Slade Wilson wasn't happy at all. Nothing had gone his way since the Trigon incident, getting his body back was fine and dandy and all, but with Robin and the others being constantly absent because of the Brotherhood of Evil put his plans on hold.

The entire point was to crush the Titans, to grind them into dust under the heel of his steel-toed boots and make the city his. He'd owned this city once, with Terra as his apprentice, he hadn't owned the city for very long as the Titans had survived and defeated him.

Slade would make them pay for defeating him. He would find a way to crush them.

"No apprentices, never again, I work alone!" he said to himself. His unwilling apprentice Robin had resisted him at every turn.

The masked villain heard an almost imperceptible sound. Since he had enhanced senses all of them were heightened. He could barely hear the soft sound of someone breathing.

He moved quickly, unsheathing a sword, he held it out, thrusting it into the darkness. He heard the footsteps stop and one of his robot minions pointed a light at the figure who had been skulking in the darkness.

The woman was in her late 30s, blonde hair, green eyes, she was beautiful.

Slade could almost laugh, so Robin's mother was here to see him, now that was interesting. He'd heard rumors of grave robbers in Gotham City, and he knew Robin was out of town looking into it. He'd left two weeks ago? Slade couldn't remember, either way, he was intrigued.

Looking her up and down, she was what any man would consider attractive, but she wasn't some dumb citizen trying to play hero. If any citizens ever wandered into his lair they usually realized who he was and hauled out of there in a hurry. She wasn't one of them. He had barely started his criminal career when she'd conceived her son.

Logically, she should have gone to the Titans, after all, from what he'd read about Robin's parents they were a normal, happily married couple.

Slade was impressed at her skills, after his last encounter with the Titans when Terra had killed him, he'd made sure to up the security of his hideout with plenty of booby-traps to keep them busy. She hadn't set any of them off, but he knew he shouldn't expect anything less than perfection from Robin's mother; still, he refused to form an emotional attachment to her.

He contemplated killing her, but if Robin found out he did that, what would happen? The idea was tempting, but she'd been dead for seven years and here she was alive and well, that didn't just happen to normal people like her either.

Slade held his blade to her throat. She didn't cry, didn't scream, didn't try to bribe him or beg for her life.

"If you're going to do it, then do it. I've died once already, what's one more?" Mary looked at him sadly. "I always knew I wouldn't have long to live. Between the Court and all the psychos, I'm dead either way."

"The Court? It doesn't matter, you've made the biggest mistake of your life, Grayson."

"How nice, my killer knows who I am, at least make it painless, all right? Falling from 50 feet up was pretty painful."

Slade knew that one flick of his wrist and he'd watch her blood seep out of her throat and onto the dirt. Her life would end right then and there.

He hesitated. She was Mary Grayson. Her death had consequences. Her first death had been the "birth" of Robin, his greatest enemy. What would the consequences of her second "death" be?

He'd seen all sorts of people die at his hand, men, and women. They were always afraid, and they had every right to be.

This woman wasn't a Titan, she wasn't a hero, she was just a civilian, and while he cared little for the civilians, Slade knew that she was different from both sides of the hero and villain spectrum. It made her unpredictable.

He held the sword against her throat. Slade gazed into her green eyes and saw no fear, she might scream from the pain of being stabbed, but she wasn't afraid of him.

Slade found that admirable. He'd always assumed that the reputation of the "fearless" Flying Graysons was an exaggeration for their circus performances.

But here she was, just waiting for him to kill her, utterly fearless, and silent.

"Why don't you scream and beg for your life?" Slade asked.

"Oh, the screaming won't do anything, we're in the middle of nowhere and the begging part, that doesn't work on heartless people like you," Mary told him. "Why haven't you killed me yet? I suppose you want to have your way with me first, is that it?"

"Not really, I know I'm being watched by someone and if I do anything to you, he'll try to kill me," Slade glanced off towards the shadows. A pair of golden yellow eyes met his gaze.

"I didn't know anyone knew he was here," Mary looked at the place where Richard stood.

"You're Raptor, the assassin," Slade observed. "I've heard you're decent. Still, how do you two know each other?"

"Used to steal stuff together, that's all you need to know Slade," Raptor told him.

"Fascinating," Slade sheathed his sword.

"I was unsure of how to get your attention because what I want, is an audience with you," Mary told him simply.

"What do you want? A picture and an autograph?" Slade smirked.

"I've only heard of your reputation, I've heard you're not a really nice guy," Mary told him.

"So what do you want to talk about?" Slade asked.

"I'm offering you a proposition, you don't have to say yes or anything, if you say no, I'll just have to work with Raptor instead," Mary told him. "I also know about your…relationship with my son."

She shouldn't know about that and yet she did. How did she come by this information? And she'd mentioned something called The Court. If there were new players he didn't know about, he wanted information. And he couldn't get information from a corpse.

"And what is this proposition of yours, I'm open to listening," Slade steepled his hands.

"I work for you; I keep hearing you want an apprentice, someone to follow in your footsteps. You don't need an apprentice, you need a partner. Answer me this, why do you think your apprentices hate you?"

"Because they're too set in their moral, righteous ways, your son cares too much about his worthless little friends than the knowledge and power I could give him."

Mary crossed her arms, "You're too shortsighted. My son loves his friends, and he'd do anything for them. Even work for you against his will, he'd break all his oaths and promises to protect them. Since you don't have any friends, that idea is completely foreign to you. My son doesn't want your knowledge and power. What good are knowledge and power if no one wants it? Me? I'll take what you've got, I always have."

"So what is this little bargain of yours, Mrs. Grayson? You do whatever I want if I leave your precious little Robin alone?" Slade smirked.

"Oh no, you'd never give me that, even if I got down on my knees and begged. No, I want you to train me, I have my own reasons, but in exchange, I'll do whatever you say until my training's done."

"That sounds interesting, I'm considering it," Slade was thoughtful. What he couldn't figure out was why she was offering him this deal. He wasn't a hero. She didn't say a thing about him protecting her. No, if she wanted protection, she would have gone to Titans Tower where her son was. She wanted something else, something her son couldn't or wouldn't do for her, and that was very interesting.

"But I have conditions," Mary warned him.

"And those are?" Slade asked.

"No blackmail, no hidden ways to control me, no supervillain tricks, I work for you because I want to. I don't belong to you; I'm not some apprentice you can mold into your perfect successor. I'll get you what you want, but you don't give me orders."

"I see, so you want to work hard, are you the type to play hard too?" Slade raised an eyebrow.

"Well you are a man, and that would cross your mind wouldn't it? I'm not your type," Mary laughed. "I've been in your ex-wife's house. I've seen pictures of the two of you, you have a type."

"You actually broke into my old house, impressive," Slade smiled, she wasn't some amateur, that's for sure.

"Your ex-wife almost shot my head off if makes you feel any better," Mary commented.

"I see, and how did you come by this information?" Slade glanced at Raptor. "Oh I see, you told her about me. That's interesting, I've only recently heard of you."

"So why are you here, Raptor?" Slade asked.

"I'm here to keep an eye on her, you so much as touch her the wrong way, I'll kill you!" Raptor snarled at him.

"What a loyal dog. What on earth did you do for him to warrant this kind of gratitude?" Slade asked, glancing at Mary.

"I stole the medicine to cure his leprosy; that was a long time ago. He's always felt that he owed me," Mary explained.

The realization hit Slade, how Mary could know about Robin's apprenticeship and Terra's betrayal. It also explained how she knew about his little "insurance policies" for said apprentices.

"You've been watching me, haven't you Raptor, no, you've been watching him, out of some twisted obligation to his mother," Slade gestured between Raptor and Mary.

"Who says it's twisted, I've loved her for years! That boy's like a son to me!"

"That's precious, Raptor, but you didn't keep her from dying now did you?" Slade sneered.

Raptor leaped at him, raising his claw covered hand.

Mary moved to stop him, "Richard, stop! This won't help me!"

Slade was stunned; she named her son after this lunatic? He was learning all sorts of interesting things today!

Like a loyal dog, Raptor stopped his advance. "Fine."

Mary turned back to him, "I know it's wrong for me to ask you for help, considering your relationship with my son, but you're the only one who can help me."

"And just what am I going to be helping you with?"

"You're going to train me and teach me how to kill people," she replied simply.

"You're a fascinating piece of work, Mary Grayson, I'll accept your offer, but I require a payment."

She threw something at him and he caught it. She continued to surprise him, "This is your wedding ring."

"John Grayson is dead, we died together."

"Did you see a body? He wasn't brought back with you?"

Mary clenched her fist.

"Yes, I saw a body. The Talon Felix Harmon ground John to dust in front of me, right before he started torturing me. He said it was a…punishment, that I deserved this for trying to fight the Court. know he's dead. They enjoyed watching everything, sick bunch of freaks!"

"Who are these people?"

"The Court of Owls," Mary replied.

"They're nothing more than a Gotham nursery rhyme," Slade informed her.

"If that's what they are, then what am I?"

Still, she did have his attention. No everyone gets resurrected from the dead, and he couldn't help but be fascinated by the fact that someone like her could have connections to an assassin like Raptor. Not to mention her skills as a thief, that he had never discovered while doing any research on Robin's past or family history.

"Why is that so important?" Slade was curious. He needed more information.

"They need an intact corpse to resurrect the dead, I don't know how it works but I know that much."

Mary glanced at him, "Is my wedding ring enough for you, Mr. Slade? Or do you expect me to get naked for you?"

"If we're going to get naked, shouldn't we get drunk first?" Slade smirked. "Your wedding ring will be enough…for now."

"Thank you."

"You should teach your son some manners, he hasn't learned gratitude," Slade scowled.

"Oh shut up, I choose to join you because it suits me, you dragged him into your world kicking and screaming."

"And my luck with apprentices is most unfortunate," Slade stared at the R emblem Terra had brought him.

"It's because you're an awful teacher," Mary told him.

"A partnership does sound interesting, though," he smiled a little. "Shall we begin?"

Six months later…

Slade Wilson looked at Mary Grayson as she stood before him, dressed in a uniform similar to Robin's when he had been his apprentice. But it was different. Instead of the tan and black that Robin had worn, it was green and yellow, but the domino mask was red.

It was fascinating, like looking in a mirror, it was like Robin was working for him.

She had been an excellent student, learning his fighting techniques, all the skills he taught her, she performed each task perfectly, and she managed to improvise when he threw something new at her.

She had become something that could go toe-to-toe with the Teen Titans. He had often watched the video of Robin fighting the Titans during the theft at Wayne Enterprises. She was so like her son it was eerie. He had shown her the video too, to show her who she would be fighting.

What was also fascinating is that she picked up on her son's relationship with Starfire with nothing more than the tape to go on.

Mary Grayson put the red domino mask on and looked at Slade. "Well, I'll be going, I'll bring back the chips you want, they're in Powers Industries, right?"

"You studied the floor plans?" Slade asked.

"Yes, I'll go in, get the chips and get out, if I have to fight, then I'll fight."

"You should just kill the brats and be done with it."

"I don't have to kill them, I'm not going to kill them, the members of the Court of Owls are all I'm interested in killing."

"You'd spare them just because you feel like it? You're weak," Slade sneered.

"So what if I'd spare them? In my mind, it's the certainty in myself that I possess which allows me to have that kind of mercy or compassion. There's no wavering on that point. It's fixed like the stars. So remember this: Mercy and compassion are virtues that only the strong are privileged to possess. And I...am strong," Mary looked at him.

"That's amusing, but you should get going."

"So you'll look for the information I wanted after I finish this job, right?" she asked.

"About Raymond McCreary? Yes, I'll look into it, once you bring me those chips," Slade replied.

"You'll keep your promise if I can deliver on my end?" Mary made sure once more.

"Yes, you bring me what I want and I'll keep my word completely," Slade replied.

Mary turned and left. She'd do anything to protect her son, and slipping back into her old criminal ways was the only way she knew she could protect him from the Court of Owls. Going to the Titans would have been the logical option, but she wanted revenge against the Court, for bringing her back to life only to make her suffer, for cutting her off from John Grayson completely, and for wanting to make her son their puppet. She wanted revenge and the Titans couldn't do that for her; that was something only someone like Slade could do.

She had work to do, and it was going to be a wild night.