Author's Note: Hello all! This is the first chapter of my latest fanfic endeavor, and first fanfic here on . It's probably gonna be a long one. You've been warned! I will also periodically open up polls and such if I need some advice/inspiration, so be sure to read the author's notes so you can get your vote in there.
This is opening in medias res in the episode "Apprentice", so if you haven't seen that episode or haven't watched the cartoon, I pity you, and you also will probably be a bit confused until the story gets going.
Chapter 1: The Beginning
The Titans raced through the tunnel, following Starfire's sneezes. She was very grateful that she could be helpful, but did she ever feel awful.
"It can't be far now," Cyborg said, looking sideways at her slouching, sniffling form.
She shook her head and rubbed her nose, wincing at the horrible sound of nose fluid being sucked back up her nasal cavity. She chanced a sidelong glance at Robin running next to her, hoping he was not completely disgusted.
He did not appear to have noticed, thank X'hal.
She stopped to lean against the slimy, stone wall to her left as that familiar feeling creeped up her nose and into her forehead. "Ah- AH-"
"RAVEN!" Beast Boy yelped, pointing frantically as he leapt onto Cyborg's back.
"AH-CHOO!" she shrieked, feeling the cold, black energy surround her as the force of the sneeze rebounded back on her face.
The black haze faded from her vision and revealed her friend's fearful expressions and cowering positions. She flashed a shy smile, brushing her hair back down. "My apologies," she said softly, tugging self-consciously at a red strand.
The corner of Robin's mouth lifted slightly, and he looked as if he was about to say something when Cyborg's irritated yell pulled away his attention.
"Get offa me, ya little, green spider monkey!" he shouted, flinging Beast Boy off of his back and down into the murky water.
"Duuuuuude!" he whined, holding his arms above the water. "Gross!"
Starfire giggled lightly while Raven rolled her eyes and sighed. Robin reached a hand down to Beast Boy, and was halfway through pulling him up when a sound down the tunnel made him whip around. Beast Boy went splashing back into the water with a squeal as Robin lost his grip on his hand.
The other three Titans also turned toward the sound, a loud roar which appeared to be getting farther away.
"Titans, GO!" Robin shouted, pulling out his staff and charging forward.
Raven and Starfire took to the air, hands glowing with their respective energies. Cyborg pulled out his sonic cannon, with its signature start-up whine, as his heavy metal footsteps thudded along behind them.
"Hey, guys, wait up!" Starfire heard Beast Boy shout from behind them, the sound of his splashing footsteps disappearing, and she assumed he had changed into some form of flying creature.
As Starfire rounded the corner, she caught sight of a large, metal vessel rushing away from them on the surface of the water. She remembered Robin telling her about these things when she had seen one on the channel of discovery, but she could not recall the word he had used. It was, at the moment, unimportant because this contraption was not only shooting some form of red energy beams at them, but sitting inside was-
"The Chronoton Detonator!" Cyborg shouted, readying his sonic cannon.
"No!" snarled Robin, pushing the robotic arm down. "We don't know what will happen if you hit it!"
Cyborg growled with frustration, but retracted the cannon and took off running once again.
"Beast Boy," Robin shouted in that way he had that made it obvious it was a command, "Take Cyborg, try and pick off the driver".
The green Pterodactyl nodded and took off, scooping Cyborg up by the shoulders.
"Raven, see what you can do about those lasers."
She nodded, eyes glowing black as she shot off after the odd, flying pair.
Starfire lowered her flight so she was level with Robin's head as he continued running.
"Starfire?" He said with that same authority, but it was softened slightly by having the tonal quality of a question, as if she was being provided with a choice as opposed to an order.
She glanced down at him, eyebrows rising inquiringly.
"A hand?" He looked up at her with that impossibly bright smile, extending his left arm up toward her.
She grinned, moving behind him and sweeping him upward in their signature trapeze hold.
As they approached the vessel, dodging the beams still firing from the one gun Raven had not yet managed to disable, Cyborg hit the driver off the side and into the water. The splashing, metal contraption, however, did not stop.
"Why does it not halt?" she asked the boy below her.
"It must be on auto-pilot," he snapped angrily, which Starfire was getting used to not taking personally. "Get me down to that boat!"
Boat, that was the word! Thinking it not the right time to ask what this "auto-pilot" was, Starfire merely nodded and sped up.
Cyborg and Beast Boy got there ahead of them, landing deftly on the surface of the boat. Raven, having disabled the remaining gun, lowered herself down behind them as Cyborg made his way to the controls. Starfire was almost above the boat now, and she started to descend for her and Robin to land.
Suddenly, the wall to their left exploded, sending shards of brick flying into the tunnel toward them. Starfire quickly dodged them, shifting her hands closer to Robin's shoulders so she could pull him up and better control their flight.
"What the- WOAH!" Robin shouted as a huge, grey body came blasting through the wall, coating them both with dust.
"Cinderblock!" the boy yelled, trying to wriggle his right arm out of Starfire's grasp, no doubt to get something out of his utility belt.
Starfire tightened her grip on his wriggling arm, just enough to send a message.
She could feel his angry gaze on her face, but she did not dare look down. She dodged around falling debris, Cyborg's cannon blasts, and Raven's energy beams as she focused all her concentration on putting more distance between them and Cinderblock and getting to the boat. It probably still would not be a safe place to be, but it was much less vulnerable than flying through the air. Robin was only human, after all. And he was going to hate her for this.
"Starfire, what are you- AH!" he yelled in surprise as she flung him toward the boat. He flipped into a somersault just in time to land on his feet. She righted herself in the air, stopping as the boat shot further down the tunnel away from her.
She saw the ever-shrinking form of Robin running toward the back of the boat, his cape flaring out around him. "STARFIIIIIRE!" he screamed, his desperate cry reverberating off the walls, making her shudder with guilt.
"GO!" she called urgently, hearing Cinderblock's footsteps approaching from around the curve behind her. "I will deter him!" and she turned toward the sound, lighting her hands as she did so.
"NO!"
She whirled her head around, red hair struggling to keep up, just in time to see Robin leaping off the back of the boat.
"ROBIN!" She lunged forward, green glow flickering away as her hand outstretched toward the boy that was too far away for it to make any difference. Just as she was about to try anyway, a black band of energy appeared out of nowhere, wrapping around his body just before it hit the water.
"No, Raven, no! Let me GO! STARFIRE!" He struggled against the black bands as they pulled him back into the safety of the boat.
Tears stung the corners of her eyes as she watched. "I am sorry," she whispered as the boat disappeared around a corner, Robin's calls still echoing back to her, though she could no longer understand the words.
"GRAAAAAR!"
Starfire whipped around, green fire bursting back to life in her hands. Not quick enough, however, as a cold, hard hand slammed into her side. She rocketed into the wall, the force of the hit sending her crashing right through it. She landed heavy on the floor, rocks falling all around her. Looking up, she saw a particularly large chunk of wall on a collision course with her head. She shrieked, firing a starbolt. The rock exploded into stone confetti, pinging off the floor with small clicks.
A shadow stretched across the opening she had just created. Red eyes met her green ones, and her temper flared. Growling, she burst up toward the towering figure. She planted a purple-clad boot into the side of Cinderblock's head, sending him reeling back out into the tunnel. With a loud cry, she flew forward, glowing hands outstretched as she attempted to punch through his chest.
He fell back with a groan, falling through the opposite wall.
Not relenting for a moment, Starfire flew into the fresh opening after him, firing starbolt after starbolt into the cloud of dust his fall had created. She hovered in the air, awaiting an attack. As the dust cleared, however, it became clear the fight was over.
A motionless Cinderblock lay spread on the broken ground below her; eyes closed, his concrete body chipped and cracked. Cautiously, she flew lower to investigate. She could hear his ragged breathing, slow and even. She lowered herself even further, taking in all the damage he had sustained. If he was faking unconsciousness, he was exceptional at it, and Robin always said Cinderblock was not very smart.
She gingerly landed on the floor, a safe distance away from the villain's body. She let out a sigh, her heart rate slowing as the thrill of battle wore off. Sure of her safety, for the moment at least, her mind turned to her friends. She lifted off the ground again, intent to find and assist them, when a shrill beeping sound caught her attention. She whirled on the noise, hands blazing, expecting another form of attack.
Everything was still, the only other sounds being Cinderblock's grating breathing and the occasional drip of water. Starfire tilted her head in confusion, looking for the source of the beep. That was when she noticed a faint light permeating the cracks between Cinderblock's fingers. She swooped down, landing next to the creature's massive hand. Luckily, his hand was open enough that she could reach between the thick fingers and remove the culprit without so much as a brush.
Turning over the small, circular device in her hand, she surveyed the lighted screen. It appeared to be some sort of map, white lines twisting and crossing across the face. It was then Starfire noticed the emblem blinking in the center of the screen, and a small gasp escaped her lips. There, a beep announcing its every appearance, was an angular, black "S" centered in an orange circle.
"Slade," she growled, squeezing the device dangerously hard in her anger. She looked down at her closed hand, two conflicting impulses fighting for supremacy in her mind.
She walked to the opening in the wall, looking down the tunnel where her friends had disappeared, and then consulted the map, which suggested she go completely the opposite direction. She looked one way, then the other, uncertain. Yet another beep interrupted her musings, and she flicked her green eyes down to meet it, opening her fingers just enough to see that signature "S" staring up at her mockingly.
With a deep inhale, she raised her head, gazing down the tunnel to her left. "Be safe," she whispered, before resolutely turning right and walking into the darkness.