"Quiet," Robin whispered. He stepped closer into the light, his eyes fixed in concentration. Beast Boy kept close behind him, keeping as quiet as he possibly could. Both of their heads were turning left, right, above and then finally below. They both stopped dead before a beam of light that focused on the floor.
Beast Boy gasped as Robin muttered angrily. "Shit."
Beast Boy lunged forward, almost knocking Robin over as he did so.
"Beast Boy!" Robin yelled, throwing his hand out as he tried to grab him. "Wait!"
As Robin ran after him, Beast Boy threw himself on the ground in a kneeling position. He picked up the bundle in his shaking gloved hands and held it inches away from his face. As he picked it up, the cloth unravelled itself to reveal Raven's famous blue cape.
Beast Boy stared at it as if it was a puppy that had just died in his hands. He was speechless for several seconds. "Raven was here!" He blurted out suddenly, his voice echoing around the empty room. "She was here and now she's gone! We were too late!"
Robin knelt down beside him hurriedly and slapped his hands against his mouth to stifle his shouts. As he did so, Beast Boy's hands clenched together and the cape was crumpled in his grip; whether he did that out of pain or anger was unclear to Robin.
"Look Beast Boy," Robin hissed in his ear. "If you keep yelling like that then we could be in even more trouble. We need to think of a plan. Whoever took this from Raven wouldn't just leave it in their hide-out for us to find."
Beast Boy tried to turn to look at him, his eyes almost bulged out of their sockets they were straining that much. Once Robin knew he was calm, he took his hand away from his mouth.
Beast Boy looked at the cloak again, fighting for the right words. Robin knew this was hard on Beast Boy, but it wasn't easy on the rest of them either. He had no right to make Robin feel guilty, as if he didn't care about his teammate, his friend.
But it seemed that Beast Boy was finally finding some sense. "You said she'd seen Slade?"
Robin's heart missed a beat.
"Earlier, when I was at the café…" Beast Boy wouldn't take his eyes off Raven's cape. "I looked up and saw Slade staring at me through the window. It was the scariest thing I'd ever seen. I ran out to him but he'd disappeared. Five seconds later I got this call from Raven saying she'd seen Slade but I don't understand. She was on the other side of town…"
Robin could hear the cogs working furiously in Beast Boy's head as he still kept his eyes locked on the cape. He kept it securely fastened in his grip as if to let it go would mean the end of the world, as if his life depended on him holding it close to him. He didn't even let it go when he jumped a mile up in the air, shocked from the loud footsteps that were approaching him.
A tall figure walked through the broken door, the morning sun reflecting his armour. Behind him was a floating girl, her hands glowing with green orbs. The sun bounced off the metal man and mixed with the green light, creating a strange palette of colours on the floor and forcing Robin and Beast Boy to squint as their two friends entered the building.
"Starfire?"
"Cyborg?"
"Beast Boy?"
"Robin."
Robin stood up and stepped closer to Cyborg and Starfire. "What are you two doing in here?"
"Well you told us to check the place out, and we found this door open so we can to investigate," Cyborg replied.
There was a short pause while Cyborg and Starfire looked around the room, examining it.
"Where are we?" Starfire broke the silence.
"And what's that?" Cyborg asked, pointing directly at Beast Boy.
While Robin and Beast Boy explained what had happened five minutes ago, Starfire looked around the room. She hovered only inches in the air as she waved her hands over objects and signs to make them clearer, turning them into a light shade of green.
The room was empty, apart from a few cardboard boxes, half a dozen scattered sheets of paper and several broken bottles. Flying over the broken glass, Starfire quickly discovered a large light switch that lay embedded in the wall. She cast a worried look towards Robin, wondering if he would be angry if she turned it on in case it caused them trouble. But he was too occupied with the discussion to even notice where Starfire had gone. She threw her hands on the lever and used all her strength to push it down to switch it on.
The huge lights that were dangling from the ceiling shook slightly when the beams of light gushed out of them. It was obvious that they hadn't been used in years. The boys who were once absorbed in their conversation now turned their attention to covering their eyes, turning to Starfire in irritation.
"Starfire! Why did you -?" Robin started, but Beast Boy interrupted him and thrust a finger in front of him.
"Dude! What's that?"