A/N: Who-ho! A new chapter ready! Number nine will follow in a few days or so… My writing right now is somewhere beyond chapter twelve, and I'm closing in on the end really fast… almost sad… Don't forget to review!
Disclaimer: Not mine. Yet.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Chapter eight: Poor Robin
After edgily walking around the base for about half an hour, Robin finally took Slade's advice to get some rest. After the fight with Plasmus and the run to Slade's hideout, Robin suddenly realized he smelled. More or less covered in dried purple goo and sweat, he needed a shower. Badly. He was a bit funny like that. He could work up a sweat, play 'stank-ball' with Cy and BB, or get covered with weird stuff, without it bothering him one bit, but the second he realized he was dirty, he couldn't get to a shower quick enough.
Though he enjoyed the hot water, he still kept the shower short. Looking at his clothes afterwards he found that there was no way he would put them on again. Instead he borrowed a t-shirt from Slade, only keeping his own boxers, and then he crawled under the covers. The room is STILL freezing. He tried to think through the days events again, but he couldn't come up with a clear picture. He blamed himself, Slade and his friends in succession, not sure who to really fault. If someone is shot, do you blame the man who made the gun, the man who sold it or the man who fired it? Do you blame the government for allowing guns? Do you blame the man who taught the killer to shoot? Do you blame the killer's parents, perhaps? Do you blame the man who was shot? Maybe it was self-defense? With these thoughts swirling through his mind, Robin drifted into a fitful sleep.
Slade walked into the room around an hour later. The boy was having nightmares. He twisted and turned, muttering things under his breath. Slade sat down on the bed next to him, gently grabbing his shoulder.
"Robin. Robin. Wake up."
The boy gasped and opened his eyes.
"Slade! You're back!"
"Yes. Do you want to tell me what happened?"
Robin nodded, tried to shake off his sleepiness and starting telling the story. How Plasmus had attacked. Again. And how angry he had gotten. How close he came to breaking the man's neck and what he had said to his friends.
"I don't think I want to do this anymore." he concluded in a small voice, sitting in bed and hugging his knees.
"You don't have a choice, Robin."
The boy looked up at Slade, meeting his gaze.
"I could kill you." he said slowly. "That would end everything…"
"Do you want to kill me?"
The boy shook his head, lowering his eyes. "I don't want to kill anyone…" he whispered. Slade grabbed his shoulders and shook him gently.
"Listen to me, boy. You made a mistake. That happens. Don't beat yourself up. Remember the altar of self sacrifice? You are damn close to that right now."
"But I could have killed him!" a slight anger flared in Robin's eyes.
Good, Slade thought, he's coming back…
"But you didn't"
"If it wasn't for Raven…"
"Yes. Your friends stopped you. They held you back."
That, as true as it was, didn't sound so good to Robin.
"I'm not doing this anymore, I'm not a killer!" Robin shouted and tried to get free from Slade. The man gripped his shoulders tighter.
"As I said. You. Don't. Have. A. Choice."
"Like hell I don't!" Robin's eyes were blazing now.
"So. What are you going to do, then?" Slade asked, almost kindly.
Robin became quiet.
"I… I could…"
"You know what will happen…"
"Yeah?! Maybe that's for the best! If you take me away from here, at least my friends won't see it, right!? Won't se what I… I'll become…" his voice trailed off, staring at Slade in horror… "I… I didn't mean that… I don't want you to take me away… I-"
"I know Robin. I know that you are angry. I blame myself for this."
"You do?"
"Yes. We were moving too quickly, you weren't ready. That's ok. We'll take things slower from now on… I see this huge potential in you, this perfection, and I guess I tend to forget that you are just a child…"
"I'm not a child!"
Slade smiled down at him. "No. You are a young man, but you are young, Robin. You have so much left to learn about the world. And with all these new… elements in your life…"
"Why do I have to become you apprentice?" Robin suddenly interrupted him.
"Hm? Haven't we been over this? And after what I just said…?"
"Yes, but… after what has happened between us…" Robin blushed a little and started toying with the 'S' on Slade's uniform, tracing it with his finger… "After what happened… can't I… can't I just be your…?"
"My lover?" Slade asked, amused.
Robin nodded, a deeper shade of pink on his cheeks now.
"Ah, but Robin… You know me. I want it all." Slade smiled. "With you, one bite just isn't enough." Robin couldn't help it as a short laugh escaped his lips hearing himself being described like a bar of chocolate. Then Slade's lips met his, in a gentle kiss.
"Stay the night…" Slade said, and as Robin knew who the Master of the bedroom was, he complied.
Robin woke up slowly the next morning. He felt so warm and comfortable that it was hard to really wake up. He stretched slightly, feeling a warm body next to him, and almost fell asleep again.
"Good morning, Robin." Slade was sitting up in bed, reading some sort of report.
"Mmphhmm" Robin muttered into the pillow.
"There's breakfast if you want it"
"Mmm.…."
"Your quite the conversationalist."
"Hmm?"
Slade laughed softly and let the boy be.
After a little while Robin slowly opened his eyes, looking up at Slade sleepily. They had made love last night. Robin almost laughed out aloud at the notion… it was just so daft… but… truth be told, sex with Slade had only been forceful and… needy, almost frenzied, before. Last night was slow, soft and warm.
"What's that smile about?" Slade suddenly asked.
"Last night… it was… nice…"
Slade put down the papers and turned to him.
"I thought it would be what you needed, after what happened."
No, I don't WANT to remember…Robin's mind wailed, but it all came back to him in a rush.
"I'm not a killer!"
"So a night with me didn't change you mind? I am disappointed. I must be loosing my touch…" Slade smirked.
"I will never change. Ever."
"If you say so."
"Stop it! Don't talk like that; don't act like I'm just being a stubborn kid!"
"You are being a stubborn kid, Robin, and what's more, my patience with you is wearing thin right now…"
Robin angrily tried to meet his stare, but couldn't do it. Not here. He looked away.
"Now, then" Slade said, like they just settled a discussion "Did you want breakfast?"
Robin nodded and the man fished up a new bag of sandwiches and a mug of orange juice.
"We're eating in bed again?" Robin asked, slightly amused.
"You could go eat by the workbench, that's were I usually do it. It's warmer in bed, though…"
"The bed's fine." Robin sat up and found that he was naked. No real surprise, but the air was still chilly, so he started to look around for his T-shirt.
He finally had to ask Slade, who had been studying him, if he had seen it. The man grinned and replied:
"I like you naked."
"I like me warm."
Slade grunted, bent down on his side of the bed, fished up the T-shirt Robin borrowed the night before, and handed it over. Robin pulled it quickly over his head and rubbed his arms.
"You really need to do something about the temperature in here."
"If that means I can keep you naked here, I will…" the man grinned.
"Stop that."
"Are you telling your master he can't talk to you the way he likes, in bed?"
Robin hesitated.
"No, Master."
"Good boy."
Sighing, Robin bit into the sandwich, not really hungry, but he needed something to focus on.
"There will be no training today" Slade said. "You are welcome to stay, though."
Robin shook his head.
"I must talk to the team later… if I may leave?" he added, in the nick of time.
"You may. I have a lot of work to do, altering your curriculum."
"How?" Robin asked, slightly hopeful.
"We will focus on alarm systems for a while. I seem to remember that you rather enjoyed stealing. We will still do combat training, though. It's clear you need control."
"What do you mean?"
Slade looked at him seriously.
"Do you think yesterdays events were a victory for me?"
"Well… I almost killed someone, so yeah!"
"It wasn't. It was a disappointment."
"What?! How can you…?"
Slade suddenly grabbed Robin's chin forcefully.
"Careful, Robin…"
"I… I thought you wanted me to kill people." Robin gasped, trying not to get his neck broken.
"I do. But I want you to be in control. If you had told me last night that you meant to kill the man, even if you failed, I would have been proud of you. But you acted out of anger. An assassin must always be in control. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Master." Robin answered desperately, trying to please Slade enough so he would let go. After looking into the boy's eyes a bit longer, he did.
"What… what about my assignment?"
"I think you should complete it. You have two days. You may not be able to actually kill anyone just yet, but I know that you are able to plan it, so you better do your very best."
Robin nodded, rubbing his chin and neck.
After being quiet for a while, Robin asked something he had been wondering for quite some time.
"What does it feel like?"
"What?"
"Killing someone?"
Slade smiled at him, and Robin's eyes widened as the man answered:
"You will soon find out."
Robin's world was spinning.
"…please… Please no!" he begged the older man. "Don't make me… don't!"
"If I wanted to force you, I would have done so already. What good would that do? It would only traumatize you. Give me a bit more credit, Robin."
"But… how?"
"Remember the robots I talked about?"
Robin relaxed instantly. Robots. He could 'kill' robots. That meant nothing! Like shooting bad guys in a computer game. Slade's laugh at seeing his reaction sent chills down his spine, though.
"Don't think it will be that easy, Robin. As I said. Give me some credit."
Robin gave the man a glare. Did he really think he could frighten him with machines? They would be on their way to the skip in no time.
Finishing his breakfast he just sat in bed, thinking. He knew he was trying to postpone the inevitable, but, again, he wasn't too happy about facing his friends… Maybe he could put off his leaving a while longer and find out some things in the process? He turned towards Slade, who had picked up his papers again and continued reading. Robin studied the man's face. It was really strange… Although his hair and beard was white and his features rather sharp, there were few, if any, signs of aging.
"How old are you, really?"
"Want me to spank you?"
Robin grinned, thinking about it for a moment, but decided against it… It probably wouldn't be the fun kind of spanking, anyway. He didn't want to give up that easy, though…
"It's just that… you don't look old…?"
Slade shot him a glance, the corners of his mouth twitching a little.
"You are a very brave boy, Robin." Seeing that the boy was about to open his mouth again, Slade cut him off. "I'm old enough. You'll find out one day."
Yeah, and I bet I'll be wearing your colours on that day, too…
Robin sulked a bit.
"Are you –"
"Curiosity killed the cat, Robin."
"At least the cat got to know…"
Slade chuckled, grabbed Robin by the front of the T-shirt and pulled the boy in for a kiss.
Robin submitted willingly, opened his lips and allowed Slade's tongue to play with his. Slade bit the boy's lower lip playfully and let go of the shirt.
"We both have work to do… We'll have to play later." He told the boy, who was slightly out of breath.
"All right…" Robin agreed, a bit reluctantly, because this meant it was time to go home…
About to dress, he realized that he didn't have anything to wear. The uniform was stiff with grime.
"I'm not sacrificing another pair of pants, boy, but I have something better." Slade mentioned.
The clothes Slade brought were Robin's size. Plain and black, they reminded Robin of a cat-burglar outfit. There was even a black ski-mask and a pair of soft shoes. Robin looked at Slade and raised a questioning eyebrow.
"They are for training. When you have completed you 'homework' we are going to do some fieldwork. I assumed you didn't want to wear your Robin-costume then…"
Robin gave a short laugh. No, he really didn't want to do that.
"May I take a shower? Beast Boy has a really good sense of smell you know…"
"Go ahead." Slade agreed, to Robin's relief. "But come by the workshop before you leave."
When Robin walked into the workshop fifteen minutes later Slade almost whistled under his breath. The black cloth clung to the boy, showing off his limber, athletic form. Closing in on the man Robin saw the predatory gleam in Slade's eyes and smirked.
"We have work to do, remember?" he teased.
Slade grinned back and ran his hands over the boy's body, before turning him towards the door and seeing him off with a smack to the behind.
"Off you go then! Before I change my mind…"
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
After Robin left, Slade walked through the compound. As he came into the computer-room he noticed something and smiled. The piece of paper was missing.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
As he left, Robin was again being watched. The man on the roof was patient. He could wait. A little while longer.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Out in the open air he saw that it was still rather early in the morning. Around nine A.M. perhaps. He had used the large sandwich bag to put his dirty uniform in, as well as his communicators and mask. He had wrapped up his boots and belt in his cape, making it less obvious what he was carrying. He hoped for the tower to be quiet, but as he walked in, it was evident that this time, his friends were very much awake.
"Why didn't you call? We almost phoned Batman!" Cyborg wanted to know, crossing his arms and looking like a pissed off parent.
"I couldn't" Robin told truthfully, "Slade has the building scrambled. I told you I was going to search the hideout!"
"You did not inform us you were to pull the all-nighter." Starfire complained.
"I didn't know I would be that long, and besides, Slade came back."
"Dude?! What did you do?"
"Pretended to work on my assignment. " Which I should have.
"What's with the fashion statement?" Raven wanted to know. "Not that I mind, but didn't you use to be more colourful?"
Robin opened up the sandwich bag.
"This uniform is mostly purple right now…"
"Yuck!" BB wailed. "Don't remind me, I thought I'd never get clean!"
"You didn't" Raven smirked as the Boy stuck out his tongue at her.
"Ready to talk?" Cy was still pissed.
"I'm going to go change first. I'll see you in five." Robin said, refusing to let the metal man intimidate him, and stalked away.
"Friends! I see now!" Starfire suddenly exclaimed happily and made Robin pause and turn his head.
"What?"
"That expression of words! The "happy to watch them walk away"! You see, the meaning of it is, that the person walking away, really has a very lovely-"
Robin fled.
As he came back into the room five minutes later, the fits of giggles grew stronger again. Really trying to ignore his friends, he sat down in the couch, frowning.
"Are you quite finished?"
This resulted in another outburst of glee.
"Have you forgotten I almost killed someone?"
That did the trick.
"Not likely." Cy said. "What the hell were you thinking?!"
"Clearly not much." Robin slumped forwards. "All this anger suddenly came out… I had no idea I was this angry, I thought I had control again!" He looked up at Raven who nodded severely.
"But the moves, you never…" BB made a vague gesture.
"Slade's training. I'm being trained to kill now, don't you realize that? The instincts just… took over."
"Bet Slade was happy!" Cy growled.
"No. He wasn't. He told me I failed."
"Because we stopped you from killing Plasmus? The bast-"
"No. Becauseyou had to. Because I lost control."
This made his teams faces go blank for a moment. Then BB giggled. They all looked at him like he suddenly had turned into a tofu burger or something.
"Sorry, guys... It's just that… Poor Robin, right?"
"Please. What do you mean?" Star sounded worried.
"Well, first he lost his head in a fight and then he gets it chewed off about it, both by his enemy and his team…"
Robin smiled weakly.
"Can't say I don't deserve it…"
"How do we solve this?" Raven wanted to know.
"I think its best that I don't lead any missions for a while… until I regain control again."
"What will you do?" Cy wanted to know.
No protests this time? Are you all starting to get scared of me? Don't trust me anymore, do you?
"I found a clue of sorts in Slade's workshop. It's only a note with the numbers '7/7' on it, but it might lead somewhere." He showed the team the note and they passed it around.
"Looks like a date…" Cy said.
"Yeah… thought so too…"
"Seventh of July… that's in about two weeks, right?"
Robin nodded.
"I want to help!" Beast Boy said.
"You want to do research?" Raven sounded intrigued. "Are you feeling well?"
"Friend Beast Boy is correct! Please let us help?" Star asked.
Robin nodded. "Yes, the more we all think about this, the better. I have to continue with my 'homework,'" Robin made a face "so I might not be much use right now anyway… and if it is a date, we don't have much time." His friends nodded gravely.
Robin worked hard on his assignment, planning and preparing every step of the three men's deaths. He had had some time to think about it and managed to come up with a few ideas. Reading up on the diplomat's profile he discovered the man was gay. There was even a mentioning of an incident where he was discovered assaulting a minor, but saved by his diplomatic immunity and a whole country of lawyers, he was able to walk away. It was clear to Robin that Slade wanted him to use this angle to get close enough to the man, and for that reason the boy chose another, more difficult path. I'm not THAT good of an actor, anyway… he mused.
After working through the night, he finally finished the job at around ten in the morning the next day. Dragging himself from his room, he put the folders and his reports down on the coffee table and collapsed in the couch. He barely had time to close his eyes.
"Finished already, Robin?"
How the hell does he do that!?
"Yes…"he muttered, too tired to even look up at the screen.
He heard his friends drawing closer, curious and fascinated. They couldn't help themselves. Slade was a bit like the snake "Kaa" in "the Jungle book", hypnotising his prey.
"Good. Bring it to me."
"Now!?" Robin pried his eyes opened and looked up in disbelief.
"Do I need to tell you again?"
"No, M- Slade." He hoped his friends didn't notice the slip of his tongue. The small chuckle from the screen told him Slade had, however.
"Wait, Robin" Raven said and turned to the monitor. "Slade, Robin has been working all night. He is exhausted and needs to rest. Surely this can wait?"
"No. And Robin. Bring your new suit."
Robin nodded and left the room to get ready. As he did, Raven turned to the screen again.
"Please, Slade. Why won't you just give up, he will never betray us!"
"Ah, Raven. Begging? You must realize how close he is to doing just that…" Slade purred and ended the conversation.
To be continued…
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
A/N: Here we are at the end again… so… Like? Yes? No? Any favorite lines? Not sure if there is any in this (what?! I don't have to read it, right!? I only have to write the thing…) but it's always nice to know if there was a line or two that was particularly good or bad... so I find out what works and what doesn't… Just an idea what to mention in the review, you know… that button you love to press?
