Puppets

Victor Van Heiring

IMPORTANT: You might be thinking that you're seeing way too little of Robin for this to be a real Robin vs. Slade story, but trust me. I'm setting up most of the clues in the beginning because, guess what…he's got to figure them out on his own later. More fun! Yay!

DISCLAIMER: Um…do I own them or anything like them? There's the joke of the day…

CHAPTER SIX: Master plans

To wake up after blacking out was a painful event. Especially when you couldn't remember what knocked you out and what happened to you while you were out-cold. To make matters even worse, you wake to a place that was in no way familiar, staring at a bar pattern on the floor made in the blank darkness by a semi-bright light. His first conclusion was that he was in prison, but how does that work out? No…who would throw a prisoner onto the floor, broken arm and all, and then just leave them in a freaky old broken down place…

It took him a while to recognize the place as the old mall that was half torn down a couple of years back. It was located on the far east side of the city and a section of the basement was used as a temporary holding pin for anybody who caused a ruckus in the mall before being transported to the nearest police station. The second thing he realized as he regained full consciousness was the fact that his broken right arm was roughly bandaged up into a make-shift cast. His other arm was bare, the sleeve of his sweater suddenly appearing to have been torn off, save for a few small needle points located on the inside of his elbow.

What was Slade doing to him?

Whatever it was, it was giving him a headache. That could have been from a sedative used to keep him out-cold while he was taken, but he felt feverish, cold and sore in every muscle of his body. Was Slade going to poison him to death? But that didn't make any sense—he could have just broken Mark's neck if he wanted him out of the way. No…he was planning a small piece of revenge for Dane.

Boy…Dane really knew how to tick a person off.

Forcing himself to stand, the young agent made his way over to the bars of his cell and peered up and down the hall in search of someone—or thing. The light came from the left side of the hall, around a nearby corner. Mark he was being monitored because there was the sound of a chair scrapping against the floor and a dark shadow fell across the far wall before shrinking as the person drew near. And that person, much to his displeasure, was Slade.

"Comfortable?"

Mark scowled at the comment and stayed at least an arm's length away from the bars as Slade stopped short of them. "Fine, thank you."

"I suppose you don't remember much?"

"I still remember everything about you."

Slade hummed in thought. "So it would seem. If that were true, why did you fall for a decoy?"

Mark shrugged as best he could, still frowning. "I guessed you had one of two plans for destroying the city. One was just some sort of gigantic bomb."

"And what was the other guess?"

"That you found the fault lines beneath the city…"

Slade gave a small laugh and took a step away from the bars, placing both hands behind his back. He was amused. "It's good to see Dane has someone with brains on his team. And for your information, that was the plan. Now…do you know why you're alive?"

"My best guess is revenge against Dane, which really makes me wonder why you're giving me any information at all, false or not."

"Oh, I want you to know the truth. That's what makes my side-project all the more entertaining." Slade's eye narrowed dangerously. "Your going to be my revenge, a warning to Dane for what will happen to him if he slips up again, and a test subject for something I've been working on…"

Mark had to arch his eyebrow curiously. "So, what? You're going to turn me into a living mass of glop?"

"Didn't anyone ever tell it's what's on the inside that counts? And no—no glop. But I can't guarantee you'll be pleased with the outcome in any case."

…He hated the man before, and now he hated him even more. He was an obsessed maniac with unbelievable luck and a knack for inventing weapons that could possibly blow the world to smithereens. There wasn't much to like about him.

"So…it's internal and I won't like it. That narrows it down to…a lot. Are you going to give me more clues or will you just tell me what's about to happen?"

"Oh…you'll know exactly what's going to happen to you, but that'll have to wait until the rest of the operations have been completed. You're no where near finished." Then his adversary turned on his heel and made his way back down the short hall. "Sleep well. You'll need all the rest you can get."

..Somehow, he wasn't looking forward to the whole 'operation' part…

-R-

There were many things that bothered him but nothing could irritate him more than going off to battle someone only to lose track of them in the end. And what's more!—he was this close to finding out Slade's last name…so close….even an initial would have made his search a heck of a lot easier, but now he had to wait until he saw Mary again.

And when would that be? Today? Tomorrow? Next week? Not to mention Slade and whatever nasty plan he had brewing up deep down in the darkest depths of the hell (1). It was like having a random time bomb in your pocket—you had to get rid of it, but you had no idea when it would blow and where you could put it to keep others safe. It was getting to the point where Robin would sometimes run his hand through his hair, stop at the back of his head and nearly pull out a huge chunk of it out while he checked—and rechecked, and re-rechecked—every clue set out by Slade since the beginning of time. There were days when he nearly gave up and just went off to literally check almost every square-inch of Jump City.

At this rate, he might be looking at early retirement…but how would that work out? Fighting crime was his life, and unless he was planning on dying any time soon, there really was no other type of simple retirement available to him.

"Want some ithe?"

Robin shook his head, lifting up the bag he already had before replacing it on his left hand. "Thanks, but I've already got some."

Usually he tried to hide his wounds as best he could, from friend and foe alike, but the state of his hand was a little…difficult to pass aside unnoticed. Falling awkwardly during his fight with Slade's robots, the last three fingers of his left hand were bent backward at an odd angle. Shocked and panicking, he grabbed them and bent them back into place just as his comrades showed up in the park and witnessed the act before lending a hand. The moment they got home, Cyborg told him to sit at the couch and Raven tossed him a bag of ice. Starfire went off to nurse her own wounds and Beast Boy plopped on down next to Robin with a bag of his own, this one held close over the bridge of his nose.

"Again?" Robin grinned, remembering the short while ago when Beast Boy had the imprint of Slade's boot on his face. This time it was probably one of the robots, but it had to hurt just as much.

"Ith bleeding prethy bad." He sniffled, tilting back his head to slow the blood flow. "Whereth Raven?"

"Her room, I think."

"Thanxth…"

With that, he scurried away to find the healer.

"Slade called again." This time it was Cyborg, entering the main room after tuning himself up in his little workshop room. Twisting on his left hand properly, he stopped by the couch and leaned over to stare at Robin's. "He's up to something, man, and it isn't just the bomb he boasted about hiding in the city."

"How'd you know?"

"Duh!" Cyborg grinned and jumped over the back of the couch to sit next to him in BB's spot. "He said to leave you alone tonight—which makes no sense, really…"

For once, he was interested in hearing someone else's thoughts on the matter of his great archenemy. Why not? Maybe having another brain obsessing over him would lead to more work done…And besides, no one told him yet that Slade talked to his team again while he was gone.

"What makes no sense?"

"He wanted us to leave you alone tonight which usually means he wants to face off with you…but he didn't actually meet up with you, did he? You were busy with that psycho girl, right?"

…Actually, that thought had occurred to him earlier when the little woman called them up and brushed Slade aside without worry. Robin knew Slade was a patient man—he boasted about the matter on a regular basis—but even Slade wouldn't let someone else take the spotlight away from him. Robin expected to see him lurking in the shadows or tossing explosives devices down upon him while he fought Marionette—but maybe he was lurking somewhere. Maybe Robin was too busy listening to the debate situated against him by the girl to really notice anything else that going on around him…

Good grief, he was getting old! Maybe retirement was the answer…

"You look worried. Oh—wait—" Cyborg rolled his eyes and grinned. "Since when haven't you been worried? BB said you've got newspaper clippings everywhere…said you reminded him of the guy off A Beautiful Mind the last time he went into your room."

Okay. He was obsessive at times—but not that obsessive. He didn't have a disorder…

"I'm fine." He reassured his friend. "And yeah, I am a little worried. But you said Slade said he had a bomb hidden in the city?"

"Well hidden by the sounds of it."

"In the city…?"

"Yeah."

"Did he say that exactly? Did he say it purposefully?"

"Can't remember…" Cyborg paused, then he hit Robin on the knee. "Give me a break, man. It's not like I'm taking Slade 101 at university. He just said he had a bomb that we'd have one hell of a time finding."

Robin grinned. "Then it isn't in the city."

Cyborg gave him a look of pure disbelief. Then, after seeing the sureness in Robin's smile, he looked a little amazed. "You're serious? You can tell that just by something he said? So…there is no bomb?"

"I didn't say that." He corrected. "I said it wasn't in the city. Slade likes to play games with the human mind. He could have it around the city, above the city, below the city…"

Cyborg shook his head again, still a little incredulous. "…I can't believe this? How'd he have it around the city?"

"Multiple charges placed around the city limits. He could keep everyone contained, get them panicking and then—BAM! We'd have a frightened mob on our hands."

"Okay…above the city?"

Robin laughed. "Jeez…reminds me of the old villains in Gotham. If it was one of them, they'd probably strap a couple of bombs to a bunch of hot-air balloons…"

"Man…you run Slade 101 the university…Below."

"Below…" Robin licked his lips. There were a couple of possibilities to that. "Below…below...What about those fault lines that run under the city? If he—"

"No no no! I'm not listening!" Cyborg plugged his ears, regretting that he ever said anything at all. Now Robin would go on forever, planning a counter attack against any possibility, and then both Cy and raven would have to go back on their night watch to make sure to stop Robin from staying up too late on the mai computer, searching for answers… "La la la la la! I'm not listening!"

Robin laughed. "No, but listen, if he—"

Cyborg took his only chance of escape and leapt to his feet, running from the room to find safety elsewhere in the tower. Robin, left alone to die of laughter, simply stayed where he was and sat back, relaxed. Now that he had something to keep his mind busy with, he felt quite a bit more at ease. It was interesting how he taught his mind to work.

-S-

"I didn't say that. I said it wasn't in the city. Slade likes to play games with the human mind. He could have it around the city, above the city, below the city…"

He actually started listen to the conversation the moment the changeling left the room, but his ears didn't quite perk up until Robin ran his theories over with his other friend. He was both somewhat worried that his plan would fall apart if the Titans acted before the second part of his plan could fall into place, and quite pleased that the boy picked out the clues—despite not being there when Slade dished them out. The AF knew, of course, but they knew about Slade's plan for a while. This was what—a couple of hours?

"Below…"

"Below…(pause)…Below…below…What about those fault lines that run under the city? If he—"

"No no no! I'm not listening! La la la la la! I'm not listening!"

"No, but listen, if he—"

Well done…well done indeed. Even Slade had to applaud him this time. He hit the nail on the head with that idea.

There was a bit of laughter on the line before everything fell silent on the Titans' side of the bug. They had no idea it was placed inside the Tower and Slade highly doubted they would ever find out about it…any time soon.

But still, he was growing more impressed with Robin every time they crossed paths. Ever since he first became his apprentice, Slade never really did give up on the idea that he could once again sway the boy back to his side. Of course, it would take some brute strength, a few mind games and a little manipulation to assure his loyalty, but loyalty became genuine with time. Slade could wait. He had all the time in the world.

Focusing back at the task at hand, he lifted the bloody knife and a clean white cloth. Wiping off the blade, he stared down at the progress of his handiwork and signaled to two of his robots to carry the unconscious man away. This 'Mark' truly was the perfect specimen. He was in peak condition and didn't struggle the least bit with the aid of quite a few sedatives. Knocking him out in the first place was really the only hard part about the job, but everything thereafter was a breeze.

Once they carried him away, Slade turned around and stepped up to one of the small computer consoles he set up in the somewhat small basement office of the abandoned mall. Switching connections, he checked in on Dane's schedule.

…There wasn't much to speak off in the way of plans. Slade screwed that up thoroughly for Dane when he kidnapped his young friend and sent him a fair warning to back off before Slade got his hands on Dane himself. The man had been after him for quite a while…It seemed everywhere he went, Dane somehow found out about his plans.

Scrolling further down the list of names which came up—what was left of Dane's team—he stopped at Marionette and checked out her schedule for the week. If she was supposed to be kept locked up, Slade would much rather keep her locked up were he could reach her instead of within some distant insane asylum. Luckily, she was signed into the city's own asylum for the time being before returning to New Jersey.

Jacob, Mary:

Wednesday, 14, 21-22-Co3g2—Kteen.

It was a new code the government tried to use on the computers to conceal information from hackers. 21-22 stood for 9 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Co3 stood for 'medical operation'; g2 stood for 'ground level, room 2'; and Kteen meant…electrotherapy. They usually only used that on patients who were greatly depressed, but after meeting "Marionette", Slade couldn't really blame her. If they were going to electrocute the living-daylights out of her, then so-be-it. He could wait until ten o'clock to drop by and say hi…

All in all, everything was working out accordingly. Soon the other elements of his plan would fall into action and he'd be free of Jump City forever, with no worries to speak of whatsoever.

With that thought to think of, he switched off the consol and switched to another form of work. If everything did work out as he had planned, then he had to stay on schedule.

-V-

(1) "…he had brewing up deep down in the darkest depths of the hell…" –this is just a bit of foreshadowment with the idea that Slade is going to somehow sabotage the fault lines beneath the city. Robin doesn't know how smart he is…

See you around. I hope you liked the chapter—and remember! I'm changing the title next chapter so don't be surprised if it says Puppets instead of Hurt to Save.

Signing out,

Victor Van Heiring