Anterian Ship

Prince Shalton approaches Starfire. Starfire cowers in fear. Shalton electrifies the stick in his hands and brings it near Starfire.

"Prince Shalton!" Juero runs up to Shalton.

"Juero!" Shalton stops his advancement. He turns his head and glares at Juero.

Juero sweats. "Um...I mean King Shalton..."

Starfire opens her eyes. "But you are not king..."

"I WILL BE SOON PRINCESS!" Shalton slaps Starfire. He turns his gaze back to Juero. "Tell me why did you interrupted me?"

Momentarily startled, Juero continues. "Huh? Oh! Pri...King Shalton, someone from Earth is trying to contact us!"

Shalton narrows his eyes. "If it is that Green Lantern...tell them I'm busy!" Shalton returns his gaze to Starfire.

"Its not the Justice League sir. The person trying to contact us is Blackfire."

"Sister?" Starfire looks up, still recovering from Shalton's slap. 'She is going to save me!'

Juero's comments stop Shalton in his tracks. His eyes widen at the mention of Blackfire. 'So, I'm finally going to talk to my future bride?' "I'm coming to the bridge." Shalton turns to one of the guards. "Take Starfire to Holding Bay 3. She can wait." Shalton walks to the bridge.

Bridge

Shalton pushes a button on his chair. Blackfire's image appears on the view screen. "It is so nice to finally get the chance to talk to each other, Blackfire."

Blackfire has a smug expression. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Skip the pleasantries. I heard that you want me. Given that I'm tired of 'beating up your soldiers', I'd like to know why you want me." Blackfire pauses for a second. "Whatever it is, it better be good." Blackfire crosses her arms.

Shalton sits back in his chair. "Well, I'd like to apologize for my harsh 'retrieval methods', but I also didn't expect this much resistance. Both from the Justice League, and from your friends."

Titan Tower

The device Blackfire found is hooked up to the computer in the main room. Shalton's face is on the main viewing screen.

"They are not my friends...not exactly." Blackfire glares at Shalton. "So, are you going to get to the point and tell me why you want me, or should I force you to apologize for ruining my hair?"

"Hm. Fiesty woman, I like that." Shalton rubs his chin. "Very well, I'll tell you. I want you to be my side. And come to my coronation as King of Anteria, you will be my queen!"

Blackfire couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Oooooookay. So, you couldn't ask me nicely if I'd accept? Besides, I'm not even a princess. Starfire..."

"Except I do not want a princess. I want you! As for why I didn't just contact you, well, you weren't exactly an easy woman to get into contact with. Especially with that 'Justice League' breathing down my neck." Shalton frowns. "Speaking of the 'Justice League,' even if I did somehow contact you and you accepted, it was hard enough getting the drop ships to the surface, I could not guarantee your safety." Shalton thinks for a bit. "Now that we finally have a chance to talk, I do have a one final proposal. You can fly to my ship alone. I can guarantee your safety once you reach our general vicinity."

Blackfire thinks a bit. 'Working out better then I thought.' "Hold it right there, I didn't say I accepted your first request. But so far, I see no reason to refuse. But, what if I do refuse?"

"Then this world will be destroyed with everything we have. Along with your sister." Shalton smirks.

"Bah. I don't care about this world." Blackfire arrogantly replied. "And I certainly don't care about my sister."

Cyborg holds back Raven who is grinding her teeth.

Shalton contemplates this. "I did hear that you and your sister had a falling out of sorts..."

Blackfire interrupts Shalton. "But living as a queen is certainly tempting!" Blackfire puts her hands on her cheek and pretends to be day dreaming her life with Shalton. She returns to her normal position before continuing. "Okay, sounds good. But I do have one proposal of my own to make."

"Name it." Shalton smirks.

"I'd like to bring the Teen Titans with me. As bodyguards." Blackfire pauses before continuing. "I also want you to keep Starfire safe until I get there and personally deal with her."

'She wants the Teen Titans to come. As Bodyguards?' Shalton frowns on this. "I thought they weren't your friends. Now you want them as your bodyguards?"

"Why not? I'm not exactly trusting of you given you little strike force." Blackfire puts her hands to her hips. "While they are not my friends, I'd certainly trust them more then you at the moment!"

Shalton begins to speak. "And your sister..."

"I don't want you to have all the fun." Blackfire frowns. "I have my own ways of dealing with her."

'Something is up about this. But they would be on my ship with my men. If they try any treachery, I can easily handle it here.' Shalton smirks. 'Besides, I will have my princess...or should I say, queen here.' "Okay, your terms are acceptable. Starfire will be safe when you get here..."

"Uh eh. I said UNTIL I get there AND deal with her myself." Blackfire narrows her eyes.

"Perceptive." Shalton smirks. 'I think I'm going to love her.' "Okay, until you get here and deal with her personally, she will not be harmed. I'm also allowing your 'bodyguards' to come too. See you soon future Queen of Anteria." Shalton's image disappears.

Anterian Ship

"Blackfire and these 'Teen Titans' are definitely up to something." Shalton rubs his chin.

"Maybe we should reconsider this proposal..." Juero adds.

"No. I WILL have Blackfire as my wife by tonight! Our soldiers could easily deal with her friends when they come aboard. As for Blackfire, well, if she goes against me..." Shalton smirks. "I have many ways to force her obedience."

"Yes sire." Jureo bows his head. "And Starfire..."

"Make sure she is unharmed until Blackfire comes." Shalton ordered. 'If what the reports say is true, it should be a treat for Blackfire to watch her sister suffer. If they made up and intend to betray me...well...its better for her to see her suffering up close then.'

Titan Tower

Blackfire turns to the group. "Shalton might be a spoiled egomaniac idiot, but he isn't stupid. He should know that by bringing you guys along that we intend to save Starfire."

Beast Boy narrows his eyes. "Then why..."

"Look I got us on the ship. What happens then is up to you." Blackfire crosses her arms.

"Okay. But are you sure Starfire is safe?" Robin glares at Blackfire.

"I'm pretty certain." Blackfire smirks. "I figure two things, Shalton would keep her safe under the agreement since he knows our 'history' together. If he feels that we've made up, he would keep her safe anyways. That way I could watch her suffer and I would 'cry' watching my poor sister suffer. Ha."

Raven narrows her eyes. "You better be right Blackfire."

"If he knows why we are coming, then he would unarm and detain us once we are on the ship." Speedy interjected. "We need some place to store our weapons. Whatever ship we choose may not be safe."

Cyborg looks at himself. A smile forms. "I think I have that covered. Though I probably need a backup system since they'd probably disable me from the get go." Cyborg pauses before continuing. "Of course this is assuming I have a chance to be reactivated. What about our safety Blackfire? What are the chances that we won't be all killed once we step on his ship?"

Blackfire thinks for a bit. "Well, from what I hear about Shalton, he likes to do things 'personally.' In other words, he does not want any mass executions. Rather...torture us one by one. If I can keep him busy, you should all be safe for a while."

"You'd better be right about that too. However, wherever they place us, we'd be lost. We'd be on his turf now." Raven said in her monotone voice.

Robin smiled. "I got that covered. I received the blueprints for Prince Shalton's ship from Batman and the Justice League."

"Cool!" Beast Boy pops up next to Robin. "I didn't realize that these plans are readily available."

Robin turns to Beast Boy. "They're not. Or at least they are not supposed to be. Seems the Anterians have a problem keeping secrets."

"Hm. Justice league is useful for something." Blackfire gets close to Robin and places a hand on his chest.

Raven narrows her eyes at the scene.

Cyborg separates the two. He turns to Robin. "So, you talked to the Justice League. Did you tell them our plan?"

Robin nods. "Pretty much. All I said is that we are planning to board his ship with Blackfire's help. They are generally supportive of the idea and wish us all luck."

Cyborg looks at the blueprints. "After we get on the ship, I'm certain Shalton has a 'welcome party' ready to detain us. We will probably find ourselves here when all is said and done." Cyborg points to the brig level. "There is a passageway right behind both sides of the brig level. Heck, if we are lucky, maybe Starfire's here too."

Blackfire looks at the map. "Maybe." Blackfire looks at the full ship specs. "But there are a ton of rooms in this ship. And given that Shalton has...lets just say, not so pleasant plans for 'our' Starfire, she could be anywhere."

Robin nods. "I hate to think what he could have planned. Assuming that Shalton keeps his end of the bargain for now..." 'He better.' "She should be safe for a while. However, once we land, we won't have a lot of time to save her."

Speedy walks up next to Cyborg and Robin. "Enough talk. We should get ready. We shouldn't keep Shalton waiting."

-A few hours later

Speedy, Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy are each in a pod of the T-Sub that has been converted for space use. Robin and Blackfire are sharing one pod.

Raven contacts Cyborg through her communicator. "Did you really have to put Blackfire and Robin together in the same pod?"

Cyborg pushes a few buttons. "We only have five pods. Someone has to share a pod. Want to share one with Beast Boy, Raven?"

Raven eyes widen a little. "Eh no of course not!" Raven returns to her normal expression of indifference. "But still, why did you have to place Blackfire and Robin together? Besides, Blackfire could fly there by herself."

Cyborg checks the ship's status before replying to Raven. "If we did that, the Anterians can just blow us out of the sky. With her onboard, we don't have to worry about that. Besides, Robin doesn't seem to be worried."

'That's what I'm afraid of.' Raven pushes a few buttons. "Weapons system online."

"You couldn't have made it anymore obvious Blackfire?" Robin frowned.

"Oh please. You KNOW you like this." Blackfire smirks.

Speedy looks over to his side and sees Blackfire and Robin. 'Getting worse every minute.'

Robin pushes a few buttons. "Life support online..."

Anterian Ship

"Everything is in place sire." Juero bows his head. "Your quarters are ready to accept a new acquaintance."

"Excellent. Now, all we have to do is wait." Shalton looks out the window anticipating the arrival of his 'future bride'.

Converted T-Sub

The converted T-Sub launches into space and they fly past the Justice League watchtower.

"Here goes nothing." Cyborg comments as he steers the T-Sub into its intended target.

"Don't worry Star, we are all coming for you." Robin comments with a stern face.

Blackfire frowns.

-------End of Chapter 8

After relatively long chapters, I have a short one for you. One of the reasons why it is short...well didn't want to get into Anterian action until the next chapter. That and I felt this chapter, wasn't that good. I felt that the dialogue slowed down the action a bit. But I needed something that would get them to the ship, and this is, at the moment, all that I could think of to get there. Maybe I will revise the dialogue later if I can think of something better. But right now, this will have to suffice.

Next chapter...they reach the Anterian ship! What will the Titans do to save Starfire? Until then, see ya!

Chapter proofread.