Thank you lilybee and marc for reviewing!
I had accepted that she was not coming back on her own, I was not willing to stop the effort to bring her back though. She had to have been held up or injured to not make it back on her own by now. My time as a hero showed me that people came back more often than expected, both villains and comrades were extraordinary and had to be believed as such. No body no funeral and sometimes the funeral was revoked at a later day. Though my resolve was steadfast my body was starting to falter.
"Any word from the Coast Guard?" I asked Cyborg as he was still up with me. Beast boy had less experience with teammates coming back against the odds. He had been a mess and Raven had used an enchantment to help him sleep it off. She had been meditating in the corner as I knew watching and waiting was hard on her. Cyborg was holding up the best next to me, but I was sure that was also because he was kept busy. He had yet to lose someone on a team, but I knew from his past and file he could not be unaffected. He had been a civilian for much more of his life than the rest of us.
"No, but they should be able to start patrolling now that the waters settled. I've worked on narrowing where she would have landed if she got caught up in the wave, but it's still a massive area." He was working on the assumption she could have gotten caught up in the tsunami if the blasts had knocked her in the water. Waves moving at the speed of a jet could of dragged her way off the mark we were originally searching for with the satellites.
"Good, is there anyway we can spread the satellites out, she could send us a signal or message we are missing?" I knew she had the ability to flicker in morse code since we had practiced that in past space missions. It was a way to communicate if coms fell through.
"It's another 20 minutes until one is in position for us to use that way. I'll start working on those commands." He said and started typing in commands. I was getting ready to put in a check in with both Red Star and Aqualad to see if they were almost ready to start searching.
"Red Star, report?" I said into my communicator. He had gotten to the spot and was able to stand any lingering radiation.
"Nothing to report, I shall keep looking." Red Star said and I knew he was the right person to assist. He would find her if she was lying on the surface. He had immediately rushed into action when he saw the alert with the second bomb he was just too late.
"I'll see if we can get someone to switch if you are near your limit." I offered since I knew his powers had a time limit before he needed to drain. Though it's not like it would matter much if we had another explosion in the area.
"Unnecessary, I shall keep looking." He said over the line and I knew he was fearing the worst. He had been on the other spectrum where he had lost most people close to him.
"We will let you know if we find her first." I said and disconnected the lines. I switched over to Aqualad who needed more time to mobilize since he had been on the opposite coast.
"Do you have an ETA?" I asked without a greeting.
"I have some scouts already looking, but the tsunami messed with normal patterns. It will take time before I get to the area and everyone willing to cooperate. It might be a few hours before everything is organized. Did Cyborg use the formula I sent over? It's more likely she will be along that path." He said over the line and I felt frustration that it could be hours she was stranded still.
"Is there anything we could do now?" I asked since waiting was the enemy.
"Unless you can get a hold of Harold and get an instant ride, sorry man no. I'm pretty positive even with her muscle mass she probably floated your way. Though your bay is interesting she could be anywhere in there if she's not on the outskirts. She has some orcas and dolphins she swims with often enough that can troll the area that know what she looks like. Get Beast Boy to ask for their help, his dolphin is decent enough."
"On it, we'll see you when we can." I said and hung up the line. I needed to wake up Beast Boy and get him moving.
"Raven." I said knowing if he was in an assisted sleep I might need her help to wake him up. Her eyes snapped open and focused on me. "We need Beast Boy, can you wake him up?"
"I'll go get him." She said and moved her feet on the ground before moving swiftly like a shadow out of the room.
"Yo, Rob. We have a new problem. The footage has been released to the public, the cell must have had their own satellite since it's a different angle. Their was a message attached, but the news outlets have censored that until we see it first. Though it's fully on the internet. They just couldn't help themselves to the clip." Cyborg said and I knew there was something else he was holding onto.
"What?" I snapped since there was something he was holding back from his inflection.
"The group is claiming her death. They're apparently another alien extermination core and she's the first off their list. They're calling themselves Mankind." I looked at the scene in it's entirety they showed her flying towards the last bomb from the other direction we had witnessed. From this angle it easier to witness she had not even made contact with the bomb before it detonated. It had been a remote control release to purposely explode. It had been a trap, one she couldn't avoid and spare the city. I hadn't realized I had punched the wall until pain flew up my knuckles to my arm.
"She's not dead." I said more to myself than anyone else. "We need to find her so we can disprove their validity."
"We're doing all we can, Man. I sent the coast guard a patch she most likely ended up. They'll start checking the shore though they are less effective in the dark. The satellite is in position so we can wait to see if she signals us if she hasn't quite made it to shore." Cyborg said and sighed. "This is bad." The panic was setting in on him.
"She's Starfire, she has handled worse before. She just needs our help to make it home." I said and tried to keep the bite out of my tone.
"She can take a nuke probably two, but traveling 400 miles of ocean in whatever state she is in… what are you going to do if we don't find her in time?" He asked and I felt that slippery sense of dread fill me stomach.
"We are going to find her!" I yelled without meaning to as Beast Boy and Raven rejoined us. "There is no other option."
"Robin, we know you are distressed, do you need a break?" Raven said and held out her hand. I knew if I took it she would likely soothe or knock me out.
"No, I just need her to be found." I said and waved her off. "Beast Boy we need you to communicate with the local dolphins, Aqualad thinks they might be able to find her if she was washed near the shore. She could be hurt so she could be floating in the Bay, we need as many eyes as we can. Can you handle that?" I tried to force some composure into my voice. I needed to remain the leader or we would all fall apart.
"Anything you need, boss. Do you think she's okay?" Beast Boy asked and I knew my expression said it all.
"She's the toughest person I know, she probably just needs a little direction to get back home. Go help her out." Cyborg cut in and Beast Boy nodded. He took off to fly out the window and search. I turned back to my communicator.
"Red Star, report?" I spoke feeling the eyes of my teammates on me. I didn't want to see their doubt and pity. I kept my own eyes fixed on the satellite feed ready to catch the faintest flicker of her.