29.

"So why did the JLA think Slade's name was Deathstroke?" Robin asked. When he spoke it was absently, really all he was doing was trying to put Starfire out of his mind. He was failing, but he was trying nonetheless.

"He's been a thorn in our side as well. When he showed up, he called himself Deathstroke, and he wasn't interested in destruction or world domination." They were walking side by side, towards the mine. They'd taken the Batmobile for most of the way, which had been a ride the Robin thought he'd been looking forward to. For all the neat things he got to do with the Titans, nothing beat riding around in a rocket powered car. It, however, had been less than memorable, Robin had spent most of the time gazing mindlessly out the window, watching the city fly by. Batman let him be, never saying a word. He knew how it felt, losing someone you loved, and the only thing that helped was time.

"So why were you guys after him if he wasn't threatening the world?" Robin asked.

"He was an international assassin, codename 'Deathstroke'. He'd racked up an impressive record, that's why we had to take him down."

"So how did he end up in Jump City?"

"Good question. He disappeared from sight some time ago. We thought he'd either retired or been caught...or killed. It seems he wasn't. Now he uses his real name, and he's got a serious grudge against the world."

"Against me..." Robin muttered.

"Yes, that too."

They crested a hill, and were met with what looked like a rock quarry, a massive open pit. That was about right, Robin thought, since Silica was mined in open pits. It was spectacularly unremarkable, though, just a huge hole in the ground.

"Stay sharp." Batman said. He obviously saw something that Robin didn't, which didn't really surprise him, Batman was always figuring things out a half step faster than Robin. That half step passed by very quickly, though.

"So glad you could show up, my boy. And you've brought your mentor along as well, how very quaint." They heard his voice perfectly, but they couldn't see him anywhere. Suddenly, an army of Slade robots began to pour from the pit in front of them.

"Aw...hell." Robin mumbled, taking a fighting stance. It was a useless endeavour, there was no way the two of them could take that amount of robots.

"Titans, GO!" Cyborg yelled out from behind Robin. Raven flew over his head, and raised a chunk of rock that landed within the swarm and crushed at least twenty of them.

"You didn't think we'd let you take on Slade alone, did you?" Cyborg said when he reached Robins side. He powered his arm cannon and fired, mowing down a few more of the Slade Robots.

"But how did you find me?" The question was self answering, Robin instantly felt the weight of the communicator in his pocket and knew exactly how they'd found him.

"Real easy when you're wearing a locator beacon," Cyborg said, "but I think we can talk later, right now, there's butt to kick!" He ran off and threw a punch that took the head off of the nearest robot. Robin started in on the fight as well, jumping and punching and kicking, letting out a little of the vast stores of rage he had inside. Raven noted, as she flew over the fight, that Robin and Batman looked so similar in the middle of a battle. The fluidity of movement, the style, the grace. Robin was definitely Batman's student, that much was clear. She levitated a group of robots and crunched the together until there was nothing but a large ball of spare parts. Time for contemplation later, now it was time to fight.

Beast Boy had been absolutely tearing through the mob of robots, turning into all manner of evil creature, he was currently in the form of a giant Raptor, ripping with tooth and claw through the deluge of robots. He didn't tell anyone, but Starfire's death had hit him impossibly hard. Everyone seemed to be dealing with it in a way, almost like they were shocked and it had yet to sink in. Beast Boy didn't feel that way, he felt vile inside, like a large part of him had been forcibly removed. Robin was certain to be hit hard after the fighting was over, after Slade was behind bars and all Robin had was himself, he'd fall apart, and Beast Boy knew it. He knew it because he himself had been falling apart since he heard the news, this fight was doing nothing to heal the pain inside him, and that just made him fight harder, and faster. In short, whatever switch the others had flipped to dedicate themselves wholly to the fighting, Beast Boy didn't have, and it was eating him away inside.

Robin bumped into someone, and quickly wheeled around to see who was next on the block. When he saw it was Batman, he dropped his dukes for a moment, and took a second to catch his breath. There was fighting going on all around them, but none of the robots were attacking the two of them for the moment.

"You shouldn't be here," Batman said, without facing Robin, "you have a job to do."

"I know...Slade." Robin's mouth furled into a growl and he turned quickly and landed a punch on the jaw of an oncoming robot.

"Go, Robin, we can take care of this."

"Go? But where is he?" Robin took a look around him to see if he was missing anything.

"There's only one place he can be, over there." Batman pointed to the other side of the pit. There was a mound of dirt obscuring a fair amount of land. Robin wasn't sure how Batman knew that Slade was over there, but for some reason, he knew that Batman was right. Batman was always right. Robin started to clear a path through the robots, and turned towards his team, who were still fighting behind him.

"Go get him, Robin, we have your back!" Raven yelled.

"Go, Robin, now!" Cyborg took out a few more robots, and pointed at the pile of dirt.

"Go...please, stop Slade." Beast Boy's voice cracked as he spoke, Robin could see the tears sparkling in his eyes. Robin felt his pain, but couldn't express it. Not until after the fighting. Not until later. He nodded and ran off, fighting through the crowd towards Slade, and what Robin feared might be their final battle. Robin feared that he just might kill Slade tonight, and the thought scared him.

30.

The pile of dirt was obviously what they'd displaced to create the open mine, and measured at least 30 metres into the air. That wasn't near enough to fill the hole which was now behind Robin, and he assumed that they'd trucked away the lion's share of it, with this pile to follow in due time.

What he found when he got to the other side of it was what must have been the business side of the mine. There was a lot of heavy equipment, stretching skyward were huge excavators and odd conveyor belts. Armies of dump trucks were lined up, and all throughout were small trailers and temporary office space. Not amongst this lot, however, was Slade. Robin trod carefully and looked all around him, but saw nothing. If Slade was there, he was not making himself very well known.

There was a myriad of footprints spreading through the layer of dust that covered the ground. Clearly the mine was still in active use, Robin could see the heavy boots prints of the miners layed as far as he could see.

Slade's footprints were lost in a maze, one that Robin was in no condition to figure out, so he kept moving.

"I knew you would come. You just couldn't stay away, could you?" It was Slade's voice, and upon hearing it every muscle in Robin's body tensed. He wanted to run, but from the sound and direction of it, he knew it was coming from the mining companies PA system, and so had nowhere to run to. Knowing Slade, he could be tapping into it from anywhere.

"I really do question your motives, do you not have a lover to bury? Tell me, does it hurt?"

"Just tell me where you are Slade, and I'll show you how much it hurts!" Robin had his hands balled into fists so tight the material of his gloves groaned from the strain. His teeth were clenched so tightly his jaw ached. The pain was far away, though, right up front was a burning red rage, directed straight at Slade.

"I would hate to give away the answer since you've come this far on your own. Aren't you supposed to be the protege of the worlds greatest detective? And here you are asking for directions? HA!" His laughter rang out all around him, resonating like a fun house soundtrack. Robin looked around frantically for some clue. He had to focus, had to clear his head. 'Emotions are the enemy'That's what Batman always said, and it was true to a certain degree. Despite the need to feel the anger and hurt, he pushed it all down, and tried to concentrate.

What did he know? He knew that Slade could not simply be anywhere, he had to be somewhere close, where he could tap into the PA system he was speaking through. The PA system itself looked fairly primitive, a series of loud speakers grafted to tall wooden posts, a collection of wires snaking between them connected them all together. So, if Slade wanted to talk through it, he had to have a hard line connection to it somewhere. Robin started to trace the path of the wires as they criss crossed over his head. They all looked frayed and old, probably from age, but otherwise intact, except for one section. It was far in the distance and hard to see, but it looked liked one wire hung, snapped into two pieces. One end hung limply from a pole, while the other was pulled taught, and disappeared behind another mound of dirt.

There he is.

Robin broke into a run, towards the severed wire, where Slade had clearly tapped into the system. All that rage he'd moments ago suppressed quickly bubbled back to the surface, and Robin knew then he could never be like Batman. Batman could keep those emotions festering for years, where he could only keep them at bay long enough to do the bare minimum of mental work, then they came rushing back. He supposed that he should be thankful for that. He intended to feel the brunt of Starfire's death, feel it and deal with it.

As he ran, he felt the tears build up behind his mask again. That, he could ignore.