A/N: I am so sorry it's been so long! There was a move and all sorts of other excuses (a slight bout of the blues definitely contributing), but the story is not over! I'll try to keep up with a weekly posting but we'll have to see how often I can get to it. Just know that I will try my best.

Thank you to all of you that have stuck with me and for the wonderful reviews! Know that I read them and that they are helpful and inspiring me to keep going. (A special shout out to jltvaughn for continuing to check in. Know that your words are appreciated!) So, here we go after far too long . . .

Chapter 14

Robin walked out of the kitchen with a steaming mug of coffee in his hands, hoping it would drive away the lingering cold and damp feeling from the still drenched city. He had been strangely nervous about patrols tonight; something about the dark and the rain always managed to pull the worst of society out of the holes they hid in. But the night had been uncharacteristically quiet, which should have made him feel better, but he found that he just couldn't shake the nerves that were still on edge.

He looked around the room, trying to see if Raven had arrived from her patrol yet. She had messaged him to let him know that she and Red X had finished their route fifteen minutes ago and he had expected to find her already back in the common room with the others. But a quick scan of the room revealed that she hadn't arrived yet.

But he shook his head and tried to banish the weird sinking feeling that still hadn't left him. She was likely just saying goodbye to Red X and that was an image that he did not want in his head.

He approached the others, who were sitting on the couch and arguing over which movie they should watch, when he heard the familiar sound of rushing wind that came from the teleportation device he had created.

He turned and saw Red X crouched on the floor behind him, covered in blood and holding Raven in his arms while he screamed for help. The pallor of her skin terrified him. How much blood had she lost? What had happened?

But it only took a moment for him to notice the number of wounds in her chest. His entire body grew cold.

It was pandemonium after that. The others rose from the couch at Red X's shouts and they were all frozen with horror at the sight of Raven.

"The med bay!" Robin shouted as he pointed to Cyborg. "Take him with you."

Cyborg sprang into action, vaulting over the couch and sliding to within Red X's reach so he could use the belt to teleport them both. Robin was already bolting for the stairs before Starfire and Beast Boy had even had a chance to react. They weren't far behind Robin once their brief moment of shock wore off.

Robin slammed into the door of the med bay and watched Cyborg busy at work, an IV already in Raven's arm with a bag of blood hanging on the hook beside her. He had activated the med bots that he had been working on for just such an occasion and they whirred to life, scuttling over the table and over the body of their patient, some set to work on wounds and most just to staunch the flow of blood.

Red X was hovering over Raven, desperate to do something but not knowing exactly what it was that he could do. Currently he was busying himself with handing Cyborg anything that he asked for. He was visibly shaking as he handed over instruments and syringes and the motion did nothing but make the dread in Robin grow. He had never seen Red X lose control of any emotion that wasn't rage and this show of fear had Robin's body beginning to tremble as well.

Robin walked up to Cyborg and asked what he could do. They held a hushed conversation as Cyborg continued to work, Red X across the room gathering vials out of the cabinet and muttering the names that Cyborg had ordered him to get so he wouldn't forget. The monitor behind Cyborg flashed to life as it began to read Raven's vitals once the wires were all placed.

"What can I do?" Robin asked. "Should we take her to the hospital?"

"She's losing blood too fast," Cyborg said, not looking at his leader and focusing on the multiple tasks he had at hand. "It's a wonder that she made it here with a heartbeat. The bots are already working on packing the wounds. Stopping the bleeding is the most important thing right now. Once they're on top of that a few of them will start on bullet extraction and stitching up the wounds of the through and throughs. I just gotta keep enough blood in her for her heart to keep pumping until her healing factor can start working on the internal injuries. That's what you can do, Robin. I'm gonna need all the O positive and negative that we have in storage. Get it for me. All of it."

Robin moved before Cyborg had finished speaking, crossing into the side room of the med bay and dashing for the storage fridge. He pulled the only bags of O blood that they had in the fridge and carried them back to Cyborg. It wasn't nearly as many bags as he had hoped and he couldn't help his mind wondering whether it was going to be enough.

"Thanks, man," Cyborg said as Robin laid the bags on a silver cart beside the table. His eyes flicked to the cart and he shook his head before moving on to the next task. "It's not a lot," he muttered.

"Is it enough?" Robin asked, fearfully as Red X returned, handing over the vials.

"I don't know, man," Cyborg replied. "It wouldn't hurt to hit up the hospital for more."

Robin looked up at Red X, who's haunted gaze was fixed on Raven.

"Any more charges left?"

"One," the thief said in a choked whisper. "Not enough to get her help and make it back."

Starfire and Beast Boy burst through the doors and Robin turned to them immediately.

"We need blood," he said in a commanding voice. "Type O. Negative or positive. Jump City General is closest." He looked at the bag on the hook that was steadily draining as her body leaked it all back out again. Get all they can spare."

Starfire and Beast Boy look at each other.

"Go," Beast Boy said. "You're faster. I'll stay and help Cy however he needs."

She was out of the room immediately, knowing that there was no time to lose and racing as fast as she could go, hoping that she was fast enough.

Robin asked Cyborg what else he could do but Cyborg said that anything, besides fetching things that he needs, would require actual knowledge in medicine. He said the bots would help him fix enough until her healing factor took over, as long as he could keep her heart beating and her lungs inflating. Robin and Red X tried for some time to remain but stay out of Cyborg's way and found that their efforts were useless.

Cyborg looked up momentarily at Robin before shouting for him and Red X to get out of the room. He said that he needed room to work and that both of them were too emotionally involved to be in here. He assured them that Beast Boy would be able to give him any assistance but that their presence was only going to hinder him and was only going to wreak havoc on her emotions when her healing factor kicked in. He ordered them to leave and Robin tugged a reluctant Red X toward the doors. He didn't want to leave either, but he had seen what happened when someone emotionally compromised got in the way of doctors trying to help. He wouldn't let that happen to Raven.

Red X heard heavy metallic clinking noises and his head snapped to the side of the table where three of the med bots had just dropped extracted bullets into the collection pan. He felt like he was going to be sick.

"Should we just take her to the hospital?" Red X asked frantically, his eyes suddenly focused and unwavering from the growing pool of blood on the table beneath Raven as Robin continued to pull him from the room.

Robin's eyes narrowed at the same thought he had voiced earlier as he followed the thief's line of sight and felt his blood turn to ice at the sight of how much blood she was still losing, despite Cyborg and his bots' best efforts to stop the flow. He pulled the thief out of the doors and turned his glare at Red X before speaking.

"Cyborg said she won't make the trip; that it was a miracle that she made it here. He said that the bots can handle the . . . they can handle the packing of the wounds and the bullet extraction and the only other thing was to keep giving her heart blood to pump until her healing factor sets in to handle all of the internal injuries.

"Besides," he said pointedly, "I think last time proved that security at the hospital is greatly lacking. We have to find out who did this to her and we can keep her better protected here. I think she's best off here." His tone told Red X that the Titan was trying to convince himself of his words as much as he was the thief. "What the fuck happened, X? How did this happen to her? Who did this?"

Red X's eyes darkened as he turned to Robin, remembering that what had happened to Raven was planned and fury rising in him at the thought.

He told Robin everything that had happened after patrol; about the two figures that had done their job of separating him from Raven, about the magic item and the blood that drew Raven to the alley, and about the lack of anyone else in the alley by the time he had heard the gunfire and gotten to her. He mentioned that he had left one of the boys unconscious in the building where he had confronted him and Robin's eyes narrowed behind his mask.

"Show me," he growled.

Red X's eyes turned back to the doors of the med bay but Robin grabbed his shoulder and turned him away.

"There's nothing that we can do in there," he said, again for his sake as much as Red X's. "Beast Boy will be there if Cyborg needs anything."

As if on cue to help ease their fears, Starfire called that moment and Robin pulled out his comm, turning away from the thief and walking down the hall. He returned in a few moments, putting the comm away.

"Star's almost back with the blood. She'll be here in a few minutes."

He saw that Red X's eyes were firmly trained on the door again and Robin stepped between him and the entrance to break the thief's stare. "The best thing that we can do is find out why this happened and to make sure that it doesn't happen again," Robin said firmly. "We need to go after whoever did this and the more time we wait the less chance we'll have of tracking them."

Red X looked at him and took a moment before nodding. "They're going to pay," he said in a visceral tone that Robin felt a kinship for in the moment.

"Yes they are," he said darkly, as he indicated for Red X to follow him as he ran, now renewed with purpose, to the garage so they could race from the tower and back into the night clad streets.

O • O • O • O

Robin took Red X to the garage and indicated the Yamaha R1, one of the spare bikes that he had for fun, asking if he knew how to ride. Red X had scoffed as he threw a leg over the motorcycle, looking it over and humming in approval.

Red X whistled as he started the R1 murmuring that it reminded him of one he used to ride himself. Robin tried to give him a warning, "I've modified this one. It's likely got more punch than bikes you're used to riding-"

But Red X had torn out of the garage, handling the bike like a champ. Robin's jaw clenched as he started his Titan bike and took off after him. He caught up with him as he turned toward the industrial district, overtaking the thief and taking the lead.

Red X raced through the outskirts of the city on Robin's bike, weaving through the streets on the tail of the Titan. Robin had to admit that he was surprised at the man's skill on a motorcycle, pulling some pretty tight maneuvers in order to keep up with him – especially since the R1, while fast and maneuverable, was no comparison to the R cycle that he was riding now that had been created by a collaboration between himself and Batman. Yet the thief was holding his own and managing to keep pace. Robin would have felt annoyance at the admiration of the thief, but his emotions were all consumed with the fear and rage that was coursing through him.

Red X kept right behind Robin as the Titan followed his directions to the area of the industrial district where Raven had gotten attacked. Red X was trying to reign in the rage that he had so often allowed to go unchecked. It had helped him survive, once upon a time, but he had begun to change with his time with Raven and he knew that if he lost control tonight then he would lose some of that man that Raven loved. As much as he wanted to rip the assassin to pieces he knew that it wasn't worth losing Raven.

But he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to help himself when the time came.

He could feel the fury rise in him as the building came into sight. He pulled to a stop beside Robin and they wasted no time in tearing their way into the building.

Unfortunately the building was empty.

The boy that Red X had knocked out had either regained consciousness and left or had been taken, but either way he wasn't there for them to question further and Red X swore.

He led them to the alley where Raven had gone where they split up; the alley where he had found her life draining from her. Robin knelt down by the dumpster and saw the puddle still red and the concrete stained a dark rusty color from Raven's spilled blood. He felt a rage overtake him that he hadn't felt before and he shoved Red X to the side as he turned and followed what he discerned was the trajectory of the shots that had taken down Raven.

He saw the scattered bullet casings on the ground where they had fallen through the grating of the fire escape and as he investigated the other side of the alley he saw more casings and bullets as well. Piecing together the scene after several minutes he told Red X that there appeared to have been two shooters. One of them Raven had managed to shield, making the bullets fall to the ground along with the casings, but the shooter on the other side of the alley had managed to go unnoticed and had been the one to successfully hit her.

The shooter that she had shielded had been injured, though, on a broken bit of the fire escape and had left a blood trail down the alley as he had fled.

They followed the trail and it didn't take them long to find a figure slumped over in the back doorway of one of the factories nearby. There was a bloody rag beside him and he looked to be rewrapping his leg with fabric ripped from his shirt, his gun propped up on the stoop beside him. Robin lunged for him and grabbed him by the shirtfront, hoisting him in the air and slamming the man's back against the brick wall beside him.

The man swore before Robin's fist collided with his jaw, knocking the back of his head against the wall behind him.

"Where's your partner?" Robin growled. "Who hired you?"

"Fuck," the man swore again. "Shoulda known better than to take a job on a Titan," he muttered. Robin's fist connected with the man's face again.

"I asked you a fucking question!" he shouted.

"I don't fucking know where he went!" he yelled after spitting out a mouth full of blood. "Asshole ditched me when I couldn't keep up, okay?!"

Robin pulled him away from the wall only to slam him back into it, the back of his head connecting with the brick wall again and his eyes growing dazed. "Who hired you?!" Robin yelled.

Red X reached out to place a hand on Robin's arm. "Hey, he needs to be conscious to answer," he chastised, acknowledging how strange it was for him to find himself as the voice of reason in this. "We need answers."

He turned to the man who was blinking away the blurriness creeping in on his vision. "I'd answer him, though before he does any more damage."

"It was the Syndicate," the man slurred, spitting more blood from his mouth. "It was just a hit. They called in everyone."

Red X's blood froze as he took in the man's words. It was all because of that hit. It was put out months ago and he had figured that no one dared take on the hit against a Titan. But he had been wrong and now understood, fully, that he was the reason that she was laying in the med bay at Titans Tower fighting for her life.

While Red X was filled with shame and regret, it was rage that filled Robin. His vision went white hot and he could feel himself shaking. There was a ringing in his ears and it wasn't until he realized that his shaking had shifted into someone forcefully shaking him that the sound died down and he could hear a voice shouting at him.

He blinked and felt Red X's hands on his shoulders and heard his voice screaming at him to stop. "You're going to kill him!" the voice kept screaming.

He looked ahead and saw the man still in his grip, his face no longer recognizable with the swelling and the blood. Robin's fist was still poised to strike him again, his glove coated in blood and his arm shaking with fury.

He turned to Red X and saw the thief heave a sigh of relief. How long had he been beating on this man? How long had Red X been trying to stop him?

Robin let go of the man and his body slumped to the ground, his breath coming out in ragged gasps through his broken nose and mouth full of cracked teeth and blood. Red X was staring him down, his hands still on his shoulders.

"Are you here now, kid?" he asked, tentatively letting go of the Titan's shoulders. "You were lost in that rage for awhile."

Robin nodded slowly, taking a step back and starting at the man slumped over before him. He shook his head and stared down at his hands. He couldn't remember losing control like that before, let alone blacking out and losing himself to anger. He hadn't known he was capable of such a thing. But as he looked back at Red X kneeling by the man and continuing to question him, he felt that rage growing in his chest again. This was the man that had helped to hurt Raven and he deserved everything that his fury had to give.

He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, turning away from the men before him and trying to collect himself. He had to control himself, if nothing else then at least for Raven's sake. She wouldn't want him traveling down this dark road.

But if she didn't make it through the night he wasn't sure what he was going to do. Or what he was capable of.

Robin called in the capture to the police once their questioning was done and they waited for them to arrive to ensure the man didn't escape justice. The officers had given the Titan questioning looks when they saw the state of the man, but something in Robin's face kept them from asking any questions that they might have.

The tone from his communicator caught his attention from the receding police cars and he reached down to grab it. Cyborg's exhausted voice came as Robin opened the communicator.

"We got the bleeding to stop," he reported, his face looking as if it had aged in the last hour. "Her healing factor finally kicked in. She's still getting blood, but it looks like we're past the worst of it now. Her lungs are healing according to the scans and she's expelling the last of the bullets. She hasn't regained consciousness but . . . she's healing."

Red X let out a strangled sigh and leaned against the wall, sliding down it until he was sitting on the floor. The relief broke through his guilt and he found himself shaking. He had been filled with so much anger during their search and then so much concern over Robin's loss of control that he had forgotten how scared he had been for Raven.

Robin let out a sigh of relief himself and he felt the cold dread that had washed over him replaced with gratitude. He thanked Cyborg and told him what they had learned from the would be assassin. He told him that they were heading back now. He tucked the communicator into his belt and turned to Red X.

"I thought I was going to lose her," Red X muttered. Robin wasn't sure if it was directed at him or if Red X had even realized that he had spoken out loud. But hearing his words only served to remind Robin that Raven was not his to lose but Red X's and it brought a hard edge back to the Titan.

"Let's get back to the tower," he said, considering his next move for a moment before reluctantly offering Red X his hand to help him rise.

Red X looked at the proffered hand and finally took it, rising to his feet. They returned to their motorcycles in silence. Robin finally broke it as he held his helmet in his hands.

"Thank you," he muttered, but loudly enough that he was sure Red X had heard him. The former thief looked up at him in surprise. "Thanks for stopping me. For keeping me from crossing a line tonight."

"To be honest I was surprised it wasn't the other way around," Red X admitted, grabbing his own helmet. "But you don't need to thank me. I know what it's like to get lost in the rage. It's a hard thing to come back from."

Robin nodded at him before putting his helmet on. They rode back to the tower through the wet streets, ready to see for themselves that Raven was, in fact, no longer in mortal peril. Though they were both relieved, each man was lost in the shadows of their own dark thoughts; Red X lost in his guilt over the hit and Robin in guilt over his loss of control. Robin had started the evening worried over the rain bringing out the worst of society in the city that night. Now he was wondering if the thing that he had been afraid of coming out tonight was him.