Chapter 20

Blackfire’s eyes narrowed as she looked down at me. Gaining height due to flying a bit in the air. If she hadn’t, I’m not so sure she’d have been taller. Probably around the same height, if not a slight inch bigger. Tamaraneans didn’t seem to be on the small size, but they weren’t exactly giants either.

“You better chose your next words very carefully.”

I took a brief moment to compose myself. While I was aware that Blackfire could literally crumple me like an empty can, I wasn’t too worried about her picking a fight with me. Not in front of everyone here at least.

Getting a casual look around the group, I gathered everyone’s condition and expressions. Kid Flash was frowning, but I wasn’t sure for who exactly. Robin was starting to walk towards me. Likely to stop me instead of backing me up. After all he had suspected Blackfire or had suspicions he’d have said something by now.

It’s not too surprising, nor could I really blame him. Blackfire was pretty hot, and if she was trying to get into my pants, I’d have a hard time pointing fingers at her.

Well, besides that way at least.

Cyborg had paused and seemed to be watching how the situation plays out. Raven’s expression was once again hidden behind her hood, but I did see her eyes locking onto Blackfire. Beast Boy looked confused, and Starfire…

Starfire seemed extremely surprised.

And Galatea was still not here? Jeez, just what did she get herself wrapped up into this time?

“You being nearby and the last to the scene is only my first point. My second is that you’re a close-range fighter. As Raven can singlehandedly attest to, during training you were up in the thick of it. Why change that now, of all times?”

Blackfire waved off my concerns. Seemingly not taking my accusations seriously, but still wearing a frown. Which showed that I was at least hitting a nerve.

“This is ridiculous. I was occupied with Robin earlier. You can’t expect us to be vigilant 24/7.”

A fair point. I could hardly expect everyone to have their eyes open at all times. Even still, the time it took for them to realize what was going on and join the fray was ludicrous.

Thankfully I still had much more evidence beyond that.

“And attacking so ineffectually at range?”

“It’s like you said. I’m a close ranged fighter, not exactly used to fighting at a distance. The only reason I did so was because the enemy was targeting Tamaraneans.”

I paused at Blackfire’s flippant words. My face twisted into a more relaxed smirk as Blackfire gave us all information that hadn’t been there before. Robin’s hand came onto my shoulder, but I ignored it in order to exploit the opening she had just gave me.

“How do you know they were targeting Tamaraneans?’

She blinked at that.

“Did you not see how that last squid went after me? Isn’t it obvious?”

Even Robin who had been attempting to get me to stop, paused at that. Looking at Blackfire with confusion as she continued to slip up. And even now, she didn’t see how she did so.

“But you just said you were fighting at range because they were targeting Tamaraneans. How did you know they were targeting Tamaraneans before they even targeted you?”

Her eyes widened for just a fraction of a second before she hid it. This time it was her who looked around the Titans for support before turning back to me. She seemed to be thinking about her next response rather carefully, as there were a few seconds of silence between us.

It was amusing to see our places switching so quickly. At the very least, doubt was now setting into the rest of the Titans as to Blackfire’s authenticity as a-

“Stop!”

Ah. Well this was going to be problematic.

Starfire flew up towards Blackfire. Shielding her from me and the other Titans. She frowned heavily down at me in particular. It was quite obvious why.

“My sister has done no wrong! Do not treat her as some sort of criminal.”

Blackfire gave a smug look towards me from behind Starfire. Obviously thinking she had won. Which to be fair, might be likely. How do you help someone that didn’t want to be helped?

Normally I’d say to just let them be. It wasn’t any skin off my teeth if they got hurt. Unfortunately, this wasn’t just some random person. This was Starfire. A girl I had just kissed. At the very least I owed her this much for the pleasant experience.

Besides, it wasn’t as though I was really losing anything in this transaction.

Which brings us back to this conversation. Alright, what can I say to convince Starfire to turn on her sister? Hmm. Maybe lay out more evidence?

“My third point. Blackfire’s previous actions during the last week. She-“

“Blackfire’s previous actions do not matter. She is my sister.”

Starfire immediately shut me down. Hmm. Well…that was pretty short lived. If she wasn’t even willingly to listen what hope did I have to convince her of anything?

…Unless I wasn’t trying to convince her at all.

Starfire has told me a few things about her culture and her people. She was quite the chatterbox whenever I asked even a single curious question about her home. Such as what kind of swear words existed on her planet.

It was time to use that against her.

“Even after she took your toys after your birthday?”

Starfire lifted an unimpressed eyebrow at the reminder.

“…Even then.”

“What about when she stole your clothes to wear herself?”

“Even then.”

I was starting to get on Starfire’s nerves. Good.

“What about-“

“Enough!”

Starfire stated angrily. Which was rather good for me, as I didn’t really have another accusation to get Blackfire with. The only thing I could point back to was what she did during her time here, and that could get repetitive.

“Blackfire may not be perfect, but she is still my sister.”

Not the exact words I wanted to hear, but hopefully they’ll do. Blackfire’s head swiveled as she practically glared into Starfire’s back. Her hands shaking a bit.

Oh, that seemed to strike a nerve…ah right. I had forgotten. On Starfire’s planet, Blackfire was-

“…What did you say?”

Starfire blinked at Blackfire’s tone before turning around. Alarm bells immediately went off in my head as Blackfire didn’t exactly sound very calm. Starfire then gave a slightly guilty and almost pitiful look towards her sister.

“I wasn’t talking about your-“

I was completely caught off guard when Blackfire’s fist slammed into Starfire’s gut. Blasting her into the air a few feet before she dropped to the ground on her own. Her breath coming in at strangled gasps.

It took a few seconds for the rest of the Titans to process the situation. Simply because of how unexpected this development was. But a few seconds was all Blackfire needed.

Raven was immediately knocked out of the sky by a large starbolt and into one of the empty win a prize booths. Causing the roof above her to cave in. A second Starbolt immediately took out Beast Boy. The blast being so large that even had Beast Boy reacted in time the shrapnel that would have resulted due to it hitting the booth behind him would have been massive.

Cyborg and everyone else began to react afterwards. Kid Flash was immediately on her, only for her to easily catch him when he stopped running in order to hit her, and slam him into the ground next to Starfire. As he attempted to get up, Cyborg pointed his sonic canon arm at Blackfire, only for her to have fired in his direction.

It landed straight into his sonic canon. Causing it to explode in Cyborg’s face and tear apart a chunk of his arm as it did so. Blasting him to the side and onto the ground.

Which left…me and Robin. Starfire and Kid Flash were still in the fight, but they needed time to recover. Time that Blackfire didn’t seem keen on giving them. Which left us to buy that time for them.

“S-sister…why?”

Blackfire’s eyes immediately swiveled on Starfire, despite Robin and I closing in on her. Our timing could use some work, but we still jumped her at about the same time. Robin using his staff to pole vault kick her in the air while I went low in an attempt to grab her leg.

“Why? Why!? Maybe because you hogged ALL the attention from our parents. Koriand’r this, Koriand’r that. You were the golden child, while I was the freak!”

Blackfire caught Robin’s leg and used his body as a weapon to smash against my side. Throwing me off course before throwing Robin at me while I was on the ground. I didn’t know who was hurt worse. The person who was used as a weapon, or the person who was hit by it.

Starfire continued to sit up, and Kid Flash finally did so. Only for Blackfire to immediately meet him head on. Kneeing him into the stomach several times before tossing him aside like a used tissue.

“Sister I-“

“Attention that you only received more of after our brother left. Which is when I had the idea. Maybe I could finally have some recognition if you were gone.”

Huh. Actually, I didn’t feel as much pain as I was expecting. No, that was quite right. The pain had just faded…really fast. I already feel surprisingly alright. Which allowed me to attempt to attack Blackfire again. Testing the waters this time by splashing some of my sweat in her direction.

Only for her to bounce backwards and hit me with a starbolt for my troubles. Like the others, it slammed me into a fucking booth. I think a piece of wood had found itself a bit lodged into my shoulder.

…You know, I was starting to get the feeling she had been bullshitting earlier about not being a good ranged fighter.

“Which is one of the main reasons I sold you out to the Citadel.”

To be quite honest, I was only half listening to Blackfire at this point. I had my own problems to deal with. Namely pulling myself out of the booth, and getting rid of the many oversized splinters that littered my body.

But I did pay attention when Starfire raised herself off the ground. Green energy seemed to pour from her eyes as she growled and swung at her sister. Her attack was caught, but it did force Blackfire back a bit.

Blackfire’s fist attempted to hit Starfire, only for it to be caught as well. They struggled in the air for a bit before Blackfire’s knee came up and crashed into Starfire’s chest. Driving the air out of her.

Blackfire smirked at her sister before eating a starbolt to the chest. Starfire then quickly rose upwards and peppered her sister with Starbolts as she was distracted. It lasted several seconds until Blackfire rose up through the starbolts to slam into Starfire. Bringing them back into the ground again.

Before they hit the ground, Starfire pivoted. Using Blackfire as a springboard just before colliding and getting away almost scot free, while her sister ate pavement. Blackfire groaned out in pain, causing Starfire to widen her eyes in surprise as her sister seemed to struggle to get up.

Only to be taken by surprise as Blackfire uppercutted her, and when Starfire’s body flew up into the air, Blackfire grabbed her ankle and slammed her into the ground. Mounting Starfire and attempting to…strangle her maybe?

Fortunately, Starfire still had some fight in her. And was keeping Blackfire’s hands busy with her own. Even better, I also still had some fight left in me. As I was able to stand back up out of the booth. I was bleeding a bit, but none of the injuries were too bad.

It helped that I had a pretty good pain tolerance as well. Unfortunately there wasn’t much tolerance that could be built for being a bit light headed. Causing me to shuffle awkwardly as I made my way towards the two sisters.

“And do you know what the worst part is sister? It didn’t work. When you left, all they cared about was you. They tore their hair out attempting to get you back. ‘Where is Starfire?’ or ‘we must find her!’ was all I ever heard out of them. They didn’t even give me the time of day.”

Starfire struggled even further. Pushing Blackfire a bit back, but unfortunately it was a losing game, as Blackfire had gravity on her side. Even still, she was giving a good fight as Blackfire…was…was she crying?

“And even when they when they laid dying, and I was doing my best taking care of them, all they wanted to see was you.”

Almost immediately Starfire’s eyes widen. Matching the tears of her sister as they started to fall from her face. Her arms immediately losing all strength as Blackfire smashed them to the ground.

“No…y-you’re lying…they can’t be…”

“Don’t worry Starfire. You’ll be able to see them soon.”

Blackfire’s hands wrapped around Starfire’s throat as she thrashed around. Her arms dangling uselessly against Blackfire. Why was she…ah shit. Tamaranean power was tied to emotions. If she wasn’t feeling that emotion, she couldn’t control it.

Which was…pretty bad.

Really bad, actually.

Once again I closed the distance and this time spat at Blackfire in an attempt to hit her. All I needed was one good shot to get her to go down. Unfortunately, she seemed to be well aware of this fact. As she immediately picked up the un superpowered Starfire like she weighed nothing and used her as a shield.

Which meant Starfire got the equivalent feeling of several elephant tranquilizers on her skin. Causing her to immediately slouch down and onto the ground. Struggling to not fall to the floor completely.

Well that wasn’t-

Blackfire closed the distance between us. Which is what I wanted to happen, unfortunately she was the faster and stronger of us two by miles. Allowing her to kick me in the chest several feet back into I landed on my side.

Alright, I need a new plan. Obviously, she was much more skilled, experienced, and powerful than me. So fighting almost seemed like it wasn’t even an option. What exactly was my next move?

…Oh. That could work.

“Hey, Blackfire.”

I attempted to say as calmly and grating as I could, while attempting to pick my ass back up. Something that was getting increasingly hard to do. Blackfire didn’t even seem to pay attention to my words as she casually took her time to walk over to me. Obviously having decided that this battle was over.

Good. I could use that.

“Did you…ever wonder why I didn’t seem to like you when you arrived? Why I never seemed to give you the time of day?”

That got Blackfire to pause. Her eyebrow raised a bit up as she looked at me. She winced slightly as she put weight on her right leg. At the very least she was still wounded. That could play into my hands.

I chose my words carefully, but I made sure to say them as offhandedly as possible.

“It’s because Starfire told me about you. She-hehe, she told me all about your mutation.”

Blackfire immediately stared daggers at me. Her hands balling up into fists. That seemed to strike a particular nerve, thank god.

“She told me about how ashamed her family was to have such a disgusting mutant in their family. A freak of nature-“

Almost immediately Blackfire’s leg lashed out. Catching me in the midsection. The only reason I didn’t go flying this time was simply because I hugged onto her alien looking boot. Unfortunately, I was touching her bare leg, only the armored part, of which most of it was.

Fuck.

It took me a few seconds to catch my breath to speak again. Even though my lungs protested every breath.

“She-she even told me about how she’d take pity on you…allowing you to win a few fights by throwing them. Just to give you the feeling of-“

Blackfire’s fist slammed into my face. Making contact with my sweaty forehead. Unfortunately, she didn’t seem to care much about it as her eyes glowed purple with anger. Another fist crashed into my face, and then another.

I was forced to pretty much take the beating with my arms almost uselessly attempting to cover my face.

And there goes all the feeling in my arms. Great.

At the very least Blackfire was starting to seem a bit winded. I’d spit in her face, but I don’t think I had enough energy for that. It was hard to even think. My next words were on the tip of my tongue, but weren’t nearly as hard hitting as the ones before.

Even still, I had to say something.

“…Once a troq…always a…troq…”

The purple light in Blackfire’s eyes went out as tears fell down her face and onto mine. Before meeting with her own fists.

Only for me to feel practically no power behind them. Causing me to smirk a bit.

What had been done to Starfire, had now been done to her. Thank Christ. I was pretty sure my skull was fractured as shit by that beating. I wouldn’t be surprised if my brain was about to drown in blood.

Even still, there wasn’t anything I could do against Blackfire’s feeble assault. My arms were fucked. My head was fucked. My whole body was pretty fucked.

But thankfully, I didn’t need to.

Because Starfire was able to do it for me.

Round house kicking her own sister in the face, causing her nose to break as she was flung off my body. I’d thank her, but I’m pretty sure I was about to fucking black out as my vision periodically swam.

I was at least able to see Blackfire struggle a bit uselessly as Starfire absolutely hammered into her sister. Rocking her world as the pavement fucking exploded from almost every punch. Rubble even reached as far as me as it danced in front of my eyes.

…If I had enough energy in my lower body, I think I’d be a bit hard right now. Just as Starfire picked up an unconscious Blackfire by her hair, my vision blurred again. I waited for it to unblur, but it didn’t seem to be willingly to do that.

Only getting fuzzier, and fuzzier with each passing…second…

…