Slade's Death
Some time later, the other three Titans returned. Seth and Raven had split up and gone to their respective rooms once they had gotten home. Like any other night, he put his mind to work. Seth was studying the map of the city again. He was going to great pains to review each and every possible escape route, along with any hiding places or covert undersides of the city. He had been forced to hide once before.
Well actually, dozens of times before. It had all began with the witch hunt that had opened up in Grant City once the cops had actually learned the truth about him. It had been he against the city and damn all consequences. He had rather liked that; him against the world with nothing but cold steel, his bare hands and a few other implements of destruction.
There were red crosses all over the map, marking specific areas of interest. He would have to go about setting up special precautions in those places: food, water, clothing, weapon. Seth sat back in his chair, resting. Thinking.
It had been at least an hour since the others had come home. Robin diverted to his room almost immediately, and tried to give him some speech about teamwork and how Seth was a bad impression on Raven beforehand. Robin hadn't suspected Raven was nearby, so it had not looked too good when she was suddenly there and had coldly, almost dangerously, told Robin that she could make decisions for herself.
Seth had found the whole thing almost comical when Robin, embarrassed but still attempting to pull his dignity about him, simply retreated down the hall and to the rec room. Nobody else had bothered Seth since then. Seth rose lithely to his feet and looked out of his window. The curtains were pulled back, the sunlight held at bay through the tinted film that Seth had very recently put up. Great, towering skyscrapers looked back at him, the sunlight glinting off of their metal and glass that made up the buildings.
Humanity thought itself so powerful, so safe and secure in their technology and weapons, but they were wrong. They were not safe and most certainly not secure. There were forces out there that did not care about the size of your weapon. It would never stop coming.
You know all about that, don't you? Seth bit his lip.
He had found that out the hard way. Since he had completely destroyed Natas's body, he'd hoped the that the horror was gone. Of course, things like Natas usually did not die that easily.
Do they, Seth?
Seth stopped that train of thought. He hated to admit it, but it was only disturbing looked around sharply as there was a familiar knock on his door.
"Enter," he said in his monotone voice. The door slid open revealing Starfire in all her alien naivety. "Yes?" Seth asked.
"I...I wish to ask you some questions," she said almost hesitantly.
"Go on."
"The others wish to know how you are able to do what you do. How are you so quick, so fast?"
"I suppose its time for you all to know," Seth said. "I am the end result of genetic engineering," he said calmly.
Starfire stared blankly at him. She slowly regained her composure, as if returning from a daze.
"But...I assumed that that was one of the forbidden practices on your planet."
"It is," Seth replied, staring straight at her.
She begin to fidget under his gaze. Finally she nodded, turned and left. Seth moved forward the close the door, since, in her hurry, Starfire had forgotten to. The local intercom clicked on, Seth pausing midway. It was Robin who spoke.
"Titans, we've got a situation," he sounded excited. "They've found Slade and called us. Assemble at the front door. Now."
He left his room almost immediately, Robin's voice still lingering over the PA.
The comm system clicked off, another nearby door opening. Raven floated, almost drifted, down the hallway, wrapped in her dark energies. Her hood hid her face in darkness, giving her an eerie look. One you like, don't you, Seth? He followed her to the elevator, which Starfire had already occupied. The three teens crowded in and began to head down to the ground.
The Titans arrived at the scene, although later than they had wanted. It was an abandoned warehouse on the far side of town, at the docks. No one came here, not even the thugs and bums looking for a hiding spot. It was as if someone had removed it from the city's map completely. Sometimes, Slade would move to a different area for a new base of operations. This was only on occasion, if only to keep Robin guessing. The place was completely out of character for what a typical day would have been like.
Instead of the cold, quiet, calm usual setting where the only things that moved were set off by the wind, there were police cars, SWAT trucks, helicopters, fire trucks, ambulances and more. Policemen and SWAT swarmed around the warehouse, guns pointed at every possible exit. More men and women in blue suits were exploring the area. All of the catwalks, small rooms and hidden corners were under constant scrutiny by the local forces. Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven and Seth all entered a massive hole in the wall on the front side of the warehouse. It wasn't like the one at the research lab. This one looked like it was torn open through brute force rather than a bomb or explosive.
Seth had a bad feeling. There was something familiar about the whole thing. He swallowed, pacing into the building. The first signs of struggle exposed themselves to the Titans. Bodies lay everywhere, hundreds of them. Robotic versions of Slade lay broken and shattered all around, littering the floor. There was damage visible in all directions; dents in steel panels and cracks in the solid concrete walls, crates and boxes toppled over, unused supplies spilled out of industrial crates. Abandoned machinery and equipment that had been left to rust and collect dust was now knocked over or in pieces.
Doors were ripped open or sometimes missing. Wherever anyone looked, there were dead robots. This was absolutely nothing in comparison with the amount of robots that had been at the research labs. Others moved about the great rooms, pistols and flashlights pointed in all different directions in search of the person or thing that had done this. As the Titans made their way deeper into the warehouse, silence reigned.
Finally, it was broken by Robin.
"Hey! This place has survelliance!" he said eagerly, gesturing at a camera in the upper right hand corner of the room.
Seth looked up to where he had indicated and sure enough, there was a top of the line security camera, swerving slowly back and forth, a red light blinking from somewhere on its chassis.
"I say we go and find the main security center," Cyborg took a step forward, eyeing the cameras.
The Titans continued forward, following the path of destruction until they came to a single doorway that had been ripped off of its hinges and thrown aside. And there, inside of a small room crammed with computers and monitors and screens and other equipment, was Slade.
Or rather, what was left of Slade. He had been decapitated, his head was nowhere to be found. Blood splattered itself everywhere, the thick crimson fluid coating the place in relatively dried pools. Starfire leaned over to puke, Cyborg looking like he'd join her. Robin exploded in anger.
"No! Why!? I wanted to kill this bastard!" he shrieked, kicking the headless body and stalking off.
Looks like someone already did.
Raven and Seth now stood within the doorway.
"I must say I find this.. disturbing," Raven said in a quiet voice, "I mean, we've been trying to nail Slade from the beginning and now this..." she turned around, contemplating.
Seth stalked forward into the room. He had to know what happened here. More and more this was looking all too familiar. He begin to work the controls. Seth ignored the blood as he labored to bring up a sufficient amount of data, scouring the security's database for any clue on what the hell had happened.
"What are you doing?" Raven asked.
Seth turned to her. "Try to find me a CD-R."
She nodded, searching through a few filing cabinets.
"CD-RW okay?" she extracted a compact disc from a pile of media, brandishing it in the dim fluorescent lights.
"Good," he said, taking it from her as she placed it in his hands.
He finally accessed the program of the security systems, then he downloaded all of the day's events from all the cameras onto the disc they'd found stuffed in a pile of equipment. He slowly stood up, staring at the monitors and keyboards, the wires and network cables. In the background, Robin's cursing echoed off the walls.
With that, he left the security room and he and Raven made their way towards there the other Titans were, at the hole in the wall.
"What are you looking for?" she asked.
"Whatever it is," he shoved the disc in his pocket, "I hope I don't find it."
Seth stopped, staring down at the headless body of Slade, glancing back up to Robin in the next room, still ranting about his trophy. Pathetic. Seth stepped over the lifeless body, passing the four heroes. Raven and Cyborg stood expressionless as Starfire attempted to calm Robin's nerves, assuring him that it was better to have Slade removed from the equation.
"I don't like this," Cyborg said.
Raven nodded. "Neither do I."
