My first attempt at a story on here. The story line is a Teen Titans cartoon take on DC's New 52, (specifically Red Hood and the Outlaws) and what made Starfire change. So yes Starfire will be a bit different in this story than she is in the Teen Titans.

Read and let me know what you think.

Chapter One

Arrival

She looked at the vista below her. A blue planet shrouded in swirls of white clouds and glimpses of the landmasses and oceans beneath them. A planet with one major natural satellite that made for beautiful evenings that she one time enjoyed. She had loved this planet with its golden sun, the life it had in abundance and beings that lived on it. Things are different now. Once she was a hero and part of a team of heroes, and like her feelings for this world was in the past. Things happened that changed her perspective on life and the inhabitants of this backwater world that she once considered her adopted home. Now she saw this planet for what it was and the beings that lived on it for what they were; lying, dishonorable, cowardly beings that thought of themselves as higher than they really were. Even the ones she called friends and even one she loved were no different than the other beings of this world.

Unfortunately she could no longer remain on her home world. It no longer existed, destroyed by the very monsters that gave her the powers she had. She could not go to any other planet because Tamaranians were not welcome in many parts of the galaxy, or she would be captured and sold into slavery. She thought of being a mercenary, but many mercenaries knew who she was and the price that was on her head. No, for her, Earth was the only place that was safe, even if she swore she would never come back here.

She parked her small shuttle in a geosynchronous orbit, but outside of the range of the Justice League's Watchtower. The last thing she wanted was to have the Justice League aware of her presence, especially if he was a member now. So, she turned on the small ship's stealth mode and only the passive sensors were in use. She was looking for the specific radio isotope signature that she had spent most of the trip here calibrating the sensor for. It was her hope the sensor would pick up a reading and she could then zero in on the one person on this X'hal forsaken planet that might help her. Even that was a big risk, but there was no one else she believed she could turn too.

As she looked at the blue planet below her, she felt old memories surge within her. She did not expect that to happen and she felt the tears ready to burst from her eyes. She steeled herself up though and fought back the tears and instead filled her mind with thoughts of righteous anger. Thoughts of her betrayal by her friends, especially by the one who told her he loved her. It was their traitorous actions that drove her from her adopted home back the planet of her birth, Tamaran, and the intrigue of the Royal palace.

She focused on those thoughts of anger and pain. Anger at what happened to her on Earth by the ones she thought were her friends and at what she had to do on Tamaran and the pain she experienced there. Now she was a lost soul, not wanted by what remained of her people and not welcome on a world of beings not worthy of her presence. She still felt she had purpose though and maybe she could find it again here on Earth, where she found a purpose once before.

While lost in her thoughts, the sensor alarm alerted her that the sensor had found something. She looked down and stared at the blinking light and the readout on the display. She started to have second thoughts, now that she knew where her target was. How would she approach the one she was looking for and would this particular human even accept her? She sat there considering the readout; the target was in Central City. This presented a problem, as she remembered Central City was the home of the Flash, but she had to take the risk, now that she found her target. So, she said a quick silent prayer to X'hal, took one final breath of the ship's air, then set the ship on a course towards Earth's sun and made a quick exit from the cockpit with a portable sensor that was now honed in on her target.

She watched as the distortion of the ship's stealth mode headed in the direction of the sun while she absorbed the light of Earth's yellow star. Then she closed her eyes in resolve and made her way to Central City. As she descended into Earth's atmosphere, more memories returned that she fought to suppress. She channeled the training of the Warlords of Okarra by which she could lock away those memories. They called it the Kolas tik Nal, the Dungeon of Memory, though the memories were not gone entirely, they were locked away until she wished them released.

The Kolas tik Nal, was to allow a warrior to forget past friendships and alliances when needed for battle. Only the negative memories would remain in the conscious mind if any, allowing the warrior to fight and defeat former allies and friends without reservation when necessary. Only the most disciplined of warriors could effectively invoke the Kolas tik Nal, and she was the top of her cadre. Her trainers commented that only four other Tamaranians could fully invoke the Kolas tik Nal to the extent she could.

She was now over Central City and she kept her eyes alert for any movement below. Currently she kept to the clouds to keep the contrail of her flight energy from giving her away. Below she could see there was mayhem in the business district of the city. Vehicles were overturned, craters were in the road and a group of buildings had chunks of material missing, broken windows and carbon scoring from energy blasts along the outer walls. She saw a streak of red and yellow moving down one street and another streak of yellow and red coming up another. So there was another Kid Flash, before she left the former Kid Flash, Wally West had taken on the mantle of the Flash, meaning another young human had somehow gained super speed. The thought briefly amused her as she continued in her search.

The sensor she brought with her had triangulated on her target's position and she focused her eyes on that spot. There on top of one of the taller glass and steel structures she could see him. The costume remained the same even after all these years where others had modified theirs even when she was on this world. There was no mistaking that the human below was the one she was looking for. Hopefully the owner of the costume was the same as when she was here years ago. No matter how much her and the others tried, no one ever found out who wore the costume or how they acquired it. For all she knew the owner was someone else than the one who enjoyed taunting her former team mates all those years ago.

She watched him for a while to see what he would do before making her move. The costume seemed tattered, definitely the worse for wear. He was definitely hiding, not wanting to be seen by the Flash and his sidekick below, waiting for them to move on in their search for him, no doubt. She panned the skies making sure no other member of the Justice League, Titans or any other superhero or villain organization was around for that matter. She didn't see any so she positioned herself to swoop down and grab her target as quickly as possible before he knew she was there. She had to move quickly though because the red streak of the Flash was running up the building.

She zeroed in on her target as swooped down at supersonic speed, causing a sonic boom over the target area. This caused both the target and the Flash to look up. The Flash was now on the roof and streaking towards her target, she readied her star bolts and fired a volley in the Flash's path faster than he could react, knocking him off balance and tumbling to the edge of the building to be caught Kid Flash coming up from the other side.

She quickly flew over to her target and grabbed him under his arms then pulled him up closer to her with one arm as she fired star bolts back in direction of the two speedsters while flying into the clouds for cover. Fortunately her target did not teleport away like he normally would, but she surmised he was low on xynothium and may not be able to at the moment. She flew at a speed that was safe for both, but quick enough to be miles away from Central City. She lowered herself to the edge of the cloud bank to look for a place she could set them both down so they could talk.

She found a high hill with plenty of trees, giving them a bit of privacy. She set them both down in a small clearing, her target a little shaky in the knees at first but still enough bravado to force himself to stand and face his 'rescuer.'

"Well Cutie, long time, no see. All grown up now too, like the new look, whole lot more of you to see. Guess I can't call you cutie now can I. How about 'Gorgeous?' Yep, that works for me."

He then put his hands on his hips akimbo style. "So, Gorgeous, to what do I owe the honor of you plucking me off the roof of that building? Guess you missed me after all these years and just had to see me."

"First of all Red X, you will address me as Starfire, not Cutie or Gorgeous. Second of all, I did not miss you; I simply rescued you from being captured by the Flash and Kid Flash." Starfire said with a haughty glare.

Red X crossed his arms and chuckled behind his mask. "Oh really, rescued me huh? I could have handled those two bozos. Besides why would you want to rescue me? I'm the 'bad guy' remember, not exactly someone that a hero like you would want to rescue."

Starfire continued to glare at him. "Things have changed. My days as a hero on this world were over long ago Red X, I am a Tamaranian warrior princess, not the young naïve fool I once was." Then she deflated a bit and cast her eyes down to the ground. "To be the honest… I am seeking refuge and offer you my assistance as a return for helping me find a place to stay on this world."

Red X was stunned, he couldn't believe his ears. The last time he saw her she was one of the Titans and her only interest in him was to see him put behind bars and the Red X costume returned to her boyfriend. Now she's offering him her assistance if he only helped her find a place to stay. What a twist of fate, to say the least. He uncrossed his arms and strode closer to her.

"I'd say things have changed. Well princess, I could maybe find a use for your powers and abilities, though I tend to prefer stealth and wit over pure strength and firepower, it has its uses. Besides what villain or hero wouldn't mind a hottie like you around. Sure I'll help you, if you help me, what've I got to loose. Tell you what, I left my bike back in Central City, I need you to fly me back there so I can get it, then we'll head to one of my safe houses and we'll see what we can set up for you. Even catch up on old times and then snuggle up by the fire…"

"Red X, I said I would offer you the assistance, not do the snuggling with you. I will help you retrieve your motorcycle and return to the safe house with you, but lay one hand on me in any way, and you will not live to see another day."

Red X held up his hands. "Ok, no problem there princess, I won't lay a hand on you, but you can't blame a guy for trying. Take me back to the northern edge of the city and I'll take it from there."

Starfire hesitantly nodded in agreement, "Will you not worry of being caught by the Flash though?"

Red X shook his head, "Nah, I have enough xynothium to go to stealth mode where my bike is and back to the edge of the city with it before they know we're even there. So you ready princess?"

"I suppose that I am, but please refrain from calling me princess, that title means nothing here."

"Whatever you say princess, though it was you that called yourself, what was it…, oh yeah, a Tamaranian warrior princess." Red X said, with a smirk in his voice.

Starfire grimaced and roughly grabbed Red X on purpose then flew off with him dangling from her arms. She could hear him protesting, though she chose to ignore it. Fortunately for him he was smart enough not to struggle, or she'd just let him drop and take her chances, be what they may. Within minutes they were at the northern edge of Central City and Red X turned to her with his two finger salute.

"See ya in a bit Gorgeous." Then he leapt away from her and disappeared.

Starfire could tell she was in a rundown, seedier side of town, full of old shut down factories and decrepit looking warehouses. It reminded her of some of the places in Gotham or Bludhaven that she helped the one that hurt her patrol in. The memory of him came through her Kolas tik Nal, assaulting her with memories of a young man in a brightly colored costume who she grew to love during their time as team mates together and who took on a darker costume when he became a man. She knew him as Robin, then Nightwing, but he was always Dick Grayson. Of all the beings she knew in her life he was the one that made her the most happy, and then caused her the most pain through one act of betrayal. Now she felt the anger and hate again, and she struggled to repress the memory of that horrible person, to send his memory back to the abyss of memories.

"Starfire, is that really you? I can't believe it!"

Starfire jumped, startled at the sound of her name being called out in a voice other than Red X's. She turned to her left to see the Flash standing next to her with a big, goofy grin on his face.

"It is you! Wow, don't you look hot? If Dick got a sight of you in that getup he'd be falling… Aahh!"

The Flash flew back about ten yards and landing on his backside, feeling an immense pain around his left eye.

"Damn Starfire, what'd you do that for? I thought we were friends." The Flash said holding his left hand over his left eye and his right hand up to protect himself from a very feral looking Starfire.

"I am not your friend human, nor do I wish to hear the name of that human known as Dick Grayson. Now be gone before I cause you even more damage." She said with a star bolt formed on each hand, her eyes glowing brilliant green and her hair seemingly on fire.

"Geez Starfire, I know there's some history between the two of you, but for cryin' out loud it's been what… fourteen years now? Surely time has healed old wounds?"

"There will never be enough time to heal that wound, of that you can be certain now leave this place while you still can. Oh, and tell Dick Grayson not to look for me, I will kill him on sight." Starfire said with a low growl to her voice.

Flash sat there, his jaw agape, not believing what he just heard from Starfire. She'd always been so loving and caring of her friends before, now she was threatening to cause a world of hurt on him and kill Dick if she saw him. I guess it was good never to piss off a Tamaranian.

Flash slowly got up on his feet, the pain around his left eye was making him feel dizzy. No way could he use his speed now, he'd end up losing his balance and heading head first into a wall, possibly killing him.

"Ok Star, I'm outta here. I just hope you're not going down the wrong path. The others will hunt you down and the Justice League will get involved…"

"Do not worry about me Flash, you need to worry about yourself. My patience is wearing thin…" Something caught her eye and she fired a blast in the direction of the movement.

There was a yelp and a now tripped up Impulse tumbled a few yards in front of her.

"Take care of your whelp Flash, I have no problem with killing either of you at the moment."

Flash nodded and headed over to check on Impulse, who was lying in a pile of debris moaning from the pain caused by the concussion of Starfire's star bolt. He didn't see any major damage, but he could barely see to begin with. While he was checking on Impulse he heard the sound of a performance tuned motorcycle ease up near them. He looked up in time to see Starfire climb on the back of Red X's motorcycle and the road off together, heading north on State Highway 45.

"No way…"

Yes it is convenient that Red X was found, but needed to for the sake of the plot. Also Starfire is more warrior-like since she has lived there again for some time now and is more like her people. No more nice Starfire for now. Oh there is no plan for a Red X/Starfire relationship, this is not a romantic story.