[Chapter 1 – Banished Princess]
Ri had just finished tightening the last bolt on the outer cargo door whenever she received the comm from within her space suit that someone was here to see her.
Reboarding the Ark Angel, she removed the helmet and her grease-stained gloves, pushing her messy, chestnut ponytail away from her face. Immediately, her pink eyes widened. "Moty'a - Greev'a." [Mother - /grand ruler/] Quickly, she pressed her fist over her heart and bowed to one knee before the sweeping purple robes of her mother. The queen of Tamaran was cruel and heartless, but beautiful on the outside as she was hideous within. Long raven hair, deep-emerald eyes, a smooth, slender form. She represented perfection. At least, that was what any Tamaranean better say whenever asked about their queen.
Komand'r smiled passively, making Ri even more uneasy. "Korian'ri, nag'va retoz'a." [Korian'ri, dearest daughter.] "Zenz'r raft, nac'h augh't?" [It has been far too long, has it not?]
Nodding skeptically, Ri remained in her low position. Not a princess. Just a mechanic. /Remember your place./ she thought nervously to herself. Rumors were already spreading about an uprising - a rebellion down on Tamaran, whose goal was to ovethrow Komand'r and place Ri on the throne.
"I have brought you something, dearest daughter." Komand'r said sweetly, gesturing to a small chest in the arms of one of her personal guards. "I am told that they are your favorite."
Whenever the chest opened, its contents were revealed - a dozen gleaming, apple-shaped sweets with ruby candy shells. Sour apple petites. Though they /were/, in fact, Ri's favorite, her stomach twisted into a severe knot.
"I bring you a gift and you do not even thank me?" Kom's voice rose slightly. "Are you not pleased, daughter?"
"N-no! I am very grateful for this most generous gift from my queen." Ri assured, taking care not to make eye contact. Though artificial cool air kept the room at a brisk 50°f, she was sweating.
"Then take one." Kom said with another devious, unsettling smile. Daring not to disobey a direct order from the Grand Ruler, Ri rose and took one of the petites in her slender hand. Knowing that it was probably tampered with - perhaps even poisoned - she hesitantly bit into it, cracking the candied shell with her teeth. The familiar, sweet and tart taste filled her mouth almost instantly. If it /was/ poisoned, it hadn't affected the flavor.
Swallowing and giving a relieved smile, Ri bowed slightly. "Thank you, Queen Mother. This was so very kind of you."
Still leering, Kom motioned for her guard to close the box of candies and place it into Ri's satchel, which hung from one of her narrow shoulders. "Walk with me, dearest daughter." Twirling with fluid grace, Kom started down the metal corridor and exited the maintenance bay. Shoving her gloves into her bag, Ri quickly followed.
"I have heard remarkable things about your work here." The queen said evenly, looking straight ahead as Ri fell into step with her. "The youngest Zero-G mechanic in over a century, and one of the very best in your field. I would like to thank you for your service to me, and all of Tamaran."
Although Ri hadn't exactly expected a deep, heart to heart conversation, she hadn't quite been prepared for something so formal. Passively, she noticed they were making their way to the cargo bay. The feeling of dread returned to Ri's stomach. She nervously gripped the strap of her bag, biting her lower lip. Surely the great Queen Komand'r did not come all the way up to a battle ship to merely congratulate a mechanic. No matter how unpredictable the grand ruler was, one thing was always certain; everything she did had a self-serving, maniacal reason behind it.
"It has been many night cycles since you visited me last, daughter. So I thought it appropriate for me to come to you. I am sure that your duties keep you quite busy, and so I will overlook it." Kom continued to walk, her heels clicking unnervingly on the titanium floor.
"Most gracious of you, your highness." Bowing her head slightly again, Ri kept trailing after her mother.
"Ah, but there is a matter of importance that we must discuss." turning to face her daughter, the queen's false smile faded. Pleasantries were over.
Ri gulped, but managed to hide her trembling well.
"I am sure that you are aware by now that rioting has broken out among the outer sectors of Tamaran. They wish to dethrone me." she said this in a mild tone, turning to the door that they had paused in front of. "They see /you/ as their true queen." Now her voice took on a bitter edge so sharp that it made Ri wince.
Opening the sliding steel door, Kom beckoned for Ri to follow.
Inside the cavernous hold were several metal crates, carrying anything from ammunition to provisions. Ri had only ever been in here a handful of times, though she'd lived on the Ark Angel most of her life.
"Queen mother.. where are you taking me?" her voice sounded small, and no longer could she mask her fear.
Suddenly the lights overhead flashed on, illuminating the large bay all around them. Slowly, Komand'r turned to Ri, an unreadable expression on her tragically beautiful face. She stepped forward and placed her hands on Ri's shoulders, squeezing them once before pulling her into a warm embrace.
Shock overtook the princess. Never before had her mother hugged her, nor shown her an ounce of true affection. What was going on?
After a moment, Ri returned the embrace.
"Forgive me, Korian'ri. But they will never truly accept me as their queen, so long as you live."
Then Komand'r released her and stepped back, into the side room where a glass wall gave imperial guards a clear view of the cargo while it was loaded and unloaded. A door slid shut between them, and Ri realized too late what was happening.
The bay doors began opening, splitting like the jaws of a great beast, creating a strong vacuum. Ri was hauled off of her feet, dragged over several crates, and then catapulted out into space. Suddenly, a strong pull ripped her downward. Frantically, she caught a glance of the planet below: radiant blues and brilliant greens. She was trapped, breathless, in its crushing gravity.
Too distraught to think, too betrayed, confused, and hurt to use her powers, all she could do was fall.
Entering the atmosphere burned. A million white-hot talons carved into her skin, burning scars all up and down her arms. She screamed and screamed, but somehow felt that she could carry on forever and it wouldn't be enough to express the pure agony she felt.
Head still reeling, body scorched and blistered, she finally broke into a sea of endless blue and white.
A flash of pink streaked through the sky, coming in hot towards a field on the outskirts of Bullet City. Jason Todd monitored the foreign object intently, wondering what it could be. A UFO? It was moving way too fast to be a crashing jet or plane. In fact, no aircraft in the world could move this fast.
Checking the exact coordinates for where it would land, he grabbed his jacket and exited the Outlaws compound.
/
It was dark by the time he reached the steaming crater among burning grass. A faint pink glow emanated from within, growing slightly brighter as Jason neared it. To his shock, he found a girl. Long dark hair, tan skin, surrounded by a rosy aura. "Kory?" he muttered at first, but then shook his head. She did bear a slight resemblance to his old teammate. Slender facial structure, busty but thin, with rounded hips and a similar otherworldly look to Kory. But she was obviously much younger.
One thing was clear; she needed medical attention immediately. Burns and bruises and bloody gashes covered her entire body, and one of her legs was bent all the way backward, the bone just barely visible. How had she survived such a brutal landing? Spotting a soot-marked satchel nearby, he shouldered it, then crouched to gingerly gather the girl up into his arms. She whimpered faintly, a heart breaking sound.
"You'll be okay." he assured. "Just hang in there."
/
Many emotions ran through Ri's mind the moment she opened her eyes again, surrounded by whiteness and strange noises. Shooting up into a sitting position, she was panic stricken, eyes wide and terrified. Her entire body hurt, so she subconsciously tested each limb, only to find that her left arm felt off. She cried out in shock when she found not a hand, but bloodstained bandages over where it should be. Her hand was completely gone
"Hey, it's okay," a voice drew her immediate attention towards the windows. A tall, muscularly built young man approached the bedside. His overlong hair was jet black and messy, with streaks of white in his bangs, and he had the bluest eyes Ri had ever seen. "You're safe."
"At'all? At'all re'vee!" she inquired desperately. She couldn't understand him, which only served to further her panic.
Reaching with her right hand, she pulled him down to her by his shoulder and pressed her lips to his, assimilating his entire language in a nanosecond. When she pulled away to his surprised expression, she blurted out, "Who the hell are you? Where the hell am I? And what the hell happened to my arm?!"
"Did you just…absorb my vocabulary?" He blinked a few times. "Uh – I'm 're in a hospital; you had a pretty intense fall. The doctors had to take off your hand because there was no saving it. They thought they might have to amputate your right leg, too, but luckily they managed to avoid that."
"What planet is this?" Ri demanded.
"Earth." Jason replied. "I had a feeling you weren't from around here. You wouldn't happen to be Tamaranean by any chance?"
Before she could answer, Ri had to force herself to calm down. Though her hand shook tremendously, she managed.
"I am of Tamaran." The response was almost automatic. In truth, she was half human, fathered by a man she would never know. The combination of alien and human DNA was what caused her hair to be brown instead of red, and her eyes pink instead of green like other Tamaraneans. Unlike her mother, she possessed the ability to fly, but not the strength attributed to most people of her race. "My aunt Koriand'r calls this planet home. I was told she fled here after my mother became grand ruler."
"We've met. At least now I know you have a place to go whenever you're discharged. I'm going to make a few calls, I'll just be—"
Ri's hand shot out to grab his arm as he began walking towards the door. "Please, don't leave." Her eyes were once again open wide with fear. Fear of this unknown, sterilized place that reeked of antiseptic.
"Alright." Jason lamented, patting her hand in comfort. "I won't. What's your name, kid?"
"Korian'ri."
"That's a name and a half," he chuckled, somewhat setting her at ease. "Mind if I just call you Ri?"
"That's what almost everyone calls me." she admitted.
After dragging a chair over to the bedside and sitting in it, Jason pressed a red button on a small remote. A nurse came in shortly, and once he explained to Ri that she was there to help with the pain, she allowed her to inject some kind of solution into the tube leading out of her right hand. In no time at all, most of the agony faded away to a dull ache, and Ri was overcome with drowsiness. Not long after that she was asleep.
Jason pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed. A familiar female voice answered.
"Kory? It's Jason. You're not gonna believe this."