The backpack was old denim, deeply unfashionable and too big for her shoulders. She crammed it full of clothes and other essentials until it was near bursting then hauled it onto her bed. She assumed that Clark was going to pick her up, otherwise there was no way she was going.
Despite how little she wanted to do this she was starting to enjoy his company... though she would never admit that out loud. The knock on her door had Silvia rushing to her feet. They barely had time to knock again before the door was pulled open.
Silvia's eyes widened in surprise at the orange-skinned alien grinning at her within plain sight. "Oh Reaper, Hello!" Kori chimed happily... and loudly.
Silvia, without a moments hesitation, grabbed the much taller girl's arm and pulled her inside. The door was forced shut and she swivelled around to glare at Kori. "What the fuck are you doing here?!"
"I have come to celebrate our blossoming friendship!" She replied with a giggle. "Perhaps I could help you with the murdering!"
Silvia stared at her in absolute bewilderment. She wasn't sure if she'd ever met someone so incredibly clueless before. Of course most of this could probably be blamed on the fact that she was an alien with no idea of their customs... but that only made her an even bigger mystery to Silvia.
"N-No... I don't do that anym-... Do you even know what that mea-" Her mind was reeling with questions, but through her clashing feelings towards the green eyed girl, she tried to simplify it to the most important inquiries. "How did you know where I live?"
"Cyborg told me!" She chirped. "He is very knowledgable."
"I'm sure he is... That still doesn't give you the right to show up without warning..." Silvia sighed, already exhausted by the other girl's oblivious nature. "And you have to stop calling me Reaper without my mask on... Do you even have a secret identity?"
Kori begun wandering around the apartment, eyes full of curiosity with everything she saw. "Oh, I did have one! But people seemed to notice me even without my costume on, the people of Earth are very observant!"
"You mean all you did was wear a different outfit?... You really thought that was going to work?" Silvia rolled her eyes, groaning in irritation. "You're a giant orange alien with no pupils, it's a little hard to miss."
Kori turned for barely a second, smile widening at her words. "Aww thank you. That is very sweet."
"Wh-What?" Silvia stuttered, taken back by Kori's reaction. "That wasn't meant as a compliment..."
Never had anyone so successfully dodged her insults before. Even now Kori was ignoring her previous words and pointing at a framed vial instead. "Ooh, what's this?"
"It's nothing." Silvia replied blandly, but the minute Kori had poked it she was rushing over and shielding it. "Stop that! Reginald's been through enough!"
Kori pulled her hand away but, without even stopping for a breath, she dashed to the other side of the room and picked up an old shotgun. "These are quite fascinating! They contain tiny metal creatures that fly through the air." She said, bringing the barrel up to her face and peering inside. "Hello friends! It is me, Starfire!"
Her long finger reached for the trigger, and Silvia tripped over a table in the centre of the room in her panic. Just as Kori had pushed down on it, Silvia had nudged the barrel upwards and the bullet shot right through her roof.
Bits of ashphalt sprinkled on top of them from the now even further damaged roof. Kori smiled. Silvia growled and yanked the gun away. "Alright, Kori or Starfire or... whatever the hell you call yourself. Listen carefully because I will not repeat myself. Those are not 'creatures' they're bullets, inanimate objects. They cannot hear you. They cannot understand you. They can kill you though... Well, I have no fucking idea if they can kill you specifically but they are dangerous."
Kori seemed almost saddened by this news. Her bottom lip stuck out in a pout and her eyes enlarged like a child that was just told that Santa wasn't real.
"Second," Silvia continued "we are not friends. I don't know what I've done to give you that impression but I assure you that it's false. I don't have friends. I don't need friends. And if I ever decided to make one, you would not be my first choice."
Kori's expression remained much the same, that is until she raised her hand as if she'd suddenly understood what Silvia was saying. Her eyes glistened again and her mouth stretched back into its natural smile. "Oh! You mean because we have not engaged in the 'getting to know one another' or the 'girl talk'. That is exactly why I have come to visit!"
"No! That's not what I-... Are you even listening to me?"
Her question was answered the moment Kori started talking again, jumping onto the couch joyfully and wiggling in a failed effort to get comfortable. "Shall we begin with the exchanging of recent events?"
Silvia groaned in defeat. "You really couldn't have come at a worse time... If I do this will you please leave?"
"Yes, I promise!" Kori patted the spot beside her and Silvia slumped into it.
Silence pierced the air, and in the utter quiet, Starfire was staring at her with wide, glowing green eyes. It made Silvia so uncomfortable that she was forced to speak. "W-Well... That attack on Metropolis was probably the biggest thing that happened to me... After that I went to Gotham, beat up a hot ninja guy and realised the extent of my hatred for Batman. Okay, done. Can you go now?"
But Kori didn't seem ready to leave yet. She straightened up and grinned. "You ran into an aesthetically attractive person of the opposite sex?" She appeared excited by this, voice rising in pitch until it was almost ringing in Silvia's ears. "I too know a male from Gotham that is pleasing to the eye! We were in the 'Teen Titans' together. I believe he goes by Nightwing now, but his name use to resemble a very small insectivorous passerine bird."
It took about two minutes for Silvia to decode what Kori had just said. She sat there staring at her, mind working in overdrive in an attempt to understand. The way she spoke was so odd... Silvia would never get use to it. "Umm... Nightwing?" She said slowly as if she wasn't entirely sure if this was the right answer.
"Yes!" Starfire answered.
"You mean the 'hot ninja guy' that I beat up..."
"Yes!" She repeated with just as much enthusiasm. It took a while for it to sink in, and finally when Silvia thought she'd never get it, Kori's face dropped. "O-Oh... You hurt him?"
She sounded incredibly upset by this news but Silvia simply stood up and walked toward the door. "Yeah, probably. It's time for you to go."
Before she could even reach for the rusted handle she felt something heating up in the room. Her back felt like it was pressed up against a fireplace and the sheer surprise made her turn around. Right in front of her was Starfire; eyes glowing brighter than before, teeth clenched together, and the ends of her long red hair burning in flames but never getting any shorter.
She marched closer to Silvia and stuck her index finger in the air to point at her. "You... You..." Her voice was strained, and Silvia suddenly got the feeling she was going to get beaten half to death... But instead Starfire yelled "You are not a very nice person!" As if it were the biggest insult she could give.
Silvia blinked at her then raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, glad you're finally catching on."
Starfire huffed and within seconds she was gone, flying out of her window in fury. Silvia would've been concerned about people seeing an alien leave her apartment but most people in the Slums were too drugged up to be taken seriously.
Not even a second later there was a loud bang that had Silvia jumping ten feet in the air and turning with her fists raised, ready for a fight.
Quickly, her arms fell back to her side when she saw a dorky looking Clark smiling awkwardly in the doorway. "H-Hey... Sorry 'bout that." Silvia's head tilted to the side in confusion before he motioned towards the door that was laying flat on the ground. "You really need to... uh... get that fixed."
The blonde rolled her eyes and heaved her backpack onto her shoulders. She held onto the straps firmly to stop them from sliding off. "Let's just get this over with."
She marched passed him, almost reaching the door before he grabbed her arm. She spun around with an irritated look. Clark laughed. "I don't think you want to go out like that." He reached his hand toward her and the girl automatically flinched at the gesture. Her eyes scrunched closed and she looked, for a split second, like a vulnerable child waiting for a beating. Clark frowned, seemingly bothered by her reaction but continuing until his hand grazed against her hair.
Silvia's eyes snapped open only to see asphalt sprinkling around her. Each movement of Clark's hand conjured up more, slowly thinning until there was only the occasional few. His hand moved down to her cheek and the girl finally spoke. "H-Hey, stop that!" She stuttered, face turning several shades of pink.
Clark simply chuckled and brushed the remaining dust from her face. He glanced up to the roof, obviously realising what it was from. "Your place really is falling apart."
"How observant of you, Dorothy." Silvia groaned, pushing his hand away and trying to ignore how fast her heart was beating. "Are we just gonna stand around here all day talking about how poor I am?"
Clark's smile didn't falter, but he stepped aside and motioned towards the doorway. "After you then, Miss Stone."
As they left, Clark managed to temporarily fix the door... At least so that she didn't get robbed while they were away. Then she followed him onto a rather clean-looking bus. It was the complete opposite to what she was use to; new, polished, fast, and without a single mark of graffiti on it.
"We're flying to a research station in the Arctic shelf, where Superman will be assisting the scientists with installing a probe rod into the ice, so they can closer observe the tectonic activity and its impact on the ice shelves." Clark explained on the way to the airport.
Silvia tensed. "S-Superman? I don't... Can I go back?" She muttered, suddenly sounding even more annoyed. Why was he absolutely everywhere she went?
"Bit too late now." Clark said with a grin. "Most people would be eager to see Superman at work. I'm guessing you're more of a Batman fan?"
Silvia turned up her nose at him. "Batman's a little bitch."
A noise got caught in Clark's throat, like a laugh that he forced back down. "I... uh... never noticed."
"Yes you have." Silvia replied, slumping further down in her seat. "Most people interpret it as him being 'cool' and 'mysterious' but he's really just a giant asshole playing dress-up."
"And Superman?"
"He's just... annoyingly perfect."
Clark glanced at her, and she could have sworn that she saw a hint of surprise in his expression. He said nothing about it though, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose and clearing his throat. "Well, anyway, it'll just be the four of us this time. You, Lois and I will be writing seperate articles on different parts of the operation and Jimmy will be taking the pictures."
She instantly remembered Jimmy as the annoying guy that kept clicking his watch during the attack and tried to conceal her groan. Lois, for some unknown reason, took a little longer for her to recall. Clark passed her a newspaper, already turned to a specific page. On the top right hand corner it read 'written by Lois Lane'.
"She's won awards for her work. She's pretty professional but something tells me you two will get along." He spoke about her with a gleam in his eye. One that made Silvia sulk. She didn't know why his affections for Lois would suddenly make her so annoyed, but they did... and she hated it.
Silvia tried to ignore the sudden, unwelcome feeling by focusing on the article in front of her... the title only managed to make her even angrier though. 'Reaper saves the Daily Planet Staff during the attack on Metropolis.'
Her growl was audible this time, and she tossed the newspaper back at Clark as if she was eager to get it as far from her as possible.
"...Not a big fan of Reaper either?" Clark asked, this time sounding a little hesitant.
"Guess not." Was her only reply. She was a murderer. Someone criminals feared. The last thing she needed was an article praising her on some 'heroic deed'.
——————————————