Chapter completely inspired by Ultimatrix bearer thank you! Remember I am going a little loose compared to canon, but I got this idea off of one of their highly appreciated comments. Please comment so I can draw inspiration from you as well. Happy New Year!
The Tsunami alarms roared before ours did, it was not a common sound we heard on this side of the Pacific, but the call from sea was unignorable. Fortunately, Aqualad was ready on his communicator to provide insight on what had triggered the censors.
"I have bad news and I have worse news. It wasn't an earthquake." He said on the main screen. He had chosen to use the face time feature of his communicator which me and Raven enjoyed most of the time. Sadly, his face was wrinkled with worry his tone was grave. "It fell from the sky and hit with a bang so the wave is going to hit hard the Tower will feel it."
"It?" Robin asked he was standing next to me and was already devising plans in his head by the hitch in his jaw.
"That's the worse news, I might not be the ultimate source of extraterrestrial life, but I am certain that whatever fell is likely a Kryptonian with its ability to survive atmosphere reentry without a suit and has not needed to breathe. I don't have an identification though it's blond man and he looks quite unhappy. He is moving a bit slower than Superman, so you have that going for you, but he's going straight to Jump."
"Fuck." Cyborg muttered and my seven stomachs all dropped with the fact that we would be in for a big threat. All the multilevel buildings would need to be immediately evacuated.
"Thank you Aqualad, we will do our best to evacuate everyone we can. Stay safe yourself, we need whatever you can do to help. Though please don't engage."
"I'll do my best, good luck Titans." He said before hanging up and vanishing from the screen. Cyborg immediately stepped in and brought up a map showing expected ETA. He was moving under the waters' surface, so he was moving much slower than flight, but we had about 40 minutes.
"Any chance we can call in the Big Guy to handle this?" Beast Boy asked as he prepared his serious threat tweet and social media post.
"Superman is off world, unfortunately so that method is off the table." Robin said and his pacing took a more serious rate. He pushed the full city evacuation button and I saw a red stripe appear on the screen as every device received a similar message to report to bombing centers and avoid the shore.
"Doesn't Batman have a supply of Kryptonite on deck just for such a scenario?" Cyborg asked as he started to load extra arms into his shoulder.
"He does, but he did not pick up my call." Robin said and started to engage the towers tsunami shields.
"Can you get it yourself?" Raven asked erupting from her quick moment of deep concentration. "Do you know where it is?"
"Yeah, but I can't get there in time with all this scramble." He said and then the screen beeped and showed he had twenty minutes till he hit the shore. He would be here before most of the people could properly evacuate. He needed to be slowed down.
"He has increased speed." Cyborg said. "Rob it's worth a shot."
" I can purchase you more time." I said speaking up for the first time. I might not be fully capable of equaling a Kryptonian in abilities, but I was capable of putting up more of a fight than the rest of my teammates. With one not fully trained to earth I would have some semblance of an advantage.
" No Star do what you can with the evacuations, none of us stand a chance so try and not engage until we have the kryptonite. I don't want you hurt. Raven can your portal with me to Gotham?"
"Yes, let's go." She said and a portal opened up in the living room.
"Stay safe Titans." Robin said and squeezed my hand before walking through the swirling mass of black with Raven.
The screen once again jumped to a new ETA of nine minutes. This was not close to enough time for people to evacuate even the buildings.
" The streets are going to be a challenge. We need to figure out a way to actually help." Cyborg said and turned to Beast boy who was shifting into different forms looking for a good form to help.
"I shall drop you off at the main centers, but the citizens need time to get out." I said and rushed off to my room. I had some impact absorbing armor I had I my closet I had never had the need for until now. I put it on quickly like I had been trained. It would help me not take the full force of blows along with provide a few weapons. I probably should not of wasted the precious moments, but I drafted a quick message to Jay.
Get Out of the City Be Safe 3
He started typing, but I could not wait for his response. I whispered an old prayer to Xhal and felt my hair catch fire with my powers fully exerting. I kept my physical manifestation repressed except in major battles since they were a hazard to my teammates
"Star, we need to go now. It's now or never." Cyborg said and I left my room and quickly grabbed him taking off for the nearest evac zone since we would be contending with a Tsunami and a level 5 alien threat. Beast Boy had taken off for a different zone in falcon form.
"I agree with what you're doing, but don't get yourself killed. You are needed here."
"I will be the okay, friend. Though I will be a hero first." I said as I released him before turning back for the ocean. I knew he would land on his feet, so I did not hang back to watch. My hope was that I would be able to communicate with him and try and see what they wished to achieve, I was sure he was a threat, but intention did matter. I made it to the beach before he emerged and waited to see a point that he would surface at. The water started to retract back into the sea as a wave grew back revealing him. I swooped in and stopped a few meters in front of him. He looked extremely Terran, but he walked with a confidence that I knew. The confidence to destroy worlds with your bare hands and a whim. He was attractive in most standards with blond hair, blue eyes, and a lean body. He was shorter than I was, but that would not a determiner of strength. I sank to a knee before him since that was a universal sign of wishing to not fight. I knew my armor signaled me as a threat, but I hoped my action communicated my intention to speak. He stopped a mere foot from me and raised my chin. He spoke in a Vegan language that I knew, but he wasn't proficient in it. I decided to raise my lips to his and he accepted the language transfer. I spoke in Kryptonian:
"Welcome to Earth, sir how may I assist you. They call me Starfire here"
"I am called Kour Vol. Tamaranian you are far from home. I have come to rule, the one who was here before has vacated and I seek to fill his place."
" He who was here before did not rule. Earth is a sanctuary, not a kingdom. I take advantage of its safety and freedoms."
" Then it has needed a King for a while now, pretty girl I will fill it and if you assist me I shall reward you."
He looked at my form and leered. It made his face much less attractive, yet he still held my face, so I decided not to try and break away.
"I apologize that cannot happen under my watch, sir. I and others have sworn to protect this world from harm. You have already created some." I motioned my head towards behind his back. The Tsunami wave had come right behind us and was about to break over us. He had loosened his grasp and looked. I flew up so the weight of water would not disorient me as it crashed. I hoped that the Tsunami alarms had at least warned early enough and that the citizens had cleared out of the way. It hit the on-beach tourist shops and kept going. Unfortunately, my eyes were not where they needed to be, a hand emerged from the harsh wave and grabbed my ankle. I was yanked into the water and grappled with Kour Vol for freedom. I ended up pulling him out of the water with me, but quickly tried to force him back away from the city. He grabbed my leg in a way I knew he could break it and I stilled.
"Starfire, while I appreciate your ability to speak my mother tongue, do not mistake that I will dispose of you if you get in my way."
"I understand." I quickly said before shooting my eyebolts at his fingers. It must have stung since he released my leg and I shot up in the sky trying to get him to chase. It worked since he was following me out of the city, but I did not keep my lead for long and he grabbed my hair. I upped the temperature and he was forced to release it. I shot out my fist to nab him in the jaw. He shifted out of the way and let out a laugh. He released a breath and the water beneath us froze to a solid iceberg. He swooped down and chucked the mound of ice at me, which hurt when it made contact with my stomach. I shifted strategies and just tried to be evasive of his grabs and shots. Each moment away from the city was another moment Robin and Raven could have and a citizen could find safety.
He was still intent on catching me which was starting to get concerning since I was barely able to escape his grasp. I had landed a few kicks and hits, but so had he. My armor had made it, so the blows weren't as serious, but I was one bad hit from being taken out of commission. There was noise coming from my communicator, but I could not focus well enough on hearing it since we were going in and out of the water. My armor had deflected his laser eyes, but it had caused holes. He had dipped in the water and I had lost eyes on him until he sprung up and full force head butted me. It disoriented me and he took advantage of his sneak attack to fully capture me with both his arms. He flew back to the city keeping his grip tight around both my arms. I did not struggle as I did not have a good enough angle. I briefly considered biting him but knew that would not actually be painful.
"Need more time." Was Raven's voice coming out of my communicator. He did not understand the language, but he shifted his hand to take it off my waist and crush it to bits. I used his shift to whip my foot in a very hard arch into his crotch. He might be Kryptonian, but a man was a man. He released me and curled into a ball of pain as he fell back into the water. We were much too close to the shore. I caught my breath and extended the spikes from my armor so grabbing me would not be less of an option. I did not know how much time they needed but I would do my best to get them that time.
Kour Vol emerged from the water angrier and wilder than ever. I blocked his first punch, but he nailed my left eye with his next hit and knocked me all the way to land on a luckily evacuated street. A Honda civic broke my fall. Though I didn't get a chance to get up and since Kour Vol was quickly on top of me with his hands on my throat. My neck brace had extended spikes, so it was not easy to strangle me as was the design, but with a solid punch to the center of my throat it shattered and winded me in the same motion. He began to strangle me, and I felt panic fill me as I grabbed his hands and summoned energy to throw him off. Oddly I felt more strength and his hands slackened a degree in surprise. I did not hesitate to nail him in the gut and face. With me not restraining my strength he got thrown into a bank a few blocks away. When he emerged again a large red X landed at his feet and exploded into an engulfing mass of expanding foamy goop. He was here! I quickly looked around and spotted him on a rooftop.
"Go!" I shouted at the top of my lungs as lasers emerged out of the goo and a sticky Kryptonian emerged back again looking for the culprit. I shot a volley of imploding Starbolts to get his focus on me. It worked as he threw part of the bank wall at me. It exploded by my Starbolts before hitting me, but the dust gave him cover to grip my hand and flip me on back hard, before yanking me back to him. He was cautious to only touch my armor which was unfortunately still covered in spikes in most areas. He was more sluggish, so I grabbed his face and drew his energy into me. He threw me away from him quickly realizing what I was doing, but it was too late. I untucked my extending staff from my impact gauntlet and let the Okarran Warlord training flood my instincts. He was not trained in combat well, not even close to my extent and overly relied on his strength. His strength that I had siphoned. It did not take long before I had subdued him at the other end of my staff on the ground in my shadow blocking all other ultraviolet rays he could hope to find charge in. I was about to convert my staff into a spear ready to pierce his newly vulnerable neck when a black portal appeared in front of me. Robin raced out at full speed with what I assumed were Kryptonite grenades. He stopped a moment to take in the scene as Raven exited as well with her hands swathed in her power.
"Starfire…." Robin said and my concentration broke momentarily as I exited my warrior state to my earthen behavior. Kour Vol leaned his head back and fired lasers with his eyes back at Raven. Luckily before they could make contact she was teleported away. I slammed my blunt staff into his throat forcing his eyes on me. I began to mutter wildly in Kryptonian about what I would do to him if he did not relent, starting with skinning him alive balls first. He glared at me but nodded. I removed the staff but engaged the spear. I motioned with my chin for Robin to deploy a Kryptonite grenade. He did so, and Raven was teleported back. I meet Red X's eyes hopefully through the mask and mouthed thank you. He gave the two-finger salute and vanished. I shouldn't have smiled, but one made it's way on my lips.
"I'm glad we grabbed the Kryptonite laced handcuffs." Raven said removing them from her cloak. While Kour Vol was still coughing I ordered him to place his hands behind his back. He resisted and I smashed his extended hand with my boot, hard. He quickly drew his hand back and followed orders, bones in his index fingers obviously broken. My face was in a snarl until I heard the click from the cuffs as Robin secured them. I let the plasma blade retract and my staff returned to a small bar that I could brace against my forearm. I felt my violent nature recoil when I saw the expression on Robin and Raven's face. They were scared, scared of me..
"His name is Kour Vol, he likely was part of the nobility since he is not a trained warrior and believed he had the right to rule over the planet." I spoke communicating what information I had gathered from our interaction. His mentioning of keeping me indicated he likely had owned slaves before, which put him in a wealthy status.
"I'll make sure to include that in the report. With him neutralized I'll contact The League, I'm surprised they didn't interfere already, but I guess he wasn't as big of a threat as anticipated." Robin said going back to leader mode. It was relieving to have him regain that posture.
Raven didn't say anything, but I knew she would likely ask questions when she assisted in healing later today. She had recognized Red X's assistance, but I was unsure if she had detected his connection with me.
"I shall stay here with him until the League comes." I said unbudgingly to let him try anything against my friends.
"Raven please do a check on Cyborg and Beast Boy. I haven't seen the tsunami damage, but the Kryptonian threat is neutralized. I'm going to stay with Star."
" Please take these then." She relinquished a variety of kryptonite tipped weapons into Robin's hand from her cape. She looked me over once more accessing my armors damage. "Nothing too painful, Star?"
"I shall manage, friend." I let my voice slip into my normal joyous tone in a hope that it would ease some of her worry. She nodded and flew off. Portaling took a significant chunk of her energy so I understood.
"Careful, he is weakened, but he is spiteful and angry still. Though he seems to believe that I will compromise his manhood if he continues." I spoke in a warmer manner to Robin before sending a snarl down to the prisoner. I hurt from the battle, but I did not want him to sense any weariness from me.
"You know Kryptonian? Oh right of course lip contact. I will not discuss this now, but we will need to have a serious talk when we get to the Tower." Robin said and twirled a Kryptonite tipped batarang on his fingertip. I knew that I had gone against his orders and he was concerned with my actions.
"I understand, Robin. I am sorry, but I did what was needed." I said and let some softness enter my voice with my apology. Kour Vol smirked at my voice change and demure stance. He muttered a comment about my virtue, and I frowned at him.
"What did he say?" Robin asked curious.
"He called me what is the English equivalent of a whore with weak knees." I said bluntly annoyed at this name calling.
"Ah I see a great source of noble behavior and manners. At least Superman has more manners." Robin said and released another Kryptonite grenade. I was grateful he was at least on my side.
"That was not necessary, but I am grateful you did it." I gave him a smile.
"I do believe that was necessary, to subdue the prisoner's aggressive attitude." Robin said and smiled back. It was nice to see this side of him before he yelled at me for insubordination later today. I did a quick scan for Red X but found none.
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When the prisoner was secured and found on an intergalactic wanted list I flew Robin back to the tower trapeze style. We hadn't had done this in a while, but we didn't think the T bridge was operational and the other Titans had already gone home. I knew that Robin enjoyed this way of transport so hopefully that would play into how awful my lecture was going to be. The levy had held well and prevented major home and commercial damage. Overall the damage was minimal to the expected projections. The Tsunami shield was down, and I took us to the main room. I had tucked my gauntlets into my skirt so he wouldn't get pierced by the spikes, so I quickly made a pile of my other spiky armor on the island. My chest plate was not going to salvaged, but my reinforced boots were intact though my left had what I could assume was a groin dent.
A spider monkey came through the kitchen and gave me a big hug. Beast boy shifted back, but I had wrapped my arms from him and let him dangle midair for a moment. I released him onto the island careful not to impale him.
"Oh my God Star while I love the porcupine impression, you are hella scary in it. You are truly fire mama."
"I'm glad you like the look, but I agree It is excessive with most situations. "I said lighting my hair up again and extinguishing it. "Are you guys okay?"
"Yeah levies held, and you handled the Alien Frat Boy so me and Cyborg are good. Raven passed out though sounds like she had to do some crazy portaling to get the Kryptonite out of the Batcave."
"Batman is a little paranoid with security, and the antimagic wards were hard to break." Robin said and looked a little sheepish. "I wasn't expecting him to have wiped my prints. Though that's Batman the worst surprises even worse timing."
I laughed at his joke and realized that might not be the best move since his attention was back on me. We had to have a talk.
"Beast Boy can you tell Cyborg that the villain destroyed my communicator and I need a new one." I asked giving him a way out. I wanted to stay in the common room, so it was more open, and I feel less trapped.
"Sure thing, Star." He said reading the room, but he made a detour to grab a snack.
"I have already voiced my apology, but I feel like I need to repeat it. I am sorry." I said and waited for his words to come.
" I know, you didn't hear I am learning, but I did ask for anytime we could get. I asked for you not to directly fight, but I guess you had some abilities I was left unaware of." He grabbed my retracted staff/spear and his hand fell at the weight until he dropped it near his foot. He seemed a little embarrassed when I stooped to pick it up and realized it was about the weight of the entire R-cycle.
"I cannot use those abilities most of the time, Robin. I am a trained warrior, but I am trained to kill. When I pick up this staff, it is not often that the person on the other end will walk away. I did today since I knew that I might be the only shot at slowing him down, either in communication or combat. I purchased you the time in both."
"Star you were excessive in your violence." He said and took a strand of my hair.
"He was excessive in his desire to own me." I made sure that Robin noticed my pause as I stared at his eyes. "He could take everything I handed to him and more. He was lucky you arrived, and I was lucky that he was so stupid or else he might have if you didn't make it in time or if you weren't able to get it."
"I still feel like there is so much you hide from us, Star. I mean you were a Princess and failed to mention that and now you are trained in a variety of weapons, but you are trained to kill so you don't use it. What else are you hiding?"
I really did not want to answer that question. I had only scratched the surface of my past and I did not feel like it would make things better to dive into that. I also did not feel like saying anything about my relationship with Jay since that was going awesome. I hope he got out of there, though I would have to do something special for him saving Raven. I decided to go a little bit deflection.
"Robin I have seen you almost every day for two years now and I still have never seen your eyes. My abilities I have to hold back everyday as well or else I will hurt people…bad. We both have to hide things to protect people. Our motivations are the same." I said and realized I still sounded cold. I took him into a hug, which he surprisingly returned.
"Robin, I hurt when you rejected me, but I understand your motivations well, much better now. I am grateful to have you as a friend." I felt him slouch a little bit against me.
"I am glad we are friends too, Star." He pulled back. "I think I am still over paranoid from when you were sick. I will try to remember what you're capable of which is apparently a lot. You single handedly took out a Kryptonian, Star that's crazy. "
"It was not easy." I pulled my normal neck guard to the side to show the bruises I felt on my throat. He immediately changed his demeanor and touched them in concern. "I got more marks than he did, unfortunately."
"I'll get Raven to heal those when she wakes up. I'm sorry Star. I'm so sorry we couldn't be faster."
"I shall heal, friend. I just am happy the city is safe. May I please get excused ?" I asked and pushed hair from my face that I knew had another bruise.
"Yeah, though I will have you fill out the report with me, I want to know what happened."
"Will Do, Robin." I said and grabbed my arm and headed for my room.
I immediately started to strip out of my uniform when I felt a presence in the room with me. Red X in costume was sitting on my bed and I decided to just keep going since it wasn't anything he had not seen before. I just wanted to get out of my ruined clothes and lie down.
"Oooh wasn't expecting a show cutie, though I guess I deserve it for being patient." He said and sprawled back hands behind his head. I hadn't turned on the light, so I knew my bruises weren't as prominent. I laughed and just continued to undress before lying next to him.
"You shouldn't be here, X. Especially now that Raven knows your out and about." I pulled up the bottom part of his mask to kiss him. "Thank you for what you did today. It was stupid, but super brave."
" I mean I have to match my badass girlfriend somewhat; you leave me in the dust." He ran his hands over my body until I flinched.
"Sorry, he got a few hits in."I said and moved his hand away from my neck.
"That blonde fuckwad, you should of punched his face more. Did you kiss him? I saw you speaking to him."
"Yes though you understand it was not romantic nor enjoyable." I said and felt him shift.
" I understand, Cutie. I just don't like random alien douchebags kissing my girl. I also don't like birdboy making moves either." Ah he was feeling the jealous.
"Handsome, no need to feel jealous. You know that Robin and I have established nothing beyond friendship. Though even if it was a competition, there is no competition who I'd chose." I said playing up his ego and gave him a deep kiss where I lightly bit his bottom lip how he liked. There was no way I would chose Robin over him after everything we had been through together. Jay treated me so wonderfully and made me feel like a person.
"You really say the right thing, Beautiful. It kinda makes me wanted to break in this super soft actual mattress bed. I might have to steal this as long as you're included." He started to kiss my body on every bruise he could find.
"What are you doing?" I asked feeling a little exposed and tender.
"Kissing you better." He said and kissed the one on my temple a few times.
"That is not how that works." I said and captured his mouth wishing I could have his whole face exposed.
"I know, but it makes me feel better. I wish I didn't have to see you so banged up."
"I will have Raven heal me this time. It is a little more severe to have bruises and tenderness in my bones though I got some good hits in too." I pulled on the robe Raven had gotten me to cover up my bruises.
"I really enjoy watching you fight dirty, Cutie. It is very sexy.." he said and dragged me on top of him. "You know what else is sexy.. that green dress that you haven't worn for me yet." I laughed.
"That was a surprise for our next date, of course you snooped. Anything I will be looking for?"
"Only your heart." He kissed me again and groaned. "When did you turn me into such a sap?"
" I like the sap." I said and went to get more of his handsome face exposed when a knock at my door sprung us apart.
"Star, please take off your uniform so I can see where you are hurt, though please take advantage of that Robe I got you for Christmas, please. Robin woke me up to heal you and I rather go back to sleep." It was Raven, a grumpy Raven.
Jay mouthed "To be Continued" before phasing away.