Chapter 12- A Face Amongst the Crowd

"For all things holy in the universe—"Aqualad mumbled to himself pressing a button on the living-room computer. The sound of brief static and a loud screech were heard throughout the tower before Aqualad roared, "BUMBLE BEE, WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING! LET'S GO," over the intercom.

Suddenly Bumble Bee's face appeared on the screen in front of him with a frustrated look on her face. "HEY QUIT CHER YABBERIN' I'M ALMOST READY," she yelled as she went back to putting on her make-up.

"For the love of—"Aqualad moaned as he slouched back in his chair. He turned to Speedy sitting impatiently on the couch behind him wearing a red and black tuxedo. "So what time were we supposed to pick up what's her name," he asked his friend.

Speedy looked at his watch then answered, "Oh about ten minutes ago," then went back to anxiously tapping his foot.

"We're never gonna make it to the dance on time—"Aqualad leaned forward angrily and yelled into the intercom again, "IF BUMBLE BEE DOESN'T HURRY THE HECK UP!"

"I'm ready for crying out loud, jeez calm down," said Bumble Bee as she came in the doorway wearing a fluffy red dress. "Where's Mas and Menos?"

"HOLA," the Spanish speaking twins cheered as they dashed into the room wearing white tuxes. "Estamos listos!"

"Alright then let's go pick up our dates, everyone to the T-bird," ordered Aqualad as the Titans hurried out the door and to the roof. (Who's to say the Titan's East don't have a jet or something?)

"Mmmm, this was most tasteful," said Starfire whipping her mouth with her napkin. "These balls of meat and boiled strings are most enjoyable. Tell me Robin...what was this dish called again?"

"It's spaghetti and meat balls," said Robin finishing his last bite of Chicken Parmesan. "I never knew you hadn't had it before, it's really easy to make. Maybe I'll cook it up for you sometime."

Starfire giggled then took the last sip of her mustard. "I would enjoy that dearly," she said with a smile.

Robin took another gulp of his drink then looked down at his watch; it was now quarter to nine, they had been laughing and flirting for almost two hours.

Robin put his napkin on his plate and folded his hands and looked at Starfire. "So," he said. "You ready to go?"

"Indeed I am," said Starfire. "May we depart now please?"

"Sure," said Robin as he raised his hand and called over their waiter to deliver the check.

Robin paid the tab and the two left the restaurant.

"Man I am bored," said Beast Boy to himself as he flipped through channels. He slouched further in his seat and sighed wishing he had something better to do. "Man there's nothing to do!"

He got up and went to the refrigerator and pulled out a soda and began chugging it. He sighed as he took the can from his mouth and whipped the excess liquid off the side of his chin then went back to his seat.

"I wonder how Robin and Starfire are doing," he asked himself. Suddenly, a light bulb went on above his head and an evil grin came across his face. "I know what to do now…"he said, a hint of mischief in his voice.

He turned the T.V. off then slowly crept out of the living-room and into the hallway heading for Robin's quarters.

"Sure are a lot of people here," said Robin as he drove very slowly down the long road that led to the Broadmoor, careful not to hit anyone.

"I have not seen so many people gathered in one location at the same time," said Starfire looking around at the kids her age walking along the sidewalks towards a big building.

The Broadmoor was a resort, Robin explained, where people with lots of money stay when they go on vacation or just want to get away for the weekend. Robin stopped his motorcycle and waited for a large group of teenagers to cross the street before finally proceeding as he made a left and passed the huge building that looked like a symphony hall.

"I think that's where we need to go," said Robin as he glanced away from the building and pulled into the parking lot.

He drove slowly through the lot in search of a parking space, and to his luck, a car was pulling out of a spot just down the way from him. He quickly pulled in then put the kick-stand down on his motorcycle. Robin paused for a moment and looked up at the trees which were scattered around the area and hung high over the cars. They seemed to drown out most of the noise created by the music and teenagers from inside the symphony hall, and it made everything much more quiet. Robin looked up at a tree high above them and starred at it for several moments. He was being watched…he knew he was. Someone had their eyes particularly fixed on him and he couldn't shake this feeling as he searched the tree tops, not knowing himself what he was looking for.

"Robin," said Starfire as she put her hand on his shoulder and leaned against him. "Is everything alright?"

Robin looked back at her with an uncertain look. "Yeah," he said. "Why don't we get inside now." He helped Starfire dismount the motorcycle and placed their helmets in the compartment under her seat.

"Shall we," he asked holding his elbow away from his chest as an invitation for her to take his arm.

Starfire blushed slightly then smiled at him. "We shall," she said happily. She took his arm and the two love-birds headed down the paved road of the parking lot towards the massive building.

Robin looked over his shoulder still searching for his invisible onlooker, but didn't notice the tall man watching them as he emerged from behind a tree and remained hidden in the shadows.

"Wow this was quite a turn-out," said Robin as him and Starfire entered the massive Ball Room.

The entire place did indeed look like one of those fancy Ball Rooms from the 1700's that old English gentlemen would waltz with royal maddens in, but was decorated with more moderate touches. The entire room was relatively dark aside from the enormous disco balls that hung from the ceiling and colorful flashing lights that danced over the crowds of teenagers. There were easily five to seven hundred people inside most of which were your average High School student, but Robin recognized a few of them as either friends or foes. He noticed Jinx, Gizmo, and Mammoth as well as Hot Spot, and Wildebeest amongst the crowd who were all dressed appropriately for the occasion.

"Why don't we find a place to sit down first," yelled Robin next to Starfire's ear so she could hear him over the loud music.

"That would be most acceptable," she yelled back.

They made their way towards the area of the massive room where the concessions and food were as well as tables where people could rest. They past a few occupied tables with laughing kids their age and a few adults chaperoning the dance, when suddenly Robin stopped abruptly. He nearly stepping on Starfire's foot when he halted and an uncertain look came across his face as he starred blankly towards someone standing by one of the concession tables.

"No way," said Robin as a curious smile came across his face and squinted his eyes. "It…can't be…"

"What is it Robin," asked Starfire curiously.

"Come on." He tugged her with him as they made their towards the tall slender man on the other side of the room.

"Well if it isn't the Boy Wonder in the flesh," said the smiling man with the red mask as he noticed Robin and his date now standing next to him.

"It's good to see you again Flash," said Robin as the two shook hands. "Didn't think I'd see you here."

"Aw well, I'm not the only one," The Flash looked to his right and called over to a blonde haired girl talking with a few other adults. "HEY!...HEY SUPERGIRL!"

Hearing this, Supergirl said goodbye to her company and made her way over to The Flash. "What is it Flash? You don't have to yell I've got REALLY GOOD HEARING ya know," she snapped at him.

"Ah…sorry, ah…you remember Robin," he asked innocently trying to hide his fear.

Supergirl looked down at the young boy and his red-haired date. "Robin! Haven't seen you in a while, how are you," she asked stepping forward with a smiling face and shaking his hand. "And who's this pretty girl you're with tonight?"

Starfire blushed and turned her head away so no one could see her.

"This is Starfire," he replied introducing her to them. "Starfire, this is Supergirl and The Flash. They're friends of ours from the Justice League."

"Hello Starfire," said Supergirl as her and Starfire shook hands. "You have such a beautiful name."

Starfire blushed again then smiled back at her, "Thank you," she said gratefully then reaching over to shake The Flash's.

"Hello Starfire," said the Flash.

"Greetings, The Flash," said Starfire.

"Please, just call me Flash."

"Starfire I love your outfit where did you get it," asked Supergirl as pulled Starfire over to a near-by table so they could talk.

Robin and The Flash were left alone now, but were quick to pick up conversation.

"So Robin," said The Flash. "How's leading the Titans going for you?"

Robin smiled, then answered, "It's going great, it has its' challenges but I've managed."

"I see…"

"So how's Batman doing," Robin asked curiously.

"He's doing good. He was here earlier with Wonder Woman but the League needed him in the Watch Tower right away for some reason."

"Oh…"Robin slouched forward slightly in disappointment. "So, why are you and Supergirl here then?"

The Flash had a startled look on his face now, and he scratched the back of his neck and nervously answered his question. "Well…they needed volunteers to chaperone the dance and…Supergirl wanted to volunteer, and Superman and Batman thought it'd be good for me if I were to do something…good for the local community."

"Actually he's being punished for looking up inappropriate material on the Watch Tower Mainframe," shouted Supergirl from across the table.

"Aw come on I learned my lesson," he snapped back at her. "Why do you have to be so immature and bring that up!"

Supergirl stuck her tongue out at him then went back to talking with Starfire.

"So have you met my cousin yet," asked The Flash as he turned to face the chuckling Robin.

"No actually, I didn't know you had a cousin," said Robin.

"Oh, then let me introduce you to him." The Flash looked over Robin at the crowd of dancing kids and called out, "HEY…IMPULSE!"

Suddenly a kid around the age of thirteen or fourteen dashed out of the crowd with the speed of The Flash and screeched to a halt next to his uncle.

"Robin this is Impulse; Impulse, Robin," he said introducing the two.

The boy was about a foot and a half shorter than Robin and was as equally annoying as Beast Boy while he ran circles around Robin stopping to introducing himself repetitively. "HI, HI, HI, HOW ARE YOU, I'M IMPULSE, IMPULSE, IMPULSE, IMPULSE. IMMM—"he ran around Robin again and stopped inches away from his face, "PULSE!"

"Uh…"Robin paused for a moment and looked around the room before answering, "Hi…"

Impulse continued his routine of running and stopping around Robin as he said, "DID I MENTION I'M IMPULSE? WHAT KIND OF A NAME IS ROBIN? DO YOU WANNA BE FRIENDS? CAN I HAVE YOUR AUTOGRAPH?" Impulse suddenly screeched to a halt and jerk back and forth as he gazed hungrily at the table next to The Flash with various types of snacks. "OOOOOH FOOD," he cheered as he dashed to every corner and end of the table and began consuming everything in sight.

"Um…sorry, he can be a little…hyper at times," said The Flash knowing that was an understatement.

"No it's okay he seems—"Robin dodged an incoming turkey bone then thought of another word to describe him. "…nice."

Just then Starfire and Supergirl returned to Robin and The Flash with smiles on their faces.

"Well it was good talking with you Starfire," said Supergirl embracing her in a friendly hug.

"And it was good talking with you new friend," said Starfire embracing Supergirl in a hug that nearly squeezed the life out of her.

"Well I'll see you two love birds later," said Supergirl as she eyed a group of suspicious teens. "I think some kids just spiked the punch."

Robin ignored her last comment and bid Supergirl farewell as she left then turned back to The Flash who was eyeing another chaperone woman around his age.

"GOODBYE GIRL WHO IS SUPER," Starfire called to her as she left. "I SHALL MISS YOU DEARLY!"

"Well, I think I'm gonna have to let you two go as well," said The Flash as he played with his bowtie and straightened his tuxedo jacket. "I've got some serious super-hero business to attend to." He fixed the wings on the side of his mask than began walking over to the woman he had been exchanging glances with for the last few minutes. "See ya guys around."

"Take care Flash," said Robin

"Goodbye The Flash," said Starfire cheerfully as he left.

Robin and Starfire watched their older friend leave as he started flirting with a woman wearing a black dress similar to Starfire's. The two looked at the crowd of dancing teenagers and then back at each other.

There was a moment of silence between them before Robin spoke. "So—"he said looking down at the ground and then back up at Starfire with a charming smile. "Ya wanna dance?"

Starfire giggled and said, "I do."

Robin took her hand and led her through a maze of tables towards the dance floor. Robin looked back at Starfire to say something but accidentally bumped into a dancing couple when he was not paying attention.

"Oh sorry, my bad—"Robin paused looking at the person he had just bumped and a surprise look came across his face. "Aqualad?"

"ROBIN," said Aqualad as he stopped dancing with his partner and turned to greet them. "What are you guys doing here?"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing," said Robin as they shook each other's hands. "It's good to see you again."

"Likewise," said Aqualad. "Hey I've got a lovely young lady here I'd like you to meet." Aqualad took his partner's hand and brought her closer towards them to greet his friends. "Robin, Starfire, this is Wonder Girl. She's my date tonight."

"Hi there," she said reaching to shake Robin's hand.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Robin," said Robin shaking her hand.

Starfire butted in between Robin and Wonder Girl and took her hand and shook it frantically. "AND I AM STARFIRE," she said jerking her around. "PLEASE, WHERE ARE YOU FROM, WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COLOR, AND WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE MY FRIEND?"

Wonder Girl looked at her as though she were crazy then answered, "Um…Paradise Island, Blue, and…"she hesitated for a moment and thought whether to answer her last question or not. "…sure?"

Starfire took in a deep breath and scooped Wonder Girl up in her arms and gave her an enormous hug. "GLORIOUS," she cheered. "HELLO NEW FRIEND!"

"Uh…Hi…"said Wonder Girl gasping for air.

She put her "new friend" down and stood next to Robin again.

"So is Speedy and the rest of your Titans here too," yelled Robin over the loud music.

"Yeah, I saw Speedy with his date just before we bumped into you," shouted Aqualad back to Robin. "Bumble Bee and Mas and Menos should be around here somewhere."

"I see. Well, we're gonna go dance now," said Robin as he glanced briefly over at Starfire then back at them. "We'll see you guys later."

"Yeah, take care Robin, it was good seeing you guys again," said Aqualad as he went back over to the spot where him and Wonder Girl were dancing before.

Robin took up Starfire's hand again and said, "Same here, bye Aqualad, bye Wonder Girl."

"Farewell friends," said Starfire as they left to find a place to dance.

They went a short distance, dodging teenagers left and right then finally found a place to dance somewhere around the outskirts of the enormous crowd. Starfire was amazed at the large number of people standing in a huge circle around the giant dance floor who chose to talk with friend rather than be amongst the others, but then again, she still was unfamiliar with this world's customs of dancing.

"Is something wrong Star," Robin asked as he began dancing but stopped when he noticed the uncertain look on Starfire's face.

"Everything is fine Robin, I am—"Starfire looked down at her shoes then back up at Robin, "merely unfamiliar with the earthly ways of dancing."

Robin smiled at her then said, "Don't worry Star, it's easy. Just move your hips from side to side; like this."

Robin demonstrated to her the "earthly ways of dancing" and began swaying his hips while moving with the beat of the music. Starfire smiled at him then began doing the same, still unsure of what she was doing as she swung her hips left and right.

Starfire was quickly enjoying this, and she giggled to Robin as she said, "I never knew the earthly ways of dancing were so simple yet so enjoyable."

Robin smiled at her and danced with his beautiful date, but suddenly something off behind the crowd caught his attention as they moved their heads, hips, and arms to the beat of the music. Robin slowed his pace down slightly and watched the dark figure that seemed to tower over the crowd of conversing teenagers as it moved slowly across the room behind them. A dancing couple crossed his line of vision, and suddenly the silhouette had vanished as they passed. A confused look came across Robin's face, but he shook it off and returned his gaze back to Starfire and continued dancing.

"Hey Aqualad what's up," Speedy yelled as he and his partner came along-side Aqualad and Wonder Girl prancing to the same tune.

"What's up Speedy," Aqualad yelled back. "I was wondering when they were gonna play some oldies swing dance music!" Aqualad and Wonder Girl smiled at one another, and took each other's hands and started swing dancing as the music changed to an old track from the 1950's.

"Hey Lilith," said Speedy to his date. "You ever—"

"No, actually I haven't," said Lilith before he could finish his sentence. "But it doesn't mean I don't like swing dancing though."

Speedy looked at her strangely for a moment then remembered he had asked a girl out on a date who could read minds and tell the future; probably not the best of choices.

"Oh…"he said as he and Lilith began twirling their hips and shoulders.

"And Speedy," she said. "You're a cute guy n' all but…I'm just not that kinda girl who does that with someone on a first date."

"Does what," he asked having no idea what she was referring to. "What am I supposed to do?"

She giggled at him and they continued dancing.

"Hey Speedy," said Aqualad leaning towards him as he danced with Wonder Girl. "Check out Robin and Starfire over there."

Speedy looked in between a few dancing couples at Robin and Starfire who were swing dancing to the best of their ability. Speedy noticed that as they pranced, they smiled and never took their eyes off each other; something most typical "friends" don't do to one another.

"Huh," said Speedy agreeing with Aqualad's inconspicuous question. "I think Robin and Starfire TOTALLY got it in for each other."

"Yeah no kidding," Aqualad agreed. "They've been like that all night."

Speedy went back to minding his own business with Lilith and so did Aqualad with Wonder Girl, and the two couples continued dancing.

"Ooh, you look so mysterious with your mask on X," said one of the girls crowded around Red X.

"Yeah," said another as she leaned into him and ran her finger up his Chest. "I wonder what you look like under that mask."

Red X turned to her and ran his index finger along the bottom of her jaw and made his way to the front of her chin. "Well gorgeous," he said gazing into the girl's eyes. "Play your cards right, and that's not all you'll be seeing under by the end of tonight." (LOL, I know, I'm good at making up lines to hit on girls with.)

The group of girls around him started giggling at his "flirtatious" comment as he wrapped his arms around two of them and a mischievous look came across his face. Suddenly he noticed a red haired girl and a spiky haired boy, wearing a mask, dancing off in the distance together that he immediately recognized.

"Well if you'll excuse me ladies," he said as he pulled himself away from his "fans" and straightened his tie and jacket. "I've got some serious business to attend to."

As the music stopped to change tracks, Robin and Starfire smiled back at each other trying to catch their breath, when Robin said, "So Starfire…ya having fun?"

"Most certainly," said Starfire as another fast paced song blasted over the speakers and the flashing lights continued skimming over the crowd.

The two looked at each other than drew near to their partner's body as they started swaying their hips again. Robin wrapped his arm around Starfire's waist and placed his hand on her lower back and acted as though he had never made that move. Starfire was nearly startled by this, but she didn't care, she liked being this close to Robin and she countered his action by drawing even closer to him and resting her arms on his shoulders. They met each other's gaze, but did not slow their rhythm as their faces drew near to one another's and titled slightly in opposite directions.

"Hey Bird Boy," a disguised but familiar voice crackled behind him. "Mind if I…cut in." Red X bumped Robin out of the way and quickly moved in to take his place next to Starfire.

Robin stumbled a few times but quickly regained his balance and turned to face Red X, his face now red with anger and his blood boiling in his veins. He was still very "upset" with Red X for almost hurting Starfire the week before and creating so much tension between him and her, now he had ruined his PERFECT MOMENT with the girl of his dreams.

"Get lost kid," said Red X grinning at Robin. "I don't like it when people watch me while I dancing."

Robin wanted to fight him more than ever in his life right now, and he began to poise for battle when suddenly Starfire shot him a look that told Robin she had the situation under control. She was also very upset with Red X for the things he did to her last week, and she was even more furious with him for cutting in when she and Robin were initiating THE MOMENT SHE'D BEEN WAITING FOR!

"If it is a dance you would like," her soft voice said with a small hint of anger in it. "Then I shall be more than happy to teach you the earthly ways of 'swing' dancing." At that Starfire grabbed Red X firmly in her hands and began twirling him around in a circle as though he were a rag-doll.

"Wow……wow………Wow…….WOW! WOOOWW! WWWOOOOOWWWW," cried Red X as he was spun around and then thrown into a concessions table and landed in a bowl of punch with a loud CRASH! He was now covered in food and red liquid as he leaned up and rubbed his head that throbbed from the impact. "AW MY SUIT," he yelled as the people around him started laughing.

"Aw pour baby," said one of the girls he was flirting with earlier as their group laughed at Red X.

"AWWEERGGGH!" He looked for Starfire who was already making her way back to her intended dance partner and shot her a scolding look. He grinned under his mask as she walked away, now realizing his minor error in judgment about the girl as he rose to his feet and wiped a piece of lunch meat off his shoulder.

"Maybe next time cutie," he said to himself. "Maybe next time."

"Now, where were we," asked Starfire as she returned to Robin who only smiled at her.

"I think we were—"he stopped himself as the music ended again and transitioned into a much more tranquil song, thus initiating the slow dancing.

This was a melody Robin and Starfire had been waiting for all night as the surprised expressions on their faces advertised their fulfilled ambitions in wanting to dance with each other this way. The two looked shyly at each other then back down at the floor wearing crimson red faces and tiny grins across their mouths. Even though Robin knew she would say yes, he built up his courage and asked her a question he had already asked her before.

"May I have this dance," he asked as a gentlemen would presenting an open palm and bowing slightly at the hips.

Starfire looked at him with hungry eyes but remained silent as she glided her hand softly over Robin's while her tiny smile and blushing cheeks remained on her face. They closed their hands around each other's and Robin slowly brought her in towards him. He slid his left hand delicately onto Starfire's hip, and Starfire caressed the opposite hand up Robin's arm and felt his strong bicep as she closed the distance between them. The two gazed into each other's eyes as they shuffled their feet from side to side in unison with the steady music.

"So are you having a good time," asked Robin never taking his eyes away from hers.'

"I am," said Starfire as she did the same to him. "Thank you Robin for bringing me to such a wonderful place. I have truly enjoyed being with you tonight."

Robin smiled at her and replied, "Well…I've really enjoyed being with you tonight as well."

A warm smile came across her face and she drew him in closer and rested her head gently on Robin's shoulder. "Oh Robin," she said making herself more comfortable as she leaned against him.

Robin's heart raced and the hairs on the back of his neck rose on edge upon feeling the warm sensation of Starfire's breath tickling the back of his neck. His posture stiffened slightly and his face blushed bright red as his mouth formed a faint smile.

There was romance and love in the air all around them; they could both feel it under the spot lights of the ball room as time seemed to stand still for the two love birds dancing the night away. A swaying couple caught Starfire's eyes that she quickly recognized as Fang and Kitten since both were bound by their hands, and in Fang's case legs, and were leaning in to kiss one another while a group of armed security guards were circled around them watching their every move. She figured they were allowed to see each other only under the conditions that they remained handcuffed and were supervised by policemen. Starfire felt the urge to go over and slap Kitten as she recapped on former events where that "grimpork" tried to steal Robin away from her, but she quickly put those thoughts aside for she knew those two were in "the romance," and she didn't want to ruin the precious moment between her and Robin.

As he and Starfire waltzed to the soft beat of the music, Robin felt a warm fuzzy feeling come across his body; a sensation unbeknownst to him. Could this be love, he wondered to himself. He knew he liked Starfire, A lot, and would die to protect her, but could he actually fall in love with her or with anyone for that matter; especially after everything he's been through? Robin didn't know, and he most certainly didn't care, all he knew is that he didn't want this moment to end; he never wanted to let Starfire go, and he never wanted to leave her side. He wanted to be with her forever.

Suddenly, everything around Robin seemed to almost echo in his head as he tuned out all background noises and isolated a set of walking footsteps somewhere around him. His flirty facial expressions had gone and were replaced by vigilance and alertness as he perked his ears and raised his head to scan the crowd. He knew those footsteps; that saunter. The way each step clicked as it impacted the ground, distinguishing the source as a top heavy man about 6 feet high as the sound grew louder and louder continuing on its' path.

Click……click……Click……CLick……CLIck……CLICk……CLICK.

Robin's eyes fell on everything and everyone around him as he searched the hordes of people, but was still unable to identify the—THERE! There it was, or rather…he was. It was the dark silhouette he had spotted earlier striding perpendicular to Robin's field of vision through the crowd. As it emerged from behind a dancing couple, Robin was able to see more of the dark outline's features which included armor plating around his broad shoulders and neck that reflected the flashing lights as they glided across him. The shadowy figure continued slowly along his course, and more of his body could be seen revealing metal casts over his abs, forearms, thighs, and shins. Robin's heart froze and a shocked look came across his face as the images being relayed in his head reminded him of an old adversary. Could it be, he thought to himself. No…it couldn't. The elusive umbrage lessened his pace then, as if teasing Robin with the knowledge of his identity, slowly turned his head and revealed the glossy orange side of his mask with that one sinister, evil eye that Robin grew to fear and hate.

"No," he gasped under his breath as a look of utter shock and disbelief came across his face.

It was Slade. With his body faced away from his former apprentice, Slade continued starring at Robin with his depraved eye that cut deep into the reaches of Robin's soul. He planted his feet close together, then shifted his weight on one of his legs and faced his entire self towards Robin with his arms folded comfortably behind his back. Robin couldn't believe his eyes as he and his mortal enemy starred each other down. Even as people passed in front of Slade he still remained fixed in his position merely twenty feet away from Robin and Starfire. No one else seemed to notice him, but how could this be, he was standing right there amongst everyone. Was Robin hallucinating again, could the dust from the mask have resurfaced in his brain and caused him to see these images, or was this for real? Robin didn't know, all he could do was look on in horror as Slade stood there motionlessly eyeing Robin. Slade slowly leaned forward with his feet still cemented to their spots, and tilted his head slightly as if taunting him with his gaze. Although his face was concealed, Robin could tell from the way his eye relaxed that he was smiling at him from under his mask. Slade starred only for a brief moment then rolled his eye to the left and starred in that general direction when suddenly;

KABOOM!

A/N:

Hehehehehehehehehe, hehehehehehehehe, Oh how I absolutely LOVE WRITING THIS STORY! First Slade showed up at the restaurant, and now, he totally crashes the dance and goes out with a bang…literally. So…come on guys, come on…you know you're DIEING FOR MORE NOW, but guess what…you're going to have to wait to find out what happens next! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! (thunder and lightning in background) Okay, so, what did you guys think of all my guest appearances like: The Flash, Super Girl, Wonder Girl, Lilith, and Impulse? I guess you could consider Hot Spot and Wildebeest as well, but I wanted you to focus on those four. But man I'll tell you what, I had to do some serious homework in researching all the female members of the team from the comics, man that crap was hard to find! To those who don't know who Wonder Girl or Lilith are, I'll give you a brief history lesson of the Titans. Wonder Girl was actually one of the Teen Titans in the VERY BEGINNING, so they consisted of Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Wonder Girl who made up the original Teen Titans so, Starfire and all them hadn't even existed yet. Impulse is Kid Flash just with a better name…I think… Lilith is a chick who joined the team I think…in the 1980's in the comics and she possesses telepathy so she can like tell the future and read people's minds n' stuff. That's what I was shooting for when Lilith kept interrupting Speedy, and hopefully you caught on to those hidden sexual connotations during their little conversation, hehehehehehehehe. Well, I'm gonna proof read this whole thing now and write individual reviews. Don't ask me what the next chapter is, I'm not even sure what it'll be about. It could be another filler that'll conclude the date or I could go ahead and go through with my evil plans for the rising actions of the story. Read and Review, ASAP, ALL OF YOU!

RobinLover- What is "" supposed to mean? Thanks for reviewing though…I guess?

KaliAnn- LOL, I can see you're liking the date so far, which makes me happy cause I know some people are reading my story for the action n' stuff, not the romance. I'm also glad you caught on to the thong thing as well, I'm wondering if everyone did cause you're the only one who commented on that and I wanted to make it as inconspicuous as possible. I haven't decided yet what will be the fate of Beast Boy though for buying Starfire one, I never even considered Robin doing anything to him for that, but since you mentioned it, I'll be sure to include something about that JUST FOR YOU! Well it looks like you got your wish because Slade SERIOUSLY crashed the dance figuratively and literally. Well thanks for reviewin.'

Aries-Raven- I'm glad you liked this chapter, it took me forever and a day to finish it cause I wanted to get out as many of my ideas as I could, but I'll have to use another chapter to get out ALL OF THEM. I'm glad you liked the Victoria's Secret part I thought everyone would get a kick out of that, but I'm getting kinda worried that I may need to up my rating to PG-13 because of some of the sexual connotations I made in these last two chapters…but then again…Shrek 2 was PG and it had thongs in it…so maybe I'm alright. The Slade part was definitely the high-light of the chapter, as well as in this one where he reveals himself at the end. Both of these chapters would have been pretty boring if something bad hadn't happened, AND as you mentioned earlier, there's a reason why there wasn't any crime the day before the date/dance and you'll find out later on in the story. Hope you liked the dance, cause I based it mostly off of my homecoming, except for what Red X pulled. Well, I'm gonna proof read this thing now, thanks for the review.

Van Gordan- Ah the illustrious Van Gordan, what can I say? I know you're not the type of person for romance, but bare with me for…one more chapter. I promise after that…you will not be disappointed as a matter a fact, you may be begging me for more. I'm glad you were at least interested in what I wrote, and hopefully I didn't bore you too much with this chapter, but think of these as…the rising actions that will build up to the GRAND climax. I slowed things down and then I'll slowly heat things back up, until it's on fire, does that make sense? I knew you'd LOVE the Slade thing, and you are correct my friend, something big is about to go down…REALLY BIG I might add, MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. But anyway, what makes you think I'm going to end the story so soon? I'd have to say this is maybe…50-60 of the way finished. Just to give you a little preview, the next chapter will mostly be the date coming to a close but there'll be a fight scene and maybe in the next chapter or the one after that, Red X will be back and then…hehehehe, I dare not say, hehehehe. Don't worry I'll update soon, I don't want you using your Dad's C7 or Sabre on me...I always thought the Canadian military had the Colt line of weapons like the M4's and M16's like we do, but huh, I guess not. Um…I don't know if you noticed or not, but I have been reading YOUR fanfic as well "Blast to the Supposed Past." GOOD STUFF MAN. Well, I've got homework to work on now, so thanks for the review, and bare with me and the romance for just a little longer.