Disclaimer – Own nothing.

To wolfclaw1098 – Thanks for your review! Yeah, I'm actually going to talk about that in later chapters that Slade isn't a crazy sadist because while at times I enjoy those kind of stories, sometimes it bugs me because I do think that he's more complex than that. Hope you like this chapter!

To Junko – Thanks for your review! Yes this is a new story and don't worry, it's actually completely finished so it won't be left in the middle and never updated. Hope you like this chapter!

AN – Alright guys. We're about to get into the darker territory. After finishing this story, I don't think it's that bad, but you guys let me know if you think I should put warnings up before each chapter. Hope you guys like it!

Enjoy!

Dick barely slept throughout the night. Or at least, he assumed it was night. There were no windows anywhere in this building that he could see. All he could think about was Slade Wilson knowing his secret identity, why he wanted him to be his apprentice and how to escape. He checked the manacle, wondering if he could slip his ankle free, but it was too tight. And he didn't have any lock picks on him. Then he checked the chain itself to see if it had any weak points where he could break it, but found nothing. He was truly stuck.

After several hours, Slade returned with a small bowl of porridge and cup of water. He placed them in the center of the room, barely within Dick's reach, then left without a word. Dick stared at the food for a few minutes, wondering if it was drugged. However, since he didn't have a way to find out and he knew he needed to keep his strength up, he started eating. He didn't end up eating that much though. He hated porridge and he didn't have much of an appetite.

As the next hour passed, Dick waited for any signs of being drugged to show up, but there was nothing. He supposed that meant that Slade wanted him alert for something and Dick should probably be happy that he wasn't in full control, yet he couldn't help but worry about what Slade was going to do next. Luckily, he didn't have to wait long. When the hour passed, Dick heard the door being unlocked again before it opened to reveal the assassin.

"Finished?" Slade inquired as he entered the room. Like before, he was wearing his Deathstroke uniform, but no mask.

"Yeah." Dick replied, giving the man a glare.

"You didn't eat much." Slade noted with a frown as he glanced down at the bowl.

Dick simply shrugged. "Not that hungry."

"Alright." Slade responded before coming over to Dick. He crouched down near Dick's feet, pulled out a key and unlocked the manacle around his ankle. He then grabbed the boy's smaller arm and pulled him up. "Come with me."

The young hero let the killer lead him out of the room, then grabbed Slade's wrist and twisted it. Slade instinctively let go as Dick drove his other hand, clenched in a fist, into the man's stomach. It didn't do much damage, except to Dick's hand, as Slade was wearing his armour, but it did stun Slade enough that Dick was able to start running away.

He didn't look back at his captor as he rushed down the hall towards the large room he had originally woken up in. The exit was over there. All he had to do was get to it. If he could just get out of the building, he should hopefully be home free. Unless of course this building was in the middle of nowhere, like in the woods or arctic of something. Then he was probably screwed, but at least he would know where he was and could still possibly get away.

Entering the large room, he charged straight for the door with the exit sign hanging over it, but suddenly felt something grab the back of his neck and pull him back. Dick immediately started struggling, but Slade slammed him against the wall, his back to the assassin. Before Dick could continue struggling, he felt the man grip his right hand, then pull and twist behind his back. After that he pulled him away and forced him down on his stomach on the ground and put almost all of his weight on him to keep him still.

"Nice try." Slade commented, twisting Dick's wrist even more, causing him to grimace in pain.

"It doesn't matter what you do to me. I'm never going to stop trying to get away." Dick hissed, turning his head to the side so he could somewhat see Slade's face.

"We'll see about that." Slade replied.

Dick didn't even bother responding. He knew that he'd always try to escape and that he would get free. Or his friends, or most likely Batman, would rescue him, no matter what Slade thought. After years of arguing with Bruce and being on the debate team, he knew how to tell when people just refused to budge on something and Slade wasn't going to budge. So he stayed quiet as the psycho got off him and pulled him up to his feet. He expected to be dragged back to his cell or something, but Slade actually pulled him further into the large room that Dick had been trying to get to.

As soon as they got to the middle of the room, Slade pushed him down to the ground and continued further into the room. Dick immediately pushed himself back up to his feet, wanting to run to the exit but stopped when he realized that Slade was now standing near the door. He would be able to block him and keep from leaving. If he was in better shape, he'd probably risk it, but he was still sore and injured from the beating he got yesterday along with his now bruised wrist. He knew he wouldn't make it and it would just anger Slade. He didn't want to make Slade mad if he couldn't escape his rage.

Slade then suddenly turned to him and threw him a sword. "Here."

"You want me to fight you?" Dick questioned as he grabbed the hilt of the sword.

"You're a skilled fighter Richard." Slade told him, pulling his own sword out of its sheath. "But you definitely need to be trained more if you are going to be my apprentice."

"How did you figure out my identity?" Dick asked, tensing when the assassin said his real name again.

"I already had my suspicions on Batman's identity when I crossed paths with him and the League years ago. Then, when you were knocked out, I took your mask off and compared your face to Bruce Wayne's ward. Besides, it's only fair I know who you are since not do you know my identity, but you will be my apprentice. Which reminds me, from now on, you will address me as 'Master'." Slade answered as he started circling his future apprentice. The boy stared at him, then threw the sword he had given him off to the side.

"That's never going to happen. I'm never going to call you Master, and I'm not going to be your apprentice, so there's no reason to fight you." Dick explained, standing up straight and crossing his arms.

"Not even to escape?" Slade wondered, raising his eyebrows.

He tensed up at that, remembering the deal that Slade made him just the other day. If he defeated Slade and got out, Slade wouldn't follow him. Was the criminal offering that deal again? It seemed so. Though he knew he wouldn't win, it was tempting enough that Dick backed over to the sword, not wanting to turn away from the assassin and allow him to sneak up on him.

Apparently, that was what Slade was indeed planning because the second Dick wrapped his hand around the hilt, he attacked. Dick instinctively ducked and twisted to the side, getting out of the way. He didn't even have time to lift the sword before Slade swung his weapon at him, but thankfully he got out of the way before losing a limb. Then he lifted his sword, just as Slade swung again.

Dick was able to hold the assassin back for all of two minutes before Slade knocked it out of his hands. In order to get a better grip for the heavy weapon with his weak and beaten-up arms, he held it with two hands, and that appeared to be a bit of a mistake. He couldn't move as much as Slade, who was using only one hand, could. It wasn't all surprising to the young acrobat that he was beaten. In fact, he was fairly certain he only lasted as long as he did because Slade was playing with him.

Once he was weaponless, Slade brought the hilt oh his sword down to the side of Dick's head, knocking him to ground. The mercenary wasn't sure what to expect from the boy when they started their fight, but he had hoped for more. Considering his injuries, it was a credit to him that he held up as long as he did, but Slade wanted more from his apprentice. Part of him wondered if he should give Richard more time to recover from the injuries he had inflicted on him earlier, but if this boy was going to work with him, and eventually take over, he was going to have to learn how to fight while injured. He needed to toughen him up. There was no going easy on people in this line of work, no matter what age they.

"Get back up." The mercenary ordered with a harsh voice. Though the boy did try, he didn't go fast enough.

Slade kicked the boy in the stomach with enough force to flip his small body onto his back. Looking down at him, he scoffed. "Pathetic."

"Sooner or later, I will get free. Or my friends will rescue me." Dick told him as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. This time, Slade let him.

"Neither of those things is going to happen. The sooner you realize that, the better." The older man said, leaning over him.

Taking advantage of how close he was, Dick leaned a little closer and spat right at Slade's face. He smirked at the sight of his spit on the man's nose and did his best to keep smirking as the assassin's eye turned dark and cold though he wore a poker face. Wordlessly, he lifted a hand to wipe the saliva off his face and Dick started to feel a twinge of regret in his stomach. He enjoyed spitting at Slade, but he could tell he was going to pay for it, and that it would be bad.

"Apparently, I'm going to have to teach you some manners along with training you." Slade stated in an emotionless tone of voice.

Dick's heart started racing in his chest. He could imagine multiple ways Slade could 'teach' him and none of them were good. He did his best to hide it but when Slade started to grin, he knew he didn't succeed. The acrobat then wondered if he should try to run when his captor pulled out the pair of cuffs that he put on Dick yesterday. Instinctively, Dick tried to jump to his feet to run for the exit, but Slade grabbed his arm and threw back down on the ground. Before Dick could react, he felt his hands being pulled and cuffed in front of him.

When Slade climbed off him, Dick started kicking his legs out, trying to injure him or something so that he could make a break for the exit again, but Slade wasn't close enough. He had moved around to Dick's upper body and grabbed his arms before pulling him back up to his feet. Again, Dick tried to pull away and kick at the older man, but nothing was stopping him. He continued struggling as Slade pulled him towards a wooden support beam that Dick hadn't noticed before.

Looking at it now, Dick was a little confused when he saw a large nail sticking out near the top. That didn't surprise him that much, the confusing part was the fact that it was bent upwards to make a curve. As they reached it and Slade lifted Dick's bound arms, he realized what was going on. Slade lifted him up so Dick's feet wasn't touching the ground in order to hook the chain-link between Dick's wrists on the nail, then let go.

Dick dropped a little, just enough for him to plant his feet on the ground. Either it was a coincidence that the nail was in the perfect spot that he couldn't get free, even if he jumped, yet could stand upright, or Slade had put it there himself. Considering how much planning Slade seemed to have put into this, Dick felt confident it was the latter. Dick tried to see what the assassin was doing, but Slade had chained him up so his back was to him and his face was to the pole. Dick suddenly got a sick feeling in his stomach as to what was about to happen.

The only warning Dick got was a sharp cracking noise before there was slash of pain across his back. A whip. Slade had a whip and was using it on him. Gasping, Dick whispered, "That the best you got?"

"Oh no kid. I'm just getting started. But by all means, keep up this confident behaviour. I'm intrigued to see how far you can go." Dick heard Slade's confident voice reply back, followed by another crack of the whip as it cut across his shoulders, causing him to groan in pain.

"Do you want me to stop?" Slade asked as Dick struggled to keep breathing evenly. "If you want me to stop, all you have to do is say, 'Master'."

"Not going to happen." Dick told him. Slade's only response was to whip him again, forcing another groan out of Dick's mouth.

Again and again the whip slapped Dick's back, hard. He tried his best to not make any noise, not wanting to give Slade the satisfaction of knowing how badly he was hurting him, but he couldn't hold it in for long. Groans soon became screams. Dick didn't know how long Slade planned to continue this, but he kept telling himself that it was okay. He had been through worse. He could get through this too. Batman and his team would find him soon. He just had to hold on until then. They'd find him soon.