Take Flight
It was a cliche, but it was a cliche for a reason. It was nearly four o'clock in the morning here on the East Coast, and the phone began to ring and ring loudly. By the second ring, a hand reached out and picked the phone up. Before the third ring, a sleep-tainted voice spoke.
"Bordeaux," the director of A.R.G.U.S. answered, her other hand rubbing fingertips on both eyes. It was a rare night when she could go home at a reasonable hour and sleep in her own bed. Calls like these were dreaded and because they always happened when everything was going right.
Bordeaux listened to the voice on the other end, a stray thought wishing violence on the other, and another thought keeping her professional. She was the director of A.R.G.U.S. for a reason, even though it felt like she was always too busy trying to catch up.
"Excuse me, come again," she asked. For whatever reason, it didn't click what she had just been told. A shorter summary was told to her. "The Teen Titans want to enter protective custody with us?"
Confirmation was given. Now she was rubbing her eyes for another reason. Okay, of all the things that went onto her bingo card for the year, this wasn't on it. Right, there needed to be a response, but she needed more information first.
"Did they explain why?"
Now the director was sitting up, turned so that her feet now rested on the carpeted floor. Bordeaux was waking up, and mind sharpening as she listened to each and every detail told to her.
This situation was becoming more interesting and more terrifying with each new detail. The Teen Titans were being hunted and attacked by the Terminator himself. The Justice League had attempted to intervene, and it was speculated that they had failed. They would need to get confirmation about that as soon as possible, because if the League was dead, that would not be good. Even the staunchest of anti-League proponents could not argue that there were situations that the League was necessary in order to ensure humanity's survival.
If Deathstroke the Terminator had eliminated them, the ripple effects of that would be massive. Earth would be vulnerable again, and she did mean again because ignorance of the universe and beyond was the only reason they knew nothing about all the machinations out there. Their planet was always under threat, like it or not, and having the League as the first line of defense was crucial.
The current state was required for A.R.G.U.S. to take its next steps. "Did someone contact Trevor and bring him up to speed? We need an update, an hour ago. Get on that."
Which now brought her to the other side of the equation. It was clear that the Teen Titans were grasping at straws by coming to them. Desperate. Last resort. Understandable when you had one of the world's best assassins chasing you down. The next order of business would be to find out who hired the man and end that contract because that was the only way this was going to end.
"Activate one of our safehouses, and place the Titans there. Let's get them far away from Jump City, put them somewhere where there's little activity and little chance of casualties should it come to that. The Terminator is not going to stop unless we stop him. If the League has failed, then we're the only ones standing in the way."
There was something about that that was terrifying. This wasn't an alien incursion. This wasn't something out of this world. This was a very human threat. This was a threat they knew something about. This was something that was mundane compared to everything else the universe had thrown at them.
This was something they had more than enough knowledge to combat. All they truly needed to do was buy time.
Giving a few more instructions, including getting a staff meeting set up to get everyone on the same page, Bordeaux ended the call. No sooner had she done that, that she gave a deep sigh and slumped her shoulders. So much for getting a good night's sleep. Since she was up, might as well get this day started early.
Then the phone began to ring.
Looking at it, Bordeaux regarded it much like someone would with a venomous snake. By the end of the second ring, she was answering.
"Bordeaux," she began only for the speaker on the other end to cut her off from saying anything else. After several seconds, "How do you…never mind."
She could feel the smugness coming out through the phone's receiver.
What was said next really got Bordeaux's attention because her head was jerking up, her shoulders straightening. "You want to do what?"
The caller gave more details and yet none at all at the same time. Characteristic at this point unless she decided to be blunt. It was always hard to read her, but let it never be said that loyalty was ever in question.
"You want to take custody? We're talking about kids here. Where you want them—" Interrupted by someone with the tone of explaining how it was going to be. Cold facts and logic were spoken, and Bordeaux struggled to try and find a way around them.
Someone in A.R.G.U.S. was more than caught up on the facts. They already had a plan in motion, and all that was needed were the pleasantries and fine print. Only Bordeaux could sign off on any of it.
There was a logic explained though, and as much as she disliked it, it made too much sense. It was, in fact, a way to kill two birds with one stone. Protect the Teen Titans and stop Deathstroke all in one swoop. It would be much quicker and effective than trying to track down the one who put forth this bloody contract in the first place. That would take time and investigation, and time seemed to be the one thing these kids did not have.
Desperate times called for desperate measures, didn't it?
"Make the arrangements. I'll get it signed off and everything," Bordeaux granted.
Hopefully this wasn't a mistake.
Where it had been that anything that could have gone wrong would have, it was currently the complete opposite of that. Everything seemed to be going right.
After being set up in a conference room, they were then spirited away to the airport, put into a private jet, and away they went. There was some anxiety about it, being put into separate cars and going different ways to end up at the same location, boarding, and take off. Take off was the most nerve wracking since that would be a time to attack and cause a crash.
That didn't happen and now they were up in the clouds heading to some unknown destination. While the windows had all the shades shut on them, if you were to open one up now, you'd be able to see that the sun was slowly lighting up the night. Dawn was here, and so they had survived the night.
But it wasn't over. Red Robin knew this and understood it. Everything they had tried had amounted to nothing. All the stops were pulled but to no avail. The League was not an option because they too had failed. This was a last ditch gambit, turning to the government and the only agency that dealt with metahumans. Well, as far as he knew. He had heard about a DEO, but there was next to nothing about them that was public.
So A.R.G.U.S. was who they…he turned to. Even the agents of A.R.G.U.S. were caught off guard and were scrambling to accommodate. The rest of the Titans weren't hot on this idea, but none of them had anything else to suggest. Taking care of it themselves? They had been doing such a good job at that that Terra was dead. There was no contact with the League; either they were taken care of or worse.
Really, Red Robin had thought of everything he could. The others were looking to him to come up with a plan. Well, this was the best he could do. He wasn't even sure that this was a good idea. This was putting their future in the hands of people they really had no connection or relationships with.
A.R.G.U.S. was the clean up crew. They took care of the hidden bases that their bad guys hid in. All contact went through the League.
But you know what? With all of that considered, the one thing that perhaps had the most discomfort was that he hadn't gotten in touch with his folks. Mom and Dad must be pulling their hair out in worry. Who could they contact that would let them know? Neither knew he was in costume and helping the Titans save the day. Mom would kill him. Who knew what Dad would do? They thought he was interning and keeping the Tower from catching on fire.
When they got to where they were going, the first thing he was going to do was use a secure line to contact them, let them know he was safe, and that when it was said and done, then he would be back home.
Until then, the Titans had to be his number one concern.
The team had spread out, taking more than one seat in Kid Flash's case. A.R.G.U.S. had been nice enough to look at his leg and do some touch ups on the brace. Get it air worthy in this case. Cyborg's body was big enough that he needed two seats. Towards the back were Beast Boy and Raven, though there were a few seats between them. Red Robin himself had taken a seat close to the front, but since there was no seatbelt light on, he was taking his off.
This was their first interaction with A.R.G.U.S., so trust was only being built. There was enough to distrust, so the masked teen got out of his seat to move to the set of seats in front of Cyborg.
Cyborg's human eye glanced up at him. Resting his arms on the headrest of his new seat, Red Robin said in a hushed voice, "Any idea where we're heading?'
An expected answer could have been "no," but that was not what the teen vigilante was asking for. Cyborg understood that much when he answered, "We're heading in an east southeast direction. Should be skimming the Rockies in about an hour or two."
He gave a nod in return. So none of the northern states, then. They were heading east too, so they weren't heading for Hawaii. Bringing up a map of the U.S. in his head, Red Robin did his best to pinpoint where they currently were and where they might be heading. They should be in Nevada right now and soon enough in Utah. Go east and south from there, they were looking at the southern states.
What was located over there? Compared to the places that they had been to and knew about, nothing was coming to mind. Maybe that was the point?
His eyes slid over Cyborg's right arm, trapped in between the default arm and hand state and the arm cannon mode. The damage to it and Cyborg's attempts to revert it had all but taken that part of his body out of commission. He was limited to what he could do. Connecting to any and all Wi-Fi, on the other hand, or perhaps making a signal of his own, was not out of his power, though. Clearly wasn't affecting the plane so why still insist on turning off your cell phone?
Anyway, Cyborg could still do a lot without the use of his hands, however Red Robin understood that that was the point. To fiddle with his left arm with his right hand, pressing buttons and turning dials, flicking switches and reading panels, all were behaviors to remind Cyborg that he was still human in some way. Most of the stuff he could do could be done with just a thought, like with driving the T-car.
It was needed to help him retain psychological health and not get lost in his state as a cyborg. The damage to his right arm was interfering with that. A.R.G.U.S. didn't have the resources at its Jump City branch to address it. Maybe where they were going did.
"You're sure we're doing the right thing here?" Cyborg asked. The cybernetic young man was not making eye contact, looking away, not that Red Robin blamed him.
"I don't know anymore," the team leader admitted. "The only thing I do know is that we can't do nothing. We need help, help in any way we can get it. It's always felt like we were in over our heads…but we always managed to come through. This time feels different. No one's trying to kill us because we're getting in the way, ruining their plans for world domination. We don't know anything about Deathstroke. We just know someone paid him, but we don't know who and why."
"And he's been tearing apart our lives. None of the others did that," Cyborg pointed out. "He also took away Terra."
That was another reason why. Their lives were always in danger, came with the territory. That sense that teens and kids had, feeling invincible, it shielded them from the reality that no, they weren't. That death was one misstep away. The fight to keep living, though, served as a nice little distraction from properly mourning their fallen teammate.
What could Terra have become? What could she have accomplished? Why couldn't any of them save her?
Why did they fail so badly?
His eyes glanced to the back of the plane, scanned over the green shapeshifter who was taking it the hardest, and knew that he was dealing with a teammate embroiled in grief. Noticed back in the car, but there was anger simmering under the surface. Beast Boy was mad and was struggling to keep a leash on it. A ticking time bomb in this scenario and a band aid solution was not going to be useful or practical.
There was so much to do to keep this team together and alive. It was the old challenge with new moving parts to it. So far, for the most part, he had managed to do just that.
Would he be able to do it again?
Distant and dull, the roar of air moving around them was dampened by the plane itself. Engines hummed, their music only louder the closer you sat next to them. The seats offered comfort, but there were no refreshments offered on this flight.
Raven remained unimpressed with air travel.
This was where their path had led them. Flying nearly fifteen thousand feet in the air in a hollow tube that if it went down would take them all with it. Happy thoughts. She wasn't much for humor outside of a select genre, but she was understanding why the complaints about airlines sprung up.
To distract herself, the empath surveyed the rest of the remaining team. Seven, one down from eight, and all in various states of emotions. Cyborg and Red Robin were speaking quietly, and she could feel the uncertainty and stress from them. Kid Flash was moping, grieving many a thing but none as much as his leg. A lost soul the speedster was becoming. Wonder Girl felt stoney, and her slouched posture and crossed arms gave the impression that she was sullen. Starfire was the closest to relaxed among them, using their current situation to distract from the rest of it.
Last, and certainly least because even Raven could find herself in avoidance from time to time, was Beast Boy. Out of all of them, his emotions were the strongest and the loudest. Grief was obvious, but rage and resentment were building up. It was a combination destined to cause problems. Normally she would have sat elsewhere in the plane, but she knew that a talk with the shapeshifter would be necessary at some point.
It was best to try and handle it before it became a problem too great.
Red Robin moving seats was the cue that any of them could do the same. She still waited so that she could get a sense for what he and Cyborg were discussing. Once she felt enough time had passed, she acted to change her seat as well, moving down the aisle and taking a new seat right across from Beast Boy.
Green eyes focused on her briefly then resolutely ignored her. A spike in resentment was detected, and not wholly unpredictable. She had done what she had needed to do to keep him from doing something stupid. At least he was still alive to resent her, but admittedly it was annoying.
The normally chatty shapeshifter wasn't going to break the silence, so very uncharacteristic of him, so she was going to need to. "I know you don't like me right now. I know you're angry, frustrated, and grieving. I would like to help you clear your head, be able to keep you from doing anything that would only get you hurt."
A snort answered her, broad shoulders rising and falling from the action. "So what you did to me in the Tower doesn't count, does it?"
A normally friendly voice that could still crack from time to time, but was deepening from natural adolescence held no warmth to it. Repressed anger colored it and you didn't have to be an empath to pick up on it. At least his inability to mask his emotions had not changed.
"I don't regret it," Raven stated bluntly. "You were not in the right frame of mind to challenge a killer like that. The only thing you would have accomplished would be to get yourself killed."
"You don't know that," Beast Boy retorted, not looking at her. While leaning forward in his seat, his back was hunched and his bare arms rested on his legs. Hands were balled into fists, and the muscles in his lower arms were clearly tense.
Tense as his arms were, his brain was as equally dense. "What I know is that there was a man in our Tower who is dead set on killing us, and we've already lost one. Forgive me if I didn't want to lose a second teammate," the empath stated. "Our deaths are not the means to an end. They are the end. Had you fought him, you would have given this Deathstroke exactly what he wanted. He's already taken Terra—"
The green eyes whipped over to her, flashing with anger, and that was enough to get Raven to stop herself. The expression on the green teenager's face was hostile, but that was not the worst of it. With someone as loud as Beast Boy, you would think that he would be very vocal with his anger. The video game sessions with Cyborg were testament to that.
But that was more frustration than it was anger, wasn't it? The greater intensity of his anger, the more quiet he became. The hostility was shocking, to say the least, and not just that she could also feel it radiating from him.
The quiet was why no one was looking in their direction, or at least looking due to curiosity about any loud noises. There weren't any noises to draw such attention. Predators were at their most dangerous when they were quiet, because silence is what they used before the strike. It felt a lot like that which was…disturbing to her.
There was a time, months and months ago, when those green eyes held concern and worry. They attempted to soothe her while her very mind was in chaos from an insidious fear toxin. The sense of being held, or being shielded, and it coming from Beast Boy of all people, and now there was its opposite glaring at her right now. This…was not the first time such an expression had been directed towards her, she realized.
The situation was similar, but it held a happy-if you could call it that—ending to it. Her powers running amok, Terra falling victim to them, and the anger that Beast Boy expressed. It was not to the same intensity as it was now, but it had been there in that period of time all the same.
"Don't you dare say her name. Don't you try and twist her sacrifice to justify what you did," the shapeshifter growled lowly. His lower jaw vibrated, the corners of his lips peeling back to primally reveal teeth, pointed canines in particular.
A rebuttal would be to try and claim what Terra would have wanted. Raven could try to make that argument, and she had evidence to support it. Going as far back to the beginning, the geokinetic had bid that the then unknown and unnamed Titans take a then unnamed Beast Boy away from the Church of Blood. She had made a sacrifice then much as she had now. Both times to try and save and protect the green shapeshifter.
It was definitive this time that she would not be coming back, and Raven was not able to insult her or her recent sacrifice by claiming to know what she thought or what she wanted. The person who could do that was no longer there to set the record straight.
"I know you're hurting. I can feel it. That is why I'm not taking what you are saying to me to heart. Like anything hurt, you're lashing out, trying to exorcize your pain. I can handle it, but you're directing it at the wrong person. I'm not who you're mad at, so direct it at the right person instead."
Anger was simmering instead of boiling. "What do you care?"
"I care," she assured.
Another snort, doubting her. "Not before. You didn't care before. I'm just an idiot, right? Some loser with green skin who can turn into animals. What else is there? Oh yeah, that's right, I'm loud. Right? It's not like I'm trying to live the best life I can, especially when I look like this, something I didn't choose by the way. But no, I have to be an idiot because I still want to be happy about something, right? It stupid not to sit around and brood, right?"
Now this was feeling like a personal attack. The empath's eyes narrowed, and her will alone kept her from snapping. Like she had described earlier, Beast Boy was lashing out out of hurt, but that did not give him the right to try and tear her down either.
"I can admit we handle our tragic beginnings differently. Neither has to have the 'better way' than the other. But what are you getting out of attacking me?"
"You knocked me out against my will!" Voice was still low, but there was an actual growl to it.
"I do not regret doing that. I don't agree with people getting themselves killed on their own terms for no reason. You think that anger will help you against Deathstroke? A cold-blooded killer who hasn't shown any evidence that he has lost control of himself? How would doing that help everyone else? Have you forgotten about the rest of the team? What danger would they have to put themselves in just to save you? Would one of them get killed trying to keep you from being killed?" If he wanted to be heated and embrace his anger, she would retort with cold logic, hopefully enough to cool that hothead. She leaned forward, moving closer to the danger that the shapeshifter was trying to portray. "I won't speak for Terra. I don't have the right. If you think for one minute that I will let you make her sacrifice be in vain, you have another thing coming. You have other people here who love and care about you, and they will risk their lives for you too. You dying makes a mockery of what she did for you and insults everyone who survives with you.
"So go ahead, hate me all you want. You're still alive to do it. You want to know something else? I would do it again in a heartbeat. I have made disparaging comments to you. I had no idea they cut so deep and that does not excuse me as well. We clash, we don't get along, and when I was in one of my darkest moments, there you were and you refused to leave me. You hunted me down, and why? To save me, last I checked. To bring me home. As your teammate, as someone returning the favor, I will do the same and make sure you return home alive."
The anger was still there, reflected in those green eyes, but the intensity was much smaller. You might describe a blankness that now dominated; his churning emotions were so powerful as to make him deaf to her words. It was a start, and Raven was under no illusion that it was over. Far from it.
When he didn't answer, the empath posed him a question. "Feeling the way you do, the way you see me, then answer me this. Why did you come after me to save me? Risking the ire of the man you worship, putting yourself into harm's way, and even entering my mind, one of the least safe places in existence, you did all of that. Why? Why would you ever do anything like that?"
Silence, but not the dangerous kind. It was a step up, and since she had learned how deep her own words and actions had cut into her teammate's psyche, she understood now what seemed like shallow water was actually far deeper than she could imagine.
Then again, the clues were right there, weren't they? Just only days ago, he was playing online chess with a former enemy now a fellow Titan. He was lost on the names of the pieces, but not how to play the game itself. He could learn rules and how things functioned. He watched documentaries about animals; that was information he could use when choosing what to shift into for any given situation. Discounting his own efforts to improve himself was on her, and Raven could admit this.
You can't harp on someone about embracing truth and not do the same yourself.
"What do you care?" the shapeshifter huffed, looking away while repeating that question just uttered a minute ago.
She already had her answer. "Just because I struggle to understand you does not mean I don't care." About you went unspoken. "Like the rest, you've gotten under my skin. Whatever foe we face, I will be there to try and help. Even if you don't like the choices I make."
Unconsciously, one of her hands moved, reaching out across the aisle that existed between them, but stopped about halfway where it remained. She was uncertain whether executing physical touch would be welcomed here. Should she reach out further? It wasn't so far, though it felt like it was.
Beast Boy didn't twitch or move himself. Eventually, Raven retracted her hand and brought it back. A hand on the shoulder, no, it wouldn't be welcomed now, would it? Too hurt. Too much distance. An aisle may separate them now, but it might as well be a canyon.
Could it ever be crossed?
There was only so much to discuss with Cyborg. Neither of them were in the mood to stick to small talk. Supposed that the stress of the situation was tanking any ability to focus on less life-threatening topics.
Noticing that Raven and Beast Boy were speaking, he allowed them the privacy to hash it out. There were still the others to check in on, and right now the one that really had his attention was Kid Flash.
Taking up multiple seats with his leg stretched out, the speedster had to be sideways with his back to the plane's covered windows. Red gloved hands fiddled with the headgear that Kid Flash usually wore. Bart's face was exposed to the world, but with how blank he looked, amber-colored eyes starting down at his mask, it didn't seem appropriate to say anything about that.
Much of Kid Flash's baby fat, something he had had in abundance when they had first met and the speedster was calling himself Impulse, had been eaten away due to natural aging, and while he still appeared youthful, the lack of his normal wild personality and happy-go-lucky attitude had him appear more like his age.
It had been mentioned before, but Red Robin wasn't sure what Kid Flash's real age was. He just knew there was a disconnect between chronological and psychological age. The details of that weren't explained very well. Not to his understanding, at the least. Chalk it off as future-related, and by future he meant The Future, and just consider anything they did in that time as weird.
Kid Flash—Bart—was in this time. This time with all its lack of technological development and rushing to catch up. That's really all that mattered because that was what any of them had to work with.
As tone deaf as they may come across, the first thing Red Robin asked, needed to ask, was, "How's the leg? Anything we need to know about?"
Kid Flash gave a shrug of his shoulders. "Ruined. Blown to shit. Really feeling the mode here." His hands tightened on his mask. There was a trembling in the arms, one that Red Robin read as suppressed movement. Kid Flash could never stay still, even when he was sitting. Something had to be done, anything, didn't matter what it was.
Constant stimulation for a brain that was addicted to it. Having to stay still, like this, you might as well be torturing or killing the guy. Glancing at the leg brace that held the limb straight and unmoving, the masked teen mused that Deathstroke could not have picked a better way to have hurt the Titan's speedster.
Eyes went back up to a troubled face, one that pointedly did not look at the leg and focused solely on the headgear clenched in his hands. "How are you doing?" Red Robin asked softly.
"How am I doing? How am I doing?" There was an edge of hysteria that leaked into Kid Flash's voice. "Everything's—bad." His voice had started to raise only to swiftly go flat and emotionless. "I hate this. I hate that I let my guard down. That I got distracted. That I have to stay distracted or I'm going out of my mind! I want to run. I want to run so badly it hurts. And then my leg hurts. And then it's like the whole freaking mode is crashing me. I hate this."
What could you say to that? What could anyone possibly say to that? Kid Flash was unburdening his very soul and Red Robin had no clue what he could say that would change anything, or at the very least grant some much needed hope. Saying that it was going to get better was the last thing to say.
"What am I going to do?" Kid Flash moaned, letting his head tilt back. "I can't run. How am I suppose to be a Titan, or Kid Flash, or anything? Running's the one thing I know how to do best."
It was a little awkward, but Red Robin snaked an arm over the seat he was propping himself on and placed a hand on Kid Flash's shoulder. Squeezing, "This isn't easy for you. I don't know what to say that will make you feel better, but I'm not going to leave you to suffer like this. I don't know how we'll do it, Cyborg mentioned getting his dad to whip up some kind of artificial knee, but we'll figure out a way that you can run again. This isn't over, not you, not the Titans."
Amber-hued eyes glanced up at him. "You think an artificial knee is going to fix things? Just like that?"
"Cyborg's father made a cybernetic body to save his son's life. The guy will do anything for him. If Cyborg wants him to whip up something that can help you, he'll do it," Red Robin replied. "Bart, there's more to you than just running. That punch you did? Back at the Tower? I don't know how you did it, but it tells me that you can do a whole lot more than you think. I don't think you're done, not yet, and the only one who can say you are is you. Not the Terminator, not anyone. Don't let him beat you like this."
"I don't know, Red," Kid Flash sighed, slumping. "Don't you guys already have artificial knees? I don't think any of them are gonna help me be Kid Flash, or even Impulse."
"It's S.T.A.R. Labs. They make miracles happen with science. You can trace two of our friends back to them," Red Robin pointed out. "Maybe they're not as advanced as…uh…"
"Twenty-fifth century," Kid Flash offered helpfully.
"Yeah. The twenty-fifth century, but for the twenty-first? They're the best. I know we've had our issues with them, but if anyone can figure out how to get you back to speed, it'll be them," he continued to assure. "Until then, we gotta stick around and live. We should be safe for the time being, hopefully."
"That's for now. But what about later?" the speedster wondered. "What if those S.T.A.R. Labs guys don't help or can't figure it out? Then what am I suppose to do? If I always have leg trouble, how am I suppose to do anything? I don't think the twenty-first century is as nice to people who have problems walking as the twenty-fifth is. I have to think about this stuff now. I can't…I can't ignore it. I did because I was Kid Flash, but you have to admit, there's a chance I won't be Kid Flash for much longer. Who would you even replace me with?"
Red Robin shook his head. "No one's replacing you anytime soon. You're kinda one of a kind like that."
"Yeah," Kid Flash agreed, a self-deprecating smile forming. "Not like you're gonna find another Kid Flash any time soon, right? What are the odds they'll be called…I don't know, Wally West?"
That name meant nothing to him, and the teen vigilante wasn't about to press it further.
"We can worry about the future later when we're still alive to do so," he said instead. "One way or another, we're going to figure this out." Finally, he pulled his hand back and over the seat. "Keep resting, build your strength back up. Maybe think about stuff you can do with your upper body."
Kid Flash looked thoughtful. "What can I do with my upper body?"
Red Robin shrugged his shoulders. "Boxing?" A wince; that sport required some footwork to it. Try something else. "Arm wrestling?"
"If I spun my arms fast enough…could I be a helicopter?" Kid Flash pondered.
Let's just go with that. If it could get the gears turning in the speedster's head that hinted at something that wasn't depressing or worse, it was a small victory that Red Robin would accept. It was still going to be a long road to recovery, but if the team could stay together and weather this, it would deny their enemy any sort of victory over them.
Sure, they were losing now, but they had survived worse odds before. So long as they could hope, they would survive this.
Noting how Red was moving around, Wonder Girl felt it was free game for anyone to do it. Kinda getting the feeling that the back of the plane was…tense, the armor-wearing blonde found herself taking a seat next to Starfire and relaxed back into the cushions.
Starfire had the window open and was looking through it at the clouds that reflected golden yellow from the rising sun. It wasn't that bad of a view to be honest. A shame they couldn't actually see the sun from the angle they were flying; the Tamaranean would have loved some sun exposure, she was sure.
Looking away from the window, the orange-skinned alien gave the blonde Titan a calming smile, green eyes somehow still finding the strength to express gentleness and warmth. "Greetings, my friend."
"Hey," Wonder Girl greeted back. Somehow, it felt so impersonal. Maybe she should work on that? "You don't mind company, do you?"
"Not at all. Is something troubling you?" Starfire inquired.
With a set up like that and, well, it was Kori, who could resist, Wonder Girl chose to open up. "I'm not sure if we're doing the right thing here. Never in a million years would I have thought we'd ask A.R.G.U.S. for help, but here we are."
"We are in need of aid, are we not?" the Tamaranean asked innocently. "Our foe is very persistent, and we have not had the time to recover from our wounds. All of them. If we are to regain our strength to combat this threat, why does it matter so who provides what we need?"
When you put it like that, it made it hard to argue against Red's decision. It was an act of desperation, clearly, and no one had to like it, but what had been their other options? It was just…it was like putting your fate into the hands of an adult. An adult that the whole world said you could trust, but they hadn't personally earned your trust yet. Might as well trust the security of your house to a stranger that lived two blocks away and you didn't even know their first name. Or last, for that matter.
The League had more than earned their keep; hell, paying for the high flying lifestyle of the Teen Titans. Save the world several times. Gave them space to grow. Trusted them. What had A.R.G.U.S. ever done for them? Use the whole clean up their messes reason, but if that was all you could say, then trust hadn't been completely earned.
"We don't know them. We don't know if they can help. What can they do that the League couldn't? I have no idea if we're really going to be safe." Wonder Girl gave a sigh as she slumped back into her seat. "I really do not like not knowing."
Starfire nodded. "I suppose I have a different experience. I am willing to give this A.R.G.U.S. the opportunity to try. If I was reluctant, I may very well never have become your friend or a member of the Teen Titans. I have had my trust broken before. I can still find the strength to trust again."
Blue eyes glanced at the Tamaranean. "You're really optimistic about this."
"I am hopeful," the orange alien corrected. "I am under no illusion that we will be completely safe. Our home, which should have been that bastion, has fallen. Can any place truly be safe? I fear that the danger we flee will follow us and that we will fight it again. That we can be returned to the prime of health should be our priority, even if such healing must be done with those to whom we are unknown to."
Wonder Girl took a moment to look at the rest. Cyborg with his arm and Kid Flash with his leg; those two wouldn't be healing quickly anytime soon. At least Cyborg needed a really good mechanic or a place with some really good tools. She had no idea what to do with mangled legs. At worst, she might have gotten a concussion. Somehow he managed to find a way through her armor's defenses to actually hurt her.
"I don't get it. How is this guy so good? He's beating up everyone he comes across. We don't even know what he did to the Leaguers that were with us in the Tower. He chases us with a tank. We don't even know what his deal is!" She was slumped forward now, resting her head into her hands. "I don't think I've ever met anyone so fast. He didn't slow down for a second, and I don't know if he even has superpowers! I've fought some tough people before, but he was something else."
Beside her, Starfire nodded. "I too noticed our enemy's skills and abilities. The challenge overwhelmed me and I suffered injury as well."
Wonder Girl's head lifted up from her hands. She had forgotten. Even Starfire had been hurt in all the fighting, but the Tamaranean hadn't shown any sign she was slowing down. A glance that lingered on what she could see of the alien's back couldn't make heads or tails if any of the stitching back there had held or not.
"How's…how's your back? I know he cut you bad," the armored blonde asked.
"I have been coping with the pain. I do fear that my injuries will need to be examined and the stitching redone," the possibly older female answered. "I could not allow myself to hold back while in the Tower. The risk to my health at that time I considered to be worth the trouble should we have defeated our foe. We did not succeed, and our flight away from our home required immediate action." Starfire was not looking at her, shifting in discomfort from the scrutiny that blue eyes were drilling into the alien.
"Come on, Kori, you need to take better care of yourself," Wonder Girl chastised, though she felt she might have been acting the hypocrite there. Fighting with symptoms of a possible concussion wasn't smart either but she had fought all the same, for whatever good that was.
A bitter smile curled the Tamaranean's lips. "I do not want to alarm you, but my reopening any injury I sustained previously may be irrelevant."
"Of course it's not irrelevant!" the blonde Titan tried to argue, hesitating slightly as she wondered if what she had just said made any sense.
"You sense there is something different about this opponent, is that not correct?" Starfire continued. "One has fallen, the rest in various stages of injury, our defenders and our home lost, and now we seek aid from those who have yet to prove themselves. I fear that this may become much worse before there is any improvement.
"As I learned on Okaara, those who keep to the defensive will not find the victory they need. Our enemy has been on the offensive since the beginning. There is an element of luck that we have managed to come this far, but is it not true that luck comes to an end? It is my fear, now, that we may lose another teammate before this enemy is defeated."
"Don't say that," Wonder Girl protested. She did not like hearing this dark…talk coming from Starfire of all people. Words, she needed more words, but her mouth fell open only for silence to come out. Oh come on, she couldn't just let Starfire say something like that without being able to argue it!
"We must be realistic," Starfire continued calmly. "I do hope that I am incorrect, that a resolution will be most favorable to us…however, I cannot ignore what has come before. With each battle, we become more weaker. We are being pushed to our limitations. Luck will always end, and when it does, my great fear that another will fall may come true. I am most horrified by such an outcome, but I cannot pretend that it is not possible either."
Come on. Come on. Say something, damn it! Refuse it! They were going to come out just fine! They were going to win! No one else was going to die, not like…like…like how Terra…
"The only fear I have now is that there will be more than one more loss," Starfire said quietly.
Meaning two or more…
She rapidly shook her head in denial. "I expect that kind of talk from Raven, not you Kori. No one else is going to die, not on my watch. Even if I have to—"
If you kill anyone, I will find you., and I will put you down. There is nowhere in this world you can run that I won't find you.
And of course that oh so happy memory had to pop up. Goddamn it.
An orange hand placed itself over an armored fist and gripped it gently. "You do not need to take up that responsibility. I have had to make many choices I did not think I would have to make. I have lost much, and I too do not want to lose you or the others, my friend," Starfire told her. "I do not wish for there to be any more bloodshed, but my time in the haven of Blüd has taught me many things. I had hoped to spend my time back in our home to reflect on all the lessons, but the opportunity was taken. There are decisions that will have to be made, and very soon. I do not want this trial to end everything that we have fought for and built."
The Tamaranean's green eyes were so full warmth, such kindness, it made Wonder Girl want to break down right then and there because there was a promise of safety that had been largely absent for the last twenty-four hours. She held it in, though. She couldn't break here, not now.
It just…wasn't the right time or place.
"If there needs to be an act done that will save the people I care about, I will ensure that only I incur the cost," Starfire concluded, and these words took that warmth away and replaced it with a chill running up the blonde's spine. "I am prepared to pay what is required, so long as you, my friend, and the others live."
Wonder Girl was not comforted by those words.