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Part 1: A Haunted Past, The Boy Wonder's Tale

Chapter 1: Theories

It was a beautiful day in Jump City.

Robin sat on the edge of the roof of Titans Tower, his black-and-gold cape fluttering in the morning breeze. By sunrise the storm had passed. Debris washed upon Jump's city beaches. Driftwood, seaglass, bits of broken shells, and garbage made their way onto the shore. Despite this, several surfers were out in the ocean trying to have a good time.

He drew his knees to his chest and set his forehead against them. Robin liked the way the sunshine warmed him and the soft sound of the ocean waves lapping against the Towers' rocky foundation. The sharp scent of ocean salt rejuvenated him. He loved Jump with its palm trees and beaches and pleasant people. Quite a nice change from gloomy Gotham. The others left him alone for the moment, but he knew that he would have to go down sometime back to the common room for a team meeting.

This wasn't over.

Several surfers waved as they caught sight of him, some calling out his name in faint voices. Some people just didn't understand that heroes had problems as well. Everyone had their personal demons, things or people that haunted them. He couldn't understand how Batman handled it with all of those crazies in his Rogue gallery.

"Slade…stop…"

His breath caught in his throat. His eyes went back to the people frolicking on the beach. No one besides the Titans needed to know that he had almost lost his mind the night before. The public expected all heroes to be flawless, the perfect defenders who could resist and defeat anything. Yet Robin was human like the rest of them. He had no powers. Although he didn't like to admit it he felt humiliated and defeated.

Why humiliated? He had pleaded—no—begged Slade to stop hurting him. If it had been any other villain he would have felt nothing…annoyed maybe, but because it was Slade it had hit his emotional core. Hard.

He did not sleep well the night before. It seemed as though Raven's possession had shuffled his memories like a stack of cards. He remembered doing things he had forgotten he had done. Sometimes they were happy. Sometimes not.

He scanned the city horizon. Random little things brought these memories to sharp focus. Two kids fighting with noodle swords on the beach brought back memories of fencing with Bruce in Wayne Manor, just weeks after his parents' deaths.

"Robin."

He turned at the sound of his name. Raven walked towards him, making sure to hide herself completely from the sun with her dark blue cloak. She lowered her hood.

"'Morning," Robin replied.

"Everything okay?"

"No."

He straightened and crossed his arms over his chest. If there was anyone who he wanted to talk to after last night's events, it was Raven. None of the others could possibly understand what he had been through. Raven had gone into his mind and seen Slade herself. They shared a mental bond now, and she knew more about his past than anyone else. She had seen his parents falling to their deaths and the inside of the Bat-Cave. She put a hand on her shoulder.

"You should rest."

Robin knew that she was right, but he shook his head. "I can't. There are things I need to do."

"You're going to kill yourself from overwork," she replied. "You almost did last night."

Several spouts of water burst from the glassy surface of the ocean. A school of dolphins swam close to the Tower, racing playfully with the speedboats in the bay.

"I know."

"Cyborg's starting the meeting in five minutes. You should come down."

"I will."

-R-

Everyone else was waiting for him in the common room. Their conversations ceased as Robin drew near.

"Are you okay, man?" Cyborg asked.

"I'm fine," Robin replied. "Let's just get this over with."

Cyborg's fingers flew across the keyboard as he brought up graphs, a picture of Slade's cracked mask on the television screen.

"I'm sorry we didn't tell you last night, but we didn't want to bother you. The reagent in Slade's mask didn't trigger itself. Someone else did…from outside the Tower."

All the Titans turned to look at him, as though afraid of an outburst. Robin crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the couch. That didn't surprise him. Now that he had some sleep and the dust removed from his system he could think much more clearly. Someone from outside the Tower...someone from outside the Tower with a grudge against the Titans triggered it.

"I have a theory."

"Uh…already?" Beast Boy asked. "But how do you know?"

"Because I've fought a villain who's a master of the psychology of fear." Robin turned towards the other Titans. "He's psychotic. A madman."

"Who?"

Robin made his way to the computer. He brought up a large file and a picture of Dr. Jonathan Crane, a former psychologist at Arkham Asylum. It was just a theory, a far-fetched one, but it was something to work from.

"Scarecrow."

"What?" Beast Boy's eyes widened. "Scarecrow?"

"Who is this Scarecrow that you speak of?" Starfire asked.

"A villain from Gotham. He used to be a psychologist at Arkham Asylum, but now he's a patient there himself. He uses gas to make a person relieve his darkest fears." Robin rubbed his aching temple. "I wouldn't be surprised if he created the dust in Slade's mask."

A person's darkest fears. He was suddenly-and uncomfortably-aware that he had just revealed a part of himself he never wanted to show. As a leader he didn't want them to see him as weak. If the dust in Slade's mask simply made the victim able to see, hear, and feel Slade then that was one thing. But if the dust caused the victim to relive the terror of his past...

"But why would Scarecrow target you?" Cyborg asked. "It doesn't make sense. Jump's not his turf."

"Don't forget that I used to work with Batman," Robin replied, his voice hardening. "I've made a lot of enemies over the past six years. There are a lot of people in Gotham who would love to see me dead."

They stared at him in silence. He hardly ever mentioned Batman to them. But it was true that people wanted him dead. About ninety percent of Arkham wanted him dead. He knew that some criticized him for being too mean to the others, too determined and too serious for his own good. But all of that had come from being raised by Batman. Gotham was full of psychos. Jump was easy to maintain after patrolling Gotham's streets.

That is, until Slade came along.

He pushed that unpleasant thought out of his mind. Slade was dead. Terra had killed him and herself in an attempt to save their lives. No one could survive a trip through lava.

"Are you sure it's the Scarecrow?" Cyborg asked.

"From what I last heard he is locked up in Arkham. He may have created the dust for Slade, but he's not the perpetrator." Robin slammed a fist into his open palm. "At least, I really hope it's not him. I don't want to go tearing around Gotham unless I have to."

"Is there anyone in Jump who could have triggered it?" Raven asked.

"There is one person who would have known about the dust…" Robin typed away furiously. "Wintergreen."

A blurry photograph of Wintergreen popped onscreen.

"Um…who?" Beast Boy asked.

Robin found himself grinding his teeth and forced himself to stop. Of course, he didn't tell them about Wintergreen. In fact, he didn't really tell anyone about his time as Slade's apprentice. Not even Starfire. They didn't need to know the details about his forced apprenticeship. But an image of the British butler tending to his wounds resurfaced in his mind. The man reminded him of Alfred.

"Slade's butler."

"Slade had a butler?" Beast Boy looked confused. "I didn't know he had one. Why didn't you tell us?"

"Because he was nice to me."

Robin fell silent. He didn't want to elaborate. His emotions and memories were still tearing around inside him like an angry tornado. He had enough of Slade to last a lifetime. He could sense their burning curiosity to ask questions. But truthfully, he couldn't see Wintergreen triggering the dust. The butler had nothing against Robin. Sure, there could be a motive: vengeance against the Titans for killing his master. But would Wintergreen actually do it?

"We've got two leads," he said finally. "Beast Boy, Starfire, you guys search Terra's tomb. Cyborg and Raven, you search Slade's old haunt. We need every scarp of information we can find about Wintergreen."

"Right," Starfire said, nodding. "We shall find this Wintergreen!"

"Be careful, I don't want anyone getting hurt. There may be more of the dust in those areas."

As the Titans began to disperse Robin headed towards the hallway, intending to go back to his room. Raven was right. He needed to rest, but that didn't mean he wouldn't help them. There were files he needed to read...

"Hey, what about you?" Beast Boy said. "Aren't you going to help us?"

Robin paused in his tracks, his hand resting on the frame of the door. There was nothing more he wanted to do than help search for the perpetrator, but there were issues that needed tending to.

"I need to make a phone call."

A/N: All right kiddies, if I do this right this will be a full-length novel with 5 parts. Each part will focus on one of the five Titans, but have the overarching story arc of figuring out who triggered the dust. The ending of this episode had so much potential that the creators should have exploited!

Oh, and seriously, Scarecrow could have totally been behind this!

Reviews appreciated.