ginger911&Starbutterfly: You are persistent, I'll give you that. So here you go!
BookPowers : You'll have to wait and se what Starfire does...but it won't be easy, that I can tell you.
Turtledude83 : Dying to know huh? Well wait no longer! And thanks for the congratulations.
Jade4839 : I'm glad to here it! Hope you love this chapter!
FrostyAngelWings : Thanks for the well wishes, and yes, I feel that ways sometimes.
Winnowill763784 :Thanks! I hope you like this!
Black target :Oh it's fine, I hope you love Starfire thoughts here too.
Piper1996: Thank you, I wanted to show that Star is smart as well as tough. And I'm glad you liked the darker theme. And yeah, Robin and his dreams.
Cole D. Xandria: Phenomenal you say! THANK YOU! I hope you keep reading.
Miss geek :Wait and seeeeee...
bookgirl18: Yes, it will be one heck of a fight.
Alaster Boneman: I'm glad you like Starfire plan, hope you like how its going.
The Keeper of Worlds: Yes, it's a gamble, but its the only way...so all or nothing it is!
r0bstarfan13 :Thank you, I allways try to but my heart in my writing.
Anime hotty lover.18 :Thanks for the well wishes.
KaliAnn: Yes, Starfire is a soldier...she been raise with the expaction that she would die protecting others...so she not going to back down.
Chapter 51
The Earthen Lin-con Temple was certainly a sight to see. It was tall, and proud -with twelve towering columns of the purest white standing guard for the enthrone stature seated within. When their party first came to it, Starfire spared a thought to pondered on who the man was, or had been -the Earthen incarnation of X'hal perhaps? A great military leader? A King?
Whatever he was, he must have been a great man for his people to have built him such a monument...X'hal I hope it's not to badly damage.
Gazing around her at the other gleaming buildings, and the shimmering refection pool, the warrior girl found herself biting her lip. I hope none of them are too badly damage.
But she couldn't make any promises regarding that, not even to herself -and besides, any sane man would agree that lives matter more than buildings, no matter how beautiful. She wasn't going to pull her punches to avoid offending stone.
One couldn't appreciate beauty when one was dead.
Swallowing hard, Starfire lifted into the air, and floated over to that refection pool. The two Gordanian guards assigned to watch her instantly tensed, claws gripping their spars, and eyes narrowing at her in warning. But they needed have been concerned -all she did was drop to a knee and lift some water to her mouth -pointedly ignoring how it shook in her palm.
Before any formal Mal-balgor duel, there was at least fifteen to twenty minutes of preparation, which was as long as it took for a Gordanian master to implore the war god to help him defeat his enemies, so he could offer their blood to them (And also for his minions set up the viewing monitors, and hack the local news waves so everyone could witness the bloodbath).
Razor was currently a little ways away, doing just that -praying with one breath, and barking out orders with another...when he wasn't glaring poisoned murder at her at is.
The Shieldmaiden sucked in a deep breath, and blew it out threw her nose. What the Warmaster did now didn't matter, she reminded herself. Grand though he might think he was, compared to the rest of them, he could still bleed...and she could remind him of what that felt like.
She grimace. She didn't want her last thoughts to be full of the lizard man. It was unworthy, and wouldn't provided the sort of righteous fury called in such a fight. Blind hatred could only get one so far. But a justify anger on the other hand...
That would be nice.
Taken in a breath again, she blocked out the hordes of Gordanians that had clamored in pods floating over head in ringside seats, she block out Razor and his pacing rage. Instead she stretched her mind out...back to the soft purple mountains, and deep green juggles that had been her home on Tamaran. She thought back to the parents, and the honorary uncle who'd raised her protect what was good and right in this world, no matter the repercussions.
She thought of her little brother, who had awoken and enhanced her compassion everyday of his life, and whos laughter never failed to make her smile. (She didn't let herself think of her sister...she need no distractions).
And last of all the Shieldmaiden thought of her earthen friends (who's cage -and those of their parents- had been place in a open field just a little ways away) that had demonstrated an open-handed love and devotion -to her, themselves, their people, their ideals- that she'd almost forgotten existed in such a world as this.
Closing her eyes, she prayed for them -all of them. World Soul...X'hal I love...these people who are in my mind are also in my heart. I am dying today so that they can live...let them live. When they are in danger, shield them as they have shielded me. Give them strength when they are weakening...give them a good death, when they are dying...and while they live, help me give them freedom- and help them not to miss me...
"Troq," one of her guards told her, his scaly feet appearing at her side. "Rise."
Opening her eyes, Starfire blinked and did so. Her guard glared down at her, suspiciously. "What is wrong with your eyes?"
Quickly, the girl swiped at them. "Nothing," she told him. "The earthen water is funny."
Grunting, the guard dropped the matter -muttering about frail, fragile lily-livered infidels. "Come. It is time."
"Joy of joys," she replied.
Y+J
You know Troq, it'ss not to late too ssurrender," was the first thing Razor said to her, while he meaningfully tapped his talons on his broad sword, his voice being both pointed, and menacing.
Starfire briskly nodded her head to demonstrate her understanding. "Understood." She told him with traditional Tamaranean bluntness, blazing up her eyes to show her answer even before she spoke it. "Feel free then."
Her off-handed response caused quite a stir, scales rippling, voices mumbling. Razor's snarled at her...but their was a wildness to his gaze -a sense of no longer holding all the gorpa cards. Of not being in control.
"What do you hope to accomplish here Troq!?" He bellowed. "You can not seriously expect to leave here with you life!"
Starfire sighed inwardly. Hadn't they covered this already?
"I'm aware of that...and I simply do not care Warmaster...I don't expect a coward to understand, but there are more important things than my life here..." narrowing her eyes, she pointed added, "Or yours. Especially yours."
The mumbling grew again, and tails slapped in approval, eyes dilating, and fangs showing -Starfire bit back a smile. Though they didn't realize what she meant (they wouldn't be cheering if they had) it was nice to have an approving crowd.
"You dare put your life at the same measure as my own -a Gordanian?!"
Now the Shieldmaiden smiled grimly -so Razor had at last begun to play the game of words -trying to get the crowd back on his side. But he had caught on to late.
"My life?" she exclaimed in an overly loud voice, her real disgust speaking through it. "I would value any life over one as worthless as yours -you shame it!"
"YOU LITTLE-" the Warmaster began savagely.
"Infidels of Earth!" Lord Loax cried suddenly into a megaphone, understand if he did not, the fight would start ahead of time. "Honorable Gordanians! Young Troq! Today this slave has chosen her right to Mal-balgor...battle of her master and fate! The fight shall end when one or the other has been rendered incapacitated...in whatever form that may be."
"The prize of victory shall be ownership of this conquered world. And the ownership of her heros...large and small. May Mal-bal favor the strong!"
And with that, the viewing screens turned on, and they went at it.
Y+J
Shooting forward with the force of a solar-flare, Starfire shoot across the space in a matter of seconds, ripping up the pavement as she went. Her objective was to sink her fists into the lizard-man's stomach, and force him back into the trees, which would have been impressive...if the Warmaster hadn't stepped to the side, grabbed her legs, and flung her in one smooth move up the pearl stairs into the Lin-con temple.
Whoops.
And ow.
Crashing through -and demolishing- one of the pillars she had so admired, Starfire's breath left her in with a grunt as she rolled to a tumbling stop at the feet of the giant statute -cracking the stone when the back of her head hit it.
Tossing her hair from her face, the Shieldmaiden's eyes widen as a shadow suddenly blocked out the sun. Without pausing to reflect, she threw herself backwards in the air, moments before Razor brought his broad sword down on where she had been, cleaving the stone foot in two.
Close call. Far too close. You can not make mistakes here Princess.
With this in mind, Starfire released a thunderous volley of starbolts down on the crouching Gordanian -making him flee for a change.
She peppered the room, and bit back a curse when her strongest bolts bounced of his armor and ricocheted about the temple's open hall. X'hal and damnation!
Accepting that this kind of long rang fighting wasn't an option, Starfire copied the move she had performed back in the bunker on Tamaran -flying behind one of the pillar that also aliened the inside of the temple, she pushed it until it broke from it's post, and fell forward towards it's target...and she may also have pushed a few more after that as well, since they were just sitting there.
The force in which she did this cause quiet the dust cloud to rise up, so she was cautious when she gingerly floated down to the ground level to go lizard hunting -her boots hovering an inch off the ground.
It was quiet...too quiet. Starfire's blood thundered in her ears as she took in this fact...When in the netherworld was he-?
The sound of stones rolling, and the briefest motion spied from the corner of her eye gave the Tamaranean girl her answer -she barely had time to spin to her right, raise her arms, and catch Razor's sword between her gantlets, gold sparks flying when it make contact. For a moment she held him there, her feet forced a few inches into the ground from the power of the blow. And the Warmaster thought that the ideal thing to do at that moment was to spit in her face. And it wasn't saliva either -Gordanian nobles had the ability to spit acid; the sort that could melt flesh from bones.
Eyes widening as she realized what he intended to do, Starfire summon the burst of strength she needed to get back in the air, and force the broad sword up higher -so that the lizard acid he'd intended for her face hit his own weapon instead. While the Warmaster howled his outrage over that fact, the Shieldmaiden pressed her advantage; floating up higher, she slid her gantlets to where the spit had weaken the blade the most, and with a grunt of effort shattered it into a thousand shards.
With her arms thrown wide, Starfire threw up her foot and slammed it into the side of Razor's jaw, landing her first blow in this match -and followed that by a sires of punches backed by unthrown starbots to give it some more kick.
It was going well, and Starfire reveled in it, a lifetime's worth of pain being channeled into her fists. It was glorious...until Razor managed to catch both her wrists in one hand. He yanked her into him, his free talons forcing Starfire's face into his armor before flipping them backwards, clean out the temple's roof and into the open space, allowing his power and Earthen gravity to assist him in body-slamming the girl into the unforgiving ground. It left a crater where they landed.
Dazed, Starfire was only vaguely aware of where they were due to the trees around them -which she briefly glimpses before Razor stood up, grasp her by the hair, and spun her around in a wide circle -before releasing her in the direction of the towering obelisk opposite the refection pool.
Y+J
"Ah man," Wally said, wincing in pity as the brutal move played out on the screen the lizards' set up inside their cage. "That had to hurt."
Under other circumstances, Robin would have snorted. Yeah, no kiddin' Captain Obvious. But as it were, he didn't -he couldn't. The boy bite his lip until he tasted blood, his hand clenched till his fingers ached within his restrains. Tense boiled with in him...the idea of just being...trapped here while a friend got the crap beaten out of her for his shake was unbearable.
And to judge from the other guys faces -they felt the same way.
"She's...she not doing to good," Superboy muttered softly -almost unwillingly. And even though he'd tried before, he started to pull at his energy shackles again.
Aqualad released a purposely steady sigh, his eyes drifting shut. Opening them, the oldest boy spoke measuredly. "We must not despair my friends..." he told them. "This fight has only just begun -Starfire may yet turn it once more in her favor."
"Yeah but she shouldn't have to..." Robin said bitterly, his throat closing with the unfairness of it all. "She shouldn't have to do this."
Each of the boys fell quiet as they contemplated this glaring fact...after all, it was a hundred percent true. Starfire wasn't a citizen of earth, she wasn't a member of the Justice League -or apprenticed to it, like in their case.
Starfire didn't have to be here...she had no obligation to be here, fighting their battles...she could have cut and run.
The alien girl owed absolutely no loyalty to this planet, or had any ties to it...save for being their friend. And apparently, that was good enough reason to risk her life for them.
If they got out of this, Robin didn't know how in the hell they were ever going to pay her back...especially since they had promised that they wouldn't let anything happen to her.
Well that's the moral of today, isn't? Don't make promises you can't keep.
Reviews make me happy so tell me what you thought and i'll update sooner.
Okay, so Starfire demolished the Lincoln memorial, and is headed for the Washington...yay! But How was the fight so far. You have no idea how many dc fights I've watched on YouTube to get this together.
And how about before hand...when star has a moment to pray for her love ones...a lot of soldier memoirs I've read state that this is what real warriors do when they head for battle. I wanted to show the contrast -Razor prays for Starfire's blood, and she thinks only of her friends and family.
And how were the boys and their thoughts...because Robin's right -Starfire has no obligation besides her friendship with them to have even tried to rescues the League. She's doing this for them, and they know it.
