A/N: Kay, so i'm putting the author's note up here, cause I felt like it took away from the ending if I put it at the bottom. Criticism and comments are welcome! Please review!

Starfire and Beastboy were walking down the west wing towards the infirmary, in search of whoever had triggered the alarm. At the same time on the other side of the tower, Cyborg and Raven had gotten a lock on the infultrator's position.

"Star? BB? We've got a lock on the perp! Whoever they are is in the base-" Cyborg immediately stopped, hearing a scream echoing down the hallways of the tower. He couldn't tell who the scream belonged to though, friend or foe. "You guys here that?"

"Uh, DUDE! What do you think! Who was that?"

"You mean it wasn't you being stupid?" asked Raven, immediately worried, despite her light words. "Whoever broke into the tower is in the basement!"

"Is not that the location in which Robin is?"

Every titans' blood ran cold at the implication of what Starfire had said, as they heard another scream. It definately was Robin. The four remaining titans ran towards the basement, all the while Beastboy shouting, "I told him going in the basement was a bad idea!" They met up at the door, dread knawing at the pit of their stomachs, seeing that it was closed. Robin would've left the door open. Starfire tried the door. Locked.

"X'al! We must get to Robin!" She was ready to bust down the door, when "Eep!" she jumped back in surprise, metal doors falling over the regular ones. Someone, Robin or otherwise, had put the tower on lockdown.

"Just great!" muttered Raven, taking out her communicator. "Robin? Robin do you read me? Hello? Robin!"

Her only response was static.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~J.J.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Robin heard Raven calling him over his communicator, and immediately dived down to where he figured his communicator was located. He saw the blinking red light and was about to grab it, when a swift kick to the ribs kept him from going anywhere. He screamed again, half from the pain, and half trying to have his friends find him. His only answer was the tower going into lockdown. Just. GREAT.

"Oh, my little J.J... you don't really think that yelling will get you anywhere, do you?" Robin got up, backing away. "If anything would help you now, it'd be a great big LAUGH. HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

His eyes widened in terror. Any training instilled in him was forgotten, and replaced by terror.

"Now come on sonny boy! Give me a smile, why don't you?" Robin just shook his head.

"No... NO! You're dead! I-I killed you! You-you're not here! This isn't real!" Another laugh. Another scream.

"Oh, but I am. It seems like all of you bat and bird rodents alike have too many lives for your own good, you know. None of you ever stay dead! Why should I?" Laughter.

"NO! YOU'RE NOT REAL!" Robin, still backing up, tripped over a box and fell on the floor. Seeing the smiling face in front of him despite the darkness, he scrambled back farther, alarmed when he felt the cool, concrete wall pressed against his back.

"I'm as real as you, bird brain! And this is, too!" Quicker than Tim could follow, the glint of a knife cought his eye as it zoomed passed his face. He shouted in surprise, feeling the sting of cold metal on his cheeks.

"Come on, Jay Jay! Give your old man a big old laugh! Just follow my lead!" Another slash across his face, as he struggled to get away. "Ready, at the count of three! One, two... Three!" Lightening was flashing somewhere off in the distance at that moment, Tim was sure of it.

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Hearing another scream from the basement caused the titans to double their efforts to override the lockdown and break down the metal barrier.

"Raven, can't you just transport us down there?" asked Beastboy. They were getting desperate. So desperate that Beastboy wouldn't have even minded the creepy feeling he got every time she used her magic to transport them.

With a twinge of guilt, she shook her head. "I can't. It's too dangerous. I need to be focused to transport anyone, but I haven't meditated recently. If I tried, we'd probably end up in another dimension."

"What about that time with Slade and the dust?" asked Cyborg. "You went in Rob's mind or something, didn't you? Can't you do that again?"

"I already tried. It didn't work."

"Is the guy really that stuborn that he'd block off his mind? The man needs help!" She shook her head, confused.

"No... It's like... He isn't trying to block his mind. He doesn't want to. He just... is. It's as if he isn't..." she trailed off.

"As if he is not what?" asked Starfire, worried about what the answer might be.

"As if he isn't completely with us."

"WHAT?" shouted Beastboy and Starfire simultaniously. "Are you saying he's-?" Raven's eyes widened in surprise, realizing what she had implied.

"Oh, Azar, no! He's not dead, but he might be on the verge of unconciousness. He's thinking irrationally. Some of his emotions are too powerful at the moment. I can't get through to him."

"But why does he not answer his communicator? Why does he scream?" asked Starfire. "And also-"

"Who's down there with him?" Cyborg finished.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~J.J.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Why do I seem to get in these situations every time I come down here? Robin thought to himself. If only he could fix the wires. If only he could reach the back up generator. If only he could override the lockdown.

If only...

If only he could escape.

Trying to stay awake was becoming a challenge, though whether from the loss of blood, being beaten to a pulp, or being scared two inches from his life he didn't know. When fighting the psychotic clown in front of him- well, that's a joke already. He wasn't fighting. He couldn't. He was too scared.

The monster in front of Tim had tortured him.

Beaten him.

Broken him.

Made him spill every secret he had ever kept.

Dumped chemicals on him.

Ripped out his teeth.

Broke his bones.

Made him scared to live.

Scared to die.

But worst of all, the madman had made him KILL. Though in the end, the joke was on the clown. He died, not Batman. Not who Tim was supposed to kill. Not who he almost DID kill. He also made Robin FEAR. It was no secret that Robin had been and still was beyond scared of the clown. Who wasn't?

After all, encounters with the crazy had made even Nightwing (who grew up in a CIRCUS for cripes sake!) wary of clowns. Those same encounters had haunted Batman's dreams. He was the madman who had caused the rift between the original Batman and Robin, via a few bullets to the sholder. The psychopath that killed the second Robin. It was only inevitable that something would happen to Tim. And it had.

Tim went crazy becuase of him. Betrayed his family, becuase of him. And he wouldn't, didn't, get away with it. "You're not reall... you're not real..." Robin muttered to himself, as he stealthily inched his way over to the backup generator.

"Oh, what's the matter, bird brain? Affraid of the dark? Hahahahahahhahahahahahahaha!" a ghostly pale hand slammed down on the button needed, and the power came back on with a burst of white light. Robin blinked rappidly, trying to ajust to the light. But when he had, the last echoes of the dreaded laugh were fading.

HE was gone.

Robin wasn't surprised. Honestly, he was still more petrified than anything. He breathed in a sigh of relief when he realized his friends were finally able to override the lockdown. He would be free. For now.

He would go upstairs, clean up the blood he knew he was covered in, get some rest, then figure out how the hell the J-... he was back. How he got in.

As Robin limped to the stairs, he caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror that had been down there for storage. He stopped cold, eyes widening more than he thought humanly possible, gasping for breath. He had seen the knife marks.

He had a smile carved into his face.

Robin tried to compose himself before facing his friends, almost done overriding the lockdown. With a bit of a struggle he unclenched his fists. As soon as he did, a crumpled up piece of paper fell to the floor. Hands shaking, Robin picked up the slip, and unfolded it.

He felt sick.

Written in his own blood was a message:

'Why so serious?'