Dick took another few steps away from the edge of the roof, and away from Slade.
"But..." His mind took longer than usual to form a complete thought, "Why would... why would YOU want to kill Fox?" His body was having a hard time functioning, and his knees wobbled as Dick focused on standing.
"I don't care if he is dead. But someone else wants him dead, and it's my job to make him that way." Slade continued pulling large black pieces of metal from the bag at his feet and lay them out in front of him.
Dick recognized the pieces, it was a sniper rifle. A gun Slade had had him assembled and dissemble many times before.
"But... Why?" Dick bent over to pick up the binoculars that had fallen to the ground and peered through them towards the building once again.
Most if the windows were dark, but a few we're lit with late night workers and custodians. Dick could easily make out Lucius Fox, one of the most important men working at Wayne Industries.
And the man who had significantly he, led Batman become who he was now.
"I don't know, and I didn't ask. But I think it's safe to guess that since Wayne has become more and more dependent on him to run the company, a rival businessman might want him out of the picture."
"I won't let you kill him." The roof became deadly silent as Slade paused to look up at his apprentice.
"No, you're going to help me. Put this gun together." He stood and gestured with his hand at the pieces scattered across the roof.
But instead of moving towards the pieces or objecting like he normally would, Dick continued to stare at his feet.
Slade sighed heavily, and put his hands on the teen's shoulders. "Dick, look at me." The boy's head moved upwards a little, so he was now staring at the man's Kevlar covered chest. Slade grabbed his chin and brought it up half an inch so that they were now face to face.
"Someone is going to die tonight, Dick. It's your decision. You can help me kill a single man, or you can standby and watch as I kill four young heroes. Now, which will you choose?"
"I... I don't know..." Dick pulled away and looked at the gun parts on the ground, then to the building where Lucius was, and then back to Slade.
How could he make a decision regarding someone's life like this? He couldn't decide when people would die... it just... it wasn't his decision to make.
But he had to, Slade was making him. Neither the Titans nor Fox deserved to die, for anything! But... the Titans were a bigger help to civilians, although Dick was sure Lucius was a bigger help to Bruce. And not just with his business and being Batman, but also as a friend. Dick knew Bruce didn't have many friends, and if he lost Fox, would he be able to handle himself? With all the stuff that had happened in the last two years?
"I'll... I'll help"
He bent down and began to assemble the gun, just as he had practiced. It wasn't a very complicated gun, just a basic sniper used to hit targets from far away.
As he was putting the gun together, Dick remembered the time when he stood on this same roof, surveying the streets below and-
Wait. A memory struck Dick suddenly, and he had to fight to keep his features calm. When Batman and I would patrol… this roof… we would always come here at the very end of the route. Dick's eyes grew wide in excitement behind his mask. If Batman had always come here on patrol when Dick was Robin, then surely he would come here with the new Robin as well…?
Dick swiftly turned his head away from Wayne In., towards the town square. A large clock was located high on one of the buildings, and Dick could just barely make out the time.
It was 4:27 in the morning, only three minutes until Batman would be heading this way.
Three minutes… I just have to distract him for three minutes. Dick stopped putting the gun together and turned towards Slade quickly, jumping to his feet to face the man.
In one swift motion Dick's fist flew towards the man's masked face, and although it was caught quickly Dick recoiled by kicking out at the man's feet.
The move caused Slade to step backwards, away from the gun and bag that most likely had the controller to the probes, since it wasn't strapped to his wrist.
Slade recovered from the sudden attack quickly, and threw a punch towards Dick's torso. The teen wasn't able to dodge the attack fast enough, and the fist hit his arm in a painful collision.
Two minutes, just two more minutes. He became still for a moment, holding his hurt arm with his uninjured one before quickly looking up at Slade.
The man was standing a few feet away, with his hands behind his back, and his single grey eye staring at Dick.
Dick's face settled into a scowl until he moved again, aiming a roundhouse kick at Slade's masked features.
His thin ankle was caught in Slade's hand and the man threw him across the roof.
Dick landed harshly on his side and out of breath. Heavy metal footsteps could be heard, and Dick looked up to see Slade moving towards him.
One minute, come on Batman. Please don't be running late.
But to Dick's relief and Slade's dismay the Bat wasn't running late, no in fact, he was doing quite the opposite.
The large black figure landed on the rooftop with a large thud, followed shortly by a small boy clad in red.
"Batman," Slade began in his calm voice, "So glad you could join us." The next minute Slade was running at Dick's former mentor, and the two collided in a large crash of flesh and Kevlar.
Suddenly remembering the controller Dick swung his head around to see the new Robin standing where he originally was, looking confused and unsure of who to attack.
"The bag! Get the bag!" He yelled in the younger boys direction, who saw that the strange boy clad in black and orange was yelling at him.
Jason quickly moved towards the bag, listening to the older boy all the while.
"The controller! Get the controller and leave!" Rising to his feet, Dick turned towards the fight that was still happening.
Batman was losing, and losing badly. He was being ruthlessly beaten by Slade, who didn't even have a scratch on him. Dick felt a sudden sense of déjà vu at the sight.
He contemplated throwing himself into the fight, but Slade seemed so busy with the fight that he had forgotten about his apprentice and the probes altogether. Throwing himself into the fight could bring Slade to the realization that Robin now had the controller in his hands. Wanting the young hero to stay out of the danger as much as possible, Dick turned towards the boy instead of joining the fight.
"Look kid, I need you to run. Take this back to the Batcave now, alright? Just keep running and don't look back." The words coming from Dick's mouth were frantic, and the boy didn't seem to be any less confused by them.
"But… Batman. I won't leave Batman alone." The boy looked up at Dick, the controller gripped tightly in his hand and the look on his face defiant.
"Don't worry about Batman, I'll take care of him."
"But… how can I trust you? Who are you?" The boy still looked just as determined to stay as he was before. Dick was silent for a moment as he was deciding how much to tell the boy. Too much information could only get the boy further into the mess, but not enough information could be even more dangerous.
"I'm… I'm Dick Grayson, okay? The first Robin. Now, you have to hurry. Take this to the Batcave and I'll make sure Bruce lives okay?" The boy stared at him for a moment, before nodding and turning away, about to jump to the next rooftop.
"And kid? Don't press that button." Robin nodded once more before shooting his grappling hook and flying off into the sky.
Dick moved quickly to take apart the pieces of the gun that had been put together, dropping each piece off the edge of the high rooftop.
"Bad move, apprentice." Slade's angry tone reminded Dick of the promise he had made to the young Robin, and he spun around to see Slade standing next to the crumpled form of Batman.
He wasn't dead, no, just… beaten. The sight was not pleasant, but not one Dick hadn't seen before either. Looking back at the cruel man who had held him captive for almost five months, Dick's body was working on adrenaline and instincts. And his instincts told him to run.
So he ran.
I really have no excuse for why I took so long to update, I was just being lazy and didn't feel like writing. So I apologize for leaving you guys hanging for so long. Had I realized that I left off with a cliffhanger sooner I would've updated sooner. Blame my bad memory and laziness. :) Anyways, on a brighter note, since this story only has one more chapter left (Yes, you read that right!) I have a question for you guys. For the sequel, (Yes you read that right too!) I was wondering if you guys preferred I write all the chapters and then upload the story at once, or I upload chapters as I write them. Really it just depends on whether you want one big long wait for the story and then just have it all, or you want the wait to be broken up in between each chapter. I don't intend to leave this story of with a cliffhanger, but you never know ;). So just send me a review telling me whichever you prefer, and whichever seems to get the most interest will be the way I update.