The Young and the Hopeless
Chapter 4: Slightly Off Track
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A purple tinged red tongue was tracing patterns on white flesh, four pairs of eyes shut, and a pair of small hands clenching and twisting the dark sheets. Dark emerald eyes opened as Gar's head tilted up, trying to gage Raven's reaction. He choked back a sigh, not wanting to display his disappointment, and leaned over her body, elbows resting on either side of her prone form. She was back under control and it almost killed him.
He didn't care that she'd blown up the television, twice, that she was causing electrical shortages in the tower, or that her powers had been more volatile than usual. What bothered the changeling was Raven's distance – the price they paid for her to be under control. It meant that her eyes didn't roll back into her head as they met each other, that her body only slightly trembled, and that instead of screaming she kept whispering those three damned words. And Gar hated it. What good was it to know that he was doing everything to make her scream, that she should be screaming, but Raven was forcing herself not to scream. She was meditating again, only half lucid in bed because she'd shorted out a few things in the past couple of days.
The green hued teen knew they shouldn't be doing it anyway, that there was work to do, that Cyborg was pouring himself over the computer and Robin had locked himself up in his room – both working. And instead of doing something productive, he had his hands tangled up in her hair. But Raven's face was a blank slate, her cheeks weren't even flushed, and there was nothing he could do about it. She'd sunk back into herself again, for the all sorts of selfless reasons and all he could think of as he was lowering himself down beside her was that he wished she'd just be selfish just for once. To hell with the consequences; how bad could it really be if she was emotional for a moment?
"You know you really don't mean that."
Raven's voice was soft and level, her hand reaching up to brush away a lock of green hair that had fallen into the changeling's eyes. He tried to meet her eyes, but she looked away, knowing that it would only result in her coming undone again.
"Just once..."
"We tried just once, Gar, I blew up the television, twice, and shorted out the electricity. I have to keep myself in check...it's not going to do us any good, especially now. I feel you, all of you, even if you can't see it."
He kissed her softly on the temple, masking his frustration, and threw his leg over the side of the bed. Struggling into the spandex of his uniform and fighting with his gloves, Beast Boy forced a smile as he tossed a glance over his shoulder before stalking out of the room.
"I think I'm going to see if Cyborg needs any help."
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Starfire was lying on her back, head lolled off the side of the bed, bright green eyes staring straight up at the ceiling. Robin had stopped talking to her hours ago and, considering he hadn't bothered to turn on the overhead lights once the sun set, had most likely forgot that she was in the same room. The redhead's long legs crossed and uncrossed, her dainty fingers tracing patterns on the plain bedspread. Sighing loudly, she tried to lift herself up but gave up quickly.
"He has passed into the realm of the dead and staring at his picture will not make him the responsible one."
She rose successfully this time, pulling down on her skirt to keep it from riding up, and crossed the room quickly. Upon reaching her target Starfire wrapped her arms around his neck, her hands tracing down the thin material that covered his chest. Robin shivered under her light touch, his eyes never wavering from the pictures in front of him.
"It has to be him. There's nobody else...Star..."
A small smile curved up the corners of her mouth as her hands worked farther down, toying with the clasp of his utility belt before casting it on the floor beside them. The Boy Wonder was bracing himself on the table in front of him, a half contained groan escaping from his throat. The alien princess knew he was trying to resist her, trying to keep focused on the only possible connection that made any sense. Only, it didn't make any sense. Slade was dead; Terra had buried him under an avalanche of molten lava and rock. Starfire was simply taking his mind off of things.
"He is gone. He cannot hurt us anymore, Robin. We will figure out who did this, trust me..."
Smooth hands slipped under the waistband of his tights and were just beginning to trace a pattern down when the lithe form of the warrior beneath her twisted, sending a rather surprised Tamaranean into the wall. Muscular arms were braced on either side of Star's head, masked eyes closed as his lips crashed into hers. A gloved hand ran down her flushed cheeks, flattening when it reached her collarbone, dropping down further to squeeze one of her breasts. She was shuddering beneath him as his hands smoothed down her sides, arms meeting around her waist.
Coming up for a breath, Starfire grinned mischievously, her body pushing up against his to propel him backwards. She slipped her boot behind his Achilles' tendon, tripping Robin up even as he braced to hit the bed. Moving both knees on either side of his hips, eyes sparking wildly, the usually naïve princess began working the fasteners that held her purple top together. Looking down, confused, as Robin's hands reached up to grasp hers, she cocked her head to the side.
"Have I done something wrong? I am I not...um...turning you on?"
"No, it's just that maybe we should worry about Titan's business first. Besides, it awfully fast to go from..."
A curtain of red hair draped down as Starfire captured the protesting boy's lips with her own. Working her tongue across his bottom lip, she sighed loudly as he pushed up with his body to sit upright. Resting a hand on either side of her face, Robin rested his forehead against her own.
"I know what you're trying to do, and believe me, Star, it's working. But...we need to work, there's a killer still out there, even if it isn't Slade."
"Why can you no just let me please you? I know where to touch, where to kiss...I know what you want me to do to you."
Robin simply gave up, allowing the leggy young woman to push him back down, her hands working down his body. She was all smiles as she began tugging up at his uniform, trying to work him out of the skintight material. Just as Starfire was beginning to peel it up his torso, artificial light flooded the room as the metal door slid open.
"Oh God...I just thought..."
The Boy Wonder was bright red and his companion was livid. Sliding off her flushed lover, a low growl working it way out of the back of her throat, Starfire closed her eyes and began counting down softly in her native language. Having reached 'ten,' she pushed past a wide eyed Beast Boy and down the hall.
"Cy found something and we thought you'd like to know. Even now, I guess?"
"You know you're dead, right? That I'm going to kill you as soon as we get this figured out."
"Man..."
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There was a long silence, as Raven sided up to the already gathered team members. She viewed the scene with silence; Cyborg was bent over the Titan's mainframe, Beast Boy was at his side – avoiding both Starfire and Robin, the aforementioned princess was resting one hand on Robin's shoulder and the other on the back of Cyborg's chair, and Robin was sullenly glowering. The half demon would have laughed out loud if she didn't think it would cause the computer monitor to explode.
"So? All I see is a grainy image of the mall, what are we looking for exactly?"
No one's head snapped up to meet Raven's challenging gaze, they were all seemingly transfixed on the blurry image in front of them. Everyone but the empath had seen it several times; all but her were holding baited breaths. Then there was a flash of brilliant light, concrete collapsing in on itself, bystanders disintegrated in mere seconds. A lithe figure darted across the screen, her body nearly bursting in a form fitting outfit, dark hair covering her face. As energy began engulfing her body, the woman turned and, brushing smooth hair out of her face, winked at the camera.
"What in the name of Azarath?"
"Komand'r..."
"Kalamander?! Star, who the hell are you talking about? That's your sister, that's Blackfire!"
Four head jerked in Beast Boy's direction, four mouths gaping with a mixture of disgust and surprise. Cyborg slapped his hand on his thigh and burst out laughing, Robin rolled his eyes and resumed sulking, Starfire's face was wiped clean of every emotion except confusion, and Raven took a deep breath before shaking her head.
"Komand'r is Blackfire's proper name, idiot..."
"Yeah, I knew that. But, why is she going around blowing up the mall?"
"Finally, a half decent response; I believe that is the million dollar question."
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Quick Note: Eh, I know, more romantic subplot, but come on – I couldn't help myself. At least I updated, right? Anyway, I promise there will be more action and if you think you've got this figured out, you've got another thing coming to you. More updates soon, my muse is speaking to me again.