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To wolfclaw1098 – Thanks for your review! I'm glad you liked it! You'll find out! Hope you like this chapter!
To FireShifter – Thanks for your review! I'm glad you liked it! You'll find out! I hope you like this chapter!
To Zenny01 – Thanks! I'm so glad you liked it! I hope you liked this chapter!
AN – So I didn't get anyone telling me to change the rating, so I'm going to assume that it's okay. I hope you all like this chapter!
Enjoy!
The creaking of door hinges had Dick slowly blinking his eyes open. He didn't realize he had fallen asleep, didn't think that he would be able to with his hands chained the way they were. It was extremely uncomfortable but whatever drug Slade gave him worked. Plus, the whole turmoil probably exhausted him even more. He supposed he should be grateful for the rest but now that he was awake and Slade was back, he was nervous and a little scared for what was going to come next.
"Good, you're up. Just in time." Slade said as he walked into the cell, again carrying the medical kit and a thermos. More soup probably. Dick didn't really care about that though. His attention was on the bag, and was what going to happen.
Slade got down on his knees beside him and placed his stuff on his other side. As he then reached for the bandage on the brand, he looked Dick in the eyes and warned, "Don't move."
Remembering that the criminal chained him like this because Dick kept trying to get away from him, the teenager took a deep breath and forced himself to remain as still as he possibly could. He couldn't help the tiny flinches or small gasps of pain as Slade poked, prodded and cleaned the wound but he didn't try to pull away despite every instinct telling him to. He hated every second of it. Closing his eyes in an effort to block out the pain, Dick hoped and prayed that Slade was almost done. That this whole situation would be over soon.
"Still has a ways to go before it's fully healed, but it's doing pretty well." The assassin stated, putting the new bandage on as Dick bit back a wince. Slade then looked back at the boy's face.
"You are also doing very well." He added, before reaching up for Dick's bound wrists. "Let's take these off."
Dick stayed as still as he could, just like before, as Slade grabbed both his wrists in one hand while he unlocked the cuffs with the other. When the older man brought the young teenager's hands down and laid them on his stomach, Dick whispered, "Thank you."
"'Thank you'?" Slade repeated with hard, questioning tone as he looked down at the boy's face.
"Master." Dick added, lowering his eyes as shame coloured his face. He suddenly felt a comforting hand start running through his hair, followed by hearing Slade say, "Don't worry, you'll get used to it."
Those words, obviously meant to comfort him, did the exact opposite. Dick didn't want to get used to it. Already he was feeling slightly more at ease saying it and that terrified him. He didn't want to be here, didn't want to be Slade's apprentice and most definitely didn't want to have a 'Master'. It was disgusting. The only thing he wanted was to go back home. Back to Bruce and Alfred, back to his friends and safety. Why hadn't they showed up to save him? His father was Batman and his friends were superheroes. Why haven't they found and rescued him yet? Did, did they not want him anymore? Did they decide he wasn't worth being saved or something?
"Hungry?" Slade pulled Dick's attention back to what was going on. Seeing the thermos without its lid in his hands, Dick nodded.
Placing an arm around the young hero's shoulders, Slade lifted him up so that Dick was leaning against him and brought the tip of the thermos to his lips. Dick opened his mouth and immediately started slurping the soup. It tasted like the canned chicken noodle, and thankfully was still warm, but not too hot that it would burn his tongue. It only took him a minute to down the whole thing. However when he reached the last gulp, he swallowed a bunch of air and started coughing harshly. As he struggled to catch his breath and stop the pain that erupted in his chest and throat, Slade pulled the now empty thermos away and lifted his upper body higher to help him breathe better.
"Easy, easy. You're alright." Slade actually cooed, waiting until Dick stopped coughing to lower him back down on the thin mat. It sounded a lot like Bruce, whenever Dick had gotten sick or injured. He tried to remind himself that Slade's sudden care didn't matter because he was the one who put him in this position. He was the one who kidnapped and tortured him, but he was so tired. If he couldn't go home, then he just wanted to go back to sleep. And go to the washroom.
Dick looked over at where the toilet was and felt himself pale. It seemed so far away. He had barely moved since Slade brought him to his cell, and he didn't want to. He already knew that standing up and walking was going to be about as painful as having the burn cleaned. Or, had enough time passed that it wouldn't be as bad as he was scared of. He really didn't want to find that out right now, but he didn't see another option except for dirtying himself. Unless…
Apparently realizing something was going on his head, Slade asked, "What?"
"Bathroom." Dick whispered with embarrassment. He expected the man holding him prisoner to scoff and leave him on his own, but he didn't. He simply nodded as an understanding expression came over his face.
"Alright. Give me your hands." Though stunned by the man's behaviour and not wanting to move his sore arms, he held out his hands. Slade took them and pulled Dick to his feet.
Dick grunted as the movement caused not only the burn to start throbbing again, but also pull at his other old injuries. The agony the brand had caused him had made him forget about all the cuts, bruises and old whip marks that Slade had inflicted on him earlier. But he bite his tongue to keep from vocalizing how badly it hurt as the assassin led him to the bathroom corner. When they got there, Dick was a little scared of what Slade was going to do next, but he simply let go, took a few steps away and turned around, giving Dick some much appreciated privacy. Unsure of how long he'd have the strength to keep standing, the acrobat did his business as quickly as he possibly could.
"You done?" Slade asked seconds before Dick flushed the toilet. Though he figured Slade was smart enough to know the answer, he still whispered, "Yeah."
"Come on." Slade placed a hand on Dick's shoulder and started ushering him back towards the bed. Once they reached it, the assassin put his arms around Dick and gently lowered him to the mattress. "Down we go."
"Hurts. Tired." Dick mumbled as he willed his body to relax, closing his eyes.
"I know. This will take the pain away." Slade assured him as he pulled out a syringe from the med kit and plunged the drug into the boy's arm. Seeing the boy visibly start to calm down, he rubbed his shoulder and added, "I know that this whole thing has been extremely difficult for you. Believe me, I did not enjoy doing it, but you needed to learn. Now that you have, the process will go much smoother."
Dick mumbled incoherently, but left his eyes closed. With a smirk, Slade said, "Go back to sleep now."
The boy mumbled again, but far quieter than before. Seconds later, his breathing evened out, telling the man that his apprentice had fallen asleep. Still smirking, he stood up and left the room, locking the door behind him like always. He doubted Richard would actually try to escape in his condition, but he wasn't going to take any chances. The boy was full of surprises, and Slade wasn't going to give him an opportunity to surprise him by sneaking out.
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The next time Dick woke up, he knew something was wrong. Before, Slade would always wear his armour but not his helmet. Now though, he was. And he practically ran into the cell, leaving the door wide open. Normally, he would at least close it. He also wasn't carrying anything with him. No medical kit and no thermos or any other kind of container for food. Plus, the second he reached him, instead of trying to wake him gently, he just went for the shackle on Dick's foot. It was like he was panicking about something but the teenager didn't know why, nor did he have the brain power to figure it out on his own.
"Wha's going on?" Dick muttered as he struggled to keep his eyes open.
"Nothing you need to concern yourself with." Slade told him as he unlocked the cuff and pulled him into his arms, almost like he was going to carry him. But the movement jarred Dick's burn and he tried to pull away.
"Stop struggling." Slade ordered in a harsh voice, reminding Dick of the last time he had struggled. He didn't want to go through that again, or anything worse, but the injury was now throbbing badly again and he couldn't help it. Instead of being punished though, he felt a needle being stuck into his arm while his captor said, "Here, you're going to go to sleep now. Everything will be fine when you wake up."
Dick tried to stay awake, wanting to know what was going on, but the drug quickly pulled him under. The last thing he was aware of was being picked up and carried out the door of his cell.
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Without any fanfare or dramatics, Aqualad, Miss Martian, Superboy, Kid Flash, Artemis, Red Arrow and Batman burst into the warehouse in Jump City. The place where their intel said that Deathstroke was keeping Robin. It had been four weeks, two days and 23 hours since Robin had been abducted and they weren't going to let it last any longer.
After the Justice League, specifically Batman, found out that Deathstroke took Robin and they were unable to find any trace of him the area where it happened, they immediately started trying to track the assassin down. They figured that kidnapping the young hero was an impulsive decision on the criminal's part, but they soon realized they were wrong. Deathstroke had planned this, and they had no idea why. They had all tried to think of what he could want with Robin, but the most they could come up with was the Light actually wanting him. And even then, they didn't know why.
When Red Arrow learned what had happened, having been told by a terrified Wally, he demanded that he be included in trying to find the youngest hero. Unfortunately, there wasn't much any of them could do. No one, not even Batman, knew exactly what country Slade even lived in anymore. He was completely off grid, popping up only when he had a contract to complete, and they couldn't track him that way because he didn't seem to have any contracts in the last month. He didn't even come back to finish off the Senator he was trying to take out. However, 18 hours ago, Batman finally found a lead. This warehouse.
At first, Batman tried to come up with a plan of attack, knowing how powerful and smart Slade Wilson was and that he'd definitely have some sort of defense system in place, but then Conner revealed he couldn't hear anything inside. No sound of breathing, heartbeats, not even the hum of electricity. Batman then asked if he could use his vision to see inside, but apparently the building was lined with lead, keeping him from looking through its walls. Hearing that, Batman gave the order to break into the warehouse. As soon as they were inside, Wally rushed through the whole building for his best friend, but he returned with terrible news.
"They're gone." Wally announced as he skidded to a stop in front of the others.
"What? No! How?" Roy shouted. Bruce felt the same way but he kept his mouth shut. He couldn't let himself fall apart. He wouldn't be any use to Dick if he did that. He needed to hold himself together and find his son.
"He must've realized we were coming and ran." M'gann answered while Batman started examining the place, looking for any sign that his son had been imprisoned here like his intel had told him.
"If they were even actually here in the first place." Conner chimed in with a frustrated tone.
"They were." Wally told him, then held out his hand. Lying flat on his palm, was a black mask. One they all recognized.
"Robin's mask." Artemis stated with fearful tone.
"That means Deathstroke probably knows who he is." Kaldur realized, also with a fearful tone. Since he grew up and lived in Atlantis, keeping his identity secret was not as big a deal as it was for others. But he knew that for his teammates and fellow heroes, it was of the utmost importance. And while he trusted his team and hoped that they trusted him, they were still unaware of who Robin actually was and the fact that this criminal now knew was terrifying.
Batman clenched his jaw so tightly he thought he might crack his teeth. He knew that Deathstroke knew Batman's identity already, having figured it out back when he had fought him a few years ago. Or, at the very least, 'knew' but hadn't confirmed it yet. It would be very easy for him to confirm that Robin was in fact Dick Grayson and used that to confirm that Bruce Wayne was Batman. Batman didn't care about the identity issue at the moment though. That could be dealt with later. Right now, his son was still in danger and needed to be found.
Turning back to the teenagers, Batman ordered, "Search the whole place top to bottom. There must be a clue somewhere that will tell us where Slade took him."
The teenage heroes immediately jumped to follow the Dark Knight's instructions. Though Wally had technically already searched the place, he was only looking for Dick and Slade, not for any clues. As they did that, Batman headed over to the computer he saw. Hopefully there would be something there that could help him find Dick.
The Team split up. There were two hallways, one on each end of the same wall, connected by another hallway and the end of each. Conner, M'gann and Artemis went down one hall while Wally, Roy and Kaldur took another.
As the speedster, archer and Atlantean didn't see many doors down the hall they chose. One led to a bathroom, another to an empty office. There was one that was apparently a bedroom, but it was clear it was not intended to be. The last door though was the one that revealed more. The one that was obviously a cell due to the type of lock on it. This one, they actually entered.
Even though Wally had already searched the place, he didn't examine anything. He just looked for Dick. Looking at the room now, he was disgusted. There was a thin mat, no blanket, off in the far corner of the room. In the other far corner, was a toilet with a half-made wall that almost reached Wally's waist. What made it crystal clear that this was indeed a cell was the chain bolted in the middle of the floor with a single manacle on the other end. They walked further into the room, which was when Kid Flash noticed something on the bare mattress.
"Blood." Wally whispered, unwanted images of all the ways Slade could've hurt Dick during the last month flooding his mind, even if there wasn't that much blood there.
Roy felt his own blood boil under his skin, and a single glance at Kaldur told him that he was feeling the same way, but they couldn't focus on that right now. They had to focus on finding any clues that would tell them where their friend, their brother, had been taken. As obvious as it was that Dick would not be in good condition, the longer it took for them to find him, the longer he would be in that condition. Or even worse as Slade would have more time to do whatever he wanted to him.
"Come on. I don't think we'll find anything about where they are going in here." Roy told them. Though clearly shaken, both Kaldur and Wally nodded and the three headed back into the hallway.
Artemis, M'gann and Conner were already there, having apparently already finished searching the rest of the warehouse. From the expressions on their faces, they hadn't found anything either and were just as angry and frustration and scared as the others were. They were so close and he slipped right through their fingers. Dejected, the six of them walked back to the main room where Batman was, looking at something on a computer.
"Did you find anything?" Artemis questioned as she strode over to Batman.
"Yes." He answered, not looking at her.
Rushing over to the Dark Knight's other side, Wally asked, "What?"
With a clenched jaw and deep voice, Batman answered, "Where they went."