"I don't get the point," Robin growled. "If you promised to leave Terra alone if I obeyed you, then why are you making me kidnap her and bring her here?" His eyes narrowed and his teeth clenched. His fingers formed fists.
"I never said I would leave her alone," Slade pointed out. "I merely said I would not force her into apprenticeship instead if you." Behind his mask, he smiled. He loved how Robin found loopholes in his plans after he agreed to them. "One of you has to do it, Robin. Whether it's you or her, I don't care."
"Fine," Robin agreed. "I'm going." But I'm not happy about it, he continued in his mind. The worst part of this order, to him, was that he wasn't even allowed the visual excuse of a uniform provided by Slade. When he was dressed the part of an apprentice, it was obvious he was up to no good and didn't like it. He was dressed in his normal clothing, though, and Terra wouldn't even realize why he was forcing her to go back with him. She'd probably think he was crazy-or would she? Was there a chance she would understand, unlike everyone else? Somewhere in his head he believed so.
When Robin approached Titan's Tower a frown appeared on his face and he tried not to look at the Tower, as if he was afraid to make eye contact with it. He had to walk into his own house as an enemy but still looking like a friend. He couldn't stand it. I wonder if this is how Terra felt, Robin wondered. Maybe I can ask her after I kidnap her. His frown grew.
Robin's feet dragged him along to the top floor, where he assumed Terra would be with the others. He focused on wiping the scowl off his lips-no need to look suspicious, even if he felt suspicious.
"Yo, Robin!" Cyborg rushed to greet his leader. "We've been looking for you all day, man, where've you been?" Robin opened his mouth to figure out a decent response but Cyborg cut him off, thankfully. "Never mind. I've gotta show you the new security system."
Robin knew this wouldn't be allowed with Slade. To him, it would be a waste of time. However, to his surprise, the hidden microphone in his ear gave a different answer. Go with him, Robin, Slade said. If you don't, how else do you expect me to know the way around your new security? It was extremely difficult for Robin not to attack the nearest object in an outburst of rage but he kept things under control with a heavy breath. "Take me to it," he said. "I'm glad you got it up and working." As he followed Cyborg, he scoped each room and hallway for Terra.
Cyborg stopped in the security room and happily explained everything to Robin. Robin wasn't sure if he even understood any of the words Cyborg spoke because he was too busy thinking about the fact that Slade was hearing him also and probably taking extensive notes. The Titans are in too bad of shape, he thought as Cyborg went on talking and demonstrating, without me or Terra. We're the only ones who know anything useful about Slade and how to stop him. He folded her arms and nodded along. Slade probably knows that, that's why he's removing both of us.
"Robin!" Starfire squealed. She ran into the security room and squeezed Robin almost until he couldn't breathe anymore. "I was so worried about you," she said. Her voice was in a hurry. "Where have you been? Is it true you had gone to look for Slade?" She let him go and stepped back.
"No, who told you that?" He raised an eyebrow. "I went to grab some breakfast. Kind of got side tracked in the library." A smile came to him. It was half faked. He wished he could just stay here with her as normal.
"I am so glad!" Starfire said. Then, she realized she was interrupting Cyborg. "Sorry!" she chirped and left the room.
After Cyborg finished, Robin asked, "Do you happen to know where Terra is?" He hoped it wasn't weird to ask something like that. Perhaps it would've been wiser of him to consult Terra about proper spy behavior.
"Beast Boy said she was sleeping in her room," Cyborg answered. "Apparently she didn't sleep at all last night so now she's crashing all day."
Robin felt a tiny pain fall on him. She didn't sleep because of Slade and me, he thought. Now she's really not going to sleep. At least if she was asleep she'd be easy to kidnap. He hated thinking like that. "Thanks," he told Cyborg. "I think I'm going to go see how she's doing if she's awake."
Cyborg nodded and Robin moved on to Terra's bedroom. When he went inside, there was no one there. The bed sheets were all thrown off the bed and her window was cracked open. She must've gotten up and went somewhere, he thought in disappointment. He went back into the security room to run a scan of the Tower to find her location. He didn't have time to wander into every room and look. After typing in her name and clicking "Search Area," the computer began trying to pinpoint the location of Terra. In just a few seconds, angry red letters appeared that said "SUBJECT NOT PRESENT ON GROUNDS." Robin pounded his fist. That doesn't make any sense, he thought. How could she not be here? "She's not here," Robin told Slade. He was almost glad.
Slade ran his own series of tests on the Tower and came out with the same answer. He didn't know what to think. "My results say the same," he told Robin. "I'll run a scan of the city." She has to be somewhere. The second results are what caused him surprise. "It says she's not anywhere in the city, either." His vision was fixed on a few monitoring screen above. One showed Robin but the others showed various other locations in the city. This plan was supposed to go smoothly. This had not been at all anticipated.
"Then what do you expect me to do?" Robin asked in frustration. "I hope you don't expect me to find her with conditions like this."
"No," said Slade firmly. "I have a feeling it won't take her long, now, to show up. . . ."
Robin could hear him shuffling around. "What are you doing?" he demanded. "You promised not to make her do anything."
"I'm not going to," he said. He turned on the device connected to Terra. His plan was not to make her get up and go, but simply cause a little discomfort to see if her signal would reappear on the screens. Sometimes it took a little movement for the scanners to detect a subject. To his surprise, a short cry of pain came from behind him. Slade turned around but found no one. A few more echoed through his hideout and he switched off the device. There's no way she's already here, he thought, there's got to be some mistake . . . a coincidence.
Inside Rose's room, Terra's breaths came out hard but relieved. The pain in her shoulder had become almost unbearable but it had only lasted a few seconds. She didn't know what Slade was up to, but she was determined to let him know how she felt about it as soon as she saw him again.
Rose flew out of her room in a panic and headed towards Slade. When she found him, she made herself sound stressed and limped a little. "I'm sorry, daddy, for screaming," she said. "I . . . I stepped on a nail, but I'm okay now."
"Thank goodness," Slade murmured to himself. For a moment, he thought the yells had come from Terra. That would have been a nice twist of plans, though. "If you need, Rose, there's a first aid kit in the hall bathroom."
Rose scurried off. When she got back to her room, she glared at Terra. "Don't make so much noise," she snapped. "I'm not going to cover for your stupid accidents next time."
"Why not?" Terra asked. "If Slade figures out I'm here in your room, you're in trouble." She frowned and asked, "By the way, why are you here with him? Are you his new apprentice or something?"
Rose tilted her head and smirked. "You better wish that's all I am," she said. She found it amusing how Terra didn't know who she really was. Part of her wanted to keep it like that.
As Slade had ordered, Robin got away again from his teammates without questions and went back to Slade's lair. He was to help Slade look for Slade from there, using his hidden cameras. It's better Terra's missing, he thought. I'm sure even she would agree she'd rather be lost than with Slade.