A/N: I'm back!
I received some awesome reviews for chapter 3, so keep 'em coming people! And e-mail dlsky about the challenge fics you find the most entertaining!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, imagine how old I would have to be if I did...
Doing the Right Thing
By: Sarah Shima
Chapter 4: You Can Never Go Home Part I
Slade followed silently as Robin led the way into the city he once called 'home.' The path they took was covered in mud and made for a quiet hike, both of them much too focused on maintaining their footing to snip at each other.
Eventually they arrived at the waterfront, the lights of Gotham shining across from them. Gotham was completely set apart from the rest of the area, surrounded by water, the city could easily be cut off from the outside if needed. Slade silently appraised Gotham from afar. Visible sections of the city remained in half-dark, and crumbling buildings lined the waterfront. Robin was looking up and down the water's edge for a possible bridge to use, to his dismay, the bridge he intended to cross had been destroyed. The New Trigate Bridge lay in disrepair, the center blasted out by a bomb, and the rest half-submerged in the strong currents of the Gotham River. It seemed to have been there for a while. No replacement bridge had been erected, and the next closest one lay far to the South – if it were still standing.
Robin stood uncertainly for a moment, and then began pacing around the area. He ran through his mind a map of Gotham he had memorized as Batman's sidekick, and finally, he remembered. "Let's go," he said to Slade, and turned towards the direction they came from.
"Go where? Gotham's over there," Slade said, agitated with Robin thinking he could order him around. He indicated Gotham with an outstretched hand.
"Unless you're suddenly Aquaman, I think we're going to need a drier route," Robin laughed.
"And what route are you proposing?" Slade asked.
"Hey, do you want to get back to our universe or what?" Robin asked. He responded to Slade's beat of silence with, "Then I suggest you listen to me. I know Gotham better than you do." Robin enjoyed his small triumph as Slade begrudgingly followed him back towards the woods.
Robin walked for a ways and then stopped, alternately kneeling and brushing away the undergrowth. He did this three times before finding the correct spot. He pulled a tangle of vines off of a manhole cover. "Here, help me lift this," Robin said, reaching for the catch on his side of the cover.
"You need help?" Slade scoffed.
"Yes, now come on, grab the other side." A beat. "Please?" Robin added with malice. Slade smirked down at him, and then slowly kneeled on the other side, reaching for the manhole cover. Between the two of them, they managed to wrest it off and lay it on the side. Robin motioned for Slade to go first.
"No, I don't think so Robin. You've given me no reason to believe this even leads anywhere. You go first," Slade said, in case Robin was thinking of tricking him. Robin sighed and, passing up the option of the ladder, jumped in, landing cleanly on his feet. Slade followed.
The two were inside a long, dimly lit tunnel. Two long pipes ran on either side of the tunnel, leaving barely any room for the pair to make their way through it. Robin blinked repeatedly behind the sunglasses. Used to starlite lenses with night-vision capabilities, the dark shades were impeding his vision, especially in the dark tunnel.
"This is a steam tunnel; it leads to the Narrows in Gotham," Robin explained, pulling the glasses off for a moment and rubbing his eyes.
"Ah, the Narrows," Slade said with a smile.
"Been there before?" Robin asked, turning towards Slade.
"What 'villain' hasn't?" Slade asked rhetorically.
"Well, let's just hope we get the information we need so we can get out of here. If I have to be stuck with you for much longer…" Robin let his voice trail off as he continued walking down the tunnel, watching Slade who walked slightly behind him.
"Afraid you may grow to like it?" Slade questioned with a superior smile. Robin hated being able to actually see the expressions on Slade's face. He shot Slade a typical 'bat glare' and Slade only laughed.
They continued in silence for a few moments beofre Robin suddenly stopped walking and turned on Slade. "What is it with you! I'm not going to be your stupid apprentice! I'm one of the heroes, one of the 'good guys,' I'm friends with Superman, I was trained by Batman, I lead the Titans. I'm not going to become a villain just because you seem to think that it suits me better."
"All of that just makes it more interesting," Slade remarked. Robin swallowed his anger, knowing by the glance Slade gave him that he would not be able to rattle the man.
Robin growled under his breath and then continued along the tunnel to Gotham.
They walked along in silence through the damp, hot tunnel. Robin shirked off his jacket as he began to sweat. Slade seemed perfectly comfortable and unaffected by the heat.
Slade laughed as Robin wiped the sweat off of his brow. "I've almost forgotten how unbearable heat can be to a 'normal' human," he said. "You know, I was planning on making you immortal if you stayed with me that first time."
"Oh wow, if only you'd told me…" Robin said in a mocking voice. "How great would that have been? To have you trying to make me your 'apprentice' for all eternity."
"You would've liked it… eventually," Slade said, smirking once more just because he knew it bothered Robin. Robin did not respond, but continued through the humid pipes, no end in sight.
After much too long – Robin was glad he had not timed it – the two finally found themselves at the end of the steam tunnel. "Oh thank God," Robin sighed as he surveyed the ceiling hatch. He climbed up the ladder that led to the top of the tunnel, and examined the cover. He pushed on it, and managed to make the old metal budge just enough to slide it over to the side.
He hopped out into the cool night air, and sighed in relief to be out of the hot tunnel. Slade followed shortly, and the pair surveyed their surroundings. Robin pulled his jacket back on as they stood in one of the worst sections of Gotham.
Robin stared regretfully towards the other end of the city, where the towering bulk of Wayne Manor would eventually appear. He wondered what he would discover if he went there. Was the Manor even there at all?
The city stunk of decay and disease. Rats sniffed at their feet as the two trudged through the dirty streets. The high-pitched sound of a woman's scream pierced the still night air. Robin's body instantly stiffened as he attempted to discern where the scream came from. Slade leaned down to whisper in the boy's ear. "We have more important things to do here. Whoever she is, she's not our problem."
Robin was forced to comply, walking along at a fast pace, hoping to get clear of this ghetto soon, while still wondering how he would find Batman without revealing his identity to Slade.
Then he heard a low voice laughing, a voice he had not heard in a while. Robin stopped in his tracks and he turned slowly to the source of the sound. Harvey Dent, also known in the criminal world as "Two-Face" due to the horrible disfiguration of one side of his face, stood in the alleyway, a revolver in hand. He pointed it menacingly at a man and woman, while a young girl stood beside him, his hand a vice on her shoulder. "Pick! Heads or tails!" he shouted to the frightened child, slipping his gun hand carefully into his pocket and pulling out his two-sided coin. Two-Face was known for making his decisions based on the outcomes of the flip of that particular coin. Or at least that is what he did in Robin's dimension.
Robin's eyes clouded over as a particular event in his time as Batman's sidekick rose up in his memory. Batman and a judge had been captured by Two-Face, and when Robin showed up to 'save the day,' Two-Face asked him to call the coin toss to save one life or the other. He hoped to buy himself some time to make a plan by playing Two-Face's game. Unfortunately, that backfired, and the judge was killed right in front of him.
Robin turned his attention back to the current scene. The buildings that surrounded the foursome were grimy, and an old, rusty fire escape clung to one wall. The apartments in the buildings seemed empty, but Robin caught a flash of movement in one.
"Pick! Heads or tails! Mommy, or daddy!" Two-Face's voice cut through the dark night. The girl squirmed against his grip on her, her face screwed up in anguish.
"Please… I don't want them to die!" she pleaded, tears gushing down her cheeks.
"Choose!" He persisted.
"Hea…" the girl began.
Before Slade could stop him, Robin had launched himself into the scene. He managed to wrest the girl free of Two-Face and send the maniac flying before Two-Face realized what was happening.
"Go! Get out of here!" Robin yelled to the parents who now had their daughter wrapped tightly in their arms.
"Thank yo…" the woman began, her eyes filled with tears.
"Just GO! I'll take care of Two-Face! Go!" The three complied, racing back down the alleyway and out of sight.
"You'll 'take care' of Two-Face, eh boy?" the maniac laughed as he regained his footing. "What makes you think you can?"
Robin just glared at him, and then jumped into the air. He flipped once over Two-Face's head and then landed a boot to the criminal's back. Two-Face fired two shots, which Robin avoided easily.
"I'm surprised you're not running scared yet. You're just some moron mob boss, and I don't see any of your cronies around!" Robin taunted.
"Mob boss? Where do you get your information, kid? 'Cause it's wrong," Two-Face replied. Two-Face stuffed his gun into his belt, and then proceeded to attack Robin.
Robin, surprised when a fist flew into his face, just barely dodged, and then began a disturbing set of defenses against Two-Face's apparent skill in the martial arts. "What the Hell?" Robin asked as he flipped backwards onto his hands and then launched himself forward into Two-Face's chest. He never even considered that the skills of the villains in Gotham might have been different in this dimension. Once again, he let Two-Face get to him and put himself in a dangerous position.
"Hoping to become a vigilante, boy? Maybe you didn't get the memo, but ever since what the Bat did, vigilantes are not accepted by the general public," Two-Face laughed as he began a set of attacks, intent on forcing Robin to the wall.
"What did Batman do?" Robin asked, pulling his bo staff out of his belt and knocking Two-Face's feet out from under him. "Where is he!"
""Where is he?"? Where have you been?" Two-Face cackled from where he lay on the ground of the alleyway. "He's in Arkham you dolt. Apparently the loss of his little boy toy was too much for him, went plum crazy. Imagine that!"
Robin backed up, the maniac's words spinning through his mind. He raised the staff above his head and brought it down on Two-Face's chest. Just then, he heard sirens approaching. He was inclined to believe what Two-Face said about vigilantes, and so quickly scrambled up a fire escape and out of sight. Across the alleyway, he saw Slade shaking his head at him before he, too, disappeared into the shadows.
Two police cruisers flew towards the alleyway, stopping just at the mouth. Robin watched silently, his body completely still, as James Gordon exited the second vehicle. He and three other officers raced towards Two-Face's fallen form.
"Someone got to him before us," one of the men said to Jim as the two officers cuffed the semi-conscious maniac and hauled him into a police cruiser. It took Robin a moment to recognize the speaker as Detective Harvey Bullock, one of the detectives he had come across several times while working with Batman in Gotham.
"Yeah, but who?" asked Jim. "Another vigilante?"
"Let's hope not," Bullock said. "We don't want a repeat of what happened with Batman.
Jim shook his head gravely. "I can't say I blame him… if it were me, I'd want my revenge too."
"Yeah, maybe. But I doubt you would kill anyone who came between you and your target. But really, I mean, the kid got whacked, but whose fault was it that he was in danger in the first place?"
Jim seemed to be fighting an internal battle, not sure what to think about the situation. "Harvey, I don't expect you to understand. But I knew both of them very well, and when I think of how he looked when we saw the body, when I think of how he was killed… I wanted to join Batman and help find the devil behind it. But in the end, I knew that it wasn't the man I knew who I was seeing doing those things, so I stopped him. The man I shot is in Arkham now, and the man I knew is gone.
"Come on Harvey, let's go," he said, leading the way back to the police cruiser.
Sitting in the shadows, Robin felt an odd twinge as he listened to them speak. When they mentioned 'the boy' he had the distinct feeling that they were talking about him. But if that was true… then he was dead. And he was also the reason that Batman had apparently gone insane.
Slade remained hidden while the police talked. He could barely contain the jovial expression that overcame his face when he heard that Batman had been running around murdering people.
Robin approached Slade slowly as the police cruisers sped away with their prisoner, something weighing on his mind. "Change of plans," Robin said slowly. "We'll be heading to Arkham instead."
Slade showed no surprise at Robin's words. He face revealed a sort of small, triumphant smirk. Robin wondered what he felt victorious about, but was too preoccupied with the task ahead of him to think on it much.
Batman was in Arkham, Bruce was in Arkham. No one could capture the Batman alive and keep him caged forever, especially the idiots who ran Arkham. People like the Joker, Two-Face, and Harley Quinn were constantly outsmarting security and breaking out. For Bruce to be in there, then something had to be wrong with him.
Jim Gordon had said that Bruce had become someone he did not recognize. Robin wondered exactly what he meant by that.
With Slade following, Robin set out for Arkham Asylum, feeling at least grateful that the trip through the steam tunnel had proved helpful – it put them right where they needed to be, the Narrows.
Robin walked with trepidation up the narrowed road that would lead to the sanitarium. He looked up and saw the towering mass of Arkham Asylum rising from the ground before him. Situated on a hill, the sanitarium glowered down on the rest of the Narrows, a nasty monument that reminded all who saw it of what kind of a city they were in. This was not Metropolis; that was for sure.
Gotham was a city where people were mugged, raped, and murdered on a regular basis. Before the arrival of Batman, the newspapers had become so grim that few bothered to even read them anymore. However, with the appearance of a frightening vigilante, people once again had hope for their city. They read with awe the exploits of Batman, and later also that of his sidekick, Robin. But even with all of their efforts, Gotham felt no safer than it had been. And this Gotham was much worse than the one that Robin had come from.
Robin approached the spiked gate whose twisted wrought iron spelled "Arkham Asylum." He drew in a shaking breath as he stepped through it. Slade had stopped following him, and Robin dimly wondered if he was using the opportunity to ditch Robin and get back on his own. However, Robin could not turn to ask him, there was no going back now.
As he walked toward the main entrance, security met him, blocking his path. The three men regarded him cautiously, taking in the face that he was wearing sunglasses at night.
"Where do you think you're going, kid?" the security guard asked, glaring at him. The kid looked familiar somehow to the guard, he just did not know why.
"I'm here to see someone," Robin responded calmly, even though inside he was freaking out. His heartbeat had increased with each step towards the asylum, and was threatening to burst out of his chest now.
"Visiting hours are over for the night, you'll have to come back tomorrow morning," the man responded, bored.
Robin could have smacked himself; of course visiting hours were over! Did he really think they would just let him waltz on in? But still, the more time he had to spend with Slade…
"This is an emergency," he said curtly, arms folded.
"I don't care. Visiting hours are over. Come back tomorrow."
Robin surveyed the security. Three, tired, underpaid men standing around in the booth by the entrance. He could have easily taken out all three of them, let himself in, knock out whoever got in his way, find Bruce, talk to him, and then…
But that was where his plan caught a snag. If he decided to force his way in, he would only have a small amount of time to get the information he needed from Bruce. And if what he heard could be taken as truth, then he was dead in this dimension. It would most likely take quite a while to get Bruce to trust him, and that would just take too long. It would never work.
Resigned, he walked back over to Slade. "We'll have to come back tomorrow."
Slade nodded in calm satisfaction. Robin seemed frazzled, distressed. As he walked towards Slade he had kept turning around to glance at the asylum, and Slade knew why. From what he overheard it seemed the Batman was incarcerated within the asylum. Slade knew that Batman was Robin's mentor, and he assumed that in some way the flying rodent was also a father to Robin.
"We should try to get some sleep," Slade suggested, knowing the pair would need their wits about them for the events of the following day. Although he fondly considered staying in this dimension, Slade knew that it would be too much of an adjustment for him. He would have to start over, from the bottom up once again. He would much rather be back in his own universe.
"Where exactly were you planning on sleeping?" Robin asked, raising an eyebrow behind the sunglasses that seemed much too dark now. He motioned to the tenements and alleyways that surrounded Arkham Asylum.
"I'll find someplace," Slade said. "Follow me," he added in a commanding tone, just to annoy the boy.
Now in the lead, Slade enjoyed glancing back toward Robin who pointedly tried to avoid eye contact with him. Slade knew the sunglasses had to be aggravating his eyes by now, but he refused to take them off. The boy was so stubborn!
Slade trekked through the back alleyways of tenements, searching for an area that the pair could use. He passed buildings with screaming children, and domestic abuse, and continued towards the abandoned brick building nearby the area where Robin foolishly fought Two-Face. Robin should not have engaged the enemy as if he already knew him; the Titan should have thought things out a little better first, they were in a different dimension after all. Slade shook his head. Now the police were becoming suspicious, and any more acts of vigilantism could make things very difficult for the two of them. Not that Slade would mind killing people who got in his way, but he assumed that Robin would try and stop him, making things ever more difficult. While Slade knew Robin stood no chance against him, he was still wary of how far he pushed him. Robin knew the city better than he did, and had contacts he might be able to coax into helping, while Slade on the other hand did not. He might very well need Robin before the end.
Slade finally found the old, abandoned, decaying tenement building. Pushing open the rotting door, he led the way inside. Robin followed slightly behind, cautious about entering a place that was most likely filled with homeless people.
Robin's reservations proved sound as the moonlight reflected off of the sleeping forms of numerous bums. Slade wasted no time in passing the homeless people and climbing the rickety staircase to an upper floor. The second level proved nearly empty, with the occasional person here or there. Slade picked out an empty corner, and swept his arm out in a gesture that to Robin read: "Make yourself comfortable."
"I'll keep the first watch," Slade announced, knowing that both would have to be on guard to the possibility of being attacked in their sleep.
"And how do I know you won't just leave while I'm sleeping?" Robin questioned, raising an eyebrow at Slade.
"How do I know you won't drive a stake through my heart while I'm sleeping?" Slade paused, and then continued. "It looks like we're at a stalemate. We'll just have to trust each other."
"How nice," Robin huffed, settling himself on the floor. He pushed away his worries of Slade leaving, something told him that his nemesis would have been long gone by now had he known how to return. Besides, something much heavier weighed on his mind… Bruce.
Raven and Cyborg sat at the computer console side-by-side, running the data they collected from Dr. Kleinmann. In the background, Starfire and Beast Boy poured over newspapers, searching for articles that contained anything about Slade or Robin. The theory that they were transported to an alternate dimension seemed a bit far-fetched to Beast Boy; but considering he was searching with an alien, an android, and the daughter of a demon, far-fetched was quite a loose term. Also, they had no way of knowing if Slade was actually there, much less if he was transported with Robin.
The security cameras in the labs had been compromised, so they had little to go on. However, as day turned into night and Cyborg failed to understand exactly what the machine would have done if activated, they were losing faith. However, hope was all they had to go on.
"I hate to say it guys, but it's possible that thing just exploded and obliterated everything, and everyone in the vicinity," Cyborg said heavily, standing from the seat he had occupied for hours.
"There's still a chance that Dr. Kleinmann's theory about the inter-dimensional traveling reaction occurred," Raven suggested, refusing to give up.
"But what can we do to prove it either way, what can we do to help Robin?" Starfire asked, facing Cyborg and Raven with weary, sorrowful eyes.
"I don't know," Raven sighed. "If he is in another dimension, we really have no way of telling exactly where, or any way of helping him to return. We'll just have to keep working and hope that Robin can get himself out of this."
"Dude, this sucks!" Beast Boy announced. The green member of the team had been quite silent since Raven's S.O.S. pulled he and Cyborg from their camping trip. It had been his first real vacation in a while, and he really pushed Robin into letting him go. Beast Boy felt guilty for leaving his teammates, but guilt seemed to be shared by all of them.
Starfire and Raven had apparently gone shopping, promising to leave their communicators on should anything happen. But their communicators did not receive a strong signal inside the mall, and so they did not receive Robin's transmissions.
"I wish there was something constructive we could do!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "We gotta find Robin and help him out!"
"I don't know if that's possible," Raven sighed. "But we cannot, and will not, give up on him."
Sometime during the night Robin felt strong hands shaking him awake. He opened his eyes slowly, and came face-to-face with a mask-less Slade. Crying out in alarm, he pushed back from the hands on his shoulders and reached out to strike him. Slade caught his fist before it could make contact. "Calm down," Slade said gruffly.
Robin's brain finally made contact with his body and he lowered his fist. "Sorry," he said curtly.
"Your turn to watch," Slade said.
Robin nodded, standing and leaning against the wall as his archenemy lay down on the floor and fell into a restful sleep.
Robin turned away from Slade and focused on recounting the events that led up to their arrival in this new dimension. If he could get to Bruce and get him to help, then he would need to remember exactly how it happened. In his mind he flashed through images of entering the labs, destroying the slade-bots, and then engaging Slade in a fight. He pictured the chamber filled with ethereal liquid, and the damage he and Slade caused it. However, rather than making everything clearer, this only succeeded in causing his anger to swell. He stared down at Slade, angry that he was in this situation; angry that Slade caused them both to be trapped here; angry that he had to see things he did not want to see; angry that Slade might discover his identity; angry that any of this had happened at all. He just wanted to be back in the Tower with his friends, foiling Mad Mod's plots and laughing over pizza.
His thoughts then strayed to his team, what were they thinking? Did they believe he was dead, or were they looking for him? He had no way of knowing, but focused on finding a way out of this mess himself, he could not rely on other people to save him.
A/N: That chapter took forever to write, and I'm sorry if the quality was affected by my writer's block. However, the best is yet to come! My favorite scene thus far takes place in the next chapter! Yay! And Slade's nice-ness will be coming rather soon as well.
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving (for those of you in the US of A that is). I'm excited becausewecut down our tree this weekend and decorated it,and also put the lights up on the house. Now I'm back in myroom with a half-decorated fake tree. It's stillpretty though!I should not have leftall of my homework until tonight, but I did, and there is much to do, so I must leave all of you now.
Oh, remember to e-mail dlsky at listing your favorites (best to last) of the challenge stories.
Alright everyone, don't forget to e-mail dlsky, and to review as well!
Sarah Shima