These Black Eyes

by P0ST

The ongoing adventures and experiences of the Teen Titans, as witnessed through the eyes of a silent newcomer.

177. Robin Dies

177. Robin Dies

"Robin, I am not necessarily the best at conveying words for Terran ears to receive. Regardless, I do hope that you recognize my sincerity when I tell you this. The recent tragedy and turmoil within this City and most especially the terrible disappearance of our beloved Terra has struck me quite dearly to the heart and I cannot help but express myself. Ever since I joined the Titans, the perils we have faced have been surmounting. And during the course of events, many of us have changed and grown in our powers. Raven has learned how to apply the healing touch. Cyborg has upgraded his circuitry. Tempest has mastered the waves while Beast Boy and Noir have learned the art of stealth. I, myself, have gained much greater powers through transformation. And it feels as if there has been a purpose for this evolution, in that the tribulations we face with each passing day have been greater and greater in intensity until the very field of our vigilantism very similarly matches the horrors of the galactic conflicts I have once borne witness to. But you, Robin. You have not changed. You have remained the same vulnerable, human entity whom I met and admired upon first meeting. This human who leads us has stayed fragile with every surmounting obstacle despite how much he desires to deny it. And furthermore, with each increasing danger, he only throws himself all the more selflessly into peril. I feel very much for this person, Robin. And I am sure that you know that. You are so precious and selfless and endearing in every way. You put the value of the lives of others over that of your own. You stretch your mortal boundaries and dare to be something that touches the skies. Nowhere in the universe have I found something so unimaginably brave and respectful of Life in all its faculties as you. I feel so blessed that this same entity has taken the time and affection to not only introduce me to this wonderful planet but show me the essence of humanity. I shall forever think of Terra Firma in the shape of your smile, or the wave of your handsome dark hair, or the warmth of your hand as you guide me through both confusion and wonder. My respect and admiration and feelings for you know no limits, and I hope someday you shall consider such truth when you realize that—likewise—my concern and worry for you knows no legitimate limits either. Each and every day, you strike me as a comet lingering over the surface of a burning, consuming star, and it takes all the Tamaranian strength that I have to keep myself from reaching out to hold or steady you at any waking moment of existence. For I know that you are your own entity, and I know that you are strong at heart and mind, and I know that you are far more capable of weathering the storms around us than I can even dare to think. And yet that instinct is still there, and I cannot deny it. I care about you oh-so-deeply, Robin. I do not want you to perish. I want to be with you for as long as I can manage, for the very reality of your existence is what gives my green heart the spark to keep beating. Please, consider my words. And be glad for Life….your Life."

Starfire finished her words.

She took a deep breath.

She held her hands clasped together.

A beat.

Her reflection gazed back out at her from the shattered mirror hanging on wall of a restroom in Phaser Labs.

"…………….."

Starfire sighed.

She hung her head.

A pause.

She shuffled around, her boots crackling on debris and scattered shards.

She limped her way out of the restroom and into the dark hallway of the half-crushed facility.

Alone.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Friday.

November 5, 2004.

1:49 am.

The City.

Phaser Labs.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Robin's arms were folded.

He stared at a laptop hooked Macguyver-style by a bundle of loose wires to a battered mainframe of the crumpled laboratory.

The Boy Wonder said: "I'll ask you once again…..is it possible?? Not is it probable….."

"Anything is possible, Robin…," Cyborg grumbled.

He had a temporary, skeleton of a left arm and leg replacing the limbs he had lost in the T-Car's explosion. He sat on a first-aid crate and typed away at the tiny computer. Flickering floodlights haloed the shattered interior of Phaser Labs. The Titans more or less gathered in a circle while rescue workers and salvage teams rushed back and forth in the background, forming an anxious ambiance.

Cyborg gestured while typing: "After all the experiments my Uncle did on Terra's statue, there should be enough residual energy from the mitochondrial pulses of her cell structure to leave some kind of a trail. Wherever those damn creeps took her."

"How are we to assume that they were 'taken'?" Raven droned.

"They were," Robin grunted. He stared down at the floor with a furrowed brow and eyemask. "Dagger's words. They all came together. He and Triangular wanted this City….but they couldn't get it. Not today. Even after all the bloodshed, the Titans proved too much for Dagger's forces. But that didn't stop him. The Titans couldn't be in every place at once. So he took another prize. For some insidious reason or another, he wanted Terra all along. He kept rambling about the 'earth bleeding' and crap. I don't think I want to even begin speculating what that means."

"None of us do, dawg….none of us do…," Cyborg groaned.

"Shhh….," Raven quietly uttered. She gazed across the laboratory.

Robin and Cyborg glanced over.

Beast Boy sat on a crate a few feet away. His upper limbs folded and propped against his knees. His green head resting flat into his forearms.

Still…….

"………..," I stood off to the side. Shuffling blood-stained playing cards dazedly in my metal hand. I felt a chill but decided to ignore it.

"Anyways….," Robin spoke…a little quieter, but still with the same amount of firmness. "Unless Dagger had teleporters or people with metaphysical talents of speed, he couldn't have gotten Terra too far away from here. Slug and Reload were his distractions. When they ignited the lateral energy core of the laboratory, they produced just the amount of chaos Dagger's thieves needed to slip under cover. But I'm convinced that Dagger can't distract us just enough. There's got to be a clue…somewhere in this butchered City…..Terra had to have left a trail behind her."

"I'm at a loss at the moment, man….," Cyborg shook his head, sighed, and entered another search on the map schematics on the laptop. "I have only half of Phaser Labs' power available to me…and barely a fraction of its computer resources. I'm still thinking the Titan Computer would do us some better help. If I could just get back to the Tower and—"

"You are in no condition to go anywhere far anytime soon," Raven uttered rather sharply. "You're staying here until you can recover."

"Robin?? Talk some sense into her."

"I wish I could….," the Boy Wonder uttered. "But she's right. Right now I need your brain more than your brawn. You're staying here……for here is where you can best help."

"Sheesh, I'm flattered….," Cyborg rubbed his human eyebrow. "I'm not the Stone who should be working with this system, though."

"Where is your Uncle?" Raven asked…wincing slightly in expectation.

Cyborg sighed. "Halfway between deletion and the power reserves."

"…………."

"It might take the mother of all rebootings….b-but I think I can bring what's left of him back….," the android Titan clarified. "Imagine it as family resurrection……..as far as c-constructs go…."

Raven and Robin nodded.

I exhaled softly and glanced aside.

Starfire floated into the room. Gently. She stood besides Raven. "I apologize for my absence. I needed a bout of inhalation and exhalation."

"A breather?" Raven uttered, eyebrow raised.

"That is correct," Starfire nodded. "Please continue." She gazed at Cyborg's laptop. A beat. She looked over at Robin. Pensive green eyes staring.

"………," Robin wasn't looking at her.

Starfire bit her lip. She returned her attention to Cyborg's work.

Cl-Cl-Click!!

Beep!

"I think I might have something….," Cyborg uttered, typing.

Robin walked over behind his back.

So did I, craning my neck curiously.

"What is it?" Robin asked.

"Another lovely-ass puzzle," grunted Cyborg. "I've got some traces on residual energy after performing a cross-reference search of Terra's powers and her mitochondrial signature. You see…after all the experiments were done with her, both signatures took a long….long time to settle down. IF they could settle down. It's like a giant blanket floating down over a bed after a fresh laundry or something. And believe me, Terra was powerful enough to emit frequencies that could last this long. Remember how her eyes glowed yellow the way she did? Scientifically speaking…she should have been melting on the insides everytime she lifted so much as a pebble!"

"Just tell us about the findings," Robin muttered.

"Fine…fine…."

Click!

"There are signature bands branching out across the City."

"Branching?" Raven asked, eyebrow raised.

"Take a look for yourself…," Cyborg pointed.

We did. Most of us, at least.

I narrowed my black eyes through my shades.

Yellow streams of flashing color stretched up from the central point in Phaser Labs in five entities. All of them wavering more or less in line with the streets and avenues of the broken City. All heading north…and yet apart.

I shuffled the playing cards…exhaling in thought…..

"They carried her around quite a bit for a statue…," Raven droned.

"I don't see the point in doing that," Cyborg rubbed his chin…thinking aloud.

"How else could they have produced signatures with her like that?"

"I can think of numerous different ways," the android Titan said. "Terra's energy residue—once it's seized at the very source, such as her statue—can be mimicked and traced over through careful applications of radioactivity. I'm sure Dagger is afforded with such talents. Most likely he took samples of Terra's statue and exposed them to radioactive dust and had some of his covert cretins here at Phaser Labs sprinkle them in random spots along the City simultaneous with Terra's mobile extraction from this site."

"As a way to throw us off……" Raven nodded thoughtfully. "By giving us multiple paths to explore, Dagger's men are making it that much harder for us to hunt her down and bring her back safely."

"True, Rae. True…."

"Or maybe they just broke her into a bunch of pieces and went on half a dozen hayrides out of Town…..," muttered a defeated voice.

"………………"

We all looked over at Beast Boy.

Cyborg sighed and said: "Don't exaggerate, B.B. How could we possibly begin to guess something like that at this point?"

The Changeling had his hunched back facing us. Shaking hands clutched the back of his head. "Oh….and your 'radioactive dust' theory is so much better? Face it…they trashed her. She's totally wrecked by now, dude……"

Starfire's face curved sadly. "Beast Boy…..you must not assume so. Let us not be so inclined to accept defeat, for—"

Beast Boy snapped and faced us with a snarl: "And do you think anything about today has been a victory?!?!?!?"

"………"

The changeling heaved. He pointed a shaking finger at the pedestal where the statue was cleared cleanly away. "Does that look like something 'glorious' or 'magnificent' to you, Star?!?! Terra's gone!! They took her from us!! They took her from us and heaven be helped if that low-life Dagger ever so much as thinks about giving her back!!!"

Raven floated over. She had a gentle hand raised: "Beast Boy, be calm. If Terra was truly dead…I would have sensed it—"

"And what a fine job you did of sensing her being taken away when all Hell broke loose!!!" Beast Boy heaved. He panted. Sweat ran down the elf's face and disguised the moisture coming out from the corners of his eyes. "Did you have that much trouble sensing Cyborg's condition up until the concussion streamer went kablammo?!?!"

"……………," Raven stared.

Cyborg rubbed his head.

Beast Boy bit his lip. He clenched his eyes shut and grabbed his head. "Terra's gone!! Terra's GONE!!! Don't you guys get it?? Have you even woken up to it?!?! She….is….GONE!!!"

"I am truly saddened at Terra's departure….," Starfire murmured. "And for that, I am more than willing to engage in searching for her—"

"TERRA'S GONE!!!!" Beast Boy shouted, his voice echoing across the crumbled chambers. Workers and salvagers in the distance jolted in a momentary pause before unemotionally returning to their tasks at hand. Beast Boy clenched his fists by his side and hyperventilated. "She's dead…okay?? She's not alive anymore. Sh-She died back when……wh-when she stopped Slade and saved the City!! SHE DIED!!! Got it?!?! She can't be alive…not now….n-not in the hands of those jerks at Triangular. All Dagger has is a corpse. Whatever he w-wants with Terra, she won't feel it. Because she's dead. DEAD!! She won't feel a thing…she won't feel pain…sh-she won't feel the separation…she won't—"

I walked over to Beast Boy.

"Nnngh!!!" he backed up and waved a shaking hand at me. "Back off, dude!!"

I walked over to Beast Boy and placed a hand on his arm.

"Rgghhh!!!" he shoved at me. "I said, b-back off!! I don't need you to touch me or anything, Noir!! I don't…..d-don't…."

I gripped his shoulders. I looked down at him.

He shook. Once. Twice.

An exhale.

He fell against me. Sobbing. His face into my middle chest.

I gently, quietly held him still. Not firmly. Not coldly either. I gazed past him as his body shook against mine. His tears formed a damp spot against my black shirt beneath my combat jacket.

I slowly inhaled, staring at the spot where the statue used to be. The cold shadows of death prevailing in the room.

Raven lowered her eyes.

Starfire sniffed and cupped a hand over her lips. She closed her emerald optics and breathed gently.

"………"

"They're all heading north."

Starfire reopened her eyes.

"What's that?" Cyborg remarked.

Robin had walked over and was pointing at the laptop's screen.

"The trails of Terra's energy residues. Fake, legitimate, duplicated, or not….they're all heading north."

"Right….," Cyborg nodded. "They all more or less end within the industrial district of the City."

"Which is interesting….," Robin rested his arms by his tattered sides. "Because the industrial warehouses and factories are where—reportedly—the main bulk of Dragonflare victims arose to become the 'army' of Dagger."

"Dagger most likely distributed the Dragonflare somehow to ordinary citizens while at work," Raven added. "And somehow he was able to spark within all the people exposed to it a hypnotic command to attack the rest of the population." A beat. "With weapons he provided, no less."

"Most likely a chemical catalyst was used…," Robin breathed. "Something seemingly harmless and yet could be carried massively through the air. Something nobody would have suspected even if we were searching for a sister agent to Dragonflare. But back to the northern district and the industrial complexes….I don't think it's any mere coincidence that the 'trails' of Terra are all heading north."

Cyborg blinked his human eye. He pointed with a skeletal metal hand: "You think that's his base of operations, dawg?"

"Not a base….," Robin said. "A 'port'. A spot in the City to which Dagger's interests reach a focal point and he is able to transport to in and out with ease. It may also act as an exit point if he is attempting to take Terra's statue somewhere."

I glanced over, still holding Beast Boy. The elf's sobs were quieter now…but still just as wet. He continued hiding his face in my embrace.

"But what about the possible misdirection Cyborg talked about?" Raven gestured. "Not all of the energy traces lead to one exact point. He could have been onto something with the radioactive manipulation idea—"

"There's no time to speculate which is or which is not the true path….," Robin gestured. "Paths are made for walking. We're going out. Now."

With that said, Robin swiveled on his boots, turned, and marched towards the exiting hallway full of workers.

Starfire instantly started. Her neck craning.

Raven's lips parted.

Beast Boy looked up, teary eyed.

I gazed as well.

"Wait a second, Robin….," Cyborg stood on wobbly legs. Raven floated over and supported him as he pointed at the Boy Wonder's caped back. "Don't we need to think this out, more?" he pointed. "What if it's a trap? What if Dagger's toying with us again like he's done so all day?"

Robin paused. He spoke with his back to us. "You heard Beast Boy. Terra is gone. It's about time we all woke up to that."

"……………."

"But she won't be gone for long….if we act now," Robin turned and glared over his shoulder. "And we must act now." A beat. He pointed with a gloved finger. "Noir, you take the westernmost point. Raven, Starfire….you take the trails east of him." He gazed over. "Beast Boy?"

"Y-Yeah??"

"You feel capable of being a hero again tonight?"

"………," the changeling shuddered. He let go of me, sniffed, and wiped his cheek with a sleeve. "Sure…dude. Always…..," he shuddered breathily.

"Good," Robin nodded. He turned and spoke: "Cyborg. Stay here. Keep in contact with us over the communcation frequencies and guide us along the path of the residual energy traces. Okay, Titans."

"Robin—"

"We're moving out."

"Robin, wait!!" Cyborg gestured. "Listen, dawg. It's nighttime, the City's a wreck….h-how can we possibly get anything done so suddenly and amidst such chaos—"

"We're Titans!!! And we get the job done!!! Got it?!?!" Robin shouted with a pointed finger. "Or maybe you lost a little bit of your memory banks along with those robotic limbs of yours?!?!?!"

Cyborg frowned. "Listen, dawg. I ain't trying to---"

"You 'ain't' trying to do NOTHING!!!" Robin shouted. "Lest you forget, I'm the leader!! Founding…appointed…whatever!! The only thing that frickin' matters is that when I give commands, things get done!! We're moving out, dammit!!"

"Robin—"

"We already failed this City but we sure as Hell aren't going to fail Terra!!!!" the Boy Wonder snapped. "I don't care how many people Dagger has killed or tortured, he's not going to get the upper hand on us!!! Not anymore!!!"

"He doesn't have the upper hand, Robin…," Cyborg raised his replacement limb. "He tried to snuff me out twice. Guess what?? I am here. Dagger isn't quite as badass as he likes to sound…."

Raven glanced aside.

Robin took a deep breath, and the words came icily from his mouth: "You're alive….only because the rest of the Titans were courageous enough to battle two gunslinging androids and a virtual army of zombies to claw your smoldering body out of the ruins."

"……….."

"We're heroes…..not frolicking kids on some goddamn field trip…..," Robin uttered. He glared at all of us. Myself included. "You want to grow up, Teen Titans? Ever desired to have the chance??" He pointed straight up at the collapsed ceiling. Towards the outside world. "There's life, my friends. We grew up today. We're no longer the Teen Titans. We're something else. And I don't think that 'something else' will be anything stronger unless we make our moves when we're destined to."

Silence.

The Boy Wonder took a deep breath. "We move out. If there's any justice to be had on this raped Earth, we're moving out. We're finding Terra. That's our contract from hereon out. The piece of us that was torn away must be reclaimed before the wound has a chance to bleed. The City's run red enough as it is. I don't want the sky being touched. There's no time for rest. There's no time for sleeping. Titans….go….."

He turned.

He began to march out of the room.

"Robin…..," Starfire floated in front of him.

"Get ready, Starfire," Robin uttered firmly and gently pushed her aside.

"Robin….I implore you….," she turned and faced him as he marched off. "Allow me to join your trail-chasing into the industrial complexes."

Robin kept walking, his back to her. "No can do, Star. We have to split up. It's the only efficient and quick way."

"But I-I would argue that such efficiency would be alternately provided by strength in n-numbers…," the Tamaranian stammered.

"You have your orders, Starfire. Go—"

"Robin…I….," Starfire floated after him, bit her lip, shook a bit, then blurted: "W-Wait!!"

"…..," he froze.

"I….after all of today….I….I simply desired to….t-to…..," Starfire wrung her hands. Her pretty face cringed as she lost all that she had linguistically formulated and all that she had prepared in her head and in the cold easiness of the shattered mirror. She rolled out: "I do not want to lose sight of you again. So much horror has transpired today, and it has shaken me more than I thought would be possible, Robin and—"

He shifted about as if he was about to say something or move or explode or--

"I love you, Robin," Starfire said.

Silence.

…….

"I love you so….," the green-eyed girl exhaled. "And there is nothing in this world…no power so great in the cosmos…no distance too huge in the universe that could ever keep me from loving you and adoring you." She took a deep breath, hugging herself….hugging him from fifteen feet off. "Please….u-understand….."

The silence crept its way over and iced Robin's shoulders. His lower legs shifted once or twice, but his dark head hung all the more. For a moment—from my angle at least—it looked like he could turn around and spin the world down the drain, but all of us knew that he wouldn't.

There was no sound but that of the distant workers, and all too soon Robin swallowed, exhaled and—without so much as looking back—the Boy Wonder walked frostily down the hallway and into the darkness.

And Starfire bit her lip. Her face quivered as the green tears flowed. She floated limply into a corner for a few seconds to be alone with her streams.

The rest of us had our eyes to the floor. Long ago each and every one of us had resolved ourselves to the all-too-real swish of a cold, yellow cape.

The alien had not.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Robin was deadpan.

He walked out onto the courtyard of Phaser Labs.

A circle of squad cars and ambulances formed a perimeter besides two stalks of floodlights bathing the scene.

Tents and bundles of equipment were set up as more and more officers and backup forces gathered and established a base of salvage operations. Hundreds of figures dashed in and out of the electric halo and the dark night beyond as citizens volunteered by the busload from all corners of the wrecked sprawl. Off in the distance of the evening, other crowning lights of similar bases sprouted across the smoldering urban environment.

The Recovery had begun.

"Robin….," the Lieutenant uttered from where he sat on a concrete planter. He was between calls with various officials across the City via radios, cell phones, and communicators. All the while he winced as a paramedic finished re-bandaging his injured leg. "Glad to see a Titan for once. The amount of outpouring aid is enormous. You wouldn't begin to imagine the number of people flocking in from Metropolis and Gotham City just to give us a helping hand in search and recovery. There's even rumor that five busloads of donated blood are coming in from as far away as Keystone City and—"

"Never start me off with the good news…," the Boy Wonder said.

The Lieutenant smiled. "The body toll…," he murmured—wincing from his leg. "So far it's estimated at nine hundred….with twice as many missing."

"Right….," Robin smoothed his cape and exhaled towards the ground. "…an estimate."

"But without you Titans—God forbid—it would have been so much more wor—"

"We're on the move," Robin said.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Cyborg may have a possible lock on Terra's location," the Boy Wonder uttered. "I'm sending most of us into the Northern District of the City to investigate. If we act now, we might catch the last of Dagger's straggling forces."

The Lieutenant blinked. "Y-You mean….you think he's still in this City?"

"Terra," Robin said. "I think Terra's still in this City. As for Dagger…who knows where he is." Robin took a deep breath, then firmly pointed. "I want you—if at all possible—to order the bulk of your men away from the industrial complexes. If there's trouble to be had when the Titans follow the trail, I don't want anymore unnecessary casualties."

"……..," the Lieutenant stared up at the Boy Wonder.

Robin's eyemask narrowed. "You…uhm…a-are in charge, right? Now that….th-that Decker is—"

"I'm Acting Commissioner of the City, yes," the Lieutenant nodded his head. "Though I could have thought of better circumstances under which to be promoted."

"You're doing great….," Robin gazed off at the rushing workers and busy recovery efforts across the base. "Keep this City and its people in top priority. That's what Decker always did. That's what any hero would do."

"For the City, right Robin?"

Robin looked at him. "………….right."

A beat.

"By the way…," the Lieutenant shifted as the paramedic finished the bandage. "…I've checked up on your Atlantean buddy." He pointed at a cell phone. "He's in stable condition. They've got him on a comfy little bed upstairs in the hospital where it…….wh-where it isn't so c-cramped."

"Thanks for telling me," Robin nodded. Only half listening. "Now can you do me another favor?"

"Anything, Robin."

He looked directly at the Lieutenant. "Can I borrow a motorcycle?"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Robin slipped on his helmet.

He gripped the police bike's handles.

He kicked—

VRMMMMM!!!!

VRMMMMM!!!

The engine purred to life.

He gazed off to his left.

I was perched on a fallen chunk of highway. I saluted him…and blurred northward.

Raven was next, floating a bit northeasterly. She had on her leotard only…the robe was too tattered to rest on her shoulders.

Beast Boy took a deep breath, jumped into a bat, and fluttered off into the night.

And then….

And then Starfire hesitated. A weight seemingly pressed on her fair shoulders.

"…………," Robin gazed at her.

She didn't look back. It was as if she didn't know he was there. She finally summoned a green glow and soared upwards.

Robin looked straight ahead. He tested the feel of the bike's handles again.

VRRR-RRRRMMM!!

"Robin?? This is Cyborg……," the familiar voice crackled into his helmet's ear piece. "I'm tracking the signals still. I'll guide y'all to the source."

"Good going, Cyborg," Robin said. "Keep in contact with us. You'll be our director for the time being and—"

"Listen, Robin. We have to talk."

Robin sighed. "Not now."

"About you and Starfire. Don't you thin--??"

"I said not now!!!" Robin grunted. "We've got a job to do!!"

"………well okay then."

click.

"Great….," Robin sighed. He slowly kicked himself into gear and rolled forwards. As he slowly navigated himself out of the courtyard and base of flurrying workers, he gazed up.

And…

His eyemask narrowed.

In the starlight, he saw the clouds.

And they looked red.

Blood red.

His lips parted.

Something flashed across the juvenile borders of his mind.

Like a tall and impervious lighthouse.

Skewering white bands across a crimson soup…looming over dark rocks and water.

"……," Robin cringed. "It's a long way from home…."

VRMMMMMMM!!!

He throttled off down the road…and into the blackness of night.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Beep……beep……beep……beep……beep……

The machines wired to Tempest's arm and chest monitored his heart, pulse, and breathing.

The Antlantean Titan rested comfortably in the hospital bed. Gowned. Blanketed.

His dark eyes were lowered.

A special 'leash' was around his neck with bottled 'pockets' of water fit snugly around his gill slits. He breathed, relaxed….recovered.

"…………….," Lindsay sat in a chair beside him in the small, dimly lit room.

As quiet and as serene as the hospital quarters were, the sounds of the busy hallways outside could not be denied as hundreds of nurses and doctors poured in overtime to look at four times as many patients and cases as normal. Half of the people outside were there just to be there.

A shelter for the frightened and shellshocked.

Lindsay leaned forward, her hands leaning against her chin. Her freckled face calm and quiet. Sleepy, almost…..but too vigilant to fade.

Her shirt and jeans were showing the wears and tears of a long day of Hell.

Silence.

"………….."

Eventually, Tempest's eyes opened. Gently. Tiny white specks on black pearls. "……………," he gazed over at Lindsay.

Quietly, she smiled.

A beat.

The water pockets bubbled.

Tempest opened his mouth dryly and uttered even more dryly: "Why…..are you h-here??"

"Watching over you…..," she quickly and simply replied.

Another beat.

Tempest blinked slowly. He struggled. The water pockets bubbled. He hissed: "Your family…..you should….sh-should…."

"They're all okay," she exhaled with a second wave of relief. A painful smile crept across her lips. "Mom. Dad. My cousin Helena. Hehehe…even l-little Phil." She leaned her teenage head to the side. "One of the nurses was so kind as to pass me her cell phone momentarily shortly after you got here. I talked to them. They were holed up in the apartment the whole time. Some building a few blocks down got hit pretty badly by some of the men on black jeeps….but otherwise, they were spared from the warzone. A lot of people died today…..but so…so much more lived. And it's all thanks to people like you."

Tempest shuddered. "Wh-Why aren't you….w-w-with th-them?"

"I couldn't get to them if I tried," Lindsay sighed and stroked a strand of stringy brown hair up and around her ear. "The hospital's in lockdown. A curfew's out over the entire City. It's black as soup outside with most of the lights not working or simply not turned on…..a-and a bunch of policemen and firefighters from all over the state have rushed in to help take care of things. It's so amazing. It truly is. I almost wish you could look out the window."

Tempest closed his eyes again. A series of rapid breaths flew loosely out of his lips. Some weak substitute of a chuckle.

"???" Lindsay leaned her head to the side.

He managed: "You sound ……"

"Thankful is the word for it," she smirked. "I like to think…..to think th-that a lot of my prayers were answered this evening."

"At least somebody's were…."

"………"

"I….I-I've been listening to….uhm…..some local news broadcast…..on th-the radio….," Lindsay quietly said. Her voice drifted in soft loops around the beeping and bubbling sensations of the room. "…it's not any of the f-famous people from JCN….but th-they do seem to know what they're talking about. Word is….W-Word is that the Titans are all alive. Th-That Cyborg was hurt really bad, but made it out all right. That they're all working with the police and others to try and run out the last of the bad guys in this City. So….I-I think you have nothing to worry about."

"……………………….," the Atlantean lay silently.

Lindsay bit her lip. "T-Tempest?"

"Garth….."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Garth…..are you okay?"

"I….I don't know……..," he shuddered. "I can barely feel my leg. I may never be able to swim again. And the Titans…….the Titans……"

"……….," she was silent.

His lungs rose and fell as the gills retired momentarily. "I gave up praying to Neptune a long time ago, Lindsay. A very long time ago."

"Wh-Why's that, Garth?"

"Prayers never change the fact that people are mortal….," the Atlantean breathed. "And when people are mortal…they never do truly stay in your life all the time. They come only once and they go for forever. Forever…as much as we're concerned."

She nodded. She bravely parted her lips and uttered: "You have….lost a lot of loved ones, haven't you Garth?"

He breathed sharply.

A beat.

"I came here….to this surface world……not because I was banished from the seas—which I was, by the way…."

Lindsay blinked.

"…but I came here because…..there was nothing for me to have anymore under the waves," he exhaled, inhaled, uttered: "I know what the taste of loss is like…."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Beast Boy flapped and glided over the City with emerald wings. Beady eyes narrowed and glared down with falcon firmness. The buildingtops and skyscrapers were stone giants in a black mist, with a red sand-ceiling stretching over the intermittent specks of electric floodlights and streetfires. The further north the changeling flew, the thinner the citizens and the thicker the rescue attempts until everything was like a giant writhing worm pit consuming some fallen giant's body.

'The coldest part of it is learning that there is nothing to feel guilty for. And you look down deep inside yourself and try to understand why it is so painful. Tula was born to die……like all of us……why couldn't I just have accepted it when she went? Or Tram for that matter? Praetor Ivan??'

Raven drifted over the landscape. Her eyes gazing cold and violet along the dark horizon, in search of smokestack skeletons and the tell-tale signs of the industrial complexes. She listened to Cyborg's commands through the communication, guiding her. Her ears leaned in past the curtain of electronic verbalization and brushed up against something else. Something damp and beating. And soon she felt terribly, horribly ripped off from something. But with a gentle shutting of her eyes, she ignored the sensation and flew on ahead.

'I'm slowly beginning to get a grasp of it. And it's not something that happens overnight. Loss is exactly that, a loss. When people die……when people who ever loved you or that you ever loved die……a piece of you is missing. Something that you have invested your blood and spirit in. And it will never………ever………return to you. But at least……you have memories. And some may say memories are torture. But I for one think that they move me.'

I blurred from rooftop to rooftop, bounding over ledges, skirting through alleyways, and dashing on smoke-travelling streams northward towards the dirtier, smudgier half of town. I deeply inhaled as I wrapped myself up in the black fog of rapid transport. And my onyx eyes blinked. Snapshots of the day bled in crimson giggles between leaps and I found myself gazing up at a mirroring, humored sky. It didn't make the trip to point z take place any faster.

'Tula moves me. It has been months since I last warmly felt myself lying in her arms. And yet, she moves me. Her breath still fills me, her lips still silence me. When she died……I had died too. But in that death, I had also learned to live. And I have since learned to live in spite of what deaths I may yet trudge through. The City's deaths. The Titans' deaths. Even your death, Lindsay. It is all part of the story. Just another chapter. A continuation of the silly little spark that ever exploded in our mother's wombs and began the game of cause and effect we all romp through.'

Robin's body angled forward on the bike. He throttled down the streets, the wind beating back at his black spikes. His gloves were tight. His cape billowing. His whole costume acting as a half-dead icon hanging on by some last act of heroic stubbornness in the face of endless red. A breath escaped his lips with a vaporous mist that betrayed the settling reality of November Autumn. And something invisible glistened in the air like the ice crystals of a polluted Gotham sigh. A lone, flickering lamppost passed by overhead, giving birth to the Boy Wonder for one last time before he rumbled on alone atop the bullet machine.

'The Titans are mortal, Lindsay. I do not despair over the day that their time will come. Just the same……I do not despair over myself. I know that we have done that which we were equipped to do by whatever energy reigns over the universe. Everything must eventually seep through the bleeding earth, collect into the sea, and return to the sky. What matters……what truly matters……is if we do it beautifully with the chance we have to fit into the pieces……'

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

VRMMMMMMMM!!!!!

Robin rounded a corner. His lone headlight illuminated the dark and abandoned city streets ahead. The shadows fled and the red sky retreated momentarily to let him pass.

The summits of factories and warehouses loomed in the distance as Robin soared north…north…north….

North…..

Robin's eyemask thinned.

He took a deep breath.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"You know........for me, it's when I look North."

I turned around and looked at him.

He stood behind me atop the support tower of the suspension bridge.

"North is where Gotham City is...," Robin simply stated. "I never told anyone....but that's why I have my room on the north end of the Tower. The windows look in that direction."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

The Boy Wonder's gloved hands tightened around the handles.

He took a deep breath.

He kept throttling northward.

Along the streets.

Alone and solitary.

A blinking headlight in the soup of black and red.

"Snnnnkkt—Robin. Do you have time?"

"Am I almost there, Cyborg?"

"I just want to talk to you about—"

"Am I almost there?? Cyborg??" Robin practically snarled into his helmet.

"Yes, Robin!!!"

The biking Titan Leader nodded. "Good. Then standby for when I—"

"Robin, you've got to take Starfire to the side!! Speak to her!! Say something for God's sake!!"

"There's no time. We've got to find Terra. Now. Now and only now!!"

"Ya know what, dawg?? I didn't have the guts to say it then, but Beast Boy wasn't all too far from the truth. Terra's gone, man. She's just as well friggin' gone!!"

"………."

"I sure as heck don't enjoy admitting that, but it's the best of the worst things we must accept now!! Robbie, Starfire is alive. She's here. She ain't gone. You should work things out with her while you still have the chance. Before something happens to her like something happened to Terra!! You think this search is really……REALLY going to find anything worthwhile??"

"I thought you had some hope left, Cyborg….," Robin grunted into the microphone. "I thought you believed in 'miracles'…."

"And I do, man! I do! I shouldn't be here, Robin. I shouldn't……be alive. But I am. I'm here. And—so God help me—I'm going to be here as long as I can for Raven. You should have seen her, Robin. I never knew I meant that much to her. To make her cry."

Robin's eyemask narrowed along the road. "C-Cry??"

"Starfire loves you, Robin. She's always loved you. Don't tell me you've never seen it……felt it……tasted it. We all know it. She practically tears herself open for you. And after these two years……for what??"

"Cyborg, enough. We need to—"

"You're a goddamn ice prince, Robin!!! Stop going on nighttime adventures as excuses and instead start truly living up to people around you like a man!!"

"Don't you preach to me, Cyborg…," Robin hissed. "I've grown into a man enough as it is under Batman. Believe me….I've broken through the realm of 'excuses'."

"Batman isn't here, dawg—"

"I have no time for love!!!" Robin shouted. "I have no time for love, Cyborg!!! Not when villains are murdering, not when cities are burning, and not when people are dying…."

"………"

"If life works paradoxically enough on Tamaran for Starfire's people to equate passion with intelligent action, then maybe she should never have come to Earth. Lord knows I wish it didn't have to be this way, Cyborg. I wish we weren't orphaned freaks in colors and capes leaping over pavement warzones, but I have to live life the way I was destined to. I've given everything I can to Starfire and I will most certainly continue to give her all that I can but I cannot give her myself. It….it j-just can't be afforded. On her part….as much as mine…."

"………man……that's just you and only you."

"Yeah…..so shoot me…," Robin grunted. "Robin out."

VRMMMMMMMM!!!!

And he was gone.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

SWOOOOOOSH!!!!

Starfire flew down and landed in a darkened courtyard bordering two warehouses. There were no cars present in the lot. Not even a hint of an entrance or exit by any forces.

The amber-skinned girl stood alone. A gust of cold wind blew at her scarlet hair.

She gazed around…raised the communicator to her lips…and quietly uttered: "C-Cyborg, I have arrived at my destination," she swallowed. "I see no sign of the Dagger or the Dagger's men. Somehow I am doubtful that Terra is here."

"Stay in touch, Star. The others are almost at their spots too. I'm gonna have us all look simultaneously, as long as Robin permits."

Starfire nodded. "Understood."

"Starfire?"

She blinked her green eyes. "Y-Yes, Cyborg?"

"Hang in there. Everything's gonna be allright."

She took a breath and nodded. "M-Most assuredly. Starfire out."

She lowered the communicator.

She sighed.

"…….."

Her gaze settled across the lot and fell on something on the southern edge of one warehouse.

Her green eyes narrowed.

A simple bench rested against the structure of the warehouse. Frozen and naked….like it was stolen straight from the City park.

"…….," the girl hugged herself and slowly breathed out of her small nostrils.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Robin looked up at her. "Starfire…….would it make you happy to know…..j-just to know that I am here?"

"……….."

"That I do exist? That there is nothing…….nothing in the universe that would keep me from being split from you if I could so much as help it this very moment?"

"I…….I-I know that you would never forsake me, Robin," she spoke.

"But do you feel it, Starfire?"

She blinked confusedly at him. "R-Robin??"

He leaned forward. "Do you feel it, Starfire?" he asked. "Do you feel that I'm truly here?" A beat. "Do you feel me?"

"Robin…I-I….," she scooted away apprehensively. "It is n-not typical of you to speak in such emphatic fashion of 'feeling'…."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Starfire raised a shaking hand to her temple.

She strung a lock of red hair up over her ear.

She shuddered.

She stared.

At the bench…..

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Do you want to hug me, Star?"

"…….," she glanced at him. "Huh??"

"Do you want to hug me, Starfire?"

She simpered. "Robin…hehehe…..y-you know very well that I am always hugging you as it is. What difference does it make now, silly?"

He continued staring at her. "Would you like to hold me then?"

Her green eyes blinked. "H-Hold…..you?"

He slowly nodded.

"Robin…..," she breathed. "But….wh-what is the difference?"

"You know."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Starfire shut her eyes.

She hugged herself more and gazed downward.

Exhaling melancholily.

"…………"

A beeping sound.

"………….???"

More beeping.

Starfire glanced up. Her eyes opened. "H-Huh?"

There was something on the southern face of the other warehouse.

Something blinking.

Something blinking and wired to black matter.

Starfire's green eyes widened.

Carbonite……

"!!!!!" she gasped.

In an instant, the alien girl took to the air, spun, and soared off towards—

BOOOOOOOM!!!!!

"Unnghh!!" Starfire was knocked off by the concussion of the huge fireball.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Starfire???" Cyborg blinked his human eye wide. He half-stood up with his laptop in the middle of the crumbled laboratory. "Starfire, what happened?!?!"

"I……I……I-I do not know!! An unexpected happenstance!"

"Are you okay?? You in one piece??"

"I am undamaged……"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

She floated over a brilliant blaze that haloed the nearby, industrial landscape. Flames that pierced the darkness.

The alien girl panted in the wind and uttered into her communicator:

"A bomb has exploded at the site I was sent to investigate!! It is most harrowing an explosion! I find it suspiciously similar to carbonite charges of olde!"

"Carbonite??"

"Yes…," she shakily nodded at the plasma. "I was even able to catch sight of the explosive before it emitted beeping sounds and set itself off!! The entire lot is ablaze before me!! We must get emergency crews out here and—"

"No!! This is bad news!! Totally bad news!!" Cyborg's voice said.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Beast Boy listened as he walked around the mountain heaps of a scrapyard.

"I just now ran a cross-scan of the sites where Terra's possible signatures lead to. There is a carbonite residue count there! And it's high!! Everyone……it is a trap!! Dagger's trying to bomb us!!"

Beast Boy froze in his tracks.

"Everyone……get out of there!! Get out of there now!!!"

Beast Boy grit his teeth. "Don't have to tell me twice, dude!!!" He sprouted leathery wings, shrieked as a bat, and soared off—

BOOOOOOOM!!!!

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

I winced at the brightness of the distant explosion.

I heard a beeping sound on the portable of the construction site behind me.

I panted and looked around.

An explosive blinked with suicidal ferocity.

I held my breath, summoned murk, and teleported through the construction site's chain-link barrier and murked down the street—

BOOOOOOOOM!!!!

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Nnngh!!!" Raven vaulted over the edge of a factory…ran on pale legs….chanted…and picked herself up into the air on glowing black 'wings'.

She soared upwards with glowing eyes and teleported away from the building just as—

BOOOOOOM!!!!

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

SCREEEEEEEECH!!!!!

Sparks flew and rubber burned as Robin skidded the police cycle to a stop.

He rested…panting…staring at four different glowing fireballs from across the abandoned, industrial landscape.

And then….

BOOOOM!!!

Far down the road…where he was heading.

Another explosion.

A flaming warehouse.

Robin's eyemask thinned.

He sweat in the darkness.

Panting.

Thinking…..

"That was close! Too close!!"

"Robin, are you injured??"

"You made it out too, right Noir?"

"I'm sure he did, Beast Boy. Starfire and Cyborg warned us all in good time."

"Yeah but……man!! And there I was almost hoping that Dagger had lost all the tricks up his sleeve!!"

"Y'all pulled back, right?"

"Yes, Cyborg, we're okay."

"Robin!! Are you injured??? Please respond!!"

"It's a diversion……..," the Boy Wonder murmured into his helmet. "Just like at Phaser Labs. Just like with Tempest. Another….diversion….."

"Robin??"

The Boy Wonder shook himself out of it and uttered: "I'm all right Star. Listen….Cyborg!! All the traces lead us here, right?"

"Right, man!! Like you see……it was a trap!! Dagger nearly had all of your cabooses fried—"

"It's more than that!!!" Robin uttered. "This isn't a dead end!! Now think, dammit!! How could Dagger possibly have erased all of Terra's wanderings with all the energy traces she'd be leaving? Her power's so strong that she'd be nearly burning on the inside, right??"

"Right. I don't see how on earth Dagger and his men could cloak her……unless they had her in some stationary location."

"Right," Robin nodded. "And it's more than obvious that Terra was stolen and taken out of Phaser Labs. Now….where in this City would Dagger have to take her to effectively hide her from our sensors while lying still?"

"I dunno, man……it'd have to be some spot where Dagger could have easy access to lots of radioactivity and—"

Robin beamed. "I know just the place!!!"

VRMMM!!! VRMMMM!!

SCREEEEECH-VRMMMMMMMM!!!

The motorcycle turned and burned down another stretch of road. "Titans!! I'm heading towards the location centermost and north of all the traces Cyborg's picked up on so far!! Terra came this way, but she didn't end up in any one of those five spots!! There's a sixth house out there for the sixth Titan!!!"

"But where at, Robin?? Where could she possibly be??"

"Where else?!?!"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Friday.

November 5, 2004.

3:02 am.

The City.

The Radioactive Depository.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

VRMMMMMMMM!!!

SCREEECH!!!

Robin parked the motorcycle.

He stood up.

He whipped off his helmet and tilted his head up, gazing at the building. Exposed to the cold autumn air.

The radioactive depository stretched up and up like a rusted, jagged half-pyramid set mercilessly against the red cloud ceiling. Stretches of yellow police tape from Decker's sting operation still remained clinging to the many tiers upon tiers of platforms and collapsing, aluminum railings. A few scant doors stretched open to the unsanitary interior where drum barrels of questionable materials lay for the thousands of years they would take for the half-lives to stay true to their numerical promises of deterioration. There was never really anything exposed in the heart of that rusted metal beast, but the foreboding canal stretching synthetically around the ugly warehouse still contained the collapsed, clamshell door of the sarcophagus. A huge tomb of concrete and iron that would rise up and enclose the structure at the first hint of any hazardous leak. It was a miracle that the place did not have to suffer a lockdown when the firefight between officers and henchmen ensued barely a day and a half previous.

A few floodlamps were still on at the site….since it was supposed to be under police surveillance. But that evening….

"…….," Robin gazed towards the gate of the bordering fence. His lips parted.

The bodies of two security guards lie messily on the asphalt of the sarcophagus' bordering courtyard. Their torsos had been hacked to bits by something or someone….

"Titans!" Robin raised his communicator. "Join me at the radioactive depository!! The guards of the police investigation site have been slain!"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Somebody is here. Most likely Dagger or his men!!"

Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy, and I had assembled at the far edge of the northern district. We huddled around Starfire's communicator as Robin's voice went on.

"I'm going in to investigate!! I'll be needing backup as soon as possible!!"

"Robin….," Raven uttered firmly. "Cyborg has already confirmed that there is a high count of carbonite emissions in the air about these complexes. This half of the City may very well be a powder keg for all we know."

"All the more reason for me to hurry!! If they discover me trying to track down Terra ahead of time, they might pull the trigger and it'll all be too late!! I'm bringing Terra back, guys. Like I told you before, it's my contract. Wish me luck!!"

"Robin…we insist….," Starfire uttered. "Wait for us to join you."

"Trust me, Star. I'll be fine. Keep in contact and hurry to the intersection of Cadmium and Vagrant Street!!"

"The Radioactive Depository….," Beast Boy nodded. "Got it, dude!!" He shut the communicator off for Starfire and looked at the rest of us. "You heard the leader!!! Let's move!!"

"But….," Starfire blinked. "B-But…."

"After all these months….you think we can actually argue with the guy??"

"……"

"Beast Boy's right," Raven droned. "We go. Now."

FLASH!!!

With a chant and a pair of glowing eyes, she lifted up.

Starfire took a shuddering breath and soared into the air.

I stood alone for a while. My metal hand clenching its fingers.

A chill.

Red Aviaryyyy……

"Noir!!"

I jolted.

"Come on, man!!" Beast Boy waved before morphing into a pterodactyl and taking to the red skies.

I swallowed and blurred after the group towards Robin….

….

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"I'm going in!!" Robin panted.

He ran across the courtyard towards the main building.

"Cyborg, you hearing me?"

"You nuts, Robbie? I never stopped!"

He hopped over the sarcophagus canal.

"I'm going to rush in! Whoever's holed up inside will be taken by surprise, if all goes according to plan…"

He ran along the perimeter of the depository's bottom, outer level.

"…that should give the Titans a large enough window to back me up and give the crooks a run for their money!"

He hopped and ran up the second tier, the third tier, the fourth….

"Just sit tight. Terra is as good as found!! I have to be silent now, Cyborg. But don't hold your breath…"

Robin reached the summit of the depository, like the crown of a copper ziggurat. He vaulted over a rusted railing. He approached a pair of double, metal doors. He reached his gloved hand out—

CRKKKKK!!!

Robin froze.

SLIIIIINK!!! SLIII-IIIINK!!

Something sharp and silver cut an 'x' in the metal body of the doors from the other side and—

CRAAACK!!!

A pale-suited leg kicked outward.

CL-CLANG!!

The severed door pieces flew into Robin.

WHAP!!

"Ungh!!" he fell on his rear, his back impacting the railing of the topmost tier.

Cl-Clink!! The yellow communicator fell, skipped across the metal floor, and rolled to a stop. Cyborg's voice crackled from it: "Robin?? Robin!! What is it?? Report---!!" CRKKK!!! The tip of a silver broadsword severed the sparkling tool in half.

Robin looked up. And he gasped. "V-Viper….."

"…….," the assassin in gray stood tall before Robin. Menacing. Holding tight to his huge sword and….looking quite alive.

Robin stumbled to his feet with help of the railing. "You're not dead!! Wh-What are you doing here???"

"…….," Viper's head tilted forward and his lips curved upward. The disc in his neck blinked red. "To clip your wings, boy…."

SWOOOOOOSH!!! Viper blurred forward with his sword swinging up—SLASSH!!! SLASSSH!!!

SLLLLIIINK!!!

A glob of blood flew hotly from Robin's shoulder.

"AAAUGH!!" the Boy Wonder screamed and stumbled back.

"NNNNNGGGAAAAH!!" Viper spun and slammed his elbow into Robin's chest.

WHAP!!!

The Boy Wonder toppled through the railing—CRACK!!—and fell….

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Snnkkktt!!"

"Huh??" Starfire blinked. In mid flight, she gazed at her communicator. "Cyborg??"

"Snnkktt……oh god……"

"Cyborg?? What is it??"

"It's Robin, Starfire. The radioactive depository. I……"

"…….."

"Something's wrong. Very……very……wrong……"

Starfire gazed up at the red heavens. Her lips parted.

A slow, high-pitched gasp.

Her eyes glowed a hot green.

She burned northward.

SWOOOOOOSH!!!

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

THUD!!!

"Nnngh!!" Robin groaned, bleeding. Fallen hard from an entire level up.

"RGHHHHH!!!"

An electronic roar.

Robin's eyemask widened.

He stared straight up.

The red sky was momentarily skewered by the silver streak of Viper leaping off the higher lever, twirling his blade, and sailing serratedly down at him. "YAAAAAAAAH!!!!"

Robin held his breath and rolled to the side.

CLASH!!!!!

Sparks flew from the huge broadsword.

Robin pivoted up to his knees, gritted his teeth, and swung a foot out.

SWOOOSH-CLANK!!!

Viper blocked with a vertical blade. He shouted—"HA!!"—and lifted his foot across Robin's chin.

WHAP!!!

Robin fell back.

TH-TH-THWISH!!!

SLIIIINK!!!

The mute assassin grazed the other shoulder of the toppling Boy Wonder.

"AAAUGH!!"

Blood flew.

"Nnngh!!"

Blood trickled.

Robin rolled across the rusted metal platform of the fourth tier. He struggled in vain to get on his feet, panting.

"Let me see those feathers fly……," Viper sneered and ran across the platform, dragging his blade alongside him. SCRAAA-AAAA-AAAPE!!! Sparks flew in a cutting path straight towards Robin's midsection.

Lying prostrate, Robin whipped out his staff—SNKKT—wincing.

SWIIIIISH!!!

CLANK!!! Robin blocked with his staff, used the impact to bolt himself up to his feet, and swung with a kick straight at Viper's forehead. "YAAA!!!"

The assassin bent back, ducking the blow.

Robin coiled back, bled, took a breath for strength, extended his staff, twirled it and charged Viper. "WA-TAAA!!"

Viper stepped back, twirling his sword. TH-TH-TH-TH-THWISH!!!

CLANG!! CLANG!!! CL-CLANG!!! CLANG!!

Showers sparked from metal meeting metal as Robin advanced towards him.

But only for a heartbeat--

"NNGH!!" Viper raised his knee.

WHUMP!!!

Robin bent from the impact to his chest. He coughed. He sputtered.

TH-THWISH!!! Viper spun, twirling his massive blade horizontally and sailing it at Robin's skull.

Robin gritted his teeth, knelt, and raised his blade. SWOOOSH-CLANG!!!

Another shower of sparks.

Blinding.

Blinking.

Gasping--

THWOOSH!! Viper's boot sailed into Robin's nose.

THWACK!!!

"Nnngh!!!" Robin sauntered back.

"RGHHH!!!" Viper jabbed his broadsword forward. SLIIIIIINK!!! He caught Robin's shoulder between the skin and cape. He lifted the blade, hoisted the weight of Robin's body like the bad end of a lever, and slammed him hard through a piece of railing so that the Boy Wonder went plummeting numbly to the third tier of the depository's outer shell below.

CRACK!!!

THW-THWUMP!!!!

"Ughhh…..," Robin rolled across the rusted metal. Severing a few yellow bands of plastic police tape. Wincing. His costume torn. His limbs and upper body bleeding in at least five places.

THWOOSH!! Viper landed nimbly a few feet away from him. He slowly marched towards Robin, dragging his heavy blade. Scraaaaape……

"Your precious stone lolita isn't here, boy. Dagger left with her a long time ago. But this was too perfect for me to pass up. The snake has found its robin's nest. And after the last time we met….I am oh….so…….ravenous…."

Robin struggled to sit up, supporting himself shakily with his rod. He hissed through clenched teeth. "How….How could you p-possibly be…."

"Alive??" Viper smirked. "It is all so very much obvious now. I do not know how you could ignore it, boy. Your swordsman and archer chopped me into pieces…..and yet I lived. Your dead-as-manure Commissioner tried tossing me into the churning waters….and yet I lived. And such is not the gift of life….but of Death. I know now what I am endowed with. And I know now what I must do. I must cheat Death one last time. For Death, Robin….Death wants you…." His bulbous eyes narrowed. "Death wants you first….before all the Titans…..but I'm going to beat him to it. The gladiator that sheds the most blood wins at the end of the day. My blade is absolute. Not even Dagger tried to challenge it. He came after his granite doll and left like the floundering, mortal fool that he is. When I'm done with you and the Titans….I shall be eating the meat from his hands and relisssssshing…."

Robin stumbled up. Holding his staff painfully. Shakily. "Viper, Red Aviary is a term. A couple of words. And nothing more than that!! The only danger there ever was or ever will be is Dagger!! He spent all day ripping this City to shreds…." Robin shook. He snarled. He screamed: "I WILL NOT HAVE YOU DO THE SAME!!!!"

Viper leaned his head to the side with a mad grin. "But I do not want the City, Robin. I am quite content…..merely to be licking the tangy nectar out of your bleeding heart tonight." SWOOOOOSH!!! TH-TH-THWISH!!!

Robin braced himself, the staff held horizontally—

CRACK!!!!

Viper severed it in half.

Robin stumbled back, gasping.

Viper grinned.

Glinting teeth.

Like fangs….

"!!!!"

The world spun, only to turn into red reflection of the clouds off the assassin's blade--

SLASH!!!!!

Robin twirled from the impact. His cape was ripped off. The yellow article floated off the third tier of the building like a severed wing in the wind and blinded him before the second incoming glint of the blade---

SLIIIINK!!!

Robin's face jerked aside. "Augh!!!" Half of the hero's eyemask ripped off. For a gasping second, the startled eye of a frightened little boy glistened at the red horizon growling down at him until Viper's sneering face rose into view.

"Peekaboo….."

And his metal fist slammed squarely into Robin's nose.

WHAM!!!!!

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

SWOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!!

I ran.

I blurred.

I panted and puffed and skirted around buildingsides and alleyways and avenues and middle streets and side streets and main streets and closed streets and—

SW-SW-SW-SW-SW-SWOOOSH!!!

The black city was twice as black from beneath my curtained bullet of a murking body.

All I could see.

All I could taste.

The red sky.

The red air.

I looked up.

I panted.

The house of cards fell.

The red furniture dripped from within.

A chill ran down my spine and exploded in my left arm.

Red Aviary……

My black eyes flickered a lighter color for but a second and…

Ana…

Ana……how could I not have seen it before now??

It makes so much sense……

And I was gone before I was there.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

WHAM!!! Viper punched Robin.

THWACK!!! Viper kicked Robin.

"NNNGHAAAAUGH!!!" Viper swung his broadsword down on Robin.

SLASH!!!!

Another stream of blood from the Boy Wonder's backside.

Robin gasped. His face streaming with at least three types of juices.

He stumbled over and leaned—coughing and hacking—over the rusted metal railing of the third tier. His little boy costume was tattered in a dozen places. Fresh wounds glistened painfully across his arms, back, and lower leg. A shuddering eyelid danced across half an exposed face.

GRIP!!!!

Robin jerked as Viper seized him from behind.

"Heh…heh…heh….heh…."

THWOOSH!!

Robin was turned over.

WHAM!!!

He was shoved with the back of his neck pressed down against the railing.

SWIIIIISH-SLIINK!!!

The tip of Viper's broadsword pressed against the Titan leader's trembling throat. Sweat ran down and kissed the blade.

Viper leaned down. Grinning. Sneering. The black metal disc pulsing: "I almost envy you, boy. Long have I wondered what it meant to stare down the face of death. But……I am on the way to becoming a god. For only in wielding death is a god made absolute. And today, Robin. That death will be yours. You are no longer a hero. For heroes don't die. They merely fade away into the sunset. Look above you, Robin. An infinite darkness laced with haunting crimson. A red aviary for your tattered wings to fly in. In tasting your destiny….I shall have achieved mine. And the Titans will soon follow….."

Robin wheezed. His one visible eye rolled back as he wheezed. A tear trickled down.

Viper's bulbous eyes narrowed.

"Embrace the end, Robin…., to your pathetic legacy…."

And then.

The eye snapped. And it was furrowed. And it was burning…as much as blue burns.

"You want to have Death, shitface???" the Boy Wonder wheezed. His upper muscles coiled. His twitching fingers flexed. "Have an appetizer on my behalf!!! NNNGHH!!!!"

WHAM!!!

He slammed his leg up into Viper's groin.

The villain gasped electronically. His whole body cringed.

Robin screamed. He kicked up Viper's body, flipped off him, and vaulted over the railing.

Viper recoiled…

Robin fell. But as he flipped over and fell in reverse…he already had a grappling hook launcher in his gloved hands.

And he aimed.

And—snarling—he fired—

POW!!!

THWIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISH!!!! The grappling hook soared up at Viper.

Viper looked down.

THUNK!!! The hook ripped through Viper's voice disc, soared through his neck, and—SPLORCH!!—out the other side.

Robin jerked.

CRKKKKK!!! The hook extended its claws and flew back, achoring itself to the rear of Viper's neck.

"NNNNGHH!!!" Robin fell. The cord pulled taut.

SWOOOOP!!! Viper dropped the blade and was yanked forward. CLANK!!!! His body pressed tightly to the railing of the third tier.

Robin swung down until his boots made contact with the second tier's walls. WHAP!! He 'stood' on the wall, his hands gripped tightly to the grappling hook launcher.

"ZhhhZhhhttt!!!" the disc short-circuited. "Snkkk-nkkkkkktt!!!" Viper twitched, gurgled, and convulsed.

Robin breathed once…twice…………."AAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!" he pulled down on the cord with all his might.

YANK!!!!

CRACK!!! The third tier's railing broke.

The skewered Viper fell long and far.

He cleared the second tier.

"Nnngh!!" Robin released the grappling hook.

THWOOOOSH!!! It flew out of his gloves from Viper's weight. "Oof!!" Robin fell to the second tier's platform.

SWIIIISH—SNAG!!!! The grappling hook got caught and stopped in place around the support beam of the second tier's railing.

TWNNNNG!!! The cord pulled taut.

And Viper hung off the second tier. Hung from his skewered neck on the dangling end of the hook. His body twitched….twitched…..stirred……..and was still. Like a numb pendulum.

"………"

Silence.

"Nngh….mmph….," Robin struggled up to his feet.

He panted.

He was dizzy.

He turned around.

He gulped.

He breathed….breathed…breathed…

He took one step forward.

Two steps.

"…..nngh….," he stumbled.

Panting.

Pale.

Bleeding….

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

SWOOOOOSH!!!

Starfire landed on a tall buildingtop overlooking the depository from across the street. She gazed around with nervous, anxious eyes of green.

THWOOOSH-Plant!! Beast Boy perched beside her and turned into a green elf. "Where's Robin?"

"I do not know!! I am attempting to f-find him!!"

"There!!" Raven landed. She floated down while I blurred to a stop on the street below. "I see him---wait……wait….," her eyes narrowed. "Is that…..??"

Starfire craned her neck. Her green eyes were wide.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Robin stumbled…stumbled…..and collapsed against the metal railings.

He slumped against them, panting….bleeding.

The world spun red and dizzy before him.

He coughed.

He hacked.

He trembled.

He became aware of a dangling sensation…something floating.

He glanced down past the railing.

Viper hung.

Dead.

Skewered.

But there was something behind and beneath him.

Clinging to the metal body of the depository.

Blinking…..blinking…..blinking…..

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Carbonite.

Three times the amount Robin had ever seen in a single glance.

"………"

And he thought he heard his name.

Gasping.

Panting.

He shot his face up.

And…..

Starfire……

She stared horrifically at him from a galaxy away.

Eyes round and wet and emerald like the earth.

And Robin's mouth dropped as his entire body turned to ice.

The gray eyemask became a ghost and a warm blue eye quivered.

A red backdrop.

The healing lick of a lighthouse beam.

And he whispered….

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

"Annie."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!

The radioactive depository building vomited a plume of red plasma and flame.

And Robin's body roasted.

Robin's body seared.

Robin's body evaporated into the smoke and haze of the holocaust.

And then the second wave of carbonite plasma erupted….

PHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It ate hundreds of feet into the sky.

The edges of neighboring signposts melted.

I was blinded instantly, practically collapsing to the asphalt of the street below.

Beast Boy's eyes were saucers.

Raven's jaw dropped.

And Starfire….

"ROBIN!!!!!" she screamed into Hell. "ROBIN!!!!!!"

The entire ground shook.

The depository popped and hissed from the inside out.

"Snkkkt!! Titans!! The radiation!! Get out of there!! Get---oh god……"

"It's not safe here!!" Raven uttered, teeth clenched. "Beast Boy!! Noir!! Back up!!!"

"Wait a second!!!" Beast Boy panted. "But what about—" Something green streaked by him. He gasped with a jerk. "Star!! No!!! Nnngh!!!"

He leapt at her in gorilla form, encircling her and holding her back with meaty huge arms.

She struggled and shrieked and wriggled in his grasp.

"ROBIN!!!! ROBIN!!!!! NNNNGHH!!!! N'mberuut de X'hal!!! CLATTA SEREK'N MALADRIET ROBIN DE X'HAL!!! DE X'HAL!!!!!!!!"

Starfire bent forward in Beast Boy's grip, panting. Tears streaming. She watched in horror….we all watched in horror as the fire and the exposed radiation from inside the plume tripped the sensors and the gigantic, concrete sarcophagus closed itself like a heated clamshell.

WHURRRRRRRRRRRR-CHTUNG!!!!!

And it shut tight like an oven.

Starfire tilted her head up to the red sky.

And she wailed.

And wailed.

Till she deflated in the changeling's hands.

An elfin Beast Boy knelt with the melting, sobbing Tamaranian. He panted. He looked over at Raven. "R-Raven??"

The dark girl had her eyes closed. A black aura around her. She faced the flames and ….

Beast Boy swallowed. He wheezed: "R-Rae??"

"…….," Raven's violet eyes opened calmly. She turned her head and softly looked at Beast Boy. A beat. She closed her eyes again and slowly shook her head.

And Beast Boy shuddered. He hugged the convulsing Tamaranian and with his own quiet tears, joined her. "No….no no no no no no no……n-no…….."

Raven was silent.

PHWOOOOOOM!!!!

Hot flames flickered inside and outside of the sarcophagus. The sounds of sirens and fire squads increases from a distance behind us.

My black eyes thin, I strolled into the courtyard…just beyond the hot dome of concrete. I came to a stop on the asphalt.

"………"

I looked directly down.

Robin's severed cape lay beneath boots. Yellow and tattered like a faded dream.

Clank!!

I dropped Myrkblade.

I fell on my knees.

And, with a shudder, I lost my voice for the second time in my life that night.