The Randori Stone

Special thanks to Darth Nat for being my beta reader.

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, Eddie Hurst or Court TV.

A convict locked away, falsely imprisoned, with the culprit having ties to Slade. Stories of a mysterious Randori Stone. When it's discovered that Slade has ties to the murderer, Robin's pushed over the edge. Will he be pushed far enough to commit the unthinkable? Based off Detective Comics 788 and 789.

Chapter One: Prison Transfer

Things were tight at Jump City's Maximum Security Prison; tighter than usual. Rumors swirled that they were getting a new prisoner sometime during the next week. The guards were nervous. Any time they received a prisoner, it was usually some super powered monster or psychopathic maniac. They hoped that wouldn't be the case.

They stood rigid with nervousness as they watched an armored car pull in through the front gates. The guards weren't sure who or what they were about to see as the two police officers pulled a cuffed man out of the van. They braced themselves for the worst.

What they saw surprised them. They were anticipating a madman like Brother Blood, or a monster like Plasmas. What they saw was neither. Instead the prisoner they laid eyes on was a gigantic brute of a man whose arms were as thick as their waists. His shoulder length hair was a dark black, and his eyes were blue gray, like the sea. He towered above them and was as tall as Starfire. The mere size of him sent shivers down their spines as they walked up to escort him to his cell.

The guards glanced at each other, unsure of what to do. Why was this man here? Who was he and why did they feel so nervous around him? They escorted him to a room where they gave him another prison uniform and check his files to see who he was.

They looked up his file. As the information appeared on the screen the guards' mouths dropped beneath the fiberglass faceplates on their helmets. The information said that his name was Eddie Hurst and that he had been charged with murdering his wife and two coworkers at his place of employment, one of Gotham's seediest clubs. It said that he was on Death Row at Blackgate and was to be transferred to Jump City's Maximum Security Prison.

A Death Row inmate in Jump City? Why send him here of all places? Had Gotham's jails suddenly become so overcrowded that they needed other places to send their lowlife scum to rot? The two guards, only known as Seven and Eight to those inside the prison, escorted Eddie Hurst to his cell.

The hulking man hadn't said a word since he arrived. He just walked over to the small window and stared out of it in silence. He didn't do anything; he just stared out the cell window like a dead man.

Eddie Hurst didn't even try to think at all as he was escorted into his new "home". All he hoped for was an appeal and perhaps clemency from the government. Not that anyone cared about him. He was a wife killer, a dangerous murderer. They would let him die.

He had heard that the D.A. was reopening his case for some undisclosed reason, but then things had happened that had made the situation even worse. And well…he didn't want to think about that right now. He just wanted to get out of there… Not that he could actually do that, of course. Due to his shady past and misdeeds, his current home was locked down even tighter than Gotham's prison. He guessed that they knew what had happened.

He sighed sadly. Although everyone else thought he was a heinous monster, he knew the truth. The truth about what had happened to his wife and the other coworker the night they were killed. He knew the truth and no one believed him. They just arrested him without proper investigation. He accepted that there was no real justice anymore.

But not everyone thought that way. He knew one man who knew the truth about what had happened. Maybe that was why they had transferred him: so the D.A. wouldn't be able to reopen his murder trial. So that he wouldn't be able to prove that Eddie Hurst wasn't a monster. But the World's Greatest Detective was far, far away. Now all hope was lost.

Eddie Hurst wouldn't let his face show a shred of emotion as his guards observed him for what seemed like an eternity. He refused to let them see him for what he really was: an innocent victim of John Cole's cruelty. He let them see him as a cold, heartless murderer. He didn't have the heart to care anymore. It didn't matter what anyone thought about him. He had tried to tell the truth, but they had never believed it.


Robin paced up and down within the confines of his cramped bedroom. Scattered about were newspaper clippings of Slade, along with articles of the Teen Titans' achievements. But Slade wasn't on his mind today. Something else was bothering him and it had a name: Eddie Hurst.

Robin knew very little about this man who had murdered his wife and two coworkers at the Cobra, a seedy nightclub where he had worked as a bouncer and security guard. What he knew was rather sketchy. Events in Gotham weren't exactly his concern, although he kept tabs on a few things. But what did worry him was that Hurst had suddenly been transferred just as the D.A. Just was reopening his case. Recently, he had escaped his prison and struck out on a murder rampage that had left two homicides and a dead judge in his wake.

But the Batman had stopped him, and it seemed that Eddie Hurst had just vanished into thin air. Apparently, he had been caught again and this time they moved him to a different prison.

It also disturbed him that they had transferred him from Blackgate prison to Jump City. Now Jump City had its share of freaks and weirdoes, but murderers were another thing entirely. That was something that Gotham was notorious for, but Jump City was relatively peaceful in comparison.

Robin picked up the newspaper and looked at the headline: NOTORIOUS GOTHAM MURDERER EDDIE HURST MOVED TO JUMP CITY'S PRISON. Robin continued to read the article with growing interest. He flipped through the pages, taking in all the information he could. Jump City's paper didn't cover a lot of events that took place in Gotham. He didn't like the idea of having someone so dangerous behind bars in his city.

"Robin?" a voice interrupted his train of thought as Robin continued reading the article. He looked up and saw Starfire standing in his doorway. He smiled slightly, looking at her.

"Hey Starfire," he said. "What's up?"

"Robin, do you not wish to 'go breaking' with us? You have been in here for hours."

"Uh, take a break, you mean, Star." Robin looked at the newspaper. "I've had some things on my mind lately,"

"If you are obsessing over Slade then I must say that you should—"

"It's not Slade this time Star, it's something else," Robin interjected quietly. "It's not about him at all."

"What is it then that has made you so worried?" she asked in a curious voice.

"Let's go into the living room. I want to talk to the others about this. It's very important," Robin and Starfire walked out of his room shutting the door behind him. Cyborg and Beast Boy were playing videogames while Raven sat reading one of her books as usual.

"Hey guys, I need to talk to you all about something," he called out loudly, getting their attention. Cyborg paused the videogame and Raven looked up from her book.

"What is it Rob?" Cyborg asked.

"Something has come to my attention; something very important that I need to tell you about."

"What is it?" Raven asked.

"Jump City recently had a new prisoner transferred here from Gotham City."

"Uh-oh, that doesn't sound good," Beast Boy said.

"His name is Eddie Hurst," Robin began to explain. "He's a Death Row inmate." Beast Boy's mouth dropped open, and Cyborg took the newspaper out of Robin's hands.

He began to read it. "He was a bouncer at a nightclub?"

"Please friends, I do not understand. What is this 'bouncer' you speak of?" Starfire asked.

"A bouncer is a guy who keeps track of a nightclub. He basically stands outside and decides whether or not to let certain people come into the club," Robin explained.

"Then why is he on Death Row?" Raven asked.

"It says he's a triple murderer," Cyborg said, pointing at the page. "That makes me nervous."

"Me too," Robin replied. "Cyborg, did you ever see anything about Eddie Hurst on the news before this?"

"I think so," Cyborg replied thoughtfully. "I think I remember seeing something about his trial on Court TV."

"Can you pull up anything on it? I want to know everything I can about this man so if he escapes we can catch him."

"I can try. I'm sure it shouldn't be too hard tracking down information, especially on my computer." Cyborg walked over to the terminal where the Titans computers were located and began typing in commands.

"Didn't that article say that he murdered two cops and a judge?" Cyborg asked.

"Yes," Robin replied.

"So that makes it six people then?"

"Yes, but the courts are still arguing over whether or not they should execute him for murdering his wife or the three others he killed." Robin watched as information came up on the screen. "Does it say why the D.A. reopened his case?"

"It's kinda sketchy, but it says something about evidence that wasn't used during the trial," Cyborg looked at him. "When did he break out of jail and kill those other people?"

"He broke out just as the D.A. was about to reexamine his case," Robin read the newspaper.

"Well, this'll catch your interest Robin; it says the Batman caught him after he escaped.

"Hmm…" Robin frowned. "That's very interesting… Does it say why he's being transferred? It's not exactly clear in the paper."

"It doesn't say why, it just said on this site that it was necessary," Cyborg replied.

"So is this Eddie Hurst guy a threat to the city? I mean, he's a murderer," Beast Boy asked.

"I'm not sure, but I'll keep an eye on it. I wouldn't put it passed him to try and escape again," Robin said. He looked at something on Cyborg's computer desk.

"Hey Cyborg, what's that?" he asked, pointing to what looked like a helmet with a visor covering the face of it.

"Oh, this," Cyborg answered. "It's part of a virtual reality program I've been working on."

"Virtual reality? When did you start this?"

"Oh, about a month ago. Right now I'm creating a program that will replicate the entire city into the computer's mainframe so that if you just put that on and virtually walk around in the city without having to leave the Tower at all."

"You can actually do that?" Robin asked.

"Well, not quite yet," Cyborg replied. "The program still needs tweaking. I was thinking about using it for when we train. If we train in virtual reality then it will be easier to do when we actually need to."

"So we could train in virtual reality?" Beast Boy asked. "Dude, that's awesome!"

"But what about walking around? How do you know where you are? How do you know when you put that on you won't run into a wall?"

"Don't worry, you'll be sitting the whole time," Cyborg said. "But it's not ready yet, but it should be done in a week, then we can try it."

"Uh Cyborg, how are awe supposed to train if we're sitting down?" Robin asked.

"Well, it's not really training as much as orientating ourselves to being able to get from one part of the city to another in case of an emergency."

"But don't we do that already?" Robin asked.

"Yeah, but being faster wouldn't hurt either," Cyborg commented.

"Well, let me know when it's finished," Robin said. "If you'll excuse me, I need to make some calls." He walked out of the room.

Cyborg looked at Beast Boy. "Wonder what that was all about."

"Raven, why do you think they sent the Eddie Hurst here to our City when the Gotham City could surely hold him there?" Starfire asked.

"I have no idea Starfire. I don't understand the logic behind it either," Raven looked up. "For some reason I have a bad feeling about all this."

"Yeah, me too," Beast Boy said. "But we can take this guy down right?"

"Let's hope we won't have to," Cyborg said. He continued researching Eddie Hurst for Robin, all the while unsure if the 'security' of Jump City's maximum-security prison would really hold a mass murderer behind bars.


Robin walked over to the phone in his room. He picked it up and dialed a number. He really didn't like the idea of calling her, but he knew it was necessary. He dialed the number. She wasn't exactly fond of the Batman or Robin; he didn't want to bother Bruce.

"Hello, who is this?" the receptionist asked.

"This is Robin. I need to speak to Janet Van Dorn."

"She's not exactly fond of you kid," the receptionist said.

"Just patch me through, please. I'd appreciate it."

A few minutes later, Janet's voice came over the phone. "You know I don't exactly agree with what you're doing, Boy Wonder," she said tensely. "What do you want?"

"I need to know everything about Eddie Hurst's case."

"I'm not allowed to say, young man. I'm sorry." She hung up on him.

"Very well," Robin said. "Time to call James Gordon." He dialed the number. He told the receptionist who he was and that he needed to speak with the Commissioner.

"Well Robin, what do you need to know?" James Gordon asked.

"Anything about the Eddie Hurst case…Evidence, trial manuscripts; anything that I can legally get a hold of," Robin said. "Think you can help me out without getting in trouble with the D.A.?"

"Sure, but why would you get in trouble with the D.A.?" James Gordon asked.

"I just called her," Robin explained.

"Oh. I'll send you what I can. It may not be much though."

"Thanks a lot Commissioner."

"You're welcome."

Robin hung up the phone. He had a feeling that there was more to Eddie Hurst's case than met the eye. And he decided he was going to find out what it was. Things were not as they appeared, and he had a distinct feeling of dread come over him when he thought about the whole situation. It was time for him to do some investigating of his own.