This is the big turning point in the story! Ooh! Enjoy this chapter, guys. It has a lot of plot.
That morning, Starfire exited her room and almost walked right into Robin, "Robin!" she shouted, her voice tinged by fear and excitement and hurt and happiness, all at once.
"Hey," he said softly. He glanced around like he was afraid someone was watching them. "Can we go in your room?"
She furrowed her brow at him. As much as she didn't really want to be in a room alone with him right now, she thought that she should talk to him about it before telling the rest of the team. It was only fair. She nodded and they disappeared inside.
"You keep coming back early in the morning before anyone else wakes up," she said just to say something.
"Yeah," he agreed distractedly. "Well, actually, Raven's awake. I already spoke to her."
Starfire didn't try to make conversation again. He seemed distracted and nervous. The last time he acted like this, he asked her to be his girlfriend. Well, he mostly implied that he wanted her to be his girlfriend. She couldn't imagine what he had to say to her this time. Maybe an apology, but it wouldn't change anything.
He touched her lip distractedly where he'd bitten it the other day. It was just starting to scab. The gesture was carried out with a look of concern. It made her want to bat his hand away. He lowered his hand and began talking.
"Look, Star, I was thinking… When I said that I love you…" his voice died out and he coughed and pressed on. "I hadn't thought about it. I wasn't even thinking about it when I said it. But I do. Love you, I mean." He coughed.
She looked at him in surprise. She had forgotten about that, with everything else that was going on. "Oh."
He looked at her helplessly, like he was hoping that she would say something a little more conversational, but she was too confused to even attempt to encourage him. "And I was thinking… If I really do love you, than you should know… You should know me. You should know who I am."
She narrowed her eyes at him. Yesterday he said something about his secret identity. She didn't realize that it was bothering him so much. Maybe that was why he freaked out so badly. "Robin?" she asked, urging him to clarify what he meant.
"Starfire… My name is Richard Grayson. Dick for short. I was in a circus act with my parents, but they… they died and Batman adopted me." He paused and looked at her nervously.
"Batman is your father?" She asked.
"Yeah," he answered with a wry smile. "That explains a few things, doesn't it?"
Starfire just nodded.
"And," he continued, "I think you should know, I have blue eyes."
Starfire didn't know what to say. Just yesterday he was having a breakdown because she saw his eyes, and today he was telling her all about it. "Robin," she said softly, "I do not know what to say."
"You don't have to say anything. I just wanted you to know that I trust you. I was thinking that I shouldn't be-"
"Robin," Starfire interrupted him slowly. "Forgive me, but what color did you say your eyes were?"
He furrowed his brow at her. "Blue," he answered, sounding confused. "Are you-?"
"May I see?" she asked, trying to hide the quiver in her voice.
He looked baffled, but he just nodded and peeled his mask away from his face. Bright blue eyes that reminded Starfire of the sky over Russia winked out at her. She froze. Her brain stopped. Her heart stopped. She raised a shaking hand to her mouth. Tears stung at her eyes, which already stung and itched from crying so much yesterday. The corners of her eyes burned as soon as the salt touched them.
Robin looked even more baffled. "Starfire? What's the matter?"
She couldn't answer. She didn't get a good look in yesterday, but there was no mistaking it. Red X had very dark eyes. Robin's were bright. How could she tell him that she'd been fooled by his worst mistake? Or that for the entirety of the time they'd been dating, she had been cheating on him on a technicality? What if he was upset that she thought that he would return to the Red X suit? She cried even harder. She turned away from him and sat on her bed. She didn't know how she could possibly talk her way out this. She wouldn't, anyway. She would not lie to Robin.
He kneeled on the bed next to her and cradled her to his chest. She clung to his shirt. "Hey, listen, it's okay. I'm here. Just tell me what-"
"I cannot," she sobbed into his chest.
Gently but firmly he took her face in his hands and tilted her chin until she was looking at him. He brushed her hair away from her cheeks where it stuck to the wet trails. "Yes, you can," he soothed.
She gulped away a fresh batch of tears and wiped at her eyes with her wrist. As much as she didn't want to, she disentangled herself from his arms and faced him. "I believed that you were the Red X."
He looked at her like she'd just sprouted another head. "I know. That was months ago, though, and you don't have to keep beating yourself up about it."
"No," she said desperately, "Robin, I believed you to be the Red X recently."
His mouth dropped open and he raised one eyebrow at her. "How recently?"
Starfire covered her face with her hand. "Until just now."
"What?" Starfire felt her stomach plummet with dread. She could hear the indignation in his voice.
"Until just-"
"I heard you," he snapped. He took a breath to steady himself. "I told you that I wasn't Red X anymore. I was there when we fought him! He beat me! Why would you think that I was him?"
"Because he told me that he was you," she answered. Her voice was little more than a self-pitying squeak.
"What?" Robin croaked in disbelief.
"He told me that he was-"
"Starfire, I heard you. When did he say that?"
"I am not sure… Two weeks ago?"
"Two weeks? Why didn't you say anything to me?" he demanded.
Fresh tears escaped from her eyes. "He told me not to." She almost hated herself. She was so stupid. That had to sound even dumber to Robin than it did to her.
Robin took in a breath like he was about to say something, then closed his mouth. "Of course he would have. But why didn't you?"
Starfire covered her eyes with her hands again, wiping at them in futility. "He told me that he was only Red X so that you- he- could observe criminals in their own setting. So that he could understand them through action. And he said that if I brought it up to you, you would not be able to keep the two identities separate."
"But… didn't you want to talk to me about it?" he asked, not understanding her train of thought at all.
"I did not want to lose you," she whispered. "I am sorry. I should have known that it was an imitation."
Robin pulled her into his arms again. "Starfire, it's okay. I'm not mad at you."
Starfire hoped that he wasn't just saying that to get her to stop crying, because she was so relieved that a new flood of tears cascaded down her cheeks. Robin stopped his constant barrage of questions and let her cry, occasionally wiping at her face or smoothing back her hair. When she calmed down enough to gather herself, she sat up to face him again. "I apologize. I know that on Earth, crying is a sign of weakness. But on Tamaran, we are ruled by our emotions. It is a habit."
Robin kissed her quickly. He was very tense, and Starfire could imagine that he was itching to do something rather than sit in her room and talk to her, and she appreciated him more than she could put into words. "It's okay, Starfire. I don't mind."
She wasn't sure whether or not he was lying, but she was glad he said it, regardless. "I am a terrible friend who is a girl."
"No, you're not," Robin assured her. "You're actually probably a better one than I deserve."
He fixed his mask back in place, suddenly all business. "Why would he do that, though? What was his goal?"
Starfire squeezed her eyes shut regretfully. "Robin?" she squeaked. He turned his attention to her. "When I thought that Red X was you, I may have allowed him to initiate lip contact."
He stared at her. "What?"
"I allowed him to-"
"Yeah, Star, I heard you," he interrupted. His voice was shaking.
"Robin?" she called, alarmed.
He didn't answer her. He chewed his lip thoughtfully. "I guess that sheds some light on the motive."
Starfire's eyes widened. "You believe that all of this was a ploy for… for lip contact?"
He looked at her, but didn't answer right away. His brows were knitted in deep thought. "I really hope not. It's a possibility, though." He paused. "If you kissed him, doesn't that mean you saw his face? Can't you give me a description?"
Starfire paused. She tried to remember his face from the quick glance she caught of it yesterday, but she was so concentrated on his eyes that she couldn't pull up an image of his whole face. She shook her head. "He was wearing your mask. He looked like you."
"What about a voice? Anything?" Robin quizzed her desperately.
"He sounded like you! Robin, the mimicry was very thorough. I was even suspicious that he was not you at one point, and he convinced me that he was." He had to understand that she wouldn't just think it was him because she was told, didn't he? "I even saw him in your uniform once."
Robin sighed in frustration. "Okay. Red X stole my old suit, copied my uniform, my mask, and my voice, and kissed my girlfriend. I don't think that anybody would do all that just for lip contact." He paused thoughtfully. "Well, maybe Control Freak."
Starfire made a strangling noise in her throat. Robin smirked at her in spite of the seriousness of the situation. "Come on," he ordered, standing and tugging at her hand.
"Where are we-?"
"Investigation room. I want to update his files. I should have done that before I came here anyway, with him stealing the pearls, but I wanted to see you first," he answered.
"The pearls? Did Raven tell you-?"
"When someone steals something from Bruce Wayne, I kind of take it personally." He walked quickly through the halls, but it was easy for Starfire to keep pace with him. Being annoyingly tall had its benefits sometimes. He pushed open the door to the investigation room and pulled a stool out from under the table. He perched on it like he would have to jump into action at any second and started clacking at the keyboard on his laptop.
Starfire waited patiently while he filled in information. "So, he's gotta be around my height, right? Black hair, but that doesn't mean anything…" he muttered to himself.
"Dark eyes," Starfire murmured.
Robin glanced back at her, pausing in his typing. "Thanks." He didn't turn back around right away. She tilted her head at him, silently asking a question. "Come here," he said softly.
Starfire walked over to him and he pushed the stool away. He kissed her softly. "I'm sorry that you got dragged into this." He slipped his left arm around her waist and maneuvered the mouse with the other.
"This is the kind of data we use to keep track of which villains might be which civilians. It's usually pretty accurate, but I've had no luck with Slade or Red X. Maybe this will help."
Starfire peered at the monitor. A picture of Red X was on the left side of the screen, and on the right was a list of physical traits: height, weight, race, hair color, eye color… There was also room for any outstanding characteristics, under which Robin had filled in advanced martial arts. He clicked a button at the bottom of the screen and waited impatiently as hundreds of faces whizzed across the screen, getting selected or discarded. After about a minute, the faces trickling across the screen began to slow down. The monitor froze completely on an image of Robin's face.
He swore viciously. Starfire jumped and looked at him with wide eyes. "I hate it when it does that," he informed her as an excuse for his language.
"That happens often?" She asked, slipping out from under his arm.
Robin shrugged. "We should call a meeting. We have to bring Red X in. We can't let him keep doing this. He's targeting us as a team now."
"Robin, we have never been able to catch Red X before. The closest we got was when you stole his belt, and he just stole it back," Starfire pointed out softly.
"I know. But now we're going to have a plan in advance. Is there any way you can manipulate Red X into coming to you?" Robin demanded, drumming his fingers on the table.
"I know where his apartment is," Starfire answered.
Robin frowned, thinking. "I really don't want to bring a fight to an apartment. I'd prefer to get him away from residential areas. If we can."
"I believe that I can think of something," Starfire assured him.
"We should probably call a meeting, lay out some groundwork for a plan…"
"Actually, Robin, I would prefer it if our friends did not know about my involvement with Red X," Starfire mumbled sheepishly.
Robin sighed. "I told you, it's okay. Red X is a criminal mastermind. His manipulation techniques are apparent even in the way he wields his weapons."
"I know that. But I still wish to keep it between you and me. Please." Her voice was firm rather than pleading.
Robin nodded. "Fine. Whatever you want." He turned back to his laptop and shut it down. "Are you okay?" he asked softly, stepping close to his girlfriend.
"I am now," she answered with a smile, leaning her head against his shoulder.
Robin threaded his fingers through her hair and stroked them through it. He tilted her head up so that she was looking at him and abandoned her hair to gently trace his thumb over the cut on her lip. She flinched. "Was that Red X?"
"Robin, please. I do not wish to talk about it," she told him firmly as she took his fingers away from her lip.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I don't, either." He put his hand on the back of her neck and kissed her gently, running his tongue over the cut on her lip soothingly. She slipped her hands between his shirt and his cape and clutched at his cape for support as a familiar wave of giddy dizziness made her limbs go numb.
Starfire flew through the air over Jump City, feeling a little nervous. She and Robin decided to leave Red X a heartfelt note, which she just delivered by sliding it under his apartment door.
She basically apologized for getting angry and asked him to come to her room tonight. The alarm system would be disabled and her window would be open.
She shivered. The California weather wasn't cold, she just felt really anxious about this. Even though it was her choice not to tell her friends about it, she felt guilty. She was also nervous about Red X- whoever he was- coming into her room.
She entered her room through the window. Robin was sitting on her bed, waiting for her. Silkie was sprawled out on his back next to him and Robin was petting the larva's stomach absently. She landed softly on her pink carpet.
"Everything went okay?" he asked, giving Silkie a final pat before standing.
"Of course," Starfire answered.
"Okay. Great. The alarms'll be down, but remember that I'll be just outside your door." He stepped closer to kiss her goodnight, but she ducked away from him. He raised an eyebrow at her. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." His expression didn't change. He ignored her answer and was waiting for a better one. "I am simply nervous," she explained.
"Don't be," Robin said soothingly. "If worse comes to worse, you can always send me a text on the T-comm. But I promise, I'll be right outside. Just stall him until I get here. Try to put yourself between him and the window."
He kissed her on the forehead and turned to leave, but she caught him by the hand as he was turning.
"Stay," she blurted out quickly.
"What?"
"Please. I am aware that we agreed not to sleep in the same bed for a while… but please. Just tonight." She made her expression as soft as possible to try to convince him.
"I can't be in here when Red X gets here," he said gently, tucking her hair behind her ear.
"Please," Starfire repeated. "Can you not stay hidden if the rest of the room is dark?"
Robin couldn't exactly argue against that. "Yeah, I guess, but it would really be more prudent if-"
She interrupted him by brushing her lips against his. "Please?"
Robin sighed. "That's not fair. Fine, I'll stay here. Just don't get used to getting your own way. Princess," he added with a smirk.
Starfire's heart dropped like a stone. "What?" she demanded, her voice tinged with panic.
Robin's eyes widened in alarm. "What? What happened?"
She reached up and lifted his mask away from his face. She wilted with relief when blue eyes peered at her with a mixture of concern and confusion. She tossed her arms around his neck, still clutching his mask. "I apologize. Something you said alarmed me." Robin and Red X were more similar than she thought.
"That's okay. Let's put you to bed," Robin murmured, taking his mask from her hand. He sat on her duvet and pulled her onto his lap. She clasped her fingers together at the back of his neck and let her hair fall in front of his face, making it feel like they were behind a curtain.
Aha! Finally! How many of you called it? Did I do a good job of covering it up? I'm not very good at writing mystery stuff, or being sneaky or anything like that, so I just hope I didn't fail miserably. It's hard to tell when you know the big twist from the beginning. I know I sort of cheated with last chapter's teaser, but… It was really hard to find one that didn't completely give away the whole plot for this chapter!
He punched a button and the black jumpsuit and tattered cape retracted into the belt, which he then unclipped and tossed at Starfire. She caught it reflexively and it shocked her. She shouted in pain and collapsed to the ground.
Now he looked identical to Robin. He wore the same uniform down to every last detail. Cyborg looked from Robin to Red X and back again.
"I should'a stayed in bed," he groaned. He equipped his sonic cannon and shot at Red X, who immediately jumped into the air and leaped toward Robin. They rolled over each other until Starfire couldn't keep track of who was who.
Cyborg looked at Starfire helplessly. "What do we do?" he demanded anxiously.
"Um…?" she offered sagely.
"Just shoot!" one of the Robins growled.
"Are you the good Robin or the bad Robin?" Cyborg asked, rubbing his head.
"The good one! Fire! Go!" he shouted, holding the other in place.
Cyborg aimed and paused doubtfully. "That's what the bad Robin would say…"
