Chapter 9: Devil's Advocate

--

"You're going to get yourself killed.  You know that?"

Robin snapped the thermal blaster into place and made sure his boots were secure.

"And I'm not gonna be there to drag your body out of the fire when she's done with you.  You hear me, Robin?  Don't expect me to save you this time."

"Ten explosive discs, smoke bombs, eight electric discs, grappling hook…" Robin thumbed through his arsenal and failed to block out Blackfire's voice.

"Damn it, Robin!  Listen to me!"  Blackfire flung her book at Robin, who caught it with his right hand without a thought.

"Stop acting like I can't handle myself.  You don't know where I'm going, anyway, so let me have some time to myself."

"Does Slade know about this?"

"He doesn't have to know."

"You're going to die."

"I'm going for a walk."

"To die."

"To think."  Before Blackfire could respond, Robin tossed the book back at her and headed for the door.  He pulled out his communicator.  "Besides, I always have this."

Blackfire narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists, but what could she do?  Robin refused to listen to reason, and if he was going out for a walk, the world better be ready to see him in a new light.  "Just be careful."

Robin thought to say 'I always am' before memories of Slade smashing his head against the wall flooded his mind, so he gave no response and left.

As the door closed behind him, Robin took a deep breath and began the long walk down the empty hallway.  Door after door and no one came out to wish him well.  Pale shadows ran across his body through cracked windows and the chill rushing around his hair heightened the anticipation for him.  Before Robin reached the door, he pulled out a disc in immediate self defense.  "Who's there?"

Quiet footsteps grew louder and louder until Jinx's thin body stepped into the light, back into the darkness and the light again.  "Running off again, Robin?"

Robin shifted more towards the exit while keeping his eyes on Jinx and that sick looking smile.  "Just going for a walk."

"Yeah, and I'm sane."  She moved closer and tossed Robin a sack.  "Look, Robin, listen…when you and…um…"

"Starfire?"

"Right, her.  When the two of you were fighting, I saw you holding back.  You could've gotten rid of her, but you didn't."  She closed in inches away from his face.  "What are you afraid of, boy wonder?  You've got all the potential right there and you're just letting it sit.  You're a hero to them out there!  Imagine their faces if you just came to town and started blowing things up for the heck of it!"  Jinx's smile broadened to the point where Robin thought she belonged in an asylum.  "You can do anything you want and the world won't stop you because they'll just see you as a misguided hero.  A hero, Robin, is what they'll see.  But it's not what I see.

"I see a boy trapped in a cage with the key in his hands.  Open the cage.  Drop your guard.  Don't go in there with a plan or idea.  Just blow something up.  The people out there will never see it coming.  And let's be honest: you've earned this as a reward.  Being cooped up in that leotard and cape had to be the worst.  But you've left that behind because you knew you deserved better.  So now you're free to do whatever you want with all that power of yours.  Get those hands dirty."  She fished through her pockets until she pulled out a detonator and many explosives.  After eying them like Christmas gifts, Jinx placed the weapons safe in Robin's hand.  "Introduce the world to a brand new Robin.  Give them a real show."

The explosives jumped back and forth in Robin's quivering hands.  You live a life as a hero and get nothing but grief.  You put that, your friends, your family and loved ones behind you and you put your life on the line.  But did being second to a brooding millionaire equate to a single second of fun?  Whenever he wanted to punch in a thief robbing a bank, he pulled back.  When he felt like making the bastards pay, Bruce reminded him of the 'no killing' rule.  And who was one who was always told he needed to improve?

Robin.

No more of that.  Being the hero made Robin a lightning rod for trouble.  Doing the right thing came with a price, so no point in bothering with that anymore.  Robin turned away from Jinx and continued his long walk towards the exit, careful of the continuous twitch on the side of his mouth.

Jinx shuffled back into the darkness and headed for her room.  "Too easy."

--

"This would be easier if you two stopped glaring at me."

Raven tore off another strip of gauze and wrapped it over her leg several times, closing one eye as she pressed it deeper into the wound.  While Raven wished she hadn't almost scrambled Starfire's brain to bring her back to normal, she wished more that Beast Boy and Cyborg would stop glaring at her.

"So did your other selves give you those bruises, Raven?  Did Happy Raven go berserk and pull a 'You Afraid of the Dark' routine?"  Beast Boy threw his hands in the air to recreate Raven growing as tall as a skyscraper.

"I…don't think Raven would do that herself.  What's the deal with Star?"

"She's…resting."  Raven kept her eyes on her bruise and rewrapped it several more times.

"That's crap, Raven, and we know it.  Tell me why we're knocking on your door for almost an hour and you just rush out with Star looking like she's been in a blender."

"Look, I don't know about all that creepy gothic stuff you like, but if you got Star into cutting herself, I'm sleeping outside."

"It's not like that.  Just know that…Starfire's dangerous."

"More dangerous than you?"

"Come on, BB.  Knock it off."

Raven ignored the comment.  "She…became another creature.  It's like she didn't even know who I was.  At least I didn't have to kill her."

"You what?"  Beast Boy blocked Raven from turning around.  "You were gonna kill Star?  Raven, she's a Titan!  You don't just off her because she went crazy!  We didn't try to stop you when you freaked out!"

"That was different.  I came back under control-"

"When Robin told you to!"  Beast Boy cut Raven off before she could finish.  "If you didn't, Dr. Light would've gone crazy!"

After glaring at Beast Boy with killing intent in her eyes, Raven placed her hood back on her head.  "I made a choice.  Starfire could kill all of us if someone doesn't control her, so I had to put her back in her place."

"Who died and made you leader?!"

"Yeah!" Cyborg joined in.  "I mean, Star's not perfect, but she's not an animal or something like that."

"And if you do something to one member, we should know.  You're not the leader."

"The hell I'm not."  Raven left the debate at that and turned to Cyborg.  "Now you told me you found Robin."

Cyborg exchanged glances with Beast Boy before the light bulb went off in his head.  "Oh, yeah!"  He lifted his left arm.  "I caught a sign of his position an hour ago, but it's weak.  I cross referenced my monitoring system with the map on the main computer."  He went over to the common room and uploaded the central CPU.  Seconds later, the television came to life and an on-screen map with a small red blip appeared.  "And it keeps moving, so we can't get a lock on him."

"But we at least we know he's moving."

"That doesn't mean anything if we can't pinpoint him!"  Raven rethought her words when she saw Beast Boy and Cyborg's faces fall.  If she was going to be the temporary leader, she may as well try to build up morale.  "But…it's something."

Beast Boy was the first to smile again.  "See?  I told you she'd think it was a good idea!  So let's go get him!"

"We can't."  Raven stopped Beast Boy in mid-run.  "We don't know Robin's exact location or if he's even alone.  We leave and the Tower is defenseless again with Slade and those other creeps with him.  Plus, Starfire's in no condition to move, so we have to regroup until she's well enough to battle again.  In the meantime, I know you two haven't trained or practiced since we got back, so instead of burning brain cells, I'll oversee your training."

Before Beast Boy or Cyborg could protest, Raven gave them that option or their game console goes out the window, so they elected the first choice.  Beast Boy got through it with a smile.  They had plenty of time to train and if someone showed up unannounced, they would know.  "I mean, it's not like Robin's gonna come flying through the window."

--

Pain rang in Starfire's head as she the flames in her brain began to die.  A slight moan passed her lips and her vision flickered on and off as she tried to remember Raven's face before that feeling of death pounded in her brain.  When had she felt like that before?  That one time on Tamaran?  It must have been, even though it was so long ago.

But the power felt so good.  Why would Raven not want her to use it?  If it made Raven do what she did, it would help bring Robin back to the team.  Raven couldn't do that all of the time, anyway, so Starfire could still use a bit of it if necessary.  But would she want to, as Earthlings called it, cheat in order to save someone's life?

Furious tapping on her head broke Starfire's train of thought.  She turned to one side, but the tapping followed her.  At last, Starfire opened her eyes and met a familiar X plastered onto a skull.  On impulse, she backed off of the bed- ignoring the unbearable strain in her head- and charged a starbolt in her left hand.  "You!"

"Me?"  Red X mirrored Starfire's movement, without the energy ball in his hand.  "Yes, I'm me, standing right in front of you, Red.  You still want to take up my offer for that date?"

Starfire fired.  Red X leaned backwards as the starbolt whizzed past his head and shattered through a window.  "You are not welcome here, imposter Robin!"

"Calm down, Red.  Just hear me out."

"No!  I have no reason to listen to anything you have to say.  You are a liar and should be sent to the furthest sun."  Starfire turned around and hobbled towards a chair.

"You think you're strong, Red, but if you were, would Robin have run away?"

As she reached the chair, Starfire turned back towards Red X.  "What do you care of Robin?"

"I know where he is."  Red X vanished and appeared again, sitting atop a cabinet.  "I know where he is.  I know where your little boyfriend is…right…now."

"Tell me."

"Now, Red…" Red X pulled out a syringe filled with glowing blue liquid.  "You know Robin is hard headed.  He's not gonna come back because you want him to.  He's making his own decisions.  Don't let your feelings cloud your judgment."

"Friend Raven told me…not to use my emotions in battle.  She says that if I rely on them, I will have guilt for rescuing a friend without using my own power."

That made Red X stop.  "Is that so?  Well, let me tell you something: we're all imperfect.  Not you, Robin, your gothic chick friend, the green guy, the robot, your attractive sister, or that Slade guy."  He disappeared again and reappeared behind Starfire, seizing her arm and locking it in place.  "In the end, a person's guilt or innocence isn't for us to decide."  He plunged the needle into Starfire's arm and held her arm tight as she writhed about in pain. "Do the deed, save your boyfriend, and let someone else sort the good from bad."

Starfire gritted her teeth as the needle pricked her skin and fluids ran through her body.  "But…"

"But nothing, Red!"  X forced the needle in deeper.  "You've got something great inside of you, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna watch you let that power go to waste!"  He removed the needle and ran a glove across the drool leaking from Starfire's mouth.  "You'll feel a bit woozy right now, but once you get out there, you'll feel better.  Now trust me, Red, when I say that Robin is itching to send this town to Hell now that he's shacked up with Slade and your sister.  You owe it to yourself and the team to stop him, no matter what it takes.  He's just as bad as Slade, and that means you can't trust him."  He cupped her face.  "But you can trust me."

Whether Starfire believed him she couldn't tell.  More agony drilled in her head not from whatever Red X had stuck in her arm.  Regardless, she wrestled her face out of his grip.  "I do not know your true purpose for coming here, but I am not going to allow you to influence my decision towards rescuing Robin."

"Well, you're welcome for making you feel better.  Tell you what; how about you at least let me tell you where he is?"

"Why are you choosing to assist me?  Whose side have you chosen to take?"

"I'm not on anyone's side, Red.  I fight for me and myself alone, so…" Red X dug into his pockets and pulled out a locator.  "Just use this and you'll find him."

"Where?"

Do I have to explain everything to her?  "He's in that city that never sleeps; the city where a man in a suit can walk around in the middle of the night, a place where you can get a job as a crazy entertainer, plant lover or rob banks with cats.  It's-hey, where are you going?!"

Starfire opened the window and held the device in the air.  "I have his location and am out to return friend Robin, of course."  With that, Starfire flew into the air as Red X ran towards the window.

"Just don't get lost in the dark!  That's why they call it Gotham!"

--

"So why do they call it Gotham?"  The first man passed money sacks to his partner, who loaded them into his vehicle.

"Always nighttime in this godforsaken city.  Plus, there's…" He looked around to make sure no one could see or hear him.  "There's…well, you know."  He jerked his head to the shadows further in the alley.

"No, I don't know.  What?"

"You know…him.  Big guy, flies around with a cape, always has to tell everyone who he is?"  The second man closed the trunk and flapped his hands up and down.  "Him."

"Oh, you mean the Ba-"

The second clamped his hand over the first's mouth.  "Shut up, shut up!  Let's just get out of here!"  He rushed his partner into the vehicle, hit the gas and sped out of the highway and into the night; another robbery complete.

Moments passed until a silhouette stepped out of the darkness.  Robin took in a whiff of the decaying odor of Gotham once again, still fresh of vermin and corruption even with 'Him' around.  "Still the same old dump."  He walked over steam filled gutters and avoided three head on collisions from robberies in progress enough to feel at home here.  Street lamps flickered on and off, prostitutes took whatever they find to get that quick fix and 'He' should be on his run right now.

Then Robin remembered the explosives sitting well in his pocket.  He thought of Jinx's advice: blowing something up for no reason?  What should a boy do if he's trapped in a cage with the key in his hands?  Open it and run free or rot?  He couldn't just sit back and wait for the excitement to come to him.  After all, idleness was the holiday for fools.  No.  If Robin wanted that destruction and jolt of excitement that Jinx seemed to get from the cuts on her arms, he would have to bring it to Gotham.

After scaling the rooftops, Robin secured a rope around his waist and lowered himself along the side of a botany shop.  He pulled one two charges, dropped one into a mail chute and covered the second with leftover plots littering the front porch.  "That's two."  He dropped down and headed for Gotham's Iceberg Lounge nightclub.

Robin made his way through the alleys and strapped three more detonation charges along the southern wall of the nightclub.  "Three."  As Robin planted the explosives, he clung to the shadows for life, almost being seen by several bums too wasted to see past their bloodshot eyes.

"Where to next?"  Robin tapped his chin and considered the home of Tony Zucco, but he was still in prison and, as far as Robin knew, had no immediate family.  He wandered through the back ways and alleyways of Gotham without a target before he stopped.  Just blowing things up for the heck of it?  It sounded crazy, Robin knew, but if it made Jinx smile, it would work for him.

Several automobiles, an ambulance, four police cruisers, a daycare center, hospital windows, the front porch of Gotham's own police commissioner and a manhole all received a det-pack courtesy of Gotham's own Robin.

Before waking up some of Gotham's citizens with random parts of the city in flames, Robin began running to cover some distance.  The thought of workers and parents fleeing for their lives, folks tripping over other hospital patients or a police car shooting into the air on the way to investigate a fire caused Robin's mouth to twitch until it turned into a full blown smile.  His finger shook over the detonator.  "A few more minutes."

Robin kept running.

--

Starfire stopped flying.  She couldn't even see the moon.  Shadows climbed skyscrapers for miles until Starfire thought they disappeared.  Not that Jump City was spooky at night, but this…Gotham that Red X spoke of felt like a different universe.  Women wore clothes that revealed parts of their bodies Starfire exposed just when bathing, men with plastic on their faces fired shots into the air in the presence of policemen trying to finish their food.

She entered a dark alley and approached a man wearing three or four jackets.  The foul stench of waste- of course the signs of an adventurer- drifted into Starfire's nose and pleased her nostrils as she approached the man with a smile on her face.  She spoke loud enough despite the man focusing on the powder in his brown bag.  "Excuse me?  Excuse me?  Have you seen a thin boy with spiky hair through here tonight?"

The bag hit the ground as the man leapt backwards and ran off.  "I don't know who you are!  Stop calling me!"

How strange.  Why were the people in Gotham not like the nice people in Jump City?  Starfire approached another man, this one fishing through garbage cans for a mirror.  "Sir, I am in search of my friend with black hair and a metal suit.  Have you seen one here?"

The man dropped the mirror and stared at Starfire like she was the last woman on Earth.  His eyes scanned her body as he approached her.  "Hey, pretty lady, forget that friend and let me have a go at ya."  He sneered and ran a hand through his air just before Starfire held her hands up in self-defense and kicked him across two city blocks.

"Where are you, Robin?"  Starfire continued down the streets and rounded a corner when she spotted a police station.  Maybe someone there knew about Robin.  As Starfire moved, the sirens blared and men came rushing out of the police station.

"We've got a fire at the Commissioner's home and Gotham Hospital!"  The men jumped into their vehicles and sped off.

Three seconds later, one exploded.

Starfire held up her hand as a metal fireball shot into the air.  The second car swerved out of control and crashed into a clothing store before another explosion followed.  Flames raged out of control and spread to nearby buildings as Starfire took to the air.

"I saw him!"

Even if it wasn't about Robin, Starfire had to take a chance and follow the sound of the voice.  She rushed towards a man trying to bat the flames off of a pregnant woman.  Starfire rushed towards the man's cries for help.  "Sir, you said you saw who is responsible for this?!"

At first sight, the man's eyes widened when he saw Starfire, but didn't turn her away.  "Y-yeah, lady, it was that kid that used to hang around the Bat guy!  I know it was him!  Even though he's got a new suit, I swear I saw him put something on the Commissioner's porch!"

"Are you crazy?!"  The woman rolled to one side.  "The boy would never do that!"

Another squad car sped towards the pair as a medic jumped out of the following ambulance.  "Ma'am, we have to get you to the hospital right now!  You shouldn't be out with all of these random explosions!"

"We were minding our business and closing the daycare when something went off!  We didn't know!"

"Sir, you're gonna have to come with us, too!"  The medics rushed the man and pregnant woman into the back of the ambulance and hurried off.  Before Starfire could ask for help or follow the ambulance, the bottom of it exploded and the ambulance jumped into the air in a blazing trail of fire.

Starfire placed her hands over her ears to block out the screams and roars from explosions firing all around her.  She fell to her knees and found herself staring at the crisp corpse of the woman who had just been placed in the ambulance.  "Who...is responsible for such madness and chaos?"  The locator beeped at a rapid rate.  Starfire took out the device and found the red blip was no more than five blocks away from her.  Robin, please do not be the one responsible for this.  She clutched the locator, crouched and shot into the air.

He's just as bad as Slade and that means you can't trust him.  At the thought of Red X's words, Starfire increased speed.

--

Robin never felt better.  The screams of the innocent satisfied him and he couldn't stop smiling.  Catching bank robbers was nowhere near as fun as lighting Gotham up like a birthday cake.  Now, with the wind running through his hair as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop, Robin sprinted back towards Jump City.  No need in incurring 'His' wrath.  Running around at night never felt so exhilarating.  "I can't believe that psycho was right."  Robin remembered Jinx's pep talk and shook off the thought of doing to his arms like she did to her's.  Doing wrong felt better than doing right, that was for sure.

As Robin landed on one rooftop, it happened.

An all too familiar green energy sphere zipped past Robin's foot and obliterated the edge of the rooftop.  Robin armed himself with a bird-a-rang and smiled.  So, it's just her?  "Your aim's horrible."

She landed a few feet behind him and held a starbolt in her right hand, ready to fire.  "Robin...friend Robin…are you responsible for the dangers brought upon this city?"

Oh, so she's been following him.  Robin checked the time on his locator.  He wouldn't be back before midnight, as he hoped.  "What if I was, Star?"  He turned around to face her.  "Would you think different of me if I did?"

"You killed innocent people for sport and cared nothing for their lives.  I cannot allow you to continue your barbaric acts against the people of this city, Robin."  The starbolt grew in Starfire's hands as she took one step forward.

"Enough with the pep talk, Star.  If you're here to act like my mother and drag me back home like some kid, I'm leaving."  Robin waved Starfire off just as a starbolt whizzed past Robin's foot and blew a crater in front of him.

"No, Robin.  I have been told to hold back and not to, but you have shown me the error of your ways.  I am tired of drawing a line between my friend Robin and what Slade has turned you into.  The others are not here, so I will stop you from making this city go down in flames."  Her eyes began to glow green.  "If you wish to behave like an animal, I shall treat you as such.  From this moment on, you will receive NO MERCY FROM STARFIRE!"

Starfire fired.