Disclaimer: All copyright and credit goes to the original creators of the Teen Titans, Batman, and the DC Universe. This is for entertainment purposes only! I do not own any of the characters!

A/N: Super sorry to everyone for the long wait! This chapter was hard to write and I wrote several different versions of it, but was never quite happy...oh well the pains of writing:)

I hope everyone had a great break/restful holiday! A big thank you to everyone that reviewed/favorited/followed. I always appreciate the feedback and support!

Alright, I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 18

Pale Hands

Slade Wilson understood how the world worked.

It was odd. Through every disaster, through every terrifying event, through every complication, the world kept turning with a dull, repetitive motion. And through the long, lonely years, Slade had taught himself how to turn with it.

Human's had a strange, consistent uniformity that Slade understood. He could decipher people and understand their motivations and emotions. He could manipulate them, stringing along a complex web of carefully articulated lies that deceived and altered one's thoughts. His enhanced brain could calculate and think at a faster rate making him a superior opponent to anyone he ever encountered.

Yet as Slade Wilson gazed out into the skyline, a thought burned into his brain.

He did not understand Robin.

A fifteen year old boy should be simple to comprehend, but as his eye flickered over to the boy, Slade felt completely out of his depth. His eye gazed over to the small hunched form and watched as Robin wrapped his arms tighter around his knees. He looked so fragile, sitting there unmoving in the heavy downpour. How could he have even considered him a threat - a great adversary to fight against? He was just a boy…Slade turned away, focusing back onto the skyline.

But Robin was more than just a simple boy. He was unexpected, a deep river of emotions and currents that constantly shifted and twisted. And underneath it all, underneath that enigmatic domino mask, underneath that fragile composition, underneath every word, smile, laugh, was a strong defiance and will. Robin never bowed to anyone, never fell before any conflict, and never rebelled against the morals that dictated his life.

Slade blinked as lighting flashed in the sky. Perhaps that's why the apprenticeship had bothered the boy so much. Perhaps being bound to someone had stripped the boy of the one thing he had valued so much – freedom. The man rubbed his jaw as he considered everything that had occurred. It was apparent that the apprenticeship still bothered the boy as the mere word had elicited such a strong reaction from him. Robin's blow had been weak and ill aimed, but the message had been clear – he would never submit, he would never cave, and even at his lowest point of defeat, Robin would never willingly become his apprentice. The word encompassed the mere epitome of everything the boy fought against.

You can't keep a bird caged forever you know.

Wintergreen's words rang in Slade's head as he shifted his feet. There was a deep truth in those old man's words, one that Slade was just starting to understand. His eyes shifted back to the boy's form and a pang of guilt shot through the man's body. Robin's life was surrounded by cages, and it seemed as if the boy had just fallen into the largest one yet. And as much as Slade wanted to deny it, he was responsible for the crumpled heap in front of him. As much as he wanted to turn away and erase the boy from his mind, Slade remained grounded to the hard concrete. He had brought the boy to this point. He had created this mess.

Responsibility. It was a feeling that the man had often ignored – until now.

Everything. Every damn thing that boy has been through has been narrowed down to this point. All the responsibility, stress, heartbreak, betrayal, and lies have finally broken the boy down into this withered figure who was hunched before him. Slade's single gray eye took in the lone figure, and the man struggled to repress the emotions that bombarded his body. He had brought this upon the boy. He had brought upon the destruction of his family and now the devastation of the shattered boy in front of him.

His choices. His mistakes. His failures.

It was his fault and his fault alone.

A strong weight fell over his shoulders as his body floundered in a sea of conflicting thoughts.

Nothing was fair in life.

Deep inside, Wintergreen's words resonated with him and Slade knew what he had to do. A deep resolution drove inside of his body as he gazed at the form in front of him.

Think of Joey…

Think of Grant…

Think of Rose…

Slade clenched his hands together feeling the rain drip through his fingers. He hadn't invested all his time and effort into the boy, to see him wither away into a husk of himself merely because Batman had gone missing. The boy was stronger than this mess.

Robin was no different from any of his children, and he wasn't broken – not yet.

"He's probably already dead."

The soft words escaped his lips before he could reel them back in. Robin felt the solid, gray eye turn to stare at him, and the boy let out a deep sigh. He turned, shifting his body so that he could see Slade's form out of his peripheral vision. The rain hailed down around his small body casting a deathly glow around his pale skin.

"Batman," the boy said, breaking the tense silence, "the Joker has probably already killed him."

He felt the man gaze at him for several hard seconds before Slade shook his head, turning away.

"Understand your enemies Robin. If the Joker was going to kill Batman, the clown would put on a show first. Batman's not dead," Slade paused, pressing his hands behind his back, "But he may be soon."

Robin sunk deeper into his knees at the statement.

"Apparently I'll never understand my enemies," he grumbled, a deep bitterness biting into his tone.

Silence was the only answer to his statement, and the boy shifted at the unease it left him with. It was hard enough to decipher Slade when the man was speaking, but silence? That was a level Robin didn't even want to try to decode. He shifted again, feeling the cold water slosh underneath his legs, and the omnipotent gaze dig into his skin. The man's presence grew closer to him, but there was something different. Something had shifted regarding the man, and Robin couldn't keep his eyes from being pulled towards Slade's form.

The storm couldn't compete with the intensity he found within Slade's single, gray eye.

"Am I really your enemy, Robin?"

The question of the century.

It was such a simple question. Such a fundamental, basic, concrete fact that Robin had never thought about. Slade had always been his enemy. The man was the embodiment of all the evils he fought against and all the injustice he tried to destroy. Robin had always seen the world in black and white. There was good and there was evil. There was justice and there was crime. There was love and there was hatred. And throughout all of his battles and fights, there was always a line, dividing his morals and values from the evil around him.

But now, things seemed blurred. The question had thrown streaks of gray in his mind as he regarded the man before him. He didn't want to think about that question. He didn't want to consider the truth.

"Just leave me alone, Slade," Robin mumbled into his knees, breaking eye contact, "I don't want your help anymore."

Slade paused at the words, his body growing unusually still. Robin tried his best to ignore the man and focus on the puddles of water that sloshed under his bound feet.

"Why?"

The low voice caught the boy off guard.

"Why what Slade?"

Slade paused and Robin listened as the man released a long breath. "Why do you know longer want my help?"

Robin clenched his teeth together as he debated the question. It gnawed at him, digging into his mind as he came slamming into the fact that he had been trying to ignore. It was the same nagging doubt that had lingered in his mind the moment he had stumbled into Slade's haunt. Robin ducked his head.

"I don't know."

"That's not an answer."

"Well, It's my answer, Slade," Robin snapped in a vain attempt to ward the man away.

A low growl escaped the man's mouth, and Robin resisted the urge to shudder at the unnerving noise. Thunder boomed in the sky as wind whipped across the rooftop adding a deadly sting to the raindrops.

"Try again, Robin."

Rain continued to pound down around him in rushing waves. The boy lifted his head from his knees as the words reached his ears. He squeezed his bound hands together as his emotions started to crack into his words.

"What exactly do you want me to say, Slade?" Robin said as he lifted his domino mask to face the man.

Slade stood among the storm – a mere outline that was illuminated with the sporadic lighting. He took a step forward, and Robin felt himself tense. He pulled at the restraints around his wrists, but they only bit in deeper to his skin.

"The truth, Robin. I've never asked for anything more," Slade replied evenly while running a hand through his short, white hair. Rain drops trickled off of his fingers and collided into the ground.

The truth.

For once, the man wasn't asking for riddles. He wasn't playing a mind game. He wasn't trying to spin a web of deceit. For once, Slade only wanted the words Robin found difficult to say.

"Because," Robin began as his eyes drifted shut. Batman. The Titans. His parents. Figures rose before his eyes in cascading waves, pulling and tugging at his heart. He clenched his shaking hands into fists, trying to hold back the torrent of emotions that threatened to break free.

Because…

He felt his parents' arms around his waist. He felt a hand card through his fluffy hair. He felt their laughter warm his dull heart.

Because…

He felt a hand on his shoulder and saw a dark cowl stare into his eight year old eyes. He heard the man's words. He felt the hand squeeze his shoulder and felt a domino mask being pressed into his small palm.

Because…

He opened his eyes and saw that Slade had moved closer. Lighting flashed, illuminating the man's blank face.

"I forgot that I'm a hero, Slade. And it was a mistake to ask an enemy for help."

The moment the words left his mouth, Robin felt his body seize up with guilt. There it was. The thought he had forced himself to ignore. Slade was the villain, and he was the hero. There was no force on the planet that could change that axiomatic fact. He had been naïve to think the man could be any different. He had been naïve to think that the man could change. He had been naïve to even consider asking Slade for help.

"Am I really the enemy, Robin?" Slade asked after a few moments.

As the cool voice washed over him, something inside the boy snapped. A deep, low growl escaped his mouth and landed onto the ground as thunder roared in the sky. Did the man truly have the audacity to suggest that he wasn't an enemy? Did Slade even realize what he was saying?

He hated everything about the man at that moment. He hated his sickeningly smooth voice. He hated his condescending manner. He hated the constant questions from the man – questions that made him doubt his own answers, questions that made him second guess his decisions, questions that made him rethink what he thought was true. He hated that Slade could get inside of his head and make him doubt himself. He hated that Slade forced him to admit his own weaknesses.

Robin yanked himself around so that he could face Slade as anger and annoyance burned in his mind.

"You haunt my every waking hour. You threaten my city. You have deteriorated my sanity," Robin yelled as his voice gained momentum, "WHEN ARE YOU NOT MY ENEMY?"

The words burned his throat as he screamed them over the roar of the thunder. All the pain and frustration from the past week slammed into Robin as he glared at the figure in front of him. He wrenched his hands against his restraints as he struggled to break free from the binds. Every instinct in his body screamed at him to get up and fight, to do something – anything at all. Blood trickled onto the ground as the thin wire sliced into his skin, but the boy hardly cared. There was only one thing he wanted in that moment.

He wanted his fist in that monster's face.

The man stood still as lighting crashed around him. A dark shadow fell across the man's features as a malicious glint entered his eye. In a flash he was before the boy and Robin let out a cry of alarm as Slade grabbed a handful of his shirt. The man lowered himself down so that his gray eye was level with Robin's domino mask as rain whipped across the rooftop.

"Does an enemy spend hours trying to keep you from dying? " Slade hissed as his hand tightened around Robin's shirt. In a swift motion the man heaved Robin off the ground and into the air as he shook the boy.

"Slade st-"

"Does an enemy offer assistance, provide protection and safety?" Slade said as his voice grew in volume while the rain crashed around the pair.

Robin thrashed in the man's hold. "Safety? Since when have you ever given me safety! You threaten my city-"

"Since when has an ENEMY ever saved your LIFE!"

The boy stilled as the powerful words died off in the rain. He felt his heartbeat drum in his ears as Slade's words drilled into him. He had seen Slade angry, he had seen the man when he was mad, he had even seen the man when he was furious, but he had never seen the man like this. There was a rawness that radiated from his strained voice in crushing waves and bled into the air. The man's chest rose and fell as his eye flickered with a dark emotion, and Robin's blue eyes searched the man's face for any clue as to what the man was thinking. Slade's gray orb swirled with a deep and thick intensity, and for several seconds neither party moved as each remained frozen in the words that had just been said. Time itself froze over and locked the two within an eerie silence.

Slade's hand released him, and Robin dropped to the ground, too stunned to acknowledge the jarring impact. The man backed away as a thick concentration fell over his face and turned around, making his way towards the edge of the rooftop.

Inhale.

Exhale.

The boy had done those two simple actions many times himself. He watched as Slade's form rose and fell in a consistent rhythm as the man inhaled and exhaled deep, shuddering breaths. The rain surrounding the man darkened like a curtain closing on a stage.

"Never…"

Robin gazed at the ground as the word left his lips. If Slade wanted the truth then the man was going to get it. The sky flickered with a hazy glow as lightning, illuminated the darkness that surrounded the pair.

"An enemy has never saved my life…So then what does that make you, Slade?" Robin asked as he examined the enigmatic figure among the edge of the rooftop. His voice dropped into a whisper. "What does that make you?"

Robin no longer knew what to expect from the man. He no longer knew how to even think about the man.

"I am a lot of things, Robin," Slade said as he folded his hands behind his back, "but I am not your enemy." He turned around.

"Not anymore."

Robin slammed his eyes shut as he pulled against the bonds around his wrists once more. His words shook. "You just don't understand, Slade. You just can't – after everything. You just can't stop being my enemy."

A deep burning sensation filled his eyes as he focused on the cool rain washing over his skin.

"You-you think you know me," he stuttered as the words flowed from his mouth, "You think you understand me. You think you have me all figured out like I'm merely a pawn in this game you play."

Thunder rumbled in the air as Robin turned away, an eerie wave of stillness coming over his form. His voice lowered, dropping into a low whisper.

"But you don't even have a clue as to the person under this mask." Robin felt a few warm drops drip down his cheeks. "I watched my parents die before my eyes when I was eight," the boy whispered as his nails dug into his skin, "I heard their screams, and watched them inhale their last breath of air. I-I was forced to grow up that day. I was taken in by a man who wasn't equipped to deal with a child. And now that man is going to die because I can't save him."

Thunder rumbled overhead.

"You tell me that I don't know how cruel the world is, Slade. Well, you're wrong."

The silence that followed the statement was thick and heavy. Tears streamed down the boy's face as he pulled his knees to his chest. Robin raised his eyes from the ground.

"I was made from the cruelty of the world, Slade."

His past defined him. It followed him. It haunted him. It made him into the person he was

He couldn't deny it, he couldn't block it out, and he couldn't fight it.

It was always there.

Robin saw his parents soaring through the air, flipping, twisting, and turning on the trapeze as they had rehearsed so many times before. He heard the snap as the ropes suddenly broke, and heard the terrified screams from the audience. He saw his small hand, grip the edge of the platform and reach out as his own screams were washed away in the commotion. He saw them fall. He saw his parents fall to their deaths. He felt hands grab him, pull him away, but he fought, he kicked, he struggled, screaming the same words over and over again.

I could have saved them. I could have saved them. I could have saved them.

A cry of anguish burned through his throat as he buried his head further into his knees. Rain hit the concrete roof and thundered in Robin's ears. The words had ripped his heart open and had pummeled it down until its beat had slowed to a pitiful thump. He had nothing left in him. He had nothing left. The feeling in his chest expanded and pulled him farther away from the reality around him.

In that moment, he wanted nothing more than to be washed away in the rain. He wanted nothing more than to disappear. Tears bled from his eyes as he broke down and cried.

For his parents.

For his mistakes.

For his failures.

Heavy footsteps sloshed through the puddles on the roof and grew closer to the hunched over boy. Slade's powerful presence rose up next to him, but Robin ignored it and instead focused on the rain drops running down his face as the shower rose in density, cloaking the skyline in the distance. Buildings fell away from sight, and Robin felt the cold, hard rain beat upon his head. Two hands grabbed his shoulders and pulled him away from the precariously tall edge he was leaning toward. He heard the man say his name, but he didn't move.

He didn't care anymore.

"I'm sorry."

Robin's blue eyes blinked open and was met with an emotionless face. Neither boy nor man moved for several moments as Robin's ears struggled to believe the two words he had just heard. Perhaps the rain was distorting noises. The man couldn't have just- The man wouldn't have just – It wasn't possible…

The two hands squeezed his shoulders.

"No person should ever have to experience what you have."

Robin's eyes settled on the visage in front of him. The man's face was blank, but his eye held a hard light that was riddled with pain. He tried to push those two words away from his mind, but they kept repeating over and over again. He didn't want to accept those two words from the man. They were too pure to be used by someone as evil as Slade.

"No person should ever have to choose between the lives of his friends or his morals," the boy muttered bitterly. The hands around his shoulders tightened. Slade clenched his firm jaw shut as his gray eye buried its way thought Robin's mask.

"No person should have to become a twisted result of the world," the man replied evenly, "yet here we are."

Robin looked away and vainly tried to shrug off the hands from his shoulders, but they remained, an unwanted reminder of the man crouching in front of him

"What are you, Slade?" the boy whispered as he gazed at the oozing blood that dripped from the thin lines on his wrists.

A sigh escaped the man's lips and Robin felt the weak breath brush against his face. The hands on his shoulders tightened as Slade's words reached his ears.

"I'm just a man, Robin. One who has made just as many mistakes as you have."

A distant thunder rumbled overhead as the storm continued to hum around them. Slade's gray eye grew distant as the man gazed into the hazy skyline. The man's white hair was saturated with water and stray strands stuck to his skin, dripping drops down his face and onto the ground.

"I'm trying to fix those mistakes though."

Robin closed his eyes as he tried to fight off the conflicting emotions that drowned his thoughts. Was this the man's way of drawing a truce? Was Slade just as tired of fighting as he was? The boy withheld a deep sigh that threatened to break free from his lips. It didn't matter if Slade no longer wanted to fight though. As long as the man was still a villain, it was his job to stop him – it was his job to protect his city.

Robin opened his eyes.

But where was the line between a hero and a villain?

Behind the mask, Slade was just a man, a very powerful, cunning, manipulative, intelligent man, but a man nonetheless. There was more to Slade Wilson than just the figure that stood before him. The man had a past, one that led him to where he was now. He had a life besides the one Robin has seen. There was something else about this man – something deeper – that unsettled Robin.

There was more to the man than just a black and orange mask.

A quiet hiss echoed in the air, barely audible over the roar of the rain, but it broke Robin out of his thoughts. A gloved hand grabbed his ankle, and Robin whipped his head up, his eyes widening as they honed in on a long, sharp dagger. Before he could blink, Slade pulled the blade up in a well-practiced, fluid motion, and sliced through the bonds restraining Robin's legs.

The boy stuttered and immediately threw himself back away from the man when his legs broke free. His eyes flashed to the man's face and back to the dagger spinning in Slade's hand as his face grimaced with panic.

"Stay away from me while you have that thing in your hand," Robin said as he quickly pressed his hands on the ground and pushed himself to his feet. He stumbled back, and a cry of alarm escaped his lip as his foot slipped off of the edge of the rooftop. He threw his hands forward, but it did little to stop his momentum that continued to carry him backward.

A hand wrapped around his shirt, and he was yanked forward away from the treacherous edge. Robin stumbled as a second hand gripped his arm in a strong hold, immediately steading his balance. The boy stilled as a tried breath escaped his lips and as he lifted his eyes.

An amused glint crackled in Slade's gray eye.

"Couldn't you have used scissors or something?" Robin mumbled as he shook Slade's hand off of his arm.

Slade's eyebrows rose as he tossed the dagger into the air and caught it. "Those are type of titanium alloy, Robin. I'm afraid scissors aren't going to work," the man paused as a ghost of a smirk touched his lips.

"Even your little bird toys couldn't cut through it."

Heat rushed to the boy's face as he glared at the man. "There're called bird-a-rangs," he muttered drawing his attention back to the bonds around his wrists.

"Well, unless you want to try to get back to the Titans tied up, be my guest," Slade said as he nonchalantly crossed his hands in front of his chest. "I don't doubt that you could, but I was simply trying to make things eas-"

The boy quickly whipped his head up as he cut the man off.

"What do you mean Titans?" Robin started, hesitantly taking a step forward. The rain continued to pour down around them as the Boy Wonder waited for an answer.

"Well their leader can't fight crime tied up," Slade replied indifferently with a slight shrug.

"But I thought…." the boy stuttered out, thoroughly confused. Slade was just going to let him go? Just like that? No catches, no hidden tricks, no underlining plan?

"You don't want my help so there's no need to give it to you," Slade said moving closer to the boy.

Lightning flashed above them making Robin involuntarily flinch. He watched as Slade approached him, dagger held confidently in one hand. He paused a few feet away and extended out his hands, fixing Robin with a pointed look. The boy swallowed glancing from the dagger back to the man.

"Trust me, Robin."

Trust.

How do you trust your archenemy? Robin let out a breath. Batman had drilled the answer into his head since the first day of training. It was simple - you don't. However Slade was anything but simple. The man had so many sides to him – some Robin had never seen before. After all of this, all the fighting, all the words exchanges, all the pain, he still was light-years away from understanding the man.

But was he light-years away from trusting the man?

The boy took one last look at the dagger before hesitantly placing his wrists in the man's hand and slamming his eyes shut.

A cold glove reached out and gripped Robin around the wrist. Every muscle subconsciously stiffened at such close contact with Slade, and he tried taking a step back only to be found himself pulled forward again.

"Relax, Robin," Slade said smoothly as the blade of the dagger slid underneath Robin's hands.

The boy inhaled sharply as the cold metal slid against his skin, causing chills to race up is spine. It continued to glide against his hands effortlessly, and a thin snap reached his ears as he felt the bonds drop to the ground. Robin opened his eyes as Slade sheathed the blade and took a step back, fighting off the conflicting emotions that slammed against his body.

Slade's gray eye moved away from his form and out onto the skyline. "I would suggest you wait out the storm, but knowing you, I doubt you care," the man said smoothly. He turned around and walked along the roof, his feet sloshing through the water. The discarded mask was illuminated in a flash of lighting, and Slade bent down. The man paused, running his hand along the smooth metal as if held in a trance by its form. Thunder rumbled in the sky and he blinked, looking up into the chaotic storm. The man muttered a few words under his breath, too softly for Robin to hear, and stood, moving back towards the metal hatch.

"So that's it? You're just going to let me go?"

Slade crouched down, his hand gripping the metal handle. Robin felt his heart rate accelerate as the man turned around and fixed his gray eye on his form. A hand ran through his white hair, causing more water to drip from his soaked form.

"As I said, you no longer want my help so there is no need to keep you here."

Robin remained rooted to the ground as he felt himself nod. A bolt of lightning flared out in the distance and illuminated the dark rooftop in a flash of light. Rain continued to swirl around him, and the boy stared at the man. That was it? His hands, numb and still, dropped to his sides.

Slade's gray eye flickered for a moment as his hand tightened on the metal handle.

"Slade…"

The man's hand slacked in its hold on the handle, and Robin's heart flickered. The man in front of him was a criminal. There was no doubt in Robin's mind about that fact. Slade had a list of crimes that could prove his guilt and put him behind bars for life.

But was the man in front of him his enemy?

An enemy doesn't try to talk to you.

There was one fact that kept Robin from turning around and heading back to the Titans. There was one anchor that kept him grounded to the concrete and the water pooling at his feet. Slade could beat the Joker. Slade could rescue Batman.

An enemy doesn't offer to help you.

And if that meant that Robin had to bite his tongue and bury his pride, then so be it. If Slade had shown him anything, he had seen that the man could be reasonable. There was a human side to the figure in front of him – a side that could be drawn out…

An enemy doesn't save your life.

And there was the catch - the loophole that drove Robin mad. An enemy doesn't save your life. So was Slade truly his enemy? Was the man in front of him truly evil?

He cares about you Robin. Slade will never admit it, but it was true.

Perhaps there was truth in those old man's words. Perhaps he had been so blind to his preconceived notions about Slade that he hadn't bothered to see what was before his eyes. Perhaps he was the one that owned the man an apology.

"Slade, I-I," the boy stuttered as every instinct screamed at him to be quiet. But he pressed through it, fighting his way through the words. "I may not want your help, but I need it," he said as the rain flickered around him. Robin stared up at Slade's steel gray eye and paused letting the words drift between them.

"I can't save Batman alone," he whispered dropping his head. "And I'm-"

He broke off struggling to form the next word in his mouth.

"I'm-"

It felt as if a wad of gauze had been shoved into his mouth as the next word would not come no matter how hard he tried to force it into the air. He futilely gazed at Slade as he stuttered incoherently. The man merely raised an eyebrow and shifted to that he was sitting back on his haunches.

"You're what, Robin?"

The boy blinked multiple times. This shouldn't be this hard. He had said this word numerous times during his lifetime. His mother had drilled certain expectations into him during his young life and this had been one of them. Always, always say you're...

"Sorry."

The moment he said it, a wave of weariness flew over the boy. The single word left a burning, acrid taste in his mouth, and Robin tried to remain calm as the panicky feeling rose up in his body. Had he really just apologized to Slade – of all the people in the world? What sort of power had coerced him to do that? He felt Slade's gray eye roll over him, and Robin froze as terror and anticipation filled him for Slade's reaction. What if the man twisted the apology against him? What if the man turned him away? What if the man laughed? What if-

However, the corners of the man's lips twitched as his hand tightened on the handle once more.

"You won't be alone then," Slade replied while throwing open the hatch with a loud bang. Rain poured through the opening as the man gestured at the boy to follow.

Robin opened his mouth and shut it, holding back a reply. He remained numb, standing frozen to the ground as Slade swung his legs into the opening. That was it? No threats? No ominous promises? No devious plots?

"Don't tell me you're going to stand out in the storm all day?"

Robin shook his head as he ran a hand through his hair. "No, just give me a minute."

Slade stared at him for a long moment, before the man nodded, his black eye-patch glinting in the light. The two stared at each other for several moments before Slade disappeared, slipping inside of the hatch. Robin listened as the small, metal door clicked shut, leaving him alone with the stormy skyline and one question.

What the heck just happened?

The boy shook his head as his mind fogged over with a thick haziness. He didn't even want to start considering the implications of what had just occurred. It was too much for his pounding head and achy body. The boy shifted his feet and turned his eyes toward the stormy skyline. However, there was a degree of peace that hadn't been there before. The rain seemed to weave in and out of the buildings, masking them in a subtle glow, the thunder and lightning worked together in a synonymous accord, and the water glided over the concrete, basking it in a thin radiance.

Robin shuffled his soaking feet, closing his eyes and simply allowing the rain drops to run over him. He still had his questions. He still had his doubts. He still had his fears. But he could handle them. Just as he could handle this mess he had gotten himself into.

For once in his life, Robin was sure about something.

He would find Batman, and he would get him back.

The Boy Wonder walked over to the hatch, bent down and threw it open. He jumped down and swung the thick piece of metal closed, silencing the raging storm once and for all.

A/N: I don't think this is my best chapter. I may rewrite it when I finish this story, but for now I wanted to post it and continue on. Things will start to pick up from here!

As always thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it!