Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.
"Halt villain!"
The crazy man in the half-green, half-red jester outfit turns around, confused. "Whaaat? Who are yoooou?" He says, tilting his head so that it is parallel with the ground. The strange multicolored weapon in his hand whirs threateningly.
"I am Starfire! A Titan!" The alien girl states proudly. "I must ask you to put down the weapon."
The man considers this and looks up at the sun which is halfway across the sky. 'I should get lunch soon.' The man thinks to himself, not worrying about the flying girl.
"Put dow-"
"Nope!" The man quickly levels the weapon and shoots at Starfire. The orange-skinned girl drops from the sky to avoid the brightly colored shot and returns fire with a large starbolt.
The pedestrians quickly took notice of the commotion and cleared the road. The two fighters eyed their unfamiliar opponent with suspicion.
"Why do you dress like a Gabrenar Neforkorp?"
"Where's The Night Shadow? Did he decide Flip was too much for him this time?"
The man, Flip, grins at the thought.
"Ahhh yes. I have finally installed fear into his heart, he finally-"
He is silenced abruptly when Starfire socks him in the face. Flip falls to the ground, unconscious, and Starfire eyes him warily. The man dresses like a Neforkorp, who knows what trick he might have up his sleeve, even if he is unconscious.
"Nice takedown." Shadow says, walking out of an alley dragging two goons. The cloaked boy tosses them onto of Flip and scoops up the supervillain's weapon. "Did he hit you with this?".
"No."
"Good. If he had then we would have a doppelganger problem on our hands." Under his cloak Shadow grimaces to himself, remembering a few choice occasions when he was hit by the ray.
"What do you mean?"
Shadow hesitates, not wanting to tell and risk her finding out about... No, he musn't think about that. "It might be best I don't elaborate." He says quietly.
"Ah." The girl can tell he is nervous about this conversation, so she doesn't press the matter. "What do we do with the bad guys?"
"Just leave 'em. The police are fairly quick." Shadow murmurs while dismantling the weapon he still holds. "But I can't let them have this. It's never a good idea to let any government get a hold of powerful weapons."
"What do we do with it then?"
"I'll give it to The Alchemist."
"The Alchemist?"
"An old friend of mine, but it will take a while to get there. So I'm going to have to ask you to remain while I go deliver it." Shadow says sheepishly. "I normally wait until one my contacts can go, but this weapon in particular needs to be delivered as fast as possible."
"I can go." Starfire offers.
"It's best I go. I need to speak to her anyways."
The alien princess hesitates, but nods.
Shadow checks his wrist-computer. "It will take me only half a day. So I should be back by tonight. Don't destroy anything while I'm gone eh?" He says the last part with a joking smile that is almost completely hidden by his hood.
Starfire smiles in return. "I will guard the city while you are away."
"Many thanks." With that, the pale boy turns around and takes of running. He gradually builds up speed until he surpasses the speed most of the cars are driving at. Within ten minutes he is out of Blacksoak.
Well. That was unexpected.
Starfire watches the black-cloaked figure run until he is out of sight. The girl stares of at the horizon for a moment before flying back to the house. Making sure no one is looking, she slides behind the tiny house. Barely a meter of space separates it from the wall behind it, and Shadow constructed his own walls at either end of the space to give him a relatively concealed entry/exit point.
The alien girl sat down on the couch and looked around the small room. It was so small she could walk the length of it in five strides. The bedroom was twice as small and the bathroom was tiny. There were only three rooms in the whole house.
Why was she thinking about this? Mostly because she was unsure of what else to do.
Deciding to rest, Starfire flicked on the television and turned to a random channel before allowing herself to slump in her seat.
Sooooo boooored.
###
"Ugh..." Robin mutters. "Why me?"
"You're the leader." Raven replies bluntly. "Deal with it."
Robin sighs and stares down at message. It informs the boy wonder that the mayor wishes to meet jim at two o clock this afternoon to discuss something of "urgent importance".
'Urgent my foot'. Thinks Robin. 'He probably just wants to renew the Titan contract detailing the specifics of exactly what the Titans do. It never changes.'
As if reading my thoughts, Raven shakes her head and leaves.
"Why can't someone else go?" Robin growls after Raven exits. "Why does the mayor always have to ask for me?"
Sighing again, the masked boy turns around and grabs his sandwich, which has been sitting on a side table for almost an hour. For once, it doesn't have mustard in it.
He misses the mustard.
Don't get hi. wrong, he's no fan of mustard, but he misses the never-ending stream of optimism that comes alongside it. He can easily put up with the terrible taste it if means Starfire will drop by at least once.
Oh how he wishes she would come back soon, but he knows it has only been a few days. Poor Robin will just have to wait.
Glancing up at the clock, the boy wonder realizes that it is already one thirty. He needs to get going.
'Sometimes I hate being the leader.' The teen thinks to himself as he storms out of he room.
###
"And so you can see-"
Click.
"Welcome to the International Ho-"
Click.
"Do you ever wish your tiles were-"
Click.
The orange-skinned girl slumps further and further into the couch as she fails to find a channel to entertain her. Without Shadow around she has no one to talk to and no one to show her around the city because she doesn't feel comfortable going to far from the house. This isn't her city after all.
The tamerainian stops channel flipping when she comes across an old sappy romance movie. Apparently there will be a marathon of them today.
The perfect distraction.
###
"And so I would like to review section fifty-seven..."
At this point Robin just tunes out the man. They've had this conversation before and he knows exactly what the mayor is going to say. The two are sitting in the mayor's dull, brown office.
Pretending to listen, the boy wonder allows his thoughts to drift. Where do they drift to?
Take a wild guess.
The boy wonder wishes she were still around. It would give him something to look forward to upon returning to the tower. Robin never realized just how much he relies on Starfire for his happiness until that moment.
"Is that okay?" The mayor finishes.
"I will not stand for having to wait for the okay of the police to come and help." Robin says stiffly. He had been paying attention after all. Bat training. "We are heroes. We don't let others tell us when to save people, we do it no matter what."
"Yes but-"
"No "buts"". The Titan's leader growls savagely. "We will not stand for it."
The mayor sighs and nods. "Alright. I told the police chief that you wouldn't agree to it, but he insisted that I try."
"Are we done here?" The masked boy asks impatiently.
"Yes."
Robin is out of the door before the mayor even finishes saying the word. The annoyed teen makes his way downstairs and stalks out to the parking lot. He hops on his R-Cycle and drives off into the city. He needs a distraction, badly.
Winding through the city, Robin finally manages to reach rural areas on the edge of town and boosts his speed. Right now he just want to drive and forget as much as possible.
"Beast Boy and Cyborg are doing a crappy job at keeping me distracted." The boy wonder mutters to himself as he reaches a long, straight stretch of road. Turning his speed up to max, he rockets down the road letting his cape billowing out behind him.
The green land shoots past him, the features are indistinguishable due to the speed he is driving at.
'What am I supposed to do?' Robin thinks to himself. 'How I am supposed to act? Is it even okay for me to consider a relationship? I am a hero after all, my duty is to the safety of the world first and foremost.'
Questions whirl in his mind despite the teen's best efforts to ignore them.
###
"Ohhh..." Starfire whimpers as she brushes a tear away from her face. The television screen in front of her has her attention totally captured. The big dramatic screen happens, and then the credits roll. "That was wonderful." The alien remarks wistfully. "It reminds me of Tokyo..."
"Pictures of that ended up everywhere on the internet." Shadow says, stepping through the door. "People generally dismissed it as a hoax though."
"We were seen?!" Starfire squeaks.
"Yep. No one believed it though." The pale boy chuckles.
The alien girl fidgets in her spot for a moment as the credits continue to roll on the screen. Shadow slings off his cloak and immediately turns on the oven despite it being almost midnight.
"What is it?" He asks suddenly.
"What do you mean?"
"You're worried again."
Starfire can't help but hang her head. Was she that obvious? "I-I don't know what to do..." She sighs. "I wish to go home and see Robin. Even these few days away from him have seemed odd to me."
Shadow nods. "Understandable."
"But I'm worried that when I return nothing will have changed..."
"You remember what I told you about humans?"
"Yes."
"Always keep that in mind. Robin will take forever to break, but he will eventually. If anyone can get him to open up, it's you."
Starfire gives a shy smile. "You really think so?"
"I know so." The hero of Blacksoak says, smiling.
A few moments of silence pass before Starfire speaks up again. "I am ready to return home." She says firmly.
"I'll alert the others." Shadow murmurs. "I can hardly believe you've only been here for three days... Or was it two?"
"I am unsure." Starfire replies, not really listening, or caring.
"When will you be leaving?"
"Now."
"It's midnight."
"I am aware."
...
"Alright then." Shadow sighs. "I'm going to miss your company, but I'm sure Robin misses it more." The pale boy walks over from the stove and pulls the alien girl into a small hug. "Don't let Robin get too uptight, and don't let Big Brother's comments bother you too much. He means well."
Starfire returns the gesture, and gives the poor boy one of her famous death hugs. "I shall miss you as well. I shall try to do the dealing with it." The happy girl zips to the back door and steps outside. "I shall be seeing you!" She exclaims cheerfully. With that said, she leaves in a streak of green light.
Shadow stands still, looking at the back door for a few moments before returning to the stove. "It was nice to have company." He whispers to himself. "She actually didn't mind visiting someone like me..."
"Robin is a lucky boy."
Chapter 7 complete. I'm really mangling this story, sorry. I guess I've lost my touch due to lack of practice.