The Mercenary Chapter 10: Apprentice pt II, a teen titans fanfic

Chapter 10: Apprentice pt. II

"Robin? Robin? Please, Robin, where are you?"

"Starfire, that's enough now. You've tried reaching him for 45 minutes, I think it's easy to assume that it's useless."

"Perhaps if I just try one more…"

"Come one, Star. If he was gonna pick up, he'd done it by now. Besides, you're kinda giving me a headache."

"But why does he not respond? Where could he be?"

This discussion kept going back and forth among the Teen Titans as they searched through the whole city, trying desperately to find their missing leader.

Cyborg had found his way back to where Cinderblock had ambushed them and was looking for clues. Of course, he was having no luck whatsoever.

"Robin and Cinderblock definitively went a few rounds, but I can't tell who won. Or where they went." He announced as he surveyed the massive amount of damage done to the area.

Back at the Tower, Argent was manning the computer, handling the coordination and monitoring all possible frequencies.

"No sign of him here either. His locator is still offline. I've been monitoring all frequencies, but he hasn't checked in." she stated sadly as she kept a close eye on a digital map of the city, where yellow dots indicated all of the Titans' locations.

Starfire meanwhile was patrolling the sky, desperately trying to find their lost teammate. She was having the same amount of luck as the others.

"Oh, we're bad friends. We should never have left Robin to do battle alone." She berated both herself and the team.

Down on ground level, Beast Boy kept up a patrol in his many animal forms. Though he did morph back to his human form whenever he spoke to the others.

"Yeah, especially since Slade's big doodah was a dud." He commented sourly. But back at the tower, Argent was running a diagnostic on the wrecked Chroniton Detonator.

"The Chroniton Detonator wasn't a dud, it was a bloody decoy meant to lure us away from Robin. And we fell for it like rookies." Argent stated in self-disgust. How could they have made such a big blunder? She was not the only one thinking along those lines as Cyborg angrily slammed his fist into a wall.

"I should have known that thing was a fake!" he burst out, angry at this whole hellish situation. Slade was so going to pay once this was over.

"But why? Why did Slade wish to separate us from Robin?" Starfire asked in confusion as he flew through the evening sky.

"And if the detonator was a decoy…" Beast Boy mused out loud.

"… What was Slade's real plan?" Argent finished suspiciously. But before thoughts and ideas could be shared, the alarm system went off.

There was crime to fight.

"Titans, trouble!" Cyborg called out in place of their usual leader. None of them wanted to call off the search just yet, but they had no choice. They were still heroes that were charged with protecting this city, and right now that duty called upon them.

Hopefully it would not be anything severe for them to handle.

As everyone knows, there are two kinds of places villains always targets; a bank or a science lab. This night, it was the latter that had a breach in security. A tower designed research facility specializing in the development of military grade weapons.

A dark figure had just moments ago landed on the rooftop and had already infiltrated the building through the air vents. Quietly moving through the dark room he was in, he soon located his target and threw and explosive shuriken at the lock.

The resulting explosion was heard through the whole building and temporarily lit up the whole room like the fourth of July. But the shadowy figure did not appear bothered by it, he had gotten what he was after.

Alarms began blaring across the building as guards rushed to their positions.

"He's stolen the thermal blaster!" one of them shouted to his comrades.

"Stop him!" another shouted as they rushed after the thief, firing wildly with their guns along the way. The shadowy figure skillfully dodged the shots before he rounded a corner. As the guards caught up, they found him gone.

"Where'd he go?" one of them asked before they rushed back in, hoping to pick up a trace. Hanging above them, the shadowy figure could not help it but internally scoff at their skills. 'Seriously guys, you've got nothing compared to Raven.'

With a graceful flip, he was back on the ground and was about to make his escape. That is, until he found his way blocked by Starfire and Beast Boy.

"Freeze!" Cyborg shouted from behind the thief, where he and Argent prevented him from going back the way he came. Seeing no other alternative, the thief made a dash out on a nearby bridge that led to nowhere (who the hell designed that building anyway?).

The Titans were in hot pursuit of him and eventually he reached the end of the road. Literally. With his escape route blocked, the thief turned around to face his opponents, exposing his identity in the process.

The Titans froze up in horror as they gazed at the thief. This was not one of their usual villains, it was Robin. Except he was now dressed in a suit eerily reminiscent to Slade's. None of the Titans made a move, they just stared in mute horror at their comrade.

"That's not Slade." Beast Boy broke the heavy silence with an obvious statement. "That's…"

"Robin." Starfire finished for him in equal amount of disbelief. This could not be real, they had spent almost an entire hour searching for Robin, and now they find him robbing a research facility.

"Whoa…"

"No way…"

"Robin, why are you…"

The words of his former team were ignored as Robin threw an explosive disc right into Starfire's face, causing her to fly back into her friends.

"Yo!" Cyborg protested as he glared accusingly at Robin.

"What is your deal?" Beast Boy asked. This was just surreal, Robin would never attack a teammate like that, least of all Starfire. Unknown to them however, Robin was receiving instructions from his new master through a communicator in his ear.

"Not a word, Robin. They're not your friends anymore." Slade's cold and silky voice whispered into his ear. It took all of Robin's willpower to keep up a poker face in front of his friends. It did not matter what Slade told him, they were still his friends.

"But you have acquired your target, so I suppose you can return home now." Slade suddenly stated before addressing someone else over the comm-system. "Raven. A distraction, if you don't mind?"

"With pleasure." Raven answered with a humored voice that Robin just knew spelled trouble. While careful to keep his face neutral, Robin was panicking on the inside. Raven was only supposed to observe him during missions, not take an active part in them!

Given her trigger happy attitude, he silently dreaded what kind of "distraction" she would cook up. The answer came in the form of a rocket sailing through the air and impacting against the ground between Robin and the Titans.

The Titans were forced to jump back to avoid getting fried in the blast, and when they turned around to confront their new adversary, they found Raven standing on the rooftop with an RPG in her hands.

"Damn, I need to improve my aiming with these cumbersome things." She commented offhandedly, as if she was unfazed by the four pissed off Titans.

"What are you doing here, Raven?" Cyborg asked suspiciously as he aimed his sonic cannon at her. But Raven merely ignored him as she addressed Robin.

"Yo, bird boy! Get your ass back to base while I keep these buffoons occupied!" she shouted as se dumped the RPG and lifted an M16 rifle equipped with an M203 40 mm grenade launcher. The team's eyes practically bugged out of their sockets.

It just turned even more unbelievable for them. Not only was Robin committing crime, but he was working with Raven! This was all a "Come the Apocalypse" style scenario.

Covered by the smoke from the explosion, Robin silently slipped away. The Titans only noticed it when it was too late. With a furious roar, Starfire launched herself against Raven, who responded with opening fire on her. She was forced to dive into cover while Cyborg charged, his armored body impervious to small arms fire.

But Raven merely smirked cockily before Cyborg got to experience how it felt to get a grenade from a grenade launcher straight in the face. He was sent careening towards the edge before Argent managed to catch him.

"I don't suppose we can sort this out peacefully?" Raven asked nonchalantly as she loaded another grenade. Four heated glares were thrown in her direction as an answer, along with one verbal.

"Sure, just hand yourself over and tell us what the hell you've done to Robin!" Argent snarled. Raven's way of answering was by pointing at herself innocently.

"Me? What makes you think I did anything?" she asked in a mock hurt tone.

"Don't play innocent here!" Beast Boy suddenly shouted at her as he morphed into a cheetah and leaped at her. Raven sidestepped the attack right before she leaped off the roof while throwing a grenade at Beast Boy.

The moment her feet made contact with the floor, Raven was forced to dodge a barrage of starbolts. She was about to return fire when she was interrupted.

"Raven, stop toying around with them. I still need the Teen Titans alive to keep my apprentice in check, and I still need you unharmed and out of jail." Slade stated from Raven's earpiece.

"Aww, didn't know you cared so much." Raven answered teasingly, but she received no reply. Slade had already cut the line. With that little conversation over, Raven returned her focus to the four very angry Titans just waiting to come crashing down on her with the force of an avalanche.

"Sorry, Titans. It's been fun and all, but I gotta fly!" she stated just before she threw herself over the edge. When the Titans reached it, Raven was already gone.

"Okay, what the hell just happened?" Beast Boy suddenly burst out in a mixture of anger and shock. He was not the only one who was shaken up by this.

Back at Slade's lair, Robin had just returned with the stolen thermal blaster. Standing in an otherwise dark and empty room, he held up his ill-gotten prize as proof of his success, even though he was sickened by it on the inside.

"Excellent, Robin. I'm pleased. You're already proving to be the prefect apprentice." Slade's smooth and icy voice cut through the air, making Robin wish he could just beat the madman senseless.

"This deal can't last forever." Robin spat out in contempt.

"It can, and it will." Slade calmly retorted as several screens behind Robin lit up, displaying footage of when the team became infected with the probes.

"The Titans still have no idea that my Chroniton Detonator was more than a decoy. Now that my probes are inside their bodies, they could remain undetected for years. Decades." By this point the madman himself had stepped into the light. "Unless of course you disobey me, and I decide to destroy your… former friends. With a push of the button."

Yup, the guy just knew how to get anyone riled up and begging for a crack at him.

"Sooner or later, you'll let your guard down. I will get that controller. In the instant they're out of danger, you will pay." Robin snarled out, straining with all his might not to leap at the fiend in blind rage lest he risk killing his friends. He needed to be patient, no matter how much it hurt him.

"That sounds like a threat, young man." Slade began in a scolding tone. "Quite a good threat, actually."

It was hereby official; Slade was crazy. Seriously, who the hell compliments his apprentice for a threat he just made at you?

"Betrayal. Destruction. Revenge. We really do think alike." Okay, that was going too far in Robin's opinion, no way was he similar to this madman in any way. With a fierce yell, he lunged after the controller Slade possessed.

In the amount of time it took for him to blink, Slade had somehow managed to twist Robin's arm into a painful arm lock. He could with a simple flick break Robin's arm by then, but Slade was content to merely hold Robin in this uncomfortable position.

"I monitored your vital signs during the mission. Elevated heart rate, adrenaline, endorphins. You won't admit it, but at some level… you enjoyed stealing for me. It was a thrill, wasn't it?" Slade spoke with a great level of satisfaction before he released his hold.

Robin staggered forward a bit as he massaged his tender wrist. He glared hatefully at Slade's back, but at least held enough self-control not to leap right at him again. He had already experienced how that would turn out.

Said man was currently working on dismantling the thermal blaster and readjusting it into a wrist-mounted version, perfect for usage out on the field.

"You're going to keep stealing, Robin. And you're going to keep getting that thrill. And sooner or later, you will see things my way." Slade commented before he turned back to his apprentice with the thermal blaster in hand that he attached it to Robin's wrist. "Who knows, I might even become like a father to you."

Robin was merely observing the weapon given to him with hardly concealed anger and disgust.

"I already have a father." Robin defiantly stated to Slade. Somewhere above them, a swarm of bats flew away into the night sky.

"Well, aren't you just a ray of sunshine on this fine evening." Raven stated humorlessly as she entered the hideout. Slade acknowledged her with a nod of his head, but Robin just glared at her.

"Raven. Glad you could join us." Slade said. Raven merely smiled.

"What can I say? No second rate heroes will ever catch me that easily." She cockily proclaimed. Robin was instantly bristling from that comment.

"Don't you dare speak about my friends like that!" he shouted heatedly at her. Of course, Raven was completely unaffected by his anger, and even had the audacity to smirk right at him.

"Now now, Robin. No need to overreact like that, they're not your friends anymore after all." Slade scolded calmly. Robin turned an accusing glare at Slade.

"Why did she interfere anyway? You said that Raven was only supposed to guard me." He accused angrily. He was somewhat okay with fighting his friends if Slade ordered it, at least then he could minimize the damage dealt to them. Maybe even elude them altogether.

Raven on the other hand had no restrictions other than not outright killing them. If she was to go up against one of his friends, then there would be plenty of gun wounds and broken bones.

"I thought you would appreciate not having to fight your former friends so early on. And besides, Raven is not supposed to guard you, merely provide field observations." Slade explained. Robin could not help but snort at that.

"You can call it whatever you want, the truth is still the same. Even with the probes, you still don't trust me out alone on the field, so you sent your newest lapdog to guard me." He practically spat out in contempt. He had expected a harsh reprimand for that, maybe even a beating.

He had most certainly not expected Raven to walk up to him and pinch his cheek like he was a baby.

"Awww, is the wittle baby bird sad he can't go out and play on his own?" she cooed in a baby voice. On the inside, Robin was stuck between a boiling point of rage and embarrassment. He slapped away her hand and tried to punch her, but she merely stepped out of his reach, that infuriating smile still in place.

While still wishing he could throttle the damn girl, he was astounded by her rapid change. Not too long ago she had given off an air of depression when Robin was blackmailed into becoming Slade's apprentice. For a short while, Raven had shown to be understanding of his plight, maybe even sympathetic.

But now when he looked at her, it was as if that person had never existed. Now she was that witty and self-serving mercenary all the Titans knew and hated again.

"That's enough, both of you." Slade reprimanded both unruly teens.

"Whatever you say, boss." Raven responded easily. To that, Robin could not help but state something that had been bugging him for quite some time.

"Why do you even work for Slade? He admitted to using you as a pawn this whole time, and you're just fine with it?"

"Please, bird boy. I'm a mercenary, remember? Holding grudges like that is not good for business. If I were to start cutting off clients for such things, then I'd run out of clients. As long as he doesn't double-cross me on the job, I'm cool with it." She explained before she turned to Slade.

"Now, if there's anything else you'll be needing, I'll be in the gym." She said casually. Slade gave a small nod of affirmation as Raven walked away. And without saying anything else to his apprentice, he himself walked away, leaving Robin alone.

Not that Robin noticed that small piece of information. He kept staring in the direction Raven had gone. That girl was just one giant puzzle, and no matter how many times Robin tried to piece it together it would only end in failure.

To any casual observer, Raven would seem like the usual brand of scum that sold her services to the highest bidder. But there was more to her than that, something darker and deeper that set her apart from all the others.

What it was, Robin had absolutely no idea. Heck, he did not even know how he was so certain of it. But when he had become Slade's apprentice, when he had been forced to coexist with Raven, he had seen something in her eyes.

Those eyes that usually only contained taunting joy and dark mischief had contained something else. It was just barely gleamed, buried deep within her eyes, but Robin had seen a tormented soul. Someone who wore her attitude like a shield so no one would see what lied beneath.

Robin had tried to simply forget it and focus on how to break free of Slade's grasp, but it was impossible. That girl was one giant mystery, a mystery that Robin just had to solve. So with his goal set up, he hurried after Raven.

A few minutes later, he found her practicing her sword strikes with a wooden sword. She had already discarded her usual cloak and ammunition belts and was simply wearing her leotard and combat boots.

Robin hated to admit it, but Raven was in a whole different league than him when it came to sword fighting. The way she moved, the way she fought, the way she held herself. It all spoke of great skill and confidence. Now when he thought back to their earlier battle, he found it a miracle that he had won.

Ah, the wonders of what an adrenaline-fueled rage could do to your fighting skill.

"Was there something you wanted, or did you simply want to ogle me?" Raven suddenly asked without ever turning towards Robin as she slashed and stabbed at some imaginary enemy.

"Just wanted to talk." Robin nonchalantly stated as he leaned against the doorframe. That got Raven to stop her training and turn to face him. She had a cocky smirk on her lips that Robin just knew spelled trouble.

"Think you can talk while practicing?" she asked innocently while pointing to a second wooden sword resting against a nearby bench. An invitation for a sparring match.

Robin was quick to stride over to the sword and pick it up. He gave it a few experimental swings before he stepped in front of Raven. At first, both combatants were content to merely circle each other, looking for a weakness in the other's defenses.

"Now, what was it you wanted to talk about?" Raven suddenly asked. Robin was about to answer when he was forced to block a vicious strike from Raven.

"Hey, that was cheating!" he burst out before he could stop himself. Raven gave him a taunting smirk.

"Don't remember agreeing to any rules in the first place." She stated humorlessly before she sidestepped and let him tumble forward in surprise, giving him a nice whack to his rear with her sword along the way.

Robin at least managed to swallow the humiliating yelp he was close to let out before he turned and glared murderously at Raven, who looked as smug as ever.

"What?" she asked innocently, as if she had done nothing wrong. Okay, forget the whole talking part, Robin was going to pound her into the ground now.

With a savage cry, he leaped at her with his training sword. He slashed, he stabbed, he did a downward stroke, he feigned left before striking right, he did a spinning slash, he slashed again, he stabbed three times in rapid succession.

He tried to be as fast with his strikes as he could, but Raven was always faster. She continuously blocked or dodged all his attacks, smiling smugly all the time. Robin felt his anger and frustration grow. The damn girl had not even tried to counterattack yet. She was just toying with him!

"Do you know why you can't win here?" Raven asked humorlessly as she kept effortlessly dodging all of Robin's attacks. "You have the rudimentary skills necessary to wield a sword, you have the strength and stamina not to be tired out by swinging it around and you have the reflexes that are crucial if you want to keep your head."

At that point, she used her sword to block an incoming strike, locking both of them in a contest of strength as they both pushed against the other.

"But all of those traits are useless for you since you lack the most crucial factor. Can you guess what it is?" she asked before she leaned closer to his face. "The mindset."

Robin stared back at her in confusion, obviously not getting it. So Raven elaborated.

"No matter what shape, material or style a sword has, it will always be designed for one purpose; to kill. That's what the sword was made for, and that is how a sword must be used to reach its fullest potential." At this point, her smug grin grew more taunting-like towards Robin.

"But you don't take a life, no matter what the circumstances are. It goes against all your moral codes to stoop to that level. And because of that, you will never learn to fully master a sword." And with those final words of taunting wisdom, Raven struck.

It happened too fast for Robin to register what exactly had happened. One second he was locked blades with Raven, the next he was lying on the floor with his sword smacked out of his hands and Raven's pointed at his throat.

"Checkmate, bird boy." she said before she withdrew her blade and held out a hand for him to grab. Robin merely slapped it away in anger as he climbed back to his feet. All it caused was Raven to chuckle lightly to herself before she strode over to a nearby bench.

"So, what was it you wanted to talk about?" she asked in good humor as she picked up a water bottle and took a swig from it. At first, Robin was silent, he just gazed at Raven with an unreadable expression on his face.

"You." he finally said monotonously. Raven raised an eyebrow in confusion, silently asking him to elaborate.

"You puzzle me. At first glance I would rule you off as an everyday scum, but I feel there's something more to you than that. And I want to know what that is." He continued. Raven was quickly smiling seductively at him.

"My, oh my, bird boy. I didn't know you were so fascinated by little old me." She purred as she smiled teasingly at him. A tick mark appeared on Robin's forehead, along with a light shade of red on his cheeks. He had to admit, his sentence did not come out as good as it could have.

"Just who are you?" Robin asked, trying to forget the earlier events. Raven rose up from her bench and sauntered over to him, swaying her hips seductively along the way. She was full on grinning like the Cheshire cat at the quickly flustering face of Robin.

It had been a while since Raven had had a chance to tease a male like this. Her last victim had been some duplicating hillbilly in a red spandex suit back at HI.V.E. Academy. The poor guy had gone as red as his costume and had passed out with a nosebleed. Raven and Jinx had not been able to stop laughing after that for over an hour.

Ah, those were the days.

But she was getting sidetracked here. She now had a new victim to torment. And he was apparently tougher than the last one as he was still keeping up a visage of calmness, even as Raven leaned in uncomfortably close to his face.

"And just why would I tell you that?" she whispered huskily in his ear, her breath tickling his skin before she withdrew while dragging a finger slowly down his right cheek and over his chin.

Raven was now grinning victoriously at her accomplishment. She still got it apparently. Although, it appeared like she had grown a little rusty since Robin was still standing and was not falling over from a nosebleed. Well at least he now had a very dark shade of red all over his face.

Feeling satisfied with her work done, Raven was about to retrieve her belts and cloak when Robin spoke up again.

"Was your old home really that bad?" the fact that he actually managed to speak with such a strong voice did not bother Raven, what bothered her was the question.

Her whole body froze up in shock, her mind going into overdrive from his words. 'How the hell did he know? I've never told anyone how my old home was! He couldn't possibly know, he's just guessing, trying to make me reveal what he wants!' those were the main thoughts racing through her brain.

Both of them were standing with their backs to each other, meaning neither could see the other's facial expression. Something Raven was internally thankful for. To cover up her shock, Raven gave a loud snort of disbelief.

"You're way off target here, bird boy." she said as arrogantly as she could, hoping to deter him. Sadly, it did not work this time.

"I don't think so. In fact, I think that your old life must have been like mine is right now." Robin countered with a surprisingly calm voice. That caused Raven to turn around to glare at Robin's back, though she kept up an air of indifference.

"And what makes you think that?" she questioned cautiously. Now Robin too turned around to look her right in the eye.

"For what it's worth, I know the feeling of being trapped like this." He quoted. "Wasn't it you who said that?"

But Raven just waved her hand dismissively.

"Just some blabbering on my part. Nothing to bother with." She said nonchalantly. Robin folded is arms over his chest while giving her a skeptical look.

"Then why do I hear doubt in your voice?" he asked. Raven said nothing in response. This was not how Raven had hoped her training would end. Shame, she had been in such a good mood after wiping the floor with Robin.

For how long they kept up their little glare contest, neither knew for sure. Both were doing their utmost to win here. But in the end, Robin was the most stubborn out of the two of them as Raven broke eye contact ad sighed in irritation.

"You're not going to just drop the subject, are you?" she asked rhetorically. Robin said nothing, just continued to glare at her, waiting for her answer. Raven walked back to her bench and slumped down on it.

"My old home was… a shithole. A complete nightmare." Raven began as she leaned back and stared up at the ceiling. "For 15 years I lived in that place, and during all that time I lived like a prisoner. I was never allowed to go where I wanted, do what I wanted, see what I wanted or even feel what I wanted."

Without even realizing it herself, Raven tightened her hands into fists and her voice grew harsher with each word spoken. Robin never once interrupted her, he just silently listened to what she had to say.

"My own home had become a cage for me, where I was expected to stay for the rest of my life. But, as you know well enough, when you cage an animal it only becomes angry. So eventually I just snapped and broke free. I then ended up here in Jump City."

Once again, a smile appeared on her lips, but it was not the same taunting or mischievous she usually wore. It was more along the lines of a melancholy smile.

"When I came to this city, I was for the first time in my life free. Free to do as I pleased, when I pleased. I could finally experience what I felt like to truly live."

"And that was why you chose to become a criminal, wasn't it?" Robin suddenly spoke up. "After being forced to live by all of those rules for so long, you just wanted to break free from all rules."

For the first time since beginning her little confession, Raven turned her eyes back to Robin. Her eyes, which had been just a few moments ago filled with joy, were now filled anger, determination, pain and resolve.

"For 15 years I was oppressed because of some damn rules. But that is over for me now. I only follow the rules I want to follow, I listen only to those I want to listen to and I do only what I want to do." She stated with burning conviction.

All of a sudden, Robin saw her in a different light than before. She was still a dangerous villain in his eyes, but now he finally saw what she also was; an oppressed teenager who seeks to break free from whatever chains that had kept her down for all those years.

Some part of Robin was saddened that he had not found her before the H.I.V.E. had. She had such potential in her, something that was wasted in her current life. If not by a bad chance of fate, Raven might have become a Teen Titan instead of a mercenary.

"Why did they treat you like that in the first place?" Robin asked in confusing, burying his earlier thoughts deep in his mind. In response, Raven let out a mirthless laugh.

"That, bird boy, is not something I feel inclined to reveal." She stated humorlessly, even though it was obvious she was anything but humored. Inwardly, Robin sighed to himself. 'Guess that's all I'll find out about her past.'

"So you really do know how it feels to be trapped like I am now." Robin finally said monotonously. Raven did not say anything to that, but she nodded her head in affirmation.

"Then help me." That request caught Raven by surprise as she stared in confusion at Robin, from where the request originated from.

"You know how it feels, you've lived like that for far longer than I have. You know how much it hurts to be forced to do something you don't want to do." Robin explained, his voice still strong and calm. Raven eyed him skeptically.

"I think you're asking for help in the wrong place. Have you already forgotten that I work for Slade here?" she questioned him. Robin's eyes sharpened from that.

"I haven't forgotten, but I'm still asking for your help. You're the only one who can help me." Robin pressed on. But Raven was undaunted.

"Sorry bird boy, you're asking for too much. I've got a rep to keep intact, and I can't do that if I were to double-cross my employer. I understand your pain, but I can't help you." Raven answered coldly before she stood up and began strapping on her ammunition belts.

At first, Robin merely stood still and stared at her. His face was a hard as stone, all traces of emotions scrubbed away. He never said anything, he just stared at Raven. Believing their discussion to be over, Raven fastened her cloak and pulled up her hood and strode towards the door.

"I said that you know it feels, didn't I?" Robin suddenly spoke out, causing Raven to stop just at the threshold. "Well, that wasn't completely true."

With furrowed eyebrows, Raven turned back towards Robin, who had his back turned to her.

"Tell me, did you have any friends in your old home? Any parents or siblings?" he asked in a chillingly calm voice, as if nothing was wrong in the world at all. Raven was silent for a few moments before she answered.

"No, never had any." That was a small lie. She did have a mother and a father, but trying to explain their roles in her life would have only spawned more questions that Raven did not want to answer. Besides, with the amount of interaction she had with them, you could practically say that she did not have any parents.

"Then you cannot know just how much this pains me." Robin stated, his voice starting to break. Raven felt she should leave now, but curiosity kept her rooted in place.

"You were alone from the beginning in your home, having no one who you cared for or who cared for you." suddenly he whirled around to face her, unshed tears hidden deep in his eyes behind his mask. "But I have those!"

Raven was taken aback by the raw emotions bursting out from that one simple sentence. But Robin was not done speaking just yet.

"I have friends who I care for deeply, I have a life beyond Slade's servitude! In fact, it is because of my friends that I endure this nightmare, because I could never live with myself if I let them come to harm!" he suddenly fixated Raven with a piercing glare.

"You've never felt it, have you? A strong tie with anyone else but yourself? A tie so strong that you'd be willing to risk your life to save the other?" all Raven did was stare wide-eyed at Robin, not being able to formulate anything in response to his outburst.

"And now, I'm forced to not only serve the man I hate, but fight the very people I care for the most! When I saw the Titans out on the field today, it felt like my heart was torn to pieces, knowing that for them to live I have to be their enemy!" Without warning, Robin strode right up to Raven's face.

"What I'm going through is something far worse than what you went through, and I ask for your help to break free just like you did. But you are too selfish to realize that you're actually helping a man do the same thing that was done to you." he snarled right in her face.

For her part, Raven stared back with wide and wavering eyes, still trying to wrap her head around all that Robin had just said. She had never thought of what it must be like for him, having people who actually cared for him on the outside. At his revelation, something stirred deep within Raven's dark soul, something she had practically forgotten about altogether.

"Are you done now, bird boy?" Raven suddenly asked in a bored tone while folding her arms over her chest. Robin backed away from her in shock as Raven merely glared at him with a cold and indifferent glare.

"Robin, Raven. Report to me at once." Slade's haunting voice suddenly spoke over the speakers, breaking the stand-still between the two birds. Tearing his eyes away from Raven's, Robin promptly strode towards the door. But as he was about to pass Raven, he paused.

"You know, I guess I was wrong earlier to suspect that there was something different about you. In the end, you're nothing more than another selfish criminal." He spoke harshly. Raven just gave him a gaze of indifference.

"In the criminal world, it's every woman for herself. I suggest you get used to that." She responded icily. Without another word spoken, Robin angrily strode past her. But unseen by Robin, a single tear rolled down Raven's cheek as she followed him.

Once again, Robin was sent out to steal something valuable for Slade. And once again, Raven was assigned to keep an eye on the bird boy in case he decided to do something stupid. Reaching the target, there was once again a severe lack of subtlety in the operation as Robin simply blasted the doors apart.

Striding into the room, Robin slowly made his way to the piece of technology that was hovering in the middle of the room (Seriously, were they asking for someone to come and steal it?). Robin was just about to pick it up when he was interrupted.

"You're not walking out of here, Robin." The unmistakable voice of Cyborg stated as Robin turned around to find the entire team arrayed against him. "Not without a fight."

Not wanting to fight his friends, but at the same time unable to warn them, Robin did the only thing he could; he chose to flee. Feigning an attack, he rushed straight towards them.

"Titans, go!" Cyborg shouted as they counterattacked. But they were caught unprepared by Robin jumping on top of Cyborg and using him as a springboard to launch himself into an overhanging vent.

Not long after that, he emerged on the rooftop and made a hasty retreat, internally relieved that he both failed to steal something and avoided a fight with his friends.

"Not so fast, Robin. You have yet to achieve your objective." Guess he spoke out too soon about that. Desperately, Robin tried to justify his retreat and somehow placate the madman.

"The device was too heavily guarded. I'll have to steal it another…"

"No!" Slade cold and angered voice cut him off. "Go back. Unless you want me to destroy them, go back and fight."

Robin was never given a chance to give a reply, or even think the whole mess over, before the Titans had caught up to him and were blocking his escape. But on the other side of the road, Raven was perched on a higher building, overlooking the encroaching battle with an M24 Sniper Rifle.

"I got the Titans in my line of fire here, boss. Shall I pull the trigger?" Raven asked through the comm-link, having already taken aim on Cyborg's head. One good shot and it would be all over for the tin can.

"Hold fire, Raven. This is Robin's fight, and he'll finish it alone." Slade calmly ordered of her. Raven just gave an irritated huff as she removed her finger from the trigger. With nothing else to do, Raven decided to observe the battle through her scope.

"Look, I don't what's going on, but we don't wanna fight. We just wanna talk." Cyborg tried to reason with Robin, trying to avoid a fight. Robin for his part would have loved nothing more than to explain this whole mess to them. But if they were to survive, he had no choice but to be unreasonable to them.

So with that in mind, he leaped right at Cyborg with a kick that sent him flying right past his teammates.

"Guess there's nothing to talk about." Beast Boy muttered as he cracked his knuckles. Before long, he was trying to crush Robin as a gorilla. Key word "tried" as Robin kept dodging his fists.

He leaped on top of the neon shining letter A adjourning the roof with Beast Boy in hot pursuit before Robin jumped off the letter and latched a rope around Beast Boy's arm. He in turn had no time to react before Robin had dragged him into the letter and trapped him.

As Robin landed on the ground, he came face to face with Starfire, who was not even in a fighting stance. Truth be told, she could not fight against her friend like this. It was too much for her to handle.

"Please…" she desperately tried to plead with her friend, but Robin acted before she had time to speak. He knew already that Starfire would be able to crack him, no matter what. He ran right past her and aimed a flying kick at Argent, who blocked it with a crimson shield.

The fight continued in much the same manner after that, the Titans tried to stop Robin while Robin tried to outmaneuver them.

But even though it seemed like it was a life or death fight, Raven knew better. As she watched the fight continue, it was obvious to her trained eyes that both sides were holding back. Despite what they or Slade said, they all knew that deep down they were still friends. And friends do not hurt each other.

Though never willing to admit it out loud, Raven was more than surprised by the strong bonds that existed between the Titans. She was astounded. Growing up on Azerath, Raven had never been allowed to experience friendship. And her short time with the H.I.V.E. had not really given her any strong ties either, apart from Jinx.

And seeing now how even when on different sides the Titans still saw each other as friends, Raven could now glimpse a small part of what Robin endured as Slade's thrall. Not that it was enough to change her mind about helping him, mind you.

She still had a reputation to uphold. And besides, she was a villain, and villains did not help heroes. Unless it was for personal benefit.

As Raven continued philosophizing, the fight was about to drag itself to an end. Robin had managed to evade the Titans and was about to make a break for. That is, until Starfire suddenly appeared in his path.

"Stop!" she commanded while aiming a starbolt at him. Robin came to a screeching halt, unsure whether he should attack or not.

"Do… not… move." Starfire continued with as much strength as she could muster here. Internally, she was just as conflicted as Robin. Robin struggled to maintain a poker face in her presence while trying to figure out a way to avoid fighting her.

"I thought I told you to use… that… blaster. Attack, now!" Slade cut in, putting great emphasize on the last five words. It was a clear message; use the thermal blaster, or his friends would suffer. Reluctantly, Robin powered the blaster up while aiming it at Starfire.

"Robin." Starfire spoke up sadly. "You are my best friend. I cannot be in a world where we must fight. If you are truly evil, then go ahead, do what you must."

With her mind spoken, Starfire powered down her starbolt and lowered her arm in a sign of surrender. That did it. Like Robin had predicted, Starfire had managed to crack his resolve. Even though he knew what the outcome would be, he still found himself unable to carry out the deed.

With the will gone out of him like air from a balloon, Robin lowered the thermal blaster.

"Starfire, no. I…" unfortunately, that was not what Slade wanted to hear from him. his displeasure was made perfectly clear from an ear shattering screech from the earpiece.

"Robin! I gave you an order! If you won't attack, my probes will."

Barely a second after that announcement, the Titans were doubling over in pain. Their bodies began glowing a deadly orange color as the probes began destroying them, from the inside out. Robin just managed to catch Starfire before she plummeted to the ground, cradling her body desperately.

"Stop! Please stop!" Robin pleaded in panic. He could not allow this to happen, he could not allow his friends to die!

"Attack, Robin. It's the only way to save them. Attack with everything you got." Slade answered to his plea. Now more than ever, Robin wished that he could kill that madman. But he had no choice. No matter how much it would pain him, he had to fight.

Reluctantly, he lowered Starfire to the ground.

"Robin…" Starfire spoke weakly while raising her hand towards him. Robin truly felt his heart break at the sight, but he steeled his nerves.

"I'm sorry." Was all he said before he fired the thermal blaster at Starfire. From his lair, Slade was smiling maliciously at the scene.

"That's my boy." he said proudly.

From her vantage position, Raven had to struggle with swallowing the bile that had risen to her throat. Villain or not, this was just too much for her. What Slade was doing to Robin; pitting him against his friends, forcing him to hurt them or else watch them die. It felt so wrong to her.

"So you really do know how it feels to be trapped like I am now." Robin's words from before came back to her at that moment.

"I have friends who I care for deeply, I have a life beyond Slade's servitude!" Raven shook her head furiously.

"Don't start to get sentimental here, Raven. It won't do you any good" She muttered to herself.

"You were alone from the beginning in your home, having no one who you cared for or who cared for you." gritting her teeth, Raven tried to think of something else. Anything to distract her mind.

"And now, I'm forced to not only serve the man I hate, but fight the very people I care for the most!" an aggravated growl slipped past her lips.

"Not my problem, bird boy." she mumbled, trying to dispel that haunting ghost we call guilt from her mind.

"Not my fight, it's not my fight. It's not." She repeated like a mantra to herself, her eyes screwed shut tightly and her hands tightened into fists. But her guilt would not go away.

No matter how much she denied it, Robin was right. Raven was helping Slade do to Robin what was done to her on Azerath. In her quest for freedom, Raven had aided in robbing another person of his. Sure, she had killed before, but that was in a battle, against enemies that had chosen to fight her.

This was not a battle, this was enslavement of an enemy. If Robin was going to fall, it should be in a battle of his choosing, not this sadistic fall into the very same darkness he despised.

"You know, I guess I was wrong earlier to suspect that there was something different about you. In the end, you're nothing more than another selfish criminal."

Raven's eyes suddenly flew open again, having found the clarity she had strived for. Watching through her scope, she saw that the battle down below was drawing to a close. It seemed that the probes had given Robin a sick motivation to fight more fiercely against his friends.

But now Robin was backed up against the edge of the building, and with nowhere left to go. Without warning, Robin suddenly threw several exploding discs at the Titans, Forcing them to scatter. And as the smoke settled, Robin was gone.

"Raven, the mission is over. Return to base." Slade's voice cut in on Raven's musings.

"Roger that." Raven responded before she turned around and walked away from the scene, leaving behind the confused Titans on top of the wrecked rooftop of the Wayne Enterprise building.

Within his dark lair, seated upon his throne like a king, Slade kept replaying the fight between his apprentice and the Teen Titans. A form of dark and perverted pleasure rose in him every time he watched Robin ruthlessly attack his former comrades.

"Thrilling." He commented to himself. "My apprentice is progressing even faster than I had hoped. All he needed was a little… motivation."

Slade's little discussion with himself was however interrupted when someone grabbed hold of his fist. Turning to where the hand originated from, Slade found a very, very pissed off Robin.

"Motivate this!" he shouted in absolute anger as he tried to smash Slade's face in. but Slade merely caught the offending attack in a steel grip before nonchalantly throwing him back. The moment there was some space between them, Raven rushed in and placed herself between the two, a Desert Eagle drawn and aimed at Robin.

"Stand down, Raven. This is between me and my apprentice." Slade commanded as he rose from his throne. Raven cast a glance over her shoulder at Slade before holstering her gun and stepping aside, nearly vanishing into the surrounding shadows. Slade meanwhile began to slowly approach his apprentice.

"Robin, that was vicious, dishonorable and ruthless. Excellent work, you're becoming more like me every second." He complimented before he turned his back to Robin. Alarm bells went off in Robin's brain like in London 1940.

The only other warning he received was Slade's muscles trembling in fury before the madman spun around with a brutal barrage of attacks that Robin struggled to keep up with. Slade suddenly had Robin in a chokehold, lifting his smaller body off the ground.

But Robin managed to land a solid kick right in Slade's forehead and slipped out of his grasp. From her little spot in the shadows, Raven watched the fight with apparent disinterest.

"Ten bucks says that Slade will pwn Robin." She commented mostly to herself.

Back at Titans Tower, the team had regrouped and had just made a startling discovery that shed some light on today's events.

"Think I found something. The enhanced sensors are picking up radio interference on a nanoscopic scale." Cyborg stated urgently as he watched the results on the big screen in the living room. Beast Boy, who had been the one scanned, quickly freaked out at the sight of what lay in his blood stream.

"Those things are inside me? EWWW!" was all he could say.

"There're inside all of us, billions of them." Cyborg commented grimly.

"With such technology at his command, Slade can destroy us whenever he wants." Starfire added sadly.

"Unless Robin does whatever that nutjob orders him to do." Argent added in grim realization. Now it was much clearer to them what was truly going on.

"And you guys thought my zombie idea was crazy." Beast Boy added.

And once again back at Slade's lair, it was going straight to hell for Robin in his fight with Slade. Or was it a sparring match? Hard to tell with those two.

Robin tried an overhead kick, but Slade caught him and threw him away like a ragdoll. Robin landed up among the cogwheels making up large portions of Slade's lair. Robin had a brief surge of panic when he found that he had lost sight of Slade.

Rule nr. 1 when battling Slade; you never, ever let him out of your sight. Swallowing his panic, Robin steeled his resolve and began trudging among the cogwheels, searching for his opponent.

Of course, when he eventually found him, the one-eyed psychopath just had to make a cool entrance by riding up on a cogwheel as if it was a damn escalator.

"Good, Robin. You're doing much better than last time. A few more years of training, and you might actually pose a threat." Slade calmly taunted Robin, who for his part backed away from him. Robin quickly broke off a nearby lever to use as a makeshift bo staff.

Slade on the other hand simply brought out his own extendable bo staff. With a burst of steam from a nearby machine, the two combatants attacked and began delivering punishing blows with their weapons.

Robin struck several times, but Slade blocked each stroke before deflecting Robin's staff and landed a solid blow to him. Robin was pushed up to a pipe, but had enough wit to jump up when Slade tried to skewer him with his staff.

Robin landed on top of Slade's staff that had become lodged in the pipe before driving a powerful blow with his own staff into Slade, knocking him into the surrounding steam. Robin lost sight of Slade, but his instincts told him to jump off Slade's staff just before the man himself came up from behind and delivered a downward blow with his fist that shattered the staff.

Robin back flipped up onto higher ground, trying to gain an edge. A piece of machinery began to swing back and forth in front of Robin as he took a few cautious steps back. Without warning, Slade suddenly appeared right in front of Robin, standing as still as a statue. The piece of machinery continued to swing between them. Again, and again. And suddenly Slade was gone!

No sooner had Robin registered that fact before Slade smashed into him from the side. Robin was sent sprawling to the ground and barely managed to roll clear of a massive punch from Slade that left a dent in the metal. He was obviously pissed.

But Robin was undaunted as he threw a spinning kick that hit Slade in the head before following up with a second kick that sent him flying to the floor, a crack now in place on his mask. Slade was quickly back on his feet and glaring with barely controlled rage at Robin. From the sidelines, Raven let out a small giggle.

"He's so gonna get it now." She sing-songed tauntingly, but a sharp glare from Slade shut her up before he turned his attention back to Robin.

"You're going to wish you hadn't done that." Slade stated in a surprisingly calm voice that just spelled pain in bold neon letters. But Robin was undaunted as he confidently strode up to him.

"I only wish I'd done it sooner." Robin retorted before he tore the S symbol off his chest and threw it in front of Slade, where it became imbedded in the floor.

If Slade had been angry before, it had been nothing compared to the absolutely livid state he was in now now. His whole body shook in uncontrollable rage as he glared at his defiant apprentice.

"Uh oh." Raven muttered to herself quietly.

Uh oh indeed, as in the next instant, Slade had pounced on Robin with a flurry of furious kicks and punches. Robin was forced back as Slade pushed on relentlessly, throwing attack after attack that Robin was barely keeping up with.

In a last ditch effort, Robin tried another kick at his head, but Slade caught it and threw him to the floor. Robin got on all four, drawing in ragged breaths as he tried to find the strength to stand back up and keep fighting.

"I have much to teach you, but the first thing you need to learn is gratitude." Slade stated coldly as Robin staggered back to his feet. He cast one sideway glance at the monitors displaying his friends' vital signs, he found determination in it and threw himself at Slade again.

But Slade merely caught his arm, twisted it over his head and slammed him into the floor again. As hard as he could. That finally knocked most of his fighting spirit out of him, but not all.

"I made you my apprentice. All my knowledge, all my power, all for you. But the only thing you care about is your worthless! Little! Friends!" Slade nearly shouted at the end as he pressed Robin's head against the floor. But still Robin tried to resist him. Realizing he needed a reminder of things, Slade let go of him and stood back up.

"If the Titans are so distracting, maybe I should just get rid of them?" he mused out loud while holding his finger over the trigger. At the sight, the last bit of fighting in Robin went out of him. His whole body seemed to sink together as his eyes lost their fighting spirit.

"Don't. I'll do whatever you say." He pleaded weakly. He had lost… again.

"Good boy." Slade complimented happily, or as close to happy as that madman could get. Unseen by both of them, Raven's hands tightened into fists at the sight, even when her face remained impassive.

"And, from now on, I'd like you to call me master." Slade ordered smugly, safe in the knowledge that he was in control of the situation. That safety went right out the window when a starbolt sent him flying away from Robin.

"What the…" Raven burst out in surprise, right before a sonic blast sent her flying off her feet and straight into Slade.

Robin meanwhile was in complete shock over what had just happened. And turning to where the attacks had originated from, he found the Teen Titans standing there. All of them glaring with unbridled fury at both Slade and Raven.

"Leave… him… alone!" Starfire commanded harshly. Slade meanwhile roughly showed off Raven from himself, ignoring the indignant "hey!" he received in response.

"Robin! Attack!" he ordered. But Robin was not too keen on that order and tried to plead with his friends to leave.

"Get out of here, go! You don't know what those beams did to…"

"Dude…" Beast Boy interrupted calmly.

"… We know…" Argent continued.

"… And we don't care." Cyborg finished with an air of finality.

"We are your friends, Robin. We are not leaving without you." Starfire stated sadly. From her position behind Slade, Raven gave an impressed whistle.

"Talk about hardcore loyalty there." She commented. Slade said nothing, but the dangerous glare he sent right at her spoke more than a thousand words ever could. Despite herself, Raven found an unhealthy dose of cold sweat breaking out on her body.

"Shutting up now." Raven meekly added. As Slade turned his attention back to the Titans while strolling up to Robin, Raven let out a quiet sigh of relief. 'Dodged the bullet on that one.'

"How very touching, but Robin doesn't need any friends." and with that, Slade pressed the button, and the probes went to work on the Titans. A nearby device that housed more of the probes began crackling with energy as well.

"This is the price for disobedience, Robin." Slade stated as the Titans crumbled to the floor in pain. "Now do as I command, attack!"

But Robin never did attack, he just stared in sadness at his friends. He was truly conflicted; if he wanted his friends to survive then he would need to attack them, but they had made it blatantly clear that they would not abandon him here.

They would stay and fight for him, even if it cost them their lives. That was how strong their ties were, and nothing Slade did would sever them. 'They would sacrifice themselves for me, it's only right that I do the same for them.'

"No." was all Robin said before he ran away from Slade, his goal within his line of sight.

"Robin!" Slade shouted, having guessed what he was about to do. But he was already too late. With one giant leap, Robin grabbed hold of the device that produced the probes. Even as painful surges of energy ravaged his body, he stubbornly clung to it. As he held onto it, his bloodstream became infected with the same probes as his friends.

Finally, the energy proved too much for him and he was sent flying away from the device. A new monitor sprang to life, displaying Robin's vital signs. With shaky legs, Robin staggered back to his feet as the probes began the same work on him that they were doing to his friends.

Slowly, he began to approach Slade, who in honor of his usual calmness looked as untroubled as ever.

"New deal, Slade. If I lose my friends, you lose your apprentice." Robin stated to the one-eyed madman. Slade's one eye narrowed at Robin. This did not go according to his plan.

"And I know how you hate to lose." There was the tiniest trace of smugness in that last statement, but whatever humor Robin had quickly evaporated as he collapsed to his knees in pain.

Slade meanwhile was staring down on his apprentice, his thoughts unreadable behind that mask of his. His hand gripped the trigger he wore around his wrist. For several truly agonizing moments (for the Titans at least) Slade did nothing else. Then, without warning, he tore the trigger off his wrist and threw it away.

The probes immediately shut off in response. Robin let out a relieved breath as the pain began to subside. But Slade was now beyond the point of livid, he was absolutely and insanely furious!

With a rage-filled roar, he brought his boot down with all his might on Robin. But the nimble hero not only evaded it, but managed to catch it as well. Robin could not help but smile tauntingly as Slade feebly tried to tug his leg free.

The next instant, Slade was sent flying back by a powerful strike from Robin. But the pain had only just begun for the villain. There were still four more who wanted to vent their anger on him.

"Titans, go!" Robin shouted. Beat Boy slashed him across the chest as a tiger, Cyborg and Starfire did a combo blast that sent him careening into the air and Argent finished it up with a crimson fist that grabbed hold of his leg and slammed him like a whip back into the floor.

Robin finished it all up with a spinning kick right on his mask, cracking it up even further. As Slade collapsed to his knees, the black half of his mask fell off. Though none of the Titans had time to get a glimpse of what lay beneath it before Slade covered it up with his hand.

"It's over, Slade." Robin announced grimly, standing ready to deliver another blow if need be. It was at that point that Cyborg realized one important factor.

"Where did Raven go?"

That single question put the whole team on edge. If Raven was unaccounted for, it always spelled trouble. Trouble came this time in the form of fully automatic fire at Robin, who narrowly evaded the hail of bullets.

Slade turned to where the bullets originated from to find Raven standing at a nearby exit with an AK-47 in her hands.

"This party's over, Slade! Time to hightail it out of here!" she shouted as she let loose with another barrage of bullets. While normally he hated it when others ordered him around, Slade had to admit that Raven was right here. It was time for a retreat.

With that in mind, he used Raven's cover fire to run up to another one of his devices.

"Another day, Robin." He shouted as he activated the self-destruct sequence to his lair. "Another day."

The lights suddenly went out, plunging the whole lair into darkness. A few red light flickered on and off at random intervals. Slade had already disappeared, but as the lair began crumbling around them, Robin caught sight of Raven as she was about to make her escape.

She was too far away for Robin to stop her, but she must have felt his eyes on her as she stopped and turned towards him. Their eyes met each other from across the lair, neither saying anything to the other. They did not need to, their eyes spoke the same message to the other one; Next time.

The red light temporarily flickered off for a few seconds, and when they turned on again, Raven was gone. Vanished into the darkness yet again.

"Let's go home." Robin said to his team as they made their escape.

Finally back at the tower, the Titans were working hard on removing the probes from their bodies, effectively ending this chapter in their lives.

"Am I done yet?!" of course, the process was a slow one and quite uncomfortable, given the amount of devices strapped to your body. Beast Boy certainly did not enjoy it, as testified by his muffled protest from earlier.

"That's it, y'all. The Teen Titans are officially probe free." Cyborg announced happily. Beast Boy instantly sprung up from his seat like a jack-in-the-box with a victorious shout.

"Go Beast Boy! You're probe-less! No probes now! Go Beast Boy! Go Beast Boy! Get funk yeeaaah!" that would be his ridiculous victory song coupled with an equally ridiculous victory dance.

"Hey guys, now that we've actually beaten Slade for real this time, shouldn't we be celebrating or something?" Argent suddenly asked curiously. Both Cyborg's and Beast Boy's faces lit up like a pair of Christmas trees at the thought.

"All you can eat…" Cyborg began.

"… Free form…" Beast Boy continued.

"… Breakfast explosion!" they finished together. Argent was already looking like she was regretting she ever said anything.

"Me and my big mouth." She muttered to herself before she was dragged off by the two boys towards the kitchen. Left behind in the living room were Robin and Starfire. The aforementioned girl was sitting on the couch with a forlorn expression on her face.

"Everything okay?" Robin asked gently as he sat down next to her. Starfire meanwhile did not look up and continued to stare at the floor.

"I am... sorry." She suddenly said, catching Robin completely off guard.

"You're sorry? For what?" he asked in confusion. The way he saw it, he should be the one to apologize, not the other way around.

"When things were bad, there was a moment where I truly believed that you were… like Slade. I doubted you, and for that I am sorry." Starfire admitted shamefully. Robin looked at her sadly, not because of what she had said, but because she felt the need to apologize.

"I doubted myself, Star. Focused, serious, determined. As much as I hate to admit it, he and I are kind of alike." Robin admitted grimly. "But there's one big difference between me and Slade."

There he paused to look Starfire right in the eyes, a happy smile on his face. "He doesn't have any friends."

At this, Starfire too gave a happy smile. But their little moment together was interrupted by what sounded like a pair of pigs devouring their food supply. The truth was probably not that far away.

"Who wants tofu waffles?" Beast Boy asked in a sing-song voice. Cyborg was instantly in his face with an irritated look in his eyes.

"Man, nobody wants tofu waffles." He stated.

"I do! Pass me the soya milk." Beast Boy retorted.

"I'm telling you, you're not getting anywhere near the soy milk." Cyborg said.

"Man, pass me the soya milk!"

"Is there any meat in the tofu?"

"No, there's no meat in tofu, it's tofu!"

"Well, nobody wants it."

Does this form of argument sound familiar to you, dear reader?

"By the way, guys. I have been meaning to ask you this, but how did you find me so fast?" Robin suddenly asked curiously. The moment his question had left his mouth, both teens stopped their bickering to look at him with confused expressions.

"You mean you didn't call for us?" Cyborg asked hesitantly. Robin raised a surprised eyebrow.

"No. Why do you ask?" he questioned. Cyborg looked around the kitchen at first, as if he expected the answer to pop out of one of the cabinets.

"Well, we had absolutely no idea where to look for you at first, but then we found that your locator had been turned on again. It led us straight to you. We thought that it was you calling for help." Cyborg admitted.

Robin's eyes widened in surprise at that. Someone had turned on his locator? But who could have…

The answer suddenly struck Robin like a thunderbolt from a clear sky.

"Should we look into it?" Cyborg asked. At first, Robin said nothing, but then his mouth began to bend itself into the form of a small smile.

"No, let it be. It's probably nothing anyway." Robin said in a hugely knowing manner.

And that's the end of season one! But not the end of this story! Many have been asking me how far this story will go, and I'm here to answer you now that this story will go all the way. From season 1 to season 5, Raven will rock on!

Of course, I'll skip over a few episodes that I can't incorporate this version of Raven into, as well as adding my own custom made ones here and there.