A/N: Wow, that only took me an eternity. I'm done with excuses, so just read this. I hope you enjoy.


Chapter Eighteen: The Darkest Day
The drive to the mansion was completely silent except for the occasional soft cries of pain that came from Raven while Danny tried to attach the splint. Gar stopped the car about a half a mile away from the house.

"So, what's the plan?" Gar asked, finally breaking the heavy silence. "It's not like we can just storm the place, right?"

"Unless you have a death wish, I wouldn't advise that idea," Raven replied. "There's a much safer way in, and I'm positive it's the same way Slade got in. For some reason my father left a small gap in security on the east side of the house where no surveillance cameras watch. I'm not sure if he left it there intentionally or if it was an accident, but it's the only way to get in undetected. Once you get past the cameras there's a vent that you can use to get into the house. After that it's really just a matter of finding Tristan's office."

"You make it sound so easy," Richard said. "Are you certain it'll work?"

"It worked for me once, I'm sure it'll work again," Raven answered. Everyone knew better than to ask why she had used it at all. "Although, when I snuck out there was only one of me. I doubt it'll be as easy to conceal four people without being seen."

"Good point," Richard noted. "So, do we split up?"

"No, there aren't any other ways in, well, none that don't involve a body bag for each of you... I have a better idea. Richard, I can give you a basic layout of the house, do you think you'll be able to find the way in?" Raven asked.

"Sure, I guess so. What are you gonna do?"

"I'm gonna make your job a lot easier by providing a small distraction."

"What? No way, Raven, that's way too dangerous," Gar argued.

"Don't worry, the only one who can lay a hand on me is my father, and I'm more than capable at dealing with him. Wait about ten minutes before following me, and leave the car here."

"Understood," Richard responded.

Gar sighed in defeat. "You're impossible," he chuckled.

After giving Richard a few details about the security system, Raven left the three boys and limped towards the mansion.


"Sir, someone's approaching from the south," the man reported. It was very rare for people to come near the estate, so this was a rather odd occasion for the two men.

"Really?" The other man squinted to see the approaching silhouette. "No way," the man muttered as he picked up a pair of binoculars to get a better look. "It's Ms. Roth," he gasped. "This must be our lucky day. The boss will be so happy. Alert the others, I'll go get her."


Raven knew she had been spotted when she saw a few of the watchmen running around frantically, undoubtedly going to tell her father, while another man came running towards her. It had taken them long enough to see her and her ankle was incredibly painful even with the splint, she cursed herself for leaving the crutches behind. With a perfectly executed theatrical fall, Raven fell very disgracefully onto her face, fortunately she landed on the grass beside the sidewalk. The man quickened his pace towards her, but when he did reach her he wasn't sure what to do.

"Ms. Roth, are you alright?" he asked cautiously. When there was no reply he reached down to touch her arm. Raven gave a loud groan when he just barely tapped her.

"Ah! It hurts so bad. . ." Raven whined. Luckily, the man was too frightened to realize she was just faking. Her plan was working perfectly. A couple more men joined the one standing over her.

"Don't touch her," he warned the other two. "She's in great pain." They nodded as she gave another staged moan which made them all jump.

"What do we do?"

"How should I know?"

"Let's call the boss, after all she is his daughter, he'll definitely know what to do with her."

"Yeah, but you saw how angry he got last time. Who knows what he'll do this time."

"Good point, but we can't just leave her out her."

"He'll be even angrier if we hurt her, though." The men grew silent for a moment to ponder their options. This was the stall Raven had been hoping for.


Richard watched the clock diligently while silently imagining what was ahead of them. Finally, ten long and tense minutes had passed. Apparently Richard wasn't the only one watching the clock because right then Gar threw his door open and sprang out of the car impatiently. "Let's go," he urged the other two.

"Danny, grab that first-aid kit, we may need it later," Richard ordered as he opened the passenger door. "We can always just leave it behind if it gets in the way."

"Got it," Danny replied.

"Let's see... If that's north then that means we have to go this way," Richard mumbled to himself as he began to walk into the empty grassy fields with Gar and Danny following quietly behind him.

"I'm going to circle wide around the house so we're not seen and then we'll slowly approach towards the entrance point," Richard informed them in hushed voice.


"What the hell are you idiots doing?" another man yelled as he ran toward the growing crowd of helpless men. "Call the boss immediately!"

"Y-yes, sir."

"Hurry up!" the new man shouted. He seemed to outrank the other three, not only because they called him sir, but also because of his confident and commanding tone.

"Miss Roth," he spoke gently to her as he knelt down beside her. "Are you alright?" Though he spoke in a sure tone, the man didn't really know what to do. It wasn't advised to interrupt Tristan for any reason. Then again, it was an even worse idea to injure Tristan's daughter under almost any circumstance, which was ironic since nearly every one of his employees knew he liked to smack her around.

The distraction was working perfectly, now it was up to Richard to make good use of the time. Raven had bigger things to worry about, like trying to sweet-talk Tristan into not killing her.


It took only a few minutes for Richard to find the gap, but as they neared the fence Richard realized that he wasn't currently equipped to scale an eight foot fence that was covered with barbed wire. "So this is the 'easy' way in..."


Right when Slade thought he was about to fall asleep something rather interesting happened down in Tristan's office.

"Sir!" yelled another faceless employee as he burst into the office.

"What is it?" Tristan asked uninterestedly.

"Your daughter was found at the south gate, sir. The guards reported that she's seriously injured and they have requested your assistance."

"Idiots! Do I have to do everything around here," Tristan complained as he stood and walked out of the room.


"Why didn't I kill that brat when I had the chance," Slade hissed once Tristan had left the room. "I should have known that mistake would come back to haunt me... Unless, I use this surprise visit to my advantage."

Slade unscrewed a panel from the ventilation duct and jumped down into the office. Tristan's office was sure to have many incriminating documents inside, but Slade wasn't interested with paper. He no longer had any trust in the legal system for bringing justice, besides Tristan was crafty enough to talk himself out of any situation no matter how juicy the evidence was. The revenge Slade had planned was much simpler. Unlike prison, death lasted forever.

Although there was one file that caught Slade's eye as he gutted the file cabinets on the wall. It was a fairly thick folder with Slade Wilson written on the tab. He pulled out the file with a smirk and skimmed through it casually.

Everything was about him was inside the folder: a copy of his birth certificate, his military record, family photos, a long list of jobs he had completed for Tristan, his criminal record, his mug shots, newspaper clippings from the trail and his breakout, and reports of his whereabouts after the breakout.

After pocketing a few photos and reports, Slade threw the rest of the file into the small trash can in beside Tristan's desk and struck a match on his leg before throwing it in with the documents. Once this was all over Slade was perfectly content with just disappearing, after all, he had no family to go back to.

Finally, he found what he was looking for in a draw in Tristan's desk. Under a small stack of papers was a sleek black nine millimeter handgun. Cradling it in his palm, Slade examined it silently. The gun had several modifications that Tristan had added. With a click Slade slid out the clip and emptied the bullets into his hands. The now unloaded weapon fit perfectly into the extra holster on his thigh.

Pulling himself back into the ventilation system, Slade crawled through the dark with a confidence only achieved by familiarity.


It only took the boys a few minutes to dig a hole under the fence that was just big enough for each of them to squeeze through. Richard went first and helped Gar through next with Danny following. Without thinking about each boy crouched down a little as they walked cautiously up to the side of the building.

Using his thumb nail, Richard loosened the screws that attached the cover to the vent. Once it was off he placed it on the ground beside the wall and crawled down into it. Unlike Slade, they were all too nervous to think about covering their tracks.

The vents were freezing not to mention claustrophobic. At first it seemed to run along the floor of a room, but before it reached the next room the vent took a vertical turn. Seeing that once again they lacked the proper equipment for such a challenge they backtracked and Danny kicked out a panel in the vent into the mysterious room. Luckily for them, the room happened to be a dusty supply closet that was very rarely used. It was a mystery to each of them why any house would need such a large supply closet, if any house needed a supply closet at all, but they had yet to see the true size of the mansion.

Then, they exited into the hall. Little did they know, if it weren't for Raven's distraction these halls would be teeming with men and that they would have been shot dead by now thanks to their carelessness. Instead, all of the men that would normally be in the halls were seeking cover in hopes to avoid getting caught in Tristan's crossfire– it was bad enough having Slade out on the loose.

Finding the hall completely deserted, the boys relaxed a little. They stood there for a minute each waiting for one of others to move, then something dawned on all of them. They had spent such a long time planning their way in that they had absolutely no idea what to do once they got inside.


The boys weren't the only ones with a half-baked plan. Raven suddenly realized that she hadn't thought this far into her plan either. Yes, she had wanted Tristan to come out, but she didn't think about what would come after that. After all, the last time Tristan had to come get her he ended up dragging her up a rather long staircase.

Tilting her head a little, Raven peered up at the gate only moments before Tristan stepped through it. It was impossible to tell from such a distance exactly what level Tristan's anger had reached. Knowing he had to be past furious by now Raven figured it was probably a better idea to attempt to walk rather than repeat last time.

She struggled to get up, and just when she was getting on her feet she put too much pressure on her ankle. The pain suddenly flared up again with great intensity. Once again she ended up on the ground this time in real pain. Before she could do anything more Tristan was already standing over her, although, he was not looking at her.

Grabbing one of the men by his collar, Tristan pulled the unsuspecting man right into his fist. The punch was strong enough to knock the poor man out cold, and Tristan dropped him onto the curb with little concern. The two other men just watched fearfully as they waited for their punishment too, which was only a scowl. No words were exchanged, but the men got the idea.

Raven decided to try and make one last attempt to escape while Tristan had his back turned. This time she got slightly closer to standing up, but her body prevented her from such movements. Her situation was quite similar to a rabbit with its foot caught in a trap, no matter how scared it got or how hard it tried it could never get out of the trap. Unless of course the rabbit chewed off its own foot, but that could really only make things worse in Raven's situation.

Before Raven hit the hard ground again; her fall was interrupted by two large arms that caught her shoulders. With a firm grip on either of her shoulders, Tristan pulled his daughter up into his arms and carried her back to the house. Tristan looked straight ahead the entire way, and Raven stared down at her lap. No one spoke.

Raven could not remember every seeing her father like this. When Tristan was angry he showed it, and Tristan always seemed to be angry. Unfortunately, the few drops of morphine left in her bloodstream from her short hospital stay began to wear off right then. Raven just prayed she would not be needing the painkillers soon.


During Slade's trek through the vents he heard something surprising. It sounded like people arguing.

"You're the leader, so why don't you know where to go?"

"Hey! Who said I was the leader? I don't remember voting on that."

"Well, you've been bossing us around this far–"

"Bossing you around?! I saved your life more than once!"

"If that's what you want to call it."

"Come on back me up on this one, Danny."

"Don't look at me, boss."

Inching through the duct so he was over the voices, Slade finally realized where he had heard the voices before. He should have expected Miss Roth to bring her mediocre little team of teens. Slade suddenly got a good idea that might even be mildly fun. Quickly grabbing the jagged dagger he carried in his boot, he kicked out a panel in the vent and swooped down on his unsuspecting prey.

Frightened the three boys jumped back out of the way of the falling man. Before any of them had time to conceive exactly what was going on Danny was thrown into one of the walls in the not-so-wide hall with a kick to his side. The blow knocked the wind out of him. Then, Richard's wrist was snatched and he was flipped over Slade's shoulder into the other wall. Finally, Slade plunged the dagger into Gar's abdomen with ease. All of this Slade did in one fluid motion.

The dagger seemed to be suspended right above Gar's right hip, and he gazed down at it with amazement. Slade had been careful not to cut too deep and accidently severe an organ or blood vessel, after all, Slade's plan had been to slow them down not to kill them. With a disbelieving look in his eyes Gar reached for the dagger's handle.

"I suggest you leave that in there. That dagger was designed after a shark's tooth. Although it glides in smooth, when the dagger is pulled out it'll tear the flesh. It's quite a good weapon, in fact, it's one of a kind. Don't worry, I don't need it back. Why don't you keep it as a souvenir to remember me by, kid," Slade said plainly before pulling himself back into the hole in the wall leading back into the vent.

While Richard and Danny were regaining themselves, Gar leaned against the wall trying not to faint from the sight of the dagger in his side. Rubbing his head, Richard walked over to Garfield.

"Oh god, what're we gonna do, Richard?! Raven is gonna kill us when she hears that he's dead! What should we do? I got it! We'll cut him up into small pieces and eat him, then we can tell Raven that he got scared and ran away! There won't be any evidence, it's genius!" Danny ranted while both Gar and Richard stared up at him with wide eyes.

". . . The cut really isn't that deep, he should be fine. . ." Richard explained to Danny.

"Oh, that's great! I'm not all that hungry anyway," Danny said cheerfully.

"I think Slade was telling the truth, Gar. If you pull this blade out you could bleed to death, and no matter what it's gonna hurt like hell when it comes out. Although the bleeding isn't too bad now, you definitely have to stay behind," Richard replied.

"But–"

"It's way too dangerous. Come on Danny, let's carry him back into that supply closet to hide."


Slade crawled around to a different corridor to avoid the boys that would undoubtedly be after him now. Kicking another hole in the wall, Slade decided to take his chances and run through the halls instead of the vents. Racing down the long hallways towards the front door in order to surprise Tristan. There were only a few guards in the halls which he took out with his bare hands and a silenced pistol.


Tristan entered the gates and neared the house. Then, Raven realized he stopped walking when he was still about fifty feet from the mansion. Looking up to see what was wrong, Raven realized that the two huge double doors on the front of the mansion were being opened slowly from the inside.

There in the doorway stood Slade with his hands resting comfortably on his hips. "I was wondering when you would show your face, Slade," Tristan shouted across the yard.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Tristan," Slade responded. For a long time the two men just stared across at each other without moving. Finally, Tristan whistled for one of the guards who were watching this. A very brave guard ran over to Tristan's side.

"Sir!"

"Take my daughter, and make sure she's safe," Tristan ordered.

"Yes, sir." He held out his arms waiting for Tristan to pass her off.

Raven grabbed his shirt and held on as tight as she could. "I won't let you kill each other. Haven't you done enough already? Please, father, just listen to me."

"Shut up," he hissed. Raven cringed at his tone, but she still held on tight. "Do not tell me how to live my life. You will never be able to understand why I must do what I do, daughter."

"You're right, I'll never understand because I'm no fool. Nothing is worth your life or that of another."

"Some things are, Raven, some things are. . ." The guard took Raven from Tristan, but she refused to let go of him. Tristan grasped her small wrists in his hands and gently pulled her off of him. The guard held onto her tightly and seemed to go unfazed by her struggling as he brought her a safe distance from the warring men.

"Touching," Slade sneered sarcastically.

"Let's just finish this, Slade," Tristan answered.

"With pleasure."


They set Gar down comfortably in the back corner of the supply closet. Richard took the first-aid kit from Danny and took out a roll of gauze. Wrapping it around Gar's stomach to collect some of the blood that was slowly dripping out, Richard was careful not to put any pressure on the knife.

"Here, these might help a little. Sorry, but we don't have anything stronger," Richard uttered as he handed Gar some Tylenol. Gar quickly swallowed them all. "Don't worry, we'll come back for you."

"Wait, what about Raven?"

"I'll protect her with my life," Richard replied seriously.

After hiding Gar behind some things they found in the room, Richard and Danny took off. Once they were in the hall Richard spoke. "Slade was obviously in a hurry so we better get going."


As if by an unspoken agreement both Tristan and Slade threw their weapons on the ground. After a very long pause, Slade made the first move. Sprinting across the yard, he ran faster than any human Raven had ever seen. Tristan just waited coolly without so much as flinching.

When Slade reached Tristan he tried to throw a punch, but Tristan grabbed his wrist and pulled Slade right into his knee. Getting the wind knocked out of him, Slade tumbled to the ground, but jumped back up almost immediately after hitting the ground. The men exchanged a few punches in an attack and retreat motion. They moved incredibly fast, and every punch was dodged; until Slade finally connected. His fist pounded right into Tristan's jaw. Tristan countered with a punch to the stomach.

Both men stumbled back a few feet, then came back at each other with increased ferocity. In an effort to keep some distance between himself and Tristan, Slade did a sidekick towards him. The distance was off, and the kicked didn't touch him, but Tristan saw an opening and followed his leg back in. Sweeping Slade's legs out of under him, Tristan took advantage of Slade's failed attack. Slade fell down onto his face.

Raven hadn't even realized she had stopped struggling, she was too caught up in the fight to think about that. Watching in awe, she saw a side she had never seen in her father. Not once had Raven ever seen Tristan fight this hard. If Tristan ever put so much effort into a fight it must have meant that he knew there was a possibility he would not win. Suddenly, Raven realized that maybe her father wasn't as invincible as he had always seemed. For some reason Raven found this fact frightening, even if she claimed to hate the man.

Tristan slowly approached his helpless prey. Slade was wheezing on the ground, not even attempting to stand back up. Kneeling down next to Slade's head, Tristan grasped the back of Slade's mask and lifted the man's head off the ground. "I thought you would have learned to not go against me by now. How many years were you stuck in that prison? I'm always forgetting. . ."

Suddenly, Slade's hand lashed up from his side holding a blade he had hidden in his belt. Taken completely by surprise, Tristan jumped back, but he was too late. Blood began to ooze out of a thin, long cut that ran across his right cheek and onto the bridge of his nose.

Raven noticed movement out of the corner of her eye as one of the guards reached for his gun instinctively. "Don't worry, Mr. Roth is more than capable of handling himself," reassured another man. The guard relaxed and slid his gun back into its holster.

Raising his hand to the slice, Tristan tried to wipe away the blood, but only managed to streak it across his face like some macabre war paint. Slade pulled himself to his feet, and eyed Tristan uneasily. He held the knife up threatening, yet Tristan wasn't frightened by him. "That wasn't fair," Tristan growled, the playfulness in his voice was beginning to disappear.

"Like I didn't see the knife under your shirt? You're not as stealthy as you think. . ."

With a quick tug, Tristan and Slade were suddenly evenly matched once again. Their knives glinted in the dying sunlight. Finally, they went at it once again. Both of the men slashed maniacally at each other. The majority of swings were blocked with the other's knife, but they both received several cuts on their arms and chests. Slade carved a rather deep cut into Tristan's forearm, but the attack left Slade wide-open.

With a swift jab, Tristan sunk his blade deep between two of Slade's ribs. Slade shuddered then his whole body went rigid. Gripping the knife's handle even firmer, Tristan twisted the blade. A bloodcurdling crunching noise was produced as the blade scraped against the two bones. It was impossible for Slade to keep in the yell that his lungs produced involuntary. Laying his hand on Slade's shoulder, Tristan pulled his blade out of the man. Stepping aside, Tristan let him fall onto the ground as blood poured out of his new wound. Slade gasped for breath as one of his lungs slowly collapsed.

This couldn't be the end. He couldn't die, not before he got his revenge. Revenge was the only thing that mattered anymore. Was his life really that meaningless?

Mustering up all of his strength, Slade tried to crawl to his discarded gun that was lying only a couple feet from him. While Tristan walked casually over to his own weapon in the opposite direction. Picking up the handgun gently from the ground, Tristan advanced toward Slade again.

"I was merciful the first time, Slade. I hoped you would learn your lesson after rotting in jail for awhile. Revenge is a dark path that only leads to disappointment. . . Out of all of my employees you were the only one I could almost trust–almost. You were my best man. Then, you betrayed me, you broke my trust. . . And for what? A few bucks? Did you really think you could just start your own business from scratch? Look at you, you used to be so dignified. . . Now, you're just pitiful. . . weak. You're absolutely pathetic. . ." Tristan stood over him now as Slade continued to reach for his gun only inches away from it. "What happened to Deathstroke the Terminator? The man who could complete any job? You can't even kill an old man like me, but I guess you're an old man now too, huh?" Kneeling down beside him again, Tristan chuckled at his pitiful attempt to reach his weapon. "You're harmless."

Tristan pulled Slade's mask off of his head, revealing his snowy, white hair. "Just give up already, old friend." Standing back up, Tristan held out his mask and examined it quickly before tossing it over his shoulder into the dirt. "Accept it, this is the one mission you'll never be able to complete."

"Did anyone ever tell you that you talk to much?" Slade managed to wheeze despite the crimson blood that was dripping from his lips and running down into his once white goatee.

Enraged, Tristan placed his knee down onto Slade's back and pushed him into the dirt. He put most of his weight on Slade's rib cage. "You scum!" He pointed his handgun down at the helpless man.

Raven was finally knocked out of her shock, and realized just what was about to happen. "No!" The man who was holding her had loosened his grip since she had stopped squirming, so she easily slipped out of his arms. Half running and half stumbling towards her father, she completely ignored the pain.

Pressing the muzzle against the back of his skull, Tristan stared down at Slade for a long moment. Slade couldn't even wheeze anymore, air refused to move into his lungs. Then, Slade felt his fingertips touch something cold, it was the muzzle of his own gun. Although he knew it was hopeless, that his death was imminent, Slade smiled for a reason only one that has personally been in his situation could understand.

Pulling the trigger, Tristan logged a bullet right into the center of Slade's brain as the body underneath him went limp. A small wisp of smoke fluttered up out of the perfect hole in the back of his skull. Tristan did not smile or cheer, instead his face just became completely void of emotion as he tossed the gun aside and lifted himself off of the corpse.

"How could you do something like that? Kill an injured man?" Raven spoke softly from behind Tristan.

"I don't have to explain my reasons to you," Tristan replied without his usual harshness.

"Why? Tell me."

"He was going to die anyway. I had enough decency and respect to save him from such a slow and painful death. . ."

"It's not just about him!"

"Then, what's it about! You'll never understand why I must do what I do. You're just spoiled little girl!" Tristan shouted as he finally turned towards her.

"You can't just go around killing people, it doesn't work like that! Violence only causes more violence! You know that!"

He grabbed the front of her shirt and pulled her in towards him. "I know! But we can't all live up to your morals, Raven! I try my best to protect you and your mother, but I'll never be good enough for you will I!"

"Protect me?! When have you ever protected me? We must have really different definitions of protection!" Tristan clutched her shirt tighter and made his other hand into a fist. "What are you going to hit me? Go ahead, I want to see your meaning of protection!"

"All you ever think about is yourself!" Tristan hissed.

"Raven!"


Richard and Danny had only managed to get more lost in the infinite labyrinth of hallways. "Why would anyone ever want such a big house. I bet Raven's dad probably hasn't even seen every room," Danny said as they slowed down from a run to a walk.

Richard looked around like he had done down every hall as he tried to get a feel for where they were. He refused to admit that they were completely lost. "Maybe it's this way. . ."

"But we just went that way," Danny whined.

They were interrupted by a shattering bang like a gunshot, that rang through the hallway for a moment before dissipating. The boys looked at each other in horror. "Uh-oh."

"Come on, Danny. It came from this direction," Richard explained as he ran ahead. Running as fast as possible, both boys silently prayed that Raven was okay. There was absolutely no way they could ever tell Gar if something happened to her. Finally, out of a stroke of good luck, they found the huge doorway leading outside. "Let's go!"

Without any hesitation the two ran out the huge doors to see Slade's corpse soaking in a very large pool of blood only about thirty feet from them. At its feet stood a large man, presumably Tristan. He was yelling at someone, but they couldn't see who, although they did have a guess.

"Raven!" Richard yelled out without thinking about his personal safety first.

Tristan went silent for a moment, but he didn't even bother to look over his shoulder. "You constantly disobey and disrespect me!"

"Why should I listen to you anyway!" Raven shouted back, forgetting the voice just as Tristan had done.

"I'm your father!"

Raven laughed bitterly, "My father? In blood only, if you even are my real father."

Finally his anger just overflowed as he drew back his arm and hit Raven right in the side of her face with a soft thud while still holding her up with his opposite hand. The punch wasn't hard enough to do any real damage, but it managed to stun Raven for a moment. "How dare you say such a thing. I gave you life, you ungrateful brat!"

"You didn't give me life, my mother did. If it were up to you I would have never been born! You always said I was a mistake!"

"Well, it's true! You've ruined our lives! Everyone would have been better off if Angela didn't insist on having you!" Tristan shout this line even louder than the rest. Raven fell silent after that and she finally broke eye contact with the man.

"What no retort?" Tristan began to grin. It was quite obvious his words had hurt her, and Tristan had finally broken her. "Is that it, are you going to give up already?" He shook her a little, but she remained silent. "You're not even going to fight me?" Tristan asked with mock disappointment.

Richard didn't know what to do, Tristan had completely ignored him. He had already gotten there too late to save Slade, yet he just watched helplessly as Raven got torn apart. He had no idea how to intervene in a verbal fight, and it had seemed it was something Raven had to win for herself, but she had just given up. Tristan had played dirty, and she had surrendered. Such mental abuse must have been worse than any physical abuse, and it was painful to see someone treated so badly.

Still grasping Raven in one hand he dragged her as he turned around to face Slade's body again. Dropping her beside the corpse in the thick puddle of blood, Tristan stared down at her. "Take a good look, daughter. This is your fate. . . If you ever disobey me again, I swear I will kill you, and there's won't be anything to get in my way. You're worthless, no one will miss you," Tristan hissed. Without sparing a single glance up at Richard or Danny, Tristan turned around and walked out towards the gate.

Raven bowed her head as she sat in unmoving for a moment. An extreme feeling of guilt washed over him for not having stepped in earlier. "You're wrong!" he shouted to Tristan. Tristan stopped where he was, although, once again he didn't face him.

"Richard, it's alright," Raven said softly. "I'm fine, and I don't need you defending me." She stood shakily, and rubbed her face with the back off her hand before turning to face Richard. It was quite impressive how easily she could rid her face of all emotion so quickly.

"This is my problem now," he answered. "You're wrong, Mr. Roth."

"What?" Tristan spoke slowly as he turned to face him.

"You're wrong, she would be missed, sir. And she isn't worthless." Richard was doing his best to stay brave and not back down, although the fact that Danny was trying to hide behind him didn't help much.

"What do you know, boy?"

"Enough to know that she's is a good person, which is more than I can say about you, sir." Tristan began to walk towards them while Richard made the same bold move and took a few steps closer to the demon. "I'm not afraid of you, Mr. Roth."

"Really?" Tristan said with a vicious smile that could make any sane person crumble.

Raven now stood between the two of them silently. Torn between the sides of right and wrong, it was a difficult choice for Raven because she knew Tristan's earlier death threat was no joke. For now she would just watch, and intervene if things got ugly. ". . . I must say, I think you're the least human man I have ever met. You seem to have no compassion what-so-ever," Richard said in a very polite tone.

"Thank you, that's a great compliment. . . Although I must admit I just treat scum as scum deserves to be treated."

Richard finally snapped as he ran past Raven and jumped on Tristan. Grabbing his huge neck, Richard kicked and clawed at him as Danny ran out and attack his legs. Like two cavemen fighting a t-rex, Richard and Danny attacked despite their disadvantage. Tristan merely grunted as he threw Richard off of him with a swing of his arm and knocked Danny down with a kick. Drawing the knife from the back of his belt, Tristan thrust it down into the dirt barely missing Danny as he rolled out of the way.

"I killed my partner, so why would I even hesitate to kill you. I don't even know who you are. Your lives are meaningless to me." Tristan swung down again and Danny narrowly dodged it as he jumped to his feet.

"Come on, Richard. I could really use some help," Danny whined as he continued to back away from the attacking behemoth.

Tristan was sent stumbling forward by a blow to his back. When he turned to see his attacker, there stood Richard in a defensive stance while holding a long, black pole in his hands. Swinging around the metal shaft with swift movements and expert precision, Richard whacked Tristan in the face with one end. A red mark was left on Tristan's cheek as he stumbled to his left from the momentum of the hit. This only made him even angrier.

Lunging savagely, Tristan aimed to kill. Going on the defensive, Richard swung the bo-staff around and knocked away Tristan's attacks aside. Long clangs came from metal connecting with metal. Finally, Richard saw an opening and jammed the end of his staff into Tristan's stomach. Tristan folded in pain. Then, Richard drew back readying himself to knock him upside the head. The blow to the stomach was enough to stun him while Richard delivered the knockout hit.

Right as his stick was about to connect, Tristan's hand flew up and caught in midair. A blunt thump came from his palm as the metal collided hard, but Tristan showed no sign of pain. Getting a good grip on the end, Tristan ripped the bo-staff from Richard's unsuspecting grip. Richard lurched forward, and Tristan caught him by the scruff of his shirt. Whipping Richard around so that his back faced him, Tristan pinned him against his body with one arm as he lifted his other hand to slit the assailable boy.

"No!" Danny yelled as he scrambled desperately towards the two.

Raven stood off to the side, she didn't move an inch to help Richard. Instead, Raven just clamped her eyes shut and turned her head not wanting to see the inevitable death of her friend.


A/N: FINALLY! One more chapter. I already have most of it typed so it shouldn't take me long to post. Thanks to all of those who have stuck with this story despite my massive delay between chapters. I will be answering reviews from last chapter A.S.A.P. I hope you liked it. I may not deserve it, but reviews would be greatly appreciated that is if you want to. Whatever.