A/N: Hey would you look at that, another chapter in just before the holidays. YES! I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter. I was kinda iffy about the POV and adding those girls in, but it helps with the storyline and in developing Robin's new evil persona. Well, here we go, back to old Bats and the gang!
Ch. 10: Happening too fast
Starfire sat quietly behind Mikhail taking in the barren walls. The Titans and Batman had landed a few hours back and were making their way through the city. They had entered the headquarters building and making their way to interview soldiers who were out in the front lines or survivors of the huge blast that the Titans witnessed on the video. Mikhail had quickly informed that most of the men here knew of Robin by the name of Lt. or Captain Dimitry. They had made it threw half of them and were in desperate need of a break. It was going too fast, the information of Robin's turn was numbing their minds, breaking their resolve in saving their friend.
Batman was leaning against the wall, the shadows masking his presence almost. Just like Raven, he seemed to attract the shadows. And just like Robin he was a man of mystery. The group had found themselves in an interview room as Mikhail called it, but Beast Boy had muttered it looked more like an interrogation room. The door creaked opened and an elderly man steeped in. His weary baby blue eyes scanned the newcomers before resting on Mikhail. Straightening his back, he saluted and Mikhail returned it.
Mikhail gestured towards the only chair in the room. "It's ok. We only a few questions we'd like to ask you."
The man nodded, his fingers tugging at the hem of his cap and sat down quietly.
The superior officer inhaled softly and placed his hands behind his back. Raven raised her eyebrow, an image of Slade flashing in her mind.
"You fought a couple times out in the front lines, yes?" started Mikhail.
"Yes," answered the elder feebly.
"Did your platoon have interactions with Commander Borvak?"
Blue eyes shifted around, "…Yes."
"Mind telling us?"
"We were…I don't know, somewhere in the country. It was early in the morning, I mean early, like before sunrise…people who were awake were the insomniacs or patrol guards. We reached the camp. I was second in command, so I followed our leader to meet with Commander Borvak and tell him of our arrival. He was standing near the edges of the camp talking with—later I found out—Captain Dorno and his little watchdog back then, Lt. Dimitry."
"What was the trio discussing?"
"It sounded like surrender. At least that's what Commander Borvak wanted. Captain Dorno started yelling, fingers twitching and everything. He had the signs."
"The signs?" questioned Cyborg.
Mikhail answered, "It's a physiological symptom. Most soldiers, including platoon leaders and doctors, who couldn't hold the pressure would become insane. Recklessness, suicidal, the whole works. I heard about Captain Dorno. He committed suicide and a few hours later Lt. Dimitry was promoted to Captain. So, what happened afterwards?"
"Well, Dorno stormed off. What was surprising was that Lt. Dimitry stayed behind. Commander Borvak and he had a quiet conversation. I thought it strange that the commander offered the lieutenant a drink from his flask."
Beastboy scratched his head, "And why is this strange?"
The old man smiled softly, "You only offer another man a drink from your personal flask as a sign of friendship or alliance. I'll never forget though what Lt. Dimitry said though."
"Oh?" Mikhail's interest peeked slightly.
"He just shook his head. Borvak said, 'For the memories, it will ease the pain.' And, the kid just responded, 'Pain is what keeps me going.'" Shaking his head, the old man couldn't help but shudder. "From that moment, I knew that traitor had lost his mind. The kid's insane." An old anger forced his voice to grow harder and louder, "The next day, Lt. Dimitry led an attack against our forces. He's stinkin' clever that boy. We had the enemy attacking from almost all sides, our left, front and right flank. It was hard keeping up because they would be random attacks and one time there were a lot of soldier, the next a handful. We lost that day, but it was close enough that we considered it a victory or at least a stalemate."
"Did you ever fight against him again?"
"Yeah, a couple times, even after he got promoted. It was rumored he caused Captain Dorno's suicide. But yeah, I fought against Captain Dimitry's forces. Each time it was different. We could rarely keep up and counter his endless strikes. To think of that many ways to attack an enemy…no one can be right in the mind."
Mikhail nodded, taking in the haggard look of the soldier. "You are dismissed."
The old man rose and walked to the door. As he opened it, he turned, "If I may ask a question sir?"
"Yes."
"What's with the questions about Captain Dimitry?"
"We're trying to find him."
"If you do sir, you should lock him up or maybe execute him."
Mikhail narrowed his eyes, "Execution?"
The old man's lips thinned, hardness on his face. He bent down and tapped his leg, giving off a hollow sound. "I would have a leg today if he hadn't come in and stole our antibiotics and other medical supplies. Only heartless villains sink that low to steal from the sick and injured. Good day sir."
Mikhail nodded and watched the old soldier limp away. Turning, he faced the Titans.
Starfire had tears on her eyes, "Robin would never do that! He would never steal in such a low fashion."
Raven whispered, "War has a way of changing people."
The clearing of a throat echoed in the room. Mikhail turned to face a young woman in her early twenties. "You called for me, sir."
"Ah yes, come in and shut the door behind you and take a seat. I only have a few questions."
The woman did as she was told. She had been a witness at the public condemnation of Captain Dimitry. Remembering how shocked she felt when Captain Dimitry had dared to show up at their celebration. Word spread fast about how he had been one of the few who walked out of that destruction at Verna without a single scratch, leading to the assumption that he was behind the blast. People were hurt. Their hero had turned his back on them. Feeling betrayed, she and countless others yelled out their sorrows and began throwing things at him.
"And he just stood there, taking it all with his head held high and a smirk on his face, like he didn't' regret what he did." The woman spat at the ground, her eyes narrowed in a dark emotion, "We should have let him go, but we were just too tired. And where the heck were you guys?'
Mikhail frowned, "Watch your tongue, woman."
The woman choked up a laugh before sneering, "What did you run away like a coward because Captain Dimitry was so bloody emotionless, like he was some spawn of the devil?"
"Well maybe he is."
The woman nodded and quickly made the sign of the cross, "Then God help us all because that kid gave me the creeps. I still have nightmares where he comes back and…" Her face lost its' color. She glanced up at the kids, "Well it ain't for kiddies to hear, but let me tell ya, sir, when you said he was working for that Deathstroke fellow…" she leaned forward, "let's just say in my dreams he made Deathstroke seem like a mosquito compared to a wasp." Smiling, she leaned back into the chair.
Mikhail felt disgust rising in him. As much as he hated Robin for his betrayal, he still held respect towards him. And the way this woman mocked Robin's integrity made the man act irrational. Kicking at the legs of the chair, he watched the woman fall flat on her back on the floor.
"Get out of here you fowled minded witch!"
The woman sneered as she gathered herself up, "It's amazing how ya managed to get this far, you emotional boy."
Mikhail raised his fist ready to hit the woman. Her eyes widened and she bolted out of the room. The man sighed and ran his hands down his uniform. "Sorry about that, I usually don't—where's Batman?"
The Titans turned around and gaped at the empty space where the Dark Knight used to be.
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Batman made his way through the debris riddled field. Dusk had fallen and created an eerie feeling to the place. He had snuck out after the debriefing of the first man, knowing that Mikhail intended on creating'bad guy' imagery on Robin. Batman didn't care right now about Robin's actions; he needed clues to find out where the boy was right now.
Standing now in the middle, he scanned the ruined base of Verna. So this was the place where it all changed for Robin. Here, he fought not only against the League of Shadows, but the other side as well if Mikhail's information was correct. He could only image the pure chaos that surrendered the teenager. Scanning the ground, his eyes caught the form of a book lying a few inches away. Kneeling down, Batman picked up the book and noticed the faded letter of the Holy Bible. Flipping threw; he stopped at a page that contained a small bloody handprint. The hand was too small to be that of a full grown adult and as of now, Batman knew that Robin was the only teenager with such a small build. A breeze whispered across the ground. The detective looked up and pictured a helicopter hovering nearby. This was the place where the cameraman had caught Robin on film.
Looking down he noted that the finger prints rested underneath the passage, "Revelations 13, verse 18, 'Here is wisdom. He, who has understanding, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is six-hundred sixty-six."
"What do those numbers mean to you, Dick?"
"Didn't take the Dark Knight as one to talk to himself?"
Batman sprung up, a batarang lodged in his hand. He took in the dark haired man with sea-green eyes standing slightly behind him. "Who are you?"
The man smiled and took out his hands out of his pockets, showing the superhero that he was unarmed, "The name is Zenari. I'm here to help you, Batman."
"Help me with what?"
"I know where Deathstroke is…where your precious Robin is."
"Oh."
"I use to be one of many Deathstroke's partners."
"What made you change your mind?"
"Robin. Or wait, I should call him Seir but you might know him by his villain name Reaper." Zenari watched at Batman's masked eyes lowered ever so slightly.
"How did you know I was here?"
"Heard you were in the area, I was close by and decided that the first place you would visit is Verna. You know, you are not that hard to figure out."
Batman snarled, "What makes me trust you and what you say?"
Zenari smirked, "Because I am your only lead. Besides, for once we have the same goal."
"..."
"Yes." Zenari shifted into a relaxed position, falling into his business attitude, "You see, little bird boy has got it in his head that since he is now an apprentice to Deathstroke, that he is all high and mighty. He even pinned me against my own car and threatened me that if I ever ratted on him, he or Deathstroke would come and kill me."
Batman frowned, his hand clutching the Bible tightly, "If he threatened you, then why are you-"
"Ratting on him, like I said the kid has an ego too big for his own health. Same applies with Deathstroke because he thinks he is all superior and better than us because he 'corrupted' Robin." Zenari scoffed, "They need to be stopped."
A deep chuckled emitted from the bat-like figure, "You're a villain yourself, why should you care. If anything, you would want to save your own skin."
The conman nodded, "I do. But I figure the best way to save my hide is to deflate these two villains' egos. They're the type of villain that is damaging to the rest of us small crooks. We just do crime to make a living; it's these types of guys who make the rest of us look bad." He smiled, "Besides, call it revenge. They hurt me, I hurt them."
Batman tilted his head, "What's the deal?"
"Simple. I give information on where they are at and you let me continue doing my job without any interruptions from you or the rest of the superhero community."
"Immunity?"
"Yep."
The Dark Knight sighed. Turn down the deal and he would lose his direct link to Robin. Accept the deal and he would allow a criminal to run free. Turn his back on his ward or turn his back on justice.
"Deal."
Zenari grinned, "Last I heard, Deathstroke took your brat to London. He was going to stay there for awhile, hang low and train the boy. News from there, says there has been a string of robberies from robbers themselves. None of the jewels have been recovered, so many cops suspect that a thief robbed from the thieves. One of these thieves was Red X. He was beaten up pretty badly by a man with a dark hoodie and ski mask, said the man got upset when he called him a hero."
Weariness tugged at Batman's soul. Now he had to fly all the way to London to find Robin. If he were anyone else, he would have taken a break, made sure not to waste money on a wild goose chase. But Batman was never categorized as being anyone else or normal at that.
"Thanks."
"No problem. Well, nice working with you and meeting you at that." With that Zenari, bowed and turned, "Oh and the name's Zenari, conman by profession, so let your hero buddies know not to mess with my enterprise or I might just have make a proposition to a certain enemy of ours." With that, Zenari waved a goodbye and made his way through the rubble. Batman heard the soft whine of a car driving off before answering his vibrating communicator.
"Batman here." All of a sudden, Batman felt old. Not only with hunting down Deathstroke but that he had turned on his oath.
"This is Green Arrow. We had something come up in Gotham tonight."
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A/N: ducks behind the Christmas tree Don't kill me! I know I left you on a cliffhanger and I'm sorry. Actually, I had more type up but then it hit me that you would have been totally lost and spoiled. So, be grateful. Better to be hanging then spoiled right? waves a white flag
But anyways, WOW, I did it! I finally wrote a decent amount for Batman and the Titans. Yay! I feel so proud of myself. This whole thing just poured out of me. I've written a couple more chapters concerning Robin and Slade but you'll just have to wait for those. So enjoy this nice long chapter. Remember to drink egg nog, have fun with those presents, bake cookies, eat a delicious homecooked meal and spend a wonderful time with loved ones and friends.
Merry Christmas!!
