He braced himself as he shot a bright blue beam out of the large gun – it hit the car with a blast and dust and smoke immediately filled the air.

The green butterfly flew off Cyborg's shoulder and turned back into Beast Boy as Cyborg's arm turned back to normal. He lifted his inbuilt communicator to his face and with a smile, he simply said, "Got them."

With a satisfying click, Robin snapped his communicator shut and turned to Starfire who was beside him, waiting impatiently for his report.

"The thieves have been caught," Robin said, walking past Starfire. Her eyes were glued on him as he paced around her. "But now we're even further away from finding Slade and Raven!"

"Robin, please do not be angry," Starfire spoke calmly and extended her arm out to touch his shoulder, but seemed to think better of it and drew back. "You are tired and you need the 'sleep'. You will be more alert to finding Raven, that way."

Robin's posture sagged as he exhaled heavily. He knew Starfire was right but he was just so determined to continue with this mission. But he knew that if they did continue without sleep and if they found Slade, they'd be in no condition to fight him. In fact, it might put them in an even worse position.

He shrugged in defeat as he turned back to face Starfire, taking his communicator out of his pocket as he did so to contact his other teammates.

He pressed several buttons and waited for Cyborg to pick up; two seconds hadn't passed when Cyborg's voice came travelling through. "We're going back to the Tower to get some rest," Robin said in his usual, monotone voice. He was disappointed at having to take a break. "We'll carry this on at midday."

---

The young teenager slowly opened her eyes. She couldn't see much as it was pretty dark so she sat up; as she placed her hands on the floor to help her up she noticed that it was freezing and instantly removed her hands from the floor. The sudden movement made her head throb in pain and she instead moved her hand to nurse her forehead; it didn't help her in her situation at all.

As she slowly became accustomed to her surroundings, she tried to remember what had happened and how she had gotten into this dark, strange place. She moved her violet hair from her face and arranged her hood so that it sat neatly on her back. The last thing she could remember was trying to call Robin through his communicator but something had interrupted her… Maybe that something had caused her to end up here?

"Robin?"

This wasn't good. She knew Robin wasn't here; none of her friends were here. She couldn't have possibly been kidnapped, could she? Well, it wasn't that bad then was it? She would simply use her powers to get herself out of there.

She stood up, catching her balance quickly as she stumbled from exhaustion. She forced her energy to fly into her hands in defense of whatever was waiting for her in those shadows. Who could it be? Who would want anything to do with her -?

"Slade?"

Of course… Slade was the one who they had been chasing after. He had stolen something very important and it was the Titan's job to stop him. So why had he kidnapped her? And if he really had kidnapped her, why had he just left her lying on the floor? Why hadn't he tied her up to make sure she couldn't attack him? Raven almost smiled; this was too easy.

Suddenly, Raven became very aware that she wasn't quite alone. Somebody was near her, very near. She strained to listen for breathing, but it was silent. It was too silent; she swivelled around, trying to find them in the empty darkness, but it was hopeless.

An orange light suddenly pierced her eyes, making her scream in shock and agony as she covered her eyes. She attempted to open her eyes so she wasn't so vulnerable but the light was too intense and her eyes merely watered, making her vision worse.

But nobody attacked her. Nobody even spoke to her; they made it clear that if they were going to attack her, then they would have done it already. They were patiently waiting for Raven to collect herself.

Raven rubbed the water from her eyes furiously and forced herself to adjust to the new light. She straightened her posture so that she was standing upright, and as she did so she came face to face with –

"Slade!"

Her gasp echoed around the room, bouncing off the walls. She instinctively took a step backwards but he stayed rooted to the ground, his single eye staring at her.

His arms were folded behind his back, making his muscles look even bigger than they really were. His armour was impressive, especially in the orange light. He towered over Raven but kept his head positioned straight, so that his eye was straining to look down on her. He knew he was scary and he made sure Raven knew that, too.

"Why are you so shocked, my dear?" He taunted her. "You've seen me a hundred times before, when I was defeating you and your pathetic friends…"

Raven scoffed and folded her arms; she tried her best to make it clear that Slade didn't scare her in the least. "You couldn't defeat a worm, even if you tried."

"We'll see about that," Slade hissed.

Raven's large eyes glared at Slade, pure loathing stapled all over her face. Her fingers began to clench and flex as she prepared her body for battle.

"Don't bother fighting me, Raven," Slade interrupted her. At this, Raven unfolded her arms and forced more energy to cover the palms of her hands. But at his next few words, she was inclined to relax herself. "You'll be here for quite a while."

Raven lowered her hands slightly. The energy was fading and so was her glare. She knew that if she attacked now, in her state, then Slade would have an easy time knocking her out cold again. Besides, if Slade was so casual about this, then maybe he was telling the truth. Maybe there was no point in fighting.

She looked around herself cautiously, wondering where on Earth she could be. It seemed to be another one of Slade's typical hideouts. In fact, it wasn't typical; the room just seemed to be going on and on for miles. Pipes were suspended from the extremely high ceiling, supporting the cameras that hung from them. They would be watching Raven at all times, and knowing Slade, if she tried anything funny then his robots would come and attack her. On the wall nearest to them, there was a large screen. It was taller than two double-decker buses and seemed to cover the whole wall, though Raven knew that was unnecessary. But it meant that Slade had set up cameras elsewhere.

A sudden thought hit her and she clenched her fists again as she remembered.

"What did you steal?" She yelled.

Slade's eye widened, feigning confusion. "What?"

"Don't play stupid with me, Slade," Raven growled. "The whole reason why we were chasing you around the whole damn city was because you'd stolen something!"

Her voice threw itself around the large room but she was so angry that she didn't care. She couldn't just sit here with her sworn enemy, pretending as if everything would be okay! And if she couldn't fight against him then she could verbally attack him instead!

But to her surprise, he laughed. His laugh overruled her shriek, making it sound even eerier than it really was.

"Raven," he shook his head as he patronized her. "Raven, Raven. I didn't steal a thing. I suppose that bird shit head Robin told you that, didn't he? Well he was very wrong." He spoke in a mere whisper, but Raven hung onto his every word. "I had not stolen anything… but I was about to."

"What are you talking about?"

"Isn't it obvious?" His voice grew louder as if he was tired that she hadn't figured out the answer yet, as if it was so apparent. "After all those books you read, Raven, I would have thought that you of all people would be able to figure this one out."

"Just get on with it, Slade!" Raven lifted her glowing hands to meet her shoulders, threatening Slade, though he shrugged it off.

"I was going to steal you."

The energy in Raven's hands dispersed once more as she cocked her head in confused.

"What? Me?" But it was true; it was obvious that Slade had stolen Raven. But why had Robin told them he had already stolen something? Had Slade told him to say that, or had he fooled him into thinking that, or was Robin up to something? No – that was impossible. Robin wouldn't dare lie. He was above that. "What are you going to do with me?"

Slade grinned underneath his mask; he was sorry that Raven couldn't see his eerie grin.

"We, my dearest girl, are going to wait until the rest of the Titans come to rescue you."