Disclaimer; I don't own Teen Titans. If I did, we would have a MUCH longer Apprentice Arc, and Batman... well, let's just say we'd see some 'The Batman cometh.' I didn't earn any money, either.
Any errors are mine, and mine alone.
'Bowed, not broken.'
And he finally bowed.
But not in devotion, or even in fear, as Slade had hoped. He did not bow as an apprentice to his doting master, he bowed as one who knew that if he bowed now, he would stand later. He was not broken, oh, no, not at all.
He bowed in pride, in strength. He allowed himself to die, that others could live.
He bowed as the victor bows to the conquered but noble foe.
Pain coursed his small body, but the boy knew that one way or another, his servitude would end, and he need never bow to this man again. He was flexible, this boy, and would not break.
Not now. Not yet. Not while there was one person left on the planet to die for. No, this was not the bow Slade had desired.
And Slade let it be, knowing that the game had been lost in a hail Mary play.
Well. There would be another day, another plan, and another child, or perhaps this one would fall from his perch again, and would kneel before him as he desired.
But a bow was still a bow, even if it was the last one, and the wrong one.
He honored it.