Author's Notes: There is a bit of angst in this chapter. Now as I've said I'm not very good with the whole angst thing, I prefer to read, and write, stories that make you feel good. But unfortunately its integral to the story. It won't travel on to the next chapter though, so if you like that kind of thing you'll have to get your fill now. Enjoy.
Teen Titans: Blood, Earth and Shade
Author: The Omakeer
Disclaimer: Teen Titans belong to Warner Brothers and DC Comics
Beta'd By: Daybreak25
Chapter Ten: The Boy Wonder
Cyborg was trying to take his mind off of current events.
The recent revelation of Robin's sex life had struck a nerve with the metal teen. He could understand the Boy Wonder's need to for secrecy. It was all part of being a superhero to keep secrets. And considering he used to work with Batman, he could see how that would make him emotionally distant. That didn't stop it from hurting.
Cyborg had shared a lot with the Boy Wonder. He had talked about his dates, his crushes; he had even talked about a few fantasies. Admittedly it had mostly been under cocky, male bravado, but he knew that Robin would have detected the genuine feelings underneath. In fact the only girl that Cyborg hadn't mentioned he liked was Jinx, but that was only because she had once trashed the tower, and because Robin's thoughts on any villain other than Slade were unknown. Another thing he kept to himself.
But Cyborg wasn't trying to think about all that now. He was busy downloading all the files from the hard drive Raven had taken from the Master of Games. She gave it to him after he came back from the Pizza Parlour with the other Titans. She hadn't gone into details about how she got it, but Cyborg had the sinking feeling that a very expensive piece of hardware had been destroyed in the process.
The files were on every single super powered being Cyborg had ever heard of, and quite a few he hadn't. They were all incredibly detailed, listing not only power level, but names, addresses, personal histories, friends, acquaintances, and even lovers. There was stuff here that even the Justice League's files didn't have.
Cyborg paused as he came up to Robin's file. He was very tempted to open it. A part of him told him not to, that it would be betraying Robin's trust to read it, that his friend would tell him more about himself when he was ready. But another part of him, the part he really wanted to listen too, told him that Robin might never tell him anything and that this was possibly his only chance to answer all the questions he had about his friend. Cyborg sat staring at his computer screen for almost ten minutes, his hand hovering over the mouse, waiting for his brain to make a decision.
He never got the chance to decide however as the communicator in his arm beeped. Cyborg looked at the caller ID and saw it was Robin. The paranoid part of him though that Robin was calling him to tell him not to read his file. He shook the thought from his head as he answered the call. Not even Robin was that good. At least he hoped not.
/Hello/ Cyborg froze. That wasn't Robin's voice. He didn't need the voice recognition software in his cybernetic ear to know that, /your friend Robin is here with me. We are in the Swan Hotel on Victoria and 42nd. We are on the top floor, room 7B./ While he was still in shock, Cyborg's robotic brain was searching for blueprints on the hotel, /you'd best hurry; I think he might need some medical attention./
The next thing Cyborg heard was a gunshot, which was obvious even to his human ear. He brain shut down with shock for a few seconds. By the time he finally realised he needed to act, he was thankful to find his body was already running towards the Ops-Room. Sometimes it paid to have a part robotic brain take over for you.
He ran into the room and straight up to Raven, pulling her away from her conversation with Terra and on to her feet, "I need you to teleport me to the Victoria and 42nd, right now."
Raven was shocked by Cyborg's actions and tried to protest, "Cyborg I was…"
"NOW RAVEN!" Cyborg yelled scaring everyone in the room, "I've no time for stupid questions – just do it!"
With a flash of black energy, both Titans were gone.
When they arrived on Victoria and 42nd, Cyborg didn't waste anytime answering Raven's questions, he just ran to the Swan Hotel, barging through the doors.
Cyborg ignored everyone inside, shoving aside those that got in his way and storming up the stairs, the shock absorbers in his feet the only things stopping him from smashing them to pieces.
As he reached the seventh floor and found the right room, his cybernetic eye scanned through the door with thermal imaging. When he saw to cold bodies and one still warm, all three of them on the floor, Cyborg wasted no time in smashed the door to splinters.
He quickly assessed the room. There were two obviously dead men, both with bullet wounds to the head and with plenty of blood around them. Robin lay on the floor in front of them, topless with what was left of the top half of his uniform smouldering on the floor near by. He was also laying in what Cyborg guessed must be his own blood.
Moving quickly, Cyborg picked up Robin's communicator and the book lying next to it, he assumed it was his as it had his name on the cover. He pulled the sheets from the bed in the corner and wrapped Robin in it before he picked him up. He tried desperately to ignore the blood trails coming from every orifice in the Boy Wonder's face.
"Oh my god."
Cyborg turned to the door at the sound of the voice. Raven had finally caught up with him. She was covering her mouth with both hands and it looked like tears were welling up in her eyes.
"Take us back to the tower, Raven," Cyborg said urgently, "we need to get to the Med-Lab."
Raven didn't try to question him this time. With another flash of black energy, the Titans Med-Lab was suddenly all around them, Cyborg rushing to work immediately.
Cyborg placed Robin on the nearest bed, throwing the cheap hotel sheets to the side, and activating the medical scanners. It took five seconds to scan Robin's physiology and diagnose him. Cyborg frowned in confusion.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Raven asked, unable to hide the panic in her voice, "what's wrong with him? Is he going to be okay?"
Cyborg ignored all of her questions as he looked at the results of the scan. According to it the only thing Robin was suffering from was extreme exhaustion. That definitely didn't account for the blood that he saw, or how pale Robin was.
Feeling the need to do a more thorough check, Cyborg added various electrodes to Robin's body and head. He peeled of Robin's mask then paused. He needed to check how his eyes responded, but he didn't know whether or not Robin would want him to see his eye colour. He ultimately decided that making sure Robin wasn't in any danger was more important right now.
But as he held open Robin's eye to check his pupils, Raven's shocked gasp drew his attention, "what's wrong Raven?"
"His… his eyes," Raven said, her hands covering her mouth, "they're… red."
By the time Cyborg was confident that there was nothing wrong with Robin it was one o'clock in the morning. The other Titans had all turned up once they had heard what happened from Raven. They were all very concerned and wanted to help in some way. Cyborg eventually had to kick them all out of the Med-Lab just to get any work done.
When he eventually decided he had to go and recharge his power cell, he had to practically order the others to go to bed. He even had to convince Terra to drag Raven to her room, and secretly slip her a sedative, just to make sure she got some sleep.
The following morning and Cyborg entered to Med-Lab bright and early to check Robin was still okay. Not that he needed to as his systems were linked to all of Robin's monitors. If there was the slightest chance that Robin was in danger, Cyborg would be the first to know about it.
Cyborg was barely in the room for five minutes when Raven walk in, quickly followed by Terra. Raven glared at Cyborg but didn't say anything, she moved over next to Robin's bed, placing her hands over his body and making them glow with magical energy.
"What are you doing Raven?" Cyborg asked, moving to stand on the opposite side of Robin's bed. He didn't want her to try healing when he wasn't even sure what was wrong with Robin.
"I sensed a powerful magical aura in Robin that's never been there before," Raven said, moving her hands up and down the length of Robin's body, "it's like nothing I've even felt before. I was going to try and sense what it was last night but somebody made me go to bed." She shot Cyborg another glare before continuing to scan Robin's body.
"Is that what's wrong with him?" Cyborg asked. He didn't particularly like magic. It seemed too wild to him, too chaotic. And, unlike learning how to make a computer or make a sonic cannon, it wasn't something everybody could do. And just having a few people, most of them slightly deranged, have the power to basically rewrite reality was just bad as far as he was concerned. Especially when it hurt his friends.
"It must be," Raven said with a sigh, "unless you can think of a reason why he's so pale when the scanners say he hasn't lost any blood. And why his eyes are suddenly red."
"His eyes are red?" Terra asked, clearly shocked. When Raven just nodded yes, she let out a disappointed sigh, "damn, he had such beautiful blues eyes."
"Wait, what?" Cyborg said, looking to Terra, "how the hell do you know what colour his eyes were?"
"He… showed them to me," Terra said, unsure what the problem was, "it was during a mission a couple of days ago."
"He just showed you?" Cyborg asked in a disbelieving tone, "why?"
"I… asked him to."
Cyborg was about to go into a rant about how Robin never showed him when he asked, with a whole sub-rant asking what made Terra so special, when he realised something and stopped himself.
He had never asked Robin if he could see his eyes.
Cyborg felt like kicking himself. Of all the numerous unanswered questions he had about the Boy Wonder, he had only ever asked him about what girls he had slept with. He felt like a jerk. Robin probably didn't want to talk about who he had slept with because he was respectful of women. And here he was moaning because he didn't have answers to questions he never even bothered to ask.
Maybe he was right and Robin wouldn't tell him anything about his personal life. But he'd never know unless he asked. Cyborg made a silent promise to himself to sit down with his friend and have a frank talk about their lives. And possibly make it up to Robin for ever doubting him.
He pushed those thoughts a side for now to concentrate on getting Robin back on his feet. "Is there anything you can do to help him?"
"I don't know," Raven said, stopping her hands from glowing and putting them at her side, "it doesn't seem malevolent from what I'm sensing. If anything, whatever is inside him seems to be quite beneficial, but I can't be a hundred percent. I could check my books but it seems like a better idea to call the League. They have magic users that have been practicing for decades. But, when you call them, make sure then they don't send Zatanna. We don't exactly get along."
Cyborg didn't get to make the call as the alert alarm sounded, there was crime to fight. Cyborg, Raven and Terra were about to head to the Ops-Room to find out what the trouble was when Robin sat bolt upright on the bed, his heartbeat spiking and his wide eyes darting about rapidly.
"Robin, lay down, you need your rest," Raven said as she and Terra try to force him back down on the bed.
"No… I'm… needed…" Robin said. He was obviously still tired, but the surge in adrenaline was keeping him awake.
"Robin, please," Terra said trying to hold him down; even tired he was still stronger than her, "you were attacked last night. You still haven't fully recovered."
"Doesn't… matter…" Robin said, shaking his head, "people still… need help…"
"We can do this without you," Raven insisted.
Cyborg didn't bother trying to reason with him. He simply injected Robin with a sedative. Robin's eyes slowly fluttered shut as he fell back on the bed asleep, his breathing and heartbeat evening out.
"That ought to keep him out for a couple of hours," Cyborg said as he moved towards the door, "that'll give us plenty of time to sort out whatever crime is being committed. We'll be back before he knows it. Literally."
As Raven followed Cyborg to the Ops-Room Terra held back, giving Robin a quick kiss on the forehead. "Feel better," she said before running after the others.
No one saw Robin's heartbeat start to pickup again.
The mood in the T-Car wasn't very positive.
With Robin being in the Med-Lab, the Titans confidence was shot. Even though they had fought a few successful missions while Robin was in Gotham, most of the Titans could still remember the three times they hadn't had the Boy Wonder at their sides and had failed miserably. Even though admittedly two of those times they had been fighting Robin.
The Titans were being called out to deal with a few members of the HIVE that where tearing up an older section of Jump City, full of abandoned factories. There was really no point to their rampage as most of the factories were scheduled to be torn down or turned into apartments soon anyway. Even Starfire, who was naive about most things, could see this was a set up.
When they were still far enough away that the HIVE wouldn't notice them, Cyborg used his telescopic vision to see who they were dealing with. Mammoth and Gizmo were there as usual, along with Private HIVE and See-More, whose arm was in a sling for some reason. Various copies of Billy Numerous were there too, along with the red eyed, green skinned alien wearing a blue costume with an arrow pointing upwards on his chest. Cyborg checked his memory and found the aliens name was XL Terrestrial. Considering he was forty feet tall and smashing his fists into buildings it seemed appropriate. Cyborg wasn't really worried about any of them as the Titans had beat them all on various occasions and he had a number of plans to deal with them quickly. It was the other three that he was worried about.
Cinderblock, Plasmus and Overload were smashing, melting and blasting electricity in to various buildings respectively. It wasn't them on their own that worried him; it was the man they all worked for. Slade. Now Cyborg knew it was a set-up.
The HIVE members and Slade's minions were obviously trying to draw the Titans out, causing lots of unnecessary damage. The road in front of the T-Car was cracked to such an extent that it turned part of the pavement into a usable ramp. Cyborg was surely tempted to rally the car up it and attempt to land on one of the bad guys. Good sense stopped him from trying it. Thankfully he had been developing a new toy that would work much better.
"Hey look, it's the Titans," Mammoth said, pointing down the street to where he noticed the T-Car parked, "and just as I was starting to think they wouldn't show."
Mammoths smile faded as he saw something being fired from the T-Car. He braced himself as a little, light blue ball, about the size of a tennis ball, bounced off his chest and landed on the floor with out incident.
"What kind of nonsense was that?" Mammoth shouted down the street, shooting the Titans a big, smug, toothy grin. This turned out to be a mistake.
The little, light blue ball in question was something that Cyborg had been working on with the help of the designs his father had sent him in the mail. Cyborg was very proud of the little, light blue ball. Because it wasn't little, light blue ball. It was a sonic grenade. And its countdown finished as Mammoth smiled.
The cushion of sonic energy blasting from the grenade knocked Mammoth off his feet and into Private HIVE, See-More and a couple of Billy Numerous'. All of the bad guys, except Gizmo, who wears ear pugs to lessen the noise from his laser blasters, Plasmus and Overload, who don't really have ears, and XL Terrestrial, who was too big for the sound to properly reach him, were rolling about on the floor clutching their bleeding ears. They would suffer from ringing ears and headaches for a couple of days.
The Titans quickly got out of the T-Car and spread themselves out, waiting for Cyborg's orders, "hit them hard and fast guys," he said, activating his arm cannon, "we need to deal with this quickly and get back to Robin." Starfire and Beast Boy took to the air while the other Titans ran towards the enemy.
Unfortunately for the Titans their fallen foes didn't stay down for long. Once they saw the Titans attacking they got back on to their feet, shaking slightly due to their equilibrium being damaged in the sonic blast.
Aqua Lad had just punched out two of Billy's copies when a large hand crabbed him, pinning both arms to his side and pulling him up to face Mammoth.
"No watttter here fissssh boy," Mammoth slurred, spitting out blood and pieces of his shattered teeth. As his mouth had been clenched in a smile when the sonic grenade went off, the blast had caused his teeth to shatter into pieces. Even with the pain endurance training he had received at the HIVE, he was hard pressed not to cry out in pain. He certainly couldn't stop the tears in his eyes. "What'cha gonna fight wit now?"
Aqua Lad smiled knowingly, "who says I just need water to fight?"
Without warning a purple optic blast shot out of Aqua Lad's eyes and struck Mammoth in the face, breaking his nose. Mammoth dropped Aqua Lad to the ground, clutching his face as blood poured out of his nose and he cried out in pain.
"Need a hand there dude?" Cyborg asked, knocking aside a Billy and running up to Aqua Lad.
"I'd love one," Aqua Lad said with a grin.
They both punched Mammoth as hard as they could. He flew into the air from the force, travelling fifty feet before hitting the street with a heavy thud.
Terra was fully enjoying herself. She was easily beating Private Hive, See-More and various Billy's with everything Robin had taught her. With roundhouse kicks, rabbit punches and a number of judo flips she was having a brilliant time. That is until she saw something in the corner of her eye. Slade. He was stood in the doorway of a nearby building. As she stopped to stare at him, he turned around and ran into the darkness.
Raven was busy containing Plasmus in a black force field when she saw Terra running into one of the factories. She was about to follow when she felt a disturbing presence. She turned back to see a young man about the same age as her. He was completely bold, with incredibly pale skin and dangerous red eyes. He wore black boots, black pants and a blood red jumper; over it all he wore a long black trench coat. There was something about this boy that Raven didn't like. He had a dark presence that was beyond anything she had ever felt before. And yet, it was strangely familiar.
"Hello Raven," he said with a sinister smile and a disturbingly hollow voice, "my name is Psimon. And I am…"
He didn't get to finish what he was saying as Raven blasted him off his feet. Before he hit the ground Raven was running into the abandoned factory after Terra.
Psimon laughed maniacally as he got back on to his feet. He looked up to see Starfire flying down to attack him. His eyes glowed blue with psychic energy as he pushed his mind onto hers.
"I am not here princess," he said altering her memories and perceptions, "forget you ever saw me."
Starfire stopped in midair, looking about in confusion, wondering what she was doing. She eventually flew up to XL Terrestrial, hitting him so hard that he fell back against one of the buildings. Psimon walked off, watching the chaos and destruction going on around him.
Cyborg dived behind an abandoned car to avoid the blasts from Gizmo and Overload and the sludge from Plasmus. These three were always trouble. He sat there, busily working his computerised brain to try and figure out a way to take all three of them out when Beast Boy flew down as a hawk next to him, turning back to his human form, his hair smoking.
"We're starting to get in trouble Cy," Beast Boy said, patting his head to stop his hair from catching fire, "if you're going to pull a plan out of your ass you might want to stand up."
Cyborg frowned at his green friend, "if you give me a second I'll try to come up with a plan."
He needn't have bothered though. They heard the sound of a motorbike and turned to look down the street in time to see Robin, with Matthew Wildebeest on his back, rally up the ramp made from the broken road into the air.
Gizmo, who was flying on his jetpack, looked up at the noise just in time to see Robin flip off his bike and slam both his feet into the midget's chest, forcing him out of the air. Gizmo hit the ground hard while Robin landed next to him gracefully. Gizmo rolled about on the floor clutching his broken ribs a crying out in pain. Robin quickly threw an exploding disc at a nearby fire hydrant, blowing it up and making the water soak Overload, shorting him out. In the same instant Robin threw a small capsule into Plasmus' body. Plasmus started chuckling, until the chemicals inside the capsule mixed with his body, hardening him into a statue. He fell over with a heavy clunk, immobile.
At the same time all this happened Mammoth got back to his feet. He looked up in time to see the motorbike flying towards him. Purely on instinct he reached out and caught it. He had a sloppy smile on his face, at least until he saw Robin hitting a detonator switch. The bike exploded in a fireball, burning the hair from Mammoths body but only giving his toughened skinned second degree burns.
Robin turned to see Cyborg, Beast Boy and Aqua Lad all looking at him in awe. He smirked at them, "you can do this without me can you?"
"That… that was amazing," Aqua Lad said in awe. He had heard of Robin's fighting skills, but he had never seen him go full out like that. He was just as impressive as everyone said he was.
The Titan's attentions were drawn as Mammoth let out a murderous howl. Mad with pain and anger.
"Matthew," Robin said simply to the little boy on his back.
Matthew jumped off Robin's back, running towards Mammoth as he transformed into his Wildebeest form. Mammoth was too crazy with pain to notice what was happening until Wildebeest gave him a bone crunching punch. After that he was much too disorientated to stop the manimal from beating the crap out of him. Mammoth wasn't having a very good day.
"Friend-Robin," Starfire yelled as she flew down to him, looking very upset, "what is the meaning of this? How could you bring the little one here to all this danger?"
"He's a Titan, Star," Robin said unemotionally, "we know he can fight so why shouldn't he? He did beat Beast Boy after all." Beast Boy grumbled at the memory but otherwise remained quiet. "Where are Raven and Terra?"
Starfire didn't comment on Robin's opinion of Matthew. She knew better than to question him, "I believe I saw them enter that building over there friend-Robin."
Robin ran towards the building she indicated while shouting orders to the other Titans, "I'll try to find them. The rest of you deal with the rest of these villains."
The other Titans got to work with new confidence. The kind only Robin could inspire in them.
Terra ran into the factory, her eyes darting about in search of the enemy. She knew Slade was trouble, and probably a little more than she could handle. But she also knew how much Robin wanted him to be taken down. And with the Boy Wonder held up in the Med-Lab with god-knows-what inside him, she thought it would be nice for him to wake to find Slade was behind bars.
Terra was just deciding which way to go and look when a hand gripped her shoulder. Acting purely on instinct, Terra grabbed the hand and flipped the person attached to it over her shoulder before getting into a fighting stance. She was shocked to see Raven lying on the floor, groaning from the fall.
"Oh my god I'm so sorry," Terra said apologetically, helping Raven back onto her feet, "I guess I'm just a bit jumpy."
Raven frowned as she rubbed her back, "what are you doing in here?"
"I saw Slade come in here."
Raven's eyes widened, "are you crazy? You can't go after him on your own. Slade should only be tackled by all the Titans, and even then only when Robin is with us."
"I know you're right," Terra said, looking away guiltily, "I just… thought I'd take care of him. You know, for Robin."
Raven frowned at Terra. She suspected that she only mentioned Robin because she knew that then she would be more willing to go along with her. Especially with his recent attack. Raven bit her lip as she tried to decide on what to do.
"We'll have to split up," Raven said with a sigh, "it'll be easier to find him that way."
Terra perked up considerable. She gave Raven a quick peck on the lips and smiled, "thanks."
"I don't think you'll be thanking be after we fight him," Raven said, running off to the left, "be sure to send me a telepathic signal if you get in trouble."
"Yes mistress," Terra said, chuckling when she heard Raven growl, she watched Raven run out of sight before she ran off to the right."
Terra made her way steadily through the factory. She wasn't as comfortable in the darkness as Raven was. Too many chances for something to jump out at her.
She made her way out on to the factory floor. All off the machinery had long been removed from it, though there was still a lot of shadow in here. The high, dusty windows did little to brighten the place. Terra could hear the other Titans fighting on the other side of the wall. She hoped they were doing okay without her and Raven to help. She stood in the centre of the room, wondering where she should look next.
"Hello Terra."
Terra spun towards the voice. She could just make out his outline in the shadows, "Lurking about like some creepy old paedophile, Slade. Seems about right for you. Well… come on and attack if you're going to."
Slade chuckled, but it was mirthless, "actually I'm here to offer you a job."
"What?" Terra asked in a disbelieving tone.
"I asked you to be my apprentice once before and you turned me down," Slade said, never leaving the shadows, "I'm here to give you another chance to reconsider. Join me, and you will become better than you ever hoped. You belong at my side."
"I'm already where I belong," Terra said angrily, "I'm a Titan. And since you obviously weren't listening the last time I'll say it again. Shove your job offer."
Slade let out a sigh, "disappointing."
Terra saw the flash from the gun barrel and heard the gun shot. But by then it was too late.
When Robin entered the factory he was surprised how clear everything was. Everything that should have been in shadow seemed to be slightly clearer than everything in the light. He couldn't explain it. He knew for a fact that he hadn't activated the night vision in his mask. Even if he did it wouldn't have been this clear.
He pushed his curiosity on this to the back of his mind. Right now he had to find Raven and Terra. He ran off to the right hoping they chose to go this way.
When Robin stepped on to the factory floor he spotted Terra standing in the centre of the room. Talking to Slade. His father. His feelings from the past two days almost came to the surface. Then he saw the gun Slade was levelling at Terra's head, and he reacted.
He ran towards Terra at full speed. Once he was close enough he jumped, pushing Terra down with one hand and throwing a birdarang at Slade with the other. His last thought was that he had save Terra.
Then the gun fired and he didn't think anymore.
Terra had the breath knocked out of her as she hit the ground and the person who pushed her landed on top of her. She looked at the hand draped over her and immediately recognised the green glove. She was thankful, as she was sure Robin had just saved her life, but she was also angry that Robin was even here when he was supposed to be resting. Though she was probably more worried than angry.
"What are you doing here Robin?" she asked as she pushed him off her and turned to look a t him, "you're supposed to be…"
The words died in Terra's throat as the colour drained from her face. Robin, the boy she though could do anything, the boy she was stating to love, was lying there with a bullet wound in his forehead.
"Robin?" she said barely above a whisper, shaking him as though she didn't believe he was really there. "Robin," she said more urgently, franticly shaking him as though trying to wake him up. "ROBIN," she screamed out as realisation hit her like a ton of bricks, tears streaming down her face.
"Look what you've done you stupid girl," Slade yelled at her angrily, pulling the birdarang from his arm, "you can't even die properly. You had…"
His words were drowned out as Terra screamed in rage. A large rocky spike jutted out of the ground in front if Slade. It wasn't sharp enough to pierce his armour, bit it did knock him through the wall and on to the street where the others were fighting.
Terra wasted no time in chasing after him, rocks flying up from the ground to cover her in armour as she jumped out on to the street.
Slade was in trouble. He had managed to get to his feet but that wasn't much help. Terra wasn't a better fighter than him, but the ferocity of her attacks made it almost impossible to block them all. Not to mention her rocky armour was deflecting all his hits. Then he spotted Psimon, the newest HIVE member, standing off to the side and watching with avid interest.
/Psimon/ Slade yelled over the private comm.-link he had between his minions, /instead of just watching why don't you help/
/What's the matter Slade/ Psimon asked, smirking, /you can't handle a 90 pound girl and a few pebbles/
Slade growled. This new HIVE student was far too cocky for his own good. He'd have to be taken down a peg or two some time soon. /Do something now or I promise you'll regret it./
Psimon didn't look scared in the slightest, though he did let out a little frustrated sigh, /very well then./
As Psimon's eyes glowed with psychic energy, the rocks fell of Terra's body. She looked about in confusion, tears still streaming down her face.
/What did you do/Slade asked, looking between Terra and Psimon.
/Well, basically, I stalled her psychic powers. She won't be able to use her powers for the next ten minutes/ Psimon said in a bored tone, inspecting his nails.
Slade cracked his knuckles menacingly, /perfect./
When Raven heard the gun shot her blood froze. She flew towards where she heard the sound, phasing through the doors and walls in her way. She could feel Terra's rage blazing across the psychic plane. Raven just prayed she wasn't hurt.
Raven phased through the wall onto the factory floor. She saw the big hole in the wall and almost flew through it. Then she saw Robin's body on the floor and her heart stopped.
All the emotion seemed to drain from her body as she saw the boy she was in love with on the floor. Raven floated over to him in a daze, still not believing what she saw. She got down on her knees next to him and pulled his head on to her lap.
And then she broke down.
Raven cried hard, something she could never remember doing before. She clutched Robin close as despair took over. Then anger woke up. Raven's eyes turned red and her teeth sharpened, she was ready to tear apart whoever was responsible for this.
And then Robin sat up.
He screamed in pain, scaring the life out of Raven, clutching his back and forehead.
"SHIT," Robin screamed in agony, "I don't know what's worse. The burning of my back or my splitting headache."
Raven couldn't respond, she was too shocked. Robin was dead. She knew he was. Even if her senses were off, the bullet wound in his head was unmistakable. She watched in morbid fascination as the bullet popped out of his forehead and the wound healed itself. She wouldn't have believed it if she didn't see it herself.
"What happened?" Robin asked, rubbing his head. The pain in his back had receded, "I just remember pushing…"
He didn't get to finish as Raven kissed him. He was too shocked to do anything but except it. It wasn't full of passion or lust, but love and desperation, as if she wasn't sure if she would get another chance to kiss him. When she finally came up for air, she wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed onto his shoulder.
"I… I… I thought," Raven said, crying with joy, "I thought you were… dead."
"Raven…" Robin said, patting her back to try and comfort her.
"You were dead… and… and… and there was nothing I could do."
"Raven," Robin said as she held her at arms, trying to sound comforting and serious at the same time, "I want to talk to you about this, really I do. But right now we have work to do, okay?"
Raven wiped her eyes on the edge of her cloak and nodded.
"Good girl," Robin said with a soft smile, before his face turned deadly serious, "now, where is Terra? Where is Slade?"
Slade now had the upper hand against Terra. Without the rocks to protect her, and the shock of her abilities not working distracting her, allowed Slade to beat her with ease.
In short time he had her knocked to the ground, bleeding a bruised. His minions were happily keeping the Titans at bay while he worked. Slade pulled a bowie knife from its holster at his waist. He was going to enjoy finishing her off.
At least he was until something hit him in the chest. He looked down to see one of Robin's exploding discs stuck there, just in time for it to explode. It blew him away from Terra. He hit the ground and rolled for a couple of feet. As he pushed himself on to his hands and knees another disc landed underneath him. The resulting explosion knocked him spinning up in the air and in to a wall. He dropped down into a heap.
As Slade sat up, he looked up to see Robin standing above him. Robin grabbed Slade by the neck and pulled him up on to his, before punching him back down. Robin pulled him back up again and punched him in the stomach, then uppercutted him back against the wall. Slade tried to slash the Boy Wonder with the knife. Robin grabbed Slade's hand at the wrist, placed his other hand on his chest and pulled. Slade's arm ripped from his body, leaving a shower of sparks and gears in its wake.
/Well done Robin/ Slade said as the mask fell away from the robo-Slade to reveal a video screen, /how could you tell it was a robot/
"You're assuming that I even cared Slade," Robin said, casually throwing the arm aside.
/How very… ruthless of you/ Slade chuckled before he became serious, /how did you survive a gunshot to the head Robin/
"It only grazed the skull, knocked me out - that's all," Rabin lied skilfully. He knew it would be a stupid idea to let Slade know that he could suddenly survive death.
Slade didn't comment. He couldn't really tell in the darkness of the factory, this robot was fitted with night vision. /You're very lucky Robin, so are your friends. I doubt you'll always be so…/
"Shut up Slade," Robin said angrily, "if you want to try and take me down then you're welcome to try. But if you or any of your lackeys come at me through my friends again, I'll make you sorry."
Slade laughed, /What are you going to do Robin? Kill me/
"No Slade," Robin said with a sinister smile, "but what about your kids?"
Slade's laughter stopped dead.
"That's right Slade," Robin said, his smile lengthening, "I know you have kids. Two boys and a girl right? It wouldn't take much to find them. And I know how much you hate to lose what's yours."
/…you're bluffing Robin. You and I both know you're no killer./
"Who says I have to kill them? Batman taught me a lot about torture. I know how to keep someone alive for months with blood transfusions and IV drips. Not to mention I have access to Scarecrow's fear gas. I can make them afraid to eat, to drink. I can make them so afraid of their own skin that they would be willing to slice it all off. I've seen it happen. And through all the torture, all the fear and blood, I'll make sure that they know it's all. Your. Fault."
Slade didn't say anything at fist, but Robin knew he was furious under that mask. /Very well Robin. I won't touch your… friends. But don't think this is the end of things. You and I have unfinished business./
The image of Slade cut out and the robot fizzled and smoked as it burned out. Robin let it drop to the ground and turned away. All of Slade's minions had already been taken down by the Titans and were being tied up. They all suddenly disappeared in a flash of bright light. Teleportation. Robin expected this but it was still annoying.
Robin looked over to Terra. She was already being healed by Raven and she looked just a shocked as Raven had when he sat up. Without warning both girls jumped and ran to him, wrapping their arms around his neck. Robin was shocked; he never thought they would display their emotions in public. They both seemed to realise this at the same time, as they both let go of him and stepped back.
"How…?" Terra said, looking Robin up and down in confusion, her eyes still puffy from crying, "how did…?"
"I have no idea," Robin answered honestly; "I think… we're going to have to call the League."
Slade was not happy.
He sat in his underground lair pondering how his plan could have gone so wrong. He had set the whole thing up to try and lure Robin away to fight his robot. He wanted more information on Robin's fighting style. But he wasn't there to begin with. Then her thought he could get revenge on Terra for turning down his offer. But he ended up hitting Robin instead, and he was still kicking himself for not having any decent footage of that. Then to top it all of he had caved into Robin's threats. The anger over that was almost too much to bear. Robin wasn't going to get away with that.
Slade called up Brother Blood on the video-phone. It was answered almost immediately.
"I've been expecting your call Slade," Brother Blood said with a sigh, "I take it you'll be wanting a full refund?"
"I was actually calling to thank you for the use of your students," Slade said seriously, "they preformed as well as I thought they would and I am more than willing to use their services in the future. I was disappointed that Jinx wasn't able to join them."
Brother Blood let out another sigh, "I've given up trying to find her. The government took her for the Suicide Squad and I haven't heard from her since. If she isn't dead then I won't find her anyway. She's too good to be found if she doesn't want to be."
"Her replacement wasn't much help, and more than a little insolent."
"Psimon," Blood said knowingly and with a frown, "he is still new to the HIVE and has yet to learn his place. Don't worry though; I'll see to it that he does. Personally."
Slade nodded in satisfaction, then he saw the teenager standing behind the HIVE headmaster. He looked very similar to the headmaster except he was obviously an albino. He wore a HIVE uniform and a very sombre expression. "I don't appreciate our conversations being shared with others."
Brother Blood looked confused. He turned to look at the boy then turned back with a smile, "not to worry Slade. This is my son Sebastian. I'm training him up to follow in my foot steps. You know who it is with your own children; you only want the best for them."
"Yes, you do," Slade agreed as he turned off the video-phone.
"Are you okay daddy?"
Slade turned to look at his children. They were all dressed in identical uniforms. The body armours were the same as his except half of the torso was black and the other was orange. They wore masks the covered the top half of their heads with the same half tones ad the body armour. They stood to attention waiting for their father to give out orders.
Slade smiled behind his mask, "I'm fine Rose. I trust you've all studied the footage from the HIVE's battle with the Titans?"
"Yes father," Grant and Rose said at the same time. Joey just nodded.
"Any comments?"
"Robin showed great skill," Grant said, "taking out Gizmo, Plasmus, Overload and Mammoth all within seconds of each other was nothing short of amazing. He should obviously not be underestimated."
"And of course he did threaten all of you," Slade said darkly, "I would deal with him myself, but I think it's time for you all to get your hands dirty."
"Don't worry daddy," Rose said with smile, "the Ravagers will teach Robin a lesson he won't forget."
To Be Continued…
Author's Notes: Quite a bit of Cyborg action in this chapter. I thought he was being neglected in this fic, he seemed to always be in the garage and I thought it was important for him to be doing something more. Lucky it worked into the story perfectly as it gives me an opening for him and Robin to have a talk in the next chapter.
I think I may have gone a little overboard with the beating I gave Mammoth. Broken teeth, broken nose, second degree burns, and a beating from Wildebeest, might be considered harsh. Don't get me wrong, I like Mammoth, I just don't know a lot about his personality, so I thought I'd give him something that I could use later as a grudge against either Robin or all the Titans.
Before any of you say anything, Aqua Lad's eye blast power might not have been in the cartoon, but it was in the comics. I know that he has control over water, and can probably draw water molecules from the air if he needs something to use, but I thought the eye blast would be more fun.
As for Robin's powers there will be a full explanation in the next chapter when a couple of the Justice League members come to check out what's wrong with him. Just so you know, Multi-Man's name doesn't come from the power to make copies of himself (although I think he might be able to do that, I'm not sure). The name comes form a different ability altogether. But I'm not going to tell you what until the next chapter, that way I know you will read it, plus I like being evil. Bwha hahahahahahahahaha.
Next Chapter: After a check-up from the Justice League, Raven and Terra take Robin to Nox. There will actually be some other vampires in this fic. And the relationship moves to the next level (something more than enough people have been nagging me about. You know who you are).