Disclaimer: Still don't own Teen Titans.
A/N: A word on the pairings: So, by now it should be pretty clear this will still be a BB/Rae fic. You can blame Lovely White Violets for indoctrinating me early on to believe that Beast Boy and Raven would make a good couple. (The whole opposites attract thing and all that). But, for the Robin/Raven fans out there, I will admit that I do see how they would be a cute couple, and I enjoy reading Rob/Rae fics. I think my main reason for keeping true to the Rob/Star relationship is that it's pretty well established by the series and I try not to stray too far from the original characters, but I admire the people who are able to pull it off. Anyway, thanks again for the reviews! I really appreciate all the feedback.
Demon Hunters
Chapter 11: Waking Up
Starfire opened her eyes and found herself staring at the floor of the infirmary. She searched her memory and found that the last thing she could recall was a voice echoing in her mind.
Kernog! Starfire swore in Tamaranian and crawled to her feet. She scanned the room, wondering how she could have been so foolish the first time. She hadn't even checked for enemies, and clearly at least one had stayed behind to make sure the Teen Titans were all out of commission.
But they did not kill us. Starfire puzzled over what that could mean as she searched the entire infirmary from top to bottom. Part of her wanted to search the entire tower, but she rejected that idea almost immediately: there was no way she would leave her friends vulnerable while she flew around looking for enemies.
Once her search was finished, she took some time to check up on the team. Robin and Beast Boy were still unconscious.
"Robin! You are unharmed?" Starfire said loudly, trying to awaken the boy wonder.
He remained motionless on the cot.
Experimentally, she shook him by the shoulders, then leaned closely over him, watching his face. He was breathing normally. Why wouldn't he awaken?
She reached out, resting her hands on his shoulders, leaned closer, and… shook him back and forth screaming "Robin! Robin, awaken!"
"Why do you not awaken," she said, mostly to herself, as she put Robin down.
She turned to Beast Boy and prodded his arm, then shook his cot, but he too remained motionless.
"Beast Boy!" she shouted into his ear, to no effect. "Beast Boy, I have tofu-based food products that you may consume!"
Nothing.
She thought for a moment. "There is a new game for videos that Cyborg wishes to vanquish you at!"
Nothing.
Starfire zoomed speedily across the infirmary and grabbed a convenient bucket of cold water, and dumped it on top of her teammates.
Nothing.
Another quick dash resulted in a two huge metal trashcan lids that the Tamaranian banged together.
The crashing sound was loud enough to send bits of the ceiling (or what was left of it) crumbling down, but Robin and Beast Boy didn't seem to hear a thing.
With a frown, Starfire turned to inspect Cyborg. The half-man had literally been taken apart; he lay passive on the table with some of his parts spread out on a nearby cot. Starfire picked up one part and then another uncertainly, and then hastily put both back where she had found them.
With one last glance back at Robin, she went to one of the infirmary's computers and logged in. She checked the date and time and saw that nearly two days had passed. She swore again and flipped through the security logs until she came to the video monitors. In the span of a few minutes, she watched all that had happened from the time the blue girl, Lunis, she had been called, knocked her unconscious to the present.
Starfire was surprised to see that Lunis had barely even touched her. From the feel of it, she would have sworn that Lunis had bashed her over the head with a chair. Instead, in the video, Lunis merely touched two fingers to the back of Starfire's head. A small spark came from her hand, and then the Starfire on the screen collapsed.
Starfire growled as she watched Lunis approached Robin. But instead of attacking the unconscious boy, Lunis went straight for the attached to his arm. Starfire vaguely remembered setting up IV's for Robin and Beast Boy after she had bandaged them. With a gasp, Starfire watched Lunis dosed both of her teammates with heavy sedatives. Starfire immediately paused the playback and removed the IV's.
She apologized mentally to Robin and Beast Boy for not catching this treachery sooner. Surely Robin would have immediately thought to check for… Starfire shook her head and brushed her apologies aside for a time when she could deliver them. She went back to the playback and rewound the scene. She watched again as Lunis administered tranquilizers to Robin and Beast Boy.
Why would she use tranquilizers and not something lethal and permanent?
Then Lunis and then took apart Cyborg's central components.
Why would she leave the components there instead of destroying them?
The answer was more or less obvious, but it wasn't until Starfire had replayed the scene again, this time watching Lunis's expression, that she could begin to believe it.
They wanted us out, but not dead.
Luckily they didn't seem to know too much about Tamaranian physiology, and thankfully Starfire was a lot tougher than she looked. Lunis must have thought that her mental tap would keep Starfire out for quite awhile… that would give the Titans an edge when they recovered.
But it is only because of their mercy that we are able to recover at all… it would seem that they used much effort to avoid killing us.
Starfire frowned thoughtfully as she bent over Robin and checked his pulse. All of Starfire's instincts clamored for her to go dashing off to rescue Raven, but she couldn't risk going in alone and her teammates weren't in any condition to fight yet.
And as much as she wanted to, it might be dangerous to try to counteract the sedatives; besides, from what Starfire had seen, the dosage Lunis had set up for them would wear off in an hour or two now that it wasn't still being fed into their systems. It would be better to wait and let the sedative wear off. But there was something she could do while she waited. Replaying the video yet again, Starfire paid careful attention to how Lunis disassembled Cyborg in the video, and then, grabbing a wrench, she got to work.