A familiar warmth engulfed her waking body, soothing the soreness still splitting through her bones. She could feel the rhythmic movements of his chest rising and falling as he cycled through deep breaths, still wrapped in the throes of sleep. She'd felt this kind of serenity before though this time she reveled in it despite knowing her proximity to the man beneath her. She was beginning to accept the calming effect his mind had on her rampant emotions and she had to admit that she kind of liked it. The feeling was liberating to know she could let her guard down and be completely open with him. He knew more about her than anyone else and still he stayed by her side. Her mind trailed back to their last night spent together, their foreheads pressed against each other as they breathed in the peaceful moment. She naturally nuzzled into the side of Robin's body even further, as if trying to get closer the warmth he radiated. Despite how much Timid wanted to deny it, he cared about her. A sentiment she'd previously thought was limited to the alien warrior princess. Hell, she had a hard time believing anyone would care to get close enough to see who she was after being manipulated by Malchior. She sighed at the memory of her heart being shattered by the deceptive dragon and curled even deeper into Robin's side. His arm, wrapped around her, tightened ever so slightly giving her the comfort she so desperately wanted and the old wounds washed away.

The peace didn't last long as the sound of metal hitting metal drew her from her thoughts. Her eyes slowly blinked open to the light of the room figuring she best wake up anyways. She pushed off his chest carefully as to not awaken him and sat up to look around the room, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Another clinking sound brought her attention to the large body of Cyborg hunched over a small lit camp stove in the middle of the room. Cyborg noticed her movement and offered a warm yet somehow mischievous smile. She quirked an eyebrow in confusion.

"Mornin love bird"

It took her all of three seconds to put two and two together and she glanced down at her still shirtless leader then back at Cyborg before rolling her eyes and easing herself off the mattress and platform. Typical Cyborg.

"You've been waiting hours to use that one, haven't you?"

He laughed and nodded as she approached and sat down beside him in a lotus position before he placed an empty bowl in her hands. Raven leaned forward to look at what was cooking in the small bubbling pot. Her internal question was answered when Cyborg scooped a hefty amount of what she'd determined was some kind of stew into her bowl and handed her a spoon. Raven took it and began eating immediately, trusting in Cyborgs cooking. As she greedily downed the food she started to realize just how malnourished and starved she felt. Over the course of the last few months she'd lost a lot of weight due to her lack of sleep and eating. Normally she was extremely fit due to their line of work and in part to her genes so the loss had a huge effect on not only her strength but her physical appearance. She was honestly surprised that no one had expressed more concern about it as she nearly looked emaciated.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes as Raven devoured as much stew as she could. After she finished the bowl and set it to the side Cyborg spoke up.

"Soo. . . How long has that been going on?"

Cyborg nodded in the direction of Robin's still sleeping body, a huge grin still plastered to his face. It took all of Raven's strength not to punch him square in the jaw.

"We're not together. . ."

Cyborg's grin faded as he watched Raven's eyes become hyper focused on the metal pot before her. The silence and intensity would be confusing to most but Cyborg understood Raven quite well. Her eyes carried a sense of longing, as if something was just out of her grasp.

"But you want to be."

Raven's eyes went wide and she glanced at Cyborg. His grin returned tenfold as he witnessed her expressIon and her cheeks immediately reddened before she refocused on the metal tin in front of her. Cyborg chuckled at her antics, knowing he'd hit a nerve and guessed right. She punched his arm playfully, though a scowl took over her features. She was frustrated with his teasing but more flustered that maybe he was right. She closed her eyes and returned her mind to just moments ago, cuddled up to his side and basking in the warmth of his defined yet soft skin. She felt a smile beginning to play on her lips but the moment was shattered when she heard movement from behind her on the mattress. She turned around to see Robin sitting up, his thumb and pointer finger pushed up under his mask in what she assumed was an attempt to wipe the sleep from the corners of his eyes.

"Morning Robin."

Cyborg called. Robin simply nodded before pushing off the platform and searching for his discarded shirt. Cyborg watched Raven's eyes follow his motions like a hawk, never missing a beat. Despite their circumstance he was happy to see that hope present in Raven's eyes. Robin pulled on his shirt and joined the group, sitting beside Raven.

"Sleep well?"

Cyborg asked, his earlier grin still present as he glanced at Raven. She snapped her eyes to him in a glare, knowing what he was trying to stir up. Robin, completely oblivious to their silent staring contest and the words shared before he'd awoken simply answered the question.

"Yeah, I did actually. I think that space heater worked pretty well cause I didn't even notice the cold."

Robin nodded at the metal object in question but Raven's cheeks grew even redder if it was possible. Cyborg had to reign in every ounce of his self control not to laugh at his response. When Robin turned his eyes to him he managed to put a normal face back on to hide what was going on.

"How about you, were you able to turn up anything?"

Cyborg's inner laughter subsided as his mood swung with the conversation to a more serious tone. Raven silently sighed knowing total embarrassment had been postponed at least for now. He shook his head.

"I got everything set up to automatically search but it will take some time to get any hits. It should let me know when it's got something."

Cyborg raised his arm and pointed at it with his opposing hand. Robin nodded in understanding.

"I set it up to search for the smallest of the three. I figure we got our best chances with him."

Robin nodded again, agreeing with Cyborgs analysis of their opponents. His eyes trained on the pot in front of him, aloof to its contents but using the object as a point to fix the menagerie of his scattered thoughts in one place so that he could piece them together.

"While we have time, we should run through what the plan is once we find him."

His eyes turned back up to look at Cyborg and Raven as he awaited their response. They both nodded and he began speaking again.

"We need to take him down as quickly as we can so we can breach the barrier and get Raven out of here."

Raven's eyes went wide a second before narrowing a bit and fixing on Robin.

"Get me out of here? I'm not just leaving you guys behind!"

She said with force and a small amount of emotion breaking through her normally level words. Robin ignored it, keeping his demeanor calm and collected as he spoke.

"Someone needs to get out and contact the league and you're the one they're after. It's the best option."

Raven shook her head as she grew a bit more wroth with him.

"No it's not. Even if I get out, the league won't listen to me!"

Robin quirked an eyebrow and Cyborg turned his attention on her as well. She went wide eyed remembering that she'd never told them about what had happened between her and the league. She shrunk under the combined gaze of her allies.

"Why wouldn't they listen to you?"

Raven shook her head and sighed.

"Let's just say that they already know what I am and the last time I saw them they were more interested in locking me up than listening."

Both the boys mouths dropped at the revelation and Raven did her best to ignore their reactions. It was much more complicated than that and with a lot more strings attached but it summed up what they needed to understand in that moment. Robin was the first to shake the shock off and return to the conversation.

"Fine. Then Cyborg goes with you. He can get you somewhere safe and reach out to the league himself."

Cyborg snapped back into the moment as he turned his eyes back on Robin.

"Woah woah, hey now. I ain't just leaving you here to fend for yourself..."

"I promised to protect this city and it's people. I'm not leaving here while there's still a threat but I need you two to get out and get help. I can keep them distracted while staying out of trouble."

Cyborg and Raven continued to glare at Robin, one annoyed at his stubborn attitude and the other at his overprotective nature. Despite how much they wanted to argue their points it seemed that their leader had already made up his mind and all things considered it wasn't a terrible plan, just not ideal. After a few seconds of persistent silence Cyborgs arm beeped. He raised it to check the notification.

"We got him. South side of town."

Robin immediately stood up.

"Let's get started."

—

"Here. The camera that tagged him is just up these steps."

Cyborg nodded at the nearby staircase as they made their way across the ground floor of the parking garage. Robin was the first to reach the stairs, stopping for a moment and turning to face the other remaining titans.

"Keep your head down and stay quiet. We don't know if he's moved since we left."

Raven and Cyborg nodded before following the acrobat swiftly up the concrete steps. After three flights of stairs, one before the rooftop level, the three poured out of the stairwell and made their way towards the south east corner of the building, hugging the full concrete railing the whole way. Once they reached the corner Robin slowly peaked his head up over the barrier to observe the scene. The parking garage they'd entered stood on the south east corner of a small surface street and right next to the southernmost part of the freeway system. The street ran over the freeway via a small, one-lane, overpass and in the middle of it stood their target. The iron-clad warrior floated in a lotus position, disturbingly similar to the way Raven meditated. Robin ducked back behind the half wall and slid down it with his back until he sat beside Raven and Cyborg.

"Alright, he's still there. Looks like he's in some sort of meditative state holding up the force field."

Cyborg nodded and turned to Raven as she spoke.

"He'll probably be able to hold the barrier without meditating but it will drain him."

Robin nodded in agreement to her insight.

"Then here's our play. Cyborg and I will try to take him out quick but if that doesn't work, we need to bide our time and wear him down."

Cyborg offered a thumbs up at the plan and Robin turned to Raven.

"I need you up here to keep a look out. Signal us if anyone else shows up and if things go wrong. . ."

Robin didn't say the word, but she could finish his sentence by the intense gaze he gave her.

'Run.'

Her heart shivered from the cold idea. She could barely handle the thought of staying back while they fought her battles but abandoning them just to save herself was something she never wanted to think of again. She shut her eyes as if to shut the idea out but found it persisted through her mind until Robin spoke again.

"Alright. Cyborg, let's go."

She snapped her eyes open to watch Cyborg turn and make his way back to the stairs. Robin lingered a moment but eventually moved to do the same. In a split second she made the decision to stop him. For what, she wasn't really sure, but her hand shot out to take ahold of his wrist. He stopped dead in his tracks, the feeling of her cold slender fingers on his warm skin offering a strange contrast. He turned about to face her again and found her violet eyes shaking as they stared back into his masked ones. He could feel the fear pouring off her mind through their bond. The emotion paired with her terrified expression was almost too much. Raven quickly caught on to herself and looked away at the ground, retracting her hand to nervously tuck a few stray strands of hair behind her ear.

"Just. . . Promise me you'll be careful."

Her voice was shaky and uneven, telltale signs of her rising anxiety. The thought worried him and Robin felt a somber smile spread across his lips as he immediately reached out his hand to cup her face, tracing the soft skin of her cheekbone with his thumb. The feeling shocked her and she turned back to look at him. After a brief glance Robin pulled her head toward him until their foreheads were pressed together. Raven placed a hand over Robin's on her cheek while his other hand found her free one squeezing it reassuringly.

"I promise. . . I'll come back to you."

His whispered words were so simple though they said so much. It wasn't a bland acceptance of her advice or a leaders hopeful speech but a simple yet sincere promise made solely for her. She nuzzled into his hand as she fought her internal emotions to accept the words he'd said. She wanted to stay there, his warm breath mixing with her own as their hands mingled together. Unfortunately the moment would be ripped away from her as Robin pulled away.

Their hands lingered together for a moment before Robin fully broke away, offering her another small smile before turning to follow Cyborg down the staircase. Raven allowed her eyes to follow him until he escaped beyond her vision. She then closed her eyes, to revel in the reassuring feeling of his heart beating through their bond. The world was falling apart again and the simple rhythm of life pumping through his veins seemed to be the only solid rock she could find amid the cataclysm. Just as it was when she'd ended the world, he remained hopeful and strong for her.

'I'll come back to you'

The words continued to echo in her head as she imagined his icy blue eyes staring back into hers.

"You better."

She whispered to no one in particular.