Shellshocked

Chapter 9 "Catch 22"

------

"Great. Broken mirror. Now what do we do?"

Cyborg picked up the damaged mirror and frowned at it, apparently thinking. Then, turning to his agitated companion he said in a resigned tone, "We have no choice, we need Robin's help now…"

Beast Boy's eyes nearly fell out of its sockets, "We can't do that! Don't you remember how psycho he went when he saw Star?"

Cyborg stared hard at him, his face one of determination, "Well, he's just going to have to get over it. Starfire's going to be fine, she always bounces back more energetic than before. She's like the human version of a tank…well, somewhat human…I think…"

Beast Boy's lips trembled, " I don't know, dude. I always get kinda scared when Robin is mad…"

"You're just going to have to get kinda brave then, because were going to go see Robin now." With that, Cyborg turned around and walked out of the ravage that was Raven's room. After a moment's whimper, Beast Boy followed him, head bowed as if he was walking to a funeral…

----

Meanwhile, Raven was afraid that a funeral is exactly what she was going to get if she didn't stop Terra and get out of her own mind.

And Raven has always liked funerals….

Curse that girl for taking the joy out of death…

She looked over at her allies, the only two emotions that were not taken over by Anger, and all she could think was: What a joke, how am I going to beat my strongest emotions, plus Terra, and get control of my body back with just Love and Fear at my side? What am I supposed to do, smother them with affection or something?

"Just leave that up to me."

Raven was shaken out of her thoughts by the squeaky voice of Love. She looked over at them staring closely at her.

"Wel-welcome b-back, I s-see that y-you got your m-m-message through." Fear managed to stutter out.

"Yeah, I hope it does some good. " Raven said, getting to her feet. "If it doesn't, I'm screwed."

Love jumped up and attached itself to Raven's hand, swinging on it as if it was a rope. "Remember, you always have us to back you up."

Raven's face was a picture of embarrassment. "Please don't do that."

Love's response was a resounding "Whee!"

Raven finally managed to pry the little Love off her arm when suddenly she felt someone take a hold of her once more, "Love, I told you not to-"

She was cut off by a sinister laugh that would make the happiest person melt into a sappy puddle. Raven turned only to find herself face to face with Anger again.

"I despise all love." It told her, showing off a pointy, razor-sharp smile, " In fact, I got it right here, waiting for me to tear it to shreds."

Anger moved so she can see Love being dangled upside down by both Happy and Gross, the two emotions that Raven definitely didn't want anything to do with right now. But Love was apparently oblivious to the danger it was in; it was laughing and enjoying itself as if nothing was wrong, that all was right in the world.

Raven only wished she could be as carefree. She looked into the eyes of Anger and sensed that it was deadly serious. It may only just change the other emotions into something evil like itself, but it may truly kill the underdeveloped Love. She could only think of one thing to do…

"Okay Anger, what do you want from me?" She asked, hoping to save one of the only emotions that were still on her side.

It smiled at her once more, then turned to its army and said "Hold her down…"

----

Meanwhile, in the real world, Beast Boy and Cyborg were bracing themselves to confront Robin. They felt ready for anything, well, Cyborg felt ready, and Beast Boy was just ready to run before the bird boy's volatile temper explodes. Either way they were finally going into the main room where Robin was with the still unconscious Starfire.

"Robin, we need to talk to you." Cyborg said, announcing his and Beast Boy's arrival.

Robin was in front of the tower window, looking out at the whole of Gotham City, one of the many conveniences of having a tower placed right in the middle of the ocean. "I don't want to talk right now…"

"That's right, you just want to brood over what happened to Star." Cyborg replied, standing behind the couch where the still from of Starfire was lying.

Robin turned around, his expression extremely angry, "You know that was no accident," he told Cyborg, who was staring at him without expression, "She tried to kill Star, and she did this all in front of us. She finally cracked…"

"Since when did Raven just became 'she' instead?" Beast Boy asked, finally brave enough to join in the conversation, "And how did you know we came to talk to you about her?"

"What else did you two want to talk about? I knew that you guys felt I was too harsh with her, but what else could I have done? She has become dangerous to all of us now."

"Does this mean that you are going to keep her locked up in there forever? What happened to all of us being friends? Don't you even want to help us help her?" Cyborg asked.

Robin just stared at him for a moment before repeating "Help?"

"Yes, help, she asked us right now when we were outside the white room."

"Are you sure that was Raven?"

Cyborg was confused, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, are you sure that wasn't her father that had spoken to you just then?"

Beast Boy and Cyborg exchanged a look before Beast Boy asked in a hushed tone "You knew?"

"Yes, I knew. Look if you guys are sure that was Raven then-" Robin was interrupted by a beep from the Titan two-way. Automatically, the screen came down showing a map of the city and the red dot that showed where the trouble spot was.

Robin looked closely at it for a moment, then turned to the others, and said, " Trouble, Let's go." But Cyborg and Beast Boy just stood there, staring at him.

"Well?" said Robin impatiently.

"What about Raven?" Cyborg asked.

"What about her? We can deal with it later, the city comes first, you know that."

"No, we can't. Raven may die before were done crime fighting. If you know about Raven's father, then you know what he is capable of doing."

Robin buried his face in frustration. "We can't ignore what's happening. There are people in Gotham waiting for us to save them and you want to skirt around our duties to this town. Raven is perfectly capable of handling whatever is going on with her right now, and besides how are we going to get to her if all this is going on in her mind?"

Beast Boy blinked in thought, then he turned to Cyborg saying, "That's true, the mirror's broken, how are we going to get to her?"

Cyborg suddenly looked around at the door. "Uh, Cyborg? Um, are you okay?" Beast Boy asked him with worry in his voice.

Cyborg turned back suddenly, making Beast Boy jump. "I have a feeling something is going on in Raven's room. If we hurry, we might save Raven and the city all in time."

Beast Boy then stared at Robin, who was clearly frustrated with all this. On the couch, unbeknown to anyone, Starfire stirred slightly, turning around to face the couch.

Cyborg saw that Robin was conflicted, but he knew that Robin is very stubborn too. If he had it his way, he would ignore Raven and go out into the city. Lucky for Cyborg, he was also very stubborn and wouldn't let Raven die for nothing. He had one last arsenal up his sleeve, so to speak, to convince Robin to help Raven.

It was his only hope…

"You know Star would want to go help Raven in her time of need, no matter what she done to her. She would've reminded you that Raven is still our friend, and we all depend on each other. The Titans are not all about you, you know. We all run the show…"

Everyone in the room waited anxiously as Robin crossed the living room to look out the window once more, awaiting his fateful decision…