Second Chance at Life
Chapter 1: Back to Work
Robin was lost in thought. He was lying on his bed looking up at the ceiling, trying to recount everything that had recently happened...
Raven had become the portal, allowing her father to take over the earth. With the encouragement she got from Robin, Raven managed to regain her powers and destroy her father and save the earth. Slade had lost life a while back, thanks to Terra. Trigon had promised to give Slade his flesh and blood back but later double-crossed him. In the end, Slade got what he wanted and now is out there somewhere, most likely plotting something.
Since then, things have been quiet and the Titans finally got to lay back for a bit. Saving the universe from an interdimensional demon meant lots parties and somewell deserved R&R. A special bond had formed between Robin and Raven. She now seemed closer to him than ever before. Even though Raven was good at hiding her feelings, she couldn't help but blush every time he happened tolook into her eyes. He himself felt like he had butterflies in his stomach whenever she was around. Maybe...
An alarm went off in the tower, signaling there was trouble. Robin jumped up from his bed and ran out the door of his room, into the hallway and crashed into Raven. They both were knocked back on the ground with a loud thump. Robin looked up into Raven's violet eyes. "Raven", he heard himself whisper. He quickly got up and offered her a hand.
"uh--sorry Raven, I-I didn't mean to knock you down, its just--"
"Robin, relax. It's not like you went into my room or something.", she cut him off with a smirk on her face. She took his hand and he gently helped her to her feet. "Thanks".
Robin smiled back at her. They both stood there looking at each other for a while before Robin was quickly brought back to reality as he noticed the alarm was still blaring."Right, well we better get to the living room". He turned towards the stairs and ran through the hall, Raven closely drifting behind him.
Robin ran through the door that led into the living room, followed by Raven. He looked around and saw that Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Starfire were gathered around the TV which displayed a map of the city.
"Report!" ordered Robin.
"There's trouble downtown. Slade's robotic drones are on a rampage in the streets." answered Cyborg.
"Any sign of Slade?" Robin asked, hoping he would be able to take Slade down once and for all.
"Nah, just his robots."
"Geez, ya think after what happened with the whole 'end of the world' thing that he would lay low for a while.", commented Beast Boy.
"Titans, move out!". Robin, Cyborg, and BB quickly left the room. Starfire followed but looked back and saw Raven was still looking at the screen.
"Something troubles you, Raven?" asked Starfire.
Raven didn't respond.
"Raven?" asked Starfire again, a look of concern now apparent on her face.
Raven snapped out of her trance. She turn toward Starfire and said, "Sorry. I was just thinking about what Slade might be up to. He's not attacking anything in particular. He's got to be up to something."
"We would do best to be on our guard then." said Starfire.
"I'm just a little worried about Robin" replied Raven. "Come on, we'd better catch up with the others."
The full moon that night was beautiful sight to look at. It's light illuminating much of the night sky and reflecting off of the ocean's surface.. There was a slight wind, and not too far off a band of storm clouds were making their way to the city. It was going to be a stormy night...
Dozens and dozens of Slade's drones were marching down the streets. Many of them were carrying blasters that wrapped around their hands like a sort of handle. These drones looked similar to Slade, except that the type of mask they wore were black, with an orange circle in the middle of their faces, and white slits where their eyes should be.
A flurry of starbolts rained down on the crowd of drones, destroying a large number of them. Starfire continued to fire her starbolts at the small army, which began returning fire. She swiftly began dodging the shots while continuing to fire her own barrage.
Beast Boy came flying down in pterodactyl form, holding on to Cyborg with his claws as he fired his sonic cannon at the drones. BB glided close to the ground and let go of Cyborg, who rolled onto his feet and continued firing.
As soon as Beast Boy dropped off Cyborg, several of the drones shot Beast Boy in the wing, causing his to come crashing to ground. He quickly recovered and transformed into a rhino, ramming into the drones who had shot him.
Raven floated in the air and chanted the words, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!". Her eyes glowed white and a black aura surrounded her hands as she used her power to levitate several cars and smashed several drones with them.
Robin came riding in on his motorcycle. Two missiles were fired from the sides of his bike and destroyed several drones and sending others flying in all directions. As he got closer, he jumped off his bike and it continued on, driverless, running over a drone before it lost balance and crashed.
Meanwhile, Robin pulled out his retractable bo-staff and attacked an unsuspecting drone. Two other drones noticed what was going on and began shooting Robin. He began dodging shots and threw a couple of freezing discs that engulfed the bodies of the drones in ice. He quickly ran up and swiped his staff on his frozen enemies, shattering the ice as well as the frozen drones
' What are you up to, Slade?' Robin thought to himself, unaware that a drone was about to shoot him in the back. Raven brought up a black aura behind Robin that protected him from the blast. Robin looked behind him and noticed that Raven had just saved his life, and watched as Raven brought the shield down on the drone, engulfing it in the aura, and threw it against the wall.
He let out a sigh of relief and smiled at Raven. "Good looking out, Raven."
Raven barely had time to smile back before she felt something small latch onto her shoulder, and suddenly felt immense pain as she was shocked. She let out a cry of pain as the electricity coursed throughout her spine and lost consciousness in mid-air and began falling to the ground.
"Raven!" screamed Robin as he ran as fast as he could to catch her. He caught her in his arms just in time. He kneeled down and set her gently on the street. He wiped a strand of hair from her face and gently stroked her cheek, marveling at her beauty.
Robin was relieved to see that she was still breathing. He noticed that there was some sort of little device on the back of her shoulder. He took it off her and examined it. It was hot, smoke trailing off of it. He figured this was what electrocuted Raven and crushed it in his hand. He heard a familiar laugh from the left side of the street. He turned and looked up, and saw Slade on one of the rooftops, the full moon behind him.
"Nice to see you again, Robin. It's been too long.", said Slade. "I'm sorry about your little friend there, but I had to get your attention somehow."
"Slade! You won't get away with any of this, whatever you're up to!" yelled Robin, his voice full anger and hate. He reached into his utility belt and threw an explosive disc, but Slade moved out of the way just in time and ran off. Robin readied his staff and looked down at Raven."I'll be back, Raven. I promise." He took off and went after Slade.
The dozens of drones that originally filled the streets were not becoming hundreds. Manholes in the streets began bursting open as more and more drones came climbing out of them.
"Raven was correct..." began Starfire, "we have been lured into a trap!". She continued to shoot bolts and dodge a barrage of laser shots. Eventually, one shot found its mark on her shoulder. Distracted by the pain, she was shot again on her upper leg, then again on her chest. Starfire screamed as she fell from the sky and smashed onto a car. Immediately a drone jumped on top of her and began pounding her body.
"Starfire, NO!" cried out Cyborg as he turned to help, but instead watched as green line of energy pierced through the drone. Starfire's leg came up and kicked the drone away from her. Her eyes were glowing green as she stood up and wiped the blood from her mouth. She rose to the air, seemingly ignoring her bleeding wounds.
Just then, a drone had jumped onto Cyborg's back and was trying to rip his head off. Cyborg grabbed it the arms and threw it on the ground in front of him. He lifted his foot up and brought it down hard on the drone's face, crushing its head.
Beast Boy was kneeling next to Raven trying to wake her up. "Raven, come on wake up!". He began shaking her until she eventually came to. She sat up and rubbed her head. "You ok?" he asked her.
"Never been better", she replied sarcastically. She slowly got to her, her legs feeling wobbly. "Where's Robin!" she demanded.
"Uh... that's exactly what I was gonna ask you."
Raven was starting to get worried. She tried to clear her mind and remember, although it wasn't an easy task considering the intense headache she had. She remembered saving Robin's life... his smile... then an intense pain... a familiar voice... "Slade!" she yelled. "Robin's gone after Slade!"
"Figures that stubborn shrimp would run off on his own." Cyborg yelled out as he dodged a punch and delivered one of his own before turning to look at Raven. "Raven, this whole thing was a setup. If I know Slade, then Robin is in for a world of trouble. Find Robin, we'll take care of things here!
Raven nodded and flew off, using the map on her communicator to follow Robin's signal.
Beast Boy watched as Raven left and wished he could have been the one to go. Anything would've been better than to face hundreds of killer robots bent on killing him. He sighed. "Well, at least things can't get any worse--"
A loud BOOM was heard as the sky was lit up with lightning. A shower of rain immediately began to pour down on them. Cyborg and Starfire shot a cold glare at the green changeling.
Beast Boy's face was flushed. "What!"
Cyborg got into his battle stance and readied his sonic cannon. "Alright, let's show these guys what we're made of. Titans, GO!".
Robin ducked beneath Slade's staff as it swung over his head. He swung his own staff upwards and connected with Slade's chin, who was sent flying end over end, but landed on his feet and sprung towards Robin. He struck his staff down on the ground and propelled himself forward, kicking Robin hard in the chest, sending him crashing and rolling to the ground. He coughed and got to his knees.
Slade didn't give him time to his feet. He sprinted towards Robin and kicked him hard in stomach. Robin was sent flying off the rooftop and crashed through a window of an abandoned warehouse.
Robin felt the shards of broken glass cut his uniform and skin. He landed hard on the ground, dust getting kicked up all around him.
' Get up! you can't let him beat you like this ', he thought to himself. He slowly managed to stand. He looked up and saw Slade running towards him. Slade began throwing a flurry of punches at Robin. He managed to block the first few, but his defenses were eventually broken as Slade hit him square in the chest with an open palm of his hand. Robin'sback impacted against a wall. His body slid down until he was sitting on the ground, unable to get up. Dust rose all around him, and he began coughing up blood. Slade began to chuckle. The psycho was enjoying every moment of this.
Slade watched Robin reach into his utility belt. He sprang forward and brought his knee up to Robin's face, breaking his nose. Slade noticed his knee was stained with Robin's blood. He laughed as he watched Robin cover his nose, trying to make the bleeding stop.
"Oh, Robin, when will you learn? You can't ever hope to defeat me." said Slade.
Robin leaned back against the wall and slowly managed to get to his feet.
"I can't risk having you or the other Titans alive anymore, especially after losing my life once already. I've decided to be a more little more careful with my new life and I think I'll start by killing you first." said Slade as he stood in front of Robin. He reached out and firmly grabbed Robin's throat and held him up high. Robin's arms were hanging at his sides. "Any last words before I put an end to your miserable life?"
"Yea" Robin coughed out blood but managed to let out a smile. "Do yourself a favor... and stay dead this time!" He suddenly slashed at Slade's chest with a birdarang he was holding in his hand, causing Slade to scream and lose his grip on Robin's throat. Slade staggered back, holding his wound as blood seeped through his fingers.
Robin delivered a spinning kick to Slade's face, slightly cracking his mask. Before Slade could retaliate, he quickly pulled out his line gun and fired a grappling cable up towards the ceiling. Slade watched in fury as the boy ascended into the air and out of his grasp.
"This is for Raven!" yelled Robin as he dropped explosive discs down on Slade. He watched Slade bring up his arms to try and cover his face, but was engulfed in smoke and fire as the discs detonated all around him. After a few seconds the smoke cleared, but there was no sign of Slade. There was, however, a trail of blood stains that led into the shadows of the warehouse.
' Damn' Robin dropped onto a support beam and jumped to the ground. He grunted as he landed, his whole body aching with pain. He wiped the blood from his nose and looked around for Slade. ' Well at least I know I hurt him.'
Slade's voice was heard, but he was nowhere to be seen."Very good, Robin. You've proven to be more cunning than I thought."
"Show yourself!" demanded Robin. He narrowed his eyes, trying to find where the voice was coming from. It was impossible to tell where it was coming from because of the rain that was leaking into the warehouse, causing constant loud dripping and splashing sounds. "Why did you attack the city!"
"Trycontacting one ofyourfriends. Maybe they can tell you... if they're still alive that is." Slade laughed but was unable to hide the pain.
Robin's eyes widened. This whole thing was a trap to lure him away, leaving his team without a leader. He remembered how he left his friends fighting alone... how he left Raven unconscious on the street. He reached for his communicator, but heard something fly through the air and latch onto his chest. It was the same thing that electrocuted Raven. His whole body began to shake with pain as a jolt of electricity lanced up his spine and throughout his body. When it finally stopped, his legs gave out and he fell to his knees, slowly losing his grip on consciousness.
For an instant, lightning lit up the dark room, revealing Slade walking up to Robin from behind. "Like I said earlier, Robin. You can NEVER hope to beat me.", he sneered. Slade raised his fist and brought it down hard on Robin's head, knocking him face down on the ground. Before he lost consciousness, he heard a faint voice calling out his name. It was Raven.
"Raven..." he whispered,his vision fading to black.