Chapter 2: Gone
Beast Boy and Cyborg were in the kitchen having the same argument they had at every meal. Being able to morph into any animal he chose, Beast Boy was a strict vegetarian. Cyborg, on the other hand, was an adamant carnivore. The furry green changeling and the half robot man yelled back and forth:
"I'm making tofu waffles!"
"Man, nobody wants your nasty tofu!"
"I do!"
"Too bad, I've already started edible waffles!"
"Dude, those waffles have eggs and milk in them!"
"Eggs and milk aren't meat!"
"They still come from animals…animals that I've been!"
"Nobody forced you to turn into a cow, although you are a little chicken!"
Cyborg laughed as Beast Boy fumed at the insult. Fists were about to fly when Raven used her powers to pick up the blender and whack Cyborg with it. Now it was Beast Boy's turn to laugh.
"You two better knock it off." she said in the dull, monotone voice, "Cyborg, just finish your waffles and then Beast Boy, you can make yours." Not once did she look up from the book she was reading. She allowed herself an inward grin as Beast Boy prepared the batter for his own waffles while continuing to tease Cyborg about getting the brunt of Raven's wrath (for once). Cyborg finished his own waffles, rubbing the back of his half-metal head, muttering something about 'crazed black magic blenders'.
Robin entered the common area and headed toward them. "Have you two settled on breakfast or do I have to mediate again?"
"Done it." said Raven, pointing to the broken blender on the floor and still not moving her eyes from her book. Robin sighed. They went through a lot of kitchen appliances…and windows and remotes and video game equipment…
He decided to change the subject, "Anybody seen Star?" All three replied no so he turned to go to her room and look for her. She was not in her room, everything was neat and clean and purple. The rooftop was her favorite thinking spot. She often went there to watch the sun rise and set. No Starfire there either. He walked further out onto the roof, looking to the skies to see if she was up there taking a morning flight. Still no Starfire. His foot crunched down on something, a rock? He looked down and saw a yellow and black compact with a white "T" in the center. A Titans communicator, probably Starfire's. Robin began to get nervous. Star wasn't one to leave her communicator behind. He grabbed his own from his side, flipped it open, and paged his teammates. "Guys, come up to the roof. I think something's happened to Star."
He closed the disk, returned it to its place on his belt, and began searching for more clues. It didn't take long to find something. He found a hypodermic syringe a few feet from the communicator. "Not good." he muttered to no one in particular. The door to the roof opened and Raven, Beast Boy, and Cyborg piled through.
"What's wrong?" Cyborg asked.
"Not sure. I came up here to look for Star and stepped on this." he held up her communicator for the others to see. "I started looking around some more and found this." now pointing to a spot at his feet.
The other Titans gathered around to see Robin's discovery. They became somber when they saw the used needle on the ground. Cyborg was the first to speak, "What I wanna know is; how did someone manage to nab Star without getting a face full of starbolts?"
Robin had no answer. He felt the urge to panic. Starfire was gone. His Starfire was gone. His mind back-pedaled at that last thought. "My Starfire?" he thought, "Okay Robin, get a grip." The team needed to get down to business. He suppressed the panic and took control of the situation. "Cyborg, take this needle and see if you can get any residue or prints off of it. It probably contained a sedative, but find out exactly what if you can. Raven, go back down to the control center and see if Star's locator chip is still active. Beast Boy, help me look around here some more. Everyone wordlessly moved to carry out Robin's orders.
Beast Boy morphed into a dog and began sniffing around while Robin headed in the opposite direction. He didn't get far before Beast Boy assumed his normal form and called him over.
"What did you find?" Robin questioned.
Beast Boy's face was grim, which said a lot. Beast Boy was a born joker and rarely took anything seriously. "It's blood. I picked up the scent."
Kneeling down beside his green friend, Robin inspected the new find. Beast Boy was right. The dark puddle was small, but there was no doubt as to its contents. Now thoroughly frustrated at the whole situation, Robin stood back up. "Let's go see if Cyborg and Raven found anything."
The two boys met up with Raven in the hallway. "I was headed to the lab, her locator chip isn't showing up." she said. The three of them walked together, hoping Cyborg had had better luck than they.
Robin turned it over in his head as they walked. Star was gone; she had been beaten, drugged, and kidnapped. It wasn't much to go on. How had all this happened without a single one of them hearing it? Who would do this and why? What did they want? He tried to come up with some likely suspects and got nothing. Blackfire wouldn't have been so subtle, Slade was dead, Terra was still trapped in her stone prison, and he couldn't imagine Cinderblock, Plasmus, or Overload coming up with such an elaborate scheme. Mad Mod? No. Those brats from the Hive. They might have been able to pull off something like this… It wasn't a very good lead, but it was someplace to start and someone to hit.
Cyborg hadn't been able to find any prints. Whoever it was, they were smart enough to wear gloves. He had, however, been able to identify the substance in the syringe as Ketamine.
Robin didn't think his stomach could sink any lower, but the thought of someone using such a powerful drug on Starfire made him sick. He went over the reasoning he had done on the way to the lab, adding to it that they could work on the source of the tranquilizer next. The others agreed with his logic. The Hive would be their starting point.
Beast Boy stayed behind in case a distress signal or ransom came through. The three remaining Titans went looking for their friend.