Teen Titans – The Fighting Life – Epilogue Arc – Rated PG 13/Half, Version; Chapter Prologue: Rewind
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PLEASE STANDBY……….
So! The Epilogue arc got so much love, but ended up being originally not suited for younger audiences in the end, that I decided to take the old arc from months of off time and rewind it to Slade simply exacting his revenge on Batman AND no slash required. Nil. Robin only had that happen after he was faking a death that remedied Lex's Kryptonian problem. Supes went through being probe – gunned down, so we are going to rewind up to Ollie in Star City going down, and right after Dick was taken in by the JLA at the watch tower. After they found the chemical resin in his mask and after Slade had become accustomed to controlling Robin with the probe without the use of the trigger, but a neural – link with the teen.
After Superman's semi – demise and when Slade came for his apprentice in the Metropolis morgue basement floor.
To the summary…. Oh! And there will be death so don't expect a G rated Titans' fanfare. Slade is a mercenary that wants to train a former crime fighter, just to rub his success in Bruce's face.
And Robin still has been affected by the serum which makes things more difficult for himself and his team…. waking up!
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From Chapter; Rivals :
~ I am not so certain that this element is from your planet's home surface, or on any known or documented part of the Earth. ~ Manhunter came up to the station with Speedy, who was still waiting for Ollie to get better. "He found out about Canary and won't let me talk to him."
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To Chapter; My Kryptonite :
" He's gone to Metropolis."
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Up to Chapter; Catatonic Reemergence – 2.0:
"You were perfect –
"Why…" Grunted Dick, as his body no longer mirrored Bruce's own cold, dead one inside the morgue casket. He tugged away from the hug. This man…
"Slade. I…can't do this –
"We don't have time for you to regress on me, boy." Slade stood up and pulled away his fleeting hand's touch. The kid was coming to. Being disobedient again, while Batman would surely have a clue as to where Dick was being held…
"Come with me." Slade beckoned the teary-eyed soldier. "They can't help you now…apprentice –
"Richard growled and threw up his bet face; the man had tricked him. Like a drug, he'd come crawling back. He felt violated, his secret…. his life…
He snarled out one way, just one way to feel like it all made sense.
"Bite me!" He snapped back at his oppressor.
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Dick was cut off as the red-hot pain of the probes under Slade's thumb, took the kid under, making him rise and walk from the room in a step-by-step fashion. Only thing, he wasn't dying this time…
"S…slade……what……aannnnn...!" He was lost in the swelling pulse of red splotches as these reminded him of the time he'd tried to save the Titans. Now, Slade was using his trick to do as he'd wanted with the kid. It frightened the hero. Slade had no trigger, but his link. He had Dick's consent even so…
His control was not his, anymore.
Slade looked at the boy with that mask less appearance staring him down. As a lowly thing that was born to follow a mad man's orders in order to save his friends' lives.
"I've tweaked the probes to be kinder to you, and if you try that little stunt again, they will hurt. I promised to break you if our bargain was left incomplete. Now. Come, Richard. They don't want to see you anymore. Not, what you were…" Slade paused to correct himself. "After all of that fighting back... You're nothing but an accomplice, who tried to kill Bruce Wayne…"
Dick gasped, then held his skull and moaned out loud.
"No…. Stop…. ann…" He was dragged along, as if by an invisible tugging that only Slade could maneuver by way of a thin thread that bound them. The nanobots inside Dick's bloodstream had him follow Slade down the hall while getting as far away from the building's supportive staff, who had gone after the false Slade as the real mastermind had already predetermined of his counter – attack.
As he soon found, they could also be cloaked. That was the worst, now no one would see them run out the back door…
As if Robin needed to know about the fight with the league, anyway. Slade dismissed it, as Robin groaned on and followed right a step behind. Superman was under his master's control with the probes, Ollie was out of commission, and the Flash? Bedridden, until Slade said otherwise…
Man hunter with Atom, Green Lantern and Hawk Woman, Wonder Woman, Aqua man…. And….eventually… Batman.
The real one. Slade was set on a warpath to destroy the league, and Robin had somehow willingly been a part of it. He wondered if the boy would discover that the probes had something to do with his apprentice's demeanor. If he'd figured out in that exact moment how to fight Slade's control.
They slunk out the back way, before Slade deactivated the probes and knocked Robin unconscious to carry him off into the midday sun.
Goodbye Clark, and hello new life as an unofficial protégé to a hell-bent assassin named Deathstroke.
So, doing these 1.0 and so on chapters since this is an experiment for me. Keeping up? The probe gun Slade created can infect the heroes with one shot, so when Slade had Dick meet up with him in Metropolis, his aim was to get to Superman and hit him with the gun. Anyone under its influence can become Slade's puppet or soldier and it causes excruciating pain as a result of the effects taking hold. Aqualad fell to it and Raven also found out that Trigon is involved somehow but not a SLASH THING! He's a destroyer, but guess what? So is Slade! We are up to this and Robin will soon renounce his title to pick up the name…don't say Nameless. I want to do a do – over because this is the world of fiction. Very forgiving!
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Chapter 1.0: A New Mask
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As the hero rose from a softer bed than he'd recalled on the ship, he wanted to believe that Slade had not made him black out or that Clark was….
He shuddered as the memory of waking up in the casket – all of it, replayed. The man's control keeping him in line, as Robin jumped from the bed and went to bang –
He stumbled up to the padlocked nightmare before him. A vault? The door? Where was it!
Ah, security lock. He was nailed down here…
"Slade. Let me out! You can't keep me locked up like this! SLADE!" He banged on the door. He kicked, and with a mindless bit of anguish, his altered strength and a punch directed soon after, it was enough to leave a small dent in the metal as he pulled his fist back…horrified by the reaction.
The door opened to the side with a slide, and there stood the masked man, upset that Robin had woken in his anguish and had, defaced the man's things. Again.
Well, Robin was a topic he could call objectionable later. He had to get his money's worth and train the boy to attack targets, not metal doorways.
"Good evening to you too, apprentice. No need to shout." Such sarcasm was unneeded this late in the day. Robin felt that voice mocking him, causing him to flinch.
"I wouldn't have gotten your attention if I hadn't." Robin's blue eyes were icier than Slade recalled as he quipped to the man, hoping he'd get his gist. He wasn't going along with any of the man's plans. Period. Even if he had to…
Scratch that.
Slade looked the boy over. So, defensive now, compared to before.
Maybe the serum did that? Richard squinted through the doorway at the older man, and Slade's eye seemed to narrow in a similar fashion.
"What would that accomplish, dear boy?" Slade walked into the room, as Richard stood and backed away in a defensive stance. Richard's glare followed him throughout the room. "You made me hurt my family; the League thinks –
"Bruce will show himself. I have no doubt…" Slade inspected the dent that Richard had made into the solid metal door. "Impressive. Your abilities aren't truly…uncapped. If I were to utilize them with the probes, you'd be unstoppable."
"Then I guess, I won't." Dick crossed his arms. He sniffed defiantly up at the criminal mastermind.
Slade straightened himself to prostrate before the doorway, his fists relaxed, until one swung out to throw Richard off balance in a right hook.
Robin smirked, very deviously…. he seemed to want to put Slade in a rather bad mood this evening.
"You should have been faster." The villain criticized.
"Losing it already? Batman will stop you…" Dick snarled in response. Keeping to the bed for support. His heel was touching the mattress. Slade wouldn't -
"And Bruce won't be so trusting, in either of us." Slade composed himself and scoped out the boy's room for something else that he needed to find. Maybe a reminder of what they'd be doing once their new lair was up and functioning. (We as in Robin and Slade. He wants the kid as an heir, so it's only right.)
"We aren't finished with the contract, Dick. When you've finally done as I have commanded and without fail, I'll know that you were worthy of my time here…"
"So, what am I to you? A side – project? Some, investment??" The boy spat, arms out as if he had to be joking – Robin was always going to be a household name! It was his family, his pride… " I told you before… I'm not going to be your –
"You could become a soldier, or a puppet –
"Same thing." Sneered the teen, crossly.
That did it. Slade was merely feet from the dresser as Dick waited to find an opening towards the door. He could try like in the brig. However, too late. His collar was tugged to bring him inches off the floor as he attempted to bolt too soon.
Slade, was strong…. And his apprentice was only in a tee and boxers that the bots had probably dressed him in….
"Kicking and screaming. That's how this experience will go if you disobey another request, Apprentice –
"I'm not your! –
Slade threw the boy into the wooden dresser. He was no longer the merciful man that had Robin buried, and Dick Grayson to resurface from beyond the grave.
"Get up." Slade watched as a dazed ex – hero wasn't ready to wake up to a steely glare staring back at him. He gasped and clawed at the man's metal gauntlets as he was dragged from the wreck, into the hall that seemed to have no walls or an end.
Complete shadow. In darkness.
Shaking his mop of black hair back and forth; the hair damp from his sleeping sweat and nightmares, Dick nearly got his leg ready to kick. "No! I…. won't!... Don't….make –
Slade could have lifted the lanky Titan acrobat from the floor, yet he only applied more pressure, soon letting go of his apprentice's mangled wrists when he'd deemed the measure sufficient enough.
The hero barked back at the crunching, realigning of his hand's joints, healed via the serum's good work. The extra effort left Dick on his knees, panting and winded by how much energy he'd expended already. His fingers trembled, completely put back together.
"The truth? Should I tell you, Dick?" The man's voice boomed down at him. The voice echoed in the hall, with no walls as if…
He was in a larger space. Looking up, he saw a catwalk and a few petty interests that the male kept from view. A sky roof, and a way back that was too far up to tell. Security measures were tight. He had hidden tricks on every plate and in every crevice. If Dick had tried to escape…He could see these traps now, thanks to the serum, thanks to…Slade making an even bigger mess of his life.
" You are an accomplice, and you helped me to subdue the league –
"No…" Dick refused to listen, but could not leave the floor. The man would not allow this little lecture to desist. It was plain brainwashing like before, e could fight it…He had already proven that to his nemesis.
"You impersonated Bruce Wayne, and even fooled the City of Metropolis's award winning press team. Lois was crushed with the alien." Did he? Dick gaped up at the man. Then, he'd really hurt them! No…
"The whole world thinks he's gone. The league will not rectify it willingly, even if they find the chip that is keeping your mentor busy."
Chip? The chip in, Bruce? What??
The boy was shaken. Slade smirked below his visage of a criminal mind. He knew it. The Titans knew it. Anyone knew or would figure out that Dick wasn't as before. He'd be more than happy to prove them right.
"The mask; the face you'll swear to me under oath. I want you to think up a new persona. Before tonight is up." He commanded as the boy below him at his feet, cowered with his head in his hands. "We'll be starting your training in Bludhaven, as promised. I want you to be ready to face the Bat when he comes searching –
"You…. you're going to –
"Bruce is your responsibility." The man reminded, his cold eye airily evading the boy's distress. He had to, he was his teacher. "Your job as I mentioned would have been completed by December. Yet, I think October will be close enough to the actual date. IF you stick to our deal…" The man stopped, letting his words settle a moment.
" Otherwise, the Titans will no longer be spared. They'll be at my mercy…. And you, will be their executioner." Slade cocked his head to peer at the defeated teen again.
"Robin; do you remember the thermal blaster?"
Slade watched as the shaking young man, froze from that resurfacing memory. Nodding, the boy was afraid to speak. Good, then he did remember enough to listen.
"And didn't Bruce Wayne's rule of "no guns" prevent you from breaking your word to him, as his faithful ward…?"
Dick felt his lips go dry, but he nodded. A "yes." In shock still. Frozen and bolted to the floor, on his knees before the assassin.
Still. He'd have to have it, the reason he'd crumble here would have to happen. Dick was afraid to say yes or no. He'd just broken another rule. Unwisely negotiating with the enemy without prior authorization.
Dick gulped. ~ He'd never… ~
"A laser is no more than a shot fired…If you had shot the alien girl, back then –
Dick cried out, rebuking with a near sob. "No!…. I…. I didn't! –
"You DID. Apprentice." Slade circled the frightened half – meta. "You shot her, even unwilling. You held a bullet to her –
"NO!" Dick looked up and flared at the man, his eyes brimming over with hate. The pools of blue were there, the emotional riot that was Dick Grayson had no stopper to him. Slade saw those eyes and how much, too much. Slowly he tried to calm the boy's mood. Careful not to work poorly with his, sentences.
"I taught you, and yet my lesson didn't fully register then. Your performance was not inadequate against the Titans….and now? With the training wheels, removed…"
He was whimpering again. No good. Dick had to realize that no one person was going to relieve him of his suffering but Slade, himself. His master and current mentor under oath. "Slade…please….no -
"I didn't finish." Snipped the older man, as Robin's face fell. His voice became a silent whisper.
"You'll get to end her life, with something close to the original."
Slade held up the probe gun. "She may be infected with the prototype, yet imagine a double – dose. It would stop her heart…. instantly."
" Raahhh !" Robin got to his feet and lunged at the man; grappled back by his strong arms. The probe gun was pocketed again, from view.
"Save that "hate" for your training. As of now, it officially has begun; Richard Grayson." Dick was shoved away, on his feet yet feeling too weak to stand his ground against the man. His mind was probably in a whirlpool of regret right now, tossing his emotions to rack at his subconscious reasoning. If that made any sense besides sounding a little poetic?
Then, a crossroads. Even a forced set of marks in his path.
"You can't hide behind the mask forever. Decide on a new name by tonight, and by tomorrow, Bludhaven awaits us."
Gritting his teeth, Dick had nowhere to go. He'd end up being taken home….to go back with his family, his team that would prod him as Slade had done. He would never be Robin again…. he'd be –
Just another criminal…A test subject for the rest of his life…
"I…" His timid voice returned, all rage suppressed by hopelessness and that lowest feeling he could ever feel.
Sorrow.
"No need to respond." Slade interrupted quickly. "You're obviously tired out from our trip. Return to your room, for now. We'll start your training once you are again well rested, and Richard?" Dick looked up as Slade had turned to go, but stopped halfway out. "I promised to personally break you if the conditions of our agreement were not met. Remember that. You can't die easily, and killing me by any means may be the only way out of our deal. Think on it. Goodnight, Apprentice."
Richard sniffed and took himself up from the hard floor. Bruised and beaten, he walked in and found his wide bed in the back of his new room… With a sigh, he fell onto it. As he quietly reflected on the months he'd been a captive to Slade's super soldier training program, he thought about what and who he was putting at risk. Who he was going to lose by his contract and oath with Slade if he remained his apprentice…
~ I DID shoot Starfire…...No…. he can do it. He knows…he knows how to break me…I can't let that happen… ~ The boy buried his face into the mattress and with no mask to protect him. Vulnerable to a monster inside this very labyrinth, he drifted off to sleep and tried not to feel like the biggest martyr in the universe...
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