Jen: And I'm back! With…CHAPTER TEN! Yay. Anyway, on with…
The disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. Please don't sue me. No, really, I'm broke.
Finally a Star
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Robin broke down the door with one powerful sidekick. What he saw in that suite enraged him more than anything else ever had…
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He had her. That man, Karras, had Starfire pressed against the wall of the room as he forcefully kissed her. She was struggling, but his strength obviously outdid her own as her ran one hand down her body, the other one's elbow against her throat, keeping her to the wall.
Of course, at the sound of a door breaking down he momentarily stopped his assault on Star long enough to look at Robin's gloved fist before it came in contact with the bridge of his nose. Starfire quickly ran out of the way as Karras fell back and hit his head.
But Robin didn't stop. His bo-staff was out in a fraction of a second and he was hitting Karras with every ounce of strength he had. Starfire watched in horror as Karras' face turned to the left, to the right, up, then down. A loud crack was heard and Robin gave him one last hit before Karras sank to the ground.
Robin turned to face Starfire, who had wedged herself into one of the corners of the room. He was panting and he had that same look of blind fury she had seen so many times before. It was the look he had on every time he fought Slade.
Alyssa came running through the door, followed by Beast Boy who was, for some reason, wearing a frock.
Alyssa's eyes widened at the sight of Karras' bloody face, "O-oh my God…"
"Dude…"
"Star?" Robin said, retracting his bo-staff and putting it back in his utility belt.
She shook her head from her spot in the corner, "R-R…"
"Starfire?"
Starfire's eyes rolled back in her head and she fainted.
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"How long until she wakes up?" Robin demanded as soon as Alyssa got out of the emergency medical room on the T-ship.
Getting Star back to the escape pod was easy enough. Robin was still steaming and when the Tameranian guard tried to stop them from leaving with her, Robin went a little crazy. Needless to say, there were now two dead Tameranian males at the Sklerch Hotel.
Alyssa remained silent.
"Answer me!" Robin yelled at her.
"I do not know, Robin!" She shouted, "Cyborg's looking at her. I believe she fainted from shock."
Robin sighed and sat down, rubbing his temples, "What can I do to help?"
"Nothing." Alyssa said rather bitterly, "You've done enough already."
Robin raised his head at that remark, "I didn't mean…Karras, he was…Star…"
"Save it, Robin." Alyssa turned her back to him, "For Starfire. She deserves an explanation."
Robin forced himself to calm down, "Is she going to be okay?"
"It depends what your definition of okay is." She said while pulling a clipboard from out of nowhere. She read from it, "From what I gathered," Alyssa took a deep breath, "Starfire was abused in almost all ways possible: mentally, physically, and…sexually."
Robin wrapped his hands around the edge of the control panel and the fabric of his gloves make a slight squeaking sound as his grip tightened.
Alyssa breathed again, "She's probably suffered severe trauma. First from Karras, then by witnessing him killed, and then seeing a person she never expected to see again and realizing that he murdered Karras."
Robin's gloves squeaked some more, "Anything else?"
"Well," Alyssa's voice was tired, as if she didn't want to say something but knew it had to be said, "in specifics, Starfire has two noticeable bruises: one around her collar bone and another on her hip."
Robin knew where the one on her collar bone had come from. He winced as he remembered Karras' elbow pressed against her delicate frame. The things that could have happened if he had come twenty minutes later…
"Cyborg is making a more thorough examination of the bruises. We cannot be sure what caused them until after he finishes." She opened her mouth, sighed, and decided to say something else, "As for her mental state…when she regains consciousness I expect she will be nervous about being touched by most people, males especially, and will most likely want to cover up more than she used to."
Robin looked up, "Why?"
Alyssa looked away quickly.
"Why?" Robin repeated, standing up.
"W-we cannot be sure." Alyssa replied, "But we think…we think Karras…"
"NO!" Robin suddenly shouted, "That's impossible! Starfire would never…"
"I told you Robin, we are not sure."
Robin took several steps back. Who could ever do something like that to sweet, pure Starfire? Who could ever be so heartless as to…force himself upon her slender body?
Robin was such an idiot! He shouldn't have wallowed for nearly three days, he should have been coming up with a plan! He should've gotten to Star faster. He should've saved her…
Alyssa set her clipboard down, "You are understandably upset, but…Robin, what's done is done. I know that facial expression. You can't blame yourself."
Robin felt sick to his stomach. His anger was drained and replaced with an entirely new emotion: worry. Was Starfire going to be alright? Did Karras really…? Was there anything Robin should do?
Alyssa coughed lightly, "I'm going to help Cyborg. I think you should entertain yourself. Read a book, play solitaire; that sort of thing. Something to get your mind off this, you know?" She left the room.
Robin knew she was right. Even so, he couldn't help thinking about Starfire's current medical state. It was a long time before anyone entered the room and Robin's thoughts were filled with Starfire for every second.
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Alyssa watched as Starfire's eyelids twitched.
"Cyborg!" Alyssa called.
The metal man stood up and ran to Star, "Star, Star, you there?"
Another flinch, then, "R-Rob…"
"Get Robin!" Cyborg instructed.
Alyssa scurried out.
"Come on Star." Cy said to her, "Come back to us. We're all here, it's okay."
The doors to the medical room burst open and Robin rushed in at top speed, Alyssa a good six feet behind him. She stopped a moment to catch her breath.
"Starfire! Star!" Robin cried, running to her side.
"Rob…in…"
"Yes, Star!" He leaned over her, "I'm here, I'm here. Wake up, Star. Please, everything turned out fine. Karras is gone and you're alright. Come back to us."
Her eyes opened slowly, "Robin?"
"Yes!" Robin didn't care that, by now, Beast Boy and Boris had joined them and were watching. He hugged her. Robin hugged Starfire like nothing else mattered.
Star, of course, returned the gesture.
There was a hand on Robin's shoulder.
"Come on, man." Cyborg insisted, "We have to run some more tests. You have to talk to her later."
Robin stiffened and let go, "Okay."
"R-Robin?" Starfire said, "What…happened? Why…"
"I'm sorry Starfire, Robin has to go." Alyssa said gently, "He'll see you a little later."
"Y-yeah." Robin assured her, "I'll be back as soon as you're ready, okay?"
"Okay…"
Robin tried to smile as Alyssa led him, Beast Boy, and Boris out.
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Robin paced around the control room of the T-ship.
"Dude, stop it." Beast Boy said after twenty minutes of nonstop pacing, "You're making me dizzy."
"How can you even think about that at a time like this?" Robin punched his fist to his palm, "Starfire's hurt! And Karras could've…h-he might have…" Robin half expected Beast Boy to interrupt him and when he didn't, Robin, with nothing else to do, trailed off.
Beast Boy tugged on the sleeves of the frock he still hadn't gotten a chance to change out of, "Look, Dude…I know you're upset about Star, but…you can't…uh, I mean, it's not…well, it kinda…no, I guess…"
"Beast Boy?" Robin said.
"Yes?"
"Are you trying to make me feel better?"
"Yeah, why?"
"It isn't working." Robin stated before resuming pacing.
Beast Boy made a face and slumped into his seat.
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Forty minutes later, Cyborg stepped into the room.
Beast Boy looked up hopefully while Robin leapt at him.
"What happened? Is she okay? Where is she? Does she need anymore help? How long until I can see her?" Robin asked quickly.
"Whoa, calm down, Rob." Cy said, "One question at a time."
Robin took a deep breath, "How is she?"
Cyborg's mouth moved into something that might have been a smile, "She'll be okay. Alyssa and I ran some tests. Physically, it'll only take her a few days, if that, to heal. She only has two bruises and nothing is damaged on the inside. Except, well…"
"What?" Robin asked desperately, "Except what?"
"That's why I'm out here." Cy explained, "There are certain tests Alyssa needs to run on-on the more…sensitive parts of Star's body."
"Ew!" Beast Boy said, "Alyssa's running tests on Star's va…"
"Shut it, little man." Cyborg interrupted.
Robin looked down and gulped, not wanting to speak his next question out loud, "Cyborg…Did Karras…?"
"That's what Alyssa's finding out right now."
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Alyssa's voice boomed over the intercom, "Cyborg, report to the medical room."
Cyborg tried to give Robin a reassuring smile, "I'm sure she's fine." He patted the distressed Boy Wonder on the back, "Why don't you call Raven? Let her know what's going on."
Robin nodded weakly as Cyborg disappeared.
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Raven rubbed her temples after gulping down her fourth cup of tea for the day. Holy Azar, what a week it had been.
After Raven had told Mike and Emily to keep an eye on the T-Ship she had gone back into the kitchen. Not ten minutes later, Emily ran through the living room sobbing and screaming about all the indecent things Mike did or attempted to do to her. Bambi tried to comfort her by making her an all greens salad, but Emily took it that Bambi thought her to be fat and started crying again. Several things exploded before Raven was able to get the both of them to calm down.
A half hour later, Mike came waltzing into the main room, complaining that watching a bunch of numbers on a computer screen and buttons flash was "not his style." So Raven had Bambi take over the watch.
Mistake.
Big mistake.
Not only was Bambi clueless as to what she was doing, what was going on, and who was in space, but she also kept pushing random buttons and nearly destroyed the T-ship. At this point Raven was so aggravated that she called a meeting intending to explain to everybody that their attitudes needed adjusting.
Emily arrived four minutes late, Bambi got there seven minutes after Emily, and Mike didn't bother showing up for another hour. When he finally arrived, he had a blonde bimbo on each arm and was telling them what good friends him and Robin were. The girls would giggle and blush.
Raven lost her temper and threatened to chop off the very thing that had him so attracted to any member of the opposite sex. The girls went pale and started to back away slowly, towards the door leading outside. Mike tried to will them to stay, but they ended up making a mad dash for safety outside of the tower.
Meanwhile, Raven was still fuming and was in the process of shouting at Mike when the real trouble started.
Blackfire woke up.
As Raven had said, Blackfire now thought she was a monkey. She made chimpanzee sounds, hopped about, and scratched inappropriate places until Bambi gave in and fed her a banana. Raven hated seeing anyone with their mind so tampered with. It was just wrong.
The rest of the first day went pretty well (save all the things that broke when Raven's emotions got just a little out of hand). Everyone went to bed, even Blackfire.
On the second day, when Raven awoke, showered, and stepped into the main room, the alarm went off and she had to call in the Titans East to handle it. After the battle, for some reason or another, the team ended up coming over for some sort of victory celebration.
Mike was particularly fond of Bumble Bee until he made a pass at her and she turned around and decked him. Hard. Raven would have laughed had he not fallen to the ground unconscious. Bumble Bee apologized, saying sometimes she forgot how strong she was compared to normal teens.
Mike was taken to the medical room and needed to be examined. Emily refused to do it. Bambi didn't know how to. Bee took a rain check and hurriedly left with her team. The only person left was Raven and what a joy it was to be in the middle of her examination, while his shirt was off, and have him wake up and say, "Sent them away to have me all to yourself?"
Raven blushed and handed him his shirt before mumbling something about "herbal tea."
The third day was pretty uneventful. Raven had six cups of tea throughout the day while yelling at Mike for one reason or another.
On the fourth day, Raven went into the main room to find Bambi attempting to teach Blackfire sign language, though Raven wasn't sure if Bambi knew sign language herself. Emily tried to convince Raven to change her image again. The dark girl was almost happy when Mike pinched her behind and she ran off chasing him.
Day five: the morning was rather chaotic, but once Blackfire was found and more secure locks were put one her cage the day went without a hitch.
Raven was currently enduring day six. So far, Bambi had renamed Blackfire "Spunky", Emily had moped around eating chocolate, and Mike was nowhere to be found.
Robin's face suddenly appeared on the big screen TV, "Raven?"
Raven took a deep breath and flew over to the screen, "Raven here…whoa, what happened? You look terrible."
"I could say the same for you."
"Yeah, well."
Robin inhaled and exhaled, "We got Starfire."
Raven almost smiled for a moment, "Great. How's she doing?"
Robin frowned, "Uh, w-when we found her, Karras…he had her…pressed against the wall. He was…" Robin trailed off.
Raven frowned with him, "Oh."
"Yeah."
There was a considerable amount of awkward silence.
Raven finally spoke, "Do they know for sure if he, um…if he…"
"They're checking right now."
"Right." Raven searched deep in the maze of thoughts that were racing through her head for something optimistic to say, "I'm sure she'll be fine."
"That's what Cyborg said."
"And Cyborg knows what he's talking about." Raven reassured, "Everything is going to be alright. We'll see you tomorrow afternoon, okay?"
Robin said nothing. The screen just went blank.
Raven sighed. How could anyone be so heartless as to do that to Starfire? Just to add to her other worries and annoyances, Mike strode in with a group of guys saying, "That's right gentlemen. Get me a date with each of you're girlfriends and I can get you a date with the lovely Starfire."
And the yelling began.
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Robin sighed and banged his head against the desk a couple of times before the amount of pain that jolted through him made him stop.
Beast Boy suddenly burst through the doors, the frock he was about to take off hung around his waist, leaving his surprisingly chiseled chest for everyone to see, "Wait!"
Robin arched a brow at Beast Boy's clothes.
"Did you just call Ra--I mean, the tower?"
"Yes."
"Did you hang up?"
"Yeah."
"Man!" BB whined.
"Why? Did you want to talk to Raven or some--"
"ROBIN!" In a flash of red, something tackled Robin to the ground in a bone-crunching hug.
Robin opened his eyes, which had reflexively closed, to see the most beautiful thing he had seen in a long time. He was looking at the beyond angelic face of Starfire.
"Oh, Robin!" She said pulling back, "How I have missed you."
For a brief second, Robin's mind considered the terrifying thought that this was a dream, that he had knocked himself out from banging his head on the desk, that Starfire was still in the medical room. But any doubt he had vanished when she leaned down for another hug and her intoxicating scent filled his nostrils. Strands of her fiery hair tickled his neck. He could feel her arms wrapped around his chest, tightening with every word she spoke.
"I did not think I would every see you again, but you are here!" Starfire sounded grateful more than anything, "You are here and Alyssa has informed that Blackfire has been detained and Cyborg has informed me that Karras will not bother us again and--"
Robin put two gloved fingers on her fast paced lips, "It's great to see you, too."
She held on to him for several moments before someone cleared their throat, "Ahem. This can be continued later."
Robin and Starfire looked up to see Alyssa, Cyborg, and Boris at the door.
Starfire leapt off Robin and flew over to them, hugging at full force, "Yes! Yes! Yes! It can be continued later because I will be here later!"
"Of course." Alyssa, who was squished between Cyborg and Boris in Star's death grip, said, "But we have to get back to work and--"
The entire T-ship jerked to the left, causing everyone to fall right.
"Dudes!" Beast Boy said from his new spot in the corner, "What was that?"
Cyborg typed something in on a computer, "We hit an asteroid. Autopilot was switched off somehow. That's funny. I don't know why autopilot would--" Cyborg stopped, "Oh, crud."
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"Like, Raven?"
"What is it now, Bambi?"
"You, like, know that button you told me not to, like, push?"
"Yes."
"Um…you, like, wouldn't be mad, like, if I told you that I pushed it, like, right?"
"Bambi, you switched off autopilot. The T-ship just crashed into an asteroid!"
"Like, oops."
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The ship lurched to the right.
"Cyborg!" Alyssa cried, "Do you mean to tell me that no one is navigating this ship?"
"Uh…yes?"
Alyssa made a terribly irritated sound before storming out of the room, Cyborg and Boris close behind her.
Raven's face flickered on the computer screen, "Is everyone okay up there?"
"Affirmative." Robin said, helping Starfire up, "And look who's--"
"RAVEN!" Star shouted, "To see and hear you is wondrous! Please, you have had a pleasant time while I was away?"
This got Raven to smile, "More or less. I'm glad to see you Star."
"What happened?" Robin asked.
"We had some minor technical difficulties." Raven said, "Won't happen again."
BB rushed to the screen, "Rae!"
She arched a brow at his appearance, "Why are you wearing a frock? And why don't you have a shirt on?"
"Uh…" Beast Boy put a hand to his ear, "What's that Cyborg? Okay, I'm coming! Sorry, Rae. Gotta go!" He rushed out before she could get another word in.
"That was weird." Raven commented.
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Beast Boy shut his door behind him.
What the heck was wrong with him? Ever since the whole Malchior incident, Beast Boy totally lost it around Raven. His thoughts came out all wrong, his jokes didn't surface properly, and sometimes he was even at a loss for words!
Beast Boy knew something was wrong when, right after Raven hugged him, all he could manage was a pathetic "Uh…" before Cyborg had to hit him with a stankball. Beast Boy always had something to say, but when Raven was there…his internal organs did very strange things.
One time, they had both reached for the barbeque sauce and their hands touched. Beast Boy's stomach leapt out of his mouth, circled around the room, and entered him again via his nose. Yet, Raven seemed unaffected.
Beast Boy had so far considered all the possible reasons for these happenings that he could think off. (1) He could be deathly ill with a disease that made his heart stop beating momentarily, then speed up so fast that he began sweating whenever a half-demon was close to him. (2) Raven could have gotten so pissed off at him for one reason or another that she placed a curse on him so that whenever she was near, his mouth would betray him and start blurting out the stupidest things. Or, this one Cyborg was particularly fond of, (3) Beast Boy could have fallen victim to Cupid and his arrows commitment.
Whether the reason for him being more retarded around Raven was due to 1,2, or 3, he was screwed. Number 1sucked, because having a disease meant, well, having a disease. Number 2 was worse because that one meant Raven was angry with him, and number 3 was bad…because, well…because…wait, why was number three bad?
Think of the team, Robin had said so long ago when Terra was still with them, Don't let things get out of hand. Don't let things get weird if it doesn't work out.
Of course, now that Robin was finally giving in and him and Starfire were sure to get together (even Beast Boy could see it, so it had to come soon), that rule didn't apply, now did it? Then again, Robin and Starfire were made for each other. It couldn't get weird or not work out for them if they wanted it to.
So what about Raven and Beast Boy? Were they made for each other? It didn't seem like it. But Beast Boy couldn't help wishing…
Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold it! How did we get here? It's not a for sure thing that Beast had a crush on Raven, right? So there was nothing to worry about.
For lack of a better solution, Beast Boy decided the awkwardness around Raven was due to number 2. Whatever voodoo spell Raven cast on him, he would have to avoid her at all costs. It would be tricky, especially since she had those gorgeous purple eyes…er, uh, not that Beast Boy cared.
Beast Boy shook his head. He needed something to keep his mind off of the Raven situation for a while. Anything remotely distracting would work like…like…oh God, did he still have to wear those red pants?…Red pants? Perfect!
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Jen: Phew, sorry that took me so long to write. The creative juices haven't really been flowing lately.
I SAW STAR WARS! Woo! Yeah! Anakin is HOT! (clears throat) Oh, sorry. I'm slightly obsessed with how much sexier he was in episode three than in episode two.
Anyway, I just finished the greatest book. It's called Girl, 15, Charming But Insane by Sue Limb. I highly, highly suggest reading it. It's great for anyone who's ever felt like an outsider, weirdo, second banana, idiot, or stand-up comedian. READ IT!
Oh, yeah, and…Review! See ya!