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Oh how many times Robin had seen that man upon their television. Always laughing manically, his one eye attempting to peer into the souls of those he tormented. No matter how many times he had tried to shake that eye from his dreams, Robin really never could manage a full nights sleep whenever Slade was around.
"Hello Robin, long time no see, hmm?" A voice like satin; smooth, unmistakable.
Starfire stood up, hands clenching into angered fists. Robin's mouth twitched into a grim line as he walked forward, confronting his demon head on.
"What are you planning this time? Does it have anything to do with the supply of Zinothium you were trying to steal?"
The rest of the team had entered the room now, glaring almost in unison at the masked man on the television screen. When Robin mentioned Zinothium, Cyborg's face became grimmer; that chemical never meant anything good.
"Ah, I see you enjoyed your little rendezvous with the H.I.V.E the other day. Well, to answer your question, yes, it does involve Zinothium and a member of your team. Though, Robin, you're welcome to become my apprentice again."
Everyone glanced at each other for a brief moment, wondering exactly who Slade was targeting. Robin, though, was glaring at the screen with a fearful amount of malicious intent.
"Never!" He hissed. "Whatever you're planning Slade, it's not going to work. You won't be able to con any of us into joining you."
Slade leaned forward, getting closer to the screen, his gray eye glittering with amusement. "Oh, it's going to work perfectly Robin. I'm going to tear your little team apart from right under your feet."
The screen cut off there, leaving a sea of static. Robin bitterly shut off the television, nearly breaking the button as he went. He turned to the team, teeth barred slightly.
"So, Slade just called with a few little cryptic threats? No detonators or anything?" Cyborg asked.
"A few cryptic threats? He said he's doing something with one of us! That's more than a little Cyborg, for all we know, he could be planning to kill one of us. He might blackmail one of us again…Who knows what he's planning!" Robin exclaimed.
Starfire's face dropped and she grabbed one of Robin's flailing hands in a bruising grip. "Robin please, we shall not stop you from completing research, but you are in no such condition to work at the moment. Perhaps if you rest…"
"No! That man doesn't rest! Every moment I sleep or decided to play video games and forget about the crime, that's time for him to get ahead of me and take the rest of us down once and for all." He tore his hand from hers, ignoring the slight pain that ran through it and stormed out of the room.
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Slade turned around in his chair, chuckling like mad to himself. He had forgotten just how worked up that boy became whenever he was around, it was amusing in a way. The fact that he had enough power to install fear and anger into people, that was gratifying beyond any material possession to him.
He knew Robin would spend tireless hours trying to figure out who exactly he was targeting. Of course, his first suspect would be Starfire, hitting the nail on the head. But after countless hours of research, he would come up with nothing. It would take him months before he could find any account of Joseph Wilson. Slade was silently thankful that he knew the right people, they had deleted any records on all of his family tree. Silently locking all files and memories away somewhere.
By the time Robin did realize that his first guess was correct, it would be too late. The plan would already be a success, too far underway for him to prevent or even stop. He really did amaze himself some times with his own brilliance. This plan was nearly flawless.
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Starfire had long since washed off all of her make-up, let her hair back down and changed back into her normal outfit. She sat in the living room, surrounded by the stale silence that filled the air. Everyone had gone off somewhere, trying to escape the tension that the tower held from the earlier events. Robin had made his message clear; he wanted everyone to watch their steps. No one could be trusted at this point in Robin's eyes.
Sighing to herself, she floated out of the main room. Perhaps Robin had taken her advice and was resting for even just a few minutes. Enough time to clear his head before he dove head first into endless hours of mindless research. She knocked softly on his door for the second time that day, waiting for it to slide open, giving view to a welcoming Robin.
In the doorway, he appeared, leaning to the right, his expression already worn. When he realized who it was, it lightened slightly, a sigh escaping him.
"Robin…Is everything okay?" She asked gently.
He nodded, walking back into his room, over to his desk that never seemed to be free of papers. "Yeah. I'm just researching some small leads." His hands clenched to the sides of the desk as he hunched slightly over his work.
"Before Slade called…we were about to have a conversation…" She began, remembering his expression. She knew he had something to say.
Robin's mouth went into a grim line. "Oh…It was nothing….Now, I don't mean to be rude, but I really need to get to work on this. Slade's planning to use one of us and I need to figure it out before it's too late…"
Starfire walked toward him. "Slade is most unpredictable, especially in situations such as these. The team and I know very well of Slade's trickery and will not succumb to his requests. Perhaps if you will just let this go, his plan will fail."
"I can't let this go…I just can't. We can't afford to lose someone. What if Slade tries to take you away? I can't let that happen." His fingers began to break into the wood of his desk.
Starfire smiled softly. "I realize you are most concerned about me, but I will be fine…"
He was surprised when her arms slipped around his chest, enveloping him in a soft hug. She rested her head on his shoulder, eyes closing as a sigh escaped her.
"You looked as if you required the hug." Starfire said sweetly, when it truth, she was the one who was needing it.
Robin felt his cheeks flare up, they hadn't had a hug like this since the t-ship crashed way back when. He could allow himself to stay here all day like this, or perhaps even turn around and make this into something much more than a hug…
"Starfire…" But he wouldn't. He slowly took her hands off of his chest and turned around. "I've really gotta get back to work…you should be going to sleep anyways, it's late."
Her eyes faltered for a second, disappointment glimmering through them. "Oh…alright." She stood for a few seconds, waiting for him to make another move, and then began to walk away silently, realizing she had lost.
He watched her slide out of the room with out another word, his heart crushing. How could he have just rejected her like that? All for research? No, it wasn't just for research. It was for her safety, her life.
Sitting back down, he put his head in his hands and groaned. He knew damn well he couldn't start anything in the lines of romance, no. That would create a weakness on him. Every villain would know exactly who to target in the line of fire. He would react exactly how they want him to, running after her, risking his own safety, all because the heart can be stronger than the mind. He couldn't let that happen.
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One Week LaterAn entire week, hours and hours of research, investigations, interrogations and he still could find nothing. No one on the team was being tracked by Slade or any of his lackeys, repeated searches on Joseph turned up absolutely nothing and Robin was getting frustrated to say the least.
He hadn't said much to Starfire, but Joseph was his main suspect. The man had come out of seemingly nowhere, there were no records of anything on his name, creating more and more suspicion in Robin's mind. No one besides Starfire had even seen this guy and the two of them had been going out on dates for a total of three weeks or so.
But Starfire was smart enough, she would be able to tell Slade apart from a common guy….wouldn't she?
Robin had decided to finally leave his room later that day, Starfire had requested that everyone eat lunch together, as she had an announcement to make. He didn't think much of what she could have to say, considering he had gotten less than twelve hours of sleep in the last week or so.
"Friends! I have glorious news!" She announced brightly, her face already glowing with tons of make up.
Everyone waited as she gathered her words to continue. "Joseph and I are going out tonight and he wishes to pick me up. He also wishes to come inside and meet all of you! Oh, I cannot wait until you he arrives!"
Robin looked up when she said that. Finally, he would get to meet this guy she had been fawning over for weeks now. Perhaps meeting him would kill away all his suspicions…or it could even create more of them.
"He shall be here around seven in the evening. We are enjoying dinner at eight at the 'Cuba Libra' I believe he called it." The smile on her lips would never cease to end.
Raven raised an eyebrow. "You mean the Cuba Libre? That expensive Indonesian food place on tenth? Wow…"
Cyborg snorted. "Geeze Star. Sounds like you hit good looks and money; every girl's dream."
Cyborg, Raven and Beast Boy all had a slight laugh about that while Starfire tilted her
head in wonder. Robin was almost oblivious to it all, his mind was somewhere else, as it had been this entire week. Cy offered him lunch but he refused it instantly, retreating back to his room without much else to say.
"I'm really worried about Robin…he's barely eating and never leaves his room these days." Cyborg said, fixing up a large stack of hamburgers.
Beast Boy spoke up now. "This is typical Robin. He's got Slade on the brain and won't return to normal until he figures out what's up."
Raven nodded slightly. "Yes, but it's typical to a point. He's starving himself, that's not healthy…"
Star took a seat down at the table. "Perhaps I should cancel my plans tonight and convince Robin to leave the tower with me?"
Raven shook her head. "No, don't let this ruin your night. We'll make sure Robin comes out of his room and eats a little bit. I have a strong feeling he'll come out to meet Joseph."
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Time flew by that night, the clock reading out '7:05 pm' in no time at all. Starfire walked out into the main room, dressed up for the dinner she was in store for. Everyone, except for Robin, was waiting for Joseph's arrival. The house had been cleaned thoroughly, so much that the boys were surprised you could actually see the floor in the kitchen.
Starfire stepped into the room, a pair of high heels she had bought at the mall earlier that day clicked on the floor gently. She and Raven had gone out as Star demanded help on picking out a suitable dress for the restaurant. The pair had agreed on a simple black, short dress that didn't take too much out of the budget.
"Damn!" Beast Boy said, eyebrows raised as he looked over the sofa. "Lookin' awesome Star!"
She blushed slightly. "Thank you Beast Boy. But I must give my thanks to Raven for helping me pick out such a lovely dress."
He looked over at the telepath. "If you pick out a dress like that for her, why can't you wear something like that?"
Raven glared at him. "What? You afraid to ogle Starfire because Robin will cut you in half?"
The changeling sunk into the sofa and the doorbell chimed throughout the tower. Starfire gave a slight squeal and ran over to the door, looking in the camera to confirm it was indeed Joseph. She grinned, noticing he was carrying flowers as she pressed the button to open the door. The trio stood walked over closer to the door.
Joseph walked in slowly, his eye gazing around the room before he handed the flowers to Starfire, planting a quick kiss on her forehead. She gasped at this action, turning bright red. He grinned slyly at her and turned to the team.
'Alright…' He thought to himself. 'Act like a normal, 'suave' guy and they won't suspect a thing…'
"Why hello. You must be Starfire's friends. I've heard much about you." He said, his white teeth glistening. He was faking some sort of Tom Cruise chippery voice.
He turned to Cyborg first. "You must be Cyborg. The one who, as Starfire says, likes to open the cans of 'butt kick' and enjoys working out."
Cyborg gave a slight laugh. "Yeah, that's me." He shook Joseph's hand firmly. "Nice to meet you."
Next up was Beast Boy who stood very small compared to his towering height. "Beast Boy. Starfire's told me you like jokes and video games. Typical boy your age, hmm?"
If he didn't stop, he would begin to annoy himself with his friendliness in a moment or two…
"Yeah guess so. Starfire's been blabbing on and on about you, hope you know that." Beast Boy said, showing his weariness of her repetitive fawning, but in a joking way, of course.
"And Raven…" Joseph said, his grin widening slightly. "You're Starfire's best buddy. The one with the dark powers…" He knew all he needed about her.
"Well, best friend after Robin." Raven muttered grimly. She never did feel all that comfortable around new people, but he seemed pleasant enough.
Joseph nodded. "Speaking of which, where is the boy wonder?"
They exchanged nervous glances, trying to think up an excuse. It wouldn't be needed though, as Robin walked into the room seamlessly, going over to the kitchen to make it look like he was getting something to eat.
"I'm right here. Sorry for being late, I didn't realize what time it was…" He said casually as he could, although his voice still sounded callous.
The men's eyes locked and Robin found himself frozen. He only had one eye. It was a deep brown…almost gray if in the right light…Not very many people only had one eye. Starfire had told everyone that his hair covered it, but not the fact that it was missing. Suspicion upon suspicion began to layer inside his mind.
"So how'd you lose the eye?" Robin asked bluntly, grabbing an apple and knife out of the fridge. Who needed awkward introductions anyways? He wasn't very interested about what Starfire said about him to other people anyways.
"Robin…" Starfire said, her tone becoming chastising.
Joseph shook his head. "It's alright Star, he wants to know, so I'll tell him." He paused here, collecting thoughts. "A long time ago, my ex wife and I got into quite the argument. I didn't see she had a gun and…well, let's just say I'm grateful I lost my eye and not my life." It was the whole truth, just had a few minor details missing…
Robin stared at Joseph, the knife had in one hand was dangling maliciously. Both of them knew, Rob could probably nail Joseph from the spot he was at with the utmost precision…
Raven, not really approving of Robin's attitude, cleared her throat. "I don't mean to interrupt, but it's seven fifteen, you two really should be going."
He glanced at his watch and looked back at Robin, their gazes breaking for only a second. "You're right. Well, it was nice meeting all of you. Hope to have dinner sometime."
Joseph took Starfire's arm and they left, waving to the team as they went. The flowers he had brought were already neatly set into a vase on the table. Robin snarled, throwing the apple across the room.
"Yo, Rob! What's your problem? Just because you're jealous doesn't mean that you can treat Star's boyfriend like dirt." Cyborg said, glaring at the leader. "I personally thought he was a pretty nice guy. Star really seems to care for him."
Robin snorted in contempt. "A nice guy? Are you all stupid? He's got Slade written all over him. One eye for Christ's sake."
Beast Boy raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think Slade would go this far to break us up? No offense to Starfire, but Slade does not seem like the type that would put up with her talk about ponies and fairies for too long."
"He would!" Robin hissed. "He would just because he wants to see us all suffer when we split up! Now I'm going to tail them and find out where he lives, it's probably his headquarters, then we can go and take him down for good!"
Raven stepped forward. "Robin…Please, calm down. What Beast Boy is saying actually has a point…I don't think that was Slade…his aura was a lot different…too…upbeat to be anything close to Slade."
"I don't care what the hell your aura readings say. I know Slade when I see him. Now what restaurant did they say they were going to?" He began to charge towards the door, fury raging inside of him.
Raven's magic snapped to the door, sealing it closed. "You are in no condition to leave here. If you really want someone to track them, I'll do it. You need to go and rest."
He peered at her. "Will you really?"
"I know the exact place they're going and everything. I don't have a suspicion about this guy, but you seem so damn intent on it, I'll go for you. But you have to promise me you'll stay here and get some sleep and food."
Robin digested that for a second, sighing. "Fine, Fine. But if you see anything…anything at all…" He seemed to agree to readily, at least in Raven's opinion.
"I'll call the second I feel something strange is going on."
Raven's magic melted off the door, and she opened it, looking back at Robin who was walking over to the kitchen in search of some soup. She gave a silent nod to Cyborg and Beast Boy as she left the tower, headed for the expensive restaurant on tenth.
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A/N: Yeah, really starting to get into the groove with this story. Man, is it just me and Rose, or does Slade make you want to melt? Nah, it's probably just me and Rose. XD
Next chapter: Raven tracks Joseph and Starfire on their date and doesn't really see anything all that suspicious. Robin refuses to give up his theory, slips out of the tower and tracks Star on his own agenda. He's still weary of Joseph, especially when Starfire doesn't return home that night….
And two words: Mmm limes. ;) –insert maniacal laugh here-
Read and Review everyone!
Okay, Rose and Pat, like I promised to continue, here's where I babble on to you:
Rose: Wow, I shall respond you first because you had the longest review on Thank You for the venom. The people at the library were looking at me weird because your review took so many pages to print. XD
I really, really despise the hive. Well, except for ONE time with that Cyclops dood where he made the remark to Starfire about having x-ray eyes. It was so cheaply perverted, I laughed forever. But Gizmo needs to die. He needs to have a shot gun pointed at his head and the trigger needs to be pulled slowly, so he'll suffer and not know when he's going to die, he'll just know it's soon. And when the bullet finally enters his head, he won't know what hit him….
Been reading far too many gory, boy comics
As for Robin's sarcastic one liners, I think that's his one and only superpower. Besides being the ultimate sex symbol in my head. Well….he's tied with Batman. I bought Batman begins for myself and I was watching it all squealing like a stupid fan girl. Dammit, I swear to god I'm a ten year old boy trapped inside a fourteen year old girl's body. Tehe.
I got pissed over the weekend 'cause ALL of my friends were busy. Or so they told me…Well nah, I believe them. Because my best friend (my NEW best friend…-stabs former one-) was away in the Caribbean. What I DID do though was play playstation for literally three days straight.
My parents came home and I unplugged the playstation realizing, holy crap, I have not sat down and watched TV for three days. I played until like one or two A.M each night and then just went to sleep. Woke up at like 9 and played all over again until one or two. That was my cycle….Yeah. Ten year old boy indeed. Or at least one of those thirty year old ones that live in his mom's basement.
I shall stop here now, but I look forward to your next review. You should enjoy next chapter thoroughly, I assure you. –grin-
Pat: Hello ol' buddy ol' chap. Nah, I wouldn't kill you for not reviewing one of my stories. I couldn't do that you. If I killed you, then who would I use to gather my crops? I would have to find a new Mexican love slave and it would be a total mess. So, your life is assured in my hands. Someday, I will teach you English and you will have your own family. Then, you move up to Mexican Lover. No more field working, just feeding me grapes and all that Cleopatra crap.
Well, yeah, Robin not suspecting Slade was a tad bit off, I do realize that now. But this chapter, he had a dandy little freak out, wouldn't you say? Mmm hmm…
Use me in your story? Sure! I'd love to be in it. And I would not kill or slap you (in a violent way) if you made me have a romance with another OC. I'd be honored actually. I'd finally have a boyfriend SOMWHERE in the world. You see, it turns out my guy friend has a girlfriend….I loathe her. A lot. Though I really shouldn't, but I do anyways. So sue me.
And I'm getting jealous of all my other friends and other people. This one girl I talked to said she made out with her boy friend in the school's elevator ('cause he's on crutches) and I was like, WHY CAN'T I MAKE OUT IN ELEVATORS! HUH? Tha'd be so sexy with the daringness of the situation. You'd be all like, 'gasp!', it's gonna open and people will see us. Quick! Turbo kissing!
I really need to find that thing called life….and the board game doesn't count. Because I always end up with two cars, full of children.
And my best friend situation. Bleh. We sort of made up, but I'm getting annoyed by her a lot lately. I've made a new best friend. (well…there were two people that were sort of competing for the spot, so my friend Tabitha won, or something like that) You know what? High school sucks. I'm failing social studies already and…it just sucks. Simple as that.
Hey, who the hell is the clickty clack bag of bones bitch that reported your story? That's just not cool man, not cool. I was really, really liking T…
Ah crap, I've gotta go now. My mom is calling me out to come eat tacos for dinner. Mm…..anything Mexican flavored…..
You know what, scratch that whole feeding me grapes thing I said earlier, you are going to feed me tacos when you move up to Mexican Lover status. Okay? Extra cheese and sour cream with those tasty little green onion things on there. Mexican food turns me on….XD!
Love,
Emmery