Disclaimer: I do not own any of this. The Teen Titans are not my idea and belong to their rightful owners. Again, I own none of this.
Ch. 4-My Way
Slade smiled to himself. He had been doing that a lot lately; letting his limited happiness get the better of him. Yet that was alright…he had a reason to celebrate. There was Robin, lying only two feet away from him, slowly emerging from unconsciousness. Soon the boy would be his. Oh, how Slade would rejoice the day that Robin would bow before him and the forces of evil. And it would all start with the boy waking up. It wouldn't be long now; Robin's stubbornness even while he was on the brink would show and he would wake up any minute.
As if on cue, the boy started to cough and he started to wake up. Slade turned around as the boy opened his eyes, and even though they covered by his thick mask, Slade could still sense the tiny moment of innocence and confusion of the boy as he just opened his eyes. *He looks so vulnerable.*
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(Robin's POV)
As I opened my eyes, a dim light filled my vision. Then, as they began to focus, they honed in on the alarming figure before me. As I tried to go into a fighting position to defend myself, I realized I was tied to a chair.
"Slade," I cringed as my voice cracked, but I still stayed completely focused on the man.
"Robin," the madman responded. Then a little bit of hostility left his voice and he spoke again, "Are you okay?"
*Am I okay? Am I OKAY? Sure, besides being tied to a chair stuck underground with my worst nightmare, I'm doing fabulous!* I thought sarcastically. But maybe Slade did just want to know if I was okay. A building did just collapse on me.
"I'm fine," I hissed.
"Good," Slade continued, "Because I need you to do me a little favor. You see, when I saved you from being destroyed by that building, that little brat Gizmo escaped with my technology. So I need you to go and collect it for me."
"Are you insane?" I snarled. "Why would I help you? I hate you!"
"Perhaps you didn't hear me. I just saved you from being buried under rubble, and then I brought you here into my headquarters and healed you," Slade argued. "Like it or not Robin you owe me your life and heroes often repay that debt no matter who it is to."
"Why can't you get it?" I snapped. "You'd probably do a better job than me anyway."
"Because I'm asking you, Robin. A debt's a debt. Are you going to help me or not?" Slade countered.
"I'm not helping you," I hissed.
"Fine," Slade shrugged his shoulders and suddenly started walking towards me. My heart rate quickened and a feeling of fear began to rise up in chest, but I held it back. When Slade was right in front of me, he reached out his hand and…began untying my bonds?
*Is he seriously letting me go?* I thought as Slade untied both my ankles and cut the big chord that strapped my chest to the chair. After undoing one of my wrists, Slade stopped.
"Now listen, Robin," Slade ordered, "because I don't like repeating myself. I'm going to cut this last bond of yours and you'll be totally free. When I do so, you have two options. You can either be the good guy that you claim you are and help me or you can walk away without repaying the good act done to you. The exit is through that door, down the hall to the left, and then a right at the third intersection and through the door at the end of the hall. Your choice."
And before I could even blink an eye, a knife came swiftly out of Slade's pocket and sliced the rope that tied my right wrist to the chair. My whole being was screaming RUN! GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE! WHO CARES ABOUT SOME STUPID DEBT JUST RUN!
And yet, as I slowly rose from my chair, I couldn't get myself to walk out that door. Because something Slade said was gluing my feet to the ground.
You can either be the good guy that you claim you are and help me or you can walk away without repaying the good act done to you.
And that's when I realized why Slade had released me. Even if I did escape, he still would win today. If I turned my back and left, I wouldn't be the good guy. Because once I had sworn that I would always repay the acts of kindness done to me, and if I ran away now, I would be running away from who I was, which was exactly what Slade wanted me to do. So I turned to face the madman and spoke through my teeth,
"Where's Gizmo?"
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(Robin's POV)
I hated Slade. More than anything else in this world, I hated that man with an undying passion. Leave it to Slade to come up with a trap where to be the good guy I had to be the bad guy and return a weapon (which Slade probably stole to begin with) to a psycho.
Still, the peaceful night air was exhilarating. Even as I jumped from building to building, getting ready to steal in my all black jumpsuit, (Slade had insisted that I change because my uniform was in shreds) I felt strangely at home. Darkness had always been a place of protection for me; a place where I could keep my sometimes dangerous secrets away from everything, everyone.
"Robin, you're coming up on your destination soon," Slade's voice rang through my ear, causing me to jump a little. The last time Slade could talk to me like this was-
*No, don't think about it! Just stay focused!* I thought to myself. I couldn't think about that time again. And still, as I got closer and closer to my target, my mind ignored me and the memories began to rush back.
You won't admit it, but at some level, you enjoyed stealing for me.
*No, not now! Alright, deep breaths Robin, you can do this! You are not going to have a panic attack!*
It was a thrill, wasn't it?
*Deep breaths, focus on the rooftops you've passed. There's one, and now here comes another.*
You're going to keep stealing Robin.
Another rooftop passed. Another breath taken.
And you're going to keep getting that thrill.
Rooftop. Breath. Rooftop. Breath.
Suddenly my destination loomed out in the distance. My heart rate began to slow down as I skidded to a stop. New memories flooded my mind.
Leave. Him. Alone!
We know, and we don't care.
We're your friends Robin, we are not leaving without you.
A smile formed on my face as my memories with Slade faded away. *It was just in the moment*, I decided to myself. *Just grab the gun, give it to Slade, and then you'll be done with this forever. Actually, after you grab the gun, why not just return to the authorities? Who cares about a stupid debt anyway? Slade owes you his life from when you helped him with Trigon.*
My smile grew bigger. Yes, that was what I would do. I would steal the gun from these criminals and return it to its rightful owners. Slade could just go suck it, I wasn't about to hand him stolen technology on a silver platter.
As I got ready to jump onto the building, I noticed something happening on the street below. When I looked down, the bright gleam of the gun caught my eye. It was in a protective case, but even that couldn't hide it. I watched as it was loaded onto a nearby truck. Sudden determination raced through my veins as I watched them close up the truck.
*The High Five must have known Slade would come after it,* I thought. *Well, they won't be suspecting me. All I have to do now is slip in, grab the gun (maybe change afterwards so I didn't look so suspicious), and then return it. I still had a lot of explaining to do to the Titans, but that could wait. It was me and those criminals driving the truck now, and the gun was mine.
"Robin, I just found out-
"Be quiet Slade!" I snapped. Nothing was breaking my concentration now. Before I could even register my movements, I had already flipped off the rooftop, flung myself using another flag pole, and had landed on the roof of the truck. It hadn't gained speed yet so I managed to stand up. My landing must not have been quiet though, because I could feel vibrations in the truck walls.
*Well at least they aren't clueless,* I thought as I headed to the back of the truck and swung the loading door open. There stood about ten guards, whose surprise quickly left as they took out their guns to fire. But before one of them could get a shot out, my bo staff was out and had clipped the guns out of their hands.
There was an exhilarating feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I realized that was the thrill.
*You see Slade,* I smiled as I took down each of the guards with ease, *I don't need to be stealing in order to feel the thrill.*
"Robin!" Slade yelled.
"I'm almost done!" I hissed. A guard came after me but I made an uppercut to his jaw which knocked him right out. Another tried to tackle me but he met the end of my bo staff. I turned around to attack but realized all the guards were on the ground.
*Yet not a single killed,* I thought to myself. *Although they'll definitely have bruises. Still, these criminals will be back sooner than later.* Then I focused my attention of the case placed in a corner of the van. After a few quick slices with a knife Slade gave me just for the case, the case was gone and I came face to face with my prize. Slowly picking it up, I had just lifted it off its mount when a timer went off on the mount.
"Slade, why is there a timer?" I asked. The red numbers showed twenty minutes left until…something.
"Oh, and did I forget to mention that you need to return the gun to me and my power source in twenty minutes otherwise the fragile particles in it will explode causing an explosion that could wipe out half of Jump?" the amused voice on the other end made me want to crush the gun in my hands.
Of course.
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The way back to Slade's was not fun to stay the least. When I finally got there, I placed the gun into the psycho's hands.
"You tricked me!" I hissed.
"I believe I asked you to retrieve the gun and bring it back to me," Slade pointed out. "The only thing I didn't tell you was that there would be a time limit, so to speak.*
Bristling with anger, I turned and stalked out the door.
"Oh and Robin?" Slade called, but I had already sprinted out, tears beginning to sting my eyes.
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When I finally returned to Titans Tower, it was almost dawn.
*Great,* I thought. *I've been gone for a whole night with no explanation.* Walking through the doors, I expected to see my team waiting for me with glares on their faces, but when I went in they weren't waiting for me. They weren't even near the doors. When I finally found them, they were all sitting in the main room, watching the news.
"Guys, I know you're mad but I can explain," I started but Starfire interrupted.
"Please friend, come and watch with us," Starfire asked. "We will do the yelling and arguing later."
"There's been a robbery," Raven explained.
"Who committed it?" I asked. They were showing scenes of a deserted alleyway, and it felt like I knew that alley. Maybe we had fought in it before.
"They do not know," Starfire said. "It was a couple hours ago, during night, and there were no cameras."
*A couple hours ago? If I didn't have pay off that stupid debt I could've stopped it!* I thought, outraged.
"What was taken?" I asked.
"Shhh! That's what we're trying to find out!" Beast Boy hissed.
Turning my attention towards the news, the sudden image of an all too familiar gun came into my view, accompanied by a voice over of one of the victims of the robbery.
"We had just gotten it back from another group of criminals," the man spoke, "when we were suddenly attacked. He made off with the gun. It's in the hands of a criminal!" The interviewer went on to ask questions, but I couldn't hear anything. The only words I could see seared themselves across my mind leaving a scar that read,
And sooner or later, you will see things my way.
Wow, that was a long one! Sorry it took me a couple days to edit but I was trying to get it just right. Let me know what you think! I think this is my best chapter so far!