3RD POV
Shortly after the sun rose over Jump City, a criminal was putting his next scheme into motion. He carried nothing but a special camera and a syringe. He crept through the waking streets of the city until he reached his destination- the woods near the local park. He quickly found what he was looking for. Crouching near the girl's sleeping figure, he silently injected the syringe into her arm. The man waited for a minute and then turned the sleeping girl over onto her back so he could see her face. Then he pulled out a camera and captured about 5 shots of her, each with a different angle, each capturing a topical picture and an infrared scan. When he was done, he simply melted away into the shadows and disappeared.
ROBIN POV
It was a very silent ride back to the tower. When we reached it, I ran up the stairs and went into my room. I locked the door and picked up a picture of me and Star. It was of the night that Kitten took me to her prom to keep her father from destroying the city. Starfire was wearing a beautiful purple gown and white gloves, and her eyes were beautiful, as usual. I was wearing a tux and my mask. I gently put the picture back beside me bed and walked out into the living room.
Everyone was sitting on the couch. When I entered, they all looked at me.
"Robin, we all know Star is special to you. Just relax. And we can find her, ok?" Raven looked at me with a sincere expression of… pity? Compassion? I couldn't tell.
"Yeah, and how are we going to do THAT? We tried everything! Her communicator is broken, Cyborg can't track her, your powers can't help, BB couldn't find her… And I can't even do anything!" I punched the wall and dented it. Everyone jumped a little. Then I heard a beeping noise. Someone was trying to talk with us.
3RD POV
After taking all the necessary pictures, Slade returned to his hideout. He plugged the camera into his computer and started making a video. Earlier in the week, he captured a young redhead. He tied her up and made her say certain things, do certain things. All for this video.
Slade had the body and with the pictures, he could make the girl look like Starfire. From their last battle he had voice recordings of her. Taking the girl's words and Starfire's voice and looks, he made a beautiful video. All he had to do was put it to use.
ROBIN POV
I ran over to the monitor and opened the message. At first, all we saw was a dark room. Then a light turned on and we were horrified at what we saw.
Starfire was tied up and screaming. "Please! Please, help me!" Then Slade stepped in front of her, blocking her from view. He chuckled.
"Greetings, Titans. It's been a while, hasn't it?"
"Slade! What do you want?" He laughed and pressed a button. We heard Starfire scream in pain. "Stop it! STOP! Let her go!" My hands were balled into fists at my side. If Slade were here now, he would be dead.
"I'll let her go, Robin. If you make me a deal." He paused and looked meaningfully at me. "You were such a good apprentice, Robin. I miss having you. Come back to me, Robin. And I'll let her go."
I couldn't believe it. This couldn't be happening. Again. Last time it did, he forced me to fight my team, to hurt Star. I couldn't do it again. But maybe if I acted like I agreed, I could save her. It was the best chance I had. "Alright, I'll do it." My everyone just looked at me in shock.
"Robin, you can't!"
"What are you thinking?"
"Dude you're crazy, man!"
I held up my hand for silence. Then I whispered. "It's the only way." I looked up. "Isn't it, Slade?"
"This is why I miss you, Robin. So smart. Yes, it is. Meet me tomorrow behind the McDonalds on Kindler Street. Come alone, at 7 AM. If you do not do as I say…" Once again, he hit a button and Starfire started screaming.
"AHH! Please do not do this, Robin! Please!" She fell to the floor, crying. I was almost crying, too.
"I get it already! I promise I'll do what you say just don't hurt her!" I switched off the TV, cutting off Slade.
Raven put her hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off. "Robin, listen. I know you want to get her back. But there has to be another way! We could find his hideout, maybe."
"Raven, Slade won't let that happen. When I get there, I'll free Star and fight him off so she can escape. Then she can get you guys for backup." I looked at them. They all looked unsure, but they eventually agreed.
I trudged back into my room and slammed the door, collapsing onto my bed. Everything was going wrong. Instead of relaxing and having a normal day, I had to sit around for a long time with nothing to do but think. Instead of being with the girl I love, I had to think of a plan to rescue her.
I couldn't stand it. Thinking about Star. Alone, terrified, in pain… I ran down to the training room. Setting the controls to high, I ran into the room, expecting the worst. In my anger, I didn't notice how hard it was. I was just striking out at everything that moved. Suddenly, however, a giant robot appeared from behind and knocked me to the ground. It pinned me down and was about to kill me. It's metallic, clawed hand reached slowly towards my throat when it suddenly stopped working. I looked up into the control room and saw Raven.
As I stood up to brush myself off, Raven walked over to me. "What were you doing, Robin? You could have killed yourself." She glared at me. "What would happen to Starfire then?"
My head snapped up and I came face-to-face with a belligerent Raven. I was about ready to punch her. She must have known, because she used her powers to slam me up against the wall and hold me there. "Listen, Bird Boy. We're all worried about Star, and we're all worried about you and what you've gotten yourself into. Cyborg, BB and I are all upstairs comforting each other and trying to make a plan to help rescue her. And what do you do? Almost get yourself killed. That's such a brilliant idea." Her sarcasm was beginning to irritate me. "Star loves you and wouldn't want you to save her at all. She would be devastated if you even got a splinter trying to rescue her! So you need to relax, pull our head out of your ass, and stop being so damn dumb!"
She let me go and turned to walk away, muttering to herself. All I heard was 'bird boy'. I felt even worse. Because she was right. I was being really stupid. "Hey, Raven, uh…" She turned and looked at me, her dark eyes peering out from under her hood. "uh, thanks. For… that." I waved my hand in the general direction of the wall where she yelled at me. She just nodded and kept walking.
I stood there for a moment, thinking to myself. I decided that Raven was right about one thing for sure- I needed to relax. I figured I would need my strength to fight Slade tomorrow, so I walked up to my room and collapsed on m bed, falling into a restless sleep.