Teen Titans Fan Fiction

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans, its Production Company, affiliates, and sponsors. Everything is fictional and any similarities between the characters and any living person are purely coincidental.

A/N: Extensive details in every chapter is sorta taking the stamina out of me quicker than I thought. I apologize for not posting several chapters per day as I have in the past. I took a short breather to regain my composure, and still have the drive necessary in order to finish this without compromising anything from the plot line. We're almost done with Part 3! Hurray! (bows) Thank you everyone who's read up to now. I thoroughly hope you've enjoyed it. Let's get it started!!!!!!

P.S. I still need input on whether or not I should downgrade the story's rating to a T, instead of M. As always, reviews are appreciated, even if they are flames. Everyone deserves to have an opinion about something, so I will allow their voices to be heard. On a more serious note, as this is my first fanfic and I'm still learning some terminology, could someone please tell me what the crap is an OC?! I'm thinking it's "own character" but then I saw OOC and now I'm completely lost. The first person who tells me gets a special sneak peak at what's coming in Part 4! Woo hoo! Prizes!!!

Legend -

Normal Font: Basic read and insight.

Bold: Change of location or time.

Italics: Individual thoughts and recollections.

SACRIFICE

As Robin speeds to save the people on the train, Terra finds herself unable to use her powers. Beast Boy has asked a huge favor from Robin. Can the Dark Knight's apprentice pull off what his mentor had done so many times before?

Chapter 20 - The Train

Robin was riding his motorcycle fast towards where the train's route was. He couldn't go directly to the mall. If he did, the train would still be going and he wouldn't have a chance to stop it. Instead, he took the scenic route, to align himself up directly on the train's path. He glanced over at the clock on his bike. 10:10, just 20 more minutes before it crosses over the mall. Robin revved his bike's engine several more times and sped off even faster. His mind was reflecting on what he had to do to beat Joker. It wasn't going to be easy, it never was. His mind flashed back to the reason he put on the mask in the first place.

"Hey! That's the guy...!"

"Come on Dick, we're up next!"

The acrobatic youth swung on the trapeze as his father caught him. He landed by his mother as they acknowledged the crowd. His mom took off next and his father caught her, the flying Grayson's, this is what they did for a living. The boy's eyes saw the rope holding his father, it was cut and was about to break.

"Dad! Mom! Lookout!!!"

They never heard it as they both plummeted down at least 4 stories, their bodies covered in blood and limbs pointing in different directions that weren't humanly possible. Gasps from the crowd, children started screaming as people went over to examine the scene. Tears filled the little boy's eyes...

Robin revved the engine again. Tony Zucco, pray I never find you. I haven't forgotten the hell you left me in, and I know 'he' won't either. He saw the train in the distance, it was going to be a few minutes before he got into range. I won't allow anybody else to go through that, not on my watch, not ever again! Robin's screen on his motorcycle was beeping. Someone was trying to contact him. Pressing the button, he saw Cyborg.

"Yo, we're heading over now. Where should we go?" Cyborg asked.

"All of you who are able should go to the mall. I'll get to where the train is now and de-rail the passenger cars, then I'll go and pull the engineer out from the driver's car. I'll leave it to all of you to stop it from crashing into the mall." Robin's image cut off when he finished.

"Dude's sure a bit colder now." Cyborg scratched his head. What the heck is going on? He reminded himself of what Starfire had told him, that it was never easy with the Joker. Besides, he was still trying to figure out what Terra had to do with everything. Cyborg didn't understand everything, heck, he wasn't sure he understood anything about the situation. Turning to Starfire and Raven, they all nodded and ran out to the elevator leading down. They didn't have much time, Robin had given orders and from the start of this whole ordeal, Robin had figured it all out. They weren't going to start doubting him now, not until he gave them a reason to.

The elevator touched down at the bottom. Cyborg hopped into his T-Car, with Raven and Starfire already flying ahead. He pushed a button, the T-Car hovered and took off above the waters that connected the island to the mainland.

Meanwhile, in the secret location of Joker...

Joker was relaxing in a small recliner. He had "Jokerized" his entire surroundings, everything around him had been redecorated to his own personal taste. The walls were painted dark purple, but some had white streaks all through them. Joker looked up at the time, it was 10:20 now, 10 minutes until a very joyous occasion. He laughed out loud to himself. Terra, still bound by layers of clear ceramic wrap and duct tape on her mouth, kept her eyes closed. She didn't want to give Joker the satisfaction of seeing her shed tears. She was unable to use her powers for some strange reason, and now she unable to do anything at all.

Terra tried to loosen her confinement, but to no avail. At least 20 layers of ceramic wrap was wrapped tightly around her. She couldn't move and what was worse, she couldn't feel the earth around her, something was definately wrong. Why is this happening? Why? Terra's mind answered her, as she remembered the events that led to her capture.

"Here ya go kiddo, kiddo! Take a card!" Joker had thrown a playing card at her. She had just moved enough out of the way as she didn't think it could hurt her. She was wrong, as its sharp edges gave her a laceration on her left arm.

"Take another card!!!" Joker threw another one at her. She tried jumping out of the way, but it sliced her right leg, and she fell down, crying out in pain.

Joker's made a gesture with his wrist and was now holding 6 more cards. She stared at him, unable to move and in the toughest spot in her life. She closed her eyes as he shouted, "End of the line, I owed you this earlier!!"

Terra opened her eyes to find herself not in any sort of physical pain, but nothing could have prepared her for what she saw. Beast Boy, transformed into a vicious animal she had never seen before, had taken all 6 cards in his back. He was already wounded from a laser beam that hit him in the chest.

"Terra...I'm sorry you had to get involved in this. In truth ... I was afraid of facing this alone. You had started a new beginning for yourself, and I wanted an old ending. Now we're standing here and I'm standing in another beginning. I never expected what you would do as a member of the Titans, or what you you do to my heart. Other people still deserve that opportunity...the opportunity... to laugh ... cry ... and fall in love." Beast Boy was coughing, several times, blood spat from his mouth and landed on the ground in front of him.

"Even if I'm not standing with you, I think we both still deserve ... a new beginning as well." Beast Boy was spilling his feelings, he had grown so mature in the time they spent away from each other.

"I think I can finally admit that ..." Beast Boy's words were interrupted by another card the Joker had thrown. The ace of Spades. It exploded and pink gas covered them both. Terra wasn't sure what Beast Boy had said before passing out.

The next thing she knew, she was here. Bound up like an animal, unable to move. Her powers, useless, as she could not feel any part of the Earth around her. Her eyes moved to her left arm and then down to her right leg. Joker had not bothered to patch up her wounds. By wrapping her up, they had unexpectedly caused a bandage for the area, allowing it to heal, but both still needed to be treated. Her eyes suddenly widened. What happened to Beast Boy? Is he ok? Did the other Titans make it to him?

Terra started shouting through the tape around her mouth. She squirmed and Joker finally noticed. "Oh, what is it now?" Joker walked over and yanked the tape off her mouth. Terra cringed for a second to allow the pain to subside before shouting at him, "What happened to Beast Boy? What did you do to him, you monster?!"

Joker put his hand to his head as he thought. "Oh...the jolly green giant who serves peas and green beans! The guy looked finished to me and I so hate dragging along dead weight." He waved it off and smacked the tape back on.

Terra didn't want to believe it. She closed her eyes as they watered up. Beast Boy... She had no idea whether or not he was even still alive. She shook her head as thoughts of his death creeped into her head. She started to glow a familiar yellow, but still could not feel anything around her. She powered down, there was nothing she could do. She couldn't get her revenge for killing Beast Boy. Someone else was gonig to have to do it.

Joker reached into his remote and pressed a button on it. The camera that stood idly by focused on him automatically, it's red light turned on shortly thereafter. Joker announced to the world watching once more, "Oooooo... just 10 more minutes before the 10:30 train crosses over the mall!!!" Joker leaned in close to the camera, "Talk about your shopping spree's...hahahahaha!" He laughed his vintage Joker laugh that was heard by many watching at home. Mothers and Fathers were holding their sons and daughters in their arms, trying to shield them from the sight unfolding right before their very eyes. Even those without children and together quivered with fear. Nobody on the train ever did anything to Joker, and in his sick mind, that was the joke.

"And now for the Bat Brat as I know you're watching, we have a special message from our sponsors for you..." Joker's smile widened, surprisingly to a lot of people as it went to a cut-scene. Grog and Frog were dancing, singing a very old song, "Jingle Bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg..." Robin, watching the entire thing unfold, punched the switch, turning the broadcast off.

Back at the train...

Robin had arrived, there was only 8 minutes left. The train was going full speed ahead, completely unaware of the events that had taken place. He pulled up right beside a passenger car. Pushing a button on his bike, it read "AUTO PILOT" as he reached into his utility belt. He pulled out a grappling hook and fired it at the train, it snagged and he pushed the button on it to pull himself to the roof of the train. The wind was much greater than he expected. If he didn't continue to lean forward, he was going to be blown backwards. He was 3 train cars away from where the passenger cars. He hoped the first one, but fell down onto his stomach. Pushing himself up just a bit, he started treading the long path to the end of the passenger car. Inside, several people looked up at the roof, thinking they heard something, but returned to converse with others.

Robin held his hands up to his face, it was hard to see with the train's momentum. The wind was cold, and he wasn't exactly wearing warm clothing. His cape was flapping backwards into the force of the wind. He finally made it to the end of the second car. Glancing at his watch, he was running out of time, 4 and half minutes left. He climbed down from where he was and instead, climbed the ladder that led to the roof of the next passenger car. This way didn't prove any more effective as he had a hard time regain his footing. He pushed ahead further, time was running out. After he got past the next train car, he would be at the point where he could uncouple the passenger cars from the driver's car. He thought of saving everyone on the train, they deserved to live. Never again would a child be forced to bear the death of his or her parents, not on his watch, never again.

The train turned and Robin almost fell off the train. He grabbed onto the ledge and saw why the train turned. There was about 5 more miles of straight tracks, after that another turn, and then the straightway which led to the mall would be in full view. Robin reached into his belt and pulled out another grappling hook. He fired it at the end of the last train, but the wind's force just flew it backwards when it reached halfway. Not good. He inched himself towards the end of the second car. As he finally arrived, he lept onto the railing of the the car and hoped upwards towards the roof of the final car. While he was fully up in the air, he fired his grappling hook once more, but at a much shorter distance, he aimed for the middle of the car. It slammed into roof as it hooked and Robin pushed the button pulling him in, while he was still in midair going backwards towards the other cars. As soon as he touched down, he started running. It was very hard to gain a lot of speed, time was almost up!

He finally arrived and hoped down between the passenger's cars and the engineer's. He pulled out some rope from his utility belt and tied one end to the brake's lever, the other to the driver's side car. Standing on the engineer's car, he kicked the lever which separated them all finally. As the lead car sped off, the rope holding the two together pulled on the brake lever, causing the passenger's cars to slowly start to brake. The rope snapped from the pressure as Robin looked on. Good, Part 1's done... Robin climbed the roof to the top of the engineer's car. He glanced down at his watch, 90 seconds left! The engineer's car was not half as long as the others, it was all grey and silver, as it continued to speed forward. Robin shot one more grappling hook into the roof and jumped downward at the engineer's window. He opened it.

The engineer was initially shocked that someone opened his window, much less Robin. Thankfully he was slender, and was physically able to get out of the window. "The train's going to derail when it gets over the mall, it's time to go! Take my hand..." The engineer looked to his left, the train was about to hit the final turn. His eyes then made out to see that Robin was correct, and extended his hand towards him. They both lept from the train as it went into its final turn. Robin reached into his utility belt one last time. Seeing that he still had one more grappling hook he smiled. He fired it at the train tracks and they both swept across the sky and landed on a nearby building. Robin set him down and looked up at the train. Cyborg was standing on the tracks, trying to stop its momentum.

Cyborg extended both arms at the train as it slammed into him. He pushed and pushed, trying to slow it down. Starfire flew down and pushed with him. It had some effect, the train was slowing down, but they were soon going to run out of room. Raven, levitating in the air, chanted "Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos!!!" The train, including Starfire and Cyborg pushing was soon consumed with her familiar dark energy. The train instead of derailing was moved over to the tracks that went beyond the mall. As Raven's energy released from the train, Starfire and Cyborg finished the job, the train soon stopped. With a loud shout, Cyborg's "BOOOOOOO YAAAAAAAA!!!!!" echoed for several blocks.

Cheers from audiences all around Jump City were shown. Children were shouting "Go Titans!!! Go Titans!!!" Mothers and fathers were clapping. Couples smiled at each other as the disaster had been averted with minimal damage. Joker had intended to show the train derailing and crashing into the city's mall. Instead, it was used to show the bravery of the Teen Titans. Joker's image came back onto the screen, he was no longer smiling. Instead, he had made a small hand puppet, it had short arms and legs and was dressed almost identically to the Joker. Joker moved his hand and made a higher pitched voice as the camera, now focused on the hand puppet spoke.

"Awww, Joker...looks like Robin managed to foil your plans to crash the mall." It's small hands were helped by Joker's other hands, as it motioned it was crying.

"Yes... it would seem that our little birdie is capable of dealing with us." Joker stroked his chin as the camera zoomed outward, showing both of them.

"Look on the bright side! At least we still gots her!!!" The little hand puppet's hands were helped as it pointed off screen. Terra was still hanging. The ceramic wrap was being held up by a large crane hook. "Let's melt her like a witch!!!" The little hand puppet spoke.

"Oh why that's a brilliant idea!! Now why didn't I think of that?" Joker asked himself. He walked over and pulled a small lever. The ground underneath Terra slowly split apart, underneath her, a raging hot fire was blazing.

"She's gonna melt like a grilled cheese sandwich!!!" The puppet started laughing. "That's if Robin can find her before 12:00 midnight." The little puppet pointed up towards the clock, it was just now 10:30, as the hand moved one more minute upward, to 10:31.

"That's right my little friend, if the little birdie can't get here by midnight, the girl's gonna become a red head! Hahahahaha!" Joker laughed as the screen went dark again.

Robin waited on the rooftop as he saw Joker's image vanish. He had transmitted his broadcast to every signal in the city. He saw it from a large plasma screen that was just across the street. It was normally used to show new music, movies and games that were coming out. Raven levitated over towards him, Cyborg was being carried by Starfire as the team was reunited. Beast Boy was there in spirit, but he was still recovering from his injuries.

"Yo, did you catch that?" Cyborg asked as Starfire set him down. Robin made no eye contact, but nodded.

"So ... what now?" Raven inquired. She was curious as to how they were going to proceed. They had stopped part of Joker's plan, but Terra was still being held captive.

"We shall kick the butt!!!" Starfire raised her arm, motioning for a charge. Raven and Cyborg both nodded. Robin spoiled their moment.

"I'm going to rescue her ... alone," Robin spoke coldly. The other Titans looked at each other before examining their leader. He was standing several feet from all of them. He stood straight up, his longer cape covering his entire body. "This is not negotiable." He finished speaking as the other Titans each showed their individual disagreement. Cyborg folded his arms, Raven shook her head and Starfire put her left hand against her right elbow.

"Return to the tower, I'll see you all there." Robin ordered and leaped from the building down to the street. His motorcycle had finally caught up to him. He put on his helmet, and opened a small compartment. Refilling his supply of grappling hooks, he put them all into his utility belt and hopped onto his bike. It's engine revved several times and sped off.

"Does he even know where he's going?" Cyborg asked both Starfire and Raven. Raven gave a slight shrug, but Starfire nodded her head and smiled. Cyborg and Raven each took notice and the obvious question came out, "How do you know?" they both asked in unison.

"The answer is simple!" Starfire pointed up her index finger. "It is because I believe in him!"

Cyborg almost fell on his face and Raven put her hand to her forehead. "Do you have anything more tangible, Starfire?" Raven asked, though she had the feeling that once she finished asking, she knew what the answer was going to be.

"Tell me friend, Raven, what is this word, tangible?" Starfire tilted her head as she asked. Cyborg really did fall on his face this time. He looked up and stated, "Man...you two are on a whole different level."

Cyborg stood up and tried to communicate with Robin. "Yo, do you have any clue where you're going?" Robin didn't answer. "I asked a question, you don't have to be so secretive all the friggin' time! It's really starting to irritate me!!!" Cyborg yelled into his arm.

Robin's head in his helmet finally popped up on the screen. "You have your orders, and for the record, yes, I do know where I'm going." Robin spoke for just a few seconds more as he finished, "I found some oil from the transmitter on the float. I know exactly where they are." Robin's head vanished from Cyborg's forearm. Cyborg sighed then told the girls, "Let's go home, we can monitor Robin's location from his bike to see where he's going, maybe then we'll have some clue as to what this whole thing is."

Starfire smiled and Raven nodded. Starfire picked up Cyborg as Raven followed them both back to Cyborg's T-Car.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to all of them, someone else was watching...

A screen showing Robin on his bike was currently the primary focus for Slade. The screen below him showed the other Titans setting down by Cyborg's T-Car. Behind him, Madame Rouge came into focus. "Do you really think that Robin knows where he is going?"

"Of course, my dear, it was quite simple." Slade answered her. Madame Rouge lifted an eyebrow. She turned to her side, exposing her right leg, covered in its long, black boot. "Do not tell me that you know where he is also?" she asked in her Eastern European accent.

Slade laughed. "Yes, my dear, I know exactly where they are. If I figured it out, so did Robin. Not a bad location, I must admit, Joker is smarter than I gave him credit for..."

Madame Rouge dug her foot into the ground, causing a hole. "Well, are you going to tell me or not?" She didn't like the fact that Slade had figured it out, but she hadn't.

"Patience, my dear, all will be made clear very soon..." Slade turned around and walked back into the darkness. Now show me, Robin. Show me that you are still a worthy adversary. It wouldn't be as much fun if you weren't a challenge to me anymore.

Madame Rouge continued to look at the monitors, she put her hand to her chin and thought for a moment. Giving up, she also retreated back into the shadows.

As Robin speeds off, Slade seems to know exactly where he's going. The other Titans return to the tower and wait. As the clock continues to tick, Terra's fate hangs in the balance, who will win in the showdown of wits?

Next time: Chapter 21 - Showdown

Robin arrives at Joker's headquarters. The other Titans struggle putting the pieces together, as Beast Boy is confronted by Raven. The light of hope and the swift arm of justice finally strike back. You won't wanna miss it!