Chapter 5

"Good-" Slade congratulate him. "-but not perfect."

His head clear again, another yell of pure fury in his throat, Robin charges across the floor. He launches himself into the air, but one of those steel-gloved fists whistles out and hits home in the breadbasket. Robin's stunned countenance, then of Slade's quietly cruel one, then both. The young man hangs in the air for a moment, supported by the fist that has just stopped him cold, and then slowly collapses. Extreme of Slade's eye, he chuckles to himself.

The detonator core. A small square panel is at the heart of it, held in place by a screw at each corner. These are pulled out via Raven's telekinesis, and Cyborg reaches into view to remove the panel-this is his perspective. Behind it is a rotating, glowing red sphere. The next three lines are spoken in whispers.

"The chromium core." Cyborg softly. "Very unstable. No sudden moves."

He holds up the panel, Beast Boy quickly turns into an octopus, takes it from him, and sets it aside gingerly. As Cyborg reaches toward the machinery, Starfire gets ready to sneeze-her allergy exacerbated by being this close to that much chromium-and throws everyone into a panic. Raven creates a shield around the Tamaranean's head to contain the force of the coming blast; it holds, but just barely, and her hair is blown wildly out of place. She sniffles after the shield is taken down.

"Please continue." Starfire congested.

She shakes her hair back into place and grins widely with an embarrassed little giggle. Cyborg's perspective, he holds up his forearm, which now shows a panel with a circuit diagram of the device. Three lights come on underneath it. Back to the group; Beast Boy resumes human form.

"Okay." Cyborg extending acetylene torch from forefinger. "Now all we have to do is decouple the-"

His perspective on the end of this; he uses the torch to sever one of the cables running to the core. It begins to beep and rotate very quickly. Back to the group.

"Well, that doesn't sound good." Beastboy sniffles.

We are back in Slade's lair. Robin tumbles across the floor and stays down for a few seconds, pounding his fist against the tiles with a loud groan. Slade steps into view near him; tilt up from feet to head.

"I understand your frustration, Robin. You hate losing as much as I do. Slade long shot, panning slowly across the place. "One of the many qualities we have in common."

Once again, his sorest spot has been poked too hard, and he comes up into an uppercut that lifts Slade clear off his feet. Two more punches send the armored criminal genius to the floor, but he lands in a crouch and runs off. Giving him no quarter, Robin lands a string of savage blows to drop him flat on his back. Back to the transmitter; the Boy Wonder steps into view nearby and picks it up.

"It's over, Slade!" Robin turns.

"On the contrary, Robin." The thing starts to spark.

"Huh?"

It breaks apart in his hand with a small crackle of electricity. He stares down in total confusion, stepping out from a dark recess among the machinery.

"This is only the beginning." Slade chuckles.