If you ask questions you'll get answers and perhaps learn something. Ask questions whenever you can and you'll never be lost or confused in life. That is unless the answers just lead to more questions. And sometimes those questions lead to answers that no one wants to know about, answers that wake us up in the middle if the night in a cold sweat, the ones that are always floating in the top of your head, the kind of answers that always seem to…haunt you.

"Dude give it a break!" Beast Boy said as he peeked his green head into his team's leader's room. "You need some sleep, C'mon!"

"I can't." Robin answered, not looking up at his friend. Robin kept his head down on his work, just staring at the faded picture in his hands, as if it would suddenly spring to life and he would miss an important clue. "But you should be asleep. Go to bed Beast Boy. I'll see you in the morning."

"But dude-"

"GOOD NIGHT BEAST BOY!"

Always ask the questions who, what, when, how and why, if you ever want to know anything. Robin knew the answers, but they still left him confused.

Who: Slade. An evil man who is just seeks power.

When: When ever he can.

How: By breaking you down and making you feel helpless and weak. By finding the softest spot on you and hitting it with full on force.

Why…because he wanted Robin. He wanted an apprentice, someone to do his dirty work for him. Someone he could push around and be superior to… a son.

Robin was looking at the four giant T.V. screens that surrounded Slade and himself. Each screen showed the same image, a blood stream, but the blood cells had tiny devises on them. And above the screens it showed the names of the people that Robin held so close to him.

Starfire, Raven. Beast Boy, and Cyborg.

"What the-"

"Nano Scopice probes." Slade answered casually, after seeing the confused feature on the young boys face. "The crouton detonator was merely the bait for a much larger trap. You see with a push of a button, my probes will destroy your friends…"

Slade hesitated for a moment, building the suspense on his last few words…

"From the inside out."

Robin stared at the mask man. No way…that- that couldn't be true…

"Sending trouble your way, leaving cryptic clues for you to unravel. I was testing you. For some time now I have been searching for… an apprentice. Someone to follow in my footsteps. And Robin - I've chosen you. Congratulations."

Robin stared at Slade in disbelieve. Did he just say what he thought he just said? He wanted an apprentice! A Sidekick! All this time Robin thought he just wanted power and money like all the others, not a… ward.

And he wanted Robin. No way! Robin was the good guy, not the bad guy.

"No Way would I ever work for-" Robin snarled

If you join me," Slade interrupted, "if you swear to serve me, if you never speak to your friends again… I will allow them to live…but, if you disobey even the smallest request, I will annihilate them, Robin. And I'll make you watch. So, do we have a deal?"

Marked as the "Boy Wonder" at a young age, Robin was always thought to be the lucky one, the one that everything right happened to. He could fight, he could ride a motorcycle, he was the leader of the Teen Titans, and he was trained by Batman! Not to mention he was well known and handsome…

Because of these facts, Robin didn't always get the help he needed. People assumed that he could take care of himself. Even his own teammates simply would guess that he was all right when they were in a fight. Because he was strong, clever, fast, and well trained.

He might have been all that on the out side, but on the inside he was just a regular kid. A kid who just wanted to be his own person…not a shadow of his father.

When people thought of the 'Boy Wonder' the next thing that popped into their heads was 'Sidekick'. Robin, as much as he loved and respected Batman, didn't was to be just the sidekick his whole life. He wanted to be his own person, his own hero, not just the kid who runs to his father and hides under his cape whenever things got tuff.

Robin did always try to stick up for himself, even when he lived with Batman. Every now and then he would beat the 'bat guy' and save the day and move from being the sidekick to the hero for a day, but most of the time he would bit off more then he could chew and wind up in trouble. It was time like these when Batman would come and save him, then lecture him on what he had just done and tell him that he needed to learn from his mistakes…

But, Robin was no longer with his protective adoptive father. He was alone. Alone with a lunatic who wanted a son and would do anything to get one, even if he had to kill.

Robin always got the joy of fighting a challenge; he got the thrill of taking on something new,

BAM

Robin's head was smashed to the ground. Unable to hold himself up do to shaking arms and legs Robin just lied there on the ground helpless.

"You're going to keep stealing Robin." Slade told him as he walked closer to the shaking boy. "And you're going to keep getting a thrill."

Robin's teeth grinded together when he heard Slade's words.

"And sooner or later you will see things my way." Slade continued, "Who knows…I might even become like a father to you."

Robin shook his head and swallowed down the blood from his mouth. Never. Slade would NEVER be his father. Nor would he ever be glade about what he's doing, never would he 'see things his way' he might get a thrill out of doing something new, but he wouldn't enjoy.

Lifting a shacking head to stare Slade in the face, Robin thought of the one thing that was sure to get Slade angry, yet it was the full truth.

"…I already have a father."

In a lot of ways Slade treated Robin the same ways that Batman did. If he wasn't yelling at Robin, then he was telling him to work harder. The only difference was that Batman truly cared for Robin, Slade just wanted him to stay alive to stay as his apprentice, Batman wouldn't mind to much if Robin decided to stop being his sidekick, in fact he supported it.

'Their all great at fighting!" Robin told his mentor one night. "They all have some kind of super-power and their all my age!"

"Sounds like you like this new group of friends you made?" The Dark Night answered in his low tone. A different thing that Slade and Batman had in common was they both failed to ever show any enthusiasm.

"Yeah…" Robin answered. His voice trailed off and he gazed over his shoulder to look at large Batcave.' "I-I do really like them."

"What is it?" Batman asked. He finally turned from his computed to look at his ward, the question didn't sound like it was in a concerned voice but a 'what is it now!' voice, but then again that was Batman for you.

"They- well they were thinking of starting a team…" Robin said awkwardly, turning his head to the ground.

"And? From what you've said about them they should make a good team. Why are you worried about them?"

"Well they- I'm not worried- I just.." Robin found it difficult to tell Batman what was on his mind. He wasn't worried that Batman would laugh at him but worried that he would take it the wrong way. "They-ahh…"

Batman waited for his ward to tell him was going on patiently. Even though he didn't look it, he was getting a little afraid of what Robin might say. Every now and then Robin would tell him something that was bothering him and expect Batman to give him advise, fatherly advise, and Batman didn't really know how to do that, his father did die when he was eight so he didn't know what fathers said to their sons.

"They… want me to- umm…be their leader." There he had said it! He turned his head away and waited for the result of what he just said.

"Okay."

Robin's eyes filled up with shock. "What?"

"Do you want to be their leader?'

"I- umm…maybe… but I mean… I kind of already have a team…" Robin said. Of course he was referring to the "Bat team" Him, Batman, and sometime Bat girl. "And besides…I'm just a kid, they should get a grown man or someone to be leader."

"That would ruin the 'teen image' though." Batman replied. He rested a hand on his adopted son's shoulder, and feeling a little weird doing so. "You would make a great leader. But protect your team, do what ever you can to help… and then you will be a man. From the inside out."

"Thanks Bruce…"