Chapter 7
Robin was pacing furiously in the corridor outside the infirmary. It's been too long, he thought, What could they be doing in there? She must be really hurt. Robin felt like his heart was drowning, like it had stopped beating.
"Who was that guy?" said Beastboy, breaking the silence, but not the tension. "Is he like her b-boyfriend, or something?" He had stuttered because he hadn't wanted to hurt Robin with the thought of Starfire with another man. Ironic, considering what had happened with him and Blackfire.
"I don't know." muttered Robin in reply.
"Some boyfriend if he is." said Cyborg. Robin spun on his heel for the hundredth time.
"Robin, man, you're wearing a hole in the carpet." said Beastboy, Robin ignored him. Just then Raven emerged from the infirmary, closing the door softly behind her, and Robin had to stop himself from grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her.
"How is she? Is she okay?" he said frantically. Raven looked him in the eye,
"She has two broken ribs, which punctured her lung. That's why she couldn't breath properly." she said. "I was able to re-inflate the lung and there was no serious damage to her jaw, so she's going to be okay. Though by the looks of things, this isn't the first time. I found numerous scars and bruises, all places where you wouldn't see them. This guy's a pro."
"Son of a bitch" Robin swore under his breath.
Robin moved to enter the room but Raven put a hand on his chest to stop him.
"She's resting now. Why don't you show us the security videos?" she said, trying to distract him. He looked at the door in front of him, then down at the woman next to him, and nodded.
Cyborg hooked the surveillance system up to the big screen TV and started the tape. The Titans watched as the whole scene played out before them. They had just reached the part where Starfire was getting up, right before he kicked her when Robin said,
"Wait, pause it. Go back." Cyborg obliged and rewound the tape. They all watched Robin in confusion until ,
"Stop, there," he was pointing to the screen, where Starfire was just beginning to push herself up.
"What is that?" said Cyborg. A green glow could be seen underneath the girl on the screen.
"It's her powers." answered Raven.
"But Robin said she never used her powers…" said Beastboy.
"She didn't," said Robin, "She actually surpressed her powers, she wouldn't fight him." He sounded defeated.
"Why?" asked Beastboy. But Robin didn't answer, he was too caught up in his own thoughts. Why wouldn't she fight him? Does she… love him? he thought. Robin walked calmly out of the room, leaving the others to watch the rest of the tape.
Robin stood looking at the man in the cell before him. The Tower had a built-in cell, just in case, and that's where they had stashed Luke. Robin smiled as he saw the mass of greens and purples rising on Luke's face, the bruise his kick had created. He flexed his fingers as he toyed with the thought of doing some more damage to the scumbag. He laughed cruelly and stood unflinching as Luke tried to grab him through the bars.
"I'm going to ask you some questions, ……?" he said.
"Luke" the man replied.
"Luke, I'm going to ask you some questions, and you're going to answer them."
"I don't gotta tell you nothing" said Luke, giving Robin a dirty look. "Look what you did to my face." He turned to give Robin a good view of his injury. I can do so much worse to you… thought Robin, but he didn't say it. Instead he plastered on an obviously fake smile and said,
"Do you want to stay in the cell forever?"
"You can't keep me here, I got friends who'll look for me." Luke replied.
"Somehow, I doubt that." said Robin. Luke sized him up, his eyes scanned Robin's broad shoulders and muscular arms until they came to rest on the determined look on his face.
"What do you wanna know?"
Robin smiled again, enjoying the primal, malicious pleasure you get from being undeniably better than your enemy, and watching them squirm. "Why don't we start with who you are, and we'll go from there." he said.
" Er, well, my name's Luke"
"Yeah, I got that, Luke, what are you doing here?"
Luke frowned. "I came to get my woman back, traitcherous snake that she is."
Robin's eyebrows shot up. So, Beastboy was right. The buzz from his victory began to fade. He wasn't a god who's wrath was to be feared anymore, now he was just a man, facing another man who had what he wanted.
"You mean Starfire?" He waited while the second it took him to reply stretched out like minutes, his whole body dreading the answer.
"No," Robin felt like he had just fallen backwards into warm water as relief flooded his soul, and the demon in him began to grin again. "Corry, my girl's name is Corry." Luke finished. Robin's heart dropped to his feet, Corry, Koriand'r, he does mean Starfire. he realised, Damn.
"How did you know she was here?" he asked.
"Oh well, that took a bit of detective work y'see." said Luke, puffing out his chest with pride. "Corry told me she used to live here in Jump City and apparently her old boyfriend was one of you 'Teen Titans'" Luke scoffed. " She used to be one of you, don't know if you remember." Of course I remember, thought Robin. "But I soon broke that out of her. A woman's place is in the home, and in my bed." Luke winked at Robin in a misguided attempt at a "men together" moment, but Robin just felt like he was going to breath fire. Just the thought of that man touching his precious, delicate Starfire made bile rise in his throat. "But that one, she isn't easy, let me tell you, but I just show her who's boss, and she quietens right down." The image of Starfire struggling to breath surfaced in Robin's mind and he glared at him beneath his mask. "I wouldn't take a woman like that to my bed though, don't know where she's been. No, I have other women for that, human women, if y'know what I mean." Robin thought he might faint from the pure bliss he felt at hearing that Starfire hadn't suffered that particular fate from this particular man. He knew he wouldn't give Starfire the gentle touch she deserved, he'd probably just… Robin put an end to that thought before it could go any further." Hey, man, you okay?" said Luke, finally noticing Robin's pallor and set jaw.
"I'm fine, better than that in fact." Robin answered and he left the room, leaving Luke calling out behind him,
"Hey man, where are you goin'? Aren't you gonna let me out?"
