Girl Wonderz: Yes, there will be more stories with Starfire in young justice.

Sup: Thank you for your patience

FrostyAngelWings : I'm gald you like the battle...I hope you love the moment Star has after it.

Guest: Here is an update!

princess : yes ma'am

Piper1996: Oh definitely.

Lonely Athena : Thank you! Keep reading!

Jade4839 : Yes she certainly can.

Guest 2: Thanks, I tried to do that.

Anime hotty lover.18 : Yes, mine too.

Miss geek: tell me about it...

Alaster Boneman: Thanks...i hope this is more epic for you.

Turtledude83: Nope, this fight is over in this chapter.

KaliAnn : YEs...but from personally experience, it's hard to have faith sometimes...

KashinaKairi :Thanks, I hope you like it!

Canary512 : oh they certainly will.

Tree-Command-Amber : You know it.


Chapter 52

Starfire frantically tried to halt her flight as she went tumbling through the air, but Razor had thrown her with such force that this proved to be impossible. Consequently, the only thing she could do was raise her arms above her head, and brace for what promised to be a hard impact. And oh...hard it was. It was only by a sheer stroke of luck that she didn't collide into the obelisk, but rather downward, into a circle of flag-bearing poles running besides it - ripping them up from their posts like blades of grass. The metal bent and shattered beneath her, as her body dug up the earth like a meteor hitting the ground.

And even before the Shieldmaiden's vision had stopped somersaulting, she was desperately trying to scramble out of the ditch she'd made; her senses already awere that her enemy was nearly upon her. And sure enough, beneath her hands the ground was trembling with the vibration of violent footsteps. Footsteps which were quickly joined by the hissing breath that every Tamaranean was taught to loathe from earliest infantry.

Still on her knees, eyes widening, Starfire reacted on the pure, animalist need to preserve her life. Without conscious thought her hands shot out -still small and feminine, despite all they had been through- and closed it around a shred of metal the length of her leg. The Shieldmaiden grasped it hard, flipping it so that she held it at its based. And when the hulking shadow fell over her again, this time the girl was prepared. She use her flight to pivoted around on the heels of her boots, laying down in mid air until she was almost vertical, and drove that shred with a pristine calculation into the weak point of the Warmaster's armor -a small, almost non-existent gape beneath his arm. Galfore would have been proud to see it.

And she speared him threw, the shred entering Razor's armpit, and exiting through his shoulder, very near to his collarbone, again missing his armor on the way out.

Razor howled -but more from the fury of it than pain, the Shieldmaiden thought, which wasn't surprising - even though it must have hurt. The green blood that was dripping onto her face, marking her cheeks and nose with zig-zigging strips like traditional war paint, testified to that belief.

And it also testified to something else...they two of them had been going at it for quite a while now...or at least, longer than either of them had expected. And like Tamaraneans, Gordanians' invulnerability was linked to their emotions -courage and battle-lust enhanced it...while fear destroyed it. For simple earthen metal to so pierce him...Razor was afraid. And why shouldn't he be - when he had everything to lose? The snarls and hisses of his men, heard even yards away, announced that they knew it to.

Everyone did.


Y+J

Razor snarled again, and Starfire knew she was pushing her luck and had move, quickly. But nothing said that she had to move backwards.

No more retreating, she concluded grimly. Zipping upward, Starfire borrowed the technique that Robin had done yesterday -she was sure he would forgive her- in first driving her knee into the Warmaster's face, before winding one leg around the lizard-man's throat. But since she lack what he had explained to her was a ta-zor, she compromised - and gave it a proud Tamaranean touch.

Slapping the flat of her hand to the Warmaster's eye, she gritting her teeth, and poured all that she was into making her palm, and fingers, hotter than the molten rock that flowed within the the planet's core. The green light that was produced was brighter than a star, marking her victim with the memory of her people's pain. For it was a very specify mark she was branding him with. Three of her fingers, the ones the farthest away from her thumb, were as separated from her pointer finger as she could make them. Meanwhile, her pointer finger and thumb were raised up, until the burns that they would produced would be merely dots. This is for you Aunt Pri.

In the Ani tribe of Tamaran, this was a murderer's brand.

Now normally, it would be on the arm, or the shoulder, or chest -preferable over the heart. But this situation was anything but normal, and considering that Razor had threatened to remove Robin's eyes, Starfire found it hotly fair that the Warmaster ended up forfeited one of his own.

Razor was screaming bloody murder at this point...and oddly enough so was she, between her teeth, for reasons beyond her. The combined sound was unholy and terrible, it was like death.

But it didn't last for long - Starfire continued her branding for too long - and the hate she poured into it blinded her to her surroundings as surely as it would Superboy. She never saw it coming. Pain suddenly exploded in her middle, the Warmaster two fists slammed into her waist on opposite sides, with the fury of one crashing a poisoned bug. Gasping with the shock, she literally fell of his shoulders and into his hand.

With the fury of a berserker, Razor leapt upward with her still form clenched in his fist - and therefore struggling to breath. He soared almost towards the top of the obelisk monument, and with a few more jumps made it to the actual top, his feet keeping them anchor there. Despite the fact that he still had a rather large metal shred in his arm -and since he had made no move to remove it, Starfire would later think that she had punctured a major artery wit her daring move- the lizard-man brought the warrior girl high into the air, before he smashed her fail frame into monument's face. Again and again he did this, until the Shieldmaiden was sure that he meant to continued with this until he brought the obelisk down - and pounded her into nothingness. But while it hurt...the slamming didn't have the obliterating power behind it normally would.

Razor was tiring. And considering the day he was having, this was not surprising...

Silently, Starfire thanked Robin and Aqualad for helping to wear lizard man down. She gritted her teeth again. This is not how I will end.

The next time Razor slammed her into the obelisk, Starfire stubbornly refused to be pulled away. With her flight, she strained to go forward, and with her starbolts, thrown behind her, she attempted to per-sway the Warmaster to release her. To judge from the scream that he issued when he finally did let go, Starfire would have been willing to bet that at least one of her 'bolts had hit his new burn.

Once free, the Shieldmaiden didn't waste a second. That last time Razor had smashed her into the obelisk, the force had blow a small hole through the wall -a hole just big enough for her hands to pyre bigger, and squeeze into. She heard Razor snarl behind her, and felt him grab at her as she slipped into the monument - so consequently, Starfire also heard the fabric of her chiton rip, as his talons tore a portion away from her back and side. But she paid that no mind.

The moment she was inside the obelisk, she found herself to be it what seemed to be a shrine of some sort, with black and white paintings lining the walls. She bolted for the tube lift, smashing down the doors and zooming down the shaft, spiting out blood from her mouth as she did so. And from the sound of it, the lizard man was right at her heels. She reached the bottom in no time, and was flying out the doors, bringing her escape around in one big circle.

But before she could decide on where to go or what to do next, a wizzzing sound reached her ears from behind her - instinctively, she tried whirled out of it's way, but her hair, which was rather knotted by this point, was skewered. With a gasp, Starfire realized that Razor had now remove the metal shred from his arm, and had thrown it at her like a javelin. And now she was pinned to the ground by her own hair. X'hal!

Without hesitating, she ripped her head away, and left a good chunk of her tresses behind as well. Throwing herself backwards, she dodged the kick that the Warmaster had aimed at her neck. Suddenly to tired to fly, Starfire back flipped away...and felt her hand brush against a cord of some kind.

On instinct, her hand closed around it.

Straightening, the Shieldmaiden brought her fist up to examine her catch. And even on a battle field, her breath caught in her throat at the sheer beauty of the thing. It was a golden rope - no- it was a golden lasso. Like the kind landowners used on Tamaran, to herd domesticated gorbacks. But unlike the rough fibers that made up Tamaranean rope, these coils were soft - almost like the glimmer-silk of that dress she had been forced to wear.

She knew what it was, and to whom it had belonged to. This was the lasso of the inky haired woman - the one whom she was sure was Robin's mother. Back in the Cave, Starfire had admired, and been awed by, the skill that the warrior woman had wielded it with. And she had seen this rope do impossible things, stretched impossibly far, and hold creatures with the power to demolish buildings without breaking.

Slowly, her hands closed around it's lengths. Now there's a thought...


Y+J

When the Troq had forced her way out of his grasp, squirming into the obelisk like the worm she was, Razor's rage had know no bounds. The vilest of curses had flown from his mouth as he clawed his after her. Damn coward! Whoring Spawn! Infidel bitch! And those were the mild ones.

Curse her and every whore-spawn half-breed whelp!

How dare the little...who did she think she was? To burn -brand- a Gordanian Warmaster, who in every way her superior? To brand him with an infidel mark?! And then to scramble away from her just punishment - in the manner of kicked mutt?!

She was a disgrace to everything he held sacred. A threat to everything he had worked for. It was...it was all falling apart, before his very eyes. And not in any honorable way, by a sword or axe...but by words. Miserable pathetic words. From the moment she had open her siren's mouth, she had bewitched his troops, like the little demon she was. She had twisted everything. And by the gods...it had worked, the men had turned on him, their obedience...it was gone. And to have taken so long to slay one little Troq...was he a mutt, that he could be defeated by a half staved stick of a girl-child? His reputation was forever tarnished by this. And reputation was all a Warmaster had, to keep him from the abyss. No matter what the outcome of this battle was...he would be dead by this time next year, killed by rivals or sacrificed -and not to Mal-bal, but to Mo-loch. The one who took the blood of Gordanian weaklings.

He was undone...

But if he was undone, he would take that blast girl's blood with him to the grave! And after he had torn the Troq limb form limb, he would personally give the earthen heroes she had so loved deaths so unspeakable, that their screams would be echoing off Mal-bal's alter for centuries to come. That, surely, would enough for Bloody-score-Keeper to allow him to take his place among the gods where he belonged. He would see to it that he lived that long at least...at least...

It was these thoughts that ran through his mind as he chased after her, these thoughts that prompted him to pull the shred from him arm and hurl it at her. These thoughts that made him charge forward blindly, desiring nothing more than to relive her of her head. But once again, she slipped from his grasp.

He snarled again, and turned to see her back-flipping away, like a common dancing girl instead of a Royal Born Warrior. Ha, she even held a dancing cord in her miserable little hands. He did not bother to think of where she had gotten it. He suddenly had the great desire to throttle her with it.

"Why do you run from fate girl?" he hissed to her. "Lets end this nonsense. Come here, and I'll give your flesh to the birds and wild animals!"*

Her burning eyes flashed at that, and enraged him further to see the plain defiance on her face. In a mocking show, she flicked the shimmering cord in a wide circle around her, before tossing it back behind her with one hand, her other raised before her in an offensive gesture, her feet spread apart.

"If you want me, come and claimed me," she replied coldly. "If you can."

With that, all reason was gone for him. Insolent Wench!

With a roar, Razor flung forward, running at her on all four, his talons draw to their lengths, even while blood poured out from under his arm. And though he moved fast, time seemed to slow. And so, it seemed to him that the Troq threw the lasso at him in slowed down speed. He fought back a laugh as he straighten up. Really, this was the best the little wench could do? He moved to the side to avoided it...but the shinning cords seem to suddenly have a life of it's own. It caught him - twisted around him like a viper, pinning his arms to his side as he howled.

"WHAT SSSORCERCY IS THISSS!?" he bellowed, as the audience gathered above him screamed with glee - both the Gordanian's and the earthen whelps. But even as he snarled, as strange sensation was overcoming him, as the coils began to glow brighter...an...urge...to do the unthinkable...to yield.

"NEVER!" he hissed, enraged that this...this...devilry, could make something so entirely other enter his mind. Infuriated, he lasted out with his feet at the Troq, but again she took to the air, flipped out of the way, while dropping a few more loops of coils over him. Over and over she did this - darting around his limbs to further entangle him, and when he was thoroughly bound, she then processed to yank her end of the rope with all her strength, casing his withering form to come flying at her. And with a yell, she twisted in the air, so that the steel toes of her boots smashed into the festering burn of his eye. Smashed with such power that...the...world...went...

Dark.

It was over.


Y+J

It was over, the Shieldmaiden thought in amazement. It was over. She had...won. She had won. Her friends, this world...they were safe.

She had won. And she was still alive. X'hal...even the Warmaster was alive. And not even that bothered her at the moment.

If that was not a miracle then nothing was, she thought, almost giddily. Like the time Ry had slipped Fom ale into her drink without telling her, on her twelve birthday. She was alive...she would live to see her people again. To truly live her life again. To enjoy freedom again.

But first things first. She had to make it official. Lowering herself back to the ground, she stumbled a little, but managed to remain up right. She marched her way to Razor's still form. Placing one boot on his head, Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran raised her glowing fist high into the air for all to see.

"GORDANIANS," she screamed in the Earthen tongue. "PEOPLE OF THIS EARTH! KNOW THAT MAL-BALGOR IS COMPLETE! I HAVE WON. SO YOU ARE FREE!"

And even here in this open field, her advanced hearing could pick up the cheers that erupted at that statement. And for a moment, she allowed herself to be...happy. And she allowed herself to dream...as a victor of Mal-bal, she had the full right of a Gordanian, as odd as that sounded. First and foremost, she would order the release of her boys and their parents. Then, in no uncertain terms, she would tell the lizards to put this planet behind them. And never look back.

And then...and...then.

And then Razor stirred beneath her foot.

She would have been lying to say that didn't make her pulse speed up again, with renewed panic. Oh X'hal. But outwardly, she forced her features to remain a mask of victory. But her hand still tightly held her end of the lasso as she stepped off the Warmaster's head, and glared down at him.

All tussled up as he was, Razor was almost unrecognizable from the War Lord that had tormented her people for so long. So very, very long...and blinking, that made Starfire realize something. Razor was...old. So very, very old. He was in his eighths century, long past a Gordanians male's prime. He had been Tamaran's bane in her father's time. And her Granfather's time, and in all those years, had manage to kill a great many of her family. His one goal in life had always been their annihilation.

But what had all those years accomplished for him? Hum? Yes Tamaran was for the moment conquered - at least partly. (And it didn't help much that even the free part could be under the control of her sister.) But she had been conquered before, and had always managed to free herself. Yes...many of her family was dead...but she was alive. One day, X'hal willing, she would have children. Sons and daughters to carry on her blood and her stories.

In nearly a thousand years of life...Razor had truly accomplished...nothing. And Starfire was not ignorant of what she had just done to him, in defeating him. Such disgrace would be his death, sooner than later. And he would have no one to mourn for him what that violent time came. Just as he had no one to rejoice with through-out his life...the Warmaster was not like the heroes of earth; he had no son of his own, either by blood or apprenticeship, to pass on his memoirs and battle knowledge.

Razor was not only old, not only done for...he was utterly alone. Like a star dying, and becoming a black hole.

While she didn't -couldn't- go so far in saying that she pitied him, or that she regretted what she had done...she could certainly empathy with the wild emotion flashing in his eyes -err eye. No sentient being wanted to think, at the end of their life, that they had made no lasting impact with the time that was given to them. A few generations from now, Starfire was quite sure no one would know Razor had even existed.

Razor seem to know that as well. And it made him wild. He snarled, spat, and trashed against the ropes that bounded him - truly it was a marvel of a weapon. Bleeding at the mouth, he looked at her with such raw hate, it was a wonder she didn't vaporized then and there.

"Why do you wait Troq?" he demanded to know on a soft voice.

Starfire blinked. "What?"

"Why do you withhold the kill blow? Even now, in victory, are you to weak to end the life of the defeated?"

She stilled at that. Everything stilled at that. The pods that held the Gordanian hordes were over their heads now. And she considered it...she honestly considered it...after all, was it not just? Was she not, as a Tamaranean Princess allowed to passed judgment? She had branded him a murderer...and it was certainly true. And had she not just spent most of this battle prepared and willing to kill him?

Yes...yes she had. And if she hadn't come across this golden lasso, she would have stopped at nothing trying to accomplish it. Because by his death, the things she was fighting for, her friends, their home, their freedom...would live. That was what a Shieldmaiden did. They shed blood to protect one's home, and those of others. And for no reason other.

I will never kill for pleasure. I am not like you...

...One day...one day, the time might come when she would end a life, to protect all she held dear. Starfire acknowledged that, for she was not a naive child anymore. But the day when she would accept such spiritual defilement... was not today. Especially not for his shake, who only wanted to use her to avoid the justified scorn and justice of his people. To the Gordaians whom he had tricked and deceived, Razor still had much to answer for.

"No," she told the Warmaster. "You life is not mine to end."

Tilting her head upwards, she gestured to the hordes waiting above them. "It is theirs."

She thought she saw them grin. But Razor was not impressed. "You damned coward! You do not want to spoil your pretty little hands, so you give the task to another to do-"

"Careful Warmaster," she told him heatedly, her grip tightening on the lasso out in disgusted anger. "You're coming dangerously close to describing yourself. Who was it that arranged for Warmaster Ozx -your gods chosen superior to yourself- to meet an early end?"

She had spoken the question dryly, mockingly. She had't expected any answer other than a denial. So what happen next stunned her.

Razor's remaining eyes grew clouded, and unfocused, and when he spoke, it was in a distant, dreaming voice. "It was I. I arranged for Ozx's death."

Starfire's eyes nearly left her sockets, and overhead, the lizards in their pods let a shrill screech at the admitted blasphemy. They clawed at their own faces, drawing blood to appease their gods. The warrior girl, for her part, was wondering if Razor had gone mad...why would he admit that? Didn't he know that it was death? Why-

But in her hand, the shimmering coils suddenly flashed, lovely, intoxicating, seductive.

...Suddenly, she thought that this rope held more secrets than she had previously thought. She didn't question it. But to test her theory, she gave it a sharp tug, and brought Razor to attention.

"How did you do it?" she demanded to know.

"I meet with the Troq Komand'r. She arranged for her rebels to slay him." was the answer.

More screaming.

"Why did you do it?"

"Because he was weak, and I was strong."

"Did you not think that your gods were right, in putting him over you?"

"No, I did not."

And that was the straw that broke the gorback's back. From their pods, the lizards leapt upon their one time Warmaster; beating him, slashing him, tearing at him with their bare hand. Ten of them pulled him it separate directions...and pulled him apart. A limb here, a chunk there...the top of his head way over there. Starfire did nothing, and merely stood still. It wasn't her place to intervene in another culture disturbing of justice. She had merely brought him to it.

Slowly, she let out her breath. Now...now it was over.


Reviews make me happy so tell me what you thought and i'll update sooner.

From the moment I started writeing this story in 2014, I planned to have Starfire beat Razor with the Lasso of Truth...in every sense of the world. After all the thing is an allegory for feminine charm and the compliant effect it has on people. the lasso produces truth - and by implication justice and freedom too. Did any of you see that coming?

But how was the rest of the battle? I did a lot of research on the Washington monument.

And how did you like her reasoning for not killing Razor? But her knew understanding that she can take life, if she has to?

Also, sorry for late update. I'm in collage now so that has to come first.