Teen titans

Robin Reborn

Episode III: Echoes of a Soul

by Secondchild02

Disclaimer: I still don't own Teen Titans or Batman, never will, don't worry I have a great therapist. Following story contains a quote from Batman Beyond: Return Of The Joker

A shadow thickened in an alleyway and turned into a running figure that stumbled and tripped all over the slimy cobblestones. Clutching at its' head it fell into a puddle getting its' bright red, yellow, and green costume wet. He was disoriented and confused; where was he? who was he? why was he in these ridiculous clothes? He looked at his hands that had been throbbing since he woke up and saw that the knuckles were bruised and cut and his side ached and was sticky with blood. Had he been fighting? Who had he been fighting? Reflected in the surface of the puddle he saw his face. It was boyish but not too young with black spiky hair and innocent brown eyes. He also noticed that one side of it was bloodied and burned and he seemed to have only one ear. What had happened to him?

A sound made him look up. Three youths had emerged from a side alley and were cautiously advancing on him. "I told you it was him" said the tallest of them.

"I don't believe it, Robin, the Boy Wonder," said one of the others "he looks a little messed up. No mask too I see"

"I never figured him to have brown eyes, I thought more of a grey" said the first again. The one who was yet to speak rushed forward and kicked him in the ribs, Robin gasped as the air rushed out his lungs.

"What the hell you do that for?" asked the second grabbing the third by his jacket

"If we take him out then we'll get in the new Jokers gang for sure" replied the third pushing his friend away

"Jokers huh?, I always figured you for a clown, you idiot, and don't kick him again his friends might be nearby" the second said.

"Quiet!" the tall one turned to look at them both "just rough him up and take his stuff, it should be worth something to the right people". Robin looked at them,

"Help me," he said "who am I?" as the three youths circled him. They looked hesitantly at him as if expecting something. "Gentlemen?" said the second one and kicked Robin hard in the side, he cried out but was cut short by a huge fist to the face. He hit the ground face first and shut his eyes tight, whatever they wanted they would be finished soon.

There was a flash in his head, flames, broken glass, green light, a scream that pierced his soul and shook the world. Then the cool of night and nothing more.

Robin lay in the alleyway feeling his body being beaten for a reason that he couldn't figure out and wished he wasn't there. Inside he let go.

A few minutes later Vengeance dusted himself down and examined his attackers. One was melted into a dumpster, another was a pile of ash, and the last lay about the alleyway in sticky chunks. 'How did I get here?' he thought looking at his surroundings 'doesn't matter'. With little effort he healed the wounds he had and walked deeper into the alleyway where in a dull flash of red light and he was gone. Only an elderly Tom-cat saw him vanish, it didn't care.

Starfire remembered.

"It wasn't a dream"

The smile faded from her face as a twisted grin appeared on Robins'. "What do you mean?" asked Starfire, her small eyebrows frowning in confusion. Robin turned round to look out of the window again "You watched Robin die, you saw the final spark of life fade from his eyes. K'ory, may I call you K'ory? it doesn't matter anyway, I am not Robin" Starfire began to back away slowly towards the main door to the room,

"If you are not Robin then who are you?" her head swam, the world was going mad again. He turned, his soft brown eyes gone and replaced with two bright red orbs that burned in his head the colour of fire from edge to edge, pupil-less and soulless. "I am Vengeance" the confident voice of Robin was replaced with a menacing rasp. He narrowed his eyes and raised his hand, Starfire stopped her retreat towards the door and a red glow surrounded her body and pressed down on to her skin. She cried out in pain, every inch of her body felt as if it was on fire, "and you are going to die, K'ory" Vengeance opened his eyes wide and they seemed to glow brighter than before. The pain intensified, Starfire ran out of breath to scream with and her delicate, attractive face was locked in a silent mask of agony as her skin began to burn and blister. Vengeance threw his head back and let loose a laugh that echoed throughout the tower and seemed to fill the world. Starfire was beyond any mortal measure of pain and in a tiny part of her soul she heard a small voice welcome the absence of pain that death would bring. The rest of her screamed defiance and opened her eyes. Two emerald beams struck Vengeance full in the chest blasting him off his feet and out the main window of Titans Tower. Starfire floated in mid air, eyes blazing with bright green light as she felt the righteous fury fill her whole being. Whatever this thing was that had taken Robins' body, she was going to stop it. She floated over to the broken window feeling the cold air gusting through the smashed pane. She could see nothing except the long drop to the rocks below, in the pounding surf there was a distinct absence of a broken red clad body. "That all you got?" a red burst of energy struck Starfire knocking her from her feet. Vengeance rose from the side of the tower amid a crackling ball of red lightening with his hair and cape whipping around in his own private hurricane. "I thought you were meant to be tougher than you look?" he lightly floated in through the hole in the glass and stood back on the carpet. Starfire picked herself up and glared at Vengeance "What happened to Robin? why are you in his body?"

"I told you, he died," Vengeance smiled mischievously "and I brought it back to life, with a little help from Slade of course" at the mention of Slade's name Starfire bared her teeth in a sneer.

"He will suffer for what he has done to Robin, but you will be first" she launched herself at Vengeance flying across the room at chest height launching Starbolts that smashed into furniture and windows, burning the carpet and ripping through the sofa. Vengeance spun as she passed bringing his fist down and smashed it into her face sending Starfire into the floor at full speed. In a tangle of limbs she rolled to a stop and leapt out of the way just in time to avoid a ball of red energy that burned through the floor and would have made short work of her head if she hadn't moved. Leaping forward to behind a computer terminal she let loose a series of small starbolts, Vengeance cried out in pain as several of them burned one side of his face.

Behind the terminal Starfire shut her eyes tight at the sound of Robin screaming as she burned his face, his handsome face. But that face didn't belong to Robin anymore, he was dead. If Robin was in there anywhere he wouldn't have hurt her so much, she could feel her face swelling up where he had punched her. "K'ory," Vengeance rasped "you wouldn't want to hurt your precious Robin now". Starfire rose from behind the console "Robin is dead, you are not him" once again she fired her eye beams and caught Vengeance a glancing blow on the shoulder as he dodged. She followed him letting her eye beams cut through the remaining furniture with ease as she sought to get to Vengeance but he flipped and vaulted over the debris of the main room with ease and landed back in front of the windows grinning. "Easy there K'ory, don't want to wreck your home now do you?"

"Do not call me K'ory" she roared, starbolts and eye beams were cut loose in a blinding emerald storm of rage. Vengeance shielded himself with his arms as they hit him nearly being knocked off his feet. Starfire concentrated harder, the light of her attack glowed brighter but was met with a crackling red cloud of energy as Vengeance focused his own energy towards Starfire. His eyes glowed red and he surrounded by an aura of fire as slowly Starfire's attack was forced back, she grunted with effort but it was in vain. Vengeance grinned "It is useless to resist!" the voice wasn't Robin's, no human voice box could make that sound, it was low and rasping, edged with malice and dripping pure evil. "I intended to simply destroy you but now, I will break your mind, you will be trapped in your own body, a prison of flesh with you at its' core, you will see what you have to eat to stay alive and be aware of everything as I make you a pet and plaything to the worst horrors you can imagine". Vengeance's face was locked in a reptilian smile as his attack bore down on the girl. "You will pray for a death that will never come, K'ory, may I call you K'ory"

"I said do not call me K'ory" Starfire felt more angry than she ever had before, Robin had been taken from her, she had been attacked by an entity that wore Robins body and it was going to enslave her for a life of physical and mental abuse. Not again, her parents had sacrificed her to save Tamerran and doomed her to a life similar to the one Vengeance promised. Not again.

She screamed and the force of it blew out all the windows and shattered every glass in the small kitchen. The massive television screen exploded outwards, the computer banks were lost in a snowstorm of sparks and she became enveloped in a solid pillar of green energy that expanded and filled the whole room. Starfire stared hard at Vengeance who grinned and began to repel her new burst of power but suddenly looked distracted.

In his mind Vengeance felt a tug, it was like having a tooth pulled out in his brain, as something in the city was drawing in all the ambient magical power like a sponge. It was powerful, not as powerful as he was but it could be, definitely a lot of promise here. He reached out to lightly brush the mind that was drawing in all this power. A vision of four glowing red eyes filled his own mind, the slowly turned in to four huge yellow eyes in a massive red head that laughed a deep, deafening laugh that shook the universe.

Trigon.

Vengeance recoiled in shock, losing focus as the mind drew in his own power, he felt himself fading back to the void from where he had come from. Never again, this world was too much fun.

The red glow faded from Vengeance's eyes and was replaced by a bewildered set of soft brown eyes, "Starfire?" it was Robin's voice and looking into those eyes Starfire knew it was Robin and not Vengeance. She gasped but the burst of power she had released couldn't be stopped. "Robin!" she screamed but it was too late. Starfire's incredible release of power struck Robin burning his skin and uniform and blasting him out of the broken windows, she darted forward to save him but only grabbed at his uniform pulling the black metal disc with the yellow R on from his chest. He fell and with wide open eyes she watched him tumble end over end towards the jagged rocks that surrounded the tower. She didn't want to watch but couldn't draw herself away from the window. Robin looked back up at Starfire and his eyes said it all, suddenly his body arced like it had hit a power line and his eyes flashed red again. Before he hit the rocks, Vengeance vanished in a small thunderclap.

Starfire wandered back into the centre of the main room surveying the damage and gripping the black disc form Robin's uniform in her hand. She saw her home in ruins, looked down at her bare legs that were peppered with cuts and burns, her arms were similar but her hands were aching from the huge release of power. She fell to her knees crying for a reason she couldn't determine; exhaustion, grief, pain, she just didn't know. Her free hand touched her bruised and swollen face and smeared some of her blood down her cheek. Staring at her blood covered hand and gripping the hastily grabbed piece of Robin's uniform she passed out. She never felt her head hit the ground.

Raven stood watching Starfire through the observation window in the med-lab. The Tamerranian was sitting with her knees against her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs. Raven had accepted her own condition and had left it be for now, her vision was unaffected so it didn't matter right now as there were more important things to think about. In her pale hand she held the object that Starfire had been holding when they had found her. A black metal disc no bigger than two inches in diameter bearing a bright yellow R, it was easily recognisable as they saw it every day; the trademark symbol on Robins uniform. From what Starfire had told them and now with this physical evidence there was no doubt that Robin was still alive somewhere. Raven felt a strange happy feeling rising in her chest, their leader wasn't dead and there was a chance they could save him. She looked back at Starfire who had stopped crying, in fact she hadn't cried for hours but was just staring into space, her large innocent eyes strangely blank. Raven could sense no overriding emotion from her friend, it changed from second to second and she wondered if even Starfire knew what she was thinking herself.

In fact one thought was running through Starfires mind; "Robin is alive" she knew this wasn't strictly true but the Vengeance being had been distracted for some reason and Robin had lived again if only for a few minutes. His eyes had said one thing as he fell, 'I will come back for you, I promise'. She smiled slightly as she thought 'And I will come to get you'. Behind the window Raven heard the thought above the noise in Starfire's head and nodded a silent agreement. In the meantime there was something that had to be done and she wished she didn't have to.

Once again Raven found herself standing in front of a door few Titans had ever entered, Robins crime lab. The gun metal grey door slid aside as she entered the code into the door, a darkness similar to that of Robin's barren room lay beyond it. There was only a table in the centre of the room that was littered with bits and pieces of inventions again and news paper clippings. Some mouldy wax cartons were piled up in and around a cheap plastic bucket beside the desk and a slight smell of stale Chinese food and cheap instant Ramen filled the air. Looking at it Raven wondered exactly how much time the Boy Wonder spent in here? She clicked on the desk lamp making the walls visible and Raven gasped in shock. More news paper clippings covered the walls as well as notes in Robins' sharp spiky handwriting, pictures, bits and pieces of magazine articles that criticised the Titans and questioned their effectiveness at crime fighting, crime files, and the most chilling item of all; Slade's Mask. Raven gasped, the empty eye hole on the brass and black mask stared balefully at her she half expected it to speak to her in Slade's calm level tones about how he enjoyed killing Robin and would do so to them all. She shivered and noticed that the mask had been placed almost reverentially at the centre of a web of thought that covered the four walls of the room. It wasn't Slade's real mask of course but instead a copy that had belonged to his robot double that Robin had battled following his exposure as Red X. She noticed the laptop on the table as well, she had no idea Robin even owned one but figured if he had to get in touch with Him then he could hardly pick up the phone now could he. Raven thought for a second about who she would be speaking to in a few minutes. Batman.

Robin hadn't spoken of him very often but when he had there was something there in his voice and Raven sensed something in the back of his mind too. He often talked about Nightwing, the first Robin, who he admired greatly. Batgirl was mentioned now and again and when she was Beast Boy would become glassy eyed and jealous of Robin for ever being near her. But Batman, whenever that name was brought up Robin moved on and changed the subject quickly. Raven often wondered why, it had started after Robin had been called to assist Batman when he was injured. It was only meant to be for a few days but Robin was gone for almost a six months. Upon his return he seemed different, he was more driven, determined to win often resulting in a complete loss of control when he couldn't catch a criminal or figure out a clue in a case. Raven had often heard him down in the gym in the small hours of the morning beating the crap out of himself on the machines, yelling and cursing at himself for being a failure and that he would never be as good as Batman. Quite often his language would have made Starfire burst into tears if she had heard it but Raven had heard worse, much worse, in her time.

After activating the lap top it took only about two minutes of searching to find what she had been looking for; a small icon shaped like a black stylised Bat on a yellow background. A double-click brought up a window that was all black with white writing that said "Connecting". She turned to look back at the Slade mask on the wall, it was still looking at her, how could Robin work in here with that thing staring at him. She walked over to it and touched it.

Robin held the mask in his hands "Who are you?" he asked "What do you want?" in an almost

trance like state he peered into the upturned mask in his hands. Then almost as if pulled by a magnet his hands began to rise, drawing the mask onto his own face.

Raven drew back from the mask a little disoriented and sat in the chair at the desk trying to rid herself of the disturbing image of Robin putting on Slade's mask. Her daze was interrupted by a deep serious voice "Who is this?" turning to look at the laptop she saw the full screen filled with a video message window, a tiny camera blinked its red LED eye at her from the top of the screen. In the window was the head and shoulders of a man with the top half of his face obscured by a black cowl styled to look like a bat, it even had pointed ears. The white slits of the mans eyes narrowed and he asked again "Who is this? Where's Robin?". The realisation hit her, this was Batman.

"Uh," said Raven momentarily frozen with shock "Robin isn't here right now?"

"Then who are you? and where is he?" Batman sounded extremely annoyed.

"I'm Raven" she couldn't believe how stupid she must sound but realisation dawned on Batman's face which softened slightly. "Ah," he said "one of the Teen Titans. Why are you calling me and not Robin?" Batman sounded eager to find out about where his former partner was. "Because Robin is, well, missing"

"Missing?"

"He's been having a hard time recently with some personal stuff and he-"

"Skip it, where is he?" interrupted Batman

"He's been captured by Slade and using a demonic ritual been possessed by a creature calling itself Vengeance" stated Raven flatly.

"I see," Batman raised his hand to his chin "is there any possibility of reversing the ritual and restoring Robin?"

"I have no idea, the magic involved is extremely advanced and this Vengeance might just be too powerful for us to deal with. We have information that ties this into a theft in Gotham City, at the museum"

"The Red Cross Book" said Batman, Raven looked confused..

"The what?" she raised a thin eyebrow.

"The Red Cross Book was part of an exhibit of ancient scrolls and texts on display in the Gotham City museum. A week ago it was stolen, I'm still trying to find out who did it, I take it you have information?"

"Yes, it was a member of the HIVE called Jinx who was working for Slade." Raven looked down at her hands and caught her reflection in a piece of metal on Robin's desk with its blood red eyes in place of the violet they should be. "Where is this Jinx now?" Batman asked.

"Jump City Psychiatric Hospital, she's in a coma. She's not expected to wake up. Ever" Raven tried to hide the guilt in her eyes. Batman arched his fingers in front of him "The Red Cross Book is an ancient text, thought to be the Holy Book of an obscure sect of Judaism no longer practised. It contains a legend of an ancient evil from a world outside our own that takes the form of the dead and tried to destroy our own before being defeated and driven back to its own world by a powerful Sorcerer"

"Surely it wouldn't contain instructions as to how to bring such an evil into the world?" said Raven.

"It's never been translated properly, it very well could. Could I ask you to do something Miss Roth?"

Raven was taken aback by the fact that Batman seemed to know her real name but after all he was the worlds greatest living detective. "Yes, of course Batman"

"If you do manage to save Robin could you get him to contact me. I haven't spoken to him in some time". Raven couldn't sense peoples emotions over video links but she picked up on a hint of regret in the mans' voice. "Of course." With that Batman shut off the video link. Raven sat in silence for a second, 'So that was Batman,' she thought 'not as bad as Robin made out, bit older than I thought he'd be but he's been around for a lot longer than I've even been alive' she picked up a piece of something Robin had been working on and wondered what it was meant to be. She looked around the room again, her gaze finally fell onto the mask and locked stares with it for a split second. Feeling quite uncomfortable she fled the room.

The warehouse had been cleaned up slightly, the floor was visible again, and Slade watched Havelock directing the efforts of his Sladetroopers from the balcony at the rear of the building. From a shadow behind him Vengeance emerged, fully healed but the Robin uniform was a bit ragged and torn. "The one called Starfire was tougher than you made out, Slade"

"Nevertheless, she should not have proved a problem for you. Has she been incapacitated?" Slade didn't even turn around to ask the question and Vengeance felt a deep hatred rising, a hatred of Slade. It was without reason, Vengeance knew, Slade was responsible for his re-entry into this world but was also responsible for threatening his friends. 'Where did that come from?' Vengeance blinked and shook his head he still hadn't got to the bottom of how he had came to be in that alleyway. "She is out of the way for the time being. Which one is next?"

"The one they call Raven" Slade still hadn't turned round which was causing Vengeance to use all of his will power to not turn the man into a puddle of boiling blood. "The other female, why not the mechanical man?" Vengeance asked still trying to get the man to turn round.

"Because Cyborg and Beast boy, despite being friends, will eventually fight each other as their true natures come to the surface. They have no leader and their cheerleader is in a hospital bed, Raven is their intellectual with the other two being merely the muscles and the mouth. Neither can function without at least the brain and Raven is that brain, remove her and the other two will be useless" Vengeance nodded his head in agreement but in a corner of his being felt angry about the Titans being referred to like that and he had bared his teeth when Slade had called Starfire a 'cheerleader'. He felt a small pang of guilt for inflicting pain upon someone so beautiful. 'Wait,' his thoughts shouted 'I am a three hundred thousand year old Demon from the slopes of Hell. I do not get guilty about destroying anyone, and I especially do not find naive mortal females beautiful. The sooner I destroy this world and get back to my own the better'. He stared at the back of Slade's masked head, "As you wish" he stepped back into the shadow he had walked out of, and was gone.

The Titans gathered in one of the spare meeting rooms they had in the tower, a dull little room with only one window that let in a dirty kind of light. Raven sat at the head of the table, Starfire to her left, Beast Boy on her right with Cyborg directly opposite her. Beast Boy was agitated, he kept glancing at Raven and jiggling his leg under the table. Cyborg sat quietly and was staring at the table while Starfire kept smiling brightly at everyone despite her bruised face. Raven spoke first "It's been a rough couple of days hasn't it?"

"You can say that again" spat Beast Boy. Cyborg shot Raven a glance,

"Friends," said Starfire "we must take heart in one good fact that we have learned"

"What's that?" said Beast Boy "the fact that out home is nearly totalled, the fact that you got the crap beat out you by some Demon in Robin's body, or could it be the fact that we are no nearer stopping Slade from destroying us"

"Gar, calm down" Cyborg put his hand on his friend's shoulder, Beast Boy swatted him off

"Maybe I don't wanna calm down, maybe you should get mad about all this, Vic, ever think about that"

"Getting angry isn't going to help us get Robin back" said Starfire as she looked at Beast Boy sternly "that is the good fact that we now know, there is a possibility of saving him".

"How do we know it was even Robin you saw and not some trick by Vengeance, or what ever it calls itself. It wants to destroy us, Star' and when it's through with us the city will be next maybe the whole world" Beast Boy was near shouting as he kicked his chair back and slammed both fists against the table. "Beast Boy," said Raven "Starfire is right, we have to stay in control of our feelings especially any leaning towards angry or violent feelings"

"That's rich coming from you girl!" said Cyborg as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Yeah," sneered Beast Boy "Cy' told me about the coffee house and how you turned Jinx into a damn statue, and don't think no one hasn't noticed your new look, were we meant to think you'd started wearing contacts?"

"I was the only one who got anything solid out of the investigation you just mutilated someone half your size" Raven was standing as well now and was toe to toe with Beast Boy

"Only by sucking out someone's brains, you call that investigation" Beast Boy and Raven were staring at each other with a barely contained hatred in their eyes. Cyborg could see they were getting under each others skin about their recent actions which neither of them were pleased about. Starfire raised her hands "Friends, we must cease this fighting and let Raven share what she knows. We must listen to her if we are to have any chance of saving Robin" Beast Boy and Raven scowled at her as she smiled an uncomfortable smile at them. They slowly sat down, Raven took a deep breath and Beast Boy stared at the centre of the table. After what felt to Cyborg and Starfire like an eternity Raven spoke "Robin has been possessed by a demonic entity and is being controlled by Slade. Slade is being assisted by a man called Havelock who is a demonologist from England and responsible for conducting the ritual that turned Robin into this Vengeance creature. After speaking to Batman I-"

"Whoa," Cyborg leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table as the other two looked at her goggle eyed "you spoke to Batman? The Dark Knight?, the Caped Crusader? the man who trained Robin and is perhaps one of the most feared Superheroes of them all. That Batman?"

"Yes, that one. May I continue?" Raven watched her team mates nod silently. "I was able to determine that an ancient text called The Red Cross Book was used to resurrect Robin and may be the key to returning him to us"

"How did Slade get his hands on this book?' Beast Boy asked

"It was stolen from Gotham City museum about a week ago by Jinx on Slade's orders" Raven responded coolly. "How did Slade know what book to look for?' Starfire had her serious face on.

"Havelock. Slade met him whilst he was being nursed back to health by the HIVE after Terra nearly destroyed him" Raven noticed a glimmer of emotion in Beast Boy's eyes at the mention of that name.

"Do we know anything about this Vengeance creature? does it have any weak points? could it be susceptible to psychic attacks? should we call the Justice League?" said Cyborg.

"I would hold off calling the League for now and as for weak points I have no idea. Physical attacks seem to have some effect but not much and we only risk damaging Robin in the process"

"Where do we go from here?" asked Starfire.

"We find this Havelock, he should lead us right to Slade". Cyborg stood up and made his way towards the door, "Lets get started then, I'll hit the computer and see what turns up". Starfire followed him leaving only Raven and Beast Boy alone in the room. She glanced up at him, he was looking right at her and looked like he wanted to say something. "Raven I-"

"Don't bother Beast Boy," she smiled weakly at him "I'm sorry too. We've been stressed out and done things we wish we hadn't. It's okay, we'll get through this". Beast Boy stared at her open mouthed,

"That's what I was going to say, word for word". Raven gave a small laugh which came out as a quiet giggle, much to her surprise. "Well I can read minds can't I" she got up and walked past Beast Boy and as she did put a small pale hand on his shoulder "and no one has ever thought I had a nice laugh before, thanks B.B." Beast Boy stood up and opened his mouth as she walked out of the room but Raven spoke first "Mind reader, remember!"

Havelock slammed shut the door to his small apartment and slid the seven bolts shut. he checked that all the windows were locked and that his nine millimetre pistol was loaded and on the coffee table within easy reach of his chair, not that it would be much use. He sat down and closed his eyes as he breathed deeply. Panicky thoughts were sleeting through his brain concerning how much of the plan Jinx had actually known, how much had Slade told her about what they had actually done. He thought about Raven, how she had absorbed the knowledge right out of Jinx and left her a vegetable, he had also received reports from the HIVE that Gizmo was in police custody minus a hand thanks to Beast Boy. The last thing he needed was for the Titans to be out of control and after him. He turned on the TV in an effort to relax himself but instead of the late night talk show that should have been on he was met with the glowering face of Vengeance. "Why is there a source of power in this dimension linked to Trigon?" he roared from the TV. Havelock's chair fell over as he scrambled to his feet. "Ah," he said licking his lips nervously "It has been suspected, by those in my field, that-"

"Out with it Maggot!" Vengeance snapped.

"The Teen Titan, Raven, may be the daughter of Trigon, we have never been sure" Havelock waited for the searing heat of being turned into a puddle of lava. He looked up at the screen to Vengeance looking absolutely livid. "Should I not have been told that this was possible? if even a fraction of Trigon's power is inside her then she could be a serious threat. I have already felt a great source of power in the city, it nearly absorbed my own. How can I defeat her?"

"I have been able to surmise that the power of Trigon, if it does indeed live within her, can only be released by anger and a complete loss of control by Raven. A few days ago I was able to call it out but that was before you were returned to this world."

"We won't be doing that again, Wizard will we?"

"Of course not. What is going to happen to me if the Titans find out about me?". Havelock asked nervously.

"I expect you'll find out soon won't you?"

"Pardon?" On the screen Vengeance grinned

"Bye" the screen blinked off. Havelock looked round at his door as he heard a shuffling noise behind it, he backed away towards the windows. A bright blue beam blasted the door aside and amidst the dust he saw a huge figure stride through the doorway. It seemed to be made of blue lights and polished reflections with one infernally red eye blazing away as its head swept the room. He looked to his right and saw a green mouse crawl from a hole in his skirting which then morphed into a six foot green and black striped Velociraptor, its two yellow eyes bored into him as it hit growled and clicked at him. Above him a great black bird dropped out of the ceiling, the wings flowed into a billowing cape and its beaked head became the cloaked face of a slim young girl with blazing all white eyes. A few flakes of mortar landed on his shoulder as he became aware of the sound of stone on stone grinding away, he turned to see the wall of his apartment ripped open like a sardine can by a girl no older than about eighteen who was roaring angrily and staring at him with glowing emerald green eyes. The Titans had found him.

Starfire landed lightly on the carpet and walked over to where Cyborg was holding Havelock about a foot of the ground by his shirt. Her eyes were still filled with intense green light as she looked at Havelock, "Where is Robin?" she asked.

"I don't know who you're talking about" he squeaked. Cyborg pulled him closer to his face,

"He's about five-eight, spiky hair, bright stupid lookin' clothes, and, oh, you helped kill him. Ring any bells?" Cyborg's human eye was nearly as cold as his mechanical one and he was grinding his teeth. Looking at him Raven thought he'd taken Beast Boy's advice about getting angry. "Ah, Robin," said Havelock "yes. I'm afraid there is no way of returning him to you, he required a fresh corpse for successful completion of the ritual". Raven looked at him or more specifically into him, she dived through the layers of his mind as if they were nothing but fog as she searched for the truth. Starfire turned to Raven "Are you finding anything?"

"Nothing yet," Raven had a strained expression on her face "I can only tell that he is hiding something from me"

"You'll find the HIVE instils excellent mental discipline in all of it's agents," Havelock smirked "you will never find what you are looking for".

"I rather doubt that" Raven raised one eyebrow in concentration causing Havelock's eyes to roll back in his head.

Deeper and deeper she plunged into the mans' mind in her search, he did have some tricky mental barriers but they were nothing to her. She cut through another barrier with ease, too easy she thought, but kept going anyway.

She snapped her eyes open and looked at the man, his nose was bleeding slightly, "What is a Soul-Echo?" she asked. Behind her Beast Boy transformed back to his regular human form "A what?"

"A Soul-Echo," Raven repeated "what is it?". Starfire turned to Havelock,

"Is Robin still alive in there, in his body?"

"Yes," whispered Havelock weakly "and at the same time no"

"I do not understand?" Starfire looked at Raven.

"Cyborg," she said "put him down" Raven wrapped her cloak around herself "explain?'. Havelock sat back in his chair "A Soul-Echo is a reflection of the soul of a possessed body. It's nothing more than a ghost and no more than a faint copy of whoever the person was, it cannot be used to bring back Robin". Starfire looked dejected, she wandered off into the apartments small kitchen. Raven scowled at him

"You're lying, I can tell and I am going to find out why". Havelock sat panicking,

"How?, don't do to me what you did to Jinx, I was only doing it for the money, Slade said he could pay a fortune, he was desperate to get rid of you," he was near tears and a steaming puddle was growing around his feet. "Oh man, that's nasty!" said Cyborg as he took a few steps back.

"Dude, have you no control?" Beast boy jumped up onto the sofa as Raven floated up into mid air frowning. Havelock met gazes with her as the world went white.

Darkness surrounded him, there was no light at all. He ran on for what seemed like forever until his lungs burned and his legs gave in and in a crumpled, panting heap, Havelock stopped. "You can't run if there's nowhere to go, can you?" looking up he saw Raven standing a few metres in front of him her blood red eyes were all that was visible beneath her hood apart from a mirthless grin. "Where am I?" he asked her.

"Oh, nowhere really. You would call it the space between dreams and reality, each lies at the end of each other in a big cosmic donut" Raven walked around Havelock in a circle as she spoke.

"What do you want?" he was still in a heap on what he assumed was the floor despite there being nothing all around him to indicate what was what. "I want to know how you brought this Vengeance into this world and how I can send it back to where it came from"

"And if I don't tell you?". Raven grinned evilly,

"Then I'll leave you here. Jinx is out there somewhere," she pointed her thumb over her shoulder "you might find her before your body dies in the real world or you go mad from isolation". Havelock looked at her, his eyes pleading with her "You wouldn't?"

"Try me. You used me like a toy back in the Capitol building and it pissed me off," Raven bore down on him as a black band of power crackled round his throat pulling him into the air "I nearly attacked my friends, which I am not amused by, and you have assisted Slade in the murder and corruption of my teams' leader"

"Who would think that Raven, Daughter of Trigon could be so devoted to a mortal boy" Havelock grinned.

"Oh please, Robin maintains the stability of the group. As the only one who could be normal and chooses not to be he keeps us normal. With our abilities anyone of us could become as evil as Slade or worse but Robin teaches us that when we break down it's over." said Raven as she dropped Havelock back to the ground. "Tell me what I want to know, or here you stay".

"Slade has the book, it's all in there. But your friend can't be resurrected, not unless something powerful can bring him back".

Raven smirked "I think we have that covered"

In a similar darkness Tim Drake sat all alone, there was no one to talk to him and there was nothing much to see. He had given up in thinking that this was death, the few minutes he had seen Starfire had ended that thought. It flashed in his memory once more, the fires, her injuries, the searing pain as the starbolts hit him he remembered it all. He had no clue where he was but he peered out into the distance or the infinite, whatever it was he was seeing hoping to see something.

Nothing, there was never anything here. He looked down at what he was wearing, the obnoxiously bright Robin suit and shook his head. If he ever got back to Starfire then Robin was dead, he would only be Tim Drake, Boy Normal.

"Why? can't you be both?" he jumped to his feet as he heard a voice, his own. Okay, was he talking to himself? No he had definitely heard something. He turned to see himself or something that looked like him. It was a bit taller than he was, the voice a little different but there was definitely the bright Robin suit and the black spiky hair. It was just that the face was vague and seemed to comprise of no distinguishing features, the nose and mouth were there and there were surely eyes behind the black domino mask but only white circles were visible. "Who are you?" asked Tim.

"I'm Robin, or rather the persona or idea of Robin that exists in your mind and the minds of others" it said.

"What?" Tim looked confused.

"You, like a lot of superheroes, live a double life. By day you are mild mannered teenager Tim Drake, but by night you are Robin, fearless crime-fighter, partner of Batman and leader of the Teen Titans. You split your thoughts in two as well, one set of thoughts belongs to Tim Drake but you also have thoughts that specifically are Robins' as well. I am the half of those thoughts that is Robin".

"So you're me?"

"No I'm Robin, you are Tim" Robin walked about a bit looking at Tim "You know we're in this mess because of you?"

"How is this my fault? we're the same person" Tim shouted at Robin who smirked.

"You wouldn't let Star' know you! You wouldn't let Star see you! You ran off and went after Slade alone and now you've gotten us stuck here" Robin turned his back on Tim and stared out into the empty space around them. "Why didn't you let her see you?"

"Star' sees me every day, how can she not see me" Tim asked as his confusion only grew. Robin turned back to face him tapping his mask, "No, she sees me. Tim Drake doesn't wear a mask, Robin does. Did you ever think that maybe Star wants to know who you really are? We are the only one of the Titans that has this double life, the rest are just themselves, Beast Boy is Beast Boy from the second he wakes up to the second he goes to sleep, so is Raven, Cyborg and of course Starfire."

"But Starfire wants Robin, I am not Robin" Tim sat back down on the floor "I'm just Tim Drake"

"Robin can't exist without Tim Drake. You used to think we were one and the same before the Joker" Robin looked down at Tim as he shivered.

"You lose Batman. Robin is mine, the last sound you here will be our laughter!"

"It wasn't your fault, it was no ones fault. You were tortured and drugged, it would have broken anyone"

"He wouldn't have broken," Tim growled "He would have gotten free, beaten the Joker and Harley and escaped. Remember he forbade me from being you, said he wouldn't risk another partner, after that I became just Tim Drake"

"But you went back to Jump City after that, you became Robin again, became me again, became better than ever" said Robin.

"But I'll never be as good as he is, as much as I try I'll never be as good as Bruce, as Batman" Tim held his head in his hands. Robin put his gloved hand on Tim's shoulder,

"You are not Batman, you are not Bruce Wayne. You are Tim Drake, you are Robin. You spoke to the shrink about the Joker, why not talk to Star about it. She'll understand, trust me" Robin faded away leaving Tim alone. Tim stared into the distance again, after a minute he noticed there was something in his hand. It was a black mask with two white, soulless eyes. Without thinking he placed it against his face over his own eyes.

Robin stood up, there would be a way out of here somewhere and if there wasn't then he was betting the Titans would be looking to make him one. He set out into the empty void around him with one thought ringing through his mind, the answer to a question he had asked himself not too long ago "I am Robin!"

to be continued...

what could possibly bring Robin back from the void? why haven't I solved the mystery of raven's new look? will Starfire do anything useful? is this story going anywhere?

you have to wait for;

Episode IV; Death & Rebirth

A/N; It's finally finished, yippee (fireworks go off, dancing girls are released carrying big, big glasses of cocktails, etc, etc). This story nearly got abandoned owing to stress from work and too much time playing GTA san andreas on ps2. A few things to talk about; I haven't thanked those who have reviewed this storyhxg, memorysofawhiterose, sheraven, terrafan, an to kill a raven.I thank you all for not tearing me to pieces as this is the first piece of writing I have produced that anyone apart from me has seen. Yes this episode seems a bit slow but there was a lot to fill in. We just had to hear from Batman, we had to see the fight between Star' and Vengeance, Havelock had to be tracked down, Starfire had to get off her Butt and do something at long last. plus I hinted at a little BB x Raven that I may develop in a later story, it depends if I want to cure Terra or not, I am undecided. Yes, the story is a whole lot centred on Raven but she's the emerging new leader coz she's the smartest after Robin. As for the boy wonder himself, you guessed it, I've made him a jabbering crazy man obsessed with perfection and really screwed up. For those that don't know I have referenced Batman Beyond: Return Of The Joker in this story when Robin is talking about being "tortured and drugged". As for the boy wonders identity itself, yes I know that in the cartoon series Robin is Dick Grayson, we know this from the episode Fractured and How Long Is Forever? it is also apparent from the robin uniform itself that this is the Dick Grayson, Robin. Tim Drakes was nearly all red and black, at least it was in the animated series of Batman. I am using Tim Drake because he is the robin I am more used to than Dick Grayson. plus I think he's cooler and is presently Robin in the comics of both Batman and Teen Titans, well at least the ones I have read. Yes the last part is a head trip but I liked it, I'm into Evangelion so all this mind trip stuff is what I love. hope y'all like it. I'll try to have IV up before the festivities but don't count on it.see ya'