...fire...star...Fire...STARFIRE!
My eyes snapped open just as an explosion rocked the Tower. Glass flew everywhere. My bed pitched to one side and flung me into the air. Strong hands caught me and I saw the yellow lining of Robin's cape swirl around us as he shielded me from the debris.
"Yo, Rob. You've got company!" Cyborg's voice filled the silence. Waking a Tamaranean before a healing sleep is complete is no easy thing. It is extremely disorientating, and for a moment I thought I was back with the Scions. Their green energy experiments often ended in an explosion of body parts, as I had witnessed more times than I care to recount. Had it not been for the familiar scent of a particular brand of aftershave I might have lashed out instinctively to protect myself. As it was, I looked up to see masked eyes staring down at me, and the coiled tension in my chest eased. Robin had one arm behind my back to support me while he held his communicator in his free hand.
"Thanks, Cy. I noticed. How many are there?"
"It looks like three boats coming in from the south. You guys alright in there."
"Titans, report."
"Uh, what just happened?" Beast Boy asked meekly. I caught a glimpse of his uncertain features on Robin's communicator as I struggled to right myself.
"HEY, BIRD BRAIN!"
The call came from outside. Robin and I turned our heads in unison. Automatically my hands lit with a faint, green glow. Together, we crept to my shattered window and peeked out between the shreds in what had once been curtains in a glorious shade of purple. The three boats Cyborg spoke of were floating in the cove. A floodlight was mounted on the frontmost prow. It swept a haphazard arc over the tower as if the one controlling it had not yet figured out how to do so. Robin ducked back as the floodlight passed over my window. His mouth turned grim.
"YOU IN THERE BIRD BRAIN?" Harley's voice carried with surprising volume and clarity from the water. I sent a questioning glance at Robin, wondering how she accomplished it across such a distance. 'Megaphone,' he mouthed back. I did not know what the megaphone was, but I realized it was a mechanism that enabled us to hear her.
"Cy, how far out are you?"
"I'm almost to the tunnel. Why? You need help?"
"Beast Boy and I are the only two at full-strength. I have no idea what Raven's status is."
"And Star?"
"I am fine," I said loudly enough for him to hear. I did not like Robin to count me among the liabilities.
BANG! The Tower shuddered again, and Robin and I fell back onto the carpet at the sudden impact. I growled my frustration. This was my home. Harley would not take it from me.
"Christ, she's got a rocket launcher," Robin muttered to no one in particular. "Beast Boy, how's Raven?"
"She quit doing the weird floaty-thing, but she's out cold. Dude, if I try to move her she's liable to freak out on me and send me to another dimension."
"Cy's on his way. I'm sending him to you. I'll buy us some time." He closed the communicator and glanced at me.
"You up for a little target practice?"
"It will be my pleasure," I growled. Despite the strain in his face, he grinned.
"That's my girl." He said it so quietly I amnot certain he realized he spoke his thoughts aloud, but something in the possessive endearment warmed my heart like the sun on the Gormgraf Desert of my planet.
He waved a hand at me tell me to go ahead. Though we had never prepared for this scenario, I knew what was required of me. Flight came easily now, and I cast one last nod in his direction before leaving the room. I flew at full-speed through the Tower. Being as tall as I am, it is more difficult than it sounds to maneuver the tight corners without causing damage to the walls, but I am very agile! and within seconds I emerged on the roof. Cautiously I crept to the edge of the roof to look out. I saw the position of the three boats. Each craft had a dozen men armed with more guns and plenty if additional ammunition. I had only seconds to act before they were aware of me. Unfortunately I cannot engage my flight without also illuminating the green glow of my eyes and thereby give away my position.
I turned and flew in the opposite direction, circling around in a wide arc to come upon the boats from behind.
"We don't take housecalls after regular business hours," I heard Robin's magnified voice shout down to the boats. "Come back at a decent hour and try again."
"Don't bother getting the door for us, Bird Brain. We got that part ourselves." At the prow of Harley's ship was some form of cannon. It swiveled to fix on my bedroom window where Robin was illuminated by the floodlight trained upon him. He had one arm flung up to shield his eyes, but he had emerged to draw attention so that I could sneak up behind them.
I fired off three starbolts in rapid succession. They struck the boats just above the waterline. The crew whirled to face me and, having learned from our previous encounter, I quickly ducked out of range. From a distance I fired more starbolts, determined to sink the ships. The cannon rotated, trying to get the lock on me. I am not so easily caught however. A well-placed eye beam incinerated the weapon in a burst of green flames.
"All right, Starfire!" Robin yelled over my communicator. His pride made me bold. I brought my two hands together, formed a large starbolts, and flung it at the engine of Harley's boat. It caught fire, and the boat began to go down.
"Whatd'ya know boys, it looks like we'll just have to go ashore." Harley waved toward land and all of her men began jumping overboard. I hesitated. Had I miscalculated? More men spilled out from the lower decks, and soon at least forty criminals were storming our beach. I swooped low, hurling starbolts to drive them back into the harbor, but without ships they had nowhere to go but our shore. I swore a string of Tamaranean curses that I had not foreseen such an outcome.
to my extreme relief, the familiar sight of the T-car appeared, skidding toward the beach. The silver and blue vehicle fired rubber bullets at the invaders while I rained starbolts from above. Harley ducked behind a boulder, cradling a large wooden hammer against her chest like a child.
"I am most glad for your assistance," I called to Cyborg as he parked the car and began firing over her hood.
"You didn't think we'd come without a little backup did ya?" taunted Harley. "Gizmo, go!" At her command the errant boy who so often plagued us scuttled out from a hiding place near Harley's.
"Get a load of this crud sniffers!" He threw a small, silver circular device at Cyborg. I intercepted it, but my hands pressed the large red button on the top, and a shockwave rocked the island. Behind us, the Tower went dark.
"That little brat just fried the generator and the backup generator!" Cyborg frantically tapped the consul on his arm. "Our defense systems are down." Gizmo flew over to where I hovered in midair, shocked by what had happened. He circled me, laughing and pointing as he hovered just beyond my reach.
"You are most annoying," I said through gritted teeth.
"Ooh, ouch. Like that really hurts. But this might." He pulled out a remote control and aimed it at the disc I still held. Electricity sizzled up my arms. It hurt, but it was nothing compared to what I had borne before. I crushed the disk in my fist and flung it at the airborn menace.
"What? No fair!" he howled.
"I would do the running if I were you," I said with a dangerous smile. he wheeled around and propelled himself away from me. The little propeller above his head whined as it reached its top speed. A starbolt struck his backpack and he cartwheeled through the air with a strangled yell. Cyborg ran to catch him before he hit the ground.
"Gotcha, you little-argh!" Cyborg twitched as sparks flew from his circuits.
"Suckers!" Gizmo jumped down fromCyborg's limp fingers and ran away. I flew down to find cyborg frozen. His red eye was extinguished, signifying that he was powered down. More shots were fired and I ducked behind his metal body to protect myself. Realizing that we had lost the field, I wrapped my arms around Cyborg's waist and flew us Onto the roof of the tower. I glanced back and seared a deep trench into the earth, giving them one more obstacle to overcome before they breached the tower. With our defenses down, they would have no trouble getting inside.
"Starfire, it's no use. Get to the escape tunnel. Raven and beast Boy are already down there," Robin ordered on my communicator.
"Cyborg is incapacitated. We will be needing his backup generator I believe."
"Get to the safe house. You'll find what you need there."
"You are not coming?" I skidded to a halt in midair. Robin could not face that horde alone. There were too many of them and they had firearms.
"I'll buy you enough time to get out. I'll be fine." He severed the connection, and I felt a weight settle on my chest as his voice echoed down the dark hallway.
There was an underground tunnel leading from the Tower to the mainland. As Robin had informed me, Beast Boy was already waiting for me with Raven floating wearily beside him. There were shadows beneath her eyes, but she appeared otherwise unharmed.
"What happened to him?" she asked, pointing at Cyborg. I shook my head.
"Gizmo did the de-powering of him. I am unsure how. Come, we must flee. Robin is giving us the time we need to make our escape." I did not tell them that I had endured this scenario once before in my life. The Psions had surrounded us and my brother RyAnd'r fell back so that my sister KomAnd'r and I could make our escape. I do not know what befell him that day. I know only that I have not seen him since. I refused to believe such a fate could happen to Robin. He was older and a more experienced warrior than my brother. He would come back to us. Robin always came back.
We made our way along the tunnel. Raven formed a silver disc to carry Cyborg for me to hasten our escape. We had nearly reached the other end when there was a rumble. We turned to see a great fireball rushing toward us.
"Go!" shouted Beast Boy. As fast as I could I gathered all three of my friends in my arms and flew for the end of the tunnel as fast as I could. Behind us, there was the crash of the tunnel's collapse as we burst into the cool air of the night. I set them down and spun in horror. Without the tunnel, Robin was trapped.
"Starfire!" Raven shouted.
"I must go to him. He will be captured."
"He planned this. He collapsed the tunnel. We need you here." Despite everything, Raven's voice was calm and I resented her for it. How could she be calm when Robin was trapped with those people? But she was right. My teammates needed me and Robin surely had a plan.
A/N: a little bit of chaos to get things going.