Anything, Anytime, Anywhere, For You
Chapter Forty-Eight
"Batman Versus Robin"
A/N: Almost done. :o Ain't it amazing? Well, for Chapter Forty Eight, to Lauren I shall dedicate:D
But my beloved readers, I am sad. For this is almost the end. . Well, at any rate, when this is done, I have two other Titans Stories I plan to finish (yes, I will finish those after this. :p) Plus I have another Titans story I may start later, also a Sonic story, and a Fullmetal Alchemist Trilogy. More info on those fics, later. :D
---- ---- ---- ---- ----
"It was all a trap."
Seven hours ago, the Teen Titans had broken into a prison in Metropolis to save the remainder of the heroes with their sanity. However, once they had got inside all they found was Monsieur Mallah; no heroes. While they had defeated a robot army and mind-controlled Superman, the team now realized they, and they alone, had escaped with their sanity.
Robin, Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Bumblebee, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Jinx, Terra, Robin II and Mento were sane; everyone else on the planet had become a mindless servant of the Brain and the Brotherhood of Evil.
Now the Titans were in a van, driving towards Jump City. The van was not a superhero car; it had no adjustments, no weapons and no turbo boosters. Cyborg was driving. In the back of the van, all the heroes spoke. Robin and Starfire sat next to each other; Raven was next to Starfire, with Beast Boy on her shoulder. Because of the limited space, Beast Boy was a small green bird. Kid Flash was next to Raven, with Jinx next to him in the circle, then Terra, Robin II, Bumblebee and finally Aqualad. Mento was in the passenger seat next to Cyborg.
"Okay, this is bad, but it's not the end of the world." Robin informed everyone.
"Yeah . . . you sure?" Cyborg asked.
"We can reverse everything if we destroy the machine." Mento informed the teens.
"First we have to find the machine, which is easier said than done." Aqualad informed the group.
"Hard, but not impossible." Robin replied. "Where is the Brain's hideout?"
"Not far from Metropolis." Kid Flash told them. "It's real close to where we are now, we just take Highway 47."
"Alright. Then we go there, and we stop the Brain. Then maybe this'll all be over at last." Robin II said optimistically.
"I hope so, but let's not forget what Rose said on Tamaran." Robin said to everyone.
"Who's Rose, what's Tamaran, and what did she say?" Kid Flash asked.
"Rose is a villain, Tamaran is my home planet, and she informed us that Slade is still alive." Starfire relayed to the group.
"Slade? Isn't he your arch foe Sparky?" Bumblebee asked.
"Yeah, that's Slade. But maybe we'll luck out and The Brain will have him under mind control too." Cyborg said hopefully.
"Is Slade the one with the double-colored mask?" Mento asked.
"That's him." Raven replied.
"Then he is the one who supplied The Brain with the mind-control device." Mento sighed.
"Great." Jinx's sarcasm was quicker than Raven's.
"It doesn't matter team. We'll stop him too, in time." Robin said in his leader voice.
A second later, Cyborg let his eyes move to the side mirror, and what he saw made him gasp, and then gulp. The coolest car he'd ever seen was right behind them, but Cyborg had a bad feeling about it.
"Yo guys, are we sure every other hero besides us is evil?" Cyborg asked.
"Yes, why?" Robin replied.
"Cause the Batmobile is comin' up fast from our rear, and in this piece of crap van, we may as well paint a bull's-eye on the side." Cyborg replied. In a flash, both Robin and Robin II ran to the back of the van and looked out the windows; indeed, the Batmobile was racing to catch up with them, which it would do in seconds.
"Great." Robin sighed. "Cyborg, drive as fast as you can!"
"Uh, Rob, I am." Cyborg replied.
"What? This is the fastest we can go?" Robin sweatdropped. "That's . . . not good."
Suddenly there was a loud popping noise, and the van's tired exploded, which caused Cyborg to lose control. The Batmobile had launched tiny spikes out of it's front with covered the road ahead of it; popping the Van's tires. Since the Batmobile's tires were coated in metal, they were safe.
The van's tires peeled off and flew off, and Cyborg was riding on just the metal. Sparks flew, and the van slowed down. They'd soon be stopped, as soon as the engine overheated.
"What do we do?" Cyborg asked.
"We do nothing. I stop him." Robin announced. He stood up and approached the back doors of the van; but Starfire grabbed him by the cape.
"Robin do not do this alone!" She asked him.
"Sorry Star, but you'll all need each other to beat the Brain. I can handle this. Trust me."
Robin kicked open the back door, grabbed a freezing disc and his bo-staff, and jumped out of the van. He landed on the hood of the Batmobile and instantly tiny guns came out of the hood and aimed at him; but he broke them both with his bo-staff, and then jumped on the roof of the car and three the freezing disc into the right rear wheel. It froze instantly and the Batmobile swerved out of control and crashed into a ditch; Robin jumped off right before the crash.
Robin looked at the car; and in a flash the door opened and Batman stepped out. Robin held the bo-staff ready; this was going to be the fight of his life.
Robin remembered long ago, when Shady had shown up, when he and Batman had done battle.
A man had entered the room, and Robin became tense. His back arched, his eyes narrowed and his hands gave the slightest lean towards his utility belt. That caused all of the other Titans to take notice of the man, and to tense up themselves, trying to prepare a defense or offense if needed. The man himself however was perfectly relaxed, except for his eyes which were focused squarely on Robin's masked ones.
"En garde!" The man shouted and things moved quicker than anyone would have liked. Robin shot out of his chair, flipped over the back of it and landed on his feet with his bo staff drawn; at the exact same time the man had made his way from the doorway to the seat and had smashed the exact spot that had occupied the boy-wonder only seconds before with his own bo staff.
Robin had recovered and a swipe of his staff knocked the chair aside; that was instantly followed by a sharp swiping kick from his right – which his former mentor blocked with an expert left hand. They broke apart but no one noticed because just as quickly Robin was using his right foot to knock his enemy's bo staff off it's newly set course and that was followed by Robin narrowly jumping over a sweeping roundhouse kick.
By now the other Teen Titans and Shady (who'd finally stopped talking and taken notice) had realized that even if they wanted to get involved in this fight, they couldn't. The pace was so fast that the only comparison they could draw was between some of the fights Robin had made with Slade – and this one could put most of them to shame.
The blows continued to be traded and blocked and knocked away. No one had a clear upper hand, and the combat quickly became so confusing that it was a wonder the combatants could stand up; much less keep up.
Slowly, but surely breathing became heavy. Blows became sloppy. Robin squinted and drew in his oxygen much too quickly as he caught a painful kick to the stomach. He was back in the swing of things too fast to be stopped though. And his opponent was knocked hard in the ribs by Robin's bo staff, but it merely winded him for a few second before he recovered and blocked Robin's next blow with the flawless effort that was to be expected with a reputation like his.
Still, nothing can last forever – especially when it's hardcore sparring.
Robin saw his chance – there was only one – and he took it. As Wayne messed up with a sloppy swing to the boy wonder's head, Robin ducked and counted with a dead-on kick to his former mentor's stomach. Just as planned the older of the two was sent backwards onto the ground. Robin pounced, a final blow ready and on its way.
But it never made it. Much to everyone's surprise the Dark Knight rolled to his side as the blast from the bo staff smashed the exact spot he'd been in less than a second before. Robin cursed in his mind, since he knew the fight had ended as it happened. He's seen the movement and been unable to stop it; and thus he'd failed. Bruce's rolled ended and he pushed up, angled the kick into Robin's ribs and sent the boy wonder sprawling to the ground. Of course a second kick, this one a painful drop kick from a strong right leg, followed and connected with Robin's chest.
The boy wonder was beaten.
Silence fell over the room, broken only by the heavy breathing of a crowd that had held its collective breathes, and the even deeper gasps of the two who'd done the actual work. Then, at length, Batman extended his bare hand down to his fallen heir.
"It's been too long." He said much as a father would greet his son had they been normal; or anything close to it.
"It sure had." Robin responded happily, though there was no mistaking his bitterness in losing.
Batman had not held back then, nor had he ever when training the boy. However, this time the object was not sparring, it was a true fight, and if Robin lost now, he would die. He would never see his friends, or his wife, again. It would all be over, and the Brain would have achieved at least one victory. There was no Kryptonite for Batman; no way to defeat him easily. Robin took a deep breath, and charged forward.
He yelled loudly and aimed a kick at Batman's head; but the Dark Knight avoided it, twisted around and landed a karate chop onto the back of Robin's neck. Robin hit the ground, turned over just as Batman stopped the place he had laid a moment ago, and hit Bruce with the bo-staff in his chest.
Batman stumbled backwards for a moment, then he arched a kicked and connected with Robin's wrist; the boy-wonder's bo-staff went flying into the grass and Robin had to duck to avoid the kick, which was gunning for his chin.
Robin backflipped and threw two razor-sharp bird-a-rangs; but Batman had done the same, only throwing bat-a-rangs. Instead of two bat-a-rangs, he had thrown three; two of them collided with Robin's bird-a-rangs, the third went for Robin's throat. Robin avoided it.
Robin had to think fast. He was at a disadvantage. Batman was a better fight, and he wanted Robin dead – Robin did not want to harm him, which gave the favor to Batman. Robin grabbed his bird-a-rangs, crashed two together, and formed the bird-a-rang sword he had used when fighting Melchior. Robin ran forward with the sword; but Batman was faster. He kicked Robin's hand, and then his chest.
Robin dropped the sword and hit the ground. Batman picked the sword up and came walking towards him – exactly as Robin had hoped. He pressed a button on his yellow utility belt and electricity passed through the sword and through Batman. The Dark Knight screamed and fell to his knees; the electrical shock was powerful.
And then Batman spoke.
"What happened?" He looked up and saw Robin. "Robin? What? Why are you here? Where are we?"
Robin blinked. Had the mind control been broken by the powerful electrical current? Robin walked over, but as he did Batman leapt up, tackled Robin, and got his hands around his throat.
"Ignorant boy, I speak in his voice for I control him." Batman said; but Robin knew the one talking was really The Brain.
"You won't get away with this." Robin grunted.
"If you refer to your friends, they are on their way into a trap! Soon they will die, but first, you shall!" The Brain hissed in Batman's voice.
Robin felt himself unable to breathe or speak, and he could feel his world going black. He had to do something, he had to find some way to break free and save his life. With his last bit of strength, he reached towards his belt and grabbed a small, cylinder-shaped contained with a tiny needle on the end and liquid in the middle.
He stabbed Batman in the stomach with it, and in a few seconds, Batman passed out. It was quick-working knock-out formula, and it would last several hours. Robin put Batman back in his car, closed the door, and then sighed.
He'd have to hurry to the Brain's base, to warn the others about the trap. So he ran off, on foot, towards the Brain's hideout.
----
As the van slowed to a stop outside of a gigantic building, the Titans were making their final preparations. The Brain was inside that building, and they had to stop him. It was not an option; they had to defeat him and destroy the mind control machine, or Earth was doomed.
As everyone was getting ready, Cyborg took Bumblebee aside.
"Hey? What is it you wanted to talk to me earlier about?" He asked, concern in his voice.
"Nothing Sparky."
"No, I'm serious Bee, tell me." He begged her, having one hand on each of her shoulders.
"Cy . . . if you must know, I . . ."
"Bee. I love you." Cyborg suddenly blurted out; and she stopped and blinked twice.
"Excuse me?" She was shocked.
"Bee, truth is I chose you a long time ago, I just couldn't say so because I was afraid if I did, Jinx would go bad and go help the Brain." Cyborg informed her, which shocked Bumblebee.
"For real, Sparks? Then why are you telling me now?" Bumblebee asked, skeptic.
"Cause it looks like Jinx and Kid Flash have something goin' on. So I don't have to worry about her goin' evil again, and now I'm free to be with you." Cyborg smiled.
"How do I know you're not just saying all this cause Jinx is with him now?" The still-skeptical Bumblebee asked him once more.
"You don't, but I'd hope you'd trust me." Cyborg replied.
". . . I guess, Sparky."
Just as the two were about to kiss, Aqualad's voice stopped them.
"Sorry, no time for that, we have to find a way to break into the Brain's base." He informed them both.
"Aww, no fair! Nobody ever stopped Robin and Starfire, or BB and Raven!"
"Well we don't do it right before big climatic fights." Raven said sarcastically. "Now let's take care of this."
The Titans looked up at the monolithic building and then approached the front door.
----
As Robin hurried towards his friends, he soon heard the sound of movement behind him. As he turned, he saw a car heading in his direction. Robin grabbed his bird-a-rang, just in case, and waited. The car pulled up and driving was a man with white hair and a matching beard and mustache. The man wore a white suit with an orange shirt beneath. He looked at Robin and spoke.
"Do you need a lift to wherever you are going?" He asked.
Robin could not place it, but he felt like he knew this man. Still, regardless of this feeling he did need a ride; although one thing bothered him.
"You're . . . not under the Brain's control? How is that possible?" Robin asked, suspicious.
"My mind is to advanced to control. Government modification. I used to be a special agent for the U.S. army, they improved my mind with their drugs; I'm too advanced for the Brain to control. You want a lift, or not?"
Robin decided he would accept the man's generosity. He needed to find Starfire and the others, so he opened the door of the back seat, since the driver's side was facing him, and he climbed in. The man sped off down the road, and continued to make talk with Robin.
"You're one of the Teen Titans." The man said.
"Yes." Robin didn't bother asking how he knew that, since he was on television quite a bit, as were all the Titans.
"Where are your friends?" The man asked.
"Up ahead, at the Brain's base." Robin said, and then he hesitated, and then said something else. "Listen, I appreciate the ride, but let the Titans handle the brain. Even if you were in the army, you'll be out of your league with super villains."
"Oh I doubt that very much, Robin." The man said. "Why don't you look in the compartment on the back of my seat?"
Robin was suspicious by this request, but he obeyed. He opened the compartment on the back of the driver's seat and reached his hand inside. He felt something hard and lifted it out; and then he gasped.
It was a mask, half black, half brown with only one hole for an eye.
The man's voice changed, it was now a voice Robin knew very well.
"You see, Robin, we're not going to save your friends. We're going to have a little chat." Slade Wilson, the driver, smirked. He reached up to one of his eyes and took it out – glass – and then he began to laugh. Robin started to react, but a fine mist sprayed out of the mask and into Robin's eyes, and then Robin passed out a second later.
"All too easy." Slade smirked. He continued driving, but turned away from the Brain's base. Instead he began driving towards Jump City, and towards Titan's Tower, where the final act in his plan would take place.
---- ---- ---- ---- ----
The final chapter will NOT be done on the 14th, as I originally planned. Chapters 1 – 49 will be online by Valentine's Day. However, chapter 50; the Grand Finale, I want to spend a long time working on so it's fantastic – so that won't be done for a while. But I promise it will be worth it. :D It'll be the longest chapter EVER.
Next Update: Valentine's Day