Okay, well, first of all, I just want to apologise for waiting so long to update. As I'm sure most of you knew, the update/review alert system wasn't working last week (surprise surprise), so there seemed to be no point in updating if no-one would even know about it. So I thought I'd wait.

Hence… the very long gap between updates.

And I'd left you hanging off such a nasty cliff too… Well, you can blame the site for that, not me… Seven was updated well over a week ago too, but no-one knew about that either… But this has FINALLY been updated, so hooray!

Okay, well, the response last chapter was pretty good – at least in numbers. I figured you might all have something to say about that… Not everyone liked what I did, but hey… As for speculations, the one main one seemed to be that people thought it was a dream sequence cop out. Now we all know I love my dream sequences, but really, I wouldn't pull that on you. Come on…

The Titans… are dead. This is something that will be resolved. How? If I told you, you wouldn't need to read it, would you?

At the moment, I will wholly admit that this story does seem like it is all over the place – it seems almost unconnected with Black Magic and certainly unconnected with Asylum. Please trust me that everything will all be pulled together – I should know, because I have actually written the whole thing, and while it is not the singly greatest story ever written, I don't think you're going to be disappointed. So if that helps… although it seems like I'm just making this up as I go along – gradually writing myself into a corner I can't get out of – I'm not.

Also, yeah, I've noticed that the majority of you quite like the idea of this baby, which I find very strange… O.o

Anyway, thankyou to everyone all in one go; Simmie, Guardian of Azarath, Flying02Fish, Me, Coolteenzz, YamiTai, Luneko, Narroch06, Kami-elf, Quinn and His Quill, Crazy Insomniac, Rocky-White Wolf of Curses, The Dragon's Fire (who WAS Athena's Wings, right? Thankyou for the very dedicated reading of all that comes before this in such a short space of time!), Poison's Ivy, Raven of the Night676, Super Chaos, Dragon-Fire-Fairy and Raven Victoria Grayson.

I'm just going to say this to all of you, since you all pretty much said the same thing: Gotcha going, huh, suckers? Heh heh heh…

Enjoy this; the return of Slade, Terra and…

Angel of Death

As though abruptly awaking from the very deepest of sleeps, Robin sat up with a sudden gasp. He was so disorientated; where was the hell was he? It was dark, and where he lay – although now he was sitting up – was cold and hard and wet. There was a vague, incessant buzzing noise ringing in the air, as though from a broken florescent light, and the air smelled of something burning. His entire body felt very strange, too; very, very warm, and… he couldn't explain it. His skin tingled with a feeling that was not unlike pins and needles, but he knew that that was not it. It was something else…

How had he gotten here, and more to the point, where was here?

He put his hands out, feeling the icy water seeping through his gloves; lifting one hand up, he squeezed his thumb and forefinger together – and gasped as a spark of electricity shot between them.

But it did not affect him.

He frowned… and remembered.

He remembered dying.

And yet here he was.

Unless he was a ghost, or a zombie… perhaps not a zombie, but maybe an un-dead? A vampire?... But how could he be a vampire? He'd never been bitten by one.

And… tch. Vampire. Yeah, riiight…

No, he'd died because he'd been electrocuted. He remembered it clearly, remembered the pain, his own screams of agony sounding distant, the smell of his own burning flesh…

He pinched himself on the arm, hard – and grunted in pain. Yep, he was definitely solid.

Not a ghost.

He was alive, somehow.

And if he was alive, then maybe his friends were too…

He shakily stood up, noticed white sparks of electricity crackling around him, as though he was Overload himself, or Thunder's stormy brother Lightning…

How am I alive? I died; I know I did…

He went to his utility belt, feeling the metal becoming charged with the electricity he seemed to be shooting from his fingertips. He pulled out his torch, flicked it on… and it exploded. With a startled cry he threw it down, where it shattered on the concrete floor of the warehouse. Still gasping in shock, he looked around for something to cast some light from. The light was no longer pouring in from Cyborg's makeshift doorway, as it was now dark outside. How long had he been… dead?...

For some strange reason, not only was he somehow alive after being electrocuted, but he seemed to have some kind of control over electricity itself. His body was still charged, and somehow he miraculously hadn't managed to electrocute himself all over again. Why wasn't the voltage affecting him?

Still, better use it to his advantage. He looked across the warehouse and saw large splinters of wood lying around from the boxes Raven had exploded as she had…

No, don't think like that. If I'm alive, then they have to be…

The light pouring in from the makeshift door Cyborg had created was somewhat limited, and the striplights had blown their fuses, but Robin managed to snatch up a large stake of broken wood, relieved that it was dry.

Robin knew that wood did not conduct electricity, but if he could make something else explode he could create a spark to make fire. He rummaged through his belt again, looking for something else electronic that would short out at his new electrical touch.

Ah; circuit-breaker…

A black plastic square case, two metal spikes sticking out of the top, and a single button to activate it. When pushed down, a small charge formed between the two metal spikes, disabling circuits. Purely electronic; just what he needed. He only hoped he wouldn't ever need it for its correct purpose, seeing as he was about to destroy it.

Holding it over the top of the wood stake, Robin pressed the circuit-breaker's button… and it dutifully exploded at his touch.

And, just as he had hoped, a flame leapt to life at the end of his stake. Robin dropped the annihilated circuit-breaker and stepped on it, sparks flying from underneath his metal sole.

Robin stood in the middle of the warehouse holding his flaming torch aloft, feeling like the Statue of Liberty. The flames cast a dull, flickering glow around a 5-metre radius. Cinderblock, Plasmus and Overload had cleared out, by the looks of it.

The other four Teen Titans were all lying sprawled out on the wet concrete floor, and somehow in his heart he knew that they, unlike him, were dead. They were all quite close together; that made sense, he remembered all five of them being in close proximity when Overload had electrocuted them…

But… when he had awoken, he had not been with them. He had been at least three or four metres away from where he had first fallen.

Ok, creepy…

No, obviously Cinderblock or Overload had kicked him aside or something, regardless of whether he had actually been dead or not.

Somehow, that thought was even creepier…

As he looked at his friends, he felt a chill wash over him, and it was not purely because his four best friends in the whole world were dead. It was… the way they were all lying there, it reminded him of that terrible dream he had had, following his hallucination in Arkham Asylum a few weeks ago, in which he had turned on his friends, murdered them, and in the end he had been the one left standing over their dead bodies.

Just like now.

But this time he had not killed them.

Overload had, on Slade's command.

No, they couldn't be dead… he was still alive, and he was the weakest out of them all. He had no powers; how could he have survived, and they hadn't?...

He went to Cyborg first, the nearest, and knelt down beside him, holding the flaming torch above his head. Cyborg was sparking, his circuits and fuses all blown out, his chocolate skin seared and burned… His electronic eye was burned out, his other human one wide and staring, his mouth open in a half-scream…

Dead.

Robin's heart sank. He reached out and closed his dead friend's one human eye in a last show of respect, as he had done for murdered senator Jonathon Vaughan, and got up, moving to Beast Boy.

Robin felt physically sick as he set eyes on Beast Boy. The green shape-shifter was utterly fried, his emerald slightly-furry skin scorched… at least his eyes were closed…

Shivering slightly now with shock and horror and despair, he went to Starfire. Starfire was Tamaranean, she could withstand a lot of things that human beings couldn't; boulders, explosions… what about electricity? The alien girl was on her side, her back to him and her hair all over her face. Hoping against hope, Robin reached out a hand and shook Starfire by one exposed shoulder. He felt electricity surge from his own body into hers, but she didn't so much as twitch. Robin wriggled his free hand underneath the curve of Starfire's hip and pulled her into him, feeling how warm she was… Did that mean she was alive?

He practically felt his heart tear in two as Starfire's form rolled over and he saw her beautiful gold skin seared and scorched as Cyborg and Beast Boy's had been. Her eyes too were shut, but he could see the pain still etched onto her pretty face. Her hair was burned too, and her clothes, her neck-plate and arm-guards sparked as the metal conducted the electricity… She was only warm because she was so burned.

"Star…" His blue eyes behind his mask stung with salty tears, and he forced them back as he kissed her forehead and lay her down again. He rose and stepped over her, making for Raven.

There was no point in kidding himself; they were all dead. Somehow, he was the only one who had survived. He wasn't even burned, although his clothes had been in better condition that morning. He had died with them but somehow, something had brought him back. Thing was, why only him? Why not all of them?

He reached Raven and knelt down beside her. Raven was flat on her back, her hood still up but her cloak fanning out underneath her, giving perfect scope to her swollen abdomen. Tears formed beneath his mask once more as he looked at her. She didn't actually seem to be as badly burned as the others, but he knew that she too was dead. He looked at her stomach and felt weird; only this morning he had tried to talk Raven into aborting the baby. Now the thought of his child dead too, still inside its mother's womb, made him want to cry too. He could not explain it, nor could he explain a strange sense of anger he also seemed to feel alongside his grief.

Overload had done this, but on Slade's order. He had killed Robin's friends, killed his… lover, and killed his child.

And Robin knew he had meant to kill him too. In fact, that had probably been the most prominent order; kill the Avenger. But he was still here, even if he had nothing to live for.

Score one for Wonder Boy…

No, he had something to live for.

Revenge.

And he would have his vengeance, if it was the last thing he did.

Robin heaved a sigh as he made that vow, placing a hand on Raven's stomach. She, like Starfire, was still warm from the god-knows-how-many volts that had surged through her body. He knew this was why he felt very warm too, even though he was not burnt as they were.

Or dead.

He simply knelt there for a while, feeling… feelingless, one hand on Raven's swollen abdomen, his flaming stake in the other.

Until he felt the baby kick.

He snatched his hand back as though he had been burned, staring wide-eyed at his dead friend's swollen stomach. Had he imagined that?...

God, please say I imagined that…

And again, even as he stared at Raven's lifeless body, he saw the tiny jerking movement against her abdomen as the baby's foot beat against the wall of its prison.

Somehow, like him, the baby was still alive…

But that was even creepier. He wasn't dependent upon another life form; the baby was dependent on Raven for oxygen, nourishment, warmth… even if the electricity hadn't affected it – and he didn't see how it couldn't have – it should still be dead, if Raven was…

But then, maybe… His heart skipped a beat and he gripped one of Raven's wrists, checking for a pulse. No, nothing… he checked her jugular…

Nothing. She wasn't breathing, either…

But the baby was still alive.

Maybe something it had inherited from him? But Robin knew he was not unkillable, and besides, he had died… and something had revived him. Had the same thing happened with his child? But why revive the baby and not its mother? It surely couldn't last long if Raven was dead…

Or could it?...

Freaked out all over again, Robin once more got that urge to kill whatever was within Raven's womb, even if there was now no danger of it harming Raven. How could it, now that she was…

Robin jumped as he heard a distinct, heavy noise from beyond the dark warehouse. A voice, talking… a voice he recognised.

Terra…

Robin panicked; Slade had obviously sent her to check that everything was in order and the Teen Titans were satisfactorily dead. What could he do?

He could throw himself down again, pretend he was dead… but accomplished actor as he was, he wasn't that good. He couldn't go for very long without breathing at all. No, he had to hide. He didn't have to time to escape, Terra's voice was coming closer and closer…

He stood up, waving his flaming torch around. Right in the far corner was a pile of crates that had not been exploded; he ran at them, throwing down his torch where it went out with a loud hiss on the wet floor. Ignoring it, and hoping that Terra had not heard it, he leapt head-first behind the crates, rolling over and landing in a heap in the tight space behind them. He got as comfortable as possible – which wasn't very comfortable at all, considering it was such a small gap – and kept very quiet and still, just as Batman had taught him all those years ago, using the darkness and silence to his advantage.

Oh, sometimes it paid off being the Batman's child…

"And remember, Terra," Slade's voice ordered through his apprentice's earpiece, "do not touch them, or the floor, or anything, understand? You'll get electrocuted."

"I understand." Terra's voice was slightly disjointed as she entered the burnt-out warehouse, standing atop a large chunk of rock, which she was floating along quite easily. She carried a large lantern in one hand, which cast around a fair amount of light.

Behind the crates, Robin forced himself to breathe deeply and calmly and, above all, inaudibly. Terra couldn't see him, he knew she couldn't, and as long as he kept quiet she wouldn't find him. Maybe this time two weeks ago Robin would have tried to reason with the earthmover, but a lot had changed since then. Terra had obviously known about this, but she hadn't stopped it. The Teen Titans had once been her friends, Beast Boy once – for a very, very short space of time, granted – her boyfriend.

And she had let them die; she had allowed Slade to give the order to murder them.

Robin was beyond reasoning with her now. She might as well have killed them herself, for all the help she had given them – none. And he didn't know if it was true, but he had a feeling that Terra was under strict orders to do away with any Titans who had "miraculously" not died; well, Robin had a pretty good feeling he fell into that category.

He'd already died once; it had hurt and he hadn't liked it. He didn't want to die again.

"Everything seems fine, Slade," Terra said, seemingly to no-one.

Was he imagining it, or did Terra sound… upset?...

"They're dead?" Robin heard Slade's voice ring out through the empty warehouse as clearly as though he was standing in the room next to him. "All five of them? You're sure they're dead?"

"I… yes," Terra confirmed, shining the lantern around. "They're all just lying on the floor… the robot's still sparking…"

Don't talk about them like that, Robin thought furiously. Don't talk about them like you don't know them, like you never cared about them, and they never cared about you…

But Terra's voice was quavering; he could hear it clearly now. As though she was trying not to cry. The thought that Terra was near tears only made him angrier.

Oh, you cry now, when it's too late. I didn't see you coming to help us when we were getting electrocuted…

"Excellent," Slade hissed through the earpiece. "Count them off for me, please."

"Um…" Terra shone the light around. "Ok, there's Cyborg… and there's Starfire… and there's… whoa…"

"What?" Slade snapped over the intercom. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I…" Terra moved the rock over to where Raven lay on her back.

Behind the crates, Robin shifted slightly, completely silently, watching Terra through a gap in the heavy wooden boxes, his eyes narrowed. Terra was crouching on her platform of rock over Raven, simply staring at the telekinetic's swollen abdomen.

"Jeez, Slade, the seer told us she was pregnant, but…" Terra trailed off, shaking her blonde head.

"But what?" Slade barbed. "She's been pregnant for a little over a week. What difference should it make?"

"A week?" Terra snorted. "Make that six months. She's huge."

"What?" Slade snapped for the third time. "Six months? Are you sure?"

"Slade, I'm not kidding," Terra told him. "She's really big. She's been pregnant for way over a week, that much is certain."

Robin heard Slade sigh through the intercom.

"That damn seer… No matter. She's definitely dead?"

"Yes, definitely."

"Then the child must be dead too. It makes no difference how far gone her pregnancy is."

Dead my ass, Robin thought sourly. And how do they know about Raven's pregnancy, anyway?

"What of the shape-shifter? And, most importantly, Terra, the Avenger?"

"I…" Terra looked briefly over her shoulder at Beast Boy, then quickly looked away again; in the light of her lantern Robin saw definite tears come to her eyes.

"Beast Boy's dead," Terra said softly.

"Excellent," Slade said briskly through the earpiece. "And Robin? Where's the Boy-wretched-Wonder?"

Terra stood again, shining her lantern around.

"I… I can't find him," she said, sounding confused.

"Well, find him!" Slade snapped. "Overload informed me that Robin was definitely killed; he was the first to die. He must be there, unless his corpse suddenly got up and walked out?"

Close enough, Robin thought dryly in reply to the soft chuckle of laughter he heard echoing through Terra's earpiece.

"I'll check it out," Terra murmured.

Oh, peachy…

"See that you do," Slade's voice replied icily. "Tear that warehouse apart if you have to, but find him."

This is so not a good day…

"And if, for some reason, Terra, he is still alive," Slade went on silkily, "kill him."

Yeah, this is a really, really bad day…

"I understand, Slade."

Terra began to conduct a search of the warehouse, swinging her lantern around and throwing crates and debris aside. Robin began to panic; once or twice, as the lantern swung in the direction of his crates, his shadow was cast up on the wall. Terra didn't notice it even though it was pretty obvious, but Robin knew it was only a matter of time before she did. He had to get out of here, and fast. He'd already been swallowed whole and electrocuted that day; he didn't feel like making a Hat Trick and getting his skull crushed by a boulder too.

Desperately he looked up and saw that the ceiling seemed to be made of wooden planks… no, it was roof-space! Extra storage room, obviously. And right above him… was a square hole, the trap-door lying open; he could see the silver glint of the ladder tucked away beyond it. He couldn't get the ladder down, obviously; it would attract Terra's attention. And he was too scared to touch his belt to get his grappling hook out, knowing that it would start sparking at his electrical touch.

There was only one thing for it; he'd have to jump.

It was very, very high – impossible to jump.

Unless you were a trained acrobat.

Still, it was going to take some calculation. If he used the crates as a lift, he should be able to get enough height. But with Terra still wandering around looking for him – dead or alive, literally – he couldn't just happily climb up onto the crates and leap up into the roof-space. He would need to distract her somehow. And with her getting closer and closer to his hiding-place by the second, he needed to think of something fast.

Ok, Terra wasn't facing him, and he could hear Slade's voice addressing her through her earpiece. That meant she couldn't hear him as well. He pulled a birdarang from his belt, wincing as it sparked at his touch, leaned over the crates and hurled it as hard as he could at the opposite wall. Metal bounced off metal, creating more sparks as the now-charged birdarang hit the corrugated steel wall.

Terra gasped and jumped, and Robin distinctly heard Slade snap "What the hell was that?!" through his apprentice's earpiece.

"Big mistake, Robin," he heard Terra mutter as she started off in the direction of the wall.

Wasting no time, Robin silently climbed up onto the crates, elevating himself a few extra precious feet. He looked up, took a deep breath…

Haley's Circus, don't fail me now…

He leapt, straining every muscle in his lithe body to the limit. He caught onto the edge of the hole, swinging there for a few seconds. Then he swung forwards until his feet hit the ceiling, building himself up some leverage; he swung backwards again, arching his back and flipping up into the roof-space. He landed lightly in a catlike crouch and straightened up, wiping his forehead.

You can take the boy out of the circus…

Being an ex-Flying Grayson had its advantages too, just as much as being Batman's ex-protégé did.

Grinning despite his grief for his friends, Robin moved right back so that he could see out of the square hole, but in such a way that if Terra looked straight up she would not be able to see him. There were more crates up here, so that if she decided to look around up here he could dive behind them.

"Birdarang," Terra muttered over at the far wall. The thing was still sparking and she knew better than to pick it up.

"So he's still alive." Slade sounded furious. "He's still alive…"

"I'll find him, Slade," Terra vowed solemnly.

"You had better," Slade replied shortly. "And… bring him to me, Terra. Bring him to me alive, and I'll kill him myself."

Robin shivered at the sound of Slade's malicious tone.

No thanks, not after last time…

Terra continued to conduct her search, tearing up a lump of concrete and hurling it at the crates Robin had been hiding behind only moments before. He swallowed as he heard the smashing of wood and clatter of corrugated metal, glad that he had thought to get the hell out of there when he had. Otherwise…

Songbird-flavoured pancake? Eww…

"He's not here, Slade," Terra said finally, after removing the chunk of concrete and searching through the broken debris. "He was, only a minute ago, but now he's gone…" She looked at the makeshift doorway Cyborg had cut into the wall. "He must have thrown the birdarang to distract me and escaped. He's probably long gone by now…"

"Hmm. Maybe…" Slade sounded thoughtful. "Very well, then. He probably went back to that wretched Tower. I'll send over a commando unit to tear the place apart. Meanwhile, Terra… bring that warehouse down on the other Titans' carcasses. Give them a proper "burial"…"

"Yes, Slade…" Terra took one last, lingering look at Beast Boy's fallen form, then walked out of the warehouse via Cyborg's "door". Once safely outside she concentrated her energy, her eyes glowed bright yellow…

Robin felt the whole place shaking, right down to the foundations. Terra was going to bring the whole thing down… He heard support beams snapping as the foundations gave way, the whole thing seemed to sag inwards and downwards under the heavy metal roof. He was going to be killed all over again…

Unless he thought fast. He scrabbled to his feet and moved as fast as he could, leaping over crates and boxes, towards the far wall of the storage area. It wasn't too far, as he had been so near the wall anyway; ignoring the sparks from his fingertips, he took three explosive discs from his belt and slapped them on the wall, then stepped backwards as he heard the three warning beeps to detonation. He was thrown backwards by the explosion, which blew a hole in the wall. Without further thought he leapt through it, freefalling to the ground below outside. He landed heavily and straightened up, just as the whole warehouse collapsed on itself like a house of cards in a gust of wind.

Burying his friends amid the rubble and twisted metal and broken wood and glass.

He felt numb watching it; if they hadn't been dead when he had checked on them – and they had been – they were certainly dead now. He simply didn't know what to do next; there was no-one to lead, or no-one to lead him…

Lost…

"You bastard!" Terra's voice screamed from behind him, making him whip around, his fists clenched. She was standing there in front of him, her hair all over her face and tears streaking her cheeks; her eyes were wide, glazed – she looked seriously demented.

"There you are!" Terra shrieked at him, advancing on him. "I've had Slade screaming in my ear to find you and kill you, and you've been here the whole time!"

She lunged at him and Robin lost his last shred of patience with her. He sidestepped her clumsy blow and spun into a powerful roundhouse kick, his heel catching her on the side of the head. She collapsed instantly, out cold.

"Terra?" Robin heard Slade's voice inquire impatiently through the microphone. "Terra, what's going on?"

Robin reached down, pushed Terra's hair aside and removed her earpiece. It sparked in his fingers and gave up the ghost; he threw it to the floor and crushed it underfoot, just to be sure.

Looking up he saw that his bike was exactly where he had left it; he decided that the best thing to do first of all was to go back to Titans Tower and work from there. He looked down at Terra's fallen body one final time and scowled.

"Bitch."

He stepped over her, making for his bike. He retrieved his helmet, turned the keys in the ignition and kicked the bike into gear, heading home.

Alone.

Lame cop-out? Why is Robin alive again when the others aren't? Why does he suddenly seem to have "superpowers"? He DID die, BTW - I wasn't lying last chapter...

Well… there are a few reasons. One of them I'm not going to tell you (although I'm certain you have a few speculations of your own), but quite frankly and most importantly…

He's the main character of this storyline. And there's not much of a story without him. Therefore…

But I do wonder if anyone can guess where we go from here.

In other news…

Small Print has another new music video, if anyone would like to take a look, created by Coolteenzz. Yet another fantastic piece of work, to Pushing Me Away. A link to all of her videos can be found on my profile. :)

Narroch06 and I are working on another fic together, entitled Wertham's Law. It is a BatmanxRobin slash story (yes, you read that right) but more importantly it is satire, complying to the accusations of homoerotic relations between Bruce and Dick made by psychiatrist Dr Fredric Wertham in his 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent. It seems serious, but it isn't – I dunno, most people are into angsty romance, but that is humour/romance, so… Only the prologue and the first chapter are up and can be found on my profile, if you are interested… well, plug over…

Trouble in Tokyo: I have FINALLY seen it, thanks to Narroch06! All I can say is… whoa, it was pretty damn awesome, no? And aww, the RobinxStarfire-ness… I do love that pairing, despite this being a primarily RobinxRaven fic… :) I am so glad they finally kissed!

Lastly… my friend, letfearruleyou, decided to make her debut into the Teen Titans fanfiction world with a rewrite of the Starfire-centric episode Transformation. I helped out here and there with the planning and I think it's looking pretty good for a first attempt (plus I promised to plug it for her) so if anyone is interested in taking a look at a different take on that episode (and let's face it, it wasn't Star's shining moment…), you can find a link to her profile on mine, right at the top. It's only three chapters so far and they are all very short. Please, someone take pity on her and review… --

You are now leaving Plug City Central…

TTYS!

RobinRocks xXx