Chapter 13

He ran swiftly over the rooftops, just wanting this to be over. He should have known that Slade would use his recovery against him, of course. No joy lasted long in his depressing life, but he hoped that this was soon to change. As he jumped over another rooftop, he heard his name being called out. He landed gracefully onto the rooftop he had been headed for, then turned, assuming a fighting stance as he did so. He could see the surprise in her eyes at his quick recovery. Often times he had proven that he was a fast healer, had she not remembered? He smiled back at her inconspicuously as if to say, "I'm fine. I can take care of myself."

She seemed to get his message, for she winked back, but then changed attitudes completely to keep anyone who could be watching, namely Slade, from suspecting anything. "Teen Titans, go!" She cried, charging up her starbolts.

The fight went as any fight before, except this time he had rocks from Terra to worry about. The blonde girl didn't seem to have such a hard time fighting him. He wondered whether Starfire had asked them to be this hard on him. He certainly had a hard time dodging everything, though he did notice that he was gaining more ground and that he was reaching the edge of the roof. Jumping quickly, he gained a greater distance between them and they soon began a chase across the rooftops of Jump City.

He reached the final building and jumped off the edge. His grappling hook- oh, how he missed his birdarang, at least it was easier to launch- caught hold of something and he was stopped a few inches from the ground. He then let his feet touch the ground and undid the rope, proceeding then to continue running, trying to avoid a conflict. Unfortunately, Terra flew in his path and blocked his escape route. He had no choice now but to fight them. "I though they understood that I'm on their side!" he thought, frustrated a bit by the actions of his former team.

"If you came looking for another fight, you've definitely found one!" Terra growled, her hands lighting up with the glowing yellow aura he knew so well. He sighed. Apparently, they were going to have to do this the hard way, although he would much rather have done it differently...

With a sudden yell, he lept behind the blonde, catching her by surprise as her rock slipped out from underneath her, sending her crashing onto the ground. She got back up, obviously angry, and summoned some more rocks, throwing each rock within a second of the one before it, making it extremely hard for him to dodge, but he managed, somehow, maybe his optimism was helping his health. With a suppressed smile, he watched as the others joined Terra a few moments later, each assuming their trademark fighting stance.

Shaking his head in both frustration and admiration, he charged forward, heading first for Terra, for she seemed to be the one that was able to surprise him most. Perhaps that was because he had never gotten to know her, never had the privelege of training with her and becoming her friend. With any luck, he would change that within a few days. In the meantime, though, he had five superpowered teens that he had to deal with right now, so now was not the time for reflection.

With a swift kick, he knocked Terra off her platform of rocks then headed for Beast Boy, who had already transformed into a raptor, and blinded him with a disc. The two collapsed onto each other, and when they had shaken off their dizziness, they were too embarassed to move for a while. He then fought hand-to-hand with Cyborg, at the same time watching out for his powerful sonic cannon. In the excitement, he almost didn't notice Raven powering up, but her traditional "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" gave her away and he was able to duck the incoming pavement at the last second.

"Good, apprentice, you're doing much better than the last time," said Slade's voice in his ear. He let out a frustrated sigh. Somebody was enjoying themselves. He rolled his eyes, glad his mask was there to cover it up, then continued fighting.

Starfire tended to stay out of frays most of the time, but today she seemed to be a bit cocky and overexcited, for she began rapidly firing starbolts at him, throwing him off balance as he tried to avoid these green blasts. One of them connected with his side, and he went flying backwards into a trash can. Not pleasant. Picking himself back up, he resumed his trademark stance, ready for them once more.

"The fight would probably go more in your favor if you used that thermal blaster that you've had for a while and yet have managed not to use it for about eight months straight. It could probably help you," Slade's voice said, half-musing. The tone of his voice changed to a harsh one, though, when he ordered, "Use it."

He tried to ignore the order; he could get along without the blaster, and besides, he didn't want to hurt them too badly anyway. Fighting on, he tried to put it out of his mind, but that was increasingly hard to do with a cold voice telling him over and over to do it. He was starting to get fed up with this.

Starfire suddenly flew up in front of him, her hand glowing with a dangerously large starbolt. Her eyes were filled with tears as she said, "I cannot permit you to pass. The technology which you have stolen is extremely dangerous and in the wrong hands it could be devastating. It is my duty to keep you from leaving with it in your possession." Even as she said this, her eyes portrayed a different message: "I'm sorry, but I have to do this. I wish I didn't have to, but I do."

"I gave you an order, and unless you obey, you may very soon find yourself without anybody to fight." The threat was enough to wake Robin back up to reality and, wincing, he charged up the blaster.

The two stared at each other for some time. The scene was all too familiar. On a night about a year ago, his second mission as Slade's apprentice, she and he had stared each other down. He had not lowered his weapon, though, and had been forced to fire upon her. This was also the day that Beast Boy ceased to talk to him and that Raven decided to go completely offensive in her attacks. He didn't want another such incident, but he couldn't bring himself to watch her being torn apart from the inside out by those probes... It was such a hard decision.

Their eyes locked, and they held each others' gaze for some time, neither wanting to lower their defenses, yet neither wanting to be the first to attack. It pained him so that those pools of green that had been so full of innocent joy just a night ago were now filled with anguish and indecision. Her lower lip was quivering; it was obviously hurting her internally to have to fight him after the revelation of why he was working against her and after she and he had had such a wonderful reunion.

Suddenly, she lowered her arm, just as she had done on that day before. "Robin, I cannot bring myself to harm you, not now. If it is required of you to do so to me, then so be it, but I do not wish to do so to you."

His eyes widened in surprise. This wasn't the speech he was expecting. There was true pain in her eyes, yes, but there was also hope and love in those giant pools of absolute beauty. After much indecision, he lowered his weapon as well. He couldn't bring himself to cause her pain either, especially not now, of all times.

Suddenly, a piercing pain coarsed through his head as Slade screamed in his ear. "I gave you and order and now you disobey me? If you insist..." And in the lair, a gloved finger pushed the button.