Bedtime Stories

Toddlers do not know how to threaten, how to bargain, so Bo wailed instead. He stood on his tiptoes, beating the door of the large, dark room Slade had locked him away in and screamed bloody murder. The masked man watched him on a large, soundless monitor screen from another room, shaking his head slightly.

Bo eventually moved from the door and held the front of his shorts as he soiled himself. "I went potty," he whimpered, wiping his tear-stained face with his urine-soaked hands. His head raised when he heard a loud click-the sound of the door unlocking and his bottom lip trembled as the dark-clad, masked man stepped in, his massive figure nearly blocking all the light in the doorway. He stared at the child and shook his head. "You made a mess on my floor."

"I'm wet," Bo tugged at his shorts. "I'm wet because I tinkled on the floor."

Now, it's hard to believe, but there was a softness in Slade. After all, he had lived normally once; had a family, had children. He knelt down on one knee and silently motioned for the baby to come closer. Bo only stared at him solemnly.

"Let's get you cleaned up," Slade coaxed.

"Wobin's gonna come get me," Bo announced, moving closer. Slade stood up as the toddler lifted his arms. "He's gonna come get me," he repeated.

"We'll see," Slade replied dryly, easily lifting the child into his arms. He carried him out of the small chamber and into a his own bedroom. As he started to flip on the light switch, Bo struggled against him. "I do it!" He squeaked.

The villain fought the urge to roll his eye and shifted the child for easier access. Bo flipped the switch and clapped. "Light's on!" He squealed.

Against his better judgment, Slade set the child down and went into his closet where a locked trunk collected dust in its depths. He took a key from underneath the box and unlocked it. Inside was an assortment of toys, clothes, and drawings. Items that had once belonged to his late sons. He found a t-shirt and cotton shorts-both a bit too big, but at least they weren't soaking wet. For now, the toddler would have to simply do without underpants. He locked the chest back up and exited the wardrobe. Bo pointed at the clothes in the man's hand and shouted, "My shirt!"

"For now." Slade picked him up under his arms and stood him on the bed. "Raise your arms."

Bo smiled and shook his head, hugging himself. Slade tried his best to glare. "I'm not playing games, young man."

"You're gonna tickle me," Bo accused, giggling. "Wobin always says 'reach for the sky' and then he tickles me when I do." He eyed Slade's hand, the one holding the dry clothes, and fingered his glove. "Are you strong?"

"Very," Slade growled, removing Bo's shirt and pulling the new one over his head. He then pulled down his shorts and underwear and put the new shorts on him.

"Are you Batman?" Bo whispered, unphased as Slade retrieved a cloth and began wiping his face.

"What makes you think that?" The man asked absent-mindedly, as he wiped tears and mucus away from the toddler's face.

Instead of answering, Bo repeated once more, "Wobin's gonna come get me." He lifted his arms again as Slade stood up. The man obliged, taking the child into his arms and said, "Maybe."

--

He had assumed he would scare the child into submission. He had laid out a small pallet on the floor of the cell and tossed Bo inside. However, the second he put him down in the chamber, the toddler began to howl.

"If you want me to stay a nice man," Slade growled. "Then you'll stop right now."

"No!" Bo wailed angrily. "No! No! No! No! NOOOO!!"

"Good night." Slade walked out, closing and locking the door behind him, but did not leave. Not right away.

"Wobin!" Bo sobbed. "Waven! Beastboy! Cyborg! Stahrfire!" He beat on the door some more. "Batman!"

Slade returned to the room an hour later to see the toddler had cried himself to sleep. He was curled up on his stomach, his bottom sticking up in the air, his thumb in his mouth. The masked man shook his head and picked him up. Bo didn't even stir as he carried him back to the bedroom, laying him on the bed.

"What is it those damn Titans call you?" Slade asked quietly, pulling the silk, red covers over the child's small form. "Bo, was it?"

--

"Got anything yet?" Robin asked, massaging his eyes as Cyborg scanned the city monitors. They were all back at their own tower, hovering over the bionic Titan's shoulder.

"Not yet," Cyborg sighed. "I can't believe he took him again."

"Poor Bo," Starfire released a long, shuddery sigh. "I do hope he is not injured." She wrapped her arms around herself. "Not scared." She began to cry. "Oh, Robin!" She flew into her boyfriend's welcoming arms.

"We still have that chip in him, right?" Beastboy asked with a shrug. "Can't we just track him down that way?"

"Slade took it out last time he got his hands on him," Cyborg replied, leaning back in the rolling chair. "Or else we'd know where they were already."

Raven hovered in the far corner of the room, cross-legged in her meditation position. She shushed them and said quietly, "I'm going to find him. Once I get into his mind, I'll have some sort of link." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Azarath metrion zinthos…"

--

Slade had just been about to leave the room when Bo suddenly began to jerk and flail around in the bed. "Mommy!" He screamed, his eyes still closed. "Mommy!"

"Raven, no doubt," the man moved back over to the bed and stared down at the sleeping child. He shook the child. "Wake up." He'd be damned if the Titans were going to cheat their way into finding him.

Bo opened his eyes and stared up Slade. He immediately began to cry and flail all over again, this time, throwing a tantrum. "Mommy!" He screamed, rolling around the bed, sobbing. "MOMMY!!"

"SETTLE DOWN," Slade ordered, pressing a hand against the child firmly. "I won't have that here."

Bo ignored the threat and bit down on the man's glove, which of course, was too tough to inflict even discomfort. He began to hiccup, after crying so hard, and said, "I want Wobin."

"Robin doesn't love you," Slade's voice was thick with poison. "That's why you're here." He leaned closer, so close that Bo almost went cross-eyed. "I'm all you have now, my little apprentice."

Bo's brows furrowed and he covered his head with the red blanket, kicking from underneath. "No!" He yelled. "No! No! No!"

Slade picked him up, blanket and all and said, "Maybe you need a little tough love." He carried him back to the cell and set the bundle down, rolling it across the floor. Bo crawled out of it, screaming his head off. He smacked into the door just as Slade closed it and collapsed to the floor, sobbing.

--

"Bo!" Raven screamed, opening her eyes with a gasp. She fell to the ground and Beastboy quickly caught her.

"What's up?" He asked worriedly.

"We have to go." Raven placed her hand to her heart, breathing heavily. "Now."

"But we do not know where he is," Starfire reminded her. "To where exactly will we go?"

Robin sighed heavily and said, "I'll go. You guys keep tabs on the monitors."

"Where are you going?" Cyborg asked.

Robin walked out the door without a word. Climbing onto his motorcycle, he said, "Don't worry, Bo."

To Be Continued…