Title: Too Much Potential

Author: SSS

Universe: Teen Titans

Theme/Topic: Thoughts on Robin, Slade and the Apprenticeship.

Rating: T+

Characters: Robin and Slade as main focus, with mentions of Batman, Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy and Cyborg. Also, Terra!

Warnings/Spoilers: Swearing, mentions of sex and underage sex (oddly enough, the underage person is the instigator), crudeness. Spoilers; anything to do with Slade.

Word Count: 4926 words. Used to be about two thousand and eight hundred and then I added Terra in. She made it long…

Time: About forty minutes but then again, I wrote it out on paper, while I was on holiday. It was nice to sit and write it normally – I felt so much more writer-y.

Summary: Robin had too much potential, far too much, to let it go to waste with the Titans, and Batman. He's brilliant, smart and two years older than the first time. Slade knows this. He offered Salvation. Robin turned it down and now someone else is keeping watch with Slade for the Second offering.

Dedication: Ron Perlman. SLADE IS HELL BOY! Fuck, who knew that? Gimme fifteen minutes along with the voice he uses for Slade. Fifteen minutes. I'll be a puddle of love. (He is awesome – Hellboy AND Slade? I think I've fallen in love for sure…)

A/N: Cookies and hugs to whoever can guess the speaker.

Distribution: Mine. Not yours. Bugger off. Or ask for permission. Either or...

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to someone else - not me, I make no money and I use the characters safely and responsibly!

Too Much Potential

He's doing it again.

The hero thing, I mean.

He's doing his 'saving people deal'; defending the citizens of Jump city from evil and dastardly people with nefarious plans.

Like myself. Of course.

That's his job, I suppose. Well, I don't suppose, it is his job. He's a Titan, a Teen Titan - a goodie goodie, a white hat, a beacon of light in the jaded world. It's a sight to watch, I must admit, even if I mostly watch from afar.

He's so quick, so light on his feet, and lightening fast on the rebound too. He's not as good as they said he was; he's better - faster, harder, quicker, braver, more determined, more skilled, more perfect. He doesn't fight, he dances; he doesn't jump, he flies. Him and his bo-staff, and his belt of technology and gadgetry.

Slade watches him too. I know he does - it's easy to spot once you know what to look for. A flash of orange in the corner of the warehouse, the glint of the lens of the camera, the whirr of robotic limbs following behind the fight. Slade knows I know. I've seen the footage, after all, helped place some of the cameras inside the Tower. I'm the best for a reason. Slade doesn't just want him for his surface; what the boy lets the world see. I gotta admit, he's good at the obscurification, the changing of topics, the timing of his exits from interviews on the street. He knows how to keep it hidden and secret - though when you're me, you know how to get past it. He's not quite the master at it that he thinks he is. Still got a long way to go there, kid.

Like I was sayin', Slade doesn't want him for the surface personality. The boy has beauty and speed, yeah, but he's got brains to match. Bats trained him well, his detective skills are able to match and exceed some of the most brilliant villains in the Western World. These Jump villians? Ninety percent of them are utter wastes of space. A blind man with one arm and no legs in a wheelchair could defeat most of them - I mean Dr Light? He's just pathetic as is Mumbo, and Control Freak. Take the most dangerous villain under Slade and myself, and you'd either get Chang who's a creep and a Frankenstein scary monster now – I get my shit somewhere else because he scares me that much - or someone like Johnny Rancid, self-proclaimed biker villain, and Rancid is pretty low down on the crime scale - barely topping annoyance on the scale of BRILLIANT EVILLNESS.

I always want to test my boy's detective skills, putting in false leads and fake evidence - just to see him make the connections almost before I've finished laying the stuff out. It's amazing to watch him go from A to B with scarcely a moment in between. He's brilliant at the quips too, putdowns as well, but you so rarely get to hear the good ones. Not the PG, newspaper friendly ones. The ones that are dirty, hard hitting and go straight for the jugular. Me and Slade? Two of a very small and privileged group of people who get to hear the real him, the people who hear him let loose and feel that tongue deliver a stinging lashing with comebacks and comments. He's truly gifted with a Silver Tongue. It's refreshing as well - none of the cliché "You're going down, thief!" It's like a Tarentino movie when he gets going, only so much more skilled. He's so tense and sharp, but you can see he enjoys letting go - no more playing nice and dumbing it down for the masses when he's alone with us. Why do you think that we make him fight us alone? Come on, you didn't think it was because we enjoyed the act of separating the team - surely not.

When he's alone with us, he starts playing darker - no more kicks and punches to knockout; these ones are designed to hurt. He's all about the image when he's with the rest of his team - with us, it's about the fight. The blood runs hot in his veins and you can see him getting the high from the fight. He loves it - the semi-darkness, the shadows and anticipation, along with the eagerness to land some hits, to make us bleed. He swears too, honest to God swearing. No more "Holy smokes, Batman!" That's the Public Robin, Our Robin says, "Come back here, you little shit!" or "Fuck!" He doesn't play by the rules either, he'll knee you in the balls if you let him, or punch you in the nose if you let your guard down. He don't give a shit about the image, then, he just wants to make you pay.

Smart kid knows how to play dirty.

Though he was a fool for not accepting Slade's offer of an apprenticeship. Slade's no idiot, he wouldn't have offered if he didn't mean it - he's not that kinda guy. Robin threw away a lot more than a life of crime. He threw away a chance to be more than he ever dreamed of. Slade wasn't offering slavery.

He was offering Salvation.

Learning. Tutelage, A chance to study under a mastermind of the highest calibre.

Slade's not a common or garden villain, ya see. He's no freak like Dr Light, or some fucked up Freudian metaphor like Control Freak, or some lucid dream gone wrong like Cardiac. Slade's a computer hacker - he's hacked inside the most secured military computers and I'm pretty sure has the codes to most of the world's nukes. Couldn't tell you for sure exactly which ones but I know he has Russia and the USA's which is enough to start of WWIII all by itself. He's the criminal overlord behind billions of dollars of bureaucratic forgeries, illegal trades, arms deals, and more. He's also an assassin. Cold blooded and as cruel as they come too, with a kill list longer than I'm tall - and I'm no shortie.

He's got ties with every major crime family, from street gangs in Mexico, to the Russian Mob, to the Italian Heavies, along with a hand in most of the last sixty years' most defining moments - I'm pretty sure he was there when Kennedy died, and Marilyn Monroe's mysterious suicide and the Moon Landing, and the start of the Cold War…. Hey, wonder if he knows anything about Elvis...

Slade's created this empire of people, places and contacts. And the governments know him. The CIA needs someone to go 'missing' , Slade's on the speed dial. MI6, Mossad, maybe even the Al Queada - he works for anyone with a grudge and money to burn.

He could teach Robin to be an assassin, a mastermind, a consummate business man, a thief - anything Robin wanted. Slade could have turned Robin into anything he could have wished for. And Robin turned it down. Well, not so much turned it down, so much as turned around and said it was either his friends lived and he went free, or he died. He gambled all their lives on his value to Slade.

And he gambled right.

Slade knew Robin's value, maybe even more than Robin did. And he never intended to let him go - Robin's got too much potential to let the Good side ruin it.

I'm not thick, I know who wore the suit before I did, I know what went on before I came into the scene - how could I not? It was the talk in all the 'gentleman clubs' for the 'private income earners' that I frequented. Everyone had an opinion on the mysterious newcomer and his skills. Robin was an excellent thief, a brilliant one. He was a ninja God at it, that's the current compliment about it, two years after it happened. The boy was a legend in his own right, in the criminal underworld even he's not exactly known by name just by deed.

Slade's been keeping an eye on him. He wasn't ready before, too dependant on his team; his friends.

He's now nearly two years older; wiser and better looking and world wary that he was before.

He's not a child anymore.

Slade's going to put the offer to him again - that's the scuttlebutt this time. And this time; there's no saying no - no more deals or heroic deeds.

Slade's going to capture him, like the little bird that he is, and make him his Apparentice. Bloody, bruised and broken, he will become. Slade'll do it. He's got a lot riding on it. Nobody else will do, there's always something wrong, not right, not the perfect 'something' that makes them good enough.

Take the Titans for example - let me explain why they're not suitable.

Raven first. You know her, little waif in the purple leotard and cloak, with the big brooch and belt and grey skin. To put it real simply; Raven's magical - magic is unpredictable; it'll flare and burn out if pushed hard enough, far enough. Burnt out magic user is a useless apprentice by any account. And she's got none of the fighting skills that Robin has; none of them. Seriously, she depends on her hands and her mind to make the bad guys pay. Take away the magic and she has nothing left. Yes, she could learn to fight, but honestly, it's a little too late for that and she'll never make it as good as a true martial artist will. She's too old and too dependant on magic for it to advance. She's smart, I'll pay her credit for that; but she's not that smart. I mean, she's book smart but not street smart especially. She'd survive on the streets in Jump, maybe. She'd be dead in Gotham or New Bludhaven, or Echo. Dead and rotting…

Not to mention the fact that Magic can be bound, and restrained which can negatively affect the mind; really badly. I'm talking completely wacko, crazy, fruit-loopy mad, Arkham mad. She'd make good opposite the Joker, or the Scarecrow, because they'd look positively sane next to her. And, in my humble opinion, that's not a good apprentice to have - mad and magical.

Cyborg, the big tank half human and half machine - mostly grey and white and blue. He's half machine for Christsakes, too easily broken and limited. Admittedly, he might be a valuable asset, but not as an Apprentice - Gizmo could hack him with the right tools and a few days and then he could make him do anything from running around the main drag in a tutu to strapping a bomb to himself and walking into Slade's hideout. Excellent, that – an apprentice who could be hacked to blow you up. The man is interesting, I'll give you that. And I know Slade at least entertained the notion of taking Cyborg on as a sort of lab worker, or a computer hacker. Strictly speaking, if Slade kept him inside and off the main power circuits and on a generator for power, the guy could have been brilliant under Slade's command. With the firepower that's under his chest plate, and the programming skills in those metal fingers of his? He'd be inside the pentagon in milliseconds. Fuck that, he'd have half the world's bank account numbers in a few days. We'd be rolling in it…I have no doubt that given the chance, the half machine man could have been great under Slade – and it would have encouraged Robin to stay too… Huh… There's a thought – Slade with two heroes – it might certainly have made it more probable for Robin to stay. But the problems would have huge too – if he connected to the internet even for a second he could override a few passwords and bring part of Slade's empire down, or send messages for help or put viruses in the system. Gizmo's good enough to hack him, like I said, and so is Chang. Brother Blood (mutant freak) is obsessed with the Borg and he'd be able to sell over the design plans for half a million or so (with Slade's persuasion of allowing him to keep his life) and well, Slade's a hacker too. Two of them is overkill, really. And Robin'll come around eventually, and a friend might just give him ideas. He's limited by his mechanical body, Cyborg is, very limited. For example - he could never get through an airport undetected and if he was captured, someone could just upload a virus to his brain and bye bye nice Cyborg, hello Insane Machine Man.

Starfire. One word; Alien. Outer space, different planet, whole new galaxy kind of alien. She's an alien who's happy. She's not going to be killing anyone because it goes against her creed, and she couldn't steal from them or deny them something. And her powers are linked with her emotions; which undoubtedly makes them far too unpredictable for practical usage. I can just see it now, half way through a mission, and she spots a little kitten being killed and BAM! She's grounded because she's sad, she's unable to complete the mission and is now stuck in no-man's land where Slade can't extract her. How...useless. The girl's emotions are so powerful and they can render her either enraged or grounded in tears. I am so not dissing women here, because I know some kick ass women – but that girl is just pathetic. She goes through life in a haze of red roses and cute bunnies and pink tints. World ain't like that, sweetheart, it's cold and hard and difficult and people'll shit on you like there's no tomorrow. You have to fight for the top and she doesn't get that. But then again, she's no leader, she's a born follower for all that she's a princess. She wouldn't have made a good queen, I think. Not like Elizabeth the First.

Yeah, fuck off, I know my history.

Starfire would need advisors and prime ministers and she would have been a soft queen. No conquering barbarian lands for her, no takingcharge and dealing with the crisis's at hand. She would have been known as a 'fair, gentle and kind' queen. You can't be a boss, and be a follower. You have to be smart and in charge. Not to mention the fact that her cooking is god awful. I don't want to know what the taste buds of a Tameraen look like, but if I bet anything, I would say 'singed and blackened.' Also limited in that she's pretty but when it comes to street smarts she's pretty much as dumb as a two year old and Slade ain't interested in holding anyone's hand for anything. She's probably not even that good in the sack - I bet she's the pretty 'lie back and let the guy do all the work' kind. And besides; it's not a good idea to have someone as an Apprentice who's physically stronger than you with the mentally of a deranged Girl Scout.

Beast boy is Green. And although he shape shifts, with Chang and a top team of bio-engineers and biologists and medical equipment, shapeshifters are almost a dime a dozen these days. He's happy, again, and selfish beyond what is reasonable in his childish way and he's got none of the skills Robin does. Put a Stop Shift in the room that freezes everyone in the form they're in at the time, he's screwed if he picked a mouse or a flea. He knows no fighting skills that are technical - he mostly brawls with the added weight of a gorilla or a bear. With all the sensors that are around now, he's not undetectable even as a flea or something. All that energy has to go somewhere, and it just hangs around him. Even a sensitive thermometer can pick it up if the shape shifter is close enough. He couldn't hang ou tin a crowd and he's not exactly a ladies man, when he could sleep for the information.

What? It pays to put out sometimes.

Prude.

But back on the topic at hand, he'd not exactly subtle is he? Present him with a hot chick, and he'll hump her leg in dog form. It's kinda funny when it's a real dog. It's really creepy when it's a shapeshifter. I'm not kidding about the dime a dozen thing either. I personally know three shifters of varying kinds who work for Slade, and while none of the are green, they're all really good at fitting in. Seriously, it took me three goes to spot who was the shifter and who was the test case; and there were three people. Beast Boy does animals. Useful, but people are more useful.

Example – you might notice the green dog, the green gorilla and the smart crook pays attention to any bugs hanging around, but the man in the business suit? Nobody'll notice him so he can get close to the target. Oh, now target's on the move, duck into this store, and walk out a hot brunette – hey ho, nothing like the grey haired man from before, and you can stand right next to your target. Bet it would be handy to get away from the police too – if the witness statement says five feet nine inches, brown hair, and white male, you turn in a Asian woman who's four foot three tall, with black hair and grey eyes. Who the fuck would connect you to the crime scene then?

Technically speaking, I suppose, he might be useful for up to three or four years - after that technology will have pretty much rendered him obsolete beyond his current job. And let's face it, he's not exactly smart, is he?

Terra.

Oh, Terra. That little bitch. She was good at the lying part, at first, good at turning on the charm until it turned down the shithole for her. Then the baby blues started up, and then she threw herself on Slade's mercy. Too bad he didn't have any. Not for her, anyway. She was too easy to twist and bend – the promise of a home, of friends and the side of good thrown aside for Slade's promise of money and diamonds and swanky parties with the crime lords. Little earth whore got herself too deep and then played her cards wrong. She had no idea what she was getting herself into and Slade worked it out soon enough that she wasn't going to make the grade, at all. Didn't you see the invisible chains he had on her – the pathetic collar he bound her down with? She was controlled to the point that she couldn't take a piss without Slade's say-so. He never needed that with Robin. That boy embraced the darkness occasionally, unwillingly, but wholeheartedly. None of her 'in/out/in/out' of the crime world. Robin shut away the side of Good of himself and got on with it – lived the life Slade provided while scheming. He was smart, kept his cards to himself and called Slade's bluff and made it out that way

Terra tried it once.

Only once.

I've seen the footage of when she tried to double cross Slade for the Titans – using cheap seduction and trying for the 'I'll make it worth your while…'. I've seen better whores in the back alleys of Jump. At least they actually know their trade. She used pouts and little 'flirtatious' movements, that she thought would tempt Slade. Aside from the fact that she was appalling at them she never stood a chance – Slade wouldn't have let her go just because she offered up her pussy; what would be the point in that?

"Yeah, Terra, if you let me have sex with you , which no doubt will be really bad and just plain not worth it – you'll either not finish or come too early and I'll have to do all the work – but yeah, after that you can just walk on out of here, no questions, no worries, after all, you know many of my schemes, technology and even what I look like."

Moron….

Not to mention, it was cringe worthy to watch even though I knew she was dead inside her self-made tomb. Although, it did make me spit out my popcorn all over the screen when she said, "Hey, Slade-y…"

Rule one of hanging out with Slade – His name is Slade, or Mr Wilson or Sir. You might be able to get away with Deathstroke, if you're a client, but so far, I've tested Slade and Mr Wilson. I like my head where it is, thank you very much…

Yeah, Slade broke her nose for that one. Personally, I would have died laughing, but then again, he's less… relaxed like that. Honestly, why she thought it would work – I've seen the women Slade worked with and my fucking God…If I hung out with them, I would die in heaven just looking at them. Slade has wined and dined his way through many of the best women in crime and/or power. He doesn't need some cheap whore-ish teenager in his bed. Mind you, he doesn't have a gender preference. Though he seems to like being on top, without exception, and I know that the men he goes for are young, beautiful, creative, and flexible…

I fit that description, perfectly, though I do say so myself… Guess who else does?

She was lucky she only got a broken nose for crawling her way onto Slade's podium half naked. If you're going to be a slut, at least be classy about it… She was too rash, too quick to make snap decisions, and far far too pathetic to make it to the top.

If you're going to be Slade's Apprentice, one day you're going to be standing next to Slade's side. You're going to be Slade, in essence.

She really wasn't that kind of material. If she was alive now, and she came to Slade, I bet he wouldn't even give her the chance to be his maid…

Let's inventory Robin's suitability. He speaks Spanish, French, English, Arabic, German and Russian with reasonable fluency, he is conversationally skilled in Mandarin, two dialects of Indian, Japanese and in Pig Latin and sign language. He's a brilliant detective, having trained under the best for nearly seven years. He trained under Bats, and already has three degrees in Law, in Psychology and in History. He's the master of three martial arts, and possesses a unique style that blends five in total. He's a good cook, knows how to drive both a car and a motorcycle, can rock climb, scuba dive and swim. He can seriously work undercover, is comfortable with being alone. He can map read, has undergone survival training, is an excellent leader and commander, and he is physically healthy. He's fast, well adapted to his lifestyle and already has a dark side.

He loves the taste of the darkness, the pleasure of being on the other side of the law - the sweet joy the irony brings.

There's no doubt about it - he's got it. He's got the 'little something something'. That little extra that makes someone a killer – a thief or a crook. I wouldn't have believe it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, but I have. I thought he was just another white hat until he fought with me and then I saw it. He's got that streak of cruelty, that dark glint and that blood lust and desire for revenge. It's buried deep inside, well hidden, but once you know how to look for it, you wonder how you missed it in the first place. It's laughable in a way. Him in his traffic light costume, and inside he's as black as coal and just as cold as ice. I don't know , but I don't think he consciously recognises it, because he refuses to acknowledge it - he lives in denial - because all he's ever known is the light since Bats got his hands on him.

He's living in denial of himself - because I warrant neither Bats nor the Teen Titans will ever let him leave the light.

Bats would have loved to have kept him by his side, a sidekick forever. Bats would keep that potential sealed away, locked behind 'family' and 'friends' and 'playing nicely with others'.

Slade'll let Robin fly higher than ever before, letting him open up and become what he really is; becoming what he's meant to become, not a fake, plastic mockery of his potential festering and him being locked down and not half the man he's destined to be. Slade'll teach him, give him everything; making him a partner in the end. Robin is no mere sidekick. Bats needs to open his eyes - he's Apprentice material though and through. He practically screams 'teach me to be better than I am!"

He's made for more than running in the shadow of a man dressed as a Bat who can't recognise when his own student is better than he ever will be, made for more than leading a bunch of rag tag teenage misfits against demented fuckers and twisted pathetic freaks.

He's more than that.

And Slade knows it.

Slade's keeping an eye on him, putting the finishing touches on a plan that is already extensive and incredibly detailed. As soon as he's ready, we'll make an offer together - a lowly criminal and the mastermind offering to take a hero under their wings so he can fly free.

Even if it kills him.

Erm, let's take stock...

Oh yeah, can't be credited with the idea of shapeshifters being detected. That idea comes from the loveable Wynja who has some AWESOME stuff on her stories. Go on. Check her out and get her stuff read. I spent literally about two days reading nothing but her stuff - so it is good~

Oh and I kinda did but didn't borrow her characteration of the speaker. And if you want to know who it was, it's a colour and the second part part marks the buried treasure on a map. Go figure on that. Pretty sure you guys worked it out in the end anyway, but who cares, I just wanted to expand this author's note, so I don't have to say goodbye.

Aww....

R&R please guys, and have a nice day!

SSS~