A/N: Thank you for tuning in! I didn't intend for this chapter to end like this... but I think it's best to have it go this route. I hope it turns out well. Let me know what you think and drop your ideas/reviews. As always fav/follow/share this story and I'll see you in the next one! Hope you enjoy!

Raven jumped into a dead sprint from Starfire's room. With each stride she felt like she wasn't going fast enough. Her heart was pounding in her chest faster than her legs could move and it made her dizzy. Her vision narrowed into a tunnel showing her only path in front of her to the living room where the others were waiting. It felt like dream. A dream where no matter how hard to tried to run you never could stay upright and always fell face first to the ground and struggled to get back to your feet. She couldn't afford to waste any precious time. For all she knew her bestfriend could be captured or worse.

She burst into the living area where the others whipped around to see her panting for air as she leaned on the doorframe supporting her weight while her left hand leaned on her knee as she struggled to tell them what was happening.

"Star!... Fire!..." She said in between gasps. She looked up with an expression of horror on her face, desperate to tell the others what she saw, "SHE'S GONE!"

The same panic that was on Raven's face now showed on the boy's faces as well. Before they could get up or speak the Tower lights started flashing red and the alarms began bellowing through the halls.

Cyborg jumped out of his chair and ran to the computer to see what the alarm was...

"Is it Star?!" Beastboy yelled following closely behind him.

"No... It's the Hive," Cyborg said expressing the disappointment everyone shared, "they're terrorizing the local mall."

"They can wait... We need to find Starfire first!" Raven said angry that this was happening now of all times.

"For all we know she could be there already," Cyborg shot back, "and if she isn't I bet they'll would know where she is!"

"Its like what X said," Beastboy add, "all the criminals in Jump City are after her. They gotta know something."

Raven couldn't argue their logic and tried to calm herself down, "fine! Let's go!" She raised her hands with dark orbs and the floor around the three of them turned black before swallowing all of them in darkness.

"Oooooo, don't mind if I do!" A familiar yet annoying voice said to the clerk of a diamond shop in the mall. A large four legged monster made of metal crawled across the shop to the glass showcase where the clerk stood. The clerk was wearing his suit tailored to perfection to show the professionalism of the shop he worked for. But he was powerless against the boy genius, "get outta here scuzzbrain!" Gizmo yelled at the clerk. The clerk then dropped what he was doing and ran out of the store as Gizmo smashed the glass of the showcase with the metal limbs protruding from his backpack holding him suspended in the air. He began giggling to himself as he took the precious gems, "this 'oughta get those nose pickers attention."

Screams could be heard in the distance behind Gizmo where the food court was. Mammoth was tearing through every restaurant eating whatever he felt like.

"Really Mammoth?" Seemore said disappointed with his arms crossed as he watched his friend lay waste to a Cinnabon, "they'll be here any second. Should you really be eating at a time like this?"

"Shut up. I'm hungry." Mammoth growled back, paying him no attention.

"Then how about a knuckle sandwich?!" Cyborg shout as he sent a fist out of nowhere across Mammoth's still full mouth. sending him flying over the counter crashing to tables that collapsed on impact.

"Gizmo!" Seemore said shouting across the mall, "its show time!" He then turned the lens of his single eye into a balloon that started to carry him away into the air of the spacious mall.

"Showtime?" Beastboy said confused, "what are you talking about?!"

"Wouldn't you like to know, you slug eating fart farm!" Gizmo insulted as he approached from behind shooting small missiles from his pack towards the group of Titans.

A shield of dark energy rose from the floor in front of Beastboy as the missiles landed kicking up and and smoke with each explosion.

During the commotion Mammoth had picked up a table and threw it like a massive dart at Cyborg catching him off guard and sending him smashing into the counter of the Cinnabon he had just jumped over. Then using the smoke from the missiles as cover, Mammoth ran to regroup with his comrades.

Seemore float down behind Gizmo and Mammoth before switching his lens back to normal only to see something wasn't right.

"Wait..." He said switching to a thermal lens to make absolutely sure but just as he had seen before there were only three Titans facing them, "where is she?!"

"What do you mean where is she?!" Gizmo yelled in anger.

"I mean she's not with them numbskull!" Seemore said fighting verbally with the spider-like robot attached to Gizmo.

"Well check again captain sees-nothing! She's gotta be here!" Gizmo argued only getting more angry.

"They're after Star!" Cyborg shout to the team. As he ran past his friends, Raven dropped her shield to let him pass through and attack.

Then they don't know where she is. She thought to herself. This instantly became a waste of time to her.

"Look out!" Mammoth shouted over his arguing friends and throwing them aside. He then slammed against Cyborg locking fists in a battle of brute strength.

As the two of them struggled for control over their battle while groaning and gritting their teeth Cyborg couldn't keep quiet anymore...

"Where's Starfire?!" He screamed before letting go with his right fist and slamming into the clinched jaw of his opponent.

Mammoth stumbled back and looked up and see a green lion jumping off the shoulders of the robotic man that just struck him. Beastboy soared through the air letting out a loud roar but before he reached Mammoth he was struck in the side by a pink gelatine-like substance that was heavy and dense, sending him off course and landing a ways away from his intended target. He tried morphing into a bird to fly away but that substance cemented him to the ground like a thick bungee cord.

Seemore looked confident after firing the substance from his pink lens and chuckled, "looks like there's no point in sticking around. Let's blow this joint guys!"

As they all turned and began to make their escape Raven appeared from the darkness in front of them. Towering over them with dark energy surrounding her like a poisonous fog and black tendrils peaking out from under her robe. When she opened her eyes they were dark red with a omnious look of pure evil...

"You can leave... when I SAY you can leave!" Raven was all business. Her appearance struck mortal fear in the hearts of her foes. It was not a look she wanted to have. Nor did she enjoy taking this form.

The three members of the hive looked on in horror and decided not to take another step.

"Where. Is. Starfire?" Raven said slowly and clearly making her seriousness as clear as possible.

"We don't know!" Gizmo said quickly waving his arms frantically as tears littered his eyes like the others around him.

"Yeah!" Seemore add, "we were hoping she was with you!"

"That bounty is way too much to turn down!" Mammoth finished for them.

"Then tell me someone who might know where she is!" Raven's voice grew dark and demonic.

The three of them shrieked in horror unable to speak or move as they started balling.

"KYD!!!!" Gizmo screamed in desperation.

Kyd Wykkd appeared from no where and looked at Raven but to her surprise he wasn't frightened at all. In fact... he smiled at her appearance. This froze Raven in her tracks and her eyes slowly faded back to their normal amethyst color. Kyd then turned towards his friends and touched the shoulders of the outer members of his team and they all vanished into the shadows he created.

Back at The Hive headquarters; the three terrified members hit the floor with a thud. Their horror still remained as they lay on the floor shaking, even though they were no longer in any danger.

"Well slap my hog," Billy Numerous said from 50 different versions of himself surrounding the petrified Hive members, "none of y'all look lile the smokin alien girl worth 500,000 big ones!"

Kyd Wykkd looked at one particular version of Billy Numerous and shook his head in disappointment.

"How can you always tell its me?" Billy said as all the duplicates of himself returned to the one that Kyd was looking at.

Back at the mall Cyborg walked over to Raven who slowly returned to her normal state.

"Don't worry. We'll find her." He said trying to comfort her.

Raven lowered her chin hiding under her hood.

"Um HELLO?!" Beastboy shouted to his friends. His backside was elevated in the air with his knees and chest stuck together and his arms twisted in an uncomfortable position as the rubber cement still had him pinned to the floor, "a little help?!" He said frustrated.

As the day droned on, storm clouds began to move in. Thunder cracked as bright flashes among the clouds lit up the sky full of dark cotton. Drops began falling creating a soothing melody of somber ambience.

Inside Titans Tower Beastboy was on the couch still picking remains of the pick gelatine off his body as Cyborg typed away on the computer trying to find anything about the bounty on Star. If it had been collected. If there was a rendezvous point. Anything at all. But he came up empty handed. Every thing he thought of was a dead end and it was starting to weigh on him...

"Agghhh! How does every criminal in Jump City know about this but we can't find a single clue on it?!" Cyborg yelled in frustration.

Beastboy started to respond on impulse as he picked at his hair, "we could always look for Red-"

"Don't even joke about that," Cyborg spat interrupting him. He looked back at the green shapeshifter on the couch, "why would he help us?" Cyborg finished angrily.

"Alright dude, sorry," Beastboy said trying to defuse the tension. He waited for a second as the sound of rain clashing with the glass windows filled the air around them before speaking again... "Have you told Dick yet?"

Cyborg ignored him and turned his head away as if it was an obvious answer. No way he was about to tell one of his closest friends that they had no idea where his girlfriend was at a time like this. Instead he pondered other questions he had about the situation...

"She left her communicator here," Cyborg said turning back to the computer diving deep into thought, "I'm sure of it. There's no signs of struggle. No signs of forced entry. Nothing. Why would she do that?"

"Maybe... She doesn't want to be found?" Beastboy said carefully, trying not to make his best friend angry again.

A bright flash outside the window lit up the sky for a brief moment followed by a loud clap of thunder forcing silence between the two.

Cyborg sat in the silence for a second allowing an open mind for all possibilities. After a long moment he decided on one theory that made the most sense... "Or maybe she doesn't want us caught in the middle of something we can't handle..."

Beastboy's ears dropped. Starfire was the kind of girl who would put herself in harms way just so her friends would be safe. As much as he wished it wasn't true he couldn't deny that this was a strong possibility. He looked away towards the hall that led to the front door and started to worry his girlfriend might be most affected by Star's absence among the three of them. He wanted to comfort her but he knew it was best to give her some space and time to herself...

Raven sat in the doorway of the Tower just barely out of range of the attacking rainfall. She looked out into the storm hoping beyond hope that her bestfriend might soon show up.

Her eyes widened and she gasped as she heard the footsteps of someone approaching. Her hopes then suddenly rose as she saw a figure emerging from one of the entries Cyborg had built for only personal friends and guests to use to get to the island. But it didn't last and her heart sank when she saw Terra running towards her.

"Raven!" Terra shouted as she ran through the rain, "I heard what happened! Is Starfire back yet?! Is everyone ok?!" Terra had just gotten out of school and was desperate to know the full extent of what was going on.

Raven remained silent. She didn't want to speak of it anymore. Instead she lowered her head and fought back her tears.

Terra knew exactly what this meant and it shattered her heart. She didn't know what to do. Her best friends were in a surreal amount of emotional pain and one of them was missing. Terra sat down next to Raven and leaned into her wrapping her right arm around her.

Raven didn't feel comforted though. In fact... It hurt her more. It reminded her of Starfire. When she would comfort her. As she began to weep she leaned back into Terra and they listened to the somber music of the thunder dancing to the melody of the rain.

As the storm passed it began to slow down and the once strong melody of falling rain had become a slow heart beat as the tail end of the storm passed over.

Night had fallen and the moon was just a sliver in the sky not providing much light as the clouds passed by now and then. A trickle of water flowed over the half destroyed building onto the tiles of the floor inside. The dark hallways still lit by the dim lights on the walls at ankle level...

"Are you sure about this?" The robotic voice of X said softly, "you know this could go terribly wrong at any time..." Under his mask he narrowed his eyes. He didn't like what he was hearing but it might be the best plan they had to end this whole ordeal.

"Yes," a calm and soothing voice respond, "I do not fear for my safety. I fear for the safety of my friends. So if I must face this alone to ensure their well being... I will."