Chapter 8
The Plan Part 1: Escape
A grey dawn met weary eyes as everyone slowly sat up. Raven, Wild Cat and Question had stayed up all night. Timmy, Teether and Melvin had fallen asleep sometime during the night and leaned against Raven. She held them close and felt content. Batgirl and Red-X sat on the perch as lookouts. Aqualad and Tramm soon climbed out of the Lake to join everyone in the cave. Robin was up and standing at the entrance. Today was the day that he would see Batman again. Batgirl's words rung in his head.
"Batman's going to be happy to see you – however much he doesn't look it. You say: I thought you could use a hand, old friend."
"Robin," Starfire said, joining him at the door. "Are you sure about this plan?"
"Of course I am, Star," Robin said.
"Are you sure you do not want us to come with you?" she asked.
"You have your assignments, we'll stick with the plan," he said. Starfire didn't look sure. His plan was somewhat reckless. If anything went wrong, it would cost them all. Before she could say anything else, Robin turned around and addressed the others.
"It's time. You all know what to do. Cyborg, wait five minutes and then come. I should have done what I needed to do by then," he said.
"Five minutes on the clock. Good luck, Robin," Cy said.
"As for everyone else, get into your places by then. We need to be ready," Robin said.
"But…" Star started. Robin smiled at her and she smiled back. They shared a hug, and Robin ran off with Red-X and Batgirl. Red Star came out a moment later, placed a hand on her shoulder and led her back inside. The plan was in action.
Five minutes later…
Blackfire walked into the cell block laughing. Two robots followed her, dragging a limp body between them.
"Honestly, this is the best you could do?" she said. "I expected so much more from the greatest league of heroes, but I guess I was wrong."
"What are you talking about?" Flash asked.
"I'm talking about this," Blackfire said, stepping aside. The robots stepped forward and tossed the limp body in front of them. He immediately tried to get up. It was Robin. "I found him in the control room attempting to disable it. Of all the heroes you could've sent, you sent one powerless one. Come on."
"Robin!" Batman called. Robin glanced over at him and faced Blackfire again.
"Don't underestimate one hero. I've taken villains much bigger than you," he said. He reached down to his belt only to find that it wasn't there. One of the robots held it up.
"Oh, ya, I took that, just in case you decided to try something," she said. "Now, why don't you be a good boy and get into the cell I've prepared for you." Robin chuckled. Blackfire frowned at him. "What's so funny?" she asked.
"You and your petty cell. You clearly don't know the first thing about being a Titan," Robin said. Right on cue, a green bird flew in and snatched Robin's Utility belt, dropping it into his hands. "You might want to turn around." Blackfire did and saw, Starfire, Raven, Cyborg and Beast Boy, all standing behind her.
"Titan rule number one, no one goes in alone," Beast Boy said.
"Titan rule number two, always have a plan," Cyborg said.
"And Titan rule number three, Titans go!" Robin shouted. Starfire immediately lunged at Blackfire, pinning her to the wall. Cyborg shot one of the robots with his sonic canon and Raven slashed the last one. Blackfire fired her eye beams and Starfire was shot out of the room. Robin and Beast Boy took up where she left off, but were soon knocked away as well. Suddenly, Red-X appeared behind her and shocked her until she passed out. Batgirl dropped in the room afterwards and looked disappointed.
"I told you to leave some for me," she said.
"I said if there were any left," Red-X said. Starfire was back on her feet and ready to blast again.
"Everybody down!" she shouted. Everyone threw themselves to the ground as she unleashed a powerful star blast that shattered the glass. Everyone slowly got up, including Batman, who paused to look around and saw Robin offering his hand to him.
"I thought you could use a hand, old friend," he said. Batman grinned like he sometimes did and allowed himself to be helped up.
"Hate to interrupt this reunion, but we've got trouble," Red-X said. He was right. Someone had sounded the alarm.
"Raven, can you get us all out of here?" Robin asked.
"Not all at once," Raven said.
"Take as many as you can and meet the others, we'll find our own way out," Robin said. Raven nodded and took almost everyone except the Titans, Red-X, Batgirl and the original Justice League.
"So how do we get out of here?" Wonder Woman asked.
"I guess the front door is out," Beast Boy said. No one liked his small joke.
"Air vents," Batgirl said.
"I can't fit in there," Cyborg pointed out.
"Forget that, come on!" Red-X said. He led the way out the door and down one of the hallways. The Titans followed hesitantly – he was their enemy after all – but they had little choice.
"Where are we going?" Lantern asked. Red-X didn't answer. Behind them, everyone could hear some other villains following at top speed. Red-X appeared to know where he was going, until they hit a dead end.
"Great, just great," Flash said. Superman stepped forward and punched a large hole in the wall.
"Come on," he said. Red-X materialized on another building, Diana grabbed Flash, Superman grabbed Batman, Starfire grabbed Robin and Beast Boy shifted into a pterodactyl and grabbed Cyborg and they all flew out the new hole – and into a war zone. Everyone was fighting. The newly released prisoners were joined by Slade, Shayera, Thunder, Lightning and Titans East to hold off the villains.
"We need to get back to our hide out. Everyone, fall back to my position!" Robin said as Starfire landed on the ground. Everyone heard him and they all regrouped, still holding off the villains. "Raven, now!" he shouted, as he threw a disk. It landed in the middle of the villains and released a powerful white light. Raven enclosed them with her energy as it went off. Once she was sure that everyone was a safe enough distance away, she released them and disappeared herself.
It was over. Everyone was safe and that was all that mattered. Raven led the procession through the forest while everyone conversed quietly within the group. Batman and Robin walked side by side, Aquaman was talking to Aqualad, Bumblebee and Cyborg were enjoying a nice conversation, Shayera talked with Green Lantern and so on.
"You've got a team of sidekicks," Batman said.
"They're my friends, that's all that matters," Robin said. They both turned at Batgirl laughing at Beast Boy's jokes. "Actually, Titans East and my team are the only real teams. Everyone else is more or less spread out and act on their own." The cave came into view soon enough. Kid Flash was standing at the entrance with Melvin, Timmy and Teether.
"Raven!" Timmy called. He ran forward with Melvin and Teether. Raven bent down to greet them.
"It's about time you got back. These three were causing Jinx to go nuts," Kid Flash said.
"Were you guys good?" Raven asked.
"Of course we were, Raven," Melvin said. Kid Flash suddenly looked up and noticed who was standing there.
"Oh, hey Flash," he said. Flash looked just about as surprised as anyone.
"You didn't tell us you had an apprentice," Wonder Woman said.
"Was I supposed to?" he asked.
"I hear voices," Zatana said, leading the others out. Hawk and Dove were exceptionally happy to be reunited. The introductions were soon over and everyone started to get settled inside. Even those who were injured got up to say hello. Vigilante greeted Shining Knight as he came in.
"Howdy partner," he said.
"Vigilante my friend, how have you been?" Shining Knight asked.
"Been better, but I'm healing up quite nicely. Raven's been taking good care of us. The girl knows what she's doing," Vigilante said. Raven smiled with Teether in her arms and let Melvin and Timmy lead her away.
"On first impression, I didn't take Raven to be much for kids," Vixen said.
"Neither did we, but they seemed to grow on her," Beast Boy said. Batman slipped away to talk to J'ohn.
"J'ohn, can you do me a favour?" he asked.
"You want me to read Raven's mind," J'ohn said. Batman didn't look impressed. "I didn't need to read your mind to figure that out. I have tried to read all their minds, but it's hers that I can't. Almost like she sensed me and blocked me out."
"Can you tell me anything about her?" Batman asked.
"If you're concerned about who Robin has chosen as his friends, I wouldn't. Robin has known them for five years. He has good judgement," J'ohn said.
"You don't need to be a telepath to know that there's something different about her," Etrigan said. "She's a demon, I just know it."
"Batman, we've got first watch," Robin said, walking up beside them. "Is something wrong?" They all looked at each other and walked away.
"Nothing's wrong," Batman said. They walked outside together and Robin leapt up to the perch followed by Batman. "Why did you want us to have first watch?"
"I figured it'd be a good time to catch up," Robin said. Batman grinned.
"Batgirl talked you into this," he said.
"Forget talked, she threatened to knock me senseless if I didn't," Robin said, chuckling.
"Okay then, let's start with your team mates," Batman said.
