As the months passed, Slade continued to terrorize the city. Without power, law enforcement was greatly hampered. Money mysteriously vanished from bank vaults and jewelry stores were ransacked overnight. Crime rapidly became rampant in the once orderly and law-abiding city.

Now that winter had passed, Cyborg no longer had to depend on the others to work out in the gym for power as the new solar panels that he had installed met his needs nicely. Beast Boy was slowly but surely growing stronger. Although Cyborg was still unable to find the antidote, Robin had learned how to perform several simple martial arts moves. His relationship with Starfire remained strained, with the couple spending less and less time together. Terra went out of her way to ignore Beast Boy. She was still angry with him for telling her so bluntly that he no longer loved her. Though some of the tension within group had partially dissipated, it was still there.

"Titans! Emergency!" yelled Robin into his communicator. Immediately, all the other save Beast Boy dashed to the main room.

"What's going on?" asked Terra as she skidded in with Starfire and Cyborg behind her.

"Slade." Growled Robin. Looking up at the screen, they saw live surveillance footage of Sladebots destroying the docks. The five members of the STRIVE were desperately fighting them off. They sure looked as though they could use some help.

"Titans, go!" yelled Robin. They were about to dash out of the main room when Beast Boy hobbled in.

"Let me go too!" he begged. "You guys will need all the help you can get."

"Beast Boy, you're in no condition to fight!" insisted Robin. "Don't worry, we can handle it!"

With that, the others blazed off. Beast Boy sighed and looked at the floor. He hated feeling so useless.

"I'll get the T-Car!" yelled Cyborg as he ran to the garage. Hastily, everyone buckled themselves in as they raced down to the docks.

When they got there, they found the docks in chaos. The STRIVE were fighting a losing battle against the Sladebots.

"Titans, go!" yelled Robin again. They were about to charge forward when everything stopped. The Sladebots stopped moving and dropped the bodies of Gizmo and See-More to the ground. Kyd Wykkyd was nowhere to be seen. From the midst of the Sladebots, a tall figure with an orange mask emerged.

"Oh, hello titans." Slade said in his usual voice.

"Slade!" hissed Robin, rage seething through his clogged arteries.

"How disappointing." said Slade as he shook his head gravely. "You took so long to get here. Where is your dark friend who can teleport you from place to place?"

"She's not dark!" cried a familiar voice. The others whirled around to see Beast Boy jogging towards them.

"Beast Boy!" cried Robin. "I thought I told you to stay at home!"

"I must help!" cried Beast Boy in return.

"Your spirit is admirable. It's too bad I'm going to have to kill you all." Said Slade with a chuckle.

"No you won't!" screamed Terra as she hurled a huge boulder at him. Slade deftly moved out of the way as it flew harmlessly past him.

Immediately, the titans began attacking with all they had. Beast Boy morphed into a T-Rex and charged at Slade. With one well-aimed stone at his chest, Slade knocked the wind out of Beast Boy. He immediately morphed into his human form and collapsed, clutching his chest in pain. Cyborg unleashed his sonic cannon and fired a blast at Slade. Slade nimbly dodged it, before turning around and fleeing.

"That's right!" yelled Cyborg as he chased after him. "Ya better flee from the titans!" Slade slowed down, dodging Cyborg's sonic blasts with the greatest of ease. Cyborg kept closing in on him and when he had come close enough, Slade whipped out a tool that looked like a highly amped cattle prod. He jabbed Cyborg with it and watched as the robotic titan's systems fried one by one. Finally, Cyborg was completely shorted out. With several well-aimed kicks, Slade dismembered him, sending his parts flying in all directions.

Meanwhile, Robin was running laboriously in the direction Slade had gone with Starfire beside him.

"Why don't you fly or something?" cried Robin in frustration.

"I cannot do that." She replied sadly. "I have no powers left."

"What?" yelled Robin. "What do you mean by no powers?"

"Robin, I'm so confused!" Starfire cried out as tears rolled down her cheeks. "And you know my emotions do the affecting of my powers!"

"What is it that's confusing you?" he yelled again.

"Robin, do you love me?" she asked as she stopped running.

"Of course I do!" he responded. "What makes you think otherwise?"

"You say that you do love me but you do not act it." She said simply.

"That's ridiculous!" yelled Robin.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Slade, but it was too late. Slade landed a solid punch, knocking her out instantaneously. Poor Starfire did not stand a chance. Screaming in anger, Robin charged at Slade with his staff.

"Robin. I see you have become fat and slow." Said Slade as he easily dodged or countered Robin's every move.

"It's all your fault!" screamed Robin between gritted teeth.

"Or is it yours?" asked Slade as he swiftly blocked a blow before landing a punch. "The only reason why Starfire has no powers is because of you, Robin. You've confused her so much that she is now defenseless." Continued Slade as he kicked Robin away from him. As Robin tried to catch his breath, Slade repeatedly stomped on Starfire's motionless body.

"No!" cried Robin as he charged at Slade again. Slade twisted out of his reach, before grabbing him and throwing him against the wall.

"You leave us alone!" cried another voice from behind. Through swollen eyes, Robin saw Terra advancing towards Slade. She had spent the past few minutes trying to rouse Beast Boy but her efforts were in vain.

"Terra. How nice to see you again." Slade said coolly.

"Slade!" she roared as she picked up several large boulders with her powers and hurled them at him. Slade nimbly leapt out of the way, looking not the least bit perturbed.

Seething with rage, Terra jumped onto a rock and flew towards Slade, the ground cracking beneath him. Slade began to realize that she meant business and jumped from the docks onto a small yacht. Ripping huge slabs of concrete from the road, Terra slammed them into the yacht. As it began to sink under the added weight, Slade jumped off and dove into the water. Reaching below the water's surface, Terra pulled up several large rocks from the seabed. As Slade tried to swim away, rocks smashed into him from every direction.

"Once and for all!" screamed Terra as she sent another barrage of rocks in Slade's direction. Hastily swimming back to shore, Slade climbed back onto the docks only to be crushed by several tons of rock. "Take that!" screamed Terra as she heaped more rock upon Slade. Slade burst out from the midst of the rock pile and charged at her. Having been his apprentice once, Terra expected it and smashed another dripping wet boulder into his face the moment Slade emerged from the pile. Rejuvenated by her courage and efforts, Robin grabbed his staff and joined the fight.

"Terra!" he cried as he smacked at a stunned Slade with his staff. "Think you can get us to some lava?"

"You got it!" cried Terra as she tore up a huge slab of concrete, lifting herself, Robin and Slade into the air. Realizing what was going on, Slade jumped up and attacked. Robin reached for his new utility belt, which he had equipped with new tools, having lost much of his agility.

Grabbing a stun gun, he fired only to have Slade dodge out of the way. To Robin's dismay, Slade jumped off the rock they were on. Fortunately, Terra was one step ahead of him and caught him with another rock. They were already quite far in the ocean and knowing that it would be impossible to keep Slade on the rock for very long, Terra decided to utilize the power of the ocean instead of the volcano she was planning to bring them to.

As the rocks swooped down, Slade's rock flipped over just as he jumped off intending to swim for it. However, the rock dashed into him and began pushing him deeper towards the seabed, which was thousands of meters deep. Robin watched as Terra pushed Slade down with one hand and controlled the rocks that she had brought with them from land in the other. Furiously, she directed the rocks down to Slade's falling figure.

"Hang on Terra! I'm getting the air bubble!" said Robin as he pulled out the latest gadget that Cyborg had created. Robin threw the small blue orb onto the rock, splitting it apart. Immediately, a glasslike air bubble enveloped them. Terra plunged the bubble and the rock into the ocean.

Looking down, Robin saw Slade being pushed downwards by a barrage of rocks. He kept trying to climb onto another rock only to be pushed down by another one. Robin glanced over at Terra and saw that she was really concentrating, so he remained silent. He now knew full well what she was trying to do and did his best to help. Taking a torchlight, he pointed it down at Slade so that Terra could see him. The deeper they went, the darker it got.

"Thanks!" she said gratefully as another boulder rammed into Slade, driving him even further into the deep. "How deep can we go with this air bubble?" she asked.

"Down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench." Replied Robin with a smile. Already, he could see that Slade was having trouble breathing with a device in his hand, which looked like a breathalyzer. As they sank even deeper, it got even darker. Without a warning, Slade was crushed into nothingness by the pressure of the surrounding water. They watched calmly as Slade's mask flew upwards bounced off the air bubble. They stood there silently, watching the water turn red. Having ascertained that it was all over, Terra hastily began to head up to the surface. She feared that the rock might disintegrate and at such pressures, neither of them stood a chance.

Back at the docks, Robin and Terra landed at an unused part of the dock that had not been destroyed.

"Great job, Terra!" cried Robin with a smile. She smiled in return and ran with him to check up on the others. They found Beast Boy lying on the floor, groaning in pain. Cyborg was beside him and it was obvious to them that he had lost most of his robotic parts. Starfire lay beside the two, still unconscious. Robin and Terra dashed up to the three with triumphant smiles.

"We did it! We-"

"-Conquered the bad guy!" Robin whirled around to see Gizmo and the other members of the STRIVE talking to the press. Having finished his sentence for him, Gizmo and the group proceeded to take credit for Slade's defeat.

"How can this be?" cried Robin. "Do you see that?" he yelled turning to Terra, who quickly pulled him behind a container that had survived. "They're taking credit for something they didn't do! WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE THE GOOD GUYS! NOT THEM!" Robin was livid.

"Shhh! Calm down!" Terra shushed him. "If you act so immature in front of the press it'd only reinforce the idea that we're too young and not mature enough to protect the city!"

Realizing that she was right, Robin turned and returned to the others, considerably calmer.

"Get us home." He said brokenly as he knelt down in front of Starfire. Nodding quietly, Terra ripped up a huge slab of concrete from the docks and flew them back home.

Back at the tower, Beast Boy and Starfire were placed in the cramped med bay. As Terra did her best to care for them, Robin tried his best to repair Cyborg and to restart him. He tinkered around in Cyborg's room for hours, desperately trying to find a solution. He even tried searching for Cyborg's blueprints hoping that they would provide some answers as to how Robin could repair Cyborg. Not knowing that Bumblebee had read Cyborg's blueprints, it did not occur to Robin to seek help from her.

Meanwhile, Terra and Starfire were in the med bay doing their best to keep Beast Boy alive. Starfire had came to several hours earlier and was now desperately reading medical books along with Terra. They had tried to get Beast Boy admitted to a hospital, however there was no space for him even though his condition was critical. When the city was suffering from a power outage and the power generated from solar panels was not enough to provide power to large apartment buildings, many turned to candles for lighting. The use of candles resulted in many fires and numerous injuries.

On top of that, the lack of fuel meant that critically ill people often got to the hospitals very late, worsening their conditions. As a result, all of the hospitals in Jump City were now at maximum capacity, leaving Beast Boy's life in the hands of Terra and Starfire.

"How's he doing?" asked Robin quietly as he entered the med bay.

"He's very weak." Replied Terra, not looking up from the book.

"What's that you have there?" he asked wonderingly.

"It's a medical book." Snapped Terra, annoyed by the distraction.

"It's Raven's book." Said Starfire as she walked over to her boyfriend.

"What? You went through Raven's things?" Robin screeched. "Do you have any idea what she's going to do to you - and all of us for that matter - when she returns?"

"Do not do the freaking out, Robin." Replied Starfire plainly. "I did not go through the things of Raven. The brain of me is not that stupid." Terra chuckled quietly.

"How did you know she has them? How did you find these?" He wondered, eyeing the mountain of books.

"I went with Raven to buy the books of medicine because she rarely wants to do the shopping. When we were doing the moving to here, I saw a glorious brown chest with the word 'Medicus' on it. That's why I knew exactly where the books of medicine are. All we had to do is look for the brown chest and hey pasta! We found it!"

"It's 'hey presto'." Terra giggled.

"Why would Raven have medical books?" asked Robin curiously.

"She thought this knowledge would help her do the healing better." Responded Starfire.

"If only Raven were here. She could heal Beast Boy." Sighed Robin as he walked over to Beast Boy. He looked awful. His face was black and bruised and he had broken his arms and legs again. In fact, it seemed as though Beast Boy had broken every bone in his body. His breathing was shallow and Robin could tell from the way he breathed that his lung injury had been aggravated. "I told him not to come." muttered Robin as he clenched his fists in frustration. "I shouldn't have let him fight!"

"It's not your fault, Robin." Replied Starfire as she put one hand on his shoulder.

"Yes, it is." Cried Robin between gritted teeth. "Some kind of leader I am!"

"No, you are a great leader." Replied Starfire. "Your leadership made Beast Boy so loyal to the team that he was willing to do the fighting though he was broken."

"You mean 'injured'?" asked Terra from her place on the floor.

"Yes." Starfire replied as she hugged Robin from behind. He allowed her to hug him for several seconds, before pulling away.

"I just hope he survives the night." Robin said sadly before leaving the med bay and retreating into the darkness of the hall.

Elsewhere in the city, the real Slade watched.