Note: Well, that's a ridiculous amount of time to put something on hold. Yeah, no excuse for that. Where were we?

Chapter 18: Who Makes the Rules

"Are you calling her crazy?"

"I'm calling her a potential alien psycho murder girl," Beast Boy tried to assure Raven for the umpteenth time.

Beast Boy ignored the lump in his throat while his feet shuffled backward. Raven was…difficult to read, even moreso behind that hood. So much so that even a slight widening of Raven's eyes set off ten of eleven potential alarms in Beast Boy's mind.

"Rav, she burns a hole in the ceiling with her laser eyes, got some of Slade's poison in her and now she's missing!

"Somehow I doubt a…" Raven paused and apologized on her own behalf, "…psycho murder girl who winds up missing, wants to be found."

"And she's not getting there fast, either." Cyborg checked his forearm panel. "She just hit downtown."

Raven turned around. "I'm following her."

"Why should you get to-"

"Starfire's emotions are out of control right now. She can't control whatever that thing is that's in her. She needs to be stopped before she does something crazy, like kill Robin."

Cyborg walked toward the others. "Judging by her condition last time, I'd say she came pretty close to doing that already. Face it, Raven, she wants his head."

"That thing wants his head." Raven whirled around to face Cyborg. "And as long as there's still a shred of Starfire's subconscious in her mind while she's like that, I won't let her make a mistake that she'll regret."

"So then we'll all go."

"No."

"Raven, I don't give a damn whether Robin put you in charge if he left. We all got a reason to give that spiky headed traitor a good punch to the nose." Cyborg pounded a fist into his robotic hand.

Raven gave it a thought for a brief moment, pretending to herself that she had the faintest idea of how to lead a team different than Robin did, but command with the same type of leadership. She walked past Cyborg and lifted herself into the air. "We'll all go."

Red X, who had been watching the debate, rose from his seat. "Whoa, wait, you're gonna leave your tower unguarded just to go back for round two." He put up one finger, as if to punctuate his next point. "Before you know it, Slade will be here and no one can protect your Tower."

But Beast Boy waved off the assertion with a flick of his hand. "Dude, if we worried about that all the time, we'd never get anything done because we'd always try to guard the Gamestation."

"The tower," Cyborg added.

"And the tower."

"Just saying that Slade's a smart guy and leaving your place defenseless isn't a smart move."

"We'll take that chance."

"Good." Red X sat back down. "And while you do that, I'll keep watch of the big ole' T here and make sure nothing-"

A black hand materialized from the floor and seized Red X, dragging him below. Seven whole seconds later, a black void opened through the ceiling and Red X landed flat on his behind. He let out an unceremonious sound as Raven glared.

"You, X, are coming with us."

Cyborg converted his arm cannon to blaster and aimed right at X. "Yeah, no way are we gonna let you stay here and bug the hell out of our place."

Red X stood up, keeping his eyes away from Raven. "I have nothing but noble intentions."

Not missing a beat, Raven's arm shot forward and Red X's body flung toward her. He stopped an inch away from her robe. "We've seen people try to show us what it means to be noble, and neither you nor Robin are any of those things."

"You self righteous bit-"

A sonic cannon blast forced its way into Red X's side like a punch to the kidneys. He tumbled to the side and crashed into the closest wall.

"We've put up with your crap before and we're not doing it again." Cyborg pointed his cannon. "So zip it. Let's go get Starfire, and then we'll see what to do about you."

X managed to sputter out something between a cough and a laugh. He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. Damn it, he had a mission to do. No point in getting the job done if these Titans killed him, too. He paused to thank whatever higher power he believed in that the blast didn't put a hole in his chest.

After having enough of the beeps in the ward and the Titans staring into his soul, Red X found his way back to his feet before approaching Cyborg.

"Heh, sorry about that." He then walked toward the window, surprised that Raven made no attempt to reel him in again. "Guess I forgot who's in charge of this operation."

A brick cracked under the weight of Robin's foot. Logic shot to the front of his mind as he leapt into the air and landed, his boots pressing into the concrete. First weak brick he'd pressed into all night. Whatever. Not a setback.

Robin charged forward, his right hand already firm on his grappling hook, and threw himself toward the fire escape. As he sped toward the wall, the hook shot forth and gnawed its way into the cement. The fire escape came closer and closer into view. Robin leaned back as his feet impacted against the grate. He sprung up, grabbed the roof's edge with one hand and hoisted himself up. He waited for the grappling hook to retract to his side before he looked ahead.

The pattern still fresh in his mind, Robin surveyed his surroundings. He'd done this plenty of times. Go from rooftop to rooftop, run through the alleys and make his way to stalk- er, survey the surroundings of Slade's location until he could find a way in and take Slade down himself.

That never happened.

But the T Tower? The place he used to call home? No problem. Robin smirked. After all, if a pint sized techie, a girl with moistened at the thought of bad luck and a self titled mammoth man could pull it off, the man who lived there should be able to pull it off quicker.

Yet he knew the Titans would not let him get that close. She would not let him get that close. Robin clenched his fists as the thought of a red-eyed Starfire entered his mind again. The thought rattled as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop like any generic video game platformer. And yet, he remained composed. As he landed on another rooftop, he craned his neck when something shined on his body. The ever present whirr of a helicopter overhead alleviated the sudden shock to his system.

Robin took just one step forward before the weight of a car slammed into his body.

The wind whipped Robin's hair back before he felt two hands fling his body through the air. He had just enough time to look ahead before he saw a car hood come into view.

Robin's body slammed into the hood, pain ringing throughout as he created a body sized dent in the car. He managed a cough before he heard the glow of starbolts at the ready.

"Get up, human."

Robin managed to lift his face from the hood long enough to manage a chuckle. "Oh, I missed you too, Star."

But then instinct kicked in as he rolled off of the car quick enough to avoid the incoming starbolt. Yet before Robin could make another move, the car exploded, hurling his body across the street and into a wall. He couldn't even register if had broken a rib or two before Koriand'r pressed her arm into his chest and held a starbolt ready to fire.

"You human scum."

Koriand'r's voice contained both excitement and anger, full of life's broken promises as she stared down Robin.

Robin strained to give himself enough breathing room to speak, yet Koriand'r kept him pinned to the wall. "Listen…um, Starfire, I know-"

Another interruption as a red starbolt blasted Robin through the building's new hole.

Koriand'r floated into the restaurant with another starbolt in hand. "You humans are like glass. Takes so little effort to break your body, yet you continue this tough man act. Funny, isn't it?"

Again, Robin gasped for any air he could get before Koriand'r got another chance to strike. He gave her words thought: Isn't. Contractions. Never heard those from Starfire at all. As with the tower, Robin's breathing increased as adrenaline surged throughout his body. Or maybe that could have been the nervousness. He scrambled to his feet and fumbled through his pockets for an explosive disc.

"Don't even bother, human."

Robin jumped as two red beams just missed his feet. He brought his arm up quick enough to bring some weight off of Koriand'r's punch as he shot back toward the ground like a boomerang. He chuckled, almost expecting her to grab him before he landed, and he had to give her credit when she did.

"I said do not bother, human."

The red aura bled from her body and caused gray tendrils to swirl in the around them. A full smile revealed eager fangs. Koriand'r examined Robin's suit up and down, almost admiring her work. Their work.

"Don't call me by that name, human. My name is Koriand'r. I am your precious Starfire, Robin. And we both want the same thing."

The instant Robin felt her grip loosen just a bit, his hand shot behind his back fast and Koriand'r just had time to see the silver glint before she felt a burning sensation across her right cheek.

Robin's adrenaline surged, he knew the open opportunity would be brief. He extended his leg and planted his boot into Koriand'r's stomach. She leaned forward, as if to heave, before he threw his elbow across her face and had her turn her attention to the wall. He flung both fists back like a slingshot and shot both forward like a cannonball.

Koriand'r's feet lifted off of the ground. Her body flew backward and crashed against a table. She turned back toward Robin. Something circular flew toward her. Beams shot from her eyes pierced the explosive disc, detonating it. She saw Robin's moving form just to her left. The starbolt she prepared to fire instead flew from her hand and into the ceiling once she felt the hard, metal slap of Robin's staff crash against her face.

Combined with the tingling sensation now surging through her veins, sure to send Starfire to another night in the hospital ward, the cold steel of the staff made her head warble. She dabbed a finger against the red streak running down her mouth and then the red streak, tainted with white, on her cheek. She ignored the bitter, metallic taste and seized the staff with one hand.

"Now that's more like it."

Robin's eyes widened a bit when he felt his body and the staff rise a few feet. His eyes did not have time to widen further as Koriand'r launched his body through the ceiling. His body crashed against one, two, three, he lost count when he hit what he believed to be a ceiling fan on one floor, but soon, Robin's body whirled and tumbled around in the air until he leveled himself. No point in his body crashing against something hard another time.

He spun forward and landed on his feet. On instinct, he extended his staff as Koriand'r flew through the new sunroof, but she chose to land. Rather than float, she chose to walk toward him. She charged forward at supersonic speed and landed a right cross across Robin's face. Surprised by the sudden attack after the slow pace, Robin's body tumbled back farther than he wanted it to.

Not until he tried to regain his ground did Robin realize that his body left the first rooftop and plowed through several crates on a nearby roof. Splinters and cement crumbled around as he coughed his way through the rubble. And yet, there she stood. She seized his hand and stared him down with furious, red eyes.

"It bothers you, doesn't it…friend Robin?" Koriand'r savored the moment, enunciating every syllable of what that weaker, sensitive side would refer to him as. "People looked up to you as a hero, but you want the opposite. You want to be hated because you humans seem to thrive off of negative energy.

"Yet despite everything life gave you, you give your life to a man who wears a mask. And for the second time. You have no idea what you want, but you do know that right now, there's a Tamaranean who believed in you no matter what. You think she didn't end it at the tower because she couldn't?"

"She held back."

"We held back."

Robin turned his gaze away from Koriand'r for three seconds too long. She grabbed his cheek and forced him to stare right at her.

"We?"

"You didn't think these red eyes and fangs are temporary, did you? You think your little Starfire has the backbone to bring you to the point where I have you now?"

Blackfire's words spilled back into Robin's mind. He did the one of the things Bruce told him to never do when dealing with an adversary: guess. "The Tamaranean's true rage. And you're that?"

"Right. Me. I give little Starfire the power, and the hate, that she's craved for years. And now we have the perfect target."

"She wouldn't let you."

A wry smile made its way across Koriand'r 's face. "Boy wonder, she already has. I'm going to do to you what she can't." She brought his face closer to her's. "I could crush your windpipe and sever the oxygen from your brain. I could push your ribs right through your lungs and rupture your heart. I could bring you near death, have you suffer in the worst way possible and just before we end it, she's going to see what we've done.

"You think you're bad because you harden your emotions. I am a Tamaranean, you weak sack of flesh. We thrive on emotions. For your toys and fists, your strength pales and you've yet to realize when you've already lost. I care little for how often she expresses her feelings for you, but I thank you for helping bring me out. Before you die, she and I will both be present to see your good work. And when she cries out in horror at what she's done to her precious friend Robin, we shall silence you forever."

Pain still causing his head to spin, Robin managed a weak chuckle that turned into a half-hearted laugh. That ended when Koriand'r slammed her forehead into his, creating yet another wave of agony.

"What, may I ask, is so humorous about this, human?"

"I've dealt with much worse than you, but one thing I've learned is that if the other person wants to talk, just let them talk as much as they can. That way, they don't notice things like-"

A repeated beep ended the conversation. Koriand'r looked down one second before the circular disc on her stomach detonated. The blast threw her body through a window. She skidded to a halt with fresh crimson cuts decorating her arms. With a simple crack of the neck, Koriand'r gritted her teeth and charged toward the opening. She soared through the air and landed back opposite a smirking Robin.

"Yeah, I may not be Tamaranean," Robin pointed to the vanishing red marks. "And I may not have your quick healing or flight, thanks for the reminder. Doesn't make me change my mind about my choice, Starfire. Even a-"

An eye beam incinerated the cement inches away from Robin's feet.

"STOP CALLING ME THAT! MY NAME IS-"

"STARFIRE, STOP!"

Koriand'r let out a high wail of frustration and anger as she beams shot from her eyes in rage. Had she aimed forward a bit, she would have shot right through the now landing green pterodactyl.

Robin spun on his heel as Raven, Cyborg, Beast Boy and…was that Red X?

Beast Boy, having reverted back to humanoid form, looked up and down at the damage decorating Robin's body. "Wow, Robin you look like death. And Star," he paused as the enraged Tamaranean stopped firing into the air and stared down Beast Boy with her fierce, red eyes. "You…you also look like death."

"I'm hurt, guys." Robin made no attempt to hide his feign disappointment. "You replace me with a guy who has an X in his name."

Robin saw the red from the corner of his eye and flipped backward as another starbolt destroyed the ground where he just stood.

"We are not through here, human."

Without a word, Raven walked forward, past Robin and ignoring Beast Boy's frantic warning and hand motions.

"We are not here to kill. We don't do that to our enemies."

Koriand'r remained unfazed by the growing tension she felt growing in Raven. "No, you're right. We don't do that. You, however, get off on dragging people into your robe and traumatizing them for life. You ask me, that's no different than putting a person to death."

Raven looked over her shoulder to make sure no one else was within earshot. When she saw no one was, she took one step closer to Koriand'r, rage underneath the surface and her face of death.

"Is that the direction you want this conversation to go in? Did you enjoy when I peeled back the layers of your brain like it was an onion?"

No. Koriand'r did not enjoy having black tendrils poke around in her brain. She shifted a bit, unnerved at the thought of Raven playing with her mind again like dough.

"I'll be damned if we're losing Starfire to you, so start paying closer attention and don't forget what I can do to you."

Without a word, Raven turned around and walked toward the others. She nodded, then turned to Robin.

"Now Robin, you told me to lead this team in your absence, and here we are. No Slade and no flunkies. Just us." Raven chose to ignore Red X's presence for the time until he proved himself useful in a fight. She clenched her fists as black energy began to form around them. "You chose this."

Robin maintained a firm stance. So now his fight with Koriand'r became another fight against the Titans and Red X, if he joined in. As he watched Cyborg convert his arm cannon and Beast Boy prepare to transform, he smirked as a brief moment replayed in his mind where he would be there with them.

No more of that.

But then Beast Boy held up his hands. "Wait, wait, wait guys, we can't fight Robin. Not yet."

Raven made a mental note to lock herself in her room when they returned so she would not jump at the opportunity to disembowel Beast Boy. "Why…not?"

"We're not ready. We can't fight Robin yet."

Cyborg lowered his cannon. "Beast Boy, look at what he's wearing. We fought the guy already and we know how he works. We can do-"

"We can't do it because we haven't been given the signal yet." When no one picked up on what Beast Boy was talking about, he sighed. "We need the sign, the thing that the leader always yells out before we fight to get us pumped up. Our battle cry? Our team chant?"

It hit Robin first. "You mean 'Titans-'"

But Beast Boy cut him off with exaggerated gestures. "No, shut up! You shut your stupid spiky head…Raven's gotta say it. She's the new leader and she's cold as ice."

Raven figured that torture sounded like a better remedy for Beast Boy's mouth. "You are not serious."

"As serious as I am green."

"I will murder you."

"I could use some motivation too, Raven."

"Cyborg!"

Cyborg brought up his fist to keep from laughing before something whipped past his face. Beast Boy yelped as the explosive disc detonated feet away from where he stood.

Talk time done. Cyborg charged his cannon while Koriand'r just grinned at the fight continuing.

Raven lifted into the air and gave the command.

"Titans, go!"

As he watched them charge forward, Robin couldn't help but smile while taking out his bo staff.

"I thought that was my line."