The Apprentice II

Prologue

Co-write - My little brother Dark_Knight-

***

It is sunset in Jump City,

"Robin? Robin! Please, Robin, where are you?" Starfire calls out true the communicator.

"Starfire, enough. You've been calling for forty-five minutes." Raven says over the communicator.

"Perhaps if I just try one more-" Starfire scoffed true the communicator.

Looking around the alley as she saw groups of building, seen from ground level.

"Come on, Star. If he's gonna pick up, he'd have done it by now. 'Sides, you're kinda giving me a headache." Beastboy said over the communicator.

A shot along one street and tilt down through the layers of pavement and earth.

"But why does he not respond? Where could he be?" Starfire cried out.

"Robin and Cinderblock definitely went a few rounds-" Cyborg said working true the site where Cinderblock battled Robin. "-but I can't tell who won, or where they went."

A holographic map of Jump City pulled up from Cyborg's wrist. Three spots are flashing on it; one shows a C, one a B, one an S-the positions of the others.

"No sign of him here, either." Raven scoffed working at a console in the operations center of Titans Tower.

Night has fallen.

"His locator is still offline. I've been monitoring all the frequencies, but he hasn't checked in." Raven sighed taking in a deep breath.

"Oh, we are bad friends! We should never have left Robin to do battle alone." Starfire takes off in flight.

"Yeah, especially since Slade's big doodad was a dud." Beastboy said in the from of a monkey and jumps onto a roof and takes human form.

"The chronoton detonator wasn't a dud." Raven was looking at the screens of the computer studying it carefully. "It was a decoy to lure us away from Robin-and we fell for it."

It was a decoy to lure us away from Robin-and we fell for it.

"I shoulda known that thing was a fake!" Cyborg scoffed.

"But why? Why did Slade wish to separate us from Robin?" Starfire demanded looking more worried.

"And if the detonator was a decoy..." Beastboy was cut off as Raven voice came up from his communicator.

"...what was Slade's real plan?" Raven asked.

An urgent alarm starts up as Cyborg began running through the sewer. "Titans! Trouble!" Cyborg said taking a leap and landing on his feet as the sewer water splashed on his foot.

A tall, circular building with an observation deck set a story or two below its roof; a walkway leads away from this. Robin drops into view, free-falling toward the structure. Inside, the top floor is seen to be a darkened laboratory. A panel falls from the ceiling, and Robin's silhouette drops in after it He will be seen in this fashion until further notice. Something is hurled across the room toward a glass storage vessel that holds a piece of equipment. Sticking in the framework; it is a small sphere with two short arms sticking out from opposite sites. Each arm ends in a curved blade, so that the entire device looks like a backwards letter S. Slade's insignia is embossed on the sphere-this is one of his toys, given for Robin's use. One by one, lights wink on around the center logo to form a ring; after they are all illuminated, the thing explodes in a brilliant flash. Overhead exterior view again as the blast spreads outward from those upper stories. When it clears, Robin's form walks out holding the item that was in the vessel.

"He's stolen the thermal blaster!" A voice came up.

An adjoining tunnel. The speaker is one of several prison guards who run in with weapons at the ready. "Stop him!" A security man yelled.

They reach the lab, then the observation deck, and open fire against the fleeing thief. He somersaults away; they stop for a look around. "Where'd he go?" The other security man from behind looked around.

He is hanged upside down from the roof. After the guards had left the area, he drops down and makes a break for it-but Starfire and Beastboy pull out to block him and Cyborg's foot lands near him to cut off any retreat.

"Freeze!" Cyborg yelled as a sonic-cannon pulled up from his hand.

Robin sprints off along the walkway; they give chase, and he soon finds himself nearing the end of the line, with nothing between him and a very long drop to the street. He stops and urns to face them-and the light comes up fully on him for the first time, giving the others a clear view of his new outfit. They are so paralyzed with shock and confusion, it is as if their feet have been nailed to the floor.

"That's not Slade, that's..." Beastboy began.

"...Robin." Starfire replied.

Robin, still ready to throw down at the point where he just stopped running.

"Whoa!" Cyborg spat out.

"No way!" Beastboy mouth dropped down.

"Robin, why are you-" Starfire was cut off.

He cuts her off with the throw of a Slade-styled flyer that explodes in her face, driving her back along the walkway toward the others.

"Yo!" Cyborg yelled.

"What is your deal?" Beastboy got up from the walkway.

Robin, zooming in as he turns his head. A small radio receiver, marked with Slade's insignia, is plugged into his left ear, and the new boss' voice is heard from it.

All lines marked with an asterisk are delivered in this fashion. ***

"Not a word, Robin. They're not your friends anymore." Slade was heard from his comm.

The four Titans ran forward, he raises the blaster he just stole and fires at the stretch of walkway between him and them. The resulting explosion brings them up short and forces a yell from Beastboy.

"What are you doing?" Cyborg yelled.

The smoke begins to clear, revealing that a section has been blown apart entirely. Robin's outline is visible through the haze, but it fades away after a few seconds-he is gone.

"Robin..." Starfire began as she widens her eyes to see Robin gone.

**************