Disclaimer: Same as always.

Chapter 8

Raven's eyes opened slowly as everything came into view for her. Her vision was still blurry, but she could make out shapes. Sitting up, she rubbed her head in confusion and tried to get her bearings. As far as she could tell, she was in a hotel room in bed. How did she get here? She finally found Red X, zonked out in the bed across the room from her. So he had brought them both here. Good for him.

Her memory was blurry as she attempted to recall everything that had happened. As far as she could remember, after she had phased herself and Red X away, she had seen the henchman carrying Robin away and then she had finally touched down. Everything after that was darkness. She had probably lost consciousness after that adventure, and she was still sore from it all as well.

She heard Red X stirring and waited for him to wake up before pelting him with questions and accusations. "Where are we? Is Robin okay? What's going on?" Normally, she would have kept her cool in a situation like this, but this time was different: Robin was in trouble and it was her fault! She had posessed the power to save him, but had not!

He raised a gloved hand. "Whoa, whoa. Look, I know you're mad because your boyfriend got kidnapped, but I had to get us a place to stay somewhere."

She glared at him. "I think it's time we called the Titans in for backup," she suggested.

He shook his head. "Nothing doing, chick. I'm not going to be the one to tell those kids that their leader just got bested by an idiot in a lightbulb suit. If you want to, that's fine with me, but I'm out of here."

She growled. "But you owe us! You're the one that got us into this mess."

This seemed to stop him for a moment and he turned to face her. "Fine. But if those buddies of yours even hint at trying to put me in the slammer, I'm out before you can say 'Bird Boy'."

Crossing her arms, she narrowed her eyes, saying. "Well?" She held out her hand, waiting for him to consent.

Blowing out his breath in frustration, he went to the telephone in the room and started dialing. It wasn't the fastest way to get the others, but it would suffice. He placed a hand over the receiver. "Nobody's home."

She sighed. "They must have gone after Doctor Light. Leave a message, would you?"

Grumbling, he conceded, though obviously unhappily. "Look, kids. Me and your pal are stuck in a hotel and need backup. That idiot Doctor Light and a bunch of Chang's henchman ambushed us and-" he stopped. "It cut me off!" he cried out, indignant.

"That's okay. Cyborg can trace the call," Raven replied.

"Great. So now we just have to wait," he grunted, plopping down on the bed and turning on the television.

Raven nodded, though her heart was racing. How long would it take the others to receive their call? Every second that they wasted could be precious time that they could have been searching for Robin. If Red X ever pulls a stunt like this again, she thought, I'll personally put him out of commission.

He grunted, struggling to sit up in this darkness. His vision was slowly coming back, and he could finally make out his surroundings. There wasn't much to look at, though. Wherever he was, it was solid metal wall-to-wall. He tried to sit up once more, but was finding that impossible, and now that feeling had returned to his arms, he could tell why. His arms had been tied tightly behind him and, just for good measure, hooked to the wall behind him. His feet were also bound and his belt was gone. Apparently, they had gone to great lengths to be sure that he would be unable to escape. He tasted something foul, and realized that somebody's handkercheif was securely fastened around his mouth. This was a predicament that he had not forseen, to be sure.

His eyes narrowed as the door opened and light streamed around him, blinding him momentarily. He could see boots approaching him, but he couldn't seem to look up without straining his arms, so he looked away instead. He didn't need to know who it was, though, for eventually all villains would start monologuing and spill their entire plan to their captives. That was the way things seemed to work in this business...

Sure enough, Doctor Light bent down to look him straight in the face. He wasn't exactly in a position to make a snark comment, so he did the next best thing. He growled. Doctor Light only laughed at him, though, and sure enough began monologuing. "I bet you're wondering what I have in store for you and your friends."

"Not really," he thought, narrowing his eyes at the villain sitting before him. If he could have kicked that smirking face in, he would have.

"Well, I broke out of jail last week. A certain Professor Chang helped me out. Apparently, you and he have had several run-ins, even some trading. That's where I found out about this Red X character of yours. I admit, I made a mistake in thinking that you would have kept up the charade, but you can never be too sure. Especially considering your past in this area," Doctor Light smirked.

Oh, he just wanted to hit that man! He struggled a bit against his restraints, but it didn't seem to be working. Really, all that he was accomplishing was to inflate the villain's ego, letting him know that he was getting ticked.

"You're not getting mad, are you? Too bad. Anyway, so then I teamed up with Doctor Chang and we discovered this huge stash of xinothium that your friend was holding, and we figured that it would be the best way to defeat you annoying Teen Titans. After all, if I coat myself in it, I'd be invincible, and Chang and I would rule the city!" Doctor Light laughed.

"Just kill me now," Robin thought sarcastically, not wanting to hear another word of this.

"So once we get you brats out of the way, we'll attack the city. And guess what? We'll make you watch. Our first target will be that tower of yours," Doctor Light continued, smirking.

Robin's eyebrows shot up. The Tower? He growled once more, wanting nothing more than to deliver a satisfying punch to the guy's face, but the doctor stood up and left, closing the door behind him and engulfing Robin once more in darkness.

"Will he be alright?" Starfire asked for the third time in the past five minutes.

Cyborg was starting to get annoyed. "He may not be able to move for a few hours, but I'm sure he'll pull through."

Starfire folded her arms. "I am sorry. I am just very worried about all of our friends. They have not contacted us at all, and so much had gone wrong lately."

"Why don't you go check and see if they contacted us while we were gone?" Cyborg said dismissively, turning to his instruments.

"All right."

Starfire walked to the computer and tryped a few things into it, her face etched with worry. There was nothing on the computer. There was nothing on their communicators. Nobody was outside... She paused. Had they used the telephone. She almost reached to pick it up, but second-guessed herself. Cyborg had said that it was "way low-tech" and that he doubted anyone would call on it. Still, something told her that she needed to check, so she pressed her ear to the phone.

"You have one new message. To hear this message, press one."

She was overjoyed! Pressing the indicated button, she could hear two voices bickering in the background before a mechanized voice finally spoke up. After listening carefully to the message, she was dismayed when it was cut short. Dropping the phone, she rushed over to Cyborg and pulled him all the way doen the hallways to stop in front of the device.

Confused, he picked it up and listened. When he put the phone down, he was not overjoyed as she was, but rather concerned. "Did you happen to notice that he said 'pal' not 'pals'? That means that somebody's missing from the trio."

Her hands flew to her mouth. "You do not suppose that one of our friends has been captured?"

He tried to calm her down. "Look, it may just be nothing. Maybe it was a slip-up. He did seem kinda rushed."

She nodded. "Perhaps. Can you trace this call?"

He looked indignant. "This old thing? Star, tracing a call on something this low tech is a peice of cake! Watch and learn!" Within a few minutes, he brought out a printed sheet of paper with the adress of the hotel. "Boo-yah."

Raven paced the room once more, turning sharply in midair. She had regained enough strength to levitate, that is, after a few hours of meditation. What could be taking them so long? She wondered. Running her hands through her hair, she realized that Red X was laughing at her and quickly brought her hood up over her face to conceal her emotions.

"If you're really that worried about your boyfriend, why don't you just go after him?" he laughed as he flipped through channels.

She fixed him with an icy stare. "For the last time, he is not my boyfriend. We're just good friends, that's all. Besides, the others are taking way too long. Normally they'd be here within the hour, not within the week!"

He chuckled. "Relax. They're probably out fighting somebody or something. Isn't that what you kids do?"

She sighed in frustration. "You're probably right, as much as it pains me to admit it. I shouldn't worry so much, I guess. But I can't help it. I could never forgive myself knowing that I could have saved him, but I didn't."

Blowing out his breath in frustration, he realized that he had to comfort her or something before she drove him insane with her worrying. Besides, her emotions were starting to destroy things. Already he'd had to call up for five new remotes, and the hotel manager was getting pretty ticked with them. "You did what you had to do. You didn't have the strength to save him too. Just accept that already! Stop thinking that it's your fault! Stuff like this is bound to happen when you play the good guy." He tucked his arms behind his head. "That's why I'm not on anybody's side. It keeps me out of trouble."

She shook her head, knowing that what he was saying was true, but not realy accepting it. Finally, she plopped down on the bed and crossed her legs in a meditation stance, trying to clear her mind of all these emotions before she broke something again. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, bringing her mind back to reality. Blowing out her breath in frustration, she answered it.

Immediately, she wished that she had asked who it was first, for she was met by one of those alien strangle-holds that Starfire called a hug. As she struggled to breath, she saw Cyborg standing before her, his sonic cannon ready. "Where is he?" the cybernetic teen asked with a growl.

Red X jumped up, holding his hands up in defense. "Let's not get hasty. I'm only here because I owe Robin, but if you're going to throw me out, I'll let myself out." He placed one hand on his belt in preparation to leave before things got too heated.

Raven placed a hand on Cyborg's shoulder. "It's okay, Cyborg. He's on our side."

"This time. But don't expect any more favors!" Red X growled.

Cyborg reluctantly lowered his cannon, but he breathed a threat to X. "If you put one toe out of line, you're getting a one way ticket to jail. As it is-"

"He's helping us and we should be thankful," Raven interrupted.

Cyborg looked at her strangely. He'd never seen Raven this open before. "Okay."

Starfire tapped Raven on the shoulder. "Where is Robin?"

At first, a fire rose up inside of her as she felt extreme resentment towards the nieve girl. After all, this was her competition for Robin right before her. But the feeling passed. Starfire was her best friend, and she shouldn't let a boy get in between the two of them. She looked away for a moment, collecting her thoughts before answering. "We really don't know, Star. He was...captured in our previous encounter with Doctor Light."

Cyborg's eyes shot up. "You guys lost to Doctor Light?"

She shot him an icy stare. "Well you try fighting when he," she pointed to Red X, "has a broken arm, Robin has several bruised ribs, and I was still winded from the previous fight!"

He raised his arms up in defense. "Sorry, sorry. How'd it happen anyway?"

She plopped down on the couch. "We were ambushed by six of Chang's henchmen-"

"Chang?" Cyborg cut in, wearing a confused expression.

Sighing in annoyance, she said, "Yes, Chang. We don't know how he's connected to Doctor Light yet, but whatever the reason, they ambushed us. As I told you, we really weren't in a position to fight, and we were having a hard enough time before Doctor Light showed up." She choked as she prepared to tell them about the next part. "Robin was trying to protect me. Doctor Light was getting ready to attack us, and he stepped in. But that meant that he was hit from behind by one of the henchmen. We had to get out of there before we got the same, so we had to leave." She was faintly aware that tears were forming in her eyes, and she quickly pulled up her hood to hide them.

Starfire looked like she was on the verge of tears as well. "Then where have they taken Robin?"

Again, Raven felt that fiery monster rise up within her chest once more as she glared at Starfire for a moment, but she fought it back down. "I told you, Star: we don't know. Even if we did know, we're in no condition to go after him. Cyborg, do you think you could help us out?"

He puffed out his chest in pride. "I'll see what I can do."

How long had he been in here? Three hours? Four? Five? He had lost track of time. His wrists were chaffed from the ropes and his stomach was growling loudly for lack of food. His right arm was asleep because he had been leaning on it for so long, and he was beginning to lose feeling in his feet. An escape plan was forming in the back of his mind, but fatigue and hunger were keeping him from putting it together.

Meanwhile, his mind had had plenty of time to wander. Most of those thoughts were about newly formed relationships. When it came down to it, he knew that he and Raven had been only a few seconds away from becoming official, but looking back he had to wonder whether or not he had really meant it. Had it been love that night, or simply an overload of emotions?

His thoughts drifted to Starfire. He knew that back on the planet they had also only been a few seconds away from being official. He sighed, which was not an easy feat to accomplish when one's side was completely numb. What was he supposed to do? Was he not supposed to have what he wanted? Was he not supposed to love either girl? All these thoughts of emotions were only confusing him.

The repurcussions of either relationship were haunting him. He remembered only too clearly how Raven had stressed that she couldn't fell anything for fear of destroying something with her emotions. If he were to ask her out, would he be rendered a mere pile of ashes, or would she be able to control herself long enough to go with him? And what of her personality? Would her darker side ever see anything in his optimism?

Then there were the repurcussions of a relationship with Starfire. Sure, she would love to have him by her side, and there would be no immediate side effects, but what of confusion? If the two of them broke up, what would become of her powers? Would she lose them completely? Then there was the question of whether or not she would be willing to wait for him to come out and say it. He had always feared that she would move on before he could reveal his emotions, but there was always that problem in any relationship, wasn't there?

Of course, there was also the problem of his profession. He had found out the hard way that friendships could be used against him, to force him into situations that he would have otherwise avoided. If ever he were to enter a relationship stronger than friendship, his enemies, most especially Slade, would eventually find out, and then where would he be? Back in blackmail and threats, that's where. He sighed once more, a long, painful sigh. Times like these made him wonder if he should return to having a normal life.

He forced himself to focus once more on the problem at hand. Once he got out of this situation, then he would be able to think of such things, but only then. After all, what good would it be to focus on relationships if the city was about to be destroyed? As it was, his own life hung in the balance if he didn't figure something out soon, but he was drawing a blank. That was another thing he hated about all these complicated emotions. They seemed to be keeping him from thinking straight.

Raven and Red X were lying in seperate beds in the medical ward as Cyborg examined their wounds. He finally turned her way. "You did an excellent job, Rae. With your help, X's arm should be mobile by this time tomorrow. I applied some medication that sped up the process of course. I developed it after Robin broke his arm. I figured we might need it again. Anyway, looks like you had some internal bruises as well, but I figure a day's rest should help clear those up."

She sat up in protest. "But we don't have a whole day!" As she said this, a container burst.

He put an arm on her shoulder. "We don't have a choice either. BB's in bed, Red X is in bed, you're in bed... We can't afford to have three people out of commission on a rescue mission like this. I'm sorry to break it to you, Rae, but this is how it's got to be."

She crossed her arms. "Well, I don't like it," she stated.

Starfire put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "It is okay, friend Raven. I am worried about our friend's safety as well."

Once more, the monster rose up within her, and she had to refrain from growling at the girl. How could a boy do this to their friendship so easily? She was even more confused now that she was back with the others. There was always the question of the other boy, the one she had mentioned to Robin before. And here he was, sleeping in the bed beside her.

Confusing thoughts crowded her mind once more. She had always heard that opposites attract, which would put her with Beast Boy, but then she had also heard that your best friend could become more than that in an instant, which would put her with Robin.

She remembered only too well the time that Beast Boy and Cyborg had entered her mind and helped her to overcome her hatred. At that time, she had thought that she had figured out what she wanted, especially when he had practically spilled his guts to her after the whole Malchior incident, but she hadn't. Terra had come into the picture and he had fallen head-over-heels for her.

Yet she also remembered when Robin had come after her during the end of the world. Even when the others had lost all hope, he had never given up on her and had even inspired her to fight back against her father. And he had hugged her back, hadn't he? But then again, Beast Boy had hugged her back too... AGH! Everything was so confusing!

Needless to say, she did not get a good night's rest that night as Cyborg had suggested, but rather woke up every hour or so with some new theory as to who she really had feelings for. She finally concluded that it was too soon to settle on one person, so she drifted back to sleep, into her dreams.

She was up on the roof of the tower. The wind was swirling around her and catching her cloak as she looked out over the stars. A gloved hand rested on her shoulder and she turned to stare into Robin's face. He was smiling. "Hey Rae," he said teasingly, sitting down beside her.

"Robin, what are you doing here?" she asked.

He grinned recklessly. "Aren't I allowed to talk to you?"

"It's too confusing!" she sobbed.

He placed an arm around her shoulder. "I know, I know. It's hard trying to decide between friends. You don't want to hurt anybody, do you Rae?"

She shook her head in answer and buried it into his chest, letting the tears fall freely. Miraculously, nothing was exploding yet. "I don't know what to think anymore."

The scene changed. She was back inside the tower. Beast Boy was trying to get her to laugh once more. She secretly loved it when he did that, though she would never let on to the others. Whatever he was trying to get her to laugh at wasn't working, as usual, and she had to keep herself from laughing AT him. He was just so darn cute when he was annoying. "What are you staring at?" he asked, catching her eye.

"Nothing," she lied, looking away.

"No, you were looking at me funny. What's wrong Raven?"

She turned to face him. "Beast Boy, everything is so confusing right now. I think I might love someone, but I might also love someone else!"

He grinned crazily. "Am I one of those someones?"

Sheepishly, she replied, "You might be."

"Raven! Raven!" She woke to find Beast Boy standing above her, shaking her hard. She smiled for a moment in memory of the dream, then snapped back out of it. Glancing at the clock, she realized that she had slept past mid-day! Sitting up, she stared off into space. Normally her dreams had some sort of meaning. What could these particular ones mean? Her thoughts drifted back to Robin.

"You don't want to hurt anybody, do you Rae?"

She almost let her tears fall once more. "No," she replied inwardly. "I don't. And most especially, I don't want to hurt you."