Starfire slowly comes back into consciousness, being dragged through the cloudiness of sleep by a nudging on her shoulder, and a whisper of her name.
"Starfire," says Raven, and she blinks her eyes open. The room is barely lit, but she can see enough to know she's still in Richard's room. Raven sits on the bed next to Starfire, who still clutches the pillow to her chest. She unlocks her arms from around the pillow, feeling stiffness in her body. She wipes at her cheeks, knowing full well that they must be lined with black from her makeup the previous night.
"Raven," she says, her voice hoarse.
"You slept through training."
"I apologize. I did not plan on falling asleep in here." She pushes herself into an upright position to sit across from Raven.
"What happened last night?" asks Raven in a soft voice. "Bruce just told us that he was gone. He didn't tell us why."
"He had already been planning on returning to Bludhaven on this day. He had his work to attend to. Apparently, I did the pushing of him to leave early."
"Starfire, I'm sure it wasn't your fault." Raven places her hand on Starfire's wrist. "Did you tell him?"
"No. I asked him not to leave, but I did not tell him I loved him. Nor that I wished to do the getting back together." She sighs. "Raven, I said that we should go our separate ways."
"What? Why?"
"I am distracting him. Holding him back. He must return to his city and protect his people."
"But Starfire, you'll still know him. He can come back whenever-"
"We agreed to cease being friends." Starfire was surprised that her tears were not yet flowing. Instead she felt numb, empty. Did she no longer have any tears to shed for Richard? "Please Raven, I am the okay. Perhaps now I can truly move on."
"You don't mean that. You love each other."
"But that may not have been enough." Starfire turns to swing her legs off the bed. "Raven, I appreciate your concern, but I believe it is out of my hands. Richard is convinced that I am done with him, so perhaps I should be." She stands up and stretches out her limbs.
"Miss Starfire? Miss Raven?" asks Alfred's voice through the door as he knocks.
"Come in, Alfred," calls Starfire as she adjusts the dress on her body. She couldn't believe that she actually slept in it. The sequins have made little indents on her skin.
"There is a phone call for you, Miss Starfire," says Alfred as he stands in the open doorway, searching for the light switch.
"I do?" Her voice squeaked with surprise. She looks to Raven, who looks equally surprised. She walks toward Alfred who is obviously concerned by the fact that she's still in her dress. His eyebrows are furrowed as his takes in her disheveled form.
"Are you well, Miss Starfire?" he asks, hand cupped over the phone so the person on the other hand will not hear.
"I am fine Alfred." She reaches for the phone but stares down at it for a moment. "Who has called me?"
"A Mr. Redd," he says, eyes somewhat narrowed. She nods before she steps around him, heading down to her bedroom.
Alfred looks back at Raven who is still sitting, dumbfounded in Dick's bed.
"Azar, Alfred, those two need to sort out their issues."
"I do agree, Miss Raven," says Alfred as he crosses his arms. "They are both just so stubborn. I do hope this does not last too long."
"I have a bad feeling," says Raven.
…..
Starfire walks into the dining room, freshly showered, dressed in training attire, and starving. She finds the other Titans already there with bowls of soup in front of them.
"Hey, little lady," says Cyborg as she takes a seat next to him.
"Good afternoon," she chirps. When the room goes silent, Starfire looks up, noticing the eyes on her. "What?"
"You just seem… happy," says Beast Boy.
"Am I not supposed to feel happiness?"
"It's not that, it's just that Dick- OW!" Starfire jumps at the sudden shout from Cyborg, who is now rubbing his shin from under the table. "Never mind," he wheezes.
"Just eat your food, you fools," growls Raven. But she smiles over at Starfire.
After lunch, Starfire heads down to the batcave. When she enters the training wing, she finds a familiar face.
"Hello, honey," purrs Selina, who appears to be doing yoga. She smiles at Starfire, back curved in a bending position, head upside down. She pushes her feet off of her yoga mat, swinging up into a handstand before standing upright. Back when Starfire first met Selina, they found that they could bond over yoga, and did so every day while she was in Gotham with Richard. "Come, join me," calls Selina as she rolls out a second mat. Starfire grins as she trots over to the stop beside Selina. From the standing position, the two lower their hands to the ground and bring their knees up to rest on their elbows.
"Selina," says Starfire, "how long do you plan on staying at the manor?"
"As long as my guys need me. And you, of course. I saw Dick's note this morning."
"Note?" Selina sighs as they switch positions, balancing on their hands to stick their legs straight forward.
"He said he was leaving early. I heard him storm into the manor last night. I could hear his door slam all the way from Bruce's room. Then I heard you outside his door."
"Yes, it was…not a very pleasant goodbye."
"I betcha that right now, no matter what was said last night, Dick is thinking about you."
"Thinking about how much he loathes me, perhaps."
"Starfire," says Selina sternly as she sits down on the mat. "I have been around the Wayne and Grayson boys for years, and I know how their brains work. Dick doesn't have the heart to hate you, let alone stay away from you for more than a couple of days. He's addicted to you now that you're back. Trust me, he'll come running back."
"It is possible that I do not want him to come back. I feel as though it was only a matter of time before this would happen." Starfire sat down, fiddling with her hands. "What is strange is that I do not even feel sad anymore. And I feel guilty, because it is possible that I met someone else."
"Honey, you either did or you didn't. Who is he?"
"Xavier Redd."
"Ahh, I know their family. Stole from a Mr. Redd once or twice," Selina says smugly. "He really is a flirt, that old man."
"His son seems to be quite the flirt as well. He insisted on dancing with me last night, and when I finally agreed, Richard took it the wrong way."
"Do you like him?" asks Selina.
"If you had asked me that last night, I would have said no. Last night, I only wanted Richard. Today…he is a nice young man who seems to like me."
"How could he not, I mean look at you." Selina giggles before she takes a sip from her water bottle. "Is he cute?" Starfire smiles wistfully. "Oh damn, he must be."
"He is quite attractive, yes." She accepts the water bottle from Selina. "He called me today."
"Did he now? Oh, he definitely wants you. Did he ask you out?" Starfire shakes her head.
"He wanted to see if I was the okay. I left the ball abruptly last night. We had a pleasant conversation."
"So he's either totally sucking up to you, or he's generally a nice guy. Either way, you can't go wrong," Selina winks at her, smiling as she stands up.
"He said that he would call me tomorrow."
"Do you want him to call you?" Starfire considers this. Xavier isn't like Roy, and if she is truly going to move on this time, perhaps he is what she needs. She nods. "Alright, then I approve. I love Dick like my own son, but maybe this is for the best. For both of you." Starfire stands up, accepting a hug from Selina.
"It seems I have lost my running partner. Would you like to join me?"
"Jeesh, I hate running. But I suppose I'd do anything for you." They laugh as they head out to the mansion grounds.
…..
"Dick, I need you to come over to the batcave."
"I'm busy right now. Rain check."
"There's something you need to see." Nightwing let his gaze wander to the monitor displaying Batman. He studied his face for a while, trying to determine if it was actually important.
"Can you tell me what it is?" Nightwing asked impatiently.
"It's concerning Red Hood."
"Gotham's not my city. You've made that pretty clear a time or two."
"Watch this. And call me after." Nightwing hears a "bleep", signaling a receive message.
"I told you, I'm busy. I'll call you when I'm done with this research."
"That could be two weeks from now. And trust me, you'll be calling." The screen went black as Batman hung up. Nightwing sighed as he pulled up the video that he had just sent to him. From the background, he could tell it was somewhere on the East End that he recognized, just an alleyway. Three people were tied up against the wall with Batman standing in front of them, obviously questioning them. Maybe he would ask later. Suddenly, one by one, the bodies of the three men jerked and then they slumped, limp and obviously dead. Batman jerked his head around, looking somewhere in the distance. He put his hand up to his ear, contacting Oracle, before the batplane must have appeared and he was lifted up into the sky. Nothing happened for a while, the camera just stayed on the three dead men. But suddenly, a figure came into view. Red Hood. He had gotten up to the camera and had his hands on it, moving it around, before it sat still once again.
"Now that I have you're attention, Bats, I got a message for you," says Red Hood. He must have done something to the camera that would allow his voice to be picked up. "But first, I'll tell you a little story. You see, those three worked for me," he points toward the three men in the alleyway, "and I had sent them down for some… let's call it cleaning up. Well, you caught them, and then you were asking them all those questions. So I had to teach them a little lesson. You know what it was?" He leans in toward the camera. "Loyalty. And I have to say, Bats, that's a quality that you certainly don't possess. What is loyalty? Faithfulness, feeling of allegiance, devoted attachment or affection. Let me ask you a question… Did you ever lose something that you were attached to? That maybe you loved?" He places his hand over his heart. "No? Oh yeah, I forgot. Bruce Wayne doesn't have a heart." What? Did he just say… how? "Don't be too surprised. You know me, too. But anyway. So I found out that the Joker's in Arkham. Not too hard to get that information, and not to hard to get a hold of him either. They really have poor security over there, don't they?" He's planning something. Gotta talk to Bruce about keeping a better eye on the Joker. They don't want him getting out. "So here's my message. Stay out of my way. At least until I approach you. And trust me, that will be coming soon enough." There's a shuffling in the background as Red Hood looks down, possibly rummaging for something. "I wouldn't want to have to hurt you, or this little thing." A picture comes into view and his stomach lurches. It's an image of him and Kori before the ball. He lifts another picture, one of Starfire flying while wearing that same Kori gown. "Not too hard to connect the dots. She's not as stealthy as Dick." There's a tightening in his chest. This is not good. So very, very bad. Shit. "So like I said, stay out of it. I wouldn't want to have to hurt the pretty red head. Starfire, is it? Or Kori…" Red Hood rubs his chin in mock thought. "Well that's it. Have a nice night." And he disappears from view. As soon as the video ended, Nightwing contacts the bat computer.
"Told you so," says Batman.
"First of all, what were you asking them?"
"I wanted information on Red Hood. They were sniped from the roof of a distant building. He's pretty good"
"How does he know us?" asks Nightwing.
"We know who he is, Dick. We just didn't want to believe it."
"No, it can't be certain. There's no way."
"Lazarus Pit. It's possible."
"But unlikely."
"And how do we know?" asks Batman. "Whether it's Jason or not, the Titans might be in trouble. We know Starfire for sure, but he must know the rest of the team is in Gotham. If Raven were to go walking around the city alone, she'd probably be in danger, too. Same with the others."
"But why? What does he want?"
"Us to stay out of his business."
"Until he requests our presence." Nightwing watches Bruce as he considers everything that he's just heard and seen. "You want to go along with it, don't you?"
"We need to watch and see what he does. We don't know what he's planned."
"It has to do with the Joker. We need to speak with the officials at Arkham Asylum, figure out some higher security for the Joker."
"Too late," says Batman with clenched teeth. "He's gone."
"What? When did this happen?"
"He was reported missing early this morning. Black Mask is suspected of assisting him in his escape." Nightwing pinches the bridge of his nose, breathing deeply.
"You will tell me if anything happens, or if we find out who this guy is. This isn't just about you, Bruce. My team might be at stake."
"You don't have a team." Nightwing looks through the screen to Bruce's masked eyes.
"I will always be a Titan."
…..
Soon after his conversation with Batman, Nightwing teleported over to the batcave to call a meeting with the Titans. By the time he arrived, the team was already there, as well as Selina. Nightwing joined Batman in front of the group. As much as he tried to keep his eyes off of Starfire, her short shorts and tight tank top were begging for his attention. He cleared his throat.
"We have a situation," says Batman. "We don't know enough right now, but what we do know is that you are being targeted."
"Uhh, why us?" asks Beast Boy.
"We don't really know," says Nightwing. "But this guy is dangerous. And he knows too much." He pinches the bridge of his nose. "He's made a threat. So as of right now, we're on a bit of a lock down."
"You are not to exit the manor without being accompanied by another person. Until we bring this guy in, you will not be returning to Jump City."
"Who is this guy?" asks Cyborg.
"Red Hood. He's ruthless and hateful, and we aren't taking any chances," says Nightwing.
"But-" squeaks Starfire, but two glares from the Dark Knight and Nightwing are enough to shut her up. She has to understand, they're only doing this to help her. He figured that by just saying that Starfire was in danger, that the threat was only made against her, would only anger her. She'd insist on helping, and Nightwing doesn't want that. He doesn't want to lose her again.
"End of discuss," says Batman.
"Wait, am I on lockdown, too?" asks Selina.
"Yes," says Batman and Nightwing in unison. She frowns, but doesn't protest. Nightwing watches as Starfire walks away with Selina. When Starfire looks back over her shoulder, his heart stops. His masked eyes meet her green ones, and she quickly looks away. He wishes that he could just protect. Handcuff her to him and drag her everywhere he went. While it might not be the best thing, he knows something that he can do. Raven jerks her head in his direction, glaring at him menacingly. Nightwing smiles innocently, waving at her, and he swears he could hear her growl.
Before he leaves, he heads up to his room in the manor to retrieve his Red X uniform.
I've been getting a lot of private messages lately, and I just want to say keep them coming! If you have any questions, comments or concerns other than reviews, feel free to message me. I love hearing from you guys!
Reviews please! :)
