Long Live the King – Deathstroke's Forced Descent into Villainy
/
Chapter 19: The Wrong Path to Camelot
/
Slade's newest apprentice had sass. She had spunk, spirit and stamina and was a bit jagged for a fourteen or so – year- old runaway princess to be. Slade had discovered that Tara had blocked out the past for so long that her mind like her abilities, had become highly unstable. Slade had promised to help Tara Markov – now calling herself a flipping goddess (Terra,) that he'd help her to start anew. Yet the road to redemption for the teenaged ruination of a person; a real troubled child at that, could he do that? Replace her family and be her teacher to get what HE wanted out of their bargain? To get Brion to his side, that would make Slade the keeper of two meta – children with his finger on the button once more. The ball in his court. And…. after the girl's earlier debacle with the Titans, Terra was ready to find out if they'd call her careless one more time.
/
She blocked a punch, yet he still hit her square in the shoulder as the girl fumbled and grunted out her frustrations in the open valley. He'd taken her to a spot where she could go wild with her powers. She'd come to trust him in only a matter of months. The Titans didn't know that Tara even had this illustrious past, (save for the changeling,) who knew far too much. Who had clearly made the blonde meta human spill over to him that past, just to be by her side. Such a pup, Slade thought as he watched Terra go into a defensive stance across the dirt. He'd made it so that her hate for the heroes wasn't an illusion.
Well?
They bowed and began to spar again, until the sun dipped down into that evening sky.
/
Slade had won that set of rounds, and Tara or Terra, would listen to no one else after he'd made his point across. She wiped a good deal of sweat from her brow with a side of dirt by her abilities being cast on call. As he'd believed she'd trained hard enough to execute his "phase two," Slade helped the girl rise as his words made her quiet, compliant as her eyes never left his one orb. Waiting for the next lesson to be spoken.
"Dismantling the heroes from the inside," they had discussed in private that evening. Something Robin would have done had he decided to actually play the good son. Lay down, stay. All of that was Terra's job now and she was exceptionally good at doing whatever Slade expected of her. And for what? The favors, or a simple biscuit and of bit of praise? She craved the affection he could not give, and so they began to write up a new script. A new star role for her to fill to perfection. An act, as she'd be doing something far worse than the girl might live down in those later days of her life.
She was going to destroy the Teen Titans. Even if that meant a death or five lives lost to take what was her master's, back.
/
The City of Jump was in the midst of a beautiful, cloud free afternoon or more so, late morning. The red and pink tinged skyline right above Titans' Tower was abuzz with laughter and whooping cheers. Today was a competition for some, but more importantly, it was supposedly the one day when the five heroes of Jump City were totally –
"Head's up!!"
The shouting teammates all made Raven's head want to come off, to have her chuck that instead of a pure white volley ball that would make a circus performer spin like a top. Had Robin needed to be afraid of vertigo, though he was fine. Raven however, was in mild crisis. As long as she stayed out of the way and kept her father Trigon at bay by meditating –
"Head's up – again!!"
Raven swung round in midair as she stayed cross legged, sending the ball back and over the side of the tall tower's tip top. Right back to the earth as the heroes all fussed over their unneeded "tie."
"I'll get it –
Beast boy was willing to fix the problem, but the strangest thing happened that put him in a mood he'd greatly have cherished for a long time after that entry...
Longing.
Surprise.
Joy.
Standing atop a levitating boulder was the girl who'd gotten far away from them all.
Terra was back….
But was she here to try a do – over with her powers?
So many questions remained…..until there came a great "quake" from below the city streets.
/
Slade had seen the girl's progress. How she'd steadily increased her chances at becoming a hero. A mole. A spy , all by his crafting. As she did his dirty work and the worms were now off the hook, Slade opened up a file on his computer of Brion and what he'd been doing since Tara last had known of the red headed boy…He was not exactly easy to speak with in person. "He's now under the goddamned protection of the Justice League AND Interpol???" Slade's eye bulged from below the patch. "What happened??" (Making this up so don't go wild at me!)
Slade scanned over some more documents, records and articles from the last three……no, no. This wasn't going to make sense. He couldn't have this! They were so close…
Terra had trusted him…. he had to keep it up. This nice guy act was going to bite him later on. He knew it would. He had…. Deathstroke never broke his word. No! This was….
"Stupid, idiot boy!" Slade sighed and slumped into his seat while finding no relief now in his cause. Terra was a catalyst of destruction, just as he; she couldn't find out a damned thing about how now…. Geoforce was holding up. Yep. The prince was now a cape. With his revealed, shit luck in progress, Slade dialed a number; one to reach the only other person who would hear him out.
/
~ That's as high as expectations can get for the great Deathstroke the Terminator. ~ William Wintergreen rubbed his chin, thinking that Slade had to be running claw marks through the mirror in his room with that sour of an attitude. He'd called, demanding to get his thoughts out. Oh, well. ~ I've only been gone for a month and you've let your conscience finally –
"What did I do, Will??? I tried to get her brother back! I never raised a fist to Lex. So, can you really say I have to explain shit to them now that the deal is underwater?" Slade shot the army man down with a growl.
~ And why has that ever stopped you before from completing a task? ~ Will quizzed. ~ You'll find a way, and by that exact stubbornness that even the Bat in Gotham might envy, I have all of my absolute faith in that...drive. ~ He coughed anxiously, annyying Slade with his tone of voice.
"Or fear…" Slade clenched his jaw. "She's eventually going to lose it, and I'll have to find the solution in only a few weeks... The Titans are going to fall by her hand, not mine. I only corrected her appetite for failure. I made her into an avid listener and now she'll have to be told…" He sighed again, "Something. A lie – anything to keep her busy while I work to see if some inside faces can contact Brion for me. Leave a message. or whatever can be done to fix this mess."
~ And then you, snap the trap? ~ Will shrugged. ~ So predictable, Slade... They may not see you attempting to break into the hall, yet Terra is sure to have her name up in lights. ~
"She's a criminal now." Slade said almost unsure, despondently. Pondering in the moment, he rested his hand to his chin and licked his lips. Leaning back, he spoke to Will again, assured of his part in this mess thus far. " I made her and only I can break her if she tries to fight me. I don't want her to know anything about how Deathstroke was or how he, functions. Tha…That, I have been keeping tabs on her behalf as we discussed in this contract, only to come across how Brion is right now siding with the League to tear down all that's been decided."
~ We both know that you've never had a daughter, Slade. Even with Joey, Tara isn't entirely so difficult to understand. ~ A crinkle formed under Wintergreen's eyes. He was making his point very clear. Slade snorted and waved off that plan. "No. No, Will. I am not becoming her –
~ Fine.~ Will was on fire; Slade also REALLY hated being lectured by that man…
He gritted his teeth and seethed. Finally letting go with one more heavy sigh.
~ You have time, yet she's not going to stay like this forever. That girl has a past that you can't fix completely on your own. ~ Will's council was received in thanks, yet Slade needed time to think alone before the girl breached the gates to his newest lair in the cut - out rock alcove right outside of the city. Jump had to watch itself, and so did those pesky heroes. Terra had a new team she was on. All his. All the time. He'd be willing to cut them down to size, with that girl as a perfect way to sweep the brats off of their feet.
He just…didn't want it to be too soon. Not while he rebranded his tools, his name and his methods. Robin wasn't well aware, yet Raven…She could be trouble.
Terra would be sure to knock the empath down a peg. Mentally pull her apart piece by boring piece.
"My little spy cannot fail." Getting so gung – ho on the plan already, Slade motioned for his unit and sent word to Terra.
"The first phase begins, in…."
/
Annnd, the fans know so I won't blow it! Stay curious for the rest!! And in prevbious chapters, Slade got Terra to trust him by promising her that he'd save Brion - but Brion became Geoforce so it has hit a brick wall. How will Slade keep his word with her if that ship has sailed? Can he go the extra mile, or will he chicken out and take the easy path to his new Camelot? Stay tuned! Knowing Deathstroke's temper, he doesn't want the JLA up his arse sniffing around much. If Terra becomes too big, he risks much more and she'll only have to lose control in the end. Also, she was nearly brainwashed to hate Beastboy, but that manipulatin is from Slade, not Deathstroke. Slade holds back, while Deathstoke wouldn't mind erasing every last inch of Tara's presence from the face of the Earth.