FicWad

CHAPTER 5

AN ENEMY’S RETURN

As the sun began to set Robin’s oldest enemy had snuck back into the city and nobody knew he had even arrived. All he wanted was revenge against the one who had defeated him last time he was in Jump city.

The sun had finally disappeared and night had come to claim the sky. Robin had left his room after the sun went down and then teleported into the med-lab. His thirst for blood was screaming at him. Robin opened the fridge and grabbed a blood pack. He teleported into the kitchen finding it empty and opened the cupboard in search of mugs. Robin then poured the blood into the mug and took a quick sip of the crimson liquid. The liquid tasted so sweet and rich, but whoever had been the donor of the blood certainly had a drinking problem.

Robin finished gulping down the mug of blood and licked away any blood that had stained his lips. He left the kitchen stepping into the common room. Starfire and Beastboy immediately looked up in his direction.

“Okay, where the hell have you been? We’re getting tired of you disappearing all day,” Beastboy said sounding slightly frustrated at the boy wonder.

Raven and Cyborg had a slightly nervous yet understanding look on their faces. Cyborg got to his feet and walked calmly up to Robin and put his hand on his shoulder.

“I think it is time we tell them. We won’t be able to keep it a secret for much longer,” Cyborg told him.

“What is friend Cyborg talking about? What have you kept from us?” Starfire asked quietly.

Raven walked up to Robin and Cyborg, stopping by Robin’s side. Then suddenly flames appeared and Leo walked up to them with a saddened look on his face.

“Robin something too terrible for words has happened,” Leo said as he sniffled quietly.

Robin had a pretty good idea what was wrong with the Vampire elder but didn’t say anything.

“You remember the bar we went to last night? Well, it’s been completely trashed and it’s closing down,” Leo explained.

Robin had to hold back a smirk since he knew Leo was bound to bring this up since the elder loved that bar. Leo spotted the solemn looks on their faces and decided that he had picked the worst time to interrupt them.

“Okay what’s going on and what did I miss?” Leo asked with a slightly confused expression on his face.

Sure, he could have read their minds instead of asking, but he didn’t want to intrude into their private thoughts.

“We were about to tell them why I’ve been absent during the day hours,” Robin replied quickly.

Leo had a stunned expression on his face since he was surprised that Beastboy and Starfire didn’t know.

“You mean you still haven’t told them and they don’t know?” Leo said with a look of disbelief across his face.

Robin just shrugged and then turned to face his two unknowing teammates. Raven and Cyborg stood behind Robin waiting for him to tell Starfire and Beastboy about his change.

“Okay the reason I haven’t been here during daytime is because I can’t go out into the daylight any longer,” Robin explained hoping that what he said would give them a hint.

Both Beastboy and Starfire looked clueless at the moment, so what he told them apparently wasn’t enough. Leo shook his head trying to stop the grin from coming upon his face but was failing miserably.

“Okay I’ll try to make this as simple as possible, I’m a Vampire,” Robin said being blunt and to the point.

Beastboy burst out laughing which wasn’t a surprise and Starfire still looked confused.

“What is this Vampire that Robin speaks of?” Starfire asked.

Robin’s eyebrows twitched in annoyance and all of Leo’s attempts to hold back his laughter had just crumbled. Raven decided to take over from there on, since Leo might explode if he laughed any harder and Robin was showing signs of annoyance.

“Vampires are a species that cannot go out during daylight and drink blood to sustain themselves,” Raven explained calmly.

Starfire looked at Raven and then to Robin as she slowly understood what they meant.

“Are you saying Robin is one of them now?” the young Tamaranean asked.

Robin, Cyborg and Raven nodded telling her yes. Robin removed his sunglasses to reveal his blood red eyes. Beastboy finally got that this wasn’t a joke and Starfire gasped in shock. Leo had managed to stop laughing at how slow Starfire was and walked up to Robin.

“Oh and I got you a present Robin and I think you’ll like it as well,” Leo said and unsheathed a Katana from his back.

He handed it to Robin and he eagerly took it. Robin did a few practice swings and then Leo handed him the sheath for it was well. Robin sheathed the blade and placed it on the coffee table. Starfire recognized those eyes; they were the same ones that Leo had. They reminded her of something dark and menacing.

“So Leo did you find anything else about that prophecy or did you just come here for small talk,” Robin said as he sat down on the sofa.

Leo rolled his eyes and sat down on the other side of the coach. A bottle materialized in his hand.

Then Starfire suddenly remembered something about her planets past. There were such creatures that had the same characteristics as Vampires but her people didn’t call them that. There had been a war between cursed Tamaran’s and the normal ones nearly a thousand years ago, but they had disappeared.

Two glasses appeared on the table and Leo poured crimson liquid into them. Beastboy also chose this time to leave since he hated the sight of blood. Robin and Leo took a glass each and sipped of the blood. Its taste soothed them both and they seemed to visibly relax. If Robin and Leo had been any more relaxed they would have melted into the sofa itself. Starfire flew up to Raven and both watched this happen very closely.

“Friend Raven they both seem to enjoy that blood why is that?” the young Tamaranean asked.

Raven had to resist the urge to roll her eyes at how dense Starfire could be at times like this.

“Blood is what a Vampire drinks since they need it to sustain their own and without human blood they would die,” Raven explained to Starfire and sat down next to Robin.

Leo began to flip through the channels using his telepathy which Raven found extremely annoying. He stopped at a news channel showing the bar they were at last night in ruins from the attack. It looked like Leo was going to break down in tears again at the sight of his favorite bar in that state.

“How many Vampires died at the club?” Leo asked quietly.

Robin shook his head softly knowing that Leo would not like the answer.

“Nearly a hundred were killed. The Rogue Vampires were using Garlic filled bullets,” Robin answered.

Leo looked at Robin in disbelief at how many of them died in one night.

“How many Vampires attacked the club?” Leo asked looking at Robin.

Robin had a thoughtful look for a moment and then turned his attention to Leo.

“Twenty at the least and they were fanatical supporters of this Blood god, but I took care of them,” Robin explained to the older Vampire.

Leo got to his feet and stretched himself.

“Well I better get going; I have business to take care of. It makes me wonder why I took the job as elder…” Leo said with an amused grin on his face.

He then disappeared in a burst of flames and Robin got to his feet.

“... Robin I wondered if we could go out and do something,” Raven said sounding extremely nervous.

Robin turned around to face her and she looked nervous as well, Robin then allowed a smile to cross his face at her nervousness. This obviously meant something more than friends would just do for Raven.

“Sure, why not? Do you have any place in mind?” Robin asked.

She looked thoughtful for a minute and then came up with an idea.

“I know, how about we go to the movies? I heard there were some good ones at the moment,” Raven said.

Robin liked that idea, but hoped that it wasn’t some dumb romance movie that Starfire always tried to convince him to watch.

“Sure, lead the way,” Robin said and they walked out of the tower leaving Starfire by herself.

She felt a twinge of jealousy at what had just happened since she had always had her eyes on him.

Robin and Raven walked down to the garage. He turned to look at her and saw a light blush on her cheeks. Robin opened the garage door and dragged his motorbike out. He faced Raven and then saw the shocked look on her face.

“Well, are you getting on or what?” Robin asked with a friendly smirk on his face.

Raven took a hesitant step towards the bike.

“Why can’t we just fly, it would be easier, wouldn’t it?” Raven said with a stubborn look on her face.

“True, but I don’t want to attract any unwanted attention since I have Werewolves and Vampire God worshippers after me,” Robin said and motioned for her to get on the bike.

She reluctantly got on the bike and wrapped her arms around Robin’s waist. Robin started the engine of his bike and then shot off towards the city. Ravens tightened her grip around Robin’s waist and it felt oddly comforting to both of them.

The city came into view as they were driving onto the road that connected Titans Island and Jump City.

(Jump City – Industrial Area)

In the Industrial area of the city in an abandoned factory Robin’s oldest enemy had settled in to defeat him once and for all. Slade was back for revenge since Robin had easily defeated him and destroyed his hidden robot army in the Warehouse complex. Slade had bought the Hive training facility after Brother Blood had been defeated by Cyborg and now he had an army of super powered teens under his control.

Luckily none of them had the guts to turn on him since they were all deathly afraid of Slade since he was stronger than Brother Blood.

“Now listen, the Titans are out doing separate thing tonight so divide and conquer.” Slade informed his new pupils.

He still wanted Robin as his apprentice, that goal was not yet out of his reach.

Jinx, Gizmo and Mammoth were there among the other students of Hive, and hopefully the Titans were ready for what was about to come.

The students left in small groups leaving Slade by himself with what was left of his robots. Suddenly laughter, which sounded far from human, echoed throughout the factory.

“Who’s there?!” Slade yelled.

The laugher abruptly stopped and silence engulfed the building. Slade turned on the main lights to see if anyone was lurking in the shadows but found no one.

“Come out of hiding you hear me?!” Slade yelled starting to lose his temper with whoever was toying with him.

Suddenly flames appeared on the wall and they began to form a symbol. It seemed strangely familiar and an evil presence could be felt coming from it that was so strong that even humans could sense it. Slade took a step back from it and then the flame symbol blasted a pillar of flames at the madman. The flames engulfed Slade yet they didn’t burn him or cause any damage.

In fact he began to feel himself growing stronger than ever, but who was doing this to him and how?

The flames disappeared and Slade felt great power flowing through his entire body and then another burst of flames spat out his old ally Brother Blood. He slowly got to his feet and saw Slade standing in front of him. “How did I get here?” Brother Blood asked sounding a little peeved. Slade couldn’t understand it himself and had no idea what had happened to either of them.

“As far as I know you’ve been reborn somehow and I have been given new powers. But I’m not complaining.” Slade said and clenched his fist.

Slade could feel the raw power and confidence flowing through his body, the powers were similar to those given to him by Trigon over a year ago. Only these powers were greater, he felt three times stronger than when he served Trigon.

An orange aura surrounded his fist and then threw a ball of fire at the wall testing his new powers. A sinister grin spread across his masked face and at that moment he knew that these powers would really help to defeat Robin. With these new powers having Robin as his apprentice might actually work, but did he have more power than him?

(Jump City – Downtown)

Robin pulled to a stop at the cinema and then helped Raven off the bike. He cut the engine and put the keys in his jacket pocket. They walked up to the cinema entrance and got themselves tickets for a horror movie. Fortunately for both, neither of them liked romance movies like Starfire did.

They walked down the main hall of the cinema towards room number twelve where the movie was about to be shown. They got to their seats and waited for it to begin. The adverts were at the moment showing upcoming movies but none really seemed that good. When the movie started both Raven and Robin paid most of the attention to the movie instead of each other.

As the movie went on Robin decided to do something bold and end up losing his head if she took it the wrong way. He stretched and then put his arm around Ravens shoulders. She blushed at his sudden move but decided to enjoy it while she could. Robin silently let out a sigh of relief that Raven didn’t tear him apart with her powers. The movie seemed to speed by and as they were leaving the cinema they saw that the streets were deserted. This was really strange for a Saturday night. The only people on the streets were the ones leaving the cinema.

“Something’s wrong here, there should be more people,” Robin said and then focused his enhanced senses.

He smelt meta-human energy, which meant that people with super powers had attacked recently. Robin sensed that plenty of them were still in the same area and he recognized some of the scents. Such as Jinx, Gizmo and Mammoth which meant that whatever had happened, Hive was behind it. Then teens emerged from the shadows and Robin swore that he could smell blood scattered around the area.

“Stick close Raven, I doubt they have enough power to take on me,” Robin said and then took his fighting stance.

“Sorry it has to be like this but we’re under orders from Slade to dispose of you,” one of the teens informed him.

Robin felt a pang of anger as he heard his oldest enemies’ name. One of them threw an energy wave at Robin but he easily dodged it with his superhuman speed. He threw a lightning bolt at the teen and the immense shock knocked the Hive student out. Raven flew up into the air and the ones that could fly went after her. Those stuck on the ground went after Robin. He dodged and blocked all their attacks with ease and countered them with his own.

They had him surrounded in seconds but Robin knew that wouldn’t stop him as he leapt into the air and disappeared. Raven was holding her own, blocking the enemies’ attacks with black energy.
A force sent a Hive student crashing down the street and Robin slowly came into focus, his form originally blurred.

As if he had been moving too fast for the human eye to see, Robin then turned his attention to the Hive students and quickly knocked back two students with well practiced moves.

Robin focused on all Hive members in the area and silently entered their minds. They began to make their way towards Robin but then they felt intense pain in their heads. The pain was unbearable as one by one they lost consciousness. The ones that had attacked Raven had suffered the same fate as the ones that had gone after him. Raven floated down to Robin and saw how easily he had dispatched the Hive students. It was like he had been toying with them all along.

Robin turned to face Raven and saw the confused expression on her face.

“What did you do to them?” Raven asked.

Robin could hear police and ambulance sirens in the distance coming in their direction.

“Oh that, it’s just one of my unique powers as a Vampire, it’s a form of telepathy which is pretty useful from time to time,” Robin replied calmly.

They walked in the direction of the car park across the street where Robin had left his bike. When they reached the bike, they found it trashed and broken beyond repair.

At first Robin had a vacant look on his face but after a few seconds he just broke down. Raven swore she had never seen anyone get that worked up over a bike. Swearing to avenge his bikes death he picked it up and then walked up to Raven. He wrapped his arm around her waist and then their feet left the ground. In an instant Robin was flying at speeds Raven could only imagine and about fifteen seconds later they set down in front of Titans tower.

What they saw in front of them shocked them to the bone. The other three Titans could be seen fighting Slade’s robots and Hive students. Robin dropped the bike and let Raven go as well. They rushed to help their friends before it was too late. Robin and Raven flew up onto the roof of Titans tower. They found themselves facing Jinx and ten of Slade’s robots.

“Raven, go! I can handle these idiots,” Robin yelled.

Raven held a look of uncertainty on her face and hesitated even though Robin said he could handle them.

“Damn it, go! The others need you, I can handle this myself,” he yelled and Raven rushed to the roof door.

Once Raven had left the roof, Robin summoned the sword that Leo had given him and unsheathed it.

“Come on, let’s get this over with,” Robin said and got into a fighting stance with his katana.

The first robot that attacked ended up with a crushed face and Jinx then threw a wave of Hex bolts at the boy wonder. He easily flipped out of the way and then in mid air threw a lightning bolt at Jinx knocking her to the ground. Robin landed on his feet and then two more robots attacked him. They swung punches at him, but Robin easily dodged them and sliced one robot in half. He then punched the other one in the side of the face and sent its head flying from its shoulders.

The headless robot body went after him and Robin finished it off with a quick slice of his katana. Jinx’s body throbbed with pain and she slowly got to her feet. She saw the royal pounding Slade’s robots were getting from the Boy Wonder.

Another robot attacked Robin but he dodged its punch and countered with one of his own that sent the robot over the side of the tower.

Raven blocked the robots attack with a black barrier and then countered with a black shockwave of energy. The blast had destroyed the opposing robot and others near her. At the other end of the corridor Cyborg could be seen fighting with Mammoth and two of Slade’s robots. Beastboy and Starfire were nowhere to be seen so they must be in another part of the tower.

Two robots attacked Raven but she flew out of the way and chanted her three magical words. Black energy engulfed the two robots and slowly pulled them apart. Raven had finished off all her robots so she went after the ones fighting Cyborg since he was having trouble with three against one. She sent a black energy blast towards them and knocked Mammoth through a nearby wall.

“Thanks Raven,” Cyborg cheered and focused his attention on the two remaining robots.

Suddenly Starfire crashed through the floor and looked like she had taken a beating. Out of the hole in the floor Gizmo and twenty of Slade’s robots started to come up after her.

Raven engulfed Mammoth in a black energy orb and threw him out of the tower and into the lake. She heard the commotion coming from the other corridor, so she hurried back to find Starfire and Cyborg being overrun.

Robin dodged the robots punch and then his fist connected with the robots face crushing it in the process. Out of the ten robots only two were left now and Jinx was too slow to be any threat. Robin had been toying with them the entire time just for the hell of it. The two remaining Robots attacked but he flipped over them and landed behind them. He then threw lightning bolts from his hands and the two robots blew up. Robin then turned his attention to Jinx and he could smell the fear emanating from her, but this only excited him.

Robin used his superhuman speed and ran up to her too fast for human eyes. He punched her in the side of the face and sent her crashing through the roof entrance. He walked past the rubble and saw that she had fallen down the stairs. Robin then blended himself in with the shadows at Batman had taught him to do. Might as well use the lack of lighting to his advantage, plus with his new powers, his ability to hide was greater than ever.

“So Jinx how does it feel when someone is hunting you instead?” Robin asked from the shadows of the corridor.

Jinx spun around to his voice but there was nobody there. Robin then dropped down from the ceiling and grabbed Jinx by the throat. He could feel his bloodlust swelling up inside him but he quickly pushed it aside.

“Now let’s take a look in your mind and see what Slade is planning this time…” he said with a hint of malice in his voice.

He focused and dove into Jinx’ mind and saw pain, torment and cruelness. It was everything she had ever caused in her life and Robin realized just how twisted she was. He saw Slade and her respect and fear of him. He went deeper and into more guarded areas and found that Slade wanted nothing but revenge. Robin left her mind and dropped her to the floor. She was out cold from lack of air and probably very weak as well. But he didn’t have any time to waste with her and went to search for the other Titans. When entering the first corridor, he saw wreckages of Robots and there wasn’t much left intact after the battle that had taken place. Suddenly a burst of flames caught Robin’s attention and from those flames Leo emerged.

“Whoa, what happened here? What kind of party did I miss?” Leo said with an amused grin on his face.

Robin gave Leo a serious look and his face became serious as well.

“Can’t you ever take things seriously?” Robin asked as they walked down the corridor.
Leo gave the Boy Wonder a bewildered look.

“Me, serious? Please. Last time I checked hell hadn’t frozen over yet,” he said and then about ten Robots appeared around the corner.

Robin and Leo took their fighting stances and the robots attacked the two Vampires. The two of them unsheathed their swords and attacked. The robots threw punches at them but they seemed to be moving in slow motion compared to the two Vampires. Robin did a roundhouse punch and sent a robots head flying through the corridor. Leo did a triple spin kick and tore a robot into three different pieces. Robin did a flip kick and sent the robot crashing through the ceiling.

Another robot grabbed him from behind but he easily broke out of its grip and tore off both of its arms. The armless robot tried to head butt Robin but he dodged it and then with a quick slash of his sword had sliced it in half.

Leo whistled in approval and then did a five kick combo sending a robot through the wall and destroyed the one behind him with a simple punch. Robin cocked an eyebrow at the older Vampire and shrugged his shoulders. He then did a flying kick at one in front of him and sent it flying through the wall. He then rebounded off of that one and did a spinning axle kick hitting a robot behind him in the head. The robots head went flying from its shoulders. Robin landed gracefully and then swept his foot under the feet of the last robot knocking it to the floor.

Robin then impaled it in the chest with his katana and removed the sword from the fallen robot. Leo was clapping at his show since they were both trying to impress the other with their fighting skills.

They ran down the corridor and saw a hole in the floor and both jumped down to the next floor. This area was a wreck as well and Robin could hear fighting in the background which meant if they hurried they would get there in time. They ran down the corridor and then a battered and bruised Beastboy appeared around the corner, his clothes were torn and he barely had any energy left.

“Beastboy, are you alright?” Robin asked as he ran up to his friend.

“I don’t have enough strength to fight anymore, there were too many of them,” Beastboy replied.

Robin took a closer look at his friend and saw that bruises weren’t the only injuries he had gotten in his fight.

“You take care of Beastboy and I’ll find the others. Oh, and don’t get any ideas okay?” Robin said pointing at the gashes in Beastboy’s skin.

Leo put up his hands and shook his head.

“Me? I wouldn’t even think of it,” Leo replied calmly and picked him up.

Robin watched him head towards the medical wing of Titans tower and Robin ran down the corridor looking for the other three Titans. Two robots appeared around the corner and he used his telekinesis to tear them apart. Four more after that appeared and started shooting lasers at the boy wonder. Robin dodged the blasts and leaped onto the wall. He ran towards the four robots with superhuman speed. Jumping into the air, he unsheathed the sword. Robin slashed at the closest robot and it fell in half.

The robots threw punches at the boy wonder but he dodged them with ease. A roundhouse kick sent one of the robots crashing into the wall. The remaining two robots fired their lasers at Robin but he moved with speed that was a blur and lasers missed completely.

He then disappeared in a burst of flames and reappeared behind the two robots. He took off the head of the first one with his sword and as the other was turning around, a punch to the side of its face sent its head crashing into the wall. The headless body of the robot fell to the floor and Robin ran down the corridor. Reaching the elevator, he saw that its door had been destroyed in a recent fight. Suddenly Cyborg came crashing through the floor and he looked like he was in bad shape but he had been in worse.

Robin ran up to Cyborg and knew that he would be fine by himself for the moment.

“Cyborg, do you know where Raven and Starfire are?” Robin asked him.

Cyborg pointed at the hole in the floor as a way to tell him that they were still down there.

“Get to the med lab, Leo will take care of you from there,” Robin said and jumped down the hole in the floor.

He landed on his feet and suddenly found himself surrounded by Slade’s robots. Robin unsheathed his sword and took his fighting stance. The robots charged and Robin dodged their attacks with ease and then countered with a powerful roundhouse kick sending a robot through the ceiling. More robots came and Robin realized that he didn’t have time to fight them all hand to hand and had to finish them quickly. He spread his arms and they began to glow a bluish color. Then sparks and bolts erupted from his hands and the power emanating from him continued to grow. A massive wave of electricity filled the corridor disabling all the robots in the area.

Robin stepped over the fried robots and tried to keep the smell of smoke out of his nose. As the corridor had been cleared of the wreckage, he ran down to continue his search.

He could hear them, they sounded close but he could also hear other voices and they sounded familiar. Robin ran down the corridor and entered the corridor leading to the control room. He saw the stairs leading to it and ran down, seeing Raven and Starfire fighting Gizmo, Brother Blood and fifteen Robots. Robin flew through the air, unsheathing his sword and slicing one of the robots in half.

Brother Blood turned to face Robin and saw that something was different about the boy wonder since the last time they had met. Two robots attacked Robin but he blocked the attacks and countered with his own with superhuman speed. The two robots ended up embedded in the nearby wall. The others forgot about Raven and Starfire and turned their attention towards Robin.

They all attacked him at the same time but he reappeared behind them and then started hacking them apart with his katana. Brother blood watched in amazement at the skills Robin now possessed and understood why Slade wanted Robin as his apprentice. Gizmo was speechless as well when he saw the brutality and speed Robin now fought the robots with.

Robin did a triple kick combo and ended up tearing the robot in three different pieces with his vicious strength. Another robot tried to shoot him but he dodged it faster than the speed of sound and then sliced its head off.

The remaining robots surrounded the Boy Wonder but he flipped over them and did a whirlwind kick knocking a robot across the room. Robin did a spinning axel kick continuously in the air taking down at least five of the robots. The Boy Wonder landed back on his feet with inhuman grace and blocked a robots punch, countering with a blur of machine gun like punches. The robots chest had been torn apart from that volley of punches and Robin continued to slaughter the robots.

Only five of them were left now and Gizmo didn’t look too confident. Robin did a spinning slash with his sword and finished off the final robots. Raven and Starfire had been watching the entire time but had been too exhausted to help. But it didn’t look like he needed any help.

“Gizmo, defeat him!” Brother Blood ordered.

Gizmo threw six metallic tentacles at the boy wonder but he blocked all of them with superhuman speed. Another tentacle came at him but he flipped out of the way and with inhuman speed reappeared right in front of him.

Robin delivered a powerful uppercut and sent Gizmo crashing through the ceiling. Brother Blood snarled with rage and did a flying kick but the boy wonder blocked the attack with ease. Blood’s eyes flashed a red color and he threw a barrage of punches but Robin dodged every single blow with ease.

He did a roundhouse kick but Brother Blood dodged it with extreme difficulty. He did a ridge edge punch but Robin dodged it and punched Blood in the stomach. He fell to his knees and Robin took the crane Kung Fu stance. Brother Blood flipped away from Robin and then executed a rapid kick combo but the Boy Wonder blocked each kick.

Robin did a spinning kick and knocked Blood into a nearby wall. He got to his feet shakily and took his fighting stance, finding Robin’s defense wide open. Brother Blood did a spinning kick but Robin grabbed the attack and swung him into the wall with as much force as he could muster.

Brother Blood ended up going through the wall itself and fell into the lake. Robin then felt a surge of energy nearby. He turned around and ran to the stairs and saw Slade slowly walking down them. Robin could tell that he was still human but there was something very different about him. His movements were smoother and more graceful and energy was practically flowing from him.

“Raven, get Starfire out of here now quickly,” Robin yelled and they both disappeared in a black aura.

Robin turned back to Slade and saw a flame like aura emanating from him.

“It’s time we finish this once and for all. We’ll see who is the strongest.” Slade said as he neared the bottom of the stairs.

Robin took a step back and then Slade began to emit a fiery aura from his back that looked like dragon wings. He threw a fire empowered punch at the boy wonder and sent him flying in the air. Robin twisted himself and landed gracefully on his feet thanks to his Vampire abilities.

Slade leaped into the air and Robin rolled out of the way so that Slade didn’t end up knocking him down. As Slade landed, the floor beneath his feet cracked and splintered under the force of his landing.

He flipped himself back to his feet and turned to face his enemy. Robin realized that this fight was going to be tough, but he had to win no matter what.

“You won’t win this, Slade,” he said and then Slade raised his arm.

Flames erupted from his arm and he his hand pointed at the Boy Wonder. Robin felt energy build up beneath him and ran out of the way. Flames burst out of the floor right where he had been standing a couple of seconds earlier.

Slade let out a sinister laugh and then threw more flames at the boy wonder and Robin ran on the walls dodging the fire that followed him. He leaped into the air and delivered a punch to the side of Slade’s face. He stepped back and Robins arm alit in flames. Rolling to his feet, he shook away the flames that had appeared on his arm. His burns healed almost instantly due to his Vampire healing. Slade turned to face Robin just in time to see a boot hit him in the face. Slade fell to floor but flipped himself back up and sent wave after wave of fire after the boy wonder.

These pyrokinesis techniques that Slade was demonstrated seemed awfully familiar to when he was working for Trigon. Only this time the power behind his attacks were much greater than when Trigon gave him this powers.

Robin dodged them with superhuman speed, which Slade fortunately didn’t possess, but his strength had increased dramatically and this new fire ability was amazing. Slade began to focus his energy and was engulfed in a sphere of flames. The sphere slowly but steadily began to grow leaving less room to move. Robin focused his powers and then threw a wave of lightning at the sphere of fire.

The lightning overpowered the fire and Slade fell to the floor. He got to his feet and then massive dragon wings made of fire sprouted from his back. Robin hissed in anger and stared in awe at the display of power that Slade was giving.

“Now Robin how’re you supposed to beat me when I have all this power,” Slade said and took his fighting stance.

Robin took his and began to glow with electric bolts coming out of his body while fire came from Slade. Robin moved with superhuman speed dodging a beam of fire that came from Slade’s hand. Robin delivered a punch to his stomach and Slade took a step back and then backhanded him. Robin went flying into the air but spun regaining control of his movement and landed on his feet. He turned to face Slade and saw him approaching.

“See, you can’t beat me, not while I have this power,” Slade said as he slowly approached Robin.

Running as fast as he could at Slade, he punched him in the stomach. Slade crashed into the wall and got back to his feet.

“Don’t get too over confident Slade. This is far from over,” Robin said.

Then in a burst of anger bat like wings spread from his back.

Slade spread his own dragon wings made of fire. The two fighters circled each other and Slade was the first to attack but Robin flew out of the way and his eyes began to glow a bright red color. Robin’s fangs grew longer and his muscles became more bulky. His skin started to turn a darker color. His clothes melded away and his fingernails turned into claws.

Robin had just transformed into a half-bat half-human creature. Slade just shrugged and then he engulfed himself in flames and when they died away he had undergone his own transformation.

Slade had transformed and now he looked like was partially made of fire and he had also grown stronger. With a simple motion of his hand Slade had sent a wave of fire at the transformed boy wonder. Robin flew out of the way and then fired energy beam from his mouth. Slade back flipped out of the way. Robin reappeared in front of Slade and punched him in the side of the face. Slade stepped back and then did a flame powered kick and knocked him back. Robin flapped his wings and landed in the centre of the room.

He began to amass his energy and created a giant lightning ball, then throwing it at Slade. It hit him right in the face and sent him through the wall and into the lake outside. He used his enhanced vision and saw that all the surviving robots, Slade and Brother Blood were heading back to the city. Robin exited his bat like transformation as he retook human shape and his clothes reappeared.

Then the Titans ran into the control room along with Leo. Robin turned to face them and saw the worried expressions on their faces.

“Don’t worry, Slade is gone and so are all of the attackers,” Robin assured them.

His eyes then returned to the normal shade of red and he walked up to them. They left the control room and headed towards the commons room to discuss everything that had happened during the attack. Once they reached the commons room they all sat down to relax, all except Robin that is, since he wanted some questions answered.

“Leo, when I fought with Slade he had amazing powers, he could create fire with his bare hands and his strength was equal to mine but he still had human speed,” Robin explained to the elder Vampire.

Leo had a grim expression as soon as he heard what Robin had told him.

“Tell me, did Slade still have a human aura?” Leo asked crossing his fingers.

“Yeah, he was still human I know that for sure,” Robin replied.

‘Damn so much for hoping’ Leo thought and then looked up at the boy wonder.

“Well, I believe that was the second sign of the coming apocalypse. But now we will have to wait to see if he comes back,” Leo said.

Robin had a thoughtful look on his face, contemplating about how Brother Blood had returned from the dead and decided to see if this had anything to do with the Vampire apocalypse.

“Tell me, would the revival of Brother Blood be the third sign of the apocalypse?” Robin asked sounding slightly nervous.

Leo looked up at Robin with a questioning expression and shrugged his shoulders.

“I wouldn’t know, the explanations of the sign’s aren’t very detailed,” Leo answered.

He then turned to the other Titans and took in the expressions of their faces. Today had been a trying day and they would most likely be feeling the effects of the battle physically for the next few days. Their expressions were also grim but it wasn’t surprising really since they had just been through their biggest fight today. Robin walked into the kitchen and motioned Leo to follow him and the vampire got up from his seat to follow the boy wonder.

When they were sure that nobody could overhear them, Robin decided to get it over with.

“Leo listen, I transformed into a half-bat half-human creature and my strength and increased with that transformation, is that normal?” Robin asked nervously.

Leo cocked an eyebrow and then remembered something about genetic changes in a vampire under stress or anger.

“No, it isn’t normal and it’s rare but it usually happens to the most powerful Vampires when they are under severe stress or anger. Leo explained. “When it happens, let’s say the Vampire is very lucky.”

Robin nodded his head understanding what he said and wondered if this was in any way dangerous.

“I’m not sure if it is related to the prophecy, though. But I doubt and it will be helpful when you have to fight the Vampire god as well,” Leo continued and Robin listened closely.

He wasn’t looking forward to fighting a god since how can a Vampire god be beaten by a normal Vampire?

They left the kitchen to see Beastboy had fallen asleep and was drooling on the coach. Cyborg was doing his best to stay awake while Starfire had disappeared. Raven of course looked like she had no trouble staying awake or at least it looked that way. Robin teleported into the med lab and walked up to the fridge. He opened it and grabbed two blood packs since his thirst was screaming for blood. Leo was probably thirsty as hell as well and would need the blood. He disappeared in a burst of flames and reappeared in the kitchen.

Robin grabbed two glasses and tore the blood packs open. He poured the blood into the glasses and walked into the common room. Beastboy and Cyborg and disappeared and Leo was flipping through the television channels. Raven was trying to read a book but the television kept distracting her so she sent death glares at Leo.

‘If only looks could kill, mind you with Raven they probably could’ Robin thought and had to hold back a chuckle otherwise he probably wouldn’t be able to stop.

He sat down and handed Leo a glass of blood while sipping of his own. Leo eagerly took it and started to drink the crimson liquid.

(Jump City – Industrial Sector)

Back in the abandoned factory within the Industrial area of the city, Slade was furious about the failure in both attacks.

“Damn it how could we lose? Our numbers were so much higher,” Slade yelled.

Blood cringed in fear as flames radiated from his body. The Hive students looked terrified at the very sight of Slade. Jinx walked up to him with a look of absolute terror on her face.

Slade turned to face her and Brother Blood had a feeling what was going to happen next.

“What happened to the group that was supposed to keep them away from the Titans tower?” Slade asked with a sound of malice in his voice.

“They did attack Robin and Raven but they must have been finished far too quickly,” Jinx said with a nervous tone of voice.

Slade snarled in anger and stepped towards the pink haired girl.

“You assembled the team to go after them and now you must pay the price,” he growled and grabbed her by the throat.

His arm began to glow an orange fiery color. Smoke came out of Jinx’s neck and burn marks started to grow larger.

With one final burst of flames Slade killed her in an instant and dropped her lifeless body to the floor. Dark blood seeped from her neck as most of the flesh had been burnt away leaving the neck nothing but charred and broken flesh with the inside of the throat visible.

“Now remove that piece of trash from my sight,” Slade said and a robot dragged her body away.

“Was that really necessary?” Brother Blood asked with a hint of fear in his voice.

Slade turned to the former headmaster of Hive and walked up to him.

“Under my tutelage it is either success or death, nothing else. That is the best way to get your minions to respect and fear you,” Slade said sinisterly.

“With my growing army of robots and the Hive students soon we will become too powerful for even the Titans,” Slade continued and he walked away into the shadows leaving Brother Blood behind.

(Titans Tower)

Robin finished his glass of blood and checked the time. It said five in the morning which meant the sun would be up soon. Leo had teleported away as soon as he had finished his glass of blood leaving Robin and Raven by themselves. The Boy Wonder got off the sofa and teleported into his room. He put the sword and his leather jacket on the table and walked to his bed. Putting his sunglasses on the bedside table, he lied down on the bed.

‘Soon Slade I’ll kill you, I swear it’ Robin thought to himself as he closed his eyes.

To be continued