A/N: So due to the kind words on the last chapter, i am posting the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it. :D
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. It is owned by Warner Brothers and Cartoon Network. Some of the characters are the possession of DC comics. I have no affiliation with any of those corporations.
-Adrianna
After an hour of moping and pouting, Robin pulled back his covers and tried to get even a small amount of rest. He knew his body needed it; he just couldn't seem to provide it. No position he laid in was comfortable enough for him to sleep. He would usually lie on his side, but that was no longer an option due to his injury. He kicked his covers off his body and got out of his bed, "This is useless." He made his way over to his computer and planned to spend the remainder of the night finding out what Slade was planning.
About 15 minutes in, he received a video message from Slade. He quickly answered.
"Good morning Robin, I am sorry to hear about your little accident." Slade greeted.
"Slade," Robin growled, "What do you want with me." He pounded his fist on the desk causing the equipment to lightly shake.
"I just thought I would check in quickly. I heard about your trip to the hospital. It is quite unfortunate, you breaking your leg. It's quite a pity. I suppose you are just losing your touch. How do you plan to stop me now that you are immobilized?" Slade smirked.
"I may not be able to defeat you, but my friends will. They will put an end to you and your destruction." Robin scowled.
Slade chuckled a second, "I would love to see them try," he sighed, "I will miss our little struggles every time we meet. Keep working on your combat. It seems to me that you are only getting worse."
Robin, angered by Slade's words and almost forgetting that it was only a computerized image, punched his fist through the screen of his computer. He stood up and left his room. As was his usual habit, he found his way to the top of the tower to watch the sunrise.
The morning was foggy and dark. The sun was no where to be found. The sky was gray. Robin claimed that his injury has made lose his ability to enjoy things. He believed that the sun was there, he just couldn't see it. Before the sun fully rose, he went back inside to find something to eat.
Starfire was already in the kitchen cooking breakfast. "Good morning Robin," she greeted him.
"What's so good about it Starfire," he mumbled.
"You are in a grumpy mood. Did you not sleep at all," she asked.
"No, I couldn't sleep. There is too much I have to do. I can't just drop all my responsibilities and sleep," Robin sighed.
"Are you hungry? I have prepared for you the eggs of the sun and also bacon," she handed him a dish of two sunny side up eggs and two pieces of bacon, arranged in the shape of a smiling face.
The dish made Robin smile, "Thanks, Starfire." As much as he wanted to enjoy the food she made him, he couldn't bring himself to actually eat it. There was nothing wrong with it; it was one of the few Earth meals she knew how to make. He just wasn't hungry.
He pushed the food around on the plate to make it seem like there was less of it. Starfire was not fooled by his display if trickery, "Do you not like your breakfast?" She asked.
"No, it's great. I just, I'm not really hungry right now," he dropped the fork on the plate.
"If you are not hungry, than what are you?" She asked.
Robin thought for a moment. He was unsure of the answer to her question. It was not that he didn't know how he felt: disappointed in himself, angry at Slade, hopeful in his team. There was a wide range of emotions that flew through Robin's mind. Most of all he was tired. He was tired of Slade, tired of his injury, tired of everything. But he was also just tired. He needed sleep.
"Robin, did you not hear me?" Starfire asked again.
"I heard you. I'm just tired," he tried to hold back a yawn.
"Then you must rest," she picked him up off the chair and carried him over to the sofa. She sat down and rested his head on her lap. She tried as hard as she could to make him feel comfortable.
As Starfire positioned him comfortably, he tried to resist sleep. His eyelids, covered by his mask, became heavier. It was inevitable; he would fall asleep and very quickly. His breathing became softer. He could feel Starfire's finger gently brushing his cheek. Her voice, usually high pitched and cheery, now calm and relaxing as she sang him a Tameranian lullaby. He soon drifted into a deep sleep.
An hour later, Cyborg and BB busted through the door to the main room. "No, I get to be player one!" Cyborg shouted.
"I don't think so. It's my game so I get to be-" Beast Boy poked his arm
"Well, it's my controller so I'm player one!"
"Friends! Please stop shouting. You will awaken Robin." Starfire interfered.
"Relax Star; Robin's room is sound proof. No sound comes out, and no sound goes in." Cyborg reassured her.
"Robin is not resting in his bedroom. He is asleep here. Please be respectful."
"Alright, sorry. Why don't we just take him down to his room so he can rest in peace?" Beast Boy asked.
"That idea is dangerous. I am not sure we should transport him. What if we hurt him," Star worried.
"Relax. He'll be fine," Cyborg picked him up off of Starfire and positioned him safely in his mechanical arms, "I promise to be really careful." He smiled as he carried him to his room.
Starfire floated quietly behind him. She was watching his every move, making sure he didn't bump Robin in any way. When they arrived to Robin's room, Cyborg carefully laid him onto his bed and turned around to leave, "Star, are you coming?" He asked halfway out the door.
"I wish to stay here with Robin. Please go on enjoy the racing of cars without me." She smiled and pulled covers over Robin.
"Suit yourself," he shrugged and ran back to the main room.
She first closed the door to ensure complete silence in the room. After the door closed completely, she turned out the lights and closed the curtains to the window the covered the far side of Robin's bedroom. She wished to make it as dark as possible to simulate night.
Because Starfire was a curious person, she took this opportunity to get a closer look at Robin's bedroom. She lit her fist dimly and began walking around his bedroom. She soon came across the shattered computer monitor and went over to further inspect the monitor. There was broken screen all around his desk, along with a few drops of blood on some of the shards.
She quickly turned to face Robin upon hearing his breathing rate increase. He was mumbling things in his sleep. Starfire couldn't make any of it out, only mismatched syllables.
"Robin, are you having a night terror?" She whispered placing her hand gently on his cheek. Robin sighed in his sleep and returned to his relaxed state.
Minutes later, Starfire heard a knock on the door. She slowly stood up and went to answer the door, "Hello?" She asked. When she asked, she heard the Titan alarm going off.
"Star, we gotta go, Slade's been spotted downtown." Cyborg informed her before grabbing her wrist and pulling her out.
"But, Robin..." she said.
"He'll be fine. This will only take a minute," They left to meet Slade downtown.
When they arrived, they managed to trap Slade inside of their four Titan square.
"An early morning Titans, you seem to be one short" Slade played ignorant.
"It only takes one of us to take you down," Beast Boy snarled.
"Is that a challenge?" Slade sounded excited.
"Only if you want to lose," Cyborg prepared his arm cannon.
As Cyborg blasted his first sonic wave, beast boy shifted into a cheetah and began sprinting over to Slade. Raven and Starfire took to the skies in order to back up the boys.
The fight lasted twenty minutes. They had managed to get Slade down, but soon realized it was not Slade, but only one of his many robots. As usual, Slade had designed a screen into the robot and quickly made himself visible on it.
"Hello titans," his one visible eye gave away that he had a smile on his face.
"Slade," all titans said in unison.
"I'm sure you all want to know what I'm currently working on. Well, this seems like the perfect opportunity to shed some light on the situation," a light shone from behind him revealing an adolescent male silhouette strapped to a chair.
"Robin," Starfire gasped, "Let him go you monster!" Her eyes glowed bright green. Beast Boy tried to calm her down before she destroyed the screen.
"I will let him go; you just have to do exactly what I say."
"What is it that you wish to be done?" Starfire was quick to ask.
"Break-up the Teen Titans," his voice contained a diabolical tone, "move on with your lives. Never speak to each other again. Never save anyone again. Just go on being normal teenagers."
They each looked at each other. Besides themselves, they had no other friends. They know that if they weren't around anymore, Slade would destroy the entire city. They looked back at the screen and saw Robin's outline shaking his head furiously.
"No." Raven said bluntly.
"Very well, I hope you can all get along without Robin," he said as the screen went blank.
As soon as Slade disappeared, Starfire blasted the robot into the depths of the ocean, "We must retrieve Robin. We can not let Slade murder him." She demanded.
"Relax, Star, we'll get him back. We just need to work up a plan first," Cyborg answered.
"I am afraid we do not have very much time, Cyborg," she frowned.
Slade walked over to Robin and removed the gag from his mouth. "What do you want with me, Slade," Robin coughed from being gagged so long.
"The same thing I always want. The only thing I crave. The end of the Teen Titans," he clenched his fist in emphasis.
"That will never happen, we will be foiling your plans until the day we die," Robin scowled.
"That day will be coming sooner then you think Robin," he turned around, "you see, I purposely made it quite simple to find me. I knew your friends would come to your rescue. And I have an army awaiting their arrival. With all your friends gone, you will have no option but to join me."
"Your robots will never be able to destroy my friends. We have endured much worse than just a few robots," Robin reassured him.
"Oh but you see Robin," he paused to turn the lights on, "I have more than just a few robots." The lights shone on his army of at least 500 robots.
"It's still no challenge. You're wrong, Slade. This plan you have will never work," Robin struggled in the chair.
"Careful, Robin, we wouldn't want to hurt your leg now would we," Slade said as he threw a ninja star-like weapon straight into his cast.
Robin shrieked in pain while trying to remove the weapon from his leg, "I don't understand why you are so interested in me. I'm just a screw-up. I'll only mess up your tasks too," Robin sighed.
"That's where you're wrong. You are more useful than you think. I only need to train you, with my teachings under your wing, you could achieve great things. You could be exactly like me," Slade put one hand on Robin's shoulder.
"No!" Robin shouted, "I will never be like you! You are evil. You only want to cause harm and destroy everything. You and I could never be alike."
"You probably would have escaped by now, if it weren't for that cast, that broken bone. You would have had no trouble getting free from those restraints," Slade smirked.
As Robin was about to go off on Slade, the remaining titans busted through the door to meet the robot army.
"I have had enough! This ends now!" Starfire shouted before blasting the stone ceiling. Large pieces of debris started falling from above them all. As Slade retreated to avoid being crushed like his army was, Starfire flew around the falling rock to save Robin.
"This building is gonna collapse! We gotta get out of here, like right now!" Cyborg said running out the door they entered from.
As Starfire tried to undo the restraints around Robin, more and more of the ceiling fell. "Starfire, forget about me. Just save yourself," Robin suggested
"I will do no such thing," she shook her head. Her eyes suddenly shone green and sliced the restraints. Starfire then picked him up and looked around for any escape option. She noticed a hole in the roof where stone used to be. She flew up and through the hole right before the entire building collapsed.
"Star, you saved me," Robin smiled.
"Of course, is that not what best friends do?" She asked.
"Thank you," he ignored her question.
"You are most welcome," she set off to find their friends, who were waiting on all sides of the building to see where they would come out.
"There they are," Beast Boy shouted pointing into the air.
Star quickly landed next to her friends, still holding Robin in her arms. They both greeted their friends in a timely fashion.
"Robin, what happened?" Cyborg asked.
"Slade broke into the tower after you guys left. He kidnapped me and tied me down. He gagged me so I couldn't say anything when he contacted you," Robin explained.
"Did you find out what he wants," Raven asked.
"The same thing he always wants: me."
A/N: I'm sorry this chapter was so rushed. I had wanted to re-introduce Slade later on, but I didn't know what to do with the gap that would have created. This is very much not the end of this story. I have already begun working on the next chapter, it should be up soon. now that you read this, please review! I love all of you!
- Adrianna