I hate the cold.
Grace Wilson thought as she walked down the street, pulling her black leather jacket closer to her.
What a lousy day.
Wow. Grace thought she really was depressed today. Then again she was depressed almost every day since she left the Titans. She was tired of putting up with their crap. It was like they didn't trust her. Grace laughed out loud. Trust. Such a crappy word. You can know a person for years and they still never really trust you. You can make one mistake and suddenly everyone stops trusting you. And the suckish part, she didn't even do it. Just because Terra couldn't take the blame for being Slade's apprentice she got kicked out. Or technically not kicked out, she left on her own free will but it was because you could see that they didn't trust her anymore. The way they gave her the cold shoulder at team meetings, the way they wouldn't look in her eyes anymore. It was too much. She couldn't deal with it anymore. All because of that stupid little blonde.
She remembers the day vividly.
Three weeks ago
"It wasn't me." Grace Wilson said, looking into the eyes of their leader.
"Grace, we all know who your father is. You can't play the innocent act here." Robin replied cooley, not even looking into the eyes of his girlfriend. Make that ex-girlfriend.
"Why would I want to call my father now? Don't you guys remember what he did to me? Do you honestly believe I would go back to him? To that house of horrors? If you do think that then obviously you don't know me the way I thought you did." She was on a rampage now. Her whole world was falling apart. And she wasn't going down without a fight.
"Grace, we gave you a home, friends, a family, and a life and this is how you repay us? By spying on us so your father could take us down while we were tired and weak? I wouldn't call that repaying, I would call that annihilating." Robin pointed at the destroyed living room.
And this was going to be one hell of a big fight.
"Not to mention you ruined my date with Terra." Beast Boy said glaring at her.
"Yea Terra, we haven't asked you what you thought about this, what do you think about Grace being Slade's apprentice?" Robin said asking Terra, the real apprentice, what she thought.
An evil smile played at Terra's lips for a half a second before she returned to her wimpy helpless blonde act.
"I think she should be kicked of the team there's no telling if she'll call her father again."
"You know what I think?" I took a step forward, and looked her straight in the eye.
"GO TO HELL BITCH!" I lunged at her. Terra did a back flip to avoid getting kicked in the face.
Pulling my dagger out of my belt I lunged at her again this time hitting her across the back. Terra's eyes glowed yellow as she repeatedly threw ruble and bits of concrete at me. I leaped and did a somersault in the air hitting her in the jaw just as a large rock hit me in the back.
"Girls! No! Stop fighting!" Robin yelled as we broke through the glass window over looking the bay.
Still falling, I kneed Terra in the gut, preventing her momentarily from hitting me with more rocks. That gave me an advantage. So I flipped myself over and wrapped my arm around her throat.
"I know your Slade's real apprentice." I whispered in her ear.
"I know you know, but they don't know that." A smirk played at the corners of her mouth.
"Face it Grace, they trust me more then they ever trusted you. All they know is that late last night someone with a communicator called Slade. And last night Cyborg was in the gym with Robin, Starfire was with Raven, and I was on a date with Beast Boy. You were the only one not accounted for. So naturally they were going to assume it was you. The whole Slade's daughter thing was just a bonus."
Hatred overwhelmed me. Hatred for Terra, hatred for the Titans, hatred for my father. Because of him I wasn't going to have a normal life. I'm never going to be Mercenary or even just Grace, I will always be the villain's daughter, no matter how hard I tried not to be, and I hated him for that.
Just then I hit the ground with a hard thump. And Terra flew on a rock all the way up to the tower, where all the Teen Titans stood, looking down on me. Disgusted.
I slowly stood up, dusted off my black shorts, and walked away not looking back.
I picked up my communicator and looking into its cracked screen, I called the Teen Titans one last time and hit the walky talky button.
"This is Mercenary, signing off. Permanently." And with that I dropped my communicator on the ground and crushed it with my black boots. And proceeded to walk across the island. Proceeded to walk away from my home.
Present.
Robin looked out across the bay. The same bay where three weeks previously he had let the most amazing girl he had ever met walk away possibly forever, never to be found again.
Robin felt a dainty hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see the earth shaking blonde.
"You need to let her go." The blue eyed girl said wrapping her arms around the boy wonder.
"Yeah, I guess. But she was special and I feel like a monster for yelling at her like that." Robin said hugging the geomancer back.
"But you did the right thing; think about it. Who wants a psychopath on their team? We're better off without her if you know what I mean."
"HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT ABOUT HER? SHE WASN'T A PSHYCOPATH! SHE WAS IRREPLACEABLE! SHE WAS SPECIAL." Robin started sobbing.
"She was irreplaceable." He repeated as if he now just realized this. "And now she's gone forever."
Somewhere in jump city
Grace walked past the shops that lined the streets of jump city, pausing at one to see her reflection; she could have sworn she had seen someone behind her. But all that she saw was a small blonde haired green eyed girl dressed in black jeans and a black leather coat, shivering in the wind.
Just then she felt something behind her again.
Come on Grace, play it cool. Don't let them know that you know. Just turn around and act like you're looking into the store window.
She turned around and did exactly what she told herself to. Then the hair on the back of her neck stood up as she felt someone watching her. Grace put her hands in her pockets, wrapping her fingers around the pocket knife she kept canceled in her coat.
"Hey beautiful," a computerized voice said.
Grace turned around to see the criminal Red X standing right behind her.
"How did you sneak up on me like that? Nobody sneaks up on me." Her green eyes narrowed into slits as she pulled the knives out of her pockets.
"Hiya!" she released a fury of well placed kicks and punches on the criminal.
"You caught me on a bad day X." She lunged at him, aiming her knife at his heart.
He easily dodged her attacks and came behind her; putting her in a similar position to the one Grace had put Terra in weeks ago.
"I think you better stop that, your drawing a crowd." His voice, no longer computerized, whispered into her ear.
"Oh and like your not." Grace retorted.
"I'm not." Grace then realized where the infamous Red X had been standing now was replaced by a very cute boy.
"Oh shit."
"What did I tell you, I wasn't the one drawing a crowd?"
"How did you change so fast, I never let you out of my sight?"
"That's for me to know and you to find out." He smirked.
"Hologram watch."
"How did you find out?" They both laughed.
"You know for a bad guy, you're not so bad."
"Thanks, you know for a Titan, you're not so bad either."
Grace felt her face darken.
"I'm not a Titan anymore." Her voice was icy and cold.
"Oh yeah? Wanna talk about it?"
"No."
"Oh. Yeah I probably wouldn't want to talk if I got dumped either." He chuckled to himself.
"It wasn't like that." Resentment filled her voice.
"You sure you don't want to talk about it? I know this great little coffee shop in Steel City."
"Oh why not? It's not like anyone cares if I go hang out with a criminal."
"Now that's what I'm talking about baby." He laughed as they got into his car.
Coffee shop in Steel City
"Really? You actually gave that bitch a bloody nose?" Red X, Who revealed his name to be Jason and Grace were actually having a good time together. It was sorta….. Nice.
"Yep. And if I'm lucky I broke it." Grace smiled as she took a sip of her hot chocolate slowly.
"Grace you crack me up? Anyone ever tell you you'd make a perfect villain? Twisted sense of humor and all." Jason laughed but stopped as he saw her face darkening slowly.
Grace set down her hot chocolate and started to talk.
"Once, actually, my dad said I'd be perfect for his 'plans'. Got out of it at the last possible moment. That's when I found out about my brother. He had been living with my mom but had decided to be a 'super hero'. I thought he was joking, but I tracked him down and found him at the Titans Tower. That's when Robin offered me the chance to be on the team. I thought 'wow this is so cool, I'm a super hero' but then I figured out it was just a dream. A sick twisted dream. And like all dreams, I had to wake up sooner or later."
"Wow, cruel. And who is your father I might ask?"
She sucked in her breath.
"Slade. Slade Wilson."
"Wow, you weren't kidding, your family life must have been pretty messed up."
"You have no idea."
"But, you know, there are more then one type of family."
"Yeah the type you're stuck with, and the type you choose that eventually decide that because of the family you're stuck with they don't want you to be in their family anymore." Sarcasm dripped off her voice as she took another sip of her coca.
"Yeah, but there's also the type that love you and don't want you to get hurt."
They were walking now outside of the shop. And all of a sudden Grace felt a hand slip threw her own.
"What are you-?"
"Shhh Grace, enjoy the moment."
And strangely, she did. It's been a while since someone had showed real affection towards her. And she had to admit, she liked it.
He slowly leaned in and rested his forehead against hers and just barely brushed his lips against hers. It was sweet, it was innocent, and it was full of promises.
He then slipped his hand into her and she felt a cool metal object pressing against her skin. She opened her hand and saw a shiny pair of keys lying in her palm.
"I have to go." He whispered in her ear. She could feel his warm breath against her skin, they were that close.
"These are the keys to my car. Drive to wherever you're staying, leave the keys in the ignition. I'll find you and take the car back. Ok?"
"Wait, why do you have to go?"
"Duty calls. I heard they Titans need there butts kicked. Especially a certain blonde."
"Really?"
"Of course, nobody messes with my girl."
"I'm not your girl." She playfully said.
"Yet." And with one last cocky smile he disappeared down a dark ally.
Roof of the coffee shop
Robin looked down at the girl below him with a grim expression on his face.
Well at least she's happy.
He looked at her one last time before following the boy she was with into the dark ally.
"Well Red X, long time no see." Robin said smirking in the dark.
Robin walked away leaving a boy in then ally. Blood gushing from his skull