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. Or am I?
Chapter 7: Lazarus
Robin had successfully broken into the BIO-GEN facility, standing perfectly still in an unlit hallway, he traced his memories, trying to find the right one. The images seemed to leave his mind as soon as they entered, he couldn't seem to keep them at the forefront of his thoughts. 'Lazarus... Where have I heard that before?' Robin asked himself, staring at the words in front of him. Robin walked up to the door and pressed his ear against it, checking if the room was empty, there were voices, a man and a woman.
"So if this works, then--" The man asked.
"Yeah." The woman cut him off, implying that he already knew the answer.
"Wow, just like that, huh?" The voices came closer to the door. Opening it, the two entered an empty hallway. Robin looked down at them from the ceiling, where he had his arms and legs pressed against the opposing walls. They were wearing white lab coats with name tags, Richard and Christina, your stereotypical scientist outfit. As they shut off the lights in the Lazarus room and closed the door, Robin was surprised to see the two embrace each other, leaning in for a kiss. Seeing this, Robin felt sick, he wanted so much to see Starfire again, to tell her how he felt, he wanted to hold her close and never let go, maybe even work up the courage to... The two began walking down the hall together.
"You might want to lock that up." Christina said, pointing to the door.
"Oh, right. You always have that affect on me." Richard said jokingly, walking back and taking out his keys. Robin rolled his eyes, 'such a corny line.' he thought. After locking the door Richard quickened his pace to catch up with Christina. Robin waited until he heard the door on the other side close before he dropped back down in the hall, letting out a repressed sigh. Robin took out a lock pick and began working on the door. He checked behind him as the door made a loud click and squeaked when it opened.
Robin searched the room with his eyes, it was dark but there was light emanating from a corner. He checked his map, whatever it was in the corner, that's what Fear wanted him to steal. Robin walked over to it, there was a small black box, the source of the light was inside it. Robin checked his communicator, the blinking dot had turned green as he approached the box, 'This must be it.' he thought. Carefully picking up the box, he heard the swishing sound of liquid inside. Suddenly, the memories came flooding back in his mind. Lazarus, the water.
"My God..." an idea of what Fear might be planning started to form in Robin's mind.
- - - - - -
The Titans were tired, the day had been filled with more stress than any other, and they hadn't even fought anyone. They wanted to rest, to sleep away their tensions, but the guilt would be too much for them to bare. Sleeping while Starfire was hurt and in captivity, sleeping while Robin was in some kind of danger, they couldn't deal with it. Waiting around for Fear to call again seemed like a waste of time, they had to take action. Cyborg decided to break the silence.
"So what should we do?" Cyborg asked the others, still standing outside with them.
"I guess we should go to the prison and check up on those guys. Right Raven?" Beastboy asked.
"I lied, they're not at the prison, they're at the asylum." Raven said, looking away from Beastboy and Cyborg.
The asylum? They knew a lot of the enemies they fought were crazy, but the fact that all of them would end up in the insane asylum was very strange. Even more outlandish was that they hadn't escaped yet, it always seemed that they were out the minute they got in. And if they couldn't escape, they had people on the outside willing to break them out. The Titans came to a frightening conclusion, maybe they didn't want to get out.
"Wait... Why did you lie?" Cyborg questioned Raven.
"It's like I said before. Robin knows more than he's telling us. I didn't want to worry him, he has enough on his mind." Raven answered.
"You're right. Come on, were wasting time, let's get the car and head on down there." Cyborg said, hoping that Raven wasn't right about Robin.
- - - - - -
The Jump City Asylum looked old and run down, much like Arkham in Gotham City as Robin described it. The broken and discolored brick walls on the exterior were reminiscent of a decaying corpse. However, this building was not abandoned like Arkham, it was still, in business. Immediately recognized at the door, the Titans didn't even have to explain their reasons for entering.
The interior couldn't be more different from the outside, it was clean, new, and very, white. The simple colors and patterns were designed to maintain what little sanity these criminals had left. The halls were lined with thick metal doors, reinforced with heavy locks, each had the detainee's name on it, and a small plated glass window at eye level. As they continued walking, a name caught Beastboy's eye, above one door it said: "Alias: Mad Mod". Against his best judgment, he decided to peek in through the window. Mod's old and feeble form was huddled in the corner, in a straight jacket, rocking back and forth, he seemed to be mouthing something, but it was inaudible. Beastboy quickly jumped away from the window when Mod shot a look at him with a twitchy eye, he tripped backward and ran into Raven.
"Come on, he's just one on the list." Raven said pulling the shocked Beastboy by his shirt.
The Titans continued through the halls, examining each of the inmates carefully. One by one, each of the enemies they had known for so long, the Titans' own Rogues Gallery, were seen in a different light, they were all genuinely afraid of something. Plasmus, the members of Hive, Overload, Johnny Rancid, even Mumbo, they were all here. They all refused to speak, instead repeating the same two words over and over again, "Fear." and, "Eye." If Robin had been affected the same way, was this to be his fate as well?
The Titans now knew that Fear was behind it all, but why did he need all these people out of the way? Was it simply to satisfy his psychotic ego, or was there some other reason? Something much darker than what could be seen on the surface. The Titans left the asylum, feeling like they had found even more useless information, ending up with more questions than answers, and they weren't any closer to finding Starfire. Another dead end. They were about to get back in the T-Car, when Cyborg's communicator went off.
"Titans, come in." Robin sounded very stressed.
"We hear you Robin... What is it?" Cyborg responded, trying to forget about what he had seen.
"I think I know what Fear might be planning." Robin said, "I'm heading back to the tower now, meet me there, I think it would be better if I told you in person."
"Will do. Titans out." Cyborg shut off his communicator and turned to the others, "Well, he doesn't sound like them... I think he should be fine. Right?"
- - - - - -
The moon had disappeared behind the clouds, the winds had died down, and the night was oddly quiet. The Titans had gathered around their new usual meeting place, waiting for Robin. The same question was running through each of their minds. What had Robin discovered? And will it help them find Starfire? The Titans waited for about an hour, hearing approaching footsteps, Cyborg motioned for them to hide. A dark figure approached the tree, in his hands he held a small black case. When he got close enough they all jumped out at him, Cyborg charged his cannon, Raven was ready to fly some rocks at him, and Beastboy was an ape.
"Hey! Wait, it's me." Robin said. Realizing he still had the mask on, he quickly removed it.
"Oh, jeez. Sorry man, we've been a little on edge." Cyborg apologized, lowering his weapon.
"Yeah. We thought you were psycho--ow!" Beastboy was elbowed by Raven, mid-sentence. "I mean crazy--I mean... Red X!"
"Beastboy... When this is over, do me a favor, and get some sleep." Robin shook his head at Beastboy.
Cyborg stood still and blinked a couple times, "AAAnyway, what was it you wanted to tell us?" he asked Robin, changing the subject.
"Right. I know exactly what it is that Fear had me steal." Robin held up the container in his hand. "Back in Gotham City, there was a man named Ra's Al Ghul, he led a worldwide criminal organization whose goal was to purify the planet of pollution, only problem was he tried to obtain this goal by any means necessary... He was a constant threat to Batman, and every time we thought he had been killed, he came back even stronger. He claimed to be over 600 years old, and that he owes his longevity, to this." Robin opened the container, there were several vials, filled with a strange luminescent green liquid. "He had a spring he called the Lazarus Pit, this stuff comes from there."
"Mind if I take a look?" Cyborg asked. Robin handed him the container, Cyborg set it down and took out a vial. Placing a finger over the open vial, a small tube extended from his mechanical digit, and sucked up some liquid. He waited a few seconds and looked at the display on his arm. "Whoah. According to the readout, this stuff has some amazing regenerative properties."
"So you think Fear is going to try and make himself younger with that stuff, like that Ghoul guy?" Beastboy questioned.
"Even if he wanted to, there's not enough here to accomplish much of anything." Robin answered. "But he must want it for something... Cyborg, can you try and figure out what else he could use it for?"
"Sure... But it could take a while, do we have enough time?" He continued to examine the readout on his arm.
"Of course. Fear still has to get it from us, and take it back to his hideout." Robin replied, "We can also use that moment to follow him, figure out where... he's keeping her."
- - - - - -
After a while, the darkness became more comforting than the light. Starfire didn't want to look at the blood that blemished the metal walls, she didn't want to think about what it meant, if Fear was telling the truth.
"Robin..." Starfire sobbed, tears began to stream from her eyes.
Author's Note: Something came to my attention. The fact that the Red X suit was stolen in "X" doesn't make much sense to this story, considering it's supposed to take place after "The End". I guess this story is running on the assumption that Robin had more than one suit, or that it's a fanfic and it doesn't all have to make sense.
Just in case you're wondering, Ra's Al Ghul is a real character, I didn't make him up. There's actually some Batman history in this chapter.
R&R is much appreciated. :P
Next Chapter Preview: Strangely, Fear comes to pick up the package in person. Robin tries to hold back his anger, knowing that if he attacks Fear, they might never find Starfire. Beastboy follows Fear, and his location is revealed. But when Cyborg discovers what Fear is going to do, the Titans' worst nightmares are realized. Starfire's role is revealed in Chapter 8: A Life for an Eternity.