Affliction
The Empire of Evil: Part Two
By Krabby Patties

Disclaimer: "Teen Titans" owns me, okay?

A/N: Hey! Welcome back loyal readers! You might want to read "Addiction", if you haven't already, before you read this. You might not get anything if you just start here… So yeah.

Sorry it's taken me so long to start this storie. It's just that when I started "GAH!" I thought I would put this off for a while but then I started another new storie that I'm writing just for myself. I'm not continuing to write for "GAH!" any longer. I know I got some reviews and I feel bad, maybe it's because I'm selfish, but I feel like I'm spending time writing and posting chapters for no one with that storie. And going to review that story right now isn't going to change the major Writer's Block I have that also discontinues me from writing any more chapters. I did have a couple chapters prewritten already though that I might post for the heck of it. Maybe some messages might change my mind but I highly doubt it. …And I had so much fun writing that storie…

Well, let's hurry up and get on to the storie. This is short but I didn't feel like making it longer. Why? Because I wanted to.

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Chapter 1: Chess
"Ah. Mr. Wayne. Come in, come in."

Bruce Wayne was dressed in a black suit with a red tie. He just walked into a blinding white room in STAR Labs. The room was filled with tables, upon tables, upon tables. Scientists dressed in white lab coats and goggles surrounded the tables. They were working with many tubes and other instruments full of a red liquid. Xynothium.

A short, stocky, bald man approached Bruce. He was also wearing a white lab coat. He pulled off his goggles and held out a hand that Bruce shook.

"Mr. Wayne! This is such an honor!" The man shook Bruce's hand vigorously.

"You must be Dr. Trent Hammond," Bruce said, his hand still being shaken. He had been almost squeezed to death many times by notorious villains but his hand was seriously starting to hurt.

"Yes, I am." Dr. Hammond let go and turned away. "Everyone! This is Bruce Wayne!" The many scientists looked up from their work. Some nodded in acknowledgement, but most just ignored them.

"I'm sorry for their rudeness." Dr. Hammond said. He walked off and motioned for Bruce to follow. "I've had them working non-stop on this project."

They stopped at a table with only one scientist working at it. She was bent down to eye level with a tube half-full with a dark red liquid that looked like blood and a Bunsen burner. On the Bunsen burner was a glass flask filled with boiling Xynothium. She poured the red liquid slowly into the Xynothium. For a few moments nothing happened, but suddenly the flask cracked and then broke. The dark red liquid dripped to the floor.

The scientist stood up and pounded her fist on the table. "Zût…" she said under her breath. But then she realized that two men were standing before. When she realized one was Bruce Wayne, she blushed and smoothed out her clothes.

Dr. Hammond held out a gesturing hand to the scientist. "This is Dr. Sandra Lepic. She recently traveled here from France."

Bruce and Sandra shook hands and exchanged soft hellos.

"Alors, vous parlez français?" Sandra said to Bruce in her native language as she smiled.

Bruce paused, then said, "I'm sorry. I don't speak French."

"Well, you have answered my question anyway." Her wide smile accented her fair complexion and aquamarine eyes.

"…Okay!" Dr. Hammond yelled. "Miss Lepic, can you explain to Mr. Wayne here what project you are working on right now?"

"Of course!" She blushed when Bruce smiled at her and pointed to the floor. "The substance I had in the flask was Xynothium." She then held up the tube she was using. "And this was on Robin's blood, although I have no idea how you got it!" She chuckled.

"And what did you discover?" Dr. Hammond was almost bouncing up and down he was so happy.

Dr. Lepic smiled widely. "I tested the Xynothium on Robin's blood…and discovered…"

"What?" Dr. Hammond practically screamed.

"The Xynothium's effect on his blood is that of 'super' based..."

Bruce was getting the gist of things but just to make sure… "What do you mean?"

"Robin will have superpowers."

»--»©«--«

Robin's good hand tightened. This was all a plan! It was all a trick! And he fell for it. And now Trigon's king of the earth and it was all his fault. Why did he have to be so damn stupid?

"Oh but Robin! Everything will be good. I promise. I'll take over the rest of the earth and move on to Tamaran!" This created a loud gasp from Starfire. "And then the rest of every civilization in the universe! I will be all-powerful! Everyone will bow down to me! But for now I'll just take over this city and the ones surrounding it. Don't worry hormonal teenagers! Everything will be fine in the end!"

But this was not the end. It's just the beginning. The beginning of the end.

Trigon said nothing more. He just kind of sat there, obviously regaining energy.

"Robin…" Starfire whispered. She was still clinging to Robin.

Robin hugged her tightly and she buried her head deeper into his chest. "Yeah?"

"I'm scared. What is going to happen?"

"I don't know…" He looked around the room. Beast Boy was looking at the floor and probably just thinking about everything. Cyborg basically looked the same as Beast Boy. Jizania had practically disappeared into Aiden's arms. She was crying and Aiden was telling her how everything was going to be okay. Robin knew that wasn't true. Everything was NOT going to be okay… And it was his entire fault.

He looked down at his bloody hand. The cut was extremely deep and was going to definitely leave a scar. It had clotted and stopped bleeding because Robin had put so much pressure on it. He hoped he would still be able to use this hand. It was his right hand and he was right-handed, which didn't make things easier. Robin felt as if the cut symbolized something. It was kinda like the big deep gash he put in all of their lives. Over time both cuts would heal. Robin's hand would slowly become useable again and everyone would slowly learn to forgive him…or at least Robin hoped it would work that way. Scratch that. He PRAYED it would work that way. He knew – well at least he thought – Starfire had forgiven him. He thought Aiden would probably forgive him because he never really knew Robin. It would probably take longer for Jizania because she hated Trigon a lot. As for Beast Boy and Cyborg, probably never, especially after the way he treated them. And Raven…Robin was absolutely positive there would never be a friendship between them again.

He looked up at Raven. She clenched the dirt on the floor that had come from Trigon's rise form the center of the earth. Newly formed tears were rolling down her face. She suddenly looked up at Robin. She glared at him. The look on her face could literally kill someone. She picked up the dirt in her hands and threw it at Robin. But he was too far away and the dirt was merely carried off in a draft. She screamed in anguish. Robin decided that Trigon's return was giving Raven both emotional and physical pain.

Trigon moved in his chair so loudly that it made everyone look up. He lazily rested his chin on a propped up elbow on the armrest of the stone chair. "Feeling your pain and confusion has greatly enjoyed me." His voice was laced in evil humor. "But it's now time to get to the plan." He sat up straight in the chair. "Robin. Stand before me."

Robin looked up. Was Trigon serious? He looked around. Beast Boy, Starfire, and Cyborg watched him, waiting to see what his next move would be. Jizania had finally calmed down and also watched Robin. She sat Indian style in between Aiden's legs, her long white dress covered all of her legs and feet. Aiden's arms were tightly wrapped around her waist as he whispered things like "Let me take you to bed" or (most likely) "It's all going to be okay…" Even Raven watched Robin. She was glaring and breathing fire but she was still watching Robin.

Robin turned back to Trigon. "No," he simply said, his voice carrying no emotion. Everyone was shocked. They really thought he was going to listen.

Trigon held out a fat red finger to Robin. "Do not disobey me…" Trigon raised the finger and Robin was lifted with it. Starfire fell to the floor as Robin floated upward. Robin struggled to get free from Trigon but his strength was overpowering him. Trigon moved his finger to the right and set Robin down in front of him. "I will ignore the wrong you have just done and remember the great good you have done for me. Because of this 'good', you can be second in command, after me of course. You can be the ruler of one city, this city, as I am the lord and king of all."

Robin and neither anyone else really understood. Questions were running through everyone's head. Wasn't Trigon the eighth devil? And weren't devils, well, evil? So why was he being so nice to Robin? Why was he giving Robin all this power? Why was he keeping his promises? Was Trigon truly grateful for being out of his dungeon?

Trigon almost…smiled. "You see, I am keeping my promise. I am giving you the power the power you deserve." Robin wasn't sure if he should be thankful or not.

Trigon then lifted Starfire and set her down extremely close to Robin. "You can be his lady."

Raven snorted. "Lady?"

"QUIET!" Trigon roared. Raven closed her eyes and visibly flinched.

Robin found the strength to speak. "Trigon, do think this is game where you can just give everyone titles? Why don't you—"

"Quiet!" Trigon roared again. When he had calmed down, he lifted Aiden. Aiden made no signs of struggle. He still held Jizania's hand but it slipped out of his grasp when he was moved and placed beside Starfire. "You can be Robin's head commander of his militia."

"Militia?" Robin said, icily.

"Yes. To keep your subjects under control and I thought I told you to be quiet, Robin." Trigon then lifted Jizania and squashed her into Aiden. "You can be Aiden's…slave."

Jizania's eyes widened but Aiden spoke for her. "That's not right! You can't do that!"

Trigon merely chuckled. His laugh grew louder and louder. "I am lying. Jizania can be your lady." Aiden smirked and Jizania blushed, pressing the tips of her pointer fingers together. Trigon then lifted Raven up. Raven floated over to rest on his open palm, despite her attempts to struggle free. Trigon placed his other hand above Raven and pressed down on her. She raised her hands to stop Trigon's hand from coming any closer to her. "As much as I would love to kill you, Raven, for almost destroying me," Trigon said, "I will leave you with the title of being…Robin's slave…" He let Raven roll off his palm and to the floor. When Raven landed in a big lump, she glared harshly at Robin.

"And as for you two…" He raised both Beast Boy and Cyborg. "You can be…slaves also…" He dropped them down beside Raven. "I just really have no care for you."

Starfire lifted off her feet, her eyes glazed in green and starbolts charged. "You cannot do that! You must give our friends equal titles to ours!"

"Oh yes. Your powers." Trigon sucked in and a white mist with an orange tint floated out of Starfire chest and into Trigon's lips. She limply fell downward and Aiden caught her. Robin stood next to him with his arms out.

"Uh. My job." Robin said and Aiden handed her over.

"And for the rest of you…" The other teenagers rose off their feet, except Robin who did not have powers, Raven who no longer had any powers because they were transferred into Trigon's fire through the cup Robin gave to her, and Jizania whose powers were already taken away. Trigon sucked in again and a white mist from each person floated out of his or her chest and into his lips. Beast Boy's mist was green, Cyborg's was blue and Aiden's was black. When all the mist had disappeared, they floated silently to the floor, feeling much different without their powers.

Starfire passed out in Robin's arms and he examined her. There was nothing different about her. There was nothing different about anybody but Cyborg. He looked like his alter-ego Stone. His mechanical parts had disappeared and he was wearing that same outfit Stone wore. Starfire had woken up and Robin placed her on her feet.

Trigon started to chuckle deeply. "Ah, everything is working according to plan.

»--»©«--«

"What do you mean 'Robin will have superpowers'?" Bruce's eyes squinted at Sandra, trying to read if she was joking or not.

Sandra's eyes searched the floor for the moment and she tried to find the right words to say. "Eh… Back home, in Paris, I had done many research projects on individuals with superpowers."

Sandra smiled. "You see, we have people with powers also. You Americans think your superheroes are the best and dominate the world." There was a loud crash and Dr. Hammond scooted away to check up on it.

She shook her head at Bruce. "But…the DNA in Robin's blood was different from a normal human's and even a normal superhero's. As the French heroes (and most likely American too) it contained an extra strand or two. It…"

Sandra's perfectly manicured eyebrows furrowed. She suddenly pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. She drew a rough sketch of a DNA molecule flattened out so it looked like a regular ladder with six steps. She split the steps in half with a single line down the middle. On the first step she wrote a T on one half. "This is Thymine." She then drew an A on the other half. "This is Adenine." Moving down to the next step, she wrote a C and a G. "This is Cytosine and Guanine." She repeated the process on the other two steps but instead of a G for Guanine on the fourth step, she put a question mark. And on the six step instead of Cytosine and Guanine, she placed two question marks.

Dr. Lepic circled the first two steps. "This is a how normal DNA looks. It has all four kinds of Nucleic Acids." Then circled the next two. "This is how the superpowered DNA looks. In some areas instead of one of the Nucleic Acids"—she pointed to the question mark—"there is an unknown molecule. This molecule can be inherited but know one knows for sure how to turn it on or off." Next, she circled the last two steps. "And this is like Robin's DNA. In some areas he is missing two Nucleic Acids, which are replaced by two unknown molecules. I'm not sure if they can be passed down through inheritance or even when they will be triggered." She clicked her pen off and put it away with the paper. She looked up at Bruce. "I hope that helped you understand."

Bruce rubbed his chin. "Yes it did. But did you find a cure yet to keep Robin from dying?"

"Oh yes! Robin will not die. The new molecules in his DNA change everything."

Bruce stared at Sandra for a moment. "Are you sure? He won't keep being sick or anything at all?"

Sandra smiled widely and started tiding her work area. "I am one-hundred percent sure. He will live as normally as he did before."

"But what about his throat?"

The French woman waved her hand in a dismissive way. "Oh that will go away in due time."

"And his addiction?"

"You ask too many questions." Dr. Lepic smiled. "But his urges will die down soon enough."

"Will you keep in touch?"

"Of course. I will send you regular updates on the results as I continue to work with Robin's DNA."

"I'll be going then." Bruce held out a hand to be shaken but Sandra leaned up and grabbed Bruce's shoulders. She kissed one cheek, then the other, and let go. "Umm…" was all Bruce could say.

Sandra just pushed him on his way. She waved at him as he headed to the door. "Au revior! A bientôt!"

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A/N: The parts with the Titans, Jizania, and Aiden were boring, weren't they? I just didn't have any feeling to put any feeling into it I guess. I would really like some reviewers telling me good writing tips or something because compared to like everybody I suck…custard… Anybody remember that from "Addiction"! …yeah…

Next chapter will be posted soon… I hope…

Later days! Until next chapter, that girl that lives in an asylum,

ЖЯдβБΨ ۹Ǻ†ŧỊ€ی™
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My Personal Quote of the Chapter:
"Only four out of five doctors say I'm insane. I swear!"