On February 25th, 2017, this story turned a year old. Man, one year already. I just wanna say thank you to everyone. You guys are amazing! You truly are.

Today, March 12th, 2017, this story is 1 year and 15 days old. So y'know. Missed the one year mark by that much.

Anyways, enough of my chatter. Here's a much deserved chapter for all of you.

Disclaimer: Teen Titans does not belong to me in any way whatsoever.

~•~

Cyborg ran as fast as he was possibly able to go, though making himself push that limit. He had little time.

"Robin!"

He was in trouble; the consistent pinging on his tracker unit told him so, along with the yellow flashing dot on the the screen.

Adrenaline pumped through him as he neared his friend's location. He was almost there. He will make it.

"We're coming, Robin!"

'We're', because the rest of his team were on their way too. He prayed that Raven got to him first.

~•~

The night had been going well while it lasted. There were no signs of criminal activity, and it was pretty quite. They were about to call it official, and, of course, that was when their alert system sounded.

Cyborg had been quick to reach the security panel, getting there first, but immediately went cold as he looked at it.

He heard the main door slide open.

"Slade."

Not again.

~•~

He glanced down at the screen again. He was getting closer, an estimate of three minutes calculated in his mind.

Cyborg wished he had been closer to the T-Car when the emergency call rang out; he would have been there already.

He shook his head. Don't think about that right now.

Act now. Think later.

Usually not his motto (well, not completely, at least), but it was what he made himself work with. 

His thoughts stopped there. Enough, man! Rob's hurt! Focus!

Cyborg made a right turn, and found himself in an alley way. Briefly observing his surroundings, he jumped and grabbed ahold of the metal staircase leading up.

He moved fast and soon reached the top. The rest of his team came to his sight, huddled around who he knew was Robin.

"I'm here, is he-" Cyborg never finished that sentence.

He said he would be fine.

~•~

Cyborg was pondering as he manoeuvred the T-Car through the streets of Jump City. Why did it have to be him? Him, of all villains that could have appeared.

But he knew the man would have shown up again eventually. It was only a matter of time.

Slade was not someone to be taken lightly, Cyborg knew this. Heck, even Beast Boy took him seriously.

He was one of the few who posed an actual serious threat. The one who was always steps ahead of them. The one who can take them all down with ease. The one who plays with their lives and laughs.

The one who torments Robin's life endlessly.

And that, he and the rest of the Titans believe, is why Robin is so determined to catch him. Because he feels that he cannot rest until he is locked up.

Cyborg knew the man viewed Robin in a different light than the rest of them. If he went as far as to say it, he would even call it an obsession.

What, with every time they fought against him, he would target Robin, or lead him away, or separate him from them.

At first he thought it was because Rob was the leader. That was usually how it went: confront the one in charge. Or that Robin was leading a team of super-powered individuals when he himself has none. Pretty impressive, he always thought. And maybe it could involve that last part. But the more he thought about, the more doubt came to mind. No, it wasn't just that. There was something else. Something much more complex.

And he did not know what.

And that bothered him.

But he knew one thing was for certain, and it was that he refused to let Slade achieve whatever it is he is trying to. Whatever it is that includes Robin.

He made sure to watch Robin's back more often when the man was involved; they all did. Star, Raven, BB, all of them. Of course they looked out for each other; friends do that, but they were strongly aware of the villain's attitude towards their leader.

And also of how Robin tends to change significantly when dealing with Slade.

It was a danger either way.

So when Robin uttered Slade's name back in the Tower, he felt dread.

~•~

He said he would be fine.

So why is he unconscious, bleeding out on a rooftop -a rooftop!- and barely breathing?

This does not qualify as 'fine'. Not by a long shot.

He knew Robin would be hurt. He knew that when he got to him, he would be injured in some form, and that it would be bad, but this?

"What's his condition?" Cyborg demanded, dropping to his knees where there was room for him.

"It is not good," Starfire responded gravely. Both her and Beast Boy's hands were covering Robin's left shoulder area. It was soaked with blood. "We stopped as much of the bleeding as we could, but it still will not end. We do not know the worst of it."

This was worse than he imagined. Far worse.

"We need to get the right stuff for him, and fast. I could take Robin back to the Tower, but I don't want to make anything even worse...we need Raven to get him stable until then, but she won't answer her T-Com. And we can't wait any longer," Beast Boy explained. Now was one of the few times Beast Boy got very serious - because he knew he needed to be.

He's right, Cyborg agreed inwardly. Robin does need medical supplies.

He had noticed Raven's lack of presence, but had planned to wait to address it. Where was she? Was she alright?

"Then we need to act fast; we can't stay here. Be prepared to lift him." He reached for his own T-Com to call Raven himself, but was interrupted by a familiar sound of a portal being activated behind him.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner; I had to deal with something. I'll explain later." Raven broke into a fast-paced jog from where she landed. When she actually got a look at Robin, she knew his condition was serious. Dropping to her knees in a spot by Robin's head, she did a quick once-over of the scene before her.

Raven was breathing a little heavily, Cyborg noticed, but he would have ask about that later. In fact, her face seemed a little strained...like she was in pain. He would have to ask about that, too.

Raven noticed both Beast Boy and Starfire's actions at Robin's collar bone. And also the amount of blood that was there. It was hard to tell if it stopped or not, but they were still applying pressure on it. Better be safe than sorry. "Did the bleeding there stop?"

Starfire shook her head. Her voice wavered a little as she answered,"It is not as bad as before, but he still is."

"We have more control over it now, though," Beast Boy added, trying to reassure everyone.

Raven nodded. "Keep doing what you're doing then. Don't let up. I'm going to see what I can do." She gently pressed both her hands to the sides of her unconscious leader's head. Concentrating, she searched for the extent of the damage.

Just as she expected, the most critical area was Robin's shoulder and collar bone, but his ribs were not too far behind. She realized - and had before - that Robin needed to get to medical attention now. And then there was the fact that she could not do a full scan - she would explain that part later. She needed to get what needed to be stable stable enough for him to be transported, and that she needed to be quick about it.

Alright, she concluded, shoulder first. If that were to be disturbed too much, it would make everything worse. She drew her power and moved her hand to the wound. She sensed the appendages that were there previously withdrawing so that hers could take their places.

She chanted 'Azarath Metrion Zinthos' a few times and the area started to glow. The quick healing process she was casting would work for now.

"There," she breathed, "the bleeding has stopped for now, but we need to get him home immediately. I can't preform a full spell for reasons I will explain later. Let's go."

Starfire picked Robin up as carefully as she could, so that she would not accidentally harm him any further.

"Beast Boy, Raven, you two go with her. Get him to the infirmary. If we don't have the medical supplies, or if something goes wrong, you know what to do," Cyborg ordered. "I'm going to go get the T-Car, then I'll rendezvous you at the Tower."

The three nodded, understanding the command completely. Beast Boy took form of a pterodactyl, and both he and Starfire took off. Raven was about to leave too, but stopped at Cyborg's voice.

"And Raven?"

The half-demon turned to face him. Nothing was said. Nothing needed to be. Raven knew what Cyborg wanted, and she would comply. She gave him a nod, and left in the same direction as the others.

Cyborg watched as her figure gradually grew smaller. Yes, there was something going on with her. Raven hid it well, only giving the dismissive reasoning of 'I'll explain later'. But not well enough. He was no detective when it came to noticing details like that, and was surprised he caught on with his nerves as racked up as they were, but he did.

Robin would have been proud.

Speaking of Robin, he needed to get going. He raised his metal arm, and tapped at the screen built into it. He got to where he wanted; his GPS. He could track the T-Car manually from it. Turning, he set off into a sprint.

~•~

When Cyborg finally did reach the T-Car (it was in the alley where he left it), he wasted no time climbing in and putting it into motion. He weaved his creation between several cars and trucks once he got back on one of the main streets.

He was tense. He realized this now. He took in a deep breath and exhaled a shaky one.

He forced himself to calm, well, all of him down and focus on something else.

He wondered how Robin was doing.

Okay, that was probably not the best topic to think about, seeing as it was the cause of his anxiety in the first place. But, if he was being honest here, that was the only thing on his mind.

He had never seen Robin in that state before. Never. Robin was always this indestructible force, untouchable even.

And that is just how everyone saw him. Why not? He was the Robin from Gotham, partners (or, ex-partner, sorry, Rob) to the Batman, had went up against villains like the Joker on a regular bases.

He did not know much - or, pretty much anything at all for that matter - about Robin's time in Gotham, but he had heard of those who lurk there. So going from a place like Gotham, one would assume Jump City would very well be child's play for Robin. For the most part.

Yeah, sure, some of the criminals they had were questionable, but then again, there were some who were not.

He knows (and had seen with his own two eyes, constantly) that Robin can take down people who were twice his size. The boy knows various types of different fighting styles and is very skilled with many weapons. He tussles against super-powered individuals, villains and friends alike, and prevails. The seller point to that would be the fact of Robin not having any powers of any kind, not to mention that fact the he commands a team who does.

So yes. He was shocked (that was putting things lightly) to see Robin like that.

And Raven...something was definitely out of place; she could not properly do her healing ability. Yes, even that would have its limits normally, but this time was different.

He was so engrossed in his thoughts, he did not even realize how close he was to the Tower. He shook his head, attempting to clear it, and finished off the rest of the distance.

~•~

So, hey. Want to know the time gap in between this chapter and the last? Around five months.
Yep! I'm a deadbeat. Let's hope this doesn't happen again.
But we've all heard that before, haven't we?

HA HA HA!

(But seriously, let's not make this happen again. Spam me constantly with reminders or something. All of you. Do it).

TBC.

BC, out. Peace.