Chapter 2: Give and Take

The Teen Titans were awakened the next morning to the sounds of their emergency siren going off. The teens scrambled for the living room, Cyborg and Beast Boy arriving on foot and the girls dropping down out of the air in front of the view screen. The living room looked like it had been a recent battle zone.

"Whoah," Raven intoned, making the first sound of the morning.

"What happened?" murmured Beast Boy.

"Where's Robin?" asked Cyborg. Starfire gasped two seconds later as she launched herself across the room to pick up a round object with a black and white T printed on it.

"Robin! What has happened to you?" Starfire cried. Raven knelt and bent down the examine a stain on the living room floor. She looked up, giving Beast Boy, Starfire and Cyborg a completely serious look.

"This is not good. Not good at all. Guys, this is blood," Raven said gravely.

"Whatever came through here made its own door," Cyborg said, looking toward the windows.

"What was your first clue?" Raven replied, dryly. The gaping hole in the front of Titans Tower and the shards of shattered glass had given the kids every indication that whatever had broken in was both powerful and huge.

Raven stood and went to one of the several computer terminals on one side of the room.

"I'll start with his locator chip. It's got to be on him," Raven said, her nimble fingers clicking the keys of the computer.

"Um...Rae?" Cyborg interrupted. Raven and Starfire turned to see that Cyborg was holding up Robin's utility belt, and with it, all hope of quickly finding out what had become of their fearless leader.

"No!" wailed Starfire. "This is not right! Who would attack us like this? Why would they take Robin?"

"What makes you think he was kidnapped?" Beast Boy asked.

"Where would he go without us?" Cyborg replied.

"And where would he go without his belt or one of the vehicles. If he was in pursuit, he would have taken the motorcycle," Raven replied.

Starfire dropped to her knees on the floor, still clutching Robin's communicator. Tears brimmed in her eyes.

"Oh, Robin, where are you?" She whimpered softly.

"We're not gonna find him by moping around here," said Cyborg, extending his hand to Starfire and helping her up. "Can I get a Booyah?" The others grinned with determination and willingly shouted along with him.

"BOOYAH! TITANS, GO!"

"Split up and search! Start with the major sites in each sector and fan out! Cyborg, sectors one through three!" Raven ordered, sailing high into the air as they approached the city. Cyborg's voice transmitted loud and clear, "You got it, Raven!" He gunned the T-Car and it disappeared around a corner.

"Beast Boy, take sectors four and five!" Raven called.

"I'm on it, sweet cheeks!" he replied, knowing full well that he'd pay for it when he got home. He morphed into a hawk and shrieked as he swept the opposite direction and accelerated.

"Starfire, sectors six and seven!" Raven cried.

"Acknowledged!" Starfire replied.

"I'll take sectors eight through ten and meet you back at the Tower. Rendezvous in no more than three hours! Check in every thirty minutes starting now, we don't need to lose anyone else!" Raven shouted. With this, the last thing Raven saw before she turned off for her section of the city was Starfire's nod of comprehension before she too made for the far side of town.

Half an hour later, Raven's communicator crackled to life.

"Checkin' in, Rae! Still no sign of Robin!"

"What's happenin', hot stuff? I just called to say I love you! Get it? Ha! Ha! Oh, and I haven't seen Robin either."

"Starfire checking in!"

"Acknowledged, Teen Titans. Keep searching, guys. He's got to be out there somewhere. Raven out!" Raven replied. Stopping to rest on the roof of a tall skyscraper, Raven took a deep breath of the cool morning air and thought she sensed something vaguely....

WHACK!

Raven gasped as she was suddenly thrown from the rooftops and began to tumble toward the earth. Catching herself with her powers of levitation, Raven soared back into the sky to ascertain the identity of her attacker. When she reached the roof again, Raven gasped. One of the Hive Academy's top students, Jinx, stood defiantly on the off white roof tiles.

"Sorry about that. I didn't know any other way to get your attention from way up there," Jinx said as Raven touched down on the roof.

"Give me one more excuse to send you to another dimension," Raven growled.

"You wanna find Robin?" Jinx replied, an arrogant smile still plastered to her pale face.

"What do you know about this?" Raven sneered.

"I know where he's being held. If you want to know, you'll help me," Jinx replied.

"I don't negotiate with criminals," Raven said, her hands crackling with black energy.

"I want out, Raven. I don't want this life anymore. Something happened to me that week that Cyborg went to the academy with us. Something I didn't think was possible," Jinx explained.

"You mean, getting him to wear a frilly pink dress? We accomplished that long before you ever met him," Raven replied.

"No, you 'Carrie' wanna be. He changed me. I know if I try to get out on my own it won't work. If Brother Blood doesn't kill me, Slade will. You guys already know the prize his agents pay if they try to get out once they seal the deal," Jinx said, turning her back to Raven. "Besides, you wouldn't understand..."

"Understand what?" Raven asked, suddenly interested in what she had to say. There were some things that, between girls, went without saying.

"I...I like him. Cyborg. I really like him. Enough to eighty-six this band of bozos and jump ship. Will you help me?" Jinx asked. Raven liked to think she was an uncanny judge of character and this time there seemed to be genuine validity to the petite sorceress' words. Raven backed the pig-tailed spellbinder against the roof-top air conditioner and stood close enough to feel Jinx's heart pound.

"You have precisely one chance. Endanger my friends once—just once, and I will not hesitate to introduce you to my father," Raven growled. Jinx shuddered. She had heard about the last would-be villain that met with Trigon, Raven's father. He currently resided in a padded room. Jinx extended her small hand to grasp Raven's. Raven cautiously took it.

"You're with me. Take me to Robin," Raven said coolly.

"Try to keep up," Jinx smiled, taking off into the still rising sun.