The Apprentice

Time to Lose

He finally makes it back to Jump city at 10:45 pm. The streets are quiet except for his motorbike, and the sounds of... fighting? Two streets down, he can hear Starfire's starblasts and cyborg's laser canon, and can practically feel the reverberations of the explosions. He opens the throttle and accelerates, hoping they won't notice him. Another emotionally charged fight is the last thing he needs.

It's 11 pm. Robin throws open the door of Slade's base, the metal banging against the wall. "There, I did it! I did what you—" He snaps, pulling off his helmet, but the rest of the sentence dies in his throat. "No..."

The entire base is empty— reduced to an abandoned factory. The five screens of the supercomputer are gone, the gearwork no longer moving. He looks around dazedly. "How can this... what's going on?"

Slade can't help but rub it in. The speakers crackle around him. "Well done, Robin. I was beginning to worry you weren't going to make it back."

"Slade!" Robin calls out, twisting around in search of him.

"Then again... you still might not make it in time. I look forward to seeing how you handle this next challenge."

The speakers shut off, leaving Robin with only his burning frustration. "Slade!" he yells again, taking his anger out on the nearest wall with a punch hard enough to shake off the dust. Pain shocks up his arm, but he grits his teeth and bears it. "Damn it!"

He drops his head and works on his breathing, restoring the cap on his emotions. It's then that, in the darkness of the empty warehouse, he spots a blinking red light on the floor. Robin bends down and finds the source: a tracker on his ankle. Batman must have put it there while he was knocked out. Robin rips it off and smashes it, then freezes. Did he just stop his only way of being found? By instinct? The thought threatens to unravel him, and he tries with difficulty to shake it off and focus on the task at hand. If he doesn't concentrate, he'll fail the mission, and all will be lost.

He's got one hour to find where Slade has moved his headquarters. He initially thinks to check the old warehouse by the docks where Slade set his first trap, but he knows that's wrong. He can't be thinking of where, but how he'll find it. He glares up at the security camera, its light blinking silently at him. "You're enjoying this, aren't you."

Then he stops, considering what he's looking at. Slade did mention that he's always watching him. Robin knows that means the city's security cameras are being hacked into, but that could also mean he can hack the hacker. Track the tracker.

The only computer nearby that can pull this off is the one at Titans Tower. Did Slade want this? Did he plan this all along? It wouldn't be surprising.

He gets on his bike and sets out right away. The wind whipping around his helmet carries the sounds of the nearby battle. It won't be long before the Titans finish and go home. He doesn't have much time.

The drive feels painfully long, but he makes it to Titans Tower around 11:20 pm. The Titans were dumb enough to keep him on the security system, so he has no problems getting in. Once at their main supercomputer, he gets to work, the glow of the screen lighting up the living room. He wonders how his team is doing.

"Sorry I can't help, guys." He says quietly to himself, struggling to access the city's camera array. It's times like these he wishes Cyborg could help him.

No one can.

"There!" He cries as the file opens. A map of the city appears on the screen, and his partner in crime appears as a red dot emitting circular waves in the upper right corner. That's just half an hour away, if he moves fast he can—