Finally, I've managed to get a picture of Kay up on my fanart central page, so check over there if you've ever wondered how I imagined her. Drop a review. Tell me what you think of the new chapter too. Lotta stuff happening.
The link to the pic of Kay is: ?pid=112421
And the link to my page there is: ?op=thumbnails&artist=Godfather
Starfire threw a kick at Beast Boy's head that would have knocked him silly if he hadn't transformed into a mountain goat, whose thick skull ridge, evolved for specifically for head butting and blunting head trauma, did a fine job of absorbing the blow's energy. He charged at Starfire but his opponent went airborne and out of reach.
Before he knew it, starbolts were hitting the ground dangerously close to his position. He went cheetah, darting off to the side in an amazingly fast burst of speed. Then leathery wings replaced forelegs and the skeletal structure of a pterodactyl took the place of a cheetah's He too went airborne.
In an aerial contest between Starfire and a Pterodactyl however, the former won hands down. True, Pterodactyls could fly in the literal sense, but they lacked maneuverability and were more adapted for flying than extended airborne bouts. Starfire was easily able to get behind Beast Boy's Pterodactyl morph and let loose a salvo of energy beams.
Beast Boy went down like a sack of potatoes and converted back to normal after hitting the ground. "Okay, Okay, you won," he called to Starfire who was hovering above.
"What is the magic word?" she called back down.
"Aw c'mon."
"Say it."
"But-"
"Say it!"
Beast Boy groaned. "Uncle." He now regretted all those times playing thumb war with his Tamaranian teammate and forcing her to do the same thing. Now she was giving him a taste of his own medicine.
Starfire smiled and floated down. "Your mistake was in the form you chose. A bird of prey would have been faster and much harder to hit."
"I'll remember that."
"Starfire looked around. "It appears that I have defeated everyone in this match," she said. To pass the time, the kids (minus Robin, who was inspecting Cyborg's security systems) had set up a sparring floor in an empty room in the safe house. It wasn't as good as the gym back at the Tower, but it would do. Robin won the matches all the time, but his absence had provided room for another winner, and this time it was Starfire who had managed to beat Cyborg (a tough fight) and Raven (an even tougher fight).
"Nope," said Beast Boy, "You haven't quite defeated everyone. What about Kay here?"
Starfire turned around. She had forgotten all about Kay, who was watching from the sidelines. "I really do not think-"
"It's OK," interrupted Kay, rising to her feet. "I could use the practice."
"You would not stand a chance," said Starfire, crossing her arms.
"I would if you didn't use your powers."
Starfire was silent, so Beast Boy filled the void, placing an arm around both girls. "So what do you two young ladies say? No powers, no weapons, nothing except fists and feet and all out mortal combat to decide the winner!"
Kay removed his arm from her shoulders and looked at Starfire. "What do you say?"
Maybe it was the way she said it, or perhaps the fact that most of the team was watching. Starfire didn't really know. All she knew was that she found herself nodding and the next thing she knew, she was in a martial arts stance facing Kaila, who was in a similar stance.
Starfire, in her time on Earth, had been taught a few things about various martial arts, including judo, jujitsu, and karate. Jeet Kune Do had been her main focus however, because Robin had thought it a very efficient and economical technique, priding it in its simplicity. With a total of five punches and four kicks, it focused on only one thing: efficiency. Starfire had been practicing seriously for a long time now and even mastered some of the JKD techniques. However, she was not accustomed to using them in a fight. To break boards perhaps, but not in the context of outright combat. Her other powers served her just well for that purpose.
Now though, denied the option of using those powers, she was facing a person who seemed to know quite a bit about fighting and had a lot of experience as well. Kay was in an interesting stance. Knees bent slightly, right arm out stretched and in knifehand position, and left fist resting comfortably against her hip.
"That's an interesting position," said Kay. "Where'd you learn it?"
"Robin taught it to me."
"Jeet Kune Do, right? Way of the intercepting fist."
Starfire nodded.
Kay's attack was lightning fast, yet measured. Controlled. Starfire barely had enough to absorb on her hip the straightkick that had been intended for her stomach.
"Dang," said Beast Boy. "She's good."
Kay followed up with a One-Two kick combo, aimed low. Both blows hit Starfire squarely on the shin. Unlike the last time, this actually hurt. Starfire pirouetted and used her spinning momentum to power a roundhouse aimed straight for Kay's head. The girl ducked however, letting the kick pass harmlessly over her head. Starfire realized that she should have aimed lower.
Kay leaped at her, much higher than Starfire would have expected, and lashed out with two airborne kicks that hammered away at Starfire's defenses, even as she blocked them with her forearm. Kay immediately turned her landing into a sweep kick that sent starfire tumbling backwards. She landed hard on her back, the air whooshing out of her, but she still managed to somersault back just in time to avoid another kick.
Kay's flurry of blows drew gasps from the watching Titans as they saw Starfire being backed towards the outer edges of the ring. Kay slipped up however, attempting a flashy drill kick in midair. Starfire instinctively caught her foot between her forearms, which were raised in a blocking position, and hurled downwards.
Kay hit the ground with an unceremonious thump, wincing as she rose to her feet. Her eyes flashed in annoyance.
"Yaaa. Heiiiy Yuashu!" came her battle cry as she executed a jaw-dropping aerial cartwheel that placed her strategically behind Starfire. Her right arm snaked under Starfire's and she kicked the back of Star's knee making her fall to the ground. It wasn't long before Kay had Starfire in a vice-like martial arts hold that tightened each time Starfire tried to struggle.
"Give up," said Kay.
"No."
"It'll save you a lot of trouble."
Starfire kept on trying to break free.
"You've already lost."
Starfire refused to believe it.
"Rules say that if I can keep you pinned for ten seconds, I win."
With that, Kay released Starfire and stood up. "You're good," she complimented, helping Starfire to her feet. "I'm just better."
What Starfire hated the most was that Kay didn't say it in a prideful or boasting way, she was simply acknowledging a fact. She was a better fighter than Starfire. Had her outclassed from the start. Starfire said nothing.
"That was anticlimactic," remarked a voice from the doorway. All heads in the room turned to see Robin standing there, a bruise on his cheek.
"Hey Rob." Beast Boy. "Where were ya?"
"Testing out the new security features."
"Whatcha think?" asked Cyborg. He out of all of them wanted to hear a good report because he had designed the features himself."
"I bypassed the sentinels in ten seconds flat. The laser trip field in another fifteen seconds. I avoided detection by all of the security cameras and was able to sneak into the safe house from above in under a minute."
Cyborg's face fell.
"Adjust the calibration on the sentinel cannons," said Robin. Your laser field also has a lot of blind spots. Ditto for the security camera. And the access keypad needs more encryption, I was able to hack it in seconds."
Cyborg's face fell even more. "It would have kept any normal person out," he complained, stressing the word normal.
"Yeah? Well our enemies are anything but normal. Fix it."
"Yessir," Cyborg muttered, giving a mock salute.
Looking around, Robin noticed the sweat on Starfire and Kay's faces, as well as the bruises. One eyebrow went up. "I miss something?" he asked.
"No," Kay said with a sideways glance at Starfire. "We were just sparring. Testing our skills in a little friendly competition."
Robin didn't ask who won; he just nodded and turned around, cape whirling behind him. "I'll test the security systems again in an hour," he said. "Have the modifications ready by then, Cyborg."
"Something will turn up," said Karl. Of the two, he was the least impetuous and ill-tempered, possessing a patience that his sister clearly lacked.
"We should have found them by now," Ana fumed.
"What about the tracers? We've planted more than enough."
"They keep deactivating the instant I distribute them. The Titans must have devised a miniature EMP to disrupt any foreign circuitry, and it's impossible to follow those kids without being spotted."
"Then I think its time we sent them a message."
"We already did that."
"Oh, nothing so prosaic. I'm thinking about a little something that's a lot more personal. Question: how do you cause an enemy to become careless?"
"Give them hate, something that will cloud their mind of reason and rationality."
"And how does one best accomplish this with a team as close as the Titans?"
Ana smiled, his message getting through loud and clear. "Someone must die, but who?"
"The leader."
"No, I want to face him personally."
"Very well then, the telekinetic."
"Perhaps."
"The changeling?"
"Perfect." Ana plopped down on the couch, lips forming into a grin. "I like it. It would be easy too, since the green-skinned one ventures out to a certain vegetarian restaurant quite regularly. Additionally, his powers re quite predictable as long as you possess more than a passing familiarity with the animal kingdom."
A wry smile appeared on Carl's face. "Or a lot of tranquilizer darts."
"They wouldn't be hard to steal from a zoo," mused Ana.
"So we do it," confirmed Karl. "Tonight."
Starfire lie facedown on her bed, staring at the ceiling fan and trying to follow the progress of each individual blade. Weird, perhaps, not to mention dizzying- but it passed the time, and then, there wasn't much that did.
Raven was kickboxing in the makeshift gym. Beast Boy was out, gone on a trip to his favorite restaurant, and Robin and Cyborg were fine-tuning the security systems. Starfire had no idea where Kay was and really didn't care at the moment.
Her forearms still throbbed with pain from her earlier sparring session. Although she had blocked a lot of Kay's blows, getting hit on the forearms wasn't that much better than another place on the body. Even touching the sore skin induced enough pain to make her wince.
Takahshi had chosen well for his head of security. Kay was smart and an excellent fighter who belonged in the ranks with Robin or Batgirl. She knew how to protect people and how to plan ahead. She was a lot like Robin, actually.
Coincidentally, Robin himself walked in right when her thoughts went in the direction. The door had been ajar, but Starfire was still so startled that she jumped up, eyes going huge.
"Sorry," said Robin. "Didn't mean to startle you."
"It is no problem," said Starfire. She absentmindedly wondered if he could tell what she had been thinking. Just the thought however caused her face to flame with mortification.
If Robin noticed this however, he didn't show it. Instead, he just leaned back against the wall and said. "Hey Star."
"Hello. I thought you were working with Cyborg."
"We just finished. Security systems are set to go."
"Oh. Well is there anything I can do for you?"
Robin took a deep breath. "I want to talk about Kay. I don't know if it's just my imagination, but I'm getting these weird vibes from you. And her. Like you have some problem with each other the rest of us don't know about. Now I don't know why that would be, but I do know that it would be a lot better of to get whatever it is settled because we aren't going to be able to function effectively as a team if we've got internal conflict. I learned that lesson when Cyborg left."
Starfire said nothing.
"Now this may be a little arrogant of me," said Robin. "And if so, I apologize. But does your problem with Kay have anything to do with me?"
Starfire responded with another question. "Do you like Kay?"
"Of course. I like all of you."
"Do you like her in the romantic sense?"
"Is that what this is-"
"Please. Just answer."
Robin heaved in a breath. "Honestly, I don't know."
"How can you not know?"
"I just don't. Too soon to tell."
"You just recently met her."
"A week is plenty of time to grow to be attracted to someone, Star. But why should it matter? I don't have to defend myself to you, Star." He sounded slightly annoyed.
"You don't trust Takahashi, do you? Do not deny it, because you will just be lying."
"So?"
"But now you and Kay are best buddies. She is his security manager. Do you really think that she is somehow not caught up in whatever he is?"
"I trust Kay."
"But not Takahshi. And Kay has done no more to earn your trust than he. Yet you have a double standard. I suppose all it takes to sway you is a pair of big, shiny eyes and a pretty face."
"Oh my god. You're jealous. You're jealous. I can't believe this!" Robin's voice had risen. His annoyance had become anger. "You know Star, you can be really immature sometimes. You think I'm that shallow?"
"I think you are naïve and Kay is keeping you so dazzled that you cannot even see clearly. You cannot even see what's right in front of you!"
"And what's that?"
"That I like you. I have ever since I joined the Titans!"
That shut Robin up quite nicely. He stared at Starfire through the mask, shocked. Maybe he hadn't heard right. Yes, he'd accused her of being jealous, and had at times suspected this was the case, but to hear her say it changed things more than he would have thought possible. Even if she made the admission in anger.
So he just stared at her, watching as she calmed down and her breathing evened out. He hadn't really seen her angry many times before, and they'd certainly never had such an exchange. He didn't know what to do.
He wouldn't get to find out right then. Raven came bursting into the room, followed by Kay and Cyborg. The urgency on all three of their faces wasn't lost on either Robin or Starfire.
"Guys, we have a serious problem," said Raven. She looked like she had been crying.
"What is it?" asked Robin.
"Beast Boy. He was supposed to be back an hour ago. I went looking for him and found him in an alleyway."
"Dead?" Robin prayed the answer would be no.
"Not yet, but somebody sure did a number on him. Beat him senseless, carved him up some, and wrote a message in blood on the wall of the alley."
Robin thought he was going to be sick. "Where is he now?"
"In the gym. It's the only place we could put him. Cyborg has him cryogenically frozen in a sort of ice cube to prolong his life."
"Good thinking Cy. We need to get him to a hospital right away."
Raven shook her head. "They can't help him."
"What?"
Cyborg nodded. "No doctor is going to know how to treat BB's alien physiology. They could do more harm than good."
"So a this point," Kay finished somberly, "It looks like he's going to die."
The link to the pic of Kay is: ?pid=112421
And the link to my page there is: ?op=thumbnails&artist=Godfather
Starfire threw a kick at Beast Boy's head that would have knocked him silly if he hadn't transformed into a mountain goat, whose thick skull ridge, evolved for specifically for head butting and blunting head trauma, did a fine job of absorbing the blow's energy. He charged at Starfire but his opponent went airborne and out of reach.
Before he knew it, starbolts were hitting the ground dangerously close to his position. He went cheetah, darting off to the side in an amazingly fast burst of speed. Then leathery wings replaced forelegs and the skeletal structure of a pterodactyl took the place of a cheetah's He too went airborne.
In an aerial contest between Starfire and a Pterodactyl however, the former won hands down. True, Pterodactyls could fly in the literal sense, but they lacked maneuverability and were more adapted for flying than extended airborne bouts. Starfire was easily able to get behind Beast Boy's Pterodactyl morph and let loose a salvo of energy beams.
Beast Boy went down like a sack of potatoes and converted back to normal after hitting the ground. "Okay, Okay, you won," he called to Starfire who was hovering above.
"What is the magic word?" she called back down.
"Aw c'mon."
"Say it."
"But-"
"Say it!"
Beast Boy groaned. "Uncle." He now regretted all those times playing thumb war with his Tamaranian teammate and forcing her to do the same thing. Now she was giving him a taste of his own medicine.
Starfire smiled and floated down. "Your mistake was in the form you chose. A bird of prey would have been faster and much harder to hit."
"I'll remember that."
"Starfire looked around. "It appears that I have defeated everyone in this match," she said. To pass the time, the kids (minus Robin, who was inspecting Cyborg's security systems) had set up a sparring floor in an empty room in the safe house. It wasn't as good as the gym back at the Tower, but it would do. Robin won the matches all the time, but his absence had provided room for another winner, and this time it was Starfire who had managed to beat Cyborg (a tough fight) and Raven (an even tougher fight).
"Nope," said Beast Boy, "You haven't quite defeated everyone. What about Kay here?"
Starfire turned around. She had forgotten all about Kay, who was watching from the sidelines. "I really do not think-"
"It's OK," interrupted Kay, rising to her feet. "I could use the practice."
"You would not stand a chance," said Starfire, crossing her arms.
"I would if you didn't use your powers."
Starfire was silent, so Beast Boy filled the void, placing an arm around both girls. "So what do you two young ladies say? No powers, no weapons, nothing except fists and feet and all out mortal combat to decide the winner!"
Kay removed his arm from her shoulders and looked at Starfire. "What do you say?"
Maybe it was the way she said it, or perhaps the fact that most of the team was watching. Starfire didn't really know. All she knew was that she found herself nodding and the next thing she knew, she was in a martial arts stance facing Kaila, who was in a similar stance.
Starfire, in her time on Earth, had been taught a few things about various martial arts, including judo, jujitsu, and karate. Jeet Kune Do had been her main focus however, because Robin had thought it a very efficient and economical technique, priding it in its simplicity. With a total of five punches and four kicks, it focused on only one thing: efficiency. Starfire had been practicing seriously for a long time now and even mastered some of the JKD techniques. However, she was not accustomed to using them in a fight. To break boards perhaps, but not in the context of outright combat. Her other powers served her just well for that purpose.
Now though, denied the option of using those powers, she was facing a person who seemed to know quite a bit about fighting and had a lot of experience as well. Kay was in an interesting stance. Knees bent slightly, right arm out stretched and in knifehand position, and left fist resting comfortably against her hip.
"That's an interesting position," said Kay. "Where'd you learn it?"
"Robin taught it to me."
"Jeet Kune Do, right? Way of the intercepting fist."
Starfire nodded.
Kay's attack was lightning fast, yet measured. Controlled. Starfire barely had enough to absorb on her hip the straightkick that had been intended for her stomach.
"Dang," said Beast Boy. "She's good."
Kay followed up with a One-Two kick combo, aimed low. Both blows hit Starfire squarely on the shin. Unlike the last time, this actually hurt. Starfire pirouetted and used her spinning momentum to power a roundhouse aimed straight for Kay's head. The girl ducked however, letting the kick pass harmlessly over her head. Starfire realized that she should have aimed lower.
Kay leaped at her, much higher than Starfire would have expected, and lashed out with two airborne kicks that hammered away at Starfire's defenses, even as she blocked them with her forearm. Kay immediately turned her landing into a sweep kick that sent starfire tumbling backwards. She landed hard on her back, the air whooshing out of her, but she still managed to somersault back just in time to avoid another kick.
Kay's flurry of blows drew gasps from the watching Titans as they saw Starfire being backed towards the outer edges of the ring. Kay slipped up however, attempting a flashy drill kick in midair. Starfire instinctively caught her foot between her forearms, which were raised in a blocking position, and hurled downwards.
Kay hit the ground with an unceremonious thump, wincing as she rose to her feet. Her eyes flashed in annoyance.
"Yaaa. Heiiiy Yuashu!" came her battle cry as she executed a jaw-dropping aerial cartwheel that placed her strategically behind Starfire. Her right arm snaked under Starfire's and she kicked the back of Star's knee making her fall to the ground. It wasn't long before Kay had Starfire in a vice-like martial arts hold that tightened each time Starfire tried to struggle.
"Give up," said Kay.
"No."
"It'll save you a lot of trouble."
Starfire kept on trying to break free.
"You've already lost."
Starfire refused to believe it.
"Rules say that if I can keep you pinned for ten seconds, I win."
With that, Kay released Starfire and stood up. "You're good," she complimented, helping Starfire to her feet. "I'm just better."
What Starfire hated the most was that Kay didn't say it in a prideful or boasting way, she was simply acknowledging a fact. She was a better fighter than Starfire. Had her outclassed from the start. Starfire said nothing.
"That was anticlimactic," remarked a voice from the doorway. All heads in the room turned to see Robin standing there, a bruise on his cheek.
"Hey Rob." Beast Boy. "Where were ya?"
"Testing out the new security features."
"Whatcha think?" asked Cyborg. He out of all of them wanted to hear a good report because he had designed the features himself."
"I bypassed the sentinels in ten seconds flat. The laser trip field in another fifteen seconds. I avoided detection by all of the security cameras and was able to sneak into the safe house from above in under a minute."
Cyborg's face fell.
"Adjust the calibration on the sentinel cannons," said Robin. Your laser field also has a lot of blind spots. Ditto for the security camera. And the access keypad needs more encryption, I was able to hack it in seconds."
Cyborg's face fell even more. "It would have kept any normal person out," he complained, stressing the word normal.
"Yeah? Well our enemies are anything but normal. Fix it."
"Yessir," Cyborg muttered, giving a mock salute.
Looking around, Robin noticed the sweat on Starfire and Kay's faces, as well as the bruises. One eyebrow went up. "I miss something?" he asked.
"No," Kay said with a sideways glance at Starfire. "We were just sparring. Testing our skills in a little friendly competition."
Robin didn't ask who won; he just nodded and turned around, cape whirling behind him. "I'll test the security systems again in an hour," he said. "Have the modifications ready by then, Cyborg."
"Something will turn up," said Karl. Of the two, he was the least impetuous and ill-tempered, possessing a patience that his sister clearly lacked.
"We should have found them by now," Ana fumed.
"What about the tracers? We've planted more than enough."
"They keep deactivating the instant I distribute them. The Titans must have devised a miniature EMP to disrupt any foreign circuitry, and it's impossible to follow those kids without being spotted."
"Then I think its time we sent them a message."
"We already did that."
"Oh, nothing so prosaic. I'm thinking about a little something that's a lot more personal. Question: how do you cause an enemy to become careless?"
"Give them hate, something that will cloud their mind of reason and rationality."
"And how does one best accomplish this with a team as close as the Titans?"
Ana smiled, his message getting through loud and clear. "Someone must die, but who?"
"The leader."
"No, I want to face him personally."
"Very well then, the telekinetic."
"Perhaps."
"The changeling?"
"Perfect." Ana plopped down on the couch, lips forming into a grin. "I like it. It would be easy too, since the green-skinned one ventures out to a certain vegetarian restaurant quite regularly. Additionally, his powers re quite predictable as long as you possess more than a passing familiarity with the animal kingdom."
A wry smile appeared on Carl's face. "Or a lot of tranquilizer darts."
"They wouldn't be hard to steal from a zoo," mused Ana.
"So we do it," confirmed Karl. "Tonight."
Starfire lie facedown on her bed, staring at the ceiling fan and trying to follow the progress of each individual blade. Weird, perhaps, not to mention dizzying- but it passed the time, and then, there wasn't much that did.
Raven was kickboxing in the makeshift gym. Beast Boy was out, gone on a trip to his favorite restaurant, and Robin and Cyborg were fine-tuning the security systems. Starfire had no idea where Kay was and really didn't care at the moment.
Her forearms still throbbed with pain from her earlier sparring session. Although she had blocked a lot of Kay's blows, getting hit on the forearms wasn't that much better than another place on the body. Even touching the sore skin induced enough pain to make her wince.
Takahshi had chosen well for his head of security. Kay was smart and an excellent fighter who belonged in the ranks with Robin or Batgirl. She knew how to protect people and how to plan ahead. She was a lot like Robin, actually.
Coincidentally, Robin himself walked in right when her thoughts went in the direction. The door had been ajar, but Starfire was still so startled that she jumped up, eyes going huge.
"Sorry," said Robin. "Didn't mean to startle you."
"It is no problem," said Starfire. She absentmindedly wondered if he could tell what she had been thinking. Just the thought however caused her face to flame with mortification.
If Robin noticed this however, he didn't show it. Instead, he just leaned back against the wall and said. "Hey Star."
"Hello. I thought you were working with Cyborg."
"We just finished. Security systems are set to go."
"Oh. Well is there anything I can do for you?"
Robin took a deep breath. "I want to talk about Kay. I don't know if it's just my imagination, but I'm getting these weird vibes from you. And her. Like you have some problem with each other the rest of us don't know about. Now I don't know why that would be, but I do know that it would be a lot better of to get whatever it is settled because we aren't going to be able to function effectively as a team if we've got internal conflict. I learned that lesson when Cyborg left."
Starfire said nothing.
"Now this may be a little arrogant of me," said Robin. "And if so, I apologize. But does your problem with Kay have anything to do with me?"
Starfire responded with another question. "Do you like Kay?"
"Of course. I like all of you."
"Do you like her in the romantic sense?"
"Is that what this is-"
"Please. Just answer."
Robin heaved in a breath. "Honestly, I don't know."
"How can you not know?"
"I just don't. Too soon to tell."
"You just recently met her."
"A week is plenty of time to grow to be attracted to someone, Star. But why should it matter? I don't have to defend myself to you, Star." He sounded slightly annoyed.
"You don't trust Takahashi, do you? Do not deny it, because you will just be lying."
"So?"
"But now you and Kay are best buddies. She is his security manager. Do you really think that she is somehow not caught up in whatever he is?"
"I trust Kay."
"But not Takahshi. And Kay has done no more to earn your trust than he. Yet you have a double standard. I suppose all it takes to sway you is a pair of big, shiny eyes and a pretty face."
"Oh my god. You're jealous. You're jealous. I can't believe this!" Robin's voice had risen. His annoyance had become anger. "You know Star, you can be really immature sometimes. You think I'm that shallow?"
"I think you are naïve and Kay is keeping you so dazzled that you cannot even see clearly. You cannot even see what's right in front of you!"
"And what's that?"
"That I like you. I have ever since I joined the Titans!"
That shut Robin up quite nicely. He stared at Starfire through the mask, shocked. Maybe he hadn't heard right. Yes, he'd accused her of being jealous, and had at times suspected this was the case, but to hear her say it changed things more than he would have thought possible. Even if she made the admission in anger.
So he just stared at her, watching as she calmed down and her breathing evened out. He hadn't really seen her angry many times before, and they'd certainly never had such an exchange. He didn't know what to do.
He wouldn't get to find out right then. Raven came bursting into the room, followed by Kay and Cyborg. The urgency on all three of their faces wasn't lost on either Robin or Starfire.
"Guys, we have a serious problem," said Raven. She looked like she had been crying.
"What is it?" asked Robin.
"Beast Boy. He was supposed to be back an hour ago. I went looking for him and found him in an alleyway."
"Dead?" Robin prayed the answer would be no.
"Not yet, but somebody sure did a number on him. Beat him senseless, carved him up some, and wrote a message in blood on the wall of the alley."
Robin thought he was going to be sick. "Where is he now?"
"In the gym. It's the only place we could put him. Cyborg has him cryogenically frozen in a sort of ice cube to prolong his life."
"Good thinking Cy. We need to get him to a hospital right away."
Raven shook her head. "They can't help him."
"What?"
Cyborg nodded. "No doctor is going to know how to treat BB's alien physiology. They could do more harm than good."
"So a this point," Kay finished somberly, "It looks like he's going to die."
