It was an incredibly awkward walk through the sewers. For one thing, Zatanna would not let go of Robin's arm, she was holding fast to it and gave no inclination of giving it up. She must be really attached to her Robin, he guessed, and since I look EXACTLY like him well, she has to compensate somehow. For another, he'd had to explain absolutely everything to do with Slade in detail to everyone over the mind link on the way. And for some reason they kept making him go back over the really awful parts. It was all he could do not to explode over the mind link with a roar of SLADE! He just couldn't figure it out. How had Slade been there? Robin was the one who got dumped in another universe, not Slade. Not to mention, Slade died (probably), he fell into a pit of molten freaking lava (magma, corrected Artemis) and unless you're Hot Spot, you just don't get out of that alive. Period.
"Maybe it wasn't your Slade, maybe it was ours," M'gann suggested as he was pouring over the Slade died variable again.
"Yours?" Robin asked, confused.
M'gann began to explain, "Well, we have a Robin, an Aqualad and a Speedy-"
"Red Arrow," Red Arrow corrected.
"Red Arrow," Miss M continued, "And while they're different- they're essentially the same person."
"Hold up." KF said suddenly, "Is there another me? Because if there's another me, I wanna know about him."
"There's a Kid Flash. I don't know him to well though, he mostly runs- literally, along the east coast. I'm more of a west coast guy myself now-a-days," Robin said shrugging. He ran the thought over in his head, it made sense… but wait. Zatanna had said that Slade told her not to trust me, that I'd lie. Why would this world's Slade care about me? Or Zatanna? My world's Slade however…
"That's a good point Robin," Megan said thoughtfully, floating alongside him, hand on her chin, "In fact, that almost makes me wonder if it is your Slade,"
"I don't think I've ever even heard of any Slade." Superboy added gruffly from the rear of the group. Zatanna suddenly clutched Robin's arm even tighter than before.
"I think I know where he's from." She said suddenly.
"Well?" Kid Flash asked expectantly, "Where?"
"Yea- Zatanna, where? Is he my Slade or yours?" Robin asked, turning to face her.
"Yours. Without a doubt. When he appeared he didn't just walk over or anything, a portal opened up and he stepped out of it." Zatanna explained.
"How can you be sure it wasn't just a portal from his Secret Base or something?" Superboy asked.
"Because. I saw him on the other side of it just before he stepped over. I don't know how to explain it but, well, he looked different. And then when he stepped across he changed. Not like what he was wearing or anything, just how he looked." Zatanna tried to explain.
"You've lost me." Robin said. "What do you mean, 'how he looked'?"
"What I mean is… think of it like art styles maybe. Some artists paint super realistically right? And others more cartoony? Well, suppose they both drew the same thing, it would essentially look the same, but not." Zatanna finally let go of his arm and now held herself closely. "I think I literally saw him cross the dimensional wall. And that takes real power… power like.. like…"
"Like what?" Robin asked, whatever it was, it could be what Slade was using to hop worlds! Maybe he could even use it to get back into his own world!
"Like Doctor Fate." Miss Martian said finally.
"Doctor Fate? Who's Doctor Fate?" Robin asked, but he would receive no answer because the mindlink exploded with activity.
"We have found Clayface!" Aqualad shouted over it.
"And boy has he gotten bigger!" Rocket added, "How'd that happen? He pig out on mudpies or something?"
"Aaahhgh!" One of the girls, probably Artemis cried out with surprise as Clayface, probably, nailed her.
"We're almost to you guys- hang on!" Robin called out to them, drawing his metal staff. "Right Team, go!"
They were nearly to where Clayface and the others were fighting, when Red Arrow came literally flying down the tunnel mouth and collided with Kid Flash and Robin.
"Ugh!" "Mmm!" "Ow!"
The three boys proceeded to squabble with each other.
"Red! What the heck man? Weren't you looking where you were flying?" KF complained, grabbing the clone by the ear.
"As if I could look! Do you really think I could have thrown myself?" Red Arrow protested, nailing Robin in the stomach.
"You could have at least warned us over the mindlink that you were coming!" Robin growled, slamming both their heads together in response.
"Um. Guys, not to be rude or anything- but Clayface? Remember?" Miss Martian said looking on. The three of them stopped immediately, suddenly realizing how ridiculous they were being.
"Sorry," "Uh, yea. Right." "Didn't mean too.." "Sorry bout your ear man,"
Robin, inner sense of cool having returned, looked the archer over and could see he was having a pretty bad day. Red Arrow was covered in mud, there were gashes on his arms and face, and, he only had about 7 arrows left.
"What happened?" Robin asked raising a brow.
"Yea- how'd you get sent flying at us like that anyways?" KF added.
"Clayface. He threw me." Red Arrow grunted, furrowing his brow. Wow, he scowls a lot, Robin thought to himself.
"Your one to talk," Superboy thought at him. Robin cringed, stupid mind link.
"He threw you? What about the others? Are they all right?" Robin asked, formulating a plan in his head. Just need a few more details…
"Artemis got nailed to the wall by Clayface, Rocket's leg gave her trouble and the mud monster whaled on her," Red Arrow replied, "Aqualads holding his own, for now."
"We have to help them!" Miss M declared, "If we hurry we can get over there before any more damage-"
"No, we need a plan." Robin said sharply, leader instincts clicking into place. Red Arrow cocked a brow at him, either surprised or already ready to tear apart his answer.
"Speed- Red Arrow, describe the area where you were fighting Clayface. Any obstacles? Clear places to hide? What's your take on it?" Robin asked, pulling together every battle strategy he could think of.
"It's just up ahead. And believe it or not, it's outdoors. Clayface found one of those huge culverts and made his way outside-" Red Arrow began, only to be interrupted by Kid Flash.
"Hold up. What the heck is a culvert?"
"A drainage pipe stupid." Superboy answered rolling his eyes.
"Oh. I knew that." Kid Flash said with a weak grin. Robin frowned irritably at the interruption. They were losing time, Aqualad could have gone down by now…
"Roy, continue, what else?" Zatanna asked, apparently picking up on Robin's mental distress. Darned mindlink.
"Well as I was saying, he found his way out a drainage pipe that opened out into one of Gotham's local parks and was going to reign terror on the city when we stopped him dead in his tracks." Red Arrow explained, "Luckily just in front of the culvert there was a stream designed for rain water runoff so Aqualad was able to use that water to keep Clayface from advancing."
"And let me guess, unluckily that runoff also made mud and Clayface only got bigger and meaner?" Robin deducted, pulling from his utility belt now a black marker.
"You got it." Red Arrow nodded in agreement. Robin moved to the sewer tunnel wall and began drawing out to the best of his ability what he guessed the field looked like.
"Whoa. Since when are we trying out for the superbowl?" KF asked, watching him draw in simplistic symbols to represent the various team members. "And please tell me I'm not the lightning bolt?"
"You're the lightning bolt." Robin replied, continuing to draw out his battle plan, "And this will illustrate exactly what we have to do.
"Am I the X?" M'gann asked speculatively as he drew.
"And is Aqualad the fish?" Zatanna added, smirking.
"Yes, and yes." Robin said exasperated, why did everyone always get so hung up on the symbols? They couldn't use the first letters of their names, to many repeats. Rocket, Robin, Red Arrow and Aqualad and Artemis… it'd be a nightmare, so stupid symbols it was.
"And who's who exactly?" The shadow of the speaker fell over him; a floating girl's with long hair.
"Well Star-" He stopped himself. It's Miss Martian. Stupid other world… "Miss M, I'm the R, Rocket's the er Rocket, Aqualad's the fish, KF is the lightning bolt, you're the X, Superboys the S, Zatanna is a star and-"
"I think we get the picture." Red Arrow interrupted. "Look, we need to get out there and help the others, so what's your plan? Because after all this talking it'd better be good"
"It's simple. I think you'll like it." Robin replied, grinning.
"Go." Robin signaled for the first wave. Yanking down his goggles, the fastest boy alive tore out of the culvert (drainage pipe) and hurtled towards the fallen Rocket, who lay limply in the streambed, her leg stained with red. Grabbing her he then turned about and zoomed back into the culvert, carrying her, all in the blink of an eye. At the same time, Miss Martian camouflaged herself, blending in with her surroundings and crept over to where Artemis was pinned to the exterior wall, and using her telekinesis pulled her down, making sure to grab her half-stocked quiver as she went, she too returned to the culvert as silently as possible, with Artemis floating eerily behind her like a puppet.
"Excellent." Robin breathed, phase one had gone perfectly. Outside he could see Aqualad launching more and more water attacks down on Clayface, but he was tiring, and running out of water. Too much of it was being turned into mud and absorbed by Clayface. M'gann handed Red Arrow Artemis' quiver, which he promptly emptied of its contents, adding them to his own quiver.
"Zatanna- see if you can heal them at all with magic ok?" Robin instructed the magician.
"Will do Rob," And with Superboy's help she got the two fallen girls behind the protective stone wall construct she had built to a) protect the injured and b) slow down Clayface if he tried to come this way.
"M'gann, you guard the culvert entrance- I don't want to see even a drop of mud monster in here, got it?" Robin directed the Martian.
"Got it!" She said moving to float by the entrance, ready to psychically blast Clayface if he came anywhere near the 'drainage pipe'.
"Right, KF your up again," Robin said without even glancing at his battle plan on the wall, he knew exactly what needed to be done.
"I believe that's KF sir, you are still a newb to the team Cadet Rob," Kid Flash said grinning hands on his hips.
"You will get out there now or I'll hit you where it hurts," Robin said seriously, turning to face the other boy, brow furrowed.
"Right Sarge, on that!" KF said saluting Robin and then taking off out the tunnel again, disappearing from view. What do you know; I got promoted from cadet to sergeant in an instant, Robin thought snidely to himself before moving on with the battle plan.
"Speedy-"
"It's Red Arrow darn-it!" Red Arrow exploded over the mindlink, clearly sick of Robin's continuous failings regarding his name.
"Red Arrow." Robin said coolly, entirely unfazed, "Your up. Try to keep the mud monster from breaking the line would you?"
"With pleasure birdboy." Red said, bow in one hand, making his way out of the culvert in a manner that Robin felt could only be called melodramatic.
"I heard that bird brain!" Red Arrow shot back zooming off to the exterior line, ready to fire with everything he had at Clayface. Sheesh, did the guy ever stop creating drama?
Snickering, Superboy replied, "No. He doesn't. Now we get to beat up some bad guys or what?"
"You got it SB, you got it." Robin replied, drawing his metal staff. He had this whole thing in the bag, so sweet.
"You remember what to do?"
"How could I forget? It's only about the craziest thing I've ever heard." Superboy replied.
"Good. Because I'm ready. Just one more thing." Robin turned to face Zatanna, "You got everything under control here?" He asked, feeling increasingly awkward.
"You bet. And trust me, once I'm sure that these two are ok- I'll be right out there fighting with you guys," She replied, wiping off a mixture of mud and blood from her hands from her treating Artemis and Rocket. She frowned suddenly and Robin could swear it looked like she was about to say something when Superboy hollered at him; "Hey, Kid Flash is back!"
"Coming!" Robin turned about, cape swooshing dramatically, he just heard out the corner of his ear, the one that wasn't all banged up from the exploding communicator incident from before, a whisper from Zatanna; 'good luck.'.
KF was a tornado. No literally, a tornado of water. He'd gone upstream to where most of the stream water had gathered and, after running about a hundred circles around it got it up in a waterspout which was now propelling itself wildly towards Aqualad and Clayface. Upon seeing this watery tornado of death coming towards them, Clayface and Aqualad both stopped their fighting. They felt the need to stop and stare at the great monstrosity of centripetal force.
"What in the world..?" Aqualad gawked as it came ever nearer, then he must have seen the yellow and red uniform because he kicked right into action. Yes! Robin thought to himself as Aqualad's tattoos glowed brightly and moving his water bearers towards the tornado of water he directed the monstrosity to encircle Clayface partially, the only opening being towards the culvert.
"Robin! Are you ready?" Aqualad called, "Because I cannot hold this up for too long!" Even his brain voice was straining under the pressure of holding up so much water at once.
"Superboy! Now!" Robin shouted, and at his call, Superboy grabbed Robin by the legs and with a twist, threw him at Clayface. Not quite as gently as Starfire was known to do, but it did the job. Clayface moved to snatch Robin out of the air, his hands slamming together to smash Robin dead like a bug, only Robin was above them. Still airborn, Robin flew and rammed his staff into Clayface's ugly mud face where it made a quite satisfactory SPLAT! noise.
"Urrrrggghhh!" Clayface roared.
"And here I thought mud was good for your face," Robin laughed, sliding down Clayface's back, slamming bombs down into him. He leapt off of the mud beasts slimy body and landed on the ground behind him, and as he did so, the bombs went off. As he did so, the Team attacked. Aqualad directed hundreds of gallons of water into the newly opened holes that the bombs provided, Red Arrow fired arrow after arrow at the creature where they exploded and made even more holes. Superboy gave a running kick, knocking Clayface to the ground and then proceeded to pound him pancake flat with his fists. M'gann meanwhile levitated everything from rocks to trees, throwing them at Clayface just to further secure the fact that he was down.
KF continued running wildly in circles around them, if Clayface tried to get up, KF would run into him at top velocity, and as far as the laws of physics were concerned, that'd hurt. A lot.
"Zatanna you're on stage now!" Robin shouted, turning to see the magician girl standing at the entrance to the culvert.
"Wonderful, I was wondering when I'd get my cue," She said, lifting her hands and beginning a spell, "Egnahc htrae otni sgnidnib!"
As she finished the spell, the ground sprang to life, wrapping itself up and around Clayface and holding him fast; a cage of solid stone, no water or mud for that matter, was getting through that. They'd done it, they'd defeated Clayface and Robin had lead them the whole way!
"It is done. We are victorious." Aqualad said, finally resting his arms, the glow fading.
"Yea! Dude Rob, since when are you such a great leader?" KF laughed, running over to his friend, "Oh yea… sorry I…"
"Don't worry about it." Robin muttered. Nothing had changed, sure he had lead them, but he would never be viewed separately from their Robin; they had the same face after all. "Let's just get home ok? I'm exhausted."
"Tired? You're tired? Why?" Red Arrow questioned, arms crossed irritably.
"Maybe because I've spent this whole day either running to Clayface or from you guys or to Clayface again." Robin replied, "And besides, I'm pretty sure it's a school day."
"You're going to go to school in your state?" Rocket questioned, having limped over to join the rest of them.
"Sure, why not. Sometimes it's good to be normal." Robin shrugged.
"Hang on; do you not go to school in your world or something?" KF questioned.
"Nope. Haven't been there in over a year."
"No fair! I'm transferring to his universe ASAP! No school? Seriously? What so you guys just sit around and play videogames all day or something?"
"Pretty much, yea." Robin shrugged, "But only when we're not fighting crime. Spreading justice that sort of thing."
"Do you hear this guy? This is just not fair, not fair at all." Kid Flash continued. And he kept on continuing all the way back to the Zeta Tube, with Miss Martian occasionally filling in with random facts about Martian school and Red Arrow pointing out that Robin and friends must be thick as bricks and that it's amazing he's even halfway smart. Robin however wasn't paying attention to any of it; he was lingering in the back, with Zatanna.
"So you did really great out there," Zatanna said not looking him in the eye. He tensed, something was up. What was it? Was it something…god, dare he think it? Boyfriend related?
"You did pretty great yourself," Robin said, trying to act casual, but probably failing.
"Thanks…" She said, trailing off, looking at the ground. He couldn't help himself, he stopped walking, she did too. Taking her by the hand he asked; "Zatanna, what's wrong? Is it me? Because if so, I'm sorry. I don't want to mess things up for you and your Robin."
"No... It's not you… it's just…" Zatanna began, and he could sense tears building up.
"It's what?" He asked, mind flashing through what he knew about her. Her dad. She'd lost him recently right? Yea she mentioned that when she'd just gotten over trying to kill me… "Is it your dad..?"
"Yes... it's well, it's been a little over two months since he…" She choked up. The rest of the team had gone out of sight by now, they were completely alone.
"Since he died?"
"Died? My dad's not dead." She said looking him in the eye, "My dad's worse than dead."
"Worse? What's worse than death?" Robin asked, flying through in his head what could possibly be worse than being gone forever.
"Try possessed." She said, turning away from him.
"Possessed? Like, what do you mean?" Robin asked, reaching for her shoulder.
"Like possessed by an all-powerful magical being called Nabu," Her voice was stronger now, and Robin had a feeling that it was backed by something of a resentment for this Nabu.
"Nabu?" Robin asked, he didn't recognize the name, not that he recognized over 75% of the names he'd been hearing today.
"A Lord of Order. If you wear his helmet he takes over your body," Zatanna explained, "And you can't take him off. Not unless you cut a deal with him… usually that means for another host.."
"And your dad volunteered to be a host..?" Robin guessed, and I think my life stinks sometimes.
"In order to save me." Zatanna finished.
"In order to save you..?"
"Yes.. I put on the helmet to save my friends from a freak called Klarion," There was no mistaking the guilt in Zatanna's voice, but the name sparked something inside Robin.
"Did you say Klarion?" He asked suddenly.
"Yes, why?" She replied, folding her arms.
"Would he happen to dress like some sort of demonic Catholic school boy?" Robin asked very quickly, thoughts clicking into place. If they know Klarion; and Klarion was a 'Lord of Chaos', an all-powerful being without a doubt like this Nabu, then well…
"I guess so why?" Zatanna asked, clearly getting annoyed at Robin now.
"Because I fought him- last night. With my team!" He exclaimed.
"What? But that's impossible, we fought him all last night. He couldn't have been fighting your team unless-" Zatanna's mouth made a little 'o' of understanding. "Oh my gosh! He was on the dimensional border! How stupid of me! This all just started making sense! Robin, I am so, sooo, soooo sorry- this whole thing has been my fault! I had our Robin shatter Klarion's force field- you must have done it at the same exact time.. I knew that spell was dangerous, what was I thinking!"
Robin didn't understand a lot of what Zatanna was saying, she'd started talking so fast, but what he did understand was that apparently he and Robin had acted at the same time... across dimensions.
"Did you use a spell that had four of you stand on compass points?" Zatanna asked very seriously.
"Yea- Raven had us do it but I don't understa-" Robin began, only to be interrupted by a very excited Zatanna. Holy mood swings! Robin thought to himself, one minute she's sad the next she's happy as a lark? Why are girls so crazy?
"Raven, is she your magician? Don't answer that. Of course she is! I need to get home, read some spellbooks, all this makes so much more sense now! Thank you Robin!" She held him in a tight hug, and then took off running towards the zeta-tubes. "I'll tell you what I found out tomorrow!"
Well, ok then. Robin thought to himself, suddenly all alone and very tired. Where am I sleeping tonight? He suddenly wondered, I mean sure, Batman doesn't think I'm evil anymore but I still smashed in my bedroom window. My. No, other Robin's bedroom window… Batman and I aren't together anymore, especially not after… ugh. Bed, Robin, Bed. He pulled himself groggily into the photo booth Zeta-Tube launcher which happily beamed: IDENTIFIED ROBIN B-01 and sent his particles spiraling elsewhere. By the time he was on the other end of the Batcaves Zeta-Tube it was somewhere around three in the morning and he did not feel like doing a number of things. One being get undressed, that just sounded like too much effort right then, two being go upstairs and figure out where to sleep, and three being eat, he hadn't eaten since well… forever ago. So what he resolved to do was crash in one of the big revolving leather Batchairs that sat in front of the Batcomputers. Sleep now, do all that other stuff later…
He was rudely awakened at exactly 3:46 by the sound of the Zeta-Tube which cheerily beamed RECOGNIZED BATMAN A-02. Batman's back, he thought sleepily to himself, not bothering to swivel the chair around, too tired for that…
"Ah, Master Wayne so pleased to see you have returned. How are things?" Alfred's elderly voice croaked from somewhere behind Robin. There was the sound of something smashing into the wall, a pot of tea, Robin guessed, Batman was always smashing Alfred's teapots when he was angry about something…
"I really wish you would stop doing that sir, really the man at that china place does start to wonder why we go through so many of the things." Alfred said calmly, cleaning up the remains of the shattered teapot, Robin guessed.
"The china salesman can keep wondering! We have more problems on our hands!" The Batman roared, much to Robin's surprise. Batman's genuinely upset this time. Wonder what gives..? And is it my fault…?
"And what would those problems be sir?" Alfred asked.
"The league and I uncovered a crack in the universe- Doctor Fate thinks it's the boys fault." Batman replied.
"The boy's fault? But how could he think that?"
"Something to do with his unceremonious entrance into our world. The point is, Fate thinks his presence is going to destroy the universe," Batman growled.
"And I take it that the only means of fixing this malady..?" Alfred began, not daring to finish the question.
"Would be to destroy the boy." Batman finished. Robin tensed up. Destroy me?! Who the heck was Doctor Fate? And why does he think that I'm destroying the universe?!
"Is there anything we can do?" Alfred asked.
"I've got various league members keeping tabs on Doctor Fate, but it isn't easy. The man can teleport across dimensions for Christ's sake."
"And what did the league think of his proposal?" Alfred risked asking.
"The response was mixed. Some see logic in his suggestions, others, Superman for instance; feel that the loss of human life is too great a cost and that some other solution needs to be found. I for one, stand by him on that juncture."
"I can't say I blame you," Alfred croaked, "Will you tell the boy?"
"I don't think so. The kid has enough on his mind to worry about, let alone the possibility of his destroying the universe as we know it." Well gee, thanks Batman. Now I feel real good about myself, you don't even think I could handle that truth huh? Lovely. Half the league is willing to kill me, and the other half won't even tell me anything's wrong. That's just all wrong… Robin's eyes fell shut once again and he drifted off to sleep…
"I just can't let him be hurt Alfred. I can't. I know he isn't even our boy but…"
"I understand sir. Absolutely. Besides, the boy may as well be our kin."
"Your right Alfred, you're absolutely right..."
"Well… good night then sir, shall I prepare your room for you sir?" Alfred asked, returning to his butlerly ways.
"Yes, go on Alfred- I'll just finish up in here." Batman swiveled the Batcomputer chair about, revealing the sleeping Robin. Batman sighed, looking down on the sleeping boy.
"He's fallen asleep here again Alfred."
"Do you want me to wake him up and see him to his room?" Alfred asked from the Batstairs.
"No, I got him." Batman replied, picking up the sleeping boy wonder, titan leader and adopted son of the caped crusader.
With the help of the creepy old schools blueprints, it was pretty easy to find the principal's office, which was a good because the place was a maze of abandoned desks and crumbling drywall.
"Hey so uh, how much farther til we get there Robin?" Beastboy asked, glancing around the corner of what appeared to be an old social studies wing before giving the 'a-ok' signal.
"No too far. Just round the corner after this hall, why?" Robin responded, typing away into his makeshift computer glove.
"Because we kinda don't really have a plan." Beastboy said jumping as the lights flickered, illuminating what appeared to be the remains of a papier-mâché Genghis Khan for a brief second, his left ear was missing. "Gah! KHAN! KHHAAAAANNN!"
"Are you serious Beastboy? Anyways, he's right. We have no idea what we're doing." Raven agreed, rolling her eyes at paper-Khan.
"Sure we do, we find Blood, defeat him and get Starfire back to the aster." Robin said shrugging, still flipping through his computer glove. Why did they have so much trouble with that? Granted, few people fully understood how exactly his plans worked. Really only Batman knew, and he wasn't here.
"And how exactly do we do that?" Cyborg asked, crossing his arms, "And what exactly are you looking at on my spare arm that's so important?"
"The blueprints to this building duh. Well, that and everything I can find on hypnosis to speak of." Robin replied, "And unfortunately, there's not a lot to work with."
"Big surprise there." Raven muttered.
"Look, let's just focus on taking out Blood for now all right? I bet if we nail him then that'll wake Star up," Robin shot back, closing off his glove. "Now come on, the office is this way." He said leading the way down the hall. What was Raven's problem with him? She was so grumbly and treated him like… well, like a kid. He hated that and was starting to understand just how Captain Marvel felt; like an idiot as far as others were concerned. Regardless of any special training or the 'Wisdom of Solomon', Raven thought he was an idiot, Robin was sure of it.
"There it is!" Beastboy hissed, they were standing in front of Blood's office now, or at least, the office of the man who used to be principal for this creepy old school.
"Great, but where's Blood?" Cyborg wondered aloud, trying the door handle. "Locked. Figures, for all we know he's trying to find the key."
"Or he's heading down the hall!" Robin exclaimed, pointing towards two unmistakable shadows that were growing larger by the minute, "We gotta hide. Now!"
"Where?" Cyborg pointed out, "Cause I don't see anywhere to hide, unless you count paper-Khan back there-"
"In here!" Raven called out, yanking open the door to a nearby janitors closet, "Everyone, get in! Now!"
Now how was that unlocked but not the principal's office? And how did Raven see it before me? Boy am I getting sloppy, if Batman knew that, he'd have my head! Robin thought to himself as he piled in with the rest of the teens. It was a tight squeeze, especially with the giant that Cyborg was, but they all fit. Just not comfortably.
"Ow!" "Watch it!" "Hey off the cape!" "That's my ears guys!"
"Everyone! Shhhh!" Raven hissed, eyes glowing eerily black in the darkness as she locked the door. How is that even possible? Robin thought to himself, how can something glow black- in the dark?! Stupid magic.. Everything fell silent for a moment, then they heard Blood and Starfire talking.
"Starfire, you have quickly risen to being one of my best students, the Hive is lucky to have you here," Blood was saying.
"Thank you sir Blood, I am pleased to know that I have done well! Is there anything you wish me to do now?" Starfire replied in an eerily normal voice.
"Yes actually, I believe that some of your classmates are rather tied up with their work, perhaps you could go and help them? For extra credit?"
"That would be glorious Brother Blood! I will do so immediately!"
"Wonderful, wonderful, now if you need me- I'll just be in my office," They heard a clinking sound. Keys? Robin wondered, only to have his thoughts confirmed.
"Where is that darned key? Honestly why do they insist on putting all of them on one loop? So disorganized," Brother Blood grumbled, there were more clinking noises as he picked his way through the keyring. Beastboy snickered, earning a kick from the entire team. "Hey-!" Beastboy began only to have his mouth clamped shut by Raven.
"It's a good thing taking out those Titans is easier than finding this darned key," Blood complained from the other side of the door, "I mean really, the way they're fighting one would almost think that they weren't the Titans at all," Robin tensed, what was Blood on about? Does he know?
"Especially Robin, such pathetic leadership on his part- so out of character for him,"
Robin jumped, "What!" He hissed, only to be dragged back down by the others,
"Shh!" Cyborg whispered.
"Really you'd almost think he wasn't Robin at all," Blood continued, "Ah, here's the key!" There was a clicking noise as Blood turned the lock to the door. The problem? It was the wrong door, Blood was opening the door to the Janitor's closet they were hiding in. Oh no! The Titans scrambled about desperately, trying to get prepared in some manner for what they were about to face, but it was no good. They were too tightly crammed into the closet, there was almost no room to move, let alone draw any weapons. The door to the closet came open and they all tumbled out, one on top of another.
"Ow!" "Ugh.." "Not whelmed" "You've got to be kidding me"
"Well, well, I can see the Titans have come to the principal's office to be enrolled into our school, how lovely. Unfortunately for them, enrollment actually takes place in the Chemistry class room, students, would you please kindly escort them there?" Blood said swarmily. Ugh, what was with this guy and school metaphors? Did he never stop? Why can't he just say: 'Seize them so I can hypnotize them again!' like any other bad guy?
"With pleasure Brother Blood," Starfire said, eyes glowing brightly as she and the now-freed Hive students attacked the Titans. Robin tried to scramble to his feet, only to be grabbed by the cape and lifted high off the ground by Mammoth. Mammoth grinned at him with big, cracked teeth before slinging Robin over his shoulder like a ragdoll.
"Umpth!" Robin grunted, reaching for his utility belt, unfortunately the Hive was still ahead of him; Gizmo had planted handcuffs around not only his hands, but his feet too. He was tied up like a pig for the roast. "Hey! Not that I don't want to be hypnotized or anything, but I'm not very turbed with the treatment of your future students!"
"Oh you'll love the Hive Robin, you just have to get through the hazing first," Jinx shot back as she battled Raven with pink energy bolts. Other than Raven, the rest of the Titans weren't doing so well. Beastboy had turned into a mouse in an effort to scramble between their legs, only to be picked up in a hamster ball, an electrified hamster ball, so he couldn't shift back to human. Cyborg had gotten nailed by Gizmo and Starfire, who together managed to not only hack his suit but force his hands behind his back and plant a pair of really big handcuffs on him.
"Star! Come on! We're friends- remember?" Cyborg cried out as he tried futilely to break through the huge cuffs on his hands.
"You are an enemy of Brother Blood and are therefore no friend of mine!" Starfire replied, blasting him with starbolts. Raven found herself standing alone, surrounded on all sides and pinned up against the wall. She glanced left and right before saying; "Azarath Metrion- mmmpth!" Gizmo had come up at her from behind and tied a gag around her mouth.
"Ha ha! Try using your magic now you little snot-faced witch!" Raven too, was handcuffed and flung over Mammoth's other shoulder.
"Hey guys, I got two little birds on my shoulders- isn't that like four in a bush then?" Mammoth laughed. Robin grimaced, he'd heard just about every bad bird joke in the book, and that one was pretty bad. What were they going to do now? They were about to be hypnotized all over again, only this time he wasn't so sure they'd be able to zap themselves out of it. What the heck would they do to wake me up? He was growing more and more chalant by the minute.
"Ah, here we are, the Chemsitry classroom- just help the new students into their seats please," Brother Blood said, moving to the front of the classroom with ease. What a weirdo, Robin thought grimly to himself as he was dropped into some sort of demonic-desk that clamped him in once he was in it.
"Hey, how do we get the green one back into being a human?" Jinx asked, holding the hamster ball in one hand. Beastboy ran for the edge of it, trying to roll out of her hand, only to be caught by Brother Blood. "Easy, we make him laugh."
How is this freak going to get Beastboy to laugh? Robin wondered to himself, I mean, he's about as funny as dead kittens. Blood pulled Beastboy out of the hamster ball and promptly began to tickle the little green mouse, forcing him to return to human form giggling all the way.
"Stop- stop- stop it!" Beastboy protested all while being pushed into the demonic-desk chair from Hell.
"Ah, now that everyone is here, enrollment can begin." Blood said, evil grin on his lips. "Let's start with Robin, their little leader. And while he isn't the Robin we all know and love, he will certainly do,"
"How do you know that?" Robin demanded, trying to force himself out of the hold of the desk from Hell.
"Starfire here is a very good student, she's told me a lot about you, about all of you. Including the fact that you've fallen right out of an old episode of the Twilight Zone, Robin" Blood replied, pulling up a chair so that he could face Robin on the same level or at least as close to the same level as possible, Robin was pretty short, "Now remain calm, this will only take a minute."
It was like being hit with a sledgehammer, only in his brain. Robin suddenly felt very small, insignificant- meaningless, and all around him loomed this much greater presence; a presence that wanted to crush him.
"I am Brother Blood, your mentor and your master," The presence boomed, searing itself into Robin's mind. No! He cried out desperately, no! No! Batman… Batman's my mentor… my teacher... but his voice was but a small squeak in comparison to the great thunderous boom of the presence.
"You are a student at the Hive Academy; the Hierarchy of International Vengeance and Extermination," The presence roared into his ears. The Hive? What no… that, that can't be right. I go to Gotham Academy… right?
"Your work consists of what most call 'criminal activity'; theft, burglary, and if necessary, inflicting injury onto those who are against our ways," The presence continued, and Robin felt fully wrapped about in it's grasp, like a fly caught in a spiders web. Criminal activity… that's not so bad… right?
"Your friends are the friends of Brother Blood, your enemies are my enemies. The Teen Titans are my enemies and are therefore yours." Teen Titans… his brain flipped through images of them, but they were blurry, distorted. Cyborg… the giant robotic freak of a man, Beastboy, the green skinned mutant who can turn into anything, Raven; the shadow-encircled demon girl… they were his enemies?
"Robin no! Don't listen to him!" A female voice whispered in his ear. "We're your friends!" What? Who was that? Why did she sound so familiar… hang on, she's Raven? Raven is my.. friend..?
"Do not listen to her, she lies." The presence roared throughout his mind. She's lying? That doesn't sound right, in fact if anything… nothing this big boom guy has been saying sounds right. In fact… memories started to become clearer, the images of the Titans he'd seen before showed them to be friends. Beastboy had made him that awful chicken-tofu dish, Cyborg apologized for being a jerk to Robin, Raven promised to help him find a way home… and Starfire. Starfire told him he wasn't evil. That there are no evil Robins in this world or in any world. And to be evil is to commit crime. And to attend a school with the word 'extermination' in it's name for that matter, seriously who named that? And what did the tax people think whenever they so much as applied for a loan? Seriously, pretty stupid.
"She's not lying!" Robin roared back at the presence, everything suddenly becoming all the more clearer. All around him images drifted by, his memories and experiences he guessed, and they were in trouble. Hundreds of octopus like arms held fast onto Robin's mind, not letting go and for the life of him he couldn't figure out where the brain behind the beast was, all he could see were arms. Arms would have to do, launching himself at it then, at the presence, he grabbed hold of one of it's arms and tried to pry it off of an old memory; instead he was accidently sucked into it, the day he and KF first met each other.
"I'm Robin!" He'd said, he'd been what, 10 then?
"Robin? What is that some kind of a bird?" The then 13 year old red head had shot back.
"Well, it's better than your name 'Wally West'" Robin had laughed, grinning triumphantly back.
"Whoa wait. You know my secret ID? How do you know that!? I haven't told anyone that!"
"This little Robin has a few tricks of his own you know,"
Robin forced himself out of the memory, the red arms still held tight to it. Oh no. Have I let it in too far? Fearfully he thought to himself, am I going to be trapped in here? In my mind? Forever? With nothing but old memories to keep me company? No, I can't let that happen. I have to stay whelmed; I have to get out of here. He drew from his utility belt, which he was happy to find he still had in this mad dream-state, a pair of bombs and was about to throw them when it occurred to him that he was throwing live ammo. Inside his brain. Probably not a wise idea. What do I do? He wondered in a panic. If only M'gann were here, she could probably get me out… but no, I'm all alone. Completely and totally alone… with my memories.
"Robin!" The whisper called out again, and then he saw it; the crack in the octopus's arms. It was tiny, his hand probably couldn't even fit in it, but it was a crack. "Robin! Please! Wake up!" Working on it Raven, working on it… he ran towards the crack, climbing, falling, climbing again, using his grappling hook; all just to get up to the crack. Octopus arms flew after him, trying to knock him down the whole way. One finally pushed him over, just as he reached the top. No! He began to fall towards what he was sure would be his death when a hand caught his wrist.
"Got ya buddy," Opening his eyes he saw KF, sort of. He was translucent, like he wasn't really there; a memory.
"Hold on Robin! We're coming!" Looking down now he could see the shapes of Miss M and Artemis hurrying up the red arms to join them, they too were mere memories; but they were memories of his friends.
"Sheesh! Could you lose a few pounds maybe?" Kid Flash complained as he pulled Robin up onto the ledge with the help of Superboy and Aqualad, "Your brain must weigh a ton!"
"That's cause I'm the one that does the thinking KF" Robin snickered. As he looked about him, more and more of his friends were appearing. Captain Marvel was smashing the arms that held tight to what appeared to be the memory of his first day of school, Rocket was flying around tying the arms in knots as they tried to catch her. Red Arrow was sliding down arms and blasting their bases with explosive arrows. If I have a headache later, you're the one whos getting the blame, Robin thought decidedly. Even Alfred was there, smashing in arms with his little metal butlers plate. And they weren't the only ones there, his new friends, the Teen Titans, were there too. Cyborg had fired up his sonic cannon and was helping Captain Marvel with memory retrieval, Beastboy was slicing through the arms with great giant velociraptor claws, Raven was with Rocket, confusing the arms and tying them into knot after knot. What he couldn't figure out though was where Batman, Zatanna and Starfire were, he didn't see them fighting anywhere with the others, why weren't they here? They were well, probably the most important people he knew. Batman and Zatanna in his world and well, Starfire in this one.
"Friend! Robin! Up here!" He looked up now, and on the upper ledge where the crack was were just those three. Batman, trying to force the crack larger, and Starfire and Zatanna smiling down at him.
"Starfire! Zatanna! Guys! I was wondering where you were!" He called up.
"Did you honestly think we wouldn't be here to help you?" Zatanna called back down to him, "Now hold on- were gonna get you up here, kay?"
"How?" He asked, only to have his question answered. He was carried up, Starfire and Zatanna had flown down and were carrying him up to the ledge.
"Guys- this-" He began, only to be interrupted by the Batman.
"Robin, get over here. You're the only one who can open the crack any wider,"
"Right." Glancing back at both of the girls and suddenly feeling hopelessly embarrassed with himself, he pulled out a batarang and began hacking away at the arms around the crack and sure enough, it fell away. First it was large enough for his face, then his torso and before long his whole body.
"Go on Robin, wake up! And stop the Brother Blood!" Starfire cheered.
"But Star- he's got you under hypnosis- how am I going to wake you up?"
"How do you think?" Zatanna asked, raising a brow. And suddenly he knew just how.
"Good luck Robin." Was all Batman had to say on the matter, and was the last thing he heard as he stepped through the crack, and back into reality.
With a gasp of breath Robin's eyes sprang open, and Brother Blood was sent flying backwards out of his chair and onto the floor.
"Brother Blood!" The Hive moved to help him, but he waved them away with his hand and got to his feet on his own. His nose was bloodied, probably from the mental duel, and he was not smiling.
"Well, well, it would appear that this one is more trouble than he's worth. May as well get the Beastboy, you practically just have to look at him and he'll join." Blood grumbled, moving over to where Beastboy was bound to the chair. Whoa. Robin was still getting a full grasp on what had just happened; as far as he could tell it had been only a matter of minutes, and all in his head but it had felt so… real. Totally turbed right now he thought to himself. Brain back in working order he looked at the other Titans; Raven's gag had come undone, which explained how she was able to yell at him in the first place. Beastboy's ears were drooping as Blood attacked his mind, and Cyborg was yelling some very profane things at Brother Blood from his chair. They had to get out of here. And fast. He knew just how.
"Raven! Can you use your magic at all?" He shouted at his teammate, all while reaching for the lock pick in the back of his utility belt.
"No! He's got some sort of force field on this chair! I can't do anything!" She called back. Drat, well, there's always the old fashioned way. Lockpicks in hand, he began to work away at the lock, it came undone easily. Really Brother Blood? That was too easy. Now there was just the small matter of his ankles. Blood and the Hive at least seemed distracted by Beastboy and Cyborg, so now was his chance. Reaching down he as inconspicuously as possible picked the locks that bound his ankles. Freedom! Now to pick Raven's locks… in like no time at all… maybe I can just kill that pesky force field. He yanked off the innards to Cyborg's arm from his glove. Sorry computer glove, but this hand to be done, stay whelmed in the afterlife ok?
"What are you doing?" Raven hissed, "Run!"
"No can do," Robin said, pushing buttons on the innards like crazy until it sparked. "This might tickle a little, just warning you," he planted Cyborg's spare arm on Raven's chair where it sent up a small EM pulse and shorted out the chair entirely. Raven glared up at him with frizzed out hair before shouting her three favorite words; "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"
Cyborg and Beastboy's chairs exploded, freeing the pair of them. Beastboy flopped over uselessly, still half hypnotized before springing up: "Hey! Those are property of the Hive Academy!"
"Shut up already!" Cyborg roared, grabbing Beastboy and carrying him underarm football style.
"Run!" Robin ordered tossing a smoke bomb to shroud their escape and then tearing down the hall to safety. They found themselves in what appeared to be a gymatorium; half gym, half auditorium.
"What do we do now?" Cyborg asked, dropping Beastboy to the ground beside him.
"For starters, we get BB here back to the aster, then we can stop being chalant cause I have an idea."
Beastboy promptly exploded into laughter. "Chalant? Chalant?! Robin, where do you come up with this stuff? Wait. Was I hypnotized?" He asked blinking at all of them. Why the heck did Beastboy find his words funny? Robin wondered irritably.
"Yup." Cyborg replied with a shrug.
"Ah man! Not again!" Beastboy moaned.
"So what now?" Raven asked, "Because I'm assuming you have some big idea Robin,"
"You bet I do. Listen up, I'm gonna need you guys help for this,"
The doors to the gymatorium came smashing open and through them ran Raven, Cyborg and Beastboy, all three of which were desperately trying to get away from the Hive Three, Starfire and Brother Blood.
"Where's your bird-brained leader now?" Gizmo cackled as he crept along on his spider-like legs.
"He abandoned us! Said he wanted to return to his own world!" Cyborg shouted back, "But we're fine, we don't need him to take you out!" He fired a blast from his Sonic Cannon, only to have Starfire deflect it with ease.
"That is too bad. He would have been better to join brother Blood," Starfire said floating ahead of the rest of the Hive. The Titans were pushed further and further back until their backs were up against the stage of the auditorium part of the gymatorium.
"If only Robin were here- our Robin, man he could help us!" Beastboy moaned, grabbing his ears.
"Yea. Without him we're pretty defenseless." Raven muttered.
"Well too bad he isn't here, because schools in session now Titans," Blood crooned, grinning wickedly.
"Wrong! Schools out Brother Blood, forever!" Dropping down from the scaffolding on the stage was a spiky haired, cape wearing, pipe wielding boy.
"Robin!" "But how?!" "Where'd he come from?"
The Hive Three exploded with surprise, Starfire and Blood however remained silent.
"Robin! Your back! And just in time too- Blood here is gonna kill us all if we don't do something!" Cyborg shouted at the Titan leader.
"So I heard, the other Robin told me. Now Blood, from what I hear you want to make us into your students yea? Well I'm afraid I can't let that happen. Ever." Robin stepped forward, brandishing his staff dramatically. Stay whelmed Robin, stay whelmed. Just keep the bad puns coming and don't you dare even think of using a fake word. Just have to get Star back to the aster.
"How interesting, it is certainly good to see you again Robin, perhaps you'll be easier to enroll into my school than your counterpart hmm?" Blood said sardonically.
"Well I'm afraid I wouldn't make a very good student, I don't like to listen to teacher," Robin shot back.
"Well too bad. I suppose we'll have to force you to pay attention, class- get them!" Blood pointed forward, and the Hive surged ahead.
"Titans! Go!" Robin ordered, leaping up and over Mammoth, spring boarding off his back and zooming towards his main target: Starfire. Raven fired spell after spell at Jinx, Beastboy had gone cheetah and was literally running circles around Gizmo while Mammoth and Cyborg locked fists, trying to force the other to the ground. Blood stood by and watched.
"Starfire! I don't want to do this- come on can't we talk?" Robin called up to her as she floated eerily about, eyes glowing brightly, like she was some sort of a witch from a fairytale.
"No Robin. We cannot talk. You are an enemy of Brother Bloods. Perhaps if you had joined him we could talk, but you did not and so we cannot talk." Starfire replied, raining starbolts down on him. He managed to dodge each of them, but nearly got singed by a rather wildly thrown one.
"Come on Star! We're friends- we've been through so much together!" Robin protested, only to get laser vision in response. This isn't working… she thinks I'm her Robin but just talking to her won't do it. I have to get more creative I have to… yes. He had this in the bag, this was the only way it would ever work; she wouldn't wake up otherwise.
"Star! Please- let me talk, I have to tell you something!" Robin shouted up at the fiery haired alien.
"No! You are an enemy of Brother Blood and are not to be trusted!" She shouted back, blasting him again with starbolts. One nicked him on the shoulder, burning right through the fabric of his costume. Ouch! Can't let one of those hit me, unless I want to be fried bird.
"Starfire, can't we just be above it all? Above friends and enemies? Think of all the time we've spent together- please!"
"Fine." Starfire drifted back down to the ground, but her eyes still glowed with wild power.
"Starfire…" He walked up to her, heart pounding. This was it.
"What's he doing?" he ehard Raven call over the sound of battle, "This wasn't part of the plan!"
"I don't know- let's just trust him all right? He's Robin!" Cyborg shouted back. Taking a deep breath, Robin reached out for Starfire's hand, only to have her slap his hand away. Fine then... stay whelmed, you can do this Robin..
"Starfire.. I want to ask you something, something… important," He stammered. Way to stay traught Robin.
"And what would that be? A surrender?" Starfire asked coldly, regarding him with iris-less eyes.
"I.. was wondering, if you'd… if you'd…"
"Say it already you clorbag valblernelk!" Starfire spat at him raising a glowing hand, and he cringed. Was this going to work? It has to. I have to get Star back to the aster; she's only like this because of me. She only got captured because of me, so I need to fix it.
"I was wondering if you'd go out with me. On a date. For pizza." He said quickly, bracing himself to be blasted to bits by a starbolt.
"You wish to.. date?" Starfire asked confused, he looked up at her, her eyes were no longer glowing; they were normal.
"Yea. I want to go out with you, get pizza you know... we could get pineapples and croutons on it and stuff" He managed, heart thumping wildly. If Zatanna knew about this... but then Star… ugh! Hormones! Why did God even invent them?
"Pineapples and croutons?" She asked skeptically. He could see out the corner of his eye literally everyone else staring at them open mouthed. Even Brother Blood looked mildly surprised.
"Yea, and well, I'd be totally whelmed if you went out with me Star, totally whelmed" Robin finally said, and then instantly regretted it. Whelmed. I said whelmed, twice. Oh no.. she won't wake up…
"I am flattered by your request Robin, however I cannot accept it." Starfire said sounding hurt, "You are not my Robin… but you wanted me to think you were… you have tricked me…"
"Star- I, I did it so that, so that-" He sputtered uselessly, unable to find the words.
"So that I would 'return to the aster'? Yes I understand. But I do not like it. I do not like being tricked." Starfire said forlornly. "Fortunately for you, your trick worked. I am no longer under the control of the Brother blood." She lifted her hand, and fired a green starbolt at Blood who was thrown off his feet.
"Hive! Pull back! Retreat! We are outnumbered!" Blood ordered, throwing down a smoke bomb and disappearing along with the Hive Three, leaving the Titans in the gymatorium.
"Dude. What was that?" Beastboy asked Robin.
"What was what?" Robin asked, crossing his arms.
"What was what? Yo you just went and hurt Starfire- no one hurts her!" Cyborg roared. Robin was surprised, why are they upset? I brought Star back to the aster, shouldn't they be happy?
"What's wrong? Isn't it a good thing I woke her up?" He asked, bristling with anger.
"Yes it's a good thing you woke her up but you don't do it like that!" Cyborg replied.
"Yea! Man we thought you were going to give her the pep talk of the century or something, not that!" Beastboy added.
"I woke her up, isn't that what matters?"
"If the end result were all that mattered then the world would be a very scary place," Raven said darkly, "If your willing to hurt your friends- who knows what else your willing to do."
"But I didn't mean to hurt her- it was all fake, just a plan, with the goal in mind being that I wake her up, all right?"
"But you did hurt her." Raven replied.
"Friends, let us not argue… I do not want to… spoil our victory." Starfire pleaded, looking up with moist eyes. Raven nodded at the other girl before saying;
"Come on Star; let's go watch one of those romantic comedies you like so much. And make popcorn. Lots of it." Raven took her friend by the arm and the pair of them floated out a whole in the ceiling; back towards Titan Tower.
"What did I do..? I just… I just tried to be helpful, to be a leader to-" Robin stammered away, trying to explain himself.
"Dude. Just stop kay? We know you're not our Robin, we just didn't know just how different you are from him." Beastboy said, glancing over his shoulder as he turned to leave.
"Now are you coming?" Cyborg asked, not looking back, "Because you still need a place to stay, even if you did hurt Star."
"Yea… I'm coming."
Robin dawdled behind the other guys, not speaking the whole way back to Titan tower and when they got there, he intentionally took the stairs; he didn't want to face those guys in close quarters. Boy you messed up this time Robin… and this time I'm not even sure how. I tricked Starfire yea... and seeing her upset just… kills me… but I don't see why what I did was bad. I've been trained that if I see an option with mostly desirable effects, I should take it. No questions asked. Heck, if I were back home I'd probably do it to learn more about the Light or any other bad guy for that matter… But I'm not home. I'm in another universe, trapped here probably. And I blew it. Just when I thought that I had friends, real friends here, I went and messed things up. Again. Maybe I should just face the facts, I don't belong here. He opened the door to the stair way and came out into the main room where Starfire and Raven sat talking, the giant tv screen playing through some sort of wedding montage with about 27 dresses in it. Robin promptly slumped to the ground, desperate to stay out of sight.
"I just do not understand… why would Robin trick me?" Starfire asked, wrapped up in a pink snuggie with Silkie the moth larva purring beside her.
"He doesn't know any better. You have to remember that he's a few years behind our Robin, he hasn't left Batman yet." Raven replied in as kind a voice as possible.
"I do not see how leaving Batman could make any difference," Starfire grumbled, slumping down further into the couch.
"Well it does. I don't know all the details, but I do have an idea of why Robin left Batman."
"I thought Robin has always said that he and the Batman had a…disagreement?" Starfire sniffled.
"Not exactly. I'm pretty sure that what happened was Batman tricked Robin. Just like Robin tricked you today." Raven replied.
"Tricked him? But why? Why would a K'norfka trick his bumgorf?" Starfire asked, and while Robin didn't have the slightest idea what those words meant, he could guess.
"I don't know. But I think he thought he was doing the right thing then too." Raven answered.
"Well I do not want to meet this 'Batman' ever! I do not see how so many can praise him as a hero when he is nothing more than a trickster and a… a… clorbag valblernelk!" Starfire roared, waving her hands wildly in the air.
"Well, he is Batman."
"Batman or not he is a bad person! Why would Robin ever look up to him?" Starfire demanded.
"Because he's all he had. I don't know much about Robin's past, but again, I can guess, Batman adopted him- or at least cared for him. He's all Robin had." Raven shrugged.
"I suppose… but I still do not see how he can have any care for him."
"You care for Blackfire right? Even after everything she's done to you?" Raven reminded her friend.
"Yes…" Starfire admitted.
"Now why don't you go get us more blankets? It's freezing in here" Raven directed her sad friend.
"Yes, I will do that… come Silkie," And so, carrying Silkie, Starfire left the room.
Right, now to sneak to my room and pretend I'll just wake up and be back in my own body. Robin thought to himself, beginning to crawl.
"I see you over there." Raven muttered. What! How did she see him?
"Raven- I was uh, looking for loose change in the…carpet and I.." He began again finding himself without words.
"You heard everything and don't know what to say." Raven filled in.
"Yea.." He admitted, awkwardly walking over to the magician.
"You really upset Starfire." Raven told him, brow furrowed.
"I know and I'm sorry about that, I didn't think that-"
"Well you should have thought! You have a brain for a reason, use it! Or you could have at least stuck to the plan you came up with in the first place. How do you expect to be treated as a leader if you can't even lead yourself?"
"I don't.." He began, only to be cut off again.
"Exactly. Now it was one thing when you kissed me. I know that it wasn't real. But Starfire is different." Raven said, glaring him down. "Starfire is sensitive and naive; she doesn't understand human actions like I do. So while I feel nothing, she is truly hurt. Do you follow?"
"I think so… but what you were saying before, about Batman- tricking me?" That part of her conversation had really thrown him. Batman would trick me? Why?
"What about it?"
"Do you know… why?"
"No. I don't. Robin hasn't told us anything about his past. I'm simply good at drawing conclusions. And because you haven't experienced everything he has yet, I'm not going to blame you completely for what you did today." Raven said in her dark manner.
"No?"
"No. What I am going to do is warn you however. Don't become what you'd hate to be. Trust me on that one."
Robin thought back to Batman, so cold, dark, domineering… lifeless in a way. He already knew he didn't want to be that. But he didn't know that his form of cleverness fit in there too…
"What if I can't help it?" He asked quietly.
"Learn to. That's what I did." Raven said, eyes flashing red for a second. What she did? What was she really then?
"Raven…" Robin asked carefully, fearful of the answer, "Will you be able to get me back home?"
She sighed in response. "I don't know Robin. I just don't know. From what I can tell very powerful magic brought you here, and I'm not positive it can be reversed unless the exact same situation is repeated that brought you here in the first place, and even then theres about a 1 in a billion chance it'll actually work."
"Oh… right well," He turned away, beginning to make his way for the other Robin's room.
"But I'm not gonna quit trying." Raven added as he walked away.
"Thanks Rae," He said, disappearing into the bedroom that was not his. The bedroom that belonged to the estranged son of Batman, the son who Batman had tricked.
End chap. 15
Authors note: HOLY CARPAL TUNNEL BATMAN!
So my writing all this nonsense for you lot has given me carpal tunnel D: Which is why it took me so long to update this time :C
But don't worry, I'm fine now and quite happily writing. :3
And I must remind you to check out the comic form of this at Swiftstart on deviantart, cause you'll like it- it's 3 WHOLE PAGES NOW!
But it's growing promise.
Anyways, tune in next time, same BATAUTHOR SAME BATSITE and remember, THE WORST IS YET TO COME!