"Cyborg! What happened?! Where are you?!" Robin was in a panic after he heard Cyborg's report. He was still with Mad Mod and Starfire miles away from the school where all the choas had taken place.
"Meet us at the hospital," Cyborg replied on Robin's communicator, "I'll explain everything there," he sounded serious and concerned.
Starfire overheard and raised her hand to cover her mouth. She was fighting back tears assuming the worst.
"What did Cyborg mean by this? Our friends are unharmed, yes?" Starfire said choking on her words.
Robin put his communicator away. Standing completely still like stone with his back to Starfire.
"Robin?" Starfire's voice began to crack as as tears started to fall.
Robin started to shake with anger. He turned to Mad Mod as fury burned in his eyes to the point you could see it through his mask. He picked up Mod by the collar with his left arm and pinned him to the building next to them. He drew his right fist back as far as he could ready to send it straight through Mod's teeth.
Mad Mod cried out in horror trembling at the freakish strength this teen was showing. He tried moving his face as far from Robin's right side as he could to make the damage as little as possible on himself. He was already wincing with pain before the strike had even landed.
Robin stared him down. His fist shaking with anger behind him. He knew it was wrong to injure Mod any further but he didn't care. With a rush of wind his fist snapped forward like a bullet.
Mad Mod shook with fear. He knew Robin had sent his fist flying at him... Yet... He was still bracing for the impact. Mod opened his left eye and turned his head to see Robins fist less than an inch away from his face. It was buried in the wall of building he was pinned against. Robin had missed intentionally.
Mod let out a sigh of relief. But fear stuck again when Robin grabbed him by the collar with both hands and pulled him in face to face.
"Consider yourself lucky the prison is on the way to the hospital." Robin said with the illest of intentions behind his words. He looked at Starfire and nodded towards her to fly them to the prison.
Starfire, with her hands still covering her mouth and tears on her cheeks, nodded back at him. Without wiping her tears she picked them both up, one in each arm, and started flying in the direction of the prison.
Back at the school Cyborg was treating Terra for multiple broken bones and a concussion. She was stomped on by at least 20 students before the shield went down allowing her to get trampled by an additional 20 students crashing through the door before Beastboy ruthlessly bulldozed them off of her like a battering ram. It all happened so fast it was scary, even to the Titans.
"Raven," Cyborg called, but she didn't hear him. She was still feeling the pain Beastboy had emitted as he flew away. A pain she knew all too well. The suffering of knowing what you've done. A guilt you carry like a knife in your heart.
"Raven!" He called louder but still no response.
"RAVEN!" Cyborg could have shook the building with how loud he yelled. But it was enough to finally snap her out of it. She looked at Cyborg who was kneeling over Terra, still unconscious.
Cyborg saw the tears in her eyes and started to understand what was going on. But he couldn't think about that right now. He needed to take care of Terra.
"Can you get us to a hospital?" He said slowly and clearly emphasizing how dire the situation is.
Raven wiped her eyes and raised her hands with glowing dark orbs surrounding them. In an instant her dark energy surrounded the three of them and they vanished.
Robin and Starfire had finally reached the prison after what felt like an eternity. They handed Mad Mod over to the police and watched him literally get thrown into a jail cell with a thud. They watched as the barred door slammed behind him.
Robin turned to walk towards the exit, "You're lucky we're the good guys," Robin said over his shoulder to Mod trying to make it sting after he had tried smearing the Titan name.
"Are you now?" Mod replied feeling much safer now that steel bars stood between him and Robin, "I'd wager if you're heading to the hospital your little friends must have done some serious damage to those poor little sods at the school," his voice sounded cruel and evil. Much worse than they've ever seen from Mad Mod before, "I'd say you look pretty bad right about now," Mod spat through a sinister smile.
Robin froze in his tracks realizing Mod could be right. But he didn't have time to play these games. He started sprinting to the door with Starfire.
"Robin?" Starfire said rich with sadness in her voice, "what happened?"
"I don't know Star," Robin said in a frustrated tone as they exited the prison.
"Our friends are unharmed, correct?" She wouldn't rest until Robin gave a clear answer. She desperately needed reassurance. But Robin isn't the kind of guy to sugar coat anything, "Robin? Surely they were victorious-"
"I DON'T KNOW STARFIRE!" He yelled so loud that Starfire jumped. She knew this was extremely serious now and started crying harder.
They stopped running towards the hospital and he turned to face Starfire. He was hurting inside. This was bound to be something that could tear the Titans apart. The last thing he wanted to do was contribute to it.
With his head held low he spoke calmly, "I'm sorry Star. It's not looking good. But we need to get to the hospital and find out what happened." He took her hand as she was sobbing with her head lower than Robin's. She wrapped her arms around his chest seeking comfort like a small child. Robin wrapped his arms around her and whispered into her ear.
"We'll be ok Starfire. I promise." But he didn't sound very confident.
At the hospital Cyborg stood outside the window of the recovery room where Terra was laying on a hospital bed, still unconscious. He still couldn't believe she was alive. Not from getting trampled by a hoard of zombified students, but from being turned to stone after saving everyone from an active volcano. In any case, he had no doubt this was the Terra.
He saw Robin approaching behind him in the reflection of the glass. Before Robin could speak Cyborg laid everything out for him without turning around to face him.
"It's BB," he said with seriousness, "it's not looking too good for him. He hurt a lot of kids today."
His eyes never left Terra. He was fixed on her, watching her vitals like a hawk.
Robin's eyes went wide. He had stopped approaching as soon as Cyborg spoke. He stood behind Cyborg's right shoulder in shock.
"He... He had to have a reason," Robin said weakly, "he's been pretty emotional lately but he'd never go that far." Robin turned his head away from Cyborg trying to figure out why this happened.
"He did have a reason," Cyborg quickly clarified. Robin raised his head back to Cyborg. He was curious why his friend was so intent on staring into this recovery room. Robin moved up and stood next him and his jaw dropped.
"Is that..." He couldn't even finish the sentence.
"It's Terra," Cyborg confirmed, "DNA scans confirm it," he looked down at robin, "there's no doubt."
"I can't believe it," Robin replied eyes still wide with disbelief. Now he couldn't take his eyes off her vitals, "what happened to her?"
"Beastboy," replied Cyborg, "he somehow got through to her while she was still hypnotized. She snapped out of it on her own. But it was too much for her to handle and she passed out," he looked down at his feet, "she was crushed under the feet of multiple people."
"How bad is it?" Robin asked, his voice filled with concern.
"From what I assessed," he looked back up at her vitals, "she has a broken arm, four cracked ribs, and a skull fracture," Cyborg said with certainty, "she wouldn't have made it if Beastboy hadn't..." He trailed off looking down with his eyes closed. He knew what Beastboy did was wrong but necessary to save her life. He looked back up at Terra's vitals seeing her heart still beating, "he had no choice."
"I see," Robin was in a difficult position. He didn't know the full details but he knows that Beastboy would have gone to extreme measures to save her from anything, "where is Beastboy now?"
"We don't know," Cyborg said feeling a little thankful. The last thing he wanted to do was possibly have to detain his best friend for threatening a dozen students lives, "he panicked and took off without a word."
"How bad was it?" Robin asked Cyborg as he braced for the worst.
Cyborg lowered his head again. He didn't want to explain it. He knew it would only make things worse for his best friend.
"Cyborg," Robin said growing impatient, "how bad?"
Cyborg raised his head but didn't look at Robin, "there's 10 other recovery rooms here all with teenagers from that school in them," that's as much as he could force himself to say.
"What?!" Robin gasped in disbelief, "how?!"
"I told you," Cyborg raised his voice, "Terra would have DIED if BB didn't do what he did!" Cyborg looked down at Robin. Robin stared right back and wouldn't look away. Cyborg sighed and retuned his gaze back at Terra, "they'll be fine. Just a few broken bones and some headaches. That's it. All the others walked away with some bumps and bruises." Cyborg was trying to down-play the damages to make his friend seem less in trouble than he really is but he knew deep down that Beastboy was never going to walk away from this.
Robin looked back at Terra. He watched her heart monitor continue to beep proving she was still alive. Robin was stuck. He knew that Beastboy had to take responsibility for what he did... but Robin couldn't help but think... He would have done the same thing if he were in Beastboy's place.
They stood in scilence for a long time before Robin finally realized a team member was missing.
"Where's Raven?" Robin asked.
"She's on the roof," Cyborg replied softly, "said she needed to be alone." Cyborg looked behind him and also realized someone was missing. "Where's Starfire?"
"In the waiting room," Robin respond uneasy, "you know her... She couldn't handle seeing any of us in one of these rooms. I'm sure if she knew it was Terra in that bed she'd breakdown."
They both continued to watch Terra as she laid there unconscious. It was like looking at a miracle gone wrong. The discomfort was intense. Getting her back and losing her again just as quick would have been heart breaking for the entire team.
"He had no choice," Robin said under his breath finally agreeing with Cyborg. He had no idea how he was going to handle this.