Author's Note: I really dislike my past self... Gee, that's a strange note to start a story on. Let me explain: I'm continuing this story after several years of forgetting about it, and while I honestly believe that most of it is actually pretty good, there are some parts that are just... Ugh...

Editing is a pain.

Anyway, let's get started!

Chapter 1: Alien In Hiding.

Things were always pretty normal in Jump City, adults went to work, children went to school, and when they were finished, they came home to their family and friends. It was a routine that repeated every day.

Sure, sometimes accidents happened that would disrupt this routine for a few people, someone would die, and their family would grieve, but it never affected the city has a whole.

Crime was surprisingly low in the city, much different from Gotham or Metropolis. In those cities, heroes would have to patrol the streets day and night to keep it safe. In Jump, there were only small time criminals, which were easily handled by the police. At least, that's what the public believed.

All in all, the citizens of Jump City walked around with a sense of protection, and self-absorption, and greed, and resistance to change. And it sickened her.

Sometimes, it just didn't pay to be this empathetic

Now, it was slightly ironic, that the people who were so caught up in their love of 'normality' were now in a panic, simply because that sense was gone.

When that strange green meteor fell from the sky, the people became curious. When a loud explosion rang out, people became worried. When the giant spaceship appeared out of nowhere, hovering over the city, people became scared. When a giant machine fell from the ship, and displayed a large hologram of a lizard-like humanoid, telling them that it was searching for an escaped prisoner, and if it couldn't find that prisoner, it was going to kill them all…

People panicked.

And that's where the cloaked girl found herself, standing in a dark alley, watching as people ran to their homes, tried to leave the city, hid anywhere they could, and basically lost all sense of reason. Combine that with the new force of lizard-like aliens that were blowing up, ripping up, and searching everything in sight, and you had one big mess.

And in-between the fear emanating off the humans, and the anger and hostility emanating off the aliens, the empath could swear she was going to go insane. Her mental shields could only block out so much after all.

She sighed, and started to walk down the alley, contemplating finding some dark, quite corner to mediate in, when she sensed it. There was an incredibly strong outpouring of emotions close by; focusing on it, she could feel fear, nervousness, anger, hatred, excitement, and curiosity. And beneath it all was what felt like extreme happiness. The empath had never sensed emotions outputting that strongly, in that many varieties. In fact it was rather overpowering, meaning there was no way she could possibly ignore it. The cloaked girl had never sensed this caliber of emotions from a human, and the aliens were obviously not capable of even experiencing all of those emotions on their own.

And so, the empath was left with one explanation, and several courses of action. And if the headache she had already begun to develop was a sign, no matter what she did it would not end well.

If any of his men mentioned how obvious the alien's location was, Resgant swore he was going to blast their heads off personally.

Here they were, searching throughout this pathetic human city, trying their best to find the prisoner in the short amount of time Lord Trogaar had allowed them, and where did they finally locate their target?

In some small building that had a gaping hole in the side of it!

The orange-skinned Tamaranean had been attempting to eat some strange, colorful Earth food, when the small battalion arrived.

"Seize her!"

After giving his order, Resgant charged forward, preparing his energy staff to strike the alien. As he swung, the girl whirled, revealing two glowing orbs of green energy in her hands. The larger alien's eyes widened, as his vision became nothing but green light, and then darkness.

The rest of the Gordanian soldiers froze as their leader crumpled to the ground, giving their target a chance to attack. The two lizards that had entered the building behind Resgant were struck down by energy blasts, and the units outside soon found themselves under fire.

The alien's blasts scattered the squadron, but they were quick to reform, and begin their own barrage; the blue bolts from their energy staffs quickly reducing the small building to nothing but a pile of rubble.

Dust and smoke filled the air as the Gordanian soldiers approached the ruins of the shop. The battalion was silent, listening for signs of life. Their orders were to try to obtain the Tamaranean girl alive, and Lord Trogaar would not be happy if all they had to deliver was a bloody corpse.

Their fears were proved invalid however, as a sudden explosion of green energy sent both rubble and aliens flying. The others quickly readied their energy staffs, aiming at the pair of glowing green eyes that stared at them through the smoke.

The alien girl glared at them, but knew that she couldn't do anything. The Gordanians had her outnumbered, and overpowered. It had taken a lot of energy to both survive and blast her way out of the rubble, and with the restrainer clamps on her arms, there was no way she would be able to fight them all off.

A quick glance over her shoulder revealed another group had landed behind her, and also stood, ready to fire on her.

It was obvious, she was beaten; there was no way she could win.

But she wasn't going to surrender, no matter what!

Her hands ignited in what energy she could muster, and she growled a curse in Tamaranean at her opponents.

The Gordanians all laughed. Being a warrior race, there was nothing they delighted in more than mercilessly killing an opponent, and though they were not permitted to end the life of this prisoner, they were still going to enjoy showing her just how powerful they truly were.

Eagerly, the large force of lizards prepared to unleash a second barrage on their foe.

They never got the chance.

Suddenly; a strange, dark light covered the girl, who yelped in surprise as the new energy enveloped her. The alien warriors all backed up, as what appeared to be a solid shadow spread out widely in all directions, taking on the shape of a giant, black bird, before closing in itself, vanishing completely.

As quickly as it had appeared, it had gone, taking their prisoner with it.

Koriand'r wasn't sure what had just happened. One second, she had been preparing to make her final stand, the next she was… Somewhere completely different.

It appeared to be a large, dark room, without any windows or light fixtures. The only light was what came from a crack in-between two double-decker doors on the other side of the room. Thanks to her enhanced vision, the alien girl could easily make out numerous crates scattered throughout the building, as well as giant metal boxes with strange symbols on the sides. It was obviously a storage building of some kind, but that still didn't explain how she got there.

A noise, a simple footstep, but it was enough to alert the girl's advanced hearing. Koriand'r whirled, igniting her starbolts to blast whatever was planning on attacking her. She stopped, however, when she noticed what had made the noise.

Standing only a few feet away from the Tamaranean, illuminated by the green energy, was a figure in a dark blue cloak. Obviously female, the new girl was wearing a black leotard, with the cloak draping down her sides, and a hood covering her face. Even when covered in the green light, it was obvious that the girl's skin was very pale, grey even. Her hand had shielded her eyes from the sudden light, and when she lowered it, Koriand'r found herself staring into two calm, purple eyes.

The hooded girl examined her for a minute, and then turned her gaze back to the alien's own completely green eyes, with a darker green colored iris. As the two stared, Koriand'r started feeling… calmer. For some reason, she felt like this stranger wouldn't hurt her. Slowly, she lowered her arms, and the two balls of energy dissipated. A slight smile became visible just below the shadow of the hood, and the grey skinned girl took a single step forward, and lifted up one of her hands. Black sleeves went from just below her palm all the way down her arms, and over the top of her hand. Rather than feeling threatened, Koriand'r simply stared at the cloaked girl's outstretched hand, expecting something to happen. Suddenly, a black light covered the girl's left hand, and Koriand'r felt the weight on her arms increase. She glanced down to see the same mysterious light surrounding the restrainer clamps that bound her arms together. Before she could even react however, the clamps split open, and fell to the floor.

The empath watched the alien, as she lifted up her arms to her face, and stared at them, before moving each arm around in a small circle. Finally, she seemed satisfied that her arms were indeed free, and turned her eyes back on the cloaked girl.

Raven could feel the confusion radiating off the girl, and honestly she couldn't blame her, considering everything that had just happened. She also felt her begin to worry, as Raven took another step towards her, noting in the back of her mind that she had no idea what she was doing, but if there was one thing the sorceress was good at, it was winging situations.

The alien took a small step away from the approaching girl, and Raven noticed the spark of green light starting to glow from her eyes. Quickly, she held up her hands in what she hoped was a calming gesture. If she wanted to communicate with this orange-skinned refuge, she was going to have to get closer.

Neither of them moved. Raven was trying to feel out the alien's intentions, as said girl seemed to be thinking about something. Suddenly, a large amount of nervousness started emanating from the extra-terrestrial, startling Raven. As before, this alien's emotions were far more prominent than in almost any being Raven had sensed before. But what happened next shocked the empath.

In a sudden movement, the alien girl jumped forward, grabbed the sorceress, and crushed Raven's lips against her own. Not having any time to react, Raven didn't even have a chance to resist.

However, the unwanted kiss Raven was currently experiencing had to take a back-seat to the feeling of her well-trained mental walls suddenly failing.

That wasn't good.

They were only down for a second, but that was all the time it took for the sorceress's confusion and anger to mix with all the other emotions that came with a kiss and...

Somewhere behind her, a whole stack of crates exploded and turned to ash in the same instant.

And then, it was over, and their lips separated.

The alien girl stepped backwards, her orange cheeks turning a flaming red. Raven was stunned for a second but quickly recovered, and was about to… Yell or something, she wasn't sure what. Thankfully, the alien spoke first.

"I am… sorry for that. My people… learn languages…through the touching of lips." She explained. Her voice was somewhat high, but very unsure. Each word came slowly, as she attempted to say the sentence correctly.

"Oh."

Raven really wasn't sure how to answer. Being naturally shy, she was uncomfortable talking to people, much less aliens that let out such strong emotions it was enough to give her a headache.

Though that did explain what had happened to her self-control.

"Please… Let us start over…" The girl said, cautiously extending a hand to Raven.

"I… thank you for rescuing me… And for releasing me."

Raven ignored the girl's hand, she wasn't trying to be rude, she just wanted to avoid physical contact as much as possible. The kiss had already damaged her mind enough. Instead, she simply shook her head at the alien.

"I know you're not a criminal, but those lizard things obviously want you for something. Why are they so determined to find you, if they are just going to take the first chance to kill you they can get?"

The alien was obviously surprised by Raven's directness, as well as by her monotone and emotionless voice. For some reason, Raven felt concern emanating of the girl, but it was quickly replaced by sadness as she heard the question.

Koriand'r bowed her head, ashamed to admit the truth to this stranger. But, the pale skinned being had saved her life, she at least needed to know who she had saved.

"I am their… prize. I am to be sold… to the Citadel, or at least… My body is."

The Tamaranean was surprised to see the cloaked girl's fists clinch in anger at her statement, and something cracked behind her. The girl swallowed, and her purple eyes closed, creating a frightening emptiness in the black space under the hood.

"Well, they won't. I'm not going to let them." The monotonousness voice growled, and Koriand'r felt a strange energy in the air around her. But rather than dwell on it, she asked to foremost question in her mind.

"Why… would you help me?" She carefully said. this language was difficult to speak, being very different from her native Tamaranean. Not only that, but her mind felt jumbled, and there were a lot of words that felt like they didn't belong. She was attempting to stay away from those.

"I may be heartless, but I have morals." The girl stated, and Koriand'r began to worry that she had offended her new companion, though she wasn't sure how she had done so.

"I'm… sorry. I didn't mean to be…ungrateful. But you must not help me!" She corrected herself, hoping to ease any feeling she may have hurt. The other girl's covered head tilted, and Koriand'r quickly continued.

"If you assist me, Trogaar will destroy this city. I'm… glad you would… assist me. But…"

"No buts." The girl suddenly interrupted, her eyes glaring at the Tamaranean. "Like I said, I'm heartless. I do not care what happens to the city. But I have morals, and I will abide by them. These monsters will not have you."

Koriand'r stared at her for a second, before smiling.

"You… really will help me?"

A nod, but that was all the answer she needed.

"I believe the correct words are Vă mulţumim." The Tamaranean girl said.

Under her hood, Raven cocked an eyebrow, and shook her head.

"Try again."

The alien blushed, and quickly searched her mind for the correct language.

"As I meant to say, I thank you…" Koriand'r trailed off, not sure what to say.

"Raven." The sorceress finished for her, the alien smiled, and nodded.

"Raven, and my name, in this language, would be Star…Fire. Yes, I am Starfire, and I thank you for helping me."

"I haven't helped you yet, but I do have a plan, and if it works, you will be rid of those overgrown lizards." Raven said, nodding her head slightly, confirming something to herself.

And this, Starfire's smile widened, but also took on the slightest hint of devilish.

"Wonderful!"

I hoped you enjoyed.