My Slade shot! I've wanted to write this for a long time. Then I needed a break from my NaNo fic! So you get this. ^_^
I dinnae own the Teen Titans.
To Be Continued
by gatogirl1
... ... ...
Although only an eye peered through the steel mask, its glint and the minute relaxing of tension in his commanding frame belied its master's cruel and widening smirk. His calm outward appearance at a closer glance (a costly glance; one did not look closer at crocodiles lightly) revealed the truth behind his quiet manner: he was the deep breath before a laugh, as someone in possession of the punch line of a good joke.
Slade enjoyed employing falsehood and trickery without qualm in every facet of his work.
Nevertheless, he felt he must be brutally honest with himself (for if he was not, who would be?) as he considered that perhaps he had taken a wrong turn on his genius and undeniably evil scheme of molding young Robin into the perfect apprentice.
An undertaking that had been doomed from the start, even, thanks to his (Slade used the word sparingly but when appropriate could be harsh with himself) poor decision. For how foolish! To try to destroy the conscience of his pupil when it was that same- and only- inner self acting as the frayed thread tying them together in the first place? The conscience should have been wooed with velvet glove, softly and unknowingly; after all it had been the boy's realization of the plan that had set his mind so strongly against it in the first place. It had been sloppy and rushed, a hurried operation, focused far too much on the immediate, pleasing results of compliance with his demands of: "Robin, NOW!" He had been satisfied with a canary in a cage singing spitefully on command, and forgotten his ultimate goal of having a kestrel that hunted fiercely but would soar to his hand and yield the sky. One with honed beak and deadly claw, gifted with a spark of viciousness in that piercing eye that did not merely attack at its master's whim, but anticipated and executed those orders because they stemmed from the same dark will of craftiness and wit.
This time, he vowed, Robin would come to him.
His ultimate goal restored and burning brightly in mind, Slade set about to plot.
... ... ...
fin?