Author's Note:

So, apparently since there's another chapter, Dick's not exploded. Damn. No epic ZombieDick story… Good thing Faith-o-saurus wrote a ridiculous little one shot sort of based on a conversation we had about the exploding of Dick last chapter, that somehow evolved to ZOMBIEDICK 2.0 and his many, many functions… Go read it.

As Eve Royal pointed out, ruining all my good ZombieDick jokes I had ready just for her, prologue hasn't happened yet. Can't explode Dick. Nuts.

Chapter 21.

There are times I hate being human. So fucking fragile. Bone break too easily. Cuts. Bruises. Internal bleeding. A simple knock to the head renders me unconscious.

I hate appearing weak, so much more than Starfire does, because in essence I am weak. One, single fragile human life in an even frailer body. The amount of times I've broken bones, been stabbed, shot at, hit, I'm amazed I don't have brain damage, or permanent skeletal damage. Kidney failure. Something.

There's only so much the suit can protect you from without becoming encumbering. I already don't wear as much Kevlar as I should because it hinders my movement too much. Technology is still catching up with what we want our suits to do. It might be fire and electricity resistant, light sensitive, but there's only so much I can do to protect myself. Hell, a head shot would do the trick.

I guess it's because of Raven that I'm not dead already. She lets us heal from the simple things, cuts and bruises, but when bones break, she steps into aid us.

One of these days the fates are going to remember I'm not superhuman. I'm not invulnerable, I don't have increased regenerative abilities from shape shifting or shields to protect myself, or tiny nano-robots that repair damage. Me, I'm just an acrobat. One of these days I'll have used up my allotted number stupid accidents and that thread'll be cut.

But not today.

My brain was already adding details together even before I was completely awake. The room was unfamiliar. The sounds were strange. The material against my back and whatever I was lying on was foreign. My head hurt and felt singed, I could smell smoke. The right side of my body was sore, like I'd been whacked.

There was someone in the room though, I could hear them breathing. As I tensed, Raven said, "It's just me, idiot, don't spring to action."

I relaxed and opened my eyes. "Did you get the number of that bus?"

Raven snorted.

The room was grey. Unadorned. It was box like, very square, no windows and only one door and there was really nothing else in the room beside the chair Raven sat on, the large bed I was on and a light fixture in the ceiling.

I sat up with a groan and rubbed my head. "What happened?"

"Oxygen tank between your pod and Starfire's exploded. I didn't drop the shield until we were someplace oxygenated, just in case. You had us all worried, but I could tell you were alive. Cyborg says with all the technology available for him here, he'll be able to reinforce everything for the return trip to Ortacarr. He's pretty much been given free run of the place, we're not totally sure why yet, but we were expected."

"Here?"

"We're at Bynekdore Space Station."

A space station? Cool! Wait… why was that name familiar? I frowned. "Bynekdore?"

Raven shrugged. "We've got a secure slip, no one beside us has access to the T-Ship, there's even security guards posted out the front. Cy's not doing any additions to the T-Ship yet, just repairs because we wanted to wait for you." She gestured me. "I've done what I can, Gar's forbidden me to accelerate—"

"It'd hurt the baby, I get that."

Raven snorted. "It wouldn't actually, unless I was really stupid and drained myself to the point of exhaustion. But healing would drain me more than necessary. He's being over protective, but I'm with him. No broken bones, a couple of scrapes, your hair got singed, but that's it. You were lucky."

I glanced around the empty room. "Where's Star?"

Raven looked away. "I… had to sedate her. Seeing what happened to your pod, she went hysterical. She thought she'd killed you. With everything else… I thought it was best. Gar's with her, we thought it would be too big of a shock for you to wake up with her being hysterical. Sorry."

I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and sat up, fighting the wave of dizziness. Raven stood and took my elbow. "If you're determined to be an idiot, let me help you."

"Being an idiot is what I do best," I said as she helped me stand. I wobbled a little but was otherwise stable.

"Got that right," she muttered.

The next room was just as simple as the room we just exited. Square, although much bigger. It had chunky looking table and chairs. A hole in one of the walls that looked very Star Treky. A long slatted bench against one wall for seating and some sort of square box in the middle of the floor with a cylinder protruding from the top. Four more doors branched off from this main room.

Seeing that I was looking at the square box on the floor, Raven said, "We haven't figured everything out yet, but that seems to be a 3D television."

Beast Boy opened the door to the right of where we were, relief on his face as he saw me. "Oh good, finally."

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

"Star's showing signs of waking, that's all." He stepped out of the room. "I'll go down and see if Cy needs help. Sarah's down there too."

"I'll come with you," Raven said, then looked at me. "Star'll be able to show you where we are once she's up."

I nodded, although I really wanted to find out where the hell we were and why we were here and discover how damaged the T-Ship really was, I knew that most of the answers would come from Starfire herself, and she'd panic if she woke up without me there. "We'll be there soon."

Beast Boy offered Raven his elbow and she took it as they headed toward what I guessed was the door while I entered the room Beast Boy had just come from.

Starfire was lying on the bed, curled up in a ball, Silkie curled up in the small space between her chest and knees. Her hair was an absolute mess, her face was tear streaked and there were several burnt holes in her black uniform. I wandered over, leaving my mask at the end of the bed and stretched out beside her. Silkie lifted his head and warbled at me, before snuggling deeper.

Propping my head up on with my elbow, I ran the fingers of my free hand through Starfire's hair, gently tugging the knots out and smoothing it out. It didn't take long before she roused.

Gasping as she flicked open her eyes to see me, she practically threw herself at me, squishing poor Silkie between us. He protested rather vocally, wriggling through a gap between our chests to be free as Starfire peppered my face with kisses. I kissed her back whenever her lips connected with mine, but otherwise I just let her go.

"Dick, Dick, Dick," she chanted, alternating between my name and 'sorry'. Her tears fell against my cheeks as she practically crushed me in her arms.

"It's okay," I soothed. "I'm okay."

She shuddered and gulped, drawing away to check me over. "I apologise," she said, shakily, her hands fluttered everywhere, checking everything. "I never thought— I just— I had to— oh you are all there— Dick, I was so scared, I had to—"

I ran my hand up her arm, trying to get her to relax. "You needed to get us away quickly, I understand."

"You are okay?" she asked, calming down dramatically after her frenzied checking of everything.

I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, smoothed down even more hair, giving her as much physical contact I could to calm her. "I am. Just a headache and a bit knocked about." I was more concerned with her. "Star, why did we run like that? Did we really just betray Tamaran?"

She looked stricken. "Yes."

"Why?" I asked flabbergasted. "God, that's the last thing I wanted you to do, ever. You said it could cause wars. Why would you do that?"

"Galfore told me too," she replied.

"What?"

"His sister, Lysadora, she died from cunditor poisoning, many, many years ago. I did not remember until he mentioned Bynekdore and asked if I wanted to take the crown. It was a code."

"A code to do what?"

"Flee. As fast as I could and come to this station. We were being watched, he acted in the way that was expected, not the way he wished to. I fear he is being forced from the crown."

"What makes you say that?" I asked. "Maybe he's just—"

"In a few sentences, he proclaimed Ryand'r to be dead to Tamaran, so he cannot be forced to return to marry, he nullified the treaty Tamaran has with Earth by threatening to take technology from Cyborg, and he gave me a justified reason for renouncing Tamaran that does not have anything to do with you. He would not have done so unless he feared conquest very soon. I shall know more when he arrives."

"If the treaty with Tamaran's void, couldn't they go to war with Earth and force you back?"

"To what end?" she asked. "I am renegade, I no longer have status. With no treaty, they cannot force Earth to hand me over. Declaring war on Earth simply to retrieve a renegade is stupid. Before, there was a legitimate reason, they could claim kidnap of a royal. Now, the Green Lanterns would never allow it. Tamaran, like most of the Vegan system, cannot act outside Vega, especially toward a planet Green Lantern's protect. It is not like Earth will declare war on Tamaran."

Oh. Wow… Still, "Star, I'm sorry about Tamaran. It's your home."

Her bottom lip trembled. "I held my ties to Tamaran for Galfore's sake and because I could not find a way to renounce it honourably. Oh, Dick, you have been my home for so many years now."

I squeezed her. "You're mine too."

She smiled, then sighed. "It is not over, I do not believe they will let me go so readily. It is not an official renunciation unless I evade them for one revolution around Tamaran's sun. That would be eighteen months, two weeks on Earth. Galfore would already be spreading the word that I have done this. Until we return to Earth, where they cannot touch me, we must be vigilant."

"Bounty hunters?"

She nodded. "Assassins may be a possibility, although they would be after you. I believe Salja might think if you were no longer alive, I would be forced to return to Tamaran. This place should be safe, I have been here before."

I nodded. "Okay." I cupped her neck, stroking her cheek with my thumb. "Are you okay?"

She shuddered. "Not truly."

I wrapped my arms around her, pulled her down so her head was resting against my chest. "It'll all work out, beautiful, you'll see. What can we do to help Galfore keep the throne?"

Starfire flicked her head up, frowning.

"What?"

"You would… help him keep the throne?"

I was confused. "Why wouldn't I?"

"I… thought you would be happy?"

Taken aback, I asked, "At Galfore losing the throne? How could that possibly make me happy?"

"Because if I am no longer a citizen of Tamaran, we could marry."

I smiled. "Star, I asked you to be my unmarried wife and I meant it. Just because you're suddenly free to marry, doesn't mean your feelings have changed regarding it. If you want to marry, that's completely up to you. I've already promised myself to your forever."

She blinked at me. "Oh."

"Besides, you've already declared yourself rogue, right? If he's coming here, there's no reason we couldn't help him keep the throne discreetly." I paused. "Assuming he still wants the throne."

Starfire frowned as she thought about that. "I believe that would depend on what has occurred on Tamaran to make him use such extreme measures."

"Guess we'll just have to wait," I said. "Do you want to stay here a bit longer or can we go have a look at the damage to the T-Ship?"

She went back to looking a little panicked. "Dick, I promise you, I did not know I was pushing the limits of the T-Ship to such extremes, if I had, I would never have gone that fast—"

Placing a finger on her lips, I said, "Let me look for myself, okay?"

She swallowed and nodded before she backed away from me to crawl from the bed. Giving Silkie a little pat, I scooted down to the end and picked up my mask, slapping it back on as I stood.

Really, there was not much to see of the station, I assumed there'd be a lot more of it, possibly that we didn't have access too. Our rooms were very close to where the T-Ship was, and there was two guards stationed there as well. We walked down a straight corridor, turned the corner and there was the hanger.

Starfire tried to explain, "This is… oh… what is the word… safe port?"

I nodded.

"People come here to hide and make repairs. Rooms are simple and close to the hangers to allow for easy escape and the station changes location periodically. It is… off the grid?"

"Having a bit of trouble with your slang today, my lovely?"

"I am feeling very flustered."

I squeezed her hand. "It's cute. I kind of miss having to correct you. So we're at a space pirate dock."

"Yes, but the people here are not criminals. They are fugitives, travellers. Passersby. They come, they fix their ships, or hire people here to do that for them, then they leave. We will not interact with anyone else while we are here, everything is provided for. We will not know who else is on this station at the same time. We are not to conduct business of any sort, we make repairs, get supplies and leave."

"Okay. I'm assuming we will have to pay them?"

"That has been dealt with."

I narrowed my eyes. "How? What'd you do?"

Starfire shrugged and looked away. "It just is. Do not be concerned. Galfore contacted them before I arrived in the sector, they had an escort waiting for me. I spoke to the Captain, he assured me we would have everything we needed."

When Raven said secure slip, she meant secure. There were six guards posted at the bay of the hanger the T-Ship was in, all of different humanoid species, although they wore a similar blue uniform which Starfire said indicated they were Station Security Officers. We actually had to be DNA scanned before they let us into the bay. When they'd taken a sample of my DNA, I wasn't sure and I knew I didn't like that, but Starfire promised protocols called for DNA samples were keyed only to this door and our room door. We could not use it to access any other part of the station and we could destroy the samples as we left the station. I still wasn't happy about that, but I had to deal with it.

As the hanger bay door slid shut behind me, I stopped and gaped at the state of the T-Ship.

Whole panels had been removed. Beast Boy was scurrying around the top of the ship, taking off more panelling to expose the electronics and mechanics beneath and tossing them to Raven, who was catching them with her powers and stacking them neatly against the wall. One of the engines was dismantled, I could see Cyborg's legs protruding from beneath it. Sarah was beside Cyborg, handing him tools as he called for them. My capsule was shattered, the seat black and sooty from smoke, the panelling ripped up between my pod and where Starfire's used to be, which looked like it had exploded.

"Well, thank fuck you weren't in that," I said. Starfire nodded meekly, extracting her hand and wrapping her hands around herself. Concerned, I put my hand on her back. "You did what you had to do."

"Yes, but…"

I nudged her with a hip. "No buts." Raising my voice, I called. "Cy, how's she looking?"

"Man, she's thrashed. I'm going to be spendin' ages upgradin' her. It's fuckin' awesome," he called, sounding happy about the prospect.

I chuckled. "See?"

Cyborg slid out from beneath the engine, handing his tools to Sarah as he stood. "Dick, come look at this."

Leaving Starfire where she was, I walked over to join Cyborg as he walked to what looked to be a computer console in the wall. "It's a fucking replicator. Not just organic, but inorganic too. I can plug anything I need into here and it'll make it for me. Check out some of the schematics in here too! Engine design, hull plating, inertia dampeners. Jump Drive modifications! FTL Drive ones too! Man, with some of these upgrades, Starfire can push us at that speed again and we wouldn't even break a sweat."

Interesting point, I don't think I've ever gone into it. The T-Ship has two sets of engines, one set is for the Jump Drive, star hopping, enabling us to get from system to system reasonably quickly. The ship actually has to morph shape a little when we're jumping, stronger hull, better inertia dampeners, different set of systems keeping us protected, which is why it broke down when Starfire jumped straight to hyper-speeds. We hadn't had time to shut down the systems that would react to the acceleration and overheat. The other set of engines is for travel within those systems and although it's FTL (faster than light), it's slower than the Jump Drive.

I liken it to: the Jump Drive is like getting on an airplane and going, while the FTL Drive is using your car. The Jump Drive is for travel between two points, while the FTL Drive lets you change direction on a whim, like if you're following someone in space or avoiding a barrage of rock. FTL drive also doubles as engine within atmosphere.

"I'd be careful about using anything we haven't tested personally," I warned.

"I hear you," Cyborg said and tapped his head. "Runnin' everythin' through the old processor myself. Some of this stuff, we've got theories about back home, but not the technology to create it. I won't be changin' the T-Ship's AI, although they've got some nice ones in there too."

I nodded. "Just be paranoid about everything," I said. "I don't know that I trust this place, not until we speak to Galfore."

"Galfore?" Cyborg asked, curiously.

I lifted my eyebrow, then turned my head to glance at Starfire, seeing her meekly shuffling weight from one foot to the other. "Guess she didn't have time to explain things."

"Nothing beyond we had full access to anythin' this place had to offer and could start repairs or mods, which I haven't started yet, just gettin' ready to. She was… a bit stressed."

I nodded. "Galfore staged the whole thing."

Cyborg let out puff of relief. "Thank god for that."

I nodded. "Yeah… but she's really forfeited Tamaran. That was real."

"Oh. Fuck me."

"From what she says, he's on his way here. So… let's just hold off on major modifications until I know how safe the stuff is in this place. Unless you're absolutely certain."

Cyborg nodded. "There's a couple I'm a hundred percent sure of, since we have very similar things on Earth, they're just more advanced here but the techs the same. Others, I'm iffy, but I'll wait."

I nodded. "And don't hook yourself up to the system, just to be safe."

"Wasn't plannin' to, that old Dick paranoia rubbed off on the rest of us too, we're all being careful. Already done a bug sweep of our rooms and this place. There's nothing I could see, no transmissions of any kind, no storage devices. Done the best I can."

I smiled. "Good."

"Cyborg?" Starfire asked, her voice meek. She seemed so fragile as we turned to look at her, like even a mean word could shatter her. Shoulders hunched, looking at the floor.

Cyborg gave me a concerned glance. "Sup, little lady?"

"I am truly sorry for the damage," she whispered.

Cyborg placed a hand on her shoulder, the other one angled her chin up so he could see her face. "Princess, c'mon, you know me better than that. I'm not angry. It's all fixable, we're not. Mah flyin' baby, she's been carollin' for some attention for a while anyway."

"But—"

"We had to get out of there, fast. You got us out. I'm quite proud that she stood up to everythin' you threw at her." Cyborg gave her a little tug, then wrapped his big arms around her. She sighed as she pressed herself against him.

"Okay, well, what do you want me to do?" I asked.

Cyborg grinned over Starfire's head. "Someone has to clean the puke out of BB's pod."

Author's Note:

Comic lore cites:

Green Lantern Corps are basically the Watchdogs of the universe. They are not allowed to act or even visit the Vegan System due to an ancient treaty with the Psions. There stems some of Starfire's dislike and distrust of them (because the Green Lanterns allow the atrocities the Psions do, as long as they do it in Vega). Long and involved reasons as to why the treaty exists, which doesn't come into bearing here. If Tamaran attacked Earth, the Green Lanterns of Earth would be within their rights to call for backup from the entire Green Lantern Corps. Planets like Ortacarr, without Green Lantern protection are fair game.

The Psions are the ones who gave Starfire and her siblings starbolts. They're a race of people who experiment on all the other races within the Vegan System, they're also responsible for creating most of them, Tamaranians included. They're a fact of life there, lots of people get taken for experimentation. Some die, some escape, some live their lives in the Psions science ships. Psion males lack empathy of any kind (although we have learnt in a recent comic that female Psions do not lack it, and are actually kept in breeding houses by the males, thanks to Star of Airdirie for sending me that comic). Want to know more, Google it.