A. Note: I wonder how soy milk really tastes, we meat eaters all think it might be bad simply because, it has nothing to do with cows. Hmmm...... By the way, Dutch cheese is great. Just making a quick continuation.
Standard disclaimer of ownership and properties apply readily.
---TT
Chapter 1
--
Beast Boy stood right outside of the automated door that led into the training room. Though he was shielded by the rather stern and sound proofed barricade of a door, he could still feel and hear the firm vibrations coming from the other side of the door.
The green teen seriously did not understand why he was even attempting to go talk to the unstable Boy Wonder. He wasn't exactly known for his special talents in psychology, he learned that word when he was thirteen, and couldn't spell it until he was fourteen. He readily believed that he would create even more of a havoc.
But this time, not even Cyborg or Starfire seemed willing to confront Robin, for whatever reasons they had. Beast Boy had enough of seeing his friends suffer indefinitely. This was his home, and he was determined to keep it intact.
So he came up with a brilliant plan, which was to convince the Boy Wonder to have a wonderful time of sunshine, video games, movies, and maybe a game of those elemental cards.
Of course, Raven warned him of the possible consequences, but Beast Boy didn't want to just allow their leader to wallow in whatever teen anguish he was basking in.
Besides, what's the worst that could happen? But just to be sure, he didn't use the emergency telecom to call Robin. He did have all the supply of metal weights in the tower at his disposal.
Swoooooosh!!! The door opened.
"Hey, Robin my man, how's it-"A punching bag almost flew by, merely an inch of distance that made the difference of smashing into him.
"Waahhh!!!" He managed to squeak out as he processed what happened.
"Waahhh!!!!" Beast Boy exclaimed as he saw the broken remains of at least twenty punching bags, all ripped and trampled, with their contents spilled across every mattress of the room.
"It's like the aftermath of a punching bag gangster brawl..."
He turned, slightly fearful, and saw the murderer of all punching bags.
Robin, shirtless, was extremely sweaty and panting like a dog in a hot summer. Beast Boy watched as Robin, still oblivious to his presence, leaped straight up, gaining magnificent height between him and the ground, and kicked a punching bag with a powerful smite of the foot.
SLAM!!! The chain holding the punching bag broke and the bag flew into a wall. The bag had shredded from the impact, and the beans spilled out unceremoniously.
Robin touched the ground after killing that last punching bag. Sweat was pouring from all of his pores and he was panting like crazy. He bent over and rested his hands on his knees and tried to catch his breath.
"Hah....! Hah....! Hah....! Raaa...!" He stood up straight and stared at the ceiling.
"Not ...hah...good enough...." He clenched his fist.
"Dude!" Beast Boy ran to his side, careful not to slip on the sea of beans.
"You okay, dude? You're sweating like...in gallons!!! And what's with the genocide of leather made materials!? I am so NOT carrying anymore of these things up to the tower!"
Beast Boy expected Robin to be reprimanding, annoyed, something! But he just basically ignored his comments.
Breathing much more composed, Robin stared at the changeling for a few heart beats before he spoke. "What do .....hah..... you ...hah.. want .....hah....Beast Boy.... hah..?"
Beast Boy sweated nervously, but answered. "Uuuuuuuh, It's movie night! Rob! And you're not in your seat. Shame on you." He waved one finger in mock disappointment.
"Now, we haven't decided on which movie to watch, 'cause Raven doesn't want to watch 'Karate Foosball', but I think we ca-"
"You guys start without me." Robin deadpanned.
"-n figure.......wha!? Dude, Robin! We always watch movies on movies nights! C'mon! You know you want to..." the green teen dragged out the last part with an attempt at taunting combined with his eyebrow waggling.
"No."
"But-"
"No."
"You-"
"I said I don't want to."
"Come on!!! Robin, what's wrong? You always like movie nights, and you definitely need some R&R." Sniff Sniff. "Not to mention some deodorant."
Robin grunted and went to get his staff, which was lying across the floor, covered by the spilled beans. "I'm fine. Just need to work out a little."
Beast Boy's jaw dropped.
"Work out a little!? Dude, you just made three gallons of sweat, destroyed the fundamentals of human limitations, and made orphans out of those last punching bags! I don't know what you call it, but I don't think even Rocky can pull this off. What are you going to do next? Climb the tower up and down for an hour!?"
Robin growled under his breath. "What are you getting at?"
"What I'm getting at, is that we're gonna watch a movie, and you're gonna get your butt into your seat! Com-com-com...huh...ahhh Italian sucks!"
"I already said I don't want to watch a movie."
Robin resumed twirling his staff
"Dude, we're all worried about you."
Beast Boy allowed several seconds to pass for his words to sink in. Apparently it didn't.
"This isn't like you, Robin. You're acting like the Scrooge, man!"
Robin shifted his staff and began practicing forms and angle blows.
"Cyborg's all saying you're going nuts and Raven's ....well she doesn't really say anything but I bet she's worried too. Starfire isn't even like herself, she's been hiding in her room, she didn't even try to make her pudding of whatever."
Robin seemed to hesitate for a moment, before swinging his staff in more furious swipes.
"............." Beast Boy felt like there were itches all over his body.
"Ragghh!!!!" He leapt and did a combo attack with his staff and kicks. He suddenly began moving much faster, rolling and dashing, striking and pounding, flipping and countering.
Beast Boy couldn't see, but Robin was beginning to fight Slade again, or what could be said as the black spot of his existence.
"Robin, stop with this cold shoulder thing. Is this because of the reagent what-cha-ma-call-it?" He smirked. "Hey, don't feel bad, remember how I was hypnotized by Mad Mod's whacky twirly thing? Now that was humiliating."
He pantomimed a drooling fool look and made his eyes spin.
"Compared to that, you're practically James Bond, where the bad guy's gotta dish out the biggest, baddest trap just to get to you!"
(Insert: baddest is NOT a word, but I don't think Beast Boy knows that)
Robin grunted, pulled his staff in and held it in a two-handed sword position.
"Beast Boy....."
Upon hearing his name, the changeling grinned, some hope gleaming in his dark green eyes.
"What? You wanna help choose the movie?"
"Get out." Beast Boy grimaced.
He swung in zig-zag techniques.
"Look, I don't kn-"
"Get out."
He did an area sweep attack.
"-ow, what your problem is, but you have to talk to us sooner or later. And-"
"Get out."
He stopped his practice.
"-like Mr. T always says, 'I pity the foo', though, I don't know how it-"
"Get out." Robin's tone caused the green teen to stop immediately.
The fearless leader suddenly looked so different to the changeling. His face portrayed such a foreign existence that Beast Boy had to reassure himself over and over again that the boy in front of him wasn't someone else.
"Dude...."
Robin suddenly walked towards the frantic boy and stared down at him, with his greater height and current aura, the Boy Wonder appeared menacing and imposing. Beast Boy instinctively took a step back.
"Beast Boy, get out before I kick you out. I'm not in the mood for crap."
"Can't you just tell me what's wrong?! I'm no Raven or Starfire, but I can help! It's not cool, watching one of us cool guys beat himself up for Mr. T knows why!"
Robin sneered, but offered a reply.
"Beast Boy, when was the last time you were helpless and cornered like a dog?"
Beast Boy didn't know whether or not if the question was dangerous to answer, but he wasn't exactly meticulous at the moment.
"Well... remember that one time I was captured by that overgrown piece of rock, what's he called...? Soto?" He scratched his head. "Anyways, yeah, I felt pretty much caged like an animal, no pun intended. Hehehehe." He allowed himself to snicker, hoping to at least ease the tension.
"Did you feel like you were going to die?"
"Huh? Robin, is-"
"Did you get your ass kicked?"
"Just let me-"
"Did you beg for your life?"
"Robin!! Stop for a-"
"No you didn't. And that's why you can't understand."
Robin gave the changeling one last hard glance, before turning around and walked towards the other end of the room, stomping and treading on the scattered contents of the punching bags.
"Good day." And that was that.
-------------------
"I'm guessing by your expression that the interview with Donald Trump didn't go well." Cyborg commented upon Beast Boy's arrival.
Cyborg was rigorously using his fingers on the gamestation, in a game of "Cyber warrior". He didn't do well, because his mind wasn't on the game. He just needed something to occupy himself, while waiting for Beast Boy to report the damage.
Raven sat by the countertop, holding and staring into a cup of herbal tea. In her hand, she held a book, one that she promised to force herself to read, but in the end, found the spine of the book more interesting.
The android and the psychic both had anticipated the outcome of the changeling's confrontation with the dark bird. But seeing the expression on the changeling's face was still disheartening.
"Dude, what is his problem!? He gave me the pushing away routine, then the cold shoulder, then he basically gave me verbal abuse!"
Raven shook her head, and placed her herbal tea on the countertop.
"In all fairness, Beast Boy, we did gave you sufficient warning."
"Yeah, but you didn't say I'd be torn to pieces."
"I was hoping......"
"Well, I," Cyborg pointed his thumb at himself, and tossed the controller to the floor, "told you that it wasn't gonna be pretty. Hell, I think I told you that it was gonna be hell." Beast Boy fumed.
"Well I don't see you coming up with anything, you Terminator reject!!!"
Cyborg glared at the smaller teen.
"Beast Boy.....!!!" Raven said sternly, and alert.
"You better watch your mouth, you discolored smurf. I ain't that groovy enough to take crap from a green monkey right now."
Beast Boy had actually began to ready himself in a defensive stance, with the upper portion of his body arched slightly forward, so when he morphed into an animal, he would have an initial advantage.
"I know every animal in the world that has sharp teeth."
The android lifted his fist in an offensive stance. "You're not going to like what I can do."
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!!!" Raven's black energy created a barrier between the two feuding teens.
"Stop this right now." Her tone was monotone but carried the sense of absolute command, and her eyes glowed as her powers became active.
"You're acting like immature imbeciles." She lowered her powers upon seeing that she gauged their attention.
"Calm down. Do you even realize what you're about to do?"
The two boys looked at each and immediately dropped their hands to their sides.
"......sorry dude." Beast Boy apologized.
"Yeah, sorry, man." Cyborg looked at the now eased Raven.
"Guess you were right, Robin's mood is affecting us."
"I can't believe we almost got into a fight. What's happening?" Beast Boy simpered.
Raven floated to her herbal tea. "We can't let Robin's obviously bad mood drag us into the pit, otherwise we'll never be able to save him." She didn't drink from it.
Thunder suddenly boomed outside the tower, and Beast Boy flinched.
Cyborg watched the rain impact the windows of the tower unrelentingly, and frowned.
"What do you mean by mood?" Beast Boy asked. "It's not like Robin's a girl going into PMS or anything."
"Well, technically..."
"I don't want to talk about tec-no-ca-lo-tee, whatever! I want to know what's wrong!"
Raven eyes thinned and she placed her hood over her head.
"I already had this conversation with Cyborg, and I don't want to repeat it."
Beast Boy glanced at the cyber teen for any reference, but was ignored as Cyborg continued watching the rain with a troubled frown.
Raven took notice as well, and scrutinized the horrid whether with a similar glint in her eyes.
Beast Boy sure as hell didn't know how to merge into the atmosphere. He tried to look out the windows, but did not know what to look for, if anything.
"Okay, what are you guys looking at?" He tried, and flinched when a sudden thunder boomed near the tower.
The sound of the hard rain echoed throughout the tower as Beast Boy received no answer and so he decided not to talk.
Finally, "I hate this storm."
Raven nodded. "So do I."
Beast Boy quirked an eyebrow. "Ummm, me too?"
Cyborg sat down on the couch, pressing a hand to his human face. He suddenly looked tired, very, very tired. The big teen appeared ready to just fall asleep in his sitting position.
Beast Boy sat next to him. "Hey, Cy, you okay? You need some energizer batteries?" Cyborg didn't open his human eye, and just allowed his robotic scanner look at the small elf.
Beast Boy suddenly felt the fatigue tread upon himself as well, and allowed his body to slump further into the couch.
Raven actually managed what looked like a smirk, though it was somewhat sad.
"You boys finally calmed down." The two looked at her, though Cyborg still just used his robotic eye.
"I feel sleepy." Beast Boy complained, sounding slightly like a small child, and yawned.
"That's because you relaxed enough for your adrenaline to diminish. We've all been uptight these few days, and now we're feeling the repercussions."
Cyborg opened half of his eye, as if in a daze.
"Yeah.... these few days sucked."
Raven stared. "I didn't say that."
"Like you needed to say it out loud."
Beast Boy scratched his ear. "What are we gonna do....?" His voice was soft and lacking his usual life, but at the moment, it was appreciated.
The three once again sat in silence, well, Raven levitated in meditation position with her hood still down. No one seemed to have any idea.
Rain poured hard against the windows.
Once again, "I really hate this storm." Cyborg muttered harshly, exhausted.
Raven nodded, again. "As do I."
Beast Boy stared at the pouring harder, though he was drowsy, then he looked back towards the gym.
Even if he wasn't there, he could still feel the vibrations and the knowledge that Robin was fighting nothing and everything. It was agitating, antagonizing.
He looked back to the pouring rain, and a lightning struck. He didn't flinch.
"Yeah, me too."
-----------------
Starifire stood just outside the gym door, exactly where Beast Boy was before entering into the gymnasium, currently a battlefield. She reached for the controls for the door, but halted as like she did when she tried to follow Robin to the roof.
She had come here with resolve, with determination. She had come to the front of this door because she felt she could, no, must confront her best friend. The Tamaranian felt like she needed to save him, to take him away from the doom.
They counted on each other, they told each other everything. In battle, the two best friends looked out for each, they would risk life and limb for the safety of the other. Starfire had saved him before, she believed she could do it again.
But from what? She asked herself. There is no Blackfire to hinder the relationships between Starfire and her friends. There is no H.I.V.E. to attack the city and its innocents There is no Slade to haunt the Teen Titans insufferably. No villain, no criminals. It was just Robin against Robin, and he was losing, losing to himself and losing his presence amongst them.
Starfire also knew she lost to herself when she couldn't bring her hand to press the door activation button. The fear and hesitation were still there, no matter how much she tried to be strong.
Robin wasn't a villain who she could fight against valiantly, defy and rebuke, or a pest she could simply ignore. Definitely not reprimand, she had done it once before and the guilt she felt from that one occasion could almost last her the remainder of her Tamaranian life.
She rubbed the area where Robin had grabbed her harshly, and felt her heart pained upon the remembrance of the horrid facial expression Robin showed to her. He had never looked at her that way. The way his masked eyes thinned and the form his mouth took, she would have rather fought a Gordanian army.
Starfire placed her hand tenderly on the surface of the door, as if she was trying to feel the presence of the teen within.
When she told Robin that he was similar to Slade, she did it out of friendship and honesty, but Robin proved her wrong by gallantly redeeming himself through further heroic acts. When he became Slade's apprentice, he decided to die with his friends in the end, something she cherished in her heart.
Robin was Robin, like how he told Starfire was Starfire, no matter the situation.
But now......
"Robin is not Robin........"
-------------------
THUMP!!!! Robin had finally collapsed to the ground, sprawled on the ground in complete and utter exhaustion and lack of strength.
His panting and sweating had created a steady growing puddle of excretes from his pores, and they began to mix with the spilled beans, steadily forming a cesspool of the Boy Wonder's anguish.
He tried lifting a finger, but found that he had no control. No control.
His eyes intensified, his brows arched, his teeth bared, his muscles tensed.
"Rrrrrggggghhhhhaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!"
Robin felt like he was struggling against an invisible restraint, some sort of unbreakable force holding him down. Every inch of his muscles were sore beyond recognition, but he couldn't stand it, he wasn't in control.
Slade was always in control. Red X was always in control. Why wasn't Robin in control?
"Grrrrrraaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!"
His entire body was twitching from his effort to stand, strands of his hair plastered against his face as he tortured his own body to move.
Suddenly, his mind decided to shut down. The overuse of energy and motor abilities finally accumulated enough to destroy his body. His eyes began to close and his limbs fell to the ground, numbed.
Surprisingly, his breathing had also slowed, and actually went into a steady pace. Robin barely registered a frantic looking Starfire dashing to his side, utter desperation filling her face as she spoke to him, though he could not hear.
She probably called to the other Titans, as he saw her shouting to the outside the gym. But he couldn't really tell.
He felt the familiar blackness cradling him as his eyes closed.
---
Some closing notes: I wonder how long until I feel like ending this thing again?