"You certainly look happy," commented Starfire as Raven fussed over herself in the mirror, humming a tune that only she seemed to know.

"What was that?" Raven asked. "I didn't catch it." She was busy altering her hair, testing to see what it would look like in various styles.

"I said you look very happy," Starfire repeated, getting up off her own bed to join her friend in the mirror. "And I've never seen you so concerned with how you look."

"Maybe I didn't care what anyone thought of them before," said Raven. She pulled her hair back into a makeshift ponytail. "What do you think?"

"It looks fine," said Starfire, still surprised at the sudden change that had overcome Raven it was like she was a completely new person. "Now tell me what happened."

"Nothing."

"Its Beast Boy, isn't it?"

"You ask too many questions," deflected Raven. "Now where's that clasp, I had it just a moment ago."

"Did he ask you out on a date?" Starfire asked, ignoring Raven's remark.

"No. Its just that he's awake now and I want to look my best when I see him again." Raven sighed, a little bit of her old inflection slipping back into her voice. "He almost died, and . . .well, there's a lot of things that I would have wanted to say to him or experience with him that I wouldn't have been able to. I have a second chance now, you know."

Starfire nodded. She was truly happy for her friend, but it was impossible not to feel the smallest pang of jealousy that Raven was on her way to realizing her own relationship while Robin was receding farther and farther out of her reach and into Kaila Tanaka's

Ironically, at that very moment Robin came bursting into the room. The fact that he hadn't knocked first coupled with the worried expression on his face was an instant clue that something was wrong.

"Hey," said Raven. "Whats up."

Robin was momentarily dumbfounded. Was that makeup Raven was wearing? And since when did she talk like that? His gaze traveled to Starfire who, despite having a complete lack of makeup or other accessories, still looked beautiful.

"Robin?" Starfire prodded.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Sorry. I was just wondering if either of you had seen Kay."

"Nope," said Raven. "I've been with Beast Boy."

Starfire too shook her head. "No. Why?"

Robin hesitated. "Well, uh, its possible that she sneak .. . snuck. . . .whatever, off.

Starfire arched an eyebrow. "So both she and Takahashi have disappeared," she said.

Robin nodded, running a hand nervously through his spiky hair. "Yes, I know. It looks bad. We did make a contract, however, to protect Takahashi, so we'll have to go find him."

"I'd say that his running away is paramount to a nullification of the agreement," said Raven. "Besides, how are we supposed to find him?"

Robin gave another sigh, his eyes closing and his head dropping. Starfire couldn't help but feel a pang of . . .something seeing him like this. "I don't know," he said. The weight of the entire situation was beginning to creep through his defenses, making him want to doubt himself. "I-I don't know anything."

Starfire frowned. "What do you mean?"

Robin looked helplessly at her. "I mean that I've failed us. "I nearly got Beast Boy killed, lost Takahashi and Kaila, and I have no idea how to deal with the Twins."

Starfire was already shaking her. Head. "What happened to Beast Boy was not your fault," she said, steely conviction in her voice. "Neither were the actions of Mr. Takahashi and Kay."

"Yeah Robin," echoed Raven. "You can't blame yourself for what happened."

Robin gave a dejected half-smile. "Everything's just falling apart," he said. "And I honestly don't know what to do."

Starfire hesitated for a moment, but then gave into impulse and placed her hands on Robin's shoulders. Then she hugged him. She was hoping that he wouldn't push her away. To her surprise, he hugged her back, his arms encircling her waist and bringing her close. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Raven give her a nearly imperceptible nod and then quietly leave the room.

The hug should have been awkward, but it wasn't. Neither Robin nor Starfire seemed to notice that they were standing in the middle of the room, locked in place. Robin, although he would vehemently deny it, needed someone to lean on and Starfire desperately wanted to comfort him.

"You did the best you could," she whispered in Robin's ear.

"Wasn't good enough.," he said. She could feel the vibrations through his armor.

"Hey," Starfire interjected. "You saved Takahashi's life. You stopped a gang of assassins. And you've kept Takahashi alive so far. You're doing the best that anyone can expect from you." She pulled back, just far enough so that their foreheads were touching. "I have always trusted you, Robin, and you have done nothing to shake that trust."

Robin couldn't speak. He wondered if Starfire had any idea what she was doing to his emotions. He was attracted to Kay, but the feelings that were suddenly surfacing for Starfire went so much deeper than that. Even as his head lowered, part of him was screaming that what was about to happen was a mistake. Completely unprofessional. The other part urged him on, begging him to give in to the hormones or emotions or whatever that had fostered this newfound attraction.

"Robin," Starfire breathed just before their lips met. She tilted her head, deepening the kiss. That was the intention anyway, until the base's alarm klaxons went off. Cyborg didn't scrimp when it came to security- the sound was like a fire alarm inserted into your eardrum and then activated.

Robin broke the kiss, surprise shocking him back to reality. "Someone's breached the base," he croaked, his voice suddenly dry.

Starfire blinked a few times, but then stepped back. "The Twins?"

"Possibly." Robin drew his cape back around himself and snapped his bo staff open. All seriousness now. "Lets go."

Cyborg waited, sonic cannon armed and ready as the Twins broke through his defenses like tissue paper. He couldn't see them-it was far too dark for that and he'd put no stationary illumination in the tunnels. However, their laughter could still be heard as well as their ominous footsteps. Soon, they would break past the last of his artillery defenses and into view.

Raven came up beside him, already levitating some of the pre-existing scrap metal in the tunnels for use as telekinetic projectiles. She looked different now. More confident and sure of herself. Whatever had happened-cyborg hoped it would give her the edge she needed to push her powers to their potential.

A green glow overhead signaled Starfire's presence, and Robin's entrance behind her completed the team. (Beast Boy excluded for obvious reasons.)

"Remember," Robin said, his voice steady and even, "Regardless of what they are here for, they attacked one of our own. Keep that in mind as you engage them, and remember the high stakes we're playing on."

Cyborg waited for the team leader's customary 'Go Titans!', but it never came. It wasn't needed.

First Ana appeared, then Karl. Perfect Aryans, down to the blond hair and blue eyes.

"How cute," said Ana, hips swaying as she approached. "All of you lined up to fight like a bunch of action figures. Except . . .are you missing a member?"

Robin ignored her mocking words. He nodded to Raven and she nodded back. Then she launched a metal manhole cover right at Ana, its circular shape giving her makeshift projectile both speed and accuracy. Despite the fact the attack came with absolutely no warning though, Ana was able to avoid the brunt of the blow, only receiving a grazing impact on her cheek as she twisted out of the way.

Ana scowled, although her more coolheaded brother stayed conspicuously calm, content to merely survey the scene. Robin suspected that out of the two, he was the more dangerous and made a note to watch out for him.

Wincing slightly, Ana gracefully righted herself into a standing position. "I was going to exchange verbal abuses with you all, but since you seem in such a hurry to die, I won't bother," she snapped. Then she moved, and following her motion would have been like trying to follow a lightning bolt as it hit the ground. Raven had just enough time to put up a telekinetic shield before Ana's punch arrived. Had it connected dead-on, it would have snapped her sternum like a brittle twig and sent bone fragments into her heart. As it was, the impact slammed Raven into one of the tunnel walls. She dropped to her knees, gasping for breath.

Meanwhile, Cyborg and Raven had slightly better luck with accuracy than Raven, Cyborg's sonic beam connecting dead on with the back of Ana's head while Starfire's starbolts pummeled her abdomen. The result was that Ana was flipped forcefully onto the ground. It would have been enough to put anyone else out of the fight, but miraculously, Ana rolled with the impact and turned it into momentum for a impossibly high lead that allowed her to tackle Starfire in midair. The two girls crashed to the ground, Ana on top. She drew back her fist for a killing blow, but then Robin entered the fray.

Bending his bo staff as far as it would go, the Boy Wonder released he end so that it snapped into the side of Ana's neck with an audible thwap. She gagged and rolled over to distance herself from Robin, forgetting about Starfire for the moment.

"I'm going to kill you," she growled, one hand still to the side of her neck.

"Like I haven't heard that one before," said Robin. "Cyborg, Raven, now."

A bright blue sonic beam and a telekinetically controlled crowbar rained abuse on Kay's back, pitching her forward and into Robin's waiting roundhouse kick. Despite being a superhuman fighter, Ana lacked the key skill of monitoring one's surroundings, and now that deficiency was coming back to haunt her.

Robin pressed the attack, unleashing kick after kick after punch to Ana, who was still reeling from Cyborg's sonic attack. He wasn't as strong as Ana by any means, but he had a natural skill with defeating stronger opponents, and he where to hit to inflict the most damage. His fifth blow, a snap kick, sent Ana's head careening upward as if she were gazing at the ceiling, He saw a fleck of blood and smiled to himself. So she could be hurt.

Then Ana caught him by surprise with a back kick that, while not connecting, forced him to abandon his unrelenting barrage. No matter though. There were other Titans after all. . .

Cyborg's fist came from nowhere, packing enough raw power to spin Ana full 360 degrees. Her response was a side kick that put a dent in his chest and knocked flat on his butt. Right over his shoulder, however, came another flurry of Starbolts from Starfire, who was now fully recovered. The bright green energy bolts peppered Ana's face, making it hard to see. She blindly felt around for a rock and then upon finding one hurled it at Starfire's head. Raven, however, caught the rock in her telekinetic grasp and allowed it to drop harmlessly to the ground.

Ana was by no means beat, though. Not yet. She grabbed Cyborg's arm as he was getting to his feet and with a swiftly brutal judo throw sent him careening into Starfire. The Tamaranian girl tried to get out of the way, but Cyborg still came crashing down on her, taking them both out the fight at least temporarily

"Hey Ana," Robin called, diverting her attention back to him. "I know this sounds cliché, but chill out!" Even as he finished his sentence, he was throwing two custom birdarangs at Ana, both arcing gracefully through the air before honing in on Ana.

And so Ana made an understandable mistake. She put out her hand to swat the projectiles away, which would have worked fine had they been normal birdarangs. Outfitted as they were with a liquid nitrogen and condensed water payload though, it didn't work so well. The effects were almost instantaneous as the birdarangs connected with the palm of her hand and detonated, bathing Ana in a torrent of water that was flash-frozen immediately. It was a new untested prototype that lacked the safety precautions of its predecessors. As a result, even the moisture in Ana's own body had probably been flash-frozen as well. She wouldn't be causing them any more trouble.

"I extend a heartfelt congratulations," Karl spoke up for the first time, walking out of the shadows. "Defeating my sister is by no one's definition an easy feat. Especially you, Robin. You have a superb mastery of the martial arts. And the freeze trick . . .brilliant. It will take my dear sister months to recover from that. Its almost a shame that I have to kill you."

"There's no point in doing so now," said Robin. "Takahashi's not even here. Your time would be better spent getting your sister to a hospital, cause right now she's a walking frostbite. Besides, Takahashi isn't even here."

"Don't worry. I will deal with him soon, but you Titans have been a persisting annoyance and I might as well kill you now, seeing as how you're all right here. After you're dead, then I think I'll finish the job with Beast Boy. His time is long overdue."

The smile that Karl gave was positively chilling. "Well then, shall we begin?"

"You can come out now, Kaila," said Takahashi. "I know you've been following me."

A thump to his right indicated the spot where his assistant dropped to the ground from above. "How did you know I was here?" she asked.

"I didn't," replied Takahashi. "Until now." He sighed. "You should have stayed at the safe house."

"I don't think I was very welcome," said Kaila ruefully. "Why did you run off though?"

"To set things right," replied Takahashi as they made their way through the mansion's lower level. "My irresponsibility nearly got Beast Boy killed. So I'm ending this whole business right now."

"You can't kill Thorne," said Kaila. "Even your considerable resources can't protect you from that kind of backlash."

Takahashi looked on as if he hadn't even heard her. "It has to end," he repeated. "Now."