For disclaimer, see previous chapters.

Author's Note: Be excited! This is the fourth to last chapter! REVIEW PLEASE!

Chapter 43: Punishment

Slade

7:10 pm

Titans Tower

The four Titans floated in the air in front of him, moaning in pain as he manipulated their bioelectricity. Batman was already unconscious, near the kitchen.

"You will not see victory." Starfire growled through gritted teeth. "Robin and Oriole will-"

"Soon be dealt with."

"Stop!"

Slade turned towards the new voice. Sara charged at him from the common room door. As she ran, she transformed into a tiger. With a roar, she leaped into the air above him. Slade caught her with his powers before she ever laid another claw on the ground. With a surprised growl, she struggled to touch solid ground.

"Oriole!" Starfire cried. Slade made it a point to keep her mouth shut for her from then on.

"I'm surprised to see you alone, Sara. Where's Robin?"

Sara changed back into a human and spat, "Not here! He left to go get a pizza!"

Slade automatically noticed her lip quiver, her indicator for lying. But Slade chose to ignore it. If Robin was somewhere in the building, he was either stalling, waiting for an opening (one he would never get) or something happened to him, aka Sara. "Well isn't that a shame? Maybe I suppose we could just wait for him to come back."

"I have a better idea."

Beneath his mask, Slade raised a brow. Better idea huh? "Like?"

She gulped and tried to look stubborn, "How about you put me down first?"

"You were the one that attacked me." Slade snapped.

"So I was a little pissed off that you weren't here sooner, sue me."

You know, Slade mused, without that lip quiver and stutter she'd be an excellent liar. He let her go and replied, "I was a little preoccupied."

Sara dropped down and landed on her feet gracefully."With what?"

"Well, let's just say you did a marvelous job of scaring Double C out of his wits. He had about ten times as much security by the time I arrived."

"Wow. Did you kill him?"

"Of course I did. So, about this idea of yours?"

"O-Oh yeah! Well, maybe you would um…" She gestured to the Titans.

"Very well." With one last strain of his powers, the Titans were sleeping peacefully.

Where Sara excelled in lying, she lacked in hiding her emotions. A flash of concern flickered in her eyes.

"Oh, and about your so-called plan, which by the way you may want to start lying about," Slade sneered at her behind his mask at her now very frightened expression, "I have a better one."

Sara backed away, so far that she tripped over Batman's unconscious body. Her eyes widened in alarm. Panicking, she felt his neck for a pulse.

"Oh don't worry. He's still alive. Well…for now anyway. I still have use for him. Now, how about you be a good little girl and do exactly as I say."

Oriole

10:00 pm

Wayne Enterprises

Jump City

"Hey! This is Dick Grayson! I'm either in school or sleeping if I don't pick up, so leave a message and I'll get back to you when I can."

"Ro, it's me. I…I'm at Wayne Enterprises. Hurry. And come alone."

How could I fall for this again! And now I've dragged Bruce into it! How many more of my family does Slade have to hurt before I get it! You can't outsmart Slade. Or at least I can't. It just doesn't work. Damn it. Ro will get the message I left on his phone soon. Then he'll be dragged into this too. Damn it!

"Self-pity does not become you, my dear."

"Stop calling me that!" Sara snapped.

"How long do you think it will take him?"

She shrugged. "He might not get it at all." But, since the world just loved to prove her wrong, she received a text message from Dick: Wats goin on?

Slade peered over her shoulder. "Not going to get it did you say?"

Sara looked up at Slade for instruction. If she didn't, she might endanger Bruce.

Slade gestured at the phone. "By all means, tell him."

Sara turned back to her phone and texted: Sry. No time. Hurry! He has B!

"I've never understood a woman's need to put more punctuation than is needed yet shorten messages up in texts." Slade commented. Sara said nothing. Well, not until Slade went over to Bruce's still unconscious figure. Slade was probably keeping him under for whatever reason.

"What're you gonna do?" She said it before she could stop herself. How could she help it? Seeing Bruce tied up like that…it was unnerving. Not to mention her family's killer standing over him.

Slade glanced at her, his eyes twinkling maliciously. All at once, she understood. The dream. As if dipped into ice water, she gasped suddenly and goose bumps covered her skin. "I'm not going to lay a finger on him. But you are."

Robin

10:10 pm

Titans Tower

Sry. No time. Hurry! He has B!

He received that text two minutes ago. Starfire followed him to his R-Cycle, trying to convince him not to go. Oh the other Titans tried, but once Robin practically screamed at them, they backed off. All but Starfire. Which, in hindsight, wasn't all that surprising.

"Robin, at least bring us with."

"No. She told me to come alone."

"But she is…unstable. You said that yourself once."

"I don't care. Sara's not the one behind this."

"How can you be sure?"

"Starfire, she knocked me out so that Slade wouldn't find me. Look, I get that you're worried but-"

"But what? Robin, we both know that if I was in your place and you in mine, you would come anyway."

"Star, you guys will be close by."

"Not close enough." Star grumbled.

"I can't risk it, Starfire! You know that! If Slade really has Bruce and Sara, I can't risk it! They're the only family I have!"

"Then why have you not spoken of them?"

"Why didn't you tell us about Blackfire before she showed up? Why didn't Beast Boy talk about the Doom Patrol? Why didn't Cyborg tell us about STAR Labs? Why didn't Raven tell us about Trigon? We all have our secrets."

"But Robin-"

"But nothing." Robin mounted his motorcycle and took his helmet off the handlebars. He sighed. "I'm sorry, but I have no other choice. And there's not enough time to figure out a plan. We're just gonna have to wing it." He smiled and took Starfire's hand. "Don't worry so much. I'll be fine." After a quick kiss, Robin slipped on his helmet and drove out into the night.

His cellphone vibrated in his pocket. Thankful he connected his cell to his helmet, he answered, "Hello?"

"Where are you?" Her voice sounded odd, like she was holding back tears.

"I just pulled onto the bridge. ETA is two minutes."

"Make it one. Ro, I…I'm sorry. I did it again."

"It's not your fault."

"You can say that only so many times, Ro." With that, Sara hung up.

The drive was absolute agony. Though it took maybe fifty seconds, it felt like forever. Add to that, it took a full two minutes to get to the top. Not being able to fly was very inconvenient. A faint orange glow lit the rooftop of Wayne Enterprises. The neon signs were out. That was strange. They were always kept on.

"Sara?" Robin called.

"Behind you!" She screamed.

Robin spun around just in time to see Slade kick him in the face. Stars popped in front of his eyes. When he shook them free, the first thing he thought was How did I get on the ground? The second thing he thought was Holy shit, Sara's pointing a gun at Bruce! He was about to stand up, when the safety clicked off the gun.

Sara whimpered in fear. Clearly, she didn't want to hurt Bruce. But her eyes were black as ever, the telltale sign that she had no control. "Please, don't move."

Robin froze. He felt like slapping himself. Sara saw this happen in her vision. She'd warned him. He didn't listen. And now they were all paying for it. Searching the shadows, he spotted Slade near the neon W. "Let them go."

"You are hardly in a position to make demands." Slade walked over to Sara with his hands behind his back. He reached one out to brush a stray hair away from her face. "Quite a situation, isn't it?"

"Go to hell-!" Sara's jaw shut with a small click. She tried to speak again, but strangely her mouth wouldn't open.

"That's enough of that." Slade commanded, his eye glaring down at her.

She shrunk under his gaze and her hands trembled.

"Slade, don't do this. Please." Robin pleaded. He also kept screaming "Leave them alone!" in his mind to barrage Slade with thoughts.

"I've tried almost everything else. You know, I started to wonder if anyone cares about Sara, here. After all, Wayne sent her away to Jump City the first chance he got; you didn't care when she became my apprentice until she started causing problems-"

"That's not true!" Robin said indignantly. Of course he cared. Why else would he go to so much trouble saving her? …She'd do the same for him.

Slade continued as if he hadn't spoken. "When you finally did come for her, it was because she was killing people. Though I don't completely understand why you objected to that. Those men were all murderers themselves. What's so wrong with taking their lives in return? The same would've happened to them after court." With a slight chuckle, Slade added, "After all, this isn't corrupted Gotham." Before Robin could answer, Slade said, "Oh, yes, that's right. Your morals just won't allow for that."

"Let them go, Slade. I'm here now; you got what you wanted."

Slade laughed. "Not quite yet."

"Ro, don't! You promised!"

Slade turned on her, "I thought I told you to keep your mouth shut."

"You're already making me point a gun at B's head. What more could you do?"

"You know very well what more I could do to you. So watch your tone, young lady."

Sara glared at him, but otherwise listened to him.

Suddenly, Robin knew what he had to do. He just hoped it would work. Because if it didn't…don't think about that. "Alright." Two heads swiveled in his direction, three eyes wide in astonishment.

"No…" Sara breathed.

"I'll be your apprentice."

"No!"

"Sara, I didn't know that you and Bruce would be in danger."

"No. You can't."

Robin smirked at Slade. By now, Slade was starting to understand. "I'll even kill if I have to."

"That's enough!" She screamed. Slade spun around and his eye widened in surprise. The black in Sara's eyes was finally receding. Her eyes narrowed at him. And then she smiled. "Payback time." Her eyes returned to black coals. She was lost in her powers once more.

Out of nowhere, Sara swung the gun in Slade's direction.

Author's Note: Kick his ass, Sara! You guys have absolutely no idea how long I've been waiting to post this chapter. And we have three chapters left! REVIEW PLEASE!