Gone Native: Painful Parallels (ch. 28) (Patreon)

It was an incredibly frustrating feeling, Tim Drake reflected, standing before Tarble, who poured over various cases that Tim had been developing over the past month. They were in the cockpit of the ship. A trip that had taken them less than a day had been stretched out to a week long. And they still had five days left before they arrived at their destination. Tarble sat in the command chair, lounging in it as if it were a throne.

It was an incredibly frustrating thing, he thought again when Tarble simply nodded. "What resources do you require for further investigation?" he asked him and Tim, despite his misgivings, had expected that response and it was frustrating to no end. Things had started off bad between him and Tarble. Honestly, about as bad as things could have gone.

More than once, Tim felt himself dwelling on the fact that he had been so antagonistic when first meeting Tarble. Not because he now liked the man, but because it set the tone for his time on Earth. If he hadn't gone poking around in the Batcomputer's encrypted files, then he wouldn't have known about Tarble. That small change would have completely changed the trajectory of their first meeting. Tim still would have thought that Tarble was arrogant, but since Tarble would have still helped them defeat the Fearsome Five, it would have been a good first step.

Adonis wouldn't have been murdered. That fight between the Titans and him wouldn't have happened, so there wouldn't be a huge hole in their teamwork with Jamie missing. From there, maybe they could have talked things out. Maybe not. Regardless, if he hadn't been so bullheaded at the start, then he wouldn't feel the guilt that now weighed heavily on his shoulders. Maybe he wouldn't have prevented the conflict entirely, but he wouldn't have been the first domino to kick it off.

"Surveillance for the most part," Robin admitted. The cases that he stumbled across were relatively small. Nothing compared to what they stumbled across on their first mission. Cases where the military were abusing their power to extort citizens, or the beginnings of a black market for extra food and, more worryingly, military technology. There were minor cases everywhere on every planet he came across.

Originally, the cases would have gone to the evidence pile for the summit that never happened. Since that was no longer a concern, Tim decided to take action.

"There's no need. This is enough to determine their guilt, so it is time to take action," Tarble decided. And that was the most frustrating thing of all. Tarble was proactive when it came to crime. "Elery's Hero-Force is the beginning of a policing force, but for now, we'll be forced to use the military." Something that seemed to annoy Tarble as much as it did Tim.

"We don't know their known associates," Tim pointed out. "It would be better to wait."

"Their known associates will be discovered in interrogation," Tarble answered, his tone clipped. Tim's lips thinned.

"Torture," he supplied a more fitting word, the word leaving his mouth with a bitter aftertaste. Tarble cocked his head at that, looking faintly bemused. It made Tim feel like he had said something stupid, and even as he tried to force it down, he bristled. "Am I wrong?"

Tarble seemed to consider it for a moment before nodding, "From a human perspective, it would be an invasion of privacy. Torture is an unreliable tool that is as likely to hinder as it is to help," he said, surprising Tim with his point of view. It was startling similar to his own. He never decried Batman's habit of dangling criminals over the edge of a building, because it was effective in its own way, but he preferred evidence to give leads.

"Someone being tortured will tell you whatever they think you want to hear. It could be the truth, or it could be a false lead." Most of the time, a false lead was worse than no lead. Not only was it a waste of resources, it meant that the clues for the real lead slipped by without notice. Or, worse, resulted in you misinterpreting them. Tim had seen it in action. "Okay, so if it's not torture, then what?"

Tarble seemed to hesitate, which was a worrying sign, before he answered. "Their memories will be examined with either magical or technological means." That was… Tim could see how it would be an invasion of privacy. It felt a little unsettling as well to think about how wildly such techniques could be used. However, the cold hearted and rational part of his brain could only see it as a good thing. "Memory editing techniques will become a prevalent way to circumvent the method of interrogation, as it was during the war, but such techniques are limited. Actions are being taken to counter them."

This was what frustrated Tim the most, he could admit to himself. In Gotham, he and Bruce fought against the system as much as much as they fought against the actual criminals. Bruce had faith in the system, he had to, but Tim wasn't blind to its faults. Like how utterly corrupt it was.

A ganglord never seeing trial because he was being backed by a senator willing to pull a few strings. A cop getting paid under the table to sabotage evidence, causing a mistrial. Blackgate had been overfull before Batman and Robin cleaned up the streets, so criminals frequently got paroled early before serving out their time. Worse were the statistical arrests, people committing relatively harmless crimes getting picked up and locked away in Blackgate, and when they got out they had become hardened criminals to survive their stay.

Tarble was the system. That was kind of a bad thing, because there should be courts. There should be judges. There shouldn't be a single person that decided what Justice was for everyone. At the same time, Tim couldn't say that it didn't feel a little good. To just hand over evidence and know that measures would be taken. That his evidence would be acted upon, saving people from abuses of power in the future.

Tim offered a slow nod, "I can accept that. So long as it stays clean." For example, not editing someone's memories to fabricate evidence. Something needed to confirm the validity of memories being examined. "You could look to doubling up. Memory evidence supported by testimony. Or…" There were so many different options in comparison to Earth that Tim was spoiled for choice.

"Those were my thoughts as well. An option being looked into is something called an echo finder -- as it's been explained to me, it can replay past events. The technology is currently experimental, though." And for some reason, Tarble seemed slightly disquieted by the tech. Tim nodded, his excitement bleeding through more than he wanted. There was absolutely no way that would have been accepted back on Earth. More often than not, the best ways to gather evidence were strictly forbidden because the tech was 'unvalidated.'

It wasn't that Tim didn't get the concerns about using magic to confirm someone's guilt, but it was annoying to have it discounted as evidence because normal people didn't trust magic, or tech so advanced it might as well be magic.

"And what penalty are they expected to face?" Tim questioned, crossing his arms. As excited as he was that something would be done immediately, he would be a lot less pleased if the penalty was death or life in prison. A punishment should fit the crime. Always. So far, Tarble hadn't proven that he could do that.

Something he seemed aware of. "As of right now, they'll face punishment according to military regulations -- docking of pay, reassignment, or imprisonment. But, it's a stopgap measure," he admitted. "The number of races in my empire are numerous. A year in a military prison could hardly be considered a punishment for some, but for others it could be extremely unjust because of something like a short lifespan or social needs."

As the head of a massive empire, Tim couldn't help but feel like he should already have answers to his question. But, at the same time, Tim was a little relieved that the reason he didn't was because he was taking the matter so seriously.

"Humanity's laws served as a… decent starting point," Tarble spoke, sounding like he was being polite. "And I am in talks with representatives from all the races to establish an acceptable baseline for crimes committed by their race." His empire seemed to have decided on its next glaring hole -- first, the lack of an economy, and now it's lack of a legal system. And it sounded fair. About as fair as you could get. While Tim would like to have something more familiar like Earth's court system, Tim understood that it wouldn't work for a large empire filled with so many races.

Tarble seemed to narrow his eyes at him for a moment, his lips parting to say something, but he seemed to think better of it. "You've done excellent work," he commended him instead. And that felt weird. Really weird.

Tim wouldn't say that there was bad blood between them, but there certainly wasn't any good blood there either. As much as Tim could credit Tarble for trying to be a just ruler, the fact remained that he had killed. A lot. Villains and heroes. Gotham was a ruin. Even him going out of his way to help Kori didn't help to smooth things over, because there had been a very real possibility that he would murder his friend and teammate for the stability of his empire.

So, Tim only offered a curt nod in return. "Thanks."

"Orders will be sent out on the next stop," Tarble informed him. The ship frequently slipped in and out of slipspace. Both to give orders and to receive information. In a way, it was as if Tarble was micromanaging his empire and he was abusing the time dilation of slipspace to do it. "As for the reason I called you here -- you had a message from someone called Spoiler."

Oh. Oh… hm. Stephanie was going to murder him, wasn't she?

Tim couldn't completely suppress the wince that passed over his face. Tarble didn't remark on it as he sent him the message to his PDA. "You have a few days to think of a response," he told him, making Tim's lips thin before he walked out of the cockpit. It wasn't like he planned to head back into space after a month away. Things with Kori were so pressing that he just… forgot to tell Stephanie.

Tim couldn't imagine that excuse would do him any favors.

"Ah, she's going to break up with me for this," Tim muttered to himself, dragging a gloved hand down his face. It was an honest worry that that was exactly what the message was. Tim walked down the hallways of the ship, heading to a living area that the Titans all but commandeered. He wasn't sure if he even wanted to read it.

Worse, if she did break up with him, Tim couldn't say that he didn't have it coming. The opposite, really.

A full metal door slid open, revealing the ship's living room. Most of the Titans were inside, with Wally and Garfield watching an alien soap opera with Kori. Raven was sitting in a corner, doing a poor job of pretending that she wasn't also watching the show as she held a book in her hands. Raven glanced up at him as he entered, offering a nod. She could feel the anxiety rolling off of him.

"I-" Tim started, only to be shushed by his three teammates at once, all of them enraptured by the holographic screen. A lime green humanoid alien took out a gun, surprising a light pink girl alien, before shooting her.

"No!" Garfield exclaimed, facepalming with both hands.

"Yeah!" Wally cheered, sharing a high-five with Kori. Robin rolled his eyes -- he never got the point of soap operas. The drama felt so incredibly fake and the intrigue elements were always so poorly done that it took him right out of it. It was the same reason he couldn't watch cop shows. They got so much wrong it killed his interest. He looked to Raven to see that she had a light smile on her face, clearly amused with their team's antics.

"It wasn't her fault!" Garfield groused unhappily, sinking into the couch with the intention of letting it swallow him up.

"She played the game and got burned," Wally decided.

"Burned!" Kori agreed, only just now noticing that he had entered the room. "Robin! Did your meeting with King Tarble go well?"

Tim thought on the question a bit. As incredibly… odd as it was working with Tarble, he couldn't lie. "Yeah, it did," Tim admitted. "All the leads are going to be followed up on. My case pile is going to have to start over from scratch. Tarble's… on top of things," Tim continued. He was proactive in a way that he would have given an arm and a leg for back in Gotham. When it wasn't a ruin.

Kori seemed delighted to hear it. However, Garfield draped himself over the back of the couch, "Did'ya ask him about why we're taking forever to get there?" he questioned, looking at him with pleading eyes. The novelty of space travel had worn off quickly for Garfield. Being cooped up for days wasn't good for him. Not just because he was a hyperactive teenager, but because he had an entire animal kingdom's worth of instincts that stopped him from sitting still for more than five minutes.

"He needs time to prepare," Raven answered for Tim. "He doesn't want to betray Blackfire or harm Kori, but we all know that Blackfire doesn't do well when she doesn't get what she wants." Kori seemed to shrink at the reminder that her sister wanted her dead.

And Tim frowned at the reminder that Tarble was going out of his way to do them a favor and to find a middle ground. "He hasn't said what he plans to do," Tim pointed out.

To that, Raven offered a small shrug. Her lack of an answer was a little disappointing, but he knew better than to push. If she had something to say then she would say it. Especially in regards to Tarble.

"You would know," Garfield groused, making Raven narrow her eyes. "I don't get it," he continued when he caught her mild glare. "It's like you two are all buddy-buddy all of a sudden."

Raven cocked a thoroughly unimpressed eyebrow at all of them because she felt all of their curiosity spike. Garfield was just speaking a question that had been on all their minds. Her dark violet eyes flickered to him, and Tim shrugged.

"After you came back from Earth, you're the one that told us not to worry about Tarble. It's why we didn't come rushing back," Tim pointed out. When Tim heard that Earth had been attacked, he had been ready to steal a ship and come home swinging. But, Raven said that there wasn't a point. And he trusted her completely. More than she trusted herself most of the time. Because she said so, they had held off on returning.

But, Raven hadn't exactly been forthcoming on why.

A small sigh escaped Raven, "Tarble came to Earth to be influenced," she told them, and it just… Tim had such a tough time wrapping his head around it. Garfield scrunched up his nose as well. "He told us as much. He framed it as wanting to learn how to better cater to his citizens, but the truth of the matter is that Tarble wants to change. He wants to do better. His failures are going to haunt him in more ways than one. Still, he wants to be influenced into someone better than he is. It's why he fought so hard to not kill those who resisted. I also think it is why he's taking his time with our travels. He wants to be influenced by us."

The detective in Tim could see it. It made sense. What Raven said followed a clear line of logic that perfectly explained Tarble's actions.

"I see! Then I shall influence King Tarble!" Kori decided, smiling brightly. Tim opened his mouth to say something, only to close it. If there was anyone that he hoped rubbed off on Tarble, then it would be Kori. Though, the thought of Tarble smiling and giggling like her made a cold shiver race down his spine.

"I still don't get it," Garfield admitted. He had admitted that there was a part of him that was instinctively afraid of Tarble. Something that made him feel like prey in the presence of a predator. "But if you say so, Rae. If you say so." Raven might not speak often, but when she did, the Titans had learned to listen.

And if anyone noticed the slight smile on her face as she lifted her book up to hide it, then no one said anything.

…

"This place gives me the creeps," Garfield admitted to them all as they stood in the observation deck, staring out into the Vega system once again. Tim didn't voice it, but he felt the same.

A month later, Tim saw that they were still fishing out bodies from destroyed ships. There were so many of them. The destruction that had been wrought here defied explanation -- there were so many destroyed ships that there was almost no space in the system left unfilled. And it was like that for millions of miles. The entire Vega system had been reduced to a massive graveyard.

It was a sight like this that made it easier to see why Tarble was who he was. When trillions of people died on a single battlefield, and it was just a distraction for the real plan to end the war.

The doors slid open behind them, making them all look back to see that it was Tarble who had entered. He didn't seem surprised to see them. His gaze flickered to Raven, almost instinctively, before settling on him. The past week hadn't don't much to smooth things over between him and the Titans, but they had managed to be civil with one another. Or, if he was being honest, the Titans found a way to be civil to Tarble.

He said nothing as the ship made its way to Tamaran. He came to a stop nearby, crossing his arms as he looked out into the wreckage.

"Is this why you didn't bring Broly?" Raven asked him, surprising them all with her breaking of the heavy silence.

Tarble's lips thinned before he offered a curt nod. "He'd feel guilty," Tarble confirmed. "I… made some unworthy accusations at Superman. To drive a point home. Broly would see them as applicable to himself as well."

"You can't hide something like this from him," Raven pointed out, and Tim was really curious who exactly this Broly guy was. As far as Tim could tell, he was a Saiyan that was somehow Tarble's moral compass. Saiyans weren't inherently evil, but the vast majority of them were far too comfortable with death. From the little that Tim had seen of Broly, he was… nice?

"He already knows, but seeing it would be different. This was where the 501st died," Tarble said, his voice reminding him of Batman. Cold and measured. "Frieza tossed the planet they were on. Thirty billion of my soldiers died so he could show off." Those numbers never got any easier to hear, Tim reflected. Three times the human population gone in a moment.

"Who would have won?" Garfield questioned, "That Frieza guy or Superman? You fought them both, right?"

The fact that Tarble didn't have to think about it showed that he had considered the question at length. "Superman would have likely won if he ended it early. His durability would carry him through the fight and Frieza was a poor fighter. But, he was a quick learner. If the fight didn't end within five minutes, I would say that Frieza would have found a way to kill him."

That wasn't the answer any of them would have liked to hear.

Tarble shook his head, "Regardless, Frieza is dead. It's Cooler that we have to worry about. But, for now, we should focus on Komand'r," Tarble decided, stepping away from the scene of death and destruction. There was a lengthy beat of silence in his wake, all of them left think on what he said.

Tim had done his due diligence this time. He learned exactly what kind of monster Frieza had been. He also learned that Cooler was every bit as monstrous when it came to making a profit.

So far, there wasn't outright war between Tarble and Cooler, but Tim wondered how long that would last.

"We should go to the docking bay," Kori decided, taking in a deep breath as she prepared herself for what was to come. The last time they saw her sister, it hadn't gone well. Now Blackfire had put a hit on Kori. Something had to change. And, as strange as it was, they were pinning their hopes on Tarble to force that change.

It wasn't long before they arrived on Tamaran. Despite the length of the trip, it had been a fast one. Technically speaking, it was only a handful of hours since they delivered the news back on Earth. Time dilation was useful like that, Tim supposed. He felt the moment that the ship touched down on the ground with a small jolt. He took in a deep breath, preparing himself for what was to come. The entrance to the ship cracked open to let a stream of light in and the pressurized air out. The door descended to become a walkway to reveal the planet.

It had changed a lot. Tim saw that from the ship while they were in orbit. The last time he had been here, entire chunks of the planet were being replaced, like a massive Lego set. The armor plating of a Shield World was now gone, replaced with vibrant natural forests.

The insects and wildlife were currently missing, Tim knew. They would be brought back with cloning tech or something similar. It was a massive project, but it was treated with the same level of ease as a house renovation. He always knew that Tarble's Empire had the edge in tech, but it was always startling when he saw just how far ahead they were in some aspects. Planets were plots of land to be developed to him.

Before, that thought filled him with dread. Dread at how that tech would be used against them. Now? Now, he almost looked forward to getting his hands on it to puzzle out how it worked and make improvements.

"I wish the circumstances could be better," Kori admitted as they stepped outside, their ship having landed at the outer edge of the city. Their arrival would be expected, but Tarble was hoping to do some recon first. Prudent. He wanted to figure out why Komand'r was so hated by her people. "But it gladdens my heart to once again be home."

"Who knows -- maybe things will work out so you can be here as often as you want?" Wally tried, earning a thin, slightly pained smile from Kori. The fact that she couldn't do just that weighed heavily on her.

Tarble glanced around, turning his attention to the city before them. Like the planet, it had also undergone a transformation. The buildings had been replaced with taller, sleeker versions of what had been there before. The city itself was larger, encroaching further, and from the signs of construction, it intended to grow further still. However, at the heart of the city was a familiar looking tower. The palace that Blackfire lived in.

"This city seems to be in good order," Tarble remarked as he began to walk forward towards the city itself. Tim spied him casting a look up at the stream of ships that were coming and going from the city. "My reports indicate that Tamaran is flourishing."

Tim swallowed his first response and Kori spoke up. "It is! Never before have I seen my people experience such prosperity," she said, walking with Tarble ahead of the group. "It's so very different. Before, we couldn't even populate more than our capital before we would find the attention of the Citadellian Empire." They talked as they walked, officially entering the city by finding a paved road after stepping through a barrier of some kind. The city itself didn't seem to have any kind of disorder. It looked like a normal city, like back on Earth or one of the planets in Tarble's Empire.

Yet, there was a sound that carried through the air. A faint sound that grew the further in the city they went. Wordlessly, Tarble created a ki disk for he and Wally, taking them into the air as they floated upwards, above the skyline before settling on the roof of one of one of the buildings on the outer edge of the Palace. The tall tower was at the heart of a large circle that acted as a garden and something like a city square.

And there, the sound grew to the point that it was deafening.

"Down with Blackfire! You aren't our Queen! Bring back your sister! Queen Kori!" Tim could almost make out a dozen different phrases from the massive crowd that surrounded the Palace. All of them jumbled together until it was next to impossible to make everything out.

But, one thing was clear.

The Tamaranian people? They were everything but happy.