Chapter Three:

Strike Hard

"War does not determine who is right - only who is left." -Bertrand Russell

Robin dodged a blow and came down on the ninja's back with a hard chop. As another man attacked him from behind he used him as a springboard and flipped over the larger man, using him as a missile and shoving him toward the other man. As they crashed into each other he lashed out with his staff and sent them sprawling. Springing forward he watched his friends.

It wasn't that he didn't trust them; these assassins were out of their league. Foot soldiers, he thought bitterly, mere distractions. The one in command posed a much greater problem. The ninja in question leapt out of the way of one of Starfire's starbolts and delivered a kick to the young alien's middle. She went down hard as Kid Flash jumped onto his back and pulled him away from her stunned form. The ninja pitched forward and the speedster flew through the air, landing next to his pretty friend who was already pulling herself upright.

Beastboy had three of the ninjas cornered, growling at them in the form of a mighty dinosaur long enough for Raven to snare them in a bubble of dark aura. The leader appeared suddenly, wrapping his arms around her neck as she lost her concentration and the others were freed. He pushed the empath to the ground and stopped an attack from a Beastboy-turned-gorilla with deadly ease. Turning to follow his companions, who had fled to the rooftops, he found himself face to face with Robin. He smiled.

"So, now we will see if you are as good as my master makes you out to be."

Robin did not speak, merely crouched and beckoned with his hand. The man threw himself forward and lashed out with one arm. Robin blocked it and returned with a punch of his own. The ninja leapt back and then swiped at the boy's head. The teen wonder dropped and lashed out with a blurring kick, sweeping the man's feet from under him. The ninja sprang to his feet, enraged and lunged at the nimble boy who simply went into a series of blurring backward hand springs and threw a handful of gas pellets at his foe. The man snarled as he flinched.

"Coward! You resort to trickery and hide behind toys; you are not worthy of the master's praise or-"

A quick kick to the face silenced him. "Call me an opportunist but never a coward."

Robin stood erect as the injured ninja rose and was about to lay another blow when a shot rang out and a laser blast hit the boy's shoulder. With a strangled cry he collapsed, clutching at his arm. The ninja stood and looked at something above him, anger radiating from his smoldering eyes; he kicked the semi-conscious boy.

"It seems I am being called back. Your good fortune. I will kill you when next we meet."

He was lost into the shadows as Robin's world went black.

He could hear someone calling his name as he tried to pull himself through the fog clouding his senses. His vision swam as he blinked and slowly sat up, shoulder on fire but rest of his body intact; he looked around and took in his friends who were crouched around him in concern. Raven was looking over his wound, brow furrowed with concentration.

"Are you okay?"

"Uh huh. It was set to stun." He tried to joke as he rubbed at his shoulder and winced. "C'mon, it takes more than a sharpshooter to take me down. So how did you enjoy your first encounter with the League of Assassins?"

He watched the realization dawn as Kid Flash groaned. "Seriously?"

"Well, these losers hardly made the cut." Robin smiled and shrugged, regretting it immediately when it jarred his shoulder. "Come on."

"Where to?" Raven asked, pulling up her hood.

"You guys are gonna need background info and we need to start planning our attack." He looked at them over his shoulder. "We're out of our league here. WAY out of our league."

Beastboy frowned. "How bad?"

"Trigon bad."

"Oh, that bad…"

As they arrived at Titans Tower Robin's mind was still reeling at the challenge facing him and his team; one he wasn't sure they could handle. He turned to Kid Flash, who stumbled to a stop next to him and pulled off his goggles. "I need your help."

"Huh?"

"I have to tell them everything they'll need to know in order to survive this, but to do that I might have to bring up…" After a moment of hesitation, Robin held up two fingers to the sides of his head to create two pointy ears.

"Ooh… Yeah, that'll be tricky. How have you lasted this long without bringing up…" He mimicked the gesture.

"There was never a need to." Robin looked at his teammates, who were flying down to join them. "We were friends and teammates and didn't care about the past-heck, look at what happened with Raven. I know you think I'm avoiding the problem but I just can't do it. I just can't bring it up-"

"I know." Kid Flash clapped him on the back, "You're so fragile."

"Shut up and patch up my shoulder, will you?"

They'd done it so many times that there was no need to speak as they stepped off to the side and Kid Flash accepted the roll of gauze and soothing cream and Robin un-did his shirt, pulling it off of one side and wincing at the burn and bruises where the laser had got him. "Man, that hurt."

"Looks like it." The speedster agreed, although he couldn't really relate as his super-speed also acted as a super fast healing source. "Tell me if it's too tight."

Robin stayed stoically silent during the whole thing, glaring at the wall in front of him.

Preceded by his heavy footfalls, Cyborg peeked around the corner. "You two alright?"

"Just patching up the Boy Target." The ginger said cheerfully as Robin rolled his eyes.

"Funny guy. We'll be up in a minute, keep everyone out in the common room, okay?"

The robotic man nodded his understanding. "You're going to let us in on what the heck's been happening, right?"

"Yeah, of course."

As his teammate left, Kid Flash noticed the return of a slightly panicked look on his best friend's face.

"Dude, it's okay. You shouldn't have to bring it up. I'll help however I can and we'll figure it out."

"…They're right, I need a vacation."

"Admitting it is a good first step."

They clomped upstairs, entering the control room and before Robin could even begin formulating what to say, Kid Flash was clapping his hands for attention. "Alrighty ladies and gents, here's the lowdown on the L of A. The League was founded by this nutjob named Ra's al Ghul a really long time ago, like really long ago and he doesn't age cuz he can use these thingies…"

"Lazarus pits." Robin said in spite of himself as he fought off a migraine at his friend's…explanation. "He's pretty much immortal because the pits can revive any injured man and being the dead to life. They're like magical battery packs."

Beastboy scoffed. "You expect me to believe that?"

"You're green and shape-shift, Raven's half demoness, Star's an alien, Cy is a robot and KF can run faster than the speed of sound. You watched Slade die, then come back to life with mystical fire powers, and fought against a intergalactic demon." The changeling drooped sheepishly as Robin shook his head and began to pace. "Yeah, I don't think this should be too out there. Ra's al Ghul is a dangerous man and must not be taken lightly. His name literally means Demon's Head and he deserves the title. His goal is to reform the world by killing off our race and rebuilding it from scratch.

"Members of the League have demonstrated willingness to die at a word from Ra's, and in seriously gruesome ways so calling him a good leader is an understatement. This organization has arms everywhere and has included some of the most dangerous assassins in the world. We're, thankfully, dealing with a smaller contingent than ones that, say, the JLA have fought in the past but I think that we may be in for a hard fight."

Robin folded his arms, trying to hide his nervousness. "I think I know their leader. Ra's has a personal bodyguard named Ubu. I think that's who we fought today."

"Okay, so," Cyborg frowned. "Why attack a small city like ours to steal simple electronics equipment, it doesn't make sense."

"Nothing Ra's does ever makes sense to rational people." Robin rubbed at his forehead wearily. "We don't have to know why, just stop him."

Starfire came forward cautiously. "How?"

"I don't know… yet." He folded his arms and frowned harder. "We don't even know what the importance of the things they've stolen are…"

The teens spread out and gave it some thought.

Raven floated into the kitchen and began to brew some tea. She tried to think about the problem at hand but the fear and confused anger that radiated from Robin was distracting. Starfire joined her, looking dejected at not being able to cheer up her friends and Raven offered her some tea.

Cyborg fired up his computers and began to research, resisting the urge to bombard the others with questions and focusing o-

"Hey, man?" Beastboy leaned over his shoulder. "Can I help?"

Cyborg rolled his eyes. "Know a lot about security feeds and electronics?"

"Um, no."

The changeling looked so put out that the older teen felt a little bad and grinned up at his best friend. "Hey man, can you get me a soda and then try and find some news about all this on the TV?"

"Can do!" Beastboy said excitedly before hurrying over to where Robin and Kid Flash were talking quietly. "You guys want anything?"

"Naw, we're good." Kid Flash was eyeing his best friend carefully. "Thanks for asking though, man."

"Right." The green changeling looked nervously at his leader. He wasn't the most observant person, he could admit that, but he was pretty good at reading his friends; he didn't always use it for good but he knew what his friends were feeling most of the time. And right now Robin was close to another episode. Time to get some results before he snapped.

Kid Flash didn't even try to help with the research; he watched Robin's breathing increase and his fists clench and finally put a hand on the smaller boy's shoulder to try and ground him. "Relax." He hissed. "You'll freak everyone out."

Robin shook his head helplessly. "I…can't…"

"Go through those breathing exercises you taught me and CHILL!"

Glaring, Robin did as he was told.

"Chemicals."

Everyone turned to stare at Beastboy, who was sprawled on the couch pointed to the TV. "They stole chemicals. Last week. That's important, right?"

"-a large amount of special chemical enhancement that scientists at Wayne Enterprises were in the midst of finalizing. It was to be used to improve the performance of soldiers in the field. There were very few witnesses but there are claims that the police attempted a collar of the thieves earlier at another scene but were-"

Cyborg was already on the computer before the report had finished, "We've got some background information but I can't get more information without a passcode for the site."

"Move." With practiced ease Robin typed in the password and gained access to the Wayne Enterprises databases. Raven gave him an I'd-be-surprised-if-anything-surprised-me-anymore look and asked the question he had really hope everyone would overlook.

"How do you know that password?"

Really wished he hadn't had to show that particular card…

"Long story. Not important. Here we go… What the hell is this?!" The sudden blast of anger made the other Titans jump as Robin hunched over the screen. "There is no way he knows they're doing this…"

"What?"

Robin scowled as he scrolled through the files. "They're designing high tech weapons! Serious firearms… Oh, not cool. "

"So?" That was Beastboy.

"Wayne doesn't make guns. Ever." Kid Flash explained as the other teen began copying the information and grouping it together into a simple email. Robin nodded to himself in satisfaction as he sent the message before beginning to cover his tracks.

"Why is that?" Starfire asked innocently.

"GOT IT!" Wow, that was a close one. Robin scrolled through the file they'd been looking for. "Okay, they're calling it 'Wrath'. Just looking at some of the ingredients I can see why the League might have wanted it and why they didn't want anyone t-venom, really? Steroids, high traces of… Is that-geez, where would they even get ahold of something like that?"

Shooting a look over his shoulder he noticed that the others' eyes had sort of glazed over; they had no idea what half of the data meant. He grinned but felt it slide off his face. There were a few reasons Ra's might want stuff like that and none were very comforting… "We need to find them. SOON."

"No kidding." Kid Flash leaned forward and placed his head near his friend's, whispering so only he could hear. "Can we call in back-up?"

"NO." It came out harsher than Robin wanted it to but there was NO WAY he was calling for help.

Rubbing a hand through his hair he drew a long breath and shook his head. This didn't add up.

Yet.

Raven sat down on her bed and drummed her fingers on a book cover. There were a lot of things bothering her at the moment. Since her powers had negative effects to emotion, she knew she needed to sort things out. First there was the obvious problem, the presence of the League of Assassins in Jump City. Robin had made it clear that they were out of their depth with this but somehow they would have to defeat these men with minimum damage. She lay back and sighed. Then there was Robin himself; he was going off the deep end. No question there.

She frowned. Kid Flash…was it just her or were they closer than they appeared? He was handling their leader pretty well; obviously he knew more than he let on. How deep did that relationship go? Robin had been acting up since the incident on Father's Day-

No.

Before that even.

She pursed her lips and rolled over and onto her knees. Father's Day…that was what had initially triggered it. Irritation welled up inside her as she realized she couldn't get on his case; if she did he would just send her questions back at her. She sighed and fell against her pillow.

In the aftermath of dealing with her father's rampages, she felt a sort of freedom she wasn't in any way accustomed to. It was odd, not keeping secrets from her team and not having the looming thoughts of destruction hanging over her. For the first time in her life she felt… Excited for whatever it was that came next.

And it was getting frustrating to watch Robin because she could see that he was still hiding things. It wasn't hard to figure that out, he was even more tightlipped than her but much worse at hiding his emotions. Which was unbelievably distracting and very annoying.

Then there was the password. How had he known that? Sure, he seemed to know everything sometimes, but this was just odd. Perhaps it came from having lived in Gotham. She closed her eyes and gently reached out to touch at his consciousness. Still clouded by fear, anger, confusion, suspense, sadness-

-and guilt?

Her eyes opened and she frowned.

Why guilt?

Ubu watched scientists working on their serums with an uninterested eye, drumming his large fingers on his arm. Phillip Masterson, the lead scientist, walked to his side and looked over the room as well. "We should have all the necessary equipment for now."

"And the Mistress's plan..?"

"Will be put to the test on schedule."

His eyes gleamed at the prospect and some of his assistance looked away with a shiver. Masterson was certifiably insane; unfortunately he was also a brilliant scientist and genius. Getting a commission from the League of Assassins had been a dream come true for the sociopath, who was now free to create and test weapons and dangerous chemicals without the pathetic guidelines set by other, more 'ethical' institutions. Watching the excited man hover over his computer screen, Ubu grimaced and reflected that the day this man was no longer needed could not come soon enough.

"I do thank you for your assistance in gathering the supplies that were…regrettably lost to us in Gotham." Masterson mumbled as he typed in a command. "Your hard work will pay off."

"Good. We're no common thieves and these errands have become irritating."

The smaller man snorted, pushing a pair of wire-rimmed glasses up the bridge of his nose. "We've been working as quickly as we can, and since you don't even have the capacity to understand what we are attempting to do, I'd remain silent if I were you."

The killer narrowed his eyes and bristled. "I am in charge here and you will respect that."

"Well, if that's the case, when the mistress arrives tomorrow, you can be the one to explain to her why it's taken so long. I'm sure she'll love to hear all about your struggles against a group of children."

Ubu was about to snap at the small man when a silky voice carried over from the shadows, "I wouldn't underestimate these children."

The Assassin glared. "Just because you've encountered difficulty in the past with dealing with them doesn't make them an actual threat. Perhaps you've been going soft."

Slade Wilson cocked an eyebrow under his full-face mask and smiled. "We'll see."