Chapter 2
Beastboy and Robin ran down to the common room, irrationally fearing the worst.
"What is it?" they said as they burst through the automatic doors.
"Starfire and Raven aren't in their rooms, are they?" asked Cyborg, something in his voice suggesting he already knew the answer. "Wanna know how I know that?" He didn't even wait for an answer he just aimed the remote over his shoulder and last night was reborn on the screen. The image was divided into two halves, one half being Starfire's room, with Raven's on the other. At first, everything seemed to be perfectly normal. Starfire slept peacefully on her big, round bed, breathing deeply. Raven was also visible, perfectly still, her thin silk sheets emphasising her shapely silhouette.
All at once, they sat up. They moved to the edge of their respective beds, and walked out of the room, Starfire not even taking the time to throw away the cover that was being dragged along with her. After a few seconds of watching empty rooms, the image changed to the corridor outside. Starfire and Raven walked steadily to the window, opened it, and flew out, closing it behind them.
Lines of white static appeared as Cyborg paused the video. He turned around to face his confused team-mates, looking triumphant. After a short pause, Beastboy said,
"So they just left?"
"Not quite. Take a look at this." Cyborg rewound the tape to the point that Starfire walked passed the camera and then paused it. He zoomed in on her face,
"Voila" he said, waving at Starfire's calm face, and closed eyes.
"She's sleepwalking?" said Robin, frowning slightly.
"But that doesn't make sense, they've never walked in their sleep before, why start now?" asked Beastboy.
"Think, what did they have last night that they didn't before?" said Cyborg.
"Those implants." said Robin darkly. In truth, he hadn't needed Cyborg to lead him to that conclusion, the threat of the devices currently residing on the back of Starfire and Raven's neck had been praying on his thoughts all night.
"Exactly. So now I think it's safe to assume they're some sort mind control devices. Starfire and Raven probably didn't even realize what they were doing." said Cyborg.
"They will by now." replied Robin, eyeing the risen sun through the window.
"So now we find them right?" asked Beastboy worriedly, looking from Robin to Cyborg.
"Usually yes, but the systems can't pick them up their communicators. Something must be blocking the signal."
"Then we go out and look for them." said Robin, clear determination in his eyes.
"And I know just where to look." said Cyborg, hastily typing commands so that a map of Jump City replaced the security footage. A red dot radiating red circles showed on the outskirts of the city.
"The suburbs?" said Robin sceptically, Cyborg just shrugged.
"It's the last place their com-signals were."
"Then that's where we're going." said Robin.
Raven sat up with a groan. Her head hurt and she felt nauseous. Then she caught sight of her surroundings and she suddenly didn't care how she felt. She wasn't in her room, she wasn't even in the Tower. The walls of this foreign room had been badly painted black, the curtains were drawn, and the bed she was lying on had black and purple sheets. If she had to make a guess she'd say someone had tried to make this room up for her.
She quickly got off the bed and pulled up her hood. She was walking for the door when it opened. A scrawny teenage boy with wild, untamed red hair stepped in. Raven summoned her powers,
"Now, now, none of that." said the boy, and he pressed a button on a chunky purple watch. Raven's eyes went wide as her powers faded away like water through sand.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"I'm the one that built those robots, and the implant on your neck. I'm the one in control Raven, and from this moment on," Raven narrowed her eyes at him, no one took advantage of her. "from this moment on, I'm your boyfriend."
"This place is freaking me out." whispered Beastboy as he eyed his surroundings.
"I know what you mean. There's something sinister about this place. It's not real." agreed Cyborg. They both took a collective step back as a group of school kids wandered past, chattering merrily. Accacia Avenue was the kind of place you saw on TV, never in real life. Too bright sunlight shone through the trees lining the road. On either side were white houses with green lawns and red roses. Good-natured mothers bustled kids with big schoolbags into big, shiny, family cars. A yellow school bus trundled past.
"Where's that house again?" asked Robin, too anxious to find Starfire to be concerned with the surreality of the neighbourhood.
"It's this one, man." said Cyborg, pointing a few houses down. They set off towards it, when a little girl ran up to them. She had blond hair in two little bunches, big, blue, doe-eyes, and she could only have come up to Robin's knee.
"Hey there," she said, "You're the Teen Titans aren't you?" She had to crane her neck back as far as it would go to see their faces.
"Er, yeah, we are." said Robin, as Beastboy and Cyborg clung to each other behind him.
"I have you on my back pack." she said, and she turned to show Robin her bag, which featured them all leaping into action, with the caption "Titans, Go!" over their heads.
"So you do," said Robin, relaxing slightly and kneeling so the girl could look at him more comfortably. The girl took off her bag and set it down between them, it was almost as tall as she was.
"See, here's you, and Beastboy, and Cyborg, see?" she said, pointing to each one in turn, grinning from ear to ear.
"That's right." he said, smiling too.
"Oh, but where is Starfire and Raven?" said the little girl sadly, looking behind him.
"I don't know." said Robin with a sad honesty.
"Don't worry, you'll find them. Mama says when you lose something, it's only because it was feeling lonely, and if you miss it, then it will come back." she said.
God, I wish that were true. Please, Starfire, please be okay, thought Robin.
A woman nearby called "Samantha!" and the little girl looked behind her.
"Coming, Mom!" she cried. She turned back to Robin, "Don't be sad, I know you'll find them, because you're the Teen Titans, and you can do anything. And when I grow up, I'm gonna be just like you!" said the little girl, she eyes shining. Robin could only smile briefly in reply. The little girl tried to get her bag back on, but her arm got stuck on the straps, so Robin helped her, and the girl turned around like she was used to it, which she probably was. When the bag was safely on, the girl turned around again.
"Thank you." she said. "Goodbye Robin" She gave him a little wave as she skipped off to her mother's awaiting arms. Robin turned around to see Beastboy and Cyborg staring at him.
"What?" he asked, puzzled.
"Du-ude,……… you touched it." said Beastboy.
Starfire was alone. The boy responsible for her abduction had already come in and explained everything to her. She understood that he wanted her to be his girlfriend. She understood her implant prevented her from using her powers, it also told him her location, and even her vital signs, like her heartbeat. But that didn't mean she was beaten. She looked around her room at the green and red upholstery, a simple bed and little else. She knew Robin would be looking for her, but would he find her? She didn't have her communicator anymore, and she herself didn't know where she was. She hoped Raven was there too, and they were only being kept in separate rooms.
She stood, she wouldn't just sit around and wait patiently. She opened the curtains, but that didn't help much, all she could see was a small back yard and some trees. She paced back and forth like a lion in a cage. She tried her powers again but they didn't come as she felt a sickening calmness seep into her body. She thought maybe she still had her strength, because that wasn't linked to her emotions. She tried to open the locked door, but as soon as she got close to surpasssing average human strength, her all her muscles relaxed at once and she fell to her knees. She stared at the off-white door with it's cheap gold doorknob.
She was a prisoner.
Robin knocked loudly on the door of the house closest to the girls' last coordinates. It stood out slightly from the rest, but when you tried to look for what made it different you couldn't quite put your finger on it. There was just something a little off. The lawn was uneven, there wasn't a path leading behind the house, but there wasn't a gate either. The curtains were drawn even though it was the middle of the day.
After a few moments, they heard someone moving around inside and the door was opened a crack by a weasely, teenage boy. He had messy red hair and watery blue eyes.
"What?" he said, pushing his glasses back up his nose, apparently startled at having three Teen Titans on his doorstep. This was to be expected, but it made Robin a bit uneasy to see that it wasn't a welcoming surprise, and more of a hostility. Robin shook it off.
"Er, Hi, we're the Teen Titans and we were just-" began Robin, trying to be polite, unsure of how to go about this awkward visit.
"I can see that." replied the boy, his eyes narrowing slightly. Robin bristled, this was more what he was used to. He could handle this.
"Is there anyone else at home?" he said craning his neck to look past the boy into the house, and adding an almost undetectable, patronising lilt to his voice, insinuating that this boy wasn't even worth talking to. The boy closed the door even further, and held back a scowl.
"No, you're going to have to talk to me."
"Oh." replied Robin, leaving it just long enough to be insulting, but not long enough to be obvious. "Okay then, we were just wondering if you'd seen anything unusual recently." said Robin, fixing the boy with a steady, accusing stare.
"Not really, why? Lost something?" said the boy, unable to resist gloating. He had stolen something from right under the coolest people in the city's noses, and there wasn't a thing they could do about it. He was careful to keep his voice light, playing the part of the concerned citizen. To Robin however, this was all the conformation he needed.
"Well, I wouldn't say I'd lost it. More that it was stolen from me." Robin took a threatening step forward. Cyborg lay a heavy hand on his shoulder, and gave him a look.
"So you haven't seen anything suspicious?" said Cyborg lightly.
"Nope, sorry." was the reply.
"Well, thanks anyway." Cyborg turned and began walking back down the path, practically dragging Robin with him. The boy watched them go, the closed and locked the door before going back upstairs.
"He knows something!" cried Robin as soon as they were out of earshot.
"I know, and we're gonna find out what it is, but we don't have any evidence yet. We can't do anything."
"Who cares about evidence?" said Beastboy, preparing to go back and force his way in. Cyborg dragged him back silently. Robin put his head in his hands.
"I hate this helplessness." he said quietly.
"I know you do, we all do." said Cyborg morosely as they all climbed back in the T-car. Robin glared at the top window of the house as they drove past, promising himself that if anything happened to Starfire, that boy would pay the consequences.