Chapter 26
Robin felt the throb in his head before he registered anything else. He shifted a little before attempting to move his hand up to try and quell the headache that had hit him with full force, but found his arm unwilling to cooperate. As he came around he realised just how dreadful he truly felt. His body felt like lead, heavy and cold. Screwing his face up, he blinked his eyes open, before squinting them at the harsh light that hit him. With a groan he turned his face away from the light and opened his eyes properly.
There was a white curtain around the bed he was laid in. The medical bay. The memories of what happened flooded back to him, causing his head to pound harder. He managed to bring a hand up and it found its way to his throat, the memory of Starfire's hand gripping it caused his heart to jump. He could feel the dried blood where her nails had dug into his skin. While he had been hanging from her grip, he thought for a fleeting moment that she would genuinely strangle him to death. That she would kill him. That Starfire would be the way he went. Robin moved his hand from his neck to drag it over his face gently. His mask was missing and he could feel the swelling around his left eye. He put his arm back down by his side and heaved a deep sigh.
Before Robin could think about sitting up, he registered a high pitched beeping sound. Turning over he noticed the heart monitor that was wired up to his chest. He pulled the medical gown down and yanked the wires, disconnecting the tabs that were keeping track of his heartbeat. The wires dropped to the floor as he pulled the drip from the back of his hand. He didn't even care to take note of what was in the drip bag. The amount of effort it took for Robin to complete these two small tasks wasn't lost on him. He felt weak. Perhaps it was the painkillers he'd probably been given.
As Robin dropped his hand back down to his side, he heard the door open and the curtain was pulled back so fast he thought it might rip. Raven's wise eyes met his and she let out a sigh of relief at seeing him awake. "Azar Robin! One of these days that monitor is going to say it can't find your heartbeat and I'll ignore it. Stop taking the wires off! Every time you're in here this happens!"
It was true, he always took the wires off before telling anyone he was awake. Raven berated him a bit more than she probably should have but really he had a habit of taking the sensors off and giving her a heart attack in the process. Robin didn't reply to her, he just gave her a small smile. Behind Raven, everyone else had piled into the room behind her. They all looked a little relieved as they realised Robin was okay. Robin wanted to ask how they were, but his throat wouldn't allow him and instead the words caught in his throat causing him to cough. Pain rippled through his chest as he spluttered a little. "Careful." Raven went to him and moved the bed so he was sat up a little more before handing him a cup of water which he graciously took. "You've got a few fractured ribs. The inhibitor bracelet messed with my powers and I needed to meditate before I could heal them. I also wanted to make sure you didn't have a concussion."
"Thanks." He handed the cup back to her and settled into a more comfortable position. The rest of the people in the room gathered around his bed and Robin's eyes fell on Cyborg who was next to him. "Are you okay?"
"Who me?" Cyborg waved him off. "A few repairs required that's all. I'm fine. The real question is, how are you?"
Robin took a moment to contemplate the question. He wasn't sure. He knew he probably looked a state. His eye was swollen and probably bruised. He could see the tops of the gauze that had been put on his chest, poking out from the medical gown he was wearing, to cover the burn marks from Starfire's eye beams. The last hit he took from her had been the worst, he felt as they tore through his uniform and burnt his chest. The nail marks on his neck probably looked bad along with the countless scratches and bruises he had acquired during his fight with Starfire.
But how was he? How did he feel? Physically, he felt awful. Like he'd been hit by a truck. Emotionally, he supposed, he felt exhausted. It had been harder than he imagined to push down his feelings and really try to fight Starfire. He never wanted to hurt her, but he'd had a duty to the rest of his team. A duty to her. He'd promised to protect her and failed, so he was going to do whatever it took to get her back. So why was it so hard? Why did he feel so guilty about it? She hadn't come off that fight badly at all. A cut and a couple of bruises. She had done far worse to him... Suddenly, he felt sick.
Starfire had nearly killed him. Slade had had to tell her a few times not to, just to be sure she wouldn't. But she could have. Would have, had it not been for Slade. And, well, if that didn't just disgust him. Robin loved her. He was hers through and through. He realised, with a jolt, that the Starfire he fought with didn't care. This new Starfire was doing what she was told to do. Love had nothing to do with it. She didn't care how he felt. But Robin cared and he'd never felt anything like this before.
Sure he'd been in positions of guilt before. There had been numerous occasions where Robin had felt the responsibility of being a Titan crush down on his shoulders. There had certainly been times where he felt the need to protect every member of his team. The Titans were, after all, family. But with Starfire, it was entirely different. The rest of his team knew it too. In fact, the entire Network probably knew. She was special to Robin, just as he had been to her. They had a bond from the start, and despite the sly comments and not so subtle pushes from their friends, they'd both been too stubborn or too shy to do anything about it.
The term 'best friend' really was just their way of trying to justify that they were closer to each other than anyone else, without having to admit that they thought about each other in ways that best friends really shouldn't. And that they'd done things that best friends shouldn't do. Robin had been treating Starfire like his girlfriend long before he realised what he'd been doing. Realistically, they'd both known that staying in each other's beds, for example, wasn't that of best friend behaviour, or they wouldn't have tried so hard to keep it a secret every time it happened. They justified that by saying it was necessary to help their best friend in their time of need. However, of the handful of times it had happened, one would always find themselves waking up wrapped up in the other, in a not so best friend way. Her head on his chest, his arm around her shoulder, legs entwined.
After Robin's stint as Slade's apprentice, they accidentally sought each other out. They met in the hallway, Robin on his way to see Starfire, and Starfire on her way to see Robin. Without saying anything he had gently grasped her hand and pulled her back into her own room. They talked for a little bit, Robin explaining about his guilt, and Starfire explaining how sorry she was that she had ever even thought that he could have betrayed them like that. They eventually ran out of things they wanted to talk about and ended up falling asleep with Starfire tucked gently into Robin's embrace. He had wondered for a long time after that night just who it was out of the two of them that needed the comfort, but they never spoke about it again. Evidently, the thought of him betraying the Titans had hit her hard. And Robin wasn't an idiot. At least now he realised why it had hit her worse than the other three. It came back to love. She had felt so strongly for him that the thought of betrayal had hurt her, and Robin was well aware that throughout their time as friends, and more, that the hurt came just as strongly as the love.
But this, what they were going through now, this hurt the most. And while Robin was well aware that she wasn't to blame, that Starfire had no control over it, it still stung. While the girl who was his girlfriend was missing, it had still been her hand around his neck. It had still been her eyes he was looking into, and it had still been her voice he had heard however briefly. But actually, she wasn't to blame for any of this. It wasn't her fault. Slade was the culprit, not Starfire. Slade was the one who changed her into this... this...
Robin didn't have the words to describe what he thought of the person who looked like Starfire. Because it wasn't her. Starfire was innocent, and playful, and alluring, and kind. She was pure, and Robin would be damned if he was going to let that demented psychopath turn her into a murderer.
Robin smiled at Cyborg. "I'm fine." He let out a cry as Raven slapped the side of his head. "Ow! What was that for?" Bringing his hand to his head, he cringed as his ribs rebelled against the movement.
She scowled at him. "Lying." Pointing to herself, she reminded him. "Empath."
Robin turned away from her. This time, he didn't want to talk. Instead he glanced at Batman and Superman who were stood at the end of the bed. "Thanks for coming."
Batman remained quiet, but Superman smiled. "It's no trouble. We're just sorry that we couldn't get here sooner."
"It's not your fault. We weren't prepared for it. We didn't expect that they would be able to hack the system, it registered Starfire as safe. Allowed her access, she just walked in."
Cyborg leant forward. "I've locked her out of the system again, and disconnected Beast Boys old communicator. It's useless to them now. Beast Boy has a new one," he shot a glare at the boy who stood sheepishly in the doorway, "and he's not going to lose this one. Are you, Beast Boy?"
Beast Boy saluted dramatically. "No, sir."
Cyborg smiled, looking back to Robin. "The system is up and running again, not that it will do us much good until the hole in the wall is repaired. I've managed to get all of the locators back online too."
Robin smiled back at him. "Thanks. Now we need to figure out how we're going to catch Starfire." The room went quiet, and a few of them shuffled as an awkwardness filled the room. Robin's brow furrowed and he looked around. "What?"
Superman gave Robin a worried glance. "Robin, Starfire isn't going to be that easy to contain. With all due respect to you and your team, you lost your fight last night..."
"So? What's your point?" Robin could real his anger flare.
"So." Batman stepped in front of Superman. "It's not going to be easy. We have forty two hours before Slade expects a response from us, I'm not entirely convinced that it's enough time to organise anything. Especially when we have no idea what they're planning. I've watched the fights from the cameras, Starfire was holding back. Next time, she probably won't be. If you and your team couldn't deal with her when she's holding back, how do you expect to deal with her at full strength?"
Robin didn't respond, he wasn't sure how to. He looked down at the sheet covering him and sighed.
"Robin." Batman's voice was slightly softer. "I'm not saying this because I think you're incapable. I'm just saying that realistically, we have no idea what to do and we don't have a lot of time. Even the League has never had to deal with anything like this. Starfire is dangerous. Even if the collar that Galfore sends us works, we don't know how to get it on her. God knows she's not going to let us close enough for long enough. Even Kid Flash isn't fast enough to catch her off guard."
Somehow, Robin felt worse than he thought he had when he woke up. Mainly, he realised, it was because he knew Batman was right. "No, I know. If Slade wants the Network disbanded then he's going to try and force the issue, but I don't know how we can even try to be prepared for them."
"Unless we don't need to get to close to her." The room turned to look at Raven who was holding a box of painkillers in her hand. "Beast Boy tried to get Starfire to swallow paracetamol, because we know that they don't agree with her. We just need to get some kind of painkiller in her system and wait for them to take affect. Slade might have changed her, but her physiology will still be the same."
Flash zipped up to her and took the box out of her hand, examining it. "That's great! But Beasty B couldn't get her to swallow them, so how do we get her to take them? I'm certainly not fast enough, apparently."
"We might not need to get her to swallow them. We just need to get them in her system. Thankfully, Slade's given me an idea." She lifted an empty syringe. "Like the tranquillisers, we could inject her with liquid painkillers."
Robin frowned. "If we can't get close enough to give her tablets, she's not going to let us use a syringe on her."
"No," Batman piped up, "but we could use darts. We could hit her from a distance, and make sure she stays close until the painkillers take effect. It would give us time to get the collar on her, and for the collar to drain her energy a bit before she wakes up. That is, if the painkillers work, but I don't see why they wouldn't. Raven is right, Starfire's physiology will be the same. How long does a single dose of paracetamol take her out?"
Raven and Cyborg both looked at Robin, he would know more about the details than they would, seeing as he insisted on sitting with Starfire whenever she took painkillers. He thought for a second. The last time she took any was a few months ago. She had a migraine, and she'd never had one before. Robin had told her she should sleep it off, but she was having trouble falling asleep, so he gave her some tablets. She had been reluctant to, knowing what they do to her. She always woke up groggy and it took her a couple of hours to come around. How long had she been asleep that day? "Four hours asleep, a couple of hours to fully come around after."
"That would give us enough time to transport her to the Watchtower, it will be easier if we can keep the containment unit there. The Red X belt is already there, we'd have less trouble getting her in the unit using the belt if she's unconscious."
"Sounds like we have a sort of plan at least." Robin went to sit up properly but grunted as his ribs aches at the movement. Raven pushed him back onto the pillows.
"Let me get you healed and then we can work on our plan. Okay?"
Robin sighed. "Sure, sorry."
Raven ushered everyone out so she could concentrate while she healed Robin. He hated the feeling of Raven's healing magic. It was cold and it hurt, but Robin was entirely grateful for it. He was uncomfortable as he felt the swelling on his face go down and the burns on his chest stung as they were reduced to nothing more than red marks. His fractured ribs took a bit more effort from Raven, he cringed as they moved into their proper places.
While Raven was healing his wounds, Robin got to thinking about how he would cope when it came to his next meeting with Starfire. Batman was right, next time she wouldn't go easy on them. Especially since they were not, under any circumstances, going to disband the Titan Network like Slade had demanded. So Slade was probably going to hit them with everything he had. That everything including a deadly Starfire. But, Robin hoped, they would be able to handle it. They would be able to handle her. Because this time they would be prepared. They had an idea of time, how long it would be before Slade led what was probably going to be a mass assault on them. Slade would probably send Starfire in all guns blazing in an attempt to get them to surrender. Right?
Unfortunately, Robin at that moment didn't know just how wrong he was.
