Submission

Chapter Seven

"Where is Robin?"

Starfire was not the first one to notice their leader's absence but was the first to point it out. Shortly after they all lost sight of Robin, Slade's commandos had retreated. Beast boy and Cyborg followed them but once they disappeared into the sewer it was difficult to keep the chase going. Raven and Starfire remained behind in search of clues and to figure out what was stolen.

"It doesn't look like they took anything," Raven said as Starfire landed nearby, "This doesn't make any sense." She headed over to where Robin had been ambushed earlier. Several metal darts were embedded in the wall and she pulled one out. "Why were they shooting these? Never seen them use anything like this before." She held it up to show Starfire.

"They did not shoot any of them at us. This is strange, yes?" Raven headed back to the front of the warehouse to confirm several burn marks where a weapon was fired and missed it's target. Starfire caught on as well and posed the obvious statement.

"I do not understand the purpose of using two different kinds of weapons." Raven pulled the outside casing off the dart to show a vial inside of clear liquid.

"Because these weren't meant for us."

"Robin?" Worry etched into Starfire's expression and tone. Even though she was upset with him from before she certainly didn't want anything bad to happen to him. "I shall go check the outside. Perhaps there are clues to where he is." Before Raven could say otherwise, the Tamaranean took off. Raven let out a tired sigh and crossed her arms impatiently. She already knew Slade wasn't sloppy enough to leave any "clues" behind. Clearly there was more going on here then it appeared. After several minutes Starfire came back to admit she didn't find anything helpful.

"We need to go home and figure out what this is." She picked up her communicator and contacted the other two Titans as they left the warehouse. Cyborg joined them back at the Tower as planned. Raven handed Cyborg the small vial. He looked it over as he carefully held it between his fingers.

"Looks like Slade's tech but kind of old fashioned, right?"

"Even so, it's effective. You don't even have to get that close to someone to inject it. Can you check it out and tell us what it is, what it does?" Cyborg looked over at her and grinned.

"Of course I can." He seemed a little too happy about the challenge.

"Where is Beast boy," Starfire inquired, glancing around.

"I asked him to keep looking for Robin. Figured he could track him by scent," Cyborg explained as he got to work on the vial. Unsure what she could do to help, Starfire hovered in Raven's direction. She was busy looking up recent shipments that had come into the warehouse to see if there was anything suspicious. Within a couple of minutes she realized that Robin was so much better at this then she was. The alien's presence behind her caused her stopped what she was doing and glare back at her friend.

"Can I help you, Star?"

"Oh no thank you. I was just wondering what you are doing."

I'm trying to find what came into the warehouse this week that might interest Slade. Even though nothing was stolen I'm sure there was a reason that particular warehouse was targeted."

"Perhaps it was the lack of security," Starfire suggested.

"That's never been a problem for Slade in the past though. It has to be something else." She busily typed away as she read over the different companies that utilized the warehouse. "Tech Corp? Didn't they have two break ins recently?" She pulled up the police reports to confirm. "So far they've claimed nothing was stolen. Why is Slade going after them and not actually stealing anything.?" She started looking closer at the company itself.

"Well that was an epic waste of time," Beast boy announced as he entered the room. Raven inhaled sharply in an attempt to gain some patience.

"You did not find Robin," Starfire asked him.

'We should know by now if Robin doesn't want to be found there's nothing we can do about it."

"What if he is kidnapped or hurt," Star suggested but her tone revealed she really didn't believe it either. Beast Boy pulled something off his belt and placed it on the desk next to Raven. She glanced down as the other two looked over her shoulder. "I found his communicator on a rooftop near the warehouse. That's where I lost his scent." Everyone remained quiet as they all stared at the communicator. Losing it once was far fetched but losing it twice was definitely on purpose.

"He doesn't want to be found," Raven said it first.

"But why does he not want to be found? We are his friends, yes," Starfire was obviously the most frustrated by his absence.

"Star if he needs our help he knows where to find us. There's really nothing we can do to help him until then. We've just gotta get back to figuring out this whole thing with Slade. We'll deal with Robin running off later."

"But what if he is really in danger or hurt?"

"Robin always gets weird when it comes to Slade, Star," Beast boy reminded her, "Unless he wants our help there is nothing we can do."

"I still do not understand. Is no one else worried about him?"

"It's not that we're aren't worried but we've all learned that once he gets absorbed into a case, especially one involving Slade, it's best to leave him alone," Raven told her.

"Yes but...,"

"We're all worried about him, the only thing we can do it try to figure this out quickly so things can go back to normal," Cyborg reassured her. She decided it would be best for her to leave. Quietly she floated out, unsure of how she could help right now. She had to do something and concluded she needed to do what she did best and headed out to do a sweep of the city. Starting back at the warehouse, she landed on the roof near the broken window from the night before. Beyond that there really wasn't any other signs of her friend. She let out a worried sigh, desperate to find anything useful.

"Where is Robin?"