Fear of Scary Things and Broken Relationships

Chapter 2.

"Whatcha mean it's all we've got? I'm sure we'd enough bacon for at least three days!"

"I swear, the only things I've found is a small bit of tofu!"

"And I'm not eating tofu!"

"Please friends, why are you not trying my newfound pudding of bonding? It has all of both of your favorite ingredients and great additions of cheese and mustard."

Both Beast boy and Cyborg stared at Starfire who was holding a large bowl, containing a light brown odd looking substance.

It took more than a few moments when realization drowned Cyborg's mind. "Are you telling me that you've used all the bacon we'd for that? Combined with tofu?!"

Starfire looked a bit uncomfortable and started to show some regret. "Well..."

Cyborg let out a defeated sigh. "Never mind, guess we're gonna get some pizza."

The door opened and the dark girl of the team walked through it. She went to the kitchen and start boiling water, ignoring the three sets of eyes following her movement. "Hey Raven, we're gonna order pizza. You want some?" Beast Boy asked.

"Four cheese," Raven said, picking her favorite mug and a teabag.

Cyborg jumped from his seat. "Alright! Pizza it is!" Then he glanced around. "Where keeps Robin?"

"Yeah, I didn't see him all morning," Beast boy said. "Is he in the training room, again?"

"I think so." Raven said, working on her tea.

Starfire hold the bowl closer to her chest with a saddened expression. "Ever since Slade had invaded Robin his mind, he is acting different. I have tried to go out with him but he has rejected all my suggestions, yelling at me and telling me that he had no time and no desire to go out. I have this unpleasant feeling that we are slipping further away, and I do not understand why. I am so confused, I do not know what to do."

"He didn't even go to the circus. That Raven didn't go with us is one thing, but Robin? He totally freaked out and said that he hate clowns. I don't get it," Cyborg said.

Beast Boy shrugged out of frustration. "Yeah, we've tried everything! We even asked him to play videogames with us and he just ignored us like we don't even exist!"

Raven rolled her eyes as she turned around with her mug of thee. "Why am I not surprised." She took a seat and took a sip.

Beast Boy shot her a look. "Oh yeah? Like you did anything to help him! All you've done is sticking your nose in those stupid books and lock yourself up in your dark room!"

Raven is getting annoying and slammed her mug on the table to get her attention. "Look, Slade wants him at his side at all cost, but he failed. His last trick was to drive him into madness, making sure that he won't be a Titan any longer, no matter what it takes. How will you act when you almost got killed by your own imagination?"

The others went silence, taking her point. It was almost two weeks after Robin's mental encounter with Slade. They managed to heal him physically fast enough, but the mental scars were deeper than they had anticipated. Everyone tried to talk to Robin about his problems, thoughts or emotions. The boys did countless attempts to challenge him on PlayStation and go to the circus which was in the city these days. Starfire tried to go out with him numerous times, all being roughly rejected.

Even Raven, who had seen more than a few glimpses of Robin's memories had little success in her attempts to talk some senses in the Boy Wonder while he kicked the punch bags through the training room. She never mentioned to anyone that she went into his mind and saw his memories. It wasn't her place to talk about it. Besides, she knew that the secrets were too vulnerable to share, even with the other Titans.

Then Raven had to deal with the emotions. Since she formed the bond, she could not only sense his location inside the Tower much easier, but also feel his emotions through it. It was the main reason that she was in her room for long periods, she had to meditate more than often to control the emotions, especially Rage, and at night when Robin had nightmares, Timid. The first few days were hard to handle, but over time she got used to it and to her relieve, Robin had lesser nightmares.

But it was not just his emotions she had to deal with. Raven had some feelings for the Boy Wonder for quite a while but it became stronger since she formed the bond and even more while calming the boy just by being present in the training room after the others asked him to go to the circus, knowing what happened back then. She couldn't and shouldn't have feelings and she didn't liked it, at all. He was with Starfire and she was happy for Robin that he could had someone to share his problems. But Raven was proven wrong when it turned out that Robin didn't want to talk with the Tamaranean Princess, let along going out.

The wailing siren forced the four of them out their thoughts and all of them rushed to the great screen on the other side of the room. Cyborg took a seat on the controls before a red flashing dot on the city map appeared on the screen. "It's the Bank of Pérez!"

They went to the door which was already open with Robin in the door frame, sweat running over his face. The Titans met their leader. "Someone's robbing the Bank of Pérez," Cyborg announced.

Robin went straight into action. "Titans, go!"

The H.I.V.E. made its appearance again as the three members decided to rob the bank. Unfortunately for them they didn't had enough time to escape. Mammoth didn't had an easy time with Beast Boy and Robin, and when he managed to them out of his way he had to receive many starbolts from Starfire who flew all across the battlefield.

Gizmo thought that he could handle Cyborg with ease, but it took much more effort than the last time they encounter each other. It seems that Cyborg knew most of his tricks, not to mention the frequent air assault from Starfire.

Jinx was fighting Raven, both unleashing their energy at each other. It didn't take all too long when she realized that they couldn't win the battle against the Titans. They seems to be better organized than before and Raven was more powerful and she barely could hold her ground against her. She saw in a corner of her eye that Robin, Starfire and Beast Boy had managed to take down Mammoth.

When Robin ordered the changeling and alien girl to get Jinx, the latter started to panic. In a rush Jinx took a vial from her pocked and throw it at Beast Boy and Starfire who were closing in. Starfire deflected the vial with her arm as it broke into shreds by impact, releasing an orange cloud of gas she and the changeling inhaled and both of them couched wildly. Satisfied Jinx turned back to Raven, only to see an incoming black mailbox just in time before everything else went black.

Robin and Cyborg dropped a struggling Gizmo next to an unconscious Mammoth while Raven completed the H.I.V.E with a dizzy Jinx. Robin looked satisfied at the results before facing Cyborg and Raven. "Good work Titans, let's go ho-"

"DUDE! NOO! GET THAT THING OFF ME! LEAVE ME ALONE!" The high pitchy voice of Beast Boy caused the tree of them to turn around. What they saw was far from normal.

Starfire throw starbolt after starbolt at a terrifying green cat who run all over the place. The cat soon dived under a car and curled up with his eyes tightly shut.

"STATFIRE!" Robin shouted, gaining her attention. "Starfire, what's going on?!"

The alien girl had a terrifying expression. "Friend Robin? I -" she gazed at Robin, Cyborg and Raven as her eyes widened even more. "No! Do not come near me!"

"Wow wow wow, calm down Star." Cyborg said. "Everything's alright, it's ju-."

"No! Get away from me!" Starfire shoot out several starbolts at the group. Thankfully Raven was in time to put up a shield to protect them. When the volley had stopped Raven lowered the shield. Starfire had disappeared.

"O-kay... that was… weird," Cyborg faced Robin and Raven. "You guys have any idea what just happened?"

"No, but I know someone who does." Raven turned around to face a grin of Jinx. She leaned down, looking right into her pink eyes. "What have you done to them?"

"Something entertainment," Jinx casually said. "I think it's sounds fun to scare them for a while."

Raven's glare went ice cold as it started to glow. "With what?"

Robin grabbed Jinx by her collar and lifted her off the ground. "Fear isn't your thing, it never was! Why starting now?!" he roared in anger and frustration.

Jinx frowned her eyes. "What, don't you ever try something new?" Robin's and Raven's icy glares remained. Jinx starts to feel uncomfortable while Robin hold her by her collar. After a moment she became nervous and she try to avoid the cold glares, only to catch Cyborg's one. It took another moment when she finally give in. "Alright! I'd heard about some guy who's obsessed with fear so I bought a single vial of his gas! Happy now?! It took all the money we've got," she muttered the latter.

"Who?" Raven demanded coldly.

"Scarecrow," Robin scowled.

Jinx eyes widened. "Huh? What do you know about that guy? He lives all across the country!"

"C'mon, I've heard enough." Robin dropped Jinx on the ground and turned to leave the little witch to the police.

Cyborg and Raven caught up with Robin. "You know this Scarecrow?" Cyborg asked.

Robin stopped in his track, forcing the others to do so. "Yes, and I know what his feargas can do. We need to find Starfire and Beast Boy fast before they kill someone out of fear."

Cyborg checked the location of his infected team members. "BB's still under that car," he said as he pointed a nearby car. "Huh, that's strange, Star's already inside the Tower."

A sigh of relieve escaped Robin's lips. "Good, all we have to do is bring him home."

"Fine by me," Cyborg grinned as he stepped towards the car.

"Cyborg wait!" Cyborg stopped moving and turned to Robin. "We will scare him to death when we just move straight into him. We have to take it slow and talk to him, he need to get out of it by himself, he has to overcome his fear."

Both Cyborg and Raven raised an eyebrow as they exchanged looks. "Sounds like you've some experience with this feargas," Cyborg said.

"I have, and it isn't funny. The only thing we can do is talk him out of it."

"That is going to take a while," Raven said.

"I know, but he might see you as a wicked witch or a vampire. And you Cyborg, he probably see you as an evil robot devil, programmed to kill Beast Boy."

"What makes you then, walking traffic light the terrible willing to eat Beast Boy for lunch?" Raven deadpanned.

Robin gazed at the direction of Beast Boy's location. "Who knows, probably," he said more to himself than to the others. He knew that Raven was being sarcastic as usual, but knowing the effect of Scarecrow's feargas, everything was possible. "Just take it slow and be careful."

The four Titans went through the hallways of the Tower and stopped on front of a door. "Alright buddy, we're now in front of your room's door," Cyborg said quietly to his blindfolded green friend.

Robin pushed a button on a panel in the doorframe and the door opened, reveling a very messy room. "Here you go, you can enter your room."

"Okay." Beast Boy took one anxiety step after another. Raven followed him with a tray of vegetarian food and a bottle of soda.

"We'll leaving you now. You have something to eat and to drink if you like. If you need something, you only have to use your communicator," Robin said.

"Okay, thanks guys," Beast Boy managed to say, his voice drained with fear.

"Just hang on buddy, we'll find a way to help you."

"Yeah..."

Raven and Cyborg went out the room and locked the door, making sure that Beast Boy would stay in his room. Both of them followed Robin through the hallways. Cyborg let out a deep sigh. "Man, it took one hour to talk him out of that car, half an hour to blindfold him and another half an hour to get him in the T-car. Luckily Starfire's already in her room when we got here, I've no idea how long we'll take to get her here if she didn't go to the Tower at the first place."

"If you're scared for everything, you'll retreat to somewhere safe," Robin said. "In her case, it's her room."

"So, what are we going to do now?" Raven asked.

Robin stopped on his tracks, leaned against the wall. "We need the antidote and fast and there's only one place to get it." He let out a sigh, knowing he need to put his pride aside for once. "I hate to say it, but we have no other choice, I'm going to Gotham City, going after Scarecrow and there's only one person who can help me to find him."

"How 'bout us?" Cyborg asked.

"You need to take care of Starfire and Beast Boy, but first you are going to shut down the alarm systems, it will scare them to death when it goes off. That means you won't be able to fight crime until I'm back with the antidote."

"You sure we've to stay? I guess you can use an extra hand. Besides, without fighting crime, each of us can handle them both." Cyborg said.

Robin was thinking for a moment. "I guess you're right. Alright, Raven you come with me. No offence Cyborg, but you will only slow us down, so you have to take care of them. Besides, they see you as a big brother so they will listen you."

Cyborg nodded. "I knew you'd say something like that, you can count on me."

"What makes you think that Cyborg will slow you down?" Raven asked.

"Trust me, I know. The way he work, Cyborg won't be able to keep up the pace."

Cyborg's human eye widened when realization hit him hard. "Are ya talking abou- "

"Yes, I am."

Cyborg couldn't hide his enthusiasm. "Oh Raven, this is awesome! You're such a lucky girl to work with him!"

Raven wondered if she truly was that lucky to work with him. She noticed that Robin was a bit distance about him and he would have a good reason for it. "If you say so."