"Hold still." Raven said crossly. "Stop squirming or I can't help you."
Robin practically snarled at her as she jerked his leg onto her lap once more. "You're hurting me more than that is!"
He hurled a finger in the direction of the huge gash across his lower leg. He winced as Raven placed her hands on it again, but managed to keep from jerking it away. Her hands glowed white as she repaired his skin. When she drew her hands away the gash in his flesh was gone, though the tear in the clothing and the blood stains on it remained.
He stood, nodding his thanks at the girl in front of him as she pulled up her hood.
"Don't mention it," she said sardonically.
Robin stormed off to his room, leaving the other four Titans sitting miserably in silence. He flung open his wardrobe, pulling out another of his multiple costumes and changing into it. He quickly glanced at himself in the mirror and noticed small tear down the side of his mask. He was lucky it hadn't come off.
He grabbed another black mask from his wardrobe and exchanged it for the damaged one. He slumped down onto the bed, resting his elbows on his knees and his head on his fists.
They had just returned from an all-night fight with someone who called himself Obsidian. They had defeated him eventually, sending him running for sanctuary in the shadows and then losing him in the dark. But they had not escaped unscathed, as they usually did.
Robin was furious that he had gotten away – furious with himself for not being strong enough.
"Poor Robin," Starfire said, hanging her head dejectedly.
"Yeah," Beast Boy said, scratching the back of his head. "I've never seen him so badly hurt before."
After Obsidian had blasted Robin with a black energy blast, Starfire and Cyborg had both unleashed furious blasts of their own at him, damaging him enough to send him scurrying away, defeated.
For now.
But Robin had been taken out, and Starfire had had to fly him home. The Titans could understand Robin's anger – his pride was wounded, and Robin's pride was his most powerful weapon. It had always kept him going.
The friends could not help but wonder what would happen now.
"Come on, BB," Cyborg said, evidently trying to sound light-hearted. "He wasn't that badly hit."
"Dude! He couldn't even walk!"
"Hey! I was just trying to lighten the mood!"
"Oh yeah? Well why don't –"
"Please stop!" Starfire cried. "The yelling is giving me an ache of the head!" She cupped her hands on either side of her head, as if to accentuate her point.
"Arguing will not help anyone." Raven pointed out.
"It is late," Starfire said after a few moments of silence. "We should be going to our beds now, and resting for tomorrow."
"Uh, Star," Cyborg said, gesturing towards the digital clock he had brought up on his arm. "It is tomorrow."
"Oh," she sounded deflated. "Perhaps an early morning nap, then?"
"Whatever," Raven said, turning and walking out of the room, her blue cape swirling out behind her. The remaining three watched her leave, before Cyborg stood and left, followed by Beast Boy.
Starfire wrapped her arms around herself and collapsed onto the couch. She was an alien, a girl from Tamaran. She was super-strong. She could shoot blasts from her hands and from her eyes. She could fly. Sometimes it was like she was invincible. She was not human.
But Robin was. And sometimes it was all too easy to forget it.
She stood and walked over to the glass wall, gazing out over the sea outside. She stayed there until the late morning, when her team-mates began to emerge for breakfast.
Cyborg spat out his tofu eggs in mortified disgust. Raven rolled her eyes surreptitiously over her herbal tea. The ritual continued. She counted down from three in her mind.
"Tofu!?" He gasped. "I need real meat! Not fake meat!"
"Dude! I don't eat meat! You can't expect me to cook you meat!"
Raven drowned out the squabbling, Robin ignored it, and Starfire watched it in despair.
"Friends! The squabbling must cease."
Suddenly the tense moment was intensified by a sharp ringtone. Robin looked down at his flashing communicator. He flipped it open and as he read it his face iced over.
The others knew before he said it. "Obsidian."