Work Text:
“For a long time now, I’ve been searching for an apprentice. Someone to follow in my footsteps, and Robin, I've chosen you. Congratulations, by the way.”
“You truly believe I would ever work for-” Slade’s whole body seized with fear as Grayson held out his hand. On his wrist, prominently visible, was the trigger: a bright red button just detectible under Grayson’s thumb. Slade didn’t finish his sentence.
Grayson continued, “If you join me, and if you swear to serve me, and if you never speak to your friends again... I’ll let them live. But disobey even the smallest request, and I will annihilate them, Robin. Annihilate them. And I’ll make sure you’re watching. So…deal?”
Slade glared at him for a few seconds, but the longer he took to decide, the longer Grayson’s finger was on that button. His shoulders sagged slightly as he mumbled, “…Deal.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s a deal.” Slade clarified, and Grayson’s thumb lifted from the trigger. With a squeeze of his wrist, it retracted into the suit. Slade timed the delay of it’s retention, and thus, most likely, it’s extension. It was but a few seconds. Not enough time to steal it, or distract Slade from using it.
Grayson’s right hand free, he gestured to the throne sitting in the middle of the room. There lay a uniform, matching Grayson’s colors, and including a mask. “You best get dressed.” Robin turned to face him.
He waited, but Grayson didn’t move. “Some privacy?”
“Privacy? You won’t need it.”
“I don’t trust you to see my face.”
“I don’t care, and it won’t matter. You’re with me until the day I die. Now do it, or I’ll do it myself.”
Robin shivered slightly and his hands were shaky as he pulled the Robin uniform off. He kept replacing each piece as he went. As soon as the shirt was off, the other was on. The most unfortunate, even more than the mask, was the pants. With the mask, he simply changed with his head titled down and away from Grayson. But there was no way to put the pants on quickly, because Grayson’s pair was so tight on him that he had to work it up his leg with him watching. He expressed nothing, but Slade felt disgusting changing in front of him. At last he clipped on the armour, legs, arms, neck brace, and finally the belt.
“I know it seems bad now, but trust me, you’ll learn to like it.”
With that, Grayson turned and headed out. “Follow me. I’ll show you where you will be sleeping.”
It turned out that Robin wasn’t getting any sleep at all, actually. After he was shown his room, he was offered dinner, and declined. He wasn’t sure if it was punishment or if it was a test, but Grayson sent him out after that. He had specific instructions to steal a thermal blaster that Wayne Enterprises had developed. Honestly he was surprised about this. Had Bruce gotten darker since Slade had left? He didn’t usually produce weapons.
No sooner had he stolen the item and escaped the guards, though, than his friends were on his tale. They had seemed so shocked, with good reason. Slade couldn’t bear it. He had fled as soon as he’d seen them. He couldn’t afford to put their lives at risk by telling them what was going on, for Grayson would surely flip the switch. At the same time, he couldn’t bring himself to fight them, either, and Grayson said nothing to him during the mission. He returned, just as he’d promised, to the place where it had started. He stood in the same pool of light he had tried to avoid when he was told to change, and offered the thermal blaster up with one hand.
“Excellent Robin!” Came Grayson’s voice, and it was quickly followed by the man himself. “I’m really pleased. You’re already proving yourself.”
“This deal can’t last forever.” Slade told him.
“Oh, it can, and it will.” Grayson said in an offhand kind of way. “Your friends have no idea about my plan. Now that the probes are in their bloodstream, they could go undetected for years, or decades, or all their lives. Unless you slip up, and I decide to kill them, of course. With a push of the button.”
“Sooner or later, you’ll let your guard down. I will get that trigger, and the instant they’re out of danger, you will pay.”
“That sounds like a threat, Robin. A really good threat, actually. Betrayal… destruction… revenge. We really do think alike.”
Slade tensed, every word like a dagger through his heart, calling him out on his thoughts, his feelings, his fears of being like Deathstroke, and at last, snapping. With a cry of frustration, Slade turned and lunged for the device, but Grayson was too fast for him. His hand slipped past it and Grayson grabbed his wrist, turning it with the slightest effort and forcing his body into submission.
“I’ve been monitoring your vital signs. Your hear rate was elevated, your adrenaline, your endorphins, all increased. You won't admit it,” Grayson said lightly, letting go of Robin’s arm, “but, at some level, you actually enjoyed stealing for me. It was a thrill, wasn't it? Well, you’re going to keep stealing, and you're going to keep getting that thrill, and, sooner rather than later, I think you’ll see things my way. Who knows, I might even be like a father to you.”
Robin rubbed his wrist, saying, “I already have a father.”
“Lovely. See how little I care?” He took a few steps forward, into Robin’s personal space, but Slade refused to back down, even if Deathstroke was giving him a creepy look behind the mask. “I think all you need is a little motivation, Robin.” Grayson sat on his throne and leaned back. Robin surveyed him from a few feet away, watching his body relax.
“Motivation my ass!” Slade leapt in with a punch, but Grayson didn’t even seem to move before he found himself blocked, his fist in his hand. Grayson tossed him easily and Slade had to flip to land and correct his position.
Grayson stood, and Slade was sure he had a smile on under that mask. “Wow, Robin, that was vicious, dishonourable, and ruthless.” He said, coming down the stairs from his throne. He halted when he came to stand in front of Slade. “Amazing. You’re becoming more like me every second.” Without warning, Deathstroke went in for a punch, but Robin managed to dodge it. Grayson followed up with a kick that was in turn dodged, but the landing made Robin vulnerable to Grayson’s next attack. He grabbed Robin around the chest and waste, brining his face close to Slade’s blond hair, and took a deep breath, clearly smelling Robin’s scent. Panic set in and Robin lunged up to kick Grayson in the face.
As he stumbled backwards, Robin panted for breath. He recovered quickly, executing a jump that landed him right in Grayson’s face, planting his boot there- or it would have, if Grayson hadn’t realized what he was doing and grabbed his leg, using his momentum to throw him onto the second landing. Slade managed to catch the corner of one of the many gears and land gracefully.
Slade knew Grayson wouldn’t leave the fight like that. He looked around, sure he had followed Robin up, and was soon vindicated. Grayson had taken the easy way, gliding to the top on a series of gears, which led him right back in front of Robin. He stepped off with ease, saying, “Very nice, Robin. You’re doing better than in our last fight. A few more years of training, well… you might even pose a threat.”
Deathstroke had taken his weapons, but Slade wasn’t giving up. Just behind him was a control panel with long sticks. He kicked one off, conserving his energy by moving directly into a pose. Grayson was just the opposite. He removed his own escrima stick from his belt and twirled it around quite unnecessarily before he struck. They blocked each other a few time, almost in a dance, then Grayson managed to hit him across the face, driving him back against a metal pillar. He followed up by driving his stick into the column behind Slade while, surely, trying to drive it through him. Not to kill him, of course, but a wound like that would surely take the fight out of him. Slade only moved at the last second.
There was a well-timed burst of steam from the gears behind him, as Robin dodged Grayson’s attack, and jumped, landing on the stick. He used the one in his hand to hit Grayson in the face. There was just a second of silence before Grayson came back at him from behind, but Robin jumped out of the way just as Grayson cut the stick out from under him with incredible strength.
On higher ground, Robin looked around. Deathstroke had disappeared from the spot he had been, using the smoke to his advantage. “Now you see me.” He heard, and looked around. Deathstroke appeared with the passing of a part of the gear system. “Now you don’t.” Just as he said, he was gone at the next passing. Slade gave the empty air there a look of shocked confusion, but no sooner had it crossed his face that Grayson was ramming into him from the side. He flew several meters clear of the entire top floor and landed on the second, unable to break his fall in time.
Unfortunately, Grayson was already coming for him. He ended up punching the ground when Slade just managed to roll free. When he stood up, he cracked his fingers. “That didn’t even hurt.” He purred. Slade didn’t pause to listen, though. Two roundhouse kicks and Grayson was thrown to the bottom floor. There was a crack and the sound of metal scraping metal. Robin jumped down after him.
“You're going to wish you hadn't done that.” Grayson said, turning to face Robin. Deathstroke’s mask was cracked all the way down one side, passing through one of his eyes.
Robin scoffed. “I only wish I'd done it sooner.” He said, and without a moments hesitation, he tore the sign of the bird in flight from his chest and chucked it violently at Grayson’s feet.
Grayson screamed angrily as he rushed Robin, punching, kicking, giving Slade little time to doge anything and no time to attack. As soon as he did, Grayson grabbed his foot and tossed him to the side. “I have much to teach you, but the first thing you need to learn is gratitude.”
“Shut up! Shut up!” Slade went for a punch, but Deathstroke grabbed his arm and drove him into the ground with his own weight, holding his arm behind him. “I made you my apprentice.” Slade turned over, but Grayson grabbed the locks of blond hair he seemed to adore so much and pushed him back into the ground, “All my knowledge and all my power- everything will be yours! But the only thing you care about is your worthless, little FRIENDS!” At last he let Robin stand, taking a step back. “If the Titans are so distracting, maybe I should just kill them now.” He said, and the trigger extended almost as if it had read Deathstroke’s mind.
“Don’t, please! ….I…I’ll do whatever you ask.”
“Then be a good boy, Robin. Any more disobedience, and I’ll be forced to flick the switch.”
“Anything…” Robin said, his eyes downcast.
“Good. Oh, and Robin, from now on, call me ‘master.’” There was a moment of silence, then Grayson said, “Still waiting….” in a sing-song voice.
“Yes, Master.” Slade said, so quietly that if there hadn’t been such an echo, Deathsroke wouldn’t have heard him.
“Very nice. Lovely. Now, let’s discuss… your future.” Deathstoke stepped forward as he said this, removing his mask. Robin looked surprised. “And you, Slade Wilson.”
Slade glared. Perhaps he’d made no effort to see Slade’s face when he changed masks because he had already known his identity? Slade removed his mask. There was no point keeping it on, now.
“Move, I kill one of them them.” Grayson warned him. Slade tensed as Grayson moved one hand up to cradle his chin. With a slight smile, and a look of superiority, or power, in his blue eyes, Grayson leaned down. Slade shut his eyes tight as Grayson kissed him, but he couldn’t move. He didn’t dare. Grayson stepped back and Slade felt sick. This psycho pervert had just kissed him! “You’re going to make a wonderful pet.” he said. Slade’s jaw set, full of resentment. “And a fantastic apprentice. Now… let’s go to your room.”