Thank you everyone for being patient with me and my updates. I just went through the week of hell....COLLEGE EXAMS!!! Perchance updates will be quicker now that it's over. PLEASE let me know what you think of this chapter. Thanks to you few who reviewed. If you want this story to continue please review so I know.
Chapter Two
The Long Day is Over
It was raining...again. The third time this week. And yet, here they were, flying across town to a bank robbery at nine o'clock at night. Starfire and Raven flew while the boys took Cyborg's latest baby, the JetLag. He named it that because the last time they flew it Beast Boy fell asleep and Raven commented on how the plane must speed up time for him. Funny then, but not now. Now was time to be serious and because of that, Starfire said nothing about how much the wind was making her throat hurt. She flew on ahead of Raven and decided she'd better give this battle everything she had, otherwise she might loss everything. There wasn't any room for mistakes in this line of duty, she knew that from Robin's encounter with Slade several weeks ago. Sure he had won and it had resulted in their admitted emotions for one another, but Robin could have died and she could have lost him forever.
The starlight suddenly came out from behind a cloud and Raven could finally see clearly. She couldn't understand how on earth Starfire could see enough to plow so far ahead, but didn't question. There were innocents in danger and it was her job, all of their jobs, to put a stop to it. Raven pulled her hood down lower so that the rain was blocked from hitting her in the eye and pushed on, following the trail that Starfire was on. Inside the jet Cyborg glanced over at the girls while Robin worked away on watching coordinates.
"Dude, do the girls look like they're having trouble to you?" he asked. Robin didn't look away and answered:
"If they were, they'd be in here." Beast Boy however turned and nodded.
"Must be raining pretty hard. You know Raven, she'd be all stubborn and stuff and wouldn't come in if it was raining metal, but Starfire's still out there. S'probably not as bad as it looks," he assured. Cyborg nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, you're right." Robin and Beast Boy both jerked around to look at him with their jaws dangling open and eyes bulged. "What? What??"
"You just said I was right! I'm gonna have to write that down in my diary," Beast Boy answered with a singsong voice. Robin and Cyborg both raised an eyebrow. "It's a joke. You know, Ha ha."
"Sure, whatever you say!" replied Robin. Beast Boy tapped his fingers irritated, letting his frustration boil over. He was just about to come back when Cyborg put up a hand and caught their attention.
"We're on it!" he declared.
Starfire looked down beneath her for the millionth time. Flying when it was raining wasn't a pleasant experience and looking anywhere but forward took off some of the strain, but what caught her eye was the flashing lights down below. Red, blue, and yellow with many people crowded around a sidewalk. She looked over at Raven wordlessly, who had also caught the scene, and she nodded. Together they dived down toward the area while the jet took another route so they could land on a near by roof. The girls were landed on the sidewalk in a clearing, watching the glass of the bank doors when the police cheif came over to them.
"You the Teen Titans?"
"We are," answered Starfire.
"Thought there was more of you..."
"You the police chief?" asked Raven and the man nodded. "Thought you'd be smarter." The man's eyes narrowed and Starfire had to jump in to stop the oncoming slaughter.
"Raven! Do not be so rude!" she chuckled, running a hand through her drenched red hair. The droplets of water were steadily drizzling down her brow now, though she paid them no attention. Raven looked away from the police chief and concentrated on the feeling of each drop as it hit her cloak.
"The others are on their way..." she replied and then looked at Starfire. "Happy?"
"Very much so," she nodded with a large grin.
"Good, can we go now?" she asked.
"Wha! But we need you here! We can't stop----"the chief began to protest as the girls took to the air. Starfire was already headed toward the bank, but Raven lingered.
"We're not leaving..." she sighed and rolled her eyes as she headed after her friends. Sometimes she wondered why she lived here on this ridiculous planet with it's strangely stupid inhabitants. She rejoined Starfire as Robin and Cyborg and Beast Boy came crashed down from the roof overhead.
"Everyone here? Ready?" asked Robin. Starfire nodded.
"Yeah!" cheered Beast Boy. Robin nodded in acknowledgement and kicked down the door.
"Titans, MOVE OUT!" he screamed. Starfire flew higher than the others and charged in with Beast Boy on her tail, transformed into a raging bear, and Raven at her side. The four armed monster turned quickly, gun in one hand and several bags of money in the other. Raven knocked his gun away and Beast Boy went to knock him over when he dodged and Beast Boy crashed into a clerk's counter. Robin landed a harsh kick right between the creature's eyes and it stumbled back, giving Beast Boy the opportunity to trip it up by bending down behind it's legs. The criminal crashed to the ground and a shrill woman's scream echoed through the room.
"A woman?" questioned Cyborg.
"She must've been the teller," concluded Raven.
"Starfire! Get her out of here!" ordered Robin. Starfire nodded and dove down to retrieve the woman. Yet, it must not have been her luck, for the woman's second terrified scream came at her the exact same time as the enemy leapt back to his feet. She couldn't tell the difference and heard Cyborg's outcry to 'look out' a minute too late to avoid the cannon ball fist that landed squarely in the middle of her back and splattered her on the floor.
"Starfire?!" yelped Robin.
"Star!" agreed Beast Boy.
"Oh, man. You gonna pay for that!" barked Cyborg as he fired his first blaster and Robin rushed in underneath it to Starfire's side. Raven and Beast Boy took up the slack and distracted the freak.
"Starfire, Starfire are you alright?" Robin's voice was coming to her ears muffled and weak.
"Robin?" she questioned and opened her eyes. They were hazy and wet from rain but she could see Robin's worried face nonetheless. "Oh, Robin."
"Hey, you okay?" Starfire sat up and rubbed her head to get rid of the haze. Once her eyes were straightened she turned back to look at him again.
"Yes, I believe I am. Are you?"
"Yea, I'm good," he laughed and stood, helping her stand. Starfire grinned and then noticed that Beast Boy was dangling by his ankle and was being used to beat Cyborg while Raven continually shielded both of them from harm. Robin turned and saw the same thing. "*gasp* Better get to it, huh?" he smirked and took off toward them. "Hurry, we need you!" he added. Starfire turned and rushed to the woman who was curled up on the floor. She hesitated at the sight of the trembling woman and felt her heart breaking. She was so scared and so worried about her life and Starfire knew how that felt. She rested a soft and warm hand on top of the lady's head to assure her that she was safe and was returned with large relieved eyes.
"Please come with me and I'll take you to safety," she smiled. Robin twirled and collided with the monster's elbow, crippling it inward for a split second. That was when he spotted Starfire carrying the woman carefully out of the battle.
"Robin! LOOK OUT!" shouted Raven. Robin's head jerked in time to toss his body weight back and away from the melting lump of disgusting ooze. The four armed monster that had once held Beast Boy by the ankle was now engulfing him completely.
"HELP!" he whimpered and waved his arms radically. Cyborg and Robin went to jump to his rescue but were stopped by Raven.
"I know, you wanna help him, but we don't know what's going on!" she explained. Cyborg took a deep breath as he watched his best friend dissolving away in only God knew what. Robin growled, watching his friend scream for help in the constantly swimming gell. Starfire however, came in too late and all she saw were her friends leaving Beast Boy out to dry.
"*GASP* BEAST BOY!" she wailed and blasted toward him.
"Starfire no!" Robin called, but she was already at him and had a firm grip around his hand. Beast Boy clung to her and struggled violently while she pulled with all her might.
"How could you not help him?" she questioned. Robin threw away any worries he had and ran up behind her. Wrapping his arms around her waist he pulled at her with all his might.
"Now this is more like it!" cheered Cyborg who started to blast away at the muck. Raven levitated into the air over the scene and watched intently. This wasn't any normal enemy and leave it to Starfire to be the lead in fighting with her heart. Beast Boy was coming loose though. His head was now visible and he was breathing in huffs and puffs.
"MAN THAT'S GROSS!" he whined.
"Please, help us," Starfire groaned as she pulled. Beast Boy looked at her as if he had forgotten they were still helping him.
"Oh yeah," he grinned and continued kicking toward Starfire's grip. But Starfire's wet skin and dripping hair were now working against her to make her hands slippery. She held tighter, hoping that she wouldn't lose her grip. When she realized she couldn't hold on much longer she looked to Raven.
"Raven help. I can---ugh--no longer hold him!" she begged seconds before she and Robin crashed to the ground some distance away from the gunk. Raven's powers held him instantly, letting him slip only a little, but the monster was pulling harder.
"Damn...I can't hold him long either," thought Raven as she fought against herself to hold him too tight. His life could be in her hands now and she wasn't about to lose a friend. She'd have to just jolt him free, but that could be dangerous for all the people surrounding them. Unless the others could get rid of everyone outside. "Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, get rid of everyone outside!" she demanded. Starfire and Cyborg turned from fighting the muck off of Beast Boy.
"Why? Is something the matter?" asked Starfire.
"Just do it!" she snapped. Starfire blinked.
"C'mon Star, we'd better hurry," urged Robin. It took them mere minutes to have the street cleared and people in their homes and now they stood staring at the bank where their two remaining friends remained fighting. The rain was now running over Robin's cheeks and tinkling off of the armor on Cyborg's shoulders as they watched. Starfire held her hands to her heart, hoping and praying that her friends would make it out alive. That was when she and the two boys around her were blinded by a dark light and Raven's voice carried through the rain. Everything seemed to stop.
"OUCH! Couldn't you be a little more gentle?" complained Beast Boy. Starfire peeked her eyes open and saw her best green friend planted on his butt before her in the rain.
"WONDEROUS! YOU ARE ALIVE!" she piped and jumped on him, hugging his neck tightly. Cyborg and Robin opened their eyes later, taking longer to adjust to the dimmer light. Beast Boy was struggling in a wet Starfire's arms and Raven stood ahead of them, still facing the bank.
"Hey---Star----uh---can't---breathe---need----breath!" stammered Beast Boy. His legs looked like octapus legs, fighting to be free. Robin grinned at her and knelt down to tap on her orange shoulder. Her skin, even in the rain was soft and spongy.
"Hey, uh Starfire, Beast Boy kinda needs to breath," he said. Starfire's eyes widened and she grinned innocently as she released the struggling boy from her arms.
"I am sorry Beast Boy I was just so happy to see you alive," she blushed. Beast Boy rubbed his painful neck and stretched his shoulders.
"Don't worry bout it...." he nodded and then whispered heavily on Robin's ear, "I owe you one!"
"Hey uh, guys?" interrupted Raven. Cyborg walked over next to her.
"Yeah? Sup?"
"This...isn't over," she replied as the bank windows filled with brown liguid. Starfire gasped and covered her mouth while Beast Boy ducked behind her.
"Geez! I hate that stuff!" he shuddered.
"You're not alone," agreed Robin seriously.
"How do we defeat it if it only gets bigger?" wondered Starfire. Raven shrugged with one of her only comical expressions.
"Hell if I know," she answered. The group hit the floor in an anime fall. "But we've got to figure it out," she added. Robin tapped his fingers on his forehead.
"Now that's more like the Raven we know," he said as his shook his head.
"Heeeeeere it comes!" warned Cyborg as he prepared for a coming onslaught.
The Teen Titans leapt into their fighting stances, on the ready for anything that came toward them. Even if Beast Boy was hidden somewhat behind Starfire and the others. Starfire readied some starbolts and Robin some explosives, while Raven quietly repeated her chant and Cyborg scanned for possible weaknesses. They didn't move, not noticing that the rain was beginning to come down even harder than before.
"Anything?" asked Robin. Cyborg shook his head no. Just then all the glass in the lower level of the bank shattered and brown slush poured out. They leapt out of the way and watched as it sprouted nearly twenty arms, waving in the air omniously. Robin gulped harshly. "Titans! Attack!"
Five powerful teenagers shot through the air aimed for either victory or destruction and pain. The latter weighed heavily on their minds, but they fought with their strongest nonetheless. Raven's chants were becoming more and more irritated, Cyborg kept getting slammed into a wall, and Robin's best attacks were getting caught in the muck. Only Starfire's bolts seemed to keep it away, even if it was only by a few feet. She, however, was spending her time keeping Beast Boy out of the muddy substance that seemed to want to suck him under every few seconds.
"This icky goo is becoming thoroughly frustrating," she grunted as she fired two more shots. Robin kicked another shot and felt his other foot come out from underneath him. He yelped in shock attracting Starfire's vital attention. "*gasp* ROBIN!" In seconds she was at his side, blasting away the brown wave.
"STAR!" shrieked Beast Boy from where she had been earlier. She turned around to see him sinking within the gunk as though it were quick sand.
"Beast Boy!" she started as she headed his direction, but a cry from Cyborg as he collided repeatedly with a wall distracted her.
"Hey Star!"
"Star!"
"Starfire!"
"Help!!" Starfire froze where she hovered and her eyes went blank. Everyone needed her, her friends, they were all in dire danger and only she could save them. Only she could help them, but she could only help them one at a time. They needed her now. Starfire's eyes followed her friends every movement. She knew she couldn't stop the killer ooze, but they were depending on her. "Stauff--" attempted Beast Boy before he quickly went under. Starfire shrieked and darted to the ooze pulling on it with starbolts around her hands. She managed a grip but then it formed a giant arm and before she could get her friend free it knocked her harshly away.
Robin tossed one of his old battarangs, hoping it would do something the other newer version couldn't. That was when he realized he'd thrown a ice-cryogen bomb that Batman had taught him to make. It made a spectacular explosion and the towering wave that threatened to overwhelm him suddenly stopped and turned a paler color. Robin's eyes darted from left to right. It stopped. He was safe! And that was probably why Cyborg scared the life out of him when he came flying into the new wall. The icy tower of muddy liquid shattered into millions of tiny pieces around Cyborg as he landed bluntly on the pavement. Robin's eyes lit up and he ran to his mechanical friend.
"Cyborg, you okay?"
"Yeah, what you so happy about?" he groaned.
"I know how to stop it! Watch!" he replied and stood up, eyes on Raven. "Raven, look out!" he screamed seconds before launching another bomb into the air. It hit hard and nearly knocked Raven out of the sky, but got the desired effect, taking nearly half of what surrounded her. "Hit it!" he then instructed. Raven shrugged and did as told. Cyborg and Raven were elated with the results.
"That's totally awesome!" wailed Cyborg. Robin turned toward Beast Boy with another bomb at the ready only to find him sitting, sticky with gunk, but as fine as he had been earlier in the day. Funny, he thought that Beast Boy was in trouble. Maybe Starfire had managed to get rid of that nasty stuff without his bombs, but where was she? He turned to find the most horrorifying sight he'd ever laid his young eyes on. Starfire was frozen motionless in the air, her eyes dark and filled with tears while her hair whipped in the wind, slapping her cheeks with wet hair. Behind her had acculmated the remaining portions of the gunk in a gigantic towering villian on three fourths of her sides. She murmured weakly. Robin's jaw dropped open and the last breath huffed out of his chest. He couldn't hear Cyborg and Beast Boy screaming for her to move, she was right in the way of Robin's bomb! That much he heard.
"Starfire move! I can stop it!' he screamed and pleaded. Her emerald eyes were locked with his, her paling lips were gently moving. She was trying to tell him something, ask for something. Raven sent out her powers and held off the wave with her full force.
"Why isn't she moving?" worried Raven through gritted teeth.
"Starfire c'mon!" begged Beast Boy.
"She can't...she's paralyzed!" Robin sputtered. His brain had worked much faster than his mouth.
"Dude it can paralyze???"
"She'd...better get....UNparalyzed pretty soon! I'm losing---ah" retorted Raven before she was knocked backward and caught by Cyborg. "My grip," she finished as they watched the unbeatable swarm fall on their friend.
"NO!" screeched Robin, his hand reaching to save her but all too late. He watched his one true love, the red haired girl that was in his mind and heart every second of every day, as she went sailing over roof tops, motionless as a corpse. When they turned to attack the ooze, it was gone.
Starfire landed fiercely and rolled several feet through two trash cans. Her cold cheek pressed against the even colder concrete and the smells of rotting food filled her nose. She hadn't expected this when she went back in to save Beast Boy. The flaps parted and a puff of yellow smoke surrounded her. Now she lay in the back shadows of an alley, her friends not knowing where she was and her not knowing where her enemy was. She tried to activate a starbolt, but nothing happened. She was nothing more than a crumpled mess on the ground when she saw the fifty foot shadow piercing through the darkness and coming toward her. Her mind screamed for help, her heart screamed for Robin, but she didn't scream at all. She struggled violently against the gas that held her but could only manage a very faint twitching on the outside. Tears streamed down her face on their own. If she didn't drown in the rain puddles she was going to drown in the brown muck that was folowing her. She could feel it coming near her, every foot it advanced nearer, her fear renewed.
"EYAH!" A new voice echoed in the alleyway as a black figure stepped in between her and the ooze. He was accompanied by a bright blue light that streaked through the air and crashed into the ooze, stunning. But he wasn't done, he fired again, holding both hands in the air. Starfire watched him with wonder and curiousity as she felt her strength return. She sat up, eyes wide with confusion, as the last blue blast filled the air. He looked back over his shoulder at her with striking green eyes. His unruly spikey hair was hanging down in his face but his eyes were powerful enough to hit her through the shadows. He turned back seconds later, threw some sort of bomb, and then a blinding white light overtook them.
"Starfire! STARFIRE! Oh my god, I'm so glad you're okay!" Starfire peeked her eyes open slowly, still blinded by the light. The first thing she could see was the worried look of Robin's loving face.
"Robin?"
"oh thank god," he answered and hugged her. Starfire smiled despite herself.
"What has happened? Where did he go?" she asked.
"Who? The monster?" asked Cyborg.
"No, there was a boy here. He saved me with these blue lights and his eyes were bright green," she explained, rubbing her now red eyes.
"Well, we didn't see anybody and we think we got rid of all that crap that was attacking us. Whoever he is, I'm thankful to him," Robin replied seriously.
"But what was that creature?" pressed Starfire.
"Don't know, but I'm gonna run some tests on it," assured Cyborg. "For now at least, it's over."
"Then, can we go home now?" Raven and Robin smiled at her tired stretching. She was drenched with rain water, covered in trash, and there was a cut on her cheek, obviously from where she had landed. She looked ready to go home.
"Yeah, can we?" added Beast Boy.
"Sure, I'll call the police chief when we get back to the jet. Let's go home," said Robin as he extended a hand to Starfire. She smiled and accepted the attention. He guided her all the way back to the jet and then, once there, insisted that she lean on him as the titans climbed the flights of stairs to get to it.
Finally, they were safe from the rain, cold, but safe. Cyborg used the hyper drive to get home while Robin called the police with an update and Starfire fell asleep on her shoulder. Raven however was the one that put her to bed and Beast Boy ordered late night pizza for the whole group while Robin and the others caught a shower. Raven, away from everyone, declared a night of pizza and games in reward for what the long day they managed to survive.
Chapter Two
The Long Day is Over
It was raining...again. The third time this week. And yet, here they were, flying across town to a bank robbery at nine o'clock at night. Starfire and Raven flew while the boys took Cyborg's latest baby, the JetLag. He named it that because the last time they flew it Beast Boy fell asleep and Raven commented on how the plane must speed up time for him. Funny then, but not now. Now was time to be serious and because of that, Starfire said nothing about how much the wind was making her throat hurt. She flew on ahead of Raven and decided she'd better give this battle everything she had, otherwise she might loss everything. There wasn't any room for mistakes in this line of duty, she knew that from Robin's encounter with Slade several weeks ago. Sure he had won and it had resulted in their admitted emotions for one another, but Robin could have died and she could have lost him forever.
The starlight suddenly came out from behind a cloud and Raven could finally see clearly. She couldn't understand how on earth Starfire could see enough to plow so far ahead, but didn't question. There were innocents in danger and it was her job, all of their jobs, to put a stop to it. Raven pulled her hood down lower so that the rain was blocked from hitting her in the eye and pushed on, following the trail that Starfire was on. Inside the jet Cyborg glanced over at the girls while Robin worked away on watching coordinates.
"Dude, do the girls look like they're having trouble to you?" he asked. Robin didn't look away and answered:
"If they were, they'd be in here." Beast Boy however turned and nodded.
"Must be raining pretty hard. You know Raven, she'd be all stubborn and stuff and wouldn't come in if it was raining metal, but Starfire's still out there. S'probably not as bad as it looks," he assured. Cyborg nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, you're right." Robin and Beast Boy both jerked around to look at him with their jaws dangling open and eyes bulged. "What? What??"
"You just said I was right! I'm gonna have to write that down in my diary," Beast Boy answered with a singsong voice. Robin and Cyborg both raised an eyebrow. "It's a joke. You know, Ha ha."
"Sure, whatever you say!" replied Robin. Beast Boy tapped his fingers irritated, letting his frustration boil over. He was just about to come back when Cyborg put up a hand and caught their attention.
"We're on it!" he declared.
Starfire looked down beneath her for the millionth time. Flying when it was raining wasn't a pleasant experience and looking anywhere but forward took off some of the strain, but what caught her eye was the flashing lights down below. Red, blue, and yellow with many people crowded around a sidewalk. She looked over at Raven wordlessly, who had also caught the scene, and she nodded. Together they dived down toward the area while the jet took another route so they could land on a near by roof. The girls were landed on the sidewalk in a clearing, watching the glass of the bank doors when the police cheif came over to them.
"You the Teen Titans?"
"We are," answered Starfire.
"Thought there was more of you..."
"You the police chief?" asked Raven and the man nodded. "Thought you'd be smarter." The man's eyes narrowed and Starfire had to jump in to stop the oncoming slaughter.
"Raven! Do not be so rude!" she chuckled, running a hand through her drenched red hair. The droplets of water were steadily drizzling down her brow now, though she paid them no attention. Raven looked away from the police chief and concentrated on the feeling of each drop as it hit her cloak.
"The others are on their way..." she replied and then looked at Starfire. "Happy?"
"Very much so," she nodded with a large grin.
"Good, can we go now?" she asked.
"Wha! But we need you here! We can't stop----"the chief began to protest as the girls took to the air. Starfire was already headed toward the bank, but Raven lingered.
"We're not leaving..." she sighed and rolled her eyes as she headed after her friends. Sometimes she wondered why she lived here on this ridiculous planet with it's strangely stupid inhabitants. She rejoined Starfire as Robin and Cyborg and Beast Boy came crashed down from the roof overhead.
"Everyone here? Ready?" asked Robin. Starfire nodded.
"Yeah!" cheered Beast Boy. Robin nodded in acknowledgement and kicked down the door.
"Titans, MOVE OUT!" he screamed. Starfire flew higher than the others and charged in with Beast Boy on her tail, transformed into a raging bear, and Raven at her side. The four armed monster turned quickly, gun in one hand and several bags of money in the other. Raven knocked his gun away and Beast Boy went to knock him over when he dodged and Beast Boy crashed into a clerk's counter. Robin landed a harsh kick right between the creature's eyes and it stumbled back, giving Beast Boy the opportunity to trip it up by bending down behind it's legs. The criminal crashed to the ground and a shrill woman's scream echoed through the room.
"A woman?" questioned Cyborg.
"She must've been the teller," concluded Raven.
"Starfire! Get her out of here!" ordered Robin. Starfire nodded and dove down to retrieve the woman. Yet, it must not have been her luck, for the woman's second terrified scream came at her the exact same time as the enemy leapt back to his feet. She couldn't tell the difference and heard Cyborg's outcry to 'look out' a minute too late to avoid the cannon ball fist that landed squarely in the middle of her back and splattered her on the floor.
"Starfire?!" yelped Robin.
"Star!" agreed Beast Boy.
"Oh, man. You gonna pay for that!" barked Cyborg as he fired his first blaster and Robin rushed in underneath it to Starfire's side. Raven and Beast Boy took up the slack and distracted the freak.
"Starfire, Starfire are you alright?" Robin's voice was coming to her ears muffled and weak.
"Robin?" she questioned and opened her eyes. They were hazy and wet from rain but she could see Robin's worried face nonetheless. "Oh, Robin."
"Hey, you okay?" Starfire sat up and rubbed her head to get rid of the haze. Once her eyes were straightened she turned back to look at him again.
"Yes, I believe I am. Are you?"
"Yea, I'm good," he laughed and stood, helping her stand. Starfire grinned and then noticed that Beast Boy was dangling by his ankle and was being used to beat Cyborg while Raven continually shielded both of them from harm. Robin turned and saw the same thing. "*gasp* Better get to it, huh?" he smirked and took off toward them. "Hurry, we need you!" he added. Starfire turned and rushed to the woman who was curled up on the floor. She hesitated at the sight of the trembling woman and felt her heart breaking. She was so scared and so worried about her life and Starfire knew how that felt. She rested a soft and warm hand on top of the lady's head to assure her that she was safe and was returned with large relieved eyes.
"Please come with me and I'll take you to safety," she smiled. Robin twirled and collided with the monster's elbow, crippling it inward for a split second. That was when he spotted Starfire carrying the woman carefully out of the battle.
"Robin! LOOK OUT!" shouted Raven. Robin's head jerked in time to toss his body weight back and away from the melting lump of disgusting ooze. The four armed monster that had once held Beast Boy by the ankle was now engulfing him completely.
"HELP!" he whimpered and waved his arms radically. Cyborg and Robin went to jump to his rescue but were stopped by Raven.
"I know, you wanna help him, but we don't know what's going on!" she explained. Cyborg took a deep breath as he watched his best friend dissolving away in only God knew what. Robin growled, watching his friend scream for help in the constantly swimming gell. Starfire however, came in too late and all she saw were her friends leaving Beast Boy out to dry.
"*GASP* BEAST BOY!" she wailed and blasted toward him.
"Starfire no!" Robin called, but she was already at him and had a firm grip around his hand. Beast Boy clung to her and struggled violently while she pulled with all her might.
"How could you not help him?" she questioned. Robin threw away any worries he had and ran up behind her. Wrapping his arms around her waist he pulled at her with all his might.
"Now this is more like it!" cheered Cyborg who started to blast away at the muck. Raven levitated into the air over the scene and watched intently. This wasn't any normal enemy and leave it to Starfire to be the lead in fighting with her heart. Beast Boy was coming loose though. His head was now visible and he was breathing in huffs and puffs.
"MAN THAT'S GROSS!" he whined.
"Please, help us," Starfire groaned as she pulled. Beast Boy looked at her as if he had forgotten they were still helping him.
"Oh yeah," he grinned and continued kicking toward Starfire's grip. But Starfire's wet skin and dripping hair were now working against her to make her hands slippery. She held tighter, hoping that she wouldn't lose her grip. When she realized she couldn't hold on much longer she looked to Raven.
"Raven help. I can---ugh--no longer hold him!" she begged seconds before she and Robin crashed to the ground some distance away from the gunk. Raven's powers held him instantly, letting him slip only a little, but the monster was pulling harder.
"Damn...I can't hold him long either," thought Raven as she fought against herself to hold him too tight. His life could be in her hands now and she wasn't about to lose a friend. She'd have to just jolt him free, but that could be dangerous for all the people surrounding them. Unless the others could get rid of everyone outside. "Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, get rid of everyone outside!" she demanded. Starfire and Cyborg turned from fighting the muck off of Beast Boy.
"Why? Is something the matter?" asked Starfire.
"Just do it!" she snapped. Starfire blinked.
"C'mon Star, we'd better hurry," urged Robin. It took them mere minutes to have the street cleared and people in their homes and now they stood staring at the bank where their two remaining friends remained fighting. The rain was now running over Robin's cheeks and tinkling off of the armor on Cyborg's shoulders as they watched. Starfire held her hands to her heart, hoping and praying that her friends would make it out alive. That was when she and the two boys around her were blinded by a dark light and Raven's voice carried through the rain. Everything seemed to stop.
"OUCH! Couldn't you be a little more gentle?" complained Beast Boy. Starfire peeked her eyes open and saw her best green friend planted on his butt before her in the rain.
"WONDEROUS! YOU ARE ALIVE!" she piped and jumped on him, hugging his neck tightly. Cyborg and Robin opened their eyes later, taking longer to adjust to the dimmer light. Beast Boy was struggling in a wet Starfire's arms and Raven stood ahead of them, still facing the bank.
"Hey---Star----uh---can't---breathe---need----breath!" stammered Beast Boy. His legs looked like octapus legs, fighting to be free. Robin grinned at her and knelt down to tap on her orange shoulder. Her skin, even in the rain was soft and spongy.
"Hey, uh Starfire, Beast Boy kinda needs to breath," he said. Starfire's eyes widened and she grinned innocently as she released the struggling boy from her arms.
"I am sorry Beast Boy I was just so happy to see you alive," she blushed. Beast Boy rubbed his painful neck and stretched his shoulders.
"Don't worry bout it...." he nodded and then whispered heavily on Robin's ear, "I owe you one!"
"Hey uh, guys?" interrupted Raven. Cyborg walked over next to her.
"Yeah? Sup?"
"This...isn't over," she replied as the bank windows filled with brown liguid. Starfire gasped and covered her mouth while Beast Boy ducked behind her.
"Geez! I hate that stuff!" he shuddered.
"You're not alone," agreed Robin seriously.
"How do we defeat it if it only gets bigger?" wondered Starfire. Raven shrugged with one of her only comical expressions.
"Hell if I know," she answered. The group hit the floor in an anime fall. "But we've got to figure it out," she added. Robin tapped his fingers on his forehead.
"Now that's more like the Raven we know," he said as his shook his head.
"Heeeeeere it comes!" warned Cyborg as he prepared for a coming onslaught.
The Teen Titans leapt into their fighting stances, on the ready for anything that came toward them. Even if Beast Boy was hidden somewhat behind Starfire and the others. Starfire readied some starbolts and Robin some explosives, while Raven quietly repeated her chant and Cyborg scanned for possible weaknesses. They didn't move, not noticing that the rain was beginning to come down even harder than before.
"Anything?" asked Robin. Cyborg shook his head no. Just then all the glass in the lower level of the bank shattered and brown slush poured out. They leapt out of the way and watched as it sprouted nearly twenty arms, waving in the air omniously. Robin gulped harshly. "Titans! Attack!"
Five powerful teenagers shot through the air aimed for either victory or destruction and pain. The latter weighed heavily on their minds, but they fought with their strongest nonetheless. Raven's chants were becoming more and more irritated, Cyborg kept getting slammed into a wall, and Robin's best attacks were getting caught in the muck. Only Starfire's bolts seemed to keep it away, even if it was only by a few feet. She, however, was spending her time keeping Beast Boy out of the muddy substance that seemed to want to suck him under every few seconds.
"This icky goo is becoming thoroughly frustrating," she grunted as she fired two more shots. Robin kicked another shot and felt his other foot come out from underneath him. He yelped in shock attracting Starfire's vital attention. "*gasp* ROBIN!" In seconds she was at his side, blasting away the brown wave.
"STAR!" shrieked Beast Boy from where she had been earlier. She turned around to see him sinking within the gunk as though it were quick sand.
"Beast Boy!" she started as she headed his direction, but a cry from Cyborg as he collided repeatedly with a wall distracted her.
"Hey Star!"
"Star!"
"Starfire!"
"Help!!" Starfire froze where she hovered and her eyes went blank. Everyone needed her, her friends, they were all in dire danger and only she could save them. Only she could help them, but she could only help them one at a time. They needed her now. Starfire's eyes followed her friends every movement. She knew she couldn't stop the killer ooze, but they were depending on her. "Stauff--" attempted Beast Boy before he quickly went under. Starfire shrieked and darted to the ooze pulling on it with starbolts around her hands. She managed a grip but then it formed a giant arm and before she could get her friend free it knocked her harshly away.
Robin tossed one of his old battarangs, hoping it would do something the other newer version couldn't. That was when he realized he'd thrown a ice-cryogen bomb that Batman had taught him to make. It made a spectacular explosion and the towering wave that threatened to overwhelm him suddenly stopped and turned a paler color. Robin's eyes darted from left to right. It stopped. He was safe! And that was probably why Cyborg scared the life out of him when he came flying into the new wall. The icy tower of muddy liquid shattered into millions of tiny pieces around Cyborg as he landed bluntly on the pavement. Robin's eyes lit up and he ran to his mechanical friend.
"Cyborg, you okay?"
"Yeah, what you so happy about?" he groaned.
"I know how to stop it! Watch!" he replied and stood up, eyes on Raven. "Raven, look out!" he screamed seconds before launching another bomb into the air. It hit hard and nearly knocked Raven out of the sky, but got the desired effect, taking nearly half of what surrounded her. "Hit it!" he then instructed. Raven shrugged and did as told. Cyborg and Raven were elated with the results.
"That's totally awesome!" wailed Cyborg. Robin turned toward Beast Boy with another bomb at the ready only to find him sitting, sticky with gunk, but as fine as he had been earlier in the day. Funny, he thought that Beast Boy was in trouble. Maybe Starfire had managed to get rid of that nasty stuff without his bombs, but where was she? He turned to find the most horrorifying sight he'd ever laid his young eyes on. Starfire was frozen motionless in the air, her eyes dark and filled with tears while her hair whipped in the wind, slapping her cheeks with wet hair. Behind her had acculmated the remaining portions of the gunk in a gigantic towering villian on three fourths of her sides. She murmured weakly. Robin's jaw dropped open and the last breath huffed out of his chest. He couldn't hear Cyborg and Beast Boy screaming for her to move, she was right in the way of Robin's bomb! That much he heard.
"Starfire move! I can stop it!' he screamed and pleaded. Her emerald eyes were locked with his, her paling lips were gently moving. She was trying to tell him something, ask for something. Raven sent out her powers and held off the wave with her full force.
"Why isn't she moving?" worried Raven through gritted teeth.
"Starfire c'mon!" begged Beast Boy.
"She can't...she's paralyzed!" Robin sputtered. His brain had worked much faster than his mouth.
"Dude it can paralyze???"
"She'd...better get....UNparalyzed pretty soon! I'm losing---ah" retorted Raven before she was knocked backward and caught by Cyborg. "My grip," she finished as they watched the unbeatable swarm fall on their friend.
"NO!" screeched Robin, his hand reaching to save her but all too late. He watched his one true love, the red haired girl that was in his mind and heart every second of every day, as she went sailing over roof tops, motionless as a corpse. When they turned to attack the ooze, it was gone.
Starfire landed fiercely and rolled several feet through two trash cans. Her cold cheek pressed against the even colder concrete and the smells of rotting food filled her nose. She hadn't expected this when she went back in to save Beast Boy. The flaps parted and a puff of yellow smoke surrounded her. Now she lay in the back shadows of an alley, her friends not knowing where she was and her not knowing where her enemy was. She tried to activate a starbolt, but nothing happened. She was nothing more than a crumpled mess on the ground when she saw the fifty foot shadow piercing through the darkness and coming toward her. Her mind screamed for help, her heart screamed for Robin, but she didn't scream at all. She struggled violently against the gas that held her but could only manage a very faint twitching on the outside. Tears streamed down her face on their own. If she didn't drown in the rain puddles she was going to drown in the brown muck that was folowing her. She could feel it coming near her, every foot it advanced nearer, her fear renewed.
"EYAH!" A new voice echoed in the alleyway as a black figure stepped in between her and the ooze. He was accompanied by a bright blue light that streaked through the air and crashed into the ooze, stunning. But he wasn't done, he fired again, holding both hands in the air. Starfire watched him with wonder and curiousity as she felt her strength return. She sat up, eyes wide with confusion, as the last blue blast filled the air. He looked back over his shoulder at her with striking green eyes. His unruly spikey hair was hanging down in his face but his eyes were powerful enough to hit her through the shadows. He turned back seconds later, threw some sort of bomb, and then a blinding white light overtook them.
"Starfire! STARFIRE! Oh my god, I'm so glad you're okay!" Starfire peeked her eyes open slowly, still blinded by the light. The first thing she could see was the worried look of Robin's loving face.
"Robin?"
"oh thank god," he answered and hugged her. Starfire smiled despite herself.
"What has happened? Where did he go?" she asked.
"Who? The monster?" asked Cyborg.
"No, there was a boy here. He saved me with these blue lights and his eyes were bright green," she explained, rubbing her now red eyes.
"Well, we didn't see anybody and we think we got rid of all that crap that was attacking us. Whoever he is, I'm thankful to him," Robin replied seriously.
"But what was that creature?" pressed Starfire.
"Don't know, but I'm gonna run some tests on it," assured Cyborg. "For now at least, it's over."
"Then, can we go home now?" Raven and Robin smiled at her tired stretching. She was drenched with rain water, covered in trash, and there was a cut on her cheek, obviously from where she had landed. She looked ready to go home.
"Yeah, can we?" added Beast Boy.
"Sure, I'll call the police chief when we get back to the jet. Let's go home," said Robin as he extended a hand to Starfire. She smiled and accepted the attention. He guided her all the way back to the jet and then, once there, insisted that she lean on him as the titans climbed the flights of stairs to get to it.
Finally, they were safe from the rain, cold, but safe. Cyborg used the hyper drive to get home while Robin called the police with an update and Starfire fell asleep on her shoulder. Raven however was the one that put her to bed and Beast Boy ordered late night pizza for the whole group while Robin and the others caught a shower. Raven, away from everyone, declared a night of pizza and games in reward for what the long day they managed to survive.