Chapter 2

Cyborg walked into the common room expecting to find Robin and Starfire watching something on T.V. or in the kitchen. Lately they were rarely apart for long. Instead he found a very frustrated Starfire yelling into her communicator.

"Hey there Star, what's wrong?" he asked, surprised at her agitated state. Starfire was usually the happiest and most cheerful one of the group. Seeing her angry at an inanimate object was not something that happened very often.

"Oh friend Cyborg I fear I have damaged it somehow," she said helplessly. "I apologize for I did not mean to break your device you worked so hard on. Please forgive me." She floated over to the nearby table and sat down in one of the chairs with her shoulders slumped and her head in her hands.

"Wow Starfire, I don't think I have ever seen you this upset over something so small before," he said as he walked over and placed a hand on her back trying to comfort her. "Don't worry about it; I can get it fixed in no time," he said, smiling at her.

Starfire looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "Oh friend it is not just that, you are right. I am having a very stressful time right now. I fear that Robin might be wanting 'the space' again." She rose from her seat to look at him.

"Friend Cyborg do you know what might be troubling him?" she asked hopefully.

Cyborg could see where this was going. "No Star, I'm sorry," he said as he looked down at the table where her communicator was siting. "But you of all people should know how he gets sometimes. I'm sure it is not that bad," he said, trying his best not to get involved in, as she put it 'the girl talk' with Starfire. She seemed not to grasp sometimes the idea that 'girl talk' was meant to be had with another girl.

"Can't you ask Raven for her views on this?" he asked while reaching down and picking up Starfire's broken communicator and siting down at the table.

"She is busy talking with friend Beast Boy. I did not wish to interrupt them," she said as she leaned over Cyborg's shoulder to see what he was doing to fix her communicator.

He had changed the index finger on his right hand into some sort of tool Starfire didn't recognize. He had already removed the back access panel and was messing with the circuitry inside. "What did you do to cause this thing to go on the fritz?" Cyborg asked, never taking his eyes off what he was doing.

"The Fritz?" Starfire asked curiously. "You mean that strange man for your earth television show you and friend Beast Boy enjoy watching? The one who is always cloaked in those jackets made from cow hide? Cheerful Days it is called I think." she smiled.

Cyborg stopped what he was doing and turned to look at her with a slightly annoyed expression. "You're thinking of 'The Fonz'. And it's Happy Days" he said sharply. "No Star, I mean what were you doing when you noticed it wasn't working properly?"

"Oh," she said slightly embarrassed realizing her mistake. "I was attempting to call fellow Titan Bumble Bee."

Cyborg froze as a wave of uneasiness came over him. "Why did you need to talk with her?" he asked calmly, trying to hide his nervousness. Those were two people he would rather not be having idle girl talk. Bumble Bee knew things and she was too happy to tell them to anyone who asked. And Starfire was innocent but had no idea about what to say and not to say to Robin.

'Maybe it's not that bad,' he hoped. 'Maybe she has a completely good reason to talk to the leader of Titans East,' he reassured himself.

"Well, with friend Raven preoccupied I was wishing to have the girl talk with her," she beamed.

Cyborg's entire positive attitude vanished instantly '…damn…'

Trying his hardest to change the subject and hopefully make her forget about talking to Bumble Bee, Cyborg directed his questions back to the matter at hand. "So it just wouldn't work at all?"

"No, I opened it as I always have and it would not turn on," she responded as she looked down at the now dismantled Titans communicator. "Have you determined the malfunction?"

"No," he said as he began to reassemble the yellow device, "I have checked everything and I can't tell what the problem is."

"Perhaps the batteries are dead," she offered. "Sometimes it is the simplest solution that eludes us."

"These things don't run on batteries Star."

"Oh, then how are they powered?" she asked, honestly not knowing.

"It's a combination of solar power and body heat," he said proudly.

"I see, interesting," she said, looking at her friend. She didn't really understand the way a lot of the gadgets he built worked so she chose not to question it further.

"Hey where is Robin anyway? My locator said he would be in here," he asked, looking around the room.

"He was only in here for a moment, and he said he did not wish to talk to me," she spoke softly, picking up her communicator and moving to the doors at the far end of the room.

Cyborg felt like he should say something to try and make her feel better. "Hey don't worry Star, I'll have a talk with him."

"Thank you friend, I shall go to my room now. I wish to be alone," she said as she walked out the large double doors.

Cyborg got up from the table as he watched her leave the room. 'Man, am I the only normal one in this Tower?' he wondered as he went off to search for Robin.

Robin hated leaving Starfire like that. He really did enjoy spending time with her. But he was afraid his preoccupied state of mind might make her worry. It for the best that he didn't talk to her right now, he assured himself.

He had just finished getting dressed after his shower when his cell phone began to ring. It was a sound Robin wasn't used to hearing. Though most of the Titans had cell phones they rarely used them. Most of their talking and interactions were done with their Titan communicators.

He picked his phone and answered it. "Hello."

"Hello Master Richard," a sophisticated and professional yet very familiar voice came from the other end of the line.

"Alfred!" he said almost giddily. "It's been a long time."

"Yes quite, it is good to hear you are well," he said, trying his best to hide his happiness behind his professional tone.

Alfred Pennyworth, butler to Bruce Wayne and friend to his 'children'. He and Bruce had raised Dick Grayson since he was eight.

"I had just called the manor a few hours ago, but no one answered," Robin said.

"Yes I saw Master Richard. I apologize I was…downstairs." Alfred said vaguely

"I figured as much. Hey, is Bruce around?" Robin asked hopefully.

"No, I am sorry. I am afraid he and young Master Jason have already headed out for the evening," he said remorsefully.

'Jason Todd', Robin thought with an ever so slight twinge of jealousy. 'Cheap replacement', he said to himself as he looked over at the clock on his wall. It would already be almost 10:30 over in Gotham city.

"Well I was just going to ask his opinion on something going on with my team," Robin supplied simply.

"Ah yes, how are your roommates anyways? They are performing well I trust,"

Robin thought about it and decided it was Ok to confide in one of his oldest friends. "Actually Al, I'm worried that two of my members are trying to hide something from me. I don't know though." Robin trailed off expecting to hear only silence on the other end of the line.

"They are romantically involved, aren't they Master Richard?" came an immediate reply.

"Uh well I'm not sure. They have been acting…differently around one another as of late." Robin wasn't really expecting to have to spell it out for him but was surprised by how quickly he caught on.

"And you are afraid it will jeopardize the integrity of your team?" he said more as a statement than a question.

"Umm…yeah," Robin muttered trying to figure out how after all this time his old butler still knew how to get strait to the point.

"An expected fear. You always had a strong sense of duty and what must be done for the greater good. But do you have any proof that this will be a problem for the team?" Alfred responded.

Robin thought for a moment "No, I don't. I don't even know if there is anything going on between them. Do you think I am overreacting?"

There was a slight chuckle form the other end of the line. "Have a good evening Master Richard. I will let Master Bruce know you send your regards," he said with an obvious smile on his face. Alfred hung up the phone.

"Well bye," Robin said sarcastically, making sure Alfred had already hung up the phone before he said it though.

"Who was that?" a loud voice came from behind him.

Robin turned around to see Cyborg standing in his open doorway. "Did you even knock?" he asked with slight annoyance in his voice.

"Well no but I heard you talking to someone, figured it was probably Starfire." he answered promptly.

Robin stared at him for a moment. "Sooo you came by my room, saw my door was closed, heard me talking to someone, assumed it was my girlfriend, and decided to just walk into my room? Is that what you're telling me happened?"

"Uhh…yeah," Cyborg said sheepishly.

"Hmm, well that's good, that's good to know," Robin responded cynically. "What did you need Cy?"

"I have been noticing some strange things going on with the tower's systems here lately. Certain programs start up and/or shut down without reason. I have run several different tests to see if I could come up with the cause but I haven't found anything yet," Cyborg reported.

"Any of the core systems?" Robin asked, moving to the wall to check the computer terminal mounted there.

"No, at least not yet. The only thing that is of relative importance so far is some of the data base entries have been deleted," Cyborg said, as he was going down an electronic list that was displayed on his right forearm.

"What?!" Robin looked away from the terminal with clear concern in his voice.

Cyborg put his arm back down at his side and looked at his team leader. "Don't worry man. All the files were backed up and I restored them as soon as I noticed they were missing."

Robin turned his attention back to the computer he was working on. "Well everything appears fine right now. You will let me know if anything else comes up?" he asked his metallic friend.

"Sure thing man," he assured Robin.

"Is there anything else?"

Cyborg was moving to the door when he stopped and turned back. "Actually yeah. Starfire was having problems with her communicator earlier. It wouldn't turn on."

"Were you able to fix it?" he asked.

"No, I couldn't find anything wrong with it. It was like it just didn't want to work.

Robin walked over to his desk where he had left his communicator and flipped it open. Just like Starfire's his would not turn on as well.

"This isn't good," Robin said more to himself than Cyborg. "Something weird is going on here."

Cyborg let out a small laugh. "Yeah man you can say that again. Just a while ago I heard this really weird convo between Rae and BB."

"What?!" Robin asked again with concern in his voice. All his stress from earlier came rushing back over him.

"I don't know, something about BB wanting something from Raven. I didn't catch the entire thing," Cyborg said, not noticing the curious look on Robin's face.

But before Robin had a chance to ask further questions the towers alarm went off. Robin immediately rushed over to the computer on his wall again. As he reviewed the alert posted there he hit the intercom button next to the terminal.

"Titans, trouble! Meet in the common room now!"

A few minutes later they had all arrived at the location of the disturbance.

"An abandoned toy factory?" Beast Boy asked incredulously. "Who would plant a bomb here?"

Robin's mind was alive with the possibility. 'No, it couldn't be', he told himself. But then all his fears came alive as he heard an all too familiar high pitched squeaky voice from behind them.

"Hi ya, bird brain! Mista' J sends his love!"