Rose
It had been a very long time since Slade was forced to leave a fight. A disc felt out of place along his back but thankfully his healing would take care of that soon enough. It had already taken care of the stab wounds from the shards of ice which had since melted and helped to sooth the pain. His leg was certainly dislocated and possibly broken aswell. That was going to require a little more treatment than simply walking it off.
Slade was leaning against the buildings he walked along, keeping his weight off his broken left leg. He was observed by many homeless men who wisely said nothing.
Stopping by an empty alley, he hobbled toward a dumpster. He already had a lot of his armor destroyed in the fight with the Titans. No point keeping what was left. Throwing away his arm, leg and neck plates, Slade finished by removing the back of his helmet and ripping off the remaining material of his torso. Looking at his gear a final time before he slammed the lid shut.
His knee needed attention. Slade lifted the dumpster off from the floor and rested it back down onto his boot. It was uncomfortable but it would keep his leg in place. Rolling his torn shirt into a small rope, he put it between his teeth and bared down on the cloth. Grabbing the rim of the dumpster, Slade pushed the dumpster down and pulled his leg up as hard as he could. His knee let out a sickening pop as it shifted back into place. Groaned in pain he nearly bit through the cloth in an attempt to vent the pain.
His knee wasn't remotely close to healed but it was on its way. Right now all he could really do was to take it easy.
Thankfully he wasn't far from his destination. Not that he was happy to be going there. He continued on at a snail's pace down the Gotham streets… unaware he was being watched from a nearby rooftop.
"Hey Batman. You're not gonna believe this. It's-"
"..."
"Oh. Of course you know. Robin out."
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"I'll be fine Cyborg… I just need a few minutes…" Raven explained as she began healing herself. It would take a lot out of her but she had to. She wasn't going to let her friends go into a fight outnumbered and with their big gun gone rogue.
"Raven, you can't do this. We-" Cyborg tried to convince Raven she was pushing herself too far again but Raven had had enough.
"Are out of options… we just lost Slade… you can't lose me too…"
"Anything you require I will obtain. It is the least I can do for you, friend Raven." Starfire was still visibly shook from what she had seen. Whether it was because of her Paramore or because of the condition Raven was in. Raven wasn't sure.
"You don't need to… do that for me Starfire…" Raven explained.
"No you are wrong. I have been a horrible horrible friend. I hurt you and spoke your name with filth and I did not know why. Perhaps it is I, that is the Fethal…" Starfire chocked back her sobs. She didn't deserve to be the one in tears after what she did.
Looking at Cyborg, Raven raised an eyebrow. Shaking his head in 'don't ask' way. Raven ignored whatever a Fethal was.
"You weren't yourself Starfire… I forgive you for everything… But some ice would… do me good…" Raven smiled at her friend.
"Thank you friend." Wiping away her tears, Starfire flew away looking for a piece of ice.
"We got a lot to talk about but we need to get to the docks. Grundy. Does Penguin leave any cars around here?" Cyborg asked.
"Penguin have many cars here. We take Limo. Plenty of room for all us. Grundy can drive. Me his chauffeur." Grundy proudly stated.
"Well that's… surprising?"
Starfire returned with a large piece of ice wrapped in some tore cloth from one of the broken tables. Raven took the ice and held it against her head. "Thanks… Let's go."
The Titans and Grundy, who had let Raven stand back on her feet, made their way toward the underground garage. Grundy lead the teens toward a limo after taking the keys from a nearby table.
Stepping inside the vehicles, the Titans got comfortable while Grundy prepared the vehicle for the drive.
"Man I could get used to this. What do y'all think about a T-limo?" Chuckled Cyborg.
"Hard pass." Raven smirked.
"Do we have a plan?" Starfire asked.
"Until we can scope this dock out, all we can really plan is that Robin's our top priority. We don't even know where BB is. At least if he shows up you know how to help him now Raven."
"Actually… it's not that simple."
"But what about what you did to Starfire and I?"
"I don't know much about Paramores. My father's powers are mostly beyond my knowledge but from what I know. A Paramore feeds on negativity without the host realising it. Every negative emotion they feel only makes the demon stronger and if they become so powerful that I can't cast them away they'll take control forever. So in Beast Boy's case…"
"With everything that's happened to him recently that's a whole lot of negativity."
"Me nearly dying, his powers attacking innocent people and I'm sure he's still mourning for Terra. Beast Boy is hurting. More than we realised. There's a real chance that we've already lost him. I should have figured it out sooner…" Raven sadly admitted.
"No. We must not give up. We have come too far to lose hope now. We will rescue Robin and we will save Beast Boy."
"Star's right. You did the best anyone could have. We chose not to tell you about what happened to us while your father took over. This is our fault as much as it's yours but that's not important right now. If you can't rip BB's Paramore out of him, how else can we help him?"
Raven was silent for a brief moment. Something Cyborg and Starfire didn't like. If there was no other obvious answer, then their chances of finding another way of helping Beast Boy were fading.
"The only thing I can think of would be to reach out and try awaken his aura somehow but then it would be up to him. Personally I don't think he could overcome a demon that's feasted on that much negativity… We'll just have to wait and see." Raven admitted.
Cyborg rested a hand on Raven's shoulder. Raven looked up from the floor. Her bruised face was met by a sympathetic one from Cyborg. "Whatever happens. We'll do it together." He assured.
Even with everything that was happening to her at that moment, Cyborg gave Raven something to smile about.
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On the outskirts of Gotham was a long dirt road that led toward a woodland area. Isolated from the rest of Gotham's residential space was a home tucked away from any nearby neighbors.
The home was a small, two story, old fashioned American dream. The type of house that housed a smiling father with a nine till five job and a mother who always seemed to be in the kitchen with an apron around her neck while the kids all laughed and played in the garden. The Wilson family were certainly not that kind of family.
Hobbling his way into the back garden, Slade was unimpressed when he found the hatch into the basement had been boarded off. Ripping the pieces of wood away from the nails Slade opened up the hatch which lead to a stairway.
Gently stepping down the stairs, heavily relying on the support rail as he did, Slade found a lightbulb attached to a cord in the middle of the room. Like the hatch, the door he was after was also covered from the outside world. This time however the door was covered by drywall.
Clearly someone had tried to hide this place away for good. She hadn't done a good enough job though. Slade walked toward the drywall and punched a hole though the board. Dust spewed from the hole and the second hole Slade made on the other side of the piece of wall. Gripping the wall, Slade ripped it away from its place in the wall. Dust and rubble poured away from the wall.
Covering his mouth from the particles, Slade watched as the dust settled, reveling a large metal door covered in cobwebs and dust. Slade knew what opening this door meant. There was no coming back from this.
Wiping the dust from a small screen, the device lit up rerevealing the outline of a hand. Pressing his fingertips against the screen, a scanner screened down the pad.
"Recognized. Deathstroke. The. Terminator." A speaker voiced. The door clicked, signaling it was now unlocked.
With a stern stare, Slade leaned against the door and huffed as he pushed it wide open. The air was much colder inside this room. A sign of things to come.
Flipping a light switch, blue tinted lights lit the steel room. Slade was greeted with gun racks loaded with weapons ranging from hand guns to sniper rifles. Between each rack was a vertical case containing the more delicate weapons. Swords, knives and schreckens being the focus.
Slade could practically hear his past victims' screams of terror. The ones that even knew he was there anyway. However, anyone could use these weapons. They weren't what he was after.
At the end of the room stood his burden. The demon he wished he could bury forever. He hadn't taken his eyes off the mask that had been staring back at him since he walked in.
Deathstroke was standing there. Waiting for him to return. Slade had sworn to give up this life. Yet here he was. Ready to embrace this side of him again. It wasn't a choice he wanted to make. He was failing his mission. The Titans weren't afraid of him anymore. If he was going to strike the fear he needed in them, he was going to need to be something more than Slade. He needed Deathstroke.
But more importantly. It was Deathstroke that was going to end Deadshot. He started this war with him and he was going to end it as The Terminator.
Slade suited up as Deathstroke. The last of his regular armour discarded away after he had braced up his knee with some tight bandage. His old weapons were locked and loaded ready for action and attached to their respected place on the armour. Deathstroke was loaded head to toe with a small armory. Bullets, grenades, knifes and darts were all present along with a few extra surprises for his targets. A Desert Eagle pistol at his hip and precision rifle holstered by his side coupled with two matching Katanas crossed in his back with a retractable bo staff between them.
Picking the helmet up by the chin, Slade held the mask up toward his face and stared deeply into the eye before grasping the mask by each side of the helmet and slipping the mask over his head. The mask hissed and clicked as it locked into place. Slade was gone. Only Deathstroke remained now.
Deathstroke turned to leave when he noticed something hidden away in a dark corner. He didn't remember leaving anything over there.
In the corner of the room sat a large box with a piece of paper on top. Deathstroke picked up the paper and examined it. It was a photo- Him and his daughter as a toddler. They were… Happy.
She was sat on his knee looking up at her daddy with adoring eyes while he looked back lovingly. What he'd do to get that girl back…
Sighing softly, he left the photo back on the box where he found it and exited the vault not bothering to close the door behind him.
Reaching the top of the steps, Deathstroke needed to get inside to steal the keys for one of the vehicles kept on the property. Pulling out a lock pick, Deathstroke leaned down to jimmy the lock but was mildly surprised to find the house's spare backdoor key on the floor in front of the door. What was most odd was that the door hadn't been opened via the key. The door had been kicked in.
Deathstroke entered cautiously, peeping around every corner for anything that didn't belong. Entering the kitchen, Deathstroke found a puddle of spilt alcohol with the bottle smashed on the other side of the room.
Ah. He was starting to see what was happening here. Knowing there was no need to be cautious, Deathstroke walked through the house and found the keys for one of the cars hang in the key rack.
Next to the key rack was a flight of stairs up to the second story. He could just leave. No one would have been any the wiser. He wanted to leave but he owed it to himself. Most importantly he owed it to her.
Climbing the steps, he looked at the family photos hung up on the wall. Every single one of them that had him in it had the glass smashed. By the final photo, he had noticed the blood stains faded into the floor.
Passing each door, he brushed his fingers against the door until he reached the final one. The door was ajar and Deathstroke carefully opened the door open.
Laid out on the bed was a teenage girl seemingly passed out. Her room was a complete mess. Her clothes and belongings littered the floor and everything reeked of alcohol- More specifically, Scotch. Like father like daughter.
Deathstroke tread over the clothes and kicked away the empty bottles in front of Rose's bed. Her face was buried in her pillow with her arms supporting her head from underneath the pillow. He shook her shoulder which only caused a small groan. She was most certainly drunk if she hadn't realised someone was in her room with her.
Shaking her again, it was this time that Rose's body stiffened up. Her eyes went wide as she drew in a sharp breath at the realisation there was a man in her room.
From under the pillow, Rose pulled out a kitchen knife and lashed out at Deathstroke pressing the knife against his throat. Knowing his daughter, he expected such a violent reaction. He grabbed her wrists holding her into place until she began to calm down upon realisation of who it was who attacked her.
"You let your guard down." Deathstroke said to the shaking girl.
Rose just stared up at her father with the knife still in her hand. Even after realising who it was, she didn't drop the knife nor did she calm down.
"Screw you!" She spat and ripped her arms away from her father's grasp. Sighing in annoyance, Rose put the knife down and laid back down on her bed holding her head. She had sobered up a tad but she had a major headache.
"Where's your mother?"
"I don't know. Probably off fucking some bum. I don't give a shit." Rose replied, picking up a bottle of her father's scotch and drinking it straight from the bottle.
"Drinking alone until you pass out to the point where you can't even unlock the back door. Is that a regular night for you now?" Deathstroke asked looking around the room.
"Why the hell do you care huh?" Rose snapped back.
"For one. You're better than that Rose."
"Oh don't even fucking start with the whole turn your life around bullshit. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be like this. Did you ever think about that, Daaad?" She replied sarcastically.
"I know I robbed you of your childhood. I know what I did was evil. I wanted to make you and your brothers the best you could be."
"Well look where that got us. I haven't seen Jericho in four years, Grant's probably gotten himself killed somewhere and I sleep with a knife under my God damn pillow every night because of what you did to me! Yeah Dad. Real father of the year you are. Now what the hell do you want?!" Rose screamed, sitting up from her bed and looking up at the masked man.
"I'm joining a fight I may not walk away from. With your uncle to be specific. I came to say goodbye."
"Well you said it. Now get the fuck out." Rose ordered before turning away from her father, looking down at the floor.
Deathstroke said nothing. Turning away from his daughter he walked toward the door, pausing before he closed it. "Your brothers are doing fine Rose. I'm keeping my eye on them."
Rose didn't respond. She had heard enough from her father.
Slade turned away from her. "I always wanted the best for you." Rose wouldn't know it, but those were the truest words he'd ever say to her. Gently shutting the door behind him, Deathstroke walked away.
As he walked down the hall, Deathstroke wondered if this would be the last time he'd see his daughter. As he exited the house, he thought about the memories he shared with his kids and well… he certainly let them down.
As he sat down in his vehicle, Deathstroke turned the ignition in his car. Looking up from the steering wheel he noticed Rose was standing by her window watching him. He stared back for a moment. Like the pair were speaking without words. Looking away from his daughter, Deathstroke reversed the car out of the driveway and left.
Rose was left standing there. She didn't move. She could only stare at her father as he drove away. The stare was becoming too heavy for her to hold. Her eyes stared twitching and her lips began to quiver. A sniff turned into a quick pout but by that point what was the use in holding back.
Rose fell back into her bed, burying her face into her pillow as she sobbed. The poor girl was left alone to ball her eyes out over her mess of a life.
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Alright another chapter done and another character introduced. Not gonna lie I'm pretty bummed out that I didn't get to introduce Rose before her debut in season 2 of Titans cause I have a lot planned for her that's gonna seem like I ripped it off the show but oh well. I really enjoy the concept of Rose. Hopefully you guys like her too cause I can't wait to write more for her.
Speaking of ripping off the show for those that seen the first episode of season 2 might have noticed I modelled Deathstroke's vault the same as the show so there's a good visual idea for you.
I can tell you now that we only have 1 more chapter left before the final confrontation. The Teen Titans Vs Team Penguin and Deathstroke VS The Suicide Squad. It's gonna be a blast.
We haven't had a review in a while so let me know what you think of the relationship between Rose and Deathstroke or what you'd like to see in the big battle. So far Team Penguin has 5 members but you only know 2 of them in Penguin and Victor Zsasz. Who do you think are the other 3 members?
Can't wait to hear from you guys and I'll see you in the next chapter.
DansaCharm