Disclaimer: I do own any of this! The Teen Titans and Batman are not mine and belong to their rightful and respected owners! Enjoy!
Okay guys, last chapter! And after a lot of thought (and consideration of your reviews) I've decided I'm going to finish up the trilogy! I don't like it when I'm left hanging, and after this ending, you might want to know what will happen…at least I'm hoping! Thanks again to all who read and reviewed, I will be doing an author's note similar to my previous story. So, without further ado…
Ch. 19-Nowhere to Run
Suddenly, Jay gasped. Whirling around, Batman drew in a breath as he saw Slade jumping across nearby rooftops. He was about to follow the man when Jay grabbed his arm.
"Batman," Jay spoke, her face drained of color. "The only reason Slade would be here is if…"
Both Jay and Batman looked toward the nearing stampede, their hearts sinking as they caught sight of a familiar domino mask.
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When Beast Boy got back to the tower, it almost felt like he was in a dream. Had he really just outcast Jay from the team? Had he really just told her to never come back?
Beast Boy didn't know what to think anymore. He had really trusted Jay, and she had let him down. In the end, she had been working for Slade all along. Just like…
"No," Beast Boy mumbled to himself. "Don't think about it."
Walking into the main room glumly, he was surprised when he received a bone crushing hug from Starfire.
"Friend!" Starfire cried happily as she whirled Beast Boy around and around. "We were so worried! When you disappeared along with Robin, we were afraid you had been kidnapped."
"Thanks Starfire," Beast Boy sighed with a half-hearted smile as she let him go.
Raven, noticing this, cocked an eyebrow. "Is something wrong? Where's Jay?"
But before Beast Boy had time to answer, the alarm system went off in a blaring frenzy.
"What is it this time?" Cyborg rolled his eyes and went over to the main screen. After he pressed a few buttons, the screen lit up to reveal a horde of villains chasing after a familiar boy wonder.
"Robin!" Starfire shouted. Their ex-teammate was barely ahead of the crowd, riding a motorcycle through the main street of Jump as the stampede of villains destroyed everything in its path.
"If they catch up to Robin, he's done for!" Cyborg realized. "Come on, we have to go!" The Titans turned around to run to the aid of their friends, but were stopped by a familiar villain in a onesie.
"You aren't going anywhere," Gizmo grinned manically. The Titans' eyes widened as they saw who was behind him. The High Five along with Dr. Light, Mother May-Eye, and Control Freak. Then, looking to Beast Boy, Gizmo uttered,
"Barf brain."
TTTTTTTTTTT
As the stampede flew through the streets of Jump and got closer and closer to Robin, Batman and Jay were following from above. Flipping from rooftop to rooftop, they never took their eyes off him. All around them, buildings were collapsing, panicked cries rang out, and smoke exploded. The sky above them became dark with the smoke, casting a grey shadow over the horrifying scene.
"Jay!" Batman called as he and the girl leaped onto another rooftop. "We have to find some way to get Robin out of there!"
"But how?" Jay called, ducking as a canon ball flew above her head. Looking down at Robin, the two realized that now the villains were firing things at Robin, and had sent multitudes of minions in a blind sprint toward Robin's motorcycle.
Suddenly, a hulking shadow flew over Jay and collided with Batman. Skidding to a halt, Jay's eyes widened as she saw Slade pinning Batman to the ground, holding a knife of some sort and ready to use it.
"No!" Jay screamed, but just as she was about to help, Batman kicked Slade off of him, sending the madman to the other end of the roof.
"Go!" Batman yelled as the building beside them collapsed, thankfully not taking the building they were standing on with it.
"But," Jay looked nervously from Batman to Slade, who was now getting up.
"GO!" Batman screamed as Slade lunged, kicking Slade in the gut just as Slade punched him in the jaw. Nodding hesitantly, Jay took off after Robin, who was getting farther away on his motorcycle, barely in front of the villains. The villains themselves seemed to have dropped back, but they had sent thousands of robots and henchmen in a flood of metal after Robin.
"I've got to get down there," Jay looked down at the street in front of Robin, still untouched by the horde of villains. While she was looking around frantically, her eyes came across a motorcycle in an alley not too far away. The plan Jay was forming was crazy, but she was running out of options.
*I hope this works.*
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Robin was in full panic mode. Slade was nowhere to be seen, the villains were getting closer, and this bike was beginning to run out of gas. If anything could go wrong, it was.
What Robin didn't understand, was why the villains were so livid at him, and so bent on killing him. Wasn't he, as Slade's apprentice, supposed to continue their work? He would have found out sooner or later.
Something was bugging him. If Slade had lied to him about the previous night, what else had he lied about? Robin vaguely remembered his friends telling him that Slade had manipulated him, but at the time he had been so angry with them, he hadn't listened. Not that he had much time anyway, he had always been on missions. But still…what if he had listened to them? What if they were telling the truth? What if…
"AH!" Robin let out a startled cry as something hit his motorcycle, causing it to explode and for Robin to be sent flying. While he was in the air, Robin managed to grab onto a lamp post and hang on. Now robots and other creatures were passing him in the street, causing blind destruction. At first, Robin figured me might be able to wait it out until all of the minions had left, but when he saw Mad Mod and several other villains bringing up the rear, his eyes widened and panic filled his mind once again.
TTTTTTTTTT
Batman flipped out of the way as Slade kicked at him, barely missing Slade's foot by an inch. The two continued to pulverize each other until Slade stopped his attack, eyeing the boy wonder not too far away, who was clutching onto the lamp post for his life.
"Don't you even look at him!" Batman hissed.
"What?" Slade looked back at Batman. "He is my apprentice."
Even though the air was filled with screams, tearing metal, and the thunder of the stampede, it was quiet on that rooftop. Deathly quiet.
"Oh sorry," Slade continued. "Did I hit a soft spot? Still mad that dear old Robin chose me over you?"
Batman said nothing, but instead lunged at Slade. Slade reached out to block Batman's punch, but Batman was already ahead. He reached out and swivel kicked Slade's legs, and then grabbed the man by his armor and thrust him into the ground.
"Still mad I can kick your ass any day?" Batman hissed.
"Who said I was fighting you," Slade replied. From behind Batman. Just as Batman turned around to see the real Slade, the man detonated a device that released a heavy sleeping gas, effectively knocking out Batman. Grabbing the Bat by the collar, he pressed his communication device on.
"I've got the Bat," he spoke. "Are the Titans taken care of?"
"Yes," Mad Mod replied. Then, after a short moment of silence, "Sir, do we really have to kill-
"Yes," Slade hissed.
"But sir, why can't you-
"You will follow the orders I have given you," Slade threatened. "Or those will be the last orders you ever have."
"Alright," Mad Mod cut the transmission from his end. Looking down at Robin, who was still clinging to the lamp post.
Suddenly, the roar of a motorcycle came to life above him. Glancing up, Slade saw Jay ride her motorcycle off the roof above him just as the lamp post Robin was holding onto so desperately snapped, sending Robin flying.
TTTTTTTTTT
"NO!" Jay screamed. *He will not fall! Not like Tami! Not like Karina!* Jay thought as she throttled the motorcycle. Flying through the air, she grabbed onto Robin's clothes and pulled him onto the motorcycle with her. Before she could prepare, Jay's motorcycle landed roughly on the ground, almost toppling. With robots and minions all around her, Jay could barely see as she rode with the stampede. Zipping around hundreds of robots, she was beginning to sigh in relief. It looked like all they had been told to do was go forward; not to attack. As long as she stayed out of their way, she could make it.
But just then, a canon ball hit the back of the motorcycle, causing both of them to go flying. Still, Jay wouldn't let Robin fall. Wrapping one of her arms around the weak Robin, she used the other to pull out her S shooter. Praying she didn't miss, she shot at one of the building antenna. Just as Jay and Robin were about to hit a robot, the S wrapped around one of the antenna and latched on, causing the two to swing to a nearby rooftop.
Just as Jay was getting ready to land, she saw a canon ball coming toward the two of them. Right before it hit them, Jay let go of Robin, so that he landed (a little roughly) on the roof beneath them. Unfortunately, the canon ball was merciless, and hit Jay right in the hand, causing her to let go of her S shooter.
Luckily, Jay had managed to catch Robin's bird-a-rang shooter, and in a delirious state, shot it at another building's antenna farther down the street. It somehow managed to latch on, but Jay didn't use the momentum. Instead, she hung there, dangling above the stampede, clutching onto the shooter for her life.
Robin, although weak, managed to get up, and seeing Jay's dangerous situation, began to make his way over to her. But just as he was making his first jump, he was hit by a canon ball, and his world went black.
TTTTTTTTTT
Now that she had gotten the wind back in her, Jay began to hoist herself up the line of the shooter, like a rope. She was halfway up when she stopped, her heart ceasing its beating and her eyes widening tremendously. There, standing next to the antenna, was Slade. The real Slade. Looking down at the hundreds of robots and minions beneath her, Jay gasped. Turning back to Slade, the world stopped as she looked at him, pleading with him not to do it.
"Slade," Jay begged. "Don't-
"Goodbye Reyna," Slade spoke in a whisper, almost as if he spoke to loudly the words would be blown away. He snapped the antenna.
And Jay fell.
TTTTTTTTT
It was a long time before Robin woke up again. When he did, he could tell, because his limbs were sore and stiff.
"What just," Robin began to wonder what was happening, but as the previous events returned to him in an overwhelming fury, Robin only had one thought.
*Jay!*
Since the horde of villains was gone, Robin quickly jumped from the building and slid down its side until he managed to flip onto the road. All was quiet. There was not a single minion left. The dust was still though. And so was the damage.
Robin's heart stopped as he saw a broken antenna lying on the ground, with his bird-a-rang strapped around it.
"No…" Robin couldn't help as tears began to form in his eyes. "Jay!"
He began to run down the street furiously, refusing to believe what just happened.
"JAY!"
But there was no need. For Robin saw the blood. He saw pieces of her uniform. And he saw the domino mask lying without its owner, in the middle of the road.
"No," Robin collapsed to the ground. "Jay! I know you're still out there! Please Jay, you have to be!" Where was she? Had the villains taken her somewhere? Was she being tortured? Were they probing her?
"NO!" Robin couldn't take it any longer. He began to wail, softly at first, but then he began to gain momentum.
"Not Jay," Robin sputtered. "Not her…"
Footsteps broke the silence around him. Turning around, Robin's teary eyes widened as he saw Slade walk up to where he was lying.
"St-stampede…Jay…I couldn't," Robin couldn't even think of what to say. "I couldn't save her. I-I failed."
"When I got here," Slade spoke. "She was lying there. It appears that, in saving you, she was not able to save herself. She…and Batman."
"What?" Robin's blood froze. "B-Batman tried to save me?"
"I found his body not too far away," Slade continued. "I moved both of their bodies. You didn't need to see that Robin."
"And the Titans," Robin sensed Slade had more to tell him, and fearing the worse, dug his head into his knees.
"The Tower was destroyed," Slade paused as Robin let out a small whimper, but then continued, "by the villains. They assumed you were trying to gain secrets to tell the Titans."
"Were the Titans-
"Come Robin," Slade put his hand on Robin's shoulder. "We must leave. The stampede caused too much destruction. There's nothing left."
"W-where are we going?" Robin sobbed.
"To the next city over," Slade explained. "Riko." Lifting Robin up and placing the boy on his feet, Slade nodded to a black car that was waiting for them.
"But I…" Robin didn't want to leave. What if Jay was still out there? What if Batman was still in the shadows?
"Robin," Slade spoke. "I saw them, with my own eyes. They're gone. There is nothing left. Trust me. If you don't want to go, I'll respect that, but I have to leave. There's too much attention on Jump now; it's not safe for me."
Robin didn't know what to do. His heart was begging him to stay here, but he knew it was almost close to breaking fully. He needed someone to trust. He needed someone to turn to.
And that someone was standing right before him. The last thing that held him to his old life was about to leave, with or without hims.
And Robin couldn't take anyone else leaving his life.
"Robin, are you coming with me?"
"Yes master."
Me: Well...that was um...yeah...okay
Slade: It was the perfect ending.
Me: You do know there's still one more WHOLE STORY right? This is a trilogy.
Slade: Well, everyone Robin cares about is dead, so that really doesn't matter.
Me: We'll see about that, Slade, because when I write my author's note, there will also be something else.
Slade: Don't do it. Don't-
Me: EPILOGUE!
