A/N: Okay, here's the third chapter of The Fire Within. Ahh, by the way, Drusilla is a smart little cookie for her age in the story and she actually loves Slade as a father, so don't kill me for her interaction with him.
P.S- Anyone else friggen hate this new ratings system? I'm so confuzzled by it...Or am I just really stupid and can't understand it? XD
xXxXxX Two years later xXxXxXx
The team sat in the living room consumed in their own business. Raven was reading a book, Beast Boy and Cyborg playing video games, Starfire cooking, and Robin researching. After Drusilla's disappearence, the team searched high and low for Slade's hideout, but had no success. Eventually, Raven told them just to give up and that she would get over the disappearence. Truth was, she couldn't. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't stop thinking about her couple days with her only daughter. Beast Boy had offered to have another child but Raven merely responded with the fact that it would probably be kidnapped also.
So the team eventually got back to the normal routine of crime fighting, hanging out and eating pizza until days end. Raven said they all needed to grow up but they ignored her and kept on living as they always did. The seasons changed, birthdays passed and villians were fought. Cyborg was currently 25 years old, Beast Boy was 21, Raven was 23, and Starfire and Robin were 22 years old.
Raven sighed and put the book down. She couldn't focus on her reading any longer. The team didn't say anything when she wandered out of the room down the hallway. Raven closed her eyes and began to remeber everything that had happened on the night she lost her daughter. It had been exactly two years to this date that the event had happened.
"Oh Drusilla...I hope your still alive..." Raven whispered, hot tears falling down her face as she spoke.
xXxXxXx Slade's Lair xXxXxXx
Drusilla stood in the dark den that she called home, her hands flickering with her power.
"That's it...Now, focus in on the flames, making them bigger!" Slade instructed, peering down at her.
Drusilla stood at five years old. In reality, she should have only been two. But the drugs Slade had injected had worked perfectly. Now, she was learning to harness her power and use it. Slade overlooked her with a smirk under his mask. Drusilla had grown into quite a beautiful girl in his opinion. She stood with very pale skin, long black hair that had natural green highlights, her dark purple charaka on her forehead and most importantly, her piercing violet eyes.
With much testing and training, Slade had discovered that Drusilla's power was the gift of fire. He knew that eventually she would be able to make sliver swirls of fire that would ultimately destroy the city. He was in the process of teaching her spells and inchants to greater improve her skills and possibly reveal her other powers.
Drusilla smiled as her hands lit up, as did the room. The swirls of fire went down her arms and amazingly didn't burn her skin. "Look dad! I'm doing it!"
Slade nodded. "Very good. That's all for today, you can go play now..." He watched as she skipped off to her bedroom. Slade had actually been kind to the girl, and she had grown to call him her father, as she knew no one else as her parents. His logic in the way he treated her was that if he treated her well, she wouldn't have the urge to run away or question his tactics.
But as Drusilla would get older, Slade would become tougher on her. She didn't know it yet, but he was going to turn her into a killing machine as the years passed. Her grace and beauty would be the downfall of the entire city and perhaps the world. Slade couldn't wait to see the look on Raven and Beast Boy's face as they saw their daughter kill everyone around them.
The masked villian sat down in plush chair and leaned back. He looked at the screens as the Titans rushed into town to stop Dr.Light from stealing all the gold in the city bank. Drusilla appeared next to Slade, holding a small rag doll in her hand.
"Dad, who are they?" She asked, pointing to the Teen Titans as they surrounded the villian.
Slade looked over at Drusilla, slightly surprised by her appearence. "Those are the Teen Titans...See how they beat up that poor man, they're very bad people..." He pointed to the group.
Dru frowned and peered at the screen. "Someone should tell them to play nice..."
A low chuckle escaped Slade. "Dont' worry dear, eventually you'll be the one to tell them that. You just need to train some more..."
"Oh...alright..." She said and sat on Slade's lap.
He was slightly surprised by the action, but put his hands over hers as they watched the team battle for the forces of good.
"Hey, do you know what today is?" He asked her.
Drusilla shook her head and looked up at him.
"It's your birthday..." He said with a smile. Slade considered today to be Drusilla's birthday as it was the day he had began to raise her as his own.
Drusilla's face lit up like the flames she created. "Oh boy! Do I get a present?"
"Why, yes you do. I've gotten you a nice story book so you can teach those bad people a lesson and a nice pretty dress too..." In reality, he had bought her a spells book and was giving her an outfit with his mark on it. He instructed his butler to fetch the items and gave them to Drusilla.
She overlooked the book with wide eyes and unfolded the dress. "Ooh! Thank you daddy!" She said, hugging him.
Slade looked down at Drusilla and tilted his head, no one had ever really hugged him before. He wasn't exactly the hugging type, infact, it was making him feel light headed. "Uhh, why don't you go put on your new outfit?"
Dru nodded and let go. She skipped off to her room, humming a tune as she went along. Under the mask, Slade wore a slightly confused expression. Then he saw a figure standing next to him.
Slade's butler stood next to his master. "Anything else I may get for you?" He asked.
"Yes actually...fetch me the second dose of the growth drug I was working on last night..." Slade said slowly.
The butler bowed and sunk into the shadows. "Yes Master..." He responded grimly.
xXxXxXxXx
Drusilla admired herself in the mirror with a toothy grin. It was a flowing purple dress that puffed out at the hips and sleeves. It had a black 'S' enscribed into the middle, marking her as his own. Then the smile faded of the girl's face. She began to inspect herself and wonder a few things such as, Why was her hair green? What was the strange diamond that rested upon her head? But the thing that bothered her the most was the fact that her teeth were very pointy, like an animals. She walked closer to the mirror and lifted up and arm to touch her reflection.
"Totcher, what are you doing?" Slade asked, leaning up against the doorway. He had been observing the way she inspected herself in the mirror for a couple minutes now.
Dru turned around briskly to face him. "Oh...nothing Daddy...Is there something you want?"
Slade nodded and hid the needle he was holding behind his back. "Why, yes...Could you roll up your sleeve for me and close your eyes? It may sting a bit...but you'll just fall asleep..."
"But..." Drusilla's eyes filled with hurt. She didn't want any pain on this day. The one eye glared at her and she did what she was told.
"Good girl..." He said and looked at the blue veins that showed through her pale skin. He jabbed the needle in quickly and injected the fluid into her.
What Slade had given her was another dose of the growth medication. It would speed up her growth process even quicker. Now it was at the point that she would develop five years for every one year that passed instead of two. Slade had found one fault with the formula though, it stopped when the child turned fifteen years of age unless another formula was injected at that age. He figured that fifteen would be a suitable age for his little soldier. He watched as she fell to the ground, dead asleep. Already, her fingers and hair began to lengthen and her face filled out a bit more. Drusilla would fall asleep at the age of five, and wake up at ten years old.
xXxXxXx
Beast Boy sighed and admitted defeat to Cyborg. His robotic friend had beaten him six times out of seven games. The changeling had only won once because of Star almost blowing up the kitchen trying to make another one of her weird foods to cure the sickness she had been having. Then Beast Boy looked around the room as he threw down the control. A deep frown set on his face as he realized Raven was nowhere in sight.
"Any of you guys seen Raven?" He asked, looking at the team.
Everyone merely shook their heads and went on with their business. Beast Boy stood up and walked out of the room. He traveled down the hall, listening for any noises Raven might be making. Suddenly, he heard a quiet sobbing and objects cracking. Instantly, he realized it was Raven crying in her room.
Raven sat on her bed, head in her hands, letting the tears fly down her face and hit her bed. She had to let her emotions out just once if she didn't want to go totally insane. Ignoring all of the breaking vases and ripping books, she continued to sob quietly, whispering Drusilla's name every then and now. Her door slowly slid open and she didn't even look up to see who it was.
"Oh Raven..." Beast Boy said, sitting on her bed and pulling her close.
The dark titan closed her eyes and sobbed into Beast Boy's chest now as he stroked her long hair. He wanted to tell her that everything would be alright and they would find Drusilla but he would just be saying things that he didn't even feel were all that true.
"Rae...You can't just sit here and cry forever..." He said, kissing her head gently.
"I know, I know..." She whispered. "Just this one day...just one more day to get rid of these tears and I'll be back to normal, I promise..."
"Alright Raven...I want this day too then..." With that, tears began to stream down his face also. They mourned together for all their losses and held each other close.
xXxXxXx
Robin glared at the computer as he typed furiously. "Why hasen't there been any crime lately...something has to be up..."
Starfire floated over to Robin, holding her stomach. "Robin...what troubles you?"
"Oh, nothing much...I'm just wondering why there hasen't been any crime lately...Anyways, Are you feeling better?" He tore his eyes away from the computer to look at Starfire.
The alien girl looked a bit green, and her face was set in a small frown. "I am afraid not...the...oh what does beast boy call it...the blowing of the chunks comes and goes, mostly in the early hours."
Robin frowned and patted his knee for Star to sit on. She happily obliged and snuggled into him.
"Where are all our friends?" Starfire asked, looking up at her masked love.
Robin shrugged and turned off his computer. "Don't know..." He began to lovingly stroke her long, auburn hair.
"Then...perhaps...we should go and participate in some activities...such as training?" Starfire asked, but her eyes suggested otherwise. They twinkled with mischief as she traced her finger around the 'R' symbol on his uniform.
Robin was practically grinning. "Why yes...we should..."
The couple stood up from the chair and walked off down the hallway into Robin's bedroom.
xXxXxXx (A/N: Muhaha. That was so kinky.)
Raven blew her nose in another tissue and wiped her eyes. Beast Boy sighed and looked down at her.
"You need to meditate or anything?"
"No...I just wanna lay here with you..."
Beast Boy couldn't help but smile at her. They leaned back into Raven's many decorative pillows. The dark Titan closed her eyes and began to fall asleep. Then she began to recieve a vision, images flashed by wildly of fire and a girl laughing. Then there was Slade's one eye glaring in the distance.
Raven shot up out of Beast Boy's arm with a slight scream.
"Raven! What's wrong?" He asked, sitting up.
"I...I just got a vision..." She said, panting and trying to grasp what she saw.
xXxXxXx
"That's it...Now chant it slowly and focus in on your words.." Slade said, watching as Drusilla sat in a lotus position.
Slade was trying to teach her how to meditate to further impove her skill and control over her flames. So far, she was doing well with catching on how to say the words slowly.
"Das...Feuer...Steigt..." She said, breathing slowly and feeling herself float up slowly.
A few hours had passed and Drusilla was already ten years old. Her hair was a couple inches below her shoulders and her skin had grown even paler. Her violet eyes had become brighter and twice as intense. Those eyes looked as if they could see through your soul if you let them inspect you long enough.
"Very Good...Are you ready to train now?" Slade asked, peering down at her.
She nodded slowly and stood on her feet. "Let's begin..."
Slade was quick to attempt to grab her arms and throw her down, but Drusilla caught on and spun out of his way. With a grim smirk on her lips, her hands ignited in silver swirling flames. Slade whipped around and stood across from her in a fighting stance.
"C'mon dad, give me your best shot!" She said confidently.
"If you say so..." He smirked under his mask and grunted as he jumped up and kicked her fiercely in the stomach, sending her flying backward.
Drusilla grimaced but kept on her feet, sliding the whole way back. "Fuego!" She shouted and the flames shot from her hands in a swirled display.
Slade raised his eyebrows in approval under his mask and ran from her attack. However, the flames followed him, leaving a trail of smoke as they went. This actually surpised him a bit, as he had no idea she could do this. But Slade had many surprises of his own. He ducked under the flames and charged towards her with force.
Drusilla expected this and smiled. "Desapareca." She whispered under her breath and disappeared instantly.
Slade stood almost stunned and looked around for her. She was nowhere in sight. Suddenly, Slade felt a strong hand on his broad shoulders. Drusilla giggled slightly in his ear.
"Surprised ya didn't I?" She asked, appearing infront of him. A small smirk was placed confidently on her lips.
Slade glared at her. "Where did you learn that? And why didn't I know of it?" A slight growl was in his deep voice. He was suspicous of Dru picking up random powers that probably required some reading of books that were tightly locked away.
Dru's eyes widened slightly. "Well...Your butler gave them to me. He said that they would be good for me to read so I could add new skills..."
"What?" Slade asked angrily and picked Dru up by the throat. "How dare you read any other books than the ones that I instruct you to read! You should know better than to be snooping your nose into things that are not directed towards you!" He growled, gripping her throat tighter.
"W-What's it to you if I read a couple books? It's making me stronger isn't it?" She gripped her hands tightly around his wrist.
Slade knew exactly why he didn't want Drusilla reading a couple books. In the event that something went wrong and Drusilla turned good, she would later use those greater powers on him and might even defeat him. He couldn't afford being taken down by his own apprentice.
"That's none of your business. You'll pay dearly now for your mistake!" He kept a tight grip on her throat and threw her across the room with great force.
Dru slammed up against the wall with a loud 'bang' and groaned. Slade walked over to her and gave her a firm kick in her stomach. Then he proceeded to punch her face over and over, causing her nose to break with a defining 'crack'. She knew if she didn't fight back, she'd probably be killed.
"So this is what I get for trying to learn?" She croaked as he took a break from beating heavily on her.
Slade growled and narrowed his dark eye. "Do you enjoy me beating you like this? Because you are sure asking for it with all this questioning!"
He brought down his fist to punch her again, but it was stopped by a flaming hand. Dru's eyes were glowing orange and her sharp teeth were barred. Slade was a bit taken aback but stepped back and got into a fighting position. Drusilla floated upward, her hands and arms covered in sliver flames.
"Go ahead, Try to knock me down again...You won't suceed."
xXxXxXx
A/N: MUHAHAHA! -cough- Mild cliffy here for ya. I have the fight scene all written up and whatnot. So, next chapter will include their little battle and then we'll foward time up a couple months to when Drusilla is 14 and her first attack with the titans! Would've updated sooner but I had to go to Pittsburgh. Ugghh. That was horrible. Anyways, 'Till next chapter: Emmery.