And after watching "Winner Takes All" I was inspired to do this. A tribute to the original Titan's team of Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Speedy and Wonder Girl, but fitting in with the nature of the show. I hope it complies, somewhat at least. I don't think writing action is one of my better talents, but I have attempted. Anyways, I hope you enjoy.

~*~

Slade was up to something, and Robin was going to figure it out, if it killed him. He and the rest of the Titans had managed to infiltrate the base and while the others were dealing with Slade's goons, he had his eyes on the prize, Slade. They were well matched, even if Slade may have had some edge where body strength was concerned, but he had the training and the speed.

Robin was so focused on Slade that he didn't see the goon that came out of the side and hit him off of the platform that he had been fighting on. Stupid mistake, you know better the cold voice in his head that sounded all too much like his father echoed in his head. He was working towards his grapple when a pair of hands caught his. "Shall I return you to your fight?" a bright voice asked.

He smiled up at the girl with green eyes who was staring down at him. "Thanks Star."

Starfire nodded at him with a smile of her own. Her eyes went serious before she whispered, "Do you need my aid?"

He ground his teeth before responding. "Keep the goons distracted."

When she was hovering over the platform he no longer felt her hands and he twisted himself to land appropriately. It was odd, because it wasn't the same sensation of Starfire letting go, but it was just the absence of her hands. And it wasn't like her to drop him. "Where?" he asked, looking up and not seeing her anywhere. He took a moment to look around him, and none of the titans were there.

"Your friends are gone Robin. You are alone. Join me."

Slade's hand extended across the distance, all Robin had to do was take it. He had done that before and it had been hell, he would not do it again. "Never." His mind started racing, there had to be a way to get them back, there just had to. He would find them.

"You have a week, Robin, one week, to come around and join me," Slade's eerily cold voice echoed in his ears. Robin looked up at the masked man, and would swear if he could see the real face, the man before him was smiling. "If you don't, the first of your friends that I chose will be left upon your doorstep, and one every week after that until they are all dead. Because of you."

And then Slade was gone just as quickly as his friends had, leaving the words echoing in his head.

~*~

Robin looked at the Teen Titans' communicator. He needed a team to get back his team, a smart and savvy team that would be able to help him take on Slade. He would love to believe that he could take Slade by himself and rescue his friends, but even that would be too much. Just as long as he got to take the parting shot on Slade, see the man finished forever. That would be enough.

"Speedy?"

"Hey Robin." The teen looked as if he was leaning back in a chair, and a smirk evolved on his face. "Calling so soon?"

Any other time, Robin would have enjoyed the chance to play around with a guy like Speedy, but now was a time for no distractions or horsing around. "I need your help. I'm compiling a strike team to get back my friends from a man named Slade. You in?" "

Sign me up. I've got a friend who could lend a hand too...you want me to bring her along?"

"Sure," Robin said, agreeing to trust the other teen's judgment. "I think I'm going to need all the help I can get."

"Speedy signing out."

Robin smiled; glad to have someone he could trust on his side. Speedy had talent and an ability to focus, which would help them out. He pulled the communicator open and called another communicator. "Aqualad."

The sleek teen's face appeared in the communicator screen. "Robin? What's up?" He looked to be above water, which Robin found to be interesting. He wondered what kind of capabilities Aqualad could have out of water, and decided that would be best to keep in mind.

"I'm putting together a team to go after a few friends of mine. Care to help?"

"Sure. Actually I've been working with a guy by the name of Kid Flash, if you're looking for hands..."

Robin had heard of this Kid Flash, he was supposed to be well trained. "Bring him," Robin said decisively.

Now all he had to do was wait for his makeshift team to show up and he could proceed with his plans to get his friends free. He hoped that his friends would make it through the trouble they were in until he could get to them.

In the mean time he would take a few minutes to meditate. If he wasn't as mentally prepared for this battle as he knew he was physically, there would be no point of even going into the battle. His father had taught him that much.

~*~

His friends awoke in a metal cage with no way of seeing what lay around them.

"I do not like this place."

"Cyborg, stop it!" Raven called as Cyborg continued to use his sonic blast to try and burst them out of the cage. "There is no way out and you're just going to get us killed."

Already hysterical, Beast Boy was running around the cage. "There's no hope, none. We're going to die in here. Trapped like rats." On cue Beast Boy changed into a rat and began scampering around their feet.

Star looked at the blank walls of the cell and wrapped her arms tighter around her body before speaking. "Robin is still out there," she said, voice certain. "He will not let us die here."

Cyborg nodded, agreeing with the alien. "Star's right, we've just gotta trust Rob to get us out of here."

"Not that he stopped us from getting pulled in here," Raven muttered from the place she was hovering, once again trying to meditate to get her powers back under her control. If she had some control over them she might be able to do something useful.

"He couldn't have known," Cyborg argued.

"Raven has a point," Terra piped up. "If he's not capable of stopping Slade, how is he going to get us out?" "We're doomed!"

Starfire turned on the three people she considered friends, her eyes blazing solid green. "I do not like your thoughts." Looking every inch the Tamaranian princess she held her chin high. "I have doubted Robin only once before and I was proven wrong. He will save us." She turned on her heel and stalked off to a corner of the cage and sat alone, facing a wall. Waiting for the one person she trusted the most in the world to save her as she believed he would.

~*~

Robin stood outside the Tower, waiting for the new team to show up. It was late evening and there had been no distress calls. Usually he and his friends would be inside watching a movie, on a nice day like today they would possibly be playing volleyball or something equally as fun on the roof, or even doing their own things, but at least being in the same space.

He missed them.

But they would be back soon. He had promised Starfire that the team would be friends forever after her jaunt into the future, and forever was not over yet. They had not defeated Slade yet, the world was far from safe. There was still more to learn about each other.

Then floating out over the water was a girl with dark brown hair and she was holding onto Speedy. They made a rather effortless landing and Robin walked forward to greet them. "You made excellent time," he said extending his hand to Speedy.

Speedy shook his hand before smiling at the girl with him. "I had a hand. Robin, this is Wonder Girl. Wonder girl, this is Robin."

"I have heard a lot about you Robin," Wonder Girl said, taking Robin's hand and shaking it. Her shake was impressively strong. "Speedy hasn't stopped talking about the Tournament since he returned."

"It's good to meet you. We're just waiting on two more."

He smiled as Aqualad came out of the water, tailing him was another teen driving a speedboat at speeds that many would considered much too fast. "Aqualad, and you must be Kid Flash." Kid Flash was by his side and shaking his hand faster than Robin could blink.

"Glad to meet you." He stepped back and looked at his current team. They would do. "Come inside and I'll debrief you all on the situation."

"Cool pad man."

"You guys live here?"

"Yes. You can have a tour when we complete the mission but right now my focus is on my friends."

"This is Slade. Not much is known about him. We have come up against him several times, he has an odd obsession with me, I don't quite understand it. He has attempted to make me his apprentice on several occasions, even this is another bid to get me onto his side."

"Weaknesses?"

"His pride. The trick is to outsmart him, or let him think he is in complete control and unnerve him."

"Make him look like a fool. I think we can manage it."

"Easier said than done. Besides, the last shot is mine."

"What's the plan?"

"I have a week until he will kill one of them, but I don't want them trapped there for too long, there is no telling what he has in store. A couple days of training and a bit more reconnaissance then I've already done and then I want to move."

~*~

Robin watched the honorary Titans as the practiced. If he didn't already have a fabulous team, he would add these four on, without question. As it was he was almost ready to give them all rooms, but then it was not a choice he should be making alone. The team would have to make the decision together, as a team.

Aqualad was making great use of the bay, calling up animals and using the water as he pleased. Speedy was as good as Robin remembered, firing off arrows quickly. His arsenal of trick arrows was fabulous and kept sending targets to the ground. Wonder Girl was an interesting new addition. She had a similar strength and maneuverability to that of Superman, but he doubted she was Kryptonian as she did not have some of the other interesting powers that Superman did. She worked well with Speedy, and Robin could tell this was not their first mission together. Kid Flash was great too, reminiscent of The Flash, but with a bit more flare. Lighthearted but not easily distracted and with the use of his speed, both physically and mentally, he was a perfect asset.

Robin focused on the way they used teamwork well. Aqualad rose out of the water on a cyclone like formation, but it wasn't going the speed he needed it to in order to impact the target he had in mind. Kid Flash was instantly racing around the spinning structure as Aqualad jumped back into the bay and with the added speed that Kid Flash brought to it, it hit the target with excellent force.

Out of the corner of his eye he watched as the platform Speedy had been standing on crumble. Speedy lept, but he was caught midair by Wonder Girl and she began to lower him towards another target. Reminded of the last time he had seen Star, Robin turned away from the scene.

"So are you going to join us or just stand here and glower at us?" Robin turned a hard gaze on the teen outfitted in red to his side. He hadn't even heard Kid Flash approach him. "It's not that I don't think you're great at this or anything, but if we're training to see how we work together, then it would make sense if you trained with us."

"Fleet foot has a point," Speedy called out as his arrow hit another target on the mark and made the wooden structure burst into flames. "

Alright." Robin dug his staff into the ground and propelled himself off of the hill he was standing on and down to the training area. He flipped twice before striking the target dead center with his feet. He quickly spun took out another with the staff and a third with an explosive disk. "Let's do it. Titans, Go!"

~*~

She had watched as Slade had taken all of her friends out of the box he kept them in and had returned them more depressed than they had been earlier. They had all sworn that Robin had moved on, that he had just formed a new team and was not coming to get them. Even Cyborg had lost his faith when he had returned. Now it was her turn, she would stand strong. She was Starfire; she would not fail him again.

"He is going to leave you here."

Weakened due to her confinement without sunlight, Starfire stayed seated. "No he will not. You lie." She unconsciously moved herself towards the patch of sunlight that entered through the small window.

"Do you honestly think you are good enough for him? You are an alien girl who he cannot trust. His mentor taught him not to trust those with powers. And how could he still want you around after that maturing incident of yours, or with your sister coming back."

Thoughts that plagued Starfire about her relationship with Robin, with her relationship with everyone on Earth, returned. But none would get through, they had not abandoned her yet, they never would. "You lie. Robin is not a..." She struggled for the English word but could not come up with what she searched for. "He is not evil."

"He has already replaced you all. Even you," Slade told her darkly as he clicked a button on what the guys called a "remote."

The screen before her filled with images of Robin training back at Titans Tower. Aqualad was training with him, as were three teens that she did not recognize. He was running the same training maneuvers as he ran with them. A bit differently, but still similarly, and even that hit of a smile graced his face as he watched others make hits. They finished the run and seemed to congratulate one another. The dark haired girl who flew even leaned over and gave the kiss to Robin on his cheek and he seemed to smile at her.

Star watched him on the screen and reached a hand out towards him. "Robin?" Something inside hurt, it was that "heart-crack" disease that Earthlings talked of. And then she heard Robin's promise about never letting his friends fall apart. Her eyes and hands glowed within a second. "No. It is a lie!" she cried as she let green blasts fly from her hands and her eyes and into the screen, using what little power she had been able to gain from the filtered sunlight.

~*~

Robin walked up to the old warehouse where he knew Slade was hiding out alone. The rest of the team had taken great care to hide themselves, but Robin was pretty sure that Slade already knew they were out there. He had kept all of the planning and most of the training inside away from Slade's prying eyes.

Slade too, walked out alone. It was the way it was supposed to be, or at least appear to be. Two advisories meeting once again. "I assume you have surrendered, Robin."

"I must see my friends unharmed first."

"I never promised you unharmed, I just promised you not dead."

Slade turned around and walked back into the warehouse, Robin followed and he knew the rest of the honorary Titans were closing in. "What did you do to them?" he growled when Slade didn't even turn around to regard him.

"Show our friend here what is going on within the box," Slade ordered one of his nameless, faceless lackeys.

A screen lit up, before him, the look of his friends sent a shiver down Robin's spine. He had been hoping for assistance for them but in their current state he wondered if that were possible. Raven was the only one who looked close to normal, both Starfire and Cyborg looked completely drained, and Terra and Beast Boy appeared to be greatly depressed.

He spotted the box out of the corner of his eye and shouted, "Titans, GO!"

"I have anticipated you Robin," Slade said, snapping a finger, and suddenly he was surrounded by his men.

"And I you Slade."

Robin battled Slade himself, as he had planned on doing, as long as he could keep Slade distracted, and if Wonder Girl and Kid Flash could take on Slade's men, hopefully Aqualad and Speedy could demolish the box.

He watched as Aqualad covered the box with water, and Speedy instantly sent an ice arrow at it, freezing it with a very light sheen of ice over it. As planned they fought with some of the men for a few minutes, allowing time for the ice to take hold and chill the box. Then Speedy sent a heat arrow followed by a series of energy arrows, severely weakening the box.

He refocused himself on Slade, knowing that he couldn't watch everything at once, not if he wanted to succeed here. Slade was a difficult opponent always had been, but he could do this. He'd done it before hadn't he? He'd succeeded before.

"Robin!"

"Raven! Cy!" he cried, hoping that his friends could hear him through the weakened box. "Come on, I know you guys are in there, fight back!"

"They can't hear you."

"Kid Flash, hit the..."

Kid Flash got to the box before Robin could finish the statement and hit the intercom button. "Guys, the box is weakened, fight back, you'll get out."

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

The cry sent a thrill through Robin, and he watched as the box was covered in the black magic that came with Raven and began to bend. "It's working!" He cried, as the combined efforts of the Titans inside the box and outside, began to break it open. He turned to Slade. "There's more of us than there have ever been. You can't defeat us all."

"Took you long enough," Cyborg's voice boomed as he hopped out of the box and to the ground of the warehouse.

Robin grinned as everyone else hopped out of the box. "Got some power left in you?" he asked Cyborg.

"Yeah, think so."

Robin scanned his friends and the noticed that Starfire was still unconscious inside the box. Now was not the time for a weakness of any kind. "Kid Flash, get Starfire out of here."

Robin then refocused all of his energy on Slade. He would not escape this time, he would be put where he belonged, in jail. But as usual, Slade managed to find a way to slip out a back way. "Another time my young friend," his voice echoed as he disappeared. "Another time."

~*~

Titan's Tower was busy with activity, original members and honorary crowding the place. At times, the amount of people would have overcrowded him and made Robin feel uncomfortable, probably due to the way he had been raised, but after rescuing his friends from Slade it felt right. The music was loud, pizza boxes were open on the table, other forms of junk food covered the place. Speedy, Kid Flash, Cyborg and Beast Boy had a four player video game up, and were trying to beat the heck out of each other. Aqualad was busily chatting with Terra, Wonder Girl and Raven, and getting several dirty looks from the couch which he either ignored or didn't see.

"You are not partying?" a hesitant voice asked, causing him to break out of his thoughts.

Robin turned to look at Starfire. She was alert once again, "Hey. Are you feeling better?"

She graced him with a tremulous smile. "Yes, I am better now. Being in the sunlight was wonderful. I did fly a bit close, but it only made things better."

"That's good." "Star, I'm sorry."

"Why?"

"Because, Slade caught you and kept you trapped in that box and it took me longer than it should have to get you out of there. If I had been any longer..."

Her hand vised down on his, causing him to look into her eyes. They were bright and shining, the way he preferred to think of them. "Robin, you saved us, I knew you would." She grinned at him. "I did not doubt you this time. He wanted me to, tried to make me think that you had betrayed us again. But he is all lies."

"Yeah."

"I think I am going to go talk to Wonder Girl, she mentioned something about shopping."

"Alright, I might take in a game or two."

"Take my controller, I'm going to get some refreshments." No sooner than he'd tossed it up, Kid Flash was across the room and picking up a soda and joining the others in their conversation.

Robin grabbed the controller, and sat down as Beast Boy turned around to spy on the others. "Dude, he's going to hit on Raven. He's totally going to get zapped."

"Are you playing, man, or not?"

"Shhh! I'm watching."

"Fine," Cyborg said and hit a button on the console.

*Terminated* the computer tone stated and Beast Boy's section of the screen went blank and the other three sections moved to take up the space.

"Dude! No fair. I was playing."

"You were watching them."

"For a second!" Beast Boy cried out. "You had no right to terminate me!"

"You weren't playing!"

Robin and Speedy grinned at one another over the argument and turned back to the console, and began playing without Cyborg as well. Robin hoped, and was pretty certain that the argument with Beast Boy would keep him occupied long enough for them to get well over Cyborg's current score.

"I was so!"

"Was not."

"Was so!"

"Was not!"