Do It For Them
By: AndiKaneUnderwood
AU: None
Robin could have never betrayed them.
If they were safe, he never would've had to.
But they weren't safe, so in order to keep them safe, he had to work with Slade and steal things for him.
As he pulled on the metallic clothes rather than the ones he'd worn since he began the vigilante job, a sick feeling settled in his stomach.
He had to pause to be sure he wouldn't be reintroduced to the meager contents of his stomach, then he continued with the taste of bile in the back of his throat.
Do it for them, do it for them, do it for them.
Teen Titans~Teen Titans~Teen Titans
Slade would never be his father.
Robin had thought that may be what he was after, someone to be there when the days got lonely.
But Slade wouldn't ever compare to the father Robin already had.
So, even when he was ordered around (like he used to be before he met the others) and told to dash here and there (like the plans he used to participate in), he didn't think of Slade like his father. He didn't.
Do it for them.
Teen Titans~Teen Titans~Teen Titans
He didn't want to attack his friends.
He hated that he was being pit against them like he was doing this of his own free will rather than being forced to, but if he didn't then Slade would turn on the probes in their bodies and it could kill them and Robin couldn't have that.
So, he avoided them as long as possible, running away from them when he could and hiding in the shadows until he couldn't any longer.
He didn't want to, please don't make me. God, why did I leave home?
Sometimes he catches flashed of blonde and green and grey spattered brown and grey dusted blue, but Slade often forbids him to ask questions.
More bile rose in the back of his throat when he found a picture of an emerald eyes boy, a sapphire eyed boy, a crystal blue eyed girl, and a woman with sea green eyes.
He shoved the questions down deep inside and leaves the room.
Do it for them, do it for them, do it for them, do it for them.
Teen Titans~Teen Titans~Teen Titans
He hates having to steal and fight for the man he'd called liar and traitor.
Once or twice, he'd been unable to stop the bile as it crawled up his throat and he'd ended up sick on the pavement outside the building he was supposed to be robbing.
Slade had growled into his ear, something about how his son could do better than that, but Robin blocked it out and focused on getting his breathing under control.
Slade didn't have a son.
There was no way in any universe that someone had liked that domineering man to let them control their children.
But regardless, he pushed himself to his feet and stepped into the facility he'd been made to steal from.
Do it for them, do it for them, do it for them.
Teen Titans~Teen Titans~Teen Titans
There was a few times that Robin had passed out from no food and utter exhaustion.
When he woke the first time, it was to the sound of a door clicking shut; almost silently.
He knew for a fact that it wasn't Slade, there wasn't a force in the world that would let Slade be a normal being with a capacity for any sort of empathy.
Robin remembered that he'd passed out in the 'training room', so what the Hell what he doing in a bedroom.
More questions rose, but he pushed them all down.
No questions escaped the steel trap that was his mind.
He got up, went back to the training room and threw himself into training all over again.
When he passed out again three hours later, he did it with one thought in mind.
Do it for them, do it for them, do it for them.
Teen Titans~Teen Titans~Teen Titans
He was made to go to an old friend's company to steal something.
He was able to do so without any interruptions from his stomach, but halfway to the object he was stealing, he was ambushed by the others.
He had to commend them on their ability to sneak up on him almost silently, but when all this was over, he really needed to teach them how to sneak up on someone in perfect silence.
At one point in his training before, he'd been able to give his mentor the slip multiple times in a lesson.
His mentor had hated it, even going so far as to not allow him the ritual after-training snacks (only for five minutes added to a total tally that added up every time he gave his mentor the slip). As it was, Robin utilized the same training now to slip away from the fighting.
Slade yelled at him to go back, and Robin was helpless to do anything but obey him.
Slade could kill his team with a push of a button and Robin didn't want them to die any more than they wanted to die themselves.
So, with his heart sinking into his stomach, he turned and went back and stole and ran.
When he got to the roof, another battle was fought, where they held back because they didn't want to hurt them, but he couldn't because if he held back they died.
But he still held back because if he didn't they were dead anyway. He was far more powerful that he let anyone know, having extensive knowledge of all the strengths and weaknesses of the team he was on, because his mentor had instilled it into him to always be ready, just in case.
Robin knew very well just how to detain all of them, without harming them at all.
But Starfire refused to fight and he just couldn't hurt her.
He spoke to them for the first time since he was taken hostage and forced to steal for Slade.
Please, don't think I wanted this...
Starfire fell, each of them turning into glowing bodies of nanoprobes and pain.
No! No, no, no, no! Please, don't hurt them!
It took Slade a moment to give instructions, but when he did Robin followed them flawlessly, giving it everything he had without killing or permanently injuring them.
His stomach revolted, a churning storm of disgust and pain and rage, but he kept his lips sealed and the contents of his stomach where they belonged.
Do it for them, do it for them, do it for them!
Teen Titans~Teen Titans~Teen Titans
Slade rewatched the video multiple times.
Like Joker with his victims, like Scarecrow and his Fear gas, Slade wallowed in the fear and destruction he caused.
Robin attacked, sick of the pain and hurt and fear he felt every time he went out to steal for his archenemy.
The ensuing battle raged on for a full ten minutes where it would normally only have taken five.
Slade pinned him to his spot with a threatening finger above the button that would send his friends spiraling into pain and destruction all over again.
Robin pleaded for him not to push the button.
Slade's mask didn't betray it, but Robin got the feeling that Slade was smirking under his mask.
Robin wanted to tear the man's tongue out and make him eat it.
Then he shoved that thought away because that wasn't who he was.
The wall exploded in a burst of light and rock debris and suddenly his friends where standing there as calm and confident as they day the team was formed.
Robin was ordered to attack, but he didn't hear it.
He pleaded with them to leave, begged them to go because they didn't understand, they could die, but they stayed.
Beast Boy's eyes narrowed in Slade's direction as he stopped Robin with a single word.
Cyborg smirked as he informed Robin that they knew about the nanoprobes in their bodies.
Raven's eyes sparked with barely concealed rage as she told him that they didn't care.
Starfire smiled hopefully while she murmured softly that they wouldn't leave without him.
Robin was forced to watch, horrified while their bodies were reduced to glowing masses of pain.
He growled, turning and throwing everything at Slade all over again.
This time he didn't hold back.
Do it for Beast Boy.
Do it for Raven.
Do it for Cyborg.
Do it for Starfire.
Do it for you.
Do it for them.