Chapter 2: Breaking and Entering

Afterthought: A few parallels between Slade's organization and the Secret Society of Super-Villains, or the Legion of Doom.

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"We're never gonna find him."

Robin was missing. His locator had been deactivated and there was no way of getting in contact with him, but the Teen Titans never turned their back on a friend, not even their leader. They didn't like Robin's constant bitching about Slade, no, but they had accepted that he had lost his cool. Now that he was gone, even though for a few hours, a waiting gap went unfilled in the Titans' circle as they crept through Jump City's sewers to locate Robin.

Beast Boy sniffed the air and recoiled in disgust when a dead rat drifted by his foot. "Dude, we've been in the sewers all night. Can't we just look for him in the morning?"

Cyborg sighed and turned his searchlight off, casting the team into darkness. "BB, you know that Robin ran down here when he said he saw Slade, so if he's somewhere, it's down here." He held his head down and turned the light back on before tampering with the itch in his brain. He wanted to focus more on whatever was that everyone had been infected with when they were blasted by that thing, but the leader came first. "We could find an exit if we wanted to, but we still gotta find out what happened to Robin."

Still sniffing, this time while pulling a banana peel off of his shoe, Beast Boy spoke. "Well, if he went further into the sewer, we may not wanna find him."

Raven, refusing to let her hood down and exposing her face to the foul stench of death, was just as interested in getting out of the sewer, but let none of that anticipation glance across her face. As vital as Robin was as the team's leader, Raven knew that Robin was capable of handling himself. Hell, he had just taken out an army of Slade-bots by himself. "Whatever did happen, Robin can hold his own. He isn't a lunatic like Slade."

Doubt flashed across Raven's face for an instant and her arm would not stop shaking despite her order to halt the jerking movements. How many times had Robin told them not to compare him to Slade? Once? Twice? Too many for Raven to remember as she straightened her forehead. Within the realm of her mind, she tried not to visualize Robin returning to the team, but dressed like Slade. No, Robin was a lot of things: an overconfident jackass, an antisocial sidekick, but he was not a psycho.

Beast Boy broke Raven out of her trance when he let out something between a cough and a chuckle as he patted Raven on the shoulder. "You sure you wanna say that, Raven? Robin and Slade are almost the exact same-"

For a split second, Beast Boy felt his temperature drop and his blood ran cold when Raven stared at him out of the corner of her eye. Black tendrils crawled out of the depths of her robe, but before she could drag Beast Boy to the depths of Hell and back, a circle of light penetrated the darkness and sent some nearby sewer rats scurrying.

"Found one." Cyborg pushed the manhole open and began climbing the ladder. Beast Boy and Raven followed behind him.

Still searching in every pipe, under every discarded can, and asking every sewer rat in desperation, Starfire sloshed through the murky waters as the frigid liquid matched the emptiness in her heart. After endless looking, Starfire bit her lip and ignored the metallic taste of blood fluttering around her mouth. There was no Robin, no locator, no nothing.

Cyborg leaned down into the hole and called for Starfire. "Yo, Star, are you coming or what?!"

"Yeah," Beast Boy huffed back another sniffle. "If you gotta sneeze again, get it over with. I'm cold!"

Starfire brought her hands together. No longer was Robin there to hold her hand when she was frightened and needed support. The hollow heart had lost its savior and now the Tamaranean had to walk through the world naked and unprotected without the guidance of her best friend. Though light shined through the darkness in the tunnel, it could not fill the space occupied by Robin's friendship and assuring presence. When Robin had told Starfire that he was not turning into Slade, she abandoned the thought of him slipping further into the darkness and away from the team, away from her.

She pressed her lips together and peered into the darkness one last time when she saw Robin running towards her to embrace her so she would know everything was fine, but his body passed through her own and reality crashed in on her. Before Starfire could run deeper into the sewer, a thick blackness enveloped her as Raven brought her to the surface. Raven turned Starfire right side up and, aside from the rush of blood to the alien's face, Raven found the mix of regret and despair plastered on Starfire's face.

"You still want to look for him."

Statement, not a question, as Starfire landed on the ground. "I was…certain that I would be able to find Robin. He could be in trouble and awaiting our rescue. If Cyborg had quit the team again, I am sure that Robin would never-"

"Watch it, Star. I didn't quit…I was on temporary leave."

Beast Boy held his hand up after wiping his nose again. "I believe your words were 'I QUIT!'" Beast Boy retorted before slinking to Raven's side when Cyborg glared at him. He paused when his, along with everyone else's, communicator went off with a resounding buzz in his ears. Cyborg was the first to flip his open and study the on-screen map.

"We got another problem: someone's at the Ebony Square weapons' district! You think it's Slade?"

"Nah. If it was, Robin would've beaten the snot out of him already." Beast Boy held back another sniffle. "Besides, Slade doesn't need weapons- he's Slade!"

Raven stared at Beast Boy for ten long seconds that dragged out into a minute. After deciding against slapping him upside the forehead, she muttered an incantation to herself as her feet left the ground and she hovered in the air. "Regardless, if it is Slade, then Robin must be related."

Beast Boy wiped his nose one more time before transforming into a pterodactyl and letting Cyborg onto his left wing. Cyborg converted his right hand into its blaster mode. "All right, guys, we find the target and waste it! If they don't know Robin-"

Starfire's arms would not stop vibrating. The emerald in her eyes intensified and the fabric of her gloves strained as she clenched her fists to the point where the material began to tear. Screw the target; she wanted Robin in her arms again. Before Cyborg could finish giving the command, Starfire shot into the air and let her nose do the tracking for her. "I will rescue you, Robin."

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"Everything is according to plan."

A beat, then an explosion ripped through the double doors of the security complex, sending a mix of crimson and cerulean flames out of the bomb's base and leaping towards three scurrying guards. The fire ate at the first guard's legs as his assault rifle freed itself from his hands and landed at Robin's left foot. Smoke billowed and clouded Robin's vision to the point where he could only point out five guards capable of defending themselves. His hands ran through his pockets for available weapons: a flash bomb, ten explosive discs, his bo staff, grappling hook, three electric discs, a switchblade in case of emergency, and eight bird-a-rangs.

Behind Robin, a singed guard gazed through his functional eye as Robin's shadow danced past him and towards the glass plated prize. The man, ignoring the twisting in his left hand, pulled out his communicator and turned the dial to the left until the static fizzled into another person's voice he could interact with. "Red alert! Crazy spiky haired kid…had a bomb—killed everyone!"

The transmission came in garbled chunks on the other side. "Repeat, guard? Feedback is acting up."

The man began screaming until his vocal chords strained for all they were worth. "Intruder has killed everyone on level! Requesting emergency-" A flash and the top of the radio fell straight off while sparks crackled and landed in the guard's goggles. He ducked as sparks jumped onto and over his helmet and loose wires spat whatever circuits they had left before wilting.

Robin's right hand fell to his side. The slight movement out of the corner confirmed his thought: he had missed. A head shot without perfect aim was risky, he had thought, but years of training afforded him the perfect chance to practice his throwing prowess. He turned around and walked towards the guard, noting Slade's hellish voice through the communications system. "Complications, Robin?"

Robin put his left hand to his ear while his right hand fished for an explosive disc. "Nothing yet. A few of the guards got away, some are still running now, and one is still alive." He looked at his bloodless hands. "No fatal injuries yet."

"And the Titans have not arrived, either."

For a second that became a moment which turned into a minute, images of those targets: Beast Boy with his comic book collection, Starfire and her pudding of sadness, Cyborg's obsession with that car and Raven's frozen grimace plastered onto his brain in the empty spaces in his brain where the adhesive was still wet. Robin shook his head, pulled the photos off, and made sure to wipe the slate in his mind clean of any connection with them.

"No sign of the enemy."

"Sixty seconds to respond. On the first assignment, not impressive."

Robin took awhile to answer, but in half the time. "One inept guard still alive."

"Then kill him and continue with your mission."

"Understood." Slade cancelled the COM link before Robin could, but either would have worked. Robin approached the writhing guard trying to grab his pistol about five feet away from him, but the loss of circulation and blood flow in his right arm impeded his progress. The few inches became miles when Robin's foot crashed down on the soldier's hand and brought more life running a marathon from the man's veins and through his fingertips in a small pool. Robin placed the bomb on the soldier's forehead and set the time for thirty seconds before walking away. "Don't get up. You'll use up your time."

A new wave of nausea sent the soldier into a slow panic as a trickle of sweat ran down his forehead and his breath came out in labored puffs. His heartbeat went into double time and even Robin heard the drumming behind him, but he continued counting down to himself as the man's life began closing the book on itself.

"Fifteen…"

"Wait, I remember your face! You're supposed to be the good guy! You can't do this!"

"Ten…and why not? You're already dead."

Sweat drenched the man's face and clouded his vision. He pounded his fist, insulted at his death being dragged out. "Why not just kill me and get it over with?!" The beeping quickened…five…four…three…two…"

The explosion eclipsed the yells that were soon silenced when body parts flew in several directions. The nearby walls received fresh coats of paint and a departed soul descended to the underworld, but Robin stood tall and continued as if nothing had happened. Death was common to him. In Gotham, it was common to find the Riddler's next clue tacked onto a smiling victim or one of the Penguin's crones wash up in the lake. It was just business.

Robin pulled a detonation pack out of his pocket, set the timer for five seconds and hurled it at the glass. He blinked once before his hair whipped black as the explosion ripped through the shards and sent fragments flying in different directions. With the guards eliminated, he stepped over a few broken pieces of glass and stared in deep thought at the prize: the thermal blaster that would fit onto his left arm. He grabbed the item and set it in place on his arm, not noticing the grin forming on his face. "Mission accomplished."

"Not yet, Robin. The true mission has not arrived." Slade's voice came over the com system again. "In due time, the true test will reveal itself."

Robin's body chilled. How many guards were left? Five, not counting the ones that were incapacitated? That didn't pose him a problem, if only for a-

The train of thought derailed with a sudden banging on the steel doors opposite Robin. Amidst the metal crunching and twisting bars, Robin's ears perked at the sound of Cyborg's grunts and strains whenever he tried to force something open and forgot that blaster he had. Spinning on his heel, Robin thought it better to head to higher ground to give him more room to fight. He picked an explosive disc out of his pocket and threw it at a few ceiling tiles. The explosion ripped through several tiles and created an exit for Robin, who leapt into the air, swung on a pipe a few times to gain altitude, and threw himself into the air and outside. He ran as fast as he could towards the exit just as the door was blown apart.

Cyborg entered the room first, his red eye scanning the room before motioning the others to follow. Beast Boy reverted from an orangutan to his normal form, Raven's aura slipped back into her skin, and Starfire's starbolts vanished. They stepped over the rubble and approached the broken glass center where something had been stolen. Cyborg scanned the base for traces of blood or skin-a trail, anything to point them in the right direction, but nothing. His eyes wandered down to the timer from the detonation pack laid against the bottom of the base. Cyborg was about to bend down to pick it up, but a set of hands cranked his head towards the empty shaft where the draft continued seeping in from above.

Beast Boy continued waving his hand like his life depended on it. "It's Slade, you guys! He's up there!"

Starfire's head shot up at the vanishing silhouette running into the night. Blood ran through her fists at the thought of Robin being held hostage as she raced through the hole ahead of the others. Raven, Beast Boy, and Cyborg soon followed.

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Robin sprinted as far as his legs could take him. Fatigue and taking out so many guards without a break was taking a toll on his body as he somersaulted over a railing and onto a straightaway. His eyes darted to the left, no guards coming, and to his right…nothing. He smirked at the thought of a perfect mission and ran towards the edge of the path when a sonic blast whizzed past his ear and cut through the railing, sending it towards the waiting streets.

"Freeze!"

Cyborg? Robin always thought Raven would take over if he left the team, but he shrugged it off. There was no more 'Titans, go' command coming from Robin's mouth, no five teens carting another rogue villain off to prison. Robin stood under an unlit lamppost; his body bathed in darkness and his heart doing back flips around the inner walls, as he heard several other sets of feet join Cyborg to face who they thought was Slade.

Then Robin took one step back, followed by another and a second until he had stumbled out of the darkness and into the light of the world. He kept his head down and the following silence crawled from one Titan to the next as they had a clear view of their target. That spiky over gelled hair, the unmistakable mask, all of the elements blended together except for the uniform…the attire of the enemy. Why was he wearing it? Where were his uniform, his true clothes? Raven raised an eyebrow from behind her veil, but paralysis had rooted all but Starfire in their places as a mix of shock and confusion played a game of tug of war with their emotions as the figure turned around and faced them.

Beast Boy was the first to draw upon breath. "That's not Slade, that's…"

"Robin." Oh, how Starfire loved that name, that boy. Being from another planet, she knew little about human emotions and how to deal with startling revelations, but this was crossing the line between confusing and downright wrong. No theory ran through her head, though. She just floated towards him with her arm extended. "Robin, why are you-" Robin cut Starfire off when he threw a Slade-style flyer that exploded in her face and drove her into Raven's arms.

Cyborg wavered between raising his blaster and scratching his head while Beast Boy was too transfixed to transform. "Yo!"

"What is your deal?"

Robin's left arm glided over an explosive disc, but Slade's voice interrupted his plan. "Not a word, Robin. They're not your friends anymore. Fire the blaster and break away."

"You mean retreat." Robin lifted his left arm and prepared to fire. He never backed away from a battle he was sure he could win, but taking on all four Titans was not something he one hundred percent believed he could do without a few minor injuries. Nonetheless, he fired at the stretch of walkway between him and the Titans, severing the path between them. The explosion brought the Titans up short and sent them scrambling back.

As the smoke began to build, Robin ran towards the ledge and jumped off. The pint sized ant village that was Jump City began to grow as the sudden rush of air blew Robin's hair back and had his blood almost jumping out of his body. His eyes narrowed to a streetlamp he could attach the grappling hook if the timing was right, but before he could reach into his pocket, something snatched him up and took him off into the night sky.

Back on the weapons district, words had escaped Starfire. Not even the boy's name could come to mind for now. Shock pried her eyes open and made flight impossible. Her ears still worked, for she did rise after Cyborg's command.

"Let's go."

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"You were lucky this time, Robin."

Robin brushed himself off and stared with indifference at his supposed rescuer. The odd metallic armor that separated her from her sister's, the mastery of the English language, and the seductiveness that many wild adolescent females such as herself possessed, Robin thought it odd that Blackfire would come to his rescue after being carted off to prison…escaping prison. He shrugged off the thought as he and Blackfire entered the main chamber and stepped into the lone sphere of light.

"Here you are, Robin. Your new master is waiting to discuss our partnership."

New master stuck out to Robin as he stared at Blackfire out of the corner of his eye; her grimace didn't falter. "Does the new man at least have a name?"

A third, yet familiar voice hidden within the darkness joined the conversation. "No reason to insult me, Robin." Slade stepped into the same light as Robin and Blackfire. "My intellect and strength far exceed that of any man. Congratulations on your first success and retrieving your new weapon."

Robin looked back at Blackfire again, still the same giddy smile that almost matched her sister's, and to Slade. "I completed the mission and didn't need rescuing, Slade."

Slade strode past Robin until he was at Blackfire's side. "True, Robin, but there will be moments when you cannot rely on your strength alone. It is in moments such as these that you will be required to work with others."

More theories ran through Robin's brain. Who was there he could work with? Any minor criminal that he knew of would have been defeated by the Titans…unless they got out of prison, which was plausible considering the recurring number of times he had run into the Mad Hatter in Gotham. Still, if Slade was so confident in Robin's abilities, why make teamwork an option?

Those other three, Gizmo, Jinx and Mammoth, were no match for the Titans once they worked together unless they were having a bad day and he hadn't seen all of Blackfire's abilities, so the chances of a selection of worthy teammates that could match up against the Titans was not possible and it showed in the arrogance lining under Robin's voice. "No thanks. The city's criminals are a bunch of morons and wouldn't last one second against the Titans. I'm not interested in working with this one-" he pointed to Blackfire, "-or anyone else."

Slade exchanged a look with Blackfire, whose smile had been replaced with a cold glare at Robin's insult to not address her by name, before raising his left hand and revealing an actuator. "You'll change your mind once you see what I have to offer."

With a press of the button, light flooded the room and Robin's eyes raised a bit at the amount of colorful faces Slade had managed to gather without them killing each other. Robin was unable to distinguish between those he recognized and ones he had never seen before, in Jump City or Gotham, but he had estimated around at least twenty to twenty five members of…whatever Slade had planned for Robin. No way did Slade plan for Robin to join this assortment of criminals, did he? "You expect me to be the leader of this?"

"No, Robin. In fact, only five or six will be assigned to your immediate aid, but think of it as collateral."

Robin smirked at that word: collateral. In Gotham, Bruce had told Robin of a group of supervillains that somehow banded together to take out the heroes all at once, but were driven by their own personal goals. Why would Slade's group, made up of much younger, less experienced, and deformed creatures serve any better? "I see, you're trying to set up a Secret Society, aren't you?"

"A co-operative, Robin." Blackfire held a finger up. "More than half of them don't even reside here, some are roaming, some are on parole, and some I just happened to break out of jail. Think of it like this: if you ever got into a situation where you couldn't take on the Titans by yourself, you no longer have to face them alone, but you have plenty of options to choose from."

Slade entered the explanation. "The Titans and you yourself were unaware that although many of the criminals you captured worked alone, many still fought for the same purpose."

"To kill us-the Titans." Robin shook his head and caught his error. He figured that Slade was putting on a show on his benefit- there was no way that so many people would be needed to fight four teens, that is, unless the Titans found more allies. Robin's thoughts were interrupted when he narrowed in on five faces heading towards him. He recognized that trio that had tried to over the tower earlier, but the other two were a mystery. He noted the green armored one's optic eye and bulky black and yellow armor on the larger one.

Jinx made the first move by snapping her fingers as purple sparks of electricity surged from her hand.

"Meet your new team, Robin."