Teen Titans – Side Stories and After – Snippets; Foxes Upon Foxes and Magical Girls Galore

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Side – Chapter: Face to Face with the Enemy??

This is the chapter from Shadows and Creatures arc where Dick and Ronnie bump into Roku in his projected form – after stealing it from Slade, turning him into a small soldier – similar to how Trigon left Raven as a shell of the former. So, if you know the arc, then good. If not, I'll put it all together best I can!

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Shoji looked down at his watch. He was supposed to be heading to Bruce Wayne's building to have a meeting with the board of Wayne Enterprises. He had an A.I suggestion and it could not wait. Shoji looked up at the sky. Bleak, Gotham was… Not Tokyo. Not all sunshine and bubble gum with that added hustle and bustle of a big metropolitan area.

Well, Bruce had squeezed him in with his competitor from the UK. Ronnie had found her way in and it irked Shoji to no end.

(Oh! So, this was the past he was talking about. Ronnie and her adoptive mama Lilith had taken over his home world as a spirit world prince. His daddy was corrupted and it was similar to how Rokuro's past went. Not very fun.)

So, now that Robin had shown up on Ronnie's hit list, Bruce was also in need of proper saving.

Maybe, if not he was just as in danger as Dick Grayson, the dog could create a pact. Find a way in…

Shoji coughed up a bit of muck from his lungs. The stench of a traitor put his nostrils on full alert. He'd been later to this shindig than he'd bargained for…

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As the kid's Guardian dog until Roku's curse was lifted – then he could scat, Robin would be free to grow up without any magical reincarnation dreams in his seventeen-year-old head.

Yeah…. Very much, that Vee had to take his butt to see about the –

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An hour later, he'd decided that following a particular scent, was a bad idea…

Ah, ok…that was, new?

Nance had his back as Shoji slumped and gripped onto the side of a counter.

Roku…And it looked to be a calling card. Would she get his memo?

The miasma was thick, his leg was still bruised up from the run in…they still –

Wait!

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The elevator ride wasn't a problem for Bruce, but he'd not expected to pick up a second face in the lobby on his way to some big event in the hallway. Ronnie had sounded plenty worried, so Bruce had postponed his meeting with the board. Right now, this incident required his attention.

Dick she'd said…. he wasn't alright and that was a red flag. For some reason, Bruce just stood and clenched his fists, as the second that door opened….

There, stood a shadow of a figure. His dark tresses hung long and tied back loosely, swishing at his back. His coat was flowing – as if he'd dressed to be in another time period. Another…

Red. Red eyes, as Bruce looked at the numbers of the elevator's control panel and kept the urge to press –

"May I?"

"Of, of course…." Bruce was stunned by how this was going. He spoke as if he'd not been able to control the words that dripped from his mouth.

As the figure walked into the elevator with the billionaire CEO staring back, the shadow's mouth twitched into a grin. "Thank you for inviting me…Now, we may speak of another…."

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And to quote on any to this, the idea that Roku wasn't the culprit (and that as of this new era, Raku was the man he'd once met inside the elevator at Wayne Enterprises,) he also had met another figure only a few years before. Or, it was later. Twice. He'd gone to speak on behalf of a client. As a bodyguard, and with a terrible excuse for a disguise.

Bruce almost gawked at the white-haired, false -eyed kook in the elevator as he was tugged inside.

"Well? Are you going to stand there all day? Come in." Bruce was pulled in by the man's strong grip. They went up, with Slade manning the controls. No magic, but he could put you in a hold for hours if need be.

"I wasn't aware that your ward was back in Gotham. How is Grayson these days? Did he seem, almost transformed to you?"

Bruce ignored the killer and just set his jaw. It locked. His taunting could drive you to commit a murder you wouldn't soon regret. Seeing as Death could rarely touch this powerful enemy, Slade was duel sided to the hero community as well. He was even harder to manipulate than the bat.

"My ward's current activities are none of your business, Wilson." Bruce's cold response was icy enough to have Slade reconsider his methods. "Well, then did he talk about his time in Bludhaven to you, yet? He's become quite an overnight celebrity with the law in that –

"As a vigilante that I trained; I trust Richard's judgement to handle things, but not when it involves becoming your lab rat. What did you do to him??" The gloves were off, so Slade pressed on the up button and a few numbers to keep Bruce, happy?

"Will you really attack me in here, Wayne?" Slade sniffed and had his head smacked back against the shaft wall; his eye blinked back at Bruce in surprise. Damn. Rich kids were a pain to please.

"Wow. You would deck me, good for you. But not for your appearance –

" Shut up." Bruce rammed the white-haired killer against the wall, harder this time. "YOU. WILL. NOT. GO AFTER. HIM." Bruce seethed through gritted teeth. "Do you hear me? Slade??? He's an adult who's been manipulated by your tricks. Remember that you are the same man who blackmailed Robin years ago. Made a folkloric demon take advantage of the Titans and then try to kill me! You, didn't just save my ward…. You experimented on him with an illegal substance ! YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO LET ALONE, KNOW RICHARD…I will do everything in my power, to see that he never knows we met today..."

He was furious. Absolutely mad and willing to pull the trigger on this crooked soul.

"I kept him from ending up next to his parents. Doesn't –

"YOU…. made…him –

" Humm? You seem to be muttering –

Slade's skull ended up rammed against the wall again. " ACH! Fine! I'm not the one who's going to be staying –

Dick was still…Bruce's eyes went for the panel. He thought; a shake down wasn't enough. He had to know Slade's side for doing this...

"Press the last one. Basement. NOW." He commanded Slade, who felt a bit threatened by the billionaire's Hyde personality.

"I'm still on the jo –

"And I'm still the one who can leave you in this elevator with a death wish. YOU and ME. We finish this."

Slade chuckled as the Bat pressed him further into the wall. His spine was holding up, with enough reinforced armor under his outfit to cover the minor bruising. "So rogue, playboy…? Are you considering -

Slade's eyes narrowed; he was…. not joking. Bruce could do it. He might just get beaten to a pulp.

"I see. So, do you have a death wish, Bats?"

"No. But you are on my list this time, Slade. And this is personal. We need to be clear –

"Then, what about a treaty? Something civil, perhaps?"

Slade noticed that the real Bruce was starting to come back up. "Fine. On my terms, though. You're not to step foot in Gotham unless I'm aware of the business you've taken. You'll be made aware that I won't tolerate having my enemies any closer than I need."

"Huh, are you going to put a shock collar on me too, daddy bats?" Slade wondered, hoping there was some immunity to this nutty, papa bear.

"I'm going to be sure that Dick is kept away from you, but I have reason to think that you've already –

"Your ward is surprisingly secretive. To you, maybe. I did give him a way to call you when he landed in Gotham that night. He was presumed MIA, so I pulled a few strings. Give me some credit, Wayne. I did it to repay him a favor. That's all. The serum worked when it originally should have been too weak to sustain -

"It DID. That's why I don't want my son anywhere near the man who gave him a curse. He's not going to be cured, you even agree. He knows it." Bruce grunted and let Slade go. "I want you out of my sight as long as your job runs its course. Then, if Dick lets up that he's still pitying your hide under my house rules, we'll have a problem. Second; you may have his number, but I want you to ignore all of his calls. Don't answer or even so much as send a thumbs up. Contact me if he –

"Are you doing this for yourself of for Dick? Doesn't that sound, like a bit of an extreme? He's a father with PTSD, not a man child like yourself with…control issues." Slade frowned and crossed his arms over his armored chest.

"He's in a fragile state." Bruce grunted. "Thanks to that super serum, Richard is constantly trying to hide how he's been healing up on his own. He's afraid to go home to Kori. You should have realized that wh –

"You mistake me for someone who doesn't care about those kinds of, morals. I'm not a monster like you think. I run my work in secret, just like –

"And that is why I need you to disappear. So that he can heal."

"That is a problem, I'm afraid." Slade saw that they'd be at the last stop in a few moments.

"The serum is still a case even I couldn't crack. He must have had a dormant meta gene and it became active as a result. The only issue I have is that the serum will not be one - hundred percent…stable without extra treatments of a solution that is nothing more that a way to keep the "transformation" from blowing up in our faces."

"In other words," Bruce swallowed. "It could…"

"And I told you before, the serum was not supposed to do much but heal his injuries after that blast. It's enough to say that in a few months or about……no more than a year, he won't need the extra solution to keep himself, alive."

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"A new deal." Slade watched as Bruce's eyes changed to dangerous slits. The billionaire stated his terms.

"We'll exchange contact info so that I can get Dick the formula he needs to keep the reaction down. You'll supply whatever is needed to accomplish this. As a thanks for staying clear of him, I'll allow you immunity from League jurisdiction for a total of five months. If you break any unauthorized codes before that time, we'll then be allowed to send you right into Blackgate prison. No probation, as a public service in your case."

"Would Waller agree to these terms, you think?" Slade questioned this method, but he could get more work done in that five months. No JLA if he was on his good behavior…He could escape his cell anytime, with the right persuasion in mind.

"Done," Slade and Bruce shook on the suggestion quickly, before letting go of the other's gripping clasp of blood-soaked fingers.

"What about your youngest detective? Is he included in the package?"

"Your history with Damian is also a problem. He's however, more resentful of you than Dick was."

"You child is a tyrant." Snorted the assassin. "I would love to know what the Titans will say –

" Wait! How do you –

"This in my floor, sorry." Slade allowed the door to open, his eyes falling away from the billionaire's widened ones.

"I'll be sending the next dose so you can duplicate your own as of this month. The hero needs to take the shot monthly of four months, and bi – monthly into the beginning of the fifth month. Fail to do this and, well. Have you ever ingested acid before?"

Bruce stood there as Slade waved to his new company in Gotham city. As if he'd made a deal with a true monster, his body refused to move. His knuckles were bleached white. Slade, had won. Or, was the acid thing just for laughs?

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