Dick heard her calling out to J'onn, his heart sinking to her surprised and maybe a mild disappointed "oh" as compared to his ecstatic racing heart. Unable to show his sinking feelings, he just awkwardly greeted her with a "Hi Kory" as she landed in front of him. What else could he say? There were a lot of unspoken words between them, and he didn't know where to start, especially when she seemed a bit disappointed to see him.
He noticed her hesitating and awkwardness when she didn't even return his greeting but instead asked if they could just get to work. He figured she wanted to finish up here as soon as possible and head to another destination, perhaps to Jump to help Tim and Conner or Mexico to team up with Jason and Roy. That thought left him quite disappointed. Although he could see she was tired of their whole ordeal and was still hurt from their last rendezvous when he had a bad day and took out his frustration on her. She was always there for him; and he took advantage of that, crossing a line and saying things he shouldn't have. Kory was a warrior princess and deserved to be treated better. She had gathered her things and flown off without even looking back once, while he called out to her apologizing and begging her to come back, his voice disappearing into the winds as she sored away.
Extracting his Escrima sticks and feeling guilty and awkward himself, Dick thought it would be best to finish up quickly. With Kory taking the skies and Dick covering the ground, he found them easily falling back to their old fighting pattern. It had been quite a while since they had fought side-by-side and Dick felt like it was the same as their Titan days again. Over the years Dick has fought alongside many heroes, and although he fights best alongside Batman, Dick is more like the lending hand, support to Batman's techniques and methods. He fights well alongside his brothers as well, but they each have their own style and more often than not they clash. The one person with whom he has always fought in perfect sync has been Starfire. Since their Titan days, they have had each other's backs and have fought alongside with one mind, one spirit, with Kory knowing Dick's moves like her own, and him knowing hers.
Starfire has and will always be the perfect partner to Nightwing.
The battle was going quick and smoothly, and Dick wondered if Batman's reports had described the threat to be much more severe than it seemed to be. They fought in silence for a while before Dick found the silence unbearable. His guilt eating him up from inside. Even while fighting the alien plants, he knew all her movements. He always kept an eye out for her when they fought together. His senses knew where she was and what she was doing, old habits are indeed hard to kill. He didn't like the silence between them, he wanted her to talk to him, to say something, anything, and not treat him like a stranger. This was Starfire, the kindest and the sweetest soul ever. Her not talking to him was unsettling for Dick, not being able to bear the silence much longer, Dick voiced his opinion on how easily they were succeeding. Still unable to generate a response from her for small talk, he decided to stop beating around the bush and tell her how he really felt. With these conflicting emotions, Dick mumbled a "S'good to see you again."
Dick looked up at the twilight sky to see her twisting and twirling herself gracefully in the sky in angles the way only Kory could, Dick held his breath remembering when she would dance to the tune to the winds, swaying her body in a celestial manner the way only an angel could. She did respond to his pathetic attempt at small talk, only to disappoint him further when she expressed delight in how quickly they would be able to deal with the crisis and move on to the next location.
Seeing Kory against the beautiful twilight sky, expressing freedom in the way she flew, Dick looked at her in wonder, his mind racing a million thoughts a minute. More specifically as to why and how she was in front of him. It seemed almost like a dream to him. His strategic mind ran various scenarios and possibilities as to how they were both brought to the same location. Nightwing and Starfire had always been the topic of gossip in the league as well as in the media. He knew the media would have a field day if they got wind of this mission.
Wondering if the fates had been kind to him, he had to know how he and Kory were alone together again. Batman wouldn't have sent him here if he knew Kory was coming, Bruce knew Dick wasn't ready to face Kory yet. Maybe J'onn had sent her purposely to where he was. Dick wondered if J'onn had read his mind the last time he had visited the league tower a few months ago.
Dick didn't visit the tower frequently and would only go if there was a necessity and the last time he was there along with Robin was on Batman's business. He just wanted a glimpse of Kory as it had been a while since he had heard anything about her, and grapevine told him she was called in for a league mission. Dick being the master of stealth had difficulties trying and not making it obvious as his eyes inevitably scanned the place for her. Despite also having the best poker face, Dick wondered maybe he had been projecting it louder than he thought he was or maybe his nerves were twitching too much and J'onn had taken notice. Talk about learning from the best, Batman would have been disappointed, so it was a good thing he wasn't there at the tower.
Being extremely discrete Dick checked the guest quarters, the training room, the dining area, and the weapons bay but there was no sign of her. He knew she didn't live there; she had gotten herself a cute little place in New York. Dick had checked her place and the area she was moving into when she got the apartment; for security reasons of course but, she didn't need to know that. Dick had convinced himself that he was only looking out for her and just making sure she was in a safe place, just as a concerned ex-boyfriend should do. Nothing strange in that at all.
"She's off-world right now." Black Cannery told Dick nonchalantly as she passed by in a towel.
Black Cannery may have gotten an idea as she had seen Dick lurking around the female showers as that was the only place he hadn't looked yet. All under the pretext of searching for Robin, Dick had split them up for the task, thus giving him a reason to wander around the tower and search for her.
"No.. I.. Um.." Dick flustered unable to form words as she passed to the changing rooms, so he just nodded and left for the main controls room, where he knew Robin would be. Green Arrow and Black Cannery had been quite supportive of his relationship when he and Kory had started out. He knew Oliver and Diana had a good relationship with Kory, as she and Roy had dated for a while. Ending on a good note, Kory was still on good terms with all of them. In fact, Oliver and Roy had helped her out when she was looking for a place to stay. He knew Roy still harbored some feelings for her, but he also knew they had decided to be friends.
Or just for a brief moment, his mind dared to hope that she had indeed asked J'onn to be sent to where he would be. Dick was getting more and more fixated on this particular thought process, his heart hoping and believing that maybe she did want to see him. That would mean she is ready to talk to him and he needs to man up. Needs to apologize for everything. His heart began soring with the idea that she was ready to forgive him. Maybe she was being passive-aggressive because she was waiting for him to take a step forward this time. On the other hand, if she had indeed wanted to see him, her behavior didn't make sense. Did she come here only to show him how much better was she doing, or to show him what he was missing? But that wasn't Kory, she wouldn't ever do this. These thoughts ran in his mind, and he just had to know. Against the better judgment of his own mind, he asked her.
Bracing himself for her reply as he fought on, a small part of him was hoping that she would have wanted to see him as much as he wanted to see her.
Dick's heart sank when he heard Kory's offended, "What" followed by the words, "Ugh disgusting." He looked up at her, to see her distracted by his question, causing the pollen from the alien plant exploding in her face. Hoping she was disgusted by that and not his question, he continued his fight on the ground. His heart further sank when she further went on to explain why on earth would she bring him to a place she made love with a dexterous naval officer.
Immediately getting his ego and confidence deflated with just one word from Kory, Dick muttered almost inaudibly to himself "Fuck", so that she wouldn't hear. He knew she would have moved on and he had no right to be furious, but damn was he jealous. "Why did she have to tell him that?" Dick thought as he struggled to control himself from reacting to her answer. It had stung him badly. But what could he expect? He certainly didn't expect her to wait around for him forever, even though a small part of him deep down hoped she would. It wouldn't have been fair to her, but damn to hear her say it as a matter of fact; that had hurt more than all the stabs he had endured throughout his life and the fatal gunshot put together.
Perhaps for the first time in his life, Dick didn't have any words to say. Trying to hide the noise of his heart shattering to pieces, he lamely stated the obvious, "we haven't really connected since calling things off so to let bygones be bygones". Dick knew he didn't have the heart to learn more about her dating life. He had a very difficult time coping when he learned that she was dating Roy. Instead, Dick decided to focus on the battle at hand, discussing the battle strategy since it was getting a tad bit tedious fighting off the small alien plant.
Frustrated by her lack of response towards him and the constant attacks from the baby alien plant, Dick fell back to his leadership position from their titan days and devised a plan on his own to defeat the alien plant. Expecting Kory to just fall in the same routine as his, he ordered her to deal with the bigger alien plants. He knows that her strength and capabilities far exceed his and her starblots have grown to be extremely powerful and pack a solid punch. His plan was to circle the ground and deal with the baby plants as Starfire would tackle the big ones.
Without a doubt in his mind, Dick expected Kory to simply follow his lead without questions. So, naturally, he was quite astonished when she straight up stiffened, crossed her arms, turned her head away from him, and completely ceased fighting. Dick is usually prepared to expect the unexpected during battles but he, not even in his wildest dream had expected Kory to react like that. Whatever disagreement they had; Kory wasn't the petty type to bring it out onto the battlefield and if something would bother her, she would have talked to him about it after the battle was over. Kory was the perfect blend of friendly and fierce, but she was also a professional and took the safety of this world seriously.
Dick had no clue what he did wrong when she said "okay, fine, sure." He remembered that tone and knew she was extremely displeased with him. Feeling defeated he stopped his Ncycle and positioned himself on the coast behind her as she floated over the sea, out of his reach. He asked her "What?" rather crudely than he intended to and when she still hadn't responded to him or moved, Dick tried to explain his thought process.
Dick, having the strongest bond with Kory knows her inside out and thus knows exactly how strong and powerful she really is. Despite calling things off he had kept an eye and ear out on her, witnessing some of her battles covered by news channels. He was also secretly keeping a tab on most of her space expeditions, whenever and however he could. His analytical and strategic brain had a good estimate of her capabilities and could see just how much her strength and powers had amplified since their Teen Titan days. Dick had always marveled at Kory's strength but never felt intimated by her. That was how deep their trust and friendship ran. Warrior princess Koriand'r can appear to be extremely intimidating, and Dick was ecstatic that knew her soft and beautiful heart as well. At times Dick's friends and other league members had often joked with him that he is the only Titan accustomed to having a partner that intimidating; a comment he always felt proud of.
Distracted, Dick quickly jumped off his Ncycle to avoid an alien plant that was coming at him. At least this got a response from her as she started flying and battling again, destroying those things. He smiled a little to himself knowing she still cared for him. Still mesmerized by the way Kory twisted her body in the air like a majestic feline, Dick could only stare in awe.
It took Dick a moment to realize that Kory was upset at him for not acknowledging her presence in the battle and just expected her to follow his lead as always. Kory is not on Dick's team anymore as he has heartbreakingly told her in the past when he decided to ride solo for a bit and she most certainly is not under in his team and as a consequence of that Dick had no right to expect her to just follow his lead.