I play with perspective AND time. Experimenting with my fic. Yup. The triumphant encore of Harley Quinn.
Chapter 10 - Transformation
"Watcha doin', Kitty?" Harley asked, chewing on a chocolate chip waffle that just popped out of the toaster.
Selina took a bite out of her fruit, which she plucked out of a white bowl perched on her lap as she leaned over her laptop. "I haven't spoken to Starfire in a couple days." As she said it, her mouse hovered over Starfire's Skype icon, which was offline.
"Aw, she's a teenager. Who knows what she's up to? She's probably just havin' some fun." She licked melted chocolate off her thumb.
"No, Harley, she's not like that. Starfire's a good kid." Selina drummed her fingers on the desk, thinking.
"If she's so goody-goody, what's she doin' with chumps like us?" The blond took another bite of her too-sweet-for-breakfast waffle. "Huh?" she prodded with her mouth full.
"Harley, what do you say we take a trip to California?" Selina pushed herself away from her desk, resigned.
Harley gasped. "You an' me, loose in Cali? You betcha! How many bikinis should I bring? What about club outfits?"
"Just bring your suit, Harls. Maybe a change of civilian clothes and some PJs."
"Okay, whatever. But if it turns out we need some dresses for goin' out, you're buyin', Kitty." Harley flounced toward her room.
"You're going to watch after your pet?" Ivy asked, sulky.
"Yep. Want in?" Selina asked cheerily.
Ivy rolled her eyes. "Of course not. What would your toy possibly have to offer me?"
"California sun's nice and hot this time of year," Selina offered, trying to sound tantalizing.
"No. You go. It'll be nice to get the house to myself. My babies can roam free in your absence."
"Gee, Ivy, Starburst is a great kid. Real polite, y'know?" Harley called from her room. "Us girls gotta stick together!"
Ivy narrowed her eyes. "No. You two can play the giggling older sisters if you like. I hardly have enough patience to put up with the two of you; I don't need something new to wear on my nerves."
"If you insist, Ivy." Selina turned to her room to pack her own bag.
…
ONE WEEK EARLIER
Starfire settled on the top of a building. The wind had a bit of a chill in it; not that Starfire really noticed. Her body warmed her up like a built in space heater. Besides, coldness was relative. The Citadel was the 22nd planet from the Vegan sun; it was always very cold there. No, this could only really be called a chill by one who was used to lazy sunshine and warm breezes.
Starfire was slightly concerned that she was. Too much warm weather could make her weak. Lazy.
Perhaps that was why it had been so long since she'd been on a pilfering spree.
It could possibly be that she wasn't as interested in the 'pretties' as Selina was. Not that she didn't appreciate them. She just wanted them for different reasons. Set a few in jewelry, maybe, but she liked ones that sparkled. That reflected the light in prismatic patterns.
Yes, Starfire was much more likely to admire her gems by rolling them around in the windowsill so that they caught the light than to put them in jewelry and wear them around. Selina remarked that she was rather like an Earth cat that way, and Starfire just shrugged.
Honestly, Selina pointed out Starfire's evolutionary heritage much more often than she would have liked. She didn't go around and point out all the ways that humans were similar to primates. Selina said that this was different, that primates were ugly and stupid and cats were brilliant and seductive and fierce. She thought she was paying Starfire a compliment, and Earth cats were a bit different than the creatures Tamaraneans were truly descended from. So Starfire shrugged it off.
She crouched at the lip of a building. She heard Robin's footsteps, very faint, each one very precise. Yes, she'd waited for the night that it was his turn to do the 'solo patrolling'. She couldn't be blamed for that. She didn't like getting hit with Cyborg's sonic blasts. And Raven's dark energy radiated an unpleasant coldness. Beast Boy's shapeshifting amused her, but he would not take offense to her actions. No, this was a game best played with Robin.
His footsteps faded and she could hear his grappling hook deploy from his gun, and she caught sight of him briefly between two buildings before he melted back into the shadows. He was headed away from her.
She flew gently, soundlessly, slow enough not to leave a trail of light after her, down to the ground. She ambled down the street, walking leisurely. Starfire had been studying this particular jeweler's for a few days. It seemed that all she had to do was take out the power and get rid of the backup generator. The safe had battery operated emergency backup, but she wasn't interested in any of that. Take a few from the display cases to make a point, but she much preferred the uncut gems. With her strength and powers, she could manipulate their shape easily, either by compressing them and adding heat or concentrating her starbolts into a thin line like a laser and cutting them.
She took out the power so the alarms wouldn't go off and picked the lock the way Selina showed her. She slipped inside, a bell tinkling over the door that scared her quite badly. In a fit of misplaced anger, she tore the bells off the door and crushed them under her foot. She might have been overreacting, but she didn't care much.
She scooped up her satchel and a red stone in her fingers. She should really learn the names of these Earth stones if she was to possess them. She arbitrarily dumped a few in the bag before sauntering over to a clear case. She charged a starbolt and concentrated its power, melting through the glass. She snatched a stone the color of blood, another the color of a tasty Earth fruit called 'pomegranate', another the color of the second Tamaranean moon as it set over the peaks of the mountains of the east. These she placed on her person- never keep all the loot in one place, Selina told her. After secreting a few more gems, she sensed it.
Indeed, her senses were better than most Earth people's, and she was expecting it. He was watching. An extremely faint rustle of material, the smell of whatever he put in his hair. She scooped up a few more gems and placed them in the bag- a showy gesture- and she purred, "Greetings Robin."
Silence for a moment, then he dropped down. "What are you doing, Starfire?" he asked, sounding vaguely annoyed. She didn't know if it was because of what she was doing or because she knew he was there.
"Amusing myself," she answered without looking at him.
Sullenly, he asked, "You're going to make this hard, aren't you?"
"Amusing," she corrected him. She turned around finally. He was silhouetted nicely, looking rather cross. "You know, for one who dresses in such bright colors, you can be quite intimidating when you wish."
"Give me the bag, Starfire." He reached a gloved hand out to her.
"Well, alright." She reached into the bag and pulled out a handful of jewels, then tossed him the empty bag.
He didn't seem to think it was very amusing. He snatched her wrist, which she allowed him to do, and he tried to pry open her fingers. He became quite annoyed when he did not succeed in this venture.
"How are you doing that?" he snapped.
"I believe my people are several times stronger than yours," she informed him sweetly.
He dropped her wrist. "Fine." With a click, he extended his bo-staff. She had to block his blow with her gauntlet, pausing before she put the gems down on a counter.
He swung at her again and she floated, bringing her heel down on the staff, snapping it in half and grabbing the part she'd broken.
He raised an eyebrow at it. "You're not supposed to be able to do that" he muttered.
"If it makes you feel any better, it pained my heel a little," she offered. She brandished her half of his bo-staff at him. The weight balance was terrible, but his half shouldn't be much better. She swung at him and he blocked her, their pieces of metal forming an X.
"You put the jewels down. Can't you just leave it at that? Do some community service or something? If you stop now I probably won't have to incarcerate you."
She gave her impromptu staff a fierce push and he slid back, his feet sliding over the ground until he was back against the wall. She held the staff at his throat and leaned forward, her bangs brushing his forehead. "No, I do not believe I can."
He narrowed his eyes at her, which was a shame because she could almost see the color of his irises through his mask from this close. He lifted his leg to aim a kick at her, but she braced his legs with her knee over both of his.
"Oh," she cooed, "I am sorry. Are you stuck, perhaps?"
"Nope," he said calmly, and he dropped his bo-staff and grabbed something from his belt. "But you'll be."
Before he could drop the disc, she aimed a starbolt at it. It exploded over his hand, pink sticky goo enveloping his hand. Starfire recoiled, disgusted. He tried to follow her away from the wall, but he was stuck by the goo.
"Now you are even more thoroughly stuck!" she chirped, hovering back over to him. "Perhaps we could have some of the fun with your predicament."
His eyes widened and a blush crept over his cheeks. "F-fun? What's that mean?"
She rolled her eyes. "For example, while you remain captive to your own device, perhaps I could regale you with the Tamaranean Song of Victory. It has four thousand stanzas, and-"
"No," Robin interrupted quickly.
She glared at him, then leaned forward again, putting her fingertips against his chest and lowering her eyelashes. "What, then, did you have in mind?" Starfire purred.
The blush returned and she smirked at him. His mouth worked furiously, but no sound came out. He reached for his belt with the unstuck hand and he dropped a spherical device.
Smoke exploded up at her and she backed away, waving her hand at the air in front of her mouth and coughing. She stumbled back, completely disoriented, and she clutched at the door. The front door was still locked, so she ripped it off by its hinges and stumbled outside.
She glared back at the door, holding her head which was suddenly paining her. It must be from the smoke. She jumped into the air, but a birdarang arced in front of her before returning to its owner.
She turned and glared. "I tire of this," she snapped at him, landing.
"Yeah, see, that's the problem with attempted larceny. You gotta commit." Robin lunged at her, kicking, and she blocked it and aimed punches at his torso.
She was more used to fighting in the air, but they fell into a sort of rhythm. She swiped at him and he fell into a back handspring, which he turned into a forward roll and completed by springing up at her. She caught him by the forearms and threw him against the wall, and he landed against it in a crouch.
She felt something on her head between her eyebrows, and looking at her reflection in a store window, she spotted a huge bump. That definitely wasn't there before. She hovered in the air, about to flee, but before she could move she felt rope wind around her torso, held in place by the grappling hook at the end. She was yanked out of the air, and when she was close enough, Robin grabbed her wrist, which was pinned down at her side. He tugged her back so that it was almost touching his front- he couldn't see her face, thank X'hal.
He gave her wrist a tug, and very softly he said, "Gotcha, Star."
Her heart zoomed around in her chest, flying in erratic patterns the way she did herself when she was too happy to contain herself. He was playing the game, finally. And what terrible timing.
She heard the sound of a chain on metal and she knew that he was getting out handcuffs. She rolled her eyes- she tore through the last set like paper. Although, if he was trying it again, that probably meant he'd updated them. Curses. Almost regretfully, she strained her arms and legs, lighting starbolts in her hands to help her cut through the rope, and she burst out of them. Without turning, she shot a starbolt at her feet. The shot cratered the ground, knocking them back. Starfire used the momentum to propel herself skyward while Robin fell some feet away. Knowing that he wouldn't give up, she pushed her speed, flying much faster than she would normally at this altitude.
She entered her penthouse through the sunroof, quickly closing it behind her and locking it. She drew all the curtains shut and locked all the windows in the penthouse.
"Ohhh..." she muttered nervously. She paced around a little before remembering the jewels she had secreted on her person. She took them out- she only had enough to fill her cupped palm- and observed them. After she had calmed a little, she entered her bathroom.
Everything in there was white and clean, with a fluffy purple bathmat outside the porcelain tub, matching the fluffy purple toilet seat cover and her towels. The shower, on the opposite corner of the bathtub, was decorated with frosted glass. Starfire looked at the pretty design before turning to her shiny, clean, perfectly-reflecting mirror.
She shrieked as she got a clear view of the lump on her forehead. She tried to cover it with her hand, and even used some of Selina's make up to see if that had any effect, but it was entirely the wrong shade and just made the lump stick out even more.
According to a device on the Google called Yahoo! Answers, Starfire determined that she was afflicted with... a zit. It appeared to be a common Earth disease among adolescents and pubescent teenagers. Remedies included facial cream, which Starfire discovered Selina had in the back of her medicine cabinet. She slathered on several creams at once and occupied herself by observing her shells and watching her favorite television show, World of Fungus.
Waiting for the face cream to work, she watched World of Fungus marathons until she couldn't keep her eyes open anymore.
She woke up in a daze, confused as to why she had fallen asleep in such a dark place. She brushed her wrist against her cheek as she stretched and it came away... slimy.
"What the..." she murmured, confused. And then she remembered. "Oh X'hal, no!" she gasped.
She floated over the couch and rocketed to the bathroom, bending over the sink and wiping her face with a towel. She looked even worse than she had yesterday! And her neck was itching her.
She hovered over to her laptop and ventured back to the mechanism known as Yahoo! Answers. Frantically, she typed a message describe the odd lump on her forehead and her itchy neck and waited for kind strangers to solve her mysterious medical ailment.
The first reply she got indicated that she was undergoing a transformation into a monster that was so ugly, it had to live in the sewers to avoid frightening the people on the surface. (1)
Her stomach tightened into a ball. That was it. Selina would never want to see her again. She would never go to one of Bruce Wayne's fancy parties ever again. And Robin... Tears pricked at her eyes. She didn't want to live in the sewers- her journey into them when she joined the Titans in searching for the chronaton detonator was unpleasant. She needed the sun! She couldn't spend the rest of her life hiding from the Earth's surface.
Miserable, she sank to the cool tile floor of the bathroom, her legs sprawled in an M, her fingers pressed against her eyes.
…
Robin sighed. It had been a week since his run-in with Starfire. He shouldn't still be thinking about it.
The Titans had a rough night last night- a jailbreak from one of the non-meta inmates who inadvertently awakened Plasmus, who went on to destroy half the prison . Robin was in his room with the blackout curtains drawn, trying to catch up on his sleep. Normally, he'd just stick it out with coffee, but that was one of the benefits of having a Cyborg who could recharge in a pretty short amount of time on the team.
He was exhausted. He really needed the sleep. Except he couldn't get to sleep, and damn it, it was all her fault. How did this happen? He was supposed to be distancing himself from her. Stupid prom. Stupid jewel thievery. Stupid teenage hormones. Wasn't there a cure for that?
If only she wasn't so... bubbly all the time. And her eyes weren't so bright. With these oddly thick, long eyelashes that he only noticed when they'd danced at that stupid prom. And only because the lights were coming from overhead and they cast shadows over her cheeks. If only she didn't seem so interested in him, he was sure that he could stop thinking about her. And it wouldn't hurt if her legs were a little shorter.
Not that he'd been looking.
But it wasn't just that. What was with her thieving habits? She seemed to become fixated on certain colors. Probably just chosen at random. Maybe she only stole the gems because she liked the colors? She certainly didn't seem interested in their monetary value. No, with Starfire, everything seemed to have some kind of sentimental value.
It was okay to be thinking about this. It was what he did. He'd done it with Slade- posted pictures around his investigation room, done Internet searches... He imagined tacking pictures of Starfire from newspaper clippings or posts from the Internet around his room, and the thought made him blush. He was letting his stupid crush... It wasn't even a crush! He just thought she was kind of pretty, and come on; it wasn't like he could blame himself for that... get in the way of his professionalism. He had a job to do, and damn it, he was going to do it. Even if that meant tracking down alien princesses.
He rolled over moodily. His bed was too hot. He kicked at the end of blankets, untucking them from the end of his bed. Why did he ever agree to dance with her? What was with him? It wasn't like he needed to. But the spotlights were on them and he was just so used to it from Bruce's stupid events. Thank god he'd been letting Robin start skipping out on them.
It wasn't as though he'd actually enjoyed dancing with her- really, he hadn't. It was weird- he'd danced with a bunch of girls before, but that might have been the first time he'd actually held a girl while dancing with her. No, it was definitely the first time, because he hadn't initiated it. She stepped up so close- of course, she was only doing it so that she could mess with her video-chat bracelet without him knowing- and he just kind of... put his arms on her waist as a reaction. It wasn't his fault, and it didn't mean anything. And the fact that he was thinking about it now didn't mean anything, either.
Ugh. Stupid, annoying, senseless-
He shot straight up in his bed. He narrowed his eyes. Something wasn't right. Throwing the covers away and slipping his feet into his boots, he walked over to his curtains and grabbed them, took a breath, and jerked them away. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but it sure as hell wasn't Catwoman and Harley Quinn hanging from a line and smirking in at him. He stumbled back in surprise and gaped at them stupidly, and Selina knocked on his window once.
He glared at her and opened it, and she and Harley swung into his room.
"What are you doing here? What the hell is she doing here?" he spluttered.
"Hello to you, too," Selina answered, moving her goggles up onto her forehead.
"Hiya, kid! This yer room? Not very exctin', is it? You could use some feng shui," Harley babbled, glancing around.
Robin continued to gape at her.
"Aw, don't look at me that way, Bird Boy!" she whined. "I'm a pretty nice gal, after all! Tell 'im, Kitty!"
Selina shrugged. "Harley is tolerable when she's not with the Joker."
"Great," he mumbled sarcastically. "I'll try to remember that the next time you try to kill with an oversized mallet."
"Aw, shucks. I wouldn't kill ya, kid. Yer just a kid! Hospitalize ya, maybe..."
"What did you do to the alarms?" Robin asked Selina.
"Let's just say that when you give Batman clearance, you give Catwoman clearance."
"What're you here for?" he demanded, crossing his arms over his chest.
"You're going to help me with something," Selina informed him, narrowing her eyes at him.
"Am I? Batman's not here. You can't make me do anything," he snapped.
Selina narrowed her eyes at him further and fisted his tunic in her hand. "You'd be surprised," she purred, trailing a diamond tipped claw over the side of his face.
"Threatening me won't work." Robin wasn't afraid of Selina. Harley, a little, but right now she didn't pose much of a threat. But Selina would never let anything happen to Robin, much less cause him real harm. In fact, he could safely bet his life on her. It wasn't that their relationship was great, really, but Bruce would never forgive her if something happened to him, and Selina would never allow that.
"No. Threatening you won't." She released him from her grasp. "I've heard your teammates are a weak point, though. And your city. I could release the Joker's special brand of neuro-toxin into the air. Or fear gas. I could have Ivy swoop in and put your teammates into a plant toxin coma. I could hold your mayor ransom. I could hold the governor of this whole damn state ransom."
Robin glared at her.
"But I won't do any of that. Do you know why, Robin? I think you're going to want to help me," Selina purred, tilting her head at him.
"Why's that?" he grumbled.
"Have you seen Starfire in the past week?"
That surprised him and he gaped at her again.
"Well?" she demanded impatiently.
"I- yeah, course I have!"
"Where?" she asked, eyes wide and hopeful.
"Um, a week ago she was robbing a jeweler's."
A fond smile crossed her lips. "She was?"
"Hold it right there, kiddo. She makes a Skype call to us every night, and she stopped a week ago, right when you claim to have seen her last!" Harley informed him, getting in his face and poking him in the chest. "There somethin' you wanna tell us?"
Robin glared at her.
"Hmmm?" she demanded, narrowing her eyes at him and poking him harder.
"Harley," Selina scolded sharply, like she was calling a dog to heel. "Have you seen her since then?"
"No. It's not like I've been looking. She could disappear and I probably wouldn't notice," Robin snapped defensively.
Selina just rolled her eyes, but this seemed to incense Harley. "Now look here, bucko!" she snarled at him, advancing on him again. "It's when guys say stuff like that that really gets me-!"
"Harley," Selina called again, and Harley crossed her arms sulkily and glared at Robin. "He's not here," Selina said softly. "You don't have to prove anything to anyone."
He sighed. "I'm not. I just- I haven't seen her, okay? Why? You think something happened to her?"
"I don't know. I mean, she's probably fine, but she gets so confused."
Robin rubbed the back of his neck and sighed again. "Yeah, I'll… I'll help you look for her."
"Good. We checked the penthouse and she wasn't there. If you know of any other of her usual haunts-"
"Wait. Robin can't be seen hanging around Catwoman and Harley Quinn."
Catwoman narrowed her eyes at him. "We'll we're not just going to hide out while you do all the field work."
"No, just... Hang on." Robin stepped away from the women- Harley was now openly observing his newspaper clippings- and opened his walk-in safe, shielding the keycode from their eyes.
The Red X suit. This is why it was better that he kept it. Undercover missions could pop up at any time. He slid the outfit on and stalked back out.
Selina raised an eyebrow at him. "That's new."
"Ooooh! You clean up nice, kid!" Harley chirped, rubbing the tattered ends of his cape between her thumb and forefinger.
Robin pulled the cape away from her, not deigning to answer.
"What's the name?" Selina asked.
"It's Red X," he said.
"Catchy. Are you done playing dress up? We have work to do."
Robin narrowed his eyes at her. "Don't forget I'm doing you a favor."
Harley scrunched her brow at him. "I thought we was all doin' Starburst a favor?"
"Let's just go," Robin said, opening his window and taking hold of Harley and Selina's lines that still hung from the roof.
They landed on the beach across from the Tower.
"I told ya we were goin' ta the beach!" Harley exclaimed excitedly, twirling on the sand.
Robin tapped the side of the Red X mask by his temple, activating infrared vision. "That's weird."
"What?" Selina demanded. Harley had dropped to her knees some feet away and was sculpting a sandcastle.
"That's the first time in months that I've been here and it was completely cold," Robin muttered.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Selina demanded impatiently.
He started walking toward the pier so he could duck under it. "She's got some kind of obsession with seashells."
"That why you gave her that bracelet?" she demanded, her tone innocent.
Robin blushed, glad of the full face mask. "She hoards the shells here and brings them back to wherever she's staying." He put his hand on one of the support beams and sank to a crouch. He dug around in the sand, but nothing was there.
"Can't the two of you focus long enough not to play in the sand?" Selina snapped.
"I'm not playing. This is where she kept the seashells, but they're not here. Are you sure she didn't leave?" Robin asked as he clapped gritty sand off his hands.
"Yes. She wouldn't go back to Tamaran without talking to me first."
"Are you sure?"
"Reasonably."
Robin sighed. "If you're not sure then I don't know if we should be looking."
"Dick," she softly, and Robin glanced warily over at Harley. "She's scared of everything."
Robin snorted. "No she's not. She almost seems like she doesn't know enough to be scared of anything."
Selina grabbed his shoulder and made him face her. "Don't you get it? She's so scared of everything that she acts like she's scared of nothing. A hermit crab scared her witless when she first saw it, but she couldn't show her fear because no one else seemed bothered by it. She's had practice masking what she's really feeling. Except when she's talking about-" She stopped suddenly and dropped her hand from his shoulder. "Never mind. Where else might she be?"
Robin scratched the back of his neck. "I don't know. If we can get to a vantage point, I might be able to see if I can recognize a heat signature from her. Your goggles have infrared, right?"
"Of course."
"Here. Let me give you the exact readings of her signature."
"Think she's hot, huh, Birdie Boy?"
Robin jumped as Harley appeared at his left shoulder. "Her internal body temperature is higher than in humans," he snapped at her.
"Suuuuurrrrre," she replied in a singsongy voice.
He glared at her.
"Y'know, I always wondered, what's the sitch with you an' Batgirl?" She paused and looked thoughtful. "Like gingers, do ya?"
"Selina!" Robin choked helplessly, extremely flustered.
She smirked and sighed. "Come on, Harley. Leave the poor kid alone. He doesn't want to be reminded of his unrequited crush on Batgirl."
"It wasn't like that!" he spluttered. "Can we focus here?"
The women exchanged a satisfied glance.
"If we can get up high enough, we can try to see if her heat signature is anywhere."
"Lead the way," Selina said with a gesture of her arm.
Robin led them downtown and extended a hook from his X-shaped grappling hook gun, trying to figure out how he ended up in his Red X suit with Bruce's girlfriend and the girlfriend of the guy who tried to kill him more times than he could count and got further from succeeding with each try. He stopped thinking about it after a few minutes because of the massive headache it was giving him.
"There," Selina said, pointing.
"Where?" Harley demanded, leaning precariously over the ledge of the building they'd picked as their perch. "I don't got no fancy-pants heat vision."
"That can't be right," Robin muttered, following Selina's line of vision.
"What?" Harley probed, bouncing excitedly. "What is it?"
"Looks like she went down into the subways," Selina told her, narrowing her eyes.
"So what?" Harley asked, confused at Robin and Selina's consternation.
"Har," Selina said, trying to be patient. "Why would she need to go to the subway? She flies."
Harley narrowed her eyes. "Maybe she got tired or somethin'?"
Robin's mind was spinning. Maybe she got dragged down there. Maybe someone had her. He couldn't imagine who would be able to kidnap the girl who could pick up a car with her foot and hurl it at someone like a hackey-sack.
"Well, whattaya two waitin' for? Let's go check it out!" With that, Harley spread her arms out and arched her back before letting herself lean forward so far that she fell off the building.
Robin quickly tapped the side mask, deactivating the infrared vision and scrambled to look over the ledge, grappling hook gun in hand.
Selina let out a dry laugh. "Take it easy, Dick. She's fine."
Harley was tumbling down, using various ledges from windows and acrobatic tricks to keep her fall controlled.
He should've expected that. "She's just… I don't know, she seems so…"
She gave him a little push. "I know what you mean." She offered him a small smile. "You know, I think Starfire's the same way. They make you want to protect them. Keep them out of trouble…"
Robin went quiet. He knew Selina's ulterior motives for living with Ivy and Harley (2). He didn't know if leaving the three of them together was such a great idea, personally.
"She told me you wanted her to join your team," Selina said softly, throwing a leg over the ledge of the building to begin scaling it.
Robin blushed again. Selina didn't seem to be making fun of him, though. She seemed… understanding. He tried not to think about that too much. "Yeah. She didn't seem to thrilled with the idea." Robin shrugged. "I just thought… I mean, she's got really good potential. Strength and flight are always useful. And she has those starbolt things."
She shot him an amused, knowing smile. "I'm sure your motives were completely altruistic." And she disappeared over the ledge.
He scowled after her, sulking for a minute before craning his neck to see the street and pushing the button on his belt to teleport. Man, he loved the teelporter. It took up a lot of juice, and it was the main reason he needed the xynothium, but it was the best part of the suit.
Harley jumped as he shimmered into existence next to her. "A little warnin', maybe!"
He shrugged. "Sorry."
Catwoman landed next to them in a crouch. With a nod, she indicated that they were to begin their search. Robin jumped ahead, teleporting to the subway's entrance and down the steps. The subways in Jump were usually only busy around the work hours or when schools were letting out. There weren't many people around here, and the citizens of Jump were used to sharing the streets with those who chose spandex and masks over the usual clothing. Red X wasn't very well known as a villain, so the civilians that were straggling in the station weren't very alarmed. That would probably change once Catwoman and Harley showed up.
Activating the infrared vision, he could see the remnants of her heat signature. How long had it been since she'd been here? It certainly wasn't as warm as usual. It trailed off over the side. She must have gotten on a train. Starfire on a subway. The thought seemed too ridiculous. He tried to picture the six foot tall, cherry-haired, orange-skinned, solid green-eyed alien princess with the flaring temper and odd speech pattern riding the subway among normal people, dressed in normal clothes, doing normal things. He drew a blank.
People around him stared and shuffled hastily toward the exit.
Selina eyed the ground where Robin had just stared at it, and her mouth flopped open in surprise. "What?" she asked herself.
"What, what?" Harley asked curiously. "Is it awful? Did someone drag her onta the tracks an'-"
"No! Nothing like that, Harley. She just… went on the subway."
"Oh." Harley deflated a little. "That's kinda anti-climactic, huh?"
Robin glared at her. "I… How are we supposed to find her, now?"
Selina sighed. "I brought these, just in case." She held out her hand, palm up. Three earpieces glinted in the harsh lights of the subway. "We're going to need to split up. Check every subway station."
"Awwwww!" Harley moaned.
"Don't worry," Robin said quickly. "There's not as many as in Gotham."
Selina nodded. "So we'll split up. I'll go north and east from here; Harls take north and west; Ro- Red X, you're taking south. Should be quicker for you with your teleport." Annoyingly, she jabbed a finger at his belt, pressing the button and making him shimmer away only to reappear a few feet away.
Robin didn't like taking orders, especially from Selina. He narrowed his eyes at her, but his communicator started ringing. He glanced down at his belt. "Yeah, fine, go," he muttered, palming the communicator.
The older women scattered and Robin pulled the mask up over his mouth, resting the neck on the bridge of his nose so that he wouldn't be speaking through the voice-modifier. He pressed the talk button without opening it so that he wouldn't be seen.
"Yeah?"
"Dude, where'd you go?" Beast Boy asked.
"I'm…" He paused. "Shouldn't you be trying to get some sleep?"
"Can't. We haven't gotten an actual alert, but a bunch of people have been reporting suspicious activity."
"What? Oh. Don't worry about that."
There was a long pause. "Don't worry about it? You okay?"
"Yeah. I'm fine. I… I couldn't sleep. So I went out."
"Out? Out where?"
"Just around. For a walk. Until I got tired enough to fall asleep." Robin rubbed the back of his neck as he talked. He hated doing this. But he really didn't want to explain all this to them. At the very least, he'd get made fun of for a few weeks. Teaming up with criminals to help his crush. Not that that was what he considered Starfire, but Cyborg seemed to think differently. "I looked into the activity. It's nothing. Just seem kids making noise."
"Okay. I'll let you know if the alerts keep up."
"Thanks."
"Later."
Robin sighed. He pulled the mask all the way down and opened his communicator, revealing a very small, oddly rounded keyboard. He hacked the Titan's system, turning off the ability to get any sort of alert. He rerouted the alarms to go to his communicator, just in case something cataclysmic happened.
He flicked his gaze to the entrance to the subway station and teleported, then shot a grappling hook to swing over the streets, landing on top of a building. He used his infrared vision along with zoom-ins to make the work expedient.
"Harley. X."
"Kitty!"
"I'm on Third Street and 42nd Avenue."
Robin blipped across rooftops, not really worrying about the drain on the suit. He didn't plan on using it much after this.
He dropped down in front of Selina. Harley was already there.
"Heat trail goes into this apartment. We just have to break in-"
"Not necessary." The building had glass front doors. Robin just needed to teleport inside, then open the door for the two women. Selina looked unimpressed.
"What's a matter, kid?" Harley scoffed. "Bats never teach ya ta pick a lock?"
Robin ignored her. He followed the heat trail… to the elevator. "Dammit. Looks like we're going to have to split-"
"Just a minute, Red." Selina entered the elevator and looked at the buttons. "C'mere." She curled her finger in toward herself, and Robin grudgingly followed.
"Ya know, we could probably hit all the buttons and-"
"Don't touch," Selina snapped. Harley folded her arms behind her back innocently.
"No residual heat signature," Robin observed.
"Scan for prints?"
Robin narrowed an eye at her. "If there's not residual heat, there's not gonna be-"
"Just do it."
He glared at her but tapped his mask again. Imprints of fingertips glared out at him, and his mask took each one and scanned it, peeling away layers. A red swirling pattern glowed in front of his mask on the button for the fourteenth floor. He squinted at it. "That's weird." Selina raised her eyebrows at him. "It's a non-human fingerprint, but it's not Star's. Starfire's!" He corrected quickly, blushing when Selina's expression changed at his usual nickname for her.
"Try that."
"You think an alien got 'er?" Harley asked, sounding alarmed for the first time. "Ya think it's one of those bad guys she was tellin' us about? The Gorbs?"
"No. I don't think it's those. They wouldn't have been so sneaky about it."
Robin pressed the button and they rode the elevator up, Harley rocking from her toes to her heels anxiously.
"Kitty?" She asked softly. "Ya think Starburst's okay?"
"Of course I do," Selina snapped. Harley withered and Selina sighed. "I think she'll be fine, Harley."
Robin allowed Selina to lead them through the hall until she stopped at a door, presumably where the heat trail ended. She rapped on it and leaned on the doorframe.
Shockingly, a white woman answered the door, leaving the chain done. Not a Caucasian woman. A white woman. Everything about her was startlingly, flawlessly white, except for her eyes, which were bright pink with odd black waves instead of pupils or irises.
Selina didn't seem intimidated. "Hello. We're looking for someone. We were wondering if you could help us."
The woman smiled at her, and Robin felt an odd sense of tranquility pull at him. He shook his head to clear it. Selina noticed too- she seemed to be glaring harder at the woman than before.
"No," she said, her voice silky and soothing. "I'm sorry. I don't leave my apartment much."
"Great!" Harley chirped, her smile wide. "Then you won't mind us comin' in!"
The woman frowned, and for some reason it was terrifying.
Catwoman brandished diamond-tipped claws and sliced the chain in half, pushing open the door. The unlikely group poured in, Robin tapping his mask to activate his infrared vision. Starfire's heat signature was everywhere, blazing at its fullest unlike the weak trail they'd been following.
"Oh yeah," he said, "she's definitely here."
"Where is she?" Catwoman growled at the woman.
The woman closed the door calmly and an odd growl emanated from her throat, her form changing drastically. A huge pink and white creature towered before them, front jaws sharp and long, thick pincers in front and four legs keeping her up.
"You are looking for the girl," it snarled. "You're just in time to watch me devour her!" In one swoop, it knocked the three of them painfully against the wall, knocking the wind out of each of them before knocking back furniture, revealing a green… giant chrysalis. Which was unexpected, to say the least.
Shaking his head and forcing his lungs to gulp in a fresh breath, he teleported next to the chrysalis and threw a sticky X right into the monster's mouth. It screamed, the sound oddly muffled, and swept its giant arm at Robin. He performed a set of acrobatics, avoiding the arms, which were pointed at the edges like blades. One of them ripped cleanly through the sofa. He wished he had his bo-staff to have something between them, but he hadn't included one in the suit. It was too much of a giveaway to his real identity, at least to the Titans.
"I got her," he said to the two women, "you get Starfire out of here!"
"But… Where is Starry?" Harley asked, confused.
"Um…" Her voice came out of the chrysalis, muffled but clear. "…In here…"
"Oh, Starfire," Selina murmured, sounding both relieved and very confused.
The creature knocked Robin aside and advanced on Starfire as Selina and Harley reached her. They were forced to scatter. "The girl belongs to me now. You can have her back once I finish digesting her," the creature snarled.
Selina jumped at it, only to be knocked back as well. Harley pulled out her mallet that Robin hated so much, and Robin leaped at the creature. He was knocked back, too, but he distracted it enough for Harley to get in a hit with the mallet. The creature stumbled, dangerously close to stepping on Starfire, roaring angrily.
Selina coiled her whip around its face, yanking it back roughly. It snapped its jaws at the whip, taking hold of it and arcing it around so that Selina was thrown into the ground. Robin jumped over Selina, who was on a collision course with him, and hurled three explosive discs at the monster. It was forced back, hitting the wall from the force of the blast but seeming relatively unharmed.
The three of them advanced on it, but in a show of surprising agility, it leaped over them… toward Starfire. It landed and was dipping its head at her, teeth bared and jaws snapping. Robin slid toward her, one leg stretched toward the chrysalis, another bent behind him, leaning back as he slid beneath the creature's legs. He pushed Starfire out of the way just in time, the creature's teeth snagging his tattered cape.
He stood as the creature advanced on him, keeping himself firmly between the chrysalis and the monster that wanted to devour it, and was only saved when Harley threw her mallet at the back of the creature's head. "Pick on somethin' yer own size!" she barked at it.
It growled furiously and advanced on her. She ducked behind Selina. "I ain't nothin' close to your size, lady!"
As the creature stalked toward the two women, blade-like arms cutting through the air, Robin crouched over the chrysalis. "Starfire? You okay?" There was no answer, except for a little gasp. "Hang on, I'm going to get you outta there." He started pulling it apart between the eyes where it was already cracking.
"No!" she cried desperately, and it snapped shut. "Please go. I do not wish to be seen this way," she explained in a small voice.
"Jeez, Star, come on." He glanced back at the creature, which was taking a strike at Harley that was blocked by her mallet. "It's alright. I don't care how you look. I wanna help you." Not giving her any time to protest again, he pulled the chrysalis open at the crack. He let a relieved smile cross over his face. She had her eyes squeezed shut tight. "Besides. You look fine to me." He gave her a shattered piece of mirror that had been damaged in the fight as proof.
She gasped happily and took it from him, floating into the air and spinning. "Oh! I am normal!" As soon as the words were out of her mouth, two beams of energy shot out of her eyes, reducing the mirror into glass dust. She turned to Robin, eyes wide, mouth in a grimace. "…mostly!"
He flinched as Harley was thrown against the wall roughly, where she slid to the ground and crumpled. The creature held Selina in its pincers, growling furiously. "Since you have stolen my meal, I shall devour you instead!" it screeched at Selina.
"Devour this!" Starfire shouted angrily, hitting it in the chest with her eyebeams. She hurled starbolts at it furiously, the creature screaming in pain as they exploded on impact. Starfire gave a determined cry as she hit it with eyebeams again, and the creature slammed into the wall so hard, it cracked the drywall. It changed form, back into a woman, where it lay unconscious, feet sticking out of the wall, head lolled lifelessly.
"Whadda we do with 'er?" Harley asked, and something in her voice struck Robin as sadistic.
"Um… Justice League. Green Lantern, I think. I don't usually call them, but… this is over my head."
"…You know that you can talk to me about anything," Selina was scolding Starfire softly.
"I… I was just frightened. I did not want you to… think any different of me."
"Aw, Starburst, we love ya cuza your weird personality! Long as ya don't start actin' all stuck up, you'll be fine."
She flew at Harley and grabbed her around the neck for a hug, which Harley returned with a huge grin.
Starfire tilted her head at Robin as she stepped out of Harley's embrace. "Why are you wearing that?"
Robin glanced down at himself. "Oh. It's a long story."
She stepped up to him sheepishly and pulled him into a hug. "Thank you for assisting me."
This was a good day to be wearing a full face mask. "Heh. Yeah. No problem."
"Do not think that I could not have freed myself," she said sternly, pushing him back suddenly.
"Course," he said, smiling.
"I could have!" she insisted.
"Yeah. I believe you."
Robin's communicator beeped. But it wasn't the Titans' frequency. His eyes widened. "Um…" he muttered, grabbing it reflexively and holding it as far away from himself as he could.
Selina smiled at him. "Is that who I think it is?" she purred.
He nodded wordlessly.
She held out her hand for it, and figuring that he was going to get in trouble anyway, he handed it to her. She flipped it open.
"Catwoman?" Batman demanded. "You are in Jump."
"Yes. With Harley and Starfire."
"Where's Robin?"
Selina perched on the arm of the sofa that had been split in two. "Now, darling, is that any way to greet me?"
Harley and Robin made varying unappreciative faces while Starfire batted her eyelashes like she was watching a romance movie.
Let's end that on a Bruce/Selina note. Love them.
Explaining the footnotes:
(1) Okay, Yahoo! Answers is FULL of people leaving stupid, sarcastic answers because they think they're funny. I'm trying to make Star less naïve in this, but how would she know that only some of the people on that website are to be trusted? Plus, she was kind of upset at the time.
(2) At the end of Gotham City Sirens, it's revealed that Batman asked Catwoman to keep an eye on Harvey and Ivy. Ivy was pissed about that. Keep in mind that I'm playing with the timeline: Gotham City Sirens happened just after the Batman RIP arc and it continued until just after he came back. Obviously, Dick is Robin and not Batman, as much as I love Dickbats. And Jason isn't even around yet.
I made Starfire's period as a chrysalis longer. In the show, she turned into a chrysalis and the monster talked to her and then three seconds later Robin was all like STARFIRE I WILL SAVE YOUUUU and then she stopped being a chrysalis. I figure, add two things to her altered appearance a day- bump, neck tusks, fingernails, skin, ears, feet. Which would bring it to four days, since she got the bump at the end of the day. So she was a chrysalis for three days. The Chrysalis Eater said she wanted to wait for her to be at the peak of her flavor, or something, so I think it's a good amount of time to wait. I also assumed that until the Chrysalis broke, she couldn't get out on her own. There are still a bunch of plotholes in there, but I like it better than the episode.
ALSO, as I was watching this episode again, I REALLY wanted to know what would have happened if Starfire didn't fly into space when her raincoat fell off and Robin was all like WAIT COME BACKK. Plotbunnies for a fic? Maybe. I don't wanna do all the work, though.
"Thanks for the help, cutie," he murmured, putting his mouth right by her ear. She seemed largely confused. He flipped the bottom portion of his mask up, letting it rest on the bridge of his nose, and her eyes widened in understanding.
She tilted her head, looking a little scared. "Rob-?"
He cut her off with a light kiss. She went soft against him, which was satisfying and tempting, but he couldn't pay any attention to that.