Author's Note: This is how dedicated I am: I'm updating when I'm sick! Fever, sore throat, pounding ear, nothing stands in my way! This may not be too coherent, but I'm determined to try.

Chapter 32

Life at the Callais prison, as Scott liked to call it, became much more bearable with Starfire around. She was someone to talk to, joke around with, and simply spend time with. She also knew why he became so disheartened at times. Scott often wondered at his depression, but he never had to explain it to Starfire. With Scott and Starfire by his side, some of the fog around him lifted, and he began to feel like a human being again.

Starfire also told him about Batman's and Randall's plans to break him out of there and to put the Callais's out of business. If parents really didn't want the kids, Batman had said, then he would make sure that they were taken care of. Robin didn't doubt that for a moment.

He was in Fine Arts one day when Monsieur Callais came in, looking like a storm cloud. Tersely, he gestured for Robin to follow him, and led him to his office. Wondering what he had done this time, Robin trailed after him, slightly annoyed. He'd actually been enjoying class for once, and Callais had come along to ruin it. Callais opened the door and motioned him inside, and Robin went in, still confused as to why he was being summoned.

He knew the moment he spotted who it was that was sitting in the big leather armchair across from the door.

"Well, Robin," Slade said, rising. "How have you been since your last letter to me?"

"Aah," he croaked, taken by surprise. "Um, I'm all right."

"Just all right?" Slade asked as Callais left them alone and shut the door behind himself. "Are you sure?"

"Positive," he assured him.

"Monsieur Callais tells me that you have become awfully interested in a girl in your form," Slade said, motioning for him to sit down. "Tell me, who is she?"

Robin sank into a chair across from him. "Just a girl," he said, giving the usual evasive teenage answer.

"Really?" Slade said, sounding interested.

"Really."

"Do you know why I've come, Robin?" Slade asked, steepling his hands under his chin.

Robin shook his head.

"It's because of that young lady that you're so interested in," Slade said quietly. "Monsieur Callais said that she bears a striking resemblance to your friend Starfire. Now, how can that be?"

Robin suddenly felt very cold.

"Whose idea was it?" Slade demanded, no longer so congenial. "Yours, or hers? How did you contact her?"

"I didn't," Robin said, getting ready to run. "I didn't contact her, she just showed up one day!"

"If you didn't contact her, then how did she know where you were?" Slade snarled.

"I don't know, she never told me!" Robin said, almost desperate to make Slade believe him. He didn't think he could stand to be taken from one of his friends again.

Slade simply looked at him.

"I swear, it's the truth," Robin said, still hoping to calm Slade down.

Slade nodded. "All right, then. I believe you. It must have been Batman to find out where you were."

Robin could feel himself relaxing. He knew that he shouldn't relax too much since Slade still had the upper hand, but he couldn't help it. Slade finally believed him.

Slade rose and put a hand on his shoulder, pulling him perforce out of the chair.

"Wha—" Robin croaked, surprised.

"You honestly don't think that I would let you stay here with Starfire, do you?" Slade asked as he dragged the boy out of the office and down the hall to the front door. "She could be someone's little spy. Let's go, Robin."

Robin wanted to fight all the way to the car, but he had a strong feeling that it wouldn't do any good. He prayed that someone was watching and hoped that they would stop the car, but it seemed that he was out of luck this time.

Space

It was night, and Randall's walkie-talkie squawked.

"What's the matter?" he asked, pressing the talk button. "Starfire? What's wrong?"

The entire group listened as a hysterical Starfire related what had happened.

"All right, Starfire," Batman said, stemming the flow of the Tamaran's words. "You come back to us, and we'll begin trying to find him."

"All right," she sobbed into her walkie-talkie. "I'll be there in a few minutes."

"It's most likely that they're in Paris," Randall said, packing up.

"Then that's where we'll search," Batman said. "He's not going to take Robin again."