75. Kara's Visitor part 1
The teenage girl sat on a bench underneath the hanging gardens of the Temple.
A red-orange Sun shone dimly across the glittering waters of a crystal lake beyond the ravine. On gently swaying grass of pure emerald, families gathered and smiled and laughed amidst the lazy chatter of a holiday.
The girl looked up from a scroll she was reading. Her long, platinum blonde hair dancing majestically in the wind. She smiled across the way at her father and older brother. The two men were sitting on a blanket across the grass. Tossing stones into the crystal surface of the lake. Laughing and talking about the future.
The girl took a deep breath. She saw someone else and stood up.
Her mother walked down from performing her daily prayers at the Temple. With her golden hair pinned up in brass braids and a gemstone set inside her forehead, she was a symbol of power across the lands. Authority and wisdom. She looked at her daughter across the gardens…and smiled.
The girl sighed happily and started to walk towards her.
In invitation, the mother's arms unfolded.
FLASH!!!!
Everyone around the world gasped as if at once.
The mother's eyes widened. She spun and looked out across the waters.
The girl gasped. She looked at what her mother was staring at.
Just as her father and brother were starting to stand up…the girl saw what everyone was seeing.
A bright halo of fire forming against the edge of the sky. Green in the center and banding out in rings of bright, white hotness. For a second or two, the cataclysm faded…then dripped back into existence.
Winged creatures sprung out from their hiding places and migrated to the other hemisphere as a gentle wind started to build up into a tumultuous downdraft. Everyone shrieked and fought to keep their balance. The world was shaking. The sky was turning from its natural red to a sickening green.
The girl's eyes widened. She trembled and cried out the names of her parents and sibling.
But nobody could hear her. Nobody could hear anything.
For a great roar was engulfing the globe. And the atmosphere parted. And the crystal waters rose up in a fountain like the finger of some forsaken deity slicing into the earth and plowing its unfathomable way towards dry land. It was right at the time that the bedrock beneath the ocean was flying skward that the girl ran desperately towards her family…but was brutally knocked back by the planet itself.
And everything came crashing down on her.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Thirty-three years later….
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
I woke up early in the morning, though truthfully I had not really gone to sleep.
It's a torture when you have the complete urge to toss and turn but realize that doing so would bother the sleeping body of a bedmate next to you.
I looked boredly to my side, but Beast Boy was nowhere to be found. So, I lifted up the edge of the comforter…and there I found a green cat snuggling itself deep into the mattress. Its fuzzy tummy rose and fell slowly.
I had almost forgotten about that…
Slowly…gracefully…I slid myself across the bed, swung my legs over the edge, and dropped down to the floor. I tip-toed across the room. Looking aside, I saw Cyborg taking up most of the other bed and Robin somehow occupying the far edge. I wasn't sure how those boys accomplished the feat, but both were snoring pleasantly. I let them be as I walked over to my pile of clothes, grabbed jeans, a t-shirt, and a denim jacket, and filed off into the bathroom to shower and change.
When I came out—all dressed—I headed for the door. But I paused. Slowly, I turned and went back to the center of the boys' room. I picked up Myrkblade with its scabbard. I took off my jacket, slipped the scabbard onto my back, and put my jacket back on over it.
I was feeling adventurous…
This time, as I headed for the door, I glanced back subconsciously and caught sight of the girls' bedroom through the cracked door. There was a thin window in the atrium of the hotel room, and it shone enough light in during the wee morning hours that Starfire would feel safe. Somehow, the alien girl had forgotten to equip her favorite nightlight for the trip. Much to our chagrin…..and humor.
I got a piece of paper and wrote a note for the other Titans to read.
'Can't sleep. Going out for a bit. I have the communicator. Call me for whatever reason.'
'Noir'
I was lonely.
I placed the paper down on the tiny kitchen table and exited. As I had the door half open with my keys, I stopped. I looked back into the bedroom. I took a deep breath.
I could see Raven. But Raven could not see me. She was sleeping as still and as serene as an angel. And for once as in as many times ever, I couldn't figure out how she could ever house a demon.
I sighed.
She was alone…and she was beautiful that way.
And I felt so…so ugly.
I walked outside, closed the door behind me, and left the place in silence.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Before I met the Titans.
Even before I trained under the Master.
I was deeply in love with what I liked to call 'urban hiking'.
As the forests diminish, the sprawls of urban civilization grow. They are a new frontier. Something grandiose and unique. An organic formation of clustered buildings and exchanges—done by the hands of the most complex organisms we know. Ourselves.
I had no idea what Kansas City was like. And to an extent, I didn't even care. But something pulled me to just…set out on a road and go. And keep going. Not West. Not East. Not North or South. Just circles, zig-zags, broken lines. Anywhere that 'anywhere' took me. My feet ran my memories away.
Throughout the day, I trekked along busy roads. Sweated in the hot sun along the Missouri River. Stopped at a convenience store to grab something to drink. Stepped over into Missouri to have a look around downtown. Then swung south through a park into the Country Club Plaza where locals and tourists were enjoying the commercial sites in the early afternoon.
Not once did any of the Titans ring me through the communicator. I wondered if they were busy on their own or they actually considered that I desired to be alone.
Either way…I was relaxed. And I was thankful.
I was walking slowly through a courtyard of the Country Club Plaza. The mist from a nearby plaza cooled me down in the heat of August summer. I took a deep breath, sighed, and leaned against a nearby wall. In so doing, I felt Myrkblade's scabbard against my back. I smirked.
True…I was feeling adventurous. But that wasn't exactly why I smirked. Though it did figure in.
I smirked because I heard something from around the corner….
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Nobody move!!" a man in a ski mask shouted. He backed out of a clothing store with a canvass bag full of hastily grabbed money. With a gun, he forced everyone in proximity inside to stay on the floor with their hands over their heads. "The soonest someone screams or says something, I shoot!!" He panted….sweating. He backed out of the store altogether, spun around, and ran briskly down the courtyard.
People gasped and dashed away from his gun-toting figure as he streaked on by. In the distance, the sound of an alarm rang out in the store he had just abandoned.
He cursed under his breath, panted, and ran around a nearby corner.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Once in the courtyard, the frantic thief looked into the distant street bordering the shops and parking lot and caught sight of his three buddies and the getaway van waiting for him.
He gasped, smiled under his mask, and ran at full throttle--
YANK!!!
He tripped over a foot suddenly outstretched from the back side of a fountain.
"AAAh-"THWUMP!!! He collapsed chest first on the ground. He dropped both his gun and his bag.
I brought my leg back, whistled innocently, and literally walked over the grounded thug with my feet. In so doing one of my boots clamped hard over the outstretched hand of the thug…trying to reach his gun.
Crunch!!
"AAAGH!!" he exclaimed.
I shifted my weight and whacked him quickly in the side of his head with the same boot.
THWAP!!!
He moaned and lay silent.
I looked off towards the van.
The three in the getaway vehicle saw me, gasped, and hit the gas. The tires screeched to life as the vehicle lurched and began to speed away.
I stared calmly.
I looked down.
The man lay silent below me.
I knelt down. I undid his belt.
The van's engines revved and it soared down the street.
I reached to the man's head. I slid off his mask.
The van drove off, a throng of frightened people helplessly watching from the sidewalk.
I stood up. Whistled. Strung the belt through the breathing holes of the mask. Fastened it tightly.
The van was almost to a freeway.
I whirled the makeshift slingshot over my head, braced it with a smoking skin of destruction energy, and flung it for meters on end towards the distant vehicle.
SWOOOOOOSH-POW!!!
With Wyldecarde accuracy, the 'weapon' sunk deep into the rear tire of the van and shattered a part of the axle. The vehicle—already gunning it—careened out of control, ran off the road, over grass, and plowed hard into a fountain.
CRUNCH!!!!
The water drenched thugs inside were shocked into immobility.
The sounds of police sirens from the retail store's alarms rang through the district.
I smirked and stared at the handiwork, my hands on my hips.
Behind me, the groaning robber suddenly stood up, rubbed his skull, snarled, and whipped out a dagger to stab me in the back---
SWOOOSH-WHAM!!!
Without looking, I flung my fist up and smacked him in the face. He slumped down unconscious with a groan.
I swiveled about, headed for the edge of the courtyard, and disappeared with a puff of murk into stealth mode while onlookers around me gasped and muttered in awe.
In the corner of my vision—right as I turned invisible—I could have sworn I caught one pedestrian walking after me. She paused halfway towards the body of the criminal, but was looking in my direction. A flash of a long, brown ponytail, eyeglasses, and a red jacket.
And then she was gone and I was gone.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
I realized that there is one chief thing in life—besides my friends with the Titans—that keeps me occupied, distracted, and relatively 'happy'. And that's my ability to kick ass in multiple dimensions of the term. I liked to think that I was very chaste about my 'art'. In stopping the criminal at that shopping complex, I had not ONCE used the sword strapped to my back under my denim jacket. Everything was done with practicality and efficiency. I was in…and I was out. By that late afternoon, as I walked by electronics shops whose front rows of t.v.s were already telling news stories of the 'mysterious vigilante'. Most likely—if Beast Boy or Cyborg were tuning into the hotel's cable tv—the Titans would have known by then of my actions. And they would have seen the interviews with people that were relatively admirable. And they would have been happy with me…or at least I hoped.
Or maybe I didn't care. I was feeling good. I was the furthest west I had been in a year and I was feeling good about things.
To escape the heat, I stopped by a nearby Borders to cool down and check into good literature. And when I mean 'good literature', I mean that I made a bee-line for the manga section and picked out something amusing to read. Perhaps it was enlightening too. I don't remember, actually. All I know is that it had schoolgirls and katanas in it.
For a moment in the middle of my…..'reading'….I paused. I sat back and blinked through my black shades. The reading chair pushed the scabbard of Myrkblade into my back. Bangs of my long black hair waved lightly from an A/C Unit placed in the ceiling, directly over my head.
Sometimes, I find myself at a place or time when—if I pause—I forget how I got there.
I couldn't retrace my thoughts. I couldn't figure out who I was or where I was. It wasn't amnesia. It was something more akin to sleepiness. I knew there were important people in my lives. People who dressed funny and swung around between building tops at night to beat in the skulls of dangerous miscreants. But all of their faces had suddenly turned into photographs on cover stories. They were suddenly as alien to me as the mysterious individual at the Country Club Plaza who stopped a robber and his gang, beat them to unconsciousness, and walked off.
All I was at that very moment in time was a pair of jeans, shirt, and jacket resting around a body of meat in a chair with a manga in his lap. Everyone around me, reading, was blurring into a wall of statues. The music overhead disintegrated and became a low hum.
I hadn't had a single drop of Dr. Pepper that day. I had spent the hours doing the most real thing possible. Walking. Sweating in the sun. Smelling the Missouri River and crossing streets amidst a cloud of busy exhaust.
And I didn't feel any more real than I did the day before.
I had felt this way before. It always struck at random. Like déjà vu. I used to call it 'weariness in the head'. It happened a lot to me in my childhood. A sense of surrealism. Of blatant nonexistence. The sudden fear that the flickering home movie of my life would run out of film and I'd forever be strapped to the shadows of a dark, dark room in some abyss.
I sighed.
The last time I had felt this was shortly before Wyldecarde was born. And just like the other dramatic 'weariness' occurrences that took place in greater frequency during my time with the Titans than any time previous, I was possessed with one tempting thought.
To leave them. To go out on my own again. To run away.
I closed my eyes. I ran the hand over the book I had picked up. Over the pages. The paper. The texture.
I reopened my lids. I stared out through dark shades at the interior of Borders. The individual people. The blinding ceiling lights.
That was all real. And I was real.
With the annoying epiphany once again dashed to the side, I reconvened perusing the contents of the book.
I may have been a coward, but I wasn't going to leave the Titans. Not any time soon. Numb as I could be in angsty situations, even then I couldn't deny how much I needed them. And loved them. And depended on them for the remaining sanity in my head.
Vacations are silly things…
Twenty minutes later, I noticed something.
Rather…..someone…
A fair head. A fuzzy sphere of white flesh stabbing me in my peripheral vision at the corner of my shades.
I looked up.
I blinked.
Nothing.
Nobody.
A beat………
I shrugged it off, and returned to my book.
I wasn't really paying attention to the pages. My mind was wandering. I thought about Green Arrow and Speedy. I wondered if everything was going all right in the Tower and the City. I thought about Renee and Daniel. Their baby that they were expecting. Robert Glover…if I had formed a mortal enemy or an eternal ally with him or nothing at all. Ms. Cartwright and her success or failure in continuing the Westhaven Opera House. Sandy and her tenacity for all things that are. The Flash and if he washes those damn tights he's always wearing.
"……"
I blinked. I shook my head. I sighed.
A wandering mind can be a dangerous thing.
I refocused on the manga….and again was taken by surprise by something out of focus.
The same old face. The same old figure.
I looked up, my head tilting with a jerk.
There was a jolting. A wincing figure. I had caught her.
Her??
I blinked through my shades and tilted my head to the side. Staring.
There was a girl in an aisle of books. She had a thick hardback opened and seemed to be digging her nose into it. But it was quite obvious to all the powers in the universe that she was stealing a glance at me. With blue, spectacled eyes peering over the pages of the book. A pensive look to her face…not so much out of shyness as it was—I assumed—an expression of 'being caught'.
And that's when I noticed….
Brown hair. In a big ponytail running down her back. A pale complexion. A petite figure…yet not 'short'. Clothed in a red jacket and black jeans and a small, white t-shirt underneath.
My lips parted slightly.
It was the same girl from the Country Club Plaza. The same mysterious figure that seemed to know where I was even when I was invisible and exiting the scene.
As I stared, she pivoted innocently to the side and 'looked at her book' at an angle that didn't remotely contain my figure.
I blinked again.
Had she followed me?
I felt wyrd inside. But not so much out of anxiety…but just plain perplexity. Obviously, she had followed me. And she was still….keeping an eye on me. Being in the superhero business, it's only natural for me to expect all sorts and manners of secret evils at play in this world. But I didn't think she was spying on me for some malicious purpose. I just didn't…..get that 'vibe'. There was no natural way to explain it, but I had no reason to believe that she was wishing me wrong.
But whatever she was missing…..that perplexed me. I was filled with the sudden urge to find out. But I didn't seize the opportunity. I was still overcoming the perplexion.
I took careful notice of the fact that the book in the brown-haired-girl's hands had its cover positioned upside down….
I smirked.
And it was at approximately that time—and no later—that the pickup truck drove through the front glass windows of the Borders.
SMASH!!!!!!!
Glass flew.
People screamed.
Rows of magazine stands exploded as bodies scurried out of the way.
I gasped and looked up from my seat.
SCREEEEEEEEECH!!!!!
A white, battered pickup truck was barreling down on me…smashing through book stands and advertisement displays.
I dropped the manga, held my breath, and dove forward.
CRASH!!!
The sofa I was sitting on was batted away into debris behind me.
The tires mangled the manga to pieces as the vehicle spun to a stop in the center of the store.
Almost immediately, four masked thugs jumped out. Their faces were hidden in helmets with glossed-over visors. They held huge, silver rifles and were taking aim at everything and nothing in particular.
ZAP!!!!
ZAP!!!!
ZAP!!!!
Laser blasts were coming out of the guns. A catastrophe of high-tech destruction.
Bookcases fell over. Windows shattered. Holes were punched in the ceiling and floor.
People ran desperately every which way. A few tripping. A few collapsing from a fallen piece of singed furniture. A great wave of panic and horror.
I was pressed hard to the ground. Gritting my teeth. There was a snapping sound from up above. I took a glance through my sweat-stained shades.
A lighting fixture had been severed of its supports and was sailing down at me.
I frantically blurred my limbs, scampered up on all fours, and dove to the side just in time to avoid the inevitable crash of glass and metal.
CLANK!!!
I landed, rolled, and ended with my back pressed against a bookcase. I panted. I craned my ear towards the scene at hand. More screams. More ZAPS! The engine of the truck was still on.
I took a deep breath. I switched my body into stealth mode. I invisibly peered around the edge of the bookcase. Slowly. Conserving my energy.
Three of the dark-helmeted strangers were forming a ring around the truck, aiming their rifles outside the perimeter. The fourth stranger was positioned in the center, by the truck. His body was just as nimble and thin as the others underneath the dark gear…but there was something about his gait. About his manner of movement. It was more than obvious that he was their leader. But there was something very….strong about him. Strong and mysterious.
I narrowed my black eyes.
"Boss?!?! What's taking you so long?!" one thug exclaimed, aiming and firing at the heels of fleeing shoppers and employees. ZAP!!!
"Just keep your bloody lasers at work," the man smoothly uttered. "I'm narrowing in on the Good Stuff…."
He had a very loud voice. One that didn't need yelling to fill a room. And there was a distinct accent to it. Either hereditary or neglected. It tasted like a British flavor attempting to swallow itself into American oblivion, but then lazily settling for halfway. And there was something else lacing the voice like a faded service of lead. A metallic ring that gave the voice a haunting sense of villainy.
I was suddenly under the impression that I was dealing with someone very…very…big in the criminal scene.
A 'bad vibe'.
I grit my teeth. My titanium left hand reached back to the bulge in my jacket that was the hilt of Myrkblade.
But again…I didn't take it any further. I didn't unsheathe the sword. I sat there…in stealth…and watched. Listened. Observed…
I would only use force if absolutely, positively necessary.
"Gotta hurry!!" another thug muttered panickedly from beneath his helmet as he aimed his rifle around. "The heat will be on us soon! There was already an incident with some creeps at the shopping center south of here! The police aren't sleeping anymore!!"
"Don't be so quick to burst a blood vessel," the leader said. He knelt a few feet away from where the pickup truck had come to a stop, feeling the ground. "I do believe I've struck gold."
"Good!"
"Let's get out of here!!"
The leader focused on the floor through his helmet. He raised his hand. A pause. He let out a ringing shout and swung his fist straight down.
SMASH!!!
Carpet shreds, floorboard splinters, and concrete debris flew up in a spray.
I did a double-take.
The man had single-handedly punched a huge, gaping hole in the floor of the book store. Without so much as taking a breath, he punched again…and again…and again.
SMASH!!! SMASH!!! SMASH!!!
More debris and shards flew. The hole got bigger and bigger. Deeper and deeper. The unnatural, brute force of the man was digging a vertical tunnel gradually into the earth.
I sweatdropped invisibly. I glanced over…curiously….at where the brown-haired girl in red was.
But she was gone…
I hoped she was all right. I hoped everyone was all right.
I looked back. My lips parted and my black eyes narrowed through my shades.
The pounding had stopped. There was a period of unnatural silence. Then the leader climbed out of the hole he had just made. His black-clad body was marked with white dust and dark brown soil. He was cupping something in his hands.
"Got it??" one of the three gunmen asked.
He nodded. "Indeed I have. And what a pity it is that I can't utilize it right here and now…."
I noticed for the first time then that there was a glow about the man. A green glow. And the green glow stopped as soon as he repositioned his hands around whatever he was cupping and marched towards the truck.
"You know the deal…," another gunman spoke through his mask. "We bring it to him. It's not ours."
"Not yet," the 'leader' replied. "Come on…let's go. God, how I detest being a lackey."
He marched into the truck and climbed into a passenger's seat. The thugs hopped in the driver's seat and the back bed of the pickup truck.
"Floor it!!" one shouted.
SCREEEEEEEEECH!!!!
The tires burned against the carpet and the truck was careening off towards the front entrance again. The two thugs in the back of the pickup truck fired ahead of the vehicle.
ZAP!!
ZAP!!!
ZAP!!!!!
The glass windows were weakened considerably. The gunmen ducked as the truck sped on through.
CRASH!!!!
I dropped the stealth of black smoke and ran out to a sliding stop in the middle of the store where tire tracks had stained the floor. I panted and watched the speeding vehicle. It was getting away.
I took a deep breath, hunched over, and let loose a wave of smoke energy.
I blurred out the fresh hole in the Borders entrance, hopping around and over shocked pedestrians.
The truck zoomed down a nearby highway.
I narrowed my black eyes in mid-sprint.
I blurred over towards the side. I kept my speed in check. I followed the truck at a distance. Whenever it slowed down, I stopped and went into stealth form. Whenever it sped up, I streaked a smoking path on the side of the road, around vehicles and obstacles so as to hide the sight of my pursuit.
Gradually, the truck made its way into an area outside of town where warehouses and storage houses converged. The truck slowed down considerably, and I figured that the thugs must have assumed they had averted the police---or any eyewitnesses for that matter. And yet, the men in the back and in the front seats kept their helmets—and their identities—secret.
A good fifteen minutes after the Borders incident, the truck wheeled slowly into a gated area surrounded by thin roads and asphalt. On the other side of the fence was a dirty parking lot, dotted here and there with ruined and rusting automobiles. Three warehouses stood inside. The truck stopped at the side of one. The suspects slowly got out.
I was on the side of the street opposite of the fenced area. I hid out of sight besides a wall in a thin alley. I wasn't in stealth mode. I had to conserve my energy for an inevitable infiltration.
While eyeing the gunmen across the way, I subconsciously pulled out my communicator and prepared to send my leader Robin a transmission---
----when I froze. I blinked.
Why had theses wyrd strangers smashed and blasted their way into the Borders? Why had they pounded a hole into the floor? What did they gain from the chaotic, violent ordeal?? And what were they doing there now?
What was I doing there right now?
Most of my days—especially with the Titans—were filled with doing things without thinking. As long as the things I was doing were virtuous and just. I had managed to stay alive so far.
I shrugged it off, punched the buttons on the communicator, and sent a morse code message to Robin through a series of light beeping sounds.
"'Robin…. There…. Has… Been… A… Dramatic… Incident… Involving… Gunmen… And… I… .Have… Tracked… Them… Down… To… These… Coordinates… Send… The… Titans… Immediately?'"
I nodded.
A beat.
My black eyes bulged.
I spun around with a gasp.
A girl was leaning over my shoulder. A girl with a dark brown ponytail. A girl with a dark brown ponytail dressed in a red jacket and black jeans.
Her reflection shone in my blank shades as she stood up and smiled. "Nice Communicator! Are you with the Titans?!"
I was breathless.
I looked at her. I looked at the scene across the street. I looked at her again.
My jaw was agape.
How did she get there?!?!?!
"You're with the Titans, aren't you?" she pointed. "Only a superhero could move around town that fast! Not to mention disappear and stuff!"
"Shhhh!!!" I emphasized with a finger over my mouth. I waved my hand emphatically. My teeth gritted and I sweatdropped as I again checked on the scene across the road to see if we had been spotted or something…
"Hey! You just made a sound!" the girl remarked. Her voice was a tad bit lower, but still too loud for my comfort. "You're that new member of the Titans, right? The one who can't talk?! And does breathing count as talking?? I get confused…."
I frowned and pointed a right finger behind her, mouthing 'Go!'
Her soft hand suddenly enclosed around mine.
I gasped. I looked at our joining fingers.
"Hi!" she smiled and shook my hand. It was a strong grip for a seemingly bubbly girl. "My name's Kara! Pleasure to meet you!"
I tried pulling my hand out from her grasp.
'Kara' kept holding onto it, scratching her chin with a free hand…and saying: "Hmmmm…those creeps at the Borders. They can't be up to any good." She smiled at me with blue eyes thinning under her glasses. A very mischievous grin. It suited her. "It's a good thing the Titans have someone fast on their heels, huh?! Lord knows that if those guys get away, there'll be Hell to pay! Hehehe! That just rhymed!"
I strained…gritted my teeth….and finally yanked my hand free. I shook it, exhaled, and looked back out at the fenced area across the way.
The thugs were still gathered around the truck. Their helmets still on. Discussing something….
If there was any time to act, it was then and now.
"Th-Think I can help you out??" she asked with her hands on her hips.
I nearly collapsed at that…
I stood up straight and faced her menacingly….only to find that I was barely taller than her.
She smiled at eye-level. "Well??"
I took a deep breath. I gripped her shoulders…turned her around…and shoved her down the alley.
"H-Hey!!" Kara stumbled a few feet, spun around, and pouted.
But I was gone.
In stealth mode, I crept across the street, snuck up to a lamppost, took a deep breath, angled around onto the sidewalk, tip-toed invisibly along the perimeter of the metal fence, and stopped at a portion of the barrier where a warehouse blocked me from the view of the truck and its suspicious characters.
I solidified…visible once again…and took a couple breaths. I walked up to the chain-link fence and started building up a field of murk energy to teleport through---
"Gonna sneak up on them??"
I jumped. I literally jumped. I teetered on two feet—barely keeping myself from clanging loudly against the metal fence and blowing our cover.
Our cover???
I looked over, panting.
Kara stood by my side, playfully leaning back and forth on two feet while holding her hands behind her back. She leaned her brown head of hair to the side and smiled. Her blue eyes magnified by the glasses. "You make it all seem so effortless….well…mostly effortless."
I frowned and started mouthing a whole slew of angry words that I was soon reminded of what a crazy effort it must be to have to 'talk'. I gripped my head with a metal hand, exhaled loudly, and glared up at her through my shades. I jabbed a finger across the street…hinting blatantly for her to 'get lost!'.
She merely shrugged. "It's in my nature! I gotta check stuff out!"
I didn't care.
I shuddered, turned, and faced the fence again. I tensed my arms. I concentrated. My body was enveloped in murk…then converted into smoke.
SWOOOOOSH!!!
I flew forward, seeped through the chain-link fence, and solidified on the other side.
I took a deep breath and rushed over to the wall of the warehouse opposite of my suspects. I was in the process of sneaking towards the scene….when I noticed something horrifying through the corner of my shades.
I turned…looked…and dropped my jaw.
Kara spit on her hands, rubbed them together, looked up, and jumped onto the chain-link fence.
CLATTER!!!
I winced all over.
She climbed up furiously. Her legs flexing through black jeans. Her brown hair dangling in a ponytail beneath her upwardly craned neck.
CLATTER!! CLATTER!! CLATTER!!
The sound practically echoed throughout the complex.
I waved. I jumped. I motioned for her to get down.
She hummed to herself as she ungracefully climbed to the top of the fence, negotiated her way through the rings of barbed wire, and dropped down to the ground…boots first.
I clamped hands over my shades.
CLUMP!!!!
My whole body shook.
A beat.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds….
Nobody came. The sound hadn't caught the foes' attention.
I parted my fingers over my shades.
I could still hear their uninterrupted mutterings of a conversation from beyond the warehouse.
I sighed.
"Geez!! You're a basket case!" Kara loudly exclaimed as she girl-stepped towards me and leaned casually against the building. "It'd probably do us some good once your friends get here! The way you're shaking and stuff…we're bound to be discovered!!"
SWOOOSH!!
CLAMP!
"Mmmmfmmmfmfmmm!!" she exclaimed, her blue eyes glaring at me.
I had my right hand clamped over her mouth.
I frowned.
I motioned with my metal hand for her to walk over towards the edge of the warehouse, sit down, and shut up.
She stared at me.
Silent.
Sapphire eyes soft. Unblinking.
I took a breath of relief.
I released my hand---
"So how're we gonna do this?!?"
I clamped my hand over her mouth again, moaned, and rolled my black eyes towards heaven.
"Something wrong?"
I grinned at her. And shoved her up against the wall.
WHUMP!!
"Ooof!! What's your deal?!"
I waved her off, spun around, and angrily 'crept' my way towards the edge of the warehouse structure.
The sounds of the talking quartet lit my ears. But not so much the words. My mind was in a haze. I couldn't think straight.
That freakin' girl…..
I turned my head to look and check on her.
She was gone.
"………" I blinked.
I turned back---
"Do you hear them??" she said, in front of me.
I jumped back and hit the side of the warehouse. WHUMP!! I rubbed my aching head.
"Shouldn't we get close enough to eavesdrop if we're gonna get any dirt on these morons?"
For a moment, I was graced with the pleasant image of her head skewered on Myrkblade.
I shook that off and motioned emphatically again to beat it. I did not want her life in danger. I---
"Why do we have to put it in those bags for?!" one man uttered from the group.
The two of us froze. We peered out from the edge of the warehouse as one.
We saw the leader facing the three thugs besides the truck. We heard them….
"My good man, what are you talking about?" the Leader said.
"Those bags!" the man pointed at a black satchel in the Leader's grasp. Again, no faces. Only helmets. "Wouldn't they be better off in a safe or vault or something?"
"Conventionally, yes. But I've learned from experience that even I'm not a good enough vessel for this stuff. It gets detected…in some fashion or another. It never ends. Now, our friend. The fellow who's so dominating this. He's provided us with these ugly forms of transportation."
"What for?"
"The canvass is lined with lead. A special polymer of it. It makes the stuff practically undetectable."
"That sort of stuff is only in development!"
"Maybe on our planet…," the Leader had a slight twang of humor in his ringing voice. "Please, gentlemen. No questions asked. Our organization is going to benefit from this in the long run. Just understand that I hate this labor as much as you do."
"Let's just put that stuff away and be ready for our next destination…"
"Agreed."
The two started to wander towards the furthest warehouse in a group.
"Hmmmm….," Kara murmured silently, "…they seem to be working for a cause that they're not so enthusiastic about…"
I nodded. A beat. I bit my lip and snapped myself out of it. I looked at her, frowned, and pointed again at the other side of the complex.
"Uh uh!" she pouted, hands on her hips again. I swear to God, it was a trademark…. "We've gone this far!" she smirked. "Might as well take it all the way."
I blinked under my shades. Was that supposed to have an impact on me?
"What're you waiting for?!" she smirked and stomped towards open sight. "Let's go kick butt—"
I gasped, grabbed the back of her jacket and yanked her towards me.
"Aack!! For crying out loud, don't you want to get anywhere?!"
At that point…my fists were clenching--
"Wait a second!" a voice from the four exclaimed.
My heart fell.
Kara was silent.
I glanced over and saw the Leader's hand raised. He swiveled around. The thugs turned with him. Sunlight glistened off of the visors of their helmets.
"Who goes there?!?!"
Kara bit her lip. "Ooops?"
I looked at her…flabbergasted.
"Show yourself!" the leader exclaimed.
I let out a huge sigh, shrugged, and walked out.
Kara watched me…wide-eyed.
The three thugs unholstered their laser rifles at the sight of me.
The Leader merely held his canvass bag, staring.
I walked towards them.
"Hey! You!"
"Stand back!!"
Three laser guns aimed at me.
I walked faster. I cracked the knuckles of my right hand. I flexed the metal fingers of my left.
"He's….H-He's not stopping!"
"Of course not," the Leader nonchalantly uttered. "Because you haven't shot him yet!"
One gunman trembled for the rest of them as his helmet shook and he said: "Fine!! Have it your way, punk!!"
The guns cocked.
Kara gasped from behind.
I squinted my black, shaded eyes.
"DIE!!"
ZAP!!
ZAP!!!
ZAP!!!!
I blurred. I dashed forward across the pavement. I transformed into smoke form, murked around their incoming fire, and solidified a few footsteps away. Half a second later, I leapt, landed between two of the gunmen, twirled, and swept my leg out. I tripped both at once. I crouched low, charged murk through my limbs, and launched my foot against the side of a mid-air, falling thug. His body went sailing directly into the other. I jolted up, vaulted, backflipped, landed on the other side of the second tripped thug, hoisted him to his feet, and kicked him in the rear. He dropped his laser rifle and went stumbling—yelling—into the bodies of the other two who were just getting up.
THWUMP!!!!
All three collapsed on the ground….moaning.
In a blur, I spun and faced the Leader with raised fists.
He regarded me stoically through the visor of his black helmet. His arms folded as he held the canvass bag.
"Hmmmm….interesting…," he uttered.
I took a breath. I rushed towards him. I jump-kicked.
He didn't even move…
CLANK!!!
My foot slammed into his sternum. The jolt of impact ran up my leg, through my body, and exploded me outward six feet in the air before landing me hard on the ground.
WHUMP!!!
My black eyes bulged in pain and surprise. I sat up…rubbing my head.
The Leader hadn't even budged from my blow. He dropped the canvass bag from his grip and raised his fists into a fighting position. "Right then…this should be rather entertaining, I should say. Get up, son. Let's test your metal against mine."
I stood up…winced…hid it away with a grin. Smirking, I sighed and started flexing my limbs, cracking my neck, and tensing my spine. I slowly paced over towards him…shaking my hands…then forming them into fists as I got into a fighting position.
Kara watched from the sidelines. Silent.
The Leader paced around me. "You know…I sensed you earlier. In the bookstore. Yes…you were there during our 'dig'. Did you take pictures? I forgot to bring my camera and I'm feeling downright mushy about the whole lot."
Silently, I paced closer and closer to him in a fighting stance.
I know I should probably have waited for the Titans to arrive before engaging in combat. But I had to distract the creeps from that 'Kara' personality and—besides—this was vacation.
Whatever that means….
SWOOOOOSH!!
I rushed towards the helmeted man with my fist raised.
WHAM!!!
His head turned from my punch…but slowly tilted back.
"HA!!!" he exclaimed, muffled, from his helmet. His whole body spun and he swung a round-house kick into my left side.
SMACK!!!
I tumbled immediately like an off-balance barrel. I landed awkwardly on my knees. Panting. Wincing in pain.
That man's blow was far too strong. Unnaturally strong. And stupidly—right then and there—I remembered the helmeted creep punching a deep hole into the earth.
"Stay right where you are!!" he shouted and rushed at me with a hulking fist. "RRRAAAUGH!!"
CRAP!!!
I charged murk, vaulted upwards, and flew out of his punch.
SMASH!!!
Bits and pieces of concrete flew.
I backflipped, landed with my feet against the side of a warehouse, blurred, and soared towards him.
SWOOOSH!!
I wrapped my arms around his neck, swung around, and dangled in a choke hold around his shoulder.
Smoke danced out of my eyes and my teeth grit as I tried to cut off the air to the criminal's lungs.
But he merely laughed. "Ha ha ha ha!! Always the charmer, I bet you are!!"
He reached a hand back, grabbed my shoulders over his shoulders, and yanked me forward with a shout.
"RAUGH!!"
SMACK!!
I was slammed down hard onto the parking lot floor.
I winced--
THWUMP!!
He kicked me in the side to the echoing sound of Kara's distant gasp. I rolled across the lot and ended against the wall of a warehouse.
I stood up, wincing.
My black eyes bulged as I saw the monstrous Leader charging at me.
SWOOOOOOSH—His fist came.
I ducked.
SMASH!!!
A hole was punched in the building side.
SWOOOOOOSH!!
I sidestepped.
SMASH!!!
Another hole.
I slid down, blurred, slid between his legs, came up the other side, and kicked his rear end.
THWUMP!!
He flattened against the building side.
I joined my hands together and—snarling—swung them hard into his back.
But he did a reverse kick at the last second.
WHAP!!
I limped backwards, my pelvis aching.
He spun around, dashed a hand up, and enclosed my neck in a death grip.
I wheezed for air.
He lifted me up above him.
My feet dangled
My empty throat tensed around my scar, hidden by his hold.
Though all I could see was helmet…I swore I envisioned a devilish grin on the man's face.
"My my my…they all do seem to be getting younger these days," his ringing voice sneered. "Allow me to simplify the death rate of modern day superheroes by extinguishing your infantile life!!"
I struggled. I was about to reach a hand back to Myrkblade and end this pointless danger when--
"HEY!!"
The helmeted man looked over.
Kara marched out into the center of the lot, clenching her fists. "You leave him alone, you big black turd!"
"Oh, what a rousing speech of sincerity!" the Leader mocked while continuing to strangle-hold me. "I'm beginning to have my guesses as to who this smoking yahoo is. But who in the hell are you, if I may be so unkind to ask?"
"The name's Kara!" she frowned. "And it's gonna be the all she wrote on your gravestone if you don't drop him right now!!"
"Kara, I salute you! In my long days of crime, I thought I had seen all the dumbasses this world had to offer! Well congratulations, young lady! You just turned my world upside down!"
"Yeah, I'm flattered," she spat and pointed at me. "Now drop him!!"
I didn't know whether to kiss her or wring her neck. I looked over with weary eyes and saw one of the gunmen getting up with his laser rifle. If I had a breath left in me, I'd gasp.
"Oh, I will be sure to drop him, Miss Kara. But only after you drop yourself," the man's helmet tilted forward. "Drop dead!"
Kara's blue eyes widened behind her glasses. She barely got the chance to look to her side and see--
ZAP!!!!!
I tried screaming. But I doubly had no voice.
FLASH!!!
The gunman from the side nailed Kara's body hard. The girl let out a streaming shriek as she flew across the parking lot from the laser blast and sailed into a barrel of fuel tanks positioned by the mouth of a warehouse. All it took was a second blast from the rifle to—
PHWOOOOOOOOOOMB!!!
Kara's helpless body was utterly and completely engulfed in a huge fireball.
My dry mouth dropped in a numb look of horror.
"Wooo!! Ha ha ha ha!!" the Leader's body shook and myself as well at his vice-like grip. "Damn, now that's gonna smell in the morning!! Ha ha ha!!"
I glared at him. I barred my teeth. I jabbed a hand back into my jacket, gripped Myrkblade, and---
SLASH!!!! RIIIIIIP!!!!
I unsheathed Myrkblade in a blur. In slow motion, my jacket was torn to shreds and I fell from the man's startled grasp. I inhaled as I fell, spun my body around, and slammed the entire length of Myrkblade straight into his ribs.
WHAM!!!!
Time resumed.
He went flying back into the warehouse behind him. Forming a shattering dent.
The standing gunman gasped and fired at me.
ZAP!!!
I blocked in reverse with a twirl of Myrkblade. FLASH!!
I spun, gritted my teeth, and blurred at the man.
He fired twice more. ZAP!! ZAP!!
I teleported left—dodged—teleported right—dodged—and let out a silent scream as I solidified into a spiraling downward slash of my sword.
CRACK!!!
His rifle shattered.
He gasped.
I dove forward, jabbing.
SLIIINK!!
Blood flew from the edge of his shoulder.
He clutched it, moaning.
I spun and slammed the blunt side of my sword against his chest.
He fell back hard to the concrete, toppled over, and stopped belly first to the ground….out cold.
I twirled around again.
The Leader shook his head through his helmet, recovering from the impact with the warehouse wall. The fires of Kara's cremation reflected in his visor.
I charged at him, teeth gritting. I raised Myrkblade. Smoke trailed from its wooden edges.
He slowly looked up…but I was already there.
SWOOOOOOSH!!!
Myrkblade came down.
CLANK!!!
SWOOOOOSH!!!
Myrkblade slashed up.
CL-CLANK!!!
THWISH!!!
Myrkblade jabbed straight forward.
SMACK!!!
I came to a dead stop. Panting. Leaning forward. Pressing my blade into his chest.
And exposed chest. The black garb of the leader had been shredded apart in three places. And all I saw underneath it was a sheet of pure, reflective metal.
I gasped.
I looked up at him. My mouth agape.
His helmet tilted down to meet my gaze.
"Cute….," he uttered. He raised a fist.
I was too slow to--
SMASH!!!
He punched me square in the face.
My shades shattered.
The world burned white in my vision.
I was flung into a hot blindness as I fell and impacted with the concrete floor.
The breath flew from my lungs.
I clenched my black eyes shut. Wracked with pain.
"Heheheheh….," the voice of the Leader chuckled. I heard and felt him stomp over and stand over me. "You should get those eyes looked at……and preferably burned as abominations."
I wheezed. I summoned murk energy to arouse my spatial awareness and fight him on another front.
But then--
"HEY!! BULLY!!!"
It was Kara's voice.
"Huh?!" the Leader uttered. Then: "Oh shit almight…"
WOOOOOSH!!!
A rush of air and then--
CLANG!!!!
The sound of heavy fists against metal.
Kara's voice shouted: "RAAAUGH!!"
SMACK!! WHAM!!
The Leader's voice: "OOF!!!"
I struggled to get to my knees. My eyes clenched shut. Leaning on Myrkblade and sweating. Panting.
I tried to sense what was going on with my powers of murk. But everything was happening so fast.
One thing was for sure. Kara was alive. But how?!
And what was happening to that creep?!
CLANG!! WHACK!!!
"Take a hike, assmunch!!!"
"Little girl….you are starting to annoy me!"
There was a ruffling sound. Like a duffle bag opening. I felt an iciness creep over the scene. Like someone had opened a vat of dry ice in the middle of the fenced-in parking lot.
Kara's unmistakable gasp filled the blind arena. She didn't sound in pain, though. Just….surprised. Almost cornered.
The criminal's voice: "You know of this stuff, do you not??"
"H-How did you get that…."
"Never you mind. There's more where it came from. If you know better…you'll keep your distance."
"You won't get away with this, buckethead!"
"Typical of superheroes. So cliché. Well, I bid you adieu to bid you adieu another day. Preferably with a shotgun to the head."
The sound of the bag closing, then pounding feet, a smashed metal fence, and then silence.
"……" I panted. I craned my ear. But for what now? I was uncertain. My shades were completely smashed. I was blind as a bat as long as the Sun was out. Not a good feeling.
There was a soft padding of footsteps…a sigh…and then a warm voice. The voice of Kara. "Hey there, champ. You doin' okay?"
I swallowed and shrugged.
I felt soft arms grip my shoulder. Soft but strong…
She hoisted me up.
I stood dizzily on two feet. I kept my eyes clenched shut as I sheathed Myrkblade and blindly looked in her direction. Keeping in mind that my eyes were tightly closed, I managed a baffled expression.
"What??" she uttered.
I pointed in the direction of her voice.
"Yup. I'm alive. I'm a trouper! Hehehehehe!"
I sweatdropped.
"What about you, though?" she asked. I sensed her drift closer to me. "You're not banged up too bad or anything, are you?"
I flexed my flesh and metal limbs. My legs. My neck. I shook my head.
"Figures," she uttered…and I could sense her smile somehow. "Superheroes are invincible. Right?"
I shrugged. I reached to my communicator.
Her soft hand rested over mine.
"Don't bother…," she said.
I faced her, my face taunt.
"Er….wh-what I mean to say is….I think your friends are here."
"!!!!!!" I spun around. I stretched a hand out into the darkness…smoking. Sure enough, I sensed the T-Car coming quickly.
And…
SCREEEECH!!!
The vehicle came to a quick stop. I felt the doors swing open. Something big charged up towards me: Cyborg. Four petite bodies in comparison swarmed around him.
"Noir!!" Robin's voice exclaimed. "Report!! What's going on….here……………." He lingered.
Silence.
Darkness.
I raised my eyebrows over my clenched eyes.
"Um…..," Beast Boy's voice uttered.
"Eheheh…," Cyborg murmured.
"Fascinating….," Starfire breathily uttered.
"………….," had to have been Raven.
I realized they were all staring. But as I covered their bodies and their heads with my spatial awareness of murk…I realized that they weren't facing directly at me. But rather they all stared to my side at--
"H-Hey there, guys," Kara's voice bashfully exclaimed. "Nice to see ya. I knew it'd be only a matter of time before we met n'stuff!"
More silence.
"Y-Yeah….," Robin's voice uttered. "Um….it's nice to meet you and all…just…."
"Oh yeah…your friend," Kara said. I sensed her pointing at me. "Yeah, he's kinda near sighted at the moment. Or would the term best be 'dark sighted'?"
I motioned blindly in the air, hoping Cyborg was in a position to 'read' me.
He was. "S-Sure thing, Noir. I got an extra pair for you, buddy."
There was a clicking sound of a compartment in Cyborg's upper shoulder opening. The compartment was where he typically carried spare birdarangs for Robin, another pair of shades for me, and even extra gloves for the Tamaranian girl. He pulled out the sunglasses he was carrying, clicked his compartment back closed, and walked over to me with hands outstretched.
"Here you go, man."
I reached out, took the shades, and bowed slightly. I slipped the article over my face….and slowly opened my eyes.
I sighed.
I had an eyeful of my friends. And everything was comfortable again.
I smiled.
But they all five looked blank at me. Or rather past me. Beast Boy seemed amused. He hid a snicker.
I raised an eyebrow.
"I-I think you should take a l-look at your 'new friend', Noir," Beast Boy giggled lightly.
"……" I turned around.
I glanced at Kara as if she would have some answers to this sudden case of awkward silence.
And that's when I realized it wasn't 'Kara'. And yet, it was. Only…her dark brown hair had been replaced by long, platinum blonde. In place of her ponytail was a black hairband over her crown. In place of her jacket was a white tank top and a small red cape. And in place of her jeans was a blue tube skirt. The glasses were gone, and sapphire blue eyes looked away as she blushed a shade of red that matched the trademark, emblazoned 'S' on her chest.
"I-I told you we could handle them….," Supergirl said to me. "Guess it took some convincing."
Deadpan, I blinked. And then I did the most comfortable things I had ever done in years.
I fainted.