Chapter 13 - And so it begins

After the whole "Robin incident" fiasco life in the tower was getting back to normal with every day that passed. Due to the fact that Rage was now doing the research Robin had plenty of time to rehabilitate his situation with the team and be closer to Starfire during her time of pregnancy.

At first Robin thought this was going to be a disaster considering that Rage couldn't manage all that work but contrary to what he might have assumed Rage was keeping him up to date daily with new data and didn't even complain though his lack of sleep was rather evident.

"This doesn't make sense!" Robin said to himself one day "Why is he so keen on catching Slade? Sure he hates bad guys ... we all do ...but why spend all this time trying to figure out what Slade is planning as if he was your mortal enemy? Could it be because of the teeth he's missing? Could he consider that as a disgrace? Or is he really bent on catching every criminal he lays eyes on?"

He knew he couldn't get a straight answer and also knew that Rage wouldn't just barge in and tell him why he's working so hard.

"Just let him work" a voice in Robin's head said "After all, you'll be benefiting from his work too. For now, be quiet ... ask questions later"

He didn't like it but Robin played along asking himself why would his friend keep things from him after all this time.

With days passing by, Slade not showing any sign of activity, things beginning to cool down, Robin decided to leave these kinds of matters for later notice. After all, he had much more important things to attend to then pondering about the background of an unstable team mate.

It was a bright November morning in Jump City and the day started very promising. After breakfast all the titans, except Rage of course, went out to the park for a walk. It was something they didn't do for a long while so they decided to go out and spend some quality time together just like they did before.

Starfire was now the center of attention and was in her 2'nd month. Everyone was kind and careful with her and were always there to make her pregnancy a quiet one but no one was more protective of her as Robin.

The two were almost inseparable and Robin wouldn't let the mother of his child raise even a finger. When she needed something he would provide it. Secretly both of them knew how all this will end. Robin decided to propose to Starfire after she gave birth and Starfire decided to accept his proposal if he asked such a thing but until then they would just live a quiet life and wait for their offspring to be born.

Raven and Beast Boy were now even closer then ever. Seeing the way Robin and Starfire got closer made their bond even tighter. They were both thinking about one thing: "If Robin and Star have a child, and things go okay, that means we can have a child of our own one day". They were spending a lot of time together and both of them changed completely. Raven wasn't the quiet and depressing goth girl she was before and BB wasn't the prankster he used to be. They became more mature and were now acting normal and even if Raven still liked to sometimes stay alone, and even if BB couldn't help himself from a joke or a prank now and then, they were still the lovable couple everyone in the tower admired for growing up together.

After hearing Star was pregnant Cyborg immediately considered it was his duty to see that she is always okay. Considering her as his little sister he swore to himself that if anything went wrong he would never forgive himself and that if anyone would try and harm her he would crush him (or her if it was the case) on the spot. In fact Cyborg loved Starfire just as much as Robin did but not in the sense of a relationship. And even so, with all the caring going around, he still had time to hang out with Robin and the other two love birds and give a word of advice or just a thought of wisdom when ever it was needed.

While walking down the sidewalks of the park the titans noticed all the people who seemed pleased to see them act like normal folks. Ever since Robin and Starfire and BB and Raven hooked up everyone in the city noticed them holding hands and knew that romance was now present up in titans tower. This wasn't a big surprise as people usually talked about how Robin would look good next to Starfire, but it was still a nice confirmation none the less.

While stopping for a breather they could see the people sometimes peeking at them and could hear them gossip or talk as they passed.

"I told you BB had a thing for Raven, you owe me 5$ ... They look so sweet together don't they?"
"Robin and Starfire really are together, good for them!"
"Check it out, they're holding hands. I told ya they were made for each other"

These were just a few phrases the titans could hear but acted like they didn't. Star and Raven would sometimes even giggle at hearing what people said and the boys liked the attention quite a lot.

The fact that people were happy to see them outside and talked about them meant that they still loved the titans and respected them not only as true heroes, but as real people too. This was actually a sort of relief for the titans because they haven't been so active frequently as crime was at a stand still and didn't know what people thought about them and assumed that they weren't so popular with the cities folk anymore.

After grabbing a couple of pizzas the titans headed back to the tower and planed what to do later on.

At the tower BB and Cyborg decided to play the game console to pass the time. As they played Raven was paying attention to their game and congratulated her boyfriend when he would win. Needles to say, Cyborg couldn't contain himself and just had to make a witty comment about Beast Boy that rocked his socks off, all to Cy and Raven's amusement.

Robin and Starfire sat down next to the window and talked. They liked the view of the city, especially in the afternoon when the clouds would turn orange and the light would reflect off the surface of the water on to the windows and the sandy shores of the island.

"Robin, I was thinking, do you think our child will be a boy or a girl?" asked Starfire with a bright smile

"Hmm, I never thought about that" replied Robin a little intrigued "But come to think about it, it doesn't matter. I don't care what our child will be; the important thing is that we will have a family and a child to raise and that nothing will separate us".

"And you will be a good father, yes?"

"I'll be one of the best" Robin replied kissing her "And you will be a good mother, right Princes?"

"No doubt I shall be the best mother a bumgorf can ask for" she replied smiling "Yet, I was pondering, what name should we give to our child?"

For a moment Robin thought about her question but was interrupted.

"Are you alright?" she asked

"What? Oh yeah, I was only thinking about what you said"

"Well I have a suggestion. I was thinking that if we would have a son you should be the one to name him and if we have a daughter I could the one that names her".

"Yeah, that might work, it's a good idea" replied Robin happy of his loved one's proposal.

"So do you have a specific name you would like to give to our child if he is a boy?"

Robin thought about it and several names popped up into his mind but he wasn't sure which one to pick. After a few moments he decided.

"How about Bruce? What do you think of this name?" he asked

"It is a good name, but please, is not Bruce the name of your former mentor, the Batman?" Starfire asked trying not to remember Robin to much about Bruce Wayne.

"Yes it is, that's why I picked it" he replied.

"Correct me if I am wrong please, but I thought you and the Batman were not on speaking terms anymore and you have separated from his side because you had a misunderstanding. If it is so and you and the Batman do not talk to each other anymore why have you chosen this name?"

"Well Princes what you said was right" said Robin confirming what Star knew about his relation with his former mentor "Yeah, me and Bruce had our fair share of arguments and we might not talk that much now and I did go my own way thus upsetting him, but still, I can't forget that he was the one that raised me, the one who took me into his home, and the one who taught me everything I know today. Even if I'm mad at him I can't forget him and I decided to pick this name in his honor"

"I understand, you still honor the Batman do you not?"

"Yes, of course I do, but enough about that, did you think of a name for our child if it'll be a girl?" he asked trying to avoid a discussion about Batman and his past.

"Oh yes, for a long time actually. I think we should call her Mar'i "

"As in Mary or Maria or something like that?"

"No, Mar'i is a tamaranean name. In translation it would have the approximate meaning as the word 'pride' ".

"That's a well thought up name, I like it".

Yup! Everyone was feeling alright, they didn't have a care in the world. It's like they even forgot they were super heroes, it was a feeling they always loved to experience.

The clock now read 4:30. Things were going on okay until the titans heard the door slide open and Rage coming inside studying a map of the city. At first they thought he just came down to have some lunch while continuing his research.

"Hey was'up Rage? There's some pizza on the table if you're hungry" said Cyborg who was paying attention to the screen in front of him.

"Yeah, help yourself dude! You can have some of my veggie pizza if you want" sounded BB who didn't want to seem rude.

"Thanks, but I am not hungry. Robin! Can I have a word with you? There is something I think you should see" he called out.

Robin didn't notice him as he was hung up in his discussion with Starfire so Rage's call came to him like an abrupt awakening.

"Huh? Oh yeah, sure" he replied getting up and walking along side Star escorting her to the couch.

"I hope I am not interrupting anything, am I?" said Rage trying not to sound sarcastic.

"Neah, it's alright. So what was it that you want me to see?" asked Robin observing his friend.

While Rage was working on the data his friend gave him Robin decided to keep a close eye on him and his habits but didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Even so, it seemed that even he took work too seriously. He looked like he suffered from sleep depravation, he had bags under his eyes, his usually short trimmed beard had now grown and even if he said he was okay his lack of sleep and relaxation was more than evident.

"One second!" said Rage as he lighted up a cigarette and then unfolded a marked map of Jump City on the kitchen counter. "I think I might have found something interesting. I've read your notes on Slade's possible location and I found out why his last three bases were situated in sectors 13, 14 and 15".

"Because of the underground volcanic source of sectors 13 and 15 and the abandoned iron factory in sector 14? I already knew that!" he replied sounding not so impressed about Rage's find.

"No, it is not about that, look at this" said Rage pointing to a line on the map. What first appeared to be a road of sorts now turned into a very interesting detail. The map was not a surface one, it was the underground map of Jump City, and the road Robin observed was actually an underground water source that extended from the north side of the city all the way down to the south-east side. And the important thing was that Slade's last bases were situated near that water line.

"It's an underground river" Robin whispered to himself "Of course, that's what he's been using as an energy source. Rage, that's great!".

"Yes, but let us not jump to conclusions, it is still only a theory, but since all we can do for now is speculate and come with theories I think this one is more likely to be real".

"Maybe. So let's see, if Slade needs energy then it's most likely for him to use this river as an energy source right?"

"That is my theory and I think I came up with a few possible locations were he might have placed his base of operations now".

"Alright, tell me ..." replied Robin who was eager to hear what his friend came up with.

"Slade built his bases starting from the south-east and continuing up-wards toward the centre and so on. If my guess is correct, his next base should be situated somewhere aroun - "

As Rage talked, the sound of Robin's communicator cut his speech short, startling the two who were in deep concentration. Robin checked to see what the problem was and all of the titans were paying attention now. All of the sudden the tower alarm rang. This wasn't a good sign as the tower alarm wouldn't go off if it wasn't a grade A emergency. Robin went towards the screen and changed it to PC mode logging into the emergency system to see what was happening. A map of the city came up and he could now see what was happening. Apparently there were three simultaneous explosions in the city, one on Palms Boulevard, one at the Cedar Street Subway Station and one at the 14'th police precinct.

"All of these explosions were simultaneous" said Robin as his left hand seemed to be shaking.

Everyone knew what it was, they all knew what was going on, but they didn't want to admit it.

"Coincidence?" asked Cyborg shrugging.

"Coincidence my green butt, it has to be a terrorist attack" replied Beast Boy.

"Since when did he end up becoming a terrorist?" asked Raven. The way she phrased that last question made everyone sweat and their hearts almost skipped a beat. They didn't want to admit it was him, even if it was more then evident.

"Raven, shhh" Starfire whispered as everyone was now paying attention both to her and to the map on the screen.

A moment of silence engulfed the tower as the titans thought about the situation at hand. Their facial expressions betrayed them and the titans realized that they all knew what was going on.

Robin stepped away from the computer and wanted to address his team mates who were now facing him when a sound coming from the computer stopped him in his tracks.

"Incoming call. Phone number: unknown. Location: Jump City"

They watched the screen with panic in their hearts. Every time they would get a call from the legal authorities like the police or the mayor they would also get the number of the caller screened. After the computer voice stopped the worst happened, for on the whole screen appeared Slade's insignia.

At the sight of this the titans gasped and gulped, all except for Rage who dropped his cigarette and swiftly jumped to his side hiding behind the couch.

"Rage what in the world are you doing?" asked Robin

"Shhh, act as if I am not here" replied Rage with a quick and violent whisper.

"Greetings titans" an almost macabre voice sounded "I hope I am not interrupting you from your free time now ... am I?". Yes, it was Slade, and he was alive and kicking.

The cynical way Slade asked the question made Robin's bones shiver both with fear and hate at the same time and he didn't even see his face on the monitor yet. He turned around to face him and there he was, standing proud, chest out and his hands behind his back.

"Remember what Rage said! He's going to try and mess with your mind again!" Robin said to himself not knowing how to deal with what was happening.

"Slade, I should've known it was you behind those explosions" said Robin sounding more hateful than afraid or surprised.

"What're you up to now Slade? Why did you blow those places up, huh?" shouted Raven who lost control of her temper.

"Raven, please ... as if I would truly want you to know what I am planning for the future. And then again why tell you when I could enjoy seeing you struggling and trying to find clues that might lead you to my objective before I get there? Huh-huh, in fact I think it will be rather amusing seeing you fail".

"So why terrorism Slade? You think you can prove a point if you blow up things and hurt innocent people?" asked Cyborg with a calm tone trying to cool down the atmosphere in the tower.

"Prove a point?" Slade repeated sounding amused "My dear boy, explosions are only one of my many hobbies. I blow up things for the sheer fun of it. Is it my fault that people get in between me and my hobbies and end up as victims? I believe not".

"You are a bad and sick man Slade" screamed Starfire as if she was offended "You do not care about the lives of others ..."

Robin slowly pulled Starfire back rubbing her shoulders to calm her down. Rage was right, Slade played a good mind-game of "piss your enemies off so as to distract them".

"Enough chit-chat Slade! Cut to the chase, why did you call us?" asked Robin playing it cool and not falling into his rivals trap like the rest of his team.

"I missed you dearly and I wanted to be sure you hadn't forgotten me" he replied in a more than sarcastic manner. "Consider this only the beginning of what will follow. My next attacks will be even greater in intensity. If you wish to catch me you're going to have to keep your eyes pealed. Ta-ta titans, it was nice seeing you again!" he said, after which the screen went black.