Disclaimer: No own, no sue, no profit.
A/N: I did it! Double post within the same week. No you are not daydreaming, I really posted another chapter! Hope this makes up for all the lost time beforehand. I'm battling a cold right now, so forgive me if there are any errors or such things, brain not working on all thrusters.
Ch. 22 Questions
The door opened fully and the two parties gazed upon each other. The Titans stared dumbstruck at the sitting Robin, who in turned eyed each one with the intensity of an artist criticizing his work. Green Arrow and Black Canary stood quietly behind the Titans, before turning their gazes on Batman. The looks on their faces showed that they were surprised of Robin's appearance. None of the Titans recognized their leader at first. His hair was not in the normal spiked position but instead hung by his ears dripping water. Besides losing his remaining fat, the man sitting in the chair seemed like a coiled snake waiting to pounce; yet his body posture displayed a relaxing position. Not at all like the old Robin who would be radiating fury or impatience, constantly shifting in the chair. And lastly, none had seen Robin without his mask. None were witness to the shocking soul-piercing eyes that made Richard Grayson stand out before those precious eyes were forever scarred.
All that linked this stranger to the first Robin was the all too familiar uniform he wore. The slim half-toned black and orange uniform with the dagger S placed boldly above his heart. The man was wearing Robin's apprentice uniform that haunted their minds every single night.
Green Arrow gathered up his nerve, "Batman?"
But his questioning tone was drowned out by Starfire's scream of joy, her mind making the connection. "ROBIN! YOU HAVE RETURNED!"
The alien princess bolted at Robin, her tanned arms encompassing his small frame picking him up, chair and all. "OH GLORIOUS ACKBAR! ROBIN WE HAVE TRULY MISSED YOU!"
Robin coughed as Starfire gave him a bone-crunching hug. He could feel his already wet shirt soak in the warm tears of happiness coming from the woman. With a small smile, Robin watched as the other Titans came storming into the room, relief and joy radiating off of them.
Beastboy turned into a monkey and leapt onto Robin's shoulders, "DUDE YOU'RE BACK!"
Cyborg ran up and punched Robin lightly on his arm, "Am I glad to see you!"
Raven stood in front of him and the two just stared at each other. Raven smiled softly, "Welcome back, Robin."
"Good to be back."
Starfire laughed and that was when the serenity was broken. Beastboy stared down at Robin's hands and jumped off his shoulders, changing back into his normal self. "Dude, why are you handcuffed?"
Starfire's eyes widened, her arms letting go of Robin. Robin and chair landed hard on the floor, "Ow, Star. Be a little more careful."
"Sorry, Friend Robin. I am just as surprised as Beastboy. Why are your hands tied together by the metal bracelets? Why do you not wear your mask?"
Cyborg, Raven, Starfire and Beastboy all turned to face Batman, while Robin looked down at the floor. Green Arrow walked in and laid the case on the table. "I brought what you requested, Batman. But are you sure this is necessary?"
Batman unlatched the case and opened it up, revealing a couple of technological gadgets. "Yes."
Realization dawned on Starfire, "You have got to be mistaken, Man of the Bat! We do not need to use these tools to see if Robin is lying!"
Batman ignored the woman's fury, picking up a scanner. Cyborg was the one that yelled at his comrade, "Star! Calm down. Look we've got be careful." The half-human, half-robot eyed Robin with sadness, "Sorry man."
Robin nodded and smiled at Cyborg, "I understand Cyborg, that is why I'm not fighting. You guys have to make sure I'm clean and won't betray you like Terra."
Beastboy bounced in front of Robin's face, pointing a finger at him, green eyes blazed with anger, "Don't you dare compare yourself to Terra. You're Robin, we know that you would die first than to side with Slade."
Closing his eyes, Robin smiled and tilted his head to the side, "Thanks, Beastboy. I've forgotten how much faith you guys have in me."
Cyborg put his hands on his hips and snapped at Robin, "Forgot? How could you have forgotten, Robin? We never gave up on you! We spent all these months, years searching for you."
If those words reached Robin's mind, the older boy would never know. For Robin just opened his eyes and looked up at Star and Beastboy. "Hey guys can you please step to the side and let Batman scan me for any bugs?"
Star and Beastboy nodded numbly and sulked next to Cyborg and Raven, their eyes wide with surprise. Cyborg himself raised an eyebrow. Robin was so calm about the whole thing. He thought for sure his words would have evoked something out of Robin. Something along the lines of anger for them taking so long to find him, for not being the ones to actually save him but Batman. Maybe relief that his friends were so loyal to him? Which made Cyborg begin to question how Robin would react to the whole robot duplicate incident. But the man just bit his lip and watched as Batman scanned Robin's entire body for any bugs. The tiny red light turned green.
"You're clean." Batman's voice almost sounded sad, as if he was expecting to find something.
"That is glorious news!" clapped Starfire.
Batman turned and replaced the scanner back in the case. "Everyone outside in the hallway, now."
The Titans wanted to object but in their brief times with Batman, they knew not to argue. Each on filing out of the room, they sent glances back at Robin as if he would disappear if they stopped looking at him or left the room. Being the last person out of the room, Batman closed the door behind him.
Arrow was the first to speak, "Where the heck did you find him?"
"By the docks on the opposite end of Jump City."
Beastboy's mouth dropped open, "The fires we heard of…Robin was down there."
Raven frowned, "So close."
Batman nodded, "Yes, that close. When I arrived, Deathstroke was beating Robin over some incident. I intervened and fought Deathstroke. It was he that detonated the bomb. I was able to escape with Robin."
A dawning look fell on the Starfire, Beastboy and Cyborg, as well as a deep wave of grief. Starfire looked down at her wet top, hoping Batman would not notice the changed atmosphere, "Why is Robin wet and without a mask?"
"When I found him, he was already without a mask. A quick shower when we arrived occured in order to check to see if he was bugged or any residue that might affect him or us that Slade might have planted on him."
Arrow took his hat off and ran a hand through his hair, "Like the hallucinogen dust. But, Batman, this means Slade knows Robin's identity, if he knows that..."
A dark look etched Batman's face into stone, "I know."
Cyborg stepped up, still trying to sort out his friend's obvious changes. "So wait, are we going to assume that Robin is either drugged, brainwashed or controlled in some sense by Slade?"
Batman locked eyes with the other, "Yes. Deathstroke gave up too easily. He wouldn't return Robin back to us without some benefit for him."
Raven tugged her cap closer to her, "He has a point. I tried to awaken our bond, to reach into Robin's mind but I couldn't. Our bond should have flared to life with him right in front of me."
Beastboy slipped into detective mode, "So that means this might be another robot or Robin is like a zombie or something, like a body snatcher!"
Raven shook her head, "If I had to describe the blockage I would say it's more like brainwashing. He or someone else put up a very strong mental wall to stop any mental probes…or to prevent any memory relapses."
Cyborg sighed, "Well Robin is acting kinda of weird, too calm for my taste. And those eyes, I never thought I would see them."
Starfire's eyes widened, "Then we must help Robin break this mental barrier."
A resounding 'Yeah' echoed in the small Titans group, but Arrow's baritone voice silenced them. "Look, kids, before you all jump to conclusions here, we don't know for certain that he is brainwashed."
Beastboy narrowed his eyes at the Robin Hood figure, "You don't know Slade like we do. He controlled Terra's body through the uniform she wore, so I wouldn't scratch brainwashing from my list."
Arrow held up his hands in defense, "Easy Beastboy, I'm not saying that you guys are wrong. It's just that I think we are all still in shock that Robin is sitting in that room and, at least for me, that Batman found him so easily and like he said Deathstroke pretty much handed Robin to us on a silver platter. Now before we all go barreling in there trying to help Robin break through a mental wall, I say we hear where and what the heck he has been doing this whole time. It would clear up some of the facts that we've found out on him during our search."
The Titans glanced amongst each other before with a resounding sigh nodded in agreement.
Arrow smiled softly, "Good."
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Behind the door, Robin sat silently watching the door. Waiting a couple of seconds after the group left he arched his back and rolled his head around, pretending to stretch. Turning to the side to stretch his back muscles, he eyed the wall just below where the surveillance camera was. There, crawling like a tiny baby spider was a long black shape making its way up near the camera. It seemed that Slade's little video camera had survived the shower. Without much of another glance he turned and eyed the other side, where he spotted a round tiny spot moving up, the audio bug logging itself in the corner. The two tiny bugs had dislodged themselves from his hair and fell down with the water droplets when he had leaned forward and allowed Batman to handcuff to the chair. Done with his back, Robin rolled his shoulders before rolling his head once more. He felt the familiar vibration of the other audio bug still attached to back of his tiny protrusion of his ear, right in front of his ear canal. It seemed that this little bugger had passed the scanner test. Guess Slade's organic bugs really did work. Maybe he could do this without getting thrown into jail.
The door creaked open and he watched as the Titans and Batman returned while Canary and Arrow walked down the hall. After a few moments, he had the gut feeling that the cameras were now recording everything with Arrow and Canary standing behind the glass. Batman locked the door and leaned against it, while Raven took the chair across form him. The other three Titans surrounded the table, eagerness radiating off of them.
Raven folded her hands in front of her, "Robin, we need to clear up some things. So, if you can answer all these questions with as much detail as you can remember."
Robin nodded, "Of course."
"Then, let's start at the beginning shall we?" Raven stretched out with her mind and brushed her presence against Robin's mind. The wall was still there but it shifted ever so slightly. Odd.
"Well, where in the beginning?"
"When you were captured by the Brother Blood."
Robin nodded, "Well. Let's see, I was about to be frozen when Slade arrived and he kidnapped me from their lair. I was injured and passed out. When I awoke, we were on a helicopter and landed in some remote country."
Starfire leaned forward, "Is this how you met Mikhail?"
Blue eyes flashed up at Starfire, "You know Mikhail?"
Starfire nodded. "Yes."
"Dude, is that why you covered your eyes?"
Robin looked down at Beastboy, lost for a split second at the abrupt change of topic, "What?"
The changeling continued, "Your eyes, they just went a darker shade of blue. That's wicked man! Why did you hide them, they're awesome!"
"Because his eyes were original one color. But during his absence, his eyes were burned a little. Therefore, when the light hits the burns a certain way, it gives the affect that his eyes had turned a darker shade." Batman answered, his eyes narrowing into slits, "What did you mean, Robin, when you said you did it yourself?"
All eyes locked on the boy in question. One could feel the pressure building up, waiting for the answer as to what drove their beloved leader to do such a horrendous act of almost losing his eyesight.
Robin's lips thinned and the eyes seemed to fall into themselves. "I meant what I said the first time, Batman. My eyes were burned through my own actions."
Batman's tone didn't lighten up, despite the self-conviction of Robin's voice. "What actions?"
"Actions in thinking I could escape."
Cyborg butted in, "From Slade's grasp?"
"Yes…and no."
Raven raised an eyebrow, "No?"
"I thought that nothing could be worse than being under Slade's control." Robin paused, before squeezing his eyes shut as if to prevent from relieving any memories. "But I was wrong…It wasn't only Slade that made me almost lose my sight. It was where I lived for what seems like a lifetime."
Beastboy started biting his nails, the suspense killing him. Robin took a deep breath, "We landed in a country where a civil war was taking place."
Starfire hugged Robin, "Oh Robin! Being under Slade during such traumatic times, you need not tell us everything for Mikhail has informed us enough."
Robin shrugged himself free of Starfire, "How much has Mikhail told you."
Before Starfire continued, Batman's voice sliced through the air, "Why?"
Opening his eyes, Robin eyed each Titan before locking eyes with his former mentor, "So I won't have to repeat myself. Let you guys relieve the horrors I saw more than once."
Raven shook her head and pulled down her hood, "Let me guess this straight, you burnt your eyes because you could no longer handle the situation of being under Slade during a civil war."
Robin nodded, "Yes."
"Does this mean you were broken during your time away, leaving Slade to shape you any way he pleased?" That soft, stern feminine voice seeped into Robin's brain. The air seemed to freeze.
"Not totally."
"Care to explain."
"I wasn't under Slade's command the entire time."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, I escaped from Slade. He trailed after me through the war. It was during one of those times, I did something stupid and almost lost my sight."
"Like what?" Batman now taking over the interrogation.
Robin was about to answer when he sneezed, his body shivering. Raven pushed back the chair, "I guess you need a break, Robin especially getting you out of those wet clothes."
Batman unlocked the door and opened it, "I'll change him, you guys go up to the lounge."
The Titans nodded, patting and hugging Robin.
"Welcome back, man."
"Sorry about the crappy reception, we'll have a huge party afterwards!"
"I am so glad you are back, Robin!"
"Later."
Batman watched the Titans leave the room and march down the hallway. Closing the door, he turned and eyed his ward. "You've gotten better."
Robin flashed a grin at Batman, "Like I mentioned before, being with Slade during a civil war…you learn fast on how to handle interrogations."
The Dark Knight frowned tightly, pulling out a gray uniform and towel from the case. "Let's get you out of those damp clothes."
"Finally. Wouldn't want me catching a cold now."
"Hm."
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A/N: Uh oh, Batman is taking of Robin's shirt. Gasp! Let's just say more questions shall arise. And no, shame on you people who thought slash. Just kidding.
