Chapter Five

"Dude, we're going Gotham City!" Beast Boy squealed at Cyborg.

"DON'T BE GETTING TOO EXCITED IN THE T-SHIP AGAIN, GRASS STAIN!" He yelled at his friend.

Robin rolled his eyes as he handed Titans East the keys to their equipment and the folder with all the codes on for the security systems.

"Speedy, here's everything you're going to need – but contact us the second you feel like it's too much." Robin told him, it was an order despite the way he made it sound like a suggestion.

"Robin, we're perfectly capable of looking after Jump." He chuckled, "Now go, before Cy kills BB."

Robin looked back to see Raven holding Beast Boy in a bubble to protect him from Cyborg as he went on and on about how cool Batman was.

"Have you seen the Batmobile? I bet he's got a Batjet, and a Battrain, and a Batglider and a Bat–"

"–HE'S NOT THAT LAME, YOU BLOB OF SNOT!" Cyborg growled, getting ready to use his sonic blaster on Raven's shield around Beast Boy.

"Yeah...somehow I don't think it's going to get any better when we're in Gotham." Robin sighed, shooting a device from his belt that shut down Cyborg's weapon.

"YO! PUT ME BACK ON!" Cyborg demanded Robin.

"Dude, you just asked Robin to turn you on..." Beast Boy laughed, and Raven couldn't hide her snicker as Cyborg fumed.

Kori pushed herself harder as she crashed through more of the drones Slade was sending towards her.

"Ugh!" She grunted as her fist went straight through one and her foot through the other. "Huh! Mah! Ya!"

Several more came at her and she used little balls of explosives to disorientate them before she sliced through them with her Bo staff.

"This isn't good enough, Starfire, faster!" Slade's voice came from the sidelines.

Kori clenched her fists and took out three in one punch before leaping over a group of them and stabbing her Bo staff through one and catapulting his body into the bulk of drones. They kept coming, however, and she had to perch herself on the ceiling and use a range of weapons within her belt to control their attacks and keep them back.

Using shuriken's in the shape on an 'S' – for Slade – she pinned them to the floor and pelted them with mini explosives that broke their circuits. This continued for several minutes until all of the drones were pieces on the floor and the lights on the roof were flickered off eerily.

Placing her hands on the bar either side of her knees, Kori let her legs slide down and let her body hang for a few seconds before she let go and landed on the floor silently – ready for whatever was next.

Suddenly, through the darkness, came a boot with steel toe-caps – it hit her in the face and she went flying backwards into the drywall behind her.

Okay, so I wasn't ready...

She picked herself up quickly and blocked several of Slade's hits – she could see that he was training her to the level that she'd be faced with when fighting the Titans. Eventually she managed to land a decent hit on his chest and he went hurting through the back wall.

Kori wasn't foolish though, she stayed back, waiting for him to get up and start again. And sure enough, he got up and ran through the hole he'd created – attacking her with smoke grenades that clouded her view. His mask allowed him to install little heat-sensing screens to heighten his ability in low visibility fights.

The Tamaranean was beaten about a bit; she could feel her skin bruise as it was battered. When she saw the chance, Kori evaded his strikes and fled to the ceiling like she had before. But having already used this in front of Slade, she was pulled down quickly and slammed into the floor roughly – leaving an impressive dent in the tiles.

In a last-minute attempt, Kori smashed a stun grenade on the floor – it created a bright light that was too much for Slade's equipment to cope with and he staggered backwards. Before he could recover, Kori had pinned him to the floor and was pushing her Bo staff into the side of his neck.

"Well done, Starfire." He complimented, pushing her off of him.

"I'm so thrilled that you approve." She scowled, picking herself up and walking straight past him into the infirmary where some of the broken drones made themselves useful.

"I don't approve." He told her, changing his broken mask in the dark. "You were sloppy, and slow, you just got lucky."

"Fuck you too." She snapped, letting the drone dab the blood off her arm and another dress the wounds on her stomach.

"I don't appreciate the way you're speaking to me, Starfire." He said to her lowly. The eye Kori could see narrowed menacingly.

She didn't say anything else as she was patched up, Slade didn't seem happy with her – despite her progress considering she was out of practice and hadn't fought, or trained, like this before – and she didn't understand why.

"How long will you take to heal?" Slade asked impatiently.

"I don't know." Kori answered, rubbing the bandage on her arm to assess how much it was bleeding. The blood showed through in a little crimson blob after only a few prods and she sighed, "We're talking days before I can take the bandages off." She informed him, punching the wall angrily.

Slade came up behind the panting Tamaranean and put his hand on her shoulder; she wanted to shake him off but thought better of it when he tightened his grip.

"It will take the Titans a few days before they arrive, and it would be too obvious to cause problems immediately, my pet." He told her in a whisper, "Recover fully before you resume your mission." He told her, turning to leave. As he walked, he called over his shoulder a final command, "Oh, but you're not excused from training – an hour on the punching bag, half an hour on the speed bag, and then you can rest, Starfire."

"Do you think Batman will let us use his stuff? Maybe I could borrow a utility belt...it'd be better than Robin's! Oh, yeah, I could borrow the suit of–"

"–Batgirl?" Cyborg interrupted Beast Boy's constant buzzing.

"Oh, yeah!" Beast Boy grinned, "It might fit me better than Batman's...whoa, I could be Beast Bat, or Bat Boy!" He said, getting even more excited.

"Well done, Cyborg. You've actually made him even more of a moron loaded with E-numbers." Raven glared, turning the page of her book with a raised eyebrow.

"Blame Robin, not me!" Cyborg yelled in defence, looking over at her from his dome on the T-Ship.

"Erm, sure. But why?" Raven asked, peeking over the top of her book at Robin's dome and then back to Cyborg's.

"Well...erm...he, erm..." He murmured, scrounging for an answer. "Encouraged Beast Boy to join the team all those years ago!" He finally came up with.

"I really thought he'd be a little more mature at nineteen though..." Robin chuckled.

"I AM MATURE!" Beast Boy screeched, coming out of his Batman-obsessed head momentarily.

"You worship the ground Batman walks on...sounds like the sort of thing everyone else whose nineteen does...oh, and it's not creepy at all." Raven said monotonously, her sarcastic tone evident.

"Well you dated a guy out of a book, what's more immature and creepy than that?"

Raven glared over to him but otherwise ignored his crack at her problem with Malchior. Cyborg was shocked but said nothing, and neither did Robin – it was a sore subject for her still, as was Terra for Beast Boy and Starfire for Robin. The only unscathed one was Cyborg, but he was currently pining after a certain Titans East lady.

"How far are we from Gotham, Cyborg?" Robin asked after an hour or so of flying.

He'd never thought that he'd miss his old home so much, and he was eager to see how it had changed since 'the good old days' before the Teen Titans, and then just the Titans.

"I'm going to say about three hours of actual flight time, but we'll have to stop to fuel the ship and maintain it..." Cyborg said, getting his computer up on the screen and punching in some numbers, "So in correlation to time we'll need to be stopped and time moving versus the distance travelled and distance to travel...it's going to be about...we won't be there until about noon tomorrow."

"NOON?" Beast Boy yelled, making everyone else wince, "How am I supposed to sleep tonight knowing we're going to Gotham?" He sighed, rubbing his eyes that were too wide to be natural.

Raven slammed her head against the glass of her dome, "I'll put you to sleep." She snapped.

"The Titans will arrive in Gotham tomorrow at noon, Starfire." Slade said, handing her a black mask to cover her identity with.

Though it only covered her eyes, it blocked out all recognizable features and considering the way she'd changed in six years anyway – she no longer looked like Starfire, the Teen Titan, but like Starfire, Slade's apprentice.

"You will call me Koriand'r." She commanded, punching the speed bag hard enough for it to break off the chain.

"No, to me you are Starfire." Slade snapped.

"It doesn't matter what I am to you!" She snarled, kicking several pieces of equipment over in her rage and lighting her starbolts, "I HAVE A NAME I WILL RESPOND TO AND YOU ARE NOT TO BE ARGUING WITH ME!" She screeched, throwing several starbolts at him – all of them hit their target due to Slade's shock.

Kori didn't care that her speech had slipped; she just tried to calm her breathing and let her eyes revert back to normal. Eventually, she stopped seeing red and landed on the floor – looking at the rubble on top of Slade's body.

"Oh shit..." She sighed, though there was no worry in her voice – she was more put out that she'd have no one to help her get her revenge on the Titans.

"Excellent." She heard over the speakers.

Jumping back from Slade's clone-drone, Kori glared at the one-way glass she knew Slade was hiding behind.

"That is the fury I will see on your missions, Starfire." He told her, tightening his tone on her name.

"Ugh!" Grunt. "Son of a bitch!" She growled, punching her fist into the head of the drone – causing it to explode. "KORIAND'R THOL BAK'NUFARG LOMATAR!" She screeched at him before storming off to her room.

"You are become a worthy apprentice, Koriand'r." Slade grinned to himself, a sinister chuckle erupting from him.

Very short one there, but hey, you can't complain considering the size of all the others. I only have one keyboard...

Alright, there's a little glimpse into what happened, maybe you've figured it out completely – but then maybe not. I'm trying to make it like 'Seven Pounds' where you only find out what's happening throughout the whole story at the end.

Hopefully it'll work, and if it doesn't then you can just keep it to yourself. But if it's good, then rate and review!

Jade.