Disclaimer: Well, how can I say it differently this time. Oh, I know. If I owned Teen Titans then not only would I be rich by now, but I'd also know what exactly Deathstroke has planned up his sleeve so that he can win in the current comics. And by the way, I sadly don't know that anyway. Pouts...

Author's Note: Hello again. I just want to get it out there: Spider-Man 3 rocked! Well now that I've said that, I guess it is fair to warn you now, this is the second to last chapter in the story. But hey, it's not the end of the world... I hope... Once this story is done, I'll publish a One-Shot here and there and be back with another multi-chapter story before you know it. You know I can't stay away from Fan Fiction forever, right? Good. In any case, I think you'll rather enjoy this chapter. So I'll stop talking once again and let you read this chapter. May I present "Chapter Fourteen: Fighting for a Life"!

-T-

Could This Go Anywhere?

Chapter Fourteen: Fighting For a Life

Almost... there.

"Star, are you almost there?" Cyborg asked.

"I think so," she answered.

Robin looked up at the robots holding him. He wondered why they hadn't attempted to stop them. Then again, they were probably meant to keep an eye on him and not the others. Well, he'd let them keep an eye on him... for now. Robin loosened his muscles and allowed for himself to go limp. It was time to do something he hadn't done in a long time. It was something a bit more... acrobatic. In a second, the robots found their heads smashed together and held onto by Robin who had bent his body in such a way that he managed to wrap his legs around their robotic heads in a head lock. Even then, he felt the robots fighting off the strain he had put on them.

"Cyborg, now!"

Starfire barely lifted the shackles and it reached the end of the cord that Cyborg had managed to shoot out that was connected to his head. Instantly, the power in the shackles went into Cyborg, whose sonic cannon fired directly at the robots' heads that had been holding Robin. Starfire, Cyborg, and Robin stood up, but just as they did an alarm went off and the room was instantly swarmed with Sladebots.

"Get the others free!"

Starfire and Cyborg rushed over, but when Starfire looked over to Robin, she saw him running past the robots and into the room that Slade and Batman had fallen into during their fight.

"Robin!"

But he wasn't listening. He wasn't going to let Batman fight Slade alone. Not against Slade. Not against his own enemy. As she went to go after him, she found that the robots covered the exit. Beast Boy was free and Raven was still in no good condition to fight. Right now, all they could do was to distract the Sladebots so they didn't decide to retarget the Dark Knight or Robin.

Robin jumped down a floor and saw no one there, but he could see damage. He could feel the cold metal under his feet as he ran down the staircases that seemed to not have been used. That probably wasn't a good thing. He jumped down the stairs quickly, looking for any signs of Batman or Slade. He saw traces and debris from the fight and even a patch of ice. It made him worry. He knew that they were both excellent fighters and somehow, that knowledge just didn't comfort him at all. A piece of cape there, some sort of metal dent here…they were fighting nasty. But it wasn't until he was on the ground level that he saw or rather, heard them.

"I see, well, it won't help you anyway now, though," Slade said, taking out a bo-staff, "And neither will that cowl."

Robin looked around the corner to find Slade standing over Batman, who was on the ground. As Slade raised the staff, Robin felt adrenaline rush through him and also... Anger. He ran. There was no way on earth that he was going to let Batman get injured because of him. It had happened one too many times before and it wasn't about to happen again.

"No!"

In less than half a second, he had successfully torn Slade away from Batman, but had also gotten himself thrown across the room. As he was thrown, Robin saw Slade turn to look at him and he could instantly see irritation and anger. If he hadn't been angry before, he was now. And he was.

"We'll see if this attempt will go anywhere," he whispered as turned to 'Batman' for a second, before heading off in Robin's direction.

Robin stood up and was ready to fight again. As Slade ran at him, Robin slid on the ground behind Slade. He quickly kicked at Slade, but Slade dodged it. Batman still wasn't getting up and Robin guessed that it was from what he thought was probably a hard fall. But he didn't mind. He could fight Slade too. Slowly, the fight led up the steps. Robin headed upstairs first, going mostly on defensive.

"This is pathetic, Robin," Slade told him, as though he was lecturing the teen, "Do you really have to have other people fight your battles for you?"

"They're not fighting them for me," Robin answered, dodging a punch, "They're helping me fight."

"Some help." Slade responded, pulling off a kick, "They're not even here."

At the top of the steps, Robin tripped, but found himself back flipping to restabilize himself. Angry, Robin began to fight back with more force. He began to let loose with a barrage of easy hits, yet they were not the type to do much damage. But they did certainly put Slade behind as he had to guard so quickly. For a while, the Boy Wonder began to win. The price, though, was that he was using strength, but he didn't care.

And yet while Slade fought Robin, he caught himself thinking, 'Go on ahead, Apprentice, go ahead. Fight out of rage. Tire yourself. Besides, I'm in a mood for a challenge.'

As they fought, Robin didn't notice Slade's attitude shift. All he thought about were the others. The Titans and Batman had come in to help him and all Slade had done was hurt them. Even though he knew that the Titans were free, he still couldn't shake the images of them on the ground, defeated because they had come to free him. He couldn't quit remembering Slade holding Star as though he was going to stab her with that knife. And he couldn't stop remembering seeing Batman on the ground. Slade had hurt one too many people that he cared about and it was enough to make Robin furious.

At that point, Slade decided to take advantage of it. Robin dived behind Slade for a moment and flipped up into the air. Grabbing Slade by the neck, he attempted to put the larger man in a headlock... but that didn't exactly work. Slade rammed Robin against the wall, but still, the Boy Wonder held on, not willing to give up. Again, Slade rammed Robin against the wall. Then again, a third time. And that time, Robin let go and collapsed to the ground, his back sore and his arms in pain.

Slade rolled his shoulders and turned to face Robin, "Does it hurt, Robin?"

It hurt, yes. It did. But what hurt more was the fact that he was being defeated. Not now. Of all times. He couldn't fail, too. He couldn't let Slade win. Robin felt Slade kick him in the shoulder and he let out a soft groan, "Or does it hurt now?"

"You're not going to win," Robin whispered defiantly because really, it was the only thing he could think to say.

"Robin," Slade said, shaking his head. Slade knelt down and grabbed Robin's wrists, "I already have."

Robin twisted his wrists in attempts to get Slade to let go, but to no avail. "No!"

"Oh yes, we're going to go to Bludhaven. And don't you worry. No one will ever find you there. You'll grow up under my tutelage. And you'll never have to worry about those Titans or the Bat again," Slade's words dripped like a poisonous venom, as he kept a sharp hold of the teen's wrists. "I'll make sure of that."

Robin felt his breath that had caught up in his throat and he couldn't tear his eyes away from Slade's cold one. It was as though Slade was forcing him to feel a cold unwavering darkness. And yet, there was also an utter despise for the man that just refused to leave. If anything, it made it all harder. For the first time since Slade had captured him again, Robin knew what he was feeling.

He was feeling fear.

"You can't," he croaked.

"I think we've already established that I can, Robin," Slade said, as a parent would a misbehaving child.

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Robin looked over to see Batman running over.

Strangely enough, with no strategy or style whatsoever, Batman threw a brutal kick at Slade and the two started to fight again. A kick here, a punch there, from what Robin could see it went by so fast, no one could tell what they were doing, anyway. What he could tell was that both men were enraged with one another. Batman seemed to seethe with every failed attack. Slade was frustrated with the fact that he even had to deal with the Dark Knight. Well, he was just going to have to deal with the Boy Wonder, too.

Robin got up and sprinted forward. Batman saw him coming and as though he read Robin's mind, he moved to the right while Robin moved to the left. Batman tossed a Batarang, which Robin caught easily. Both struck Slade on opposite sides. Batman crouched down and kicked at Slade, who dodged, but didn't notice when Robin struck him with the Batarang to the face. As Robin did so, Batman flipped over and got a good kick to Slade's arm.

Slade stumbled backwards. There was no way that he was going to go out like this. He eyed Batman and underneath the cowl Richard paled. They were tired. They were losing energy, but Slade was still fine, still untouched, still strong. It always made Nightwing question how that was possible, but at the end of his own assessments, he always realized that it didn't matter. But currently, to make matters worse, Slade had that glint in his eye, the glint that still sent shivers crawling down his spine. It always meant that Slade was ahead of the game and was ready to take an easy win.

Slade pulled out another staff and ran at the two. They ran forward in return, but they weren't ready for Slade's double hit. Swinging the staff, he hit Richard in the back and knocked Robin head long into a pipe, which sent a large amount of pain through Robin's back that was enough to keep him down and out of the fight. Slade turned around to Nightwing who was just getting up. Slade struck at Batman with a staff, who blocked it with two Batarangs. The two pushed at the other's weapon, landing their fight at a halt.

Slade spoke in menacing whisper so that Richard was the only one to hear it, "Are you tiring yet, Nightwing?"

"No."

"That's it, lie. It's something Robin will be doing a lot of later," Slade answered.

Nightwing looked up at Slade and through the grated mask, he could see him smiling as though this whole thing was some sort of game. "Not a chance."

Slade gave a forceful push against the Batarangs forcing Nightwing on the ground while dropping one Batarang and throwing the other to the side. Rolling out of the way, Richard got up and kicked the bo-staff out of Slade's grasp. Slade cracked his knuckles to prepare for a hand-to-hand combat fight.

Slade's moves were almost always fluid and then he would harden up while dodging or attacking. For Richard, it was... difficult. He knew that his younger self was watching him and he knew that Robin knew Bruce's fighting style. For some reason, Slade had neglected to mention to Robin that it was Nightwing underneath the cowl of Batman. The only explanation that Richard had for that was that Slade might have considered the knowledge a motivator for the Boy Wonder. So Nightwing's task was balancing his own fighting style with Bruce's in order to maintain a sense of authenticity.

Despite this, for a while they fought evenly. And Nightwing soon had a target: Warp's technology. It took seconds to grab the little round object, but he managed. However, that was all that Slade needed to get motivated into the fight. In a matter of minutes, Slade began to see Nightwing's pattern. 'Patterns are noticeable, Grayson,' Slade thought.

With that, as Nightwing made a switch from fluidity to a harsh attack, Slade dodged and landed a hard elbow into the protégé's ribs causing Nightwing to fall to the ground. Robin groaned and lifted his head up. He couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. Slade looked like he was actually going to win this one. Grabbing the cape, Slade threw, from Robin's perspective, Batman into the nearest wall. Batman fell to his knees and Robin could see a trail of blood coming down from the Dark Knight's mouth.

Slade walked forward, confidant and, in Robin's opinion, arrogantly up to his opponent. Slade said calmly, "Robin will be my apprentice, Batman. The Dark Knight's protégé will soon be a crime lord's heir. And there's nothing you can do about it."

Robin felt his gut flip. No. No. No! He wouldn't let this happen. He couldn't. He didn't want his life to be controlled by Slade. Not now, not ever! He remembered the first time, the feelings of helplessness, despair, sorrow, and heartache. It was pain. It was the most painful time in his life. He didn't want to go through it again. Robin got to his knees when he felt something cold by his hand. Glancing down, Robin saw the Batarang and quietly picked it up.

"The place will be empty when you wake up," Slade said, in a way that wreaked of threats and danger, "I promise though, I'll make sure that Robin grows up all right. And sooner or later, you'll feel that it was probably the best thing for him anyway."

Clang!

Slade backed up and held his hand up to his mask once again. Daring to look up, Robin saw his enemy's mask cracked and about to fall off. Slade seethed.

"I'm not going to let you win," Robin whispered, his voice controlled, but defiant.

Bang!

An explosion alerted the group to the fight above. It sent a shock wave through the floor. Nightwing took the opportunity to leap up from the ground. Reenergized, Nightwing landed a good solid punch to Slade's face. The mask's cracks connected, ready to fall off. Slade brought his hand up to keep the mask to his face.

They heard the Titans coming down, "Batman! Robin! We gotta get out of here!"

Nightwing glanced up and then looked over to see Slade gone. Robin watched him, but finally spoke, "It's not worth it now."

Though Nightwing agreed, he didn't voice it. He knew Slade's escape was always a guarantee in cases such as these. The two ran up the steps and up to the main floor. The others were waiting for them, a hole blown through the roof. The building was caving in quickly. Robin watched as Batman shot a grapple to the roof. Holding onto the cable as well, the duo shot to the roof.

They barely managed to jump to the roof top of another building when the Haunt collapsed. People who had woken up mere hours ago looked out their windows to see what was going on. The Titans watched as the dust continued to settle. Robin was the first to turn away. He sat down and looked down at his feet, which were bleeding since they had been bare and without protection. Starfire and Richard then noticed.

"Robin," Starfire knelt down next to Robin and gave him a tight hug, which he returned with a sigh, "your feet..."

"They'll heal," He replied with a small smile.

"Dude, are you okay?" Beast Boy asked, the others' attention now on their leader.

"Yeah, I am now," Robin answered, "How did you find me?"

"Star got a tip off," Cyborg answered.

Robin looked up at the Dark Knight expecting an explanation, who cleared his throat to make himself sound gruff, "I alerted Star, but the only reason I knew was because I had an anonymous tip off."

Robin nodded, knowing that Batman wouldn't go any farther into it than that. Tugging on the shorts he was wearing he asked, "So, um, you guys have been doing the laundry, right?"

As the team talked, Richard smiled and walked off to the side near the entrance to the rooftop building. He now remembered this. He remembered it! And that meant that time was as it should be. He looked out at the city line of Jump. For some reason, he could still sense the anger that radiated from Slade. He was still dangerous, still a threat, but at the same time, Nightwing had an odd feeling that he needn't worry about that.

"Why don't we all just go back to the Tower?" Raven asked.

"I can't think of anything that I'd like to do more," Robin replied with an obvious appreciation for freedom.

-T-

A/N: So, how was it? Please review! I know you are probably mad at me for the fact that this is almost over. But I already planned out the whole story before I started writing it and I found out that there's practically no way to avoid an ending. Sorry. But I really do hope that you enjoyed the chapter. I decided to make Slade as scary as he could be in this situation in this chapter. I'll be back with the next chapter soon. Later!

Rena