Author: So, here's chapter 8. You get to see a brief interaction of Slade and Wintergreen.. then a shocking reveal for Ruba.. and so much more. Enjoy! Have a great day everyone.
Disclaimer: I only own Sari (Barrett), Ruba (Cecilia), Silvy (Roger) and San (Sidra), the characters I've created for this specific story, haha. DC Comics belongs to the respective owners.
[MaraJade57]
Woottt. It's about to get wayyyy more intense. I've already written up til chapter 12 and it just gets crazier, more complex and new characters are thrown into the mix (pre-existing ones so far, I'm not introducing any more of the energy users). I'm glad you're enjoying it so far! cx Makes me happyyyy. Yeah. I actually had the history for Sari and Ruba pre-wrote, but as I wrote those chapters that told about it I began to make lots of edits and what came out of it was far better than I imagined and had planned. Thanks for reading and reviewing! I hope I'll keep you entertained! :3
[Anon]
I wannnaaaa bring in his family, but I'm not, sadly. We all know we'd love to see his family, but maybe in another story. Right now they're off doing their own thing. xD Yes, even though Slade is ruthless sometimes he still has honor, pride, morals. He's not destructive unnecessarily. Everything he does is for a reason; he may be cold, but he's calculating, calm, thoughtful, intelligent, strategic, etc. He's not out for world domination, the apocalypse (aside from that incident with Raven, but he learned his lesson *coughs*), things of that nature. He wants things that benefit him solely. Slade's strong enough to kill a lot of heroes, but the fact that he doesn't speaks more than actually killing them would. He's more of an anti-hero, out for personal gain instead of chaos and all that madness, haha. Thanks for the review. :D
Training was going splendidly well. She was progressing faster than Slade could have hoped. She was sharper than she appeared and her hidden potential bloomed beneath his guiding lessons. He hadn't yet forced her to wear a uniform as he was still working on her, molding her.
It was presently early in the morning, around 4 AM, last he checked a few minutes ago, and so he had gotten dressed after a fitfully plagued night. That same dream of his family played out in his head almost every time he slept, but by now he was indifferent to it. It was yet another thing he had failed to prevent.
He tugged on his boots, situating them into place with a final pull. He was ready to face the day- nay, tackle it head on.
He'd let Cecilia rest until 6 as she had been up late into the night practicing in the Bunker room as she called it.
When he entered the kitchen area, mask tucked beneath an arm, he was surprised to see Wintergreen sitting at the table, a cup of tea grasped in his right hand, a distant look on his face.
"Are you alright?" At the sound of Slade's voice Wintergreen was drawn aware, turning to stare at the man.
"I was just thinking. Would you like some tea?" He moved to stand and Slade shook his head.
"I'll make my own, you stay seated."
Wintergreen sighed and sipped at his glass, back pressed against the chair.
Slade poured himself a glass. Usually he preferred coffee when he got up, but tea did sound nice for a change.
He took his cup to the table and seated himself across from his friend.
"You look like you stayed up wrestling the bed instead of sleeping. Something on your mind?" Wintergreen asked, concern etched into his voice.
"Just dreams." Slade murmured before taking a sip. The hot liquid slid down his throat and he twitched a small smile, pleased with the smoky taste. The drink was Lapsang Suochong, a black tea. Neither drunk it often, but it had an interesting flavor to it.
"Of?" The ex-major asked over his cup, eyes closed to savor the smell and taste.
"The past." Slade relented. Wintergreen knew his past as he'd been there for most of it.
His eyes opened and he studied Slade with those blue orbs. "I see."
They drank in relative, comfortable quiet before Wintergreen rose, leaving to go tend to other tasks. Slade was left alone, an empty cup in his hands. He moved, going to refill. He downed the cup, set it onto the counter and went upstairs to the central room. The layout of the building was ridiculous, but he made use of it. As he walked he put on his mask. He found his chair and took a seat, staring up at the screens as they flickered on.
It showed feed of the rooms and he saw Ruba turn over, her breath unheard as she slept soundly. He smirked beneath his mask.
He had big plans for her.
Morning came and it was time to wake up. A yawn rang as she pushed back the covers, rising to sit up, scratching at her neck.
Ugh, morning was too early!
She got out of bed, stretching. Ruba dragged herself to the bathroom, took a quick shower and then got dressed.
She headed to the kitchen, expecting to see her master and his ally there, but it was empty. She headed to the gear room, finding Slade perched on his throne, feed of the technical stuff flashing on the screens above.
"Morning.." She grumbled bitterly and he turned his head at her tone. "Sorry, I'm not a morning person."
"So I've noticed." He directed his attention back to the central screen, studying the schematics and graphs on it.
"What.. are you looking at, sir?" She asked softly as she moved to his side, staring up with curious eyes. It looked like.. stats on.. her? She squinted her eyes, trying to figure out what it all meant.
"These-" He gestured a finger toward the screen. "-are things I've dug up on your little project. Not very secretive since it's accessible."
He retrieved a laser pointer and hovered the red dot over a chart that had a list of words on the left connected to names across from them, which were referenced below with color coordination.
"Wait.. is that.. what I think it is?"
She heard the smirk in Slade's smug tone. "It should be the specific emotions listed that is the key to the eight subjects' power, but I will have to decode it all with time. Quite an interesting file I've found, though, so detailed.." He pointed with the laser to the right, several paragraphs typed out. He turned his head slowly to gaze at her with that deep one eye. "Cecilia Entriger, a young girl, an orphan no less, as all eight are."
Her blood froze and her face paled more than it already was. He had.. her personal information?
"17 years old, born in Manhattan, New York City, New York state. Blood type O, German and American descent, but only capable of speaking English, German accent rarely used. Currently five foot four, one hundred and nineteen pounds, lengthy brown hair, green-grey eyes, pale skinned. That is definitely you." He chuckled and she felt her breath sucked away.
He looked back up at the screen. "Mother Cindy was a scientist for S.T.A.R. Labs, the facility in New York City. She was also a bread maker, to hide her secret career. Father Luther was an army military captain, stationed somewhere in Europe until he was shot and killed in the raiding of a mall." By now she was gripping her head, trying to blot out the memories of her past.
"Stop, please.." She pleaded, but it was lost as he plowed on.
"Older brother Howard was a reckless foreign activist, disowned for being a threat to the family's safety and the honor of your father, who could not associate with someone on the other side of a barrel. He was caught and thrown in prison, sentenced to life. He was broken out shortly after and faded into the background like a cliche ghost-"
"Slade, please, no more.." She clutched her head tightly, eyes squeezed shut.
"-Younger brother Liam.. hardly an infant when him and your mother were critically injured in a protest turned showdown in the streets, a misfire from a cop trying to control the escalating situation. Neither survived. Many others died in the protest-"
"Stop!" She snarled, throwing a hand out, her eyes burning with that intense glow of her power. "I don't need my family history repeated to me. I know what happened. I researched everything.." She hugged her arms, trying to return some color to her skin. "It's too late to care about what happened. It's not like we were close anyway. My parents were distant liars who hid the existence of my older brother from me.. and I never met my younger one. He was born a bit after I left."
"Ahhh, yes. You ran away at the age of twelve." She nodded to this fact, face grim. "You were picked up by the scientist at the age of thirteen and implemented as the red user for the project. You were the ace of the group."
She frowned. Ace? What did he mean by that?
"Oh? You don't know?" He questioned the confused look she gave him. He laughed and glanced back up at the screen, pulling up more information on the project. "You were all given ranks. Ace, king, queen, prince, princess, bishop, jester and knight. You were the ace, said to be the crown jewel of the subjects, the most powerful and important specimen they chose specifically for the position."
She felt shocked as she stared at the screen. No way.. she was suppose to be the top dog? That wasn't possible. Yeah, she was strong, but Sari could beat her even on his worst day.. No matter how good she was with planning. She facepalmed, sighing.
"Clearly those files are inaccurate. I'm probably the weakest-"
"Patience. You will improve. Trust me." He said smoothly.
She chose not to respond, glaring back at the display above.
He knew so much about her.. and yet she knew nothing about him. She growled, spinning on her heels to return to her room, but his voice made her stop. "Cecilia."
She didn't turn to face him, merely stood there with her back to his chair. "Yeah?"
"Come here."
She turned and walked over, pausing just in front of him.
"I'm not a mind reader, but I don't have to be to know that you are upset."
She gazed to the side, a scowl set into place on her pale features.
"Cecilia." His tone turned strict, leaving no room to disobey.
She waved a hand at the screens. "You know about me, but I know little about you." Her hand slapped to her side and she sighed, peering at him with those icy mixed eyes. "Who is Slade, the man behind the mask?"
She noticed the way he stiffened at her question before he moved his hand, lifting the right to his face. He grasped the sides of his mask with his widened fingertips. "Before I remove this let me tell you one thing." He stared at her though the gap in his fingers, his stare demanding all of her attention. "The man underneath, the image.. he does not define me any more than your powers define you. I am who I am because of my choices." She nodded. Reasonable.
He slowly removed the mask, lifting it, using his free hand to tug away the rest of the gear on his head.
She watched with widening eyes, standing mere inches from his knees.
The man was tall, six foot three, with a fit body. Cecilia half expected a robotic eye, black hair, small beard and tattoos, but what she saw was unexpected.
The mask was moved down to his lap to reveal short white hair, matching trimmed goatee, young face, an eye-patch over the eye that had no hole on the mask for and defined features.
"You're so.. I dunno, I thought you'd be a little.." She trailed off.
"Older?" Slade smiled and seeing the expression caused her to gain a new appreciation for facial features. If only he wore the mask less.
She nodded. "Yeah, older."
"I get that quite a lot." He laughed and seeing him actually doing it made her blink. It was strange, after being used to the mask.
She suddenly smirked and a frown creased his face at this. "The great and powerful Slade Wilson is indeed human."
Slade noticed instantly the use of his last name. So she knew. Secondly he noticed the smirk, an expression he'd come to associate with trouble. Something was up with her and he was planning to get to the bottom of it-
Suddenly the room was pitched with red, flashing light and a female robotic voice repeated: "Intruder alert. Intruder alert. Premises breached by multiple forms. Identification commenced.. Teen Titans and three unknown. Intruder alert."
Video feed popped up on the display, showing a group of eight. Cecilia easily picked out the Titans and Sari, but the other two were only vaguely familiar.
He would have to find out later. Right now they had bigger fish to fry. He rose from his chair and turned to face the way that led outside. The Titans would enter through there.
"Cecilia, downstairs." He said, putting on his mask, fixing his suit back into place.
"No, I'm staying with you." She stood by his side, a determined look to her gaze.
"Cecilia. Downstairs." He repeated sternly.
"But-"
"Now. I will greet our intruders. It is too early for you to join in the fight. Stay on the sideline." He ordered and she sighed.
"Yes master." She turned and trudged toward the door that led downstairs, disappearing through it.
He watched her go, face blank beneath that two-toned mask before he directed his attention to the entrance to the facility. Several minutes passed before an explosion happened, the wall crumbling to the floor.
"Boooooyyaaa!" He heard the voice of the half robotic male yell.
Green glow approached and soon the alien broke through the smoke that had rose from the debris of the fallen wall. She covered her mouth with a gasp at seeing Slade.
The rest followed shortly.
Slade found himself facing a line of heroes; a green lion, a floating Tamaranean, the caped leader, the gloomy goth, the half machine, the blue energy wielder and two new players, a girl and a boy.
He allowed a smile to spread beneath his mask before he lifted his arms wide, chuckling. "Welcome to my.. humble abode, heroes." He called, his voice echoing around the wide room.
The lights above had returned to normal, the voice having stopped seconds before the wall was blown down.
Robin jerked a finger toward Slade, leering. "Where's Ruba?"
Sari had his hands clenched into fists, clearly prepared to fight.
"My, my. You act as if you're in a position to ask such a question." Slade taunted, his hands linked at his back.
Beast Boy began to growl, crouching on his paws, his tail swishing behind him slowly. Cyborg aimed his hand cannons at Slade while Raven and Starfire's hands glowed with their black and green powers. The two newcomers stood still at the end, the girl with a frown and the boy with a tilted head.
He took a second to study them. The girl was young, brown hair and eyes, a cloak hiding her clothes. The boy was a bit older, taller with dark eyes and silver hair. He could have sworn the eyes were black. He had goggles on his head, a scarf swaying around him and his dark-styled garments.
The male stepped forth, chilly jet eyes locked on Slade. "You have two options, Slade. You can go down in a fight, which I wouldn't mind-" He cracked his knuckles, smiling. "-or you just tell us where Ruba is and we'll be on our way, you can live out the rest of your pathetic life in peace so long as you stay good and quiet." Even though the child was young he would have been intimidating to a normal person or weak villain given how dark and creepy he looked if not for the cheerful girl to his right, but not to Slade.
Slade couldn't stop the laugh from flowing and the teens shifted their stances. "You really think it so easy to use intimidation on a master of the tactic? How feeble minded."
A door opened and in stepped Wintergreen, a tray of tea in his hand. "Cecil-" He paused when he noticed the broken wall, the eight teens and Slade standing before them. "Oh, we have guests. Lovely!" He dropped the tray and dashed forth in the blink of an eye, his hand grabbing Robin's masked face. He lifted the boy and slammed him into the ground.
Sladebots appeared and the fight was on.
Everything happened in slow motion, like someone was making the fight crawl.
It was all overwhelming.