A/N: I'll be back with the next chapter on Tuesday or Thursday!

Part 3 - A friend in need is a friend indeed

Her tears felt like blood and were now streaming down on Starfire's cheeks. She ran to her room crying, confused and heart broken because of what had just happened. When she finally got there she collapsed on her bed soaking her pillow with tears of sorrow thinking that the Robin she once loved was no more.

"Why has he changed? Why does he act like this? Why doesn't he care for me anymore?" she asked her self.

She wept and wept and felt like dieing. She was confused and sad at the same time, but not only by the fact that Robin acted the way he did, but also because she didn't get to tell him something gravely important.

When Starfire ran back, the sound of footsteps and crying sounded through the towers hallways. When she heard the noises outside her room, Raven immediately realized what happened and went to check up on her friend.

"Oh no! This is all my fault. I shouldn't have told her to go and speak to him" Raven thought to herself.

She got out of bed and started to walk towards the door speeding up her pase, wearing only her usual black attire. This startled Beast Boy as he was sound asleep.

"Ugh!" he moaned "Rachel where are you going? What's happening?" asked a confused and roughly awakened Beast Boy.

"It's Starfire, something's gone wrong" she said in a hurry as she rushed out of her room leaving BB inside.

Raven went to check on her friend and give her a shoulder to cry on, and by the looks of it things didn't go as she thought they would. She thought that if Starfire spoke to Robin then he would comply to what she would ask him to do. She went inside Starfire's room forgetting to knock or to ask her if she was okay, in fact, she could hear her cry from down the hall and such questions would have been useless seeing how the answer was obvious. She found Starfire on her bed crying her heart out and continuously asking herself "why?".

Raven rushed to her side and tried to help. "Star, what happened? What did he do to you? What did he tell you?" asked a concerned Raven.

Starfire felt like she couldn't even move, she was so broken that she didn't even lift her head to face her friend. "He yelled at me and told me to leave" said Starfire choking with tears "What have I done to deserve this Raven? What have I done? Am I the one to blame?".

"No Star, don't blame yourself, it's not your fault" said Raven with a tone full of compassion and taking Starfire into her arms trying to calm her down as she cried on her shoulder "Shhh, there there, it's going to be okay Star, it's going to be okay" she whispered to her friend.

Starfire raised her head to face her friend. Raven had never seen her friend this way before; heart broken, sad and crying her heart out. The scene was almost suicidal. It was something totally new to her and at the same time something very disturbing.

"Everything will not be okay Raven" replied Starfire "He does not love me anymore, he has rejected me".

"No Star, he still loves you, he's just under a lot of pressure. It's all because of Slade"

"It is not only about Slade, Raven. I have done something to anger him greatly. He is mad at me for some reason, otherwise he would have never shouted telling me to leave and saying that he doesn't care about what I say and grabbing me by my throat almost suffocating me and -"

At the sound of those last words Raven was shocked and became furious. "Wait, what did you say he did to you?"interrupted Raven.

"When I tried to lift him and take him to his bed he reacted by throwing me to the ground and trying to choke me" replied Starfire remembering what had just happened a couple of minutes earlier.

Raven was now angry as hell. Even though she considered her friend a little bit naive she also knew that Starfire had a good heart and that she didn't deserve anything like this. She was her best friend after all, and after hearing that Robin acted like that she decided to teach him a lesson.

"Why that little fu ...!" said Raven almost swearing but trying to keep her cool. "Wait here Star!"said Raven as she walked out of her room.

Outside Starfire's door, Beast Boy and Rage listened and tried to figure out what happened. When Raven stormed out the door they both made one step back being startled by her furious exit. They noticed that she was angry as she practically stomped the floor while walking and wanted to know what had happened.

"Hey Raven, wait a second, what's going on?" asked Rage.

"Robin tried to hurt Starfire. I'm going to teach that stumpy little prick a lesson in manners" replied Raven.

In just a blink of a second, both BB and Rage realized what had happened after seeing Starfire on her bed crying through the opened door.

"Oh man! This can't be good!" said Beast Boy.

"Of course it is not good" replied Rage pointing at Starfire " ... just look at her".

"I'm not talking about that. Starfire is Raven's best friend and that means that Robin is in for a real bad beating".

"I saw Raven fight before" replied Rage a bit worried himself "She is no joke when it comes to kicking. In that case you go after her and make sure that she doesn't hurt Robin or the other way around".

"Got it" said BB heading for Robin's room "But hey, wait! Then what are you going to do?".

"I will go and talk to Starfire and try to calm her down. I will do my best ... I suggest you should try and do the same" replied Rage.
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"His last base of operation was located in sector 13" said Robin to him self trying to pin point Slade's actual location "His last three bases were all located in sectors 13, 14 and 15. But why? I'm sure it has something to do with some type of energy resource he uses to power up his base, but if that's the case then what resource is he using?"

He checked the city map that was mostly covered with red dots from his research, and tried to find any type of energy source in what he marked as sectors 13, 14 and 15 of Jump City that Slade could use. Electric, gas form, hydro, mechanical, fossil ... it didn't matter. He knew Slade used a lot of energy and that his last headquarters were situated near some sort of energy source he could cheaply take advantage of. He searched the map in detail and was really tense when he heard a knock on the door and a familiar voice calling out for him.

"Robin! I know you're up, open this door right now or I'll break it down". It was Raven.

It was the second time that night someone disturbed him. In his mind Robin didn't understand why people were so worried and thought that what he was doing was absolutely normal, so hearing Raven calling him out in such an angry manner made him snap. He stomped towards the door and opened it widely. He saw Raven looking at him furiously but didn't understand why. He thought she was there to complain about something other than how he treated Starfire.

"Yeah and what the hell do you want Raven?" asked Robin.

"Excuse me? You don't speak to me like that Robin, do you understand?" said Raven who was pissed off by her team mates reaction.

"I have work to do, what do you want?"

"I want to talk to you about how you treated Starfire. Now let me in!"she ordered.

Robin wasn't used to take orders from anybody so Raven's request hit him hard confusing him for a second, then making him even more angry. As he tried to shout at his friend, looking at her dead in the eyes, Beast Boy came up to them huffing.

"Uh, uh" BB panted for air "... guys wait! Don't fight, you wont solve anything this way".

"Were not fighting" replied Robin who knew what would happen if he shouted at Raven now "I was working, and as you can clearly see, Raven disturbed me". After this, he turned around heading to his work desk "So if you don't mind, I have a villain to find and I suggest that you two -"

He tried to close the door behind him and finish his sentence before the door was shut, but all of the sudden it jammed. He looked behind only to see Raven using her powers to block the door and still starring at him furiously.

"Oh no you don't Robin! This time you will hear us out and talk to us" interrupted Raven.

Robin turned to her clinching his fist threateningly."I said I don't have time for this! What ever happened between me and Starfire is our business and it concerns only us. She tried to help me, I shouted at her ... big deal! It's none of your business!"the Boy Wonder replied.

After he finished talking Robin's body was engulfed by a black aura and he was thrown across the room smashing into the wall. Hearing Robin talk the way he just did and seeing him behave that way made Raven furious beyond belief. Robin was the one they all really counted on, he was suppose to always set an example and by acting the way he did earlier, he proved that he was beginning to depart from them.

"Big deal!?" thought Raven "That's how he feels about his lover? His girlfriend? His soul mate? My best friend? Starfire doesn't deserve to be treated like this. Robin needs to get a taste of his own medicine".

"Rachel stop! What are you doing?"Beast Boy said in shock after seeing Robin thrown into the wall.

"Stay out of this Garfield!" Raven ordered as she walked inside Robin's room.

BB knew what would happen if he tried to stop her. After all, he remembered what happened to him in the past when she was upset about something so he just stood besides her to protect her if Robin would react in a violent way.

Robin tried to stand up and face his friends that he now thought were enemies. He was so mad that he would even attack them, but just as he pulled himself back up a black fist hit him in the stomach. He fell again to the ground in pain. He then noticed that the excessive research and lack of sleep finally got to him. He was in no condition of defending himself, let alone putting up a fight.

When he was down, the black hand grabbed a hold of his face and smashed his head into the ground several times after which letting him go. He started feeling the pain of Raven's hits and wanted it to stop, but again the black hand which Raven created grabbed a hold of him. This time, it threw him on his back and started choking him. Her grip tightened and Robin was starting to form tears in his eyes because of the pain and stress.

"R-Raven ... please stop!"mumbled Robin who tried to free him self.

"NO!" shouted Raven "Do you feel this? Do you like it? TELL ME!"

"Ughh, no ... I don't … just let me go" said Robin who was almost out of air.

"This is exactly what Star felt. This is the way you treated her, only you hurt her more then I'm hurting you right now. I hope this hurts like hell, BECAUSE YOU DESERVE IT!"said Raven who's eyes turned black. After another three seconds Robin stopped moving and Raven immediately let him go, leaving him to catch his breath. "... You don't deserve a girl like Starfire, you creep" finished Raven.

She left the room and found a shocked Beast Boy outside looking at her frightened of what just happened. Seeing him, she realized that even with his old goofy self he wouldn't be capable of doing what Robin did to her best friend.

"Man Rachel … that was really extreme!" he said "Are you sure you did the right thing?"

Raven looked at him and sighed for a second. "I hope I did. Robin needed a taste of his own medicine after all, and I hope that from now on, he thinks twice before attacking the one that loves and cares for him the most".

Beast Boy knew that Raven acted right, it was just that seeing her like this scared him.

"It's late, you should get some rest babe, we all should" said BB.

"I can't" she replied as if she had a duty to up hold "I want to check up on Starfire"

They started walking towards Raven's room that was situated two corridors before her friends room. "That's not going to be necessary, Rage is talking to her right now, and she's going to be just fine" the changeling said.

"Are you sure?"asked Raven who was surprised of what Beast Boy told her "You know how Rage can get, are you positive you did the right thing by letting him talk to her?"

"I'm positive. I mean yeah, Rage is a tough guy but I got to know him better and even if he doesn't show it, deep down he's an understanding fellow. Starfire is in good hands, trust me".

They walked back to her room and turned in for the night. Before entering the room, Raven tried hearing if Starfire was still crying but she didn't hear a thing.