"Well," Slade mused, "It's not a story I particularly like to tell."
"Mr. Onen said it was the best thing that has ever happened to you," I told him.
Slade hesitated for a moment, "Yes, it was, but not at the time it wasn't."
Flashback (Slade's point of view)
The day started out nice, but then the clouds turned gray and dry lightning began to crack
across the sky. Rain gently tapped the windows, softly at first, and then began to beat down as if
the windows were drums. Thunder rolled and banged in the sky. It was a quiet day and
the Protectors and I just laid around and watched a movie. I can tell you every little detail
about my last day with them, but I can't recall the name of the movie. It has bugged me for
years, but no matter how hard I try I just can't remember.
Anyway, Igneous came in singing; she was the loveliest person I have ever met. Always
happy, never ever in a bad mood, no matter how bad things got she always looked on
the brighter side of things. Her curly, strawberry blonde hair hung a little past her shoulders.
She had the ability to shoot fire from her hands, kind of like Starfire, but
more dangerous. There was more power to it. She was created from fire; her name even
means 'born from fire'. She always wore red, it was her favorite color. She wore bright
red lip stick and a red tank-top with white shorts.
"Hey, Slade," she skipped over to me.
"Hey," I replied, scooting over so she would have a place to sit. She sat down carefully. She
was quiet. Something was wrong. Normally she would talk my ear off. We got along great,
but something was wrong. I gently placed my arm around her shoulder and asked,
"What's wrong?"
She sighed, she didn't want to tell me, but finally she gave in after a few minutes of me coaxing
her into it, "Do you find it strange that we haven't heard from Trogdor in a while?" It was
then that I realized her reasons for wanting to keep her thoughts to herself. Trogdor was
my worst enemy and we hadn't seen him for months. I had secretly hoped that he
had moved on to another city, but I knew it was a blind hope. Why would he leave a city he
worked so hard to take control of?
At that moment lighting lit up the sky and boom of thunder rang out as if it was the deep growl
of a dragon guarding a castle. A squeal of fright came from the other room and Violet
came rushing in. She plopped down on the couch and buried her face into my shoulder.
I laughed and gave her a hug. I couldn't see her face because her jet black hair was covering
it, but I knew she was scared. She hated thunder storms more than anything. When we first
met up with her, we found her cold, wet, and alone, in the middle of a thunder storm. She
never talked about her life before the Protectors, so I never knew what happed to her.
Years later I did some digging and discovered her troubled past and made sure
she was justified, but that is another story for later.
I was about to say something to her, but Kal came in at that moment and beat me to the
punch. "You know," he said with an evil grin, "You have fought monsters, robots, ghosts,
and villains of all sorts, and you are scared by a little thunder?"
Violet looked at him, gave him a death glare, and smiled. She was always good about taking
jokes. She wiped a hand across her eyes, careful not to smear what little make-up she had
on.
Ingneous quickly pulled her hair up into a ponytail and rested her head against my shoulder.
"Aww," Violet sang and Kal raised his hands. Violet giggled as she rose a foot into the air
and floated over to the other side of the couch. When Kal dropped his hands Violet gently fell
onto the couch, still giggling. Kal winked at her and sat down between both of us.
"How rude," I said as I turned to Kal, shifting Ingneous to the side so she would be
more comfortable.
"Oh, she had it coming," Kal said and ruffled her hair to the side with his big hands.
"Where is everyone?" Violet asked, trying to fix her hair, but it was futile attempt. It was
a complete mess, she would need a brush. Her hair was as thick as rope and so dark that it
looked violet.
I half-heartedly looked around the room, I knew we were missing two of our members, we
had a total of six. I occurred to me that I haven't seen those two all day. I started to worry
a little, but I quickly put my ill thoughts away, they can take care of themselves.
It wasn't long before Scorpio and Clover walked in together. Clover was wrapped around
his arm. Her thin, straight, red hair hung to her hips. Her pink lips spread across her face in
a warm smile. She was wearing a mini black skirt, the one she wore when she wanted to
feel attractive. Along with her black mini skirt, she wore a hot pink tank-top. That was
her favorite outfit and she wore it crime fighting once or twice. She never did have an
official uniform.
Scorpio was the meanest of us all. He had a rough and tuff look to him. His muscles could
make any weightlifter weep with jealousy and his teeth were as crooked and yellow as
a sharks. He wore all black, he thought color was a distraction and made him look weak.
He was one that even Trogdor wanted to push his buttons too much. Scorpio may have
looked mean and acted mean towards our villains and the occasional fan, but he was
a good hero and an even better friend. In the end, he would be the first to give up on me
then turn against me
Scorpio casual walked up to Ingneous and gently tugged on her ponytail. She screamed out,
more in surprise then in pain, and whipped her head around to see how the culprit
was. Ingneous tried to fight back a smile, but failed to when she saw Scorpio grinning at her.
Clover left Scorpio's side and sat down next to Violet. They started to talk. Ingneous felt left
out and hopped up and gracefully walked over to them, sitting next to Clover. As the girls
sat and talked, Scorpio sat down next to me and silently watched the movie play.
I slightly looked around and a satisfied feeling overcame me. Everything, for that one
moment, was perfect. Nobody was in danger or injured or fighting. We were just sitting
watching a movie like normal teenagers. I should have known that it wouldn't last. I
shouldn't have let my guard down.
The movie had only been over a couple of minutes before our alarm went off, indicating that
a villain was on the loose. We all sat up immiedatioly. All our attention was now focused on
the bleeping red light that flashed wildly through the room. Different villains ran through
my head, wondering which one it was.
"Finally," Clover shouted with joy, "Something to do!"
"No, kidding," Kal jumped in, "For a little bit I thought that we might have to retire early."
"Early retirement?" Violet raised an eyebrow, "Like I would give up crime fighting. If all
the villains left this city, I would just get up and follow."
"You're right," Scorpio said waking up to Violet, "We would follow."
"As a team," Ingneous chirped in, "We will always be a team."
Smiling, all I said was, "Let's do this."
It only took us ten minutes to get to down town Jump. Normally it would have taken us at
least fifteen. (It was different back then; we didn't have a car, so we had to run.) We were
so pumped to be doing something. It was 8:00 p.m and all we had done that day was lay around.
None of us would have guessed that the day that was so laid back would end in tragedy.
When we arrived our excitement and adrenaline faded and our hearts sunk, filling us with
dread. Glaring, evil looking, Trogdor stood tall and pound, already anticipating that he
would win.
We all stood still, nobody moving, not even Trogdor. It was a moment that still haunts me today.
I have replayed that fight over and over in my head for years, wondering if I had
done things differently would I still be in this situation. Of course, you can't change the past,
no matter how wrong it seems.
"What do you want Trogdor?" I asked Trogdor with a fearless voice. I tried to act like
nothing was bothering me, like this was just a normal criminal and a normal fight, but I
couldn't. something was bothering me, something just didn't seem right. I wish I would of
just pulled the Protectors out and called it an retreat, but my pride and determination
wouldn't let me.
"You, know what I want," Trogdor snarled. "I am prepared to destroy this entire city, but I
will wait. I have a few friends that would love to take down the Protectors." Trogdor
laughed and sickening, evil laugh and then, out of nowhere, our top five villains surrounded us.
I could physically see the panic starting to over whelm my team. I didn't think any of my
plans through, I just started shouting out orders, "Clover, attack Ritoous. Ingneous, take
down waterlala. Scorpio, handle Lady Mantisi. Kal, stop Dr. Banadna. Violet, get Talisha."
I shouted out the orders, never taking my eyes off of Trogdor.
Violet snapped her head around, "What about you?"
"I'm taking down Trogdor," I sped past her before she could argue with me. I knew it was a
bad idea. She knew it was a bad idea, but I had to stop him. It was the only way I would be
able to sleep at night. Knowing he was out and about just made my stomach hurt, and I
was certain that tonight was the night I was going to take him down for sure. I didn't know,
at the time, how wrong I was.
I ran after Trogdor, leaving the madness and chaos of the fight behind me. The sounds of
my team fighting got dimmer and dimmer the father I ran. I was worried about them, but at
the same time I had keep forced. Only worry about Trogdor. They are your team; they
are perfectly fine on their own. I kept telling myself that over and over, but it didn't stop me
from feeling guilty over leaving them to fight on their own. Those villains are hard to take
down when it's all five of us. It would almost be impossible to win with just one Protector to
a villain.
I followed Trogdor down a dark ally. Water splashed up at me feet as I ran through rain
puddles. My heart beat faster with every breath I took. It was so loud all I could
hear was…boom, boom, boom…it went on like that for five minutes. Then all of a sudden I
came to a dead end. My eyes quickly scanned the surrounding area, looking for a blind stop
that Trogdor might be hiding in.
I was breathing heavy and my heart was the only thing that could be heard…boom, boom,
boom, boom…I was in a dangerous situation, yet there was no way out. My back was up
against a wall. I spent a few minutes looking at every crack and crawl space in the alley
, never once looking behind me. I looked and searched for any evidence that Trogdor
was present, but I found none. It was when I turned around to make my way back to
my team that I came face to face with Trogdor.
I knew from the look in his eyes he had me right where he wanted me. The Protectors
were preoccupied with the other villains and I had nowhere to run. He slowly approached
me, taking smaller steps with each step he took. He was thoroughly enjoying himself. He
wanted to make sure I knew he was superior. I did.
"So, Slade," Trogdor spoke my names softly as if not to scare me, "I think we need to talk."
"No we don't," I snapped at him. I was really starting to get nervous.
"Yes, we do," he started to come forward again. "You see I have bombs place all over the
city and within a 500 mile radius of the city. With a push of a button, all those bombs will go
off killing millions of people, including your friends…"
"What do you want?" I snapped at him again. This was not how I planned the night to go and I was terrified that I would never see my friends again.
"If you wouldn't interrupt me, then you would know what I want," Trogdor scolded me
while wagging his finger. "What I want is simple. I want you to come work for me, as an apprentice."
"No," I said without hesitation.
"Then don't, but know that defying me comes with a consequence. If you say no and refuse
me then I will blow up the city and surrounding areas. Your refusal will cost millions of
people their lives. Among those people will be your friends. The choice is ours."
Trogdor had a smug look on his face, he thought he had won. He had. I couldn't let everyone
die because I didn't want to work for him. I would become the one thing I swore I would
never be. I would betray my friends and my city, just so I could save them. It was the
ultimate price and I was willing to pay it. And I did.
End Flash back.
Robin's point of view.
I watched Slade and even though I couldn't see his face, I knew he was deep in thought. Out
of all the past I thought up for Slade, this was not one of them. He, much like me, did what
he needed to keep the things he cared for safe. We really weren't all the different, but one thing
I did know, was that if I couldn't get out of this situation and had to be a criminal all my
life, then I would never ever take a hero in as an apprentice.
"Slade," I whispered, "What happened? To the Protectors, I mean."
Slade looked up, "They still guarded the city for a few years. We fought almost three times
a week. Ingneous stopped coming to the fights and was the first one to leave the team.
Violet and Clover soon followed and Kal and Scorpio just quit. But before all that, Scorpio
took my spot as the leader. He was always the worst to fight, he hated me for leaving
and betraying them."
"They never knew the truth?" I asked, although I already knew the answer.
Slade shook his head, "No."
"And the bombs," I asked, hoping I wasn't on dangerous territory, "Are they still in place?"
"Trogdor or Mr. Onen as you call him, claims that they are still there, but aren't activated.
He told me that he shut them off when he knew he could trust me, but whether or not that's
the truth is up to you to decide. It's late Robin, go to bed." Slade said and turned back to
his computer.
"Wait, one more thing," I said. Slade didn't turn to look at me, so I just continued, "Where
are they now?"
"Go to bed Robin," Slade said, his voice even.
"I know you know," I continued to push.
"Robin," Slade's voice got deadly.
"Alright," I said giving up, "Good night."
Thank you for reading! I'm sorry for not getting this up sooner, but my internet is out
of whack! In fact I am at McDonalds right now using their free wifi! Haha Well
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Thank You and please review! Oh I
was thinking about writing a fanfic about the Protectors and their adventures. What
do you think?