A/N: This chapter is a bit on the long side, but I think it will be worth it. You see more of the Titans, mainly Robin and Raven at the end of this chapter. Hope you like it! Please R&R!

Disclaimer: I don't own much in this fic. Any Teen Titan character is not mine.

Chapter 8

Journal 3: Part 2

Continuation…

As the other two members of the Hive Five team were glaring at the stupid giant, I took that as my hint to get out of there. My brain and body protested against me as I shot to my feet. I ran under the kid's spider legs while hearing his loud protests.

"Whoa!" I cried as one of the legs slammed down in front of me, inches away from splitting my skull in half. I took a step backwards, trying to shack off the shock. This would have to go down like that fight back in that hallway with Slade's robots. With any luck, I would win like last time.

I bent down and got low, remembering my Rugby coach screaming his head off at me to do so just last week at practice. I slammed my shoulder into one of the kid's spider legs. The kid wobbled a little with a yell of fright of tipping over. He lifted that leg up with a string of curses.

As he lifted that leg up all the way, I clung onto it with a smirk. "Get him off!" the kid yelled at the others. I pulled myself up onto the top of the leg and jumped toward the kid. With a battle yell, I slammed the heel of my right foot down onto his head. It was a move that I never knew I could pull off, but ever since Slade came into my life my confidence in myself has boosted and my way of thinking has changed. It's weird because I still feel the same but at the same time different.

The kid landed roughly onto the sidewalk with his metal spider legs all askew. I landed in a crouch next to his head. As soon as I was on the ground again, strong arms wrapped around the upper half of my body. The giant who now had me was laughing loudly in triumph as I struggled fruitlessly to get free from his hold.

The dude was stronger than Slade's robots! All the struggling in the world wouldn't get me out of his grasp. But there were other ways to bring down a human. I swooped both my legs between the giant's and rammed my feet into the back of his knees. He gave a short yell and fell to his knees, but he still kept a tight hold on me.

But now I was crouching on the pavement as the giant tried to get back up again. I leaned backwards as much as I could and sprung off the sidewalk with both feet. My timing was perfect and the momentum let me ram my feet into the beast's head. He let me go right away that time.

I landed on my back with a smile. The big guy was holding onto his head while moaning in pain. I rolled back onto my feet and suddenly stopped as the last Hive Five member jumped out of a black portal he made in front of me. He threw a punch at me and I managed to block him with an unexpected force field. His eyes went wide with surprise for a second at seeing my powers, but he was back to his unemotional self again in seconds.

But the dude was only a distraction. I didn't see that the kid was up again behind me. I turned around as I saw the claw in the corner of my eye, but I was too late. A big thick metal claw that was attached to the kid's backpack seized me around my stomach and squeezed the air out of me. With a laugh, the kid slammed the claw and me into a building.

My head hit the brick and I almost passed out. Stars burst across my vision and the world faded in and out. It was the sudden tight squeeze around my chest and stomach that snapped me out of that fuzzy world. My arms were free, so I tried pushing the clamp off me with them as my legs danged in the air.

"Stop struggling, crud muncher!" the kid ordered me with a sharp shake of the claw. I stopped and glared daggers down at him. "If you do what we say we won't do anything to you," he said with a snarl. He clearly didn't like the job he was doing right now. I was guessing kidnapping wasn't the team's thing.

"You won't do anything to me because Slade told you not to," I growled back down, showing as much loathing for him as I felt inside. I guess I was releasing too much emotion because the glass for the lamp post a few feet away turned black and exploded. Everyone silently looked over to it with confusion, including me. I had no idea I could do that kind of thing.

That second of uncertainty quickly vanished as the Hive Five's attention went back to me. The kid pulled the claw close to him and I was suddenly inches away from him. "What does a man like Slade want with a bugger picking kid like you anyways?" he asked me.

I gave him a smirk and said, "One, get a breath mint. Two, I wish I knew. Maybe you should go ask him."

The kid gave me a confused look. "What do you mean? You don't know why Slade is paying us to capture you?" he asked.

"Why do care if I know or not?" I asked.

"Because Slade is paying a whole haystack load of money for your capture," someone said from the side. The division guy was finally awake and glaring at me with hatred. "We want to know if there are more like you that we can capture for Slade."

"Nice idea, but I'm one of a kind," I said. I pulled some more on the clamp with a grunt of frustration. I was having a hard time breathing with a metal vice around my chest and stomach. And it didn't look like the kid was going to let me go anytime soon. I stopped and thought about what I just said and added quietly, "Well, at least I think I am."

"What was that?" the kid asked loudly while pulling me closer. "Don't make me squeeze it out of you."

A red haze suddenly zipped past us. A red boomerang had lodged itself in the metal arm attached to me. Everyone looked in the direction it had come from with stunned expressions on their faces. A teen a few years older than I was stood there with a small frown planted on his lips. His masked eyes had a fierce look in them. It was Robin from the Teen Titans.

"Gizmo, put him down," Robin ordered the kid sternly.

"Make me, crud eater!" the kid, Gizmo, shouted back.

Robin grabbed something on his belt and said into it, "Found him. The Hive Five has him. I might need some back up." He nodded as someone responded and then put it back in his belt. A flicker of a smile crossed his features as he took out a silver metal staff from what seemed like nowhere and said, "Oh, I'll make you."

Panic flashed in Gizmo's eyes. He raised me high into the air and shouted at Robin, "If you move, I'll crush him!"

"No you won't!" I yelled down at him, "Slade wouldn't let you!" I knew that Slade had many changes to kill me, but he hadn't. He would hurt me, but never kill me. I knew he would give those instructions to the Hive Five if he told them to capture me.

"Shut up!" Gizmo shouted at me with a deadly glare. At the same time he squeezed the clamp and knocked the air out of me. As I gasped for breath, I caught the expression on Robin's face when I mentioned Slade. His eyes went wide with shock then suddenly narrowed in anger. He must have bumped into Slade before.

The teen suddenly attacked with so much ferocity that I almost felt sorry for the Hive Five. He ran forward and was cut off by five of the division guys. But the fake macho act was gone and I could tell even from behind that he was a bit scared of Robin.

Even though the guy kept multiplying, Robin outwitted him in only the matter of seconds. The leader of the Titans slammed and swung his staff into the clones with precise moves. He paused for a second then spotted one of now twenty clones in the mass of them and attacked him. He jumped high into the air like some ninja or something and came down on the one dude with the end of his staff first.

Before the one knocked out guy hit the ground, Robin was already moving onto the next Hive Five member. I watched in amazement as all the division guys zoomed back into the knocked out guy's body. Somehow Robin had known that guy was the original. It made me chuckle in bewilderment. Was I really cloned after this guy?

"Get him!" Gizmo was now shouting at both the giant and the other impassive member. The giant nodded and came at Robin with one fist raised high in the air, ready to punch the lights out of the other teen. The other one wrapped his black cape around him and vanished in his own portal silently.

This whole time I was completely helpless. I wished I could help Robin take these goons down, but ever since Robin had showed up, Gizmo was keeping the clamp on me tighter. All I could do was watch as the superhero fought my battle for me.

Robin was doing fine on his own, though. He flipped and rolled away from the big guy, avoiding every move. The giant soon got frustrated and tired with the fight and started to get sloppy with his attacks, panting heavily. It was a tactic I would use on the giant myself if pushed into that situation.

Now that the beast was weary and sluggish, Robin started to beat the crap out of him. His metal staff was a deadly weapon as it spun one way to hit the giant on the face then turned the opposite way to slap against his back. Robin danced around the giant, in complete control over the power in his moves. He was brilliant!

Gizmo could only take the sight for only awhile, though. "Now, Kid Wicked!" he yelled suddenly. The quit one of the team suddenly appeared a few feet from Robin. Before the superhero could attack him, Kid Wicked pushed his palms toward Robin.

With a sharp yell, Robin fell forward. His feet were stuck to a pool of black goo that was slowly pulling him under. I gasped with despair. He was my only chance of escaping these guys. Now I had no way to talk to the Titans. I was also worried about the Titan. What if he didn't get out of that stuff in time? He could drown!

Gizmo started to walk away on his metal legs. "Smell you later, barf brain!" he called back to the struggling Robin with his trademark annoying laugh. The giant picked the once again unconscious division guy while Kid Wicked trailed behind.

I could hear Robin grunt in frustration as the tried desperately to get out of the black goo. I struggled with all my might to get out of the clamp, watching with anguish as Robin got smaller. He looked up at me and frowned sadly. Our eye contact held for a second. It was that split second that I knew I needed to say something.

Looking over my shoulder at Gizmo, I narrowed my eyes in thought. I then turned back to Robin and shouted at him, "Slade will be coming for me soon, Robin! I have something important to tell…"

I was cut off as Gizmo stopped and squeezed the clamp…hard. My ribs were close to cracking that time, and I couldn't breathe. Darkness threatened to overtake me. I think Gizmo was yelling at me, but I was already half conscious. It was scary because every time I tried to take in a breath, I could barely get any air into my lungs. All I could do was take short, raspy breaths and pray he would go soon.

Finally, he let me go completely. I fell onto the sidewalk, taking in deep breaths with my head spinning out of control. My arms shook slightly as I stayed like that on my hands and knees. I opened my eyes when I realized I was sinking into the sidewalk. I yelled in panic when I saw that I was dropping into another portal.

The unwanted darkness pulled me in unremittingly. I felt myself drift in the terrifying void of nothing, waiting apprehensively for the white exit. I finally found the bright freedom and floated through it. I thought for sure it would drop me from a high point like last time, so I prepared for the worst.

To my surprise, I had been placed carefully on a carpeted floor. I raised my head and took in my surroundings from where I was still laying on the ground. It didn't take a genius to realize I was in a cage.

To Be Continued…

-Raven-

She glided through the air at top speed. Her violet eyes were narrowed in worry and determination. She had felt a change in vibes from Robin suddenly. He was in trouble. That was all her mind powers were able to tell her.

But what worried her was that he had said it was the only the Hive Five who had the kid they were looking for. If Robin put his mind to it, he would have been able to take care of them by himself for a few minutes. Something must have gone wrong or the Hive Five had found a new weapon that had caught the Boy Wonder off guard.

Raven turned the corner of a building, keeping her high speed. She spotted Robin and fear sparked in her. She flew down above the other teen and examined his tight situation. He was knee deep in a small pool of black goo. The pool was slowly pulling him in deeper. Just from looking at his weary face covered with perspiration, she knew without asking that he was loosing the battle here.

"I'll pull you out, Robin," she told him, trying hard to keep the small fear out of her voice. He looked up at her with relief on his face for a second. He nodded and held his gloved hands up. Her slim fingers wrapped tightly around his wrists as his hands did hers. Her face turned skyward as she levitated upward with all her might.

"It's not working, Rae!" Robin said up to her. "It's just holding on tighter!"

Raven let him go and gently landed beside him, staying clear of the small black pool. To both of their horror, though, the portal suddenly grew in size quickly. Raven found herself in the same situation Robin was in less than a second.

"Raven, no, it will just…" Robin tried to tell her as the Goth girl, out of impulse, levitated backwards with a surprise yell. The sticky black liquid held on tighter to her feet and sharply pulled her back down into the pool. She landed in the portal with a loud splat. A sickening sucking noise sounded in both their ears, and the girl sunk at least two inches more into the goo.

This made Raven off balance. To help his friend regain her posture, Robin held onto Raven's shoulder. But it was too late, because she tipped toward him with a small scream. Robin landed on his back on the hot surface of the deserted street. Raven landed on his chest with a wince.

"Sorry," she muttered, wishing she had her hood on to hide her flushing cheeks in its shadows.

"You're okay," Robin said quietly. For a second the two stayed that way, staring into each other's eyes. Finally Raven managed to avert her gaze away from his face. She got back to her feet with some difficulty because she couldn't use her legs anymore. Robin skillfully and swiftly got back up, and they found each other staring at the other again.

This time it was Robin who broke the eye contact. He glanced down and cleared his throat, clearly a bit uncomfortable about something. "I've tried everything to get out of here," he told her seriously. "The more you pull away, the faster it pulls you in." He looked back into her wide eyes and asked, "You okay?"

Raven nodded, trying to steady her wild emotions with a small sigh. "I learned that the hard way," she said with a fleeting smile.

He returned hers with a wry one of his own and said, "You must have a few tricks to get us out of here." They both gasped as Robin sunk another inch in with a loud pop in the goo. He glanced down with a grim look coming to his features. Raven felt the full extent of his unseen fear as her powers sensed his vibes. Being this close made it easier for her to feel them as well.

"An explosion from underneath us could propel us out of here," Raven offered quickly. She tried to shake off her rising fear and his as well as she was pelted with the emotion from both sides.

"Sounds good," Robin said with a nod.

Raven swallowed a lump forming in her throat. She closed her eyes and emotionlessly said her mantra. A ball of black energy grew in her hand. She threw the ball into the goo and waited wordlessly with Robin for it to explode. The plan didn't go exactly how they wanted it to.

A big black bubble started to rise from between them. With bleak frowns on their faces, the bubble kept growing in size. It finally popped and both teens gave short screams as they both sunk down to their hips. They looked back at each other with fearful expressions.

"Where are the others?" Raven asked him, frustration running deep in her voice.

"I told them to go after the Hive Five," Robin answered.

"Why?" Raven asked in anger.

"They won't be able to save us, Raven," Robin told her as calmly as he could. "I'm powerless right now. I'm relying on you to get both of us out. You have so much power; I thought I would be free by now. But I guess you can't!"

He bit his lower lip when he saw her eyes widen a little in fear. He also felt the hurt he had sent her. The boy had said the wrong thing to her. He had also put too much pressure on her shoulders, and he was now realizing his mistake in choice of words.

The Boy Wonder sighed in frustration with himself. Here he was, sinking an inch a minute to his suffocating death, and all he could think of was how he talked to a team mate with the same fate. Raven folded her hands in front of her and gave him a piercing look till he said something. He looked upward, struggling with his pride.

"That came out wrong," Robin finally said while looking back into her eyes. "I'm just…"

"Scared?" she finished for him with her face softening.

Robin stared at her with a defiant look in his masked eyes. They sunk another inch into the goop. He looked down with another sigh. "Okay, I'm frightened a little," he admitted. "I thought we would be out by now, but it seems like Kid Wicked has gotten better with his powers. And we need to save that kid right away." Raven gave him a confused look. "Slade is after him," Robin answered her silent question.

"That might explain your emotional vibe for the past few minutes," Raven muttered.

"But the point is, it's not your fault," Robin said. Raven smiled slightly, as it was transparent that he was a very difficult time apologizing to her when she already knew why he had exploded on her. She had let him go on with his pointless confession because it calmed her a little. But she wondered why he was doing it.

"Please stop," she told him with a small chuckle. He was taken aback from her odd command. "You're fine, Robin," she explained. "Even though I'm grateful for the apology, I didn't need one." He nodded but was still slightly confused by her words.

"Starfire might need an explanation," She said, "But I'm fine just reading others' vibes. When going into your body, Robin, I did more than just communicate with you. We now share a mental and emotional bond that I have with no one else. I feel a lot of what you feel now."

"I've noticed that," Robin said quietly. They sunk deeper into the pool and now had to keep their arms up a little ways so they wouldn't get stuck. He looked down at the black goop and a thoughtful frown came to his lips.

Raven opened her mouth to say something, but she noticed that he was too deep in thought to listen to anything else. He was better off there, in that world, than with her now. She watched him, relaxing her tense emotions by catching onto his. Whenever he thought like this, it could sooth her soul sometimes. She never knew why.

"This is how it's going down," he suddenly said, snapping out of his thoughtful state and looking her in the eyes. She snapped back with him and nodded. "If pulling pulls you in deeper," he told her with an excited smile coming to his face, "Then pushing must push you out of here. It's worth a shot."

"What if it ends up like last time?" she asked him.

"It's not like we have hours to experiment, here," he told her with a shrug.

"You're right," she said with a nod. Without knowing they were doing so, the two teens were smiling at each other.

A/N: I actually enjoyed writing my Raven and Robin fluff romance this time. If you know me, I'm not a big fan of romance and still in the dark as to writing it. Little by little, though, I like it. More of their relationship will be later. Please review! Thanks!