"The Crow: Black Robin"

Chapter 5: "Nightmare Disharmony"

Disclaimer: I'm sick of writing disclaimers. You should know by now that I don't own Teen Titans or The Crow.

Author's note: Now is where Slade's plan begins. Let's see what he'll do to our dear Dead Boy Wonder. By the way, I saw the second season premiere of Teen Titans, and that episode is now another one of my favorites. Robin totally kicks ass as Nightwing. That still doesn't prove that he's Dick Grayson, as that's twenty years from now and the producers aren't saying which Robin it is.

"These walls were built for you

Your garden's never dry

Anmorata,

Your secrets never die.

"Feel it feed me

Feel it feed me

Feel it feed me

Feel it feed me.

"Anmorata,

The men all loved you so

Anmorata,

How much you'll never know.

"Feel it feed me

Feel it feed me

Feel it feed me

Feel it feed me.

"I'll bring you home

And through my yard you'll see

And then you'll know

What it is like for me.

"Anmorata,

Take me where I need to be

Anmorata,

Breathe the life into me.

"Feel it feed me

Feel it feed me

Feel it feed me

Feel it feed me.

"Feel it feed me

Feel it feed me

Feel it feed me

Feel it feed me."

Switchblade Symphony - "Anmorata"

Slade watched the video feed that his androids had provided him with. He watched Robin and Starfire dine together. He watched them dance in the nightclub.

"So you're still as graceful as ever, little black songbird," he purred.

He watched them in the playground, playing on the swings without a care in the world. Finally, he watched them return to Titans Tower. Fortunately, he'd equipped his androids' video links with a zoom-in option, so he'd had them zoom in on the windows to watch Robin and Starfire.

He saw them go into her room. He saw them make love. Granted, he'd shut off the link once he saw what they were going to do, but he knew enough.

The thought of the alien redhead touching Robin in that way . . . the thought of her lips on his --- it made him nearly insane with jealousy.

"Robin," he said in a tone between a purr and a hiss. "You will be mine. You will be mine, if I have to kill every last one of your friends and your alien paramour to make you mine."

Starfire woke up, sleeping upside down like she always did but on her side.

"Was it only a dream?" she wondered. Then she realized two things. One, she was naked. Second, someone was embracing her from behind, their arms wrapped around her waist.

"It's no dream, my precious Star," a familiar and beloved voice replied from behind her. The owner of that voice kissed her shoulder gently. "Sleep well?"

Starfire turned around in her lover's arms so that she could face him. She ran her fingers through his messy black locks. "I slept quite wonderfully." She giggled. "Of course, that may be because our lovemaking was so strenuous." She giggled again. "You are very energetic."

The boy in front of her just smiled. "That's because I love you so much."

"And I you, Robin," Starfire said.

Robin rubbed his nose against hers and in the process their lips accidentally touched. Both took full advantage of this and kissed each other passionately. Robin licked Starfire's lips, silently asking for permission to enter. Starfire's lips parted, and his tongue slid past them, exploring the inside of her mouth. She reciprocated with her own tongue, which proceeded to "do battle" with his.

Then came the call for breakfast.

"Robin, Starfire, you mind not screwing each other till you've had your breakfast?!" Superboy shouted from downstairs.

Robin and Starfire blushed. "We really must get dressed and join our friends," Starfire said.

"Yeah," Robin agreed. Although all he wanted to do was lie on the bed with Starfire, as she didn't pull the covers over herself when she slept, and he didn't really need to eat, he figured he might as well make an appearance.

To that end, he and Starfire went to the shower to clean themselves.

Actually . . .

"I think I'll let you go first," Robin said.

"Why?" Starfire asked, puzzled. "Do lovers not share cleaning facilities?"

"Yeah," Robin replied, "but if I went in there with you, it'd take us forever to get out." He smiled slightly to get the meaning across.

"Oh," Starfire said, understanding. "Very well, then." She went into the shower. Robin turned away so that the sight of her nude silhouette wouldn't tempt him.

As if the thought of her being naked wasn't temptation enough, he thought.

After Starfire was finished, Robin went in. The water felt refreshingly warm against his cool skin. He was tempted to linger, but Superboy would probably come up after him in his impatience and Robin wasn't particularly in the mood to thrash him again. So he made his shower quick.

When he got out, he got dressed in his modified Red X costume. Then he and Starfire came downstairs.

"It's about time," Superboy said.

Robin just shot him a dirty look, releasing the glamour that kept his white-and-black-painted face disguised.

"Don't worry, Robin," Raven said. "You can resume the glamour anytime you want."

"Ok," Robin replied.

"Probably a good idea to do it now," Beast Boy suggested.

"Yeah, you look like a dead hooker with that makeup," Cyborg added.

"What is a 'hooker'?" Starfire asked.

Robin face-faulted. Then he got up, aiming a baleful stare at Cyborg.

"Someone who has people pay her, or him, to have sex with them," Wonder Girl replied. She shrugged nonchalantly. "Someone had to tell her."

"Oh," Starfire said. "We have such people on Tamaran as well."

"Guess that proves that the so-called oldest profession is universal," Beast Boy said.

"Only literally this time," Superboy added.

Everyone ate their breakfast with the exclusion of Robin, who did not eat at all.

"Why aren't you eating?" Superboy asked.

"I'm dead," Robin replied. "I don't know if my system can handle food."

"Fair enough," Superboy conceded. "More for me, then."

After breakfast was through, Starfire looked at the clock. "I must depart now. I have a modeling session in thirty minutes!"

"Have fun!" Wonder Girl said.

"Thank you very much, Wonder Girl," Starfire said. "I shall return soon, my friends and lover!" She flew away.

"So, Robin, how was it?" Beast Boy asked, smirking.

"That's none of your business," Robin replied.

"Finally, a male that doesn't like to brag about his conquests," Raven said.

"Refreshing, isn't it, Rae?" Wonder Girl added.

"Quite," Raven replied.

Beast Boy had the dignity to look embarrassed, despite shooting a dirty look at Robin.

Meanwhile, Slade watched Starfire through his androids' "eyes." She was the perfect pawn for his plan. After all, if Robin had loved her enough to die for her, to come back from the dead for her, and even to kill for her, then he would certainly comply with his wishes.

All he had to do was bide his time.

"And then you will be mine, Robin," he said.

In a dark, dank cave underneath a stately mansion, a dark figure in cape and cowl brooded at a gigantic computer monitor.

That figure was known to many, hero and villain alike, as Batman.

At the moment, Batman was staring at the security footage of the exploded space center and the television news reports pertaining to it. Cinderblock had attacked the space center, attempting to breach it. The guards had been generally useless, up to the point where a boy dressed in black with his face covered in white foundation and black makeup around the eyes and lips showed up and beat the hell out of him. The reports said that the boy had been inhumanly strong and agile, and if the footage was to be believed, then he had been able to shatter Cinderblock with one punch.

The Batcomputer's monitor shifted to footage of inside the space center before it exploded. The mysterious boy had fought Jinx and had pinned her with X-shaped red bolts before leaving her to die in the trap that she herself had set for him.

The monitor shifted again, this time to footage of the foiled robbery in the tech district. Gizmo had beaten the six Teen Titans and was about to molest Starfire when a red shuriken slashed off his tentacle. The mysterious boy arrived yet again and he proceeded to give Gizmo a vicious thrashing. Then he dragged the diminutive brat genius outside.

Batman watched as the boy slashed Gizmo's throat, then waited until he had bled to death and used his blood to paint an image of a crow.

"The crow again," he said.

"Master Bruce, could it be that this young vigilante is obsessed with crows?" Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne's butler, asked.

Batman looked again, and saw a crow hovering over the boy. In fact, he noticed that the crow was with him all the time.

"No," Batman replied. He knew the truth about this boy and the crow that followed him. "It's something far less mundane."

In his younger days, when he had been traveling around the world acquiring the skills that he would need to take back the night from scum like the mugger that had killed his parents, Batman had heard legends about a crow. It was a spirit guide, carrying souls to the afterlife. Sometimes, though, a terrible injustice was involved in the person's death and the soul was burdened with sorrow. In those cases, the soul could be brought back to this world to set things right.

Batman also remembered that a soul returned by the crow was, for all intents and purposes, invincible. It could not feel pain or die, and it would heal from any and all injuries. In addition, its strength and speed would increase to unnatural levels. However, the resurrected soul had one weakness.

The crow was the soul's link between this world and the next. If it were to be injured or killed, then the soul would be powerless.

"Robin," Batman said. He rose from his seat.

"Master Bruce?" Alfred asked.

"I'm going to find a couple of old partners," Batman replied, walking to the Batmobile.

In Titans Tower, the Titans were training while Starfire was out modeling. Beast Boy, Cyborg, Raven, Superboy, and Wonder Girl were filling Robin in on what had happened in the past year.

"So let me get this straight," Robin said. "Terra was a spy for Slade the entire time?"

"Yeah, she was," Beast Boy replied, uncharacteristically glum. He shifted into a gorilla and punched a holographic Slade android.

Robin kicked off a wall and kicked off the head of another Slade android. "I'm sorry if I brought up bad memories for you. You must have cared about her a lot."

"Yeah," Beast Boy confirmed after shifting back to human form.

"So, Superboy, how'd you join the Titans?" Robin asked as he dodged laser bursts from more Slade androids.

"Superman dropped me here so that I could learn to interact with people my age," Superboy replied as he telekinetically shattered the guns of some Slade androids. "He figured that if I did, I wouldn't be so impulsive and hardheaded."

"No such luck," Wonder Girl said as she used her bracelets to block some more Slade androids' blasts, drawing a few snickers from Beast Boy and Cyborg and an amused expression from Raven, who blocked an android with a telekinetic shield. Superboy just let out an "hmph" of playful derision.

"And you, Wonder Girl?" Robin asked, flipping out of the way of a Slade android.

"Wonder Woman was my idol and my mother's best friend," Wonder Girl replied. "One day, I ended up meeting Zeus, the king of the Greek gods, and I demanded that he give me powers."

"Whoa," Robin said. "You demanded powers from a god?" He smiled in approval. "You're brave."

"Thank you," Wonder Girl replied as she deflected a laser blast from one Slade android into another, knocking him down for the count. "Anyway, Zeus was impressed enough with my boldness that he gave me powers of my own. Then Wonder Woman trained me and once I was ready, I came here."

Superboy just watched the exchange between them, bristling with jealousy. Does he have to get all the girls? he wondered.

"Kon-El, look out!" Wonder Girl shouted, flying at a Slade android that was sneaking up behind him and tackling it.

"Thanks," Superboy replied as he punched another android.

"You really oughtta be more careful," Robin suggested as he fired an X-bolt like a shuriken, knocking a blaster out of an android's hand.

"I'll ask for your advice when I need it, Dead Boy Wonder," Superboy snapped back. He landed, sighing in annoyed disgust. "End simulation."

Instantly, the androids and warehouse vanished, leaving behind the gray walls of the training room.

"What's your problem?" Robin asked.

"You!" Superboy replied. "What are you trying to do, take over? You're not the leader of this team anymore, so stop acting like it!"

"I have no interest in taking over," Robin said, sounding like a male version of Raven. "Either as leader of the Titans or in Wonder Girl's heart." The last five words were spoken so softly they were almost inaudible.

Not quite inaudible to Superboy, though. "Huh?"

"I'm serious," Robin confirmed.

"Kon, sweetheart, I love you," Wonder Girl said. "You might be a stubborn pain in the ass, but I love you. Robin's cute, but dead boys aren't really my type." She smiled. "I prefer cute living boys."

Superboy blushed. "Sorry I got so jealous, Cassie." He hugged her.

"It's cute, really," Wonder Girl said.

"I love you, too," Superboy whispered.

"Man, I'm beat," Cyborg said.

"Yeah, those androids might have been holograms, but I'm totally worked," Beast Boy agreed.

They exited the training room. "Starfire should be back soon," Raven said.

"Try not to make so much noise this time," Superboy said. "I hardly got any sleep last night."

Starfire was returning from another modeling job. It was enjoyable, and she had a spring in her step and a renewed lightness in her flight due to Robin's return. She knew he'd have to return to the other side once he defeated Slade, but she was happy that she had been able to express her feelings for him.

So caught up she was in her thoughts of Robin that she didn't see the large cloth-covered hand in time to keep it from covering her mouth and nose. She struggled, but whatever was on the cloth quickly subdued her and she slumped, unconscious.

However, this did not go unseen or unnoticed. The crow bore witness to the deed, and it was through its eyes that Robin saw it.

"Starfire!" Robin exclaimed.

"She's back?" Beast Boy asked.

"No, he's taken her!" Robin replied, running down to where the Titans kept their vehicles. He jumped on Superboy's motorcycle and started it.

"Wait, that's my bike!" Superboy exclaimed.

Robin said nothing as he drove away.

"Let's take the T-Car," Cyborg said.

Robin pursued the large black car that Starfire's kidnapper was getting away in, the crow flying over him. Robin saw through the crow's eyes, and he saw a familiar longhaired brute in the backseat with an unconscious Starfire.

"Mammoth," he growled, his lilac-azure eyes blazing with rage.

The sunroof opened and a Slade android emerged with a laser rifle aimed right at Robin. The android didn't hesitate in firing. Robin swerved to the right, then to the left when the android fired again. He kept swerving as the android kept firing.

Meanwhile, Cyborg was driving the T-Car with Superboy riding shotgun and Beast Boy sandwiched between Wonder Girl and Raven.

"Hey!" Superboy shouted to Robin. "Don't wreck the paint job!"

Robin just kept swerving as the android kept firing.

"Forget Superboy's paint job!" Cyborg yelled. "Just try not to get us killed dodging those blasts!"

The large black car finally drove into a familiar dark building. It was Slade's base, the very place where he had forced Robin to become his apprentice and the very place where he had killed him.

Robin turned and drove up the side of an opposite building onto its roof. He revved the engine of Superboy's motorcycle and drove full speed ahead, leaping across the gap between the two buildings and crashing through the skylight. Immediately, he was confronted by an army of Slade's androids, who didn't hesitate to open fire on him.

Robin got into a surfing position on the motorcycle seat as the androids fired. He flipped off the bike and fired X-bolts at the androids, disabling several dozen of them. He landed in a crouch with one hand on the ground and the other in the air as the motorcycle crashed and exploded behind him.

He rose from his crouch to his full height, such as it was, and glared at the androids. They fired on him, and he just stood there and let the blasts hit him, laughing as his wounds sealed themselves within seconds. He didn't even feel any pain from their laser fire.

"Enough," he hissed and leaped into the air, firing more disabling X-bolts at the androids.

Suddenly, a blast of blue plasma energy ripped through an android. Several others found their weapons suddenly shattered. A black glow surrounded a pair of androids and smashed them together, scrambling their circuits. A green rhinoceros tore through a small battalion of androids, and laser bursts bounced off a pair of silver bracelets.

A trio of silver disks landed in the midst of a small group of androids and exploded, blowing them to bits. Arrows shot forth from a quiver, embedding themselves in the chests of five androids and exploding. A mysterious gas enveloped more androids, blinding them enough for them to be felled by a silver-and-violet-clad girl that teleported into their midst. A blur of white and red ran circles around the androids, making them shoot each other as they missed it. Plasma energy knives tore through several androids and plasma energy shields blocked their blasts.

Finally, a black bat-shaped boomerang knocked the laser rifles out of the hands of an entire circle of androids.

Robin looked around in surprise. "Batman? Nightwing?" Then he looked at the Teen Titans and Outsiders and asked everybody, "What are you doing here?"

"What, you thought we'd leave you to do this by yourself?" Nightwing asked as he withdrew his escrima sticks and smacked a pair of androids with them.

"Starfire's our friend, you know," Beast Boy said. "'Sides, we couldn't let you get all the credit for finishing off Slade."

Batman said only three words to Robin.

"Go get her."

Robin nodded silent thanks and ran toward a door after Starfire, the crow flying behind him, having avoided the laser fire of the androids.

"We'll talk about the bike later!" Superboy shouted half-jokingly after the black-clad dark avenger.

Robin ran through Slade's base searching for Starfire when he ran afoul of Mammoth.

"Aren't you supposed to be dead?" Mammoth asked.

"I am," Robin replied, a grim smile forming on his white-and-black-painted features. "And you're going to be, too."

"What do you see in the dark

When the demons come for you?

"If only you could have seen

How fucked up my life used to be

Then everything starts to change

Supposedly healing my pain

I never thought I'd feel this way

I never thought I'd see a day

I'd run away from anything or anywhere or anyone

It's all these demons haunting me

It's all these little things trapped inside of me

Releasing me from all of my sin.

"It's taken me all of my anger

And taken me all of my hate

To learn how my life came together

Releasing the demons again.

"And now I look through my mind's eye

And see where my past needs to rest

It's always disturbed by these voices

That echo inside of my head

Another way that I can hide

Another reason to crawl inside and get away

From everything and everywhere and everyone

NO!

It's all these demons haunting me

It's all these little things trapped inside of me

Releasing me from all of my sin.

"It's taken me all of my anger

And taken me all of my hate

To learn how my life came together

Releasing the demons . . . again.

"Facing the days as I grow into my own

Loving and hating's the same

And threefold I told you

It comes back with laughter

Over and over again

It's coming back.

"It's taken me all of my anger

And taken me all of my hate

To learn how my life came together . . .

"Releasing . . .

Releasing the demons again . . .

Releasing the demons again . . .

Releasing the demons again . . .

Releasing the demons again . . .

Releasing the demons!"

Godsmack - "Releasing the Demons"

End Notes: Superboy and Wonder Girl are apparently a couple in the current Teen Titans comics. Also, it was just too easy to incorporate Slade/Robin slash. Sorry.

Now we're set for the conclusion of "The Crow: Black Robin." Being an undead messiah of justice should give Robin the edge against Slade, right? Not quite. Slade knows enough about the crow to know his Achilles heel.