I now present *drum roll* Chapter 3!
This one was kind of fun to write. Like most of my idea's; it just...came to me, y'know? We pick up from where we left off. The secret plan of Cyborg and Beast Boy. Can't wait for you to read. SO JUICY!
As always, we know I own nothin: EXCEPT BLUE JAY! Huzah! (how come no one ever says that anymore?)
After dinner, the team voted Robin to do the dishes while Cyborg found Starfire a place to stay for the night.
Naturally, and according to the plan, Cyborg dragged Beast Boy along with him.
"I have the perfect place for you to stay tonight." Cyborg said with a grin.
He held Starfire in font of him, leading her by her shoulders.
"Yeah Star, it's great. You'll loooove it." Beast Boy added.
"But friends," she objected "you have yet to tell me where."
Cyborg and Beast Boy shared and look.
"It's a surprise." they said simultaneously.
Stopping in front of the elevator, they made Starfire close her eyes. It being Starfire, they weren't worried about her peeking. Beast Boy pressed the level and they all waited for the ding that signaled the fact that they had reached the appointed level.
Still smiling, and making sure Starfire's eyes were closed, Beast Boy typed in the override code into their leaders room.
As expected, the room was so dark that neither boys or girl could see. This was what Cyborg had been counting on.
Closing the door behind him, he turned on his night vision in his robotic eye. Looking around, Robins room was as dark and gloomy as ever. He walked over to Robin dresser and pulled out a long t-shirt.
"You can open your eyes now!" Cyborg said, almost tripping over a nocturnal green cat.
Beast Boy watched in cat form as Starfire opened her eyes and tried to make sense of the dark room.
"It is very dark." she said plainly.
"Oh well, yeah it is." Cyborg said. "The lights here have...uh, blown out. So, dont try to fix it, cause..."
"You'll get electrocuted!" Beast Boys added, back in human form.
"Yup," Cyborg said nervously. "Shocked straight to ya core. We dont want a burnt up Star, now do we?"
"I suppose not." she said uncertain.
"Now, here's the bed." Cyborg said, leading her to Robins bed. "A shirt." he said placing the over sized T in her lap.
Both Cyborg and Beast Boy made there way to the door. Right they closed the door Beast Boys turned around.
"And no starbolts! You'll...uh..."
"Charge the electrons in the air and...uh..." added Cyborg
"Blow out the windows..."
"Disabling the...uh..."
"Security system, right Cyborg?"
"Yup, that's right, man. No powers allowed in here."
With that, they closed the door. As she changed into her shirt, she was sure she heard what sounded like a clap.
-ATOF-
Cyborg and Beast Boy both jumped up and gave each other hi-fives. The left down the hall and back to the elevator, imagining the face both teen would have when the realized the situation.
-ATOF-
Starfire really wished she could see. The whole predicament was rather...strange.
Laying down on the bed, she pulled the covers up to her chin. Something about the bed was very comforting. It was soft and bouncy, and the pillow that should have been at her feet was at her head. It felt oddly relaxing. Though the pillow smelt a little like...hair gel? Because she had never used it, she wasn't quite sure that that was the smell, but she was sure that the blankets and t-shirt reminded her of something. Or someone.
Pushing the deja vou to the back of her head she thought back to her room. Who would trash her room like that? Surely not Red X. He seemed to actually be nice her. Why was beyond her. He w as a villain, she was a hero, what could possibly cause him to be nice her?
Whatever the reason, she doubted it was him. Blackfire was still in jail. Slade was only interested in Robin, Dr. Light only wanted power for himself, Control Freak was to weird and impatient to plan some complicated scheme, The Puppet King would only want her soul, Cinderblock and Overlord just wanted to be more powerful, Plasmas liked to cause chaos in the city. Who could possibly want to do that to her room? And have skill. She remembered that. The culprit was good, and very sneaky.
She shook her head. Now was a time for rest. She trusted that her team would help her get to the bottom of this.
The window shook from the cold autumn breeze that pushed against it and somewhere in the distance, she heard the sound of thunder rumbling. She silently hoped that the storm went around them, she hated storms and lightning and thunder even more.
Breathing in the oddly familiar smell of the sheets and pillow, she was able to drift off into a somewhat peaceful sleep.
-ATOF-
Robin sighed as Beast Boy dropped another cup into the sink. He still had a mountain to wash, but he would probably be done if it weren't for Beast Boy and Cyborg. It seemed as if every cup he wash was replaced by two more. He couldn't understand how the two created more dishes. They had just eaten, surely they weren't still hungry. But then he was talking about Cyborg and Beast Boy. Those two out-ate each other for fun.
But he couldn't help think that the two wanted him to remain washing the dishes.
"A'ight man, I'm turnin in." Cyborg said, laying a heavy hand on his shoulder.
Robin blew out a breath of relief.
"yeah, dude me too. I'm beat." Beast Boy said, turning into a green bat and flying down the hallway.
Cyborg disappeared right behind him, leaving Robin to finally finish the dishes.
When he was finally finished, he took his time dragging himself to the elevator. He was tired from standing for so long and mentally exhausted. Their earlier encounter with the Joker had worked his mind all day. The Joker didn't work for people. He just...didn't. It wasn't in his nature.
So how could some group of people convince him to do it without giving some clue as to who they were. He thought about tracking down the Joker and asking him some questions, but he was pretty sure he didn't know much. The joker was the kind of person who bragged and joked about everything. If he was working for someone, he'd be sure to either let the team know straight up who or brag about the abilities the 'boss' had.
Getting off the elevator, Robin decided to figure it out in the morning. It was late and he was tired. He surely wasn't any help half asleep.
Typing in his code he walked into his room. He carelessly discarded his boots, belt, gloves, cape, and shirt onto the floor. Without much thought he fell back onto his bed, only to receive a high pitched scream.
Robin quickly rolled off his bed, startled to the extreme to say the least. He quickly turned on his light only to reveal Starfire...in a shirt that looked strangely familiar.
Robin held a hand to his heart, trying to calm his frantic heart beat.
"Starfire? What are you doing in my room?" he asked, slightly out of breath.
"Your room?" she repeated, looking around herself frantically. "Oh, my apologies friend! I was merely...but Beast Boy and Cyborg...and they said that..."
"Beast Boy and Cyborg?" Robin asked shaking his head. Of course those two were behind this.
Starfire began to try and stand up, but she was struggling to get the blankets off.
"I am so sorry Robin." she apologized again "I'll leave right now and-"
"No, no, it's okay star you can stay." Robin said, grabbing her arms and trying to get to get her back into the bed.
"But this is your room." she insisted.
"It's fine Star,"
"I'll merely just sleep in the common room on the couch."
"If anyone's going to sleep on the couch it's me." he said, finally getting her to stop flailing and sit down.
"Robin I cannot allow you to sleep elsewhere." she said
"Then move over." He said, shocking himself.
What was he thinking? Sleeping with her? Idiot!
Oddly enough though, she scooted over to allow him room. He turned out the lights and laid back. Suddenly realizing that his bed wasn't as big as he thought. She was directly next to him, both their their arms touching. Robin was prepared to scoot over, despite the lack of space, but stopped when she turned towards him and latched onto his arm.
"Star?" he asked, his voice coming out as more of a squeak than he intended.
"Yes?" she asked.
"Is that my shirt?" he asked trying to cover his cracking voice.
Starfire simply giggled at him.
Within minutes she was asleep. Robin expected this to be strange and awkward, but oddly enough he felt exceedingly relaxed. Her gentle breathing providing a living lullaby. Besides this way he didn't have to worry about someone attacking her or doing some other violent thing to her following up on there last attack. With her besides him, he would probably get the best sleep he had ever had.
A bright light flashed into his room followed by a loud clack of thunder. Starfire simply took a deeper breath. Robin was glad she was asleep, he knew how much she hated storms.
By time the soft and rhythmic sound of rain began to hit his window, Robin was somewhere on cloud nine. Sleeping deeply next to his lover.
Robin quickly sat up. Something had woken him up in his sleep. He quickly looked around his pitch black room. He looked towards his nightstand looking for his alarm clock, but found no blinking red numbers. Reaching for his light, he found that that too wasn't there.
The sound of rain was still sounding in Robin window, but instead of hearing the loud, ferocious wind, he felt it. Goosebumps formed on his arms as he realized that his window was open. He was positive that that had been closed when he went to sleep.
He began to stand up when he realized that something was securely latched onto his arm. Pushing a bit of panic down, he remembered Starfire.
Shaking her quickly, she woke up. Robin could feel her shivering.
"Give me a bit of light." he ordered.
Confused and very cold she lit her hand.
She was about to ask robin why he wouldn't just turn on his lamp when she looked around his room. It was lit in a eerie green, but one thing was obvious; someone had targeted Robin too. Nothing but his bed was in the same spot as before.
His desk was flipped over, and papers were everywhere. Pieces of wood from his nightstand was tangled up in the dark curtains that lay shredded and ripped half hanging out window. Paint was still melting off his walls and several large holes were everywhere.
The thought that someone was in the same room as her made her uncomfortable. If they were sneaky enough to come in and out without Robin knowing, they were really good.
Robin flipped open his communicator and called down to Cyborg, explaining the situation. With a quick 'I'll get the others' he hung up.
"Come on." Robin said, suggesting that they wait for the others outside, but the moment he sat up, he snapped back onto the bed letting out a muffled cry.
Panicking, Starfire moved closer to him.
"Robin, what is wrong?" she asked, frantically raking her mind for what the problem could possibly be.
Starfire kept one hand lit, but let the other die down and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. She held her lit hand closer to his face, but not close enough to burn him.
Wordlessly, she watched as he placed a shaky hand on his stomach, only to pull it back slick with a red liquid that dripped off of his hand. Her breathing became labored as she realized that the red liquid was actually his blood.
"Starfire-" Robin started, but was caught off by her high pitched screaming.
That was exactly what he was trying to avoid.
Robin could hear as the code to his room was over rided from the over side of the door.
When the door opened, fresh light from the hallway opened up, allowing the full glory of Robin's trashed room to be seen.
"Aw, man what happened in here." Cyborg said
"Cyborg!" Starfire screamed, catching his attention.
Coming over he saw all the blood that adorned Robins hands and blanket.
"Aw, man what happened here!" he asked, motioning to Robin
"Dude, that looks nasty." Beast Boy commented, peeking around Cyborgs shoulder.
Raven immediately took a seat next to Robin. Her hand began to glow a pale blue color and she placed a gentle hand on Robin's stomach before snapping her head to Starfire.
Blue Jay looked around. "I did say you needed to redecorate."
"What are you doing in here." Raven asked, looking at Starfire.
"Same as you friend Raven." she replied, confused.
"No, I mean, how long have you been in here?" she clarified.
Starfire shrugged her shoulders. "All night."
Shouldn't Raven be more concerned with healing Robin? She was authentically touched that Raven was concerned for her, but Robin needed her more.
"All night?" Raven asked dumbfounded.
The little tramp!
She looked over to Beast Boy, waiting for some well needed dirty jokes to go Robins way. In any other family, it's always the brother who makes fun of the other brother, but Blue Jay was too nice for that. She needed an idiot to do the job. But instead she saw Beast Boy and Cyborg do a weird secret hi-five. She'd have to remember to kill them too.
Once Robin was healed up, or at least to the point that he felt no pain, he actually had a chance to look around his room. It was just as horrible as Starfire's room. What made it worse was the fact that he was actually in the room when it happened.
"Look, look look, guys. Look at this!" said a hyper Beast Boy.
Robin stood up and walked to Beast Boy, trying to get a better look at what he was pointing at.
There, right above his bed, written in dripping red liquid was the single word 'Ware.'
"This is just like before." Beast Boy said, after everyone had gotten a good look. "It doesn't make any sense."
"Ware." Robin thought out loud "Be from Star, and Ware from me. Be and Ware. Beware!" he shouted, as if he had gotten an epiphany.
"Beware of what?" asked Raven, giving the messy room another look around.
"Yo, yall are not gonna like what I got to say." said Cyborg, backing away from the wall.
"Like what?" asked Blue Jay.
Cyborg held his glowing blue arm out for everyone to see, although it did nothing to clarify anything. Numbers and letters flashed on the screen on his arm and off, in a way that neither boy human or girl human could understand.
"Um, Cy," Beast Boy started "What are we looking at? Scrabble cheats?"
Cyborg shook his head. "This is a DNA genome. Robin's DNA genome."
"So?" asked a still confused Beast Boy.
Cyborg pointed to the wall.
"That red liquid's actually Robin's blood."
"Ewe, gross!" Beast Boys shouted.
"And that's not all." Cyborg continued. "I found the same stuff in Star's room. Instead of his blood though, it was hers."
"But who would have access to her blood?" Blue Jay asked. "Robin's is pretty obvious, but I dont remember Star having any deep cuts lately."
Before anyone could even have a guess, a blue alarm sounded in the rooms and halls. Cyborg flipped open his arm again.
"Yo, someones in the tower! MY tower!"
"Where!" asked Robin, determined to make the criminal pay.
"Training room!" Cyborg called running out the door.
Everyone took the stairs down to the common room floor and ran down the hall.
"Oh, he is gonna pay." Cyborg said "And then tell me how he broke in."
Upon entering the training room, no one was surprised to find it trashed.
The weights themselves where broken and snapped in half. The gym rope that had once hung from the ceiling was not at least nine different ones laying on the ground.
"He's in here." Cyborg clarified, looking around.
Robin looked towards the locker room. Steam was coming out.
Robin looked around, only Starfire was looking at him. She made eye contact, and then looked towards the locker room. He nodded and the two of them made there way to the showers.
When they entered the room, steam was everywhere. It immediately dampened their hair, causing it to drip into there eyes.
The shower turned off suddenly and both Robin and Starfire whipped around to try and see who had done it. But seeing no one, robin made his way closer to them.
He only turned back to Starfire when her heard her take a sharp grasp.
His heart was beating faster that the drips of water that still fell from his covered eyes. His first sight on the perpetrator wasn't much. Nearly nothing about the teen was noteworthy. He stood no taller than Robin did, if not a little shorter.
He had on straight black jeans, that dripped with water. His large red sweat shirt hung to far over his arms. The hood was pulled up, revealing no more than the teens nose and small lips that were oddly pressed into a slight smirk. Robin was sure he could take the guy but there was something keeping him from tearing off the teens head.
Pressed to his stomach was Starfire. Her back was to the teen, but she made little attempt to move. It probably had something to do with the rope that the teen had pressed to her neck. It glowed a eerie pale yellow and seemed to be taking energy from her.
Her head was forced back onto the teens shoulder and she had both her hands on the rope, but she wouldn't move. Wouldn't shoot the teen with a starbolt or even her laser eyes.
"Something akin to a power neutralizer." the teen spoke, as if reading Robins mind.
Robin tried to take note of everything. The way the teen stood, his voice, but oddly enough, both were as normal as any other boys. If he had to pick the teen from any other, he knew he wouldn't be able to. It was criminals like these that Robin hated with a passion. The physios, the smart ones, and the hidden, were all criminals that Robin couldn't stand.
Starfire's legs seemed to wan to buckle. They were clearly unstable and the shook from side to side. She was breathing irregularly from the rope that was pressing so tight to her neck. Most of the steam had cleared out, but a small bit still drifted around at their feet.
"You dont know me." The teen spoke again "And you don't need to. I'm afraid this will be out last encounter."
Robin took a tentative step forward. If he could just get two more in, he'd be able to tackle the guy and free Starfire, but the teen was paying attention. The rope around Starfire's neck tightened and she started to gasp for air.
Robin quickly stepped back, but the teen never loosened his grip.
"Tsk tsk, Robin. You wouldn't want anything bad to happen to her would you? Of course not."
"What do you want with our team?" Robin asked, wanting the teen to loosen the rope.
"It's not the team were after." said the teen "It's you two."
Us? Robin thought. What could they want with him and Starfire.
"Why us?" he asked.
The teen shook his head.
"I'm afraid that's top secret information, and... my time here is about up, but..." trailing off, he cocked his head at Robin before continuing. "how could I leave a beautiful princess without something to remember me by?"
With that he leaned close to Starfire face and very slowly leaned in and kissed her cheek. Starfire's legs buckled beneath her and she fell fully onto the teen.
Robin swore that he'd hunt this teen down and force him to eat his own foot. No one, No One, touched her without permission.
"FREEZE!" shouted a voice from the door.
Of course Blue Jay had to come after the teen had already kissed her. Had he been two and a half seconds earlier he could have prevented that awful sight that Robin had to endure.
Instead of trying to make a run for it, or even dropping Starfire, he looked back at Robin with that stupid smirk on his face.
"I bid you farewell." he said, and within a blink of the eye, he was gone.
All that was left in his place was a hazy black smoke that seemed to disappear on it's own.
"Where'd he go?" Blue Jay asked.
But Robin rushed towards Starfire, who had been dropped when the teen disappeared. She was laying in her side, her still wet hair falling over her eyes. Brushing it out her face, he was shocked to see how unlifelike her eyes were. They seemed to be glazed over, and when Robin waved a hand in front of her face, her eyes didn't follow.
"Whats wrong with her?" Robin asked frantically, looking to his brother for some kind of help.
Robin looked up when he heard footsteps, but it was only Cyborg's.
"What happened to her?" Blue Jay asked, turning her head from side to side.
The hard look Robin gave him was enough to tell him not to push it anymore. Blue Jay snapped his fingers in front of Starfire face, trying to do anything to get her to respond.
"Dude, I think it's safe to say you found the guy?" asked Beast Boy.
He bent down like Blue Jay and Robin, his hair getting shiny beads of moisture on it, but not enough to weigh it down.
"She is not okay." he spoke, a tip of pain in his voice. "We need Raven."
"I'm here." she said, appearing out of nowhere. "Get her to my room, quickly."
No one objected when Robin carefully lifted her up in his arms and followed Raven to the elevator.
Her eyes were still open, but they weren't blinking. She was staring at some unseen focus point, completely limp in Robin's muscular arms. No one but Blue Jay knew just how much he was hurting inside. It was only Blue Jay that he talked to about his crush. Blue Jay would nod his head or give his best bit of advise, but no matter how good the advise, Robin could never force himself to go through with it.
He was a coward, he knew. He couldn't tell the love of his life how much he cared for her. He blamed Bruce for all those years of drilling rules into his head. Bruce was a hypocrite to say the least. Not only did he fall in love, but to a criminal, and a couple other ladies. How wrong was that? But he couldn't blame everything on Bruce. He could break free of the hold if he really wanted to. He broke away from Bruce and left, didn't he? And look what he found. Friends, a crush, freedom.
Stopping at Raven level, everyone got off.
Raven opened her door and walked in. No one but Robin dared to enter her room without being invited, so instead they all sat against the wall and tried to listen through the solid, sound proof, door.
Laying her down on the bed, Robin stood waiting for Raven to give him instructions. He was her leader, but when it came to her powers, he was completely in the dark.
"You can go now." Raven spoke, flipping through a thick, dusty book she had picked up.
"No way," he objected "I'm staying and I want to help."
Raven let out a breath and nodded. She knew, despite herself, that if anyone was going to help Starfire out of this it was going to be him. She was really hating Starfire right now, and the thought that she had shared a bed with Robin still bugged her, but Starfire had never done anything wrong to her and she was going to do all she could to help her get better.
"Sit on the floor with her." she ordered Robin.
He did so and rested Starfire's head on his crossed legs. If she didn't love Robin, she would think they were kind of cute together. But she did and at that moment she felt as if she was going to be sick.
Flipping to the page she was looking for, she sat down on her bed, cross legged like Robin.
"Okay so here's whats going to happen. I'm going to open Starfire's mind and allow us both to enter. You and I are going to go in her mind and try to rouse her awake. With any luck she'll already be awake and she'll just need a portal to get out, but if that's not the case were going to need and try to wake her mind up and pull her out ourselves."
Robin nodded his head. Go in, find Starfire, get her out. Simple.
"And what happens if we cant wake her." he asked, the question suddenly popping into his head.
"We cant let that happen." she responded, her eyes now closed.
Ravens eyes went white and Robin could feel her entering his mind. He closed his eyes as well trying to keep his mind as open as possible.
Ready? She asked mentally.
Ready. He responded.
When Robin opened his eyes again he was in complete darkness. He held out his hand, confirming that he couldn't see it.
"Robin." Robin snapped his head to where he had heard Raven voice. "She's asleep."
"That's bad, right?" he asked.
"Not bad, just more difficult."
Robin walked to Ravens voice. Each step he took seemed to echo off into some unknown distance.
"How are we supposed to find her in the dark?" Robin asked, accidentally bumping into Raven.
"I'll try and shed some light in here." she said.
Robin could see Ravens eyes now as they glowed white. It was very creepy to only be able to see white eyes that seemed to be staring at you.
Within seconds though, the dark mind of Starfire was now only gray. Robin could see Raven clearly now along with both his hands.
"Look." Raven said, pointing off into the distance.
Robin followed her pointing finger.
It looked as if a pile of clothes were strewn in a pile, but as he got closer Robin realized that it was Starfire who was laying down. He quickly made his way over.
"How do we wake her?" he asked Raven, looking down at Star.
Ravens eyes furrowed. Obviously, she didn't know. Bending down, he decided to try and just shake her awake, but the moment his hand made contact with her skin Starfire's entire mind went white.
The light blinded Robins eyes, but he still held tight to Starfire's arm. Within another second he was amerced with a harsh pain that filled his every being. Every fiber in his body was on fire, they each felt as if someone was stabbing them with needles all at once repeatedly.
Robin could hardly hear Ravens screaming over his own.
Robins own mind was going black as the white light of Starfire's mind seemed to try and engulf him. After another few seconds he couldn't decide which mind was his own. The pain was so intense that he decided to just give into both. With a last painful cry, he passed out next to Starfire.
A/N: Tell me, tell me, tell me! What'd ja think? To much? Not enough? Let me know!
I know I've been making Rae seem like a total jerk for trying to come between Rob and Star, but i assure you: I'M A ROBSTAR TILL THE END, BABY! I tried to convey a little, Raven's-still-a-sweet-person-in-her-own-way kind of thing. You'll see, though. Things'll go accordingly. I love Raven, but I love star more, sorry(*o*)
Join us next chapter to see what will result from this mysterious mind bomb!