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Chapter Text

Chapter Text

OUR TIME IN REVERSE; MY MISSION TO STRIVE BY: PART – B : Cringe Worthy Adversaries

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By that next morning, the hunt to find a lost bird from its nest. A whole week had driven Bruce to some terrible extremes. Getting anxious enough, he went to take up the cowl during the murky evening and strove through the night every night, to have any clue as to where this supposed child had scampered on to. After a long dose of adrenaline had cooled, Alfred placed a saucer plate for one cup of tea beside Batman’s computer seat. In the cave, nothing but the sound of beeping monitors and the machines rose above their silenced thoughts. Bruce sighed into his palm and let his head fall into the gauntleted two. The man was still kind at heart and fearful, so fearful now that he felt more responsible in keeping Richard from some unwarranted fate. Whomever was reluctant to show themselves –

“Master Bruce, look up at the screen, sir!”

Bruce forgot only in that moment as a signal so very faint lit up, a blinking dot as he saw it with his own eyes – bolding up and over to get from the chair to the seat of the Batmobile. “Keep an eye on any changes and report, Alfred. I’m sure this isn’t the only clue we’ll find tonight.”

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He was right. The boy had been wise to leave his belongings as a sure distraction on some mangy mutt’s poor collar. His cell hung tied to it and the signal there for anything to radar in on the dog’s location was alive and well equipped.

 In bold, there were no texts, there was no data. All of it had been wiped, save for a single image.

A black and white corner of a photograph for the wallpaper of the screen. Whoever had done this, was clearing not a fan of letting sleeping dogs lie still. Bruce patted the pound puppy’s head and led it to the city’s animal rescue so that it had someplace to eat and maybe, find its forever home. Richard was afraid of the changes so much that he must have shut down. No one could blame how he’d defended himself when he couldn’t be taken to a regular place to stay for kids without moms and dads. Bruce had stepped in clearly not too late, yet the marks and bruises showed. He recalled having a word with Gordon about the facility’s history in Gotham, and to his dismay, it had once been just that.

An overcrowded, underfunded juvy hall for kids who didn’t feel like they belonged anywhere. Dick didn’t deserve that life, so Batman had to keep on searching for a way to find his ward…and apologize.

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He came to the conclusion that the photo needed a scan. He did it with the cell in hand, just as it had started to ring. The signal was there, so it wasn’t shut off – selectively wiped out was how he saw this puzzle in his grip. Bruce let the voice play on speaker.

~ H……elp…..~

The voice wasn’t Dick’s. It was a grown man’s, an adult. Bruce’s eye holes in his cowl awoke to a startling conclusion. That photo was of John and Mary Grayson…..and that man….

Bruce sped off, knowing too much. He just hoped after a week of eating into his last hours of micro - rest, he’d have enough stamina to prevent one grizzly murder from happening.

And right under the big top of Haley’s own circus.

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The dark and quiet was unsettling as Bruce peeped behind the curtain to see the lights low, dimmed down and making it easy to trip. He felt he was not alone; all of those nights spent running in circles, all of that time he’d had to wait, well.

In the interim of his searching, Bruce had gotten in touch with the cohorts to one, (like in 2004) Tony Zucco. He was here, waiting to taunt or run at the bat to get his own clues solved on who had been chasing him down.

“Yo, Batman. Come here often?”

“Zucco, I have a warning to give you, that you didn’t need to do this –

The gun showed up as Bruce had the man dodge the first shot. It was close as he got out his rangs. A growl on his face as Bruce squinted at who had decided to stop by. “Well, it seems you did get the message after all.” The man wore a two toned mask, his armor was state of the art and, his many weapons were numerous and as dangerous as the bat’s. An assassin, Bruce came to recognize the man by his uniform alone. Not yet, not until he could put an end to the mercenary's contract. His built was indeed ex military. His stance, authoritarian.

Like looking into a bloody mirror, Bruce didn’t leave the ring to wait for backup. None was coming.

“Are you the one trying to eliminate this man?”

“Not I, exactly.” The smug merc took up his toy and pointed it teasingly towards the gangster. Tony put his hands up with a yip.

“What gives? I didn’t piss you off too, did I, patchy?”

Oh, he was right!

Bruce saw the one eye on the killer’s left side of his face. “Deathstroke.”

“They broke the mold when they kept you breathing, Batman.” Chuckled the monster with the gun. “As I’ve told my new protégé, you really can’t trust anyone at all in this city to hold your secret.”

“Zucco isn’t in your territory. Whatever contract is out on his head, abolish it. You’re not permitted to leave any dead in MY city.”

“You already have, remember, Dark Knight?” The man brought up his gun and shook his head, manipulating the time they had to act. “You’re all of for justice, yet two died here. A family, a mother and father. I was there in the stands, and I saw how crazy it made you to just sit back and watch…Shame too, the kid deserve –

“Shut up! I am not gonna sit and watch you two animals butt heads. I got a respectible operat –

“You mean the one where you killed people if they didn’t pay up.”

The merc turned his head, sounding delighted as a child stepped out of the background. Bruce’s eyes never left his son’s. His.

“Ah, apprentice. This is the Bat you told me so much about?  He’s harmless, so why don’t you let this child that you failed…fix our little dilemma for both of our sakes.” Slade motioned for the kid to come over and he did, gingerly. With a frightened caution as feral as a wild cub’s own. Bruce’s mouth trembled as he shut it, growling back at Deathstroke. “This man is a wanted mercenary. I don’t know how you came to collect him from his home, yet coercing and kidnapping a minor will add to your sentence in no time.”

“Good, then at least let the boy have his own brand of justice.” The disinterest in Slade’s words made Bruce angrier. If only he could risk his identity….

He moved in close to Zucco. His rang there are he made sure to keep it light of the gangster;s throat. “Get out of the way, Batman.” Slade moved an inch as he left the gun to the boy. He held it, a tremble in tiny fingers as the kid nodded. Anger was there, he just wanted one shot.

Batman, wasn’t going to allow that.

“He’s tricking you; he called you his apprentice. Don't you know what that means?” Bruce found a pressure point and was about to knock out the gangster when Slade fired a second shot with a hidden pistol. Bruce tugged the terrified Zucco away. It was a warning shot, yet he wouldn’t heed it. Bruce had to get through to that boy. He had to get him to think clearly, no matter how upset he was.

“I’m not your enemy, but he shouldn’t be your teacher –

“Why not?” The kid grunted back. The gun was positione in a way that looked learned. One week, and he –

The shot fired onto a beam behind the Bat as a sandbag flew downwards to greet his foot. Zucco shouted and cried like a child. “Help me! That crazy kid is serious! I’ll go on the straight, I get it now…just….get me outta –

The bullet wasn;t from the boy, it was a distraction as Slade let the pistol take Zucco in the back of the neck. His spine. Right into the nerves that kept him breathing, he fell into the bat’s arms as Dick felt his eyes go blank. He stared at the bat as Bruce rose, Slade was there too, a tiger protecting its own cub. “Stay ….stay back! –

“Dick….” Bruce smiled, his hands out as he tried to tame his owen growl. He made it sound human again as the boy’s watery eyes shook. The gun gripped as he let it fire by pure instance and not intending to ….the bat’s shoulder was grazed as Dick dropped the gun.

“So….son…..Richard…..I …am…..sorry…..”

Bruce winced as he held the wound tight, wanting to do the same as Slade coaxed the child with his hand clutched into the other’s to leave. To send this night into the past and bury it for good. Bruce laid his head in his hand and for a long time, the migraine only siezed once Alfred had treated the blood loss of his dear family’s back at Wayne manor.

It was not even midnight, yet Bruce could not sleep.

All he thought about was the child he’d failed. How he’d still look for him, knowing the kid was not aware of who he was forced to negotiate with. How Slade Wilson the infamous Deathstroke, would be behind bars for his entire career to end.

No legacy, no mercy on a man who had spilled so much blood, yet to salvage a boy who maybe never would think to follow in the tiger’s footsteps.

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After they’d found shelter again, away from the sirens and the smoke; Slade had made sure the bat would stay blinded. The tent caught fire at the last second, courtesy of an invested anti hero and his new protégé, who was a weak and crying wreck once he’d come to realize all of this.

All of it, was because of him.

“Dick, Dick, come here. It’s ok. I’m here, I’ve got you…” He pulled the boy in close as his uniform was littered with the kid’s regretful snot and sobs. “Get it all out of your system. You did fine, he’s gone now.”

“I…i…..h…hurt…..b…Bruce….”

The kid shook and clung to the man even tighter. “Bruce…..he w- was – was there. He t- t – talked to me….I….I’m sorry!”

Slade petted the boy’s back soothingly as he tried to tug away to explain…well…

“I know, he was Bruce Wayne. It’s not a mystery to someone like myself, Dick. I expected him to show.”

Dick pushed off a minute and looked up with blue, owlish orbs starting to strain. “You….how? Because you get contracts? Did you try to –

“No.” Slade shook his head. “Because he told you about Zucco, because he would have never changed for anyone, Dick. I’m not that buy that I can’t help you. I made it clear; your studies won’t fall behind, I can promise only that when it’s time…” Slade broke from the boy’s bear hug to give them some space to reflect on, “When I can see that you’re ready to overcome a part of yourself that is holding you back, you’ll have your time. Your own wings. And that, is a promise that I intend to keep.”

“Really? But…I didn’t kill…i…I shot –

“He’s the batman, boy wonder.” Slade chuckled softly. “Did you think that the fires we set would put him out of his misery for very long? He’s goes back to his little dwelling to stew, I can assure that he survived.”

“How do you know so much, was seeing me become your student like, a bucket list thing?”

“No, Dick.” The man shook his head with a sigh. “It, just happened because you needed someone to help you, to guide you like Wayne’s failed to effectively do. He only thinks you’re bent on staying in his shadow. Had you found out about his identity much sooner on before I’d found you, you might not be standing here today. He’s younger, cocky. Every turn of his head is another gun to some unsuspecting innocent’s skull. You would never be safe with a man who won’t kill to protect what he has.”

“I, guess…” Dick shifted foot to foot, his tears now stopped beside a couple of stray sniffles. “Sir, um…Slade?”

Slade raised his head to that bird’s wonderful pitch, “Yes, Richard.”

“Um, so…where do we go now?” The kid asked, a bit nervous to find out if he was in fact supposed to be this way. “Anywhere we can secure our stay, our wages and, our sanctity. I travel to far off places, maybe you’ll be confident enough to join me at my lodge one day in Africa.”

Dick brightened at the idea to see where elephants came from. “One…just... one more thing…I forgot to bring one of my keepsakes. Zitka.” He chirped. “A. Zitka?” Slade rubbed his chin, acting unaware of what kind of game the boy was after.

Or toy.

“Yeah, I’ve had it since I was a baby. But, she helps me sleep and keeps my mom close too….”

“I think you can rest assured, Dick.” Slade knelt a bit as he let Dick know his intentions without the mask. “Zitka and all of your belongings will be brought with us. I’ve made sure you can feel right at home at the estate we’ll be heading to. Can’t stay in Gotham forever, any other places strike your fancy?”

Dick hummed to himself as he thought very strongly about where, and he snapped his neck up to crane it with a grin at the man, “Metropolis??”

“Not likely, I’m afraid….anywhere else?”

“California, is that…ok?”

Slade saw the kid’s eyes and thought of Joey and Grant instantly. “Maybe, but we’ll be running for a bit. Not stopping. I want you to learn what I do so training begins when you are officially settled.”

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Batman’s major surge in heroic team ups grew. That was all that could be said as he connected to each city, any reports of a boy with cerulean eyes and dark black hair. A child that was never coming home without a fight. He’d met Gordon’s youngest daughter, her brother not exactly where he’d seen him before. His son….wasn’t well yet Babs was right on the money. Even when she knew the real Bat, yet kept that a secret to her grave while Gordon unknowingly sat to drink black coffee with the same person, and FROM the same pot.

He’d not been two feet out the door to a diner to talk to Gordon; the soup was bland tonight, all but what came after that. Gordon had driven off after their sit down. The billionaire’s face had lost its glow unless he was acting the part. His love life had indeed taken a break, yet the night he’d changed to Batman’s gear at the call on his device, he was astounded by what had been already done to his hubcaps.

“One….nnn….more, bolt – dangit!”

The clank of metal to metal had Batman move quickly. “Gotcha –

“Hey!” The boy kicked out as Bruce did as any officer might to an offender they’d pulled over. Thankfully, the kid wasn’t going to resist. Or so he thought.

Dark green eyes flashed back with a messy reddish blonde cut of hair to civer his eyes (changing the rest so later he swaps back. “I’m not staying here! Let me have my lawyer, this is police brutaily and ra -

"You had better brush up on those terms. For now, tell me what you were just doing to this vehicle." Bruce used a bit of force to bring out the truth from the kid’s lips. No more than ten at best. Almost as old as Dick had…..no, that was on hold. This kid right now….

“I had to get some cash, it’s your car but you;ve probably got dozens back in your secret lair – cave – thingy.”

“I’m not going to take you in, but as far as what you just did, you will come and talk to someone.”

“My mom, though….please…it’s for her. I gotta sell these to keep us from getting thrown out, please….let me go…”

Bruce saw the kid curling up, either acting or being truthful. Either way, Bruce was being a bit…rough for the record…

“You can go, but this is a warning. You need help –

“Me? You drive everywhere, have tons a cash and gagdets like gazillionaire – I bet you’re buddies with Mr. Bruce Wayne himself.” Scoffed the red headed kid, cockily. “You have no idea, but what is your address. I think I may be able to help with your dilemma after all.”

Bruce checked the device. Good, Gordon had gotten his message. He’d sent it well before and it was only a purse snatcher. This hub cap snatching kid knew his car, he knew how to take it apart…

“Who taught you to take a car apart like that, anyhow?”

“Oh, I just….got used to tryin’ it out, I guess.” The kid was cuffed as Bruce led him into the vehicle. Oohs and aahs poured from the kid’s mouth. Dick had never come close, but it was for his own good….at the time, he wished he’d told the kid everything about his double lives.

“Where is your apartment?”

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Jason Peter Todd was the red headed boy’s name. He soon lost his mother in a way that may have been for the better. The one day he came to be adopted into the Wayne household, he’d pointed at the gentleman and broke the man’s heart in two.

“Wait a sec….you’re him, aren’t you??  It all makes sense!”

Dick Grayson’s presence by far had never been cleared completely from the manor. Every day, Jason would ask about who had taken the kid away – wha the Bat had done to get him back.

Always the same conclusion, and no real leads to go by.

Jason stared at the Flying Grayson’s poster in Dick’s room for a long time before he’d dug around to find a costume that looked unworn. He had his own way to hand wash the piece for dust before slipping it on and shouting down the hall.

“Oh my god! This thing is sooo tiny! Look at my butt in this! Am I Aqua man’s nephew or somethin??”

He laughed, and immediately, Bruce and Alfred saw a boy pretending to be the predecessor who had never taken up his role. “Hey! I should be your wonder boy, side kick! It’s like in memorial to the Grayson kid. I an be your sidekick for real!”

Bruce was shattered by what that meant. If he could use Jason to find his own son, to get him away from the mad man who had corrupted a disturbed child like that…should he tell Jason the truth?

“B?”

The boy was out of his brother’s uniform and into his pjs for the night. The study flickered with dim lights on and a hearth still burning strong. The flames eating and devouring each other while being born anew. Just as a Phoenix, just like Jason…

“You becoming a crime fighter is a dangerous plan, Jason. I can’t allow what happened to…”

“Tell me, please.” The sat cross legged on the floor as Bruce sat in his arm chair, looking a wreck.

“Tell me what my….brother, was like to you. I wanna know what I can do to help.”

So, Bruce told Jason of Tony Zucco, Slade Wilson as the mercenary Deathstroke, and how Dick Grayson’s emotions of grief had been manipulated and twisted by a man who had wanted the boy at his side. A man, nearly invincible as he was even to the bat of Gotham.

He told the kid about Dick’s math being well above the rest. How he’d never met Jim Gordon’s daughter and he thought they would have gotten along…about….His acrobatic parents and his future as the unofficial son of Bruce Wayne. He didn’t stay when the case of Zucco had been delayed; instead, it was withheld to protect him. Bruce had Zucco on speed dial practically, yet he was working with Commissioner James Gordon, a long time friend of Bruce’s, to look into a way to give Dick that type of closure without the anger ruling his life as it almost had for Bruce. “My parents were killed in front of me, I was never the same back then yet…I wore to change. For those who needed a knight, a protector. I hope that’s been a thorough bed time story for you too.” Smiled the billionaire as Jason’s sniffling face was surely proof that he’d empathized the entire time. T- t – that….was….ugn……so, sad! Wow, Dick had a fun loving family and…..and they got killed by the man….I….I want to be there. I’ve made up my mind….” The boy stood up, a hand out to shake and a determined look in his eyes. “I wanna get into that scaly uni – ugh …so we can find Richie together.”

Bruce wondered if he was as bad as Slade at this point. The kid was just that, young and certainly gentle when he had to be. “Richard had a nickname he told us that his mother gave to him. In Romani, it translates to “Little Robin.”

Jason thought about the name with a smile, a grin turned up as he bobbed his head with a new plsan forming in his ten year old skull. “Yeah, I could be like the story, Robin Hood. Instead of taking and never giving back, you can show me how a bat does justice fer all. Sound good to you, B.”

Bruce extended his hand, a gesture at put a smile on both of their faces as they shook on a life long deal.

One no later, that Bruce would come to eternally regret for the next years after….

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse – Chapter 3: New Outlooks

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He wouldn’t stop sobbing. Not until the got to the safe house in another city did Slade stop hearing the sirens. Stop hearing the boy whimpering 9ver his shoulder that his mentor might never forgive the nine-year-old youth.

“…. Zit……zi…”

Slade placed the boy onto a sofa within his safe house here in Central. Blud was closer, yet so was the bat. “You want, use your words, boy.”

Slade wiped his nose onto his sleeve and sat to stare around at Barre walls. “My…. mom’s…. she, she’s not here…” His lip wobbled until Slade stood up and was looked to the next room. Right, the swiped toy he had promised.  Slade really did feel like a kidnapper. He rubbed the rough armor on his back, mask off and his finger out to tell the boy “just one second.”

Dick sniffled and attempted to bob his locks in agreement. He scrunched his small fingers into sofa cushions as Slade swiftly retreated to the room where the man’s newest robotic creations and prototypes had been programmed to drop off the boy’s possessions. Anything, including a toy for comfort in adjusting to his new life… Joey had a stuffed bear, Grant wasn’t a fan like Slade.  The idea of having fun with real animals was more soothing. Not that Slade was going to go out and adopt a puppy. Dick didn’t have time to for any of that. His instincts were to assess his surroundings to knowing was safe to come out of his cocoon, the one the bat had shoved the boy into, long enough for Slade to drag him out of his mindset of good and evil. Some lives were better not missed, but that wasn’t why the kid was crying. To him, Zucco meant nothing, yet behind the logic was empathy for the man who had played that same sympathetic tune.

Slade despised it, wanted it gone. He plucked up the plain, beanie butt laced little elephant and wondered if Will might think to patch up the dirty old thing. Then, the kid might finally fit in around the mercenary.  Do what their bargain expected of the boy.

Maybe the doll could be useful…

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Dick sat on the sofa with his childhood mini Zitka, as soon as he’d seen the floppy thing starehis way, he began to babble. Nonstop. It was a coping mechanism,  Slade told himself as he got a meal going for the both of them. Dick spoke about the circus. Mostly Zitka the real elephant this toy was based on. Slade hummed and even conversed thanks to his enhanced hearing.

“Dad used to tell me not to roll around in the hay in the summer, especially.” The boy returned to a time of peace, but then. Tears had started to show up, and just while the adult was cooking onions to going his steak.

“Dick?” The man moved and reduced the heat of his food. “What’s wrong. Talk to me kid.” Slade put a strong hand to his shoulder as Dick looked over to the kitchen, gripping his 5oy before he nearly got up. He pointed to the steak with big eyes still wet, yet now distracted. “Mr. Wilson! Your food!”

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Slade didn’t mind the steak. It wasn’t dry, yet Richard’s piece and the potatoes onions and greens didn’t exactly turn him on at first to the rather dense supper plate. “Mr. Wayne didn’t have time to sit and eat with Al and me…” Dick tensed in his seat as Slade just raised a brow and jutted his fork gently to the meat in front of him. “I’m not Wayne, as I told you. So don’t let my hard work go to waste. Eat what you can, for tonight.”

His eyes and movements became less restricted.  Dick nodded and started to cut up his potatoes before smiling at the flavor. Home cooking was always best when you had others to share it with.

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To bath, or….

“Umm, Mr. Wilson?”

Slade didn’t ask Dick to call him sir yet. That would take some adjusting as well. “Yes, Richard.” Slade pit the last cleaned plate in the dishwasher. “Ah, I kind of smell. Can I…. use your bathroom?”

Right, the sweat of a killer. Poor kid. Slade didn’t tense. The kid was Grant’s age if not a year younger. “Sure, right this way.”

Slade went to the hall closet and pulled out two towels for hair and well, everything else (not a slash!!)

“Put these when you are done into the hamper by the bedroom hall. Down there.” He pointed at the one white wallet area of the home. “That hall leads to the room I have set up for you. Your clothes are in there and anything else you’ll need for the time during our stay. If you need anything at all, make sure to ask me.” Slade tried to sound less demanding,  not at all to jail the kid in. This was only a temporary spot. His estate was much roomier. More areas to practice hitting a can with a bb gun.

City life, wasn’t for this one.

“Sure, but…what do I do for fun around here? We always woke up to a routine and Mr. Wayne installed the gym-

Slade stooped him to think, to plan. “We’ll keep you active,  once we have your identity covered. Remember; Wayne will be looking to take you back. I won’t let you break your promise, Dick.” Slade nudged his head to direct the boy to the bathroom, quickly. “It’s late. Shower off, or do you need help with the –

“NOPE!” The boy furiously shook his head. “I’m good, thanks!”

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He certainly liked to keep thing easier for Slade too. As the kid stepped out, wrapped in crisp white, he padded in his leisure to the hall and opened the last door ay the end.

Good, Slade smiled as he leaned to the side and surveyed.

He was learning faster than originally hoped. In some cases, he was already a fan of some decent structure.

Though Slade thanked the parents, not the bat for that one.

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By morning, the kid was looking to the window while Slade opened it to see Dick dressed and ready for a wa –

The man saw tears trickling slowly down the boy’s face. “Dick…”

“Dad went for morning jogs, sometimes I went. Mom cooked us all food when we got back. It was a family thing…Bruce let me sleep in on the weekends. When I first, got there…we had a lot of fun together…then, his work…”

The boy hurried his head into his knees. Slade opened the door a bit wider “Want to try for a morning run with me? I’m all ready by four for anything you can throw at me.”

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The kid had energy. Slade had to jog a bit slower however as the boy was still a bit behind on his fitness from those days down un the dumps. It was a brusk morning so he brought water and Dick’s jacket with a modified ski cap to prevent anyone from. recognizing the lad; even at five am, he still was cooped up and needed this knee than anything. The memory of his father’s strut was in every step, his very smaller feet putting as much punch into those puffs of air as they made it to the next couple of miles out. Dick was finally panting, flushed cold and pink in the face as Slade handed him the water bottle he’d now made room temp by his own heat. “Still want to try for another couple of miles yet, you’ve got a good number of obliges left to go.” Smiled the man as the kid waved at him to wait until the boy had his breath back. “Five, seconds. ..I’ll kick your record to the curb, da –

Dick stopped himself and looked up. On a big screen in the square was a menses report. And fliers on buildings that…

“Let’s go back.” Slade coaxed the boy to look away. His eyes still glued to the screen as the merc didn’t try to imagine what might be going through Wayne’s spoiled little mind right about now. “It’s fine, we’ll go someplace quieter.” Dick nodded as they found an jn – city park and sat on a bench. Slade went off to get a small pastry at a cart that morning and the best warmed nut mixture far from NY’s top ten best trucks. Bu far…he kissed this sort of feeling, just a little as the boy smiled up to him as he was handed the warm pastry instead. “I’m not really a big fan of sweet things. Make sure to floss when we get back.”

Taking a big bite with his cheeks exploding on flavor, a bit of powdered sugar giving the impression of the boy having grown a mustache with zero effort. Quietly, the boy happily smiled up at the merc. The sugar was a distraction at least, albeit, not a healthier one. In the future, those things would have to be earned. Slade gnashed on his sweet tooth treat with reduced calories, and Dick dud the same as the two quietly recharged on the same park bench. Both trying to think of something other than those missing posters and report on the wide screen display for all to see and hear.

They took off no sooner after, while Dick stayed like a duckling and by the merc at all times. Joey was the same, Grant even more so. They came back to the safe house as Slade opened the door and Dick hopped right into the shower once more. Squeaky clean, Slade made the boy sit down while he prepared a bit of brunch and lunch later, for the two. “Mr. Wilson?” The kid kicked his legs restlessly under the kitchen table as Slade looked back over his shoulder from by the small pantry. “Yes, Richard?”

“What do you do so you don’t,  you know….forget how to do your job? If you, get rid of people when you get a call from slme big companies….then why just relax all day? Running is good, but what about a gym? Or –

“Have you ever heard the saying “your body is a weapon” before, Dick?” Slade turned wkth his arms crossed and waited for the kid to answer. He shook his head instead. “No, but you can make things into weapons if you’re smart enough. Like everyday items. I saw it in a comic once. This spy –

“In a way, what I do is very similar.” Slade interjected. “Espionage, reconnaissance missions, assassination at the top of that list and being a body guard for those that have my attention enough to keep my interest.” Slade nodded. “I’m what your comic book logic might call, an Anti – hero. A borderline threat as well as help to society.” Dick was already nearly leaning over the table, more interested in this man’s career path than he knew what to do with, before sitting back down and biting his lip. Eyes shifting to the side in thought. “Mom and dad were killed by a gangster…” The boy looked up at Slade with cerulean eyes capable of seeing right through s person's heart, or so Slade believed he could. “Are you, ever hired by guys like that?”

“I try not to associate with, under - qualified buyers.” Slade sighed out a breath. “Zucco could never afford me. Maybe, Bruce. If he needed help saving the world.”

“Did, did you two ever meet up? As partners…?”

Slade looked to the side too now, a little whistle of a snort out his nose as the toast dinged. “We'll be having tuna on rye. And maybe something else if you can stomach it.”

Something after their meal was not dessert. Dick saw Slade pull out what looked to be a set of smaller hand weights. “You hang around like a chimp on almost anything; I know it, but can you adapt to your environment.” Slade handed Dick the hand weights as he told the boy to do some basic exercises woth them down the long hall. After that, they did some interesting forms that Dick just had to ask about. “I, don’t get what that was for but I know how to use those a little. Most of my acrobatics didn’t need to much lower body. It was my whole body my mom said that carried me to do what I was taught.”

“Smart, but as clever as that is.” Slade moved into a stabce that confused the boy before Slade struck the sir like a viper.

“WOW! HOLY WOW! YOU CAN BE A NINJA??”

“I’m trained in numerous types of martial arts. Some more difficult,  some work by their foot work, but for today.” He pointed to Dick’s arms. “We'll see if you can endure another round of warm ups, as I like to call them.”

Warm ups were stretches in Dick’s mind. It wasn’t a terribly small place to work out, but the rug made Dick feel like he had some disadvantages while Slade knee the halls inside and out.

 He was starting to feel anxious,  so the rest ended with a bow. “How do you feel? Refreshed?”

“Those moves, are in intense.. “ Panted the kid. “That’s what you call a warm up?? That was hard!”

“You didn’t shy from gaining some marks as a beginner. That was Jiu jitsu  by the way.” The man cracked a grin at the kid. ( Robin centric from 2003 style fighting.) “That is one of the deadliest forms of martial art to master, and your form is perfect for allowing it to guide you. You’ve earned an hour to do as you wish.”

“Shower. In ten and…” Dick looked around but saw no TV. No computer.  He frowned. “Got any board games?”

//////

Slade had one he loathed. One he liked, but it was a travel sized piece of crap he’d only gotten as a distraction for a flight that was non stop. Babies crying, kids kicking the back of his seat.

Not always in first class, economy made him feel like luggage sometimes. “I know how to play that. My tata taught me.” Dick pointed to a deck of cards on the table while Slade was reaching for the chess board. Maybe later. The kid needed to adjust, and that was working do far. “Would one hand be satisfying for this time, then later we can play this instead?” Slade putbthe chess board onto the coffee table while reaching for the deck of cards “These have an interesting history to them. I got them after I won a bet. And a sword.”

“You. Used to gamble? That’s not a good thing, my mom told me.” Dick frowned and shook his head at the merc. “Cards have a nature of their own. Madame Crowley read mine once. Said I was super important but I didn’t believe her.”

“I would.” Slade started to set up the spread of rummy as the boy turned his head to thevside curiously. “Unless you can beat me at one game, I’ll even make sure you don’t have to play my game later this evening. We can go see a movie instead.” As taunting as he was being, that was earned once again. This was just teaching Dick that the man could be fair but not a push over.

“Deal.” Grinned the boy as he sat on the floor across from the merc while they started up their engines. “I’m going to ask for the worst film you’d never see. About some dill learning that it just became a person and has to stop men from screwing up its world. Saw the trailer. Did you?” Grinned the little trickster.

Slade shrugged. “I heard the actress is a bit of a humanitarian at heart. Too bad, because she played a mass murderer in her last film. See if you have it in you kid. And you’ll get your wish.”

///////

In the end. It was chess, bed and one last meal that made sure to balance out the kid’s intake for the day. “You ran a course of seven miles today, ate about slightly more thanks to that added caloric bump from the sugar after said run. You had two total hours of a work out in the home, and….rest should be at eight sharp. Nine, if I can tell you’re not trying to stay up after its lights out.” Slade checked his watch as Dick made sure to floss like he’d been asked to earlier. “We’re going to be up early again tomorrow. You’ll be accompanying me, Dick.”

Dick turned from the room as Slade called back to him down the hall. “Dress in what you have hanging up. Breakfast is going to be a bit smaller than the last day. Right now, we’re meeting a client and then groceries. Last.” Slade  told the boy. “So, to bed.”

//////////

Dick had to admit he was nervous; this was his first time inside anywhere other than downtown and the park. He was going to be….inside an office. With those fliers up…Slade had told the boy to wear a special set of contacts he’d bad flown in by drone. Dick hated them at first yet was told not to rub his eyes or it would only hurt more. They were brown. He didn’t like seeing himself in the glass of that upscale waiting room, yet what could he do?

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Mr. Defarge.”

The assistant had Slade up, while Dick stayed put with some magazines, a water cooler and Slade had even picked up a deck of cards from the house for the boy to play himself. Instead of just playing solitaire and winning once, he decided to try his band at a tarot spread that Madame Crowley had used in her deck.

It was a triangle going up, as he did exactly on memory what she had, the receptionist looking over once or twice out of instinct purely. The boy knew something no normal kid would, but who was she to judge the client.

Harmless, right?

She thought it was, until the boy began to cry. The cards face up. Half revealed in reverse, and the rest…

Right side up.

The dual act was how he read it. The tears did stop once the door had opened. Slade saw Duck cleaning up his cards as he nodded to the client. “We’ll be in touch, Mr. Smith.”

Dick was able to collect himself as he followed Slade back out onto the street, past a few people who saw his tears and misread the boy’s emotions. Slade wouldn’t do the same. Would he? He knew things but, the cards had to be wrong. He was doing it all-

“Dick, stop.”

Slade saw the boy still as they stopped walking a sec. “I can hear your hear rate. You’re not alright. Talk to me. Come on, we’ll sit a while.”

///////

Dick was handed a handkerchief as he told Slade about the cards and how anyone who saw him doing it now would think.he was up to no good, or worse. “It’s what my family did a long time ago. Madame Crowley was super interesting if ya' didn’t know her. She drank weird teas and talked really deep. I almost never got half of what she said. But….the night before Zucco killed mom and dad, I went to her for advice and she said to stay with them. Don’t run no matter what happens. But…did I? Did I get cursed or something?”

“Card reading was an ancient form if folk therapy to anyone that understands its history, nothing more. Your emotions made her see you as afraid, so she told you to take comfort and trust your instincts. It was as good she understood the real you that your parents took for granted –

“They didn’t though! How would I have told them in time, anyway…they wanted to……” Dick balled up his hands into his lap and Slade handed him a second rag to blow his nose in. That was a good call too. The boy was reliving the guilt of having let them go. Thankfully, not Wayne….

“I should have told them not to jump. I almost….”

Which meant, as Slade was handedness back the forties eag.

Dick almost would never trust that bat with his happiness. 

Just a bit longer, and his future would be secured. Easy as child’s play.

“I think the day is getting too long just sitting here. Would you like to accompany me to one more spot before we bring our worries homeless with us?”

/////

Central city was no Tokyo, not Gotham either. It was big but not as clustered in as the cities Dick had seen while traveling with his parents. The doors opened as the two stepped in through to a cooler spot. A shopping mart with the grocery as the main component. “This, is a mall too??” Dick looked at the space. It was even more play than that morning had been the day before!

“City center.” Slade told the kid calmly. “Stay close to me and I promise you won’t have them worrying about you in the great beyond.” Part of the man wasn’t a fan of thinking that way. It was for the kid as he tried to pretend a little instead of speaking in a mocking tone about the kid’s version of any afterlife. Over time, science and the return if all things into nothing was what would chance the boy's idea of whether someone lived or died. It simply was, and that was all.

“I don’t get to try on clothes, or do they have a sports section?”

“This whole place is a galleria.” Slade started walking as Dick caught up. His hand shot out as he gripped the man's larger fingers like a child,  pretending he wasn’t too embarrassed.  “It’s loud, and busy. I don’t wanna lose you too.”

The man nodded, trying to hold a steady lope in the walk as Dick didn’t say much except for gawk and smile at the many shops that they’d passed.

He saw one storefront that made his eyes grow as he nuzzled his head into Slade's arm. The older man patted the kid’s head soothingly and then looked up at the massive sign.

 A batman themed shop, complete with the best money could show of such a fitting example. “We’re almost there, stay close to me.”

The little, shy duckling nodded as they kept on walking. At least he was able to listen. Slade would hate to lose his new apprentice as well…

//////////

The grocery trip was enjoyable for Dick at least. Once he saw that he could do for more planning around what they’d eat, he’d even learned that Slade had gone to almost every country the entire fruit isle had out- mangoes, banana,  even dates and tomatoes. Rome, Egypt, Turkey,  Brazil, Somalia, anyplace he’d only heard of going but never had the chance. It sounded, at first like a non stop fun time, until the war stories came.

Dick had to whap  his own face to keep from falling asleep. “The jungles aren’t so bad, minus the snakes, water quality in rural areas and the militia groups that are after whatever they can get out of a passerby. It’s best to know hour environment. “

The story was that Slade was a decorated Vietnam and Korean vet with a secret; he had met his wife snd she’d trained him to fight! It was like a movie, really and Dick wanted to know just once.

Once, who were his kids. Why was he so far away from them…

“My boys are better off with their mother. She was quite clear on keeping me away and my work.”

The man’s eye was gone because of his wife, Dick had deduced. “Yeager, but they miss you too. Why couldn’t you promis le to take them on a no kill week.” The question earned him a chuckle and some time to feel better with a piece of tasty fruit in whipped cream with a special flavor. Maybe, cinnamon?

“When you are ready, and I feel right to tell you, maybe one day you’ll get to meet my son Joseph. That is, as long as we’re on good terms.”

“Why wouldn’t you be? You were just trying to protect him. The job, even if you were in the army that could have happened. Right? Alfred said some circumstances are unavoidable.  You just, were one of the unlucky ones like me, I guess.”

//////

That comment had Slade up all night guessing, as he stared at the ceiling and for that nice of an end…

Awoke to a crying scream down the hallway.

////////

He first cane it to see the boy half thrashing in his sleep, beaded wkth sweat as he curled up into himself and sobbed loudly into the pillows. “n…no….stop…..mom….mama!!”

He gasped and sat up. Slade was there wkth the discarded Zitka as Dick waited until the adult was by his side. Keeping him close to his chest as he tried to get out any tensions he’d had bottled up. “You’re ok here Dick. Your mom knows that, I promised her too.”

“So did he, so did everyone else…you won’t go anywhere, will you?”

Slade moved and saw the opportunity to show the boy. No matter how much he’d bleed, just why Slade wasn’t lying.

“Wait right here, don’t move.” Slade went to his pouch of “instruments and the first pocket knife cane to mind he had ever used on a live body. It would have to do. The boy needed to be reassured that he had his promise kept.

Returning to the room, the boy had his knees hugged unto his chest. He turned his eyes to Slade with the knife; his heart beat like a baby fawn's as Slade moved it to his own upper hand, the easier of the places to cut and sliced right through so that his red blood showed crimson.

Dick nearly crawled off the bed to stop the man from harming himself, yet he stopped as his eyes got even WIDER. “You….you’re sealing…how?....it’s not….”

“When I was in the army, the higher ups had a plan to make a solution that could work against enemy truth serums. At a cost, I was the prize. I did well, but my development was uncanny to those who had created it. Meta – healing, commencing at a rate that takes a few moments to hours depending on the part if the body; that was why I told this to you, my eye never grew in because…of many troubles with our relationship. Our pain sometimes never allows all of our wounds to heal, yet I expect your wounds to seal up nicely, in time as my apprentice.” He tapped the spot with the butt if the pocket knife. “That will take the most time out if the both of us if you don’t get some well deserved rest.”

“Sir, yes sir!” Dick grinned and fell back under the covers. Down to sniffles, Slade had a good feeling, up until he was about to head back to bed. Sleep, was much more restricted on his watch. The boy needed to be monitored a bit further, to see if these episodes were going to stop over the course he was expecting them to or not.

“S…Slade?”

Side raised an ear as he relaxed his shoulders by the exit to the boy’s temporary room. “Yes, Dick.”

“Am I going to be like Zucco, or like you….I mean, you still kill people a lot…can I ever get over doing that to someone?”

“That’s up to whether you want to truly live, Richard. Good night,  my boy.”

/////////////

Stepping into a few months after, Dick had gone brunette to keep the bat off their trail. He truly believed in that straining fact that Bruce wasn’t just mad but obsessed in finding him. He saw how it was; big superstar wants what he wants and gets it. Dock wasn’t a what, and add treated him like his son. Did Bruce ever tell Rapunzel to ditch the braid and have a good time? No.

At age eleven,  he was learning a bit more each day. Knife throwing cane naturally, his studies made him feel more superior to any snobby rich kid. The serum made Slade durable as titanium, so he wasn’t prone to breaking his back even when Dick used his foot strikes in places that could limit one's mobility.

“We’ll take on a new topic today, apprentice.” Dick looked over the information Slade handed the boy. He frowned at the paperwork, then at his teacher. “A school? No way. You don’t kidnap anyone –

“A random for a rather hefty price tag.” The boy was shown to have Dick's original features. “Timothy Drake. Our captive, in Gotham Prep. Age seven, and his father is in deep water with some investors at his tech company. I think this is more to help Drake than to stop whomever is putting this into my hands.”

“He…hey, you think we could be brothers, I mean he looks just like me! See?”

“What are you gabbing on about, apprentice.” Slade snorted at the kid’s question. “Pay close attention. We’re only here to remove him from the area before others get hurt by the one responsible for this assault. There are children present and I won’t dare break code as you said. However –

“Why don’t we tell him to join us so his dad can buzz off? He’s going to get his family hurt or extorted by the looks of it.” Dick cocked his head to see just who this Drake fella was. “He’s not a good guy, so you could –

“Another Batman isn’t in the cards. You were an exception, remember it.” Slade pointed to the times, the rest being that Dick was going to lead the kid away so th….

“Are…. are you coming back for me? Sir…”

Slade looked at the boy. Great, he was clingy today.

“I said you won’t get lost during this; I meant it. No one is losing today. We gain a few dollars for protecting this boy. For all it takes to get his father to change for the better or not. The judge and the boy’s mother can wise up.” Slade put away the folder and Dick sat while contemplating those words. “What if Batman shows.”

The older man stopped to listen, to wait for the rest of the kid’s question. “What if he’s one step ahead of us? Bruce isn’t just loaded, he’s crazy smart. Fast…but with Zucco, he didn’t want it to stir anything where I’d get hurt. I did, his judgment blows and he should have let me –

“It’s done. We’ll proceed as planned.” Slade currently had to think in his room, while Dick was left to do something he’d warned himself might only lead to trouble.

Find a fire escape and find a way to look at the sky in this city. This city, that was not Central anymore. It had to be a big fat insult as the kid climbed up from the apartment right in London to see a big stretch of sky and the foggy morning air. This, was going to be an interesting time to grow by. He smiled, seeing his distance apart from the big cathedral and then the next step….

He moved down to the window and closed the latch.

“Dick.”

The boy hopped down, hands at his sides and knowing who was calling him back to their world. “Come here, boy. Now.”

Dick moved gingerly to the living area as Slade sat with his tablet and a few more folders on his side of the sofa. “We don’t stand out, what have you been up to. I know you know what this entails…”

“Yes, sir…sorry, but I’m so used to –

“It’s not about you getting hurt.”

That, felt off…

“Not all of it, you’re still on the run until Wayne has his moment to realize that you aren’t changing your mind. Just as I am not letting you jeopardize our position in London to any heroes that might like to watch birds hanging around apartment roofs. They’ve got plenty. As your punishment, I want you to sit here and not make a peep. Understand? Learn something while you can, this is very important.”

“Sure, sir…” Dick said sullenly. Slade’s eye turned as Dick ducked his head and looked ready to pout. “As you were, sit.”

Slade noticed it first and foremost, but by age eleven going on twelve, the boy was more Grant than Joey.

 Officially a pre teenaged terror. And now, said terror was going to learn when it was best to follow or flee for the second time in his still young life.

“We pack in the morning, so by tomorrow this place will be vacated for the rest of our time. We’re headed to Gotham prep. You might recall the outlay, but don’t get so full of ideas.”

“I know, sir,” Dick sighed. “Because he will probably be watching us too…”

 /////////////

Chapter Text

Chapter 4: Clearly WRONG About You

The itchy uniform pulled at Dick’s skin as Slade posed in a costume with a fake eye and everything.  He was serious, faking an enrollment interview in this fancy pants school like Dick had almost been locked away in.

“Mr……D’Angelo.” The staff pointedly brought their face in close to gather just who this this military parent was below his suit and tie. “Our school takes in those that understand, our very…guided system, Mr. D’Angelo. Is this your son by chance, I take it?”

“Say hello, Dominic.”

Slade coaxed Dick to talk as he only nodded with a smile and a presentable “How do you do.”

One the grounds, the grades were not as split, yet the buildings were of many divisions.

“Our auditorium is maybe of interest for your Dominic to see for himself? I heard his acting and dramatically theater influences come from some very well-known names…”

Dick waited until Slade had the interviewer “host” strung up around his pinkie, while Dick moved to find the grade school where Tim had to be in the cafeteria in a corner with his science experiment and a book on the history of the planet.

The boy read intently, yet Richard noticed that he could walk right in, his new skills from his teacher made it easier than granted. He stood by the boy’s table with a lunch tray he’d gotten. An apple, a quiche and a drink token him happy. His teacher didn’t like when Dick ate garbage without his permission.  He’d promised any sugary treat after the job was done, and Dick wanted an ice cream cone like yesterday. Slade would just throw out anything they took home or confiscate it the next day anyway. “HIYA, watcha readin?” The kid decided to use his goof ball stereotype persona.

“The cover is here, can’t you read it?”

Dick bit back a smirk and turned his head to see the front. “Evolution into the Modern Era, that’s…interesting to you?”

Tim put the book down and let out a puff of breath before answering, “Very, I feel extremely endowed with knowledge like never before.” He was being cruel, little brat. “Oh, so…. when lunch is over, wanna play in the courtyard? I know a great game that involves scavenging for fossils...”

He had to say yes! Say yes!

“No thank you, maybe some other time, perhaps.” The boy returned to his large chapters  s Dick bit his lip.

Look at your surroundings, find an opportunity. 

The food, the kids here…

No staff present in certain areas….

Dick cracked a smile, scooting away as he made sure to tip into someone while he was ready to get a shiny new apple. A Red headed kid sneered at him as Dick moved backwards. “Roy, don’t do it…” A girl with dark hair pulled the red head kid’s sleeve as he just ignored her words of wisdom.

“HEY!” Dick turned around, his eyes on the boy as adjusting himself, this kid wasn’t too different in height or …wait…was he older!?

This wasn’t a kid’s table – it was the BIG kids! So….

Dick had forgotten…. Tim was ahead anew grades, a prodigy.

Should have listened to teacher, Dick tutted himself mentally as he stepped back. “You going to say you’re sorry or what? This suit is my father’s money. I’d rather not get it dirty, well?”

He was at least being honest, right? “Sorry, bit anemic. Ha to get something for my iron…” Dick panted and the lights went on. “Donna, got a minute.”

“Roy, that’s super rude.” The dark haired thirteen-year-old scoffed before taking Dick’s arm. “You need to lie down; we have to registered nurse-

“I need to talk to my cousin; he can take me out to the nurse to call home…please?”

I’m getting my sugar buzz on tonight! Dick could see the chocolate vanilla swirls as Donna smiled and called Tim over. “Timmy, you’re needed, squirt.”

From over Roy’s shoulder, Dick had just missed it; James Gordon’s daughter was watching intently with her hand in her pocket. With one press, the message was received. 

“The rabbit is on the run, next up.” She smiled and went back to clearing her plate. “We’re counting on you, B.”

///////

Tim stormed out despite keeping his eyes in his book towards the hall when he flashed a snarl back at Dick. “Tacos here are terrible on Tuesdays. Sorry-

“WHO are you!?” Tim hissed and pointed his book at the pre teenaged assassin’s protégé's next mug shot. “I if you happen to know or don’t, I don’t care, know ALL the names of my cousins from both branches in the United States, the United Kingdom and FRANCE!” Tim huffed in a growling, serious tone. “You, are, not from this school.” He kept pointing Dick into a corner. “You never directly told me your name or…I knew it! You’re-

“I’M…. A SPY TRYING TO RESCUE YOU FROM BAD MEN THAT WANT TO TAKE YOU IN FOR A LARGE RANDSOM!” Dick threw his hands over his face as Tim gawked.

 “How…. a spy.” He dropped his arms, then groaned.

Dick chewed his lip and tried to clear up his big mouth, “Your dad, made some specific people…. kinda peeved off, so my partner is here with me to stop them in their tracks. He can get us to a better place in no time.”

“My life would ONLY be in danger if something serious were to clearly happen that involves threats or…” Tim tossed his young nose up as the click of a lock from the inside of the building shut off some of the lights. “Why am I the anomaly at times like this, why!”

A flicker resounded. Dick shrugged, acting the wisest of the two. “See? You need me, so come on!”

Tim was dragged against his will as the book was forgotten with his notes on each bit of content that he’d already checked out from his library.  “Where are you taking me??”

Dick moved fast, the walls he remembered were a time capsule as things got…. slower.

For him, and his past as a student in this place.

~ Why didn’t Mr. Wayne come to see my teachers? They keep doing bad things, I hate it here!~

Dick heard his heart thumping in his ears and he knew that he was about to go into a panic attack if he did not find his MA-

~ Al…. I’m sorry –

~ You look an awful mess, dear boy…Did tye nurse not race to attend to your injuries?

Dick kept running. Tim’s angry rants were spoken but felt muted instead of useful.

~ Grayson, if I catch you around this pm of the school or talking to Donna again, you’re going down –

~ Leave him alone! You can’t do that to him, he’s still recovering from the last time you got restless and wanted to kick someone weaker than you.~

A Red headed had saved him that day, but he never let her get too close. “Babs is the name, don’t pay mind to him. He’d hit a tree if it waved too hard at em!” She made him chuckle, but he still cried himself to sleep and went back into being harassed by that boy…it was a few years though. Why w –

“Agh!!”

Dick blinked away his distraction to see that a few goons in ski masks were holding rope, guns…. cuffs.

This was wrong, where was Slade! Where was he when he promised –

The man in the middle budged as he knocked the two down in half the time, two punches as he pulled of his mask to reveal his other cloth one. Two toned, just as much a warning shot as Tim swallowed. “He’s….very prepared..but I’mused to it so, do your worst!” Ah, the brave kid routine. Dick was sure one time it had become his fate as well as he looked at Skade with a pout. “Why did you go that far? Tim’s here, is this all of the guys?”

“Were you sure no one was following you.” Slade motioned to two figures in the shadow of the hall. A young red headed girl with a bat themed mask, and a purple and golden ensemble. Batman, was there to show her how to get the job one. If Dick had stayed, would he have been the next bat too…?

“Glad you got the memo earlier than the rest, seeing as my contact was someone hired by you, Mr. Wayne.”

Batgirl grit her teeth and looked to Bruce worriedly. “You…. know each other, B?”

“We go a ways back. Dick, your done, Slade was foolish to come here and entangle you in his blood contracts. They’re against the law –

“We just saved this kid, Bruce! Even you didn’t have to hire him for that swim not GOING back! I can’t-

“Take your money, dark knight.” Slade said in a disgusted way, “This was about closure. I have no need to take from the richest in a city of dying and sick to make you happy, playboy.”

“That, was low, whoever you are.” Frowned Batgirl. “He doesn’t get it because you probably keep him guessing, we know you’ve been on the move and now? You have nowhere to run.” She grinned boastfully.

“There is always a way, my dear. Don’t make that mistake like your father has.”

“WHOA! BACK UP!

“Down!” Bruce pulled Babs out of the way as she yelled at Slade, yet the patented flash bangs were just to keep the bats dazed a while. “The courtyard!”

“No.” Bruce stopped the girl with a squint if his vision. “Up, they are taking to the-

The clank of a large motor had Dick’s scent assured. “They’re getting airborne, go!”

/////////////////

Slade knew that setting a stray copter off and borrowing a motorcycle was the thing to keep Batman well away until they reached the city limits. Out of the way, Wayne’s world was a parody of structure and a false sense of order, how things could look for the average individual still starving in Gotham. “How long till we get out of this city, sir….”

Slade heard the boy below him as he hunched into the cycle to stay from looking up. “Soon, hang on and don’t let go. We got the job done, just the wrong client.” Slade sighed and revved the engine a bit. “You’ll get to rest on the plane. Stay strong, child, you did alright for your first test.”

//////////

Test…” Slade had a jet. A, J- E – T! Not a copter, not a ship. A. JET.

Dick however, was still reluctant to tall about their little reunion with the bat and his new partner – slash- protégé.

Babs, he knew it had to be her. The girl who really only cared because Bruce probably hooked her into his line of work and his agendas. Slade was just working, but the one concern was his code. Timmy broke the code, never go and endanger kids, Batman too. He’d…set them both up. And both lost what they’d wanted.

“Sir, Slade?” Dick turned to his teacher as Slade looked up from his tablet with a waiting glance. “Yes, dear boy. What is it.”

“You said, a test…” Dick chewed at his tension, his thousands swirling back to the promises Slade had offered. “Why did you call that job a test, for me.”

/////

Slade sat, quiet and managing what he was going to say next, he knew how to handle this. Better than Bruce ever could, he would not falter. “What that bat did was a dirty tactic, and I almost certainly knew fir some minor case…that this would be a stunt pulled by someone with a lot of money to toss in my face for the purpose of a single lie. He wanted you, so much that he hired me to bring you, and to actually save that boy, by men I hired to act as kidnappers.”

“WAIT…..WAHt?? You both were in on it??”

Slade leaned back with a clcky grin and chuckled. “That’s why it took no time to run and split it before your dark knight had a new scent to hunt down. He’s angry, Dick. At me, at himself, he is a desperate man doing desperate things.” Slade’s tone changed to a serious one. “Have I not made sure you’d be prepared, you didn’t scare, you controlled your flashbacks and your acting is espionage quality by far.” Slade praised him. “A few more months on the road in my footsteps, and you’ll even be able to handle a shotgun for your first time when you’re ready, right now, I’d at least wait a couple of years to be sure. You’re a child, so we can focus on agility and even endure if you like.”

“Then Tim…is that why too? He is never in any real danger? My old classmate…. she’s his partner! Batman’s-

“She looked the part, and I will be sure you are ready to face her in the future. Who knows how good she actually is, being the Commissioner’s daughter.” Dick sat down next to Slade before leaning into his seat lazily. “Don’t slouch, Dick.” The man reminded him. “We have a long flight out and posture is important as your form will be once we get there.”

“There, sir?” The boy sat up, “Where are we going in a hurry. New contracts abroad?”

“Been paying attention, have you?” Slade smiled pridefully back at his star pupil. “That’s wonderful, keep up the good work. I promised something sweet for your efforts, didn’t I.”

“I….don’t really want it anymore,  sir.” Dick softly shook his head. “Actually, what I really wanted was….was a cycle like that one. It went so fast, and I never got to ride before. Can it…be a sixteenth birthday present? I’ll sacrifice years of sugar for that one bike! I’ll be better now that I know I’m staying around.” The man rustled the kid’s thick dark locks as he bashful batted the man to knock it off. “I’m not your dog, I’m youryapprent8ce and if work hard I might 3arn that bike.” He grinned. “Not even the dark knight would be able to catch me then.”

///////////

They were in Brazil and sugar was all he saw in every marketplace. “Are you sure one young coconut doesn’t cut a few dollars off of that promise, dear child? You need to hydrate anyway.”

Dick had his first real coconut and it was then that he vowed in the future at fourteen even, to come back and have another by the water….

Fifteen…..

And he was still too short, too young for that bike in the image his phone. “Want….it…so...badly!” Upside down in the hotel of his bed like a love-stricken girl with a crush, the door slipped open just before Dick could bust a nut. (Playing on beast boy reaction to the Tidwell. 2003]

“Apprentice, I’m heading out early to secure our contract. Feel like getting a new tan?” Slade was in his…. trunks and his abs…still perfect for being a hunk in the sand and impressing his clients.

“Ugh, why not.” Dick rose and smirk at his teacher who as he’d said, never seemed to age and day. He’d chosen to get one to preserve his new cover, the nephew of a man who Slade was, who had a fake wife here who was a part of a team called S.P.Y.R.A.L. Dick had read about how the group implanted chips in its operative ps so that you couldn’t guess by their faces. He hadnever been dog tagged by anyone, so being about that close to someone rumored to run a serious operation brought a bit of butterflies to fester as Dick got into his swim trunks as well. “Slade, you used to have a speedo. I saw it in –

“Not for your eyes, or anything but the past.” Slade put up a finger. Dick just slyly grinned, almost impish as he tried to make it sound better than it had looked. So dang retro though, no one wore those styles like his master had. Maybe Superman could try on a pair, he chuckled and followed Slade out to the beach. Once your feet felt gravel, asphalt and ash, you got used to sand.  Sometimes, as Dick hopped along less today than he had coming back a few weeks ago. Brazil still had amazing style, culture and…waves.

“I’m riding THAT one.” Dick pointed as Slade stared at the boy, as likely to pop as a blister on Dick’s burning foot. “Not until I’m sure the coast is clear. Stick by me and, do you remember some your language lessons?”

Dick nodded, then cheerily saluting his master like a total card. “Ola!”

Slade grumbled as Dick cleared his throat.  “And, I stay out of the way…as usual.” The teen deadpanned.  “Good boy, then come. The client and his companion are waiting to greet us.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 5:Lagoon and Grotto

///////////

Dick was polite but it was all voluntary to him.

No waves, not yet but.....She had to be the operative. She was….so pretty!

“Melinda and Juarez both met this spring. Juarez's family going back five generations or more and he owns the hotel, yet something is causing their heads to turn towards what isn’t owed back to them. It’s simple, but it’s not. You say there is a chance the beach itself has a hidden source on it? That’s a tough call. What are we asking.”

“The men who came left the project on the beach and we believe it to be more than worth covering your fee for finding it, a merman from the lagoon.”

Dick frowned. “A, meta. To be exact then. You think it escapes and came to your hotel, the beach being where it’s hidden.” Slade rubbed his chin. “This is a black market find at this point, Mr. Wilson.” Slade used his real name, making this woman’s eyes seem more deadly than the idea of trying not to drown in those high waters. Dick fidgeted a bit before his hand flew to his “uncle’s” wrist. “Sorry, the boy is here for his self esteem issues at-home, it was what the doctor even suggested.  He’ll be over in the water, no trouble.”

“Of course, enjoy the sea.” Juarez chuckled and waved the kid off with his ring clad fingers of a mob boss. That’s what this was. Finding the lagoon meta and trapping it. Dick moved along quickly and knew the this was only to get permission to scout the beach. So far, the woman couldn’t come after him. He was just fine…

“HeyA-

Dick swerved around. No. Not a ghost. He made his way to the rocks covering a more secluded branch as he pulled out a detector from his pocket. Heat detection active….

There. In the shallow pool…..up…

Dick looked up. It was –

“What are you doing?”

The boy saw a face flop down. Green gills. A face like a boy.

His hands flew up as he waved them in front of the teen. “You are not thirsty, are you? This water tastes like fish. Try someplace else –

“Whu – wait!” Dick pulled back as the boy flopped into the sand from the pool he’d popped out of. “SO….NOT. A MERMAID?”

“No!”

The pool boy rattled around. “Not gonna get me, kid. I’m not a lot of anything. Skin and bone. Try again.” His piranha teeth startled and angered Dick as he grabbed the lagoon kid's tail. “We…have.  .to…..catch…you-

“You’re wrong about them! Those people aren’t-

“NOT…..THEM!” Dick tugged the lagoon brat into a heap. Standing over him, another thing came out of his pocket. “Time to go back to your tub, dude.” A meta – collar as the siren, screamed.

/////////////

The raining sand and rumble on the beach alerted Slade and Melinda as she ran after the man. Juarez yard and got over to find his buggy due to his big one’s backside.

The beach goers scattered and ran all the way out as the sound wave was not the only issue in their way .

Dick felt something go after his throat as he ignored a prick.

“You didn’t have to knock him out!” Lagoon boy yelled as a bit of mist that formed into a person. “Get out of here. I can handle this…just…gotta tug…-

“ You are clearly stuck. Let me get it –

“Stop right there, kids.” Melinda had her taxes gun from her dot.org. “You are this close to putting down my company, step away from the meta child, little killer….”

/////////

Slade dropped to his knees, silently, as he waited for his timing. The boy could get the meta child through the vortex of pools. He just had to be brave.

Dick moved back as the lagoon kid shuffled to the side, getting the distance he needed to hop in. Dick was taking a step, when the mist person went after the SPYRAL agent.  Dick dove down and dragged lagoon kid down as Slade swung by. His entrance into the pool of transportation-based fluids was not deterred. Dick gurgled coming down, the kid in his grip still as shocked at the fact the boy was holding his limp too tight. “Stop....I’m gonna….drop! –

“NO....Kid….” Slade snorted water and dragged himself into the whirlpool. Down below, lagoon kid was trying to help the boy. He was unconscious as Slade miraculously landed on a pile of rocks to this tide pool. “He’s with you?” The man sauntered over carefully. Lagoon kid’s gills vibrated as if he were in enemy territory.  “You sent a kid…. he could have lost his life down there. Who are you people?”

Slade stopped. “That woman was trying to take you captive.” Slade explained.  “Our job was to see them out of the way, there is a person who would be happy to stabilize your powers –

“NOTHING IS WRONG WITH ME!!” The kid's fins nearly grew to crush Dick’s windpipe. Lagoon boy gasped and reverted. “I…I’m not that bad, I can learn to control it without their help! Cadmus made a mistake. I had my home and….and…”

“You don’t really have a home, child.” Slade pointed to the rocks; the boy was the ground as he breathed softly back to life. “There is no place here where they won’t find you. Make no mistake. My apprentice found you with my help, yet your capture would no longer be any of our concern once the job is through. You had a place to stay, rent free. And for what? An experimental way to give you a human body? Even when you’re not human to begin with, they won't promise you what they had in words. Their bind means less than this should. Your absolute freedom.” Slade’s eye darkened.

“They…. they promise…I’m not really a human? I, have a home. Out there??”

“No, you are born to the sea with the Atlantean tribes. You hold to fresh water but for some reason you’re able to manipulate salt water for short periods of time.” Slade placed with his hands behind his back. Dick sputtered out more water, Slade was just relieved that this was a kid and not a full-grown sea – monkey.  “Are you satisfied?? That kid was your partner, wasn’t he? He said he came here with you –

“Because there is another organization you could be aware of. A more accepting one.” Slade told the fish boy.

“Get out of your stupid head for a second old man.” Lagoon kid shook his head and scoffed. “I’m wanted like a prize. I would rather be fish bait than bait people like you.”

Slade sighed, reaching to his wrist watch as Lagoon kid never knew how spy - like this mission was going to be.

“Very well.” Slade tapped a button and the collar held many volts. “Your little sprite helper won’t have to worry.” The man smiled as Dick seemed to prefer playing dead. Efficiently,  the merc carried both boys over his shoulders, down into the rocky caverns. It had to lead back into the main area of the wilderness. That much he had known from being here years ago. Dick groaned in his grip as Slade sighed. “You’ll both be thanking me sooner or later for this.” He muttered and took off, another job completed for the HIVE to simply get a clue, and for Melinda to scream about her losses to her now "screwed" boss.

They left Rio a while; no sooner whence on a cargo that was Slade's personal loan from another old contact. Dick came to as Slade handed him a water bottle upon rising. “Get enough rest? You did well for the most part.”

“I…fell asleep, right?”

They searched the open waves together that washed the shore,  the ship taking off like a dream, as Dick's memory lapse remained falsely in a drugged state. Best he’d not find who had repurchased the fish boy –

Until later on the television dtation out of Queensland, Australia ..

/////////

In his villa in Milan, Slade had Dick  practicing he swordsmanship out on the veranda. Inside, Slade had cable and one eye on his next venture. “You should keep one eye open, Dick.” The man looked at the news and smiled back at the screen.

 ~ Lagoon boy stops poaching of endangered species…Titans praise his efforts. Mudslides rock Markovia, mysterious origin still under investigation. Bruce Wayne makes tough call in career.~

“You may have some, competition in the near future, abd me? Some very good news on your initial progress, my boy.”

Beside the lagoon kid at sixteen now, was Aqua lad, a protégé of the sea faring Atlantean hero of the deep. Slade rubbed his chin and considered weighting their options along.

It wasn’t until that very hungry year, and everything all at once, fell capsized onto its head….

//////////////

Chapter Text

Chapter 6: MY NEW ROLE FOR TODAY IS?....

////////////////

Dick is fifteen right now in this and this,  was after the lagoon boy watch was secured. Dick is told by his teacher that they’ll be looking into a new base of operations in Jump City, California. Dick doesn’t want to face the heroes living there currently staying there, the Titans, any more than he wants Batman to track them both down. However, a stray bit of pushing changes everything and Slade finds it high time too late for Dick to pull that trigger.

If only he’d spared the boy sooner, being that he cannot stray from his savior yet fears being anyone else at all if he tried to. This, is not so warm and fuzzy…I give you the next part before he is all caught up. A recap, maybe?

/////////////////////////////

This was a long stretch as the boy practiced his strikes while the reports from the other day blared in Slade’s ears.

A mystery earthquake.

“Hyaa!”

“Too low, focus your attention on my weak points like I told you, boy. Here.”

Slade sent Dick to his knees, yet the boy bounced onto his toes and rolled into a crouch – one hit.

“Yes! Sir, I did I –

“Stay focused!” Slade reprimanded. Dick was becoming sloppy, his hits during their practices were creative, yet had no merit if it didn’t involve some sort of incentive or a reprimand. He didn’t like where that could lead the boy if he only depended on himself. One shot could fix it always.

“Stop.” Slade put up a palm. Dick looked ready to go, yet Slade was tired of playing games in the corner. “Your combat training is improving; you however still seem to not have enough discipline yet to advance -

"But…. I went through the drills. I even learned how to hit pressu –

“Those are in close range; you need more perspective. More distance apart to analyze a potential threat. That is where we’ll start, AFTER.” Slade enunciated. “After we debrief this month in total in the main room. Come.”

///////////////////

“Your new skills in close combat were aggressive, yet controlled best when up against an opponent that was a threat. You need more of a push than was expected; Dick.” Slade turned to the teen as his eyes towards his teacher, seated upright in a chair in the man’s main lounge of the estate. “Yes, sir.”

“I know that you are old enough now to know why the only fire arm handling has been in books, blueprint designs and reports I’ve had you write up to keep your mind extra sharp. You’re ready by now and this should come as no shock, to fire one for yourself.”

“Sir…” Dick’s only case was ptsd from the first time he had shot the bat. Ever since then, panic attacks had been an issue, they kept having to put his hands on approach on hold. Years, it was too long now and if the boy didn’t shoot a single gun like he was expected, he’d be cast out. This was his last shot. A permit, for a junior. They’d be going to a range in a new city where Slade told the boy his base would be set up and for them to share during their review of Jump City. Getting cold feet, Dick then raised his hand coyly up. “Sir! Uh…Isn’t that a place with more than one veteran hero? I heard that someone made that territory theirs and if we…. are you sure this isn’t another test?? You said my body was a weapon. I don’t need to use a –

“This was a part of our agreement long ago.” Slade jumped down the kid’s throat, “Or have you forgotten, Dick. I own you; your entire life is up to me to dictate – and as a minor still, under my custody…. you will do this or be cut off from any further contracts…”

“What- Sir! I can try, but I’m not sure I….” His eyes got wider under the dim light, searching for the rest of his voice. Slade saw his apprentice’s heartrate and posture shift like before as he moved from his seat. This had to stop, it was not enough and Dick needed to know what he was good for. “Dick, Dick. LISTEN. Apprentice!”

Shaking his head, his hands were held down as he tried to breathe. This panic was bad, but manageable as all the rest. “We’re not changing our minds right now. The heroes are a threat to any future contracts, that could jeopardize Deathstroke’s reputation, your courses... All I want is you to work security. Think of it as a downgrade, please. Shooting is just in warning, to keep them from driving a wedge between us and any clients we may need to observe. You’ll take it slow.” He coaxed, hating the damn sound of his tone. “I don’t need you to wait; you need to get a grip. You need to be mindful of why you are here.”

Dick’s sobs had turned to small shudders as Slade soothed him and left a hand on his shoulder. Too many hugs would keep the boy to cling to him. He needed him somewhat independent. “W…. w- w will….I change too?”

“No.” Slade put a hand to the boy’s shoulder and squeezed it tight. “No, you’ll still be my apprentice. Maybe one day better than you think you are now.” He let the kid settle into his role as he began their overview. “A few weeks ago, I found out about a case that goes back even earlier than when I came to Gotham. In Markovia. In the time it takes to have our new outpost up and running, there is something there of interest making its way to California… you’ll be in charge of security. The area will be under your watch. I’ll secure the underground. Send word to any that want in on our tiny project.”

“Project, sir?” Dick wiped his eyes messily.

“Yes, a meta child who may not remember my face, yet remembers that I have what she needs. Her uncle broke a treaty and killed the girl’s parents. They fell ill, and now her brother is also being used as a puppet for the diplomats to do with as they see fit. The girl will likely need shelter and help with her impressive powers.” Slade watched as Dick looked empathetic to the child. “That’s terrible…. she must be all alone. How can you help her? With your powers, are the that similar to the girl’s sir?”

“No, not at all, my young apprentice.” Slade replied and gazed out at the open air. “Montana. I’m going to miss it terribly.”

“Me too.” Dick chirped. “Will we get to ride the horses when we’re back home again…. sir…?”

Dick had taken to Sky and Sure - Shot. Both were named by his sons. This place was a later gift to his wife. Ex, as it was. Dick was best not to meet at this point.  “This place is off the grid to the bat, I made sure of it.” Slade made sure Dick could smile. This new journey would either make or break him as a professional. “First thing, you’ll go with me to a nearby range.” Slade got up as Dick wobbled to stand in his sorry state. “It’s high time we go over your oldest habit of running away into your own mind.”

/////////////////////////////////

The shots blared on in Dick’s sleep as he woke to gag and upchuck his supper into the walk-in toilet. “So weak…. why can’t I do this?” Dick wiped his lip and panted, looking at the mass of gross gook and again, he was nauseous.

////////////

Dick came down and for some reason, he was a bit better. Slade however had made it clear that Dick would speed up the process. “Come, I know a spot we can get a clear shot.”

Dick was used to the feeling now, it was a week and he still vomited every other night, until Slade found out and had to intervene. “You’re going to have to have tougher skin eventually.”

Will had stopped over, the butler and dear war friend of Slade – one who owed him as much as price as Dick still did. “He’s sallow as can be. Slade! Are you pushing that boy too hard? You know his constitution –

“He’s finally overcoming his fear of them, Will.”

Dick covered his ears in his bed as he ascended the steps to his room. Will was like the nanny. Slade was no father to him. He’d never said he was. Slade had boys, he had kids. Dick…. was just a distraction.

“Who is that kid anyway?” He sniffed and kicked the door shut. “Slade wouldn’t replace me…. would he?” This girl sounded powerful. She had royal blood and was more meta than Slade….so, would it work if he even cared to be a part of this mission. Not like he had a choice. Dick paced the room and groaned to himself. “No, Slade wouldn’t do that…he cared about me, I’m his partner. I’M his apprentice!” Dick stomped his feet and growled. Dick was dependent on their bond. He had shattered all other bridges for that cost of killing Zucco. It wasn’t his choice; he couldn’t even leave…why…

Dick fell to his knees and rocked himself, his hands to his face as he tried to get rid of this hopeless feeling. What if the meta princess was less weepy than him?? What if Slade liked her more? What if….

Her shouted and ran to the window, shouting out of it, before crying into his hands. “No…. He’s mine…. you can’t take him away….no….no….NO!”

/////// /////////////

(So, Dick is literally cracking up because Slade made him had separation anxiety and maybe even more abandonment issues. He’s come to thinking that Slade would never have any other protégés. That he is a favorite in the man’s life besides his friend Will and Slade’s unnamed kids. He will never be the man’s son, but like Rose in the comics, he may go too far to prove that he can’t be shaken from leaving the man – this is where his world is starting to crack. You saw how his sheltered confidence as a protégé is selectively granted contracts that keep him from learning about being free, so in a way he believed Slade would be this way forever and never ask him to kill. Sorry Dick, read the fine print next time!)

“I spoiled him until this month.” Slade ran a hand through his thick white locks. “He’s going to lose this lesson, damn…”

Will tipped his tea cup and took a small sip. “Slade, you sheltered the boy as you tried to your own children. Naturally, he had to learn that this agreement was in stone. You were too relaxed with the boy, you knew his story. We both had...”

“He’s still healing, it might not be a good idea to even call him my apprentice if he can’t hold a damned gun, Will. He’s…if he isn’t safe when he faces them, then he can’t –

“Hush a moment.”

 Will put his ear to the ceiling as Slade heard it too.

A shout, a tired teenager was crying for help. Slade rose, yet Will stopped him. “He didn’t hear us. These walls don’t allow sound travel up, don’t you remember?”

“Buyer’s remorse.” Slade groaned and sat back down. “He’s not my son, yet I…have coddled him. He’s going to not hold up as a great asset if…”

“He vomits, yet his shots show promise. Once at the range, he can see that for himself.” Will took another sip, pensively awaiting the boy’s sobs to die down. “It’s getting a bit too late for me –

“Stay, he needs you.” Slade turned his eye up to his old friend. “And, it would be nice to have an extra seat at the table once in a while.”

“I suppose.” Will sighed and put his saucer down a moment to think. “A few days, and then Austria awaits. Addie has been asking a delicate question as of late. She seems to think your goals are not like before. You’ve built up a new network of low - brow super villains, and not to mention….” Will gritted his jaw. “A, lair??” He shot at his friend’s face. “I should be here to pull you from this new act of guilt that boy may have to shoulder. You’ve decided to add –

“It’s to accommodate someone. That girl. Tara, the missing princess from Markovia.”

Slade ducked his head as Will was flabbergasted by the news. “I have yet to see that boy happier than he is now, Slade.” Will went for the kitchen to place his cup in the sink, hands over it as he leaned and tried to understand his friend’s own vital changes. A transformation. “Let me just say, that the boy, Richard is correct. There are many soldiers and assassins in history that cannot use a fire arm.”

“He’s not any exception to the rule. Will.” Slade sniffed. “That boy’s parents were killed by a gun; Wayne’s were killed by a masked man as well. I won’t have them mimic the other and have MY protégé avoid firearms because of a little self- pity!”

Will didn’t say anything more as he just washed his cup and left the other to stew in silence. “Goodnight.”

The elder didn’t reply. He had the worst feeling, and from his experience, that was usually a premonition not of his own making. Bruce was a hated character in this household.  Slade was foolish to not cap his distress.

Yet the outcome he dreaded even more than Slade had. Taking him home like a puppy to his flat. Slade had sacrificed his efforts here, and now if he went forwards and broke his little side project….it was nonrefundable. Nothing like a gun, nor a blade in his palm to bet on, for keeps.

//////////////////////////////////

Dick was a moody teen at times. Sometimes his regression was more clinical in comparison to a crying child’s. Slade had gone along for years to numb it on their jobs, but at their waiting areas, in person vs in this place? The estate was too easy for Dick's training. Off they flew by jet to a bay in Jump, seeing right at the tower shaped like a giant T. Slade didn’t make too much h conversation as Dick’s brooding was already getting to be an eyesore. With the robots Slade had programmed to help out, Dick was made to carry some belongings into his new haunt with his master in tow.

Slade flicked on a switch and it was, quite spacious. They were inside a high-tech looking warehouse with a bunch of knows on the walls in a row only when the sensors activated for the right person. Dock definitely had missed a course in robotics and engineering the last month and a half.

“This isn’t anything more than a decoy, apprentice.” Dick shrugged and hoisted up the item; a box of some sort a bit higher to not drop it. “Here, is where we actually will be fir a good long few hours, on most days.” The next hidden panel Slade had touched, opened the floors up as the stairs down were inside the warehouses interior underground. This was…strange to be in a hole doing grunt work. “Where is the whole thing, si….”

A door, no. A giant wheel to open a hatch as Slade did the honors. “In.” He directed the teen, who didn’t need to be told twice. At the bottom, was an elevator like the ones at a construction site. Underneath the floor, was an enormous network of gears…a lot. Of damn gears.

It was tall with pillars making it look the part of an ancient, iron temple. By the top at a dais made of concrete and steel, were two seats. Two thrones beside one another overlooking an entire array of wider than wide screens that saw with an eagle's eye, everything in the city that would soon be their new home.

Slade watched patiently, intently as his apprentice stood to then place the box carefully onto a metal worktable as it came up from the platform they were standing on. The man had a crinkle in his mask full of pride. “On that note, you should be a bit more able to blend in. I’ve been working on a prototype suit, custom designed to match my own appearance.” His voice was dropping to seem cooler in the already boiling room. The steam from the gears had Dick look around thrice as he twirled back to the throne, then to a robot that was holding a flat box in its hands. As big as a ….

Dress?

“The one thing you never wore on any of our old missions. Here, it won’t be a regular job like you thought. I’m wearing my mask to symbolize a turning point in our careers, Apprentice. You will take this uniform and wear it, go on.” Slade was right. It had parts, and…it was black and orange red like the man's mask. In it too, was a spike ended domino mask, just like ….

Frowning, Dick looked up at the mastermind. “Is, is this really mine now? What for?”

A silly question, or a wise on. Slade motioned that Dick go to the corner to try on the suited piece. Complete with knee guards, his own gauntlets, a gun holster, and….a large coat that made it all come together as Dick stepped back into his boots. The half jacket was a bit silly but he liked the material. It didn’t feel too tight on him. He was a growing boy after all. A sense of pride wheeled him back over to show off the outfit to his master with a grin out of that dark world. He was still not putting the mask on, so Slade pointed a gloved finger to the kid's cerulean. Dick's mount formed a line as he looked at the mask like a pair of new glasses. “Do I have –

“You’ll need to keep your identity as my diligent helper. In fact, no one needs to know which you were before. I’ve chosen a better name. How does….” His boots tapped the concrete platform as Slade rubbed his chin. “Renegade, sound to you?”

Dick pulled at his jacket and grumbled a bit. “Who did I betray –

“Batman.” The man smiled. “You were a good kid who did as he was told, but your desire to become my apprentice sent him into a spiraling realm of denial that if, you should take this name to new heights…it might just bring him to admit to a “moral" defeat. You can’t go back, nor do you ever want you. Right, Renegade?”

//////////

Renegade. Dick found that his new room was smaller and the walls were strangely darker underneath the roof of this new cellar that his master had chosen to keep them confined to. In the “haunt,” Dick got to break fir new ground and express his ability to fly higher ability with some creative air. “I can climb this whole place…” He panted. “There are so many hiding spots. We have to do a match, sir –

“In a moment, apprentice.” Slade was looking at the screens from the security of his new throne. Dick used a grapple to send himself to his seat with a grin like a big kid off the monkey bars. “Any sightings so far, sir? I can scare off any intruders. Like you said. I -

“Quiet.” Slade barked it as the walls made all sorts of noises bounce. Dick curled his legs under him and looked to the side in a mild shock. Had…. had he just been told off by his…

Chapter Text

Chapter 7: Wearing my Mask with Pride

////////

It was possible that the lack of Vitamin D was getting to both master and protégé. Dick was pushed away for three days, and it wasn’t until Slade simply didn’t show up that Dick might have gotten into more trouble with his serious withdrawal issues.

The panic was there, but so too were the lessons. He learned to hide and hunt in dark places. He was given a gun to assemble and reassemble each morning and night. If he made any error in the tasks, he was confined to his room for a few hours. There were meals delivered to him by a slot in his door, yet this had to be a test so Richard bucked up. Tried to stop complaining. He was sixteen, not twelve he told himself. “Slade is going this far all for me, you’ll see.” He bit into his toast and said to himself anxious, angry that he couldn’t have more to do.

“He isn’t going to abandon you…no, he’s good to you…”

He awoke one night with his head fuzzy and the door wide opened. It had to be day…but was it? There were no clicks, no timers or any sounds except the winding gears in the main room of the haunt. Slade was up at his station by the screens. Fiddling with some buttons and zoning in on the next target.

A red headed woman from another planet.

A girl with mystical, dark powers.

A green skinned boy that could change into animals.

A black African American half robot, half teen named Cyborg as the green animal morphed and threw a football for their supposed leader to catch.

“Cy, send it here! I’m open! I’m open!”

They looked so happy, so young…was that the group they had to battle? Was he going out this late in the day?

“Sundown, it’s still too early to send you out officially, but I want to do some legwork to see if they’d even think to think anything of a fellow hero.”

“Huh?”

Slade looked at the boy as the robots brought one more box to the same table from before. “I want you to make an impression on them, gain their trust for a year –

“SIR!” Dick blathering out, his fears rising like he had believed. He was replaceable…. Tara was taking his role – he could die! They were incredibly powerful. He wasn’t…. wasn’t that strong to face them.

“Stop that right now, Dick. It's you’re self-loathing that is the problem.”

“I…. you’re going to kick me out, I don’t even know them…or…is this…espionage….? Sir, I’m not a meta. They could …. -

“This. Is your role.” Slade stood from his throne as Dick started to feel very, very, claustrophobic. “Even if you beg, even if you shout or kick and cry and scream at me. My mind is made up. Do you know why I had you distracted and separated from your master for that many days since our arrival?”

“You, were teaching me a lesson. This was a test…” Dick swallowed and added seemed pleased enough with the answer.

“I’ve treated you too soft, and it was high time you learned to stand on your feet without my direction.  If you fail this mission, you will either be captured by the enemy. Or the Batman may step in if they discover who you really are –

“I…then can I have more time to prepare? I’ve never faked being somebody else for more than a day...” He felt his breath starting to lock up. An attack was forcing its way through until Slade snapped his fingers. “Look at me, you know I want you to return from this mission. If you are successful in learning all you can about those “Titans,” then there is one thing you’ve always wanted. Hasn’t there been, Dick.”

“To be, called your son…finally, sir.” Dick’s head bobbed. "That's all I've ever wanted."

“To not just be my apprentice, but to know no one will abandon you for no reason" Slade crossed his arms. 

"Sir...I care. But I…. I think…I think if you did that, I’d care too much. It would be too reckless to be..."

He shattered at his own words.

 That. Was the lesson. Dick would never be what he wanted. Never close enough as his heart felt colder now. The echo of gears filled him to materialize his pain. Empty echoes. “Sir, I’m sorry for my earlier transgressions. It was wrong. You’re my mentor. It’s how we’ve had our agreement since you saved me from…him.”

“Keep that up attitude, Richard.” Slade put a hand on the boy's skull as he nodded, letting the locks be touched once more. It might be the last time he gets that much attention from anyone. Even someone who is incapable of caring openly for a kid like him.

“You’re going to need to have the heroes take pity on the real you once you are inside of their tower. Find a way, and it will happen.”

Dick blinked as Slade left him.

Wait…it would…

He shook his head. No, it’s not possible. Slade…would become his?

///////////

(Dick might snap eventually, but we’ll get into it. This will look ugly eventually. Remember, he’s never killed anyone with a gun or at all. Slade is saving his skills for a big challenger.)

“Hi, I’m….”

Dick slapped his face and paced the floor if his room. The mirror in it reflected back an unhappy boy in a boring outfit of choice. Black shades, green eyes as contacts and his hair was longer for the case of making them think he’d been on the open road like a hitchhiker. He went to Slade after their meal at night and in the mornings to rehearse his new role as a potential candidate to the Titans. “I’m pretty good, wanna see me throw this as far as I can?”

Slade chuckled as Dick dropped the act and scowled at his master's expression.

“What? I suck as an actor, don’t I, sir.”

“No, you are too engrossed in your message. You need to be less selling it and more telling. Relax a bit. Your stance could send the wrong message. For example.” Slade pressed a button on the dais thrones arm and a screen popped up with video of Dick and one of Slade’s comrades’ own protégé. She wore a lot of green and had long dark hair. Her Asian decent was indifferent to the boy who didn’t look to be as unfriendly while they geared up for a mission.

~ This is only a bodyguard position but heck, I’ve never seen a Kabuki mask –

~ It’s not. ~

She was surely not ok with the characterization of a culture it was also totally inaccurate. ~ Name, eh…Dick, I guess? ~

~ Your first run, I suppose. ~ Her air was as spoiled as they came. Dick snorted and crossed his arms at her. ~ Humph, no! I’ve done this a few times with Deathstroke. Better be a lot nicer to me if you can, whisker – breath. ~

“Ah…. that was –

“You already have a personality.” Slade pointed out to the boy. “Stop trying to mask it; use it instead to your advantage. You’re not a door-to-door salesperson, Dick. You can do this.”

After the lesson, Dick was better prepared to simply “act" like a teenager. He already had been, that was why Slade didn’t restrict the real him to become some covert robot…. yet.

He had asked Slade before if he made his first kill on a contract, would he change like Zucco? Would he murder someone in cold blood and never want to stop.

His stomach churned besides the grinding gears it seemed, and the session was left a moment to settle the acid in Dick’s babied stomach for supper. He had earned the right to eat with his...

M…. Master.

He tried to call Slade master as a way to prepare for his return in a year to the haunt. He wanted to surprise the man with his conquest of this city. Their city, Dick beamed on.

Until the day finally came…

///////////

He decided to go with a red hoodie with an R patch at the breast. Black cargo pants were too loose, but he made sure to add rips in the hems and knees as if he'dfallen from trying to run far away. His outfit even was easily able to hide his connections, and wires etc lt devices because…

“No comms. I’ll see everything with these.”

Tiny, cameras. Pin sized? Dick was handed some to store wherever they would fit. He chose places where his skin wouldn't be so irritated.

“Will I be able to send an S.O. S? Or will you, master? Should....should something happen.”

Dick begged to know as Slade moved over to the screens and away from his pining pupil.

“The name you chose as your alias.” Slade suddenly spoke in a low voice. “Robin, the same nick name that your mother gave to you growing up? Why is that, explain.”

Dick nodded. “It’d be the perfect cover. They’re new to what we already know about this city. It won’t take long until I know more about them too.”

“Good boy, I’m pleased that you’ve finally stepped up to face your fears for me. Now, up to the surface. The robots will accompany you.”

Dick went with the robots and noticed how alone it was already becoming. His separation anxiety had kicked in, yet he bit into the inside of his cheek and kept walking.

Up, until they were by a ladder to a large manhole cover instead of the warehouse across from the giant T.

The screen face of one robot was revealed as Slade appeared on it in his new and imposing regalia. ~ This is where we shall part ways. Should you feel that you have been compromised in any given form my only option to that is one order- destroy the Titans. Incapacitate the enemy. I will know and address the issue promptly. ~

 Dick’s heart felt heavier as he wished those words had not been the last thing he’d heard his mentor say.

“Y…yes…”

His body felt someplace else.

“Master, Slade.” He rasped, the fear in him reaching a bit higher before his ego left him as before. His cold interior self was his shield as it arose out of the blue.

It, was Renegade.

He, was Robin.

“As you command, Master.”

That was the mission. He nodded; glassy eyes understood the man as Slade observed in silence on the screen. ~ One year of this and you will have your reward. Good luck. ~

(Alter personality slowly splits here. Dick thinks he'sacting but layer finds that to vary. Dick is cracking up. Slade is aware that he did this, so much so that more to come.)

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse- What It Takes

///////////

Chapter 8: California  Dreamin'

/////////////////

It, was Renegade.

He, was Robin.

“As you command, Master.”

That was the mission. He nodded; glassy eyes understood the man as Slade observed in silence on the screen. ~ One year of this and you will have your reward. Good luck. ~

////////////

A pizza place at early noon was busy opening its doors.

Two kids were running after a ball in the park on the next block up. Their parent was scuttling along as quick as their day off would have them.

The street square in Jump City was a- bustle; with salary men and women of their decade. The old arcade was coming back into relevance and ne’re do wells were outside it, greedily taking up one machine with grins on their young faces.

There was a boy with no hair and large goggles on his neck. He was short, dwarfed in height yet his eyes were mesmerized by the person at the controls.

A girl with cotton candy pink hair in a Gothic style dress put a hand to her hip from beside her brother. The third. A hulk of muscle who had to kiss his claw prize goodbye. Slapping his face, the others chuckled cruelly in a joking way at his shortcomings.

“Aww! You lose, M. Wanna go on another lazer tag run?” The googled headed youngster grinned. “I got new ammo ta’ try out. State and the art, not even on the  black market…anymore.” The goggle boy was short, nearly as tall as a toddler, he wore a dark green jumpsuit and reminded their onlookers of a mad scientist. 

“I’m bored though, Mammoth has been at this for hours. But I know a trick to fix his bad luck streak-

“Don’t cheat today, Jinx.” Grumbled the big baboon of a creature. His red sideburns made the older look even older, the girl Jinx waved off his response as a minor annoyance .  “Whatever. I’m tired of playing these kid games. Why can’t we use our powers anyway? I made sure to get you bozos a V.I.P card each. You owe me.”

“Fine, miss bossy pants!” Hissed the youngest of their three person group. “What do you wanna do to avoid the popo? This was all we could think of.”

“The heroes sure do get to take it easier then us.” Mammoth looked out at the bay where the giant T could never block enough if that midday sun. “Stop gawking and think, stupid –

“Uh, hi?”

/////////

Dick didn’t wave exactly. He came up to them in his red hoodie, ratty jeans and his dark shades to just associate. The mission was to get to that tower. He wondered who these bad kids were, yet he also wished Slade had told him more about the city.

“Hi….”

Gizmo raised his body up and soon his entire form was off the ground, motor powered into the air in a jet pack as Dick tried to remain calm. “Scanner's not picking up nothing. I say he’s a dumb runaway.”

“Who cares! Kid? You aren’t from around here. Are you?” Jinx squinted her eyes as Dick shifted his feet side to side. “Was escaping from my old man. Can’t stand being such a freak to him…you guys…know the Titans?”

“See?? See?? How is that not a red flag!”

“Gizmo.” Jinx shot back. “You had better get back to class, whoever you are. Listen, we don’t associate with just anybody. And we don’t –

“We don’t hang out with those goodie -goodie , Titans!” Mammoth finished as Jinx dropped her gaze to pinch the bridge of her eyes. “Yeah, what they said. Go and figure your own life out –

“I have, and I think you all could use something new to do. I saw how preoccupied you were. Want me to show you a basic trick my old man taught me?”

///////

Dick fiddled on the side of the crane machine. In moments, a mechanism in the claw machine gave out. Jinx watched as he was blocked by her friends, and with a tangled grip inside the machines  out popped her….

He pulled out Kitty – Pire.

Jinx’s mouth dropped open coyly as a cat's as Dick handed the cat plushie to the leader of the small group. One that he had just injected himself into. With a small smile, she had turned pinker than her hair tone.

“I saw that one and it was the one your friend had tried to get earlier, right?”

“You work as a repair man, monkey wrench – master?” Mammoth asked, rather glad that his sister had gotten her prize by the kindness of another. “Naw, my old man ran some amusement rides at this one attraction as a side job and I watched him almost every day…but he lost custody of me so my new….” Dick pulled back and rubbed his arms, selling that crap to these defenseless teens. “Sorry. We all lost somebody important to us too, new kid." Mammoth frowned with a sniffle.

"YEAH, YEAH. I’m Gizmo, boy genius and don’t you forget it!” Boasted the youngest member to the newbie.

“This here is Mammoth, and our unofficial leader, Jinx.”

“Thanks, and....if you want…” Jinx bit the inside of her cheek to think,” You can hang out with us, just until it gets late. We’re kind of...on a strict watch.”

Dick turned his head to the others. “Why's that?”

//////////

He was easy to let be as from a safe distance, Dick continued to observe the kids and their personalities for his master to be made proud. Jinx was a princess with a more sensitive side than her snobbish exterior showed. Gizmo was a trickster, but way too advanced  for his "neurological" grade….or was somehow, he older than the others?

Mammoth wasn’t the brightest two – legged cousin to a yeti, yet they got along, even so. He was a bit more laid back and loved to eat. Gizmo liked money of course, and technology. Jinx liked fine jewelry and…

Dick saw where they were. The square.

The busy passerby weren’t even paying notice as Dick listened in on what the three were going on about. Lost in his thoughts, he had almost lost sight of keeping an eye on himself.

“We should totally do it.”

“I dunno…” Jinx looked at the electronics store as Gizmo drooled over a new console. “During the day? It’s going to get us caught –

“We got a new rookie, Jinx.” Mammoth told his sibling as she still felt wrong about what these knuckle heads were going on about beside her. “Coming, and if THEY show, you can show em how much you’ve been practicing.”

“You said today was boring, anyway.”

“Sorry, what’s going to happen?”

Dick pulled back as Jinx looked the vagabonds teen dead in the eye. “They want you to be in an initiation of our group. And we want to get what Gizmo's after for our new place.”

“A brand new system, a few tvs in each –

“Are… are you going to rob that store?”  Dick kept his voice way down as Jinx sighed, her stress pooling down in waves around them. “Yes, it’s how we survive on our own. You did it, so can we. You just don’t know what we’re capable of. You were even asking about this city's heroes..” She stated. “Right?”

“I…I was, but is that how you'll get their attention? Shouldn’t we wait until it gets dark?”

“Not as dramatic. We wanna be their adversaries, and so far the Titans didn’t even pick a sludge – muffin leader. They’re totally gonna fail at this!” Chuckled Gizmo as Jinx looked more angry than relieved to be taking part. “And we could even get other villains to recognize our work. Fighting the Titans will put us at the top.”

“Can you though?” Dick looked over all three. “You said you can use something power, but I don’t see how –

Jinx snapped her fingers as Dick’s body ended up farther from the ground. “Magic?”

“Bad luck. A curse but I’m gifted with a way to get the most out of it. Gizmo is a genius,  and Mammoth is the muscle of this operation.  Who are you, new kid?” She grinned while her eyes let up soft pastel and white. “Are you in, or aren’t you?”

////////////////////

Dick was going to rob, or assist s group of teen delinquents, in robbing an electronics store in the center of the city. Cook's was the name of the large shop ln the neon sign as Dick took in a breath. He'd be their distraction. Have their trust. Get to see the Titans.

In his pockets his hands went, his hood up and shades on as he entered the shop. Act like a kid just browsing.

It was simple. Be the distraction his master needed him to be-

“Hey, it’s still school hours.” The manager was walking over?

"Kid, hey."

Dick looked behind him and kept walking. “Hey!”

He walked through the back of the isles and to the X rated films in the back. The older male manager shouted as Dick looked for a place, or object to use to drag out his plan.

“Get away from there, you brat!”

Dick actually liked this. He was leading that idiot adult into the closet as he side stepped the adult. The man fell into a stack of mannequins and shelving hooks while Dick took the man’s keys and locked up.

“HEY! …

BANG BANG , went the door.

“LET ME OUT! HEEY!!”

The rest would be said and done. Dick moved about the next room until he was back with his –

Jinx blasted a few tapes to slap him in the face. Her smile less forgiving as Mammoth took so many Tvs in a full on shopping spree. Gizmo raided the register.

Dick looked over the place as Jinx smiled with a hand to her hip. “This was fun, but you have one more job. Take the fall so we can get outta here.”

“You…you’re coming back, wait!…were you going to ditch me all this time??” Dick gawked at his one mistake. Being double crossed. He thought nothing could go wrong. An alarm went off and the group scattered, leaving Dick a wreck under a set of sprinklers and a bunch of video discs in his lap. “Wait!”

They didn’t,  and the doors opened on one side to the back, while out in front…

The heroes, had finally arrived.

////////////

Chapter Text

Chapter 9: Talking Big – Walking Out on Me

////////////

Her emerald eyes were mystified by the red hoodie wearing teen; his appearance looking more a minor threat as the others, the Titans, took to checking for any damages left to the electronics and video store. ( Like a Best Buy.)

“They took a lot of loot. You, are you responsible for this, kid?”

“He looks to be in the “middle of being the caught “ in the mess of those other children –

“Book em, Cy! My favorite game was out and they took the last copy!! DO YOU KNOW how long I’ve waited to play the sweet, glorious super monkey mash up brawl –

“Cool it, monkey boy.” Raven, the goth of the group dryly reprimanded the green teen. Beastboy, and Dick really had to be careful with his whiny temper.

Starfire was too kind for her own good. Cyborg could be an asset too…as long as Slade was still interested on being on board. Dick wondered if the man had expected this. Semt a drone or a camera after him. Was it on his clothes?

“Hey!” Bb shot at the red headed kid. Dick pointed, turning to the side and trying to get up. He saw that the bruises hurt enough, so he faked really getting hurt. They’d find him still telling the truth. Slade had made Dick endure a lot of messes while they’d been in the manor so long together. Dick winced as Starfire flew over. Her scent was watermelon sweet as …for the first time, he felt outnumbered properly by her presence.

“He is injured. Must we leave him to the city authorities? Perhaps he would be of some assistance in revealing the location of the children who ruined this video shop?”

“I don’t think –

“Cy. Book em.” Bb said in a green mandrill  body, his tail and fists moving with a snarl.

“I can see if he is lying, but he is still hurt. If we leave him, the system may help. Why were you here?” Raven tried to question,  so Dick mimicked what he’d learned. “I stuck around and they left me to take the fall. I didn’t have any other place to stay. I really just want to get something to eat, tell you the truth.” Dick's stomach growled miraculously. Right on time, the team leader sighed. “We’ll feed ya, but then you gotta start talking. Let’s go out fir pizza. Raven? Tell the popo we got this one.”

//////

“Come…on!!” Bb was dragging it on until they had Dick in the the famous “ T" car. “He’s a thief! You can’t just be sweet to him and expect that he won’t try to rob us!”

“I needed a place, and they offered if…” Dick sighed. “Forget it. I’m not worth the trouble-

“You most certainly are, mystery wanderer!” Starfide interjected as Bb was shoved into Raven. The goth tried to meditate it out on the way to the Tower. As soon as Dick entered, Raven and Bb got to work dragging his butt to an interrogation room. The walls were white, the sound? Not much but an echo.

“Ok, Mr. Runaway, tell us why you went and helped a bunch of thieves rob that particular store. Did they tell you anything else?”

Bb was shoved away from their as Raven growled at him. Her eyes from under her large hood looked vicious and mean.

Dick knew he’d have enemies. He was going to have a ton by the time he was done here. “Their leader was a go…girl, she wore goth clothes and was friendly with two other kids.”

“Sounds like those three we were told about before. Cyborg, I could look into the evidence, if he’s alright with my powers…”

“Rave…you gotta just take a step back.”

Cy lectured her on being patient and Dick respected the cyborg’s mettle. “OK, here is the conclusion; you are here because you may or may not know something about the real perps who took a lot of valuables and cash from Cook's today. If you fess up, we can lighten the sentence. Get you all cleaned up and send you back to wherever you haveta go.”

“What if they come after me, if I tattle.” Dick brought up to Cy, who knew the lid didn’t want to end up in a ditch.  Not as much as he wanted to help this kid find his family.

“We can offer some form of protection, but it won’t be the full package.” Raven recited the Titans cute bylaws to the runaway boy.

“That form you speak of shall not including the stalking or the violent arrests…. should you not allow us to take charge in this matter, diplomatically.” Starfire pulled away as the others made her feel uncomfortable saying too much at once. “So, what’s it gonna be, kid. We can do the rest, but you have gotta move us in the right direction. How about it.”

////////

Dick told them about someplace by the end of the city, nothing much else. He told them about the claw machine and that they seemed nice before things changed…

And not drastically enough.

“What was your life like before coming to Jump City?” Bb seemed to warm up to the kid. He was bullied before; he knew how peer pressure worked. In a way, they all did.

“Your secret is safe with us. Or you need to tell the court about any a' this later. We won’t press too much into you-

“Must he go in front of the big man and his gavel?? The justice will not be so forgiving as you said, Cyborg.”

“Star, why are you so hung up on helping him?” Grumbled Bb . “Sure. Whatever - he fell in with the wrong crowd. This is how we tell of he’d rather be on the good guy’s side or not. The judge is just, to make sure. He has to not break the law again.” Snorted the morpher.  “If he’s not like the crazy kids who are still out there.”

“We should keep him here, until the trial.”

“THERE IS NO SUCH NEED!” Starfire protested. “He is only trying to find a home of his very own, so  why must you all play the very mean bullies? Ooh, you are all just as my big sister!”

They all stayed quiet, then Dick put up a hand.  It was time to take charge of his situation. “Robin.” He said plainly to the group. “You can call me from now on, Robin. And I don’t have anywhere to go back to.”

/////////////////

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse-What it Takes

//////////////

Chapter 10: Wherever He Hangs His Gauntlets- Checking In

////////////

Slade pulls a pop-up screen appearance like with tt03. Robin is conflicted by what his master has to say. He pushes to stay in the Titans' favor, but how long until the jig is up? He has less than a year now and one day it took to get their attention! Hope it floats- let’s go!

//////////

Dick was given, rather, a sandwich with vegan ingredients was shoved into his lap. “Cy thinks you’ve got some good in ya. Just don’t be the kinda guy who takes advantage of others, or that’s gone.” Bb snorted with the nostrils of a rhino and walked away from the interrogation table. Raven and Cy returned with a stack of paperwork and a quieted demeanor. “This is all we need to keep you in the Titans protective custody. It was a robbery, but from what Rave knows and the cameras, you were the look out and took all the blame. Don’t worry. Those kids are all over this city causing a mess wherever they can.”

“We don’t want you to be intimidated by them, especially because of their powers.” Raven added. Robin frowned at them, then cane to take a hulking bite of his no – tuna and soy flour – no wheat bread. With a dry swallow from the food, he nodded. Cy passed a water bottle over as Robin went to work reading the fine print. “So, any contact from the outside…wait…that means –

Robin looked up at the other teens. “I’m staying here? In the tower?”

“Just until we can find a safer location. A foster family –

“I’m too old for the system….” Robin let his eyes fall to the past, to pages of newsprint with HIS family on the cover. Covered in blood.

Grey images –

“Rob? Robin!” Cy snapped his fingers, magically pulling the younger teen from his day dreams. “You still have the while booklet ta’ go through. Should we give you a sec?”

“Y- yeah…sorry. My parents died in an accident a few months ago. No one took me in, there was no one who could…”

“Any chance you want us to help? I could see into your pain. Reduce-

“Rave.” Cy again had to tell her. “We talked about this and I need you to not offer. Not unless…”

“I could help.” She turned to Cy. “It’s my ability, my status as a hero is because I connected and linked all of us.”

Info? Robin pretended to be engrossed in the stack of papers. Something to bring to Master Slade’s attention later, he wondered quietly.

“I…. know how he feels. I’ll be in my room, I’m sorry.” Raven left her hood up, head down as she skulked away in silence out of the room. “Is, everyone ok?” Robin knew that acting innocent could accomplish two or more things. He could play a victim, or become the one most hated in the entire tower. A complete idiot is Bb sniffed out his plans.

“So, when you’re all done, this is all up to us. We’ll have ta' convince the judge that your story checks out ; that you were pressured as a homeless punk kid who was made to take the blame of a bunch of real criminals. You just wanted a place to stay. So, look. We can’t be your sitters  I’ll be using a special chip ta' make sure you stay put while the trial plays out.” Cy pulled out a micro chip as his mime was quite good. “I’ll go on your arm.or leg  it can’t come off without my permission. After that, we’ll look into a school system, or –

“You know my step-dad was a military buff, right? A General.” Dick knew this was a risky move, but it could let Cy know that he wasn’t afraid like they thought. “Before his death, I leaned combat moves. It was for our protection. We even think he was killed as a part of an assassination attempt.”

Cy looked concerned, good. Play that mecha – fiddle, Renegade!

“My mom was a spy who’d retired, and that left me. A damned kid who didn’t even know about his real dad or his worth…what am I if I can’t help? I only helped myself because I know nothing else…I was only left to this big bright world for a few months, not even a year or I would have never made it. How I did it…. I have to thank then, so please.” Dick wiped his tears as he tried not to dampen the pages below his arms. “Maybe I can be someone to another person who wants the same thing. Happiness…. can, can I ever repay that much?”

/////////

Even without hair, Cy had to scratch his skull. Starfire floated up while Bb was munching on a soy jerky in the next room. “That kid…” Je told his allies. “He wants ta be one of us.”

“He’s not trained to-

“Would that not be rather, the dangerous of him??” Kori gasped at the door holding their little runaway victim.  “He is, without a home …yet to fight and surely be hurt??”

“He thinks he owes us for helping him. He’s a suck up cause he wants what we’ve got. A family. He lost his a few months back –

“Then why does the system say He’s not from Jump? Or anywhere?”

“It’s still new. His name probably isn’t even Robin.” Cy shrugged. “He’s definitely doing this for another reason, but I wanna test it. See if he’s really combat material like he says.”

“YOU. Are both gonna get us torn apart by some psycho who’s not on anyone’s side. Dudes, I’ve seen this all before. He’s not a good person.”

“Maybe, yet we still must do the thing that is most right, Garfield.” Kori told her teammate. “Raven wishes to check his mind and his past, I believe she must in order for him to truly be the tested.”

////////////

Cy returned as soon as Robin was done with the last signature. He was maybe sixteen and not as young, yet acted less aware of things. Maybe he was a sheltered kid by his parents? Trauma, maybe.

“A’ight. So, we all decided that we want to see if you’re being straight with us about your skills. The way the Titans do, is through the gym. So, come on.” He ushered the teen Renegade off as he took the papers along, the chip placed in his charges arm while the made it down, down into an elevator shaft twice as wide. The basement was large too.

Very…not like Slade’s haunt, though.

It was a stadium!

Almost.

“You got game? I can box a few rounds into ya. So, this will be your way of repaying like you said.” Cy smirked at Robin from a side glance. “Get in the ring, we can see why you wanna be a damn Titan.”

//////////////////

Bb was on the treadmill, while Starfire did a mini obstacle course inside a large box. A simulation room? Dick turned to evade an uppercut. “Whoa! You know martial arts?” He had to use a form that…damn it! Dick put up his hands in protest. “Mom did…a few moves as an instructor. Sorry! Boxing, right?”

Raven joined to look into the simulation room after Star had left it. Dick was sweating to the floor and back, but he was still able to go three more rounds. He had to keep going.

“You're looking beat, lil man. You sure you got what it takes?” Cy cockily moved more like a boxer and not a robot Slade had programmed to spar with him. Thankfully, his master knew this form as well and Richard had improved months before coming to Jump City. “You’re like a spark! You just zig – zag all over the dang place! BB!”

Robin grinned, his adrenaline forcing itself to show up.

~ You like that, tin man? Well, you’d better mean what you say. I was trained by the best, compared to your fist bumps. ~

“Titans! Go on an’ test the rebel over here!”

Dick stopped. “Um, I’m getting a bad feeling…is this -

“Huh, he thinks he’s like us, Cy?” The grin Bb gave had Dick wonder if he’d met an enemy worthy of reporting. As a gorilla, the thing bounded over with thunder claps for its stride. “He’s gonna run back to wherever he came outta!”

Territorial creature, crap. Dick leaped out of the way, looking to the ring as the gorilla made sure to follow. Up on to the ropes, he leaped into a crouch, goading the dumb animal. “Wanna go, big ape?”

Ah, quips. That could work.

“YOU…. ARE GOING DOWN!” BB roared out and pounded his chest, arms swinging. (Using apprentice part two on the Wayne Enterprises rooftop.)

Dick knew a trick as he blocked the fist and flew up and over to the next rope. “Acrobatics? You wanna join the circus, punk?” Bb snarled as he was made run in a circle by the young thug. “No, I just guessed, you like the attention.  Can I call you little brother?”

“GAH!” Bb ran as a bull next, pissed as he could be unstable in each form for a few moments. He had to tire. It was impossible not to get him there. Bb then swapped as soon as he was by the ropes as a giant eagle. “You had better just fall down! We don’t need another teammate!”

Dick gathered the wings and with a tug, Bb was to the side, Dick running as he saw his chance to go low. The bird went   monitor lizard as it didn’t stop. It grabbed at his jacket and pulled. The seams ripping, Dick was afraid that it would come undone.

His leg went up to crash down onto the lizard’s head, knocking it over as he got it into a choke hold.

“Wrestler too? This guy isn’t just showing off…”

“That is quite the enough!” Kori flew over as her eyes blazed emerald at Dick. His eyes shut, a hard breath as he leg go Bb turned back into his human – green firm with a scowl. He got up, limping and holding his skull as Raven went over to check for a concussion. “He’s not showing signs of anything severe-

“My pride, Rae…that guy…if you want him, take im.”  Bb lumped away to his room, out of sight as Raven went to go assist. Starfire and Cyborg held out a hand to the newbie. “You can fight. Why didn’t you tell us how?”

She asked it, more so concerned for her wounded teammate. “In the outback, on trips he took, my step father taught me survival skills. Mom wasn’t always around to know, so I learned. And it hurt, so…I’m sorry if I-

“Trial. A trial, you pass.”

“Wha…” Dick looked to the two. “An obstacle course away, then we can give you the A – ok. If you’re with us, you don’t go to juvy. You can only improve yourself as a hero. Maybe on standby, just to see how long you’ll stay standing.” Cy clapped a hand onto Robin's side. “Stay as long as you need and give us your thoughts later, if you have ta. Star? Time for a cool down. Dinner is in ten. You coming?”

Dick looked at his hands, the mats around the room and thos, tower. This life. Why were they being so trusting? It was good for his cover, but…

How?

///////

After a supper of celebratory tacos and tofu tostadas, Bb stayed in his room and away from Robin, while Raven asked to look Robin over and see if he needed anything. After that…came a question. In trust.

He was told to come along down the hall where the bathroom was, the name of rooms being confusing at first until Robin applied Slade’s training to his life here currently.  The next hall was Raven and Bb's rooms. Hos were closer to Cy and Star's. It made sense, sort of. “Um, so it’s only fir today but we set out a spot so you can stay the night. Think over what we said. You can fight dude, it’s no wonder you’ve got all a that angst. Better you use it to do the thing that those kids who tricked you might never think of.”

“You would not only be helping the city. Yet, our works “travels.” Starfire piped in. “I cannot wait to show you the gardens and the court of the basket!”

“Yeah, so…this is for you. If you are in or…”

Dick saw the room as the door opened. A futon set in place, close to the floor. He checked the walls. Bare, for now. The window was, not bolted too badly. It would open, soon. There was even a small network which, made no sense. And then lastly. “Take this, if you know wjat you want. Who to call “

“You would be most appreciated on this team, if only willing to comply.”

The unit had a black and yellow design. A big T in the center put the rest together.

“A …uh…compact? A phone, sort of?”

“it’s our communicator. We all got one, even you can’t say no ta’ the logical thing. Man, take it easy, and if we said enough –

“We shall be hoping to know you much, much more as time passes!” Smiling, she was nothing like the women in his life prior to the adoption and abduction by Deathstroke. Dick got a little choked up, well, he hoped it passed for his test to be passed as an A plus to one man.

The person he’d only trust, as long as they believed him…

“Yeah, good night …thank you for this, I have to consider it? Right...”

The two nodded, leaving Dick to the barren walls and he swapped gears.

“Renegade time.” He whispered, crawling back into a constricting pair of skins. He opened his mouth, teeth in the compact showing as he plucked out with a wince the weakest one. Inside, was a small micro chip. A false tooth, a better cover. He looked to see the network had a slot and plugged that in. In his lining of his jacket where Star had sewn it her best, without his permission…was a small retractable cable USB as he connected it to the comm. “Master, can you hear me? I’m in.”

The screen to the comm unit came alive and Slade’s masked enigma was there. Dick sighed, smiling before clearing himself and trying to seem professional in the man’s view. “It worked. They want me, and I’m inside the Tower. How are plans going to collect Tara, sir?”

~ Kindly disregard that thought for now, apprentice. I’m please, and the alien girl did not find your equipment? ~

“Sir, the cameras you placed –

~ Next time tend to you own things properly. You are close, but there is still much to consider. You’ve made a rival by the way, congratulations. ~ The man’s gleeful eye wasn’t like his alter, just as Dick wasn’t like Renegade or Robin.

 All of them didn’t coexist at once. Only two at a time between Dick’s. He swallowed with a nod. “He was easy to run tired, his stamina is good but he has a temper, sir.” Dick told them man. “Cyborg is strong, but he has a big heart. He’s smarter than the rest of them and yet, Raven can see into a person…”

~ So I’ve seen of her files from the JLA database. You’ll keep an eye on them for me. Report any findings that would be useful to our later takeover. Maybe you can even come home earlier for good behavior.~

Dick preened at the idea of being a success. At his master letting him leave so he wouldn’t ever end up doing the gritty parts of the job. That was all Slade, he wanted to luxury. Dick was a spy, he didn’t have to get too dirty. He…had time. They did. “Yes, sir. I appreciate that and will not let you down.”

~Very good, and…Robin? ~

Dick froze, his hands over the files he sent only seconds prior. The screen to the network sang in the background as white noise in a decent hum. The flavor in his mouth had grown bittersweet. Always with a cost, he turned to the and never took his eyes off of that lone mask.

~ Should you lose your composure; either in battle or pretending to BE what you are not, you’ll still force yourself to keep up appearances. Even if they have layers pointed directly at you, you are not to come cowering home until I say that is permitted. If you call me half in teats again, check a mirror first. ~

/////////

He was just prepping him, preparing the boy for a battle of his…. making. Dick let the tears fall, but it had to be a fear of losing that trust most of all. Had Slade ever cared –

A knock came to his door as Robin arose. “Yes??”

“Sorry, it’s Raven. I need to talk.”

Raven? Was the computer-

No. Dick had to ignore it. He had to bite that bullet until another tooth broke free.

“S…sure. Come in.” He sat onto the roll - of - a – futon mattress. Technically a Japanese- Style sleeping bag. Dick aas used to the pampering, but this was mean as it got…not the worst,  though.

She didn’t come through the door right away as it slid back slowly. “I know you did give my teammate a few unheeded injuries. They weren’t lethal, and you knew how to control yourself in battle.” She rubbed her arm, seeming as tense as Robin felt willing to lie in her face. Could he though?

“I never missed a lesson. Mom had her new job. The only reason he was there was because I was too needy. After dad left us, she changed. I hoped this man had our best interests..”

He tried to imagine an image of Bruce, not Slade….never….but all that came up with his emotions-

“Stop.” Raven put a hand to her temple and took in an inhale of startled breath with her. “I can sense your pain, and…I can help. You need to talk to someone. It will help you to fight with more focus. A clearer mind.”

“I’d like that.” Sniffled the boy wonder. “I’ll definitely expect you guys to handle me when I do join your team.”

She let her mouth open a bit before closing it. “Will you be the one to tell Cyborg.”

“Sure, first thing at breakfast. It’s a promise. For Titan to…new recruit in training.” Dick grinned and flopped over to the side on his futon. “Night, Rae…” pi OK

Raven’s delicate smile would shatter. He had to keep her happy j Make her believe his false visions for as long as he’d been taught. Slade’s exercises in meditation were a safeguard against psychic attacks. He was glad to have stayed awake for those now.

“G- Good night. Robin.”

With a soft slide, the room was now his. Their trust, at least the three, was his. So, why did the whole idea fill his stomacop0 oh in knots….

Oh, he blinked wide awake and licked his chapped lips to remember the plan ahead. “Because if I fail, I have to eliminate them for my future father….”

He'd maybe be taken back if he got found out. IF Slade didn’t decide to paint his corpse black and blue for screwing up.  If he was still the man who had maybe cared at all. If he wasn’t the image in Dick’s mind that Raven had definitely seen….if only….if only it were easier to read. Please him, save their lives? Was it always that simple?

Dick groaned into his donated pillow and slept like the dead. After all, he barely knew them, he was not be replaced by a meta. Even if he had to be just like that man, he’d go that far…unless, unless something else caught his eye first…

//////////

Ooh? Find out what that might be!

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse- What It Takes –

////////////

Chapter 11: Infected and Rejecting Your Every Praise

/////////

Dick never slept in with Slade, so the faithful Renegade masquerading inside this tower as “Robin,” had no choice but to ask himself; will waking up too soon make me look suspicious?

He decided, no.

In that few seconds head start, the boy’s unit began to ring.

He was being called, so he took the chance to get to know his enemies that much more while brushing up in the bathroom. The comm unit and Slade's relaxed eye on him. Asking him questions, seeing if two days had led to even more small instances of seeing what he could. In that short a time, Slade had a memory like a steel trap. He would never let a thing pass, nor should his loyal apprentice as Robin was left outside of the room while they conversed in private.

Dick carried his items and went for the gym first. He could use some time to keep himself limber. Down in the basement he was not expecting to see Cy up with his barbells overhead. Dick went to go spot the teen. They both talked and he was asked how he slept. A funny question, yet Robin answered truthfully. “I’m used to camping." He told the tin man, with the honest gesture of handing Cy a towel and a cold, water bottle.

 “You didn’t get disturbed by any loud noises?”

“None.” The younger teen grinned back. “Wanna spar with me? My old man taught me some moves you wish you'd ha –

He stopped, his brows furrowed in disappointment. Slade would lecture him soo much later on…

“I – I’m sorry. That wasn’t right.” He rubbed his arm apologetically.

“Was a bit too soon to be callin’ me a robot. It’s fine, but know I fight one on one all the time.” Cy boasted and Robin, didn’t know how to process that at first. “No metal armor slows this dude down. Now, how bout I school you on getting wise first thing in the morning?”

///////////

They were too busy having a blast until eight. Dick walked after Cy as they went up to the main room that was adjoined to the Titans’ kitchen. “Hey, any chance I can help make breakfast?” Dick knew he had to be hospitable, but even Raven’s sense could pick up a lack of humility. Right?

“It’s a bit tough to cook fir all of us. I eat a lot; my plate is never empty and I can burn off a bowl a’ truck tires a la carte if you push me in the gym, after. Star has nine stomachs.” Dick didn’t try to throw a wise crack at….whatever image popped into their heads.

“Yeah. She never gains. Alien thing…and Raven is a pretty modest foodie. She drinks tea and eats by herself sometimes. She loves the waffles I make so she can eat meat. Not large helping though. Like your grandma. She’s still having trouble adjusting. Bb is…. all vegetables, tofu.” Cy rolled his eyes as Dick imagined the man animals Bb had changed into.

“It’s nasty stuff. You’d be better growing those chicken bones with a ham!” Cy clapped Dick on the back jokingly as his entire body rattled. Robin shook the confusion off once he was sure Cy was done. “What are your favorite food options, lil man?”

Dick’s mouth hung open at the images of Lecso and pierogis on their travels as….

What about Slade’s cooking?? He blushed, realizing his emotions were showing too much. Renegade was waiting. Dick was packed away. Robin was working. 

“Uh, usually I have to eat pretty lean. Not too much, but not a lot of sugar was allowed in the house.” That part was true. Slade was a drill Sargent for both fitness and intellectual pursuits. Dick wasn’t lying about that. “You missed out on the good stuff. Being an army brat –

“It wasn’t-

“Cool it, sparky.” Cy brought up a palm in good faith. “Just saying that you talk about the dude you grew up with so much that it’s like you were a different person than what I see. You can pit that away a bit as a Titan.”

“I can’t. Not always…” Dick grumbled to himself. “I’ll just eat something in my room…I’m sorry. Bit worn down…not your fault….just…” Was he ok?

Dick felt a stick in his mouth as Cy read out a thermometer.  He checked his arm and then crossed them. “Dude, you are burning up.”

//////////

“It’s just a cold. I’m not gonna –

“You…I so hope you’re not trying to get us all sent to bed. Cy! Did you even check em??” Bb was unhappily griping over Robin’s coming to them with problems. Starfire was told to stay far away, yet she was too kind of her own good. Dick got butterflies every time she tried to get too close to his reddened face. “He is not an enemy, why will you not see that our new companion is suffering and he is as “the startled" as we are? How can you be so uncaring?”

“He came into the tower while he was on the run from his stepparent. For almost a month.” Raven shifted over and handed Robin a cup of herbal tea. “You risked your health to be found, and here we are. We can help you. All of us. As long as you are not trying to leave without a fair sentence.”

“I got a ring from the city.” Cy brought to the other’s attention. “I was gonna make breakfast to celebrate that they let you off the hook, but this happened. Sorry, man. Rest, I’ll make some soup in the crock pot.” Cy left to set up his setting in the kitchen while Raven tried her best to be there for the equally nervous runaway.

“Rae, Star. This is…” Bb's ears drooped. “Um….can, can I put on a movie….just cause I don’t want him sneezing all over the tower.”

///////////

Dick slept for a good chunk of the afternoon. They got him a blanket and made sure he had the energy to lie down long enough to settle the coughing fits. Raven and they others soon left at the sound of the alarm; Dick huddling under the covers while Star handed him the comm unit from his room. She had even scolded him lightly like a mother to keep it with him always. Dick had apologized and after that, the call came through. “Sir….bad time. Under the weather.” Dick rasped under the blankets with another cough as Slade’s masked one eye seemed to smile back.

~ I know. I was the one who gave you the virus in the first place. I thought it high time you learn to work under that cover, just a few days. That way, you can gather more information for me.~

Dick couldn’t say anything…Slade had….he wanted to ask in all holy shite – burger, HOW. Yet, his mouth only stayed button. With a nod he complied and bundled himself, remembering exactly how to disable a security camera like his master had taught him.

~ Good boy. We’ll talk again later. Don’t forget to keep your motives around the heroes, believable. I have every faith, my apprentice. ~

Dick smiled weakly as he went to follow his direction onward; the main computer. The data highway he’d need to finish hacking before Cy took him out. Even a sick kid in prison wasn’t cute to look at, so he worked with a sweaty upper lip. He acted as if Slade did have his best moments. That he would be the man’s only right hand and…father.

He could always have the heroes convert to the dark side to save themselves. They weren’t bad, maybe if he had inhibitor collars for everyone.

Beast boy sure needed something.

One key left, and the screens all came up. He used the extra tech Slade had dropped off in his bag and made sure to download as much data as he could ship the masterminds way. It was a thrill…he held his skull and continued. Did he need to pee? Wait…

Dick shook his head. “Fourty  percent. No….go faster!”  He hissed at the flu like pressure on his skull. It was a test. A test he could not flunk. Dick gripped the dash and stood. That…

Fifty two.

Fifty seven…

Sixty….

He sighed and coughed. He had a virus. A regulated one. Like a damned infection with love from his master. Dick’s mild delirium was expected.

Sixty four.

“Best in the world, tech… yeah?” Dick snorted and felt his body sway as he held it up. “Just, fuzzy…fine. I’m fine…” He told himself, the screen showing the Tita –

“No….come on!” He growled at the load bar. “Fuck!”

He pounded a fist into the dash.

The Titans had defeated a crook and were now warming up the T – car.

Dick took in an inhale as the bar started to move a bit faster.

Seventy five …

Seventy nine.

Come on….

~ I do hope to tell our newest hero who is training to be an official Titan about our glorious victory against the Doctor Light. ~

Dick didn’t pay mind. His head was throbbing.

Eighty six

Big jump. How was this

…

~ He’s way too needy though. Are you sure he won’t curl up and die on us in battle? Fighting in a gym is easy. He’s not even gonna do the obstacle course until he gets over faking being sick! ~

~ The infection is real. Even so, we should make sure it’s not going to linger. Mask up and have him in his room. Maybe assign each day a new person to help –

~ He’s capable. Both of you. It’s just a bug. We’ll see what he is up for when it’s time, but you got sick last month, B. It happens. He was practically homeless for a month. ~

“Stop it….come on…please –

Ninety

Ninety five

Ninety seven

…..

~ He needs a family right now. And it’s protective custody if this guy who’s after him can fight like a warrior. As far as I can tell, the guy could be ex – mercenary or something from those moves. ~

Dick’s lips ran dry….he….

He put a hand to his face. He let them see right through him? Was that why his master was doing all of this? To have the heroes see Dick as less of a threat?

Ninety nine….

Dick took in a sharp intake of air as the numbers aligned. The filed folded to his will. He tugged out the drive and looked at it for a few seconds. His hands back to the keys, Dick erased his time in this room. It had never happened. With a scowl, he leaned towards the wall and beat it be now, returned to his room.

“I’m done.” He hung his head, because failure was never an option. 

///////////

.

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse- What It Takes –

////////////

Chapter 12: Bumbling Fools We Be

/////////////

In the dark, after supper, Robin rested as the time ticked before Slade would talk to his apprentice. He knew. He’d seen them on every corner. Every wall of this city. Dick was trapped, and his loss was Dick’s fumble of the ball.

He was going to beg if he had to, negotiate to stop and regroup. To….to do something to change the man’s frame of thinking.

Yet, it was futile. Dick knew this better than any of Slade’s previous clients or companions. He knew that Slade hated failures. That he was worse than any kid working fir someone out of the damned League of Shadows.  Think was, Slade had once been recruited by the worst anarchist cult in all of history.  Maybe he would send his apprentice there. Maybe he’d make him kill his first victim.  Toughen him up…the heroes jeered and hollered like roommates. They were saving a city, weren’t they? Why couldn’t those kids put their heads together and figure out that he was a mole for their newest enemy, deep underground in a friking bunker…Dick missed that seat on the dais. He wanted it, needed to not screw up. Even…

He took another breath and went to gather the files on the drive in his sack by the makeshift futon. His body was feeling better now, enough to pick up his gear and let the screen's light was over his lacking confidence. No doubt Slade would drag out his lecture until it tore up the boy's remaining ego. He had to keep it as Robin, anyway.

He seeped in a breath and but his head down, the mattress below him was not enough as his eyes peered beyond no - longer sweaty bangs. The screen was showing easily the man and the dais he so longed for another chance to lounge in. Right as the steel and iron wrought gears churned high up in the rafters to tower, to make Dick feel so crushed by what he was about to subject himself into doing. Trying….

To ask for a break from the task, to get better at it. To learn the acts because…he had failed.

Slade’s face was not a lot of good thing. Dick scrunched his eyes at the brightness on it and turned down the dimmer. “I was able to connect to the laptop…. I…they haven’t demanded anything since I….”

~ I know. Being the one who infected you in the first place, seems strange that you happened to fall ill in only two days, but to them, it would not be a mystery. ~

In other words, don’t blow this.

~It’s all a part of keeping you on your toes, Robin. ~

“S…sir? I, but the other thing was –

~ What? They told you to sleep it off? Said you aren't officially on their timecard yet? ~ Snorted the masked enemy. ~ Dear child, you were supposed to paint me, that step father you’ve created as an enemy, because my apprentice…my real goal is to make you see me as the ominous enigma that your friends will soon be chasing after. One year, and this is easy access as it gets. All for you… you already sent me their construction of a T – ship. And… was the empath any trouble? ~

“She’s worried, but kind and thoughtful. And, she looks, shy…so no, sir.”

~ Anything else? ~

Dick chewed his lip and sat up. He could be judged by his posture. Slade wasn’t shutting him down; he didn’t have to. He had to tell the man the truth. No matter how much it hurt…

“I…sir, I think that…won’t the Titans put together that you’re a…. –

~Why would you need to care what they think. They won’t know, they won’t have to. They want you to trust them. So? ~

Slade leaned into his seat and smirked below his mask at the boy, as his one eye seemed to deem Richard as a diamond in the rough. A clueless one, but still. Willing to do more to please if pushed as far as he had to go.

  ~Well? Are you giving me your usual, pouty debriefing look, or is there anything else you’d like to tell your master? ~

“No, no I’d never do that to you…I’m sorry.” Dick swallowed, shaking his head nervously. “I just have to turn this around. Keep making you out to….be the bad guy? O…our, enemy?”

~ Robin’s. ~ The older male replied. ~ Only, you’ll need to see what they can make of a teenaged runaway who’s supposedly wanting to become more, altruistic. Suicidal to your Renegade, but well… ~

“Y…then, I have a request sir. I’m sorry, but…I want to know if you can start calling me Robin from now on!” HE hugged his knees, seated on them and bowing his head a bit lower than his neck was capable. “I need to get into better character –

~ Stop. ~ Slade had the newly made hero compose himself in one word. A true mastermind, one that Robin would be forced to take to the highest order in Jump City.

Robin, he swallowed.

“Could –

~Your request is granted…As I assume naturally you will be filling Robin’s shoes. ~ Slade languidly looked over to his left side, giving Robin a reason to catch up. ~ You should have some hold over your emotions. Do what I taught you to. Follow up on your friends’ little lives and see if they can be bought over…BY your emotions. ~

Dick looked and the man with an incredulous gaze. “You…you want me t –

~ Stop. ~ Slade put up his palm. ~ Let me finish; you are already in bed, sick and on your way to thinking you’ll be one of them. If you can dismantle their “lingering” skepticism, that should give you lee way. You were once a bright young performer. This time, there’s no reason why you can’t do it all again for me, for your future by my side… ~

“I will!” The beaming lad in Dick reemerged as he gripped the sides of his laptop. Bobbing his head, just like a boy getting too much praise. An overdose; provided and paid for by Deathstroke.

“I will, sir. Slade. You won’t lose your faith in me, I promi –

~ One last bit of advice, my dear apprentice… ~ Slade again stepped in, ~ NEVER promise something that you aren’t willing to keep. This transmission is through. Stay bold, my little mole…burrow deep into their circle, and…Stay. Put. ~

////////////////

After he was laying down again, Robin sat and stared blankly at the wall, the other moving back only when he gave the ok for it to open. In waltzed a princess from the stars, the stars in his eyes widening a bit as Robin whipped away, rehearsed...well, he had to cry… so he thought about his mom. About what could make him a star again to a bunch of teen metas and freaks. He felt like in order to be in, he had to be a freak…too.

“Hey, what’s up. Star, right?” He was ridged but casual enough to seem his alter self. Cool headed, careful, but kind…and…. cocky. Robin was a typical child star in his mind.

“On this planet perhaps, yet on my home planet of Tamaran…I was openly called…Koriand’r. It in your language translates to “Starfire.”

“Wow, that’s really cool.” He sat up and smiled to her story. “I’ve only got the nick name my mom gave me…but, did everyone have other family once too?” If Robin were a bird, his wings would have curled into his body at the intrusive gesture.

Star pushed a strand of striking red hair behind her ear and smiled not as…cheerfully, despite the origin of the question. “We have had many “gnorfka” in our lives and some of us are hoping that in this wide cosmos, that they will someday look back to be proud of us.”

Her words sounded sad, homesick even. “If, if I stay and become a Titan, will I ever get to meet any of them. Your family, sometime?”

She eyed him with eyes so wide and expressive. His own false brown touched her own as they met, colliding by one sentence.  “Y –YES!” She floated over and clasped her hands in his. His body nearly jerked away, her gaze even brighter while the sun had fallen out his window, the moon being all that stood between them. “You indeed must meet my dear gnorfka, Galfore has raised me since I was very small.”

“Is he, your father…” Dick could ask, Robin on the other hand he thought rather darkly, could interrogate her. “He is, likely not.” She rubbed her arm, seeing that he was becoming fixed on her past too soon. She had the heightened sense of danger of a young warrior. Wait –

//////////////

 “This lesson will include knowing your enemies from past, to present. Pay attention, apprentice.” Slade used a large monitor and his own staff pointed at the girl on it currently. “Princess Koriand’r of the planet Tamaran. The second eldest of the group known as the Teen Titans. She is currently hiding out on earth after the defeat of the crown by her only sole surviving family member – yet there is rumor of a brother who has yet to be found. Too young to hold a scepter in office. She has kept her identity clsassified to even her teammates; your job in this case will be to expose her as she is. Weak, in need of returning to take back the crown from the ones responsible. She has a sister who is ruthless and rather envious of Kori’s rank. Kommand’r, eldest child and someone you should watch your back around if her sights are ever set on Koriand’r.”

“She has a long name, and a seat at the throne of another planet, sir?”

“She’s likely just using her cover to run away, but my mind has me to wonder if there is another reason for her escape to our planet.” Slade moved the screen with a flick as Raven showed up. “Next; Raven or Rachel. Roth. Cambion; half demon by birth to an Arella or Angela Roth and the Demon conqueror Lord Trigon. Has been fleeing her father’s threats against she and her family ever since she nearly destroyed the world of Azarath where the monks there had her learn to control her inherited demon hood and magic. You’re to be clearly useless in her advances to “check” on you. Under no circumstances is she allowed to use her abilities to unmask our Renegade.”

“Yes, sir. She’s a threat, but maybe useful.”

“Tear her up, or make her see you as an ally. Your pain must match her own, Richard.” Slade said softly before swapping the screens. “Third on our list is Victor Stone – A.K.A, Cyborg. His father is a prominent scientist at S.T.A.R labs. When the teen was in a car accident only a few months ago before forming his little team of heroes, the boy’s father had he and his wife use their lab to save Victor’s life…but at a cost that took the life of that child’s own mother. His own father fought over her loss, yet they still talk from time to time as family, will do. He was left in the care unofficially under watch of the JLA. Cyborg can keep you informed yet his strength is something not to fret over. If you can put a bear back into its cave with its tail tucked, your new leader’s pride will be nothing once you have their full adoration in your grasp.” Slade nodded, Dick doing the same. “Of course, sir. Winning him over won’t be that hard. He’s a teddy bear to me. Not a grizzly –

“Which, brings us to your very final, adversary…. dear boy. He is the most unpredictable of this pack of misfits.” The screen changed again to a teen with green skin, hair and eyes in a purple and black uniform. “Meet lastly, Garfield Logan; X– member of the legendary crime fighting team, the Doom Patrol. Adopted son of Rita Farr and Steve Dayton. Before then he was in the hands of the abusive Nicholas Galtry. Right now, unimportant. His powers came purely by his first life lived. As the only son of two scientists; Mark and Marie Logan, the family went on traveling to Africa to understand their field, or to some to advance on their coveted theory of “reverse evolution.”

 Dick’s head bobbed, interested in where this was all going. “They had the boy with them and in that rare an instance….Young Garfield fell ill with an illness known as Sakutia. The transmission was from the West African green monkey. Seeing the connection, boy?”

“I do, sir. Please, continue.”

“As you wish; his father used an untested method that would turn the boy into the VERY thing that had infected his son, but only to kill the virus off and for twenty – four hours. In that time, it took, the serum his father had used to save his child changed the boy into what you see before you. The virus was eradicated, yet the result…a few weeks later, the parents lost both of their lives in a boating accident.”

Dick’s mouth fell open as he thought about the irony. Karma wasn’t real! How…

“They were amateurs and young Garfield was then left to the earlier embezzling idiot who abused his rights as the boy’s guardian. Nicholas was cruel, yet when the child was to come of age and inherit his parents’ estate, Galtry was in need of some hired hands to take the boy out. That was where the Doom patrol saved the day and Garfield was later known as Beastboy. The press says that their leader Mento drove the boy away and I think that’s correct. Beastboy is a seeker of attention like no other. Yet as you see him in this new niche, he’s prone to being like the animal that bit him. Territorial, and gorillas can swing hard when provoked. Remember that.”

“It’s not my place to interrupt sir, but Raven, one question; how did her mom fall in love with an all-powerful… demon?”

////////////////////////

So, as Slade’s little lecture in the beginning had gone:

Raven or Rachel Roth was a product of the rape of Angela Roth by the cult of Blood’s god, Trigon the terrible, and her association with the demon had led to Raven being brought into the world to bring abut its destruction. She had been running from that fate and ended up here. Even the JLA had their eye on her powers. Dick hugged his knees to his chest, ironing out the next events for today he’d have to make into his new personal stepping stones.

Koriand’r or Starfire and Princess’ currently second if not first in line to the throne of Tamanran. Starfire’s older sister Komand’r or Blackfire had struck a deal with the Gordanians and had gotten rid of both her parents whom were…. killed, and had Starfire sold as a slave – they experimented on her powers and she and Blackfire were made as the only two to be able to shook “starbolts” due to the incident. Her energy was from the sun, so the moon only made a mild difference since its glow was from the same ball of gas. The Citadel was a place she was headed to upon her capture, and even Blackfire was double crossed while the Tamaran council had the planet up in arms for years after. It was no wonder she seemed to find joy in everything else – because the Citadel was a place where she’d have been made to fight in a ring for some upper-class aliens and passed around like an object to the highest bidder….

A cold guilt flooded Dick’s senses as she only filled them till he had to stop gagging on the…what was it? He wasn’t going to need to care, right?

Oh, ok. Next was Victor Stone, Cyborg. The leader, huh? “I wonder if they hold elections one in….” Robin wondered about how Cy viewed himself. He had to be with some loose spots to unscrew. He was smart, but Robin could be clever. Even if he wasn’t a bat clone or a spoiled rich brat all the time.

Garfield and the Doom Patrol. They were wild from their bio, he chuckled. Bb sure fit in fine, he bet. What would win over a hulking ape like that…

The clock read nine and Robin stretched out his arms with a wide yawn. He was hungry, and Slade told him that he’d be feeling better in no time. He grinned and then remembered that he was supposed to be…a hero…

He groaned and looked at the red hoodie. Today, he could look into the past for one more lesson. In how to wow a crowd, with style and poise. “I guess you being dead is, kind of the push I did need to get what I wanted….Thanks.” He got up and wondered if his mom was anywhere in the astral plane – tutting his logic as she drifted endlessly into nothing.

He for sure didn’t feel like nothing so Robin had a plan. His old costume in his mind needed a makeover. Even so, he’d always be a perfect star. The last, flying Grayson.

With a list made up, he took his time and went to find Cy. He could ask the man a few things after he’d just touched on a topic Star would find at awkward. He’d let her cool off. Then? Today?

Robin, would be born and not have to go back into hiding. He was here to stay.

One year, the clock ticked. The calendar said.

Just one year, and he’d be called Wilson, from this time onward.

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse – What It Takes –

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Chapter 13: The Birth of Robin

////////////////

Kori was in the main room of the tower, while Beast boy was too busy beating Cy’s high score on “Space Fighter: Battle Royale 7.”

Raven had a book and was wandering without a care, as if to be dragged into its pages. Cy himself was looking into cooking up those “welcome waffles” he’d promised a certain red breasted teenager.

Well, there was just one thing. Dick needed materials, and in order to do so he’d:

A: Have to ask his “master” for a way to get what he needed to have a uniform to wow his new teammates.

B: Give Cy a reason why he needed to work and get out of the tower to make enough for his suit.

Or C: Ask the titans….for assistance in supplying him, by a sales pitch.

Dick grumbled and ran a hand through his hair at the idea of EVER stooping that low. He had to go with C though, he decided. It was the only w –

Wait…From his personal description of Cyborg as the leader, he could just pull him to the side and have the man take pity. Yeah, he’d get a real suit, gear. All his had to do was throw on the waterworks.

Or, to on the sly, be a con man that he wasn’t.

C, but not exactly. Dick rung his hands out and made it to the kitchen island to find a moment to tap ont Cy’s shoulder. Starfire’s eyes went up and Dick froze. “Oh, dear new friend! You require some kind of assistance, yes?”

(So now, only using Robin. He’s in character as of….)

Robin nodded. “I needed Cyborg a second.” He replied to the alien princess. Even if there was only Bb with his nose over the side, watching. Robin nodded again, Cy looking at Robin as if he were pup asking for handouts, or a little kid was more than fair.

“You need somethin’, Spike?” Cy arched a brow as Robin let out a breath, then pulled Cy by the arm and tugged him into the hall before anyone could go along after. “Whoa, whoa, hold up.” Cy brought out his arms as Robin tried to cool his head. He was acting. This was all an act. So, why was he breathing so hard?”

“You just got over a mean fever. Don’t go passin’ out on us all before your first –

“It’s about…being Robin. I need help. I have no way of getting funds because of him…” Robin tried to say. “My whole life was dictated by that crazy…If I have an idea for a uniform, can I ….i dunno, ask you to help me make it? My whole persona is similar to this kid. He was my hero growing up. We went to Gotham just once and...I saw this kid on the trapeze at a big top; he was incredible and he had skills. I thought, how long would it take to be that good if I could? Back then, I was just getting to know my Step – dad. But I know Robin is a symbol. It has to be the fact I’m free from him and can help others who’d do anything to feel the same. That no one should be kept from doing the right thing. I can fight, my gear should be whatever you decide is safe. Remember, I’m that army brat.” Grinned the teen. “I can go harder than you think. Oh, right. When is the obstacle course? I heard Beastboy going on about that.”

“You did?”

“He sleepwalks, I think.” Robin scratched his cheek, hoping not to give too much away.  

“I can do that for ya, on one condition. You learn how to assemble any parts and you gotta learn to sew your own suit if it take all month. We all have our pasts and they stay with us, but BB doesn’t think you’ll get too far on your first try –

“Why? How intense is a little training course?”

Cy chuckled and clapped a hand over Robin’s shoulder. “You’ll find out this afternoon. Get some chow and then we can try the course. A’ight?”

“Yessir!” Robin jokingly saluted the other as they laughed about their different upbringings.

Robin watched Cy head back into the main room as he, could he be acting still? He was smiling, no!

JUST. ACT. Robin cussed himself and threw back on that goofy grin. Oh, he’d be banging his head against a wall if they even THOUGHT about asking when his birthday was…so…. guh…

/////////////

Warming up after the waffles were in him, they all headed out to the backyard. There in sight, were somethings akin to mines in the ground, Cy heading to an elevated platform as Starfire gripped Robin’s hand to pull him towards the start line. “We shall begin the sequence momentarily. Are you in need of a light stretching of the ligaments and muscles before this event should begin?” She asked as innocent as a kitten’s whiskers.

“I think I’ll be fine; tell Cy he can start any time.” Robin got into a sprinting position. “This is going to be fun….”

////////////////////

“So, we always start the new ones over at level four, but you look like a five kinda dude –

“We’re not pushin’ him, B. He just got over bein’ sick –

“I don’t sense the illness since our last session.” Raven rubbed her chin. “It must have been no more than twenty-four hours.” BB’s ears dropped. “Whatever, if he gets in, I don’t care. Go ahead. I’m gonna try to keep from horking up a hairball.” Robin’s eyes had questions, yet his answer was something Beast boy had been so kind to add….

////////////////////////

“We’ll begin this session with level six. Are you ready. Apprentice?” Slade had taken Robin into a room that the haunt carried. A white walled place that acted as a training session gone wrong. The simulation was new to him, and here Slade had the teen on a level about intermediate. “Yessir. I can so do this –

“You will. Go. Begin level.” Slade turned the dial and large blasters popped out of the wall. Robin had dodged them, while the Slade bots had just jumped in to damage the teen’s confidence streak. “Come on, metal heads. Let me through!” The lazers below were so close that Robin felt the electricity single handedly keep his hairs on end. He had to get out of their ambush, this was too –

“Apprentice! Failure will not be tolerated early. You still are only starting this, now. Remember your training….”

///////////////////////

The turrets in the ground were lazers and Robin had no gear. His acrobatics kicked in and he leaped. The heroes all oohed at his dare devil stunt, Bb turning his head a bit. Good. Dick Grayson was a performer.

Robin, was……

Robin watched as the confused arrows all pointed at each other. They hit their wronged targets, metal scraps flying all over the field.

“Who – he’s payin’ for that!” Bb whined as Cy just leaned over the dash. “Did we set up the right level?”

Starfire and Raven saw that the level was set to seven. “No, fix it before he gets hurt, Cybor –

Robin leaned away from a flying spear as a bunch flew up as arrows. The next was a –

“Turn it off!” Cy heard Bb yell as he ran as a bull onto the field. “The thing is on the fritz. Youre gonna –

“Beast boy!!!”

Robin gasped and slipped out of harm’s way to grab Bb as he reverted back. “No, stop –

“I’m not letting you get injured. You tried to help me, so stay. Let me do my best.”

Bb looked up with a hand to his hurt ribs. Robin picked the kid up bridal style and he ran, skidding over hard dirt and rock until the finish line came into view. Robin brought BB to Raven to take a look at the teen’s side. “He was hit, but it evaded causing any punctures too deep…” She brought up her hands as Robin watched to see that Raven was truly magic. Bb’s pain started to ebb, his injury less swollen as his powers took care of the rest. “Thank you…” She looked to Robin, then to Cy who was busy undoing a wad of wires inside the console. “This thing was already up and purring like a kitten….It’s like somebody sabotaged the level.”

Robin gasped to the others. “I…. was that not level four? What was –

“You are well, dear friend. We are seeing of the issue in a moment. You, saved Beastboy….and –

“He got past Cy’s…...gasp….record…..way ta go….” Bb grinned while in pain. Raven scolded the youngest teen as Robin asked to be excused to his room to recoup. He’d done it, but yet this was not making sense. Like Cy had said.

Sabotage, not by a what…

Robin pulled out his laptop and made a connection. Slade was pushing it. His actions, his plans. He was taking them all for granted…. But, hurting and almost severely burning a hero like that?

“Sir. I would like to speak.”

Slade was mask less a moment with his one patch, enjoying a spot of tea by the dais. ~You look troubled, dear boy. Go ahead then, we have some time. ~

“Beastboy…. the simulated…. the obstacle course the Titans wanted me to go through, something rigged the level. It was supposed to be set to four for beginners.” Robin felt his mouth turn into a grimace. A growl. How could he…. how could….

~You’re not a beginner, are you. Robin. ~ Slade took a short sip of his tea. ~Dear boy, I just got you into the pack permanently. As long as the error was only a glitch, you’ll stay the hero, the innocent in all of this. You should be thanking your master for stepping in. it was a crucial time for your, initiation. ~

“I’m not Robin yet to them, Cy’s going to help me with the suit -

He threw a hand over his mouth. “I…I’m sorry, that was… unprofessional.”

~It was acting, and you can’t be out of character, not for a second too long.~ Slade put down his cup and smirked. ~Your potential is in keeping those close. If they want to help you climb that ladder, let them know what would be best in “his” hands. You still never told me…. Robin was that nick name your mother had given you as a little boy. Well, now it’s a perfect weapon. For us. ~ Slade smiled and Robin relaxed a bit. “Sir, if I …. I can try to keep on the mask, but what if they are not sure that I’m as I say? Beastboy could rip me apart if his heard us talking like this…”

~Then. ~ Slade picked up the cup, tipping it to the child in a mock “Cheers.”

~I wouldn’t keep your new team waiting for much longer than you have to. Use what you know, advance on that. ~

////////////////////////

It was cute, Slade supposed as he watched the last face his boy could make in a few days. He was obviously going to be upset. Slade had hacked the tin kid’s tech to show everyone that his apprentice was not level four material. He’d passed and Slade could only smile from his seat over the child’s slow progression in to villain hood. He’d graduate eventually, maybe even go off on his own contracts once he was deemed ruthless enough. Robin was too useless in a real fight without a Renegade to keep him vigilant. Richard had to prove to the man just how three dimensional he could make his new persona.

“I might not even recognize that child the next time he has a birthday in that tower…should we extend the year to a half longer…” Slade wondered as the screen in front of him patched through to a General I.

“Greetings; has the target been located.”

~It has. General Wilson. ~The prune dipped old timer had Slade to wonder if being immortal in a sense was only a curse to the unlucky ones. ~The girl’s charts show that her power is developing along nicely. Soon, her uncle the duke, will strike and we shall pick up what remains. You, shall be granted your weapon. As thanks for your hefty donation from the last time. ~

“Immortus, you went through all of that trouble? I’ll make sure not to let it go to waste.”

Slade saw the man leave the screen, as the next image was of a lanky blonde teen princess inside a tube – in a lab, a mask over her mouth to keep her stable. “This won’t be far along. Tara.”

///////////////////

Chapter Text

Our Time In Reverse – What It Takes

//////////

Chapter 14: Find Me As I Flounder

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Not sure if I’ve used this title before ( papa roach song.) Find out! A few time/scene slips because my health isn’t great today so the stress is pushing me to move along. Recall, thos is between scenes wkth Slade in his work area and Dick in the tower with the Titans. Slade thought of everything, so all Dick has to do is act the part of the victim for one year and gain their trust. Can he also overcome the guilt of being a part of a world where getting killed by a man like that should be a crime? Will he commit as the future son of Deathstroke? Find out!

//////////

“WIPE THE FLOOR WITH EM, STAR!!”

Bb went on hooting out as the round was more tame than his first try. Learning to cope with anger from Raven, to relax like Bb and to think like…well, a strategist like Cy, Robin had learned a great deal in only a month. His master had to be bobbing a yes, well done in the background. It was, enjoyable fir the second reason. 

They didn’t see him as a threat.

The heroes were more than welcoming to the brave and sudden timing of their roommate and newcomer; Robin, the boy wonder was up for grabs as everyone wanted to spar him in the gym today. “You must improve! If you cannot, you will not be permitted to go out “fielding" with your new friends.” Starfire and Robin were in their very own dance. Kori knew a many different martial arts from the wise elders of Okaara. There, she had learned to fight, to plan and attack with the strength of a super human, super nova.

“You fight like a serpentine animal, it is….very strange. I am not going to hurt you –

“Anyone could, it’s a reflex.” Robin crouched like a tiger and spring forth on the balls of his feet like a leaping frog. The kick was more crane as Bb imitated the animal woth a shocked look on his face. “He knows some moves. Cool.” Raven gave a small grin as Cy shouted encouragement to the two. “Come on! If he beats you fair and square today, Star, pizza’s on this dude! Take um out!”

“No fair! I don’t-

“We shall not put punishing games together. War is not so forgiving.” Starfire looked to her friends and did not smile. “A mad man is always watching our dear friend. If he is afraid to fight, he will not stay with us for long. We must work together to assure that Robin is ready to embrace the true heroism he seeks!”

She hit and he barely blocked. “YOU…. held back for me?”  Dick shakily watched her as she swapped poses, his own to block as she let him fall. He held himself though pretty well, bouncing back as his arm went out. “Viper strike.” Grinned the hero. “One shot and you’d be fast asleep. Pressure point move the police can’t use –

“Dude…” Bb grumbled. “We talked about killer moves. Ya can’t use em. Like, ever –

“What?” Robin groaned and looked at Kori. Her eyes were sparkling with tears. “You.. promised that you would not…”

“I…I’m sorry. Do over, I won't practice ….what he showed me…”

“I'm starting to think this step dad had a few moves that he kept in his closet.” Cy came over, worried for Robin more than Star as they understood the issue here. “Rob, come with me. We gotta talk about your fighting style.”

///////

“I didn’t mean to –

“You never did. It’s programed.” Cy let the door shut as Raven came in behind them. Her eyes were impassive yet aware. “I know you have a past that made sense to you, logically. But morally, what your teacher was…he was a mercenary.”

“Don’t cops –

“No. Not that kinda move, Robin.”

The sweat started to pour down. Act it out. Act it out!!

“OH…

God….” Robin threw a hand over his lips. “They both…”

“You came from a family of assassins. Your mama's work had to be all over the place so he was like your stand in body guard. That s all an act. You must have figured it out and ran away. I don’t blame anybody for doing what you did. They were gonna change you into-

“So, I was used as a weapon my whole life?? And you just…. God….no….no….”

Dick stayed quiet. This role was perfect; head dropped. Dejected stance. Sorrow and doubt.  A recipe for success on this mission.

His fans however, would not be any fellow Titans once he was out of the group. “Robin? Rob!”

The boy looked up, eyes searching back to better times that had never existed. An actor. He was, good at this. “Rob, we got our baggage too, but you gotta tell me now. How dangerous is this dude? He’s not on the FBI's most wanted?”

“No idea. We traveled a lot…he took me around with my mom, running off on us to her work. Damn it…she was a criminal? I’m a –

“Not as long as the courts get your testimony.”

/////////

~Master, sir.  They want me to testify. They want to catch the woman who was subjecting her son to being trained by an assassin. What do I do?? ~

“I've taken care of your case.  The papers here; you have a lawyer, an actress and of course…. you’ll be there to cement their concluding argument.”

~ Sir…what about the Titans?~

Slade slipped from the room where the documents on a Mrs. Kane came to play. He hated asking Addie to send a bit of fodder for his enemies, be they useful or not. Ah, but she was the only inside source he needed right now. “You can worry more about your fighting form in front of those heroes. For now, play the fool and nothing will fall through. I promise.  One year.” He lied. The other file was on Tara as the call that came through gave him reason to stop the transmission. “Call only if you re in real danger.  This transmission is over. See you in a few days, to debrief your experiences… apprentice.”

Dick relaxed on the screen and bobbed his head.  ~ Yes sir.  I won’t let you down. ~

His heart felt heavier though upon ending the whole call.

/////////

He kept saying it.  He deliberately made himself depend on the man’s encouragement as each session dropped. Until the day of the trial put a big smile on his face once they’d LEFT the courtroom. Their faces looked innocent enough. His was anything but a shining example of victim mentality in the room. Richard held his ground. The verdict was passed all less than one full hour. He sighed and bowed his head while jutting his knee and bouncing it in rehearsal to his nervous character.

Outside, the sun in Cali looked even brighter than the first day he and Slade had landed. The Titans stuck by him every inch of that one way. Cy put a hand onto his smaller shoulder, while Raven acted as a guard dog against the press.

“You.” Raven and Cy stood together as they left the civilian to his new company. The courthouse date was done.  They had won custody of their new shining star.

Speaking… Star and Bb were the only heroes not allowed inside; they instead waited out in the T car with celebratory words and a gift bag…. their mutant and alien natures must have meant that Cy and Raven were hybrid. Beastboy was still treated as a mad dog off his leash. That felt wrong. Beast boy was a kid. Younger than Raven if not her same age…

Richard had butterflies without his hoodie in his stomach. He could have asked to have some peace and quiet, yet that would make him look pathetic. The woman who had been put away wasn’t his real mom. She was hired by Slade to make the story a reality to that judge who was also bought out by the man through another source. All so that Dick could be a Titan. One year, and there would BE no more “teen titans.”

“You have all done very well in the house of the court orderliness –

“Yeah, but he just raised a finger. Right?”

Dick raised his pointer and they all chuckled at the jest. “You sure you got every idea to do this, Rob?”

“I do, Cyborg.” Dick’s back was pushed over to his new….

“Then, we also have a thank - you for you too.”

Star and Bb pulled out a few items that had the awestruck teen brunette near in tears. Wa….

Why…. had they made it look so lifelike?

“An, R…. for?” Bb raised a brow to the letter on the bright red top. The boots in Kori's hands. Black. The red was accompanied by a brown black set of short sleeves, a yellow utility belt and of course.  Tights.  Dark to cover and…. very fitting. ( More like the young justice and batman animated series Tim Drake versions.)

“You…this is-

//////

He saw the future, and it looked just like his childhood. Dick didn’t say anything as the faces blurred over. His stress made his lip sweat.

~ Our little Robin….are you going to join us, soon? ~

~ Robin….~

That woman…her voice was so far away, and yet he knew her.

His mother-

///////

“No!” Dick slapped away the materials as he ran off in the direction of the street. Bb went after as a jaguar. His strong body put a roadblock of a bull moose as he morphed, in-between their runaway and the next block. “Dude! You so got freaked at that gift we made? Cy worked really hard to make it like you wanted.”

“It’s too soon, that uniform…it means a lot. I never…I can’t!”

“And we cannot allow for you to go. You made a promise.” Starfire rushed to pick up on his cues, how the trauma there was something she’d not though yet reasonable to have. They had won, he was, happier this way. She had to let him see that too.

She hovered over to her companion. “Robin. You did not tell us that name meant something special to you. Is it wrong to call you that any longer?”

“M…” He bit his lip and growled. “I need space –

“You aren’t permitted a few hundred meters, lil man.” Cy shook his head at the frightened doe in the road. “Come back to the tower. We can talk about this.”

“You don’t know me, you don’t know what happened to us…please…I just need some more time to myself.”  Dick looked at the team from a few feet out. They wouldn’t hurt him for no reason. He was just so, confused. Why was his conscience getting in the way of his job? His master would throw him out for good. He had no one anymore. He was a coward, an idiot. And yet….

“I…just want to get over her…please? Isn’t there someplace I can just, go? Not leave here? Just…anywhere?”  

In the end of Robin's mini shut down, Cy proposed the shore of the bay and Dick took that as an OK. Raven watched him from a safe few feet and he just stared into the bay. Alone. She knew he had something to talk about. His memory of a mother was never going to ever be fixed to what he’d wanted. That woman was in jail now, she sighed. Unlike her father, her mother was no longer with her. Only in memory.

“I had a father who first hurt my mother; he tricked her at her lowest…state. She was a runaway, just like you.” Raven rubbed her arms as the breeze was bitterly meant to chill. Rather, the reminder if his loneliness dragged the empath to tell her story.

“You remind me a lot of how I was. Upset, afraid of anyone that tried to help me find my way. I escaped my father’s…. eyes, many times. He can see a lot of what’s happened and it truly fills me with dread…to think of him ever finding where I live. Where my friends have been helping me to stay safe.”

“Same. My step dad is good at his job. He worked in multiple world governments’ circles and professionally I think he actually got paid to make the world a scarier place to live but, my mom?” The lie soon made Raven blink. Robin nearly laughed out of disbelief at his own thoughts. Robin’s, not Dick Wilson’s.

He stepped back and sat on a boulder overlooking the shore. He eyed a bunch of smooth river rocks. One toss and that was it, huh. She could find out something and lose her cool. He had to do better. Dig deeper at that emotion as Robin existed to please everyone else. A

“What was she like.” Raven levitated next to the youth in cross legged position, he jumped a bit and hunched his shoulders, having no place left to go.

She went on with her request. “Your mom, before she changed into someone you couldn’t recognize.”

Dick read back through to his earliest memories and tried to formulate a few false images. Mentally, it would have the empath driving blind. He hoped to get more advanced with his psychic blocking techniques. “She was smart; a literal genius.” He smiled. “She could have done anything differently, but she was all I had in my life. It didn’t matter, didn’t all last…She never went out and left me all alone. I always went with her. Wasn’t until we lost dad to his gambling addictions. Before when I was born, they spilt and I was in her custody for…. until I was ten or nine, I think? She said she had someone coming to stay with us. To be on my best behavior. I tried to ask her who it was, but she just told me…just, a friend.” Dick looked back on a time he’d read some article with a similar angle to it. Fabricate it. Fall into the role. His master’s words were his only guide right now.

“Mom hated cooking before, but our new “friend" always made us a meal and I was invited to eat with them. Like a family. It wasn’t until I was twelve and they were becoming closer, a lot more…that I went into his suitcase one time. I saw something that I never told mom about…”

Raven listened and was surely looking to find a loophole in the story. A flaw, Dick decided, lowering his eyes. “A gun, a pistol. Eagle. I thought it was weird because spies never carried those before. Mom made sure none of her department’s were in reach when I was a baby. Even now, but he….he saw how I looked at it and I was caught red handed. So, he made me a deal. I was only a kid. He said he’d teach me how to hold it one day if I let him train me how to fight. It was weird. Ex - military man and boy going out to fish at 5am. A…and mom, never said….no. He just was always right about what we needed and pushed to get his way. He got so obsessed…and I went with him when she was on a mission or at work. All the time. He even homeschooled me and was a genius like her. I never had friends that long. We moved around too much.” Similarly to the Grayson doing just that in the big top.

“I came home with a black eye one time and she asked if I went to the park to play catch. He told her yes, but I was told to wash up and stay in my room. Every time. I knew she was talking to him about me. He took me camping once, more than once.” Robin’s breathing hitched a bit as he continued. “She let us and I tried to tell her to come with us. She just said “have a good time.”

Dick wasn’t imagining his own mother falling to her death. He was imagining resting in her lap on a warm day while she sung him to sleep. “Mom, and that monster…they were going to train me on my very first kill.” Robin gripped his skull, the distress in his frown lines as he shut his eyes. The lapping waves brought him back while he opened them to keep weaving his web of lies.

“So, I ran away.”

“I think you were more fortunate than I was.” Raven huffed..

“Beastboy has people who care. He detests why they let him leave but he’ll never fight their generosity and amount of love when he was still only a newly made mutant…Starfire still stays in touch with her nurse maids. She says that she wants to take us to her home planet when the fighting quiets down…Cyborg, is at odds with the fact his father won’t talk to anyone. That he wants to force his son to live like everyone else. I was forced to flee my home. The monks of a world known as Azarath took care of my mother and I. They made sure my father had no way of knowing where we were being sheltered. Robin nodded. Raven’s voice had started to shake, yet she didn’t quit.

“They…helped to solve our problem. That my father needed my mother to relinquish the child….” She stopped, her cloak flashing softly in different shades. “I…I have to go. I’ll send for Cyborg.” She vanished inside a raven shaped shadow she had summoned out of concern for her timing. She could not speak about that demon. He would only find his way faster to where she was. The better they knew nothing, the safer they all were.

Robin looked out on the bay’s lapping. He saw the flattest skipping stone and picked up the shiny coin shaped pebble. With his finger to the sky to check for the wind index, Robin tossed the stone and found for the first time ever….he was bad at it.

/////////////////

A screen in Slade’s lair saw the boy’s own eyes and he frowned up from his robotics’ project. A suit for his newest weapon. She was going to be so pleased to know that another her age was looking out for her. “Dick. You’re playing too far into your role. Don’t disappoint my new addition when it’s time…apprentice.” He tightened a notch in the sleek design . A neuro interface suit to keep the ball rolling into the mastermind’s court. He sighed and looked back at Dick who was busy trying to throw the first stone. He wasn’t allowed to call it quits. Either that, or the Titans put him in the doghouse without a single parent to tuck the brat in at night. Richard was a tool also, but he wanted to be so much more. Slade had to ponder that; for a while, he had also agreed to be the same comfort, but the boy was growing cocky. Lazy in his stance and his role as Deathstroke’s apprentice. Slade had taken care of him, weaned him on vengeance that was most significant to thrive in today’s society. But he’d never kill. Slade was sure. Maybe, or maybe the boy just needed to find out what being a hero was really all about.

If he did, Slade wondered if that would crush his spirit, or ignite a new sense of desire to live. Either way, promises would be kept between them. Richard was Slade’s second apprentice. He would not However,  be his failure to bury as he almost had with his eldest son, Grant.

Slade continued with his device and watched it light up. Electrical functions purred away as Slade didn’t bat a lash.

All while one alien princess walked over to step into the shadow of his creation.

“None of that now.” Slade chided as he let the device warm up. “You have a very important job to complete.”

A job, that would include straining the relationships of the current teen titans.

//////////////

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse – What it Takes

//////////

Chapter 15: Having Beef – First Meal of the Day; Meet The H.I.V.E Trio…

//////////

(Beef as in not the king you eat. Not an innuendo. Just angst involved here.)

///////

In lieu of their recent discussion, Slade did invite the Headmistress of a prestigious school to his happy underground dwelling. The H.I.V.E academy. Their division was called "HYPE" for the younger blood. She wore her hair in a high bun, a dark suit and no exceptional expression besides a firm line across her lips. Color all but lost, yet her eyes were sharp and rather aware of the circumstances should she not show her face to anyone else...

 Beside her were three figures. One was very short,  another medium. The last, took up.the door way...

"Mr Slade.” She was told to call him this in the presence of others. Today, the handpicked operatives of her advances courses had come along in. Their eyes looked amazed and confused after being inside their school for too long to tell. Yet, their leader seemed to be more interest in the motifs and a memory of a boy who had acted quite interesting upon their coming to the city of Jump.

“Headmistress. So good of you to come on such early notice. I do apologize if the décor may be, off-putting somewhat. There are seats, right by the platform."

With a motion of his palm, the chairs came up from the floor. Leather from the hide of some damned creature. The Headmistress 's nostrils stayed tame as the Headmistress that she currently wanted to remain, did to her civic duties. This was all to wean out an enemy. A rather elusive sort of crafty adult who had tgwur eye out for a seat with the charmirmen of the board at HIVE'S headquarters in the U.K.

Nothing more. (This is supposed to be Adeline Kane; undercover. Using the Titans series Vlood's accent and his history for the U.K.)

“Mr. Slade. Your request for our best package to be sent to Jump, was explicitly to…. create a message that could be heard by one of your enemies?" She prodded  "An odd request. To say the least, we don’t usually have many clients to say that couldn’t be done by the client's own –

“I wanted it to be, as discreet as possible.” Slade turned on the upper screens to show his guests in shadow the boy spy he had parading around in bright colors all damn day. His dear Robin- Renegade, was just waking up. Lazy child. Just an act, he seemed to be enjoying the attention, either way...

“That's the one you want us to sniff out, sir?” A large lummox, Mammoth was a senior to the team. He stepped forth as Slade couldn’t much look over his hulking shoulder at the mutants other teammates. This giant's golden gauntlets and hearty tone had Slade roll his eye mentally at the comparison of a Bizzaro that Slade's old associate Lex had created by mistake. (In new 52. Slade got beat down by a couple Bizzaro. Not so tough, right?)

“Yes and no. He’s one of mine. My, apprentice." Hissed out the adult, fondly. "His mission in this city is currently to destroy the heroes from the inside slowly; over the course of a year, I'm having him gain their trust. To keep the teens unaware. Fughting blind...while your mission would be to make the entire fight I've got in store for those heroes and my good apprentice, believable."

The Headmistress saw her students faces abd was also worried about the other's fixation with his newest test subject.

Your team will reenact if I decide to hire you, a fight that will give my young spy a leg up. I want him to not only be their hero, but their leader."

"WHOA!" Mammoth gawked out Dumbledore.

"But, they just met. How is ghat supposed to be our job?"

"Quiet, Jinx." The Headmistress wanted to say the same to this lunatic. Ywt she needed to stay forever in character until her job was done. These children,  hopefully saved from the same group that had taken her own from her. Includingthis man.

"I expect no.less, for it to be, genuine.  I want him to be the one who keeps the heroes on their toes before he breaks each and every one of those teenagers from their loathesome complacency." Slade demanded perfection and Jinx saw from her eye how meek the kid already was. He was always on edge...so sad...

"Our territory is this; our claim to this city." Slade told them calmly, his voice swapping as Gizmo, the third shortest techie member, gulped diwn a lump in his throat.

"Why wouldn' I try to have that grand fact when it's so very easy. I'verun the numbers abd you came up. Be grateful." He said. "And I intend to make that all happen with something else I’ve got cooking…but first!” His eye looked very excited, popping open and Addie knew it well enough to identify madness in that cold grey eye. That eye, the one she had once cared for.

Gone.

“I met him, we all did.” Jinx rolled her shoulders at the screen. She seemed to hold a deeper feeling of pity for their opponent. Slade wondered if she might be of some use later...he'd talk to her separately once the hag had moved aside.

“You did, and it helped things along nicely.” Smiled the masked madman. "Now, with phase two, you’ll be rivals for this fight, possibly future battles. To stand as the ones I want …to push the Titans a little harder. I have it all planned out. Robin comes around and one of you should…. bring him down." The man's one eye narrowed as if Robin was HIS nemesis and not one of theirs.

"My bots will do the rest. I’ve already made sure to give my apprentice a dose of what’s to befall him and his new companions. Cinderblock was just an opener. You worked well for me as intended to have that boy in their way. I thank you for keeping to the plan so far. Yet you, will be the true first act to my plans to follow. The Hive, will become ribs of the Teen Titans fir a long time after."

“What? We just make…. go poof? Disappear? We get our butts beat every time? You are paying us overtime for this, right? I wantnti graduate with my team without losing my left arm." Jinx told the older male. He considered her spark and was rather glad. Maybe she could be a good shield later in his coming plans.

“Exactly, my dear.” Slade grinned and prided Jinx on the idea.

No shit. That was what he’d just said. Teenagers …

“I can get an attack plan going,  no sweat." Gizmo finally unzipped his trap. His teeth were impisgly sharp - as a future mad scientist. "Those snot munching heroes are gonna go home crying’ to their dead mommies. Genius!”

“And we can get into that stupid T - tower to scramble things up a bit. Leave that message, take their home away. Absolutely,. I got that covered.” Mammoth pounded his chest. Wow, he did have a brain under all of that facial hair? Who knew.

Adeline stepped in, her stance as militaristic as they came. Behind her, Slade's ete watched as if going back in time.

“Good plan, then. Get a move on." She told her mini troop. "I’m NOT paying you by the hour to graduate. If you can’t succeed, there will be consequences.” Slade looked to Addie whose mask went back into place. “Strict discipline is a part of our better policy to wean our young individuals of the future super villain community. We take pride in knowing that your request will be fulfilled by the H.I.V. E’s top operatives, Mr. Slade.”

“See that it is done as you say. And if not, I have only their teacher to blame for such a failure." The man’s avarice wasn’t directed at the teens this time. It was, at Adelaide Kane as she tried not to flinch. She'd taught this man how to fight. How to plan. Yet the serum had changed him into a criminal.  How could he not find her out and threaten her to give up this job?

His vendetta with the H.I.V.E was a long one. After they had taken the body of his son, the rest followed on borderline madness that had driven Slade to extremes far greater than during their time together in the army… she had no real faith that he would see it, just that the boy he was trying to brainwash into taking Grant's place had to decipher those clues without anyone’s help. No, maybe it was already to late to save anymore children from dying in his war games…he’ll, she was just as guilty for taking on the role of HIVE Headmistress.

“My servant Wintergreen will gladly see you and your operatives, out. Remember what I said, Headmistress. Any excuses, and that line will be cut for good.”

Her last time to ever know his face, he meant. His last ounce of respect, even though he hated how much he missed her dearly. Old as they were, he could live forever in knowing that she was alive. Here, right in front of him.

Any excuse to see her again, just one change was all they needed to make that happen.

“Good day, then, Mr. Slade.”

Her heels walked away to the nearest exit, while the mastermind stayed content to dwell in near – complete darkness. Save fir once screen as a boy reached out to aid his dark world with a brilliant smile.

~ Good morning, master! What are our plans for today? ~

//////////////

“Pizza for breakfast?”

“The fridge is….” Raven turned to see a blue bit of goop land on top of Cy's face as he shrieked bloody murder. After getting to the breakfast table, Cy felt lunch for breakfast since they’d all slept in today was…not a bad plan.

“Dude! Flatbread in other places is totally a real breakfast!”

“To lazy people.” Raven shrugged as Richard looked over the room. Starfire zapped the blue glob woth a minor spark, yet it ended up ignoring on his face and came to life.

“ITS ALIIVE!!” Bb reenacted the line from a famous film in the black and white picture days. “Capture it and put it in a jar! G –

Gah!!”

Richard ended up sending his new boomerang at the thing. It sputtered and he could have sworn, shook a bloody fist… at his attack. That was...kinda weird - besides living with an alien, a Cyborg,  a witch and a meta teen.

“Did…. you killed it?? That could have been some unidentified alien lifeform!” Bb bawled at the lost of any unwanted life in this planet. Starfire dated to pole the blob's splatter marks on the side of the fridge. And in her hair. "Should we not propose a funerary-

“IT’S NOT.” Cy grounded and spat the glob's contents onto the floor. "Y'all going out to eat or what, team?”

Dick looked up and to his want of some privacy, Raven ended up fishing out something he’d never had the gall to want. A mask domino one, like a bandit.

“You need to hide your identity in public.... It’s important. Cyborg made it… equipped for a few different-

“What does it do?” Bb bounded over and snatched up the device with a claw. “Dude…it’s all decked out!” He grinned enviously. “Can you make me one with night –

“YOU TURN INTO AN OWL.” Raven groaned, glaring at the little green stain until he backed off.  “You don’t need one.” She snatched it back, handing the gift to Robin. “Now, you can really be a part of this team.”

Bb grumbled on the side, his eyes down cast at the carpet. “Teacher’s pet.” He sniffed and walked away. Still, Robin had watch…his back. Raven assured him that Beastboy was an only child most of his time growing up. Yet, so was he…so, why was Bb such a bummer to be around after having saved his life?

////////////

The place was a rooftop second floor pizza joint and Robin instantly recalled the main plaza of Jump’s daytime advantage. “Can we check out the comic shop after we eat breakfast??” Bb bounced around and ignored the fact that Raven and Star were being nudged by his tomfoolery.

“I believe Robin has eaten the bread that is cheesy and flat before, yes? Oh, you must try it with so many toppings! There are more than they will not serve even if I have asked…I always bring my own supply, right "the" here!” Kori pulled out a shaker bottle of what looked to contain…. Furikake flakes, rainbow sprinkles and something very yellow and thickly colored.

“What….is that, Star??” Cy had no idea, Raven and Bb were already looking at the menu board.

“A concise concoction of my favorite items! I intend to add this to my bread that is very flat –

“Pizza, Star.” Bb corrected, looking over his shoulder with a dead expression.

Cy shook his head, migraine trying not to form. Robin and Raven were the only quiet ones on their carpool ride to get to the joint. As soon as they had parked and dismount the T car's protective lining, Robin had looked around to see the people. They looked to be on their phones, taking to friends or drinking caffeinated beverages.  This did feel odd, but Slade wouldn’t scold him for going along with the plan. Robin had to just bite then drop it and fly to.the rescue. This was his big break. To Cy, it made him think the kid was isolated on purpose and integrated,  he'd do so much better.

He was going to one up Cy and one day lead the Titans to their own downfall. That much, Cy didn'tneed to know. He should never...

 Robin's stomach grumbled and not because if the briefing his master had given at the start of today.  He actually looked forward to a small, slice. Slade in his youth had tempted the idea of it in Napoli, and they had better sauce than any place on earth that day. Just the two of them. Robin cleared his mind as soon as he saw Raven. She put a hand on his shoulder. Just made it!

“What are you going to order. You have had pizza before right?”

“My mom used to make it from scratch. When I was a kid living with her. Just us, then we didn’t do that. He did and…I was never the same, so I stopped liking the taste.”

“Like cardboard, huh? Guy didn’t have the knack for perfecting something like that. Too much militaryhome cooking...” Cy sighed. “Well, this is a good day ta’ just eat and be happy for not being alone so dang much. You were upset about your mama, but she did something that hurt you too. We won’t be like that.”

“Yeah, you can always try a vegan slice. They make all kinds here.”

“And my concoction will one day be listed onto this the menu as well!” Kori chimed in happily. The Titans rolled their eyes at Starfire's comment while Beastboy  was the only one that stuck out his tongue at the idea. She simply giggled, thinking it funny even if it was to tease her ideas.

More ammo. He could use that too.

“You must never lose hope in starting new friendships, dear Robin.”

“I mean….” Robin looked at the line, the Titans faces and his growling gut. “Y…yeah. Yeah! I can show him I’m not just a soldier. I’m…like you guys said? Normal, for today, anyway....”

“THAT'S more like it!…So…can we please order now, Cy?? All in favor, say I!”

The heroes raised their hands, and even if it was just an act…. Robin felt glad to be a part of something this positive.

He raised his at the very last second, still a wide smile on his face that made the girks swoon wgen he did it.

/////////////

Slade walked along the catwalk as the three anti heroic HIVE members waited on his signal. His fists ground back as he wanted to punch those brats. Robin was his! If they even decided to reverse all that Slade had put that boy through, well…

He grunted, moving along and waiting to see the Titans up top that level to get their “grub on.” (Slade is old. Poor him.)

Robin had ordered something with a veggie and a protein. At least his master's strict diet also made him have a separate whole wheat slice to piss of his friends. A tiny ass one, that was...a bit much. They didn’t seem willing to poke as much fun, however as earlier.

Besides that, Doom Patrol kid. He was angrier than Slade normally expected from those old reports. Something must have made him hate any competition fromm those his age...  Not because of the one child status he’d accrued under Steve and Rita. No, no.

Slade rubbed his mask chin.

He had some beef with the Bat, maybe?

The league?

Red and black, a Robin in form. And still in Slade’s image regardless, the mastermind smiled. Good thing he’d told the boy to ditch the green and gold touch. Slade singled in an an article of another boy wonder back in Gotham stealing the show. He was nearly Robin’s age by a year off. Jason Todd. That kid was still alive? And…

Slade took another good look.

"My, my…"

He was under copyright here. That modified spectacle didn’t belong to the little street rat.

"That uniform, is a Grayson centerpiece," he smirked darkly.

 “You think an homage works only one way, Bruce?” Chuckled the mad man. “I hold the original in my hands, and will mold him any which way I choose. Don’t hold your breath. The day those two clash staves, Robin. My boy wonder, will trump your own and rip off its wings.”

The lights went off, and then on to reveal a lab setting down below him. The elevator rose, doors opening as Slade stepped inside the shaft. The series of bubbles that suspended his passion project against its will, were not as silent as the hum of gears that the haunt possessed. “Tara can’t replace what’s almost perfect. Sadly. But ..she can narrow down my apprentice’s competition if he fails to pull the trigger.”

She was unaware of him, sleeping as he’d kept her to study; every ounce of power she came equipped with. His Terra - nova.

“Sir, should I plan for tea to be brought to your main dais?”

Slade didn’t budge as Wintergreen had come round the corner like a thief. “Yes, see to it being pur'er this time. Imported. A strong, aged brew for today.”

“Very good sir.” William moved along on his way as Slade had his hands behind his back. A military stance as he remembered from his days as being a hero…once. A damned good solider. And he’d be damned if they shoved him in Waller's care one more time for playing by the rules. Kill or be killed. That, was the law of any jungle. Urban or otherwise.

////////////

Robin didn’t bite into a slice until it came to their table. For a long, long time…food had minimal flavor to the willing protege of a criminal mind and mercenary. Health was more important than luxury to his master. Muddled the mind in battle, he had told the child.

Starfire had in her hand another topping - that was in a squeeze bottle. Mustard. For the first time, Robin was hungry enough not to care. Beastboy, well. He needed to tolerate others far better.

“Grow up, B! Star isn’t into tofu, mushrooms or any of that green - ass junk."

"You eat things that no one will really eat and almonds drain the water supply as quickly as beef farms do." Raven tried to put in.

“AND THAT! IS A CRIME AGAINST ITALIAN CULTURE! And vegans too! They are both....”

“EHEM. It’s not a dish just from Italy.” Raven took a bite of her panini. “It’s ’s not just from Italy, but from surrounding cultures as well. It is also enjoyed as a flatbread, pizza's ancestor in the middle east and Egypt, and in parts of the world older than in your fantasies.” She bit into her perfect sandwich as if she had the right. Bb moped the rest of the moment while Cy's meat lover supreme was very…. appetizing?

“You don’t get heartburn?” Robin blinked past his cardboard dry slice. To him, it was a quarter of heaven in a meal.

“Naw, I burn off everything real' quick. In  fact, I used ta be on every sport team you could think of. My dad wanted me ta' go to a real university because I was just like him. Science was his thing…but I learned to make more tech than even Batman. I can still play Bb on the court even if he goes gorilla on my ass.” Boasted Cy proudly.  “I bet that super rich dude Bruce Wayne; he'd wanna pay me to get the blueprints for this seismic cannon I’ve been working on.”

“Oh? That's…cool.” Robin put down his slice and wondered if Slade would want to hear about this new side event…

“It is for stopping the bad guys, right? Are you going to do a test run on it yet?”

“Why are you so interested in geek – a – nomics?” BB put down his slice and eyed Robin from across the table. “I…used to be a huge Batman fan, ok!” Robin blurted out. “His bat mobile was so cool. I even asked my step dad one time to help me supe up my first car but…it never happened.”

“Double…GEEK ALERT!” Bb laughed and held his sides. Good save. Robin grinned back sheepishly at the heroes.

“Have you not wished to be a hero before, friend Robin?”

Starfire was already onto her fourth slice. No one seemed to tell him until Cy nudged the kid to whisper over.

"Tamaraneans have nine stomachs. Do not ask anything else. Just eat. Smile and nod, Kay?..."

Raven shook her head and was still only halfway through her caprese panini - (not correct, well aware!)

“Are we all in favor of giving Robin the name “Twit for brains? Haha! I say we give him a real job. Make him dress up like a chicken –

“Not cool, green stain.” Cy pointed the finger at their youngest member. “He’s one of us. Don’t forget how he saved your sorry butt on the court.”

“He’d do it again, right? Mess up?”

The heroes all put down their foods. "That....I didn't-

~ As a victim, he won't let you in. But you both share as much of the blame.~ Robin put his head diwn, pushing away his plate. That voice was right. He had -

“Why are you trying to “start" fighting with your friend, Beastboy-

“Cause, you guys are sorry for him all the damn time!”

Robin, no idea why, ducked his head down into his seat. He was acting, right? Why did he feel so damn like it wasn't himself he was playing the role of?

He wet his lips, breath shaking a bit.

“I’ll ju- just go –

“WAHH, WAAH! ~ " Bb pretended to cry in the form of a small green tamarin monkey. “You can’t keep hiding behind my team forever. You have to earn that pizza -

“Bad dog. Go sit in the corner.” Raven pointed to an empty booth. “You both have hard pasts and yelling at each other isn’t helping to control our emotions any sooner. Anything could happen and we’d be fighting the wrong enemy. Time out, or don’t show up for supper.” She crossed her arms and the team saw that she had finished her last bite of food before them. “Your choice, Garfield.”

//////////

Bb did sit in the corner, only for Robin to wonder if that had been unnecessary. “Can’t I go talk to him? I don’t know why he’s so angry at me all if the time....”

“It’s his instinctual side, Robin.” Raven levitated away the boxes to get recycled into the correct bin.

“Beastboy... coming to us, he was rejected by his own family."

Cy added as Raven let him talk. "That’s what he said, but I know he won’t find a good enough reason to trust too many outside, of his…pack. Because he only got to know us  months ago an' helped us save Starfire when we all met for the first time. This city is his home and he'd do anything ta' keep it safe. He knows how the hero game works.…he cherished that time with us then…you just- 

"You came around a time while he was still not done with adjusting himself here." Raven nodded, confident that Cy's words would have an impact. She added her two cents, plenty to say about the topic. 

"Beastboy as himself, he is... still a little kid to us all. And, as his seniors, deep down, we have a lot to learn about whom and how to trust again also. Even...you know how he feels better than any of us. ...”

“You know that feeling as well, do you not?” Starfire came to them amd asked as she handed Robin a cup with sone lemonade in it. “Try. The bitterly pleasant taste will empty and clear your worried mind. You have not to worry; this time with Beastboy...is not the very first time for us.... ”

Robin looked at the drink, then thought of Beastboy being just like him. Terrified of being all alone. Something made Robin, this Robin in his mind beckon for an answer. It…could help the mission, but it was also just the right thing to do. Robin took  the cup and thanked Star. She watched in fascinated interest as he went over to where Bb had his ears dropping as a dog. His eyes on the ground and food still on the boy's plate.

Unfinished.

His joy in that slice...Robin suddenly couldn't help but feel guilty.

“Hey, sorry um…. this was from Star. She wanted you to have it. So…” Robin put the drink out for Bb to take. His form returned to that of a dejected human boy with green skin and hair in a purple and black uniform. His ears were still lowered as Robin didn’t leave. He instead, held out the cold cup, until the younger youth spoke.

“Thanks…” Bb grumbled with those big green eyes, those eyes fixated on Robin, briwscslightly furrowed. The lemonade in his hands was then transferred into the Titan’s junior member’s paws. Taking a big sip, B's eyes were alive again with a mild bit of dopamine in seconds. “Great stuff...none for you, dude?”

“I’m not sure I could handle too much excitement yet. Maybe...next time.” Robin promised, seeing Bb's smile for the first time.

Real and genuine. 

“Un, so ..listen.  I never made too many friends my own age like now. This is a first for me, so....” Robin rubbed the back of his neck, afraid to just keep those eyes on him. He was already guilty for lying to all of them. “My parents, my step - dad especially, he isolated me to train me. I had no clue why that really was and for the first time, I want to have a friend. Like you. Star, Raven and Cyborg. I do want to earn that right so, show me how to. If that's...okay, by you?”

Bb raised his eyes and stood up, the boy grinning with a wily canine poking out intimidatingly from his face. “Yah, I don’t think you can handle first missions and all. When I was in the Doom Patrol, they ran drills but you still got rewards. I was little...but, you are an old dude, so I hope you can keep up –

“This crusty old bird still has a few tricks left.” Robin grinned back, the two finally getting along. Despite the obvious rivalry…

“You both are looking ‘the chipper!” Kori smiled to the awkward children of heroes. “Yeah, well. He needs a real pep talk once in a while. I’m here to stay.”

“Dude! Just say the word and no kill moves. I like my butt attached to me, thank you very much!”

Robin laughed with the others, the joke making him think back to the times he’d wished he could have…. then, tears?

No….no…tears were all –

“Robin?”

“Dude? Did I say something weird, again? You just went all Niagara falls on us …”

“No…” Robin wiped his eyes with the back of his glove, head shaking back and forth slowly. “I just remembered a better time with my family, but you guys helped to become my…real family just now. Thank you for not dumping me in with the system.”

“We would never do something so utterly despicable!” Starfire protested aloud.

Time.

Robin bit his lip, easing up the welcome. “Ready to go back? I could use a spar with Cy in the gym. I'm so going to win this time, without any pressure points.  Scout's honor.”

Cy looked honored to be mentioned while Bb was behaving pretty well. "You’re on, little man. I can'twait to see you wearing that tutu. Might be your initiation after all. What detail say to that?"

Until Bb's ears started to move like an animal’s, the answer remained unspoken.

“No time, dudes and dude dudettes.” Bb ran over to the balcony and saw below that a disruption had started to scare the citizens.

“Robot…..flying Robo  - dolls??"

Attacking the citizens!...ah...How peculiar?”

“It’s not even lunch time.” Raven deadpanned. "I told you. We had time not to fight. Anything could happen. And no, Starfire. I can't predict your love life." Raven sighed as Kori pouted.

Cy didn't let this situation bring down their spirits. He was the leader. To head of their team. They could do anything together. Robin would get that part eventually. 

”We got this, team. You ready, Robin? First ever mission. Right after a first ever meal with the best around.”

Robin was interrupted by a shrill squawking macaw in mid air. A green one.

“TITANS! SAY IT CY! LEMME SAY IT, Please!”

Robin grinned. Bb flapped and down until Cy pointed and nodded with a cocky smirk.

Bb jumped up as a frog as he swappedto his human guise. "Yes!! I got dibs this time…!”

Go time.

Get ready.

Beastboy let out their battle cry, and after that, Robin knew he had to be a part of the action. Rangs out. Staff on the side of his right hip, his story was just beginning all over again.

“TITANS….GO!!”

////////////////

I CHANGED THE SCENE A BIT, BUT DON’T PANIC. Going to sneak in a throwback moment no time flat. Robin sadly knows what he has to do, yet did he just genuinely bond with Bb or was that all an act? Was he really crying about his actual parents and not his fake ones? Find out! And noted, this won’t be a fluffy story. Sorry to burst your bubble. We don’t roll that way! Rated T not M but to be safe this is a brainwashed Richard from the time he was weaned on Slade’s false compassion. Imagine in he lost that?? Don’t know, find out later!!

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse – What it Takes –

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Chapter 16: This Irrefragable Norm

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///////

Unavoidable, as in happening.  It did.

Slade looked calmly at the boy’s performance; he and the Titans were pinned up against his master's hired hands. All while watching the introduced fight from a wall of his haunt's, massive, giant screens, Slade saw that Jinx had the magic of a circus performer in her back pocket. Cartwheels, a couple of flips and that smirk with teeth.

She was a born leader, should her direction become any more stable in time to accept that fact.

Gizmo had taunts galore. How incredibly bothersome...

But, thankfully, Robin easily acted the part of someone who could handle those words…. whatever those faux cuss words…were?

Mammoth. Mammoth could take Cyborg out. He had his rage, his muscle and his grunting jaw to intimate an opponent. Not any different than a real beast as he lifted up Beastboy as an elephant-

Oh.

Finally. Slade leaned into his hand and set the screens to zone in on the tower. The bugs in the inside if those fortified walls started to beep red, their eyes ready to start the party.

“Security. Deactivate. Reroute controls.” He spoke into a mic that was inside his mask.

~ REDIRECTING…RECALCULATE. ~

Cy’s arm beeped, yet no one saw it in time. Too much of a…distraction.

/////////////

Dick watched the ground shift. His new team was losing badly. This was how Slade had wanted him? Seriously?

Bb was the one who hit him as they sprawled back together into the asphalt. Starfire and Cy tried to push back Mammoth and Jinx while Bb recovered from getting his butt kicked. (SWAPPED RAVEN OUT OF THIS.)

Dick shoved him off and pulled out his staff, catapulting himself into Jinx with a swift kick as Raven helped to redirect the flow of that shot. Jinx blocked half way, the HIVE agent seeing the domino mask and the standoff as a ruse. She made a partly hidden hand signal that Slade had also taught the boy. Heroes didn’t know those. He gasped.

She wanted him to –

Gizmo swapped with Mammoth who held back the muscle crowd. Raven was too late as Jinx broke the ground apart, the heroes and Robin…. falling…. Gizmo electrified the shot and Mammoth in one stomp, buried the body.

Robin…. had hit the sewer waters as he tried to swim where he had no watchers.

No….so…gross! The boy shivered.

So...

Cold.

~ Slade wants you to vanish for a while. Got the plan, Renegade? ~

The message was clear as the teens looked everywhere. Robin put on his cloaking tech with a sniffle and Jinx helped to keep that working fine.

H took a breath with his rebreather for scuba gear use, and descended into those murky waters.

Robin, was gone.

/////////

Part one: completed.

Now…

Part two.

Slade moved from his seat and worked his way to the other side of the screens. He saw the boy sputtering in the cold weight of slime. He then made sure to move quickly. Out through the hatch, up a few stairs and to the grates as he pulled those back, to see a shivering brat in his midst.

Big wide domino masked eyes didn't move away. Slade saw this little kitten pining to crawl unto his bed. To rest. Well...

“M – MASTER….”

Slade beckoned his apprentice inside. He looked deathly a mess as the man had the boy shower off and decontaminate himself in a nearby chamber. The boy had instantly returned to life, just before Slade handed the kid a replicated uniform of Robin's. “You’ll be going back.”

Robin looked at the suit, only in his new boxers and tank. His eyes were reluctant to start an argument. “Sir, is it too soon to show up there?”

“Jinx is a clever girl, though vain." Slade explained to his protégé. "When the heroes find that losing you can’t keep up their spirits, you’ll surprise them. Come back from the depths and save the day.” The man assured.

“By, a pep talk? I’m not their leader –

“YET.” The man pointed out. “If you show strategic diligence in your field, they may take to it not as a threat to their security, but a sense of real hope. You could lead them, and then I’ll have my chance to shatter Robin's momentum. The Titans will aid you and again, you won’t fail. They’ll come to trust you as a leader and a true friend. Maybe, even the Tamaranean…You could keep her humble.”

“I…but I’m still this, antisocial twerp to them.” Robin protested. “How will it all be gradually done in one year? I –

“You have less than one hour to find out.” Slade mentally checked the clock. “Get dressed, make your suit look dirty, a bit patched for this to work. You fell into deep, contaminated waters and had to swim to the surface.” He reminded, “Find the heroes at their lowest state of confidence. They’ll try to get their tower back, and when that attempt fails, you’ll be there to remedy that same over-confidence.” Slade smiled at the idea of Robin making a monkey out of a bunch of unprepared heroes. Teens, unlike his logically inclined mind. Robin was leagues ahead in the department they were hoping for.

He was going to pamper them, make them feel…. safer?

“I can do that, but what about any contact with Jinx's team.”

“They know the plan, so will you. Later. I want to be sure you’re mentally prepared for whatever is to be expected of the rest of your performance, right now. Twenty-three minutes remaining. Well done in letting that signal through; Jinx's message met your eye?”

“It did, and I was shocked at first. You wanted me, to vanish.”

“Never for long." The man put a hand to the boy's shoulder. “If you do all that I ask, you may even get to pay her back for the scare. Wouldn’t that do you some good too, my apprentice?”

Soothing words. His ego stroked again. Robin slowly nodded. She was a bully. Maybe he could yell at her, tell her how she was doing more harm to…

“Stop thinking so hard. Get dressed. Twenty-one minutes; time for us running short. The duct will fill up higher before you've reached the surface. Not that you should have to worry about knowing how to swim, upstream.” The man chuckled; Robin being waved up to complete step two of their ingenious plan. A leader, Slade was actually going through with it. After all, he was a mastermind. A collective thinker and doer. Dick was just his prop in a play of the man’s formulation. He had a say, or that meant losing the very thing that had kept the boy up all night. The tower would be fine. They would….not care once he took for his master. To have the right to be called more than just the perfect apprentice. 

////////////

Slade waited. Now, the screens showed the boy masked and limping in a beat-up sprint. He was that close. Perfectly rehearsed. The Titans on the other hand…

He saw them lying around, eyes distracted by what was not in their grasp. Foolish, every last one. Even her. Her…she’d be expected to play a part as the girl next door. He could use  Robin’s charm to sweep her into a blissful calm. Or, an abusive relationship that went one way could form. Crushing her joy and delusional sense of hat trust.

All of it.

His way.

There was no end in sight.

Changing his outlook, Slade checked the news from Gotham, just to be safe. The new Robin…he’d not told the boy about Jason. Why would he have to, yet? Jason had dug his own grave by tying himself to the boy’s tragic history. The real Robin’s anger towards the bat would have the man glad he’d kept them apart. Even Bruce knew this. Dick was in a constantly maintained, fragile state forever. Shards of glass could splinter and he’d be to blame. Bruce Wayne’s unwavering guilt…, or it was time to come back into the spotlight. To talk some sense-

“Sir, you have a telephone call. Should I patch it through to the screens?”

Wintergreen had his thanks.

“Do, I’m ready to listen.” Slade sat forwards and watched the face of Addie bring him to his senses. Damn, that woman’s glare...

“How’s the publicity on your end, Headmistress?”

~ Doable. Your boy is quite the actor. ~

“I agree. A bit more polishing and you’d never know what his real face looked like behind the mask. Sound familiar...”

She winced, the idea of that one eye merely keeping a window though…how Grant wasn’t so willing to dig out his eyes for a little praise. That boy though, showed signs of not stopping.

~ Praises aside, the Titans are bound to win. Your original plan for my students was to leave a “message” and nothing more. ~

“That it was, and I know it won’t fail. My calculations show that once Robin gains the lead, this time will count down to zero. He has only to show his face and open up our avenue for further collaborations in the future. I’m surprised that Jinx wasn’t appointed as the team’s leader yet.”

~ The teams our group picks is done electronically. So, naturally the students will pick a leader once they’ve graduated and have formed their own teams... I suppose you think she’s somewhat more, qualified than her teammates? ~

A deadly question to ask. Slade had enough lives ruined. She’d be sure Jinx stayed away.

“Hardly a thought. She has the only mind to act and strike, as well as to plan her next attack. She has potential. Though she’s your problem to deal with…. While, the rest…” He seethed, eye setting back, as if to groan at the choices. “Better luck next time. Gizmo however has his attitude, that mouth could use a washing.”

~ Agreed. I’ll see to his correction. Anything else? ~  Food, predictable as she remembered. He wasn’t a fan of raising more kids.

“Just wanted to know you were still there, Addie.”

His puppy dog eye set onto hers as he moved to stand and glance at her bewildered expression. However.  She didn’t step out of line. This man…

Not this time, Wilson.

 ~ Whoever you are expecting to address you, they have important business to attend. So, naturally I must –

“I understand perfectly. You’re looking into the culprit that took our boy from us. The headmaster who doesn’t show his face. Blood, the same monster I should be out there ripping to pieces.”

~ I don’t want the unheeded attention. Not again. That life wasn’t meant for our... This transmission is –

“At least consider the benefit of erasing him before he strikes again.” Slade exclaimed. A hand to his chest, his pride was what she hated the most. ~ No, there is nothing more to say. Go back to your new life. I’ll not need you anywhere near mine. ~

The screen went to black. Then, to his new life. A possible new clone of the original. The kid had found the hatch. The waterways making him sputter as the sea breeze by the pier refreshed the kid’s mind. He shook his head of the droplets like a dog. Slade’s watch dog.

The man chuckled. “We’ll see, Adeline.” He tapped his fingers to the arm of the Dias throne. To his right, was the one Robin would soon earn. “We’ll see, just which new life was hopefully worth, the long wait.”

///////////

(Ron Perlman did classical theater, so the dialogue shows it. I wanted my Slade to be a cocky sore winner with a manipulating personality mostly verbally until he acts rashly and uses force. This is so important to him that he’d hurt anyone to get what he wants. Even if Robin has to suffer to be told that he might be “the one" Slade is hoping to adore with the title of hid finest work or, his son. Slade isn’t so easily the man to forgive failure. If Batman thought he was up against a mad man once, then think again. Slade, is a total mastermind in this with a God complex.)

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse - What it Takes –

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Chapter 17: About to Go Down – Who is Slade?

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They waded to shore; he did from a distance as the piece Slade had given was only a small button in case….

Robin gulped. In case, he drowned on his way over to see the team. They all sat growling, droopy eared and saddened by the loss. Entirely human to him as his binoculars from a piece of driftwood he’d snagged carried out their plans well enough. Starfire said something in that distance as he crawled up to the sand bar, making himself look as decent as he could. The squish of his boots and their shocked eyes on his silhouette brought the teammates of a fabled future team player, to throw on that mask.

He held only his arm, but the cape still flew as Robin smiled.

“Looks like you all did miss me. Now. How are we going to get back our home from the HIVE?”

“They took Cy's arm – Gizmo is such a sweep I can’t stand it! They’re gonna mess up my room first. I know it. I’m like the cool slash retro need and I don’t want my comic collection burned before we get in there!” Bb yelled, howling as a dog until Raven shot him a glare. “I didn’t think they’d win, but we underestimated these opponents.  It won’t happen again. Jinx will pay.”

“Please. Robin must, know about what he can add to our plan in eradicating the threat.”

“We lock em up.” Cy brought a fist to his hand. That, was pretty cool. Robin wondered if that significant pose was for him later, when he took Cy out of the running as leader.

“We got our team together. That’s gonna save us a’lotta time getting through the security I set up.

Slade would remember to swap the controls to Cy, right?

He had to. This was a shot he wouldn’t give up for the world. Over and over. “Let me throw the first stone.” He volunteered. “Mom had a way with security systems. I sometimes read her manuals. Could teach me later, but let me know if I’m good enough. Teach.”

Cy grinned. “You’re full a’ surprises today, lil man. You got it. Bb? We need to get to the fall-back spot. This ain’t a place to go over attack plans. Ya dig?”

“DIG? I’M GONNA?” Bb whined. “A mole or a –

“Just, keep watch. I think I can be that mole for today.”

“YOUR ARM!” Kori said aloud. “Gizmo will not know he is being hit by us! That is “the genius” plan, Cyborg!”

“Wait, so you are going to activate your arm to –

“Spy time, Rave.” Bb made his brows do the wave. “Cy has got the arm for this covert job! I’m excited. How bout you, newbie?”

“Totally.” Robin grinned. “This is not only going to let the HIVE know we’re here, but we will return that favor in full.”

“Indeed! We shall…all of us, partake?”

“We go when I give the signal.”

Cy grinned while Robin let Slade listen in.

He was a real spy, a real mole on the team. The boy kept staying to keep his cool. Yet, he didn’t think Slade would up the ante on his training even during the boy's main trial.

Trying to one up Cy was still the plan. There was only to go forwards from here.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////

The blinking eye of a bolted down cybernetic arm was missed; Jinx was in the bedroom of one empath, a fashion show by the steps down to the main room was not a trouble. Mammoth was clearing out the fridge by eating anything he could touch or smell to be less than spoiled. Iron stomach, dunce cap for a brain…

The eye from the arm looked to see Gizmo after the cd collection Beastboy had so painstakingly shoved into a cabinet to listen to at any time. Any place. This era still enjoyed the physical sounds of a good disc, while rumor had it that going digital was the way of the future. Chips for computers were becoming rarer these days. The teen frog – goggled loud mouth of the group constantly criticized the discs from back to front. The eye watched on and grew curious. Oh, target locked on.

It hopped down quietly from its hiding spot as Raven’s robe made a poor impression of Jinx’s already somber mood. The blue gunk was consumed in vast quantities as Mammoth continued to consume of every last glob of teal and oceanic aqua.

All while the arm crawled in a tip toe, almost comedic motion. The spy bugs Slade had put, watched. He leaned in to see the rest of his plan come to order.

Any moment now…

The arm struck!

It used cables built into it to bind around the mini – genius of the three as it flew him by a small rocket on it – to the first air duct’s grate it could find. In a flash, the security came back on. Slade let Cy have that small victory as he let go control for a second to see the looks on their faces. The HIVE leader was pulled up to the first top floor by a projectile arm – magic. Raven’s excellent touch and timing, Slade grinned.

The next was a star bolt from literally thin air. Mammoth went toppling as he was flung out and God knows.

The rest, Jinx and Gizmo had ended up on the roof as Ravens’ magic made sure to transport the lug Mammoth at the very last second to fall onto the ground where a giant H was being erected to replace the T, standing for…

“Time’s up, HIVE.”

The boy wonder smiled as his team backed him up. As Slade did, he inwardly reminded himself.

“You lost, our home is here,”

“Yours is the nice county cell block across the river.” Bb grinned almost eagerly.

 “No backing out now, so tell us you’ll come quietly.”

“Or…are we going to need to bring you in ourselves.” Raven ended.

“Say you shall stop and return all that you have stolen.” Starfire demanded coolly. “You may not have to stay in the prison long if you cooperate with the proper authorities.”

“You’re not the boss of us! We can still wipe the floor with you “snot – sniffing Titans.” Gizmo sneered at the teens.

“Attack pat –

“I don’t think so, Star?”

Robin turned to Kori as she bent the metal H to warp and trap the hero’s enemies, Raven reinforced the cell as she helped to do the same. Even Mammoth could not fight the hot ball of metal that still had yet to cool. Robin moved in quick as Cy followed with BB sniffing along behind. “We got um?” He woofed out as a terrier mix.

“You don’t even know the half of it, we’ll get out.” Jinx promised with a wide grin. “When we do, you’ll give up. No more playing fair…”

“Yeah, you say that now, but –

Bb started growling as a spark of electricity was snatched up in the form of a small receiver. Bb barked as Gizmo’s last to was taken by Robin, knew what that meant. Getting ready, he heard Gizmo mutter the name.

Show time.

Part one, engage.

“Grr…AHh…...Mr. Slade isn’t gonna take no –

“Who is Slade??” Robin shoved his face in Gizmo’s view. The cameras saw it and Slade looked to the headmistress as she sat just a seat away. Drinking her tea quietly as if this were a hostage situation.

~ WHO IS SLADE? ~

SLADE…

SLADE ….

WHO IS…~

~WHO IS SLADE? ~

“The board is set, now…we move as intended.” Slade put the screen up and Robin popped up on every one of them. Stretching across the entire upper and lower level of the haunt.

“That’s right, you’re going to keep playing the hero. What a good boy, a wonderful, apprentice I have.” He purred to himself, while Addie said not a word. “Very, very good…”

//////////////////////

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse- What it Takes –

///////////

Chapter 18: Metal Parts and Chasing that Next Class A- Act

/////////

I decided to span the series a bit differently. Forces of nature will be closer to X and Deep Six. Oh, and sisters will be after Mid. I’m making things a bit more foreboding for our teens. The rest, you’ll see. Dick comes to understand how important his friendship will be to his current leader, Cyborg. He learns about Cy's inhibitions and starts to feel, something? Slade will tell him to expect this to happen often, yet Richard wonders if he is too soft all if a sudden. Find out!

//////////

Robin did an extensive observation since their win against the HIVE. Though that fight was preordained to be won anyway, by the teens, Robin still had to keep his guard up around the heroes. He was in the group, boxing it out with Cy in the gym and meditation sessions with Raven made him feel a lot better. He had to mask his rehearsed feelings around Kori. She felt nothing else as he, thought that was always the case. The only concern in his book lastly, was a little green Toad that watched his every move.

That day, the sun was bright and that afternoon before lunch, Cy, grabbed up a bunch of items in the fridge to place them in a big picnic basket. “In about a few minutes, we are all going out to the park. I got my A game today and I know that we never got a welcome party finished for our boy over here.”

“The pizza in the pan did not the count?” Kori asked as she looked confused as all the rest. “I’m fine, Cyborg. Really. You don’t have to go through all of that trouble.”

“But WE wanna eat.” Bb gruffly added. “Cy? What did you pack in that thing? A ham?? I’m bringing MY dogs before you poison me. Star? Just ignore the whole “welcome" thing. He wants to do this, let em. He’s our leader after all –

“Actually, I thought I should tell you while we’re getting hungrier here.” Grinned Cy as he nudged his arm at Raven.

“I’m stepping down as co-captain, and whatever…sigh…wants the job, can be next to be judged... or, whatever.” She went to grab a whistling kettle in the background as the teens all looked at one another. This was it. Slade knew that…if he got to be co – leader, if Cy ended up failing or getting hurt…

Robin’s arm was raised by Kori as she did the saw to call out as Bb.

“He –

“I should-

Both the alien and Mutant boy glanced at the other, then at Robin who continued to play the fool. “I…. don’t know if you think I’m ready to –

“Rob. you gotta have more confidence in yourself. You helped us stop the HIVE. You got us all out of our funk and we made history with that attack.”

“Cy, you did all the work. He’d just freeze up like he did in the gym.” Snickered Bb.”

“And would you be able to save the city with the tofu, now please? You are the pathetic in making the decisions for this company we the keep.” Kori huffed and Bb felt entirely underappreciated. “FINE! I don’t wanna eat any of your stupid picnic food. Especially not to celebrate him taking all if your time up! Good luck getting to know the poser. Loser.” BB stiffed hos hands down into his pockets and wandered off down the halls. Sliding doors became hos slammed in the face to those he’d once helped to protect this city with. He did go out though. A few bucks could earn him a nice vegan style salad and he didn’t want to mar the new kid's vibes.

Out in the city, there was a street performer who was juggling and throwing brightly colored balls in the air. Bb watched as the ling nosed adult had the hat of a magician and at one point, he almost didn’t see his own lace.

Untied.

The man toppled and the people who had been eyeing his after earlier, laughed at his fall into the street. The balding adult was slumped over as the balls rolled away. Like the crowd, they wanted nothing to do with this sad, expressionless and untalented hack. He looked into the can he’d placed out to make any fee in tips and sighed. “Still, broke.”

“I thought it was cool.” Bb walked up to the old timer with his three or five colorful props. “Here, you still like doing this? I mean, being a magician or whatever?”

“Does anyone ever ask why they love what they do? I’m an artist. It’s all I know.” The man got to his feet and dusted off his worn outfit. It needed to be patched and Beastboy wondered if he didn’t have his family like they were, wealthy and stable, what would be his lot in life? Did he even have a passion?

“You’re looking more down than me. Hang on a sec. I have this one prop I still didn’t get to try out. It’s a real wand! Like in the movies!” The man grinned and pulled out a long pouch wkth a white tipped classical wand as he’d said. “I think the shop owner said I had to have a fan for it to work…or was it ambition?”

“Way cool! How does it work? My friend, she can use real magic. Not like on TV. Oh! My name is, Beastboy! Are you from around here?”

“Mumbo the Amazing!” The man said theatrically before nervously falling back with a chuckle. “It’s a working title. I have been on the road for some time. I quit my job working at a bank in Star City and the rest was history. No need to worry that my wife and kids absolutely think I’m crazy – but art is about being your better self. Don’t you think? Ever since I was a young boy, I wanted to show off like I was a real star on a stage over in New York City! Like those people you can barely ever be like…they are so picky!”

“YUH! They are even bad to animals but claim they are super chill about the environment! Don’t even get me started!”

“You’re alright kid. Just for that, I will show you something that’s gonna knock the pants off of those people over…there! Watch. As the Amazing Mumbo…” He pulled out the wand and soon it began to glow a strong white. His face, all of it transformed as Bb shouted and looked up. At a blue, tall, cape wearing fool of the arts.

“MUMBO JUMBO!! I’M …FREE!”

(HE’S POSSESSED. THAT’S WHY HE TURNS BLUE. BUT DON’T LET THAT SPOIL THINGS.)

//////////////////

As soon as the last sandwich had been made, the alarms went off. Robin looked at the remaining team and Cy put down his butter knife. “Throw everything on for later, Titans. We got a crook going loco down in the square. You ready, spike?”

Cy’s unofficial nick name for Robin due to his gelled back hair was absolutely worth the embarrassment. Robin nodded. “I’m in. How about you guys? What about Beast boy?”

“He’s already there…” Raven frowned. “And he’s sending a message. That he believes that this villain, is his responsibility.”

“He is not the leader of this team; therefore, how could he make such decisions without friend Cyborg’s approval?”

“Something must ave' happened.” Cy wondered for himself. “Titans, let’s go. No more standing around. Our boy obviously is not gonna do this all by himself.”

/////////////

Cy and Robin drove while Raven and Star flew on ahead. The tires screamed while more screams littered the area. A man with a magician's top hat, blue skin and a domino mask and cape was making a scene alright…

Bb was busy, busy being the rabbit the man wanted in his hat!

~ No! I’m going on a trike! This is animal cruelty! You’re not –

“Beastboy!” Raven used her arts as she chanted. The second time Robin had seen her toss her projectiles around. She tried to use her soul self as they care it to entrap the man…but he used his wand in a mocking way to turn that aura arm into a pile of flowers.

“MUMBO JUMBO!!”

She pulled back as the others joined in. “You’ve all been a lovely audience. I’ll be taking checks, wallets, gold and anything you can spare! Funding my next venture…” The blue make looked with a wild grin at the teens. “Think you can upstage me, eh? Your bunny buddy is going with me on the road. So, what are you second rate performers going to do about it?”

~ NO, I’M NOT! YOU’RE NOT THE OLD MAN RROM BEFORE!! HELP!!~

“Old?? I’m not even pushing fifty, thank you for that. And YOU!” He pointed at the empath. “This is a private reception and I didn’t ask for any opening acts to follow- my producer will certainly mind –

“He’s delusional.  I feel a strong presence coming from that wand.” Raven told her teammates. “Mumbo! You are outta line, man. Nobody knows about you and they might never get the change. You gotta have whatever took you out, get outta here now.”

“Before you are sent to the penitentiary for the good.”

“And the only performances you can perform there, will be behind bars.” Robin put in. “Drop the rabbit, or you’re not singing your tune again.” Robin’s voice lowered. Cy almost got chills, yet he was raised by assassins and spies. Hopefully, this was a one-time dark quip.

“Gabby over there doesn’t get my vision. I’m going to make everyone pay me back. Come to MY SHOW. PAY UP…AND SUPPORT AN EXTRAORDINARY CAREER OF THIS BRILLIANT MIND!! HHAAHAAAA!!”

“He’s losing. Whatever took over his body is making it seem like this is his revenge. I doubt we can break that man’s hold.”

“Beastboy! We’re coming!” Robin tossed put a smoke bomb that Cy had helped to make. The few covering up as Raven helped. Cy had no trouble while Robin made sure to swim through the smoke. Beastboy got his chance to bite the hand of his former acquaintance who apparently had been possessed by the spirit inside that wand. “I got it!” He tugged the wand away from Mumbo, only to be kicked back and lose his grip. “THIS IS MINE, YOU HEAR?? MINE! ALL MINE! MUMBO JUMBO!!”

////////

Down below the streets, a wire arm reached out to touch a stray beam of sunlight. There was only darkness, it sighed. The thing attached to that arm moved away to look through a cracked screen and he gasped.

“Another, of us??” It believed so, and the man’s power was being drained with every heavy step into battle. “He must, be fixed. I can fix him.” The face nodded; if he ever was one. He didn’t know, actually. Finding himself amid a head, Fixit was not a machine as much. Maybe a failed attempt at honing superior intelligence.  However that be the case, he could save others. The ones about to fall into his hands. A teenager, with one human eye. Some skin that was not yet repaired.

“He must be fixed. He is, obsolete.  I will do that. Find him and help where I can, before it is too late.” The android sent his scouts out. They skittered as crabs or were cloaked in shadow. He was not superior by any means. No. He was, aware. This was not a human. Not a man. He was, one of fix it. One with the many parts. Could they call out to him as well? Did they radiate truth?

“He will soon notice us. He will join. I will, not be without those who understand.” Fixit was never a human. He had the brain of something old and new, incomplete. Maybe, this boy was the way to his ending? His time on this world was not forever, yet he could also stay. Here…. with Fixit.

/////////////

( So, this FIXIT is more like I , Robot in my mind. He’s not a good guy or bad. He’s working by his programmer’s botched commands and because he was never completely without emotion, he may end up under that same trope. I’m going to make this a bit more tragic.)

Later on that!

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse – What it Takes

////////////

Chapter 19: Can He Fix it; Yes, He Thinks He Can?

///////////////////////

Richard hopped along rooftops in his cape and tights as Robin, he mental let himself realize. The implications were that if Slade found him slacking on the job, no more father son picnics to plan. No more close-knit family.

Robin leaped as his unit went off on his waist. He groaned and pulled it out to see Raven staring at him through the screen. Robin’s mask face resumed that of a hero in crisis- Cy had gone missing and this had all occurred no more than less than an hour ago…

////////////

Mumbo was proving to be a slippery fish to catch as Raven abd Robin both found their level of stealth tactics go be borderline…. useless.

“HAHAHAAA!! MUMBO JUMBO!” The spook that now inhabited the wand no longer – the one that had turned this seemingly harmless street performer into a common thief in only minutes, was doing a jig and seeing no shame in showing off his flashy actions around a group of overwhelmed heroes.

Cy was unable to shoot as the shot hit him instead. He flew back off the last roof and Starfire failed to find his body. Oddest yet, he was supposed to have fallen right into the closest dumpster. He also had said he’d forgotten to charge up his pack; a large battery that kept the leader on a chronic life support. Slade had never gone into detail, yet the accident had turned Victor Stone into a former self he’d never cared to want to deal with. Despite his quips and claims to greatness, he missed being what he was.

“Your tin friend has met his end – yet the curtain for you hasn’t closed just yet….to the grand finale!!” Mumbo bounded about and even startled Robin to put up his defenses.

“Stop him! He’s getting –

“Robin.” Starfire put a hand to Robin’s wrist. He looked into her sad eyes. Well, as thoughtful as they were, and as his begged her mentally not to tell him to stop trying his hardest. He didn’t want to break character. Slade would-

“We should locate Cyborg first. If we go after –

“Mumbo is gonna make everyone his assistant!” Bb yelled. “I should a never asked to see the stupid trick. It’s all my fault. Cy is gonna…” He bit his nails, frustrated and scrunched himself into a disgraced mound as he pulled away from the others. “I’ll go find Cy –

“No, let me help.” Robin put out a hand to the green teenager. “He and I, I don’t want to take the role even if you ask. We are a team. We all lead this mission. Together. Bb and I can look for Cyborg. Star? Raven?”

Bb nodded, the other two teens agreeing as well. “The splitting apart does seem to do much for the risk, yet there is not much for us to accomplish if Cyborg is not found –

“Or Mumbo is not stopped from terrorizing the city.” Raven added in bluntly. “Fine. Starfire, we’ll search uptown. Robin, Beastboy?” Her violet stare even brought goosebumps to Robin’s skin. “Be careful. Call if you need us. We won’t lose anyone in this fight today.”

///////////

So, Raven could be serious when she wanted to. Robin had expected her role as second in command to be as a place holder, but no. If he won over Bb's trust, he was on. No one would say he couldn’t.

He smiled at her for the first time. Lines on his face smoothed out as Raven relaxed just a little. “We’re going to find Cy, don’t worry. Beastboy –

“I got a scent!”

The teen smiled and Raven nodded back, relieved that they were getting along on her other end. ~ If you find anything, report. We’ll have Mumbo in cuffs by this afternoon. ~

“Good plan. Robin, over.”

The link left them as Bb wagged his Sheppard tail to morph back into himself. “So, one thing though…” Bb rubbed his arm and seethed, the other pointing a finger…down.

“They’re down there. In the sewers and, it looks like we have to dig pretty deep to find where Cy's been taken or fell to.”

“There’s enough time to plan as we go.” Robin moved quickly as Bb trailed next to him without a bite or a growl yet. “You got a rebreather? For scuba work? Cause the sewer is like the worst thing ever. We had to face off against Plasmas and this is probably tame…you sure you-

Robin stopped. “You don’t want me to…. Beastboy. we told Raven –

“Yeah, but. If Cy knew I put you at risk with everything so far, this is my fault. Getting eaten by mutant rats and passing off sewer cross is my thing –

“Why are you punishing yourself, when your best friend is in trouble? F.Y.I. My step dad was ex-military and made me crawl through far worse than a little bad water. He made me drink fucking piss and crawl in the mud to earn his approval. I think I can handle your little wade through mountains of wet, human feces. I have a suit and my face is not afraid of scrubbing off some bacteria in this age – where SCIENCE made it so we can save Cy and get home. You are self-righteous? More like a coward. Also, I don’t care if I’m appointed as anything – I just want Cy to…” Robin snapped, then pulled himself back.

Shit…

Shit!

Shit…

He knew it was wrong, of course. Yet, why was he so invested? Cy cared, that was why and Bb was putting them all at risk in losing the only guy who gave a clear damn about the team. As whiny as he was, Cy was...

Robin put a hand over his mouth. “I…I’m, sorry…. Beast –

“YOU go your way into the sewers, and I’ll do my own thing. We are not working together – EVER.” With a morph back, Bb made himself a spider and crawled down the side of the building to prove a point. He was not going to accept Robin now. Not even if he begged the kid to call him big brother from now until the year was over.

/////////////

Robin took the route Slade said was safest to reach the main lines. Cy could be in a bunch of parts, or underwater…dread ate at the teen as Bb bounded on ahead from an angle and Robin ran without rest to cat h the little rodent. “Beastboy! I’m not –

~Go away! You’re going to make me screw this up! I got it! ~

“No, you’re running into the wrong –

Before either could hiss and spit some expletives at the other, the turning wave of high rising water broke the tension.

 “Watch!”

“Gah!”

Robin was so close to Bb but it didn’t last. The sickly puke - acid taste of bile rose as he coughed, the tech he’d meant to use was at the bottom of the tunnels ravenous waves. Swallowed up in the excrement and muck of yesteryear. Maybe lost... He felt himself being tugged upwards. Scales and…. words. words he dared to understand.

“Hey! Hey! Cut it…. you had better just be…idiot!” Bb. He was saving him…Robin’s eyes shut just before their breach to the surface as wet stone was laid beneath the nearly drowned mole. Robin sputtered out water as Bb used his octopi’s arms, pushing down on the other boy's chest. The rest, was a single line of water in Bb's vision as he flicked the other hero's saliva from his cheek. “Dude! You are so gross…but, alive….” He panted and sat down with his weary back to the wall of the tunnel. “We gotta keep moving. This isn’t…pant…. safe.”

“Why…?” Robin rasped as he attempted to sit up beside the green goofball.

“Call it even, fer saving me before.” Bb morphed slowly into a rat and sneezed. Great…

Bb was, he had risked his life for a traitor. Robin’s mouth recovered a bit better as they kept up on the scent. There was no way in their state that they could go through that freak out again. Slade had warned Robin on how to avoid it. Being about to kick, to float and to let the current bring him up enough to find somewhere to aim himself. Like a ledge. To cling for life but to never panic. He’d shown weakness, as this could be a good thing though. Bb wasn’t running away. He had –

Robin blinked. Slade…that water had been because-

“Door?”

Bb cocked his head on two rat sized legs and twitched his whiskers at the locked passage. Iron door.

Robin froze. No. No! That was the wrong door. Wasn’t it? It had to be.

“I’ll check it out –

“Wait. It could be dangerous.”

“Are you seriously gonna chicken out when I just got blasted about being a coward?” Snickered the sneering green imp. “You are the hypocrite then, not me. I’m keeping that promise for Cy. Not you.”

Robin watched as his fingers ached. While Bb did some look over of the locks and panel, a message flew right over to Robin’s comm link.

Robin pulled it out, hidden as his mask went narrowed at the odd order.

~ Open it. ~

Slade was watching. He had intervened and this, this was the place where Cy was as Bb let the locks pull apart without much effort.

The next scare that brought the boys to put up their fists, were that they had never been alone to begin with.

//////////

A hermit living underground with a bunch of battered qind up toys as his company? Did sound a light relatable. Slade was no hermit. He had plenty of interactions that Robin didn’t know about. Including the day he’d been at the Pizzaria. The hours in before, Slade had sat down to survey the spot for cameras he could have placed. That was actually the day before in the evening. Too busy and by the new day, Robin had come to him with questions. Of trust, of that single promise he wanted to believe was real. Slade smiled as he moved a while to get his dolls wound up and ready for a spar. “Head held high, hero. This hermit you’re after doesn’t like visitors with a pulse.” He swung out at his robit as it topple abd quite literally,  lost its head. Wintergreen moved along and cleared his friend’s cup to replace it and dragged out some towels in case the man would be much longer in his afternoon sets. “The gym, sir?”

“Perhaps. I’d rather have a front row seat for now.” The man’s mark had a second bot crumple. Best part of all? No blood left over to clean up. A clean kill for the most expensive mercenary on the planet.

“Robin is not acting.”

Will raised his brow to that sentence. “Sir? Robin is the one being played as the boy Richard. HE is not carrying any more other aliases to blow his cover –

“He believes he isn’t Robin. That is an issue for us, Wintergreen. Very soon, we have to push him beyond his limits. Break the cord. That boy can’t suckle on his mother’s teat anymore, and he sure as shit won’t take his role as MY apprentice!” The man had the boy flying back to spark and sizzle out. “As a joke. We’ll consider the plan. The boy needs a nemesis, and I have the perfect background to make that happen.  I told him before. He’s going to learn to hate.”

The man took our a bot in the knee caps.

Down it fell.

“My.”

The next flung in with a staff as Slade evaded and tossed a towel at it to distract before slamming a fist to its disoriented neck and snapping the sad doll's joints loose.

“GUTS.” With a ring of his own neck, Slade came back to stand erect in front of the same screens where Robin was going to show his teammates just how serious he WAS about, controlling that flimsy post.

That only someday, they’d be hoping for him to take the full lead. He’d make damn sure that came to pass, and that Robin never took off his mask again. Not even to confess how devoted he was to his master. Especially, what he had in store for that boy come the next week.

“Head held high now, kid. You’re putting on a show that shouldn’t have any critics.”

///////////////

Slade is expecting Robin to overcome his own tribulations in working away with others. He is acting in that way, but the real him is not a fun person. He just got teste, but what about Cy? That is why his independent self is flunking. He’s starting to think he can fill the role, but what happens when it’s too filled with memories of the heroes he’s hoodwinked? Find out!

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse – What it Takes

////////////

Chapter 20: Buried Illusion – Silent Treasures

/////////////////

The eye blinked back at him as the robot, the man inside gasped at his reflection. Weakly, his other eye had seen the greatest changes as he awoke. Nothing had been done. He was strapped to a work table with the lights made dim. He saw electricity, heard it humming. Music, an overtone of something so very lonesome as this new world. From the reaches and rafters about the boy’s head, he saw glowing red. Red eyes, crying no tears as they did all but spectate, the humming swept him back. Back to one lone eye in the dark.

“Good. You are undamaged. I was able to fix the damage perfectly. Do you not see it?” He had one robot, an eye to it now softly a white- not red. The other was tall, his skin cold and grey as the bots. His skin, nearly gone. All that remained was the metal layers. Piled, pierced and augmented indefinitely with some nimble touch. Cyborg let his eyes adjust to his limbs as he was let go. The binds cane undone from his sides. He seemed the light, that much was certain. This item, this relic was content to look upon his latest incomplete project.

“You…you fixed all ‘a my scratches and…I’m full capacity.” Cy grinned at the arm he had which told him how much was left of his reserves. It was all full bars, he kept smiling confidently. “Thanks, uh…-

“Fixit.” The bot gave a little bow but no smile. “You came to me, and I promised you fix anything that did so. You are a marvel of technology by the likes I have not seen before…would you not be from some other dimension?”

Laughing a little, Cy humored the hermit. “Naw, I’m all bot and man merged after…well, long story but accident took my body apart. I got a second chance and it’s all that counts. Why are you all alone in this place?” Cy saw how very dark and lonely it was. The bots in the rafters maybe could sense physiologically how he was. “I no longer require these things. I am, perfect. There is no need to starve or to fight and lose in endless battles. Here, I am free to do as I wish without harm. You too, you are not at all familiar with your robot self?”

“Just got it less than a year, so maybe.  Is there something you saw?” He gasped and checked his arm. “What’s wrong with me?”

“Nothing, not at all. You are, simply requiring more rest.” Fixit had the gas in the room fill to keep his subject in a hazy state of awareness. “Please, lie back down. You do not have to worry. I will be sure to make sure you are, functional again  it will hurt a bit, so you must not try to resist –

Cy was too late as the binds went back on. The boys getting closer as clinking metal parts and Fixit's one eye had Cy's widen in a surge of full-frontal fear. “Stop! I’m not gonna –

“HEY!”

“You are formidable, maybe a few spare parts will do.” Fixit moved to another table and picked up a face plate. Cy shook. His eyes flipping back between the mask, the room and the oppressor. “I’m not doing this! You can’t be serious-

“I am always true in whatever I set off to accomplish.  There is no need to panic. You too shall experience the completeness that is without human boundaries and parts that are not required to thrive. We are the same –

“You’re forcing your way of life and I don’t buy it for a sec. Fixit, let me get you outta here. This place is making you –

“Up there, I was called, freak. Trash. I was not the only one.”

“You changed everything before you could get to know the real you – Fix…. you can’t be so…. selfish! You’re not a robot! Neither am I!”

The bot didn’t fight and instead looked at them wall beside his new trinket. His soon to be friend. “You will rest here. When you wake, everything will be as it should –

“Don’t do this.” Cy shook his head, body going slack as his lips kept moving. “That part of me can’t be fixed. I’m not all one thing. I’m both, and that’s something you cannot have. You got this notion that robots are here so I’m one too. I chose to be me. So, drop the act. You’re no real friend a mine, Fixit.”

////////

The robot went quietly aside and did not try to fight. Cyborg in his mind was not right. He could never be. Not with an inferior human bit of intellect still slipping by his mechanical gaze.

“I will be back. Once the process is done, you will have no need to fight it. What you are.  What I see, us something truly disturbing-

“Son of a –

////////////

Raven meditated in her hardest time to cope with their disappearances. Starfire floated as the skies were clear. She cracked closed her eyes and sighed deeply. “Oh, there is nowhere the mean Mumbo could have run to without assistance. I fear he was promoted to become this, evil?”

“I am not sure, Starfire. My magic isn’t-

~ Guts. I’d rather see what he can accomplish-

“Raven!” Starfire gripped her friend before Raven could nearly faint. Such raw rage. She saw only a blur before the voice had distorted with the vision of madness.

“Mumbo. We have to find Robin and Beastboy.  I think they’re in trouble.” Raven blurted out, not trying to recollect the scary image in the back of her brain.

///////////

Off they sped to gain a foothold once more, while the sewers were lit with light up eyes and creaking metalized armor and preprogramed responses. Exhibiting no real threat at first, Beast boy in his form of a coyote tried to sniff for a scent. His ears went up and as he pointed to another wall, the robots saw this act of defiance.

~ Intruders. ~

~Intruder Alert. ~

~Defense mode ~

~Attack and battle –

The bots were not the same, yet the sounds were alike in that they wanted to defeat their enemy. To tear apart Beastboy and Robin in this underground hull of a place to regret everything. So far, Robin let his fight or flight kick in as he started up a new tactic. Fight. Fight and not be caught or killed. His eyes darkened and Renegade was needed.

Screw Slade’s warning. He put the boy into this mess. How was it going to help in getting him out!

“Rob! We don’t need to fight em! I can smell him; Cy is close by.”

Robin’s masked face let out his true impressions as Beastboy nodded back. Robin did, slowly before coming up with a new plan. Beat back the boys. Break a few walls down. Slade would surely understand the measures being taken as Robin pulled out a specialized disc meant to put a bridge to shame in seconds.

“Here goes…. back up!” BB helped Robin to stay clear as the blast thankfully didn’t just catch the wall to light itself up –

The bots also caught a spark in the nearby blast. And exploded into a single prism shift of color. In flames. (I re-watched Annihilation and so…that was the colors from the Phosphorus flash grenade. God, that was a crazy adaptation….so tired from being up all night to watch it since it first was shown in theaters. Thing was, never spoke about it then but now? All the time!)

The bots curdled and cringed as the walls were down and other chambers were revealed to be in the wall and beyond Bb's  original calculations. “You…. didn’t have ya –

“No time.” Robin got through the wall as he climbed inside, the rubble and gravel under his boots but still supportive.

“Wait up!” Bb scrambled over as a cat and crept atop stone and concrete. Metal inlay had him wonder how powerful those discs were designed to be.

Had the boy been told then of Slade’s modifications via drone at night, well…best he not sense it on the faux hero until there was more to explain. “This place, what is it? Tunnels or…”

They opened a new door and saw a lab, filly functioning and wires to tubed vessels. Hoses, as if had never meant to remain here. Bb got back to sniffing the room. The mouse firm came in handy as memories resumed. ~ He was here, then…~

Bb sniffed again as a hound by a metal rack if tools. ~ He was moved, and… ~

“He is quite well, and you should

 not be within this dwelling. State your purpose.”

“You first.” Robin brought up his rangs as more bots' eyes made him anxious that they’d not leave unharmed. Slade was there. He had eyes…maybe the robot was a test too?...

~ Where is our leader. ~ Bb growled as a wolf. ~ WHERE DO YOU HAVE HIM?? I KNOW YOU ARE HOLDING HIM HOSTAGE! ~

“He is free. I have done nothing wrong. I have made him, substantially –

“Take is to him, or we won’t be so nice to your other family in here.” Robin said as if taking jibe to a cop on the street. No respect at all. Only to his master. He nudged his head to direct his cheek at the bots eyeing them from around the lab’s dimly lit space. “Leave. There is no one for you here.”

~GIVE BACK Cyborg. He’s not your machine or your prisoner. ~

“You, inferior creature, are incorrect. We; he and I are the same. He is like I am.” The character pulled off a hand as he showed how it reassembled. “We were once imperfect beings. Now, creations by these hands. He is being fitted without that obsolete-

“Cy isn’t a joke, freak show.” Bb grumbled. “Cy, is his own person. You had that once too, right? You look like a dude who loved robots –

“Robotics.” The tin hermit wondered back. “Memories. I, have nothing. You will not find what you long to have with you. This, Cyborg is my own re –

Robin moved quickly as his rangs bit into a tough metal. Shoved back, the robot was not alright being interrogated within its own home. The boy countered the boys' looks and the other bots were about ready to attack.

“Fixit.”

The robot hermit swerved around. “My companion. You…are unchanged.” It said nearly without any emotion to tell it had been upset.

“As it should. You tried to turn me into one of your spare parts. I ain’t buying fir a SECOND that you ever had messed up intentions. He’s cool, guys. Let me handle em.” Cy moved with perfectly shattered knee guards and a face plate in hand. He held it up to the Fixit character and Robin’s eyes didn’t stray from the familiar logo and branding.

A Slade bot.

“You were gonna get a pretty penny for me ta join some group I don’t even know nothing about. I say, you’re just making up half a what you said-

“I am not. You are imperfect and, those parts were wonderful finds from my companions. They looked better. Stronger than what trash I have collected over my time here.”

“You would have given me no reason to trust myself. I’m me, got that!” Slade’s essence was always here, even if Fixit was just a scavenger looking for a daily deal or clearance find. Cy held up the mask and didn’t let it leave his palm. He took it instead to show the others.

“Come on you two. Star and Rave have gotta be worried about us.”

“What about –

“Leave em.” Snorted the teen metal head. “He’s better off down here for as long as he wants ta believe that.”

“I, thought you were-

“Wrong time to be nice now.” Cy huffed and turned away, leaving Fixit to repair his own walls. To collect his own memories all over again and erase them. “He was a brilliant scientist who made a discovery about immortality. The guy thought that being a perfect creation or whatever would make him better than everyone else. He ended up thrown off the committee and that’s all there was that I know from my dad’s logs.”

“Your dad –

“No talking.”

Cy stopped the group as a Slade bot moved as a creeping force. In its clawed fingers. It had something. An envelope with a symbol on the back seal. Robin watched its eyes as it squinted, as if greeting an old friend. Then, the bot began to speak.

~ Greetings. You are adequate fighters. Our master will be very pleased to know you have punished the ground thief. This is a thanks from our creator to you.~ The envelope was left on the ground as Bb leaped as a leopard and pounced. Only to see that this bot, was a hologram. He did not exist. Robin, again was stunned by the mercenary’s simple planning and enigmatic strategies. ~ When you read, do take every word in at a time. We will one day meet, that I wish we never do…~

“Dude…that was…”

“Wrong.” Robin’s word was right, but this was…

Wrong, all wrong…

/////////_

They never looked at the envelope or it’s contents. As a team, they’d all gain a close understanding of the reason for this strange robot acting on its own. Or, was something else about to happen.

“Mumbo?” Cy turned to the two boys. They shook their heads. “Star, and Rave said they’d catch him. I don’t know. We lost. “I’ll talk. Rob? You got your unit handy?”

“Waterlogged with sewage.” Robin said, telling the truth. “I fell in and…well, it’s going to need a new shell when we get back to your workshop.”

“Aww, man. Bb?”

“I can try. It’s still damp but maybe-

The good news was, it was not damp enough as Raven pieced their ears on the wrong sequence. ~ COME IN, THIS IS RAVEN. HELLO, BEASTBOY? YOU’RE BACK ONLINE –

“ARGH! SIRENS! OWWY….”

Cy gripped the device and Kori leaped in with a tangled up Mumbo all under wraps. “You both caught um??”

~ Of course we did.~ Raven deadpanned. ~ Did you think we’d end up like you and get covered in raw sewage? We’re not far. Where is your location now.~

“ Not too far from the next pot hole. I can walk us through it, but…Rae, at the tower. We need to gave a debrief Pronto.” He told her with her eyes now much more serious than his.

~ Understood. How is Robin? ~

“Hey! What about moi?”

~ You are still about to feel your toes? Breathe? Talk? Then you’re fine. Robin is new to this –

“Not always, actually.” Robin had to explain more to them back at the tower. If he had to make Slade into a real villain, then by damn. He’d hop right to it.

“There is something about that mask. I, can’t really guess right now but I think…something in my past. An agent my mom knew. They had a similar logo.” He pursed his lips. He’d create the ultimate betrayal and then falsify his turning to a side of reality that none should tread lightly. “I need to go lie down. Long day, huh?”

“B? You ok, man?” Cy noticed Bb was still overthinking what had possessed Mumbo to change. That maybe…

“I'm gonna go with Star and Rave ta see Mumbo off for hos recovery. He’s not a bad dude, but…I think he’s got a really rough past and I wanna apologize for pushing too much. I don’t care if I’m not supposed to feel like this.” He scratched his head and swapped to the body of a bonobo. ~ It’d be rude not to wish him some luck. Jail? He was…we’ll get him fixed. Just like Robin. He’s got a lot to learn about making sacrifices on a daily level.~

“Did you two bond –

~ THE TUNNEL THAT IS LIVELY!~ Kori gasped, making the boy’s blow raspberries in protest. “No! We just, I saved him from drowning. He’s really way, not a good swimmer. At all.

“I do better in the air.” Robin snorted playfully.

~ Like a real bird, huh?~ Raven smirked. ~ We’ll be back for supper. Make sure that you ALL take double showers and use the decontamination cell to keep yourself from being infected by any pathogens elsewhere.~

~ The ones of the leaving of large mammals, perhaps?~

Cy laughed and the rest did follow their leader’s example.

“I guess….We’ll be going through the clues, finding out who this new crazy mastermind is, right?” Robin pointed out that the message had barely been received until they opened that slip. “Back then, I think it was…more dangerous to talk about him. I just get this awful feeling.” Robin put a brief hand to his waterlogged comm.

The working.

Water proofed measure he’d had Slade install to keep the heroes from their game until it was time to move another pawn.

“I just feel like, that mask…” Robin gripped his arms and Slade could have sworn that Robin wasn’t acting.

“It’s someone I know…from someplace, before I ran away.”

//////////

Fixit was busy collecting his scrap and to his none the little surprise,  the wall allowed in yet another visitor. “Love what you’d done with the place. Your rent is paid in full this time for keeping the heroes, in the dark a bit longer.”

“My customer, your –

Slade put up a hand as the male robot was surrounded by Slade's bots in turn. “He rejected the changes. I almost made him as you wanted. With out exception, per our formal agreement.”

“You were certain the virus is functioning as you left it?”

“When the time is right for you, sir. It shall encompass his code and give us what we need. Your apprentice is rather small. He did however seem threatened by how I held the Cyborg boy against its will.”

“What if I took your children from you, or a dear friend. Dr?”

Slade watched as the robot started to recover a reflection if humanity. “That person, is no longer here. I am perfect as I am. You, are superior. Your suit should is a very model design. The mask was, a priceless symbol  I am intrigued by how you cane to acquire a need for robots with expressions of their own.”

“Can’t be all bad to be that human and not see it, can it. Dr. Gilford.”

The bot stepped back. His eyes not leaving the masked mastermind or his sense of danger that came with the title. “That person is recorded. It is –

“You, or can you not recall what those monsters did to you? Treated you like dirt for your glorious revolution in mind. Prosthetics exist, why can’t mechanical or nano tech's level of augmented –

“Your story dies not compute.”

“Doesn’t it doctor, because I didn’t come here to say you took something of mine without my jurisdiction. Oh, no. I came to return something. A welcome to the neighborhood, if you’ll have it.” The armored man had a palm out and in that, a microchip. A file so tiny, so potent that it…

Gilford. Why was that computing now?

“You question my resource; how I’ve come to acquire a fraction of your stolen creation?”

“It…was too dan – dan! Danger! NOW overloading –

“NOT YET.”  The twitching bot was held still by his bits as the other creations the hermit had made, looked on. “Time to see just why the famous professor was cast out so quickly. Usually know far too much about a subject I’ve come to understand as a promised field of exploration. Medicine, healing from any wounds. What about the reverse?”

The blabbering bot was turned round as the chip met his drive. The static was a failsafe as Slade jumped back onto his feet. “You were never free, Dr.” Slade growled at whoever had made that file inaccessible.

“I’ll just have to finish where your journals left off.” Slade snapped his fingers as as a Slade bot brought out from a locked drawer in the lab, a set of records and paper documents that would come along nicely.

“Get rid of the evidence.” He dropped his fingers again, then in a military stance with his hands behind his back, a gritty massacre took place. The obsolete bots that Fixit had saved were torn go bits by state-of-the-art claws and mocked with smiling masked red and orange faces. The rest, became a tomb as the hermit was laid to rest with his creations.

“You should have gone back to the surface. Left my hunt to another day. You made this far too easy, Gilford, if you didn’t remember.” Slade pulled off his mask, the dying boy gasping as he did see the true white-haired menace with only a working one eye. “A good face, on the day of death as a freak. I’m surprised though. You made yourself perfect.” HE smirked at the man -bot. Drenched in shame for having held onto so many regrets before his transformation. “SO, can metal gods really not burn through the heart? I’d like to see if that theory isn’t as alien as your colleague’s made it sound.” He took a grenade, a flash grenade with Slade’s S shaped logo and didn’t bother to speak a prayer. (Annihilation inspired. Still on a kick.)

“Goodbye now, professor.”

The files in his hand, the Slade bots stood by as good little props in his secret war to defeat a bunch of children. The file had the photo of an Elias Stone. Slade hummed to himself. “It looks like this isn’t such a big bad world after all.” He handed the file back to his cronies. “Our humble old Mr. Fixit could have left this tunnel at any time he liked. A pity, and…seeing as the real criminal however, is still at large.”

And his son…was going to become more of a flop than his famous father.

S.T.A.R labs. As long as Robin didn’t call up to chat, there was a destination in mind. Slade pulled out his comm and sent one more message.

“Be ready. This playing field has gotten a few squares wider for you to stand across. To face….”

////////////////

Who ya gonna face next, Robbie? Find out!!

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse- What it Takes-

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Chapter 21: Clashing Characters

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(SISTERS IS UP. NEXT IS FORCES OF NATURE!! OUT OF ORDER FOR THE PLOT. NONETHELESS!)

//////////

The days weren’t all law enforcement by air, paperwork and delegations between city officials. Cy had proven he was formidable. He had stopped a mechanized hermit from ripping his head and heart away from his current encasing. Robin looked at the male from the back seat of the T car abd wondered; after training in the gym, getting out in the field to stop a robbery, and getting to know the city a bit better on a jog around it with a competitive green cheetah –

Why were they going down to the boardwalk?

“We still are not contained to the formalities of the life if a typical “hero.” Starfire explained cheerfully beside the boy wonder. Raven was by his other arm as Robin kept his psychic guard up as he’d been ordered. Bb was in the front seat, feeling like a kid being separated from a sibling they’d been fighting with.

“Your pop was a carnie, right? The real one?”

“That was rude.” Raven glared at Bb for the derogatory use of a name. “He worked there to support himself.”

Starfire leaped in to chat her feelings as well. “Friend Robin, you had said that your parents met on the road. Your mother stopped her mission for that man, correct?”

“Yes…she settled down and I think they split up when I was too young to remember. Then, we left the countryside and went some places. Never were ones to settle because of her work, so she taught me martial arts. Just a few moves every time. I got better thanks to –

“That dude was no dad to you, but why do you like him so much if he punished your mom –

“BB.” Cy stopped at a red light with a jersey of his front tires. “I will turn this car around if you can’t be more observant. We don’t ask why you turned green, do we?”

“I already know that. But, he has like a weird view of the abuser and we just wanna help.”

“It’s going to take time. Abused teenagers, like us aren’t sometimes willing to let go. It’s a defense mechanism.” Raven said with a grumble in her voice on the last part. “Robin is similar. He is still trying to heal and recover. His whole life was –

“Ahem! We are officially here, Y'all.”

Cy brought the car into the lot as they all let the doors open at once. “The sea air is not the freshest? Is it not?” Kori took a big whiff as Robin could tell her that many places were far more serene than this city. “Dunno. Finland had a lot of nice bodies of water.”

“See? She was a secret agent, right? Did you see Machu Pictures? I saw the Congo!”

“Sure thing, monkey boy but, we ain’t got all night to see whose is better. Come on.” Cy grinned as Robin took to their leader’s honesty.

The pier was complete with a ferris wheel, an old-fashioned dunk tank and a goldfish game – a roller coaster and a fun house stood out. The one thing Raven spied before Bb caught her gaze was a stuffed chicken by a prize wall.

“Want me to win you that, mama?”

“I never said anything.”

“C'mon! Don’t be such a killjoy!” Bb dragged her along as the shouting empath was in good hands. Sort of…

Starfire jumped up and down as she pointed repeatedly at the ferris wheel and a cotton candy stand. “Oh, the candy that is cotton! On my planet, there is no such greater joy…please Cyborg! I must show our new friend how the taste is very, ‘the intergalactic!”

“Robin wants to go, right?”

“I’m ok with desert.” Robin shrugged and answered their leader. “As long as I get a real meal afterwards.”

“Dude, you have a whole off. Enjoy it we aren’t military men and women here.” Cy tutted. “Go have some fun, I’ll meet y'all by the food court when we get ready to head on home. Star still has some left over glorg in the fridge –

“I…think can manage.,  for one night…” Robin pointed to a hot dog stand nervously as Kori eagerly dragged the teen for them to eat, and ride a big, tall round death trap called a ferris wheel.

This was it. Being alone. His heart thumped out of anxiety.

Alone, with her…

Robin wondered if Slade might give him a lecture on planning ahead by the next morning. Hey, why didn’t he call today? Robin brought out the thought, going into a half - sweat. Not again. Slade was, busy! Just…busy with Tara's brainwashing or something dumb…

His fingers un – clamped themselves from Star's own as she called back out. Robin ran to the side of the pier where there was sand and went under to find a trash bin. He upchucked. His stress was too high. He knew the anxiety of being away from his master was bad, but…

“Playing that card, little protégé?”

Robin gasped and lifted his head, wiping his lip as a tall dark-haired beauty in his moonlight – crusade crossed her arms to look down on him. Smirking, as if this was not a big enough problem. “A…sorry. I just –

He stopped. “Did, did you just call me –

“You’re the same one I came to find, right? My client specified you. Personally.” Her hand moved to her hip as the other pulled out a hidden device. A Slade based comm. A lower tech replica for burning. “I had a deal to get what I wanted, so I could see what he wanted done. First, I had to leave you this message. That Tamaranean.” The woman leaned up to his face a little, her dark eyes spoke if atrocities he’d rather never guess. “Slade said I could go along with the rest of my plan to see her perish, as long as you didn’t get hurt. The girl, Starfire. She’s going to be a wanted criminal by the time this night is over.”

“What? Why wasn’t I told any of this? Where is –

“Mr.  Slade said you were this happy, never guessed you had an actual crush on the guy.”

“Wh– I d –

“I don’t care really.” Sighed the dark-haired woman, her bored tone implying that she wasn’tto remain here for machineries than her mission would last. “You’ll be calling me, Blackfire, by the way. My job for your boss, is to make my dear family look like a fool…won’t it be fun to make her cry herself into a  prison cell, complete with my prints instead of hers?”

/////////////

Slade had done some extra research while Terra's reprogramming went underway. The girl was no easy find, especially as an exile princess with a mouth like this one. After the debate on how to shut down Fixit for good, Slade did some scouting of his next villain to set the Titans on their path to self-destruction. It was his fun than the boy’s. Terra was in confinement to a machine that would see to her awakening in a brand-new light.

Across the sky, rocketing missile light structures in the shape of what looked to be purple and metal coned squid zipped overhead as the population still had been tucked away in their beds. The nighttime here in Jump was peaceful, not much in the way of cat burglars and arsonist activities. He wondered what the jet like beings were since they didn’t seem to have a pilot.

Slade moved in on one jet that also was dark violet and looked to be almost human shaped in its silhouette.  The beings dodged into the streets as they seemed to be looking. Searching. Still, that was when he saw her.

Black hair and eyes in a suit so very different than any since

….

Slade’s eye opened at the similarities between a red Hamed and this one. The last of a few royal parties to a planet called Tamaran.

“Get off!”

Slade moved in with some explosive discs and found the underside if the robotic squid to gave a soft spot. His mask cane in handy to radar in and the creatures were disabled. The girl however, was hurt as he stopped when she held up a glowing wrist. “Kez- rutha!” The woman shouted. Slade moved in and stared a translation program fired up on his arm's integrated vambrace, as a piece of the man’s suit. “I come peacefully. You are injured. What was that creature. Are you, from another planet?”

The woman snorted and tried to take off, yet Slade blocked her way, hand up as he threw a force field wall up and it became a dome to lock her in place. “Don’t bother digging. Only a strong electrical pipe is underground. You’d get shocked by the charge.” He lied, seeing her scrunched her lit eyes at him angrily. “KEZ…RUTHA GURBIDDAN LA. HEZBROKE – NEERA ZEPLUN.”

“I’m sure you just want to talk and get help. Why don’t you tell me your name.”

She cocked her head, then smiled and crooked a finger. “Hur bidder den zee. Lilnit baraple- Vilgas. Kom…”

~ Come closer. And I will tell you. ~ She was saying.

He did so and for a minute her hands stayed down. “Glen Morgok- marro?”

~ Why do you wear a mask? ~

“Heeva- lars grilgax…”

~ Let me see your face, rescuer? ~

Oh, a temptress type. Slade had no choice.

(This part is why we are going to be very much M from herein out!)

Batting her eyes, he let down the faceplate- no. He pulled out the mask grates ONLY and smiled down until her arms with fire pulled him down. To kiss, through those grates with much animosity. She dropped him, her spitting face soon taking on new meaning as she spoke in the language of earth. She spat out the taste as if it had been something rancid before cleaning her throat.

“I didn’t realize you wanted me to stay. I’m so, sorry. You do not know who you are talking to, earth – raiser... I am Princess Komand'r of Tamaran – of the Vegas star system, first in line of my planet's one rule. First In line, unlike that which you assume from my age, maybe?” She accused, rather snarky for a teenager as he gasped at what this little beast had done.

 He’d… she’d used him to pick up their language??

“My desire is to return to my home planet, yet you…I sense ill intent in your actions. You will release me now, or do you not care if the ground should fry you into –

“I will, but one question. Just one. Do you know a girl by the name of Koriand'r?”

//////////////

That was how it began. How Slade had to no longer ignore the fact that a teen brat had taken him on by sheer wit and force. It wasn’t until under terms so great, he gave her water and shelter, chipping her with his “inferior" technology to be sure if she disobeyed, he could punish the brat for speaking out of turn. She was wild, charismatic and liked to roam unattended. The typical rebellious teen with a bit of a promiscuous side. A princess, the latter.

“My sister you call Starfire, is a hero of this earth – ridden world?” Scoffed the child. “How? The Gordanians had orders to take she and I away. I escaped once the deal was broken and my parents annihilated by the army that almost destroyed Tamaran on the spot. In years since, I have with my sister, been enslaved. We were the only to be experimented on that can shoot a sun harnessing energy from our hands and eyes.” Kom pointed to her still batting lashes as Slade just sipped his tea and wanted to be as far away from his new client as possible.

“My name is translated to your people as “Blackfire" in your language. Here though….What do they call you?”

“Slade, or in other places. Deathstroke.  I have many aliases I go by. It keeps my enemies at a distance.”

“Mysterious type?...” She purred, impressed. “You must be some genius to know how to build a working translator that can determine correctly my native tongue. I admire it, to a fault. You brought me in away from the fighting, so?” She looked up at the gears and screens. He was no ordinary genius, she sensed. Maybe just as powerful as Kal - el and a few others who had arrived years before to this dirt clod of a planet.

“I heard that this is the famous hiding place of the being called ‘super – man.” She recited. “Have you been in contact before with the man I so strongly speak highly of?”

“I have. He is very strong, stronger than what your sister pretends to be. He also saves lives here on earth. Countless times now.” Slade answered, exaggerating a little to gather more on his client's disposition. And to toy with her before he sent her packing.

“Typical last son of Krypton.” Snorted the princess as she leaned back and groaned at how bored she was being; a guest without reason. There had to be one. She had no reason to stay, but maybe…

“I wish to locate my baby sister. Dear Starfire needs to know that I am still alive –

“I can’t let you do that. I’m in the middle of an important project and meeting her would incite confusion.”

“What sort of project are we talking about, earthling?” She leaned in and accused a bit, squinting up at the man. “Sir, from this almost…” Gorbian" cave you’ve placed in the heart. No, below this city, you don’t strike me as the type of person TO save lives at all. Not generally, from the fact …. that my sister and her new home are posted up onto your wall of many screens!” She pointed and shouted out, not as coy as her sibling at all to say so otherwise to Slade’s face. “Tell me what your real purpose is and I promise…I have enough power that would RIVAL Kal – el's broken strength of a traitor to the federation….you will concede or this planet's collapse shall  be imminent!”

/////////

So, he opened up about his occupation, his seedy business for being in Jump City, and his new alias as well as the young boy he had weaned on a slight lie. That if he defeated the heroes he had infiltrated for his master, he’d become family instead of just a prototype of the original.

“Wow, you are...bad, and that is no one, true compliment.  You want to defeat that team of heroes, to –

She shook her head. “Starfire is still my blood –

“Then why did you sell off your entire planet, Blackfire?” Slade got up, her fists moving like magma. “You tell me you have a purpose, but that’s all been gone for some time since before your arrival. You wouldn’t get within ten feet of that group of teenagers without being ripped apart for answers. You need to be smarter, and clearly you are cunning and know your politics on the matter. I do as well. That YOU sold yourself for the throne. It backfired, didn’t it. Exiled Princess, Blackfire …”

“Y…you do know me…but…how?”  She was cornered now as her glowing eyes wavered a slight.

“Through work, personal research. I didn’t know you’d be falling down here tonight. I thought that you had all if what remained of warring Tamaran to yourself, but clearly. They didn’t want anything to do with a traitor, now did they?” He hissed.

She roared out and he pressed a button to his wrist. Her entire body felt as if a spark bang had gone off inside it. She writhed and yelled, falling onto her side. Ribs still intact as he stood over her curled up form. “I’ll only let you go back once some competition is out of the way. You say Starfire isn’t aware of your true face? Then, we are in unison on one thing; if you can inherently return to the tower and gather as much data before I make the call to have her tossed back on a ship across the galaxy without you, I’ll spare your miserable liife. Starfire is a problem I find bothersome, but you can do better. To tear that team of heroes in two perfect directions, my dear. I want you….to –

/////////////////

Starfire searched for Robin as she overheard something below her feet. She put her ear to the floor, making passerby look at her strangely. Some took pictures as Bb and Raven with Cy were too busy to notice. The chicken blocked Raven’s view as Bb had her displaying it proudly. “See? I’m the muscle arm champ more than Cy is! I got eight throwing arms instead of –

“You cheated. I was helped by a no-good thief.”

“RAAE! COME ON!” Bb wined at the empath. People were already starting to whisper as she sighed, finding it fatal to bring more attention to them. He was a green troll. She, was a Gothic beauty with a hellish secret. “My…hero. You are the strongest eight-armed hero out there. Whoopee.” She deadpanned dryly as he took it in light of the people, who  were finally backing off.

“You can so use a new element to your room. It’s always –

Bb stopped.

“What?” Raven saw his nose going wild.

“Star…I smell…danger!”

Blackfire moved swiftly as Robin got into position. Slade watched from his seat as he moved quickly to meet the boy at the food court, incognito in civilian wear. “How did it go?”

“You set them up. I saw her face. Something is about to happen, isn’t it.”

“Just keep a calm head. No one is going to get hurt. That isn’t the plan.”

“It’s Star!” Robin gasped. “She’s going afte –

“That, is top secret for now. Just watch them closely. I won’t be far off.” Slade put a new tracer chip in the boy’s hand. “Put this in her drink. That will give me better control of the situation at best. You want this to work out, don’t you Dick? -

“Not here, sir. I can’t be spotted.”

“You won’t.  Any signal is scrambled. Your unit is offline to your fake team.”

Fake…Robin let the word wash over him. “Go, save the day. Make her trust your methods more than mine.”

“Yes, sir.” Robin held to the chip as he moved away from the counter and ran. He ran to find Star before the revenge plan could leave them all one member short.

////////////

Black fire commed her boss as he let her know what was about to happen. He’d taken the liberty of reprogramming the robots that had come after the dark alien princess. Now, they were just stage props to get the two siblings back together.

Blackfire was going to fake a rescue, and then tear out the other princess’s heart before selling the whole thing to an alien empire for keeps.

After that, he’d grant her partial freedom and even agree to help her have back her massive empire. She also told him about a third sibling, Wildfire who could usurp her and take her down in a duel for that empire. Thankfully, he was going to need more than his regency to gain the favor of the people. She already had an inside man. One that maybe would do as she wanted since technically the people did not believe she was totally guilty at all. But coerced. As she had left it; the Gordian armies were formidable. Her parents had died and been assassinated by the head general if the fleet. The last reagent and staff they could trust, Gilford, was holding up for as long as he could. She needed to go back and set things right without any unneeded irregularities.

Blackfire worked fast as Slade set up the homing beacon. Robin found Kori and asked if she was thirsty. She was delighted to know he was alright and while she was dancing and giddiness trying to decide on a flavor of soda to try, he dropped in the chip for her to consume. Just as Blackfire, both sisters would have no one else to turn to for the sake of a promised freedom.

/////////

Slade activated the bots as they warned up and were released into the city. The blurs of purple light spun through and rammed the side of the walkway while people heard the messy rumble and looked around in shock.

“A pulse?? What’s hap –

Cy gasped as he put up his fists and ran. There was an attacker. Here! He started to connect to his team. All but Robin and Star were able to hear. Raven and Bb were in close as the bots had too much blocking out cell signals. A wage powerful enough to make electronic s spark.

“DUDE!”

“A problem. We can’t wait for Cyborg.” Raven raised her arms and dropped the fat chicken in her grasp. ~ AZARATH METRION ZINTHOS!!~

The pier was kept from breaking as Bb morphed into a jellyfish to flop into the creepy cone heads. He went floating with them as he remained unharmed – screaming through the air until they dumped him in the water. “Way not ok!! Rave!”

He called to her as she flew in for the next strike. The magic bounded off and the people were screaming down below. Wildlyl now, tents were closing up and rides were going dark or not at all. The next octo – freak ship dove and decimated a part of the ferris wheel. Starfire had still not been able to ride it as she drove in after with a battle cry. Robin was tapped on the shoulder before being knocked over by that other mysterious blur.

The princess gasped at the blur was fast like a shot of a star bolt from her palm. The radiating energy a might darker, as the left hook to the thing's underside sent it crashing into the water.

“One down.” The girl said with a hand to her hip in mid flight.

Robin was facing the second as it blocked his way out. His took out his staff and hit it, the thing going back before coming right over his head. Robin grabbed the thing with his rangs and like Bb, rode it in loop de – loops and a few twists until his lungs passed through his chest unfazed. No hernia here, but it was certainly one donkey willing to send him into the ocean in warning.

“ROBIN –

“I’ve got this one.”

 The blur rushed off as her eyes off for the torso, grabbing the boy wonder as she shot at the underside where the bot had little protection. It made a few creaks until it was far enough off that she let it explode like a fourth of July rocket in the air. People cheered and Blackfire felt, kind of great about getting the applause for once. Starfire looked so dumb standing around. Being so weak, as Slade had told her.

This was going to be easier than taking over Tamaran a second time….

//////////

She held him bridal before letting go. She was, very beautiful up close as she smiled a bit reluctant longer into.his masked orbs.

“Drop him.” Raven moved in, not aware of what had really happened. Starfire was trying to find the courage to say something as the other princess did as she was told. “I heard Earthlings weren’t as wary of strangers from other planets or dimensions. Must have been a –

“She, is no stranger. Friends…. this.” Starfire floated over to the girl as the others all watched Starfire put her hands to Kom's own. “Is my eldest sister, Blackfire. She will be staying with us. I gave assured that no harm will come to her during her short stay here on earth.

“Nice to see you too, sister dear…”

Starfire pulled the whelp in with a tug to whisper in her ear the language of her people.

~ My friends do not know about our true history. The courts on all accounts called you  as responsible for their death on that day… I intend to know, or you shall be called to order and shipped off to the highest security sector in the galaxy to be detained. And sentenced for your crimes against Tamaranean life as I see it. ~

~ I’m not like before, and I am innocent! I have only to return and…I was taken too by the enemy. They did such horrible things to my body and my powers. The deal backfired and…I want to make it up to you and our people. Show me how, dear sister?... ~

Blackfire then near fainted on the spot, playing the damsel to a T.

“Show me what it’s like to be adored by so many for real, this time…”

///////////////

Oh, ok. So I have a full plot, backstop and twist in mind but? The rated has to go up so unless I leave it and see what them bots say? You be the judge. No sex though! And no slash,  she just sensed the separation anxiety off of Dick because she is one smart cookie. Find out! Blackfire is one live wire you don’t want to mess with!

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse- What it Takes-

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Chapter 22: Iron Jawed Empress

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I loved Iron Jawed Angels in Middle and high school. Still have the DVD. Starfire is no feminist by far. Even Blackfire who is the Femme Fatale of this series. She also has beef with a lot of folks so…this has an interesting “join me luke while we rule the galaxy vibe.” Starfire turned her down to rule side by side once, so what comes next?

Find out. Flashbacks to follow!

//////////////

“I always was the better fighter.”

From the main room in light recovery, down the hall Starfire followed the voice of a dark haired master manipulator from her childhood. The darkness in her heart was there, yet Starfire saw only loneliness long ago and fell into the trap of Blackfire’s plan to overthrow the king and queen while Kori became her right hand. She hated the political field and how weak her people had been against the earlier Drenthax invasion. More militaristic in stance, she took to her grandfather’s ideals of conquest and keeping a secular,  strong nation which…made some to next to no sense at all. Starfore couldn’t have been a warrior as much as Blackfirr claimed. She spoke about how she outfitted a sky captain from the “Horoton Nebula" and the Sentari  moons had crystals she’d seen as big as your fist.

That was a story for the ages in her mind, yet Robin got the feeling like Cy and Raven that there was more to those eyes than met their princess’s tale of valiant heroics. Kori was quick to become enthralled and Bb looked to have a crush until she outright said “just friends” to the little green toad.

“Robin. We are almost evenly matched in the fight. I liked how your quick thinking took out that drone scout -  bot.” She praised the spiky haired teen. Starfire gritted her fists as a deep concern bled through her features.

“Robin is…very shy!” She started and blocked the boy a minute to speak to him in the other room. “You must not let my sister’s words fool you. She is a ruthless criminal that almost enslaved half of the Tamaranean royal family. Tell me, do you believe her stories, friend Robin?”

“I, don’t know. But she’s here now and that’s all that matters “

“But – she is not who she appears-

“Is our girl Starfire, kinda jealous?” Bb snickered with a grin at the two. “Oh, no no! I am, mostly the worried for friends Robin’s….tendencies to confuse events! You se, he is of the trauma case and we are healing together.”

Robin gawked at the words and for a reason other, he spoke up. “I’m not a kid with that many problems. Not like him, he’s assuming you are not being real here!”

“I’M WHAT??”

“Cool it, you bozos. Starfire?? I never knew you were so popular as a commoner here!”

Blackfire’s remark made Starfire fly up and hit her head into the ceiling – taken by surprise by the enemy. “I – I am doing no such thing! You make assumptions of my life on Earth too early, sister. You do not understand!”

The red headed princess barreled out of the room with her sobs leaving the Titans convinced of one thing. Blackfire had a history and Star didn’t want to talk about what really went on. ( Recall, they’ll not know about the past these two share or their animosity because it is private business. Not even Robin knows. Only Slade and Star might as well.) A princess of earth she was not. Kori wept along as Robin didn’t bother to get to follow. Blackfire pulled him over as he didn’t have a chance to change his mind.

“Wanna spar in the gym with me? I’m sure she won’t mind If I borrow you for a partner.” Her smile and passion to kill was impressive. Robin swallowed and transfixed, didn’t mind Raven peeking from her angle at how miserable the boy wonder really was with the Titan’s new houseguest.

//////////

Starfire was away. They could talk, so both dropped their false monikers.

“Right….so, did the mastermind talk to you? I mean, you pushed for me to come here as much as my dumb sibling. She is pretty mad.” Looking at her hands as if they were glowing already, Blackfire waited for Robin to respond. “She is, but only you both seem to know why. She wanted you to come here, but I think it was more than just to get close. To keep an eye –

“Time’s up.” Blackfire clapped her hands together and soon, they took to their titles while learning more about the other. “Starfire was not one to be brave in our classes with the teachers of Okaara. The warriors there favored my tenacious behavior. At times.” The princess flipped Robin over into a ball – right into a stack of weights on the wall of the gym. “Hyaa!” She flung him then looked up with a hand to her hip before falling it a “strike.” Like he was some ball hitting a bunch of pins. Robin winced as she moved quickly to massage his shoulders and help him up, all before a quiet Starfire walked past them.

“R…Robin and….my sister? You are too the close! He will –

“You are so touchy about us! He’s adorable and I was showing, Robin was it? I was showing him how our family learned to fight.”

Kori stomped in as her feet reached the air right with emerald eyes glaring. Her anger more so twisted around one factor. Robin could be destroyed by the person who wished to harm this earth. She grabbed Robin’s arm and Blackfire latched out at the same time. Robin yelled as the two would have spilled his guts onto the clean gym mats.

“Typical perfect Koriand'r! Always getting what YOU want while I have to fight for everything! You owe me for helping you stay out of danger at the waterfront! You should let him go already, he’s not your plaything!!”

“THAT is the very wrong, sister dear…. Robin does not wish to go be a man who is handled so rudely by a loud, unapologetic conqueror who lost the throne to a boy younger than both of us combined!!”

“LET…GO!!”

The boy wonder's scream was loud enough, that Cy had his ear on the comm that fell out of Robin’s pocket. The signal went and he instantly was next; Cy only though, not BB, came running.

 However, Raven was the very first one to float through the door and pull the two feuding siblings apart before s travesty could occur. “THIS IS NOT OK.” She shot at the alien sisters as Blackfire tugged free due to being let go. “I had no ill intent. That …MORBLIK has an unhealthy attachment. To this planet. It is disgusting! Utterly shameful, Starfire. I thought she was loyal to her people. Not this…” Blackfire held her tongue. “I came to see about closing one door to open another.” The dark-haired princess let her sister’s swallowed regrets swallow her up. “Blackfire…you have nothing to feel s -

“I guess I am neither wanted here or back on Tamaran. Thank you, for making me feel at peace for once…Koriand'r.”

“Sister!” Blackfire left while Kori went to chase her out to the roof. The two flew up to where the moon was on high. Blackfire had her back to the red headed sister. Her sister, the one she was about to defeat once again.

“My stat wasn’t meant to be. You have a lovely little boy toy in your collection.”

“He is, going through… the pains of the heart. Robin cannot overcome his fears on his own.”  Starfire shook her head.

“Why.” Blackfire never batted an eye on the question.  “Why does he need you to save himself the trouble of being happy? He’s a human being on this planet. You do not own him. You are not as responsible…. but maybe, you are angry at me. I could change your mind. Like old –

“I will not buy any more of your deals or…or plans. Your plans are….”Foorlthfal! Glora- nilstitc!”

Blackfire gasped at the expletives and raised a hand up, to redirect only a finger. “You should have never spoken to me at all. This is your time to do time for your crimes…of letting me down. How weak! How utterly…. incompetent....Seize her!!”

//////////

Robin rose groggily as his head pounded, his body in a state of panic. He heard a scream and knew he had no time left.

Then, another scream? Blackfire??

“They’re both on the roof!” BB panted over and with his team, they went after two. No. Three to four of the same types of strangely identical probes. The teens screaming in the clouds were both Starfire and Blackfire. The dark haired Empress fought well, until one ended up knocking her out with a hit to the noggin.

“SISTER! NO!” Starfire fought bravely, yet the probes were under some main control. A control that actually was made aware, by an individual with a lot riding on getting rid of only one alien maid.

Blackfire was doing as she was expected.  The bot replication were real. The one to have gotten the beacon had sent two more. Slade had control of two, and he was about to crack the code on number…

Robin swung in on a grappler and took off atop the darned machine to set it lower. He used his gloves’ magnets to keep him where he would not fall into the bay. Slade watched, yst his mic went up to alert the boy via comm if he could. Right in his suit. (Recall, it is hidden since they never found a wore on him. Injectable control.)

~ Apprentice. You are interfering with the wrong mission. Abort now. Get off of that drone at once. You are being –

“Neither of them said they wanted to fail…well, I’m supposed to stop the enemy. That’s you, right? This will all work out.”

~ WAIT! ABORT, NOW. ROBIN! ~

Slade slammed a palm down into his control panel, not to break it but to get out his frustration. That kid needed to stop improving and listen. He was on thin ice if he failed. “Fine. Show me what you can do to stop them from leaving this planet... not that it matters who wins.” He sighed, tension slowly melting away. “Wintergreen. Dragonwell. Stat. I need a refreshing cup before my next session with my, apprentice.  He will be back…” Slade seethed under his masked lip. “He will always come back to me. Won’t you, dear boy?”

/////////////

Robin didn’t know why he’d done it. The role. It felt so, real to him that if he tried to sit and do nothing…. he’d lose. Totally lose his image of what a hero was supposed to do. Raven was not far behind and Bb was pecking at the back of one probe as well.

Cy was trying to hack in, but instead he opened for a jet feature in his armored body. “The probes are taking …whoa…. a ship?”

“A…”

“Police!” Starfire gasped. “Sister? Where are you-

“IN THE NAME OF THE GALACTIC quadrant; as enforcement agents of the planetary field of the Sentari moons…  you are all hereby, under arrest!”

//////////////

So, who was the iron Jawed Empress in this you ask? Both, metaphorically but mostly Blackfire. Starfire has to stand up for herself so the two really fighting over their own disagreements while using Robin as a scapegoat sort of or a crutch to that event, is Blackfire’s cover. What about the Sentari police? Was she really not as innocent? Find out!

////////////

Chapter Text

Our Time In Reverse- What it Takes –

/////////////////

Chapter 23: Confessio

///////////

The heroes were corralled in a line through the doors of the space ship; the Centauri ( sounds cooler) moons were a place that was both dangerous, forbidden of any crafts to enter without proper licensing and inspection. Starfire had never been to the Centauri moons, yet her sister had traveled far across the galaxy. She wished weren’t so, she was still royal to her people. To the knowledge of those who still respected Tamaran.

“The Troq twins are playing the cute an’ innocent act, chief.” The robotic suits came off to reveal aliens as they spoke in the language Kori could understand.  “There must be some mistake. My sister and I were never near that planet-

“Sources say otherwise.” The guard duo in the high tech interrogations room had a good and bad cop . The one cop was from the arrest, while Starfire talked to the older other, the bad cop Blackfire presumed by his extra stars.  “You’re not just two innocent Tamaranean natives, you have higher pedigree-

“That is false, untrue. We were both cast out.” Blackfire defended, feeling stupid enough to have been captured while taking the heat for her traumatized younger sibling. Just like before, when they were better to one another.

“Should we run a background check? Take some blood samples, sir?” The younger cop questioned, while the older cop’s silvery eyes narrowed in his own vision of what was about to happen. “Takes too long, and we have something they want. You got friends on that inferior water- planet, ladies?”

“Not Really.. Sighed Blackfire. “We were just passing through, right, sister dear?” Blackfire smiled at Kori while she recalled their plans and her rejection of her big sister’s want for power. “No, I was there. It is my home. I am a hero of it – a Titan. You may ask any one of my friends. They are—

“Quiet, troq.”

“Do not call my sister that, vorthblik!”

“Or what?” Grinned the dirty older cop. “You’ll zap me with those pretty eyes, troq-

Blackfire did more than that, she pulled at her cuffs that encased her whole wrists and lower arms. She met the pressure with her eyes to them. Starfire yipped in her seat as the cop from the ship got out a baton. Starfire gasped as Blackfire kicked up a leg into the guard’s shin under their invisible table. “I don’t need my powers to show you what Troqie is capable of.” She sneered as he stepped back. The baton was whirring with energy as Blackfire’s eyes effectively hit the light source. She pulled Kori; hands still cuffed together, and raised her elbow hard in to the now deactivated locks.

“ Sister! Stop –

“AFTER THEM!”

Alarms blared, the two gathering their wits and started running. No flight allowed, until Blackfire turned a corner. She’d made a promise to that earth villain…She wasn’t going to test his gall on what he had promised her. True or not, he was her way to get rid of the competition.

She dodged a swath of them, lasers on her back as Kori’s cuffs were tugged off. “The Citadel has nothing on us.” She smirked to Kori. “You…you are used to running from the law??” Starfire gawked at her sibling. “You swore to never –

 “Well, I actually didn’t-

She opened up a shut door before dropping the retort. Thankfully,  inside were her sister’s friends. Cy was pushing through, breaking Raven’s bonds. Bb got to Robin's cuffs with little resistance. “Are these future tech?”  Bb panted as a beaver, then reverted back while his teeth still clattered from the strong alloys.

“Move aside, posers,” Blackfire jumped in and unlocked each cuff with something she’d wiped from the guard during the blackout.

“You’re an actual criminal.” Robin responded, a bit downcast at how she didn’t act like it  mattered yet. “Why are you helping us?”

“I still have something to do back on earth –

“YOU, are not bringing your kinda attitude back until y’all tell us what’s really goin’ on here??” Cy got in the other sister’s face while Kori was near to tears on what was happening.  “We can decide later. This is a bad time for fights aboard a moving space ship.”

“We, are in space???” Gar guffawed. “No flippin, duh!”

Bb ranted in the background with Robin in deep thought, while Raven tried to see if she could teleport them with any remnants of magic that she had. She was still an intermediate in the arts of her birth. It might work, but there was chances could trap them in between voids if that failed…

“We have to bust out. Starfire. You need to choose.”

“No, you don’t have to be like your sister, Star.” Robin reached over as Cy saw how she wanted to reach out buttoned not. “But, what we are doing….she has gotten worse in my ab –

“You aren’t responsible for me!” Laughed the evil twin and exiled princess. “I could be the next grand ruler and it would be because of my bloodline that they could not touch me. You, on the other hand…should, just count yourselves lucky.”

“I shall do no such thing!” Starfire exclaimed back in protest. “You made my friends enemies of the Galactic law and the order, you deliberately tried to switch places and steal my life from me…you were going to do something terrible. I know who you are, what you wanted for us even when I told you that same answer to your question. I shall not rule beside an anarchist.” Starfire pulled away. “I, want nothing to do with you…any –

“I don’t care. You’re all accessories and I don’t want to lose what I’m supposed to get for doing my half of the job –

“Blackfire, you could change. Why are you doing any of this?” Robin begged the question, demanding it firmly, “ If it means getting others into danger, like Starfire said.” Robin moved along as the dark future empress exchanged glances. “Why would you risk that much to get hurt yourself. What job? Who…”

Cy raised a hand. “Time to move. The guard squadron is still outside the door and Bb smelled explosives.”

“You locked us in??? Are you crazy, mama??!” Bb shouted as Blackfire winced at the backlash. “Raven, your Chakra. There is a way to activate a vortex if you let me tell you the incantation.”

“How do you know about dark magic…?” Raven raised her hood at the smirk that princess gave, cockily she shrugged. “A lonely girl out here in deep space? Oh, she needs a lot of tricks to keep herself from getting thrown behind bars. You don’t all know me as well as Starfire always did. She and I were inseparable once –

“That was too long to matter, the now.” Starfire huffed. “If you knowing a way back to earth, please do so in sending my sister far away from that same, trajectory. She is no longer welcome inside of our home.”

“Star, it’s not up to one of us ta decide that.” Cy reprimanded the huffy red headed teen.

“Got it, so just all of you…” Raven growled. “Be. QUIET.”

//////////

“Alright, Raven!” Blackfire cheered, the vortex was spinning like, a swirl for them to pop along through.. “See? I told you that I was…well…” Blackfire sheepishly smiled and rolled her eyes to the side with another shrug of her hunched form. “What about if they chase us back there? We don’t want a dog fight in an unfamiliar territory.”

“It won’t happen.” Raven started to chant as a hole in the floor opened up. “Get in. No time to talk.” Starfire was reluctant, yet Robin coaxed her to follow. She clung to his arm, her own fingers faintly shaking as Blackfire vaguely nodded for the boy wonder to take notice.

The guards started as they had feared, to mobilize, and in their turning point the scouts that had attacked at the pier showed up to block the ship. While the heroes got back to earth, and the guard chief had a signal pop in from a man in an iron mask.

~ At Ease. I am only checking in as promised. Did it all go as I’d detailed it to?  ~

“For an earthing, you are quite brilliant to have intercepted what the girl would do in our holding cell. One fellow mercenary to another, we made sure to send them packing with the right Intel. They now know about the princess, the one who hired her…..and we’ll have her back after this is done? Correct?”

~ The probes have a lock. When she returns to your airspace again, they’ll subdue and you’ll have your criminal.~

///////////////

They hurtled together into the water, Sputtering up a storm as Starfire didn’t try to take back her word. She used her starbolts to keep Blackfire from leaving the bay. Her hair and clothing fully soaked as he tried to shoot by her eyes and throw her younger sister a bone.

“YOU MAY NOT BE PERMITTED BACK. GO AWAY NOW PLEASE!”

“What th –

“STOP! This is too dangerous. That’s exactly why you have to change. Look at what  –

“I don’t CARE!” Blackfire lit up as a dark crystal after dark. Night had fallen and the heroes saw her frustrated enough to level entire neighborhoods.  “Have your perfect life! I did my part.” She sniffed. :And don’t ever come back to Tameran! Anyone that stays with these earth bottom feeders is…is a criminal as well! I’m gone…see ya, sister dear…” She waved off the others, Robin dragging himself out of the water as he went over to Kori to offer out a gloved hand. “I, wish to not be here. I am sorry…” She fled off up into the air, the one the troopers wanted was coming right to them. Her DNA, her sister. Gone free.

//////////

Slade sat and watched the Titans confront the real Starfire as she opened up about how Blackfire had caused the fall of her family and that she was also guilty for not knowing the truth. Robin did as he was told. He only got close enough until she put her arms around the boy.

By that night at bedtime, lights out, the boy clocked in. Slade masked his displeasure. Sloppy. All of it, he’d at least get to whip the brat back into working order off the radar.

~ Cinched it, and well done, apprentice. ~  

The boy didn’t have to wait as Slade’s beaming eye looked a bit less irritated to him, being it not the case at all. Robin was ready to say his part, until that ball dropped.

~ You’re to meet me tonight, for a debriefing and to decide on your punishment. ~

//////////////////////////

So, Slade worked with the police.

Blackfire's not really in space jail.....or, is she? Find out! 

Chapter Text

Our Time In Reverse – What It Takes –

/////////

Chapter 24: Banished Thoughts of a True Happiness

//////////

This is where the torment recovers itself. Also, the ep Nevermore is being moved earlier and Forces of nature and Switched with Aqua lad will come sooner than you think…and Blackfire became a space pirate. Kidding! Or, am I?

////////////

Slade had been there. He had saved Richard from losing his stamina and the boy craved to craft it in new ways. To repurpose what his parents had wanted. A happy, healthy boy with a loving guardian to keep him. Kept.

The rattle to his teeth tasted like nickel and rust.

The man swept back with a new uppercut to his apprentice’s jaw. The taste was torn between being safe and sane. This wasn’t his life anymore.

He still didn’t know what that was supposed to look like. Renegade after all, only had one master to look forward to displeasing him. He, them. If he failed again, he’d have no one. Not even the Bat would want him back after all of his shortcomings.

Slade had a sock to the gut follow the first few fists. Slade gripped roughly at his hairline as the boy seethed up into the masked steely, eye in pain. “You won’t do it again. Will you, my apprentice.” The man barely hissed in kind as the boy dropped his head and spoke with a bruise forming under his eye. A beat down for making a mess of his master's plans to see the alien in cuffs. “No, sir…” He slurred over his torn teeth. He'd just made it sloppy. Despite Slade using the probes that the ship's aliens had not seen coming, they had. They had worked in tandem to catch Blackfire and had saved her.

She even reported back that night before Robin had been thrown go his knees and had said that the ship was now hers. She’d thrown the crew out when she was done into the reaches of a cold, deep space and was still a wanted felon for her crimes against the embassy. In all, Slade still rewarded her with some supposed “Centauri moon diamonds” that she had asked for to keep up the ruse.

Even if the boy had not done as he’d done, it still would have happened. This was just a taste of his master’s anger. Of what Robin should fear. And Renegade, was to anticipate every drop when they took over the city.

“I have the injection prepped in the medical room, go a hallway down.” Slade let go of the boy's attention to say, nudging his masked chin at a sliding door as it electronically remained his safe haven for now.

To finish up here, and return elsewhere, Richard swallowed thickly. “Wintergreen will administer the dose, and you’ll be much better by morning. They don’t need to see you weeping. You had promised you’d stop. Robin did, didn’t he.”

“I…yes, sir. I’m sorry for taking action like I had. It won’t happen –

“See that it doesn’t, boy.” Slade was colder to him than normal, but it was their two roles that defined these masks that they wore. He couldn’t be anything less than the enigma that the mad man had planted inside the Titans' pubescent minds.

“Yes, master. May I go get to my treatment now?”

“You may. Be quick, then return to the tower.” The man walked off and went to monitor the heroes as they slept on through the boy’s punishments. “Lest, your friends find out you’ve been tricking them all along.”

/////////

Robin was careful to sneak back in before the first alarm clock could go off. Unfortunately, he didn’t remember Raven and her upstairs rooftop sessions. She only saw a red blur yet didn’t stay away from focusing on herself. By breakfast, Starfire was hesitant to go to Robin’s room and ask for him to join them for the Titans' patented “all you can eat breakfast pancake and waffle – explosion” in the kitchen. “Star, what’s up? You look super not ok with yourself.”

“I….” Starfire turned to see Cy with a plate of waffles out and a glass of O.J in the teen's other metal set of fingers. “Is…that for friend Robin?” She motioned her eyes at the glass.

“Raven told me he musta' had no sleep, said she saw him outside earlier, coming back in. He’s pretty down about things too; you should see if he wants this.” Cy motioned to the plate and then the shut door in front of them. “I’ll tell the others you’ll both catch up later. Good luck –

“WAIT! Friend Cyborg? -

He zipped off with a happy tune as she was left with the untouched, hot to the touch, breakfast fare. Was he also regretting what Blackfire had put them all through? It was Robin’s second time getting to know the Titans' crime fighting lives. That Cyborg trusted her to bring the “boy of many wonders" out if his cocoon.

She took a heavy breath, and opened the door to let a flood of light catch at the appearance of bruises.

All over his body.

Slade had said to be careful, not to let anyone see him for the next four hours after he’d returned. It was only two.  Starfire rushed over to lift up the hero who couldn’t even keep his swollen eyes shut all the way through another REM cycle.

She left the plate to the side. The glass, not drunken, as acid to a wounded set of teeth right now, might not have been the wisest choice for anyone’s consumption. 

//////////

Raven was there as soon as Starfire used her COMM to pull out the word “emergency” to her teammates.

They came, and right two hours before. The serum wouldn’t do its job now. They knew. Robin dropped his head into his hands as Raven led her fingers to grip at his upper arm.

“I’M FINE.” The boy suddenly snapped.

“You were beaten up.” BB defended Raven as Dick clicked his tongue at the intrusion. “That’s not fine, dude. I can smell how much distress you’re in from the kitchen. You’re-

“I’M. FINE.” Robin snipped again to them. “I got into scraps like this when I was…. being trained to fight like my life depended on it. I can handle a beating up by some uncoordinated thugs.”

“You went outside the tower. Without MY permission.” Cy reprimanded as any family member's head of household would. They cared, Slade...was, only being firm. That he had disobeyed, that was Robin's fault for not listening. He had taken pity on the enemy…

“Dude! Say something! What went after you –

“Or did you find it.” Raven’s question made Robin’s skin crawl. No. She didn’t look that far into his mind. Fuck…he’d be ruined forever then!...

“DON’T TOUCH ME!” He pushed her hands off roughly this time. The scratch by his eye was surface - made. Like a set of fingers had made him a target of whatever sadistic treatment he’d been put through. “I know, about a special way to heal faster, from my step dad. He used to be in a military special ops program. Did some research. Took his stash and found a special serum that heals you in up to four hours. Tops. You, would have ruined that.”

“Military secrets?” Cy wasn’t liking this. He actually looked ready to dissect the kid himself. “You went after military secrets?? Are you crazy, spike! You don’t know what that could do -

Bb huffed in. “Come ON. You’re not gonna have us have to press you. What else are you gonna say, that we thought wrong about who you ate behind the dumb mask? That you wanna go and face the creep who did this to you?”

“He…. found me. One of the guys he hired, he tracked me down. I only went to check out the site where we fought Fixit. Then, there was a ping on my device, and... I thought it was a distress call and I was still up.” Robin winced as he sat up. “I never told you about the serum because it’s top secret.” Robin rolled his eyes groggily at the heroes did the same. “I can’t reveal –

“That the same bad man who caused you to suffer so, is still at the large….in this city? Our home??” Starfire threw a hand over her lips as Robin nodded.

“He was the one, the man who left the insignia that Cy found. It was….” Robin felt his blood pump through his veins as he put out a palm to get them to not look. To see what this vial was capable of.

“That –

“Stop…. let it…. work…gah!” Robin spat up bile onto his bed as the wounds began to reshape, working closed as the Titans witnessed this with high gasps. It was no miracle as Robin looked ready to vomit. “Fine….in…”

Bb held a hand over his face, looking quite green. With an ugly hedge – tint. “Get a bucket! -

NO….no, have…to learn!”

“You are not a soldier, Robin. You were brainwashed... you can feel pain. Let me –

“Don’t….” Gritting his teeth, nails clawing the sheets, the wounds soundly looked far too well dosed. Better. As if he had not been beaten by the man he still respected and hated. As the heroes looked on and grieved a metaphorical loss, Robin collapsed into the sheets again. Winded, coughing and sleepy.

“Give em some room. Rob.”

“Cy…don’t…. hate me…I’m sorry….” Robin wheezed weakly.

“Your pulse and blood pressure are going back to normal. Just, rest up.” Cy checked with his arm's monitor as he scanned the boy wonder. “We’ll be back in an hour.” He paused, looking to Raven who knew that this wasn’t natural. Whatever the serum was, it worked far better than any of them had ever seen of any drug on the US market place. Not a pain killer, but eraser. “Just, don’t do anything crazy while we’re debating this.”

///////////

Cy was sure something had gone off as Bb came back. His claws retracted as a kitten; despite his disgust carried traces of Robin’s blood, Raven did her best to divide the two specimens as the Titans got to work finding out more about what Robin had shot into his veins.

“No….no way…”

“Cy pulled back from the microscope. “It’s incredible.” Raven saw the same as an image was placed up on the screen. The conditions were changed. As the man they knew Robin would have hated to see, had to be stopped. 

“That’s him.” Raven showed the group the data and the image of a man from his military days on the main screen. The identification was however, not a DNA match.

“Stepdad?” Bb eyed the man and squinted at the man’s eye most of all.  “I don’t like em. Feels weird but my senses are saying he’s dangerous.”

“That sense is the common.” Starfire frowned. “This man is quite cruel if he was allowed inches near our new friend. I believe steps must be taken to –

“Robin went looking for him. Maybe for an explanation.” Cy explained to the princess.

 Raven rubbed her chin. “Or, for revenge.”

“Dude, he is such a liar. He promised not to go one man army on us! Can you tell him ta cut it out or not, Cy? You’re the leader.”

“Hey, they could a threatened him or anything else mighta' happened. We’ll check the street cameras and the ones by the docks. He said it was a distress call, but this to me…he got this from a dude's blood. He’s not human. It’s possible this guy Robin is afraid of maybe has more to tell us.” Cy tapped the glass and took the blood specimen to a special freezer. “None of you. Don’t tell Rob about this. If he sees us taking samples without his permission, he could run back out there and we won’t get a chance to help where we can. This guy has something on our boy, and I wanna know what.”

///////////

Raven looked down the hall at Robin’s door. He was resting and the blood was from an enhanced meta sample. That scared her to think that Robin’s mind thought that a do or die option was best for his health. He was only tough on his own. He didn’t show his darker side to anyone. Raven envied how in control he was while her darkness was not so kind.

She walked off to the next hall as she thought... The man, would they be seeing him soon too? And if Star had never seen the boy wonder in his room as he was…what would have happened? Was that his old life and he just couldn’t escape…It had to be. Raven made no more fuss over the topic as by her doorway, it was left opened.

////////

Raven flew through the door and on the floor, her priceless hand mirror lay. Tampered with. Not just any mirror, one that took her to the center of every part of her “selves.” All untouched by hands that had now…. taken a step into her room without regret or contempt. She had plenty, for having let down her guard. “I can’t….” Sigh groaned and watched the door. “I can’t tell my teammates…Not yet.” She turned to see if anyone had followed, one last time. Closing her door quietly, she whisked herself by her power right into the mirror’s swirling reflection. This had to be a trap. How else would someone has done this against their better judgment?

///////////

Bb walked on as he sniffed down the hall, Cy going in an opposite direction to Raven’s door. “Did Rae look kinda more gloomy to you than usual?” Cy bumped into Bb as they saw the doorway and gawked inside. Swirling magic had since dissipated as mortals couldn’t see her craft. Bb noticed the mirror lying there, untouched as the room didn’t look to be in too bad a shape. Raven was very tidy with her things. She was from a world that balanced on the ideals of minimalist living, yet as a witch in their world, she tended to understand a good book or a nice bit of Gothic décor. As long as she didn’t grow too attached to her things.

“We'll go in and out. No touching –

“BB??!” Cy ran over to the younger as he prodded his face while looking into a creepy horned hand mirror that was suited to an evil fairytale queen. Not his friend as he pretended to poke at an invisible blemish.

“Ah! This thing gave me a zit?? What gives!”

“Put that down and let’s go look in another spot. She ain’t here –

“NO. I smelled her distress and she’s here.” He pointed at the floor.

Cy scrunched up his nose at the titan. “Did you hit your head on the way up? Raven isn’t in the room! Put down that magic mirror and –

The swirls however, had other plans. Wisps of dark blue and grey smoke pulled THEM in. Cy screamed on the way into the portal that was RAVEN’S mind. He didn’t know, but Bb had been almost correct. They fell far, far down as Slade saw the two's blundering simps fall into Raven’s version of a Nevermore Paradox. He sighed, swapping to Robin’s room as he sent a message to the boy’s comm. He however didn’t know that Kori was the one to pick it up. She messaged back, seeing that her response would give her away.

~ You are up? ~

~I am. Did you heal up, I’m sorry if you had to feel that much from me. It was necessary. Next time. I’ll give a better warning. ~

~I’d rather you didn’t come here. Or stay in this city. ~

Slade quicker a brow. That…he checked to see that she had it, and that brought a smile to his face. Time to rip into her ego once and for all. What was left of it.

~ Oh, sorry. Should I have called first? You know what you did. You stole something from me. You and the serum will come home or I will not rest until this is settled between us. ~

~I’m not going to go. Stay away. ~

~ Why? Is the alien that sweet on you, Dick? ~

~Dick…. that is…I’m Robin. I want to know what it is you want. ~

~You mean, she wants to know. They aren’t even in the tower. Go look for yourself. Princess. ~

Starfire looked up with a gasp while clutching the device. She has a clue now.

~ I’m not blind to what you are doing with my son. It’s disgusting. A thing like you should be locked away. You’ll only get him killed while you both play pretend house behind my back. He’s a killer too, you recall?... But you kept him away from his future and I want what’s been my claim for the longest time. ~

She bit her lip and continued to type, furious as her hands were soon shaking.

~ We will protect Robin at all costs. At the cost of our very lives. The Titans will not fail to do so. We promised him the opportunity of having...a real family. You, are no “knorfka. ~

~Yet you, are just a stupid troq. An inferior brat who is troubling my son. My responsibility. And he will make the right choice. In due time, my dear. ~ 

Her breath hitched, and he smiled.

~ Take care of each other, while I'll still allow it. ~

Racial slurs were an intimidation tactic, yet it left an acrid taste in Slade's mouth. The role had changed him in more ways than one. He would put that past behind him once the enemy was vanquished, his apprentice back where he belonged. Starfire was found on the cameras, shaking, crying, as she started weeping profusely over the boy's limp form in the bed. She then flew off to her own room, not recalling Slade’s warning about the other Titans being in peril.

Oh well. Good friends, young love. It never truly lasted most of the time, anyways.

////////////////

Slade. Is. A ....dick!!... and Starfire does not know the name Dick is Robin's 100 percent...oh, boy wonder. She may start acting submissive now. But wait until later chapters - no slash, to be clear!!

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse – What it Takes

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Chapter 25: Treasure Hunting For Dangerous Shadow Walkers; Part One - Just Browsing

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CAMEO TIME, 90’s Club! Rejoice!!

The rest is explained. This is right before in my own telling, how the rooster talisman came to end up elsewhere. Fun twist, it was in the shop but the item wasn’t looked over until it was too late. Finder’s keepers?

////////////////////////////////

Down the bustling city lines in San Francisco Slade traveled in his worst disguise to date. An art collector, or just a guy waltzing by an antique shop that specialized in mostly Chinese and some South Asian pieces of pottery…charms.

He saw one thing that made it all worth the walk. The bell above the shop's door jingled, as Slade Wilson off the clock, eyed at every curiosity that his mind could contain in a single plot file.

He had one, Will had instructed about the readings of a strange storm brewing on the coast, mostly mistaken as interference or natural causes. Slade’s main issue was being out of Robin’s heads pace while the boy had his hands full consoling a possible Tamaranean simpleton.

Slade rolled his eye to a face on the wall. A golden disc, a battle spectacle, not of interest…. How curious he was…Oh, it had a small octagon shaped tile. Looked like -

No, a stone rooster, on a shiel -

“May I help you?”

The elder that walked out had a stereotype ideal that old was in. This was San Fran, not Burbank. He acted spry in Slade’s scope, yet he was checking out the clientele very differently….

“Ah, yes. You have a lovely collection of wares and I couldn’t help but come in to see for myself; I’m actually an art collector from New York and would love to see if you have…something for a dual purpose. I’ve been searching for an item and happened by… something. With…An interesting history –

“Aiya!” The man threw his hands up, and just after the door had been left shut, two others entered. A young, bright eyed ten-year-old (gonna say about) with dark hair and nearly hazel light brown eyes in an orange hooded sweatshirt, and a taller adult with a build under a blue top and of course… they looked to know each other.

No. Will had not said this place had a drama of anything of the –

“Hi uncle – oh! You look like a valued customer who’s here to see some novelty ancient Chinese history, huh?”

The girl was tapped on the shoulder by the stern looking adult she’d returned with. “Now, Jade.” The man had a rough accent yet spoke well as if you could never know he was already a resident for many years like his uncle.

“This man should not be bothered so quickly; his flight must have been troublesome… I apologize for my niece; she is only interested in –

“This business is not for the collective hand. It is for the soul and mind to ponder. NOT.” Uncle brought up a word, making Slade wonder if this was a wormhole he’d jumped into.

“Not, to just say he wants something with a use that is two sided, I do not concur it. What you said to me, sounds very sneaky…what did you say that your name was again?”

“Yeah, sir?” Jade mimicked her uncle as Jackie, the taller Slade found, broke up the two. A man with some sense. Finally. And no sense of danger made that doubly ok.

“I was aware actually of a special staff used by a sorcerer in the far past. They say his occultic beliefs were driven by a mysterious entity. My gallery could use a good ghost story and I’d love to have it around by -

“Not for sale. Jackie??” The man drove out the last “e" to show Slade was done here. “Please handle this man while I decide what must happen.”

“I think my uncle means that is far too…unpredictable what may happen if the staff were to leave this shop. We have given rights to it by the museum. You see –

“Uncle Jackie is a super dorky – but interesting…. archaeologist that specializes in discovering lost tombs and “preserving “cultural heritage sites...” Jade quickly air -quoted, seemingly a snooze to that fact. “He’s usually no push over to money grabbers like –

“Jade!” Both Uncle and Jackie shouted in her ears as she grumbled and sat off to the side, eyes as sharp as a cat's. She’d be a great con artist if her grades slipped – there was reason to see them do just that. “What we can instead interest you in maybe, is a sword from the –

“That staff has a specific, symbol on it. Don’t you have any more items like that one?”

As Uncle who already had the willies around the stranger was to this question, he wondered if his manner of not acting evil would hold. No one here could read his mind, or…

Could they read his chi?

Damn magical boys. First John C. Now?

“There are many ancient texts written ABOUT the staff of "Kagutsuchi - kami" (Borrowing a real name in myth partly "meaning he who starts fires") and superstitions surrounding how it was used to stop the brothers of thunder and lightning in the old stories of Japan…. you may take that." IfHe pointed one hand at the book, the other at Salde's face to BE rude. (Pointing is rude in other culturs i read compared to doing so in more urban areas or..in American life that I know of. Way too messy!)

"IF you do not continue to easily concern Uncle!!”

This would be in season one around the ep of the shield, but my way. *

///////////

He’d have to steal it, or rather….

Clicking his tongue, Slade went round the block while the Chan family as Will had informed, were stopping to chat about him with the window curtains all the way down.

“He was very…. deter –

“Ah! – ya!” The man used a book, the very same excuse to whap his nephew on the back of the skull rather forcefully. “You did not see what his true purpose was. The person in those cloths is no wolf, he was one upon entering my shop and his chi was raw with something I cannot consider…. good.” The old man rubbed his chin in thought of this while Jackie rubbed the back of his neck. Jade mimicked Uncle and hummed before hopping off her corner chair where she’d been forced to wait, pacing like a young detective. “Maybe he’s a super-rich jerk who collects stuff he wants cause his parents never told him –

“He is unsound, very dangerous. That face did not try to hide, but intimidate. I will arm the shop tonight, if I must.”

“Uncle, you are just overreacting –

“If I am gonna be in this, I should have a code name, right Jackie? Stake – out time?” Grinned Jade as the idea made her leap up and down. “I bet he’ll send assassins, or toadies who don’t get paid like –

“There are no such characters in real life.” Jackie corrected the child. “Honestly, you were allowed to stay because your grades are slipping and you need an activity to keep you more entertained –

“What’s more entertaining than stopping a one – eyed criminal break in to steal a valuable staff from some ten – thousand-year-old god used to defeat elemental deities in Uncle’s heyday?” Jade rolled her eyes, seeing as she’d been wiser all along. “C’mon! He was so fooling no one!”

“What…that poor man had two!” Jackie gawked as Uncle had his finger pointed at his one orb, the other was shut with a wry wrinkle. “The other was a fake, as I told you nephew. Not all wolves will walk in naked and bear their bellies as this one has. It wants to test us.”

“You….”

Jackie looked to Jade, while Uncle was not going to stop…

“Fine, I will…. allow Uncle this…. stake – out…one time, BUT! Jade is to go to bed at a reasonable hour.”

“I never get to do anything with you! No fair! Uncle is….old, and he still naps!” She pouted.

“I have slept with one eye opened and two eyes shut in the same scenario. This is just a memory, yet we must be prepared for whatever this man wants to take. That aura was very wrong, and I will show you the power of Uncle’s ancient chi magic.” Winked the old man.

“Tonight.”

/////////////

“Tonight, Will.” Slade knew this was a bad idea. The bot replica was still a prototype.

~Are you daft? That bug in the robot’s processing could –

“It’s only a fire hazard if it’s not stopped in time. I can use that to my advantage. The girl will be a problem. And I fear…. that I’m not the only one agreeing on this.”

//////////////////////////

Right as Jade was told to go up to her room above the shop, the festivities would be a shortened event altogether. Slade wanted a clean break, no fuss. He programed the bots to salvage as much as they could, to look into the most likely thing he wanted as his own. The other bot was wearing a straw hat and a cloak in black. He didn’t want it to be spotted right away. Why not have some fun on his day off while it lasted?

The kid wanted assassins falling all around her bedroom walls? He’d –

Slade then picked up from the bug camera as a second foot – race….

He looked closer. A few feet. Foot soldiers.

No, assass -

Not….

He saw the bots getting ready, then he saw shadows dance by them, and vanish.

Slade’s eye narrowed at his luck. Competition?? What for?

/////////////////////////////////

Part two, anyone? Will be a cut between Slade not seeing what the shadow khan wants, getting what he is after and…. Robin consoling Star for the first time before fear itself comes to an end.

So far, Raven has been at this for a day because time on the outside can vary. Find out!

////////////////////////////

Chapter Text

Chapter 26: Doubled Over - Three Ways Panels

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Perspectives of Slade, Robin, Raven and Cy in this to keep it consistent. Still on pre forces of nature, during Nevermore and Robin has to comfort Starfire – the rest will be based on “tick tock tango” later…other one shot I did. Slade pulls a Gizmo to get noticed.

//////////////////////////////////

Robin noticed that half of the tower’s inhabitants had no come for supper, or breakfast the next day. He check in with Slade, yet Will said the man was off on a mission and there was no estimated time that he’d be back by that morning. Dick shut off the link while thinking of Kori, and how she seemed to wander the halls as a ghost since he’d woken up, right as rain.

While she and Raven had swapped places. He went to find her; her hair limp and her teeth managed poorly as she yawned to the window in the main room that overlooked the Jump City bay. “Morning, Starfire.” He said in a voice that was collecting dust until he’d needed it. Sugar soft and sweet, that would put acid in his lungs. She did not turn to him, after what she had been told to…do in the avoiding.

“I think we should see about Raven. They others also aren’t –

“They will be alright, without the assistance.”

“Star?”

He saw her ponder life itself, hiding deep down that she had been threatened. That the man to try such a horrible tactic was….

“Star, I can’t do this alone. I need you.”

It was needy, almost begging he swore. Slade would critique the boy after they’d reunited. Robin bit his lip, trying to force the doldrums aside. She wa infecting him with so many added, useless ideas. He reached out a hand to her, knowing who she had told him she was. Maybe, it was time to do the same. “Kori –

She gasped, her head finally turning. “You must never call me that. It was not intended to be accessed by a commoner. Please –

“Star, my real name isn’t Robin! It’s….” He took a breath, cameras rolling. “It’s Richie. I, just used that to throw my step dad off my trail. I promise, whatever you saw…”

“I saw, a man harm you without touching. He is still there, and you could not tell or see. He is very…angry at me…” Her lip wobbled, and before long she told him about the mad man’s threat. That he was after Robin, his target. That the Titans might have to face him. For if they lost…

He would annihilate them, push them off the face of the earth.

“Cyborg also said that…your blood sample came to a positive result with a strange solution. It made your wounds heal up. Do you know of any of that, friend Richie?”

“Robin, is fine. I’m still keeping a cover here, while I can.” The boy looked out the window and knew Slade was giving a lot away by revealing his intentions this soon. “We have to do our best to be one step ahead. You helped train me not to kill, so my new mission is to put my step dad behind bars. It’s ok.” She sniffled as he put his arms around her. “I’m not going to let him hurt us…”

“But, that solution –

“Cy can figure that out. It’s got to be checked, I agree. But they need us here, now. So, will you go with me?”

“I shall!” Kori’s face was bold and determined as they two swerved the corner to see a glowing red light beyond Raven’s doorframe. What was left of it.

///////////////////////////////////

Raven had only a single shot to get to her center and find the one responsible for setting her friends into the depths of that subconscious she’d failed to keep in check.  They had toyed with nothing, the thing ..the thing buried well below her, was after a sacrifice to get out of its prison.

~ I won’t let you get your way. I have to save –

~What I am doing is necessary for your role, my daughter.~

~No.~ Raven snapped back at the voice, the void opening as a maze from legends since buried deep in the past. There was no light at the end of this tunnel. Only darkness, as she pushed on. ~ You won’t tell me how to live. How to react. I’m choosing to put you back in your cell.~

~ You’ll have until your sixteenth year, and then…~ The voice quietly cackled, ~ And then, your fate shall be mine once more, daughter.~

////////////

Raven floated down, down into the dust that was her own mindless drifting. She heard a shout and looked to see a red eyed image of herself, a red cloak upon its  back as it fought beside her teammates. Her dark side was –

“Beastboy!” She called out, yet the magic pushed her away towards the exit. The way from which she has come was going to swallow her up, while the double in her eyes and face took charge.

~ Azarath Metrion Zinthos!!~

The creature with her face finally took a good look as it was send flying into stone guards with two faces. Cy holding up his Canon and seeing the real Raven on her knees. Weaker, for whatever reason.

“ Cy! It…but that wasn’t-

~ What gave it away, Raven?~ The double rose and let its finger seek the darkness, cultivating a magic of red whips to smite its host. ~ I was hoping one of your friends would have my ticket to freedom. Now I see, he has brought you to fulfill it. The role that shall make me –

“You don’t have that control…neither of you do.” Raven growled and got up, fighting her body as it pulled her into the misery if whatever miasma could not hold her. “Let my friends and I go. While you remain here, never to see that world. That is your fate!”

////////////////

Slade slipped off the roof as he was ( important.) Metal shins, metal mind, no kindness if the brat awoke. The shop was locked up and secure as home invasions could go. The Slade bots were only four, nothing less to his needs as the rest waited in stasis.

“Going to bed now, Uncle. I’ll be on the back office sofa.”

“I shall be up then. Doing more research!”

He could shout. Wow. Jackie rubbed his neck as Uncle simply kept to himself. Martial arts made a mind sharp as any sword. He could use cau-

He saw it again! That blur.

The man sent himself in this case ( important,) down to the roof as he found a window unmatched for what seemed like a storage facility. An attic that did not have too much on the way.

“HUH.” Jade?

Slade in this case, looked to see as he hid off by the window, the little eight or nine year old playing a handheld game while walking around. Minding her time, nine o clock. “Last level-

“Jade?”

The girl bumped the window as Slade ducked. Damn kid. Nearly gave him a heart attack. He’d live, mostly through it.

“Jade, you should be headed to sleep. Your parents made me promise that there would be no late night Game Block time.”

“But…but…last level, Jackie!!” She whined as he plucked the thing out of her hands and sent the kid down the steps to her guest bedroom. “No more nighttime trips to the attic. Uncle would have a fit over both of us invading his –

“It’s just some old man junk, I think he would fine with…it…if we cleaned? –

“Jade. No more talking poorly about your elders. To bed.”

She threw up her hands before they were gone. Slade in his state huffed a sigh. The rest being if she was a sleep walker…

///////////

As night brought the shadows dancing around the antique shop's closed in walls, the shadow that was largest of all,  made it’s way to what it required. “Aha. Staff in cus –

To his right, was a mirror and in the reflection of that mirror, were foot soldiers from an ancient realm if dark magic. They had blue tinted skin of frostbite death, and wore black as ninja clothes. A cluster of them. After the shield. The same one with the rooster on it’s front.

“Figured as much.” Slade's fingers snapped softly. HIS little army of foot warriors in metal braced fury squinted back at the alive figures staring them down. “Don’t budge.” Slade commanded to the enemy.

The foot ninja didn’t hear, and pounced.

As did the mad man's robot devils.

///////////

The fight could have lasted as the face on his screen from a distance underground showed the victory at hand. The foot ninja had been blamed, as hoped. Slade smiled and lifted his gun to the cue balled head of a rather disliked man of a separate division he knew to point fingers at  “Deathstroke. Thought they caught you out of Belle Reve. What brings me the honor of seeing you again on the west coast?”

“Captain Black. You don’t look worried that I might just be here for more than you’re willing to honor.” The man held his hand steady as two other Slade bots made sure that the captain's home had no visitors. He still was a bother to tend to, give and get. “Team Seven handed me plenty. Started my own business in the next town over.” The merc smiled below the two tones mask. “I wanted a favor. All that time got me thinking,” He wrapped personas a bit, “ That you owe me for having Waller push like she had. Nearly got the Bat to break his neck. You know that, right? I need you to go into your little log right away, while we’re catching up, and to give me a new name. One that can be…flexible. Nothing extra –

“You want me to forge-

“Ah – ah. Are we not old friends, Black?” Slade taunted the adult as he let out a low growl. Claws to his throat and a gun aimed at the back of his shaven head. “What name. You’ve got at least ten they’re still after. Interpol wants you every chance they can. I couldn’t put us in deeper if I tried.” The captain lied.

“You could, with the correct codes and…incentive.” The lazers that the bots had came out, one shooting at captain's knee as if he’d just gotten too close to the socket. Five times over.

Sizzling scalp or not, Slade didn’t hesitate. At least it was set to stun, he snorted.

“Name. Now, Black.”

“Who's?” The other male coughed with a hissed sneer. The mercenary’s eye became cat-like and even playful to the question.

“Why, I’m going to borrow yours. If it’s not much trouble.”

The bot shocked the victim again, and this time before he could press the trigger, the end of the gun jutted the man in the back of his spine, knocking him unconscious as the drones tied up their prize. “We’ll make sure that our "two" names can’t clash. I’m sure you can manage to, disappear for awhile. Thanks again for your time and cooperation.”

Black didn’t have his eyes opened as a bag over his head brought back so many memories. Memories of stopping the man in front of him from making some terrible life choices.

//////////////////

The bot that looked ‘like' Slade had been preprogrammed to grab the staff, the book and shoot out of San Fran as soon as the coast was clear. Slade returned soon too to Jump, the real one as he looked over the bot's injuries and shook his head wkth a cluck of his tongue. “Needs work, but you got the items. Good for you.” With a press of its switch, the thing was dragged away by Slade bots it had escorted back to the haunt. “Wintergreen.”

“Slade. You look ghastly, man.” The adult brit looked his old partner up and down from the sidelines. “There was a line for you. Something you should see for yourself before any rest is to be had at this hour.”

One am. The signal, the regular talk.

Slade checked it with his eyes bolted to the giant bat in his fucking face. “I’ll talk to Wayne on my time. Don’t bother. The less he knows, the greater a chance we have to put him in his place when the time comes. For now, I’d like to speak to the girl.”

“The young miss, Tara? She’s not been very inactive if that is what you are imploring –

“I think…” Slade hummed and began to pace, a short walk to the exit as Wintergreen turned slowly his head to the same location. “I think, she’s ready to regain some new memories. I’m headed below. Watch the monitors.”

The man’s abrupt leave had Will wondering if this new persona had some drawbacks. He’d not compare Two Face or Riddles, but still…Slade was doing all if this very quietly. He only knew so much and it was a bother. The girl had better not make a mess of things was all he assumed, should Slade decide to send her on a seek abd destroy mission to Gotham. How did the bat get their location? Was he willing to raid the perimeter?

Slade didn’t seem to tell any of the signs, yet he was planning behind the mask, and Will would use the man as his shield until the butler was needed again.

As far as the boy, Will hoped he wasn’t getting too attached to his targets. That would put Wilson into such an awful fit…

Away he went, tidying as he watched the tower and the girl and Slade, removing his mask.

 Just as he had done firstly for a Richard. Just as he was about to do to a traumatized living weapon on the form of a fourteen year old princess.

////////////////

So, Dick is almost actually sixteen in this, just so you don’t forget. He’s on the smaller side so a lot of people will bother him later about how petite he is. Starfire is about the same age as Robin while Raven, Bb and Terra are the youngest. Cy is a year older and it goes this way because,  I’m keeping this way since it wasn’t changed back in earlier chapters. Jason will be not about fifteen - an age apart and later we will bring Tim in who us two years in difference but not yet. Any luck so far? Slade took the boy he used in the episode Masks out for a spin and as he said, “needs work.” He’s got all his marbles together and it will be quite traumatic for two teens in this. Find out! Last chapter of Nevermore and then we get….

Forces of Nature!!! Yaaay!!!

Chapter Text

Out Time in Reverse- Whatever It Takes –

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Chapter 27: Open the Door

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He swam about the feeling; a dread of what the news caster had depicted a city away. In the next area of the cave, Jason was boxing a bag like a warrior. Like a chosen hero that the Bat expected more from. He was too busy sweating as his towel dropped at the feet of the other male's computer chair. At fifteen, his body was stronger, not as lean as most his age at all. Robin’s costume was given a new set of tights, the old in with the new while he dressed in a dripping white tank and a pair of gym pants that made his strong legs peek out.

Batman felt a guilt flush over his senses as that deep pitch of a teen reaching adolescence speak his mind. “I’m doing more for you. But you won’t even look up. It’s him, isn’t it.”

Bruce's cowl stayed on. Jason needed to suit up after a shower – after ten showers, as the man opened his jaw a slight to briefly respond. “I’m not sure. The news showed a break in and no body. I don’t think he’d be close to where the target is being monitored.”

“Ya had a mole, but I could do better.”  Jason offered as he picked up his sweaty workout rag. “Send me in. Make em squeal. It might bring out –

“Not yet.” Bruce stopped the teenager. “We have no evidence set until he shows his face. Jump is feeling the turn around of a criminal’s newest venture. If he wants to fight, he will make that clear. I don’t want you to face him. Not until I know how you’ll survive.”

“Like the Joker thing? We got out of that! I mean, mom was….” Jason rubbed the back of his neck. “She’s in a mental institution since she tried to blow me up. And Joker got away –

“You had best listen to your mentor, Master Jason.”

Both men blinked an eye as their dear companion Alfred Pennyworth came down, carrying Batman's reason to quit his quiet moping. “Alfred. He’s afraid to jump in there, but I’m not. That psycho is going back to his old tricks. The Titans could help us, B. He has a super weapon –

“ENOUGH.” Bruce stood up, the chair screeching the cave floor. “Jason, this is not your mission. You’re to stand down as of now. That madman took as many lives as the Joker and he didn’t just run off. You almost lost your life last night.”

“But ..I’M FINE!” Jason rebuked coarsely. “You don’t get to tell me to sit and stay –

“Technically, I do. You’re my son by the papers we had signed and I won’t have you off on a suicide mission to finish the jon that’s none of your –

“You promised it would be OUR job, remember?? Come on! Alf –

“I’m not at liberty to side with either argument, yet perhaps this call in from California might change both of your current perspectives.” Alfred was a witty old butler to some, when in truth he’d been a soldier once, and a spy for England in the decades far apart for those glorifying days.

“Take this call. It’s I believe, a Mr.…Black?”

/////////////

Jason grumbled and waited impatiently to start up his part again while Bruce took the phone from Alfred’s white gloved fingers. The old man nodded to his friend as Bruce’s face softened, staying calm as a voice he might well have recognized before came on.

~ Bruce, thank God. I’ve been hacked. My entire identity was taken, I got shoved in a space someplace…. I don’t know how or where. Someone broke in. I think –

The call was cutting out as the Bat bristled repeatedly. “Black, what do you see? Can you hand me a figure, an image?”

~Dark…I think I’m in a cellar. Can’t tell.  There is no bed so I’m not supposed to stick around. My head is pounding from whenever that…. a mask…. ~ Black gasped. “I think I remember. A mask. He had…Black and orange…He wore armor…~

Even if Bruce knee blue and green, it was enough to go ny as he nodded to a disapproving Jason. “I’m on my way. We’ll find the coordinates through the call –

~ You can’t…battery is about to die. ~

“Already registered in the computer, Master Bruce.” Wryly, Alfred must had been showing off.

Jason picked up an ear as Bruce nodded back to them both. “Jason, suit up. We’re headed to San Francisco. We’ll be there soon enough.”

~ I’m seeing a leak. It looks small, but someone really wants me out if the picture. Remember, Bruce. ~ He swallowed tightly, as if being watched.

~ Don’t give too much away. I have your number, but your secret isn’t mind to keep. As we were told to. Section 13 will still listen if I show up. ~

Bruce grunted and let the call go.  “He knows who you are, B? Since when??”

“Since Interpol. And Deathstroke attacking a parliament building. Before, before I joined the League.”

“Shoot. Hey, Alf? I think I’m gonna keep the tights. And maybe, should we bring our civilian clothes too?”

“Always.” Bruce responded softly. “We might be better laying low. Black was trying to let me know something. He’s not in any real danger, yet.”

“How…so?” Jason snapped on the mask as he got dressed quickly. Half of what he wore were under pieces.

“He had a phone that didn’t show a number. And he described a cellar. He couldn’t have just had that in his pocket. Someone is baiting us into showing our faces.”

“Him.” Jason slipped on a steel toed boot. “He wants us to crash the party. Why you think? To gloat?”

“To delay something else. He knows about my connection to Captain Black. He might also know about…-

Bruce stopped. “Stay. I’m going in, alone-

“B?? NO.” Jason stomped his foot in protest. “You said I could –

“It’s too dangerous. Batgirl will be here to see to my post while you continue your training. Alfred?” The butler immediately had a change of heart. Jason felt boxed in, wondering if Wilson acted the same way with his brother.  Training him to kill, while Jason went out and saved lives.

“B, I’m not taking this like your kid. You trained me to do the right thing. If I have to defy orders –

“If you try to leave, you’ll be detained and stripped of your title. Robin will be over.”

The boy gawked at the bat as he left, key to the batwing in tow as Jason stood dumbly in place. “No…no…. Dick is still out there! Let me help! Bruce!! Don’t walk out!! I can help!”

“Master Jason!” Alfred gripped the boy as he kept shouting. “You lied to me, B! We’re partners! You are such a JERK!! I’M NOT TAKING THIS LIKE A BRAT!! I’M ROBIN, YOU SAID SO!! YOU TAKE THAT…. THEN, FUCK YOU!!”

////////////

“Happy? You’re going to rot behind bars once my staff find out –

“Memories are fleeting. It takes the right touch to make it feel as an illusion, Black.” Slade took the phone back and crushed it in one palm. “Monster. We took you down in that raid on the South American Dictator. None if that was up to your hand to keep him breathing.  Half alive, a treachery.”

“Orders are orders. Now, I have my own contract to fulfill in the long term.” Slade moved to sit in a metal table as he checked the time on the wall. “A cellar was a bit if a stint for your line if work. Lying and keeping a vigilante on his toes? Did I make you just turn. Or have you always been this two faced, Black?”

“You told me this was to take my face, but no one is going to believe that. How can you change everything and everyone I’ve been in contact with –

“Oh. That. You’ll still have your face and identity, just not half of the credibility and resources on paper. I’m borrowing the pre – captain era identity and molding it to suit myself nicely. I need a cover for a short time, as I said. To borrow.”

“You’llmale me a lowlife in writing! I’m not doing this –

“Too late. You owe me that favor, after you let that sick presidente walk out.” Sneered the madman. “Then paid off my employer, which is an unholy dishonor in all likelihood for any assassin, you know. It’s a crime to us, so you should repent while I still have some pity left on your insignificant life.”

“I have a world to keep in check from another syndicate that could be ruining both of our plans. If you don’t let me go.”

“YOU’LL STAY.” Slade moved to get up. The door sliding back as Wintergreen stood in the doorway, looking back with much indifference in his elderly gaze. “You’re not going to get out of this. That Bat has a plan, and I know you’re ready to run at a given moment.” Black goaded. “Let me go now, and we can drop the accusations.”

“Nothing was accused of, Black. The rest of your apartment should be swept of clues. The work you do is not tampered with. I simply returned with a need to get closer to someone, while others watch.”

“SLADE! You’re insane if you think you can take him…I won’t forget this!! Slade!!”

The bots vacant in with gags, ropes and cuffs. “Keep him quiet for a bit. I wish to think…” Slade ordered the butler as he nodded in approval.  “Very good, sir. To your newest weapon, sir?”

Slade didn’t have to answer, the man's cat eye told Will that he was correct as the mercenary walked off. Shutting the shouting Captain Black away as they were preparing to bag and gag him outside of the haunt.

///////////

Bruce went over the fear in his mind, while Slade was aware that the sensors had picked up an awake Tara, checking out her new surroundings. After waking her and getting her into a part of the haunt where her powers could do little to no damage with some precautions, he was able to remove the mask. To come in and make himself available to her world, her eyes and mind. He didn’t try to put on a grin. Didn’t try to tell her she was safe as those big blue eyes timidly and with such a gasp in fright, fell onto his towering form. “Y…. you took me. Who ate you? Where are my brothers?? What -

She put a hand to her throat as if pulling at a collar.

It was, but not the same for a yapping dog.

“Take it off.” She demanded in an adult’s tone. She knew what she was after, but Slade wasn’t easy to trick. Not while she had these walls up. While he was here to listen and convert her to his allegiance. As long as it took. “Tara, you’re safe here. Your uncle is gone. Your brother, has the League’s support.”

“Which league?? You’re lying…he was never –

“That inhibitor collar was designed to not weigh you down, dear child. I only wish to help. What they did –

“Wait…” She squinted at him while her memories flooded in, making her hyperventilate as he took a step to the side. Giving her space to think clearly. “You.. in the lab…you helped that doctor from…no way! Get this thing….off!”

“Do you really want to bury us both alive, Tara? I came to save you from Immortus and Chan's intervention. Your uncle use you and Bryon without any consent for your wellbeing. I thought being hired to watch over you both was just part of the job. This, was to undo what they wanted.”

“They wanted my powers. I showed that I could ….oh..

Oh…God…” She doubled over, dizzy as he didn’t try to help. “I…that landslide…all of those people…I…wjat did you make me do?? Who are you?? General!-

“That isn’t important right now, what is, is your current state.”

“You kidnapped me. I don’t have to let you decide anything about me!” She shouted. “Get this thing off and I won’t try to make you sorry –

“Kill me, you mean? Would you, my dear?”

Tara called down as her lip wobbled. Her knees shook as she hugged herself pitifully. “You…whatever you want, get rid of me.”

“Sadly, you don’t have that option, princess-

“DON’T. CALL ME. THAT.” Blearily, the child looked up, eyes bloodshot and praying for a savior. “I can back out. You have to abide. I order.”

“FORMER. Princess.” Slade interjected. “Your uncle took over the country with the Brotherhood backing his efforts. It’s too late to give me any demands.”

“There has to be some deal, I hate you but…If I can get back and find Bryan. Save my people-

“They hate the royal family, Tara. You have no one left. I however, noticed your lack of control and van offer to teach you. To regain it. That control that you lack.” There it was, she sniffed. “Why.” Tara scoffed rudely and turned to her metal bed by the wall. “So, you can see how I tick? So, you can do what they never had the chance to do? Use my powers to…you don’t get that, ever! If I get control over my powers, it’s my choice.”

“Suit yourself.” He shrugged. “But I can’t let you go free. Too risky, now that you know where we are.”

“Where? Your underground base, not like I-

He held up what look to be his wrist, and by that, her collar began to spark.

/////////////////

Robin had no choice but to break down Raven’s door. Inside, was a swirling of red spirals leading to a mirror on the floor. Starfire swept round the room in midair. “There was a spell cast here, I can see that. Yet, where is friend Raven?”

The whirling in the mirror started to widen as Robin dragged Kori out of the way. “Look out!! Star!” She ended up gripping him as he fell into the wall adjacent to the magical relic that was active on the floor. The scream that cane out OF the mirror was of three voices. Raven came toppling through with Bb and Cy, who fell onto Bb as Raven saved herself from an almost donkey sized Bb. He reverted to a scared cat as she huffed at his landing into her eyes. “Get. Off.” She gruffly commanded to the other green teen. The three then looked up to see a startled Star and friend Robin. Cy swallowed and hung his head. “I can explain…. once we all get a decent meal an’ a shower.” He groaned, the others taking his word that he would.

/////////////////

“You were inside her…. mind? Is that correct, yes?”  Starfire handed a warm drink to Raven as the tired empath opened up about who she had been fighting and why. Not revealing the culprits’ true names, she still looked in caution over her teammates yet with less fangs to bare over at Beastboy. “He saved my life. You both did. We…made up, in the most unlikely of places.” Raven praised as she took a small sip of her tea.

“This is glorious news! Robin and I have indeed also been doing some “team bonding while you three were knowing of each other’s strengths and weaknesses, have we not?” She turned with a smile to her not as jovial earthling ally. “Y…yeah, we did. And I have something to tell all of you. My name isn’t Robin.” The ebony haired male teen put down his eyes to gaze over those other expectant faces. “It’s Richie. Richard, for short. I have a mom, or did. She’s not with us anymore... My stepdad took over, and that was why I ran away.” Swallowed the boy wonder. “Oh, and… Starfire is a princess, right? Did I get that right, Star?”

“You indeed have. On my home planet of Tamaran, as the middle child in line for the throne, I was most upset by how my sister Blackfire brought harm to our people by emulating our uncle…as you might on earth call him. Her ideals in restoring “warring state policies” and so much animosity wrought across the galaxy by our teachings of a different X’al, I was taken away with her by invaders who took our home. It was saved. Only with a sacrifice of the royal family… yet she had been betrayed us all and was set free, only to be as I was. Experimented on. No other of my culture can shoot ‘stars bolts. This is an impossible task, only fight and our strength defines us.” Starfire shook with her long hair atop her shaken head. “I lost my parents and my sister has shown no remorse for what she had done. I also, spoke to the man who was willing to harm –

An alert centered around Cy's arm. “Gotta wait till later for any more group hugs, team. The city needs us. Right by the bridge. Y’all ready to dust off the old?”

“Bring in some new moves? I like how you think, Capt.” Bb grinned as he morphed into a monkey to give a thumbs up, climbing up Cy's arm as the others watched on. A might preoccupied in their own minds; each understood the severity by now. “So, who is the attacker this time?” Raven managed to ask.

“Don’t say. People said they reported a commotion on the bridge. Lightning struck it, but it was alive. And it had… fists.”

“Meta.” Robin put a fist to his palm. “No one is above the law. We have to get going. Stop it before it reveals its real face to us.”

“Right ahead of ya, spike. Titans?” Cy signaled to the others as they rose. Let’s move out!”

//////////

I pulled an Optimius prime on Cy. Lol. Oh, so this will go back into batman, Jason. Capt black and Jackie for one part, then drop elsewhere. Starfire even said that her country was run like the uncle was an advisor who put ideas into Blackfire’s head at a young age. The reasons behind this were in the previous chapter yet Blackfire still has it out to keep Kori out of the way. Slade will have Tara's loyalty,  but not in the way you think. In the comic tie in fir 03 teen titans, Bryon  revealed those figures in shadow to be Slade as Deathstroke,  Professor Chang and I think Immortus so I’m making the Brotherhood a key player here in how they dominate Europe and keep Tara's family subjugated with her uncle's help. I love the evil family member trope. It just feels right. She ran away from the lab and was on her own for a few months, until Slade caught her and kept her in stasis. He brought her to the states like his trophy and he has an idea about how to put her in her place without being unfair or too violent. He won’t even ask that she like him at all, just listen but how ? Well, by a deal which is saying too much!

Dick is acting separate from his alter, to fool himself and Star with the others. He was just there at the right time, and now we’ll see what comes of Jason. A kid who trusted batman to have his word that they’d save Dick together. Robin is his alter ego, yet Jason wants see why the bird is so well liked. Tie in here crossing over in Forces of Nature. I used the bridge first, and then we get more enigmatic Slade later. Find out!!

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse- What it Takes-

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Chapter 28: Kick Back

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Robin had knocked at Cy's arm into building him a cycle. Slade had given him a permit and he just needed a motorcycle at age sixteen to show that the man’s training was worth the screaming and fighting. His apprentice had to be ready. Slade was finally going to push the hero into the seat he was meant to keep. Robin sat in the front seat if the T – car and imagined up a vehicle that would make him feel like a fighter. Like a real –

“LOOK OUT!!”

Cy swerved as Bb shouted, the car driving back as the masked teen mole felt his heart catch in his throat.

He’d almost….

It was fine. Dick threw out the fear as Cy swiveled away from a harsher shot by a strong bolt of animated lighting.  The thing wielding such a gift was on Starfire's radar as she called out to their mysterious attacker. “You are causing disarray for many of the city's citizens! Explain yourself at once…” Her eyes lit up, taken by what damage had already been committed.

“We have no need to explain ourselves to the likes of you!” The shadow blasted a bolt and laughed, as if it were funny to electrocute a live living person. Dick gasped d and shouted out through the window as Starfire went down in one blast.

His head pounded; it wasn’t right but…this wasn’t the plan? Why was it so soon?? Slade wasn’t the culprit. That voice was shrill, younger. As a lump formed while Bb and Raven went to the princess’s rescue, she was ok.

/////////

However, Slade in his seat had seen that cry of terror. He held his armor and swapped faces with a new mask. “Patience, dear boy.” The man slapped on his more historically inclined piece. A hat for travelers of ancient Asia or male's kimono from a wise sage’s book in China called a Hanfu. (Please correct me on this!)

 (I’m using it as the hanfu alternative here. The hat, if anyone knows? Too many options. Looking for the translated word or term.) In his hand, he had a disk with an engraved S in the metalwork, as well as the staff with a similar Kanji on its tip. That “S” meant something, and the book he'd read said that the sorcerer had many faces within his vast, occultism practices. “I’m off. See that Tara is comfortable. I’ll return no later than tomorrow morning.”

Wintergreen left the man the mask; a face if a long-bearded stranger. Skinny, due to his ability to mask his mass. His ability to be as transformative as a trickster fox. The rest was always an enigma, no matter how many faces he kept to. Richard would need that skill in the future on other missions if he survived the man’s trials now.

“Very well, be safe on your journey. May it prosper, somewhat.” Will didn’t want Slade to go so far as to change until the faxes he hid behind. The boy needed a teacher, yet Slade was a far thinker when he got too determined. Robin was going to learn that much about the tiger coming closer with each passing second.

////////////////

Starfire groaned as Bb sniffed the shadows, two. The lightening guy wasn’t alone. A booming voice ripped across the space as it forced a wave of sound. Like thunder, it pounded the asphalt where people had fled to the other side and away from this nighttime danger. “What are they?” Bb growled while Cy used his arm to see.

“I believe we are in fact, superior, my brother.” The teen was clad in battle armor of gold, white and orange. The other, the thunderous brother was clad in similar armor that looked to come from China by its origins.

“Thunder is pleased to see so many respecting our descent. As being as strong as us, none can compare. We must see what this new plane offers!” The older or other brother was tall, but stout and a warrior with a different personality from the spikey haired lightening meta. “We are Thunder and Lightning, humans. You cannot tell us to desist, or it would bring shame, for we now belong here.”

“You’re making a bigger mess than anyone else.” Raven responded angrily, though her temper was even to control her emotions again. Bb agreed. “Yeah, this is you visiting someone else’s home, so you can’t go and wreck anything.”

“We are sons of deities. You cannot order us to do like a human, green one. Brother? Shall we show them our power in unison?”

“Very well, brother.” The two were ready to hit where the Titans could not fight back in time. While they were at a disadvantage – a stream of fog for any reason other than a distraction made the Titans and the two demi gods (making them a bit more celestial here) look around for the source. All Robin saw was a strange lamp as he squinted with him mask on tight. It wasn’t knock out gas. It was a signal.

Raven didn’t see Robin rush off on his own to a secluded spot on the other side of the foggy bridge. There, a shadow by the post of the Golden gated structure leaned back in a wide, large bamboo hat. A red upper kimono of the east and a black under- piece with a silver strip to his waste. He wore not his face, but a false face. A set of whiskers that reminded Robin of an old marital arts master. A sifu, his.

“You’re doing well, tonight. Got the signal?”

“I’m here, what do you want.”

“I’m being watched.” The man came out and said. “Those two brothers are important and a part of my next big idea, so I want you to bring them closer to my hand. The spy on my back, is now your responsibility. You’ll do this, and as a reward, you may have time to recuperate in the haunt. I know you miss your old life.”

“I…” Robin blinked, looking back to be sure that no one was around. “I, have to see about what works to trick them. I’m in, I can’t risk it.”

“You’ll show up, or that will be a point rejected, my apprentice. You want my praise, believe me. See to that spy's attention, and I’ll deal with your prideful duo.” He nudged his chin as the fog was clearing, Slade cloaked and fading into it by way of his tech….

“Wait! It’s –

“Robin?? Robin, where have you gone!”

Star…. Dick cussed under his breath and took an inhale. “I'm here!...I’m not going anywhere…” He glared back into the dark, sensing that Slade didn’t appreciate the boy's answer. Robin turned back to the bridge and ran, not looking back. Slade was angry, he’d disobeyed and had to make it right. Why did he say the spy wasn’t dangerous if he knew so much?? Robin grunted and found Cy, his face in view and a bit panicked by how Robin got to his knees and shook. “I …I saw him…”

He rasped out. “I saw my stepfather…. he, he wanted me to come home….”

/////////

“No sign, Raven?” Cy went up to Raven as her process was also no go at finding the two trouble making deity. “Nothing. As if they were never near here at all. Something us going on.”

“It has to be someone helping em, I smelled a second person.”

“Who though? Height? Temperature? What did he …how did you picture um, cause Rob is super scared and we can’t let that freak come to this tower.” Cy was mad, mad that he’d let their guards rock a bit at the might of one killer. One man who had a hold on a certain young antihero.

In actuality, he wasn’t doing the best thing for himself.

~ Sir, I’m sorry. I choked. I do want to join you again…f-for a bit, I promise…tell me about the target. The spy. I’ll take him out, he won’t get near them. ~ Dick bit his lip. ~ I mean...~

“It is fine. I’m going to wake my catches first. The brothers have the ability to cause static within that tower, yet my intent is to come out of hiding at the right time. Partly. You’ll see. For now, do as you are expected. Get some rest. In the next hour, be as you were prior to our discussion. I’m far from unleashed, just a little surprised by how you’ve cemented your trust in the Titans as an “leader" would. That is the point, right? Have you in the running?”

Dick's mouth went ajar as he bobbed his head, eyes wet but not crying out of embarrassment yet. ~ Master, you have my trust. I’m again sorry for not snapping out of that role at the right time.  That was unprofessional. I’ll do better. One hour from now, I’ll rehearse. ~

“Good, learn from error here, my apprentice.” Slade praised over the comm, his face still as the old wandering killer of the east. “Time’s up. Be sure that you take this lesson to heart. I’ll see you by day's break.”

////////////

Thunder and light rocked the earth as Robin came to the doorway, the rest being his call now. “Robin!” Bb bounded over as a raccoon. “Cy’s been calling like, an hour ago! Were you asleep-

“I, had a hard time accepting things. It’s fine.”

“Dude, so don’t pull a Raven on me. The emo- goth look isn’t you. Look, I…know he scares you. Raven had a dad when we got stuck inside her mind. And that freaked me out. He’s …. not a cool dude, but you are and Cy and I, Raven and Star. We know you can be just like us. A hero, Robin.”

“Let’s go see what’s happening.” Robin cleared his throat. Bb's kitten eyes were a problem. He just…

“I…sure. If you wanna talk, you know who ta look for, right? And….I’m kinda sorry for being a big jersey since you got here. You’re kinda weird but do am I…I guess, I thought you’d hog the attention I used to get and I didn’t wanna see my friend hurt by anyone. Even the new guy. I had a hard life when my parents died…we can go over it later, if you need a cry too.”

“Crying, won’t help me. Sorry, Beastboy.” Robin gave the other a sad smile, as if ready to go off on a journey to another world. “I want to focus on our job. And the people we need to save first before we worry about –

The signal went off on their tower as Bb’s ears picked u p the immediacy right after Robin. “You sure, dude? Would it be safer if you stayed behind? What about him? Your step dad or whatever? The criminal??”

“He can wait in line. I have a better life now than killing for someone I hate.” The boy dashed after the sound. Bb had go grin at the fact, but he refuted that thought. Robin was still being tracked, and this ex-operative of his who was on the job, the mutt in Bb smelled confrontation.

/////////

The train gave him cover the night prior, his cape blowing in the wind while the now delinquent washed up onto the shore of some new territory. The humidity was dry here. He stared up at a blaze of light that hit a California pine tree. There, on the chase was a green string of light, a flying girl in a cloak, a green eagle, and a car driving up to the top of a hill overlooking the country that was a forested suburb. “Found you.” He smirked and slipped off to his targets. “B, you lucked out. I found Dick, and I know you wouldn’t mind me Hacking the Bat computer a second time to fight your battles.”

////////////////

So, who is spying on the heroes? Why is Slade taking the brothers under his control? What is Dick’s deal with Slade or is he just acting? Will we ever find out if Capt Black was let go? Find out! Part two of Forces of Nature.

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse- What it Takes-

//////////

Chapter 30: Foul Tricks and Rain

//////////////////

The grumbling teens were finally shifting their necks as tossed into the woods stop of a California pine, Slade waited. His hanfu style fashion made him reliable. Relatable, as the younger brother Thunder gasped and poured his words unto the world. “Brother…where are we…why do I feel so arrange?”

“You’ve exhausted your strength and I came to relieve you before the Titans won.” Slade in his false face and with the staff he’d stolen from Jackie confidently radiated his lessons onto the young teens. No more than Cyborg’s age, even as demi gods of the sky and storm.

“We cannot thank you enough, if that is the truth you’ve spoken all alon –

“Wait! Brother, you fool. This human wishes us to desist our fin and listen. We cannot, for we are better. Sir, you will free us now or f –

Slade twirled the staff as his lips breathlessly spoke an incantation.

Of fire.

The tips lit  as candelabra as his lips blew on the bright flame, forcing the flares away from any trees. The sight was as if he could devour the sun, so Thunder was entranced as child, while Lightning refused to boe before anything else on two legs. “We have no need of your kind of silly tricks. Ours are meant bot to stay hidden. You command the fire, yet the staff allows it.”

“True, I am but a humble traveler that saw you both in need. Gods as you say, should not walk the path as I describe…yet you may be gifted. You may have such things to decide for yourselves. Though, what of when the fun runs dry. You’ll long to start other mischief as you coined it. I can show you, despite what I am, what true power is while in this world. If you should trust me, I see potential fun for you both. For those to respect your wishes, including those whom you fought earlier.”

“We never finished our battle.” Thunder told Lightening. “Should we not do our best to best those who will not understand why we intent to remain here, brother?”

“I do not know how a mere wizard has such abilities…” Lightening looked over the sorcerer. “Can you show us more? Tell us before we profess of your actions as being noble, traveling fire – weilder?”

“I can, and I’d very much hope that you’ll follow me to see for yoourselves what it is that I have discovered of this weapon I weild so highly.”

If these were gods of a of a foreign time and land, Slade had to be at his best to see to their fits kept to a minimum. He still had to entertain Robin; knowing the boy was still questioning the conditions and wished to apologize for forcing his words out too quickly. His mask had almost slipped, Slade had not told the boy. He had to stay with in on only a while longer. He’d do anything for that approval even if it was in his nature to just be as he’d been taught. It would be an absolute pleasure to erase Robin eventually while Renegade took the stand proudly at his, ehem, master’s side. That was the plan, as it always was.

Slade bowed to the two figures as the brought themselves to walk quickly in a straight line behind the old man. In a clearing atop the same hill, the trees here were bare. He’d made sure that if these children wanted to have all the fun they could, it would be in multiple locations. “I’ll however ask, that only one of you participate. The fun cannot be had in only one place away from an audience. This will be the first place to practice. Lightening? You are the oldest, I think you should be the first to try out this game I’m about to show you, and only you. While your brother will get to bring the heroes to play along. It will be like a game a tag, but with a much larger space to tackle.” The man smirked and in the split of his time, the bots were stomping in single file down the mountain, their backs carried what looked to be rush grass laden scare figures on wooden stakes in the center of each as they were taken and staked to the soft earth, were characters of the one in the book Slade had taken. Even if they were Japanese while the brothers were not, this was still a cultural journey to each that took on many forms. (I’m making sure Slade is doing this based on what it does not how it is done, so he doesn’t care if the kids have to scratch their heads, so long as the effect is great. Like a real business mogul and a prejudicial ass. We know he is.)

The staked wooden and hay dolls were an oddity to the proud brother of Lightening as he groaned and stomped his feet. “Is this a joke, old man?? These are but sticks and leaves! They are not fun at all –

“Are you certain, young master? If you try and use what your gift may inhibit, the results may surprise even a god such as yourself. Try, and then we shall think of a new game if you are not satisfied.”

The brother flicked his pinky and shot a bolt at the hay – figure, watching smoke rise before it burst into a hot sea of flames and sparks. “Wonderous! I must try again!”

He did so to the second one, the other making more of a racket than the first. “I did it! This is such fun~! Brother? May he not try his hands here?”

“Maybe, but it will not be as fun. There is a new game in the city, just below.” Slade pointed his staff to the houses and freight trains as the brothers oohed away in absolute delight. “Take us to that city you say is best for me! We shall trust you, only then.”

“Your brother is still not through with making his fun on this hill.” Slade directed his chin to the wooden hay dolls as Lightening cracked his neck and grinned cockily to Thunder. “Do not worry, Brother. You and I will be here to make as much fun as we wish once I am through…. what do you call this game?”

“Raising fire.”

“What an odd title for a game…” Thunder wondered as Slade knew he’d have to be careful around the younger brother the most. “Come, I will show you to the place where there is much to do, much to see for a god such as the future lord of thunder.”

///////////////////////////////

~ Reports of a fire in the California woodlands were reported as a category one; nothing that can’t be put out –

Jason clicked his tongue as he put away the stolen comm he’d taken from B’s cave. “If I catch sucker who’s going all arsonist…god…I’m not sure I can handle it alone after al…”

Turning his head, he saw the T – car and a rather anxious face in a mask like his own.

“Dick, is….”

Jason put a hand to his temple. “Gotta see where they’re headed. The business district? Oh.” He watched the location jump as the boy’s toys were Wayne funded. “Bruce can play doctor with Black. I’ve got a birdie to pin to the wall.” He swung off on his grappler, the one tool that might make him feel like a bat or a bird too.

“I’m coming, big bro. If that is you behind the mask.”

//////////////////////////////

They decided on it before the ride, back at the tower while reports had been pooling in. “Bb, Robin and Raven have the forest, while me and Star will be careful by the business section. There is a big fault breaking up the ground it says, and fire was spotted – contained though.”

“It will not be for very much longer.” Starfire added in to the discussion through her unit. She flew overhead as the group took their time to find the building where the quakes had started. “We’ll meet up once everything is safe. Any civilians are priority numero uno, ya got that?”

The team let Raven, Robin and Bb off as Raven helped Robin to get to the pine forest just outside of the city. Raven looked up to see Bb panting and bleeding sweat drops until he landed beside the other two teens. “Glad you could drop in.” She deadpanned in a half smirk.

“Heh…. you try flapping…over a darn mountain….”

“Are we ready to reach the location? Cy sent exactly where; Beastboy?” Robin looked to the green teen as he raised a finger to speak –

A rumble and crackle had the heroes look to the pines as those rattled around like jars in open water.             

“Up there!” Raven floated ahead, Robin using his training to climb a bit further. Bb trotted as a donkey, feeling very weak in the knees by the time they found the scene of the crime. “Ashes…. but no trees were burned up? Is this…” Bb rubbed his eyes and gasped. “I so think we had better –

“I bid you greetings, to my arena, heroes.”

////////////////////////

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse – What it Takes –

///////////////

Chapter 31: Fight Night and Shades of Cobalt Grey

////////////////////

They whirled to the scene by both air and vehicle. Cy expected Star to catch up to thunder a whole lot faster as she zipped over rooftops to a structure outside of compacted office buildings with multiple glass ceilings.

“This is very dangerous, Cyborg. Many citizens could very well be harmed by the falling debris. Where is the –

She gasped through the Comm as Cy shifted gears and growled out his promise to the alien princess. “Hang on, Star! You won’t fight em all alone.”

/////////////

Slade looked over the woody forests, down into the collapse of life as it lay barren from hours of his bots tending to the man's plans prior. Lightening was boasting, puffing out his chest to prove that he was a God’s child. Slade knee otherwise to test it, yet he had assurance that the bolt of light would not turn on its teacher.

He chanted from the book quietly as the teens fought. Bb's ears perked up, only to be hit by the stray sparks that Lightening commanded at his fingertips. “Not a second too close. I shall have this victory. You will all be left to wallow in shame of your defeat at the hands…. of Lightening!!” The brother laughed as a wild storm. Raven raising her hands to undo his craft, until Robin’s staff moved to polr vault over while she used the time to add to his distraction. “Stop!! You are not to trek farther! Fight me!!” Raven hit him with a clod of earth as Lightening’s hair shot up, Robin now feeling drops of rain pelt his hair and lashes, more coming as Slade knew there was still time for a magic fire to keep burning.

~RISE!! FIRE, I COMMAND YOU! RISE! Burn it all!!!~

The sticks and leaves quaked below the three's feet as Robin felt a hand pull him away from the starting torch embers of the man's second step to victory. “You came. As expected of my apprentice.”

“Slade, Beastboy could –

“Then, it’s just you and me. No need for a better distraction.” Slade swung out the staff as Robin used his own to counter the blows. This was it. Slade would become their enemy. They’d see his true colors.

“Robin!!”

Slade moved back and crashed his hands within his sleeves as some ancient figure, smiling while Bb transformed into a wolf. Slade had the book in his robes as he spoke a spell, seeing as Raven was knocked out and fighting the fires while she woke, to Lightening stomping on hot embers to attack Beastboy while the apprentice and master continued their night time spar. “That was some irritating timing on his part.” Chucjled the mad man. “Sloppy. Though a pity if he fails to notice his own faults. Never mind, shall we continue?”

“Let’s.” Dick growled, his mask still on as the rain only made an appearance in lack of a drizzle. It wasn’t time. He parried the blows he was caught between countering. A tree's woody thick trunk felt his spine as Robin kicked, Slade making the boy drop his weapons as his scalp was scratched by the thick pine's wood. The man reached and forced the kid to not push away, for his instincts did take over quickly  good reaction.  His jaw was gripped back, head shoved into the wood up higher as Slade held him there wkthnhis Staff doing most of the work. Pinning his protégé and mole to the tree against his wishes.

In a feeble attempt to lessen the strain, the boy clawed at the man’s wrists. “You wouldn’t want me as your enemy, dear child. I always have you in my best interests. Pity that you ran away, I could have made you better. Stronger.” The grip grew tighter against his neck. At this rate, you’ll fail to save this city.” Slade’s longer arm guided the boy’s eyes to tilt towards the city as the teen saw Raven using what she could to make sure the walking fire monster did not divide and burn an entire development of houses away. The rain…he was waiting on it?

“Did you think I’d take any chance to let you lead this team? I had my doubts, yet maybe you should attempt the role. Only this once. Prove me right. That you won’t survive it.”

Robin growled and bit, his master’s hand recoiling as the boy slipped under and was met with Bb to drag him out. Slade didn’t stop them. He just watched as Lightening fell to his knees while the old sifu pulled out the book and began to wordlessly chant a new spell.

////////

Jason hated walking, let alone tracking his feet in the mud. By his calculations, there were two ways into the place he needed to go to. Now that his lead had been lost, he assumed the best place to wait for said heroes was at their headquarters. He took the codes right off of the Bat's files since Cy was funded by the JLA. He even made sure that none of that training with picking security locks had gone rusty. Jason pushed open a window and made sure to disarm the hall and room before entering. Easy as pie as he didn’t bother to make note to a laptop on one desk by the wall. He took a look at the room and saw how unused it was. Bare floor. A few weights, maybe even…

He checked again. “Oh.” He saw the resemblance of a military pressed recruit; nothing of a distraction, no hobbies.

This was the place, now time to get to work.

//////////

Starfire fought a rather reckless and lost Thunder, who was more nervous about what he was supposed to be doing. They all felt the temps rise as a copter’s reporter up in the sky was broadcasting a scene that Cy had to grit his jaw over.  “It was a fake! Star, get outta there! We have ta –

“You will not do battle with the mighty God of Thunder?? Cowards! Face me and defend your posts with pride!”

“You are the one who is without honor!” Starfire shouted at the blue storm cloud. “You and your siblings have both been deceived. Right now, our friends on top of that mountain,” She pointed to the countryside of Jump City, “And are attempting to save him, while all you wish is to do battle when there is no fun in lives BEING lost!! It is no longer a game!” She shouted even higher over his shaking sounds. His pain, the confusion; fueling into a whirring wind as Cy grabbed onto something to not be pulled in. “I…am not…”  Thunder stared through his lit eyes at another with eyes just as fired up.

“You must choose. These fun and games to brand you as a menace to others, or as someone who is worthy of any praise coming from the people. And those they care for deeply.” 

The brother hung his head, his eyes as untrusting of his own powers as he was for this outcome “The wise sifu in the forest… was, similar as he called us, gifted. Special. My brother fights, for he believes this to be so. What now can we do? I…have hurt, others…”

“You can start by stopping whatever is gonna burn down the entire block.” Cy pointed to a cloud if rising smoke. Thunder gasped and rose into the air. “No! Brother…I must go to him. He is not well, please…” The great God’s child bowed to have some apology in his stance. “Whatever has been done, we shall both fix it. I only wish to help my brother as you both have kindly helped me.”

“Then, let us hurry. Our friends cannot hope to win by themselves. The fire will spread.”

Cy nodded back to both. “We’ll be right behind you. Go. We’re not gonna let Jump turn ta ashes while our backs are turned.”

/////////

Bb ran to scoop up Raven as the fire was starting to divide into two. Slade would weaken it, but the rain still refused to come. Robin didn’t look back as the man had vanished into the trees. He was tapering off. The brother came after them both. Bb shrieking as he used his own mass to barricade Raven while she healed herself. “It’s too powerful. Whatever is fueling it –

“That creep with the book.” Bb growled at the trees. “Hey, light bulb dude!! You got some nerve!!” He flew as an eagle into the weather head's shocking locks. “Stay away!! You cannot attack. I have –

The face the brother made was not one they had expected. “This…is not a …. how did this happen?? Where is the old wanderer? I wish to tell him…this was…?”

“Gone.” Robin sniffed. “You protected him, he escaped and used some sort of spell book to raise those fire monsters with your help.

Raven frowned up at the confused spirit. “Where is your brother, is he…”

“He also…” Lightening dragged his feet. “He...”

A call from the voice of one he knew flew overhead as the clouds boomed the brother awake. “Brother! You have survived.”

“We all did, and I think it’s time you used your gifts ta really make a statement. Thunder has a plan.” Cy nodded to the larger brother as the blue male opened his mouth to speak. “This, fire is magic. We are the sons of deities so it is our job to see to it vanishing from this world.”

“But how, brother?”  Lightening asked. “All my gift has done is create trouble wherever it has gone. What can we do, to work together…”

“You and I both know already, brother. Come. Titans, watch us create the greatest gift of all.” Grinned the blue giant. Lightening took off in a spiral up in to the air. The clouds shook, the air got colder as wet drops pelted the grounds below. The heroes leaped up and gave their very thanks. Bb did a dance as a rat, while Raven grimaced at the boy’s changed face. Starfire put her hands up to catch the rain as the fire and its painful scorching, all vanished from sight.

Rain had purified the earth, just like magic as Slade shut the book. “Not enough, not yet. Apprentice.” He frowned.

The boy could enjoy the steady thrum of victory, for now. For now, Slade knew where their spy was headed. Where he’d get his chance to make a new mark form on the skin of another innocent bird of the bat's.

He looked over to Lightening whi held his skull briefly. It seemed that Slade still had a hand in keeping the little fire fly in his army. He couldn't let that slip, as he further coated himself in shadows surrounding the scape, and slipped farther off to a hidden latch that would lead him back to his home sweet haunt.

All while his newly Integrated,  albeit, unaware spy took on another task. Going afterbthe little rodents child who'd dared to show his face to the wrong building.

////////////////

Recall, Jason shut off the Titans’ security but Slade has bug cameras that aren’t so visible to a novice like Todd. What did he mean by not enough? Is Dick supposed to push to be even bigger than his own kind? Is Robin supposed to exceed expectations in another way? Find out!

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse – What it Takes

///////////////////////////////

Chapter 32: Puppet Masters

///////////////////////

Robin was silent the rest of the day after his little shut down from seeing their new “nemesis,” Slade.

The team took the time to go over any DNA. Skin hair. None of that. He’d worn a wig and a false beard and goatee. A face that looked like Slade, but it wasn’t to any that had not seen his real face. “In that file, he had black hair and he was wearing an eye patch. That dude could be somebody he hired, right Richie?” Bb looked over his shoulder as Raven meditated on the roof. Starfire was making her famous “pudding of sadness.” The thing was, no one was exempt from being a taste tester.

“He’s gone and left no clues. I got a voice file but….” Cy played it back, the other thing that Kori had on her device also matched up.

“It’s him…”

“Slade.” Cy ended it as Bb gawked out the first part, making Richie very nervous. “I’m going to get some air –

“Not yet you ain’t. Star? Got a sec?”

Richard looked out as Starfire send a grey and purple glob right into his windpipe.

What……was that??

Robin coughed out the disgusting poison as Starfire took a bite and acted as if it were only bitter to her face. “This delicacy is eaten when bad things happen. Come, we shall…do the talking in private and give our friends “the space.”

“But –

“Go on, spike. I’ve got a lotta work to do ta keep this tower run-in.”

Dick could not press her off as Kori dragged the boy wonder through mechanical doors towards the hallway. Once they were outside, she let go of his cape. “You are not safe seeing what we have discovered. I still believe he has plans and that we must do as we promised to protect –

“I don’t need saving, I just need my purpose to change.” Robin countered and walked away, the alien hovering over with the bowl of mush in her hands. “Just another taste, and I shall ask no more of this.”

Robin grimaced and pulled his tunic collar at the bubbles forming on the surface of the slop she had crafted. “I…don’t think this is a good plan –

“It is not “good.” She shook her head. “It will suffocate what worries you do still have. I shall eat the whole bowl…as a prank if you comply?”

“Star…–

The first scare that rattled his chains was a running BB as his cheetah self dove for the elevator to the first floor. “We got faaan mail!!!”

Robin flew into Star’s arms by mistake as she blushed and dropped him. The rumble of a thousand horses then stamped back with the weight of a large wooden crate on the back of a smaller green zebra!

“Beastboy! Not in the tower!” Raven appeared behind the green quadruped and tugged him by her magic and the box. “You want to crush the entire floor that way? Swap, now.”

“Bu…. awrg…..fine, MOM.” Bb grumbled and she dragged him over to Starfire to gather up as the younger, pouted. Raven carried the box while Cy went over the files, the DNA traces and the man’s face. He had a perfect mask –

“Mail came.” Raven let the door open as she deadpanned, dropping the box by her magic onto the floor in the center of the main room. “Oh! Is that a package, for the us??” Starfire was thrilled and examined the box in midflight due to this joy. Robin came in rubbing his arm as Bb bounded up and sniffed the box as a German Sheppard.

“No.” Raven reprimanded as he woofed in annoyance at her. “C’mon, Raven. It’s a gift for how many times we saved the city. Even says so on the label.”

“Yeah. But we don’t exactly advertise the address…do you?”

 “We have a T in the middle of the bay as our headquarters.” Cy grunted to the red breasted hero. “I think that’s an a- ok to send fan mail ta us from any place on earth.”

“I feel so exposed…” Robin eyed the box as he made sure a small bug camera did its work.

~ Seeing this, master? I have some worry that this could be a future enemy. Can y –

“Open the box, already! I’m dyin’ to know! Cy? Can we?? Please!!”

“Alright, but…I gotta run a scan.”

“It’s not alive. I…already checked.”

“There was neither kicking nor the screaming.” Starfire cheerily backed up Raven’s comment as Cy sighed and took to getting the lid off with a tool that was easy enough to acquire. A rrrip of Star’s alien strength later, the box contained in it straw betting and packing peanuts. BB threw his nose into the box as a snake until Robin shrugged him off accidentally and the Gartner serpent went right into the bedding.

“B –

“Cool....I…think?” He popped out his human head and pulled up an arm. “That’s a big box. Can we use it on Beastboy to crate train him sometime?’ Raven teased, the green kid giving her a sour look before showing the team his find. “Look! It’s all of you, and moi! As….”

“Puppets…” Robin swallowed. Another enemy, he was right on the money because...

There was even one of him, with a removable mask and blue eyes.

//////////////////////////

“How does that…. whoever they are, know…Sir?”

~You didn’t say a word until you saw it, I can always have a robot take it from the tower to analyze. ~

“How long after we’re walking targets…it knew my eye color! I’m a sitting duck…” Robin groaned and sat on the low-rise bed he had been forced to put up because of Starfire’s pestering about pests. He’d relented, and it held a bit sturdier than his futon that stayed in the corner. Anytime the bed didn’t do its job, he’d return to the former. For sure.

~Calm yourself, this is an easy wait; I can look into what I can from a distance. The one thing I need from you is to erase that file. Both of them. ~

“The…...sir.” Robin sat up. “It’s already being looked over. Who else –

“The bat, the league. Recall, Cyborg has friends from within their circle. Bruce Wayne built that tower as the bat by his heroisms and that brat’s own do Gooding. You can also hope to see him, soon. ~

“Sir? What about Jason? Is he really… in this city?”

~He is, in the tower. ~

“WHAT??”

////////////////

Jason found that once he was in, he was cut off from getting back to the wharf. Slade had diligently made it so that no matter how hard Todd tried to fight back, he never made it across. Slade evenly hacked back as Todd finally went into the basement to curl up in a heap. B the next day, his stomach woke him while he stayed ever aware of where he was.

~You…. cut him off, he’s in the…. Tower. Right now…. Sir? ~

“Correct, my apprentice. You are going to either calm him down, or you’ll do so my disposing of him before he has a chance to expose us. Do this, and I can assure you, the files won’t land. I gained control of the system Cyborg put together through your little stunt –

 ~The drive? When I was infected…? That was…that was to extract –

“It granted access to the tower’s main systems. I didn’t tell you?” Slade cocked his head a bit as Robin stood back and felt numbed by the timing of that confession. ~What, he wants to fight? What should I –

“Knock him out, dispose of the body. My robots and I can see to the rest once he surfaces.”

Slade dropped the connection, the boy’s disbelief an easy answer that he would act. Maybe not kill the Robin from Gotham. He didn’t want to go back to his team with a guilty conscience. “Use your head.” Slade grumbled and stepped down the dais steps. Wintergreen was polishing some silver vambraces as Slade took them with a nod and a wordless thanks. “How is the girl.”

“Better. She’s eaten most of her meals and the book work is helping to have her concentrate on something else other than your skull of my kneecaps.” Dryly, replied the older male.

“She’s still not her full self. I want her ready to test her abilities in the other chamber.” Slade looked up as he wondered if a sewer was a bit overhyped for the spot of an evil lair. A safe house was too personal. Robin was not getting that kind of treatment. Nor, Tara.

“I’ll be sure to notify her to be presentable once you are ready to see to your weapon.”

“She is not, not here.”  Slade said. “I’d call her my apprentice if it keeps her under my thumb.” He moved a bit closer to the screens. Robin had stopped pacing like an idiot and was on his way to the basement. Todd was crawling through a duct as Slade moved to his wrist and spoke into it. “The other bird is on the move. Just above you.”

“Yes, sir.” Robin shot out his rang as the jump had Jason hit his head, the duct opening as he toppled into boxes from supplies the Titans could not store in other spaces within their home. Richard dove out and kicked Jason before his poorly positioned Kester could make a mess and ruin the task at hand. ~Very good. Keep him immobilized. Stay quiet as much as you must. ~

“Talking to your boss?” Jason wiped a bit of blood from his running nose as Dick froze up. “Who, are you.” The older boy brought up his stance, while Jason dusted himself off and did a bridge handstand to find himself upright. “You can do that too, can’t you, Dick?”

////////////////////////////

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse – What it Takes

//////////

Chapter 32: Switched With a Glitch – Own Your Pain

/////////////

He couldn’t go and connect to the Titans' line. Slade was watching from a sate , far distance. His instructions were vitally important but felt to Richard.

Wholly, an impossibility. 

~ Do it. The Titans will be too preoccupied to listen in on the struggle. Go. Don’t disobey this time, apprentice. ~ Slade’s tone was to a near hiss, a whisper. Jason heard it and seemed to mock the two's dynamic. Almost sympathizing with the former wonder brat if Wayne's aiding arm, he introduced himself properly once the third wheel was put of the big picture.

“Ah, so nice to meet –

Richard pulled out his staff and didn’t talk. This was a trial. Throw this nobody into the bay fir Slade’s bots to send to Bruce as a message. He hoped alive, but a part of him didn’t mind the symbolism of defeat marred upon the other boy's ego.

“Hey, hey! I’m on your side!”

Jason dodged as he did with training robots. He knew that Robin here, was still neither of those; he was a person. Trapped into an agreement that stood round his bones like quicksand.

“Listen. I came, B is trapped in locating another –

“Stop talking and hold still.” Robin swung out again. Precise and his emotions stunted behind the domino mask, Jason found the way out as he shoved the door, Richard if it were him, took onto the hunt - he wasn’t interested in being ignored.

“I’m getting cut loose, bat boy –

“Hyya!!” Robin number one Jason would call Dickie bird, flung himself to catch the brat’s cape. Jason threw himself through the door, up the stairs as Robin number one was decisive enough to stick with his scent a bit longer.

Jason seethed and kept running. The lights flickered a strange glwing white as the boys both stopped. “What was –

“Gonna come quietly?... or do I have to bring you in, by myself…” Robin took out a freeze disc as Jason danced down the hall. Robin number one flung the disc at one exit, the other until Jason used his flip to get to a vent.

Like before, he’d have to be quick.

“You can’t make it out. I’m coming –

~ Robin!!!~

The boy wonder dropped his latest rang as he turned to see Raven and Star being chased by –

Cy and BB??

////////////////////////

He’d failed. Jason was gone and Raven –

“Friend Robin! Something is very wrong with…. our friends! Run-away now, please!”

Robin didn’t at first. Not until he squinted and saw their eyes, both empty and glowing different colors.

“After them, my puppets! Do not let anyone escape my spell…”

Jason put a hand over his mouth as he saw a toy; a nutcracker marionette with big eyes and a turned grin. He was…

Walking. Alive.

///////////////////

Slade sighed and turned to Robin number one and the titans he’d fled with to the roof.  ~We cannot…. I do not know how to fly in this dreadfully uncomfortable body! ~

~Ditto. ~ Grouched the empath in some teeny – bopper’s skin. ~How will I ever survive with nine stomachs and perfectly flat abs? ~ She sighed, sarcasm dripping out of her lips as Slade ignored his sense of humor for a second.

The girl was explaining a curse, Slade rubbed his masked chin. “What will you do now? Ask for help when there isn’t any?” Slade didn’t talk to Richard, he had to figure –

Slade’s eye turned to Jason, who was ready to lay low and…Was that a bat - comm?? No!

Slade turned on his link. “Get to ground level and away from that tower. Apprentice, do as I –

The titans had flown the boy up, up, as they were in the air, together. The comm went right into the water as Slade’s ears boiled. He pressed a button on his wrist. In the background, metal bodies began to shift into line. “Retrieve my apprentice and the device.” He ordered. “This fight was not, highly anticipated.”

////////////////////////

Jason scuttled through the ducts until he’d found a room that was the main one. He used a disc to pull a cat woman and cut the glass, rushing the job as he flung himself via grapple to the ground. It was time to sink or swim as B’s voice never once graced Robin number two’s presence. He waded into the water and held his breath. Once the threat was no longer an issue, he put his rebreather for underwater fun on and swam like a fish without end. Yet at the pier, he wasn’t alone. There, looking down was a masked threat – a cluster, as Jason was hoisted up and knocked out while being carried somewhere that taste of metal screeching pipes, and sewer water.

Underground, far from his target. Yet closer than he needed to be to the real enemy.

////////////////////

Robin number one now as Richie, waited to land – even while Raven NOT as Raven, dropped him into the sidewalk on his tush. “Your landing needs work…” Richie rubbed his sore side as Raven looked back apologetically, before falling onto her own butt. “I do not wish to fall! Raven! Your magic is…not what I would have expected…”

“I…can’t help it!” Raven in Starfire –

Robin gawked. “You…you both…what happened to you two?? What was that light; Cy and Beastboy went –

“We must save them, but…but…” Starfire fretted as best she could in her own body, yet in Raven’s…She looked more helpless than was made necessary.

“Raven, hang on!” Richie got up and swung an arm out to grip Star’s long boot. She tried to press down, yet ended up falling onto Richie’s waist as he was pushed off by a nervous teen a year younger than him. “Who…who was that? How did this –

“The puppet king was what he called himself when he attacked us.” Raven as Star helped Robin up nervously. “I was near the wooden crate and he was inside it; we were not able to call out in time when he’d started…to move...”

“Oh…Then…We must then learn what the puppet man is…is…I do not know what we can do!” Starfire moaned into the empath’s hood and crouched onto the ground like a kid in an identity crisis.

“Calm down, Starfire.” Raven in the other woman’s body bounced back and confronted the groaning titan. “We just have to lay low, have some control over ourselves before we can lead ourselves after the, toy that did this to us. Where were you, then?” Raven turned to Richie as he looked behind him and was concerned that there was still that all knowing look in Raven’s…Star’s eyes.

“I, went to vent….to just get some space. I thought something was in the hall so I found you while tracking it. That’s it.”

“Then…” Starfire as Raven frowned and clutched her cheek. “Why was the direction you were from, down in the basement? Not in…the “up the stairs” area?”

///////////

“I cut it off, chased whoever it could have been. But it could have been an attacker like you faced.”

“Who else? We saw everyone, and there are no other members that could have been “switched” like this.” Raven as Starfire shook her head, looking back to the tower out of their view now, at what they couldn’t bare to leave behind yet had to. For now. “Starfire, you can’t gain control of my powers like that. You need to find your center. Remember our meditation session. It was the same. You can’t lose control or others could get hurt.”

Star as Raven puffed out her cheeks and crossed her arms. Richie found soon that the two had a cat and dog complex, yet never as he’d witnessed behind closed doors. Not like this…

“I am in far more of the control of my flight! You crashed into the ground and were not the least of all cautious at ALL of anyone we might have hit along the way.” Star sassed back, “At least my powers do not work for someone who only feels rage and not the Tamaranean way of righteous strength and fury…your powers are too “the” complicated –

“They are DANGEROUS.” Raven as Star shoved a finger into the empath’s own chest. “You have to be more careful or else other’s lives COULD be at stake. Your powers are also destructive, in the wrong hands -

"Then return them to me at ONCE if you no longer wish to continue this trial –

“HEY! Knock it –

“NO.” Raven growled in Kori’s voice to Robin as he fell onto his side.

Robin tried again, carefully to diffuse the situation. “This isn’t helping. We’re sitting ducks. You two -

 “We shall settle this trial fairly, then.” Huffed Kori with her royal air of superiority showing. “The first to use any attack properly, shall lead the march in destroying and defeating the king of puppet’s evil spell. And…I will not be spoken down to by a…. a…. -

“Say it…” Raven as Kori egged on her teammate and raised her fists to her sides, wanting her eyes to remain a bit wider for what she had to do. “Say it! Get it off your chest, already!”

“A…. a…. Clorbag baarblernelch!!”

“A-ha!” Raven as Kori watched as Raven’s powers poured from Raven’s own eyes. Starfire in that body spoke the mantra, while Dick tried to grip onto the ground as Kori lifted stone by the powers of the dark interdimensional half demon’s arts.

“AZARATH METRION ZINTHOS!!~

Raven as Star grabbed Robin to duck, the rock flying over and hitting a Slade bot in the process.

 “Wha…. what??” Star as Raven looked at her own palms and gasped aloud. Raven was obviously smug for a second about her win, her stance not at all as she looked half the time since they had met.

“Good work, Starfire. You got your very first hit in. But….” Raven as Starfire walked briskly over to the wounded bot and took a breath before punching into it and pulling out a camera. A small one, integrated separately.

“That was…very “the” underhanded!” Exclaimed Star as the empath, excitedly. “I do not approve of –

“Star…” Richie pulled the bot up and studied it. “It’s the same one as the ones we’ve fought before. I can’t belie –

“Stop.” Raven as Starfire put a hand to the boy’s arm. “It’s not worth it now to figure out this, mystery yet. We still have work to do, or we have to hide. There could be –

There was no doubt as Robin pulled out his staff. “More, you were going to say?”

“I…. this is not the right…” Starfire had her back to Robin, while Raven flanked his other side.

The three were surrounded by Slade bots with laser guns in hand. Robin didn’t know how to get away, but the camera was worrying.

“This way!” He tore down the streets as Raven and Kori took flight after on foot, together.

////////////

 “What are they after? Why did they come here? Is this from –

“I don’t know!” Robin ran faster and grumbled unhappily, the others feeling lost to him as Star briefly screamed out.

 “Help! Let go now, your claws are “the” too sharp!! Let…...go….”

Robin panted and turned. In one hand, one of the bots had without Raven seeming to see it, his wet comm unit that had fallen into the bay earlier. Robin was afraid, he didn’t feel the gun at his neck as it was set to stun.

 The titan women there were not their target tonight.

 He was.

/////////////////////////

I’m doing another chapter for Switched since this is my take with Robin being pulled out of the cluster. Raven and Star now have to get along without his assistance, so what will that mean if Slade is royally peeved about his Renegade losing his toys in the middle of a fight?? Not good. Strike two, is he out or is Slade going to give Robin one more chance to prove himself?

Find out!

/////////////

Chapter Text

Our time in Reverse – What It Takes-

////////////

Chapter 33: The Real Puppet Kings

//////////

The light ended, a dank drop of water ever four seconds was the torture he’d never known. Seated on his knees, mask on, Robin number one, Dickie the hero had pushed too far to be left in the dark. Someone’s steel toed boots tracked over, tapping concrete as they did so to the best of the dripping water from a busted pipe.

“You were going in the wrong direction, Renegade.” The boy’s mouth ran dry. He put his head lowered, his humility nit enough as the man gripped the back of his skull with that full head of locks, and tugged tight.

“You dropped your unit; what’s worse, you helped the enemy and were almost motivated to avoid my direct orders BACK at your precious tower…you have forgotten your oath. I should have you repeat it in –

“I'm sorry! Sir, I- The boy was kicked by that same boot to come crashing to the floor. He realized his arms were tied behind his back, his ankles done in a similar fashion to not get away. He’d promised, and had done something careless to almost compromise his…

Swallowing, the man's boots tapped to stand directly over that sniveling face in front. “You want to prove that you can go back out? Like a good soldier, I’d allow that? What are you going to do if I say ‘yes.’ Will you go back to them, help them and defy me again??”

“NO! NO, SIR."

Slade hit him in the ribs with that same boot before lifting the child to look him in the eye.

“You won’t disobey again, apprentice. If I tell you to stay put, you don’t budge. If I tell you to draw your blade?”

“I draw it, master.” Roughly, the words hurt to add as Slade caught that with a wide eye.

“Do you even want my praise any longer, child? What about that title you’ve longed to have, hum? I could always give it someone else. Set you loose. Back to the bat.”

Robin shook his head, wildly guessing the man would dare dissolve their contract …. he…. he wouldn’t.

“I’m loyal only to you, I didn’t act as you wanted and, should be punished – “Why do you hesitate, then.” Snipped the madman as he dropped the boy back onto his face.

“Alright, boy. You’ll get to choose. For your disobedience, what do you believe is an objectively fair punishment?” Robin bit his lip and couldn’t help but stare at the floor until Slade lifted that gaze with a single thumb and forefinger. “Go on, and do tell your master what YOU think is worth the price of your disobedience?”

///////////////// Starfire as Raven used her powers to put the bots into the wall, while Raven as Starfire teleported them both in a wave if black magic to the outer areas if the city.

Just before the bay, Starfire tried not to sob and get mucus all over Raven’s cloak. “Star, we’ll find him. We just have to get the others back in their right minds, and us.”

Raven frowned. Starfire as Raven pulled her hood down and scrunched in her legs in the dirt. The comm unit crackled with a voice that sounded too gravelly and young to be a fellow Titan.

~ Y'elo? Can any…one…. here…..hear…..pier….got….~

“Might it be??” Starfire gasped and blinked back her tears, while Rven took the device and started talking in Star's body at the lone voice on the screen.

~Got…. ambush…. know…who…find…S –

The thing crackled out as Raven gave the device back and headed for the shore.

“Come on. We might be able to save one life if we try. Starfire?” The empath as the alien got back up and smiled, tears still at the corners of her eyes.

"I believe so, that we still are strongest, together.” She didn’t stop the earth from getting a mild crater as Raven chuckled by how little control the alien had. They both laughed as Raven revised a lesson plan just so that Kori would not give them away.

///////////////

Jason’s head knocked against a wooden crate as Wintergreen made sure the bots had the boy in it. “He should arrive by midday. I swear, this grunt work is a horrific trouble to undergo…you old twat.”

The butler grunted as Slade talked through his earpiece.

~ This “twat" just got a signed confession without lifting a pinkie. Is the bird ready for his trip? ~

"Of course. And your significantly less bruised, protégé? Is he able to lake the rest of his time to locate the girls?”

~ He’s already been set loose, with less bruises I’d like to add. More exposure to the serum was the plan eventually, Will. Just sit back and enjoy the ride, won’t you? ~

"If I had ten dimes fir every time I’d counted that one liner – Slade! These are still children, and by damn if you think this will make him loyal through, a bloody beat down? He trusts you to do the right thing, here. Have a heart some, man –

~ I offered a conclusion up. ~

The mastermind added.

~ The boy will be spending the night in a day or so. I need to tend to his wounds, and try to pick out any new information while the deal is still fresh in his mind. What’s a time to bond between caregiver and caregiver, Will? ~

Chuckled the merc. ~ I have this all under control. You’re worrying about nothing at all. Set Robin number two back to where he belongs, and I’ll…watch out for the very first addition. In kind. ~

/////////

Robin trudged away as he was shoved out of the stalking vehicle. A black car, as the man and bots had the boy get up before they pointed the blame in his direction the injection this time BURNED. Robin had screamed while Slade made sure that he was tuning out the noise. Right in the infirmary, the child had earned his punishment. The healing was a halfway job like before, only he could still move.

Despite the sting at the back of his neck (very important) he still wanted the metaphorical trophy in hand. The man was treating him this way to get tough. In his mind, he couldn’t understand it. Robin was abused by the bad guy, not Renegade.

Renegade preferred a hands-on approach. Slade had even said he’d come find him so that they could recap on the events thus far. A budding level of guilt made Robin’s head itch. It had to be the serum that had saved him yet again. No fractures. Just…bruises, to be reminded that he still had trials to complete before coming home.

/////////

He pretended to limp into view of his teammates. Robin’s, as Starfire not within her own body, flew over to check on her wounded ally.

"You are safe! What…where were you, what did those clawed robots- She gasped as Raven directed Star on how to heal others by magic.

"Concentrate on every cell. On every breath. It’s ok.” She pulled away and tried to ask carefully, “How are you doing now? Did it work?”

"I feel less achy, yeah. I fought back. Then, they tried to take me underground. I…I’m sorry –

“You are not the one who should be.”

Raven as Star shook her head.

“We failed in protecting you. We all promised to keep him away. That was his insignia, wasn’t it.” “Friends!” Starfire whispered and pointed at three figures walking towards the one spot by the city they’d found together. The old theater house.

“Cy…they’re under the creep’s control, still? What about – “Your puppet is still there. Look.” Raven stayed back as the three hid behind a wall of brick to not be spotted by their own friends.

“We are ready to start and end, the final act. My puppets, come.” The puppet king ushered his servants into the play house as the three others waited by for their chance to charge the roof skylight. “We must be very quiet.” Starfire put a hand up to her lips as Raven smirked and shook her head. “I’ll get us to the roof; you can break the locks. That involves my mantra, so not for you it doesn’t require “peace and quiet.”

////////////////

Slade was sure Tara was resting, as she should be. He set his little big cameras over the other Robin as the gasps of his lovely butler were music to the mad man's ears.

~ Master Bruce! Come quickly! ~ Directly to his front door, was a drugged down and out Jason Todd. Slade made sure to tear the R from the boy’s suit as a statement as he put the little disc in the kid’s jaw like the good dog he was to play “fetch.” ~ Jason…??~

Instantly, the swap from mentor to father made the enigmatic killer, chuckle. 

~ You…. Bruce….I... ~ ~ Rest, we’ll get to the bottom of this. We’ll talk in the morning. ~

Slade turned to the other screen to see the switched two working together, while Robin made sure to take an extra wide to himself just in case he needed to be reminded thrice. That wasn’t even the best part as Will came in while dusting his hands of the job entirely.

“Don’t you ever tire of ruining your last bit of vision; day in and day out, it must be a chore to have these screens reflecting back always.”

“Not always, old friend.” Slade said somewhere in between then and now.

“The boy, for his reward later wanted a sit-down supper and a film on. I think we can indulge on to something smaller, can’t you?”

“If the boy doesn’t talk some sense into that skull, I’ve utterly failed as your conscience for tonight.”

Sighed the older man. “I’ll be turning in for today. Oh, and Tara responded rather differently while you were away.

She asked how much it would be for the luxury of finding her captive brother. Should she take to your “generous” offer, Slade.” He left Slade to wonder too if Tara had it in her to push a few limits.

To test others as he intended to test the extent of her geo – kinetic powers. This city would fall eventually, anyway. Robin had to stand tall to the shakes that were bound to rock the entire west coast. He just had to try a little harder on the next mission. All by himself.

///////

"My puppets, get them! Stop them from halting the ceremony!”.

The puppet Cy and Bb got the courage to ask while clutched by the Puppet king. Their own bodies seemed to not respond as the two drones fought Raven and Robin, while Raven as Star waited for the puppet to speak again to reveal his frightfully ingenious plan. “Ceremony?”

Puppet Cy asked. “Puppet Bb chimed in. “What ceremony??”

(I changed it ) “THIS event, will make your bodies mine forever. You will cease to exist, and I…. - “HHYYAA!!”

Robin swung out a rang as Star as Raven took the puppets up into her arms. Star hit the cauldron with a bolt and then the control the mad puppet had used. It flew up and into the tilting, teetering pot. Dead on, the room began to glow with magic as they’d just broken the cursed spell.

“NOOO!!” The puppet king watched through his big orbed eyes as the power he no longer carried, was transferred into the cauldron. The souls of the people the Titans cared for reverted to their own bodies. That, which included Raven and Starfire bonding on their own before finding each other back in their own bodies.

Robin had nothing to fear as he saw the fake puppet of himself collapse with the others by the time they were locked up in the evidence room at the tower. “Alright!!! You got em hard, and we couldn’t a done it any better ourselves, right Bb?”

"You go, mamas!” Bb whooped as Raven blushed, while Starfire was all grins at the praise. She hugged Raven as the empath allowed it for a brief second. Robin leaned in the door as everyone called him over for a group hug.

/////////

While he was being hit in every space left to hit before, Slade had told him. Face to face. “That evil dummy is my connection. Some man in Gotham lost his wits and the thing got my ear about getting a chance to have his own servants. Imagine my luck when he had volunteered to do just that.

So, what is the first thing he’ll want if he likes his position enough? Answer that, boy. Ten seconds. Go! What is the puppet king’s main goal?” “He…wants…. your alliance…. cough....to work for you both…. sir…”

Robin sat up even as his bruised ribs screamed out. “If we defeated him, he still has a circle to protect him…. here in this city.”

“Correct. It’s his way like Dr. Light's of showing off. I told you about that. That if one pillar falls…”

Arthur Light ( changing it) was a brilliant madman who became even greater in his tenacity to do no wrong under his new alias. He however was too quick to quip, too cocky as Slade put it. His fear of the dark was canon to his character which made him into an insect. Yet, he did understand a very special type of tech that Slade wanted to test out in the future. “Another comes up in its place.”

Robin responded, earning an honest hum from his master's masked lips. Slade ruffled the kid's hair as Robin bit back a happy sob. “You’re then forgiven. Don’t forget. Don’t lose touch. Now, let’s go and treat those wounds together, shall we? Apprentice?”

///////////

Robin tried this time to wait on a bot to cloak him, to get him to the docks and underground. He’d have to be careful since this city was a terror all on its own. He would soon have enemies to face. Slade stood at the front of the hatch with his mask taken off. His all-knowing eye made Richard raise his head for that validation. “Come. Let’s get you dried off, Richard.”

///////

Down the heated passage, Richard didn’t speak a word until it was customary to do so. Slade appreciated the boy’s patience and the kid was rewarded with clean cloths and a shower in the en suite of the other side of Slade’s little hide away. All of the places that he remembered were still where he recalled them.

Minus more screens in the main room, the dais looking a foot taller than he’d last remembered. “We’ll be eating in the dining area. Unless, you’d rather the table be moved, elsewhere-

"No, thank you sir. I’d prefer to have a similar set up. So, I don’t forget anything else.” The man smiled and pushed the lid into the other room. There, was an adjoined kitchen and living area. The television was not too close or far away while they had what looked to be Bouillabaisse.

(Joke from DC super hero girls.) “Wow. That must have taken will – “Not, his recipe.” The man coaxed the kid to sit as he was served like old times. The man even had fresh bread for dipping into the red and orange in his soup bowl. ///////_/////

“This…mm!” The kid swooned over the first bite. “Sir, this is delicious…you honestly didn’t have to go through all of – “This is a happy occasion for us both, and I wanted to. Been awhile since I gave Will the night off. What’s on your mind to watch? You’ve been trapped with a video – centric movie goer, a jock, a goth girl and an alien princess.” The man counted off as Richard smiled by the joke between them. “What does Dick Grayson want to watch tonight during our supper? /////////

“You…got it? Are…this is not a simulation.” Dick bounded up and switched the remote to set the box up. “This one we saw the preview of.

Bb….um, we recommended it to go see later this month but…. you got it before it came out?” He gaped at the title. The load screen cane on and he felt like a kid again.

“You know I grew up to that, sir. Never missed a viewing until they set me up on the high bar. You really out did yourself if you remembered it!” “Here.”

The man handed the bowl of rainbow sherbet to the kid. “I would have had Gelato frozen ahead of time from scratch, but the contents needed to keep a bit longer. This was quicker. Don’t find too much from it. Sit down.” He sounded like a father talking to a sugar crazed kid. Dick smiled widely and did as he was told. The man wouldn’t indulge the kid more than was allowed of their agreement.

“I’ll burn it off after we settle. Can we spar, maybe after the first part of the movie?” “May we, you meant to say, boy.” Dick’s head lowered as he muttered his apology. Slade let it slide, for tonight. Richard couldn’t have been more enthused if he tried. They had chosen an unreleased film about explorers getting trapped in a more horror and thriller driven Atlantis with a bunch of alien inhabitants. Slade had given it a three and a half stars, while Robin drank up the last of his desert from the bowl before half of the film was over.

“Sir?” The kid looked up expectantly at his teacher. “May we go now? I couldn’t do for seconds.” He joked. “As you wish.” Slade put away their dishes in the sink and nudged the boy to get a move on before he passed out on the sofa to some mediocre monster movie (this will be fun because deep six will be up soon.)

///////////

Even as the kid rested peacefully in the dais seat that was meant for him, Slade had a job to do. He summoned the bots to take the boy back. Yes, to the tower with a head full of inflated dreams and worldly aspirations. And, sherbet. God, he’d toss that foul colored carton out later after the kid had been sent back to the hero's sloppily designed tower. (Showing Slade as a narcissistic ass.)

Hopefully, the super computer Titan was sleeping in since he'd not been in control of his own mind for a couple of hours. Slade swapped over to the screens again and saw as Robin was placed on his stomach into the sheets of his twin sized bed. His room. It made Slade wonder if he’d have to gain more of an idea about what the boy liked as a kid…ehem…besides the name of his favorite cold dairy treat. He knew a lot more than the bat, of course. The boy had immediately opened up to him since day one …. “Sir.” Will came into the main room, quick as his slipper clad feet could comprehend. “Tara has awoken.” He panted a little. “Go to her, please.”

////////////

Next is…. based on the one - shot called “Tick Tock Tango.” Same premise, different motivation and set up for this story. After. Is deep six and then Red X is introduced!! Whoo- hoo!! Find out!! Also, this Dick’s dialogue is more like Richard from Young Justice and how he is with his team and Bruce. Only when Dick is with the Titans during a crisis does it slip into 03 territory at times. And soft moments like a group hug.

Aww. I miss those moments…sniff.

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse- What it Takes-

////////////

Chapter 34: Deep Six and A Half? – Plus, Aqua Lad

//////////

The reason? We’ll tell you!

//////////////

Jason sat in the infirmary bed in the bat cave. Slade. Always the reason and this time, Batman had reason to plan ahead and for now, he was slowing down. Jason could tell how it was tearing the vigilante up.

“Tell me again, what did you experience on your mission.”

Jason chewed his lip and spoke; he told B about the robots dragging him underground and to a warehouse. He told the man about the boy who’d battled him and the person he’d seen the kid with or speaking to via a comm unit that was labeled with a T. Bruce’s unmasked brows burrowed deeper and deeper into his eyes as the man finally stomped over to the bat computer and began to type.

“Slade Wilson. You should know this about him. He’s an ex military project that could very well pull off this – but the way it was connected this time to the Titans in Jump City…”

“The dude wears a mask. All metal, two faced and everything. B. He has Dick. I know it was him. It flicked can’t happen anymore. Let me go back with you –

“I’m running tests. Bloodwork. From what I know, Slade doesn’t just reject his targets and prey. He’s a natural born hunter, Jason. I don’t want you doing that again. Black lost his identity legally because that man knew how to take control of the situation. He stole a priceless artifact from San Francisco and the culprit was in Jump City. Look.”

The screens of the bat's computer showed now a news clip of a devastating fire that was put out. Trees were downed and parents held their kids up in the forested areas of the city.

~ I’m here live tonight, with the citizens and a Teen Titan who is going to explain the ongoing battle which wiped out an entire clearing or pine trees here in Jump's rural outdoors. With me is their leader, “Cyborg.” Tell me, was the enemy your team fought formidable and can we expect a rematch, or are the citizens for today safe. You stopped the bridge from collapsing and unified the two brothers causing these events to escalate. Thoughts about the aftermath for our viewers?” ~

~ Yeah, I do. The brothers are finding every mess they made tonight and righting all if it. With our team’s direction and supervision, those harmed during the fights that took place tonight will be compensated through both our sponsors and the Titans will personally take this case with all seriousness to see change happen. ~

~ As the senior Titans’ member and their leader, this was confirmed that your team now has a new enemy to combat in the near future. He was supposedly the arsonist that used the brothers to create havoc in these forests tonight. Anything to add to our cause, here? ~

~Not much to comment, but the perpetrator will be found, I can assure…and brought to justice. ~

~ There you have it folks, this is Kathleen Ferrara. Signing over now to Todd, with the weather. Back to you, Todd. ~

////////

“B…. that was…I know who did this. You gotta let me go!”

“NO.” Bruce jumped down the boy’s throat out of fear. “I’m going to monitor the situation and will send myself to that tower to confront Cyborg at the right time. For all we know, Slade has his finger on that trigger he’s willing to touch just to prove how he’s changed since.”

“Since he took Dick away…?”

Rushing out with a mutter, Bruce was in brooding mode, full force. Jason layer down on the medical bed and tried to curl up to sleep a bit longer. He remembered that voice. The same vocal clip that he’d used to start and embark on that dangerous trek. “Hunters always leave their mark, huh?” He yawned and laid back down, somehow feeling very, very, tired. (important!!)

/////////////

The Titans had some cleaning up to do. Beastboy went through his room while Robin held his nose around the stink. He’d been dragged over because Bb was in a word…

A closet geek.

“Bet you never seen the earliest addition Superman video game that was only released for a short time? Well I got every copy of his –

Beastboy. Was a superhero fan boy.

“Oh! OH! Wakamoto Shupon; I have every issue from March that was –

He went on and on as Robin waded through the stink of teen scents that made his hairs raise up. A sock that was certainly collecting…

Robin’s eyes shut as he went for the closet. Also bursting with mindless crap –

“DON’T OPEN –

An avalanche of toy plush dolls, comic books in plastic encasing, clothing for casual days off, and food bits of vegan delicacies…all toppled onto the floor.

Robin growled at Bb as he tugged a stray bit of tofu pizza from Robin’s head of racdn locks. Spiking up more due to his annoyance.

“Hehe…I was gonna warn you…my bad?”

“Bb-

“Whoa.” Raven blinked and frowned at the newly made mess as Bb wined his excuse, “I was gonna say not to look in the closet-

“No time. Distress call. In the pacific. A ship’s supply of chemical waste was swiped by something. We’ve been called in investigate.”

“The s.o.s. was from the city. You’d better come along or we’re leaving you in…this.” Raven sighed under her breath.

“Getting up!” Bb was able to dog himself out, before Cy grunted and jabbed his metal thumb at the garbage.

“Ah…right. Hehe…”

He showed Robin from the room wkth the others as cow ls moved and construction yard sounds confused his friends. A jackhammer buzzing lastly, the boy wiped a sweat drop from his face and grinned goofing at his team through the now opened door.

“I’m ready. So, where is the ship, again?”

“It sunk. We have to go find it.” Raven deadpanned, seeing Bb's determination fumble. It brought a smile to her face, somewhat.

“UNDER WATER.” She finished.

///////////

(Changing this as a search mission that is more triangle Robin, Aqualad and Bb. You’ll see.)

Slade paced the floor as Robin took an early toilet break before their time to face the unknown, blessedly arrived.

~ They want to do this, so you should take every effort to show your stripes. ~ Slade directed through the comm. “But Bb is more jittery than usual. I have to be careful if his nose goes where it shouldn’t.”

~ I’ve sought the coordinates through the system Cyborg devised. The route you’ll be headed is left from Atlantis, by the way. ~

“Wait up…you mean, Thee?? As in Aqua man? The JLA? Is this a good idea then? What if –

~ They read minds that are unsure. I know you can send that signal to…someone else. ~

“I can redirect it my best, sir. But Master, Slade? What if …if I don’t resurface –

~ Think about that later. You have me for that S.O.S ~ The adult reassured. ~ Should the comm go off line, I’ll have your location either way. Remember that. ~

“Yes, sir…oh, to notify one more thing, Master. They’re using the T – ship. As a submarine; would you like me to send you the schematic and blueprints to the add on Cy made?”

~ That is thinking on your feet, dear boy. I’d be happy to accept. Be sure to notify with one tap to your collar bone. ~ Slade tapped his own as Robin didn’t just twist his eyes to see. ~ I’ll be by your aid in a heartbeat. ~

“Sir, not to be forthright…. what about the Titans?”

////////

After that lecture in the stall, Star dragged her teammate to the ship as his claustrophobic self came out to stuff itself back down into the depths. Each ship area where they controlled the supposed functions of the craft, were designed to separate,  Cy told them before they’d launched out into the water at increased speed. Bb did everyone a favor and after half of the trip to the center where the boat was below them, he got out and turned into a dolphin. Robin turned to Cy, who had them diving down again with one less Titan to take up their breathing room.

“How deep are we going, Cyborg? Was the ship ever reported lost in this location? By whom?” Starfire turned on her speaker as Bb spoke back through his ability to do so on a piece of tech he still had handy. Cy was adaptable if not quick to shoot for a successful invention. 

~ We got this, mama. Cy's had the reports going wild until he took his arm and made it happen. Look where we is!! It is so cool. Wish you guys had gills –

“Focus, tuna – boy.” Raven commanded with a grunt through her comm. “We have to find the ship. If we do, it could lead us to more clues as to what attacked the ones who were tossed overboard.”

“Were any surviving when they reported –

“Yes, they were quite upset. As the lady on the television stated earlier, “It was either a very large beastly creature or many creatures that took over the ship and terrorized those on the board.”

“On the ship, it was during a storm, Starfire.” Cy corrected. “Robin, you were sleeping a lot so we let ya. The rest was much later after you went to bed that it was seen on screen. The patrol officers and national guard even thought that whatever took that waste, knew how to crash a boat. They did it by someone’s direction. Our job is to locate that wreck while Bb sniffs out whatever freak tried to capsize an entire supply a toxic waste that should have never been out on these waters.”

~ There are hundreds of restrictions in the state of California and Hawaii, yet they were carrying a deadly toxic boat load of gunk that could pollute the water here for decades! Dude. This is so screaming eco – crime about now. But…~

“What’s up B? Spot anything yet?” Cy asked through the unit.

~No. I…I don’t sense anything but fish. Like a ton of it. No chemicals or anything bothering the sea life here…like whoever nabbed their grab bag, left. Why? If there were a trail, I’d be sneezing our way to victory right about now.~

“Let's go easy on this one, team.” Cy told the heroes. “We don’t know how long we can keep looking, so we gotta be quicker on average. Still, I don’t want y'all to worry. This baby has enough air and fuel to last us till midnight or tomorrow morning.”

“Wow.” Robin made sure his master approved with a small hum.~ Good to know. Keep up the good work. ~

////////

From the reaches of the ocean, the swim swimming of flapping wordless breaths held steadily among the lapping currents and unsafe trenches. The coral stayed sturdy. Glad that there was no distress, the onlooker sensed a swap. Something was moving through the depths.

~ That can’t be good. ~

//////

Beastboy dove so close to the wreck as Cy shined a light dimly enough to get in even closer. “What do you see?”

~ I see…. ~

The Titans held their breaths.

~ I see…. dudes! ~ He gasped.

“There!” Robin spotted it hopefully out of luck (important!) as Cy shifted the controls to go down to where “that" was.

“Nice eyes, you have another set that Beastboy could borrow.” Raven teased as Bb turned up his nose to her insults. ~ I a shark. We smell to get from point A to…~

The ship, started to shake with the sound of something carrying its weight upon their shoulders 

With Bb still trapped inside!!

“B! HANG O –

There was a blur of black and blue as the heroes watched a swimmer in the same wet suited colors dive in after their fried as he started to morph into a sturgeon instead. His fin was no longer caught as the stranger shoulder length dark black hair, black eyes and olive skin brought them both after the heroes, to surface upwards as the ship was buried even deeper into what looked to be an undersea sink hole to nowhere.

~ That was…close…. who are you? What was that for? I got out –

“Beastie, this is our contact. Yo!”

Cy waved with a grin as the other waved back, more reserved yet pleasant as well in finally meeting those from his S.O.S.

 His smile made Raven and Starfire swoon, despite Raven not having her emotions this outwards before. Robin made sure that Slade saw this new addition as he telepathically started to speak. Robin steeled his mind to protect his teacher. The last thing he wanted was to go up to the surface before they’d located the one responsible for sinking said ship.

/////////

Inside a cavern, the black-haired swimmer took the heroes to get some air. The corners of the cave dropped water onto Robin's head as he brushed it off, while Cy shook hands with the kid who looked to be about sixteen abd taller than even Kori.

“I’m glad you all could come on such short notice. I’ve not introduced myself to every one of your teammates. My name is Garth, or Kaldur of the city of Atlantis. My role is to protect these waters under my mentor Aquaman's –

“YOU…ARE HIS, STUDENT?”  Gar gawked. “So, you think that my skills aren’t good enough for your fancy swim team, that it?”

“Bb, lighten up.” Cy scolded the youngest Titan.

“I HAD IT.” Gar growled defensively. “This dude was who you called. I could have gone eel and gotten away just fine. You should have stopped the shop if you’re so good at your job.”

“That sink hole was made a long time ago. The fact it landed there, was due to our enemy knowing these waters as well as my king.”

“So, you lost him? And now, you just need our help to catch a water rat.” Bb hummed at the boy hero, judgementally.

“Yes, there is nothing wrong with that. Cyborg remembers my king from his agreement on the surface with the Justice League. It was how you team got funded and started, so show a bit of compromise. Please.”

“I should?? You’re just some spoiled kid who called in us to get eaten by sharks just to stop a menace from your country under the dang sea-

“Triton." Garth cleared his throat. "That is who I’ve had it narrowed down to so far.” Aqualad told Cy and the others, ignoring Bb's rants as the youngest stomped to a corner and sat on a rock to mope.

“This. Triton…” Starfire rubbed her chin. “Would he have been the one to have taken what wastes were being transported along this route? And why did it fail to –

“No time to say much, but I want you to take time with your ship. If anything, my buddy Tram can fix it to work more efficiently.”

“Ah, but I got this, Aqualad.” Cy rubbed his neck, trying not to see the boy’s suggesting in offense of any kind. “We just gotta find wherever that ship and the waste went to.”

“I told you already though, the waste is in Triton's hideout. We still haven’t been able to locate its whereabouts, however.” Muttered the Atlanta as Bb scoffed from his rock waiting area. “Hah, so…you screwed up and hit a dead end. You want us to take the whole mission from you? Risk our lives with no leads to go by? What if this Triton is armed? Are your fish brothers and sisters gonna swarm or swim away –

“Atlantis when need be, has harbored for centuries that of a warring race when not at peace. If that time ever should come again, you might be asked to fight for both worlds with us through the League's guidance.” The taller teen sniffed at the scrutinizing green Titan. “Find your courage and help us, or don’t. I chose warriors, not children to save both your surface world and my city in the ocean. Besides, intel from my best sources tells that Triton has a secretly hidden weapon and he intends to use that powerful threat to take over both. So?”

“UUGH!!” Bb gripped at his hair. “Fine. Fine! Fine!!”

“Then. We’re going to help the Atlantic- men?” Kori whispered to Robin. “I think, Cy has the last say. Wait, Starfire.”

“We’re going. Tram? You got my yes to fixing this ship while Bb and our new dude Kal, do their best to scout out the next location for Triton and that toxic waste stash.”

“You won’t be sorry, Cy. You know I got this-

“We, you mean.” Aqua lad crossed his arms. “You can come once I have the information I need. But Beastboy plays by my rules or not at all. It’s my ocean, my territory and my home. I want as little damage left it this alliance as much as possible. For under my king's orders, I’m just a partner with whom he trusts his causes to. The best, so I can’t lose this case.”

“We shall do more than our utmost, best, dear Aqua lad!” Starfire chirped with a cheery salute  “Beastboy is most agile on any terrain. You can ask for no other to join you on the search.”

Both Bb and Aqua lad had egos, Slade could see from the dispute. Egos that needed a fine tuning to protect his apprentice and the ones he'd be defeating without a prisoner of Atlantis to battle out against.

~ Team up. Stay vigilant. Watch those two as much as possible. ~

Robin bit his lip as Raven saw how the boy looked, out of place. As if waiting for more than just a group huddle to happen.

“Robin-

“So, where does that leave us? Tram….”

“He’s already gotten the tools from his home. They are, kind of important to his work.”

Tram came in as a short, shrimp faced and fish eyed character in a jacket and short work pants, nearly a full suit.

“THAT.”

“Tram….” Raven blinked.

“He is the…very interesting and the friendly!” Starfire waved over with a bright smile and a sweat drop.

“He’s your partner. Wow. I underestimated you, Kal. You really so think small for a fish boy.”

“You could be the bigger person if you used your insults correctly. Bb.” Smirked the Atlantean. Raven put up her hood and turned around for the same rock that Beast Boy no longer rooster upon.

In Robin’s ear, Slade chuckled. ~ He’ll be an amusing addition. Do try to keep me informed throughout this voyage. ~

Robin chuckled to cover up the others. Bb growled at Garth, so he didn’t have time to sass the Renegade. Not yet. He’d want to, once the mastermind came to resurface.

////////////

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse- What it Takes –

//////////

Chapter 35: Torrents of the Deep – Working Together

/////////////

Tara was waking as Will had told him. He stayed by the door, careful not to intrude lightly. He opened the panel and made himself at home. Tara was in her cot. Her legs dangled over the bed in what looked to be a set of plain light blue, two pajamas that were in her size. Will had insisted upon not making her feel totally trapped here. Underground.

“I’m coming inside now, Tara.” He shut the door, making sure her eyes were still to the wall. Her way of coping was normal for those her age. Too bad. Richard was too good for his own good to his teacher. She could learn a decent inkling of respect just by watching how he responded in conversation. They’d cross that bridge eventually. Tara muttered and chewed the inside of her cheek pensively. “You’ve been dressed in that, did Wintergreen bring it in yesterday?”

He leaned against the wall as she huffed and blew a strand of her long blonde hair out of the way. “You’ve been away. I guess he’s my only person visiting these days.”

“My work takes top priority-

“Am I not supposed to be making a deal with you for my freedom or something? Is that why you gave me someplace to sleep finally? I was locked up in a lab for days!” She groaned and rolled onto her side. “My real parents would have wanted me to be brave. To not run away. But I can’t go back.”

“What about Bryon.”

She blinked back tears and wiped her face. Sitting up, Slade was so clever in her mind that he’d try that card. No way.

“If I say yes, help you. Then… you have to help me while this thing you want is happening. I don’t want to be used. You can’t hurt me when I have more control –

“But that’d be why, my dear. You just DON’T.” His eye narrowed at her as they locked in on each other. “YOU were the one that lost control of those impressive and dangerous abilities. Luckily, the ability to control earth is not something I’m unfamiliar with, observing. I’d like to train you. Redirect that energy to make it shine through as it should.” He held out a hand. Slowly coming closer, she was sure caution was needed when taking candy from strangers.

“So…you’ve had students before? Like me or something?”

“I do have, just one. The last never stayed long enough to be much.” The man lowered his hands then raised them to release the clasps of his mask – his face showed a sheen of perspiration that wasn’t even cracking. His hair was pushed away, a small smile to show his real side. His human side beyond the façade Tara had fabricated out if her head.

“Whoa…then, you’re not….how old are you again? What stipends? It’s like I’m talking to-

“Someone, else?” He raised a brow, shocking her even further. “Yeah. You do. And for some reason…”

“I only saw you by way of a small…bit of intelligence. I have my own ability to see through others. Unlike your gift, it has its uses in specific scenarios. Precondition, strategies being placed in a line. You’d be thrilled to know that I can get Bryon back by all if resources. All if my power, just if you trusted me, Tara. Trusted that I can do this one thing. Make it up to you for trapping you in this room. It was only for your own good, to protect you.”

“Or. To protect you.” Snorted the girl. “If I give that much control to you, how will I get what I need? You’re not going to do it. Sone part of me is saying not to trust you.”

“Listen to it, and you’ll have no future again, dear child. You’ll be shipped to be cared for by others that won’t understand.”

“Wh…what do you mean?” Her voice cracked a bit.

“A foster family? I could pull some strings. Get you out, but…they may not be as forgiving. If they saw what you were. How you can’t control your powers, they would put you back in the lab. You’d be less than human. Less than protected-

“No, no way! I…I have rights –

“Your uncle took your title. You’re a runaway without any rights or even a citizenship title into your name in THIS country. You’d fumble and hurt and keep hurting, Tara. But it doesn’t have to be so painful.” She didn’t even see him step closer. Completely eaten away was her barrier. He just came up to her, one knee…one question.

“Join me. Let me train you to keep yourself together and find your brother in the process. Terranova.”

////////////////////

The one thing Robin had expected, was to be grounded in less time and in the water in less than ten. Starfire was all about cheering on Bb and Aqualad from the background.  A whole  big debacle could raise suspicions among the other sea inhabitants,  she wondered. Yet Kaldur told them all; the sea wasn’t just his home, he communicated with every being through a telepathic link as Bb had the Titans earlier.

~ We’ll check the last place any mysterious activity was spotted and reported from, then we set our course after Triton if we find his where about.~

~ What if he puts up resistance and goes nuts? I don’t even know if that weapon is shark friendly…. you’d better not endanger my friends. ~  Bb growled as a great white behemoth.  ~ Please, you would turn tail if you ever had to worry about danger. Leave the real heroing to the heroes –

~Say what?? Are we not good enough for ya –

~Bb, hold up. I think we got something on the radar.~

Robin squinted to see a shadow in the rocks. Red or golden eyes…

“There!” Robin pointed as Cy took the next step forward. “Go, he’s in the coral reef! I see a light…there!”

“Not that. Eyes. Dozens.” Raven pointed as well, the eyes multiplying as only one remained. Bb and Aqualad ravaged after it in the deep waves  Bb shoved as a manta ray, yet Kaldur was much quicker with those flippers. ~ No, fair!~

“ This isn’t a race! Work –

A  rumble from the back of the sub stopped their leader as Cy reacted and turned to the monitors. “We got company. Brace –

A century long war and the tens of dozens if enemies of Atlantis,  returned. The creatures Aqualad had foreshadowed had bodies cloaked by the shadows of those dark waters. Kal (to save me the time) swung round but saw a trident too late as he fell back. Bb almost knew it as his ego; though telling him to help his teammates, had the eel in his form strangle round the creature like a deadly anaconda as it grunted and tried to swing back. The next went after the Titans as they were more. More of them. Red eyes and jaws like a shark. Their gills made them greener; more monster than mer- man while Kal telepathically tried to tell the heroes to double their resistance and hold on while he called for help.

“There are too many!” Starfire cried through the comm. “Must we engage in combat??”

“This was…a test run for my girl, the T – ship. Having it get attacked now means in the future –

“Right now??” Robin tried to steady his heart. Slade would come if he grew too distressed. In his mind, the man wanted him to face the toughest fights while cracking under pressure. To show that he could. He was going to wait it out. Cy had to make the call, he could only make suggestions.

~ I’m going to bring in back up. Sit tight .~

~ You can play long distance with them, I’m going after the sea creep’s lair-

~ B!” Cy commanded through the boy’s suit. ~ Don’t act out. We need you to listen –

“You need to Beast boy  Cy's right. If you run off, you won’t weaken the pack. Hunting 101. Kal. Who are you going to call?” Robin sat back down as the tritons hot their craft in spots that would need a total make over from Tram again.

Kal put a set of fingers to his temple as a mourning cry of two booming voices echoed over the waters.

~He did know….~ Raven gasped, the blue whales coming in to drop kick the tritons as they supported the craft and lifted it to the surface. Bb and Kal made sure to call one more, as Bb negotiated with tiger sharks which were too small to harm the whales that has since departed anyways.

 “Go! Get those fish chowder heads, team!” Bb had the sharks push the tritons down as they were made to retreat into the waves

“Great. No lead, no –

“You have something on your.” Kal poked Bb's jaw as he lipped it with a sniff. “They bleed too?? I can help track en! Way a –

Bb turned to the Titans as Kal did the same. “I'll have Tram bring another replacement if its in poor shape. We can go ahead.”

“Will that…I can’t leave them out here –

“You trust me, right? You helped push back the Tritons whereas I did the rest. We make a pretty good team, when you aren’t being such a puffer fish.” Teased the Atlantean.

“Y- YEAH…but you owe Robin for getting me to listen. He used to do stuff like this as a reward. Weird parenting. Bet they had him take on a great white shark when he was in middle school."

“Most of my people leave them be… but if you say so. Coming?”

BB nodded and went clowning as their fin and hand touched in understanding. “You bet! Let’s stop a sea criminal. Together.”

/////////////

It was….unexpected. Again, but validation to the team meant Robin would have their support. Now, for Cyborg…

////////

Find out!!

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse – What it Takes –

//////////

Chapter 36: Better than the Original

///////////////

The time was getting too late to think ahead correctly. Cy was sure that Bb and Kal had found the criminals hide away. He was sure.

Starfire was taking a cat nap, not just from low oxygen, and Robin had his cape as a blanket,  his nerves holding still as those waiting one to two hours longer.

~ Stand attention, Apprentice.~ Slade whispered as he understood just from how the boy was acting that he needed to not be a nuisance this time. ~ Right now, the tanks are avoiding losing too much oxygen so within the next few minutes, there should be a time to rest and recover before it gifts any more. ~

“Am…” Robin felt his lips wobble out of fashion. “ Ami I going to die, sir?” He whispered under the cloth, making it sound like a sniffle.

Slade spoke nothing, not a breadth as he paused. This was Robin’s real mission. Do or die. Not on the moon in space. In the ocean, feet below the mainland in God knows what current. Still here in California, by the coordinates the kid had managed to relay.

~ No.~ Slade said calmly to the boy. ~ No, you are…. not. Trust them. Trust me, Robin. ~

Just like that, the signal went off as Cy took over the line. ~ Good news. We’re mobile, and B and Kal found a cave. With something big inside it. ~

//////////__//

Slade smiled from that. Yes. He’d told him the truth, and what better way than to put on a brave face? Slade let the screens fall to background noise as Tara sat in a chair from the back of the room and just watched. “When are you going to train me, like him.” She asked, hair barely pushed behind her ears.

“Soon, patience. You can’t expect for me to drop everything and come to you. It will happen. Sit, enjoy the preview, awhile. Have you eaten?”

“I…no.” Tara shook her head. “I didn’t, not since that talk earlier.” Slade made sure to contact the bots and William for a table to be set out. “It’s nearly supper, but I promise. Very soon you two will meet. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“You told him to trust you.” Tara looked up at how Robin was steadying himself, as if this were a test of his ability to endure. “You told him, but how did you know about the ship starting back up? Or their team finding the target?”

Slade wouldn’t tell Robin, but Tara was able to keep her mouth shut. Hopefully, it would make her aware of what a t he was. “Not preconceived by my abilities at all. Just, a lucky guess, I’d assume. Does that answer your question, enough?” He shrugged his hands up as she scrunched her eyes a bit. Her confused eyes, blue and rock hard as diamonds in the dark.

“Whatever you say, Sir.”

///////////////

Bb and Aqualad swam further in as Bb became an angler fish to light their way. The corners of this cave were filled with light already, more organic to artificial as Kal redirected Bb to point his own light at the next path. “There, I’m sending the Titans telepathically this location. Raven should be able to read the image. Will you join me?”

~ I smell something like a…I dunno. Something that belongs in a real cave. Not underwater.~ Bb swam close to the entrance as Kal stayed ahead. “Don’t lose sight. We are surely going to catch him in the act.”

~You really want to impress your boss, huh.~

Aqualad swam beside Bb and nodded. ~ He is my king and the one that saved me pong ago when I was just a minnow in these waters. O owe him my very life as it is, and we’ve been connected through the promise of this kingdom remaining…standing…,~

They both stopped.

~ We need back up. ~ Bb gulped to his friends ~ We found the  perp, red handed. And more….~

/////////////

The empath groaned and held he skull. Cy waited as Raven began to speak, though in mild duress of the other’s psychic link. “Cave…Triton is….more of himself. –

“He’s got an ego, so…”

“Robin. No, Rae, go on.”

Robin bit his tongue.

“An…an, army. Copies. Of the criminal, himself.” She forced out.

“Cy, we can’t stay here.  They need us –

“If I go deep enough, the pressure is gonna hold but wait “ Cy directed his teammates. “I bet they want us outside to stop any from escaping. Sounds better than getting our heads caught in a cavern ceiling,  right?”

Robin nodded. Of they had gone, which the only way was if he had lead them….would Robin have killed the heroes by his fear of the unknown? Was he getting that nervous already?

Slade was not talking, Robin felt the lack of confidence rise up like their craft had moments ago. His hands fiddled with the device, while the man had said he’d be fine. Why did this whole trip worry him to death that they wouldn’t make it??

( Robin is becoming more nervous like a puppy with separation anxiety. Slade may talk him out of it later. )

//////////

The two Titans navigated the pod location very cautiously. They were more eggs than pods, being with the criminal and his biological components. ~ He’s,  a mom??~

~ No, this is just…~ Kal looked for a self destruction mechanism on the large computer that kept these things alive. Morphing, living Tritons ready to take over the oceans. Kal felt sick, until the evil one himself cane from the shadows with a bellowing laugh.

“Now that you have seen of my own perfection, your doom shall be similar!” He attacked, more fish brained to become aggressive as the squirming Tritons in their carrier sacks made Bb hold back a gag to help Aqualad. “ You’re the original; so, why copy yourself?? That is the most –

~It is fantastic to see so many faces that are made in my image. They are bred to serve me and only me. With their assistance, I shall overthrow your king and finally conquer the surface world with an iron fist!!~

~No way! We are not letting you step foot –

Garth growled at Bb as he slapped a fin over his jaws..

~ These caves will not be our crypt. I shall inherit your king's role and destroy and take as I please! Perfection cannot be wasted! It is. Time, to awaken my soldiers of the new warlord, Triton! The one and only –

~Yeah, but if say…you do win and...they do follow you, what if nobody likes that plan? What if they all want what you’ve got?~ Gar sniffed while the real Triton was perplexed by the mutant's words.

~ I…I am the only exception. The one and true king to rule these waters –

“But, he’s correct. You’ll have competition. And because you are SO in sync….”

~ THE OTHERS, are gonna want you to listen to them. So, you have some thinking left ta do.~

The real Triton had not noticed as the hatchling army started to emerge. Not until one overheard Beast Boy's theories that it spoke up. ~ He is, correct. I should be the correct ruler  the absolute lord of land and sea. You are not fit to rule in MY ocean. ~

And then another spoke, as the real Triton held his ground rather rigidly. “ I am the true lord of these waters! You will all bow down to Triton – king of the surface and the ocean deep.”

“No, for I am perfection personified in this body. I should be the one to overthrow the king and to enslave all human life!”

“NO. I AM!”

“I am perfection!”

“I AM THE GOD OF THESE REACHES AND NONE CAN STOP ME!”

“What…have you done!!? Foolish green fish. They will no longer listen to a true leader. They are on a path of destruction because of your folly!”

~You’re the one that played God, so deal with it. ~ Bb snorted as his fishy self. ~  Aqua kid and I gonna make sure you all get decommissioned from going rogue, because you just got sentenced for life with your copies here. For a long, long time. ~

////////////

In the end, the underwater “police" came, while the Titans stood guard and blocked off the exits, all but one until the cops arrived and the day was, well…

As they came up to surface in front of the tower, Aqualad and to official guards waved back while leaving the heroes to their forever home for a while to let the events drift away into tomorrow.

“We have made it home!! That was a glorious event of sacrifice and humility, Beastboy.” Starfire praised.

“Well, I had a certain guy to kick it outta me. Robin?” The green kid came up to the other and left out a hand to shake. “You, um…made me think of that time we saved each other. I think it taught me not to give myself too much credit. We did a really good thing down there, and I-

It was morning as the sun hit the light of a face clad in two tones upon the shore.

Its arms crossed, the man then removed the mask he wore to showcase slightly spiked black hair and a false eye. The perfect way to set a scene, was to fake it. A sharp complexity of a face, toned and deadly muscles below a suit that was less expected of the transition from ex operative to crime lord. His sharpest features though had to be dark eyes making him into a real villain by the appeal. He seemed no more than mid to early flurries but his body said otherwise as he continued to scope out the heroes ‘ weaknesses.

“Richie.”

The other ebony haired young adult dropped him arm and glanced at the man clad in a different uniform. More militaristic but with a darker touch. Not, at all like Slade. More, like an alternative version of the killer known as. ..

Deathstroke.

“How, how did you find-

“You’ve had a tracker set in place since we’ve known each other. Your mother insisted I be discreet. So, you became a hero…? Interesting, otherwise…you should consider quitting while you’re ahead.”

“YOU!” Kori rammed into him, yet he shoved her off as id she weighed nothing. “Gravity? What’s this guy's deal?? Hey!” Bb shouted across the sand. “Get out before we have to put you down, old timer.”

“And what a rude company you keep to, not how we raised our dear little future killing machine.” The man ignored the teen as he came near, but the flash bang disc took that issue out while Bb saw stars. Raven wasn’t ok with this reunion.

“Not in our home…Azarath…metrion!! –

He moved like a bullet and shoved her down before she could speak, her jaw in the sand as Cy raised his cannon.

“LET HER GO. I’m not gonna say it again.”

The standoff was dangerous as Robin tried to move even a pinkie toe yet Slade, oh. He didn’t give up as he made Raven’s brow break out in perspiration.

“We demand that you release our teammate.” Starfire commanded like the royal she still was. “There shall be no seconding the chances –

“Wait!” Robin put a hand up as Slade didn’t look away from his quarry.

“I…I’ll-

“No way!” Cy spat at the hero. “HE is never gonna stop unless you do something to show him how much he made your life a living hell. Robin, Richie, or whoever you wanna be. You gotta get it together and show this creep that you aren’t owned by anyone.”

“The city? By you, Cyborg?”  Frowned the assassin elder. "Why don't you tell him the truth then. That he's not -

“We know your name is falsely adjusted, and that you were never who you claimed to be as his former gnorfka. That you steal the identities of countless innocent persons globally to cover your tracks…” Starfire huffed with her bolts still ready at will to fire, should she see Raven NOT curse her way out of a tight hold.

Raven did, just as Slade had hoped. She left her soul self to deliberately dissolve into a puddle of black into the ground until she was right by her friends. Robin sighed, finding that Slade might pull a new trick, should they decide to fight back.

He straightened up, Robin staring back as the older male dusted himself off and walked the edge of the shore where they had him pinned.

“If my student won’t learn to stand by his master, then I may have to test your “inferior” skills, myself. I intended to make this a fair warning, so be it then.” He walked as they slowly stayed to pace. Slade finding his wrist as if to adjust his watch.  Instead, it was a built-in cloaking device as the heroes were gob smacked and made a barrier around Robin with Raven's magic. “Where did he go!? Cy, we got a crazed ex mogul on the loose!”

“He…he isn’t here for you.” Robin swallowed, playing the victim as best he could remember how.

“Fear not, friend Richie. We shall not allow –

The Titans stopped as an alarm went off inside the tower by way of their units. “We can get em on lock up, Star. But…” Cy walked ahead as Raven made sure Robin was not being followed by anymore operatives.

“We bad better handle this mess first.”

///////////

(Tick tock Tango one show was what this will be based off of. )

Find out!! Slade is loose in the tower under a new alias to fool the heroes and he’s here to test them?? Well, sounds like a plot involved with a bit of an exception to the rule.  Tara is on the ball with his plan. What will Robin do if they figure out he’s a spy?? Find out!!

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse – What It Takes

/////////////

Chapter 37: Tick Tock Tango – It Takes Only, You

/////////////////

Mainly brought on by my last one shot. Tailored to suit the plot here. Scooby and the gang are after the crooked in..

Their own tower??

Finding out…. now!

/////////

Slade sat back and watched as the locked door to the security room in the tower made him feel secure; the reason, had to be a fault of his ego. Surely, that was the Titans' first though.

Monitor the area and split into groups.

Report any findings to other teammates.

Meet up to nab the criminal once he is identified and immobilized. 

Bring him to jail. Lock his ass away for good.

The day is saved.

Slade rolled his eyes. Into his face mask’s mic, he wondered in a mutter.

“What do I do now…”

(Important here!!)

////////////////

Dick stayed by Raven as she held her own arm, healing it in a soft white light. In her gaze over once she was done, she stared at him. “Are, you, ok?”

It was the first time anyone had asked that in a while since his start as a hero. A fake one, but Slade had said to careful. To not let her get inside his head.

Dick swallowed and didn’t feel safe on either platform.

“No. Truth is, I don’t know what he really wants from me by coming here. He didn’t look right, even his face was fixed to look like someone else. I hated that he could get inside my mind, twist everything to sound, right…is he wrong though? Am I still a hero like you guys?”

“Robin.” Cy came round the corner and called the heroes to collect in the main room.

“No scents. Nothing. I though he smelled weird, but it was rusty. Is it just how much of a robot he was?” Bb sat on the sofa as Cy gave him an unwelcoming answer. “We can’t be so careful right now, Bb. This is serious. If the guy really is the same dude who hurt Robin like that before he even got here, he’s been a criminal before we had Richie put on the mask. I don’t even know if the league should step in on this. We can try to book em, but –

~ Giving up the ghost, Cyborg? Team captain and cold feet; not a great combination in my book. ~ Starfire gasped and brought a hand up to big screen by the windows overlooking the shore. Up top, Slade’s voice was an echo around the room. “He…he hacked…how did you mess with my systems so quick???”

~ Trade secret. ~ Grinned the monster over the intercom until his masked face cane into view onto it. ~ Let’s have a little test. If you pass it, I’ll depart. Pick my wounds again fir another defeat. If you lose…the Titans are over, and the boy comes back to my side. No questions asked. ~

“We’ll never agree to that proposal.” Growled Raven under her breath. “The courts already issued Robin as under the custody of us. You can’t get in the way of the law so easily this time.”

She. Would be a proper threat in due time.

Slade smirked, turning to the boy wonder. ~ We’ll debate in that time a winner is declared. For now; the rules will be to disarm and disable microscopic disruptors placed within the tower. If you can’t take them out within less than one hour – I’ll even throw in fifteen extra minutes so I can watch you fail…then the tower will have an accident you won’t be capable of patching up. It goes, or else you’ll have me in cuffs by the end of this round. Any, other questions? ~

“Yeah, just…you would have to hint to us. Something.” Robin looked Slade dead in the eye. “It’s why you left the mask at the scene of Fixit's murder. Or the emblem with that symbol when we saved the city from those two brothers. And from you.”

~Very perceptive. I must add that you’ve at least learned something useful while outside of my watch. Despite these shortcomings, yes. I have red lights that will blink to direct you –

“Sounds like a big fat rat trap ta me!” Grumbled. “How can we say you won’t try to use our tower against us??”

~ I’m only testing your accuracy. I have no need to kill you off. I’m a strategis. It’s just as Richie, said. Not a serial attacker. Not my style. ~

“You did not think the so when the brothers took many homes with them by their powers being not in their control? Or even –

~ Then, let’s make this interesting…~ Slade snapped his fingers as absolute darkness took hold. ~ The red lights will lead the way. Once they go completely green, you’ll have passed one obstacle. Anything at all, you can head back here and I might listen to give you a pep talk…Good luck, and I hope for your sake you were prepared beforehand to defend yourselves from any new criminals- ones that enjoy the hunt…~

/////////////

“You’re…your dad’s replacement is insane, dude!” Bb groaned and fell onto his turtle belly. “Define, loco…he’s like the ultimate picture of bad guy – ness. Why didn’t you tell us?”

“I, thought he wasn’t going to go this far! It’s not my fault!” Shouted the boy wonder. “I warned you in the beginning that he would hunt ME down, and now YOU’RE all complaining –

“Only Beastboy is.” Raven deadpanned. “We want him out as much as you do.”

“And we can do this task as long as…”

Starfire nearly jumped. It seemed to be so.

The doors slipped back as five ways out, opened to the teens. Fives ways to further separate them, appearing. Richard didn’t feel like this was acting anymore. His body moved forwards to the first door.

 “See you at the finish…”

His door shut as the red lights like Slade said, were fairy lights to the very first obstacle. Whatever a disruptor was, it sounded dangerous from the beginning to its end. Robin walked, feet heavy and waiting on no one or anything to give him a sign.

Just, a few lights along the path to lead him further into the dark of his last home. Very last real…and somehow, he nearly wanted to turn back. That was, until his ears buzzed. ~ Apprentice. I’m going to give you the coordinates to the first disruptor. It’s only a few more feet ahead. ~

/////////

Slade….in the – no spoiling it! Notice that Slade wasn’t present for most of his encounters. The robots were. Any pointers on that? Find out!

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse – What it Takes –

////////////

Chapter 38: True Deception is the Sweetest Kind of Extra Credit 

////////////////////

He knew every anchor away of this ship. This captain in his ear could hijack the JLA's watchtower if he tried hard enough. Richie dug through a crawl space in the basement and one more pillar was down. One half hour to go, left.

Bb came in on his comm and did not seem to be as enthusiastic about them winning the game this mad man had cooked up. ~ I can’t find it! You are really good at this, it’s like you know what he’d do with hiding stuff all the time. You used to live with that creep, right? ~

Robin stuffed down his emotions and bit his lip, nodding with a brief hum at the boy. “Yeah, I learned. Mainly how to remain unseen from an enemy attacker. He locked me up like I was waiting to turn evil one day. Like I ever had a choice.”

~ You do, and you still always have, Robin.~ Raven said through a split in the screen. ~ Your captor was never right fir what he did. It was selfish, but he’s not sane enough to tell that his actions left you as you are because if how he treated you all that time. You have no choice but to face him. I’m the same. My family was hurt mostly because of my father’s cruel –

The intercom went off as each titan heard the good word if Slade through it. Robin gripped the device and listened close.

~ Time is standing still only until you run out of breath, Titans. Hand back over my protégé and maybe I’ll leave your prides intact as thanks. ~

“Slade, you are not who you appear to us, yet far worse!” Starfire yelled into the air at the masked man at the controls of Cy’s perfect system. ~I admit.  I took you most of all fir a careless individual; if I di win this game we’re nearly done playing, I will make sure you personally know my anger. Most if all –

“NO!” Richie put his hands to his mouth. He was only acting as Slade played along. She had to trust him. That was key here. ~ No? You’d rather I take them all down, dear child? I know you don’t mean to hurt my feelings. Your mother would say something that –

“ I don’t care anymore…I’m a Titan, like them. S- s -so if you want them, you have to t -t - take me down too!”

~ I see.~ The bot paused as the boy held his breath one last time. ~ Find the bombs, or perish. That is all. Be, as you were…~

//////////

The voice in Robin’s ear praised him. Coached him, prided him in his defense of the place he was placed in. The role that was only his to earn if the Titans fell. Robin bit his lip and kept looking, aiding his team as much as he could and more – Slade knew the phony bugs were going to be understood as a feint later, fir now, he’d pretend to be the big bad villain and scare the kiddies.

~ They are fine. You are doing marvelously, dear boy. Very good job making a scene; making your very first nemesis,  believable.~

It was so much of a relief that at the very last touch of a button, the countdown, ceased.

The Titans, had won the bet abd Robin’s freedom. For now.

The man showed up on the screen before, but now, he was in the main room wkth his hands clasped behind him. His feet apart in a military stance that only he knew the reason for.

“Well done. You’ve bested my little test quite well. Working together, never apart  in the future I’d like to see what else I can coax from your, conditioning here in this city. I’d like you to accept that I might one day break you as I will. I have reason to stay and see you fall, properly. For my student’s sake.”

“Not anymore.” Raven blocked Robin from having to even look the man in the eye, yet he let her arm down with a touch. “It’s ok.” He reassured. Starfire flew over, yet her words were caught in her throat. “Robin –

“Richie.” Robin told the man as his brow tightened up a bit, palms still behind his back. “Robin, this Robin here, in this city is their hero. Their teammate. You can’t take that away again, because I’ve chosen to pursue a better side to myself.”

“That’s too bad then" The man said with a hint of mock pity in his head tilt. “Because you never told them WHY your blood cane back to seem like mine. Did you, my protégé?”

The man moved too quickly as he flung a disk to the glass as it shattered from a minor explosion. Instead of waiting fir the glass and debris to partly settle, the man flung himself into the fire. “Wait!! DON-

He didn’t know, so the Slade in his ear laughed.

And laughed…

Starfire flung herself with a gasp to fly off with Robin to the side, as the face if the secret soldier lay exposed with wires and an explosive count down for a face. He’d dodged….it….kill or be killed as the robot took the hit.

The real Slade just laughed in some far-off location; as he shut off the connection, truly mad in his pride as the boy watched the scene with Kori to hug him close. Raven and Cy let the sprinklers take out the fire, as the late arsonist was burned to a crisp in the water now. Totaled by his own exit.

“Didn’t expect that much of a twist, did you…my Renegade?” Slade grinned under the mask as he let it free a moment to go freshen up. “Wintergreen.” He called for the man via his comm. “I’m going out. Watch Terra while I’m gone.”

~ Certainly. Will you require anything else…I’d imagine your protégé needs consoling. ~

Slade didn’t reply. His eyes were on the exit as the last screen in the haunt dimmed to save on power. “Just keep the rats occupied…” Slade paused, “Or, better yet. Invite them to keep our newest weapon entertained.”

Yes…Maybe, he did need to just get away for a bit. Just, a bit.

///////////////////////////

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse- What it Takes

//////////

Chapter 39: Shaking in my Pixie Boots

//////////

Jason awoke to the metronome's sound of a grandfather clock ticking away in the corner of his bedroom. To his right, by the side of the bed was Alfred with Master Bruce. “We ran some tests earlier. Jason.”

The boy groaned and stared at the ceiling, wishing he really were still fast asleep. “I’m not all myself. What gives…”

“I don’t exactly know.” Bruce masked his discouragement as Alfred refilled a glass to have to the boy. “Dickie…I saw him, B. You gotta tell me the rest. About his life after. Like when I was a kid.”

“I’m making sure he’s not off of our radar, but Slade is as capable of escaping the police as he is at being immune by his involvement with so many unsung voices. He used to be a war hero, turned to crime as soon as he changed overnight.”

“He’s a meta, sort of. I looked at, the file.” Jason heaved himself up as Alfred caught the boy before he did anything drastic. “Please be still a moment more, Master Todd.” Alfred coaxed the kid not to rise too quickly.

“Master Bruce only means that involve himself in the new hero's lifestyle…it would be difficult not to –

“To alert the true mastermind pulling the strings in that city.”

“You…did it, didn’t you.” Jason swallowed and layer back into his pillows. “You let them know…”

“I know Cyborg, he was brought to us by Silas Stone, his father from STAR labs. The JLA helped bring the tower to where it is now, and as long as the reports aren’t altered by anyone on that team, we will continue to monitor from a safe distance.”

“Slade, he…he got it.”

Bruce leaned into his hands and ushered Jason to continue.

“Into the computer, hacked it. Made it so he can see everything they do. I thought I was just getting lucky, but then I saw the laptop. Dick…he’s working for him. Handing out codes, data. Even encrypted keys, B…”

“Dick, what did you overhear the night they took you out.”

Jason had been up earlier before fainting. He imagined the shock was just enough to bring him down, but now…

“He…was listening and responding via a mic in the mask. I don’t think a dog could have not heard em, but for some reason…Dick looked, conflicted when he was told ta attack.”

“He’s being manipulated, Jason.”

“While that was always the case, we will finally put this hopefully to bed.” Alfred nodded, wistfully. “And we then might have the bat send this crook behind bars for child endangerment and the abduction of a minor. Richard was only a boy when he was given the option to run away with that…that.”

“Alfred, make sure to message the Titans in the cave tonight.” Bruce interrupted. “I’ll stay with Jason for now, there is still something I haven’t told him yet.”

“As you wish, Master Bruce.” Alfred slipped away to do the bidding of the boy that would be vat, now a man for many times in his lifetime. Far greater at the expense he was about to gain from – should Richard still have a conscience…

////////

Bruce was back to the cave in thirty or less as Alfred left car revving up by the lower platform. “You’re certain that having yourself injected into their lives at this time is the wisest choice, Master Bruce.” Frowned the sarcastic sounding old timer.

“I’m keeping a promise I left on hold, Alfred. Dick needs someone to guide him from making an even bigger mistake than the first time.”

“Will your presence not count as a shock? He’s clearly been trained to take orders. Wilson has kept the boy busy as a blasted spy! Those child cannot be aware –

“Slade might have a plan to dodge suspicion from the Titans. If I’m fortunate with my calculations, Slade won’t be in an earshot of that Tower. My guess exactly is…”

Bruce let the screens show the rest.

“Below. The city.”

////////

NOT WHAT YOU THINK!!

////////

Slade pulled out his virtual keyboard and started to type and hack and do what he did best.

Be first, never worst.

Bruce was onto him. It was going to get ugly from hereon, but there would be a slight delay. The good news was that Richard wasn’t entirely unaware over how Wayne functioned. This little lesson gave Slade and edge as the boy robot poked and prodded his apprentice, who kept a stiff upper lip.

Raven and Beastboy bothered Slade more so, their powers as impressive when they took something into greater focus. Cyborgs was still vying to become a leaguer, yet Starfire…

Was not hard enough to find a liar. That very fact that she was royal to another galaxy, far way. She had to be watched most of all. Richard was weak to her sympathy only when it worked. Slade could turn the tables. The tapping of grunge style mountaineering boots, rocky from point a to Z…the child je had weaned on revenge would learn to listen and listen well.

“Tara, we’ve gone over the process; Batman never introduces himself. Richard is reunited by a chain of events in our favor.” He said smooth, calm and collected as he turned to the blonde ex princess from his dais seat.

“I understand. When do I get to meet the team. Slade?” She put a hand to her hip in the doorway. “You keep saying he should get to know me already. Why not soon?”

“Patience, dear Terra Nova.” Slade returned to his screens.

“He’ll be alright as long as nothing –

Slade squinted at the screen “When was that earthquake scheduled, Tara?”

She cocked her head at the intervention in the med lab at Titans tower. ~ Samples are showing you’re still here, but are ya? ~

~ What is this all about? ~ Dick groaned and sat up on a gurney. ~ It’s late. Can’t we just forget about this until –

~ Bloodwork on fasting. I got it. ~ Cy pulled up a screen on one computer monitor by the lab as Dick gritted his jaw. ~ I’m not –

“He’s going to –

Slade hushed the girl. “We’ll see. Get your fury ready to crackle. If he does go down, then we can cut their little meet up. Short.”

/////////////////////////

Dick looked at the floor. He was sure Cy had found something from the last trigger. The man they’d fought was a robot, but the old man with the brothers, wasn’t.

“I smelled it on you when we got back, but you weren’t…I mean…you were asleep, right?”

“We took a new sample. You went after him and –

“And there was no other decent way to check on our dear friend!” Starfire blathering as Raven faceplate herself, Bb groaning at the blurred conclusion.

“THREE. WORDS. Zombie.  Mind. Con-

“Hypnosis." Raven jumped. “Through whatever got into your blood. I don’t know…” She looked to Cyborg to clarify her thoughts. “Mind control ain’t off the ideas we did have on you running out late. Star even got loose to go looking by the docks.”

“She what??”

Starfire put her finger up as Robin lost his calm. “No, no. You said I was on this team. I went to get dirt on his next plan. I found it. I’m milking this man after he betrayed mom... It’s work –

“He hacked our tower!” Cy shouted. “You let in a bug that could still be multiplying – all because you never wanna listen. And frankly, spike, I don’t think your real name was ever Richie.”

“H- how do you know that?? Who –

“Him.” Bb growled as his ears dropped. The screen didn’t have to go off as Slade slammed his palm down angrily. By the window, was the bat of Gotham. In the flesh.

“Good evening, titans.”

“Mr. THE BAT!” Starfire gasped and floated back beside Robin. “You …we were not expecting any visitors at this time. And so soon?”

“My tech is that good. But he’s lost his momentum. Hasn’t he?”

“Back off, jerk.”

Slade snapped his fingers through the mic as the bat motioned to the teens. “I need a word with him.” Batman motioned to the most reluctant runaway. “Alone.” He emphasized strongly. Eyes narrowed at that boy’s domino mask.

///////////////

“Let me talk with your boss.”

“Can they hear any of this? Did you really just figure out that I’m innocent? I’m a-

“I know who you are, Dick Grayson.”  

Robin’s eyes softened. “I’m not whoever that is, I’m their Robin –

“You’re you, not Slade’s personal servant-

“I’M MORE, BRUCE…” Snipped the boy with wild eyes as he tugged off his domino mask. “He doesn’t need to talk to you. You heard It too, right? What we’re doing –

“Making yourself just like him. Into a wanted criminal?”

“NO!” Spat the boy. “I’m his, protégé but I’m going to be the only person he’ll ever see through that glass. I made sure I wouldn’t fail –

“He’s trained you to hate others, Dick. To only depend on him-

“Just like when you locked the old’ him" up in a cage???” Dick shouted even higher in his distress. “Zucco could have been put away; you waited and set the bait, but you KNEW where he was hiding. You KNEW. But you never bothered to take care of him…for me?? Why did you just…get cold feet!”

“Too soon and you would have been back in danger, Dick. I had to be sure. Wilson was at the tent that day. It’s why you were targeted.”

“He didn’t target me. He saw me, just like you. You both could have done anything when I had no one. You just…” Dick scoffed abd clicked his tongue at the ground, “You were just the worst one to talk to me to begin with. You left me, never sat down like my parents did and got to ‘care.” Sniffled the boy, backing away as he touched a spot on his mask. Bruce reached out but the tremor came to fast. “I need you to get out. Never come back.”

The quake had Kori banging on the door. Bruce saw the window caving in as Dick stood there, waiting for the word from a loving dictator now in his life.

Bruce wouldn’t take it.

~ HE SAID. TO GET OUT. ~

Bruce’s masked eyes grew aware that they were being watched. “Tell that mad man, that I’m watching from every perch. You’re not going to stay with him. Not even if you deny what I said…it’s for your own good, Richard.” Bruce disappeared into his seat of the batting in a single flip.

/////////

 Slade hummed to himself as Terra reset her art. She had to pant and roll her shoulders at the sheer amount; of stamina it took. “Wow. Tough life he’s had. Daddy issues, the Wayne?”

“As you heard.” Smirked the merc as Dick wiped his face. The Titans retrieved him and made sure that nothing went on. They had some cleaning up to do as Slade watched debris fall onto the last lead the heroes had at unmasking their nemesis. “He’s made his choice. The bat, is out.”

///////////

Dick was in the middle of a fierce capture move. If he was exposed to his team, that meant Slade wouldn’t stop until their deaths came swiftly. Bruce would be guilty of allowing the children to perish, and Robin…

He’d never forgive the man. It was upsetting, yet the bat had a feeling he’d see the kid in action very soon. A briefing on a new set of designs for a heat lazer or thermal blaster had two stored locations for the prototype. He wasn’t glad to get that off the ground as Wayne, but as the bat…

Bruce set off to recalculate. From what he’d been able to read by the Titans’ gossip, the pier was the first place to do some snooping.

Beneath. 

If only he could break the news.

////////////////

Dick stepped back into his room and slid down the door, his back to it. He hid his head in his arms and let out a forged sigh. “I failed you, master…”

The laptop in his room flickered on. The obvious about to come. An encrypted message was attached.

~ Cyiq verte 9032. ~

It was a code.

Dick crawled over to the device and sat at the desk they had put together. Everyone here wanted to rip into him. In a sealed file attached, was a pick-up address for an item that would not be delivered. It had a tracking attached as Dick checked the link.

“Wear for…”

He squinted at the rough design. Technology. It needed something better. He’d get this passing grade on his own, he typed back to the man an idea.

~ Do you want to die early? ~

“It will work.” He responded back to the mystery blogger. “Let me try it.”

~ One try. Test run. Send the schematics when you do. Three weeks. No less. ~

“Yes, sir.” Dick hit send as the screen showed a download file to get him started. “Just need to find a power source…” He rubbed his chin as Dick swerved the chair in the direction if an observatory across the water. He remembered it being deserted. Cold too. Oddly, artificial.

“This will have to do. Find the location of…” He typed in the code to unlock his answers. This sort of search option was only fir his blend of assassins and their students. There would be no mistake about it.

“Dr. Lee Chang. Former engineering, quantum energy and physics professor who worked on cold fusion models…and…”

Dick typed in a few words as another X symbol showed up. “Xenothium, Xeno is Greek. For different or changing shape…hum.”

Fitting for a quiet thief. The costume design was Slade’s own handiwork as Robin went over the back of it to its missing face piece. “Needs a mask.” He went back to the average web. Ideas flooded his skull. Masquerade. Mass murderer. Horror –

In a few months, it would be time to dress up and spook the kids roaming these streets. Why not try that then?” Dick grinned and clicked on am in stock item that he could run after on hold with the money he was allowed through his master. “How about this one?” He texted back.

The three dots appeared as Dick leaned into his seat.

~ Interesting. Why this? ~

“It’s almost impossible to tell and a voice modifying device can be easily built into it. I can do with being like you. Full face and no way to stop until I’m out of the way. And the Xenothium has been tested. As long as it is used but not continuous, we shouldn’t self-destruct here.”

~You’re learning to be reckless, not stupid, boy. ~

“I know. But a daredevil isn’t what will attack.” Dick tapped back. “Fool them, then the probe bots can work in our favor for the next plan. They already know I was a target. Cy’s devices were totaled. So…”

~ You need to play dumber than before. Bruce is too quick on us, but I have just the remedy to keep him from the source of their conflict. ~

“What about you, master? Should I stay away a bit…um, I mean –

~ Fear not, dear boy. The bat won’t break us up. I promised you a chance and this could be it. ~ The man fibbed. ~ I’ll even introduce you to who made your parting scene worth the watch. She’s curious to see the real you. ~

Richard blushed as he shook his head.  “The subject. She’s a person, Master?”

~ Flesh and blood, and willing to have her way once I hold up my end. She wants to locate someone. While going to the league would be too much trouble to bother with, I’ve been rather…generous with you both. ~

“You stopped him from pushing.” Sniffled the kid as he tried not to weep over the keys. “He’s wrong. You do care what happens to me. Thank you, Master Slade.”

~ You’re awfully relieved to not be crushed under debris today, twice. Anything you’ve failed to hide this time? ~ Slade chuckled thankful that Terra wasn’t in the room right now. The boy was bonded to him by a form of conditioning that could not be severed that easily. Not unless they both perished. His noble squire.

“I’m just glad that I trusted you. You saved me, so this is what I can do. Only I could be that person you’ll have at your ear. I’m still listening.”

~ Get some rest. Tomorrow, any data will be rewritten. If Cyborg asks for another vial, I have something stored in bathroom to keep him guessing. ~

It was a vial of some purple liquid. Slade said it would skew the results. Dick didn’t care as he held the case to his chest. “Thank you, sir…I’m glad to carry you with me, always…”

That was…

Richard wasn’t …

Slade furrowed his brows as Will saw the entire sentence and how the other had reacted. “You must speak to the boy. This is…becoming the wrong sort of scenario. That –

“I’ll talk. Only when he’s done acting like a dreamy eyed school girl.” Snorted the man. “When did this ever become a reality, Slade?? The boy is bloody smitten! This wasn’t the case. Tell me the serum is responsible...”

“I'll look into this." Slade gripped his seat arms and sighed into his chest. “Don’t wake the girl. Robin will rest and by tomorrow, tomorrow I’m sure he’ll be learning to shoot a Xenothium powered X through solid steel and titanium.”

////////////////

So, Dick is turning into a confused student with a complex but Slade is going to tell him off. Unless, he used that the same way as he did in the original Judas contract. But no sex in this! It’s just that tension he wants out of the way but had no idea how loyal the kid really was. That shouldn’t come as a shock. But let’s see how Bruce puts the pieces together THIS time.

Once again, this is all fantasy fiction so the children in this are not real. It’s a subjective division of conflicts and scenarios that are thrown into the air as the moment allows so please! Yes, in the real reality outside of the book tube, all of this is in the state of being poison. However, it invites in aspects of suspense. Simply that. If it confuses anyone, please feel free. Up next? Masks.

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse- What it Takes

/////////////

Chapter 40: Sewer Rats and Uncooperative Kids

//////////////

Bruce took his time scoping out the warehouses surrounding the dockside of Jump. Robin would be hulled up in the tower.

Yet, he couldn’t shake the feeling that the bat had company to keep on this boardwalk…

Bruce turned to a high security lock that wasn’t as the others. He chose the Plaines one and saw a warehouse not as it should be.

There was something strange as he shone a light over the edges of the walls. The catwalks and the floor; nothing. But there was a tarp, and under that …

Bruce stopped himself. Whatever was under there, was goading him, obviously. It was too easy to break into the compact room. Not at all a challenge. What he wanted, still wasn’t here.

Bruce grumbled and kept a hand to the floor, kicking it a slight with his toe. The thing didn’t lead to concrete and the water below.

A ruse, as he started to tap other spots. Some were well hidden with the precise notion of a genius. This had to be the spot, so Bruce reached and pulled one tile out. Like a brick wall and its hidden secret that lay beyond, the switch revealed itself behind a metal plate. Bruce checked over the room, still feeling that eerie calm that meant an ambush. Normally, goons would be there to pop him one, but not tonight.

This was a trouble, ywt Bruce took the latch up as he saw a code input screen. Taking out a nifty piece of tech, he hacked it in seconds. World’s finest, the green light was supposed to be a positive. With Jason out of commission, there was no turning around until Bruce knew that his suspicious nature wasn’t unwarranted by confusion. He'd confirm that Dick’s “boss" was here, in this city.

Slade’s last take had been over three years ago. After that, he rarely even used his identity to be heard. He got paid, but thos was through a generous fund of a former client and the fact the man’s wealth was won from that contract. He had acquired a company of his own, so it kept him fed and secure, along with the man’s student. Dick thought Slade was a changed man, but one thing mercenary life was about, was that you never clung to that which made you vulnerable and weak.

Bruce burrowed further through the wall as it parted partly, just a crack. He was in. The dark lead to a platform with a ladder that stretched far down below the base of the pier. To that base as he scaled it, flashlight and night vision in hand, was a speedboat.  The man saw that it had an autopilot function, so he tweaked the device, ready to board as the man hopped on. Not realizing that his boat was not the only one in this sewers water ways.

Bruce made sure the boat took his command and traveled down the dark tunnels to where he saw many grates, many hatches but one he could not t –

The man’s head turned.

His vision picked up something as he saw it in a split, like a jumping spider, then not at all.

Bruce stayed where he was, the boat left to go slowly now. The way wasn’t clear, not by the sides where he could walk the rest of the way.

That didn’t happen as individuals using cloaked tech with metal claws for hands, leaped onto the boat and bombarded the startled bat. He shoved them back, using his infrared to sense them as their faces didn’t show up on the screen. Metal. They were robotic. Bruce used his arms to block the next hit as he caught himself along the wheel, turning it to scrape the side of the boat to the edge as he leaped off. The vermin falling into the water and layering the tunnel in bits, their cloaking setting turned off. Bruce dusted off his cowl as a set of running footsteps had him gasp. Turning for the shadow he spied down the tunnel walls, Bruce’s radar picked up no heart beat but a different sort if technology.

A bomb in its chest. So, he ran after it.

///////////

Dick and the Titans that night slept without further complications. No one ran out to say hello to the city scum bags. No one had to consider shock anklets for Bb for going to the kitchen for a late night snack. But in a way, they should have.

Bb had his tired fave glued to an explosion as the alarms blared off.

“Dudes!! The pier is under attack!!”

Bb flew as a crow and cared his way to Cy and Starfire’s hallway. Dick had a pillow over his head as he got up and flopped out of bed. Shit. The pier…that meant.

~ Keep calm.~ Slade wasn’t there. Dick paced to the closest and got into his uniform five minutes tops.

The tremors of explosions at the docks made his body beat to its core. Slade was under attack. Slade…was going to be found out –

~ Can you hear me, boy??~

That, that wasn’t-

Dick pulled at his mask to change the frequency.  “Win..Wintergreen, is Master –

~ Slade is peachy keen. Now listen; go to the computer and input this code. It will change the level of emergency in the tower, it will delay those children from gathering more than their eyed needed to know. Hurry!~

Dick nodded and sweat his way over to his lap top. “Who is…I mean, is he handling it?? The lair, is safe?”

~ For the record, we expected a rat to come snooping about  ~ Muttered the older male. ~ Slade is currently having him forced outside of the area from a maze; the rest is fine, boy. Don’t dawdle. Delay the Titans as you’re told.~

“Sorry, I…I’m in!”

~ Robin!! ~

Still, he set the code in as the speaker sang a different tune. ~ Crisis averted. Crisis averted. ~

Dick raised his eyes to the door as Starfire and Cyborg both checked their devices. “Just a ….fire underground caused by some homeless dude, it says. That’s…~

Dock bit his lip and tried not to giggle.

~ Quiet. Tend to them and keep your blasted mouth shut, do you hear? Your teacher is most displeased that your attitude isn’t formal for this time… and I’d advise that you keep your relationship ENTIRELY professional. Understood, Robin?~

Dick sighed. “ Yes, Will. Tell Slade that…I’m on it.” The boy left the chair and swapped faces of disbelief to one’s of distress.

“Sorry, I had to find –

“You, you are not injured?”

“Why?”

Dick saw Cy and…wait, where was Raven?

//////////

Her head bled red as she sat up and saw visions of a shooting star under their feet. ~ Best you can throw at me? ~

A…a child….

~ WHERE…..WHERE IS –

She screamed as her body went out of that stasis. “ Ang….” Her vision, was unclear, but it wasn’t now, as she groaned…then, someone knocked on her door. “Raven…I…I smelled you in trouble. Let me –

“NO.” Raven got up and made sure to breathe out her mantra. “I’m safe , go…go look for the others.” She ordered the green teen.

Her eyes went for the mirror as she saw the red ones she’ banished from her face. Shaking her head, they vanished. Trigon’s power couldn’t win. Whatever was throwing them hint, it wouldn’t be a prophetic story of their demise, she promised. Crawling back into bed, Raven messaged the heroes and then, then drifted off into her sentimental thoughts.

//////////

Tara moved the walls as planned. Slade had the place on the dais seat as his controlled worked omg enough to get the robot copies to explode a path back to the opposite direction of the city. The barred passages were now covered in rubble as he worked the devices as one of the green teen's video game consoles. This was real life, he'd add. Tara was having fun, despite blowing her hair out of her face five times over – he would reward her with a day off from training. Richard too, if he could make the man turn to look at him ever again. Will had helped with that.

//////////

Bruce spun his Batarang  after a shadow. He was sure that this was a trail off from the destination that he’d come across. Yet the tunnels were easily caving like popcorn popping on the stove. Frantic abd desperate to find a man hole cover, he climbed the nearest ladder up and breathed out a puff of freedom before the last rattle of a dynamite bot had the male putting his head to the sidewalk.

 “Lost…damn…”

Slade was a strategic mind with the thought of losing the bat as a criminal to his sentence. Desperate men did desperate things. Through his struggling, the bat directed the craft he’d arrived in to remain hidden and airborne to the outskirts. He’d make it halfway, long distances if ten miles were what he did well before breakfast anyways.

The comm in his suit came up as Alfred seemed tense, maybe because this was a risky endeavor as he’d thought it would be. Slade was no caged animal and jump was his playground to tamper as he wished. Slade.

~ Sir, I’ve just managed to get ahold of the record if the man in question..there is…nothing!~

Ah…

That was why. A distraction.

“Wilson sent robots to lead me away from the hide out. I’m starting to think I’ll need more time here in my townhouse.”

~But, sir! Jason had one piece of information that even I was highly un aware of. ~

“Shoot, I’m heading to it.” Bruce waved fir Alfred ti go on abd tell him what was amiss. ~ Slade Wilson on his register is not that same man. In fact, the name itself has completely vanished. He doesn’t wish to be heard from, yet Master Todd spoke and said that Robin may have the only copy. Fixed to a laptop in his room…~

/////////

How could Jason know all of that? Bruce slunk into his sagebrush just outside of Jump City. On his unit there was a message. A loud one that had no way to be traced this time.

~ Scurry off, let the cat and mice play. Check your sources wisely, pull punches and watch. Just, watch. The lights that fill the air, will blow you away. And after, time may move forwards by the decade. ~

Clues, but not. A cursed few words made the bat stay up late to organize what he did best.

~ Scurry, rodent. Animal. …criminal. ~

Part one.

~ Cat and mice. Chasing. Race. Run…guilt. Steal. ~

Two, a criminal would be stealing. Stealing where? What? What was Slade doing with his words?

~ Check your sources wisely. ~ His sources included those through the police in Gotham, his benefactors and…and his company.

~ A criminal was going to steal from him? There were no alarms going off. It had to be a predetermined heist. Bruce honesty thought of Dick, in the shadows and pushing to break as his body melded into the nighttime crowd with a band of pearl –

Bruce shook his head. Next part.

~ Pull punches and watch, just watch. ~

A performance, to not intervene. And on whom?

So, a criminal was going to steal from his company here in this city, or one associated with the Wayne brand. He was told to let them get along to watch the show, to just observe from a safe distance. That someone was going to interact abd stop the crook themselves.

~ Lights that fill the air, blow you away. That was obviously going to mean an explosion. Right? ~

~ And after, time may move forwards…~

There was a plan, a ploy to progress the individual with this heist. Bruce swallowed, knowing what it meant as he gripped the end of his seat and growled in a low voice. “No more running, Wilson.”

~ BY THE DECADE. ~

ROBIN. ROBIN, WAS GOING TO REALLY FURTHER, BETRAY THE TITANS.

/////////////

Slade likes wordplay. I LIKE wordplay! Bruce is in a pickle now! Masks is next up. I wanted to pull in Raven seeing Tara attacking in the next year since she’ll be really close. Bb saw an explosion of a pothole and fire, so to him it looked like an “explosion “underground. The fact that Slade has that much technology at his command. Wow. Tara is playing along fir kicks, and Dick is actually, ok? So, he’s not crushing. Just a nervous Nance staying some dumb things…at least, possibly.

What comes after? Will Bruce find out what tech sector is going to be hit, and why is Slade’s identity gone from the entire world over and the JLA's files? What did Jason have to tell Bruce? Find out!!

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse- What it Takes-

/////////

So, quick to note. In Masks, the chase across the rooftops with Robin and Slade’s double bot here. You hear a riff on the guitar in the chase music ‘da – da – na~ na~ da da na~ na~ na~ and guess what? Look up Scentless Apprentice by Nirvana. Thank you! Title is dedicated to that song.

///////////

Chapter 42: Scentless Apprentice- Red Marked Chest

//////////////

Bruce rose at five am out of habit. His safe house was a temporary set up station to organize a rescue, maybe a takedown of a notorious crime lord in Jump City California. Slade had handed Bruce of all people a bone; he wanted the bat to view his progress, the way the man had been turning Dick against him all that time. But no surprise,  Bruce bit his lip while doing a one finger push up in the living room. The glass was tinted out, shatter, shock and bullet proof. No one could see him bare chested as he let the older man’s threat get under his skin.

~~~~~~~

~ You never showed up…. I…thought you wanted me here…am I not good enough? Why did you try to be my guardian if you won’t even look at me? I…. don’t think I even know anything about your life, but you can pick on mine. Did you find him, huh? Is Zucco still at large, Mr. WAYNE??~

~ Dick, the police are helping to pin down his whereabouts – you need to be patient and stop expecting a miracle I made a promise and I want to keep it, and you. Don’t be afraid, I’m not going to toss you away. You need someone in your life as much as I need something to fight for. ~

~ Master Bruce. A word. ~

Battling him, Dick looked away with a pursed set of lips. ~ Go, I don’t care if you promised me the moon. Show me Zucco or don’t. I’m going to bed. ~

~ Dick. ~

///////

Bruce came up to see it was near six as his device on the table rang nearby. Alfred and a pouting Todd with a disconcerted Barbara Gordon…all there to watch out for the big bat’s home fort. ~ How is that California sunshine, big bad?~ Babs tried to lighten the mood around two to three brooding bats.

~ You saw him, right? He denied knowing me too. Don’t let it pick you apart, B. Dick is just a coward. He was taught to run and hide a flipping plot his little boots off. It’s the Titans and that city I worry about. Slade is definitely up to something. ~

“I’m aware he’s testing them and us; Dick is going along with it, but he’s loyal. Not only that, but reluctant to make the first move. He didn’t hurt you too badly. He deflected you. Same with Wilson.”

~ Mr. Wilson was a soldier first and a trophy hunter, only second. ~ Alfred interjected. ~ Perhaps his method is to wear you down to near nothing, take his chance to whittle away the Titans’ defenses for a final hit. As any hunter, he is…necessarily patient. I can see that it bothers you as well. We are also concerned with their well-being. If ever you need back up, sir-

“For now, I won’t. I may call in a JLA face that can walk through walls later. There is nothing definite. I might try to get closer to the team as Bruce Wayne.” He wondered. “At least I’ll get to see how the other side of that team lives. Dick is a ticking time bomb set to go off when the command is given. If he betrays them, he may hold back.”

~ He’s not killer material. ~ Todd nodded with his arms crossed. ~ B, get him home. That life can screw with you. It’s not just fiction here. Dick is only in as deep as Slade keeps him. I, want to meet my real brother without the masks to make us such strangers, ya know. ~

“His expression. He’s not as experienced. Wilson must be feeding him as much praise as he thinks is necessary to keep Dick on his ear. I can’t stand seeing it either, but we have to hold out.”

~ You did that with Zucco, and he didn’t flinch then. ~ Bags shot back. ~ Zucco was right there…. we didn’t actually in time and Slade took the first shot, like Alfred said, “Richard can’t wait, and neither should we hesitate this time to save a life.” ~

~ Whatever you choose to decide, Master Bruce, we are behind you one hundred and ten percent. However, he has been given a mock taste of this newfound freedom. Would it be wise to strip that away and force him home with you, even so, he escaped the manor for that exact same reason. The Titans may just be a cover. Though, could their impact be showing in abstract ways even you and I are immune to, but not the boy? ~

/////////

Slade could not call to attention his protégé this time; his intent was to keep the boy out of his plans until they were finalized, only then would Robin be making the ultimate sacrifice. “Terra.” Slade called in another of his spies. “The Titans are currently out in the city. I want you to spy on them, make sure Robin doesn’t see you.”

“Sure, but…he’s a detective, right? I mean…he lived with the bat fir only a few weeks but picked up on what’s been hap –

“Would you want to fail, Terra? At ever finding out how to free your family? That boy’s ex guardian will be watching us from his roost. I can’t have anymore mistakes. Positive or otherwise. Go.”

She straightened at the man’s command. “Sir.” She left as stalk still as he had trained her to be. “I will do what needs to be done.”

Slade turned his back to her and saw the news. A new rxpo was casting its attention and the audience of tech wizardry to a computer chip that held sensitive data. Data that old enemies of Deathstroke could also use to gain a head on the big JLA support group IF they were wise to come looking firva fight. Slade decided to play his cards and send Terra to extract info from the green hero first  act like she had things to do while Wayne’s project was announced to the tech sector’s highest bidders in broad daylight.

Even Bruce was ready to pull out a shot to fire on the event, stating as Slade watched through a live feed that “it was too dangerous because of the recent attacks on the city. “

“I beg to differ, Wayne. You needed something to stalk after as much as I needed to prep for my takeover.” Slade played in on the pizzeria down by the main square. The Titans were ordering  for the table abd despite a lack of taste, Robin’s choices remained…subtle. Somewhat.

//////

Since the incident at the tower, again the blood came back as before. Nothing had been changed. His master wanted that to stay the same until time moved them clockwise towards their real goal. This city would belong to a new official by the end of the year. He had promised not to screw up and find a friend in his enemies.

The Titans, though…

Dick groaned and sighed to the side, seeing what looked to be lost, blonde teen a year or two apart. Her big blue eyes were searching. He was pulled back by Cy's swat to the kid’s shoulder blade. “Spike, you doing alright? We gotta order, so. You got any suggestions?”

“OH!” Starfire raised her hand abd wished by the looks of it, to want to cheer up the other hero. Raven was looking at a book and trying bury the message from that vision so she could concentrate. Beastboy was checking out the toppings, until Kori decided to ruin his appetite.

“ I suggest a pizza with mustard, pickles and mint frosting.” She grinned as likely as a school child after guessing correctly on the blackboard; Dick raised his eye and was sure he’d never ever heard of such a lineup of toppings. Bb was looking greener than green. “Gotta fix….ulp!”

“Please.” Raven deadpanned. “Be our guest.” Raven returned to her book as Bb rushed himself to the toilet - all while the blonde from below their balcony seating area went directly through the doors to the establishment. Only Robin saw it, and he had to wait his turn to be excused.

To him, her eyes spelled trouble.

//////////////

“This chip.” Mr. Wayne was pressed and ready to dance in his monkey suit, as he looked over the security in place for the chip everyone had been ogling over. “The investors will be coming to retrieve it by tomorrow morning. Tonight, it stays locked inside this vault for safekeeping. I can tell you that the person who built up our systems was so willing to donate every resource. Like he wanted the chip out of anyone’s hands. Odd, but it was approved.”

“Who originally developed the chip? You said there were three super – chips in total created by the same genius mind that developed the thermal blaster that was still in the testing stages last week. The Spire Enterprises Corporation?” Bruce brought up. “All separate parts to build a life changing device.”

“Not the blaster.” Frowned the guard. “Just a weapon for some kook to take on a joy ride. They say your company took charge of it in two parts. Thing could knock out an entire society block in one blast. Made it easy enough for a fifteen-year-old to work single handed.”

“I would like to know who invented such a dangerous device,” Mused the billionaire, “For now, we wait and test the security as well as arm your team for tonight.”

“You think someone is going after the chip?” The officer asked the ceo. “Who would be dumb enough to pull that off in a city with the Titans?”

Bruce looked at the wall, expecting a camera to get what he had to sell. Maybe, maybe not.”

After the billionaire had walked out, Bruce took out a cell and called up Alfred. Something didn’t fit.

Fifteen. Why did he use that number.

//////

“Alfred, I’m outside. I need you to search an ‘Ignacio Ramirez’ and get back as soon as possible. I think that man was putting on an act, and he is head of security of Spire Enterprises.”

~ Do tell, I’ll have Barbara on it. Right at this moment, can you not tell me what else is on your mind, sir?~

Sighing, Bruce raked through his hair and pulled at his toe to loosen it. “Can’t hide from you, Alfred. I thought I was being watched. Slade apparently has the police on his side and the street cameras aren’t the only drones he can run effortlessly. He's stolen a project for an android that can look and appear as if it is a living human being. The tech division won’t support that logic once its out that a menacing robot is finding its way into highly private locations like here…or anywhere else. If the Tower isn’t safe…”

Bruce stopped.

There was a note on the car he’d had at his disposal in this city. Flapping in the breeze, he ran to catch it as he plucked the scrap up to read in dim ink. “This…”

~ Master Bruce? What the devil –

“Alfred. We’ve been compromised already.”

~ You don’t exactly act as a real spy should, sir. Should I send for support to come –

“No. Tonight, just before it gets dark. I’m going on a little run through this city. Something truly has me bothered about this.”

~ As for the data coming to you sir, Mr. Ignacio Ramirez. Thirty-two-year-old male. California born and raised, one wife and two children. One was…reported missing…oh my…. ~

“Yes?” Bruce steeled his nerves as the other kept talking.

~Master Bruce, the child was not taken very long ago. Only over a week. This is, disturbing indeed. The man was apparently threatened and lost his position at the precinct to work security as you saw him now. There have been little to nowhere about s since of Mr. Ramirez’s eldest child. Christina, she is…~

“He said that the thermal blaster could be worked by anyone, even a “fifteen” year old.” Bruce seethed out. “He’s not being honest, Alfred. He’s sent his message. Slade.”

~ SIR? ~

“Somehow, Ramirez has acted before. Quickly, look up his past occupation ls or any hobbies –

~ Found, and…in college, he was a part of an acting troupe. Top of his class in Jump State University.  My, my…could there very well be reason of a random, sir? I would think it likely, but then what of the child? Slade wouldn’t attack if the job doesn’t depend on one being harmed. That is never in Deathstroke’s assassins’ code as you’ve stated before. ~

“He’s grown out of it, selectively. Doesn’t mean that he can’t get what he wants while making others do what he expects. We have our risk to take tonight, Alfred.” Bruce looked again at the note as the skies were far too sunny for his taste.

“I’ll contact you before I head out tonight at the day's end. I’m going to do some searching for the creator of that chip in the meanwhile.”

~ Again, call if ever you need a thing, Master Bruce. ~ Alfred was all but chipper as Bruce let the old man go. He’d do some reading in the meantime. See what was so special about these three super chips that someone had obviously crafted as a nifty little decoy…for a much larger trap.

/////////////

Robin tapped his digits against the table as the pizza was a multi- scented nightmare, except for his cheese slice with chicken and spinach in fact,  he would have gravitated toward the white pizza with broccoli to not let his appetite suffer, yet recalled blending in to be about sacrifice. Self-sacrifice, which he might only do for one perfect person in his life. Robin bit into his slice. Only person, he wondered. Slade had family out there and still, still it was like he didn’t really exist at all beside the man like he’d wanted. He was to show off, maybe. Slade had said once his training was complete. Could that mean something else-

“Friend Robin?” Starfire moved her hand to his cheeks as a napkin dabbed by his lip. He blushed, her soft touch and her catlike eyes in their kittenish wonder had him freeze on the spot. “S- TAR??”

“Oh, you had the sauce on your chin. It was about to fall onto your uniform….”

Raven looked up from her book as Cy nearly forgot all about his first bite. Or second.

“Ah…I am especially the sorry!”

Even as Star pulled away, her drink of mustard still hit his lap as her arm knocked into it. Dick stood up and widely excused himself to wash up in the bathroom. He walked down the steps to the lower floor. The parlor was a two-floor teenaged paradise that overlooked the square in the coolest light. That way, the city goers knew the Titans had things covered as well.

Closer to trouble, yet he found a second to go wash up. Outside the door though, he saw Beastboy walking away with a girl who needed directions. As Robin overheard their conversation, she seemed to flirting. He cocked his eyes to her and waited. Who…was she from before? And, why she talking to Beastboy like she was not sure where to go…

//////////////

“So, you’re not a drifter or anything like that?”

“No, but I’ve been to a lot of cool places with my folks.” She was a simple gal from out of town. Ok.

Dick pulled back. Wait..was..was he spying on a girl who w-

He shook his head. No. She stood out to him and, he’d been trained to look out for anything suspicious. That wasn’t a crime. Spying on his target’s new….new, could she just be a passerby?

Beastboy had hearts for eyes and a red face, she just laughed and he silently was moved, until Dick fell through the door into another patron. “Hey, watch wher –

Dick hushed the man and with the strength of ten, the larger adult was shoved back as he used his shirt to make a set of ties and cuff the dude – throwing him out if the picture into the next room. Thankful,  it was empty for the staff and no one was in. The janitor would see to it later. Dick quickly stayed hugging the wall as Bb chuckled his way out to the street. “We were all gonna sit down to enjoy an awesome half vegan, half normal pizza?” The green teen tried to entice the girl as she checked her wrist watch and pretended to thing.

Poser. Dock knew she was leading the brat on. Time to –

“Robin! Dude?”

Dick looked at his shirt that was still stained. “Sorry, was looking all over for you, Bb. I…Starfire got my tunic a bit messy.”

“I can get a staff.”

“No, it’s good. I’ll just soak it a bit longer. What’s your name?”

“Oh, sorry. He already knows cause I told him.” The blonde rubbed her neck before tossing out her hand to shake. “Name’s Tara. I was just passing through here with my folks. We travel. Kind of our situation.”

“So, are you here long enough to eat? Did you invite her up, Bb?”

“What? Course! Star would call me a klorbag again if I said no, duh. And Tara has been almost everywhere! Twice! Her dad works as a wildlife photographer and her mom is a ‘relief worker. It’s why she dresses so rugged. Always adventurous and stuff-

“Not like in the ads, sorry. I can tell you all about it.” She grinned. “Right after we clean up Captain Obviously over here.”

Grinning, Bb prompted Robin to follow on his word as Tara skipped along behind them. Then, she paused as she ascended to the top floor.

Heroes, sat at one table as Robin and Bb joined back in. “Hey, stain is stuck till we go back to the tower, but Bb and I, met a friend.”

“Wait….you’re  ….oh my gosh! You guys are so cool right now! Everyone talked about how you stopped that crazy Mumbo and even this creeper, Slade. I mean –

“Beastboy found a soul mate. Wow, way to advertise it…” Raven shut her book and tried to not see into this person’s soul upon first glance. She seemed happy, even ecstatic go be here…

It felt like she wasn’ being true to her story though as Raven ignored the boys and Kori being fond over the wave making new pal in this city. “When do you go back to Colorado? It’s where you came from, right?”

Tara smiled and looked down at her toes. “Actually,  I’m not really sure. Mom said in a relief effort I was just a baby when they adopted me. The country is hard to locate on a map. But I want to find it, that’s my one goal….besides making some new pen pals.” She told the teens.

“Adopted, huh? Bb’s been there. Raven was kinda taken in by all of us.” Cy grinned and handed the blonde a new slice with extra toppings. “You know who we are, and it’s cool you and Bb hit it off. He’s like a wild animal around us, always hogging the attention-

“I do recall when he first pushed Robin to not be friends wkth all if us.” Starfire giggled. “We fell into a sewer and bonded. Funny story.”

“Do tell! I’ve got some time to spare.” Tara leaned into her hands, observing. Learning their very interests as she let Slade hear the rest.

“I guess it’s gonna be a while before we cross paths, but Bb?”

Tara smiled as she gave him a big hug. “Thanks. I gotta go.” She got up swiftly and retreated through those doors, just as their comm units went off.

“Let me wash this off.”

“I can try something.” Raven took her hand to Robin’s shirt as the colors of mustard and the scent bled out. Fazing between and onto the plate she had out. “Now, can we go?”

/////////////////

Tara panted out of sight of her foes in this city and started to whisper as soon as she was right by the docks. “I’m done for now, right? That pizza made my tongue itch. If we rule this city one day, I want vegan soy ANYTHING banned from all if existence. Grossness…”

She groaned on, as Slade groomed the would be weapon to keep a lid on her powers for now. “You did splendidly. Now that the seed has been sewn, our Robin will get his chance to turn things around. Very close…to tonight.”

/////////////////

The heroes headed for Spire Enterprises as Dick stayed quieter than usual. Starfire didn’t bother him when she saw his caution come to rise. The face of Wayne was a part of this sector while the Titans just remembered their roles. First come. Raven was lead into the site with her team. In the next few minutes,  a theft would occur. The T comm had left another message. This one was coordinates and a threat.

~ One of three. In the dark, always watching as you struggle for the switch.~

In other words, they had to do the same. A sneak attack as Starfire held her breath. The lights were turned off. Cameras rolling, as the heroes lay in wait.

And waited.

The chip was suspended and glowing. Blue, ready to grab at any sense of the word. In came a claw from the sight as the heroes twitched on a light only in one spot of the room.

“We caught ourselves a real talented robot. Gonna buy yourself a new set of eyes with that much you’ll be banking?”

“I say it goes back to the scrap heap. Drop the chip.” Robin was not sure why, but the Slade bot didn’t. It sprinted forwards as Bb lashed out woth an anteater tongue to retrieve the chip in one flick. The bot flipped away and to their knowing, it wasn’t just a solo act.

“We, got outnumbered??” BB gawked. “No fair!”

“Way, this is Slade whose in control right now.” Cy told the younger hero.

“Not for long…Titans?” Robin cocked a grin as the heroes  saw his eye teeth. He was down to party, about time!

“GO!”

(REDOING THIS BECAUSE TODAY IS A BAD DAY TO WORK IT OUT. SO, THAT’S OK WITH YOU RIGHT?)

///////////////

Also, Scentless Apprentice was a story that Nirvana based the song on of a man with an incredible sense of smell and was able to uncover the ultimate scent …forgot the whole thing. Tara basically is the Apprentice as this tells and Robin is the red marked chest because yellow and orange make? Yellow is the mustard. That was it! Next up is part two of Masks in my own telling. Anything else, feel free to comment!

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse- What It Takes –

////////////////

Chapter 42: High Flyers and Ruby Tic Tac Toe Boards

/////////////

The equipment was nearly done. He had everything ready to ship out as Slade and his crony - bots stood by. “Such an honor to do business with the esteemed crime lord of this city. Mr. Slade. Do tell me how the Xenothium belt and gloves function for your partner.”

“Chang, he’s not at my level. Whatever had you to think I wouldn’t work solo all these years?” Slade knew Professor Lee Chang from some old contracts. Before Richard had flown into his scope, Chang had helped out in Markovia for a spell. Tara wasn’t even aware of it, yet Slade did have all of the answers the girl needed to hear.

“I took you never as someone willing to replace…” Chang stopped himself, “Ah, my apologies. Your last protégé’s life will be remembered as a valued one to the cause of we villains of the lower tier. He was strong, but as-

“Ravager won’t be coming back any time soon. This boy, he needs a new title soon enough. A little shock of power might have him finally out of his reluctant state of mind. I do want him to kill like my son had. In time, he won’t question our methods.”

“A fair teacher you are.” Chuckled the goggles older man with a strong jaw and stereotyped features. Sadly, that was only due to bring shoved in lockers as a teen, or even punched down by men like Slade that wanted his genius to call their own fir a hefty bit of green.

“Black market laws work if you know how to manage around them. Thankfully, you name is safe with me. And, you donation to my laboratory…”

“The same. Should the technology be a success, I’ll be sure to mail you a bit on top to conclude this deal. To many others, should your little toy impress the heroes as much as it should, my apprentice.”

/////////////

The deploying of his army to thwart the Titans, steal the chips as Slade set a background filter for Robin to see upon lifting the captured boy’s face, was coming together and concluded part one of their grand half plan. First, set the mood.

Robin have dove through the air and his aerials had saved a Titan. The alien. He didn’t like her; she was a pest. The boy rolled his eyes, but…

Slade squinted as the countdown went. Dick looked back and jumped to find cover from the exploding bot. Every bot itself, Slade chuckled darkly. “Good timing, better than the previous role you played with the mutant.”

Slade rubbed his chin and went to seat himself at the dais. Today was a cool down. Cold water to beat the steam clogging his ridden pores as the man lifted his mask up.

“Tough evening, sir?”

Slade jolted around to see an icy pitcher of cold brew tea and a note. Well, that was quick. “Who is this from. What’s the occasion, Will? Reading me more than usual?”

Will just walked to look up at the massive screens, to one of the bat scouting the rooftop near the tower with binoculars.

“He was worried you wouldn’t show. Did the transaction go smoothly?”

“Chang is up for any lower with a bank account and six figures.” Slade sighed as he leaned back his head. “Tara was easy tonight?”

“No more than usual. She left a mess for me to clean…and she was not once suspected she claims to be a spy. Your perfect mind is as usual, rather too twisted for my tastes.”

“Get used to it, Wintergreen.” Slade filled his glass and raised it up to the screen where Starfire and Robin were not getting along. “If he can push, that will pull her in. Make her seem so delicate and worth more than his objective. My dear boy is learning to push and gear himself up for a long, night. I even left a gift.”

“That’s generous of the almighty cheapskate.” Will sniffed.

Slade countered.  “Legendary, rather. Wayne might yet have you beat. He has been highly invested in the next chip. Has it locked away where none could look to wonder.”

“The red one.”

“Blue.” Slade said. “That one the Titans have. The Red will be what Wayne will miss the most. Green, maybe the third and last.” He shrugged and took a sip. “Trying to give me a sugar rush? Infusions, again?”

“You could use something less toxic to your image in one glass. Eating like a muscle-bound tightwad is fine, for a time. You’re not in your thirties. Even if science tells me wrong on that…”

Wrinkled was his brow, yet Slade’s was in peak form. “Fine. Thank you for the venom.” He downed the glass in one gulp as that, turned the elder’s frown upside down.

“Now, I’m ready for my power nap. Care to shut your lids and let the bat’s master stay at ease?” Will teased.

“A bat in the belfry would make you lose some ounce of sleep. Tonight, I think the boys can handle things by keeping him closer from our haunt.”

“Robots. Humph. You’d rather boss me around all blasted…well, children, that I might call your sadism at work –

“I’m cursed to oblige.” Slade smirked. “None taken. Thank you for the refresher. I’ll stand guard. Not even tired.”

“Very well.” Will nodded and wound his way back down a maze of corridors and halls that were stone cold grey and copper. Something about that sentiment made him think. No matter. The cot was calling.

/////////////

Robin waited at the window as he went for it. Cy was so slow at this. Yet had he been so coy, Raven was waiting below.

“Hi.” Dick landed with his grapple cord as she raised her head to the stuck in claw. Her hand moved abd it was forced to retract as she caught him, floating them both back up to his room as he writhed by her magic. “Stay put. We don’t want you in danger. Not again.”

“Raven, it’s out there. I can’t stay put.”

“Tomorrow night.” Raven unbleached her fists. “Promise me. Don’t go to whoever you think us willing to help you more than us, or we won’t give you the option of staying on this team.”

///////////

He needed to go. The package. Everything…it was supposed to be a test. Some runner up je turned out to be. Kicking the side of his bed, the boot made a scuff in the wood as Dick growled at his rotten luck. Stay here. Be a fake Titan. Go out, get what he wanted. Ruin the plan.

Dick sat on his bed until his poor eyes could not stay open…

////////

It was after hours and even Bb was fast into REM. Raven had to be in rotation of guard duty. Maybe asleep. He looked up and saw a shadow cross the room on foot. Robin didn’t dare do a thing as the…

Robot. It was holding a package in its hands a black and white case. With a Red X on the front. Dick looked the bot in the eye as a recording or an audio feed cane through. ~ This was not difficult to manage, though I realized your persons was put on lock down. My apologies for being a bit tardy with your equipment.  It should be inside. The technology you requested. The suit? ~

“I, it’s under my bed. In a box.”

~ Hide it better. It’s time to go. What will you call yourself after tonight. Apprentice? ~

The bot cocked its head curiously as Dick looked and eyed the design of Slade’s little present.

“Red…. red, Red X.” Dick looked the bot in the eye as it backed away. With a nod, it cloaked itself and left the tower via a passage allowed by Slade’s command of the Titans' home. Robin started to strip down and swap voices with a modifying elder ice he’d installed in a costume mask he’d picked up on their trip out. Being a hero paid something at least. Slade had his account at a set limit, yet he could learn to budget. It was right to do this. To get the number one spot. Dick pressed the center of the belt as it turned a brilliant, glowing red. He became consumed by its glow and left the gloves for last along with the belt. It fit right. Like…like it belonged to him…

“Alrighty, then. Time to tug some chords, make some noise downtown.” His persona…a cocky, elusive thief. A thief who wanted to help the bad guy for his own gains, but then found…

Dick looked down at a sticky note set up in the box.

In it was not only instructions, but what Slade wanted to add to their little performance. Dick’s hand did stop shaking as the little prompt told the part he’d be playing. He had to kill a hero or pretend to. Then, he had to do a complete 360….and reveal his identity to the heroes…

Losing their trust…

///////////////

Slade made sure he could get up to speed and designed a robot to held the attire of an armed guar at the next building. It took control and there was no dispute. By the latest of midnight call, the alarms went off fir the Titans.

“Where is friend Robin??”

~ Sorry. ~

The comm popped up. ~I went sooner, was an s.o.s and thought you guys were –

“Your broke out. We had a deal.” Cy reprimanded. “I’m not letting this happen again, hear me? Stay where you are and –

~He’s got the chip! ~

~ No time, get here asap. Use Raven’s powers. Tech sector. The coordinates are coming to you. ~

Dick slid back on the mask as he weaved past a corridor. Scrambler on. Mask up. Voice, deep. Running…

Super-fast. Robin punched the belt as it fizzled to life. His entire body felt particle light as his entire frame became the specks he worried would follow. Instead, it acted as s temporary. He felt…high on the dopamine. The rush!

 “Whoa…”

“Nowhere ta run.” Cy was there with the others. Mask up, deep breath.

“Not planning on playing long. So, you can find someone else to interrogate. Sorry, kids.”

“Kid?? He’s the punk who took the chip –

“Ow!” Bb was bonked by Raven as Starfire stepped forth. “Please, surrender what you have stolen and we shall not have to harm you.”

“Not in the cards, sweetheart. I’ve got a lot of slots to have filled by tonight. None of yours to know.” He ran in the other direction as he flew to a roof and dropped from it, to catch a fire escape.

“After em!”

That was…Dick snorted and swung his whole body up as he scaled the catwalk down, doing aerial flips and seeking his exit to a subway underground. At night, the place looked too deserted. Spooky. He saw his own reflection in the sheen of the wall and gasped with a chuckle. “Get it together –

“Do you come with Subtitles?”

Dick set his goal to cloak mode.

“My eye can spot him even if he’s invisible.”

Dick crouched, a good hit coming as he scaled up to the tin man’s back. (I’m taking out three times and I’ll make it the first time, then decided it fails. Wait for it…)

One X. Wonder if it? He waited until a shadow shifted then…

Wham!!

Cy acted as if he had a remote control in some kid's hands to work him. The ted light harming his body as X in this outfit moved onto Raven while she was willing to battle the thief.

“Heads up.” He flung a gloppy X as it layered her in red good. It…morphed? He really liked this game. A lot!

Chuckling, the thief went for the platform as a starboard nearly had him fall onto the tracks. Was a train running this –

Bb came as a Billy goat with horns as Dick side stepped. Starfire freaked out, Dick’s heart already past pounding. “No… He smacked the X on his belt and ended up getting the kid out of danger. The dazed hero rubbed his skull as their mystery enemy flipped to the exit and was away from any questions the teens might have otherwise had.

He swapped out in a few minutes to Robin’s uniform and stunned a flashlight on cue at the dusted heroes. “Titans??”

“R…Robin, you…” Starfire went to Cyborg as he started to spit.

“You let us down again, man! We went up to the dang spot and you just didn’t get around to it?? I know you didn’t go an-

“I was thrown off, when you…” Dick held his bruised cheek. “Sorry, the bot. It hit me pretty hard. I was kind of unable to hurry until I came back. I’m sorry…”

Raven let the glop slip off as she moved to put a hand to his face. “Slade bot.” She read. That was all she could. Slade’s courses really paid off. “Hold still.” Dick winced as the pain in a white light, simply wasn’t there once her hand had been removed. “Better?”

“Yes, totally…we both…what happened to you and Cy?”

“And me!!” Bb growled. “I got saved and socked by…by a dude in a Halloween mask and a cape! A cape!”

“Uhm, what is the matter with the cape?” Starfire asked.

“Nothing, but he got socked before by ex-daddy. Why did it take thirty minutes if you got only one –

Dick pulled up his tunic. They looked bruised, pretty badly as Raven's eyes deepened a bit. “Ribs…” Robin said with a hiss.” I can’t lie to you…it, really effing hurts right now…”

Cy moved and rolled his shoulders as the effects wore down. “Back online. But you need medical attention, badly. And, sorry we doubted you. I didn’t want you ta get hurt…it’s my error.”

“I don’t fight like he taught me, so I’m going to hurt a lot more.” Dick smiled still, before Raven and Star had to catch the winded false hero. “I…did what I could…”

///////////

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse – What it Takes

/////////

Chapter 44: Bruised Egos and Flash Bombs Up High

//////////////

Lots of ands but, autoimmune going off. Getting that out of my system before my shift. And, rolling!

///////////

He didn’t have time to tempt a thing as Dick bolted with his heart pounding. Fire in his lungs as he found an alley and took the glove up. He looked at it as it formed a fist.

Anything, he had to get this just right or they’d…

He bit on the cape as he tugged it off and punched himself in the face first. Then, he went to find his left rib, his kidney and soft tissue vibrating below the black cloth. Seeping in an angry breath,  he…..PUNCHED. Winding himself as he staggered back, Dick began to discover. Beneath the suit was his Robin uniform as he tore parts up with his bird birdarang.

He whimpered and hobbled out while clinging to the wall. The extra hit was started to cause a purple mess by his rib. He held it, feeling faint as he had learned to bite through and survive. Slade was an excellent teacher in minding your messes.

Even half dead, he had to try to find…his voice. With a croak, he cleared his throat and stumbled, face completely transformed as he called out to his team in the underground subway station.

“Titans??”

///////////

In the infirmary, Dick was left alone by everyone but Raven. Even in physical distress, he held strong against her psychic attempts to read him from top to bottom. “It’s going to heal by tomorrow. That strange serum is still inside your body, forcing the process.”

She was talking about Slade’s powers. Why was that still active? It wore off about a few days ago, right?

“Cyborg wanted to apologize, but I can do it better.” She let her white healing magic wash over his eye, lingering there the longest until his lid opened with a mild wince. “That swelling will go down. By tonight." She told the fake hero. “Your ribs weren’t as lucky.” She frowned and put both hands over the spot, pressing and eliciting a hiss from the other teen. “Was the bot the reason, or was it Red X.”

“I…thought it was. My eye got hit before I could tell…I was waking up and, and I went to find you guys. He tossed me diwn and I fixed my landing but barely.”

“Explains the twist in your shoulder. Torn uniform, maybe.” She put some ointment to the bruise at his lower rib. “We won’t separate. I know you just wanted to stop the man responsible,  but this isn’t the sane person. My powers…sensed he was worried about doing what he did. He has a motive as a thief, yet I see things my team cannot.” She put the jar of salve down and went for the wrappings. “Promise us. No splitting up. No running in after danger without us. What were you doing out? I told you –

“I…got the call, it came to me so I thought you would get it too. When I was out in the city, I was attacked and X was there. He said he had business…ugh….with the biggest crime lord in Jump City. I told him to stop, but he just…didn’t take me seriously. Said I belonged back in Gotham with the bat. Why? This is my thing, why –

“Robin. Your name. Whatever your past, did you…actually have that costume from memory?”

“What? You think I stole –

Raven put up a palm. “I don’t think you did anything, to be truthful. Yet another hero with your sane name, same mask and even his appeal. All points to you maybe having a different past or presence that wasn’t related to the man that made you try to learn to be, something else.”

“Slade was always there, forcing my path while I had no choice. You saw –

“Then why was the batman here? Why did he come to talk to you, specifically?”

“WH…” Dick bit his lip. “Because of my step father-

“No, Robin. Or, Richard.” Dick’s face paled out.

“Raven, you’ve got to trust me! I’m not –

“I think your memory was partly altered and whatever that serum is, it was responsible for a short term spell. You don’t realize it. That the batman recognized you. Knew a name you told us was similar. I could tell my leader. But we have to stop Red X, and he’s not going to stop until he has all of the micro chips. The last one is located at a Wayne Enterprises lab in this city. You’ll be coming with us. But after we win, if we win, we are sitting down and I’m personally combing through your memories to help you remember. Slade kidnapped you –

“No!”

“He forced you to learn what he does. Then altered those memories and fabricated a part of your past. Richard, you were with Gotham’s finest…you, were the first Robin.”

///////////

Slade burst out laughing. Tara came back in from her training in a white gi and a lot of questions about that nearly normal laugh of the adult's.

“Priceless! She hasn’t figured it out!” He laughed even harder, teeth clacking as Slade composed himself and picked up on the other screens. Seems like an eavesdropping miss was not far.

Starfire had a wide ear to the door as she was tearing up.

“They can’t handle being wrong in two nights, huh.” Tara gripped a water bottle and chugged it quickly. “You gonna go to the gym with me? I’ve healed from most of the last bruises you gave. He’s fine. He'll just whimper his way out of this mess like you said. His best quality is acting pathetic to fool his friends.”

“Maybe, but to build on their relationship, then tear it apart” Slade mused to the girl. “I’d like to see the bat try to cope with getting his boy back, even when he won’t go willingly. Dick would even kill the man to get ten feet from him, let alone a thousand miles.”

“Yeah, he hates him. Why?”

“Neglect. The same reason I can’t let him go that easily, my dear. He needs anyone to stay and listen. I just knew how to talk to him, best.”

“He….who was he before…you know? If he was with Wayne but didn’t become the bird wonder?”

“He was the son of two famous acrobats, the Flying Grayson. They were threatened by a mobster. Tony Zucco, who wanted protection money and vowed to set the bar a bit, higher.  Dick did his best to remain ever vigilante and pulled the alarm on the crook, so that night at an open net performance-

“WITHOUT A NET??” Tara gasped. “How stupid were they?? He was like, ten. Right??”

“No, eight or nine. Dick’s family perished through purely sabotage abd he was promised to be fostered by the one person in that tent who cared as much as I had started to after seeing the kid’s torment in his little eyes…he wanted justice or vengeance. He ran out of Wayne’s hold and I helped to make that choice clear enough. No sooner, young Grayson chose to have me help him kill Zucco and leave the bat. Took years of hopping from country to safe house. A lot of tears, until now. He's going to be sixteen soon, and I want him to find the strength to undo all of that pain in one final act. As my apprentice, he’ll needs to get his hands dirtier than he has been.” Slade finished.

“By tonight, there will be no need to act further. The last chip is in Wayne’s building, yet…I now have the codes.”

“You’re welcome.” Cheekily smiled the blonde. “Acting like a lost kid pays off if you know how to get past a bunch of guards AND the big bat notices your sad puppy dog eyes. I’ve just perfected the art! Catwoman would be so jealous!”

“Have the positivity diwn a tad, child. The bat knows. He was letting you in to gather what he could on the next step to our set up. The main cost of all of this would be my apprentice. I doubt we’ll allow Dick to take the fall for much longer. Should I explain a bit more, expect your acting to surpass his own?”

“Wait…you think he’s doing better than me?? I’m literally having your enemies eating –

“He tipped the balance with my help, but a part of him thinks he IS that bird. He loses himself to a role not made for a single fave but his own.”

“You…kinda brainwashed him into keeping on the mask? Will he be, ok?”

“He will. Once the smoke clears, it should all be made exactly as I’d hoped. Absolutely.”

/////////////////

Bruce got up, prepared and went on a daytime patrol, out of the Titans' view. He found Control Freak, asking about a strong crime boss who pulled the strings – nothing but a monolog of Star Invaders Episode seven….

He then skipped out to locating Mumbo, a man who was a former Street performer and left his banking career due to a mental breakdown and depression. Quite sad. His face though…

“ I had nothing to do with the big bad in this city. But I heard through the grapevine that some kids from the HIVE organization,  a crime syndicate that teaches brats to be baddies, was way behind the Titans' foes all along…”

“Good to know. We’ll be in touch, and if you didn’t lie your way out of a longer determined sentence fir going on a rampage with a magic wand. Then. Maybe we can adjust your stay here. I don’t think you deserve to be behind bars and out of the spotlight.”

It made him an ally on the inside, buttered up the wrong person for reasons falling into grey territory   the sane; had Red X been trying to stop Slade instead of devote himself to the man’s immoral legacy.

The trip drove Bruce by late evening to the place where X would throw his stars at the glass. X shaped ones, Bruce made sure to stay hidden as he looked over a rather vast black and white themed sanctuary for the final chip. The green one. The last…

Envy.

///////

He perched, nine pm. Bruce noted that no one was on call except a few guards, but then. That switched like a light as the security was thwarted.

The damn –

“Excellent work.”

The brash child with a vendetta placed the chip in his own palm and searched it over, brow raised. “This thing is super important. Wanna tell me what we’re working with, partner?”

“Patience….you can’t expect me to trust you so soon and with so very little to sell to a novice like yourself. That in itself would be criminal.” The man seemed playfully attached to whomever was behind that mask. Bruce waited, was watching as Slade moved a set of fingers behind his back. The boy gasped and took the chips and a step away.

“I couldn’t just let you handle all of that sensitive data on your own…could I. Robin?”

//////

That did it as more overhead lights by an overhead catwalk showed robots. More for combat as they leaned in to watch. Had this been a prison fight, Dick would be walking with no limbs to hold him up.

Bruce didn’t stand still as Slade waited for Richard as he threw the first punch, caught abd whooped in the side. Groaning, the man moved the boy with his boot to be s –

“Deathstroke.”

A terrific sound got the man’s ear as he just as much hated and lived this in his head; father against son, against dejected foster parents prior to Slade stepping into the child’s life.

“Batman. Were you here this entire time? Hadn’t guessed you to leave the city for a small town skirmish –

“This has got to end. Dick…you’re not doing anything with him, ever again.”

“I never did a thing like you thought… And who are you referring to? This, boy? He’s just playing along, aren’t you?” Slade leaned over the kid as his bloody nose said otherwise. “Sure…” Dick crackled out. “Was…was I good, sir?”

“You….” Bruce’s voice rumbled out. “Dick. I’m not letting him do this. You know all of this is…dangerous. Wrong, killing is –

“The only way to neutralize a living threat in this society. As well as any other, that’s your lacking component …you said he couldn’t do it, well?”

The sound of a searing heat ray had the roof come down in bits. Raven was behind Starfire, Batman stared up as Cy abd Bb were helping to catch up by air.

Starfire dive low and gasped with a hand out. Robin.

Red X, she swallowed.

Raven was right then on her theory.

“Stop! He is not what you assume-

“Too late.” Slade sighed. “But not for us.”

/////////////

The bots activated abd started to drop to meet the heroes. Bruce held his feet firmly as Dick got to his knees. Slade patted the boy on the skull before plucking off the dragged out X mask. Dick looked stunned into submission as his face burned. “How…”

“Dude…Rave, you were…”

“The vision I saw was his same hand punishing. Punching his ribs, it had to be a false way to get out of being found. Robin…”

“Again, you should watch where you pick your friends, witch.”

Slade plucked out the chip from Robin’s shaken grip. “Catch my drift? I’ve gotten what I came to take.”

“You shouldn’t have to!!”

Bruce grappled the man as he dove in and dragged Slade to his knees, looking to act as he could to topple the mastermind. “W – wrong – wrong answer-

The man’s face popped off as his mask…

Dick yelled and covered his ears. Starfire dive swiftly to pull Dick from the bomb version if the mastermind.

Dick saw the chip fly up as he saw another Slade. A better one catch it. “It seems we’ll have to cut this matter short. Take care of my future apprentice.”

Dick pushed Kori down as Cy watched her get hit by an X from the man’s suit to keep her cuffed to the floor. “No! He us not the one you-

“SHUT IT! HE’S ESCAPING….”

“Dick…” Bruce held his shoulder abd was still standing. “I’m not letting you go after him. I told you. This is not your fight.”

“Always the hero, but never the martyr. Batman, you can officially go and shove it like that robot down there.”

“NOT until you’re safe and away from that maniac!”

The Slade bot ninja clawed figures swooped in and made a gap for Robin to get away, Bruce pushed them over the edge of the catwalk as Raven rose to find the boy wonder and subdue him before he got out into the city.

////////////

“SLADE!!”

This was who he was going to play. He needed to know why Slade had…had tried to do it again?? Did he want it to hurt? Was he doing a piss poor job of impressing the mercenary?

“STOP!”

The boy flew across the roofs to a lighted one, a billboard in Japanese that read ‘read more comics.” He was well versed due to the man’s excellent tutelage. Slade skidded to a stop as Dick side stepped and they circled one another in a fated dance. “You never swapped outfits. Too comfortable in all black?”

“I don’t get to stick out. I’m done pretending.  I’m going to get you to see that.”

Slade tapped his hip and smirked below the mask. “You made me a monster already. The bat helped. What happens though when I’m not there to take you back…”

“What….you….you have to! I’m still good till one year, I’m not done!”

“I didn’t mean that, child. What if the bat becomes needy, wants you to give up the hero life and settle down. Like some lame pup.”

“I…” Dick looked behind him. “He wouldn’t try, would he?”

“Have you not learned how far a grieving man may go to satisfy his own sorrows? He WOULD.” Slade warned. “And you’ll need to pace yourself. In a few days, I’ll be by your side and the bat will back off. For now, finish what you were about to do.”

“Sir…” Swallowing,  Dick nodded and put up his fists. “THEN, YOU’RE NOW MY ENEMY. Please trust me, I  won’t miss.”

////////////////

The fight was something different,  deadly. Neck and neck, Bruce panted up to see the kid holding his own, only because Wilson had raised the boy to fight like his life was the only thing that mattered.

Dick when to graze the man’s shin, but was tossed in a loop around, until the kid kicked out. Pushing Slade as he hit the side of a building there abd Dick ran to stop him.

Slade….

It had started to drizzle as the fog shifted to hide the body. Dick’s heart raced. “He…he survived…he had to have –

“Richard.”

Dick jumped back as Bruce caught him from falling also. Dick’s face moved to the ledge. His master had gotten away…the chip ….

“You lost the objective. You didn’t get the chip.”

“Bat-

Bruce pulled him until his toes were no longer off the side. He dragged out his hand to grab the kid’s red x Xenothium belt. Dick fought but Raven and the others were back. “This is insubordination of the worst casualty. I’ll be having a word with your team, and you.”

////////////

Dick was safe. Slade trudged to his hole in the ground. A man hole cover, even as the bat thought him drowned in car smog and an accident that never came. They both knee better. Slade had laid his line down. Dick was going to hate Wayne even more for forcing him to throw out his potential.

Not a house pet. Not a trophy.

Slade’s.

Slade found the decontamination chamber as Will came to him and shuffled the burnt-out villain to the showers. “You look a mess! Tara has taken to guarding the lair in your absence. I hope you are happy with yourself, Slade. This is the bat’s vendetta and you’ll not be spared with that boy.”

“Wrong again, William.” Coughed the other adult.  “That bat…. won’t be in this city much longer. The device, is it finished…”

“Almost. By tonight, your detonation device and the prototype robotic probes should have their orders for anything else your warped mind has to culminate.”

Will said it; as bitter a taste he could.

“Good, I need to sleep. For now.”

“In the muck you’ve rolled right into? My handiwork is obviously undeserving of your presence.” Sniffed the disgruntled British male. “As you want. I’ll leave the bath for whenever you might wake. Feel free to adjust the temperature. How long will it be?”

“Fourth five.” Slade said quickly. “My test of the serum is showing…that the boy testing the new dose, was wisest. I can heal faster this way, for them.”

“Of course, ever the dutiful mentor. To bed with you, then.”

//////////

As a villain slept, the heroes stayed up with a murky eyed adult. “You need to know.” Bruce held Dock is special cuffs as he knew that this wasn’t a part of the plan. Things had changed. Changed for the worst…he’d have to turn this around, somehow.

“The chip is gone, but he still can use it, right?” Cy shook his head. “Robin. This is, I dunno.”

“We found out about his identity soon enough. Slade was…just biding his time. He wanted this, and I don’t know why.” Raven rubbed her chin as Starfire tried to bring a hand over to Dick, the boy didn’t get to deflect her touch this time. It stung, hurt as much as his many bruises that had sealed up prior to their arrival. 

“First, I want you to identity what is in his blood.” Wayne commanded to the titans. “Second; this boy should tell you, and if he can’t then I will expose everything to keep you safer from him.”

“He…he was simply a victim to –

“Slade helped train him. This boy, is not Richie, but Richard John Grayson.”

Raven switched to the computer and pulled up the missing report of this…

Acrobat.

“He was…world famous?? Dude….that’s…why not tell us your vac –

“They died. A long time ago.”

“He was my adopted ward for only a few weeks after the incident. You are going to figure it out eventually.” Bruce frowned, pulling back his cowl as Richard scowled at that face, eyes trying to stay shut as he lowered his neck.

“Bruce…”

“Billion dollar baby…”

“Wayne.” Dick sighed. “Slade saved me, but he cane first and, I hated him. That’s why I got away. Did what I could to never see your face again.”

“But you’re a minor still, Dick. And Slade would have taught you to kill innocent people for a small fortune. None of that would belong to you. Just as he thinks you don’t need to know –

“Stop! He’s still out there, and…and I could do this, I really could…now that I know. He would toss me away faster than you had. You said I was reported missing and left it at that.” Dick spat at the bat.

“Robin is already back in Gotham. The boy you hurt abd had shipped home to us, was adopted by me and promised to help by keeping the name alive-

“He ruined that suit!” Shouted the teen. “That was made for ME. Not him, whoever he is…. you…you stole from my family and replaced me! How can I not hate your guts right now, Bruce??”

“But, you worked with us all! You…you did not lie about that…”

Here it was….Dick licked his chapped lips.

“I ran away from him, wanted to stop him like he’s been doing to my life. I didn’t lie about that.”

“You didn’t. But, then he isn’t your teacher or something?”

“He, he was. Only because couldn’t stop him. Now, I might have a-

“That finalizes that Wilson has broken the law with your abduction.” Bruce stopped the boy. “In their defensive, you are better off with me. Learning to be a normal teenager fir as long as it takes to erase everything Slade has taught you.”

“No…no, I want to stay. I can fix this! I can get the chip –

“That chip was a decoy, Robin. Slade only took it because…”

Cy had Richard’s eyes slanting towards him angrily. “What?? You mean, I grabbed a fake??”

“We knew it would be safer…if with X coming and Slade, we talked to the bat in the time you were out of it. He contacted me. Said you needed to come clean and I defended you – but you…you’ve been hiding who you really are all along.”

“To stay safe from them both. You don’t understand. I’m not –

“Sample is ready and hot!” Bb plucked out the glass vial as Batman took it in his gloves and began to swap the compartment it was handled in. He set it under a microscope from the med bay as they waited. Dick held his breath. 

“It’s real. Not stable one hundred percent known traces of the serum that Slade carries…are inside of…”

/////////

Dick pacedvas he rained cuffed wrist to wrist. “Fuck me….I’m not that bad, am I??”

“You heal up and then go back and forth like a dummy to his haunt? He knocks you out – kablammo….then, you come back like you never got smacked upside the head. Classic evil sleeper agent. Told ya. Mind control!” Grinned Bb as Raven threw her head back and sighed. “No, more likely conditions and commands to make Richard stay and take whatever Slade was willing to show. He was using the serum in small doses over the time they trained. That is…”

“Years. You started at the time he took you –

“He didn’t take me, Bruce. I left with him.”

“You were a minor and it was coercion. He manipulated every move until you came quietly. Zucco was in my call and I could have gotten him no sooner had Slade delayed it all.”

“What dies that mean??” Dick snarled back at the bat. “That Slade intercepted your call to Tony Zucco? The man who killed my mom and dad met the wrong person…because he fixed him to??” Dick stumbled back into the gurney behind him as Bruce muttered something hoarsely. “That’s correct. I was supposed to have made sure he showed up an hour earlier. He came back to the rent grounds and…Slade showed you his aim. You can’t think he’s a hero –

“He made it easier. Zucco deserved! -

“ROBIN…” Starfire slid up in front of the boy as he looked out ready to rip her nose off. “This is never the real you. This man, he may have many faults as well, yet did he not promise that justice might be served on the cold dish?”

Dick tried to find any words to tell her to stop, yet her eyes made him drop himself. Bruce started to talk as Dick’s head pounded.

“Slade won’t be done yet. He’s invested you into becoming not only his apprentice, but his super soldier project. If you aren’t going to understand the consequences here in this city, Gotham would gladly-

“D- DON’T.” Dick stammered. “Y – y – you…. he said you'd do it…get rid of me…I’m the one who hurt everyone. I'M the one who –

“You need help, Dick.” Bruce said a bit softer, still firm as a rotten stump. “I’m going to write up the paperwork to have you back in my care –

“Shut. Up….”

“You have to come quietly, or else your team can’t do anything to help. If you want this life, the only way us to undo everything Wilson ever forced onto you.”

~ He never forced me…he was kind, better than you ever were. You left me…you’ll all just…~

“I think…” Raven thought as she put up a hand. “I think, that none of us have gotten any rest. I apologize-

“We can’t postpone this, Raven.” Bruce huffed. ”I’ll be back to collect him in four days. The papers should already fall into my favor. Dick?”

“I’ll run back here. I won’t stop unless you lock me up.”

Bruce turned to the Titans. “Don’t take anything of what he says to heart –

“Why not?” Gar leaped as a frog and was more friend than foe by his body language. “Richie was still like all of us. We let him in. So if you do catch Slade, he should get ta come visit  he’s not gonna just study all day and not have a life.”

“That isn’t up to your discretion.” Bruce said, woodenly. “He’s going back to be reprogrammed. Slade’s brainwashing is only active when he’s by himself. I can’t trust you to take care of him in this state.”

“I’m not brainwashed! Don’t listen!”  Dick instructed the Titans as his shame showed vividly in those blue eyes behind the mask.

“Who then can we trust?” Starfire put her hand to her mouth as her eyes darted between Robin and the dark knight. “Should we not do our best to help in some way as friend Beastboy says?”

“His help is coming, but we can’t do it if the law –

“He’s not the law!! You have papers…you…you promised.” Dick guilty them. “He was after me, you got Slade off my back. You trusted me when HE may have as well locked me back in his house to rot like some dusty heirloom. Am I good enough for anything I do? I have nothing to –

Bruce stood up to Dick. Six feet, however he was from Slade’s height, Dick just snarled and wanted to properly force his leg in the man’s gullet.

“If you take me away, I won’t stop. I am a hero. To them. To this city. Maybe, that’s why I want? Maybe, did you ever think of that?”

“You’d hurt someone. I saw how Slade –

“He did that to himself. He would have thrown me off anyway.” Huffed the boy wonder. “Star. Keep my room here. Just because four days is easy on your calendar, Batman. It won’t take that long for us to counter what you’re dealing.”

“We can talk about this –

“Cyborg. We agreed to keep you the leader of this team through indirect monitoring of your involvement in Jump.” Bruce jumped down the eldest teen’s throat. “If I say he’s gone, Ghent you have to abide. That. Is why you’re not dismissed for insubordination and breaking your oath as a hero. No party within the –

“I understand all a that, but you can’t just walk in and get your damn way. I’m sorry, it’s unconstitutional and could put you on the city’s log as –

“Why do I…” Seethed the crime fighter. “FOUR.” Bruce recited. “Four. Days. After that, this team is on probation,  and Robin will not be returning until its stated otherwise that we’ll allow it. Slade is dangerous. The fact you’ve even been able to find off his tricks is….that, is why my concern falls on the Titans continuing in this city.”

“We got the paperwork,  like he said.” Bb croaked. “Robin is out Robin all the way, even if he still has a few screws loose. I wanna see him come outta this.”

“As do I.” Starfire raised her hand. “Richard is, stranger as I would never have pictured moth earth boys to be. Yet, he was the first to truly want to associate-

“And he likes her.” Raven cleared her throat as Dick shook his head. “Who? Me?”

“Is, is that really true, Richard?” Starfire’s big eyes got even more dazzling as Dick ignored his heart. He attacked her. How could…

Shit. He’d bonded and they had imagined it WAS true.

“Or he was ok with meeting us. Ah, we taught him not to fight dirty. With your help –

“Your stories aren’t adding up to me.” Bruce snorted. “Four days. If you resist our authority or the league or myself; the senior members will gladly remove you all from your station without any second chances.”

The team was unware of THAT stipulation. Robin looked to the others as they looked to one another. Beastboy wasn’t even told to shut his jaw as he did it all by himself. Raven put up her hood and went to locate the document from the city stating that Richard’s care was their priority.

None of this was legal anyway. Slade had formulated a way to get Dick to become a Titan, so Bruce was right. Dock didn’t belong here, but they. The real heroes…

They would.

////////////

Like a kid being dragged out  f a toy store, Dick is in for a rude wake up. Next is…Mad Mod!

Four days. Four villains.

Four times to make up for lost trust.

Will it happen, and what is Slade up to…find out!

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse – What it Takes –

//////////

So, they went from Puppet King, Dr. Light I think… will check, Triton, Cinderblock and Plasmus and of course, Mumbo. Who else, you may ask yourselves? I decided to take Mad Mod and make him a ‘volunteer’ so that Slade could use the actual chip. Also, the detonator will actually act as not a decoy, but more. The beams will be injected not shot at them and revved up will come before apprentice part one and two. This will cement Slade’s plan as Robin is an official, honorary titan for a year, and recall, he has until December or longer to impress his real boss. Bruce said in four days, he’s coming back to check and see if Slade has struck again. If Dick acted out by then, and if Vyborg failed his team to stay alert and away in the first place to avoid expulsion as a hero at all in Jump. He is punishing and testing the heroes because he cared, but what happens if Dick even fools the bat? Find out! Also, Dick does have the serum in him as s minor advantage like rose did but his case is it takes longer and he’s not as adaptive with it as his master. Not until he ups his really villain boot camp training once his test is over.

So, what about Tara in this? You’ll see her in season two and the first season still has days to count down. Find out!

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Chapter 45: School's Out - Mod's in the House, literally!

///////////////

Robin groaned and sat up, well. He thought he had been in the tower that night in his bed. Had been, being the question as he woke….

“Uh?” He saw the walls of black and white, just like the floors. A balustrade Osgood in the center front as a stage to some big event title. As Dick’s consciousness re-emerged from its drugged, he imagined, slumber, he saw chairs set up with special qualities to them. His had power cuffs you’d only see for meta…

Dick started to tug as he heard Star groan, then all the teens waking in a line or cluster beside him. All in those chairs as the lights fully left them to squint away a brand-new distraction.

“Good morrow, my duckies!”

He was.

The man looked a stereotype of the late sixties. The dated clothing, the teeth. A raspy yet worry banter to be had, Dick could already tell by the red ginger’s way he held his walking cane. He resembled someone who had seen too many show tunes.

“How did you take us out? We were in the tower. My secu-

“Enough about all a’ that, Cyborg, lads and lasses? My goal was clearly right on target. Were you expecting to get through the week without me to crash in, uninvited? We’re just getting started!”

The kids growled as the man pulled his white ascot and face palmed as if he were making a good mistake. “Ah, how rude of me not to be introducing myself. Very, sorry. Mad Mod, pleased to meet you’ lot.” The man bowed like a king as Dick saw crazy in red for the first time. Wearing the British flag.

“You’re a carefree catch, yes.” He rubbed his chin. “An for one, thought it awful from the very beginning about why you brats decided to pick on the smallest of us.” The man bemoaned as he let a set of images flash from a projection device onto the wall by him. “Stopping crime. Interfering with the plans of hard-working individuals, like me. We’ve had it up to here – so I thought I’d teach you little snots a long lesson in respect for sure.”

“Who do you work for? Who sent you to capture us?” Dick’s question was an obvious fear and his anticipation of seeing his master ever again. “Why, this laddie sounds to me, that he thinks I cannot plan a likely ploy all on my own? Bah! I run this place for me, nobody told me to come and whip your teammates into shape.” Mod grunted. “Thinks he has to be smart, does he? You’ll be first for your exams then –

“Wait!” Raven was too late as the floor opened up below and Dick went falling through it to some unknown location with a cry.

The floor closed back up and Starfire and the others could not stay quiet, all while Moddy dusted his hands if the little spat he’d halted.

“You shall bring him back and stop your evil illusions this…moment!”

“This is all as real as you see it, lov. My duckies in a row. Will tour pretty, starry eyes be the next on our list to fail her courses?”

“Courses?” Bb shook. “We’re in the tower! There is no way this place is for real, and why a school?”

He was right. It looked like some prep school with every inch a memory of being at one for those that had backgrounds for having attended. “Great checking up, Bb. You can drop the act, Mod. We’ll get our team outta this, and you are gonna have ta give that degree up or head rightful the latest cell upgrade a' this city.”

“Is that right?” Mad mod hummed before pressing a rather impressive ruby atop his cane. Robin had been not a tap, yet that cane had then something to do with this entire design, Cy wondered. “You’re wanted in Arts and bloody crafts. Class is in session. Each of you lot are going to pass and do as you’re told…or none of you are leaving after remedial. There’s the bell, my duckies-

“What bell-

Wah!” Bb was shocked by a glowing power as he squealed like mouse. “Duude! So real! Okay, okay!”

“See? Your lil’ green friend knows how important a well-rounded kick in the pants and a five-star education should be. See you after class, teenaged no – gooder, Titans!” He laughed maniacally and they flew, fell into deep voids within the illusion or were whisked around and up, somewhere, while Mod put a hand to his ear as a real secret service agent might.

“All cleared up as you wanted, Mr. Slade, was it? So thankful for the opportunity, really is such an honor. And your apprentice is in safe hands. I won’t have him be participating in –

~ He should. Mind the fact right now, he needs the extra credit. ~ Slade’s voice crackled through ear piece as Mod gave a happy grin. “I was going to plan on sending him to the lab to dissect a frog then. Might gave to make it double that credit if the frog keeps him company while the titans break through my illusions.”

~ Whatever makes them closer than before. I want a team made out of those titans for as long as they are under your control. For now. ~

“Will do, mate. Say....” Mad mod looked slyly to the ends of his own twisted thoughts of power as Slade listened. For now. “That asylum was well and too cramped a spot to plot anymore my future endeavors.  Would if I win over your lot, you maybe have me granted my own pad to foresee any future…evil invitations? I know your reputation proceeds an ‘all. As a very busy man even to the Justice League. Such a legend, mate. You’re all the Hive ever spoke about a month ago. Cinderblock has your photo on his bedroom wall. That old chestnut. But still, bloke? If I get this just right for you, sir…I need a base of my very one to crash on in while I avoid the men in white coats.”

~ I will see whether your work is optimal first. I never go back on my word, aa long as the result should show. The Titans are far more aware than you think, Mod. This is no test, but a trial they’ll have no choice but to pass. My dear apprentice thinks I haven’t stayed at a hair’s breath away of his wellbeing. What sort of teacher abandons their cause? So, you’ll do the same. No tantrums. The only punishment is this illusion, to face you and return to their tower in one piece. ~

“As I know it, the contraption that is holding this place completely together is no movie set at all you upgraded my tech from a god’s perspective. I have nothing but to keep my part, mate.”

~ As it should. I look forward to seeing how they’ve “Developed" under your care. If only for today. ~ Slade cut the line as Mod gripped his cane and sneered to himself. “Sorry, mate. The titans are in my control for now…see if I don’t whip them up into mindless soldiers to take apart your damned empire.”

///////////////

I’m using the joke that a clockwork orange the voice actor IS the man who played him and the voice of mad mod -  who played the main character in that movie. Look it up. That’s why mod was a fashion designer originally in the comics I think but in the 03 ttg they hinted it as well. Omg.

He's on the lam!! Find out!!

Chapter Text

Our Time In Reverse – What it Takes

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Dedicated to only the best scene in the series of many!!

Chapter 46: K2G – Run, Run, Duckies!

////////////

Robin’s lashes fluttered open to the largest picture of a frog. A live one, as by his chair, now unbinding him, were tools that brought back a moment in time for the protégé of an assassin.

~ To understand the body in and out, I’ve brought a specimen for you to examine…~

At twelve, it was far too earlier, yet Divk was an overactive mind at play, Slade believed. ~ Sir, is that cat...sleeping?~ Dick put a hand to point at the animal as Slade did the same to its abdomen. ~ No, it’s not, my apprentice.~ There was an emotional pity in his tone back then. They looked at the placement of everything,  right down to stitching it back up as Dick tried his hardest not to gag and get blood in his hair. At the end of the night, he cried on the bed and Slade had to come sort things out. It had been easier as a kid. The man knew when he was say, fourteen, the rules were tougher.

Dock out a set of fingers to the scalpel and looked in the eye, a far too big green blog as its tongue lashed out.

So, easily as his training with none watching, Dick simply…

Would cut it off.

/////////

Starfire was the second to fall as her experience in a library was not as pleasant. She had to try to get out of her chair and first and turned it to molten ash by her ability to warm the seat and melt what was holding her down. With Cinderblock, the sun had nothing on her – praise X'al.

“I must find my friends, and a way to-

She saw the scenes of a screen of white and black and zapped, before flying books with razor wings headed her attempt by sending her to hit a very tall bookshelf.

//////////////

Cyborg had the worst time. Shop class was trying to tear him apart. Very much by the words he’d just delivered. “Stay off, ya dang thieves! Hey! That’s my arm! Don’t you go taking my –

~ Moddy me thinks, ye lot have ut too easy. Let your grabbed partner set the record for once. A leader has to share the credit? Why not! Teaches you to be so pompous at yet post! That bot can iron out a commando fleet, so give it up, Cyborg.~

Moddie was very clear as Cy shook his damn fist. What was left of it. “I ain’t gonna lie. It was fun to be back in the old cell time I got but back then? Was a star athlete. Ya can’t take that away from me, bloke!”

/////////////////

Beastboy didn’t tell Dick that he was that frog, only made to look BIG as he croaked and began to morph into som –

Bb was shocked as Dick gasped. ‘What the…. you’re-

~ THIS EVENT IS CERTAINLY NOT FOR YOU, MY DUCKIES. ~ An intercom had the hero cover his ears. Did you even try to rip up the best yet? Back in my day, it would be pushing up daisies with no way for complaints.

“What’s going on?? What did you do to Beastboy??”

~ Why should you care? You used to hate the little whipping  boy. If you ever get to be Cyborg's next in line, you can beat him senseless just for the –

“I’d never do that to my –

~ Doesn’t he know it? Why you are a hero to me; git word through the grapevine that you’re not supposed to be here. Could set you free, villains code an all. Or…~

The frog didn’t see more robot frogs twice as big appear inside the lab. ~ You can join in being annihilated by my drones! Your pick. Be a shame. New blood is so hard to find these days…~

“Mod?? Mod! What did y-

“Dude, I so hate this. You’re not gonna say yes. We are a team, dude!”

“I know.” Dick bit his lip as he hopped onto the green back of the giant Bb frog. “We have to make our exit. Class, will be over very soon.”

//////////

Raven was passed a dodgeball as she grunted, her eyes seeing a school gym and…oh boy.

She was officially in clown shoes. “Oh no.” Her brows lowered and she ran. ~ You’re like a leaf, lass. I could say the same. No meat on her bones. That’ll teach you both ta gab off when your betters are speaking. Enjoy the crowds screaming in encouragement.  You’re going to need it…~

By that effort, Raven got so angry that she popped the ball. The crowds started to boo, and that was her singalong moment to…

Fly.

/////////

Robin banged on the door and Bb waited, hoping for the screens in his….

“BEASTBOY??” Dick looked and shut his two masked eyes. He was happy to have it on. “No, you’re going to tell me…who hired you??”

~ What do you think, young grasshopper. The biggest snot of all, and I can do as I please to set you straight! ~ Laughed Mod as Dick chuckled while Bb was being mind wiped. “You think so? Did that mastermind tell you that this was part of his plan? That you shouldn’t try to sabotage OUR work??”

~ I’m sitting the place and I’M the owner of this set. ~ Growled Mad Mod. ~ Either you pass my course of you don’t get to see your team until AFTER graduation when I mind wipe every last lot of you!!~

///////////

He had to be from the loonies bin. There were a lot of Montrey Pitfal ( Monty python) references. An era past saving. Cy grabbed his parts and got out, a hall that awaited to shuffle him into a drooling donkey. “Where are my –

The scream wasn’t of a Titan he’d expected as Raven came out of her hall with a ton of red balls pelting her. “ Get away!! Run!!”

They were seeker balls, as Cy ran alongside the empath. “Did…you beat em??”

“I ruined the ball. I officially loath –

“Heeelp!!”

“Star!!” Cy ran fir the sound as Raven floated along while ditching the gym wear. “Where is she?”

“ I thought I-

~ Paper cut follies for you, my duckies. She’s written a report…on absolute obedience. A plus, Starry eyed blossom! You’ll graduate in no time!!~ He laughed maniacally as Raven rolled her eyes and blasted a panel to show Starfire. She was…still, ok?

//////////

Bb was too busy drooling on Dick’s head as he used the birdarang to unlock the door. Only, a series of screens awaited them. Another lesson in the dark, Dick had learned to see.

“Bb, you’re going to need to let me carry you.” The zombie Bb nodded and Dick picked up the drooling mass. If he borrowed from the serum, he could find another way to rip away the illusion. Dick gripped the green teen and looked to the ceiling. The screens didn’t reach that high. Mod used his cane as he appeared to change the level height if the floor. ~ Naughty snotty! You ought not a left class early. A tardy is the last you need to show –

“We’re getting out, I don’t care what he already knows.” Dick spit back. He hopped down and Mod used his powers of the illusion by his cane to save the boy from his fall. “Oy, oy! No high flying in the halls! He’ll ave my head! Little snot….”

Moddie needed to keep Dick away from the others, but was too late as Raven saw him fall. Starfire was there with them, quiet as a mouse and, eerily quiet…

“Is she…”

“Mod made her like this.” Raven frowned. “And…him?”

“Same.”

~ Younger minds are best to mold after all, you would know that. Wouldn’t you? ~

Mod looked annoyed as he hopped down to face the teens. “What are you going to say to me, please? Please teacher, don’t mind - melt my poor allies? It’s my saving their heads. You ruined my classes! All of –

“Why don’t we return the favor, then? Titans!” Cy pointed as the heroes and even Robin, sent themselves after the gabby Billy goat.

“Try of you might, yet you’re never getting out….!!”

/////////////

///////////////

Chapter Text

Our Time In Reverse- What it Takes-

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Chapter 46: Consider Your Immoral Tendencies

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~ Lesson one, apprentice. If the enemy is or becomes aware of your stance, you don’t try to lose what you’ve guarded. Never falter. Find their one weakness and show them you are not to be disregarded. Don’t allow all of your specific strengths to fall onto the shoulders of your superior. Take one hit, go on. Find my weaknesses, Renegade. Finish the task I’ve given you, properly. ~

////////

Dick looked around. This was an old set, a few tricks of the eye thrown in for the versatility of it all. He eyed the ceiling and saw one tear, just one. It hit.

“Cy, throw me.”

“Say what? Kinda not getting what you ARE throwing my way –

He punched a bucket of holes into the robot drove with mad Mod’s grin on it and red, laser eyes. “I got this one, Star and Bb got the floor. What about where you have in mind, spike?”

Dick smirked, eyes and neck arched up at a small tear of what looked to be wallpaper that was peeling off of a metal plate. The panel was all electric as it hooked to some mechanical devices UNDER the paint.

Cy didn’t give a word away as the real Moddie gasped and decided to let his exit happen sounder than –

~ That wasn’t a part of our deal, Mod. ~ Slade’s voice racked his ear as the screens lit up with the man’s face, save for one of Robin launching himself into the very wires as Cy ripped the space down, ordering the others to go wild.

/////////////////

“THIS PLACE is fake. Don’t stop fighting. Pull down anything you can get your hands or claws on. This place is going way down….”

“We will find the exit, then and the Mad Mod??” Starfire excitedly asked.

“For working me into a sweat this early, I think he deserves a lot more.” Raven flew up to see if Cy and Robin had made a large enough dent to make even larger. “The vent holes?”

“Wow, skinny kid. Like a weasel.”

Raven grunted and pointed for Bb to make good on his complaint. “Get in there and join them, weasel – boy.”

She kicked his mousy tush as the scurrying youth found a space and scurried to hurry after Robin’s scent of anxiety and adrenaline. ~ He’s down there. Hurry it up, Rave! ~

The boy’s mouse whiskers twitched as he headed in the direction of a struggle. Only…did he smell scones and old people scent…?

/////////

Moddie wasn’t sure his liver spots could handle even more excitement for one day. The top hatch of his control room was barged into as a launching teen in black and near red pounced on the older gent. “S – MOD??”

Dick out go as he saw the cane. The same one that the red headed look alike had. “In my day we knocked and said ‘Ello.” Mod grumbled and held his thumb to the controls. With a press, nothing happened. The lights turned off, the screens crackled to black and the rest of the back of the control room, was removed by two very powerful women heroines.

“Bullocks! You lousy kids have me cornered…. fine, be that way.”

“Cuffs it is then.” Cy was atop Bb as a Jurassic brachiosaurus.

“You’ve just gone off the air, bloke.” Bb chuckled.

“I heard that.” Cy grinned at their win as Raven alerted the police if their location.

A bunker just outside of the city on the water. It was not far, so Cy set up a pick up by the t- ship in the next few minutes. “So, Robin really came through.” Bb smirked at the teammate as he rubbed his neck, thinking it a bit too soon after all he’d put them through. “We stopped an escaped whacko, so Batman has to count that as a new good deed.” Cy agreed.

“I also believe that our state therefore broke when the machine had been made obsolete.” Starfire nodded. “Beastboy and I are no longer drooling, filthy norbliks!”

The teens together, laughed at her joke as Robin stared out at the sun coming up behind them. “Morning…” He rasped… “We don’t have enough time. Four days is all he said we have.”

“Three more baddies.”

“We are therefore, in luck.” Raven pulled at her unit on her cloak as Dick heard the report like a radio on replay. ~ This just in; the Hive is attacking a museum in Jump City before opening hours. The trio is not backing down, but will our famous team of teen heroes?? ~

“They, said favorite…” Dick swallowed. “Us?”

“Uh, yeah! That’s what we do. What you do, right? No more going back to that baddie. That we got this one?”

“Together.” Raven said a bit out of character.

“Yeah, I think I could…”

Starfire jumped for joy, yet Dick knew this love fest was just a part of their plan. A plan to destroy everything he’d gotten world famous over a few months. Two, and counting…

Or, was it over?...

////////

Well, we shall see about that. I cut it short because Slade will talk Moddie into the nut house in aft two here. Dick did something good without flying off the handle. He is…better, but was Slade really the reason why? Find out!

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse – What It Takes –

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Chapter 47: Pointless Wunderkind

//////////

“I swear, can’t we have a decent conversation about this, lads?”

Slade had snuck mad mod out of his cell as a prison guard with one detailed helmet. “You pushed my hand in this, Mod. You made that bond stronger, yet you defied my warning to PUSH harder!”

The man was kicked in the face as others the thug had hired just patched him up, a note there for his release back to a nursing facility and not an asylum. “I always keep to my side of the bargains I swear to men like you. Take it. Your job is done. Don’t show up again unless I call.”

With a swing of his cell door shut, Moddie was unable to retort and simply groaned to clutch his balding, liver patched skull. “I’ll be at that. The lad's not knew to these projects. Might have to contract ken like him through my network more, bloody often.”

/////////////////

Dick tapped his foot and sat on his mattress. The floor was his comforts he’d left it behind. One night remaining. It was midnight. Day three. Three days had passed. The last day…his master had to deliver. Dick laid finally down as his eyes shut for only a few short hours…

The dream he had that night, was very strange.

/////////

~ Hello? ~ The cell and prison in his head was like another planet. He pounded the earth and leaped with low gravity, dust chartering as a second set of feet found their way closer. ~ Apprentice. Tonight, will be the end of your security. You might need to choose now; where do your loyalties lie-

~Sir, with you! ~ Dick rebuked. ~I won’t go anywhere. That’s…what we promised. ~

~You won’t even want to kill them, once you find out…~

~Sir…sir! Wait! ~

For a brief moment, the scene looked familiar once more. Dances across roofs in Jump could not compare to those cold, dark streets of Gotham. The figure of Slade had morphed into a winged man, a child beneath that desired but an answer from their fledgling since lost in the world.

~ Don’t you want to meet them? Your family? The rest of us, Dick? ~

~ Your family is not with him, Renegade. ~

Slade appeared as Batman’s cloak swept behind him, Richard becoming equally frustrated. His mask was still on, his Robin uniform in the dream was an identical shade as he saw half of it morph into Renegade’s uniform. An exact two face as he fell over, both Slade and Bruce pointing at him. Talking down to him.

~ You can’t even save this city. It does not belong to you, you never earned the role or title of a hero.~

~Bruce…I’m doing-

~ How coukd you turn your back on our plans, Renegade? You belong to me, this city will one day listen on our every word. The titans won’t be needed. How can you stand as mu apprentice….~

~ When you don’t even

.....

~STOP!~ The ground shook as both adults spoke in unison 9ver him. His feet giving way, the cracks were made larger and this world fell slowly to crumble at his feet. In the dark, it didn’t seem to have a way to the bottom, only into a sinking abyss as he fell.off of his own planet.

Yelled at by two men that were supposed to be his teachers.

Dick let the lies take him as he fell.into the real world wkth an alarm so red, both ears thought to bleed. He woke, sweating off the fear of loss so great as Cy stepped through his door.

“It’s him, it’s Slade.”

Dick checked his alarm clock.

Four a.m.

He wiped his brow, hard wired to evade his emotions for long periods.

~ Not my apprentice. Not theirs…~

“I’m coming. Hold on.” He lifted himself from the bed as Cy worriedly walked over. “You ok? Looks like you had a pretty bad nightmare. The acts been on, so you aren’t the only one a us.”

“Who else could…”

Dick flew by Cy’ bulk to the main room.

Raven.

Fricken witch, she had to get too close!!

///////////

In her dream, Raven had seen a cloaked man from her world and Trigon, her father. They made a deal; one bent on gaining power and using that to enter through their gates to this world. Her home.

A boy was at the arm of the man in the cloak, and Raven didn’t have time to call out as her dream had ended. Starfire and Bb were outside the door, knocking for her to go with them. An alert had the heroes up too soon.

“Cy called us…yawn….tell me you heard that thing, too?” Bb grumbled and slouched his way down the hall, as Starfire saw how disturbing this was to her female teammate for some reason. “Friend, Raven? Are you not… well?” The princess asked. “Did you not also have the same alarming dream of waking to the exact siren in the tower?”

Raven shook her head. “No, Starfire  I…didn’t sleep.” The empath replied. “I didn’t catch a wink, not like he can.”

Bb scratched his ear and yawned again, muttering that he wanted to go back to bed. That only crazy early birds or night owls lived in Gotham half of the year.

/////////////

According to Bruce, that was true by most standards.

He awoke to Jason nudging the man up, the rest being that he wasn’t in Gotham, bit they weren’t in the hot –

“Jason?” Bruce looked to see them in what was indeed a closet. “We were tracked down, B. You nearly got thrown out a window until your call last night…

/////////

Bruce had heard the news about the madness in Jump and only saw a glimpse of the one responsible before he was locked away. As the bat after visiting hours the previous night, he’d gone to the whacko's cell for answers.

Mod’s red hippie capped hair was dead and balding. The man in the program was not there. A stump of a real geezer sat on the bench and had a plain cane in his hands, looking at his past and present while the bat had no real guards to keep him out. 

“Mad Mod, or is it…someone else I should be addressing.”

“ Moddie is fine, Bat – bore.” The elder groaned and laid onto his cot, scratching his pants bottom as Bruce ignored the lack of decorum in this elderly British male’s manner of hospitality.

“I’m aware you fought the Titans –

“What’s it to you what I did or didn’t,  mate? “Snorted the disgruntled senior. “Those brats ruined my idea; was a brilliant plan. I took it from an old picture in my day.” Mod grinned, almost happy that he’d gone bad all over again since 67’. “To base it on an indoctrination of today’s whiny –

“Criminal charges were not dropped by your pleas for insanity.” Bruce told the grumpy senior. “I did it for recognition , bats. How else could I get my way in this new fangled town?”

“Who pushed you in the first place, Moddie.” Bruce asked and demanded the British elder consider hos sentence carefully the next time. “You were able to have your resources. You’re originally a Hollywood designer and failed executive of a company in tinsel town that’s since lost its charm and sway. Who had you ultimately “decide” that attacking the Titans would make you into what he’d promised?”

Mod turned white as a dead man, with the man looming over, having been more than aware of Jump’s criminal hierarchy.

“I…. I reached out, he’d give me a job. He did is’ part…I underestimated the bird bloody brat…The big boss was fond of keeping him alive. Under orders...” Mod raised an elderly brow and chuckled. “Sort of imagined your boy in that suit. Looked to be an exactly, identical –

“Trust me, Mod.” Bruce turned to go, Mod’s chance to catch the bat off guard, a bit worrisome that he wouldn’t have his time to turn this over to the big man. “Those two have no further connection. You’ll now have your evidence shuttered for revealing that you were of your own accord. Say hello to the Joker for me when they admit your name into the register.” Bruce left to a foul mouthed elder and no further questions, before he’d seen the ambush. Been knocked out as smoke bombs and that man’s face…and a girl…. he’d lost consciousness as Mod skipped to freedom. Bruce knew what could happen, that Dick was not getting that extra day to wait for him. How they nearly had him when he woke, the beating and ten – rocks flying and his flip into the water by the bay.

A set of sirens sang as he drifted back to life and pressed his unit to send an alarming S.O.S to his partner.

///////////////

“Dick…. Slade is, active.” Bruce gripped his neck as if something had stung him. “B…. we looked into Mod, and it was his big break. Slade’s drones took them all outta there. Cinderblock, Jinx and even Doctor Light.”

“This is, not good. Jason. I need to give you one order while I rest –

“B?” Jason checked the man’s pulse and saw the injection site. “The cave.” Jason’s voice shook. “I’m sending you home, I’ll get the Titans to hear me out.”

“Jason….” Bruce was weak, not from being hit, he was with…some drug?

“We’ll get you to the lab. I don’t like what I’m feeling. Cool it, lifting…. heavy!” Jason dragged Bruce from the dock side to the bat wing on the water; converted in one click. “I hid it. We’ll set the coordinates…Jason…” Groaned the billionaire.

“Yeah, B?” Jason almost didn’t want to be left alone. It was not his mission. Not now, but he was the one who had wanted to meet Dick Grayson. As a kid, he had…. idolized the kid on the trapeze, pitied him as Bruce had wanted. He had really wanted Dick to be with them both…

“I’ll get them to listen. Slade is up to something, big.”

The bat wing slipped off into the open water as Jason didn’t wave and simply turned to the bay’s other view.

///////////

“Titans…. nice ta meet ya.” He grinned and looked for his vehicle. Built in propulsion for flight. He could jet across –

He then saw the car, the cycle. The fight….

Just after, Five A.M….

Jason didn’t know what to do. If he went to follow them, that was best. Tail and try to assist. It was what he was trained for. Jason rode on as his bike was slim enough to navigate the side streets. The docks…the pier? They were headed towards him!

He dove out of the way, hiding as the alien Starfire; slender, strong and quite lovely…. she sneezed. Loudly.

“Please excuse me. I am allergic to metallic chromium.”

“Whoa, lucky break!” Grinned the green kid, the ‘morpher” known as Beast boy.

“Then…” The purple eyed goth frowned, rubbing her chin as the answer was too easy. For them.”

“Star can track it.”

It? What was it?

“The chronotron detonator is a trap, I know it.” Dick’s brows furrowed below the mask, his wrists scrunched as his face. “Slade wouldn’t let us in without a reason to see us all fall or get captured.”

“You are here, with u – u….achoo!!”

The teens stood back and covered their faces. Robin used his cape; Dick looked so much like Slade in black and red that Jason looked away, hoping to join into a fight if anyone else had their metallic eyes wide open.

Maybe, like some villains they knew….

///////////////

Slade would have paced his way to Gotham, yet his gloves were cleaned of the mess of abducting Wayne without any prints to convict a soul. He was Mr. Black in yet the locals eyes; in the Titans’, he was just Slade. To the bat, he didn’t want conflicted thoughts on where they’d be headed once this city was burnt to ash.

“How is the plan by the docks, Terra? Any sign of them yet?”

A crackle, a pause as Terra spoke through her comm.  ~ Almost. The alien princess is allergic to the device’s alloy. I think that’s a good thing, mius it being kinda weird. ~

“This world is never as we decide, my dear. And, Robin? How is he faring after the lead’s been added?”

A lead, as in a robot disguised as a person. A new version with a vocal box and the suit it was in was a dock worker. Nothing less as the girl explained everything. “Your perfect partner tossed the bot into a wall. Keeps asking it if it has seen the symbol you left for them. Waay, too creepy. You sure he’s got this?” Terra had seen this once. A child clung to their adult until that silent betrayal made them lose their senses. Dick was so much like the person she once was. Now dethatched, Slade was nothing but a tool. A short-term guide for her brother to be located.

~ Bryon was located last night, by one of my close contacts. He’s still subjected to tests as you said to control his abilities. By next month, I’ll arrange for you to gather him, bring him through the country and I’ll even have your names changed so you…can do some catching up. ~

To Tara, this was very big as her hand flew to her mouth, gasping back tears while Bb sniffed the air. She kicked up so dirt to make his sneeze instead, her eyes wondering if he was easy to train. Dog – Bb nosed into a warehouse with his team as Tara pressed a switch in her palm.

“Lock em up. All successfully completed, sir.” Tara nodded into her comm.

~ Very good. ~ Slade purred back, pleased as ever that this could work. ~ Release our “welcome brigade. ~ 

Tara nodded and pressed another button, watching the sun start to peak by through the air without the heroes there to see it.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////

Jaspn gawked as Tara hopped down, his feet moving as he jumped her; the comm flying from her fingers as she yelled and growled as some fierce beast for him to let her go. “Get offa’ me!”

“You locked them in….let me –

The rumble was severe as Tara turned to the warehouse, the only one far off the water that lead to a tunnel into the sewer, the Titans being sent into it as Jason tugged at the blonde’s arm and looked at her with masked desperation. “Tell me where they’re going. Answer, or I won’t hold back.”

“Hurt me, hurt your pride.” Tara snarled, “Not much a hero, neither is the guy you copied.”

“I…” Jason bit his lip. “So, what. He’s going to get his shit back. I want answers, dweeb.”

“What??” Tara let her eyes glow golden until he pulled out a bat tech special. A strange disc rendered her powerless as shocks coursed through Tara’s body. “Shit…shit! N –

He dragged out her device for opening the door as the locks unbound, the tunnel revealed as the door was thrown back. “Shit, now what…” He held onto Terra as she didn’t get to defy him with her fists of avalanche given might.

“I brought these for Slade, but you need em more,” The cuffs were for a meta as they collapsed outward, encircling her wrists instead. “No, you don’t know him…. he won –

“Shut up!” Jason shot at the kid, just a kid. He couldn’t let her steer him the wrong direction from here on. “Obviously. You work for him, so why would I trust you? Huh? You want to tell me why my brother isn’t above ground? I know he’s got something cooking.” Tara saw sonething of this Robin that didn’t scream bat. More thug than anything, more vengeful. “Slade never said it, but we met. Just once.” Todd grinned and pulled Tara with him as the robots lay dead. Birdarangs in their arms, chests. Like it was a massacre of metal parts, a war not won.

“You won’t get to stop –

“Shut up and come on.” Jason plucked Tara up as she was forced to fall. Down into the sewer, he didn’t forget the grapple as the floor crumbled once more, the broken bots falling into the sewer waters and out to the largest source of stink made whole in Jump.

“Ewwww…eww…!”

“Quiet.” Jason shushed Tara as they were brought deeper down the tunnels. “I think I can hear…”

///////////////

Soo??? Find out! We are into apprentice part one by the way, 2003.

/////////////////////////////////////////

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse – What It Takes

/////////////

Chapter 48: Shadows Talk – Bodies Walk

//////////

Dark, so….to go!

///////////////

Dick walked ahead as the walls stayed solidly built to keep only water dripping, heard was not the enemy’s footsteps as Dick groaned and sat up on top of Cy and Beastboy.

“That…. was crazy deep.” Cy rubbed his skull and found that Dick was not budging. “Off, Spike. Gotta see…where they sent us.”

“The ground, just….”

“Shattered the apart??” Starfire gasped as she brushed debris from her long red hair. Bb shook as a shaggy mutt, getting her covered in more of it as she glared at him.

“Wait.” Raven was up first, pointing as she floated down the wall to the waterways of an empty sewer. So, they believed as Bb ran ahead as a coyote and growled when they spotted a Slade bot, two, slinking around towards what appeared to be a private speed boat.

“Stop!” Raven moved her palm, yet one bot shot, startling her. “Raven, careful. Those things are armed.” Dick saw Cy rise as he waited. Slade was getting ready to start a war underground.  He seeped in an inhale before getting up, helping Kori as she thanked him. He was going away soon, how she looked so meek in the face of danger.

Why? Wasn’t she a warrior, too? It was a puzzle as they headed after the robots. Cy brought them up to speed as the one bot with the main lazer was toppled by Cy's bulk. His cannot didn’t get a shot as the bot melted, face and all. Not to be caught. Dick and the others ran, until his sensitivity was at its peak; the wall aside of Robin crumbled as a big stone clad arm pulled his wrist, threatening to take him out of commission.

“Robin!!”

“Star, go help em. We got this.”

She’s wished over as the grip loosened only a bit, Dick kicked his foe wkth a steel toed retort. “Let me –

“Robin! I shall…

“Wait!”

The lazer was as the time on the train. The boy had saved her then to, as in the shadows, the Titans were too far ahead in their chase to see who had shot their friend.

“Robin.” Slade appeared as he never crooked a finger. Only stood, as Dick was set free. “Good work, Cinderblock. Secure the Titans’ time while we, discuss matters.”

“Sir, I made it?”

Slade only turned, expecting Dick to follow, which he did. Rather softly in his boots, not a tap as they went back the way Slade had come in secret.

///////////////

The lair was as he had left it, plus the new screens. Five of them, which perplexed the boy as Slade took a stance. There were cameras up. They…were going to film his betrayal?

“You’ll take your role seriously, boy. I have you in my grasp, and this is only the first trial. The titans at this very moment are going to become my leverage, not you. That fifth screen, was a gift.” He touched a button on his wrist as the gauntlet had switched to resemble a controller.  “This, is why I didn’t want you to stick by your so called friends.”

TThefaces were of them. Their vitals, their heart rates. Adrenaline. Endorphins. Immune systems on display. The fifth, was not a teen at all, but …

“You…when did you,-

“These probes are a marvel; S.T.A.R labs should really have better locks secured on their things. Mine now.” Grinned the mastermind. “Like, you. And him.”

“Bruce…” Dick swallowed. “You…what can those robots do? When…were the Titans infected. I was just the distraction,  wasn’t I.”

“Part of your job was to sever their trust and to make it stronger in you. It will work. This as I said, is only part one of our, presentation. As master and apprentice. Maybe more, if you can fully prove yourself, Renegade. It’s time.” Slade snapped his fingers as the camera had started to roll.

“I’ve monitored their vital signs. Every weakness the titans and bat could ever carry. Now, with the push of a button…” Slade started down the teen, narrowing his gaze in that clear threat. “I can annihilate them Robin, and I’d gladly give you a front row seat. As my, newly made, apprentice. Full time.”

Dick remembered his lines, then something stopped him.

Star was burning up.

His mouth ran dry.

“Robin, the clock is ticking.”

The boy glare at his master. “You’d have to add me then. I’ll get them out if your trap, whatever the cost. They…took me in, they did what you never could –

“Made you a hero, then decidedly against it thanks to the the bat’s little pep talk?” Snorted the mercenary. “You were never a hero, child. You were born to be a weapon. An enemy since your very first breadth.”

“I’D NEVER HURT MY FRIENDS…” dedicated snarled back with his fists up. Slade look on, expecting a meaningless threat back. “I will stop you myself I I have no other option. For their freedom. –

“Or, your own.”

“What?”

A sixth screen came from the wall as a black tarp fell to reveal it. “I needed leverage , dear child. You were the perfect scapegoat and distraction. Guilty. Yet, you enjoyed thinking you had a chance to make things right between you and the bat, didn’t you?”

“No…no! You…you’d never-

Dick was panicking. It had to be so. If the bat saw, he’d throw himself into a war that would leave him a broken man. Slade wanted to see that, desperately. “Slade…stop this, they’re like me. We can’t face you if you kill us off! That’s….wrong –

“I’m a mercenary,  boy.” Slade chuckled a bit louder than he’d wanted. “Dying is what you’ll do if I make it my business to kill. You may be children to a client, to even me, but you are a threat firstly. I can’t have the Titans affecting my work, or you. A traitor to my latest plans. Submit, and I will be lenient wkth even the bat.” Slade promised. Dock was sweating now. He felt betrayed, sick. He’d wanted to live for the man, but dying for him…was that beating brigade meant to lead up to him overcoming death??

He wasn’t going to last, yet Slade was proven wrong as Richard somehow, composed himself. He stood up, eyes waiting to redden and sob very large tears. “Keep us alive. I’ll come with you, Master…I’m…. I’m sorry I ran away. I don’t want anyone to suffer because of me.”

“Then, welcome to you new home. My apprentice…” Slade dropped the camera as it stopped. He, clapped. The sound grating against Dick’s ears as he let out an exhale, falling to his knees. “D – did-

“I did not.”

Did looked at Slade and truly wept. He wasn’t lying. There were no probes inside his apprentice.

Yet they were about to murder four teens and the famous dark knight, should Dick betray his true principles. “I know this is difficult to adjust to, you were starting to enjoy their company. It’s not going to end, Renegade. I told you, if not a third time I’ll do it again.” Slade remoed the mask as Dick rose and ran to him. The boy was ready to –

The swing of a punch was feeble but almost expected. “Dick, that’s enough.”

“You…can’t kill them, or Bruce…I’m supposed to keep them safe…that’s-

“DICK!” Slade pulled out his trigger to the teens, seeing the boy freeze up. “Let it go. You won. I’m only using this to get you to snap out of your –

“NO! They trusted me, and you just want them all….” Dick crumpled into his knees as Slade put the controller away and sighed over the child. “Get up. Come.”

The kid brushed away tears as the confusion of what he’d be one, who be really was…he wasn’t sure it would happen. To kill…he’d never…

“Renegade-

“It’s. ROBIN.” Dick gritted his teeth. “Part two, s- sir. I’m still, Robin. I’m still one of them.”

/////////////

Slade ripped the kid from his stupor as he dragged the boy by his raven scalp to the main room. The dais was there as Slade turned Robin to it, directing his jaw to stay front and center – to see what was supposed to be his side at the mastermind’s ear. “You’re forgetting our real plan. The titans are cannon fodder. I know you like to play pretend. You’re not half bad as a mole. Right now, they won’t know where to look.  The detonator is not going to work even if they have it in their possession   if they do learn how to activate it…that will ultimately backfire.”

“Dying…. not enough…” Dick shook his head, Slade releasing the grip his larger fingers had gotten to cooperate for those short minutes they still had. “I…I’ve never killed before. But what I was told, I might be…wrong? You…you saved me, I want you to say I’m good enough…I’m not! I know I suck at this. I screwed up and –

“Hush.” Slade patted the boy’s cheek only form, not a hit as the boy gripped the hand to him. Not wanting to let go. “No one should die. Rethink the plan, please…”

“I may not, not for this mission unless it needs to happen. You’re my first priority.” Slade smoothed over, letting Richard hold that glove to his cheek like a child. Or…. something Terra had already dictated. There, he was worried that would be his problem down the road.

“Will you need to kill me?”

Slade paused, knowing Dick was more durable. That they should go over the details of these changes to come. “You still are in need of extra treatments to avoid that sort of demise. Remember,  I rebuilt who you are in my image to protect you, my apprentice.”

“I’m…not going to be like that, more. Like a son…” Dick held his bottom lip as Slade tilted the boy’s chin up. “If I intended to erase them to get to you, isn’t that reason enough to think otherwise?”

Dick let back s wobbly smile as je nodded, tears still falling as he placed his forehead into the man's armored grasp. “I’m sorry…I forgot who I was…I’m Robin, but…I’m not…”

“Easily remedied, Richard. It only your first time acting on a different stage. A larger price to pay, you’ll overcome this little hiccup.” Slade reassured as he re- cemented their bond with riffles of the boy’s hair, a single bit of tenderness from a maniacal mad man. “Just listen on my every instruction as you have been.” He coaxed, Dick nodding into his chest. “All of this will look better in another chapter. Then, you’ll get your wish.”

If he led the kid this far, it was inevitable that he’d call Richard his son, but a weapon was a weapon. The bat’s prize was his own tool to strive and perfect. His blade to sharpen. And lastly, his bomb to toss at the city, until only ash remained to rebuild atop it.

Robin, would be that wonderful explosion he’d been hoping for.

//////////////////////

Jason pinned Terra diwn to get her to speak. She was a tough nut to crack as he resorted to the bat’s tech. Swiping that up, the signal was reachable, yet scattered throughout the tunnel. The Titans were on the move as their heat signatures popped up. Bruce had tabs on every off and on world meta, Jason groaned. Terra was beginf him, until two Slade bots sprang out, a lug called Cinderblock was busy facing Beastboy who looked, haggard. “Dude…. who is-

“Bb! Stop talking. I’m working on getting this…Raven??”

“Powers…” Sighing out a hard exhale, Raven nearly dropped the detonator as Cy watched in horror by how weak his team had become. Jason gawked at the kids, not seeing the boys going after Tara. Starfire flew into Cinderblock, yet Jason went after the blonde’s rescue team. “You’re not getting away!!”

She stuck out her tongue as they slipped by a corridor, Jason no longer hearing a beep on his locator as it went dark. There was a hidden way back, he panted. Starfire looked over as the others adjusted their abilities to lift the mechanism, together.

“We, do not recognize you. Yet….” She gasped.

“That…. costume.” Raven blinked.

“You’re not…” Bb gulped down a few words.

“I’m not Richard Grayson, and if you’re wanting to pretend, he’s NOT here to save the day.” Frowned the younger bat. “Name’s Jay, I’m…. the Robin who could have been, had he not turned against my mentor since day one.”

/////////////

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse- What it Takes

///////////

Chapter 49: How to Build a Bat….

/////////

“Stand up straight.”

~ I am.~

“Your left foot is exposed, pull it back in.”

~ That wasn’t me. ~

“That stance is sloppy. Fix your position, now!”

~ I’m not careless, I know, sir. Give me a chance. Please …~

“I didn’t raise you to be this incompetent, boy. Show me what you’ve learned in our absence together…”

~ Never! I chose to stay, didn’t I? Why can’t you take my word?? I’ll never leave, I promised…you…you promised. ~

“Honesty, that was almost, far too easy. You should be more composed than that.”

~ I’m not through…. let me try harder…~

 “Oh, Robin…Did the Titans really ruin my one, true protégé? I might have to see for myself how loyal you’ve remained to me…”

~ They…they didn’t, I did what you said! Stop getting so angry….at me, you never did this before. Not now…~

“Renegade.”

~ No more yelling…~

“Renegade...?”

~ I’M NOT YOUR ROBOT. I’M NOT ONE OF THEM. ~

………

……

…

“APPRENTICE!!”

/////////

Dick’s head was swimming by the time his face leveled to rise and meet that man’s cold stare on his fallen form. “You lost consciousness. Get up. I’m going to have you treated now.”

Treated. Dick nodded slowly and let himself be dragged to the infirmary, with his master not caring how distant the boy looked to him. “Could be only a mild concussion.” The man played on that weakness with a mutter.

Only, he said. Richard here, would take a few hours to realize there never was such a thing. As they went through the locked doors to a room littered in medical equipment and a few hospital tables, the metal was his chair as Slade commanded the boy with a wave to seat himself upon one of those cool slabs of steel. “Let me take a look. You’ll probably need another injection. Brace yourself on my arm, boy.”

He took a look and there was in fact that; he’ need one dose of whatever was keeping Dick alive and with a fading black eye. He winced and seethed down while gripping the mastermind’s upper arm for support. Slade took a piece of leather from the boy; his belt was used, as Slade had said to bite down.

Hard.

Dick might have blacked out had it not been for that warning. “The closer to completion you are, the more this solution will burn. By this year, you’ll go through the proper last, phase, even if you’ve lost to the Titans. We can always continue hone your abilities, travel a bit. It will be a fascinating new project for us both.” He patted the boy on the back as he was eased to stand up again on the concrete floors. “Sir? What’s going on with my body? This is the serum that made you….but it killed-

“I’ve made some, adjustments, Robin.”

Dick blinked. Right, he had begged, no…demanded that Slade keep the name. He’d be going back, as a victim of abuse. Not a hero.

What better way to weasel his way in.

“There however, was something that occurred while you weren’t awake.” Slade hummed and put away his equipment, his eye focusing on other avenues to exploit. “Tara was captured, and your little adopted brother is now helping the heroes. As their Robin.”

“What….” Dick’s eyes widened with the memories he’d only shared – was Jason doing Batman’s bidding, or…did he hate him…. truly, truly hate –

“Don’t quit on me, apprentice. I can make him leave only if you allow it. Would you rather do more to send our message?”

“Make him…” Dick gritted his fists and growled low in his throat. “Make him…. make him, disappear.” Dick’s teeth grit in a way that showed how he was now against going back and seeing the heroes questioning everything.

“Don’t fret. Remember our little distraction?” Slade pulled up two remotes; the press of a button, for the probes, and the detonator for the Chrono ton detonator. The device that could freeze time.

Dick’s face became softer as he wiped back his starting eyes to not show the man, yet didn’t mind it. Dick was glad Slade was there for only him, as he wanted to be. “That’s right, just focus on undoing their training and returning to my side one day. You will defeat those children; I have every faith that you cannot fail me. Renegade.”

///////////////

Starfire floated on angst, her anxiety bubbling while Jason explained some vile conspiracy to her team leader and co leader. “You almost, what??”

Cy lowered his skull as Raven clutched her hands within the folds of her long cloak. “We, wanted him to be second in command if…. if I set the role aside.” Raven told the young bird.

“You didn’t tell him that…” Jason mentally cursed himself for not feeling out the situation. “You didn’t let him in, his…his whole thing was stealing anything he could for that man!”

“Richard, or whoever you call him, saved lives too. He we thought was being brainwashed. He couldn’t keep inside the tower for more than –

“Idiots!” Jason threw up his arms. “Show me the laptop. I wanna see all the files he’s leached off of. Why did you give it to him?? Why??”

“He wasn’t a prisoner.” Raven tried to say. “He was hurting, just like us. Like you.”

Jason’s masked eyes went dark. “That man’s still out there, the one you thought had no part ta’ play? He’s called Deathstroke, and he’s no CI- fucking A. He’s a former Team Seven-member, military man, made mercenary and assassin through some experiment. Here’s his file.” Jason fished out a flag disc from the cave. “The drives were locked up, all I could get, you can convert it before I go –

“Go?” Bb bounded in with vegan nachos and one strand of non-dairy cheese strung at his lip. “But you just got here! What’s with his deal, Cy. “

“Batman was hit. Just like all of you. I wasn’t, I made sure to stay the hell away from those psycho robots. You had better phone the JLA on this.” The boy stood up, hos anger fizzling as Raven sensed fear for someone below the surface by her powers.

“The big man in Gotham has no data on this. He’s out if commission so I have to step up.”

“You’re just a kid…” Bb looked at the green and red clad hero. “How are you gonna stop all of Arkham's most wanted by yourself?? We could –

“Please, I’d be more worried about what you’re gonna do with the earth moving asshole in your detent center, here.” Scoffed the bird. “The data on Slade is updated, but feel free to edit more if you catch him. Or if he catches you. I’ll send my part to the JLA and to Ray Palmer at STAR labs. He’s cool. Get to a probe sweeper and screw Slade.” The bird flipped the finger to his enemy as none batted an eye. “Friends, is our guest not –

Starforr flew into the room as she saw the bird hero leaving. “Wait! You must explain what has happened to our Robin!” She begged.

“You really wanna know, fine.” Groaning, Jason bit his lip. “My brother was adopted, like me and the bat wouldn’t have shown up then. Slade did, took him away cause both wanted Dick’s parents killer to pay. Dickie was traumatized and Slade made him want to work for em. I’m guessing basing grooming into the role. At least I had a choice.”

“Yeah, well why did he fight him, and not us?” Bb crossed his arms and demanded to know. “Tell us that, bat prince?”

“He was supposed to earn your trust, and that stupid earth mover is working wkth him, not for him. Dick, is doing the opposite. And his DNA was messed up by that man. You didn’t know that??”

“Robin, he was affected-

“HE’S BEEN CHANGING RIGHT UNDER YOUR NOSES!” Shouted the bitty bat. Slade made him…like himself. He would kill you to make that official.  Dick Grayson, your Robin is a fraud. This was his costume as a kid, but I chose to give his name meaning. He chose to take the easy way, the way towards villainy.”

“He…. was hurting. We saw, he tried –

“Failed at it, to seduce any of you to listen.”

Starfire eyes narrowed as she took his words into consideration. “Robin then, is not our friend….he is a thief! A coward, and we were made to believe that –

“WAIT.” Jason stopped her. “Like I said, he was weaned on Slade telling him that he’s got his vote, but if that man ever lied to him, made him doubt himself more than anything, you could get him back.”

“Are…are you saying…” Cy blinked. “He might snap out of it if we talk to em? You just said this has been going on for years. Since he was a lil kid!”

“Yeah, yeah, it has.” Jason rubbed her arm and said, “But I think. You did get through to something. He wants that man to care, bit he’s finding that Slade is not what he was then, compared to why he’s so corrupted by power, now. He used to live differently, be more human than this. He’s lost it, so it’s up to us. All of our resources to put Slade on trial for a good long time.”

“And, Richard?” Raven added. “Will he recover. Slade is using that manipulation of his trust to…to train Dick to hate anyone else that isn’t him.”

“Jesus.” Cy shook his head. “They said the court gave it an ok…never realized we were set up until…until things got weirder.  The weird way he healed up, I thought that was nothing new. Like he was born with that power.”

“Ain’t a power, he’s being treated with some stupid serum. Imagine how many beatings that kid’s get from Wilson if he gets the full dose.”

“No!” Starfire shouted. “He cannot! Richard will know the truth. We may have some of the time, you must tell us. These…. probes, why does Slade then hesitate to destroy us as he wishes?”

“Because, Starfire.” Raven croaked out grimly.

“Slade hasn’t told Richard everything about how he intends to get rid of us.”

“Or if Richard sees the aftermath, he might change his mind.”

“He’s a strategist.” Huffed Jason. “Nothing but a big fat timer on his wrist. When he activates it, I have to be by the bat’s side.”

“He was shot??” Yelled Bb.

Jason grunted under his breath. “Yeah, that’s why you guys are making me miss my flight. If the bat goes down, our city is toast. From what data we got on these stupid robots, they create a lot of damage. Few parts are reversible, but a sweeper is being fixed up to deactivate em. If only temporarily.”

“We got the drive for that, you said. I’ll build it in a day. Tops.” Cy nodded. “C'mon, team. Let Robin…have some space.”

“I’ll respond once the crisis is averted. You do the same.”

“We won’t lose contact.” Raven replied. “Have a safe flight.”

/////////////

Calling that Robin, Robin…was eerie. Starfire was forced to keep watch and quiet her thoughts with Raven’s help, while Cy had Bb help him to build the probe sweeping device to deactivate the little buggers through a high powered bit of magnetism.

“Sooo, the thing is super strong and just, kills them? Like a bug zapper?”

Cy stifled a breath as he put down his tool a second to answer. “Sort of. More like a meter. It registers and interferes with whatever program these things move offa. Hand me that.” Cy pointed at the tool by Bb's boot. “Right, not a bug zapper.” He sighed and forked over the thing to his genius of a best friend and leader. “Who’s gonna fix em? We made a dumb promise to not let Batman take our Robin away…but, we knew Slade was really close. That je wants Dick to do what he says.”

“I dunno. The JLA has a say in this now. If Gotham’s Robin is that hard headed, he must have a clue. B, that. Come on.”

Rolling his eyes, Bb ended up passing over tools to Cy as they worked into the night.

//////////

Slade was sure Tara could hear everything word. She was fed the info from those speakers through her own ear pieces. They had only shoved her in, but her suit was not removable by their hands.

“The suit is fused it think.”

Tara’s ears perked up.

“To her body? Dude….did Slade tell her any lies too? She must nor know about –

“Stop, one of us needs to get her to tell us more. I’ll go.”

“Raven…what if she was not made to control her powers? What if Slade expects her to blow this place sky high?” Cy scratched his chin as Tara’s breath cane out in heavy puffs. She shifted in her suit, the shout of his every word infecting her, pulling her along as she rose and with teeth clenched, she was commanded to listen up.

~ Tara. Whatever you’ve heard, ignore it. I want you to destroy only where you are. I’ll have my robots ready to escourt-

“You….trapped me? After all I did?? The fact I even looked you in that fat, one eye??” She seethed. “My suit…does it?? Are you the only person who can get it to come off?? You ….you did…” She gasped. “You lied, to keep me as yours….no…no…”

~ TARA. CALM –

“NO!”

Slade sighed on the other line. ~ Then, I’ll have to demonstrate our other machine, earlier than anticipated. Drop your tantrum, you’ll have your answer.~

She bit back her tears as the door opened to her makeshift cell for metas. “Tara Markov. Says you didn’t run away, that you weren’t always a bad egg.”

“You’re one to talk.” She stared Cy in the eye while tried to shed her tears cautiously. “What else did that little bat – fink tell you guys? That I’m a mass murderer? An assault victim?”

“A princess, who experienced a nightmare.” Raven followed with the questions. “We want to help.”

“Aha, did trusting crazy teenagers really make your team that dumb? He said it right.” Tara snorted. “The bird has more genius than even you and me put together –

“You’re only wearing a mask to protect yourself.” Raven responded. “You can let whatever you want out here.” Cy went up to her suit and with his arm, the insults from Slade, ended. Tara, exploded at them.

“I SWEAR TO GOD!! THE JLA TURBED ME AWAY, I WAS TAKEN IN BY A PSYCHO TO ESCAPE THE PEOPLE WHO SOLD ME OFF! YEAG, YOU THINK YOU KNOW ANYTHING? MY BROTHER IS STILL IN OUR HOMELAND….” She gasped, an old accent poking its head out.

“Go on.” Raven motioned. “Let anything out. He won’t hurt you.”

“You say this…. but I know of his tricks…” Tara’s eastern European tongue as well spelled explicitly what she wished the Titans to know.

////////////__////

She was definitely an improved version of herself in her ability to mingle than ever before. She really didn’t give up the past. Slade watched Tara from his hidden cameras, then turning to see where Starfire had sneaked off to.

 The boy’s old room.

Slade shuffle up to his dais and pulled up a projected keyboard as he got to work. Hacking into the boy’s laptop meant shutting down any information that he could.

Wait…

She was there with a flash drive….

Slade pounded the keys harder now as she set his plans back a step. No matter. Hacking was a br –

The restricted access sign made him surge violently, with annoyance.

~ Robin, I have found the journal entries. Must I…~

Slade’s eye narrowed at who she was connecting  via the laptop.

The bat got to it first. Wh –

The earlier, visit to the tower.

Slade sat back, slack in his seat as he analyzed the kid’s conversation.

~ The files are gonna come to us. Soon. Open it. I promise we put an amazing firewall even Slade can’t hack to pieces on this puppy…~

“Sir?”

Slade pressed a button and all of the screens went dark.

“Yes, my apprentice.” Slade tried to register how to deal with the bat’s new protégé. In the meantime, …

“What…. what’s my next task?”

He had his own to see to, and to punish for leaving breadcrumbs, unattended on the table.

“Come here, Robin.” The man coaxed the child to nervously move at his slowest pace yet. “I’ll explain what is expected, from here on out.”

/////////////////////

Slade lost his temper and Richard is being punished in the last scene. Yet he’s congratulating Terra, but will that last - and Bruce earlier did get into Dick’s laptop as did Jason. Cool right?? Find out!

Chapter Text

 Our Time in Reverse- What it Takes

///////////

Chapter 50: Lies for the Liars

/////////////

Based on the Used; Liar, Liar – interim/ song fic.

~ Liar, liar –

~Renegade. Get the device. The security was deactivated? ~

~ Pants on fire…~

“Yes, Master Slade.” Dick skidded with his healed face and face scarf on. He didn’t want to be spotted easily and put of his master’s colors didn’t feel great. Not at all. Slade was still working on the suit. If he could evaluate the same tech he’d used in Terra's, he’d have a team ready to take the Titans down.

Richard shot his gifted laser at the guard. His armor didn’t crack, yet he hit the back wall as the glass of some other vessel held an even fancier blaster.

~ That. ~ Slade smiled through the mask as an alert on his screens had Dick bite back a breath and reach for the shattered case. ~ They’re arriving. Get ready. ~

/////////

“Right after we just almost sorta finished getting through to her…Slade has ta have our dirt too.”

Bb was too busy flying as an owl to the roost where the tech stolen was reported. “They told us here, but I don’t-

“WHOA!” Bb swerved as a shot of laser red nearly singed his wing. “Dude! Found it!!”

//////////

Tara was too easily held up by Cy, as he went for trying to get her suit to pop off. It could be rigged, yet she permitted this. “He’s not gonna come for me, not unless I’m useful.”

“You don’t have ta talk about it, just hold still a sec.” He used the small gadget as she yelped at a single pricking shock at her shoulder. “Watch it!”

“Sorry, but if you didn’t –

“You wanna get this thing to kill me first? You so need to get a repair shop for your head –

“Ey!” Cy dropped the tools and exclaimed, “I’m not the one trying to make you into a weapon and steal your freedom. If you wanna have a normal life and get outta this, it’s gonna hurt a little. I can’t say he’s not a super genius, cause you’re the one he ended up messing with. Lemme work –

Tara bit her lip as fat tears fell down her cheeks. “As….as if I could choose to stay…. I’m not even human anymore!!”

Cy dropped his head as he let out a sigh. “You are. Some bad people got to you, but I’m not gonna let you stick around being bad. You’re not a bad person. Just looking up to getting helped by bad people for what they did ta your family. It’s not ok. I know, Star…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Star’s sister tried to sell her off. Her mom and pops, they didn’t get outta the war and well, she got rid of them too. Dunno how, but she wanted that throne. More than you wanna see your family safe.”

“He showed you a part of the files on my old life.” Tara turned her head away, embarrassed that she’d lost contact. Slade could use this. He would…never abandon her so she could take him out. Not the heroes, they didn’t mean anything to her.

“He’s only worried about his little spat with the dark knight. If I left, he’d start all over. He might even try to get even. My uncle,  is a powerful opportunity to reenact fir Slade whatever he wants. Money, our money.” Tara snorted. “That creep could take my….my…” Her voice dimmed as a memory of why she’d live stared back up at Cyborg. “Help me fight him….please! If his bratty bat personal servant is so good at acting coy, well…I’m not! I want protection. If you can’t, call the Justice League. See if they’ll care about my country, my brother….” She put her head into her knees as Cy eased up on the project, mouth opening as he shut it to think of what needed to be said at this point in time. “Tara, you are…more than just your powers, combined. I just wanna tell you; Robin wasn’t on “his” side all the time. I think you can also help somebody else. That way, you’ll have enough of us left behind you to find your missing brother. Slade –

“KNOWS.” She sniffled. “He knows where Bryon is, but he won’t let me see him unless I kill a Titan.”

/////////////////

Starfire touched the cursor to adjust what box she wanted to open. Every file had a date as the label. None of it looked to be that secretive as to what.

She was, in her own mind and self, very afraid of what she might find.

~ Open the one that has the date he came to stay with you. After the case was won in court.~ Jason leaned in as the sweeper did its job on Bruce’s end. He was still headed eat to Gotham from Cali. The skies looked a lot like rain.

And lightening.

“ It, it a press to play, then. I shall. Forgive me Richard….”

~ DON’T.  Anything on here counts as evidence. I’m going into turbulent storm clouds, read what you can. I’ll hear it from my mic.~

Star understood. If Slade was convicted on the grounds of being “the guilty,” Richard could have assistance to get well. Yet, Tara had said he was trapped into wanting only Slade. It made little sense to her, love was…not as she’d assumed upon coming to earth. If Slade truly cared about Richard as his bumgorf, none of this would have happened.

~ Go on.~ Jason comes her. ~ What’s the very first entry. ~

/////////////

~ Shit….I really got them to trust me. Sir? You’re proud of me, right? I…I didn’t even get hurt. I hope this will find you, even under the city someplace. There must be – oh, right.  So, today…I was told Raven’s back story. Since she felt sorry for me, I listened. The guys think I need to reprogram myself. They honestly don’t know how to fight if its not to defend ourselves.  Star, she’s nice but….is it OK to want to get too close? She’s stronger, an alien princess and…I think it would be a bad fit. So, maybe Raven is safer? She is after all dark and brooding like I was. Oh, off topic. Ah, Beastboy is learning that I am on his side sometimes,  not a freak but, he gets it. Oh, and we stopped a bunch of kids the other day. The Hive, I think? ~

Starfire pushed the line of the video towards the end. ~The schematics for the sub are in the folder I sent. Let me know if that file was received. I can together it somehow. Make it harder to navigate. Anything comes to mind. Oh, and…aha. Mumbo was controlled by magic. Turns out it’s a thing so, Raven could work for us? Maybe mind control or something else like that? ~

“He is…..has, this is –

~ Keep watching, Starfire.~ Jason said in a calmer voice. ~ I think it’s his want for approval talking.~

//////////////

~ Cy clobbered me at practice…I’m sorry. I had to hold back. If I showed them what you taught, he’d be in a stretcher. Ah, how is the search for your latest weapon? We met this character that stole Cy to fix him. He lives underground,  in this city. I know I told you this…sir? Are, are you going to call me to the haunt? I think my training is slipping, so…~

////////////

~ Oh, man. Aqualad is definitely someone we can defeat with enough of your sources to back us up. I mean, not to impose, sir. And if you know who Dr. Light is, he seems to be kind of a coward. They all. The Titans never know how to let these annoying creeps get a day out of the slammer. I…. I’m not going there. You too, we’re going to make something of this city. You and me. ~

Jason rubbed his chin as the rain light hit the pane of the bat wing. ~ He’s regressing. Looks like Slade did some more damage than we thought. ~

“I, he is unhappy. He keeps asking this man if he will be satisfied…. with what, exactly?” Starfire let the other teen mull over her question.

~ Next file. We gave time, but not a ton. Bruce is still out. I’m almost to Blud airspace. ~

“That is…a city, close the by?”

~ Yep. A town worse than Jersey City or Gotham after dark. If not the same…~ Blud shared its criminals with Gotham. If he told Star that Slade was no stranger, she’d lose it. Dick would be carted off to another state or on the lam like before…

She wouldn’t trust either of the birds again.

~ Tonight, Beastboy suggested after what happened with, Bruce, that I watch a movie. That he won’t come after me. I’ll leave if I have to find you, sir. I won’t abandon my role. You know I’d never –

~ He’s been solely dependent on Slade all this time. Whatever that sociopathic murderer is doing to Dick right now…~ Jason saw the sign to Blud. He was nearly home, nearly. ~ Star, roll the next video. Got time before I land in another hour. ~

////////////////

Bruce sat up by the main set of computer screens in the cave and leaned into his closed palm.

 “Master Bruce.”

Bruce looked wearily over to the butler. A cup of tea and a scone were placed there on a silver platter. “It’s late, Alfred –

“That it is, Master Bruce. Sir, Jason has sent notice of his return. He’ll be arriving in Gotham; shortly, the hour.”

“There may be time for us, but I don’t buy it. Slade could have killed me and Richard’s team. He didn’t. He’s-

Bruce hunched over with a cough. Jus lungs were still weak due to the brutal beating Slade and his robots had handed the man back in Jump City. “I left Jason, unprotected. Now, Gotham will be up against the worst without my full supervision. Alfred, did you contact Barbara and Selina?”

“Ah, the…the Cat…woman? Sir, she us anything but heroic material.” The butler flicked his stache in disdain. “She can watch over them. If I pay, she has no option but to feel sorry for her city. What that could mean without order. And…”

“And, sir?”

Bruce sat up again, leaning soon back into his seat as he faced the screens where data was pouring in from Kori's server on Dick’s laptop. “I still have plenty of time to stay up. There’s a lot that needs to be thinned down. Why Dick is that glued to everything Slade had said to him, it’s manipulation of the worst element.”

“I am fearful for him as well. Yet, Master Bruce…. the boy is beyond a barrier and you cannot scale that wall at all in your current condition. Allow yourself time this may as well be what Wilson wishes. He’s a hunter as you told us, and a damned sadist if he’s inducted children to become blood thirty killers.”

~ LIAR, LIAR.~

“He has children, Alfred. Two boys, a wife he left because she forced him out if their lives. J heard about the loss of one of them. Grant was killed by the Hive. It wasn’t something Interpol could jeep long from the Batman. When I found out about it, that had me wonder …is Slade really going to try to replace his son with Dick?”

“The blood samples confirmed it. He only needed a short time to become an unofficial resident of California, and he did it. Right as we walked. How is that, amnesiac, Captain Black?”

“Still not put back together completely, yet whatever Slade was after, Black is in protective custody for a while. I had to talk to him, ask how he recognized Slade. He said, Team Seven. Slade massacred the competition. Said they were not ready to face what was too much for them to really take on with eyes wide. He just, killed them. Teens.”

“That….this is truly insane!” Alfred now didn’t keep quiet. “We’ll find them all. These insects in the bodies of the Titans, or yourself. How are you feeling at this moment, sir?” Alfred took up a hand-held scanner as he saw the deactivated and fried probes in real time. “Just weak, Alfred. We have to get them all out of my body soon. Anything else, it may end up….” Bruce coughed again, an ulcer mild where he took another pill, getting the liquid version to be safe. “As you can see, I don’t want the Titans to do what they can without instruction. These probes are not low-grade materials. The program is flawless. And a stolen instrument from STAR labs.”

“What are the heroes able to accomplish in their state if that may be the very sort of…of….oh. Slade was never this diabolical in his efforts before. Could it be something else he’s after. Rather than our Master Dick?”

“I think…. we’ll soon discover why, once Slade presses that switch. The countdown begins, when Jason arrives home.”

“He…. intends to trap your team, right here, on Gotham soil??”

~ LIAR…. LIAR…. PANTS ON FIIIRE, HANGING FROM A, TELEPHONE WIIIRE…~

The clue in this file. Bruce checked over before nodding back to Alfred. “That is my final prediction of tonight. When we’re together here, safe and sound. He won’t let us go back to save them.”

~ Pants on fire!!~

////////////

Ah, overdid the pants part. Was trying on outfit ideas a while ago for Sept 6^th. Seeing Beetlejuice Beetlejuice that day at 7pm!! Find out. Next is how things went, other than if the mission was a success.

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse- What it Takes

//////////

Chapter 51: Dear Diary, When Will my Time Ever End or Begin for Me?

/////////////

~ She’s always saying things incorrectly. Her English is still failing to improve and….and it’s kind of cute how she always seems to not care about it. I mean, not like I don’t think she’s not brilliant.  She’s had schooling in quantum physics. She’s not worth hurting, maybe send her to space? Sir, I’m starting to wonder if killing them will even make a huge difference…can we think of another-

Dick stepped back with a gasp. “I…that was-

“DON’T.  SPEAK.”

The boy had been out and Slade had stolen a peek at what Kori had already watched from the boy’s hidden journal.  “Do you question my authority, Renegade?”

“Sir –

Dick watched the man rise as his fists went up to defend himself. He gasped and put them down too late. Slade gripped the front of his top and tugged his arm, twisting it so the kid would keep his eyes on something else for a while. “Where did I go wrong with you, hem? What is one life to an entire city full of resources…. answer me.” The mad man sneered. “Now, APPRENTICE.” He twisted even harder, making the serum activate into overdrive aa Dick’s limb twitched while Slade pulled it from its socket. Dick cried out as Slade tossed the boy to the floor. “Three. Two. One.” He counted on his lilting, mocking tone. Dick bit his lip, something else was wrong now…he shook.

The boy felt a spasm in his right arm as the magic, the mayhem took hold. He shook at his brow while he couldn’t stop watching. He turned to the man, squinting up in pain as Slade brought out his staff. As if a yardstick to a priciest in Sunday school, he thwacked it into his hand as Dick heard the sound and flinched.

 “Up. Broken or not, I want you to face me and say it again. Just as you did to her.”

“Ma –

“Do as I command!” Slade swatted the child on the shoulder where the blade was still healing up.

“What…. what did I do to you?? This was all-

Slade did it again. The caning involuntarily pushing the boy to stand up, even hunched as the bone mended. The solid piece fitted together as if it had never shattered under that man’s gloved grip. “Answer the question, apprentice. Do you doubt your loyalty to me. Do you not swear your allegiance to our cause? Or are you one to dessert your only teacher? The man who raised you to defy even yourself? The very, worst parts!” Slade hit again, as Dick shouted out, his teeth quaking as the bone was nearly done. “No, sir! I’m still loyal! Always!”

“Then, tell me…” Hissed the man as he went over to tug the kid forth with the length of his bo, pushing the teen to stare up at his mentor. “Why did you defy me with this footage? Their deaths will make it far less work in the long run. I thought you listened to my every lesson.” The man struck out his arm as that grip now took to the kid's throat, the other dropping the staff as Dick clung to the man's wrists, pawing them off. “You could live again if I allow it. Maybe the old you won’t remember any of this. It is a disgrace that you were ever caught - even as my apprentice -  of as what might have been more had you…not…. defied…your, master.”

Slade gripped tighter as the boy’s skin lost its palor. “This won’t kill you. Maybe I should do it, though.” He mused, fingers furling and unfurling around the boy’s bruised neck. “After all. You wanted to be just like me…I gave you a reason to want that more than anything, Dick.” The kid clawed and even kicked as his breath was stolen from him, only ragged gasps sputtered between unclad lips. “Maybe, but I do need you to hate me just as much. For part two. So, you’ll live another day, child.”  Slade was not talking to him. Without Wintergreen around, Dick was truly afraid of Slade’s own uncapped bloodlust and sadism.

The man let go as Richard fell down onto his backside, coughing and gasping to get oxygen back into his system. Slade turned back towards the screens and ignored his previous threat. He only wanted what was to come. “If the bat catches you, steal his data and leave.” Dick looked up at the man as Slade didn’t even look the boy’s way this time. “Return here. Only then, will I know that you haven’t betrayed our promise again.”

/////////////////

Stolen. Down the street, there could have been more trouble; the Titans were battered after the fight. Dick had evaded capture and they weren’t even sure it wasn’t him. He wore all black and covered his face, a voice modification device must have kept his real voice from peeking out to say hello. Beastboy had lost the scent, still as it rained for the second night. Tara in the tower was starting to fall apart. Cy had taken to Raven watching her this time. Her mental state a great concern as sge wasn’t able to have the cuffs for her powers removed right away. Maybe, never.

“Slade….he…he said he’d come back for me…he’s lying. He’s a liar!” She gripped her skull as the cuffs de – magnetized to allow her emotions to come out. Raven saw distress as Tara finally grew calm enough to talk to.

“You don’t want this. You were sold to him against your will in a meta trafficking circle. It must, be difficult to want to forget-

“Forget? I’m so…angry at myself!” Shouted the blonde. “I could have taken them all. These powers are no curse always, but a gift. I must know when to strike. To take back my freedom, yet…what of that mad man knows the person who has Bryan? Is he hostage in this game we’ve been playing?” Her accent was much stronger as she refused to mask it any longer.

Raven understood similar languages like Hungarian and Russian as well as Polish, yet Markovia was the Ukraine of its own design and well off compared to post wars that had shattered its resources before. “My uncle is no hero, the people were happy without that monger to tear at their only weapons, time is not enough. I must go back and reclaim our rotes myself. Bryon…I need to find him soon…”

She wept into her hands as Raven stared back at a child, not a teen. A child she had repressed since the day her body and mind had lost all hope. Once, one she would have her revenge. That would be how Slade had kept her spark alive – yet he didn’t seem like a nurturing type. Then again, Raven frowned to herself as Tara tried to cope, neither did the Batman.

///////////

“I’m gonna get in trouble even if I wanna patrol by myself. Let Star come too –

“No.” Cy shook his head to the green teenager. “Star is fine inside. Slade knows she’s a threat ta his plans. The video they showed us showed Richie trying to have Slade give up killing us. He’s afraid of that guy. Batman might not be fighting back, but we can lose too. You know this city…our team is strong together. So, don’t get hurt because of Slade being the bully.”

 Cy was sure Bb wouldn’t fly for the window. His ears dipped as he seemed smaller, just as upset as Richard was trying to fight another repressed memory. “He was so different when we got him to open up. Like, like he’d done this before. But you said he was a circus kid. That he knew how to flip around like our Robin. He’s only a traitor if he does what the video said.” Bb had seen a clip of Dick trying not to run in circles about describing Bb's jokes. He, wasn’t laughing at him, as if sympathy was behind the curtain. Dick had a heart in the big ego for one more family. So, Slade wouldn’t win. He couldn’t. Dick wouldn’t survive being hurt again. Bb knew. He had lost family in a freak incident after they’d saved his life, changing him…and then the man who Rita and the Doom patrol had saved him from as a kid. A KID.

“We can’t just run and hide though.  I can sniff a rat out miles off, underground. Why not ask the kid, the other Robin?”

“Can’t get ahold of em, either.” Cy rubbed his neck and headed back to the bike he was fixing. That was left since the run in with a different raven-haired wonder boy. “You don’t wanna bug em, he’s-

“Not going to come to our aid. Not now.” Starfire’s red headed meekness came from around the corner of the hall as her eyes peered in on their conversation. “Jason has alerted that there was trouble. He cannot leave the city. We must brace ourselves in this moment.”

“We…. are not gonna get his help, what about the Justice League?” Bb turned to Cy. “You’re not making any sense! What kind of leader leaves us all stranded!?”

///////////

Slade had blocked those channels as well. Cyborg tried to send it and it only bounced. It was fun, for a while.

“How was the heist, my apprentice.”

“I, got the components.” Dick shuffled over to a worktable of the higher platform, adjacent to the screens above and to the side, his seat. “Sit. You’ve earned that much.”

Dick’s ears pricked at the praise. “If I might stand –

“That was an order, apprentice.”

Dicks throat felt a cold acid creep up it.

Like a dog.

Sit.

Stay.

“Come.”

Dick turned to the man, then the screens before he took in a breath, releasing it quickly. “I apologize, Master. As you wish.” He wound up seared there. The stone symbol he’d wanted all along, the cool metal making his bruises better, when they should have stung a little longer. “Something on your mind, Dick?”

He, was calling him by name. In this seat, they were almost…. family. He was –

A flashback persisted as it resulted in him freezing up.

////////////////

The Titans were at the park. Same week as his saving Star from Blackfire. Slade had allowed Richard to object in order to elude suspicion from his teammates. What was a few sweet nothings to be to a fifteen going on sixteen-year-old set of adults? The park was bare of turmoil, chaos or evil doers. Just sunny days ahead, and Dick wondered if he was just hoping for that. In the back of his mind, Kori was useless to the mission as was falling head over heels for a fake affection. Slade had encouraged it...but…

~ That craft…it is bright and not at all alive, yet what makes it so joyous to view?”

“Careful! That’s a balloon, Starfire.” Dick gripped the string before it could leave Jump city's airspace. Maybe it would find Star City if he didn’t.  

~ A…. balloon? Does it not seem the strange. Warships are much different from this. .can it in fact carry intel to one’s enemies?~

~ Should it have to? ~ Grayson smiled as the park was alive with laughter, the smiles of every dace of man, families…. sisters…. lovers…. -

////////

“Renegade!”

Slade shook the boy’s shoulder as Dick stared at the floor. His voice mouthed something slowly, frustrating the mad man as he gripped harder for Richard to simply, talk. “Out with it. Talk to me…”

“I…. I…can’t kill …I-

In a whip of his very present, Slade had the kid dragged from his seat. Snot nosed and a rabbit's heart, all the way to a quiet corner of the hall as the door opened.

With no live in the man’s motions, he was shoved inside. Locked away from any such praise or communication, Richard went through a startling fit. He cried and yelled, banging himself to the wall. Head smacked, as if to break as one of Slade’s other imperfect creations.

It went for a few minutes. Ragged screams that bordered on insanity, born by the trauma that Slade had not projected carefully. The kid was hooked to his master’s word, yet now…

Shouting that Slade had lied to him about caring. About his role as the man’s everything else. Slade walked away, ignoring everything but that. His wrist alerted him of a problem, so he left Robin to deal with his own while the master if the haunt went away on official business.

“Will. Guard that door. Don’t let a soul into the base while I’m away. If the kid has to shit, let him learn.”

~ Very…. well, sir. Slade? That boy might not survive the-

“What choice can anyone else give him, he’s not changing back.” Slade huffed into his comm. ~ Then, might I try some-

“Not. A soul.” Slade said back, chipped and cold “He needs reprogramming, badly. If I had known about his little admiration…. well, it was nearly hard to tell when he acted out because of them. The titans are ruining what I plan to have. They have to be ended, very close to that time…” Slade paused. “What percentage is the detonator power supply?”

~ Sixty-four. It will take a few hours to have the core stabilized completely. It’s impressive that your plan cane so well along under the Justice League's watch. ~

“I’ve set the bomb to go off and keep time the way it can be for myself, and my apprentice. That’s the one thing, Richard’s little night runs are only a distraction. He’s safe here where the beam can’t harm him. My suit has the same interface as well. We’ll be the only ones left standing.”

~ And, Terra? That girl came to us of a separate nature than what she is today. The Titans have her, Slade. It might mean –

“Killing her will be my apprentice’s work or my own. She’s broken out and that…” Slade locked up the hall with his code inputted promptly before turning one last time to hear a sirens call fade out. “It had to happen eventually. Richard will learn. I put too much in his case not to care. He won’t do this again.”

~ You’re playing with fire if the bat sends his troops from the watchtower….be careful to set it off only for a second’s worth. ~ Will advised. ~ If ever we must abandon our new roles, I’d ally take to the hills of our oldest Visage and stay put. No more of this ‘Slade' nonsense-

“It will end once there is nothing left, no bridges and certainly…” Slade sniffed as the next doors shut, and the next, keeping Robin away from any hope of further rescue or response. Not without his master’s permission. “No unruly apprentices left to punish for trying to “abandon ship.” He snorted, not asking anything else of his conger of a friend. Will worried deeply, yet that emotion got in the way of what Slade truly wanted. He was good at this. Be damned if some sociopathic man in the mirror was going to come between them.

He sauntered off and found the exit quietly, the gears going without hid need to say stop. Quietly, into the morning light, Slade left the haunt to a single soul, only ready to return once he’d made sure they made the first move on his invisible chess field.

One toe out of line….

Frozen, in time they went.

///////////////

Raven left Tara to her moping as she let the sedative work for her this time. Surprised that she’d even allow it, Tara had revealed that she was too good of a kid and deserved all of what was happening to her. She used to sneak out if the palace and their villa, making everyone go and search for her. The only one being successful in doing so to locate her in the garden, was her brother, Bryon. The middle child, he was before Tara in line and if any, their eldest brother was the cowardly lion of the bunch that their uncle had used like a puppet upon the murder of her parents by the evil relative. In that time, Tara had not escaped becoming what she was. A monster, a future weapon and killer – and through the glass, her faithless bodyguard was always, Deathstroke. Mask free, she saw him for the first time when they changed her to carry such tremendous power. He told her to simply roll with what they wanted to stay alive, and she hated that he was so apathetic. Had she known he’d steal her away, well…

He’d bought her through an illegal sale and then told her eventually what his purpose was. To train her to fight, to have her freedom and her brother back so that they might save their country. Slade was actually a selfish man. She saw how he looked at his scrawny apprentice. How he expected the kid to shine even while weeping like a baby. She thought it was cute or dumb ay first, then she saw his attention shift to her to be once again, useful. ~ Do as I ask, and I may have the answers you want much faster. If not, I’ll have no problem keeping your demise between us. Do we have a deal? ~

He'd kill her if she failed him, to make sure no one found her body. Because was an assassin, a cold-blooded psycho who was training kids to fight. Not a batman, not even close. She was hurt a lot more when she said what he did with a straight face.

He had tried to break the law ten times over, and she believed on every word. “Tara has to go into the custody of those she can trust. I know a facility run by Black Canary (Young Justice applies here.) “She has a lot to let go of, to come terms –

“She wants her family to pay for what he did, Rave.” Bb frowned and put his head on the meeting room briefing table. The screens in the back of them made the worst crackle. His dog eats found it irritating.

“It’s worth a shot. I know they don’t try to mess with mental health if I tell her first, get a couple of calls through.” Cy agreed while Kori was busy staring into space. “Star? What do you…” Cy trailed off as she had to excuse herself. “Tara would benefit greatly from such a known advocate, Raven. I…I must have the time to, process. Please?” She had one hand at the door as Raven nodded. “Sure, don’t worry. We’ll be fine. Rest, we’ll call you in a few minutes.”

“The many thanks, friends…” Starfire smiled weakly as she was let free. Her wingless back took her to the elevator of the tower as she geared up to search once more. The recorded entries playing in her skull when passing each stop sign.

~ If they won’t join us, we could brainwash them. Collar them. Like your own personal army – I’ll be in charge, but…they shouldn’t die yet. Please, if we could just rethink the possibility…~

Starfire brushed tears from her eyes as more images reeled about at the back of her skull while she flew overhead her wondrous city.

~ Wow, Star said the craziest thing to me today. She mentioned this really dark event if you don’t celebrate with bells and wind chimes. Ever heard of Blorthog? It’s superstitious at best, kind of gushy. I wonder if she would hate that I’m never coming back…I’m sorry, just... I have evidence that she is starting to care well, for me… too. What do I do, sir? I might have a Titan as…my girlfriend? ~

To her, it was an innocent cry to know from a sheltered child. She, she thought he could care about someone else. Slade wouldn’t-

The girl’ eyes spotted a figure running down to the tech sector as it climbed out of a hole in the shadows. She spotted it and stayed close enough to watch. The figure climbed up and flipped up – a fire escape. Her eyes watered as the figure impressed her even more. “Nearly to the area where it’s set to go, should I…”

She was overjoyed and, in an instant, her body gravitated towards whoever it could be.

“Robin! -

She pulled away, the face of a teen not the one she'd seen. But a robot with his voice instead. “Capture the alien, sir?”

The teen wasn’t able to fly as more bots crowded her with lasers and weapons of self-defense. Destructive force, while this “sir" spoke through the line in this bot’s unit as he held it loosely.

~ Affirmative. ~ The other voice said, while all of the boys at once, attacked Starfire.

///////////////

The silent gears turned to thunder in her ears as day became night. No sun to touch her brow whilst she had been taken deep into the recesses of another hidden earth below their city. Starfire had once before been bound in chains. She had once been born so weak as to be mocked by her sister.

The warrior, never she.

 She was, second best. Here on earth, she was…

“We meet, and I’m not shocked to say, you’ve been nothing but an absolute eyesore.”

It was a warehouse. A place close by to some district of trade, commerce and poor security. Or high security by the looks of this setting she had landed herself into. The man before her didn’t bother to wear his mask. He had once, in hand as he put it up to his face so she could wake up and see – see who was speaking.

“SLADE!”

He pulled it down, a wolf’s grin on his face now that preserved a new sort of menacing façade to hide behind. “Bingo. You catch on pretty quick, for a troq.”

Slade knew this species as a foreign power only by its warring class and its space affiliation with the galaxy omega prime allegiance. He didn’t want or need to know her to see how sheltered this princess ever was for his Renegade.

“So sorry, but you know how it is. I have to look out for myself; this city, it has everything one could ask for. Resources, connections. Land. You…came here during that invasion, two summers ago… didn’t you, child.” He cocked his head, turning it with a hand to his chin. “A princess from the stars, like a fairytale. However, this story I’m waiting to write has only one ending.” He frowned and stood to face a wall of controls. She was bound in cuffs to nullify her. Far stronger with her legs cuffed as well.

“My apprentice.  You’ve met him. He got to know you, personally. He even wanted to keep you, as a pet, perhaps…” Hissed the man as he trailed off to muse over the thought. “He’s worse than you. Knowing nothing but what I’ve taught him, to cheat and lie…like he did to your teammates. Didn’t you realize he’d go and betray your trust, eventually?”

“I…” Starfire took in an inhale and she didn’t…she still knew she had been warned. Plenty, by Raven and Cy too, but…

“Did not.” Were her words as Slade barked out a chuckle. Then, he cackled at her. “You…are truly a pitiful specimen. If the boy was actually that good in his role, I may have to thank you for being yourself and not saying a damned word-

“You…. wished for us to know? That is, why would we even –

“It’s my job. If he had a choice to flee and couldn’t, his blood lust might as well have saved him from capture. You never told that team about your petty past either, as a ruthless sort of species. Tamaran may be all for peace, yet the death penalty is still a crunch to the skull.”

“I WOULD NOT HARM MY FRIENDS!” Starfire shouted back. “That order is the out – of – the – date. We intend to stop the fighting on my home world and…and I will become grand ruler if I must!”

Slade threw his head back and, seeped in air before smiling slow and cruel. “You? You’d kill off your entire nation, my dear.”

Her eyes shot out as green, yet she didn’t have that power yet. Not until the Tamaran version of puberty. Blackfire could shoot fire from her eyes and she could not. Starfire, was always one day late…he, was correct.

“Tell me, what if that sister of yours had help. If she had the throne with another’s blessing…” He looked at her, cobalt on emerald as she let out a gasp, seeing it. “You!! Blackfire was freed by…by…”

“She fell into my lap, as did her plans to have her prize back. To see you, and to pity you, maybe there was a truce, yet she took the pirates that took her ship out and became their leader. And…Those pirates?” He smirked. “They were alerted of the cargo coming into their airspace - by authority of the Centauri police, by me.”

//////////

“She, was aided by an earth male…a criminal –

“Blind leading the blind. You’re so very narrow minded, dear princess. I’ll ask you again then, if I have not before through my older alias.” Slade paced a few steps, his feet leaving noise to bounce over the warehouse.

“Won’t you kindly, leave my apprentice out of your silly heroic fantasies or any desires you may have at his release. Release those from your mind. He has a future, as my heir. My weapon –

“He is not!” Starfire exclaimed back. “Richard…. he is more than his ability to do as you wish of him. He is a person. Our gnorfka on my home world once said, “that a teacher cannot expect a student to be as they wish always, for their strength within is a great world that only they may one day determine.” She recited proudly. “Richard is still not and never will be as you wish. He wishes for friends and his family back…you, you are none of these and as my sister, you only wish for our demise if nothing is done to satisfy your every need. He shall never submit!”

Slade kept his temper this time. She was too fragile to break. “Fine. Remember this though, if you can.” He snapped his fingers as the cuffs fell from her legs. “The others will release once you are feet from this location. Which…” Slade eyed her before she’d had a second to see the air gun trapped in the vein of her neck.

“I’d believe it best NOT to let you follow my trail home. The probes will activate if you intend to fight us, highness.” She groaned and was collected to be left where her team or she would rise to find them. Far from his little upper ground mess, Slade had stations around the city. Above and below ground.

“And remember, that you wanted this to happen.”

He left her in the dark, until she saw absolutely nothing. Not even a sliver of his remorse to remain while Starfire was left to fend for herself once more.

///////////////////////

Slade is playing the long game through guilt. We are increasing the chances that Slade will make or break his apprentice. But does Tara have a way back in?? Find out!

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Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse – What it Takes

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Chapter 52: Banished Senses

//////////

Working on a torture here since Robin has to go to his lowered sense of self to open up, but how low are we talking? And what about the Bat’s probes with the Titans? Find out!

/////////////

Dick was good, right? He’d done everything up to this point. Even his seat. If He’d just said yes –

“STUPID…. STUPID!” He hit his now bruised skull to the solid wall as a groan popped out, and with it, a screen in the wall appeared. He shuffled back, dirty. Having relieved himself in a bucket in the corner of the room. He didn’t have the luxury of sleep while the pain had driven him to crawl into a ball on the cold back wall of this metal freezer. It was cold, but he had his clothing. Slade was trying to get him to say yes, he shifted.

To killing, no hesitating to kill…. children, like himself.

He put his hands over his ears as Slade’s face cane on. Masked, making the boy stare up bleary and bloodshot.

~ This is for your disobedience, Richard. Renegade would have handled their deaths much better, yet when will you finally understand what I expect, I your law. My expectations of you should not be thrown aside. ~

The boy did look past the tears as Slade eyed his precariously. He was not to be understood , only ordered around. Doing what this man said. He’d made that clear by asking the flipping psycho to be…

His own father, was never like that. Bruce…Bruce was….

NOT. Dick rose and his lips moved while he felt so out of his own body, put of his mind as Renegade could handle anything with a grin.

“Master…your work isn’t finished. I’m sorry, truly. If you’d allow for me to make it up to you. To go along with making me more like you…. sir?”

Slade almost jumped as Will right beside him im the main room had nothing to hide. “Demented…what…”

~ I’M going to make well on my promises, Renegade. You, your acts of insolent behavior have made me wonder if you are telling the truth. I saw her, the alien girl. Starfire. She’s pretty, yet inferior to us. You know that, my boy. That she has to perish for our ideal conquest to happen. ~

////////////////

The kid did twitch right in the shoulder, until Slade tried something. “Robin, are you still her hero?”

Dick moved as if possessed before shaking his head, eyes changing to something with a rage. A fire. It was…. true, then.

Split personalities.

“What are you now? Renegade or –

~I’m not a killer or your puppet, Slade. The titans will figure out that I’m not yours. ~ The boy snarled back; fists pumped as if he could fight the screen one on one.

“Richard, I care deeply about your wellbeing…why don’t you say something, hum?”

Will gave the man a look of disbelief, yet not until a small voice crept up onto the screens, confirming Slade’s suspicions all along.

~ Master, I’m…. I’m sorry! I still want our promise to happen…please, you like me too, right? I can try to…but it hurts…why does it hurt??~

“The serum did this, Slade!”

Slade was calm though, even overjoyed that hd was still going to go through with splitting away from Robin even further. ~ We’ll set up the medical bay to prep you for the last and final dose. It is going to hurt, dear child. Yet, I’m right here.~

The kid relaxed, sighing as tears filled his eyes as he shook those away on the cold ground. “M…aster…you, you do care about me, right? I’ll stop hurting again? For you? For, us?”

Slade nodded, not trying to say he’d survive if this was only a fluke. Not meant to be, science would somehow determine the outcome. ~ This conditioning is needed beforehand. You were too upset, so you were put in a time out. If you were unhappy during the process, you might not have lasted. Be good and don’t cry anymore, Richard. I’m not going anywhere, like I said. I will come to collect you, once a task has been performed.”

“Task…what kind, sir? The Tita –

Dick gripped his skull as he shouted out. Robin’s fire was there and Slade squinted back at this challenge he was faced with. Taming three wild lions on his own.

“Don…don’t hurt them! You psychopath! I’ll come and set them loose, I know the codes! Watch your –

//////////////////

Starfire knew she’d done badly. Beastboy was curled up onto her lap while Cy was with a mentally broken down construct of Terra; Raven healed up any marks Starfire may have earned when Slade had captured her, yet emotional wounds were deeper than she knee to fight toolbars erasing in the alien. They were left, as Starfire’s heart was unable to decide for itself, her mind told her with heart that Robin was not all bad. Beastboy was not so sure, yet Raven believed her. “He was trained to never think of people like us, as better. Only the enemy. Slade –

“A Rutha, man.” Starfire growled. “He, he enslaved our friend even before we had met – he will do something terrible if we cannot remove them in the time!”

The…

Raven put a hand to her own neck as Bb got up, fur standing upright. “He’s gonna go and kill us all??” Gar gasped, heart beating out of his chest,  dramatically. “You…you shouldn’t have made him want to –

“He said “if we were in their way, he and our Robin.”

~ NOT A ROBIN.~

The screen behind them in the common room lit up to show Jason tending to his recovering ally, Batgirl. ~ Yo, these are the Titans. Sweet! I’m  -

~ Not talking before I do.~ Jason cut her off. ~ Listen. That serum Slade wants to use isn’t going to leave your “Robin” whole if he says ok to the last injection. The readings showed eighty percent of his body was effectively swapped, including his brain. Don’t ask. The computer is magic. ~

~ That serum us dangerous; Dick could end up mentally unstable, suicidal. ~ Bruce added as his arm was swung to his ribs. ~ Back from Penguin's head-butting sessions, B?~ Batgirl wondered. ~ That was fast, here. Al is making supper. I’ll handle the gauze. ~

~ We’re stuck here because of some pact that Slade over there made to keep us grounded. Apparently, all of Gotham’s underworld is in on it; they even put up defenses that shut down emps.~

“That’s why we can’t call you guys. Star! You know, you saw Slade –

~ You, what??~ Bruce threw himself over the dashboard.  ~ Tell me what exactly it was that you saw. No pauses. ~

///////

Starfire explained his face, the eye patch and how he didn’t hide that he had wanted the heroes to discover Richard’s ruse to have him, try to kill them as a testimony to the boy’s master. How Slade had threatened and belittled the princess, staying she was so many vile things before letting her go. She’d been injected to go unconscious, then dropped off where Raven had located her right away. ~ Did he, I dunno…leave any messages? Hints? ~ Jason asked as Bruce was still thinking.

~He showed you his face, with and without the mask to strike fear. If you saw him with his other guise when he came to that city, you should know he’s no stranger to espionage tactics. Slade Wilson’s serum makes him definitely harder to face one on one, yet what about the detonator? The probes, he threatened to use them if you got in the way of his plans.~

“To change your son, Richard Grayson into him, basically.” Raven put her hood down and furrowed her brows a bit. “I saw a dream vision where Slade was holding the hand of a boy, who looked just like Richard as a young child. He was giving his soul up to a demon, and for that, I wonder –

~ Not important this second, yet if Slade had some sort of mission for Richard, the heist was to finish his project. The devices stolen are for the detonation device. He had to add something, maybe create a reverse effect with the power sources Richard stole. ~

“Dick, is being a real jealous right now, but why?”

~ He was trapped this way since I lost him…~ Bruce said with a frown under the cowl. Without it, he was simply a tired man looking for his first adopted son to come home. “Slade took Richard out of your protection, then he was made to think Slade has any desire to be that same figure you, never had the chance to be…” Raven read as Bruce weakly smiled at her. ~ Pretty good deduction, Raven. Yes. Yet Slade orchestrated everything from the shot fired, to Tony Zucco, the man who had killed Dick’s real parents – he pulled him out of hiding, and I fell for it as well. Dick hates me because,  I was too busy making things easier to nab Zucco for his crimes.~ The bat told the Titans.  ~ He wanted me, and I had to push away every instance he wanted to bond – you see, I also lost my parents to a shooting event. That’s how this cane to become my calling, yet at that thought I didn’t want Dick to seek vengeance as I almost had. I knew, that if he were safe and out of the gunfire for just a while longer…~

~B, I think we get it. ~ Babs sighed and wrapped the wound a bit tighter to snap Bruce out of his guilt trip down memory lane. ~ We were all affected in some way or another so that’s why we chose to, well, my dad us still around. Jason’s is in rehab. ~

“Sheesh…” Bb rubbed his neck as Raven drank in this information to archive if they needed it. “You’re really the good guys, huh?”

~ No, duh. But my brother is about to kill you if you don’t stop the prep for his last shot. We got a lock after B fell; he put a tracker on one bot and it led him to a manhole cover –

“SEWERS? AGAIN??”

~ Flipping listen, toad! Batman deactivated his probes; we know how to do that for you. Is Cy still building the sweeper? ~

“It needs to go through testing –

~ Raven, you need to try. Even one person saved is enough to get into that lab and stop what Deathstroke wants for my ward. If you can shut off the disruption devices, I can help with anything else. Green Lantern can be there with The Flash to aid your teammates in stopping the time freeze that Slade wants. He’d have not only a cleaner getaway, but no one to stop him from taking over all of Jump City. ~

////////////

“Will.” Slade pulled up his china cup to his lips, smashing his thoughts instead of it, as Slade had Wintergreen attend to him while the boy was tied down, the device for the probes at one touch of the wrist. “Send out scouts to throw them off our trail when they’ve gotten too close. The bat was quicker.” He put down his cup and saucer to chuckle. “I have to hand it to that hypocritical rodent. It’s been a long time since I’ve been outdone by his antics. Good times, then. The boy’s going to need my attention, right?”

“Sir, the child is raving that you are not being…. you, and it worries me dearly, Slade.” The old ally struggled to find the words. “The boy’s lesson might be, harsh….he’s structured to fall to pieces with one more –

“I will tell you both how it ends, Will. He’s so close! I’m glad to reveal also that I fixed what drove many mad during the process.” Grinned the feral mad mercenary. “Took years while that little circus brat was clinging to my arm. All tested, years since he decided to work for me officially. Do you remember that time at the lodge? He went upstairs from a belly ache? Another dose.”

Will recalled it. The kid was green as a woodland deity shrouded in moss. “Then, the second and third, how many?”

“Eight." Slade held up his fingers to say. “Once at twelve. Two times at thirteen. Two more times at fourteen, and three this year, from the tomes he was sent back. This, will be the last and final time. Number lucky nine.”

“You took dozens!” Will exclaimed, highly paranoid by the subjective wording that Slade chose to throw the codger's way. “That is a double dose of everything in one go! How is that alright in the least? That boy is suffering from an overdose that even YOU were well aware of –

“Side effects.” Slade said. “The manoa, the depression,  even the split personalities are perfect for his cover. If we can keep the suicide down to a –

“WILSON.” Will stood back. “You’re going too far!”

“I’evenly gone so far as to almost lose to the dark knight, which you aided me in doing yo defeat hum! Will, you are as guilty if not worse.” Sneered the merc. “I saved your ass then, I can do it again if you’d only shut up. And stand, in attention.”

“No.” Will moved away, his stance as any soldier speaking against a superior. “I’ve had just about enough of this…this, false diagnosis of yours. Slade Wilson? Consider my services –

“Terminated.”

//////////

Slade waited for his body to quit shaking. He…he set the boys to kill….

Sitting up, then lumbering over to his dead friend, the pool of blood was a shot to the temple. Will had been the one to say he never wanted to have the serum. That if he died…

“Burn it, dispose of it.” Slade snarled to the robots as they took their verbal commands well enough.

This time was over. Whatever was happening now, he had to end it. Soon.

///////////////////

So, everyone is mad as hatters in this. Noted, only the Titans are innocent. Minus Bb trying to play nice. The next part will revolve around a plan after the signal in the city us pushed down by some teamwork, and unlike Torn Legacy, Terra is a mess and possibly as bad as in the comics, and the probes are going to have another action. Find out!  

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse- What it Takes

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Chapter 53: Hairy Situation

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Horror dream sequence. If….and you’ll see!

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Richard was balled up, back to the wall in the corner of his dingy prison. Slade wasn’t coming back, was he ever.

The man had a new pupil. Some kid with the powers of a Titan. He fussed so much to be like him, to be like Slade…it never once dawned on Dick that the man could do the very worst thing of all.

Killing children.

He was sixteen, he should have known better – the coaxing, the warm welcomes and, his memories felt jumbled. A bog of trash to him, while the gate to his mercy opened ever wider for the boy to lift up his sullen eyes.

His escape had come.

////////////

If he wasn’t really good enough, then that’s all it was. This was no longer his popularity contest. He had to leave –

The dais stood in his view as the man was no place to be found. He looked up at the catwalk and saw on the screens, the heroes. Were they going to miss him at all? They probably thought he was just a victim too. He hoped so, seeing as he’d done this for approval and had failed at that too.

Dick ascended to the higher level by lift as he saw the two seats. Thrones for one other person. He went up to it, staring and thinking of himself in that chair as someone he couldn’t recognize. Dick recalled coming to this city and seeing Slade’s eyes looking to someone else.

Never looking to him the same way he had in the estate, cities away. How Will just said to buck up and stay near him. How Slade was never wrong while everyone else…

How could he be his equal at all then? Dick frowned and took one last look at the throne before looking to the screens.

Of Starfire, Raven, Beastboy and….

Who was that girl with the blonde –

He heard it but too late; mechanical traps, arms as manacles had successfully pulled the boy back - they expertly caught his wrists. Dick cried out and fell, scraping his knee as it began to heal. He started to panic.

“NO! NO! I’M NOT –

The bands pulled him back, his scream unheard by a soul as the boy went flying right into the wrong dais.

Slade’s. Dick’s brow dripped as he tugged and kicked to have his freedom back. The chair was rigged to keep him here, his legs stuck too as the drone arms made sure he was immobilized completely. Dark locks plopped uselessly over his eyes, as a mask…

Dick gasped, seeing that there was….no mask before? Was this –

“You wanted to run, dear boy? You can’t do that in here, you know.” Slade emerged from the shadows in full regalia, his mask in place as Dick snarled forth, “Slade…. this…. I’m done! I’m not yours…let me –

Slade stopped and snapped his fingers as the searing hit atop Richard’s flesh started to rip right out his throat in a hoarse cry. Electrocution. This chair, was his place to die and come back. To be tormented over and over again.

Panting, the man dragged the kid's sweat slicked mop of hair up with icy fingers in a firm hold. The kid bared his teeth out of pain as Slade proceeded to tear the mask off from Richard’s eyes.

“RENEGADE.” Slade said as if expecting a response back. “That is who you promised to be, for me. Would you throw all of your hard work away, just to let the bat win again? To tell you that you’re useless? That you’re not well? I know you’re better than that, Dick. You should have trusted your master –

“You…want….to kill…. kids, I’m…. I’m not letting you-

Dick screamed out as another shock kept him down, louder this time. “I’d rather not have to punish you, my apprentice. You know it hurts both of our egos just as equally. This job was never meant to have a truly, happy ending. Why, did you expect it to?” The man chuckled and forced the boy’s chin up to look him over. “Raven never found out your secret, did she? Starfire will have seen the entries. She’d call you a weakling for playing games like you tried to under my watch. Beastboy would tear you, limb from limb. After all, was what you told him not your biggest fib?”

“It….” Dick shook. “No…. I…. I did as you wanted…it isn’t enough! I’m never –

“Self-loathing for you has always been your strongest weakness to overcome, since the day your parents died.” Slade sighed, letting the kid’s chin drop to his chest. “S…Slade, don’t kill them…they –

“I’m not doing this for only my sake, boy.” Slade huffed and turned to the big screens before them.  “They’ll come into their own when they can’t be pushed around as much. When your friends are fully grown, like you, I will have lost my chance to change things to suit the image I have had in mind, for my future heir.”

“Liar…. you’re not going to make me your equal –

“Not until I can trust you, no. I don’t think you deserve it.” Hummed the mad man. “In fact, you’ve never killed yet. This was your exam, and you still failed it.”

Dick looked away at the side, not wanting to respond until his hair was dragged up, Slade’s eye staring wider and wild enough to call himself caught by a hungry tiger in its den. Dick for the first time, wanted to fight back. He roared out and tugged, expecting the serum to work. The chair though tugged him back and his neck now had a metal brace, a choker, as Slade left his hand to travel up the kid's cheek with a light slap. “Bad. You know better, apprentice.” He mocked with a tap, as if to pat him instead of punish the boy. It was even more humiliating than a swat to knock his teeth out. Slade was smirking under that metal face plate, he assumed correctly.

“Bark at the bat. He didn’t find you in time at your lowest point. He didn’t stop that little brat in you from becoming what I saw. What I knew you should…. well, maybe I wasn’t exactly what you needed after all.” The hand pulled away slowly as Dick yelled out, his eyes staring to see the screams changing across those plasma rectangles. The Titans were here…they were –

“No! Don’t kill them! I’m sorry! They’re kids! Slade! Ma –

His master turned back to the boy and went right across the face with the back of his larger hand. Dick sniffed back a trickle of blood as that healed no sooner.

In disgust, Slade had wrung his hand out of the boy’s saliva on it to a handkerchief in his compartment pouch. “Animal. I never raised a mutt.” Sneered the mad man. “You earned one thing, dear boy. A demonstration on how things should have gone. When your former Titans exist no more in this city, I’ll make sure this time that you can’t run away. You made a promise, and that is still one that I intend to keep.” Slade hissed at the kid as shakily, the boy tried to speak, yet his jaw throbbed so badly that his teeth might have fallen out.

In a dream, that was about getting too old to see the truth….

“Now, my apprentice…it’s time to get up, wake up.”

~ Wake up, Rob. We have a lotta’ work to do. ~

~ Fix him, dude! We know you can do it! ~

~ Please, do not let that awful, bad man…~

The screens lit with cries of agony as Slade pressed the trigger before Richard could hold a gasp. His eyes never watered, shown in shock as the man released the trigger. Faces charred, boils in red and dying corpses….

Dick felt himself becoming light headed.

~ That’s it, my child. Rest, it won’t be long now…. ~

“I’m. …I…”

His eyes broke open with a gasp.

“S- s- stop!!”

/////////////////

He bolted upright, the room as dark as before; he’d seen it so well, but it was all just a dream.

Dick wept into his arms one last time, as again the door opened. Will was there with some of the robots flanking him. “It’s time for your procedure, young man.”

Dick mouthed a wordless thought as he groggily rose, covered in dirt as one door over, they ended up taking themselves lower underground.

////////////

The shower he was shown had the kid shoved in with a waterproof duo of bots, that stripped him down, giving him a white and blue hospital gown once he was never the less, less filthy.

Will tore away from the boy as he walked out, flanked again by some robots to what looked to be a hospital wing. Dick didn’t look up as much since if he tried, it was pointless to gain a friend here. Everyone was a robot, even Will.

The older male opened the doorway to one room that was crisp metal tables and white walls.

 Contraptions that Dick could not place sat all over the place in the room, some left easier to see, while others were for the use of other methods of care.

 This was all military standard, he could tell. No average hospital had the fire power to keep one giant source of energy to power these devices. In popped from a separate door across from them, a man in a white surgeon’s mask and outfit. Four others behind him looked afraid to step foot inside without risking their own death first.

“We’re ready to begin soon, Mr. Slade.”

The man in the surgeon mask nodded to the last person to enter the room.

 “Good. It’s about time we tested that wonder drug on a brand-new individual. My apprentice will be the perfect subject for the serum. Wintergreen, bring the boy over here, if you'd please.”

 Slade’s tone did change as Dick’s did as well. He turned to flee, yet Will had a great strength that a kick to the knee just wouldn’t cut. “Sir, the patient can’t be under a high state of stress before –

“Aware of that. Apprentice.” Slade weaved his way over, taking the lead as he grabbed both of Dick’s wrists and turned the kid to face his team of black-market doctors. “This project was banned the first time. Lucky for you, we worked out a whole mess of inaccuracies since that time. Isn’t that wonderful? Now, these good doctors learned from the same soldiers' staff that made me what I am today. You wanted that too when we first met, to be just like –

“Not…anymore.” Dick breathed out, Slade’s eye going softer, as if thinking about that answer with a pause. “Too bad. The serum is already pumping through your veins from day one. I won’t waste the chance if it could be successful, even if it is on you.” Slade snorted and dragged the kid with the bots – the duplicate commanded to pick up his legs towards a metal medical table – lifted in midair as they worked to restrain him down. The tourniquet working itself over his arm as more tests were done, the stress increasing. “You’ll be fine… mostly, maybe the fact that we're going to be even more alike will soften your reason to want them kept alive.” The devil chirped coldly in the boy’s ear. “See to it that he’s not put completely under.”

“Mr. Slade…he’s fragile in this –

“Yet you told me as I checked before on your efforts. The serum. Won’t. Kill.” The man stated.

“N….no…th- that i….”

“Then, go ahead, doctor.” Smirked the madman. “I’m paying you to see if that wasn’t a fluke. If you harm that boy and give my dear pupil anything less than irreversible brain damage or he goes into a devastating mania, you can see your next check delivered. To your gravestone.”

///////////////////

The Titans couldn’t ask the bat to step a hair out of Gotham, but the sent the next best thing off the radar as two blurs and a shadow appeared where a single was jammed from the mad man at long last.

“Gotta thank the dark knight for having us come talk to you.” Green Lantern, John Stewart nodded right beside two others on his right. He and Cy had met, right when the Tower was funded and the heroes had become anything but. He’d tried to convince Cy to become a trainee of the JLA's program they were working on. Cy refused, so this cold reception had gone all but frosty. “Right when he needs us most.”

A zipping man in a red suit that looked as quick as a bullet, zoomed over and placed a lean to elbow onto John’s shoulder lazily. “Could…be a quicker way. I’m starting to think, you kids like being on your own island or something. I met up with Arrow. Said to show Wilson a what for. Call if he wants a rematch.”

“That shall not be necessary, Barry.” A face showed below as it materialized into a green skinned and noseless.

.  being. “Wow…. league central?? On our rooftop??” Bb grinned. “What…uh, what’s up? Why are –

“Batman sent us, you did get the message from Robin. Right?”

“We in fact have, yet there is much worry as to what power Slade now wields.”

“That girl on your custody?” Barry or the Flash asked. “I think I heard about her case from the Gotham prince. Or, the news.”

“Last briefing of Tara Markov. She was trafficked out by a criminal organization that uses Meta children to train as soldiers for hire. Slade ended up buying her and I assume you made sure she has nothing to –

“Tara is hurt, scared." Racen added in. "Her life was brought to ruin by a political coup that almost had her made a prisoner in her own country. She had escaped an experience that you must have documented already.”

“She’s got a meta gene. She and her older brother. The oldest kid is a puppet for the chancellor, her Uncle IN Markovia. Her parents were killed by an assassin sent by the children’s uncle, then taken under his custody to end up in such horrible conditions. Deathstroke however, may have been connected to this coup.” John finished.

Cy shook his head, afraid that someone might have overstepped their bounds at this point. He knee because Tara had opened up to him and Raven. Gad mentioned that part...

Time was not unlimited. “Wait, he was the reason-

“He saw them die, because only he knows who the exact killer was.” Martian Man Hunter almost ended that sentence with a silent applause.

"Slade killed those hired to do the job after of capturingthe rest of the royal family, he then took matters into his own hands no sooner had that boy come to this city with Deathstroke.  A man not to be easily trifled with." 

//////////////

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse- What it Takes

////////////

Chapter 54: Time to Raise the Dead

////////////

So, listening to Dark Side by Shinedown. Almost over with summer cold, so? Slade is gonna put Dick under, move him while again the city goes down. Question…who is going to rock the Titans' world but a mole, from the good earth!

Find out!

//////////////

Slade monitored all of the passages of his time, of their time. Dick was an investment, yet Renegade had forged his promise without ever knowing how. So, who was this boy sticking to pretending as? He had to break it off. The deed was almost done.

“Slade, sir. The boy’s vitals are…”

Slade switched his eye to the screens as red lights gave his momentum the proper Jumpstart to act quickly. “Secure the valves. If I see a single drop on his gown, one of you…” He turned to the staff in white masked horror. “Even thinks to slip up while under that knife, you’ll be performing an extensive modification on your left arms. All of you.” He growled.

It was a threat; whether purely to stir up a commotion or end it, that part stilled his audience to have their hands moving again. The lights were too bright as the boy groaned; half-awake through them.

“M….mm…” His chest rose and fell, lips parted as he shouted every injection down to the third, the last being a few away. His eyes popped, the boy’s skin ghastly paler than usual as he gasped like a fish drawing in a bottomless well.

“…..

Aah!!!~

His screams made the staff work faster, Deathstroke’s eye on them and the boy, judging this event closely, all while the robots managed another standard piece of equipment a few floors over.

“MAAA…AAAGH! AA~CH!!”

“Keep him severed from that painkiller, only when I say it, start the drip.” Slade said, his words distant as he paced away, the words understood as his fingers snapped only seconds past the red beeping lights. “Go. Put him under.”

Dick felt a prick in his arm harden with a heat, his whole body mindlessly BURNING as Slade….

Dick panted, rife with sweat and tears.

Slade stood by…and watched, watched  his favorite apprentice fall apart, very slowly.

///////////////////

Raven sat and meditated on when Cy was ready to tell them all about the sweeper. Had he done it. Her head ached a little as she undid her position. She swayed, realizing the vertigo wasn’t natural.

Something, someone was calling out.

~ Azarath  …~ She breathed in.

~ Metrion….~ Her eyes lit up as sge suddenly had a great feeling that she’d divided from it.

Soul.

~ ZINNTHOS.~

Her astral form floated about the tower, before it was tugged far from there. Deep, deep underground,  she was dragged away against her wish to stay. Screaming as she fell, she awoke to another scream, one that looked as dangerous as the kid on the table did.

Only, she didn’t know them at all.

~ Adjust the dose, you buffoon!!~

A male in a white and gold set of ceremonial robes, his hair grey and kept as two horns of a demon, eyes wide and furious as he tore at the staff working ….

Sge gasped, her eyes seeing right through as the man looked on, on…

Her.

~ Who….? ~

Telepathy. She had to go.

The boy on the operating table was brunette abd had green eyes. She saw that he was terrified, yet he had no control over what came next. ~ Have him salvaged…no…no! I told you-

The man’s piercing hatred pushed Raven out of that vision, the walls of some facility that should…

She was then placed in another vision, one if Dick, Richard. He was beside Slade at fifteen going on sixteen and he’d pointed to a door. Slade huffed, that man was …

The real deal, she swallowed.

~ What’s in here, sir?~

~ Nothing, my apprentice. Come. Supper will be prepared shortly now that we’ve arrived. ~

~ You said you had something important to tell me, so…is it about the promise we made together? ~

Slade shoot his head, walking along their path as the doors, without their knowing. Opened. To reveal…

The exact same table, the exact same setting as the brunette boy with green eyes, and the angry telepath.

Raven scrambled backwards, seeing as the seat was filled, the faces dissolving to breathe new images to her eyes. ~ He’ll be awake in a few…~

~ Was the procedure a success? ~ Slade stood, his head tilted at this body, this boy….

Raven bit her lip.

It, was Richard. In the same setting as the brunette.

~ Cannot say, if he exhibits the same side effects, then yes. It means, he’ll be fine. ~

~ He’ll be better. ~ Corrected the mercenary. ~ You’re free to go, on one condition. ~ The killer narrowed his gaze at the doctor as the older make gulped.

~ If my apprentice has any defects at all, any minor levels of hysteria when he wakes up that are incurable by your incompetent practices, then…consider your team and yourself... Terminated. ~ He smiled, the doctor falling in on his feet at that lurking eye.

~ Go, before you’re forced to stay for supper. There isn’t enough room once remodeling of the haunt, begins. We had to schedule it sooner. I thought you'd understand.~

There in the dark shadows of the hall, the boy may have seen her, cracking open an eye as those lips spoke a soundless one word through her.

~ Help…. ~

/////////////

Raven got up, swatting at invisible things as Cy was lording over her as her support, Starfire had Beastboy in her arms as a cat. He was lifted to her gurney as they tried to get through to their friend once she could see them again properly.

Her eyes watered, her fingers feeling so weak to reach back out once she dropped them.

“He did, what Jason said he could." She heaved. "What he would do." Raven’s voice trembled over this, an uncertainty that she had kept locked away, until Slade appeared to break her concentration. “Robin…we need to get in connection. That vision had two sides. Two people, being made in...to –

The sirens wailed from the ceilings, as the heroes turned to find that a breach had been made. The tower was under the threat of something, majorly impressive as the ground shook.  An explosion was monitored strongly. The pulses, unnatural, as the teens saw it on Cy's arm. Cy whipped into action, Starfire right behind, dreading an actual robot onslaught.

“Watch over her, B.” Cy told the younger teen as he was saluted with a nod by the green boy scout. “Yessir!” He stood as a cat chili on two legs, Raven throwing an arm over her face and groaning with embarrassment and mental fatigue. 

/////////////

The fight wasn’t over. She didn’t need their pity. Not again.

Tara carved out the basement as her suit activated to let her make a hole in the ground. “I’m going to get in his face, make him talk…” She snarled under her breath, her strength catastrophic as the signals on her suit flashed to alert her actual keeper of her escape attempt.

///////

“Tara is making the first move. We’ll make the second.” Slade turned to Will as the bots started to adjust dials and wires on the Chronotron Detonator.

“Her suit will allow her to combat the effects of the device. It is set on a timer. As we have  delivered, she will be the one to put those awful children to bed.” Will nodded.

Slade agreeing that Jump was too busy at some point. Not his kind of town, not yet.

“My apprentice’s procedure will take time to overcome. I’m going to stand by; Wintergreen? If the Bat tries to connect, block it out. This is –

A rumble echoed as lights flickered on and off, Slade catching his footing as the robots looked below their metal toes. 

Slade, looked up though. “We were so close…”

The next crash had his arm wrench out as Will did it first. “Forget waiting awhile more! Set it off, man! This is –

The last crash was coupled together with a wormhole, and an alien lifeform finding its way into his domain.

Slade recognized them all, all three.

The Justice League.

Green Lantern.

Martian Man Hunter, he growled.

The Flash, and….

Damn him.

Oliver Queen.

“You sure love to crash in on others’ fun, Arrow.” Slade sneered, Will was still keeping his hand on the dial firmly.

“Disarm and step away from the device, old timers.”

“Careful, Flash.” J'onn warned the speedster. “Deathstroke is not as frail as you may think.”

“This little rebellion you’ve planned, it ain’t happening.” GL landed to hover over the floor. “You’re powerless. Only a power crazed lunatic when you want what you came for.”

“We know you’ve got em, the device for the nanos.”  Flash crossed his arms. “The heroes in that giant T told us all about how you’ve been stalking those kids recently. You even went and thought you could brainwash one of our own.”

“He never made an oath, as I recall.” Slade snorted. “That boy won’t have a choice but to stay. Freeze, then. Together.”

Will teamed up as Flash was not quick enough. The man distracted him wkth that damned eye.

That gaze, and before he knew it…

The device was powering up.

///////////

Time around them, going into pixelated frame by frame. Freeze frame. There was a stutter,  a split, as if this reality had become fractured to bits in the flex of a camera lens, when in reality...Slade had frozen the entire city of Jump. 

One by one, Flash stumbled and saw his steps, gasping as he tripped. “Tur – n…th- a- t - b- ac- k!”

Slade cocked his head, and GL saw the difference.

“ W- e – a r- e -e- ff- ec- t – ed, n- ot- y-o-u?”

Slade laughed a little at their miscalculation. “You guessed correctly. The device only affects those who have not protected themselves beforehand, from the machine’s side- effects. My ability is no secret; the fact that I took the extra edge off much sooner, means that we can proceed with destroying the Titans and now claiming this city. Will?” Slade turned to his elder partner. “Reset the dial.”

Will nodded, conditioning on him as well, further working as with the robots, to not have them say stop. “I do hope these, heroes can be discarded from the lair. The senior league members might very well trip the trap you intend to set in motion, Slade. Don’t be so overconfident.”

“Maybe so. I’ll have them sentenced for now, to their own waiting room, then we can work in advance to prevent any new mess ups.” Slade snapped his fingers as in the background, someone heard the man and opened its eyes.

////////

The while walls, the lit room, the ache in his veins as he tried to pull through the pain. As if boils had exploded onto his face as an acid - bathed patient, Dick Grayson screamed out, all alone with only the heartless robots there to adjust the teen’s drip and strap him further to his cold, metal cot.

/////////////////

Did Slade mess up?? Find out! RAVEN CAN SEE THROUHH WALLS, TIME AND SPACE. Any guesses at who that kid was with the horn headed rude adult? Find out!!

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse- What it Takes

///////////

Chapter 55: Heart Breaker – Earth Shaker

/////////////////

So, yup. This is it….my cold rebounded so, avoid crowded locations!

////////////////////

Slade pinned his gaze over to the Titans and their plight on his tall screens. “I should show you. All if you.” Slade chuckled with a pace forwards as the Flash was unable to escape this new technology Slade had prepared ahead of schedule. The beam was a tractor; it dragged them in and kept them above, out of reach of any equipment. “My body can in fact descend and seek aid.” J'onn Jones told the pompous alpha male with a little too much glee in his step.

“I’m enjoying putting you all to shame, and shouldn’t that always have been the case? Eventually, the Bat will see what’s left and stake a new crusade. Maybe he’ll never hire a third Robin once the other is found in mortal danger.” He sounded amused, due to the fact it was a possibility. “Leave the fire fights to the professionals, boys.” Slade turned the dial again as time slowed even further. “Wait, and you’ll see it. The way I planned for this city to collapse under my watch, was always a follow up to this one.”

/////////////

Dick pulled his arms under his eyes, yet didn’t remember being tied down flat to the bed. The metal operation table, where he saw in his horror, bodies.

Dead ones, corpses as he rose his neck to view the spectacular grizzled appeal that his m…

Dick felt ill as he threw his neck to the side and vomited. He…he was…dying? Sick? What was going on?? It was shock, just…

“M…aster?” Dick pulled at his bindings as his breath quickened, the red of the monitor keeping him there was beeping higher and higher…he screamed and shouted, biting his lip as the manic in him wanted out. “LET ME OUT!! PLEASE! WHAT DID I DO!?? SLADE! SLADE!!”

He wept as the robots only stood around him, their hands full of what had massacred the witnesses. The doctors and staff from before. Slade…had them slaughtered to have his word. Their word, that Dick….

Sniveling like the coward he was, Richard tugged, his legs hiking up as a robot gripped one with iron claws hands. “Let go! Off! Get off! Stop!!”

His please were sadly, not what the robots were pre- programmed to investigate. They just tightened his shackles on tighter and then, they wheeled the table with them, the next door flying open as he shook and yelled for help. For someone’s aid, as the dead bodies remained behind, a bed of red and gore for the only witness left to realize that….

Dick's trauma was further exacerbated when a screen came from the person of a robot, the face on it being a withered looking Wintergreen. ~ You’ve gone through the transformation quite well, yet don’t be so relieved just yet, child. Master Slade had orders hours ago to see that you are not located by the enemy. The mission is through, Tara has taken the role of traitor, while you’ll be –

The crackle of sound, of electricity hummed and dimmed while Dick tried to breathe. “Will! Will, please…all of this is wrong, Slade doesn’t want to hurt….”

Dock looked ahead of the bots and was sure he could be wrong.

Very wrong, in fact.

It was a way out. A way far, from this city. “I…. wasn’t supposed to be their Robin…” His hope finally dissolved as Wintergreen stayed silent a moment, the screen breaking up from interference on the surface. ~ You understand.  This was an opportunity to know your limits, yet he’ll be one to judge you. Furthermore, boy. ~ Will cleared his throat. ~I won’t have your disobedience as much as he has. You’ve been given the training to undo your messes, so I think it best to work even harder if you wish for that seat to remain at Deathstroke’s table. Is that clear then, child? ~ Will cared, too much fir Slade and he’d be damned if his apprentice were the death of such a decorated sociopath.

He then, maybe was just as insane for telling the boy that he was a real soldier now. He was far from the spitting image of the Colonel.

~ Allow them to transport you. Don’t bring up a fuss, or a word of what we’ve spoken.~

Wait...

Dick looked at the image with his eyes blearily unclear to the truth in those words. “You…really hate me…” Swallowed the boy. “You never wanted me to-

~ Enough.~ Will frowned, his eyes turning to the mastermind’s machinations. ~ Pity has only driven you to stumble. Time and time again, you vied for anyone’s sympathies, yet do you ever think, Richard? No, I think not. You were once more willing to go the extra mile, yet that child you were then had been pampered for far too long. This is a war, and that man only wants to build your future if you’ll get from that arse and quit sobbing in both our ears. ~

Dick found what Wintergreen had said was based on his own experience in many wars, how he didn’t trust this tadpole to pull himself from the muck without drawing in his own tears. Slade was lenient, then he wasn’t. The boy was going to get that upper hand, because he hadn’t left.

Yet he had, he’d claimed that he was Robin and did so as a cover. At first…

Then, he liked the role so much, that he’d begun to question his master’s motives. ~ A soldier stands by their platoon leader at all times. What you did, was what I’d suspect of a child. ~

“I will, make him trust-

~ That isn’t what you want. ~ Will huffed back, snobbish, he never acted like this before.  ~ You begged for aid. A little pain and you’re sense of right and wrong seems to have short circuited. ~ Snorted the elder. ~ Bring yourself back into our circle, earn what you can of Slade back through biting your tongue. I’ve kept watch over you both, and for now…this, could very well be a short parting, due to your insistence on playing an act.~

////////

Dick’s vitals were feverish as the hand above his brow saw things, felt them. Raven had done her best to send them spiraling away from their destroyed haven, into the lair where Dick’s robot guards were on their backs.

He was working up a sweat  via the aftereffects  Starfire pinged the JLA, yet Raven had bypassed the concerns if being frozen in time by her own magic. “You got us out of there, but being down here –

Gar slapped a set of gloved hands over his mouth as he walked away from the room that Richard had been operated on in.

Starfire let out a gasp, Raven getting dizzy as her energy was swiped by whatever dreams were turning to hallucinations in Richard’s skull. “The serum droves people crazy if they don’t pull through. He took the final one, then.. “ Cy checked with a scan. “We’re too late. That was the last dose, and Richie…”

“Is exactly like Slade, as he had always wished “

“He called out for help.” Raven groaned as she leaned into the arm of the metal rolling bed. “Johnny should be putting his plan to action to –

The wild freeze up started to shift as time moved, the walls and the halls lit up. “Did they…disable the –

A rock flew at Bb's head from the darkness.

“You think you need to go back, but you aren’t welcomed down here…” Tara juggled large stone bits as she shot them at the tram, more bots coming in as the walls started to quake “I’m the only one who’s got any right to bury this place!!”

Tara had only to them what Slade had done to make her into such a follower. In the beginning it was all but vengeance, finding her brother and saving her pride. Now, it was vengeance against the man who had implanted a false hope deep within; the same man that had seen her change into a creep, a killer. A…a …

“Terra!!” Gar leaped at her as she through one more stone, damaging the wall where his skull might have found no peace. “Tara….”

Her hair was dirty, her face was coated in soot and anything that big bang wanted her to feel. She needed to suffer, yet Slade…. he should suffer even more for trusting her to keep this partner stable.

She was a mess because he’d sent her spiraling down. 

“T, you’re gonna bring this all down, you’ll even be crushed. We have ta get home-

“It’s not…” She wiped her eye with the back of her glove. “It could never be my home. So, stop lying to the both of us!!”

“NO! THE HALLWA-

Starfire watched out with a screech for a scatter of wires as the place started to self-destruct. Tara shouted, hands up as she pulled back, finding a new door while Bb and the Cy sniffed her out. Pulling back a door, floor was unearthed. Hollow, with the rumble going on for a mile or more towards the lowest levels of Slade’s home sweet haunt. “She dug a hole, all the way –

They looked at one another. Gar's ears dropped. “She’s going after Slade….” He rasped, anxiously.

/////////////

How the heroes has gotten in, how the device had been tampered with while Slade’s attitude had been on hiding the evidence that he could. In that setting, he’d backed up the rest to their next safe house.

Richard was taken from him, but it wasn’t forever. He knew that, the boy would not try to flee. He’d fight as he was told to do.

“The probes…” Sneered the madman.

“YOU HAD YOUR MIND SET.” He grinned. “On going back, but never forwards…to their DEATHS!” His arm was down as Flash was freed, again little to late as he rammer into the mam, the arm band and controls shot. It looked to be only a part of what made the device tick. The detonator might have failed, yet the Titans…

The heroes cried out, and Slade turned his attention to the five screens in the room above him.

“Feast your eyes.” He said calmly. “You…. monster! Murderer!”

Jhonn went after the shouts, the door pulled off its sides as GL didn’t want to say he’d failed the Bat and the kids, he was responsible as much as Bruce was for getting trapped on his isle. The only one that those nanos held as, ineffective towards.

Slade saw that the devices in Bruce were gone. He growled, moving as Flash did him a solid, while Oliver aimed the first and only arrow at what looked to be the real control device. A spherical, terrible wonder that glowed hit as the Titans' blood did on those screens. He snarled at Slade, who did the same right back to the archer. “Tell us how to shut it down, or there will be no feasting for your kind, Deathstroke…. now!”

//////////

The floor battled itself as a roar of stone and concrete had the gears above their heads story to collapse. Slade narrowed his eyes before widening them, finding this wasn’t his destruction of the lair – yet another’s rage against all he had build atop the base of an old lab. One set here by his enemies.

Blood.

“HERE!!” She launched herself as her suit broke away, the parts revealing red skin and raw nerves below. Her bra and underwear peeking as he only saw her angry eyes and ran, throwing Arrow off as a door in the wall opened. She blocked it. With rocks, as he stood against enemies. Will was off securing his things elsewhere, but Slade…

He had to take off the kiddie gloves and fight. It was a bore.

“My…. parents…” She panted, glowing yellow and gold. “My brother, my country…you helped it to suffer. You told them that you’d train me. Make me evil…yet I….am angrier than I ever was running away! I will go back, but never because you gave me this right.” Her accent was sharp on the tongue, more noble than what she had committed to as his servant. His step up in the world. Slade had used a minor, then promised her everything- only to hand it to someone else as HE escaped to freedom.

“DEATHSTROKE!! YOU ARE HEREBY SENTENCED TO DIE IN YOUR CAVE …I AM YOUR EXECUTIONER, NOW AND FOREVER!!”

//////////

The Titans located a crumbling exit as robots crawled and clambered after them. As they found a tunnel that was not destroyed, they took the plunge, seeing a shadow of black shoot through the space at the pace of –

“Titans.”

The heroes yelped. Out of the dark was a Cowles face. “The batwing is up top. Come.” Batman sloshed through water ways to head them to the last and final hatch as the heroes, the ones that needed to be up top, came. Empty handed as Bruce eyed his JLA company. 

Then, the ticking as he called out to them by the manhole cover.

John Stewart put up his shield right before that, with Terra under his arm.

“LOOK OUT!!”

Flast got them away from the multi mine blasts as the lair went down, down. Slade had won the day, but not his apprenticeship. Not Dick, as the boy looked to be fast asleep to the noise, even as he shook within a bad dream. “I’m taking him home.” Bruce told the heroes, their eyes lost somewhat between hope and saving a life. “He, it was over then? The contract to…”

Starfire didn’t finish. Dick was instructed to destroy them, yet in the end, he wasn’t able to accomplish that.

Slade, even in his escape with the old man he carted by, they had not won every detail. The Titans, the city. They weren’t to return. Terra coughed up dust and groaned as GL sighed and shook his head. “She wasn’t just conditioned to do as he said, he messed with her too. Gave her the serum in his blood and it made her go crazy. The kid already went through a coup, losing her folks.”

Cy lowered his gaze as Bb touched her side and wept a little. “Terra…she was so hurt, and we never got a chance to get to know the real her…she…”

“Her act was reckless, and dangerous because of all she’d done to not…but despite that –

“She had things with her powers minimized. She didn’t use enough to lose control. Only to target one man.” Bruce told the team. “Slade took that lair and built on top of it. Another enemy of the League was in Jump long before he came, yet they left to their headquarters in the Alps.”

“Who?” Raven wondered. “Slade’s attack felt ideal. Almost as if there were no short cuts.”

“There is a lot you don’t know about Slade Wilson, Kids.” Ollie rubbed his neck and looked at the sky, hoping it would make sense to tell them enough about the mercenary’s last threat to the green arrow.

“Slade goes back before my time, but we fought before and he hates to lose. The person he bought this plot from was also the person he wants to get back at. The reason he stayed in Cali next to Star City, was to spite me too. He knew I’d figure it out, and Bruce had to drive miles to get his son back.”

“Dick, was originally my foster child after his parents were killed, Slade made Dick want vengeance over justice. So, I never saw him since that day. Not enough close encounters could tell him how sorry I was to lose him. But, this is all we can do. What Slade wanted to do to make that time even farther apart.”

“The serum doesn’t have a counter cure.” The Flash frowned to his team. “We’ll do all we can, but in the end, an inhibitor patch or choker might be all we can use to give Dick a normal shot at being a kid again.”

“In a way, he didn’t lose that, always.” Raven looked at the sleeping boy, the memories he had unconsciously asked not to share. “Slade treated him like his own, until…he expected a change in them both. Dick flocked for those times to return, but they didn’t. He was afraid of losing those he cared for, because the only person who ever allowed himself to be kind to get what he wanted, was all Richard had.”

“That’d be a conditioned response from any Stockholm case.” GL huffed. “The kid doesn’t know who else could be there for em, because Slade wanted total control of his future. It’s not right, and we will track him down.”

“Whatever it takes.” Cy agreed.

“However, the long that it must.” Starfire bobbed her head. The tower was going to need time to be repaired once more. Slade had attacked it more than once, and there was no guarantee he would not choose to avenge his fallen mini empire.

“For Tara, and Dick.” Bb nodded. “So they can be happy again without him to mess up their lives anymore. Or ours.”

“Amen to that.” Oliver said, Flash grinning and the teams pausing before heading down separate paths.

“There is no way to really know, that this was all Slade ever wanted…” Raven wondered to herself as she raised her hood back up. “If making Richard immortal will only worsen his obsession at all…”

~ The man with the iron mask bespoke of power. And thus…~

Raven gasped.

She…she was only thinking it through her emotions. Yet, the voice deep inside, she shuddered.

It was him, and maybe, maybe Slade going down that path, was all due to her earlier vision.

//////////////////

Not over, few more recovery chapters to go. Dick goes back with Bruce. Loses half of what happened to not wanting to remember like Terra did in things change. Tara will be as bitter as she can be until her brother is back by her side and her country is freed of her uncle's laws against her returning home.

Raven senses that Slade sought power earlier on and now, she wonders if her vision if the boy in the cloak beside him was a fowl warning of the future, not the past.

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse- What it Takes

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Chapter 56: Staying Put

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Fluttering wings and windy drafts were never present in his daydreams. He by far had avoided hearing voices of HIM.

Of his new enemy, his new level to a nervous breakdown. The boy in the mirror staring back, he was a shadow as Dick ducked his head, his eyes scrunched in pain as his body crumpled alone as tissue; used and ready to be disposed of.

“M….” Saying it took time, as the devil on the side, grinned with sharp. Teeth. ~ Say it, call to him. Robin.~

He shivered staying still, quiet.

~ Robin….~

R –

“Dick?”

//////////

He’d stopped fighting, the sweat on his poor brow, suppressed by…by cloth, by someone. He was never too far, as the voices rang out again, calling back. The false Renegade left his eye to hunt for other victims, to stay clear of the transformation.

Dick whimpered and tried to sit….

Wait…

He pulled at his wrist, it was his. He was here, but not where, as he opened his eyes with a jolt too soon.

“Can we undo the cuffs on him, B? He’s gonna get hurt –

“Jason.” Bruce pulled away from the medical bed. “Go wait upstairs with Alfred.”

“Alf should be helping, he’s still himself-

“I won’t say it again, Jason. Please.”

Jason’s cry for help was subtle, Dick was his first ward, never a true son like he’d become. “Sure whatever. Call me, if you get the chance. Later.” The teen shrugged and went for the elevator to be brief; to not spook their waiting patient as one person was just enough.

Dick had slept for four days, his small comatose state due to the serum, a promise to make him better. Stronger. More miserable than he could ever be should be decide to take that man’s hand ever again.

“Dick, I’m not going to hurt you. We’re in the cave. You’re home. I’m here, like I said.”

Dick’s eyes walked around the cave, the dim, dropping sounds and the fact he’d never seen it. Never gotten the chance. He’d left before ever learning the truth. Thanks to (     ), now he knew everything.

“You…could have stayed away.” Dick said with a dry, raspy voice. He needed to drink something. Bruce went to a small mini fridge and pulled out some water bottles. “Drink this. It’s just water, nothing can hurt you here.”

He did, trusting the man wasn’t as cunning or vile as his…

Dick held his skull as the face, he couldn’t see it. He…what was it…? That man, he had a mask on…

“Where…were is my –

“Dick.” Bruce sat at his side and without the cowl, only the suit, he looked human and worn out completely from an honest day’s search. “In Jump City California,  you were rescued from a situation…and it wasn’t…You were coerced and damaged mentally by a man who’s name you won’t get to remember. His real name, and I prefer that we start over. (      )   (     ) is a mercenary for hire who was once a soldier in many wars. He was later experimented on and as a result of the testing, he became impossible to defeat in battle. Super serum, the ability to heal from almost any abrasive gash, wound, or shot fired.”

Dick’s saw a flashback of a shadow, a man but a crossed off face, he didn’t know what (     ) looked like? What was going on??

“I…I can’t see his face. Who? Who’s my kidnapper? I…. Why, what did you do to me???!”

/////////

Manhunter would be contacted later. His trick was to reprogram Dick from having ever met that man, his name was forgotten and every time – even if the kid tried his hardest, nothing could bring it back.

Nothing.

It was a foul plan, yet that’s why it had to happen. Dick would be used to not being used. He’d get proper schooling, go through his ebbs and flows,  until one day he could finally handle his past a bit better than he currently was trying to.

“(    )….” Dick held his skull. “Who took me? Why does he feel like he knows? Why….it hurts….”

“It’s the serum.” Bruce lied, trying not to spell any danger, should the boy realize that it made less sense to belief science held such reason to curse them, ten fold. His memories that were there, were after the incident with Zucco. When he’d been missing, kidnapped.

Nothing else. No serious life ahead and no love from a family member,  locked away.

Just as this blank space in his skull.

“If you don’t think too much about the past, it won’t have to. Right now, we are here to help you as much as we can. And we will, Dick. That man is not going to come back and take you away.” Bruce looked him in the eyes, firm and strong abd soft, a father…Bruce…

“MOM…” Dick gasped, the memory of their deaths coming back as his breathing hikes up a notch. “Can’t….no way….please….!”

Bruce clung to his wrists, holding him there as the blanket fell off of the teen's knees  he was in a hospital gown and white boxers as Dick cried out of fear, or a shame deep inside  was this home? His home was gone, the circumstances were weird, not at all hopefully better….something was amiss, and so he cried about that too.

Bruce reached out and pulled the kid to him, against his better judgment. Dick folded and clung to the man’s, chest. His heart was pounding too hard not to. The boy needed to be safe, even at his age. Even how Slade had played on that support, maybe even done the same.

“Bruce…” The boy whispered, even so, recalling what he did remember. “So, why was I…in California?”

“He took you there, for almost eight years I had to keep hoping. Running into dead ends, leads that wound up making things worse in the end…we found you, Dick. You’re OK. You’re going to be…just fine. I’m here.”

Dick believed it as best he could, clinging closer abd nodding a snot filled thank you into the man’s bicep. One part. The part staring across the room that only he could see, however, shook it’s head in disappointment.

~ He never loved you long enough, Renegade. We are always welcome to another’s loving arms. You know that, or one day …you will remember,  everything. ~

///////////////////////

Eating again was easy, it was only a week since the incident. Yet the serum had disrupted his habits. He had an appetite for almost anything and every morsel, still. It was not enough to fill him up. “How much as he been willing to consume since breakfast, Master Wayne?”

Alfred looked at the mess of dishes and got to work finding a protein powder formula to stuff into the little glutton’s hand. “It’s a temporary side effect of the serum. Once we can understand how much of his intake is supported,  we can analyze the reason for his metabolism growing….” Bruce grumbled. “Ah, faster.”

“Like the Flash?”

Dick dropped his spoon as Jason stopped, Bruce giving his other son a warning look as Dick seemed to be fishing through his useless memory bank fir clues on how to react. “Flash…he was there, the rescue?”

“He stopped a bomb that guy who took you had planted. He was pretty brave too. I couldn’t have jumped in like that and sacrificed myself. Too many lives left.”

Bruce stood up and walked over to the kitchen, Alfred coming in. While, Jason took the word as Alfred gave the boy a motion with his wrist to follow them. Dick was left in the room with a bowl if bisque abd no desire to turn it down. He was so hungry, abd it wouldn’t stop eating him away, but it gave him energy too. Surreal.

He lifted the spoon, the reflection of his face now masked as he dropped it with a hard clink into the table spread. In the soup, he saw a Renegade's face sneering back. ~ You can’t be full yet. You still gave more to do. You can do this, come on. You’re the appre –

“AH….”

Dick gasped up, as Jason seethed in a breath and joined Dick next to his food, his slightly taller form leaning over to peer at the kid from the side. “Since you’re my brother but you can’t like, remember how we used to be, um…wanna go outside or something?”

Jason was…inviting? Him? Dick blew a gasket for a second, the fake shadow showing a death glare before his own lips moved.

Dick blinked back at the other boy, then at his spoon as the dark face had vanished. “Sure, I…just want to finish this. Still hungry…you know?”

//////////

Bruce held his ear to the line for his best practitioner on the spot. “Dr. Leslie, hi. Yes, I’m doing fine…we…Dick’s going to need a proper checkup over –

He went on about the symptoms and she nodded to herself, not a first in dealing with metas and the like.

~ Bruce, bring him in as soon as you can. If the serum isn’t done settling in his new body, I’m afraid something else might happen that he’s not experienced yet. Maybe…~ She chewed at her pen and then refused, tapping to her clipboard, ~ Maybe, you might want to run some more in depth tests. Call in those involved in the Super serum –

“He’s out, they are…. all, dead. Slade killed them to cover his tracks. Leslie. Dick is hungry, a lot more. I’m afraid if his heart or brain, God forbid it…” Bruce held himself steady as sge finally spoke. ~ Today, I have a slot at four. Will you be sure to keep a positive note, regardless of what this does to your son? ~

Son…

Bruce took in a breath, trying to do as she said. “Yes, I will. It’s for him, more than anything. I can’t turn back the clock. We can only support and suggest changes if our own to help Dick to overcome and adapt to his new abilities.”

~ The rest, precondition, healing? Is it showing at all? ~

“Dick was, nipped by our hound, Ace.” Bruce swallowed. “It took seconds, that wasn’t in the records we had. Slade altered it, maybe, to fix himself…” Bruce gazed into space. Dick, was his ultimate weapon and his way to perfect the already almost perfect drug. “Master Bruce?” Alfred took the phone as Bruce ran to the doors, to find both boys…

Now gone.

/////////////

Dick looked over his shoulder as Jason headed them off to his cycle in the garage. It was there he’d found for his next birthday yet to sneak a peek couldn’t hurt. Right?

“See, I’m sort of a big deal to this fam. They know shit happened to me, so you’re not the only victim of circumstance.”

Dick nodded at the tarp that had something large like a car under it. It wasn’t though. Another memory…

~ I won’t eat any sugar. I promise. I really want to ride that same one you had, (     )!~

/////////////

“Dickie bird?? Bird for brains! Hey.”

“Hey, snap out of it, man?” Snapping his fingers in Dick’s line of sight was strangely out of the question as reflexes were at a ten. He grabbed Jason’s wrist and twisted it, throwing him into the closest item that was possible. Jason yelled out in a clamber of tools, while the garage door opened, revealing their caregivers with wide faces.

“Dick, Jason?”

“Master Todd, whatever happened in here?”

Dick stood back; his eyes ready to bolt along with his entire body. “He, he was….” Dick could not say it. Jason had…. had…

“It was my fault, B.” Jason made everyone look at him as he lifted himself with one arm possibly dislocated or nearly – he’d just bruised it up. Dick had been caught in time, but he was still very wary on how to go with tricking the Bat right in front if them.

“Dick wasn’t ok with us sneaking in here, so I pushed and he retaliated. I didn’t listen. It’s only a twist.”

“A might of a bump, Master Dick?”

“I’M SORRY, PLEASE DON’T-

“Dick, it’s ok. We’re going to Leslie Thompkins’s office at four. Jason? You’re going as well. I’ll reveal our reasons, but once we’re on the road.” Dick calmed a bit, the scare being that he’d hurt someone and didn’t know if that was even possible in HOW he could have…the bruiser looked swollen up, his mouth went dry as Alfred headed the boys to the car. They had less than an hour to settle and relax. Leslie’s job would be to fix Jason’s arm, and to see if Dick was still safe to stay under the roof of the vigilante team without being any trouble.

//////////////

So, this is brief because I was trying to introduce how everyone is covering for Dick’s ineptness. Thus, Bird brain etc. Those nick names.  Dick saw a flashback of Slade promising Dick he’d get him a bike like the one during one of their missions when he turned sixteen. Jason is being a dick because his cocky personality covers up his frustration over Dick losing his memories of being Slade’s apprentice. Bruce tells Dick that he was held captive for either years, yet will the former Renegade get his wings back and fly free to learn the truth? Find out!

Chapter Text

Our Time in Reverse- What it Takes

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Chapter 57: Putting the Past Aside

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This is a side chapter that will lead to another run in, but be certain you get this – there will be a minor death. As in, death of a minor.

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