"She's waking up again Cy, get over here!"

"How's she doing? Anymore..."

"Donno, she seems pretty calm... maybe she's finally out of it."

"Ugh..." Starfire groaned. Above her Cyborg raised an arm to protect his face while Beast Boy morphed into a turtle and took shelter in his shell. She blinked at them then asked groggily, "Guh... huh?"

Starfire was having a hard time remembering how she got to her room, or why she fell asleep upside down. (The strange fluffly bag was tucked under her head while her feet dangled over the edge.)

Cyborg lowered his arm and glanced at Beast Boy who changed back to his normal form in turn. "You feeling ok?" the half metal Titan ask as he put a steadying hand on Starfire's shoulder.

"I was not ok?"

"You gave us a few scares back there..." Beast Boy scratched the back of his head and smiled, "at one point you sort a..." he gave a nervous laugh, "woke up, hugged the both of us, and then went right back to sleep again..."

"I do not remember hugging you between periods of slumber..." Starfire searched her memory of the recent events; they were few and far between. "But I do recall Raven hurting you..." Starfire stopped. She recalled Raven killing Beast Boy and watching his lifeless body being dragged away, but the green boy stood before her as alive as ever.

The girl from Tamaran frowned and Cyborg squeezed her shoulder lightly, "Don't worry Star, you were having some pretty bad dreams, but they're over now."

"At least for you..." Beast Boy glanced at Starfire's blocked window, the metal shades that came down from the wall had completely sealed shut and no sunlight came through.

"Where are the others?" Starfire asked, sitting up slightly to get a better look of her room.

Beast Boy sighed heavily and sat on the corner of Starfire's bed, he'd let Cyborg tell her the bad news. He hoped Cy'd leave the worst of it for later.

"This morning you, Robin and Raven didn't get up... after a while we tried to wake you but nothing worked."

"Yeah," Beast Boy blushed, "and we tried everything."

Beast Boys comment went over Starfire's head, Cyborg ignored it.

"Then," he continued, "little while ago you woke up, Star. You were screaming something about 'gold robbers' and 'broccoli'... we had no idea what to do but after throwing a few starbolts at us and collapsing on the floor we decided it was too dangerous to keep you in the infirmary with Robin and Raven... You've been 'waking up' and falling asleep for a few hours now, but they haven't changed at all."

Starfire's memory was piecing itself together but there were still large gaps. "They are still... dreaming?"

"I think so..."

"And they will wake up too?"

"We don't know Star, but right now there's nothing we can do for them."

-

Finally, Robin spoke. "Where is she?" he asked haggardly. He wasn't physically tired, not yet, but Raven's realization had like been a punch to the gut that sent him straight down the pit he had just crawled out of.

A jagged maw of broken glass and twisted metal smiled at them from where Starfire had smashed into an office building. The alien girl was not among the wreckage. Robin took out his communicator. Normally Starfire's personal locater would show him exactly where to look, but her signal, along with Cyborg and Beast Boy's, were erratic.

"They've taken her."

Raven didn't respond; she shifted her eyes from one place to another. Something wasn't right.

Her leader was disgusted at her apparent apathy over the matter. "Raven, she's in trouble." Robin's face was turning red.

"We have to find her!" Robin shouted as he grabbed her robe and jerked her closer. He had the urge to knock the witch over and put a knee to her solar plexus and scream it again until she'd pay attention... but he suppressed it.

Raven ignored the Boy Wonder for just a moment longer. Clearly finding Starfire is what Robin would want to do first, but it would get them no closer to saving her, not from this place. Deep down Robin must know that. She locked eyes with him. "We can't go looking for her, there isn't time. The sooner we-"

"The sooner we what, Raven? We've got nothing. No where to go, nothing to lead us there. At least I want to help Starfire!"

At the other side of the pizza slice shaped dining area the double doors burst open.

"Let me go! This is my dream and I have to figure out away to get us out of it... it doesn't matter if we find Starfire or not, it won't help us wake up!"

Robin let go of Raven and balled his hands into a fists, they shook uncontrollably. Raven was always doing this. Starfire is in trouble, he just knew it. No one was going to stand in the way of saving her... not even Raven.

THUNK!

The sobering sound of a knife embedding into wood brought Robin back from his bout of range. A butcher's knife shuttered inches away from his foot where it had landed. Through the double doors a small mob of the city's citizens was gathering: a few patrons that had fled from the chaos moments ago, several waitresses, and "Pizza's" legendary red chef (as seen on TV). Something wasn't right with them... something in their eyes, a cold, dead stare. The stout chef reached for another weapon, a long, flat slice cutter.

"What in the..." Robin didn't know what to make of it but drew his bo-staff anyway.

The chef raised his new weapon into the air and bellowed a war cry, a warrior ready to lead his charge into battle. A moment later he did just that. The horde charged at the two Titans at full speed, knocking over tables and trampling a few of their number in the process.

Instantly, Raven summoned a dark wall between the crazed citizens and herself. A few of them crashed right into it only to be hit from behind as more of them got closer. A moment later a rather large man stepped on the broken body of the young waitress who'd come before him and smashed futilely against the wall with his fist. The fact that he was killing the woman below him didn't seem to matter, nor did his shattered hand. He slammed the bloody appendage against the shadowed barrier again and fingers flew off in several directions. The man didn't even flinch.

Through it all there was a deafening roar of people screaming, cursing, and dying. The noise was so loud Raven couldn't ask Robin what he was doing. She had expected him to throw some smoke bombs or use his grappling hook to swing to another rooftop, but instead he was among the mob, twirling his staff and connecting with a few blows here and there.

Past her shield Raven saw the chef raise the blade of his slice cutter and make his way for Robin. A moment later the wall was gone and a table had hit the brightly colored chef umbrella first. It sent the his red hat into the air and his body spinning over the roof's edge, into the thick mist below. Someone grabbed Raven from behind.

The large man from before lifted her in the air; the bleeding stump of an arm made a vice grip around her neck. Panicked and over powered, Raven kicked her legs and grappled at the wounded arm uselessly. Robin saw her plight in the corner of his eye and quickly turned from his bloody business to throw a birderang. The dangerous toy arched in the air as it soared towards Raven's head; it caught the man in his eye. His grip loosened and Raven fell to the ground gasping for air, the man's blood left a metallic taste in her mouth as she breathed. She felt bothered, frightened, nauseous.

Robin was cutting a swath through the mass of people but more of them were racing up the stairs and onto the restaurant floor.

"We have to get out of here!" Raven got to her feet and pushed a few more attackers away with the wave of her hand.

Robin gave her a mad look before clacking another one across the head, "they aren't real, don't hold back!"

Another table went crashing into the crowd, "that isn't the point, there're too many of them!" it was the point, or near enough to the point, but she wasn't ready to face it, instead she mentioned another problem. "The whole city must be like this!"

Robin looked around him; the mob was twice its original size and yet more people were pouring through the double doors. "Raven! Take out the floor!" It would stop the people from reaching them, at least for a few moments.

Raven always feared that at heart she was truly evil, that one day she would turn on the people she had sworn to protect. In the crowd she recognized a few faces here and there, people she had saved... people who now had no choice but to destroy. She levitated away from their outstretched hands.

"Azarath."

There was a sudden change in the citizens' demeanor.

"Metrion,"

Their faces shifted from anger to abject horror, some began to flee.

"Zinthos!"

Raven's dark power rolled forth in waves. It lapped into people's backs and legs, pressed hard and braking their bodies. It smashed into the floor, hitting it where it was weakest and causing massive structural damage. Dozens of the frightened people fell over as the floor creaked and groaned from the impacts. They weren't being fought, they were being slaughtered.

"No!" Raven cried out "Stop it!" It didn't matter that they weren't real or that moments before they were attacking her. The people were afraid of her and completely helpless; their accusing eyes burned holes in her soul. Raven was almost overcome by feelings of remorse, energy swelled around her. Presently the floor collapsed, pulling the tables, chairs and bodies with it.

Robin stood on the edge of the crater; a few of the survivors writhed below. With the floor taken out the people at the double doors were cut off.

Raven landed next to him. Her emotions had been slipping for a while now, and she wasn't sure if she would be able to maintain control for much longer. She was shaken by the experience... the monster was finding more of her fears to play on. Raven would have to find a way to meditate in this place, or maybe even...

"That's it! We have to get moving."

"To find Starfire?"

"No, I know how we can get out of here! We've got to go back to Titan's Tower!"