This is the song that Ember sings on the T-Sub. It's called 'Dancing in the Moonlight' by Toploader. Obviously, you can envision her to be singing whatever you want, but I had this song stuck in my head whilst writing this, so for me, it's this one.
I lift my head and without moving my arms, urge the rock in front of me to rise up. It hovers in the air, however unsteadily, and when I look at Robin, the rock flies at him. He whacks it away with his staff and I lift him into the air, allowing him to fight the robots on the next level. I feel the mechanism at my feet start up, and it lifts me up and away from the masked Titan.
I blink my eyes to adjust to the sunlight, and when I look around, there's a raging fire all around me. "Oh, no," I mutter to myself, before quickly sucking all the heat inside my body. Without wasting a second, I lift myself into the air and shield my body with water, not allowing the flames to escape. When the fire inside me collides with the water, it produces steam, which blurs my vision and sends me to the ground.
Coughing, I look up once more. The robots are disabled, and a figure in the distance is running towards me. I force myself to sit up, dusting myself off, and I squint at the figure. The person's identity is easily distinguishable from the spiked hair and flowing cape, sending a wave of both relief and worry through my body.
"Are you okay?" Robin asks once he reaches me, his eyes asking me to be honest with him.
I disregard this hidden message and place a faux smile on my face. "Yeah," I reply. "I'm fine." When Robin looks at me pointedly, I laugh softly. "Honestly. Just an error."
The leader studies me for a moment more before finally accepting this answer. "Let's go back. Take a break." I nod slowly, and accept his hand to stand up before walking back to the Tower.
We walk into the main quarters to see Starfire releasing Raven from a long hug. The red haired girl shrieks at the mere sight of us, pulling a large, green hat over her face. Robin shrugs before walking to his left, and I follow him.
"Just so you know, that's not really dealing with it," I hear the half demon tell Starfire.
My curiosity almost gets the better of me, but I don't investigate. Instead, I follow Robin out of the room and trust that he knows where he's going.
~~~
I stand up from the couch and let the adrenaline pulse through my body as I fiddle with the controller that sits in my hands. Cyborg and Robin follow my lead, and Starfire does the same, clinging to her neck. She dives behind the couch, and we look at her quizzically before shrugging and continuing the game.
"Turbo speed... come on..." I mutter, slamming one of the buttons aggressively.
Cyborg steps closer to the television screen, before throwing his remote away and sitting back on the couch smugly. "Boo-yah!" I look up to see the words 'Winner - Player One' flashing on the screen and frown before congratulating the robotic teen.
"Best of three?" Robin asks, and Cyborg nods enthusiastically before proceeding to the next round. I sit down in between the two boys and hold my controller up, and Cyborg presses start.
The round quickly ends, and this time it's Robin who blows me out of the water. "When am I going to win one of these games?" I mutter, and both boys share a long look before tuning back to the screen for the next round.
The third round takes significantly longer to complete, and in the last lap, I overtake both Robin and Cyborg and seize the victory for myself. "Yes! I did it!" I shout joyfully, standing up and thrusting both fists in the air in a victorious manner. "I mean, I fight crime on a daily basis, but this is the best thing that's happened to me in a long time!"
Robin grins at me before turning to Cyborg, and I swear I spot him mouth something to the mechanic teen. Cyborg nods and they both turn back to congratulate me. "Aw, man!" Cyborg pouts, placing his controller on the coffee table.
"One more round, since we're all tied up?" Robin proposes.
Before I can reply, the alarm blares, signalling trouble. Beast Boy and Raven rush into the room, and I wander around the space, glancing in each hallway, but Starfire is nowhere to be seen.
I shake my head at Robin, and he presses a button and speaks into the speaker. "Starfire! Trouble! We need to go!"
"Please proceed!" she responds, her voice muffled and almost inaudible. "I will join you shortly!"
~~~
I shoot ice shards and sharp rocks at Plasmas whilst Robin shoots his explosive discs. The explosions sound, but Plasmas simply morphs back into his normal shape.
"I don't know what's more disgusting, Plasmas..." Robin states, his arms folded over his chest. "... the way you look... or the stuff you eat." Plasmas makes a gurgling noise before spitting goo at us. "Titans! Go!" We split up to avoid the blast and I land in the audience.
Robin jumps over the blast and charges at Plasmas, sticking his staff inside. Plasmas spits it out in front of him and he looks at it, Plasmas taking the distraction to trap him in his arm and throw him at the goalpost. I wince as Robin hits the post and I steady his landing.
Cyborg shoots his sonic cannon from just in front of Robin. "Come on, Booger-Man!" he says as he continues blasting. "Gimme what you got!" Plasmas shoots at him, sending him back into the pole of the goals. Cyborg snorts some of Plasmas' goo out of his nose and grimaces. "I'm gonna be smelling that for a week."
Raven floats up from behind Plasmas and her eyes glow white. The sewer pipe that Plasmas pulled out turns black and wraps itself around him, trapping him. "Azarath Metrion—" Raven begins, but the villain knocks her back, covering her in goo just like the two Titans before her. "Yuck."
"Cyborg!" Beast Boy calls out, running at said teen. "Time for the Beast Boy Blitz!" He turns into an armadillo and Cyborg throws him at Plasmas, shortly before getting knocked back by the villain. Beast Boy then changes into a rhinoceros, and subsequently gets knocked back into the drinks. He licks his lips as he tastes the drink. "Orange-flavoured bad guy? Gross, yet strangely refreshing."
I charge at Plasmas, using some of the yard to shield myself from his goo. Once I get near enough to him that the others won't be harmed, I lift the villain into the air and shield him in water. The water closes in on Plasmas, but before it can do anything effective, starbolts penetrate through and send him into the sewer.
"Boo-yah!"
"Awesome!"
"Way to go, Star... fire?"
Starfire floats down dressed in yellow mud boots, a yellow overcoat, blue oven mits, and the same green hat she was wearing earlier this week: the only time I've seen her.
"Interesting fashion statement," Raven says, voicing all of our thoughts.
"Yeah, uh... nice slicker," Beast Boy says.
"Starfire... you've been acting kind of... strange lately," Robin points out as he begins to walk to her. "Is everything okay?" She groans and takes steps back, just as Plasmas shoots out of the sewer, screeching. Balls of toxic sewer water lie on his body, and I stare at the new developments.
"EW!" Cyborg shouts.
"Just when you thought he couldn't get uglier," Raven says.
"Dude! That is sick!" Beast Boy raises his eyebrow. "And not in the good way."
I keep my mouth shut as I continue to stare. "No matter how nasty he gets, he's just a monster. And like every other monster, he's got to go!" Robin charges at Plasmas, and I notice the falter in Starfire's expression from beside me. I lift up the same piece of the ground from earlier and use it to shield the pair of us whilst I talk to Starfire.
"What's going on, Starfire?"
She looks at me, her smile not faltering. "Nothing. I am fine."
"Okay..." I gesture to her clothes. "... so what's with the new outfit?"
Starfire opens her mouth to reply but before she can we're both doused in the toxic water. I look up to see Starfire with scales on her skin and a zit on her forehead, amongst many more anomalies, and I look down to see that the water has devoured an entire layer of my clothing.
"Tell the others I had to go," I tell Starfire as I cover myself with rocks before flying off to change into a new set of clothes.
~~~
I tug at my shoulder, unable to ignore the itching from the new material, as I wait for Cyborg to finish the alterations on the T-Sub. "Cyborg!" Robin calls, and I snap my head up and move my hand away from my shoulder. "How long until we can launch?"
Cyborg's reply comes quickly. "Oh, about five minutes after you QUIT ASKING ME THAT!"
"So five minutes?" I ask, opening my closet to search for anything else I can wear. I silently thank myself that I took Robin's advice and got more than one outfit when we first started the team.
Cyborg's distant growl is enough of a reply, and I start making my way down to the launch room. I get there early, and jump into my pod to wait. Soon, the other Titans all hop in, and I adjust the volume of the speaker as they talk.
"Are we sure this thing is ready to fly?" Raven asks.
I feel Cyborg's eyes burning through my head to get to Robin's. "No! The T-Sub was built for dee sea, not deep space."
"I don't care what it was built for," Robin says. "It's going into space. We've gotta find Starfire."
"Apparently she doesn't want to be found," I say, changing the height of my seat as I speak. "But that won't stop us."
"Main power online," Robin calls.
"Defensive systems active," Raven says.
I press a button and read the numbers that show up on the screen in front of me. "Oxygen tanks at maximum," I state, my eyes scanning the screen quickly.
"Fusion thrusters ready to fire," Cyborg says.
The roof opens to the sea and I part the water to stop any of it from getting into the launch room. "Titans! Launch!" Robin's voice rings through my ears. The T-Sub does just that, and cuts through the atmosphere, zooming off into space.
"Told you she was ready to fly!" Cyborg says, his voice unstable due to the speed of the vehicle.
"Hmmm..." Raven mutters sarcastically in response.
Once we're far enough from Earth, the rockets detach from the ship and fall back. I gaze at the stars, turning my mic off to hum a soft tune. "If this is the day I die, I'm glad I get such a lovely view," I mumble to myself.
I look down at the radio that sits at my fingertips and slowly turn the knob. Low static fills my ears until I land on a channel, and I waste no time wondering how I got the connection to work. After tapping my foot on the ground to the rhythm of the song, I start to sing, and I slowly get louder until I'm at the volume at which the soundproofing begins to prove its effectiveness.
Beast Boy's stifled laughs gain my attention, and my eyes dart down to find that I've been unmuted by a member of the team, most likely him. My jaw clamps shut and I mute myself again before leaning on the window and looking out at the stars, the radio still playing the same song in the background.
~~~
Robin increases the speed and we make it out of the creature's mouth. We fly away from the planet and I let out a yelp at the close call. "Okay, so we know she's not there. Phew," Beast Boy states.
"Wherever Starfire is..." Robin says. "...I just hope she's all right."
"We'll find her," I reassure him. "She wasn't on this planet, and she might not be on the next, but she's out there somewhere, and she could be in danger." I grip my seat as the speed of the ship slows down and look at each member of team before relaxing myself.
~~~
Starfire's screams meet my ears and I wave the other Titans over to my location. "Follow me," I murmur, before flying off at a speed that they can easily match.
I fold back the leaves covering my vision to find a gigantic bug standing over a cocoon. I stop in my tracks, but the Titans have other ideas, as they quickly make their presence known. "Starfire!" Robin shouts, throwing a birdarang at the bug, one that is easily deflected.
I throw a swarm of pebbles at the monster, and it shields them with its legs whilst Robin and I back away to work out a plan. "We'll hold her off!" Robin shouts to the others. "Get Starfire out of here!"
The bug continues to swipe at Robin and I, and I quickly run out of breath dodging the impending attacks. It flings Robin away before whacking me against a tree, and hastily moves for the others. I bring up a wall of water but the bug jumps over it before landing on top of the cocoon.
"Your friend belongs to me now," the bug tells us. "You can have her back once I finish digesting her."
I take up a fighting stance, having caught my breath. "We'll have her back now," I state, and the Titans jump at the bug whilst I pull the cocoon towards me.
I look up to see the bug in the process of eating the green shapeshifter, who turns into a turtle with a shell that's hard enough to protect him. Cyborg readies his sonic cannon but the monster flings him back, and Raven flies into the air.
"I think it's time we wrapped this up." She pulls a long string of web and wraps it around the bug, who breaks free almost instantly. Raven and I send rocks and crystals at the monster, and they explode upon impact with the ground.
It jumps over us and onto the cocoon, and prepares to take a bite. Robin sees this happen and slides Starfire out of the way with his foot, just as the bug buries its head in the ground. I send a large rock at its head, knocking it to the floor, and let the others distract it whilst I fly over to Robin and Starfire.
"Starfire! Are you okay?" Robin asks. "Starfire, can you hear me?" I fly a rock into his hand, and he holds it up. "Hang on! I'm going to get you out!"
He cracks the cocoon, but Starfire's outburst stops him. "No! Please go! You will not wish to see me this way."
"We're your friends, Starfire," I state as I pull open the cocoon. "We don't care how you look."
"Besides, you look fine to me," Robin adds, using a crystal as a mirror for the alien girl.
Starfire lets out a gasp and sits up, before shooting into the air, crystal in hand. "I am... normal!" A green laser comes out of her eyes and ricochets off the crystal, damaging the rock above her. I hold out my hand to steady it, and she looks at us. "Mostly."
My attention is quickly brought back to the monster, who throws Beast Boy back and pins Raven and Cyborg with each of her claws. "Since you have stolen my meal, I shall devour you instead!" she spits.
Starfire's eyes glow green and she glares at the monster. "Devour this!" She shoots a beam from her eyes, which hits the bug square in the chest, and more starbolts send it flying away.
"Dude! Since when can your eyes do that?" Beast Boy asks as I help Raven up.
"Since just now," Starfire responds, itching her neck. "Please do not reject me. I am almost normal."
"We would never reject you, Star," I state, my fingers still pulling at my shoulder. "What is this made of?" I rip a small hole in my shoulder to reveal a bright red rash and wince at the sight of it. Beast Boy gulps and turns away, and Cyborg gives me a remorseful look before turning back to Starfire.
"You're exactly as you should be," Robin tells the girl. "No matter how you change on the outside, you'll always be Starfire on the inside." Raven, Beast Boy and Cyborg all nod, and I choose to forget the cliche and smile at the red head, who smiles back as a blush creeps onto her cheeks.
After editing this and searching up the song on YouTube to include in this chapter, I have it stuck in my head. Again. But I'm not complaining.