The New Titans Halloween Special 2010
Featuring

A Quiet Night?

"Did you pick a movie yet?" The question echoed through the apartment. The speaker walked through the living room with a large bowl in one hand and a large plastic jug in the other. She set them down on a ta le and frowned at the dark video screen. "Hey, Terra, where are you? I found a note from Raven, she’s gone out for the evening, so it’s just us."

"Outside," came the muffled reply. Kory Anders, known to the world at large as Starfire, walked over to an open door and out onto a balcony that overlooked New York City. "Sorry, I saw the sun setting and forgot about picking a movie." The young woman known only as Terra leaned on the railing, her chin resting on her crossed forearms. Dressed in black jeans and a pale gteen sweater, the casual observer would be unlikely to recognize her as a super heroine. Kory, on the other hand, with her copper colored skin, pupilless green eyes and impossibly long russet hair, was always recognized by the public. On the surface, the two women seemed to have nothing in common. Yet a strong bond was forming between them.

"No problem. I used to do this all the time. Soak up the last bit of sunlight, and relax watching the beauty of the sunset." Kory sighed. "It has been too long since I could just sit and relax like this."

For a few minutes, they simply stood there in silence. When the last ray of sunshine had faded away, Terra looked up at the taller woman and cleared her throat. “So, we ready to pick a movie now? A good scary one, seeing as it’s Halloween, right?”

Kory shook her head. “Yes, of course. Sorry, I was just kind of lost in my memories.”

“Happier times?” asked the younger girl as they walked inside.

“Pretty much all of my happier times took place here, with the Titans. Even when-“

“Even when the original Terra betrayed the team?” Terra stepped in front of the Tamaranian heroine and looked up at her. “It’s been a couple months since that battle with Brother Blood, and I appreciate that you and Raven have been letting me stay here. But it’s been hanging in the air this whole time. I know why the others wanted me to stay with you, so let’s get it all out in the open.”

Kory sat down on one of the couches. “All right. Convince me.”

“I wish I could. Sometimes I’m not even sure, myself. I don’t really remember anything prior to coming back here with the other Team Titans members. Supposedly, I was just a kid who was injected with some kind of DNA virus in order to duplicate Tara Markov’s powers. Instead, it made me a duplicate for Tara, and left my memory pretty much a blank slate.”

“Sounds pretty convenient to me, especially after Tara’s body disappeared from her grave.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t have anything to do with that. There’s all sorts of weirdos out there. I’ve spent the last several years trying to fit in. Geo-Force has tried to be nice to me, but I knew it hurt him having me around. Roy has been nice enough to me,, and I’ve kept in touch with Mirage. And then she and I found out that the Time Trapper actually snatched us from the present in another timeline, and sent us to the future to act as his agents against Monarch. The only thing that did for me is it made me try searching for missing person cases, looking for myself.”

“Did you find a case that matched?”

Terra shook her head. “No. The Trapper didn’t give me anything to go on, and I’ve got no memory of anything that came before. And if he was telling the truth about us being from an alternate timeline, then maybe I really was Tara Markov.”

Kory leaned forward, her forearms on her knees. “Okay, now, here’s the question that’s been eating at everyone: If you’re not our Tara, why did you look, sound and act exactly like her when the team was battling Brother Blood?”

Terra looked away, gazing out the window at the darkness but looking at nothing. “I don’t know. I saw the recordings that Vic’s armor captured during the battle, and it’s like watching a total stranger. I’ve seen her pictures, and I even looked like her.” She ran a finger through the blonde hair that now fell a bit past her shoulders. “Cut my hair and everything. And I can’t stand cigarettes!”

“None of the others remembered anything that happened while they were under Darkwing’s influence. But none of them changed like you did.”

“Well, I don’t know wha-“ Terra was interupted by a a loud crash and a spray of broken glass.

“There you are!” called a loud, low-pitched voice. “Just the little morsel I’m looking for!” The owner of the voice was a small, thin dark-skinned man, dressed in black with a cape of deep scarlet. He flew directly at Kory, who instinctively let loose with a bolt of sizzling stellar energy at the attacker.

“I don’t know who you are, but I’m nobody’s morsel!” said the alien princess in a calm, steady voice as she ducked under the man soaring at her.

“Yes! Give me more!” Rather than avoiding or being hurt by the starbolt, the stranger seemed to welcome the attack.

“Oh, I’ll give you something,” muttered Terra. Four stories up in the apartment building, there wasn’t much in the way of dirt or stone for her to exercise her powers. However, both Starfire and Raven had spent weeks adding their own personal touches to the apartment.

Including houseplants.

In large pots.

*WHUMPFF*

Two cubic feet of dirt, still bearing the roots of a coffee bean tree, slammed into the attacker’s chest. As if it had a mind of its own, the clump of dirt pulled back and swung around, striking the man in the side of the head with the slander tree trunk.

“Pfah!” cried the man, spitting out dirt. “Throwing dirt clods isn’t going to stop Energon from feeding.” He flew upward and turned, flying straight at Starfire faster than before.

He’s absorbing and feeding on my starbolts, thought Kory, but let’s see how he does against Okaaran training. She grabbed a pole lamp that was next to the couch where she’d been sitting, and spun it in one hand. As Energon came at her, she twisted her wrist and brought the heavy base of the lamp up into his chest. She maintained her grip, forcing him upward and into the ceiling. She pinned him, above her, keeping upward pressure on the shaft of the lamp to hold him in place. “Okay, Energon, what’s the deal? Why are you attacking us?”

“I must feed. And you have what I need!” Energon swept downward with both arms, ripping the lamp apart and falling down upon Starfire. One hand reached down and grabbed her luxirious mane of hair while the other wrapped around her neck. She immediately felt him drawing the energy from her body.

“X’hal! Get off me!” She twisted under him and grabbed an arm. Dropping to one knee, she brought the smaller man over her head and threw him several feet away. A visible tendril of stellar energy trailed his body, still attached at Starfire’s neck.

“He’s got some kind of energy hook into you!” cried Terra as she concentrated. Reaching to the limits of her power’s range, a large mass of mud rose out of the lake in Central Park and flew through the air toward the apartment. “What happens now if I clobber him?”

“I don’t know, don’t care. Just hit him with something,” groaned Kory. The lack of physical contact reduced the pain, but didn’t eliminate it. She tried grabbing the energy tendril, but quickly let go as she felt it burning her hands. “Can’t pull it loose.”

“Of course you can’t! Not until you die.” Energon stood carefully, favoring one leg.

“Does she come back like you?” asked Terra, her face relaxing a little. “Like in all those bad movies.”

“No, she’ll just be dead.”

“Oh, and here I thought you were like a real vampire,” replied the young blonde. “Doesn’t matter, ‘cause you still suck!” As she finished her sentence, a six-foot diameter ball of river mud burst through the window behind Energon and slammed into him. There was a shower of sparks and arching bolts of electricity erupted from Energon’s back. The glowing tendril connected him to Starfire flickered, then vanished.

“Free! Now, let’s finish him off!”

“Um, I think he’s done,” replied Terra, approaching the mass of mud that covered the still-twitching Energon. She kicked his foot, and there was no noticeable reaction. “Let me move this off him.”

As the mudball rose up, they found Energon face-down on the floor. His cape and the back of his bodysuit were in tatters, revealing an electronic device fused to the man’s back. It’s cover was blown off, revealing melted circuits and components underneat.

“Is this how he was draining my power? With a glorified battery charger?” snorted Kory in disgust. She grabbed the device and tore it away, tossing it across the room. “I suppose Vic will want to check that out. Is he alive?”

“Yeah, just knocked out. Here,” Terra gestured, and the mud descended over him again, this time forming into a hardened cocoon covering all by his head. “You up to carrying him over to the police station?”

Starfire hefted the hardened mud up in her arms. “I think so, Once that link was shut down, the pain stopped. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Another failure.”

“Patience, my friend. We have gained information this night. That was our goal, remember?”

“True, but I thought at least one of our attacks would be successful.”

“That would have been nice, it’s true. Still, your attack on Cyborg, and this one, as well as my schemes against Raven, Troia, Changeling, Nightwing and Arsenal, have allowed us to see each other’s approach, and let us see how these Titans function together. And where you have failed in the past, Dr. Light, together we will succeed.”

“I’m not sure if I believe you, but it won’t hurt to try, will it?”

“Of course, not. Alone, we may not be successful, but together, Dr. Light and Felix Faust will not be defeated so easily.” The olive-skinned wizard’s eyes narrowed. “Especially in light of what I saw hovering around little Miss Terra this evening. It appears that we aren’t the only ones the Titans need to fear.”

It was nearly midnight, in the hastily-repaired living room of Kory and Raven’s apartment. The television flickered, illuminating two very different women sprawled at opposite ends of a large couch. As the credits rolled on the horror movie, the younger one spoke up.

“Kelly!”

“Kelly? What do you mean?” asked Kory.

“I just saw the name on the screen, and something clicked. I think it might be my real name.” The girl known as Terra stood up and stretched out her arms to either side. “Or, if not that, at least it’s something different than Tara. It feels right, anyway.”

“So..?”

“So, from now on, everyone can stop calling me Terra all the time. When I’m not in that costume, call me Kelly!”

Happy Halloween, folks. This is the last Tales of the Titans stories that I plan to write for the Halloween Specials – I think four of them are enough, and it’s time to stop stalling and get this team back together again, dontcha think?
Da ‘Cat!