It was the quiet of the wind that caused Beast Boy to hesitate. Starfire still stood close to him in the center of the abandoned warehouse trying to make sense of what was going on.
"We do not have storms like this on our planet. I have never seen so much water," Starfire said as she gingerly stepped over the rusted, broken pieces of metal that used to be machinery.
"Really?" Garfield asked deciding to distract her. That was what Robin did when people were scared, right?
"Yes. I mean, we had giant fire storms that would sweep across Tamaran but nothing like this."
Of course, it was giant waves of fire on her planet. Garfield wasn't sure why he had expected something different. For as cute and naïve Korand'r was, she came from what sounded like a hell scape and was as tough as nails.
"You're tough," Beast Boy said with a smile and tried to keep his eyes from dropping down to the loose folds of the lab coat that had fallen away from her figure. He could just make out the swell of her breast from the corner of his eye. "You'll have another story to tell everyone when we get back to the tower."
"Yes!" she said with a glee and she jumped up and down in excitement. "And that fact that you saved me by taking off all my clothes!"
The explosion of heat in his face made him spin around quickly to the girl.
"No! You can't say it that way. Cy will torment me to the end of time and Robin will give me that death stare for who knows how long. I simply saved you from hypothermia."
"Oh. Is that not the same thing?"
"It's the phrasing and I promise! I didn't look when I helped take your clothes of."
Starfire patted him on the shoulder. "It is okay, friend Garfield. I didn't mind if you looked. I'm very comfortable with you."
Garfield turned away hoping she did not notice the burning in his face.
Looking up at the dirty panel windows in the roof that once let sun in but instead he could see the drizzle of rain for a warped black and blue sky instead.
"We need to get up there and get our bearings. I think we're in the eye of the storm."
"Storms have eyes?"
"The center. We're in the center of the storm."
"Ohhh. Interesting choice. Let's go!"
Starfire began to fly up and Beast Boy immediately turned in to a sparrow and darted passed her because he was NOT going to follow under her as much as his brain wanted him too. They both alighted up in the roof structure and gently pushed open a panel window. Pulling themselves out on the room, they looked about.
Though the world above them was murky and calm, they could see around them the stirring storms that swirled about them. Beast Boy peered towards the tower and could barley make it out in the rain that still fell.
"Shall we try to fly?" Starfire asked.
"Nah, I don't think it's safe. These winds could come out of nowhere and slam us into something. I'm not sure how much you have healed. Need to get you back to Robin."
"Why?" Starfire asked puzzled as the changeling shape shifted into a monkey and scurried safely up to an old lightening rod to get the highest view possible.
"Cause you're his girlfriend?" Garfield responded peering out and still not able to make out much.
"We are not dating," Starfire said gently floating up to where he was. "We have not been dating for a few months. Have you not noticed?"
"Oh…. uh….I did get that new Cyber Monkeys from Hell III game. I might have…ummm.." There was no real way to explain his embarrassment. At least he would get the death glares from Robin. Just Cyborg's continued laughter and Raven reminding him that he was a pervert.
"It is alright. After Japan, we decided that our personalities were a little too different. I love him like a brother but he needs someone who is less….energetic than I." Starfire said with a smile that almost melted his heart. How did he not notice how kind those were? It almost seemed to banish the storm about them.
"Have you come up with a plan, Friend Garfield?"
"Ummm….I'm not much of a planner. I just wanted to get a lay of the land." And away from the fact that you're naked under that lab coat.
"I disagree," she said with a shake of her head. "You are a smart individual. Your knowledge in all thing's lore saved us from Control Freak that time we were stuck in the TV. No one including myself could have gotten us out of there."
"Oh. Thanks! Clash of the Planets is a priceless treasure of cinema." He beamed.
"So, what is our plan to get back to the tower?"
"Let's….walk? It'll be safer on the ground from the wind and we can take off if something happens."
She nodded and both hoped down.
It felt like forever, but something told Beast Boy that it had only been about 15 minutes since they got themselves down and started trying to find their way out of the warehouse district. They were still there though, and he knew they had made a few wrong turns.
Once or twice one of them tried to fly up to get a look but the wind was starting to pick up and it one burst almost slammed the changeling through a plate glass window. They had decided to stay on the ground from that point.
It was as they saw the main large signs pointing the way out that they began to hear a sound, something loud.
"What is that?" Starfire asked confused.
Beast Boy shift to a cougar to utilize the hearing. It sounded like…water?
"It's…water." He said shifting back to his human form. He trotted to the exit and looked down the street. Though his eyes saw it, his brain struggled to compute it. A flood of water was gushing down pushing cars out of the way and coming straight for them. In an instant, he knew they had only a few moments before it hit while the other half of him knew that the choice was either drown or get caught by the wind, slammed into a building, then drown.
"Star!" he called and she was by his side instantly. "I…!"
Starfire's face turned cold a steel and determined. "It is my turn to save us."
She grabbed him by the collar and flew directly to one of the cement pillars that would have blocked trucks from parking.
"You must hold on to me and that for dear life and do not let go. I cannot stop the kinetic energy but I can disperse the water." She said.
"How?"
"Trust me. Grab a hold of me we cannot be separated and don't let go no matter what. Keep the form as small as safely possible."
Wracking his brain quickly, he transformed himself into a giant coconut crab to be large enough to hold on to the Tamaranean. He knew they had the strongest grip of any animal in the world. Fastening one claw gently around her waist and locking it, he used the other to grab a hold of the cement pillar. He hoped it would hold.
Starfire spread her stance and her eyes and hands began to glow a fierce emerald. With a sweep of her hands, just in time, a spherical shield of green energy surrounded them as the water hit. He felt the pressure as the water tried to take the energy marble from it's position and force it down the road.
Rushing around them and burying them in water, Starfire's face was fierce determination as she kept the shield pushing back and vaporizing any water that tried to get in. He had never seen her power burn so fierce.
"Star!"
"Not the now!" she growled back as she shifted her feet and pulsed out more energy into the shield. It felt like forever that the water was dozens of feet above their head but as the emerald energy began to lighten and exhaustion set in, the water level began to lower. When the shield finally gave out, the water was only at their knees. Beast Boy transformed back into himself and caught the burnt-out girl.
"That was amazing, Koriand'r!"
She smiled weakly at him. "Do you think you can carry me home? I do not think I shall be able to walk for a few hours."
Scooping her up in gorilla form, he charged ahead to get to the tower before the rest of the storm came.