Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Teen Titans, Titans, Justice League or associated Characters.

Be Warned, this might upset some readers.

I have a Dark Mind, this was one of those 'What if...?' ideas that came to me once, and to be honest, it could have been a distinct possibility...

BAD TOUCH

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CHAPTER 1: And Love To Break Their Hearts…

"How could you not have noticed something like that? The man was fixated on capturing a group of children…in SPANDEX! Doesn't that scream 'something a little suss is going on'?" Flash asked incredulously of his teammates in the Justice League. Gaining a sea of surprised and blank faces, like the thought suddenly occurred to them.

"I…whatever do you mean?" asked Wonder Woman, suddenly a little afraid of what she may find and furious in advance on behalf of her younger sister, Troia. Think of the Devil… Donna Troy walked through the doorway to the Justice League Meeting room, resplendent in her shining costume of deep black traced with shimmering stars…

"You mean, you didn't know? We thought…" she paused and looked confused, suddenly flanked by Red Arrow, Tempest and Nightwing, the last of whom laid a darkly-clad hand on her shoulder in comfort; she smiled sadly back at them all. Wonder Woman was now bending the table beneath her grip, concern and horror warring within, had something happened? Why would they not speak of it?

"Who are they speaking of…?" J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter, leant over and asked of the hero seated beside him; Superman's jaw clenched almost imperceptibly, then he replied with, "Terminator, also known as…"

"Slade Wilson. Deathstroke the Terminator, father to both Ravager and Jericho of the Teen Titans; had a small fixation for trying to kill us…ringing any bells?" Red Arrow demanded angrily, shocking the older heroes. "I, yes, we know who he is…what does this have to do with…?" asked a confused Green Arrow, frowning deeply…then a dawning sense of horror could be seen on his features. "He didn't…? Did he…?" The green-clad archer stood up from his place at the table, noting the way none of the Titans –let alone his former sidekick- would meet his gaze…the room temperature plummeted a few degrees.

"We must find and kill this 'Deathstroke' character…" Wonder Woman stated, reached for where she had sheathed her sword; her hand stayed only by the deer-in-headlights look she was receiving from both her younger sister and Tempest. The Atlantean seemingly frozen himself, partway between speaking and holding something back…it was easily noted how their confused gazes flicked to their unspoken leader, Nightwing, as if asking for something. Guidance, perhaps or maybe, confirmation…?

There was a small, near imperceptible nod that seemingly spoke volumes to the others; who turned in synchronicity, to face the League…and spoke something they had kept secret for such a long, long time…

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"There were many times when he…Slade, would do such things that made little sense to us as children..." Started Tempest, voice tapering off towards the end as Aquaman grew quite still, "Like when we were captured, he would threaten to kill us, but…he had this strange way of…he liked to touch-…I mean…" The chair beneath his mentor was slowly losing an arm as he bent it in his silent almost-parental fury…how dare anyone…

"Wait, no! He didn't mean it like that…well, not at first…" Wally interjected, pushing back the red cowl of the Flash and rubbing a gloved hand through his brilliant shock of red hair, "Slade liked to touch us, it was casual at first, just a stroke across the cheek or tilting your chin up to look into his eye… You know, stuff that could be passed off as a Villain taunting a Hero, forcing them to do something they didn't want to… but then, we didn't know. Couldn't know… We were just kids, damnit!" There was frustration and anger in the tone, shaking clenched fists, mirrored by the others before them… but one was calm and stayed that way, simply reaching out a steady hand to still the vibrating speedster and whisper something into his ear.

Superman blinked, realised the merit in the whispered suggestion and made a mental note to have someone (probably Booster Gold, because he was still in trouble for that blue-ducky-shower-curtain caper in the female heroes' shower… -'invisibility cloak', indeed! Probably all Blue Beetle's doing...) clean the gym up, as his enhanced vision caught the red blur of motion that signified the speedster had left and returned. A small trickle of sand, presumably from the inside of at least a half-dozen punching bags, fell from one fist of the notably calmer Flash.

Red Arrow, -Roy Harper- turned suddenly to glare malevolently from behind his mask at the older heroes. "Seriously, how did you not notice? I mean, most of us spent a good hour or two in the shower after that time he kidnapped us all in San Francisco, when we were ten…oh, he didn't do anything like that, no…we weren't anything more than a vague, passing distraction at that point. But the way he touched us made our skin crawl…you could see it in his eye…what was once a vendetta against us was slowly becoming infatuation."

He lapsed into silence.

"Roy… why didn't you just tell us? Any of you, in fact…I mean, if we'd known…" started Ollie, Green Arrow, stepping towards his former sidekick… who sidestepped and manoeuvred his body deliberately behind Flash, Troia and Nightwing, away from his reaching hand. Protecting himself.

"If you'd have known, you would have disbanded the Titans, we'd never have seen each other again…we didn't want that. There are other ways to…to deal with him, it wasn't so bad at first, anyway." Added Flash hesitantly, not sure what was safe to expose even after so long under wraps. Considering how horrified the entirety of the Justice League was looking…even Hawkgirl, the current Green Lantern [John Stewart] and Martian Manhunter, none of whom had even been around at the time… Actually, maybe he shouldn't be revealing so much to them…he had to live and work with them afterwards and, after all…looks of pity being shot his way every five minutes would not be excessively conducive to his hero image.

Like his former protégé, only one Leaguer remained steadfastly silent; the Batman. An aura of menace seemed to be growing almost visibly about the Dark Knight, forcing Superman and Hawkgirl –on either side- to edge away minutely in fear…

It was surprising to see their reactions, for the Gotham vigilante's teammates were reacting the exact opposite of the former Titans, who edged closer to Nightwing, like he was an anchor in their confusion and misguided shame.

The low, gravelly voice asked once, and once only of them, something they would rather not explain. "What. Did. He. Do?" Stilling those in the room to a complete and utter standstill, you did not fail to answer a direct question from the Bat of all people…yet Nightwing raised a hand in a very distinctive, 'remain silent' gesture that the others did not hesitate to obey. There seemed a strange glance to Garth, who spoke instead, "You ask what he did…and what if we cannot say? Would rather not say for the deep sense of shame we feel…" Skirting about the issue with a practiced diplomatic air.

The tension rising from the 'adults' in the room was so thick they might as well cut it with Wonder Woman's beloved sword. "You did not answer my question…and you are fully aware, Tempest." The Dark Knight turned his focus to Nightwing, "Richard, explain. Now."

With a blatant glare of defiance, Nightwing stayed silent…but a small twitch of the hand at Donna seemed to indicate something significant, and Troia began to speak. "It started at the kidnapping, like Roy said…but something changed. The way he looked at us, watched us…something was different, we were too young to understand what it meant, but it raised the hair on the back of our necks. We knew something was seriously wrong, but just kind of attributed it to his generalised Villain-ness, I mean…he was our first arch-nemesis. It seemed normal to be wary of him. Then he started to get bolder…"

Her eyes flicked to the others. "No one noticed at first, really…he'd always touched us…grabbed our arms or threw us about in battle, but always he lingered for just a second too long. It became the norm… Suddenly, he was…he…I can't do this…" A pale shaking hand raised up to touch her forehead as the blue eyes were shadowed from the world and the eyelids clenched shut, turning away to bury her face in Roy's shoulder…highly uncharacteristic of the Amazon in any shape or form. Concern Levels approaching Maximum for the older heroes present.

Diana of Themyscira only staying steadfastly in her seat for fear of the same rejection Green Arrow had faced when trying to bring comfort to his own former protégé.

"Look, we never planned to tell you. Not sure why Kid Mouth over there had to bring it up again, but since we're airing our dirty little secret, you might as well hear it all… Slade, he's one sick fuuu-mph?" a red-clad hand covered the archer's mouth, forestalling any forthcoming words of… 'character defamation'… let's put it that way.

The speedster threw a meaningful look at him, "What he means to say…in a rather round-a-bout, expletive-spewing way…is that Deathstroke has a preoccupation with us. Started when we were ten, touching and abducting, how many times that year alone did you have to come and get us back from him? Weird thing was, he never actively hurt us beyond the basic 'knock 'em about to show dominance' thing. Oh, and the obvious 'don't come any closer or I'll hurt your sidekick' ploy he used everytime one of you appeared."

Flash shrugged, "You kind of got used to it, but then he started to get a little too weird for our liking…where he'd usually jerk our faces to look at him, it now became a strange caress… When he grabbed us by the arm, it would end in a soft stroke…" Wally's shoulders shuddered and he involuntarily released Roy's mouth.

"What he said. Slade particularily liked those two though…had a thing about black hair and blue eyes…we discovered that a little too late, thought he was fixated on Garth, actually, after-..." His lips clamped shut after that and his face turned away, holding Donna closer and sighing heavily, pulling off the mask to drop it on the floor symbolically. He was done.

Wonder Woman approached, tentatively, afraid of rejection and yet full of the over-whelming desire to help her sister… "Donna, please…tell me how I can help, please..." Desperation entered her tone, at a complete and utter loss of what to do…how to help…and then an idea struck her. Diana simply held open her arms and was relieved when her little sister practically fell into them; her eyes flashing up guiltily as Red Arrow gasped softly from the loss of that vital contact…and used her superior strength to drag him into the hug he needed, but Green Arrow would never offer. "This isn't going to turn into an awkward chick-flick moment, is it?" laughed Flash, nudging Tempest; everyone bar the Gothamites laughed at the feeble joke, it was needed and appreciated.

"Continue."

The direct missive was coming from somewhere in the midst of a dark aura emanating from the far chair imprinted with the bat logo, impossible to mistake who owned it or occupied it. A significant shrug that passed between Flash and Tempest, a generalised non-verbal 'Might as well get it over with…'

"Things changed as we got older. You'd think someone like…him…would grow tired and look for more suitable playmates, younger playmates, but he didn't. The fixation on us grew stronger as time wore on…it was to the point where every rustle in the dark made us jump, because there was always a chance he was behind it. We were simply lucky to have a practically nocturnal team member…if we had not, none of us would have ever slept." Tempest remarked the last statement casually, peripheral vision catching the way a small smile lit up the other hero's face at the mention.

Batman interjected, "This changes the dynamics of the situation. You say he remained focused on the Teen Titans as you grew older? That does not fit with what you assumed him to be, predators such as that have a specific type and will not deviate in any form…you would all be too old after approximately age thirteen if he held to the patterns psychologists have identified in psychopaths such as him, you would simply 'out-grow' his need. That brings up the burning question…what haven't you told us…?"

Cold. Efficient. To the Point. In a word: Batman.

Dammnit.

"Things got…weird, about the same time we turned fifteen or so, as I said, he got bolder. Spurred on or something. Used to grab us in darkened corners during missions or battles, press himself close and whisper things I'm certain are illegal in most states into our ears… I think he was going for 'suggestive' but all I got from it was, 'Oh my god, creepy pedo is touching me' and quite a considerable amount of panicking." Wally shuddered, "Used to tell us we were beautiful and rub his hands down your arms, all over our faces…and get closer still. He did it to all of us, somehow knew where to grab on our costumes to hold us still… Ambushed us in the weirdest of places too…"

When one grew silent, another Titan would take up the tale…like they could read one another and continue the story without thought or pause. It was most probably true to some extent…

"There was once an occasion where I was exiting the salt-water pool only recently installed at the Tower for my purposes, and from seemingly nowhere the Terminator appeared; my communicator was with my clothes in the change room so I could not call for assistance, I was lucky Roy and Wally were passing by and came to my rescue… for he kept attempting to steal my towel. Slade also made a strange insinuation with regards to a nearby inflatable turtle raft that took me many years to understand…even now it brings great horror to me to recall it." Interjected Garth, frowning and blushing slightly. "I recall he pressed close, flush against my wet back and was breathing hotly on my neck, I daren't say where his hand was intended to reach…but I did not enjoy the moment, though I could not break free from his iron grip, and am forever grateful a concussive arrow cleared him swiftly from my person…"

Roy growled, having broken away from the 'Wonder Hug' momentarily, "Went to kick that bastard in a place he'd never get over, next thing I know, he's got my ankle and has me flat on my back on the concrete. Was just reaching for my tazer arrow, but he just snaps the quiver strap and flings it in the pool…took ages to clean it after the salty liquid set off the fog arrow…looked like an ink blast from some giant squid.

Anyway, he's suddenly over me, too close for comfort, still had my bow and was fully intending to shove it somewhere the sun don't shine...when the unexpected happens, Slade goes creepy touchy-feely on me. Runs his hands everywhere, might as well have been naked from the look I was receiving too. He's pressing down in a way reminiscent of a dirty movie scene –which I completely refute having a secret stash of in the Tower rec room…they were clearly marked and in the Library! Sorry, off-topic, so next thing I know, Wally's torn him off and thrown him clear across the room and into the pool…spouting some clever quip about 'H2 –No means NO!' and a shower or something, went with it but I was too shocked to pay attention. That was the first time he'd been so bold as to nearly-…to do that."

"Yeah, he freaked me out too, I was just checking if Garth was alright, when I caught sight of what he was doing...did the only thing I could think of immediately, sped over, grabbed him and used the kinetic energy I'd gathered to hurl him through a plexiglass splashguard screen and into the pool before he could fathom what was going on. I'm pretty certain I said something like, 'Looks like you need a cold shower!'…yes, I should be shot for that. It could have been worse…" Wally grinned lopsidedly, like a child who knew they'd just made a really lame joke. His smile fell away like a shadow in darkness as a new voice, though familiar, entered the conversation.

"I'm sorry. It was my fault he got in. I should have been there to stop him." The up-until-now silent vigilante protector of Bludhaven said in a clear voice, filling the room and drawing all attention to him without his even looking at anyone else.

Wally stilled, unusually. Appearing at the other's shoulder instantly, "Don't do that, 'Wing, you had to sleep sometime. I mean, you spent all night awake guarding the rest of us…and THEN spent all day on missions with the rest of the team. 'sides, me and Roy had it sorted." Nightwing frowned, "True, but it was still my error, if I had just checked the security grid for tampering a second time, he would have been detected… maybe he would not have done…what he did."

The League seemed on the edge of their seats, unsure whether they really wanted to know or not, but as curious as Catwoman around a Mystery Box. "He's correct, Flash. If he had done the scheduled randomised check of the Tower's systems he would have discovered any flaw in the grid. The question here is, how did Deathstroke realise this flaw and take advantage of it?" mused Batman, leaning forwards with steepled hands. Wally opened his mouth to argue, but a small shake of the head from Nightwing spoke volumes and he shut it again.

"Bruce, that's not really fair and you know it." Nudged Superman, looking towards the other in surprise, usually if someone had said anything against Nightwing or Robin, or heck, even Oracle, Batgirl or Spoiler…and let's not get started on Catwoman or Huntress…they'd be hanging upside down from a tall building by the ankle until they wet themselves and begged for forgiveness. Then again, his teaching methods were exceptionally harsh and could be considered a tad on the sadistic side…but it usually paid off in the end. Look at how successful Nightwing had become since moving into Bludhaven and taking control of the streets at night. He received a baleful glare from beneath the dark cowl…

"We never blamed you for that, one of us should have checked it anyway. Wasn't fair to leave everything up to you all the time… Slade got in. We tossed him out. End of Story. Well, you know what I mean…" Wally added sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head and ruffling the crimson mop of hair almost hypnotically. He addressed the League, "That…wasn't the last time he tried a stunt like that… got into the Tower a few more times, usually we could kick him out before anything happened, but there were a few occasions when you'd walk out of the shower to find him standing there. Or even discover him in your room while you were sleeping, usually you woke up because Robin was kicking his ass. Thanks for that by the way…"

"So this Deathstroke escalated from simple whispered threats and occasional touches, through potential physical harm, caresses and innuendos to watching you in your sleep and while you showered? Can you be certain that was all the occasions…could there be any other times you were unaware of…?" questioned Aquaman, leaning forwards to stare directly into Tempest's eyes; features shocked and generally livid. An uneasy expression came over his protégé's face, "We…are uncertain, but there was a chance he followed us in our civilian lives also, after the…the Terra Incident. She found out our names and shared them with Slade as part of a plot to kill us all; for fun. He talked her out of it and only injured us enough to keep us from fighting Terra directly, like he did not want to truly hurt us…or see us come to harm."

"He knows who you are?" Superman asked incredulously, concern in his tone; Garth nodded gravely, "For many years now. He watches us even now…but I am getting ahead of the story, please continue Wally, Roy, for I cannot tell the next part." Unexpectedly, it was Roy who turned first to speak, "You really don't want to know what he did after that. Little things to let us know he knew who we were…a note on the fridge, leaving a present on the table…usually deadly…or lodging one of his S-shaped shuriken in a wall or surface. Damn it's annoying to repair that! Once, he apparently came in and played with Lian, my daughter…sufficive to say, we have a better security system now. At least he didn't-…with Lian... Why he didn't we aren't sure, he likes kids, but this only reinforces the idea he's fixated on us. …However creepy that idea may be."

"He knew where we lived, that was certain," Wally filled in, "he also visited the Tower a few dozen more times for night-time excursions, like we said. Luckily we had a nocturnal attack bird to shoo him away…I think I even made a sign about it…" The unamused glance he was getting from Nightwing said 'Shut up, shut up, shut up or I'm going to kill you…painfully'

"Uh, forget you heard that last bit. There were other things, like when we spent a whole day removing small hidden cameras from in our rooms, checking the bathrooms for bugs, watching each other so no one was alone for any length of time when they could be prey. We, ah, we found out the hard way that even the buddy system didn't work when you have a determined meta-assassin after you."

"He liked to do things to scare us too, to disconcert…I think he gets off on it. Like playing with Lian, that freaked us all out when she told us of the 'funny pirate-man in the mask'…or, on the Twins' first birthday he left two small, white baby coffins at the door with a 'Condolences' wreath, and nearly gave Linda a heart attack. She didn't stop crying for days afterwards, convinced he was going to kill one of them… or…well, there was one other thing he did. Terminator broke a certain someone's parents' gravestones in half vertically and wedged bright, cheerful red and yellow flowers in the crack, shaped in an S for Slade. We knew it was him because of his calling card…one of those damn weapons of his. Like finding a batarang in the toaster, it was shocking and a symbol of his ability to throw a curveball after all this time. He was letting us know we belong to him…and we don't know what to do anymore." Wally sighed, covering his beautiful green eyes with a hand.

"You fail to mention what he did, to us…to all of us and yet only a few." Donna prodded, regaining the conversation with a predatory gleam to her eye, "You remember, we cannot forget, but I- I do not wish to say it aloud. Nor do I believe Dick wishes to either…Roy, tell them, tell them what he did."

That did it. Wonder Woman's chair groaned mightily and gave up its claim on the armrest she had just torn off; here blue eyes danced full of utter horror, somehow sensing what would be said… yet her tongue was cleaved to the roof of her mouth… so Diana listened.

…With every fibre of her being. Plotting Slade's bloody, prolonged, murder.

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To Be Continued...

This was the first chapter, of a three part story...

Please, REVIEW and tell me what you think, and admit it, had DC decided to go into a more gothic ideology in regards to the Teen Titans, this could have been what Slade really wanted of the Titans...

Or maybe it's my frighteningly dark imagination...?

Who knows.

Read On... if you Dare.

~*SailorSilvanesti/Phoenix Fire*~