From the outside, the Wayne Enterprises building looked fairly quiet. At least, that was the case before a large green gorilla smashed one of the windows and threw two broken robots onto the street below.
The building had been absolutely crawling with Slade-bots before the Titans arrived. They had been trying to break into the R&D department to steal some sort of fabrication unit. The Titans prevented the unit from being stolen, but now the thieves had changed their objective. They were now intent on killing the Titans. And, as it turned out, they were powerful enough to do it.
After disposing of the droids, Beast Boy rejoined the melee which now dominated the top floor of Wayne Enterprises. Cyborg and Starfire were no longer using their energy blasts, and simply relied on their strength. However, since the robots were heavily armoured, this was proving to be more difficult.
"You know," Cyborg said as he smashed two droids' heads together, "I think now might be the time to consider a retreat."
"What makes you say that?" Robin asked, flinging two Birdarangs at a droid and causing it to collapse, sparks flying.
"Oh, just THAT!" Cyborg shouted, pointing at a large number of droids swarming out of the elevator. Beast Boy turned to see where he was pointing, and instantly changed from a large gorilla to a tiny kitten.
"What shall we do now?" Starfire asked, as the robots advanced towards them.
"Well, we can't use the lift, that's for sure," Raven commented dryly.
"We have to keep fighting," Robin finished. "We can't let them get what they want!"
"Dude, they want to kill us!" Beast Boy shouted.
"That's the point! Titans, keep fighting!"
They did; but the more the fight progressed, the more Robin realised the hopelessness of the situation. Raven was having to use her powers to block robotic arms constantly, while Starfire was starting to fight through a sea of robots. Beast Boy had been knocked onto a lower level, but that was nothing compared to what was happening to Cyborg.
Cyborg had been separated from the others during the fight, and was now having to fend off a large number of robots by himself. He tried his hardest, but without his Sonic Cannon having any effect, it was proving a much tougher battle than he had hoped for. He smashed his fist through one of the robots, and threw it into a following group; but as he did this, another robot got a clear aim for his left arm.
At first, Cyborg felt as though someone had plugged him into the mains line. It was only after looking at his arm that he realised what had happened. What remained of his lower left arm had been blasted clean off its mounting, and the hand was completely gone. He ignored the damage messages going through his systems, and struggled on, trying to fend off the remaining robots. He managed to break through their ranks, and climbed up an emergency staircase to the roof level.
The other Titans soon joined him, having been forced to retreat by the sheer number of opponents they faced. Robin had tried to delay the retreat to the roof as long as he could: he knew from previous experience that there was nowhere to go once they reached the roof level, and that they would be cornered. Then again, he thought, it was either this or being swamped by robots. As they became surrounded, however, Robin doubted that this was much of an improvement.
"Got a plan?" Beast Boy asked.
"Nope," Robin replied.
"I was afraid you'd say that," Beast Boy finished.
Well, here goes. "Titans, GO!"
It was a brave, but brief effort. There were simply too many droids to fight. As Robin was knocked to the ground, he saw Raven unconscious on the ground, next to Beast Boy, who had been struck down while in lion form. Cyborg had disappeared under a sea of droids, and Starfire was being pursued by about twenty droids. Robin, pinned down by two droids himself, could only watch as Starfire was surrounded, trying vainly to blast the antagonists away with her star bolts. Finally, one of the droids fired a metal belt at her, which promptly electrocuted the young Tamaranian.
"STARFIRE!" Robin cried out, helpless as the droids carried the now-unconscious alien onto a nearby craft – presumably the one they had arrived on. Consumed by rage, Robin broke free of the robot's grip, smashed the two droids above him together, and sprinted after the craft. He was barely three metres away from the craft when the robot with the blaster spotted him, and fired a shot at him as he was jumping. Robin felt a searing pain just below his rib cage, and he fell back down onto the roof. Paralysed by the messages of pain travelling through his spine, he could only watch as the craft moved further and further away, until it completely disappeared from his sight.
Cyborg pushed the remains of the droids he was fighting off himself, and limped towards Robin, who could barely stand up himself.
"We...have to go...after..." Robin started weakly.
"It's no good, Robin," Cyborg interrupted. "Slade's got us beaten. We've lost her."
Robin felt completely frozen by these words. He could barely feel Cyborg's hand helping him to stand up, and found himself leaning on the concrete ledge, watching the city while he felt like his heart had turned to stone. Without warning, he cried out in sheer anger and smashed his fist down on the ledge. Ignoring the pain, he lowered his head and tried to come to terms with the fact that he had lost...that he had failed her...
"Come on," Cyborg said, steering Robin from the edge. "We need to return to the Tower."
"Yeah...let's go," Robin replied lifelessly, letting himself be steered towards the roof exit.