A/N: Ugh, terribly sorry about the delay. I've been having laptop woes.

Thank you all for being patient with me. I'm sorry that I can't update on a regular basis anymore, but like I said this is truly the semester from hell. I'm constantly tired due to a combination of homework, work and a PE class where I literally come out of with bruises (Although my fencing class is a great way to get rid of excess stress! It's the only class where I get a good grade for stabbing people FTW.).

Chapter 10: Down the Rabbit Hole

Dick quietly did whatever was asked of him, but I knew that he wasn't putting forth his best effort. Even after that lecture he still didn't put in much effort to whatever he was doing.

Dick was becoming wary of our conversations now. He tried to avoid talking as much as possible, but eventually he gave in and talked to either me or Wintergreen. More often it was Wintergreen. That was acceptable for now.

To be honest, I really couldn't force Dick to do anything without physically threatening to harm him. However, I noticed that he was getting into a routine. He did some things without being asked to. If he had an escape plan, then I couldn't tell. Hopefully he wasn't trying to escape. That would be annoying. Of course, anything he did was annoying if it was contrary to my agenda. Dick was adjusting in his own way. He understood who was in charge now. It had taken over two weeks to pound that into his head, but he eventually got it.

It was early evening. I left the Haunt earlier to take care of some outside business. In order to teach Dick how to kill I was going to bring him along on a contract. I spent most of my afternoon securing a contract. It wasn't anything spectacular. He wasn't going to do anything, but he was going to watch. I didn't care if he didn't want to learn. He didn't really have a choice in the matter.

When I came back Wintergreen had the news on as he cleaned my office. The volume was turned down low to a murmur. I didn't think much of it until I heard the name of a certain hero.

"Wait a moment..." I grabbed the remote and turned up the volume.

"...it's unclear whether sightings of Gotham's Dark Knight have been confirmed," the reporter said. "The Teen Titans are unavailable for comment."

"Well," Wintergreen said, "I expected him to come sooner."

"You are not helping."

Part of this puzzled me. Why would the Titans call in Batman? They know that Robin would not want them to call Batman. How would the boy feel if he knew that Batman was in town? Anger? Fear? I'm sure he wouldn't feel happy. Not after their falling-out. One thing was certain, though: I wasn't going to let him know that Batman was here.

Batman's presence presented a problem: he had the skills necessary to find us. I didn't want him bursting in here looking for a fight. I needed to bring the fight to him. Dick was nowhere near ready to beat Batman. Then again, did they necessarily need to fight each other for me to succeed?

"Ask him to come in," I told Wintergreen. "I'd like to speak with him."

It was barely eight. He would still be up. I sat at my desk and worked while I waited for Wintergreen to bring him out. I quickly planned out the lecture I was going to give him. Since these lectures did leave him feeling like crap I tried not to lecture him too much. Batman in Jump City, however, changed things.

What the hell is he doing here? I thought.

I thought about the possibility before, but it then it was just a possibility. Now it was reality. I needed to figure what to do now that Batman was getting involved.

Dick walked in. For some reason I could tell that these past few weeks had taken their toll on him. He held himself differently. It wasn't quite like the air of a hero, but that of an aggressor. He was prepared to fight. Yet at the same time I sensed his fear. He had no idea what was going to happen. That unpredicatability would always be my advantage.

"Good evening, Dick."

"Hmp."

"Try again."

"Good evening, sir," he said stiffly, forcing the words out.

"Better. Now take a seat."

He did as he was told without grumbling or manhandling the chair. The expression on his face clearly said, "What the hell do you want?" However, he just sat there and waited for me to say something.

"So, what have you been doing all evening?" I asked pleasantly.

"Staring at my wall."

"How productive."

I was trying to joke with him, but he didn't want to joke around. He was taking this way too seriously. Honestly, if he just lightened up a little everything would be fine. Maybe he didn't believe that I was the kind of person to joke. Well, this whole apprenticeship wasn't supposed to be taken lightly, but perhaps for now I should be a little less informal. That would put his guard down. Dick shifted in his chair and stared sullenly into space. He knew that I asked him to come here for another reason. He didn't want to deal with idle chitchat. I continued to work on my files as I spoke to him.

"Why don't you take off your mask?"

"Because I'm not required to." He looked at me warily. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, right now I don't want to talk to Robin. I want to talk to Dick."

He knew that I was going to ask him to take the mask off sooner or later. I hope it didn't as a surprise. His expression stayed neutral. After a moment Dick took the mask off of his face. He didn't make a fuss about it. I said nothing more about it. I didn't want this to be a big issue. Without the mask he looked even more vulnerable. He tried to avoid my gaze as he shifted in his chair.

"I do have a…somewhat personal question to ask, Dick."

He glared at me coldly, not even bothering to hide the dislike on his face. He knew that I was going to ask the question anyway. He knew that he didn't have a say in anything I made him do anymore. He shut his eyes tightly, as though willing himself to stay calm.

"That alien girl…Starfire, is it?"

"…yeah…?"

"I've read your files. I've read hers. Your team formed because of that girl, right?"

"So?"

"Do you like her?"

He didn't speak. His mouth opened slightly, as though he was surprised that I asked the question. True, I asked the question rather bluntly...

He moved fast, much faster than I anticipated. Dick knocked his chair down as he lunged towards me. I couldn't help but notice that he used some of the moves I taught him. Or, at least, he tried to. He punched me in the gut and tried to kick me in the balls. He missed, but he kept fighting. He jabbed his palm underneath my chin. My head snapped backwards. I lost my breath as Dick hit my neck again. He continued to relentlessly attack me until my back was against the wall. He grabbed my neck with both of his hands.

"Don't," he growled, "you dare touch her."

It was amazing what he could accomplish when he put his mind to it. I had no idea that goading about the girl would get him this aggressive. I couldn't help but chuckle.

"This isn't funny, Slade! If you touch her I'll put you in a body cast for the next six months."

"You won't. You don't have the physical capacity to do that."

I quickly disengaged myself, picked him up and threw him to the floor. "Don't do that ever again. You're becoming predictable and tiresome."

He didn't move. For a moment I was afraid that I knocked him out. Dick just laid there, trying to gather his breath. I also tried to catch my breath. He nearly caught me off-guard. I didn't realize that taunting him would produce such a violent reaction. But, considering the fact that Starfire knew that Dick was Red X, I needed to break that friendship down completely before they faced each other again.

"You can threaten me all you want," Dick said, "but if you touch her...if you threaten her..."

"So I'm assuming that the answer is yes?"

Dick's face darkened. "Don't jump to conclusions."

Again, I chuckled.

"You know, Dick," I said, "your Batman imitation is pretty weak. You wear your heart on your sleeve."

I grabbed his arm and yanked him to his feet. "I don't need to be the world's greatest detective to figure this one out."

A thousand different thoughts were probably going through my apprentice's mind. His initial anger subsided. I hoped he realized that most of this was his fault. His reactions betrayed the truth of what I said.

"Don't hurt her," he repeated, although his tone was much more subdued.

Threatening others always tempered his anger. He truly was afraid of losing his friends. Although his tone was defiant I detected a hint of uneasiness. I thought about my original plan to blackmail him. It would have worked, but for how long? This sudden attack demonstrated that he could act aggressively when he needed to. If I got rid of the threat or if he found a way around it I could very well fail.

"I can't promise that I won't hurt her. After all, she is trying to put me in jail. Sit down." He picked up the chair and sat down again. I walked over to the television monitors and began to play footage of the young Tamaranean. "Have you been smitten ever since she kissed you?"

Flush crept up his neck and turned his ears red. He didn't say anything. I didn't need him to say anything.

"Tamaraneans have the ability to pick up new languages via lip contact," I said. "Did you know that, Dick?"

He shook his head slowly, still not daring to speak. He really didn't know, did he? How funny.

"I suppose it's easy to be persuaded by a kiss…no matter how fake it is."

Even though I didn't ask I could still see why he liked her. I was his age once, I knew the reasons why. Obviously there were hundreds of other reasons I didn't know. I didn't care enough to want to know. The alien girl would grow up to be a proud and beautiful woman. It's odd, sometimes, when one notices that in a younger person. Yet the alien was full of flaws as well. She would not do as a lover for the apprentice of a criminal mastermind. He needed to dump her.

"Men like us, Dick, are attracted to very powerful women."

Hah. Powerful women indeed. Adeline was my commanding officer, after all.

"W—what?"

He looked so confused.

"Listen to me: we're not attracted to ordinary women. We have standards. High standards."

We were so very much alike, and alike in ways that neither of us realized yet. I never thought about our separate love lives before. I didn't think that it would be necessary to talk about the boy's obvious crush on the alien girl. But now...it was necessary.

"You...women..."

He wasn't being coherent. Dick crinkled his brow, as though trying to see through my mask. Instead of answering the obvious question I directed the conversation back to him. I couldn't allow him time to defend himself. I had to keep throwing questions and comments at him until he became flustered.

"She's powerful. Much more powerful than you. Is that why you like her?"

"I…what…?"

"How can you trust her? Trust someone who almost started an intergalactic war? Love a girl who pushes you down after giving you a kiss?"

"…She cares for me…"

"Does she?" I demanded. "Or are you so blinded by your own hormones that you can't even tell that she doesn't like you?"

This was cruel in its own right. I obviously caught him off guard. He couldn't summon the words to defend himself. Was I mocking him? In my own way, yes. Mocking the boy for his affections was certainly going to incite a negative reaction. Already I could tell that he was going to hate me for this.

Attacking Batman would only get me so far. I had to dig deeper into his psyche and discover what was truly going on in his head. Even though I could see his face, it's still baffling trying to figure out what was happening in a person's mind. Because really, all we see is a mask: the face we put on to the world may betray nothing internal.

A child's face betrays the most. And even though Dick had experience hiding his face and identity from the world he made the mistake of entwining his civilian identity and his superhero identity into one. He should have separated the two. He should have told his friends his secret identity. If he did that then he would have cemented his friendships even more strongly.

And, though it may not be my place to comment, he was too weak to declare his love for her before now.

"What…what do you know about her?" he asked weakly. "I..."

What was he trying to say? That he loved her?

Love is bitter, kid. Love and life will disappoint. It was an odd question. I didn't expect him to be so blunt. We were heading into dangerous territory. Adeline was something I only talked to Wintergreen about. However, I had already revealed too much about myself. My bitter words about powerful women said enough. Dick could deduce that I used to have a lover who betrayed me. That was all he needed to know.

"Women will stab you in the back," I replied quietly. "Those powerful…beautiful women will rip your heart out. Don't trust them. You never can. It's best that you learn that now."

If he was going to fight the Titans then I didn't want him distracted by women, especially the alien girl. This strategy—attacking his crush—was unorthodox and puerile to be sure, but it was effective. Instead of letting him leave the conversation I continued to attack him.

"You're rather fond of redheads, aren't you?"

Perhaps he was so paralyzed by the amount of information I knew that he couldn't speak. I wondered what would be worse: mocking his current crush on the alien girl or talking about another?

"Batgirl…she's a redhead, isn't she?" I asked. "You liked her too, didn't you?"

He just stared at me, his expression both sad and horrified. How cute. He could claim that he acted like an adult, but he was still immature in a lot of ways. He was a lot more emotional than he wanted to admit. I knew that just by watching the news reels from when he worked with Batman. He suppressed so much of his natural personality. That was unhealthy.

This Batgirl, though...of course she wouldn't like him. He was just a kid. He knew that. Maybe that's why he was reacting so badly to this taunt.

"She dismissed you, didn't she? Laughed at you, perhaps?" I shrugged. "Called it puppy love?"

Adeline was also a few years older than I was. But she saw something in me, something in that young naive soldier that impressed her. I don't know what. Those few years of marriage between us felt real to me. I could only hope that they felt real to her. We didn't need to prove anything to each other. Our love was mutual. Dick's crushes were one-sided. I could use that against him.

"Are you constantly seeking someone else's approval?" I asked. "You're always conforming to someone else's standards. What kind of a relationship is that?"

He felt that he wasn't good enough for anyone. Dick was always trying to better himself. A worth objective, to be sure, but he couldn't better himself for the sake of other people. He couldn't keep saving people for no reason. He couldn't keep believing that he wasn't good enough for the women he loved. I knew that I was breaking him down. I knew that I wasn't helping. But you can't become better unless you face the facts.

Dick bowed his head and studied the floor. "Are you going to keep doing this to me? Tell me why each of my friends don't trust me anymore?"

"Until you understand that they don't trust you, Dick."

Despite the bravado, he really was an affectionate human being. He loved people. And his friends would come to his aid. I knew that. I just didn't want him to believe that they would. Once they lost all faith in him then they would truly abandon him, and he would abandon them. I had to manipulate both sides.

"I want you to sit there and think your life over, Dick, " I said quietly. "Wayne won't give you the affection you want. Your friends will abandon you. And your crush will fade out and die within the next few months."

I've been hinting these things for over two weeks, but it finally seemed to hit him now. If he couldn't find an adequate enough reason to defend his beliefs and his friends, then he would be gone. Convincing him to distrust Wayne was the easiest part. Getting him to distrust his friends would be a much greater challenge. There was already a wide gap between Dick and Wayne. Attacking his weakest point...his affection for the alien...was the next step.

"I'll be back in an hour. Do not move, apprentice. Do not speak. Just sit there and think."

If I offended him with my instructions, then he didn't show it. I gathered my files and left the room. Wintergreen, who was standing just outside of the room, closed the door behind me. Together we walked back towards the main room.

"You lied to him," Wintergreen whispered.

"About what?"

"About you. You can't just hint that you have a personal life and then leave it at that."

"I will teach him however I please."

"Slade, you have to stop lecturing him."

"Why?"

"Why? Because you're driving him crazy. If you keep this up he's going to be angry not only at his mentor, but also at you. He'll be angry that you told him the truth about Batman." Wintergreen's voice hardened. "And you know what's it's like to be a father, Slade. You know how to love your children."

There he went again: mentioning my kids. I stopped walking to look at him.

"Where are you going with this?"

"You told him that Wayne will never give him the parental affection he wants. He lost his parents at a very young age. Don't work him to death. Give him a reason to believe that he can trust you."

"Why are you saying this now?"

"Because right now he needs someone to look up to." He shook his head. "You just destroyed him, Slade. I hope you understand that."

Wintergreen walked away, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

As I walked into the security room I swore I heard Dick sniffle on the camera. I paused. Once before I wondered if I could make him cry. Now I knew the answer. He hunched over, his shoulders shuddering as he fought back his tears. He didn't try to leave the room. He just sat there, finally collapsing into a breakdown. I truly didn't know what was going on inside his head. Was he gathering his hate for me? Or was he thinking about all of his mistakes? One thing was certain, though:

It was time to let him out of the Haunt.

A/N: Yeah…this was fun to write, actually. Coming up with different ways to screw with Robin's head is positively delightful.

Sorry for the conversation chapters. We're now getting out of the Haunt! Yay!

Also, since it's halfway through October I need to make this announcement again: during November I take the month off writing fanfiction. Why? Because I'm participating in National Novel Writing Month. This year however, I'm doing something special, something that can involve you guys. More info on my profile for details.

Review!