My Strength, and Greatest Weakness

by Blue Ten

Summary:

Jump City has been quiet on the crime front for the past few months and the Titan's are starting to get restless. Starfire tries her best to raise the Titan's spirits, even after Slade meets a rather pointless death. A night at the fair brings Robin and Starfire closer than ever. But when a man calling himself Fear shows up, things start to go horribly wrong. RobinxStarfire.

Disclaimer:

I do not own Teen Titans. But hey, I don't own a lot of things.

Chapter 4: Taken

However tired he was, Robin was unable to sleep. He found himself thinking about Starfire. Her emerald eyes, sometimes he would find that he had lost track of minutes out of the day getting lost in them, 'Minutes well spent.' he thought. She was the kindest, most gentle person he had ever known, but possessed a strength on the battlefield like none other. 'She's loving, compassionate, and strong, not to mention drop dead gorgeous!' Robin slapped himself for being so superficial, but he couldn't help it, she was beautiful, in both body and mind; a combination so rare in this world, it was no wonder she came from another one. Robin's thoughts continued to dwell on her, and how he could possibly describe to her how he felt. Fear... Him... 'Wait... What? That's not what I was thinking... Where was I?' Robin wondered what could have possessed him to think of that. Fear Him!

Robin shot up from his bed and looked around the room, nothing but darkness. It was cold, the window was open letting eerie sounding gusts of wind through. Fear... Him... Robin felt his muscles tense, the voice sounded like it was in the room, but there was more to it than that, it sounded filtered, blocked, like it was behind some unseen wall. Robin scanned the room once more, and stopped quickly as he saw a figure standing at the foot of his bed, cloaked in shadows. The figure seemed to tilt from side to side as it stood. "...Slade?" Robin spoke, finding himself, shivering, paralyzed. The figure abruptly stopped moving, not making a sound, it raised one hand and pointed to the door. Fear... Robin managed to turn his head to the door, his body still immobile. From the slight gap between the bottom of the door and the floor, Robin saw a green light pass by on the other side. Something began scratching on it. Robin turned to look at the figure, it was gone, but the scratching continued. He quickly got up and took out his Bo Staff. With every step he took toward the door, the scratching intensified and grew more erratic, as did the wind from the window. The air began to freeze Robin to his core, but he continued. Robin flung the door open and readied his weapon, there was nothing, even the wind died down. Immediately, something broke the silence, "Robin!" Robin could hear Starfire scream, her voice hoarse and cracking, she was crying.

"Starfire!" Robin yelled as he sat up so fast that the covers were thrown off of him. A cold sweat covered his body, he shivered, "What... It was just a dream." he reassured himself, "Only a dream..." he continued as he raised his hands to his face, massaging his temples. He allowed himself a few moments to steady his breathing and calm his heart rate before he checked the clock. 3:30 AM, he inhaled deeply, held it in, and exhaled; he still had time to rest. Collapsing back on his bed, Robin found himself too awake to even close his eyes, it had been such a vivid dream. Robin decided to head up to the roof early. He stopped outside of Starfire's room; about to knock, he decided against it, he wouldn't disturb her sleep just because his had been.

On the roof, Robin waited as the hours passed, anticipation and anxiety coursing through his veins. The sun began to rise and he waited longer. The sun rose higher, morning ended. She didn't come. 'I guess that's her answer.' he thought, looking down at his feet. 'She must have figured it out, and decided not to come.' it was just like her to try to spare his feelings, he knew that if she told him in person, it would hurt even more. 'If that's true... Then why are you crying?' he asked himself, 'I'm not crying.' he denied it, as his eyes began to hurt.

Suddenly, the alarm sounded causing Robin to blink, letting a single tear fall of the edge of the tower. Robin shook his head and tried to let his thoughts leave him, he knew he had to focus on his duty now. He headed back down as the others rushed from their rooms.

- - - - - -

"Man... I didn't know villains got up this early." Cyborg yawned, slightly annoyed.

"Must be working the graveyard shift..." Beastboy added, hunched over, his arms dangling lifelessly in front of him.

"This better be quick." Raven just stared at the screen, looking ticked off.

The screen flicked on to show a man from the waist up, there was audible static from the speakers and the video feed was shaky, he was clad in plain black clothing that covered his whole body, a black mask sheltered his entire face, even his eyes, and no identifiable features could be seen. The mask had a creepy white eye emblazoned on it in the middle. He seemed to be standing in front of a window, the contents of which was pitch black, causing the reflections to be quite pronounced. The man obviously had an intense light being shone on him, it made the white eye on his mask stand out. He stood abnormally still, his hands behind his back. The whole scene only served to instill a sense of terror into each of the Titans, who had expected to see a map of the city to appear on the screen.

"Good morning Titans." his voice chilled them to the bone, it was cold, emotionless, and raspy; however, a slight air of arrogance seemed to float around his words.

"Who are you and why have you contacted us?" Robin tried to sound steady, but his words came out shakily. The image on the screen seemed to penetrate into his soul.

"I hope you had a good night's sleep." Robin gritted his teeth and clenched his fists at this, the man had completely ignored his question. "Because you are going to need it." the man continued. 'What the hell was that supposed to mean?' Robin thought, angered.

"You didn't answer my--" Robin was interrupted.

"Take a look around, I believe your ranks have fallen in number." The man said coldly.

"What?" Robin turned to search the room. Cyborg, Beastboy, Raven... "Starfire?" his pulse began to quicken, "Starfire!" he called, now running as fast as he could to her room. Unbeknownst to the Titans, a sinister grin spread across the man's face.

Robin flung open Starfire's door, "Star--" there was no one in the room, however there was obvious signs of a struggle. Many of her things had fallen off the shelves, broken glass strewn across the floor, her bed was in complete disarray. Robin could feel the anger rise as it began pumping through his blood like fire, he tightened his fists, feeling his entire body shake. "Damn it!" he screamed as he punched the wall with all his rage, leaving a deep dent in the metal. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes, but fought them back. He returned to the living room, looking defeated.

"Robin?" Raven queried as he entered the room. He didn't answer, and she didn't expect him to. She knew he had feelings for Starfire, they all knew. If anything happened to her, it would cut him the deepest. Raven read him; though his face didn't show it, he was angrier than he had ever been, but sadness and fear consumed him, sapping his strength, outwardly, he could not express his fury. Robin faced the screen.

"What have you done with her?" he asked, his voice was an odd mixture of emotions. Contempt for the man on the screen could be sensed in his words, but at the same time, it sounded like he was pleading for Starfire's life. Hearing this the Titans' hearts dropped, she really was gone from the tower.

"Don't worry, she's fine. And she will remain that way, provided that my demands are met." As he spoke, the man turned to face the window and pushed a button that was out of sight. A light switched on and the Titans were faced with a horrific scene. The light illuminated a small portion of the room behind the window. Under the flickering light, they could see Starfire, but she looked far from 'fine'. Her arms were spread out and shackled closely to the wall, leaving the rest of her body to hang from them, it looked like a crucifixion. She was bruised and scratched up bad, even bleeding in some places, her face was stained with tears. She looked unconscious, still breathing. Seeing this, Robin felt like jumping at the screen, and beating the man's image with his bare hands. 'But what good would that do?' he thought, 'severing our only connection'. He felt so helpless, she was right there in front of him, in pain, and there was nothing he could do about it.

"...Demands?" Robin managed to ask.

- - - - - -

The room was pitch black, immediately lit up as Starfire hurled another starbolt at the wall. But to no avail, the wall just seemed to absorb it, "You can not hold me here! My friends will--"

"My dear, your friends, are already within my grasp." A voice echoed through the small, empty, room.

"No..." Starfire said, disheartened.

Author's Note: Whew. I hope this one keeps you guessing until next time. I won't say anything else, don't wanna ruin it.

Next Chapter Preview: Starfire has been kidnapped and in order to keep her safe, the Titans must respond to the mysterious man's demands. Robin tries to stay strong but the others know that Starfire's absence is affecting him the most. All is not as it seems as Fear starts to consume Robin's mind in Chapter 5: Fear.