An Angry Mercenary, A Lonely Girl, And An Innocent Robin
Chapter 3: Hungered Protector
Description: Its been a week since Terra came to Jump City and joined the Teen Titans, but what can she do when her and her leaders personalities are such opposites? As things look bleak for the pair, a certain masked mercenary kidnaps the two to be his loyal apprentices. Will the two children learn to get along in order to stay safe, or will they still fight? Can all three of these people learn to form a bond that will push past the borders of good and evil? Also, when Wintergreen bets that he can care for Terra far better then Slade can care for Robin, who will win?
A/N: Yep, I wrote another chapter so that we can get some more action out there. So now from the last chapter, lets see if Slade or Wintergreen can get these two kids to get along. I'm loving writing this, gosh, this is really fun so far. If you have requests or ideas for this story that you wish to share with me, please review me, I love it when people review on my stories!
Robin walked outside of the room and just leaned against the wall as he tried to relax, he was warn out with this Slade crap. It was decided in Robin's mind that if he ever got out of here that he'd forget about Slade and leave Jump City for good, maybe he could convince the team to come too, he heard that Central was pretty busy this time of year. Oh what was he kidding, it was the middle of winter and Christmas had ended two weeks ago, as far as he could tell Jump was supposed to be relatively warm during the winter. But that was Jump City, if they were still even IN California then they were in the mountains judging by the temperature. Either that, or it was just freezing in here to suit to Slade's liking, it made sense, the temp would match the temp of his soul. No, Robin's mothers teaching told him that that wasn't true, everyone had a warm soul, no matter how evil or wicked.
The young bird glanced up as Terra joined him, she held a worried look on her features as she watched Robin. After a few minutes ticked by, Terra placed a hand on Robin's bruising cheek, the boy lurched back from the touch but slowly seeped back into the touch and seemed o love the affection. From afar, Wintergreen chuckled.
"Point one for Wintergreen." Will commented.
Slade narrowed his eyes at Wintergreen. "Excuse me? Its my point clearly."
Wintergreen raised an eyebrow. "How exactly is it your point?" He asked.
"I'm the one who slapped the boy." Slade said. "Its only because of that that the two are bonding."
Wintergreen rolled his eyes. "Yes, it seems that your child abuse is doing WONDERS for Robin, in fact, it might be helping Terra."
"Was that sarcasm?" Slade asked, although he knew the answer.
Wintergreen sighed. "Of course it is Slade! This is doing nothing to help the child, he's going to become like Batman at this rate!"
Slade shook his head. "Really Will? I doubt that the boy wants to be like the Bat, he made it very clear when he ran away screaming at the Bat that he hated him and never wanted to see him again."
"Slade, would you have backhanded Grant?" Wintergreen asked, he knew he struck a deadly cord with the mercenary.
Slade scowled at Wintergreen. "Don't you dare bring my children into this, Will."
"Who's Grant?" Robin asked as he and Terra walked back into the room, neither Slade nor Wintergreen knew where Terra had gotten the ice for Robin, but none the less a bag of ice was pressed to the bruise on Robin's cheek.
Slade glared at Robin, causing the boy to step back. "None of your business, boy." He threatened.
Terra shrugged. "Whatever." She said as she sat down, she wasn't going to ask who Grant was, it was clearly personal.
But when has that stopped Robin?
Robin stood his ground to Slade, tired of being the wimp in there fights and arguments that Slade always won in the end. Slade had a weakness, and if Robin wanted to beat Slade, then he'd exploit it if he had to. Part of him said not to and to leave the man to his inner demons, but the other half told him that Terra was in danger here as well and if he wanted to leave then he'd make Slade hate him.
"Did Grant hate you Slade?" Robin asked.
Wintergreen stiffened, he rarely brought up Grant at all, and Robin was crossing into serious danger with this. Terra stepped back, she was smart enough to see a serious fight/conflict about to start up, and she wasn't about to get involved, she wasn't Raven after all. Slade stood up and walked over to Robin, standing at least two heads taller then the little bird, making Robin cringe from the eye widening height.
Slade threw Robin into a wall, making Robin grunt in pain. "Your going to wish that you hadn't said that, little boy."
Robin glared at Slade. "I'm not a child."
With that, Slade grabbed Robin by the front of his costume that had been searched for weapons and punched the child in the face, causing another bruise to blossom right above Robin's left eye. The bird kicked as hard as he could at Slade's rib cage, but it did nothing to stop Slade from smashing Robin back first into the marble floor, creating a large dent in the the flooring. Blood seeped out of Robin's back from an old scar opening back up from the attack, the Boy Wonder growled as he fought to break Slade's death grip on his shirt, but it did nothing to help him. Slade raised the boy up again, but was surprised when Robin slipped out of his shirt and ran, but Robin stopped mid-run as Terra and Wintergreen gasped.
Robin's whole chest and back were covered in scars, some were jagged and old, while some were long and fresh. The scar that really spooked Terra was a word that was ripped into his chest with a knife that read 'Joker' in big bold letters of a scar that looked to have been opened several times in the past. On Robin's back were multiple whip marks that looked to be from an actual whip, Slade made out that a few scars on Robin's upper-arms read other villains names such as Riddler surrounded by question marks, Killer Croc with crocodile bites surrounding the name, Poison Ivy was written smaller but looked almost infected. Finally, on his back was an actual tattoo of 'The Flying Grayson's' in big bold letters with a dove, a sparrow and a tiny robin underneath the letters taking flight.
Slade stepped forward and traced the tattoo. "Where did you get this tattoo?" He asked.
Robin shrugged. "I got it after I left Batman, as a reminder of who I am and always will be."
Slade shook his head. "You will remove this, understand?"
"No." Robin said, turning to face Slade, he wasn't even ashamed of the scars.
Slade raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?" He asked.
Robin shook his head. "No matter how many times you beat me or tell me to remove it, I will never do it willingly."
After a moment, Robin was thrown to the ground from a backhand, the bird rubbed his cheek and stood up to glare at the older man, he wouldn't back down no matter how afraid e was of this human, he was the Boy Wonder for a freaking reason. Robin threw a punch towards Slade's chest, but it was dodged and a strong leg belonging to Slade knocked the wind out of Robin with a kick to the ribs, even Wintergreen heard the crack of ribs as Robin doubled over in pain and agony. Terra finally stepped forward, leaning down next to the injured bird.
"Please stop Slade! He's no match for you, just let him go!" Terra begged, she was now fully understanding why Robin feared and hated Slade so much.
Slade glared at Terra, but now Wintergreen stepped forward. "That's enough, sir. Robin has learned his lesson, right child?"
Robin spat out a few drops of blood. "I'm not removing it." He wheezed out.
Another kick met Robin's chest as Slade knocked more wind out of the bird, Robin glared at Slade and was met with a kick to the face. Terra finally stood up and started levitating some stone kitchen wear from nearby, she let out a low growl as she stood over Robin.
"Back off Slade, leave him be." Terra growled out, ignoring Robin's embarrassment from being rescued by a member of his own team.
Slade sighed. "Fine. You may keep the tattoo, its not like its my identity on the line." He said.
Terra helped Robin to the table to sit down next to her, Robin pulled back on his Robin shirt and sighed as he rubbed his slowly bruising rib cage. Wintergreen soon set three plates of steak on the table in front of each of the members of the haunt, although, both Terra and Robin noticed that there portions were huge. They shrugged it off and started eating, Robin didn't question the food though, his time with Wintergreen had taught him that the man would never poison him or another teenager for that matter, he refused to say child. After dinner Terra and Robin were sent to bed, although neither of them were tired.
Robin sighed in boredom as he stared at the ceiling of his room, he was completely and utterly bored as he secretly watched Terra jump on her bed as if it were a trampoline, the bird shook his head and sat up to face Terra. Terra smiled at Robin as she attempted a back-flip, but ended up landing sideways on her back, causing Robin to laugh. The girl sent Robin a glare before standing up and sitting on her bed normally.
"So Rob, why do you have a Flying Grayson's tattoo on your back?" Terra asked.
Robin frowned and let out a small sigh. "Its a... long story."
"I'm willing to hear it." Terra said.
Robin shook his head. "I'm not ready to tell it, I haven't even told the other Titans about it. I'm sorry, I just... can't."
Terra nodded in understanding. "Well then... what do you wanna do now?"
Robin shrugged. "I dunno, maybe a board game or something." He suggested.
With that, Terra dug into her closet and found the board game Monopoly, she pulled it out and started setting it up in the middle of her and Robin's room. The two played for about a hour before Robin won after driving Terra in bankruptcy, Terra shook her head as she sat cross-legged.
"Dude, you totally cheated." Terra said to a laughing Robin.
Robin wiped a tear away from laughing so much. "Naw, I just learned alot about government and banking from my old mentor."
Terra nodded and suddenly thought of something. "Hey Robbie, whats Batman like?"
Robin froze, then sighed as he helped Terra clean up the board game. "Well, he's a strange man , Ter. He tries to always be in control, in the end, I ran away from him. I don't think he really cares about me anymore."
"Isn't he your dad?" Terra asked.
Robin shook his head. "As far as he's concerned, no."
"Oh." Terra said, not knowing what to say.
Robin leaned in to whisper in Terra's ear. "I'll tell you a secret though... I really want a father, I lost my birth father very young and have really wanted a dad to be honest."
Terra nodded. "Me too." She said, not bothering to be quiet. "I wish I had a father again, mine kind of hated me and threw me out into the streets after I lost control of my powers for the first time in my life."
"Hey, we should be quiet about this though... if Slade were to find out... ugh, I don't think I could handle that." Robin explained.
Terra suddenly remembered something from that morning. "Hey Rob, why does Slade want US so badly?"
Robin shrugged. "I've always figured it was to get under the Bats nerves, but now that he has you I'm not perfectly sure. Maybe since your so powerful he thinks he can help control your powers better, but me... I don't think I'll ever know. There's only one thing bothering me since he said it... who the heck is Grant?"
"Beats me." Terra said, stuffing the now packed board game into the closet once again. "Lets go to bed, night Robbie."
Robin nodded as he crawled into bed. "Good night." He replied before dozing off to sleep."
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the giant Haunt, Slade Wilson watched his two new apprentices from his security room. He was slightly worried about them knowing Grant's name, but knew they'd keep quiet for awhile. The real thing that intrigued Slade was what Terra said, he hadn't accounted for Terra to want a dad, but apparently it was true. And when Robin whispered... Slade was certain that Robin had also agreed that he wanted a father.
This could get interesting.
A/N: I hope this was good enough for now, after this I think updates will be random but close together because I do not believe in abandoning stories for three years and never updating again. Please review, it means more updates!
~Supercasey.
