Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, or any related material, although the story idea is mine.

Chapter 8

She watched the whole thing via her communicator, and she was pretty angry at Raven towards the end. She had no idea how badly he had been hurt since her communicator screen had gone black during Raven's fit of rage. She's make sure when her friend got back to give the girl a stern talking to. She signalled Cyborg on his communicator while the Titans were driving to the latest crime scene.

"Cyborg, friend, please make haste with this mission. I have discovered something that you must look at," she said, not caring that her voice was tinted with urgency, gaining her some strange looks from the others.

"What is it? I have time, we won't be there for at least two more minutes. If you can explain it all in that time, I'm all ears," her friend replied, his grinning face filling up her screen.

"I have just discovered something alarming in the bloodstreams of both Raven and myself. Doubtless they are also present within your own bodies if they are in ours. Do you recall the small black dot with Slade's insignia on it that I pointed out to you yesterday during you short stay in the medical ward of our tower?" she paused in her explanation to let him answer the question.

"You mean that little bitty thing that I still can't believe you even noticed at all? Yeah, I remember that, why? Did you find out what it is?" Cyborg said, his voice no longer holding the teasing, happy tone that it normally did.

"Unfortunately, friend, I have. The black dot to which you refer is in fact a probe, one of thousands that reside within our bloostreams. I have scanned them to measure what they are capable of, and I have found some frightening things. These probes have the capability to destroy us at will," she said, pausing to let the effect of her words sink in then waiting patiently as there was silence at the other end.

Beast Boy's face appeared on the screen next to Cyborg's, a look of...seriousness?...on his face, something she hadn't seen in a long time, but perhaps that was because she never spent much time with her friends anymore. As soon as this was over, she would be sure to fix that. He then asked, "What do wierd little probes have to do with anything?"

She sighed, a bit annoyed with the changeling's ignorance, than continued. "These probes have been inside of our bodies since that mission, the one where he left us," she bit her lip at the memory, leaving an akward silence between them.

"You mean you finally figured out what that ray thingy was that hit us?" Beast Boy asked, his eyes wide in anticipation.

Raven's face appeared beneath the boys' faces, looking rather cross. "Yes, you dolt! Don't you get what this means? With this technology to control us in Slade's hands, he has the power to destroy us whenever he wants to."

She nodded, glad that somebody understood, finally. "Unless Robin does whatever he says." She let this sentence hang in the air, waiting for her friends to respond. Would they accept this? If they were to rid themselves of the probes, would they even be able to get Robin back at all? Would they ever be able to trust him again after all that he had done in this past year? Whatever happened, things would never be the same between them, but at least she would have him back.

"So you mean Robin's been on our side this whole time?" Beast Boy said, his tone loaded with disbelief.

"That doesn't make sense. Wouldn't he have fought back, you know, tried to get the control from Slade?" Cyborg butted in, still not sure if he was ready to believe this, ready to forgive his former friend of so many haneous acts.

"Doubtless he tried his very best. Do you not remember the Robin that we knew in times past? He was never willing to put us in harm's way without putting up some sort of fight. Do you think he did not fight back?" she argued, hoping she could talk some sense into these people.

"Yeah, don't you remember that time we fought him and he had a couple scratch marks all over his face that I know we didn't put there?" Beast Boy butted in.

"Exactly," she said, glad somebody else was catching on.

Terra finally appeared on the screen. "Um, I know I don't know Robin as well as you guys did, but from this conversation, I can probably tell you that Robin fought back and that he's still loyal to you. I suggest that when we get back, you guys figure out a way to get rid of those probes before we have to fight him again. I'm still having repercussions from the last time," she said, trying to end the conversation before anybody could say anything else, for she was obviously uncomfortable with the subject of somebody she had never really known except in newspaper clippings here and there, especially many years ago when she had wandered the streets in Gotham for a few weeks.

On the other end, she could hear the sounds of the T-car stopping and doors opening. One by one, the faces of the Titans disappeared until Cyborg was the only one left, his face smiling in encouragement as he said, "Don't worry, Star. We'll get him back, I promise." With that, the screen went blank.

She fell back against the pillow, frustrated at her predicament. She hated not being able to do anything, being stuck in this stupid room for so long. Why wouldn't they let her leave? She was perfectly capable of moving about now that she was conscious. They were being overly protective. To pass the time, she watched the recordings of the recent mission, the one in which Raven had lost control, before she finally spotted something. He had been present at the cave, but then vanished. There must have been a hidden exit somewhere in those dark recesses. She hopped out of the bed, but remembered that Cyborg had locked the door from the outside. Frustrated, she blasted a hole in the window. Let them deal with that petty criminal, whoever it was. She was going to find Slade's hideout. Maybe she could save Robin before they even got back. At any rate, she wasn't going to just sit here and do nothing! Flying with new resolve, she flew towards the cave where she had an overwhleming feeling that she would find Robin. Unfortunately, she conveniently had forgotten that the probes were still lodged within her...