Closetwriter- Yes, in a round about way, he knew. He had a hunch, and when he gets going on a tangent, he pretty much has his mind made up. Heheheh, I hope you're compie is ok after you smashed it against the wall and forgot to leave a review lmao! Thanks for reviewing!
Insanity 101- Well, I might be persuaded into making a sequel... gets mauled by the crazy TT fans AH! I SAID PERSUADE ME, not MOB ME! And it wasn't filler? It seemed like it to me for some reason... Anyway, Yeah, this chapter will be explaining the Darkstar thing, and you'll get it when you read it. And yes, Rob has to be the knight in shining armor (or is that Nightwing in shining armor? Lol) And Simms wasn't that bad... he was a sweet guy, which you'll see in this chapter. You'll know how the Titans survived and whatnot from SINKING INTO SLADE. And Sequel? Hmmmm... maybe... you never know... Thanks for reviewing!
aleema-darkrose1- I guess the reason why it seemed like filler is because besides the stuff with Troia... nothing much happened. It was basically ALL TROIA, all the way, with some bits of Robin playing the hero... It didn't seem like all that much to me. And I agree: I am really liking how I set up that common ground between Troia and Robin. It's part of who they are, and they can relate to each other very much. You'll see even MORE things happening in this chapter that connects the two, and cements a trust between them. I think out of all the characters that I've dabbled with who I have NOT created myself, Troia was one of my top favorites. She's just fun to write, and since her back story is so ambiguous to where you didn't know where she was coming from when, it's even more fun because you get to twist the canon on top of itself, creating more new and interesting pieces of writing (which is what I've done with this masterpiece and its predecessor). And heheheh, don't hit yourself in the head too much! Thanks for the review!
Aeris-Raven- Don't worry: you get to know EVEN MORE about Troia in this chapter, including why she became Red X in the first place. And I mean, the whole shebang: pretty much everything. And yeah, I let Slade get away... so he can live to fight another day! YAY! And I agree, I want to see the ID of the Red X in the cartoon, and yeah, poetic justice: Robin being the one to do it. Anyway, thanks for the review!
KaliAnn- You have to hand it to Troia: she's one tough chick. Mentally, she might not be all there, thanks to her obsessions, but physically, she's a monster. She's effectively stronger than Starfire, Beast Boy and Cyborg combined, so that gives you an idea of how strong and durable she'd have to be. And yeah, Robin's not doing too good, but he'll be ok... he's tough too! And what you sent to me, were those pictures? Because for some reason, I could never get them to show up. Try sending them to me again, ok? Thanks for reviewing!
Mystyre- Don't worry, I will! Thanks for reviewing!
ravenrocs4eva- Thank you! Well you won't have to wait for long! Thanks for the review!
AriesFalcon- Yeah, I liked the RobRae angle a lot better in TT than RobStar. I like RobStar, but I definitely prefer RobRae. And yeah, the style had to change a bit: too many things were happening at one time, and I wanted to make it more like you were "watching an episode" of Teen Titans. The details in SIS were great, because that involved more thinking and mystery than AHR. AHR was purely a fight fic, with bits of mysteries sprinkled here and there, so details were lost in the writing of it. And sorry I grossed you out with that Nightwing Nightmare thing: I had to make it so graphic that it literally made you sick. It was a sick dream, something that the Mock Robin in the back of Robin's head put together, to try and keep Robin in line. I had to create an image of something that would make Robin react so violently that he would stay with Slade instead of questioning him. That was the result. And no, I haven't watched Danny Phantom or Xiaolin Showdown, but I've heard they're good... And I have heard of Artemis Fowl and Unfortunate Events, but I've never read them. You'll most likely find me curled up with a fantasy or sci-fi book... Or the Alex Rider Series by Anthony Horowitz, because I worship those books! They're amazing! And thank you for the compliment of being the best writer! I honestly didn't plan for that; mainly the reason why I want to write TT, Farscape, Batman, Kingdom Hearts, etc. fics is because I want to read something almost exactly like it. I want to read a REALLY, REALLY GREAT story, and sometimes, those are hard to find because they're either buried underneath "bad fics", or they're really good, but they don't get the credit they deserve. Sometimes the best way of reading those things is to go about it yourself, and writing it. I'm proud of the way this turned out, and I hope you guys will enjoy future fictions by me with the Teen Titans, or other genres in the DC Universe. Maybe you'd like other projects by me too, but it all just depends on what's going on, and what you like. Anyway, thanks for reviewing! I really appreciate it!
Dlsky- Yeah, that's probably it. Nothing much happens besides tying up lose ends, and the Titans get Robin back. And yeah, the Robin and Troia thing is a definite plus. I'm so thrilled with the growth of those two characters, and their connection with each other. When I started this fic, I only planned on having Troia in there. Some how, I wanted to add some sort of fan based character, and since DC Comics did such a fine job creating characters already, I thought I would just borrow one or two. Troia, out of all the Teen Titan female characters (besides Cassie Sandsmark ((the second Wonder Girl)), Argent, Arrowette and Raven) was one of my absolute favorites, and I was disappointed when she wasn't added to the show. Combined with the fact that she was one of the most conflicted characters in the DC Universe and her lack of a rock solid history just sweetened the deal for me. I knew I had my character as soon as I read up on Troia, and from there, my mind began spinning this fiction into a whole new direction. And you better believe it: I want to do a sequel. I've set things up to where I would be a fool not to do another one. Thanks for reviewing!
Well guys, this is it for A HERO'S REDEMPTION: the final chapter. Chapter 10, where everything is resolved, and everything is where it should be... or is it? And yes, before you all scream your brains out, YES: THERE WILL BE A SEQUEL! Like I said to Dlsky, I would have to be a fool not to do it, now that I've molded this really cool character, taken from the DC Universe and putting it in TT fiction. And I've set up one of the biggest, intense rivalries ever in TT history: Troia vs. Dark Angel. How can I mention Dark Angel and not go for a fic dealing with her? I hope I can tackle this the RIGHT way, and create a villain that you will love to hate. She's more twisted than Slade: see, through it all, Slade had his reasons for doing what he did: selfish possession and loneliness. He brainwashed Robin because he wanted a companion: he did what he did because he was lonely. He wanted control. Dark Angel is evil incarnate: she does things simply because she can. She maims, murders, kills, and loves every minute of it. She views humans as play toys. She's SICK, I tell you! Completely SICK! You'll loe to hate her in the new sequel, which I hope to start up here in the near future.
You all are in for a treat too: Not only do you get a preview of that one (Titled: On the Darker Side of Angels) but also of ANOTHER project I'm working on as well that I love to death, and have been burning to write for months now: my version of what a "Smallville" type series would be like if it was in the Batman continuity. Gotham Knights is going to be Batman's first year in existence, and mostly, his clashes with Catwoman, and how she came to be. I have always LOVED the Batman/Catwoman connection, and I always wondered what it was like when Catwoman became Catwoman, and why she was who she was, and how that would effect Bruce as Batman. I wanted a Smallville type story in Gotham, and finally, it got to be too much that I sat here and wrote out a preview for it. So, like it or not, I'mcommitted.If it gets to be any good, and I do a really nice job on it, I'll even send it in to Warner Brothers and the people who run Smallville so they could take a look at it. Why not? What do I have to lose? I hope you guys will stick around for that: it's going to be a wild ride.
Anyway, like I promised in chapters past, here are the ways Troia could be Red X, as well as some other interesting tidbits, so here we go:
Chapter 2: Red X says, "I've heard all I need to know", and the info's from a "she", meaning a girl character. But from what we've seen, the only one who's said anything informative about the situation is Raven. So, the double meaning of X/Troia's statement is that she's heard all she needs to know about Robin... from Raven. And I even said, in the next chapter, that X got his info from "what Raven said".
Chapter 3: Red X said he got "jinxed on a bad deal" with Slade, and in future chapters, we learn that Slade made a deal with Dark Angel for Troia's location... X knows a lot about Slade's methods for brainwashing. Too much, if you think about it... (you'll know why in this chapter)... Red tells Robin, "I'm more durable than I look!" when Robin's trying to crush his throat, and he says the EXACT SAME THING about Troia when he talks with the Titans later on... I NEVER put Red X and Troia in the same room together, and the "conversation" they had was a recording... Red X's "experiences" with Dark Angel are almost exactly the same thing you'd expect DA to do to Troia... Not to mention that Red X knows TONS about Troia, but she never says a thing about him... X gets annoyed and offended with Cyborg because Cy scanned Troia, and knew she was lying about Slade...
Chapter 5: When Raven and X are talking, she mentions Red's vendetta, but the only one who possibly had one at the time was Troia against Slade: he sold her out to DA, and she wanted revenge... Plus, X keeps saying something about how he wanted to be someone else. With Troia's situation, wouldn't you want to be someone else too?... Red X says he has "other modes of transportation" to avoid the tsunami wave in the sewers, and Troia can fly...
Chapter 6: Red X punched the grate open, which neither Starfire or BB could do. It means that Red X has a measure of super strength that was MORE than Starfire's or BB's. Also his explanation was a bit too flippant, and he wouldn't meet BB's eyes, meaning that he was hiding something... Troia knew about the flooded sewers, and I never explained why... Both Troia and X have an intense hatred towards Slade, and for almost the exact same reasons... One phrase: The Robin/Troia and Robin/Red X comparisons. Slade compares Robin and Troia together, and who else is very similar to Robin in this fiction? Of course: Red X... Right after Red X says he wants to kill Slade, Troia says it TO Slade... Later on, Red X leaves the apartment Troia's in, but she was just out and about, right? And Red X was fixing his glove on his hand, which implied that he was either putting it on, or adjusting it...
Chapter 7: Red X has mentioned his involvement with Slade, but Slade had no idea who he was!
Also, in this chapter and the previews, I relied heavily on the comics. If there's details in here or there that you're not sure on, 9 times out of 10 they're from the comics. The only thing that's not in there is two 'Titans" named Phaze and Caracol: those two are my creations. You'll see what I mean in the previews. OK, now, for the finale! Hope you all enjoy it! I certainly did when I wrote it! Here we go!
Here it was, the fabled Titans Tower, a little on the shabby side, but definitely as famous as it still was. The windows might have been faded over with a slight layer of dust, some of the food in the refrigerator had gone especially bad, and cobwebs littered every nook and cranny, but there was no doubt about it: this was Titans Tower, and Troia couldn't believe she was inside of it with the Titans themselves, everything as it should be, complete with the usual uniforms. Even Robin, who, with Cyborg, went immediately to the medical wing and began the long process of flushing his system of every single drug in his bloodstream, as well as taking out the nanites lodged in the back of his brain. There would be no more Mock Robins, not if he had anything to say about it.
As soon as he walked in the door, Beast Boy whistled, shaking his head sadly. "Too bad we couldn't come back here after Slade took Robin. He would've caught us before we were even a thousand feet from the door."
While they were waiting, the experience was almost enjoyable, but when the Boy Wonder and the half-machine came back, things switched from pleasant to unnerving. Five pairs of eyes trained on her as soon as they were ready, four of them accusingly, one with sad empathy; only Robin knew, in a round about way, why she did what she did in the first place. It's what made them similar.
After all, she'd been at Slade's side once or twice too.
Avoiding their questions, she decided to go ahead and go first, to avoid any unpleasant questions first. "I'm sorry guys, but I had to do what I did because my life is not the easiest to deal with."
"First things first," said Raven, opening the round of inquiries. "How did you get the X suit?"
She shrugged, and began her story. "As you probably already know by now, this isn't my first trip to Jump City. I've been here twice before. The first time, I was living here for a couple months, hearing that Slade had surfaced. Because of my hatred, I wanted to destroy him, so I waited for the right time. It was around my fifth or sixth night here when I saw Red X for the first time." She nodded towards Robin. "One night, I saw him outfox the lot of you, and saw him unmask in an abandoned warehouse, right after he talked with Slade. When he ditched the suit later on and locked it away, I got mad. Why would he discard a weapon like that? He built the thing, so why didn't he use it? He could've rid the city of Slade with it for years to come, but did he do it? No."
"And you just decided to steal it and use it yourself?" questioned Cyborg, hard and direct.
"Yes. I waited for weeks, trying to vie for the right moment, until you all were chasing after Slade and that one girl who fell in deep with him. She had blonde hair, I think, blue eyes..."
"Terra," replied Beast Boy softly, remembering. "Terra. Her name was Terra."
"Terra then," she nodded. "I waited until you all had disappeared, and I snuck in. Wasn't hard, thanks to some... training. I stole the suit because Robin wouldn't use it, and sometimes... it's nice not being me. It sucks to be me. I could die anytime, any day, anywhere, thanks to Dark Angel, and I got sick of being myself. So, I became Red X, thanks to a little bit of padding and a really tight corset. The only reason why I didn't run away with the suit and hunt Slade down myself was because it was almost completely drained of xinothium. I had to steal more, and that's when you guys caught me. "
"Why do you hate Slade so much?" Starfire was the next to ask something. "We all have noticed your strange and overzealous behavior in regards to him."
Troia sighed heavily, and shook her head. "That is long, drawn out, and beyond insane, but you guys deserve the truth." Another deep breath, and she began her tale, her voice choking once or twice from the painful memories. "Like I told you all when I was Red X: I'm cursed. Originally, I was a fine, happy go-lucky girl, a mystical, mirror image of Wonder Woman who was brought to life when she was a kid on Paradise Island. The only reason why I remember that at all is because I'll run into something that reminds me of it, and I'll get these flashes of my life there. It's the only way I can recover anything from my previous lives. Anyway, I was happy, and I had someone to play with who I loved like a real sister; everything in my life was wonderful..."
As she trailed off, Raven spoke up. "...Until something happened?"
"Dark Angel happened. She hated Queen Hippolyta, Diana's mother, and she wanted revenge because of some vendetta. I don't know the specifics, but she wanted to get to the queen through her daughter. But she took me instead, mistaking me for Diana."
Starfire nodded sadly. "And this is what causes you to live multiple lives?"
"I'm supposed to undergo severe tragedies and intense pain for all eternity, thanks to DA's curse. I live one life, then it gets screwed up, DA swoops in, taunts me, and laughs at me before she kills me. I'm her favorite toy, because she can do everything under the sun to me, and I can't do a damned thing back to her except prove her wrong. The spell that made me real from the get go would've faded in time, thanks to Diana growing up, but with each life I lived, I got stronger and stronger. I was able to survive."
"But what does that have to do with Slade?" asked Cyborg.
"About thirty years ago, Slade somehow got acquainted with Dark Angel, and she was getting bored. When she gets bored is usually when she decides to go Troia hunting, but the thing was, she couldn't find me. The curse she placed on my head prevented her from ever finding me through sheer intuition. For her, it made hunting season more fun. Anyway, at the time, I was about twenty six, living out my seventy-fifth life, and had just fallen in love with a wonderful man. I don't remember his name, and I probably never will or care to, because this man worked for Slade. Like an idiot, I told him about myself, never knowing that he'd betray me to his master. Slade himself watched me for days after that, and when he was ready, he made a deal with the devil."
At this point, Raven interrupted her. "Wait, then Slade would be a lot younger than he is now, wouldn't he? He couldn't have been..."
"Wrong. Slade himself has a few special abilities. He's got a healing factor, and he's immortal, meaning he can rise back from the dead as many times as he wants, and turn back the clock whenever he feels like it." She watched them all reel in shock, the information too much. "Listen, we can talk about that later, ok? Can I just get back to my story?"
"By all means."
"He struck a deal with Dark Angel, because of one thing he knew about supernatural beings: he knew that they get bored very, very easily. Plus, he was getting lonely, being who he was and doing what he did. He wanted a companion, a confidant..."
"No..." Starfire murmured.
"He played his cards right: he'd tell her my location if she would let him keep me, train me, be his companion for one of my incarnations." Ashamed, she spared a quick, disheartened glance at Robin, addressing him now. "You weren't the first apprentice he had, Robin. It was me." Tears escaped her eyes, and she squeezed them both tight, fighting them back, her mind reliving the experience as she continued. "Dark Angel agreed, grateful for something more interesting, and he told her where to go. She killed me then, and I spent my seventy-sixth life at Slade's side, learning everything from him as soon as I was able to walk. When it was time for me to join him, he didn't have a hard time finding me: he always did seem to find me, no matter what... After awhile, when I was about the age I am now, Dark Angel began to grow tired, and wanted to off me again. Slade wouldn't let her, holding onto me like a little girl would clutch a rag doll. He wouldn't give me up, and she didn't like it. She killed me that night anyway, and I spent my seventy-seventh life wondering what the hell I'd been, because she punished Slade through me: she forced me to remember every single moment of my previous lives. I was so confused, and to top things off, as Slade's apprentice, I'd done some things I'm... not proud of... Reliving those again was a nightmare in itself."
The teen paused from her speech, already tired. "I lived to age twenty, and by some ill point in my life, was stripped of my powers, when I was offered the chance to join an organization known as the Darkstars. They'd gift me with powers as long as I served them, and I was tired of feeling useless. At first, I thought it was just an intergalactic police group, like the Green Lantern Corps, and that was why I joined up, but I was wrong. I didn't know it at the time, but it was really just Slade's way of weeding out the best of the best. What I thought was a police group was really a 24/7 call for the H.I.V.E. Academy. Brother Blood may be the curator of it, but Slade runs the joint, and he wanted the best there was."
"Blood?" Now Cyborg was furious. "You served under Brother Blood?"
"Not by choice. I hated him, to be honest. But my time with the Darkstars brought me back to Slade's attention. He plucked me out of there and started training me into not just his apprentice, but his personal assassin." Shuddering, she bit her lip, the tears still falling. "It's why I envy you, Robin: you were his apprentice, twice. But you never had to kill anyone. I did it for a living."
"When Slade escaped, where did you go?"
She sighed, tired. "A friend of mine was in deep trouble. Stanley was a biochemist that Slade drafted. He was brilliant, and in the beginning he was greedy. At first, he only wanted to be somebody, to be recognized and be important, and Slade came to him, promising all of that. I didn't know it, but he was the one who helped keep me in the dark for as long as I was Slade's apprentice. With his mastery of biochemistry, he slipped me pills, serums, vials of nasty things that kept my memory from me, trying to make me forget since Angel's enchantments prevented my memory from being completely erased. After awhile though, it got to be too much for the both of us, and at the same time, we fell in love. The more we fell in love, the more the weight of his guilt began to get worse. He was ashamed of what he was doing and he wanted to desperately to quit, but Slade wouldn't let him. So he stayed, and in a way, I was happy about it. He was there for me when I... murdered people. I remember crying in his arms, and..." She revealed the letter she'd hidden in a pocket in her uniform, and drew it out, unfolding it as she went. "I'm sure you all are wondering how you survived your encounters with Slade. I read through this already, but I think you need to hear what needs to be said. Stanley would've wanted it that way." Quietly, she began to read, her voice shaking:
"My Dearest Donna,
As you already know by now, I'm most likely dead. But don't feel bad for me, because at least I know that Slade can't use me to harm anyone else again. My wife and son will be safe now, thanks to the sacrifice I have made. Could you please watch over them from time to time? I know that, under your protection, they'll be secure in this world of hatred and greed.
I know your friends, the Titans, are with you now, and I hope to God that they could give you the sense of belonging that I know you've been searching for all your life. They're good kids, and I know that if they knew the real you, like I have, then they'd want you there with them as well. At the same time, I want to say that what happened to them was personally my fault, and I will forever live with the guilt and agony of knowing what had happened to them, and being the cause of their 'deaths'. But when Slade wasn't looking, I made my choice, and I took my chance to reclaim some of the dignity that I lost. Within each calculated formula for a techno virus or a bio destabilizer, for the exact incantations I needed to a nanite infestation, I made... errors. Mistakes. Calculations that Slade would never catch, and I would never tell, just enough to give him the results he desired but also have some... side effects.
For Cyborg, I made an error in the life of the virus. Instead of permanently, I made it last for just a few hours. Raven's was similar, and I knew that, with her strengths outweighing the weaknesses, she would be the one who would mostly benefit from a shorter amount of time. I knew that, if given the chance, she would hide, waiting, be the perfect sub-leader in the moment that the Titans needed her the most. I made a mistake when calculating the correct syllables for the witch girl, Jinx, and so when she hexed the mirror, it would only make Raven encounter her greatest fear, slow her heart down to a miniscule level, and then restart it within the course of an hour. Any more, and she would have died completely. Beast Boy's DNA enzyme was easy enough, thanks to my expertise in biochemistry, and allowed me to program the serum to tear his DNA apart and build it back up again in a single day. Starfire's nanites were programmed to attack her to a point near death for a human, but I've studied Tamaranean organisms before, and I knew the level of shock the robots created wouldn't be fatal for her.
However, as sorry as I am for what happened to them, it doesn't condone for the acts I've committed against you and Robin. My God, Donna, I'm so sorry for hiding your memories beneath drugs and serums; I should have listened to my heart, and stopped doing it before it got out of control. It is your fate and Robin's which I regret the most. Words don't even begin to describe the depths of my shame. I manipulated you, gave you false memories that could've killed your soul, just like it almost did mine to do it. But I had one thing that kept me going: saving you, and saving the boy who reminded me of you. So I made sure that, as time went on, that the dosage I created was watered down, half the amount Slade wanted me to give out, in hopes that somehow, some way, you could both rise above the fog within your minds, and reach towards the light of the sun... When it worked, I made sure to file that information in the back of my mind, in case I would ever have the need to use it again. And I did, when the boy came along. You saved his life, Troia. Because of you, Robin is still alive today.
Again, I am sorry for what I have done to you and your friends, and I hope you can forgive me: I never wanted any of this to happen, but I had to follow orders in order to stay alive. I'll miss you Troia, and I hope, in the end, you will forgive me for what I have done.
Sincerely with love,
Stanley"
For the first time, the Boy Wonder spoke up, surprising them all. "I want you to be a Titan, Troia."
"WHAT?" Cyborg and Beast Boy exclaimed in unison, their jaws dropping. "YOU WANT HER TO BE WHAT?"
"You both heard me." His voice was hard, darker, somehow unlike his regular happy-go-lucky self, and completely business-like. "We could use you, Troia."
"Friend Robin, please, I must protest," spoke up Starfire, distressed. "My Former Friend Troia has lied to us! She has worked with Slade, and her obsessions with his destruction will only..."
"You never threw me out," he replied. "I did the exact same thing for almost the exact same reasons, and you never threw me out."
"But we need you, Robin! We cannot act as a team without..."
"Yes you can. You all figured out Slade's plan and rescued me from making the biggest mistake of my life. You all worked together to bring down Mad Mod when we switched ages. You all stopped me from fighting myself to death. No, you can do plenty of things without me. In fact," he looked up, an expression half of pain and half of interest crossing his face, "I think I need to leave."
"Robin," Troia started, shocked, folding the note back up and replacing it in her pocket. "No, you're the leader of the Titans! You should be here, leading them..."
"No, YOU should be here, leading them. I'm going to put that leadership opportunity in your hands, Troia. I trust you."
She was flabbergasted, as were the rest of them, but she shook her head, denying it. "No. I could never lead the Titans. I'm not a leader, not like you. I don't belong here at all." She immediately started floating on air, and flew towards the door, disheartened. "I don't belong here at all. I'll see you later, Titans. Hopefully."
Something was thrown in her direction, and she caught it before it smashed into the back of her head; a canary yellow Titans communicator rested in her hand. Robin nodded, accepting her statement, and started walking in her direction, joining her. "It's so you can communicate with me or with them whenever you need it. Right now, if you don't mind, I'll walk with you, but I don't know about afterwards... I need to be alone for awhile, I think."
"Friend Robin, you cannot go!" screamed Starfire, her orange and delicate hands clasping on his black and yellow cape. "You must stay here with me and..."
Shockingly, he slapped her hands away and yelled back at her, something inside of him snapping. "NO! Too much crap has happened to me, and I am NOT staying here! I'm not the same Robin anymore, Star, and I don't belong here anymore than Troia does."
"So you're going to go run off with her and make your own Titans team?" mocked Beast Boy.
"No. I created the Teen Titans, and that's enough for me. No more gangs, no more teams. No more partners. I just need to be alone for awhile, and if you all are my friends, you'll leave me alone." He looked towards Troia and nodded again, his face impassive. "Let's go. I need to think."
She was flattered to have company, but shook her head. "No. You're not coming with me. If you want to leave, fine. But at least say good bye to them all first. It's the least you could do." Her eyes swept from face to face, and she smiled as warmly as she could. "Good bye, my friends." And with that, she was gone, disappearing in the same way she came without another thought.
She wasn't a Titan, and would never feel like one. At least, not today. But maybe, one day... Some day...
Outside the tower now, a sound alerted her from behind, and she glanced over, surprised. There he was, the ward of Batman himself, and he did something she was surprised to see him do.
With both green gloved hands, he reached towards his face and pulled off his mask, letting her see him entirely for the first time. Clearly puzzled, she stared into his deep blue eyes and raised an eyebrow. "What...?"
"I've been with these guys for God knows how long, and I've never told them my name or showed my face. You're the first one to see me for who I really am."
"Why are you telling me this? Why are you showing me? I'm not a Titan, I might never be one, and to tell you the truth, I don't know you from Adam, Robin. I don't know your favorite color, I don't know your favorite food, or your favorite place to hang out on a Saturday night. I don't understand: why?"
He considered this, and nodded, understanding. "Because you've been there, in my shoes, before. You've been in the exact position I was in, not knowing who you were anymore. You didn't know who to trust or where you stood, who you really were or what to do. You've been through hell and back because of that sick and twisted bastard, and I think, because of that, you understand me more than anyone else in the world. I feel like I can trust you completely because we've got a lot in common."
"I thought you said you wanted to be alone?"
"I do. That's why I'm only walking part of way. Sometimes, you need to do things on your own, you know? Like I said back in the Tower, I don't belong there anymore. Too much stuff's happened to me, and maybe, this is for the best. I can clear my head, and adjust to how I am now. Like or not, this is me." he gestured with his hand, holding it up and gazing at it for a moment before he set it back down again. "I just have to get used to it. And I could use a friend who's gone through the same things I have."
Troia agreed. "Yeah, I feel that way too. And whether I like it or not, I could use someone I can rely on. I don't have very many friends."
"My name's Richard Grayson," he began, and held out his hand.
"Donna Troy," she replied, and clutched it, shaking firmly.
And she knew that this was going to be the start of a wonderful friendship, no matter where they split off at. It was the one and only certain thing in her uncertain world and she knew it was going to last for a very long time, no matter where they roamed.
They were Slade's apprentice, and now, they were friends. Life was always uncanny like that. Always.
