A/N: Thanks a load for reading!

'Sitting in a booth outside of the story, watching people walk by' Hi! 'Hands out the popcorn, $3 candy and oversized drinks' Free of charge, hope that you enjoy the show.

DISCLAIMER: 'Being melodramatic' How could you bring up such a heartbreaking thing?! And now you want me to say it? Well, you cruel viper! I do not own them! 'Sobs'.

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Lost In Transmission (Finally a short title!)

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SF

She hovered above the city, flying quite low as she checked her communicator. The readout registered nothing as she flew over an abandoned office building, a large parking complex and an old greenhouse. Not even a spike or fade away in heat signature.

Cyborg and Raven had taken the logical route and declared that, like Slade's old haunt, they may have to search for a heat signature – especially since they couldn't back track the probes signal like last time. So their communicators had had the new technology downloaded and – off they went.

She cast her green eyes across the old buildings once more – old Jump, pre construction boom, when the city was nothing but a Californian town with people who al knew each other living in it – before opening the screen and dialling the rest of the Titans.

"My search of the Jump of Old has been most unsuccessful, friends. I suggest that we regroup in the middle of Jump to contemplate a new strategy of search." She looked to the small screen, split equally into three for each Titan, awaiting their reaction.

Cyborg answered first, "Star's right. We need to regroup and think of a strategy as a team. We've searched all of the likely areas – I think that it's time that we considered Slade leaving Jump. I mean – come on guys. It was a possibility all along." Three nods, the last one a little more hesitant before the redhead bobbed up and down.

"Right – everyone go to the Center of the city. We'll meet at the crossroads." Cyborg said, and once again the Titans nodded. "See you guys in an hour or so, let's just do a last search of the place."

Starfire looked up – the sun was just rising. Her lip trembled and her gut went inward for a second before she let out a choked sob. After a minute, she recovered, straightening her back and wiping away any escaping tears. Strength - that was what she needed. The strength of her people, the strength of Robin - the strength to save him.

She did one last search of the place, attempting to find even the smallest change in heat signature before she gave up. She collapsed onto the ground and checked her communicator time. She still had ten minutes to see if she could find anything here.

Orange hands stroked the soil at the base of a large greenhouse, where a daffodil was just blooming, its stem coming from the soil like it was always meant to be there. She fingered the plant – on Tameran plants such as these were rare, but on Earth they seemed plentiful. She didn't do any damage – she didn't have the heart to hurt something as innocent as a flower.

Standing up, she felt her feet leave the ground as she began her flight back to the inner city. She left behind her what nature seemed to be reclaiming – nothing but rubble and human past.

Too bad she didn't know that a human had already claimed it.

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R

Robin was led into the large room and suddenly he was dropped to the ground. He nearly swore – this and a pounding headache were not doing wonders for him. And now, above all else he had to listen to Slade lecture him, probably about gratitude, of all things.

He found the strength to stand up and look about at his surroundings. Nothing there. He turned to his right. Nothing there. To his left. Still nothing.

Well – if Slade thought that he was going to play mind games, stuff him. He crossed his arms and looked in front of him, not caring. Some things you just weren't up for with a headache and weakness.

Luckily, for him if he'd been in his right head, Slade emerged from the front of the darkness enshrouded room within a minute. The man cocked his head to his side and began pacing circles around Robin, who was trying not to fall asleep watching the man walk. Must have been a very hard hit.

Slade stopped, in front of him again. "Robin, you must expect me to be angry." Well, Yeah… he thought, idly wondering what the man's plan was. Slade continued, turning his head and pacing again, showing Robin only the black of his mask as he began to walk closer to Robin, very slowly, "And I should be, too. By all means you broke our little… deal quite well. You disobeyed me, Robin, and I should have killed the Titans, and maybe even you along with them. Didn't your parents teach you the word consequence child?"

Robin's eyes narrowed before answering, "Yes, Slade they did. They also told me to keep away from strange men who don't seem to have a problem with being a psychopath."

Slade chuckled – a sound that Robin was beginning to recognise as something that he didn't like at all – "I see. Despite this, you acted against my orders to attack the Titans. Now, Robin, I want you to think, in case another escape attempt festers in your mind. How fast can you run? Can you out beat me? Or even a robot? Tell me, boy – can you save a city when you can't even reach it?" Slade was practically hissing the words by the end of it – and Robin realised something. Slade was worse when he was like this – simply because he was rational. And a rational Slade meant plans and plots that he wasn't quite prepared for yet.

It was at this point when Robin realised it – he probably wasn't even in Jump. Slade learned his lessons fast, and that probably meant that he wouldn't be getting out of here anytime soon unsupervised, too. Slade had hinted at it, even if he wasn't necessarily hinting it as putting it out in the sunlight – Robin was a prisoner. He was a prisoner to a mad man. Apprentice, call it what you like, but in this context he was a prisoner.

At this point he felt a sharp back hand to his right cheek. He looked up to see that one eye narrowed again at him, piercing lens looking at him. He growled, low but Slade still heard it. The man chuckled again, taking a step back to look at him properly.

"Boy, if you really didn't want that to happen you would have paid attention. I don't want a daydreamer, and if I'm telling you something it's about time that you listened." The man took a step to the side, and Robin followed with his eyes, not taking any chances. As he spoke again, his tone seemed the slightest bit warmer, "Now, Robin. I know that this is hard for you. I know that you don't think that this is fair, but boy, life's not fair. It's about time that you learned that fact. I know that you had to fight in that pit Gotham, but you clearly didn't learn that. Robin, some people are born to help others and never stray from the pack. They're nothings – they have not imagination and abide by the law to bring the criminals down. You, Robin, you're not one of them. You went behind your friend's backs to track down a Crime Lord. You strayed from the law, and by your reading I know that you get a kick from it. Maybe it's time that you started recognising the facts – you're one that walks the fine line until someone helps you."

"I know that you think that's Batman. But clearly, he either didn't teach you to be the best of the best, what's necessary to survive, or he didn't teach you enough. Listen to me Robin, I'm trying to put this in a way to make you see what's true. You're not one of them, and it's time you realised it." He chuckled, the sound echoing off of the cold cement walls. "It's not like you have much choice anyway. I just wanted to persuade you to view this situation in another way than you being a prisoner. Robin, I'm not going to give up on you. People don't impress me often, and I'm going to make sure that you grow to be a good successor. Your opinions on the matter are void."

"I'll never enjoy it, Slade. Never. And there's nothing that you can say to make me feel any different. The world needs heroes to survive, and I'm one of them." He practically spat out the sentence, and from the raised eyebrow (was there really one? He thought so by looking at the eye's movements…) he thought that Slade had heard him.

"Robin, you do enjoy it. Maybe not as much yet, because you haven't let yourself go enough, but soon enough." More chuckles. "And I have all of the time in the world, my boy."

He grumbled something about 'not being his boy' before he saw Slade raise a hand. The man walked over to a table, signalling Robin to follow. He begrudgingly walked forward, until he was standing beside Slade as the man picked up something and handed it to him. It was a belt, he looked down and realised for the first time that his was gone. The man grabbed his shirt roughly and pinned on a new and shiny 'S', and despite his rough look of his method the 'S' was perfectly straight and directly above his heart. The abominable man.

"You are only allowed your belt during training sessions, in which you are to use any strategy to win. Some… aspects of the old belt have been removed, and when you prove loyal they shall be returned." That said Slade turned and walked to the other side of the room quietly, without a sound coming from his feet as he strode.

Robin walked to the other end, his eyes never leaving Slade in case of an attack. He reached into the belt and took out a long bo staff, the same kind that Slade was holding.

"Oh – and Robin? It's not Slade anymore, remember? You are to call me Master, and maybe the use of that term will further impound into your head what this is. If not, then I suppose the Titans and the citizens of Jump will have to die. Don't doubt me on this." The man took up a fighting stance similar to the one that Robin soon took up, and the two combatants readied for the fight.

Robin growled and with a yell, attacked.

--

TT

"He's not in the industrial zone."

"He's not in the housing district."

"Not anywhere near the forests or parks."

"My searches in the Jump of Old have proved unsuccessful." Starfire sighed and leaned on her arms against the picnic table. They had met up and wandered here to rest before their searches began.

"Maybe we need to think bigger – y'know, find someone who we know and might know Slade? I mean, it's not like he would be a blind spot in the criminal realm, right?" Cyborg said, looking towards his companions for the answer.

Raven contemplated this with a calm look, "That is a possibility. We could search for in-betweens that people know of and that we know of. Someone who's standing on No Man's Land." She continued, "But we also must consider the possibility that Slade only revealed himself to Robin. We have to consider that he's gone out of Jump, even if it's something that we don't want to consider."

Beast Boy was slumped on the table, his energy yet to be replaced with sugar fuel. "We could try someone… I don't know the HIVE?"

Raven answered, "Not really No Man's Land but it's worth a shot. Apparently there's a newcomer on the scene too, and I mean new. He's only appeared in cities nearby, so we don't know too much about him. His name has something to do with a color, but I can't remember. We could try him, but I'm not sure if that would work. Best bet is to stick with the HIVE. They've directly made dealings with Slade before, so they're the most likely candidates to do it again because of that."

Cyborg stood up, the others quickly following, "Right. Me and BB will search to see if any news has cropped up out of town. Girls, you see what you can do our No Man's Land people. Report back on the communicators our findings. Oh yeah – guys, I know that we really have to find Robin, but we can't find him if we can't think straight. Stop by somewhere and get some food, okay?"

Nods again. Seemed to be a common thing.

"Titans, go!" He yelled, Robin's words filling his mind absentmindedly.

Starfire winced slightly.

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A/N: Well, I loved the reviews so decided to update early because you guys were so nice and made me feel peachy. I'll try to update soon.

About halfway through my speakers blew up though, rofl.

Thanks so much, and I hope that you READ AND REVIEW, IT'S THE COOL THING TO DO.

Time to chillax. What a fun would-be-word!