My Strength, and Greatest Weakness
by Blue Ten
Summary:
Jump City has been quiet on the crime front for the past few months and the Titan's are starting to get restless. Starfire tries her best to raise the Titan's spirits, even after Slade meets a rather pointless death. A night at the fair brings Robin and Starfire closer than ever. But when a man calling himself Fear shows up, things start to go horribly wrong. RobinxStarfire.
Disclaimer:
I do not own Teen Titans. Is it for sale or something?
Chapter 5: Fear
It had all happened so quickly. Just the other day the Titans were having fun, laughing, and enjoying the free time. They had never been happier, and they had Starfire to thank for it. When she was around, the sun seemed to shine all the brighter, and the beauty of life was illuminated by it, bringing to light all the things they had taken for granted; joy, compassion, love... Now, in what seemed like the passing of no more than a fleeting second, a shadow darkened the skies and the Titans found themselves negotiating with a madman who held Starfire's fate in his malevolent hands.
The room was saturated with repressed rage. The Titans knew they shouldn't say anything against this man, who knows what he would do, but they wanted so much to express their disgust for him. Robin found it the hardest to contain his anger, how could anyone do something like this, to a person like her? Every word the man spoke felt like a dagger to his side, and Robin wanted to rip those blades out and send them right back. But he decided to keep those thoughts in his mind, for her sake.
"Before we enter into an agreement, let me lay down the ground rules," the man said, turning away from the window. 'Ground rules?' Robin thought. "Firstly, you shouldn't try to contact, or locate her, unless you want to give me a spectacular light show. You see, I've rewired her communicator, to send an electrical surge through her body strong enough to kill. I could have simply destroyed it, but where's the fun in that?" he continued, sounding amused by the Titans reaction to his cruel statement. 'Fun? What the hell?' Robin began glaring. The Titans shot a look at him that seemed to say, 'Don't do it.'. Robin reluctantly nodded, and released his glare.
"Secondly, my eyes are everywhere. I have been watching all of you for quite some time now, so if you try to undermine me, I'll know, and she will pay the price for your deception." He turned and symbolically switched off the light that shone on Starfire, leaving the room black again. "Now, all that's left is for you to agree to my demands, do we have a deal?"
"Deal." Robin said without a second thought.
"Robin! You can't--" Cyborg tried to talk some sense into him, he had never seen Robin give in so quickly.
"I know Cyborg, but what choice do we have?" Robin cut in. Cyborg looked at the floor, giving up, he knew Robin was right, but he wished there was some other way.
"So what is it that you want?" Robin examined the screen as he spoke, trying to find something that could give away the location.
"What I want? Why, a place in the history books of course." The man replied, again avoiding a direct answer. 'A place in the--' Robin couldn't take this any more.
"How about I give you a place in the obituaries!" Robin snapped, his anger finally on the surface. Immediately, he would regret his actions.
"Careful, need I remind you that her life is at my disposal? Don't think for a second that you can threaten me!" Robin had obviously pushed one of his buttons, the man seemed to be visibly shaken by what he said. This came as a surprise, as the Titans had imagined him as anything but human. "Do you wish me to take her life away?" he said heartlessly.
"Please... don't. I'm sorry." Robin said, hating himself for what he had done. His outburst had put Starfire's life in jeopardy.
"That's better." said the man in black, as he relaxed back to his previous stance. "Now. My name is Fear, and my demands are simple. I want you to steal something for me, Robin." he focused his gaze on Robin. "I'm sending the information on the item's location to your computer now. You need not know anything more about it." the computer started downloading a file. "I'll give you an hour to decide where your loyalties lie." with that, the screen went blank and the file was sent to Robin's communicator.
The room fell silent. Robin just stood and stared at his communicator, thinking about Starfire, he felt like falling to his knees and crying. 'I'm supposed to be a leader, I have to stay strong. What kind of example am I setting for the team if I break down?' he thought about her face, how it had been stained with tears, he began to shiver, 'I'm supposed to be strong...'.He tried to fight it, tried to keep his emotions from breaking to the surface, but he had already fallen to his knees, letting freely flow the tears he had fought so hard to contain. The Titans looked at him with sympathetic eyes. He slammed his fists on the ground, "I couldn't help her... I was awake that night and I couldn't help her!" Robin said. Cyborg placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"It's alright..." Cyborg said, trying to calm him.
"NO! It's my fault--" Robin was cut off by Raven.
"Stop it! It won't do any good blaming yourself, that was a dream Robin, you weren't awake." she said, realizing he had become irrational.
"You read me?" Robin questioned Raven.
"Raven's right, what would Starfire think if she saw us like this?" Beastboy added, "We have to keep our heads and think straight if we're gonna make it through this." Everyone just stared at him, Beastboy had a constructive comment... "What? Is there something on my face?"
Robin stood up, finally realizing he was acting foolish, they could use the time they were given to their advantage. He thought about what he had said before, he knew it was a dream, why he suddenly thought it was real, he didn't understand. "Thanks guys. I don't know what came over me..."
"Everyone, meet me outside." he said, finding new resolve as he headed for the door.
- - - - - -
The sun had risen to the center of the sky, it was clear, and a light summer breeze rustled the leaves in the trees. The Titans didn't pay much attention to the good weather, no matter how much they tried to keep their morale up, it still felt like it was raining. They followed Robin farther and farther away from the tower. All were wondering why Robin couldn't say what he wanted to, inside. They stopped, and met in a circle under a large tree, looking at Robin expectantly.
"We can't talk inside. I'm guessing those eyes he mentioned are cameras he's hidden around the tower, so whenever we need to, we should meet up here."
"Yeah, the guy's obviously messing with us, trying to creep us out or something..." Cyborg added, relieved to find his leader thinking rationally again.
"HELLO, his name is FEAR, try and guess what his specialty is." Beastboy said, everyone stared at him again. "What?"
"You're right. We need to find out who this guy is, and fast. Cyborg, I need you to search the tower, try to find out how he got in, be inconspicuous. Beastboy, I want you to look up the data he sent us, report anything you find to my communicator over the secure channel. Raven, if he shows up again, I need you to try and read him." Robin had found his focus, 'It's what she would want.' he thought. He hated using past-tense like that, it sounded rather grim.
"What about you?" Raven questioned.
"I'm going to steal what he told me to, as Red X."
- - - - - -
"Then we have come to an agreement?" Fear asked the Titans, on the screen once more. They nodded, seeing his 'face' again brought back the feelings of disgust and hatred. "I just knew you would. You would do anything for her, wouldn't you Robin?"
"...You leave her out of this. Your business is with me now." Robin answered, feeling a little bolder.
Fear laughed, "Very good. But we shall see if you hold up your end of the bargain." he said in his cold manner.
Raven took the opportunity to try and read Fear. Attempting to jump in his mind, she found that she couldn't get past the eye on his mask. 'Robin, his mask... it's strange... I can't seem to read past it.' she sent her thoughts to him.
'That's alright, we'll just have to leave this up to Cyborg and Beastboy.' Robin responded.
'That's what I was afraid of...' she joked.
"I suggest you start moving Robin. Time is short, and my patience is wearing thin." Fear said finally as he cut the communication.
Robin walked to his room, thinking about the last time he had been behind the mask of Red X. He had created it as a way of gaining Slade's trust, in the process hoping to find out about his plans, and ultimately, who he was. In the end, however, all he managed to do was lose the respect and trust of his own teammates, even Starfire. It took a long time to gain back their trust, but he knew it was worth it. He vowed he would never wear the mask again, it disgusted him, reminded him of a time he would rather forget. Then Red X manifested itself into reality, as a separate entity, Robin blamed himself, but his friends stood by him. He made his way to the storage room where he kept the suit. Opening the drawer he looked at the mask, it seemed to stare back up at him. He felt a certain apprehension as he reached for it, part of him still hated it. But now, it was his best chance to keep Starfire safe without getting the Titans blamed for a robbery, he had no choice.
'For Starfire.' he grabbed the suit, and quickly changed into it.
Author's Note: I have had this story written out in my mind for quite some time now, so if you're wondering: "Where the hell is this guy taking this thing?", don't worry, because I'm taking it to the end. The end will bring everything together, it will all make sense. But it won't be for a while, I expect to have a lot of chapters by the time I'm done. In the mean time, I need more feedback from the reviewers.:)
Next Chapter Preview: Robin becomes Red X once more and races to the location on his map. Cyborg and Beastboy uncover some strange information regarding Fear and the object of his desires, but will it help them find Starfire? Find out in Chapter 6: Masked.