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By: OrderNerd
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The screech of tires echoed through the night sky as the T-Car pulled into the old district of Jump City. Ahead, a ten-story building—once a fashion center—cast its shattered shadow across the rain-soaked asphalt.
Robin adjusted his mask as the car slowed to a halt.
Beside him, Cyborg analyzed the tracks flickering across the holographic monitor.
"Tire marks. The school bus was dropped somewhere around here…"
The T-Car came to a stop with a metallic crash. The team leapt out swiftly. Beast Boy shifted into a falcon, circling above the building with sharp, watchful eyes.
"I'll scout from above."
Starfire stood beside Robin, her green eyes glowing beneath the gray light of the night.
"Robin… shouldn't we go in already? Every second we waste could cost lives."
Robin kept his gaze fixed on the building. The windows were shattered, and dozens of broken mannequins leaned against the ground-floor walls. A cold, macabre scene.
"We don't know what Toyman has prepared this time." he said gravely. "It could be a trap."
Before he could say more, the communicator crackled.
Beast Boy's voice came through the speakers, tense and uneven:
"Dude… we've got a problem. "
The team rushed toward the school bus parked beside the building. Its doors hung ajar, creaking in the wind. Robin climbed in first, cautious, his footsteps echoing against the metal floor.
The silence shattered when he stopped abruptly.
"Damn it…"
Inside, slumped across the seats, lay the small body of a boy—his face marked by the brutal violence of strangulation.
Starfire raised her hands to her mouth, her eyes wide with horror.
Cyborg only shut his eyes and drew in a deep breath, his jaw locked tight.
The air grew heavy. Suffocating.
Robin stepped out of the bus, his gaze still fixed on the macabre scene. He drew a steady breath, but fury burned beneath the mask.
"All right. We can't waste any more time, and we'll have to take the risk. His voice was sharp, laced with urgency. Titans… go!"
They did not hesitate.
Cyborg charged into the building, the servomotors in his legs echoing across the cracked floor as his sensors swept the ground level.
Starfire shot straight to the second floor, her emerald eyes cutting through the dark hallway, tearing the silence like twin torches.
Beast Boy shifted into a hawk, wings beating hard as he soared up to the third floor, loosing a sharp cry that echoed through the corridors.
Robin fired his grapnel, the line catching on cracked concrete of the fourth floor, pulling him upward in seconds.
Each of them, in their own path, came face-to-face with the same nightmare.
Cyborg stopped before a small backpack tossed aside, a child's name still embroidered on the fabric. Just a few feet ahead, the body of a little girl lay motionless, knife wounds carved into her chest. He shut his eyes for a moment, teeth clenched tight.
"Bastard…" he muttered, forcing himself to move on.
Starfire landed softly on the second floor. The sight of three children sprawled on the ground, hunted down to their final breath, made her recoil for an instant. Her heart clenched, tears threatening to well—but she swallowed hard, forcing herself onward through the corridor.
On the third floor, Beast Boy landed and shifted back into human form—only to stumble over a stone slick with blood. His gaze lifted, and he froze. Two children were cornered against the wall, motionless, their eyes still wide open in terror. Beast Boy staggered back, breath catching in his throat.
"Dude… this is…"
Robin landed silently on the fourth floor. The hallway was littered with shattered mannequins, broken limbs scattered as if watching every step he took. Further ahead, an open door revealed two teenagers lying side by side, hands still entwined. He froze for a moment, the weight of the scene hitting him like a blow.
"Son of a…" he muttered through clenched teeth, before balling his fists and pressing on.
Robin's breathing quickened, his mind stitching the pieces together as he climbed each floor. The bodies, the chaos, the mannequins… none of it was random. Toyman was leaving a trail—a macabre invitation.
"He wants us to find him"… Robin muttered to himself, eyes narrowing behind the mask. "But why?"
He sprinted toward the stairwell and fired his grapnel once more, launching himself up to the top floor. As he crossed the doorway, the sight struck him like a punch to the gut.
At the center of a vast room, surrounded by shattered mannequins, stood Ethan Vale—helmet gone—holding Toyman by the throat, lifting him into the air as if he were nothing more than a rag doll.
The villain was unrecognizable. His face was deformed by bruises and lacerations, his mouth emptied of teeth, blood dripping down his chin. His arms and legs were twisted at impossible angles, dangling like broken branches. And still, he breathed—a ragged, rasping wheeze that barely clung to life.
Ethan's grip tightened with every passing second, his gray eyes blazing with a fury that bordered on inhuman.
"Enough!" Robin's voice cut through the silence like a blade. "That's it! He can't escape anymore."
Ethan didn't move. Slowly, the weight of his gaze fell upon Robin—cold, crushing, devastating. Staring into those eyes was like standing at the edge of an abyss ready to consume everything.
Drawn by Robin's voice, Toyman turned his swollen eyes toward him, and a crooked, almost childlike smile spread across his bloodied lips. As if he found amusement in the scene.
Robin stepped forward, steady, fighting to keep his composure.
"Let him go, Ethan. Now."
The heir's voice came low and heavy with contempt, his grip on the villain's throat unrelenting:
"Even after everything you've seen here… you're still going to protect him?"
Robin narrowed his eyes, his voice firm despite the quickening beat of his heart.
"This isn't about protecting villains, Ethan. It's about doing what's right. Justice. Not vengeance."
The silence stretched, heavy as stone. The broken windows let in the night wind, making the mannequins creak as if they were witnesses to a clash of ideals.
Ethan kept his grip, his eyes locked on Robin's. His voice came out low, harsh—like iron grinding against stone:
"Do you remember what I told you? That I wouldn't carry the weight of lives lost because I failed to act?"
Robin clenched his jaw tight.
Ethan tilted his head, the rage in his eyes giving way to something darker, almost sorrowful.
"Unfortunately, Robin… thanks to you, tonight I felt that weight. And I swear, I will never feel it again."
"Ethan… NO!" Robin shouted, lunging forward.
But it was already too late.
Ethan tightened his grip around Toyman's throat until a muffled crack echoed in the room. Then, with a brutal motion, he hurled the villain's body against the window. Glass exploded into a storm of shards, reflecting the lightning outside.
Toyman's desperate scream tore through the night air—only to be silenced by the sickening thud of his body hitting the asphalt ten stories below.
At that very instant, a lightning bolt split the sky, bathing the abandoned building in a violent flash. The thunder followed, roaring like the end of a trial.
Robin froze. His fist clenched so tightly his gloves groaned under the strain. His eyes burned with outrage as he glared at Ethan.
"What have you done?!"
Breathing hard, Ethan slowly turned, his expression cold as steel.
"What was necessary."
The silence was broken only by the wind threading through the shattered windows. Ethan stepped back a few paces while Robin kept his eyes on him; they moved slowly, circling each other like predators about to strike.
"You committed murder, Ethan," Robin said, his voice steady, his cape fluttering in the draft. "And for that… you'll have to be taken in."
Ethan's gray eyes flashed in the gloom. He didn't move—he let the tension thicken in the room.
"I'm not going anywhere, Robin," he finally said, low but firm. "I did what had to be done. Now other lives will be spared because of my choice."
They both paused, and then the prodigy spoke before acting:
"If you won't surrender, then I'll take you in by force!"
With a swift movement, the young hero fired his grappling hook into the wall behind Ethan, the cord snapping taut with a sharp crack.
Using the momentum, Robin launched himself forward, fist clenched, aiming straight for Ethan's jaw.
But before the strike could land, Ethan raised his hand. The blow halted just inches from his face. Robin's arm shook under the crushing force of the Shadow Monarch's heir.
The two locked eyes, and Robin could see it there—contempt laced with a rising fury.
Then, in the silence that followed, a sound rumbled from the darkness behind Ethan.
A slow, deep, guttural growl—reverberating as though it had crawled up from the very depths of the abyss.
Suddenly, Robin felt the world around him collapse. The rooftop, the wind, the city—everything was swallowed whole by darkness. He was alone. Alone before it.
Three pairs of eyes ignited in the void, blue embers burning within the black. Three colossal faces emerged, revealing fangs sharp as spears, while a freezing breath escaped their maws, wrapping Robin in a suffocating, winter chill.
His body froze in place. Instinct screamed for him to run, but his mind knew there was nowhere to go.
"Easy, Cerberus." Ethan's voice drifted through the void, a whisper that did not belong to this place, echoing from every direction. "There's no need to get upset."
The vision shattered in an instant, like glass breaking apart. Damian Wayne blinked, pulled back into the real world, though his heart still pounded as if the creature lingered nearby.
Ethan watched him with the unsettling calm of someone carrying a terrible secret.
"Don't worry, Robin," he said, a dark half-smile curving his lips. "If I wanted him to devour you… I would've given the order already. Cerberus just doesn't like it when someone tries to lay a hand on me."
Ethan's grip on Robin's fist suddenly tightened, and the boy felt his fingers nearly snap. With a brutal pull, Ethan lifted him into the air as if he were nothing more than dead weight.
"Now get out of my sight." Ethan murmured, and in a single motion, he yanked Robin's arm downward and drove a punch straight into his chest.
The impact was devastating. A sharp crack echoed through the abandoned floor as Robin was hurled like a projectile, crashing through a concrete wall. Debris collapsed on top of him, raising a cloud of dust.
When the smoke settled, Robin coughed amidst the rubble, forcing his body to rise.
And then, footsteps echoed in unison: Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy stormed onto the floor, their eyes widening at the sight of Robin rising from the rubble—and Ethan standing at the center of the room, surrounded by shadows that still writhed like living smoke.
Robin staggered, but his voice rang firm:
"Ethan Vale… you're under arrest for what you did to Toyman."
Ethan glanced around, his gray eyes flashing as he drew in a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh.
"I don't want to fight you. "Don't force me."
The silence that followed lasted only a second, but it was enough to chill the blood. The Titans exchanged uncertain looks—Starfire's face frozen in shock, Beast Boy's twisted in doubt, and Cyborg's marked by grim
But Robin did not falter. He straightened among the rubble, his gaze sharp and commanding.
"Titans! Attack!"
The shout rang out like a call to war.
(Continue...)
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Hello again!
In this chapter, we witnessed everything through the eyes of the Titans — and especially Robin.
Ethan has finally crossed the line — he no longer hesitates to eliminate villains who take innocent lives. But with that choice comes a heavy consequence: the growing resistance of certain heroes who cannot accept his methods.
The question now is… what happens next? Will Ethan stand his ground against those who oppose him, or will the clash with the heroes reshape his path entirely?
I'd love to hear your thoughts — what do you think is coming after this turning point? 👀