Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans or anything related to them. The story idea is also completely mine and any story similar to it is pure coincedence.
Chapter 3
There was something different about this morning, he knew. The sun seemed to be brighter, the sky bluer... or maybe it was just the after-effects of the glorious dreams he had just awoken from. She had figured out the mystery, come to his rescue. Together, they had destroyed Slade, and they had embraced for a long time afterwards. It was so depressing to be woken from such a dream, but as soon as he knew it was a dream, he put such thoughts aside. These dreams had been getting more and more frequent lately, and he had to deal with the sadness they caused afterwards, even if he loved to feel such emotions again.
He glanced sleepily over at his bedside table. Five fifty. Just enough time to do his hair and get dressed before he would be called in for another training session. Pulling himself over the side of the bed, he yearned for the days when he could sleep in without having to get up for anyone else. He almost didn't notice the breakfast Wintergreen had left for him- a large blueberry muffin. Eating with one hand while perfecting the spikes in his hair with the other, he had barely swallowed before the voice in his ear commanded him to come down.
Sighing, he opened the door and walked down to the meeting hall. Months ago, he would have been late to such meetings, but he had learned better after the first few times. Having to fight an army of Slade bots and then Slade himself was enough punishment to put the boy in his place after the first five or six times, though he had managed to force Slade into creating better robots in order to match his skills. Smiling at the memories of his rebellion, he almost forgot to turn at the next hallway, but the gloomy room was hard to miss.
"Good morning, apprentice," Slade said, his voice dissolving into a snicker as always.
Robin chose not to respond, but instead assumed a fighting stance, ready for anything Slade was going to throw at him today. To his surprise, the man chuckled, saying, "Not yet. I must say, you are becoming so eager to fight these days, almost yearning for violence, are we?" Chuckling to himself, he switched on a video of the Titans' latest mission: Terra. Robin watched as Starfire and the others met the girl. Surprised to see Starfire acting so impartial, he bit his lip in remorse, for he again could not suppress the feelings of guilt that he had caused her to be this way. He watched as Terra was accepted into the group and tried to hide a smile at Beast Boy's obvious crush. Finally, Slade turned off the screen, then looked to his apprentice. "This is a good opportunity for us, to break their spirit. You will go and fight them and cause the girl to loose control. No doubt she will not stay with the Titans long afterwards."
The statement surprised Robin; even in her current state, Starfire would never excommunicate an innocent girl! At worst she would give the girl a scolding, but never send her away! Unless the girl left of her own accord... He understood now. Slade wanted him to plant doubts in the girls mind.
"Yes, apprentice, that is your job, to plant the seeds of doubt in her mind. Once she is seperated from the Titans, my plan can be put into action, but only then," Slade said once he saw the realization dawn on Robin's face.
With as much meekness as he could muster, Robin replied, "Yes, master." How he hated that word: master. Yet that was what he had been calling the man that he had hated more than anyone else in the world for a year. A year. Realization dawned on him: Tomorrow would be the day, the exact date that marked a year since his becoming an apprentice. Depression overtook his thoughts as he left the briefing room, supposedly to await assignment. A year.
Entering his dark room, he allowed himself to fall straight backwards onto the bed, not bothering to take off the metal bands that so bothered him. Never had it crossed his mind that he would be captive to this man's sinister plan for so long, yet here he was. He had always assumed that he would escape before then, but this was not so. Sadly, his dreams had all been crushed, and tomorrow he would have lost an entire year to this horrid lifestyle.
He wasted hours in this same position, reminiscing about the days when he was a beloved hero, a figure that the entire city could look up to, when he had her by his side. He had almost lost her once before, to her sister. Remebering the talk they had had on the roof, he beat himself inwardly for not being able to find the right words to say then. If he could, he would tell her exactly how he felt. He would not have let his own embarassment get in the way, how could he? Why couldn't he have done that? Why couldn't he explain to her that he had obsessed over Slade not only because he could not bear to be beaten, but because he could not bear to see her injured? How was it that he could take down monsters, but not his own feelings?
When the knock at the door sounded, echoing in the silent and gloomy room, he had to force himself to sit up. It was Wintergreen, obviously, Slade would have just called him. "Come in, it's unlocked." Robin said unhappily.
Silently, the old butler walked through the door, setting down the dinner platter beside the boy. Nodding politely to him, Robin was about to sit down, but something in Wintergreen's manner stopped him. There was a look of urgency in the man's eyes, but doubtless he was forbidden to tell Robin anything about it. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but thought better of it, leaving the room with swift, large steps, making sure to close the door firmly behind him. Almost as if on que, Slade's voice intruded on Robin's thoughts, commanding him to report at once.
As soon as he arrived in the dusty room, he was handed the blaster. It was the same thermal blaster he had stolen on his first mission as Slade's apprentice. Every mission, he carried it with him. Perhaps it was Slade's way of reminding him of how he was under his thumb, or maybe Robin was just losing it, but he had grown to hate that blaster with all his being. Ruefully, he strapped it on to his right arm, then stood silently, awaiting instruction.
"Your former friends have finally decided to show their faces in public; they are currently arguing over which pizza topping to have," Slade informed him in an almost teasing tone. Robin felt a ping of sorrow at hearing about this. Granted, the Titans were allowed to continue their daily lives without him, but he so missed leading a normal life, at least as normal as he could.
"You will lure them out somewhere where there is an abundance of rocks, somewhere where it would be all too easy for Terra to slip up," Slade informed him in a commanding tone, bringing his thoughts back to the present.
"Yes...master," he replied heavily, dreading the inevitable fight that would follow.
He stationed himself in the very canyons in which Terra had first met the Titans. He threw several discs at a corner of the cliff, causing it to slide towards the city. He wasn't worried about the citizens, his friends- former friends- would be able to stop it in time. He just hoped that they could stop him in time. Of course, his success was neccessary to their survival anyway...
"Robin! What do you think you're doing?" Cyborg's voice carried across the night sky.
Robin looked up to see Beast Boy in the form of a pteradactol, carrying the giant man, while Raven had stopped the rockslide with her powers. Starfire hovered in front of them all, staring into his eyes sadly, asking, "Have you really sunk so far as to merely cause damage to the city that you once helped to protect for your own enjoyment?"
His heart plummeted, and he opened his mouth to respond, then remembered his deal with Slade, that he was not to talk to them. He instead answered with a shrug, as impassive as he could make it. Then he saw Terra coming up behind them, riding precariously on a rock. She touched down, thankfully, and righted herself, readying herself for battle.
"Titans, go!" Starfire cried out, pointing her finger at Robin with much inward difficulty.
"Hi-yah!" Terra yelled unexpectedly, throwing a huge boulder in Robin's direction, catching him off guard, something he hadn't experienced in quite some time. After picking himself back up, he stared back at her, his eyes sad underneath his mask, though the emotionless cloth did not let them know so.
"A little violent, are we? Careful, we wouldn't want to lose control, would we?" Robin taunted. The words tasted strange in his mouth. It had been such a long time since he had truly spoken, save to acknowledge a command or a good deed from Wintergreen, and now that he had the chance, he was speaking words that were foreign to him, words that he had been ordered to speak, not words that he wanted to say.
Starfire was thrown off as well. This was the first time she had heard him speak in a year. His voice had become...hoarse, hard. He really had changed in this past year.
Raven attacked next, throwing several objects his way, all of which he expertly dodged, though he had a few close calls. As soon as he landed back on his feet, Cyborg attacked him with his sonic cannon, catching him in the chest and throwing him back into the wall.
"Wow. That actually hurt," he thought to himself as he picked himself up off the ground just in time to avoid a barrage of starbolts and negative energy. Just then, Beast Boy came charging at him in the form of a bull. Grabbing the green animal by its horns, he straddled it, guiding it right into Cyborg. Beast Boy and Cyborg collided, landing in a heap to the side.
"Try this on for size!" Terra grunted, lifting a huge chunk of rock right above him. Looking up, he was dwarfed by its shadow. Thinking quickly, he threw an explosive disc at the chunk of earth, then dived out of the way as it blew apart, though a large piece caught his arm, tearing through the uniform.
"I believe I just did, and I think I won. Is that the best you can do?" Robin taunted once more as he tactfully avoided an attack from Raven, though his reaction time was slowing due to his injury.
Terra's eyes glowed yellow and she gave a shout, bringing several rocks to her side. As she prepared to hurl them at Robin, Raven came up beside her, ready to give the rocks a bit more punch. Suddenly, one of the rocks seemed to falter, and the rest began to spin more and more quickly around her until they created a tornado. "No!" Terra cried out, holding her head in her hands.
Beast Boy and Cyborg arrived, having finally untangled themselves, ducking instinctively as the rocks flew around their head. "Terra!" Beast Boy yelled, running right into the whirlwind to help his friend.
Robin watched the chaos that ensued. He secretly was glad Terra had lost control when she did. He looked down ruefully at the tear in the sleeve of his uniform. That was...hard. Then he was suddenly reminded of his final step of the mission, and he bit his lip, not sure if he wanted to continue this taunting. "Say it," Slade's voice said in his ear.
Grimacing, he opened his mouth to deliver the final verbal blow. "You know you can never truly be a Titan with powers like those!" he yelled back as he retreated into the darkness. As soon as he was out of sight of his former friends, he gripped his injured arm dejectedly, not wanting to think about what he had just done. As soon as he got back to the lair, he was going to let Slade have it, injury or not. He was getting sick and tired of this.