Teen Titans – Dangerous Dance

The Search -

A/N: Sorry that I've been leaving you hanging for so long, but it seems that writers blocks are my specialty. Raven isn't exactly easy for me to write, it's a little hard to get into the way she thinks and still make it work with the situation, so please don't start throwing flames at me if I fail with her character miserably. Other than that, I'll see you next chapter.

After the blinding light had passed, Cyborg and Beast Boy found a dark- colored magic field covering them, then slowly shrinking back to Raven. She had used it to repel the debris from the house and the power of the blast. Amazingly, Raven and Beast Boy had found Cyborg in time for Raven to shield him as well.

Raven looked around her. All that was left of the beautiful mansion that they had occupied only half an hour before, was a towering heap of wood, plastic, marble, plaster, and various other materials. She could tell, that the people they were after did not bluff. They had set a bomb...and it went off. She looked at the wreckage in silent shock for a moment. Although her face was fully emotionless, as always, she could feel hatred and anger coursing through every vein in her body. It wasn't that this was so terrible that bothered Raven so much, as the fact that Robin and Starfire were still in the collapsed house, and she wasn't sure that even they could stand up to a bomb if an entire building collapsed on them. She saw Beast Boy and Cyborg gaping at the massacre with hollow, unbelieving expressions. After a moment or so, Cyborg's shock caught up with him and he started to walk towards the rubble, wanting desperately to dig out his friends.

It was then, however, that a sharp voice broke the silence. "No. We need to find Sigg, Haget, and Cole. They might still be around here somewhere."

Beast Boy and Cyborg looked around to see Raven standing behind them with her arms folded and a cross look on her face, which was only amplified by her fanned hair and makeup. Beast Boy looked as if he was going to start drooling over Raven again, and Cyborg swore that he could read a look of disgust on her face for a moment, but it did not linger.

"Not before we find Starfire and Robin," Cyborg said sternly turning back around to the rubble.

"Yes, Cyborg, even before we look for Starfire and Robin. We need to find and catch the people who did this before it happens again," Raven stated solidly.

Beast Boy gaped at Raven. He had no idea that Raven could be a leader of any kind. He had always taken her as someone who would reluctantly go along with anything. He had to admit, most of the time she didn't show any interest in being the leader of the group. For the most part, Raven was the quiet one and Robin gave the orders, but he had always wondered who would take over if Robin was gone and Starfire wasn't there to jump into the role. He had always figured that Cyborg would be giving the orders then, but it was obvious in this situation that Cyborg was the one taking orders, not giving them.

Raven unfolded her arms and hovered off the ground slightly. "Lets go." It was then very obvious that her decision to chase after the criminals they were looking for, was final. Neither Cyborg nor Beast Boy made any move to try and contradict her decision. Each was too surprised, angry, and tired to try going against her wishes.

Raven had traveled smoothly and silently for a good ten minutes before she finally found Sigg. Sigg was a dirty-brown haired young man with a muscular body. His T-shirt was either blue or black, being not very visible in the dark. He also wore what looked like a kind of mid-green colored pants and heavily worn black tennis shoes.

Raven magically picked up a trash can, pelting it in Sigg's direction. When Sigg dodged this, she picked up a nearby sign post and flung it in his direction. All her anger was making it hard for her to aim correctly, making the sign post miss Sigg by nearly a foot even without him melting it with the fire that shot from his eyes.

"Is that the best you can do?" Sigg taunted.

Raven remained silent as she broke up a few huge pieces of cement from a condemned building nearby. She flung this at him as he tried to reach her. three hundred pounds of solid concrete hit Sigg at full force. Raven could feel her anger recede slightly as she heard a loud crack when Sigg hit the pavement under him. She winced, then lifted the concrete piece off of Sigg like someone would lift a shoe off of a cockroach after squashing it. She could see the young man's chest rise and fall rapidly. Slight relief swept over her to see that she had not seriously injured or killed the young man. She landed lightly on the ground and examined her prey. It was obvious that he could not easily move without pain. Satisfied, Raven picked up her com and pressed the "call police" button on it.

Beast Boy sneaked up in a bush in the form of a cricket, silently watching Haget. Haget was a blonde headed young man of no more than thirteen. He was wearing a black short-sleeved T-shirt and jeans as he stood silently with his hands on his knees. It was obvious that the young man had been running, and thought that he was now safe from anyone that might try to track him. Beast Boy watched as the boy straightened himself and started walking away. It was then that Beast Boy had turned into a green dove and flew to the front of the boy, landing there.

When the boy didn't notice him, he turned back into himself. Getting a terrified reaction out of the young blonde, he laughed before moving on to what he was here for. Having his fun, he got down to business by turning into a tiger and launching himself forward. He was surprised, however, when Haget set off something that made a great deal of smoke, cloud Beast Boy's vision for a moment. Turning back into himself again, Beast Boy fell to the ground coughing for a moment. After the smoke cleared, he saw the young blonde getting away. He turned into a hawk and took off after the boy again. Then catching up with the boy again, he landed and turned into a crocodile. When the young blonde saw this, his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell flat on his back. Beast Boy turned back into himself and let out a laugh. Still laughing, he took out his com and punched the button that read, "call police."

A street lamp was showing dimly overhead as Cyborg stood like a road block in front of the girl who was called Cole, but he guessed that she had another name sometime back that was something more feminine. The girl was sixteen at most. Her emerald eyes glowed in the light of the street lamp as she fidgeted with her complete black leather suit. Even in the blazing summer heat, all her cloths were long—long sleeves, long pants, knee-high boots, and the classic, black gloves to complete her look.

The girl's long, jet black hair waved and shined as she broke into a run at Cyborg, who was standing in front of her. Wire, coming from her black leather shirt somewhere, caught Cyborg by his wrist as she flung it at him. When Cyborg mad a grab for her with his other hand she dodged it so easily that he could have swore she already knew what move he was going to make. He tried grabbing her once more by the collar of her shirt, but she did a sort of back flip, landing with one hand touching the pavement. In doing so, she pulled Cyborg forward, flat onto the pavement.

Cyborg couldn't help thinking that if Robin were here to help fight her, things would be much simpler. He shoved the thought aside and put his mind back into the current circumstances. Cyborg picked himself up off the pavement and ran towards her again, grabbing the wire around his wrist with his other hand. Then swerving his direction at the last moment. The result was encouraging. Cole had tried to dodge his attack, but ended up running right into it. She fell backwards on the pavement, and was so shocked for a moment that it gave Cyborg enough time to wrap the wire between them around her wrists, acting as handcuffs. Cole kicked and screamed at him in rage, but Cyborg only smiled. He unwrapped the wire from his own wrist and picked up his com. Then still looking very attentively at the black haired girl, he pressed the "call police" button on his com, waiting patiently for an answer.

It was five A.M. before all the Teen Titans, except for Starfire and Robin, were safely home. Cyborg had wanted to look for Starfire and Robin right away, but in the end they all agreed that being exhausted and angry as they all currently were, wouldn't help find anyone.

"Besides," Beast Boy pointed out, "We don't even know where to look. The house was huge, remember?"

"And if I know Robin, he wouldn't have wanted us to lose sleep over this," Raven stated gravely.

Reluctantly, with a feeling of guilt that they got to sleep in their own beds while Robin and Starfire did not, just as the sun started coming up, they all finally fell asleep.

By noon, the Titan Tower was completely empty once again. They were all on their way to the rubble of the mansion that they had been in only the night before. Each thought that they would find Robin and Starfire by the end of the day with no problem, but as they reached the grounded mansion it was very clear that they had been very wrong. There were rescue crews crawling all over the rubble. Some taking people out of it that were just under the surface of the rubble, others had rescue dogs, and others still were just ordinary people wanting to help. They could see the owner of the mansion standing next to police, talking to them. It had been obvious that she was not in the building when it collapsed, the Titans had made sure of that. However, it didn't look as if there was any sign of Robin or Starfire yet.

Within seconds the remaining Teen Titans had gotten to work. Raven was magically lifting ruble off the pile, a few pieces at a time, as to make sure not to lift anyone up with it. Cyborg was picking up pieces of concrete and marble, and throwing them to the side of the grounded mansion. Beast Boy had turned himself into a dog and was searching over the rubble with his nose pressed to it. Occasionally, he would look up and change into himself saying that he had found someone, but it had never turned out to be Robin or Starfire.

At the end of the day when they were all frustrated, hungry, and tired once again, they made their way reluctantly back to the Titan Tower. They each had silently hoped that Robin and Starfire would be waiting for them when they got back, that they had found a way out somehow, but in all reality, the Titan Tower was dark and silent when they got back. Dinner was completely silent and no one spoke as they headed to their rooms trying to make themselves sleep.

In the end it was a futile task, and one by one each of them snuck out of the silent Titan Tower, and somehow found themselves digging at rubble in the dark. They could see the night rescue crews working along side them. The place was crawling with people trying to help dig the victims of the explosion out, but other than the occasional "over here, I found someone" or "This one's still alive, get him to the hospital," there was little talk once so ever.

The thought of what Robin and Starfire must be doing at this moment if they were still alive, crossed Raven's mind more than once that night. However, she also refused to believe that any Teen Titan, least of all Starfire and Robin could be killed so easily. But then why weren't they here with the rest of them, now? Had one of them been badly injured? She knew that, combined, Robin's and Starfire's abilities, in any normal circumstances, were next to unbeatable. Sure, Cyborg and Robin paired up a lot and Starfire like pairing up with Beast Boy regularly, but Robin and Starfire could throw a pretty good punch all by themselves, and they were next to unbeatable when they were together. It was this fact that bothered Raven most about Robin and Starfire not making it out of the rubble by themselves.

The night wore on and too soon, the early morning light was peaking over the horizon to shine it happy warm light on them. The beautiful warm sunshine was something that felt to Raven, very unnatural and cruel at this time.

Another day passed with not finding Robin or Starfire. Just as Raven was beginning to despair slightly, Beast Boy walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. It was a simple gesture of kindness that, for some reason, touched Raven very deeply and made her want to cry. The sun sunk again, leaving darkness behind.

"We'll find them Raven. Don't worry, we'll find them," Beast Boy said to her with a respectful smile on his face.

Raven nodded and continued clearing rubble. So came another sleepless night for the three young Teen Titans. It was then that they all vowed to not sleep again until Starfire and Robin were found. The darkness was silent as the same process was repeated again.