A/N (09.07.14): This chapter has been edited and altered as of today. Btw, it is truly the turning point and probably the most serious, intimate start to their relationship.

Wow a lot of people have wanted to see this episode in my story, so I guess you're all glad that this is here finally. So, is Raven going to be able to figure out why Robin's being so strange? Will this make them closer, or farther apart? Read to find out what I've done! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own the Titans, Slade, his drones or Red X.

Chapter 13: Masks

In a darkness filled room, a Slade drone approached a red computer chip. As soon as he grabbed it, Robin dropped from the ceiling in front of him, crossing his arms across his fit chest.

"Tell Slade that next time he wants something to come and get it himself," the Boy Wonder told the drone as the lights came on, the Titans revealed to have been around their leader. Just as they'd appeared, many other drones of the same kind came from all sides, surrounding the Titans. Robin grinned.

"Titans, GO!" he cried his now trademark saying as the Titans went into action.

Robin took his Bo-staff out and started to hit bots standing in his way of the one with the chip that was escaping. He swatted at them quickly and soon had a rhythm going. Starfire and Cyborg helped with blasting back drones that charged from his sides, Beast Boy ramming into them as different animals and Raven throwing them into one another with her aura. Raven glanced down at Robin and flew beside him at a fast rate, giving him her assistance. She threw bots everywhere to the side as they zigzagged between them. Just then, one jumped on top of Raven and stopped her, pulling her to the ground. Robin looked back and threw a bird-a-rang at the drone, blowing it up. Raven levitated herself back up and towards Robin.

"You know you owe me now," Robin said with a grin at her. Raven rolled her eyes as she watched a drone throw itself at Robin. She threw her arms up and gained control of the drone's body, fluidly throwing them down to slam the bot into the ground. Robin looked back on the ground before glanicing back to her, smile turning sheepish.

"Call it even?" Robin chuckled and Raven let a small smile slip out as she grabbed his hands and flew towards the escaping drone with the chip. Just as they were gaining on it, they watched it quickly escape in a puff of smoke before their very eyes. Raven dropped Robin back onto the ground as all the other Titans gathered up around them, having defeated all of the other drones.

"Titans, split up!" Robin ordered as Raven sunk into the floor and the others went into separate hallways that encompassed the room they'd been in. Robin pulled up a grate in the middle of the room and dropped into the sewer, beginning to walk through the ankle high water. Before long, he stumbled upon the drone with the chip and quickly started running after the drone. It looked behind itself and ran faster down the tunnel, threw out a laser gun and a yellow bolt flew out at Robin. He flew up into the air and threw his own set of disks at the enemy, only for the attack to be dodged as well.

The drone then took a sharp right and threw an explosive at the cemented ceiling to the sewer, creating a barrier to separate Robin in his pursuit. W the cement chunks blocking his path, Robin could do nothing but come to a halt in front of them and glare at the drone as it backed away and watch as it walked. It aimed the laser gun at the last wall in front of it that closed the sewer and cut a circular hole to create an opening, the wind cutting through the tunnel from its spot stories above ground. Robin began to do his best to find a way through the cement wall.

As the drone went to jump out though, it was met with the dark sorceress who floated at eye level with it. Her eyes glowed white and she raised her hands, but she was quickly shot with the laser before words could escape her lips. Robin watched in horror as he began to ran forward, finally having broke through the mess to see Raven tumbling down to rocky, watery shores below and the drone flying up on rocket boots.

The Boy Wonder gritted his teeth together as he barely thought about his actions. He shot a bird-a-rang grappling hook at Raven and one up around the drone. The rope wrapped around Raven's waist and caught her and the drone began to drop down at the new weight attached to him, dragging Robin and an unconscious Raven with it. It flew close to the water and finally all three of them fell in.

Robin quickly ran and picked up the drone by the collar, Raven coming to her senses from the literal splash of water to her face and looking up to see Robin as he interrogated it.

"Talk! Who is Slade? Why does he want this chip? And why are you working for him!?" Robin demanded answers from the drone as he reached up and grabbed his face. He pulled off the metal mask and was met with a T.V. that had Slade on it. He growled.

"Excellent work, Robin."

Robin was seething. "Slade."

"Really, I think your skills are improving."

"No more games! What do you want!?"

"But you do lack patience. If you're really so curious about my intensions, perhaps we should meet. Face to face."

"Tell me where you're hiding and I'll be there in a heartbeat," Robin promised.

"Patience, Robin, patience." And with that the T.V. went black and the drone shut down. Robin scowled and threw it into the water beside Raven. She approached him.

"Robin…" she said hesitantly. She could sense his anger and knew to keep her distance. She sighed softly before transporting them both back to the Tower.

"Alright, all work and no flicks makes me a dull Beast Boy. So my fellow coach potatoes, what will it be?" Beast Boy addressed Starfire, Cyborg, and Raven that night. "'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' or 'King Kong'?"

"Gee, they both sound so good., Raven said sarcastically, going back to her book.

"Yeah… really hard to pick… how bout we watch 'em both!" Cy shouted aloud.

"Maybe friend Robin would like to enjoy being the potatoes of coaches with us," Starfire suggested, wishing to bring everybody together. Tell me, is he…"

"Still in his room since his chat with Slade? Yeah," Beast Boy cut in before anybody else could say anything. At this Raven's eyes perked up, peering over her book as she thought. She didn't like it in the least that Robin had become so engrossed by the villain – he was verging borderline worse than she was in terms of seclusion of himself. A look of determination crossed her face as she set her book down and slipped out of the room silently, heading for Robin's room.

"Robin?" Raven called into his room from the doorframe. He was standing up over his desk, a series of gadgets and trinkets of Slade's sprayed across it. "Can I come in?"

"Sure, Rae," he responded airily as she walked in and stood beside him, eyeing the toys as well.

"Robin, why don't you give yourself a break? Come and join the rest of us, don't make me be the only one to suffer in silence at Beast Boy's movie suggestions," she told him. He merely shrugged.

"I just can't, sorry. I really need to find out why Slade wanted that chip," he told her, looking up to meet her amethyst eyes finally.

"I know you do, and I'm not saying you shouldn't. I agree. But maybe giving your mind a break would help…" Raven started as she tried to put a hand on his arm lightly in reassurance.

"No Raven, I can't. You almost got hurt. Next time it could be worse. He's planning something, and I have to find out what."

"You can't intend to stay in here all day, Robin. Everyone is starting to worry about you… I'm starting to worry about you," Raven admitted.

Robin sighed, his hand clenching. Raven withdrew her hand, surprised. "No, I don't want you to worry, but I can't figure out what he's planning with all of you distracting me constantly!" Raven's eyes grew wide at this. "I just want to be alone, is that so much to ask for?"

Raven swallowed her words before shaking her head no. She silently disappeared through the floor, fleeing. Robin ran a hand through his spiked hair and pounded his other fist on his desk. That hadn't been the conversation he had been hoping for with Raven He cussed under his breath before trying to take his mind off of her and going to work.

Later that night, back in the same building the drone had tried to steal that chip from, the alarm sounded throughout the building. The two guards that had been standing watch over it ran out the door too see if something was up, but only ended up being trapped outside the room they had once been in. Once no on was in the room a figure appeared beside the chip. He was in a black suit with a skull as a mask and a red x over his right eye. He also had a red x across the upper left part of his chest and a silver belt around his waist. He wore black knee high books, black gloves that reached the elbows and had a long cape that was tattered at the ends.

He quickly grabbed the chip before hopping into the air and disappearing, just as quickly as he appeared.

"I'm working on a lead for Slade on the far side of town. Sure you guys can handle this guy?" Robin asked Cyborg via communicator. Cyborg nodded his head and Robin's communication shut off.

Suddenly the roof door the Titans were nearby opened and a man in the dark outfit came up.

"You working for Slade tough guy?" Cyborg asked.

"Red X works alone," was all they got out of him in a computerized voice. He showed them his palm and on them were Xs. They glowed momentarily before blasting out at the robot man and forcing him to run back. X then jumped on his back and hacked into his system, making him paralyzed. Beast Boy quickly stepped up and turned into a lion, charging. The masked villain threw a different x at him and Beast Boy was stuck to the ground in goo, immobilized no matter what the animal. Starfire gasped and threw starbolts at Red X. He flipped back just in time before shooting an x out at her body, it wrapping around her torso, throwing her to the ground trapped.

Raven finally levitated off of the ground and flew at X. He laughed before running to a different side of the building. She threw black projectiles at him and picked up random crates nearby, but he dodged eveve as she pursued. She finally approached him closer and threw a punch, which he caught in his hand.

"So, the Titans' fate is left up to the dark vixen alone," X sneered. Raven's eyes narrowed and she sent a kick in his direction. He merely caught Raven's leg in his other hand, spun her around and held her around from behind with his arms as if in an embrace. She thrashed out but he held her tight, chuckling.

"Until next time," he whispered huskily in her ear, causing her to shiver. He drew his fingertips to the place his mouth would be and pressed them to his lips, only to bring them down upon her own as if giving her an affectionate kiss. Immdiately after though, an x formed around her mouth and she couldn't speak, render her silent from saying her dangerous magic words that would blast him to another dimension.

Before she could reach for him as he let go of her, he disappeared in a flash. Raven finally gave up from trying to rip the x from her mouth and simply fell to the ground on her knees, feeling defeated and a bit dazed at what had just happened.

'Who was that guy?'

"Rumor has it you want this," Red X spoke on a television to Slade, holding up the chip for him to see.

"I want many things, mister…"

"X, Red X."

"Catchy. o, what is it you want, kid?"

"A partnership. I give you the chip, and you cut me in on the plans."

"My… ambitious aren't we? But an alliance cannot be formed by one small chip. I'll require more to gain trust."

"Just tell me what you want," Red X said with a grin evident behind his mask.

"Wow, I had no idea X would be such a threat," Robin told his teammates once he had made it back to the Tower. They were all congregated in the Main Room, Starfire was sitting on the counter top trying to cut all of the goo from Beast Boy's hair, Cyborg leaning against the counter top casually near them, and Raven sitting on top of the kitchen table across from Star, the X still over her mouth. "I should have been there," Robin concluded.

"You're right on that! Look what he did to my hair!" Beast Boy wailed.

Raven raised an eyebrow, figuring she'd been silent for long enough as she began to point at her mouth and attempted to talk through it. She crossed her arms over her chest in a pout, frustration hitting her.

"I've got it, don't worry," Robin answered her as he approached her, standing in front of her. "Hold still."

Raven gripped the edge of the table top tightly as she leaned forward closer to Robin. He put his hand on the side of her cheek where the edge of the x began, but left it there for a moment, his masked gaze intent on her. She looked at him strangely before he quickly – and without warning – grasped the x's edge and ripped it clear off her face in one swipe. This made the other three Titans gasp, waiting for the outburst. Raven merely closed her eyes though and dug her nails into the table, refusing to scream like her brain wished. After a little of her adjusting, she opened her eyes to see him still standing there, the two looking at each other.

"Ouch," She uttered simply before touching her face where Robin's hand had been, sitting fully upright so to break their gaze. She then spoke to him. "Even if you had been there, it wouldn't have made a difference. He seemed to know how to take us all down."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure he had a gadget with your name on it," Cy jumped in.

"Agreed. You may not feel guilt, we are undamaged," Starfire piped up. Beast Boy glared up at her. "Well, mostly."

"So, find anything on Slade?" Beast Boy asked.

"Nope, the lead was a dead end. I should be going back to work."

With that Robin left the Main Room, his teammates looking after him in concern.

"Robin what's going –" Raven started as her teammates and her entered the Main Room that night. The alarm system was going off, but their leader was nowhere to be found. Suddenly the T.V. screen turned on and Robin's face appeared.

"I found a lead on Red X stealing a similar chip like before. Get here as soon as you can!" With that he disappeared and the screen went black.

Raven sighed before looking at her teammates. Something was up… she just didn't know what that something was. She simply enveloped everyone in her black aura and transported all of them to Robin's location.

The four Titans stood in the middle of the road surrounded by numerous warehouse, no one having spotted Robin or Red X yet. Just then though, X came jumping from a building and over to the side of them, Robin following hot on his tail. X turned around and shot out a net at Robin, trapping him as he began to escape.

"Robin!" Raven shouted as the team started towards him.

"I'm fine! Get X! Go!" Robin instructed them. Raven stopped, taking one more weary glance at her leader before she and Star flew off, Beast Boy and Cyborg following by foot. Before long though, X disappeared before their eyes. They all looked around, wondering if he would appear.

"Someone's below us," Rave finally spoke up after sensing a familiar presence, everyone looking down to see the subway entrance nearby. They ran down the steps and found themselves near train tracks.

"Where'd he go?" Beast Boy asked, scratching his head.

Raven closed her eyes and went into her lotus position. Regardless if they could see him, she would be able to sense him.

'I sense something but… it's too familiar… it can't be right…'

"Aggh!"

Raven's eyes shot open just in time to see Cyborg getting smacked back and hacked by X. Red X carelessly tossed him to the ground, the half robot cussing at himself for letting the same mistake happen again.

Starfire flew to punch him but he jumped out of the way and dodged, making her ram into Beast Boy. Red X looked over his shoulder at the dark Titan and she said her words quickly, making crates beside her float up and attack at him. He jumped, kicked and broke all of them before coming back down and snatching her cloak, throwing her onto the subway's train tracks. He laughed as he watched her glare at him.

"Why are you doing this?" Raven shouted at him in a growl, trying to find her footing and stand up. Suddenly lights came in front of her face and she looked up, seeing a subway train headed her way. She gasped, suddenly unmoving.

Red X swooped down onto the tracks and put one arm around her waist as he kicked back up and jumped onto the other side of the landing platform, placing her on the ground as the train passed by, separating them from the other Titans. She sat against the wall and looked up, dazed, as he stood up.

"You… you just saved me," she breathed out, squinting at him. And all too familiar feeling entered her mind at the feel of him wrapping his arm around her.

Before she could come to any conclusions, he was gone. She sighed and rubbed her aching head before standing up. The team approached her once the train had left passed.

"Who is that guy?" Raven whispered.

"Impressive, X," Slade said to him through the computer screen. X held up the two chips he had.

"Is the audition over now?"

"Patience. Retrieve this last one… and we'll be in touch." With that Slade's face disappeared.

"Good." X said. "It's time we met… face to face."

Robin walked through the Main Room towards the doors to exit after grabbing a coffee. He needed to get to his room for further planning. The other Titans were trying to track down Red X but glanced up to watch him leaving already. Raven silently materialized into the floor and appeared in front of him.

"You could help us in here," she started. "We are working on the same thing." But Robin would hear none of it and sidestepped around her, going through the doors and into the hall.

"Just let him go, Raven. It's not like he's going to be any help," Beast Boy told her. "He's lost his grip."

"No… he hasn't," she whispered firmly, turning away from the team and levitating off down the hallway. She landed when she stood outside Robin's open door, peering in before entering. He wasn't there. She glanced at all the newspaper clippings on the wall and at the desk where all of the gadgets were. She sighed before picking up a broken bird-a-rang, just as confused as when they'd first started tracking Slade.

"Robin… what's going on?" she whispered as she examined it. It suddenly sparked and she dropped it back on the desk in surprise, it knocking over a tiny ball in the process. It seemed to switch on when it hit the ground, a holograph image of Robin in a red net appearing. Raven's eyes widened. She gently put her hand through it.

"If he wasn't really there, then he was…" Raven gasped when she realized why her mind had triggered a familiar feeling to X. She lowered herself to the ground on her knees, staring at the holographic Robin in question in sadness, wondering why he would do such a thing.

"Bravo…" Slade said as he approached Red X, who finally had all three chips. "I couldn't have done better myself."

"Thanks."

"You and me are so very much alike… it only seems fitting we form an alliance."

"So what are they for?" X asked, motioning to the chips.

"You can't expect me to trust you with such fragile information already… Robin."

Robin gasped and a small net shot out from behind him, capturing the chips and handing them over to Slade, who caught them. Robin looked all around him, finding himself surrounded by Slade's robots. He took on a fighting stance, but before anybody could attack Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy came in from the ceiling.

"Titans, GO!" Cyborg's voice echoed throughout the building as Starfire shot at robots, Beast Boy turned into a squid and started to crush them all in his tentacles, and Cyborg went for Robin, who was trying to go after an escaping Slade.

"Stop, let go! Get him!" he tried to tell his teammates, but Cyborg wouldn't listen as he caught the boy by his cape. Just then Raven flew in from the hole in the ceiling they'd created, seeing what was going on. She flew towards them, a frown on her face.

"Guys, let go of him, that's –"

"ME!" Robin cried out as he took off the mask that had been concealing him this whole time. Everybody froze in shock.

"ROBIN?!" they all stood there as robots attacked around them.

"Slade's getting away, come on!" he shouted to his team as he dodged attacking robots and ran out the door. Everybody watched him go, torn, before fighting the robots back that tried to follow him. Raven took one last glance at the three others before disappearing out the door after him.

"Enough running, Slade! What is it you want with those chips?" Robin called after him as they continued to run from building to building. Slade had a good lead on him but finally turned around to look at the Boy Wonder. "Whatever you're planning, it's over," Robin told him. Slade chuckled.

"On the contrary, it has only just begun."

With that he punched Robin, who dodged quickly and threw a disk at him. The chips in his hands flew across the other side of the building. Raven had been flying above them the whole time and enveloped the chips with her dark magic. Slade glared up at her before kicking Robin to the edge of the building. He rolled off the side but caught himself on the side, hanging there, dangling off the roof. Slade smirked before Raven flew down and punched him in the head, her fist surrounded with power. His mask flew off, only to again reveal a television screen where his head should have been.

"Tell Robin we'll meet face to face soon enough," was all Slade said from the other end as the robot exploded in front of her. She threw a shield up before she could be hit by any pieces and looked over at Robin.

She swiftly flew over to aid him, leaning down and grabbing his hands before pulling him up with as much strength she could muster up. When he finally was able to flip over, Raven moved before he could fall on her. He stood up, looking at her quietly as she didn't say anything to him either. They were silent as they met up with the team, as well as the rest of the way home.

Robin stood in front of his newspaper clippings on the wall, deep in thought. He pulled the Slade mask he had pinned up on it down, examining it. His door suddenly hissed opened and he looked up from it to see Raven standing there, before slowly coming in to stand beside him.

"You here to yell at me, too?" has asked her. "Everybody else has, and I can't blame them."

She sighed as she glanced down before meeting his gaze. "No, I'm not here to yell at you. I'm just here to understand."

He knew she wanted to know why he hadn't trusted them. "I needed to fool Slade. If you guys knew it was me under that mask, you would have held back," he explained to her. "But it doesn't matter anyway. Slade figured it out, and I still haven't figured out anything about him."

"That's not all true," Raven told him. His expression turned puzzled before she continued. "He didn't trust you, and you didn't trust us."

With that being said Raven turned to leave him with his thoughts, beginning to walk out slowly when she felt Robin grab her wrist. She turned around to face him when she was met with his shoulder, his warm scent filling her nose and his toned body flush up against her own. Her eyes widened as realization struck at this new body contact she'd never before experienced.

He was hugging her.

Sure, he had caught her before or she'd grabbed his hands and flown while they went after a villain. But this – this was different. This was deliberate; private, and an action that caused something in her to stir.

"I'm sorry," he whispered into her ear. She bit her bottom lip and hesitantly placed her arms around his body as well, closing her eyes and staying there with him like that, silently telling him in her own way that everything was okay and she forgave him.

End Chapter

I like the cute Rae/Rob scenes I put into this. It's fun to write about them how I want. Hope you guys liked it as much as I did and will tell me what you thought in a review.

Next time…

The Teen Titans awaken to find themselves prisoners of Mad Mod, a madcap British bad guy in a psychedelic suit. Mad Mod wants to teach the Titans a lesson, so he's created a massive mind-bending school full of optical illusions and brainwashing hypno-screens. The Titans will have to escape before they lose their minds!

DarkGirlRavenGrayson