A/N: I do not own Teen Titans. (Though I wish I owned Raven.)
Chapter IV.
Starfire walked through the tower toward her room. She couldn't fly right now because happiness was eluding her. Raven was in love with her boy. Starfire wasn't naïve like everyone believed her to be. She had seen how Raven acted around Robin, but she had never dreamed that she would feel this strongly for him. Raven had always kept her distance.
Starfire's depression was interrupted as her communicator jumped into life. Beast boy had been monitoring things in the city while Robin had been "helping" with Raven's training.
"Hey everybody! I just got a call from Batman! Mr. Freeze just escaped from the asylum and is headed straight for us. Batman suspects that Freeze has a secret base somewhere just outside the city. Everybody scramble!"
Starfire could hear Robin break in as well. "Titans GO!"
Starfire looked around trying to figure out how she was going to fly. In her current state she could forget it. Remembering Cyborg also could not fly she headed straight for the garage. It was a good thing the T-Car had a back seat.
Starfire came running into the garage and managed to grab the door of the T-Car and jump into the back seat just as Cyborg tore out of the hangar and converted the car to hover mode for the short trip to the shore.
"I must ride with you today friend Cyborg!" Starfire called from the back seat. Cyborg only glanced at her for a moment before going back to his driving. Starfire looked around the car for a moment before she noticed that Raven was also in the back seat. She had her hood up and her head down, but Starfire could guess what her friend probably looked like right now.
"I just outfitted the T-Car with a retractable barrier wall in case we have to transport prisoners." Cyborg said conversationally. "It also works great when you need some privacy." Starfire watched as a partition came up from the floor and clicked into place on the roof. She was now alone with Raven.
"I take it you saw everything." Raven said in her usual monotone.
"You noticed me in the room of control?" Starfire asked quietly.
"Yeah, I saw you as I was running out." Raven said quietly. "I went down to the garage to get away from everything for a little while. I figured you and Robin wouldn't find me there."
"Raven…" Starfire couldn't think of what else to say.
"Don't worry Starfire. I'm not going to get in the way of you and Robin. As soon as this is over I'm going to leave the tower." Raven said sadly.
"Raven, I do not want you to leave. And I do not think that Robin would want you to leave either." Starfire said looking to her friend for some sign as to what she was feeling.
"I can't Starfire. Being around Robin only makes me want to be with him more and more. I've always fooled myself into thinking that nothing would ever come of it and that it was just a childish infatuation. I can't take being around him anymore and not showing him how I feel. Starfire, I love him and if I don't leave I'm going to end up hurting our friendship." Raven turned to Starfire and she could see tears on her face even under the hood.
"I am not so certain that Robin would accept your leaving. If you leave, he may decide to go with you." Starfire said sadly. "I think Robin loves you too."
"It will pass." Raven said reverting back to her monotone. "He really does love you. I can tell every time he looks at you and I don't have to be an empath to sense it. Whatever he feels for me will pass once I leave. You two deserve to be together."
"But what do you deserve, Raven?" Starfire said, not knowing really how else to respond. It seemed either way things happened she would either loose her friend or run the risk of loosing the man she loved.
Starfire's thoughts were interrupted as the T-Car suddenly stopped. Starfire got out into a steady rain as Raven got out on the other side. Beast boy was already there, and Robin was just rolling to a stop on his R-cycle.
"Batman said that this was Mr. Freeze's last location. He's at the Watchtower and won't be able to get here in time. We have to stop Freeze before he does anything with the stuff in his secret lab." Beast boy was saying hysterically.
"First we have to find out where his lab is." Raven said as if everything were normal.
"I'm picking up some strange energy readings from that direction." Cyborg said looking at the display on his arm and pointing toward a nearby hill nearly shrouded by the rain, mist, and fog.
"Let's go then." Robin commanded. "Raven, are your powers back to normal?"
"Not really, but I'll manage." Raven said without a trace of reservation. Starfire had to admit that Raven could be quite determined sometimes.
Robin nodded and the Titans set out to find the secret lab. Starfire stayed on foot and started to search along with the others while beast boy went on ahead to scout things out as a ferret.
It didn't take long before the Titans found what they were looking for. A concealed bay door that lead into some sort of hangar. Unfortunately it had already been opened.
"At least we're in out of the rain." Beast boy said sneezing.
"Careful Titans, Freeze could be anywhere in here." Robin said cautiously.
"Too late, Robin. You've already found me."
Starfire turned as a bolt of blue energy fired from the darkness and caught Robin squarely in the chest. Ice immediately encased him as he fell to the ground.
"ROBIN!" Starfire shouted in unison with Raven.
Freeze stepped out of the shadows with his beam cannon pointed in their direction. "He'll be dead in minutes from hypothermia." Freeze said conversationally. "Now, who's next?"
His answer was a blast of sonic energy from Cyborg's energy cannon. Starfire started hurling star bolts at Freeze as well. Beast boy had already shifted into a polar bear and was bearing down on the villain.
"RAVEN!" Starfire shouted. She was her only hope. "You've got to get Robin out of here, now!"
Raven looked confused. "But…"
"Now Raven! For both our sakes…" Starfire said before turning back to continue firing away at Mr. Freeze.