A Teen Titan Again (complete)

Evidence Inside

Starfire

Once friend Robin finally returns home, I jump up from the couch, eager to see him, as well as friends Beast Boy, Raven, and Terra. Oddly, the friends of females are missing. Only Beast Boy is accompanying Robin, and neither of them have the look of joy upon their face.

"Where are friends Raven and Terra? No, wait, I mean-" I clasp my hands over my mouth, realizing what I had just let slip.

"In jail. As they both should be. Yes, I knew she was here, Star. So did Cyborg." Robin wears a mask of emotionless-ness, but Beast Boy beside him is seething. "Hey Cyborg! Get in here, I've got a present for you!" Cyborg comes in immediately, holding his right wrist out. Did he know of the 'present'? Robin produces a set of the cuffs of hands, and places one of the loops onto Cyborg's outstretched metal limb. The other clasps onto Beast Boy's left arm, and shrinks to fit. "Watch this," Robin commands, motioning at Beast Boy as if he's a thing.

While Robin exits to the evidence room of creepy objects, I turn my gaze back to Beast Boy and Cyborg, who are now chain buddies. Beast Boy is currently cycling through each of his animals he can turn into, but for each one, the bracelet automatically clamps to his wrist-or neck, in the case of his snakes. Cyborg drags him over to the couch, and both avoid my question of where the other girls are.

"Hmph!" I cross my arms and skim away, nose in the air. Down the hallways, I find the room where Robin is near constantly holing up in now-the evidence room. Timidly, I knock on the door, and assume by the noncommittal grunt that I may enter.

I keep my eyes to the floor. This is, by far, the greatest of the freaky rooms in this tower. But my eyes decide to play tricks on me, so I look up, mostly to find Robin. What I see around me causes the reflexes of gagging. The Puppet King sits in a glass case, propped up on a stick with a forward 'U' shape under his arms. Atop another plain stool is Control Freak's remote from the night we watched the scariest of the movies. To the left, right, and back of that are podiums holding certificates congratulating Mammoth, Gizmo, and Jinx on graduating from the H.I.V.E. Academy, although Jinx's letter has a bright red X slashed across it. She couldn't destroy it, so that was her closest bet. I make my way across the endless room to Robin, who is holding up two pieces that always gave me the shudders. His costume of pretending to be Red X, and Slade's mask.

"Ah, Robin?"

"What is it?" His voice is noticeably softer than when he was conversing with Beast Boy.

"How exactly did you come upon the costume of Red X and the mask of Slade? Did not they both retrieve and keep them?" I ask nervously, raising a thumbnail to my mouth. The last time I inquired something of him that did not make complete sense, he refused to associate with me for a week.

"Cyborg made me a 3d printer for my birthday so I decided to ask him to advance it a little, so it could copy objects, not just print them. He did so fairly quickly, so I made copies of every piece of evidence in here. All the doubles are in the basement, and they all look and work the same as the originals, as well as retaining any fingerprint data. The Red X costume and Slade's mask were the only things ever to be taken back. I still don't trust them to not come back, and I'm afraid they might be working together."

"What should prompt you to assume such?"

"Both missing. Both villains. I have to doubt anything and everything that has a chance of ever happening."

"But Robin, I do not think-"

"Starfire! I just said it! As heroes, we must doubt every possibility or relationship that might occur!" His voice echoes through the room, and rebounds through my head.

"I understand." Slowly, I turn and leave, picking up the pace once I hit the hall. From there, I start flying, going faster and faster towards my room. I hear Robin's shouts behind me and ignore them, only freezing once when I hear him trip and crash, but then continue on. Apparently, I must doubt what might occur if I were to remain out of motion. Rather, the door to my room slams shut behind me, as I closed and locked it before it could do so automatically.

Robin

Oh man, why did I say that? Now the team can't function, and it's already bad enough. Quickly, I replace the evidence pieces back in their proper spots, then run down after Starfire, yelling her name. I come close enough to grab her hair, but then trip on something soft and squishy. I glare down a pile of tofu, then shove it to the side with my foot, still running. The door slams shut loudly in front of me, and I bang on it endlessly. Finally, I just give up, and stand with my forearms pressed to the door and my head bent forward. "Star, please, let me explain!"

"There is nothing to explain, teammate Robin." Ouch, that hurt. "It is not the fault of you that I understand that we must question any and all possible relationships."

"Star, I didn't mean-"

"No! Just leave me the alone! Or must I question that as well?"

Up go my hands to the air in frustration. I stalk down to the living room and block the Tv from Cyborg and Beast Boy. "You two. Come. Now." Taking the hint, Beast Boy immediately turns into an elephant and plants his butt down hard on the couch. "Cyborg? Hit the buzzer." Cyborg gives a little smirk, then pushes on a button attached to his circle on the handcuffs. Just as his finger comes back up, Beast Boy jolts, then shrinks back to his human form, clutching his wrist.

"Gah! What did you do, you jerk?" he squeaks. Idiot.

"Cyborg, come on. I gotta get back to Star. Can't you do something? You built this tower, open her door up or unlock it or whatever!" I glare down at him, daring him to refuse.

He stands up, arms crossed (and dangling Beast Boy in the air, since he pulled him up with the handcuffs). "I can do that, but you gotta stop acting so superior! Got it?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever! Just open it! Please?" Cyborg groans, but quickly types something into a keypad he popped out of his arm, and I hear a quiet whoosh. A mumbled 'thank you' is all Cyborg recieves from me before I go back to Starfire's room, which now has an open door. She's lying on her bed with her head hanging over the bottom, hair trailing across the floor. I knock gently on the doorframe. She doesn't flinch. "Star? You wanna talk about it?"

"No. I have to question that question now, too, do I not?"

"No, Star, you don't. I didn't mean it in the way that-"

"Then in what way did you mean it? There is an obvious lack of interpretations, yes?" she shoots back, sitting up, but still looking at her hands instead of me.

I step into the room and plant myself beside her, "Please, Starfire, I'm just upset. I'm missing a team member, and it's just. . . It's just complicated. Please, just look at me," I beg.

"You are the one who made it complicated! You are the one who-"

"Starfire, come on. I swear, I wasn't thinking!"

"When you did what? Yelled at me? Broke open my door? Betrayed us by yelling at Raven? Betrayed Beast Boy and I by locking her and Terra in jail?"

"Well, it's actually prison. . ."

"Robin," she says weakly. "I cannot do this anymore. I continually attempt to pull you up, but you are falling deeper inside of yourself. Why must it be this way? Why must you fall inside?"

"Do you want to see what's inside?" She nods slowly in response, and finally looks up at me. I put my fingers under her chin, and press my mouth to hers.