Teen titans

Robin reborn

episode I: who am I?

by secondchild02

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, if I did I sure wouldn't still be living in my parents' house would I? The only thing I do own in this story is Havelock and he isn't worth much. I don't have any money so please don't sue me. If I annoy DC Comics by writing this I'll go and clean their cars for a month, I promise, I'll even polish them, how's that for a deal?

Gotham City Museum was gradually closing down for the night. Lights went off one by one and security guards shuffled and wheezed their way through the halls, lost in memories of their days on whatever police force they had worked for before retirement. Eventually the only illumination was a thin ray of moonlight that pierced the overarching dome of the main exhibit hall and struck the reflecting pool at its centre. Silver light danced around the hall like a shoal of fish, blown this way and that by the mysterious currents of the ocean. It shimmered across the huge banner that draped across the hall proclaiming "Gotham City Museum," on the top line in huge scarlet letters with "Ancient Scrolls Exhibit" beneath it in blue. The subtle, elegant light finally played delicately across the low, squat display cases, their dried up, ancient contents highlighted in shades of silver.

Only to the keenest of ears would a light padding noise be infrequently heard and even then just dismissed as the dome contracting in the cool of night. If you were to pull back and observe the dome, contracting from a height a figure would be seen at its very edge, playfully leaping from shadow to shadow projected by the various statues that always seemed to colonize museum roofs. Occasionally a detail would be revealed a flash of black dress, striped stockings, and purple hair. Finally, after almost an aeon of waiting the bright full moon was hidden by the clouds. A sigh of relief was heard and the figure made its way to the top of the dome. A pair of bright eyes narrowed and a long thin finger traced a wide circle around the central pane of the dome. Small brilliant purple sparks danced across the glass where her finger had been and when the circle was completed it vanished with a dull purple flash and muffled thunderclap. She slipped through the hole and dropped gracefully to the floor of the museum landing cat-like. A flicker of moonlight made it through the clouds for the briefest glimmer of a second.

Jinx.

She stood in the centre of the chamber; low display cases filled the wide circular room for about a hundred metres on every side. Jinx grinned in the dark, so far, so easy. She held her clenched fist in front of her face and released a hex, purple light flashed between her fingers, she grimaced, it looked painful. Upon opening her hand a small cloud of purple dust floated a few centimetres above her palm; turning in a circle she blew the dust around the entire room. Like an expanding galaxy the cloud filled the room slowly, each piece drifting ponderously like a drunken bumblebee until they swept through the whole chamber. In their wake was a spider web of purple lines, security lasers, and their dull light filled the cavernous room. A playful smile swept across Jinx's face, she tensed, then leapt. In a rapid succession of cartwheels and summersaults she flipped and span across the room eventually landing in front of a display case, flat on her feet and looking quite like she had just strolled there from the centre of the room. She looked at the case and thought, 'It's not even one of the big ones, it's, like, totally in the corner of the room and there's, nothing in it but some crusty old piece of what looks like a math book'. She shrugged. The display case sat there defiantly impregnable. Now she was stuck.

She knew that the case would be weight sensitive so she couldn't burn a hole in it with a hex or just smash it, which would bring alarms, guards, and complications. 'Nothing for it then' she reached into a compartment on her belt and brought out a device about the size of a matchbox with a familiar green G on it, obviously Gizmo's work. If it was one thing she had learned in her time with HIVE it was that no matter how far you got, how many guards you defeated, heroes destroyed, and buildings broken into you would always, always, have to use one of Gizmo's devices to finally open the vault, safe, lockbox or whatever. She placed the small device on to the centre of the display cases and pressed the G.

A few lights blinked on the thing, Jinx raised an eyebrow, the lights got faster, and Jinx cocked her head to one side, 'What is the freakin' thing?' Suddenly there was bright flash and the whole case vanished, she jerked forward suddenly and caught the old book before it hit the ground. There was a flash.

Fire, everywhere, a city in ruins, people running, screaming, shrieking in terror. Jinx stood in the middle of a huge square with people streaming past her, running for their lives. Around her huge stone buildings burned and above the crackling of the flames and the screams, a sound. It was laughter. Deep, dark and terrible with echoes of steel and bronze drenched in blood and it filled the square, then the world and then her mind. She dropped to her knees screaming as pair of eyes filled her consciousness, a pair of eyes on fire.

Another flash, she was back standing in the museum just as the weight of the book finally settled into her hands. She stood for about a minute puzzled, staring at the book. 'What the hell was that' she thought. A beam of bright light hit her in the face and broke her concentration.

"Hey!," a hoarse voice called "What you doin' over there?". In a fluid motion Jinx span, tossed the book into her one-strap pack and launched a purple hex across the room. After being freaked out, it was time for some fun.

At the same time in Titan's tower in Jump City, Raven, Cyborg and Beast Boy were sitting around the main table in the kitchen area. The remains of Beast Boy's tofu waffles lay scattered around the table along with some cold bacon and a half mug of herbal tea that obviously belonged to the other two. On the big screen in the background some video game was flashing "continue Y/N" over and over. The mood seemed sombre. "Slade" Beast Boy broke the silence with the one word. "There hasn't been anything in months," said Raven flatly staring fixedly at her discarded mug "I wonder what gives?" Cyborg shifted, leaning forward with his elbows on the table.

"Maybe he's dead y'all," he said "we haven't heard a peep out of him since-"

"Terra" Beast Boy said softly. Raven put a hand on his shoulder.

"We'll bring her back Beast Boy, I promise". Beast Boys' head sank a little further down, he seemed to get smaller than he already was.

Terra had been a young girl the Titans had taken in who had an incredible telekinetic ability to move rocks and earth around. At first she rejected their offer to join the Titans, fearing her powers couldn't be controlled and that she would destroy herself and those around her. She ran away that night. About a month or so later she returned with a new level of control over her powers, however, this control had come at a price and she had become Slade's apprentice. She gained their confidence and infiltrated the Titans and when the time came, at Slade's command, turned on them, apparently destroying them one by one. In the end Slade used her power to almost destroy the Titans along with the city, Terra then turned on Slade as a volcano threatened to erupt in the middle of the city. In a burst of power, more than she had ever released at once before she prevented the eruption and, seemingly, destroyed Slade. But Terra couldn't save herself, the effort of saving the city destroyed her, she turned to stone. It was tough for the Titans to take, she had been their friend and ultimately gave her life to save them all. Beast Boy took it harder than anyone, he had been particularly fond of Terra.

"And if there isn't?" He looked up at Raven who saw herself reflected in his wide, glassy, dark eyes. She felt his sadness, it boiled off him like a cloud. Cyborg let out a chuckle and slapped him hard on the back; Beast Boy bounced forward and hit the table "At least you'll always have old Cy', Green Boy"

"What you do that for, you're goin' down Tin Man" Beast Boy roared, the two of them locked gazes, if a fly had buzzed between them it would have burst into flames. "Best of five" growled Cyborg, who then suddenly grinned childishly and leapt towards the Game-Box console. Beast Boy sprang after him, "Oh it's on now!" Raven stood up and went about the business of making another cup of herbal tea, "Boys!" she mumbled, if she weren't psychic she would swear they had no feelings at all. She was lost in thought when she felt something wrong; she turned to check if Beast Boy was moping over Terra again. No, he was focused intently on the screen; his pixilated giant mecha was delivering a series of roundhouse kicks to Cyborg's. Closing her eyes she let her consciousness spread out, filling the whole tower, searching for the source of the emotional unbalance. She lightly brushed one other mind, the shock of which made her gasp, it was Starfire, and she was almost incoherent.

"RobinRobinRobinRobinRobinRobinwhywhyRobinRobinRobindoesn'theRobinRobinRobinwhyRobindoesn'twhy?"

Raven looked down at the cup in her hands; the other Titans had spotted a, well, a thing between Robin and Starfire but hadn't said anything about it. It was stupid, they could never have relationship, not with what they did, and it would put the team at risk. Raven knew this; she also knew that was Robins' thoughts on the subject too. But, she also sensed under the thoughts that were Robin, a voice, small, but powerful, and it spoke only of Starfire. It needed her, it wanted her, it couldn't exist without her, and Starfire was the air it breathed and the water of its life. It loved her. Raven was no expert on love or most emotions for that matter, but she knew that Robin must have to go everyday ignoring it, despite Starfire being in his life and everything he did everyday. Raven thought that was almost the worst thing possible. 'I better go and see to Starfire', she thought, as the only other girl she felt it to be her duty, fishing out two tubs of cookie dough ice cream from the freezer she vanished upstairs.

If the feeling of Starfire's normally flower and sunbeam filled mind being almost torn apart by depression hadn't jarred her so much, Raven would have been wondering 'So, where is Robin then?'

A figure sat on the edge of Jump Tower, the highest building in the city. It was sitting leaning up on its elbows in an almost lying down position. It was Robin, his red and green uniform was soaked through with the rain that had just passed and his normally spiky hair was wet and fell down covering his eyes. He pushed it up out of the way revealing his black eye mask. He sighed, thinking back to two hours ago. He had been on the roof of Titan's Tower testing out some new type of his electric discs when Starfire had appeared, flying up from the side of the tower chasing a butterfly or something. She landed and came to talk to him. The conversation hadn't gone well. She talked about how with Slade gone they could relax for a while, unwind, take some time to be themselves. He had grumbled something about how they shouldn't let up on their training as they had no proof Slade was really gone. She said that there was more to life than training, she put her hand on his shoulder, that he had been working too hard these past few months. Her hand slipped down his arm to his hand, she had said that they finally had the time to explore whatever they obviously felt for each other. He had said maybe, he could take some time off, he moved closer to her; she smiled her green eyes glittering like jewels. They kissed; it felt like days went past. Starfire moved her hands on to his face. His face wasn't too cold but Star's hands were nice and warm and he found himself losing focus, becoming absorbed in the moment. It was almost perfect, the air was mild and still with the huge silvery moon reflected on the calm water of the bay. Then it happened, Star's hands slowly crept under the sides of his mask moving it slowly up and off his face. He froze, it was almost off, he jerked away wrenching it back down on to his face. Then there was a conversation, Star had cried, and then he had left on patrol.

'It's just a mask,' he thought ' what's the deal with it' he reached up and touched it with a gloved hand. 'Why would she try and take it off ? and when she did why did I freak?' he reached up behind his head and untied the knot that held it on. 'See, I can take it off anytime I want!' he held it in front of him. When was the last time he had done this? Yesterday? Last week? Last Month? Did he even take it off to sleep anymore? He didn't remember. He had spent so much of the past few months hunting Slade and dealing with Terra, Johnny Rancid and aliens kidnapping Beast Boy that he hadn't done much but work. That's what this was, a job. Or was it? Did he have anything else except this? Oh sure there was Batman and Gotham City but he had found himself spending more and more time in Jump City with the Titans. Here he could be the leader and not just a partner, although he had tended to call himself a sidekick these days. He was getting used to calling the shots. Nightwing had left to go solo who had been Robin before he had, and there had been another Robin after Nightwing, he was Robin number three. There it was, the thought that had been bothering him for a while, the thought that had made him freak out and cause Star to stop taking off his mask. He was replaceable. Robin was just a character that could be filled by anyone who fit the bill, it wasn't his But he was Robin, in his soul he knew it was his, he owned it, it was who he was and the reason he was here. Without Robin, who was he?

Tim Drake.

He froze, much like he had done on the roof of Titans Tower, he hadn't used the name in so long he had nearly forgotten it. Tim Drake, his name, not Robin, that was what he did, but the name his parents had given him. Parents, he had had parents once, a family, friends who weren't superheroes, and dealt with everyday problems like what brand of soda to buy or did he want the sneakers in red or blue. These days it was all beating the bad guy, saving the city and rescuing the girl in distress. They were called the Teen Titans, but were they normal teenagers? A cybernetic man, an animal changeling, an alien, a half demon and him, some kid in a cape and mask. Did he not want to be Tim Drake anymore, was being a person too hard for him to deal with so he hid in a world of capes and costumes, heroes and villains and assuming an inherited identity that was no more real than a reflection on a soap bubble. Or was it his own that had become the reflection? Could Tim Drake disappear as easily as the popped bubble and when he was through with being Robin, who would he be? The thought chilled him to the core.

Of course he liked Starfire, she was everything to him. The way she moved, the sound of her voice, the silly little ways she didn't fully understand life on Earth, that dreamlike look in her eye when she talked about her home, Tamerran, and how everything was held in an almost childlike fascination and awe by her. He grinned, closing his eyes and remembered the kiss, by his side the mask hung from his hand and fluttered in the breeze. He had imagined taking her on a date, going for a walk in the hills outside Jump City, and spending rainy afternoons watching old movies with her, laughing, talking, and kissing her some more. But he was never Tim Drake in this dream, he was only Robin. Tim Drake wasn't good enough for Starfire and if he didn't want to be him then how could Star' ever love Tim Drake and not Robin. He opened his eyes and looked down at the empty mask in his hands and spoke softly to the world around him, "Who Am I?"

It was hard to tell what the building had been in its' prime. Maybe it had been a factory, maybe it had been a warehouse for heavy machinery, who knew now? It was located somewhere in one of the less friendly districts of Jump City and for the most part it looked abandoned, but recently it had been showing signs of occupation. Jinx slipped through the wicket gate in one the large doors that opened onto the street. She stopped as soon as she entered and strained to see in the gloom. All around her she could see the shapes of people looking at her, they all had one arm raised and were pointing a laser weapon at her, the inside of short barrels glowed an infernal red as the focusing crystals charged A second or so went by and the figures lowered their weapons and lost interest in her. She picked her way through the dormant sentries and climbed the rickety stairs to the offices that were on the second floor at the rear of the old building. Only one had a light on, she went inside. The room was dark save for a patch of light that revealed only the highlights of a figure sitting in a chair. It gleamed off its' armour and full face mask that the lighting only revealed half of which that was a dull brassy colour. "Do you have it?" the voice was deep and calm, some would have called it a pleasant, soothing voice but anyone with knowledge of the mind behind it would have said otherwise. "Yeah," answered Jinx, "I got your crummy scroll thing" she fished it out of her bag and waved it around, dust blew off it. "Good," said the man in the Chair "good"

"What's it for?" asked Jinx, looking critically at the cover of the book, it was faded leather with a cracked red cross painted on it. "What's it do?". The man in the chair stood up suddenly, Jinx flinched,

"It is older than most civilisations," he said striding over to Jinx "it was written before the pyramids were built and if I am right will enable me to bring forth a power unknown in this age," the book was snatched out of her hand "that is what it is," said Slade "and that is what it does"

Raven knocked on the door to Starfire's room, there was a big pink Hello Kitty painted on it with "Starfire's' Lovely Suite" written under it. She looked sternly at the cat, it annoyingly didn't melt under the force of her gaze and remained defiantly cheerful, cute, and above all pink in front of Raven. She knocked again, "Starfire, are you in there?" Raven could sense she was in her room so the question was redundant, but the ice cream was really cold and Raven could think of only one way to get rid of it, it did involve two spoons but not two people. As cool and in control as Raven loved people to think she was, no one could resist an ice cream pig out once they had decided one was going to happen. 'Damn Starfire,' she thought 'stupid depression that needs cured by ice cream'. Raven tried again, this was going to be the last time "Starfire, I know you're in there," she said a little firmer this time "and I know why, it's me after all"

The door opened slowly, a pair of green watery eyes regarded the blue cloaked girl in the hall, they were all red and puffy from crying. Raven almost rocked off her feet with the emotional hurricane of despair and loneliness that washed over her. "Yes," came Starfire's clear pleasant voice "how can I help you Raven?" it sounded ready to crack at any time. "I sensed you were feeling, a bit, well, upset" Raven looked uncomfortable, although she liked Starfire the Tamerranian girl, Raven thought, was a bit of a fruit-loop, especially when it came to feelings and particularly those about Robin. It was like she felt everything for the first time every day. "I have ice cream" Raven smiled feebly and proffered the two tubs of cookie dough ice cream. 'Man, this is awkward' she thought. Starfire sniffed and opened the door further, she was a mess. Her purple top and mini skirt were crumpled and covered in crumbs of what looked like red wax although Raven knew it was scented soap, Starfire tended to think it was food because it smelled like it. "Raven?" she said meekly "you wish to offer support to me in my time of need with a traditional consumption of frozen dairy product in a sororial bonding ritual, correct?" her big round eyes reflected Raven standing in the middle of the corridor. "Uh," she said uncertainly "ye-yeah?". Starfire's expression froze for a second then split into a wide smile, fresh tears running down her cheeks. She pulled Raven into her room and threw her long arms around Raven's neck, she was about a head shorter than Starfire so Raven's face was pressed against Starfire's shoulder, she couldn't breathe. "Oh thank you Raven, thank you" Starfire said, her voice dripping joy "I had considered talking to you but was uncertain how you would react"

"Starfire!" Raven's voice was muffled, Starfire released her grip and stood a step back from Raven, still beaming.

"Yes, Raven?" Starfire smiled again but it was a forced effort, Raven could see fresh tears starting to form in the girl's eyes. Raven handed her an tub of ice cream and a spoon "Thought you might need this". Starfire grabbed the tub and spoon and marched back to her bed, vanishing under the covers. Raven took a second to look around the room, she didn't come in here very often. It was pink, unnervingly pink, and edged with rainbows and various flowers that seemed to be in every available colour in nature. There was a chair in the corner with the largest teddy bear Raven had ever seen on it, it was red and had a black mask round its eyes. Raven looked at it suspiciously as she sat down on the bed. The lump in the covers that was Starfire shifted and she poked her head out. "What happened, Starfire?" asked Raven flatly as she popped the lid off her ice cream. "where's Robin?" she immediately regretted asking as Starfire burst into tears. "I don't know who Robin is!"

"Of course you know who he is," said Raven putting a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth "he's Robin, you know, the boy wonder, our leader"

"I mean his name," sniffed Starfire "his real name. If he has feelings for me as I believe he does then why would he not tell me his real name, or show me his face"

"You asked him his name? that's easy," said Raven "it's....it's...i-"

"You see," interrupted Starfire "you do not know, not one of us knows. I know your name is Raven Roth, that Cyborg is called Victor, that Beast Boy is called Garfield, and you all know that my given name is K'oriandor yet not one of us knows what Robin's real name is" Raven took another spoonful of ice cream

"I guess your right, we don't know his name, but is that important?"

"Of course it is," Starfire looked shocked "he hides himself from us constantly yet he calls himself our leader, he worked alone to track and catch Slade for months and he is the only one of us who wears a mask, why would he hide his face from us?" Starfire hugged her big pink pillow and added weakly "and from me too"

"Starfire, Robin, or whatever his name is, is from a different era of superhero at least the persona of Robin is" Raven put her ice cream down "they had to hide who they were, and he's the partner of Batman, we're all just members of the Teen Titans, and he's not the only Robin there's ever been" Starfire looked up, puzzled at Raven

"Robin is not the only Robin?" she asked, her small eyebrows frowning with bafflement "are you the only Raven?"

"Trust me, there will only be one of me"

"I do not understand," Starfire hugged the pillow tighter "on Tamerran you are who you are from the moment you are born, Starfire is just what I call myself in the Teen Titans, I am still me and only I can be me. How can someone else be Robin before he is Robin, Robin is who he is, how can he be someone else?"

"That's just how it works for Robin," Raven sighed "I wish I could put on a mask and be someone else, but I can't, no one can, it just helps to bring out a piece of themselves they hide. But Robin can, Robin isn't who he is, Robin lets him be himself"

"So Robin is Robin despite not being the only Robin and not in fact being Robin but someone else entirely who can only be them selves by being Robin" Starfire said with a faint smile creeping across her face "so who ever Robin is does like me". Raven stared at the wall, she had studied psychology and knew better than all of the Titans the inner workings of the human mind, but now she was puzzled. Starfire had either been very smart or used what Raven had termed "Airhead Logic" to make a difficult problem make sense. All things considered, this was the last time Raven decided she'd try some girl talk.

Cyborg finished his victory dance around the couch, "Who is the man?," he yelled "Ah say-ed, who is the my-an?" he dropped his face level with Beast Boy's who was scowling, obviously not amused. "I just kicked your virtual butt, how does it feel, Salad Head? and who's the man?"

"You are" said Beast Boy through gritted teeth.

"You got that right!, now you remember the bet" Cyborg grinned wide

"For the rest of the day"

"Yep"

"Fine then" Beast boy transformed into a green dog, a Labrador.

"Now then," chuckled Cyborg "Bring me my slippers boy". Beast boy transformed back to his human form,

"You have got to be kidding, I am not getting you-" Cyborg hit him across the head with a rolled up newspaper.

"Do it flea breath!"

Slade stood on the staircase outside the offices in the building he had temporarily set up his base in and looked down as his droid troopers constructed the means to enact his latest plan to destroy the Titans. It would work this time, the information Terra had provided during her brief apprenticeship would prove most helpful. He looked down at the book in his hand, it was ancient, there were probably about three people on the planet who might be able to translate it, but they hadn't had the help he had had. "Is everything proceeding according to plan, Havelock?" he asked a young man writing a series of runes and symbols on the floor. Havelock was a skinny young man with lank dark hair that hung down over his ears that looked like it needed a good wash and an unhealthy complexion that suggested that fresh air was not a major part of his diet. Havelock stood up and looked at Slade, "Yes," he said "I believe it is"

"You believe it is?" Slade's calm voice had a sharp edge now.

"I mean it's all going exactly as we planned"

"Good, If this doesn't work you wont have to worry about the consequences"

"I know, Mr Slade" Havelock knew better than Slade what the consequences were. From what he had been able to learn about the book Slade had Jinx steal for him it had been discovered shortly after the second world war in Berlin. The Nazi's had been collecting old books and relics for Hitler who had an obsession with the occult. Every ancient book, scroll, or manuscript that looked the part or couldn't be translated immediately was thought to be an artefact of great power. Mostly they had just collected occult junk and knick-knacks with very little of any real significance, until they had stumbled upon the book whilst they were occupying Poland. The Red Cross Book it was called, the sacred text of an ancient order of Judaism and said to contain within it the instructions for channelling power beyond measure into a vessel and how to control it. Of course Slade wasn't stupid enough to try it out on himself, he needed a test subject. It couldn't be himself, Havelock knew this as only he could read the book, and he wouldn't bet on him using Jinx either, the girl was still useful. Who would it be?

Red lights and warning sirens filled Titans Tower. Beast Boy almost swallowed one of Cyborg's slippers, Raven dropped her ice cream and Starfire screamed and hid beneath the covers of her bed. Robin's voice came booming over the intercom system, "Meet me at the Capitol Building, it's Slade!"

The T-car skidded to halt outside the Jump City Capitol building. From what Robin had been able to brief them with on the way they had figured out that Slade had rigged the building to blow. This didn't make sense to the Titans, Slade had never done something like this before He went after things he could steal in order to enact some new terrible plan of his to conquer the city or destroy the Titans. This wasn't his style, it was too crass and amateur for him, besides, he was supposed to be dead! In the Titan's imagination they all saw a near defeated Slade crawling out of the caverns beneath jump city, injured, almost burnt to death and full of rage that yearned to strike back at the Titans for what they had done to him.

As they stepped out of the car Raven shielded her eyes from the explosion of flash bulbs that meant the press were here. She had been right when she had said to Starfire that Robin came from a different time of heroes, back then they never had to worry about this kind of attention. "Oh my God, there he is!" an excited voice shrieked, they all turned to see a crowd of young girls holding up a huge banner saying "Beast Boy Rocks!" they all wore black t-shirts with Beast Boys' grinning face on it bearing the legend "Mean, Green Lovin' Machine!" Beast Boy was scratching the back of his head blushing "Can't help if Chicks want a bit more green in their diet, can I?" Cyborg slapped him on the back of the head "What did I say about the T-shirts?"

"Yeah," said Beast Boy "a bit too subtle, should have gone with something a bit punchier". They cast their eyes over the rest of the crowd that had gathered behind the police barricades. Young men of various shapes and sizes were wearing tin foil and red lenses or T-shirts with Cyborg on them in an athletic pose. Pale faced Goths in dark blue cloaks and hoods chanted "Azarath Metrion Zinthos" over and over again in a depressed monotone. Bright eyed young girls stood freezing in the late November air dressed in the same two piece, midriff revealing purple outfit Starfire wore screaming incoherently. A young man forced his way to the front of the crowd, he wore a white t-shirt with the words "Jump City University" on it, seven others followed him and stood in a line. They pulled off their identical shirts to reveal a big purple glittery letter on each of their chests, it spelled "STARFIRE" a chorus of whoops of yells followed from them. Then they chest slammed, Starfire waved back, obviously embarrassed. "Come on y'all" said Cyborg as a group of youths in badly made Robin suits yelled,

"Teen Titans, Go!" then high fived.

The Chief of Police, a harassed looking man called Wilson, regarded them like something he'd stepped on as they approached. "Well, look who decided to show up!" he took a swig of his coffee "Bird-Boy's inside already" It was no secret that he disliked the Teen Titans, despite the sterling service they provided for the city, but they made him look bad. He'd had his budget cut three times in three years, most of the money went to repair the extensive damage to the city their frequent run ins with the side show freak criminals, that seemed to plague the city these days, caused. He felt they had reduced him and his men to overblown Mall-Cops.

"Robin is already here?" Starfire looked up at the column fronted building with its steps bathed in alternating blue and red light. Bits of Sladetrooper robot littered them and occasionally there was a red and yellow fragment of Robin's Baterrangs. "Yeah, we tried to stop him but he ran straight on in" Wilson drained his Styrofoam cup and tossed it over his shoulder. "Nothin' for it then" said Beast Boy, Cyborg nodded.

"Teen Titans..." he shouted,

"GO!" they all shouted as one and charged forward as the crowd cheered.

He was hurt, he knew this, no ones ankle should feel like that. He was relying only on the mental training Batman had given him to work through it, but mostly it was the rage that kept him going. Slade was back, somehow, he had no idea how and he was up to something. It had to be bigger than this attack on the Capitol building, it didn't fit with Slade's style. What was he up to? Robin limped into the main debating chamber of the building, this was where the council met, now it was empty. Paper littered the floor and chairs were overturned there was nobody here, but in the Speakers chair was a familiar figure. "Robin," Slade leaned forward in to the light "So kind of you to join us" Jinx dropped from her perch in the public galleries. "Are your friends going to join us today? or did they leave the little Boy Wonder all alone?" she smirked.

"They'll be here, don't worry about it" he looked back at Slade "What are you up to Slade? blowing up public buildings isn't your style. Or have you lost your nerve since Terra almost killed you?"

"My dear Terra," said Slade calmly, sounding lost in thought "you were twice the apprentice she was Robin. Terra did the things I asked her to do because she was afraid of losing the control I gave her" he jumped down out of the chair and landed on the floor in front of Robin, punching him in he side and knocking Robin across the room "You did the things I asked you to do because you were afraid for your friends lives, but you wound up enjoying it"

"I never enjoyed being a criminal," roared Robin getting back onto his feet "and I certainly never enjoyed betraying my friends" Robin threw a smoke bomb at Slade and dodged as a high kick came swinging at where his head should have been. He rolled and brought his palm flat against Slade's chin sending the man onto his back, he flipped and brought his foot down hard onto Slade's chest. But Slade rolled and caught his foot as it came down, swung him round and crashed Robin through a desk showering splinters and dust everywhere. Robin lay shaking his head in the wreckage as Slade stalked round him, "You didn't enjoy pitting your skills against the other Titans, with their cybernetically enhanced bodies and supernatural powers and finding out you could beat them?" Slade picked Robin up by the front of his shirt "Your telling me you didn't find some small measure of satisfaction in knowing they were no match for you, a mere ordinary human being? Robin spat blood at Slade's masked face,

"Go to hell!" he snarled ,while Slade had been talking Robin had fished out one of his electric discs and brought his hand up, it stuck to the side of Slade's metal mask. The man roared in pain as he sank to his knees, jagged snakes of electricity crawling all over his whole body. Jinx dashed forwards as the man fell and made a grab for Robin who delivered a ringing back handed slap across her face then spun bringing the edge of his hand down in a sharp motion to the base of her neck. The girl fell to the floor with a soft cry of pain, unconscious. He turned back to Slade who had got back to his feet after having wrenched the magnetic shock-disc off the side of his head. "Impressive," he said "most impressive"

The Titans walked through the high empty corridors of the Capitol building, it looked like there had been a war in here. Bits and pieces of more Sladetrooper robots were everywhere, there must have been hundreds of them in here. Cyborg picked up a bent piece of metal, it had at one point been Robin's fighting staff "Where is he?" he asked, Beast Boy was standing beside Cyborg in Dog form again "You smell him B.B?" The Dog shook it's head and continued sniffing around. From up ahead they heard Starfire shouting "Friends," she sounded disturbed "come immediately, I fear Robin is injured" they all hurried to where she was standing. A wide spray of blood was on one of the marble walls, Raven reached up and touched the wall. An image flashed in her mind of Robin, he was being slammed into the wall by a Sladetrooper, he hit it cheek first and exhaled heavily as he did so, blood sprayed from his mouth onto the wall. "It's Robin's alright" she lowered her hand "but I can't tell where he is now, he's here somewhere but something is hiding him from me" They continued to walk through the empty building. '

This is odd,' thought Raven 'why can't I sense Robin, we know he's in here' she turned to look at Starfire who was barely containing the urge to stride ahead of the group. 'I can't sense her either, I can't sense anyone' She stopped.

"Raven," said beast boy changing back in to his human form "what's up?"

"We have to leave now" she said, a hint of anxiety could be heard in her voice

"Are you okay Raven?" Cyborg stepped forward and put his hands on the girls' shoulders,

"No," said Raven her voice was shaking now "we have to leave now, it's not safe he-" From the shadows, a lit match arced and struck the ground, in a second a huge circle of flame surrounded the Titans. Inside the circle along its circumference strange runes began to glow, "Raven of Azarath!" a voice shouted from above them "I call you out!" Raven had dropped to her knees, her hood had been thrown back and she grabbed the sides of her head as if in great pain. "Raven," Starfire ran over to her "what is wrong Raven?" A black bolt of power launched her across the circle

"Get away from me!" yelled Raven, her voice sounded as if it were a room full of people speaking at once.

"Raven, what's goin' on" Cyborg's hand transformed into his sonic cannon and he began walking round the circle aiming high for whatever was causing his friend to do this. "Raven of Azarath! assume your true form" the voice shouted again. Beast Boy ran forward and pulled Raven's hands away from her hand and grabbed them tightly, she threw her head back and screamed "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" her face was flickering between her normal face and one with four red glowing eyes. It was the face of her demon form, it only happened when Raven lost control of her emotions and the demon half of her soul was let loose. Raven began to grow in size till she filled the whole chamber, tentacles of darkness crept out from beneath her robe where her legs should be. One of them picked up Beast boy and tossed him away, in mid air he turned in to a cat and landed on his feet then resumed human form again. "RAGE WILL CONSUME YOU!" she roared and began advancing on the remaining three Titans. "Raven stop!" yelled Beast Boy, the huge four eyed head turned to look at him, "I don't know what's happening to you but it's us Raven," he said "your friends"

"Please Raven," Starfire flew up till she was level with Raven's head "you do not want to do this"

"STARFIRE!" Raven roared her face flickering back to normal for a second "BEHIND ME!". Looking past Raven's head a shape could be seen hunched in the darkness between two statues, it stood up startled and began to pack up a book it had in front of it. "Gotcha!" Cyborg aimed his cannon hand at the figure and hit it square in the back, it span through the air, it's long coat flying around it. It said a word no body heard properly and with a small thunderclap vanished. The book it had been carrying had been knocked out of its' hands by the force of Cyborg's blast and lay on the floor smoking. Raven's face switched back to normal and she shrank back to her regular human form of five foot five. Beast boy caught her as she stumbled backwards, "Whoa," he said "what happened there?" Raven shook him loose and strode over to the book, the flames of the circle dying at a wave of her hand. The book turned Black and flew into her hand, she took one look at the cover "Demonologists" she snarled narrowing her eyes, the book crumbled to dust. Turning back to other three she said "The only thing that can do that to me, apart from my losing control, is a powerful spell cast by a Demonologist, a studier and summoner of Demons. Whatever is happening here is bigger than a simple attack on a public building, we have to find Robin, quickly"

Slade's kick caught Robin in the chest and he coughed out a great clot of blood. Robin fell backwards and disappeared over a low table, he jumped back up roaring defiance and tossed two Baterrangs at Slade, they bounced harmlessly of his forearm armour. "You'll have to do better than that, Robin" Slade jeered "after doing so well against your own friends, who have beaten me time and time again, I should be nothing to you"

"Shut up," Robin roared, incandescent with rage "stop talking about that or I'll.. I'll..-"

"You'll what? kill me," Slade let out a low, mirthless laugh "if you had the guts for that you would have done it a long time ago, Robin" he drew a dagger from his belt and threw it in a quick snake like motion, it struck Robin in the thigh. Robin howled in pain as he pulled it out, but Slade was already across the room and had picked Robin up by his throat and was squeezing. "You may not be capable of killing me Robin," he said drawing him closer to his mask, Robin could feel Slade's breath on his face "but I am more than capable of killing you, Tim" Slade's hand came up and ripped off Robin's mask and threw it away. The world stopped it froze in a perfect crystalline moment. 'He knows who I am!'

"I know all about you, a poor street child taken in by Batman and trained to be Robin, everybody thought there was only one Robin but I know the truth, Tim" Slade continued to sneer. The world around Robin was dissolving, nothing was real anymore, he could feel his life slipping away as Slade continued to tighten his grip, choking him.

A howl of pain filled the building, Starfire snapped her head round to the direction it came from "Robin!" she screamed, the force of emotion behind it knocked Raven to her knees and caused Cyborg and Beast Boy to shudder. Starfire lifted off and flew down the corridor as fast as she could, "I am coming, Robin!"

A small thunderclap heralded Havelock's arrival in the debating chamber, Slade still held Robin in his hand who was gagging, struggling for air. The revelation that Slade knew who he was had caused his brain to shut down, Robin had been destroyed like a snowflake in a jet engine and he was just a kid in a playsuit. Havelock began to recite a spell from memory, the air in the chamber shimmered like it was above a highway on a hot day. The main door to the debating chamber was blasted apart by a bright green flash. Starfire charged into the room, eyes blazing, hands already charged with Starbolts "Where is Robin? tell me now" she commanded. Finally taking in the room she saw Slade with Robin in his outstretched arm, hand around his throat. She saw the life in Robin's eyes begin to fade, his unmasked eyes. The light in her eyes went out, the Starbolts faded, Robin had no mask on. She looked in to his eyes as he looked at her and saw the final spark of life go out like the last ember in a fire. Slade tossed Robin's body aside like a rag doll and chuckled, there was no humour in that laugh. The rest of the Titans charged in to the room, "Star' where's Robin" shouted Cyborg, but Starfire was on her knees staring open mouthed, at Robin's dead eyes looking straight at her. In the Circle Havelock finished his spell, smiled, waved. blew Raven a kiss, and then Havelock, Slade, the unconscious Jinx and the body of Robin vanished. A few seconds passed, and then Starfire screamed.

to be continued...

The red cross book; what is it? what does it Do? who is the mysterious Havelock? and is Robin Really dead? all will be revealed in;

episode ii: what type of hero?, coming soon at the same teen time, same teen channel.