Disclaimer: The following story is based on/inspired by characters created by DC Comics. By no means do I take credit for their creation or development.
Author's Notes: So finally here's the final chapter to our little follow up. Sorry for taking a little bit longer than expected, however, the final chapter is extra long and a lot of things happen. Plus I had decided to release the epilogue chapter along with this one instead of putting them out separately in order to wrap things up more neatly.
So please enjoy this final chapter and let me know what you think! Review plz!
"Yes…I understand, now…"
Chapter 9: Red
"Dick? "
When the bat cave lights flickered on, Barbra jumped, "Jesus, you scared me."
Placing a hand over her heart she let a sigh and continued down the cave steps. "You know you could have used the front door and said 'hi' to Alfred, at least. I swear you're becoming more and more like Bruce everyday…" she said half to herself.
"Sorry," as if he were caught in the middle of something, Dick quickly slipped something into his leather jacket pocket and turned around slowly, "Guess old habits die hard." He forced a friendly smile, "Aren't you supposed to be on patrol with Bruce?"
"The night is still young, old chum," she teased before starting to type on the main computer, "I have a few things to take care of first so I'm going to rendezvous with him later. Anyways, what do you need?"
"Need?" Dick stepped up behind her.
Batgirl stopped typing and swiveled around in her chair. For some reason, her heart skipped a beat when she faced him. Dick was cast in a diffuse shadow, standing in a darker spot in the cave where none of the lights converged. There was something different about him; something troubling that Barbra couldn't place her finger on.
"Well to be honest, you don't come here that often anymore, Dick, and when you do, it's usually because you want something," she adjusted her glasses as if to get a better look at him.
Dick nodded his head once, his gentle smile turning genuine. She knew him far too well.
He stepped into the light. "I actually don't have much time, Babs. Raven is in trouble and I came because I do need something from you. Something I couldn't destroy. I know I told you to keep it from me even if I came begging for it like I am now, but I'm asking you to forget that, at least for the moment. I understand now what I have to become to protect those I love." He took a step closer, "Please, Barbra, help me."
For a moment, Barbra didn't say anything. Finally, she turned back around in her chair and began to type swiftly, "Give me a moment and I can suit up. I'll call Bruce too. We can be in Jump in 10 minutes."
"No, Barbra," he placed his hands over her slender fingers, "I don't want to get you two involved. I just need you to give me what I came for."
Batgirl flinched slightly at his touch. His hands were ice cold.
"God…you are becoming a lot like him…" she retorted.
Robin straightened up, his dark eyes hardening,"I'm nothing like Slade."
"Who? No, Dick, I was talking about Bruce. As long as the ends justify the means, you'll do anything," gently, she tried to pull back from Dick. His grip had tightened considerably and he was beginning to frighten her, "And you always think you have to do it all alone."
Robin lowered his head. His face and grip softened slightly. "I'm not like him either, Babs," a tender smile spread across his lips again, "If I was…I'd still have you."
"Dick…what we had was…"
"Nothing. It was nothing to you. It's alright," Dick cast his eyes to the ground, "You'll get over it. I'm actually glad you chose him. I can see why too. He doesn't have to make the sacrifices I have to in order to protect you." He chuckled with a hint of sadness, "All my life I've never been able to do anything alone. I'm weak and I've always had to rely on others. First at the Haley's Circus with the family acrobatics, then Batman and later you, and after that it was the Titans. I've never been strong enough to fight by myself." He brought his gaze back up to her, "That's why I've come here. I understand now what I need to do to be strong."
Staring back into Robin's eyes, Barbra cocked her head slightly. In the dim light his eyes seemed to have a strange golden glint to them. Had they always been like that?
"So I ask you again, Barbra," Dick got on his knees so that he was on level with her, "please, give me the power to alter fate…give me the power of Red X."
"Dick…" when she touched his face he closed his eyes, "I'm sorry. I can't. You are actually very strong, but…there's no way of knowing if you'd be able to control her this time."
Robin opened eyes slowly, a calm expression washing over them, "I was afraid you'd say that."
Barbra gasped. The irises of Dick's eyes were completely golden now. When he lunged at her, she tried to jump up, but instead she found herself restricted by the large chair.
"Dick, what are you doing? NO!" Struggling against Robin's tight grip she managed to strike him once across the face, "DICK! NO!"
Unfazed by the blow, he wrestled her to the cold floor. His dark bangs fell into his eyes as he restrained her subsequent struggles against him.
Was this how Batman had you? Was this how he took you, my first love, away? The contemptuous thought along with the disgusting memory of discovering them fucking each other in the Bat Cave briefly sprang up in Robin's mind.
"Dick, please. Please don't do this!" Tears began to flood the red head's eyes.
Suddenly, Batgirl felt her pulse jump as something cold sank into her neck. Dick placed the automatic syringe back into his pocket.
"Shh…shh. Don't worry, Babs," Dick crooned, stroking her hair, "That was just a quick acting sedative. Shh…everything is going to be alright."
Barbra only cried harder as she felt the energy behind her struggles deplete, "Damn you, Dick. Damn you! You were down here looking for the suit, weren't you? Well I'm never going to tell you where I hid it, Dick. For the sake of you and everyone else, I can't."
Robin shook his head. He continued to hold her wrists firmly, though her struggling had ceased to nothing but weak muscle contractions. "You don't need to. I already know you're wearing it."
Behind tousled locks of red hair, Barbra's eyes grew large.
"It's the safest place in Gotham," a fond smile touched his lips, "Besides, with you so close now, Addie and I can even …smell it…we can sense it on you." He breathed in deeply through his nose.
"Addie and you?"
"The suit needs blood to bond to the user and to become active, "Dick sat back, now that Barbra's movements had stopped completely, "without the proper cuts and slices to your skin before donning it for the first time, it becomes nothing more than a soft fabric suit. So there was no danger of you hiding it on your person like that."
Despite her sobs, Dick began to unbutton her clothes. "To hide something so dangerous so closely to you is actually quite smart." He smiled down at her again, "I knew I made the right choice leaving it with you."
"Dick…don't do this," her voice was becoming weak as she started to fully succumb to the sedative, "…don't do this…"
"I'm sorry, Barbra," Dick whispered softly as he brought his arms around her and to the seam in the back. Further widening the seam apart, he pulled the fabric from around her shoulders. Her soft, fiery hair draped over his hands.
"…don't…" Barbra's mouth barely moved as her head tipped back. The sedative had finally put her out.
"I'm so sorry," he whispered again, a previously swallowed sadness finally welling up in his eyes. He always hated seeing her cry.
With a few firm jerks, Robin stripped the pitch black suit from her smooth white body.
Before he left, he wrapped her snuggly in one of Batman's spare capes and placed her gently into the computer chair again. He ran his fingers through her smooth, red hair to straighten it out.
"Goodbye, Barbra," he kissed her tenderly on the forehead.
Lungs burning with fatigue, Raven stumbled, skinning her knee. With all her erratic running and flying she had finally found herself on the abandon sector of the South side. Since the incident with Mad Mod's mini-machines, rebuilding had yet to even begin.
"Get up! Get up!" She urged herself.
"You know it's pointless to run," Slade's voice carried down the rubble laden street, "You may be able to suspend time as you did back there at the clock tower with all the other Titans, but you can't stop fate."
Raven scooted back across the rough ground as Slade came closer, trying to regain her footing.
"Come now, stop struggling. I just want to complete the message I was sent to deliver." Though he was clad in his signature split, black and red suit, Raven could feel his evil smirk bleeding through his metallic mask, "I won't do anything more to you after that, I promise."
"Stay back!" Telekinetically elevating the charred skeleton of a nearby truck, Raven hurled it down the street with great velocity. It revolved several times, end over end, until it reached the assassin. It enveloped him and the surrounding buildings in a massive fireball on impact. Before the smoke cleared, she let out a shout, sending out dark shadows of raven claws. They scrapped across the skyscrapers along the street, bringing them crumbling down around Slade.
Raven panted. Had she finally stopped him?
"No," Raven gasped.
With a flash of hot fire, Slade appeared from the wreckage. Burning embers and ash fell steadily from the sky as he walked calmly towards her. Any debris that came into contact with his body simply vaporized. The smoldering red symbol on his forehead was blazing even more than before, now.
"The message will be delivered," Slade reached out to grab the half-demon.
All of the sudden, his reach was cut short by a shower of ninja darts. They sank neatly into the rocky earth in a single line in front of him, drawing a line between him and the girl.
A firm hand grabbed Raven and pulled her up.
"Joseph?" Raven clung to Rose's shoulders from behind, "Why were you not affected by the time freeze?"
"I don't know," Jericho whispered over his shoulder, "Perhaps its effects are only within a certain radius."
"Rose, Joseph," Slade's eye narrowed, "I'm very disappointed in you two. I was hoping you would understand that I am doing this for both of your sakes. Everything I do is for you and your mother."
"And you think that just by saying that I'll let you touch her?" Raven had never thought she would ever hear Joseph speak so angrily, "How does allying yourself with a devil fit into that logic, Father?" Holding Raven's hand tightly, Jericho began to back away.
"To make a world into the image of your dreams you cannot simply overtake it and rule it with an iron fist. You must first break it and burn it to the ground before it can be rebuilt in your own image."
"Your logic is twisted, Father. Life is not meant to be so easy to fix."
"No doubt you say that because I've failed so many times to cure you of your catatonic state. You think I've failed you as a father."
"That's not it all, Father. Though you had left most of Rose's and my growing up in the hands of mother and Grant, I am aware of all your efforts to provide; and I thank you for everything you've done and all the sacrifices you've made for us. But it is clear that we've all made our choices now and now we must see those paths to the end."
"Heh," Slade clenched his fist, igniting it into a ball of flame, "Stubborn just like your mother."
Rose's shimmering blue-green eyes widened. Turning around, Joseph pushed Raven in front of him, "Run! I'll be right behind y—"
There was an explosion at Raven's back. Like a rag doll, Rose's body flung past her. The shockwave threw Raven to the ground, once more.
For a split second, Raven could see the thin, hazy outline of Joseph being swept out of Rose's body and into the hot, night air. His eyes were wide with shock and he was reaching out to her.
"Joseph!" Raven screamed as his lucid fingertips slipped between her's. By the time, Rose's unconscious body struck the ground, he had vanished.
"Now where were we," Slade shrugged, gesturing with his smoking right hand.
Whiff! Clink! There was the swift sound of a blade being drawn.
"Oh dear," Slade rolled his eye, "I was wondering when you were going to show up too. And oh look, you and Rose have matching costumes. How cute…"
Raven looked up to see the Ravager standing protectively over her, ready to take on Slade with his katana. "Go!" He shouted at her over his shoulder.
Nodding, she stood up and took off down the street.
"You're always the son that gets in my way. But I'm glad you showed up, Grant. Really, I am," Slade continued.
"Well that's a first," the Ravager growled, advancing on his father.
"Tell me, Grant," Slade swayed side to side, avoiding the katana slices, "Are you enjoying the body?" With his arm a hot glow, he swatted at the katana, melting in half on contact.
Shocked, Grant threw down his half of a sword. He jumped back once before engaging Slade with a string of kicks and punches. Not even, winded yet, the split-masked assassin lightly blocked each blow as if they were nothing but fly bites.
"Tell me, Grant," Slade repeated, "How does it feel?" With great swiftness, Grant's father raised an open hand into the air. His palm faced the Ravager and was glowing red again.
All of the sudden, with a jerk, Grant froze, in mid kick.
Slade laughed at the scared expression that grew across Grant's face.
"My body, I can't…" Grant's voice shook with straining, "What have you done?"
"My boy, did you think that you could take my body without any strings attached? Witness, my little marionette, the power Master has given me!" With a slight gesture of his hand, he brought Grant to his hands and knees and forced his shaking body to bow his head low. Slade continued to chuckle darkly. He could make him do anything he wanted in this position.
Grant let out a shout as Slade brought his foot down on his head, slamming him against a slab of uneven concrete several times. Slowly, with each impact, the knot that held Grant's cowl on loosened. After some time, it slipped completely off.
Finally, Slade gently placed his steel toed boot under the Ravager's chin, raising it so that Grant could gaze up at him. Blood ran profusely down Grant's face.
Grant panted. It felt like a vice was being slowly tightened around his heart.
"You know, Grant, you remind me so much of myself when I was your age. Even when you were in your own body you actually did look like me. I'm flattered that despite our mutual, eternal hate for one another, you actually followed into my footsteps as a mercenary killer." Taking a fistful of Grant's golden hair, He pulled his son's limp body up.
"You always want what is mine, don't you? You always try to take it all away from me," Slade pressed on, "The estate, Joseph and Rose's adoration—to think they even consider you more like their father—my body, and even Robin. You're always getting in my way!" With his hot, red hand he seized Grant by the throat, squeezing hard.
Grant couldn't even scream with pain from the searing burns, the air was leaving him so quickly. Slade laughed at his eldest son, as he could not control or even move his body to struggle against the choking.
"But," suddenly Slade let go of Grant's throat dropping him to the ground.
The Ravager coughed and sputtered as the air flooded his lungs again. He blinked, the light returning to his swollen eyes.
"Hmmm…we mustn't damage you too terribly; for I have plans for you," Slade grabbed Grant by the neck again and began to drag him across the ground, "And when this is all over, perhaps Master will return my body to me. He may even be delighted to find that now he will have an additional soul, your soul, to play with."
(Meanwhile…back at the Tower…)
Dick winced as he pressed the cool, sterile blade into the faded, white scar on his chest. Turning himself around in front of the full length mirror, he continued to make small X-shaped cuts on his shoulders, arms, and legs; just like Slade had done to him when first bonding him to the suit.
"Yes…I understand now…" the recent dialog with Addie ran through his mind.
He had smiled widely, the cold water steaming down past his sad eyes, "…it's all a lie. My existence, my purpose for living on and fighting…everything is meaningless."
"Finally, you're starting to see the light," Addie crossed her arms, a thin smirk spreading across her wormy lips.
"I don't even remember why I care for my friends, the Titans, like I do," he lowered his head and hugged his knees, "Perhaps even Grant's feelings for me are nothing but a lie as well. Maybe they were nothing but a manifestation of the influence of Raven's soul on him. Even my love for him could have been only a result of your love and your presence, Addie, as his mother, in my brain…"
For once Addie didn't retort something back. Unknown to Dick, the smug look on her face had completely melted away.
After a moment she uncrossed her arms and leaned forward, "But you enjoyed it, didn't you?" Her voice was surprising gentler.
Dick grit his teeth, his face contorting into a painful expression, "YES! I did!" He whipped his head up the tears spilling out of his eyes, "I shamelessly admit it, OK?! Why does everyone keep saying that? I get it already! Dick Grayson is nothing but a fucking Xynothium whore who's tired of living and being fucked over again and again. I just want to wake up from this nightmare …but I'm too cowardly to do anything different than live on and be fucked again." He dropped his head in between his bare knees again, the echoes of his shouts still ricocheting throughout his mind.
"That's not what I meant to imply, "Addie kept her oddly tender tone. In an odd sort of way, it reminded Dick of his mother's.
"Then what," Dick said, his voice barely audible.
"You're life and purpose, as I've convinced you, are, indeed, made of nothing but lies. Perhaps, even what you say about your relationship with my son is true, but these things don't change the emotions you had," she stated, "I was there, in your mind, when met Grant and I know that with him, you were happy. He was happy too."
A gentle smile touched Addie's gray lips, "Love is reciprocal and must be returned for such a bond to truly exist. Though it is possible that my love for my son and your friend's love for you brought you two together, it doesn't change the fact that your feelings for each other were true. So what if it was all was based on lies? They still existed, didn't they? Hell, you may question why you live on and this may all be a dream, as you say. But you still exist, don't you? "
Slowly, Dick lifted his head, "Why are you encouraging me? Don't you want me dead so you can take my body for your own and declare genocide on all metahumans?"
The rotting ghost shrugged, "I still crave for those things. I yearn to make them all bleed! And I will tear your body from you one day." She clenched her fisted tightly, "But like I said, we have a few things in common. We both want Slade gone and…and you reminded me of my love for my son. I don't know how I almost forgot that. The reason why I became mistress of the HIVE in the first place and seek revenge on the metahumans was because I could not protect my children from them. I suppose in that sense, our paths in life are similar as well."
She shrugged again, "Who knows, perhaps being stuck in your head all this time is finally having its effect on me. Did you ever consider that maybe 'influence' and 'emotion' are two way streets, Grayson?"
As if finding a new strength, Robin rose from the floor of the cool tiled shower.
"Very well, Addie," he said, "you will have your wish. For your clair voyance, I will relinquish my body to you. However, I will only do so after either Slade's defeat or my death, whichever comes first. Like Raven and Grant had done before, we will unite so that we may strike down our enemy and protect that which we value." He turned the knob of the shower closed, "My only condition is that no harm will come to any of my friends. In other words, you must promise to protect them at all costs, despite any of your future intentions."
"Excellent," Addie's golden eyes narrowed, her thin, smug smile returning, "I do believe we finally have a contract, Dick Grayson."
Still standing in front of the mirror, Dick squeezed his eyes shut as he split one palm, then the other open as well.
Once he slipped the suit on, it clung to his body, responding immediately to his blood. A cool shiver ran up his back as the suit's seam automatically annealed up his spine.
"Good," he thought, "Even though Xynothium is out of my system, it still recognizes me."
Slowly, as Robin felt the blood began to course through the suit, the X across the chest appeared, seeping in from black to vivid red.
Finally, after one last cut across his forehead, Dick took a deep breath and quickly pulled the dark cowl over his head. His screams echoed throughout the Tower as he felt the fully completed suit re-bond to his body.
"SLADE!"
The assassin was just standing there out on the ledge of a crumbling building, overlooking the singed and blackened ruins of what was formally known as "Banker's Plaza." Jagged, steel scraps of buildings littered the ground below, jutting out from the earth like the uneven spines on the back of a lizard.
"Slade!" Dick bellowed, again, his voice deforming and becoming multi-harmonic at the end of the shout. He revved the engine to his R-cycle, taking it over the edge of a higher, adjacent building.
Calmly, the resurrected man turned his gaze to the sky as Robin's motorcycle arced over him. In mid air, he leapt from the cycle. Still running, the bike struck and skidded over the edge of the rooftop. It fell in a twisting pattern before striking the ground far below. On impact, there was a small flash of orange as it caught fire.
Above Slade, the majestic pattern Dick's Xynothium wings blotted out the intense, orange sun. In a puff of feathers, the silhouette of the wings suddenly disappeared.
It happened so quickly and the sunlight had been so blinding that Slade barely had time to react to the storm of shurikens showering down upon him. The assassin took several jumps back, narrowly avoiding many but not all of the spinning blades. Several caught him across the abdomen and chest.
Before Slade knew it, Dick was descending on him as well in a flurry of swirling, red feathers with silver staff extended. The red Xynothium blade at the end of his staff glinted in the sun.
The curved reaper blade resonated as Dick locked it with Slade's flaming Bo staff. "It ends now, Slade," he hissed from behind the stark white, skull mask, "you're going to pay for everything you've taken from us!"
"Red X…no…" was all Slade managed to choke out, his voice straining.
Finally, the hot fire burned through the Xynothium blade and the two pushed back from each other. Swiftly reforming the curved blade, Robin came at the one-eyed assassin again.
The tattered cape of the Red X suit flapped rapidly in the hot wind as they exchanged blows, their weapons ringing against each other periodically.
Though the Red X suit had made him faster and stronger, Dick could feel his breath quickening as he began to fatigue slightly. Unlike all of Dick's other encounters with him, Slade wasn't being playful nor holding back anymore.
Eventually, with a quick flick of his burning Bo staff, Slade managed to sever Dick's staff in half. The reaper blade dropped to the ground in a flaccid puddle, having lost connection with the rest of Dick's staff.
"Unh!" Dick let out a small shout when Slade brought the flaming staff around again, striking him across the face. He winced as he felt the white, hot flames disintegrate a quarter of his mask, revealing his cheek and his left eye. Dropping the last half of his staff, Dick frantically patted out the demonic flames before they could progress further.
While he was distracted, Slade kicked him to the ground against a sharp concrete bolder and struck him once more across the abdomen. The flames hungrily licked up his side, singeing the scarlet X across his chest obsidian black.
"Just give me control, boy! I can take him." Addie hissed in his mind as he struggled to stop the flames from consuming him.
"No," Dick mentally shot back, "not yet!"
"Ahh!" Dick shouted catching the end of Slade's glowing staff between his hands that the assassin had tried to push through him like a hot spear. "Ahhhh!" He let out a longer scream as he felt the fire eat through the palms of the suit, searing the Xynothium pores shut. With a final heave, Robin managed to bend the end of the staff into a strange angle and pull it away from the assassin.
Kicking up and wide, Dick dislodged the fire staff, from Slade's grip. With what little Xynothium left trickling out of the slits of his gloves and down his hands, he concentrated, turning them into sharp claws at the ends of his fingertips. He swiped at the stunned assassin, slicing him across the chest. Jumping up, he continued his onslaught. He shredded him a second time across the chest, once across the jaw, and then once down from above and across his steel mask.
There was sharp, long drawn out screech as he drew his claws down through the mask. Finally he pulled the assassin in close, driving his fingers deep into Slade's heart. The blood ran hot against Dick's palm as he pushed his hand into forever.
"Dick…" the whisper tickled his ear as the steel mask finally fell in fragments away from the assassin's face.
Dick's heart stopped. That whisper…that gentle voice…
The young man blinked several times, as the acid tears welled up behind his eyes, "Grant?" He hugged the other man's body more tightly against him. The blood was warm against the exposed skin of his abdomen.
Just across the street, on the rooftop of the Jump City's Space Needle, Dick caught site of a familiar, villainous figure wrestling with Raven. He was standing behind her, holding her firmly by both of her arms. He was hurting her! Yet, like always, he seemed to be calm. Despite Raven's thrashing, he was staring directly at Dick and Grant. Though Slade was far off, Dick knew a devilish smirk was growing across his face.
So he was controlling your body, like a puppet…wouldn't let you speak… just so he could distract me…he's still playing with me!
"Why," Dick finally managed to say. He slowly withdrew his fingertips from Grant's chest, "why am I always the one killing you, Grant?"
Grant coughed and smiled feebly, "I'm glad it's always you…" His soft blonde bangs fell into his eyes as he slowly sank to the ground.
As a darkening puddle grew around them, Dick dropped to his knees. Tenderly, he took his lover into his arms. The reoccurring nightmare he had told Raven about finally made sense, now.
"Don't," Grant said. His deep sapphire eyes were smiling though his voice was growing weak, "Don't worry about me. Slade's body has healing abilities remember? I'll be OK. Just go to Raven. She needs you now."
Despite Robin's struggling, the tears finally flowed down his face, leaving a dark trail down the other half of his mask that was still intact.
"Go, Dick. Really, I'll be ok," he brought up a trembling hand to stroke Robin's exposed cheek. His fingertips left crimson smudges on Dick's face as his hand fell away.
Gently, placing his love down, Robin stood up and looked across the way, just in time to see Slade drop Raven's limp body over the edge of the steel tower they were on.
A small gasp escaped Robin's lips as he quickly jumped up and dove over the side of the building. With almost instinctive gracefulness, he swooped down and caught the young half-demon several feet from the twisted metal spires peppered across the ground below. They landed lightly, in a clear spot set equally in between the two buildings.
"Dick," Raven grinned, "You came for me."
"Of course," he tried to force another smile despite his growing sadness, "We share a bond, remember?" He propped her up against the base of one of the steel frames that jutted out from the ground, "You rest now." He stroked her head as she passed out from sheer exhaustion.
Before he could even think about going back for Grant, there was a flash of fire. When the heavy smoke cleared, Slade was standing in front of him, Grant's neck clutched tightly in his hand. Grant blinked sedately, his fading eyes staying fixed on Robin as his father smirked and began to drag him down the street towards a fiery portal that had appeared seconds after they had. Grant's body left a thick path of blood behind them as they went.
"Slade," Dick clenched his teeth and jumped in front of the assassin, blocking his path, "Where do you think you're going?"
"Oh, Robin, look at you," Slade chided, "all dressed up in Red X just for me. I'm quite flattered, actually, seeing as you had sworn to never don her again. Though, I'm afraid you've dressed up for no reason. The message I've delivered to Raven is complete and the fate of this world has been sealed. Now all that which remains is for master to return my body to me." He jerked Grant's limp body once. His son coughed as Slade began to make a motion to walk past Dick.
However, Robin stood firm, "No, you've taken enough from me. I won't let you take him!" With that he swung and kicked at the demonic assassin in a lavish attack.
Without dropping Grant, Slade easily dodged and pushed away Robin's advances. Seemingly without any trouble at all, he plucked Dick's foot from the air and slammed him onto the rocky ground. With one hand, he grabbed the young struggling boy by the neck as well. He lifted Robin off the ground as if to appraise his worth.
"Look at you," Slade laughed darkly, "That attack was pathetic in comparison to how wonderfully you fought against Grant when you thought he was me." He chuckled again as Robin brought his hands up attempting to resist his devilish grip, "You spent everything you had fighting Grant and now you've got nothing left. You are weak, which is why it was so easy to have my way with you; and why I shall take what I want from you. Don't you see? You belong to me."
"Hmm," Slade continued after a pause where he watched Robin twist about a bit more. Lowering him down he slammed Robin against an upright concrete slab, "Perhaps, before Grant and I leave, I shall leave my mark on you too so that you will remember that you will always be mine."
Full of agony, Dick screamed. He could feel his skin bubbling and melting under Slade's grip. Slowly, he felt the pain sear down his throat to his chest, enveloping his entire body in excruciating torture. In patches on his chest and abdomen, his very suit began to peel away from the sheer intensity of the torturous heat. Dick squeezed his eyes shut as he continued to scream, his lungs burning infinitely.
"Now! Let me have you know!" Addie's frantic voice urged, "You will not survive this, Grayson!"
Robin's eyes rolled into the back of his head as he was too weak to scream anymore. With one final struggled breath, Dick's body grew limp.
"Pity," Slade mused at the barely breathing boy in his grasp, "Your body was so perfect too."
Just as he began to relax his grip around Dick's neck, Dick's arm twitched. Before Slade knew it had him by the collar and had pulled him in close.
The slick surface of the Red X suit undulated as its edges quickly slithered across Dick's body, covering his wounds and filling its ragged holes. Robin's head whipped up, his eyes wide and glowing. They glowed so hotly and were so intensely gold that then even showed from behind the bone white mask. Quickly, the red Xs across Robin's head and his chest seeped back to the surface of the suit.
"What is this," Slade dropped Grant to the ground as a Xynothium clawed hand dug into his wrist.
"How you dare touch my son," Addie growled as she ripped Slade's clutch from around her neck. Like a thin twig, the assassin's arm snapped and dislocated as she wrenched his arm around.
Though shocked momentarily, Slade brought his other hand up and shot a wave of continuous fire at the reawakened ghost. Releasing her husband from her grip, she leapt back several feet, while rendering a large knight's shield completely out of Xynothium. She bowed her head, knelling behind it as Slade's fire storm washed over and around her.
As the Xynothium began to bend and melt with the heat, Addie reached into her belt, producing several familiar, blinking disks.
Quickly, despite being licked by flames, the resurrected woman threw the disks, spinning, straight for Slade. There was a puff of frost as the first few discs, unable to withstand the fire wave, destructed before reaching Slade. However, they had dispersed the flames just enough for the ones behind it to fly further and detonate on impact. In a flash of ice and sparkling snow, they froze Slade in place. Jagged ice crystals spread thickly and swiftly across the ground surrounding Slade as Addie ran at him.
Though he had shattered out of the ice shell while Addie was still quite far off, Slade barely had time to blink when she was nearly on top of him. With spinning finesse, she swung at him with two broad, red scimitars.
"Amazing, The thought brushed briefly across Slade's mind, "She doesn't even need to use a base object to render a Xynothium weapon."
He ducked and rolled, avoiding the shining Xynothium blades. Quickly, Slade extended his flaming staff. Soon, the evening was filled with the ringing of steel and metal once again.
Ching! Addie screeched, an inhuman noise escaping her lungs as she locked Slade's staff in between her curved, red blades. Even though the demonic fire began to quickly incinerate her swords, Addie continued pumped Xynothium out of her palms and along the sword, constantly filling in and reforming the blades.
Slade's eye grew wide. Amazing…
Giving a final heave and shout, Addie managed to break Slade's hold on his burning staff, flinging it away. It spun several times in the air, its fire going out quickly as it grew smaller in the distance.
Without further hesitation, Addie retracted one of her Xynothium scimitars and lunged at Slade, driving her final blade through his abdomen. What appeared to be black, dry sand, instead of blood, fell freely from his wounds.
"Addie," Slade gasped, "darling, is that you? You've finally returned to me?"
"Slade," Addie clicked her jaw that seemed slightly wider and out of place than normal, "I loved you once…but once was enough." She quickly retracted her blade back under her skin.
With an inhuman scream that seemed to stretch her sagging jaw wider, she dug her claws deep into Slade, raised him above her head, and threw him down the swirling fire portal that had remained open since he and Grant had appeared on the street.
When the portal closed quickly behind Slade, she roared again, as if in victory. Her multi-harmonic shout echoed throughout the ruined streets.
However, contrary to this display of domination, Addie soon collapsed adjacent to Grant whose eyes had never left her while he had lying prone against the rocky earth.
"Mother," Grant murmured gazing at the convulsing body that had fallen next to him, "Dick…" Finally able to control his body again, the Ravager pushed himself off the ground and crawled next to Dick's body.
"Dick? Can you hear me?" When Grant pulled the mask from Dick's face he gasped. Robin's irises were still golden and the burns across his face from their earlier fight were completely black and had grown larger and deeper. "Dick…you idiot…why did you have to go and put her back on?"
Grant cried harder as he heard broken fragments of his mother's words escaping from Dick's lips, "We made a deal…my little knight…my lucky boy…I-I'm here now…and they will all pay…bleed…"
"Raven," Grant spoke to the young girl who had finally regained consciousness and enough strength to hobble over, "What's happening to him?"
"Based on what he's saying," Raven's eyes grew sad, "it appears that he has made a pact with your mother to forfeit his body to her in order to defeat Slade. Instinctively though, his mind or soul is still trying to hold on to the body despite their deal. Given enough time, however, he won't be able to……their agreement will be eventually honored."
Grant sobbed, "No. NO! This is not the way Dick should die. His last words shouldn't be screams. My father, Slade, shouldn't be the last person he sees. He should be happy…he should be old when he dies. I will not allow this." He began to turn Dick's body over despite his body's contractions and jerking.
Raven stopped him with a light touch on his hands, "We need to honor their deal."
"Raven, we're going to lose them both if we allow the suit to consume him! The suit didn't heal Dick's burns and wounds, it only covered them up. Due to its nature to seek the user's blood, it will only make them worse as it tries to burrow into them. Even if we allow my mother to over take him, his body will not be strong enough to support her life, despite her healing capabilities. We're going to lose them both, if we don't do something!"
The Ravager grabbed a nearby scrap of jagged metal and began to pry gently at the seam in the back of the Red X suit, "We have to get this off of him!"
"She's not going to let go of his body so easily, you know." Raven said as she watched the edge of the suit that the Ravager had pried up, quickly snap back and anneal into place again, "She's just not going to give up and die."
"Then," Grant said, the salt water streaming off of his chin, "I'll put her on. She can survive in me and have my body when I die."
"Grant…" Raven trailed off.
"Why not, huh?" Jagged piece of metal in hand, Grant began to tease out the seam of the suit again, "My wounds aren't as bad as Dick's and with any luck, the suit's healing abilities will help me along. Half my DNA is from her, anyways. So I should be a near match for the suit and she shouldn't reject me, right?"
Finally gaining hold of the edge of the fabric again, Grant began to spread the seam apart. "Raven," he looked up at her, "I know you may not be at full strength, but do you think you could hold him down for me?"
Raven lowered her head.
"Please, Raven."
After some hesitation, Raven knelt down. Taking the young man into her arms, she held him tight.
"No! NOOO! We had a deal!" Dick shook his head, wailing in protest as Grant pulled at the edge of the costume, "This is my body, Grant! Mine! We had a deal!"
"Shh shhh," Grant whispered, stopping momentarily, "Mother…"
"Nooo! We had a deal! My body!"
"Mother! It's time to go home."
"Home?"
"Yes. Come with me, Mother," he stroked her cheek with the back of his finger.
"Grant," Dick smiled, "My little knight...come to save me…take me home, fair prince."
"Yes, my lady…"
Raven held Dick close as Grant continued to cut the costume from Dick's body.
"I'm sorry, Dick…" With a firm pull he jerked the corner of the costume up, and quickly began cutting the red, thread like adhesions that bonded the suit to Dick's skin.
Instantly, Robin began to scream in agony, again. He trashed against Raven's firm embrace. It felt as if he was being skinned alive!
Grant clenched his jaw, trying to suppress the flow of his tears as he dragged the sharp piece of steel along Dick's body. It was excruciating to hear him scream so painfully.
When they had finally finished, Dick's head dropped back, his body finally passing out from the shock of the pain. Raven removed her own cloak and wrapped it around Dick.
After Grant had made the final cuts to his own body and slipped on the Red X suit, save for the mask, he paused. Without a word, he brushed the hair away that had fallen in Dick's face and ran his hand across his smooth cheek. His hand hesitated for a moment on Dick's delicate jaw. Slowly he pressed his lips against, Dick's motionless ones, holding them there for an extended second before pulling back.
"Grant," Raven called out to Grant just as he was about to slip on the white skeleton mask, "You know that once you put her on, she'll be constantly scratching inside you to get out. You're going to have to fight and struggle against her every day."
Grant nodded.
"She also likes to settle in the part of your brain that has to do with memory, Grant," Raven added, "You saw what she did to Dick's memories. It's possible that now that she is stronger that you may not be the same person after you put that mask on. You may not even remember this conversation."
The blonde closed his eyes and nodded again, "But if this is the only way I can save Dick, then..." he trailed off and opened his eyes again. He smiled gently at Raven, "Take care of Dick for me."
Taking a deep breath, Grant quickly slipped on the cowl. Afterwards, the last thing he could vaguely remember was hearing himself scream at the top of his lungs.
"Grant?" Raven called out again. The former assassin had frozen in place, his chin pointing skyward and his screams having long since subsided.
Suddenly, his body snapped to life again and the next thing Raven knew she was staring down a Xynothium rendered, double edged broad sword. She hugged Dick in close.
A throaty growl emanated from Grant's throat. As Grant wound the blade back, Raven squeezed her eyes shut and threw herself over Dick as if to shield him.
However, after a moment, when nothing happened, Raven slowly opened her eyes, just in time to see Red X leap away and grow smaller in the distance.
Additional Author's Notes: Well I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please read onto the epilogue! And let me know what you think! :)
