Starfire made a starbolt appear in her hands.
"Who are you?" Star said.
"Is that any way to greet your little brother?" The man asked. "Also, you may want to avoid fighting here. This place barely holds together on a normal day. If starbolts and laser blasts start flying around, we may have a problem... In short, projectile weapons are strictly prohibited."
Starfire walked around him, glaring.
"You say you are Wildfire but you hide your face," Starfire said as she continued examining him, obviously not trusting him. "You appear to require technological weaponry to fly and to fight. Can you not use your Tamaranian powers? Can you not use the gifts you were born with?"
"Unfortunately I was never around any Tamaranians. Nobody ever taught me. I'm assuming that because I didn't learn them at a young age, the ability to do so is lost to me.
Raven started communicating with Star telepathically.
This is entirely possible. There have been cases of children being found in the wild. Don't ask why. It'll take too long to explain. Long story less long, most of these children don't learn to talk because they miss the chance. The same idea could be true for your people. He missed the chance to learn to fly.
Starfire continued pacing around him. What Raven said sounded reasonable but there was one big elephant in the room, as the Earthlings called it.
"Show me your face. I'll know if you are a Tamaranian or not."
The armored man took off his helmet. He had orange skin, red hair, and emerald green eyes. There were some scars around his face. Raven pulled out her communicator.
"Hey guys I think we might have found him but we'll need a DNA test to find out if he's the real deal... But I think we might have another problem. It appears Wildfire has friends."
Raven noticed that several humanoids were advancing on them. Some were wearing body armor. Some had spider like eyes. Others had insect like wings. One in the center looked human but had blue skin. They all looked angry and very well armed. Raven could sense that one at the center was the leader and was much stronger than all the others. The rest just looked like some street rabble who gravitated to him. Starfire listened. Raven closed her eyes and tried to read the minds of the two.
"Krayt," Wildfire said. "How unpleasant it is to see you. Still playing puppet for mid-tier mob bosses?"
"Wildfire... Lord Lavasha is really angry at you," the leader said. "Putting his son Revonse in jail like that. Totally screwed up the long awaited wedding. "
"To me, that seems like a personal problem," he said. "It's not as though he had to steal a bunch of religious artifacts. Not that I much care. However, the price on his head did set me up with the new ion cannon. I've seen your junker of a ship. It would atomize it. Look, Krayt, I've met my sister for the first time in 14 years or so. I'd prefer not spoiling the occasion by savagely beating a flunky who's out of his league."
"Trying to hide behind the females?" Krayt said, grinning. "I'll just walk through them. I'm sure that other Troq will fetch a high price. Even if the Gordanians can't pay, surely someone can."
Starfire glared at that. Raven used her powers to restrain her hands from pummeling him with starbolts.
"Raven, what the hell is happening?" Robin said as he ran up.
"Wildfire's a bounty hunter!" Raven said, letting Star go after she took a deep breath. "And he seems to have baggage."
"I knew there'd be a catch." Robin muttered as he drew his bo staff. He pressed a button on his communicator. "Cyborg, Beast Boy, back to the ship. There might be more 'friends' outside. Prepare the T-Ship for a shootout."
"I gave you an out, Krayt. Your career as a mobster ends here. All of you can have these meatshields. This guy is mine. Oh and don't use projectiles or explosives"
Raven entered his mind.
Do you intend to kill this man?
"Lady I do not know how you're doing that but if you are not prepared to kill, I suggest you go back home," Wildfire said, putting his helmet back on. "Out here in the Badlands, it is win or die."
Wildfire could hear a voice in his head from the helmet. Wildfire was seeing in through a green scanner that laid out a bunch of identifying information and weak spots were highlighted in red.
"Target verified," the voice said. "Name is Krayt. Occupation, mercenary for the mobster Lavasha. Threat level, three. Weak spots are displayed in visual display. Has a 5000 credit bounty from the Galactic Police. Others are of no importance. Sensors detect a large ship outside. Identified Lavasha's personal flagship, Deathbringer. Space combat is forbidden this close to a station."
"Thank you, Sumika." Wildfire said. "We'll need to deal with these fools first but send this info to the ship from Earth."
Wildfire seemed to disappear. Robin was wondering where he went. He did not have much time to think about this as two aliens were advancing on him. They were much larger than he was. However, he was more agile. He jumped up as the aliens tried to grab him and threw something from out of his belt. This had been something he and Cyborg had been working on using a plant from Tamaran: A special glue that would tangle the opponent up for a long time. He threw the canister at the two big guys and they were covered in a green, foul-smelling gunk. They found it impossible to move out of and soon passed out from the stench.
"Two down, two to go," Raven said as she turned to the to one that was coming up on her "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"
She wrapped the bug-eyed alien up in black energy and raised him up in the air making a point to wrap his arms in front of his body so she wouldn't kill him. Then she slammed him to the ground, knocking him out,
Star, knowing she couldn't use her starbolts normally decided to try something different, she started hitting the alien with starbolt enhanced punches. After about ten of these in rapid succession, the alien collapsed.
"Stay down," she said. "I would not like to hurt you any further."
Krayt was having trouble locating Wildfire. He had flown up and disappeared. He walked around the station, looking for him.
"Where are you, you filthy Troq?" Krayt shouted.
Krayt soon received his answer, in the form of an energy sword through his back. Wildfire deactivated a cloaking device.
"Mirage armor. Uses quite a bit of energy but it is perfect for ending fights quickly. Sumika, take a picture from my scanner and send it to the Galactic Police. Inform them Krayt has been terminated."
Starfire seemed horrified.
"Brother! You killed him in a dishonorable fashion."
Wildfire deactivated the sword and put the hilt in a slot on his wrist. He walked by her.
"He brought it on himself. I gave him a way out but he wanted to kill me. The only way to end the threat was to end him. Kill or be killed is the only law here in the Badlands. Honor is meaningless if you're dead."
"But did you have to profit from his death?"
"I am a bounty hunter. That is the path I have walked. Now if you want to get back to your planet alive, follow me."
But why do you walk this path, brother?
They went back to his ship. He put his armor in a charger. He was dressed in black clothes under it. He scanned his radar.
"Looks like Lavasha is right outside. His ship, the Deathbringer could probably wipe out this station. Our ships alone won't be able to take it out."
"So we're totally hosed," Beast Boy said.
"Not quite. Lavasha is a mobster but destroying a space station would cause problems. A war crime would actually push the few police to not take bribes."
"So what do we do?" Robin asked.
Wildfire went to his weapon storage room and came back with a black sphere.
"Are you willing to follow my plan exactly?"
Robin nodded. He didn't care for Wilfire's methods nor his attitude. However, he had to protect the team. And taking out this mobster was probably intrinsically good.
"All right but no civilians will be harmed."
"You have my word. The black sphere is a shield disrupter. Fly out first and fire this once you get in range. He doesn't know who you are so if you fly at a normal pace, he won't waste time on you Once you get in range, I will fire the ion cannon."
"We'll have much to discuss but we'll have to work together for now..."
Wildfire and the Titans went to their ships. An alien who had a snakelike head contacted him.
"Show yourself, Troq," he said. "Come out so we can do battle."
"Lavasha. It seems you really want me dead. Showing yourself in person is not like you."
Meanwhile the T-Ship was flying by. Lavasha's ship. He didn't notice.
"I was hoping Krayt would bring your corpse to me personally. But I can destroy you myself. Been awhile since I got my hands dirty. Now come out, bounty hunter."
"As you wish."
As soon as Wildfire flew out, Cyborg fired the shield disrupter. Lavasha started barking out orders but as soon as the shields were down, Wildfire fired the ion cannon. The large laser tore through the ship from one end to the other. The Deathbringer, having its energy system severely damaged, exploded.
Both ships went back to the station. The ion cannon was fried and the ship was more or less out of energy. Cyborg had done a DNA scan and he was Starfire's sibling. Robin had called a meeting in the T-Ship. Starfire wanted him to join the Titans but there were some questions about whether or not he should.
"I don't know Robin," Cyborg said. "He seems a bit crazy. And he's a bounty hunter. He likes money. What if he starts distributing that crazy alien tech on Earth? The Justice League will lose it."
"We're all missing an important point," Raven said. "We watched him skewer a man. And from what I can tell, he is mentally unstable. We know nothing about him. Nothing good anyway."
"Come on," Beast Boy said. "Everyone deserves a chance. He probably never had much in the way of good influences out here. Even this station is kind of scary."
"While I agree with you, Beast Boy, that is not the point," Star said. "The point is he is my brother. He is the only family I have left that has not actively attempted to harm me. I do not... Want to lose him..."
"We know next to nothing about him," Raven said. "How did that work out with Terra?"
"We knew next to nothing about each other," Starfire said. "But we all gave each other a chance. He may have edges that are rougher than they should be... I think that's the right expression... But he deserves a chance to be better. As his sister I am obligated to give it to him."
Robin sighed. Raven and Cyborg had valid points but so did BB and Starfire. There was the added point that Starfire might go off with Wildfire. She would not survive the Badlands. More importantly, he loved her.
Robin went to Wildfire's ship. Wildfire was working on the ion cannon
"We need to talk," he said.
"Start talking then," he said, still working on the gun.
"This is the first time Starfire has seen you in years. And despite everything, she wants you to come home with her."
"I am busy," he said.
"Doing what?" He wasn't exactly thrilled about him but he hated the idea of seeing Starfire brushed off. "Hunting down random thugs for money? That mobster probably made you a lot. Haven't you ever wanted to fight for something greater than money? Or maybe just do something else?"
"You mean truth and justice? Look, I am not like you all. I fight for myself because no one else did. I made a good living doing it."
"You really just want to fight out here until you die alone?" He sighed. "Look it's your choice but you should know that many nights... She's laid awake wondering what became of you. And now she'll wonder if you're okay, thinking you died in another fight in a place like this. Honestly, she deserves better. She thinks you do too" He walked off.
Later, Robin went Star.
"Hey Star, I talked to Wildfire.." Robin sighed seeing Star's hopeful face. "He said he won't-"
"Be leaving you anytime soon," Wildfire said
As the two hugged, Robin smirked. Batman's lessons in diplomacy paid off.