Raven gritted her teeth and tried shutting her eyes even tighter to rid her mind of whatever it was blocking her concentration. It had been just under 2 weeks since her small argument with Beastboy in the main room but it was apparently still playing on her mind. Raven still couldn't understand why though; she and Beastboy were forever arguing with one another. She didn't know why this particular argument was prominently settling within her thoughts. The empath sighed and planted her feet firmly upon the floor of her room. There was no point in trying to meditate if her mind was going to keep denying her of it.
She considered going to find Starfire to talk about it but she thought against it. The alien Princess had been so cheerful since she and Robin had made things official; Raven didn't want to ruin it by burdening the girl with her own insignificant problems.
Raven took a step towards the bookshelf that stood tall in the corner of her room but stopped as the alarm sounded and the room continuously flashed red. She pulled her hood up over her head and lifted from the ground, zipping through the hallways to get to the main room.
She entered the room at the same time as Beastboy and Cyborg and all eyes were on the large screen. Robin tapped his fingers frantically at the keys in order to learn what was happening.
An image of Plasmus appeared upon the screen and caused them all to raise their eyebrows in surprise. The last time they had seen the gooey monster was before Tokyo when a large amount of villains had been frozen in Paris after their fight with The Brotherhood of Evil. Robin quietly growled and clenched his fists at the sight of Plasmus.
Beastboy waved his hand in the air suddenly, "Uh... Didn't we freeze him into a villain popsicle back in Paris?" He checked, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.
"Yes." Robin returned, standing up straight,
"Then how did he come back?" Cyborg interjected,
Robin turned to look at them all, "I guess we'll just have to find out." He paused and hooked his communicator onto his belt, "Let's go!"
With that, the titans rushed out of the main room. Starfire gulped as she floated behind the rest of them. She had a feeling that Robin was not going to be in a good mood, regardless of the outcome of the battle with Plasmus.
Robin gritted his teeth as he drew an ice disk from his belt and hurled it at Plasmus who was screeching so much, some windows from buildings had shattered.
The ear-splitting scream stopped immediately as the disk reacted with the large monster and covered him completely with solid ice. Robin deeply inhaled at the temporary silence that filled the air. It was peaceful if only for a brief moment.
He focused on the rest of the team as they carried out their own moves to bring down Plasmus. He watched as Beastboy took the form of a pterodactyl with Cyborg on his back and flew closely towards Plasmus. Cyborg aimed his sonic cannon at Plasmus and released a powerful blow that caused the monster to plummet towards the hard ground.
As the concrete cracked beneath him, Plasmus slowly deteriorated into his human form. He slept soundly as Raven and Starfire used their powers to wrap iron, construction poles around him to make sure that he did not get back even if he was to miraculously wake up again. Starfire finished it off by melting one last pole with her starbolts and wrapped it tightly around his arms.
She exhaled unevenly and floated downwards until her feet touched the ground. The team regrouped just beside the criminal so they could talk their plans over.
"Good work, titans. Cyborg and Beastboy, I want you guys to take him to his isolation cell in the prison." He paused as they nodded and set about doing just that, "Raven, I want you to go with them and complete the report for his crimes,"
Raven was half irritated by the instruction. She didn't exactly feel like going with them considering she still wasn't on great terms with the green shape shifter that stood a couple of metres away from her. With an internal sigh, she nodded and followed Cyborg and Beastboy.
Robin watched them leave before he turned towards Starfire, "Star, I want you to help me go through the security cameras that we left in Paris. We need to find out how Plasmus got out so that we're prepared for anymore surprises." He informed her,
Starfire nodded, "Do you have any thoughts on how it could have occurred, Robin?" She replied,
"Mm... I have one theory but I can't figure out who it would be. I have a hunch that he might have been released by another criminal."
"But... Who could that be? I believe all of our most threatening criminals were stopped when we faced The Brotherhood of Evil."
"I'm not sure yet... But I can bet we'll find out from the cameras."
Starfire nodded and held her hands out for him to take so that they could fly. Robin smiled and blushed ever so slightly as he placed his own hands in hers.
"Robin, we have used this method to fly many times before. Do not tell me you are shy now that we have begun the dating process..." Starfire smirked, tilting her head at him.
The boy wonder chuckled and he could feel the heat on his cheeks getting worse,
"C'mon..." Robin whined, feeling embarrassed. He wasn't afraid to show her affection but it was all still very new to them both, especially after being just friends for such a long time.
Starfire giggled but lifted him from the ground immediately. The smile on his face remained as they soared through the clear sky as they returned to the tower. Ever since the two of them had become an item, he had felt a lot more upbeat. He didn't know how she did it but, Starfire was capable of turning his sour moods around completely.
Robin took a couple of minutes to obtain the recent footage from The Brotherhood's base that was located beneath the streets of Paris and as he made it appear on screen, Starfire wandered into the monitor room. She placed a glass of water on the desk for him, causing him to look away from the screen and smile lovingly at her.
"Thanks," He commented,
He leaned closer to Starfire and placed a tender kiss upon her cupid bow lips as an affectionate sign of appreciation for her thoughtfulness. She was surprised by his actions and timidly smiled. Her cheeks burned as a blush crept over them.
"Now, who's blushing?" He teased, earning a small giggle from her.
His attention returned to the screens as he pressed play on the remote. He watched with a scowl as he witnessed a figure brush past the security camera. Robin took a step closer and rested his palms on the desk as he peered closer at the figure on the screen.
For a brief moment, Robin couldn't believe what he was seeing. His eyes widened behind his mask as the concise flash of orange and black could not be mistaken for anyone else.
Robin flexed his jaw and balled his hands into fists, "Slade..." He hissed,
Starfire gasped at the discovery. She had been certain that they had seen the last of the masked madman after the short lived reign of Trigon.
Her expression saddened. She knew exactly what happened whenever Slade was back on the scene. Robin became obsessive and somewhat irrational if it meant getting closer to catching the masked villain. She bit her lip as Robin pounded a fist against the desk surface,
"I knew I should have taken him down when I had the chance." Robin mumbled, allowing his head to hang in an irritated way,
Starfire opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. She watched her boyfriend carefully, knowing that she was probably in dangerous territory.
"Robin... You cannot allow yourself to feel the guilt for not apprehending Slade when you travelled to save Raven. After all, he was not a threat at the time." She whispered, hoping to soften his mood,
He glanced at her with a stoic expression, "No but he was a threat all the other times, Starfire!"
Starfire paused and furrowed her eyebrows in concern as he began to pace the room.
"Ugh! We should have been keeping a close eye on the criminals. Something like this was bound to happen!" Robin yelled, "And yet we were so careless in Japan!"
For some reason, Starfire felt a sharp feeling in her heart at that comment.
"Robin-"
"You might as well leave, Starfire. I have to do more research into his whereabouts."
Starfire held a small ounce of hope in her heart, "Perhaps... Would you be needing help of any-"
"No. I'll get through it faster on my own." He answered, turning away from her as he sorted through reports on the desk.
Starfire felt her mood decrease considerably and she struggled to swallow the lump in her throat. It was strange how quickly Robin could forget about her feelings when moments beforehand, he had been gently kissing her.
She felt tears prick her eyes but she restrained herself from letting any roll down her cheeks. She sighed and looked at the ground,
"I see. Then... I shall... Stay out of your way." She whispered before she turned on her heel and left quickly.
As soon as the door closed behind her, Starfire placed a hand over her mouth and allowed tears to fall. It wasn't necessarily what Robin had said to her but; this was the kind of thing that she had been concerned about. Starfire had continuously thought about what would happen if Robin became obsessed with being a hero once more. She had a feeling that he would eventually reach the point where he would want to break up with her in fear of their relationship getting in the way.
She shut her eyes tightly at the mere thought of breaking up. They had only been together for just under a week; she shouldn't be having concerns such as that in such early stages of the relationship.
With a heavy sigh, Starfire pushed herself away from Robin's door and trudged to her own room, locking the door behind her; something she very rarely did.
On the other side of the door, Robin had already begun beating himself up for the way that he had just spoken to Starfire. He couldn't help himself; seeing Slade brought up so much anger and frustration at the thought of him freely setting up plots to destroy the city.
Robin ran a hand through his hair and sighed as he thought of his amazing girlfriend who he had just pushed away, as per usual. He groaned and allowed his head to fall into his hands. He didn't understand why he did it; he always deeply appreciated Starfire's offers to help and yet it always ended with him yelling in her face.
He was surprised Starfire hadn't already broken up with him; it was surely inevitable with the way that he treated her.
The main room was completely silent as Cyborg trudged up from the garage. He had been working on the T-Car as he always did. For some reason, his 'baby' always had room for improvement even though Cyborg constantly referred to the car as being perfect.
Cyborg glanced around and was shocked to see none of his teammates in the main living quarters. He rested a hand on the Gamestation box and raised an eyebrow when he felt that it was cold.
Curiosity began to course through his veins. It was unusual for the busiest room in the tower to be completely void of people. He sighed and knew that Beastboy must have been feeling upset about the argument he and Raven had a few days prior. Cyborg was also acutely aware of the fact that, with the return of Slade, Robin and Starfire had quarrelled. When the rest of the team had come back from taking Plasmus to jail, Starfire had quietly informed them of the news.
It was clear from her tone of voice and her puffy eyes that a certain boy blunder had upset her, unintentionally of course.
Cyborg hated the idea of Raven and Starfire being so distraught due to the actions of the boys in the tower. He considered the girls very much like his little sisters and he always felt the need to get defensive when something was bothering them.
The large titan approached Beastboy's door and lightly rapped his fist against it.
"Yeah?" Came the voice from inside,
"It's me. Open up for a sec, dude." Cyborg responded, leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed over his chest.
After a few moments had passed, the door opened to reveal the green changeling. He glanced up at Cyborg and sighed,
"I'm not really in the mood for-"
"Are you gonna apologise to Raven or are you just gonna sit around and mope about her temporarily hating you?"
Beastboy groaned, "Hey, I'm not the only one who said things, okay?"
"No, but what you said was worse, BB."
He frowned and physically slumped, "I know... Ugh, I was such a jerk!"
Cyborg chuckled, "You and Raven always fight. I'm sure it'll be fine if you just apologise,"
"Do you think so?" Beastboy paused, "That's why I haven't said anything yet... I don't know what her reaction will be..."
"I think... She will appreciate the fact that you felt bad enough to say sorry."
Beastboy nodded slowly and inhaled a deep breath. He walked through the hallway and stopped in front of Raven's door. He sighed and knocked on the metal door.
There was absolute silence. There was no sound of shuffling or a responding voice.
Cyborg came up behind him and gave him a questioning glance to which Beastboy just shrugged,
"Raven?" Beastboy called,
Still, there was no response.
The two boys shared a confused glance and Cyborg took it upon himself to type in the override code to her room. The door swished open and revealed that the room was empty.
Beastboy walked inside and looked around, feeling as if something wasn't right. His foot nudged against something and the green teenager glanced down and spotted Raven's communicator. He reached for it and turned to Cyborg,
"She'd never leave this behind, would she?" Beastboy wondered, aloud.
"I don't think so... C'mon, we'll go ask Star if she knows where Rae is." Cyborg answered,
Robin had had enough of sulking over his attitudes towards Starfire earlier on and he knew that he needed to pluck up the courage to apologise to her. He sighed and pushed himself up from the seat he was perched on and wandered out of the monitoring room.
As he moved through the hallways, his plan of what to say to Starfire slowly but surely, started to form.
It was only when he came face to face with her door that his nerves began to nibble away at him. He exhaled heavily and gently tapped at the door with his fist. There was no sounds from within the room so he leaned against it slightly, "Star?" He paused, "It's me... Look, I really wanted to apologise for earlier... I didn't mean to yell..."
He bit his lip and considered why she hadn't opened the door or made any move to show that she was listening, "Starfire? Are you in there?" He tested,
Raising an eyebrow, he typed in the override code to her room. The door opened immediately and he took a small step inside. The only sign of life was Silkie who was curled up on Starfire's bed, soundly asleep.
As Robin glanced at the mutant worm, he noticed Starfire's communicator idly placed beside him. His heart raced suddenly; she wouldn't leave her communicator behind unless she had been attacked or something. He gulped and turned as he heard footsteps within the corridor.
Beastboy and Cyborg appeared in the doorway and matched Robin's expression of concern, "Robin, we can't find Raven and her communicator was left in her room..." Beastboy informed their leader, who picked up Starfire's communicator,
"Starfire isn't here either." He murmured,
"Do you think they're in trouble?" Cyborg wondered,
"I hope not," Robin sighed, frowning as he glanced at Starfire's communication device. If she was even remotely hurt, guilt would overtake him completely.