Chapter 58

“What Robin did was…bad. I’m not going to sugar coat it. It was really bad, and I hate to say it but…I think he needs to step down as the leader of the Titans.”

Kid Flash stated with some reserves at the meeting. Nine chairs sat in the conference room, but only eight were being used. One was notably absent.

The current situation was so tense that even Galatea showed up to the conference hall. Something she’s not known for doing often. Not only that, but she was paying attention. Which said something about the seriousness of the situation.

I rested my head in my hands as I considered Kid Flash’s words, only for a second Titan member to slam his fist onto the table. Directing all attention towards him as he stood up as well.

“Step down as leader? Are you serious right now!? Starfire almost died and you still want him on the team!?”

Beast Boy roared with indignation. His current emotions were written on his face for all to see. Anger was the most predominant one, and right below that there was pain. A finger was pointed accusingly towards Kid Flash, causing him to recoil slightly.

Aqualad was the next to speak.

“…Beast Boy…may have a point. It might be best for not only the Titans, but Robin as well to take a…temporary leave of absence.”

He was still injured, but he was no longer bedridden. Still, he wasn’t fit to go into the field just yet.

In response to his words, Beast Boy looked at him in genuine shock before looking around the room.

“Temporary-Is no one taking this seriously? Taking him off the Titans is just the bare minimum of what we should do!”

“What exactly are you proposing? That Robin should go to jail?”

Aqualad asked in a rather neutral fashion, though the look in his eyes betrayed his stance on the issue. That being he was against it. Kid Flash also looked a bit uncomfortable, but didn’t speak up in response.

“Yes! No. I don’t…I don’t know.”

Beast Boy started to lose a bit of steam as he was met with a question he couldn’t quite answer. He threw a glance towards you before turning his head as Cyborg stood up. Which caused him to remember that we were supposed to sit when it wasn’t our turn to talk.

“I’ve had a few fights with Robin, but ultimately I do like the guy. But this business with Deathstroke? Kid Flash and Law were attacked by Ravager because of him. Aqualad and Starfire would have died without immediate medical aid. I don’t agree with jailtime, but serious action does need to be taken.”

The next one to stand and speak surprised almost everyone. Though she does constantly show up to every meeting, she very rarely speaks up. And when she does it’s usually just a small sentence.

“Even if Robin stays, nothing good will come of it. Who’s willing to let him watch your back? Who’s willing to put their life in Robin’s hands? The anger and pain everyone is feeling towards him could not only risk your own lives, but his as well.”

Raven stated. It was a pretty objective look at things all things considered. Basically, pointing out that the bonds between us have been weakened and would cause us to hesitate.

Something that could spell death for us in this line of work.

“Robin…has lost our trust.”

Starfire spoke in a crestfallen manner. Looking down at the table in an almost defeated manner. Similar to Beast Boy, her emotions were all too easy to see through. Which made her words that much more impactful.

“D-Law, you were there with me. What do you think?”

Beast Boy asked me, though I highly doubted he genuinely wanted my opinion. Well, that wasn’t fair to say. He likely did want my opinion, but he also greatly wanted my opinion to be his opinion.

I closed my eyes to think for a few moments. Only after organizing my thoughts did I speak.

“I believe everything that needed to be said, has been. As long as no one disagrees, I motion that we move to take a vote.”

“Of?”

Aqualad asked causing me to look in his direction.

“We will start with the biggest one. Should we kick Robin off the team? If it doesn’t pass, we work our way towards a lighter sentence and to potentially no sentence at all.”

Though I highly doubt it’ll come to that. I continued.

“If passed, we then work our way down to how severe the punishment will be. From a temporary leave of absence, to permanent, to potential imprisonment.”

This got a round of nods from all those involved. I returned it before clearing my throat.

“All right then. For clarity’s sake I’ll restate the proposal. Should Robin be removed from the Titans? All in favor raise your hand. Those who are against or abstain-“

I was interrupted by doors to the conference room being opened. Not in a violent manner, but in a calm one. I didn’t bother to look over in that direction as I already knew who it was.

And considering that Ravager was in no state to move, there was only one other person in the Tower.

“There doesn’t need to be a vote. I’ve decided that I need some time to reflect on my actions as a whole. And that’s why I’m going to go back to Gotham.”

I said nothing. Nor did any of the other Titans. Unsurprising, considering once they had learned of the situation and why they needed to hold Beast Boy back from attacking Robin they quickly let him have it as well. Everyone besides Galatea, at least.

Robin then looked towards everyone around the council table before frowning.

“Well…it looks like this is goodbye. Thank you for everything, and I hope the Titans continue to go strong.”

His eyes turned towards me, but I continued to stare ahead. Not meeting his gaze. Once more no one said anything, but looks of pity and sadness were abundant. But so too were looks of anger.

Eventually he left the room.

Kid Flash sighed before slumping back in his seat.

“Well…that happened.”

“So, is that like, it? The meetings over?”

Beast Boy asked, only for me to shake my head in the negative.

“No. Now we have another important vote to get through. With Robin gone, we are now leaderless. We need to vote on a new one.”

To this everyone widened their eyes before looking around. The tension in the air was quickly dissipated over this newfound excitement. A fact of which surprised even me. Though I did feel some lingering resentment in the air.

I continued.

“I propose that we each take turns to vote, going around in a circle. Whoever votes must give a reason as to why they believe their choice will be a good leader. Whoever has the most votes becomes the next leader.”

Cyborg looked up in confusion.

“Wait, won’t everyone just vote for themselves? What do we do for a tie?”

“If a tie happens then we will hold a group vote for each individual on whether or not we have faith in their ability to lead. Whoever has the most votes then wins.”

“And what if that ties?”

Beast Boy asked this time, leading me to quirk an eyebrow at him.

“…Then we flip a coin.”

“But what if there’s multiple-“

“Then we roll a fucking dice.”

Beast Boy laughed awkwardly as I glared at him before going quiet. I relaxed as everyone agreed with my plan. Therefore we started with the person who was closest to the door. That being Galatea.

“I should be leader. Because I’m the strongest.”

Which was exactly what I had predicted her to say. Galatea looked around the table to see if anyone disagreed, but obviously no one spoke up. Leading her to nod and sit back down.

Next was Star-

“I think Law would make a great leader! He is wise, most capable, and very proficient in the making of lo-“

I coughed, interrupting Starfire. I had already considered that she would vote for me, but I hadn’t quite expected her to get so uh…graphic. Despite being interrupted, she still offered a smile towards me before sitting down.

After clearing my throat, I stood up and offered my opinion.

“I believe the most capable person of leading the Titans needs to be someone who holds respect, power, and a high position in the team. Someone who is near indispensable to the tower itself, as well as generally liked.”

I looked around the table to see everyone nodding along to my words. Good, that meant they were paying attention.

“Which is why I would like to vote for Cyborg to be the next leader of the Titans. He is respected by pretty much every member, his ability with electronics and working communication would make it easy for him to dispense orders or commands. Not only is he rather powerful on his own, but the Tower and by extension the Titans, would be lost without him.”

This time people started to mutter and lightly converse with each other. Cyborg on the other hand was just staring at me completely dumbfounded. His mouth opening and closing slightly in surprise.

If he thought I was going to vote for myself then he was greatly mistaken. I wouldn’t touch the position with a ten foot pole. Nor did I want to waste my time talking to the Justice League about banal things.

The fact that the Amazo body parts we had been guarding weren’t even real wasn’t exactly lost on any of us either. Thankfully for the Justice League, we had bigger problems to deal with than them. Or rather more immediate ones that were closer to home.

Whoever was going to deal with that situation was not going to have it easy.

Aqualad was next to speak, but notably didn’t stand.

“…I abstain from this vote.”

…Oh? That was interesting. I had expected him to give a rather neutral and fair look into things before putting in his own vote. Which would likely have been Cyborg, himself, or potentially even Raven.

It was odd that he wasn’t voting on something so important to the future of the Titans. Which made me think that perhaps he didn’t approve of this method?

But that didn’t make sense, as I gave plenty of time for someone else to put forward their own ideas. And if Aqualad had one, I’d have let him speak. Honestly it was possible that he’d come up with an even better idea than my own.

But he didn’t. Which pointed towards there being another reason…

Interesting.

“Well, I’m pretty surprised no one has pointed this out yet, but the next leader is pretty obvious, right? It should be me.”

Kid Flash stated, posing in order to seem more regal, or something. I honestly wasn’t too sure. After half a minute passed and we realized he wasn’t going to say anything else, the next person stood up.

Which was Raven.

“…I don’t personally care who the leader is. As long as it isn’t Beast Boy or Kid Flash, I’d be satisfied.”

“”Hey!””

Both Beast Boy and Kid Flash answered her at the same time. Causing her to roll her eyes before sitting back down. Hmm…that probably counts as another abstain. Which is less surprising come from her.

Beast Boy stood up next.

“While I think I’d make a good leader, I think we need a great one. Especially after what happened. Someone we can all put our trust into and has already done so much to help everyone.”

Surprising. I’d have thought he’d vote for himself, much like Kid Flash.

“Which is why I think Law should be our leader.”

Hmm? Now that had been doubly unexpected, as well as unfortunate. For me at least. That meant I had two votes, which was currently in the lead. Though thankfully there was still one more person who hasn’t spoken yet.

Cyborg had initially raised the point about a tie if everyone voted for themselves. Which likely meant that he’d vote for himself. Good. In that case I’d propose that we both offer a speech of what we intend to change and do as leaders. A speech that I’d intentionally throw.

“I…think Beast Boy is right. Law is definitely the right man for the job.”

What.

Kid Flash groans while everyone else seems pretty relaxed at the news. Except for Starfire, who seemed very excited for me.

…Perhaps I should have thought about this a bit more.

*~o~*

After speaking a bit more at the conference hall, eventually we all came to an agreement before leaving. That agreement being that I was the new leader of the Titans.

…It wasn’t the best spot to be in. Not by a long shot, and would likely waste a lot of my time. That’s without even mentioning that the leader becomes the whipping boy of the entire Team for when something goes wrong.

Still, the position wasn’t without it’s benefits. I could now make a few changes to how things are done around here. Changes that I haven’t really considered seriously.

I was deep in thought about this as I was heading towards my room. To which Robin was standing outside of it.

…So he had been waiting for me.

“…Hey.”

He offered, giving me a small wave. Hmm, I guess this was inevitable. For the first time since the Deathstroke incident, I looked into Robin’s eyes.

“Hey.”

Robin must not have liked what he saw, because he grimaced a bit, before taking a step back. Awkwardly rubbing the back of his head with a sigh.

“You’re mad at me too, huh? Well, I guess that’s to be expected.”

“I’m not mad at you.”

He blinked at that, before turning to face me with wide eyes.

“…really?”

I nodded.

“I had been at first, but then I realized the truth of the matter. You weren’t the one I should be angry at. Nor the one to be disappointed in.”

He looked around a bit in thought before throwing out a guess.

“…Deathstroke?”

“Me.”

This confused him, so I explained.

“I had saw the signs, but I refused to call a spade, a spade. Instead I decided to think that the problem was something else entirely. Planning around that instead of the truth.”

“…You couldn’t have-“

“In Gotham, I’ve learned lots of things over the years. Lessons that I’ve always taken to heart, and that have always protected me. You do not bring a knife to a gunfight. Something too good to be true usually is. And that you do not trust an orphan to watch your stash.”

Robin said nothing.

“Years of experience in Gotham, yet it only took a matter of months for me to disregard them. I broke a cardinal rule, and paid the price for it.”

I looked Robin in the eyes as I continued to speak. Showcasing the sincerity of my words by not breaking eye contact for a second.

“The truth is…I began to trust you. Which was a choice on my part. That is why I’m disappointed in myself, as I should have known better.”

“I…”

Robin seemed to have become rather mournful, and turned his head…before punching the wall next to him. I watched on calmly as he took a few shuddering breaths before looking back at me.

“Is…Is what I did really that bad? Can no one see where I was coming from?”

“We all have our own choices to make. There is no one we can blame for these choices besides ourselves. If you believe your actions the right one to take, that is your right. It is also the right of others to disagree and believe the opposite.”

I paused for a moment. Rubbing my chin before narrowing my eyes.

“That being said, most see trust as a two way street. While they may hate you for breaking the trust you gave them, I believe it to be equally valid for you to hate them for giving you that trust in the first place.”

Robin said nothing. Only sighing before looking me in the eyes once more. His hand raised up to his mask…before thinking better of it and dropping.

“I’m sorry.”

He was saying that to the wrong person. As I had said, I believed he had nothing to apologize for. It was my fault for being in that situation in the first place. For allowing my life to be put in his hands.

After a brief stare down, he eventually broke eye contact. Slowly walking down the hall as he left. I opened my door only to stop as a voice called out behind me.

“Hey…if you or the Titans need any help…you may not be able to trust me, but I’ll always be there if needed.”

After a few more seconds, he continued to walk away. Considering that he said that to me, it probably meant that he had already guessed that I was now the leader of the Titans.

Or perhaps he thought I would inform the leader of the Titans, but I think the former was more likely. Which was impressive, considering I hadn’t even considered that I’d be the new leader.

After making sure the hall was clear, I went into my room. Closing the door behind me before going over to my bed. There was a box on the left side underneath the bed and attached to the top of the bed frame.

This incident with Deathstroke had gotten me to think about a lot of things. One of which had been my priorities in life. Now that I had come to my senses, it was time to make some changes.

I reached inside the box and took out what was within it.

It took only a few seconds for me to activate it and put it up to my ear. Moments later a voice responded.

“…Yeah?”

“I’m back in.”