Left, right, right, forward, left. Another dead end. Right, left, left, forward, forward, right, left. Still nothing. Robin scrambled around the labyrinth, his head spinning. His penlight of a badge had flickered out long ago, leaving Robin to maneuver the pitch-black maze off of pure memory. So far, he wasn't so optimistic about his progress. The labyrinth seemed to be toying with him, constantly changing its shape and the destination of the turns. Even if Dante was telling the truth and there was truly an exit to the maze, Robin highly doubted that he'd be able to find it before he was strangled by Dante's pet psychopath.

Robin whipped around a corner before sinking down to the ground, taking a moment to catch his breath. How long had it been since the last time he had seen Geryon/Red-X/whatever? Two minutes? Three? Robin doubted that he had managed to escape the creature, but he might have a few seconds to gather his wits. Let's see… he had already gone right down this passage, so he'll need to feel around until he found another corridor, if there was one, but after that…

A drop struck Robin's forehead. Robin swallowed, glancing up. Clinging to the wall directly above his head was Geryon, his luminescent white eyes and glowing, fang-laced smile the only visible parts of the creature. A few more drops of drool dribbled out of Geryon's mouth, striking Robin's head as Geryon's manic grin stretched across his entire face.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Robin shouted, jumping to his feet. At the same time, Geryon pounced off of the wall, claws outstretched, diving directly towards Robin's head. On instinct, Robin hit the floor, whipping up his staff to strike Geryon directly in the abdomen.

If Geryon was a normal opponent, he would have been thrown across the room, wind knocked out of him by the stab of the staff. To Robin's horror, however, the staff hissed upon making contact with Geryon's tar-like skin, like ice dropped on a stove. The staff melted away rapidly, until Robin was left with a steel rod about the size of a ruler. Geryon whipped above Robin's head, missing him by inches.

Before Geryon had time to turn around, Robin was sprinting down the hallway, trying desperately not to run directly into a solid wall. He heard Geryon's claws strike the tiles behind him, a chilling reminder of the pursuit. Robin's head swam. Acid skin?! Geryon hadn't had acid touch a minute ago!

A minute or two later, and after some wild twisting and turning, Robin managed to find himself in a corridor without Geryon right on his heels. Without wasting a moment, Robin whipped out his communicator, clicking it on as fast as he could. The chance of Dante watching him right this moment was slim, and Robin decided to play the odds.

"C'mon, c'mon, COME ON!" he hissed, shaking the communicator as if it would speed up the connection.

After a minute, the communicator made a clicking sound, and suddenly the screen lit up, temporarily blinding Robin. When his eyes refocused, Robin was greeted by the image of grinning Beast Boy, who seemed to be whipping up some sort of greenish pancake in the Tower kitchen, complete with an oversize chef hat.

Beast Boy grinned at the communicator, trying to figure out how to flip the pancake using just the pan. "Hey, Robin, what's up?" Beast Boy's smile faded quickly, replaced by a look of confusion. "Whoa, dude, you look… slightly worse than you usually do. Did you walk into a door or something? And what's with the angry face?"

Robin stared at the communicator, dumbfounded. Beast Boy was kidding, right? He had to be kidding. Not even he was this stupid.

"What's up? Beast Boy, what are you doing?! Raven and I have been missing for hours now and you're… you're making pancakes. Why on earth are you making pancakes?!"

Beast Boy stared at the communicator, confused. He didn't seem to notice that his vegan pancakes were beginning to burst into green flame. "Wait, what? Missing? When was this? Didn't you… dude, you just called a second ago. You booted up your communicator, told us that you and Raven had gone out on patrol, and then cut off. If that wasn't you, then it was Cyborg in a Robin costume."

Robin stared at the communicator, uncomprehending. He hadn't been in the Tower since last night, before he went to sleep. Who was taking his place in the city? And how did no one notice that it wasn't him?! Robin took a deep breath, collecting his thoughts.

"Okay, Beast Boy, whoever it is who called you was not me. You need to capture whoever that imposter is. Second, tell Cyborg to search the Titan computer for a villain named Dante. Skull mask, red magic, tuxedo, magic cane. And get us out of-"

Robin heard a primal screech behind him, and whirled around just in time to see a pair of glowing white eyes fly towards him. Robin shouted with frustration, rolling onto his back and kicking upwards with all the strength he had. He heard the soles of his boots hiss like ice dropped on a frying pan, but he prayed that they lasted a little longer. Otherwise, it would be very hard to run away from Geryon without a pair of legs.

Geryon was sent flying over Robin's head, thrown forward by the sudden force of the kick. Robin heard the creature slam into a wall behind him, and the Boy Wonder leapt to his feet, ready to sprint off again.

Robin froze after two steps. No. His eyes narrowed, and he whipped around, yanking the remainder of his cape off of shoulders. This was exactly what Dante wanted; Robin running around in the maze, mind addled by terror. If Robin kept running away, he was eventually going to exhaust himself and die anyway. Might as well go out with some style.

Robin charged forward, twisting his cape into a rope as he did so. He dashed past where he assumed Geryon would be on the ground, letting the center of the rope hang close to the ground. Sure enough, the rope snagged around Geryon's throat, resulting in a primal screech and the hiss of acid beginning to burn away the cape. Perfect.

Robin released one end of the rope, allowing it to loop loosely around Geryon's throat. Robin grinned as he heard the next sound of acid, and Geryon's surprised yelp. If Robin was correct, Geryon's acidic skin had just fused the cape to itself. Geryon was now inside the business end of an improvised noose, and Robin wasn't looking to waste a second.

"Hyaaah!" Robin shouted, swinging his end of the rope with all his strength. Geryon made a sharp choking sound before being whipped around like a discus, slamming into a nearby wall with a sharp crack.

Robin immediately sprinted over to where Geryon had smashed into the wall, not wanting to leave a second for Geryon to recover. Robin swung his steel-toed boot directly into Geryon's head, resulting in a satisfying skoosh as Robin's foot sunk into Geryon's inky skin. Robin felt his skin begin to grow extremely hot, like he had just stepped into boiling water. Robin hissed in pain and yanked his foot out, still feeling Geryon writhe underneath him. The improvised noose was starting to burn away, and Geryon was still snarling and snapping at Robin like a wild dog. Seriously, Robin had buried his foot into the creature's skull, and it was still alive? What had Dante built this monster out of?

Before Robin could consider his next move, a faint noise reached his ears. He froze, craning his neck to try to find where the noise had come from. Finally, he decided to take a risk, pinning Geryon down with his unmelted boot and pressing his ear against the wall.

"…see exactly what it takes to get some magic out of you…"

Dante's voice. And, judging by his tone, this wasn't boding well for Raven. Robin growled. It was one thing to lock Robin in a labyrinth with an unkillable creature of nightmare. It was quite another to threaten Raven. Robin needed to get in there, and now.

Robin's gaze fell on his communicator, which he still tightly clutched in his hand. A plan popped into his head. It would cut off his only communication with the Titans, but he would be able to help Raven.

The rope around Geryon's neck snapped with the sound of a bullwhip cracking. Geryon immediately lunged at Robin, who, without thinking, rammed the side of his body into Geryon like a football linebacker.

The pain was excruciating. It was like Robin had shaved the right side of his body off, and then dove into a swimming pool full of lemon juice. Robin hissed in pain, but continued to push Geryon into the wall, ignoring the scraping claws and snapping fangs.

Robin held down every button on the communicator, until the screen turned a dark crimson. Twisting the communicator in his hand, Robin jammed the device into the freshly-created hole in Geryon's head, causing the inside of the creature's inky body to light up a blood red.

"Self-destruct," Robin gasped, gritting his teeth to stop himself from blacking out from the acid burns. "Clearance code… HYPERION!"

Robin dove away from Geryon, scraping along the floor on his uninjured side. Geryon dropped into a crouch, prepared to launch himself at Robin once again. Robin's heart sank. This time, he wouldn't be able to dodge Geryon's attack.

Suddenly, Geryon shuddered, like he had just shoved a fork into an electrical socket.

"Command Acknowledged," the communicator chirped in a mockingly cheery voice. The screen of the communicator went dark, plunging the entire maze into darkness again.

Geryon made one last noise, an odd mixture between a growl and a whimper. Then the labyrinth was shaken by an enormous explosion, creating a light so blinding and a blast so deafening that, for a moment, Robin thought that he had died and gone to hell. As the smoke cleared, a blinding light poured through an enormous hole in the labyrinth wall, the oily remains of Geryon splattered across the rubble.

Robin got to his feet unsteadily, and began hobbling towards the newly-created exit. As he climbed over the piles of rubble, Robin was greeted by an extremely strange sight. The room he had blasted into was elegant, to say the least, but that wasn't what caught Robin's attention. The hole had been created directly behind Dante, who had clicked off the bottom half of his mask, which was now resting on the expensive-looking desk in front of him. Across from him, on the other side of the desk, sat an angry-looking Raven, a parchment and a quill in front of her. And the two of them were… holding hands?

"What on earth is going on here?" Robin asked before he could stop himself. Both Raven and Dante whipped their heads in Robin's direction. To Robin's surprise, Dante's mask wasn't complete. Instead, the jaw piece was resting on the table, leaving Dante's entire mouth area exposed. Robin noted the paper-white skin and the ruby-red veins pulsing beneath the flesh. Okay, Robin had no idea what was happening here, but he was suddenly struck with the notion that Dante looked… familiar. Robin wasn't really able to identify the madman, but the shape of the face was tugging at a memory in Robin's head.

Dante released Raven's hands, snatching his mask off of the table and clicking it back into place. "Hello, Robin," the boy said calmly, the mask's sickly grin back in place. "What an… unexpected surprise. I was sure you would be in different part of the labyrinth. Perhaps in several places at once. No matter. There's always next time."

Raven stood up from the table, rolling up the contract and sticking it into her belt. She glanced over at Robin, and her eyes widened.

"Robin!" Raven warned, encasing her hand in a sphere of energy. "Behind you!"

Robin's body reacted before his mind processed the warning. He hit the ground less gracefully than he would have preferred. To be honest, he collapsed like a sack of bricks, too injured and tired to attempt any other sort of maneuver.

A roughly-carved black creature shot inches above Robin's head, the black puddles throughout the rubble beginning to reform and mold back into the monster. Raven leapt backwards from the desk, trying to put enough distance between herself and the creature so that she could unleash an attack safely.

"What is that thing?" she demanded. Robin wasn't completely sure if that was directed towards him or Dante, but either way, Robin was much too tired to answer.

Dante sighed, getting to his feet and grabbing his staff, as if he had just been called to work on a weekend. He slammed the cane on the ground, and the resulting wave of sparks engulfed Geryon. The beast howled like he had stuck his claws into an electrical socket, but vanished in a blast of scarlet sparks.

Dante coughed into his elbow, a tendril of steam escaping from between his lips. "My apologies. It appears my pet is a bit eager to please. Not matter."

Dante turned around, glancing at the collapsed Robin. He sighed in exasperation. "For Hell's sake, Robin, get to your feet. You can die in your own time, but it's quite rude to suffer when someone is speaking."

Robin would have just continued to lie on the ground just to spite Dante, but the skull-masked boy pounded his cane into the ground once more, causing a ripple of scarlet sparks to cascade along the ground towards Robin. Robin was quite sure that the magic did not have friendly intentions, let alone painless ones.

A blast of black energy bounced off the floor, intercepting the red sparks mid-flight. The sphere of magic whipped around like a boomerang, spinning directly back towards Raven's outstretched hand. Robin made a silent note to thank Raven the moment he could feel his legs again.

Midway through the return to Raven, however, the sphere was snatched out of midair by Dante, who quickly cupped the sphere with both hands, as if fearful of losing it. Robin glanced at Raven in confusion, but she just shook her head and mouthed, I'll explain later.

Dante crushed the sphere carefully in his hands, just like he had done with the first piece of Raven's magic that he had caught. Dante took a deep, pained breath, but Robin couldn't read the boy's hidden expression. Dante straightened up, as if nothing had happened.

"Right. Now back to business," Dante said quickly, as if trying to hide what he had just done. "Robin, it appears your friend here is being quite… uncooperative. I'd appreciate if you talked some sense into her."

Robin groaned, trying to get to his feet. Raven sidestepped Dante and knelt next to Robin, helping him to his feet. Robin leaned on Raven for support, biting his tongue to keep himself from gasping in pain. The acid still boiled against his skin, a sensation Robin couldn't say he was particularly fond of.

"I'm guessing you managed to make Dante angry?" Robin muttered, glancing at Raven.

Raven shrugged, as if it wasn't particularly challenging. "He's like a toddler. If you don't give him what he wants, he throws a tantrum."

Robin chuckled, despite the pain. "I'm not complaining. Argue with him as much as you want, he just threw me in a labyrinth."

Raven looked Robin over, raising an eyebrow. "One question. Did you get these wounds from whatever that creature was, or from one of your own stupid plans?"

Robin frowned. "The first one. Well, mostly the first one. Acid skin doesn't really make it easy to fight a monster."

Raven sighed, shaking her head. "You tackled it, didn't you."

Robin's face turned red. "No! Well, partially. That doesn't matter. I saved you, didn't I?"

Raven frowned. "I didn't need saving. I'm not the one covered with acid burns."

Robin rolled his eyes behind his mask. "Yeah, you were fine, you were holding hands with the enemy."

Now Raven's face turned red. "That wasn't- he was pinning me down."

Dante cleared his throat, waving his hand in the air. "Ah, hello? Supreme sorcerer here? Robin, in case you've forgotten, you're supposed to be convincing her to sign the contract."

Robin glanced at Raven, managing to stand by himself, albeit barely staying on his feet. "Contract?"

Raven sighed. "I'll explain later."

Robin nodded. It didn't really matter if he knew what was in the contract for now, as long as he knew Raven didn't sign it. He trusted her judgment.

"Raven," Robin said seriously, his expression hardening. "Do you want to sign the contract?"

Raven stared at him, her expression unwavering. "No," she said flatly.

Robin gave an over-exaggerated sigh, shaking his head and turning back to Dante. "Well, I tried."

Dante's eyes seemed to flare behind his mask. "That's it? That's your entire attempt?"

Robin shrugged. "Have you ever tried talking down Raven? After a minute or two, she's making you question your whole life. Not something I want to get into."

Dante growled behind his mask. "I'm going to be generous and give you one more chance to sign the contract. You have no earthly idea what this could cost me if you don't sign it."

Raven raised an eyebrow. "Well, when you put it that way…"

"…Then I'll try again," Robin finished. He turned back to Raven again seriously. "Raven, are you absolutely, positively, undeniably sure that you won't sign the contract?"

"Yes," Raven said flatly.

Robin shrugged, turning back to Dante. "I gave it my best."

Dante growled with frustration, slamming his cane into the ground. A solid red wave of magic blasted into Robin and Raven, sending them both flying back into the labyrinth. Robin shouted in pain as a volume of Edgar Allen Poe crashed down on his wounded shoulder, causing a firework of pain to erupt in his arm. More rubble and books would undoubtedly have crashed down onto Robin if Raven hadn't leapt to her feet so quickly and thrown up a shield around the two of them, keeping any more debris from striking the two Titans.

Dante stepped into the maze, practically glowing with sparking red magic. "I warned you," Dante growled, sealing the wall behind them with a blast of scarlet magic. "Magic may be hard to come by, but I have no qualms about spending some on an insolent, powerless vigilante and an uncooperative witch!"

Dante jabbed forward with the sharp, ruby-encrusted end of his cane. The tip shattered directly through Raven's energy shield, digging a deep gash into her arm in the process. Raven cried out, more in surprise than pain, but before either Robin or Raven could react, Dante held his cane aloft, the tip sparking blood-red.

"Dnoces Elcric!" Dante shouted furiously, spinning his staff so the bloodstained tip faced the ground. A scarlet lightning bolt blasted the ground, skidding along the tiles until it chanced upon the few remaining puddles of Geryon. Immediately, the puddles hardened and stretched, becoming thin and almost paper-like. The tar-like, papery skin began to wrap around a body that didn't exist, forming legs, arms, and a torso. An inky black head was quickly created, and, in a spark of sorcery, a pair of glowing, blood-red eyes emerged from the paper, the pupils dilated with hatred.

Robin heard Raven's breath catch in her throat. Personally, Robin didn't recognize the creature at first. Then something clicked in his head. If Robin's foil was Red-X, a ruthless thief that matched the Boy Wonder point for point in abilities, then Raven's would be…

"Malchior," Raven growled, black spheres of magic sparking in her hands. Blood streamed down her wrist, but she didn't seem to notice.

To Robin's surprise, the new Geryon tilted its head, as if recognizing the name. The blood-red eyes locked onto Raven hungrily.

"Hello, Raven," Geryon said calmly, to Robin's shock. Apparently this version of Geryon was more intelligent than the Red-X monstrosity. "It has been a long time, hasn't it?"

"Not long enough," Raven growled, her magic sparking dangerously. Robin wasn't sure who was the most dangerous person in the room at the moment, but it certainly wasn't the stoplight-colored kid sprawled on the floor.

Dante chuckled darkly. "Intelligence. That's interesting. That usually doesn't occur unless the victim and the subject were particularly… close. This shall be interesting."

Dante glanced at Geryon. "You know your duties. But I want the girl alive."

The mask's sickly grin seemed to spark with energy. "But make sure the boy is dead. In retrospect, he seems like he's more trouble than he's worth."


(Note: I do not own Teen Titans) Wow, that was a really long time between updates. I give my sincerest apologies. Hopefully this chapter makes up for it, and I'll try to update more promptly. Thank you to everyone reading and following this story, despite the wait. I hope you enjoy.