Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Terra had paused in her assault when she had seen the look on Icarus's face as he slowly removed his broken ear piece. He had appeared stunned and was that… the slightest bit happy and …relieved? But the blonde instantly regretted letting her guard down as Slade's apprentice sprang forward without any warning in a blur of motion too quick for Terra to defend herself in any way and she soon found herself with her back pinned against a tree. As she struggled to get free of the other teenager's grip Terra bumped the record button on her communicator. She'd actually been aiming for the call button but at least this way the others would have some idea of what happened to her if they found her dead in a puddle hours later. Not that she was intending to let that happen, but just in case.

"Not going to… hurt you." Terra blinked, shock and surprise making her go limp in Icarus's grasp. Slowly she turned her head until she had locked gazes with her masked foe. Never once in all of her battles with Icarus had she ever heard him utter a sound, not even the smallest cry of pain. Whatever he was about to say to her, she had the distinct feeling that it would be very important and worth listening to since he had never struck her as the type of villain who monolog-ed before he killed someone. Each word sounded awkward, disjointed, and forced, as though he hadn't spoken in a long time and he couldn't quite remember how. Taking a deep breath and opening his mouth Terra watched as Icarus began to speak again. "Nano-bots…. Tell Cy… nano-bots… in their bloodstreams… but not yours…. From Slade… that's what the… red shots were… tell them that's what the decoys were…. Tell Cy that Robin told him… to look for nano-bots. Understand?"

A blank stare of confusion and a nod were Terra's only response to Icarus's words.

"Good." The geokenetic caught another brief flash of relief on the apprentice's face before, as quickly as he had tackled her before, he was gone again, darting away through the trees but this time Terra made no attempt to follow him, just watched him go. Slowly she reached down to her belt and hit the record button again before beginning to call the others. But even before her finger reached the call button Cyborg's face appeared on the small screen after the familiar eight tone ring.

"Titans, regroup. We're heading back to the Tower."

"Alright, see you in a minute," she responded without her usual vibrato in her voice. Her mind was a wash with a myriad of questions. What were nano-bots? Why would they be in her fellow Titans' bloodstreams but not hers? Why did Icarus even care? Did he care? Was this a trap? Should she really tell the others? What decoy involving 'red beams' was Icarus talking about? Why did he call Cyborg 'Cy' like they were friends? Who was Robin...?

Not a word was spoken by any of the Titans as they trudged back to the T-car and from there drove back to the Tower the drenching rain beating a steady rhythm on the roof of the car as it had continuously been doing for nearly the last three hours. Silence only ever reigned among the teenagers after a run-in with Icarus and suddenly Terra wondered why. Why did they all always seem so depressed when they saw Slade's black haired apprentice and why would they never talk to her about it? As the group slouched into the Titan Tower's common room the quiet finally became too much for the normally cheerful girl and the question burst out of her mouth before she could stop it.

"Who's Robin?" Starfire, Beast Boy, and Raven froze and Cyborg spun around to face her, eyes wide. In the background several objects in the room were encased in black power and exploded as actual, visible emotion flickered across Raven's face, Star suddenly looked like she was about to burst into tears, and Beast Boy's shoulder's slumped as he stared fixatedly at the ground, while Cy's hands clenched into fists.

"Where'd you hear that name?" demanded Cyborg, a little harshly. Terra was taken aback. She'd never heard him use that tone of voice before and it scared her slightly. Frowning, Terra pulled the communicator off of her belt and holding up so that all of the others would be able to hear it pressed the play back button.

"Not going to… hurt you." Terra heard Starfire let out a gasp as the alien girl covered her mouth with one hand at the sound of the voice and BB's head snapped up so fast Terra thought he might give himself whiplash. "Nano-bots…. Tell Cy… nano-bots… in their bloodstreams… but not yours…. From Slade… that's what the… red shots were… tell them that's what the decoys were…. Tell Cy that Robin told him… to look for nano-bots. Understand? …Good."

Dead silence hung in the air as the recording finished. Actual tears were running down Star's face now and Beast Boy had a comforting arm around Raven's shoulders. The empathic sorceress looked like she was about to be sick. Cy finally broke the silence, looking rather ill himself, the geokenetic noted.

"Tha- That was Icarus …right?"

"Yeah," Terra nodded, feeling a little uncomfortable from their reactions. She most certainly hadn't been anticipating this. "I found Icarus when we were looking for him in the forest and one of my rocks broke his headset earphone thing. He got this really weird almost happy look on his face all of a sudden and then he tackled me and I hit record instead of call and he started talking to me. You called me right after he left and I've been trying to figure how and when to tell you guys about it ever since."

"I knew friend Robin would not just abandon us!" Star cried seemly, to Terra anyway, out of nowhere. With a heavy sigh, Cyborg tried to calm the alien princess before things could get out of hand.

"Don't get your hopes too high just yet, Star. I've still got a lot of tests to run before we can be sure that there's any actual proof behind all of this."

"This could explain why I've never sensed any malice from him all of the times we've fought him… only fear." Even Raven's normal monotone sounded more hopeful than usual. BB's previously drooping ears pricked up and his eyes got a bit more shine to them.

"You really think so, Rae?" The empath didn't even bat an eyelash at the nickname; usually she batted Beast Boy across the room just for using it. Terra was feeling more unnerved by the minute.

"Yes, I think it might be a possibility."

"Dude! That means he didn't backstab us and it really was a conspiracy/mind control thingy, just like I said in the first place."

"Beast Boy, I highly doubt that this has anything to do with the brainwashing techniques of aliens from the planet Zorb." Now that lovely dose of cynicism sounded more like the Raven Terra knew.

"I do not understand. Only flesh hunting plants are native to the planet Zorb – why would they want to do the washing of the brain to friend Robin? Would they not be more interested in eating him than attempting to assure that his brain is clean?" Everyone in the room except for Starfire simultaneously sweatdropped.

"Okay, med lab, you three – now! We can finish this discussion while I'm running tests!" Cyborg stated firmly as he hustled the other three original Titans towards the elevator.

"Wait a minute!" Terra called after them. "You never answered my question. Who's Robin?"

Cyborg paused, thought for a moment, and then said quietly, "You know those boxes downstairs that I told you not to touch?"

"Yeah."

"Go have a look through them… and at that room in the abandoned hall…. We'll explain more later. I'll let you know the results as soon as I get them."

"'Kay."