Fan Fiction ❯ The Sparrow's Burden ❯ No Other Way ( Chapter 10 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

The Sparrow’s Burden

10

There was only a single left. The four Titans swarmed around the surviving war
machine, attempting to deliver the final blow. It did not show any signs of falling with
any more ease than the others.

Beast Boy, in the form of a nimble falcon, danced around the machine’s sights,
providing himself as an untouchable target while Cyborg and Robin fought from the
ground. Robin’s entire arsenal of bladed disks lodged themselves in the hull of the
automated humanoid. Now the boy jumped to and fro between the machine’s attacks,
delivering whatever blows he could with his bow. Cyborg’s large body was an easy
target on the other hand. He kept his distance, bombarding the mechanical adversary with
strong sonic blasts.

Starfire... tried to fight. However, from this fray and the others this morning she
had abstained. A Starbolt was thrown now and again, but even in a battle as tenuous as
this one, she did not wish to fight. No adrenaline pushed her to help her struggling
friends. Her thoughts and heart were elsewhere.

Raven; what was to become of her? The shock had run it’s course after an
unhealthily sleepless night. When they returned to the tower, Raven would be gone.
Starfire could not bring herself to think of a future without her, but her denial was now a
reality. Her feelings for Raven had not changed through the life of the night, therefore
Starfire knew them to be genuine.

If only Starfire had informed Raven of her feelings sooner, would she not have
felt the need to leave? If Starfire had been more in touch with her own feelings of love,
the two girls could have worked through their differences. Beyond her forecast of her
future, Starfire was deeply troubled by her regrets of what could have been.

Even now, watching the three boys fight an optimistic and winning battle, the
group seemed less than whole. It did not seem right that they would attempt to do this
without Raven, even though such things must be done. A team was only as good as the
members that made it. Without Raven, there could be no Teen Titans.

Starfire watched. The automated machine braced itself against Cyborg’s blasts,
growing somewhat accustomed and holding it’s ground. Robin stood between it and
Starfire, facing it’s front and waiting for his next chance to attack. The robot had given
up on firing at Beast Boy, finding the bird much too difficult to hit with a projectile.

In something similar to a trance, Starfire watched with curiosity as the robot found
another target. It had fixed it’s sight on a much less mobile objective. The cannon on it’s
shoulder readied itself as Robin turned, yelling something to her. Starfire did not hear
what it was. She only saw the weapon power itself fully and steady on it’s victim.

“Starfire! Watch out!”

The words broke through her ears like an alarm just before a powerful pulse of
energy exploded from the metal tube. Robin’s panicked warning pushed her away just in
time. She felt the heat of the blast pass by her waist as she threw herself to the side. The
bursts of energy continued, following Starfire as she blindly raced from being engulfed in
a hail of fire.

Robin sprang to action. Shoulder-rolling into alignment of the machine’s active
weapon, he brought his titanium bow up like a javelin. Hesitating only for an interval
between bursts, his weapon left his hands and rocketed down the barrel of the gun.

The machine’s entire left side exploded as a energy round detonated inside the
chamber. Steel shards and flames threw themselves in every direction, forcing each Titan
for cover. Black smoke billowed upwards as the robot, now unrecognisable as any sort of
humanoid, toppled onto it’s back with a large thud.

Starfire had wedged herself behind a piece of a broken guard-rail. For a moment,
it seemed no one was ready to declare victory, but as the dust began to settle, the four
Titans found themselves looking down at the last defeated machine.

“That’s it,” Beast Boy said. “I am so boycotting Future Shop.”

No one laughed. Starfire only watched Robin, who watched Cyborg. Cyborg
seemed hypnotised by the burning debris. It was then that Starfire knew all was not well.
Cyborg and Robin knew it, even if Beast Boy did not. What was wrong, none of them
were exactly sure.

Robin finally felt it necessary to ask about what it was that held them. “Cyborg?”

The large boy unknowingly shook his head. “I was getting weird readings from
this one the whole time we were fighting it. This one’s different, real different.”

“Different how?” Robin pushed.

“I dunno. I don’t like it, though.” Starfire watched Cyborg as he used a small fire
extinguisher mounted on his wrist to quelch the minor flames. “Hold on a sec...” With
the fires out, Cyborg began to move his hands around the robot’s mangled chest. It was
clear he did not exactly know what he was looking to find, but he seemed to learn the
composition of his subject rather quickly.

The three of them observed quietly and patiently until Cyborg found a small latch
on the lower stomach. With it loose, a plate about the size of Starfire’s head was pulled
away from the main body. Cyborg only looked inside for a moment before terrifying
comprehension forced him to drop the steel. “Oh no...”

Robin seemed to share his worry, although not nearly to the same extent. “What’s
wrong?”

“Whoever sent these things wanted to make sure they did their job one way or
another.” Cyborg talked without stopping his furious work for a moment. Seconds later,
he carefully removed an orange plastic rectangle. It was about the size of car battery and
looked about as heavy. There were wires, lights, and countless metallic sensors littered
over it’s casing. The box emitted a low, but very audible beeping tone. “Guys,” said a
solemn Cyborg. “It’s a bomb.”

The three teenagers lost their breath. Only Robin regained enough to speak.
“What?”

“It’s a bomb and it’s armed. It’s counting down!”

“How much time?” Said Robin.

“I don’t--” Cyborg stammered as he carefully lay the weapon down at the group’s
feet. “Not much, less than three and a half minutes.”

“How big do you think it’s gonna be?” Beast Boy asked.

Cyborg wrestled with the answer. He knew, but that knowledge is what kept him
from revealing without pause. Starfire saw the distress in his eyes, and knew she would
soon know it too. “The readings I got,” Cyborg forced himself. “They were from
radiation.” Starfire felt her stomach jump to her mouth. She knew enough of the dark
history of Earth to know what he spoke of. The four of them stood in possession of the
most fearsome weapon known to man. “I’m guessing it’s probably anywhere from ninety
to a hundred and ten megatons.”

“Oh man...” Robin panted, seemingly the only Titan able to make any sound at
all. “Can you disarm it?”

Starfire could not recall a time when Cyborg looked more helpless. The Titan had
never yielded to any opponent, and never submitted to any challenge. Now he was
unbound, unhurt, and unrestricted in every way, yet he looked like a trapped child. “If I
could, I’d be doing it right now.”

“Oh man!” Robin repeated, now harshly pulling on his hair. “We’ll never get it
out of the city in time!”

“The coast!” Sprang Beast Boy, suddenly alive with optimism. “What if we
tossed it into the ocean?”

Cyborg snapped at the suggestion. “Oh, okay. And how were you planning to
deal with the tidal wave that comes with a disruption that size? This entire state would
have to be real good swimmers.”

Starfire watched as hysteria began to bounce between the Titans. She did not
speak because she could not slow her thoughts enough to form a full sentence. Beast Boy
pleaded with the others to discover what he was missing. “Well, we’ve gotta do
something!”

Starfire shut out the futile debate between the boys. The tones became louder as
the intervals between them slowly decreased. Soon, they were all she heard as the bomb
seemed to hypnotise her. Many possible disposal scenarios ran through her mind, none of
them feasible. Starfire knew full well what damage this device was capable of inflicting,
and knew none of it could be allowed to occur.

She also knew the only way it could be done. Starfire did not wish to do what she
was about to. It scared her more than she had ever known, and every emotion told her
there must be something else to be done.

“I will dispose of the bomb,” Starfire whispered. It was enough to obtain the
attention of the three quarrelling boys. She clarified, this time louder and with response.
“I will take the bomb into orbit.”

“What?!” Robin yelped. “Starfire, you can’t be serious!”

“I am quite serious. It will detonate safely if it is high enough, and I may be able
to get it past the Earth’s gravitational pull. If I do so, I could return and leave it to destroy
itself.” Starfire looked among the faces of her friends, fully aware of her likelihood of
returning. It would be very hard to do what she said. If the bomb did not detonate as she
acceded, then she would probably run out of oxygen before she released it. Additionally,
there was the inevitability of the bomb detonating as she returned, which would be just as
fatal.

Starfire moved to pick up the box, only to be passively barricaded. “Robin,
please...”

“Starfire, think about what you’re doing! There’s another way,” Robin tried to
convince himself as hard as he tried to convince her. “There has to be another way!”

Robin appeared stern, but he made no resistance as Starfire gently pushed him
aside. “We know there is none.” She picked up the bomb. It was fairly heavy
considering it’s small size, but not so much it required two hands.

Starfire did not lift off right away. The three other Titans looked as though they
wanted to say something, only there was nothing to be said. Beast Boy’s fist was pushed
over his mouth, his eyebrows upturned in grief. Cyborg still stood tall, though his
shoulders were slumped under their own weight. Robin, their mighty leader, was forced
to turn aside, a motion Starfire understood and forgave. For what seemed like an eternity,
none of them would admit to good-bye.

Finally, Starfire said with a smile “Good-bye, my friends.” The nuclear weapon
hanging from her hand, she rocketed in to the clouds.

At the speed at which she travelled, the wind was deafening. Somehow, Starfire
still kept track of the ever-shrinking beeps that emitted from the box. Each one was like a
needle in her ear.

Starfire wished Raven could have been there, but found comfort in that she was
hopefully far away. Raven would have not allowed Starfire to take the device, she would
sooner have taken it herself. Perhaps Raven had already left the city, and if something
went wrong, she would not be harmed. Starfire smiled as she continued her furious
trajectory into the sky. She could now see from one end of the city to the other, the
clouds became a foggy mist.

She wished she could be with Raven now, wherever she was. True, Starfire
would rather be anywhere than where she was presently, but if only she could have seen
Raven one last time, the bomb would be lighter to carry. It was sagging now, as the air
became thinner and the sky grew colder. It pulled down on her shoulders and quickly set
Starfire with fatigue.

She did not slow down, though. Gasping deep for the ever-fleeting amount of
oxygen, Starfire only pushed herself harder. The tones in her hand growing quicker, the
curve of the Earth revealing itself to tell her she was near her destination. She had lost
her sense of speed when she passed the last of the clouds. There was no stationary object
to use as reference, the atmosphere was too light to brush her face, and her consciousness
was waving. The sounds of the bomb now seemed to echo, something Starfire knew to
be impossible. They also seemed to be slowing down, which she also knew to be
impossible. The only clear thought in her mind was of her final task, how she must not
fail.

The sky was blue, but stars had now begun to peak past it’s blanket. Starfire
would not see the moon, but in her present state, she looked around for it anyway. One
last time. It suddenly became so important for her to see it one last time, but it was not to
be found. Nothing she saw was clear, for her eyes were unfocused. Her flight was no
longer straight but winding. Starfire felt as though her lungs were on fire and about to
explode. Every breath seemed as though she were inhaling sand. She began to falter, the
bomb nearly slipped from her fingers. Every conscious thought slipped from her, and
Starfire blacked out.

A moment passed, or an eternity. Starfire could not be sure. She was still in the
air, still miles away from any land when her hand was met with another. It grabbed and
pulled hers upward, further towards where she needed to go. Starfire had no strength to
levitate herself, but she was being effortlessly tugged. All she worried of was the bomb,
which she did not take her eyes off of upon regaining consciousness. It still hung from
her free hand, the tones now impossibly close. Starfire at last saw the hand that held hers,
it was female. The shining silver sleeve lead up to the one whom she loved. “Raven!”

A frenzied alarm sounded from the box she carried. Starfire’s eyes shot wide as
she was viciously forced back full being. The Raven hallucination had vanished, but
Starfire was inexplicably at the edge of Earth’s orbit. She swung the whining bomb
around and hurled it with all the strength left within her. It quickly faded from her sight
and passed for miles through a non-existent atmosphere.

At that moment, a flash sparked from the distance. It was as bright as the sun first
peaking it’s way over a hillside. Small at first, then quickly rising until it seemed the size
of the planet below her. Starfire could only look on in exhausted defeat as the
catastrophic shockwave met her body. Bones and muscles seemed to shatter, but it was
negligible compared to the burn that engulfed her flesh. The pain was beyond anything
she had ever experienced, and Starfire would have screamed if there were a breath left in
her. Like a stone, she was thrown back to the Earth, falling without the use of her arms,
legs, or flight.

The burn burrowed deeper as she fell, past her skin and to her stomach. Starfire
found the only labour she kept was that of trying to stay awake. But there was nothing
left to do, she could not move her limbs and had forgotten how to fly. Blinking past the
wind, the fire, and the rushing darkness, Starfire surrendered.

“Raven, I am happy I knew you.”