Author's Note: Welcome to the first installment of my "Limits" series, which shows us the hidden aspects of our favorite five. This one delves into what's inside Starfire. Please enjoy, and please review.
Disclaimer: I don't own a lot of things; the Teen Titans certainly ain't among 'em.
She gracefully spins, twisting her body this way and that, transforming herself into an elusive, frustrating, eye-grabbing target. The moths swarm her, their one-track minds determined to eliminate the threat. Somehow, though, she evades them, speeding around the buildings of Jump City with reckless grandeur.
Suddenly finding herself out of buildings, she realizes she has returned to the original site of their battle and swoops downward, the moths trailing behind her. Cyborg fires his sonic cannon into the mesh of moths behind her, just as they had practiced; three moths collapse, but the rest manage to scatter in time, their attention diverted to the ground forces.
Pirouetting mid-air, breath coming in ragged gasps, she surveys the scene. At least twelve moths have descended upon Beast Boy, flailing and struggling as a mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex. Just as she readies her body to move, he transforms into an Anklyosaurus, the sharp armor piercing and repelling the moths; challenged, they retreat and regroup, instead focusing their attack into a double diversion. Beast Boy swings the barbed tail at two moths nearby, taking them down, but the others swarm for his underbelly. Through sheer numbers and clearly enhanced strength, they surprise him by thrusting him into the air, and Beast Boy goes flying. He slams into a nearby church, slumping to the ground, unmoving.
Energy in the hue of an abyssal ocean fissure neatly lassoes five of the offending moths and scrunches them together like a ribbon does a scroll. Raven's hands move as blurs, sending energy here and there, defending the fallen Beast Boy and the sparring Robin---who cannot afford to be distracted versus Killer Moth---as best as she can. Her best, however, is not good enough; within moments, the moths still airborne, at least thirty as far as she can tell, swarm her. Her shield repels the first few attackers, and although Cyborg's sonic cannon manages to disable a few of them, she is overwhelmed and gravity wins the battle as she spirals downward.
Desperately pushing her weary body forward, she swoops in and snatches Raven mid-air, her sudden reappearance scattering the moths. Most take off in hot pursuit. Zipping as quickly as possible, she sets a course away from Beast Boy, hoping he can recover in time to aid her. Squeaking as a moth suddenly flies over top of her, obstructing her path, she barrel rolls to the right and takes off for the tall skyscrapers once again, hoping to lose the moths within the gaps therein. Sliding, slipping, soaring, diving, she finally loses them, safe once again but away from the battle.
In her crushing grip, Raven says her name, and Starfire looks down. Silence reigns for a moment, and then Starfire nods. Three more words, and they vanish in a globe of ebony, only to reappear next to Beast Boy in the next instant. Setting the weakened Raven next to her wounded comrade, she soars back into the fray and is presented with a dilemma. Aid an evenly matched Robin against Killer Moth, or save Cyborg from the advancing moths?
Her mind and heart act for her body, and she ravages the moths with starbolts from afar. Unfortunately, her starbolts lack the velocity she needs, and even as she zooms towards the swarm, they leap upon Cyborg. His sonic cannon fires a few times, but their mandibles chew through his mechanisms, deactivating it within seconds. As his body powers down in contingency, he throws his body to the ground, rolling as if he were on fire, hoping to squash a few moths in the sudden move. As his body slows to a dull stop, the moths swoop in, only to be met by Starfire's unusually accurate starbolts.
She throws them with fury coursing through her veins, teeth gritting from the effort. A few moths break free from the onslaught and charge her, but her eyes join the battle as well and the world becomes a tinge of lime. Five seconds later, her opponents lay on the ground, defeated.
All, that is, except for one.
As the last moth collapses, Robin follows suit. An inch of lost height on a desperate jump kick put him right within the reach of Killer Moth, and the uppercut struck true. She sees him advance upon Robin, who struggles to find his feet, and suddenly she's no longer seeing green, but red.
A scream of Tamaranean fury escapes her lips as she begins to spin, mid-air, like a fiery top. Killer Moth, surprised by the scream, turns from Robin to evaluate the new threat. Raven, focusing on making sure Beast Boy keeps breathing, hears and looks, her eyes widening at the sight. Robin watches as she spins, faster and faster, until she is a whirlwind of color. The color begins to fade and melt into the hue of her starbolts, and it expands, larger and larger, ever-growing, until at last she stops cold, mid-air, and opens her eyes, those pools of emerald justice.
Her body wracks with a sudden tremor and she is thrown backwards, no longer glowing, eyes closed and waiting for her impact with the grass below. As she connects with the hard ground, a massive ball of green energy that originated where she once had been in the air rockets forward, on a collision course for Killer Moth. Terrified, he tries to take flight, but the energy outspeeds him by several imperative seconds. The blast sends him flying eighteen city blocks, where he lands in the street with a sickening crunch.
Robin, finding his feet at last, runs to her. As he kneels down in the grass, his hidden eyes searching for a sign of life, she obliges him and opens her eyes.
"You're alive," he says, and suddenly she understands what her hugs must feel like to those of non-Tamaranean origin as he clings to her, his carefully composed exterior shattered by the strength of a Star on Fire.
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