Chapter Two
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"Ugh..." Kori groaned, rolling over.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
She slammed her hand onto the top of the alarm clock, it crushed under her strength and she groaned.
Beep. Beep...Beep.
It sounded pathetic and sorry for itself, and now that the off-switch was destroyed...well...it was only going to shut up one way...
Make an off switch.
"I'm up, I'm up..." She grunted, punching the table – weakly for her, but nonetheless – it crushed the rest of the alarm clock easily enough.
Dragging herself out of the bed, she grabbed a baggy shirt and pulled it over her bare body – why bother wearing night-clothes when you live alone? – And making her way out of her cramped, messy room.
"Fuck off." She cursed at the lamp cord wrapped around her ankles.
With her eyes hardly open, she made her way through the slim hall and down the broken stairs to the kitchen – if you could call it that.
But its home...until Batman has another freak-out, that is.
Fixing a minimal breakfast of slightly-off milk and stale cereal, Kori made her way through the boxes and clothing to come out in her lounge – which was also, conveniently, her wardrobe.
Scattered all over the room were different combinations of clothes – both fashionable and practical – that she'd washed and ironed.
Not that I'm a domestic Goddess though...
Picking up a navy-blue, high-wasted skirt with gold coloured buttons on and a white shirt, she headed to the dining table – panty-stand – and grabbed a matching set of bra and panties. Deciding that tights would be a good idea since it looked cold out; she grabbed a pair off the radiator and got dressed in the hallway, tripping over everything she passed.
"Ugh." She groaned, knocking her head on the stairs.
Brushing through her hair – not bothering with styling it anymore than usual – just to make sure it looked alright. Her fringe was a little too shiny to look human but she just shrugged and stumbled over to her make-up box.
Drawing a line of black, liquid eyeliner on top of each eyelid, pulling them out into an elegant flick, she put on some crimson red lipstick and hunted out some shoes.
Today would be like any other day, she'd go to work, answer calls...file paperwork...beat off Shaun, and maybe she'd go out for lunch, alone. But that was it. Then she'd come home, go for a run and be back in time to collapse onto the sofa and watch the Jerry Springer show until the late hours of the night with a glass of wine and a packet of crisps.
After she'd brushed her teeth and found her bag, she locked up the shit-hole she called a home and tip-toed over the muddy grass of her apartment's parking towards her car.
From the outside, her car looked fine, and on the inside, it looked fine. But when you started the engine...
CRANK! GROAN! SQUEEK! SNAP!
"Goddamn it, you piece of shit." She huffed, willing the handbrake to come off. "This is going to be a bad day..." She told herself when the car finally reversed thirteen tries later.
As usual, her car rejected the handbrake when she wanted to park it in the parking lot, and she had to get out and manually put it on – her Tamaranean strength always helped.
Now she was late, and as she ran into the high office building she was stared at angrily by the people already working. Her heels clanked and clonked on the floor noisily and just drew in more and more attention. Eventually – after what felt like a lifetime – she fell into her seat and started the computer quickly, planning on getting all her work done quickly so she could go home.
"Late again?" She heard from behind her, making her jump slightly.
She turned and glared at her 'superior', "Yeah...car troubles." She said quickly, turning back around and putting on her headset.
"Oh yeah, I forgot people had those..." She said in her squeaky voice that made Kori's stomach churn.
"Those of us who aren't fucking the boss have them..." Kori muttered to herself.
"SO..." Kitten said. Her voice was distinctly like nails down a chalkboard as she wheeled herself next to Kori. The Tamaranean gritted her teeth as she turned to the nosy, obnoxious bitch beside her. "What are you doing tonight?" She asked with a lick of her Barbie-pink lips.
"I'm going to go home, at five o'clock." She answered, trying to show how much she didn't want to talk to Kitten without actually saying it – after all, she could get fired if she said the wrong thing.
"Well I'm going round to Harvey's..." She grinned, going goo-goo eyed.
"Good for you." Kori said, typing in the first number she had to call.
"He's taking me to 'The Plaza'; it's the most expensive restaurant in town..." She wittered on as someone answered Kori on the other end of the phone.
"Yes, hello, I would like to just clarify Mr. Dent's appointment with you." Kori said, yawning while they answered in an equally bored tone.
"Then we're going back to his place...the sex is amazing – I remember last week when he tied me to the bed and covered me in–" Kori cut her off.
"–Kitten!" Kori called out, silencing her to save the contents of her stomach. "Can you send Harvey an email telling him that K-Vac confirm their support? Thanks." Kori said with a fake smile, clicking the 'End Call' button at the same time.
"Oh yeah, I'll come back in a minute." She said with a wink.
"Please don't." Kori groaned and slammed her head off the desk, "This is going to be a very, very bad day."
Lunchtime came and as usual, Shaun came over and asked her out.
"Hey, Kori." He said, running his hand though his bouncy hair and giving her a 'good look' at his pectorals.
"Hello, Shaun." She answered, stapling some papers together, not even giving him the time of day.
"So, Kori," He grinned, sitting on her desk in the way of her computer with his crotch by her face as she bent down, "Want to go out to lunch?" He asked, getting up close in her face and breathing distasteful mint all over her, "Maybe afterwards we could, you know, go to the movies – you've got tonnes of time-off you've not used."
Kori mentally rolled her eyes, "That sounds nice, but you've got no time-off left." She said, trying to delicately wriggle out of it.
Kori never had time off; she even worked Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Years. She did this because she didn't have a social life, she didn't have friends to speak of – because she wasn't allowed them – and she didn't want to make any.
Ever again.
"I don't mind getting a grilling if it's time spent with you..." He said smoothly, putting his hand on her shoulder and lightly touching her breast.
Kori raised her eyebrow, "Well I think Harvey would blame me, and I need this job." She told him, removing his hand.
He sat more obviously in her way when she tried to look around his abs – he was attractive, she knew – but it didn't matter what someone looked like, Kori just wasn't interested in dating anyone.
Ever again.
"Fine, we'll just go out for lunch." He said, getting to within an inch from her face and grinning, rubbing his knee along her leg, "We don't even need plates...I was made in China." He suggested with a wink.
"Ugh," She shivered, pushing him off the desk and making a phone call too quickly for him to even suggest another way of having sex in their lunch break.
The door to Kori's apartment was stiff and she had to kick it open, the hinges breaking for the third time that month.
"Fuck." She cursed, propping the door up as best she could before she went off in search of a screwdriver.
I can't afford the central heating!
The boxes seemed to crowd her even more today and she fell over them several times, her frustration overflowing as beams of green energy shot out of her eyes into the side of one of the boxes – launching it out of the doorway.
Great, I'm moving again. She glared as people on the street stared at her glowing eyes. Stupid Batman, I didn't need to move in the first place, she hardly saw me!
Remnants of what was once inside the box were scattered all over the lawn of her apartment building but she couldn't be less bothered about it, well...she couldn't care less at that moment in time. They were photographs and she'd eventually get very upset about some of them being destroyed.
She just sighed and walked into the kitchen and opened the drawer – all the lights still off as she stumbled about trying to find a light switch. When she couldn't, she lit her hand with a starbolt – which she hadn't done in years and so it took some effort to light originally – and held it so she could see the contents of the drawer.
But as she moved the light around, in the corner of her eye, she could see that she wasn't alone in her kitchen – and she wasn't expecting any company.
Immediately she jumped into action and threw several starbolts towards the intruder, the shadow of a man leapt out of the way easily and grabbed her around the throat, pulling her back and jabbing a knife into her back – in the perfect angle to drive it into her heart. She wouldn't be able to struggle free from him without being stabbed – and that would prove fatal.
And as emo-esque as I am...I don't want to die.
"What do you want?" She snapped at him, trying to struggle free without stabbing herself – but obviously he followed her movements easily and kept it touching her lightly. "You sick bastard." She snarled, gritting her teeth angrily.
"Why Starfire...is that any way to greet an old friend?" She heard.
With a drop of her jaw, Starfire ceased her struggling and froze up – letting her starbolts disappear as she tried not to scream. Her body shook slightly as she thought about who was holding her...who was supposed to be dead but was just standing there, in her kitchen after six years of severed contact with the Titans.
"What's happened to that fighting spirit? It wasn't the accident, was it?" He chuckled darkly.
With a swift flick of his wrist he'd moved her head to the side to inspect her face better, looking at the changes in it – in her whole body, in fact.
"Why are you here?" She asked him, her voice shaky but at least it didn't break.
He grinned under his mask, "You're a smart girl, think." He told her, stroking her face and playing with her hair absentmindedly.
"I-I haven't spoken to the Titans in six years...I'm j-just a civilian now; a member of the witness protection programme." She told him, her body now in a perfect arch as she tried to avoid the knife and his touches.
"I see you've changed a lot since those days – you even speak normally now..." He chuckled, grabbing a fistful of her hair and pulling her gently towards his face, "I'm not after the Titans...well...not yet."
"Still one to play games, I see." She said in a sudden burst of anger and fear – she hated not knowing what was happening or what her fate was going to be.
"Life is built on different games, little Tamaranean." He told her with a light touch to her neck, "If you promise to play my game, with my rules...I'll let you go." He whispered in her ear.
Her emerald eyes opened wider, she wanted her freedom, but could she trust him to not stab her in the back – literally?
"Why are you here?" She asked him again, ceasing her struggling completely.
He let go of her hair and let her straighten out of the arch, but she was mindful of the weapons he probably had stored in his utility belt and turned very slowly to face the substance of her nightmares.
"I have a little proposition for you." He said, his eyes tightening, "It's one I don't think you can refuse." He told her.
"I want nothing to do with you, please leave." She snapped at him, her eyes lighting up green but she managed to keep her starbolts from lighting up.
"You don't even want to hear it? Aren't you...curious?" He asked in a whisper, walking around her and running his finger along her shoulders – making her shiver. "You certainly have changed," He commented, looking at her above-the-knee skirt and curvaceous body complimentary and admiring, "But then, so have I." He told her, flicking her chin playfully – she wasn't amused.
"Are you still a criminal?" She asked.
"Why, of course." He chuckled, "But I have a more...secure goal now – and I know what I want." He told her.
"Whatever you want...I don't have it." She said quickly, trying to wriggle out of his proposition, as he called it.
"Oh but you do..." He told her, gripping her shoulders and looking deep into her eyes, "You harbour the hatred for what I want to destroy most in the world." He reasoned.
"You, I want you dead." She snapped.
He paused and smiled, she had more character now, despite what the files had said – she was fiery and a force to be reckoned with if she was treated improperly. Not sure what he was about to say, Kori glared at him harder. He moved in closer, as if to kiss her and she could do nothing but freeze into a block of ice – he brushed the side of his mask against her cheek and settled next to her ear.
"The Teen Titans." He whispered.
Kori's eyes opened wider, she dropped the screwdriver in her hand and it clattered to the floor noisily in the deathly silence that had settled like dust around them.
Hehe! I love annoying people, I love the cliffy's I leave you with...
As much as I try to hide it, I love changing the way Koriand'r/Starfire's way of speaking, it's just annoying to type – and convince the Word Document you mean to type – like you have a personal problem with grammar.
Though, I am making it believable with the little slips in speech – yeah, that's what they are, bitch.
Please rate and review, I would love to hear from you!
Jade.