Gone Native: The Nature of Change (ch. 27) (Patreon)

"You almost blew up the planet," Kara said in lieu of greeting me as I stepped inside of the living room in Titan Tower. It was a spacious room seated at the intersection of the T-shaped building. A kitchen was tucked into one corner of the room, while directly across from the door that connected to the corridor was a large half circle shaped couch. Currently on display on a holographic screen were various news feeds that detailed the battle. Most of it was all second hand accounts, but while all the humans had vacated the planet, the security cameras and other recording devices hadn't.

They caught snippets of the fight. A clash here or there, but it was difficult to keep track of. Mostly because the fragile cameras didn't survive long when I fought various heroes or villians.

"If I had known people were going to be this irritating about it, I would have just destroyed the Earth to save me the trouble," I told her, my tone utterly unrepentant. I understood I made mistakes. My approach was wrong, my attitude was wrong, and I forced a confrontation as much as the imprisoned world leaders had by killing my soldiers. However, it was quickly becoming a tiresome greeting.

Kara narrowed her eyes at me, clearly expecting some kind of shame for nearly destroying her planet. "You nearly killed my cousin," she tacked on, apparently giving me a list of grievances.

"If it was that easy to kill Superman, then he would have died long before I arrived. You discredit him if you think that ball would be enough to kill him," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. Broly looked between us, not sure what to do while Raven let out a quiet sigh. She didn't seem particularly impressed with me or Kara. "We fought. Your cousin lost. If you take issue with the outcome, then learn from his mistakes and challenge me yourself."

Kara looked like she just might, but it was Koriand'r that interjected. The rest of the Teen Titans were seated on the couch, watching the interaction carefully. Most of them eyed me much like a human would watch a venomous snake. What rapport we had managed to build up previously having a backslid for obvious reasons. Koriand'r, however, placed a hand on Kara's shoulder, "Please, do not fight. I would like us to resolve our differences with words."

That seemed to be the very last thing that Kara wanted to do. Koriand'r's interjection prompted Broly to do the same. "Tarble only tried to blow up Earth because I got brainwashed," he offered, and some of the Titans looked like they had just noticed Broly. "Sorry." Which was impressive in its own way, given his imposing stature.

"You don't have anything to apologize for," I hastily declared, narrowing my eyes at the Titans, daring them to argue the point. I still didn't know who had seized control of Broly. The Justice League had expertly avoided my inquiries, suspecting what I might do to the culprit.

"No. Just you," Kara contested hotly, her hands curling into fists. "Why are you here, Tarble?"

I tilted my head, "Why wouldn't I be?" I questioned, my tone unyielding. "The stability of one of my systems is under threat of a succession crisis. Where else would I be?"

"Please," Koriand'r interjected, placing herself between Kara and I. "Forgive my friends. They speak out of concern for me. They worry that you will decide the most practical way to deal with the succession crisis is by killing me." Koriand'r spoke, her green eyes filled with concern. Not for herself, but for her friends that she knew would leap to her defense.

That explained the hostile posturing. I'm sure they had grievances with me, but they also had time to deal with it and for tempers to cool. I hadn't hid the information of what transpired on Earth from them and they had still decided to continue their mission across my empire. And, I couldn't say that their worries were unfounded.

"I see," I nodded to Koriand'r, eyeing her carefully. She appeared well -- same orange hue to her skin, green eyes that glowed with power, and long red hair that shimmered like fire towards the tail end. No signs of injuries or conflict.

"We aren't going to let you touch Starfire," Robin declared, rising up from his seat and standing. He was watching me carefully.

Broly looked between the rising Titans, and me, before speaking up. "Tarble wouldn't do that," he defended me, his tone certain. I didn't have to correct him. The Titans leapt at the chance.

"Dude, he has a record of being a ruthless mass murderer," Beast Boy pointed out. And he was right to. They weren't wrong in thinking that eliminating Koriand'r would be the simplest, most expedient way to ensure the stability of the Vega system. After all, Komand'r was a long standing ally. It would only make sense to do as she asked.

Broly seemed to wince at that, looking to me, expecting me to argue the point. Instead, I nodded, "You have a point, but I am here to meditate. What happened in the Vega system?" I asked directly, looking at Koriand'r, who appeared crestfallen.

"Please, take a seat and I shall tell you the story," Koriand'r requested sadly, gesturing to the couch. Offering a curt nod, I walked over and the couch was nearly divided into two when I sat down -- the Teen Titans on one side, and Broly and I on the other. Koriand'r floated in front of the holographic screen, crossing her legs as she seemed to struggle for a place to begin.

Eventually, she sighed. "What do you know of my sister's history?" she asked me directly, making me frown.

Komand'r had spoken little of her past, or her relation to Koriand'r. But, based on the little she said, she didn't have any kind words. "As she told me, she was crippled at birth, being unable to absorb ultraviolet light, and because of it, she was passed over as the heir. You were captured by the Psions, and experimented on, before you freed yourselves. Komand'r returned to Tamaran while you remained on Earth, in effect abandoning your people." I didn't mince my words, and Koriand'r seemed to wilt while her friends bristled with anger.

Broly nudged me to continue, and I did so with some hesitancy. "However, upon meeting you, it is clear that Komand'r was biased against you. I shall reserve judgment until you give your own version of events," I added, making Koriand'r perk up. And the Titans regard me as if I had grown a second head. I'm not sure why. I had always been reasonable when dealing with them. Relatively speaking.

"I would never abandon my people," Koriand'r declared. "However, I knew that if they rallied around me, then the Citadelian Empire would not take kindly to it. Our suffering was immense, but it was better than all out war. Komand'r didn't understand that our situation could have been worse and if we failed in a rebellion… then we would have learned how much worse things could be." Koriand'r explained, "For that reason, I decided to remove myself from the equation."

She appeared genuinely sad about it, "My sister seized power on Tamaran through force. Our starbolts are not a natural ability. With it, she was able to depose our parents and become the sole ruler of our race." A sigh escaped her. "My sister holds a great love for our people. For me, as well. But she has always been…"

"A ruthless self-centered bi-" Beast Boy began, only to be elbowed in the ribs by Kid Flash. Koriand'r also shot him a mild look that told him that she wasn't happy about the remark either. It was the look that made him sink into his chair, not speaking, but not appearing repentant either.

"She will do anything to ensure that our people thrive. I myself have suffered due to her plotting. She has intentionally picked disgusting husbands for me. She…"

"Wants Star to suffer," Robin spoke up when Koriand'r was grasping for words. I looked at Koriand'r, who seemed to wilt, because she couldn't argue the point. "Every time we've encountered her, her goal is to make Starfire suffer in some way. Or humiliate her. That's your ally."

I met Robin's gaze, at the silent accusation in his gaze. He did have a point. I cared more about results, so I didn't care who my allies were in their personal life. Because, all that I had just heard was easily believable. Almost as soon as I had first met Koriand'r, I had noticed that she was absolutely nothing like Komand'r had described. Every slight Komand'r spoke of had been believable, but now seemed like nothing more than paranoia.

"I understand that you two had had your differences, but that doesn't explain the current situation. What prompted Komand'r to take action now?" I asked, crossing my arms. "Komand'r freed your people from slavery."

Koriand'r slowly shook her head, "My people credit you for our freedom," she informed me. "They know it was your alliance with my sister that allowed us to be free -- and for that, I am eternally grateful." It seemed my decision to allow Komand'r to be the face of the rebellion hadn't worked well enough. "Upon my arrival to Tamaran, we were approached by those that were discontent with my sister's rule. My return seemed to embolden some."

Prompting Komand'r to take action. Was she really so disliked that all Koriand'r had to do was show up to be more popular?

"Komand'r is not a bad ruler!" Koriand'r said, sensing my thoughts on the matter. "She's extremely capable as a ruler and far more suited to being queen than me. It's just… she is not well liked among my people through no fault of her own-" Koriand'r quickly leapt to the defense of her sister, but Beast Boy was quick to interjected.

"I'd say she's given plenty of reasons to not like her," he muttered under his breath, but still loud enough to be heard.

I could do without the remarks, but I understood the gist of what had happened. Komand'r feared for her queenship and the popularity of Koriand'r, so she sought to remove her from the equation. Her concerns were founded on the fact that Koriand'r was so beloved, and her sister hated that.

The parallels were not lost on me.

The situation was similar enough that I cast a glance at Raven, wondering if she had told anyone what I admitted to her. I hadn't sworn her to secrecy, but I had expected her to keep my secret to herself. Raven met my gaze, sensing my emotions and offered a small shake of her head. The action went unnoticed by everyone except for Kid Flash, who glanced between us.

A sigh escaped me as I considered what would be the best move. No, I already knew what would be the best move. Killing Komand'r and making Koriand'r Queen was the simplest solution to the problem -- Koriand'r had connections to Earth, further binding the Teen Titans to my empire, she was popular with her people, and Komand'r was unpopular. It would be a simple, near painless transition of power that would only take me betraying Komand'r.

Which I wouldn't do. Komand'r had been loyal to me and did her duties well. In all honesty, I found her people rather ungrateful to her. I wouldn't betray those that were loyal to me.

Meaning that I had to find the next best option. Co-rulers? That was asking for Koriand'r to be assassinated and I suspected Komand'r would still feel betrayed. More than that…

"Is there no hope of reconciliation?" I questioned, making Robin narrow his eyes at me. I narrowed them right back before turning my gaze to Koriand'r. "Be honest. I understand you don't hate Komand'r, but the same can't be said for her. You know her better than I do, so tell me -- is there any chance that she can let go of whatever grudge she holds against you?"

I suspected the answer. Komand'r reminded me of Vegeta. There were differences of course, but the similarities couldn't be denied. Towards the end…

"Do you?" Raven asked me directly, catching the rest of the Titans off guard when Koriand'r failed to answer. My lips thinned while Broly frowned at her.

"Towards the end, Vegeta hated me as much as he loved me," I admitted to her. To the Titans. I looked to Koriand'r to see that she didn't appear too surprised. She gave me a sorrowful look with empathy shining in her eyes.

"Elery didn't have a great reaction to seeing Komand'r and Kori fighting," Kara admitted to me, looking distinctly troubled. I guess I wasn't the only one that saw the parallels. "She didn't say much about it, but we learned about the fight between you and your brother."

Then there was no point in keeping it a secret. "My brother intended to murder me," I explained, and the Titans shifted uncomfortably and the truth. "During the war, my exploits outshone his and I became a threat to his power for when he became king… he snapped when our father made me the heir. I tried to reason with him in any way I could. I was willing to vanish after the war, but he wouldn't accept anything other than me killing me with his own hands to ensure I could never usurp the crown from him."

Koriand'r appeared increasingly distraught as she saw that our situations were proving increasingly similar, which told me her answer. All the same, I asked again, "Can Komand'r be reasoned with? Or will this only end with one of you dead?"

"It won't come to that," Kara was swift to declare. "No matter what, it won't come to that," she reassured Koriand'r, but she still harbored doubts even if she didn't voice them.

Her fluorescent green gaze met mine, "Will you mediate the discussion? I would like there to be peace between us," Koriand'r requested. It sounded like she suspected there was no point, but there was a grim determination to keep on trying. That was good. You only truly lost the battle when you stopped trying to win.

I stood up, getting a message from Ada'la that Komand'r's request to kill her sister had arrived. "I will," I told her, going to leave the Tower. I felt their gazes on my back as I made to leave, but I lingered at the door for a moment. "I… hope that this ends better for you than it did for me."

With those as my parting words, I stepped through the door and it closed behind me.

…

"He seemed… different," Tim remarked after Tarble left the building. Raven felt him blast off, quickly leaving the city limits. Tim looked to her for an explanation, and Raven could only shake her head. What Tarble had shared with her would be a secret she took to her grave, unless he decided to share it before then.

"Calmer," Wally offered a description, crossing his arms. It wasn't a poor one, but Tarble had always been calm. But more in a restrained way. Always constantly keeping himself in check, crushing his emotions down with an iron grip. In a way, Tarble and herself were identical in that respect. However, now, Tarble was… calmer. Less restrained because his emotions were less troubled.

"Did he open up? Rae, what happened between you two?" Kara questioned, looking far more bewildered than the others. Raven felt her intense confusion. Over the past few weeks, Kara had built up a clear idea of who Tarble was in her mind. That was only solidified when they heard that he fought the Justice League and won. But, who they just spoke to didn't mesh with her expectations. "He was almost nice…"

Raven offered a small shake of her head, "Nothing worth mentioning. He just worked some things out," she told them. Tarble had experienced the worst day of his life before coming to Earth. The trauma was evident in everything that he did now that Raven had learned what happened. Tarble had been everything but okay and mentally sound when he arrived. In all likelihood, he still wasn't, but he was on the path of recovery instead of stuck in his own pain.

For that, Raven envied him.

Kara didn't believe her, "Alright, keep your secrets." The matter wasn't dropped, but it was shelved for now. Raven rather doubted that Kara would like her answers to further questioning in the future any more than she did now. "Either way, it's nice we won't be kicking off round two with Tarble's Empire."

Kori frowned, "I would not allow it in any case." The events weighed heavily on Kori, almost physically so because she drifted down and sank into the couch. Raven could feel her friend's troubled emotions -- guilt, fear, and pain that her sister hated her so much. Raven wished she could offer some comfort, but her own family situation… didn't exactly lend to a lot of empathy to understand what she was going through.

Tim looked at Raven and offered a small nod, "You were right. We shouldn't have been so worried." The rest of the Titans fully expected for Tarble to murder Kori because it was practical. They simply hadn't seen Tarble how she had. They didn't understand that Tarble had been in a terrible mental state and he was only just now starting to recover from it.

"I still owe him an ass kicking," Kara decided, her decision purely based in the protective instinct she had for her cousin. It was easy to forget, but for Kara, it was only a handful of years ago that Superman had been a newborn baby. "But it can wait."

"I don't think you need a reason to fight him. Elery proved that Saiyans don't need a reason to fight," Garfield pointed out, dragging a hand over his face. Elery and her Hero-Force had given them a great deal of work and a clear insight into the Saiyan race.

Simply put, it drove home that Tarble was an extreme outlier in nearly every way.

Their discussion was interrupted by them getting a call on the main line. Not the phone line meant for emergencies, but the one that you the government had access to. Tim frowned deeply as he glanced up at the holographic screen that displayed the ID for who was calling. He glanced to them, specifically to Kori, who offered a nod as they stood up.

They had missed much, a Raven reflected as Tim accepted the call to reveal Lex Luthor. The creation of the Earth Alliance was a pretty big thing to miss.

"Teen Titans," Lex Luthor greeted them.

"Lex Luthor," Tim returned. "Why are you calling us?" he demanded, crossing his arms, and his tone reflected exactly how unhappy he was to see the super villain in charge of Earth.

"A debriefing, of course. I prefer to be rather hands on with these kinds of things -- I would have loved to see the Empire for myself, but I'm rather saddled with responsibilities," Lex responded, oozing charm out of every pore. Raven had only been in the same room as Lex Luthor once in her life, and it was a distinctly unpleasant experience. The man was so artificial that his acts of charm and suave negotiation tactics made her teeth hurt from just how fake they were. Every kind word was matched with a feeling of superiority, as if he were speaking to a particularly stupid monkey.

Tim cocked his chin, "You have our report."

"Yes, it was very concise. Batman taught you well in that regard, but it lacked feeling. We know Tarble's Empire can out produce us, more soldiers and so on and so on," Lex rolled his eyes theatrically. "What I want to know is what you thought of what you saw."

Tim felt troubled and suspicious -- Lex was planning something. He wasn't the kind of person that would so easily relinquish power when he took hold of it. However, it wasn't as if they could dismiss the request.

"We felt like the Empire is only held together by Tarble," Tim admitted. "Either with fear or love. Sometimes both. There are just… chucks of normal society that are just missing. Like the economy, until recently. There are no police either, not counting the Hero-Force, and it's more of a branch of the military than a policing force. There are no major brands or anything like that."

Raven nodded, "The War of Light left a scar on the empire and those that fought it. The military are ready to follow Tarble into hell, but the civilians want there to be peace." Tarble's Empire had been forged in war. The Saiyans eagerly awaited another, but the same couldn't be said for the rest of the population. People were sick and tired of fighting. Of dying. Weeks later, and citizens were still searching for lost loved ones or discovering that only a handful of their race still lived.

The entire empire was in a state of mourning. It needed time to heal. Not unlike Tarble himself.

Lex Luthor smiled ever so slightly. Raven found that she thoroughly disliked it. It was incredibly practiced and it didn't reach his eyes. She didn't need to be an empath to notice that. "Interesting. Very interesting. Shall I expect your team to integrate with this Hero-Force?" he questioned, making Tim's lips thin.

"It's a possibility," Tim admitted. The Hero-Force, when being led by Elery, was just a type of special forces team. More than once, they refused an order to kill the enemy. Elery never forced the issue because alternatives were provided, but Elery just didn't look at death the same way as humans did. Or even most races did. "Right now, it's made up of Saiyans, and it's proven to be rather… ruthless and militant."

In their weeks with Elery and other Saiyans, they learned that killing and dying meant little to them. Their cultural philosophy was the pinnacle of the idea of might makes right. All of it highlighted that Tarble was highly unlike any other Saiyan that they encountered. They loved war because it gave them enemies to fight. They didn't care for the death toll it incurred on either side. The only thing that they seemed to care about was growing stronger so they could get into even bigger, better fights.

They were a violent race that grew up during the most violent war the galaxy had ever seen. Raven feared for what the Saiyans would become.

The only glimmer of hope for the Saiyan race was that their near unanimous desire to grow stronger could take different forms. Like a Saiyan boy that was determined to be the greatest pastry chef in the universe. Or another determined to be the ultimate diplomat.

"Saiyans are obsessed with self improvement," Raven interjected, knowing what was about to come out of Garfield's mouth. "For most, it takes the form of physical strength. But, there are some that simply want to be the greatest of their chosen field."

"Interesting, but why is that relevant?" Lex Luthor questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Because our inclusion into the Hero-Force is dependent on how much we can influence it. We aren't a military team. We won't kill just because someone tells us to," Tim spoke up, driving a point home.

Lex Luthor seemed to ponder that for a moment before he nodded his head, "Very well then. This conversation has been rather enlightening. We simply must do it again sometime." Without so much as a goodbye, he ended the call. As soon as he did, Garfield let out a huge sigh of relief.

"That guy seriously gives me the creeps. What's he doing being in charge of Earth?" he muttered, scratching at his dark green hair. Tim tore off his domino mask to massage his eyeballs with his gloved hand.

"We need to be on our toes," Tim decided. "Things are changing by the day now. We have to change with them, but never so much that we have to go against our consciousness." He turned around to look at them all -- the team had suffered setbacks. A number of them. And, with Kori and her sister at odds, they had more on the way.

"But, come what may, we will stick together. And we will make it through this. Got it?" Tim asked, earning a cheerful "Got it!" from the others, and a more solemn nod from herself.

However, deep down, Raven harbored doubts.

When things changed, things changed. For good… or for worse.