Chapter 16 – The test of weakness

Part 1 - Captivity

Flashback

Cyborg: "He's not coming back you know. That's all that's left of him, nothing but dust."

Starfire:"You said you would never hurt me, yet, you have just did that! You were the one I trusted the most, the one I loved, the one I have offered my body to, and now this is how you act? Telling me to go away? Robin, look at me and say something."

Raven: "Robin, your heart, you're in danger! You have to trust me, Slade isn't here, he's not in the tower."

Beast Boy: "When you were working for Slade did we give up on you?"

Rage: "My point is that he knows you are at some level obsessed with him and he uses this to his advantage. He doesn't attack yet because he knows that you will look for him if he acts out, he knows that you will not stop searching for him, and most of all he knows you will blame yourself and eventually have a break down."

Robin's parents: "We are proud of everything that you have done Richie, and all the people that you have helped are proud and glad that someone like you exists."

Slade: "You can't even touch me … How can you save a city Robin if you can't save yourself? … Robin, if you stopped me, then why am I still here?"

Starfire: "I love you too much, I will surely not bare loosing you"

Slade:"No Robin, I wont stop. Not now, not ever. I am the thing that keeps you up at night, the evil that haunts every dark corner of your mind. I will never rest …"

Robin's parents: "Go the right way Richard, go the right way! Remember these words and they will help you"

End of flashback

He opened his now heavy eye lids and felt the numbness in his body going away. He thought he died but when he tried to move into the fogy darkness in front of him he realized both his hands and feet were cuffed.

He wasn't dead, he was only captive.

At first he was glad he didn't die but the situation at hand didn't satisfy him either. He looked around and his vision started to clear up. He was cuffed to a metal wall with no way of escaping and next to him he saw Beast Boy, Raven and Cyborg who were also held captive but with other shackles and in a semi circle.

"Hey, Robin woke up" said Cyborg with a tone in his voice that expressed relief.

"Where are we?" Robin asked mumbling "How did we get here? What happened?"

"Slade and his robots happened" replied Beast Boy

"After we split up he took us out one by one, tranquilized us and now we ended up here" said Raven completing what BB started.

"Slade!" whispered Robin to himself remembering what went on before and also his nemesis threat.

"So what happened to you?" asked Cyborg.

"Same thing. After I got your message I hurried out of the cave to help you but Slade followed me. We fought but he shot me in the neck with a tranquilizing dart and now here I am. Now come on, ugh, let's get out of here!" replied Robin grunting and desperately trying to free himself.

"It's no use man" said Cyborg "Slade's got us pinned to the wall for good; we're not getting out that easy".

After several attempts to brake free Robin finally stopped struggling. Cyborg was right; Slade had them shackled up well. For what exactly he didn't know but he was more than sure that it had something to do with torturing them.

He looked around the place and except for the lighted semi circle where he and his friends laid captive everything was dark. Even so he noticed something rather peculiar; he saw another pair of shackles on a wall. He knew Slade had planed this for along time and probably expected to also catch Starfire. This thought remembered him both of his loved one but also of Rage.

"Rage, what happened to him? You guys have any ideas?" asked Robin whispering

"We haven't heard from him since we split up, we have no idea where he is or if he's still alive" Raven replied quietly.

A moment of silence fell and after a few minutes of assessing the situation Robin finally spoke: "I wonder what Slade's got cooked up for us now that he has us captive"

"What ever it is I bet it's going to be something nasty" replied BB.

"Seeing how we're his prisoners we're practically at his mercy and I'm sure he's gonna try and –"

"Break you from the inside out?" interrupted a voice coming from the shadows.

In a blink of a second the surroundings lighted up and Slade's base was now clearly visible. When the lights were turned on they temporarily blinded the titans but after a shot while they looked up in front of them and saw Slade sitting on a throne-like chair polishing a gun.

His actual base wasn't very different from the ones that he formerly had. Computers, engines, sky walks, maps, weapons, an assembly line probably for his robot commandos, it was the same deal only this time Robin noticed in the far right of the base a flowing source of water. It was the underground river Rage mentioned. It seemed his hunch was indeed right.

Rage! For some reason Robin and the others were sure that he made it out safely and was on his way to help them. They knew that Slade could have seen him but they still hoped that their friend wasn't noticed. It seemed that Rage was now their only hope, but with out any word from him he could as well be lying dead or injured somewhere on the forest floor.

Slade stoop up from his chair taking a dictator type posture and started walking towards the titans. Chest out, head raised up high, hands behind his back, a confident way of walking, a cold stare, all of these characteristics made the titans realize how sadistic Slade actually was. Not only did he have them tied up, defenseless, incapable of retaliation and most of all at their mercy but he truly enjoyed this very much. Just like a cat that cornered a mouse.

"Torture, pain, wiping, disemboweling … what inhuman treatments for such glorious heroes as yourselves. You fought against me for so long, almost caught me several times, almost defeated me one time, continued searching for me after you've lost my trail, and now after so many efforts, after countless sleepless nights, after you found my location and thought you could finally take me down you yet again fail miserably. Congratulations!" said Slade while walking around each one of the titans with his gun behind his back, inspecting and constantly mocking them.

"You heartless bastard" yelled Cyborg infuriated "If it wasn't for these cuffs I'd break you neck and twist your -"

"Ah ah ah" Slade interrupted raising his index finger "Before accusing me of being a bastard and threatening me, think about what I said and try to figure out if I am right or wrong"

After hearing this the titans did actually think about it and Slade was indeed right. What he said was true; the ones that were responsible for their situation were in fact them. They were the ones that got themselves into this mess. On each of the titans spine roused a chill. They never thought that they would agree with Slade on such matters.

"My point exactly …" concluded Slade tilting his head downwards and squinting his eyes while looking at the titans.

"So you're right, big deal. And now what?" asked Robin.

"Now comes the –" Slade started but was interrupted by the sound of a sliding door.

The titans also heard the door opening and looked in the direction that the noise came from. Because of the way Slades base was illuminated they saw two silhouettes approaching that seemed to be dragging something. A bag? A bomb? The titans didn't know for sure what those approaching figures were dragging but they had the feeling it had something to do with Slade's plan.

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I know, kind of short but eh, that was the idea. The next chapters will be interesting in my opinion so stay tuned!

Btw, this sunday I came down with a bad cold and tomorrow I'm going to get some X-Rays to see if I'm not coming down with pneumonia. Let's just hope I'm going to be healthy.