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Chapter 10

"No! Tati, Mămică!" Richard mumbled frantically in his sleep. Sweat could be seen glistening on his bare chest as he screamed out for his parents desperately. Screaming and shaking hysterically Richard woke up, all too vividly recalling what his nightmare was about. Tears rolled down his face and his normally dazzling blue eyes were seen to be dull without life.

Though it had been 8 years since his parent's deaths, the pain was still fresh. During the first few months after his parent's murder he had often been haunted by nightmares about that night. The nightmares had slowly disappeared from his dreams when Bruce had taken him in as his ward, but since the training simulation disaster it was rare that he would get a good night's sleep without reliving that night.

Overcome with the sudden urge to vomit, Richard stumbled into the bathroom spewing up last night's dinner. He wiped his mouth on his arm as he leaned over the toilet making sure that he wasn't going to vomit again. Once the teenaged boy was finished he flushed the toilet sickened by the smell before a dizzy spell was cast upon him. Richard's shaky form walked over to the sink and he tightly gripped the cold surface trying to prevent him from falling to the ground. He splashed warm water on his face, and then lifted his face to see his reflection.

Heavy bags stood out on his deathly pale skin and tear marks stained his face. Richard tried to form a smile but it made him look as though he was crazy. Breathing heavily, he crumbled upon the marble floor of his bathroom floor into a sobbing mess. He curled up in a ball against the icy wall, clutching his face. Memories of his parents death flashed before his eyes as be continued to cry.

'Why couldn't I have been stronger? I was too weak to the guts to tell someone about Tony Zucco's threat. If had have the guts to tell someone, my parents might still be alive. If I was a better leader my friends and comrades might not have died in the training stimulation' Richard thought bitterly. 'I'm not going to be weak anymore. Today I'm going to school with a smile no matter how fake, plastered on my face and pretend that I don't have any problems. I will be strong and my problems are mine to solve'. With a determined shine in his eyes he wiped his tears away and walked into his room to get dressed.

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Waving goodbye to Alfred, Richard watched as the limo faded away in the distance. Richard turned around, tightly clutching his backpack and starred at the unforgiving entrance of Gotham Academy. Jack and his gang of bullies smirked and yelled insults at him as he passed by. As they insulted the memory of his dead parents, Richard so badly wanted to punch them but he knew if he blew his cover, Batman would be seriously angry and would most likely throw him out on the streets judging by his mood lately. So instead he kept a cool head and just smiled at them sarcastically, almost taunting them to come insult him straight to his face.

"Hey, Dick we're over here!" Barbara called, waving her arms. Next to her stood Clarissa with her arms crossed over her chest

Richard jogged over and gave them both of the girls a flirtatious smirk, "Hey, beautiful ladies"

"Richard!" both the girls yelled out turning bright red.

"So what's with your up- beat attitude today?" Clarissa asked.

'Something's different about him today he seems to be happy but his eyes tell a different story' the emerald eyed girl thought to herself.

"Nothing really, I just woke up feeling really happy tody. You know what I mean?" Richard lied. His tongue burned as he uttered those words but instead of contradicting what he had said he plastered a fake smile on his face. He had made a promise and he was going to keep it no matter the consequences.

The rest of the day went by without a hitch. Richard continued to be smile and pretend that he was okay as though nothing was wrong. Barbara bought the lie without suspecting a thing, thinking that whatever had gotten him so down before was just him going through a faze. Clarissa on the other hand was slightly suspicious of Richard's behaviour. He wasn't acting like the heartbroken boy she had met after the gymnastics tournament. She could see despite all the smile's and jokes he threw her way; the happiness he showed didn't reach his eyes. Clarissa waved goodbye to Barbara and Richard anxious to get home.

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Clarissa slammed the door shut behind her quietly entered her home. Only a couple of months ago it would have been filled with the happy giggles of her litter brother and the smell of her mother cooking dinner. Her mother would have walked over to her; saying hello, asking how her day was with gravy splattered on her frilly pink apron and smelling like whatever she would have been cooking. Clarissa would have said hello before brushing her mother off and running upstairs, deeming herself too 'cool' to spend time with her own flesh and blood. She would have only come down for dinner and listen to her father talk about his day. Probably thinking that whatever her father did for work was too boring she would just ignore him.

'I was so stupid back then. I should have spent time with my family instead of pushing them away' Clarissa thought to herself as she walked over to the kitchen and placed her bag down on a nearby chair before grabbing a can of coke out of the fridge.

Never in her wildest dreams would she have thought that she would be and orphan and raising her younger brother by herself with death looming constantly over her shoulder.

3 months ago her new 'master' Deathstroke entered her life and everything had changed.

Apparently both Clarissa's father and Deathstroke were business buddies back in the day but their partnership had ended when her father stole 20 thousand dollars off him after a high profiled mercenary gig. After realising that Deathstroke would most likely come after him and kill everyone her father cared for, her father changed his name and gotten a hold of fake credentials. He had cleaned up his act; became a normal, everyday accountant, met her mother got married and had her and her brother.

Clarissa sat down on the leather sofa in front of the TV with a can of coke in her hand. She couldn't help but go back and revisit the day her life got so complicated. One day she was just a normal teenaged girl ignorant of the dangers of the world outside her safe little bubble and the next she was playing lackey to a murder, used to bring her new friend to a psychopath hoping to make him into his apprentice.

Flashback

It was the deed of night and Clarissa was asleep when a loud explosion sounded waking her family from their sleep. In the rubble of where the door to their house once stood was the figure of the notorious mercenary and assassin Deathstroke. He was holding two twin swords shining in the moon light.

Her mother had been downstairs watching TV not wanting to wake her father when the breaking in happened. Clarissa's mother rushed to the door hoping to investigate what had happened, only to come face to face to a cold blooded killer. With a cunning smile he raised his sword and stabbed her mother straight in the heart killing her instantly. Some of her mothers blooded splattered onto his armour making him look all the more sinister.

Her father rushed down stairs still in his purple night gown wondering what was wrong. His emerald eye's widened in shock as he saw his wife's unmoving body lying on the floor and the figure towering over it. Clarissa stood behind him carrying her little brother, James in her arms frozen in fear as she saw her mother lying in a pool of her own blood.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the traditor" Deathstroke smirked as he carelessly shoved her mother's body aside with his foot. He laughed at the enraged look at her father's face. "Was that someone you cared about?"

Her father growled at the mocking tone Deathstroke used and his eyes narrowed to slits as he saw his beloved's body carelessly shoved aside. With a furious scream her father grabbed a sword hanging on a nearby wall and charged at the man responsible for her mother's death.

"Clarissa, take your brother and run! Don't ever look back and don't ever stop running! I love both you and your brother so much! Don't ever forget that okay!" her dad yelled at her unable to look back, as he fought against Deathstroke. He knew wouldn't live to see the morning but if he bought some time for his children to run, they might live to see the morning and he would do everything in his power to make sure they would.

Clarissa nodded unable to say anything. She didn't know how her father knew that man but she would do everything in her power to protect her little brother. Before leaving she grabbed the gun her father had hid in the cushions of the sofa. Clutching her crying brother tightly against her chest, she ran out of her house, without looking back with her father's words echoing in her head.

A loud scream cut through the silence of the cold night air; shocking Clarissa causing her to stumble. The man responsible for her parents stood only a few metres away from her, his sword dripping in blood and specs of her parents blood splattered all over his armour. Clarissa scattered away in fear, her breath hitched as Deathstroke approached her and her brother. She whipped her gun in front of her and aimed it at the killer, with her finger pressed against the trigger. She shot a bullet into his thigh, glaring at him in defiance.

"You bitch!" he yelled in pain. With a blurred he grabbed Clarissa's arm and used it to flip her to the ground with her face pressed against the dirt. Deathstroke grabbed her hair, lifting her head from the ground. He positioned one of his swords against her neck, cutting her skin and drawing blood. "You're lucky, you know that girly? Normally I would kill you and the brat, right here and now but fortunately for you I have a job I need you to complete. You see I need an apprentice and I know someone who will fit the criterial perfectly but unfortunately he doesn't what the job. It will be your responsibility to make him come to me and accept his place at my side. Do you understand girl?"

"I'll do whatever the hell you want me to just don't hurt my brother" Clarissa whimpered.

"Wonderful my dear! Just to make sure you will do as I say, I will insert a nanobot into your brother's blood stream that will kill him should you do not obey me" the man said.

'My parents are dead because of this monster. My brother is the only family have left on this Earth and I will do everything to make sure that he lives, even if it means I have to make a deal with the devil' she thought.

"Can I ask just one question" she asked timidly. Clarissa paused waiting for Deathstroke's approval at his nod she continued her question, "Just who is this person you want to be you apprentice?"

"His name is Richard John Grayson also known as Robin, Batman's partner in fighting crime."

Flashback end

Clarissa had truly started to like Richard and didn't want him to become that monster's apprentice but she would do anything to protect her brother even if it meant betraying her new friend. Dick was a kind boy and held an air of innocence around him that sometimes made her questioned whether he was the same boy that went out every night to fight crime alongside one of the terrifying men alive. She felt bad for lying to the broken boy and for causing the pain he felt but she had done what she needed to do. That was at least what she told herself.

The communicator Deathstroke had given her a few days ago suddenly started to flash bright red breaking her train of thought. She scrambled to answer it knowing that if she stepped one toe out of line her brother might not be live much longer.

"Good job in injecting the mini justice league and Batman with the serum. Tomorrow I will provide you with another serum that causes the victim fall unconscious and suffer from hallucinations. You will slip it into Richard's drink and then bring him to me. If you do not complete this act the nanobot I placed inside your brother's bloodstream will detonate, killing him instantly" Deathstroke instructed Clarissa briskly.

Once the communicator turned off Clarissa sighed and leaned against the sofa.

Authors Note –

Romanian to English –

Tati – Daddy Mămică - Mum

If I spelt Mum and Daddy wrong in Romanian I apologize.

So how was that chapter? Did you like the twist at the end? What do you think of Clarissa now? Please review and give me your thoughts.