Forgotten Bonds

Seven - Contacting Superior Authority

September 26th, 2008. Friday, 1:13 am. 

Cyborg's fingers were flying across the keyboard as he worked diligently that night. He was filing yet another report for the police department on a criminal the team had just apprehended. Over the past two weeks, Cyborg had done so much paperwork he was ready to explode. He couldn't believe Robin had done all this work after every capture and never even complained once. 

Not once. 

Cyborg put a hand to his forehead, rubbing it slightly before he continued. He was almost done. Once he completed the document, off it'd go to the police department and he could then relax – for now, at least; until the next criminal struck again. He saved the document before pressing the enter key with finality. 

Sent. 

With a deep sigh, he turned away from the computer screen. 

Two weeks. 

It had been two weeks since Robin had been spirited away in the dead of night from his room. In those two weeks, there had been quite a bit criminal activity, but nothing more than normal. In fact, it had been a little less. 

There had been no Slade sightings. 

They hadn't seen one of those annoying robots, no conniving plots to uncover – nothing. It was like the man had dropped off the face of the earth. He had stolen Robin and disappeared. 

Robin's kidnapping had been kept under wraps by the entire team. Whenever asked, they only said that Robin was abroad in an undercover mission and they didn't know when he'd return. 

Well, half of that was true. 

They definitely didn't know when Robin would come back, if ever. Robin's disappearance had brought a terrible daily gloom over the group. Starfire was finding it harder and harder to fly, Raven's powers went temporarily haywire at times, and the biggest shock of all – Beast Boy didn't feel like playing video games or watching TV as much any more. 

And Cyborg? 

He found himself respecting Robin more and more as each day passed. The job of a leader was a heavy and hard one. Cyborg felt as if he had aged ten years in the past two weeks. He now fully understood Robin's worry and obsession over Slade. The man had threatened the safety of the team and the safety of the city. Cyborg fully understood the burden that came with being the leader. 

No wonder Robin had donned the Red X suit and went undercover without telling them to gain Slade's trust. 

Unfortunately, he seemed to have gained something different. Slade wanted Robin for some reason, but none of the Titans could figure it out. They just couldn't understand the man's reasoning – especially since he disappeared with Robin. 

Thank goodness for the little footage they had of Robin's disappearance. If they hadn't had that, there would've been a large possibility that they, including Cyborg himself, would've thought Robin had left with Slade of his own feel will. 

But because of the footage, it was very apparent that this hadn't been the case. 

Cyborg clenched his fist and slammed it once against the computer desk. The helpless feeling inside his chest was overwhelming. They were just as close as to figuring out where Robin was as they had been the moment they found out he was missing. 

"Cyborg?" He turned to see Raven walking up to him; setting her hood down to speak with him. "Are you okay?" 

Cyborg let out an injured laugh.