Chapter 20- The Fury of the Puppeteer
Jump City…a place once thriving with life, with the simplicities of your every day man and woman going happily about their daily lives, now laid waste in a dead zone of utter chaos. A fierce storm settled over the deserted city, pounding and thrashing at it with harsh rains, cutting winds, and thunder and lighting that came from mighty Thor himself! However, amidst all the muddle and disarray, the clouds had drifted apart over a small portion of the shore, overlooking the demolished Titans Tower, which was now fixed in the eye of the retched storm, only to be granted a few short moments of relief from the violent winds and churning rains. The night sky could be seen in this tiny window of hope, presenting itself as if it were a blossoming flower with dimly lit stars painted across its' dark indigo canvas. Among the heavenly lights and radiant colors, was the faintest sliver of a crescent moon almost as if it were peeking around the corner of its' own shadow to gaze upon the earth.
What little light the moon cast, in a world of absolute darkness, shined down on a small part of the coastline where the beach spans for miles on end; and on this beach, where the salty waters came up to tag the coast, laid a ragged strange looking alien girl. Her clothes were torn and burned, and her soft golden skin reflecting the moonlight was slightly charred and covered in bruises. Her shiny red hair draped over her face and as the waves crashed up against her and tugged her back and forth, her body moved with the current until she came on dry land. She laid there for several moments as still as a statue, but after a gentle breeze brushed over her cheek, her eyes began to flutter. She felt the soft give of sand under her fingertips as she dug into it and sluggishly pulled herself further away from the icy waters. She stopped and rested for a moment before desperately trying to lift her head up but was far to week to do so and collapsed back onto the sand.
"Rob…in…" she whispered under her tired breath.
The moon and the dark night sky slowly disappeared, and the storm began settling back over the oceanfront. She felt a tiny rain drop splash on the corner of her eye and run down her face, followed by a loud crackle of thunder and a huge flash of lightning. Another drop fell on her shoulder and then on another part of her body, and another, and another, until finally the rain began beating down on her like thousands of tiny sharp needles as it fell from the dreary sky.
She ran her hand down by her side and dug it into the sand trying once more to push herself up but couldn't muster the strength. Her arm fell and her body went limp as she let out a long sigh and fell unconscious again.
br--
"Slade," Robin said astonished to see his once thought to be dead adversary standing before him.
"A name long remembered," said Slade as he strode closer towards Robin with his hands behind his back. "It sounds a lot better than Deathstroke."
Robin didn't answer.
"So nice to see you again…my how you haven't changed a bit." He paused for a moment and scanned his body, taking note of the attire Robin was wearing and said in a tantalizing voice, "And oh look…you wore the uniform I gave you. I must say I'm flattered that you've kept it after all this time, really…I'm touched."
Robin snarled at him but still could not find anything to say.
"Did you miss me?"
"Not quite," Robin said in a scolding voice as he got to his feet and backed further away from Slade. "But then again, it's not like I haven't been seeing you, or at least what I thought was you!"
"Indeed," said Slade.
"I'm not falling for this trick Brother Blood," said Robin to his former opponent lying on the ground in a more confident voice.
"Trick, what trick," Slade asked in his cool calculating voice. "Here I am Robin as clear as day."
"You're not real, you're just a hallucination. Just like before, and just like all the others."
Slade tilted his head to the side and starred at Robin with his one evil eye, somewhat frustrated with the boy's incompetence for accepting the truth. "If you're referring to what Brother Blood has said, I'll have you know that it was in fact me you saw while on your little date with Starfire."
Robin was shaken by this, but he still wasn't convinced. Brother Blood had mentioned his date with Starfire and that didn't mean Slade was there; Blood had to be creating this vision of him.
"It's been so long since I've seen all of your smiling faces," Slade said now in a more sarcastic but equally offensive tone. "I had to at least check up on you."
Robin paused for a moment, and shot him a look as though he were crazy, which he was, before saying, "I'm not buying it."
"Deathstroke…the city…your friends, they've all been my doing."
"No," Robin shouted at him. "Brother Blood was the one behind all of this! He said he—"
"It was I who actually said it," Slade interrupted. "You'd be amazed at what you can make a man say, none the less do, when he's connected to so many wires and crossed with so much circuitry like a computer. The only reason he 'said' what he did, was because I made him."
"What do you mean," Robin asked in a confused voice, "how!"
"You see Robin, while our dear Headmaster was still linked to a computer for the purpose of keeping him under control; I took the liberty of hacking into his central processing unit and bypassed the prison mainframe to reprogram him. Once I had Brother Blood in my possession, I used him to carry out all of my tedious plans to bring about your demise…and I must say he was far more useful than I had predicted."
Slade looked down at the lifeless Brother Blood lying on the ground next to him then back up at Robin before continuing.
"He of course knew about me, but I made him to believe that he was the one in charge in order to further fulfill my goals. It's astonishing what arrogance can do to someone, and how you can use it to manipulate a man…especially one as arrogant as Brother Blood."
Robin looked at him strangely as if seeing Slade for the first time and didn't say anything.
"But if you still don't believe me—"
"NO," Robin yelled as he watched Slade in horror effortlessly push Brother Blood's lifeless body off the edge of the scaffold with his foot, and into the turning gears below followed by a loud crackling noise. He hurried over to the edge in search of Brother Blood but couldn't find his body. He turned back to face Slade and growled at him as he shot the deranged madman a scolding look.
"Accept it Robin," Slade said with a hint of anger in his voice. "I'm here to stay…and I'll be staying for a very long, long, time."
"Alright then," Robin said, "fine. We've established that you're real. Now…what are you—"
"Uh, uh, uh," Slade interrupted. "Try not to be so hasty Robin, your turn for questioning is over...now, it's mine."
Robin fell silent immediately and starred Slade down with a stern gaze as he listened to what he had to say.
"I watched as you set the self-destruct sequence on Titans Tower. I saw you try to make your great escape from the rooftop only to be stopped by my androids. I watched you squirm as my automatons held you down while they made you witness the annihilation of your friend…and I watched as you fell into the ocean and sank to your icy grave."
Robin was slightly confused by this, was Slade admitting to having doubts about his own judgment or something?
"I sent out a search party to look for you, but you couldn't be found. I thought you had perished in the cold, black, abyss—"He paused for a moment as if processing everything he was about to say before continuing. "But when you…came back to Titans Tower, I must say I was in utter disbelief at your return." He stopped again as Robin could tell he was swallowing his pride to finally ask his question. "How did you survive Robin? How did you manage to live through everything I put you through?"
"What do you care," Robin barked at him.
"How did you survive Robin," Slade said in a much more stern tone of voice.
He took in a deep breath before answering. "A few unexpected friends where alerted after you destroyed the bridge," he said. "One was sent to investigate and found me instead."
"Ah yes," Slade said in a much more satisfied voice, "the Justice League. Oh, and by the way, I hope you said your…final goodbyes to them before leaving the Watch Tower."
The muscles in Robin's body tensed and his pulse quickened at the sound of Slade's words. "Why," Robin asked defensively.
Slade tilted his head to the side and looked up towards the ceiling as if listening for something and said, "Well…"
Suddenly, even over the noises of boiling hot steel around them, a loud crackling PPEEOOOM rang through the air, rattling the metal catwalk underneath Robin's feet as he grabbed hold of the railing to steady himself. It sounded almost like a canon, like an artillery round had been fired off somewhere outside except it almost sounded like a laser as well.
Robin looked at Slade and gasped at the thought of what it could have been. "No," he said under his breath.
"It appears my EMP cannon is fully operational again," said Slade in his sinister voice.
"What have you done Slade!"
"The technology behind the EMP cannon is quite remarkable if I may say so myself," he said. "However it can only deliver a three shot burst before having to fully recharge again."
Robin wasn't psychic but he already knew what he was referring to. He was talking about the shots that rattled the Watch Tower like a birdcage and nearly took out the Justice League just a few hours ago.
"Since the first of three shots was a misfire and didn't quite do the job of taking out the Watch Tower like I had hoped it would, I had to wait for it to recollect energy for the next three blasts. I'm sure now that it's finally operational again, that it finished off the rest of your…former allies."
Robin's shoulders drooped slightly forward as he continued starring at him with the same berating look. "What do you want from me Slade," he asked.
Although he had clearly heard what the boy had said, Slade was somewhat taken by his question. "I beg your pardon," he said.
"You took everything from me. My home, my friends, everything; my whole life," Robin continued, his emotions starting to rise within his chest. "Yet still, you come back to take whatever humanity I have left, when all that I hold dear to me is gone! So I will ask you this again. What do you want from me…Slade?"
There was a long pause from Slade as that one invidious eye of his grew narrow with anger and hatred. "What do I want from you Robin…I want you out of my life," he snarled in a voice crackling with anger. "I want you to put down the cape and mask, and leave this place. I want you, like the rest of your friends, to PERISH AND GET OUT OF MY WAY SO I CAN FULFILL MY PLANS, BUT NO, THAT'S TOO MUCH TO ASK FROM YOU ISN'T IT!"
He had never seen him so furious like this before, and Robin was almost…terrified of Slade as he yelled at like a father disciplining his child.
"I carefully planned your demise Robin: the dust in the mask, the obstacle course, the explosive charges that were meant to take all of you out in one quick fatal blow, the androids that were sent to finish you off," Slade continued. "You should be long gone by now, yet here you are, standing before me alive and well!" Slade looked away from Robin for a moment to get himself back under control, and then turned to face the Boy Wonder again. "What do I want from you Robin," he repeated again. "I think the real question now is…what do I want to do with you?"
What was that supposed to mean? He wasn't making any sense now.
"Enough of these mind games Slade," Robin shouted. "I'm sick of you always toying with me like some kind of science experiment! WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME!"
Slade didn't answer instead he looked over at the railing next him and took in a deep, slow breath, then let it out. He sifted in his position that he was standing in for so long and leaned against the railing with his arms crossed and a look of contemplation in his body language.
"Ya know Robin; I'm going to admit first hand that I underestimated you. I thought I could exterminate you and the rest of your friends quickly and easily." He paused again then slowly turned his head to look over at Robin who was still stiff as wood. "But I failed to realize who you were, or rather…what you are exactly."
"What's that supposed to mean," Robin castigated.
"You're a survivor Robin, a fighter. I should've known taking you out would be a far more difficult task, and for that…I am willing to offer you a deal."
Slade had Robin's full attention now.
"This is your last chance now, there's no turning back after this; I'm willing to offer you the opportunity of a lifetime." Slade got up from his spot and turned his entire figure to face the Boy Wonder with his hands behind his back as he looked straight into Robin's eyes. "Come with me Robin. Join me at my side once more as my apprentice and you will live to see tomorrow. Join me as my loyal servant, and the world will be yours."
Robin couldn't believe what he himself was thinking. The offered was almost…tempting.
"Besides," Slade continued. "You did come readily dressed for the occasion."
Robin's head fell low and he looked down towards the ground, so many "what ifs" going through his mind. The Teen Titans had fallen, the Justice League was presumed to be dead, and Slade's grasp around the world was steadily getting tighter and tighter. What if he joined Slade again? After all…what did he have to lose?
"I wanted you to be annihilated Robin, I never had the intention of making you my apprentice again, but I've always been fawned of you. I've always looked down on you as…a son. That's why it was so difficult for me to destroy you, but now that I see there's still hope for you yet, I will allow you to take this position. So, what do you say Robin, will you be my apprentice, once again? After all, what do you have left, to lose?"
Robin looked at his surroundings, never to lay eyes on Slade as he scanned over pits of boiling steal, churning machinery, and steaming pipes. He looked down at his feet for a long while, before finally lifting his head up to stare back at Slade with a face of determination and courage.
"No," Robin said boldly.
Although his face was covered by that retched mask and made him look calm and under control, Slade's body language dictated the true feelings of rage and hatred building up inside him.
"You may have taken the things away that make up my life, but you'll never take away the things that make me who I am. I'll never walk down that path again Slade, and nothing you say, or ever do will make me. You'll never see me by your side again, and you'll never get away with the things you've done."
Slade continued starring at Robin with that same dreadful look as the anger forging inside of him grew greater and greater.
Robin took two steps forward and starred Slade straight in the eye. He flared his chest out and put his arms at his side, and said in a daring voice:
"I'll never be your apprentice again."
Slade looked off to the side for a brief moment then turned completely around to face Robin with his back. He dropped his arms and let them hang at his sides, starring straight forward with that same agitated look on his face. His knuckles cracked under the tension of his tightening fists while the anger inside of him began to boil over.
Robin wasn't sure, but he thought he almost saw steam coming out of his ears as the deranged maniac stood there motionlessly with his back turned to him.
"Now," said Robin. "I'm done with these games. What are you planning?"
Slade's hands relaxed and suddenly, it was almost as if all his fury and rage had left his body and was replaced by calmness and serenity.
"Very Well then," he said as he turned around to face Robin again with his hands behind his back. "I'm sure you're familiar with the events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,"
"I'm familiar with a lot of things," said Robin. "Get to the point!"
Slade did not answer at first but instead lowered his head slightly with his eye kept fixed on Robin in a deathly stare that sent chills down the Boy Wonder's spine as he looked back at him. Finally, Slade answered.
"There's a bomb Robin. Somewhere in this city."
Robin gasped under his breath at the sound of this as his adversary continued.
"And in less than nineteen hours, there will be an explosion so great, so…devastating; that it will make Hiroshima and Nagasaki look like a firework show!" He reached behind his back and pulled out what looked like a timer that was counting down to something and waved it around in his hand for Robin to see.
Although he was in utter shock, Robin still did not believe him. He still wasn't convinced that this Slade was real. After all, the hallucinations he had of him a long time ago talked of "seismic charges" when in reality, there were never really any.
"No," said Robin. "I don't believe you, I call your bluff!"
Slade chuckled and said, "Still not over that little incident are we Robin. It's quite simple really. Using the Uranium ore and Kryptonite I stole from our dear friend Red X, I forged a bomb so awesomely powerful and destructive, that the word megaton is an understatement of its' true power."
A Kryptonite bomb; this sounded somewhat farfetched to Robin, but he couldn't take any chances with this and had to believe him.
"You see, I was simply going to pull my armies out and detonate the weapon, but after I learned of your survival, I knew I had to at least drop in and say goodbye before I embarked on my crusade."
"And what crusade would that be," Robin asked.
"One of: Chaos…wrath…terror…destruction…genocide…total annihilation."
"Of what?"
"THE WORLD," Slade hissed at him.
Robin grit his teeth and growled at Slade's words. This psychopath was planning on destroying the world, and Robin could not let that happen. "I won't allow you to go through with it," he yelled.
"With the weapons at my disposal, destroying the earth will be an easy task," Slade paused for a moment and smiled at Robin from underneath his mask and said, "especially with the biological agents I possess."
The furious teenager snarled at him as he clenched his fists in anger, recalling the incident with the little girl and the rest of those people walking on the streets.
"Impressive, wasn't it? All those innocent people, walking around like mindless zombies. By simply mixing a basic chemical or biological agent with any of the Noble gases, you get an outcome that's quite the 'show stopper' if I may say so myself. Think about it Robin, the armies that will fall before me when they've been put into a vegetative state. Especially since the spores are far too small to be filtered by any modern day conventional gas mask." There was a long pause from Slade as he stroked his chin with his thumb and index finger then looked back over at Robin with sinister intentions as he said, "I thought of calling it…the Grayson Virus…what do you think, Robin?"
Robin's shoulders relaxed and more questions shot through his head. How did Slade know his true name, better yet how did he even get hold of that kind of information. On the other hand, if what he said about the virus were true then why weren't he and the Titans in the same condition as everyone else in the city? He couldn't let Slade take pleasure in seeing his uncertainty and shock, so he acted as though the revelation of his name meant nothing to him."
"Why weren't the Titans and I affected by any of it," he demanded to know.
Slade chuckled and said, "I'm sure you recall the period in time where you were once my apprentice Robin," he explained.
"Yeah, what about it," he snickered.
"The nanoscopic probes that you were injected with, that you thought you had destroyed, were merely disabled. Even after all this time, they've been lying dormant inside your bodies waiting to feed on you again. The only reason you weren't affected by the virus was because I reprogrammed them to fight off the infection and keep you all alive."
"Why Slade; if you wanted to destroy us then why did you keep us alive?"
"Because Robin," said Slade. "If I would have reactivated the probes, though the thought did cross my mind, right then and there…you'd know it was me."
As soon as he was done with his explanation, Slade let his arms drape to his sides again and flared out his chest. "Now," he said as he pulled out a Bo-staff from one of the pouches on his belt. "Enough of this blasphemy, I didn't exactly come here to talk."
"Neither did I," said Robin as he too pulled out another Bo-staff from one of the utility belts around his chest and twirled it around like a baton. "But I can't let you go through with any of this Slade. Your plans to destroy the world are over!"
Suddenly, Slade did something that sent chills down Robin's spine; he started laughing. The sound of his amusement pierced through Robin's soul and echoed in his mind. It was at that moment that he was truly afraid of this madman.
"Come now Robin," said Slade after he finally settled down. "Look around you…this isn't about my plans…this is about you, and finishing what we started."
"This ends now Slade," said Robin. "I'm taking you down and this time you won't get away!"
"On the contrary Robin, I've never been…away."
With an angry grunt, Robin leapt forward with his Bo-staff and charged Slade with fury in his eyes. Slade moved quickly away from his oncoming attack and poised for battle.
"You do realize even if you succeed in defeating me, you won't escape your own fiery demise once the bomb goes off," said Slade.
Robin paused and looked his opponent straight in the eye; he knew this was it. Although he didn't say anything, he answered instead with an oncoming swipe of his Bo-Staff that Slade blocked and quickly retaliated with a knee to Robin's stomach. He fell on all fours gasping for air then being kicked in the face, Robin flew back several feet before finally rolling to a halt. He got on his hands and knees to regain his ground but had to do a back flip out of the way as Slade came down on him, nearly missing the back of his skull by mere inches. The two fierce warriors charged each other again and came together in a deadlock with their staffs. Sparks flew through the air as their weapons collided and they both inched forward to stare the other in the face.
"You've gotten stronger," said Slade in a labored voice. "I'm impressed. It's too bad it took me destroying your friends for you to show your true strength."
"EEEERRRRAAAHHHH!" In an angry roar, Robin pushed Slade off of him then spun around and swiped at him with the other end of his staff.
Slade was able to hastily evade the attack and ducked out of the way in time. He got back to his feet and with the back of his clenched fist, clubbed Robin in the side of the head and sent him stumbling backwards. His face was throbbing after that hit, and it felt like he had just been nailed with a 2x4. Slade too had gotten stronger, and Robin would have to think on his feet in order to defeat this adversary. He shook off his dizziness and came on guard again, this time taking heed to keep a little more distance between him and Slade. He reached into his utility belt around his waste and pulled out a handful of smoke bombs and threw them at Slade. They exploded and created a curtain of haze that would cloak his movements while he stealthily moved in to attack. Robin jumped over Slade to take him by surprise from the rear, but as he landed, he was met in the side by Slade's staff that sent waves of pain all the way up the right side of his body, but the onslaught was not yet finished. Robin let out an agonizing cry after the mighty blow, then was struck on the neck by a karate-chop and then jabbed in the back with a steel-tipped boot. He flew forward again like a flimsy rag-doll and landed on the hard steal crosshatches of the scaffold they were on. He grabbed his side and struggled to roll over as he watched Slade casually emerge from the smokescreen totally unfazed.
Usually an attack like the one Robin delivered ended in his success, with his opponent being scared and confused from not being able to see anything. Slade, on the other hand, brushed through it as though it were a walk in the park. This only continued to feed Robin's notions that he in fact was not real, and that Slade was just another hallucination.
Robin tried to get back up again by rolling over on his stomach and started to get on his hands and knees, but Slade quickly kicked him back down and made his way to the front of Robin.
"Look at you," said Slade as he made a half-circle around to his back, "so determined; so certain that you would win, and now, here you are on your hands and knees without having laid a finger on me yet."
Robin didn't say anything, as he pushed himself off the ground and knelt on his hands and knees trying to catch his breath.
"For a second there, I truly believed that you'd put up a much better fight, but I guess I set my expectations a little too high for you."
Suddenly, without warning, Robin got to his feet and spun around and landed an upper-cut on Slade's chin. He felt the familiar sensation of cold metal as his fist made contact with Slade's mask and watched him stumble backwards and land on his rear end. Robin looked down at his fist as if seeing it for the first time with a look of bewilderment on his face. His knuckles, they were…they were throbbing. He had hit him. He had actually hit Slade which could only mean one thing. Slade was in fact real; he was as real as it could get!
"Why so surprised Robin," asked Slade as he leaned against one of his arms and wiped a trail of spit running down his chin. "Were you still not convinced that I was bona fide? That I wasn't in fact, authentic?"
"Get up," he demanded as he picked up his staff and waited for Slade to get back on his feet so they could continue the fight.
Slade got up and stretched his neck around then looked at Robin in the eyes again. He didn't say anything for they both were now very serious about this dual, and knew things weren't going to get pretty. Without warning as the two starred each other down, Slade launched his staff at Robin like a javelin and missed his head by inches as he moved out of the way in the nick of time. The long metal pole stuck into a huge cylinder behind him and vented burning hot steam against his that sent a wave of pain up and down it. Robin let out a wailing cry of agony and shot himself forward to escape the scorching heat but unexpectedly stumbled into Slade's grasp and was thrown to the other side of the scaffold. Without content for Robin's wounds, Slade leapt into the air before Robin had even hit the ground and came down on him with his foot. As he landed, the Boy Wonder was quick to react and rolled out of the way from his predecessors attack but not without retaliation and kicked Slade's feet out from underneath him.
The huge bulky man landed on his back with a loud CLANK against the hardened metal of the catwalk and was temporarily fazed. Robin jumped to his feet and immediately took advantage of his adversaries' vulnerability and came down on his chest with the solid heel of his foot. Slade reacted almost instantly, and before Robin could plant the attack, he caught his foot and twisted his ankle in an unnatural way. He let out a cry of pain and quickly rotated his body to realign his leg and ankle to compensate for the awkward position his foot was in but fell down on his stomach in the process. The tables had turned, and now Slade took advantage of Robin's vulnerability and jumped on top of his back, grabbing the boy's hair and pressed his face against the hard crosshatched metal of the scaffold.
Robin tried to reach back and get him off, but Slade grabbed hold of his wrist and pushed his arm further and further up his back. His shoulder cracked under the pressure and he let out a loud grunt of pain.
"Ya know something Robin," said Slade inches away from his face. "I like it that I have the opportunity to personally take you out myself."
"ERRGGH AAWWW, GET…OFF ME," Robin yelled.
"Destroying the rest of your insignificant friends was no challenge at all," Slade continued in a labored voice trying to keep Robin down. "But you, you on the other hand have always been the greatest threat. Even when I spent countless days and weeks watching you from inside Titans Tower, I still could not come to terms with what makes you so much stronger than the rest of your friends."
"HHERRRUUGGHH AAAWWWAAHH ERRR, WHAT…WHAT DO YOU MEAN," Robin wailed in a grunting voice, "IF YOU DIDN'T HAVE AN INSIDER THAN HOW WERE YOU ABLE TO GET THROUGH OUR DEFENSES?"
"Come now Robin, You honestly couldn't figure it out!"
"Figure what out!"
"Plasmus…Red X…Johnny Rancid…Killer Moth…Cinderblock…Overload, all of whom which I hired to lure you out of your tower. You didn't make the connection? Did it ever at one point in time cross your mind as interesting that there were attacks, jail breaks, robberies…on the exact same days, at the exact same times!"
Robin didn't answer for in the corner of his eye he noticed his Bo-staff lying on the ground not too far away from him and inconspicuously inched his hand towards it.
"My, my, Robin…you've gotten sloppy while I was away. I at least thought I would've aroused some of those excellent detective skills of yours, and maybe you'd start piecing a puzzle together, but I guess I overestimated your intellect in the matter."
Robin's finger tips finally fell over the hard metal pole as he grasped it in his hand and yelled, "Overestimate THIS," before clubbing Slade in the spine.
He let out a cry of pain and Robin kicked him off his back and jumped to his feet. Not even a second after being struck again, Slade too was already on guard and all the more furious. He charged his young foe with a fist cocked behind him and fury in his eyes that took the Boy Wonder by surprise. In a desperate attempt to protect himself, Robin put his Bo-staff out in front of him to deflect the attack but Slade cut through it with his iron fist like a cheap popsicle-stick and broke it in half.
Robin was nearly in shock after seeing this. Something like that would've shattered every bone in a man's hand but Slade was left completely unscathed! He swiped the two broken ends out of Robin's hands then began mercilessly beating the life out of him, throwing punches and kicks at him in a raging fury that nearly knocked the Boy Wonder unconscious after every blow. Slade was bigger than him, stronger than him and Robin knew it, he could slowly feel himself reaching the end of his so called "rope." Another fist met the side of Robin's face, followed by another, and another, and another; then a round house kick to the side that knocked the wind out of him.
The savage man grabbed the weakened boy by the collar and brought him in close to his face. He looked down at the R medallion over his left breast then back into Robin's eyes.
"I must say Robin," he said. "The suit still fits you nicely, but if you're going to wear it, then you should at least wear it properly!"
With that he tore the R medallion off the fabric then kneed his former apprentice in the stomach and elbowed him in the face.
Robin stumbled backwards and tripped over his foot and was caught in the stomach by the railing. The top half of his body dangled over it like a limp rag-doll for he was far too weak and broken to protect himself. Slade, seeing the opportunity to induce more pain upon him, grabbed Robin by the ankle and flung him over the edge of the railing. He fell, and fell, and fell, until he finally landed on another catwalk far below them with a loud PPRRCCLLAANNKK! Spit fired out of his mouth after hitting the hard surface, and from the pain that shot up and down his back he thought that every bone in his body had been broken. Robin immediately wrapped his arms around his sides, now feeling the affects of the hard fall he had taken and drew his knees into his chest. He tried to get back up but couldn't from the excruciating pain he felt running all over his body but managed to drag himself a few feet before landing his hand on a steel-tipped boot. Dread washed over him as he looked up to see Slade gazing down at him with vengeance and rage in his eye. With little effort, he kicked Robin in the face, causing him to tumble down a short flight of stairs and land up against a huge column of pipes.
They were now on the main floor of the factory, where solid concrete and long rows of winding conduits lined the area with churning gears and mechanisms. Slade strolled down the steps and stood over Robin resting there slouched over with his legs spread trying to catch his breath. He grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up of the ground with one hand and looked him in the eyes.
"When will you learn Robin," Slade hissed inches away from his face. "When will you learn that I am all powerful, that I am a force to be reckoned with and cannot and will not be stopped!"
He let out a long tired groan but didn't answer.
"I obliterated the Justice League, I brought this city to it's' knees, I annihilated YOUR FRIENDS, and now…I will destroy you."
"Where's that…heart of yours Slade," Robin exclaimed in a weak shaky voice.
Slade brought him in even closer and replied, "I beg you pardon," in an evil voice.
"Where's that heart of yours? Where's that last shred of humanity…in that empty shell of a body that you call a man!"
"It's simple, really…I DON'T ONE," Slade hissed with venom in his voice. "So, in that case…I'LL JUST HAVE TO TAKE YOURS INSTEAD!"
Robin let out an agonizing cry of pain as he felt Slade's fingertips dig into his chest, burrowing through skin and muscle like warm butter--
and the pain was only beginning.
A/N:
So chapter 20 is FINALLY UP! I apologize for the agonizing wait I put you all through, but I've had a lot on my plate these last few weeks. My Senior Prom, which turned out to be a disaster, was last Saturday the 16th of April and required a lot of my attention and planning. I've had a lot of catching up to do as well with school and homework since I spend a lot of time on this story, but I'm getting my grades up and managing my time more wisely so things are working out now. But I've been working on this story over this long lapse of time, jotting down ideas, notes, and the actual plot line here and there whenever I had a free moment, so don't think for on minute that I was slacking off with this. That long dialogue between Robin and Slade was, sorry for my language, an absolute BTCH TO WRITE! I literally wrote down everything I needed to cover on a separate sheet of paper to keep up with myself. I also went back and reread a lot of my chapters just to make sure that no stone was left unturned and it was all accurate and detailed, explaining EVERYTHING to a T. I don't think I left anything out…oh crap I did, nuts, I didn't explain "unyielding justice."…oh well, I'll just mention it in another chapter. Anyway, I have a lot of time off next week from school, so I'm hoping to maybe get in another 2 chapters by the end of next week. Alright now for the contents of the chapter.
So, come on now, what did you guys think? Starfire's alive, but far too weak to come to Robin's aid, and Robin is too battered and broken to fight back and now Slade's about ready to rip his heart out of his chest! OH MY! What brutal fate will our beloved Boy Wonder be met with! Oh, and now the Justice League is dead, so pretty much no one can really help Robin, looks like he's all alone. I'm curious to know, what kind of ending do you think this story is going to have? Do you think it will be happy or sad? Happy being Robin defeats Slade, and sad being Slade kills him.
Well, now time for the individual thanks. Once again, sorry for the long wait.
Whiterose- Happy to see you liked this chapter so much. I knew I had to make Slade's entrance dramatic, cool, and sinister, using the infamous line "On the contrary Robin," which I think is by far the coolest quote in that entire show! Thanks for the review, and sorry this took so long.
Aprun- I fooled you and you know it :-P, or at least I fooled a lot of people who don't know Slade's history. Sorry this took so long, and thanks for the review.
Snowfeather- Keeping my readers running in circles was the main idea of this whole story. Making you think one thing, and then another, and another until finally you didn't know what to think and just kept an open mind. I hope my explanation of how Slade used Brother Blood was good enough, because I thought of that sometime around the "Titans East" episodes. Yeah Brother Blood is pretty lame and I don't really like him, that's why I had Slade push him off the edge of the scaffold and into the churning gears, now we don't have to worry about him ever coming back again, hehehehe, and please don't hurt me for taking so long.
DD of Courage- I hope you know or understand that Brother Blood turned himself into a robot to be more like Cyborg, you know that right? I tried as hard as I could to steer away from a "Return of the Jedi" kind of thing, but it was kind of hard to do, and at first I didn't realize I was doing it until I went back and read it…then I was like, aw F#$. Thanks for the review, sorry for the wait.
Jaina 12- A new reader, how exciting, thanks a lot for the review! I know I kinda did the return of the Jedi thing, but how else was I going to piss Robin off to the point of insanity? No, Brother Blood did not create an illusion of Robin seeing his friends being annihilated, the Titans are dead and gone, except for Starfire who we just found out is still alive…barely.
PrinceofDarkness- Yes, you've been right all along. I've been toying and playing with your minds like a child with a container of play-doe, leading you in so many direction just to find out that I've been screwing with you all along, hehehehe. Happy to know you liked the part where Robin snapped, that was fun to write and we got to see a MUCH DARKER side of Rboin. Thanks for the review, and sorry this took so long.
KaliAnn- Yes I've heard of conformity, so are you saying you were conforming to everyone else's opinion of Deathstroke, or mine? Anycrap, I'm glad you liked the way I presented Brother Blood and how Robin listed off the crimes he had committed. I thought it'd make Robin's character more authentic if I had him do that, because he's all about justice even when it comes to his own revenge. I tried not to do the "Return of the Jedi" thing, but that's really all that came to mind while I was writing it. When I think about it now, I can come up with at least one idea, but when you think about it, Terra did the same thing to the Titans when she was Slade's apprentice and killing them off one by one. I'm sorry this took so long, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter and everything I had Slade and Robin do. Thanks for the review.
Aries-Raven- Um…I…love you…too…I guess, lol, anyway. Indeed this story wouldn't have been a great story without SLADE! SLADE'S A BAD ASS MO-FO! So did you like the way I used your idea of Slade commenting on Robin's attire? Yeah Brother Blood's a douche bag, and I don't really like him…that's why I had Slade kick him into a bunch of turning gears so he could be squashed like a bug, hehehe. Thanks for the review, and sorry this took so long.
Infamous One- Um…when you say you want to throttle me…what does that mean? So I fooled you, I told you I would, and I did! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! So how does it feel to be turned into a loser! LOL, yeah, I got you and you know I did, so don't try to deny it! LOL, anyway, so I take it that you liked the grand entrance Slade made at the end. I had to make it as cool as possible with that infamous line, "On the contrary Robin," it's just such an awesome line to say! So yeah, Slade was watching the whole time while Robin was trashing the hell out of Brother Blood. I know you hate me, but deep down inside…YOU LOVE ME! I really hope you're not going to kiss me, because although I do not have a girlfriend I'm not the kinda guy who's "batting for the other team" if you get my drift. LOL, J/K. Thanks for the review!
Deathstroke- Always happy to see a new reader in the neighborhood, and thanks for the review, I love getting new readers. I know it's been taking me a while to update these last two chapters, but not to sound like an ass or something, I do have a life like everyone else. So what makes my story "something of a success?" I intentionally lead my readers astray to convince them that Deathstroke wasn't Slade when in fact it was to create not just suspense, but a very exciting climax and a thrill for my readers. The way I navigated this story was I presented my readers with several paths, ones leading hinting Brother Blood, other hinting Slade; then others that stray away from both characters and finally two paths that led straight to either Brother Blood or Slade. You really aught to read some of the reviews I got on my last chapter, because you can tell from the ones who kept an open mind about my whole story, and the ones that didn't. So yes, there was a straight line that led to Slade, but what made this story so enjoyable to some if not most of my readers, is that they were able to choose their path, even when they were wrong. Thanks for the constructive criticism and the review. Oh, and yes I too was taken by VanGordan's C7, but a C7 is an M16 just with different modifications. I think scopes are standard issue on C7's while anything of the M class assault rifles just have a handle.
Lance Arkel- Okay, now for your review. So yeah…sorry this took so frickin' long, but like I said, I've had a lot on my plate with my Senior Prom and everything last weekend and a whole lot of planning to do for it. So anyway, your review. Glad to hear that you liked the action, but I hope the fight scenes in this one faired just the same. So what did you think of how Slade used Brother Blood? You understand that HE in a sense BRAINWASHED HIM and pretty much made him his little puppet, hence the name of the chapter "The Fury of the Puppeteer." I thought the dialogue of my last chapter was hard to write, but this one between Slade and Robin…HOLY CRAP WAS IT A BTCH! I REALLY MEAN THAT TOO! So could you see everything going on in your mind with this chapter, I know I took a long time with the dialogue but I had to explain EVERYTHING and this time around, it's the honest to God truth. I knew I needed a way of bringing Robin to a breaking point, a point of no return, so I thought to myself what better way to piss him off then to bring up Starfire's death…WHICH WE NOW FOUND IS STILL ALIVE, so yes, the breaking point of any man is truly love. I would've used your idea of having shadows cover the right side of Robin's face, but this chapter was all about distinguishing the good guy from the bad guy, the hero from the villain, the protagonist from the antagonist, and so on and so forth, so although Robin had his moments of acting like Slade, he's now back under control and will fight Slade. Make sense? The quote of "On the contrary Robin," was a given. I ABSOLUTELY HAD to use it! I thought to myself, what better way to have Slade make his grand entrance then emerging from the shadows after watching Robin nearly kill someone with the line, "On the contrary Robin…this, is only the beginning." So I hope I met your expectations of this chapter and sorry this took so long to post. As always I appreciate your awesome reviews and constructive criticism, thanks again.
VanGordan- Okay, before I mention anything else…what the heck is Slade Wilson's deal? I get an email saying how he wants like…you, me, and some other dude to write a story, so what's he trying to pull, better yet who is he/she? It's kinda immature what he's trying to do if you ask me, it's something my ex-girlfriend did to me back when I was like…a freshmen or something. Anyway, so yeah, you were right all along. Deathstroke is in fact Slade, and has been Slade all along. So what did you think about the…I guess I'm gonna call it the Kryptonite bomb that Slade created from the materials he stole and is threatening to destroy the world? I think you asked me a long time ago what Deathstroke's motive would be, and to be honest I wanted to steer away from the whole apprentice approach. For one, you've done it in your story (to a very well done degree) and I just wanted something different, so I thought to myself "What the heck, he wants to destroy the world!" This could be the only fanfic I do, but if I ever decided to take this story further and do a sequel, I already have an idea based on this plot line. So be honest with me, were you surprised when you found out it was Slade? Or were you like, "whatever I saw it comin'" or have I already asked you this question…I think I'm loosing my mind. I understand that seeing Brother Blood at first was hard to digest, but that was the point. I wanted to confuse you, make you believe that all your theories on who this elusive character could were in fact false and lead you in one direction and make it look like that's the only way to go. Then, I grab you by the hair smack you around a bit, and shove Slade in your face, that's exactly what I was hoping would happen and it seems to have worked with some if not most of my audience…still think some are in denial about it though. Anyway, well I'm gonna go ahead and revise this and post it. Thanks for the review and sorry for the long wait.
And don't tell anyone about that little preview shot that I gave you in the email I sent you…or else you're going to have a mouth full of 5.56mm's from M249 my Canadian friend!
