A/N: Great thanks to my one reviewer…come on people, is it really all that hard? Anyway…anyone worried about me slandering other (real) people and their respective religions can relax, I don't really plan on doing that anytime soon. Again, I had other things keeping me from getting this out more quickly; a friend of mine was in from Europe for the week so I didn't get anything done, I'm trying to do it as quickly as my own standard will allow.
Disclaimer: Please keep your tray-tables in the upright and locked positions and keep your seatbelt fastened at all times when seated. There are two exits in the front of the plane, two in the middle, and two located in the rear of the aircraft. The cabin of this aircraft is pressurized; in the event of depressurization masks will drop down from the ceiling, place the cup over your nose and mouth and secure the strap in the back, put on your own mask before helping others. In the event of an emergency landing in water, your seat cushion may be used as a flotation device. Furthermore, on this flight, I do not own Teen Titans.
Desperation
is sometimes as powerful an inspirer as genius.
Benjamin
Disraeli
"Yo, where's Robin and BB?" Cyborg yelled to Raven and Starfire, who were hovering some 20 feet above the ruins of the water tower.
"We cannot see them from up here, the steam has obscured the streets."
Cyborg could only just make out the forms of his teammates through the mist, the purple of Starfire's clothes and her vibrant red hair, muted by the haze. He switched his cybernetic eye from the visible light spectrum to an infrared band and turned in the direction he thought Beast Boy and Robin had gone.
Far off down the road, he couldn't miss the massive light-show put on by dozens of people, all moving around erratically, still more on the ground, breathing, but not doing much else.
And there were two distinct signs, a little ways off from the teeming mass, it was too far away to tell, but Cyborg knew it was Robin, and someone else, fighting it out.
"I see 'em!" Cyborg called up to Raven and Starfire "there about 400 feet ahead of us" Cyborg gestured in their direction to his teammates, who came in closer to make out where he was pointing "and their waist deep in bad guys!"
Cyborg, Raven, and Starfire all rushed off into the steam towards their friends.
A massive green tail smashed into Adonis, sending scales, circuits and metal flying. The armor-clad man flew with the inertia into a brick wall, sending it crashing down onto his already dilapidated form.
The T-Rex Beast Boy tore a swath through a group of nameless criminals of every kind, knocking them every which way and putting them out of commission, it seemed to him as though the only ones who had escaped were rather pathetic.
"Ha! Take this!" Control Freak challenged using his remote to summon a large dinosaur that looked a lot like Beast Boy. "Not even you can stand up to the mighty Allosaurus!"
Beast Boy had turned to face Control Freak's creation, he bared his teeth at it as it let out a terrifying roar and squared its stance towards him. Beast Boy and the creature charged each other but his foe was faster, taking a massive bite at his exposed neck; only to have Beast Boy charge right through it.
"How did you get past the Allosaurus from Cretaceous Land?" The disheartened Control Freak asked Beast Boy as he reverted back to himself in front of the defeated 'villain'.
"Dude…" Beast Boy said exasperatedly, with the other beast still snapping away at him "it's just a hologram…" he swiped his arm through the dinosaur's head as he finished, causing it to disintegrate away.
Pathetic didn't even begin to cover it.
A gloved fist found its mark and landed squarely in the solar plexus of the target, but the body that was struck didn't move, it didn't even recoil from the blow, on of the body's hands merely knocked the other away.
A massive steel and leather boot on and equally formidable leg came crashing down at near inhuman speed; the gloved forearms brought up together to block it gave way with little resistance and the crushingly powerful kick smashed into Robin's shoulder.
A sickening 'pop' could be heard, as his shoulder was dislocated easily and he collided with the pavement.
Robin only just barely managed to scramble out of the way as Slade's powerful fist dug a small crater in the street where his head had been a moment before. The Boy Wonder quickly got to his feet and faced down Slade for the second time in as many minuets.
Though the fight had only been going on for a few short minuets, Robin showed signs of fatigue his breathing was ragged, he was breathing fire and wasn't cooling down.
He sported more than a few injuries, in addition to his left arm, hanging limp beside him; Scrapes and bruises under his costume, covering exposed skin and seen around its edges, tears in the fabric, revealing large gashes slowly dripping blood.
Slade, on the other had, seemed as cool and confident as ever; he still held that same swagger and sense of superiority, it looked as though he hadn't even broken a sweat.
He could see a massive black eye creeping out from the edges of Robin's mask, from a punch he took a few seconds into the fight, when he was still a little too cocky for Slade's taste.
"Come now Robin…is that the best you can do?" Slade mockingly asked.
"I'm going to put you in prison where you belong." Robin growled through gritted teeth, his icy glare seemingly having no effect on the villain.
"Bold words for a boy. Especially bold for a little bird with only one wing." Slade continued in his severely condescending tone.
Robin looked from Slade to his left arm then back at his archenemy. He took a half step over towards a lamppost on the sidewalk; he grabbed hold of his bicep, and, never losing his glare at Slade, popped his shoulder back into place. He bit down hard, and only a small hiss of pain could be heard as he sucked air in through his teeth.
"Not bad, Robin, not bad at all." Slade still mocked him "Are you ready for more then?"
Robin reached into his belt producing another collapsible bo staff and took a fighting stance. An escaped convict attempted to jump onto him from behind but Robin simply sidestepped his attack and hit him in the back of the head with his staff, knocking the man to the ground, unconscious.
"It's a little too crowded here, Robin. Don't you think?" But before Robin could respond Slade ran into a nearby alleyway, and Robin wasted no time in pursuing his foe. As he rounded the corner a black, metal staff swung at his head and he brought his own up to block it.
Robin launched into a furious attack against Slade, he pulled no punches, or kicks for that matter as he battled with Slade down the length of the brick alleyway, driving the villain back a step with each attack. His and Slade's staffs collided again and again, the sound of metal on metal reverberating up and down the windowless walls.
Robin was giving his attacks all the strength and ferocity he could muster and it appeared to be working as he drove Slade towards the opposite opening of the alley. Slade cleared the opening on the right side of the alley as the building ended; he clashed with Robin, their staffs meeting in the middle.
They stared each other down across the metal bars, Slade looming over Robin but seeming matched in strength, Robin began to push Slade back even further and it seemed as though he was winning until Slade spun to Robin's right and swung his staff low with one hand and knocked Robin's right leg out from under him.
Robin brought his staff up above him in expectation of an attack but none came, he stared up at the overcast gray sky for a second then lifted his head to see where Slade had gone.
The villain was nowhere around him so he quickly sprung to his feet. Robin could smell the salt, heavy on the air and could hear the seagulls overhead. They were at the docks. For a fleeting second, Robin thought he saw Slade's distinctive mask against the rusty steel background of a nearby warehouse, Robin took off, running parallel to the large shipping containers and crates lined up in massive rows, looking down each one for any sign of Slade.
He reached a door on the side the warehouse and cracked it open, looking inside for his enemy. It was nearly pitch-black inside but he could make out the silhouettes of old containers and the steel catwalks lining the ceiling.
Robin opened the door all the way, slowly and stepped inside, the light pouring in from outside made little dent in the darkness permeating the vast, open warehouse. He reached into his utility belt and pulled out a few small plastic tubes, he took the bundle in each hand and cracked them in the middle, causing the chemical reaction in the glow sticks to flare up and shine far brighter than normal ones.
He tossed them as far as he could into the middle of the dark chasm, scattering them slightly and giving the room a small amount more of ambient light; small green islands in a see of darkness.
"Come out Slade, I know you're in here…or are you too scared?" Robin mocked Slade, trying to drive him out of hiding.
The light of the far most glow stick created an outline of a figure as it stepped up into view. Slade took a fighting stance, his staff in hand; he held out his hand and motioned for Robin to come at him.
Robin laughed somewhat, inwardly at the tired old cliché and took his own stance. Not being one to disappoint, Robin charged Slade, twirling his staff over his head, he jumped into the air and brought it down in a strike at Slade, who had brought up own staff up to block it.
Where as the Boy Wonder had been holding his own, even winning, down the alley, it looked as if Slade had only been toying with him and Robin's attacks were now blocked before they could even land, and even those that did find their mark seemed to have little to no effect.
After a few minuets of Robin attacking him intensely Slade went on the offensive; he grabbed Robin's wrist as he struck out with a punch but before the surprised teen could rend his arm out of the villain's grasp Slade twisted his arm around and kicked him squarely in the back.
Robin felt a sharp, intense pain as Slade's steel-soled boot connected with the middle of his spine, his staff left his grasp and clattered to the concrete floor somewhere across the warehouse, lost in the darkness. His feet left the ground as he flew forward and tumbled to the ground, coming to a rest up against a set of stairs.
He got to his feet as quickly as he could manage but Slade was already on him. Robin barely evaded Slade's fist, which crashed into one of the metal steps, putting a large dent in it. Robin quickly scrambled up the steeps backwards, avoiding every attack from Slade that he could as the masked man methodically advanced on him.
Robin reached into his belt and pulled out a disk, he hurled it at Slade as the villain was mid swing. The disk exploded on Slade's forearm, encasing it in several inches of ice. Robin thought he had scored a small victory, but that thought was quickly erased from his mind, as Slade looked at his forearm, undaunted, he brought it down like a sledgehammer against Robin's chest.
'Great' he thought 'I made Slade even more deadly.' Robin evaded a second devastating strike aimed this time at his head, and then a third as Slade brought his fist straight down, right between Robin's legs. Robin breathed an inward sigh of relief, seeing where Slade's fist was and where he had just been, and thanking god for his quick reflexes.
Slade swung his arm at Robin's head once again, but Robin leaned back and the ice was mercifully shattered against one of the bolts in the wall. Slade didn't even pause for a second as he continued to attack the Boy Wonder.
Robin was beginning to crack under the pressure of Slade's withering attacks; his foe raised his arms above his head and brought down his own staff, trying to drive it through Robin. He caught Slade's staff just a few inches above his neck; he strained against Slade with all his strength, but the staff was closing in on the Boy Wonder a few millimeters at a time.
With one huge burst of strength Robin threw everything he had into it, forcing the staff back and using his momentum to get up off the stairs, he pushed even harder on the staff. The already off-balance Slade started to fall backwards before he used his own momentum to flip backwards and land a few steeps down from where he had been.
Slade's maneuvering had given Robin just enough time to take the last few steeps two at a time and pull out another bo-staff. He wasted no time in running down the catwalk, but he stopped halfway across and turned to face Slade, who was at the other end.
The light from Robin's glow sticks, so far below them, had little effect on the conditions; their only source of light was coming from a single small hole in the degraded tin roof.
Robin squared off his fighting stance, his staff held out in front of him in a ready position. Slade was staring him down from the other end of the catwalk, his own staff in hand. Slade silently began to walk forward; he made almost no sound on the steel grate beneath him, the product of many years of training and expertise. His walk quickened, and as he neared Robin he picked up the pace even more, breaking into a full sprint.
As Slade neared, Robin began running towards him and the two fighters clashed at great speed. Their staffs flew furiously around one another, each clash sending a loud clang of metal throughout the empty building.
After less than a minuet of combat, Robin zigged when he should have zagged and Slade got his staff under the middle of Robin's, wrenching it from his hands and sending it colliding with the hole in the roof and going straight on through, making the whole above Robin's head considerably bigger.
Robin was staring down Slade, weaponless, and alone.
"Tsk, tsk, Robin, I thought you could do much better than that." Slade said in his normally condescending tone.
"Who says I'm done yet…" Robin said defiantly.
'Shit, this isn't good,' Slade was about to attack, Robin could sense it. He tensed up his muscles 'only got one shot at this, I gotta make it work.'
Slade lurched forward to attack Robin, but the Boy Wonder was actually faster than him for once. He kicked of either guardrail on the catwalk, launching himself at Slade. However, instead of attacking him, Robin used Slade's shoulder to propel himself up towards the ceiling, he tucked in his arms and just barely cleared the edges of the small whole and landing of the roof.
'He sense my attack…' Slade thought 'he has learned more from our encounters than I thought.'
Robin took a few steps back from the whole, knowing what was next. Not but a second later, Slade burst forward into the sunlight, widening the hole even more and sending bits of tin every which way.
This time Robin took the initiative; he wasted no time in unleashing his attacks against his opponent. He slowly drove Slade back towards the edge of the roof, dodging Slade's kicks and the swings of his staff. He landed blow after blow on the masked villain and they finally seemed to be having some sort of effect.
Slade lunged out with his Staff in one hand, attempting to impale Robin, only to have his weapon stripped away by the Boy Wonder, who had found his second wind. Robin had forced Slade to the very edge of the warehouse's roof; Slade casually glanced behind him, to see that the bay expanded far out from where they were.
Robin could see his home just behind Slade's left shoulder, there was only the bay behind Slade, he had nowhere to go.
"Give it up Slade, I've got you."
"Perhaps you presume too much, little bird. But, It does appear that way doesn't it?" Slade said calmly, as if he was in situations like this every day. "But, before you…take me in…doesn't it seem excessive to have armed guards for offloading crates marked "Xerox Paper"? Slade offered casually, nodding his head in the direction.
"What?" Robin asked, somewhat taken aback. He looked over to where Slade had nodded, and sure enough, a few men with MP5 submachine guns were standing around a small transport ship, while others unloaded crates clearly maker "Xerox Paper".
"Ok, I'll look into it in a minuet, but first your" Robin turned his head back to where Slade was, only to find his staff pointed at nothing but sky "going…down—town…damnit." He looked over the edge, but only saw the deep blue water washing up against the concrete seawall. Slade was nowhere to be seen.
Robin turned back towards the men unloading the crates 'He did have a point…' he thought 'that is a little…off.'
Robin grappled onto a nearby stack of shipping containers and swung to the gravel below, skidding to a stop only a few dozen yards away from one of the guards and quickly concealing himself behind one of the massive containers.
Robin looked cautiously around the corner, the man was facing away from him, he stopped his patrol for a moment, reaching to his belt and taking up a walkie-talkie, he said something into it in a language Robin couldn't recognize.
He silently crept up behind the man and knocked him out with his newly acquired staff. The man fell to the ground, unconscious, and Robin moved past him, closing in on the boat. He came to the side of the truck where they were loading the crates, there was only one man standing in front of the back.
Robin quickly rendered him unconscious too and he dragged his comatose form into the truck and out of site. He turned towards one of the crates and used his staff to pop the lid of the crate off.
"Surprise, surprise…" Robin said to himself as he looked at the contents of the crate: six rockets, about 5 foot long each, laid out side to side on top of the crate. "Great, this is just great."
A man yelled something in the language Robin couldn't recognize and he whirled around to find that the two men who had been offloading the crates were standing at the end of the ramp up the back of the truck. The men and Robin looked at each other for a few seconds, then Robin rushed forward, the one of the men dropped his end of the crate, causing it to crash onto his partner's feet. The man reached for a gun in his belt, only to have a birdarang fly at him, pinning his shirtsleeve to the crate.
He reached up to pull it out, but before he could close his hand around it, Robin punched him in the face, and the man fell to his knees, the birdarang still holding up his arm. Robin thought about pulling the man out from under the crate, he was screaming in pain from the way it had landed on and pinned his feet, but before he could act on it the place erupted in gun fire.
The bullets just missed him and struck the trapped man several times in the chest, killing him instantly and spraying Robin with a fair amount of his blood; one of the sentries had head the commotion and opened fire.
Robin dove towards the ship, taking cover behind another set of containers, blood dripped down his face but he didn't have anytime to wipe it off 'Shit, these guys show no mercy, they just offed their own man.'
Robin looked back around the corner; the only other guard had joined the second one, but jerked his head back quickly when the men began shooting at him again. Robin reached into his belt and pulled out a few small black balls, he threw them, hard, against the ground just past the edge of the containers; they exploded in large puffs of gray dust, creating a smoke screen.
The guards began to shoot into the smoke Robin had created, trying to get the Boy Wonder before he could advance on them. They had underestimated him, however, which they realized too late as Robin appeared next to the one closest to the ship, grabbing his gun and clod-cocking him, the second man reared his gun at Robin, only to find the magazine empty, with only a light 'click' emitting from it.
"My turn…" Robin said menacingly, following it up by kicking the man in the chest, sending him flying into the adjacent containers.
The sirens were off but the flashing lights remained, the FBI and Jump City police inspected the area, checking all the crates, and the coroner examined the suspect shot by his own man. The rest of the terrorists were sitting in squad cars, waiting to be questioned back at the station.
The other Titans had gathered around Robin, having arrived only a few minuets before the police because Robin had called 9-1-1 just after contacting them. He explained what happened quickly, wanting to get back to the tower and put all everything that had happened together.
"…And Slade was gone, then I came down here, took these guys out, and called you guys." Robin left out the part about Slade pointing out the terrorists.
"Well thank god you found this stuff, man." Cyborg said after a few seconds of silence.
"But Slade got away, again…I finally had him."
"These would have done a lot of damage, Robin." Raven added.
"Look at it this way, Robin: it could have been worse." Beast Boy interjected, trying to lighten the mood.
Not more than a second after he said it, as if on cue, half a dozen news media vans pulled up to them and reporter after reporter filed out, all with a camera and a live feed.
"Great…" Robin muttered.
"How did you know that the men were terrorists?" A voice from behind the camera asked, "Now that the escaped villains are contained, what do you plan to do?" another added "You foiled a terrorist plot, do you think that will make you an even bigger hero?" the questions kept on coming, despite Robin's movement and lack of response "Does being a vigilante, infringing on people's Civil Rights, fulfill some repressed sexual desire?"
"Turn that off." Robin demanded, as the Robin on the massive TV screen looked slightly astonished, just before the TV shut off.
"Hey man, now that you're a nationally known superhero, you're gonna get the tough questions…" Cyborg said, unable to contain his laughter, Beast Boy was also laughing hysterically on the other end of the couch, Starfire too, was giggling at Cyborg's joke, even Raven had a very subtle grin on her face.
Robin did not look amused.
"You know…" he offered calmly, the others still barely able to contain their laughter "you guys really shouldn't stay up this late when we have combat training this morning at 6…" He finished, a sly grin on his face.
The other Titans all gaped at him, they knew he wasn't joking, they all grumbled to themselves as the made towards their respective rooms.
Robin cracked his knuckles and put his hands behind his head "It's good to be the leader…" He made his way back to his own room; unconsciously fondling the now collapsed staff he had taken from Slade in his pocket.