Jason sat alone with Batman in the Batcave. Alfred had left to drop off Dr Leslie.
Jason glanced at Batman. Jason watched him as he laid on the medical table asleep.
He had been waiting for at least half an hour, bored.
He had been just sitting there, looking around in the Batcave, and watching Batman sleep. He marveled at everything, His different Batsuits, his gadgets and equipment, even the Bats.
He couldn't believe that the group of boys he befriended had turned out to be a bunch of criminals! He didn't believe the story John had told him. He didn't want to be like them. It had been fun to help Batman take them down. They had made a good team. They were like the dynamic duo! He could totally imagine being his sidekick. But Robin was already taken. What about...blue bird? No that sounds stupid. Batboy? No, that's sound like I belong in a baseball game. I wonder if Batgirl Comes here sometimes. It would be cool to meet her. It was cool to meet Batman. I wonder how Robin felt, being Batman's sidekick. I wonder why he quit to be some leader in jump city...
Suddenly he heard something behind him, breaking his thoughts.
"Ah, Master Jason. Good to see you again. Well, let's get you to bed." Alfred came up behind him.
"Oh, right. Bed. Okay." Jason got up and followed Alfred.
"I'm terribly sorry you had to wait, but Dr Leslie had to get home." Alfred led him back up the stairs to the guest room.
"That's okay. Guess what?! I helped Batman beat up the bad guys! I even saved him twice!" Jason told Alfred proudly.
"Really? That's very interesting..." Alfred raised an eyebrow. "Well here we are, have a good rest." Alfred closed him In.
"Master Bruce has some explaining to do!" Alfred said to himself as he walked back down to the Batcave.
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"So I'm the last one?" Cyborg asked as he scanned the room. Everyone was here.
"Yep! I've been waiting for you guys, like for forever!" Kid Flash replied lazily.
"So we didn't find anything?" Cyborg sunk into a chair and sighed.
"I did not find a single thing." Starfire answered sadly.
"I found Robin's bike!" Beastboy claimed proudly.
"Not sure that will help us. But nice try B." Cyborg grabbed the pot of coffee. "Rae? KF? Nothing?"
Raven shook her head slightly. "I didn't find diddly! I even ran into a tree!" KF complained.
"I don't know what to do. We need a lead. We need some way to track Robin down. We can't just waste our time searching only to come up empty handed." Cyborg poured coffee into his cup.
"I didn't know you drank coffee Cy!" Beastboy raised an eyebrow.
"No I don't usually." Cyborg answered as he stirred his coffee. "It helps me to stay awake." Cyborg drained it down.
"So what? We need a plan." Raven said seriously.
"I don't know what we can do. We may have to just wait until Slade shows his face again."
"No! We can not give up the search! Robin could be in danger! We are his friends and we have to find him! We have to!" Starfire yelled desperately.
"How are we going to find him Star? For all we know he could be dead!" Cyborg had lost all hope.
"No..." Starfire's eyes watered.
"He's not dead. I would know if were dead. We have a connection. Besides I doubt Slade would kill him, he must have some other plan in mind. Killing Robin wouldn't gain him anything." Raven answered, not wanting to hear Starfire cry.
"You have the connection with Robin? Surely you can locate him then!" Starfire brightened up a little.
"It doesn't work that way. I can't locate him unless he's not more than 2 or 3 miles away." Raven explained.
"Oh..." Starfire sighed.
"Well find him Star, eventually." Cyborg laid a Hand on Starfire's shoulder.
"I have an idea! What if we put lost signs all over Jump City! Somebody must of seen him!" Kid Flash exclaimed
Everyone collectively glared at him.
"What?"
"We're all tired and frustrated. We all need some rest. Well think of something when we are all well rested." Raven suggested.
"Raven is right. We can't think straight when we're tired like this." Cyborg agreed. "We'll try again later tonight."
"Fine with me." Kid Flash sank into the couch.
So with that everyone went to their rooms for some rest. But when they woke, what they were going to discover, was something that was never expected.
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Robin sat down. He had just been brushing up his acrobatics. If he threw in an unexpected move, he might just catch Slade off guard and finally get the best of him.
But when Slade was going to return, he had no clue.
Slade had left at least an hour ago. He yawned. The only times he had slept was when he had been knocked out. He had no idea how long he had been here. He wondered if the Titans had noticed his disappearance yet. Batman apparently hadn't. He couldn't believe he had a new prodigy. It wasn't wrong for him to have another one, but the surprise was still there. Was Batman really trying to replace him? Is that how much he didn't care? He wished he could go warn Jason about Batman. And tell him he was just using you, like he used me. All he cared about was fighting crime. He was obsessed. He never cared about me, like I thought he had.
Suddenly he heard a shift of metal shafts, breaking his thoughts.
The vents had reopened. He glared at them remembering when the bars shocked him.
He quickly got up and sniffed the air. Only fresh air was coming out this time. (Or so he thought.) he glanced at the elevator. Someone was in it. It was on floor 2 going down. He stood in the shadows, just in case.
It stopped at level 3. Robin let his breath go. But he sucked it back up when the elevator continued to the 4th floor.
The elevator doors slid open. A figure stepped out. Robin backed up into the wall as much as he could.
"Robin? Why are you hiding? Are you afraid?" Slade taunted as he glanced around.
"No matter, I'll find you." Slade took out something from his belt. It looked like a Boomerang...but it was shaped like a styled S. (So like its a Sladerang?)
Slade scanned the room, pretending not to see Robin.
Slade suddenly threw his weapon at Robin.
Robin caught off guard, almost didn't have enough time to get out of the way. It barley missed him. But much to his surprise, it didn't act like a regular Boomerang.
About two seconds later, it exploded. Robin was exposed still right next to it. The explosion threw him to the floor wounding him badly.
Robin getting up quickly, glared at Slade.
"You know what Robin?" Slade said casually as if nothing had happened. "I was a little surprised Batman had a new prodigy. I'm sure you were to. I just can't believe he's trying to replace you." Slade smirked knowing this would get him.
Robin didn't respond. Wasn't he thinking the same thing, like five minutes ago! But of course it wasn't true. Right? Batman didn't really want replace him. Right? Finding no reassurance, he said nothing, he only rubbed his injured arm.
Slade was the tiniest bit surprised. He expected Robin to tell him he was wrong and try to engage in a battle.
But he didn't. Probably because he knew it was true. This is going to be quicker than I thought it was going to be.
"I was also surprised that the Titans haven't noticed you been missing." Slade lied. "I had a whole army of Robot commandos ready for their arrival." Slade shook his head. "Oh well."
"The Titans will stop you!" Robin finally responded.
"Oh really? How can they do that if they aren't even looking? Sure they might notice after a week, but even if they did care enough to look for you, they'll come up with nothing. Your never going to escape me. And no one can save you."
"No! Even if they don't find me, I can beat you right now!" Robin yelled at him, not sure if the words coming out of his mouth were true.
"Oh? Let's see about that then." Slade paused. And then all to quickly he swiftly jumped into a kick.
Robin quickly moved out of the way. Slade, landing in the spot Robin was seconds ago.
"Much better dodging this time." Slade commented.
Glaring, Robin tried a running kick himself. Slade was to quick and dodged.
"Disappointing Robin, I thought you could do much better."
"Like I care what yo-" Robin was cut off.
"But we can fix that, can't we?"
Robin slightly confused, tried to attack again.
But every time Robin would try to attack, Slade would dodge and correct him on how to attack better. Robin was growing frustrated. This was starting to look hopeless for him.
Robin was slowly weakening. His attacks became slower and weaker. Slade's correcting was getting to him.
Robin came at Slade with his last futile attempt. Slade punched him in the gut, making him fall to the floor, without getting up.
Finally. That took longer than Slade expected. If there's one trait Robin has, it's never giving up.
Slade paused as he watched Robin try to get up, or at least sit up.
"This doesn't matter. Batman or the Titans will come." Robin looked Slade in his eye as Robin managed to sit up awkwardly.
"No one is going to help you. Batman doesn't care. Even if he did, why would he try to replace you?" Slade questioned.
"He does care..." Robin told him with little belief himself.
"Your lying. I know you know you are lying. Stop trying to believe something that isn't true." Slade said disapprovingly.
Robin didn't respond. He had a habit of letting words sink in without realizing what they meant.
"So what was it? What made you leave Batman?" Slade was pushing buttons that weren't meant to be pushed.
Robin glared at Slade, narrowing his eyes to a squint. But still didn't respond.
"I know you think it was because he was trying to take Robin away from you, but deep down you know that's not why." Slade paused, as if he was waiting for an answer. But he knew none would come.
"So what was it Robin? Was it that he didn't trust you? Or that he gave you enough credit, and just lectured you in what you did wrong? Was it that you were just never good enough for him? Or all three?"
Robin knew he was never good enough for him. But he trusted him, right?
"He trusted me! You don't know what your talking about." Robin spat at him.
"Oh? Is that why he never let you patrol alone? Or that he never let you take down The Joker?"
How did Slade know about that?! Robin didn't respond. He remembered back when he was still with Batman.
Flashback
"Can I help take down the Joker this time?" A 13 year old Robin tugged on Batman's cape.
"No! He's to dangerous! Besides I need you to take out his goons."
End of Flashback
"It must of been frustrating, working with someone who didn't trust you. He just used you as backup. I'm not surprised you left eventually." Slade interrupted his memories.
Slade casually walked over to Robin. Now he was only a few feet away.
"If you had the chance, would you get revenge on Batman? What if you knew you could win, and you could that chance to tell him, everything you were mad at him and somehow by beating him make him pay? Would you?" Slade questioned moving closer to Robin, so he was standing right in front of him.
The thought of beating Batman whirled through Robin's mind. Would he? Did he want to? Batman had hurt him, but was it enough to make him pay for it?
"Well? Answer me!" Slade demanded as he reached into his utility belt.
Robin hadn't realized had close Slade was. He was just focusing on Slade's question.
Slade pulled out two sliver pieces, he put one in each hand.
"I'm not saying you'll get the chance, I'm just curious." Slade lied.
Would he? Did Batman deserve it? To him, yes. Yes he did. It was only a question, what harm could there be in answering honestly?
Robin didn't look at Slade. "Yeah, I would."
Slade smiled. Finally. Slade quickly bent down and attached the two pieces to Robin's temples before he could blink. And Robin's mind went blank.
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AHHHH! I can't believe I did that to Robin. I'm sorry Robin! It had to be done though.