Cyanocitta
vi. the tug of life
The alien Princess was unsure of what would be the best response. He liked her, and by the sincerity in his voice, she knew he meant it. But she loved Robin, and she barely knew him - but at the same time, she was fascinated with him. Physical attractiveness aside, she knew he had quite a story to tell, and Starfire desperately wanted to hear it. More than anything, she knew she could call him a friend.
His voice broke her thoughts. "What about you, sweetheart?"
She glanced nervously up at him, drumming her hands on her lap. She should not have felt nervous around him, but she did anyway. This was not a date, as she had insisted, yet she could not help but feel that she was betraying Robin in some way. But Starfire had no choice, lest she be alone.
"I...very much like the beverage mustard," She started, and then settled into her nerves as she felt slightly more comfortable, "I have a pet named Silkie, and he is the cutest little bumgorf! I like this city; I like this planet. It is much different from Tamaran." She knew what he wanted her to say, but instead she added, "I like my friends. I like Robin."
"And me?" He asked with a playful tone, tipping his head to the side as he watched her struggle with a response.
"...Yes, you are my friend. And I may call you an ally, but I have just learned your name, and I do not know much about you!" She blurted out, feeling heat rise to her cheeks. He leaned across the table and cupped his hand on her cheek. She looked at him, and before she knew it, she had leaned in towards him as well. What was she doing? This was the worst time to let her emotions get the best of her. But under his gaze, something in her melted.
"Last time, you kissed me. Let me return the favor, cutie."
And then suddenly, the whole moment was gone when someone appeared in the doorway of the destroyed bakery.
"Starfire?!"
She lurched back into her seat as her name echoed throughout the building. She would recognize that voice anywhere. The silhouette nailed it for her - she could see the outline of a quiver.
"Speedy?! I am most overjoyed to see you!" A familiar face made her ecstatic; she jumped towards him and nearly bowled him over with a hug.
'Great,' Jason thought dully, quickly pulling on his mask, 'We've got ourselves a third wheel.' Just when he'd been getting somewhere, too. Life was never easy.
"Yeah, I'm glad to see you got out safe," The newcomer commented, flushing lightly as the redheaded Princess released him. "You and your...uh," He glanced at Red X, who waved at him, "...Friend were kind of easy to spot, especially with the car. So I followed you guys, and ended up here."
"Red X, please, meet Speedy. Speedy, this is Red X," She introduced the two cordially, hoping they would shake hands. They did not.
"Why are you teaming up with a xenothium thief, Star?" Speedy asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"He is not just a thief," She defended him before he could speak, "He is my friend, as you are. Do you not think we should gather as many allies as possible?"
"Are you sure we can trust him?" He asked, crossing his arms and suspiciously glancing at Red X, who returned the favor.
She stepped in between the staring contest of the two, "We shall not be fighting! We have enough enemies outside."
"The cutie's right, we're not enemies," Red X agreed, and then asked, "How did you escape from the Tower?"
"I...didn't. I was never in the tower," Speedy said, and then explained, "I was with Green Arrow on a mission, so I missed this whole fiasco. I got the message on my T-Comm too late, and by the time I got here, there were spaceships and the blackout chaos had already started." Starfire remembered Raven had told them that Speedy had been out on a mission, and though this was almost a little too good to be true, she was happy for the fortuitous change in events.
"Lucky break," Red X muttered. The archer agreed with a silent nod.
"Speedy, you would not happen to know of a method to remove this from my neck?" The girl asked, pulling down the hood collar to reveal her inhibitor collar.
"I could try to short-circuit it with my one of my arrows," He offered, pulling an arrow out of his quiver.
"No," Red X answered for her, "That's too dangerous. Besides, generating electricity in this black-out was hard enough with the best technology. We need to go in there and find the control panel for her collar and shut it off. Then we can save the rest of the Titans."
"That's suicide!" Speedy exclaimed, "The tower is crawling with security. Not to mention Starfire's crazy sister is flying around."
"So then what's your bright idea, Sidekick?"
"Don't call me that," Speedy snapped hastily. Even if it was true, he didn't want to hear it from some criminal.
"Please do not have anger, Speedy. Red X is rather fond of nicknames," Starfire wrung her hands nervously, beginning to think that Speedy showing up was not so good at all as he sat down next to her, "I believe it is a form of flattery?"
"I only mean it when I'm talking to you, cutie."
"Right," Speedy cleared his throat and then said, "Well, if we're going to infiltrate the Tower, we're going to need a plan."
"I believe that the three of us shall be a great team!" Starfire exclaimed, clapping her hands together. Jason rolled his eyes underneath the mask. For a badass fighter Princess, she could be so naïve. But that innocence made her different; she had a light inside of her that had been snuffed out of most people. He could see it. He just couldn't touch it.
"If we are going to be a team," Speedy cleared his throat, the word boiling his throat as he swallowed, "Then we need a leader."
Red X had no doubts that he could craft a plan. But considering that his last one failed, and the fact that he was not trusted, made him reconsider. He didn't mind someone else playing the leader role, even though he was all too ready to dive into that headfirst. He didn't want to give up a shot at being the leader to their ragtag group, but at the same time he knew he wasn't used to working alongside people.
"Fine. My vote's for you, Sidekick," Red X said, after a moment of contemplation. The two redheads looked at him in surprise.
"My name's not - ugh - wait, what? Really?"
"I am in surprise as well," Starfire added, "I was not aware we were voting for leader, but I would have figured you would vote for me."
Red X chose his words carefully, sensing the disappointment in Starfire's voice. "Sweetheart, I would vote for you any other time. But I care about you too much for you to plot yourself inside the Tower. Wouldn't that be your plan?"
"Yes, I wish to go in there and save my friends!" The alien nodded, not seeing the fault.
"Rushing in to save people can get you killed," Was his response. He knew that the hard way.
"Right," Speedy cleared his throat, "Well uh, I guess that makes me leader if we're going by majority rule. Starfire, we could really use your knowledge about your sister and her alien friends. But first, we're going to need a map of the Titans Tower. Do you think you can draw something that's accurate?"
"Yes, I shall look for some paper and a writing utensil," She nodded, and then disappeared behind the counter.
The archer stared at the thief for a moment, before continuing with his plan, "I can pick off the guards and any security on the outside. When Star makes the layout, we can assign numbers to the areas with windows. I can take out guards that I can see from the outside. It would be better if we had communication devices, but nothing will work."
"I stole a generator from Wayne Enterprises. It's how I got the car to start. Maybe we can charge some batteries and get a line to work," Red X stated, and then finished Speedy's plan by saying, "So I'll be going inside."
"I know Robin could do it," Speedy said, and shrugged a shoulder, "Aren't you just a cheap knockoff of him, anyway?"
Red X growled, lurching forward and grabbing onto the redhead's collar. "I'm not a cheap knockoff of anyone, including Boy Wonder. Got it, kid?" He released Speedy, who merely rose an eyebrow.
"Well, I guess we'll see how you do in action. From what Robin told me, it's powered by xenothium, so you must have some cool gadgets up your sleeve," The redhead smirked and added, "I can beat Robin, and I bet I can beat you."
Though those were fighting words, Red X was mindful of the rustling noise that was Starfire in the back. She wouldn't like it if they fought, and he knew the blame would end up getting pinned on him. He had always been told he was too aggressive. But they were going to be a team. Things could go awry otherwise. So, instead of taking the bait, he took a different direction, "What will you have Starfire do?"
"She can stay with me until you find the controls for her inhibitor collar. That's your top priority once inside the tower. Once that gets off of her, we can rendezvous with you inside. Then we just have to focus on the aliens and rescuing the Titans," Speedy finalized, and though Red X didn't like it, it was better than having the girl go with him and get hurt. She still wasn't in the best condition.
"I shall be there in a moment, friends," Starfire's voice was dulled by the wall separating them. "I am still on the search for paper and pen!"
Speedy drummed his fingers on the table, listening to the rustling as Starfire sifted through the kitchen in the back. There had to be something around - the bakery was not completely destroyed. The archer looked at Red X and narrowed his eyes.
"You want to play twenty questions, too?" Red X crossed his arms, "Seems like I'm a popular guy today. Sorry, but I'm only accepting dates from one person right now."
"I only have one question. But you know," Speedy's voice lowered, "Robin's going to tie you into a knot when he finds out you're googly eyes over his girlfriend."
"Chuckles doesn't scare me," Red X scoffed, rolling his eyes at the threat. The thief added, "Besides, if it wasn't for me, she'd be dead." Speedy sized him up, but ended up letting him off the hook about Starfire. It's not like there was much he could do about it, anyway.
"So why are you helping the heroes, anyway?"
Red X looked him square in the eye and said, "Heroes don't deserve to be abandoned."
Speedy gave him a suspicious look, but Red X did not back down from their stare down. Eventually, the archer relaxed, and broke eye contact. Though it didn't seem he liked his response, Speedy seemed to accept it.
"So..."
"I thought you said you only had one question, kid."
The sidekick cleared his throat and looked back at the thief, "Well, I'm still not convinced you're entirely on our side, Red. And, as useful as Starfire is with her powers, she's a dead weight without them." Red X twitched, about to jump to her defense, but knew that Speedy was right. This was going to be a risky mission, and especially because none of them were used to fighting together. There was a distinct lack of trust which he didn't blame the archer for having.
"So you want to wait before we launch our attack?" He asked, the chosen leader nodding and grinning as he crossed his arms.
"I think it's time for some combat practice. I want to see what you've got, Red." Now that were some fighting words he could respond to.
Beneath the mask, Red X's eyes flickered at the idea of some training practice with someone who was equally as skilled as the Boy Wonder.
"You're on, Sidekick."
Another author's note at the bottom! I'm so sorry this chapter is short and took so long to pump out. But now I think it might be clear to some people where I'm heading with this story XD I responded to most of the reviews, but some of them are guest ones, and I have to respond on here. Sorry in advance!
Azlynn: Omgsh, I must have read your review like a dozen times haha! I haven't been on the website in awhile, but I assumed that my chapters were sort of long. (They seem long to me LOL) Do you have any recommendations of how many words should be in an average chapter? I don't want them to be too long or too short u wu And, I really really hope this doesn't completely contradict TT canon. If not...well, I guess this'll have to be an AU LOL Thank you so much, you had such an amazing and lovely review!