The Value of Heroes
Chapter 28: The Thin Veil
"In everything that can be called art there is a quality of redemption. It may be pure tragedy, if it is high tragedy, and it may be pity and irony, and it may be the raucous laughter of the strong man. But down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. The detective in this kind of story must be such a man. He is the hero; he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. And if there were enough like him, the world would be a very safe place to live in, without becoming too dull to be worth living in."
Raymond Chandler
The two birds that resided in Titans Tower never talked much about themselves.
It was one of the unspoken agreements they shared after the mind link that had been forced onto them when Slade's mask had nearly catapulted Robin into a psychotic episode. Though Raven had never seen the entire story through the visions that had entered her that day she had seen enough to explain in part why the Boy Wonder was the way he was.
In those short seconds Raven witnessed first hand as the fingers of Robin's mother slipped forever out of his reach in a jumbled mess of broken cable and a single falling trapeze. Through the eyes of the then small boy she lived those agonizing moments as her own; watching as the child scrambled to the podium ledge only to bear witness as his parents plummeted from the heights of the circus tent and landed on the cold floor with an all too sickening thud.
Feeling every ounce of his pain as he screamed with a terror few can truly understand.
Because once you encounter death, you cannot remain unchanged by it. Long after you refill the emptied vessel with noise and chaos, it consumes you and infects you like a disease that you never truly recover from. There is truth to the saying that when you look into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you. And unless you're stone, it changes you.
It has to.
And Robin was not stone. He had never wanted to be stone. Unlike Batman he had never tried to block out the rest of the world nor had he ever wanted to hide from it.
So there would be no grieving for Dick Grayson the way Bruce had mourned his parents. After encountering Tony Zucco for the second time Robin swore that he would spend no more time lost wishing that he could change the events that had happened to him. There would only be a promise. A promise to help rid the city of the evil that had taken the lives of those he loved.
He was different from Batman.
So what if bats needed the night and craved the darkness within it. He was a robin and as such he belonged in the light.
Still out of all the people in his new life, maybe it was for the best that Raven was the only one he allowed to understand that. And there were few people in the known universe that were as world-weary as she was. So he was pretty confident she was someone he could trust his secrets with.
That's how it stayed.
Save maybe for the time he had been forced to explain his actions to the Titans over his obsession with Slade at the end of his incarceration as the madman's apprentice.
"I'm sorry for all the lies and the deceit." Was all the boy had been able to offer, "But there are just some things you can't ask me to apologize for. Things that I won't stop. That I can't stop. And if the opportunity rises, I'll probably just end up doing those things again."
He had said all this with his back to them, pretending to just be callous and indifferent so they wouldn't see the darkness etched on his face. By staring out the window it was so much easier to burn a hole in blank scenery than have to look them in the eye and face up to everything he had put them through.
"Dude, we're just happy to have you back in one piece. But after all that just happened how can you still say things like that?" Beast Boy could only gawk.
Still not looking at them, Robin hung his head knowing that they deserved more out of him than a simple sorry.
So he decided to give them the only answer he could.
Trying to find the strength to form air into words what came out was surprisingly more honest than Robin thought himself capable of at least when it involved himself:
"My father and mother were murdered because of someone who thought exactly the same way Slade did. Someone who felt that success is the only judge of right and wrong. No matter how many lives are ruined along the way."
It sounded so practiced, so plain that if the Titan's hadn't known Robin better they could have swore he was simply talking about someone else's pain.
"I've spent most of my life trying to stop that criminal, regardless of the forms or faces he wears. The form is of no consequence anymore. It stopped being a person years ago. But I'll never stop chasing the ghost of what he stands for." Feeling the silence in the room since that was the first and last time they would ever hear something so personal come out of his mouth, Robin folded his arms and turned away from the window.
"That's what I would have said three years ago when Batman was the only person I ever had to answer to. But I'm a Titan now, and as a part of your team I don't get to justify what I did that easily." Running a gloved hand through his hair he muttered, "Look this life, this training has shaped and influenced most of our childhood in ways that neither Batman or the Justice League can ever understand. We Titans aren't just about a promise to the world and the people in it, it's also about a promise to each other … to ourselves. We swore on our childhood nightmares that we'd be there for one another. If I don't honor that I don't honor who I am. That's what it means to be a Titan... so I promise I'll never lie to you again. I'll never take that trust for granted again." Eyes hardening he quivered, "But there are still going to be things I won't apologize for."
"Because there will probably be a time again when I have to cross that line... and when that happens all I can hope is that how you guys feel about me won't change-"
Letting out an over-exasperated sigh the oldest Titan was the first one to move as he cleared the room and towered over his smaller comrade for a moment.
"Shut up already, Rob." Cyborg replied slapping the Boy Wonder out of his melancholy and nearly sending him through the window with the force behind his cybernetic hand, "We get it." Was all the older boy could offer giving his friend a toothy grin, "Nothing'll change." He reassured placing that said hand back on their leader's shoulder, "If we haven't gotten sick of you by now it's not going to happen. But just remember that the day you do cross a line like this again, all four of us are taking it out on your scrawny hide afterwards."
A small stern smile peaking through his lips Robin would never tell them how much those words had meant to him. Instead the Boy Wonder had only been able to mumble the word "deal" back in quiet reply.
(Titan's Tower – Present Day)
And then there were three.
With the other Titans disarmed and heavily induced with the contents of Robin's silver flasks the boy casually began to make his way towards Titan's Tower to eliminate the one Titan that was still in top fighting capacity.
Raven.
"Having some trouble with the little lady, Boss?" Robin asked casually as he watched the fireworks from the safety of one of the barrels of a Lexcorp cannon. To make it even better Slade had almost tried to bark out an order in response only to have whatever he had wanted to say cut off as he was nearly decapitated. Twisting at a 120 degree angle Slade propelled his body in a masterful bit of evasion before he skidded to a stop just out of the monster's reach.
But that time one of Raven's tentacles had gotten dangerous lucky to hitting its target.
And it was clear that all his little march towards Titan's Tower had done was leave the villain with a severe lacking surplus of robot minions.
Slade was right where he started.
Picking up a drone as to offer the assassin a silent warning; one of Raven's tentacles snapped the body cleanly in half to show him what she was planning to do with him if he got any closer. Before she finished by chucking the dismembered robot full force at the two onlookers. It only made a small dent in the cannon Robin was squatting on thanks to the reinforced alloy but he couldn't help but let out a impressed whistle at the force behind it.
The robot looked like little more than a smashed sardine can now.
"You really got on her bad side quick." The former Teen Wonder all but applauded as the half-demon glared at him. There was nothing but pure unadulterated malice in those glowing red eyes.
Raven was in rare form today.
In fact she was down right terrifying.
Lips curling in a style similar to the mad clown who had recently become his mentor Robin chided,"You must really be a hit with the girls huh, Slade?"
Smiling thinly through the mask Slade excused his apprentice's loose tongue for the time being and mused, "Of course she's upset with me, Robin. After all most illusions die harder than people do. And that girl is still clinging to your ghost. "
Kicking his feet up from under him and barrel rolling in a very acrobatic but completely over theatrical sweep, Robin was off the hull of the cannon and by Slade's side. "Then maybe that can work to our advantage." He offered giving his master a rakish smile as he fingered his chin. "I have an idea. Would it cripple your honor as a criminal mastermind if I offered to cut in?"
"If you insist." Slade said dryly, trying to hide his mild amusement at the boy's almost comical approach to the situation. After all this bombardment was really just for his apprentice's sake; it was his party and his alone. Now that Slade had what he had always wanted the Titans held little value to him. If he had wanted to, a mere push of a button was all it would take to finish the job they had started with the Titan's beloved Tower. Instead he was content to watch his apprentice hunt down each of his former friends individually, relishing in the boy's own joy as he fought with them, injured them, toyed with them and then would ultimately destroy them.
And so far his little monster had not disappointed him.
Stepping out onto the small island mouth that linked Robin to the entrance and the oncoming fury the boy shielded his eyes with a hand as a thousand short-circuiting wires crackled in his eyes and ears as the area became choked with more and more of the robotic corpses of Slade-bots.
The way Raven was protecting the entrance was to be commended after all. Hell it was downright Spartan.
But it didn't take long for Robin to find his opening.
Using a freshly short-circuiting Slade-bot as a springboard just before he got a little too close to the imposing black abyss; Robin used the plummeting robotic form to give himself just enough leverage to catapult towards darkness' center.
Only a truly demented person would plunge towards the center of the leviathan. But by twisting around the demonic octopus-like tentacles the youth pushed himself over the first wave of her demonic energy and planned to tackle the problem at it's source.
And Robin had reached a new level of fighting in the week since his madness. Feats that would have taken a genius years to perfect, he had all but surpassed. Now his body contorted in ways seemingly inhuman.
Slade knew that he now truly had a apprentice worthy of himself.
For Robin had always had his acrobatic skill in the past, favoring agility and quick handiness over physical strength. He had become unrivaled in his ability to take on foes easily three or four times his own size, utilizing their strength and turning it against them. A skill he had perfected in his years as the right hand man of the World's Greatest Detective. And with that knowledge and the budding hard physique of a young man who had spent half a lifetime indulging himself in rigorous training and developing a downright obsession for the martial artists, Robin was a perfect prodigy to be molded in the art of murder.
But all those skills now paled in the shadow of Robin's sudden insanity and the lack of fear that freed him from all human limitations.
His apprentice had become practically untouchable.
To Raven on the other side however Robin was moving so fast that she could barely follow him with her eyes. He was more like a bullet than a person, flipping and twisting and darting in and out of the dark abyss as if they were both simply rehearsing the steps to a dance.
Then all too strangely time instantaneously stood still.
Just like that Robin was almost of top of her and Raven knew all too well that in a contest of who could react faster in close combat that the Boy Wonder would almost always be the winner. Closing her eyes she recoiled and waited for his incoming blow to come. She could only hope that the force of her mind attack would be enough to damage him afterwards.
But the strike never came.
Instead of feeling the sting of a metal staff or a iron tipped boot shot into her ribs Raven's former leader simply reached for her hand, his arms outstretched as if to save her from her own darkness.
And just before the onslaught of her demonic energy threatened to render him limb from limb he caught one of her arms, yanking her forward and clumsily pulling her into his arms. Embracing her with such awkward intensity he was practically smothering her, Raven could only gasp as the snarling demon of her darker form was quelled by shock and the sudden touch of his skin.
"Ro...bin-" Raven choked, words seemingly foreign and strange on her lips as she battled the daze her darker side had momentarily left her in.
"Why are you always doing this?" Robin said quietly, taking his token leadership tone as if was scolding her. "Why do you always have to protect us even at the cost of hurting yourself like this?"
His breath soft and warm against her ear as he gingerly put a hand on head, inching her closer to him.
Raven couldn't see his eyes... and she couldn't find her voice as she was all but pressed against his chest. So close that she could hear his heartbeat even from underneath all that armor. And for someone as unused to being physically touched as she was; it was taking most of her willpower not to shatter every window in Jump City.
Despite every ounce of her common sense screaming to her to run, to crush him into the ground, to render him incapable of movement she found herself momentarily frozen.
They still had to finish the mission Cyborg had asked them to carry out. After all besides Robin there was still an army of tin men behind her; all equipped with enough advanced weaponry to fill an armory.
Raven had to protect their home from this psychopath.
So why couldn't she move?
Probably because he sounded exactly the same... as if he had never left. He still had that same husky tenor, the one that she had learned to trust more than anything else in this world.
Why did this monster have to sound so much like her best friend?
"You did well, Raven. You tried so hard to protect our home." The Titan's leader said softly his voice filled with quiet pride. "But... now you don't have to fight anymore."
Raven had to focus.
So what if he was so warm, so real to the touch and every other sense... it wasn't really him. Underneath all that his heart was still frozen.
Even tangled in her arms the Robin she knew was still so far away.
Sensing her apprehension Robin knew it that if he was going to act he would have to do it soon. Because girls like Raven wouldn't exactly let him keep holding her forever.
"I'm sorry it has to come to this," Robin whispered as his hand moved and a glint of sliver shot out from the corner of her eye.
Slamming the syringe down towards her neck Robin pressed his thumb down on the plunger.
But his hand never made it to her throat.
Instantly encircled in the black void of Raven's magic, Robin's arm was swallowed up from the shoulder to his wrist rendering him incapacitated as the crushing raw power behind her attack held him like a vice.
But even though she had caught him, Raven knew she couldn't relax. After all she had been aiming to ensnare his whole body. The fact that she had barely been able to catch his arm was enough to pull her into a cold sweat.
He had reflexes that easily matched Slade's at this point.
It was silent for a moment, the two just staring at each other before Robin broke it by letting out a playful chuckle. And just like that the false gentleness faded from his voice all too quickly. "I didn't think you'd fall for that the way the others did." He mused.
Eyes burning with a frigid darkness that threatened to freeze her to where she stood Robin's nose crinkled in delight as he looked over the handiwork of the powers that held his hand fast, "The others were still clinging to the old me, convinced that if they just tried hard enough to make me see what I was doing that they'd be able to save me. But you know better, don't you Raven? You've always known me better than anybody else. That's because a monster can always guess what other monsters are thinking."
Glaring at him Raven didn't reply.
"Uh oh, the silent treatment huh?" Robin replied with a cocky grin that made him look as debonaire as it did evil. "Man, you always do this. All those powers and abilities to know what everyone else is feeling and yet the moment anyone asks you what's rolling around in your own skull you clam up tighter than a drum." Clicking his tongue and then waggling a finger on his free hand for good measure the boy jilted, "That's a double standard wouldn't you say?"
"I'm not a monster." Raven practically seethed, teeth and knuckles clenched as she realized how much her captive seemed to be enjoying this. But then if anyone knew exactly which buttons to press, it was him.
"Course not. You're just the daughter of a demon, trying to live life like a saint." Robin countered. "But Tomato, Tomatoe. Demon. Hero. Vigilante. Mad Man. They're just names right? All that matters to me is that you're the only real challenge I have left here. Everyone else was just too soft. But not you Raven, you're far too damaged to ever believe in happily ever afters. And that's why this is going to be fun-"
Instantly clearing the distance between the two, Robin roughly grabbed the collar of her cape with his free hand and proceeded to haul her up as if she weighed little more than a rag dag.
"I'm really hoping you can give me a better workout then our other friends did." The boy breathed just before his head connected with hers. Bludgeoning her face with the top of his skull he jutted her backwards so he could make use of the force of the headbutt to deliver a well placed punch into her solar plexus, connecting into the soft organs that lay just underneath it.
If almost breaking the girl's nose wasn't motivation enough to release him from her powers, the damage to her insides did the trick. Unable to hold him Raven collapsed in a bundle on to the dirt.
Newly freed from her lock Robin shook his wrist a few times to get the blood flowing back in its veins; she had really been holding on to him with everything she had. And as he watched the half demon struggle to pull herself up from her crumbled position on the floor, coughing and hacking at the blood that poured from her nose and mouth Robin had to admit that maybe that had been a cheap shot.
Well it would have been, if he had been fighting anyone else but Raven.
So what if she was a girl and supposedly his friend? There could be no mercy in a game like this.
Not to mention his paled skinned friend had the potential deep inside her to battle dark lords on a equal playing field. While he was just your average crazy person in Kevlar who was good at fighting dirty when there was a need for it.
It didn't take a genius to figure out who had the upper hand in this fight if she ever decided to get serious.
"You're not doing a very good job so far of keeping up, Rae. You sure you want to keep going?" Robin asked coming behind and forcing her to a half sitting position, locking her firmly in a choke hold.
"Well something tells me I doubt you'd let me walk away if I just said 'Uncle'," Raven all but spat, her anger blocking out most of the radiating pain that came with the force his arms were having clamped down on the empath's pale neck like he was.
That damn silver syringe was back in his other hand again, and this time Raven doubted she'd be able to stop him like the first time. Flinching she all but waited for his strike when his grip on her relaxed ever so slightly.
Something was amiss here. And even though she wanted to pass out from the pain alone she could mentally feel his shift, as if he was stalling because of some unseen presence.
Robin's hand was even now pressed to her carotid artery; but while it hurt he wasn't putting enough force on it to cripple her.
All too quickly Raven realized why Robin had been hesitating.
Filling the void where there had been nothing only an instant before was ever imposing figure of Slade.
But this wasn't the visage of a mentor who had come closer merely to watch the progress of his protege. Instead the orange clad assassin's shoulders were stiff and his stance rigid, as if he had just set his sight on new prey.
In the assassin's hand was one Lexicorp's new toys; only the safety on the gun had been switched off, the barrel was slightly cocked and the red glowing sight scope was now aimed perfectly at it's target.
Which was right at his young apprentice's jugular.
Eyes narrowing Robin realized where his master was pointing almost at the same time she did; because without any further warning Slade simply opened fire.
The former Titan barely had an instant to think before he hauled Raven and himself out of the line of fire, instinctively using his own body as a shield against the scattered debris as the laser made contact with the ground and set the earth and everything around it ablaze.
Dust in their eyes and hair, the two Titans could barely hold back the muffled coughs and gags as they scrambled to their feet before the mercenary had a chance to reload.
"Where the hell were you aiming, Slade?" Robin snarled once he had regained his footing, "And since when are you such a lousy shot? "
"Those syringes." Slade said cryptically, talking almost as if he merely having a conservation with himself. He sauntered forward, unassuming and relaxed as he took a few steps towards Robin only to stop just short of the object in question. Realizing that he had accidentally dropped the syringe during the commotion of Slade's first shot there was little Robin could do but glare at him.
"A very unusual weapon to bring to a siege, Robin." Slade commented with a cheery smile; even though the glint in his good eye was downright dangerous. "A little amateur for you, wouldn't you say? Forcing you to get in close range to your target, making physical contact with the enemy despite the risk of personal injury." Picking up the silver ample he examined the contents for a few moments and when he found them to be unfamiliar Slade simply let it drop back onto the ground.
"All for this little needle? It seems rather impractical when one considers this is a war." He stated not waiting for a response from his young apprentice before using his boot to swiftly crush the glass vial. His single eye watching in silent rage as the liquid spilled out onto the black earth and lightly stained his feet.
"Which makes me all the more curious as to what exactly you're up to..."
Bringing a hand to his chin the assassin shook his head, the mild disappointment obvious from his body language alone. "Perhaps we need to reopen our little discussion from the other night, my young apprentice."Lowering the barrel of the gun towards Robin's head he asked, "Are you finally going to tell me what you've been plotting all this time? Or do you need another lesson in respecting your elders first?"
Smirking at his master's obvious challenge Robin took a second to wipe a dark smudge of charcoal embers off his scuffed up face before he took up a defensive stance. "Where's your sense of showmanship boss? If I tell you it'll just ruin the surprise."
"There you go again, Robin." Slade murmured throwing his shoulders back in mock exasperation, "You know I'd almost appreciate that sharp tongue of yours if meant I didn't have to keep beating respect into you."
"What can I say? Guess I've just always been chatty." The Teen Wonder replied with a shrug, "It's part of my charm." Stepping over Raven's spilled out cape, Robin quickly threw her a cold glare making it obvious he was wondering what she was still doing there.
Disregarded and suddenly the third wheel to a party neither madman was willing to include her in the dark empath now found herself as important to either of them as newly laid out trash.
But in the eyes of the insane boy inches away from her, it was understandable. After all the youth had found a much better opponent to play with in Slade. There were no times for kid's in costumes when the living embodiment of a cockroach on steroids was trying to pick a fight with the Teen Wonder instead.
So Raven could only stare at the sight before her and at the silver pool several yards in front of her and wonder how on earth that little object had so quickly changed the course of events. Even her empathic powers couldn't help her piece together exactly what was going on between the two madmen at the front and back of her.
What Robin said next didn't help much either.
"That Tower isn't going to stay standing for long, Rae." He said with teasing eyes and a matching smile. "And the cannons are already programmed with a detonation sequence. Do you really have time to be sitting there getting close and personal with the dirt?"
"But why are you telling me this-?" Raven couldn't help but stammer.
Throwing her an over the shoulder glance for just an instant, the insane glow in Robin's eyes softened and he just smiled.
That was the only hint he would give her before the youth lept over her and immediately rushed Slade with everything he had.
And two new battle cries were erupting through the barren wasteland that had once been Titan's island, though Raven could barely hear them as their bloody battle raged.
Though nothing really had changed in that instant he had turned to her, she had witnessed the smile of someone she had almost considered dead. And it had belonged to a person that had once made the Titan's believe that they could fight their way out of hell and win.
The boy before her was ruthless, dangerous, and he had lost all ability to empathize with pain and emotion.
But Robin, their Robin was still in there somewhere, trapped underneath this lunatic.
And in that instant the same horrible thought that Batman had come upon washed over Raven like rancid milk, making her instantly feel sick to her stomach when she realized what it could mean. Finally the secret to the pulsating goop that was crushed underneath Slade's feet was starting to make some sense.
Only now it was starting to look like it was too late to matter.
To be continued...
