A/N: Ok, first off, don't shot me; I beg you cause if you do then you won't know the end! SO HA! But continuing on, it's going to get a bit dark so be warned about that. The title says it all.

Ch. 29 Destruction

Commotion was below him. He heard Batman issue orders telling the Titans to post guards down in the basement. It seemed that the Dark Knight had figured something was about to happen. Slipping out of the ventilation system, Robin landed lightly on the tile floor. He glanced around and noticed that he had made it to the living quarters. Perfect. Palming open Raven's door, he stepped into the dark room. Nothing had changed, the gothic look still dominant. Eyes narrowed on a hand-held mirror. Walking over, he picked it up, studying his reflection in it. The same older face greeted him, the dry sore eyes earlier from crying gone. Spinning the mirror lightly in his hand, Robin grabbed one of Raven's lighters and matches for her incense candles before leaving the room and made his way of the next room.

The door slide open and he peered inside, seeing the two-toned half machine half normal room of Cyborg. Glancing back out, he made sure no one was making their way to him and crept inside. The door slide shut as he made his way to Sally. He crouched and carefully began to open the lid of the energy box, which Cyborg plugged into himself every night to power up. He heard a small wiz and quickly placed Raven's mirror in front of him as a small powerful energy blast erupted from inside the box. The blast hit the mirror, shattering the glass and sending smaller bolts flying up into the ceiling, cause scorch marks on the pristine walls. Gathering up the glass pieces, he placed them on top of the broken mirror and tossed it under the bed. Robin leaned forward and eyed the familiar wiring. Licking his lips lightly, pale hands flew into the box and rerouted the wiring, a window popped up on the screen underneath the lid. He had access to the Internet. Tapping the screen and pulling up a touchable keyboard, he accessed his email and hit an email he had sent to himself, opening up. Clicking on the attachment, he smirked and when the box said that downloading the attachment was complete. Closing the lid, Robin spun around, grabbed a piece of glass and sprinted out the room.

Next was Starfire's. He stuck his tongue out in disgust at the pink room with makeup and other feminine products on her desk. Walking around the bed, he spotted Silkie sleeping in the large dog bed. Without much of a wink, he threw the glass shard like a card with a flick of his wrist. The shard hit the plump baby moth right in the heart. The bug's eyes snapped open, jerking and gurgling up blood. He didn't even wait for Silkie to die, just turned around and left the room making his way to Beastboy.

Opening the door, he heard a pounding of footsteps and darted behind a huge pile of clothes. Crouching, he watched as Cyborg and Batman run past Beastboy's door.

"Cyborg, see if you can locate Robin via heat signatures or study the video feed. I'll check up on the jet."

Cyborg nodded, "Right."

Robin turned. So, they knew he had escaped. He didn't have much time left, especially if Beastboy turned into a dog and sniffed him out. Getting up, he took out the lighter and rummaged through Beastboy's drawers. He had kept this room last because he knew that finding his goal would be the hardest. Beastboy's room was a disaster zone. Black eyes lit up to sky blue when he found the small box with a heart on it. Opening the box, he saw pictures of Beastboy and Terra holding each other, happiness on their faces. "Psh." What those two saw in each other was beyond him. Tossing the box onto the center of the Changeling's bed, he broke the lighter and poured the igniter fluid onto the box. Stepping back, he lit a match and threw it on the box. Watching the keepsake erupt into flames, Robin closed his eyes and bowed his head slightly before opening his eyes. Robin stared into the flames one last time before sprinting out of the room.

The bridges to his team were burned now. And in the wake, each thing precious to the Titans: Raven's soul mirror broken beyond repair, Cyborg's Sally infected with a virus, Starfire's pet Silkie dead and Beastboy's keepsake for his love was his way of telling them where his loyalty lied. He destroyed the Titans from the inside out. They would never be the same again, forever limping forward before collapsing and eroding into dust. They would hate him for what he had done and that was exactly what he wanted.

He ran down the stairs just as the sprinkler system turned on, pouring thousands of liters onto the floor. The steps were getting slicker and as he reached the bottom, Beastboy's dog form rounded the corner. Glancing up, he spotted Robin and morphed quickly into a human.

"Dude!"

Robin let his foot slide on the next step and flew into the air, sending a kick straight into Beastboy's face. The boy went flying into the lounge and slammed so hard into the sofa that it overturned. Landing with a splash he turned and saw Starfire standing near the laundry chute, her eyes wide with surprise, hand holding an open communicator.

"Robin."

Robin sprinted at her, his arm stretched out as he grabbed hold of her upper top, pulling her toward him. When she was close, he trusts her backwards, slamming her hard into the metal elevator door. Her red head snapped upwards with the brute force, making her black out briefly. Letting go, Robin slide up the door for the chute, ducked inside and freefell.

Mikhail stood quietly by the boat. He was surprised no one had come down to the dock and did not know what to make of the sprinkler system. Suddenly he heard a clanging sound and eyed the open end of a chute. Robin flew out of the chute and fell into a roll to soften his landing. Jumping onto his feet, the young man shook his raven locks. Glancing up at Mikhail, he smirked. "Let's go."

Mikhail nodded and hopped into the boat, Robin right behind. The boat rumbled to life and the two roared across the small bay to shore, the Tower growing smaller in the distance.

And as the boat disappeared into the horizon, on the other side of the island two boats came roaring up to the shore. A small army of black clad figures with a round orange faceplate poured out of the boats and climbed up the Tower. Slade's robots had arrived just a little too late.

Inside, Starfire regained consciousness, seeing Beastboy's face in front of her. "Beastboy…?"

The Changeling breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank god you're ok."

Beastboy helped Starfire to her feet.

"Why did the sprinklers kick on?" Asked the alien, eying the sprinklers that were now dripping water onto her forehead.

Beastboy walked to the small data screen on the wall, "The fire came from…my room."

Without waiting for a response, he sprinted up the hallway and skidded in front of his door. Starfire was hovering behind him. The door slide open and Beastboy's mouth came crashing down. His bed was totally destroyed. The green comforter beyond usage and the bedpost was charred. All that he could recognize was the fragile ash form of a box in the middle of his bed. Walking softly, he reached out and touched the box, the form crumpling beneath his touch. In the middle of the box, the sprinklers had saved only the baby blue eyes of Terra. Tears welled in his eyes.

Starfire's face filled with sorrow and she reached out to touch his shoulder. "Beastboy…"

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" yelled the Changeling, his head glaring over his shoulder. "IT'S ALL ROBIN'S FAULT! I SWEAR THE NEXT TIME I SEE HIM-"

Starfire backed away, "Friend Beastboy, if he attacked your room…"

His anger quickly disappeared. Beastboy stared at Starfire with wide eyes. "He wouldn't…"

The two Titans jumped into the hall. "I'll check on Cyborg!" spoke Beastboy as he ran down the hall.

He skidded and fell onto the wet floor sliding all the way to home base. Slamming into the door, he quickly jumped up and opened the door. "CYBORG!"

Cyborg glanced up at Beastboy's drenching form, "Beastboy?" The half-robot boy was in front of his computer trying to find where Robin was and how he broke out of the cell. "What is it man?"

"Did he do anything in here?"

"Wha?"

"ROBIN! DID HE DO ANYTHING TO-" Beastboy yelled his eyes scanning the room, when he halted. Lunging to the floor, he picked up Raven's shattered mirror from under Cyborg's bed. "No."

Cyborg eyed the mirror, fear on his face. "This is bad."

Then as if things could not get worse, a siren went off. Cyborg yelped and sprinted to his computer consol. "Nonononono!" Typing frantically on his keyboard.

"Dude what's happening?!"

Sally's voice echoed in the room, "Virus initiated. Cannot stop. System. Failure. Has infected hardrive. Crashing."

"NO!" screamed Cyborg, slamming his fist on the desk. And with that Sally's voice died in the background, the screen turning black.

"THAT GUY, HE'S GONNA PAY!" Beastboy's knuckles turned white on the handle.

And then they heard another scream echo in the Tower. The boys flew out of the room. They ran shoulder-to-shoulder through Star's doorway and screeched to a halt when they saw her kneeling on the floor cuddling Silkie's bleeding form in her hands.

Tears streaming down her face, Star faced the two boys. "Why? Why would Friend Robin do such a horrendous thing?"

Beastboy frowned, "Cause, he's not our Robin anymore, Star. You guys got to believe me now…we were wrong. Robin is with Slade. He is a villain."

Cyborg walked up to Star and hugged the woman. He eyed the dead creature, "But why would he do these things?"

Beastboy shrugged. Just then, they heard the stomping of boots and Batman soon appeared behind the changeling. Eying the dead Silkie and a weeping alien princess, Batman sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Cyborg, is he still on the island?"

The boy shook his head; "No…I saw an image of him escaping with Mikhail on a boat before…Sally crashed."

Star darted her eyes up at Cyborg, "Oh, Cyborg."

"It's ok, Star, really."

Beastboy snarled, "It's not ok! Robin has betrayed us, manipulated us and hurt us! I'm telling ya guys, the next time I see him I'm going to rips his arms off!"

Batman grabbed Beastboy's shoulder and spun him around so they were face to face. "You will do no such thing. We are going to bring him to justice, no revenge is necessary." Pausing, Batman eyed all three Titans, "Besides, we got company."

A questioning gaze hit all three. A minute later, the red siren blared to life signaling an intruder alert. Batman looked down the hall, "I'll provide a distraction and you three will break out of here and go after Robin, is that understood."

"Yes sir." Starfire laid Silkie on the ground and stood up, Cyborg following her.

"Let's go."

The foursome ran down the hall, towards the lounge. Cyborg sent a signal for the door to open while Starfire lit both hands with a greenish light. Pulling out a bat-a-rang, Batman threw the rang right at the first Slade bot he saw through the door, the bot turning quickly into ice. Not waiting, he leapt into the air, kicking the frozen bot into a million pieces, sending them slamming into the surrounding bots.

Beastboy gaped at the sight. The whole lounge was full of Slade bots. Seeing the familiar colors, something snapped in him. This was the last time Slade would take someone precious from him. First Robin, then Terra and now successfully Robin again. Changing into a Triceratops, Beastboy crashed into a group of bots, impaling them and tossing them to the sides. Cyborg powered up his canon and shot off any bots that were sneaking up behind Batman. Starfire, cheeks dried but eyes still blurry, took out her grief by slamming bolt after bolt into the metal bots.

One bot swung out, Batman dodging before slamming a kick into its' stomach. The bot crashed on the ground, but instead of two more coming after him, he watched through an opening, as a group of them were prying open the elevator door to take them down to the basement.

"They're here for Robin," informed Batman as he pulled out another rang and shot it at another bot pouring in from the broken windows.

Cyborg made his way next to the Dark Knight. "That means Slade thinks he is still here."

Batman's lips thinned, "Maybe. I need you three to get out of here now!"

"Right! BEASTBOY, STARFIRE!" Cyborg motioned to one of the broken windows before blasting clear a way. Beastboy rumbled through, knocking more bots to the ground before morphing into hawk. Starfire zoomed up behind Cyborg, picking him up by his arms. Cyborg kept shooting down at the bots, aiding Batman who still provided a distraction by sending an exploding bomb at the bots near the elevator.

Flying out of the window, Cyborg looked back towards the fading action. "We'll get him back Star."

Starfire looked sadly down at Cyborg, the pair slowly dropping due to her depressed thoughts. But Cyborg smiled at her and she knew that she could not give up now. Hope rekindling in her, her spirit soared and the pair followed Beastboy, whose sight had caught onto two figures on a beach.

The ride was short but not short enough to soften the tension that was accumulating. Cutting the engine, Mikhail hopped out and walked towards the small road, his feet sinking slightly in the sand. Robin watched him as he too landed quietly in the sand.

"Mikhail."

The man stopped and turned, "What? Going to threaten me some more?"

Robin shook his head, "No, my friend."

Anger lit Mikhail's eyes as he marched halfway towards Robin. Snarling in his native tongue, Mikhail pointed at Robin. "Do not call me such a thing. We are not friends!"

Robin walked the rest of the way till he was face to face with him. "You helped me escaped."

"That's because you threatened Pavel."

"True, but come on." A flash of a smirk, "Tell me that you never believed the whole story the General was spreading around. Tell me that you are glad that one of us is out of the picture and now that this war is finally over."

Mikhail eyed Robin warily, "Why should I tell you such things, when you are half the reason this war never ended." Coughing, Mikhail darted his eyes to the side. "Why do you care?"

"Because I promised Pavel that I would try and save you."

Blond hair fell over Mikhail's shoulder as turned to face Robin, his green eyes bright with laughter. "Save me?" he chuckled.

Robin sent him a questioning look, "Yes."

Mikhail's face held a sad smile. "I was doing the same thing."

Robin's eyes widened. "What?"

Green met blue. "I know the General was bad, I believed you guys and our cause. But when you returned from the front lines and" he held his stomach, "attacked me I knew that you were so lost. You were becoming the man I know you hated. And how you interacted with Colonel proved my point. So, when I caught up with General, I knew that I couldn't persuade with talk, so instead I chose action. I sided myself with the General in hope that you would see yourself in me, see what was becoming of you…and to stop you from doing something you would truly regret."

Mikhail felt his eyes begin to well up but forced back the tears as his hand reached behind his back. Pulling out a gun, he aimed at Robin, staring his comrade with complete confidence with a blaze of guilt. "But it seems your anger for the man made you blind. Like all those eons ago when you told me you were doing this to protect us, I agreed with you. And so, I know the old Dimitry would agree with me if to protect what is left of ourselves I would have to save you from yourself."

"…Mikhail…"

Robin jumped backwards as he heard a gun go off, but no smoke rose from Mikhail's gun. Instead, those green eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed on the sand, blood spreading out from his back. Robin traveled his eyes up from Mikhail to see Pavel lowering his smoking gun, eyes that wanted to shed tears taking his dead comrade's form. Eyes lowering in pity, Robin walked forward as Pavel reholstered his gun.

"Sir."

Robin placed his hand on Pavel's shoulder and bowed his head. "Sorry."

Pavel eyed his companion with understanding and bowed his head, grieving privately for his friend in those precious silent minutes. No words had to be said. The war was over but it had cost them too much. Friends dying, friends betraying, leaders lying left only two survivors from that small group of strangers that met on the back of a truck. And those two men who fought bravely for their country were now exiles, no longer to be regarded as heroes for no one would understand the sacrifices they had to endure to allow order and justice to be secured during such dark times.

Pavel was the first to back away, lowering his backpack. Unzipping the bag, he pulled out a black utility belt. "Deathstroke called me and handed me this. We split up along the coast looking for you, he figured you would be impatient and break out yourself."

"Thanks, Pavel."

"No problem." Nodding towards the Tower, Robin followed his friend's gaze and took in the forms of Beastboy and Starfire-whom carried Cyborg. The younger voice spoke the unanswered question, "I wonder where is Batman."

Pavel's eyes sank to the ground, "Deathstroke sent robots to the Tower, and probably this Batman is fighting them."

Robin nodded and snapped the belt around his waist. He turned his back to the Titans and stared hard into Pavel's black eyes, until he saw himself. The man shifted, his uneasiness under such an intense gaze shimmering behind Robin's reflection. Robin's mind fell back to what Mikhail had said. The blond soldier wanted to save him from himself, and he all of a sudden saw Batman right beside his old comrade. Both in their own ways trying to sway him back to their version of the justice. But he was on the true right side. They just didn't understand. He was saving himself, then why did an aching presence in his chest still remain. Was it Mikhail's 'heroic' death? Or was it the fact that Robin no longer had to worry about him? Was this how he was going to feel when the General finally breathed his last breathe and he had no other goal to fulfill? Robin blinked and placed his hands on Pavel's shoulders, fingers digging into Pavel's shoulders, fear of the future coursing through him. "Promise me you'll live."

Pavel eyed Robin, cocking his eyebrow. "Dimitry?"

The older man saw for a brief second that same exact face stare at him from the other side of the truck when they first met.

"Pavel, I might trust Deathstroke, but you're the only one who can help me remember why…why I do this…keep me balance…keep me sane."

For a brief second, he heard the pure desperation behind the voice and the older man wondered what the hell the Titans or Mikhail had done to the boy. He had changed, his body language saying that he finally realized a sad, bitter truth. Pavel patted the young man on the back; trying to reassure him, trying to bring back that old spark. "They got to you."

"…They did not" spat Robin, "…it was Mikhail."

Pavel frowned. He had not heard their conversation, just arrived when he saw Mikhail point a gun at Robin. Running, instinct kicked in and before he could stop himself, he had shot his old friend in the back.

"I'll keep an eye out on you, sir."

With that simple statement, that dark truth look disappeared and something sparked back in Robin's eyes. The boy nodded before taking a couple steps back. "You better go."

Pavel nodded and as he turned smirked, "Just don't die. I do not wish to hear Deathstroke complain and decide to take his wrath out on me by killing me. You still got to protect me remember."

Robin laughed and Pavel felt the air become colder. A more composed, center Robin winked at him and he knew that this was the one whom he had met in the park that night. One could burn, cut, mutilate and torture Robin and the boy would be lost for a little bit, but he always found his way back and was stronger than before. One who still had a goal in life.

"Promise."

With that Robin focused on the landing trio, their eyes glued on Mikhail's fallen form. Pavel took that as his cue to leave and ran up to the hill and towards his car.

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A/N: Whew, alright folks big fight scene for the next chapters. I don't know but I might do another double post this week, just have to wait and see. Like always read and review. Later!