Sorry, I feel like it's been a while since I've posted, but I really had a writers block when it came to getting through these last few chapters of year 9. I'm not very happy with the way this chapter starts out, but I personally really do like the ay it, in my opinion, catches its stride. With that said, I do have to put a trigger warning on this one, it is a lot heavier than most of the other chapters I've written, so just be aware of that, and if you want to know what the trigger warning is for before starting to read, it is in the A/N at the end, I won't put it here so it doesn't spoil the ending. Anyway, I hope you like the chapter, please review and let me know your thoughts on this one.
"My uncle is staging a coo?" Brion repeated in disbelief.
Terra shook her head, pretending that this was the first she'd heard of it. "I do not understand," she murmured, "how did he get out of prison?"
"Apparently he still has people who are loyal to him," Dick replied.
"Yeah, more like people he's buying off," Gar shot back. He was practically at the edge of his seat, staring intently out the window, waiting for the action and refusing to look behind him, where Vigilante was.
They usually sat next to each other, in the two seats closest to the front, but since the fight Vigilante had taken the chair furthest from the green boy, and Tara could feel the shift in dynamic of the whole group with the boys' fight still lingering. The senior members of the team kept exchanging glances, looking from the boys to each other, probably afraid to say anything and make things worse, and the junior members were awkwardly keeping to themselves, careful not to take sides or create a situation where the fight would come back up.
"Why isn't the League coming in to stop it?" Static finally asked, attempting to break the tense silence.
Superboy rolled his eyes. "They're barred from intervening, compliments of Lex Luthor and the UN."
The screaming quiet settled back down around them, and they stayed that way until Miss Martian finally announced that the first drop zone was coming up. Beta squad, made up of Nightwing, Superboy, Inferno, and Tigress, all in unmarked black gear and masks that covered the bottoms of their faces, stood and went to the back of the ship, where the Supercycle was ready and waiting. Their part of the mission was to follow the signal of the control chip that they'd managed to find, thanks to her and Brion's chips that she'd "just happened" to save. That would bring them to Nautica and, they thought, to Dr. Jace and Ultra Humanite. Inferno and Nightwing gave Vigilante one last concerned look before a hole opened below them and the Supercycle took them off into the city.
Terra turned back to the window, staring out over the buildings surrounding the palace, feeling her resolve weaken the closer they got to her old home. It was easy to fight, even to kill, back with the Shadows, and it was nothing to lie to everyone in America, but here, in Markovia, in the place where she'd grown up, that small part of her that was still the princess, the one who's loved teasing her brothers and playing tricks on the staff and crawling into her parents' bed during thunderstorms, that girl's voice was louder. Between her former self and Slade both screaming in her head, she couldn't get a single definitive thought to form. She pressed her fist to her forehead, just trying to get some peace for a second, but she nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Brion's eyebrows rose at her reaction, and she forced herself to calm down. She couldn't let them bench her. Not now, when she could almost taste her freedom.
"Are you all right?" her brother asked.
"Of course," she snapped.
"Ok…then let's go."
She nodded and joined Brion, Beast Boy, and Vigilante in the center of the ship. Personally, she didn't agree with the senior members' decision to leave the boys on the same squad, but tactically, it made sense. They were on their way to the palace, to get Gregor out of harm's way and to take the fight straight to their uncle. Outside of breaking through a wall, the only way to get in would be through a door or a window, and with Nightwing and the other Bat-trained people either working on another squad or off the team, Vigilante was easily the best at breaking and entering.
Miss Martian announced their drop, and a hole opened in the floor. The ship slowed down, and Terra grabbed a chunk of rock from the passing ground and held it under the hole, allowing her, Brion, and Vigilante to step on while Beast Boy changed into a bird to fly along. Once they were clear, the Bioship picked up its pace, disappearing from view almost instantly with the camouflage mode. The remainder of the team were on their way to the cemetery behind the palace, where they were going to stop the execution of over a dozen of Gregor's supporters. Her squad stayed silent as they shot towards their destination, the only sounds being the wind whooshing past them and the steady breathing of each soldier.
Tara tried to match hers to theirs, masking the way her chest was tightening, threatening to strangle her with the stress of what she had to do. It didn't help that she'd been put on the same squad with someone she had to kill, someone who didn't trust her, and someone who would be devastated when he found out what she really was. That was perhaps the worst part of it. Killing was one thing, it would hardly be the first time she'd done it, but to do it in front of her brothers, one of whom had risked his own life to rescue her from that ring, was another. He would never look at her the same, neither of them would.
She narrowed her eyes, forcing the thought from her mind as they breached the perimeter of the palace, coming to a stop on one side and stepping off her makeshift hoverboard. It didn't matter what he thought of her. After tonight, Slade would retrieve her and she would disappear with the Shadows, never to be seen again. All she had to do was drop one little rock over one little hero. No problem.
Vigilante already had his wrist computer out, hacking away at the palace's security measures. She watched as the little indicators changed from red to green, and he slid the window open and took point, leading the way down the hall, keeping to the walls and shadows and watching and listening for signs of people. Without the link, they had to communicate with body language and hand signals, which was probably for the best anyway. She didn't think she could take hearing any of her squad members in her head one more time.
They finally made it to the third floor, where they had identified the room Gregor was being held in based on the short clip the traitors had shown on TV. "We will take it from here," Brion told Vigilante and Beast Boy. "You had better stay here and make sure no one arrives before we get him out."
"Remember the plan," Vigilante said quietly, pulling up a map of the palace grounds on his wrist computer. "He goes out the window, you send him here, to the courtyard. Gamma should have his people back by the time anyone realizes he's gone."
"I know," Brion got out through clenched teeth, pushing the younger boy's arm down. "I grew up here, remember? I know the grounds."
He started jogging down the hall, and Tara followed, forcing one foot in front of the other, her mind foggy. When they reached the room, though, it cleared in an instant. The second the door opened, a bullet came at them, and she pushed Brion out of the way, dodging at the same time. It hit the doorframe inches from her head, but she didn't take the time to acknowledge that. She was already moving, charging the attacker. It was a rebel soldier, clearly tasked with guarding the soon to be late king. He immediately knew he was outmatched, she could see it in his eyes. She might have even felt sorry for him, if she hadn't lost her pity years ago. She lifted a chunk of the granite floor and forced the man back, continuing to press against him even once he reached the wall.
"Tara?"
Hearing her name come from her oldest brother made her give a little slack to the rock. She couldn't do this, not here. "Yes," she said, letting the granite down. The soldier slumped to the ground limply, his gun and arm both bent in unnatural positions.
Gregor shook his head, looking between his siblings with disbelief and relief. "I…I am glad to see you both, but how did you get in? The security–"
"Wasn't a problem," Vigilante said from the doorway.
Gregor's eyes widened at the newcomer. "Who is this?" he asked, looking at his siblings for an answer.
"Doesn't matter," Vigilante replied quickly. He looked at Brion. "We don't have time for a reunion here, get him out and let's move on. Miss M just checked in, they got the hostages and they're on their way to the courtyard."
Gregor shook his head. "I do not understand, who are these people? Tara? Brion?" When neither sibling answered him, he switched to their native language, saying, "please, don't go."
Tara sighed, looking at the floor, hating that she had to push her brother away after finally reuniting with him for the first time in years, but she grabbed the chunk of granite once more and held it in front of him. "Step on," she told him, keeping to English.
When he didn't comply, Brion put a hand on his shoulder. "I promise, as soon as this is over, we will explain everything. You just have to trust us."
Gregor nodded reluctantly and stepped onto the rock, and Tara guided it gently out the large window and down to the courtyard below. As soon as her brother was safely on the ground, she brought it back up and replaced it in the hole in the floor, and the three rejoined Beast Boy in the hall, jogging back down the stairs.
"We're over our time, I hope we didn't miss–" Vigilante's voice faded away as the four teens came to a stop at the top of the last set of stairs, staring down at the rock face of the very person they were looking for, Barron Delamb. He glared up at them, an underlying sense of panic fueling the fury on his face.
"Children?! Again, I am plagued by children thinking they can stop me?! Why don't you ask your friends how it is working out for—" It was Delamb's turn to cut himself off when the doors behind his slammed open and Beta squad walked in, Superboy dragging Count Vertigo by the scruff of his collar.
"It's over, Delamb!" Nightwing yelled, the five members of Beta, including Nautica, starting to close in on him. Alpha had made it to the bottom of the stairs by now, slowly trapping the man between the two groups. Tara flexed her hand, feeling the urge to crush her uncle from there. His body was made of rock, it would be so easy to just grab him and push until he crumbled into dust. She could hear Slade's voice in her ear, saying, "no, not yet." She ground her teeth, but she didn't act on the urge.
"You think so?" Delamb asked, a smile coming to his face. "A meta invasion, an opportunity to defend the county from these overpowered traitors, and to cleanse the bloodline of these weak orphans? It is far from over."
Tara narrowed her eyes, Slade's voice coming clear in her head, 'now.' "We're orphans because of you!" she cried, and she pulled her uncle towards her. He seemed surprised at first, but then he used the momentum to his advantage. She saw the punch coming and forced herself not to react. It felt like a brick crashing into her jaw, and she forced her muscles to go limp, falling to the ground instead of fighting back. Just as she'd predicted, Brion exploded.
"Monster!" he screamed, tackling him through the window in a shower of glass. The two squads followed them through it, either flying, jumping, or hitching their way down into the front courtyard, where hundreds of camera crews and concerned citizens' cell phones were trained on the struggle between regimes happening right in front of them. Brion winced, clutching his chest from the impact of the fall nearly twenty feet from the first floor of the palace to the ground, but Delamb barely even seemed winded. He got to his feet, starting towards his nephew with sure steps. Brion's eyes widened and he forced himself up, but he only got to his knees before his uncle raised a foot, ready to stomp on him. The teenager hurriedly gathered lava in front of him, and he barely had time to cool it into rock before Delamb's boot made contact, shattering the feeble shield and making his nephew tumble backwards.
Before the barron could take another step, three heroes were on him. Superboy, Inferno, and a gorilla Beast Boy all threw punches at the same time. The barron grabbed the last arm that came at him, Gar's, and snapped the bone over his knee. All of the heroes leaned forward, wincing at the green teen's pained roar, and Nightwing sprang at the villain, kicking him squarely in the face with both feet and grabbing the boy, pulling him out of the danger zone. Tigress and Nautica knelt with him, making sure he was all right, but he waved them away despite the streak of tears making their way down his cheeks. Even Tara felt bad for him. The bone was nearly at a right angle, and with it breaking as a gorilla, the force needed to do that was beyond superhuman. Maybe it would feel like putting him out of his misery.
Her brother had the ground underneath their uncle melted, and he covered him in it. Another second, and the lava hardened, trapping the man in three inches of solid rock. Brion coated his own arms in jagged rocks and started pummeling him. He hit him so much and so hard that the outer shell the Barron was wearing chipped away, finally revealing his vulnerable skin. Only, he didn't stop there. Tara saw the look in her brother's eyes from ten feet away, filled with blinding rage and resolve, with a familiar hollowness that she would never be able to shake. He was going to kill him, she knew it.
"Brion, stop!" Gar yelled, getting to his feet. He didn't even glance at the cameras filming the entire exchange, but it was clear his message was for them, too. "Heroes are supposed to be beacons of hope, not punishment. Let the law handle him, we did our job, we're done."
The look in Brion's eyes didn't change, despite the brief pause he'd taken in his beating. Tara bit her lip, looking around, then narrowed her eyes and stepped forward, moving until she was far away from the heroes. It was too early to make her move, but she didn't care. Taking a life was something you couldn't come back from, and she wasn't going to let her brother cross that line. She ripped a chunk of rock out of the ground, starting the heroes into stillness, even Brion.
"Tara, what are you…?" Gar started, but he didn't need to finish that sentence. The princess pushed it over Beast Boy, holding it over his head.
"Tara…don't," Brion looked at her, shocked, their uncle completely forgotten.
"Go ahead, Tara. Drop it," Slade's voice came through her comm. Her eyes widened a little, it had been weeks since he'd tried to contact her, but then she narrowed her eyes, focusing them on her target.
"Tara, you don't have to do what they tell you," Tigress said, taking a small step forward.
The girl looked at her sharply. "What are you talking about?" she asked, her heart hammering against her ribs. How could she possibly know that Slade was in contact with her?
"We know you didn't wash out of the Shadows," the former archer explained. "We could have shut you down before we left the Watchtower, but that would have taken the choice out of your hands. That's what they've done to you for almost three years. You deserve better."
Tara's breathing came fast and she stared at the ground. Choice? There was no choice. She was a Shadow, an assassin. That was all there was left in her. The rock came down lower. Just one more job, that was all she had to–
"Tara, please, this isn't you!" Brion yelled.
She chanced a glance up and immediately wished she hadn't. The pleading in her brother's face, the pity, it was enough to turn her stomach. "You don't know me!" she screamed. "Not anymore."
"You're right," he replied, his voice dropping to almost a whisper. "I have not known you for three years, when I let you be taken from our hotel room because I could not be bothered to protect you. I failed you then, Sister, but I will not do it again. Do not do this, please. It is never too late to change."
Her vision blurred, and her throat burned with unshed tears as she debated her choices in her head. "Tara, don't listen to them," Slade said. "Brion admitted it, he let you down. They all have, but I haven't. Just drop the rock, and you can come back to the Shadows, we'll send you anywhere you want to go, just do what I–"
She tore the comm out of her ear and threw it, and a second later the rock fell on top of it, crushing any friendly connection she'd had with Deathstroke and the Shadows. Her face crumpled up and she fell to the ground, covering her eyes with her hand as she tried to get control of herself. Warriors didn't cry. Strength didn't leave room for tears. She felt someone's arms around her, and when she cracked an eye open, it was Nautica, her strong arms tightening, making her feel safer than she had for years.
"It is all right," the Atlantean murmured.
The princess scrubbed at her eyes, shaking her head. "This is only the beginning," she said, more to herself. Now that she'd broken her ties, the Shadows would have a contract out for her, and Deathstroke would be hunting her down personally. She knew how it worked, she'd done the same for a dozen deflects.
"Hey, don't worry," Artemis said softly, kneeling down beside her. "We can keep you safe."
Tara stared at her for a moment. Keep her safe. Yes, for the first time in a long time, she thought it was the truth.
"AARRGGHH!"
They all jumped at the primitive scream that Delamb let out, right before she managed to break out of his rock prison. They were on their feet in a second, the strongest among them already on his tail. Brion's face changed, and he slammed a foot into the ground, pulling up a waterfall of lava, the heat forcing most of the heroes to back up. Tara saw the fear that flashed in inferno's eyes and she changed her course from following Delamb to booking it towards Brion to talk him down before he melted everyone there. Superboy had the barron coming back towards the group, and Nautica and Tigress had already started moving away from her and towards the group, but Tara stood there, frozen as she looked between her uncle, who had murdered her parents, who had stolen hers and her brother's choices to become meta humans, who had kidnapped her and sold her into a human trafficing ring, and who would never stop trying to hurt her family, and her brother, who had risked everything to save her, and who would never stop trying to protect them from Delamb, and she made her choice.
Her uncle was only a few meters away now. With one hand she latched onto her uncle, pulling him towards her, and with the other, she lifted the very same chunk of rock meant to deal a blow for the Light, and pulled it towards her. Beast Boy saw the movement and started running towards her, but everything seemed to be moving in slow motion, her vision was starting to blur over.
"No! Tara, don't do this!" the green boy screamed. He was almost at her now, but she couldn't stop.
Delamb was struggling against her grip, but she held him firm at her side, shedding his outer shell for him, only keeping his arms and legs covered so she had something to hold onto. He saw the rock coming closer and wrenched against her grip.
"You–you'll be killed too!" he cried desperately. Tara narrowed her eyes. "Then I'll see you on the other side, Uncle." Beast Boy was too close, but she couldn't stop now. She just hoped he wouldn't make himself collateral damage.
The boulder was milliseconds away. She scanned the crowd of heroes still desperately trying to get to her, and she smiled as she locked eyes with Brion. This was how she wanted it. Her brother was the last face she wanted to see on this world. She only wished Gregor could have been there too. The rock hit, there was a flash of pain, and then a flash of white that brought the sweet relief of both body and soul. When she opened her eyes, her parents were standing in front of her, their arms extended. She laughed, tears of joy running down her cheeks, and she ran to meet them. Finally, she was free.
I do not take suicide lightly at all, and I'm sorry if writing this triggered anyone. I know that everyone had their own experiences with things, but this really was the only ending that I really felt that I could do Tara justice with.