Cyanocitta

As always, thank you, everyone who reviewed and is tagging along this story!

iv. need somebody and always

"Almost done, sweetheart." He took another drag of his cigarette, glancing at her and her pained face. She didn't deserve to be in pain.

He sighed, "Why don't you hold my hand, honey? I promise Boy Wonder won't have to know." Though he held his hand out to her for her to hold (or squeeze), she instead doubled over, clutching her hands and bringing them to her abdomen.

"Please," She breathed, as he pressed his cigarette to her bleeding wound, "Make the haste."

He was kneeling beside her in an alleyway that was in a better part of town. Since she wanted to hurry to save her friends, they had no time to go back to his apartment. He had a box of cigarettes and gauze, so his makeshift first aid was going to have to work. As gingerly as he could, he brushed away the ashes that fell into her raw wound. He heard her whine in protest, and quickly he breathed in the chemicals of the cigarettes before once again pressing it to her wound.

Cauterizing the wound was the best choice with what he had. He was a thief, not a nurse, and while he was sure Boy Wonder would've had a First Aid Kit, Red X did not. Of course, he had to be mindful of her other electrical burns, but in comparison to this, they were minor. With the cigarettes, he was able to burn her gunshot wound so it ceased bleeding. And with the gauze he had in one of his utility pouches, he gently wrapped her wound. Her leg would be sore and burn as if it were roasting over an open flame, but he wouldn't have to worry about changing her bandaging or becoming lightheaded from blood loss.

Discarding the cigarette, he pulled his mask back over his mouth. This had been twice now that Starfire had been perfectly oblivious to his voice sans the voice enhancer installed in the bottom part of his mask. She didn't recognize his actual voice, and of course, he shouldn't have been too surprised. Only two - maybe three - people he could think of would. And fortunately, he had no desire to show himself to any of them.

"You gonna be okay, kid?" He asked, helping her up.

"Yes. It does the stinging, but I am grateful I am not bleeding," She stated, the two of them hobbling together in the shadows. Starfire did not know what their next plan of action was, but she assumed Red X had a destination in mind. She looked at him and wondered who exactly was behind that mask. The way he handled himself in battle reminded her of a more violent, reckless Robin. He was more aggressive and his movements were not as fluid as Robin's. At the same time, there was something about the thief that reminded her of him. Maybe it was just because he stole his suit, but Starfire's intuition pegged it to be a little more than just that.

Instead of inquiring about it, however, she had a simple vocabulary to supply him with what was on her mind. "Thank you," She said, and before he could respond, she added, "I am most grateful that you are helping me. I do not understand why, but my gratitude is yours."

"Finally warming up to me, huh, cutie?"

She blinked, and then said, "You have just burned my wound close. I suppose that we have done more warming up than we should have?"

"You must have learned English from a rock, sweetheart. I can give you tutoring lessons, one on one. Just you and me," He glanced at her, "Don't you learn languages from kissing? I'm down for that anytime."

She frowned, retorting, "I learned English from Robin! I have told you I am not interested in lip contact with you, and that has not changed." Learned English from Robin, huh? Well, that explained a few things.

"Chuckles can't get mad at a little language lesson, can he?" Almost as an afterthought, he added, "You can teach me your language, your way."

"If you wish to learn the language of my people, you may learn it as Cyborg did - with a board of chalk." Starfire replied icily, fondly remembering when Cyborg wished to learn her language. Aside from her, she assumed that he would know the most. Robin never seemed interested, though that didn't bother her. The grammar was quite complicated!

"Killjoy," He mumbled, as they rounded a corner and were staring right at a lit up building. It was one of the Wayne Enterprises building. Starfire had to shield her eyes; the light was so jarring. There was a line outside of the building that was so long she had no idea where the end was, or where she would go to wait on line. However, people were coming out with supplies. Now she understood why moths were so attracted to lights. People were like that, too.

"We shall ask Mr. Wayne for some supplies?" Starfire asked, but Red X shook his head. Even if Bruce Wayne was in there, he wasn't someone Red X wanted to talk to anytime soon.

"No. I don't think they would let a xenothium thief inside," He stated, and then shrugged a shoulder, "I have another plan."

"This shall aid us in saving our friends?"

"Woah," He stopped, turning his face towards her. She shot back a confused look. Had she said something wrong? "They aren't my friends, kid."

"I am sure that after we rescue them they -"

He cut her off, continuing to walk towards the building, "Sorry to disappoint you, but Chuckles will never be my friend."

"I do not understand why you seem to hold an aversion towards Robin in particular," Though it was a statement, her inflection held the attitude of a question. "I believe there is a popular Earth saying that the act of imitating is often perceived as the greatest form of flattening?"

He released a sigh of irritation, replying coolly, "If you like me so much, I guess it's working, huh?" Despite his cool tone, what she had said bothered him. Of course, with his response, Starfire didn't pay attention to that. She instead huffed and was annoyed. His plan to get her to drop the subject, of course.

They hobbled their way around the building, all the way to the rear. The back of the building was empty, but it had what appeared to be a garage. "I'm going to bypass the security, steal a portable generator, and -"

"No!" She shouted, "You shall not steal! We shall wait in line, and then ask for one -"

"Do you think they're going to hand over a generator to us? If they give us one, people will riot until they get one themselves. Everyone knows that Wayne Corporation probably has the only storage of working generators in the city, and one building sure doesn't have enough to power even an eighth of the city," Red X replied, letting go of her and helping her lean against a wall. He then walked over to the garage and lifted a cap covering a number pad.

She watched him hack him into the garage, surprised at how seamlessly he did so. "Wayne Corporations is highly protected, how did you get in so easily?" She asked as the garage hummed open.

"Let's just say this isn't the first time I've been inside a Wayne building," He replied, and then tossed her something. On reflex, she caught it. It was a gun. She nearly dropped it, disliking the feel of it in her hands. It was so dangerous. She remembered how it caused her pain, and the feel of it against her head. She shuddered. "I've got to leave you here for a bit, okay? Don't run off without me, cutie."

She nodded as he ran off. Starfire was left with her thoughts, and a gun. She did not like the weapon, but she supposed she would need it to defend herself. She put it in her hoodie pocket and reassured that her hood was safely on her head. There did not appear to be anyone around her, and so Starfire slid down the wall, resting against it. She drew her knees as tightly as she could to her, resting her chin on her arms and ignoring the firearm in her pocket.

She lifted a hand to the collar around her neck, and gave it a tug. How would they figure out a solution to this? Red X already stated he tried to pry it off of her. As the air whipped around, she sighed, burying her head into her knees. She missed her friends. She missed Robin. As long as they were together, he had once told her, things would be okay. But they were not together, so they were not okay. She had to admit, she was more at ease now that she had an ally at her side.

Starfire couldn't quite figure Red X out. He wasn't the type of hero she was used to. She was sure he didn't even consider himself a hero. But then why was he helping her? Was it for some ulterior motive? 'No, I shall not be suspicious of the Red X,' She thought, but despite demanding it, she didn't know if she could cease doubting him. Besides from saying things that were very forward, and from being a thief, he did not give her a reason to mistrust him. There was honor even among thieves.

Her thoughts came to an end as she heard an engine revving. The noise immediately faded, followed by the sound of someone hitting a car and an unpleasant word. She stood slowly, one hand on the wall as she limped over towards the garage. It appeared that Red X was trying to use the generator to power the car, but she did not understand how.

"Are you having trouble?" She asked, watching him try to charge the battery with the generator. She approached him, leaning over him to see if she could understand anything, or be of some help. Unfortunately, she did not.

"I'm surprised the EMP didn't damage any of the Wayne generators," He stated, "Even though this one is working, it's not cooperating like I hoped."

"Beast Boy and Cyborg always hit the station of games when it is not cooperating," She offered, unable to give him any other real advice, "Perhaps that will work as well?"

He gave it a kick, grabbing her arm and jerking her back as it sparked. "It should work now. You're quite the encourager, cutie," He said, hopping into the driver's seat after putting the generator in the backseat once the battery was charged. "Come on, sweetheart, the alarm will go off any second now."

He opened the door and grabbed her waist. She let out a surprised squeal as he pulled her towards him so that she was now sitting in his lap. Her face flushed, her heartbeat accelerating. She didn't let herself absorb the emotion, jolting out of his lap. Quickly, she scrambled off of him and in to the passenger seat.

"Aw," He faked a disappointed tone, "I was just getting comfortable, too." He then put the car into reverse, carefully driving out of the alley and onto the streets. Starfire stayed quiet, for lack of anything else to say, and because she felt so embarrassed that she had gotten as red as she did. He had seen that, hadn't he? Had he heard her heart beating as fast as it did? She didn't even know him, why had she felt that way?

"Do you not think that this automobile will draw the attention of people?" She finally said, noticing that they were the only car on the road.

"I hope it will," He stated, "There has got to be a control panel for your collar in every ship, in case one of them finds you."

His plan didn't sound as foolproof as Robin's may have, but - she bit her lip and shook her head. She had to stop comparing them. Red X was not Robin.

She looked up and noticed that there were lights in the sky. Spaceships hovering right over them. "I believe they have taken notice of us," She said quietly, keeping her head down in case they hadn't seen her face. She tilted the rearview mirror upwards so she did not have to look back to see what the spaceship was doing.

A squishy, sludgy noise emitted from the spaceship as it hovered a few feet above them. Were they trying to communicate with them? She could not speak Schlurch, and she did not think she wanted to learn how to. Then, a burst of static filled her ears as she heard something click.

"Halt, citizens!" It must have been a real-time translating device. She touched her collar again. Blackfire must have been busy making friends on that planet to acquire such high tech technology.

"No thanks," Red X replied, pressing down on the pedal as the car sped forward on the streets. Starfire was surprised that they did not recognize Red X and associate himself with her. Perhaps he had convinced Blackfire -and maybe himself- that he was a villain. But he needed to try harder if he was going to fully convince Starfire. The more time she spent with him, the more she realized he was not truly a bad person after all.

"This is your last warning. We will shoot you down."

He glanced at her, and then commanded, "Take the wheel."

"But I do not know how -" Before she could finish, Red X hopped into the backseat, standing up and facing the spaceship. She grabbed onto the wheel and swerved it so they did not crash. Starfire had seen Cyborg drive the T-Car many times. How hard could it possibly be? She just needed to keep her foot on the pedal - oh, there were two?

Red X must have noted the car decelerating, as he told her, "The right one, sweetheart. It's the right one." He braced himself as she slammed her foot on the pedal, bending down and grabbing the head of the seat so he didn't fall over. Clearly, the alien had no idea what restraint meant. It was exhilarating to be going top speed, but maybe not in this kind of setting. It did get his adrenaline pumping, however.

Then, he turned his attention to the ship overhead and shot an X out of his glove towards them. It burst through the windshield of the ship, cracking it as it trapped one of the green aliens. It absorbed the X and flung it back at him, but he merely jumped over it, acrobatic enough to land on the back of the car, though his footing was a bit wobbly. The X sailed past the car and landed on the road, which Starfire easily drove over.

However, there was a problem. They were about to enter a tunnel, and a sign hung over the entrance that stated that trucks, or anything over a certain amount of feet, could not enter. Considering Red X was tall and standing on top of the car, Starfire did not want him to hit the sign. At the speed they were going at, it would not be wise for him to hit anything at all. But if she could get the spaceship to hit the top of the tunnel, then perhaps it would work to their advantage. The redhead glanced at the rearview mirror to see that Red X was not paying attention to her, or to the road. His attention was on fighting the spaceship.

"I request that you goose, please!" She shouted.

"What? Sweetheart, you really should've kissed someone with better English-"

"Goose!" She repeated, the word escaping her mind. She had it heard a dozen times among the Team when they were fighting someone, but what was it, again? The sign came closer, and Starfire reacted on first instinct. As she slammed on the breaks, the word popped into her mind. "Oh, duck!"

Red X soon flew by her, crashing into the windshield with such force that it reverberated throughout the entire windshield and cracked it all. He bounced off the hood of the car and skidded to what sounded like a painful halt on the street. Above her, the spaceship kept flying. He had done a magnificent job of distracting them, as they now crashed into the tunnel and the spaceship fell, only damaged where it had collided with the wall, to the side of the car.

Red X was not moving. She gasped and jumped out of the car, sprinting over to him. She could not hear his breath through the mask, and his chest did not appear to be moving. Her entire body constricted with fear. What if he was...the girl swallowed a lump in her throat. She couldn't lose him, not when he'd been such a help to her - not when her friends still needed saving.

When she felt for his pulse, however, it was there. She released a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding in. He was alive. "Thank X'hal..." She murmured, sliding her arm underneath his back and lifting him. As his head rolled on her forearm, she scrunched her nose as she felt something wet - and sharp.

The back of his head was pierced with windshield shards. Even against the black of his mask, she could see that he was bleeding. That was not good. Starfire could not possibly treat him with his mask still on.

"Hello?" She called, but he did not respond. The alien Princess frowned and shook him gently. In a lower voice, she whispered, "...Friend, please respond." The thief did not so much as twitch. She knew how much Robin hated the idea of being unmasked, but she could not think of that right now. She sifted through the pockets of his utility belt, remembering he said he had gauze on him. He also had a Xarang that would work as a pair of tweezers if she tried hard enough. After prying out the pieces of glass from his head, she winced as the discoloration at the back of his mask spread.

"I am sorry."

And then, she finally unmasked Red X.