Hey everyone! Thanks to all of you who have been hanging in there with me, I hate to say it, but we are actually almost done! This definitely isn't the last chapter, but we are getting close so hopefully you guys stick it out till the end and I can keep you entertained until then :)

ENJOY!

Chapter Sixteen: In My Heart I Know I Failed You

†Gotham - Titans†

Gotham Art District, known for having some of the best art museums and galleries in the US, also home to many artists and those who tend to lean more to the creative side. A small coffee shop could be found on any corner, along side many other small businesses. All in all, it was a rather nice part of Gotham, not run down like the places that they had been to yet. It was definitely not the type of place that you would expect a top villain to be residing and creating evil.

TheT-Car pulled up to the address that was written on the back of the crumpled up grocery receipt, the headlights going dark as it came to a complete stop. The doors opened and four teens got out and began to head toward the entrance to the small shop.

Before they could reach it, the door swung open to reveal Batman. None of the teens were surprised to see him. In fact, they would have been more surprised if he hadn't of beaten them here.

"Did you find anything? Was Strange in there?" Cyborg asked as he stepped forward from his group.

"He's here, but looks like we're not the first to find him."

"What do you mean?" asked Raven.

"He's been shot and I think I can guess who is behind it." Batman answered, causing the four teens to gasped.

"You mean Robin, don't you. Is he..." Starfire began, afraid to ask her question. Strange was their connection to Slade, the only one they knew of that could give them any possible answer as to where he was keeping Robin.

"He's alive, but barely. That's what makes me think it was Robin. Had it of been Slade, Strange would be dead." As if on cue, an ambulance flew around the corner, coming to a stop behind the T-Car. Several paramedics hopped out of the vehicle and up to where Batman and the teen stood. Wordlessly, Batman pointed inside the building, signaling the direction they were needed. Almost instantly they all disappeared within the building.

"I don't think it was Slade that shot him. If Slade was after him, he would have been dead for sure. He's not the kind of man to do something so sloppy as leave his victim without making sure that he was dead. He's not the kind of man to miss his target. The bullet pierced close to the heart, but didn't hit. Like whoever shot him was aiming for the heart and missed."

The group watched as the Dr. Strange was pulled out on a stretcher and put into the back of the ambulance.

"You guys head back to the cave. We need to regroup," Batman ordered.

"What about you?" Beast Boy asked.

"I want to go and check up on the man that made the delivery. He may be targeted, as well as Chang," Batman said, glaring at the group of teens, especially Starfire and Beast Boy for leaving him unwatched. The Titans couldn't argue after an accusation like that and so could only obey the orders that they were given. They hopped back into the T-Car and headed back to Wayne Manor (i.e. the Batcave). Batman had already disappeared by the time they pulled away from the curb.

†Gotham - Robin†

Richard stood on the roof, across from an old apartment building in one of the run down areas of Gotham City. Using a pair of binoculars he peered through a window, into the apartment that he figured belonged to the address that Slade had given him. Through the binoculars, Richard could see a man sitting in a chair, talking with another person, a lady. The two looked to be about 18 or 19 years old, only a few years older than himself. From how things appeared, he'd say that the girl was about eight or nine months pregnant.

"What are you doing here?" A voice asked from behind him.

Richard turned around to see a dark figure, covered in shadows, though somehow he had a good idea who it was.

"Who's there?" he asked the figure anyway, who stepped out from the shadows as a response.

Richard stared at the man before him, different feelings and emotions rushed through him. The mix was almost overwhelming and only confused him, a sensation he was beginning to become familiar with. He felt anger, annoyance, disappointment, anxiety, and fear. He understood why he would feel this way when he met up with the Bat. He knew that was who he was. He remembered the face. After everything that Slade said he had done to him, he would be crazy to think that the reunion would be happy. What he couldn't understand was the other emotions that he felt. He felt respect, loyalty, admiration and even love, the type of love that you would feel for a parent, rather than a romantic type. Then there was the feeling of shame. He felt ashamed for being caught at what he was attempting, especially by Batman, as if he was a kid caught doing something bad by a parent. For some reason he didn't want to let him down. It didn't make any sense. The mixed emotions only confused him and the confusion of not being able to understand his emotions and the lack of a solid memory terrified him.

It didn't matter. He didn't have time to sort out his emotions now and figure out where everyone he saw stood. He just wanted to get this over with so that he could hurry and get back to the compound.

"What do you want from me?" He asked the Bat.

Batman couldn't help but look at the kid skeptically. To him, it was obvious that he was not himself.

"Robin, do you know who I am?" he asked the boy cautiously.

"Of course I know who you are Batman. I know what you tried to do to me, but it didn't work. You failed."

"Robin..."

"Don't call me that!" Richard said with fierce as he pulled out his gun, pointing it at Batman.

"Look, I don't know what Slade has told you, or what he's done to you," Batman said, putting his hands up in defense, showing that he means no harm, "but whatever it was, is wrong. I don't know what you think I did to you, but we have done nothing but look for you since you've disappeared."

"Disappeared? You mean from your escape? Well, you may have found me, but I'm not going back with you. Trying to trick me again..." Richard said, letting himself pull the trigger.

Batman easily dodged the horribly bad aiming, before righting himself once again. After finding Strange, he really wasn't surprised with Robin's actions. The terrible shot however, he couldn't tell if it was poor training on the kids part, or if he was subconsciously missing. That being said, was Strange just lucky, or did Robin subconsciously shoot to injure, rather than kill?

"You must have been the one that shot Strange, with an aim like that," Batman accused.

"Yea, what about it?"

"It's no wonder he survived."

Batman watched the surprise pass across the boys face, along with the hint of relief that he was hoping for. The Robin he knew was definitely still there, just a bit lost.

Richard wasn't sure why, but he was relieved that Strange lived. Slade may have said that he had killed before and he may have regrettably killed the dog, but for some reason, the thought of killing another person seemed wrong and he wasn't sure if he wanted to start creating new memories filled with death and blood. The murder of Dr. Strange turned out to be a failure and the murder of the man that sat in the apartment was put on hold due to the interruption of Batman. However, he knew it wouldn't be long before he would have to kill, something, for some reason, he beginning to dread.

"Face it," Batman said, taking a step towards the boy dressed in black and orange, "you weren't meant for that kind of life."

"You don't know what you are talking about...you're just trying to trick me!" Richard accused.

"You think maybe that's why you don't know how to aim properly?" Batman said, almost sounding angry, taking another step towards Richard.

Richard began to shake the closer that Batman got to him. He was nervous, even though he didn't have a certain reason why he should be.

"Richard! What are you doing! Shoot him!" A voice buzzed in his ear, startling him, making him drop the gun.

Immediately Batman swooped down and picked up the fallen weapon, quickly dismantling it and throwing the pieces off to the side. Richard got into a defensive stance, ready to fight if need be.

His earpiece buzzed to life again, giving him orders.

"Leave! Now!"

"I don't want to hurt you Dick." Batman said to him.

"Dick?" Richard asked quietly, more to himself than anybody else. It was a name he had forgotten until now. Now however, he knew the name as his own. He didn't know how he knew this, but he did. Perhaps because it felt so right. It was the first thing since being drugged that felt right. The simple utterance of that name, somehow let a crack seep through in his mind, shining a glimmer of light into his dark world. It was a name that people who knew him well called him. Other people called him Richard, but those close to him, knew better. To them he was Dick. So why then, would Slade call him Richard rather than Dick?

"What are you doing! I said leave! NOW!" Slade yelled over the communicator that sat in his ear, making him jump back in a panic.

He knew better than to stay any longer. Following the order, Richard took off, running across the roof and jumping off the edge, using his grappling hook to catch on to slow his fall to the ground. The moment his feet hit the concrete, he took off running, quickly dodging out of sight. Dodging in and out of alleyways and in and out of the shadows. It took a bit, but finally he was able to shake up his trail and lose the Bat.

…or so he thought.

†The Batcave†

After Batman had returned to the cave he gathered the four teens, a plan already formed into his head. He knew they would need to gather together and take Slade by surprise if they were to get Robin out of there. He knew it would be a fight, both against Slade and against Robin.

"What happened? Did you find something?" Beast Boy asked as the four remaining Titans now stood in from of Batman in the cave.

"Another lead perhaps?" Starfire added in.

The teens were excited to have been called down. It wasn't often that the Bat would have information to tell them, or at least be willing or share it. When he had sent them home, they had expected for that to be the end of it for the night. They came back to the manor with plans of getting ready for bed and picking the search back up again tomorrow, just as they had they day before and every day since he went missing. Now, here they stood, in the middle of the Batcave with Batman telling them that he needs to talk to them about something important.

"I never thought I would be saying this to you, but I need your help. I did find something," Batman said, the group of teens all listening with open ears, "I found Robin."

The teens that stood before him became wide eyed as they all began to shout their various questions at him. Their combined voices sounding more like static that anything intelligible. Needless to say, Batman didn't have much patience for this kind of thing.

"Quiet!" He shouted, getting them all to shut up at once. "Now, one at a time."

Expectedly, they all turned to Cyborg, knowing as their temporary group leader, he would be able to get the information that they all wanted to know.

"Where is he?"

"He's at a compound in the south end of Gotham." Batman answered.

"Why didn't you bring him home? Is he ok?" Cyborg asked.

"When I went back to check in on Vince Ream, I found him. That's where I found Robin. He was on his way there to take Vince down."

The Titans couldn't help but feel uneasy at this information, especially after the whole Strange incident earlier that night. The Robin that they know would never have shot anyone. They knew where he stood on the use of guns and knew that he would not tolerate having to use one himself. Seeing their expressions of shock, Batman continued, answering their unasked questions.

"The drug that Strange was creating, it seems that Slade had already administered to Robin, which, I suspect is why he sent him to take out Strange. He was trying to get rid of the witnesses. I grabbed the files that Strange had on the drug while I was at his office down in the Art District. Hopefully I will be able to use those to figure out how to counter the drug once we have him."

"And how do we manage that?" Raven asked.

"This is where you guys come in. We are to head to the compound and take them straight on. I need you guys to find Robin and bring him back here. I'm sure he'll try and fight you, struggle to get free, but I need you to get him secured and get him back here as quickly as possible. You can't let him escape or we will have to do it all over again and I'm sure next time, finding him will be much harder and the damage done may be irreversible. Don't be afraid to hurt him if you need to, I'd rather have him here and injured than to continue to be in the hands of Slade."

"What if we try and sedate him?" Cyborg asked.

"I don't want to run the risk of any drug interfering with the chemicals that they injected with him, especially if they used Xenothium. We don't know how much is in his system or how it would react to other chemicals. You're best bet would be to try and knock him out."

"I'm guessing you're going after Slade?" Cyborg questioned.

Batman nodded, not needing words to confirm his need for vengeance.

"So the plan is to get in and get him out. I want to say that it sounds simple, but I know Robin. He'll put up a fight for sure and he won't make it easy for us. Even when we fought Robin during the first apprenticeship he kicked our butts without even trying..." Cyborg began.

"Well, in all fairness neither were we." Raven said cutting him off.

"You guys will get it done and get him here. Bottom line. We don't have room for mistakes. Now get ready, we leave in two minutes." Batman ordered.

So yay, Robin didn't actually kill Strange! Yay, morals are still intact! Please don't forget to review!

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