Disclaimer – Own nothing.
To vi – Thanks for your review! I'm glad you liked the chapter and I hope you like this chapter as well!
AN – Hey guys! I know I'm a day late but Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers! I hope you all had a great day! So, last week was a bit crazy so I didn't post anything, sorry, but I hope you all enjoy this chapter!
Enjoy!
Jason and Rose were silent in the cab that was currently taking them back to the Tower. They were both deep in thought, though not about the same thing. Rose was worried about what her Dad had done to Dick and Gar, and Jason was still struggling to process everything Rose had revealed hours earlier.
When Rose had explained how she met Slade, how he had trained her, had used her against the Titans, he felt nothing but fury and betrayal. He had thought that she was the only person in the Tower who hadn't hurt him and now he knew that he was wrong. At first, he didn't want anything to do with her, but before he could tell her that, she pleaded for forgiveness. Practically begged for a chance to make things right. Hesitantly, he agreed. Others might think it was a stupid decision, and maybe it was, but he knew fake apologizes, fake sincerity when he heard and saw it.
Thinking it over now, the new Robin realized that he wasn't that mad anymore. There was still the hurt and sense of betrayal remaining, but that was to be expected. He didn't blame Rose though. Along with being able to tell when people were faking sincerity, he also knew what kids who were scared of their parents looked like. Knew how they obeyed their parents' wishes out of fear and a messed-up desire to make them proud. Knew how parents manipulate them. No, he didn't blame Rose for what she did.
Before they knew it, the taxi pulled to a stop in front of Titans Tower. Jason grabbed his bag and moved to get out, then stopped when his eyes fell on Rose.
"We're here." Jason quietly announced, seeing that Rose seemed lost in thought. When she didn't say anything or make any kind of movement, he asked, "You okay?"
"They're going to be furious." Rose stated, staring out the window at the building where the penthouse was.
"Probably, but they'll also understand. I think." Jason said, then winced when he realized how unconvincing he sounded.
Rose however, either didn't notice or didn't care. She simply grabbed her bag, said, "Let's go," and opened the door to get out. Jason followed right behind her.
Together, they made their way across the busy street to their destination. Rose was tense, clearly still nervous about what was going to happen next, but she walked with her head held high and shoulders back. She was as ready as she ever would be. Still wanting to give her some assurance, Jason reached over and grabbed her hand, which she took. She dropped it though when they reached the entrance to the elevator where Hank and Dawn were already waiting.
"Hey Dawn. Hank." Jason greeted as they approached the elevator.
"You two got the call as well I assume?" Hank questioned as the doors to the elevator opened.
"Yeah." Jason confirmed, following the older man and his girlfriend into the lift. Rose went in right behind him. As soon as all four of them were in the elevator, Dawn pressed the button that started lifting them up to the penthouse.
The four of them were silent as the elevator brought them to the top floor, but they all gasped when the doors opened. Part of the large window was covered in cardboard, having apparently been broken, some furniture was either missing or had been taped up and bullet holes filled the walls. Though it was clear someone had been trying to fix the mess, it was obvious what had happened. Waiting for them, was Rachel, Donna and Kory.
"Whoa." Jason quietly exclaimed as he took in the damage.
"And this is after we already cleaned up a bit." Rachel informed them, taking a step or two closer to them.
"Have you been able to find out what happened?" Dawn asked, putting her bag down and walking over to them. Hank and Jason did the same, but Rose stayed still.
Regretfully, Donna shook her head as she answered, "No. The cameras cut out sometime close to midnight. I think the attack happened just after that."
"Most likely did. That's my Dad's MO." Rose spoke up, causing everyone to look at her, though she was staring down at a random spot on the floor.
"What?" Rachel inquired, her brow furrowing in confusion.
Jason stared at the one-eyed girl for a second, took a few steps closer to her so he was in between her and the others, then turned back to the group and said, "Rose has something she needs to tell you guys."
Slowly, Rose raised her head, her body tensing even more than it already was. She could already see Donna, Dawn and Hank putting the pieces together behind their confusion, but she still had to say it. They all needed to know the truth, instead of assuming and she needed to explain. Needed to apologize. It would probably be easier if she hid her gaze and avoided theirs, but they deserved her looking in their eyes as she revealed how she had betrayed them. Taking a deep breath, so he started to explain everything.
"I found out about my Dad about three years ago. I guess, he and my Mom had a one-night stand and he didn't know anything about me. But when I found out about my healing abilities, I got curious and made my Mom tell me. When she did, I went looking for him.
"He didn't really want anything to do with me at first, but he apparently changed his mind. He let me move in with him, and started training me. I don't really know why, I'm not sure if there really was a reason. Part of me kind of wonders if he was wanting me to be his partner in crime or something, but I don't know for sure. Then, about four months ago, he came home all angry. He had seen on TV that a group called the 'Titans' were back."
"You see why that was a bad idea Jason?" Hank suddenly cut it, remembering how annoyed he was by the kid when he first met him. He still did annoy him, but it was tolerable now.
"Shut up." Jason told him before turning back to the teenage girl. "Rose, keep going."
"Dad then, told me about Jericho. His version anyways. Said you guys were a gang and had gone out and murdered him to get back at you, or something like that. He wanted vengeance and wanted me to help him get it. I said okay, so we started planning, but then, he said that we needed to do something to make you guys feel sorry for me, to give you a reason," Rose paused, remembering how terrified she had become when her Dad told her how they were going to get sympathy from the group then continued, "give Dick a reason to want to help me."
"Your eye." Rachel quickly realized.
"I didn't think he was serious. But he was and I ran. He caught up and, used his sword and cut out my eye." Rose revealed, feeling her hands start to tremble as the memories of that night tried to get to the forefront of her mind. Not wanting to remember what happened, ever again, she forced them back.
"So you were his mole?" Dawn questioned, even though the answer was clear.
Before Rose could responded, Rachel said, "Wait, then, were you the one who drew crosses on my mirror?"
"Yeah. I also moved the alcohol, the picture and the orange soda." Rose admitted, shooting a guilty glance at Jason, knowing that they had blamed him, then looked back at the others and continued. "I wasn't sure if I still wanted to help Slade after everything he did, after actually meeting you all and realizing there was more than his side of the story, but I was, scared."
"What was his goal? To kill us?" Hank demanded, taking a threatening step closer to her. Rose instinctively took a step back while Jason went to the side, putting himself more in between them. He understood Hank's anger, but the only person it should be put on was Slade, not Rose.
"I think he wants to, but he wants you all to suffer first. Especially Dick. He wanted me to make you all turn on each other, to weaken you so he can take you out." Rose answered, avoiding his eyes.
"And we fell for it." Dawn mumbled, angry not just at Slade, but at herself, Hank and Donna for walking right into Slade's messed up trap.
"Where are the others?" Donna then questioned with a harsh tone, sounding almost exactly like Hank which slightly surprised Rose as she was one of the ones the laid into Dick the worst when he revealed his lie.
"I don't know. I honestly don't know. He never told me all of his plans at once. I have no idea what he was planning to do when we all left the Tower." Rose replied, her voice filled with sincerity. Though she had a bit of mixed feelings about the original Titans' part in her brother's death and how they kept it a secret from them, she knew that it was her father who was more at fault and that they didn't deserve whatever Slade wanted to do them.
Jason quickly looked back over at Wonder Girl and asked, "What about the tracker that Batman put in Dick? They should be able to find them from that, right?"
"I already checked. Nothing." Donna answered, turning her head to look at him.
"Meaning it's either off, he's somewhere where the signal can't reach, like where he took Jason, or he's," Dawn stopped, suddenly finding herself unable to even process the fact that Dick and Gar and the other boy might actually be dead, let alone say it out loud.
"It would still be transmitting even if he was dead." Jason told her. It was only then that Dawn remembered how Slade had cut out Jason's tracker and put it on Dr. Light's dead body.
Worried and frustrated, Kory said, "So that's it? We have nothing? We do nothing?" Even though she had gotten there before Hank, Dawn, Jason and Rose, she hadn't heard of any plans of what they should do now. Of how to find out where Dick, Gar and Conner had gone.
"Maybe Slade took Dick where he took Jason?" Rachel suggested. Turning to face the currant Robin, she asked, "Do you remember where you were?"
Before Jason could tell her that while he remembered the surroundings of where he was held prisoner with crystal clear clarity but was blindfolded when Slade moved him, Rose cut in, saying, "Slade wouldn't have done that. He'd know that's the first place we'd look."
The adults shot her a glare, but didn't respond. It was quite clear that they were still mad at her, but were focusing more on their friends. At least they had their priorities straight right now, and they were willing to listen to any advice she could give them about the monster that was her father. That made her feel somewhat useful, so she doubted that she wouldn't fully find out the consequences of her actions until after. If they could be so cold and heartless to Dick, who was their friend and leader, over such a tiny lie that ultimately didn't change anything, what would they do to her?
"What if Dick, Gar and Conner actually are…" Rachel's terrified voice suddenly pulled Rose from her thoughts, just in time to see Kory wrap a comforting arm around the girl's shoulders. Donna's gaze was also drawn to the black and blue haired girl as she said, "Slade wouldn't move dead bodies."
"So what do we do now?" Jason questioned. Now that Rose had told everyone the truth and they had already gone through the leads they had and found nothing, they needed a new course of action. Needed to do something that would lead them to their missing teammates and the assassin.
"Well, we should," Donna started, then stopped when they heard the sound of a door slam open and an alarm blaring.
"What the h*ll?" Hank asked as they started rushing towards the hall to where the sound had come from. Before they could actually get there, a figure appeared at the other end of the hall by the door that led to the roof. A figure dressed in black and orange, who was holding a sniper rifle and was pointing it right at them.
"Run!" Donna shouted as Deathstroke started firing.
Everyone immediately ran for cover. Rachel, Kory and Donna ducked behind one of the couches, while Hank and Dawn ran for the kitchen. Rose and Jason also tried to make their way over there, but with the bullets flying, Jason ducked to protect his head, losing his balance and falling to the ground in the process.
"Jason!" Rachel yelled when she saw him fall, still out in the open where Deathstroke could easily shot him. Dawn, who was the closest to him, quickly reached over to grab Jason's arm to help him up, but Slade, having gotten to their end of the hall now, started shooting again right at them.
"Dawn!" Hank screamed at the sight of his girlfriend in danger and rushed to go protect her, but at that moment, the window, right by the spot that was covered with cardboard, shattered again by someone else breaking in.
Deathstroke stopped firing for a second, apparently surprised by sudden appearance of someone else. The man was dressed in black and dark grey with a large black cape covering his shoulders and back. On his head was a cowl that covered the top of his face with small, sharp ears on his head. Despite some having never seen this man before, they all knew who exactly who he was.
Staring at him in shock and relief, Jason whispered, "Batman?"
