Disclaimer: Disclaimer: All copyright and credit goes to the original creators of the Teen Titans, Batman, and the DC Universe. This is for entertainment purposes only! I do not own any of the characters!
A/N: I dislike cliffhangers as much as yall so I tried to get this one out soon!:) Thanks for all the reviews/favorites on the last chapter.
ENJOY!
Chapter 23
Darkness
Warmth.
It was an odd sensation to the boy.
It flowed across his hands, dripping onto the ground. The liquid ran over his skin with a burning heat as smoke swirled in the air. His blood bled through his fingers gushing onto the debris covered ground.
But the boy did not care.
He could not see the smoke that swarmed his vision.
He could not feel the fiery pain rushing from his thigh and throughout his body.
He could not recognize the hand gripping his shoulder.
Because he could not comprehend the image before his eyes.
The man, who had raised him, trained him, and taken him in, was standing less than ten feet away. The man he had devoted agonizing hours searching for was just beyond his reach, so close yet so far away.
The man he had given his trust to, had just shot him.
But all Robin was conscious of were the eyes.
Those soulless, black orbs were not the eyes of the man he had known. They were darker, malevolent, and corrupted. They were the eyes of a criminal of a soulless villain, not of Batman – not of the father figure he loved.
Not of Bruce…
The crackling laughter rang through his ears as the boy's vision became consumed with the color red.
"It looks like you brought a friend too! How nice of you to join us again, Deathstroke."
He should look up. The words were important – they were trying to tell him something. But his eyes wouldn't look up. He couldn't face the monster before him. His instincts were yelling at him – begging him – to do something, anything at all. But he wouldn't listen. He couldn't move.
Blood dripped from his hands.
He was too late…
The crushing thought pounded against his head.
The man in front of him was not Batman…
Batman was gone…
The hand removed itself from his shoulder, and a presence stepped in front of him, shielding him from those soulless eyes. But Robin still felt them. They never wavered in their intensity.
Too late…
Too late…
Batman was gone…
The thoughts drummed in his head as the smoke continued to clear.
Slade Wilson could snap the Joker's neck in less than five seconds.
He could kill the crazed clown using more than a thousand different techniques and leave his body to rot in a nameless grave, another nuisance to society dead and gone.
But every death in the criminal empire had strings attached to it, and every good criminal always had insurance.
And right now, Batman was the Joker's insurance.
Through the fading smoke, Batman's form gradually became clearer, and Slade withheld a sigh of frustration. There was no doubt the man next to the Joker was Batman. The dark black suit hugged the man's tall and broad frame while an unmistakable air of confidence surrounded the figure. The Caped Crusader's outline wavered in the shadows as he remained stock-still by the Joker's side.
What the hell had the Joker done to the man?
It was definitely Batman alright; Slade was sure of it. An imposter wouldn't have been able to wear that suit with the composure of the figure in front of him. But there was something off about the man. His eyes were dark and cold; two black orbs that were filled with an eerie emptiness.
Mind Control perhaps…
Slade considered the option as he regarded the figure in front of him. It would explain why the man had just shot his ex-sidekick without even batting an eye,but it would be an unusual option for someone of the Joker's caliber.
Torture…
Any man can be broken, but it would have taken the Joker months perhaps years before he could get Batman to crack. Even then, if Batman was anything like Robin, the man would find a way to keep fighting.
Then how could the Joker have driven Batman into this husk of a figure in front of him so quickly?
The question was troubling to Slade. The Joker had done something to him. But what exactly, Slade didn't know.
In the back of his mind though, a sinking suspicion was beginning to fall into place. Before Robin had alerted the whole universe to their existence, Slade had found a few interesting documents in the lower room of the haunt. Those along with the test tubes…
His thoughts shifted toward the boy and mentally cringed as blood oozed from Robin's wound and gushed onto the ground. The Kelvar armor had taken the blunt of the impact, but because it was a prototype suit, it hadn't fully repelled the bullet.
Once again, he had failed the boy.
He should have sensed the attack coming. He should have blocked the bullet. He shouldn't have let things escalate this far.
He placed a hand on Robin's shoulder, but the boy did not move; Robin didn't even blink.
He's going into shock…
Scratch that – Robin was just shot by the man who had practically raised him – the boy was miles beyond 'shock'…
He was destroyed.
It should have been a moment of triumph. It should have been a moment of satisfaction and delight for the man. Mere days ago, Slade would have been elated to finally see the boy crumble and fall – to crush his idealistic and foolish hero complex and build a perfect apprentice from scratch.
But now, the moment the man had always longed for…
He suddenly despised.
Robin was not meant to fall, not like this, not by the pathetic hands of the Joker. Slade watched as blood continued to drizzle down the boy's hands. The bullet had cut deep through his skin and knowing the psychotic madness of the Joker, it could be laced with a vile poison.
Time was not on their side.
The crackling laugh echoed in the air, and Deathstroke fought the urge to drive his knives right into the crazed clown's skull.
"It looks like you brought a friend too! How nice of you to join us again, Deathstroke," the Joker said as he continued to laugh, a devilish glint in his eye. Slade shifted his focus back onto the situation at hand, sensing the tedious predicament he was in at the moment.
Had he been alone, both Batman and the Joker would already be on the floor, incapacitated and restrained.
But the turf had now changed. He now had the boy's safety to look after as well, and in that moment the odds were not in the pair's favor. Robin was both mentally and physically beaten; he had already given up, letting his inner demons consume him.
Slade sensed movement around him, and stepped in front of the boy. More men were on their way.
They're time was running out.
Robin's eyesight blurred together as tears burned his eyes.
Not now.
He needed to hold it together.
He couldn't afford tears.
Their cost was too high.
The boy clenched his fists together as he looked up, but the massive figure before him blocked out the two haunting individuals just beyond his reach. His eyes swept across his peripheral vision as he began to sense movement around him. The Joker wasn't here alone.
His heart thundered in his chest, but the boy felt nothing. All emotions leaked from his body and into the crumbling wreckage around them. A deep numbness had settled into his soul, resonating from the disbelief that echoed in his mind.
That wasn't Batman.
It couldn't be Batman.
But as much as the boy wanted to deny it, the haunting truth remained.
It was Batman.
But the man beneath the cowl was gone.
"What did you do to him Joker?"
Robin looked up at those words and at the man in front of him. He needed to move. He needed to act. He was a reliability to Slade at the moment and was only weighing the man down. Grinding his teeth together, the boy pushed himself off the ground, muffling the cry of pain that threatened to break through his lips.
Everything hurt.
Everything.
A trickle of warm blood dripped down his leg as the crackling laugh grew in volume.
"Nothing that you didn't want, Deathstroke."
Robin stilled as those words clawed at his foggy mind.
"Don't drag me into this, Joker."
"And why noooot? I seem to recall you-"
"You have two minutes to explain yourself."
Robin's movements were unnoticed by Slade as he rose to his full height and stepped around the man. He flinched as those deep, black eyes immediately dug into his form. The boy adverted his attention from the twisted cape crusader and instead swung his eyes over to the crazed clown.
The Joker leaned against a twisted gold cane and brushed off the threat as easily as he brushed the dirt off his jacket. A thin smile cracked onto his lips as figures began emerging from the smoke.
"Looks as if you only have a minute, Deathstroke," the Joker said as his thin smile morphed into a twisted smirk. The sound of shifting dirt and debris sounded in the night as the figures began to take shape.
Four silhouettes appeared from behind the Joker and Batman, bearing similarities to the goons Robin had encountered. But as Robin studied them, they're eyes were darker and colder – lacking the human light of the earlier henchmen.
These men were killers.
Robin spun as noises echoed behind him, but Slade grabbed his shoulder, holding him still.
"There are three men behind us. Four in front. And two snipers on the adjacent building to my right. Don't move."
Slade said the words quickly and in a hushed tone so that Robin struggled to hear him. But he stilled under the man's command, the hand on his shoulder anchoring him from the chaos around him.
"Downgraded to taking orders from a Halloween mask now, Robin?"
The boy tensed under Slade's hand as the sickeningly sweet words reached his ears. He didn't know what was worse: the frightening truth in the statement, or the fact that the Joker had actually called him by his name.
He felt Slade's grip on his shoulder tighten as the man imperceptibly shifted closer to him.
"You're playing a dangerous game, Joker," Slade said, his words slithering from his lips like ice.
The crackling laugh echoed through the night as the Joker threw his head back and snapped his fingers. Batman took two steps forward and pulled out a long sword from his belt, the shiny metal catching the boy's reflection.
Robin's throat grew dry as he stared into the man's eyes.
"Batman…" Robin whispered as the debris swirled around him in the wind. Nothing. The man's face was a cold mask and remained fixated on him with those cold heartless eyes.
Bruce…
Please…
What has the Joker done?
Slade Wilson gripped the boy's shoulder tighter as Batman stepped forward. He was aware of everything – of the sniper's guns trained on his form, of the beady green eyes that stared at the boy with a sickening pleasure, of the breathing of the men around them – and he was aware of only one thing – Robin.
The boy's breathing was growing heavier, and he was beginning to favor his unwounded leg, shifting his weight, farther and farther so that one small move would send him spiraling off balance. Slade slipped his hand over the boy's bicep and pulled him up. He saw a brief flicker of relief snap across Robin's face as he leaned into Slade's grip.
Slade was growing more concerned though.
Beads of sweat dripped down the boy's face at an alarming rate, and Robin's breathing was becoming more and more labored.
There was no doubt in Slade's mind that the bullet had been poisoned.
He swore to himself.
Slade had always learned to prepare for everything – to be ready to face the unexpected. It had been drilled in his mind since the day he had first become Deathstroke, and it had kept him alive throughout every contract, every fight, and every dangerous challenge.
But he had not been prepared to face this.
An unfamiliar sensation trickled into Slade's mind, causing the man to tense. This was a foreign emotion to him - something Slade hadn't experienced in a long time.
Fear.
He feared he wouldn't be able to protect the boy. He feared he would have to relive the day that had been etched into his heart.
The day his son had been murdered.
The day he had been powerless to stop it.
As Slade Wilson stared at the burning chaos around him, his grip on the boy's arm grew tighter. He reached into his utility belt and a light blinked on – something he had not dared to use in years. Something he had not used since that fateful day.
The man steeled himself and pushed his emotions aside.
He was Deathstroke. He did not fear – he was feared. He had been in far more perilous situations before and had made it out unscratched – now was no different.
He would get the boy out of this mess alive.
He had to.
Robin leaned into Slade's grip as he felt the Joker's eyes bleed into him. A wicked smile graced the man's face as he leaned forward off his cane. Those bloodless eyes swung over to Deathstroke as a devious glimmer entered his eyes.
"I'll make you a deal, Deathstroke."
"I don't play games, Joker," Slade replied as his other hand shifted to his side.
Robin watched as the clown threw up his arms, causing an uneasy tension to shift through the goons behind him. Batman remained motionless, a still figure amongst the dark sky.
"Can't you see," the Joker cried gesturing around, "this, all of this is a game! And you've decided to start playing!"
Robin tried to step forward but Slade held him back, keeping his small frame out of view of the sniper's range. The boy let out a frustrated growl as he glared as the crazed clown, anger and pain radiating through his small form.
"Enough of the games! What the hell do you want Joker!"
The Joker's eyes swung to him as he let out an ominous chuckle that sliced through the night. It was low and quiet but hung in the dense air.
"You, birdie boy. I want you."
A chill raced down Robin's spine as his eyes shifted back to Batman. The man didn't move at the statement – it didn't even seem as though he had heard the Joker.
What had happened to the fearless man who had sworn to fight evil?
What had happened to Gotham's protector?
What had happened to his protector?
Robin wiped the sweat that poured from his forehead.
Please Bruce. Please…
"I'll make you a deal, Deathstroke," The Joker said while swinging his cane in a wide arch above his head.
Robin heard the resounding noise of guns being loaded and glanced up to see the men around him raise their weapons.
"Give me the boy, an-"
Robin felt the man next to him stiffen as Slade stepped closer towards him.
"-You have five seconds before I blow your head off, Joker."
Robin's eyes widened at the threat as he glanced up towards the towering figure next to him. Slade's single gray eye however was locked onto the crazed clown in front of him.
The Joker's eyes narrowed, the smile washing away from his face. He clicked his tongue together as he raised his hand. Batman flicked his wrist, the sword rising to his command.
"Bat-" Robin started but was cut off by the Joker's haunting words.
"Shame too. I actually liked you Deathstroke."
Slade released his grip on Robin but stayed near the boy. "Can't say the same."
The Joker continued to swing his cane, ignoring the man's comment. Robin watched as Batman took another step forward, his throat contracting with fear.
"Batman please…"
"Betray everyone for some silly, little boy."
Slade remained silent at those words, his gray eye beginning to scan his surroundings.
"Are you finally going soft on us, Deathstroke?"
The taunting words rolled off on Robin as he felt everything grow closer. The dirt pressed against his skin. The fading smoke burned his lungs. Blood raced down his leg. And Batman hovered over him, a looming figure in the skyline growing closer and closer.
"Don't do this…" Robin whispered, the words too quiet for anyone to hear. The blade, clean and pristine, taunted his eyes.
"Well now like every other traitor, you'll have to pay the price," the Joker said with mock sympathy. The smile on his face reappeared as he glanced to the shadowy figure that stood unmoving in the night
"They're all yours Batsie."
"Batman, please –"
The man raised his sword, the dark cowl casting a deep shadow on his face.
"Listen to me!"
But Robin's words fell on deaf ears as the man kept moving, oblivious to the cries of his former partner.
The man raised his sword and Robin felt his body grow numb. His eyes were consumed by the shiny blade that hung in the air, an ominous beacon in the cold night.
"PLEASE-"
The words burned his throat as tears stung his eyes. A pain so powerful and great washed over the boy, causing him to cave in on himself.
This wasn't happening.
Bruce wouldn't – the man couldn't –
For a moment the world around Robin faded away as he stared into the eyes of his mentor. Those were not the warm eyes he remembered as a child that used to light up and fill him with warmth. Those were not he eyes of the man who woke him from his nightmares when he had been a little boy. Those were not the eyes of Batman.
BANG.
His cry was cut off as a force slammed him to the ground. A blinding flash filled the small space followed by a thick layer of smoke. The sharp clang of metal slamming into metal bled into Robin's ears as the boy quickly rolled over onto his stomach. A few stray gunshots rang through the air, but the Joker's words quickly halted them.
"Don't shoot the boy! You idio-"
The Joker's words were cut off with a cry of pain, and Robin flinched, pressing himself off of the ground. Smoke swarmed his vision, and the boy inhaled a shuddering breath. He had to ignore it. He had to ignore it all – the pain, the hurt, the agony. He had to move. He had to fight.
He could get through to Batman.
Whatever the Joker had done could be fixed.
He had to try.
"Don't shook the boy You idio-"
Slade whipped around to his left, locating the source of the voice through the smoke and sent a flying metal disc zooming towards its target. The Joker's cry of pain made the masked man smile as he completed his turn and blocked the blade that came hurdling towards his ribs. Slade grunted under the impacted and lashed out with his right leg, knocking Batman back.
With a few seconds to maneuver, Slade whipped around, pulled out his hand gun, and fired off two shots, nailing the Joker's henchman that had been creeping closer to him. He dropped to the ground as Batman's sword swung over his head and spun around aiming his own Katana sword at the man's heart.
Batman jumped back, and Slade frowned.
That was unusual.
The masked man rose to his feet, his eyes narrowing at the figure in front of him. There was something off about the man in front of him. He had only fought Batman a handful of times in his career, but he had studied the man's fighting style to be able to anticipate Batman's moves. It was odd for the man to jump back; he should have blocked the blow and stepped closer, moving in to disarm his opponent.
Slade took aim with his gun, but in a flash the man was before him, driving Slade's arm down and to the ground. The shot fired uselessly into the debris.
Batman kicked out, but Slade dodged it, dropping the gun and bringing his sword up in a powerful two-handed arc. The man jumped back, his dark cape snapping against his heels and paused. The simple action caused Slade to frown.
Here was Batman, the famous caped crusader and a man with enough skill to rival Slade's talent, consistently missing opportunities for an offensive attack. His early suspicion came roaring back into his mind as he examined the man's moves.
They were rougher, rawer, and slower too. It was almost as if Batman had just learned them for the first time. Slade countered Batman's attack, and the masked man's blade nicked Batman's skin, drawing a sliver of blood. A man who has been fighting crime for all his life, should have wickedly honed reflexes, not the sluggish responses Slade was dealing with now.
The masked man swore as a gunshot slammed into his sword, causing him to drop it and roll to the right as more whistled over his head.
Damn Snipers.
He needed to end this and fast.
He watched as caped crusader approached him, his dark, black eyes cold and emotionless. Slade took in the figure before him as his thoughts collided together.
The gunshot…
The slowed reflexes…
The Test Tubes…
The documents…
Those cold, heartless eyes…
Slade clenched his teeth together, honing in on the dark outline in front of him.
This man wasn't Batman.
He had been wrong. Even though the figure in front of him, resembled the caped crusader physically, he was nothing like the Batman Slade had studied over the years. The man's gray eye narrowed as the dust and dirt swirled around his frame. There was only one way for this to end.
The smoke continued to clear.
It was now or never.
Robin clenched his teeth together as smoke swirled around him. Mentally bracing himself, he pushed himself to his knees, grunting from the pain in his leg but unwilling to let Slade fight this battle himself.
He ducked as a fist came roaring over his head and kicked out, nailing a man in the shin. The blow was weak from the weariness Robin was feeling, and the boy was just barely able to avoid a solid kick to the stomach.
He rolled off the pile of dirt, tumbling to the bottom on the outskirts of the smoke. It was beginning to clear now, and he could make out the silhouettes of Batman and Slade. The two figures moved in a blur, each exchanging a flurry of attacks. Robin watched as Slade turned and fired two shots, killing a pair of henchmen that had begun to creep up on him.
The boy snapped back to attention and leapt away as two men charged him from the side. He swept out his leg causing the first one to stumble forward and struck the burly man in the back of the head. As the henchman continued to stumble forward, a fist came diving into the boy's stomach. With a grunt of pain, the boy stumbled back to the now wall-less section of the building. The night air whistled below him.
With a fierce cry, Robin charged forward and slammed into the second man in front of him, knocking him onto his back. He whipped out his bird-a-rangs and flung them at two more men who had appeared in the outskirts of his vision.
Gun shots echoed in the air and Robin watched as they whistled by Slade's head.
He had to do something…
Running on adrenaline and instinct, he dashed forward and launched himself at Batman. His arms latched around the man's neck and yanked him back, momentarily driving the man to the ground and causing the man's sword to clatter out of his hands.
"Take out the snipers-OUFF-"
Robin grunted as Batman drove his elbows into his stomach, causing Robin to release the man. But the few seconds allowed Slade enough time to turn, grab his discarded gun, and fire off two shots, silencing the men on the adjacent rooftop.
Slade swore and dropped his gun as a loud shot echoed in the air. Bright red blood rained down onto the ground, and Robin's eyes widened as the edge of Slade's hand began to spread with a deep red.
"Guns are no fun," the Joker said as he walked forward, three men following behind. Blood drained from his shoulder, and the man reached up, ripping out the metal disc that was embedded in his flesh.
"Unless of course I'm using them."
A sickening laugh cracked through the air as Robin rolled backwards, barely avoiding the kick that Batman sent hurtling his way. Dirt and debris dug into his wounded leg causing the boy to hiss in pain, but he kept moving.
His survival depended on it.
"ROBIN. CLOSE YOUR EYES."
The command roared over the fighting, and Robin instinctively slammed his eyes shut as a blinding flash erupted in the night, consuming the entire area in a blinding white light. Within seconds the light was gone and Robin opened his eyes, only to see the Joker and his men staggering back and screaming in pain, their retinas burned from the intensity.
How long would it last though?
Robin hazily blinked, disoriented from the flash and found Slade's gray eye.
Not long enough.
A crushing force slammed into his head, and Robin fell forward, his face smashing into the shards of concrete and glass. He quickly rolled over as a thick boot came down in the space his head had been moments before.
Batman hovered over him, the retrieved sword dangling from his right hand.
Robin froze.
The boy watched as the man lifted the blade effortlessly in the night. From this distance, he could see the curvature of the man's face, the tiny wrinkles that lined his hollow eyes, and the thick, black cowl that covered his identity. But as the man lifted the sword in the air, Robin couldn't see Batman.
He couldn't see Bruce.
A second figure appeared above him, and a second sword clashed with the first, inches above his head.
With a yell, Slade drove Batman back, raining blow upon blow on the man. Robin rolled to the right, pushing himself to his feet and watched as Batman staggered under the sheer power Slade used behind his attacks. The boy inhaled a shuddering breath, feeling his body growing weaker and furrowed his eyebrows.
Batman was off. This wasn't the graceful and skillful fighter he had trained under. The man in front of him was slow and sloppy in comparison to the level Batman usually fought at. His techniques and moves were there, but they were rougher, rawer and weak in comparison to Slade's attacks. Robin moved forward, dragging himself off of his feet and stepping closer to the pair.
Slade and Batman swords clashed again, but Slade stepped in closer, twisting the blade down towards Batman's arm. The caped crusader was forced to drop the sword and jumped back, retaliating with a swift roundhouse kick. Slade defected the blow and spun around, nailing Batman in the head.
Slade swung his blade around.
Robin froze.
Time slowed for the boy as he saw the stroke in his mind's eye. It would hurtle towards Batman's chest and slice through the man's armor, ripping through tendon and bone and driving into his beating heart. With a sickening slice, the sword would rip through the man.
And within the space of a few heartbeats…
Batman would be dead.
Robin didn't think.
He didn't breathe.
He ran.
With a thundering speed, Robin charged into Slade, tackling the man seconds before the blade reached Batman's chest. He slammed into the Slade and the pair was sent tumbling into the ground, rolling together and coming to a precarious stop at the edge of the building floor.
Robin's mind spun as his vision grew foggy. The impact shook his head as his heart hammered in his chest, heaving with each painful beat. Dust and dirt swarmed around the pair as he felt Slade push him off and grab him by the arm.
The black and orange mask filled his vision.
"What the hell are you doing!" Slade yelled, his voice like thunder in the night.
Robin inhaled a shuddering breath as he tried to yank himself away from the man in front of him. His legs shook from the effort as he weakly pressed against Slade.
"You-you were," Robin inhaled a trembling breath, "g-going to kill him."
Slade shook the boy, his hand clenching Robin's shoulders.
"That's NOT Batman!"
The words caused Robin freeze.
What the hell was Slade talking about?
The inhuman laughter rained through the air and the pair turned to face the Joker as he approached them through the wreckage. The man's eyes were livid, rimmed with a deep redness as his lips curled into a vicious smile.
Robin's eyesight began to blur as the Joker shifted and spun. Batman appeared behind the crazed clown as did the remaining goons, and Robin blearily blinked trying to remain focused.
"Game over boys," the Joker said as a wicked light filled his eyes.
Chills raced down Robin's spine as he felt two strong arms wrap around his torso. He pushed against them, but found he was too weak to resist. His vision flickered but remained locked onto the dark figure with the heartless eyes.
"Batman," Robin whispered as his breath began to grow heavier and harder.
A steady pulse drummed in the air as a beeping sounded from somewhere on Slade's body. The man's grip around his torso tightened and Robin felt himself being pulled back, closer to the edge of the building. He pulled against the man's grip, trying desperately to reach the figure in front of him.
"BATMAN."
The Joker screeched out something, his words laced with a hysterical anger, but Robin could no longer hear. The words blended together in his ears as all sound began to fade away. The Joker and his men dove back as a hail of bullets suddenly accosted them, but Batman didn't move.
He remained motionless.
And those eyes never wavered in there stare.
Robin felt himself being pulled back as Slade yanked him off of the building. The humming grew into a thundering roar as a smaller, darker space suddenly filled his eyes. A terrible scream bled through Robin's throat as he pushed against Slade.
Bruce…I'm so sorry.
A door was slammed shut, silencing the chaos around them, and those dark, black eyes were the last image Robin saw before his world was thrown into darkness.
A/N: This chapter leaves a lot of questions left to be answered. So if you are confused, FEAR NOT! All questions will be answered soon...
Anyway, let me know what you think. I was a little uncertain about this chapter as I switched between Robin and Slade's POVs quite frequently, so let me know if that worked well. Also the Joker may seem a little OOC as I'm not very familiar with his character. LOL this weekend I kept looking up clips of him on youtube to try to figure it out! If you have any tips or advice or ways to improve, please let me know.
THANKS FOR READING! Hope you have a great week!