Unexpected: III

Starfire woke up that morning in her usual state of cheer, though her eyes retained a dream-like fogginess and her smile was more relaxed than it normally became by the afternoon. Yawning gently as she rose from bed, the young alien floated to the window to check the time. Though her friends kept clocks by their bedsides, Tamaraneans always kept time by the planet's celestial beings, finding them more reliable than a handful of symbols that could be changed at will. Besides, one did not always have a clock at hand, but the suns, stars and moons were always in sight.

Seeing the Earth's only sun still climbing up from the east and noting the pale, almost periwinkle state of the sky, Starfire decided it was sometime after the seventh hour of the day. Specifically, she would name it as 7:16 A.M. and she figured that gave her plenty of time to do her morning stretches before her fellow titans woke up.

Breathing in deeply, Starfire proceeded to flex and stretch each of her muscles as she did every morning to keep her body relaxed and "ready for action". Who knows what terrors and trials she and her friends would have to face today? Yesterday they had faced the Hive Five…

And all of sudden, her head was completely consumed with thoughts of the Five's only female: Jinx. Starfire thought on all that had occurred between the two of them yesterday, head tilting to the side subconsciously as she brought her arms above and over her head to stretch her triceps.

The titan knew from past experience that Jinx was a naturally flirtatious girl and that she teased nearly everyone she fought with, sometimes even going so far as to involve bystanders in her "fun". However, as the street had begun to crumble and the sorceress had fallen, Starfire had gotten a glimpse at what she believed was hidden behind the coyness and that ever-present grin. She'd seen those pink, cat-like eyes fill with fear… and then she'd seen what had been perhaps the most curious collection of human emotions the Tamaranean princess had ever seen. Surprise, relief, confusion, embarrassment, curiosity…

Starfire was curious herself. Why had she saved Jinx? She hadn't even thought about doing it really, her body had just reacted. All she remembered was a flash of pink, the street crumbling, and then all of a sudden she had the girl in her arms. She did remember a scream though, and maybe that was when her body reacted. Her powers were based on emotion after all, fearing for the girl's life may have put her in what Cyborg would call "auto-pilot," but that raised a whole other round of questions. Why had she feared for the girl's life? Robin had been thrown into the sewers and lived, Starfire knew this. And Robin… why had she not saved him? He was her friend, surely she should have feared for his life more than her enemy's…

It was too early in the morning for such complex thought. Though her stretches had rejuvenated her body, Starfire's head was still not quite up to par.

'Maybe Friend Raven is awake; I should make sure she is alright regardless, for Cyborg did say she could have suffered a concussion. Maybe she would like to meditate with me; it should help both of our heads.'

She opened the windows to let in the crisp morning air, then left her room and headed off towards Raven's. The morning had not yet grown strong enough to reach the corridors of the tower; the hallway was still dim and possessed that empty quality most inhabited buildings did every morning. Beast Boy and Cyborg would still definitely be sleeping; Robin might be awake but if he was he probably wouldn't leave his room until he was sure someone else was up.

Starfire smiled as she thought of Robin; the solemn young man may give off an air of solitude, but the truth was he really did hate to be alone. This had become apparent sometime after he freed himself of Slade's grasp; he never again isolated himself from the other titans and always shared his concerns and conspiracies with his teammates. It was part of the inner child in him that made him bearable for the other titans, and endearing for Starfire herself.

Soon enough she found herself at Raven's door, and after knocking gently several times she waited for a moment for a response. With none forthcoming, she knocked again, slightly louder this time. This time her knocking was reciprocated with sounds of moaning and cloth shifting, then slightly unsteady footsteps.

The door opened a fraction to reveal what was still a half-asleep Raven, bed hair and all. And was that a slight trail of drool at the corner of her mouth? Giggling slightly, Starfire smiled warmly at her teammate. "Good morning, Friend Raven. I am sorry for waking you, but I thought maybe I should, what with your head injury and all. Do you wish to be left alone? I can tell by your… current state you were still deep in sleep when I knocked."

When Raven raised an eyebrow, mumbling back "current state" with a curious tone, Starfire giggled again and motioned to the side of her own mouth. Raven's eyes widened slightly before she wiped vigorously at the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand. Pale cheeks turned pink at the sound of Starfire's laughter, and the telepath sighed before opening the door all the way and retreating back into the darkness.

"I don't really fall back asleep once I've been embarrassed, so you might as well come in. Want tea?" Starfire nodded happily and Raven moved to the small stove she'd had Cyborg install in her room so she could make herself tea when she didn't feel like going to the kitchen. If she had paid him to do it, she would have called it a great investment, because she used it all the time.

"The usual fine?"

"Of course!" The two girls had gotten quite close over the years; after some minor misunderstandings had been righted and some ground rules laid out, they got along famously. Starfire may have been too eager to make new friends and Raven was perhaps too wrapped up in her fear of her own emotions when they first met, but now that the both of them had mellowed out they were the best of friends. Each went to the other with their more personal problems, and because each of their powers were controlled by emotion they understood each other.

When the tea was done, the two sat in comfortable silence, Starfire waiting for Raven to fully wake up before venturing into conversation.

"So, your head is alright? Cyborg had all of us quite worried yesterday, myself especially. We do not have concussions on my planet; they sound quite horrible!"

Raven smiled even as her eyes remained closed. "Yeah, they're no walk in the park. Yesterday I was nearly incoherent, it was awful. The tea helps though, as does Cyborg's little… 'alarm clock'. I use the word 'help' very loosely." When Starfire looked confused, Raven pointed to the small device that rested on her bedside table. It was a little version of Cyborg himself, wearing a lab coat and nurse's hat. Underneath the time there was a little panel that read "Doctor Cyborg's Concussion Clock".

Starfire's spirits fell when she realized she'd woken Raven up for nothing. "So, I did not need to-"

Raven seemed to sense what she was about to say; her eyes widened and she put a hand out in protest. "No! No, I appreciate it, really! It was much better waking up to you than that annoying little…" Trailing off, the telepath blushed as she realized what she said, and blushed darker still when Starfire beamed at her. Sipping her tea to cover herself, she searched desperately for something to say that would rectify the situation.

"Even though the clock didn't care if I was drooling…"

Raven mentally high-fived herself as Starfire's smile quickly changed to a look of horror as she defended herself, claiming she didn't care if Raven drooled either but thought that she would want to know should one of the boys see it later.

"Besides, it is a… a sign that your sleep was deep and restful!" And she would have gone on, had Raven not laid a hand on her arm and told her it was just a jest, all in good fun.

"I was just kidding Star, let's go get breakfast. Just putting this out there though, you're not cooking." Starfire smiled sheepishly and rose, offering a hand to her friend, who took it and rose with her. Starfire took the mug from her friend's other hand, and Raven retrieved her cloak. The dark young teenager tossed it over her shoulders, but decided to leave the hood down as she gazed fondly at Starfire out of the corner of her eye.

She had been serious when she'd said she much preferred waking up to Starfire than that annoying clock.

Jinx dodged a punch and delivered one of her own to the training drone, smirking as it flew backwards and bounced off the wall. The padding that coated it served two purposes: protecting the hands of those that used it (after all, no matter how strong the teen villains were, metal beats bone every time), and providing a cushion to protect the drone should it find itself being beaten to a pummel by one of the Five… technically six. The Five weren't made of money, not yet. They couldn't afford to build new drones every day, for that would surely be how quickly they would need replacements.

She'd been at this for hours; she hadn't even stopped to grab lunch, for which her stomach continually berated her. She couldn't help herself. She just needed to punch something, and she didn't feel she was ready to stop. So she continued to kick, dip, and duck, deliver punches and drive the drone into a corner, beating it thoroughly until she bounced back a few feet to let it get its bearings.

The young sorceress had woken up in a mood most foul, probably because she knew she'd spent the whole night dreaming… but she couldn't remember a single thing she'd dreamed about. She only got the faintest notion that she'd been chasing something, and failed to catch it.

"Hey, take it easy. Keep this up and that thing's gonna explode or something." Out of the corner of her eyes, Jinx saw Seemore leaning against the wall, but then she had to duck down to avoid a mechanical left-hook. She answered with a swift kick to the drone's jaw, and the poor, abused hunk of metal hit the ground with a clang. It then proceeded to explode, smoke billowing out from within the shell of padding as bits of metal flew everywhere, one slicing Jinx's cheek as it rocketed by.

"OW! Shit…" Seemore rolled his eyes and immediately retrieved the First Aid kit.

"Told you so." Jinx hissed as he applied the disinfectant spray, and waved away the proffered band-aid, scowl still on her face. She didn't much care about the scratch; she was just miffed her training dummy was toast. Now how was she going to relieve her anger?

"Hey, don't look at me! I'm not about to fight you when your face screams, 'I'm pissed and I'm gonna rip your throat out'. It's your fault that thing's toast, and boy Gizmo's gonna be mad!"

Jinx opened her mouth to retort, but before she could Gizmo's voice rang out over the loudspeaker.

"No he's not! She's been going at that thing for days now, it's time was up. But it doesn't matter! Guess what's hidden over at Warehouse 16 on the West Port?" Jinx and Seemore looked at each other for a moment, then back at the speaker. "An entire collection of ancient crowns and jewels! Expensive royal crap, ripe for the picking! I'll be able to build an entire army of those training drones!"

Jinx's lips twitched upward in a half-smile, while Seemore whistled and began to rub his hands together enthusiastically. "Sounds good to me! So when we gonna strike?"

"Tonight, barf-brain. They're shipping it out tomorrow morning, but since it's only been there for a few hours security stinks. They don't even know we know; they probably figure they don't need to defend something no one's gonna know to go after."

Jinx's smile bloomed into a full-on grin. "How convenient for us. Give me an hour to make myself presentable, even though I look better in sweats than those idiots do in their fancy-schmancy uniforms."

Soon the Hive Five were off, heading off to the warehouse some time after ten after Gizmo gave the rest of the guys a basic run-down of where the few security guards should be and what crates hosted their treasure. It was a quiet night; the stars were out and Jump City seemed to have called it quits for the day. For this Jinx was thankful; her head was still a little clouded and she was still in a bad mood, which had been noted by each of her teammates. They were all keeping their distance, a reaction that had been beaten into them by their leader whenever she was angry or wanted to be left alone.

When they arrived at the warehouse, Jinx barely stopped to catch her breath before striding right up to the front door. Gizmo had planned to dispatch the guards himself with a quick-dispersing knock-out gas, but she was feeling rather hands-on tonight. With a snap of her fingers, the massive doors collapsed in on themselves, and the wreckage fell to the ground with a crash. Sauntering in, she only faintly noted the threats made by the handful of security guards, eyes seeking out the crates Gizmo had said contained the collection of gems and jewelry. They'd been placed at the far end of the warehouse, well within sight of the entryway, which was both good and bad news.

The good news was transport would be a hell of a lot easier than they'd previously thought, but the bad news was it would be so much easier for reinforcements to put them in an awkward situation.

The sound of gunfire ceased her thought process as her instincts took over. Ducking down under the blasts, a quick casting sent all of their guns haywire. The devices sparked and flashed as the guards dropped them, and unfortunately when her boys moved in most of their owners were out before they hit the ground.

"Good job, boys."

"Yeah well, maybe if you'd waited like I told you to-" Jinx sent a threatening glance Gizmo's way as she brushed some rubble off her shoulder. When the young genius shut his mouth, she set off in the direction of the crates.

"Well, we got them didn't we? And the jewels are as good as ours; just get your transport bots ready." Another snap of her fingers, and the top of the first crate flew off, revealing the treasures within. Sticking her hand in blindly, the young villainess retrieved a beautiful emerald necklace. As she gazed into the sparkling, shining green gems, she gasped.

Suddenly she had the wildest notion that there had been a pair of green eyes in her dreams the previous night, and as that thought entered her head she heard a crash from behind her. Turning, she was furious to see one of Gizmo's transport bots being blown apart by Cyborg's sonic cannon.

The titans were here.

'But wait…' Jinx's head began to grow clear; the fog was lifting and her bad mood was quickly replaced by a sense of anxiousness and excitement. 'That means that she's here…'

"Please put down the necklace, Jinx. It does not belong to you."

Turning back, she saw Starfire, floating above the crate; her eyes and hands alight with Starbolt energy. She had a no-nonsense look on her beautiful face, and Jinx smiled, chuckling as she did what she was told. Starfire apparently was not expecting her to listen, as her mouth dropped down in shock when Jinx laid the necklace back down in the box.

Jinx looked up at the young alien, bright pink eyes taking in every detail. The sounds of battle engaging between the titans and the Hive Five echoed around them, but Jinx ignored them as she placed a hand on her hip and cocked her head.

"Hey babe."

Another chapter, done relatively quickly... for me at least. Honestly, that whole scene with Raven was not planned, it just happened.

Anyone else smell a love triangle?

Expect action and flirting in the next chapter, and the few after that. We won't get serious for a while yet, but when we do be prepared to love it just as much as you love the flirty, fun stuff! Hopefully...

Be sure to review! It literally makes me grin like an idiot.