Chapter 4: Meetings (Part 2)
9:30
Robin placed his hands into his coat pockets and began to walk a bit quicker. He didn't exactly have to get to work as early today, but he had a pretty major meeting with the owner of S Inc., the infamous Slade. Bruce was supposed to have this meeting with Slade; however, he wanted Robin to have more experience meeting with the heads of other companies, so Robin was to take Bruce's spot in his stead the meeting.
Slade?
Mr. Slade?
Hello, Slade, sir.
How are you Mr. Slade?
Robin tried pronouncing the name, figuring out different ways to greet this man he was about to meet. From simple manners, he knew that it was completely impolite to address strangers by merely their last name…it showed disrespect and arrogance on the part of the speaker. And though Robin when through typical greeting phrases that had worked even for the most difficult of businessmen that he had met, it just seemed weird, out of place to call this Slade by anything other than his last name. Mr. Slade? No, that was just plain eccentric. The Mr. just seemed so out of place.
To tell the truth, Robin wasn't at all looking forward to this meeting. In fact, he was dreading it. Simply dreading it, loathing for the hours before the meeting to drag on and on. Slade was one of the primer entrepreneurs of the country; the only one who had ever stood a chance against Bruce's Wayne Corps. What were they going to meet about? Well, they were supposed to strike some sort of deal between the two companies on worker pay and rights and that was why Robin was precisely dreading the meeting. Bruce wasn't going to be there (he was apparently busy with something in Gotham, though Robin knew not what) and Slade was one of the slickest, most slippery CEOs out there. He was found to be linked to some rather unpleasant and underground business dealings and corporate corruption, however, no one could ever link him to a crime; he was just slick, slipping out through the cracks of the evidence. Robin had to watch out today…
He yawned a bit and continued walking, glancing at all the shop windows as he passed by. He saw flashes of bright signs: Sale today! Everything is 50 % off! After Christmas sales… He remembered his Christmas this year and let's just say lightly that it wasn't very pleasant. Bruce, Diana, and him and a few close friends were supposed to have a small get together, however, Bruce never showed up. He was away again at another "oh so important last minute" business dealing and couldn't make it.
Speaking of Bruce, he was getting a bit suspicious that his father figure was engaged in something clandestine, something that he didn't want him to know about. And somehow or another, he felt that behind Diana's words yesterday as she helped him with some business accounts, she knew and was hiding it from him. But what could it be?
Robin was a bit surprised that he had pondered Bruce's whereabouts at all. He wasn't usually the one to mope about and to obsess over issues. My lack of sleep must finally be catching up to me. He mused. And he wasn't exactly as unpopular and as awkward as he had thought himself to be in the depths of the night. People like Gizmo just made it a bit difficult for him. There were plenty of other people, other workers, other people in higher places who very much appreciated his work and his leadership skills. He got along with most of the people all right and he was doing quite well considering that he wasn't exactly completely familiar with the settings of this city; he was used to Gotham and that city had been his home longer than any other city had been. No, he had never been the one to wallow in self-pity…it had just been late last night and he hadn't been thinking clearly. There was much to be proud of, after all; he was almost as good as his protégé, Bruce Wayne. Almost was the key word. There was still a lot of catching up to do.
Robin had been so engrossed in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed the man in front of him stop and gape at a newspaper headline.
Crash!
He ran straight into the man who had stopped in front of him. Realizing his mistake, he quickly apologized to him. The man, surprising, upon seeing his face actually wasn't that old; in fact, he was about Robin's age. He wore a long trench coat that had covered most of his body and a large hat that had covered most of his face. From what Robin could decipher, he appeared to have some metallic parts on his body (a cyborg, he presumed, the poor must have been in some horrific accident then). He realized, then, that he had perhaps, been observing the guy for too long and perhaps appeared to be fearful or scornful of the cyborg.
"I can't believe that this is happening! Man! This sucks!" The man yelled out in anguish.
"Sir, I am so sorry. I really hadn't been paying attention to where I was walking." Robin apologized again quickly; he really hadn't meant to upset him.
"Oh huh? Sorry. I didn't mean you. Nah, a little run in hasn't killed anyone. I'm just pretty mad at what happened last night. Have you seen the headlines yet?"
"Um…no I haven't. What happened now? Did the alligators in the sewer finally attack someone?" Robin quickly became silent and appalled when the man placed the paper in front of him. Major Breakout in Gotham's High Security Jail: All Injustice League Members Have Escaped.
"My God! That's terrible. The Justice League took forever capturing them." Robin exclaimed. He could hardly believe that such a heinous event had just occurred. The Injustice League! Escaped! Even the Justice League had taken a good five years to finally round them all up and capture them. He would have at least expected them to be kept in jail for a few more years…Gotham's jail had been one of the best…one of the best in the entire world in fact. And for a few months, all the world had felt at least, reasonably safe, but now they would live in fear again. The Injustice League had not single-handedly wiped out hundreds of people in a single instant once, in one of the more particularly violent battles between them and the Justice League. And he hated to think about the thousands that had probably died at their hands through the other skirmishes along the way before they were jailed.
"And it gets better…look."
Though Robin couldn't imagine anything worse to have happened, he looked at the following headline. Green Lantern and the Flash Both Wounded and in Critical Condition.
The man sighed. "Terrible news, huh? Just the perfect way to start off your day."
"Yea." Robin nodded.
"Green Lantern had always been my favorite hero out of all the other Leaguers…he's one of the few earthlings on the League. Man, I hope he's all right. He was my hero as a kid."
"Well, I'm sure he'll be all right. They're superheroes after all, the best in the galaxy. They won't go down so easily; he may be wounded severely, but I'm sure he'll pull through." Robin reassured.
The man sighed again, but then suddenly slapped his forehead. "Oh curd! I'm gonna be late to work and it's my second day too! Hey it was nice meeting ya, but I've got to run." He began to walk quickly. Robin was pleasantly astonished though; he was heading the same direction as he was.
"Hey, I'm going this way too. Where do you work?" He quickly caught up to him.
"Wayne Corps as a computer analysts. I'm pretty new on the job. Oh, by the way, my name's Cyborg."
"Cyborg eh? Well nice to meet you. I work there too. Now wonder I haven't seen you around before, you're new. The computer analyst…let me think. Oh yes! You're the one that Bruce gave the job to on the spot right? I heard that your skills were amazing…we're lucky to have you on the team."
"Oh yea." Cyborg remarked a bit sheepishly. "Wait a sec, you're…you're Robin, aren't you? Robin as in the CEO of this division? The Robin?"
"Well, I do have a last name, but yes." He didn't exactly feel comfortable being called the Robin, but then again, he hadn't been very smart in avoiding attention by referring to we when he talked about how the company was lucky to have gotten Cyborg as a worker.
"Whoa, I'd never thought I'd get to meet both Bruce Wayne and you…I mean you guys are up there in the company and I'm just a scanty little worker. But it was nice…nice meeting ya."
A.N: Some notes. They're quite lengthy (haha, probably longer than the whole chapter); I'll bold the important parts.
Right now, with this fic, I really feel that I only have this core group of readers (and you guys really rock, thanks for all the awesome reviews) and I'm glad to be getting these reviews, but I do hope that more people will read this fic. So if you're out there reading, please review! Show me that you're really out there reading! And any suggestions to make this fic a bit more visible in terms of the summary to attract more people? (Yes, my desperate rant.) Valentine's Day: Hm…from episode summaries of the show, it says that there will be a Teen Titans Valentine's Day special, very interesting. But, sigh; knowing them, Robin goes on a date…with the villain's daughter, which bites. Perhaps he'll have a little encounter with Starfire in the end, but no…I mustn't get my hopes up. It is after all a show aimed for younger kids. And speaking of Valentine's I have a Valentine's Day fic, called Love Bites. Do check it out. Brief synopsis: Robin teaches Star about Valentine's Day, which Raven faces a lonely Valentine's wishing she had told B.B. her true feelings for him…
Yea. I'll shut up after this. Any teen titan cameo requests? I do need a few villains to make appearances so if you have any suggestions please tell me. Slade will of course is in this and if these villains aren't from TT, please provide a brief summary of their personality, looks, appearance, powers, etc. Lastly, after Chapter 5 (which will tentatively be called The Misfits), things will start rolling about quicker as the plot starts to build up. Thanks for the patience and until next time, reviews are very welcome.