Showdown! The Best of the Best

Chapter Five

The fire that Danny had been tasked with crafting flickered gratefully away, illuminating the mystifying night. Starfire, Danny, and Deku all sat around the fire in complete and utter silence. To some extent, they were buying time. But, on some level, they just didn't know what to do or say. Every few minutes, Danny would fire a bolt of green ecto energy into the flame, encouraging it to continue blazing.

"So," Starfire cooed, "where did you obtain such power?"

Deku cast Danny an inquisitive glance, already knowing the answer. Were these three almost strangers close enough to each other to be asking such questions? Deku knew for certain that he didn't trust Starfire enough to divulge the origin of his abilities. Not yet anyway. Although, Danny had already told him how he obtained his powers, so it would make sense to Deku if the ghost kid did decide to reveal his origins to this princess.

"It happened a little over a year ago," Danny sighed, cracking just as Deku had assumed he would. "My parents are ghost hunters, and they built this portal---"

"Ghost hunters?" She interrupted. "Meaning the spirits of the passed?"

Danny's brow furrowed. "I mean...sometimes," he affirmed. "But, sometimes, no. It's tricky to explain. Ghosts can be the spirits of the dead, or they can be monsters from a place called the Ghost Zone."

"Is this 'Ghost Zone' the place your parents were trying to reach with the portal?" Starfire asked.

Deku's eyebrows rose. He was completely positive that Starfire was his elder, and yet, her childlike curiosity was somewhat jarring. The wannabe superhero suddenly felt a sense of intrigue himself. It was almost as if he were witness to some surreal, otherworldly tableau.

"Yeah," Danny confirmed her question. "But, the weird thing is, it actually worked. I went inside of the machine, while it was deactivated. Or, at least...while I thought it was deactivated. While I was in there, I pressed a button on accident, and the machine turned on."

"And this is how you obtained your 'ghost powers'?" Starfire prodded.

Danny bobbed his head. "Yeah."

"So you're like a hero," Deku noted.

"Yeah," Danny muttered nonchalantly, filling the night with green light as he kept the fire going. "I saved the world a couple times, it's not a big deal."

Starfire's green eyes widened in astonishment. "You saved the world?"

"Well, yeah," Danny shrugged, his face flushing. "Haven't you guys saved your worlds?"

Deku's gaze snapped to the Tamaranian princess. 

"Well...yes, I have saved the world," Starfire replied timidly. "But not without the help of my friends."

Deku leaned forward, now an active participant in the conversation. "Your friends?"

Starfire nodded. "The Teen Titans."

Danny and Deku exchanged a baffled look.

"'The Teen Titans,'" Danny parroted, testing the name on his tongue. "I mean...it kinda works."

"When I was young, my parents, the King and Queen of Tamaran, traded me to the Citadel for peace," Starfire explained. "Our planet was at war with them, and my parents saw no other way than to give away their own child. I became a slave."

Silence.

"I was little more than a lab otter," Starfire remembered darkly, her head cradled in her arms.