As I recall, there aren't any Bats in this chapter. So guess who gets top billing this time! Enjoy! 4 chapters left!
12
The battles in Jump City just did not end! First there was Mad Mod trying to hypnotize everyone into being Beatles fans who thought he was John Lennon, then there was Control Freak using every creature feature available to ransack the city. Star was called in when one of them turned out to be Godzilla, and no one was able to take care of it and keep people safe. Shortly after deleting all his characters and killing his latest remote, Billy Numerous decided to put the city board up for ransom, and hold up the police station. That was a pain to finish up. Round about then was an earthquake, and they spent the majority of the next day cleaning up after that.
Several times Starfire tried to fly back to the tower to see how Robin was doing, but Cyborg stopped her. "He's fine," he told her more than once. "Security says he's still asleep in the medical wing, no change."
"Is it common for humans to sleep for long periods of time like this?" she asked as the moon rose in the night's sky. Raven was the one who answered her, becoming suspicious herself.
"Not usually. It happens when people do not rest for a long time, or when they suffered head trauma…" Looking towards the tower, she made a decision. "Cyborg, are you certain there hasn't been any change since we left? It's been over two days."
"Nothing's changed!" The former football star almost growled at his teammates. "His heartbeat, brainwaves, and breathing are all regular. Robin's fine! Don't- Where are you going?!"
"No changes? Not even one?!" Not waiting, Raven flew as fast as she could back to Titan Tower. Starfire was right behind her, not quite understanding her urgency. Beast Boy and Cyborg exchanged looks before going to the T-Car to follow up after them. They put the com on the speaker to ask questions.
"That's the rush Rae? Robin's-"
"He's not fine!" Their empath's voice rang in their ears as she explained her worries. "Hours ago I felt him wake up! He was in so much pain before he fell asleep, and while he slept it subdued. He was not at peace then, and his pain returned when he woke up. There is no chance his vitals would have stayed the same! Even if he hadn't been in the same state as he was before, you can't stop everything from changing when you wake up."
"Are you saying-"
"How do you even know Robin's awake?!" That was the part Cyborg didn't understand. No one could be sure if they weren't there, and he was wired into the tower's security system. He would know first if Robin-
"He and I are empathically connected," she reminded them. "And Robin's always been emotional. I can usually sense how he feels halfway across town."
"Then why didn't you find him when he was missing?!"
"It isn't a homing beacon! I barely understand why the connection remains after all this time! It's weak now, so I have to concentrate when I want to find it. Some days I can't feel him at all!" The frustration in her voice was rare, but now it went beyond what they knew. "I felt him wake up, then the panic and depression, then that was it. I haven't felt anything since. Something is wrong! "
Cyborg blanched, realizing al the implication. The pedal hit the floor, taking them straight to the tower. If he wasn't detecting any change and Raven was certain there was at least some change, then something was terribly wrong. "Somebody must have hacked my system. Star! Go ahead and-"
A sonic boom filled their ears as Starfire sped beyond them. Dang that girl was scary when upset.
"ROBIN!" Starfire zoomed through the building with every thought focused on finding her dearest friend. Her first stop was the medical wing. Silence was all that remained there beside the dirty empty bed. "Robin?!" She searched the entire room, tearing the place apart. "Robin! Where are you?!" Everything went flying as she tried to find some clue saying he was still in the place. "Come out please! I am very worried about you!"
Her search proved fruitless, and worry only mounted within her. Frantic, she flew through the tower, looking for a sign of where he went. Every hall was empty. She was about to start searching rooms when the others arrived. Raven didn't even bother stopping to ask her what she found; she flew past her and towards Robin's room. "Robin isn't in medical! I can't find him anywhere! Where can he be?!"
"BB, you get to medical and sniff out his bed. Find out which way he went." Cyborg suppressed his own anxiety to get the job done. Twice their leader disappeared in the same month. Twice! "Star, keep searching the tower. I'll check security and figure out what happened."
Within an instant the Titans were everywhere, searching for only one thing. With any luck, it wouldn't take three days to find their leader this time.
Raven never told anyone that she could get into Robin's room. Robin didn't even know. She didn't go in before because she solidly believed people deserved their privacy. She also didn't believe Robin left things of personal nature out in his room. Going in until now would have been pointless. Now, it was a place to start.
Looking around the room, she had a hard time believing this was the same person she knew. The place wasn't quite as messy as she thought it would be, but it was clear someone had gone through the room quickly. The things that were taken included clothes, street and uniform (under and over), shoes, some poster on the wall, a few items from the desk, and that case he never let anyone look into, though they knew all about it. Raven was hoping to find it and use the communicator inside to locate Batman. This was beyond what they could handle now.
Frustration and confusion maxed out to realization as she looked around once more. Robin left. He took the necessities and things that mattered to him and took off. Why did he do that? Did Batman come back and take him home? Or did he walk out for another reason? Thinking back to everything she felt coming off of Robin earlier, she wouldn't be surprised if in his drugged state he became so convinced this was the only option, he would leave.
"But where to?" Raven looked around, trying to figure out where he could have gone. The most logical choice would be to his family or to someone from his past that he trusted. But Robin wasn't thinking logically right then. Batman was there already but he didn't leave with him; he was the only person she knew he trusted completely. If he didn't leave with him, who else would he go to? "Where did you go Robin?"
"Well I can tell you what didn't happen." Beast Boy and Cyborg called everyone together to compare notes. Starfire was very anxious and wanted to run out and find Robin but they ran blind before and it delayed them greatly. Now they were going to play it smart, especially if they were right about all of this. "From what we've gathered, Robin walked out of the tower all by himself."
"How can this be?!" Starfire jumped to her feet, unable to accept this. "Robin would not just leave us! He was in no condition to leave his bed when we left and certainly would not have left without telling us!"
"Calm down," Raven insisted, keeping a lid on her own feelings. "Losing our control will not help him. What we know and what we want to believe are completely different matters. Beast Boy, please, explain how you determined this."
"Only Robin's sent left the infirmary," he told them point blank. "I followed his sent to his room then back out of it to the underground passage. He left his bike for some reason-"
"Probably because he was still feeling awful," Raven reminded them. "It is foolishness to ride a motorcycle when you are unable to think straight. He probably was trying to leave without any further complications."
"On foot?!"
"He always seemed to prefer swinging from rooftops," Cyborg reminded them. "He only rode his bike when he had to get somewhere fast. When on patrol, he parked it and swung around. Something he picked up from Gotham I think."
"Anyway," BB pressed, "Rob left on his own. I might be able to track him if he stayed on the ground, but if he got a ride or was picked up at the end of the tunnel, I can't track him very well. What about you Cy? What did you find?"
"He's not wearing any tracer of communicator," Cyborg told them with a growl. It really was frustrating keeping tabs on this bird. "There weren't any calls to or from the tower either, that is if my records are right. Someone hacked my systems! They put all the monitoring systems on a loop so we couldn't tell if there were any changes. More than likely, they have a backdoor to the security grid. Someone knows how to get in and out of this place without our knowledge."
"Do you think it was Batman?" BB picked at the bat-gizmo they broke recently on the table. "He might of-"
"If he picked up Robin at the end of the tunnel, then don't you think he would have left some kind of note?" Raven looked out the window, scowling. "There are too many mysteries, and I'm pretty sure, with all the trouble we went through to get in contact with him, he would do us the courtesy of telling us he was taking Robin home to get better. He did raise Robin after all, and he has the decency to tell us when he's taking off for a while."
"You don't think he's with Batman do you." The statement made Star and BB nervous, but it had to be said. Their empath nodded gravely. Cyborg sighed. "Slade?"
"Likely," she answered, "but how did he get Robin out of the tower without coming inside?"
"I didn't smell any other robot here but Cy," Beast Boy stated firmly. "So no slade-bots, or anything else."
"Is there a way to… I don't know… get Robin to… want to leave and go to him?"
The idea made everyone look at Cyborg, horrified. Raven turned away almost immediately while the other two steadfastly tried to say that wasn't possible. Neither thought Robin was that weak or easy to manipulate, and they knew he would never turn against them. The noise was so loud they couldn't hear Cyborg trying to respond to them.
"QUIET!"
Everyone stopped at Raven's voice, slowly looking back to her. Carefully calming her spiked anger, she looked them all in the eye. "We all know Robin was heavily drugged and isolated for about three days. He was not responding well to us and he refused treatment. Whatever Slade did to him during that time may well have been the beginning stages of brainwashing. Everything we did may have compounded on whatever he put into his head. When he woke up without us around, who knows what was going through his mind.
"It is very likely he just ran away because he didn't know what else to do. There are no guarantees he ran to Slade; it is just a possibility."
No one spoke for a minute, absorbing what was said and what it meant. Mad Mod's brainwashing was easy to undo and put its victims into some kind of daze. Robin wasn't so much in a daze as much as a living nightmare, trapped in his own head. They had no idea what he wanted really, or needed. They floundered, they knew that much. And now he was missing; they needed to find him.
"Slade was the one though to hack the system and make it possible for him to leave without us knowing." Looking out to the dawn, Cyborg gave an exasperated sigh. "We might not be able to track Robin, but we can guess his destination. We still have the number to the Justice League. We should call them and ask them to tell us if they had any contact with him. Tell them we just want to know if he's alright. If they can do a better job helping him, so be it."
"And if they have not?" Star looked at them all imploringly.
"Then he's probably still in the city." He pushed off his seat, standing to his full height. "If he's here, we'll find him. We'll check all of Slade's old lairs and with his known associates. BB, you work the sent angle as much as you can. Rae, can you try finding him with that power of yours?"
"I will try," she agreed, nodding. Raven looked back to their powerhouse alien. "Maybe you should lead the search with Slade's allies. Cyborg's abilities are better with locations."
"Understood," Starfire murmured, glad to finally have something to do, and bad guys to punch. They were going to find Robin, no matter what.
A/N: So how did the titans do? Clearly I make Raven the responsible one through this and gave her a little edge, but everyone has their strengths. them being gone was important, but things haven't changed much either. Just wait until tomorrow for the next big thing. The very big thing. You'll love it. This is just build up. Laters!