So we've got an insight into Slade's mind, Star's, and Robin's. Maybe I can
get more of the other three titans in this chapter instead of (very) brief
cameos like last time. BB didn't even have a line. ( Poor thing. I just got
finished watching the episode, I think its called Winner Take All or
something, you know the one with the tournament of champions. Well, I'm
thinking maybe I can squeeze Speedy and Joto in. (Joto's the fire one
right? And that is his name, isn't it? I only saw the second half off the
episode so I'm still clueless) Well, here it goes the next chapter in
Assassin's Bane!
Chapter.........what chapter is this? Four?
Robin sighed with relief as the two twins, Taiyo and Ateru, replaced him from his shift as bodyguard. He had been standing in the Evening Court all evening (well, duh Robin, did you expect it to be in the morning?) and before that he had attended the afternoon meetings Starfire had had for a total of eight hours. His feet were killing him. Standing up for almost eight hours straight was not a fun thing to do.
His partner in suffering was the blonde girl Terra. He had had to conceal laughter when he saw the Prime Minister's son, Beastboy or something like that, watching her with hearts in her eyes. He had nearly passed out when she had winked at him and it was all Robin could do to not burst out laughing which was a most un-bodyguard-like thing to do. Terra tended to talk a lot too. Well, maybe not a lot, but it was a lot compared to Robin who usually said two words at the most. She talked about how nice the queen was and everybody was so helpful and how being a bodyguard was more fun than she thought and blah blah blah blah. Robin stopped listening after a while. He did notice that she didn't say much about herself or her past. Well, everyone's got secrets, he thought. Look at me. I'm an assassin working as a bodyguard for the one I'm supposed to murder and my past isn't exactly clean. I'm sure she'll tell me eventually. Not that I care.
They'd been at this job for a week and a half. Robin had planned out exactly how and when he could dispose of Starfire. He mentally shook his head. Stop thinking of her as "Starfire!" That will make it harder for you to do you job! Don't get familiar with your target, one of the most important rules of being an assassin, second only to "Don't get caught" and "Your skin is the one you should worry about saving, not someone else's."
Finally Terra had something else to do other than bug him. He headed to the salle. He and Cyborg had agreed to spend some more time together and fight once or twice. Robin figured he'd better enjoy it while he could. Soon he wouldn't have a job as a bodyguard anymore.
###
Raven was meditating, repeating the same three words over and over. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zin---"
"Hey Raven! What'cha doin?" an excited voice interrupted her. Raven's eyes flew open. Beastboy, the annoying green changeling that he was, was standing in front of her with a grin on his face.
"Meditating." Raven replied, closing her eyes again. If I ignore him, he'll just go away.
"Why? You're always meditating. Don't you think that you do enough of it? Let's go do something!"
"Because I have to control my powers. And I have to do it everyday."
"You've already done enough today! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease let's go do something!!!!!!!! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease??????" Beastboy begged.
Raven opened one eye. "If I do, then will you let me meditate in peace?"
"Yes!"
"Fine then. What do you want to do?"
"Uh...." Beastboy obviously hadn't thought about it beforehand. Raven rolled her eyes. This was going to be excruciating.
###
Cyborg wiped the sweat off the human part of his face. He had just finished sparring with Tim (that's Robin) and had just barely won. But something was worrying him. Maybe it was the feeling that the bodyguard had held back in their fight so Cyborg would win.
Or maybe it was something else. Cyborg had always been one of those people who could sense when something was wrong or someone wasn't all they seemed to be. His "bad feelings" usually ended up as more than just "bad feelings." Call it a six sense, call it whatever you want, but Cyborg had always had it. And now it was telling him something wasn't quite right with this Tim Drake fellow. Perhaps he should do some research and see what he could find out about him...
Three hours, forty-seven minutes, and twenty seconds later, Cyborg had his answer. Well, sort of. The file he had found was very brief and inconclusive. Tim Drake, born on planet Davetha, had been sold into slavery by a father with too many gambling debts. He was bought and sold until he escaped at age six. Present whereabouts unknown. Presumed dead. That was all the information Cyborg could find.
So either the teen he had met and fought with was an escaped slave or an imposter. Either way wasn't good. If he was an escaped slave, he would have to be returned to his previous owner or paid for. If he was an imposter, they had a big problem. If he had lied about his identity under a Truth Spell, he could have lied about other things. Cyborg hoped fervently that wasn't the case. They had a picture of Tim Drake with his meager profile, and, granted it had been taken at age five, it resembled the Tim Drake he knew.
But why would a slave know martial arts, much less be so good at it? And the Dragon warrior training was also bizarre. Again the thought of an imposter came into his mind. And again Cyborg hoped it wasn't true, for Star's sake. If he was an imposter, he could have been sent to hurt Star or someone else. Also she had come to him earlier in the day and they had talked. One of the subjects that had come up was her new bodyguards. She had taken a liking to Tim, and although she hadn't actually said she liked him and had talked about the others as well, Cyborg could tell something was different about him. That sixth sense again. This was going from bad to worse.
Let's try something else. Cyborg scanned in an image of the bodyguard and searched for any matches. The computerized voice said, "Search in progress. Estimated time: 3 hours and 20 minutes. 0 % complete." Cyborg groaned. Better go do something else and come back later. He looked at the clock. Time to recharge. He'd check the computer in the morning.
###
Starfire smiled to herself as she fell asleep. Her new bodyguards were so nice. The two girls were wonderful to talk to and the boys were courteous and so sweet. Not to mention gorgeous, she thought and then chided herself. No thinking like that! You shouldn't be going and falling in love with your bodyguard! Even is he does have gorgeous black hair and beautiful blue-grey eyes... she added as an afterthought.
###
Robin opened his trunk. Underneath the false bottom was a collection of vials, weapons, jars, a few books on subjects relating to his work, and other odds and ends. Many of the vials and jars contained poison or the ingredients to make it. Others contained potions and powders like the one that had helped him pass the Truth Spell. He selected two and held them up for inspection. Just the ones he wanted. Alone they were completely harmless, together fatal.
Poison was his favorite means of disposing of his targets. Called the "assassin's weapon," it was accurately named. Sneaky, hard to be held responsible for, and, most importantly, lethal. Much like an assassin was.
So long as the two liquids were taken within 24 hours of each other, the suspect would die. They created a slow-acting poison that would give him time to get away from the scene of the crime. The first he could slip into her drink at dinner. She had tasters, but they wouldn't notice anything. The second one he could put into the tea Starfire drank before going to bed. She didn't have a taster for that, as the only ones who knew were those close to her. Tomorrow he would have the opportunity to give it to her as his shift was the dinner/night time shift.
Still, Robin felt sorry for Starfire. He didn't want to have to kill her but it was his job. He wondered why that King Slade wanted her dead. Over the week and a half that he had been here he had gotten to know her a little. She seemed to be a kind, innocent, overstressed girl with a workload she didn't want. He was almost reminded of himself. He didn't want to be an assassin, but he hadn't had a choice, just as she had no choice about being Queen.
Robin caught himself and told himself to stop acting compassionate. You are an assassin! A killer! You are not supposed to feel sorry for the one you're killing! Tomorrow she dies, he thought, end of story.
###
A/N: How's it going? Good? Great? Unbelievably, wonderfully, spectacularly amazingly? That's nice. Notice Robin has a hard time following his own advice. Don't call her by her name! And what does he do? Calls her by her name.
Sorry BB fans! He's getting no screen time what so ever huh? And the screen time he does get is either drooling over Terra or annoying Raven. At least he got a couple lines this time!
Beastboy: #sob# Why don't I get to show up and make jokes?! This fic needs some comic relief! It's too dark and angsty!
Author: #raises eyebrow# Dark and angsty? It's not dark and there's hardly and actual angst in here. Besides, if I don't have some angst, it'd be really stupid. It'd be like: Robin and Starfire meet and fall insanely in love with each other with no guilt on either side. Slade is forgotten or dies from the flu and everyone lives happily ever after. The end. No, way too boring. Go drool over Terra or something.
Beastboy: #leaves# TERRAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!
Raven: #glares jealously# I am so not jealous. I don't know what you're talking about. #random lamp explodes#
Author: ......surrrrrre you are......#struggles to hold in laughter#
WAH! My asterisks aren't showing up on so I have to use weird number signs instead!
Somehow I get the feeling I'm rushing through this. Tell me if I am, okay?
Chapter.........what chapter is this? Four?
Robin sighed with relief as the two twins, Taiyo and Ateru, replaced him from his shift as bodyguard. He had been standing in the Evening Court all evening (well, duh Robin, did you expect it to be in the morning?) and before that he had attended the afternoon meetings Starfire had had for a total of eight hours. His feet were killing him. Standing up for almost eight hours straight was not a fun thing to do.
His partner in suffering was the blonde girl Terra. He had had to conceal laughter when he saw the Prime Minister's son, Beastboy or something like that, watching her with hearts in her eyes. He had nearly passed out when she had winked at him and it was all Robin could do to not burst out laughing which was a most un-bodyguard-like thing to do. Terra tended to talk a lot too. Well, maybe not a lot, but it was a lot compared to Robin who usually said two words at the most. She talked about how nice the queen was and everybody was so helpful and how being a bodyguard was more fun than she thought and blah blah blah blah. Robin stopped listening after a while. He did notice that she didn't say much about herself or her past. Well, everyone's got secrets, he thought. Look at me. I'm an assassin working as a bodyguard for the one I'm supposed to murder and my past isn't exactly clean. I'm sure she'll tell me eventually. Not that I care.
They'd been at this job for a week and a half. Robin had planned out exactly how and when he could dispose of Starfire. He mentally shook his head. Stop thinking of her as "Starfire!" That will make it harder for you to do you job! Don't get familiar with your target, one of the most important rules of being an assassin, second only to "Don't get caught" and "Your skin is the one you should worry about saving, not someone else's."
Finally Terra had something else to do other than bug him. He headed to the salle. He and Cyborg had agreed to spend some more time together and fight once or twice. Robin figured he'd better enjoy it while he could. Soon he wouldn't have a job as a bodyguard anymore.
###
Raven was meditating, repeating the same three words over and over. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zin---"
"Hey Raven! What'cha doin?" an excited voice interrupted her. Raven's eyes flew open. Beastboy, the annoying green changeling that he was, was standing in front of her with a grin on his face.
"Meditating." Raven replied, closing her eyes again. If I ignore him, he'll just go away.
"Why? You're always meditating. Don't you think that you do enough of it? Let's go do something!"
"Because I have to control my powers. And I have to do it everyday."
"You've already done enough today! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease let's go do something!!!!!!!! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease??????" Beastboy begged.
Raven opened one eye. "If I do, then will you let me meditate in peace?"
"Yes!"
"Fine then. What do you want to do?"
"Uh...." Beastboy obviously hadn't thought about it beforehand. Raven rolled her eyes. This was going to be excruciating.
###
Cyborg wiped the sweat off the human part of his face. He had just finished sparring with Tim (that's Robin) and had just barely won. But something was worrying him. Maybe it was the feeling that the bodyguard had held back in their fight so Cyborg would win.
Or maybe it was something else. Cyborg had always been one of those people who could sense when something was wrong or someone wasn't all they seemed to be. His "bad feelings" usually ended up as more than just "bad feelings." Call it a six sense, call it whatever you want, but Cyborg had always had it. And now it was telling him something wasn't quite right with this Tim Drake fellow. Perhaps he should do some research and see what he could find out about him...
Three hours, forty-seven minutes, and twenty seconds later, Cyborg had his answer. Well, sort of. The file he had found was very brief and inconclusive. Tim Drake, born on planet Davetha, had been sold into slavery by a father with too many gambling debts. He was bought and sold until he escaped at age six. Present whereabouts unknown. Presumed dead. That was all the information Cyborg could find.
So either the teen he had met and fought with was an escaped slave or an imposter. Either way wasn't good. If he was an escaped slave, he would have to be returned to his previous owner or paid for. If he was an imposter, they had a big problem. If he had lied about his identity under a Truth Spell, he could have lied about other things. Cyborg hoped fervently that wasn't the case. They had a picture of Tim Drake with his meager profile, and, granted it had been taken at age five, it resembled the Tim Drake he knew.
But why would a slave know martial arts, much less be so good at it? And the Dragon warrior training was also bizarre. Again the thought of an imposter came into his mind. And again Cyborg hoped it wasn't true, for Star's sake. If he was an imposter, he could have been sent to hurt Star or someone else. Also she had come to him earlier in the day and they had talked. One of the subjects that had come up was her new bodyguards. She had taken a liking to Tim, and although she hadn't actually said she liked him and had talked about the others as well, Cyborg could tell something was different about him. That sixth sense again. This was going from bad to worse.
Let's try something else. Cyborg scanned in an image of the bodyguard and searched for any matches. The computerized voice said, "Search in progress. Estimated time: 3 hours and 20 minutes. 0 % complete." Cyborg groaned. Better go do something else and come back later. He looked at the clock. Time to recharge. He'd check the computer in the morning.
###
Starfire smiled to herself as she fell asleep. Her new bodyguards were so nice. The two girls were wonderful to talk to and the boys were courteous and so sweet. Not to mention gorgeous, she thought and then chided herself. No thinking like that! You shouldn't be going and falling in love with your bodyguard! Even is he does have gorgeous black hair and beautiful blue-grey eyes... she added as an afterthought.
###
Robin opened his trunk. Underneath the false bottom was a collection of vials, weapons, jars, a few books on subjects relating to his work, and other odds and ends. Many of the vials and jars contained poison or the ingredients to make it. Others contained potions and powders like the one that had helped him pass the Truth Spell. He selected two and held them up for inspection. Just the ones he wanted. Alone they were completely harmless, together fatal.
Poison was his favorite means of disposing of his targets. Called the "assassin's weapon," it was accurately named. Sneaky, hard to be held responsible for, and, most importantly, lethal. Much like an assassin was.
So long as the two liquids were taken within 24 hours of each other, the suspect would die. They created a slow-acting poison that would give him time to get away from the scene of the crime. The first he could slip into her drink at dinner. She had tasters, but they wouldn't notice anything. The second one he could put into the tea Starfire drank before going to bed. She didn't have a taster for that, as the only ones who knew were those close to her. Tomorrow he would have the opportunity to give it to her as his shift was the dinner/night time shift.
Still, Robin felt sorry for Starfire. He didn't want to have to kill her but it was his job. He wondered why that King Slade wanted her dead. Over the week and a half that he had been here he had gotten to know her a little. She seemed to be a kind, innocent, overstressed girl with a workload she didn't want. He was almost reminded of himself. He didn't want to be an assassin, but he hadn't had a choice, just as she had no choice about being Queen.
Robin caught himself and told himself to stop acting compassionate. You are an assassin! A killer! You are not supposed to feel sorry for the one you're killing! Tomorrow she dies, he thought, end of story.
###
A/N: How's it going? Good? Great? Unbelievably, wonderfully, spectacularly amazingly? That's nice. Notice Robin has a hard time following his own advice. Don't call her by her name! And what does he do? Calls her by her name.
Sorry BB fans! He's getting no screen time what so ever huh? And the screen time he does get is either drooling over Terra or annoying Raven. At least he got a couple lines this time!
Beastboy: #sob# Why don't I get to show up and make jokes?! This fic needs some comic relief! It's too dark and angsty!
Author: #raises eyebrow# Dark and angsty? It's not dark and there's hardly and actual angst in here. Besides, if I don't have some angst, it'd be really stupid. It'd be like: Robin and Starfire meet and fall insanely in love with each other with no guilt on either side. Slade is forgotten or dies from the flu and everyone lives happily ever after. The end. No, way too boring. Go drool over Terra or something.
Beastboy: #leaves# TERRAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!
Raven: #glares jealously# I am so not jealous. I don't know what you're talking about. #random lamp explodes#
Author: ......surrrrrre you are......#struggles to hold in laughter#
WAH! My asterisks aren't showing up on so I have to use weird number signs instead!
Somehow I get the feeling I'm rushing through this. Tell me if I am, okay?