Chapter 12- In Charge


It was dark. It was a very disturbing darkness. It was difficult to see much of anything apart from the dim screen of the television. Everyone had remained calm and had stayed quiet for a couple of minutes.

Starfire was sitting next to Robin when the lights turned off. She curiously asked to no one in particular, "Should we go see what happened?"

Robin, in the pit of his stomach, knew almost automatically, what was going on. He sat there holding his breath just waiting for it to happen. Starfire noticed that Robin had become tense and she simply put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Cyborg got up and stumbled around in the dark before his eye adjusted and he could see again.

Robin took a deep breath and spoke, "Just wait."

Cyborg turned around to face Robin and said, "For what?"

Raven, who had been sitting at the table, said, "There's a reason why only the TV was left on. The back-up generators should've come on almost immediately but as you can all see they have not."

Beastboy was sitting on the floor and turned his head towards Raven's voice, "Yeah, so?"

"So, maybe somebody wants something."

The TV showed a picture of Jump City's central park and after a couple of seconds, the picture turned red. The picture of the park remained on the screen for only about 10 seconds before disappearing. The lights turned back on and everyone flinched from the sudden light but nothing else happened. Robin thought he knew what was about to happen, but for once, he was glad he was wrong. He sighed with relief and his friend looked at him in confusion.

Annoyed with the staring, Robin decided to speak, "What?"

They all looked away and feeling awkward Cyborg said, "So uh whatd'ya guys think that was for?"

Beastboy looked over at Robin, "Robin seemed like he knew what was going down before we did."

Robin felt a sudden pinch but ignored it and spoke, "I thought I did. Obviously, we should check out the park. See if everything's okay. I'll stay here just in case; call me in case of emergency."

"Should someone else stay behind as well?" asked Starfire

Robin got off the couch, "I don't think that's necessary."

"Why can't just one person go and the rest of us stay here?" questioned Beastboy

"Because I said so." Robin said casually

Raven shrugged and said, "Fine, let's go."

Beastboy, bothered by Robin, said, "Well sure, next time though I call staying home."

"If it's nothing too important, why not?" Robin replied

Cyborg watched Robin for a moment then Cyborg started to walk out the door. The rest of the team followed out the door, Starfire asked one more time if someone should stay home and Robin told her no.

Robin felt slightly more relaxed after the all had left. He didn't understand why but he was actually relieved after they had left. Robin hadn't felt uncomfortable hanging out with his friends beforehand but now that he thought about it he realized he felt overwhelmed the whole time. Robin decided he shouldn't think too much about things or else everything would become more confusing.

Suddenly, Robin craved something, but he could not think of what he was craving. It was a familiar crave but somehow Robin couldn't put his finger on it. He walked over to the fridge and opened it; nothing looked appealing. Robin decided what he was craving was not food.

He walked throughout the Tower but nothing interested him. He was just about to give up finding what his crave was when he saw his R-Cycle. He realized that it was a possibility that what he craved could be outside, waiting for him. He took out his communicator and set it down on one of Cyborgs various tool cabinets.

He rushed over to his motorcycle, put his helmet on, and raced out of the garage. Outside of the Tower Robin felt the wind against his face and the feeling of freedom coursed through his veins.

He realized he should probably pick a place to head, but the feeling of not knowing tantalized him. He gave in to his logical side and decided he should head to the pier. He adjusted his course and avoided the park area completely.

He was completely unaware of the speed he was going, but he didn't care. To have moments like this was unusual for Robin. For once, he had time to himself to have a great time and not care about what was going around him. Ever since he had come to Jump City, he hadn't really had a day to relax like he used to in the old days.

He arrived at the pier and he stopped his motorcycle and got off. He chose an area away from where any people would be. He made sure that his R-Cycle wouldn't fall and sat down near the edge of the ledge. He sat down and swung his legs over the ledge. He sat there for a couple seconds admiring the sunset when he laid back with his legs still over the ledge.


Back at the Tower, Starfire was pacing in the living room; they had gotten back from the park with no news to share with Robin, when they looked around they had all noticed that Robin was not home. Frustrated that Robin had left Cyborg called his communicator, getting no answer Cyborg checked Robin's location. It said on the computer that Robin was in the garage.

Cyborg told Beastboy to go check the garage and when he did, all he saw was Robin's communicator and a missing R-Cycle. When he shared the news with the group, everyone had talked about looking for him in the city. Raven had shot that idea down after telling everyone that when Robin wanted to come back, he would.

They all spent time in the living room when Cyborg, Raven, and Beastboy decided to head to bed. Starfire stayed in the living room waiting for Robin to return home.

Why would he not check in?Starfire asked herself. Is this why he did not want to come? Did he want to be alone?

Beastboy came into the main room and noticed Starfire's expression. "Hey you okay?" he asked

Starfire did not respond and so Beastboy repeated, "You okay? Star? Hello?"

Starfire looked up at Beastboy and said, "Of course."

Beastboy smiled and walked towards the kitchen. Starfire spoke again, "When do you think Robin will be home? He has been gone for a long time."

"I'm sure he'll be back soon. You really should head to bed."

"I will shortly."

"Well if you're still up when he gets back tell him I said he's a jerk for not calling in, 'Kay?"

Starfire watched Beastboy begin to leave and said, "I will?"

Beastboy left and Starfire turned on the TV for some entertainment. She flipped through the channels and finally settled on watching a cooking show. She started to relax and eventually she fell asleep on the couch.


Robin sighed, closed his eyes, and starting thinking deeply. He heard something but ignored it and continued to be content. He heard something again and annoyed that something was interrupting his peace, he snapped his eyes open and he looked around and found out it was dark out. He must have lost track of time. He sat up and turned his back.

"Hello?"

He didn't receive a response so he stood up and looked around. A cool breeze made Robin get goose bumps. He looked up towards the roof but saw no one.

"Where's your friends?" a voice asked

Robin recognized the voice. "Where are you?" he asked

"Right here." A figure stepped out of the shadows and Robin could finally see the figure. He jumped down from one of the roofs with a loud thud.

Ignoring the urge to yell at Speedy to be quieter when dropping down, he said, "Way to be a creeper Roy. What're you doing in Jump anyway?"

"Hey, I'm not the one hanging out by himself. Well anyways, I got bored, was in the area with the big guy, and thought I would say to my old pal that never responds to messages."

Robin chuckled, "Maybe I would reply if you stopped sending me messages of bands you know I don't like."

"Thought that counts. Where's your team?" Speedy walked over to Robins R-Cycle and started admiring it.

"Uh, home? I don't know." Robin rubbed his masked eyes and put his hands on his temples.

"Shame, I was hoping to say hello to your friend Starfire. I heard things have been boring since The Brotherhood of Evil." Speedy said looking at the clear water.

Robin glared at Speedy before speaking, "It has been, basically all we get anymore are breakout clean-ups or dull bank robbing attempts. There's been promising of something else happening but I don't know."

Speedy smiled but then took on a more solemn expression, "That sucks man. Do you ever miss working with...?"

Robin cut him off, "No not really, it's nice to be in charge for once but I'll tell you what I do miss. The challenges of living in Gotham, I haven't had a really good challenge in a long time."

"Isn't it nice not to having to stay out all night every night and just being lazy?" Speedy walked over towards Robin and waited for an answer.

"Sure, for like a week."

Speedy noticed the tedium in Robin's voice but before he could say anything his main communicator went off, "Ah crap, I gotta run GA's calling."

"Later."

Robin watched Speedy leave. He turned to look at the water, he heard something again and assuming it was Speedy he asked, "Forget something?"

He did not get a response so he decided to turn around. Robin turned to see a strange weapon pointed directly at his body and he immediately felt the blood drain from his face.


A/N: Okay, I am sorry my chapters are short but I hope you liked it. I thought that I could stop with the disclaimers at the top but don't forget that I do not own Teen Titans. I spent a lot of time this week in planning the story out; I'll probably start posting every two weeks instead of every Sunday. That way my chapters will be longer and better(: Remember reviews make my day so please, review and tell me what you liked or didn't like. Thank you(: