Chapter 4: Ignore
Chapter 4 Dedicated to: Alas De Un Cuevo
"No. Really… I'm dead serious! We're not…." Robin protested.
"Cute, the little couple. I understanding… she is the girlfriend!" The old Chinese woman cackled. Robin grimaced and took a deep breath.
"No. Again, we're not a couple. We're just here to relax a little. It's been a… rough day. Ok? Now can we order our food please?" Robin ground out. Starfire had ceased to pay attention to the conversation all together and was staring towards the door, her eyes unfocused. The woman finally gave up and went to go get menus, though every few steps her old shoulders would shake with elated chuckles. Robin turned his attentions on Starfire. "Um, anyways… are you sure you're ok? I mean we kind of just dropped this whole shard thing right out of our minds really fast and… I know all five of us are a lot more worried about this than we're letting on, especially… you…? Star?"
Robin seemed to notice Starfire wasn't listening. Her gaze was unsettling and far away. The alien stood abruptly, her hair falling over her shoulders like a vermillion bright flame. She slowly walked from the table, as if being beckoned. Robin scrambled from his chair and hurried after her as she stepped blankly back out the door. "Starfire!" he waved a hand in front of her face. She did not respond, rather she kept on walking. Robin followed her down the street, the concrete still wet from the earlier downpour. "Star, Starfire what's wrong?" he urged.
Starfire continued on her way, turning sharply down an alley. The Boy Wonder was now running to keep up with her speeding pace, and she was gradually lifting from the ground. Star closed her eyes and stopped all forward motion; rather she started to soar rapidly upward. "Starfire!" Robin yelped. Starfire was completely oblivious to his calls.
So much for Chinese food. So much for ignoring it.
Starfire's mind was blank. Utterly and totally blank. Everything was white and not a single thought floated through her head. A single tugging sensation instructed her body upward. Destiny enfolded her in its grasp. One, lone light flared under eyelids. A bright, silver-green symbol. It blazed brilliantly in her mind. A second symbol flashed and sunk down atop her shimmering, emerald shard. It was red. Seething, dark red. Starfire's eyes snapped open, glowing and pulsing with silver-green light.
Her hair billowed out, as if a sudden wind had caught the strands up, but there was no breeze. The air was damp and hung lifeless, yet the alien girl looked as if trapped in a cyclone of blustering winds. Her entire body was encased in a brilliant light, and it seemed streaming ribbons were swirling off of her form. Robin shielded his eyes. People stopped on the streets to stare at the thing floating and glowing up in the sky. The light flashed red, then silver-green, then red again, and then white. Hot, shimmering white.
The light grew and then snapped like a sheet across the sky and then died. Starfire fell.
Robin hastened to catch her and she hung limp in his arms. The boy stared at her. She did not stir. "Starfire?" he asked softly. At the sound of her name, her lids fluttered, and after a few minutes she was blinking in the dim alley street lights. Robin did not put her down. "Star, what happened?" he asked. Starfire stared at him queerly. Her gaze was different. More, distant.
"Why are we here?" she asked carefully. Robin blinked. "Were we not just in a restaurant? I am absolutely sure we were just in a restaurant… was I not talking to a Chinese waitress just minutes ago?" Star questioned him, innocently searching his face. Robin coughed.
"Well yeah, but… I mean, you just stood up and walked out and then you started floating and glowing and you weren't answering me and there was a big flash and… well, you fell, and that's why I'm… er… holding… you," he stopped, suddenly becoming a tad self-conscious, and quickly set her on her feet. Starfire frowned.
"I do not recall this… floating and glowing and falling…" she murmured, obviously confused. Robin sighed.
"It didn't seem like you were really… awake. Star, maybe we should go home. I have a feeling this 'power' you're connected to might be even bigger than even you imagined," he said quietly. Starfire looked away. She felt different. Star hung her head.
"Perhaps you are right," she mumbled. Robin wrapped his arm around her shoulders and led her away.
When Robin and Starfire entered the house, Raven was standing at the door. "Starfire, come with me. We need to talk," the dark girl said stiffly. Robin narrowed his eyes.
"Raven, what's wrong? Is something going on?" he asked. Raven turned a violet eye on him.
"Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, Starfire needs to come with me," Raven remarked. She grabbed the taller girl's arms and led her off. Robin stood blankly in the Common Room. He failed to notice the pair of yellow eyes regarding him from a darkened corner, and failed to notice the wispy black frame that slunk off after the girls in complete silence as it slipped through the shadowed halls of the tower.
Raven wordlessly opened the door to her room and pulled Starfire inside, much to the surprise and slight distress of the red-head. Raven sat in the center of a ring of flickering candles and motioned for Star to sit across from her. Starfire swallowed but did as she was told, sitting on her knees and tucking her skirt around her. "There has been an awakening. In the spirit world. It happened just a little while before you and Robin got home. I'm taking a wild guess and saying you're tied into this. Am I right?" the empath asked.
Starfire shifted. "I do not know. Robin says something happened but I cannot remember it. It is why we came home now… instead of eating. I do not know if this was an awakening… I do not think it was but…" Raven lifted a hand to silence her.
"It most likely was the awakening. I suppose we'll just have to find out. Starfire, I'm going into your mind again." Raven droned. Star squeaked.
"Ok?" she peeped. Raven rolled her eyes and then closed them, pressed two cool fingers to Starfire's temple and slowly began her chant.
"Azerath"
"Metrion"
Zinthos. Starfire? Raven blinked and looked around. As she spoke the name, Starfire seemed to materialize before her, again clothed in the flowing white robes. Raven lifted a brow. I need to go to your most recent memories. Just… don't break concentration so I don't get kicked out or something. Ok? Raven directed. Starfire nodded and Raven levitated off.
It wasn't hard to find the memories and it wasn't hard to find the occurrence Starfire claimed to have no recollection of. It made sense. Starfire hadn't really been cognizant at the time. That didn't mean the memory wasn't there, though. The moment Raven began to relive the memory, she knew it had indeed been the awakening she'd sensed. Starfire had tapped the power of the shards unintentionally. She should be able to access both their basic power as well as their magical qualities. Raven frowned. Now she would need to find out what magic the extraterrestrial had gained.
The half-demon hefted a sigh and pushed from Starfire's mind. She blinked a few times and looked around, readjusting to the comforting black of her room. Raven glanced at Starfire. The red-head cracked one eye open, the other following soon after so she had locked gazes with her Gothic friend. Starfire tilted her head to the left.
"So…" she trailed off and made a motion with her shoulders that suggested Raven ought to explain her… diagnosis of the situation. Raven took her time; stretching in a feline manner, arching her back and allowing a shiver ripple from the base of her spine up to her neck and then up her arms to her fingertips as well.
"Well, it was definitely you that had an awakening, but I don't know what your new… erm… powers are. We will need some time to test that," she declared, the ending statement drawn out with a slight drawl, enhancing the impression that Raven was thoroughly bored with all of the magic-science hybrid, overly destructive, mythically secret powers. Starfire shifted her weight.
"…"
"…"
"…"
Three hours later, neither girl had reappeared from Raven's room. A cough echoed down the hall, belonging to a fidgeting Beast Boy. Both the changeling and accompanying android had become aware of Raven's "whisking Starfire away," as Robin put it. Their knowledge of the situation could be attributed to the Boy Wonder's incredibly irritating pacing behind the other two boys as they tackled the game station yet again. The overly-methodical clunk, clunk, swish of his cape and steel-toed boots had drawn their tiny attentions over and thus they had learned why their leader was in his current state of unrest.
During the duration of these three hours, Raven had gone through an exhaustive amount of every revelation spell and telling mantra she had in written form, scurrying expertly back and forth to books like a skilled librarian of the darker sort. Starfire was quite sure she had recited just about every spell imaginable, and still nothing had triggered her newly "awoken" powers.
Raven opened the book of Azar and thumbed through the pages. She muttered a few low curses as the very edges of the well-worn pages flittered off and littered her lap with parchment confetti. "No, no, no… those aren't even useful spells… why in the world? No, no, and no again… we've already tried the basic Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos… not in here either…? Perhaps I've missed judged. Maybe the power is triggered by one of the 'useless' spells we skipped… hmm…" Starfire listened to Raven's mumblings blankly. She had never been educated in magic arts.
Raven slammed the book of Azar shut with an irritable bang and set it down. She reached for another austere looking tome but was stopped short by the demanding wail of the Titan's alarm. Both girls left the task at hand and swung out the door, effectively crashing into Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Robin. Raven glared at the spying boys.
"Did you really think listening in would help you figure anything out?" Raven inquired with gracefully lifted brow. Robin's shoulders sagged, defeated, and shook his head. She received equally melancholy responses from the other two.
Starfire floated after her friends as they headed towards the Common Room and the main console. Robin's fingers danced over the keyboard, clicks pulsing through the room in rapid succession as he downloaded the lookup on whatever trouble had come their way. "Mad Mod… over at the JCB," Robin grunted. The old criminal was probably trying to seduce the evening beach goers into believing they were back in jolly ol' Britain again… or something on those lines.
"JCB?" came Starfire's innocently confused inquiry.
"Jump City Beach," Robin supplied graciously. As the Titans dispersed, all heading towards their means of transportation… the T-Car, jumping out a window and turning into a bird, heading to a relatively clear spot to teleport away… Robin grabbed Starfire's arm gently. She looked at him curiously.
"Yes, Robin?" she asked. He stared at her for a moment before releasing her arm.
"You going to be alright?" he prodded. Star nodded. Robin reached out a hand and gently squeezed her shoulder before going on his way to the R-Cycle. Starfire took the same exit Beast Boy had, launching herself gracefully from the window in a flurry of violet skirts and scarlet hair.
The Titans arrived at the JCB just as Mad Mod was making his exit on a very large raft of sorts, decorated with numerous flags either depicting the head of "King Moddy" or showing the British colors full force. The occupants of the beach were chattering excitedly and waving at Mod as he floated away, their voices laced with a distinct accent the Titans had come to know all too well. At this time in the late evening, most of those under affect were either teens having bonfire parties or romantic young couples, out on the beach for a stroll despite the winter season.
"Titans, stop him and take the cane!" Robin hissed as he vaulted off of the R-cycle and sent sand flying. Cyborg came clunking over from the parked T-car and nodded an affirmative, his sonic cannon whirring to life. Raven's petite frame rose off the ground with practiced levitation and she hovered, looking much more threatening than any girl of 5' 3" should have. Beast Boy had shifted forms, easing from falcon to crab, ready to scurry off down the beach and after Mad Mod. Starfire floated over it all, hands alive with jade fire and eyes blazing with emerald fury.
"Now! Titans, Go!" Robin growled and lunged forward, running down the beach swiftly, a green crab scuttling not far behind. As he and Cyborg neared the water, Robin called for the girls. On cue, Starfire swooped down and lifted Robin by his arms and Cyborg was provided with a disc of obsidian power. They shot off, Beast Boy launching his crab self into the water and shifting forms to a dolphin. They came upon the huge raft speedily and were soon standing aboard, facing Mod in battle stances.
"Oi, 'Ello ma duckies. Come to play? Well, I'm truly sorry but kings don't mix wi' peasants. So I got to go… you li'l ol' Yankees play wi' ma good friends instead, eh?" Mod cackled and sauntered a few steps back, making way for several of his massive toy soldiers to march forward and raise their guns. The supposed king grinned, jagged-toothed, and waved. "I've got to get home ya see. These lovely Brit citizens need to be called to arms and ready to start fighten away all ya rebels. So it's really quite a pressin issue… and I'll jes 'ave ma men escort ya off ma craft now…" Mad Mod motioned a hand back to the beach where people were still wandering about with black and white pinwheels ruling their eyes.
Robin gritted his teeth, irritated. He swung out his bo-staff and it all began.
His staff whirred dangerously in fan-like fashion and he charged forward with a grunt. Cyborg quickly took to blasting at the large toy soldiers, but his cannon seemed as if it was doing nothing at all.
A soldier marched stiffly forward and blasted his gun. The bullets bounced off of Cyborg's titanium body. The soldier swung a heavy fist at the android, attempting to club him to the left. Cy grabbed the soldier's fist and jerked his arms roughly down, pulling the soldier with him.
Raven's hands glowed ebony and she snapped her wrists out, unleashing a wave of dark power that consumed a soldier and easily pulled him apart. Cyborg grunted in pain as the soldier he was pinning to the ground used the barrel of his gun to slam Cy in the gut. Cyborg was thrown back and lay on his back for a moment, stunned.
Robin slammed soldiers with his bo-staff, using his grappling hook to tie them up and swing back and forth between them, kicking them hard so sparks leapt between steel-toed shoe and metal chest.
Starfire released a hail-storm of Starbolts, raining the intensely heated blasts down on the toy soldiers without a moment of rest. "HYA!" she blasted a soldier hard and its head flamed off, shooting rocket-like into the air. Star dodged it as it whistled past and arched back down to earth, sinking into the Bay with a splash.
The battle continued and on the raft it appeared the titans had the upper hand, dodging almost every blow. Beast Boy was quite thoroughly pleased with the job he was doing, administering sound punishment with each hard kick of his big, kangaroo feet.
Up in Starfire's area, it wasn't so wonderful. The sound of the huge toy soldiers and the battle cries were enough to drown out Star's soft shriek as something rammed hard into her back, a sharp point slicing into her skin. Star whirled, trying to find her unseen enemy. No one. Nothing was with her, save the sensations of cool night air and the warm trickle of blood down her back. "Ah!" Starfire cried out as yet again a slash was made, this time grazing dangerously along the side of her neck.
Beast Boy looked up at the cry and saw Starfire, turning this way and that, escaping from some invisible foe. He frowned and sucker-punched the soldier at hand with a rough gorilla fist and then launched into the air via pterodactyl form. Star saw him and flew swiftly to meet him, her eyes bright with confused fear. Beast Boy chattered his jaws, and Star got the message effectively enough.
"I do not know what is up here either. I can see nothing!" she cried out again as something of obvious force slammed into her, causing her to loose her balance in the air. Starfire tumbled, Beast Boy saw yellow eyes… and then they were gone. With swift talons he stopped the alien's free fall and swooped her down to the raft to join the rest of the battle with the onslaught of soldiers that just wouldn't stop.
He took elf form and looked at his friend. "Star, you're bleeding," he gave her a concerned eye while darting out of the gunfire of a soldier. A bullet grazed his shoulder blades and he grimaced, rolling to his feet.
"It is fine; we must stop the Mad Mod!" Starfire jumped into the air and back flipped out of the way of a rampaging soldier. The hulking thing swung around at the last minute and rammed her hard in the side, sending her over the side of the raft. The other Titans were starting to have trouble as well.
Robin looked up. Mad Mod! The villain was making a swift exit, fumbling with the last ropes tethering a small red speed boat to the side of his gargantuan raft. Raven yelled as she was flung to the ground, eyes widening as she spiraled towards a hard landing. Robin dashed in her direction and made a quick save, catching her by the tail of her cloak and then grabbing her shoulders to right her quickly. With their backs turned though, a soldier easily pummeled the two to the ground as one of its comrades downed BB and Cyborg as well.
Starfire blasted herself up just inches from hitting the water, a flurry of green sparks dancing from her body as she plowed upwards and back towards the raft, water creating foaming, spiking waves on either side of her charging form. Her four friends were struggling to pick themselves up from the ground and hold their own at the same time. She needed to help, but Robin's voice stopped her.
"STARFIRE! GET MOD!" He hollered as he was again thrown to the ground despite his attempt at blocking the hard punch to his chest. Starfire hesitated, but only briefly. The raft was to her right; Mod was zooming away to her left. She was tired of this battle. Starfire's eyes flashed brilliant jade and her arms snapped out on either side, then raised above her head.
Raven glimpsed it and gave an uncharacteristic gasp. "Beast Boy, get Cyborg into the air, now!" she hissed, grabbing Robin's wrists at the same time. BB followed orders and they blasted into the air just as Starfire snapper her hands back down, pushing forward at the same time so her finger tips contacted the water. Upon her touch, the water swelled up immensely and two lines of jetting waves rushed in either direction, one effectively shuddering across the raft and flinging all of the toy soldiers into the bay, the other roaring straight at Mad Mod's craft and daggering through the boat. The titans watched as the air around Starfire seemed to pulse and they watched as Mod was sent hurtling ten feet up into the air. High enough for the princess to fly to him at unearthly speeds and pluck him up from the air with a few feet to spare before he would have hit the dark waters of the bay.
They all landed back on the beach, Starfire wrenching the cane free from Mad Mod's grasp and snapping it in half wearily. The late-night beach goers shook their heads and cleared any last remnants of their odd British dreams from their heads and Mod was hand cuffed. The police arrived and carted him away with a gracious thank you to the team. All eyes turned to Starfire.
Raven stepped forward. "Well… there's your awakening…" she deadpanned. Robin frowned.
"What? When did she get that power?" he demanded. The dark girl looked over apathetically.
"The whole floating thing you saw earlier… with the big flash of light… yeah. Well, that was some sort of awakening in Starfire. She's accessed the magic in the shards,"
"How do you know about what happened out there and what exactly are these new… magic… things…?" Robin grimaced, flustered and irritated by the half-demon's monotone demeanor.
"I went into Starfire's mind and found the 'forgotten' memory and… her powers… the new ones… are somewhat like mine. I shall have to have her meditate with me a while before we know to what extent she has obtained the new… telekinetic powers. Of course… it could be something rather different that only manifests itself in a somewhat similar way," Raven droned.
"How can you tell?" Robin drilled. Raven rolled her eyes.
"Because I'm the only one here that has the type of magic that can do the big water blasting thing," she snapped back, highly sarcastic. Robin growled.
"Just make sure she doesn't get hurt or some… ah… STAR!" He turned to look at his flame-haired friend only to find her collapsed in a heap on the ground, out cold. "Starfire!" Robin swatted the concerned hands of Cyborg and Beast Boy out of the way, scooping Starfire off the ground himself. "Raven, what's going on now!" he demanded. Raven shrugged, tried to keep her expression blank, and a sand dune exploded to their left. She cringed slightly and coughed.
"We should… probably get her back to the tower…" Raven offered. Robin snarled and clutched Star protectively to him as he stalked out to the T-Car. On her wrists, Starfire's shards glowed softly.
"Starfire… I promise I won't let you get hurt again…" he breathed as he lay her gently into the back of the T-Car. His eyes drifted to her throat, where the cut had been made by the earlier, unseen enemy. He had not seen her fight with the invisible thing. Robin's frown deepened and he gave a frustrated sigh, gently closing the door and slinking rigidly over to the R-cycle. Of all the battles fought… ones that hurt him the most were the ones where it was she, not him, that came out injured. These shards… were his enemy.
Author's Note: Sora, sorry if I spelled your pen name wrong. Um, I hoped you liked the chapter. I'm going to try to update once a day again, but it might be hard because the chapters are a little longer in this story. Do you guys like it? Tell me honestly... if the plot's not all that interesting, I'm perfectly willing to take it off and revamp it and put it back on... It would take a while but... I could do it. I really want to improve my writing, so if the story's not all that great, seriously tell me. Um... So, yeah. I hope the fight scene didn't suck too bad... It's not my best strength. Reviews are really appreciated. I love hearing what you think.
Love, Princess Starfire of Tamaran
Titans News: In response to some questions. I get a lot of my information from the "titans tower" website (the exact URL escapes me at the moment... it's probably like or something... er, stupid me) and from the titans news section of I also pickup things to research from various titans threads. That's where I find a lot of the great rumors to poke at. I really don't know if the movie will be released in the UK, but I scarcely have a doubt that it will end up on the web within days of it being released into stores... possible before then considering how things work nowadays. I believe it will be coming out this coming winter or fall. Production doesn't startuntil this coming spring... it didn't start last spring for those who asked. I hope that made sense... umm... that's all I have for now. I have to go badger my mom into getting me the titans seasons on DVD for my birthday now... less than a monthtill I'm a year older... WOOT!((loks at last comment)) that sooo did not belong in Titans news. Oh well.