Chapter 9-A Bird Reborn
When Robin awoke once more from his sleep in the silence of the legendary Bat Cave he felt strong again. In fact he felt better then strong; he felt dare he think it...invincible. However, the feeling he had was short lived when he heard voices coming from the Bat Computer that showed Batman on the giant screen talking to Alfred and Raven. "Listen you two I found Slade's hideout, but it's guarded like a fortress. Cyborg, Beast Boy, Starfire, are here with me to start the attack so I need Robin and yourself Raven to come back to Jump City to attack while his guard is down when he is occupied with us. I want you to come to these coordinates immediately when you get back to the city to start the attack when we get captured. Understand?" said Batman causing Robin's eyes to go wide with shock with what he just heard.
It was fortunate that neither Alfred, Raven, nor Batman knew he was awake at the moment. "I take it sir that the roast I prepared for tonight will be wrapped up and given to the orphanage in east Gotham?" said Alfred whose question was not really a question, but more of a fact.
"Yes Alfred. I want you to send the roast along with a complimentary card to the children in the orphanage. Now back to the task at hand. When Robin awakens I want you to give him the new prototype Robin outfit I designed for him. Its colors aren't exactly the same as he's used to, but I think he'll get used to it in time," said Batman with a small smile on his face hinting something of a surprise was coming.
"Yes sir I will do this things post haste," said Alfred who bowed in a traditional butler fashion that made Robin smile a little knowing that originally Alfred was a secret British Agent before becoming the butler of Bruce Wayne AKA the Batman.
"Good. Batman out," said Batman and the transmission ended.
"Well that sure sounded interesting," said Robin scaring both Raven and Alfred almost out their skin.
"ROBIN! DON'T DO THAT!" said Raven getting so angry that she caused some of the cave around them to quake because of it.
Robin raised his palms up in defense smiling indicating he was sorry while Alfred went over to what looked like a standing coffin form the late middle ages. "Well now your up Master Robin now is the perfect time to show you the new armor that your father has made for you during his spare time," said Alfred as he unlocked the coffin and opened it.
"Since when did Batman ever have any spare time on his hands?" said Robin raising an eyebrow.
"You would be surprised at how well your father's time management skills are when it comes to managing a single day," said Alfred as the coffin opened up all the way revealing the new Robin outfit.
Whoa!" said Robin in surprise.
"Nice!" said Raven as she eyed the uniform from head to toe.
The new Robin suit was different in many ways from what Robin was used to wearing everyday when he was at the tower. The main difference was the colors, which were darker, and more threatening look to them. The red, green, and yellow colors he normally wore were replaced by black, silver colored streaked arms as well as legs, and chest with a big dark red Robin bird symbol on the center of the chest area. It also didn't have a cape anymore, but from the looks of it a cape would only hinder its performance.
The utility belt in itself was something similar to what Slade always wore around his waist, but with some differences in the design. "This suit was designed to stop bullets, fire both natural as well as unnatural, and can enhance the wearers normal speed, strength, and senses 3X what they were before with the new advanced internal cyber enhancer system," said Alfred as Robin walked towards the new suit with eager excitement.
"I see I get a new mask with this new outfit," said Robin saw a new smaller version of his original mask, but it looked like it could still cover his eyes like the one he was currently wearing.
"Yes Master Robin. This mask is more compact then your original, but just as effective as if it were the original," said Alfred as Robin removed it from the coffin.
"Well I might as wear it and test it out," said Robin.
He looked at Raven who nodded as her face had a small red blush on it as she turned around and walked to a different area of the cave. "I'll be over here somewhere doing some much needed mediating. Tell me when you're ready and I'll teleport us to the coordinates Batman gave us," said Raven as she levitated herself near the Bat mobile even though some of her emotions were whispering to her to take a peek at Robin getting into his new uniform.
'I just need to focus on my meditation and not on HIM right now. If I do I may regret it later,' thought Raven as she levitated in Indian style and started chanting like she did back home.
Unfortunately, for her Robin was ready as soon as she had nearly begun her meditation and what she saw turned her face into a color that made her look like she had gotten a tan in the Bahamas or a tanning booth. "My Raven with that color no one would ever think you stayed away from the sun most of your life," said Robin whose physical physic was clearly noticeable in the upper body area as well as the leg muscles themselves.
Raven whistled in amazement at what she saw and like. "Nice Boy Wonder, I just wish I could have seen you take off the mask," said Raven only to cover her mouth out of shock of what she just said to Robin.
Robin himself however, paid no mind to what she just said and smiled at her as if it didn't surprise him at all. "When this is over I show you and maybe it won't be such a riddle to you when you think about it," said Robin who saw Raven eyes widen with even more shock.
"How did..." said Raven, but was cut off.
"I know?" said Robin finishing her sentence.
"Yeah," said Raven as she nodded her head.
"Let's just say I picked up a few words that Slade was speaking when he was reading your diary that I remembered when I was sleeping in the med-lab here," said Robin who saw Raven blush redden even more.
"Did he read anything bad about you?" said Raven
"I don't know. It's your diary. Did you write some bad things about me?" said Robin with a raised eyebrow, but with a grin still on his face.
"I'd...rather not say," said Raven who was showing a little bit of the emotion that was timid when she looked at him.
"Not to break this little conversation up Master Robin and Mistress Raven, but time is of essence here," said Alfred who scared the both of them nearly out of their skin.
"ALFRED! DON'T DO THAT! NOW I KNOW WHERE I GET IT FROM!" said Robin who hated being snuck up on as did Raven who just had a fiery look in her eye.
"Sorry sir it's a force of habit," said Alfred though perfectly calm on the outside mentally smiled to himself at scaring the two titans.
"We better go if were to catch up with Batman and the others," said Raven and Robin nodded in agreement as she covered herself and Robin in her dark magic that formed into a Raven to teleport them to the designated spot Batman left them.
"Young people," said Alfred as he went upstairs into Wayne Manor to package up the roast he had made earlier.
(During that time in Jump City in Slade's hideout)
"Hello titans. Batman...my very much-hated enemy. If you noticed Batman...you are hung in mid-air through steel chains tied around the wrist over a pit of steel spikes with my Slade bots watching you at every corner of the pit. Starfire...you are covered in the high-tech energy draining web that is attached to the ground, which for you is tightly compressed titanium. You will be trapped in the web no matter what you do unless I turned the energy for the web off on the control unit on his wrist, but that would never happen. For you Cyborg...while your backup power unit is keeping you alive I have you restrained with chains linked with multi-EMP bombs. If you tried to break the chains the bombs would go off and destroy the mechanical part of you that keeps the human half of you alive. Beast Boy...you are pinned to a wall with electrodes hooked up to the chest area with most of the area with sensors on your forehead that could tell what animal you are thinking of transforming into before you even did it. Seconds before you utilize any transformation you will be shocked with 10,000 volt of solid electricity that will kill you before your transformation is complete. Impressive isn't it?" said Slade quite happy at the look of the three titans and his hated nemesis as they scowled at him intensely.
"I've been imprisoned in far worse cases Slade so don't flatter yourself. Besides...we won't be like this for long," said Batman in a cold and unafraid voice.
Slade turned to Batman and walked over to the Dark Knight with curiosity in his one good. "Oh really my old comrade of the shadows? Hmmm. You apparently seem to be in possession of some information that I don't have or else you would not have such a calm, confident, and...yet serious look on your face," said Slade as he put a cupped hand on his masked metal chin as he watched Batman dangled in mid-air.
"Let's just say that the Joker isn't the only villain who has an ace up their sleeves," said Batman with a small smile that made Slade even more suspicious.
(Meanwhile outside...)
Raven along with Robin had just arrived at the same spot that Batman and the others had and were surveying the scene for about 15 minutes. "Are you sure you are up to this type of thing again Robin?" said Raven with more then enough concern in her voice to get Robin's attention from the complex to her.
Robin just smiled at her like he always did before answering her. "To be honest Rae...I'm scared out of my mind," said Robin as he turned back to facing the complex that held his mentor and friends in the hands of the merciless villain that was Slade.
"But I thought you faced your fear's and won back at the cave," said Raven with clear confusion in her voice.
Robin chuckled a little under his breath. "I conquered my greatest fear Raven. There are fears that I have that I've had to face head on in my life. You read some of the reports and the things I did in Gotham with Batman when I was younger. The criminals I fought, the insane psychopaths that brought Gotham to a brink of destruction, and every other thing I've possibly done for most of my youth. You know better then anyone Rae that there are other fears in my mind other then Slade I keep locked up in my head," said Robin as he took out a pair of binoculars and eyed the surroundings of the complex that looked like a recent battle had just taken place.
"Wait! How did you know I looked at your file? I never told that to anyone I only wrote it down in my...diary," said Raven angrily who started give Robin a death glare at the back of his skull.
Robin rubbed the back of his head as his face turned to see Raven who had fire coming out of her eyes. "Would you believe I remembered that from when Slade was reading your diary out loud?" said Robin nervously knowing he had been caught with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar.
"You didn't get beaten to a point that you could understand Slade did you?" said Raven just as angry as her previous statement.
Robin stopped being nervous and let out a sigh as if he was about to tell Raven a very personal truth, "Raven I'm not going to lie to you about this. In fact, I was intending to come clean about the whole situation after this was over in a more...private place, but I guess this will do," said Robin looking around briefly before Raven pulled on the new suit with anger as she stared at him face to face.
"Intended huh?" said Raven who saw Robin poker face served him well once more.
"Yeah, but you had to act like a female Sherlock Holmes and forced me to play my hand in this matter. After Slade had been beaten me bloody he thought that he would show me what he was reading, which in truth was...your diary. He read a few pages out loud from the writings of Bravery, Intelligence, and then finally YOU as in yourself in general. That is when I knew that you secretly...loved me. I had actually intended to tell you about what I feel and...that I love you the same way, but as I said before Rae you kinda forced my hand in this matter," said Robin in a casual tone of voice.
Deep down he secretly hoped that Raven wouldn't punch him out of disgust for the lying he had done before hand about him not reading her diary and then saying he remembered some things when sleeping.
Fortunately, the powers that be were in his favor at that moment as Raven just stood their frozen in a state of shock. To Robin it seemed like an emotional free for all in her eyes that lead to the depths of her mind as she now looked like a living statue with shock on her face. "You...love...me...too?" said Raven in a nearly unheard voice.
Robin nodded his head. "Yeah Rae I do. I realized that what I had with Starfire was just nothing more then a feeling to protect someone that I had a puppy love crush on. But with you I feel more from you because I know you're in some ways...like me. You know the old saying 'Bird of a feather flock together' well...in this case...'you're MY bird Raven. The bird that I flock with when I need strength, guidance, and insight into things I don't generally understand that you do or when things get tough. When were together we are well...invincible and I wouldn't want to be apart from you whether we were Teen Titans or not because...I love you Rae," said Robin with a heart warming smile.
Inside Raven's mind at that moment all the key emotions that had pushed and hoped for this moment were going nuts inside her head. Intelligence smiled for once, Bravery did her version of Cyborg's booya, Timid fainted and looked like she had died with a flower on her chest, and Happiness had heart shaped eyes as she fluttered all over the place with her feet flapping like wings.
In truth, her mind was in total chaos, but with some concentration, the real Raven was able to get them to fall back in line and promised them they could go nuts later when this whole situation with Slade was over. "So I take it were going to keep this a secret from the others right? Especially from Starfire since she refers to you as 'her boy'...right?" said Raven finally as she stared at the mask that hid his real eyes that she desperately wanted to see.
Robin chuckled remembering how Starfire got jealous at any girl who tried to get his affection. "Yeah Rae I'm afraid so. When we get back I'll have to let Star know I don't like her in the way she does with me. Hopefully I can contain the problem that is her very unique jealousy and convince her not to knock the head off of the special someone who did capture my heart," said Robin making Raven blush a little.
"Yeah well before we go into that little problem why don't we focus on this much bigger problem first," said Raven as she gave head gesture towards Slade's hideout.
Robin just nodded in agreement and held her pale white hand. "Together then," said Robin.
"Flocking together I think would be more appropriate," said Raven smiling back as she kissed on the lips before breaking it and they turned their attention to Slade's hideout as they began their attack on the unsuspecting villain.