The Ghost Brother

Chapter 18: Straight from the Bat's mouth

Third Person POV

"Friends, I do not think this is a good idea." Starfire said as they prepared to contact Batman. Cyborg had told them his idea about contacting Batman and seeing if he would give them any information about the mysterious 'Crow'. They knew it was a long shot, since Batman was even more stoic than Robin was, but this was the only option they could think of. They needed to find Robin's friend before the teen wore himself to the point of no return. But by contacting Batman, they would be going behind Robin's back. Each member of the team rarely went behind the other's backs, and even when they did it was mostly for small, harmless reasons. The Titans could understand Starfire's apprehension towards the plan but it needed to be done.

"It's probably a terrible idea, but what choice do we have?" Cyborg said typing away on the main computer, "Robin is falling back into old habits. We have to stop him before it gets worse." The Titans understood what Cyborg meant by 'old habits'. It was exactly like the times Robin had become obsessed with finding Slade. Except this time, instead of Slade trying to kill Robin or the Titans, Robin was doing it to himself. Starfire sighed, coming to sit beside Raven on the couch and watch Cyborg work. Beast Boy was currently in the kitchen making himself some breakfast. He was also trying to make something for his friends, but was comically failing. He even had to put out a small fire or two.

Raven was reading a book on the couch, trying to tune out the noise Beast Boy was making in the kitchen. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Starfire anxiously wringing her hands. "Starfire? Are you alright?" She questioned, still holding her book open.

Starfire turned her head to face Raven, her cheeks turning light pink in color, "Oh um, well..." She began as she stopped wringing her hands and placed them on her lap instead. "I am just having the concern for Robin." The Tamaranean girl explained finally, "He is very determined to find his friend and I fear that he may eventually harm himself if he continues with his current ways of searching." Starfire reached up to pull on a lock of her red hair.

Raven slowly closed her book and made sure to place a bookmark in it so she wouldn't lose her place. She placed the book on the spot beside her that wasn't occupied by a worried alien girl. Turning to her friend, Raven thought over what she was going to say. She was never one for emotional talks and wasn't the best at making people feel better, but Starfire was her friend. She felt like she should do something. "Starfire, Robin is going to be fine. He's been through worse." She began, "He's just stubborn like his mentor. He wants to do everything by himself."

"But why?!" Starfire interrupted, throwing her arms up into the air, "Why must he do things alone? We are all friends, we are a team! He should not feel the need to do things alone!" The Tamaranean teen lowered her arms and slumped back into the couch, her eyes sad.

Raven looked around to see if Beast Boy or Cyborg were paying attention to them. Luckily, Cyborg was still working on contacting Batman and Beast Boy was finishing up breakfast. Sighing, Raven tentatively reached out to her friend and, after a moment of hesitation, she placed her hand on Starfire's shoulder. Starfire immediately stopped sulking and looked over at Raven, confusion replacing the sadness in her eyes. The two girls spoke not a word, they just sat there in silent understanding. 

"I think I got it!" Cyborg shouted. Beast Boy immediately stopped what he was doing in the kitchen and ran over to the couch, leaping over the top and planting himself in between the two girls causing the silent moment between Starfire and Raven to end as Raven quickly removed her hand from her friend's shoulder. He was bouncing with excitement.

"Dudes! Isn't this awesome! We're about to talk to Batman, one of the world's greatest heroes!" The green skinned teen said excitedly. His eyes were lit up with joy and he was bouncing on the couch so hard it was a miracle the thing was still in one piece.