A young blonde baby boy who looks about to be six, is running across the green field with a bright smile on his face. "Catch me, Daddy! Catch me, Daddy!" He squealed. The boy kept on running until a pair of strong hands grabs his sides.
"Gotcha!" His Dad smirks.
"Yay! You got me, Daddy!" He giggles. His Dad throws him up in the air and catches him. "You had fun today, Grant?" He asked
"Uh huh." Grant nodded.
"You boys having fun?"
They turned around to see a beautiful woman with chocolate brown hair, lime green eyes, and a smile that looks exactly like Grant's. "Mommy!" Grant runs up to his mother. His mother picks him up and spins him around.
"Hi, baby. Did you have fun today?" She asked.
"Uh huh. Daddy took me to the zoo and I got to pet the sheep. And then we went to Big Belly Burger and Daddy allow me to have the big milkshake",Grant emphasize at the word 'big'. "And then Daddy took me here where we play hide and seek!" Grant answers.
"I'm glad you two had fun." His Mom smiles.
Grant turn to his Dad with hope on his grey eyes. "Can we do this again, Daddy? Huh? Can we?" He asked. His father's smile flaters for a split second before anyone noticed. He bends down to his son's level and patts his son's blonde hair.
"I'm so sorry, kiddo. But I have a press conference tomorrow in Tokyo, so I have to leave tonight. But don't worry, I promise to make it up to you." His Dad apologized. This makes Grant to look down at the ground and his eyes instantly watered. The boy tried to be tough like his parents, but ended up weeping.
"Aw sweetie, don't cry." His Mom hugs him. She begins to soothed down his hair. "I promise you and I will have just as much fun like your Daddy did." Grant nodded as he hugs his mother back. He's glad that he has a kind and caring mother. However, his mother is shooting her husband a death glare. She waited for his son to dried down his tears before turning to her husband. "Grant, sweetie, please wait in the car. Mommy needs to have a chat with Daddy." His Mom chirps.
"Okay, Mommy." Grant obeys before running off. His mother made sure her son was out of ear shot because she doesn't want Grant to hear her yell.
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR DAMN MIND?! YOU'RE SERIOUSLY CHOOSING YOUR CORPORATE JOB OVER YOUR OWN FAMILY!?" She rages.
"Addie, please listen. You know I hate being away from you guys, but this job requires me to travel a lot and it pays real good." He reasons.
"I don't care how good it pays. I need you to be here for us. I don't want my kids to grow up without a father, Slade!" Addie counteracts. Slade's mouth gapes open a bit and his body stiffens before regaining his composure
"You're pregnant," Slade stated.
"About 7 weeks now. Thanks for noticing." Addie rolls her eyes. She then jabs her finger against Slade's chest. "You're gonna have to call your business partner and told him he's gonna do this conference alone because you're coming with me to our baby's ultrasound. Do I make myself clear?!
"Yes, Addie." Slade sighs.
"Good. Now go tell our son you will be here tomorrow and spend time with him." Addie demands.
"Please stop acting like I don't care for my own child." Slade glares.
"You're the one who leaves us every other week. I don't want you to do the same for baby number two." Addie says.
"Did you told Grant he's gonna be a big brother?"
Addie gave him the biggest smile she could muster. She placed her hand on his shoulder, "I think you should be the one to tell him. You are his father after all.
The entire warehouse is silent as Slade is staring at the unmask Red X. Grant is panting as he tries to give Slade a sympathetic look. "April Fools." He awkwardly chuckles. Slade drops the button to the ground, which Raven immediately uses her powers to get it away from the madman. "Well, aren't you gonna say anything?!" Grant demands.
Raven has just finished healing Starfire. The alien was about to jump back into the action, buts stops when Raven put her finger over her lip and points at the father and son duo. Starfire understood and lay back down on the ground. Raven went over to Beastboy and began the healing process.
"You can't be real." Slade whispers. "This is the Titan's trick."
Grant nervously gulps and shredded his Red X outfit. Now he's wearing a navy blue bodysuit with a bright blue armor covering his chest, steel knees and shoulder pads with the Titan's logo on the shoulder pads, and a utility belt. "It is real, old man, Get use to it."Grant coldly stated.
"WHY?!" Slade roars in rage. "Why did you betray me, Grant! I took you in when I didn't have to! You were happy at my side!"
"I was at the beginning." Grant admits. "But I only wanted to follow in your footsteps because I wanted to spend time with you. You were never home. I was basically growing up without a father, so I confronted you about your secret work. I was in turmoil about staining my hands in blood, but I told myself it would be worth it if it means spending time with you. But then I heard what happened at home. You choose your work over Joey! How could you!?"
"I tried to save your brother! I honestly tried! I thought I got it all handled! Not a day goes by where I don't beat myself up for it! I was the one who took Joey to the hospital. I wanted to go back and kill the rest of the Jackals, but that's when your mother shot me in the eye."
As Slade was arguing with Grant, Raven's already done with Beastboy and is now moving onto to Cyborg. "That's right, Grant. Keep him distracted." She whispers to herself.
"You could've left this mercenary life behind! But instead you selfishly choose money over us!," He pulls out a stick which it extends to a sword. "Now we will be your downfall, 'father'." Grant declares.
Slade response by taking out his own bo staff. "I'll discipline you, you brat."
"You're not fighting him alone!"
Slade turns around to see all five Titans up and ready in a battle position. All of them free from the scars and bruises thanks to Raven's healing. Robin steps up with his bo staff in hand, "You fight one of us, then you're fighting all of us!"
The mercenary eyes the Titans and back at his son. "Those so called heroes teamed up with a known thief and the same heroes forgave the traitor that nearly destroyed the city." Slade stated.
"You leave Terra outta this!" Beastboy yells
"That girl was and always is a part of it." Slade calmly replied.
"Enough talk!," Grant twirls his sword around and aims at Slade. "Are we gonna chat or we gonna fight?" He asked. Slade throws a flash bomb which blinds everyone. Grant felt something wrap around him and went flying to the wall. When his vision cleared, he saw himself glued up to a wall. The teen struggle to get himself free to no avail. "What is this?! Release me!" Grant demands.
"I have no wish to fight you, son." Slade said. His eye narrows at the Titans who are regaining their eyesight. "I can see the Titans were being a bad influence on you." He said.
"How are we being a bad influence on him? Grant's older than us." Beastboy wonders.
"Guys run! Slade's has me now! You guys can still get away from this!" Grant pleaded.
"No way man, we're not leaving you." Cyborg shook his head.
"You are our friend and one of us now. It will be our pleasure to fight for you." Starfire added.
"Did you forget you're also a Titan too?" Robin smirks. Raven simply nodded at him with a small smile on her face.
"That's not gonna work, Grant." Slade spoke. His grey eye looks at his son's hand which has a dagger and is trying to cut the sticky residue. Grant's eyes widen in shock as he knows he's been caught. "Though I do have to give you credit for your attempt to distract me since it could have with any villain." Slade praised.
"Oh?," Grant smiles, "This isn't what we're distracting you for." Although the smile looks innocent, those grey eyes didn't match the tone. Slade looked up and his eye widen at the sight of every crates and pipes hovering above him.
"Now!" Robin signals.
Raven drops them as Starfire begins to bombard her Starbolts at him. Slade dodges them all rather fast, but didn't account for Cyborg's sonic blast. The blast hits him in the chest and a green ram hits his back. Slade recovers and aims his staff at the changeling who turns into a hummingbird and misses. Starfire let out a battle cry and lasers his chest. This time the laser burns his clothes and skin which shows a sickly red color on his chest. Slade groans in pain as he clutches his chest. Unfortunately for him, Beastboy comes running through and drops kick the mercenary.
"And that was for shooting me earlier!" Beastboy yells.
While that was going on, Robin makes his way over to the former thief. Grant's already has his left arm free from this point. Robin begins to help free him. "This is it, Grant. Today's the day we end the reign of Deathstroke the Terminator." Robin smiles.
"Let's make sure you didn't just jinx it, kid." Grant winks. With one final tug, Grant was freed from the what that was stuck to him. "Together, Robin?" He offers his hand. Robin grabs his hand and nodded.
"Together, bro." Robin accepts. The two of them went running at Slade, who already seems to be winning against the others. Robin slams no staff at the mad man's mask which makes a crack. Then Grant swings his sword at his face, but Slade paries it with his staff. Robin throws a couple of birdarangs at him. A couple of ice encases the grown man up to his chest. Grant raises his sword up with cold grey eyes.
"What are you gonna do, Grant? Kill your own father? Do it. I won't stop you." Slade encouraged.
"Oh my gosh. Is he gonna do it?" Beastboy whispers.
"I hope he does the right thing." Starfire replied.
Grant's arms began to tremble as he glares at his father. Then his eyes soften and lowers his sword. "I can't do it," He looks down at the ground in shame, "As much as I want to kill you to protect the others, I can't kill my own father." Grant turns around staring right at him, "But that doesn't mean you are forgiven."
"How sad, you just had to inherit your mother's empathy." Slade response. In a blink of an eye, Slade shatters the ice prison. Grant was about to attack him, but Slade struck him across the face.
"GRANT!" The Titans cried out.
The blonde is laying on the ground unconscious, with blood running down his mouth.
"How could you!" Raven roars in rage. She was about to unleash hell when a swarm of sladebots come bursting in the room. The Titans began to fend them off as Slade goes over to Grant.
"No! Get away from him!" Robin screams. He was about to run at them, but was held back by the robots. He watched in horror as Slade flungs Grant over his shoulder. "Stop!" Robin pleaded.
"My lost son has returned to me. I have no use for you, Robin." Slade stated.
At that moment, Grant opens his eyes and punches at the mercenary's face. Robin has never seen such rage in ones face. "The name's, Ravager!" Grant screams as he burst opens the mask.