Pieces of the Puzzle

Alexnandru Van Gordon

I am ashamed to call Victor my cousin! Luckily, I escaped my captor just when my mom got home and today I'm free since Victor is stuck at the dentist. He has to get his wisdom teeth pulled. Hahahahahaha! He deserves the pain! But I shouldn't be so cruel.

I apologize for the last chapter if there was anything about it you hated or didn't understand—and that it was shorter than what I had written down. He took what I wrote, chopped it up, and rephrased a few things. He's put me in a corner, but I'm not so sure I want to delete the last chapter and rewrite it. He gave me an excellent idea…

(Not Again side note: I haven't given up on that yet and I am in the process of finishing the next chapter. I've just reached…a brick wall, if you would have me call it that. There's something I have to fix before I can continue. Sorry. PS. Whoever "…" is—I'm dying to get a name. My older sister kept laughing at me and wouldn't give me back my knapsack until I guessed what your name was. How am I supposed to know—anyway I guessed something like Steven if you're a guy, or Tina if you're a girl. She's says either my real name or Suzy. Tell me who's closer.)

The last quote was mine and it's been proven to be true. Keep it in mind for the future, okay. And yes—one of the heroes will die; I'm just not going to say who.

One last thing—YOU GUYS ARE SO SMART! I am so damn pleased with your reviews because a couple of you know exactly what I'm heading toward. Not everyone, mind you, and I'm not going to tell you guys otherwise you just might have a peek at the reviews yourself. But please keep with the guesses! It makes me so proud that I have such a smart audience…

DISCLAIMER: I don't own them. (Sorry—I'm out of corny quotes)

CHPATER FIVE: Tibi moriendum est (This is Latin and you will find out what it means later…)

He jolted awake…if he was really sleeping. His system was just down and now he was rebooted—thank God for that! He thought for sure that little surge of electricity fried him beyond repair, but he didn't expect to be in tip-top shape now that he knew he wasn't dead.

True.

All that came back was his sight, hearing, and the movement of his upper body. It took him a moment to clear the static from his robotic eye, but then he could see clear enough again. A girl was standing over him beside Starfire, and next to them was a man.

The three smiled at once.

"You are alright!" Starfire exclaimed, jumping around in glee. "You live! You live! You live! You live—" She continuously chanted until the other girl calmed her down. She looked forever.

"I take it you're HW?" He said, somewhat worried.

The girl returned her attention to him and laughed. "I know, I know—you think I stole Slade's heart. I didn't, but I did escape punishment."

He looked around. He was in something of a repair shop and his entire body was hooked up to machine and such. He would still have a long way to go before he could fight again.

"Where's the others? Where's Robin?"

The mechanic left to collect his tools, and the spirits of the two girls dropped.

"Beast Boy is sleeping after an operation on his head, and Raven…" Starfire bit her lower lip which was trembling.

"She's isn't…is she?"

"No!" The electric witch said, shaking her head. "She's isn't dead, but she's trapped in a coma. I think you're attacker hit her harder than anyone. Starfire still doesn't believe me when I say people can wake up from comas, but you know…you can't help but worry."

Thank goodness for that. If anyone was dead…he didn't know what he would do to that guy. He'd find himself in jail for murder after wringing the guy's throat—he'd deserve it.

"And Robin is just taking a nap back at the tower." Hw continued. "He woke up after the small ordeal at the tower, but he looks pretty stressed." She paused. "How old is he?"

How old was he?

"Fourteen, fifteen—I think his birthday is coming up in a few days. Why do you want to know?"

She shrugged. "I just thought he was younger because he's so…thin and…Well, he looks like he needs to take a vacation."

Who could blame him? After all that had happened and after all that was going to happen…

His human eyed widened. "Did you guys stop that man?"

Both girls blushed and stared at the ground as they shook their heads. That meant that all of Slade was collected and that meant the worst for the Titans and the world…and Robin. He was going to be standing in the center of the battlefield, whether he wanted to or not.

Some people just didn't have much luck—Robin in particular.

"What now?" He asked quietly. "What's been happening since I've been out?"

HW looked up at him sadly. "People have gone missing—heroes in particular, and not only in America. It's plain madness. Whoever Slade's buddy is, he's snuffing us out one by one to clear the way for our beloved homicidal psychopath. Villains have been released from prison by this guy and we have no idea where his HQ is. He's creating an army to destroy us…"

"We must not lose faith." Starfire said; a small smile on her face. "We do know that they will come after us—and so we will have our chance to fight. We simply need a plan….we need an insider."

HW shook her head. "The only one who'd end up working for Slade is Robin—and that'll be against his will. Besides, won't Slade want us dead after we let Robin cut him up…?"

"Robin fooled Slade with his Red-X business." Cyborg added in to boost Starfire's side.

"I remember hearing about that incident. I guess Robin was pretty desperate to use the 'to deceive an enemy, you must first deceive your friends' quote. But that wasn't too bad of an idea."

"Please—enough of past mistakes." Starfire sighed, a hand on her forehead. "We must deal first with the present problem and then move on to correct past errors. We need to return to the tower and prepare for what is about to come."

"You're right…"

Cyborg grinned. I hope I can join you guys soon. As soon as my legs are operational, I want to lend a hand. There's no way I'm missing the war of all wars."

It was true. Even if they were going down…might as well go down on your feet as a Titan.

S-

He finished clamping the armor to his body and remained sitting on the edge of the bed in silence. He felt so weak…the usual feeling after having died. But how long had that been? An endless darkness and a tormenting silence…it seemed like he had been dead forever. He didn't know what emotions to feel—frightened, sullen, enraged, glad…proud…Despite having his limbs and head hacked off and then being sewed back together, pride won against the war of emotions raging out inside him. He had seen the Boy Wonder begin, and in his eyes was a merciless thrill. Whether he admitted it or not, the instant Robin killed him he lost his human sanity. He might regret it, but once you kill you can kill again, and again, and again…He would always return to life so it didn't matter if he was killed or not. At least this time his death worked to his advantage. He stole the boy's innocence as a virtued child when he murdered Slade.

Innocence was something that could never be returned.

But despite that, he was still frustrated and would teach the boy a thing or two about turning against his Master. That was unacceptable and would not do in the future when he would need the boy's assistant. Robin didn't know it yet, but he would be accounted for half the deaths in the world after all the countries on earth were secured under Slade's power. If he was feeling guilty at all for killing one person, just wait until he drained an ocean's worth of blood from innocent people.

He grinned beneath his mask. This was going to get interesting…

There was a knock on the door and it took him a moment to clear his sore throat and call the person in. It was Wintergreen, his good old friend.

"Feeling any better?" Wintergreen asked, smiling from his success. "It took a while, but I found all of you. I hope you're not missing anything?"

"I'm…fine." He cleared his throat again, feeling the stitches all around his neck. The kid had good strength. He chopped Slade up in good straight cuts. "I think you might have forgotten piece of my heart."

Wintergreen laughed and stood with his arms crossed before Slade. "Since when did you have a heart?"

Good point.

"Brief me on what's happened so far." He said, having to cough near the end of the sentence. He rubbed his hand around his neck armor as though it would help. He was in a lot of pain, but in an hour or so he'd be doing back flips again.

"Well…I've mass produced those robots of yours and sent them to do various tasks. Mainly to kill—but specifically any who possess as a threat to you."

"The heroes."

"Precisely. That kid of yours is still out there, but I think I might have kill ed a friend or two of his. That electric witch should be in jail, but you never know—and I hired a little help."

"Oh?"

"Another mutant like you and all the other freaks out there in the world. He can transport himself and others anywhere in the world as long as he can recognize the place. But it zaps a lot of energy out of him. His skills make up for that, but he's only helping out until we're good on our own. He's not the partner type."

He wasn't the only one.

"And how good is he?"

Wintergreen shrugged. "He snatched a few pieces of you, but his heart isn't into it. I think he has a relative or friend on the opposing side and that's what has him on part-time with us."

Oh well. Slade wouldn't need him anyway, so who cared if he left after he was finished with his job. As long as he didn't turn on them, he would live.

He cracked his neck and paused as a jolt of pain shot throughout his body. It would take him a while to heal, but at least he'd be ready soon. Just a little longer and then he could pay a visit to Boy Wonder.

St-

Back at the tower, she went to check up on Robin's sleeping figure on the living room before making her way to the gym. Robin always trained when he was confused or angry, and right now she was both. There was no way on earth she was going to lose without a battle. Slade was going to pay…

Passing by the evidence room—she stopped. What was HW doing in there? They just cleaned up the mess and—

Click.

Was that a gun she was holding? Why was she reloading it?

"Friend H and W, we do not believe in using weapons which can kill our opponents."

HW jumped, not noticing Starfire until just now. She almost dropped the pistol in the process, but held onto it. It was just a gun from an old case. The Titans got it way back when they just started out in Jump City. Until lately, mysterious murders and petty robberies were all they dealt with.

"We're going to need it." HW relied, not sounding worried. "I'm using my own bullets though."

"You own bullets?"

That was surprising.

"Yeah—but they're a certain kind that we'll need if we want to win this."

No matter how nice the possibility of winning sounded, the Titans did not kill. But then again, Hw was still a trainee…no—she was part of the Titans East. The same rules went for her too.

"Do you guys have nay meat in this place?" HW asked, slipping the gun behind her, tucking it into the back of her belt so that it was hidden by her short cape.

"Why do you ask…?"

"You want to know my plan or not?" She grinned—something of an insane grin and that frightened Starfire for a moment. "Just promise you won't tell anyone about the gun. Got it?"

Starfire was hesitant…but she finally nodded. She could trust HW—HW saved her once before and that had to count fro something. "Very well…but we must hurry…"

R-

Robin woke and shook his head. He stood and walked slowly over to the sink before spitting out the blood in his mouth. Same nightmare, same ending…he was used to the taste of blood now and he didn't really panic as much when he woke. He would always have that dream until the day he died.

Turning on the tap, he rinsed out the sink so that no one would find the blood. He couldn't afford to have the other's keep him away from the action just because of a little stress.

The alarms went off and he jumped. Running to the computer, he typed in the password and the security camera screens popped on. It was just what he expected. Slade would be the one to come to him…

HW and Starfire ran into the room, gasping for air. Where had they been? The basement?

"Where have you been?"

HW shook her head. "Never mind that—what's happening?"

"They're on the roof."

Both girls nodded. It was time to start the war.

Robin walked passed them and headed for the front door. "Starfire—you and I are going to fly up to the roof to surprise them. HW, you take the elevator and distract them."

"Yes, sir." She saluted and ran the other way. Robin opened the door and the moment he did Starfire grabbed him from behind and lifted him up into the air. They had no time to waste—they had to start before Slade had collected his memories.

HW-

She closed the elevator doors and waited as the machine started up. The gun felt odd pressed against her back and her heart felt heavy. She knew exactly what she was going to do, but not everyone would know why. She was insane, and she was going to regret not ever being normal.

"Tibi moriendum est." She whispered.

You must die.

A-

Sorry if this one was kind of short too. I had to end it here or else the next chapter wouldn't have been as exciting. Wait until you see who HW shoots. I warn you—character death is coming up and you may not like what you see. But still, hold tight and keep reading. It's the weekend and that means I will be able to update again soon. Keep reading and tell me what you think, okay? Oh yes—and if any one of you guess what I'm up to before I add my next chapter, I'll eat my hat.

But you guys are pretty smart…

Where did I put my hat?

Bowing low

Alexnandru Van Gordon