Starfire wiped two tears from her eyes as she ran through the hallway, out of range to hear Robin calling after her. Her heart was too heavy to fly. She was angry, really angry, and it seemed like her fury was directed at every target she could think of. She was angry at Slade for pushing Robin too hard. She was angry at herself for letting things get out of hand. She was angry at the pizza for not being tempting enough. She was angry at Club Banana for giving her the clothes-switching idea that Robin took issue with. She was angry at the time of day for being too late. She was angry at the rest of the team for not being there to help her. She was angry at Blackfire for being the worst sister ever. She was angry at Shego for opening old wounds. She was angry at Titans Tower for the evidence room's existence. She was angry at Batman for training his ward for the role of a hero instead of a human. Star's heart and thoughts raced, and she could feel the palms of her hands feeling hotter and hotter, though she restrained herself from creating an actual starbolt.
She fled to the sanctity of her room and shut the door behind her. Righteous fury surged through her veins until she just knew she had to let it out somehow. Shouting out some untranslatable phrase in Tamaranian, she threw two huge, green energy bolts at her outfacing window, with the emotional force to shock Raven out of her deep sleep next door. The starbolt shattered the window and opened the room up to the cool sea breeze outside.
Starfire took a few deep breaths and felt herself calm back down to normal. Her anger subsided and her heart rate slowed to its average beat. She stood there silently, looking out into the bay and hearing the calm lapping of the waves on the island shore. Venting her frustrations on the wall and window had proven very therapeutic. So she and Robin had had a fight. It would all be okay, she was sure, once they'd both had some space.
Her communicator began to beep. Curious as to who would be calling this late, she opened it. "Hello?" she said, confused. The screen's static cleared and revealed Raven's face, by the looks of things still lying in her bed. "Oh, friend Raven. What is the sitch?"
"Please don't say that," Raven groaned on the other end.
"I apologize."
"Yeah." Clearly, Raven was grumpier than usual, having been awakened so late at night. "Look, I don't know what happened, but I just felt a ton of negative emotions coming from your direction, and it was strong enough to wake me out of a great dream about torture chambers and attractive wizards, so is something wrong?"
Starfire looked nervously at her window. Should she reveal what had happened to Raven? Raven was good at emotional healing as well as physical, but Starfire didn't feel nearly as bad as she had only moments ago. She was sure that she didn't need her help. Besides, Raven always hated getting involved in "pointless drama," and a tired, grumpy Raven would probably be even less interested than usual. "No, everything is okay," she assured her.
"You sure? You don't sound okay."
"I am," she said confidently.
"Okay then, if everything's fine, please shut up and go to sleep like the rest of the sane people in this building."
"Yes," Starfire nodded, "I shall. Goodnight, friend!"
"Whatever. Goodnight."
The communicator shut off. Starfire lay down on her bed beside Silkie, fingering the yellow circle in her hands. Contrary to what she had told Raven, just because she had finished blowing off her steam did not mean that everything was okay. Robin was right about one thing: he was not moving fast enough to catch Slade as quickly as he wanted to catch him. However, Starfire also knew that the harder he worked, the slower he got. The slower he got, the further he got from finding Slade. The further he got from catching Slade, the more frustrated he got, which in turn made him work harder and start a vicious cycle. "Oh, Silkie," she said aloud to the sleeping mutant silkworm, "this is not good. Robin will work himself to the death if he does not find Slade soon, but he cannot find Slade soon if he continues to work himself to the death. He will accept no help, but it is clear that he is going nowhere alone."
Silkie let out a little snoring sound. "What is that, Silkie?" Starfire asked, stroking her pet. "You think that someone ought to assist, whether Robin approves or not? Truly, it would be for the best, but who and how? The others are having the sleep, and I know so little about the necessary technologies…" She looked at the communicator, perplexed. Seeing her reflection distorted on its round surface made her remember something. A plan. "What if…no. I could not. Not without the assistance of the team. It would be foolishness alone."
Silkie sighed and rolled over. Starfire answered his implied statement, "Well, I suppose it would not be impossible to do. But it was only the idea. I do not know for certain whether it would work. You are right that Robin requires my assistance, but is this really the best way? He did strongly dislike it, and the others will also, after the things they have said earlier about Shego."
Silkie stretched, then curled up into a ball. "I see what it is that you mean," Starfire said slowly. "You mean that Robin was not in the right of mind when he disapproved, and that the risk would be worth it for the sake of Robin. That is fair to say, but Cyborg has already locked down the Tower, and I do not know how it is that I would meet with Shego. Besides, it is unwise to venture out alone when we are in some way being tracked by Slade."
She looked out at the open window, and thought for a second. "Yes, I could fly out in that direction," she conceded, "but Slade still monitors our movements. Robin believes that it is through our communicators…" She stopped, then looked at her communicator, a sudden realization popping into her head. Loose bits of the plan were falling into place like jigsaw puzzle pieces. "Hm…" she mused, "it would be simple to utilize the communicators for Shego to track me to one location. And it is true that I have desired a private meeting with her ever since the discovery of our mutual powers. This could be the only real opportunity to do so. Then again," she hesitated, "it is also true that Kim Possible knows Shego much better than I do, and she is certain that such a plan would fail, as are the rest of the team. Perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps Shego is truly all evil."
Listening to her own words made her sit bolt upright. "No," she decided, putting her fist down on the pink outer blanket. "Shego is not Blackfire. Terra was good. Shego is good. Robin is good too, though he thinks that he is as unfixable as the others. He does not believe that he can change any more than Shego can. I shall make the connection with her, and show him that people can change, and that the good still remains amidst the bad. Thank you, my bumgorf," she said, kissing Silkie on his pink forehead. "You have been the most stimulating of conversation partners." She hopped off the bed and hurried to her closet, pulling out all of the new clothes she had purchased.
She looked at them, not happy with the options. They were all vaguely in the style of Kim Possible's clothes, but not enough to convince someone with as long a history with her as Shego had. She needed one specific look. One signature Kim Possible look.
She expected sneaking into Kim's room without waking the teen up to be a difficult task. She actually considered waking her up and telling her the whole plan instead, but then thought about Kim's opinions about Shego and was certain that she would have rejected the idea for sure. So, sneaking it was. Starfire floated through the empty hallways of the Tower, careful not to make a sound. When she came to Terra's old room, she rested her feet on the ground and pondered how to get in. Surely the great Kim Possible was a light sleeper and would be alert enough to catch someone breaking into her room in the middle of the night. How could she get in?
I do not like the sneaking up on my friends, Starfire thought, her unease growing. She looked around for some clue. Finally, she spotted it: the motion sensor. There was a tiny motion detector above the door that told it when to open and close. All of the doors had one sensor on the inside and one on the outside. From the inside, it was possible to shut the outside one off completely and therefore lock the door, forcing one's teammates to knock before gaining admittance. Raven always kept hers locked, but the other Titans were looser about it. Starfire never really saw the point of it all. She trusted everyone in the Tower. Why should she lock her door? In any case, she located the microscopic motion sensor on the outside of Kim's door. Star figured that Raven had not bothered to explain how the different sensors worked, since even the regular Titans forgot sometimes, or that if she had, Kim probably had not bothered to change the settings on only her second night. If the motion detector was indeed powered on, and she were to disable it, the door would shut off, but not be locked, and would be possible to open with enough strength applied. She looked up, squinted, and aimed one quick flash of green energy from her eyes at the motion sensor.
She floated up to check if it had worked. Yes, the sensor was destroyed. I shall have to repay friend Cyborg for this, she silently reminded herself. Oh, well. It is for the noble cause.
Starfire placed her palms on the door and, summoning her boundless confidence, pushed it to the side, just a crack small enough for her to slip in. The door was easy to move in its shut off state, and made barely any noise. She stepped through the opening and looked in. There was Kim, asleep on Terra's old bed under the stars. She had heard nothing.
Starfire barely breathed as she flew over to the closet, which was stuffed with Kim's recently unpacked clothes. There was only one outfit that Star needed to make her costume realistic. Finally, she spotted it: a pair of cargo pants and a long sleeved black crop top. She grabbed the items, Kim's Titans communicator, and hurried out, shutting the door again without so much as a whisper.
Starfire zoomed back to her own abode, excited. She still didn't like going behind her new friend's back, but that did not stop the adrenaline rush from kicking in. She switched outfits quickly, then strode over to her mirror to get a better look. The clothes were a little bit smaller than her size, mostly due to the height difference between the girls, but they were a good enough fit. She was used to the bare midriff, of course, but ordinarily she allowed maximum skin exposure for the purpose of soaking in the solar rays that Tamaranians depend on. The long, baggy pants were not very comfortable for flying, and she was sure that she had never worn this much black before in her life. All things considered, though, she did look okay and…kind of like Kim Possible.
After pulling on a pair of tennis shoes, also from Club Banana last afternoon, Starfire's next stop was her makeup bag. Her skin was orange. No amount of foundation and powder could change that. If the moonlight could hide it, great. If not, well, that was too bad. However, she had learned a few new tricks from Monique at the mall that could make it less obvious. She started with her eyes. Monique had said that when people are forced to look at your eyes, they pay less attention to blemishes on your face. Hopefully, that would work here as well. Starfire carefully applied dark brown eyeliner, then a neutral-colored eyeshadow, finishing off with dark, full-looking mascara.
Next, lips. She needed something there to, once again, call attention away from her skin color, but it still had to be tame enough for the "basic average girl" to wear. She felt a tube of something in the pocket of Kim's pants and pulled it out. Oddly enough, it was lipstick. She opened it to inspect the color, but got the shock of her life when she nearly shot a laser into her eye! Quickly, she stashed it back into the pocket from whence it came. Sorting through her options, she selected a soft red and put it on. It worked perfectly.
For the next step in her routine, Starfire added a little foundation. It was a lot closer to her own color than to Kim's, but by applying rouge in the right accent areas, she made it look a bit paler. She considered drawing in full-sized human eyebrows, unlike her tiny ones, but decided against it as they would look obviously fake and she doubted her own skill with an eyebrow pencil. Finally, the hair. Fortunately, it was already the right color. Unfortunately, it was not the right style. She pulled back the two strands that always hung in front of her ears, then reached for her hairbrush. She brushed the red mass until it was as close to Kim's hairstyle as it could get. The bangs would have to stay, she was disappointed to realize, but maybe that wouldn't hurt the look much. She stepped back and examined her appearance in the mirror again. Was she Kim Possible's identical twin? No. But could she fool someone at a distance or in the limited lighting of the night? Definitely.
Starfire peered out of her shattered window at the city. If she wanted to be a convincing Kim Possible, she could not fly across the bay. The whole Tower was locked down, so exiting through the garage was out of the question. However, there was no reason why she couldn't take something out of the garage. She left her room again and flew toward the elevator, taking it all the way down to Cyborg's shrine to the automobile and all things mechanic. There, she saw it: the R-Cycle, her ticket into town.
She managed to cram her boyfriend's motorcycle into the elevator with her, though it took a couple of tries to make it fit, and rolled it through the hallway and into her own room. Of course she felt bad taking Robin's motorcycle without permission, but she had limited other options. She definitely couldn't ask him now. He was probably still getting over their little fight, and he had hated this plan anyway. All the same, Starfire did feel a bit guilty.
"I know," she decided out loud. "I shall write Robin and the others the letter of explanation. That ought to assist a bit with the pardoning of any troubles I have caused for them." She ransacked her stuff for pencils and paper and wrote in her neatest handwriting:
Friends,
I have gone to meet with Shego. I am aware that you believe this to be foolish, but I am confident that some good in her remains, and tonight it is my aim to recover it. Kim, I have borrowed the clothing items and communicator from you for the purpose of giving Shego the incentive to pursue me. Robin, I have also taken the R-Cycle. Worry not: I can do the driving! Tamaranians learn very fast. I have observed enough from you to safely transport myself. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO STOP ME. This is something that I must do. If I have not returned by the third hour after the night's middle, then I may be in need of the assistance. At that time, locate me by following the communicator signal. I apologize for the deception, but I feel that I have not the choice.
XOXO Starfire
She stopped, then added:
P.S. Robin, I believe that you shall worry the most. Do not have the concern. Everything will be okay. I love you.
She picked up the letter and taped it to the outside of her bedroom door. She fully intended to be back before 3:00 am. Only the worst case scenario could cause her to be later. If all of the Titans were still asleep, as she believed them to be, they may not even notice the note before she came back.
Starfire reentered her room and took out Kim's communicator. Holding it in one hand, she grabbed for her own. Robin said that Slade was probably tracking them through their communicators. If that was the case, then getting the message of their meeting to Shego would be a cinch. Star opened both devices and set them so that they could only hear and receive each other's transmissions. She pointed the camera of hers away from herself and called Kim's, saying, "Starfire calling Kim Possible. Robin has found the clue near the building of Wayne Enterprises. Can you investigate?"
She pointed the camera of the other communicator at herself, but at an odd angle so that her exact facial structure was obscured. "No big," she said, trying her hardest to imitate Kim's speech patterns. "On my way."
Starfire closed both communicators, pocketing Kim's and leaving hers on her bed. Now Slade knew where she was going, and soon Shego would too. She once again summoned her confident strength and picked up the R-Cycle, flying it out the window and placing it gently onto the ground below. She sat down on its seat and held onto the handlebars, looking over everything carefully. Tamaranians were fast learners. Earlier that day had not been the first time that she had observed Robin's motorcycle-riding technique. Still, she was a bit nervous going out alone on it for the first time. After putting on Robin's helmet, she took in a deep breath, let it out, and started the R-Cycle. In only a few moments, she was driving over the surface of the island, activating the button that made a skinny road rise just above the water's surface, allowing her to zoom over it onto the mainland the way Robin always did.
Upon reaching the other side, the road descended into the liquid darkness surrounding Titan Island. Starfire stopped in her tracks and looked back at the Tower briefly. It was hard not to have her friends by her side, especially without Robin, but she knew that she had gone too far to quit now. Turning her head to face the road before her, she took off in the direction of Jump City's branch of Wayne Enterprises.
(A/N: Happy Easter/Passover/Spring Break/anything else you guys are celebrating right now! Thanks for sticking through this really long story so far. I'll be doing some traveling next week, so I'm not sure when I'll update next, but you can expect the next few chapters to include the result of Ron's accidental discovery, as well as plenty of villain drama, so hang in there. Also, I wondered while I was writing this, how did Robin and Cyborg ever drive from Titans Tower to Jump City? Like, they have the T-Car and the R-Cycle in the garage on the island, but they're always driving them in town. I am clearly thinking too much about this, but hopefully the explanation I used in the chapter makes sense. See you next time!)
