Robin moved closer to the only other body in the room with him. He had introduced himself as Richard, but his parents called him Robin. The green boy had told him his name was Gar. So, he and Gar were stuck somewhere, and without the three people that had meet earlier that day.
"We should look for a way out," Gar said quietly. Robin nodded, eager to leave the dark room and find the nice people that had been with them earlier. Frowning, Robin tried to untie his hands, but it was no use. The zip ties were very strong and a six year old was no match for them. Robin began to panic, thinking that there wasn't going to be a way out of this.
Beside him, Gar was trying to get free, too. Then he stopped, and began to move towards the other side of the cold, dark room.
"What are you doing?" Robin whispered, afraid that the scary guy in the mask would come back. The man in the mask hadn't said anything when they were thrown in this room, only made sure that the zip ties holding them were good and tight, then left. Robin didn't know if anyone was looking for them, or if they were going to be found, or if the man in the mask was coming back.
He didn't know he was crying until Gar snuggled up to his side.
"It's going to be ok," He said with as much courage as a six year old could. Robin sniffled and began to move across the room with his friend.
Hidden in the corner was a piece of metal with a sharp edge. Gar began to cut his ties on it and within moments he was free. Robin did the same thing.
"Ok, now what do we do?" Gar asked. Robin shook his head. He didn't know, there were no windows in the room, and if there were, he was sure they couldn't reach them. The door had been locked from the outside.
"Maybe there's a vent," Gar whispered. Robin nodded, suddenly remembering a spy movie he had seen with the spy escaping through a vent in the room. Quietly, the two of them began to check the walls for vents.
Just when they were about to give up, their hands came in contact with the metal grate. Robin smiled widely with excitement.
"We need something to open it with," Gar said. Robin thought for a moment; the room was dark, so he couldn't see what was in it. He also didn't have anything on him that could be used as a tool. When he asked Gar if he had anything they could use, he shook his head.
Frowning, the two of them leaned against their only way out of here, with no way to access it.
Starfire was flying as fast as she could. Panting, she stopped on an overpass, and tried to gather her thoughts.
They had been ambushed by someone. Someone had taken Beast Boy and Robin, who couldn't possibly protect themselves against whoever had taken them. Cyborg had screamed at her to follow them, and he and Raven would follow her.
But, she could help but think of who would have taken her friends. There were many criminals who would want to get their hands on a pair of Titans; she didn't linger on what they would do if they were children.
Taking a deep breath, Starfire tried to calm down. She wasn't going to a help to anyone when she was panicking like this.
Head focused, Starfire flew.
Gar stiffened next to him. Robin gripped his hand, his heart beginning to pound.
"Someone's coming," Gar whispered. Robin bit his lip.
"Is it one of them?" Robin asked, referring to the three people they were with before they got put in the dark room. Gar shook his head.
"No, it's someone else," Gar said.
The door opened and a figure stepped through. He was wearing a black cape and also a mask; it was white with a red x on it. The person chuckled lightly.
"You titans never fail to amaze me, with all the crap you get into."
Robin scowled, relieved that it wasn't the scary man in a mask, but mad because it was another person in a mask and he wasn't sure if he was nice or not.
"Look, kiddies, we don't have a lot of time, but we need to move," Red-X said. Gar glared at him, but nodded when he didn't sense a lie. When people did lie, their hearts tended to speed up.
Walking behind the strange man, Robin and Gar were alert to what was going on around them. Red-X crouched down in front of them.
"I need you to listen, ok?"
The two kids nodded and listened to the stranger in front of them.
"Now, it's going to get crazy in a moment, but both of you need to listen to what I tell you, ok? If I tell you to run, you run. If I tell you to hide, you hide. There are some people here who mean you two a lot of harm, and I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen." Red-X told them.
Standing up, and checking around the corner, Red-X asked them one last time.
"Now, what are you going to do if I tell you to hide?"
"Hide," Robin asked.
"And if I tell you to run?"
"We run," Beast Boy told him. Smiling behind the mask, Red-X chuckled.
"You know, if you didn't have anyone looking for you, I'd probably keep you for myself. But the titans are already tearing the city apart looking for you, and no way in hell I'm getting my ass handed to me on a silver platter," Red-X said.
Beast Boy frowned.
"Then why are you helping us at all if you're scared you're that they'll be mean to you?" The changeling asked. Red-X stopped for a moment before kneeling in front of the green boy.
"Because it's the best thing to do, and even though you two are on the other side of what I do for a living, no kid should have to deal with the sick fucks who are in this city," Red-X said. He lifted a finger under Beast Boy's chin.
"You were always one of the nice ones, you never stop that, ok?" Red-X asked. Gar nodded, face puzzled, but didn't question. He had long accepted that this situation was just going to be weird until it was over. Standing up again, and checking to make sure the coast was clear, Red-X looked down at his two charges.
"You two ready to get out of here?"
Raven was slowly dissolving into panic. It had been over six hours since they lost Robin and Beast Boy. Raven couldn't sense them at all, which meant two things: either they were so far underground in Jump or outside the city all together, or they were dead.
The empath had no clue which one was more terrifying, and she refused to linger on the second option, so Raven did what she could at that moment.
She meditated, reigned in her powers, and focused on bringing two of her three boy's home.
Mindset straight again. Raven looked around the common room. Cyborg was scanning all the cameras around Jump City, and Starfire was tearing apart the city, flying at break neck speeds to find anything that would lead them to their two missing friends.
Had Robin and Beast Boy been their normal ages, perhaps they wouldn't have been so terrified. They knew then that both of them could hold out until the others had found them, or they could escape themselves. But Beast Boy and Robin were not normal right now, they were six years old, pretty powerless, and in the clutches of who knew who, without a single way to contact the only people looking for them.
Raven and Cyborg jumped a foot in the air when the phone rang. Sprinting, Cyborg and Raven put it on speaker, breathlessly.
"Hello?" Cyborg asked. Across the line, both of them were shocked at who greeted them.
"Hey there, titans, you'll never believe who I just ran into."
Crouching down next to the kids on some sort of overhead, Red-X looked over his options. He could leave the kids now, the titans were on their way, but he didn't feel right leaving them after what had just happened.
Looking at the kids, both shivering fiercely from the wind and freezing water all three of them had jumped into to escape the facility, Red-X knew he couldn't leave just yet. And certainly not when the kidnapper could still be out looking for them.
They hadn't had any trouble until they reached the last stretch towards freedom, setting off several loud alarms. Red-X had been forced to blast the wall as an escape route and take the kids and jump into the river. From then, he had been forced to play life raft for the kids; well, to mini Robin, Beast Boy could swim pretty well for someone his size.
It was getting darker, and with every passing moment Red-X was slowly losing his nerve. Just as he was about to leave, he heard the sound of wheels coming close. Swallowing, he turned to face the tiny titans.
"I think your friends are here," Red-X said. The two didn't say anything, shivering too much to do anything other than huddle close and try to get warmer.
"Starfire, wait a minute!" Came a cry.
Suddenly the two kids were swept up in a mess of red hair. Starfire was clutching them tightly, murmuring something to them, before setting them down and frantically checking them for injuries.
"They aren't hurt," Red-X said. Starfire spun, placing the boys behind her, and her eyes started to glow. Red-X put his hands up, knowing firsthand how much those star bolts hurt.
"If you're lying," Raven hissed from the side. Beast Boy broke off and ran to her side. Raven saw how soaked he was and unclasped her cloak and wrapped it around him. She glared harshly at Red-X.
"Look, I wouldn't have risked my neck if I just wanted to hurt them," Red-X said as he leaned against the stone wall of the overpass. Cyborg didn't say anything just kneeled in front of the kids and began to check them out.
"Other than a few bruises from the crash and being soaking wet, they're both fine." Cyborg reported. "He wasn't lying."
Pushing himself off the wall Red-X prepared to leave.
"Well, good to know. Hopefully they won't be pint sized anymore, I can't annoy them if they're cute."
"Wait!" Starfire said. Red-X stopped.
"Why did you do this?" The alien asked. Raven, who was standing and had pushed the green boy behind her, nodded in agreement.
"Yes, it doesn't make a lot of sense why you would go out of your way for us," Raven asked. Red-X snorted.
"I have my reasons, sweetheart," Red-X said. Cyborg coughed.
"Look, we can figure this out later, but we need to get them out of here," Cyborg said. He turned and looked at the thief.
"We'll give you this one, a free pass, but only because Robin isn't here to kick your ass this time," Cyborg said lowly to Red-X.
The thief laughed before turning to leave.
"Trust me, buddy, when they are back to normal, I'm sure Robbie will get a kick out of this."
With that, Red-X disappeared into the shadows and Cyborg returned to his team, fully intending on placing the whole tower on lockdown.