Chapter 6

"Well, well, well. Looks like your finally waking up. I don't know why my robots had such a hard time with you and Robin. All I had to do was hit you on the head once and you were out. Now that you're awake I have some important matters to discuss with you." Aria shook her aching head and realized she was in a dark room. She went to massage her head and found that her arms were bound to the wall by chains. Looking down she saw that her feet were too. She wasn't going anywhere soon.

"I have a little deal for you," snarled Slade.

"I'll never make a deal with you! I know who you are! All you want to do is destroy the Titans! My friends! I don't care what your deal is; you can keep it!" She spat at his feet. She looked into his cold, dark eyes. Aria knew he was one of no mercy.

"You are quite brave. But you don't have a choice. You will accept my deal. I don't want you for an apprentice or anything. But you will tell me everything you know about the Teen Titans."

"And if I refuse?"

Slade slapped Aria across the face. "Let's just say that's a little sample of what is to come."

Aria's face stung but she didn't care. She wouldn't betray her friends. "I'll never tell you anything."

"You will tell me everything. From what their weaknesses and strengths are to what they like on their pizza." Slade punched her in the stomach. She doubled over in pain. But she remained silent. Slade punched her again. "You better speak up. I'm not afraid to kill you, you know." Slade drew a knife and pressed it against Aria's neck. She didn't falter. She just looked back at the dark mask.

"I don't care what you do to me. Kill me for all I care. But I am not a traitor!" Slade slid the blade along her throat and drew some blood. Aria winced at the pain.

"You better speak up or the next cut won't be so shallow."

"You won't do it."

"Won't I?" Slade stabbed her in the shoulder.

"Ahhhh!" Aria cried out in pain.

"Now! Tell me what I need to know!"

Aria chuckled a little. "You're still bluffing. You won't do it because you need me. Without me you have no inside way to get to the Titans."

"That doesn't mean I can't make the next moments of your life a living hell!"

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"What's wrong with you man!" Cyborg asked Robin. "You did not let her down! There was nothing you could do!"

"I shouldn't have let her out of the Tower! I shouldn't have let her fight! I gave into her and she got hurt!"

"So you're just going to give up on her! Stop mopping around and blaming yourself! That won't get her back! Snap out of it man and think!"

"How are we going to track her? She's gone! Slade probably killed her by now." Robin buried his head in his lap.

"Robin," said Raven, "Slade hasn't done anything with her yet. He's probably using her to get to us. It's up to us to get her back. Don't give up! You've never given up before. You can still get her back. This isn't over!"

Robin looked up. Raven was right. It wasn't over! He would find Slade and rescue Aria.

"Your right! Titans, the first thing we need to do is find out where Aria is. She was pulled into the sewer so we'll begin our search there."

The Titans took off. Robin was speeding on his motorcycle next to Cyborg in his car. Raven flew along above with Starfire and Beast Boy. They found the manhole and descended into the darkness. Starfire used a bolt for light. Slade hadn't done a good job of covering his footprints. The Titans followed the prints. They walked for about 2 blocks when they heard noises. There were cries of pain and anguish. There were sounds of anger and impatience. The Titans began to run to the noises and began to see a glow of red. They were nearing Slade's hide out. They ran towards the glow. The pathway stopped and emptied above a large room. Looking down into the room they could see Aria and Slade. Aria was chained to the wall. He was punching her, over and over again.

"Tell me what I want to know!" Slade yelled at her.

"I'll never tell." She said, weakened from his blows. Slade raised hand to hit her again when Robin cut in

"Stop!" he yelled, "Let her go!" Slade looked up as the Titans jumped down into the room.

"Robin, what a nice surprise. As you can see I was taking good care of your friend here. Pity you let her out of the Tower."

"Let her go and we won't kick your ass as hard!" Robin yelled in rage.

"No."

"Titans, Go!" commanded Robin. The Titans all launched for Slade. All of a sudden, they froze! They couldn't move. They had fallen into a trap.

"I thought you might come after her. So, I built this. It's like a giant tazer that paralysis all of your muscles, freezing you in place. Now I have you all where I want you. No one can save you now."

Aria was infuriated! Slade could do whatever he wanted with her, but now that he had put her friend's lives on the line, she was mad. Aria raised her head. Her eyes were shut from the previous beating. "No one messes with my friends!" She opened her eyes and they had changed from their normal brown to a golden yellow. Aria pulled with all her strength on the chains and pulled them off the wall. Aria raised her hand and shot a ball of fire at Slade! It struck him in the chest and sent him flying into one of the pillars which controlled the tazers. The tazer broke and the Titans were free. But they remained frozen, in shock of what had just happened.

"I told you that you could do what you wanted to me!" She threatened as she walked toward him. She struck him with a fiery fist in the face, "But when you threaten my friends," she hit him again, "then you just went to a whole new level!" She punched at him again. He blocked it. Slade tried to retaliate with a kick to the head but Aria ducked and shot a ball of fire at him. Slade jumped up to the platform above the room.

"Impressive," he commented, "but I'm not done yet." He looked into Aria's golden eyes, furious with rage. Fog engulfed Slade. By the time it had settled, he was gone. Aria continued to stare at where Slade was but then gave into her wounds and exhaustion. She began to collapse but Robin was there and caught her in his arms.

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"Hey, I think she's finally waking up!" yelled Beat Boy. The Titans all ran over to Aria's bedside. She began to blink her eyes.

"Welcome back," said Cyborg. Aria opened her eyes and sat up. She was very sore. Her neck and shoulder were wrapped from where Slade had stabbed her. She was covered in bruises.

"How long have I been out?" she asked.

"For about 2 days. You were in pretty bad shape." Robin answered.

"Our friend has returned!" Starfire exclaimed as she jumped up and down. She went to hug Aria but all the Titans interceded. Aria wasn't ready for a hug from Starfire just yet.

"Dude, since when could you do that little fire trick! Why didn't you tell us?" exclaimed Beast boy

"Cause I didn't even know! I don't know how I got them!"

"And your eyes changed colors! They're kind of goldenly, yellowishy."

"They did!" exclaimed Aria. Starfire got Aria a mirror and sure enough! Aria had yellow eyes. Aria looked at her hand and made a little fireball. She had just unleashed her powers and wondered what else she could do.

"Hey you guys, do you mind if I talk to Aria alone for a little bit?" asked Robin. The Titans all shrugged and began to walk out, except Starfire.

"Actually…" she began to say before Raven grabbed her and pulled her out the door.

"I need to talk to you. I need to say I'm sorry," apologized Robin.

"What? Why? You never did anything."

"I told you that you could trust me! I told you that I'd protect you and you got hurt! It's all my fault! I let you down when you needed me most!" Robin hung his head in shame. Aria smiled and shook her head.

"You're too hard on yourself! You never let me down! You came after me when I needed you most. You were there to protect me. And I remember that you were the one who caught me when I fell." Robin looked up. Aria was smiling. "Look, this is hard for me, but I trust you. That night when you said I was afraid, you were right. I am afraid. I'm scared of letting you guys get too close. But I don't want to push you away anymore!"

"You don't have to. I think I may have pushed you into doing this and I don't want you to tell me if you're not comfortable."

"No, I want to tell you. Well, I've been shut off to everyone for probably two big reasons. The first reason goes back to when I was little. I remember my dad would yell at my mom every night! They would fight! I would curl up under my covers and just cry, 'Please don't fight anymore!' He would then fall asleep on the floor next to his bottles of beer. I cried myself to sleep every night." Aria's eyes began to well up with tears, "Over the years it kept getting worse. He began to hit my mom and beat her. Then he would come after me and beat me too. That went on until I was 10. Then one night…" she paused. Tears overflowing down her face. "Then one night he didn't come home. My mom was tucking me in. She was able to read me a bedtime story and I was so happy! She sang me a song and told me how much she loved me. Then my dad came home. He found me and my mom. He pulled a knife and began to stab her, over and over again! I jumped on him and yelled at him! That was the first time I had ever fought back. But he threw me on the ground. He had been drinking and collapsed from the alcohol. I went over to my mom and pulled her head into my lap. Her body was soaked in blood. She raised a hand to my face and said, 'I'll always be with you. I will be your guardian angel.' Then…she died. I tried to get her to wake up but she wouldn't. I finally called the police and they arrested my dad. He's in jail for life. But I'll never have my mom back." Robin looked at Aria in shock. "Aria means beautiful melody in Latin. My mom named me that because I was the only beautiful thing in her life. After that I went to live with my mom's sister, her husband and their son Stuart. I've always called Stuart my little brother anyways, so it made sense to go live with them. They're good parents. But they sent me to a school, which wasn't so kind. I got picked on everyday there. It's because the most popular guy in school thought I was pretty and the popular girls got mad about it. So they picked on me. It started out with teasing. I had a friend there who would stick up for me. I confided in her and told her everything. Well ends up she would betray our friendship for popularity. She told the other girls things and joined in on the teasing. Soon the whole school joined in. It got bad. They would throw me in garbage cans and rip up my homework. They even locked me in the cafeteria's freezer overnight once. I would just let them torment me. There was no way to escape from it at school. My only escape was my room. I could feel my mom there. Since then I haven't told anyone anything." The tears were pouring down Aria's face.

"I didn't know that it was that bad of a story. I am so sorry." Robin sat next to Aria on the bed and pulled her into his arms. She rested her head on his shoulder. "Aria, it's ok to cry." She began to break down. The tears went from streams flowing down her face to waterfalls. She had held the emotion in for so long that it all came out at once. "We'll never do to you what those kids at your school did. We're friends. That one girl was not a friend. A friend doesn't betray their friends. I promise that will never happen to you again! And you're mom, I bet you she's watching down on you right now. That's probably why you survived a beating from Slade. You're lucky to have her." Aria continued to cry and Robin continued to hold her. He wasn't going to let her go. She needed him. She needed the Titans. She had poured out her heart and soul to him. Aria knew then and there that she finally had a friend.

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Aria stayed in bed for the next week. The Titans kept her company and would play card games with her. She let Robin tell the other Titans her story. Starfire and Beast Boy cried. Since she was still recovering, Aria spent half the day sleeping. That gave the Titans enough time to make her a special surprise. Aria's bruises healed and she was able to walk around. The only thing still healing was the stab wound to her shoulder.

"Aria, we have a special surprise for you! Come quickly to the room of the television!" sang Starfire. Aria ran over to the main room and saw all the Titans standing around. They blindfolded her and walked her down the hallway. When they took the blindfold off Aria was starring at a room. It had fresh paint on the walls and new bed sheets.

"We figured you'll be staying here a while and made you your own room. I was able to look into your dimension and found out what your room was like." said Raven.

"I don't know what to say! My own room! Mommy! I can feel her here…"

"Look in the closet," said Cyborg. Aria opened the closet door and found about 20 of the same outfit starring back at her. The outfit was all red and reminded her of an outfit in one of Stuart's games. Talim from Soul Caliber 2 had an outfit like the costume that was looking at her. There were shorts and a midriff baring shirt. Aria's costume went with a pair of red converse.

"What does this mean?" asked Aria.

"It means welcome to the team!" exclaimed Robin, "We want you to fight for us. You have powers now and you kicked some serious robot butt. We found out that you got them when you came through the TV. Beast Boy was watching a show on fire, remember. The fire entered your DNA, giving you the powers. Your desire to protect us is what finally unleashed your powers. So, will you become a Teen Titan?" Robin pulled out a communicator held it out towards Aria. Aria grabbed the communicator.

"Boo-yah! Now go get changed into your new clothes and throw those ones away. We only wear one outfit incase you haven't noticed. Let's go for a night on the town to celebrate!" declared Cyborg. All the Titans took off for the door, including their newest member.