Chapter 22

Law PoV

After getting my fucking ass destroyed by Blackfire, I made a solemn vow. To never, ever pick a fight with a female Tamaranean. They were quite clearly much stronger than they appeared. Something that was taught to me by both Blackfire, and Starfire.

Even if it wasn’t for that event, I would still consider Starfire to be one of the strongest hitters on the Titans. But because of it, I was pretty sure she might just be the strongest on the team period.

See, I had known awhile ago that Starfire’s powers relied on her emotions. Duh, right? What I hadn’t really considered though was that Starfire hasn’t really ever been pushed too hard emotionally.

In combat she was pretty casual about the whole thing. Likely due to being part of a warrior race where such things were common place. So most of the time her emotions were normal. Stable.

But in situations where they weren’t, her power could skyrocket. Though obviously this was a two-way street. As sufficient enough negative emotions or simply getting overloaded with emotion led to a substantial decrease in power.

…Or at least that’s how I would explain how Blackfire beat the Titans, and how Starfire then beat Blackfire. The truth could have also just been that Blackfire had been holding back the entire time, even during the training sessions with the Titans. Giving us a false idea of where her baseline power laid.

She beat my ass pretty fucking well, I won’t lie. Pretty sure she fractured a good chunk of my bones, including my skull. I wasn’t completely sure, but it was highly likely that the only reason I was still alive was because at the last second before I went unconscious, I flooded my body with the tree sap.

Considering how much of that tree sap was in my bloodstream when I woke up, it was honestly pretty surprising that I woke up at all. Considering what happened to all the rats when I pumped them full of the stuff.

Eh, but why look a gift horse in the mouth? I was alive here and now. That’s all that really mattered in the end. Still, tree sap wasn’t a cure all. My left leg ached whenever pressure was put on it, leading me to walk around with a crutch whenever I was able to finally leave the medical room. And that wasn’t even touching on the frequent headaches that wracked my head.

Still, it beat laying down in a fucking bed doing fuck all for two weeks. Though Starfire definitely made the experience much nicer…

Regardless, I still had shit I wanted to do. Like fucking eat, walk around, experiment with my drugs, etc.

Speaking of experimenting with my drugs, I found myself drawn to the Laboratory floor once more. It had looked practically spotless despite the long period I had been gone. To be honest, if I hadn’t expressly been shown proof of how long I had been asleep, I’d have thought it had only been a few days.

Despite my light injuries, I was still able to tinker with my experiments. Moving them slightly to the next phase. Nothing too crazy for most of them. I was pleasantly surprised when I was met with the fact that the time lapse had even helped some of my experiments. Even bringing one to its completion.

It was just a small side project, but it was neat that it was finished. At least now I could focus on more important things. After putting it in a vial and slapping a label on it, I planned to store it in the back with some of the other projects I completed.

But for now, I put it on the end of the table as I turned my attention back to the more important tasks at hand. Such has how to not be forced to spin the wheel to find animal traits in specific-

I blinked as I realized someone had entered the room without announcing themselves. After a second of looking, I immediately found the outline of Robin leaning against the far wall. After looking at him for a few seconds, he kicked off the wall and proceeded to walk towards me.

“Robin.”

I greeted the boy wonder, who in turned nodded towards me.

“Law.”

…This better not be about what I think it is. I’ve already heard more than enough of it in the fucking medical room.

“Is this about Blackfire again?”

He winced slightly at that, before looking away and towards the wall for a few seconds. Staring into nothing before his gaze found its way back to my eyes.

“…No. It’s about the Man-Bats.”

Oh right. Kind of forgot about them with the whole festival and Blackfire thing happening. I waved my hand for Robin to keep going.

“The people being turned into Man-Bats has started to escalate over the past two weeks. It’s been getting worse and worse. I know you’ve only just started to recover, but do you have any progress on a sort of cure?”

…Whoops. Guess I should have really stopped playing around back then with all the other side projects with the serum. It’s not that big of a deal either way, but still. I could’ve probably made a few breakthroughs on turning bat creatures into humans again.

“I’ve made only a small bit of progress on it. But I’ll be sure to give it my full attention now that I’m back.”

Robin pursed his lips at the answer. Frowning all the while. Hmm? Was there something wrong with my answer? He couldn’t possibly be expecting a cure right now, right?

Then again, he was obviously used to a much different way of doing things somehow…

“Alright…if you don’t mind me asking, what’s that?”

I cracked an eyebrow as Robin pointed out one of the vials that had been set aside on a nearby table. This was surprising, as he’s never really shown any interest in my projects. Only really asking for specific things when needed. Like the healing tree sap or now with the anti-Man-Bat serum.

I followed his finger to find a few vials that were all stacked into the same small rack side by side. They were all corked, and the liquid inside was a pale yellow color. Below the tray in large letters was a label.

THE CURE.

…Oooooh. I see what’s going on.

I chuckled a bit as I turned back to Robin.

“Oh, that won’t cure the Man-Bat form.”

Robin relaxed at the explanation.

“Ah. So it’s an unfinished prototype. Got it.”

I waved him off.

“Oh no. It has nothing to do with reversing the Man-Bat transformation.”

“…Then what is it?”

“It’s the cure for deafness.”

Robin chuckled a bit as I looked at him. I wasn’t sure why he found that funny, but to each his own. Especially seeing as he’s a Gothamite. We all have pretty strange senses of humor, to say the least.

After a few seconds Robin stopped laughing and then continued to meet my eyes. It was a bit strange so I decided to return to my experiments. I doubt Robin was the type of guy to take offense to me turning my back in order to work and talk. Actually, if anything, he was the exact opposite. He was the type to appreciate the work ethic of someone working and talking at the same time.

Some sort of twisted workaholic mentality.

“…Are you serious?”

“Hmm?”

My attention was brought out of my thoughts as Robin responded once again. As I was trying to recall what exactly he was responding to, he helpfully supplied it.

“The cure for being deaf. Are you serious?”

“Yeah. Why, do you know someone who needs one?”

Robin gave me a rather taken aback look.

“…Yeah. Everyone who’s deaf.”

“No shit, really?”

I rolled my eyes before going back to my experiments, only for Robin to immediately be at my side. While I could have continued, it was pretty obvious that Robin seemed to think this was some sort of big deal. Making me sigh before putting my shit up.

My eyes met Robins.

“…do you seriously intend to do nothing with the cure?”

He can’t be serious.

“Alright Boy Wonder. Tell me exactly what I should be doing with it.”

Robin immediately took the opportunity I had given him. Counting on his fingers while I studied him calmly. He seemed genuinely a bit agitated by this. I mean, Ethan would be as well, but that was for a completely different reason.

At least, I was pretty sure it was a different reason.

“Sharing it with everyone, for one. Get a patent for it and distribute it across the world for everyone who needs it for two.”

…It’s time like this that I truly wonder if he’s really a Gothamite. Like seriously, where does this come from?

“Wow, that’s a fantastic idea Robin. I can’t believe I didn’t think of it first! Maybe it’s because I can’t actually do that.”

“…What do you mean?”

Is he serious!?

“Robin, let’s say I’m somehow naïve enough to try to get it patented. I’m a teen without even so much as a fucking GED. It would be so easy for someone else to just take credit instead. I mean who are you going to believe, the guy with the PHD or the criminal?”

“Not everyone’s corrupt Law. It’s-”

I held up a hand to stop Robin.

“Alright. Let’s say that somehow that doesn’t happen and I do get a patent. How the fuck do you expect me to distribute it? Do you think I can just walk into a pharmacy and just demand they stop what their doing so they can sell my shit? Cause it’s not like I can pay them.”

“What if you signed a contract?”

“I’m sorry, did I somehow give you the impression that I knew how to conduct fucking business or even how to reach out to companies? You think I’m going to understand legal jargon? Be serious with me for a moment Robin. What’s the odds that I just get taken for a fucking ride by some rich dickhead and just hand over the rights to my shit?”

Robin closed his eyes for a few seconds. Saying nothing. It kind of reminded me of Raven for a bit. After a few seconds he started to nod before opening his eyes.

“You’re right. I’m sorry. I sometimes forget that…well, everyone else has a…different perspective.”

Hmm? Well, that’s certainly not the reaction I had expected. It was also a strange choice of words. What exactly did he mean by that? I gave him a slow nod and he continued.

“Alright Law. What if I told you that I have some contacts that I can get a hold of that could get you a patent and a distributor? Would you be interested?”

…Seriously? Just like that?

Was this his contacts, or were these the Justice League contacts? Actually, just how well connected was the Justice League really? I always had the impression that despite the charter from the U.N. that they were mostly just a ragtag group of absurdly strong individuals.

I know the wealth to build the tower had to come from somewhere, but still. Just how much wealth did the Justice League really have?

“…Alright. Though that all being said, I do have to walk back a bit and say that while I’m pretty sure the cure works, I haven’t actually used it on humans.”

Robin waved it away.

“We can at least test it.”

True enough. I left the Lab talking to Robin. He spent the time to mostly convince me to give his plan a shot. Which I was already in favor for if he actually had connections to do it for me. Though of course there was a seed of doubt well grown in the back of my mind the entire time.

It helped to keep it there. So that if in the end it doesn’t work out and it doesn’t work the way I want it to, I won’t be disappointed. It would instead just be the expected outcome.

Me and Robin continued to talk up towards the top floor and into the kitchen area. I wasn’t sure why, as I was just following him. Maybe he wanted a drink or something.

One of the main talking points was just how much credit Langstrom deserved. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t planning on snubbing him and saying he didn’t help at all, but he sure as hell wasn’t the one that made this shit. Hell, most of his formula had to be rewritten in order for it to actually work.

But he was the guy to give the baseline idea and give a place to start. Which definitely helped.

So that-for a brief moment we both paused. Our eyebrows furrowing at the same time as we met each other’s gazes.

Yeah, he had definitely heard sound as well. We didn’t say anything as we waited for it to come back. Sure enough, in the next few seconds the sound of someone…snoring hit our ears. I immediately zeroed in on the couch in the living room.

It’s back was facing us, which meant we couldn’t really know who was on the other side until we got next to its side or in front of it. Robin signaled for me to go on the left side, while he circled right. I nodded and followed his example. Watching as he pulled out his retractable pole.

After a few seconds, we both turned and immediately confronted the source of the snoring noise. On the couch was a blonde adult guy wearing a trench coat. His clothes seemed a bit dirty, and he seemed to be nursing an empty bottle of beer.

My nose wrinkled in disgust as I got closer. Yeah, there’s no way that was the only bottle he drank. He smelled like a fucking brewery. It took me about four seconds to pickpocket him and pull out his wallet. Checking it before passing it to Robin.

“Uh, don’t suppose you happen to know a John Constantine?”

*~o~*

No one in the tower knew who this guy was. Hell, we didn’t even know how he got here. The cameras didn’t pick up anything, and the security systems hadn’t even detected him.

The only theory we had was that it was magic related. And that was thanks to Raven being able to sense magic in him. We tried to wake up the man himself, but that didn’t exactly work out. Hell, we even slapped his fucking face and he still didn’t get up. The guy was out of it.

Seeing as he didn’t really do anything seriously wrong, we decided to not put him in a holding cell. Instead, just letting him crash on our couch. Besides, who knows what would happen if we put someone with magical abilities in a cell next to Blackfire?

Likely something very bad.

After every Titan was notified of the situation and took turns gawking at the homeless guy, we all decided to just get on with our lives. It was still in the afternoon, so I was planning on working out a bit.

…Or at least that had been the plan until Starfire dragged my arm out of the living room. Smiling all the while heading towards her own room.

Star’s room was pretty clean. Likely not due to her being some sort of neat freak, but because she didn’t have a lot in her room to begin with. There was little furniture besides a nightstand, a bed, a tv, and a mostly empty shelf on the far end of the room.

That being said, the room wasn’t plain. It had been painted a nice shade of purple. Something that was mirrored by her bedsheets and carpet. They weren’t the exact same shade, but they definitely meshed well.

But besides that, she didn’t have any decorations. I also couldn’t help but notice that Starfire never seems to lock her room. Something that made me twitch a bit.

I couldn’t imagine being so free spirited to just be able to do that.

“…So, what’s up Starfire? Did you need to talk about something?”

I asked first as Starfire floated around her room. She seemed to be heading straight towards her own bed. She then sat down on the edge of her bed before patting the seat next to her.

She had visited me more than a few times when I was recovering. Always inquiring as to my condition and if anything hurt. Which was a pretty funny thing to ask the guy who could flood his body with painkillers at the drop of a hat. Even still, I always took her questions seriously.

And not once did she ever bring up sister.

Which is probably what this is. I took a seat next to Starfire. Preparing myself for the conversation. If she needed someone to emotionally vent to…well, I wasn’t the best for this situation but…

Wait…

Actually, out of all the Titans, I think I actually was. Huh. Well, wasn’t that a damning statement for just about everyone?

I blinked as Starfire snaked an arm across my back and grabbed me by my side before pulling me closer. To the point where there was practically no space between us. Looking up to Starfire, I noticed she was giving me a pretty lurid look and smile.

…Okay, not exactly what I had expected, but I wasn’t going to complain.

“You shouldn’t be so far…”

“Then I’ll be as close as I can.”

Starfire’s smile widened slightly as I wrapped an arm around her waist. Her cheeks gaining a slight blush to them as she leaned down. As I wasn’t exactly known for my patience, I met her halfway. Our lips meeting in the middle.

If anyone stepped through Starfire’s door, I might just kill them.

It took only a few seconds for Starfire to immediately hit my teeth with her tongue. I hadn’t quite expected her to be so…aggressive. Though it dies make a certain amount of sense what with her wearing her emotions on her sleeve.

She shifted positions. Positioning herself on my lap before making out with me once more. Her right hand grasping my hair while her left hand ran down my back repeatedly. Until finally grasping my ass.

…Jesus. Alright, I wasn’t too sure where this Starfire had come from, but I was all for it. Starfire broke off the kiss in order to start kissing the nape of my neck. Something she was doing fine at first, before her kisses devolved into just licking. It tickled much more than any actual pleasure, but I didn’t care enough to stop her.

Who knows, maybe she was into this kind of stuff? It was also amusing to see Starfire’s quirks even in a situation like this.

She jerked slightly as my own hand went to her ass. She stopped what she was doing in order to look up at me with surprise in her eyes. Before finally smirking and proceeding to lock lips once more. Her hands had dipped underneath my shirt and were currently feeling around my chest before raising higher and higher.

I raised my arms and it seemed despite the culture difference, Starfire knew exactly what that meant. As she didn’t hesitate in stripping my shirt off. We were both on the same page, as I wasn’t the only one going for her shirt.

“TITANS, REPORT TO THE TOP FLOOR.”

I’m going to kill Robin.

Five minutes. That’s all I fucking ask. Five whole fucking minutes. But no, I can’t even hav-

Any thoughts I could possibly have that were even slightly negative went out the window as my eyes fell on Starfire. As her beautiful perky orange breasts were on display. Starfire seemed to be entirely focused on me and my reaction to her body. Something she was pleased about.

…The Titans could wait.