Chapter 2

Remembrance

It was a normal day, and the Titans were sitting in the operations room doing the usual. Raven's nose was buried in another gothic novel, Cyborg and Beast Boy were in a heads on battle on their newest video game, and Starfire was rambling on and on about another one of her holidays to Robin who was doing research at the kitchen table.

"Starfire."

"Yes friend Robin?"

"Could you please go talk to one of the others, I'm trying do work."

"All right," she sighed.

Starfire flew over to the couch with Cyborg and Beast Boy, but was interrupted.

BEEP BEEP BEEP!

"Major fire downtown! Titans go!"

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The fire had spread to four buildings on the corner of an intersection before they finally put it out. Miraculously everyone survived and there were only minor injuries. Now they had to see that the buildings were taken down without anyone getting hurt.

"Raven, direct the crew from above. Starfire and Beast Boy, help move some of the larger pieces, Cyborg make sure they don't start another fire by upsetting the electrical wires."

The team went off to their assigned task leaving Robin with the police men to deal with crowd control.

"Alright people, back it up. We don't want any of you getting hurt." Robin said as he directed the observers and reporters away from the buildings.

One of the buildings began to slowly come down, and then every thing went quiet.

"RUN!"

Robin spun around, the crew and his team was fleeing the area.

"What's going on?"

"There's a bomb in the building and it's about to explode!" a crew worker cried.

People began to run as fast as they could from the building.

BABOOOOM!

Glass, wood, and concrete erupted from all sides. Robin was cut by glass as it flew from the few remaining windows, dodged several pounds of concrete, and ran to the center of the street. The pounding of the debris finally calmed, but smoke, ash, and dust still lingered showing no signs of leaving.

Robin looked up when he heard the engine of a car. The sound of a car door opening made him alert.

"Who's th-?"

A strong hand suddenly covered his mouth, startling him. He thrust his arm upwards hoping to hit his attacker in the face, but a vice-like grip on his wrist twisted his arm into an unnatural position. Robin struggled to get free, only bringing more pain.

He tried calling for help, but his screams were muffled by the hand against his face.

He reached for his com-link, his last hope. He managed to pull it out, then the grip on his right arm was gone and before he could blink a sickening crack was heard and the com-link went flying. Robin began to yell and fight against the man as he was dragged towards the car.

As they got closer he saw who was in the car- well, more like what was in the car; Slade bots. And he could only guess who was forcing him towards it, Slade.

Before he could react Robin was shoved into the car and one of the robots from the front had him tied up. The robot forced him into his seat as Slade got in.

With the dust starting to clear the car began to move.

Robin's masked eyes widened as Slade held up a trigger.

"It's nice to have my apprentice back, and this time your friends won't be able to do anything to save you."

He pressed the button.

BABOOOOM!

The last three buildings exploded without warning sending cries of pain into the air with the remainder of the buildings.

Enraged, Robin sung his leg around in an attempt to hit in Slade's face. He caught the boy wonder's foot barely inches away from his mask.

"Hmm. Pretty good, but not good enough."

Slade rammed Robin into the side window with extreme force. The glass shattered on impact, a deep cut forming its way across his head. A cry of pain escaped the boy's lips before he could stop it.

"Robin? Robin is that you?"

"STARFI-"

Robin tried to call before a hit to the head stopped him; Robin struggled to keep his eyes open. He tried to yell for help again, but Slade pulled out a syringe and stuck it in his arm.

As Robin's eyes started to close he could swear the madman was smiling under his mask.

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Robin slowly opened his eyes, a spitting head ache rushed into his senses forcing him to close his eyes. He gingerly touched the sore area and felt gauze wrapped tightly around his head. He rubbed his sore wrist as he reopened his eyes.

Sitting up he saw a small amount of light was shinning under the crack of the door.

There were no windows so he couldn't tell what time of day it was or what day it was for that matter. The small room consisted of the cot he was sitting on, a desk and chair, and a miniature closet.

Shivering as his bare feet touched the cold, hard floor; he walked over to door and tested the door knob. It was unlocked! He quickly and quietly left the room and shut the door behind him.

'Either Slade forgot to lock the door, or he doesn't think I'm awake yet.' He thought as he tip-toed down the narrow hall towards the door, 'What am I thinking? Slade would never forget anything."

Suddenly he heard footsteps and voices carrying down the passage not at all far behind him. Seeing an open door he hid inside.

"...the bombs are all set and if he's not careful, the Titans will have no idea what hit them."

Robin heard a door open leading to the room where he woke up. Robin carefully poked his head out the door as Slade walked into the room.

"Looks like the little bird escaped the cage."

"It shouldn't be too hard to catch him; he's been out for three days hasn't he Mister Slade?

"Yes, but he is very resourceful. We'll have to be quick if we want to catch him before he reaches his friends."

Robin froze at the words three days; he couldn't have been out for three days

"...that's not possible."

He jumped at the sound of his voice; he didn't want to say it aloud.

Heavy footsteps drew closer to his hiding place. Unable to move without being seen, he froze in place.

The footsteps stopped right in front of him, a shadow towered over the crate he was behind.

Slade snapped his fingers and several robots came in from a door on the other side of the room.

"Search the room and don't let him escape. Bring him to me when you find him," were his simple commands before he left the room.

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It didn't take them too long to catch Robin.

He had discovered the robots were slightly different than the last time he faced them.

They were faster, stronger, and more durable than usual.

'Probably got an upgrade,' He thought sulkily as they dragged him into a larger room.

The eerie sounds of gears twisting and turning rang through the darkened room. A large monitor screen took up an entire wall. The multiply divided screen had video feedings of all the rooms, several of the city, and even some from Titans tower. Looking up there was a catwalk across the ceiling, steel support beams in random places holding up the building, and two to three windows on each wall letting in little to no light.

Robin figured it was night because he could see stars and they were near the docks because of the salty taste in the air.

"Looks like the little bird decided to come out of hiding."

The robots threw Robin at Slade's feet. Robin quickly resumed a standing position, not wanting to be kneeling before him.

"I have to admit, you heal faster than one would think. Which means, we'll begin training sooner."

"T-training? For what?"

"My young apprentice," he said shaking his head," training that will make you stronger-faster than you ever dreamed, I'll teach you more advanced fighting techniques, how to rob a high security vault without setting off alarms, and how being a villain is more fulfilling than being a hero."

"I'll never be your apprentice again!"

"Oh, I think you will," he said directing Robin towards the monitor screen, "I have bombs located under Titans tower and on the fault lines all over the city, and if you disobey your friends and city will be destroyed."

"...no, not again," he said barley above a whisper.

"So, do we have a deal?"

Robin took a deep breath trying to figure a way out of his current situation, but, unfortunately, found nothing.

"...yes," he whispered.

"What was that Robin?"

Knowing Slade was just toying with him, he wanted to say something to drive Slade up the wall, but with what was at stake he decided against it.

"Yes," he said louder.

"Yes, what?"

Robin gritted his teeth so hard he just knew he heard them crack.

"Yes, Master."

"Now, that wasn't so hard, was it my apprentice?"

Robin's only reply was fast, hot tempered breath as he attempted to resist attacking the man.

"Well, Robin?" he asked walking in front of the boy, his eye narrowing in rising anger when the boy refused to answer.

His metal clad fist met the boy's jaw with a sickening crunch sending him flying across the room.

Slade quickly walked over to the boy, his fingers curled around his neck and slammed him into a steal support beam. Robin tried to pry away the massive fingers that were cutting off his air supply.

"Silence is not an answer, boy, and every time I ask you a question, answer me. Is that clear?

"...yes... Master."

"Good."

He released his hold on Robin and allowed him to fall face first on the ground.

"Take him to his room," he told the robots, "and lock the door this time."

Robin felt the robots grab each arm then drag him out of the room.

About halfway down the hall, he back flipped knocking the robots off his arms, causing them to crash into the wall.

Remembering there was a door in the same room he came out of-he ran for it. Slade didn't hear him until the door slammed behind Robin, then he swiftly followed him into the stormy night...