Below The Belt

Written By: bad girl 1990

Author's Summary: How did Robin feel right after Beast Boy's comment " When you were working for Slade did we give up on you?" in the episode ' Aftershock Part 1'?

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans. The Teen Titans belong to whoever their original owners are which is not me. I want only positive reviews and constructive criticism and no flames. Anyway read the story and enjoy it and thanks a lot!

Chapter One

"When you were working for Slade did we give up on you?"

Robin stared at Beast Boy in awe and shock for a few seconds before he began to feel feelings of intense anger, hurt, and sadness consume him. Had he really just heard the green channeling right? He had never expected for him to say something like that right to his face. Beast Boy must have had an even bigger lack of brains and more nerve than Robin had ever given him credit of having. The fifteen-year-old green-haired and blue-eyed shape sifter had just crossed a line with the Boy Wonder that he really had not wanted to cross with him. It took all that remained of Robin's cool and self-control to force himself to calm down and stop himself from severely beating up Beast Boy and knocking him out cold from right where he stood. How could his friend compare him to Terra that way and twist things around in the stupid girl's favor like that? There had been a big difference as to why both Terra and him had worked for Slade which was that Terra had chosen to work for the madman willingly and Robin had been blackmailed by the psychopath into doing it.

He was aware that the only one to blame for his apprenticeship to Slade was himself. Robin knew that he was unable to accept Slade for who he was and hated him even more with a burning passion than any of the other Teen Titans did and that it was his obsession with the man that had landed him into hot water in the first place. His obsession with Slade had driven him almost insane in his attempts to become aware of who the man was and his past, capture him, and make him face justice for his crimes against Jump City and that had been why he had spent so much time locked up in his bedroom working to accomplish his goal going without food, hot showers, clean clothes, relaxation, and sleep for hours upon hours at a time. Those hours had turned into days and those days had turned into weeks. It had led him to temporarily become a criminal known as " Red X" so no one would know who he was, steal chips that Slade had wanted, and even fight his own team for the man in order to get the criminal mastermind to form a partnership with him so that he could find out what he was up to. Of course his plan which he had believed to be brilliant and foolproof at the time had backfired and blown up in his face since Slade had been aware of who he was the whole time and he had only succeeded in almost losing his life and making his friends angry at him. The four of them had had every right to be since they could have accidentally killed him during the two fights that he had had against all of them which would have been all his fault if they had had and he had used his knowledge about their strengths and weaknesses against them in order for him to easily defeat them in battle and he had made it clear that he did not trust any of them.

His obsession with Slade had also made him blind to what his enemy had really been up to and deaf to all the reason that his friends had tried to give to him and allowed for Slade to capture him and force him to become his apprentice so easily. Robin had seen what his adoptive father Batman's obsession with the Joker had done to his mentor on more than one occasion in the past and the results had always been less than pretty. That should have made him know better than to let Slade get to him so easily. However he had let the man get to him and everything that had happened as a result of it was all on him.

Robin inwardly winced as he vividly remembered the way the others had reacted after they had found out the truth about who Red X really was and his careless and stupid little stunt and the looks of awe, bewilderment, confusion, horror, and shock on their faces after they had first thought that he really had become Slade's apprentice.

The Boy Wonder accepted Beast Boy for who he was and liked him and would always have the channeling's back just like he knew that Beast Boy would always have his but he knew that their friendship with one another was strained and that it was mostly his fault. Beast Boy had apparently done everything that he could do find out more about who Robin was and his career as Batman's brilliant, cheerful, enthusiastic, and funny butt-kicking sidekick and looked up to him for years as an idol and a role model. He had been ecstatic when he had gotten the chance to meet the real Robin in person for the first time and become a Teen Titan. Beast Boy had hoped that he could get Robin to admire and respect him the same way that he did him and he only longed for either Robin's approval or praise. However his hopes were soon quickly dashed after he discovered that Robin always acted like who he was as Robin the Boy Wonder, was cold towards others, had emotional issues and an inability to trust anyone, and was a hard person to either get to know or please since Robin's approval or praise for anyone was difficult to get without him criticizing anyone. All Robin had ever seemed to do was criticize everything about Beast Boy from who he was to his agility, his brains, his courage, his determination, his morals, his personality, and his strength down to what he ate, wore, and how dirty his bedroom always was. Finally Beast Boy had had enough and his feelings towards Robin had changed which had caused him to act differently towards Robin.

Robin knew that he always acted who he was as he was as Robin the Boy Wonder and a superhero, was cold towards others, had emotional issues and an inability to trust anyone, and was a hard and moody person to get to know. He did not give anyone his approval or praise very easily and he always criticized everyone. He was just like Batman that way. Robin had lost count of all of the times that he had been rude to Beast Boy and never apologized for it and hurt the channeling's feelings in the past. He was surprised that Beast Boy had never snapped and ripped his head off for it before now. However he only did it because he knew that Beast Boy was highly bright and creative and could be really powerful if he lived up to his full potential and he wanted to see him do it but Beast Boy never saw it that way and he only saw him as being a jerk and Robin could not blame him for it.

But did Beast Boy really think that way about him because of his apprenticeship to Slade?

Robin had only attempted to change who he was, his beliefs, the cause that he fought for, and the type of person that he was, became Slade's apprentice, committed crimes for him, and said or did whatever he had wanted him to do whenever he wanted him to do it because Slade had blackmailed him into it. He had used the threat that if he refused not to that he would immediately automatically release the probes that were in all of the other Teen Titans' bloodstreams and kill them and make him watch. The Boy Wonder had not wanted to see them die the way that he had watched his parents die and have all of their blood on his hands too. He had only done it because he had wanted to protect all of them and save their lives. Nobody knew how Robin had felt to feel as though he had betrayed who he was and everything that he had believed in as a superhero as he had taken off the uniform that his dad had designed for him and put on Slade's orange and black one and see that " S" over his heart where his " R" had used to be while Slade watched him and smiled at him coldly as he stood there in the background, saw Batman's angry and disappointed face or heard the imagery names and insults that the others called him in his mind, or the way that his heart broke to hear Starfire's voice frantically call out for him over and over again on his communicator. He had wanted to lay down on the ground and die after Slade put his hand on his shoulder and told him that he would learn to like being his apprentice. Robin highly doubted that Terra had felt that way. He had never willingly agreed to work for Slade and Beast Boy's words only made him feel more ashamed about who he was and the two weeks that he had spent as Slade's apprentice.

Those two weeks as Slade's apprentice had not been a piece of cake. Slade had made it crystal clear to him on a daily basis that he had expected him to immediately change who he was, his beliefs, the cause that he fought for, and the type of person that he was and be grateful that he was lucky enough to be his apprentice. He had given Robin water, food, clothes, access to medical care, and a place to sleep since those are the basic necessities of life but his lessons and training sessions had been practically brutal and harsh and Slade was not a man who allowed anyone to fail easily. Slade would often punish him for making any kind of a mistake at all by the denial of water, food, hot showers, clean clothes, medical care, and sleep, name calling and insults, severe beatings, drugs, and torture and Slade was very bright and creative on the ways that he tortured people. Robin's hand briefly touched his right hip where the sick and twisted bastard had removed the tattoo of the small and wide black bat that he had secretly gotten there after he had started to work for Batman and branded him with his own personal symbol. One of these days he would get it removed but until he did he saw it every time that he had to take a shower and get dressed and even after it was gone a scar would be there in it's place to remind him of what had happened to him for the rest of his days. The only thing that Robin had to be grateful for was that Slade had never done anything sexual with him in order to truly claim him as his and his alone because that was something that would have either had driven him insane or killed him since he would never have been able to get that back and Batman had taught him that it was a horrible thing to happen to any superhero since their enemy has tainted them for life. He had taken everything that Slade had to dish out at him and more and he would do it all over again to keep the people who he accepted for who they are, cared about, and were his best friends in the entire world whose lives meant more to him than his own did including Beast Boy alive but it did not mean that he would not get angry at any of them if they said things to him like that.

He actually understand how Beast Boy was feeling right now. He really did. Beast Boy had accepted Terra for who she was and cared about her and was deeply in love with her. Terra had been a perfect little angel with her golden blonde hair, her big blue eyes, her beautiful smile, and her perfect complexion who could do no wrong and won them all over at first. After all it had been her beauty, her cleverness, her sense of humor, and her seemingly innocent personality and the fact that she had found Beast Boy to be hilarious that had won Beast Boy over to her in the first place. The two of them had been best friends and Beast Boy had really thought that he could trust her. Then he had found out the truth about who she really was and her being Slade's apprentice which had caused him to realize that the girl that they had all thought that she was never existed in the first place and that she had never really given a damn about him at all. She had broken Beast Boy's heart, ripped it out of the poor guy's chest, and stomped on it and he was still angry, bewildered, confused, depressed, hurt, upset, and in a lot of pain about it.

He really was sorry for Beast Boy and felt bad that it ever had to happen to him.

Still Robin could not forget how they had all accepted her for who she was and her powers and cared about her and were good friends with her. Most of them had even trusted her. They had all been willing to give her food, clothes, medical care, a place to live, videogames to play with, and a TV to watch and let her be a Teen Titan. They could have helped her gain more acceptance in herself for who she was and self-confidence and train her to use her powers. She had refused their offer and took Slade's instead. That thought made Robin's blood boil with anger, self-blame, confusion, and hate. After all he had warned the foolish girl about who he was and that he was a highly dangerous criminal who was not to be underestimated but she chosen to ignore his warnings and willingly join him instead after she had willingly chosen to believe that Beast Boy had broken his word to her and take Slade's word over his friend's.

Then the girl had come back and made them all think that she actually accepted them for who they are and cared about them and was good friends with all of them. Robin had always believed in giving people second chances so he had allowed the girl to join the team. She had willingly chosen to lie to all of their faces and manipulate all of them as she ate their food, grabbed all of the new uniforms of her old Teen Titans costume that they had given to her and a communicator of her own from them out of his hands, hung out with them, played videogames with them, slept in their house, trained and took down criminals with them, and watched TV with them. She had willingly chosen to steal all of their secrets and tell Slade everything that she knew about who the Teen Titans are and their strengths and weaknesses. Robin knew that Beast Boy was unaware of her attempts to get him to tell her about who he was and his past and show her what he really looked like under his mask and the way that she always blew up at him whenever he would refuse to do so, the notebooks that she had kept on all of the Teen Titans, what Raven and him had eventually discovered on the laptop that they had given to her, or that she had used Beast Boy to get the information that she needed by having him tell her everything that he knew about the others. It was not Beast Boy's fault that he had been lied to, manipulated, and used by Terra. Then to add to the girl's growing pile of crimes against the Teen Titans she had helped Slade get his Slade-bots into the Teen Titan's tower and tried to kill all of them in their sleep.

Robin knew that Beast Boy had not forgotten how she had just recently attacked and tried to kill all of them once again and the look of happiness that she had on her face while she was doing it.

Terra had done what she had done on her own free will and he had done it to protect his friends.

Raven was right all along about Terra. She was always unable to accept all of them for who they were and hated them and was never their friend. She was a backstabber, a cheat, a liar, a spy, and a traitor who was trained by Slade and sent by him to destroy them from the inside out. She was evil. She always had been and always would be. There was no good left in her and she was not worthy enough of them attempting to save her. Terra was just another dangerous criminal who needed to be stopped at all costs no matter what it took.

However Beast Boy knew her best and maybe he was right and Robin was wrong. What if Terra was just an extremely messed-up idiot who had made a series of bad mistakes and not evil and could still be saved? Shouldn't they not try to save her? Isn't that what superheroes do? They could help her remember who she was and that she was a decent person deep down inside of herself and get her to change her wicked ways before it was too late. It did not mean that he had to let the blonde-haired and blue-eyed poisonous snake back on his team because if Beast Boy demanded for him to do that then that was were he would draw the line with Beast Boy and refuse. If their attempts to do so failed then Robin would be more than satisfied to see the phony rot away behind bars for the rest of her miserable life and have Beast Boy free from her awful influence once and for all.

Then again Beast Boy had always accepted Terra for who she was and cared more for her than he ever had for any of them and the sight of her had always turned his brains to mush. It had rendered him unable to use his common sense and think. It had hurt all of them at first. Raven was still bothered by it since she accepted Beast Boy for who he was, cared about him, and was deeply in love with him and not Robin although he wished that she was. Beast Boy had unintentionally caused her a lot of pain since he had started to give all of the attention and time that he had given to Raven to Terra and completely ignore her after Terra had came along. It had made her feel like Beast Boy was no longer able to accept her for who she was and did not like her anymore and had no real desire to still be her friend. It had always made Robin silently furious whenever Beast Boy would treat Raven that way. Now it made him wonder why Beast Boy would pick a nasty piece of work like Terra who would backstab anyone in the blink of an eye over a beautiful, smart, creative, funny, nice, serious, mature, responisble, brave, determined, loyal, resourceful, strong, and tough girl with amazingly impressive powers, a good heart, and a strong value of morals like Raven who would never willingly betray him before he came to the realization that love made people do and feel crazy things. Seeing him defend the little witch to all of them even after what she had done to all of them hurt her more than Beast Boy would ever know.

He knew that Beast Boy was only angry and hurt and needed someone to lash out on which had unfortunately had to be him. Besides hadn't he earned that comment after all of the times that he had been rude to him? It did not make the anger and hurt he felt about Beast Boy's comment go away though.

Robin would give Terra one more chance for Beast Boy's sake. He hoped that it would either make Beast Boy see Terra for who she was and the evil person that she really was and hate her or actually save Terra. Still the next time that Beast Boy made another crack at him like that he did was not sure if he would be able to remember who Beast Boy was and that he was one of his best friends and lose control of his temper. He was afraid that the next time that he made another crack like that he really would seriously hurt Beast Boy for it. After all Beast Boy's remark had hurt him even if he would never admit it to anyone.

Beast Boy's comment had really been below the belt even though Robin knew that he probably had deserved it.

The End of Part 1

Author's Note: This was my take on what might have been going through Robin's head after Beast Boy had said that to him. He had been silent for a long time and then glared up angrily at Beast Boy after he agreed to give Terra one last chance. He had also put the emphasis on the "one". I had the idea that it made him think long and hard about who he was and his beliefs, his apprenticeship to Slade, the way that he had treated Beast Boy in the past, his anger and hurt over Beast Boy's wisecrack, what Beast Boy must be going through at the moment, and his obviously not so pleasant feelings towards Terra. I had no problems bashing Terra because I never really cared too much for her to begin with. I always felt that Beast Boy crossed a line with Robin when he made that comment even if he had not meant it that way and he cared more about Terra than he did the others even though Robin has not always been the nicest guy towards Beast Boy and he is the reason that the two of them may not have the greatest relationship with each other. This story probably sucks but I wanted to post it anyway because I kind of liked it and wanted to see it anyone else would too.

Anyway please review and thanks a lot!