A/N: I finally buckled down and finished this chapter. More like, a particular nasty homework assignment suddenly got me interested in writing. So I sacrificed my Saturday night for all of you, it's okay though, I had quite enough 'fun' last night. Anyway, some acknowledgements, the disclaimer, and then we'll be good to go.
Asilla: All right already, here's chapter 11. Almost a full month since the last one, I am evil, aren't I? I'm glad that you like it thus far, cause I like it, and it's good to be appreciated I suppose. Anyway, thank you very much for the review, and I hope you like this chapter as much as the others.
Gratuitous: I'm flattered immensely that you enjoy my fanfiction so much. I hope you'll continue to enjoy it as it goes on. Thank you for the review.
PhoenixClaw: Oh, you should definitely cower in fear. Lol, thanks for the compliments, and I'm glad to see that I captured Slade just as I wanted to in chapter 10. Tim's not through with Slade yet, not by any account. I hope you like chapter 11.
Kokuryu: Slade is stubborn, and crafty too. That wiley old devil. Anyway, I liked the scene with Tim and Slade in the last chapter a lot, so I'm glad you enjoyed it too. Hope you like this one.
Kazzy103: Yeah, everyone is confused over the Huntress thing, but all will be revealed in due time. What's a story without a little mystery? Anyway, I hope you are finding yourself with some more free time now, I certainly wish I had some. And of course, enjoy the chapter and thanks for reviewing.
jade: I put in a long Kory section in this chapter, so I hope you enjoy it. Thank you for the review, I'm glad you liked the previous chapters!
Alexnandru Van Gordon: It took a really long time for this update, and I'm hoping it's up to the same level of quality as the others. I hope you'll like my twist. And you better update something... eventually... wow school is making me soft, my threats are becoming rather vague. Anyway, thanks for the review.
Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not yet own them. Though I am working on getting into DC from the ground up. Just give me a good decade.
If At First You Don't Succeed
By: Sarah Shima
Chapter 11: Vertigo
Slade's Lair
Slade waited expectantly for Psimon and Mammoth's return. His plan was about to be put into action, and he could hardly wait.
Behind him, Huntress muttered in the dark. She had been doing that for all of her waking hours ever since he showed her the footage of Barbara Gordon and a man. Of course she did not know that the man was actually Bruce Wayne – Batman, who was helping Barbara in her desperate search for Helena. So now, all of her anger was targeted at Oracle rather than Slade. It was all a part of the plan of course.
Slade chuckled and focused his gaze on the monitors, waiting for the arrival of his two subordinates. He would rather have used his own people, but it was less conspicuous for him to use two established villains. The fact that the two villains hated heroes – particularly Nightwing and the Titans, was just a side benefit.
Mammoth and Psimon finally entered the warehouse, Robin slung carelessly over the larger man's shoulder. Slade led the pair through his hideout to a small room with a hard bed and rows of machines and surgical instruments. He motioned for him to lie Robin down on a hard metal table. Mammoth did as he was told, putting the vigilante face-down on the cold surface. Slade quickly and expertly restrained him. Then he moved his attention to the back of Robin's neck. He reached over for his tools, and prepared to insert the device into Robin's skin.
Slade had already been working on Robin for a while when Robin's eyes fluttered open. He lay quite still, hoping to ascertain his situation before anyone realized he was awake. He could feel straps holding him down, but it did not matter, when he tried to move he found his whole body to be paralyzed. Forcing away the impulse to panic, Robin tried to figure out his situation.
He had obviously been abducted, and now he was strapped to a table – face down. And he could see a shadow hovering over him, doing god-knows-what. Suddenly he felt someone looking straight down on him. The person moved away, and in another moment, he felt the prick of a needle in his arm. Then his vision faded into darkness.
Slade shook his head as he injected Robin with another sedative. He had been careless to not drug the boy more. If he remembered anything… No, Slade would just have Psimon hide the memory further in his mind.
Titan's Tower
"What do you mean, you 'lost Robin'?" Victor demanded. He was sitting in the medical bay, bandaging up Garfield's arm. Kory stood awkwardly across from him, her expression a cross between anxiety and anger.
"I explained it already Victor," Kory responded. "And he's turned off his locator, so I cannot find him!"
"I'm sure the kid will be fine, he's probably just off somewhere letting off some steam," Garfield suggested.
"Dick asked us to watch Tim, and now I have already lost him," Kory said angrily. "We must find him."
"Fine Kory, we'll go look for Robin. But honestly I don't know how you expect to find him in this city," Victor said, frustrated.
"Easy, listen for sirens," Gar sighed.
Slade's Lair
"Finished," Slade said aloud, examining his handiwork. Just like Huntress', Robin's device was cleverly hidden. No one would notice it, and so his plan would work perfectly.
Now however, came the hardest part, letting Robin go.
Slade was tempted to keep him prisoner, but knew that it would not work. He had thought long and hard about his plan before initiating it, and it was the only way to secure Robin as his apprentice. He could not screw it up now.
"Mammoth, Psimon. Take him back to where you fought him," Slade ordered, undoing the restraints that held the unconscious boy in place. "And Psimon, make sure he doesn't remember waking up here."
The two complied instantly, money got him that much, and Slade was left alone in the hideout.
Huntress had fallen into a troubling sleep not long ago, and was whispering curses under her breath, all interspersed with two words – "Oracle" and "Barbara."
San Francisco
It had been over two hours since Starfire lost Robin. She felt as if she had scoured the entire city looking for him, while Victor stayed in the Tower looking up any incidents that Robin might have joined in on.
She was starting to feel very angry; at Robin, and at herself. This was an unprecedented. How was he good enough to get away from her in the first place? That was annoying; trust a member of the bat family to know just how to disappear.
She just could not take the stress at the moment. She was so tired, and now she was going to spend the last hours of darkness searching for a rebellious teenager. He would definitely be given a lecture about running off when she got her hands on him.
Starfire continued her mental rant as she flew over the streets of San Francisco. As she was making another pass over Third Street, something caught her eye. She swooped down and saw the form of a young man crumpled face-down on the ground.
"Robin!" she exclaimed, dropping to the ground beside him. Two birdarangs were half-buried in his shoulder blades, his cape was shining with blood, and he was unconscious. She lifted him carefully, and then flew off in the direction of Titan's Tower.
Titan's Tower
When Starfire returned to the Tower she was livid. She had some anger issues, and was not content to know that someone had attacked Robin and left him lying in the street. She would get even with whoever it was.
"Cyborg!" she called on her way to the medical bay. She momentarily thought on how much time had been spent in the medical bay recently. But she pushed the thought out of her mind as she placed Robin face-down on a medtable. "CYBORG!" she shouted again, this time into her communicator. It took a few minutes, but he finally walked into the room.
"What the Hell…?" he started, walking over towards Robin.
"I found him like this. So much for him being 'fine'," she snarled, wringing her golden hands together.
"Kory, why don't you go cool down a little, I can handle things from here," Victor sighed, wanting to get the fuming alien out of his way.
"Nice try Victor, but I'm not going anywhere. I'm apparently the only person here who cares about the safety of these children," she said.
Victor looked up at her briefly as he pulled out one of the birdarangs out of Robin's back. Then he turned his full attention to the teen. He knew better than to argue with Kory when she was angry. Irritating her now would not help either one of them, especially him.
As Victor patched Robin up, his hands briefly grazed the back of the youth's neck, but he did not notice the protrusion of skin, or the device beneath it.
Tim woke up in the medical bay. The lights were all turned off, suggesting it was still night, or at least early morning. His body was sore, and his shoulder blades ached dully, the pain no doubt eased by drugs. He could feel the drugs in his system, painkillers always made him feel drowsy and lightheaded.
He turned onto his side, but the wounds on his back burned, and forced him to lie flat on the medical bed. He sighed in annoyance, and played out the night's events in his mind again. He felt angry, and not just at Psimon and Mammouth, whom he definitely despised, but at just about everyone and everything. The realization disturbed him, but before he could think on it further, he had fallen back to sleep.
Titan's Tower – The Next Morning
The sun shone brightly through the large windows of the San Franciscan Titan's Tower. Kory, dressed in her gardening clothes – cutoff shorts and a tank top, stood in the main room looking out at the gardens below. She had filled the area surrounding the Tower with plants she saved before her home world was destroyed, and looking at it reminded her of Tamaran, if only for a moment.
She sighed heavily, thinking of the old Tower in New York, the one that had been decimated not too long ago. Dick and the other Titans at the time never did get around to rebuilding it; Donna's death had stopped that project. She thought briefly of Jesse Chambers – a.k.a. the speedster Jesse Quick, Argent, and Tempest (Garth – Aqualad), the only Titans members who did not move on to other superhero gigs after Donna's death. Jesse had apparently lost her superpowers and was now a manager in the JSA. And Tempest was home with Dolphin and their child. Argent however, she had no idea about her.
The Titans had been through so many roster changes it was hard to believe that all of the incarnations shared the same name. At least one of the founding members were usually present each time, but they passed in and out as well. This time there were no founding members to lead the group.
Titans Tower always ended up filled with so much drama. Superheroes with hard pasts trying to grapple with the changes in their lives, while sharing the same roof with others, who were sometimes too similar for comfort, always caused problems. How many heroes had claimed that the Titans were their real family, and the place where they finally learned to grow up and mature? Too many to count.
Throughout the major changes in Kory's life, the Titans were always around. But this time it felt different. They were not the same Titans they were before. The founding members had all moved on. And the Tower did not really feel like home without the closest friends she had made there; Nightwing, Raven, and Donna. There was no one in the new group who had the same kind of gentle compassion as Tempest.
She wondered if this group would ever feel like a family.
She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard footsteps. Kory turned in time to see Jade entering the room. "Your gardens are beautiful," Jade said, standing beside the alien.
"Thank you. It's comforting to be reminded of home."
"I'm jealous of you there; I still don't know where 'home' is. I was in a group like the Titans once – Infinity Inc. It was home for a while. But I don't really know what everyone is up to these days, and now that I'm not with Kyle anymore I don't really have any place where I really fit in. Guess that's how I ended up an 'outsider,' huh?" she said, folding her green arms. "It's hard to know where you belong. Once you think you've figured it out, that place is gone too," Jade sighed, looking out at the bay beyond the island.
"Are you happy, being a member of 'the Outsiders'?" Kory asked.
"I guess so," Jade started, turning her gaze back to the Tameranean. "Maybe not. When Roy recruited me, he made sure to tell me it would be all about work. We were all just going to be colleagues, but I don't know, maybe part of me wants them to become more than that."
"I don't think Nightwing would like that," Kory said bitterly.
"Yeah, that's why he didn't stick with the Titans after Donna, right?" Jade asked. Kory nodded. "You care about him, don't you?"
"We were almost married, twice," Kory said. "And we've managed to stay friends regardless of our history, so yes, I do care about him."
"He must be a difficult man to fall in love with," Jade said.
Kory looked up, startled. "I've heard many things about Di-Nightwing before, but never that. He attracts women quite easily."
"He must have changed then. If you saw how he runs the Outsiders, how closed off he is with everyone, you would have to agree with me."
"It doesn't matter anyway, he's still with her," Kory said spitefully, her fine features wrinkling in disgust.
"Ah, you don't like her? Who is this mystery woman anyway?"
"Have you managed to gain access to Alcatraz yet?" Kory asked, quickly changing the subject. Jade smiled, realizing what Kory was doing.
"Not yet. They feds are still going over it, trying to figure out how everyone managed to escape. So Indigo and I will be here until they're done," Jade said.
"Lovely. Now, if you'll excuse me, Jade, I need to check up on Robin."
Titan's Tower – Medical Bay
Tim, who had woken a few moments before, kept his eyes firmly closed as the door slid open, waiting to see if he could figure out who was coming in. He heard the soft footfalls of a woman's shoe, and assumed that Starfire must have come to check up on him.
He really pretended to be asleep now, the last thing he needed was to deal with Starfire's anger. And it was not as if she would be out of line to yell at him, he did set off those flash-bangs so he could ditch her.
"Come on Tim, wake up already," Kory sighed, staring down at his immobile form. "I need to know who did this to you so I can take them down."
Tim internally brightened; Kory was more concerned about his injuries than what he did. Maybe he should 'wake up' for her. He heard Kory's footsteps rounding the bed, and then he heard the soft click of a communicator.
"Hi Roy, it's Kory. Any change?" She paused, waiting for his reply.
"Sorry sweetie, but the drugs have been keeping him out. But you know Dick, he's going to be so pissed when he wakes up, that maybe it's better for the rest of us if he sleeps a little longer…" came Roy's response.
"Well, let me know the second he opens his eyes," Kory answered.
"Is something wrong? You sound a little off."
"Yeah, someone attacked Robin last night, and he hasn't woken up yet," she said.
"Do you know who it was?" Roy asked.
"No," Kory responded with a sigh.
"The Doctor just came out to talk to me. I'll let you know if there's any change."
There was another click, and Roy had closed the connection.
Tim decided it was time to face the consequences of his actions. And so he slowly opened his eyes. Kory noticed this and raced over to him. "Tim! Are you all right?" she asked.
"My back hurts," he said, shrugging to prove that it was not a big deal.
Kory nodded. "Who did you fight?" she questioned.
"It was Psimon and Mammoth," Tim responded reluctantly, watching as Starfire's eyes flashed in anger. "I know I shouldn't have gone after them myself," he added, it was a foolish thing to do. "But when I saw them, I just couldn't…"
"I understand," Kory said, her voice hard with anger. "If I find them…" she let her words trail off, leaving Tim's imagination to provide images of the pair half-dead.
Kory allowed Robin to return to his room, sans lecture. She decided that it could wait, the most important thing was that he recovered. He had relayed the whole fight to her, and the fact that he was electrocuted.
However, something about the timing sounded wrong. Kory was so sure that she had passed that intersection in between the time he was attacked, and the time that she found him. Something did not make sense.
Titan's Tower - Robin's Room
Tim collapsed on his bed, and saw that someone had returned the utility belt from the Robin suit he ruined the night before to his room. He tossed the belt off of the bed and onto the floor, frustrated with circumstances. He felt angry, and he did not really know why. It was bothering him, but the fact that he did not know why, only made him angrier. It was a vicious cycle.
He laid back on his pillows, attempting in vain to get back to sleep. He idly scratched the back of his neck as he stared at the ceiling.
"Feeling okay?" a metallic distorted voice asked. Tim jumped a foot off of his bed, and then searched for the source of the voice. "In the utility belt." The disembodied voice responded to his thoughts. Tim grabbed the utility belt and pulled out the communicator Slade had given him. He flipped it open to reveal Slade's masked face.
"What do you want?" Tim asked wearily. "I'm not joining you, if that's what you're after." Tim had not told Kory about his conversation with Slade, and really had no intention to at all.
"No, I just wanted to talk," Slade's voice chuckled.
"About what?" Tim questioned.
"Your friend Nightwing, and why everyone thinks I'm such a dangerous, evil person," Slade explained. "I am of course, referring to the area of the computer files you were restricted from."
"How do you know about that?"
Slade's response was to laugh. Tim withheld a groan of frustration. "I am prepared to tell you everything, and don't think you'll just have to take my word for it. I have evidence."
"Evidence of what?" Tim asked, his curiosity peaking.
"Insert the following code into your computer, and I'll show you," Slade said.
Tim was not sure why he did what Slade said. He knew that he should not, he knew it was probably some sort of trick, but he did anyway. Someone, even if it was Slade, was willing to tell him what was going on, and not treat him like a kid. Nightwing hardly ever treated him as less than an equal, and the fact that he was keeping this from Tim hurt. Tim just wanted to know and be done with it, and then maybe this horrible anger he was feeling would begin to fade.
He typed the code, and his screen flickered to life with an image of Slade. "Are you sure you want to see what I'm about to show you?" Slade asked, more for dramatic effect than anything.
"Yeah, show me."
"A while ago, when the Titans consisted of Starfire, Beast Boy, Raven, Cyborg, and Robin, I first met them. I made Robin an offer he couldn't refuse." Slade paused and chuckled. "And he's been trying to cover up what he did ever since." Tim stared quizzically at Slade's face. What could Dick possibly have done? "You see Robin, the other Robin – Nightwing, was weak. He allowed others to choose his life for him. He forsook what he wanted and what he enjoyed to follow in the path others laid out for him. And so he has wasted his talents."
Tim raised an eyebrow; a lot could be said about Dick, but having 'wasted his talents' was certainly not one of them. "What are you saying Slade?" Tim asked.
"I made Robin I the same offer I made you last night." Slade allowed the words to sink in before he continued. "And he accepted."
"No way! Now I know you're lying! There's no way he'd join up with you!" Tim protested.
"Isn't there? Come now Robin, I told you I had proof, so hold onto your temper and watch."
Tim stared at the screen angrily as it switched to black. Then he saw an image that made his heart catch in his throat.
Dick – it did not matter that he was younger, Tim had studied Robin when he was young, he had fixated on the 'Boy Wonder' and could recognize him anywhere – was dressed in a suit of entirely black – save the coppery orange color on half of his chest. Affixed to the suit was a metallic "S" and armor that ran up the length of his arms and legs. He was also wearing a metal utility belt, and a sadistic-looking black mask. There was no mistaking it; Dick had to have been working for Slade. But why? There had to be a reason behind it.
Then Tim paid attention to what Dick was doing – he was breaking into a Wayne Enterprises building. Tim watched in disbelief as his older brother stole some device and then evaded the guards, racing through the smoking building.
He saw Dick hide from the guards and then jump down, to be chased by… the Titans?
Tim felt a sense of vertigo as he watched Dick attack his teammates, destroying the expanse between them, and then fading away before the smoke cleared.
There had to be a logical explanation for all of this. There just had to be.
And there was more.
The display changed to show Dick blow the doors open in another Wayne building. He reached for a device, but was stopped when the Titans arrived. Dick escaped from them through the air vents, and then appeared again at the roof. The Titans came after him, and he attacked them again. He saw him punching at Raven, evading Beast Boy, and then using Cyborg's own momentum against him. Then Dick came face to face with Starfire. Tim clutched the desk until his fingers turned white as Dick and Starfire faced off.
Then the screen went black.
The screen came to life again, this time to show Dick jump on them from above, attacking viciously. Then he shot off four bombs and escaped.
The screen switched to Slade's face. "So, Robin, what do you think about your 'mentor' now?" Slade asked.
"You… You're tricking me!" Tim shouted. "You're trying to mess with me so I'll join you! But it isn't going to work, Slade!"
"This is no trick Robin. You saw it with your own eyes. How can you deny that?"
"I must be missing something. The context is all screwed up! There had to be a reason!" Tim said.
"If there was, then why did he never tell you about any of this? Good ole perfect Nightwing would have told you all about his youthful escapades, wouldn't he? Unless they were more 'indiscretions'," Slade said.
"You… you're a liar!" Tim said, jumping up from the desk.
"You're angry, I can tell. But you're not angry with me, are you? No, you're angry at him, and why shouldn't you be? He's the one who's lied to you. He's the one who made himself out to be perfect. Isn't that true?"
"Shut up! Just shut up!" Tim yelled, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck.
"I'll leave you to consider what you've just seen. Have a nice day Robin."
A/N: I would love to know what you thought.