Chapter 12: Sins of the Father
As the ground shook beneath them and the sound of rumbling increased, the remaining robots fell silent, deactivating their weapons and standing perfectly still, like strange metal statues. The Titans stared around themselves in shock and bewilderment as the lair's roof opened itself to the sky. Looking up, they could see a tall tower projecting itself high above the city; perched atop it, Robin could just make out something that looked suspiciously like the communications array Slade had stolen.
Robin looked back to Sharpshot and shook him. "Talk," he growled. "What's going on? What's Slade doing?"
"It doesn't matter," the apprentice replied. "You can't stop him. You're too late!"
"You said that already," Robin told him. "And we'll see about that." Drawing back his fist, he hit Sharpshot hard on the side of the head, and the other teenager crumpled into an unconscious heap. Leaving him where he lay, he turned and ran over to his friends.
"Dude!" Beast Boy said, "I don't have a clue what's going on here, but I don't think it's anything good. What are we gonna do?"
"Simple," Robin told him. "We find out what Slade's doing, and we stop him." Turning to face the tower, he pulled his grappler from his belt and launched it up so that it latched onto the side, and began to climb. From the corner of his eye, he saw a green bat- Beast Boy- flying along beside him, while Starfire carried Cyborg through the air.
Suddenly the tower gave an immense groaning sound, and light flared from its tip and began to flow downward. Robin tensed himself to spring off, but before he could, the light passed over him- and left him unharmed. When he turned to face the other three Titans, however, he saw that a wall of shimmering energy stood between him- a forcefield cutting him off from his friends.
Beast Boy shifted to the form of a pteranadon and swooped at the energy field, only to be repulsed by a bright surge of power. "It's no good, man!" Cyborg called, the field distorting and muffling his voice. "Doesn't look like we can get through."
"Why would Slade activate his defense while Robin was still inside?" Starfire asked.
"Because he wants me here," Robin said darkly. "I'm not the only one Slade's ever hurt, but with me, it's personal- I outmaneuvered him once, and I don't think he's the forgiving sort. He wants to face me one on one, and doesn't want you interfering."
"Should've known you and Slade had business to finish," Cyborg said. "Go for it, man. See if you can stop Slade, and we'll try to bust our way through this forcefield and shut his weapon down, whatever it is."
"Robin," Starfire said, "Good luck."
"Thanks, Star," Robin replied. "You too." Then he turned away and began to climb.
# # # # # # # # # # # #
Slade turned his attention away from the viewscreen that depicted his young nemesis, smiling slightly to himself beneath his mask. "That's right, Robin," he said. "Now, I have you all to myself. Finally it ends, one way or another. But now, I have other business to attend to." Reaching out with one gloved hand, he seized a small lever and pulled it down.
Above him, the alien device pulsed and sent a powerful surge of energy racing through thick cables and into the stolen communications disk. Any lesser technology would have been destroyed by the power of that signal, but the dish held firm, tilting upward at the angle Slade had specified, and then it fired the signal off into the depths of space. There it intersected with the orbit of the satellite that was the hub of America's automated orbital defenses and went to work, punching through encryptions and overwriting programming. In the space of less than a minute, the United States military's most powerful weapon had been stolen out from under it, and placed in the hands of a man whose only desire was power.
"Now, I believe a demonstration is in order." Slade quickly inputted a code into his control panel, and far above, a satellite armed with a state-of-the-art microwave cannon turned and pointed directly down towards the heart of the American Midwest. At the push of a button it fired, sending a blast of pure heat that lanced through the void and impacted on the plains, turning several square miles of farmland into a smoldering crater. The blast itself would have been visible for hundreds of miles.
Slade activated his communicator and set it to transmit directly to the Pentagon- too heavily encrypted, of course, to be traced back to him. "My name is Slade," he said calmly into it. "No doubt you have heard of me over the past few years. No doubt your own sensors have revealed to you the blast that just rocked the Great Plains. What you have just witnessed is a sample of my power. Your entire orbital defense network has been subverted- it is mine to do with as I wish. You will order your forces to stand down immediately, and the President will turn leadership of this country over to me. Failure to comply will result in my firing again- on a population center next time. You have been warned- you have one hour. Slade out." At the push of a key, the line fell dead.
They wouldn't submit at first, of course- they would be to proud for that, and wouldn't believe him. But he would demonstrate his power again- and beyond that, if needed. They would learn what it meant to be powerless, and then they would submit to him. It was the only way.
Something metal and sharp shot past Slade's head, and he ducked just in time to miss it. Looking up, he saw the birdarang that had embedded itself in his control panel- a foolish attack, as he could control his signal from any of his lairs. Slowly, unconcernedly, he turned to see the door to his now-several-storey-tall control center open and Robin standing there, another weapon ready to throw in his hand.
"This ends now, Slade," Robin said.
Slade stood slowly and turned to face him, inclining his head in a salute from one adversary to another. "Robin," he said. "How kind of you to drop by. I've been waiting for you."
# # # # # # # # # # # #
Ravager saw the strange tower that was rising from the heart of the city, and she knew that there could only be one cause for it. "Slade," she muttered. "What are you up to, dad?" She filled the last word with bitter irony. Red X, it appeared, was right- her father was up to something big, and she didn't like the look of it at all. If there was a time to confront him, now was it. Hopefully the Titans were there as well- she could use the support, at least against the robots. Slade himself, though, was hers.
Crowds were gathering in the streets, pointing and staring, but Rose shoved her way through them- the mask itself was enough that some pulled away from her in horror. Quickly she made her way to the base of the tower- or at least as close as she could. It had apparently forced itself out of the ground and was surrounded by a trench, and shimmered with a forcefield. The Titans were nowhere in sight, though it was possible they were already inside, or simply standing somewhere she couldn't see.
"Looks like its time for something I've been saving up," Ravager muttered. Reaching into her belt, she drew a small device that flashed as she flipped a switch on its side- a portable EMP she'd stolen from a scientist in another city. It wasn't very powerful, and she didn't have any more powercells that would fit it after the current one ran out, but it just might be enough to get her through that shield. Strapping it to her belt, she stepped back and then took a running jump across the chasm.
The EMP worked- briefly, but long enough. As Ravager approached the forcefield, it flickered and a small hole opened in it- she pulled her arms and legs in tight and passed through just as the device went dead and the field snapped back into place. Safely inside, she quickly pulled a grappler and cable from her belt and launched it into the side of the tower, catching her as she fell.
"If it's good enough for Batman, it's good enough for me," she murmured under her breath, and then began to climb towards her father, and the culmination of three years of preparation. She would not fail.
# # # # # # # # # # # #
"So I guess this is it, then," Robin said, drawing his staff. "Just you and me. Should have figured it would come down to this."
"Come down to this?" Slade seemed to chuckle silently. "This is not the end, Robin- it is not even an end. It is the beginning of a new age- my age." He paused for a moment, considering. "Still, you always were the best of my enemies- and the best of my apprentices. Some time ago I made you an offer to work for me and share in my power. I feel obliged to extend it once more."
"You have to know that's not going to happen," Robin said. "So what was Sharpshot then- a placeholder? Just another one of your puppets?"
"Sharpshot?" Once more, Slade made no sound but gave the impression of laughter. "Amusing name. What he was, was a disappointment. The subject of an experiment by the Directors of the HIVE- an organization you will of course recognize as the backers of our local HIVE Academy. They wanted to create a superhuman warrior they could control, but the process was very nearly fatal. They considered him a failure- wasteful fools. I rescued him from them and cured the worst effects of his condition in the hopes that he would prove a suitable replacement for you- unfortunately, that did not prove to be the case. As you yourself pointed out, strength and speed are no substitute for skill." Slade drew his own staff and spun it lightly in his hands, testing the balance. "After I finish you, I shall be forced to keep searching until I find someone worthy."
"What is it to you, anyway?" Robin demanded. "The whole time I've known you, you're always looking for some kid to trick or blackmail into being an apprentice. But I've always wondered- why the obsession?"
"Do you really think I'll share my secrets with you, Robin?" Slade asked. "You gave up the right to them when you left my employ. Let us say only that my reasons are personal." His eye narrowed. "Enough talk. Now, we duel."
Robin charged forward, spinning his staff, but Slade caught the blows on his own weapon and parried them easily- he'd certainly not let his skills slack off since they'd last fought. Jumping back, Robin launched a series of flying kicks at the criminal mastermind's hidden face- the first caught Slade and sent him stumbling back, but before the second could make contact he seized his opponent's foot and flung him to the side. Robin twisted in midair and landed on his feet, and then pulled a series of freeze-bombs from his belt. One by one he sent them flying at Slade, and one by one his nemesis dodged them; they impacted his console and encased it in overlapping sheets of ice.
"Foolish of you, Robin," Slade observed. "Did you really think that destroying my controls would be enough to stop my device? Did you think I would make such an obvious mistake?"
"No, but it was worth a try." Robin smirked. "And I thought you said we were done talking."
Slade made no response- he simply charged forward with his staff swinging, as ever remarkably quick and agile for a large and muscular man. Now Robin was the one forced to parry, and Slade was using his greater strength to his advantage to force him back into a corner. With a clever twist, he wrenched the staff from Robin's hands, and a kick slammed him back against the wall.
"And so it ends," Slade said thoughtfully, raising the tip of his staff over Robin's face. "Almost… anticlimactic, really. Disappointing."
"Oh, I don't think so!" Twisting, Robin pulled himself up and slammed both feet into Slade's chest. The criminal stumbled back, and the Titans leader grabbed his own staff back up, holding it at the ready. "This has only just begun."
"You're right," a third voice said from the still-open door. "It has." Something whirred through the air and struck the floor between Robin and Slade- a knife. Both combatants turned slowly to face the thrower, who crouched just outside the door, on the platform that now overlooked the city. She held a staff of her own at the ready, identical to theirs- Robin wondered what had happened to her sword. Her one visible eye was hard.
"What's this?" Ravager asked. "You started without me? I'm hurt."
# # # # # # # # # # # #
"What's it gonna take to get through this, anyway?" Cyborg demanded, ducking as the forcefield reflected a blast from his sonic cannon back at him. "I don't know where Slade steals his shield generators from, but whoever they are, they know what they're doing."
"Perhaps if we both struck at once?" Starfire asked him, landing lightly beside him on the roof of a building near the tower and its crater.
Cyborg glanced at her and nodded. "Can't hurt," he said. Raising his cannon again, he leveled it and aimed carefully for a spot on the forcefield, and saw Starfire pointing her green-glowing hands at the same spot. Both Titans built up energy for several heartbeats, then unleashed their blasts at full power. They impacted the side of the shield, their intersection causing a massive explosion rather than a deflection, but when the smoke cleared, the shield was still there.
"Well, it was worth a try," Cyborg said.
"Dude!" Beast Boy shouted, landing beside him and changing back into his true form. "Why don't you use those giant cannons of doom you roasted Trigon's army with back when they were trying to take over the world? Bet that would punch through this."
"Bet it would," Cyborg told him, "but it won't work. I need to be hooked up to the Tower generator to get that much power, and it's too far away. There's a reason I don't do that very often."
"Oh. Guess that makes sense." Beast Boy looked deflated. "I got nothing."
"We must get inside!" Starfire said. "Robin needs our help. We cannot let him fight Slade alone!"
"Sounds to me like you need a hand," a familiar voice said from the behind them; the Titans turned to see Raven dropping lightly to the roof. She glided over to the edge and glanced at the tower. "Looks like Slade decided subtlety wasn't really his style after all."
"Raven!" Beast Boy shouted. "Where were you, anyway? We've been working our butts off over here!"
"I've been finding out things about our 'friend' Ravager," Raven said. "And its now good. I saw her get through the forcefield with some kind of gadget just before I got here. If Robin's in there with her and Slade, he's in trouble."
"What do you mean?" Cyborg asked.
"She's Slade's daughter," Raven replied. "I'm not sure what she's after, but I don't think she's stable, and I don't think she's on our side."
"Whoa," Beast Boy said. "Slade's a dad? That's just wrong. Creepy supervillains shouldn't be dads- it's too weird." He glanced at Raven. "No offense." She ignored him.
"All right," Cyborg said. "We need a plan. I think I can take down the tower and stop whatever signal Slade's sending- if he builds something, I can figure out how to break it. But I need to get past that shield." He looked at Rave. "Think you can get me through. "
"Probably," Raven told him. "Energy is energy, whether its produced by science or magic- I think I can at least tear a hole in it big enough to get you through."
"All right, then," Cyborg said. "If Raven can get me through, I'm taking the shield down first, then the tower. Beast Boy, turn into something small and come with me- I might need someone who can get into tight spaces. Star…"
"When the shield comes down," she said in a quiet but resolute voice, "I will find Robin."
# # # # # # # # # # # #
Slade turned slowly away from Robin to face Ravager, his eye visibly tightening from anger. When he spoke, however, his voice was as eerily calm as ever. "You wear my mask, child," he said, "and yet I do not know you, and you oppose me. Who are you?" The chill in his voice as he spoke those last words was so palpable Robin could almost feel it on his skin.
But Ravager only laughed bitterly. "Who am I?" she asked. "What's the matter- old age getting to you? Don't tell me you haven't forgotten me already." Reaching up, she pulled her mask off and shook out her hair- beneath the mask she had two normal eyes, and they both fixed on Slade with absolute intensity. "Hi, Dad. It's me- Rose. Miss me?"
Slade did not move, but his eye narrowed further so that it was a barely visible slit; he and Ravager stood facing each other and Robin watched them both, mind working furiously to take in what he was hearing. "Liar," Slade said in his quietest, most dangerous voice. "My daughter is dead. Who are you?"
"Daughter?" Robin asked. "What is going on here?"
Both Slade and Ravager ignored him. "Dead?" the mysterious girl asked. "No- I didn't die. Neither did my brothers, not that you ever bothered to find out. Want to know how? Let me refresh your memory*- you were Slade Wilson, experimental super-soldier, and you retired from the army with honor to raise a family. But you missed the thrill, didn't you, so you hired yourself out as a mercenary- the best of the best, sometimes calling yourself Deathstroke, sometimes Terminator, sometimes both. You tried to keep it secret from your family, but we found out- on the day that a gang of your enemies showed up and decided to put an end to you once and for all."
Ravager- Rose- closed her eyes, and Robin could see the pain washing across her face. "There was the fight- and the fire… Joey got hurt, and Mom was furious at you for endangering us… she pulled a gun on you and fired, shot out your eye… then everything got so confused; I got Grant and Joey out, don't remember how, but Mom didn't make it. The house collapsed, and we thought you had escaped another day… I promised my brothers you were alive and you'd come for us… but you never did.
"Since then, I've been through orphanages, foster homes, and juvenile detention centers- more than I can remember. I was sure by then that you were dead, because that had to be the only reason you wouldn't try to find me (I lost track of Joey and Grant a while back). But then I saw in the papers, about a one-eyed man in a mask who called himself Slade, who was supposed to be one of the best warriors in the world, and wanted to rule it- and I knew it had to be you. It couldn't be coincidence."
Her voice shook with emotion as she drew herself up, eyes flashing. "So now I've found you. Take a good, long look. You abandoned me once before- what about now? Am I someone worth paying attention to now? Am I the daughter you wanted? Are you still someone I can look up to? Or are you going to just walk away, prove yourself to be heartless, so I can have revenge instead?"
Slade stood perfectly still, regarding Rose with cold calculation- and when he spoke, there was nothing human in his voice. "Once I deluded myself into thinking I could find fulfillment in a normal life," he said. "But I was wrong. Only power can bring satisfaction- power over myself, over others, over the world. Even now the most advanced weapons system on the planet is at my fingertips- should I walk away from that, for you?" His eye narrowed. "You are no daughter of mine. I have no daughter."
Ravager screamed then, a sound of absolute rage, grief, and pain, and she hurled herself at her father, staff raised to strike. Slade brought his own weapon up to parry and they fought, striking and dodging so quickly and furiously that even Robin's trained eye could barely follow them. Rose was a good fighter, he knew, but she was no match for Slade, who was, with one exception, the most dangerous hand-to-hand combatant Robin had ever faced- he ran forward to help her.
"Stay back, Robin!" she snapped at him. "He's mine!"
"You can't do this alone!"
"I said he's mine," Ravager snarled, and she whirled on him, while behind her Slade moved in to strike. Before he could, however, the entire tower bucked beneath them, and when Robin looked out through the door, he saw the forcefield shimmer and collapse.
"What?" Slade demanded in disbelief.
"I'd say that was my friends, taking out your shield generator," Robin replied. "See- it pays to have backup. They're probably getting ready to bring this whole place down any time."
"No!" Slade hissed. He glanced angrily at his still-frozen control consoles, and then turned and charged straight towards Robin and Ravager, knocking them both out of his way. Reaching the balcony outside the door, he turned and began to climb a small ladder up to the pinnacle of the tower.
"You won't get away that easily!" Ravager shouted. Quickly, she ran through the door herself and began to climb after her father; Robin followed close behind, but took more caution- a fall from this height wouldn't be pleasant, to say the least. Ravager, however, seemed beyond concern as she climbed.
Nearing the top, Robin saw that the tower was capped with a platform on which perched the communications array, which was pointed upwards and apparently engaged in sending a signal. Wired at its base was a strange, pulsing crystal; as Slade reached it, he quickly began to pry it out. At that moment, Ravager reached the top herself; hurling herself forward, she hit him in the side of the head with a flying kick; Slade stumbled backwards, but his mask went flying over the edge of the platform. Slowly he turned, and for the first time Robin looked on his enemy's living face.
Slade seemed to be middle-aged, his hair and short, neat beard the same pure white as his daughter's. One eye was covered by a patch, the other glittered with bright malice. Even with the mask removed, the eye seemed the only thing alive in that dead, expressionless face.
Ravager spun her staff, and her father met it; backward and forward they dueled across the platform. Robin neared the top of the ladder and was about to spring into action himself, but before he could, the tower rocked beneath him again. The ladder was torn from its position and hung crookedly off the side. Robin hung on with one hand, trying desperately to find a hold with the other on the shaking metal, forcibly reminded of some of the circus tricks he'd done as a child- but this time there was no net to catch him…
And then strong arms were around him, and he was being lifted up into the air. "Do not be afraid, Robin," Starfire's voice said into his ear. "I have you."
"Star!" Robin said, "I've never been happier than seeing you now. What's going on?"
"Cyborg has destroyed the shield," Starfire told him. "He and Beast Boy have entered the tower and planted a series of explosives in its core- soon, it will collapse. Raven moved Sharpshot to safety- he was the only living person we found nearby. Where is Slade?"
"He and Ravager are up there," Robin said, pointing at the top of the tower. "Still fighting, last I saw." Suddenly he drew in a deep breath. "Ravager! She's still up there. I don't care what happens to Slade, but if we don't warn her, she'll be killed."
"Robin," Starfire said, "there are things about Ravager that you should…"
"I know," Robin said. "She's Slade's daughter. I don't know what to think about that, or her- but I don't think she's an evil person, and she doesn't deserve to die for her father's crimes."
"Then, there is nothing… between you?"
Robin chuckled and shook his head. "No- there never was. Ravager's an interesting person, and I think she needs help more than prison- but she's not you, Star. No one else is."
Starfire gripped Robin slightly more tightly. "Thank you," she said quietly, and craning his neck, Robin could see her turning to look up. "Then let us rescue her!" Together they shot towards the top of the tower- there, on the shaking platform, Ravager and Slade still fought; she was faster, but he was stronger and more skilled. The fight wouldn't be a short or easy one, but Robin had no doubt who would win- assuming the tower didn't blow out beneath them, of course.
"Ravager!" he shouted. "Rose! Get away- the whole thing's going to blow! Save yourself!"
She turned to face him, and Robin saw the shock and fear in her eyes. She jumped backwards as Slade aimed another blow at her, and then turned and ran for the edge of the platform, fumbling for something on her belt. From the distance he was at, it was hard to tell, but it looked almost like a grappler- she had it out, and was on the edge, Slade behind her…
Then the whole tower shook, and a series of explosions rocked it at its base. It made a terrible groaning sound, and shivered- and then collapsed back into its crater with a roar of fire and smoke, Cyborg having placed his explosives carefully so it would fall inward, rather than out. Looking down, Robin could see the flaming debris fill the crater below; there was no sign of Slade or his daughter.
"I am sorry, Robin," Starfire said into his ear.
"It's not your fault, Star," Robin said quietly. "Maybe she got away- maybe she didn't. But whatever signal Slade was sending from here- he said it would let him control the most powerful weapons in the world- is gone now. Whether or not he survived, he's been stopped, and lost a lot of hardware." He turned to look at Starfire and put a hand on one of hers. "It's over."
*This origin for Slade is adapted from his comic one, altered to better fit the animated version's different personality and goals.