Knowledge. Patience. Understanding.
Teamwork. Trust. Self Confidence.
Those are all things that Robin has difficulty with. Now, if yow know Robin, you must have heard of me.
Robin and I have a lot in common. For starters, we both have many names. Robin has just begun to call himself Nightwing. He is also known as The Boy Wonder. My favorite though, is Richard Grayson, Robin's birth name.
I go by many names as well. Around Jump City, I'm greeted with a firm handshake and a "Good Morning, Mr. Wilson." Of course, I have all of my old military nicknames, but that list is too long and I don't want to make this about me. I've been called Deathstroke The Terminator. That was eventually shortened to Deathstroke alone. Eventually, one gets tired of all the names. I gave up on them quickly. Now I am known by my first name of my new identity. Slade. Now, by telling you I have a new identity, it kind of ruins the surprise that I had an old identity. Long before I created "Slade Wilson", I had a family. I had a wife, Mary, and a son. My name was John Grayson, of the Flying Graysons.
There was a man who wanted my family dead. He wanted me dead. That man destroyed my trapeze equipment and my wife's. She fell, to her death. I survived however. The man still wanted me dead and I knew it was not safe for Richard to be near me. I let him believe I was dead too. It hurt me more than anything else ever had. He was my son and I missed him. I prayed constantly that he was okay.
I am not a bad father. I made sure he was with Bruce Wayne, or The Batman. I was proud when he became Robin. I knew he was safe when I joined the military as Slade Wilson. I was still in love with Mary, but I found I could love again. I remarried and had two more children, Rose and Jericho. My joy never could last. Jericho was captured and they demanded information from me. I refused and took out ever man in there, but I was to late. Jericho's throat was cut, not enough to kill him but enough to make him mute. My son would never talk again. I deserved that gunshot my wife gave me. It took out my eye but I lived, which was more than I deserved.
I couldn't go back to Richard now. I tried to get him to come to me. I wanted to make him an apprentice not so he can be evil, but so he could simply learn from me. His friends were never in any real danger, of course. I just gave them the illusion of pain.
What the Titan's would never realize is how much I helped them. Would Richard, or Robin, ever realize that everything I did was to push him? Would he ever realize he is only as good as he is because I made him that way? Every fight we had was to make his skills better, but he would never notice.
He forgot about me. That time he said, "I already have a father," I could see he was thinking of Batman. I never came to his mind. How could I? I was going to change that. I would change it tonight. Richard does not realize it but I know every move he makes. I knew from the beginning that he held feelings for the Goth sorceress, Raven. She would not be in any real harm of course. I promised myself long ago I would never kill one of his friends. She would come out alive.
Just scared. I would terrify her. My plan was to break her sprit so small, the Boy Wonder would have to work harder than ever to repair it. That would be my next test. Can he repair a broken member of his team?
I am not mad, for mad get no where. Every step I took was carefully planned and thought out. I am not mad, just a father. My last plan was ready for action. My last plan was to prove to Robin he was a good leader. It was my final lesson for him. I would miss him, but I knew it was time I gave my son his own life.