Short chapter because a really long one is coming up :) sorry if it seems a bit rushed, I may have to come back and revise it later...its just that I'm super excited to get these next three chapters posted ^.^
Chapter 11: Picking sides
Starfire and I were left alone for the rest of the morning, wasting our hours watching reality shows and cartoons. Around 11 Raven walked in, somewhat shyly, to read a book and fix herself a cup of herbal tea. Usually Starfire would leave the quiet natured titan alone, but this time she couldn't resist. We all knew that Raven went on the same mission as Beast boy and Cyborg and she knew exactly why they were out investigating the warehouse.
When she noticed us looking at her, Raven seemed a bit agitated at first. But then she relaxed and gave Starfire a small smile "Morning Star" She silently muttered, mixing the tea in the lukewarm cup of water.
Starfire flew over and sat down next to her "can I talk to you about something?" She asked.
Raven sipped her beverage and shifted her pupils up at the tamaranean princess "Sure" she mumbled "What is it?"
Starfire sat down next to her and nervously fiddled around with her hands. "Cyborg and Beast boy were acting real strange this morning" She said "Who were they going to investigate at the warehouse?"
Raven swallowed and bit her lip "How did you know about that…?" She asked
"I just want to know why it's a problem for me knowing" Starfire said "You guys never keep secrets like this from me."
Raven sighed and placed her cup back on the table "It has nothing to do with you" She said "We just don't want Robin finding out..."
"Find out about what?"
The half demon mistress looked around the room and stood, tugging the edge of Starfire's shirt and pulling her closer to the corner of the room.
"Slade's back" She whispered.
Starfire's eyes widened and she let out a surprised gasp. I was blown away myself, but at the same time I wasn't surprised. If they wouldn't tell Robin what bad guy they were tracking down, then common sense said that it was obviously Slade.
"No..." Star whispered "Are you sure?"
"Yes" She said "We encountered him before we left."
Starfire shut her eyes and uttered a frustrated sigh. Slade was Robin's personal demon. He knew how to manipulate the boy wonder and stress him out to the max. Back then it broke Star's heart seeing Robin so obsessed with him. But ever since Tokyo, we rarely witnessed his "hero mode". Maybe it's because there haven't been many bad guys around lately.
"So now you know why we can't tell Robin" Raven said "He's going to work himself up over it."
"But why keep it a secret?" Starfire asked "We all know that he has his own ways of finding out."
"We just want to do everything we can to protect him" Raven said "Slade is dangerous, we have no idea what he's been up too all these years."
All the sudden, Cyborg and Beast boy walked in the common room, carrying what looked like 3 boxes of delicious pepperoni pizza.
"We're back!" Cyborg shouted "And we got the pizza, just like we promised, Star."
He set them on the kitchen counter and went to get some paper plates from the cabinet "Listen, we didn't mean to shut you out this morning..." He said "It's just that-"
"It's okay Cyborg..." Raven interrupted "I already told her."
The two other titans suddenly froze in place "Really...?" Beast boy asked.
"I figured she had a right to know about this too..." Raven said.
Cyborg opened the pizza boxes and started to distribute the slices "I don't think it matters anymore anyway." He said "This secret is going to be really hard to keep now..."
"Whys that?"
The typical green vegetarian started to pick the pepperonis off his slice of pizza."Robin was already asking us questions the moment we walked through the door." he said "But we held our ground and kept our mouths shut."
"Then he stormed out and said he was going to find out himself" Cyborg said "I'm telling ya, that guy takes things way to seriously."
Starfire hung her head a sighed softly "Perhaps I shouldn't have told him what you guys were up to this morning" she said
"Don't worry about it princess" Cyborg said "Besides he won't find anything when he gets there."
"I still don't understand what's going on." She said "Why is Slade even back all the sudden?"
"We don't know" Cyborg said "But you know what? We've kicked his butt millions of times!"
"Right." Raven said "If he shows up, then we'll be ready...but you have to promise us you'll keep this a secret for now."
Starfire doesn't like keeping secrets. I know this because she had trouble covering for Beast boy when he first gave me to her. But I knew that she didn't want to let her friends down, so she nodded and gave them her word "Alright..." She said "I promise!"
"That's our girl." Cyborg said "Now, enough of this Slade talk, right now, its pizza chowing time!"
Cyborg's burst of enthusiasm lightened up the mood. They all gathered around the dinner table and happily ate lunch together. Even though they agreed to leave Robin out of the bad-news loop, I know that things won't be pretty the moment he finds out about this…
After lunch, everyone left without a word, and Starfire and I crashed on the couch. She reached for the remote on the stand and started to flip through the channels. She constantly pressed the arrow buttons back and forth, and we saw a glimpse of each channel at least 5 times. She realized that puffy ami-umi was on and decided to leave it there. She leaned back her head and let out a sigh, allowing me to climb on her lap.
"I sure hope Robin's ok" She said "I don't know what else to do at this point."
We watched the show for about five minutes and the channel changing process started all over again. Over 500 channels and apparently there was nothing worth watching today. She tried to refrain from clicking the remote and failed, tried not to keep looking back at the door and failed too. She finally turned it off and started to play with her fingernails, picking at the chipped coral blue nail polish.
Sadly there was nothing else better to do today, Cyborg went down to fix on his car, Beast boy was hanging out in the city, and Raven was locked in her room reading her books again. Starfire slouched on the couch and threw her head back "I am so bored!" She shouted "Perhaps I should just find something different to do..."
She was about to get up and leave when she sensed someone behind her. Starfire turned around and her eyes lit up for the first time today.
"Robin!" She shouted, but he barely noticed her. He waddled in, carrying a huge stack of papers in his arms. I have never seen so many folders in my life.
Starfire flew over to him, catching a few papers that flew off the stack, setting them back on top of the documents "Do you need any help with these?" She asked as she caught a few others.
"I think I got em" He said "thank you."
It's been a while since I saw Robin this busy. Starfire looked a little hurt when he turned down her offer of help. But he looked as if he were brushing her aside. He neatly stacked the papers near the supercomputer, and immediately started his work. Out of curiosity, Starfire leaned over his shoulder.
"Whatcha doin?" She asked, trying to get a glimpse of it.
Robin looked at her briefly "just some more paper work..." he said.
"What for?"
"Ah you know, warrants, and criminal cases, and jury files, you know things like that."
Starfire slowly nodded her head. At the same time, things seemed a bit awkward between the two. He wasn't making any eye contact with her. He was completely focused on his work.
"So when will you be done?" She asked, holding on the edge of his chair.
"I don't know" He said, standing back up to pick up the remainder of the scattered folders he dropped.
I don't think Robin realizes that he's spent almost the entire day trying to research this. He looked exhausted. His entire appearance looked sloppy and he looked very fatigued. Starfire wasn't fooled, and neither was I. We both knew Robin was completely absorbed in this. Starfire closed her eyes and let out a soft sigh.
"Robin..." She said lifting his face with the tip of her finger "There's no need to get so worked up about this..."
"I'm just tired of them keeping secrets from me all the time..." He said "If they're not going to tell me, then I have to find out myself."
Starfire bit her lip; I knew from the look on her face that she was tempted to tell him. But she couldn't break the promise she made to the other titans. Instead, she tried to coax Robin out of doing his work. "Please" She said "I just want you to take a break...and get your mind off it."
I can see her eyes, bright green in the sunlight, they tried to charm Robin's way out of the obsession, and at first I thought it was working. Robin smiled and took her hand with his "Look Star" He said "this is just something I have to do."
He kissed the back of her hand before letting it go. He turned his attention back on the computer screen. Starfire looked disappointed but she nodded her head "Alright" She whispered "I'll stay out of your way."
She turned to leave, when he paused and looked over his shoulder "By the way..." He said "You didn't happen to find anything else out, did you?"
Starfire suddenly froze dead in her tracks. If she could, she would have told him right then and there. But she couldn't, she didn't want to disappoint her other friends.
As she was having a mental battle with her judgment, I begin to hope that her body language wouldn't give anything away. Finally, she slowly turned and smiled at him "No Robin" She said "I didn't hear anything else about it."
I actually expected her to fess up, so I was surprised that she ended up lying to him. She already had regret written all over her face, but Robin still wasn't aware of what was going on "Well if you do, then let me know, alright?" He said, winking at her.
"Yes of course..." She said.
"Thanks Star" He said "I know that I can always count on you."
"Uhhh sure" She said nervously before leaving the room "No problem"
She managed to keep her word with Cyborg, Beast boy and Raven. But now she made another promise to Robin, and as far as I know, she had already broken it. I followed her back in her room where she had slammed the door and slouched against the wall. She buried her hands in her face and shook her head "Oh Xhal" She said "What in the world am I supposed to do now?"
Well I honestly don't know. She made 2 different promises to 2 different sides to the story, and now she's stuck right in the middle of the conflict. Starfire's that kind of person who wants to please everyone. But in the end, she has to pick one side to stay on and stick with it.