"Okay then, let's talk." Robin said.

The three Titans sat around the kitchen table. No one wanted to be the first to speak and talk about Starfire and now Beast Boy being gone. Robin sat with his arms crossed, glaring at the table. It was rather obvious that he was not happy to be there. Cyborg sat in his chair still in shock. He couldn't believe that his best friend had just up and left him and the rest of the team like that. Raven sat there and looked at the state of her other two teammates, and knew she was going to be the one that had to start the discussion. She didn't want to talk about her other friends at all, but she knew she had to do it.

"So, does this change the fact that we're waiting to give the police an update?" Raven asked her teammates. There wasn't a response for a few moments, but Robin eventually spoke up.

"I think now more than when it was just Starfire, we can't give an alert as to what happened. It's going to be open season if every criminal in Jump City knew what happened with the team. We're gonna need some temporary back up, while we're down members." Robin was straightening up in his seat and becoming more himself. Now that he could focus on a specific problem, he could put his pain behind him.

Cyborg was the next one to speak up. "I've talked to Bumble Bee recently, and she said crime is way down in Steel City. I think we could have some of them get over here for a bit while we sort this all out."

Robin liked the idea saying, "I think that's a solid next step to take Cyborg. After we finish here, I want you contact them and see how fast they can get down here."

Cyborg nodded and asked, "So do we just wait until then?"

Raven answered, "They're going to be looking to prove Control Freak's innocence, and when we talked to Control Freak in jail, Starfire mentioned the remote. That might be their first move: to secure that remote. We should alert security at the police station, so they aren't taken by surprise."

Robin nodded at Raven, but wanted to add to it. "I think you're right about the remote being their first move, but I think we should have the remote under our watch here at the tower. If some members of Titan's East are here as well, we should be able to take them in without much of a fight." Robin paused and looked at the faces of his teammates. "Hopefully, they'll give up with out the need to fight."

None of them liked talking about their friend's like they were enemies, but they all saw it as something that they had to do. They all took a very business like direction with how they approached the situation. It hurt less.

Cyborg thought of one more point that needed to be addressed and said, "Sounds good, but how are they gonna know we have the remote?"

Robin thought about it for a moment and answered, "While you're contacting Titan's East, I'll head downtown and see if the mayor would like to give another speech. Raven, you can come with me or stay here in the tower with Cyborg."

Raven still had mixed feelings about the mayor, so she said, "I think I'll stay here with Cyborg."

Robin nodded, stood up, and sent his teammates to do their tasks, saying, "Okay, you two contact The Police Station and Titan's East. Update me when you get a response from both, and I'll let the mayor know."

Robin had the urge to end his sentence with "Titans, go!" but it didn't feel right, so he left with without it.

In the abandoned apartment, another group of three started to make a plan. Starfire started it off, because it was her idea to begin making a plan. "We need to prove Control Freak's innocence as quickly it is possible. How should we do this?"

Beast Boy rubbed his chin. "Hmm, well you talked about his remote in jail, Star. We could go get that from the police station and then try finding the explosives."

Control Freak weighed in, "It would take a ridiculously long time to find it if we were to try, but it's better than being on the run for the rest of our lives."

Starfire tapped her chin and added, "I agree. We will be needing a plan to get the remote from the police, because I believe it would be unwise to construct a scene while retrieving it."

Beast Boy agreed, "Yah makin' a scene wouldn't be good. If everyone knew what the Titan's were goin' through right now, it wouldn't be good." He continued after thinking of a plan, "So if we wanna be quiet we should have Raven telep-" but stopped mid sentence. He forgot that they didn't have the full team this time.

His and Starfire's face fell as the reality of what they were doing came crashing down on them. This was the first time they had to do accomplish a mission without all members. Silence filled the room as they tried to think of something else that they could do by themselves.

Beast Boy tried again, "Well I could get myself in there, but I don't know how you guys would. Should I just go by myself?"

Starfire agreed. "I would not like you to go alone, but I think that may be our only choice. We will stay here while you go retrieve the remote. What time should you depart."

Surprisingly, Control Freak spoke, "You should wait till dark."

The other two looked at him questioningly. He shrugged back saying, "What? That's how every big heist is done in the movies!"

Starfire nodded. "The chance of you being caught would be less, friend Beast Boy."

Beast Boy saw no problem in that, "Okay, but what what are we gonna do till night?"

Back at the tower, Cyborg and Raven stood before a computer monitor that was currently reaching out to Titans East for a face to face conversation. Before contacting Titan's east they called the police station to make sure that they were able to take the remote to the tower for safe keeping. The police were just happy to hear from the Titans, and okayed it quickly, seeing the Titans could probably keep it safer than they could themselves. After doing so, they gave Robin the good news while he was on his way to see the mayor.

They now sat in front of their giant computer screen waiting for someone to pick up. They were both nervous about how the call would go. Raven wanted to go over what they could say, but Cyborg just wanted to wing it. Raven didn't feel like arguing, so she just went with it. After a few rings Bumble Bee picked up with a smile on her face.

"What's up good lookin'?" She asked the two, but when Cyborg opened his mouth to speak she added, "And Cyborg." Raven smirked as Bumble Bee laughed at the now embarrassed Cyborg trying to hide his blush.

"I'm just messin' with ya', Sparky! What are you guy's callin' about?" She said after a good laugh. She contoniued to laugh, but looking back at the two on her screen, she saw their grim faces, and cut off her laughter all together.

Knowing that it wasn't natural to be so glum, she added, "Did I catch you guys at a bad time?"

Cyborg coughed trying to prepare himself to talk. "Well no. It's just I remembered you tellin' me that things were good over in Steel City, and we were wondering if you guys could come by and help us out…" But Cyborg didn't know how to finish, so Raven finished for him.

"We need help with a problem, that requires a few more hands on deck." She said picking up after her metallic friend.

"Well, we do have Argent, Hotspot, and Wildabeast coming over later today to show them how we run the tower. It's just for a few days, so we can send you a couple of us over after we finish up with them." Seeing the darkened faces on her friends, she added, "Unless it's an emergency."

Cyborg nodded his head slowly. "Yah, you could say it's an emergency. We need help, well, tracking down Beast Boy and Starfire."

Bumble Bee's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh my God! Are they okay? Did something happen to them? Who captured them?" she fired off rapidly in surprise.

The Titans on the other side looked at each other before Raven answered. "Well, they weren't taken. They, um, they broke Control Freak out of jail and are on the run."

Bumble Bee almost fell out of her chair. "THEY WHAT?!" she yelled back in utter astonishment.

The two again looked at each other and Cyborg answered this time, "Yah, we had a dispute over his innocence, Star broke him outta jail, and BB just left to help her out just a little while ago."

Bumble Bee just stared back at them with eyes completely wide. She shook her head to bring herself out of the shock and responded, "Okay, screw having Argent, Hotspot, and Wildabeast over to teach them the ropes. I'm gettin' everyone in the tower together, we're sendin' a message over to those three to tell them their watchin' over the city, and were leavin' right now to get over there in Jump. We'll be there in three hours!"

The other two were stunned at the fiery response they received. Raven spoke up after a second or two of silence, "You don't have to do that Bumble Bee. You can't just leave them to watch over the city like that. We can wait a while longer, while you give them some instruction."

Bumble Bee blew it off, "They're big kids! They'll manage. The Hell you tellin' me to not rush? That's awful, havin' that happen over there in Jump! I'm gettin' the team together right now. See you in three!" Before the Titans could say goodbye, she had already ended the call.

The two blinked at the now blank screen until Cyborg spoke up. "Well that went better and worse than I expected. Let's give Robin the news."

In downtown Jump city, Robin was waiting to see the mayor at his office. He felt a buzz on his hip, and pulled out his communicator. He read Cyborg's message and muttered, "Three hours? That's pretty fast." While was still looking at it, a secretary approached him and said, "The mayor will see you now."

Robin looked up and put his communicator back onto his belt. He stood up and dusted himself off just to make sure he was looking presentable in front of the mayor of his city. He followed her back to the mayor's office and walked inside after she opened the door for him. The mayor sat at his desk with a wide smile on his face and welcomed Robin in heartily. "It's always good to have a resident hero come in for a visit. How are you doing, son?" He asked still holding a large smile.

Robin was caught off guard by the amount of positivity the mayor had. He wasn't currently in the mood to match his optimism, so he opted to get down to business quickly.

As he sat down in front of the mayor's desk he said, "Frankly, Mr. Mayor-" but the mayor cut him off saying, "Oh you don't have to be so formal. Go ahead and call me Bob. You're an important kid to this city, so I think you've earned that right."

Robin was again caught off guard from the man's response, but went with it all the same. "Well, Bob, things aren't going so well right now, and that's why I'm talking to you today." He said without much energy.

It didn't put a dent in the mayor's demeanor. "Well I'm glad you came by here to fix it. What can I do to help you, son?" He asked with the same large smile on his face.

Robin didn't know where to start, so he opted to check how much the mayor knew. "Do you know about Control Freak's escape from jail?" he asked bluntly.

The mayor nodded, saying, "Yes I do. The police informed me that someone came in and broke him out. Didn't do anything else, just came and got him in under three minutes. Caught the whole team on duty off guard." He paused and looked down at his desk before continuing. "They also informed me that, there was no response from the Titans, but there wasn't any extra trouble after the break out for them to deal with anyway." He looked back at Robin with a smaller smile this time and finished, "Now would that reason also be the reason why you've decided to pay me a visit here today?"

Robin had to give the mayor some credit on that one. He nodded back and said, "Yes sir it is. We did not want to respond to the police, because…" he paused not knowing how to go about saying it, "There's been a difficulty that has come up. We didn't want news to get out and cause a panic before we were able to get things back under control."

The mayor asked with an arched brow and a smile, "What kind of 'difficulty' has there been?"

Robin hesitated before responding, "Well, sir, we know who was responsible for the break out." The mayor waited with a smile for Robin to continue. "The perpetrator was Starfire, and we learned earlier today, that Beast Boy has left the team to join her." Robin finished.

The mayor looked back with even a smaller smile, his teeth now not even visible. "That is some troubling news." He took a deep breath and continued, "Is there anything you have done since the breakout to recover the inmate?"

Robin nodded grimly, "We contacted another team of Titans in Steel City, and they are on their way here now."

The mayor's smile grew in size when he heard the news, "I'm glad you kids had a plan ready to set in motion."

Robin had been trying to ignore it for the entire conversation, but he couldn't help noticing his mayor's reference to his and his team's young age. Robin shook it off as a generational gap thing, and replied, "Thank you, sir, but that isn't the only reason I'm here today. I was also wondering if you could help us bring this to an end?"

The mayor's smile was so wide that it threatened to tear his face in half. He was ecstatic that he was needed in the Titan's plan and replied, "I'll do what ever it takes to put this all behind us. Let's hear it, son!"

Robin continued, "We have talked to the police, and they have given us clearance to keep Control Freak's remote at Titan's Tower. We need you to publicly announce our plan to the people, so that it will draw our teammates and Control Freak to the tower, so we can put Control Freak back into custody."

The mayor nodded vigorously and replied, "Perfect! I was already planning on addressing the Control Freak incident later today, so I'll just add a little extra in about your plan. Is that all you need?"

Robin shook his head. "I believe that is everything." But Robin realized he had one more thing to add. "Actually, we also believe that there will be less panic if you abstain from mentioning that it was Starfire and Beast Boy that have helped Control Freak escape."

The mayor nodded with a smile, "That makes sense. I'll refrain from giving that particular information for now."

Robin relaxed as he saw that everything had gone smoothly. He got up and shook the mayors hand firmly. "Thank you for helping us with this Mr. Ma- Bob, it's been a pleasure." Robin said with all the politeness he could muster.

He got up and began to leave with the mayor saying, "The pleasure's all mine Robin." Robin opened the door of his office and walked out the door, leaving the mayor alone. The instant the door closed, the smile disappeared off his face and he muttered, "That plan better work."

Robin had left the building and messaged his teammates that the mayor was on board and giving a speech later that day to let the rogue Titans know they had the remote. Now all he had to do was swing by the police station to pick up the remote.

Beast Boy was also on his way to the police station. They had been sitting around doing nothing, and he had gotten restless. He convinced the other two that he needed to run a recon mission to scout out how he was going to steal the remote. He was on the way in the form of a dragonfly to avoid attention, and he knew they could also clock in at speeds of about thirty-five miles an hour, so it seemed the perfect choice. Robin's R-Cycle could easily break a hundred, so he was able to beat Beast Boy there. The changeling also left fifteen minutes before him, so Robin ended up beating him there by a very small margin.

After Robin pulled up and removed his helmet, Beast Boy turned the final corner and came across Robin right in front of the the police station. In his surprise, Beast Boy almost reverted back into his normal self, but just managed to keep it together. He wondered why the Boy Wonder was here, and thought the perfect way to figure out why was to hitch a ride. He flew in close to his former leader's head, and transformed into Pediculus Humanus Capitis, also known as the most common head louse. He landed securely into his former leader's head and wondered how much gel it took to keep his hair in place.

Robin entered the building with his unnoticed passenger and walked up to the front desk, saying, "Hey, I'm here for control Freak's remote. We contacted you earlier to make sure we could transfer it to Titan's Tower."

The man looked down at some papers, and seeing that he was correct replied, "Just walk through those doors right there, and someone will take you back into the evidence room. The entire walk back to the evidence room, Beast Boy was panicking from the top of Robin's head. He thought to himself, Dude! How did they know we were coming for it? Is it that obvious of a first move? This is gonna be a lot harder now, tryin' to get it outta the tower instead of here! This is gonna take some crazy planning now!

Robin had now arrived in the evidence room, and an officer took the remote out of the evidence box it resided in and gave it to the Titan. He was a curious guy, so he asked, "Don't think we can protect it here?" in a joking voice.

Robin responded back after a short chuckle, "No, I think you all are very capable of keeping this safe, but we need it for a plan."

Now the police officer was very intrigued, "Oh, a plan? That sounds interesting. Care to share it with a fellow man in uniform?" he asked with a raise of his eyebrows.

Robin, had seen the officer around before, and thought of him as a very good man, so he was happy to oblige. "We actually are using it to draw the people who broke Control Freak out of jail towards us, instead of having to go look for them. In fact, the mayor's giving a speech later today to announce it publicly, so the perpetrators know we have it."

Robin was going to keep going, but the police man stopped him. "Woah, watch out! There's a bee next to your head! Let me try to shoo it out." He said as he took off his cap and waved it at the bee. He was surprised how well it worked, because it took off fairly quickly. He put his cap back on and turned to face Robin again. "You were saying?"

Robin continued, "We're also bringing in more Titan's from another city to help us out, they're gonna be here in just a couple hours." But by the time Robin spoke, the bee had long since left.

The bee was flying as fast as it could to get away from the building. As it flew it thought, Perpetrators! Is that what he calls us? I don't really know what that means, but I'm pretty sure it's bad. They're onto our plan though, I gotta get back to others and tell them!

Beast Boy risked being seen and transformed into a bright green falcon, and took off in the direction of the apartments. He needed to get back as quickly as he could, and thought it was worth the sacrifice of stealth. While he was on the was, the two back in the apartments were actually having a nice conversation; the first since Starfire had broken broken Control Freak out of jail.

"So there is a whole fictional language that has been created for this show of television?" Starfire asked.

"Yah, it's called Klingon!" Control Freak responded excitedly.

Starfire had a look of amusement on her face as she said, "You humans make the most peculiar of things for entertainment. For entertainment on Tamaran, we go hunt wild Glak'or with nothing but our fists as weapons."

Control Freak looked at her in confusion. "And what do Glak'or look like?" he asked.

Starfire put a finger on her chin, "It is hard to describe, but I think there is much resemblance between Glak'or and ducks." She said after a moment of thinking.

"Oh…" Control Freak mumbled, caught off guard by how non-threatening her answer sounded.

"But they are the size of a car, have sharp teeth, and hunt in packs." She finished.

"Oh!" Control Freak answered in a much more surprised tone. That seemed much more difficult than what he pictured at first. "Well, that's completely terrifying." He finished with.

Starfire nodded, but before she could say anything, Beast Boy flew through the door with a loud bang.

He yelled in bewteen gasps of air, "Know we want remote… Took to Titan's Tower… Mayor giving speech about us…" and collapsed onto the floor, having finished delivering his message.

The two looked at each other, having no idea what Beat Boy meant, and Starfire knelt down to pick her friend off the floor. He was slowly bringing his breathing down to a normal level and started to put weight back onto his feet. A few moments later he began again, "I went to go scout out the station, and Robin was there when I showed up. I hitched a ride on his head, and he took me inside. The cops brought him back to the remote, and he said that the Titans were gonna keep it at the tower for this plan: the mayor's givin' a speech today, so we'd be tipped off that they have it. Then when we'd go get it from them, they'd be waiting for us."

Beast Boy sucked in deep breaths after talking for so long and breathing for so little. His other two companions' faces darkened when they heard the news. Now it would be pretty close to impossible to retrieve the remote. Then Starfire had an idea.

She asked her friend, "Did you say that they are using the mayor to tilt us into awareness?"

Beast Boy took a second for it to register what she was trying to ask, "Yah, they're usin' the mayor to tip us off about the remote. Why are ya' asking? We already know they have it."

Starfire grinned mischievously at him, "Then they would not expect us to come before he gives his speech then, yes?"

Realization donned on Beast Boy, and he smiled back. "You are one-hundred percent correct, Star." He knew that the Tamaranean was on to something with that.

Control Freak grabbed his two partners in crime and brought them into a huddle, saying "So here's the plan." The other two looked at each other and shrugged; they might as well hear it.

Back in the tower Robin had just finished putting the remote back in the evidence room. He saw his teammates sitting on the couch and decided to join them. He sat in between them and looked at the t.v. Cyborg had it on the local news channel, and was waiting for the mayor's speech to come on. They all just sat in silence, until Cyborg couldn't take it anymore.

"Alright, are we just gonna ignore the fact that Star and BB left the team? We only talk about like it's our job, and it is, but those guys are our friends dammit!" Cyborg said out of nowhere.

They weren't even phased by it, because they too were thinking the exact same thing.

Raven spoke up first saying, "If we just ignore the fact that we know them, it makes it less painful to be on opposite sides."

Cyborg fired back, "It doesn't even seem like we care!"

Raven turned and looked at her mechanical friend in the eyes. Her own were narrowed in anger. "I just lost the one person in the entire universe that I consider my sister, and another one of my closest friends I've ever had! I care so much, that it's tearing me up inside, so I choose to distance myself from the situation to make it hurt less!" Raven loudly responded back at a volume, that she pretty much never had used before.

They had all been under such stress that their judgment was a little impaired in all of them. Cyborg saw that he needed to back down, but Robin didn't.

"I couldn't tell." Was all he added, not even looking at Raven.

Raven almost lunged at Robin, but held back. Instead she just gave a short two word reply, "Excuse me?"

Robin now looked back with a deadpanned face, "Beast Boy goes and talks to you, and winds up leaving shortly after words. You barely have a response when we find out that he left. Just seems a little suspicious." He said without a hint of emotion in his voice.

Now, Raven was raised in the pacifist dimension called Azarath, and they spent years working on how to deny emotion, and instill their pacifist beliefs on her. Right now, all of it was out the window, and she never wanted to punch someone in the face more than right now. Cyborg saw the fire in the empath's eyes and chose to intervene. He quickly grabbed Robin, and lifted him off the couch and set him on the other side of his body, placing himself between the two.

"Alright, we've been through a lot lately, and we're all really wound up right now. Let's take a few breathes and calm down." Cyborg said as he sat in between his two teammates.

Cyborg was for the most part ignored by Raven as she leaned around him. "You stuck up, prideful jerk! You think that I'm in on it because I choose to repress my emotions? I'll let them loose to show you how bad of a thing that it would be! And, If I am recalling correctly, didn't Starfire talk to you right before leaving? What could you possible say to her that would convince her to break Control Freak out of Jail?" Raven spat out.

"I didn't say anything! I gave her the dictionary definition of 'right' and then she took off and freed Control Freak. Whatever it was that set her off, it wasn't me!" Robin fired back. He was now leaning towards the empath ignoring the fact that Cyborg sat between them.

Cyborg grabbed both of them by their collars and pulled them back to keep them from killing each other and yelled, "Enough! We all loved those guys to death, and none of us had anything to do with why they left. I lost my best friend I've ever had and the most kind, perfect girl on earth that I'm lucky to be friends with. We all care about them deeply, and the stress is makin' us want to rip each other apart. We're all sayin' things we don't mean, and you guys know it. We gotta stay strong in this and stick together, you two."

Both Raven and Robin calmed down, realizing how idiotic they were being. They glanced at each other and just settled back down on the couch, both muttering apologies under their breath. Taking advantage of the situation, Cyborg put his arms around the other two. They both bristled at first contact but eventually settled down.

Cyborg added, "And Titans East is coming and I don't wanna look bad in front of them." With a smile.

He got a roll of the eyes from Raven, and Robin shook his head. They didn't say it, but they were really glad Cyborg was there for them, to be their rock.

As the three Titans sat on the couch, three more people landed silently on the roof. They silently moved over to a vent on the roof and Beast Boy transformed into a fly to travel through it. He flew through the vents and came out in a hallway somewhere near their rooms. He flew back towards the roof, and found the door that led up onto it. He transformed back into human form, and placed his hand on the palm reader, hoping Cyborg hadn't updated the system yet. It glowed green and the door opened, and Beast Boy gave himself a high five mentally.

The other two quickly and quietly rushed in and Beast Boy closed the door. They paused a moment to see if an alarm went off. When none did, Control Freak whispered "Phase two" and the group moved on. They moved to scout the evidence room first, as it seemed to be the most logical place to put it. When they arrived, they were relieved to see they were indeed correct. Hiding place number two was Robin's room, and the chance of getting in there quietly would have been as close to zero as you could get. Walking in, Control Freak whispered, "Phase three." They're relief was short lived, because as they approached the remote, they saw it was in a secure glass case that was locked down tight. They saw that one needed a code to open it, and they all looked at it for a while thinking what it could be.

"Do you think Cyborg or Robin set this up?" Beast Boy whispered to Starfire.

Control Freak responded instead. "The high tech aspect of the case would support Cyborg, but this is extra precautions added on as another layer of protection, which overwhelmingly points to Robin. Now, he'd go for something obvious at first like 'Starfire', but change his mind to something a little less obvious to everyone, but more obvious to him. My guess would be 'Batman', but he's Robin, so he'd add a little extra. When adding on extra things to make a password, numbers are the most likely choice. You guys are a team of five, so he'd go for a number like that, but try to be more complicated so my guess would be either '55' or '15'. He's not one that likes to be redundant, so I'd go with '15'. He'd want to add one more element just as one extra safety measure, and it would most likely be punctuation. He's a confident man who likes ordering people around, so I'd go with an '!' giving us a total password of 'Batman15!'."

He reached forward and entered his guess into the lock. Everyone held their breaths as they waited to see if it worked. After three seconds, the lock glowed green and the box opened. Beast Boy and Starfire stared with mouths wide open at Control Freak. He picked up his remote from the case and turned to leave, but the other two just stood in place, still not able to overcome their shock. He watched the two and finally gave in saying, "What? I'm a big fan of you guys! You think I do this just to steal nerd stuff? I mean, I like doing that, but I'm in it mainly to be known as a villain of the Teen Titans."

Beast Boy finally was able to respond, "If that doesn't prove you're not a murder, I don't know what will." Starfire nodded slowly in reply.

Control Freak sighed, grabbed their arms, and gave them a quick tug to get them moving. After they were on their way, he whispered "Phase four." as they went. They decided before hand that they'd leave through the ground floor, back entrance, so they headed off in that direction. They moved silently and quickly as they could. As far as they could tell, their presence here in the tower went completely unnoticed. They eventually made it to the door, and could taste the success of stealing something from one of the most secure places in Jump City. Beast Boy couldn't help but feel ecstatic about pulling off what they had just done as he palmed the door open. He was about to congratulate his team about their success when the door opened. In front of them stood the entire Titans East team.

They were equally surprised in seeing each other.

Bumble Bee was the first to speak, "Uhhh, Freeze?"

[End Chapter]

There you have it! Too much of a cliffhanger? I thought I've been having nicely wrapped up ending almost for every chapter, so you guys can handle this one. How's the chapter? I laughed when I saw your comment, Apologetic. I had this already written down by then, and I thought this would answer your question. Also, I'd like it if anyone would like to tell me something I can improve on! You don't even have to be nice about it, in fact, the more creative and colorful the insult, the better it could be. As long as you're specific, and I can improve in that area. You know? Like a plain, "You suck!" Can't really improve on that, but if you say, "You diseased cheese stick! Do you possibly think I'd be able to follow this rambling dialogue? I say good day, sir!" I can take that to heart and work on smoother dialogue. You game?

I liked this chapter a whole bushel full, but was it indeed Above Average in your book?