The tall, dark figure watched their every movement with the utmost diligence. After all, they were his greatest enemies. They were the Teen Titans, a group of five superheroes dedicated to fighting crime and evil in the city. And he desired to rule the city. They stood in his way.

The Titans were totally unaware of his presence as he watched them. They were, in fact, nowhere near him. He stood in his hidden headquarters, miles away from where they fought his minions furiously. The Teen Titans even believed he was there, fighting against them. But the figure they fought against with increasing desperateness was just that: a figure. It was a robotic drone, slaved to his mind via a cybernetic uplink in his brain. It fought as he would fight, did as he commanded, and so, in a strange and twisted way, he was fighting them, and they were fighting him.

But were he to lose in a bizarre twist of fate, they would not capture him. They would not unmask him. Instead, they would find themselves looking into a video screen, showing him. And then he would trigger the drone's self-destruct mechanism, causing an explosion that could and should kill them.

They would never take him alive. They would never take him dead, either. He had been to hell and back, and the Teen Titans were not going to stand in his way any longer.

After all, he was Death.

He was Slade.

"Titans, go!"

The shout came from a short boy wearing a red jumpsuit, green pants, and black cape. His black hair was spiked randomly, and he wore a mask over his eyes. His name was Robin, and he was the leader of the Teen Titans.

As he said the words, he threw two small disks at the retreating figure of Slade, but two of Slade's robotic slaves intercepted the explosives, vanishing in a burst of flame. The rest of Slade's minions aimed curved weapons at them, firing laser beams at the Titans.

Cyborg, the largest of the Titans, charged ahead, his robotic arm quickly morphing to reveal his sonic cannon. He aimed carefully, taking down a drone with every shot. Three shots, three kills. "Booyah!" he shouted, the thrill of victory flooding over him.

The smallest Titan, Beast Boy, dashed around the celebrating Cyborg and demonstrated his own powers of metamorphosis, quickly changing from a short green boy into a large green gorilla in the blink of an eye. His simian fists crushed drones with ease as he swung his arms around him, laying waste to his enemies.

The remaining robo-soldiers began to retreat, firing as they gave ground. Robin saw Slade retreating with four of his drones as a personal escort. "Star! After him!" he shouted.

The Tamaranian girl responded by hurling two green bolts of energy from her hand, then leaping into the air. Rather than falling back to earth, she continued to float upwards, her alien powers propelling her through the air swiftly and surely. As she flew above the battlefield, she spotted Slade and his cadre, and plunged back toward the ground, throwing energy balls with accuracy and speed.

Three of the four drones were destroyed in the initial barrage, and the fourth quickly succumbed to Starfire's superhuman strength. As she faced Slade, her eyes began to glow green. "Slade!" she shouted, "surrender now, or we will unleash the kicking of the butt!"

Slade turned to the orange-skinned girl, and if he could have smiled, he would have. As it was, the mask he wore obscured any facial expressions. In a perfectly calm voice, he said one word.

"No."

Then, without warning, an enormous explosion erupted from behind her, an explosion of terrible power and dark nature. Starfire was hurled forward into the ground, hitting her head. In her last moments of consciousness, she saw the downed Slade slowly getting up and walking away.

The next day, Starfire's head still hurt. The rest of the Titans were disappointed that she had let Slade get away, but they did their best to help make her comfortable. She sat on the wide couch, watching Beast Boy lose miserably to Cyborg in one of their numerous videogames. After a dozen rounds, she grew tired of watching, and moved to the kitchen to find something to eat.

She opened the refrigerator, hoping to find at least a sandwich. But only bare shelves met her gaze. She closed the door in disappointment, then adjusted the ice pack on her head, and headed up to her room.

As she trudged the hallways toward her room, she heard Raven and Robin talking in a side room. Even though she was not meaning to eavesdrop, she could not help but overhear.

"No, Robin. I'm done. I can't do this anymore. I've been a Titan for a long time, and it's time I became part of the real world. Besides, you don't necessarily know this, but last night I was so close to releasing him…" She shuddered. "I don't want to deal with that again."

"But… but… but…" Robin couldn't reply.

"I'm sure you'll get along just fine without me."

"But…"

Starfire couldn't believe her ears. Raven was leaving? Why would her friend leave the only home she ever had? Without thinking, she burst into the room, throwing her arms around her friend. "Raven, Raven, you cannot leave! Who will make fun of Beast Boy? Who will deliver the sarcasm? Who will I meditate with? Raven, you must stay!"

Raven's normally impassive face softened. "I'm sorry, Starfire, but I need to find a life outside the hero business. You guys are great friends. But I need to live a normal life. Or, at least, as normal as I can. I'm too dangerous to stay; if I continue to fight, then I may end up hurting someone. And that's something I don't want."

"If this is the way it must be… then… sniff… goodbye, friend." Starfire hung her head and left the room.

Raven turned back to Robin. "So, aren't you going to try and dissuade me?"

Robin shook his head. "No, you're right. I keep forgetting that not all of us made the same choice I did. And it is your choice. But if you ever need us… you know who to call." He held up his T-communicator.

"Yeah." With that, Raven turned away, and disappeared in a flash of blackness.

Robin sighed.