Author's Note: This can be considered a companion piece to "A Criminal, a Psychopath, a Father." It was a little hard to write, and I'm not sure I did a good job, but I hope you like it anyway.
Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.
An Apprentice and a Son
Slade knew Robin shared many similarities with him, even if the boy refused to admit it.
Goal-oriented, fierce determination, even ruthlessness...Robin made the ideal apprentice, and Slade had done everything in his power to make it happen. Including the exploitation of Robin's greatest weakness: threatening the lives of his friends.
"I know it seems bad now," Slade had said after Robin changed into the orange and black suit. "But trust me, you'll learn to like it."
Robin had fixed Slade with a hateful glare, and made it known that the deal couldn't last forever.
And, much to Slade's displeasure, Robin had managed to make good on that statement.
Pity. He would have been the perfect apprentice.
Slade knew Joseph--or Jericho, as he was known by the Titans--was very different from him, and always would be.
At first glance, one wouldn't have guessed the mute guitarist had any relation to the masked criminal. Joseph was blond, as Slade once was, but that was where the physical similarities ended. Curly hair, green eyes, and a somehow delicate-looking face--not to mention a personality that was decidedly the opposite of Slade's.
The boy had too much of his mother in him, Slade thought. But it hadn't stopped him from wanting Joseph to follow in his footsteps.
"Join me," he said, "and we can destroy all who oppose us, as father and son." Slade did not say "master and apprentice." Because alliances could be broken, but blood ties were forever.
Joseph looked at Slade for a moment. A slight, sad smile appeared on his face.
"I'm your son, but I can't be you," he signed. The smile faded, and Joseph walked away, never looking back.
"Jericho may be a Titan," Slade murmured, "but Joseph will always be my son."