3 months into the 'Teen Titans'.
Almost all of Robin's bruises from his odd battle with 'Starfire' had healed, and the tower was near completion, on the east side of the T was left to do. He checked the remaining in the bathroom, but suddenly there was a large rash on him that was not there before. He looked down at it, and looked in the mirror, eyes a bit wide.
He got dressed, and rushed into the hallway, and met Starfire in her newly built room.
"Starfire. There's some sort of rash on my chest." He spat out.
She turned in surprise, and asked, "Rash?"
He nodded, and said, "It's a place on my skin that is, uh… irritated. Maybe I caught a disease? Or I was allergic to something?"
Starfire narrowed her eyes, and muttered, obviously not pleased, "You mean allergic to me?"
"Well, there's a possibility, but uhh- I'm not saying anything absolute" He said, scratching the back of his head nervously.
She huffed, "I shall not take that as an insult because I have already planned to go to Tamaran to pack bring my belongings here to stay."
"Belongings? Tama- wait, you mean from your home world? No, I can't let you." He said quickly.
"What? You do not wish for me to bring my things? My clothes? I thought you said you want me to feel at my home!" she said loudly.
"I do, I do, but… I may be allergic to something else after that. It's just a precaution, Starfire." Robin said.
"Well, I must have some thing to wear, so you will have to go with your allergic." She said, looking away.
"What? No. If you're going to bring your stuff to this Planet, do it somewhere else." He said.
She frowned, disappointed, and said, "If that if what you wish."
"What?" Robin asked in shock, as she floated past him, "You're leaving?"
"Yes, Robin. I shall stay at one of those Hotels you told me were on this Planet, along with my belongings, until you are through being allergic to me."
His eyes widened, and raised his hands in front of him, getting next to the doorway, said. "No, really, that isn't necessary. I may not be allergic to you, but, I just wanted to be safe, that's all."
She floated down the hall, and said in a depressed tone, "I am sorry if you are allergic to me, Robin." She walked to the unfinished hole in the under-construction wall, and flew out of it into the night sky.
Robin sighed, and said to himself, "Come on… What were you thinking? It may not even be her that I'm allergic to. It probably just isn't. She's from another planet, but it doesn't make her like a dog with rabies… ugh… I need to think before I say something to her that could hurt her feel-…"
Then the communicator started ringing, interrupting his out-loud thoughts. He answered it, and Cyborg said loudly, "Yo, my indicators show Starfire just smashed her communicator. Is something wrong?"
Robin began to speak, saying "Uh well it's-" but Cyborg continued, getting louder.
"Oh, wait, something is wrong. I built those outta my OWN circuits, and she doesn't need to go around breaking them just because she feels like it." He continued.
Robin said loudly, "No. It's not that."
"What is it then?" he asked.
"Me and her had an argument. I don't think she's coming back anytime soon." Robin muttered.
Cyborg looked surprised, and calmed his tone, "You didn't make her leave the team, did you?"
Robin answered, gloomily, "I hope not…"
Cyborg said, concerned, "Hey, man, I usually don't get upset like she does, and I almost didn't come back when you pushed me to quit. You might want to-"
Robin cut him off, saying, "I know."
"Hey, I just thought I'd let you know… I almost decided to go back to my old neighborhood when I quit. You better get her back before she decides to go back to hers, if you get what I mean. C'ya later, and good luck." Cyborg said, and then turned off the transmission.
"Thanks…" Robin muttered, and frowned a bit. He held up the receiver, inspecting it, and got a mini-screwdriver from his utility belt then popped open the cover protecting the circuits with it.
"I know Cyborg will probably hurt me for this, but I have to contact her somehow." He muttered. He then tweaked it to send the 'trouble' beep to Starfire's built-in alert beeper, in the gem on her neckpiece.
It showed it was beeping, and he said, "I hope she notices and doesn't decide to rip it off or something."
He then realized the neckpiece was part of her shirt, and smiled a bit.
He then frowned again and walked down the hall back to his room, muttering to himself, "Come on, that's not leader-like… No dirty thoughts about members. No dirty thoughts. No dirty thoughts... no matter who it is… no dirty thoughts... no dirty thoughts…"
He then entered his room.
Starfire, already at a motel, had gotten undressed for bed, and got on another pair of clothes of the same kind, but looser, and apparently without gems or jewels.
The Hotel's laundry lady had gotten her clothes and put them with other ones in a basket, and walked up to the dryer in the Hotel. She held up the purple shirt, and said, "Oh my, what strange clothes."
She then put it in the wash with all the other clothes, not knowing the gem was there.
They washed, but the gem was waterproof. Then in the dryer, it banged the gem around, cracking it, and overheating it.
The beep malfunctioned, and stopped.
The next morning, every one got up in the Tower. Raven stayed in her room, Beast Boy got in the 'Living Room' sitting on the couch watching TV. Cyborg came in, and clunked down on a nearby seat. Beast Boy had his determined gamer-face on, buttons mashing on 'Mega Monkeys 2'.
Cyborg said, "Yo, Beast Boy…"
Beast Boy asked, still in determined gamer-mode, "Yeah?"
"Robin made Starfire leave the Tower last night." Cyborg muttered. Beast Boy paused the game, stood, and said, "He did?" standing up.
Cyborg slowly nodded, looking down. Beast Boy looked around, and muttered, "That's not a surprise."
"Mhm…" Cyborg said, in thought.
Robin then entered the room, and went over near the refrigerator to get some food. "Hey guys." Robin said to them.
Cyborg didn't answer, and Beast Boy shrugged. "Hey, I guess." Beast Boy said softly, and jumped back on the couch.
"You know, it's already quiet without her around." Cyborg muttered. Robin said slowly, "Yeah, don't remind me."
"We don't even know where she's staying. It could be a hotel, a motel, an apartment, a warehouse, an alley, a cave, a-" Cyborg began, but Robin cut him off, coming to a realization. He sat down the box of leftover fast food, and said, "No, there's only one place that I told her about."
He then closed the refrigerator door, and ran out the exit.
Starfire was still sleeping on the hotel bed. She didn't feel the need to get up because there was nobody around, so she slept most of the day away. With her asleep, the door opened to her hotel room.
"Ah, there she is." A voice muttered. Slade. He took a nearby chair, and sat down backwards in it, watching her sleep. "Combat isn't the only way I can learn more about my enemies." He said, snickering.
He opened up some small handheld device, and aimed it at her. "Study system on," he said whispering.
"Done. Now, I don't want to stay here… no matter how tempting it is." He said softly again, eying her. He then put the chair back where it was, and left.
He opened the door, and said, "I have business to take care of."
The laundry lady was outside the hall, and saw him leaving. "Are you her Uncle or some relative?" she asked.
"Do I look like it?" Slade said nastily.
"Well… you both have weird clothes. But ah, whatever. It's none of my business." She said, and turned around the do the next round of clothes at the nearby washing machine.
Slade then turned away, and left the hotel out the entrance.
Robin got to the Hotel, and went inside quickly. "May I help you?" the old lady asked at the counter.
He began to speak, "Yes, uh, did a girl check in here? Purple clothes? Red h-"
The old lady interrupted him, "Oh, yes, the one with those weird clothes. I think she had an Uncle here visiting her. A rude man too," she said, shaking her head.
"Rude?" Robin asked.
"Yes, very rude. He looked like some tall tin metal man." She replied, "Horrible attitude. Oh, and he left a business card. Slade Enterprises or something."
Robin then realized who fit that description, and hurried starting to bang on each of the 6 doors to the only rooms the small hotel had.
"Starfire!" he yelled, banging.
The old lady followed him, and asked, "What are you doing?"
Robin kept on banging on each door, in a panicky rush to find her. "Starfire!" he said louder.
"Boy, do you need a key?" the lady said in a serious tone, looking at him strangely.
"Starfire!" he yelled again, on the 4th door now.
The lady hurried up beside him, and grabbed his arm. "Do you need THE KEY?" she said loudly, holding the key up to his face.
He took it, and unlocked the door to the room. The lady sighed in relief.
As Robin opened the door, for a split second, he saw Slade. Then the door got kicked in towards him, banging him against the nearby wooden wall, busting the door off its hinges.
Robin got out from underneath the door, as Slade stepped out on top of the bottom half of it. He told the lady, "Quick, call police and hide!"
The lady rushed back to the counter to grab the white cord phone to call 911.
Robin turned around and did a roundhouse to the right side of Slade's gut, but Slade grabbed his leg, and threw him back down the hall.
Slade then held up his arm to Robin's face, with a laser cannon on his wrist.
He shot the small laser cannon, and Robin turned away so that the blast barely missed him, and then swept Slade's legs out from under him. Now Slade was down, and Robin got up, drawing his staff.
Robin then did a downward sling with the staff to Slade's head, but Slade grabbed the end of his staff. He then proceeded to break it in half, leaving Slade with half of the staff, and Robin with half of the staff. Slade then went on the offensive, and Robin on the defense.
Slade then swung, and Robin blocked it with his end of the staff, but the strength behind Slade's swing knocked his arm back. Again, Slade swung, Robin blocked, now starting to lose his balance and being knocked back more and more.
Slade then swung harder, knocking the staff out of Robin's hand, which knocked Robin down on his back. Robin caught himself on his hands behind him, as Slade swung for the final blow.
Then suddenly, a wham sound, and Slade went down knee first, then face first into the carpet.
Starfire had rushed up from behind, and launched such a powerful hook to the back of Slade's head her long red hair had flipped up in front of her face.
She knocked it back behind her head, and muttered, rubbing her hand, "Robin. Why must you come here to cause trouble?"
Robin then stood up, angry. "What? I came here to check on you, and now, with Slade here, I feared your safety! He was in YOUR room."
Starfire then retorted, "He was not!"
Robin then said back, getting louder, "Yes, he was! He was right at the doorw-"
The old lady then spoke softly, saying, "Actually, she was in room 3."
Robin then settled down, now mad at himself for being so misunderstanding.
"I'm sorry, Starfire." Robin said softly now.
"It is fine, Robin. But I still require the thinking time before I return to your tower." She replied, a bit sad now too.
"Starfire, it's not my tower. It's our tower. And now, it seems so empty and dark without you there." Robin said.
The old lady spoke up then, saying, "I'm really sorry about interrupting your little moment, but I just called the police, so you may want to get out of here before they think you did all this damage."
Robin nodded, and said, "Okay. But…Starfire…please… just…"
Then he lost the words to say, and simply backed out the door.
Starfire stayed there near the counter, and the old lady was still frowning. "Is he your boyfriend?"
Starfire said, softly, "No…", sadness in her voice.
The old lady said, who also had sadness in her voice from watching all that, "Well, with how much he cares about you, he should be. There's not many like that around, you know."
Starfire then walked quietly to her hotel room, frowning. While closing the door, she said to the old lady, "He is just my team mate."
Then the door shut, and the lady just sat down in her office chair behind the counter. She let out a deep breath, and then continued to check her finances in her Hotel's checkbook.
Starfire, in the room, sat down on the side of the bed and took a few deep breaths.
She laid back on the bed, and turned on the TV with the remote. It was on the local news.
"There it is again, footage of the Teen Titans and their fight with Cinderblock about an hour ago. And, from this, it actually looks like there's only four of them, Bob." The male newscaster said.
"Well, a month or two ago, there were also reports, or rather, rumors, of Cyborg quitting the team momentarily due to internal struggles, so that may be the case here. Let's run this back in slow-motion here to see who's missing." The older male newscaster replied.
They started circling the Titans on the screen using the computer.
"There's Robin right there." The younger one said.
"There's the Beast Boy, as some flying dinosaur" The young one continued, circling Beast Boy.
"A pterodactyl, I think. And there's that magic girl, Raven." The older one added.
"And there's the one with that cannon arm, the Cyborg." The older man said, circling them all.
"Where's the girl that shoots those green blasts?" the older newscaster asked.
"I don't know. The cute one?" the younger asked.
They had a brief laugh on-camera, and the older said, "I'm not going to answer that because of my old age, but…"
"… I don't see her… Well, there you go, folks. From what we can see here in the studio, the missing member of the Teen Titans is-"
Starfire then flipped the TV off, and closed her eyes, to rest more.
