Falling, Chapter 19

Falling: Chapter 19 – Chasing

by Lelila

“Yo, Rob. Wake up. We’ve got a solid hit on the creature.” Cyborg’s spotlight showed through the thin wall of the tent.

Startled, Robin pushed Starfire away, only to have himself pulled with her as his hands were still under her halter-top. Starfire eeped and Robin grunted as he disentangled himself from her clothing. “Uh…just a second here…need to…put on my mask!”

“Give it up, Rob,” Cyborg’s voice replied. “We all know Star’s in there.”

Closer to the entrance, Starfire stuck her head out and let out that nervous giggle of hers. “Ah hee hee hee hee hee….”

Clearing himself of the tent, Robin stood up and straightened his shirt, trying to look a bit more dignified. Never mind that his hair was a mess. “We’ll talk about that later, not that it’s any of your business. What’s this reading? Where is it?”

“It’s near.” Raven floated near the edge of the clearing. She held a scanner, but wasn’t looking at it.

Beast Boy was looking at his. “It’s about…100 meters that way.” He pointed off into the forest.

“It’s amongst the trees,” Cyborg added. “This is not going to be easy.”

“If it were easy, we wouldn’t be needed,” Robin stated. “Titans, go!”

They charged off into the forest, following their scanners. They barely got a few steps, however, when the signal from the creature’s implanted emitter started to sputter in and out. “Aw man!” Beast Boy complained, and promptly turned himself into a bat, hoping to use echo-location to get something. Cyborg and Robin skidded to a halt a few feet from each other, twisting and turning to try and get a better signal.

“It can’t have gotten very far this fast,” Robin said after a few moments. “Can you still feel it, Raven?”

“Yes,” Raven replied from somewhere close by, but unseen. “It is still very near.”

“It is there,” came Starfire’s voice.

The group turned to see Starfire, floating several inches off the ground as she always did, but her eyes were glazed over and her hair had been picked up by the slight breeze; each strand seemingly come to life. She appeared poised at the ready, but not for battle. No, it was more like she was waiting for something.

“Starfire?” Robin questioned.

“Star?” Cyborg echoed.

Starfire didn’t reply, and after a few moments that were almost frozen to her teammates, she flew off between the trees and out of sight.

They took off after her, calling her name. Raven, who had reappeared suddenly, disappeared just as quickly, zipping off through the trees. Bat Beast Boy was not far behind, leaving Cyborg and Robin tripping over their feet in the dark.

“Starfire! Raven! Beast Boy!” Robin called after them, trying to keep up. The creature had disappeared from his locator, and while his communicator showed that his teammates were not far ahead, he could not see or hear them. He stopped, punching a tree in frustration. “Grrr…how I wish I could fly!”

Cyborg put his large hand on Robin’s shoulder. “I know, man. But they can take care of themselves, and we’re really not far.” Cyborg’s arm beeped. “Hey, it’s back! C’mon.” He headed off through the trees, following the creature’s signal.

They’d only gone a few steps when the forest lit up with the green glow of Starfire’s starbolts. But oddly, they didn’t explode. Instead, the glow shimmered and held steady, only to fade away a few moments later. Raven’s familiar chant “Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos!” echoed to them within seconds of the glow fading, and then a loud, wooden CRASH was heard.

They caught sight of a human Beast Boy a few seconds later running through the trees calling for Starfire.

"Yo, BB!" Cyborg called to him.

The changling skidded through the leaf litter in turning to head towards his friends. "Did you see it? Did it come this way?"

"See what?" Robin asked.

"The creature!" Beast Boy slumped against a tree, panting heavily. "Starfire...it...she..."

"Whoa, BB, take a breath," Cyborg said, pointing his spotlight in Beast Boy's direction. "What happened?"

"We saw the creature," Beast Boy began, still struggling for breath. "It had stopped in this little opening in the trees. Starfire flew right up to it. They were nose to nose! She fired up her starbolts, but she didn't throw them. Raven and I yelled at her, but they just kept staring at each other. Finally, Raven took a shot at the creature, and a tree nearby exploded! Splinters everywhere! And when we could see again, both the creature and Starfire were gone!"

"'Gone'?" Robin growled. "What do you mean, 'gone'?"

"I mean gone!" Beast Boy shot back. "Disappeared! Like they were never there! Raven and I took off in different directions looking for them."

Cyborg looked at his wrist display. "I'm not picking up either Starfire or the creature."

"Well," Robin's voice shook. "They can both fly. Maybe they're too high."

"The range on this is 10,000 feet, man," Cyborg said gravely.

"The scanner actually picks up the signal from our communicators, right?" Robin demanded. "Maybe she dropped hers."

"Maybe." Cyborg sounded skeptical. "I can try reconfiguring mine to pick up humanoid life signs." He began poking at his arm.

For a long few moments, there was only the sound of Cyborg's controls beeping. Beast Boy couldn't help but notice how stiffly Robin was holding himself: shoulders taut, fists clenched. Beast Boy swallowed and braced himself for Robin's reaction if Cyborg didn't come up with anything.

"Okay," Cyborg said after what seemed like forever. "Here we are." He twisted himself a bit. "There's something...about 200 meters east of here." He paused. "It could just be Raven, though."

Robin's communicator was already in his hand. "Raven, report. What's your position?"

Raven's voice crackled back. "About half a kilometer north east of the campsite."

"Any sign of Starfire or the creature?"

"Visual, no" Raven replied. "But I can sense them. Sort of."

"Sort of?!" Robin almost broke the communicator, he gripped it so hard.

"They're kind of...diffuse. Like they're not entirely in this dimension."

Robin could be heard gritting his teeth. Cyborg placed a hand on his shoulder and spoke to Raven. "Well, where's the part of them that's in this dimension?"

"They're..."

Before Raven could finish, an explosion of green starbolt light could be seen coming from the direction of the campsite. No one had to give the order to head in that direction.

They found Starfire leaning against a tree near Robin's tent, staring at the ground. She seemed to be glowing faintly, the green of her starbolts.

They all rushed to her side, Robin skidding into a sitting position to pull her into his arms. "Starfire, are you all right?"

Starfire shook her head, coming back into herself. The glow faded. "Robin? Oh, Robin!" She threw her arms around him.

"Are you alright?" Robin repeated.

"Yes, I seem undamaged," she replied.

Cyborg knelt beside them. "Let me take a quick scan, just to be sure. Can you tell us what happened?"

"The creature...took me somewhere. It did not touch me, and yet it took me...to a place that was very bare, yet, somehow familiar. And it spoke to me, somehow. In Tameranian."

"Tameranian?" Beast Boy squeaked.

Beneath her cowl, Raven chewed on her lip.

"What did it say?" Robin asked?

"It said...’strupiditr’"

Her four comrades looked at her blankly.

“Uh…what does that mean?” Raven prompted after a moment.

Starfire bit her lip. “Hmmm. It means…I cannot think of a precise translation. But it is similar to ‘Are you certain?’ But also ‘Make sure that you are certain.’”

“Certain about what?” Beast Boy asked.

Starfire didn’t reply. She just looked into Robin’s mask.

After a moment, Robin replied for her. “An important decision.”

Raven and Cyborg looked at each other, knowing almost instantly what he meant. Beast Boy, however, darted his gaze from Robin to Raven to Cyborg and back to Starfire, totally flummoxed. “What decision??”

DC Comics characters aren't mine.  Darn.