A/N: Okay, I'm taking you back to the Academy where the Titans are. Prepare for a great fight scene between Star and Rob! I'm such a dork because I get excited writing these things. Please review!
Disclaimer: Anything that you readers recognize as Teen Titans is not mine.
Chapter 10 Rising Anger
From somewhere in the darkness, the sound of his cell being opened put every one of Beast Boy's senses on alert. With great difficulty, the teen forced himself to his feet and face the door. His weary eyes held pain, anger, and dread for what was about to come.
The cell door opened without a sound and the lights to the room flickered on with a buzz. Two men-like robots walked mechanically into the cell with no emotion on their faces. Beast Boy bit his lower lip as he backed away from the robots, knowing all too well what was to come.
The robots were lighting quick with catching the changeling. The teen ducked to the side to avoid the first grab. The second robot managed to catch a piece of Beast Boy's shirt and yank him back. With a surprised yelp, the captured Titan was flung backwards into the handcuffs. He snarled at the two robots, defying them in any way he could as he was forced out of his cell and down the hall.
The sound of someone else's footsteps came to Beast Boy's high tuned elf-like ears. Quickly, the teen sniffed the air. His eyes widened as the robots dragged him down the hall. He sniffed again to make sure he wasn't wrong about the scent. Once Beast Boy smelt someone, it was likely he could identify it again.
"Dude! I know who that is! It's Robin!" Beast Boy yelled at his robots. Just like Beast Boy had predicted, Robin rounded the corner by himself. Beast Boy's jaw dropped when he saw his friend wearing a jumpsuit that he had seen the scientists wear who experimented on him. But what really took the teen for a trip was that Robin was looking dead ahead and ignoring him completely.
"No! Let me go!" Beast Boy yelled at the robots. Desperately, Beast Boy leaned closer to Robin when they were passing and screamed at him, "Robin! What are you doing? Look at me, dude! Robin!"
"How do you know my name?" Robin snapped at the changeling with a harsh tone in his voice that made Beast Boy cringe. "Stop!" he ordered the robots. The two robots stopped and turned to Robin. "Where are you taking him?" he asked them.
"Room 202 for testing," both robots responded at the same time with eerie mechanical voices.
"I'll take this thing there," Robin told the robots, his voice firm and sharp.
"Yes," the robots said in union while shoving Beast Boy toward the other teen. Robin caught Beast Boy by the shoulder and glared down at him with a coolness Beast Boy didn't know Robin was capable of. Without another word exchanged, Robin clung onto Beast Boy's arm and dragged him in the opposite direction the robots headed.
"Robin, don't you recognize me?" Beast Boy pleaded with his friend. "Why are you being so cruel? Tell me!"
Suddenly they rounded the corner. Robin spun around, grabbed Beast Boy's shoulders, and forced him into a small nook in the wall where a camera couldn't see both of them. Robin shoved Beast Boy against he wall and placed a hand on his mouth to prevent him from shouting any surprise.
"Beast Boy, please, just listen," Robin told his friend in a rushed whisper. "This place is really a school brainwashing teen superheroes and villains for their own use. What they want to accomplish with this, I have no clue right now. They tried to brainwash me by taking away my memories, but I somehow came through with half of them erased. Unfortunately, Starfire is truly brainwashed and I have to fight her at three this afternoon. I need help!"
Slowly, Robin took his hand off of Beast Boy's mouth and let him go. Nervously, the teen ran a hand through his hair, letting out a long sigh that had seemed to be pent up for eternity. Beast Boy had never seen Robin so apprehensive. The leader looked like he was going to crack any second.
"Jeez! Dude, you look awful!" Beast Boy said with a crooked smile.
Surprisingly, Robin looked back at Beast Boy and broke out into a wide grin. "I've had to act like a jerk the whole day," he told Beast Boy. "If I slip up just once, I could be found out. I guess the stress is really taking a toll on me. But what about you? What have they done to you, Beast Boy? You look ten times worse than I do right now."
If Beast Boy had nine cat lives, it looked like he was down to at least his third. His green fur was a dirty mat against his skin with black and brown singe marks. His whole countenance was dulled. The usual brightness and spark in his eyes was replaced with a perpetual look of worry. He didn't look good.
"They do tests," Beast Boy said softly. He saw Robin's smile fad. Robin was smart enough to know what was going on when Beast Boy said "tests". "Most of the time they are…very painful," Beast Boy went on with no emotion. To coup with the pain, the green teen had blocked out most of those memories.
"I…I don't know how much of this I can take," Beast boy said to Robin, emotion returning to his voice again. "I think they are doing the same to Raven. Sometimes she talks to me in my head. We're being broken down, Robin. We can't last much longer."
Robin put his hands on Beast Boy's shoulders and told him seriously, "I promise you, I'm getting my team out of this cruel place, even if it kills me. I swear these people, whoever they are, will pay for what they have done to my team! You and Raven just need to hold on till the time comes. Please, Beast Boy, fight through this. Tell Raven to do the same next time you talk. Promise me I won't have to take one less member home!"
"Dude, Robin, you know your team," Beast Boy said with a grin. "Just the thought of you out there scheming against these people will keep me and Raven going." Beast Boy's eyes darkened as he added, "Anger is the one thing fueling us right now."
Robin smiled wryly. "You couldn't have said it better," he said. "Let's just say getting brainwashed is not a fun thing for your mind to go through."
"So why do you need my help?" Beast Boy asked after a slight pause between them.
Robin's cheeks flushed slightly before he asked, "Besides throwing starbolts, what else does Starfire do?"
Beast Boy looked at Robin with confusion for a second. "Like as in power wise?" he asked. Robin nodded, too ashamed to speak. "She can fly," Beast Boy said slowly with perplexity in his voice.
"She can?" Robin asked.
"How much of your memory did they erase?" Beast Boy asked in shock. The changeling's heart went out for his leader when seeing the teen look down with a sad expression on his usual masked face. He had never seen Robin so distressed. It kind of scared him.
Robin had always been strong, the perfect image of a leader in Beast Boy's eyes. Sure, sometimes Robin got on Beast Boy's nerves because he was so serious all the time and they had no similar interests, but the two were like brothers. Seeing Robin like this was all new to Beast Boy.
"Don't worry too much about it, dude," Beast Boy quickly told Robin. "Starfire can fly, throw starbolts, has lasers in her eyes, and has super strength." He paused before asking, "You sure you want to fight her?"
"Fighting her is not the problem," Robin said with a sigh. He didn't remember Starfire having that many powers. "Its winning that will be the difficult part," he told Beast Boy. "She's not going to hold back on me. She has no clue who I am."
"Um…good luck on that, dude," Beast Boy said, trying not to sound dubious about Robin ever winning against her. He tentatively patted his leader on the shoulder and forced a smile. Robin stared hard back at Beast Boy for a long moment before smiling weakly.
"So here we go," Robin said with another sigh.
"Hey, we're Titans," Beast Boy told Robin. It was awkward for Beast Boy to be the one cheering up Robin, but he was able to manage. "We've done the impossible before. Just…don't get yourself killed." He put up his right hand for a high-five.
"Nice advice," Robin said sarcastically before high-fiving the Titan.
-Few Hours Later-
The Arena sat in the dead center of the underwater Stellar Academy. The place was at least four stories high with steel floors and ceilings. The rounded walls were all bullet proof glass so that onlookers from all levels could observe the fights that took place there. Boxes with glass flooring on the ceiling gave others a bird's eye view of the brutal and sometimes deadly battles.
In one of these hanging boxes stood two rival brothers. Derek had his hands clasped together behind his back, a smug smile planed on his face. Gerard stood on the other side of the cube room with his arms folded in front of his chest. A scowl had seemed to have crept up upon his usual charismatic features recently. It was obvious that he was worried somewhat about the battle soon to take place.
"You're actually worried about you assignment, Gerard?" Derek asked his brother. Gerard looked up at Derek but stayed silent. "You shouldn't care about his life," Derek continued without meeting Gerard's steady gaze. "But of course you've always been attached to whomever they assign you to."
Gerard narrowed his eyes on his brother in disgust, but still managed to keep his mouth firmly shut. He was as great as Slade when it came down to holding in his anger and distaste. No amount of taunting could make him explode.
Under his breath, but just loud enough so his brother could hear, Derek muttered, "Hopefully Robin won't turn out like his last one." It took everything in Gerard not to react.
-In the Arena-
Starfire confidently walked to the center of the Arena's circle-like room. A kid around her age was standing there with a white and green striped shirt on. He was the referee. His only job was to tell the two opponents their rules before running for cover.
The alien girl observed Robin without much care. The teen was just as confident in his winning of the battle as she was, but she didn't need to worry. He had no powers. This would be a very easy win if she used her super strength and flying powers. She had already plotted out all the possibilities of the moves he would make and how she would counteract them. Even now she could visualize her last move to finish him off and be victorious. She was still debating if she wanted to kill him at the end or not.
Robin watched Starfire with narrowed eyes as he summed her up. He had had an hour to come up with something to help him with this fight. Only one battle plan had stuck. His performance had to be perfect, though. He could not afford to deviate for a second. As he walked to the center, Robin excessively reviewed his plan over and over again in his head.
"Okay you two," the referee said to the opponents, "You guys start here in the middle. When you hear the buzzer that means you guys can go at each other all you want. The Academy encourages you two to fight till the other says they have given up or unconscious, but you are allowed to go to the death if you wish to do so. When the battle starts, you can use or do anything to win. Any questions?" The two opponents shook their heads no. The ref nodded before running off to the side of the room where a door swooshed open to let him out.
A knot formed in Robin's stomach when he heard the door lock shut behind the ref. For a brief second the teen let himself close his eyes and focus. He knew what he was doing. He would be fine.
The buzzer blasted loudly into the room, putting both teens into the fray.
Robin ducked rolled just as Starfire shot straight over his head in flight. The teen was quick to be back on his feet and high into the air. Starfire gave a frustrated growl as she doubled back only to realize Robin had predicted both her moves. The teen soared gracefully over the girl's head and landed lightly behind her.
Starfire wasted no time at coming at Robin. With a loud battle yell, the alien swirled on her heel with her other leg executing a strong roundhouse kick. Robin managed to avoid the attack and then the series of fierce punches thrown at him. He dodged with such speed and agility, the mass crowd of teens who had shown up actually laughed and cheered him on.
Suddenly Robin made his move. He grabbed Starfire's arm that had been extended in mid punch to hold her firm. With a quick battle yell, he brought up his knee and shoved it into her gut. He spun to his side and rammed his elbow straight into her solar plexus before roundhouse kicking her to the side.
The crowd watching outside the room shook their heads in shock when seeing the alien girl fall onto her back. They had never seen a normal human do that to someone with powers before. It was at this very instant that the fight got interesting. The crowd only got bigger.
Robin waited patiently for Starfire to get back to her feet. He had never hurt her that way before. He didn't allow himself to be effected by this, though. He was calm and collected. The battle was going just as he planned. He was now in complete control.
Starfire's confidence and pride had been seriously tarnished by now. Her anger had been heated up to a small boil. She didn't let the emotion take over, though. So the normal human had outsmarted her for a second, she had to get over it. She got to her feet with a scowl. Her brilliant emerald eyes narrowed onto Robin with a loathsome darkness in them.
For a second or two, the two opponents stared at each other. Robin didn't dare make the first move. He hated to admit it, but Slade had taught him a few very useful fighting techniques. Being the first to make a move usually wasn't a good idea. Doing so meant you were rash and not thinking ahead. Slade had taught the boy to be more patient, but it was very unlikely for the man ever to receive a thank you from the teen.
Starfire suddenly shot high into the air like a missile on a mission to obliterate an enemy's camp. Robin watched her closely as she flew all the way to the ceiling then positioned herself so she was facing him. The girl pushed off the ceiling with her two feet and blasted downward with tremendous speed.
Robin held his ground till the last second. He nimbly did a few skillful flips to the side just as the alien girl rushed past him. The boy kept Starfire in his sights the whole time. For a few more minutes Starfire tried rushing him, but every time Robin deftly jumped or flipped out of the way.
"Stay still, human!" Starfire shouted her frustration at Robin as she hovered above him to catch her breath. Robin watched her silently with his face expressionless.
Starfire decided it was time to pull out the big guns. Her eyes glowed ominously as she created starbolts in both her hands. Robin faked his surprise by widening his eyes when he saw this. With battle yells, Starfire started to fling her green starbolts at Robin. The teen on the ground scrambled to dodge her attacks. Everywhere he ran he was met with a green haze, inches away from being blown away.
Robin let Starfire throw her starbolts at him for a few minutes to make it look like he was on the defense. He had to make it look like the fight was random and impromptu on his part. It was almost comical how it was all coming together. The crowd behind the glass bought the whole thing. Didn't they notice how ridiculous this was? They didn't see how well informed Robin was with Starfire's powers?
Finally, Robin thought he had had enough of dodging starbolts. He ran straight for the glass wall. He ran up the slick surface till he felt gravity trying to force him back to the earth. He bent his knees then pushed off the glass, heading straight for Starfire.
The alien girl saw him coming and prepared for the impact. Just as Robin slammed into her in mid air, she latched onto his wrists as he did hers. She tried to throw him into another wall, but he hung on tight to her wrists.
As the two struggled with grunts of frustration in the air, Robin brought up a leg and shoved his heel into Starfire's side. This pushed the girl over the edge. With a growl, she used all her strength to throw the other teen away and off of her.
Robin let out a yell of surprise as he found himself flying through the air away from Starfire. His back slammed roughly into the glass wall. Robin winced as it felt like every bone in his body was shattered like glass. He could faintly hear the kids behind the wall cheer for Starfire with violent loving liveliness.
Starfire sped over to Robin before he could fall back to the ground. She kept him pinned up against the wall with a knee shoved into his stomach. She flung her fist up to get a good punch in. All she needed was this one punch. She could knock him into a coma or better yet…smash his skull in and kill him like she would a pathetic cockroach. Nothing was keeping her from smashing him under her heel.
For a fleeting second, genuine fright crossed Robin's masked eyes. He had never seen Starfire like this. Her coldness and cruelty was something all new to him. He thought that maybe this close he could see a glimpse of his old Starfire in her eyes, but he saw nothing. Her narrowed eyes were hollow and filled with rage toward him. She had no second thoughts of killing him. It scared Robin that Starfire was even capable of doing so.
Her fist hit the glass as Robin dodged the punch, close to shattering the clear wall. Robin ignored the pressure crushing his gut as he contortioned his body so that both his legs wrapped around Starfire's neck. She gave a gurgled scream as the legs intertwined around her neck forced her away from Robin.
Once he was free, Robin fell toward the ground. He grabbed onto one of Starfire's ankles and dragged her toward the earth with him. Once his feet touched the floor, Robin grabbed more of Starfire's leg and swung her down to the ground. The girl didn't have time to fly away. She crashed to the floor with a cry of pain.
This was going to be the hard part for Robin. Now he had to be just as cold blooded as he had seen Starfire be. He wouldn't be allowed to wince, grimace, or show any hint of remorse as he took his fellow Titan down. There was no turning back. His goal was to win.
Starfire was just getting to her feet when Robin shot out with his heel to her head. The forceful blow to her skull made her stumble backwards with stars exploding across her vision. Robin struck again with a knee to her side and a fierce punch to the girl's face. The simultaneous moves managed to get a cry of pain from Starfire as she fell to her knees.
Robin hated himself a million times over as he came at Starfire with a few more powerful kicks and punches. He growled in disgust with himself. It took every logic bone in Robin's body to keep hitting Starfire. He just wanted it over and done with now. He wanted to stop this violence and run to his room and scream into his pillow.
His feelings almost overwhelmed him. Hot, stinging tears welded up in his eyes, threatening to escape him. What had reduced him to this vicious animal? This was not right at all!
And this whole time he could hear the cheers and whoops behind the thick glass walls. The onlookers' eyes were filled with excitement and thrill. None of them turned their heads away or closed their eyes as Robin accidentally punched Starfire's nose and drew blood. The crimson liquid actually produced more ovations from the blood lusting crowd of teens outside.
What kind of school let him do this to his friend? They were allowing him to beat the crap out of someone, even kill if he wished to do so! Robin's gut twisted into a sickening knot. The brainwashing not only erased all old memories, but somehow it planted this brutality, this cold malice.
Robin knew the second he knocked out Starfire. He stopped everything he was doing and watched her slump limply to the floor, her nose dripping fresh blood. Robin gasped for breath, not because he was out of it; but because he felt like he was sinking into oblivion. The world swirled wildly around him.
He couldn't look at Starfire anymore. He turned around with his eyes closed, trying to look as composed as he most possibly could. He hoped the crowd couldn't see him shake uncontrollably. He would NEVER do that to a friend again! Stellar Academy was going to pay for what they were doing to him and his team!
Anger for the place he was now trapped and boiling inside of Robin as he walked out of the Arena and into a cheering crowd. It was time to get himself and his team out of there. But first, he needed a plan…and someone from the inside to help him with it.
-Above the Arena-
Gerard could feel his brother's anger even though he didn't as much as glance at him. The air in the room was dry and slowly started to heat up. Derek was on the brink of exploding with fury. His eyes full of malice glared down on Robin as the teen left the Arena barely scathed.
"I guess I really shouldn't have worried," Gerard finally said as he looked over to his brother. Derek glared daggers at him. Gerard put his hands in his pockets and casually strolled over to the door of the room.
"Where are you going?" Derek asked in a low growl.
"I need a break of all this nonsense," Gerard told his brother in a nonchalant, almost cheerful voice. "The Arena is like a video game to me…if you play it too often, eventually it gets boring. See you in a few hours at dinner. Hopefully Starfire will be well enough to be there too."
"Smart ass," Derek spat back.
"You love colorful language, don't you?" Gerard asked, his charming grin finally returning to his features. He gave a bow to his brother before leaving the room humming the tune of A Pirates Life for Me, his trademark song.
With hands curling into tight fists, Derek glared down at Robin. How did the Titan know how to take Starfire down so well? It didn't matter, though. Derek was convinced that Robin was not fully under his Master's control yet. Susan had said that there had been a few difficulties when they tried to brainwash Robin. Derek knew Robin had staged this whole fight.
And somehow Derek felt that Gerard knew as well. What bothered Derek, though, was not that Robin was still his old self and plotting to escape. He worried about Gerard not doing anything about it. Gerard used to love the Arena and his brothers, until someone else stole his love. Derek had thought that Gerard was over that old love, but now he was second guessing the loyalty of his brother.
"I'll be watching both of you very closely," Derek promised to the non present Gerard and Robin. A slick, evil smile returned to the kid's lips. He couldn't wait to catch them in the act and kill them off. Soon there would be two less nuisances in the world.
A/N: Whew! Writing that fight scene was exciting! The next chapter should be out this weekend or the next. I'm still in the middle of typing it. I know what I want with it now; I just don't have enough time to work on it. By the way, reviews motivate me to post sooner. So please review!