How's the City doing?"

"Yeah….good question," Robin managed to smirk.

"Ohhh……ya know…," Speedy's figure shrugged. "One bank robbery…runaway Greyhound bus……a burning building. Absolute cakewalk."

"Glad to hear that," Robin said.

"You lookin' over our stuff allright?" Cyborg interjected.

"Yup!" Speedy smirked. "Everything in ship shape……shape. All the way down to your lingerie collection, Cyborg."

Cyborg blinked. "But I don't have a lingerie collection….."

"Oh……fancy that. Ah well. Must be Starfire's then."

Robin's eyemask bulged.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Got you there!!"

Robin slumped back in his seat…panting.

Cyborg was lauthing though.

"You're evil, man."

"Yeah, I know. No worries. Only lingerie collection I've touched is mine--OH! Hey! Computer analysis is done!"

"Let's see it," Robin leaned forward.

"From the City…Live! It's Audio Archive Night!"

-click-

Speedy's face on the screen was replaced by a file that popped up. Booker's face unmistakably flashed before the two in the T-Car.

"Looks like we got a match," Cyborg said. A beat. "And I think our match takes steroids."

"You mean you didn't see him when he took his shades off and talked to us yesterday?" Robin asked.

"No man…I was too busy basking in the warmth of a Wal-Mart parking lot—WHAT DO YOU THINK?!"

Robin shook his head, squinted his eyemask, and read through the file. "Interesting…."

"I would hope so!"

"You still there, Speedy?"

"Sure thing, Cy. Got nothing to do here. How do you guys stop from going insane?"

Green Arrow's voice uttered in the background: "I've been looking for the poker chips and beer bottles all week! No luck!"

"Yeah! Ha ha!"

"Shh!" Robin hissed. "I think I found something interesting."

"Well…," Cyborg rolled his human eye. "Let us know—why don'tcha?"

"Yeah…we're all ears, since you hid my face—dammit!"

"Ward!!"

"What?! I said 'cram it'!"

"You certainly did not, young man! Besides, that is still just as rau—"

Cyborg flipped the comms switch.

"Thanks…," Robin mumbled.

"No problem."

"Says here…," Robin pointed with an ungloved hand at the contents on the screen, "…Booker's been in the bureau for….for…." Robin paused. "Um….fifteen years."

"So he IS on steroids!" Cyborg remarked. "Or maybe T-Cell research."

"Moving on….," Robin mumbled and scanned down the document. "His areas of work are classified…but he once took residence in Cocoa Beach, Florida."

"Near Cape Canaveral," Cyborg nodded. "NASA."

"He moved up into the Great Leaks Region and went on trips all throughout the neighboring states. Indiana. Wisconsin. Ohio…." A beat. "That's where the Sandersons lived."

"The who?" Cyborg blinked. "Oh right…the foster parents to Starfire's 'kid'."

"They said that they came with Nova'm here to North Carolina…," Robin's voice uttered, "…cuz Booker was on their backs. But Booker followed them, and he's been plaguing them ever since."

"What does the file say about that?"

"It cuts off with Booker's stationing in the Great Lakes Region," Robin said. "But there's something to note here."

"That is?"

"Booker was demoted by the local bureau because of his investigations losing key evidence and valuable materials pertaining to the research at hand."

"What kind of research?"

"Again, classified. But there're incidents in Booker's travels that key in with his demerits."

"Where at?"

"One, a LexCorp warehouse and merchandising district in upper Indiana. Two, a Powers industrial plant in Illinois. And third, he received a reprimand for an unscheduled investigation of a computer software corporate office back in Indiana."

"Sounds like a lot of high-tech blunders," Cyborg blinked. "Okay…so the guy was a klutz. And he did stupid stuff around techhy places around the Great Lakes. What's that mean?"

"No clue…," Robin scratched his chin. "We obviously know he wasn't a snow white kind of guy in the past much like how he's a jerk in the present. But the profile simply doesn't provide enough information to key in…..well…anything."

"The FBI will do that," Cyborg nodded. "Or at least a 'jerk' like him would. You think he had his info blocked? Falsified?"

"Who doesn't nowadays?" Robin sighed and leaned back in his seat. "It's becoming tough to be a detective in an age when information is everywhere."

"Makes you thankful for the lighthearted oafs in this world who don't give a darn, huh?"

-clunk-

A rear passenger door of the T-Car opened and a rain-spotted elf slid in.

Cyborg smirked and turned around. "Speaking of the green devil…"

"Hey!" Beast Boy closed the door behind him and situated himself in the back, shaking the rain water out of his hair. "You lovebirds run out of gas or something?"

"Nah, man. Just doing a computer scan via network with the Tower."

"Oooh! Really? Is Speedy there? Ask him if my latest issue of Justice Leage Chicks quarterly is in!"

"You still collect that stuff??"

"Dude! It's all clean! It's not like the photographers can catch Hawkgirl in anything less than her beak—"

"Um….Beast Boy?" Robin sweatdropped. "We're kinda busy."

"Nuts to you, you are! This is our vacation, dude!"

"Something came up with that kid Starfire met yesterday."

"It's a long story," Cyborg winked.

"Yeah, whatever," Beast Boy rolled his eyes. "Have any of you seen Noir?"

"Nope," Cyborg shook his head. "Haven't seen Raven either—"

"Who cares about her?! I'm talking about Noir!"

"No show, man."

"Ah well….," Beast Boy shrugged. "He owes me a game of UNO."

"We should all do that one night before we take off westward."

"Oh!" Beast Boy reached into his back pocket. "This thing's been beeping like crazy…."

"What thing?" Robin gave him a sideways glance.

Beast Boy held up a Titan communicator. "It was on your cot. I can't get the dang thing to shut up."

Robin blinked under his mask. He craned an ear to the beeping noises. "It…..It sounds like morse code?"

"Yeah…," Cyborg nodded. "But who—"

"Noir!" Robin gasped. "But….what's he up to?"

"Have fun, man…," Beast Boy tossed him the communicator. "It's all Greek to me. Greek beeping."

Robin eagerly caught the device and held it up to his ear. He translated the beepings in his head and made out a steady string of dialogue…

'---T-I-N-U-I-N-G—T-O—I-N-V-E-S-T-I-G-A-T-E ---- T-H-E-R-E—S-E-E-M-S—T-O—B-E—A — L-A-B-O-R-A-T-O-R-Y—D-O-O-R—I-N—T-H-E—B-A-S-E-M-E-N-T — F-L-O-O-R—O-F—T-H-E—B-U-I-L-D-I-N-G—"

"What's he saying?" Beast Boy munched from a bag of peanuts he magically had.

"He's….in a building somewhere," Robin blinked. "What the heck?!" He looked at Cyborg. "Did he tell you he was goin' on some sort of mission or something?"

Cyborg shrugged.

The beeping continued.

'---B-O-O-K-E-R—I-S—M-A-K-I-N-G—S-O-M-E—S-O-R-T—O-F—R-O-U-N-D-S --- I—N-E-E-D—H-I-M—T-O— O-P-E-N—T-H-E—L-A-B—W-I-T-H—H-I-S—C-A-R-D—'

"He's trailing Booker!" Robin gasped.

"Man! How's he ahead of us?!" Cyborg rubbed the human part of his skull and shrugged.

Robin shook his head. "I have no clue!"

"Dude…quiet guys always do the most thinking," Beast Boy said, his mouth full of cashews.

"Gonna say something back to him?"

"Good idea," Robin nodded and began fingering his end of the receiver with a morse code response.

"How about….'get some toilet paper on the way home'?" Beast Boy asked.

"I'm asking him what the hell he's up to!" Robin exclaimed.

'---W-H-A-T—T-H-E—H-E-L-L—A-R-E—Y-O-U—U-P—T-O---'

Robin waited.

A beat.

A beep.

'---S-T-A-N-D—B-Y—'

"Dang it…," Robin muttered.

"What is it?" Beast Boy asked.

"I have no idea…," the Boy Wonder shook his head. "No idea whatsoever….

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

I stood in the shadows.

In stealth mode.

I looked down the gritty, marble hallway of the basement floor.

My metal left fingers clicked together—sending an electronic signal up my prosthetic to a built in communicator Cyborg had made for me. In such a fashion, I silently sent my morse code report to Robin.

My right hand gripped tightly to Myrkblade. Smoke danced out from under my shades, covered my body, and masked me against the dark marble behind.

Echoes of footsteps filtered down the hallway as the lone shadow of Booker shuffled towards a huge pair of bolted doors. There was a console in the wall besides the stretching frame. He pulled out a keycard tied around his neck and slid it through the console.

There was a beeping…then a snapping…and finally a hissing as the doors yawned open. Booker stumbled alone into the enclosed laboratory beyond.

My black eyes narrowed.

I slinked forward in stealth mode. Just as the doors were closing, I teleported through the thin passageway and solidified in the shadows on the other side.

I held tight to Myrkblade and got a good look around.

The lights were dim. A person could barely see Booker…no more than he could possibly see me.

I lowered my shades. With naked eyes of obsidian I glared around at the interior. There were wires strewn all across the walls. Computer consoles galore lined the sides. There was a desk in the middle, flanked by two medical beds. And then—across the way—next to a metal locker strangely wired…was a space built into the marble of the wall. The space was lined with metal. And it had opened braces positioned in a 'cross' as if they were meant to hold someone inside.

I narrowed my eyes. I snuck along the wall, looking everywhere for Booker.

No sign.

I glanced at a computer console that I passed.

Across a table full of numerical schematics, a browser window read: 'Level of Energy Intake'.

I passed another console: 'Heat Escalation Factor'.

And another: 'Alien Residual Breakdown'.

I reached the body-shaped space in the wall. There was a myriad of wires strung in and out of it. I leaned my head in and looked at the metal braces. They were stained green.

"….."

I followed the wires. They strung from the body-shaped space in the wall to a set of metal lockers.

The doors to the lockers were hanging open.

I slid over and peered inside.

There were hooks and attachments for suspending something the size of a human being inside. But whatever was supposed to be secured inside the compartment….it was missing.

Suddenly…

FLASH!!

A green strobe of light. I saw my shadow cast upon the locker's body before me.

My black eyes blinked.

A starbolt???

WHAM!!!!

A superheated burst of energy struck me in the back.

I slammed hard into the wall.

THUD!!

I winced.

I teleported and solidified so that I was facing the center of the room.

I twirled Myrkblade at ready--

FLASH!!

My black eyes bulged.

I dove to the side, swinging Myrkblade and deflecting an incoming projectile of heated green at the last second.

I landed, rolled, and knelt to a stop.

CHTUNG!!!

The overhead lights flashed on.

I winced as a hot whiteness ate through my shades.

A figure bled into agonizing focus on the other side of the lab. A figure whose limbs were strangely enveloped in metal brace cobwebs, the joints fastened by glowing half-spheres of green. A breastplate housed a translucent dome of emerald. As Booker smirked at me, he aimed two glowing arms and spoke:

"Don't move another inch, punk…"

I frowned at him.

"You're a bigger moron than you think by walking in here without expecting the sensors to detect your invisible ass!" he thinned his suspiciously youthful eyes and thought aloud: "I know you….You're the one that trails smoke and fights with a sword. What's your moniker? 'Norse'? 'Nerd'?"

I slowly stood up, gripping Myrkblade in the standoff.

"You're good…," Booker said. "Or so I hear. But quite inferior amongst the other Titans. Such as Raven…Cyborg….and especially the redheaded freak girl. What's so special about her? Oh yeah…she melts stuff with flying softballs of green shit! HA!!!"

FLASH!!!!

Two starbolts flew at me.

I gasped and dove to the side.

He flung his wrists again and again, the green bulbs of his metal braces unleashing energy in blinding pulses.

FLASH!! FLASH!!

Holes formed in the wall, a computer monitor, and an office chair.

I leapt over the desk in the center, slid across the room, twirled Myrkblade to deflect a starbolt, and charged at him.

"No SIR!!!" Booker growled and extended both hands to the ceiling.

A circle of green power rose around him. It acted as a tense shield of emerald fury as I dove in with my jabbing blade.

CLANK!!!

Myrkblade was deflected back. I flipped from the impact, landed in another slide, and crouched into a ready position.

"Heheheheheh….," Booker grinned. "Like my toy? Well my toy likes YOU!!"

FLASH!!!

A huge starbolt.

I held Myrkblade up vertically. The green energy struck my wooden sword hard and exploded. Trails of emerald fire streaked around me.

I sweat.

"And to think this prototype isn't even complete yet," he scoffed. Pacing before me. "Just a final tweaking is all it needs. Then I'll have constructed a force to be reckoned with…not to mention a force to be paid mightily for."

I eyed him…I eyed the door…I eyed him again.

"I'll admit…the FBI was an amusing experience…," Booker said. "Taught me about all manners of national evils….and—ironically enough—how easy it is to be one of those national evils. Quite frankly, the government isn't a strong enough mountain for me to stand on. I need a fresh new pile. A green one at that." He winked. "Nice, bright, freakin' GREEN!!"

He aimed his wrists at me.

I blurred…

FLASH!!!!

The computer that was behind me exploded.

I rushed over towards the door, twirled Myrkblade, and slammed the hilt into it.

CLANK!!

HISS!!!

The doors slid open.

"Leaving so soon?" Booker smirked. He stomped over on metal-braced legs and lifted two glowing hands overhead. "At least grant me the chance to give you a LIGHT!!! RAAAUGH!!"

FLASH!!!!!

I dove out into the hallway as the air boiled behind me.

Bits and pieces of marble showered down on my figure as I hugged the floor.

I shook it all off, took a breath, and leapt up to my feet. I heard Booker clanking after me.

The hallway glowed brightly at my heels.

I gave him a run to remember…

FLASH!!!

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

At the front of the Titans' cabin, Robin and Beast Boy and Cyborg casually stood about. The rain had let up. A gray sky circled above the trees and mountainside overhead. Robin stared at the communicator in his head. Beast Boy finished up his nuts.

"How long's it been now?" the green elf asked with a mouthful.

"Fifteen minutes….," Cyborg said. "Almost exactly."

"I hope he knows what he's doing…," Robin muttered. He repeated his morse code plea for response for the eighth time. "Cuz I have no idea."

"It might explain why he keeps going on those walks of his…," Cyborg said. "He was on the trail of something."

"Or perhaps just insomnia?" Beast Boy uttered.

"What do you know, man?" Cyborg retorted. "You've been sleeping like a brick!"

"A very handsome, sexy brick!"

"Rrgggghhh…"

Suddenly, the communicator beeped.

Robin did a double-take. "H-He's responding!"

Beast Boy and Cyborg jumped over. "What's he saying?"

"Shhh…," Robin listened.

'---G-E-T—B-A-C-K—T-O—Y-O-U—I-N—A—M-I-N-U-T-E—'

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

SMASH!!!!!

I jumped through a rear window of the building, sailed down to the ground, and blurred off in a hurry.

Booker leapt out behind me. The metal braces surrounding his legs cushioned his fall with an aura of green power.

"Darn kids!! HA HA HA HA!!" he fixed two wrists together and shot.

FLASH!!!!!

A starbolt ate its way at my back.

I streaked to the right and cut my way through a chainlink fence surrounding a lumberyard on the outskirts of Asheville.

Piles of wood, hacked up pine, and mulch were scattered across a stony field of dirt and pebbles around me.

I had no time for sight-seeing, Booker was soon on my ass.

"RRAUGH!!"

FLASH!!!

Splinters exploded as a starbolt flew into a pile of wood to my left.

I hacked through the sailing debris. I stumbled over a piece of lumber or two and slid out into an open area of dirt.

Booker ran, jumped, landed on a pile of logs, and aimed down at me.

"Knock on this!!!"

FLASH!!!!

I braced myself.

The starbolt landed at my feet.

POW!!!!

I flew back, slammed into a tall stack of lumber, and stumbled to the ground.

I winced from pain all over.

SLUMP!! Booker's metal braced legs landed hard in the dirt.

He clenched glowing fists of green while glaring down at me. "The Titans….each and every one of you…you're nothing but annoying splinters in the skin of some great, giant beast. A monster that runs underground on a hidden stream of criminal power. A crooked system that our worthless government tried to overcome instead of doing the wise thing by emulating it. Now look at the way things are! We have extraterrestrial freaks running all over the place! And it's not like the FBI could let me deal with them as I saw fit when I was with them! Oh no…it's because of a weak-minded society that galactic infidels are allowed into our atmosphere. Look at you, punk!! With those onyx peepers and 'fart powers'….god, you're as ugly and pathetic as the kid who juiced up the suit I'm pummeling you with now!"

I glared up at him, my teeth clenching and body aching.

Robin's morse code vibrated through my metal hand.

'---N-O-I-R—R-E-P-O-R-T—'

I took a deep breath.

"I must thank you, freak," Booker grinned wide as he flicked his wrists at me. "Thank you for this test run. I'll be sure to give the Titans a touching eulogy for when they face me to avenge your death. Let's see….ahem….'Dear Titans. He was a moron. The end.'"

He charged up a final starbolt.

I gulped.

'---N-O-I-R—W-H-E-R-E—A-R-E—Y-O-U—'

I bit my lip, flung my metal hand to the side, and swiftly clicked a reply.

FLASH!!!

But I was cut short as Booker launched a starbolt.

WHAM!!!

I was slammed back against a pile of lumber…which swiftly collapsed in a torrent of wooden blocks that crushed and enveloped me.

CRUMBLE!!!!!!

Silence….

Booker smiled. He blew the smoke from his metal-braced arms.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"What's he saying?" Beast Boy hopped up behind Robin's shoulder. "Huh?? Huh??"

Robin blinked under his eyemask.

'---B-O-O-K-E-R—H-A-S—B-O-Y-S—S-T-A-R-B-O---------------'

Silence.

Robin looked up. "He's….in trouble…."

The others stared at him.

All three were oblivious to a black pickup truck cruising down the asphalt road…

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

One of the associates stared out the passenger's side window.

The driver hissed: "They notice us??"

"No," the other shook his head. "They seem completely preoccupied with something."

"LOOK!" the third in the back seat jumped up and pointed out the windshield. "Dead ahead!!"

The driver craned his neck.

He grinned evilly. "Just our luck…"

The one in the passenger's seat nodded, pulled out a radio communicator, and spoke into it: "Booker….come in!"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Booker stood proudly in front of a smoking pile of lumber.

He smiled.

"Booker! Come in, sir!!"

He brought the metal wrist of his brace to his mouth. "This is Booker. What do you have to report?"

"We spotted the alien!!"

"Nova'm??"

"With the girl!! They're walking towards the center of the cottage! They came out of the forest, I think!!"

"Are the other Titans nearby?"

"No, sir. They're several blocks down."

"Take 'em," Booker sneered. "Try and be swift about it. I don't want the heat on our asses just yet. We need the boy one last time, you got it?"

"Roger that, sir. Over and out."

Booker lowered his wrist. He smirked.

"Well…looks like the clock is winding in fast forward," he spoke to the collapsed lumber. "See you on judgment day, Mr. Corpse. When the streets of Hell are paved for me in gold!"

He flicked both wrists out….launched a starbolt…and enflamed the lumber in blazing fire.

PHWOOOOMB!!!

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Booker says 'green light'," the man in the front passenger's seat said.

"We heard him, dumbass."

"Heheheheh."

The man in the back unzipped a canvass bag and pulled out a silver laser rifle. "Gotta thank Lexcorp for this sucker!!"

"This is gonna be fast," the driver said. "I stop the car. You aim. And you…you run out and grab the kid."

"Who do I shoot?"

"The girl, of course!! Save the stun for the little freak if you have to. He needs to be alive…at least until the final experiment is complete."

"Let's do this…."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Are your friends as nice as you are?" Nova'm asked pleasantly as he and Starfire strolled side-by-side down the asphalt road of the cottage.

"I should certainly believe so!" Starfire smiled. "And do not worry. Once we are with my friends, we will grant you asylum until word of Booker's treachery is spread around. You shall be free at last, Nova'm. I promise you that."

"I-I look forward to that…," he smiled gently.

"And I look forward…," Starfire breathed, "…to telling my people that I have found their most precious treasure. Their most precious treasure in ages."

Nova'm blushed.

The girl titan giggled.

"I….I-I wonder what my Mom and Dad would say…"

"About what?"

"M-My being a long lost p-prince and all that…."

"Oh, but you've always been a prince in their eyes, I am sure!" Starfire winked. "Their prince."

Suddenly, a black pickup truck skidded to a stop in front of them.

The two looked up.

Nova'm gasped.

Two doors on their side flew open.

A man in the front stepped aside.

A man in the back lifted a laser rifle. He aimed. "Say cheese, freak!!"

Starfire's eyes bulged.

ZAP!!!!!

A blue stream of energy flew from the rifle. It slashed the air apart and soared straight at Nova'm's chest.

The boy's jaw dropped.

"NO!!!" Starfire leapt in the way of the shot before the boy---

FLASH!!!!!!!

The sound of her voice was drastically and utterly severed. She flew off ten feet and tumbled like a pile of smoking meat across the side of the road with a spray of dirt and leaves.

"KORIAND'R!!!" Nova'm shouted, his green eyes wide.

The man in front dashed over, grabbed Nova'm hard from behind, and dragged him towards the truck.

The twelve-year-old boy was kicking and shouting. Reaching futile little hands out towards the girl lying still. "Koriand'r!! Koriand'r!! Please!!"

SLAM!!!

SCREEEECH!!!

The car zoomed off.

Starfire was silent.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"How would you and the other Titans enjoy stopping by our place for a bite to eat?" Jared Feldman asked Raven as the two leisurely strolled down the pathway between the lines of cabins. "Susan—bless her heart—she actually prepares a decent dish of tuna noodle casserole which is moderately safe for the stomach lining!"

Raven chuckled lightly. Her lips were subtly curved. "That may be hard to do. Believe it or not, my companions and I do not have it easy when it comes to all agreeing on the same thing."

"Oh?"

"Yes," the dark girl nodded. "Many of the six of us are as different as night and day. It's a wonder that we ever team up to silence evil together."

"I suppose if you were all perfect…there'd be no evil to fight to begin with!"

"……that's an interesting way to think of it."

"But at least there must be SOMEONE in your troupe who's similar to you," Feldman smirked.

Raven's blue eyes trailed. "Well……"

"Am I right on?"

"More or less….it's just that he and I---"

"He?"

She nodded. "He and I…..well…..things can't be too similar."

"Why not?"

"Just like what you were getting to. An evil worth fighting against gets in the way."

"Does anyone let it?"

Raven was silent to that.

A few footsteps later, the girl saw something. She froze in mid-pace.

"What is it?" Feldman asked. His wrinkled face tilted up and his lips parted. "Holy shit…"

Raven breathlessly dashed over to the side of the road and knelt by Starfire's side. "Starfire!! Starfire, answer me! It's Raven!!"

She shook the Tamaranian's body. But she was still.

Raven bit her lip. "This isn't good." She turned the girl over. A large, black burnt mark was spread over the chest of the girl's shirt. Raven's blue eyes widened. "Definitely not good!!"

"I'll go get emergency help!" Feldman was about to spin around and dash towards the front entrance cabin where his phone was.

"Better yet….," Raven stammered. She reached into the pocket of her blue jeans and pulled out a communicator…

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"So what should we do??" Beast Boy asked with a shrug as he sat on the steps leading up to the Titans' cabin's stairs. "Go out looking for some underground laboratory and hope Noir's there?! We don't even know where 'there' is!! It could be clear across the state to the Virginia border or something!!"

Robin looked over. "Cyborg…can't you trace Noir by the sensor in his metal arm?"

"Uh….only when he has the sensor switched on," Cyborg replied. "I wasn't about to replace some traceable chip in his lost fleshly arm with a traceable chip in his fresh metal arm."

Robin sighed. "Sorry I even asked."

Suddenly, the communicator in Robin's grasp vibrated with Raven's voice that echoed outward in extreme intensity: "Robin!! Come to the top of the cottage!! Now!!"

"Why?? What's wrong??"

"It's Starfire!! She's hurt! Badly!!"

Beast Boy gasped and jumped up to his feet.

"Aw man….," Cyborg muttered. "Not good. Wasn't she with Nova'm---"

His voice trailed off as he realized Robin wasn't there anymore.

The Boy Wonder was already running halfway up the mountain side….