Chapter 19: Titan Disarray

Luck. The one true justice in the world. You get one of two options, same as everyone else. Unbiased and fair.

And Jinx loved it that way each time she brought down the razor.

Jinx's smile widened as she dragged the cold steel down the back of her arm. An orgasmic sensation sizzled throughout her body as she felt her skin react to what it interpreted as pain. She interpreted it as another game of tic-tac-toe with herself. Jinx threw her head back against her pillow, her right hand still clutching the razor. She took a quick glance to check…nope, she hadn't come close to hitting a vital vein. Her hand shook from excitement, another job well done in her own warped form of logic.

"Do you want a towel?"

Jinx's body catapulted forward, her hands unable to grab the closest sharp object at the first sign of danger, the next threat Slade threw their way as a training exercise or whenever those meddlesome Titans decided to cause trouble.

Nope. Just the little mechanical dweeb standing at the door with his shoulders crossed. Even though Jinx accepted him as a partner, sometimes, just sometimes, Gizmo still annoyed her.

"What do you want?"

"Your Robbie-poo's gone and I'm not gonna take the blame if Slade asks where he went."

"Like he would."

"Did you give that Titan turncoat another of your crazy talks?"

Gizmo watched Jinx's face contort in a way that asked how he knew that. Before Jinx could form the sentence, Gizmo pointed to a corner of Jinx's room. A small, robotic spider crawled up the wall and onto the ceiling

"I knows all, sees all, saws all."

Out of the corner of her eye, Jinx saw the wall crawler inch its way across her ceiling. She raised her right hand and waited for the green flame to materialize. Without a second thought, she pointed backward and the flame zipped through the spider and blew a hole in her ceiling.

"You saw that, now get out."

Gizmo gritted his teeth and crossed his arms. "I'm serious, Jinx! You put enough crazy thoughts and he might-"

"Become as crazy as I am. I know what you're thinking."

"No. That you may push him over the edge." Gizmo shuddered. "He's got enough screws loose already and I don't need two Slades giving me nightmares."

Jinx waved away the notion. "Better he go crazy on those Titans than us." She again pointed to the door. "Out."

Starfire to his left, the others to his right. Robin felt the anticipation surge in his arms and smirked. He decided against the bo staff and fished around until he found it- a thin, glowing cylinder. If he planned to survive this fight, he had to get some distance first. He stepped backward and onto the edge of the rooftop.

Red X stepped forward. "Come on, Robin. Don't make their work easier for them."

Robin ignored Red X and backflipped into the air. Just as he saw a black hand emerge from the roof and rush after him, he flung the cylinder toward the Titans and began his descent.

Koriand'r's starbolt rushed past Robin and through the air when a blinding light pierced her eyes. Red X had turned his back while Raven slipped through the ceiling.

Robin continued down, wind rushing past his face, as a fire escape came into view. At once, he threw out his arms, caught one end and brought his body to a screeching halt, his legs still in the air. The immediate impact made his body shake, but he gritted his teeth and ignored it. Have to press on, have to keep going. The flash bang would not last much longer.

He brought down his legs and pressed them into the bars. The ground closer in view, Robin shot from the fire escape and took a hard tumble as he rolled onto the ground. Still, his body did not betray him. He kept running until he reached a large enough truck he could duck behind. He looked to his left, then right, but nothing.

Then, clattering.

His eyes darted to his right. An overturned trash can and the top rolling around? Right, never a good sign.

Before Robin could react, another black hand materialized from the ground and dragged him beneath the earth. He emerged from a wall just seconds later and brought up his arms just in time to take away some of the impact from Raven's kick.

Still, Robin went flying backward, more than he thought possible since Raven, he thought, had less physical prowess than Starfire. He landed on his back as Raven approached him without a word. He took out his staff.

Without a word, Raven lifted her left hand. The slab of concrete beneath Robin's feet rumbled and lifted into the air. Bricks surged from every direction like a sea of enraged birds. Robin spun on his heel as his staff crashed through every single brick. He leapt from the slab just as a sharp, black blade sliced through it.

He smirked. "Raven."

She vanished without a word. A moment passed and she re-appeared behind Robin. Black energy enveloped her hand as she placed it on Robin's back.

"Robin."

The blast shot Robin forward. Before he could hit the ground, he pressed his hands onto the concrete and flipped onto his feet. Robin reassessed his arsenal. No point in poisoning Raven. She may know enough to heal herself. And no way to attack someone who can read your mind. Before Robin could give it further thought, a growing shadow caught his attention.

Above him, Cyborg pointed his arm cannon and fired. Robin leapt out of the way of the incoming sonic blast as Cyborg landed. He again found himself facing down Cyborg's sonic cannon.

"Look, Robin, I don't know you see in Slade, but we're not trying to make you come back. We just wanna know why."

Cyborg's answer came in the form of an electric disc thrown at his torso. Electricity surged throughout his system as he fought through the short circuiting.

Since Beast Boy had not learned about subtlety yet, Robin figured the approaching footsteps had to come from him. He looked to his left. A green gorilla approached him with a car in tow. It launched the automobile toward Robin who, instead of dodging, ran toward it.

Robin leapt forward onto the car's hood and shot himself toward Beast Boy. He whipped back his right leg and slammed his foot across the gorilla's face, bringing him off of his feet and into a light post. Beast Boy crashed through the post with a clang and smacked against a wall. As he gasped for air, he reverted back to his human form.

"Beast Boy, haven't you learned you can't turn into something big and expect to sneak up on someone? You're too loud."

The sound of metal ripping caught Robin's attention. Cyborg tore away the electric disc before putting his fist through it. Robin went for his staff, but felt his heart beat at a rapid pace. No break in between his fight with Koriand'r, who still had not reappeared. Where the hell did she go? Robin's body strained as he moved to his right. The oncoming headlights of an approaching car caught his attention.

Robin dove to his left, out of the car's path. Concrete dug into his armor. He gritted his teeth in pain, yet there came Beast Boy, a green tiger this time. Cyborg rushed in from the left, blasting behind Robin to keep him from running.

Despite the pain burning in his shoulder, Robin managed to roll to his left, not quick enough as the tiger's claws shredded through his armor. Ignoring the fresh blood running down his arm, Robin fought through the pain and removed his staff. He slammed it into one of the tiger's paws.

The tiger reeled back in agony. Anger burned into his eyes as it tried to swipe at Robin with its left paw. It stumbled forward and onto its stomach, unable to move when Robin's staff crashed upon its head. At once reverting back to human form again, Beast Boy felt the pain ringing in his body like a bell. He brought his hands to his head to silence the ringing, but it continued. He lifted his head to see Robin's boot shoved into his face and sending him across the street like a soccer ball. The goal just happened to be a mailbox.

Cyborg had a perfect shot of Robin, right in his sight. Robin didn't move at his normal speed and Cyborg could blast him right then and there. Yet…

"Stop acting like you're going to do it and do it!"

Raven's insistence interrupted Cyborg's hesitation, and caught Robin's attention. Cyborg's sonic cannon blast whizzed past Robin, throwing back his hair, and shattered the wall behind him.

Robin winced at the pain in his shoulder. It stung to try for a disc or explosive. He paused when Raven landed on the ground. Cyborg's cannon reverted to arm form

"Robin, you know there's just one way out of this."

A red flash tackled Robin deep through the concrete. Koriand'r forced him deeper as the pavement below them cracked and crumbled. She stopped him a good twenty feet away from the Titans.

Beast Boy limped to Cyborg's side, his left hand still massaging his right. "So Cyborg, what's the one way out of this?"

Koriand'r's fist collided with Robin's face over and over again, hitting him to the point that she heard his brain bounce around in his head from the impacts. Did she care for the deep crater she continued to punch her way into? The crack of Robin's jaw? None of it.

Then her head jerked to the right all of a sudden. Her eyes flickered between red and green as her pupils dilated. Her body bent forward without her command. She tried to use that as a chance to headbutt Robin, but she instead crashed against more concrete.

One of Koriand'r's hands shook as it inched toward her mouth. She pressed it to her mouth just in time to stop the onrush of blood she would have coughed up. Some still leaked through the torn fabric of her glove. Air begged for escape.

Two black hands materialized through the ground and grabbed Robin and Koriand'r.

Robin landed atop a car hood, while Koriand'r frothed at the mouth and clutched her stomach. Her head inched toward Robin despite jerking back to the right. Her arms not responding, Koriand'r felt the anger burn in her eyes, enough for maybe one more beam to chest.

Then she felt it. Like a quick bee sting, Koriand'r felt something sharp prick her right shoulder. Out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed an X embedded into her body before losing consciousness. Her body slumped forward and crashed against the ground. The hair returned to its normal length, eyes regressed to green before disappearing and any anger dissipated as Starfire went silent.

Red X landed and shook his head. "Killing Robin? Silly Starfire, you don't get to do that."

Raven vanished and reappeared before Red X. He remained smug. Her countenance did not change. "This is not your fight."

"Oh, ho-ho, just you wait. You'll see how I can be useful."

Robin's hacking and coughing brought everyone's attention to him. Cyborg aimed, but Raven just held out her hand. No, she would do the talking here. She walked past Beast Boy and with a flick of the wrist, brought Robin up, his boots not touching the ground.

"Robin, no matter how much Starfire wishes it wasn't true, you're not a Titan anymore. And I don't give a damn where you go, but you're not welcome back to the team. Now, why haven't you left Slade yet? You obsessed over wanting to kill the man, and now you join him? You're no fool. So why?"

Robin said nothing.

"Get out." Raven let not one emotion permeate her words. "Get out while you can, Robin. I promise you that things won't get easier."

With that, she let Robin slam to the ground with a thud. With another wrist flick, Starfire's body rushed toward her. She caught the Tamaranean under her shoulder and then looked to Cyborg and Beast Boy, who kept rubbing his hand.

"We're leaving. Don't even ask about Robin because he's already beaten." She looked to Red X. "And you're not and never will be a part of this team, so stay out of this."

"Now hold on a sec, Rav." Cyborg approached Red X and placed an arm around his shoulder like a long lost friend. "Ole' X here may be rotten, and an ass, and doesn't know when to shut up-"

"My hearing's as good as ever, just so you know."

"But you saw him in action before. He may be useful."

"As useful as Beast Boy is with his humor."

"Hey!"

"My point is, let's keep him around for a bit. If he's no good to us," Cyborg slammed one fist into his robotic palm. "You get the picture. If we can use him, we can at least keep him on a leash."

Raven pretended to give it thought before walking past Cyborg. She turned her head toward Robin, not caring if he could even hear her.

"When Slade is done with you, don't come to us for help. No appeals based on past associations. We don't bear you any personal malice, Robin, except for Starfire here, but you crossed a line. Leave."

Oh, far from it.

Robin raised his head from the ground. Do not fall again. Do not hit the ground. He inched himself up. Head sore, cold sweat from the knees down, pain throbbing in his arms, but no matter.

Still, he rose. One last card to play.

Didn't expect to have to use this so soon. Robin removed the small white ball from his belt. With a wry smile on his face, he flicked it in their direction.

Beast Boy rolled his eyes. "Great, now he wants to play golf."

The sphere landed inches from Beast Boy's feet. He prepared to kick it back before it burst open. Powder sprayed everywhere. Seconds before it reached anyone's mouth, a black barrier surrounded them.

"Do not breathe in!"

To avoid any further escalation, Raven enveloped the others within her soul self and vanished.

Robin backed as far away from the powder as possible. A single whiff of the poison would put him in the same position as Starfire, maybe worse given his condition versus her Tamaranean healing. Still, enough to keep them on edge, even for a moment.

Pain shot to the front of Robin's mind as his arm shook in pain again. He ripped apart the armor on his shoulder and turned around. I survived. Yes, he had, but had Starfire had her way, he may not have been. Two fights in one night and no break in between.

Yet, despite a livid Starfire and a calmer than normal Raven, the team seemed…scattered. Lost in the wind, maybe? Unorganized?

Robin shook his head at the thought. No point in getting a big head when one member of his former team just bashed her head into his over and over again. No. That team would last without him. And he without them. It must have been his lucky day, for he had lost a battle.

But he had not lost it at all.