Teen Titans Fan Fiction ❯ Back to the Present ❯ Slade's Message ( Chapter 9 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

BACK TO THE PRESENT
Chapter 9 - Slade's Message

By Jacque Nicole

It was almost midnight, and Nightwing and Starfire still hadn't returned from their date.

Robin was beginning to worry.

As if the Boy Wonder wasn't stressed out enough, having the pair missing for so long was agonizing.

`What could they be doing this late at night?' Robin wondered to himself. `There's nothing they could do at this hour... unless...' His mind took a turned for the worse. `Nightwing better not have taken advantage of her...' Robin stormed into the Main Room with more and more heinous scenarios forming in his head.

“Are they here yet?” bellowed the Boy Wonder.

Teenage Raven, who was fully consumed in the Book of Azareth before Robin's uncharacteristic interruption, lowered it from her face. “No,” she informed lamely, and then resumed her reading.

As always, the two Ravens never strayed far from one another. Future Raven was sitting right next to her younger counterpart on the couch, busy playing teen Beast Boy in Mega Monkeys 3. The older Beast Boy was cheering on his younger self while the Cyborgs sat alone, having already been defeated by the changeling.

“Give it up, Raven. No one can beat me. I'm the master of Mega Monkeys 3,” taunted Beast Boy.

“Yea right,” Future Raven shot at Beast Boy, who promptly turned into a monkey to prove his point.

Robin was becoming more and more frustrated by the group's nonchalance. “Doesn't anyone else find it strange that it's past midnight and Nightwing and Starfire aren't back yet?”

Everyone in the room turned to Robin. “No,” they said in union, and then resumed what they were doing.

Robin frowned. “I think you are all taking this too lightly. There might -”

“- there might be absolutely nothing wrong. You worry too much, dude. They're just having fun,” the older Beast Boy said

And just then, the phone rang.

XOXOXOXOX

Nightwing's eyes darted from the road to the rearview mirror and back again in worry. `Maybe she flew home,' he thought hopefully. He deftly dialed the number to Titans' Tower on the T-Car's in-car phone. After a few rings, someone finally answered.

XOXOXOXOX

Teen Cyborg snatched the wireless phone off of its charger.

“Yo, Titans' Tower. Cyborg speaking.”

“Oh, hey Cyborg. It's Nightwing,” greeted the vigilante.

Cyborg covered the mouthpiece with his hand to mute the voices in the background. “It's Nightwing,” he said to the group.

Robin perked up. “Let me talk to him,” he insisted.

“I don't think that's such a good idea,” teen Raven said. She used her powers to sit Robin on the couch.

“I need to find out what's taking them so long!” Robin growled out, struggling against his teammate's magic.

“Stop being so nosey.”

“Hey Nightwing,” said Cyborg into the phone. “It's pretty late...” he hinted.

“Oh, I know. I'm sorry about calling right now. Did I disturb anyone?”

“Don't worry about it,” said Cyborg. “Dates tend to make people lose track of time. No one was sleeping yet, anyway.”

Nightwing gave a nervous laugh. “Right... dates. Actually, that's what I called about.”

Cyborg raised an eyebrow. “Do you need dating advice?”

“No!” Nightwing blurted out. “No, it's about Starfire.”

“Oh.” There was a pause between the two as Cyborg cast a weary glance toward Robin. “Is something wrong?”

“No... I was just wondering if she was at the tower.”

“What?” Cyborg was confused. “What do you mean? Isn't she with you?”

Nightwing's heart plummeted. “You mean she's not at the tower?”

“You mean she's not with you?!” Cyborg whispered incredulously.

“M-maybe she's on her way...” he said, trying to convince Cyborg as well as himself.

The robot shook his head in bewilderment. “I don't understand...”

“Starfire and I were... separated. I got a little...” he searched for a word. “I... Well, I got distracted, and when I turned around, she wasn't there anymore. It was as if she just vanished.”

Cyborg lowered his voice so the rest of the group couldn't hear. “Are you serious? You don't know where she is?”

“Don't worry!” Nightwing said, knowing that Cyborg was beginning to get anxious. “I'm sure she'll be there in a couple of minutes...” Just then, Nightwing heard a familiar beeping coming over the line.

The sound of oversized combating monkeys disappeared and was replaced by a beeping noise as Mega Monkeys 3 was interrupted by a transmission. Cyborg looked over at the screen.

`TRANSMISSION FROM... STARFIRE' the words blared in red letters against the black background.

Cyborg let out a sigh of relief. “Don't worry about it. She's trying to get in contact with us now.”

Nightwing was thoroughly relieved. “Thank God. I'll talk to you when I get back, then.”

“Alright. Bye,” he said, then hung up the phone. He pressed a button on the console, allowing the transmission to come through.

“Starfire,” he said before the image came through. “We were so worried about -” Cyborg looked up at the screen and was greeted by a face that did not belong to his alien friend.

“Oh, shit.”

It was Slade.

XOXOXOXOX

Were you ever in a situation when you had absolutely no idea what to do? That was how every soul in the room felt as the image of their arch enemy appeared on the screen. Teen Cyborg's mouth hung open while his counterpart stared at the image, speechless. Both Ravens weren't breathing, as if any sudden movement would illicit volatile behavior from the villain. The Beast Boys looked like they were going to shit themselves.

And then there was Robin, whose face took on a vicious quality that none of the other Titans had seen before.

“Cyborg,” the villain drawled. “Such language is not needed.”

“Slade,” Robin rasped out with malice, too stunned to say anything else.

“Yes, Robin? Cat got your tongue?” he chuckled at his own joke before stopping abruptly. “What's this?” His eyes narrowed. “Two Ravens, two Beast Boys, and two Cyborgs? Well, that was unexpected. I wonder why this information was not reported to me,” he said, glaring at something off screen.

“God damn it! You weren't supposed to know about them!” Robin replied angrily.

“Aw, what's the matter? Lost the element of surprise?” He chuckled again. “You should have known it would not have mattered. I still would have been victorious.”

Robin ignored him. Having been released from Raven's magic, Robin was able to get up and move closer to the screen.

“Dude,” whispered teen Beast Boy, who was still clutching his Gamestation controller, “how did he get Starfire's communicator?”

“Oh yes, Beast Boy. That's why I called in the first place.” Slade moved off the screen.

Time seemed to move in slow motion for the occupants of Titans' Tower as Slade's image slid off of the screen to reveal the helpless, unconscious form of Starfire. She was lying in some sort of wagon, hands shackled and looking absolutely disheveled. Her side was completely covered in dirt, one strap of her tank top was completely off of her shoulder, and her perfect hair was in tangles, as if someone had dragged her across the ground by it. Oddly, her perfect skin remained perfect - except for a strange blaring red rash that marred her arm - giving no sign of a struggle.

Robin's throat constricted at the sight of her. He felt his stomach plummet. His mouth was dry, and he could hardly breathe. “What?” he croaked. He could not even grasp what he was seeing. Everyone in the room was speechless.

Slade came back into the screen, laughing heartily. Starfire's image still loomed over his shoulder. “You should have seen the look on your faces!”

Robin said nothing. His face became as red as his costume.

“What's the matter, Robin? A little mad?” Slade teased.

“What have you done?” the Boy Wonder growled menacingly.

“Oh, don't get huffy with me. It wasn't too hard.” Slade moved closer to Starfire's body. Robin clutched his hand into a fist and squeezed, making his knuckles turn white under his gloves. “I have to admit,” said Slade as he caressed the Tamaranian's cheek, “she is very,” his hand went lower, onto her neck, “very” it was dangerously close to her cleavage now, “beautiful.” He pulled his hand away. “She's got the beauty, but is either utterly naive or terribly stupid, I'm afraid.” He looked back into the screen. “Oh, put that away Robin. What are you going to do? Throw it at the screen? Then you'd never know where to find your little girlfriend.” Robin slid the birdarang that he automatically took out back into his utility belt. “Anyway, as I was saying, she's quite dumb. All you have to do is shove a couple of clowns in front of her face and she's as good as yours. And that little boy toy she had with her was no problem to get rid of -”

“Nightwing? Where is he?” older Raven asked.

“Nightwing? Was that his name?” Slade chortled. “All it took was a pretty girl and some bewitching and your little teammate was all mine.”

“A girl? Bewitching?” Older Cyborg asked.

“An accomplice of mine. But you don't need to know any of those details.”

Behind Slade, Starfire began to stir, as if trying to wake up. This did not go unnoticed by Robin.

“But why, Slade?” asked the Boy Wonder, trying to buy some time for Starfire to come to.

“I've been doing some research, Robin. I've seen you with this girl, and I know enough to know that you'd do anything for her, even risk your own life. She's your weakness.”

Behind Slade, Starfire had fully awakened, although she still looked a little groggy. She looked around, as if she was puzzled by her surroundings.

Robin silently prayed that she would just zap Slade before he noticed anything.

On screen, Starfire weakly struggled with her bonds, but was unable to break free of them. She looked up, and when she spotted Slade her mouth fell open in shock. Immediately, her hands were covered by the familiar shade of green that they became before she fired her starbolts. She maneuvered her body so that her bonded hands had a good shot at Slade, but before she was fully powered up, an armored body came out of nowhere, plunging a syringe into the rash on Starfire's arm. The green fire in Starfire's hands died out as her eyes rolled heavenward and she fainted once again.

“What the hell was that?” gasped Robin.

Slade glanced over his shoulder, spotting Starfire's attacker. “Oh, that? That's my darling apprentice. I think you all know her well,” replied Slade as she revealed her face.

“Kitten!” Robin was floored once again and sank down to the couch, holding his head in shock.

“Hello again, Robbie-poo,” she purred.

“How could I have been so stupid?” Robin asked himself as he shook his head in shame.

Slade cackled. “Robin, you make my job too easy for me.”

“What was that stuff you injected into Starfire's arm?” asked teen Raven.

“Oh, this?” Kitten said innocently, tapping the now empty syringe. “It's just a drug.”

“I created it myself. I like to call it Euphoria. Its effects differ from user to user, but overall, it causes those injected with it to feel only one emotion - complete elation. It's pretty much a liquid form of Ecstasy, except the effects are magnified multiple times. Does that answer your question, my dear Raven?” Raven's eyes darkened in response. Slade smiled a devilish smile that sent shivers down all of the Titans' spines. “Well, I've tied you all up too long. I'll have to let you go so you can try to find your friend.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder, pointing to Starfire's prone form. “You'd better hurry, because I don't plan on keeping her alive for long,” and with that, the feed was cut.

A birdarang sliced through the air and imbedded in the screen where Slade's face had been.

The silence in the room was deafening. They stared at Robin's weapon imbedded in the cracked screen and knew exactly what Robin was thinking.

He was going to kill Slade for what he had done.

Suddenly, the power in the tower went out. The lights flicked off and the gentle hum of the air conditioner vanished before the back up generator kicked in. “Sorry,” mumbled Teen Raven, fighting to control her raging emotions. Sighing, she reached tentatively toward Robin's shoulder, hoping to, somehow, console her teammate. “Robin...” she stopped, not knowing what to say. What could you say to someone whose love of their life had been captured?

Teen Beast Boy did not take the news of Starfire's kidnap any better. He was hyperventilating. “No way,” he repeated over and over again. “No way, no way, no way...”

Teen Cyborg stared pointedly at the phone with a scowl on his face. `It's about Starfire... You mean she's not the tower?!... Starfire and I were separated... It was as if she just vanished.' Nightwing's words still rang clearly in his ears. Cyborg cast his gaze back at the sparking, broken monitor. `Oh Starfire,' he thought sadly. `I hope to God that you're all right,' he looked at his best friend with worried eyes, `for his sake, at least.'

Robin did not let on how devastated he was. He sat on the couch and was calm - unbelievingly calm. “Raven,” he commanded in a tone that obviously said `don't mess with me.' “Trace the location of Starfire's communicator. I want city, building, coordinates - the whole nine yards.”

Raven frowned. The lights in the room flickered. “But Robin -”

“Now.”

The half demon rose and went over to a smaller, secondary monitor located next to the large one but did not squelch her ideas. “Robin, this is obviously a trap,” she stated as she skillfully hacked into Starfire's communicator.

“I know,” replied the Boy Wonder.

“We should have a plan before we do anything drastic.”

“I know.”

There was a pause in her typing as she turned toward her leader. “Well?”

He looked her directly in the eyes. “I don't care,” he said lowly.

The older Raven stepped into the conversation. “Your mind is clouded by your rage.”

“I know.”

Elder Raven knew what direction this was heading. “Robin,” she said tersely. “Stop it. Think this through. Develop a strategy.”

Robin snapped. “Did you even hear Slade? He's going to kill her. We have to find him before he does something -”

“Do you think you're the only one worried about her?” Elder Raven shouted back. “We all care about her deeply. We only want what's best.” She paused, letting the statement sink in. “Besides,” she added, “what good would any of us be if we got killed before we even had a chance to infiltrate wherever Slade is keeping her?”

Robin stared at her. It would make sense to take the time out to develop some sort of plan of action, but if there was one thing they did not have, it was time. Casting his eyes away from the older Raven, Robin turned his attention toward her younger counterpart. “What have you got, Raven?”

“I've traced Star's communicator to an abandoned warehouse.”

“Where?”

“That's what puzzles me.” She typed on the keyboard again. “From what this is telling me, it's in Bludhaven.”

Robin shook his head tiredly. “That's impossible. Bludhaven is too far away. It'd take him hours to get there, even by plane.”

“It depends on how long she's been missing,” older Beast Boy added.

Robin cringed. The thought of Starfire being with Slade for such a long time without him knowing about it killed him on the inside.

“It was recent,” Teen Cyborg said, out of the blue. Everyone turned their attention toward him.

Older Cyborg raised a brow. “How do you know that?”

“That's why Nightwing called,” teen Cyborg replied somberly.

Robin's eyes narrowed at his name. `This is all hisfault.'

Older Raven's hand flew to her mouth as she gasped. “Oh no! Nightwing doesn't even know! You remember how he was after she went missing the first time...” she said to her teammates, remembering the state of depression and seclusion he went into when Starfire had been sucked into that time warp many years ago.

Robin's eyes narrowed even more, his face turning red. `...his fault...'

Elder Cyborg nodded sadly. “I remember... all too vividly.”

“What did he say to you on the phone, Cy?” came teen Beast Boy's withered voice. He'd calmed down a little, the initial shock wearing off.

The half robot turned his head toward his friend. “He just asked if she was here.” He hesitated before saying the second part. “He also said that he had been distracted and when he turned around, she wasn't there anymore. I guess that's where Slade's accomplice comes in.” He directed his attention to the younger Raven. “Here, let me take a look at that.” He joined her at the secondary monitor. He typed quickly into it, skimming over the words and symbols on the screen. “Slade screwed up the wires to give us a false location,” he said finally. “They're not in Bludhaven.” He was typing again. “I'm not sure where they are... yet. I can give you their last location before he sabotaged the communicator. He turned his gaze to Robin, waiting for an order to proceed before just doing it himself. His leader was in no shape to be in charge right now. As second in command, Cyborg decided he would take over the mission until Robin was in the right state of mind.

Robin slouched back into the couch and rubbed his temples, trying to relieve his monstrous headache. “How long?”

“Ten minutes tops. It'll take me a while to hack through all the security protections. You'd think this would be easy considering I was the one that installed all this shit in the first place,” he complained, diligently working to reach his goal.

“Who would've thought that the one night that Starfire was supposed to have fun and enjoy herself, something this terrible could happen?” elder Beast Boy asked rhetorically.

Robin felt like his head was going to explode. He stood up from his seat on the couch. Then, for the first time that night, he realized something.

The entire time, he'd been sitting in the exact spot that he had seen Nightwing and Starfire hugging just the night before.

Robin felt sick to his stomach.

“I- I'll be back,” he said, making a beeline for the elevator.

“What? Where are you going?” questioned older Beast Boy.

“Just taking care of some unfinished business,” replied Robin as the elevator doors closed.

Future Beast Boy was confused, but decided not to brood on it too much. Robin always was a mystery to him.

XOXOXOXOX

After the call with Cyborg, Nightwing had this strange underlying feeling of dread.

He knew something was wrong even before he saw Robin waiting for him in the garage with a murderous look on his face.

The doors to the garage slid up agonizingly slowly, revealing first Robin's titanium lined boots, then his green tights, followed by his red body suit. The yellow `R' symbol seemed to blaze at Nightwing, but he knew it was his over active imagination. Finally, the doors were all the way up, revealing Robin's furious expression.

Robin watched as the T-Car silently glided into the garage. It stopped and the driver's door eased itself open. Nightwing stepped out confidently; the look on his face making Robin clench his fist.

They glared at each other.

“Robin,” Nightwing greeted. He received no response. He continued, brushing it off. “Is Starfire here?”

That did it for Robin. As quickly as lightening, Robin's fist made its way to Nightwing's face. The forceful punch landed square on Nightwing's nose, causing blood to gush out. Robin sent another wild swing, but missed terribly as Nightwing easily dodged it.

Nightwing held his nose. “What the fuck, man?!” he yelled at the Boy Wonder. Before he knew it he was laying flat on his back, Robin on top of him and gripping his neck in a death hold.

“Don't you ever say her name around me ever again.” He punctuated the sentence by tightening his grip and slamming the vigilante's head on the hard floor. “You've lost the right to.”

Despite the fact that his windpipe was being crushed and he had absolutely no idea what Robin was talking about, Nightwing wheezed, “And you haven't?”

Robin slammed his head again. “Shut up!”

Nightwing pressed on. “You think that Starfire would ever talk to you again after she finds out that you tried to kill me?”

Robin was screaming, now. “Didn't I just tell you to shut up?! Shut up!” He slammed again.

Nightwing's vision was getting cloudy, he was beginning to get lightheaded, and breathing became near impossible. In desperation, Nightwing spat a bloody wad of spit in his younger counterpart's face.

Robin loosened his grip in shock, enabling Nightwing to gulp down several lung fulls of air. “Get the fuck off me, you crazy ass!” he yelled, rolling out from under the teen. He massaged his sore neck.

Robin approached him again. “How could you just leave her like that? You saw a piece of fine ass and decided that it was okay to abandon Starfire? Now look what's happened!” Robin threw a punch aimed at Nightwing's gut, but the well trained hero back flipped out of the way and managed to land a kick on the teenager's chin in the process.

“You need to chill out before you get your ass kicked, little boy,” Nightwing spat vehemently. “Now, tell me, what are you talking about?”

His response was an array of punches and kicks, a fraction of which were actually landed. Robin wrapped his hand around Nightwing's shell necklace and yanked. A variety of white shells flew onto the floor.

And through all of it, Nightwing did not return an assault.

“Fight me!” urged Robin. “Why won't you fight me?”

“Because,” said Nightwing in a mid flip. “I won't sink to your level.”

Robin fought with more vigor in response.

XOXOXOXOX

For the first time, Robin's teammates realized that their leader was not present in the Main Room.

“Hey,” teen Beast Boy said. “Where'd Robin go to?”

“Oh,” responded his counterpart. “He said he had some business to take care off... Whatever that means...”

Almost simultaneously, everyone in the room directed their gazes at the numbers above the elevator door. The letter `G' was lit up.

`G... G... G... What did that stand for again? Oh yeah, Ground Level,' thought Beast Boy.`Butwhat would Robin need to do on the Ground Level? All that's down there is the entrance and...'

Everyone's eyes widened. “The garage!” they shouted in unison.

XOXOXOXOX

Robin wasn't feeling one bit tired. He realized that he wasn't being fueled by his energy, but by his blazing fury.

His endless blazing fury.

He knew that Nightwing wasn't completely at fault, but when he thought about how careless and selfish he had been...

A well placed punch caught Nightwing's chin.

Nightwing moved his jaw around. “Ow. That one hurt.”

“Good,” Robin huffed. He pulled his arm back for another hit, but was unable to land it, seeing as he was now encased in a ball of magic and hovering several feet off of the floor. “Raven,” he hissed. “Put me down.”

Teen Raven shook her head. Behind her stood Beast Boy, shocked at what Robin had done. “I'm sorry, Robin, but you've gone too far.”

Near Robin's bubble prison was Nightwing, who was now being pampered and cared for by the older Raven. Her hands were placed on his head and were radiating a black aura, healing him.

Robin was stunned. `Did I give him a concussion?' Robin shook off the feeling of guilt. “He deserved it,” he mumbled irefully.

“For what - leaving her? You know he had no control over that. He was spellbound,” said Raven.

“Excuse me,” interrupted Nightwing, “but would someone mind telling me what the hell is going on? I come home expecting a sweet smile from my girl - ” Robin snorted. Nightwing ignored it. “ - but instead I get out of the car and get my ass kicked. And now I'm hearing that I've been under a spell?” Everyone stared at him wide eyed. How where they supposed to tell him? “And,” he added, “where is Starfire?”

“Nightwing,” the older Raven said gently. “Maybe you should come with me...” She led him and the rest of her team toward the elevator. One more dirty look was exchanged between Nightwing and Robin before the doors closed.

“Is it safe for me to put you down now or are you just going to run up the stairs and attack Nightwing again?” Raven asked.

“No,” murmured Robin. “I'm fine.”

Raven's bubble disappeared and Robin landed gracefully on his feet.

“What was that all about, man?” asked Beast Boy.

“After everything that happened tonight... All the stress... I don't know. I just kind of cracked, and it didn't help that I've wanted to do that since the first day he got here.” Robin soughed deeply. “And the worst thing is that I don't regret what I did. I would do it again.”

“I know,” replied Raven. “And that's the scariest part of it.”

XOXOXOXOX

As the doors slid open, teenage Raven, Beast Boy, and Robin we're greeted by the sound of Slade's transmission being replayed over the speakers as Nightwing watched it on the small monitor. Robin headed directly for the sliding doors that lead to the bedrooms. The last thing he wanted to hear was that transmission again.

Before he could reach the doors, he was cut off by teen Cyborg, who had remained in the Main Room during his confrontation with Nightwing to work on hacking through Slade's securities in Starfire's communicator.

“I know what you did in the garage. I just want you to know that I don't care about it. It doesn't make me think anything less of you. You're just human,” Cyborg said to his friend.

“Thanks Cyborg, but -” Robin could hardly concentrate. The message was still playing in the background.

“Come on,” said Cyborg, leading his friend out of the room. “I need to talk to you,” he said. They stopped just on the other side of the sliding doors leading to the rooms. “I know where they are,” Cyborg said when the doors closed behind them.

This caught Robin's attention. “Where?!”

“You won't believe this, but...” Cyborg produced a sheet of paper seemingly from nowhere. “Their last known coordinates were 40°N, 120°W.”

Robin's mouth fell open. They had been so close... “But that's right on shore, isn't it?”

Cyborg nodded grimly.

The door slid open with a `whoosh' revealing a very, very angry Nightwing. “Well then, what are we waiting for?” he asked to no one in particular, before removing his mask from his pocket and sliding it onto his face. “Let's go do some damage.”

... End Chapter 9...

Number of words: 4,520

Completed and Posted: August 6, 2005

Edited: September 7, 2006