A/N: Well now things are happening… ;) Sorry for misplacing Slade in the last chapter, I hope to relocate him before this chapter ends… let's see how that goes… Thank you Jayto, as usual, for being a wonderfully supportive Beta!
Black Sheep - Third Time's the Charm
Chapter 11: Voulez-Vous?
Robin looked around; maybe Slade was just out of sight?
"Slade?" No, it didn't seem so. He walked around the cliff and studied the horizon, but saw nothing move. Well. It wasn't that late yet. He'd just have to wait for another hour or so, surely.
He walked around the cliff once more, looking for cactus-fruit, but the few he found were not ripe, and he didn't dare eat them. His skin had turned a little red from the sun, and he put on more sun-lotion, idly wondering if he could eat that. He didn't want to try this either, however, because he could just picture Slade telling him he was an idiot. He even applied some to the areas covered by his clothes, since he knew that fabric didn't offer full protection, and he needed whatever he could get. There wasn't much left in the small bottle when Robin put it back in his pocket, but hopefully it hadn't been a waste, and would last a while.
He had no way of telling the time for sure, other than by how far the sun had moved, but soon it became clear to the teen that something must have happened. Without giving it much thought, he set out after the mercenary.
It was easy to follow the man's tracks, thanks to the holes from his crutch, but, as the sun slowly sank, Robin wondered what the hell he had gotten himself into. He was about to be stranded out here in the middle of nowhere, as he couldn't track Slade in the dark.
It was one thing to walk in the general direction of a target, but he needed to see the ground to follow the man… and the mercenary wouldn't know where Robin was either. He should have stayed… at least until the next morning… The hero paused and then dragged his foot in the soil, drawing a large arrow pointing in the direction he was walking. There. It was rather late to think of this, but if Slade went back by another route and he wasn't there, the mercenary should understand that Robin had tracked him… this proved it and it wouldn't fade as easily as footprints.
Robin sighed and continued walking. His headache hadn't gone away, and his mouth was dry. He took a small bite of the energy-bar in the hope that that would help him produce more saliva- It worked, but only temporarily, and he ended up feeling even thirstier.
When the sun was beginning to set, Robin heard a sound. An engine. He looked around, but the landscape was flat where he was and there was nowhere to hide. Just then a jeep rounded a hill in the distance and came barreling toward him.
"Well, I can't outrun it…" Robin muttered to himself. It was clear the people in the car, three as far as Robin could see, had already spotted him.
The jeep was open, although not the same model as the one that had blown up. Not that it mattered what type of car he was about to be run down by…
Surprisingly the vehicle swerved as it got closer and stopped a little bit away from him.
"You Robin?" the driver asked.
"Moron, who else is he gonna be?" the man in the back laughed heartily. "Great that we found you, kid, or Slade would have had our balls."
"Slade?" Robin blinked. "Where…?"
"He's back at the camp. He had to wait for us to show up, we weren't supposed to meet until tomorrow, and when we finally got there, it was faster to take the car, of course."
"Then why didn't he come?" Robin frowned.
"You're a suspicious little brat, aren't you?" the man next to the driver chuckled.
"Well, Slade said he would be… something about not taking candy from strangers?" the driver shrugged. "Look, Robin, we've been told to get you back even if we have to tie you to the car and drag you, so come on, huh? We all really like our balls."
"Yeah, very attached to them myself…" the guy in the back-seat grinned.
Robin studied the group. They acted very naturally together, like they had known each other for a long time, and yet they didn't exactly match. The driver was African-American and had a bit of a gut on him. Age wise he was probably over forty, Robin thought. The man next to him was wiry with a shaved head and tattoos all over his arms and neck. The one in the back was a blond muscle-monster, and looked the youngest, probably in his middle twenties… not exactly the kind of guys that would normally hang together, but, on the other hand, these were the subordinates of Slade's employer, and that person probably hired all sorts of people. Robin's neck-hairs didn't like them, however, but what could he do? Wave them off? Not bloody likely.
"You didn't answer my question," Robin pointed out, crossing his arms. "Why didn't Slade come with you?"
"Did you see his leg, kid? We have a guy who used to be a doc, he's taking a look at that… and besides, he needed to give a report to the boss and stuff… The boss thinks reports are more important than little lost boys, so it was just quicker this way," the blond explained.
"But if you refused to come we would at least give you this," the driver threw a bottle of water to Robin, who caught it automatically. It was cold. Robin felt the need to just tear into it almost overwhelming.
He glanced at the strangers, but none of them made a move. He needed the water. Badly. Giving in to the temptation, Robin unscrewed the lid and drank deeply, emptying half the bottle in only a few swallows. He stopped for a moment as he felt his head spin. He had drank too much too suddenly, probably. He slowed down a little but still emptied the bottle.
Breathing deeply he took a step. And stumbled.
What the fuck?
Robin felt his knees hit the ground as he heard a car door open.
"Hey, Robin, you okay?" a voice asked.
"Guess you shouldn't take water from strangers either, huh, kid?" the teen heard the driver say snidely before it all went black.
It had taken longer than Slade thought to reach the rendezvous-point. His leg wasn't merely stiff now, it throbbed, and he didn't feel very "meta" at all. A simple wound would have been healed by now, but every time he moved and put weight on the leg, the small shards of his fractured femur stabbed and cut into his muscles opening new wounds. No real rest and nearly no nutrients didn't help much either.
At last he spotted a couple of vehicles and a large military-style tent, and only moments later he was met by several armed guards.
"Identify yourself!" one of them barked.
"I'm Deathstroke. I have the item. Where's your boss?"
Slade had, as soon as he had seen the first signs of humans, dropped the crutch. He might be hurt, but it was never a good thing to advertise it. Not that the men couldn't see the wound, but if he acted like it didn't bother him, they might think twice about doing anything stupid. There were always those who would. Young men, eager to prove themselves against the legendary Deathstroke. Slade saw it as educational to put them out of their delusions.
"Of course, Sir, follow me," the man, a large blond youngster, said.
The guards, six of them, surrounded him as they walked towards the tent, but Slade wasn't particularly worried. This was a sensitive mission after all, and caution was necessary. Something, however, caught the sunlight, just before they were about to enter the tent; a ring. A gold ring with a black stone.
Slade attacked.
As a shout of warning alerted the people inside the tent, more people filed out. Slade had killed two when someone slammed the butt of a rifle into his injured leg. He just had time to kill that man as well before a heavy blow landed on the back of his head, followed by several others. Slade's last thoughts were, strangely enough, not of rage and revenge, but of a pair of blue eyes.
Robin woke up slowly. He was cold, very, very cold. His head spun too, every time he tried to move even a little. Trying to curl in on himself, he felt something warm next to him and edged closer before he fell back down into the darkness.
When he woke again he was hot. Something was burning his skin, but if he stayed completely still it wasn't too bad. He felt an urgency to wake up, however; it was very important, even though he couldn't really figure out why.
After a while the dizziness receded somewhat and he could open his eyes. From that point on, the things he discovered hit him one after the other, and none of them were good.
He was lying on concrete. That was weird, since he clearly remember being in the middle of nowhere, but it was definitely concrete and not rock.
Slade was next to him, sprawled on his front, with dried blood down his neck and back; his hair now even more red than white. Robin pushed himself up on his elbows, hissing as his skin came in contact with the hot concrete, and moved his arms until they rested on the slightly cooler surface where his body had just been. He steeled himself and crawled closer to the man. He reached out and felt for a pulse. It was there. It was very faint and very slow, but at least there.
The next thing he discovered was that Slade was naked. They had even taken his eye-patch. A moment later Robin saw that he was naked as well, and, as he moved, he heard the faint clink of metal. Looking down, he noticed a shackle around his ankle and a chain running from it, through a large metal hoop embedded in the concrete, and ending up attached to a shackle around one of Slade's ankles.
"This is not good…" Robin mumbled to himself.
"Sir! The kid woke up!" He heard a shout from a bit away, and looked up.
The concrete he was on only stretched a bit further and then the now well known dry ground took over again. Robin sat up a little bit more and looked around. Yes. A perfectly level slab of concrete, more than large enough to hold him and Slade, had just been poured in the middle of nowhere. The teen's mind filled in the picture; helicopter pad. Had to be. But that didn't explain the metal hoop or why they were chained to it. Well. Maybe the nice men coming towards them would? Maybe not.
Robin tensed as the men came closer. They didn't seem like the strange, manic minions some villains liked to surround themselves with. Unlike those villains who chose robots… Robin thought dryly and glanced down at Slade quickly. No, the men looked pretty normal, but then again, so had- Robin stared as he saw a ring on one of the men's fingers. Fuck. Fuck squared! He wasn't chained here because Slade's employer was pissed off; these where the people who had tried to kill them all along!
Wait, but why… Robin had to push the thought aside as the men reached the concrete plate.
"Woken up, have you?" one of them asked, and Robin sighed. He had been wrong. This was definitely minions.
"No, this is a dream. Free us, or the scary teddy-bear monster will eat your toes…" he sneered. He didn't try to cover himself up, though he wanted to. It would make him look weaker, and draw more attention to the fact that he was naked, and, possibly, vulnerable. The teen didn't want to do that.
"Did we hit this one on the head as well?" the same man said. Robin had never seen him before, but he recognized the blond next to him.
"Nope, just drugged him. Maybe he thinks he's being funny?" that man smirked.
"I am funny. Let me go and I'll show you," Robin suggested sweetly.
"Sorry, we have our orders. Nothing personal, kid."
"Oh, pity, it's so much more fun when it is," Robin deadpanned.
"Not for you," the blond shrugged.
"No? Is your boss around by the way?" the teen asked.
"Not at the moment, no."
"Darn. I was looking forward to the speech," the hero sighed.
"What speech?" the first man asked.
"The how-I-am-going-to-take-over-the-world-and-you-can't-stop-me-speech," Robin explained. "It's usually refreshing. Sure, the people are always wrong but, you know, it has entertainment-value."
"I'll let my boss know what you are expecting. I'm sure he doesn't want to disappoint you," Blondie smirked.
"Good man," Robin nodded haughtily. "Now if you could get us some clothes and something to eat and drink as well? Without drugs, preferably."
"Sorry, we're not gonna give you a thing; boss's orders," Blond guy said. "Apparently you are too dangerous to even be allowed clothes."
"Oh, so you are saying you are not pervs?" Robin snorted.
"Not unless ordered to," the blond smirked, making the teen snarl. He would rip the man's balls off if he as much as thought about it.
"Apparently we are so dangerous that you had to gang up on an injured man and drug me to take us on… you are such brave souls," the hero smirked.
"Your 'helpless' boyfriend there killed three of us, if you want to know," a new guard piped up.
"Damn him for restraining himself…" Robin snorted, but he felt his stomach turn slightly. He still had problems hearing about Slade-the-killer, even though he should be used to it by now. "How about the guy under the bear? Was he one of yours too?" he asked.
"What?" the blond asked.
"Oh, doesn't matter… just, if you see a bear, you might want to look under it," Robin shrugged.
"Jones is still missing," Robin heard the mutter and smirked. He then got another idea.
"Wait… when you took our clothes… did… did you go through our stuff?" he asked, looking worried.
"Of course we did. Worried about the box? It was empty, kid," the blond man said, and several of the guards chuckled.
"I know that! It's just… I had a small bottle of sunscreen-lotion…"
"Yeah… so?"
"You… you didn't… open that, did you?" Robin's expression was now beyond worried, almost sickly.
"So what if we did?" Blond guy said and looked around at his comrades, searching for some sort of confirmation from whoever had sorted through Robin's possessions. One man in particular seemed anxious.
"You… didn't… touch it or… or sniff it?" Robin stared pleadingly at that man, who promptly broke out in a sweat.
"Wha-what? It was sunscreen! It smelled like sunscreen!" the man tried to explain, his friends edging away a little. The guy got clearly irritated and took a few steps forward towards Robin. "Now look here, I-"
"Don't come any closer!" Robin yelled, making the group freeze. "Just… keep away! The bottle, it's not in the sun right? It's locked away?"
"He's just bluffing! There's nothing wrong with the bottle!" the blond man barked, but his friends didn't seem so sure. "Listen up! Ignore the kid and go back to what you were doing!" he ordered. "Jack, call the boss, tell him one of them is awake."
The group dispersed, still glancing in Robin's direction. As they walked away, Robin heard a snippet of conversation;
"You better move that thing!"
"Me!? Why Me?!"
"Well you have already touched it! I'm not gonna!"
Robin grinned. Messing with people's minds was such fun.
The men left them alone for quite some time after that, which Robin was grateful for. He wasn't in good enough shape to defend himself from any form of bullying, and he would have to protect Slade as well, as the man refused to wake up. Robin checked the mercenary's pulse and breathing regularly and worried.
The metal cuffs and chains binding them got a very close once-over but seemed depressingly fresh and strong. The metal hoop the chain ran through didn't even budge no matter how much Robin kicked it, and it hurt kicking something like that with his bare feet. It was completely embedded in the concrete, however, and when pulling at it Robin would have better success at lifting the whole helicopter-pad than uprooting it. Still he tried. It was something to do, and he would be able to report it to Slade as soon as the man woke up. Because he would. Soon. He was sure of it.
The day became night and now Robin understood why he had been so cold when he first woke up. He kept pressed up against Slade and tried to sleep, but got little rest. The drugged bottle of water seemed to have done very little to actually help him, and as so much time had passed, Robin was as thirsty as ever.
He had relieved himself over the edge of the concrete plate in the middle of the night, childishly hoping someone would step in the pee. The hero was glad that he hadn't had much to eat lately, though, and his body seemed content with holding on to whatever little contents there might be.
When the morning came, so did the blond man.
"So, your boyfriend hasn't woken up yet?" he sneered.
"No, he might need a doctor!" Robin said, because there was still a chance, although small, that the man's boss didn't actually want Slade dead. At least not yet.
"He needs a bullet in the brain," the blond snorted. "No matter, new orders from the boss; I'm to give you this."
Something metal landed in front of Robin, and the teen's eyes widened.
"We are not allowed clothes, but you give me a saw?"
"I'm following orders, I don't have to like them… but I'm told that if you throw it at us, you won't be allowed to have it back."
Robin blinked and stared at the man in stunned silence.
"Excuse me?" he said after a while.
"Ah, you want to know more about the game?" the man smirked.
"Yes please, although I can already tell that the rules are insane," Robin muttered.
"Fine. The boss says that you are free to go. All you have to do is saw his foot off. Or yours. Don't even try to use it on the chains, because the blade won't hold for that."
Robin felt sick but burst out in a fake laugh.
"So what then? I'll hop out of here?"
"Well, we have orders to stick around until Slade wakes up, and if you do it before then, we are to escort you out of here… our boss is a very nice guy."
"Me and Slade?"
"Only you."
"Ah…"
"What, had it made a difference? Because I could always ask…" the man grinned.
Robin had, briefly, considered that maybe, just maybe, Slade's healing powers were strong enough for the foot to re-attach itself, but that was a risk he was not willing to take, and to leave the man was also out of the question. Sawing his own foot off also meant leaving the man, and he would probably not be able to do it… much less survive it.
"Your boss is a very sick bastard," Robin said lightly.
"Oh, I know," the blond chuckled.
"So what do you have? A ring or a tooth?" the teen asked next.
"A tooth."
"Slade said he thought that was for the more permanent employees…" the hero continued. He had already found out that the person behind this was a man, and maybe he could find out more.
"That's right," the man said and seemed to straighten, like it was something to be proud off.
"Must suck… aren't you scared to brush your teeth? Or maybe you just don't?" Robin smirked.
"It's safe enough, kid, don't worry about me… worry about yourself instead… and tell me if you need help sawing."
"Oh you can come over here right now…" Robin smirked and grabbed the saw.
"Clever, but a word of warning: our boss says that if any of us is taken hostage by you, we are to ignore any demands."
"Hostage? That wasn't what I had in mind. Come on, get over here… I'll show you…" the teen smiled invitingly, but the man only walked away with a chuckle. Robin considered throwing the saw after him, with his skills he might hit the blond guard's neck, but he was still a hero and that would lose them the saw. Robin didn't quite know what the heavier argument was.
He looked down on the tool. Blondie had been right. The teeth on it were far too big to cut through metal, but would work fine on flesh and bone. Robin shuddered and put the thing down.
"Sick fuckers…" he muttered and shuffled closer to Slade. "You better wake up soon, you know… If I'm gonna do all the work busting us out of here, at least I don't want to have to carry you afterwards…" Slade didn't wake up, though.
The day seemed to get hotter and hotter. Robin sat up just to shade Slade's head, while his own was drooping. He felt sick to his stomach and he had noticed that he barely broke a sweat anymore, despite the heat. That couldn't be good. The guards came around now and then and loved to drink water or eat in front of the helicopter-pad. One or two even did the old 'pour the water out on the ground'-thing. Robin ignored them. He guessed he was grateful that the payback for his little stunt with the sun-screen didn't get worse than that. All of them had now drawn the conclusion that he had been lying, although Robin hadn't admitted it, only smirked slightly. The more nervous of the men hadn't liked that.
He kept his fingers on Slade's neck, slowly breathing in time with the pulse. They would get out of this. They would be fine.
He hadn't moved the man, he hadn't dared. He had just made sure that the mercenary could breathe well. If he ignored the blood and everything, Robin thought that Slade looked pretty comfortable, his head resting on one arm, and the other one tucked in by his side. His injured leg was straight, Robin had seen to that as well, and the nasty wound seemed to slowly be healing.
Late that afternoon, the man stirred.
"Slade? Slade, are you awake?" Robin asked, grabbing the man's shoulder and giving it a light shake. With a roar Slade flung himself around and Robin just barely had time to throw himself out of the way of the fist and then block another. The force of that punch still sent him sprawling on the hot concrete, as far as the short chain allowed.
"Slade!" Robin yelled, trying to get through to the man who was attacking once again, the look in his single eye was bloodthirsty and crazy.
Robin was sure the man was going to kill him, but managed to kick him away with his free foot. As Slade's own ankle came to a sudden stop due to the chain, the man fell over and just sat staring at nothing for a moment.
"S-slade?" Robin whispered.
The man blinked.
"Robin?"
"Yeah, Robin. Not 'someone to kill'," the teen told him warily.
The man cradled his head in his hands and groaned.
"Are… are you okay?" the teen continued.
"No… I could have killed you… I…"
"Shhh… it's okay… we have company…" Robin hissed as he saw the guards closing in. Slade's head whipped up and none of the pain, worry and fatigue Robin knew the man must be feeling could be seen anymore.
"So, both awake now?"
Robin sighed. It was the same brilliant guard who had declared something similar when he had woken up.
Slade didn't answer, but Robin could see him looking around, taking everything in.
"Yeah, we are, so how about finally telling us what's going on?" the teen muttered, glaring at the blond, as he had already understood that he was some kind of leader in this group.
"The boss will be informed and then I'm sure he will want to have a little chat."
"Great, looking forward to it," Robin snorted.
The guards didn't seem to have anything else to say and left again, although there was an unusual amount of activity in the camp all of a sudden.
"Care to catch me up?" Slade said quietly.
"I was hoping you could… all I know is that they have a male boss and they belong to the same group as the tree-tipping suicide-loving ones."
"Yes, I saw the rings…" Slade nodded and then turned to Robin with a tortured look in his eye. "I'm sorry about the attack. I was in a healing coma. My body does that if it's injured enough, it just more or less shuts down, and when I wake up I tend to be… disoriented."
"I kinda noticed…" Robin smirked and rubbed his butt, which had chafed a little from the slide across the concrete.
Slade shrugged in a form of apology and frowned at the metal cuff around his ankle.
"Chains and we're naked… why am I not in the mood?" the mercenary muttered quietly, making Robin chuckle.
"You mean there's something that can actually do that? I'm shocked…" the teen leered.
"Care to explain the saw?"
"No, but I guess I have to," Robin muttered and then told the man everything that had happened so far, finishing with the little sick saw-game.
Slade looked at him contemplatively for a moment.
"What's with that look? No, I didn't consider cutting your foot off!" the hero snorted.
"You could have been out of here by now…" the man pointed out.
"Would you have cut mine off?"
"How badly hurt would you have been in that scenario?" the man smirked.
Again, Robin was pretty sure he was joking.
To be continued…
A/N: I didn't come up with the saw-thing, I'd like to say… problem is that I don't know where it cme from, probably some kind of movie… all I know is that my poor little innocent brain couldn't possibly have thought something like that up by itself… ;)
If this chapter made you even more frustrated, the next will probably answer most of your questions… ;)
