With the wind literally howling all around her, Stardust strained her eyes in the darkness in an attempt to identify her suspected stalker. When she saw no movement, she wondered if her eyes had been playing tricks on her, only because she hadn't wanted the moment ruined, and there was no one there at all. But Rorek had seen it too, which made her sure that someone was indeed there. Now she needed to somehow find out if they were friend or foe.
Quickly clearing her throat, she turned back to face Rorek. "You saw it too?" she mouthed silently, and he nodded.
Stardust wasn't sure if she should greet the person or ensue a fight. Feeling as if she had fought enough lately, she decided to be friendly unless she had to be violent. She took a step forward, but froze when she saw something move again, this time more slowly. She glanced quickly at Rorek and saw him stiffen defensively. Well, if whoever this person was couldn't just come out and talk to them, they were more than likely foe and not friend. She raised her hand and ignited a starbolt for light, but the person must have seen it as an attack, because almost before she could blink they were on the top of a one-story building.
"This is stupid," Stardust mumbled, and let her starbolt die down, but feeling threatened made her automatically defensive, and she didn't want to put up with this spying person all night- or even just for a little while, at least. "We should at least see what it is they want, and if it's a fight, they'll sure get one."
"Agreed," Rorek said.
Stardust ascended from the ground and flew over to the building, watching closely for any signs of movement. In one leap, Rorek was on the building beside her, and seemed sure that someone was here.
Though Stardust was not so sure, she found herself surprisingly trusting Rorek more than she had expected to. But it appeared he was right, anyway. On the building in front of them there seemed to appear a person- a man who obviously didn't fail to work out every day. He stood with either importance or arrogance, but Stardust wasn't really paying attention to that. She squinted and saw the man's dark hair and black and blue clothes. She sucked in a sharp breath.
"Nightwing," she hissed through her teeth. She had disliked him so much all her life, never referring to him as 'dad' or anything but the latest name he had given himself. She also hadn't seen him in a long time, so his appearance was quite surprising.
Hearing the alarmed tone of her voice, Rorek's thin hand charged up his power of electricity. But all in a split second, Nightwing moved quickly and there was a brief but fast movement in the air, something small collided with Rorek's chest, and he was thrown back to the next building, frozen to the wall shoulders-down in a thick layer of ice.
Stardust turned to face Nightwing and let out a fierce yell, throwing starbolts as accurately as she could, but he was fast and dodged all of them. Behind her, Rorek burst the ice with his powers and was by her side again in a flash, though he made no attack yet.
Stardust had never left the air; she found it easier to hit her mark that way. But it seemed no matter how many spheres of energy she hurled at Nightwing, he still managed to dodge or block them somehow, which only made her more angry and produced more starbolts. Her arms were starting to hurt from the throwing motions, but she was determined to hit her target. And she did; a starbolt landing hard square in Nightwing's chest, finally smashing him hard off the roof of the building.
She and Rorek briefly shared a look, then they were off the roof in pursuit of their new opponent, whom they discovered had not even bothered to rise from the pavemen yet. Stardust landed hard on the ground, then aimed her glowing fist as Nightwing's face threateningly.
"Why are you here?" she barked savagely, knowing he could get up if he wanted to, but he made no attempt.
"You know him?" Rorek said.
"Yes," Stardust said, though not taking her eyes off Nightwing. "Now answer the question! I thought you left for Gotham."
Finally, he spoke. "I did. But that doesn't mean I can't come back to one of my home towns to check up on things."
"Jump City is not your home town; not anymore," she hissed. She kept her hand and starbolt dangerously close to his face, and when he moved to get up, she let the purple sphere fly, but he dodged and it blasted a hole in the pavement.
"Stop attacking me," Nightwing said, brushing the dirt off his uniform. Unlike the last time Stardust saw him, his hair was short, though still dark and thick like it had always been. He looked down at her, expressionless as usual, and she couldn't tell what he was thinking, which bothered her.
Rorek was picking up on Stardust's silent rage, and he seemed very wary of the man in front of them. "And how do you know Stardust?" he said, a hint of a challenge in the accent of his voice. Nightwing leveled his eyes at Rorek but was silent.
"It doesn't matter, Rorek," Stardust said, turning her back and walking away. "Come on, let's go." She looked back over her shoulder and glared at Nightwing. "And you leave me alone."
Nightwing brushed past Rorek and reached for Stardust's arm, only to get the literal shock of his life, revealing that Rorek's powers had not been idle. He let out a deep yell and dropped to the ground, Rorek standing over him ominously.
"I think you should honor the lady's request," he said flatly.
Nightwing regained his balance and whipped out a bo staff before anyone could blink. He brought it down to meet Rorek, only to come in contact with a white shield. Rorek blocked a few more swings with the armor on his arms, then caught the last one in his hands, flipped over backwards, and kicked Nightwing into the far wall. He looked at the staff in his hands, then threw it to the side to show its worthlessness.
Stardust, staring with an open mouth, was quite surprised. She knew Nightwing was one of the best with that staff, but Rorek had took his weapon and had him down with a small effort. If the stories of Nightwing's youth were true, he used to rock the city with his fighting style. She didn't see any reason why that talent would die now. He was only in his early thirties, so age was probably not the problem. There was obviously something about Rorek that was different in the way he fought. With a smile, she realized that there was something different about Rorek period.
Nightwing emerged from the hole in the wall, not looking injured in the least, but he held up a hand at Rorek. "I don't want to fight with you, kid. I just want to talk to Stardust. So I suggest you back off."
Rorek took a breath to argue, but Stardust touched his armor, which was frosty from the freeze disc. "No, let him talk. It should be interesting what he has to say."
Nightwing nodded once, but looked at Rorek as if he clearly wanted him to go away, but Stardust crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "He can hear anything you have to say. So go ahead."
Nightwing massaged the back of his neck and sighed. "I want to know where your mother is."
Stardust's face immediately hardened. "It's none of your business! Why don't you keep out of her life, and mine too? She doesn't want to see you or hear from you or-"
A feminine gasp interrupted her sentence. She turned and was surprised to see her mother standing in the middle of the road behind them. "Nightwing?" she said.
"Starfire."
She walked over to him and they looked at each other for a minute, then suddenly hugged. Stardust felt like blasting Nightwing back through the wall of the building, but when she really thought about it she didn't know why she hated him so much. But she didn't care. She just hated him, and hated the fact that he and her mother had come in contact again.
Nightwing took Kory's hands in his and smiled slightly. "I thought you went back to Tamaran."
She shook her head. "I could not. Not when Stardust was young. I was going to wait until later, but now I have no wish to go."
Stardust walked away, knowing she had to before she hurt someone. Rorek followed her silently, but she didn't tell him to leave; she didn't want him to. He was about the only person she wanted to see right now. They walked in silence until they got inside the tower, and she stopped in the hallway and leaned against the wall, her face in her hands. All was silent, but she suddenly felt Rorek's hand on her shoulder. There was no mistaking those hands. Manly and strong but thin and nimble, like the rest of him.
"Oh, Rorek, why do I feel so stupid? And there's no reason to hide it from you, so I'll just tell you that Nightwing is my father. I'm sure you already figured that."
"I did," he said gently.
She took her hands from her face and saw how caring he looked, and it made her heart melt. She felt kind of strange for liking him so much when they didn't really know each other that well, but he was easily likeable. "I honestly don't know why I hate him. He never did anything to me personally, and it's so hard to figure out. All that happened was my parents split up, and I don't think it was really anyone's fault in particular."
"You do not want them back together?"
"No. But I don't know why. I guess I've just lived so long without him, that I feel that neither of us need him anymore. It makes me almost angry that my mom is still interested in him."
"How do you know she is?"
She shrugged. "I dunno, I can just tell. My mom just wants to be a normal person, but his job, if you could call it that, is a lot like ours, only he goes solo and doesn't really settle down anywhere. And I know that I'm not even living at home right now, but it still bothers me."
"I don't think it would be a good idea to try to stop it. If your mother wanted to get into a relationship with him again, perhaps you could get used to it. You never know, you may even accept and enjoy it."
She was going to reply, but when she looked up at his face she was struck speechless. He looked so concerned, caring, and almost loving that she couldn't speak even if she tried to force herself. In short, he looked really hot. He seemed like a knight in shining armor to her- literally. And she suspected that he probably was, in his time. His politeness and slight femininity clashed with his ability to fight and strike fear in the hearts of enemies. His look was if he had been ripped right off an ancient battle field and thrown into the twenty-first century.
"Stardust, Rorek," Talon's voice said, interrupting their gaze and causing Rorek's hand to fall off Stardust's shoulder. "You're back early."
Stardust regained her ability to speak and said, "Yeah, we had a run-in with... somebody I know. But it doesn't matter."
Talon glanced at Rorek. "Why is your armor frozen?"
He ran a finger through the frost, which was starting to melt, and said, "Like Stardust said, we ran into someone."
"It's no big deal," Stardust said, massaging her arm.
Talon shrugged. "All right, if you say so. But just in case you're wondering, there was nothing happening around here. No villains or anything."
"Good," Stardust said absentmindedly. She walked around the other girl and went into the kitchen. When she opened the refridgerator door, the handle snapped off as a result of her tense strength that she hadn't meant to use. "Oops," she said quietly. She was not paying attention to what she was doing, finding herself thinking more of Rorek that anything else. Knowing she had to get her brain back on track, she tried to think of something else so she could get with it. Not knowing how to fix it, she threw the handle aside and pried to door open with her fingers. Grabbing and draining a soda, she suddenly heard a young male voice she did not recognize.
"Got something on your mind?"
"Aah!" she yelped, throwing a starbolt before she could control herself.
"Woah, watch it! I'm not a threat, okay?"
The voice finally had a face, as it seemed the boy materialized out of thin air. He had black hair that was quite the mess, his face was pale, minus his eyes that were painted black, and he wore a long trench coat that she could not see under.
"How did you get in here?" she demanded, ready to tear him to pieces if she had to, but he held up his hands in a sign of peace.
"Hey, it's okay."
She let her eyes glow purple to intimidate him, and it was obviously working. "Answer the question."
"I, uh, came through the wall. It's part of my powers."
"And what's your name?"
"Angel."
"Hah. Somebody got a little mixed up there; you look like a villain."
He shrugged. "Well, I'm not one. I'm a friend."
"Where do you come from?"
He grinned. "All over the place. I'm a deminsion-hopper."
"Good for you. Now get out before-"
"All right, I'm going. I just wanted to see the Titans."
"You could have knocked."
"Sorry. I'm going now."
She crushed the aluminum can beyond recognition and threw it at his feet. "Good."
"Where's the door?" he said.
"Hah! You came through the wall; you can go out the same way."
"That's fair. But I just want to prove to you and your team that I not a threat-"
"You can start proving that you want to live by leaving! Now get OUT!"
He took a few steps backwards and went through the wall without breaking stride. Rorek came into the room and said, "Are you okay?"
"Yes." She explained the 'visitor' they had and later asked Talon how they could fix it. She had proved to be the smartest one in technology, and she was a good thinker and problem solver.
"I'll find some way to fix it," she said.
Stardust walked down the hall, feeling depressed but not knowing why. Behind her she heard Rorek come out of his room, and she didn't know if she should talk to him or run away. She decided to talk.
"That boy had better not come back here, if he knows what's good for him," she said, though not turning to face him. "And he said his name was Angel, but I'd like to know why. He was creepy."
"I did not see him."
"Oh. Yeah, that's right."
Both of them were silent, but somehow Rorek had gotten closer to her when she hadn't noticed. His fingers touched her arm and she finally turned around. She was surprised to see all of his face, as he had removed the muffler. But when she looked down she realized he had changed clothes completely, and was wearing a t-shirt and jeans.
"Hey," she said. "You look really good like that." She could see more of his shape without the armor, and she wondered where he had gotten the clothes, but she didn't care.
"Thank you," he said. "I thought I could blend in to this century better this way."
"You do," she said, blushing and looking way.
He bowed at her slightly in a sign of thanks, then shook his bangs out of his eyes. "Do you think I should cut my hair?"
"No!" She put a hand to her mouth. "I mean, not really. It's nice how it is."
She was so glad she could see him smile now, glad that there was nothing there to hide his face. She could stare at him forever- or at least until he got creeped out.
He smiled again, and suddenly but gently he took her by the shoulders and kissed her. Her heart jumped, and then she knew the meaning of walking on air. She was flying.
Mentally.