Freedom

8

ROBIN
A few weeks pass with Raven on our team. Her powers strengthen with force and emotion. She defeats her opponents with strategy, just as I would. We work together well, or at least as well as we can. She's a bit dark sometimes, adding a bit of pessimism to each situation. Yet, she's a valuable asset. The entire team accepts her.
Beast Boy shows his affections for her, each day. He tries to impress her with jokes and skits, but she doesn't have that type of humor. She tries to ignore him as much as possible, but still counts on each other in battle. Whenever someone attacks Beast Boy that's out of his capability, she shields him with her magic.
Cyborg becomes protective of her. He defends her and always has her back. He enjoys talking technology vs. fate, but she always shows interest. He and she get along very well. And every once in a while, Cyborg would try to teach Raven how to fix a car.
Starfire and she have a strong bond while they meditate. Although, I can tell that Raven is the complete opposite of Starfire, she still shows care. During battle, they both use their beams together to create unbeatable amounts of force.
Her training is getting stronger, and after defeating several villains, she truly has shown commitment to the team. She earned my trust. But in all honesty, she earned my trust the minute she showed her powers, the minute she defeated three villains at once.
I watch her improve, every day. Her powers get stronger day and night, and her training increases exponentially. No matter what type of traps Cyborg tries to install in the training program, Raven somehow thinks far out to defeat them.
Every evening she reads into her books, learning new skills and tactics. Every night she wanders around the tower. Every morning she gives me the same sly smile with a knock of her herbal tea.

She sits on her legs, reading another book of spells. Her dark hair swoops to one side. She runs her hand through her hair once again, slightly sighing. Beast Boy and Cyborg play a video game, nearly toppling competitively on each other.  Starfire beads another bracelet with pearls on the end of the couch, joyously smiling.
Come to think of her, I haven't spent much time with Starfire. She normally doesn't care to hang with me anymore, not after discovering she could meditate with Rave and lift weights with Cyborg. I don't know, honestly, where our relationship stands. She just drifts further and further away from me, as if I am an alien to her.
I sit next to her, watching her bead her bracelets. "Hey Star," I say. She looks up and sees me with a smile.
"Hello Robin!" she exclaims favourably. "I am making all of you bracelets of friendship!" She lifts the bracelet up proudly.
"Friends?" I clarify, raising an eyebrow.
"Friends, of course!" She smiles, laughing heartedly. "You are all my friends!"
"Oh," I say kindly. "Well, I'm glad."
"Raven!" Beast Boy whines. "I won that! You saw that I won that race!" He furiously points at the game on the television.
"No!" Cyborg retaliates. "I won that race!"
Raven's eyebrow begins to twitch, agitated.
"Raven, who won?" Beast Boy asks. She puts her book down with a sigh.
"Do I care?" Raven questions. No response. She picks her book back up, leaning into the words.
Cyborg and Beast Boy look at her and back at each other, continuing their bickering.
A beeping noise comes from my communicator. I quickly flip open the small circle device, seeing a picture of Control Freak and a pin-pointed location. A hospital? What is he doing at a hospital?
"Trouble," I say, looking up. "Control Freak."
"Ugh, not that buffoon," Beast Boy sighs. "Can we just let him do his fan-boy thing?"
"No," I retort. Trouble is trouble. "Titans, go!"
I run to my motorcycle on the first floor while the rest take the T-Car, a tricked out car with phenomenal powers. Outside, rain looked like a major possibility, a parfait day to stay home.

Doctors and nurses are trying to get the patients out while the lights flicker wildly. The hospital towered over the parking lot, but the screams of people drowned out the picture. We run into the hospital in a wild rush. Beast Boy pushes the elevator button, expecting the elevator to go down. A large rush of lights and electricity go through him, shocking him.
"Ow!" Beast Boy whimpers, rubbing his arm.
"Good job, genius," Raven mutters under her breath.
"Enough joking around," I demand, seriously. "Let's go!"
We run up the stairs while Raven flies through the floors. I must say, flying through floors is much more efficient than the billions of steps.
The little pudgy nerd taps his remote as soon as we enter. Two hospital beds come to life and strap Starfire and Beast Boy down. Starfire tries to use her starbolts to rip the straps or damage the beds, but nothing works. Beast Boy shifts into several animals, but even a fly is trapped under the restraints.
"Nice to see you again, Teen Titans," Control Freak says evilly. "I have missed our common encounters."
"I haven't," I respond, throwing an explosive disk at him. He ducks down and presses his remote. A cabinet comes to life, falling on top of me. I roll out before the cabinet hits and open up my staff. I hit at Control Freak, while Raven and Cyborg tries to free Star and Beast Boy.
"Tsk, tsk, Robin, you know sports are not my thing," he says, animating several couches alive.
"You are one sick bastard," I say, blowing up two of the couches, and giving another swing at the Control Freak. "Fighting in a hospital. What kind of sick idiot does that?"
"I thought you would be thanking me," Control Freak chuckles, dodging another strike. "I mean, now you don't have to go too far after our battle."
I grunt. A starbolt shoots past me, hitting Control Freak right in the chest. The nerd slides down the wall, rendering immobile for a few seconds. Black chords fly to him, tying him up tightly and arresting him.
"No!" Control Freak cries, struggling to free himself. "Why must you beat me? I am your most notorious villain!"
"Raven, could you escort this to the officers?" I ask, pointing to the middle-aged man sitting on the floor, nearly blubbering like a baby.
"Uh, sure," she says slightly panicky. She uses her telekinetic powers to pick up Control Freak and drag him down to the main floor. Control Freak cries and pounds, but Raven draws a sleeve around his mouth to shut him up.
"This was such a waste of a good afternoon," Beast Boy says, sitting on the damaged beds.
"I could have gone to the mall of shopping," Starfire says.
"Look, now that he's in jail, we won't have to deal with him," Cyborg advises.
"We're done for today," I say, a little happy to go home and relax.
"Oh, Robin, you are never done," a dark voice booms behind me. I turn around to my horror. Slade. Fucking Slade. "I would've expected more of a surprise than just a weird look."
"How are you here?" Beast Boy demands. "We put you away years ago."
"Petty prisons," Slade laughs. "The real prison is in your mind." Slade taps his head calmly.
I reach for my staff, ready to fight combat. My actions don't go unnoticed.
"Touchy, Robin," Slade says, sarcastically, noticing my reach. His red eyes ray down at me under his suit of armour. "I would assume you to talk a little before a fight, but you know what they say about assuming? It makes an ass out of you and me." He kicks me against the wall. I hit the wall hard, but leave no energy behind. I get up and rush at him with my staff, I get a good hit against his skull, but the next swing, and I miss.
"Why are you here?" I demand, feeling the hairs rising on my back.
His answer is a punch to my face. I hit back, getting a cracking hit against his abdomen and his cranium. Starfire tries to hit him with starbolts, but he dodges.
"I got this one, Robin!" Cyborg shouts, typing in something on his electronic arm. Cyborg aims his arm at Slade and fires, sending thousands of laser beams that all but destroy Slade. His suit of armour must be stronger than I expect.
Beast Boy runs at Slade as a green rhino, pushing him into a room and against the wall, trapping him. Starfire fires bolts of green, hitting Slade right in the face. Slade doesn't struggle, doesn't even move. I move closer, feeling victory rush over me as Slade's eyes loses red.
A rumble from outside sends his eyes back into a blazing fire. He pushes Beast Boy's rhino-self into the other wall, then kicks Starfire away, causing her to crash through several ceilings. Cyborg aims at Slade, but Slade destroys his arm with a strong drop-kick. Slade kicks Cyborg right in the chest, rendering Cyborg winded.
Slade turns to me with eyes of the devil. "Oh, Robin, you thought I forgot about you?" He asks slyly. I run at him with my staff. I hit his legs, swing into his chest with all my might, denting the metal. I put every hurt he caused me into each swing. When he was my mentor, and how he physically abused me into turning to the side of evil. How he ridiculed me when my parents died, told me I was weak. How he told me I am not a good leader, how I belong nowhere. He destroyed me. Now, I will destroy him.
I give him another strong punch that sends him into the common room where Control Freak had destroyed most of the furniture. I run to him but he is not where he landed.
"Where are you?" I mandate through my teeth. "Why are you here?"
"I am here to give a message," Slade hisses from nowhere.
"Then give the message," I command. Slade walks right to me. I step back with my staff in hand.
"The message is not for you, Robin," Slade says menacingly. Not for me? Who is the message for?
Raven flies into the room, her dark powers formulating in her hands as she sees Slade.
"The message is for her," Slade jeers. Raven's eyes begin to turn red, her anger becoming herself. "Ah, pretty girl, you are so much like your father."
"I am nothing like him," she growls, shooting her dark magic at him. He dodges and hits the floor with his fist, creating a hole. Her father? I didn't know anything about her father.
"Prove it," he taunts, jumping into the hole. Without any other thought, Raven chases after him. Without any of my thoughts, I jump into the hole. Wind carries me to the bottom, giving me a tingling feeling as I land.
Dim, flickering lights make a path down a narrow hallway with several doors. A light shines on a sign. Morgue. Shutters go down my spine, realizing that I too could be six feet under. A scream echoes through the hall and that starts me running.
Raven stares at Slade, trying to find something to throw at him. An empty room with just dead bodies, doesn't give many options. I kick Slade from behind and get another kick from him, into the wall. My vision starts to fade, feeling a hit on my skull. My eyes begin to open and close, with Slade's face in front of mine.
Raven runs at him, but Slade throws her back. I make a strong effort to get up, but nothing works in my body. Slade's face comes closer.
"I'll see you again, Robin," he says menacingly. "I'm always with you. In your nightmares. In the darkest corners of your mind. You keep me there. You keep me there in a prison that I will soon escape. Sweet dreams, Boy Wonder." My vision fades out into black, but my hearing still apprehends slightly.
"I hope you burn," Raven threatens.
"A message from your father," Slade begins. "Sundown... world... you... be the cause... destroyer."
"Leave my friends out of this."
"I am not... one who... into this..."
One more crash.
One more laugh.
Black.