A work-in-progress TT AU fic.
Pairing: Starfire/Nightwing
Kori Anders was painfully aware of the danger she was placing herself in, being mere seconds away from facing her enemy. Pushing away the feeling of dread and swallowing her insecurities, the button pressed and the thick metal doors pulled apart. However, they revealed nothing more than an empty elevator.
Kori stepped into the enclosure, pressing the level seventeen button and leaning back against the dark cherry-wood paneling. Safe and secure now, she closed her eyes and wished to be somewhere, anywhere else besides Wayne Enterprises headquarters. Her deepest, darkest desire was to punch her boss in the face, hard and repetitively. Although there were plenty of interns, it seemed Kori was the only one available to meet Bruce Wayne’s assistant for an advertising discussion. After working for the Prince modeling agency for three years, Kori figured that Diana could cut her some slack and let her not spend the day fearing for her sanity and increasing blood pressure. Apparently, today was not one of those days.
A sudden lurch during the elevator’s assent caused Kori’s stomach to lurch, as well. Her emerald eyes snapped open to view the double doors sliding apart.
“Kori?” The voice she hadn’t spoken to in the last four months and hadn’t seen in the last six barricaded her to the far corner of the elevator. He stood there, standing in all of his gorgeous glory: clean-cut dark hair, muscular frame, and stunning sea-glass eyes.
“Hello, Dick,” Kori replied icily, gripping her purse tightly as he stepped inside and pressed his desired floor before taking a stance beside her rigid form. She tried not to inhale the masculine scent of his cologne, for fear she might visibly swoon in front of him.
“What are you doing here?” She turned to her ex-boyfriend, not surprised in the least at his lack of manners and straight-forward question. Same old Dick.
“I’m here for work. You?”
“It just so happens that I work here,” He smirked, “But of course, you already knew that.” Kori said nothing back and continued visualizing herself anywhere but in a confined location with Dick Grayson. “I tried calling you.”
“I am aware of this, yes.” He scowled lightly at her aloof tone but said nothing further. For the first time, Kori was aware of the light jazz music playing in the background. She focused her attention on the tunes, the soft swells of the piano and saxophone. Another lurch of the elevator slammed both riders hard against the wall.
“What in the hell is-” Without any warning, the machine let out a deafening grinding sound as Kori and Richard shared a worried glance. Suddenly, the floor seemed to disappear from underneath them as the elevator dropped several feet, before the grinding noise returned. Kori grabbed onto the handrails, struggling to stay erect. Richard turned to her, already dialing the lobby’s front desk, and opened his mouth to tell her it was going to be all right, when the elevator careened again.
Kori unfortunately didn’t experience any monumental flashbacks of her life as television and books talked about often, so she was entirely conscious of all that was happening. After begging all of the holy deities she knew of, she laughed at the fact she would probably die with the man she’d wanted to murder the past few months. Karma was a bitch, she decided. Richard watched his ex-girlfriend in confusion as the lights flickered above them and finally, the machine came to a screeching halt. By then, Richard assumed they had dropped at least sixty feet or more.
“Kori… are you okay?” She didn’t reply and continued her laughter, sinking to the sparkling tiled floors. “Hey, Lindsay, this is Dick. I was wondering if you knew anything about the elevator malfunction,” He finally reached the front desk after gaining control of his fingers again after gripping the rail so tightly, “Well, it feels like we just dropped out of the sky or something. I’m guessing that one of the cables snapped.” Kori’s laughter was fading now as she cleared her mind and listened to Richard’s deep voice. Even with her hatred for him, the knowledge that he was there calmed her nerves slightly. However, the knowledge that the elevator could plummet again without any warning weighed heavily on her mind, as well. “All right, then. Have Bruce call the engineer and the fire department and see what they can do.” He ended his call and brought his attention back to the girl beside him, who was now staring at the floor, a blank expression on her face. “Kor? Kori?”
“Yes?” Her voice croaked, eyes still glazed in shock. Richard carefully slid down to the floor next to her and placed a hand on the soft skin of her shoulder.
“Look at me.” She made no move to obey. “Korine, please. I need to know you’re all right.” The deep green irises of her eyes pierced his when she lifted her face up to his.
“I’m fine, Dick. I’m stuck in a broken elevator with Richard Grayson, heir to the Wayne throne, and I might die at any second either from my nerves being shot or from said broken elevator blowing to smithereens,” She narrowed her eyes until they resembled tiny green slits, “Other than that, I’m perfect. How about you?” He brushed off her attitude as if she’d simply complimented him on his attire. After dating her for over a year, he knew her every emotion like the back of his hand.
“I called it in so the police should be here shortly to fix the problem.”
“And if it’s a broken cable, then what? They’re going to magically fix it?” He shrugged nonchalantly- Kori guessed his playboy father had taught him that, too- and settled down, his jacketed-shoulder brushing her bare one. He noticed that she was wearing a completely different outfit than he’d seen her in before- an ivory chiffon-style tank top with a black belted pencil skirt and, surprisingly enough, black four-inch heels which he didn’t even know she owned. He supposed they were extra perks from her job as a model and hoped she hadn’t bought them to go out on a date, as selfish as it was.
“I don’t know, Kor. I’m sorry, but I have no idea what they’re going to do.” Honesty is always the best policy, he knew, even though most of his life he hadn’t followed this golden rule. Right now, though, she deserved nothing but honesty from him, he presumed.
The First Hour
“Bruce wants me to take over the company.” He spoke aloud after some time of silence between himself and her. Finally, she acknowledged his presence and smirked.
“Why are you surprised? He’s always been assuming you would.”
“I’m not and I’ve always known, but now that he’s preparing me for it, I realize that I don’t want anything to do with Wayne Enterprises,” His tone softened as he admitted what he hadn’t to anyone else. Kori always had the power to seek out what he never dared to tell anyone else. “I mean, I love Bruce and I will always be thankful for everything he’s done for me, but I don’t believe I am capable of being CEO.”
“Why don’t you tell him that, then?” He snorted and shook his shaggy ebony locks.
“And sign my own death warrant? No thank you.” The jazz music returned to Kori’s ears again and she closed her eyes, letting her mind drift away. She was on the tropical island of Tamaran, swimming beneath a waterfall. Diving down into the rushing water, she could feel the current slide through her body. Her eyes darted down below her, where she could see a pair of dark eyes gazing up at her. Even among the swift current of the water, the elevator music played on.
The Second Hour (anger)
Unfortunately, the smooth current in Kori’s dream became extremely rough. The silence now was not merely quiet, it was stone silent, much like an abandoned graveyard of angered spirits. This silence spread to the interior of the elevator, where they'd been trapped for over two and a half hours. Being this close to Richard Grayson in this allotted time was beginning to chip away all of her defenses, Kori realized as the question she'd been begging to have an answer to spilled out of her mouth.
"Why did you break up with me?" Normally, she would begin back-tracking and making excuses for being so forth-coming, but this wasn't by any means normal circumstances. This was just her and him; one pissed-off girl and one confusing boy.
"I don't know," He replied and his tone didn't go unnoticed by Kori. She could have cooled a hot drink down with his icy tone. She scoffed and he shrugged. She turned towards him and he turned away from her.
"I'm so fucking sick of doing this little dance with you, Dick," Kori hissed, crossing her slender arms across her chest, "All I want is one straight answer. Give me a reason."
"Which one?" Richard growled and pulled out his Blackberry to avoid conversing with her any longer. Just as he dialed the front desk, a tanned hand came down and swept the phone away. Utter shock plastered itself on his normally serene face as he watched Kori drop the phone down into her top. "What the hell are you doing?"
She narrowed her eyes, moving so she sat directly in front of him, even as the elevator shifted uncertainly, arguing against this change. "I want answers, Dick. You never gave me one good reason. That's all I ask of you and I'm not sure what is so hard about coming up with something. I have plenty for you." He debated on whether or not pulling open the doors and climbing out of the compartment. Sure, he might die, but then he would be able to escape from those harsh daggers she was sending him through her wide, expressive eyes. Damn, he'd told himself not to get caught up in those orbs. Now his emergency brake was on, bringing him to a full stand-still.
A shrill ringing caused both of them to leap back from each other. After gazing curiously around the elevator, Kori embarrassingly realized that it was Richard's cell phone. That currently resided in the padding of her bra. Her eyes swept down to her chest, to his face, back down to her chest, and then once more to his face, which was now revealing an impish smirk.
"Come on, Kor, it's not like I haven't seen 'em before." She rolled her eyes unconsciously and dipped a hand down, unearthing the phone from its hold. Before the owner swiped the phone away, though, she caught the caller I.D.- kitten
The Third Hour (depression)
The Fourth Hour (acceptance)
“He already knows.” Her voice broke the quiet as Richard turned, curiosity evident on his amused face.
“Huh?” She grinned at him, glad she could still emit such blunt remarks from Bruce Wayne’s prodigy.
“Bruce, he knows that you don’t want to take over the business.”
“What? How do you know?”
“Dick,” She rolled her eyes heaven-ward, “He’s Bruce Wayne for fuck’s sake. You really think he’s in the dark about your intentions?”
“I think you have too much faith in him.”
“He’s not the one I have faith in.” With that comment, Kori began brushing her hair over her shoulder, trying to block the blush that covered her cheeks.
“Thanks.” Richard coughed out, refraining himself from taking her hand, which was mere inches away from his.
“You’re welcome.”
