Hey guys just to let you know I'm not dead. I've just been really busy lately and I really wanted to continue this story in the back of my mind. Now that I got my new Lap top I can accomplish just that. Now that you know I'm not dead here is another chapter!
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"Sir, would you like your dinner now?" he sighed grimly. Wintergreen's eyes rested upon the man in front of him. He was sitting in a leather chair in his old uniform staring at simply nothing. He looked as if he hadn't moved in days. There was only change was in his face.
He had no mask.
His expression remained stoic and cold.
Without the mask, it was easy to read the bout of insanity in his single eye. It was easy to see how hard he'd fallen. It had nothing to do with his physical appearance though, as if his pride would let him become physically weak.
No. It wasn't that.
In order to be able to see the insanity that slept behind his eye, you yourself must understand what pain is. Wintergreen's eyes softened at the image before him.
"Sir, would you li-"
"No thank you wintergreen, you may retire for the evening." He spoke in a chilled voice that had haunted him for quite some time. Wintergreen said not a word as he placed the already prepared plate of food on the desk behind his master and walked out.
Oh how far the great have fallen sir…
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Silence rang through the room after wintergreen left. Although he had closed the door silently Slade still flinched slightly when the door connected with the hinges. Is this what it has come to?
Slade stood up from his chair slowly, and just stood in place. He really didn't have the will to do anything else. It was all a blur to him now all that happened.
How long has it been?
The past couple of years seemed to be a blur to slide, the days melded together. Time made no difference, humiliation was persistent wherever he went. Whenever he closed his eyes he could still see her.
How her power overshadowed him, how her power had sent him to his knees.
I am Weak.
Slade's hand tightened into a fist, if not for his gloves his nails would have drawn blood from his palm.
As he walked towards the window of his room ragged shallow breathes escaped his chest, he felt as if he couldn't breathe. This was the result whenever memories of the past invaded his mind. This crippling depression he had been hurled into refused to leave.
Anger. Pain. Humiliation. Is this what it has come to?
With his clenched fist Slade pulled back and put his fist through the dirty glass of his window. Pain seemed to be the only thing he could feel anymore. He blinked several times as he looked at his fist. His gloves were broken and the blood was already dripping down his hand.
Ignoring the stinging pain radiating from his hand, Slade sat down in his chair once again. A creak sounded from the door as he saw Wintergreen poking his head through with disinfectants and bandages.
Where is the calm, cool composure I was once greatly known for? What has become of me?
Not a word was passed between the two men as he tended to his wounds, this was not the first time. The cuts on Slade's hands were quite deep, but there weren't very many of them. As expected Slade showed no pain while being bandaged, even though Wintergreen knew how much alcohol on cuts stung, especially ones this deep.
Wintergreen wrapped his hands in white bandages after disinfection them. Slade counted each time wintergreen went around his hand with gauze. One, two, three, four, five times around the knuckles. Three for his palm and three for his wrist. The same every time.
The great Slade, beaten by a teenage girl. Slade let out a bout of spine chilling laughter, ands wintergreen looked at him as if he had gone mad. Warily wintergreen said "Sir, are you alright"
"You think I'm insane, right wintergreen? Weak?" Slade said in-between chuckles. Wintergreen had to admit after all the time he has known Slade, he has never scared him more than he does at this moment. He's finally cracked hasn't he?
Wintergreen stood up and walked over to the broken window inspecting the damage. He turned slowly to face Slade and opened his mouth to speak. "I have come to the conclusion that yes sir, you are indeed insane." Slade's eye hardened and his posture grew stiff.
"However," Wintergreen continued "Insanity is not necessarily always a bad thing old friend. In fact I have yet to meet one person in this work who is not insane in their own way." Wintergreen walked over to where his mater was sitting and placed his hand over his shoulder.
"Master, you are many things, but weak is not one of them." Slade snorted rather loudly at his statement.
"If I am not weak, then can you explain to me why I am unable to defeat a teenage girl? Explain to me why I have no will to continue on anymore? Explain these weak minded thoughts to me!" Slade was practically shouting by the time he finished his sentence. He Brushed Wintergreens hand off his shoulder and pushed past him.
"Sir, you are only human, you are not one to fail. You think you are unstoppable but we both know that is not the case. After all the injections and experiments you are still only a man with human emotions and a beating heart." He knew how hard headed his master could be at times and wondered if his words were having any effect on his mentality.
The look of terror and understanding on Slade's face was clear as day even with only one eye. Maybe wintergreens words were making a difference. Despite all of the great evil Slade was capable of inflicting and all the death and torture he had been through Slade was still human. Sometimes he forgot that.
"Master you cannot do everything on your own. Despite what you may think, you have a conscious." Slade was still dead silent, his face looked hollow, empty somehow. And it pained Wintergreen to see him this way but he would have to hear it sooner or later. He sighed.
Walking towards the door he turned to look at his master one last time before closing the door. "No one is invincible master that includes you." On that note to door was shut and not one more work was said.
Slade gripped the edge of his armrest. Damn.
Slade opened his eye slowly to the blinding bright light that filled his bedroom. He saw the cause of the vast amounts of light was wintergreen drawing back the curtains. Slade groaned in protest, he didn't want to get up yet. Even though Slade was naturally an early riser this was way too early. Sitting up very slowly in his bed he picked up his alarm clock and looked at the time.
It was 5 in the morning, he still had an hour to sleep. Slade glared at an already smiling Wintergreen.
"What is the meaning of this, you know how I value my sleep." He growled at his butler.
"Forgive me master but I believe there is something you must see." There was a sadness to his voice that made Slade stand up from his bed without question and walk to the door. As he reached
for the doorknob he turned around to look at wintergreen. This eyes looked
visibly pained.
"Show me."
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
The mansion was quiet as both men walked through the hallways, not a word was passed between them. It wasn't awkward though, they had spent the past couple of years barely speaking
with Slade being in the emotional state he was in and all.
Even though Slade had barely been a talkative person to begin with.
They stopped in front of a door that Slade had no idea what was behind it. Living in a mansion he barely had any time to remember what was behind each and every door though he had the
majority of the layout in his mind. He wondered how wintergreen remembered it
all.
He deserves a Raise. Slade thought as he looked to his butler. "Are we going to stand here for the remainder of the day wintergreen or is there something behind this door?" Slade arched his eyebrow.
"Master just prepare yourself, I don't want you to get upset with me." Wintergreen warned. He slipped the key into the lock of the doorknob and Slade wondered why the door was
locked in the first place. "And sir?" wintergreen said over his shoulder. "I
would appreciate if you refrain from any violent tendencies, I would prefer not to cause anymore property damage or to have to bandage you up again."
It has to be really bad if he thinks it will make me violent with him. Slade was really worried now. He took a deep breath.
The strange thing is, that Slade never loses his temper with wintergreen so he wanted to know what would be so bad the wintergreen felt the need to warn him. Not that Slade
didn't have a temper, it's just he never lost it with wintergreen. He was on edge as it is.
Slade looked down at his bandaged hand before saying "I'm ready."
Wintergreen unlocked the door and pushed it open, and stepped inside to turn on the light. After the lights were on he stepped out of the doorway so Slade could see what was in the
room. Wintergreen watched as his lone eye widened visibly as he took in the sight before him.
He noticed that the speed of his breath quickened slightly, no doubt from the powerful assault of memories.
The glass case that stood before him evoked such powerful memories, made him remember Deathstroke.
Inside the case was his old deathstroke uniform, the person before Slade and before the titans. It was like a slap in the face, the image of his suit.
It was a symbol of all the greatness he had achieved over his time. The suit was till in perfect condition untouched by time itself, and Slade was mesmerized.
The mesmerized feeling was quickly over run by his anger, this suit was a reminder of his past. And Slade rather preferred to forget most of his past. The past was always so
painful.
"I thought you got rid of this wintergreen." Slade hissed through clenched teeth. Painful memories assaulted his mind as he remembered the tests and experiments that re-shaped
him and made him the man he is today.
When he left Gotham, he left deathstoke as well, turned over a new leaf. Remade himself in another sinful image.
After all, evil was the only thing he had ever done. Termination and death is all he had ever known.
He clenched his fists at his side as he struggled to remain calm, he had promised wintergreen he would not be angry with him. Wintergreen took a wary step back and sighed.
"I'm not that man anymore, I told you to get rid of it." It had indeed been a long time since he
wore that suit and answered by that name. His peak. His old self. Wintergreen
opened his mouth as if to speak but closed it as if he was figuring how to word
what he was trying to say without evoking his masters' wrath.
"You have accomplished many things in your lifetime and it pains me to see you in such a state. You say you are not that man anymore but you are wrong.
Even as deathstroke the assassin you were still Slade Wilson." He spoke carefully as if to gauge his reaction. "You are still the same man, no matter what name you go by or what
uniform you wear."
When he finished speaking his words were soft and quiet, solemn even. Slade let his words slink
in and when he grasped what the man was trying to say to him he felt rejuvenated. He felt alive for the first time in years.
"I am sorry I disregarded you wishes to be rid of the suit but I had a feeling you might need
this burst of inspiration one day." His butler recognized the change in his
mood and spoke with a lighter tone.
For a change Slade was grateful for Wintergreens defiance. Because seeing who had once been had made him realize something.
Before no one had been able to bring down the mighty Slade, let alone the esteemed assassin
Deathstroke. Slade let out a low chuckle and wintergreen briefly wondered if he was about to go through another bout of insanity.
But Slade was only chucking because he was amazed at his own foolishness.
How had it gotten to this point?
Because throughout these past couple of years Slade had taken on the personality and mentality of a lesser man, which he was not. He had become the very image of weakness that he
had always feared ironically enough.
But no more, because all of the weakness ended here and he vowed that he would put his name back to glory. I'll be damned if I allow a teenage girl to sully my name, but by now she is hardly a child anymore, it has
been quite some time.
Wintergreen watched his master make sense of the thoughts racing through his head, and he could tell that he did the right thing, he could tell this would be a turning point.
Wintergreen smiled to himself because it made him feel happy that he was able to help his old friend.
Slade straightened his back and briskly turned walked down the corridor with his butler following closely behind him. "Sir? Sir are you alright, are you in need of anything?" He
came to a sudden halt and turned to face wintergreen. He had that look in his
eye. The look of pure determination and strong will.
Wintergreen smiled, his master was back.
"Wintergreen, get me the layouts of jump city and ready my battle armor," Slade said as he replaced his mask. "When you are finished I wasn't you polish my staff and ready my car. We have some work to do."
On the way to Slade's robot room, rambled on plans and preparations that needed to be made for the upcoming events.
When the two man departed to make the separate preparations Slade walked into his robot room and turned on the light. He looked over the sea of Slade bots and smiled to
himself. He could see it now, the plan and process was already forming in his mind and it was brilliant.
He was back in all of his glory and no one was going to get rid of him this time, not even the violet eyed half breed. Soon.
A/N: Hey so like I said I am back and the creative juices have just been flowing out of me. It's
been going really well and all but I would really like it if you guys would
leave reviews, it would really speed the process along and make things go along
more smoothly. You reviews are highly welcomed and appreciated.