Chapter 4- Call Me…Deathstroke

Robin suddenly woke up to the sound of glass breaking somewhere in the room. He looked over the edge of his bed to find the glass of water Cyborg brought him earlier in a big wet mess on the floor. Something off to the side caught his attention…someone's foot. He looked up to see that he was no longer the only one in the room. He immediately recognized the silver and black armor accompanied by a black and orange mask with one eye.

"Hell Robin," Slade said. "I trust you're feeling…better."

All Robin could do was gasp as he lay there helplessly in his bed. Slade reached behind him and pulled out what looked like a tube, which quickly expanded into a staff.

"Slade NO," Robin cried out.

Slade remained silent. He grasped the middle of his staff with both hands, and raised it above his head ready to strike. He gazed at Robin with his one evil eye that now glowed red, making sure Robin would watch his every motion prior to him delivering the final fatal blow that would take Robin's life.

"NNNOOOOOOOOOOO," Robin screamed, but no one could hear him as Slade's staff met with the front of Robin's skull.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Robin swiftly sat up in his bed, gasping for air, cold sweat seeping down his face like the night before. He turned to his right to see that the glass of water was still there on the table beside him. Feeling slightly relieved, he looked down at his hands which shook uncontrollably and put his face into them. He turned around and searched for the teddy bear that was still resting peacefully on his pillow. He quickly grabbed it and held it close to him thinking of Starfire, using it as a means to comfort himself after escaping yet another one of Slade's horrible nightmares. He remained there in that position for a few minutes until he finally decided he needed to get up. A cool orange filled the room created by the descending sun in the distance casting long shadows behind every object, as for it was now sometime in the early evening. He came to the edge of the bed and looked at the clock to see what time it was; he had been asleep for over four hours. Aside from the fact that he just woke up from another horrible nightmare and that he still felt cold and soar, he was somewhat re-energized after his long afternoon slumber. He left the room and made his way to the kitchen. He opened the fridge and reached for some left-over pizza from the night before, but decided that that was the last thing he needed in his current condition. He poured himself another glass of water and flopped onto the couch in the living room and turned on the T.V. The usual shows were on now: some fat guy with a mustache boiling water; a monster chasing someone; a boy leaning in to kiss a girl; Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, the news, etc... He thought to himself how even after being gone for four hours the rest of the Titans weren't home yet. He put the thought in the back of his mind and continued flipping channels. He then wondered how the new Titan East team was doing and what they were up to now that Brother Blood was in jail. He went to the computer, typed in a series of numbers and began calling them. Robin was somewhat taken by the pair of midget twins who answered the phone…in Spanish.

"HOLA," they both said simultaneously with smiles on their faces. "COMO ESTAS TU?" (For those who don't speak Spanish that means: "hi, how are you?')

"Ah...," Robin paused not sure what to say or think. "Is there perhaps a… English speaking Titan available?"

"DONDE ES SENIOR CYBORG," the pair asked again at the same time. (Where is Cyborg?)

"Oh. Uh, Cyborg, he's a… out right now," Robin said, still unsure of what they had just asked.

The two midgets sighed, disappointed looks on their faces.

"Hey Mas! Menos! Why don't you go help Bumble Bee and let me talk to Robin," a voice somewhere off screen said.

"Robin," Mas and Menos said, puzzled as to who this supposed 'Robin' was.

They paused starring at each other then back at Robin. Then with smiles on their faces, they sucked in air at the same time and yelled out: "HOLA SENIOR ROBIN!!!!!!!!"

"Okay that's enough now," the off-screen voice chuckled.

The two quickly hurried off and were replaced by Aqualad.

"Robin good to see ya, what's up," said Aqualad happy to see his fellow Titan.

"Not much, how bout you," Robin asked.

"Everything's pretty quiet around here since we took down Brother Blood. Crime hasn't been too bad, just your run of the mill bank robbers and jewel thieves."

"How's the new tower holding up?"

"It's holding up nicely, aside from some of the damage Bumble Bee and Speedy inflicted on it—"Aqualad's attention was abruptly drawn to the fly buzzing around him as he followed it with his eyes. An aggravated look came across his face as he tried swiping it away. The fly quickly went off to the side and began to grow larger and large, revealing that it was actually their friend and new leader of the Titans East, Bumble Bee.

"Hey don't chu be swiping at me," Bumble Bee yelled at Aqualad pulling his hair. "Hey Robin, how you doin'?"

Robin chuckled. "Not bad, how bout yourself?"

"I'm good, say…where's Sparky at," Bumble Bee asked looking around the screen.

"Everyone went shopping and to get a bite to eat. They haven't come back yet."

"So what are you still doin' there then?"

"I'm...a little sick."

"Oh," said Aqualad. "I thought I noticed something different about you. You do look a little pal."

"Thanks," Robin said sarcastically.

"That's not all you look," Bumble Bee said looking at Robin and starting to giggle.

"What," Robin asked dumbly.

Bumble Bee put her hand over her mouth and started laughing, while Aqualad rolled his eyes.

"Ah Robin," said Aqualad looking off screen and then back at him.

He lifted his hand and pointed downward. Robin looked at him strangely and then finally let his eyes follow the direction he pointed. He now realized that his blue boxers with yellow rubber-ducks on them (I have a pair like that, lol) were in plain sight for everyone to see. He blushed profusely and gave a fake smile, but he knew there wasn't much he could do to conceal himself.

"Um, yeah I ah," he paused. "Yeah…"

Bumble Bee and Aqualad stopped laughing and smiled at him, happy to have had a laugh, then suddenly went serious.

"Well listen, Robin. If there isn't anything terribly important happening at the moment we're gonna have to let you go," said Aqualad as he and Bumble were watching something in the distance. "I think Mas and Menos just took off with Speedy's bow again."

"HEY, YER GONNA PAY FOR THAT YA LITTLE OOPA-LOOMPAS," a familiar voice in the background said.

"That's fine, I just wanted to check up on you," Robin said.

Speedy appeared in the background looking for Mas and Menos, who were standing behind him with his bow and enormous grins on their faces. Speedy turned around red in the face; he stomped his feet and then ran after them.

"Hey tell Sparky I said hi," Bumble Bee said getting closer to the screen while Aqualad looked off into the distance again at Speedy trying to catch up to Mas and Menos.

"Will do," Robin assured her.

Speedy reappeared in the background again bent over with his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath while Mas and Menos dangled his bow in front of his face.

"COME BACK HERE WITH MY BOW," Speedy yelled running after them again.

Aqualad followed them again with his eyes as they ran around the room again.

"We'll contact you if anything comes up," Aqualad said still following his friends.

There was a loud CRASH in the background causing Aqualad and Bumble Bee to cringe slightly, followed by a painfully loud: "OW, MY PELVIS!!!!!"

"Well that didn't sound healthy," Aqualad said still looking off into the distance with Bumble Bee. "Um…we're gonna go now, Bye Robin."

"See ya later," Robin said as the screen went blank.

He leaned back in his chair and sighed, feeling lonely again. He wondered where his friends were for the sun was rapidly going down. He turned the T.V. back on and began channel surfing again, all the while sipping his glass of water. He did this for a short while before finally saying to himself aloud,

"Eh' I'm bored of this…I think I'll play some Halo 2 now."

With that Robin picked up the Game Station controller and put in Halo 2. He got online and was quickly able to get into a game of team slayer. Coagulation was always his favorite map and it was the one level where Beast Boy and Cyborg couldn't take him even though they were on a team against him. He knew he had the advantage in this game and would gladly put everyone who opposed him to shame.

Thirty minutes went by and the game was over. Robin ranked second place with multiple medals awarded to him including double and triple-kills, along with a killtacular. Suddenly, something odd happen. Robin starred at the screen trying to figure out what was wrong with it, for it kept jumping and fading in and out until it finally turned black.

"What the," Robin said, disgusted that there was something wrong with the T.V.

He hit the controller a few times but it had no effect. He could see that the T.V. was still on, just not working, something that never happened before in the time that they had it. He looked at the screen disgustingly, aggravated at what it was doing, then suddenly it flashed once and in the upper left hand corner appeared what looked like a green blinking square.

"What in the world," he said aloud again. Then something happened.

The green square made its way horizontally across the screen leaving words in its path, like a typewriter.

"Jail break," it read.

"Plasmus"

"Tomorrow"

"Two p.m."

"East Precinct"

Robin looked strangely at the green letters that formed across the enormous monitor as a chill ran down his spine.

"LUCY I'M HHHOOOMMMEEEE," Beast Boy yelled behind him coming into the doorway of the living room with bags of groceries in hand.

Robin was startled by his friend's sudden and dramatic entrance it caused him to jump in his seat. He turned around and gave Beast Boy a scolding look then turned back to face the screen again. The writing was gone, and the Halo 2 menu was now present as if nothing had happened. He looked around trying to figure out what had just happened; was it a dream, was he hallucinating, maybe this flu was getting to him. He put these thoughts aside and got up to greet his friends coming in the doorway.

"Can I help with anything," he asked.

"Yeah you start by puttin' some pants on," Cyborg said sarcastically, putting a few grocery bags on the counter.

"Dude seriously," Beast Boy said looking down at Robin's shorts. "That's so wrong."

Starfire flew in with several brown bags full of nothing but mustard which she threw on the counter with a loud FLOP. Raven came in carrying twelve or thirteen bags with her mind, and put them on the floor next to the sink.

"That's all of them, I think," said Raven.

"ROBIN," Starfire cheered gliding down to him and embracing him in an enormous hug. "You are, better?"

"Not quite Star," he said gasping for air.

"Oh, forgive me then," she said blushing.

"So what took you guys so long," Robin asked.

"We ran into a few problems when Jinx and the rest of em' tried robbing the ice-cream shop," Cyborg said answering his question. "But it was nothing we couldn't handle."

"Oh, so what'd you guys pick up?"

Cyborg and Beast Boy stopped putting food away and looked straight at each other. They simultaneously let there heads drop slightly, and looked straight ahead.

"What did we pick up," they both said very quietly lowering their head even more. "I think what you really mean is…" there was a long pause between them. "WHAT DID WE NOT PICK UP," they shouted turning to face Robin at the same time, tongues hanging out and smiles across their faces.

"WE GOT EVERYTHING IN HERE," exclaimed Cyborg.

"Yeah, like: Jell-O, Cool-Aid, Freezer Pops, Campbell's Soup—"Beast Boy went on and on with the list of things that they got for Robin which took almost twenty minutes for him to finish.

The rest of the night went by smoothly with everyone doing things at their own leisure. Starfire made Robin some chicken soup for the first time which tasted like chicken broth and mustard; Beast Boy and Cyborg played video games, and Raven sat on the couch reading for most of the night. They watched "Invasion of the Brain Barnacles," which Robin threw up during, and everyone went to bed at around one A.M. Robin managed to not have a bad dream about Slade this time around, due to the fact that Starfire kept checking up on him periodically throughout the night. The next morning was relatively quiet with Beast Boy and Cyborg arguing over who would make breakfast as they usually did. Raven read her book and Starfire attended to Robin resting in Sick Bay. At around 1:30 in the afternoon Robin got up, Starfire close by his side, and joined the others in the living room, this time wearing decent attire.

He sat on the couch and watched Beast Boy and Cyborg duke it out in a game of "Robot Jocks," (see 'Only Human') but continuously kept checking the clock. He didn't know what to make of what he saw yesterday, whether it was real or some punk kid playing a joke, but he found his answer out when it struck two. Everyone in the living room was startled by the sudden noise of their alarm sounding throughout the tower.

"Trouble," Starfire shouted.

Cyborg ran over to the computer and typed in a few commands, displaying the statistics of the disturbance.

"What is it," Robin asked.

"It looks like it's a—"Cyborg paused looking up at the screen. "A jail-break…"

Robin was awestruck at what he had just said. "Where," he exclaimed.

Cyborg paused again, this time looking at the smaller screen in front of him. "East Precinct, it's Plasmus!"

Robin was speechless. He couldn't believe that whoever gave him that information was correct and that he could've used it to help his team contain the jailbreak sooner.

"Alright Rob, sorry man we gotta fly," Cyborg said looking at Robin. "Teen Titans, GO!"

Without another word, Robin's four friends were out the door and off to stop the jailbreak. Robin turned to face them as they left, but as soon as they were gone, the T.V. behind him turned on by itself and displayed the same black screen with the same green blinking square as yesterday. Robin turned to face it, almost as if expecting it to come on. He walked closer to it and looked up at it, waiting for it to display something.

"Hello Robin," it read. "How nice to see you again…"

Robin looked around him trying to find the controller to their game station. Once he had it, he used it to type in a few words of his own.

"What do you want," he wrote.

There was a brief pause before it finally answered. "I want to help you my friend."

"I'm sorry," Robin typed. "I don't need your help."

It quickly responded. "Oh but you do, for I have information that you would most certainly—"it lulled again. "Benefit from."

Robin didn't say anything back, he was very unsure of what to think of this "mysterious friend wanting to help him." "How can I trust you if I don't even know who you are?"

There was a very long lapse this time around, as if it were processing his question, until it finally answered:

"Call me…Deathstroke."

--

A/N:

Bum, Bum, BUM!!!! See, I told you it was gonna start heating up! Oh and I have something else to tell you all…even though I wrote this the same day I posted my last chapter…I PURPOSEFULLY MADE YOU ALL WAIT!!!! MUAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA thunder and lightning in background I know, I know, you all hate me now, but I knew the suspense would get to ya sooner or later and maybe even heighten the experience once you read it. But it actually was hard not to post it cause I was SO EXCITED about this chapter and the next ones to come! But I gotta ask though, what did you guys think of the dream again? Was it a good idea, bad idea? I've thought about putting in another Slade dream but I'm thinking it'd just get too…repetitive after a while. Oh and another thing, really liking the reviews everyone, you have no idea how rewarding it is when I have a happy audience, thanks everybody. Well anyway, already half way done with the next chapter: "Friends and Foes"

Jackalobe- Thanks for reviewin' I'm glad you liked it and I'll be sure to check out your fic's too…if I ever get around to checking anyone's for that matter.

Aries-Raven- I am curious as to what some of your fic's are like, but I'll respect your wishes and not look at them…or maybe I just won't comment on them…or maybe I will, I don't know, anyway. To answer your question on how I come up with some of the words Starfire says, I simply look around my room and things kinda just come to me. Like "norplic" for example: I looked around on my desk and in front of me even at this very moment is something that has the word 'North' on it and I have a piece of paper with the word 'picture' on it. I thought for a second about it then scrambled the words up and put an L into the jist of things. Keep comin' back, I'll update the next chapter as soon as I can.

Van Gordan- Yeah I think updating often is important, I know I waited a little while longer this time around but I did it to keep the audience interested and on the edge of their seat, even when they're not reading the story evil grin…also I wanted to get a head start on the next chapter. OH and by the way, the dream he had in the beginning, I got that idea from what you said in one of the reviews you posted. I figured you'd take pleasure in seeing Slade show up when Robin was in a VERY VULNERABLE POSITION like how you mentioned…that sounded really dirty, anyway, thanks for the reviews.