LAST CHAAAAAPPTTTEEERRRR!
So I hope you all enjoy! Terra comes into it now, and… why does everyone hate her? Is it just me? I seem to like some very unpopular characters. I mean I love Robin, Raven, Slade, etc., who are all IMMENSELY popular; I also love Terra, Starfire and Cyborg. Why are they so unpopular? I think a lot of people hate Star because Robin likes her and she likes him, but, you know… there's no point in being jealous of her! Robin's only a cartoon character! A hot cartoon character, yes, but a 2D red, yellow and green drawing nonetheless. I mean, yeah; one of my friends "married" her Orlando Bloom poster, but we all laughed at her…
Anyway, I digress. What I wanted to do was give some acknowledgements here, seeing as we are on the very last chapter of Asylum. To those who have painstakingly ploughed all the way through this and have left evidence to show that they have done so:
Phoenix Skyborne; YamiTai; my "partner-in-crime" Narroch06; Quinn and His Quill; Rocky Wolf; Daybreak25; Seductive Angel; and Alexnandru Van Gordon. YamiTai and Quinn in particular left a review for EVERY SINGLE GODDAMN CHAPTER; and the rest of you acknowledged too have made me feel very loved indeed! Thankyou very much to all of you! Don't know what happened to Yami no Kaiba – she seemed really interested and gave me all kinds of crazy reviews, but she's just vanished without a trace…
And to all others who have EVER reviewed; DarkMarkLv; NightRobin; Yersi Fanel (if you're the same Yersi Fanel who made the Placebo Robin/Slade Every You, Every Me music video I absolutely LOVE it! I have it on my laptop…); KamiElf (if you're still here); AutumnDynasty; Kitty; Dookie; Sketch a.k.a Jessica Carlton; Sarah Shima; Le Squirrel; MereImage… Ooh, gosh, anyone I forgot, I am SOOO sorry! Thankyou all for reading even just a little of it!
THANKYOU!
I love you all!
Equilibrium
All essence of time seemed to have melted as he sat there, his gloved hands gripping the arms of the chair, staring at the floor as rays of darkness – as if that was at all possible – fell across him, shadowed him, obscured him. Above him stretched fields of stained glass, dark now in the early morning hours. It had been a church once, he suspected. In the middle of a volcano? Well, stuff was weird around here; he had come to accept that. No less and no more for the existence of the one called "Batman".
The Orb of Azarath sat in its silver cradle at his feet, glittering hollowly in the flickering light of the dozen or so candles in gothic candelabras set around the wide, empty room. Next to it was the prophecy and it's translation, and then the newspaper cutting; he had left the Joker's file in Arkham Asylum where it belonged.
And probably where I belong, he thought with grim amusement.
He shouldn't have been sitting here moping; he was the bad guy in this picture, for Pete's sake… He was supposed to be cruel and heartless and inhuman. The first two he could answer to, but the latter… he was far too human to be inhuman. He couldn't block out sadness or anger or hatred or even love completely. He was physically – and mentally – incapable of doing so. And maybe he had loved, once, a very long time ago…
"Well, aren't you a sorry case."
A statement, not a question.
Slade looked up, his single grey eye behind his mask icy. The old woman – the seer – was standing about 20 feet from his chair, almost completely cast in shadow, as she had been the first time they had met. He glared at her.
"What do you want?"
"It's not so much a question of what I want as what you need."
Slade studied her, finding it difficult to see her completely clearly.
"Fine," he drawled finally. "What do I need?"
"My help, it would appear," the seer replied softly. Slade snorted.
"You do yourself too much justice," he informed her airily. "Far too much."
To his surprise the old woman burst into raucous peals of laughter. He simply stared at her, slightly in awe of how she would dare to laugh at him – him - right in his face.
"Look at you," she spluttered, not without malice, between laughing. "Sitting there like a king on your throne ruling a non-existent kingdom! That's right, my boy; non-existent! Just staring at that orb isn't going to fulfil the prophecy. And with phase one safely underway, you should be-"
"Oh, yes, phase one! How could I forget?" Slade interrupted her furiously, getting to his feet and pointing accusingly at her. "The part about the boy being a virgin, right? Only he wasn't, and you knew he wasn't! You knew, and you didn't tell me! You just-"
"So that's what this is all about?" The seer interjected calmly. "Your poor little "apprentice"?"
Slade blinked.
"How do you know about that?" He asked, genuinely surprised. He couldn't for the life of him understand how she could have known about his desires to use Robin as part of his plan rather than eliminate him; he hadn't voiced them.
"I know all, Mr Slade," the seer replied coolly.
"Well, if you "know all", why didn't you tell me?" Slade challenged her hotly. "You must have known that there was no reason for me to… to…"
The seer smiled and shook her head.
"Can't even bring yourself to say it," she sneered. "You're pathetic."
"And you're changing the subject!" Slade snapped, still pointing at her. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Don't point at me, boy; it's very rude," the seer reprimanded him icily. "Now sit back down."
Slade glared at her; how dare she speak to him in this way, treating him like he was a little boy of six being scolded by his grandmother for playing in the mud.
"Sit," the seer ordered again when he didn't obey the first time.
And he did. He didn't know why, or how, but one minute he was standing facing her, his fists clenched; the next he was sitting down.
"Mr Slade, you must have faith in me," the old woman said ominously, pressing her withered hands together and looking him over the tips of her fingers. "And you must have faith in the prophecy. I am only a messenger, but I have had visions, revelations… The power that you crave will come to you, but to obtain it you must fulfil every detail of the prophecy."
"That's what you told me the first time," Slade reminded her coldly. "And that's what I did."
The seer shook her head.
"No. You did not do all that was required. You did not kill him. Still he lives, still he breathes, and as long as he does so, Mr Slade, the power that you desire and deserve will stay locked away."
"His friends came bursting in," Slade objected. "I couldn't hold my own against them all, not when I had the orb to protect."
"And you forgot that at the moment of his death his friends will be rendered powerless, I presume?"
"Of course I didn't, but I couldn't get near him, not after that wretched alien girl blasted half the wall down."
The seer tutted.
"Then you shouldn't have toyed with him before, should you? You should have broken his neck after you had torn his virginity from him."
Slade was silent, having no answer; she was right, of course. He had toyed with Robin, and he had enjoyed torturing the boy. But she wasn't right about everything…
"He wasn't a virgin," he said softly, looking at the floor again, looking at the glittering orb.
"Hmm?" The old woman folded her arms. "If you're going to mutter to yourself then I won't be able to hear you, will I?"
"He wasn't a virgin," Slade said again, looking up. "He wasn't a virgin, and you knew he wasn't. But you lied to me. Why? Why did you make me do it?"
"I didn't make you do anything," the seer snapped. "Anything you did, you did off your own back."
That's not true. I kissed him, and I didn't want to. And he didn't want to kiss me back.
"Why did you lie to me?" He asked again. "Why did you say he was a virgin when he wasn't? What did you gain by lying to me?"
"I lied to you for your own good."
Slade stared at her, incredulous.
"What?" He said eventually, his vocabulary falling flat. "For my own good? What the hell-"
"Don't you curse at me," the seer snapped. "Now you listen to me; when I tell you to do something, you do it. You don't hesitate, you don't question, you don't answer me back. You do as you're told, my boy, or you won't get what you want. Do I make myself clear?"
"And what if I don't do as you tell me?" Slade queried icily. "What if I decide I don't need or want your help?"
"Then you fail," the seer said simply. "I know you're the big bad villain here but you won't get anywhere without my help and guidance, contrary to whatever you believe."
"I've gotten this far on my own. What makes you think I need your help now?"
"You raped a 16 year old boy against whom you have a grudge."
Slade flinched at how bluntly she put it.
"I did it because you told me to! You said he was a virgin and I trusted you."
The seer snorted with laughter.
"And now you trust him? How do you know he isn't the one who lied to you?"
"What would he have gained by lying to me after I had done it?" Slade snapped. The old woman shrugged.
"To make you feel guilty, maybe. And let's face it; if that was his plan, it's working, wouldn't you agree?"
Slade was rendered speechless again for the second time in the same five minutes.
"But he thought… he knew… that I was going to kill him…" he said weakly.
"Ah, but you didn't, did you?" The seer taunted. "What's the matter, my little rapist? Feeling the love?"
"Don't call me that," Slade said dangerously. The old woman raised her eyebrows but said nothing else.
It was true; he did feel guilty, sort of. He wouldn't have felt bad for killing the boy, but for violating him the way he had… he couldn't shake off the bad feeling even now.
"If you want that promised power, I think you had better wise up," the seer said softly. Slade looked at her, his single grey eye commanding her to continue.
"This isn't another of your little run-of-the-mill schemes," she went on, clearly enjoying tormenting him. "This isn't infecting the Avenger's little friends with microscopic probes in a bid to get him to join you; this isn't a cleverly executed jailbreak or the corruption of a perfectly good and pure soul. This isn't even taking over this wretched little city and crushing it in the palm of your hand. This is a universal power, all for you, at your command to make and break whatever you desire. You could rule worlds, galaxies, whole dimensions with an iron fist and there would be no-one to stop, as long as the Avenger lies impure and cold in his grave. The mortal gods would bow to you, your subjects would worship you, you could destroy whoever dared to oppose you with a flick of your wrist. Is that what you want, Mr Slade? Do you want that power?"
Slade nodded mutely, never wanting anything more in his entire tainted life.
"Then listen to me," the seer hissed. "Do as I tell you, work with me, and you shall have what you desire. I am here to help you. Do not question my motives, even when you are unable to see the logic behind and within them."
"And what's in it for you?" Slade asked, suspicious of her selfless offer.
"Nothing but the joy of seeing this pathetic world reduced to a flaming hell at your hand," the seer whispered, showing a side to her he had not yet witnessed. He was silent for a few seconds, pretending to consider it when in fact he had already made up his mind.
"Alright," he agreed finally. "If you believe you know best, then I suppose I trust you."
The seer nodded primly.
"Stick with that philosophy, my boy, and you'll be ruling the universe by tea-time." She turned away. "I must leave you for now, but I shall return very soon with suggestions as to what your next move will be."
She started to walk away into the shadows.
"Wait!" He called after her. She stopped and faced him.
"What?"
"The key," Slade said. "The Avenger must die, true, but a key is also required and I have no idea-"
"Now aren't you glad you have me?" The seer smirked. "Do not the let the issue of the key bother you for now. I am sure that, when the time comes, I will receive a vision that will tell us where the key is hidden. Until that time, let us focus on the more direct problem at hand."
"The Avenger," Slade breathed. "Robin."
"The Batman's child, yes. Destroy him. You have many weapons, but the one I would choose is far closer to home, and it will hurt more than one."
And then she left.
Slade sat back, puzzling her last statement. He still didn't entirely trust her, for she still hadn't told him why she had lied to him, and even now she wouldn't give him a straight answer as to what he should do next. On the other hand, he could only hope that she would lead him to the key, a prospect of the plan that bothered him immensely. He had little to lose, he assumed, by allowing her to help him as she so desperately wanted to. He couldn't help but feel that there was a motive in her madness, however much she denied it, but it didn't bother him too much; after all, everyone was out to get something.
As long as it isn't cheap amusement on my behalf…
He frowned beneath his mask. He still failed to understand what she had meant concerning his weapon of choice with which to terminate Robin.
"Far closer to home, and will hurt more than one…"
He repeated it to himself a few times. Then he understood.
Terra.
His apprentice was closer to home in the sense that she had once been a Titan, and for this same reason it would hurt more than one; it would hurt Robin, because he would die, but it would hurt his team-mates, particularly the shape-shifter, in a way worse than if Slade himself annihilated the Boy Wonder, to think that one that they had once classed as a friend would turn on them in such a way and kill their leader.
And, conveniently enough, Terra had arrived back from her training regime in the woodlands while he had been away at Arkham Asylum. He had not yet spoken to her, as he had not wished to interact with anyone when he had got back just under an hour ago, and had instead sat in his chair in the empty dark room brooding over what he had done.
But now he rose and turned on the communication device on his wrist. He heard it crackle as it sprang to life, the faint static to show it was working audible.
"Terra. Report to me immediately."
He turned it off and sank into his chair again, picking up the Orb of Azarath out of its cradle as he did so and examining it closely, watching it sparkle darkly. Hard to believe it housed such awesome power of which the seer spoke...
"What's that gaudy thing?"
Slade averted his single eye from the orb and looked up and found Terra standing a few feet away from his chair. Tall and slim – little short of skinny, to be honest – with long silky blonde hair and large, forget-me-not blue eyes, the earth-mover stood, her expression sceptical and her hands on her hips as she eyed the stone ball in her mentor's gloved hand. She was dressed scantily for the hot season; a long-sleeved black top that bared her midriff, a "T" adorning it in the same fashion as Robin's "R" or even Slade's own "S", pale tan shorts that showed off most of her long legs, chunky hiker's boots, large gloves and her protective goggles still around her neck. She was still a little scratched up and dirty from her training in the forest, as she had not been back very long. She was pretty, and perhaps controversy could have been sparked by the idea of an adult such as him taking her under his wing, but supposedly perverse as it was, such idle pursuits did not fascinate him. He wanted Terra for her power, not her body.
"This, Terra?" Slade murmured, holding out the orb. Terra raised her eyebrows.
"Yeah, that."
"This." Slade leaned back in his chair again, the hand holding the orb resting under his chin as he watched his apprentice. "This is the key to our reckoning. It may not look like it, but this little orb is a bearer of power beyond our wildest dreams. When the prophecy is fulfilled, we-"
"Whoa." Terra held her gloved hands up and he stopped. "You lost me. That over-sized marble contains some heebie-jeebie power, right? And what's this about some "prophecy"?"
Slade sighed. He'd already explained it all to the Joker, and partially explained it to Robin; he was getting sick of repeating himself.
"It's called the Orb of Azarath, and-"
"Azarath?" Terra's pale blue eyes were wide. "That's what Raven says. I've heard her say it."
"Yes, it is another dimension beyond our own from which the witch-girl originates," Slade explained. "The whole reason she is on Earth in the first place is because she was sent as a messenger to bring the orb here. I read about it in the paper when it was brought to Jump City Museum and decided to steal it, but the article told nothing of it's true power."
"Then how do you know so much about it?" Terra challenged him.
"While I was actually in the museum in the act of stealing it, a seer came to me and explained everything, about the prophecy and the Avenger and-"
"And there you go again," Terra finished. "Avenger? What the heck is an Avenger?"
Times like this he wished Robin was his apprentice; brought up by Batman, the boy was darker, more accepting, didn't speak until he was spoken to and didn't ask questions unless they were absolutely necessary. Even when he had been resentful of the blackmail, while serving his brief apprenticeship, he had done as he was told and hadn't questioned the objects Slade had commanded him to steal, nor the motives behind the thefts, perhaps out of fear for his friends' lives. But Terra… truthfully, he wouldn't have swapped Terra for Robin, because the fact that the boy was so like him made him wary and mistrusting of him, but Terra always demanded to know the ins and outs of whatever the deal was, and at times when he was in a less than civil mood, it drove him up the wall answering her questions. Maybe she was just ensuring that she wasn't getting a raw deal, but she should have trusted him, just as he was about to entrust her with possibly the most important part of his plan.
"The Avenger is the one which you must destroy, Terra," Slade told her quietly, looking at her over the top of the Orb of Azarath.
Terra blinked.
"Excuse me? Destroy?"
"I'm afraid so, my dear apprentice. The prophecy, in a nutshell, states that one of a Chosen Few will harness the power of the Orb of Azarath and the apocalypse will be at their command. However…"
"The catch," Terra murmured.
"Exactly." Slade pointed at her briefly. "The prophecy also states that one will arise among the ashes and shall halt the power and itis bearer where it stands. That one is correctly titled "The Avenger" and he must be tainted and destroyed for the prophecy to be fulfilled, whereupon the superheroes will be rendered powerless. There was also something about a key, but-"
"Who said anything about a "he"?" Terra asked. "How do you know this… this Avenger of yours isn't a girl? What are you trying to say; a girl couldn't kick your plan in the butt?"
I hate feminists…
"Oh, he's male, Terra," Slade said softly. "I can… guarantee you he's male."
Terra raised an eyebrow and folded her arms.
"You seem to know an awful lot about him," she noted. Slade sighed.
"Perhaps a little too much," he agreed. "But you know an awful lot about him too, I should think."
Terra cocked her head.
"What, do I like, know him or something?"
"Yes."
Terra frowned, her head still on one side.
"I know him, right? I'm not gonna kill anyone I like for your prophecy."
"You'll do as you're told, Terra," Slade informed her icily. "And I expect that you perhaps did like him at one point. After all, he and his little friends were so kind to you, took you in and gave you a home and gave you something to fight for and gave you the friendship and acceptance you had always craved until you threw it back in their faces…"
Terra's large blue eyes widened and she put a hand to her mouth.
"Oh no," she whispered. "Not him… no, not him…"
Slade leaned forward in his chair, gripping the armrests and still holding his precious orb.
"Yes; him," he hissed maliciously. "Convenient, wouldn't you say? Right on the home plain…"
"Not Robin…" Terra squeaked. "I can't… I won't…"
"You will. And I thought it was the green one that you liked, anyway."
Terra nodded mutely.
"Yeah, but…"
"But what?" Slade stared at her very hard.
"All of them, they were so… Robin was so nice to me; they all were, except maybe Raven at first… I couldn't possibly…"
Slade snorted.
"You don't really believe that they actually liked you, do you?" He asked her, realising that another dose of corruption was in order. "They just pitied you, felt sorry for you because you were such a weak little outcast on the run from the whole world because of your terrible curse."
"Beast Boy liked me," Terra said miserably. Slade shrugged.
"Maybe, but face it, Terra; you had a hard time fitting in with both Robin and Raven because the pair of them could see right through you from the very beginning."
"Starfire and Cyborg-"
"Are stupid," Slade finished heartlessly. "The robot is friendly to everyone and never suspicious, and the alien is so desperate for friends on this planet that she will befriend anything that moves."
"But Robin was so nice to me," Terra wailed. "He timed me on the obstacle course a few times and he always asked me if I was ok and he sometimes checked in on me after everyone was in bed to see if-"
"You were up to anything," Slade sighed, now telling the complete truth. "Terra, he's a detective. He suspected you were up to no good and took it upon himself to monitor you. Timing you on the obstacle course to see if you had acquired any extra powers that couldn't have been gained by yourself, checking up on you after you thought everyone else was asleep in case you were in contact with someone such as me."
Terra stared at him. It had never even occurred to her than Robin had been keeping a close watch on her, even spying on her. She had just thought he was being friendly.
"But he didn't act as if-" She started to protest.
"Acting." Slade snorted. "That boy should receive an Oscar. Terra, he was trained by Batman. You never should have trusted him, the way he didn't trust you."
Terra frowned.
"Batman? Isn't he that weirdo who stalks Gotham City at night?"
Slade nodded.
"Robin's ex-partner."
Terra's frown deepened. Come to think of it… Batman and Robin, the "Dynamic Duo"?... Sounded very… familiar. She'd been to Gotham City plenty of times, and had heard snippets of conversations about those two… Why had it never occurred to her that the Teen Titans' Robin and the Robin that made up the other half of "Batman and…" were one and the same? And she had been staring him straight in the face the entire time…
"And… and Raven?" Terra asked shakily, looking up at her mentor.
"Goes without saying that she hated your guts from the moment she set eyes on you," Slade said flippantly. Terra looked at the dark floor and said nothing.
"Terra, what do you owe them?" Slade whispered. "You belong to me now, and you owe me everything. I gave you the control that you desired over your incredible powers. They gave you an uneasy friendship, if you can even call it that on account of Robin and Raven's behaviour towards you, treating you as a threat, someone not even worth knowing…" He sighed and leaned further back, glancing idly at the orb clutched in his fingers. "Besides, Terra, you have already betrayed them to me, told me their secrets and their weaknesses. Changing your mind at the last minute may have spared the shape-shifter's life for now and wrecked the original plan in which they were all destroyed, but you still tarnished their trust and left a path of destruction in your wake. Even if you broke your promise to me now and went to them, there is no way they would ever accept you back. You are their enemy now, Terra; and they are ours. When you pledged your allegiance to me you broke the one you had established with them, and the Titans are a sure-fire for loyalty. To be honest, I am surprised they took Robin back so quickly and easily, but to each his own, I suppose."
"So… so what are you saying?" Terra questioned, feeling tears in her large eyes.
"What I'm saying, Terra, is that they would see you burn in hell before they would let you back into their little "T"," Slade said bluntly. "So what do you have to lose by killing just one of them?"
"Because it's wrong!" Terra cried. "I know you… you have issues with Robin, but I'm not going to murder him! He wouldn't kill me."
"Wouldn't he?" Slade smirked beneath his mask. "If it was a choice between you and the alien girl, you know who he would choose."
"Yes, but he wouldn't kill me," Terra argued. "And I'm not going to kill him."
"Compassionate as ever, I see," Slade mocked her. "Terra, they aren't your friends anymore. I am all you have."
"No," Terra whispered, tears streaming down her face now. "I don't want to become a murderer, Slade!"
"I'm afraid what you want is no longer an issue, Terra," Slade hissed dangerously. "You've thrown away every chance of being good, of being a Titan. They see you as a threat, Terra, and they'll take you down the same way they take down every other cheap crook who tries it on in this city. You have nothing left; nothing except me, for I am the only one who will accept you the way you are."
"But Beast Boy… he-" Terra started, her voice cracking.
"I'm not asking you to kill the wretched shape-shifter!" Slade snapped. "I'm telling you to kill Robin, and you will do it, Terra, even if it means tearing your conscience from your being."
"Please, Slade, I can't!" Terra sobbed. "I can beat him to a pulp, but killing him is completely different. I can't do it… I won't do it!"
"Oh, won't you?"
Slade got to his feet, furious, the Orb of Azarath gripped tightly in one gloved hand.
"Perhaps I need to remind you of what I have given to you, of what you owe to me and what you promised to me. Do you need reminding, Terra?"
He walked purposefully over to her and she flinched as he towered threateningly over her slight form. He grabbed hold of her skinny wrist and she gasped as he pulled her right off her feet.
"Well, do you?" He asked dangerously. Terra shook her head mutely, terrified.
"I thought as much." He threw her easily to the floor, where she landed in a crumpled heap. "I own you now, Terra; don't forget that. And when I tell you to do something, you do it."
He didn't realise it, but he was starting to sound like the seer. He watched his apprentice as she struggled to her knees, wiping the tears from her pretty face.
"You know I won't stand weakness, Terra," Slade whispered lethally. "And I especially won't stand it from you because you are anything but weak."
Terra sniffled and got to her feet, still wiping her eyes.
"Now. That wasn't too hard, was it?" Slade murmured, gently pushing Terra's hand aside and wiping her tears away with his own glove. Terra smiled weakly and pushed one of her blonde bangs out of her face.
"What do you want me to do?" She asked softly. Slade placed his hand on her blonde head.
"That's my girl."
He abruptly removed his hand and turned away from her.
"At this present moment this world rests in a state of equilibrium, a balance between good and evil," he said, maybe a little more dramatically than was usually typical of him. "The Titans are the control, and we are the chaos. Unfortunately, the control freaks have us well in hand at the moment, while they strut around this pathetic little city like they own it, living it up like the unworthy monarchs they are in their little "T"…"
Terra sensed the bitterness in his voice becoming more and more prominent until he was pretty much spitting the words out. She could never despise the Titans the way he did; never despise Robin the way he did…
"What we need to do, Terra, is to free society from it's monotonous equal state," Slade went on, still with his back to the earth-mover. "It's all just a pattern; criminal strikes, Titans arrive with a can of "butt-whoop" and a righteous moral for the day, crook gets carted off to jail, all's well that ends well until someone else threatens their city."
He sighed and shook his head, then turned to Terra.
"Boring, wouldn't you say?"
Terra shrugged.
"I guess so."
"Boring for the criminals, boring for the city, boring for the Titans and boring for me," Slade went on, barely acknowledging her contribution.
"Boring for you?" Terra repeated. "Why? They've never caught you…"
"No, but… the Titans are usually so busy chasing every other half-wit thief in this city, when I finally turn up it doesn't faze them all that much. In fact, the only one who actually takes a whole lot of notice of me is Robin, and let's face it; the kid's obsessed with catching me. It's one extreme or the other with that lot…"
"So what's the matter?" Terra asked, folding her arms. "Don't you feel appreciated?"
Slade clenched his fists, near crushing the Orb of Azarath in his leather glove. His single grey eye narrowed venomously behind his mask.
"No, Terra," he whispered dangerously. "I want them to recognise me as the greatest threat that they will ever know. I will not rest until this city is at my feet, until the Titans are on their knees begging for me to stop, until Robin is dead and the prophecy is fulfilled. This city and every one after it, Gotham and Metropolis and Blüdhaven… they will all be in the palm of my hand, Terra, for me to crush if I see fit. And following the death of the wretched Avenger, the mortal gods will fall and there will be no-one left to oppose me or stop me, no Teen Titans, no Justice League…"
"And that…" Terra looked at the floor, her blonde hair falling forward over her face. "That's where I come in…"
"Precisely."
Slade put his fingers under her chin and tilted her head up again, looking her straight in her pale blue eyes.
"Do not feel bad for him, my dear apprentice. It was written centuries ago that he would die this way, and for this very purpose. By sparing him we would be re-writing forbidden history. And you owe him nothing…"
"I know." Terra averted her eyes briefly. Slade had given her so much, he had liked her despite her problem… she didn't want to let him down.
But she didn't want to kill either.
"You may kill him however you see fit," Slade went on. "I'm sure it shouldn't be too hard, not with your admirable abilities. He's fast and well-trained; he may get a few blows in, I daresay, but his death at your hand will be inevitable. I don't know if you'd prefer to crush him or suffocate him or simply beat him to death…"
"I don't understand why you can't kill him," Terra said softly.
"I tried, Terra, and I almost succeeded," Slade replied icily. "But he escaped me yet again. The seer said that you would be the best choice of weapon with which to exterminate him. It may mean that within the sands of time it has been stated that he will die by your hand and not mine; this is not the first time he had eluded me. I'm sick of chasing after him, frankly, and when you turn up and destroy him instead…" Slade smirked beneath his mask. "…He won't know what's hit him…"
"A rock," Terra murmured. Slade snorted in what could have been disguised laughter at her feeble joke, but it was more likely disgust.
"When… when do you want me to…?" Terra trailed off and looked at the floor again.
"Oh, not for a few days yet," Slade replied airily. "He won't put up much of a fight at present; I kicked him around a lot. Give him a little time to recuperate or it won't be much of a sport for you."
"I… I don't really want to toy with him…" Terra whispered miserably. "I'd rather just… just kill him…"
Slade looked at her for a few seconds.
"I've got a lot to teach you, apprentice," he said eventually. Terra shrugged her slight shoulders.
"At any rate, I need time to plan," Slade continued, his tone changing to a less bland one. "We can't just go rushing in, not concerning something on this level…" He walked away and replaced the Orb of Azarath back into it's protective silver cradle.
Terra simply nodded as he did so, still studying the floor intently.
"Don't see this as a bad thing, my dear," Slade told her softly. "This may be the making of you."
Or breaking.
They both thought it simultaneously, but neither of them voiced it aloud.
"Now, shall we run over the pact?"
Terra looked up and blinked.
"Excuse me?"
Slade came back to her, moved behind her and placed his large hands on her shoulders, as he had with Robin back in Arkham Asylum.
"The pact we made, back when I first started to train you to control your powers. When you swore your allegiance to me. Remember?"
Terra nodded.
"I remember."
"Good." Slade squeezed her shoulders slightly. "We'll go from the top. Who are you?"
"I am Terra."
"What are you?"
"I am an earth-mover. I am a geo-morph elemental, neither monster nor completely human. I am your apprentice."
"Excellent. What have you promised to me?"
"I have promised to you my allegiance and my power, my full commitment, my loyalty, my mind, my body and my soul."
"And in return?"
"In return you have promised to me the control I desire to exercise over my power."
"What will you do?"
"I will fulfil whatever you, my master, ask of me."
Slade paused, pleased with her.
"And so, Terra, in light of recent events, what are your duties to me?" He asked slowly.
Terra was silent for a while.
"To aid you in your fulfilment of the prophecy," she said finally, glancing up at him. Slade nodded slightly. He smiled dangerously behind his mask.
"And the Avenger, Terra? What will you do to him?"
A few strands of blonde hair fell across the earth-mover's pretty face and her smile mirrored that of her mentor.
"I will kill him…"
TO BE CONTINUED…
You know, you can all help me. What I'd really like is for this thing to hit triple digits in reviews to finish up; we're on 91. I need 9 more! I'd review myself to clock the number up, but that would be stupid… So c'mon people; REVIEW just one last time!
And as an incentive and special treat and blahblahblah…
Yup, there is actually one more "chapter" after this. Black Magic Preview… hmm, I wonder what that could be…