XII.-

As I've been told later, things went, more or less, that way:

When Bart got to the roof, dashing as only he could dash, Harm was, aparently, finishing his incantations. Or whatever. Mumbling in Pope's language, as Kid Flash put it. Ignoring Harm, he aimed for the staff.

"Don't hold it. Just kick it hard and disappear. We want him distracted. Upset him but don't make him mad."

And as soon as Bart kicked the staff, sending it across the roof, far from the altar and Harm's reach, and, more importantly, far from the solar rays, our arms were free again.

Kid Flash was gone before Harm could spot him, which was Cassie's cue to appear, all her beautiful fury shining like fire, piercing the roof and aiming directly for Harms head.

And I could just imagine half of it when my bounds dispelled, leaving my arms hurt and numb. It was really painful to recover their movility and blood flux and I longed for a hot tub while I climbed up an emergency stair.

Suddenly, when I was going to open a trap door, Bart's blurry face showed through it, focussing as he stopped.

"Hey, Rob, fancy a lift?"

And before I could answer he had grabbed me by the collar and pulled me all the way up to the roof. I would have liked to ask him a lot of questions, but half of them were answered as soon as we stopped behind a solar pannel, at the roof. The bright sun over our heads, some bangs and explosions to our right...

Nice sound of battle against evil.

I peered from behind the pannel.

Wondergirl was not fighting alone. Without the magic of the staff, the barrier had dropped and Superboy had woke up, so the Titans, toghether, were giving him a hard time.

"That's going great." I muttered.

"Yes, it's even better than I suspected." Agreed Bart. "I think we can beat him for good this time. So... if you don't want to carry on with this..."

I grinned.

"Oh, like hell I want to."

"But..."

"Just tell me were the staff went, Kid Flash, and go help the others. Leave it to me. As you said, we can beat him for good this time... and we are going to do it."

He looked at me silently for a while, but I was not going to back down now. So he sighed, taking me to the staff, and then he darted to the fight. At this very moment Harm seemed to be in a little mess, Cyborg punching him straight in the head and Starfire sending him a sun empowered ray. Harm had drawn the dagger, but, apart from a pair of lashes in Wondergirl's arm, he seemed to had done very little... well... harm.

He was outnumbered and outpowered.

So I didn't have much time to loose before he decided the battle was lost and either disappeared or tried to burn down the entire place.

I took off my cape and covered the staff with it, taking it with me. Then, while everybody else was busy punching, shouting, kicking and, eventually, being hit, I sneaked to the altar. I was good at that. Sneaking, I mean. I was the freaking sneaking King.

The goblet, still full with a golden liquid, awaited there. And the book. Did I really had the time for a quick reading? I flicked through it, with a frown. Latin... At least it was not viking. It was a kind of how-to handbook, so I had a look at the last pages, figuring out what I didn't understand.

I took the goblet with one hand and then went for my pocket, to look for my secret weapon... when someone caught me by the arm, stopping me.

"Robin, what do you think you are doing?"

Superboy was looking at me, concern written all over his frown.

I freed myself, realizing I was, all of a sudden, the center of all attention. Harm's furious eyes pierced me as if he wanted to kill me, what was most propably his thought.

"Con," I managed to say between my teeth. "you have to distract him."

"No, Tim, you made me promise something and I'm going to..."

"Not. Now. Please."

He hesitated, as the rest of the Titans, and Harm just turn into mist, vanishing from the escene.

Fuck! I just had lost my opportunity because of Conner. I was going to...

Harm reapeared behind Superboy, the dagger in his neck, menacingly.

"If any of you move a muscle I will make him a nice new tie."

Bart and Cassie stopped as if struck by a magic ray, so did the rest of the Titans, suspecting something was terribly wrong. Conner felt it too, because he went pale.

"Ha! A copper dagger surely can't..."

Harm pressed tighter, making a little cut. A few dropping of blood were evidence enough to show he was not bluffing.

I grimaced, brain racing again. I still had the goblet, I still had the staff. It was now or never...

"Harm...we can make a deal..." I said, unfolding the staff.

It shone, golden and bright. I could feel it's power through my arm. It was... wow! I breathed deeply.

He smiled.

"It's intense, isn't it? Ok, Boy Wonder. You give me the staff and I give you your friend."

"You first."

"No, Robin! No way!" Ordered Conner.

Harm pressed again, shutting him up.

"You first, birdie."

"At the count of three. And don't cheat.. or else." I added, menancingly.

"Ok. Can you count, sweetie?" He asked, looking at Cassie.

She growled, scowling both of us.

She counted nontheless.

"One... two...three!"

He tossed Superboy while I handed him the staff.

He began laughing manically, holding up the staff, letting it catch all the sun.

"Stupid! Now I have all the power again!"

I smiled.

"Flash Kid, please."

Before Harm could be alarmed I had the staff in my hands again.

"No! You cheated!" He turned to me, growing a few inches out of anger.

"In fact, no. I handed it over, didn't I?"

He tried to jump to me, but one of Kory's blast send him sprawling on the floor.

"Now, if you have a plan, Robin, it's the time." Said Victor as he ran past me, heading to the furious ghost.

I nodded, taking out a dead rat from my pocket and placing it on the altar.

I threw up my arm, Sekhmet's arm power running through it. I somehow knew how to make it all work. So I made an image in my mind and read from the book. I felt as if my words were echoing through all the valley, empowered by the staff. And then I poured the golden liquid, Idhunn's honey, over the dead rat.

I heard Harm screaming while he disapeared, his misty form dragged by some magic force inside the tiny body. He mouthed curses for me and my entire lineage, but, ultimately, his voice was lost and the furry body began stirring and twitching.

I caught him by the tail.

"Gotcha!"

I turned, smiling, feeling really proud of myself, but all my friends were just staring at me in silence. A really heavy, dense and uncomfortable silence.