Bullets Chapter 3

Robin was suffering. He hid it well beneath the mask of loathing and hatred, but confusion causing that mask to slip.

It had felt good to fight is friends on top of the Wayne building, and despite his reluctance, he had been overcome with joy when he'd been told to use his laser weapon. The high he had felt then disappeared when Slade had activated the nano-machines, and suddenly returned when he fought his friends when Slade turned the nano-machines off.

He lay now on his bed, sore from the beating his body had endured earlier, and exhausted from analyzing his thoughts. His feelings were chaotic, and with each passing moment, he grew more aware of why they were. He jerked his body, growling into the sheets, fists pounding his pillow. What was wrong with him? He shouldn't be liking his captor! He should be focusing on getting away, with his friends intact!

But his mind was focused on his master-

Slade.

Robin's eyes shot open, wide in disbelief. He sat up, the heel of his right hand pressing against his forehead. He'd never called Slade his 'master', not even in his head. Never.

He was changing. Changing.

He was confused, his obsession had turned into lo-

No. Robin shook his head vehemently. Whatever he was feeling, it certainly wasn't love.

Was it?

Unable to comprehend the 'why' of how he felt, the Boy Wonder slid off his bed and left his room, hoping a walk would clear his mind. He wasn't sure why he found himself in the brightly-lit room of days before, or why he was suddenly aware of Slade's presence near-by. He turned his head, seeing the man seemingly materialize out of the shadows. In an instant, they were standing facing each other, Robin looking up and Slade looking down, no words exchanged.

That was another thing that confused the younger. They seemed to understand each other's thoughts without needing words, so attuned to the other none were needed.

Slade's hand came to rest on Robin's neck, gentle and warm, something the boy felt the elder wasn't capable of. Still, Robin didn't jerk like he had so many times before, his eyes closing in acceptance.

The word was just on his lips, about to be said, when a loud explosion interrupted them. They jerked apart, their eyes on the intruders, the orbs narrowed in contempt. Or at least Slade's eye was. Robin's were wide in amazement. There stood his friends, all ready to fight Slade to free him.

A sudden urge overcame the boy to side with his friends, denial surging though his system. They fought Slade, side by side, Robin feeling as though Slade was taking amusement from this. The Boy saw the trigger pressed, and his friends began to glow with their impending deaths. Only one thing left to do.

Robin ignored Slade's command and dove into the container of nano-machines, an explosion following his infection. He was in pain, so much of it, and the expression in the elder's eye held an emotion Robin refused to name. He was sure his eyes reflected that same emotion, but he couldn't acknowledge it. Slade only reluctantly turned the nano-machines off, and let them go. Robin could feel the elder's eye boring into his back, as though the man was telling him he'd be back.

Robin didn't respond, didn't return the look. After Cyborg had cleaned their systems of the nano-machines, Robin moved to be alone. He felt tears welling and rubbed his eyes with the back of his gloved hand.

You didn't cry for your enemy.

And you certainly didn't fall in love with him.

Robin frowned, calming himself enough to pass for normal as Starfire, the Tameranian girl just concerned, joined him for him. Robin was disgusted with the way she clung to him, and barely resisted the urge to push her away. That would only raise suspicions. As Starfire looked away, smiling, Robin allowed a grin of his own.

His master would be pleased.

Very pleased, indeed.

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He was aware of the presence behind him before the boy announced himself, Slade already half turned to face his young apprentice. A smirk played on his lips, though it went unseen from behind his mask.

Robin came to a halt before him, his face serious. They remained silent until Slade turned his back to the boy, and the smaller moved to stand beside him. They looked down over the city together, side by side.

"It's usually the master that looks for the apprentice, not the other way around." Slade spoke dryly, his eye on the boy beside him.

Robin gave a shrug. "I wanted to find you."

"Did you finally get tired of the Titans?"

"Yes." The word was hissed and had Slade smiling.

"So you sought me out. What do you have in mind then, bird?"

There was silence as Robin reached up, untying the mask he wore around his face and pulling it away. It was almost ceremonial, Robin holding the black cloth away from his face, over the side of the building they were standing on. A tilt of his hand, and the material slid off, floating to the crowded street below to be trampled. Symbolic.

And Slade so enjoyed symbolism.

Robin turned to him then, blue orbs staring into a grey one. Slade understood what the boy had done; the Robin the Titans knew had been killed. The Robin that was his apprentice lived.

"I'll need a new name."

Both of their eyes were fixed on the forms moving over the streets below, like so many tiny ants completely unaware of the ones watching them. Unaware that these were no longer loving souls. Not in a long time for one, and just recently for another.

It seemed only fitting then, that a name of innocence was stripped away for something darker. Slade's own had become a curse years ago, it was time for the boy's own to have that same hissing quality when spoken by others. Contempt, anger… an element of fear.

The elder felt himself smile then, the eye not missing narrowing a bit in amusement. Vengeance is what brought both this boy and his former caretaker into this realm of secrets and blood. Vengeance is what drove him, under the guise of righteous justice. An angel fighting for a demon's purpose.

"Arioch."

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Alternate smuttier ending soon to be uploaded onto an adultfanfiction account of the same name. Those of you who enjoy that, do check it out sometime.

Thanks go to my muse, who assisted me with these chapters where I began to have a block.