Ok, shout-outs, reviewers, you know the drill.
Niki Dee: Wow, thanks for all the emotional support! I can really feel the love, girl! :P
Nevermoretheraven: Nice background music, I should have you do that for me all the time! :)
Kate Van Helsing: Sorry for that horrible cliffhanger, I didn't really think about how mean it was. You'll soon find out if Robin's alive, and as for kissing scenes, those really depend on his survival lol. Unfortunately, I know practically nothing about Batman and Robin that doesn't pertain to Teen Titans. I would love to be educated though, so feel free to tell me about stuff. Sounds like an interesting theory about Two-Face.
All righty then, lets get this show on the road!
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"No, no! Robin, wake up!" It was an order, not a request. A black tentacle of power curled towards the supercomputer, destroying its screen in one blast.
Raven was kneeling next to the fallen wonder, trying desperately to harness her emotions. She reached out, touching Robin's bare arm, but immediately pulled back, shocked. Instead of the ice cold she had been expecting, his skin was burning hot.
"But then…does that mean…?" Raven reached out and gently turned Robin over, taking his wrist and feeling for a pulse. "Come on!" She moved her finger slightly to the right…and felt it: a pulse, very weak, but still there. Raven let out a gust of breath she didn't know she had been holding.
Engulfing Robin in her black energy, Raven flew for the exit; Robin was alive, but for how long, no one could say for sure. He needed medical attention, NOW.
Ten minutes later, Raven arrived at Titans Tower. She impatiently punched in the access code, entering the tower at a run…and crashing right into Cyborg.
"Where the heck have you been?", he yelled. "Your locator's been offline, you left without telling us anything, do you have any idea what time it is, girl?"
Raven jabbed her finger at Robin, who was floating just behind her. "I'm kinda busy here", she grunted, already headed for the elevator.
Cyborg stared in shock for a moment, and then continued his attack of 20 questions. Raven tuned him out, finally shutting the elevator door in his face. She didn't have time to explain, not right now.
Soon she was in the med lab, laying Robin down on one of the beds and preparing to hook him up to the machines…she stopped, a hint of a blush rising in her pale cheeks...she needed a guy for this job. Raven grabbed her communicator, calling Cyborg.
"Oh, so you decided to talk, huh?", he said, nervousness making him grumpy.
"I need you in the med lab. Now." With that, she hung up and turned back to Robin. He was stirring slightly, mumbling something incoherently…
He was in a pitch-black room, the darkness surrounding him, suffocating him.
Robin was straining his ears for one sound…and there it was.
"Alone again, Robin?" That voice chilled him to the bone, and at the same time, he was on fire, aching, burning…
"Yes, it hurts, doesn't it? But trust me, as bad as it is now, it is going to get much, much worse."
"Shove off, Slade!", yelled Robin, trying to sound brave and confident, when in reality, he was neither.
"Bravo, Robin. You really are something, aren't you? I have taken everything from you, and yet, you're still trying to give the orders. That's all about to change, however."
"What are you talking about?" Fear was choking him, making speech difficult.
"Check your arm, Robin."
Robin stared down at his right arm, which was now sleeveless. There was a small bruise on it, a tiny puncture hole at its center. Dread filled him as he stared at it. His mind was racing with a thousand possibilities, each worse than the last.
"We'll be talking again very soon, Robin. Wake."
Robin woke, breathing heavily. He had been dreaming…something about Slade. What was it? His head was pounding too hard to think. It was so hot, and yet he was shivering as though he lay on ice.
"Robin? Robin, can you hear me?" He stared blearily around for the source of the voice. "Raven?" He could see her, but she was blurred around the edges as though he was looking at her through a fog.
Raven let out a sigh of relief. "I'm here", she said soothingly, resting her hand on his forehead. All the sarcastic wit and cool detachment had left her; all she could think about was Robin.
"Raven…I need to tell you something", he said, in a croaky whisper.
"What?" She was startled. What could he possibly have to tell her? Then she remembered the photograph, and she was, once again, blushing. She leaned over him, realizing for the first time that he wasn't wearing his mask.
Robin was staring up at her, unfocused. "You have pretty eyes." His own eyes rolled up into his head.
Raven just stared at him for a second. He was delirious; he had no idea what he was saying, but still… She whispered back, "You too."
"Ahem!"
Raven jumped, blushing even harder as she whipped around to see Cyborg leaning against the doorframe, Beast Boy and Starfire close behind him. Raven decided that denial was her best option; she'd just pretend that nothing happened.
"About time", she snapped, somewhat back to her old self. "Cyborg, I need you to hook Robin up to the machines, and…clean him up", Raven ordered, not looking at her teammates. Desperate for something to make her look busy, she began searching for bandages and disinfectants.
"What, in Zall's name, is so humorous, friend Cyborg?", asked Star, who was close to tears at the sight of Robin's thoroughly slashed, battered, and bruised body.
Cyborg felt slightly ashamed as he remembered the seriousness of the situation. "Nothing, Star." Then he turned to the task at hand. "Uh…Star, Ray? You're gonna have to leave for a while", he said awkwardly.
Raven nodded and headed for the door, but Starfire needed further explanations. "Leave? Why should I leave? Robin needs me!", she exclaimed defiantly.
"Er, well, you see…just go, ok?", said Cyborg, exasperated and more than a little uncomfortable.
Starfire reluctantly joined Raven, who was meditating, in the hallway. On the outside, Raven was the picture of peace and tranquility, but on the inside, chaos reined. She had seized the first opportunity in days to regulate her emotions and control her powers. The necessity to do this was now even greater, in light of tonight's events. Robin would never recover if she blew him to bits with her unbridled emotions. Starfire was not making concentration easy, however.
"Raven, what has happened? Where has Robin been and why is he so injured?"
"It's a long story, Starfire", droned Raven, trying hard to be patient.
"Please, I must know!", yelled Star, frustrated for the second time in two days.
"One word, Starfire: Slade. Need I say more?" Raven opened her eyes, giving up on meditation.
Star gasped. "But…Cyborg said…Is Robin not cured? Is the mysterious chemical still present in his nervous system?"
"Star, Slade is back. Robin was right. He tried to tell us that Slade was still alive, but we didn't listen." Raven sighed, rubbing her eyes. It was one o'clock in the morning, and she had hardly slept the night before.
"But…I am still confused. Then Robin did not imagine Slade? He was really present? Where is he? Did you catch him?"
Starfire's questions were making Raven's head ache. "One at a time please, Starfire. Tonight, Slade really did attack Robin. I saw him, and he was definitely there. Where is Slade? No clue. Did I catch him? Obviously not." Reliving tonight's failure was far from enjoyable. "Does that answer your questions?"
Star was still very confused, but she could see that Raven was close to cracking, and the last thing she wanted was to have Raven explode in her face. "I think so, friend Raven, but I am still wondering: what is wrong with Robin?" the tears were back, threatening to spill out of her emerald eyes.
"What do you mean, 'what's wrong with him'? It would be easier to tell you what isn't wrong with him." Raven was loosing what little patience she had in the first place. She was stressed and worried to the breaking point.
Starfire was crying silently now. As irrational as it sounds, she felt that all this was her fault. She should have been there, should have gone after Robin when he left the kitchen. If she had, none of this would have happened.
Raven sighed, guilt rising in her chest as she looked at the weeping Tamaranian. "She's just as worried and afraid as I am", she thought already feeling bad for snapping at her. "Look, I-" Raven's apology was cut short as the door to the medical lab slid open to reveal a tired-looking Cyborg and a wide-eyed Beast Boy.
Raven and Starfire jumped to their feet, the tension they shared palpable. Raven finally broke the silence. "How bad is it?", she asked cautiously, keeping her voice firm and even.
"Let's just say it could be a lot better." Cyborg sighed, rubbing his human eye. "I've gotta recharge, or I'll be useless to y'all." Without looking at Star or Raven, he clumped off to his room. Beast Boy made a beeline in the direction of the bathroom, presumably to empty the contents of his stomach.
Raven approached the med lab door, pushed it open, and entered. Robin was still lying on the bed where she had last seen him, but now he was wearing a hospital gown and had various tubes sticking out of him and an oxygen mask covering his mouth and nose. The gentle beep of the machines proved that his heart was still beating, but other than that, Robin showed no signs of life. While staring at the monitors, Raven noticed Robin's body temperature: 105 degrees F. Her eyes widened.
"That's not good", she mumbled glancing around the room. She spotted a bowl of ice water and a rag sitting on a table near the bed. Cyborg and Beast Boy had clearly been trying to bring down Robin's fever. Raven dipped the rag in the bowl, sqeezed it out, and laid it gently on his forehead.
The shock of the cold rag brought Robin back to semi-consciousness. He blinked, trying to clear his vision. It didn't work. His body felt numb and fuzzy, thanks to the meds that Cyborg had shot into his IV, but still very hot. He stared up at Raven, wishing she would stop shaking and blurring.
"Hey. How are you feeling?", she asked, switching the rag to the colder side.
Starfire got up the courage to come in when she heard Raven speak. "Is he awake?", Star asked, tiptoeing over to her.
Raven, startled, jerked away from Robin's bed. "You'd better be careful, or you're going to get someone very angry at you", she thought.
Robin's eyes had closed again. "Not anymore", said Raven to Starfire. She removed the cloth, dipped it in the water, and placed it back on his forehead.
Starfire was staring wide-eyed at the tubes, oxygen mask, and IV. Tears were rolling down her cheeks. "What are all these strange devices?", she asked, her voice shaking.
Raven sighed, trying to find a simple and G-rated way to explain everything to the naïve alien girl. "Robin is…sick. This equipment will help him get better", explained Raven, as though she was talking to a preschooler.
"Oh", said Star, at a loss for anything else to say. Then the next loaded question arose. "Will Robin be all right?", asked Star, desperately hoping for some comforting words.
Raven considered all the options. She could tell Starfire the cold hard truth, she could lie and risk setting Starfire up for even more pain, or she could say something that was neither. The last one appealed to her most.
"Robin is very hurt, Star, but we are going to do everything we can to make him better." That seemed safe; it didn't actually promise that Robin would recover, but it didn't say he wouldn't either.
Starfire immediately threw herself into doing everything she could to make "friend Robin" better again. She showed complete faith in his recovery. Raven almost wished she could have the same blind optimism.
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All right… the end of the fourth chapter. Please review and let me know what you think!