Titania (2/2)

[rosiphelee]

Titania's tale continues. From high above the city she and Tiger venture into Darkness to confront her past and a new threat.
This scared me in places and I wrote it. It was suffering from plot holes which I could best fix in line with the themes by, er, killing people.
There are a lot of Midsummer's Night Dream references in this part. I've tried to make them subtle enough that you don't need to know the play to understand what's happening. If you do know the play, I'd love to know what you think because it was a bit of an experiment.
If this is what I do with MND I really need to go and read something gentle and non-violent. Like Macbeth. Or Hamlet.
Lynx and Sphinx are major characters who gatecrashed this story. Neither of them were due to show up yet but they enlivened things so I let them stay. *glances at stage* That might have been a mistake.

February 7 2365, 2.15am, InterEarth Tower, India Road, Central Atlantis

The first thing she saw was the view, the towers of Atlantis glowing beneath her in the night. She had never been so high. And with that she knew she really was in InterEarth tower, the tallest building in Atlantis. But she didn't know if she was safe.

With the thought she spun, calling power.

And she saw Tiger sitting opposite her, her legs tucked underneath her and a cup of tea steaming in her hands.

"Titania," she said gravely.

"Boss," Titania said and then frowned. Tiger was very pale and she leant back in the chair as if she was ill.

"You are safe here," she said.

"Where are we?" Titania asked, still suspicious. "What's happened?"

"This is Lynx's place, at the top of the tower," Tiger said. "Didn't you tell her anything?"

The woman who called herself Rose Lyon moved back into Titania's line of sight, shrugging, and Titania realised that she hadn't heard her; hadn't even realised that she was there. "Not really."

"And you scold me for bad manners," Tiger said.

"You gave me little information. A name as you faint is not helpful." And she added something in a language Titania did not understand. It was not a language she had ever heard in Atlantis; nor was it even like anything she knew.

Tiger answered shortly in the same language and Titania, watching them both, began to weave herself answers. Lynx of InterEarth: the woman she had seen on screen mere hours ago. The first head of InterEarth, who had held the job for less than two years; her first task had been to initiate the League trial here in Atlantis. Lynx and Tiger. Rose and Emma Lyon. Tiger speaking casually of her contact in InterEarth. Two women arguing high above the city.

Lynx turned away from Tiger, shrugging lightly and said to Titania, "You are welcome here as long as you are discreet. Be seated. Would you like tea? Something to eat?"

Titania hesitated, looking at Tiger. Her leader nodded slightly and said, "Have the tea. She always buys the expensive stuff."

"We are all permitted our small luxuries," Lynx said dryly and poured a cup. "Sit down, child, before you fall on your face."

Titania sat beside Tiger, wary and confused. She took the cup from Lynx and bent over it to breath in the fumes, glad she didn't have to face either of them for a moment. There was too much power humming through the room for her to be comfortable.

"What happened to you?" Tiger said to her gently as she raised her head.

"I went to the Blue Mirage," she said. "I met James Wynne. And then I fainted. I don't faint."

"Neither do I, generally," Tiger said sourly. "But I did. After the meeting and the announcement so about one, I think."

"One-oh-seven," Lynx said. "In the lift, coming back here. Does that tally, Titania?"

She nodded and put her tea down on the floor. But she could not seem to sit up again. Instead she clung to her knees and shook. Tiger put her hand on her shoulder and waited.

"The flowers," she said at last. "The needles. Can you feel the pull? The Templars want their finder back."

Tiger's hand tightened on her shoulder and she said fiercely, "The Templars can **** themselves."

"Language," Lynx said, sounding amused. "Flowers, Em?"

Tiger explained swiftly and then said, "I can only feel a weak pull, though."

"You're stronger than me," Juliet said, sitting up. "And it wasn't meant for you."

"It's there, though," Lynx said softly and Juliet felt strange magic brush over her. "A blood pull on you both. It will grow stronger. I don't like this, Em. It stinks of Darkness."

"Blood magic and betrayal," Tiger said, rising and walking to the window. "Trickery and cunning." Then, in a different tone of voice, "The rain has stopped. Look."

Over Atlantis the grey clouds parted and the full moon, floating over the island city, shone through. Below the moon the city glimmered, its lights and shadows seeming as thin and frail as paper. Looking north, Juliet could see the dark and hungry sea, beyond the city.

Lynx came to stand beside her and as Juliet studied their reflections, the pale woman in InterEarth's grey uniform; the dark-skinned superhero in her black costume, Lynx began to quote in another language she did not know. After a moment Tiger murmured a translation, "They say in Vas C'Tir that Darkness is an illusion; a lie that exists only in shadows. If the Light should fail then Darkness too would cease to exist. Yet ever the Dark strive to destroy us; for Light is anathema to them."

"They were wise in Vas C'Tir," Lynx said. "Before it fell. Where must you go?"

"To the Hettich Theatre on the Northern edge."

"I could come with you," Lynx said softly and Juliet, watching her reflection, thought she looked tempted.

"No," Tiger said. "We fought our own battle today, in that committee. You have given us the chance to act as we must now act. Let us go and prove the battle was worth the winning." Then more cheerfully: "And considering I have a fair idea how long you've been awake, you should go home and sleep, woman."

"Don't bully me, carama."*

Tiger laughed and opened the window until it was wide enough for them to slip through. She then turned to Juliet, "There's a ten storey fall before you can call the first rope. Can you do it or do you need me to guide you?"

"I can do it."

Tiger studied her thoughtfully then sent the location for the first rope into her head.

"Light guide you," Lynx said softly and then Titania leapt from the window, into the night.

February 7 2365, 2.45am, Rue d'Olivier, North-East Atlantis

They landed down the road from the theatre and approached quietly. Tiger was back in costume, dressed in grey, streaked with rust red like the walls of Atlantis, her eyes masked.

The doors of the theatre hung open and Titania could see shattered glass glittering in the moonlight. She stepped across it softly and entered the theatre, sensing her way carefully. The foyer seemed full of shadows. The lenses of the security cameras were shattered and even the low lights which stayed on all night were black.

Behind her, Tiger drew breath and moved swiftly across the foyer. She crouched by the door and only then did Titania see the nightwatchman lying on the floor. The floor around him gleamed wet and dark and she realised the heavy scent in the air was blood.

After a moment Tiger reached for the man's face. Then she rose and returned to Titania, leaving bloody footsteps on the golden carpet. He's dead, her voice whispered into Titania's mind.

Titania shuddered. She had thought that this was not the same city as the one that haunted her nightmares; that it was safe and protected. Yet all the cities of her mind had merged into one and a man she had barely known lay dead.

Where are they? Tiger asked.

Titania only needed a moment. The stage.

Let's go.

They went carefully through the main doors, watching for traps. As they stood at the back of the stalls, they could see the stage. The curtains had been drawn back and the ghost light glowed softly in the corner. But the stage was empty.

There was no one crouching in the rows of seats; no ambush here. Titania and Tiger exchanged glances and began to approach the stage down the central aisle. The stage remained empty though Titania thought she heard rustling movements from behind the stage and saw shadows flitting through the wings. She called up thin shields around her, enough to divert bullets or flares. Behind her Tiger was doing the same and they approached the stage cautiously. Nobody came out to meet them and if there had been people there before they had withdrawn.

Titania exchanged glances with Tiger and then climbed onto the stage. She crossed the stage, looking around her and above, her steps barely sounding on the boards. She paused in the centre of the stage and looked out across the dark auditorium, unnerved.

The ghost light went out, leaving her in darkness.

A spotlight came on, across the stage from her, casting blue light in a perfect circle

Mikhail Haleema stood in the centre of the circle, dressed as Oberon. "Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania," he said and began to laugh. As he laughed darkness rose around him, flowing from him like oil through water.

Behind Titania, Tiger drew a sharp breath and stepped up to stand beside the other superhero. Titania felt power shift in the air around her.

Soft laughter sounded out of the darkness behind Haleema and, as if in a darkling mirror, a woman stepped out of the shadows to face Tiger. She was tall and slender; of pale complexion. Her hair was black and fell straight and sleek into the roiling darkness, seeming to merge with it. Her eyes were so pale in colour that they could have been grey or green or blue.

"Tiger," she said and her voice was low and soft.

"Sphinx," Tiger replied, sternly.

"You know I won't let you interfere."

"I don't see how you can stop me."

The other woman laughed again and said softly, "I knew you'd come. You would never send one of your precious followers to fight alone. You're so predictable."

Tiger moved, lunging across the stage at the woman, her face intent.

Darkness surged forward to meet her and she was hurled back across the stage. She hit the floor hard and Titania, snapped out of her shock, thought, Act!, and ran to her.

Darkness wound around her ankles, tripping her. She threw her hands out, breaking her fall, and as she crouched there, gasping for breath, the darkness whipped away. She could see Tiger lying awkwardly on the stage, her eyes closed. Until Titania saw that she still breathed, she feared the unthinkable had happened and that the world was lost. Then Tiger blinked and her blue eyes widened as the darkness swirled around her. She tried to push herself up but her wrist turned under her and she fell again as the darkness rose in swirling bars. Now she managed to stand but already the bars were meeting over her head, sealing her in.

She stared at Sphinx. "You don't actually think this will hold me?"

Sphinx smiled.

Tiger didn't move but Titania felt power spurt through the air. The bars of darkness recoiled then blurred apart. As Tiger lunged forward they reformed, following new lines and blocked her path. Again power spurted; again the bars swirled and reformed.

"Welcome to my riddlecage," Sphinx said. "Break it and it will return in a new shape."

Tiger's eyes narrowed and Sphinx laughed softly. "You can try. But the force you will need to break it apart will destroy this theatre, all within it and a few miles of the city outside."

"Why?" Tiger said. "You can't reach through your own spell to strike me. You won't starve me - it's not your style. You'll have to let me out eventually."

"But I haven't come to destroy you, Auroron," Sphinx said softly. "You're only here to watch." Then she crossed the stage and lifted her arms, dripping with darkness. "Now!" she cried. "Come forward! Reclaim what is yours!"

And the Templars came out of the shadows, from the stalls and the wings.

Titania, stumbling to her feet, saw Ola and Jojo and Flute. She saw Hester and Gurdi and Mal, Teva and Shane and Gjon. There were strange faces too, children who walked like adults, the children and siblings of those she had known. Seven years had passed since she had left the Templars and many had fallen. Long life was not a gift of the slums of Atlantis.

They crowded onto the stage, gathering around her in a loose ring, pressing against the sides of Tiger's cage without a care for the darkness. There they stopped, waiting and watching Titania, thirty of them - not all that could have come but many. Ola was grinning cruelly, her teeth gleaming in the dim light.

As Titania braced herself for their rush Mikhail Haleema began to speak, his trained voice reverberating across the stage, "Damnéd spirits all that in crossways and floods have burial."

Titania whipped around to stare at him. She knew the lines - they were Puck's - but she could not understand why he spoke them now. Looking at him, wrapt in darkness, she wondered whether it had been drugs or money which had destroyed him or whether power unrealised had been the root of his fall. Now, as he stood, entranced by darkness, she pitied him.

"For fear lest day should look their shames upon they wilfully themselves exile from light, and must for aye consort with black-browed night." And as Haleema began to laugh, Titania saw Sphinx, behind him, draw a long knife out of the darkness. The blue light gleamed on the edge of the blade and Tiger screamed, "No!" as Sphinx swung the blade down and round.

Titania threw herself forward but the steel was already cutting across Haleema's throat and the air was full of blood. As Haleema crumpled the darkness rose. It felt was cold against her skin, slightly sticky, and as she flinched from the spray of blood it flowed up her arms and around her, filling the theatre, closing above her head.

She opened her mouth to scream for help and the darkness entered her. In its cold embrace memories rushed through her. She was twelve again, flinching under her father's hard hands. She could hear her mother's high laughter in the background. She remembered the schoolyard, answering violence with violence, kicking the girl who had laughed at her until she screamed, the young Templars circling, cheering and jeering. She was in the alley with Ruza, in the cold rain, sharing a joint and waiting for a mark. And anger rushed through her; anger and pride. She was the girl they all feared; one of powers of the Cruise: the Templars' finder.

But those days were done and she fought the memories, finding refuge at last in the play she still knew by heart. And she opened her eyes on the darkness and cried out the next line, reclaiming her soul, "But we are spirits of a different sort!"

And with that there was light in the darkness. A pale and flickering light but light nonetheless. She turned and saw Tiger, illuminated as she stood in the midst of darkness. The cage was still there; she could see where Tiger's light was swallowed by the bars. As she watched Tiger, her face strained with the effort, slid her glowing hand out between the bars. Titania stumbled forward and took her grasp and the light spread from their linked hands, up Titania's arm and around her.

"Titania," Tiger said softly. "You are a strong soul."

Then the dark cage recoiled around her and her hand left Titania's. The bars closed and Titania was alone in the dark, clinging to a small light. For a moment she panicked. Tiger had been there since the moment she woke in the hospital seven years before, waiting to offer her a second chance. Then she put the panic aside and worked the light along her arm until it flared around her left hand like a beacon. She drew the flashgun from her hip and began to move forward through the darkness, step by step. The light at her hand didn't reach far but it was a comfort.

She slipped a little as the surface under her feet changed from polished boards to something thick and liquid. She could smell it: the sharp, earthy tang of blood.

There was something terrible ahead of her in the dark. She could feel it; the horror of it pricking inside her mind. She fought the impulse to throw her gun down and run and hesitated, listening.

Her light flared and then ran down her arms to spread across her body in a glittering web. As she drew breath the darkness surged around her and moved past her, swirling into the wrongness ahead. Now, as it passed her, it could not touch her, for she was guarded by the light.

Her light seemed brighter, suddenly casting a wider circle, and she realised the darkness had gathered into one swirling mass. As she watched that mass split into three columns. A movement against her foot made her glance down and she saw Haleema's blood running across the stage, being drawn into the darkness.

Glancing behind her, she could see the Templars standing close together. They seemed enthralled by the darkness but she could only spare a moment to fear what its touch might have done to their already tarnished souls. Tiger's cage had shifted forward slightly, sucked closer by the darkness, but the bars were still so broad that Titania could not see Tiger through them.

Then she heard Sphinx say, "Let the trial commence. I call the accused. Juliet Kobuta, come to the stand."

She made herself act as Tiger would have done, turning and saying scornfully, "What madness is this?"

Then the words died in her throat. Where three columns of darkness had stood she saw Finn and Nadif and Ruza.

They were all dead; she knew it. She had mourned them and counted them among her private ghosts. But now they stood before her, made flesh anew from blood and darkness.

"You stand accused," Sphinx said, "of causing three deaths by treachery, by deceit and by cowardice. I call the first witness."

Finn stepped forward and as Titania looked at him she flinched. His pale skin was broken and blotched and his arm was bent back on itself. His eyes were darkness which flowed down his face like blood.

I trusted you, he said. You told us the money was there to be taken. You didn't find the gun, did you? You found it; you planned the raid and you paid nothing for it.

Two months in a coma, six more months in hospital, learning to trust and hope, learning guilt.

You walked free and I went to prison, Finn's ghost said. You became one of them; I was raped and beaten. You lived; I was killed.

She remembered it, two years after she had escaped the Cruise, as she was finishing her League training. Guilt had wracked her then and she had chosen to swing the streets to pay her dues.

It was your fault. It was all your fault. I would have never got caught if it wasn't for you. I would never have been sent to that place.

Then he stopped and Sphinx said softly, "How do you plead?"

She should have walked away from the horrors but the Templars had been there for her when no one else had cared. So she looked at Finn and said, "I didn't know. She fooled me too. I never knew she suspected us. I mourned you but I am not responsible for the prisons or the courts."

It was truth but it felt like lies in her mouth.

Finn stepped back and she heard him whisper again, It was your fault.

Nadif stepped forward. He too bore the scars of his death but she had seen it before - the rope around his neck, his bloodied nails, the blue pallor of his skin. She gone back, as soon as she could walk enough to get out of the hospital. She had made her way back to the Cruise, through the barricades. Running along Acre Road through the autumn mists, looking for the Templars, afraid that Tiger would come after her, she had looked up to see Nadif hanging from the walkway.

He was long dead by then and as he swung in the slight breeze she could see his skull through his peeling skin. A cardboard sign hung around his neck, curling at the edges, bearing the red Templar cross. No one would have dared cut him down when he was marked so and she stopped, wrapping her arms around herself in horror.

As she stood there in the thin mists, Ola came out from under the shadow of the walkway. She stopped a few metres away from Juli and there was no welcome on her face.

"What happened?" Juli said.

Ola looked at her and spat. "They killed him. They killed my brother. Because of you." And then she had lunged at Juli, tears running down her face. They had fought there is the mist, scratching and slapping in silent fury until Juli had summoned enough strength to push Ola away. As the other girl had sat on the cold ground, gasping for breath, Juli had turned and run away, out of the Cruise. She had never been back.

When she heard Nadif's ghost, she was not surprised. She could already guess what he would say.

They blamed me for sending you there, though you had chosen the place and you had planned it. They blamed me for loosing you and all the riches you would have brought us. So they killed me and hung me up to warn the others what happened to those who lost what belonged to the Templars.

"I belong to no one save myself," Titania said. "I was not yours to lose and I did not ask them to avenge me."

It was your fault, Nadif said.

Sphinx laughed, "Two hold you guilty. Are you watching, Tiger?" Then she frowned and stepped forward. "Tiger?"

The cage was empty.

Titania stared as well as Sphinx stepped forward cautiously, studying the intact cage. Then her memories of the theatre meshed with what she saw and she understood. When the cage had been pulled forward by the darkness it had come to rest atop the trapdoor which led beneath the stage.

Before Sphinx could realise, Titania said, "Well, what now? The next round of your game? Or shall we stop playing? What do you actually want here?"

Sphinx turned to face her and Titania flinched from the power she carried. She had thought Lynx had scared her but it was nothing to the touch of evil when Sphinx's gaze brushed her.

"Oh, this is no game," the dark mage said softly. "No game at all. Speak, Ruza!"

No game, Tiger murmured into Titania's mind. This is an old magic. They can only harm you if they remain convinced you are to blame for their deaths. Lie to them. The vengeful dead are easily confused.

Then she was gone again.

Ruza stepped forward and forward again. As Titania stood before her she lifted her cold hand to touch the superhero's cheek. She traced the edge of Titania's mask with chill fingers then let her hand drop. Half her face was gone and her left side was torn and punctured.

You were my friend. I died for you. I saw her coming for you. I saw the gun. I warned you so you could duck. And I took the bullets she had meant for you. And you betrayed me. You betrayed us. You turned on us. The Templars were all we had, the two of us. I was never as clever as you, Juli, but I knew where I belonged. I knew who mattered. I died for that and you deserted us. You forgot what you owed us. You forgot me.

Tiger had told her to lie but she couldn't. "I didn't forget," she said. "I couldn't forget. The Templars were the only people who cared for either of us. I remember that. But we should have had more - we were owed more. I was given a second chance and I took it. Blame me for that but do not blame me for your deaths. I didn't kill you. I didn't kill any of you!"

"She denies her guilt," Sphinx said gleefully. "Do you still hold her to account?"

Yes, whispered Finn.

Yes, cried Nadif.

There was a long pause and then:

Yes, said Ruza.

"No," Tiger said from the back of the stalls. She limped along the aisle and Titania was surprised to see that she was clutching the needles and flowers that had started this in her right hand. Her left arm hung awkwardly and bruises were showing on her face. "She is not to blame. You have been deceived. Poverty and ignorance killed you and now Darkness tries to use you. You are worth more than that."

"You are too late!" Sphinx cried. "You cannot intervene."

Play for time, Tiger murmured in Titania's mind. This spell should have failed by now. She shouldn't have the power.

"You have perverted this magic for your own ends," Tiger said grimly as Titania backed away from the dead, looking around for inspiration. Her foot met the edge of the stage and she swayed dangerously. As she scrabbled for balance she glanced at the Templars gathered on the stage. Some of them had collapsed and others were on their knees, Even those still standing were glassy-eyed.

She's using the Templars, she called to Tiger.

Tiger stopped and looked up at the stage. "After all these years," she said casually, "you still have the power to disgust me."

"So you've solved one of my riddles," Sphinx said, smiling as if at a compliment.

"More than one." And Tiger lifted her hand and pointed the flowers at Sphinx. "Blood to blood you called us and blood to blood I bind your spell. Power to power I turn it, sevenfold." And she released the flowers.

They flashed through the air like arrows, the needles glittering amongst the dark petals. Sphinx screamed and threw an arm across her eyes as the first hit her and then the rest vanished into steam and the scent of hot metal. But her link to the Templars was disturbed and Tiger had thrown her arms out and light was flowing from her. Sphinx straightened and suddenly she was wrapt in darkness again. Dark met light and they pressed against each other, warring for supremacy. Slowly, as Titania watched, light forced darkness back.

Then a cold blow reminded her of the dead. She looked into their eyes of darkness and swung at Nadif with her left hand, which still glowed. He flinched but already Finn was reaching for her and she thought, they can hurt me now. They blame me.

But their blows already seemed weaker and she hoped as she fought, that the spell might be fading, letting them return to their sleep.

Then their blows strengthened again and Tiger swore and she realised that Sphinx had reforged her link with the Templars.

Ruza's nails tore down her face, cold and sharp, and she flinched backwards and fell off the edge of the stage. She crashed down into the orchestra pit, into the sharp metal music stands which fell around her, cutting and bruising her.

As she lay there, winded and hurting with every breath she took, she saw the dead hesitating on the edge of the stage. Beyond them she could see into the roof of the theatre: the long bars which held the lights, the furled canvas backdrops, the roof above.

Darkness passed over her, surging towards Tiger, and Titania, who could find anything, anywhere, anyone, felt lost. Knowing her death approached, she found herself remembering the view from Lynx's tower as the moonlight shone over Atlantis. And with that thought she whispered, "Light," and gathered all the power she had left.

She threw it towards the roof in one great burst of fury and desperation and it flamed through the air as it rose, slicing the lighting bars apart and puncturing the roof with a boom which made Titania's bones throb.

As the theatre shook with the noise she lay and watched the lights come tumbling down; saw the canvas backdrops slump and fall over the stage, shrouding the fallen Templars. And across it all she saw the moonlight shining, white and clean.

Finn lay under the metal bar, trapped by its weight. But all three of the dead looked up at the moon in fear and hope and as Sphinx cried, "No!" their forms blurred back into pillars of darkness and then dissolved into nothing.

Sphinx, kneeling on the stage, looked at Tiger. "You have not won," she said.

"Perhaps not. But you have lost."

"Have I? I may not have broken your Templar hero but look what I have wrought. Death and destruction to feed the dark." And she rose and made a quick gesture with her hand.

The remaining Templars, struggling under the fallen backdrop, stilled and slumped. Titania felt their deaths and saw darkness slide around Sphinx as she drank the power. As the darkness slid across her face she vanished, leaving them with the dead, the moonlight and the empty stage.

February 7 2365, 5am, Rue d'Olivier, North-East Atlantis

Titania sat on the steps of the theatre, watching the flashing lights of the patrol vehicles parked around the theatre. The regulars were still inside, cleaning up. She and Tiger had made their statements and permitted the medics to fuss at their injuries. Tiger had gone back inside.

Titania could not. Thirty-two people were dead because seven years ago one girl had left the Templars. They were all gone now. The people she had grown up with and fought beside; the people she had sworn absolute loyalty to before she knew what the words meant. Someone who had never been there might have told her she was free now but she thought she was bound all the more.

"If you are blaming yourself, I shall be angry," Tiger said and came to sit beside her.

"Why shouldn't I?"

"Because Sphinx killed them. If she has succeeded in turning you against yourself in the process, I shall be annoyed."

Titania looked up at Tiger. Her arm was in a sling and she was still battered but her serenity seemed to have returned. She met Titania's gaze and said, "That is what the Dark do. They try to pervert everything. You have scars and you should not ignore them. But you should never tear them open."

"Who was she?" Titania asked, not wanting to dissect her own conscience.

"An old enemy," Tiger said. "You did not think we were the only powers in the world, did you?"

"No."

"We are Light; they are Dark. We will fight them until the end of time."

"And was that a victory?" Titania said bitterly.

"The only victory that counts," Tiger said wearily, "is to live to fight another day."

And the moon shone bright and clear over Atlantis.

If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended:
That you have but slumbered here
While these visions did appear.

Midsummer's Night Dream, Act V.1