As Starfire neared Robin, she heard footsteps. Heavy footsteps. She quickly ducked behind the vat.

It was then that she noticed what the acid had done to her outfit. It was burnt down and stopped at the belt. Her top was now a total tube top and she had shorter hair. She quickly wished that her hair was longer. She strained at it. She closed her eyes.

"Gotcha" she heard, and an arm grabbed her shoulder, puncturing her neck.

Starfire screamed, and Robin whipped his head around, getting a full blow in the side with the knife. He fell to the ground, gasping for breath.

Slade took the knife and slashed Starfire's chest. She, too, fell, but did not gasp. Her arms felt as if they had led on them, and she was afraid of being immobile again. And she was, as the rope bound her arms and legs.

Starfire began to feel helpless, as she always did when she was captured. But this time, the power that she had not known of before came up inside of her. A surge of electric energy. She burned the rope with said power, and hit the man squarely in the chest with her glowing fist.

Glowing?

She looked at the fist that had punched Slade. It was a light green.

And then they consumed her...

The whispers...

"It is alright, Starfire"

"No one will hurt you now."

"You have Starbolts"

Starfire looked down. "How do I use them?"

"You need to push"

"As you did with your hair."

"Starfire."

Yes, push. Push as you did with your hair.

Starfire closed her eyes. And she pushed. The starbolt rocketed around the room. Starfire watched as it stopped near the ceiling and busted down some plaster. She then saw it. Their ticket out of there!

She blasted the walls aver and over. Soon, a hole was out of the left wall. She picked up the bleeding Robin and walked through the walls.

As Starfire entered, she heard creaking. And looked up. A cage was hanging by a chain, a large bundle inside. Starfire placed Robin on the ground and flew up.

As she got near the cage, she noticed that there were many others. They all seemed to be moving slightly. Star followed the moving process. She flew along the cages and came to one with no one in it. But there was a note pinned to the top.

To: Rex Dent

From: Anonymous Murderer

Dear Rex:

As you may know, your wife Jennifer has been missing for twelve days. I thought that you should know that she was kidnapped, starved, murdered, and then wrapped in a sheet and dropped at your front door. Her last words were not of importance to you. If you check for fingerprints, do not bother, I left none.

--Anonymous Murderer

Starfire gasped. She looked around for any sign of a body. And then, out of the darkness, the machine stared at her. Starfire nearly jumped out of her skin. It was metallic white, with a red doorway. Upon closer inspection, Starfire saw that the door was splattered with blood.

Going inside of the machine seemed extremely stupid to do. She figured that it was a large machine to murder women and then dump them off with only a note on their doorstep. Instead, Starfire just went to the side of it and looked for the other side.

When she saw the numerous cages on the other side, Starfire was scared. She looked inside and saw some bundles. Inside were...

Humans. Dead humans. Dead WOMEN humans. Starfire wanted to scream, but she did not want to blow her cover. Instead, she decided to investigate.

One particularly bloody sheet was dark. And, when she unwrapped it, she found out why. The girl inside seemed a bit gothic, at least, and she had a light teal to her skin.

It was Raven. A dead Raven. Starfire gasped.

But was she really dead. If, say, in the future, as you Teen Titans fans know, she is not dead. And this was before the Teen Titans. So use your logic, people. Please?

Raven was shallowly breathing. She even uttered words.

"Az..."

"Raven! You are alive!"
"Azor..."

"Raven! Speak a language that I can understand!"
"Azorath... Met..."

"Please?"

"Azorath Metrion..."

"Raven!"

"Azorath Metrion... Zynthos."

Ravens arms floated up, and she floated, too. Her voice seemed more gravelly, but it was still comforting. She lifted herself, and hit herself on the top bars of the cage.

"Ow..."

She stopped, and hovered. And then she looked down.

"Starfire! What are—when did you—why are you he—?"

"Hush, Raven. I am fine. We need to get out of here. Stand back, though!"

Slightly showing off, she summoned the Starbolts and pushed them forward. Starfire blasted the side of the cage and Raven was free. They both floated down. Raven told Starfire of her time with Slade.

"—and so after being imprisoned, I was brought down here. He chained me to the bottom bars of the cage and tried to slit my throat but I somehow couldn't have the blade touch my neck. So he pressed a button on the wall and the cage it, well, moved and I was moving through a weird grinding thing and I almost died Star. I almost died. But I got out barely severed, and I felt weird. And now, I can fly. I don't know why, but I can. And whenever I say Azorath Metrion Zynthos I can make things float and destroy them. It's a little strange."

Upon saying these three words, Raven had the shards of the cage lift up and turn into black squares, outlined in white. The squares then dropped to the ground.

Raven gave a weak smile. "I haven't quite got it down."

But the shards were an improvement. Together, they could overpower Slade and get back home, perhaps even restore the tower. They floated Robin towards themselves, and blasted walls. After a few terrifying yet triumphant hours, they saw daylight. Starfire would have cheered and pumped her arms if she had not been carrying Robin.

They blasted down the last wall. It was then that Star turned around, handing Robin to Raven.

"I need to go get Terra and Bumble Bee. I will be right back. Please stay here Raven, out of trouble with—with Slade!"

Starfire turned and soared back at high speed. She went up into her room. She saw the blonde boy and the two girls huddling near the door. She coaxed them down and, amazingly, lifted the three into her arms and carried them. She put them on the ground beneath Raven and everyone dropped to the ground to walk into the forest. They were halfway through and rejoicing when they got the first sign of joy as they heard Beast Boy calling for them. They raced through, but Star tripped and fell out of their grip. No one noticed her gone.

She felt as if nothing could go worse.

Then the owls came.


Author's Note I want to thank strodgfrgf and Violetsnewo and strodgfrgf's mom for help in this chapter and chapter 17.: )Thanks!