Regressing For The Enemy

Chapter 7

Slade POV

    It was a perfect plan. A proficient, faultless, flawless, prolifically polished plan. A plan so good, he would say it twice. And Slade never repeats himself twice. That's just how perfect this plan would be. Success was between 98 and 99 percent. His last plot to separate Robin from the others had been a 78 at best, but this new plan, well it was one word and one word only. Per-fec-tion. And to top it all off? Robin himself was going to help him seal the deal.

Robin POV

    Rolling over in bed, Robin yawned, lazily staring at the ceiling. It had been weeks since the last time Robin had slept all the way through the night without waking up to the sound of the alarm going off to some kind of Slade conniption. As such, Robin planned to make the very best of his time. First rolling out of bed, Robin balled the used onsie into a ball, shoving it into the bottom barrel of dirty clothes. Then changing into his hero outfit, Robin took the opportunity to stretch out all of his tired and sore limbs. "Mmm." Crossing his arms, Robin relished in the sound of cracking shoulder joints. "Time for a little pre-breakfast workout."

    Casually strolling into the custom made Teen Titans gym, Robin quickly made his way over to the section he'd had installed for himself. With a full set of acrobatic, gymnastic and martial arts style equipment, Robin was able to spend most of leisure time when not regressing, here. Able to sweat out all of his frustrations and worries, the young hero first began warming up using a pair of rough gray aerial silks. Climbing to the top, Robin let himself relax and hang in the strong hold of the comforting material. Closing his eyes, Robin let himself hang upside down. Letting out the breath he didn't know he'd been holding, the black haired teen let himself completely loosen up. Letting go of his hold on the material, the boy fell, spiraling with the silks until stopping suddenly near the bottom, clenching the grey material with his knees before collapsing to the floor. 

    Significantly warmed up, Robin made his way over to the gymnastics bar and swinging trapeze. Starting first on the gymnastics bar,  Robin gripped the bar tightly. Lifting up like a pull-up bar, Robin swung back and forth for a moment before doing a set of chin-ups. Using the gymnastic pole, Robin then began doing flips, spinning round and round, moving the bar as he did so. To grind the muscles in his arms, the motions were a familiar pattern to the young hero. Something as simple as a move Robin did five times a day, could still bring serotonin to his brain when applied correctly. Finally, Robin moved to his big finale, his secret joy and first love, the swinging trapeze. Like his parents, Dick never used a safety net, although the ropes here in Titan Tower were reinforced with steel cabling- effectively making them sabotage proof- just in case. 

    Holding onto the trapeze with his arms, Robin glided through the air like the bird he was nicknamed after so long ago. Just like a bird, Robin flew. Flying through the air, Robin flipped so that his knees replaced his hands, allowing him to swing upside down. Gathering speed, Robin did a handstand on the bar, before dropping and swinging with his hands like a monkey bar. And as the swing eventually began slowing down, Robin sat up, using the trapeze like a swing. He allowed the swing to loose speed, enjoying the adrenaline rush from just working out. The smile on his lips faded as the swing faded to a stop. Having had his nostalgic fill for the day, Robin set up the martial arts training, planning to finish out the remaining time completing the normal training till lunch. 

    Little to his knowledge, a certain orange skinned young woman had different plans for him. Sneaking up behind him, Starfire hesitated before tapping his shoulder. "Um- Robin." "AUGHAHH!" "Calm down, it is me, Starfire." Quickly recovering from his momentary surprise, Robin unconsciously began smoothing out the wrinkles in his shirt, annoyed from his short lapse in facade. "Starfire, you really ought to be better about that sort of thing. You scared me." Robin explained, eyes narrowed in his mask. "I am sorry, Robin. But I had the questions." An eyebrow rose. "A question?" Starfire turned pink. "Yes, well- you see- I was watching you on the swinging device, yes? And- well-" "You were wondering why I don't use it more often?" She nodded. An uncomfortable lump settled in the back of Robin's throat. It was silent for a moment. "Dusty." Turning his back on the inquisitive teen, Robin made his way out of the gym, satisfied to let old questions lie. 

    Why did he feel the need to lie to Starfire? She was his friend, wasn't she? Deep down, Robin knew Star would never push his limits past what he was comfortable with, but there was something else. Something else was bothering the young teen. It was 10:45 and still, there was no emergency blaring from the lights in the tower. Was it possible Slade really decided to take the day off? He shook his head. No, such couldn't be the case. If there was one thing these endless nights had taught him, it was that Slade was resilient to most things other villains were not. 

    Walking into the main rooms, BeastBoy and Cyborg were busy arguing the logistics of tofu in waffles, while Raven sat secluded in the shade, reading spells from a book inscribed in Latin. Robin made his way to the main screen, looking over various security cameras over the city. Flipping through various screens, a dark scowl eclipsed over his brow. Where was Slade? What was he planning? What was making him so incredulously overdrawn? Suddenly, two pale fingers cracked together, startling Robin from his trance. "Earth to Robin." The dark teen crooned out, in her usual monotone timbre. Robin glanced back, remembering the position of the other teen titans in the room. Thankfully, Beastboy and Cyborg didn't seem to notice. 

    "You have this ..." Raven ran her fingers over her face. "Aura." She dropped her hands. "It's all over your face." Her expressionless face dropped to an annoyed one. "And it's clogging  my metaphysical pores." Robin cracked a smile at that. "Oh. Sorry." He ran a hand through the back of his hair. "Anything I could do to ... help?" The teen shyly offered. The dark cloud returned over Robin's features as he glanced back to the empty screen. "Slade." Robin started for a moment before pausing. "It's ..." "Unusual." Raven finished his thoughts. "Exactly. Normally Slade has up and rushing out of the house no later than six in the morning. Most nights, he strikes multiple targets, with us catching glimpses of him once or twice a night. But ever since his escape yesterday, it's been radio silence. It's almost like he's..." "Trying to lull us into a false set of security." Robin grimaced. "Exactly."