AN: So I don't know if many people caught on why Robin took the things Slade said so hard last chapter, but if you didn't, I'll explain. He was deeply affected by the dream of seeing his friends and love ones dead. Afterwards, Slade says an echo of basically what happened in the dream and this sends Robin into a panic of him reliving the dream all over again. It made him realized that the dream could become his reality. Then when Slade threw in the words of Batman, since he was so emerged as it was in the thought that the dream was reality, he remembered Batman echoing the thoughts Slade said out loud. On top of that, you have to remember he'd just gone through torture and wasn't in the best state of mind to begin with. Basically, he had a triple hit of not having the time to recover for the trauma of the torture, watching the dream happen and then having almost a complete echo of the dream happen again. Anyway, I wanted to explain that so you'd understand why he seems almost ten times more rational and better in this chapter now.

A: Thank you for reviewing. I hope the explanation above helps reassure you a little bit. It wasn't going to be that easy to break Robin.

Blue: I won't quit on this. Just having major writer's block. I wanted to say your two comments were positively motivating! Sorry it's taken me so long. Hope I'll overcome this writer's block soon.

Guest: Thank you! Hee hee. Robin's not evil yet though. XD

Thebatandbird: Not sure how long this story will be, but hopefully pretty long. XD

SVCrystalGreen: Had intense writer's block, but I will definitely finish this eventually.

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Robin woke up on the floor. He felt like shit physically, but mentally and emotionally, he felt ten times better. The raging emotions that had spun out of control yesterday were all but gone. They had been replaced by determination. He'd stayed here far too long and Slade had screwed with his mind yesterday. But now he could see it. He'd simply been scared and insecure. He'd been played. Slade had morphed his own unstable thoughts against him.

Robin got up stretching slightly, feeling very stiff and sore. He could feel the pain with his movements, but the benefit of stretching outweighed the pain. Robin gathered some clothes and headed to the bathroom. He knew his body would feel so much better after a nice hot shower.

Robin headed to the bathroom and gingerly pulled his clothes and bandages off to get in the shower. The warm water hit him like fire at first, but then begin to ease the ache in his sore muscles. Robin begin thinking over everything in his mind. How was he supposed to escape this place? He needed to get a message out to them about the manor. At this point, he'd be willing to tell the Titans his and Batman's identity if they could get both Alfred and Bruce clear of the manor so Robin could pull an escape. Maybe within whatever message he gave, he could also slip the location where he and Slade were to them so they could ensure his capture, because if Slade got away, this would only continue to happen. But how to get the message to them. The prime opportunity would be to wait until the next mission and hope he could slip something behind at the crime scene. But he wanted out sooner than that. He wanted to leave as soon as humanly possible. Because the mind games and the deadly threat was enough to drive anyone insane here. Not to mention the added stress of choosing which morals to listen to throughout this all.

Robin scrubbed his hair one last time before getting out of the shower. Now refreshed, he still had no plan on how to get out. He had to get Slade to slip somehow. He had to get Slade to let his guard down even for a second. Robin knew the only way to make him do that was to play his game. He had to carefully fall victim to Slade's will and act so well that Slade believed it. Not the easiest thing to do. But the plans of slipping messages during missions or hacking Slade's computer when he wasn't looking, wasn't going to cut it. As much as Robin hated to admit it, this was going to take some time.

Then another thought occurred to him. Running from Slade was running from his problems. As a hero, he'd been taught to face the problems head on. So it was literally up to him to take down Slade himself. If he could knock Slade out turning a training session, he could easily solve everything. Trying to get a message to Batman would surely make him look like a failure for not being able to handle it himself. What would Batman do in this situation? Would Batman had stooped as low as Robin had already?

No. No. Stop it. Robin commanded his thoughts. Now was not the time to punish himself over his mistakes. It was in the past and he was focusing on how to get out not focusing on the guilt of everything.

Robin bandaged himself back up with the supplies Wintergreen had left in his bathroom and then got dress. It was still difficult with the injuries from the torture. What to do? What to do? Playing Slade's game until he could gain his strength back seemed the best way to go at least.

Robin sighed, frustrated. In all his musing, the best thing he'd come up with is give in. His thoughts again wondered what Batman would do or think about in this situation. He made himself push the thoughts away. He didn't need to be reminded of the face he'd give, the voice he'd use to talk to Robin.

Exiting the bathroom, Robin saw there was a plate of food waiting by his bedside. He wondered he was been contained to his room or if they were just trying to be considerate of his injuries. He decided to check the door but surprisingly it opened when he tried it. Robin curiously peeked out in the hallway wondering if he could make it to the computers before Slade caught him. But then the pain from his wounds reminded him he was in no position to fight right now. Slade's fists would only make things worse. So Robin turned and went to eat his meal.

+TT+

Starfire sighed as her feet touched the ground in her bedroom. She'd been initially happy for the lead until Cyborg admitted that there was over ten thousand things the chip could be used for and it was going to take days at the least to fish through and connect it to what might be Slade's plan. She'd been trying to remain the positive force for the team to hold onto, but even she had to admit she was scared. Slade did things to Robin that none of them understood. He drove him to become someone he wasn't. What would happen if the change became permeate?

Starfire looked around her room. Her eyes immediately landed on the pictures on her desk of her and her friends. Robin's face seemed to be laughing at her from the park.

"Robin." She said softly. "Where are you?"

+TT+

Cyborg was running out of steam. How Robin had lead the team for so long in terrible circumstances seemed unreal to him. He'd literally lead them through the apocalypse and had never lost hope. But here in this moment without him, Cyborg was starting to lose his hope that they'd find him before Slade won.

He didn't understand. They were the good guys. The good guys always won, right? So then why had it changed now? What they needed was some luck. A miracle even. He'd said the chip had ten thousand to Starfire to help. Literally this chip had almost twice that. It was such a common chip. Cyborg was starting to wonder if it even had anything to do with Slade's plan or if he was just making Robin steal for the hell or it. Cyborg couldn't come up with anything he would need the chip for. It was designed to transfer signals. It wasn't like it was the master chip or the computer of the operation. It literally just transferred already made signals to somewhere else in the device. Too common to be of any value.

Cyborg had reported as much to Batman who merely nodded once silently and then signed off. It seemed they were both disappointed in the news. Cyborg vaguely wondered what Robin would think knowing Batman was trying so hard to find him. Would he be happy that Batman cared enough, or upset that they got the one person who expected the world from him involved. Would he see Batman's concern as judgement? He knew there was unspoken tension between the two, but for what, he didn't know. Robin had never talked about it.

Cyborg sighed and moved towards the gym. A work out was just what he needed right now. Robin had always done the same thing. When something was bothering him, he did a nice long work out to burn off the worry.

+TT+

Raven could sense everyone's emotions were low. She wasn't quite sure how to help them though. She had been doing twice daily meditations to keep from losing control herself. She was worried, as everyone here was.

Raven sat cross legged on her bed chanting to herself. Everyday she'd reach out with her mind and try and find Robin. Everyday she'd fail. But some part of her just hoped one day would be different. She clung onto her small fraction of a hope to keep her going. She was not known to be an optimistic person, but being a pessimist in this situation wasn't going to help either, not when her emotions were already heavy.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos."

+TT+

Beastboy searched his room endlessly for a comic book that could keep him entertained long enough until they had some sort of lead or something else to do. He really just wanted something to do during this time of despair. He was tired of waiting around for Slade to make the next move. If they could just figure out what Slade was after, they could take him out before he did anything else. But that seemed to be the problem as Slade had always been ten steps ahead of them.

What did he want Robin for anyway? Beastboy wondered. Why had he kidnapped him a second time to become his apprentice? Wasn't the no the first time around enough.

Beastboy kicked a pile of clothes across the room and sighed. He sat down on his bed frustrated. Nothing seemed to do right now. A comic book wasn't going to be enough this time. Nothing would cure his mood.

+TT+

Batman felt pity for whoever triggered the alarms in his city. They were going to suffer one hell of a beat down. He was not in the mood. His batmobile sped well over the speed limit toward the source as he pulled up exactly which building it was. Another loud frustrated growl came out. The Wayne Tower? Of all places to target.

The batmobile screeched to a stop outside of the tower and Batman's cape furrowed behind him as he stomped towards the stairwell. God help the soul who wanted his attention tonight, because they got it.

Batman used infer-red to see the floors above. He saw movement on the top floor. Of course, He thought. He used his grappling hook and got up the staircase in only a few seconds. Then he quietly went through the door to see who he was faced with.

There was a brief moment of shock as Batman stared at the two tone mask. The man's eye held amusement.

"Good evening, Batman." Deathstroke said.

AN: I'm soooo sorry for the wait.