Chapter 5: ...But Fear Itself
Disclaimer: I Don't Own D.C. Comics or Teen Titans
A/N: So, I just want to apologize for taking so long to get this chapter out. First, I just want to give you a run-down of how this story will end. Basically, Slade is back, for good this time and he is going to be the main antagonist of this story. Occasionally, there will be villains that Batman faces and they may even encounter Batgirl in one chapter, but that is going to be further down the road. Slade is going to be a lot more violent and despicable than he is in the TV show. He is going to be more closely related to his comic book counterpart, but this is still TV show Slade. As in, he's still being called Slade, and not Deathstroke, as he is called in the comics. Last thing I'll mention is that Slade is going to be pushing Robin as close to the brink of insanity as he can, before revealing his secret identity in what will probably be the final chapter, but that won't be anytime soon, just saying. So, with all of that said, read away!
Robin
When I woke up, I was on the ground, with my wrists tied up behind my back. I groaned, as I got up from the ground. Using my acrobatic skills, I took sometime to get my hands in front of me, instead of behind me. I looked around the room that I was in, now being fully lit up. I narrowed my eyes when I saw the chair that I was sitting in, directly under a single hanging lightbulb. I noticed my utility belt on the chair and walked up to it. Why would Slade remove my utility belt? I reached into one of the pockets and retrieved one of my shurikens, sharp enough to cut through the rope. I cut the rope and grabbed my utility belt, putting it back on. I looked around the room and discarded the shuriken, I had more back at the Tower. I need to survey the room for anything that could help me track Slade or find my friends. I walked around the room and eventually saw a tablet or tech pad of somekind.
I went to pick it up and turned it on. When I turned it on, a video recording started to play. Slade was addressing me in the recording. "Robin. Once you have woken up and found this, I will address you with two choices. Choice A, you find your friends and leave this place. The con here, is that Jump City will be destroyed by the earthquakes. Choice B, you leave your friends and go after the earthquake generators that are at the opposite end of this facility. The con for this choice, is that your friends will die. The tubes that they have been placed in will be flooded with happy gas, and the rest will be history." Slade said. Happy gas? The Joker is the only one I know that uses happy gas. Could Slade actually be working with that clown? "Oh and I have one more message for you." Slade continued. I looked back at the pad, and narrowed my eyes, coming back from my thoughts. "You left me to die." he said. I raised my eyebrow at this. What? I did no such thing! "You left me to die." Slade said again. No, he hadn't said it again. The recording repeated itself. "You left me to die. You left me to die. You left me to die. You left me to die. You left me to die." the recording kept repeating the same five words over and over again. I eventually got angry and threw the pad at a wall, silencing it.
I'm going after my friends. Jump City can wait. I ran out of the room and took the time to download the schematics of the facility to the wristwatch that I now wore with my costume. It showed a room titled 'Holding Cells' and a room titled 'Generator Room'. That's where Slade must have put my friends. I started running off in that direction and just hoped for the best. While running through the underground facility, I ran around a corner, right into a crowd of Slade Bots. "Seriously? I don't have time for this!" I exclaimed, as I pulled one of my staffs from my utility built. Before I attacked, one of the Bots just stood there, staring at me. Then, it raised and pointed what looked like a gun at me, and fired. A laser round hit me in the shoulder. I let out a scream of pain, as I held the smoking and charred part of my costume. I stood there, holding my shoulder and breathing heavily for several seconds, before I took my hand off of my shoulder to look at the affected area.
The area around my shoulder was blackened, along with some of the cloth being burned away. My skin underneath the burned part of the costume was bruised and a little blackened as well. "What the-" I muttered, as I looked back up at the Bot. "What are you doing with guns? Slade's bots have never been seen using guns?" The Bot that had shot me seemed to shrug. "What can I say kid? Times are changing." it said, before it signaled for it's soldiers to attack. "Slade's Bots have never been able to speak before!" I said, as jumped, flipped and kicked off of it's head. "In fact, now I do remember that you Bots have used laser firearms in the past." I said, as I hit several Bots with my staff, coming back down to the ground. "But these ones look like honest-to-God guns!" I engaged in combat with the Bots, swatting and hitting them with my staff.
Beast Boy
I didn't even know what was happening at this point. I didn't even know how I was still alive. Or sane for that matter. I woke up this time in somekind of pod. I took a minute to survey my surroundings, before I attempted to break out of the pod. I began to slug the glass cover of the pod, eventually getting the glass to crack. I slugged the cracked glass one more time and my hand went through. After that, I kept punching at the glass, causing more of it to break. Eventually, I created a hole in the glass cover that was big enough for me to exit the pod. I crawled out of the pod, but not being cut by a shard of glass. I let out a groan of pain, after being cut. Once I was out of my pod, I surveyed my wound. I had gotten cut just below my wrist. The glass cut through my jumpsuit, showing off my green skin and a small, but noticable cut below.
I saw tiny dots of red blood form from the cut. I was lucky that my blood hadn't mutated along with my DNA structure, along with the changing of my skin color. In case you are curious about that, when I was little I came along on a scouting trip with my parents, who were geneticists, to one of the dense jungles around the world. I became fascinated by the species of rare green monkeys in my time there. The day we finally found them, I was bit by one of them. I contracted a serious illness, called Sakutia. In order to save me, they cured me with a new serum for the illness that they had made. It bestowed me with my shape-shifting ability. Not everything comes free though. As a side effect, my hair, skin and eyes turned green. Robin isn't the only Teen Titan with a traumatic past. Because, sometime later, my mother and father died in a boating accident. After that, I became interested in the Doom Patrol and was eventually welcomed into their ranks. It was short lived, as I quit due to their leader, Mento's hostility and stern leadership style.
I finished surveying my cut, seeing that it wasn't that serious. I surveyed the room, to see three more additional pods. These pods held Cyborg, Raven and Starfire. "Cyborg!" I exclaimed, running over to his pod. "I'll get you out!" But as I touched the pod, I was greeted by an electrical shock. I was pushed backwards to the ground, as I tried to shake the shock. "Ah, ah, ah." I heard Slade's voice over an intercom. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, Beast Boy. If you even try to free your friends again, I will cut off their life support, killing them. It is best if you remain where you are. Your arrogant leader will be around to retrieve you soon. This is your one and final warning." The intercom cut off, leaving me by myself again. "Maybe I can contact Robin." I said, as I retrieved my communicator from my utility belt. I flipped it opened and turned it on. "Come in Robin. I repeat, Robin, are you there?" I asked. After a few seconds, I heard a voice, but there was too much static to make it out. Eventually, the static cleared up and I heard Robin's voice.
"Beast Boy?" he said. "Is that you? What's happening over there?!" I responded immediately. "Robin! We're pretty messed up over here! I woke up in some kind of pod, broke my way out. Raven, Star and Cy are here too, in their own pods!" I said. "Wait, Raven, Starfire and Cyborg are there too? They're okay?" Robin asked. I think they're okay... Why would he ask that? "Yeah, I think they're okay! Why do you ask?" I replied in return. Robin didn't speak for a few seconds. "Forget it." he said at last. Before he could say anything else, I heard what sounded like laser fire, from a video game. "Agh! Damn it! Stop shooting at me! Let me destroy you!" Robin exclaimed, his voice full of agitation. "Robin? What's happening?" I asked. "I was ambushed by Slade's Bots. I'm trying to fight my way out." he said. "Wait, if you are fighting, than how can you be talking to me?" I asked. "My communicator is on speaker, I can talk to you and still fight." Robin said in return.
"Can you destroy the pods and get our friends out?" Robin asked. "No, I can't." I said. "When I tried to get Cyborg out of his pod, I was electrically shocked and Slade told me over the radio that if I try again, he'll cut off their life support and kill them." Robin sighed on the other end. "Slade was always a mad man. Okay. Stay there and wait for me. I'll be there soon." he said. "Okay. See you soon." I said, before deactivating my communicator. I turned back to the pods and approached them, careful not to touch them. "I promise Cyborg. We'll find a way to get you guys out of those pods." I said.
Robin
I finally destroyed the Bots, save for one. I approached it and grabbed it by it's throat. "Okay, you can obviously speak. So talk! Tell me where Slade is hiding!" I said. "You think I will ever speak?" the Bot said. "I warned you." I said, as I used my other hand, to punch the Bot's faceguard. After I had damaged it enough, and there were dents that would serve as finger holds, I grabbed the faceguard, crushed it more and finally pulled it off, revealing a screen. The screen came to life, with Slade's armored mask greeting me. "Robin." he said, greeting me. "Slade." I said, gritting my teeth. "Are you anywhere near here, so I can fight you?" Slade replied in a calm tone. "Unfortunately for you, no. Not as if it matters." he said. "I've seen you have decided to go after your friends. I just wanted to let you know that your choice will result in the destruction of your precious Jump City, approximately in two hours. Allow me to hinder your progress." After he said this, the screen darkened and a glowing red number five appeared on the screen. A second later, it was replaced by a glowing red number four. "Oh, shi-" I cut myself off, as I dropped the Bot and did several backflips, getting as far away from the ticking time bomb as I could. I turned the corner I had come from, just as the Bot it exploded.
I heard what sounded like concrete crumbling after the explosion occurred. I turned the corner after the sounds stopped and saw that the ceiling had collapsed, blocking my path. I took my communicator from my utility belt and flipped it open. "Beast Boy! Come in, Beast Boy!" I said. A few seconds later, Beast Boy's face appeared on the screen. "I have you, Robin. Go ahead." he said. "Slade has hindered my progress. He dropped a ceiling in my path." I said. "Did it work?" Beast Boy asked. I scoffed. "Of course not. Slade never was very smart. I'll stay in touch." I said, as I shut off the communicator. Slade thinks he has me trapped in this hallway. But there is always a way out. Always. I scanned the area, and eventually found a ventilation shaft cover. Bingo! I walked over to it and bent down, beginning to force it off of the wall. I eventually was able to get it off the wall, carefully pulling it off and quietly placing it against the wall. I had no idea if Slade had eyes or ears for that matter, in this place.
I ducked and moved into the ventilation shaft, moving slowly. I moved a little bit forward and eventually came to a right turn. I turned, turned left and went forward for a long time. After what seemed like forever, I came to a left turn. I turned left and then turned right. The shaft kept going, until I could barely see light at the end. I crawled to the end of the shaft. I was greeted by another vent covering. I looked through the covering, to see Beast Boy standing, with his back to me, staring at one of the pods. I grinned, realizing I had found them. I placed my foot on the covering and began to lightly push, trying to force it off.
Beast Boy
I was looking at Cyborg's pod, when I heard something hitting metal behind me. I turned around, ready to morph into a deadly animal. I saw the vent cover on the wall come flying off. I nearly morphed into a elephant, when I saw Robin emerge from the ventilation shaft. I let out a sigh of relief, as I cancelled the transformation. "Robin!" I said, as I ran over to greet him. "Let's get them out of those pods." he said, as he walked over to Starfire's pod. After several minutes of checking it, he spoke. "He lied." he said. "I'm sorry?" I asked. Robin turned to look at me. "There is no life support system prestent. Slade lied. He wanted me to be lured here." he said. "Than why did he tell me he'd cut the life support off if I attempted to open the pods again?" I asked. "He was trying to scare you. I think that he had hoped that you would attempt to free Cyborg again, he would have blown up one of the Bots, killing me." Robin said.
"I guess I should be praising God that I didn't attempt that." I said. "I guess we should start evacuating our friends." Robin said, in an aggrevated tone. "What's the matter?" I asked. "Beast Boy, I've had a really, really bad day so far. I had a nightmare about my parent's death, Slade is on the lose again-" Robin began to speak, and as he did, I thought I should update him on the situation, so I interrupted him. "Cinderblock is on the loose, too." I said. "-Cinderblock is on the loose," Robin continued to go over the situation. "Jonathan Crane, a.k.a. Scarecrow is on the loose, I was gassed by Scarecrow and our friends are locked up. What could possibly go wrong?" I hated to shed the truth on Robin, but I had to inform him that Cyborg, Star and Raven weren't our only friends down here. "And, Terra is down here too." I said. "And Terra is down here! Of course she is! Damn it!" Robin shouted, slugging the wall as he cursed.
"Robin," I said, as I walked over to him. I placed my hand on his shoulder. "I know you're angry. But we need to focus on getting our friends out of these pods." Robin said nothing for a few seconds. He finally sighed and nodded. "Right. Okay." he said. "Let's go." Robin walked over to Starfire's pod and without hesitating, slugged the glass. He wasn't shocked, unlike I was. "Get Cyborg." Robin said, as he slugged the glass again, causing it to crack. I nodded, but kept watching Robin's progress as I walked backwards to Cyborg's pod. Robin slugged the glass again, and his fist went through, just stopping inches from Star's face. He brought out his fist from the broken glass and began to use his hand to pull the rest of the glass away. I started to search around the exterior of the pod, to see if there were easier methods to opening the pod. I looked around and eventually saw a button. It said "open". "Hey, Robin?" I asked. "Yeah?" he called back to me. "Can you come here for a sec? Just a second?" I asked.
I heard him sigh and after that I thought I heard him whisper something. A couple seconds later, he came over to me. "What have you got?" he asked me. I pointed to the open button and pressed it. I heard something pop on the pod, and then there was a hiss of smoke coming from the pod, as the glass cover, opened up. "We didn't have to break the glass." I said. Robin scanned the inside of Cyborg's pod. "These look like vents." he said, as he pointed out tiny slits on the interior of the pod to me. "Scarecrow's fear toxin." Robin said. "Were you gassed, too?" I just stared at him, before nodding. "What was it like?" Robin asked. "Terrible. I was in a school. All was calm for a while, but every dream state ended with me being chased by a man in a pinstripe suit, wearing a burlap sack and armed with a hunting knife." I said. Robin nodded. "The image that Crane usually tortured his victims with." he said, as he patted me on the back. "I think you'll be fine." He went back over to Star's pod. "Leave Cyborg. There's no way that you'll be able to lift him out of there. Go get Raven out of her pod." Robin said. "Got it." I responded.
After I opened Raven's pod, Robin called me over to him. "They're all okay." he told me. "Of course they are." I replied. "No, no, no." he said. That's when I noticed some kind of datapad mounted to his right wrist. "What is that?" I asked, pointing at it. "I can monitor the whole team during combat. They all currently have normal heartbeats." Robin said. "Why haven't I seen it?" I asked. "I don't really need to use it. Since the Paris event, we haven't had high crime levels." Robin said. "Cyborg helped me develop the datapad. It was designed specifically for me to use." I scratched my head, before I continued to ask him questions. "Is it heavy? What else can you use it for?" I asked. "It's not that heavy. Cyborg designed it to be lightweight." he said. "It's also attached to the glove. If the glove is destroyed, so is the pad. This is a new suit, I might say. Designed it myself, based off of old costume designs. And unfortunately, my old circus outfit." I heard someone groaning and I looked over to see Cyborg sitting up, holding his head. I looked over at Robin and smiled. "Look's like Cy's awake. Let's go fill him in!" I said.
Cyborg
Several Minutes Later...
"So, let me get this straight." I said, as I crossed my arms. "You mean to tell me that we were all abducted and we were subjected to the Scarecrow's fear toxin? How can you be sure?" Robin cleared his throat. "I know he is here. I saw him before I was gassed the first time." he said. "And I was chased by a man in a pinstripe suit, wearing a burlap sack and armed with a hunting knife in the dream states." Beast Boy replied, to contribute to the conversation. "It's a image that Scarecrow uses to torture his victims." Robin stated. "So we have Slade and a psychologist with a burlap mask on the loose?" Raven asked. "Lovely." Robin sighed. "Scarecrow could be anywhere. And this time, we cannot split up. We saw how that worked last time. We need to stay together. We can't worry about Slade right now. We need to find and shut down the earthquake generators." Beast Boy cleared his throat. "And we have to find Terra. She's down here too." he said.
"You can't possibly be serious." I said. "I am. I saw her before Slade knocked me out. I was in the generator when it happened. I'm sure of it." Robin nodded. "We should move out while we still have the chance." he said. However, before Robin could say anything else, the lights in the room just went out, plunging the room in absolute darkness. "Everyone huddle up! Don't move anywhere!" I heard Robin shout. That's when I heard something that scared the living daylights out of me. I heard someone cackling. "Everyone hold your breath! Now!" Robin said. I'm glad I followed Robin's orders, because the second after he said that, I heard the sound of something spraying. And then, the lights came back on. Just like that. "Uh, someone want to tell me what just happened? No? Okay, just checking." Beast Boy said.
Robin
"It was Scarecrow." I said, a few seconds after Beast Boy asked his question. "We're not safe here. No one is." I scanned the room, but saw nothing. "Cyborg, switch to all alternate vision modes and check for anything out of the ordinary." I said. He nodded and started walking around the room. "Why do you ask Cyborg to switch visions?" Starfire asked, placing her hand on my shoulder. I smiled. I loved it when Starfire spoke like she had during her first years on Earth, still getting used to our language and how it worked. But nowadays, she knows how to speak correctly and rarely reverts back to that form of speech. I turned to look at here. "The Scarecrow didn't spray his fear toxin in here. If he had, we'd be experiencing delusional nightmares right now. I think he's trying to leave a message." I said. I thought I knew what the message was, but I did my best to deny it.
After a minute or two, Cyborg spoke. "Robin? I got something over here!" he said. "What is it, Cyborg?" I asked. "It look's like Scarecrow used a type of spray paint that can only be seen with my capabilities." Cyborg said. "What does it say?" I asked, fearing his response. "It says 'You left me to die'." Cyborg said. "What does it mean?" I sighed, when I realized that my fears had come true. "Slade left me a message when I was able to wake up. That message that Scarecrow wrote on the wall, it was the same message that Slade had broadcasted to me." I said. "Like I said, Scarecrow used a type of spray paint that I can only see in my blacklight vision setting." Cyborg said. Just then, the ground began to rumble and parts of the ceiling actually began to fall. A few seconds later, one of the monitors in the room came on, with Slade greeting us. "Slade." I said through gritted teeth, as I walked over to the monitor. "Robin, I see you've freed your pathetic friends." he said.
"We're not pathetic!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "Stay out of this." I said, before turning back to Slade. "What do you want?" I asked. "All in due time Robin. For now, allow me to 'brighten' your day." The sliding door to the cells opened and on the monitor, a glowing red number thirty appeared. Followed by a number twenty-nine. "He's going to blow up the Cell Room!" Cyborg said. "Everyone move out!" We all ran out of the room and down the hallway, trying to get as far away from the room as possible. It had been maybe five seconds, when it felt like something was wrong. I stopped running and turned around, to see that Starfire was not behind me. "Starfire?" I asked, as I began running back the way we had come. "Starfire!" I kept running back towards the Cell Room and when I got back to the room, I saw Starfire still in the room, her foot pinned underneath a chunk of concrete from the ceiling. I ran back into the room, got on my knee in front of her and began to lift the chunk of concrete. "Robin!" she exclaimed, her voice full of worry. "It's okay. I'm going to get you out of here!" I said, as I lifted the chunk of concrete off of her foot and tossed it aside.
I scooped her up bridal style in my arms and ran out of the room, sneaking a glance at the monitor as I ran. As I ran out of the room, I saw that there were only five or four seconds left until the bombs detonated. I managed to run back around the corner I had come from, just as the room was destroyed. I just stood there, panting, still holding Starfire. I kept standing there, trying to catch my breath. Sure, I was still holding Starfire, but I could only think about what I was going to do with Slade. And I knew there were going to be consequences. Slade has gone too far this time. He adbucted my friends and is trying to destroy us still, I thought. But I will stop him, through any means necessary.
A/N: So, that is it for this chapter. I just want to say that this story is not canon with Teen Titans: Trouble In Tokyo. I may have mentioned that before, but I just wanted to mention it again. The story picks up a year after the season 5 finale, and that's that. So, what do you think of Slade's character? Is he the same or is he crazier than he was in the TV show? Any other stuff I haven't covered? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please follow and favorite the story, it really helps out the story and it can let me know if you guys want more. Reviews would also help. So, I'm going to go though. Have a good day and bye.