A/N: To all my readers, welcome back! I had a ton of fun writing this chapter and setting up the story for further excitment. I hope you guys like it enough to stick around till the end. As always drop a fav/follow and please leave a review! They help me stay motivated more than you think! I hope you enjoy!

Stars in the distance drift by with the slowest speed imaginable. The distance between them and Nightwing was so great they seemed like they were standing still from the ship that Red-X was piloting.

This ship seemed almost too amazing. Something someone couldn't build alone and definitely way too expensive for an individual to afford by them self. It had the body of a sports car with four seats that were encased by a single large airlock door made of glass that would close over them like the jaws of a shark. The wings were small and compact. They angled towards the rear of the ship giving the ship's appearance a sleek and smooth look. It fit Red-X personality perfectly.

It kept nagging at Nightwing's mind relentlessly. He didn't understand how Red-X could manage to get his hands on vehicles like this. Cyborg couldn't even build a ship like this all by himself, much less find the parts for it.

I guess thats the perk of being in underground crime circle. Nightwing thought to himself.

As if reading his mind Red-X called out to his passenger from the pilots seat.

"Got somethin to say?" X said with a sense of pride. It seemed almost as if he was gloating.

Nightwing almost jumped as if he had been caught. His head snapped towards Red-X expecting to see him staring back at him but to his surprise he was facing forward as if fixated on the black ocean filled with stars. Nightwing even began to question if he had said his thoughts out loud and imagined X saying something... Or maybe it was just written all over his face... Either way he decided to speak his mind.

"I just don't understand how you managed all... this," he confessed as he looked back out to the slow moving stars, "but I guess I'd rather not know. There's no way you acquired these things legally," Nightwing finished as if trying to make it sting but he knew it wouldn't. Not to someone like this.

X glanced over at Nightwing as if he was just being ignorant at this point. He studied his body language and thought about the tone in the young hero's voice. To him, he didn't understand how Nightwing got to where he was.

"You know... I always thought you were smarter than me," his robotic voice started, "but if you stuck with the old man for so long without seeing how much he used you then I guess I could be wrong."

Night raised an eyebrow and looked over at the masked man as if demanding he continue.

"What?" X respond in a taunting manner, "did I hurt your feewings?"

"I actually don't know who or what you're talking about," Nightwing shot back unphased by the taunt from his rival.

"Seriously?" X chuckled seeing his small attempt at tearing down his rival's self esteem failed, "well... I guess I can't blame you. I would try to forget him too if I were you," he finished with that but it seemed like he was hiding something.

"Forget who?" Nightwing probed further. He narrowed his eyes beneath his mask as if focusing harder on every move X would make in response. But the response was just as he expected.

Red-X remained silent. He almost let his secret slip. He nearly forgot how smart and cunning the hero next to him really was. But even if his past was revealed... What could Nightwing do about it? It was this question that kept him from answering the previous one. He didn't know what could be done with that information... and it scared him.

Nightwing relaxed and let out a small sigh, "fine," he relented as he looked back into the darkness. He raised his strong arms behind his head creating a head rest with his forearms, "we'll just sit in this awkward silence the rest of the way," he paused and thought about that for a moment. He looked down at the center dashboard of the impressive ship where a map of the galaxy with a small red blinking dot continued to blink.

Nightwing's thoughts began to race. Starfire was dominating his thoughts. Qas she ok? Is she hurt? What do they plan to do with her? His thoughts plagued his mind as if a rattlesnake sank its teeth in the very depths of his conscience.

But then a different question popped up in his mind...

What if Rose tells Star?

Just thinking about the question sent a chill down his spine and turned his entire body cold...

--

Aboard a different ship, the beautiful women sit in silence as they slowly approached their destination.

The silver haired bounty hunter sat in her usual comfortable position leaning her back against the wall with arms as a head rest and her leg kicked up over the other. Her smirk disappeared when her "client" began to empathize with her bounty. From her experience this only makes things complicated and could cause trouble for her later.

"I do not understand," Starfire said behind the force field that imprisoned her, "truly there are other Tamaranians who have such traits," her face held a look bewilderment. Like she couldn't have been this negligent that she never noticed her own sister was the only one who looked the way she did. But the more she searched her memories for ANY other Tamaranian with dark hair and dark eyes... she found none.

Blackfire chuckled, "you always were pretty oblivious weren't you?" For some reason the fact her sister didn't understand what she was talking about brought her comfort... but in that moment she couldn't quite understand why. All she knew was she was still angry with her. Angry that they were never treated as equals even by their own parents, "but why would I expect you to even care?"

The smirk returned to Rose's face. As long as her client didn't make any second thoughts about their deal she could care less what happens between them. So far it seemed things were going well.

"Please, sister," Starfire begged, "explain what it is you are referring to," her voice was genuine and real. She wanted to understand no matter how bizarre and foreign the concept was to her, she still wanted to at least try.

Blackfire could see this in her eyes. It brought back memories. Memories she had buried deep in her subconscious to justify her actions. It started to cause her mind to question her decisions...

Rose noticed the growing silence and looked up at Blackfire's face. It was qritten all over her. She was second guessing. Feeling she had no other choice she stood up and intervened.

"I'd hate to be the one to break up such a touching reunion," Rose started as she move to an uncomfortably close position behind Blackfire's shoulder looking into Starfire's cell, "but you have a crew to lead and I have a reward to collect" she finished with a sinister whisper as she leaned into Blackfire's ear almost like a devil sitting on her shoulder.

Blackfire snapped out of her trance and her hatred almost instantly returned shutting away the distant memories once more.

"You're absolutely right," she said agressively as she turned to the door way she had first come in from, "let's leave little miss perfect to rot. We have more important things to tend to."

As Blackfire walked past her Rose stood still unblinking and stared into Starfire's eyes with an evil glare. Her eyes looked as if they were send her prisoner a message...

Nice try.

Rose then turned and followed her accomplice out of the brig.

Starfire read the message loud and clear and her anger began to boil over. Her eyes began to glow green as she raised a powerful starbolt fist before slamming it against the barrier infront of her as if trying to physically remove that sinister grin from her enemy's face.

The doors at the end of the hall shut behind Rose leaving Starfire all alone.

I will not let you defeat me. She thought to herself.

--

"You don't know where the princess is?!" Galfor shouted as if interrogating his visitors.

Beastboy let out a small squeak as his mind raced back to the first time he had met Galfor. The size and fierce tone in his voice was the most intimidating force he'd experienced from a single person.

The Titans all froze for a second as their nerves began to break and panic began to take over.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Galfor continued, "what happened?!"

"We don't know..." Raven said softly unsure of how to explain.

"All we know is someone wants her and is willing to pay A LOT of money to get her," Cyborg add as if trying to just cut to the chase.

Galfor wasn't satisfied. He bore his teeth and let out a low growl as if demanding more answers without asking.

"Seriously dude!" Beastboy shout in terror, "some weird creepy lady chick with this bzzzapt gun thingy and just shhhhhhwwwwoooooop and then pkwwwwwooooouuuuuu! Off into space!" Beastboy was gasping for air as he finished his half-charade, half-verbal explanation filled with sound effects and over exaggerated hand gestures.

It made no sense to the rest of the Titans and they all stared at him with a strict "facepalm" look on their faces.

"I see," Galfor respond to Beastboy. To everyone's surprise, his tone eased up greatly and his intimidating posture relaxed as he raised a hand to his chin to let the information sink in, "this is a great tragedy indeed," he turned and began walking quickly back to the palace, "come, we will discuss this further in the war room."

All the Titan's jaws were hanging off their heads by a single hinge. They couldn't believe what they just saw and heard.

"What... just happened?" Terra said as if scared to speak at all on this distant planet. She looked at Raven as if asking her like she should know...

"I... just learned to accept it and not ask questions," Raven's monotone replied as if she had been asking herself that very same question for months now.

"I uh... Have a way with words?" Beastboy asked, just as equally confused as the others.

"Forget about that," Cyborg blurt out as if he was more annoyed the others didn't hear what Galfor had just said, "did he just say war room?"