"You're handing them over, before we turn you into green pulp!", Shira yelled at Beast Boy, signalling 'one minute', to Starfire.
Meanwhile, Raven was busy reading, as usual, and Robin had the stereo on full blast.
Starfire, meanwhile, was trying to engage the others in conversation.
Enough of this, Shira thought, sending a punch Beast Boy's way. Unfortunately, he ducked, just in time, and she hit Cyborg instead, causing him to knock into Starfire and break the strung necklaces she was carrying. That seemed to be the last straw, for she suddenly yelled out.
"Friends do not behave this way! Do you wish to invoke the Rekmas?", she asked, hysterically.
"Rek- what?", Shira, Beast Boy and Cyborg were confused.
"The drifting of the friends."
"Starfire, we are not going to drift apart! We may do hurtful things, to one another, but we don't mean it!", Shira said.
"Yeah. This is typical roommate stuff", Robin said. The others nodded.
"We're not going to drift apart. I promise", Robin reassured her. All seemed to be puting itself right, then. But then Robin's communicator had to go off.
"Trouble", he said. The six Titans rushed off.
Moments later, they were at the museum, where they noticed a man, in a metal suit, powered by strange lenses. He was attempting to steal a clock.
"Valuable in the past, priceless in the future", he said to himself, on claiming the artefact.
"But for the present, you'll keep your filthy hands off it", Robin said, attacking Warp with a disc.
"The Teen Titans. I've read all about you, in historical archives, but now, you're history", Warp smiled.
It looked like they were. Warp was able to easily subdue all six of them.
"I'd love to stay, but I've got a bright future, ahead", he said, creating a portal. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Starfire attacked Warp, and ended up being sucked into the portal, with him.
"Starfire!", Robin yelled, shocked.
There was a signal, on the Brotherhood Base's computer. A hero was running free.
"The Tamaranian girl has returned", the Brain said.
"Shira!", Madame Rouge yelled.
Shira was a grown woman, now. Returning to the Brotherhood was a decision she took, impulsively. Cyborg's rejection shook her, badly, and she didn't know where else to go. Her mother, and others were not so understanding, though. Her return came with a price.
"The Tamaranian has returned", Rouge said, giving her a hard look.
She felt an electric shock. Twenty years. Starfire was thought lost, after the battle with Warp. It hadn't took much for the Titans to seperate, after that.
"Perhaps Warp subdued her, and sent her here", Shira muttered.
"It is a possibility", Monsieur Mallah acknowledged.
"Go finish her off. She is bound to be looking for you, and the rest of the Titans", the Brain commanded. She nodded.
"And you WILL do the job, this time", Rouge hissed, threateningly. Yes, she would have to. No more taking chances. Taking chances had led to nothing but unhappiness, for her.
"Nowhere near Beast Boy's or Raven's lairs. Shira could tell that Starfire had been to Titans Tower. Despite a small part of her heart telling her that she too wanted to revisit, she wouldn't. She couldn't bear a second rejection. So what if he was falling apart. They were both smart enough to fix him! She didn't want to think about their other argument. It was too personal.
She went to a nearby alley to clear her head. She noticed another figure, already there. A man. He has long hair, a black fight suit, with blue wings, and a mask like Robin's. Nightwing. Robin's new identity.
"You", he snarled.
"Me. Now if you don't mind, I'm about to kick your butt", Shira said, adopting her facade of confidence and aloofness.
They proceeded to fight. Shira's reflexes were badly affected, since she was tortured, by the Brotherhood, upon her return. But she was still doing well, despite her injuries, which were still somewhat sore, even now, nineteen years later.
Suddenly, Nightwing had her somewhat subdued.
"Why are you doing this? Are you really and truly evil?", he asked her.
"I don't have a choice! If I stayed on the good side, mother and the Brotherhood would've killed me. At least now, I only have healable injuries!"
"So you chose to be a coward! I can't believe it!"
"I had nothing left. It ended there, for me, the second we lost, to Warp. Now they want me to finish off Star! I don't have a choice!", she snapped, knocking him out of her way.
"Listen to me. If we help Star fix the past, we can avoid the Titans disbanding."
She wanted to believe him. But she couldn't.
"They'd just disband, later, if not then."
"Don't think like that! It will all go back to the way it was, if you help us."
"Let me ask you something. Do you miss her? Do you want her there, every day, right by your side, forgetting about the others?"
"Yes. I do. Is this going to get to whatever argument you and Cyborg had, twenty years ago?"
She went red.
"That's neither here nor there. All I'm saying is, that argument would've happened, whether or not we lost to Warp. Just, not as soon."
"Look, we can fix it. Just take a chance, okay?"
Tentatively, she nodded. "This had beter go to plan", she said. She didn't think she could take more torture, from the Brotherhood.
Just then, Starfire and Warp appeared out of nowhere, with Warp once again gaining the upper hand.
"Come on, we've got to help her", Nightwing said. They quickly slid over to where they were fighting, and ambushed Warp, from behind.
"More Teen Titans", Warp said, amused, before disappearing again.
"It's good to see you again", Nightwing said to Starfire.
"Robin?", she asked.
"I haven't used that name in a long time. Call me Nightwing", he said, stepping out of the darkness, Shira behind him.
"Shira! You too have come! Cyborg said it was no use trying to find you! He would not tell me what became of you!", Starfire said.
"That's neither here nor there", Shira said. She didn't want her secret out, if they managed to fix things.
"Yes it is. But we have to get back to the base. We can track Warp from there", Nightwing said, preparing to leave.
"Why will nobody tell me what became of you?", Starfire asked Shira again, at Nightwing's base.
"It's not important. It won't matter, if we get you back to your own time", Shira said, dismissively.
"But it does! You have been severely injured! You are not as fast as before!"
"She's evil", Nightwing said, simply.
"Your intentions were to bring the Titans down, yourself?"
"Not solely me. Mother and the Brotherhood wanted to."
"But you said your mother had disappeared, long ago."
"I lied. She's Madame Rouge, and I have her powers!"
"So why did you return to them, after the battle with Warp?"
"There was nothing left! The Titans were done! And I was rejected everywhere else."
This last part was an exaggeration. Cyborg said he didn't want Shira staying with him, when he was slowly falling into disrepair. Even if they could fix him, good as new, he knew they couldn't last together. So he pushed her away, hoping to protect her, but ended up hurting her instead.
"You did not try hard enough. From you, I did not expect this!", Starfire shouted.
"We can fix it. I kept this, just in case", Nightwing said, getting out his communicator. When he activated it, Starfire's and Shira's also went off.
"Now we wait for them to show. Let's go find Warp", Nightwing said.
He was at the museum, again. The three of them proceeded to fight him, but were again beig thrashed. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Warp was blasted.
"Who said y'all could start without me?", Cyborg said, when they turned behind. All the emotion returned, at that point. Shira forgot about Warp, Nightwing and Starfire. To her, it felt like she and Cyborg were the only ones in the room. The stood, looking at each other, expressionlessly, until Warp was attacked by a green lion. Beast Boy too had returned. Gotta fight this guy, Shira thought, proceeding to once again attack Warp. Suddenly, Raven too appeared, telekinetically manipulating Warp's technology. The six of them were reunited. Finshing off Warp was easier, this time. A bullseye hit, on Warp's technology, by Nightwing's birdarang was all they needed. They discovered he had been reduced to an infant.
"I am not changing any diapers", Beast Boy said.
"You okay?", Cyborg asked Shira, who had been standing seperately. She blinked.
"So you're going to pretend as if you never said anything?", she said, quietly.
"We've had this conversation. You were young, hot, still are. You could, and still can do a lot better than me. I'm just nuts and bolts, now. And rusty ones, at that.
"We can fix you!"
"We can't have a normal relationship! You have...needs."
He was saying it so bluntly. She went red.
"I went twenty years, without having such needs. I can last forever. I don't care, about that!"
"Really? So...Nobody?"
"Nobody", she said, stiffly.
"Cyborg, the portal!", Nightwing called out.
Taking her hand, they both rushed over to Warp's suit, and grabbed his lens. Cyborg created a portal, to send Starfire back to the past.
"Go. Now!", he yelled, before turning back to Shira.
"You still up to fixing me?", he asked.
"Oh YES!", she said, her eyes bright. Then, it happened. All she had wished for, twenty years ago. Their first kiss. And it was exactly as she had hoped.
"Goodbye, friends", Starfire said, stepping into the portal.
"Star. Don't tell the others who I am, yet. I'll tell them when it's time", Shira said. Starfire nodded. All was well.
"Starfire!", Robin yelled, after she disappeared into the portal.
"Dude, where did she-", Beast Boy said, as there was another flash of light, from behind. Another portal. Out fell Starfire.
"History said it disappeared...But history was wrong!", she said, holding up the clock.
Back at the tower, Starfire had just finished telling them the entire story.
"I'm gonna be bald?!", Beast Boy asked, anguishedly.
"I don't want us to drift apart", Robin said, looking upset.
"So...is it still too late to celebrate this festival of friendship?", Raven asked, telekinetically stringing the beads together again.
"Oh it's never too late!", Starfire said, all happy again. She looked at Shira, peculiarly, though. Starfire had been very vague, about Shira's future.
"Everything okay?", she asked, when they were alone.
"You are a double agent. I know who your mother is", Starfire said, simply.
Shira turned white. "Was I evil, in the future?"
"You had converted back. But now I am worried, that you may become the evil Shira again."
Starfire then proceeded to tell Shira of all the hurt she had faced, but how things came right.
"I'm not going back to them. I'll deal with them, when the time comes", Shira said, reasuuringly. Starfire believed her.
They were all findig out. Only Beast Boy and Raven didn't know. She would tell them soon, but when, she didn't know. She was especially scared to tell Beast Boy. Well, one at a time, she thought, heading back down.