Robin was sat in front of a computer dressed as Red X. On the screen in front of him was the man he'd been obsessing over, Slade. "Impressive, Red X. I tapped into the security cameras to catch your performance. You treated the Titans to quite a show." Slade said in his usual calm tone. "Glad you enjoyed it." Robin said in his deeper register.
"After your fight with the Titans, I noticed you ran into someone. Night Shade seemed to put up quite a fight. Tell me, how did you acquire the chip from her." Slade asked. Robin glared at the man in front of him as he quickly thought up an answer. "According to her, that information is to stay between us." "I see." Slade said as he tried to piece together what exactly had happened when the cameras went out.
Robin held the red and blue chips up to the screen for Slade to see. "Is the audition over?" Robin asked ready to meet his rival. "Patience. Trust is easy to destroy but it takes time to build. One last test." Slade's face on the screen became smaller as a picture of a similar green chip appeared. "Prove yourself, and we'll meet to discuss your future." That was the last thing Slade said as the connection was lost.
"Good." Robin said before turning away and taking his mask off. "It's about time we met face to face."
Robin had kept himself shut in the room he'd been in for days. He now had new information from Night Shade that he couldn't get out of his head. Millions of questions about Slade and why the importance of himself in his plan. All of these thoughts would become disrupted every few minutes by another.
"What did she mean by answer her calls?" Robin would ask himself before shaking his head to clear his thoughts. He hated the fact that Night had been able to distract him from what was really important. He had also felt bad about ignoring her pervious messages to him.
The other Titans were in the living room trying to figure out what their next move would be. "Okay. That's where Red X has been. Now we just have to figure out where he's gonna strike next." Cyborg stated as they all stared at the two green dots on the map on the screen.
Raven typed on the keyboard in front of her. The system took a couple moments to calculate any next attacks and multiple different green dots appeared on the map. "Great." Beast Boy dragged out as they all stared at the number of dots.
Robin had walked through the room with a box full of files in his arms. "Robin! Wonderful!" Starfire said as she was excited to see him out of the room. "Our efforts to located the Red X will benefit greatly from your help." Starfire said hopeful that he would help them.
"It'll have to wait." Robin said as he made his way back down the hall. "Night Shade sent me some information she had on Slade. I'm close to a breakthrough." Robin said briefly as he entered the room making Starfire gasp. "More wonderful! Perhaps we could be of assistance to-" Star ended up cutting her sentence short as Robin walked away. "You." She finished defeated.
"Let him go. Not like he's been much help lately anyway." Beast Boy said annoyed at Robin's antics. "If Robin wasn't always A-W-O-L, X would be KO'd by now!" Beast said crossing his arms over his chest. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but Beast Boy is right." Raven said. "Y'all think maybe Robin's losing his grip?" Cyborg asked running his head.
"No! Robin's grip is not lost. He works harder than any of you! He works to catch Slade before something terrible happens. He works to save us all." Starfire said defending her friend. "Yeah. That's why every time we need him he disappears." Beast Boy said making Starfire question Robin's recent actions.
"Why don't we give Night Shade a call? Maybe she can give us something about where Red X will strike." Cyborg said and the others nodded. Raven quickly typed the girl's number into the computer and the girl picked up after a few rings.
"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Night's voice rang through their living room. "And make it quick, I'm working." She said in her normal soft tone. "Friend Perci, do you know the whereabouts for someone named the Red X?" Star asked. "Last night, yes, currently, no." Another voice was heard coming from around Night making the others raise a brow. "Do you know where he might strike next?" Cyborg asked making her draw out a long 'uhm'.
"The ones we've talked about are red and blue. I definitely believe we should go for something green. That would really make the centerpieces pop." The group of heroes were thankful while Beast Boy only became confused. "What the hell is she talking about?" He asked while the others ignored him.
What surprised the group was when her voice suddenly became firm. "Somebody keep a close eye on Robin. He's about to do something stupid and when it will be a shit show. If he comes after me for it you'll be down a Titan." Night said before hanging up on the group.
"Woah...What did Robin do to piss her off?" Beast boy asked. "If it's anything like he's doing right now, I don't blame her." Cyborg said. They knew Night's and Robin's relationship was rocky, but it seemed to get worse as the days went on.
A couple hours had gone by since their chat with Night Shade. Robin slipped from the tower and had gone after the last chip he needed. He was wearing his Red X outfit as he carefully took the green floating chip.
"Excellent work." A voice said behind Robin. He looked over his shoulder as he saw exactly who he'd been waiting to meet. "Honestly, I couldn't have done better myself." Slade said as he approached Red X.
"So, do we have a deal?" Robin asked in his lower register. "Indeed. You and I are so very much alike. It seems only natural that we should be partners." Slade said holding his hand out for the chips, but Robin wasn't ready to give them up.
"What are they for?" Robin asked holding all three chips. "I need to know what we're planning, partner." Robin said as he stared Slade down. "Patience. You can't expect me to trust you with such sensitive information right away...can you...Robin?"
Robin's eyes widened at his name coming from Slade. A net caught the chips in his hand before he had a chance to react. The chips going right into Slade's hand as the lights around them came on. Robin was surrounded by large black and white robots as well as Slade's usual ones.
Robin quickly got into a fighting stance when there was a crash above them. "Titans, go!" Cyborg yelled as the group fell from the ceiling. The group quickly started attacking the robots as Robin ran after Slade. Cyborg unknowingly stopped his plan as he grabbed the back of his cape.
"Got you!" Cyborg yelled as Slade made his escape. "Ugh! Let go! Stop him!" Robin yelled as he tried to free himself from Cyborg.
Starfire flew down into the hole only to witness Cyborg holding Red X. "No! Release him! He is-" She started to say only for Robin to rip off his mask. "Me!" Robin yelled making the other Titans stare at him wide eyed. "Robin?!" They all yelled and Cyborg's grip released.
"Slade's getting away! Come on!" Robin yelled as he quickly dodged the robots running after Slade. The group was left with the army of robots while Robin went to fight Slade.
Robin was able to keep up with Slade as they both ran all the way up to the roof of the building. Slade jumped from roof to roof with Robin right behind him while someone else watched from afar. Night Shade watched from a few buildings over. She wanted to make sure nothing bad happened to the group.
All three had stopped running as Robin threw a birdarang at Slade only for him to slice it. Robin stared down at his broken weapon before glaring at the man who did it. Slade jumped a large gap between buildings and seemed to be eagerly waiting for Robin to do the same.
The teen took a couple steps back before giving himself a good running start. To Night's surprise, he made the jump going into a roll to protect his knees from the fall. She quickly followed them, only going to a building that was next to the one with the glowing red sign the others were on.
"Careful. I wouldn't want you getting hurt." Slade said with a slight teasing tone. "I'm not the one who's going to get hurt. Now, hand them over!" Robin yelled referring to the chips. "Robin, I thought we had a deal." Slade said as he stepped closer to the teen. "Sorry. I have a strict rule against giving stolen technology to psychos. Plus, we didn't shake on it." He finished.
Night couldn't help but nod at the second part of Robin's statement. Robin always shakes hands on deals. The habit transferring over to Night rather quickly after Robin explained it to her. Night couldn't help but think about the first time she'd made a deal with him.
"How very noble of you, but stealing in order to trap me? That wasn't very noble." Slade said as him and Robin circled each other. "Two wrongs don't make a-" "Don't ever lecture me!" Robin said through gritted teeth making Night roll her eyes. "Whatever you're planning, Slade, it's over." "On the contrary, Robin, it's just begun." Slade said before attacking Robin.
Night watched carefully as the two fought. They were both exceptionally skilled, without a doubt, but the way Slade carried himself. It was calm and collected in an arrogant way while Robin was being fueled by his own anger. Slade swiftly kicked Robin away. As Robin tumbled on the ground, Slade and Night Shade made eye contact. She was standing on the next building with her weapon in her hands as she simply stared down at the two. She had herself focused on Slade trying to get any information she could from the encounter.
Slade and Robin continued to fight. Robin taking hit after hit from the man he was up against. In the years Night had known Robin, she had never seen him as driven to defeating someone as he was to Slade. Something about Slade seemed to strike a hard nerve in Robin that Night didn't understand.
Slade managed to hit a heavy blow on Robin. He fell back into a few wooden crates and started to fall off the edge of the building. Night was about to go after him when Slade's hand caught Robin's.
"You...saved me?" Robin asked just as confused as Night was. "I'm not through with you." Slade said before throwing Robin back up onto the roof. Robin acted fast as he quickly started attacking once more. He managed to land a punch on Slade making him drop the three colored chips.
"This ends now!" Robin yelled as the other titans joined him. He pulled the mask off of Slade revealing a robot with a small screen. "Patience, Robin. We'll meet face to face some other time. Oh, and speaking of time." The video of Slade played as a count down appeared on the screen. The group made it out of the explosion untouched as they stared at the small fire.
"At least he didn't get the chips." Beast Boy said trying to lighten the mood. Robin stared at the fire before his eyes caught sight of a figure standing on the building across from him. Night stood on the edge as both teens made eye contact. Robin glared at the girl as she calmly walked away from the scene.
After the fight, all of the Titans had chewed Robin out for his actions. He was standing in the newspaper covered room as he stared at a mask of Slade. While his team was upset at him for not including them in his plan, he was mainly upset at himself.
The door to the room opened. Robin refusing to look at whoever entered as he assumed it was Starfire. "You want to yell at me, too?" Robin asked as he pulled the mask off of the wall. "Everyone else has. And I can't blame them." Robin said still not looking at who entered the room as he leaned against the wall behind him.
"To be honest...I'm surprised you haven't yelled at me." The soft voice caught Robin off guard as he looked up to see Night Shade. She had made her way next to him as she leaned against the wall. "What are you doing here?" Robin asked confused. Night simply gave a shrug of her shoulders.
"The others aren't happy with you right now." Night said and Robin scoffed. "Yeah no kidding." Robin's anger from how the fight had gone trickling into his tone as he talked. "I thought it would make you feel better to have someone around that understands why you did it." Night said softly. Robin didn't respond and she let out a sigh.
"I did my best to explain to the others. While I don't condone your actions...I know why you did it." Night said glancing over at Robin. "Starfire still doesn't fully understand why you didn't trust them with this. I told them that it had to be believable enough to fool Slade. Sometimes to get the job done you have to take extra precautions." Night explain and Robin sighed.
"If they'd known it was me under that mask, they would have held back." Robin said before staring at the mask in his hand. "Doesn't matter either way. Slade figured it out." Robin said before taking a pause and glancing at Night. "When did you figure it out?" Robin asked. "The first fight." Night admitted and Robin stared at her wide eyed. "You did?" Robin asked and she nodded.
"I figured it out rather quickly, but I've also been fighting against and alongside you for years." Night tried reassuring Robin. "What gave me away?" He asked needing to know where he messed up. "You were way too prepared. You didn't struggle at all with the others. That and your fighting style." She said as she noticed Robin's fists clench around the mask. "I don't think Slade realized it was you until..." "Until I saved Beast Boy." Robin said as he realized she was right about the exact moment his plan failed.
"I still haven't figured out anything about Slade. All I've got is this and that he wants information about me." Robin said and Night nodded. "I wish I could give you more, but he's good at covering his tracks." Night said as her gaze moved to in front of her. "I know you're eager to put this Slade guy in his place, but you need to take this slowly and carefully. If you continue to rush into this stuff someone is going to get hurt." Night said and Robin took her words to heart. With that, Night was ready to leave Robin alone with his thoughts.
"(Y/n)?" Robin asked making the girl look at him. "Dick?" She asked waiting for the boy wonder to respond. "If you knew it was me the whole time...why didn't you hold back?" Robin asked genuinely curious about her answer. "Cameras." She answered simply with a shrug of her shoulders. She was about to leave the room when Robin caught her hand.
Both teens stared at each other for a few moments. "That's not the only reason." Robin said softly knowing there was more to her answer. Instead of answering Night decided to ask her own question. "Why didn't you? I know you held back some with the Titans. Why didn't you with me?" She asked wanting an answer as well.
The teens stared at each other for a few moments longer. Both of them trying to figure out how they should word their answers. Robin managed to find his words first as he opened his mouth to speak. "May I?" Those two words made Night's eyes widen slightly. It took her another moment before she nodded.
Robin sent Night a soft smile as his hands gently pulled the hood off her head revealing her (h/c) that was pulled back into the back of her hood. Robin's gloved hands brushed against her cheeks as he took her mask off of her. As he pulled down her mouth covering, he noticed a mix of soft pink, white, and yellow flowers appearing between her cheeks. Robin was rather surprised to see a color he had only seen twice from the girl peak through the others. There were two bright red flowers growing on the sides of her eyes trying to overpower the other flowers. Robin couldn't help but smile at Night Shade. She had definitely changed, but it all seemed to be in a good way.
"This is why I didn't hold back." Robin was about to explain more when Night cut him off. "May I?" Her voice was much lower in volume than before as her eyes looked up into his masked ones. He gave her a soft nod as the light smile didn't leave his lips.
Night's hands moved up and carefully removed the mask from his face. Robin watched as Night's eyes softened immensely as she stared into his. Her gaze moved down to the mask in her hands. "Your combat has improved a lot over the years." Robin complimented and Night nodded.
Robin grew confused as she handed the mask back to him. He watched her closely as the flowers on her cheeks wilted rapidly. The bright red roses being fully dead by the time she pulled her mask over her mouth. Robin placed his mask back on his face just in time to see Night making her way towards the door.
"See you later?" Robin asked not really sure what he wanted her answer to be. Night glance back at him, her hands on the base of her hood. "See you later." She said before walking out of the room and most definitely out of the tower.