A/N: I kept having this one person review me so much that I couldn't help but hurry along with this fic. That, and the fact that I don't know what else to do for my other fic, Switched Lives. So thank that one overly hyper anonymous reviewer for the quick update. Sorry if it's a bit short. I'm just near the ending and need to space my chapters out. Please R&R! Thanks!

Disclaimer: Naughty Dog and Cartoon Network owns the characters. I don't!

Chapter 12 The Trade

The night was dry and humid. Robin let out a deep, lonely sigh while walking out of the Underground hideout. The air here wasn't fresh or even healthy to breathe in for that matter, but it was something about being outdoors that made the teen have a sense of freedom. Too bad freedom was something he was soon to have little of.

"Slade?" Robin called out into the night air. He had followed the man out here, but there was no sign of him. Robin frowned deeply while slowly venturing around the dark, dead end alley. There was a strange, foreboding feel about his situation. He didn't like it and quickly went back to the door to the hideout.

It was those few seconds he had his back turned when the Krimson Guards put Slade's simple plan to action. Before the door to the hideout could open, Robin felt something press against his shoulder blades behind him. He heard the shuffling of feet surrounded him and knew he was outnumbered.

"I advise you not to make any drastic moves, Robin," Slade's tranquil yet evil voice came to Robin's ears. The boy swore under his breath while waiting for his captors to make the first move. They slowly turned the boy around with the gun firmly pressed against his back.

"You monster!" Robin suddenly yelled with a burst of pure hatred. He lunged for Slade, but two quick Krimson Guards grabbed his arms and shoulders to hold him back. Robin's face managed to get two inches away from Slade's before he was forced backwards.

"You screwed up everything!" Robin yelled again with burning passion in his voice. He swung his foot out in a feeble attempt to hurt the man. Slade deftly caught the foot, and while pulling the boy toward him, punched the kid in the stomach with great force.

Robin was let go for a second as he dropped to his knees with both arms wrapped around his stomach. A surprised and painful look was on his face as he tried to regain some air. But that move made the teen get shocked into his place in reality. And the place wasn't a good one.

"Finished?" Slade asked the boy sharply with his hands folded over his chest. That cold eye glared harshly down at the captured superhero with fake anger to hide up the small hint of guilt his heart was feeling. He hadn't felt that emotion in years, and he didn't know what to do with it but to hide it from the teen somehow.

Robin nodded his head silently once he was finished with his violent temper. He gathered what was left of his bearings and tried to get past that first stage of anger. He was pulled to his feet and had his hands handcuffed in front of him before they left the dead end. Slade led the way through the city with an air of confidence flowing from him. He knew the streets as well as any Elf.

Even thought it was around three or four in the morning, Elves were already out in the big city. They all stared silently while seeing the Human being escorted by the Krimson Guards. They could clearly see the loathing glare the smaller Human was giving the other one in the front. Some were just amazed to see the prophesized Human they had heard so much about lately.

"So when was this little ambush arranged, Slade?" Robin asked once he decided to talk. Slade could hear the venom in the kid's voice and fought the urge to wince for some reason. He finally decided not to speak to Robin and ignored the boy completely, which only made him madder than a hornet.

"You can't even talk to me!" Robin said with his voice rising. "That's pretty pathetic! You're such scum that you enjoy making me look like a fool by yelling while you ignore me. I should have expected this from you, Slade. But of course you planned on being a good guy for a day to win something of my trust only so you could make me look like an idiot now. Well, congratulations, Slade. You outdid yourself today."

Slade rolled his eye while keeping silent. The boy needed to get his anger out somehow, and maybe just talking was a good way to do it. His method was better than putting up a fight. Right now Slade was not in the mood for the boy to try to make some stupid attempt at freedom by punching a Krimson Guard's lights out. Slade was thankful for that.

The group entered the Palace and quickly made their way to the throne room. The Baron was sitting proudly on his seat with Erol standing straight and tall at his side with a smirk on his lips. Other Krimson Guards were there with Raven. She was in a weaker state now and couldn't use any of her powers even if she wanted to. The Goth girl didn't bother struggling.

When Robin walked into the room, the two made eye contact quickly. Raven spotted Slade and her face lost all its color as she put the puzzle pieces together in her head. Robin felt like he had somehow let the girl down and couldn't bring himself to look her in the eye again. Instead, he looked to the floor while chewing on his bottom lip. There had to be a way out of this one. The teen started right away forming some kind of a plan of escape. He would do anything in his power to keep Raven out of Slade's hands.

"Here is your last Titan, Praxis," Slade said emotionlessly to the Baron as the group stopped in front of the few stairs leading up to the throne. The man grabbed Robin's shoulder and yanked him to his side to show off his new prize for the whole room to see. "A deal is a deal," he added while squeezing the boy's shoulder.

"Of course," Baron Praxis said with a nod. Erol smiled wickedly while taking Raven's arm and moving her toward Slade. Slade tightened his grip on Robin's shoulder when seeing him lean forward to try and somehow help his friend. Robin gave Slade a painful look that set off that twinge of guilt again. Slade cursed the emotion as he watched Raven struggle.

"No!" she screamed with wide eyes of fright. "I can't go with him! You can't make me!" Small tears escaped her violet eyes as she was slowly pulled toward Slade. "This is why I didn't want to go back to Earth!" Robin could barely take it. Seeing the most strongest person on his team break down like this was torture for him. And seeing Erol smile the whole time just made the teen disgusted with the Elf.

"The way she's acting makes me think that maybe you got the easy way out," Erol said into Robin's face with that annoying smirk playing at his lips again. "Just tells me how great a leader you are," the Elf added. That did it.

Robin brought his bound hands back and slugged the Elf right in the face with a loud battle yell. Droplets of blood flew into the air as Robin's tight fist collided with Erol's nose. The man flew backwards and onto his butt. Everyone, including Slade, stared at both of them in complete silence. Then chaos erupted as Erol jumped back up and lunged at the Human with a growl of anger.

Slade had to let go of Robin so the kid could protect himself somehow. Besides, the boy wasn't his anymore. He smiled a little under his mask when seeing Erol get his butt kicked by a teen half his size and handcuffed. "Good distraction, Robin," he called out to the Titan leader. Robin looked up with surprise and realized that Slade was not running after Raven, who was fleeing the scene rather quickly, for some odd reason.

"Enough!" Baron Praxis yelled once he saw Raven stop at the door of the room because it was locked tight. Krimson Guards seized Robin from behind and forced him off Erol. The boy yelled incoherently at the Elf as Erol returned it in the same manner. Erol got so angry that he pulled out his pistol and aimed it at Robin. The Baron rolled his eyes with a sigh before shouting to him, "Put it down, Erol!" Erol hesitated before putting it back away. His glare never vanished from his face, though.

"Get the girl," the Baron ordered a few Krimson Guards while nodding toward Raven. The Baron smiled evilly as he added, "Get the man as well." Slade was quickly surrounded by Krimson Guards with guns pointing at him. Slade glared daggers at the Elf when realizing his betrayal.

"You see, Slade," Baron Praxis said with a sly smile. The room was quiet, and all three Humans were not enjoying one bit of it anymore on this planet. "I've heard the legend millions of times in my life time. It always said five short eared people would help end a war. We decided that you have to be one of those five and the green one doesn't really count. That is why we can't let you leave. You have to die like all the others."

Slade smiled under his mask at the ironic statement. Slade's body was already dead. The only reason he was on this planet was to get his real one back. Even though his dead body sometimes dragged him down, the man's mind was still very with it. Humans and Elves were just too predictable.

Robin glanced over to Slade with a quick, evil smile on his lips that only the man could catch. He would have glared back to get the last word on the boy, but then he realized that he really had deserved it entirely. He had done the very same kind of betrayal to the boy just a few minutes ago.

But Robin's second smile didn't last too long. It was only there to somehow get back at Slade. The boy knew the situation he was now in. His plan was complete in his head. The time to act was now. The teen was grateful for one thing Slade had taught him lately. It was simple to point and shoot a gun.

With a flick of his wrist, Robin pulled out one last bird-a-rang from his belt and threw it at the Baron without a sound. The kid made both Krimson Guards holding onto his arms crash to the floor by kicking their knees. Before Erol could shoot at the Human, Robin kneed the Elf in the stomach and grabbed his pistol from his hands.

Robin ignored the battle going around him between Krimson Guards and Slade. He aimed at one of the Guards holding onto Raven near the doorway. He hesitated for a second before pulling the trigger and firing.

Raven gave a short scream of surprise as the guard to her left spilled over dead. The other Krimson Guard on her right aimed his gun at her because he thought she had killed his buddy. Before he could shoot, he dropped to the floor with a bullet in his head.

"You okay?" Robin asked her while running up the Goth girl.

Raven spotted the gun in her friend's hands and asked, "Are you?"

Robin gave her a wry smile while saying, "Nothing gets past you, Rae. I'm fine, just sick of this crappy world and all too ready to get back to my own." His smile faded while noticing some Krimson Guards finally spotting them by the locked door. "We need to get out of here," he said. Raven nodded while watching him shoot the lock to the door off and then kick it forcefully open.

The two started to run down the palace's hallways, flying by antiques, paintings, and tapestry. It didn't take too long, though, for Raven to get tiered from going Robin's quick pace.

"I need to rest," she gasped while slowing down to a stop. Robin tried not to cringe. He knew that the Krimson Guards would catch up sooner than later. They couldn't afford to slow down. But Robin was willing to go to the ends of the earth for Raven. He knew she would do the same for him. So the boy stopped beside her with his pistol aimed the direction they had been running from.

"That thing can't protect you for long, Robin," Slade said as he suddenly appeared from behind them. Raven gasped in fright and surprise. Robin's eyes went wide while twisting his body around.

"Don't move," the teen said darkly to the man he was now pointing the gun at. His masked eyes were in dangerous slits that looked upon Slade with pure hatred.

"I'm only here for the girl," Slade said calmly with his hands placed behind him.

"We are both not interested," Robin spat out.

"I know you mean well, my dear boy, but I'm her protector," Slade said. "I only want to return her safely to Earth."

"I can do that myself," Robin said.

"I have no doubts that you can't do that," Slade said. "But how long would that take without my help?"

The question hung in the air for a few seconds. Raven stayed silent as she watched both of them. She wondered how many times Slade and Robin had seen each other on this planet. From their conversation, it seemed like Robin would have a lot of to explain to her afterwards.

Finally Robin slowly lowered his pistol while saying, "I guess a deal's a deal, even if it was a crappy one on my part." He took a deep breath before looking over to Raven and saying quietly to her, "You need to go with Slade."

"What are you talking about?" Raven asked wit her eyes going wide with fear.

"He knows how to get back to Earth," Robin explained. Pain was on his face while saying this. He didn't like telling her that she go be with the enemy. "If you stay here any longer you will die. Your powers are already gone and so is your strength. If you go with Slade he will tell me how to get to Earth as well and I can easily go rescue the others. He will protect you…better than I can right now. I don't know what else to do right now. I…I'm sorry, Raven. Please just trust me."

"You might want to make up your mind quickly, girl," Slade said to her. "I have a lot to explain to Robin before we part."

Raven glared at him before turning her eyes back to Robin. "I don't want to go with him," she whispered. She then hugged the Boy Wonder while saying, "But I'm going to because it seems like the only way right now. And I'm sorry, Robin, for not being on your side a few days ago at the Stadium. You understand why, right?"

"Yeah," Robin answered with a sweet smile. He then turned to Slade and said threateningly, "If you harm her in any way I'll…"

Slade cut the boy off by putting up his hand. He gripped Robin's shoulder so much like Batman did when he was proud of him after a fight, which kind of surprised the teen. He never knew the man could be like this, and he was caught off guard for a second. Slade pulled something out of his belt and handed it to the boy. "These are written instructions to the place where the portal to earth is. Metal Heads are there, so bring some kind of protection with you."

Robin held up the security pass with confusion. "That's the pass to open you're friends' cells in the Prison," Slade explained. "Pit pocketing Erol in a fight is quite easy." Robin couldn't stop himself from smiling slightly from the thought. "And look up protector in the dictionary some time soon," he added under his breath.

Robin frowned as a thought hit him. He looked up into Slade's eye and asked, "You had this all planned out since the day you made me make that deal with you back in the Pumping Station, didn't you?"

"Actually it was before that," Slade said with a simple shrug. "But it all worked out."

"So you knew the Baron would turn on you in there," Robin said with wonder in his voice. He was amazed how Slade could plan so far ahead. Sometimes it just baffled the teen. Then something else hit him that made him angry again. "You also planned on making me think you betrayed me! You could have just told me to save all the freaking trouble!"

"You could have told your team you were Red X," Slade said calmly. "Just like you didn't want them to hold back when fighting you, I didn't want you being too submissive. We are more alike than you want to believe, Robin." The boy didn't say anything as he thought over the man's words with an expressionless face. "I'm not expecting a thanks from you, so I'll just be on my way," Slade finally said while walking away. Robin nodded to Raven before she started to walk after the man.

Slade suddenly stopped and turned around. "You might need this," he said while throwing something to the boy. Robin caught it with both hands and saw that it was some advanced gun that looked hand made. "Tess made it for you," Slade explained. "She wishes you luck, but you'll need more than just that." He noticed that Robin wasn't moving from his spot and had a worried expression on his face.

"And the girl will be safe," Slade finally added. "I promise both you and Trigon that. And remember that I always try to keep the promises I make, even with a good doer young man, like you, and also inter dimensional demons, like the one I work for." The man then had enough of being a good person and turned and left with Raven following hesitantly behind him.

Robin smiled faintly at his adversary's actions. Somewhere deep down in Slade, he had something like a heart. It just took a lot of time and many hardships to actually get a glimpse of it. Right now, Robin was enjoying just that.

A/N: There you go people, Slade actually being nice for once. I really should have put this one up for Dlsky's Slade being nice challenge, but hey, this one wasn't all too serious for me to write and it was also a crossover. But only two or three chapters left for me to write. I'm going really miss this fic once it's done. I'll try to update soon! Please review!