Chapter 4: Searching
The Titans managed to bust the Hive trio during an attempted bank robbery, but they had turned up nothing useful. By the time Robin finished with him, Gizmo would have given up his own mother. He knew he had worked the kid over a little too much, but he refused to feel apologetic. Gizmo, Jinx, and Mammoth were criminals; surely they had done something else to deserve his wrath. His two teammates were quiet as Cyborg drove them home in the T-Car. Finally, Cyborg spoke. "We'll get her back, man. Don't worry, she's a Titan."
Robin made no reply. He couldn't help but worry. Whoever had taken her was powerful…dangerous. Robin still couldn't get over the fact that she had been taken from right over their heads while they fought over breakfast. It seemed so childish now. He had let her down. Anger, guilt, worry, and the need for answers swam around his brain. Who could have taken such a sweet girl? What did they want? Why? The questions repeated themselves over and over, driving him nuts.
They got back to the tower and headed for the control center, hoping Beast Boy had heard something.
Beast Boy was sitting at the enormous console of screens and keyboards keeping his ears open for a signal, but his hands and brain busy with a handheld game. He jumped, trying to hide the game, as they came in.
"Anything?" Robin asked.
"Uhh…nope, nada." he stuttered, trying to hide his guilt. He knew he wasn't really doing anything wrong, but he also knew better than to cross Robin at this time.
Robin either ignored or did not notice his nervousness. He turned around and headed for the hall. "I'm going to go do some research." he announced as the door slid open and shut around him.
As soon as Robin was out of earshot, Raven smacked Beast Boy upside the head. "OW…hey!" he yelped, ducking and jumping from the chair. She picked up the game he had hidden beneath him. "We have more important things to do than this." she said icily.
"Hey, I was supposed to monitor for a signal or a call and that's what I did!" he couldn't believe Raven was so mad. "Nobody said I had to stare at the screen until my eyeballs fell out!"
"Nobody said you could play games until your eyeballs fell out either." she snapped. One of the keyboards began shooting sparks, causing the boys to jump. Raven levitated, turned, and flew out of the room. "I have to meditate." she muttered.
Cyborg and Beast Boy looked at each other. "Dude, what's her deal?" the changeling whined.
"Things are pretty serious, man." the humanoid explained, "It looks like Star's in a lot of trouble and we've got nothing. Raven's worried about her and Robin. Rob flipped out on Gizmo earlier at the HIVE. He's taking this hard. It's like Slade all over again."
"Oh, great." Beast Boy sighed and rolled his eyes. Robin had been obsessed with Slade and went a little overboard on more than one occasion in his attempts to capture him.
"Look, go check out the roof again. Maybe you can find something we missed." Cyborg turned and studied the fried console. "I'll get this keyboard fixed."