Only in Darkness

17: Seriously? These Guys Again?

After watching Kory blow a hole through a tractor and Gar strip naked, all eyes fell to Marlowe. The girl gripping onto the Staff a little tighter, especially under Gar's bright smile and wild eyes. The kid looking like he was going to burst from all of the unasked questions.

"Okay Marlowe." Dick motioned for her to take the floor. The girl stepped up, mindlessly twirling the Staff as she took in the space.

"Are you really Stargirl?" Gar blurted out and Marlowe glanced over her shoulder with a smirk.

Marlowe threw up the Staff, running for the hay bales. Watching the Staff as they came down and running on the small platform the haybales created. Her hands finding the rod and it's shifting light like glue. Using her momentum to swing around once before stopping at the top in a handstand. Legs separated as her body bent at the waist, the toes of her boots connecting to the Staff as she swung back around. Left standing on the Staff she looked down at the group below her with a smirk and a gleam in her eye.

She had only been able to do what she did next a couple of times in competition, and received a deduction every time because it wasn't legal anymore but she couldn't help throwing it into her impromptu routine. Crouching down slightly she threw her arms back as she pushed off, laughing as she completed the full rotation backwards and her hands caught the bar again.

Swinging around one more time before releasing, completing a backflip, the Staff racing to meet her feet as she rode it like a surfboard around the space. Marlowe twisting off the edge of the Staff, feet landing firmly on the ground and not moving until she was doing a back handspring, back tuck to kill time for the Staff to fall. Which it did, letting her catch it perfectly and whirl on the balls of her feet as she twirled the Staff. Leveling the business end of Cosmo at the hay bales she started on and firing a cosmic blast.

She heard the shouts of surprise as the hay bales exploded, raining hay down onto Marlowe. Who stood with a large grin, her aura lighter than the others had seen until this point. Marlowe was barely effected by the amount of physical movement she just performed.

"To answer your question Gar. Yes. Yes I am." Marlowe chuckled as the boy visibly freaked out but tried to keep his composure.

"Do you not have bones?" Kory asked looking at the girl with wide eyes and a dropped jaw, "Also what happened to not having enough blood?"

Marlowe shrugged and grinned, leaning her weight on the Staff.

"How does it work?" Gar asked stepping closer and reaching out to touch Cosmo.

"Not an it." Marlowe's voice overlapped with Dick, Kory, and Rachel's. Gar looked around them all with shock. Nodding quickly along with them.

"Sorry, how do 'they' work?" Gar tentatively asked and Marlowe hesitated.

"They were created by my grandfather, Ted. The original-"

"Starman. That is so cool." Gar breathed and winced at Marlowe's narrowed eyes. Clearing his throat and offering a quiet apology.

"He created the Staff along with another device called the cosmic belt. Which is just Cosmo in belt form. Back in the thirties, fought with Wonder Woman in the All-star squadron during the war and helped develop the atomic bomb." Marlowe started, finally explaining her family's history, "To dumb it down, they're powered by cosmic radiation, so, UV, gamma rays, the moon, stars. Stuff like that."

Marlowe continued, bringing the Staff up into her hands, holding them horizontally before letting them go. Leaving the Staff to hover on their own.