Disclaimer: I will never own the Teen Titans …
Or Batman Beyond for that matter…

Chapter 11:
You Can Do It, Robin!

Raven sat in an empty part of the Bat Cave in her meditation position.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm finding Robin, of course."

"But you're just sitting there."

"Stop talking. I need to concentrate."

Raven felt Terri and Alfred staring at her: they had no idea what Raven was doing, "It's a form of meditation, okay?" Anything the two guys said, Raven just blocked out. She began her chant of: "Azarath Metrion Zinthos…" As she said the third word, Raven felt her black soul self, the raven, leave her body in search of Robin.

The soul-Raven was flying through the streets of Gotham, past the supermarket, past the bank, past a traffic jam, and out to the pier. The soul self picked out one of the hundreds of warehouses along the pier. It passed through the walls and the floors to the basement. Then next thing her soul saw was Robin. Well, the Robin imprisoned within his own mind anyway.

"Raven! You have to get out before he finds you!"

"Robin. Calm down. I'm here to help."

"No! He will find you, and I can't let you get hurt!"

"I can't help you unless you let me in your mind."

"No! He will see you, and he will kill again."

"Kill? You mean like Batman?" No response from Robin.

The Robin she saw was nothing like the Robin she remembered from the days of the Teen Titans. Besides the fact that he looked about 10 years older, Robin was disheveled for being a projection in his mind. He appeared battered, beaten, and weak. Then again, he wasn't standing either. He was trapped within some sort of mental cage. He was physically tied to the floor of the cage by heavy metal chains.

"Robin, what have you done to Starfire?"

"I haven't done anything to her."

"Where is she, then?"

"He took her. He will kill her."

"What! Who took her?"

Robin didn't answer this, he just said, "He's here…"

"Who?"

"Well…Well…Well… who do we have here? The infamous Raven?"

Raven turned to face the evil… "Wait…you're just a kid…" He looked almost exactly like the Robin in the cage, except for the green hair which reminded her heavily of Beastboy.

"Not just a kid, Raven… He's the Joker's son."

"So what are you saying?"

"I am the Joker's son." The two Robin's responded, which was highly confusing to the soul-Raven.

"This doesn't make any sense…"

"That's because you haven't heard the punch-line yet. And Robin doesn't live here anymore, so you should just forget about him."

"Who are you?"

"Allow me to introduce myself…I am Little J…"

"Little J… Robin, what's going on?" The real Robin did not respond because he had mysteriously disappeared. "What have you done with Robin?"

"I am Robin: the new Robin."

"You could never replace Robin."

"Awww… I didn't realize that you were his girlfriend…"

"Shut up!" Little J's remark drove the soul-Raven crazy with hatred, but she managed to suppress until she was able to find something to do with it: like using her powers.

"Oh, touchy are we? Well, I'm sorry about that. Perhaps these flowers will cheer you up." Little J tossed a bouquet of roses in the soul-Raven's direction. But before she could catch them, they exploded in her face, which jolted her backwards into the bars of Robin's mental cage.

"Raven!"

"I must admit, Raven, it has been an honor and pleasure to finally meet you. Robin has thought so much about you. It's almost like I know you…"

"Stop it! Leave her alone!"

"Robin… Robin…When will you learn to stop interfering. Your friends hate you, why would they want to help you now?"

"Because we can and will!" the soul-Raven used her power to grab five bars from the cage and began swinging them at Little J. Little J just laughed, which seemed to echo throughout the hollows of Robin's mind. Robin hated that sound. It drove him crazy because it sounded so much like his own laugh. Little J had stolen his features and his personality. He had even stolen Robin's agile capabilities, which is why he was managing to dodge Raven's attacks…

"Raven, it's useless. He controls me now…"

"Robin, You can't give up. You've always been able to fight anything that stood in your way. And now you're just going to let some figment of your imagination take over?"

"Raven, I can't…"
"Yes, you can. If you would only let me, I will help you defeat him!"

"I'm sorry Raven, but I can't let you help him." Little J threw one of Robin's exploding disks at the soul-Raven, catching her off guard. This caused her to lose her concentration, and she was jolted out of Robin's consciousness and flung back to her body which was floating above the floor of the Bat Cave.

As she left, she heard the echo of Robin's voice in her mind, "Raven!"