AN: This is set maybe a year or so after the last season of Teen Titans. The team has settled, they've revealed their identities to one another and Dick(Robin) has mostly put Slade behind him. There are hints of one sided Slade/Dick(Robin) slash but nothing graphic.
This is meant to be a one-shot.
Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. The show belongs to it's creators and to Cartoon Network, and to DC Comics.
Happy Reading to all...
Beep... beep... beep... beep...
The soft rhythmic ping of a heart monitor and the metallic scent of blood invaded Robin's senses as he started to wake. The young hero opened his eyes slowly and blinked against the invasion of harsh surgery lights. He was lying on his stomach, with his face pressed into the hole in the gurney so he could breathe ... and why was he here?
He flexed his hands and winced as pain shot through his arms. There was something in the muscle of the back of his hand, and something else pressed deep into the muscle on just above his elbow. He tried to sit up but his muscles didn't respond like they should have. Fear swept through him, eating away the drugged haze and leaving him confused.
Beep... beep... beep.. beep.
The monitor beeped faster as he started to panic and he tensed, trembling uncontrollably until a large warm hand spread out across his upper back and held him still... now that he thought about it he couldn't actually feel anything below that hand.
"Do not try to move. You suffered a spinal injury." The firm silky voice was familiar but without being able to see anything but the floor his drugged mind just couldn't place it. "You will be fine." The voice continued. "Nurse?"
Robin listened to the words and sucked down a breath as he squeezed his eyes shut, feeling them tear behind closed lids. He suddenly realized that his mask was gone and the thought almost caused a soft slightly hysterical bubble of laughter to well in his throat. He swallowed it down and his eyes shot back open when an oxygen mask was pressed tight over his nose and mouth. He tried not to breathe for a long second but quickly enough his eyes drooped shut and he slipped back into unconsciousness.
When he woke up again he was curled on his side in a dark bedroom. For a long moment he didn't try to move, terrified that if he tried he wouldn't be able to. He closed his eyes again and continued to lay there. It took a couple deep breaths for him to gather enough courage to try and wiggle his toes. They moved and Dick breathed out a sigh of relief and stretched, grimacing a little when his sore muscles complained and something round dug into his hip.
He was so tired and he raked his hand through his limp hair before rolling more towards the wall and resting his cheek on the top of his hand. Something hard, round, and smaller than bottle cap pressed into his jaw and he lifted his hand to study it. The room was too dark for him to make out details but there was a round circle of what looked like metal embedded in the skin of his wrist. Dick shifted to touch it and his stomach churned when he saw an identical circle on the top of his other hand. He flexed his fingers experimentally and shivered. He couldn't even feel the implants when he moved. The vague memory of waking up to pain in his hands and elbows came back to him and he raised his arm to look. Sure enough there was another pair of disks embedded in the muscle groups just above his elbows. He shivered and rubbed his hands up his arms and shoulders, flinching when he discovered the discs set into the nerves of his shoulders.
Confusion lit through his mind and he rolled from his side onto his back. Something round and about the size of his Titans communicator pressed roughly against his lower spine while a smaller circle pressed between his shoulder blades. Thinking the larger one was his communicator Dick sucked in a breath of relief as he arched up off the bed and reached under him in search of the device. The spot on the bed where he had felt the disk was empty and he rolled back onto his side and hesitantly touched his hand to his back. Where he expected to encounter warm skin was the thin round disk he had felt when he had laid back.
Dick's breath quickened and his eyes darted around the dim room in search of a light fixture. There was a lamp on the bedside table and he turned it on. The surprisingly bright harsh light made him blink and he pushed the blankets aside to stand, revealing two more sets of disks on the sides of his knees and at his ankles. The teenager slid his hand under the fabric of the boxers he wore, to the spot where he had first felt something pressing into his side, and he almost sobbed when he found a sixth set of round disks in the muscle at his hips. He sat up slowly and held out his arms before turning his hands into the light. The light shone off the shiny black half of each disk and the cooper colored halves flashed merrily as he turned his arms to look at his elbows. Dick's throat tightened and he realized why he had recognized the surgeon's voice as he recognized Slade's colors. His stomach churned dangerously and he swung his legs out of bed and rushed to the bathroom.
His eyes watered as his stomach heaved and he wiped his mouth as he leaned back against the glass shower door. The disk in his back rubbed against his spine as he pressed against the glass and he winced, wandering what the hell Slade wanted with him now and trying not to panic. Vic would be able to remove whatever the hell these things were when he escaped and got back to the Tower.
Dick squeezed his eyes shut and leaned his head back against the glass door. Slade had disappeared after Trigon's defeat and he had heard nothing about the man's whereabouts since. When the Brotherhood had threatened the Titans he had put the mercenary behind him in favor of the more immediate threats to his team and his city... his team. Dick's eyes shot open. Where were they? He reached out to touch the wall, to steady himself as he stood, and froze when his hand touched glass.
/Don't look!/ He ordered himself, trying to discipline his mind. Despite the effort his eyes traveled to the reflection anyway and he stood slowly, taking in the full effect and feeling sickened. He turned to look at the disk at the base of his spine and shivered when he saw the cooper 'S' standing out in sharp contrast to the black.. He had to get out of here before Slade realized he was awake.
The bedroom was just as he had left it and he found clothes sitting in a neat pile on the chair beside the bed. The simple jeans and black t-shirt hid most of the implants save for the ones in his arms and ankles and there were no shoes to be found. He kept to the door on silent feet and looked it over. The sliding door's lock and hinges were on the other side and he made an annoyed sound as he headed back into the room. The vents were too small but the windows weren't – though they did have electronic locks. Dick looked around the room for something to pry the cover off the security box and found an ink-pen in the desk before hoisting himself up into the window. The cover came off easily and he pulled the panel out and set to work on the wires.
"So resourceful." Slade's voice purred suddenly. Dick's gaze shot up and he looked around the room until he found the camera. He dropped back to the floor and moved closer to it. "I'm sure you are curious." Slade continued. "Maybe a demonstration is in order." Dick tightened his hands into fists and glared at the camera.
"A demonstration of what?" He hissed softly, fearing he already knew and praying he was wrong.
"On your knees." Slade purred softly.
"Not for you!" Dick snapped angrily. Slade didn't say anything and Dick's breath quickened as he waited for something to happen. For long moments nothing did and Dick could feel the palms of his hands sweating slightly.
"A pity." Slade finally purred. "I said kneel." The words were almost whispered and Dick grit his teeth as a sharp pain stabbed between his shoulders. Immediately his legs and back tingled for a moment before bending on their own. The motion was smooth, not jerky like Terra's motions had been and he couldn't move once he was down. He tried though, but it was like his brain wasn't communicating with his body. He moved his hand to the implant near his ankle and tried to slide his nails under the device. "None of that." Slade said calmly. "You will further destroy the nerves in your legs. Now put your hands flat on the floor."
"Further! What did you...?" Dick abruptly stopped and squeezed his eyes shut as another pain shot down his back. His arms tingled and then moved on their own with the same smooth motion that his legs had earlier.
"Good boy." Slade purred, sounding far to pleased with himself. "Now stay." Dick felt his face burn in humiliation and he could feel his body trembling in fear.
"Let me up." He pleaded softly, hating the position because it made him feel like a dog, hating how he didn't have control over his own body, and wondering if this was how Terra had felt when she had first found out that Slade could control her. She had resisted him though. It was a matter of will and he tried to force his body to move. It didn't even shake, it was like his mind was disconnected from the muscles.
"I think you need to learn your place." Slade said softly. "An hour should be long enough for your first lesson."
"Slade?" Dick didn't care if he sounded scared. The man surely wasn't going to leave him like this for an hour. Small fear born tremors cascaded down his spine at the thought. "Please Slade." He pleaded. The cold concrete was already making his knees hurt.
"One hour Kid." Slade promised. "Don't beg again or I will make it longer." The threat caused more tremors to race down his spine and Dick ducked his head and pursed his lips shut as he tried to center himself and calm down. Slade ruined the effort by continuing to talk. "Terra was just a test Dick." The man almost purred his name and Dick shivered, hating how Slade said it, hating the obvious want that tinted it. "I've had over a year since you helped free me from Trigon to research the technology and put my own twist on it. Just. For. You."
Dick felt his eyes burn and his vision blurred as he listened to Slade explain how his control over Terra had been based on her suit and the use of a mix of nano-technology and an electrical current to make her limbs move the way he wanted them to. Dependence on a suit... Slade's original failure had lain in the suit so he had spent the time since regaining his freedom researching a way to make the suit a non-issue. The man continued to talk and Dick could feel sweat pouring down his skin as a slight tremor set into his aching muscles. Slade suddenly stopped talking and Dick glanced up at the camera, wondering why Slade had suddenly fallen silent.
"Slade?" He whispered hesitantly. It wasn't that he wanted the man to answer, just that he didn't want to be alone and Slade's soft silky voice had given him something to focus on. The silence dragged on and his body shook harder as exhaustion started setting in and he started to panic. His chest heaved with a sob and he hung his head. "Please move, please move, please." Dick repeated the words over and over very softly. His legs had gone to sleep within moments of being forced to kneel and the muscles in his arms screamed in pain as they relentlessly supported the weight of his upper body.
"Pathetic." Slade's soft voice made his head shoot up and Dick's throat went dry when he found Slade standing before him. He had been so focused on his body that he hadn't even heard the door slide open.
"Let me up!" Dick whispered desperately. The need to move from the cold concrete floor easily overwhelmed his instinct to keep quiet. Slade smirked at him and shook his head.
"I told you not to beg." The man's mask prevented Dick was telling if Slade was smiling as he spoke but Dick thought he heard a note of amusement in the mercenary's voice. He hung his head and closed his eyes. The light scrape of Slade's boots on the concrete made him look back up and his eyes widened as he watched Slade take slow backward steps towards the door.
"Don't." Dick pleaded softly.
"Fifteen more minutes Kid." Slade took the final step into the hallway and the door slid shut in front of him. Dick's chest heaved and he could feel tears streaking down his face. His muscles shook in exhaustion but he couldn't actually move or change position. What had Slade done to him that was giving him this much control? The seconds ticked by with agonizing slowness and Dick started to hyperventilate.
Without warning his muscles tingled and he toppled onto his side as he was released. His body hummed with pain and he sobbed quietly as he lay there. He heard the door open and when Slade's boots invaded his vision he tried to roll away but his body was too exhausted. The mercenary dropped to one knee beside him and Dick cried out miserably as the man stroked his thigh. The light touch was agony to the slowly reawakening muscle, at least to the ones he could feel. The nerves surrounding the implanted disks seemed to have been completely numbed.
"What do you want?" Dick whispered. The idea that Slade might have done permanent damage to his nervous system terrified him.
"The Apprentice I should have had for three years." Slade said immediately. The man continued to pet his thigh and Dick shivered
"I won't be your Apprentice Slade!" Dick tried to make the words sound convincing but the knowledge that Slade could control him took away some of their power. Slade took his wrist and Dick shuddered when the man's thumb rubbed over the slick surface of the disk on the back of his hand.
"What you want does not matter anymore." Slade responded. The man let go of his arm and Dick yelped as the partially asleep limb hit the floor. He looked up at Slade as the man stood and his gaze followed the mercenary as he walked back towards the door. "When you are able to move I suggest you shower and rest. We will properly begin your training in the morning and you will see just how much control I really have and how it will be useless to fight me." Dick shivered and Slade's soft laughter echoed in the former heroes' ears as he curled in on himself and cried.
I hope everyone enjoyed. Comments are appreciated, criticism is welcome as long as it isn't in flames form.