AN: Hey guys, I am SOOOOOOO sorry for such a delayed update! I know it's been over a month and I am so so so sorry for making you guys wait this long! Last month was much busier than I thought it would be and I barely got any time to write. On top of that I had writer's block so when I did get time to write I wrote maybe five sentences and then hit a blank but it's finally here! Just a warning though, the next few chapters will come slowly because this month and next month is going to be much busier for me than last month was, I'm going to try my best to not take a month to post the next chapter but I unfortunately can't make any promises but if this story isn't finished by the end of April, I will have much more time in July so then I will be able to finish it more quickly but for now please just bear with me. Thank you so much to all of you who have taken the time to favourite, follow and review this story, each of you gave me more incentive to write! Hope you all have a good weekend!

Chapter 8

"Oh, yeah," Cyborg said grimly, "We definitely have the right place alright."

Starfire turned to look at him, she knew he had been scanning the warehouse Raven had led them to with his internal scanning systems, "Do you see Robin?!" she asked urgently.

Cyborg shook his head, "If he is inside I won't be able to tell from out here, but the place is crawling with Slade-bots, and if that's not smoke to a Slade fire then I don't know what is."

"Robin is in there," Raven said, her eyes closed in concentration, "I think he's unconscious though, I still can't solidify the connection with him."

"How many Slade-bots are there?" Batman asked Cyborg.

"Twenty outside, probably more inside."

Batman nodded, "Stick together for the infiltration. Once we're inside Cyborg and I will go after Slade, the rest of you find Robin and get him on the Bat-plane; I've called it to this location, it will open for Robin."

The Titians nodded and moved out, following Batman's lead.

They got in fairly quickly; none of them were in a good mood, which was evident by the piles of crumpled robotic bodies they left in their wake. Starfire made good use of the opportunity to finally let go of the anxiety and anger she had been suppressing for the past week and most of the crumpled robotic bodies were also smouldering as a result of being blasted by her star-bolts.

As soon as they entered the building Raven stopped and closed her eyes, concentrating on Robin's consciousness.

"He's this way." She said, indicating a hallway leading to the left.

The others nodded in acknowledgement.

"Where is Slade?" Batman growled.

Raven closed her eyes and focused again.

"On this level," she answered, "He doesn't know we're here yet, but that won't last long."

"No," Batman said, his voice sending chills up even Raven's spine, "It won't."

With that he turned and stalked away in the direction Raven pointed where Slade would be.

Cyborg made to follow him but then hesitated and turned to the others, "Be careful."

"You too." Beast Boy answered.

Cyborg nodded and turned to follow Batman.

Starfire and Beast Boy turned to Raven who immediately started leading them down the hallway she had pointed out earlier and down a flight of stairs until they reached a door guarded by no less than six Slade-bots.

"Well it's pretty obvious where Robin is." Beast Boy stated.

"I will take care of them." Starfire stated, once again making good use of an opportunity to vent her frustrations.

All six guards lay in a smouldering heap a few seconds later and she wasted no time in turning to the door they were guarding and ripping it open.

As they entered the first thing that hit her was an almost overwhelming noise. A static so loud that she it made her want to cover her ears. The next thing was the intensity of the white. For her, coming out of a colourful world and stepping right into a world of nothing but white, it was almost painful; like suddenly looking into a bright light. And Robin had been kept in this room for going on five days. Five days. She could barely take five more minutes of this.

Her eyes landed on a black smudge that was the only break in the oppressive white. Robin lay atop a white bed, facing away from the door and was not moving. Starfire immediately went straight to him, Beast Boy was right on her heels and Raven was lagging behind but she didn't notice, she was focused entirely on Robin.

She froze when she got close enough to actually see the state he was in. He was strapped down to the bed; a strap over each ankle, below and above each knee, in the middle of each thigh, over his hips, across his chest, over each wrist, in the middle of each forearm, above and below each elbow, in the middle of each upper arm and across his shoulders. Starfire was horrified. She knew that Robin hated being tied down, she couldn't imagine what it must have been like for him to be tied down like this for the past five days. Then she focused on Robin himself; he was much too pale and she could see from how tightly the straps were fixed that he had lost much weight. His eyes were closed but he didn't look peaceful, as one should when unconscious, he had almost solid black rings below his eyes and his face was lined with pain.

"Oh, Robin..." she moaned, reaching out to begin untying him but she could barely hear herself over the static, in fact she was sure that it had gotten louder since she entered.

She glanced over her shoulder and found that Beast Boy had his hands clamped over his ears and Raven looking like she wanted to follow his example. Starfire caught Raven`s eye and made a gesture to her ears and then gestured at the room at large. Raven seemed to understand and nodded, then her eyes started to glow and Starfire saw her mouth her words of power. Seconds later energy shot out from her raised hands and went to various points in the room.

Starfire stopped watching and focused on untying Robin again. She didn't bother trying to unlock the straps but rather just broke the straps as if they were made of paper, doing it like that let her untying him quickly so that by the time the static cut off with a loud boom as Raven shorted out the speakers Starfire had finished untying him.

At the sound of the speakers shorting out Robin shot upright with a hoarse scream and looked around wildly.

"Robin!" Starfire exclaimed, "You are alright!"

She surged forward to hug him but he jerked to the side so hard that he fell off the other side of the bed. He cried out in pain as he landed but quickly got to his feet and moved to the far side of the room. He pressed his back against the wall and watched them warily as he clutched his left arm to his chest.

"Robin!" Starfire gasped in shock.

Robin flinched at the sound of her voice but besides that only continued watching them the way a lone wolf would watch an opposing pack of wolves.

Starfire made to move toward him but she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

"Wait," Raven said, "His mind... I still can't get in... I don't think he knows who we are."

"What?!" Starfire and Beast Boy exclaimed.

"How can he not know who we are?!" Beast Boy asked.

Robin flinched again and seemed like he was trying to melt into the wall.

"Beast Boy keep your voice down!" Raven hissed at him, "He's scared and confused. Beast Boy go find Batman, I think he may be the only one that Robin will actually recognise."

Beast Boy nodded and transformed into a cheetah before disappearing out of the room.

"Star, we're staying here but don't approach him. I don't think he'll react well."

Starfire looked to Raven, "But why? Why will he not react well to us coming closer to him? Why does he keep looking at us like we are going to hurt him? Why does he not know who we are?" she asked with tears brimming her eyes.

Raven watched Robin for a moment and Starfire followed her gaze, he had sunk down to the floor and had his knees pulled up to his chest with his left arm nestled safely between his legs and chest and his other arm wrapped around his legs but he hadn't taken his eyes off them.

Raven looked back to Starfire, "Like I said, he's scared and confused right now; I think Batman will be able to help, but for now we need to not scare and confuse him more."

Starfire sniffed and swiped at her eyes before nodding and sinking to the floor and assuming a position similar to Robin's.

'Please come back, Robin… I need you.'