Chapter 14

Slade stood watching the footage from the cameras in Titans Tower. If he didn't have a mask on, his smile would shine a thousand watts. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but he could clearly see how the conversation was going. Robin and his friends torn by the hurt of what their teammate had done, their faces pictures of betrayal. Starfire sat still in her chair, not daring to move. Not daring to speak. After Robin had stated his final question, they didn't wait for an answer before the four of them dispersed, Raven using her powers to take the items on the table with her. Starfire was left alone with her thoughts. That was a fair few hours ago, but rewatching it made Slade feel good. His plan was working.

The small squat figure returned to Slade's side once again, their face hidden in the shadows. Slade lifted his hand and passed something over that resembled a controller. "Begin phase two. I want you there in two hours. No more."

"Of course Mr Slade, Sir. And phase three?"

"Leave that to me. The Titans will no doubt block our access to their cameras soon, so we have to act fast while we still know their movements. Two hours. Go."

The figure left, and Slade brought his focus back to the screens. Moving over to the live footage, he watched. Robin and Cyborg were in ops, no doubt working on finding the leak in their security where Slade was getting their camera feeds from. Raven and Beast Boy were flitting about the tower, checking all the cameras, supposedly for bugs. Starfire was sat on her bed, that worm she called a pet sat on her lap. Slade would be unable to watch for much longer, it was only a matter of time before Raven or Beast Boy found the bug he had planted. His feed would be cut. But that was fine. If phase two went as planned, this was not going to be a pleasant day for the Titans of Jump City.

TTTTTTTTT

Robin sat back in his chair with a puff, the fatigue from being up most of the night catching up on him. His day had already been filled with so much, he wasn't sure he could handle anything else. He and his friends had gone all out at Starfire. He'd had a brief explosion at Bruce about how all of this was partly his fault, though that call was ended with bad words and Robin cutting the call off. He had contacted the League to let them know of Batman's indiscretion, which concluded with Robin asking kindly if the League could step back while he and his team tried to pull themselves back together. Superman agreed to that no problem before going to meet with the league, no doubt to berate Batman on what he had done. And he and Cyborg had spent the last two hours scouting their entire computer system for anything that shouldn't be there. They needed to get Slade out before anything else.

Abruptly, both Robin's and Cyborg's communicators went off, Cyborg answering his first. Beast Boy appeared on the screen, took close to the camera and the boys could see up his nose. "Dudes! I found one!"

"Well alright Beast Boy! Where are you?"

"The roof. It's been planted in the camera for the main doorway, but I don't just wanna pull it off."

Robin stood and walked out of the room.

"Robin's on his way. I'll access it from here and close down the link. Good job BB! You and Raven keep checking, just incase there's more than one."

Beast Boy waited for Robin before he went off to keep searching. He showed Robin where the bug was, and then flew off to go check the outdoor cameras at the base of the tower. Robin, using his tools, carefully detached the bug from the camera, turning it over in his hand. Without hesitation, he crushed it. "Watch us now, asshole." Robin was unaware, but all at once, Slade's monitors turned to static. His feed lost.

The titans spent the next hour searching the rest of the tower, and Cyborg was quite content that the bug Beast Boy had found was the only one, and that Slade could no longer watch them. Tired, the four of them sat round the table, Robin keeping his eye on the camera feed from Starfire's room. Just because she had done what she did, didn't mean they weren't still going to protect her.

"So..." Raven broke the silence, her voice heavy. "Slade can't watch us anymore, but he's still got a plan here. No doubt telling you about what Starfire did was part of it. How do we know we're not just playing into his hands again?"

Robin sighed and ran a hand over his face. "We don't, but what else can we do?"

"It'll be alright y'all. We just need to keep doing what we're doing. And that's keeping Slade away from Starfire." Cyborg looked at his arm, pressing a few things. "Security now is tighter than it ever has been. If someone sets door near this tower, I'll know about it."

"Which is all great, but what if we have to leave? What if something or someone attacks the city? We'd have two choices; leave Starfire by herself, or face whatever it is with just three of us. I don't like those odds. Plus, if we left her by herself, even if you were alerted to someone getting into the tower, how would we get back in time and keep the city safe. It's just not possible."

Robin's point was completely valid, and none of them had a response for him. Beast Boy pondered a little while, his head tilting in thought. "Maybe we need to bring someone in. Get another Titan to join the team?"

"It's not a bad idea." Cyborg put his arm down and shrugged. "It would be a big help. It would mean that there would always be four of us out there, and someone to watch Starfire."

Robin's hand banged down on the table. "We're not replacing her! She's done some bad things and we're all hurt by it, but I'm not willing to let someone come in and take her place."

"Woah! It wouldn't be a replacement Rob, just a stand in. Until this whole mess is cleared up."

"No. I can't do it to her. No matter what she's done, I can't let her think that she's being replaced. I promised her."

Raven tilted her head towards him and raised an eyebrow. "Promised her?"

"Yeah. Back when Blackfire first came to earth. I told Starfire that she would never be replaced. That no one could ever take her place on this team."

"Alright, so if that's not an option, what else can we do?" Raven crosses her arms and sat back. They were getting nowhere.

"What if... and hear me out..." cyborg put his hands up to show that he was just making an innocent suggestion. " What if she went back to her home planet? If she's on Tamaran Slade can't reach her at all."

Robin sighed again, resting his head in his hands. "If Starfire went back home, she'd be forced to marry the moment she landed. Galfore has said that as long as she resides on Earth then the marriage laws can't be enforced. However, if she went back for any longer than a couple of days, the law would overrule Galfore and she would have to fulfil her duty as princess and marry. That would mean she could take the crown as Grand Ruler, forbidding her from returning to Earth. Taking down Slade could take months. If we send her home, she'd probably never come back."

"Okay, so why don't we as the League to-"

"No."

Raven put a gentle hand on Robin's shoulder. "Robin, you're being unreasonable."

"I know. I'm just not feeling in a very reasonable mood."

"Alright y'all. Let's just stop for now. Get some rest and we'll talk about his when we're not all feeling so bad."

Then, as if the world had planned it, the red light started flashing, and the alarm rang true. Robin growled, shooting out of his chair to the console. "You've gotta be kidding me! It's like they knew!" He started muttering to himself, cursing whoever had brought such bad timing down on his team. "It's only Control Freak! When I get my hands on that oversized couch potato I'm gonna-"

"Robin, stop." Raven blocked him from his rantings. "Maybe you should stay here."

"What?! Why?!"

"Because someone needs to watch Starfire still. Besides, like you said, it's only Control Freak. I think we can handle him."

"Fine, but I'm going to monitor the fight from here."

Cyborg and Beast Boy moves from their chairs. "Alright, let's move out guys." And then Robin was alone. He sat at the console, ready to help if they needed it. But really, it was only Control Freak, right?

TTTTTTTT

The three Titans reached the scene in no time. Control Freak was at the movie theatre, using his stupid remote to make the monsters from a recently released horror film come to life. "You think this movie is scary? Please. Anyone who knows anything about horror movies knows that it's the monsters that make the movie, not the plot. This movie has too much talking an not enough jump scares." He pressed his remote and more monsters appeared from within the theatre. As he clocked the Titans, he did a little twirl of excitement before addressing them. "Hello Titans! Prepare for your doom! No one can defea-" he stopped in his tracks, his eyes scanning over the Titans. "Three? Where's Robin?"

"Busy. Now, stop what you're doing and-" Cyborg was interrupted as Control Freak pressed pause on his remote, the monsters stopping in their tracks.

"Hold on!" Control Freak turned around, taking a mobile device out of his pocket and holding it up to his ear. Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Raven all looked at each other quizzically. A voice that went unheard by the Titans answered the call.

"Talk."

"I'm sorry Sir, Robin isn't here. Should I continue, Sir?"

"Yes. I was counting on Robin staying behind. Carry on."

"Yes Sir!" Control Freak turned back to the Titans and coughed, clearing his throat. "Alright, where was I? Hello Titans... prepare for your doom... ah yes! No one can defeat Control Freak!" As he pressed play, the monsters continued their rampage.

Back at Titans Tower, Robin had heard everything through his communicator. "Sir?" Who would Control Freak be calling sir? And why did he need this person's permission to carry on just because Robin wasn't there? Control Freak might be an idiot, but he never struck Robin as the type to follow orders. Robin had that itch again. Pulling up the cameras from the movie theatre, he stopped the footage on an image of Control Freak with his remote held out. It wasn't the same remote he had used last time, because Robin had that one locked up tight. He zoomed in on the image, his brow knotting as he did. A little closer... and...

Raven was knocked back by a tentacle and thrown into Beast Boy, the two of them tumbling down the street. Quickly they both got to their feet, dusting themselves off. Cyborg's cannon blaster went off a few times, he moved back to join them. "We need a plan guys. There's too many to just blast. Raven, see if you can't get Control Freak's remote!" A ghost like creature flew for him, and Cyborg blasted its face, knocking it down, but he knew it wouldn't be long before it reappeared.

Beast Boy turned into a T-Rex and roared. He barrelled his way up the street, knocking down anything that got in his way. That would buy them a little time at least. He morphed into a humming bird, and flew back to cyborg. "Dude, do you think shutting off the movie would help?"

"I dunno man! I don't think we could get into the theatre to find out!"

Just then Raven appeared behind them. "He's too heavily guarded! There's too many of them for me to be able to get rid of them." A screech was heard behind them, and they turned to see more monsters starting to surround them.

Then, all at once their communicators went off. Robin's voice sounded loudly from each one. "Guys! It's a trap! He's working for Slade!"

They all looked panicked. Their heads turning to a gap in the sea of horror where Control Freak stood on a bench to make himself taller, waving his remote at them. "He's right you know." All at once the world closed in around them, the hoard of monsters accompanied by twice as many Slade Bots that had somehow snuck into the fray. The three Titans huddled together, surrounded by too many enemies for them to take on by themselves.

"Don't even think about moving Titans. Even if you teleported out of here, I'd set this army loose on the city. So be good and stay still."

Raven looked to Cyborg who just shook his head. Together, the three of them surrendered.

TTTTTTTTTT

Back at Titans Tower, Robin couldn't believe what was happening. He was torn between leaving and going to help us friends, and staying just in case. But even if he did go, he couldn't take down that army, and he certainly couldn't risk it being set on the city. Who knows how many people would get hurt or even die if that many monsters and robots were let loose. Instead, he set his mind on figuring out what was going to happen now.

"If Control Freak is working for Slade, then he was probably using that idiot to lure us away from the Tower, knowing that Star wouldn't be with us. He's probably also counted on one of us staying behind.. so will he come here or not?"

Robin's answer came in the form of multiple alarms going off at once. The main screen changed to show security breaches on every floor of the Tower. Robin genuinely panicked, his eyes wide. Checking the system, he noticed that the breach on this floor, where the bedrooms were, was at the opposite side of the Tower. He grabbed his communicator again. "Starfire, are you okay?"

Her voice crackled through the device. She sounded terrified. "Yes Robin, I am fine. Please, what should I do?"

"Make your way to ops as fast as you can! I'll meet you half way! Stay away from the west wing!" He noticed her locator had started moving, meaning she was out of her room and on her way. She spun out of his chair and sprinted for the door. The faster they were together, the better. As he reached the doors, he slowed to let them open, but as they did, a shadow dropped from above the door, booting him in the chest. Robin was sent across the room, crashing into the table, shattering it.

He groaned, that had hurt. A lot. He sat up, wincing as his back protested. He looked up to see Slade stood over him. His arms crossed. Behind him, dozens of Slade Bots piled into the room. As Robin tried to get to his feet, a group of the robots jumped on him, holding him down. He tried to fight his way out of it, but there were too many. Slade stepped forward and bent down to unclip Robin's belt and sling it over his shoulder.

"Get him to his knees, but keep a hold on him." The robots dragged Robin up, making him kneel before Slade, holding his arms behind his back. Robin continued to struggle, but he couldn't break their grip. He lifted his head and glared at Slade who stood triumphant.

The doors to the room slid open with a hiss. "Robin!"