Thanks to the reviewers who kept me going. I was beginning to wonder if anyone was reading my story. This is my first fan fiction, I have many more ideas planned as well, and I appreciate the support and friendly feedback that everyone has either already offered me or will be giving me. Enjoy the next chapter; it is the second part in a trilogy.

Teen Titans: What's Worth Fighting For?

By: Darien Ravier

Chapter 2:

"She's never late," Robin wondered. It was Starfire's turn to make dinner and although each of the Titans have taken their Pepto Bismol in preparation for another so-called "alien banquet," Starfire wasn't in the kitchen to make her typical gag fest. "Starfire is never late to make dinner," Robin thought, knowing that she's always in the kitchen hours ahead of time, preparing her food. Nor was she in her garden, preparing whatever strange plants she'd use in her concoctions. A further scan of the Titan's Tower showed that she wasn't even in the tower. Starfire was always someone who was on Robin's mind, even though he never mentioned anything to her. Robin was still young and though he was trained in methods of dealing with any type of villain that he came across, being honest about his feelings for other people was something his mentor never taught him. Which would only stand to reason why he would never ask the other Titans for help as he went in search of Starfire. Normally, he let the other Titans do their own thing, but this time, Robin felt that there was something seriously wrong with Starfire and that she needed his help. The first place Robin started was the place he knew she always went to whenever she needed to get away and surround herself with the beauties of Earth: the park.

"Why me?" Starfire asked Spike the Mechanic, who was preparing for her a warm cup of tea in his kitchen. Spike looked back at Starfire and said, "Atlas is a sport fighter. He always wants to test his limits and he always wants to prove how strong he is. It's not to prove to others more so to himself. The one thing Atlas was built for was underground robot fights. And that's all he was meant to do was fight. That's all I built him for." Starfire's bright green eyes grew wider, "You built him?" Spike looked down at his shoes, saying, "It just started as a side project in high school. Soon, I put more and more effort into it. Next thing I knew, I created a monster. I built him to be the best of his kind and he was. He defeated every robot that he came across. Soon, he figured that robots were beneath him and began setting his sights elsewhere. That's when he first heard about your friend, Cyborg. Atlas thought that if he beat Cyborg, he'd prove he's not just a strong robot, but that he was universally strong. But Cyborg beat him and it drove Atlas nuts. Atlas always has to know that he's the best and since he suffered his first defeat, he had to prove his strength to himself again. That's when he became obsessed with repairing himself. He thought that if he eliminated the human error, myself, that he'd finally win his one big match. So when I walked out on him, refusing to repair him, he saw this as his enlightenment, that without the shackles of human oppression, his pet name for me, he would be able to defeat any enemy. But humans were still petty to him. No human could ever beat him, a program that I regret putting in him. I'm sorry, Star, I'm sorry for all of this." Embarrassed, Spike sits on the armchair, hanging his head. Starfire walks up behind him and places a sympathetic hand on his shoulder, "It is okay, Spike. I don't blame you." Spike touches her hand gratefully and says, "He's coming for you, though. He says that he wants to put everything on the line for one final fight with the strongest of Cyborg's friends. He studied the Teen Titans feverishly for months and came to the conclusions that not only were you the strongest of Cyborg's friends, but that you were stronger than Cyborg. Atlas wants a final fight to the death because he can't live with two defeats."

"What the hell is this?" Robin asked as he picked up a mechanical claw. Surrounding the mechanical claw were strange incendiary marks that weren't made by any ordinary red, blue, or white flame. The strange discoloration indicated a green fire made these char marks. "I hate it when I'm right," Robin said out loud. "Now I'm sure Starfire's in trouble." "More than you'll ever know," a familiar booming voice said behind Robin. Robin flung around to see Atlas standing behind him, but this time, he's changed. His armor was denser, his arsenal was more accessible, and he had to have gotten bigger since Robin saw him last. He was pushing at least eight feet tall. "And just what do you know about Starfire?" Robin asked the metallic menace. Atlas responded, "I know that you'll see her soon enough." Atlas pumped his arm cannon and fired at Robin, who back flipped to avoid being shot repeatedly. Atlas used the smoke from the explosions to rush at Robin, who was able to slide under his legs, pull out his bo staff at strike Atlas across the back. Atlas, unfazed, turned around and backhanded Robin across the park. Robin slowly got up, still fazed from the power of Atlas' punch. "Now I know what Cyborg went through. Still, I've got to fight. He knows something about Starfire and his intentions are clearly not friendly." Robin saw Atlas rushing at him from a distance and pulled three exploding disks, which he threw at Atlas, all striking their mark. The explosions did nothing, but allow Robin a chance to execute a flawless jumping backspin kick, which connected with Atlas' face. Still, no damage on Atlas and had it not been for Robin's metal boots, he would have shattered every bone in his foot. Robin landed on the ground, only to have his cape grabbed by Atlas, who swung it around him and tossed Robin into a tree. Robin tried to find his footing, but the speed of the throw was too fast for a reaction from him. Robin hit the tree with a SMACK and he plummeted to the ground. Atlas stood over the hurt teen, gloating, "Humans pose no threat to Atlas." Atlas picks up Robin by the neck and begins punching him repeatedly to take the fight out of him. Robin soon collapsed on the ground in a heap of blood and bruises. Robin looked up at Atlas through his one unbruised eye and asked, "Where...is...Starfire?" Atlas said, "I told you, you will see her soon enough." With that Atlas swung a swift right hook that made everything go black for Robin.

Starfire looks around Spike's apartment and asks, "You seem to have become a prince by the looks of your living quarters." Spike laughed and said, "Nah, just a robotics designer. I always spent so much time on Atlas, I never realized that I had other gifts to give the world. Starfire, I don't want to see you get hurt. Everything I have, my job, my money, my life, I owe all of it to the Teen Titans for freeing me from Atlas' control and the least I can do is protect you from my creation if I can." At that moment, a red light went off and Starfire looked frightened. "What is this alarm for?" Spike looked shocked, "Atlas." Within seconds, the entire apartment was sealed off and the living room had become a control room, filled with monitors and controls. Spike sat in front of the monitors and searched for Atlas, who had just entered the building's lobby. Spike punched a few buttons and four walls sealed Atlas in. From overhead, at least twenty missile launchers fired repeatedly on Atlas. Spike and Starfire couldn't see anything through the smoke. Starfire asked, "What of the other people living here?" Spike said, "Relax, I don't just own this apartment, I own this whole building as well. And I designed it to keep him out." On the monitors, Atlas was attacking the missile launchers and has broken through the metal walls and began to walk up the stairs. Spike typed a few more times and the stairs quickly folded in above Atlas, blocking him on the second floor. The walls then began to fire motion sensor lasers that seem to cut Atlas, but Atlas began using the lasers as steps and started climbing the walls by digging his fingers in. Starfire said in astonishment, "He is surprisingly resilient." Spike replied, "Rage can do that to people." Atlas began climbing the walls when pendulums came out of the walls and began attacking him. Atlas couldn't hold onto the walls and fight them off, so he let go without thinking and plummeted to the ground. The second he hit the ground, the wall next to him opened. Before Atlas had a chance to react, a gigantic piston smacked Atlas from the side and knocked him out of the open wall. Atlas was thrown out into the streets. As Atlas stood up and began to make his was towards the building again, the entire building became surrounded in a protective metal casing, armed with hundreds of cutting lasers. "Yeah!! Let's see you break through walls that I made you out of!!" Spike yelled triumphantly. Atlas merely stood on the ground, looking up at the apartment. "TAMARANIAN!!!" Starfire heard Atlas' yell even through the protective shell. "I HAVE SOMETHING FOR YOU!!!" Atlas bellowed and heaved something at the apartment balcony. Starfire ventured over to the balcony to discover what it was. She picked up Robin's utility belt and cape. Starfire's eyes widened as she saw the blood stains on the cape. She was someone who always valued her friends and never wished to see any harm come to any of them, but Robin was one that she seemed to have more feelings for than her other friends. Something inside her that told her if he ever left, she wouldn't be as complete as she was. The sight of blood on his cape triggered a rage in her that she never felt before. She was about to take off after Atlas, but Spike and every machine he had at his disposal held her back. "Starfire, no, he'll kill you!!" Spike pleaded. Starfire, filled with rage, yelled, "I don't care!! You will return Robin now and pay for any damage that you may have inflicted on him!!" Atlas looked back up and said, "Not nearly the amount of pain I will inflict on you! You will meet me in the robot fighting arena below town tonight at eleven! The mechanic can tell you how to get there! Come alone or else you will never see your friend, Robin, again!" Atlas pounded the ground with his fist, creating a gigantic hole, which he dove into, disappearing. Starfire flung the robots and Spike off of her back. "Tell me how to get there!" she demanded from Spike. Spike said, "Starfire, no, he'll kill you!" Starfire grabbed Spike by the collar and lifted him in the air violently. Spike said, "Star, I'm your friend, please." Starfire relaxed, but as she did, her eyes got watery as she thought of the possibility of never seeing Robin again. "Please, Spike, I do not care about what happens to me any more. I want my friend to live. Much like you wanted me to live. You said you owed the Titans for saving you; well I owe Robin for just as much. Help me." Spike's eyes shifted as he considered what Starfire was asking of him.

Robin awoke with his hands bound above his head, his shirt and cape torn off, his wounds still open and bleeding and Atlas standing in front of him. "Two minutes until eleven. I didn't think you'd have recovered by then." Robin tried looking around, but the spotlights and his disoriented disposition made focusing on where he was difficult. "Where am I?" Robin asked. Atlas responded, "You are where those with something to prove go to have them proven." Robin was able to distinguish the loud noise of a crowd in the background, chanting and cheering. "And you are also where those go to satisfy their bloodlust." Robin was able to focus his eyes to realize that he was being suspended above an arena. This was no ordinary arena, though. There was an electronic dome that prevented anyone from flying out. The walls were reinforced triple-fold to make sure that none inside could escape, no matter how strong they were. "And you are one minute away from your death." Atlas said as he pointed a cannon right at Robin's face. "I will put it to you simply, human, either your alien friend shows up to do battle with me or I will execute you here and now. Either way, the crowd came to see a death and Atlas never disappoints his audience." As the crowd cheered at their hero, Robin could sense that death was in the air and was imminently making its way.

To Be Concluded...