90. For the Queen of Strings part 1
Control Freak's remote.
Killer Moth's gloves.
Slade's mask.
Mad Mod's cane.
In the dim glow of cold blue lights overhead, the trophies of the Titan Tower's evidence room reflected off a pair of googly white eyes.
After an eternal silence, the rest of the lights flickered on. The eyes remained motionless as a thin, graceful reflection sauntered up and came to a stop.
A thin finger pressed a button, and the glass case surrounding the Puppet King's lifeless, wooden body slid down.
"Greetings and belated good will to you, oh catatonic miniature golem of dead trees!" Starfire gleefully exclaimed. She giggled and took the wooden figure down from its rack and held it before her. "I apologize for my absence as of late! Vacation was most soothing, and ironically enough I was fortunate enough to meet two beings of intergalactic ilk besides myself! But regardless of such new companions, I have not neglected my commitment to your upkeep. I assured Robin well over a year ago that I would attend to you during your stay here inside of the Titans' evidence room. I do not understand his protests against the matter, but after convincing him that even the soulless body of a mind-controling powermonger deserves attention and love, Robin could not help but surrender to my benevolent ideology! You are most fortunate today, little friend, for look at what I have acquired during my trip back here from the West!!"
She propped the Puppet King's body up onto a glass display and whipped out a ridiculously cute, small sailor suit…the sort of which would be found on little boys in the Victorian Age.
"Ta to the da!!! Is it not the most adorable article you have graced your vision on?"
Googly white eyes reflected the tiny blue outfit. Silent. Unmoving.
"Hehehe!! I do believe it will fit you most adequately. Raven presumed that you were engaged in a funeral burial when I was shopping. When I inquired as to her meaning, she said that the Puppet King would 'only be caught dead in that'. I assume she was referring to this outfit, but even still that confuses me. For certainly you would want to be young and vibrant and alive in a cute uniform liken unto this, no?"
Silence.
The Puppet King started to teeter over.
Starfire caught the body and giggled. "I so do miss attending to you. The last outfit I got for you…the 'Prince Charming' one sometime last month…I do not believe that it truly suited you. Please do not take offence to that. It is only that your size and proportion suggests youth and infantile joy. But I suppose any outfit is better than that one 'biker' costume. Beast Boy suggested I get that for you. As of now, I believe he was merely being jocular and not serious in his fashion advice."
She casually started to dress up the Puppet King I the cutesy little outfit while smiling and chattering on and on and on…
Like normal.
"Like I was about to deliberate…I met two fantastic people while on vacation. The first was Nova'm. Can you believe it?? Nova'm! The fourth child of the legendary King Vieveret'm! He was adopted by a wonderful couple in North Carolina. I swear…he is such an adorable, sweet little boy. Quite the fiery temper he had, though. I am happy to say that I was capable of reaching out to him. And I feel like I have a new little brother now! I so do desire to help him in his accumulation of Tamaranian culture and tradition! But all in good time. It is my foremost desire for him to feel safe and secure. And since our combined efforts resulted in the defeat of his antagonistic foe, Booker, we can now work together on helping him cope more fully with life on earth as an extraterrestrial entity. No sooner had I enjoyed the felicity of such a meeting with a Tamaranian youth, I was quickly coming face to face with none other than Supergirl herself! The last of the Argosians!! Hehehe!! Such grand friendships I have been forming lately!! She and I……."
Starfire's rambling went on and the only one to hear was the one who always heard her ramble on alone in the evidence room. A lifeless wooden puppet that was gradually turning into a sailor. Its googly eyes shook all throughout its dangling positions while being dressed.
It was a rather routine thing….in the morning time.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
A thirteen-year-old Robin gained his balance.
He was on a catwalk stretched over a sea of mud.
Everything was churning.
A red sky peaked down between rusted tears in a metal ceiling above.
Panting, the caped hero looked up.
She stood, hunched, on the far end of the platform. Wounded. Panting.
Slowly, Robin moved towards her. He walked. He ran. He sprinted.
She looked up.
Something flashed. Something tore apart.
Cracks formed in the girl's immaculate face, and she fell apart into crumbling bits of black and brown.
Robin sweat. He stretched a gloved hand out. "NO!!!"
The catwalk shattered underneath her pile of flesh. Everything fell into the quivering sea of brown. And the red fell laughing through the ceiling, bathing Robin in scarlet molasses so that he couldn't so much as dive in after her.
"Nnnghh!!" he shouted. "Why did you come here?!?! WHY?!?! Look at you!! It's all my fault!! It's all my fault!!!"
FLASH!!!!
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
The Boy Wonder shot up in bed, gasping. Sweating.
His breaths came quickly…but gradually subsided. He brought a shaking hand to his eyemasked face and sighed.
A beat.
"I….I-I guess vacations don't amount to much in the long run…"
Silence.
He glanced over at the bedside table. At the forbidden picture inside.
He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.
"Not today. Not today, I'm not…"
He tossed the covers off the bed, jumped to his feet, and sauntered over to a locker to get attired in his fighting costume.
In the middle of getting the tights on, he couldn't help but think aloud: "Did I sleep in?" He glanced over at the alarm clock. It was shut off. "Hmmm….must have shorted out. Th-Then why didn't anyone knock on my door to wake me?"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Cyborg….Beast you turn that down please?" Raven uttered in full garb. Her temple artery was throbbing. She looked back from where the two of us stood at the computer station, observing a tracking signal on a monitor. "Noir and I are trying to go over some important mission information."
"And just what mission is that, Miss Sunshine?!" Beast Boy mused while hammering away at an Xbox controller in his grasp. "I haven't heard about any crime or whatnot today!"
," Raven bit her lip. "For important reasons, I assure you."
"You and Noir are going out on a date, aren't you?!"
My black eyes went bug-eyed.
"No!" Raven hissed. "I assure you, it's an important mission! Just take it like it is."
"Oh, okay. Does Robin know?"
"Go back to your gaming."
"Pffft! Whatever!" the changeling grinned. "Got your back, dude."
Cyborg retorted while hammering his own controller. "Got my back?! I was surrounded by nearly ten Grunts and you were off somewhere chucking grenades at the sky!"
"Uh uh!! I was going after an Elite, man!"
"You mean that Elite?"
"Huh?? WHOAH!!!"
"I got him!!"
"Hey! Lemme pick up a Needler!! DIE!!"
"No!! Moron!! You're hitting me!! Get the Elite!!"
"WOOOOHOOO!!! GO RED STUFF!!!"
"YO YO!!! Stop firing!!!"
The t.v. speakers crackled an explosion and the sound of a dying Spartan.
"Oops…," Beast Boy sweatdropped.
The screen flashed and the changeling's soldier was struck hard by an alien from behind.
"Great….back to the last checkpoint," Cyborg's head swiveled around and glared at the elf. "Stick to human weaponry, ok?"
"Whatever. Lemme drive the jeep thingy this time."
"In your dreams."
Raven shook her head. I focused on her as she pointed at the monitor.
"According to this, our man has just entered the small town of Barrymore forty miles west of here. Barrymore is a tiny place along a major country road heading through the mountains. I think we took the route at one point when heading out for vacation."
I nodded. I gestured like I was reading the open pages of a book.
"Perhaps I was reading at the time, but I'm pretty sure we headed through there."
I smirked.
She gave me a shifty glance. "Anyways," she looked back at the screen. "Knowing his personality from the last time the Titans battled him, he should be raising plenty of royal heck by now. His antics since escaping from prison have to have reached the news channels by now. I wouldn't expect any less from him than burning houses and slain cows."
I winced.
"Yeah," she nodded and glanced at me. "That's why you and I must get there as soon as possible. I already talked to Cyborg. He's letting us borrow the T-Car. Trust me. We'll need it."
I whistled a songbird sound.
"Robin?" Raven lifted an eyebrow. "I've already told you. We can't tell him about….th-this mission. It wouldn't help anything."
I shook my head. I whistled again and pointed over her shoulder.
She sighed. "What are you babbling about?"
"A mission that I don't know about," a strong voice said from behind.
Raven closed her eyes and grumbled. "Trust us, Robin…," she turned around to face the Boy Wonder who stood with his arms crossed suspiciously. "You should just stay here," the dark girl said. "I don't want you coming on this mission."
"And just what gives you the authority?" he frowned. "If I recall correctly, I was the leader of this troupe of crime fighters. Should I….ya know…be informed of breaches in the peace?"
"'Morning, Robin," Beast Boy smiled from the gaming. "Did you sleep well?"
"NO I DIDN'T!!" Robin turned and shouted.
Beast Boy and Cyborg chuckled.
Fuming, Robin faced the two of us.
"First of all, I slept in cuz my alarm was on the fritz and nobody thought to wake me up!! Now this?!?! Forgive me if I'm not so cheerful!"
"You must learn to control your emotions better," Raven said coolly, not breaking a sweat. "You're in no condition to tackle this enemy with the way you're blowing up at everyone."
"I'M NOT BLOWING UP AT EVERYONE!!"
I winced.
"What's going on here?! Sheesh!! I'm not that much of a nutcase, am I?!" Robin exclaimed. "Can anyone here trust me or what?!"
Suddenly, Beast Boy shrieked like a girl and looked at his watch. "Dude!! We gotta continue this game later!"
"We do?" Cyborg made a face.
"Yeah! There's this movie I wanted to record!! Sorry man, I gotta switch the game off!"
Beast Boy's finger switched to the auxiliary switch button of the t.v. remote.
Both Raven and Cyborg simultaneously gasped from separate parts of the room: "No, Beast Boy! Don't touch that--!!"
He did.
The t.v. switched from the Xbox to a network channel showing 'Late Breaking News'. And yes, it was helicopter footage of the village of Barrymore. Smoke was rising from a building at the far end of the town's quaint 'main street' beneath the feet of a two mountain ranges. A black speck was streaking back and forth across the street, causing more plumes of smoke. And that black speck was on a larger black speck. A ruthless rider on a killer motorcycle.
The News Reporter's Voice filtered itself over the footage:
"Information is still sketchy, but it's believed that Johnny Rancid started his rampage approximately ten hours ago after his dramatic escape from a prison car transporting him to a court hearing in Bloodhaven where he's wanted for heavy vandalism charges. Electronic contact with the sparse residents of the small town of Barrymore has been lost since his arrival, and law enforcement have been late in arriving on the scene due to the remote location of the village within the mountains."
"Johnny Rancid?" Beast Boy made a face. A lightbulb went off in his head. "Hey!" he beamed. "Isn't that the really mean motorcycle guy who got Robin really pissed off that one time?"
Silence.
Everyone was staring at him.
He looked at Cyborg.
The android's human eye thinned as he frowned in the changeling's face. "Yes."
A beat.
"Oh….," Beast Boy blinked and looked at the rest of us three. "Eheheheheh….my bad."
Robin's glaring face slowly swiveled about to face us. "Well…..?" he murmured.
Raven sweatdropped. "Just two of us can handle him. I assure you. Noir and I are going to take the T-Car in a matter of minutes to confront the criminal and put him back in the hands of authorities. We don't need you to—"
"You don't need me?!?!" Robin practically spat. He jabbed a finger into his chest. "You don't need me?!?!?! Who else here knows Johnny Rancid's notoriety more than anyone else?!?!"
"Well—"
"And who here has dealt with him one on one and had his arm practically broken and name insulted by that inflated, pompous punk of a roadster?!?!"
"Uhhh—"
"Nobody here is more fully equipped to take on Johnny Rancid than me!!!" Robin shouted. "Anyone else—and he'd tear through the Titans like tissue paper!! I've been hardened by facing him!! I know what makes him tick!! I know how empty headed and pathetic he really, truly is!!!"
"But, Robin, you're—"
"JUST HOW IN THE WORLD COULD ANY OF YOU POSSIBLY THINK I WASN'T CAPABLE OF DEFEATING HIM, HUH?!?! THAT JERK OF A NEFARIOUS CRIMINAL WANNABE!!! HE'S TOTAL SCUM!!! NOTHING BUT A WASTE OF BREATH!!! WOULD I ACTUALLY LET HIM GET TO ME?!?!?!"
His voice stopped, but it took a good few seconds for the sound waves to stop bouncing against the walls. Some of us sensed a drinking glass or two cracking in the dishwasher over the counter.
I simpered, stuck a finger into my ear canal, and flexed my jaws wide.
"Hmmm…..," Raven coolly hummed. "Cyborg and I could have just settled on letting you yell yourself into unconsciousness and then maybe that would have worked just as well."
Robin blushed. A beat. "Wait…," his eyemask narrowed and he pointed. "What are you trying to sa---" His face dropped. He frowned. "It was YOU who sabotaged my alarm clock!"
"Actually….heheheh….m-me…," Cyborg waved from the couch where he sat and Beast Boy pensively hid. "Hands like a clockmaker, ya know!"
"This is a conspiracy!!" Robin tossed his hands. "I can't believe it!! Nobody thinks I can keep it cool while fighting Rancid!! Noir, were you in on it too?"
I smiled innocently.
"Robin, quite plain and simply," Raven droned, "You need to sit back on this one. Remember our first climactic battle with Slade? It's like that now."
Robin gritted his teeth. "This is NOT like Slade. NOTHING is like fighting Slade."
Raven was silent at that.
Robin raised a finger. "I'm leading this mission. Raven. Noir. It's YOU two who are coming along. Got it?"
I nodded panickedly. I looked at Raven.
She stood still, frowning and folding her arms.
I cleared my throat and reached a hand over to her chin…forcing her to 'nod'.
"Good. We're going. Now."
Cyborg watched him head towards the elevator. "Can I have the T-Car back then—"
"No."
"Awww….you better not wreck it, dawg!" Cyborg gestured. "You know what they say about driving while angry."
"Yes. It should be done more often."
SCHLUMP!!!
The elevator doors closed behind the three of us.
Cyborg sweatdropped. "He better have been joking."
Beast Boy beamed and pressed 'record' on the digital vcr. "Yes!! Just in time for my movie!"
"Hooooooooo boyo," Cyborg spun about and looked at the t.v. screen. He made a face. "'Moonstruck'???"
"That's amore!!"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Starfire had the Puppet King—sailor mode—sitting on a counter in the evidence room and was busily polishing the tiny mannequin's wooden body while bubbily speaking on:
"And so, when I sit down and think about it, it is most amusing. After all, the name 'Robin' on earth is not necessarily indicative of gender or sex. Raven has told me on a couple of occasions how there are many girls on this planet named 'Robin'. At least girls of the anglo-saxon persuasion. It is in light of such confusion that I wonder…does Robin feel uncomfortable about his title? It is quite common for earthling males to worry about the accuracy of their gender roles. The male terran ego is quite strict in its adherence to an invisible rule for patriarchy. All men and young boys are encouraged to hide their feelings to the point that they must not even cry in public! Perhaps Robin is the greatest manifestation of this scenario. For not only can he not express tears, he can not even express his eyes. I imagine he must be quite proud of his masculinity. Then would that make Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Noir 'effiminate' for exposing their eyes on a regular—or infrequent—basis? Then there is also the act of chivalry. It is both touching and amusing the number of times Robin—and the other boys—have tried to ease my supposed 'discomfort' by rescuing me from dangerous plights in battling crime or allowing me to access simple luxuries first like the passage of my body through a door or sitting inside of the T-Car and other idiosyncrasies of that nature. But, in returning to the topic of the title of 'Robin' itself, I do giggle at it from time to time…as if I am labeling the leader of the Titans with an earthling girl's name from time to time. It is something I am surprised Beast Boy has not made a jocular comment about by now. Can you believe it?? I am actually predicting the conversational persuasion of my partners by now! Could it be that I have so easily positioned myself into this setting after all of this time of alienation?"
She paused in her polishing and smiled at the dead puppet.
The Puppet King's googly eyes were cross-eyed. Still. Unmoving.
Starfire giggled and resumed her treatment.
"You are the most polite listener! I do not know what ever possessed you to pursue an unethical manipulation of other people's cognitive functioning. In a lot of ways, it makes me think of the traitorous actions of my sister. Do you know that she once attempted to trick my brother into believing that a Jackablorgian Mud Worm was edible?! I had to assist him to the anti-gravity lavatory to throw up because we—my family—were on an intergalactic cruise to the event horizon of the interstellar Temple to the Final Nebula of the Great Collection and all the other facilities were being occupied by pilgrims from other Vegan planets cleansing themselves and—"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
The garage door opened loudly.
Robin lowered the remote to his belt and snapped the yellow satchel closed. He twirled the keys Cyborg lent us into his grasp and unlocked the T-Car with the push of a button.
Chirp!
He looked at Raven and I.
"Let's hit the road."
"Just don't let the road hit us," Raven glared. She walked over to the rear passenger side and waited at the door. "Keep focused while driving, okay? No need for you to be distracted by stray thoughts of anger or revenge and send us all throttling into a tree."
Robin unlocked the doors and got into the driver's seat. "Raven, I'm the leader of the Titans. When you and I founded this group, even you agreed that I needed to lead this team because of the maturity that YOU yourself said you saw in me."
"I had barely even met you…," Raven muttered.
"The point is, I'm more than capable of handling myself during this mission. Right now, all I'm really concerned about is the poor people of Barrymore and how much Johnny Rancid is possibly threatening their innocent lives right now."
"Noble…but still an excuse," Raven sat down in the rear seat.
I sat in the front next to Robin.
"I'll be keeping an eye out on you," she said. "For your safety."
"Uh huh," Robin turned the key in the ignition.
The T-Car roared to life. The front shook from the strong engine. The A/C turned on and filled the interior with a fresh scent.
Cyborg's car was always 'fresh'….
SNAP! Robin snapped his gloved fingers. "Shoot! I forgot!"
"What?" Raven gave him a suspicious glance.
"Tire strips! Like the type police toss in front of speeding suspects! It's essential in flattening Rancid's tires. Thus, it's essential to stopping him."
"Did you bring some?"
"No. I forgot. They should be in the utility shed in the rear of the garage."
"Then let's bring them."
"Noir?" Robin glanced over at me. "Would you mind grabbing two of them and putting them into the trunk?"
I smiled and volunteered with a nod.
"They're kinda heavy, though," the Boy Wonder warned. "Put your legs into lifting them and don't strain yourself…."
"Don't bother," Raven muttered and opened the door. She got out. "If they're heavy, then I should get them. I do have telekinesis, you know."
"That works," Robin shrugged. "Fine by me."
Thwump!
Raven closed the rear door and walked towards the back of the garage.
I took a deep breath and leaned forward.
"Feeling rested?" Robin asked.
I nodded.
"Good," he shifted gears. "Cuz with Raven, we'd be overstocked. It's just you and me."
SCREEEEEEECH!!!!
I gasped as the car rocketed forward. I was pressed back hard into my seat as I scrambled to get my safety belts on.
VROOOOOOOOM!!!!
The T-Car was already halfway down the land ridge when Raven walked back with a twisted look on her face.
"Wait….," she mumbled. "Didn't Cyborg equip the T-Car ITSELF with deployable Tire Strips---" Her blue eyes bulged. "He didn't."
He did. And we were nearly over the suspension bridge by then.
Raven gritted her teeth. She clenched her fists. She shook…her face went red.
….
She relaxed into a sigh before she could blow. The girl stood straight and breathed calmly. Like melted ice.
"Oh well," she muttered. "Boys….."
She swiveled around and walked quietly towards the stairwell.
"At least now I get to catch up on some reading…"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"…and I was so amused to find out that Kara felt the same way!! Whoever on earth invented brassieres must have been of the sadistic persuasion. But then again, even Kara and I had to digress and realize that Terran people do not commonly enter space with the absence of gravity and thus it may be more pertinent for women to support themselves in such fashion throughout all of their years in spite of the perpetual annoyance of the feat."
Starfire smiled. She glanced at a clock on the wall.
"Eeep!" she cutely cried out. "It is almost time for me to prepare lunch for my friends!"
She swiftly placed the Puppet King back on his mantle and pressed a button. The glass case flew up and surrounded him once more atop the pedestal in the center of the evidence room.
"I do apologize for the brevity of our meeting. I will have more to talk about tomorrow, no doubt. But as is usual, my friends hold precedent in my expectations." She cupped her hands together and pleasantly leaned her head to the side. "I had heard rumors of Noir and Raven going on a mission to track down Johnny Rancid. If they are gone upon my arrival upstairs, I will be truly saddened. But I trust that their return will be prompt and safe! X'Hal be with them! Hehehe! Have a good day!"
She sauntered out of the room, flipped the switch, and dimmed the lights as the automatic door closed behind her.
Silence.
The various weapons and tools of victims reflected off the white, googly eyes of the Puppet King. That is…until the eyes darted over to look at where Starfire had just left….and blinked.