267. Break the Circle part 27
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"Nnnngh…..Nnnngh!.!.!"
Tim pulled himself up.
Climbing onto the topmost tier of the Wayne Enterprises skyscraper still left standing.
He perched breathlessly in the wind…..squatting atop a crag of haywire steel cross-beams and dangling glass panes.
He peered over.
Blue eyes thin against the wind.
His tattered golden cape billowing shreddedly in the red night.
He gazed and gazed and gazed……..and gasped.
There she was.
Hanging with two shaking hands grasping helplessly to a metal steel shard.
Her green eyes clenched shut.
Tearing emerald streams of tears.
Her lips quivering in the mad wind. Tamaranian prayers.
Hanging.
Dangling.
Broken and bleeding green….
"St-Starfire!"
Tim climbed down.
Scrambling…
Sliding.
He stumbled once—with a grunt—nearly plummeting over the edge of the buildingtop.
"STARFIRE!"
She didn't respond.
She simply dangled.
Seventy stories up.
Her arms shaking.
Her body frozen and quivering from where it hung in the wind….
Like a tattered flag….
Blood and girlhood….fading…….drifting……
"Starfire!" Tim shuddered….balancing himself on an unsteady, broken beam dangling meters above her. "Fly! Please, you have t-to fly! I-I'm out of grappling hooks!"
She hung.
She dangled.
She murmured.
She prayed…..
Prayed………
"St-Starfire?" Tim gulped. He shouted. "STARFIRE!"
"Nnnngh….," she winced. Tears streaming. "I-I…..I c-cannot f-fly!" Her eyes were clenched shut.
He panted.
He clenched his jaw.
He repositioned his limbs.
He snaked his body downward…
And descended.
Climbing.
Dangling…..
…..hanging from the steel girder above her.
Clutching onto the metal beam with just his ankles alone.
The nimble Boy Wonder wormed his body down.
Hand stretching towards the Earth.
Towards her precarious figure in the foreground.
Stretching……reaching……reaching….
"T-Then grab my hand……please, Starfire! You must!"
She….
She opened her eyes.
She gazed up at him.
Tearing.
Seeing his blue optics.
His boyish face.
His fear and his humanity.
And she clenched her eyes shut again.
And she shook her skull.
Sobbing. "I-I cannot!"
He gritted his teeth. "Yes you can!.!.! If you can't fly…then you'll have to grab my hand—"
"N-NO!.!.!" She shrieked. "X'hal! I cannot LIVE!.!.!"
Tim gasped.
Blue eyes wide.
"St-Starfire….."
She shook and slipped…..slipped….slipped from her grasp as she wailed: "Meladrunna de X'hal! I am an atrocity!"
"Please don't say that--!.!.!"
"All of my friends are suffering! I am a weak shame to them as I was to Robin when we were both alive! He did not l-love me! What is th-there to live for? What bountiful joy is there an-anymore?"
Tim shouted and thrust his face further down from where he hung—
"KORY!.!.!"
Starfire gasped.
She reopened her eyes.
Wide….green…..twitching….
Gazing up at him.
Seeing…….him….
"Kory, it's ME!.!.!" Tim shouted.
"………………..," Starfire blinked. A wilted….shaking little-girl voice echoed from her lips. "R-Robin….?"
He panted. Desperate, he thrusted his gloved hand down. "Take my hand! You have everything to live for!.!.!.!"
"……………," Starfire's lips pursed. Her tearstained face remained frozen. Slowly……icily…..she stretched a steady hand up towards his grasp.
He bit his lip and stretched down.
She reached up.
He reached down….
Their fingers were four inches apart….two---
SNAP!.!.!.!
Starfire's steel girder cracked.
She fell.
"AAAAAAAA-AAAAAAAAAH!.!.!.!"
Tim screamed: "STARFIRE!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!"
FWOOOOOOOO-OOOOOOOOSSSSSH!.!.!.! The Tamaranian girl's body plummeted deadly down the lengths of Wayne Enterprises.
Tim's blue eyes….
Wide…..devouring….
Narrowing.
TH-THWP!
He flipped.
He planted his feet against the steel mesh.
He stretched his arms out.
Fingers pointed.
Body angled.
And…..
He dove.
He dove……
Dove………dove………dove……dove………
Tim flew down the glass lengths of the monumental tower.
Burning against the wind.
Searing through the red air.
His arms stretching slowly out.
Gliding through the air.
Cutting….angled wings.
Yellow tattered feathers flickering, flickering, flickering.
As the panes of glass and gusts of wind slammed through him like walls of ice.
Fwoosh-Fwoosh-Fwoosh!-Fwoosh!-Fwoosh!-Fwoosh!-FWOOSH!-FWOOSH!-FW-FW-FW-FW-FW-FW-FW-FW-FW-FWOOOOOSSSSSH!.!.!.!.!
Sixty stories……
Robin angled his missile plummeting body.
Teeth gritting against the skin stretching wind.
Zooming down after the flailing, toppling Starfire.
Sliding like a skipping stone.
Hurdling after her.
His eyes trained on her.
On her……On her……On her……
FWOOOOOOO-OOOOO-OOOOO-OOOOOOSSSSSSH!.!.!.!.!.!
Fifty stories.
He hooked an arm out.
Panting….panting…
Angling himself.
Guiding his earthward flight with twitching, ruddering ankles.
Flying…gliding himself into her.
Just as she turned about—her wounded body beating in the air—and gasped—
SNATCH!.!.!.!
Tim hooked his arm around her.
She gasped….breathing against him.
Alive….falling….dying….
Alive.
Forty stories.
Tim panted.
Eyeing the deathly concrete ground below.
The end of their flight.
He held Starfire with one arm hooked around her waist.
He jabbed another arm up and to his back.
Grabbing the base of his cape.
Yanking it from his uniform….tattered.
SNAG!
"Nnnngh!" He pressed his chest against Starfire's back, straddling her lower abdomen from behind with his nimble legs.
He freed his arms as the two twirled, rocked, spun, and flailed in all manner of angles together.
Thirty stories.
Tim reached into his grappling hook.
He pulled out one of his last birdarangs.
He stabbed it through the polymerized titanium of his cape.
"HAAAAUGH!"
SNKKKT!
He hooked it in….tightened the shredded material around the weighted 'spike' of the birdarang.
He held his breath and shifted his grip on the cape….holding it by the scrappy end opposite the pinning birdarang.
All the while Starfire panted….breathed…panted—wide eyed—against him.
Tim stopped straddling her with his legs, wrapped an arm around her twirling body…beneath her chest…
….and spun the weighted, spike-ended cape over his cranium with his one free hand.
Twenty stories.
FW-FW-FW-FW-FW-FW-FWOOOOO-OOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSH!.!.!.!.!
"HOLD ON!.!.!.!" Tim screamed.
He twirled…twirled…twirled the cape and—
---flung it, birdarang stabbing, into the blurring glass face of the Wayne Enterprises building.
SWOOOOSH-CL-CLANKKKKTT-TTT!.!.!.!
The birdarang stabbed into the glass, sparking and shredding sharp shards.
The cape pulled taut.
Tim jolted from his one arm—nearly dislocating his limb—and kicked his feet against the glass while dragging the cape-tied-birdarang into the buildingside….scrapingly slowing….slowing….slowing their descent.
SSNKKKKKT-SNKKKKKKT-SNKKKKKKTTTT!.!.!.!.!.!
Shards.
Sparks.
Flying into the cold night.
Starfire shuddered.
Tim's teeth gnashed together.
His whole body shook and jolted from the grasp.
The birdarang dug deeper and deeper.
The winds blew less and less.
The two slowed…slowed…slowed….
But still plummeting at the end of an endless gash being dugged into the glass face of the building.
Tim screamed into the field of flying glass and sparks.
"AAAAAAAAA-AAAAAA-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!.!.!.!.!.!.!"
Ten stories.
"AAAAAAA-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!.!.!.!.!.!"
His blue eyes clenched shut.
His whole face tensed.
Body breaking.
Snapping between Starfire and the cape and the world screaming up around them.
As they slowed…slowed….slowed……
Starfire gasped as she felt—
Five stories.
SNAP!
CRAAACK!
The birdarang exploded.
The cape snapped free.
Tim and Starfire flailed at over fifty feet above the concrete.
"Aaaah!" Starfire shrieked.
"Nnnnngh!" Tim kicked at the glass, summoned unearthly friction, and FLUNG Starfire's body straight up with both of his hands.
TH-THWOOOSH!
Starfire breathlessly flailed a few feet upwards at the fifth story.
Tim fell on his own.
FWOOOOOOSSSH!
He plummeted towards a stretch of awning above the sidewalk of the City street below.
He gritted his teeth…plunged his feet straight down and—
RIIIIIP!
Sliced through, jolted, and fell—
PL-PLOP!
Landing with shuddering knees…..crouching low on the sidewalk.
Tensing…
…
And Starfire fell.
Tim took one breath….
Two…..
"………NnnnnnnnnghhhHHHHH—"
He tilted his body straight up and back.
Arms splayed to the side.
"—HRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-AAAAAH!"
And with his warcry passionately exhaled……
….he safely caught Starfire.
SWOOOOOSH-PLOP!.!.!
"!.!.!" she gasped.
Tim jolted…
….fell back two steps…
….four….
….a bounding fifth….
………..and—
TH-THWUMP!
Tim landed in the middle of the street.
Starfire landed in the middle of the street.
They lay together…
….shivering…..
…….in each other's arms.
And before Starfire could so much as blink-twice….—
Tim was grabbing her.
Tim was hugging her.
Tim was hyperventilating.
His blue eyes clenched shut as he simply cradled her.
Resting his forehead against her.
His bruised chest against her bleeding chest.
His trembling fingers along her scraped temples.
Toying with her red bangs.
Her scarlet locks.
Panting….hyperventilating….sobbing….
And she shuddered. "R-….R-…..R-…….R-Robin?.?.?"
"Starfire…..," Tim squeaked. Tears squeezing out of his blue eyes. "God, Starfire, I love you. I love you….I love you….I love you. Don't you ever die on me!.!.!"
Her whole face melted. Her lips quivering. Her injured hands slowly—shakily rose to meet his. "Robin….."
"I'm so sorry, Starfire…," Tim shuddered. Tim choked. Tim sobbed. "I-I'm so sorry for leaving you. I so wanted to be with you. I s-so wanted to tell you the truth. Please b-believe me, Starfire. I love you. I love you so much….I'm so sorry….I-I'm so sorry….."
"R-Robin…..," she sniffed and hugged him closely. Burying her face in his chest heatedly in the center of the street as her green tears fountained out and stained his exposed skin. "Robin, I love you too. X'hal…Th-Thank X'HAL! How….H-H-How….?"
"Shhhh……Shhh….Starfire….please….," he parted their hug and simply leaned his head against hers. Teary eyes to teary eyes. Inhaling each other. Shuddering. Shaking. Quivering. "….Stay with me forever……St-Stay with me forever, Star…..I love you s-so much…I-I'll never…EVER leave you again….."
She hiccupped. Hugging him fiercely. Running her hand deeply through the short hairs on the back of his neck. Shaking and shuddering all over.
"I…..I…I-I never stopped praying, Starfire….," Tim shuddered. "Never once did I stop praying…hoping………f-for this……"
"Shhh….n-neither did I, Robin…..," she shuddered. Digging her face in his chest again. Exhaling. "……Neither did I----"
THWACCKK!.!.!.!
"AAAUGH!"
"UGHHH!"
Tim and Starfire tumbled painfully across the asphalt.
The smell of burning flesh.
Rotting meat against metal.
"HCKKKKK-CLIK-CLIK-CLIK-SNKKKKKTTTT!.!.!.!.!"
Tim looked up—
WHAM!.!.!.!
--Slade's gnarled, mangled foot slammed up his chin.
Tim spat blood and tumbled over Starfire…who was hissing and wincing on the ground.
The alien girl shuddered and looked up from where she was sprawled across the cold floor.
And she gasped.
STOMP!
S-STOMP!
STOMP!.!.!
Deathstroke limped towards them.
A hissing…vaporous mess of burning flesh.
His cowl remained the same obscuring nightmare….
But the good majority of his lower body and torso were exposed.
Meatedly throbbing, hallow.
Twisted and interchanging with metal mesh that supported his barely-cohesive innards and organs together…
….all glowing with the red-pulsing synthesis of Destruction.
"Hckkkk-Clik-Clik-Clik-Snkkkkkt-HCKKK!.!.!.!"
"Y-You…!" Starfire shrieked. Too weak to move. Too weak to fire a starbolt. Too weak to live……
"Hckkkkt….the only fire….that will blaze tonighttttttsnkkkt…..
SWOOOOOSH-WHACK!.!.!
Deathstroke kicked Starfire straight in the gut.
"Nnnnngh!" she lurched and curled up and spat blood…wincing and tearing.
He loomed over her and reached back for his shotgun. "---IS THE LIFE…THAT PATHETICCCCKKALLLY….HOLDSSSS YOU…ABOVE HELL-SNKKKKT!.!.!"
SWOOOOSH-CH-CHTUNG! He pumped the weapon and aimed both barrels at her skull—
"NNNNNRAAAAAUGH!" Tim bloodily pounced and grabbed Slade from behind.
"HRAAAUCHKKKKTTT!.!.!" Deathstroke hobbled back, flailed his shotgun, and wrestled in reverse with Tim. "Snkkkt-Clik-Clik-HRCKKK!"
"Nnnnngh-HHAAAUGH!"
Starfire watched from the ground. Staring wide-eyed at the heated battle. Lips pursed and hyperventilating a cold mist….
"SNkkkkt-RAAAUCHKTT!.!.!" Deathstroke hunched over with Tim on his back. His innards clicked and rotated. His one red eye strobed red. "It looksssssnkt—like, boyyyy….that beforrrrre I take away your powerrrr of flight….I musssst take away your powerrrr to WALKKKK-SNNNKT!" THWOOOSH-SMASSSH!.!.! He reverse head-butted Tim in the face.
"Aaaugh!" Tim fell off him.
"SNkkkkt!" Deathstroke spun to the side—TH-THWISSH!—aimed his shotgun straight down into Tim's hobbling left foot and….
BLAM!
Tim's boot exploded with metal and red liquid.
"AAAA-AAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!.!.!" Tim howled.
Starfire screamed—
"HCKKK!.!.!" Deathstroke jabbed the butt of the shotgun—WHACKKK!.!.!—uppercutted Tim in the jaw—GRIP!.!.!—and threw the boy with a strong-arm over and into Starfire.
TH-TH-TH-THWUMP!.!.!.! The two rolled together across the street and fell limp in a pile.
Tim bleeding.
Starfire panting.
"R-Robin…..," she murmured. Trying to crawl over and hold his pain-wracked figure—
CL-CLAMP!.!.!
Deathstroke slammed his foot down over her hand.
"NNNNNGH!.!.!" Starfire cringed….teeth gritting. With tear-stained eyes….she and Tim gazed up. Helpless.
Pinned.
CH-CHTUNG!
Deathstroke aimed a barrel of the shotgun each into their two faces.
Hissing…
Cascading red vapors towards their intertwined forms….
"Snkkkkt-Clik-Clik-Hckkkkk….bleeeeeeeeeed….HCKKKK!…..bleeeeeeed foreverrrrr….snkkt….my…..childrrrrrrrrennnnn….."
Starfire shuddered.
Tim gulped.
They held each other.
They awaited…..
BANG!.!.!.!
--they flinched…..but they were still alive.
In fact—
CLANK!.!.!
"HRAAAUCKKT?.!.?.!" Slade jolted as the shotgun was blown clean from his grip by an expert bullet.
His red eye didn't have time to blink when—
BANG!.!.!.!.!
THUNK! A second bullet from the sidelines screamed through Deathstroke's charred ankle.
"RAAAACKKKK-SNKKKKT!.!.!.!" Deathstroke heaved and fell to his knees.
SLUMP!
He knelt….throbbing…pulsing…hissing….
"Clik-Clik-Clik-Clik-Snkkkkkt……."
…….
He looked over.
"………," so did Starfire and Tim. Weakly.
A figure walked out of the shadows of the side street. Holding a smoking pistol. A small figure. Petite. Blonde. Wide green eyes.
Jericho.
"………," the mute boy stood several meters from his father. His pistol raised. His eyes thin. His breath quick….ragged…..lips slowly pursing.
"…………….," Deathstroke stared at his son. His meaty body pulsing. Clicking on the insides. And the red vapors ever-cascading down and through him.
A mute exchange took place between the Reaper and the Angel.
And slowly…..painfully…..Jericho's green eyes melted. And his jaw and face grew long. And in anguish of the undead rank and smell and aura…..he looked sadly at his father.
Sadly….
The gun shaking in his hand.
Twitching as much as his green eyes.
"…………….," Deathstroke's red eye narrowed. Its red pulse dimmed some. A breath of vapor cascaded out from his cowl slits. His arms twitched. And his wrists flexed numb fingers as he leaned his shaking….quivering….undead head to the side. "…….clik…..clik-clik-snkkkkt……..J-Joey……."
Jericho shuddered.
His breath leaving him raggedly.
"……snkkkt….Joeyyyyy-yyyyyyy……."
Jericho panted…..blinking…..panted…..
"Clik-Clik-Clik…..," a hissing descent in the tone of the Terminator's voice. He shakily stretched a hand out. Gnarled palms pointing outward. Entreating. "…….my….snkkkt……my s-son…….my one…..good….ssssson……"
Jericho choked back a sob.
The gun pointing…..he walked forward.
One shaking foot at a time.
Trembling all over.
Closing the distance between him and his father.
Starfire and Tim watched.
Powerless.
Utterly weak…..stripped of energy….
Curious….uncertain….
Observing….
"Snkkkkt……my ever….perssssistent……son……."
Jericho walked up to Deathstroke.
The gun no longer smoking
His fingers shaking loose from around the trigger.
He stood with his green eyes barely above the face-level of his father.
"Snkkkkt….clik-clik-clik……" Slade looked up….head tilted….one glowing eye patiently trained on Jericho's face. "……my…..brave……innocentttt…..litttttle boy……"
Jericho choked back a sob.
Within arm's length of his father….
He smiled.
His green eyes moistened.
He lowered the gun….
….and he reached a shaking hand up to touch his progenitor's face---
CHIIIING!--SWOOOOSH—SLIIIIIIII-IIIIIIINK!.!.!.!.!.!
Jericho lurched to a stop. His green eyes wide. His mute mouth gaping open.
"HCkkkkkkkkk…..clik-clik-clik….snkkkt….," Deathstroke leaned his vaporous face towards his son's…..having unsheathed and stabbed his red blade straight through the gut of the petite blonde all in one breath. "…….you arrrre---snkkkt—as stupid….as you are WEAKKKKK-SNKKKKT!.!.!.!"
"………….," Jericho shook. Jericho shivered. Cl-Clak! He dropped the gun and convulsed on Deathstroke's blade. His mouth gaping….His emerald irises twitching….
Starfire and Tim watched.
Helpless.
Horrified….
"Snkkkkkkt---Yourrrr motherrrr wasted you—SNKKKKT---before you were even borrrrrn…..I thoughttt I did you a favorrr—snkkt—taking your worthless voice away…..," Deathstroke gripped tightly to the hilt of the sword skewering his son. His red eye pulsed brightly. Ravaging. "……butttt now the circccle is completttte…..the circcccle—snkkkkt—is complettte….for I have taken your LIFE—HCKKK-AWAY!.!.!"
Jericho melted. His knees giving way. His whole body sliding bloodily down the length of Deathstroke's sword.
And as he did so….
He cried.
He stared into Deathstroke's red eye….
And he cried….
Green orbs moist and tearing.
Full of pain.
Full of disbelief.
The hope that rose and fell in one instant.
The fluctuation of a ghost tailed to the comet end of his father, slamming into a brick wall. cried with his last breath….
"Snkkkkkt……a boy….who NEVERRRR—SNKKKKT—LEARNSSSS….has no righttt bearing my name….," Deathstroke stared his dying son in the face.
Jericho's eyes narrowed…..drifting……
"Clik-Clik-Clik---Snktt—not you…..not Terra's….and certainly—SNKKKT—NOT---"
Jericho's eyes widened.
CONTACT.
FLASSSH!
Jericho disappeared.
"SNKKKKK-KKKKT!.!.!" Slade jolted. Leaning back. Suddenly….hauntingly stil.
Starfire and Tim blink.
"………………….," Slade was holding onto an empty, red-stained blade. "……………….J-Joey?………………..J-J-Joey?…….My……M-My son?….."
Silence…..
…..
…..
"Snkkkt….."
…..
…..
"Snkkkt-Raaaugh….Hckk…HCkk-Clik-Clik-SNKKKTRAAUGH!"
CL-CLANGGG!.!.!.!
Deathstroke dropped his blade.
He leaned back on his knees.
Gripping his quivering, vaporing head.
"Nnnkkksssktkt—NrrrrRRAAAUCHKKKT! Joey…JOSEPH!….Waitttt…..it'ssssnkkkt---It's your father……YOUR FATHER, JOEY!"
Tim and Starfire shuddered…..shook…trembled in each other's arms in the shadows of the thrashing, howling reaper.
"RAAAA-AAAUCHKT! HAAAAKKKKKCCTT-NRAAAAAAAUCHKKKT!.!.!"
Slade twitched.
Slade shook.
Slade reeled and thrashed and bloodied the street in a halo all around him.
Hissing.
Red eye pulsing.
Round.
A halo of crimson-pulsing fear.
Panicking.
Smoking…….teetering on the edge of Destruction.
Screaming insanity.
The circle spinning….spinning….spinning.
"HCKKKK-SNKKKT!"
SWOOOOSH-SNATCH!.!.!
Deathstroke's flesh-and-metal hand bolted down, swiped up the pistol Jericho had dropped, and…
….Red Aviary suddenly found himself leaning back….his skull tilted up towards the sky……his one eye widening in fear and terror as his very own arms—against his will—raised the barrel of the gun straight against his forehead—
Cl-Clik!
With both hands tightening around the trigger.
"Joey…..snkkkt….Joey….don't do it, Joey……this is your father….please, Joey…..don't do this….don't p-pull the trigger, Joey….I….snkkkt….I-I can CHANGE, JOEY! You can live….I can live…WE CAN LIVE!.!.! LIVE, JOEY! LIVE!.!.!"
But he kept hissing.
Clicking.
Aiming the gun at his forehead.
Shaking all over.
Red eye absorbing the crimson night that he spawned.
Drifting back down coldly to envelop him.
Starfire and Tim gazed on.
Shivering.
Waiting…
"P-Please, Joey….listen to me…….," Deathstroke hyperventilated. Hissed. Vapored. "….this is not a-about you….it doesssss-not—HCCK—INVOLVE YOU! HCKKK-IT NEVER…HAD…..TO!.!.!.!.!"
Silence. silence.
The stillness in the wind.
The City that sustained everything the terrorist had to throw at him.
Frigid as tombstone granite.
"JOEYYYYYY!.!.!.!" Slade heaved. "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DON'T DO IT, JOEYYYYY!.!.!.!" Slade heaved again. "I DON'T WANT YOU TO BURNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN----
BANG!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!
Starfire and Tim jolted.
…..
…..
…..
"………………….," Slade's corpse lingered on its knees. A hole straight through his head…..through his brain. "………………"
……
TH-THRUMP!.!.!
Red Aviary fell limply to the ground.
The red glowed died as quickly as the pistol fell and bounced to a cold stop against the edge of the sidewalk.
The son's fingerprints disappeared in perfect cadence with the last, dwindling breath of the Reaper.
The circle was broken.