WARNING!: DARK
Merry Christmas, Robin thought to himself mournfully. The Tower was empty…and quiet…and cold. Not a normal occurrence on Christmas day for the Titans. There would be no weird and dangerous alien dish to eat, nor some weird tofu concoction, no loud yelling about bacon and no one observing them all with affectionate disdain. Instead, both he and Batman were buried in a mountain of paper work but he couldn't help feeling it was useless. So far they'd turned up with nothing. This person was too smart, too efficient and too fucking brutal to let anything slip. There were no clues at the crime scenes, no DNA a part from that of the victims. As the words victims crossed his mind his heart clenched and he felt an excruciating pain move throughout him.
Saving his parents' deaths, he couldn't remember ever feeling so much pain and being in such a dark place. They were gone… all of them. He'd failed them, he was their leader and he'd failed them.
This was more sinister than anything he had ever dealt with, not even the criminals of Gotham…not even the joker, as he was in a different category altogether, compared with the level of heinousness they were now faced with. Regardless of Robin's employing the help of Batman the greatest detective he knew, the villainous culprit eluded them. The very fact that Robin would ask Batman for help in protecting his city was telling. Titans East and Titans South were completely eradicated along with the members of his own team, that is what made this criminal so different. He had succeeded in eliminating almost two complete sets of heroes. It couldn't be any criminal he already faced, but this psychotic mastermind had known a lot about the hero's that were his victims…and knew a lot about him.
Batman had come to the conclusion that the killer's main interest was Robin and his motive was to isolate him… Robin didn't need Batman's help to figure that out. It was as if the killer were baiting him, taunting him…as though all of what he'd been doing was some childish attempt to get his attention. With each kill the son of a bitch would leave a note addressing Robin.
They had suffered because of some obsession the bastard had for him. Though all the deaths caused and the crime scenes were imprinted on his mind, there were a few that stood out because of the cruel and unusual ways in which they had been murdered. From Titans South, the first to go had been Wildebeest. The hero had been sawed clean in half and each half was hung from meat hooks in the ceiling while his guts lay in a pile on the floor. On a wall in the hero's blood was written, "Robin? Does this count as manslaughter?"
From Titans East Mas y Menos were the most difficult to deal with, not because they'd been killed horribly…but these were children. A handwritten note was left there saying, "I'm actually sorry about these kills Robin, it was almost too easy".
From his team, Starfire had been the first to go. Though they hadn't told anyone else, they had finally become official. He'd finally admitted how much he loved the strange and slightly mental alien girl… only to have her taken from him soon after. He awoke one night to find a human looking heart beside him in bed along with a note saying, "I think you have her heart, Robin". How the killer had gotten inside the Tower, they had not been able to find out. They had found copious amounts of metallic chromium in her blood stream; Starfire was extremely allergic to the metal. But how had the killer gotten close enough to her or overpowered her?
Whoever it was, he'd been able to access the Tower and therefore, had access to him…yet he didn't kill him, why? Since then, they'd upgraded the Towers defenses but that still didn't make him rest easy, not even Batman's presence did that. He'd never feel the same again…his team was gone, his love was gone, and his family was gone.
"Robin….Robin…Robin!", he heard his mentor's insistent voice calling him back from the place he'd been lost to, without a word he turned his head to indicate he was listening.
"Go get some rest, you can't do anything the way you are right now", the man was right, his eyes were bloodshot, his face gaunt the tension had made his body rigid and painful, he hadn't showered in a couple of days now. He could smell his own breath; it was hot and acrid inside his mouth, his skin was stiff and itchy and his pits could stifle an elephant…he needed a shower.
"What is it Bruce? Am I starting to affect your delicate nasal passages?", Robin asked in a dry sarcastic tone.
"While you could do with a shower…or a power hose…you do need some rest. How do you expect to find this monster if you're too tired to even function?", Batman pointed out reasonably.
Robin's now very prominent jaw bone took on a stubborn angle.
Batman tried again, "Listen, right now you're absolutely no help; you've been staring at the same page for forty-five minutes...go…now", the man didn't shout but he was firm.
"Well maybe a shower…", Batman decided to pick his battles and just nodded. The boy would probably fall asleep right after the shower anyways.
He was no coward but walking through these passages made him nervous…this wasn't home anymore. He opened his room door and cautiously entered, his blood ran cold when he remembered that the killer had been in his room...while he was asleep. He'd just have a quick shower and go back to work. He couldn't stop just because he was tired; Starfire had been killed while he was asleep. His team mates died because he didn't try hard enough to save them. He wouldn't sleep until he found the murdering bastard.
He quickly stripped and tore off his mask; he didn't even flinch as a considerable amount of his eyebrows got torn off along with the mask. He washed quickly, barely but, efficiently, he was afraid to let the water get in his eyes, he was frantic… paranoid but he had just cause; he couldn't let the killer catch him off-guard. He couldn't let him catch him unprepared. He hopped out of the shower and toweled himself down roughly walking to his closet he withdrew a fresh uniform and underwear donning them just a quickly, his haste caused him to put on his uniform shirt on the wrong side, but he decided it would have to stay.
Regardless of Batman's advice, he refused to leave the Tower; he wouldn't let some monster run him out of his home. They'd upgraded the security to Batman level and that was saying something. He looked at his bed and felt a surge of weariness, maybe he could take five minutes, what could it hurt? There was no way the killer could get in now.
He flopped onto the bed and was out almost instantly.
"Robin!", he was being shaken roughly, but he was too tired to care, "Robin!".
"Dammit Robin! Wake up!".
After several more rough shakes Robin decided to listen to the insistent voice drawing him away from what he would later realize was a blissful dream.
"Batman, what is it?" the boy asked groggily as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
"He's been in here", this snapped him out of his sleepy reverie immediately.
He felt his blood run cold and pin pricks of fear attacked his heart, he jumped up, "What?!".
"He left a note", Batman held up and entire length of paper. Robin grabbed it with a trembling hand.
The note read; "Robin, I know you're frightened and confused right now, but I only want what's best for you… for us. I'm not a…person of many words but I believe an extract from Henry Miller's "The Rosy Crucifixion" will somewhat portray my feelings. I hope you don't mind me borrowing this book, I've returned it…the words I wish to convey are highlighted in yellow (sorry about that). Maybe we can laugh about all of this in years to come. P.S You are so beautiful when you sleep".
The book was right beside Robin's pillow and opened on page four, and as the bastard had said, the words were highlighted in yellow. Glancing at them he didn't bother to read it as he already knew what the words said, it was his book after all.
Batman took the book and read the highlighted words.
"…the world lies before me, unconquered, unsullied, virgin as the artic…I will go directly to his home…and walk in…Here I am, take me…you are doomed to be mine, forever, in this world and the next and all the worlds to come. I'm a desperado of love, a scalper, a slayer. I'm insatiable. I eat; hair, dirt wax, dry blood clots, anything and everything you call yours. Show me your father…I will lick the flesh from his bones."
Batman looked disgusted; who the fuck was this freak? He'd never let the bastard get Robin!
"Robin? Are you sure there isn't some woman whom you might have insulted? Hero? Villain? Anyone?", Batman asked insistently for the hundredth time.
"We've already been over this! There was no one! It's only ever been Starfire for me!", it hurt to say her name aloud.
"Do you notice how the killer refused to state whether he was a man or woman? It could be a man…"Batman said musingly.
Robin's face scrunched into a grimace, because there was just no way…
"Think boy! There must have been someone! Someone you overlooked, someone who may have even shown a slight interest but didn't follow up. Think Robin!".
"All the someones I know are fucking dead Bruce! So no, I don't know who it could be!".
"We have to leave here, Robin. I think the killer has been staying inside the Tower all this time", Batman said.
"No! We can't! You said we'd figure this out! You said you'd help me!" Robin said frantically, he couldn't leave this place; it was the home he and his friends had built.
"We will figure this out boy, but we can't do it here! Or do you want to stick around till we're dead too! Is that it? Your friends are dead so you want to die too?! Well I I'm not letting that happen Richard!", the man looked frightened and he'd called him 'Richard'. Robin felt his heart soften at the knowledge that not all his family was gone.
"Ok, we'll leave", Robin said resignedly.
"We'll leave now, we mustn't wait a moment longer, grab what you need I'll gather the files", Batman turned and left, his cape swirling behind him.
His mentor was so strong, Robin thought, he knew as long as he had Bruce the man wouldn't let him down. He started grabbing the gadgets that he would need and some clothes and through them into a duffel bag. He went to grab some flash drives from his desk, but stopped cold, when he heard a deep baritone voice say, "Hello, Robin".
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