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Kory ducks behind an overturned car, dodging another blast from the alien's gun. The red bolt shoots past her, and she watches Gar yelp and turn into a bird to avoid it, then flapping over to her and landing on her shoulder.
"What is these guys' problem?" Gar shouts, feathers puffing out with his indignation.
Not bothering to give that question a response (these men crash-landed on their planet and came out swinging, at least twenty of them chasing after one lone figure; it doesn't matter why at the moment, they just have to stop them), Kory takes advantage of the—surely brief—pause in firing to leave her cover, sprinting across the asphalt. She feels Garfield's talons release her uniform, and doesn't spare a glance to see if he managed okay; she knows he would've caught himself easily, and is besides too used to the members of this team moving suddenly to actually be upset by it.
As she runs, she draws some of the birdarangs from her utility belt and throws them with precision. The aliens shouts as they're thrown back by the blasts, tumbling across the street. She only pays attention to them for one second more, just to make sure that they're down for the time being, and then throws herself at another, planting her knee right in his gut and then twisting herself up, wrapping her legs around his neck and throwing him to the ground.
Bursts of blue streak past her, and Kory's head whips around to see that it's the one who'd been escaping the others. His hands are glowing blue, his eyes much the same, and it looks like the ends of his black hair are on fire with the same blue.
He doesn't hesitate to keep shooting those bolts out of his hands, firing at the aliens who had been chasing him. They instantly begin shooting back, apparently deciding that Kory and the rest of her team don't matter when faced with their captive, which is their loss. It leaves them open, and Kory doesn't hesitate to take advantage of it, seeing Donna and Roy do the same out of the corner of her eye, the others quickly following.
The boy flies through the air at lightning speed, the glow around his hands streaking up his arms, licking at his orange-tinted skin like fire. It doesn't seem to hurt him at all, though, and one of his bolts passes Kory close enough that she can feel the searing heat emanating off of them. It makes her suck in a sharp breath, and she jerks back, grimacing when she sees there's now a smoking hole through the center of one of the aliens.
It doesn't take them too long to take all the aggressive aliens down after that, the combined efforts of her team and the boy easily prevailing. And then it's just the Teen Titans and an alien boy, who is hovering a few feet above street level, hands still aflame.
Kory squares her shoulders and approaches cautiously, tilting her head up to attempt to hold eye contact with the boy. It's a little hard to tell if that's effective, considering the entirety of his eyes are a uniform blue glow, no irises or pupils to tell just where he's looking. But Kory trusts her instincts, and she feels like most of his attention is on her now instead of her team, where they hang back.
"Hello," Kory calls upward. "You're safe now, it's okay. They're all down, and we aren't going to hurt you." She pauses, but receives no response from the boy, so she continues with, "What's your name?"
Slowly, the boy begins to drift down until his boots hit the ground, touching down with barely a whisper. He observes her for a moment, and then his hands lower, the energy surrounding them dissipating as he does so. Kory watches as the flames at the tips of his hair seem to dim a little as well, but those otherworldly blue eyes don't change at all, bright enough that you could get lost in them.
He says something, but it makes no sense to her ears, a strange combination of syllables that just sounds like gibberish. Her brow furrows, and she gives a small shake of her head. The boy's eyebrows come together in response, looking like frustration, and then suddenly he's striding forward, closing the distance between them. Kory goes tense, feet shifting in automatic preparation of an attack, her hands clenching into fists as he reaches for her—
And he kisses her.
Kory is stunned still, shock short-circuiting her brain. One of his hands cups her cheek gently, the other loosely gripping her shoulder. It's a hold she could easily get out of, but instead she finds her eyes drifting closed, melting into the kiss.
Because there's a— spark, of some kind. It's like her mind has opened wide, like her body is alive in a way it never has been before. Her blood is thrumming, lights exploding behind her eyelids. And there's—there's...
Fear, she feels, and knows it's the boy's, knows the way she knows her own name that he's been afraid for a long time. Rage, vindication, hope, quickly follow, and an anxiety he can't shake. She feels flashes—hands with bruising grips pinning her down, the tight bands of cold metal around her wrists, the jangle of the chain as she tries desperately to break free, the collar around her throat that is suppressing her abilities to make her easier prey—
Longing for home, relief at the bad things being over, cautious hope that where she's wound up will be different, concern that it won't be. And such intense, deep exhaustion.
The kiss breaks, the boy's lips lifting from hers. He doesn't move away though, and they share the same breath for one beat, two. She's surprised to find that at some point she's reached up, with one hand holding onto his elbow, the other covering his own on her cheek.
It's like waking up from a dream when the boy finally pulls away, her skin feeling cold as his hands drop away. He takes two steps back, far enough away to be far more appropriate, but still close enough that she could touch him if she tried.
She doesn't try, grabbing hands and unwanted touches still so fresh in her mind from what she saw in his.
"Hello," the boy greets. "My name is Dikand'r. Thank you for aiding me."
"What a greeting," Kory hears someone—Roy, most likely—mutter dryly behind her, and an answering chuckle from one of the others, which is quickly followed by the slap of someone being hit upside the head.
"You're welcome," Kory says. "You've—you are safe here. This isn't...you won't face anything here like what you've been through, I promise."
Some tension seems to release from Dikand'r's shoulders, and he nods, offering a small smile. "You are brave warriors."
"I like to think so," Kory replies, smiling back. "Um, just—why did you kiss me? Why did you show me those things?"
Dikand'r blinks at her and tilts his head. "Oh!" he says, straightening back up. "My apologies. My people have the ability to inherit language from others, but it requires contact such as that. I couldn't speak whatever it was you were, and I didn't know how to explain what would allow me to speak with you."
Kory nods, accepting the explanation even as someone snorts behind her. He didn't answer her question about why she saw things about him, why she felt his emotions, why she still feels—drawn to him. She'll ask again later, whenever there's a chance for it to be just the two of them. She doesn't especially want to share what she learned with the others, either; it's not her story to tell. Not her trauma to divulge.
"Would you like to come with us?" Kory asks. "We have a tower where you can rest, and we can explain a bit more about Earth. Maybe you can explain a bit about where you're from, too, if you want."
Dikand'r nods easily, and then steps forward again. He takes her hand in his and gives it a small squeeze, and she yelps as he suddenly lifts her into his arms and begins to hover above the street.
"Tell me where to go," Dikand'r says, smiling at her with a spark of mischief that immediately feels contagious, drawing a huff of laughter out of her.
"That way," she points, and finds herself grinning as they take off into the sky, leaving the ground far behind them.