Teen Titans: Redemption
Written by: Swallow Tale and Watered Garden

Chapter 1: Deathstroke

3 years ago

12 year old Richard Grayson aka Robin: The Boy Wonder, leapt through the cloudy, muck night of Gotham City. He wore his typical Robin costume except at 12 years old he wore it slightly differently with a pure yellow cape with a cute little collar, green shorts that came about mid-thigh, green pixie boots, and a dark green colored mask. His belt was different too with it being a slim black with a gold buckle in the middle. One detail that seemed to remain the same and consistent with this style of uniform was his hair. It was messy and spiked up and it gave his look a tiny bit of an edge, but not much considering his choice of color schemes. His uniform that was styled as a Teen, dear reader, was meant to look a little cooler despite him looking like an oversized traffic light. This uniform on the other hand, made the boy appear more adorable than cool. But did Robin care about how he looked in the moment? Nope. He didn't. All he cared about was the excitement and the adrenaline that shot through his body like a sugar rush. He was on top of the world. Robin felt, no he was, invincible. The boy laughed in glee and 'whoo-hooed' as he performed a set of complex acrobatics that helped him almost fly through the air. He finished with his favorite and most beloved move-his quadruple flip as he landed on an old roof top building showing a good view of the Gotham Bay from a distance. He rested his foot on the edge of the building and breathed in the night air as a gusty breeze blew right in his face. It felt so good, not only was he pumped full of adrenaline but dopamine was starting to accompany it, causing Robin to grin immensely. He received such a high from crime fighting more than when he did on the trapeze. Although he wouldn't trade the trapeze for the world, because it was a part of him. Always would be.

The sound of a grappling hook and sharp fall of a long cape dropped in behind the Boy Wonder. Robin knew who was behind him and didn't bother to turn around. The young boy was still in the moment and proudly puffed his chest out in a heroic stance like he always did when he felt he could conquer the world, or climb the top of Mount Everest, or both. Batman walked up to Robin carefully, there was no sign of anger at the child, and instead he smiled pleasantly beneath his cowl as he approached him. "Robin, I told you to wait," Batman spoke softly and gently, but always with a slight little gruff in the mix to disguise his voice.

Robin felt a sweat drop of sheepishness fall from his forehead. He rubbed the back of his head. "Oops, Sorry. I must not have heard you."

Not a glare or a single look of disapproval showed on the Batman's face. Robin only saw a look of what could be compared with adoration. It was the look a parent gave to their child whenever a feeling of nurture or warmth or pride encompassed their heart. Why Bruce Wayne, even when he was the Batman, gave him that look all the time he never could figure out, but Alfred told Richard that Bruce became a different person when Richard entered his life. The boy had become Batman's world, his light and hope when all he had for the longest time to accompany him was darkness. It was no secret that Batman cherished Robin: Dick Grayson. But at times it was starting to get a little annoying to the boy now that he was growing slightly older. Batman was becoming more and more protective of Robin. And sometimes his protective nature went a teensy bit too far.

Batman walked up to Robin and patted his hair down, smoothing it out so that it lay flat and made two little spit curls in the front.
"Hey!" Robin protested, swatting Batman away while trying to spike his hair back up again. "Don't do that, I like it up like this!"

Batman tilted his head to the side. "Why? Don't you want to look nice?"

"It's cooler this way. Plus, I look taller!" Robin replied with a grin while taking a heroic stance.

Batman rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know…" The Dark Knight then patted down the kid's hair again. "I prefer it this way. Leave it like this,"

"No!" Robin leaned back and ruffled is hair again. "That looks dumb. I told you I look cooler with it like this!"
Batman sighed. "We'll discuss this later at home, right now, let's focus on the task at hand."

"Right!" Robin exclaimed. "Let's take this Deathstroke guy down." Robin punched his hand into his fist, a habit he picked up over the past couple of years. Robin quickly reached for his grappling hook, but Batman stopped him.
"Slow down, Champ. You need to have a little more patience. Remember the rules?"

Robin sighed in exasperation. "I know, I know…we fight as a team so slow down and wait for you." Over the past couple of years Bruce realized Richard loves winning and hates losing. Like…really loves winning. So Bruce called him "Champ" sometimes. Richard didn't mind too much, and the nickname made some sense. Besides if Bruce was going to nickname him the boy honestly preferred "champ" over "buddy", "pal", "sidekick", or even worse "old chum". Not that Bruce would ever call him that, thankfully. But if he did it would be pretty annoying.

Batman nodded. "Right, and remember, we do this to help others…not for the thrill,"

Robin gave a puzzled look to his guardian, not understanding why he would bring that particular thing up.

Batman seemed to have read his mind and while nearly chuckling answered. "I heard you 'whoo-hoo' earlier."

Robin blushed in embarrassment. "Oops."

Batman finally took out his grappling hook and shot it in the same direction Robin was facing earlier. "You ready, champ?" Robin copied Batman's exact actions with his own grappling hook and gave one solid, firm, nod.

"Then let's go!" Batman ordered and the dynamic duo took off.

The two crime fighters eventually landed in front of an old abandoned building. They stood for a moment at the foot of the steps that lead to an elegant front door before advancing.

"Why do bad guys always pick buildings like these?" Robin asked.

"Old and abandoned?" Batman inquired.

"Yeah, what's their deal?" Robin asked innocently.

"Your guess is as good as mine, Robin." Batman said with a smile. They entered the building. "Now look sharp, this one is good with surprises."

"Yeah, and he never shows up to his own crimes. He always has other people do his dirty work for him."

"Not to mention he's done a good job at keeping us separated when he's involved," Batman muttered to himself.

"Hmm?" Robin looked up at his mentor. "What did you say, Batman? I couldn't hear you."

"Nothing, just talking to myself." Batman said with a smile at his ward. Truthfully though, there was a mark of concern within him. Ever since this Deathstroke strolled into Gotham he had done a good job in keeping Batman and Robin apart. It started out separating them in a fight to slowly separating them into different rooms to then separating them into different parts of the city. While Robin loved the freedom of getting to do some fighting on his own, Batman wasn't too thrilled at being apart from him. There was no way to make sure Robin was safe during patrol if they were separated. It was Batman's worst fear, his worst nightmare. The thought of someone taking Robin out while Batman wasn't around to help or save him. He lost his parents, he couldn't bear the thought of losing his son too. Yes, Robin had won his heart. He became more than just a ward or a sidekick who helped him out now and again. So far Robin had been fine being put in the situations where he was on his own at times. But Batman didn't want it to be a habit. Then there was the fact that Robin had begun to feel like someone was watching him all the time. It was just a feeling, but Robin's intuition was usually never wrong.

"You sure do talk to yourself a lot," Robin teased.

"Well, I'm afraid I had no one to really voice my findings to until you came along,"

"You had Alfred," Robin pointed out.

Batman shook his head, still smiling a little. "Not the same." Batman started to make his way up a flight of old, wooden, stairs. "Come on, and be careful. These stairs look like they could give way."

Robin followed behind Batman, watching out for Batman's long cape. They managed to walk up the stairs without falling through the floor and the two soon reached a bright red door. As quietly as possible Batman turned the rusty gold door knob to reveal a hallway that split in two directions. East and West. But which way to go? Great.

"I'll go right, and you can go left, Batman," Robin said as he started to walk down the hallway to the right of them. Batman grabbed his cape though and pulled his sidekick back.

"Not so fast, Robin."

"What?" Robin's face contorted with confusion.

"I don't like this, and I especially don't like you going off on your own," Batman said.

"I'll be fine on my own, I've done this before." Robin argued.

"Yes, but not by choice. When we had no other option and we were separated it was different, but this…" Batman was quite for a moment before finally making his decision. "We're sticking together."

"But Batman!" Robin whined. "This is our one chance to get this guy and what if we go the wrong way? We can't allow him to escape us this time."

Batman looked away from the boy, thinking for a moment. Robin was right but…Robin's safety was more important right now.

"I promise I'll be careful. I won't do anything without contacting you first," Robin assured.

Batman glanced back at Robin, maybe he really was being paranoid. Robin could handle himself a little couldn't he? He managed himself at times without Batman being around all the time. Maybe just this once…he could let Robin do this one thing.

"Alright, just this once…"

"Yes!" Robin's fist pumped sideways as if his whole body was rejoicing and shouting 'score!'

"But, if you do run into any trouble or Deathstroke, you call me immediately. Understand?"

Robin nodded eagerly. "Can I go now?!"

"Yes, but just be-"

Robin ran off shouting "Whoo-hoo!" mid-way down the hall. Patience was something Robin still had to learn.
Batman sighed and finished what he was going to say. "careful…"

-TT-

It wasn't long but Batman came to the end of the hall to be greeted by another bright red door. Batman hesitated a moment and thought to check in with Robin. He hadn't heard from the boy yet and he was starting to worry. Maybe just a quick check in…Batman reached for his bat communicator. A device he used to keep in touch with Alfred and Robin, but he stopped short. Was he being over bearing? Batman felt he had a right to be but should he really worry so much? Batman checked the communicator. No new calls, no new texts, no new anything. Maybe Robin hadn't found anything. Maybe just maybe…Batman had chosen the right direction. And if that was the case... Batman entered through the door and came into a vast room with multiple screens surrounding the back walls. Wires and thick cords trailed the floors and were hooked into various power generating machines. Several gears turned and clanked around the room and steam gushed out of pipes. A lone figure—ominous and obscure stood with his back turned. He was wearing silver armor that covered his neck, shoulders, forearms, and legs. His attire consisted of black and silver, and a half bronze and half black mask. This was the guy. It had to be. That being the case…

Robin wasn't in danger, there was no need to check up on him now.

Batman sighed quietly and put his communicator away. Batman stared at the back of this "Deathstroke" who didn't bother turning around to face him. He was too preoccupied. Batman looked up at the monitors and numerous screens. They showed footage of Batman and Robin from over the past several months rescuing civilians, escaping explosions, and fighting Deathstroke's multiple henchmen and assassins. One screen in particular was bigger than the others and was centered more toward the middle. It showed a recording of Robin from several days ago being surrounded by three henchmen. It seemed the boy was about to be ambushed but the clever 12 year old got into a handstand and one at a time using his legs quickly kicked each henchman in the face, knocking them out before quickly flipping onto his hands and getting ready to tackle the next opponent ahead of him with a flying kick. It was an impressive and a difficult maneuver all completed within a measly 5 seconds. Batman suddenly noticed that while some of the recordings contained himself, they mostly were focused on Robin. The main recording of Robin was suddenly stopped, rewinded, and replayed again.

"Robin." Deathstroke mused. The name was practically savored on the villain's tongue. Batman narrowed his eyes. He didn't like how this guy was paying so much attention to his son. Something wasn't right here. The figure finally turned to face the Batman. One black eye bore daggers at the caped crusader as if wishing him dead. "Welcome, Batman. I've been expecting you. I suppose you came looking for this…" Deathstroke took out a vile filled with some sort of gas. "Didn't you?"

"Scarecrow's fear toxin. Hand it over." Batman demanded.

"Very well…" Deathstroke or aka Slade tossed the vile across the room. Batman's eyes grew big but he stuck out his arm and easily caught the vile. Batman let out a sigh of relief at his capture, but Batman had a feeling this Deathstroke intended for him to catch it. "I don't need it anymore, I can create my own fear reagent if I wish too."

That didn't sound good. Deathstroke turned back around to face the screens that showed more footage of Robin, not at all concerned that Batman was still in the room with him.

"So, you must be Deathstroke. The one behind Commissioner Gordon's attempted assassination and all the other high tech robberies in Gotham,"

Deathstroke turned his head to the side to look at Batman with his only eye. This had peeked the masked villain's interest, he hadn't told or gave out any hints of who he really was, at all. Batman actually finding out his name was somewhat impressive.

"Ever the detective I've heard so much about," Deathstroke complimented.

"It was no deduction, one of your paid snipers blabbed," Batman confessed.

"Deathstroke raised an eyebrow in interest. The villain turned at an angle to the Batman. "Who?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Batman quipped with a slight smirk on his face.

While Deathstroke glared with hate at the Batman there seemed to be a glimmer of amusement in his eye too. He liked this guy's comebacks. Deathstroke shook his head. "I suppose I should start making my own help instead of hiring. Better to waste scrap metal than secrets."

"Or maybe you should be more careful…why are you so interested in Robin?" Batman demanded.

Slade smirked behind his mask. "Wouldn't you like to know…"

Batman narrowed his eyes again at the villain in front of him.

Slade turned back around to face the monitors. "But I will tell you this, you might want to keep a closer eye on your kid. You never know what might happen to him if you don't,"

Batman growled. "Is that a threat?"

Slade waved his hand dismissively. "More or less…merely a suggestion. Speaking of Robin…" Deathstroke pressed a button on a silver, slime remote in his hand and all the screens lit up with Robin tied up, blind folded, and gagged in a box with a ticking time bomb on top of him. This was no past recording it was happening right now.

"Robin!" Batman yelled.

Deathstroke turned once again and faced the Dark Knight. "He's running out of time, Batman. You can either stop me from escaping or go save him. If you try to do both you'll run out of time and lose either way."

Batman gritted his teeth and clenched his fist in anger.

"Tic Toc, Batman" Deathstroke mocked. "Times running out."

Batman whirled around and practically flew out of the room to go save Robin. Slade smiled beneath his mask knowing he had won. He turned to face the screens that still showed the Boy Wonder tied up and struggling to get free.

"Tic Toc…Robin,"

-ST-

Guess who's baaaack? That's right! Robin. Slade. And all our other favorite characters. I'm back as well! And I brought a friend to help me! Say hello, Miss Garden!

WG: Hello dear readers!

Swallow Tale: Watered Garden and I have teamed up to rewrite "Child's Play" now re-titled "Redemption"! She even got rid of her stories because we're placing some of her ideas into this story! Wasn't that nice of her?!

WG: I'm excited to write this story with you! And yes, it really is me people. If you don't believe it, send me a PM and I'l respond saying it's me.

Swallow Tale: I'm sorry I've been gone so long guys, but I wanted to start over with my stories...plus Child's Play was getting really out of hand. I was throwing in way too much into it. So Miss Garden will be here to help me and keep me on track. I blame my ADHD!

WG: (Sipping tea) You have ADHD?

Swallow Tale: I don't know actually. I just feel like I do sometimes...OH! Squirrel! But I probably don't. I'm just making excuses. ^^

WG: Well either way, we hope to update at reasonable times.

Swallow Tale: Yeah! So don't expect perfection with this! It's really only for fun. We'll try to keep up with errors but we may just not bother with making sure it's perfectly well written. That just delays updates! You know?!

WG: Believe me, they know.

Swallow Tale: So enjoy the story!

WG: Must you end your sentences with exclamation marks.

Swallow Tale: YES!

WG: Sigh. Well we're off! Later. :)

Swallow Tale: Peace!