Last Chapter:

The mayor seemed to take offense to that comment the most, "This is the problem with the world. You meta-humans think that you are somehow above everyone else and that the laws don't apply to you. News flash, they do...now get out of my office, I have other more pressing matters to attend to"

"This isn't over. We won't let you cover this up" Robin replied narrowing his eyes as they turned to leave the office

"What's the plan now" Wally asked, irritation and impatience evident in his voice

"We get our friends back ourselves" Robin replied


Chapter 7 – The Trap

The S.T.A.R Labs facility seemed imposing as the group arrived at its entrance, it was only a few stories in height but it somehow gave off an aura of a much greater magnitude. A large sign stood just in front of the doors that read "Science and Technology Advanced Research Laboratories". The group marched in through the entrance and watched as scientists and other employees stopped their routine and stared at the group. Some of them seemed panicked at seeing the Titans and it made Robin feel uneasy. As they approached the elevators a large TV on the wall flickered to life and the grinning face of a man in his mid-forties was displayed. He wore an expensive looking suit and his greying hair was neatly combed back, the group stopped and stared up at the screen.

"Hello Titans, welcome to S.T.A.R Labs" the TV spoke, "allow me to introduce myself, I'm-"

"Garrison Slate" Cyborg interrupted

"Ah yes nice to see you again, Victor"

Cyborg grit his teeth, "Name's Cyborg now, remember that"

"Of course, there's probably not much left of Victor anymore is there?" Garrison replied, a smirk evident in his tone.

Cyborg growled and Robin stepped in front of his metallic friend, "Abducting teenagers is an interesting priority change for a scientific research facility isn't it?"

"You say 'abducting', I say cleaning the streets of criminals and keeping the public safe" Garrison replied matter-of-factly

"My girlfriend is not a criminal, she and the rest were being controlled!" Wally bit back

"And the breadcrumbs have all been leading back here Slate" Robin said narrowing his eyes at the man, "any explanations for that?"

Garrison's face formed into a scowl for a moment before it morphed back into a small smirk, "That's a wild claim you're making there, isn't it Robin? I don't have to answer to you and your friends"

"Stop bullshitting us Slate!" Wally yelled

"Watch your tongue boy…your girlfriend's condition won't improve from your insults" Garrison replied

Wally looked like he was about to explode so Starfire stepped forwards, "Enough! Where are you holding our friends?" she spoke with a growl.

He smirked at her, "The holding rooms are on level 3 but I assure you it will be quite impossible to see your friends at this time"

"Oh, are we not allowed to look around then? Worried we're gonna find something incriminating?" Robin replied mockingly

The Titans pushed forwards to the elevators and soon they had arrived on level 3, in front of them stretched a corridor with many holding cells. They approached the first one and looked through the door, confusion was evident on their faces as they saw the state of the room, empty.

"What the…?" Wally asked, he zipped up and down the hall at super speed and came back to the group with wide panicked eyes, "they're all empty!"

The sound of many footsteps running echoed around them and soon soldier burst into the corridor from the stairwells and surrounded the group. Starbolts were lit quickly and Starfire threw a barrage at the floor in front of the guards halting their march forwards. As the smoke cleared a screen on the wall came to life and the smug face of Garrison Slate appeared once again.

"I wouldn't attack my soldier's children, that would be a criminal offense"

"Self-defence is not a crime" Raven shouted back

"Self-defence?" he asked with a smirk, the screen changed to live video footage of one of the smaller S.T.A.R Labs facilities in the city. A small view of Garrison was overlayed on the screen and in his hand he held a small remote. "Self-defence won't hold well considering there's a warrant for your arrest" he said pressing his thumb down on the button. The live video showed the building exploding violently causing some of the other surrounding buildings to collapse with it.

The Titans watched in horror as the buildings collapsed and numerous civilians appeared to be caught in the wreckage. Robin shook violently, "YOU'RE INSANE! DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW MANY PEOPLE COULD BE HURT?"

The other Titans stood still in mortified silence, Starfire had covered her mouth with her hand and a few tear trails leaked down her cheeks. "How could you do this...all those people…" her eyes glowed a dangerous green "FOR WHAT PURPOSE?" she finished with a shout.

"But you see… it wasn't me who did it" Garrison said with a smirk and the live footage cut out and instead it was replaced by what looked like CCTV camera footage from inside of the building before its demolition. A female figure stepped in view of the camera and the Titans gasped in unison, as the camera focused the form of Starfire became clear. She moved around placing explosive charges on different sections of the walls, the video sped up and Starfire disappeared and was replaced with Raven and then Robin as the elapsed time passed. The video was turned off and Garrison reappeared, "An act of terrorism like this deserves proper punishment. As we speak this video is being sent to news teams around Jump City… you will all be coming with us"

The Titans all reacted in an instant jumping forwards into battle against the soldiers, many were knocked to the floor quickly but more were on their way. Raven went into her astral form and began to envelope her friends to get away from the building but a large metal device that resembled a neck brace was launched forwards and clamped around her leg. She let out a cry as electricity surged through her body and her astral raven form vanished. Her eyes went wide and she began using her powers to try and break the mechanism but every time she called upon her powers another surge of electricity ran through her actively disabling her. The others noticed Raven's situation quickly and moved over to cover her, Beast Boy morphed into a large green tiger and leapt onto a group of the soldiers to give his friends some time to assist Raven. However, after a few moments a clamp had found a way around one of his legs and he was forced back into his human form as he crumpled to the ground in pain.

Starfire and Cyborg began trying to destroy the devices on their friends but it seemed to be of no avail, starbolts only left scorch marks and even Cyborgs buzz saw had no effect. Robin looked at the situation in a panic, "We need to retreat, can you get us out of here Wally?"

"Only one at a time" his fast friend replied

"Take Robin and Cyborg first" Starfire said quickly

"I'm not going anywhere without you, Star" Robin opposed quickly

Wally ran over to Raven and tried to lift her but he found that the device had magnetised to the floor holding her and Beast Boy firmly in place.

Wally zipped back over in front of Robin, "We can't move them, we need to think of another plan"

"There isn't enough time" Robin replied in frustration, "we might have to leave the others behind" he said tossing an exploding capsule that knocked back some soldiers heading their way.

"Dude, get out of here" Beast Boy shouted trying to stay somewhat positive

Robin repositioned himself to get a better view at the exit points but he felt a soft body collide with him and he was pushed to the floor. He heard a pained shriek and he flipped around to see his alien girlfriend pinned to the ground by her leg by one of the contraptions. She desperately tried to light her starbolts but they faded quickly and she received a surge of electricity as a punishment for her attempts.

Robin ran back to her quickly and he cupped her cheek in his hand, "We're gonna get everyone out alright? I'm not leaving without you" she nodded in response but it was obviously more for his sake than hers.

Robin charged some of the soldiers and succeeded in knocking them to the ground whilst Cyborg blasted many others back. However, as Robin went to move again one of the soldiers on the ground managed to grab a sonic cannon from another fallen soldier and fired it at Robin, the force blasted Robin back and he collided with the wall knocking him unconscious.

Starfire was wide-eyed as she saw her boyfriend hit the floor. She focused all of her strength and managed to fire a small starbolt at one of the approaching soldiers knocking them down, a massive shock surged through her and she fell back to the ground. "Wally…Robin…go" she shouted weakly.

Wally was panicked, he knew he could take on many of the soldiers but in doing so it would leave Robin open to be captured. Cyborg pushed forwards sending a barrage of shots from his cannon into the crowd of soldiers. "Grab Robin and go, get him somewhere safe and then you can worry about coming back for us. I can hold them off for a minute" Wally nodded to his cybernetic friend and lifted Robin over his shoulders. Cyborg made a timing gesture with his fingers and at 1 he charged a massive blast which barrelled towards the soldiers forcing them to dive to the side to avoid it. At that moment Wally dashed down into the stairwells carrying his friend, in seconds they had made it outside the building and Wally picked up the pace as he rocketed towards his small apartment.


Robin's head felt like it was spinning as he sat up from where he had been asleep on the couch. He could hear mumbled talking and after a few moments his ears started to adjust. "Wally? Where are we?"

"Okay good, I don't think you have a concussion" Wally replied with a slightly relieved sigh

Robin blinked at his friend and all at once his memories came back to him, Garrison Slate, ambush, Titans captured, Starfire- "Starfire!" he shouted rocketing up in his seat.

"She was captured along with the others" Wally replied sadly, "her and Cyborg bought us enough time to escape"

Robin had his head in his hands, "Why didn't you go back for them?!" he replied frantically

"Dude you saw those brace things, they were locked to the floor. There was no way we could have moved them. I went back after I dropped you off here to see if I could follow them but by the time I got back they had already moved somewhere else"

"How the hell did I not see it was going to be a trap? It was so obvious and I just lead us all right into it"

"There's no time for beating yourself up, Dick. We need to figure out where they took them and get our friends back"

End of chapter 7


Author's Notes:

Apologies for the long wait on this one, a flu and assignment work meant I didn't have enough time to finish it until now. I'm gonna try and get the next chapter up before Christmas day but I'm not gonna make any guarantees/promises. If I don't manage to then Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to all my readers.