Teen Titans: The Fighting Life – Epilogue Story; Chapter 5: But It's Not.

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Testing. Testing…Oh! Yup, we have this camera rolling. Hey, bat -boy? You remember this pretty face? Was not ok when I saw your cocky face on the television back then. You are in a serious amount of trouble already; and with him, I'd stick to being a good lil' side kick. You aren't a quitter. Whatever your team is after, I promised to pass on the message to any super heroes who have seen a spiky – haired pip – squeak in a mask running around. Can't fool me, I was the first to piss off my partner. Ollie could really use a hand half the time. He's got a full-time job just from keeping yours from having a mental breakdown. Wherever they've taken you, try not to run into anymore trouble. You, tend to go looking for it. See yah' on the flip! This is Speedy, signing off.

/

Robin was on the boat, the ship. Not a sail boat, an armored vessel that could crash right into the nearest pier.

Slade watched from below as the world grown farther from his one masked side. The only speck he spotted down below was a cluster of Slade bots heading towards the main deck side, up front. Robin was a captured princess in his tower and Slade, sorely found this to be a bit of an embarrassment. Just, until he'd straightened out his apprentice's poorer habits.

Robin knew how to fight when cornered. It was what made him a valuable asset in the first place. He was a one – man S.W.A.T team, a rogue trickster that had the wind at his back.

They couldn't even touch him.

Slade though, wanted to find out what made Robin believe himself so worthy. He had a theory that had spanned on; from the day he'd witnessed a forlorn tragedy, and up until this time.

A time, that would mean stripping away the old. The adolescent dream of a brighter future was no more as it should.

The future was not a perfect paradise granted to a person. They had to starve their senses out at times, drag out that core essence that made them feel as if they'd –

~About time. ~ Slade looked at his watch. The time, was too right on his clock. Right now, for Robin, he could only imagine what might be left for the small soldier to carry out in his absence.

/

Bots.

More, bots on deck.

Bots in the galley.

Bots walking the plank!

Robin forced his body to move. He'd been hit pretty hard by what looked to be a shot of…

Painkiller…

"Hnnnn!" He shoved the arm of the bot that had injected him without warning. The world spun. It was a real knock out drug, or maybe an interaction by his endorphins flooding over?

Slade's little crappy stunt was too unlike the older male's tastes. Robin's fight had been a warning. He'd been toyed with…now…This was the last –

Then, he remembered. The bots were here and so must be…

The device controlling the nanobots.

A devious smile crept over to cover the corners of the teen's face. He'd take the risk.

Oh, and the bots?

Once again, a one-man S.W.A.T team.

We don't need to explain how many, bolts went flying.

Or the scratches and tears in the metal of the room he'd been locked up in, how shards of glass were something of an interior décor piece that littered the room to create a prism of events in which followed –

A massacre.

Of many robots, against one displaced hero.

The metallic things walked about; all undead zombies, as Robin shoved each one he'd killed aside with his foot. Even as his earlier grin had been placed away and replaced with a warrior's snarl (for that real victory against his captor - he'd dance "metaphorically" on top the man's grave,) the hero was not going to wait –

"Ribs…" He looked down.

They were bandaged up pretty nicely. Maybe the bots didn't all have to go, Kaboom. He had to make it look less like an ambush. More like a riot from an unruly teenager.

A few tweaks, and he could use the defective one as a spy….

Robin bit his lip.

~I'm thinking just like him…~ Robin's eyes wavered as the flashback took over. A total, post traumatic scenario painted over in black and white…

The teen crumpled up onto his knees and felt the same, earlier pangs again. That, anxiety. The sheer remembrance of what he had done…

He looked up and saw the destroyed robots, and could only picture his dark side in that warehouse district…

Pier 41.

My worst lesson in trust…

"No…!" Robin got up from the floor and found a door to the outside.

Not unlocked. He cussed under his breath.

"Agh!" He rammed into it, trying to think of a way how…to...Push!

To no avail. He rubbed his shoulder and grunted at the error of judgement, pulling back from the iron hatch.

"No good." He muttered, seeing as the bots he had almost all but destroyed were still not out of his way.

You could use them, they got you locked up in here. One of his Slade bots should have a key card or code.

Robin rubbed the back of his neck and tried to find the most undamaged bot that was still…

The worst.

The bot he'd picked came over to him in a limp. The one that had been assigned to him in the brig.

Robin didn't move.

If, I ruin thatthing, I'm going to lose it. No. No way...! ~

It looked him up and down, as closely as it could at a safe enough distance to stick out its long, clawed finger. Robin saw as it pointed at its desired location. It was there to look at the bandaged boy's messy torso. The bot was not as much a threat to him a the others, but this was due to the fact that its face wasn't like the others.'

Robin looked down at the side where his ribs had been tended to. Damn…They had started to bleed a little bit.

"You…want, to fix me?" Robin frowned and waited for the bot to nod back like the others.

It did, but with a short delay. It really was slower than its other copies. He kind of felt sorry for it. If he'd have to –

It hopped off to find first, a first - aid kit, and some handy ointment on the infirmary's exposed counter top. The bot was very clear with its intentions, since it had only been programed to act as a nanny. That made, Robin paused…not a lick of sense, but it wasn't going to fight him. It was useless. It would be destroyed right away if it tried.

Robin let it tend to him, as the other bots it just… walked past them. A cold, hard piece of metal in heart and mind... It could not have a heart, just one goal. To keep Robin out of trouble. Robin sighed as it finished wrapping the spot. He exhaled in a short breath. No sooner had it done its duty…

Robin felt something click* around his wrist.

He snapped.

"Yah!"

The bot was a sneak. He'd just had the clean wrap made up for him…and this thing…?

He shut his eyes and let his arm snap its neck with a lasting CHOP* through the air.

Robin didn't know why, but his act of rebellion was met with some regret as his wrist and arm; now bruised by the metal contacting with his exposed flesh, stung more times over than his ribs had endured with that stomach bug still inside him!

"Anh!"

No gloves or metal guards. He flailed his wrist and hand as if he'd been in contact with something explosively hot to the touch. Seething, he tried to cool it before more trouble came to toss him around the boat.

The bot; upon its dying day, had made a sad, droid – to – Luke's death, montage face which irritated the teen. He felt like a person had been inside that Halloween - masked shell...

Robin shook his head as the only ice packs the room carried in the infirmary's closets, had not been cold enough to remedy his case of a light, even… possible sprain he'd received for defending himself. He wanted to be wrong about his guesses, very badly.

Its master was a criminal. An A– class killer, whatever. Robin took the card out of his Nanny – bot's dead compartment around its waist and kicked the thing over, until its entire, puppy -dog face went completely dim.

/

Robin knew that getting his butt kicked by more robots was what he'd promised Slade he'd avoid.

Instead, he'd taken then out on the first try.

Whatever that damn drug was that Slade had fed him earlier, it had worked.

He felt actually, freaking stronger! Robin did a few flips off of the banister that overlooked the rest of the ship down below. He saw that the bots were on both the front to back, the boat was enormous.

No wonder I felt so stranded. We are standing on an island! Holy Toledo, Slade!

His stealth was pretty decent too. The time was hard to tell, so he opted to be surprised once the ship was set onto a new course.

~ How, where am I supposed to look first…~

Robin squinted at the light of a glaring sun staring back, but it wasn't that.

A bot had a laser – shot headed for him.

Seek and destroy. Right. He was the man's prized contraband, after all...

"So much for stealth." Robin sighed and let himself jump to the next ledge. He caught the rails with ease by his fingertips and did the one thing Bruce could never all –

~ To stop and explain? This, Bruce is an important character, so do stay tuned! No spoilers. ~

"Bruce" could never allow, while he'd been growing up under the man's "careful" watch.

Riding the rails. He didn't stop there, and felt ready to fly.

The bots leaped up, and the fight had begun.

/

A distress beacon was impossible as the security on the ship was air - tight.

"ACCESS DENIED"

"DENIED"

DENIED. SCREEN WILL LOCK IN –

"Shit!" Robin paced around the room. Ok, wait, think. What was he after since that plan had failed? The bots were in the water with the sharks. Sure, he'd been a bit angry…But heck! He only had one shot. The device was what he was itching to hack, try or fail.

Or kill them all…yet.

Robin gulped and realized that without any visible security codes, he couldn't see into the other rooms on the ship.

Just as much, he'd have to chance it.

The teen crept off while watching for more of those animalistic androids. There were still a few he'd let fizzle out, so they could be a problem. Unless they could active an antenna on their heads and call Slade, he was sure he could pretend and act like the victim of an ambush or something.

The magical "buzz" had worn off, and it almost felt as if Robin had been given steroids instead of painkillers.

The day after, he'd not gotten a bellyache once. Now he was sure, that it wasn't all in his head.

"The nanobots!" Robin gasped. Nanoscopic probes, to be exact. They could heal or harm in the medical industry, and that might have been why he'd healed up so quickly. He wanted to get those things out as much as he wanted Slade held for a lot of other crimes against humanity. Away from anyone else who could end up the man's prime target.

"He's going to pay for messing with the Titans…" Robin snorted and turned a corner. The only places he had not checked…

He gulped by the location.

Below deck, where he was suppose to be.

No bots had come from below, so one or two could still be well armed. He gathered his courage and sped down the stairs into the darkest place on this massive ship.

Robin shivered at the sight of it. Even in a dim light, it was no wonder he'd been so sea sick. If you were a prisoner, you'd be a dead man walking, too.

"It wasn't a day. That was a lie too…Wasn't it…" Robin frowned and tried to find a somewhat, tangible wall with his fingers. Slowly trailing the tips over the hard surface, this technique was to keep himself from getting "hopelessly" lost down a peculiar path… that this space eerily coaxed him on towards.

He couldn't tell what was a wall, a door, or a –

A securely locked room. The gleam of an infrared beam had his eye.

Bingo.

To think it was all down where Slade had kept Robin sick. He was shocked by the man's lack of imagination. He wasn't to be trusted!

Robin hurried to the door and scanned over the hidden key pad; it was left invisible to those who didn't have Slade's fingerprints…

Ah, but Robin had a Plan B.

He had the man's mistake plastered to his face. But, would that do anything?

There was no print of a hand. Bruises. Damn, he wanted to think out of the box for once.

"Ok, then…how do I get inside."

He puzzled over this for now, but Slade would be back. His time on land would be cut short if a Slade bot got a whiff of the disobedient moron who'd hijacked an expensive navy –

"Got it." Robin decided to go with the "B in his plethora of plans" when time was indeed so short.

"Ok…So, click here –

"Aha!" He smirked at the tech's little loop – hole system. He had no idea, but a few hits could let the latch up. A few stray wires off of that and…-

He was in.

"Like magic. I still got it." Picking up the pace, Robin stepped into the room, while keeping watch for any stray sensors. He'd been around Slade's trippy – traps, and knew the man tended to be paranoid.

There, in the center of the room was something glaring back.

Whirring and red as…

"Whoa…jackpot..." He took in a breath tried his luck at the now unguarded prize in HIS sights.

But something didn't click. As IF…

It was as if he, were being watched…

Robin felt a bit of paranoia creep up from behind. He whirled back to see if the door was safe…

He turned just a few feet back to the device. This was not strange; it was a trap. But it wasn't like he wasn't aware.

He could not detect any devices. The walls were bare. The tech was almost turned off to sleep mode.

Robin's skin crawled. His eyes were sharper than before when he'd taken a leap into a dog pile of combat droids.

Drones, he meant to say.

But this was…

Fear. And it was telling him to turn back.

The device was there, so he looked past the burns, torture and abuses he'd suffer. There.

The time to get what was owed to him –

He didn't think, but his fingers latched around the device, his heart pounding. The safest way…how would Cy take it off of the mount? What could work…What?

He stretched half of his arm strength out - only to turn his limbs into putty – moldable, jelly.

"This thing...Aaar!" He pulled, but it would not –

The shock was almost electric, as his body melded into liquid magma.

He shook frantically, trying to have the skin and flesh return to him. Getting redder, sicker…. No…not like before!

He coughed and couldn't see the door, but…something told the boy…

That now, no one was coming to stop him.

He had made it to hell and was –

A shock of fire; he braced himself as the pain remained there. On the ground, he could breathe in the dust. The sticky heat of the radiation on him was nothing but a way to run out of…

"Damn i- i- it…. you w- were s-s-so close…t-t - too…"

Robin; with watery eyes, looked up at the ceiling. He'd been set free…

Almost.

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