Disclaimer: I DIS-CLAIM what I am writing. I do not claim Teen Titans. I don't even own the title; it was going to be used as an ep title.

NOTE: Everyone is now referred to normally.

Chapter 17: Point Blank

Control Freak and Mad Mod moved in near the tower where the camera could not see them. It had been obvious, once they had been transported, that the Titans had escaped.

The tower had powered back up, followed by the static sound of the security system coming back online.

Mad Mod pulled his foot out of the wet mud in disgust. "How could you miss by blooming inches?" The man shook his head, pulling out a weapon he had stuck in his back pocket.

"How was I to know he was going to play the hero?" Control Freak still held his gun protectively, eyes scanning the area for their opponents. Mad Mod turned to give him a dry look.

Control Freak sensed the eyes on him and grunted, sliding further down against the tower. "C'mon we need to find a way off Titan territory."

"Now how do you suppose we do that? You couldn't even hit the lot of them at close range." Mod added sardonically following Control Freak.

Control Freak quickly rounded on his supposed partner. "Me? You didn't even fire!"

"Dear Moddie couldn't get a clear shot around you!" Mad Mod pushed his glasses up his nose, his white hair earning him his namesake.

"I bet you couldn't even see, you old man." Control Freak hissed, propping his gun up incase he needed to make use of it. Mad Mod followed suit with his own.

There was a stretched bout of silence between the two, where arms were held at ready.

Finally Control Freak sighed and lowered the mini cannon. "This is why villains fail, we start clashing with each other even before the heros even arrive."

Mad Mod lowered his gun as well. "Quite right, how silly of us." He grinned in an odd manner. "So how's about we get off this rubbish of an island?"

Control Freak jerked his wrist in a quick motion, crackling the bone there. "I think I've got a plan…" He motioned to the left.

The land was dark and Mad Mod had to wait for the luminosity of the moon to see what the other man was pointing at.

A distance from them, not completely unreachable, a figure sat crumpled on the damp island grass.

Robin pulled a grappling hook from his belt under the ragged tux he was still wearing. With a perfect shot, it caught on the ledge of one of the higher windows. Instantaneously it began to draw up, pulling the boy briskly up the building.

Thoughts were rushing through his mind fighting for the number one priority. He had to locate Cyborg and-

Damn it.

Going up Robin had glimpsed in a window to see the glimmer of a metal man take the staircase down. Robin grabbed a bird-a-rang and sliced the line that was pulling him up.

And he was falling.

Quickly locating another hook, he estimated the distance and shot it.

It stopped him just quick enough to suspend the boy meters off the ground. Annoyed already with the way his luck was going, he spliced the second line. He dropped, with the grace equal to a cat, to the wet ground.

That didn't stop him though. He strolled around to where Cyborg would be emerging from the tower and hit the security code to open one of the outer doors.

He could hear thundering footsteps before he spotted a familiar lime green glow.

"Woaah!" Cyborg called, skating to a stop at the sight of their leader. Starfire floated just over the boy's right shoulder, hands engulfed in green glow.

"You are unharmed!" She called, seeming to have forgotten their earlier situation.

"Yeah, where's Beast Boy?" Robin asked observing the one missing Titan.

Cyborg twisted around looking back the darker hall. There was a shuffling sound like footsteps, before Beast Boy rounded the hall.

"Sorry!" The boy puffed, hunching over to catch his breath.

Cyborg opened his mouth to ask why he hadn't just turned into an animal, when Robin's voice drew them back. "Where's Mad Mod and Control Freak?"

"Man, we saw the four of you on the camera and came running." Cyborg watched Robin quickly look over his shoulder at the rustle of wind, noticing the missing mystic. "Where's Raven?"

Robin opened his mouth to say something and then closed it. He didn't want to discredit Raven for the one time she couldn't defend herself. "Scouting outside."

"Raven is without company?" Starfire asked alarmed. Her hands flittered brightly for a moment.

"Robin there are two villains out there! You just can't send Raven out-" Cyborg started to protest, already angry for this lapse of judgment.

"She's perfectly capable of taking care of herself or I wouldn't have left her." Robin interrupted.

Cyborg caught the slip in his voice indicating something was wrong. "Why wouldn't she be capable?" He stepped forward.

"I'll go get her, you three find Mad Mod and Control Freak." Robin abruptly changed the subject and turned his back, indicating the discussion was closed.

He stalked out the door and into the fresh air, hoping to get away from confrontation. The boy heard something shift just ahead of him in the dark but was too slow to react. Something clipped his side, leaving a burning mark through the tissue of his stomach.

"Aah," Robin slapped a hand to his side, the skin turned bloody under his hand. His steps faltered, his knees crunching into the dirt.

"Smashing!" There was a voice thick with English accent. A man with wild white hair stepped closer to the fallen Robin. His hand gun was pointed down at the boy's shoulder should he make a move.

Cyborg, Starfire and Beast Boy had rushed out after him, but were now standing stalk still.

Mad Mod grinned up at them. "Boy couldn't keep dodging bullets."

"You filthy European bast-" Cyborg had taken a step forward with rage, but stopped again when Mad Mod clicked the chamber of the gun. There wasn't a shot, but clearly a warning.

Starfire whimpered, still floating midair unsure of what to do. Beast Boy was behind Cyborg's hulking figure.

"Now none of you move a muscle, and we'll all be just dandy."

Robin heaved air into his lungs. He kept his fingers pressed tight to the wound, feeling lightheaded already from the blood loss. His senses were tingling with the overbearing presence above him, holding the gun.

He had a sickening feeling and wished he had never left Raven. How many mistakes and stupid things did he have to do before someone called him on it?

Raven fought down sickness for the third time, fingers digging into the thick earthly dirt with force. Her breathing was heavy, but it had slowed progressively.

She needed to visit Nevermore badly, but with villains running around she couldn't afford that luxury.

"Okay Raven." She muttered softly to herself, hoping her emotional selves were listening in as well. "You're perfectly fine. Nothing has happened." She exhaled a large breath and closed her eyes.

"There is no need for emotions. Perfectly centered…" She mumbled, her fingers slowly unweaving from the grass. "Robin will be back soon and-"

Something wound tightly in her stomach. Her senses were frayed and dangerously alert. What was going on? Someone must be in the area…

She bent over feeling as though she was finally going to throw up. Everything inside her jerked up suddenly.

Raven coughed deeply, hating herself for not being in control of her body… her emotions. She pushed her hair back behind her ears and sat back up, the sickness feeling was fading slightly.

"Don't move." There was a whisper at her ear and an icy metal muzzle pressed to the back of her neck. Raven felt all her muscles tense and then relax in one long wave.

This was just what she needed.

Robin stayed on the ground trying as best he could to assess the situation. Pain had been hard pressed to the back of his mind.

The other three Titans held their ground, unsure of the best way to get out.

Mad Mod held the weapon firm, he kept his eyes on the other three Titans, but seemed to be anxious.

"Waiting for something?" Robin asked, tightening his grip on his side with the words.

The British man flicked his gaze down to his captor a moment. "You'd be right 'bout that boy." He smiled in a cruel way, showcasing a rim of tea stained teeth.

Robin had a curling sensation prickle across his skin at the implication of what he could mean.

Cyborg was running every imaginable scenario through his head, while keeping tabs on Starfire and Beast Boy. The last thing he needed was them screwing the situation up any further.

Luckily Starfire was now firmly on the ground at his side and Beast Boy was cowering behind him. Now if he could only get Mad Mod to take the gun off Robin…

The was a movement of wind by the mechanical boy and he turned just in time to see Beast Boy slid out… with a gun poised.

Robin seemed to sense the movement and tilted his head away from the madman. It was an unlikely scene if he had ever encountered one. Mad Mod seemed to be bewildered as well, but he kept the muzzle digging into the Titan leader's shoulder for good measure.

"What are you doing?" Cyborg shouted in amazement and fright. Beast Boy held that gun tightly, his eyes narrowed in concentration. "You can't shoot him!"

Beast Boy didn't respond. He kept his aim perfectly on the villain. There was a whimpering from Starfire.

"Put the gun down or I'll shoot him and then turn the gun on you laddie." Mod warned, narrowing his own eyes.

A wide variety of curses sprung to Robin's mind. What the hell did he think he was doing? The boy's foolishness was going to get them both shot.

Beast Boy stayed as he was and Mod pushed the gun into Robin's skin for emphasis. There was a stretching moment where no one moved.

Before a decision could be made on either side, there was a scuffling noise of feet running on grass across from Cyborg and behind Mad Mod. "Robin!" Raven called, stopping abruptly as she came upon the situation.

Mad Mod, upon impulse had taken the distraction to grab another gun from his waist, twisting to point it at the intruder.

Raven was, once again, staring at the barrel of a gun.

Cyborg felt like bashing his head in, repeatedly. Him and Starfire were still standing beside a Beast Boy with a weapon aimed at Mad Mod. Mod now held a gun in each hand, one (shifting slightly) to point into the base of Robin's neck, the other poised to hit Raven.

Raven took it all in. Robin was bleeding, the thickness of plastered blood coated one hand. Beast Boy had gotten a hold of a gun somehow and was showing the carnal determination of his animal side.

And she had thought, when Control Freak came upon her, that she was in trouble…

The mystic licked her parched lips. All it had taken was a quick move on her part (courtesy of Robin's training sessions) to act immediately in dislodging the gun and knocking the nerdy villain out.

Robin was in a different sort of trouble. Injured, he wouldn't be able to dodge the bullet and from the look of it, his position seemed pretty stationary.

"Where is Control Freak?" Mad Mod asked finally, becoming edgier by the second.

"Unconscious a few yards off." Raven said it with her usual calmness. Robin watched her with scrutinizing eyes. She must have gotten over whatever she was… going through, because she was her usual composed coldness once more

Mad Mod's eyes widened a moment, staring at everyone all at once. He may have fire power… but he was still outnumbered. A cornered madman never made much fun though.

He held his weapons more stiffly, his eyes jerking at any movement.

Raven could almost sense it in the air, he was going to try and take down who he could before his own demise.

Robin's masked eyes were still boring in her direction, she tried to convey some kind of meaning to him. He was two steps ahead, already trying to get his legs underneath him without the man noticing…

Unfortunately, he wasn't sneaky enough. "Moddy swears it, just one more muscle boy!" He pressed the gun more firmly at Robin, who stopped.

There was a moment of stretching anticipation. It grew, elongating until it was about to snap. Raven readied herself to move. It stretched and…

Snapped.

There was a friction of movement, before a gunshot rang.

Mad Mod, who had been milliseconds from pulling the trigger himself nearly spun around. Beast Boy dropped his own weapon in alarm that it might have gone off.

Raven didn't have time to react. "I'm warning you this time. Don't move." There was a gun pressed to the side of her head.

Well this was just turning out to be a perfect day.

Mad Mod's expression softened once more with the appearance of his ally. The villain looked a little ruffed up, something like a black eye sprouting on the left side of his face, but he was standing.

"So where were we?" Control Freak addressed the group, gripping Raven's shoulder tightly so she could not move.

"Just 'bout to rid ourselves of these maggots." Mad Mod decreed, tilting his head to give Cyborg, Starfire and Beast Boy a heavy smile.

Beast Boy had cowered back behind the tin man, his weapon lost along with his courage. Starfire was clinging to his arm almost painfully, her eyes wide to take in everything at once.

Raven could see Robin tiring. She needed to get to him to instill some sort of healing before he passed out.

Maybe she could reach her powers out to him and-

Too late. Robin let out a long sigh and his form slumped over. Mad Mod, who had not been watching the boy, jumped with the movement, his finger clicking the trigger.

A shot exploded into the dirt. If Robin had still been sitting up he would have gotten a bullet straight into his neck.

Following it was silence. Mad Mod fumbled with his weapon trying to figure out whom to aim it at. Control Freak shook his head. "Let's go." His grip on Raven tightened a smidge as he took a step back. Raven was forced to step back with the villain.

Mad Mod turned to his accomplice once he had regained his composure. Quickly, he moved over to Control Freak, aiming his gun at the three.

In the scramble no one noticed Robin. With slow movements to challenge molasses, he reached for his belt. It was a little difficult seeing as the position he had fallen, but it could work.

The villains were starting to back out of the area with Raven. He needed to hurry… had to…

"Please!" Called Starfire abruptly as she stepped forward. Mad Mod aimed his gun keenly at her. "Would you not take me instead?"

The old man raised an eyebrow and Control Freak snorted.

Robin's finger touched a sharp cold piece of metal. His chest tightened in anticipation and his side roared at the tension. He had to bite his lip to stifle a moan that would give him away.

Carefully underneath him, he slid out the bird-a-rang. Starfire was almost standing beside him now. She kept trying to proceed on the three receding. The gun point seemed to have little effect on her.

"Not one more step love." Mod finally got tired of her stop-go. He in turn moved the weapon to point at Raven.

Robin could only watch this with one eye, but his stomach churned something foul. Any weaker a man would have made a noise from discontent. The boy clutched the weapon tightly, he only had one chance.

His foot twitched maybe a centimeter to touch Starfire. Casually her eyes swept down. He slid the bird-a-rang into her view.

The villains were conversing with each other and Raven was looking irate, but the trio had not noticed.

A glimmer of bright green passed over Starfire's finger tips. One shot…

Robin breathed in the earthly air. It smelled of dirt, ocean, and night. He had to get this right. For all the things he'd done wrong recently….

The weapon seemed to burn in his fingers. One, two…

Sorry it's been a while, school is all consuming... and my computer crashed… Been a bundle of fun round here. This was a chapter of death.. So hard to write..

Please review.

Praise as always to mah beta Sara Cabbage Patch.

-Dragonslayer527