Okay, I was re-reading the last chapter and yeesh, it was actually really bad. SO MANY TYPOS. And the style really just fell short.
So sorry about that, but this one is bound to be a thousand times better than the monstrosity that was the last chapter.
HERE COMES THE ANGST TRAIN, BEEP BEEP MOTHER F'S
Chapter 12: Brought to Light
Numb. The only emotion he seemed capable of feeling other than anger and fear. No joy, no happiness, not even a small pang of sadness. Just numb.
This wasn't even the worst part, either. Robin knew that as soon as he got into the mountain, the League would be waiting for them. Just like they always used to. They would ask-no, demand-to know what went wrong, how they could have messed up such a mission. Require a full report from everyone.
He would lie. He couldn't tell them about Slade, their history, the apprenticeship. Robin didn't want their pity. He would stick to his story-captured, fought back, escaped.
His team would never believe it. Luckily, though, they weren't the ones he would be trying to convince. And as long as he ordered his team not to say a word about their history, everything would be completely fine.
So why did Robin still feel so numb? He should be relieved that his old team and the League would be off his back. But he wasn't.
There was a haze clouding his vision, unfocused as it was. Robin stared at nothing, the red and black floor of the Bioship swirling in his view. He knew that others were looking at him, but Robin couldn't bring himself to care.
For a moment, the numbness seemed to part, only for Slade's shadow to take its place. Robin could feel it consuming him, racing until it covered every inch of his mind, body, and spirit. Robin could never escape. He didn't know why he thought he could.
He didn't want to do this. He didn't want to make this decision. Everything Slade stood for was what Robin had been fighting against for the majority of his life.
How could something like Slade's offer ever seem appealing?
But it did. For a split second, in the midst of Slade's manipulation, it made perfect sense. Robin found himself wondering why he was even fighting it. The offer sounded like something he had always wanted, but had never pursued.
Even now, Robin found a deep, dark crevice of his mind whispering to him the implications of Slade's apprenticeship. How much he could learn. The new thrills he could experience. How good he could-...would be by Slade's side. The stability of knowing that no matter what, that person would never abandon you.
Robin screwed his eyes shut, forcing anything else he could grasp to fill the void and the terrible, awful voice that whispered to him. He searched for something, any emotion he could latch on to, and finally found a shred of anger. He pulled it towards him with rigor.
A knot formed in Robin's chest, right above his heart, and he channeled that anger even more. It was an emotion, a feeling, and it chased away the voice and the numbness. It was the only thing he had.
Robin felt the Bioship land, and popped his eyes open to hear the latch open behind him. No one was eager to leave, but Aqualad took the lead and walked down the ramp first. The rest of Young Justice followed, albeit hesitantly.
Kid Flash stopped for a moment in the doorway, glancing over his shoulder at Robin. The Boy Wonder threw a glare at him in return. The speedster visibly flinched, eyes filled with hurt, before making his retreat out of the ship.
Robin stood, the knot still tight in his chest. Now that the anger was driving him, he felt like he was much more in control. The numb was frightening, and he never wanted to feel it again.
If that meant replacing it with anger, or fear or pain, than so be it. No matter the effect to him or the people around him.
Because he couldn't really call them his friends anymore, could he? At least what Slade said of that was true about his old team.
Robin felt a presence on his right, and looked up into the grim face of Cyborg. The robotic teen seemed considerate, and gave Robin a small nod and a tight shoulder squeeze before heading down the ramp himself.
What Slade said about the Titans, however, was an entirely different matter. Robin was in complete denial at the man's words. He refused to believe that his new friends were just simply loyal to their leader, and only kept him around because they couldn't function without him. That as soon as they were ready to get a new leader or got too tired of him they would abandon him just like everyone else had in his life like his parents and Haley and Bruce and Alfred and his team-
Robin's eyes snapped to the side as he felt a slender hand gently land on his right shoulder. Raven was staring at him, her hood down, violet eyes wide and filled with worry.
"Robin?" was all she said, his name nothing more than a whisper. "You feel..."
He was frozen for a moment, and then realized that frozen was bad. Frozen let the numb sink back in. So, as he felt the anger slipping away he latched his teeth into it with new vigor.
Robin ripped his shoulder out from her hand and shrugged past her. "Leave it, Raven. Not in the mood."
He didn't turn back to see her expression, but he could feel the hurt, the anger, the confusion and, most prevalent, the worry eminatting off of her.
Robin kept walking. He couldn't deal with her right now. He needed to brace himself for the hell fire he knew he was going to be walking into.
"Report. Now." There it was. That scathing voice, demanding complete and total cooperation. Added to Batman's imposing figure, with Black Canary and Superman at his side, it would have been enough to intimidate anyone.
Too bad he wasn't anyone. Robin grew up with this man as a mentor, and if that didn't scare him then it certainly wouldn't now.
The Boy Wonder opened his mouth, sarcastic retort on the tip of his tongue, but Kaldur interupted before he could utter a single word.
"We were unprepared," the Atlantian began, all of Young Justice filtered behind him with various degrees of shame. The Titans sat awkwardly to the side with Robin, between the Leaguer's and Young Justice. "Slade caught us off guard with a strategically placed explosion."
"Seriously, it was like that guy knew exactly what our plan was. Kinda creepy, to be perfectly honest." KF interrupted, shrinking back again when Batman leveled him a glare.
"We were seperated, and while we were attempting to regain our bearings Robin was cut off from contact." Aqualad paused for a moment, glancing over at the other teens briefly before continuing. "None of us are entirely sure what happened between Slade and Robin in those moments of silence, but we are glad to report minimal injury, even if the mission was not a success."
All of the eyes turned towards Robin, and he felt his body go stiff. Batman gave him a sharp look, eyes raking over his body to scan for any noticeable injuries, before meeting the teens furious gaze once again.
There was silence as ex-mentor and mentee stared each other down, everyone waiting for one to make a move.
"Explain." Batman finally barked, never breaking eye contact.
Robin crossed his arms, hands clenched into fists, refusing to back down. The anger that swirled inside pooled deeper, the knot in his chest growing ever so tighter.
"I got captured, we fought, and I escaped. Not much to explain." Batman's eyes hardened at the teens biting tone.
"I doubt you were able to successfully defeat Deathstroke by yourself, with an injured leg no less. What really happened." The man stated, his expression becoming noticeably blank.
That meant bad things. The blank stare most likely meant that Batman was figuring things out, and they were slowly coming together like a confusing puzzle. And Robin could not let Batman fully construct that puzzle.
Stick to the story. If really needed, have the Titans as back-up. Surely they would play along, right?
"I don't know what you want me to say. You asked what happened, and I told you. Believe me or not, I don't really care." Robin spat, watching as the blank expression failed to so much as twitch.
By Batman's side, Black Canary looked ready to interject, but the man refused to let her. His gaze switched from Robin to Cyborg, who stood at the teen left.
"Do you believe him?" he asked gruffly, and the cybernetic teens eyes widened before flicking back and forth between his leader and the infamous Leaguer.
Robin shot Cyborg a plea, hoping that he would stay loyal to the team. Stay loyal to him, and his wishes.
The larger teen looked conflicted. Ten seconds passed in silence, his gaze going from Robin to Batman and back again. Finally, Robin managed to catch his eyes, and he tried to convey how important this was to him.
He tried to let the elder teen see the desperation, and the promise to tell them what really happened later if they would just keep up the charade. It wouldn't be pushed too much if the Titans only believed in him.
Something in Cyborgs eye changed, like a wall was being put up. Robin could have sighed with relief as he saw him square his shoulders and turn back to Batman. But before he could utter a single word, another, smaller voice spoke.
"No." Beast Boy whispered, gaining all the attention. He flushed a bit, but steeled himself and continued, stronger. "No, I don't believe him. And...and I doubt anyone else does either."
Robin stood frozen, staring blankly at Beast Boys determined gaze. He could see the shine in the boys eyes as they locked gazes, and Robin felt the swelling stab of betrayal as those bright green orbs stared into him.
"Beast Boy is right, Robin." Aqualad interjected softly, giving the smaller teen a pitying look. "We would like to know what really happened between you and Slade, and...and the history you and the Titans share with this man."
He said it so gently, that Robin could almost believe he cared. For him and his team. Too bad he knew better.
"Our history is none of your business, you have no right to know." Robin hissed back. Eyes all around the room widened at the blatant vehemence of scorn woven into Robin's tone.
And yet, Batman still stood stock still, not even batting an eye. That alone made Robins temper flare more, and he opened his mouth to reinstate his point when a soft voice spoke to his side.
"My friend, I know this subject is most distressing for you, but perhaps it may be good to tell them of our past encounters." Of all people, Starfire was betraying him. Sweet, innocent Starfire.
Deep down, Robin knew she was merely trying to help resolve the feeling tensions, but that didn't bring any comfort. The knife in his heart twisted deeper, and with one look at Cyborg he could tell that he had sided with Beast Boy and Starfire as well.
But he still had Raven. She had yet to speak, keeping her violet eyes centered on the floor beneath her, hood up to cast shadow over her face.
"Tell the truth." Batman suddenly said, and all heads whipped towards him. Robin simply intensified his glare. "Were you or were you not the one to break into Wayne Enterprises and steal a military grade piece of technology."
Robin's breath stuttered, and he could physically feel the Titans beside him all go into some forms of shock. His vision filled with white for a moment, only able to focus on the black figure across the room. The other occupants had similar reactions, ranging from confusion to blatant shock.
The teens mouth was suddenly dry, and he worked to swallow. He could feel his face get slightly paler as his vision finally came back. Robin's arms came around to tightly grip his biceps.
"It…it wasn't what it looked like…I didn't…" he tried to say, but it only came out in a rasp. All the rage and betrayal Robin felt before drained out of his body and was replaced by dread and fear.
This is the conversation he hoped would never happen. The one time he hoped Batman wouldn't have kept a close eye on one of his buildings across the country. He was a fool to think that Batman wouldn't notice.
"Robin, what's he talking about? Stealing? That's…" Wally trailed, looking desperately to Robin for an explanation. One that would mean there had been some misunderstanding.
Robin shook his head and closed his eyes tight, feeling his stomach rebelling against him. He didn't want to talk about it, not in front of everyone. That whole experience was traumatic enough.
"Robin, what exactly happened that night, two months ago. Why did you illegally break in to a multi-billion dollar company. " Batman needed to stop. "Why were you attempting to steal." Robin couldn't take it anymore. "Why were you wearing Deathstrokes colours." Stop. "And why did you fight your team with the viciousness of a stranger."
Something inside him snapped. Robin's eyes flew open and a new, burning fire ignited inside of him. It spread like gasoline, light up every part of his body as he whipped to face Batman.
"I DIDN'T HAVE ANY CHOICE!" Robin screeched, waiting for any type of reaction from Batman. And yet, nothing happened. He was still completely apathetic, the bastard. "My friends were going to die. They were going to die and it was going to be all. My. Fault!" he gasped for a breath for continuing. "What else was I supposed to do?! Let them die, like you would have?!"
Robin heaved for breath, chest rising and falling rapidly. He glanced over every shocked and horrified face in the room, pausing briefly when he saw the tears in both M'gann and Wally's eyes. But his attention was ripped away when he heard Black Canary's heels clicking across the floor towards him.
"Robin, you need to calm down." she said in her best therapist voice. That voice only served to piss Robin off even more, and she paused when she was still three metres away.
"No, I don't need to calm down! You wanted to know the history that Slade and I have? Well, now you know!"
There was a small hand on his shoulder, and he peered up into Starfire's worried gaze. "Robin…"
He wrenched his shoulder out from underneath her hold, glaring. "This is what you wanted, isn't it? For me to come clean? There I've done it, now just…" he paused, feeling exhaustion from the outburst quickly floor him. Robin sagged and felt his cape come around his shoulders, almost like a blanket. He let out a small sigh. "Leave me alone. Think whatever you want-hero, villain-I don't care. I'm…done."
With that he trudged out of the hangar, all eyes watching him limp into the shadows of the Mountain. Black Canary suddenly whipped around, stalking back towards Batman. Fury dominated her face.
"Dinah-" Superman warned, but was interrupted as a sharp clap rang through out the cavern.
Batman's head barely moved from the vicious slap given by the Canary, and they locked eyes.
"What the hell is wrong with you? Could you not see he was struggling? Do his feelings really mean that little to you?" she hissed before stalking out of the room herself in the opposite direction. Before she left she spat "God Damnit" into the air, no doubt intended for Batman.
A red mark was slowly forming on this visible side of Batman's chin, but he did not react. He gave both Young Justice and the Teen Titans a glare before sweeping off in the direction of his wayward ward.
"Debriefing dismissed. Head to your quarters immediately." was the only parting words before Batman, too, was engulfed in shadow.
Okay, kinda awkward place to end, but if it didn't end there this chapter would end up probably being 7,000 words.
Sorry for the really slow updates, life is really kicking my ass at the moment. Thanks for all of you that are still here, I love all of you with all my heart.
~Atatami