The previous evening went by in a flash as well as the morning of the new day. Robin spent much of the remainder of his evening deep in thought, taking in the severity of what Destiny had shared with him. Slade had used those probes from the detonator to obtain DNA signatures of his friends and he had never known. An eerie darkness filling his chest and a resentment for himself, that he had never discovered Slade's intension of using the DNA in the pieces of hardware he had recovered in the aftermath of the lair's fall. It was clear Slade was interested in something darker than the end of the world with Trigon.
Robin sighed heavily as he ran his fingers through his pitch-black hair, staring blankly at the files scattered across his desk. 'I need a break…' he thought to himself. He had not really left his office since the previous evening, just a few runs to the common room for coffee or a small snack. Daylight had already come and gone, a waning moon hanging low in the sky and glowing off of the distant waters just outside the window in the far corner of his office. Robin quickly checked the time on clock across the room, noting it was just after 10 p.m. and they had not had a distress call all day. Beside himself, he pushed himself to his feet and gathered his dirty coffee mugs in his arm, promptly exiting and walking the corridors to the common room.
The cold metal doors whining open as he stepped to the threshold, taking in the darkness and glow from the television on the main window of the room. He blinked to adjust his eyesight to the sudden change in light; across the room, Cyborg was the lone occupant sitting in the middle of the well-loved sectional, playing his standard racing game to maintain his high score. His metal head half tilting at the sound of someone entering the room, noting the familiar sound of combat boots firmly pressing to the floor. "I was wondering when you'd come out of that office of yours…" the older Titan teased, pausing his game, and standing, the controller plopping to the rounded coffee table as Cyborg turned to greet Robin.
Robin nodded with a roll of his eyes behind the mask, moving into the kitchen and dumping his mugs into the sink. "I was out of coffee…" he mused. Cyborg spat out a chuckle as he crossed the distance of the room, moving to sit at the island. Robin busied himself with starting a fresh pot of coffee and turning to lean against the counter. "Sooooo…." Cyborg said inquisitively, his tone playful as he placed his metal hands to the counter. "…what was yesterday about?" he questioned. The leader breathed in heavily as he crossed his arms over his chest, shaking his head briefly and shrugged his shoulders in response. "I'm not sure what you are implying by asking that way. I think it was pretty clear I was simply getting to know her and she's willing to help us inside information about Slade."
Cyborg listened with intent as he mulled over Robin's response, a playful smirk on his face still and a roll of his eyes. "So…you bought a box of the best doughnuts in the city for this girl to tell you information about a man you've been runnin' around tryin' to catch for years just because she's, his daughter?" he questioned, with a shrug of his shoulders and staring directly at Robin. The leader could simply chuckle at his friend, his arms loosely falling from his chest in disbelief. "Come on, Cyborg. You know as well as I do that whatever information she does have is vital right now."
The older Titan groaned running his metal hand over his head, shaking it once again in response. "What did we just get done tellin' BB? Huh?" Cyborg recalled, "We told him not to go rushing into anything with this girl. Here you are, running around trying to woe this girl into telling you something that you do not even know if it's true." he said loudly, suddenly finding himself pointing his finger at his friend. Robin's face turned fierce as he stepped forward, slamming his fist into the counter to show his frustration with his friend. "Why am I suddenly having to answer questions about my decisions, huh, Cyborg? I have no reason NOT to believe her. So, what if she did not immediately tell us that he was her father, would you have told us from the get-go? Raven didn't tell us her father was Trigon himself, so...yeah…I didn't think so, Cyborg." he gently pushed his palms off the counter to turn his back to Cyborg, retrieving a clean mug from the cabinet and filling it with fresh coffee just as the machine beeped. The older Titan taken back by the sudden outburst from his friend, his brow furrowed in frustration of trying to understand the leader's point of view. A deep groan emitting from his throat as he pounded the counter gently with his metal fist. "I get it…" Cyborg voiced boldly, "There's something that you aren't tellin' us about her."
Robin chuckled darkly in response at the accusation. He took a long drink of coffee from his steaming mug, gently sitting it on the counter and turning to face Cyborg once again. "Sure…you've caught me." Robin mused, his arms moving from his sides in exaggeration. "Do you know what she told me yesterday?" he asked aloud, staring at Cyborg as he stepped closer to the island and placed his palms down with grit. Cyborg simply shrugged as he folded his large arms over his chest in pride, knowing Robin was going to spill something. "She told me that the probes from that decoy detonator all those years ago. They weren't just for leverage to get me into doing his dirty work, Cyborg." Robin stated firmly, "They were to get our DNA signatures. Our knowledge, our powers, the things our bodies knew…" he said with a shrug of his shoulders as he stepped backwards to lean against the opposite counter.
Cyborg drank in the new information, his face quickly changing from prideful, to confusion, to realization, and soon…into confusing rage. "What?" he asked. Robin nodded as he picked his warm mug back up in his hands and took a long drink of coffee before continuing. "He used those DNA signatures to give her powers." He stated, watching Cyborg's realization that this girl was not born with the powers she used so effortlessly. Cyborg shook his head as he mulled over the science and what this meant. "Man…" he finally breathed out, shaking his head once again and sighed heavily. "Are you sayin' he jacked his daughter up on god knows what…to give her powers?" his palms opening with the disbelief on his face. Robin nodded in response.
The information shared between them filling the air with thick rage and sorrow, rage for the things Slade was capable of that they had never imagined and the sorrow that their newfound friend had endured. Robin finished off the coffee in his mug before refilling it with the remaining coffee in the pot, moving away from the kitchen and towards the main door. "So…I believe her. Let's give her some space." Robin stated firmly, before promptly exiting the room; the metal doors whining closed to leave Cyborg with his thoughts.
Cyborg breathed in heavily, 'Man…that's tough. How could Slade even acquire that kind of equipment? Chang?' his mind racing over the possibilities to make something like that humanly possible. It really was clear there was more to Slade than he knew…and apparently more than Robin knew. 'That is a scary thought…even Robin not knowing something about that lunatic…' he chuckled to himself, getting off of the barstool he sat on and moving back to the couch, collecting the controller in his hands, and throwing his legs up on the coffee table as he resumed his intense race.
Over the next thirty minutes, Cyborg embraced the silence in the common room as he played his video game. That silence soon drowned out by the sound of doors whining open once again, followed by booming laughter of Beast Boy with an airpod in one ear as he descended the stairs into the room. Cyborg tilted his head back slightly, "Aye man…tryin' to wake the whole house?" he mused, the green man soon coming into view and plopping onto the couch beside Cyborg. "Dude…the comedian at the club tonight was hilarious!" Beast Boy chuckled, removing the airpod from his ear and threw his feet up on the coffee table as well. "Well…I'm glad you had fun stank ass…" Cyborg mused, collecting the second controller from the cushion beside him and throwing it to Beast Boy. "…cause I'mma bout to beat your green butt again!"
The rest of the evening went on with the two playing video games, their normal routine. Cyborg opting to keep the information Robin was willing to share about the new Titan a secret, knowing Beast Boy was still trying to process that this girl was Slade's daughter. He knew Robin knew more…but it was not the time to press for more information it seemed, making a mental note of how defensive Robin had been about being questioned in the first place. 'That spikey head little brat let us hope this time he doesn't go batshit crazy…' he chucked to himself, plugging in and sleeping for the night.