"Ow!" Robin hit the pavement with a grunt. The H.I.V.E. Five wasn't what it used to be. With Jinx gone, they were severely lacking. However, he was still 100% human. And even though Billy Numerous was a terrible fighter…well…even a broken clock is right twice a day. Billy landed a lucky shot that had nothing to do with the fact that Robin's attention briefly strayed towards the beautiful empath on his team. Shakily standing to his feet, Robin placed a hand against his ribcage, flinching when he felt something move. That wasn't good; but he'd have to worry about it later. Brandishing his bo staff, he charged at Billy Numerous, easily putting him on his backside. "Is it me or is this too easy?" Beast Boy asked proudly just as he dumped Shimmer's unconscious body on the ground. Robin only managed a pained grunt in response. "Way too easy," Cyborg added as Starfire threw Mammoth to the ground from an incredible height.

"I too agree," Starfire said. "I have not yet begun to perspire." Robin dragged an unconscious Billy Numerous to his team as Raven held Kid Wykkyd with her powers. "You good?" Robin asked her. Kid Wykkyd wasn't even putting up a fight.

"He didn't want to fight," Raven answered, motioning to a hovering Gizmo behind Robin.

"You snot-nosed, grub-licking, barfbrain…" Robin sighed as Gizmo continued to call them names as he hovered in his jetpack.

"Dude," Beast Boy spoke, "are those the only insults you know?" Gizmo stuck his tongue out. "You think we'd attack without a backup plan?" Gizmo asked. He pressed a button on his wrists. Three giant robots broke through the asphalt. They sort of resembled Slade bots, except these robots were bigger and looked stupid. Gizmo began laughing his cringy laugh. "Raven," Robin said. Raven released Kid Wykkyd. "What are you doing?" Cyborg asked wide-eyed.

"He isn't going anywhere," Raven said. The four other Titans turned to Kid Wykkyd. He nodded silently. As for Gizmo. He was ordering his robots to attack, but the four Titans didn't even flinch. Four? Where was the dark, scary one? "Hello, Gizmo," a monotone voice said from behind him. Gizmo didn't want to look. He didn't want to look, but he turned anyway. The dark Titan stood 2 feet away from him, eye-to-eye with him, even though he was two stories in the air. "Put the robots away, or else," Raven threatened calmly, her hands going to her hood. Gizmo teeth began to chatter as his body shook in fear. "Uh…I…" Gizmo said.

"Fine," she threw her hood back. Suddenly every monster and nightmare he had ever seen appeared in front of his eyes. Gizmo released high-pitched scream causing windows in nearby buildings to crack. While he was screaming, Raven shrunk to regular size, pulled her fist back, and delivered a knockout blow. She then teleported herself and Gizmo's body to her teammates, who were now speaking to cops. "He'll be out for a while," Raven said as she dumped his body on the ground in front of the cops. They nodded in slight fear. Raven almost rolled her eyes. Six years protecting Jump, and people were still afraid of her. She released an annoyed sigh. The other Titans could deal with this. "I'm heading back," she said, moving away from the cops and gathering crowd. Before she took flight, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Robin. "Wait," Robin said. "Are you okay?" Raven looked at Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy posing for pictures with their adoring fans. A plethora of girls were screaming for Robin's attention. No one was here for her. It used to not hurt. "Raven," Robin said her name again in concern. Raven looked into her masked leader's eyes, wondering if he could see how much all of this was getting to her. "I'll see you back at the tower," she whispered before taking off. Robin only sighed as he stared at her disappearing figure, a weird ache filling his chest. What was happening to him?

He would be going on patrol tonight. He wouldn't be alone. Beast Boy would most likely be with him this time. The figure smirked. Robin liked patrolling with different teammates at random times. Robin probably didn't even realize that he was following a pattern. He paired up with Beast Boy the second Friday of each month. Cyborg accompanied him the fourth Wednesday of every month. Starfire went with him the third Tuesday of every month. Hopefully this worked.

Robin stood at the top of the clocktower, lost in thoughts. He hadn't seen Raven all day. Something must have upset her, but for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what. Also, his ribs were screaming. He really should get them looked at. "Dude," Robin heard Beast Boy complain in his ear, "there's nothing going on out here. I'm so bored." Robin rolled his eyes. Beast Boy complained without fail, every time. Robin was about to tell Beast Boy to go home when an alarm went off. "Sorry, Beast Boy," Robin said.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Beast Boy groaned. "I'll meet you there."

Ten minutes later, Robin and Beast Boy stood next to each other on the roof. "This is a ballet theater," Beast Boy stated in confusion. "Someone broke into a ballet theater. Why?" Even Robin found it peculiar. "I hear music," Beast Boy said. Robin pulled out his thermal scanner. He saw 9 warm bodies standing in a line. "There's 9 people in the arena," Robin put it away after a brief glance. "Let's go."

"This is so weird," Beast Boy muttered as he followed his leader.

Once they were inside, Robin crept towards the music coming from the arena, sticking to the shadows. Beast Boy had gone ahead as a green mouse. "Dude," Beast Boy said, "you need to see this." Robin quickly but carefully made his way to Beast Boy, minding his ribs all the while. He entered the stadium to see Beast Boy standing in the middle of the aisle, watching 9 ballerinas onstage doing an abridged version of the Waltz of the Snowflakes from The Nutcracker. "A…dude," Beast Boy said, "there's 9 ballerinas on stage." Robin nodded dumbly. He couldn't believe his…brain. Nine ladies dancing. "Do we…interrupt them?" Beast Boy asked. Robin didn't have an answer. He was too…thrown.

Once the beautiful dance soon ended, Robin made his presence known. "Eek!" one of the ballerinas screeched when Robin stepped into the spotlight. The dancers began muttering amongst themselves as Robin jumped on to the stage. The 9 girls were dressed in full snowflake costume. "What are you doing?" Robin asked. One girl gingerly stepped forward and said, "We…we were told to…someone paid us a lot of money to do this."

"Do this?" Robing asked.

"Yes," she answered.

"What's your name?" Robin asked, trying to build a rapport.

"Chelsea."

"Okay, Chelsea. I'm not mad. I just want to know what you guys are doing here. An alarm went off, alerting us to a break-in."

"We were paid to do our dance."

"Who?" Robin asked, trying to keep his voice steady.

"We do not know," Chelsea said.

"A lot of money showed up in our account this morning, telling us where to be and what to do," another dancer clinging fearfully to Chelsea said.

"How much money?"

"A lot," Chelsea stressed. "We all have enough to retire. Also…" Chelsea looked down at her feet. "We were told to give this to you if you showed up," she held a white envelope out to Robin. Robin carefully took it. "Are we in trouble?" Chelsea asked with round, brown eyes.

"No," Robin answered instantly, calming her down. He began to ready his grappling hook. "Just…be careful getting home."

"I can make sure they get home safely," Beast Boy appeared next to Robin out of nowhere. The girls began to blush, staring at Beast Boy who had turned into a green kitty, sitting on Robin's shoulder. "S-S-Sure," Robin said, "if they're okay with that." The dancers squealed in delight when Beast Boy alighted from Robin's shoulder and landed among them, staring up at them with anime-like eyes. Once everyone's attention was off him, Robin disappeared into the darkness.

Robin stood in front of Raven's room, still in costume, white envelope in hand. "Robin," he heard from the other side of the door, "are you going to stand there all night?" Robin smiled to himself before walking through her unlocked door. His heart skipped a beat. There she was, sitting on her bed in a black cami and shorts. Her purple hair fell over her shoulder, touching her bare thighs. Her violet eyes studied him. She was gorgeous. The emotions Robin was feeling made him want to pass out. He finally understood what that strange feeling in his chest was.

While Robin was silently studying Raven, Raven was watching him. The longer he stood in her room, staring at her, saying nothing, the more concerned she grew. "Robin," Raven swung her legs over the side of the bed and approached him. "Are you okay? Did someone get hurt?"

"Oh, no," he quickly said. He held a hand up to wave her off, but he immediately flinched, doubling over in pain."

"Robin," Raven walked to him, "are you injured?"

"A little…ow!" he exclaimed when Raven touched his ribs.

"Did this happen just now?" Raven asked, steering him to her bed.

"Uh…by now, do you mean during the fight with H.I.V.E.?" he asked sheepishly.

"Richard!" she admonished angrily, "that was almost 8 hours ago. Why didn't you tell me?" she asked as her hands glowed. "Your ribs are broken. You went on patrol with broken ribs."

"I honestly forgot," Richard explained.

"How?" Raven demanded.

"I was trained by Batman," he answered.

"That's your answer for everything," Raven rolled her eyes as she began to heal him.

"What do you mean?" Richard asked, sighing in relaxation.

"Robin, you shouldn't jump your motorcycle from one roof to the other. How did you even get your motorcycle on the roof? I was trained by Batman," Raven mimicked. "Robin, you aren't bulletproof. I was trained by Batman. Robin, you can't breathe in outer space. I was trained by Batman."

"I don't say it that often," Richard scrunched up his face. Raven stared at him blankly before continuing to heal him. "Do I say it that often?" Richard questioned.

"I'm finished," Raven said with a raised brow.

"Thanks," Richard said, sitting up. "But I didn't come to your room to be healed."

"No?" Raven asked with a cock of her head.

"No. I wanted to show you something," he said, pulling a white envelope from his belt. "Beast Boy and I answered a call at the theatre."

"Like…the movie theater?"

"No. Long story short – this was given me." Raven looked at the envelope. "Secret admirer?" Raven guessed.

"The front says, 'On The 9th Day of Christmas My True Love Gave to Me…'; and there were 9 ladies dancing on stage."

"Not too strange," Raven said, "the Nutcracker is performed around this time every year."

"How do you know that?" Richard asked.

"I've thought about going," she added with a shrug. "What's in the envelope?" Richard opened the envelope. He pulled out two tickets to the Gotham Opera House. Though, instead of an opera, The Nutcracker Suite would be the performance. On the inside of the opened flap were the words a gift for you and the one you love. Richard looked back at Raven. "What?" she asked.

"Tickets to a ballet," he said, showing them to her. Raven looked at them curiously. "For the week we'll be in Gotham," Richard added.

"So…your mysterious lover wants to take you to a ballet in Gotham?" Raven asked. Richard looked back at the writing on the flap of the envelope and reread the words. "I don't think that's what they want," he said slowly.