Slade's detainment should have made Robin feel better, but Robin couldn't shake the feeling that there was something more sinister afoot. It had been too easy. It had been so easy, in fact, that he almost wondered if Slade had intended for him to be suspicious and that he might be playing right into his hands.

Of course, Robin divulged this to none of his teammates. He was the leader. He would be the one to carry the burden, the one to put in the research and figure out what was happening. As he was typing on his laptop, he heard a gentle knock on his bedroom door.

Robin let out a sigh. "Who is it?"

"It is me."

"Come in."

Starfire entered the room and took a seat next to Robin.

"You appear uneasy," Starfire said. "Since we have returned, you have been shut in your room. Your shades are drawn and it is far too dark in here. Tell me, please, what is the matter?"

"It's Slade," Robin said. "I have to figure out what he's up to, why he so easily turned himself in."

"Do you realize how long you have been in your room?"

"I haven't been checking the time."

Starfire rose from the bed, marched over to the curtains, and opened them. The sunlight was harsh on Robin's eyes, and he held a hand in front of his face.

"You have been up all night," Starfire said, now looking incensed. "This is not healthy. You need to rest."

"Do you think Slade is resting?" Robin asked. "Do you think Red X is going to wait to rear his head again? What about the H.I.V.E.? Our enemies are plotting something big, I can feel it. If I don't figure out what it is, we'll be unprepared, and we'll very likely lose this fight."

Starfire's look of anger dissolved into one of uncertainty. "Robin…"

"Look, if you're not going to do anything useful, you need to leave."

Starfire's anger flared again, and her eyes began glowing green. "If you do not turn off that laptop right now, I will destroy it." She readied a starbolt and aimed her hand at the laptop.

"Fine!" Robin said, slamming the laptop closed and shoving it aside. "This is ridiculous. I know what I'm doing."

"No, you don't," Starfire said. "Your behavior at the moment is disrespectful. I am willing to let it go, since I understand that you have not slept, but it must not continue."

Robin had no answer for this, so he grunted and turned away from Starfire.

"Do not turn your back on me!" Starfire yelled. Then, her anger faded, her eyes returned to normal, and she started to sob.

For a moment, Robin did nothing. Then, he suddenly became overwhelmed by the fatigue he had been staving off and began crying as well. "Fuck," he muttered to himself. He rose from his bed, walked over to Starfire, and gave her a hug. Both of them continued to cry as they held each other close. "I'm sorry," Robin said.

"As am I," Starfire replied, giving him a gentle kiss on the cheek.

"What are you apologizing for?" Robin asked.

"I should have checked on you sooner. I left you alone all night, mainly because I myself was too tired. For not intervening sooner, I am sorry."

"It's not your job to babysit me," Robin said. "I should have remembered my limits."

"Will you come to the ops room?" Starfire asked. "Everyone else is gathered there."

"As much as I would rather take a nap," Robin said with a chuckle, "I don't want to keep screwing up my sleep schedule. A few energy drinks should hold me over until tonight."

"Wonderful," Starfire said. "Let us go."

Starfire and Robin held hands as they left Robin's room and made their way to the ops room at the top of the tower. When they arrived, the other Titans were waiting there as expected.

"Good morning," Robin said. "Is it still morning?"

"Yeah," Cyborg said. "You look like crap, by the way."

"Thanks," Robin said. "Was up all night trying to figure out what Slade is up to."

"We've been talking about it all morning," Cyborg said. "So far, though, we have no real leads."

"I said he was gonna tunnel out of his jail cell, Shawshank style," Beast Boy said, "but no one took that seriously."

"I thought it was funny," Terra said.

"You think everything I do is funny," Beast Boy said before looking over at Raven. Raven appeared nonplussed.

"Did you find any leads, detective?" Cyborg asked.

"Unfortunately, everything's gone dark. I haven't seen any activity since Slade's incarceration. I might need to start researching outside of Jump City, but I don't have access to any of the databases in other major cities."

"Well...that's not completely true," Cyborg said. "You could call in a favor at Gotham."

"We're not on good terms," Robin said. "You know that."

"Yeah, I know you didn't leave things well," Cyborg said, "but he's the first person who would put aside petty grievances in the service of the mission. You know that."

Robin groaned, a more visceral reaction than he might have had if he had not been up all night. "Actually," he said, "now that I think about it, I have a good reason to reach out to him. We now know for sure that Red X is Jason Todd, so he probably has knowledge about that at least."

"Then call the dude," Cyborg said. "We'll back you up."

Robin let out a deep breath, knowing that this call would have been difficult even if he had gotten a good night's sleep. He dialed in a number on his communicator and casted it on screen. After a few rings, the call was answered.

"Dick," Batman said. "It's been a while."

"I know," Robin said. "As you can see, the whole team is here, including Terra and Jinx."

"Interesting. It seems I'm a bit behind the times. I was only expecting five of you."

"It's a long story," Robin said, "and not the reason I wanted to call."

"Let's get on with it then."

The hairs on the back of Robin's head stood on end, but he ignored it. "We have a serious problem. We apprehended Red X and sent Slade to jail, but I think there's something more sinister at work here and we could use your help."

"You have Red X with you?" Batman asked. "Bring him in. I want to talk to him."

"I'll get him," Cyborg said. "Be back in a few." Cyborg left the room.

"We were able to identify him as Jason Todd," Robin said. "That's why we called you."

"Jason?" Batman asked, for the first time seeming to have been taken aback. "I thought he was dead."

"We all did," Robin said, "until recently."

"I now understand why you called. Is Jason willing to talk to me?"

"We'll find out as soon as Cyborg brings him here."

"What has he been up to under the guise of Red X?"

"He's been trying to amass Zynothium weapons," Robin said. "That's why he started working alongside Slade in the first place. We were able to convince him to cut ties, but he approached the plant again and we had to detain him. Slade is in jail at the moment, but we think he's there for a reason."

"I've done some research on Zynothium. It's a powerful and malleable alloy. It can be restructured and engineered to do almost anything."

"I know," Robin said. "Many of those weapons were of my design."

"I'd like to hear from the rest of your teammates," Batman said. "What do the rest of you think?"

"I am concerned," Starfire said. "Capturing Slade was so easy, we think he intended to be caught. We do not know what he might be planning behind bars, but there must be a reason for him to be there."

"You may need to interrogate him, but from what I know about Slade, he will not break easily."

"I might be able to get some information from him," Raven said. "I have powers that can compel him to talk, but they are difficult to control and could easily get out of hand if I am not careful."

"Difficult as it may be, it might be necessary to get the information you need."

"Um, sir, can I say something?" Beast Boy asked.

"Everyone's input is appreciated."

"Okay, thanks. I think we need to know who else is in jail. Maybe Slade's got some guys on the inside that he needs to work with, and getting arrested was the only way to do that."

"Not a bad thought. You'll have to get a list from the warden."

"I don't have many ideas," Terra said, "but I can feel my blood boiling. That psychopath did so much damage to me, physically and mentally, that I can't think about him without getting angry."

"Anger can be a good motivator, unless you lose control of it. Channel it, let it be useful, just don't allow it to overwhelm you."

"I know a thing or two about being on the other side of this debate," Jinx said. "I know Slade worked with one of my old headmasters at the H.I.V.E. Academy and asked us to take down the Teen Titans. When we failed, our headmaster was severely punished. After she resigned, Brother Blood took over. Whatever Slade is up to, we can't underestimate him for a second."

"Agreed. Since Robin has moved to Jump City, he has consistently been your biggest threat. I am sorry that I could not stop him from leaving Gotham."

"It's okay," Robin said. "He's always been a threat, but we've been able to stop him every time. We'll do it again."

"I admire that attitude."

"Thanks."

Cyborg came back in with Red X in tow. Red X still had his mask on.

"Oh boy," he said. "You really did call him."

"Take off the mask," Robin said.

Cyborg obliged. With the mask off, everyone could see Jason Todd's face for the first time. It was covered with scars, his hair was long and unkempt, and he had stubble growing in.

"Jason…" Batman said, his voice almost breaking. "I am glad to see that you're still alive."

"Save it, old man," Jason said. "Your platitudes mean nothing to me now."

"You were presumed dead," Batman said. "I looked for you for months. I know you must believe that I gave up on you, but I promise it was not that simple."

"You don't understand," Jason said. "You don't know the hell he put me through."

"Who is he?" Starfire asked.

"He's not a man," Jason said. "No man could have done the things he did to me. He's an animal."

"Who's an animal?" Beast Boy asked.

"I can't even say his name," Jason replied.

"The Joker," Batman said.

For a moment, there was dead silence, as if the name was hanging over all of them. Jason finally spoke up. "What he did to me was unforgivable, but I know I will never get an apology from him. Your neglect, Bruce, was almost as bad, but unlike the Joker, I think you do owe me that apology."

"I am so sorry," Batman said. "Trust me, I looked high and low for you. I lost sleep over it."

"You lost sleep over it?" Jason asked. "I was tortured, day in and day out, for months! He had me in a dungeon with no windows. I lost track of the days. He…" Jason shuddered. "He did things to me that I can't even speak about. And when it wasn't him, it was his bitch of a girlfriend. As bad as he was, he at least had some restraint, but she was more reckless. For the first few weeks, when I wasn't being tortured, I cried and begged for someone to save me. The tears stopped coming after a while, and what came instead was a cold detachment. Sometimes, I felt like I wasn't even inside my own body, like I was watching what happened to me from up above.

"Finally, one day, they slipped up. They didn't restrain me as tightly as they could have. I guess with time they had gotten sloppy. I escaped, but I was so angry and bitter that I refused to go back to you. I fled, became homeless for a while. Then I learned your original protege had come to Jump City. When he invented Red X, I knew I needed to take that identity for myself, so that's what I did. I vowed to work for no one but myself, knowing how much being your sidekick cost me. Look at me now. Look at what your negligence has cost me!"

The scars on Jason's face said a lot already, but what said more was the look in his eyes. In those eyes, everyone could see the pain and turmoil that months of torture had beaten into him. His eyes were crazed, manic, but there was sadness in them as well. No one was able to respond for a while until Jason finally broke down and started sobbing again.

Without hesitation, Starfire rose and gave Jason a hug. No one else knew what to do with themselves, so they watched as she tried to comfort Jason. Jason himself didn't know how to react, the confusion staving off tears for the time being.

The tension in the air subsided a bit, and Robin broke the silence. "Jason, I can't help feeling that I am partly to blame here. If I hadn't abandoned Gotham, Batman would have never had to take you on as his next protege and make you a target for the Joker. I wish I could take away the pain you're feeling, but I know that's impossible."

"Well," Jason said, "maybe I can help you guys now. Whatever that bastard Slade is planning, I know it's in my best interest to stop it. He short changed me, went back on his word. I need to make him pay."

"We appreciate the offer," Robin said, "but I'm going to be watching you like a hawk."

"I would expect nothing less," Jason said.

"Batman," Robin said, "I'm going to need as much data as you can give me about Jason. Whatever Slade's planning, it involves him, and I think there might be more to it than the Zynothium weapons."

"I think your instincts are good," Batman said. "I can send you a compressed file with all the information you need. Cyborg should be able to help you analyze it."

"Can do, sir," Cyborg said.

"Robin, for you I have one piece of advice before I sign off," Batman said. "I know you like to take everything on yourself. You're no longer my sidekick, you're the leader of your team, and that comes with a lot of responsibility. Don't be afraid to rely on others for help and support. I don't run my operation alone. I have Alfred, Lucius, Jim, Barbara, and Tim. For a time, I had you and Jason. Trust the people you're working with as much as they trust you to lead."

"I appreciate the advice," Robin said. "I'll let you know if I need any other information from you."

"Good luck," Batman said before disconnecting.

Robin took a deep breath, feeling far more somber than he had earlier. "He's right, of course. I shouldn't have tried to take all of this on myself. Cyborg, I could definitely use your help analyzing the data once I receive it."

"Of course, man, whatever you need."

"How about the rest of us?" Beast Boy asked. "We're not chopped liver, right?"

"Slade's not the only criminal in Jump City," Robin said. "I think running some patrols could be useful as a deterrent for small-time criminals. If we get a bigger threat, I trust the five of you to take them out."

"Sounds good, dude," Beast Boy said. "If we're going on patrol, can we stop at the pizza place? I'm getting hungry."

"When are you not hungry?" Raven asked.

The team chuckled about that. Even Beast Boy had to laugh at himself a little.

"You should go now," Robin said. "I'll be in touch if we get any major leads."

"What about me?" Jason asked.

"Unfortunately," Robin said, "I don't trust you enough to let you go play hero. You're staying here with Cyborg and me so you can help us parse through Batman's files. Your insight is going to help us figure out what's important."

"I guess I can't really argue with that," Jason said.

The rest of the team left the ops room. Cyborg, Robin, and Jason were left waiting for Batman's file to be delivered. As they waited, they were lost in thought, wondering what Slade's next move was going to be. Whatever he decided, they hoped that they would be prepared to face it as they had faced so many of his threats before.