I LIIIIIIVE!
My dearest followers, I must offer my deepest, truest condolences. I never intended this to take so long, I really didn't. Last year got crazy, as I was working, finishing my senior year of high school, and taking college courses at the same time, and once work was done and my courses were finished, I still had an endless amount of school to do in order to graduate high school on time, so I am truly sorry for how long it has been. I'm starting a new part time job this week, but besides that I will be completely free aside from applying to colleges and studying for my permit, so I hope to at least get this story finished.
For those who also follow my other stories such as Because of Batman, I Die Without You, and A Wish Your Heart Makes, again, I'm sorry. I'm going to be releasing an author's note and putting those on hiatus for a while and start focusing on finishing one story at a time, this one coming first, as I have a better idea at this point of where it is going.
Updates may not be the fastest, but I swear I will finish this one! So bear with me and keep following and reviewing and such, because it really does brighten my day ^_^
And Anyway, I'm Leaving,
Somehow, by some miracle, I had managed to block out the crying children and their wails of agony, and I was able to sleep, if only for a brief while. I knew I would need it with the coming events, so I worked to stop my shivering forced my way into unconsciousness.
The dungeon was still freezing when I was rudely awoken by a bucket of even colder water being dumped on me.
"You're an hour late, Sleeping Beauty," the Owl jeered. He tossed the bucket to the side and grabbing my arm, yanking me to my feet.
"No one said—"
"What are we, you're babysitters? Nah kid, you run on our time. You eat when we say, you sleep when you say, you don't so much as take a step if we don't tell you to, got it?" He leaned in close and I could smell horrible breath behind his mask.
"Did you happen to miss the allotted tooth brushing time this month?" I asked, waving a hand between his face and mine.
That awarded me a punch to the gut, knocking the wind out of my lungs. "Ok, ok," I grunted. "You just don't appreciate hygiene."
The Owl stood up straight and smirked "I give it a week and that smart mouth of yours will be gone."
I couldn't help but chuckle, "Yeah, like I haven't heard that one before. You realize I went to prep school, right? Like, dude, I was in high school when I was 13. You think I didn't have bigger guys trying to get me to shut up? Cause let me tell you, they hit a lot harder than you."
Ok, so maybe giving lip to the giant assassin was a bad idea, because the next thing I knew, I was on the ground with his boot on my head, pressing my face into the ground.
"Pathetic," he mumbled before bending over and getting close to me again. "All this work to get you, and what, you got beat up by some punks at school? I thought Bruce would have at least trained you better than that."
"Yeah, the point of having a secret identity is that it's a secret. If Dick Grayson suddenly had mad ninja skills, someone would start to make the connection to Robin, and that would be totally not asterous."
"And yet you still don't fight back," the Owl mused. "There's no secret identity here, kid. We know everything about you, so why don't you try and stop me from doing this—" he lifted his foot from my head and kicked me in the gut. "Or this—" he kicked me again.
Before he could get a third hit in, I jumped up and grabbed his foot, flipping his body over, smirking as he began to fall on to his back. The smirk didn't last, however, as suddenly the tables turned and he was flipping himself over, landing on his feet and sending me into the ground. I tasted blood as I bit my tongue from the sudden impact of my chin hitting the ground.
I pushed myself up again quickly, and faked a punch to his gut, then spun on my hands into a kick. It was a bit too flashy, however, and next thing I knew he was grabbing my foot and flinging me over his head and into the wall.
His reflexes were like none I had ever seen. He had impressive strength as well, but his response time was almost unhuman. Before I could pick myself up, he had a knife—a golden kunai with an owl engraved on the handle—to my throat, slicing into the skin just enough to make a threat, but not enough to actually do any serious harm.
He pulled his hand away and I felt a small amount of blood begin to trickle from the wound. It wouldn't need medical attention, just a little time to heal, but the fact that he took me out that easily and didn't even break a sweat seriously worried me. Nothing about this situation was whelming at all.
He shook his head and again mumbled "pathetic." He then grabbed my arm and hoisted me up before shoving me out of the cell. He didn't bother to restrain me, but with the whooping he had just given me, I wasn't surprised. "It seems your bark is worse than your bite. But don't worry kid, we'll fix that for you. Why bother with the mouth when the fists can do more, right?"
I didn't reply. I was too shaken by the loss. I had lost spars before, but this… did I make the right choice in coming here? Would Batman actually be able to save me? What if the Team came and were defeated? They had promised that the Team would remain unharmed, but if provoked, I wasn't sure how my new "family" would respond. I could already tell that they were prone to violence, and obviously didn't like when people tried to keep them from what they wanted.
I shook my head to snap myself out of those thoughts. The Owls were monsters, but they were monsters with honor… As long as they stuck to their honor, my friends would be fine. They wouldn't go back on their word, because if they did, I would be gone in an instant. If not escaping, then… I didn't want to think about it. My friends would be fine. Barbara would be fine. Bruce would be fine.
I would play their game. I would endure the torture, the tests, training, whatever they threw at me. They had their code of honor, and I had mine. Mine just had a lot less killing and a bit more good intention.
The Owl stayed quiet the rest of the way, finally stopping at an old fashioned wooden door that had a latch and handle instead of an actual doorknob. Literally, how old was this place? Where was this place?
He opened the door and pushed me in when I hesitated. I instantly went into bat-mode, scanning the room for architectural weaknesses, unlocked doors, slants in the floor, places to hide. My eyes came to rest on the middle of the room, where the Owl leader stood silently, watching me, staring as if trying to get a read on me.
I wouldn't grant him that. I turned off my emotions, gave a shrug, and continued forward towards him, the Owl from before still behind me, acting as a constant warning. Do anything funny and you'll regret it.
What I would regret, I wasn't sure of. I mean, all he could really do at this point was damage my pride some more and slam my face into the ground again. But no, he wouldn't do that. It was almost as if he was ready to stab me in the back.
"I have been waiting for you, Richard," the leader said, still trying to read me.
"Yeah, well next time you should let me know when to set my imaginary alarm clock. It would really help me to be on time for this… whatever this is."
He smirked, still eyeing me. It was actually starting to get a little creepy.
"This is your… evaluation," he said, motioning to the room.
"What, we're gonna sit down and have a heart to heart, see how I feel about being blackmailed by you guys and then you'll figure out the best way to torture me? Yeah, I think I'll pass."
"Not that kind of evaluation, Richard. Think of it more as an assessment. I want to test your skills, see what exactly Mr. Wayne has taught you, so as to find out where we should begin. Obviously you know how to fight, but your level of fighting is what worries me. You see, Mr. Wayne has impeded you in a way; training you to show restrain, to hold back, never kill the enemy, even if it means more innocent people die. Is that any way to save the world, Richard? Constantly sending them back to prison, only to have them come back and kill again.
"I'm going to train you to save lives, Richard. Mr. Wayne thinks that killing is wrong, but what he is doing is murder. He has been aiding these criminals, allowing them to continue on their path of evil."
"No," I said, standing up straighter and looking straight into his eyes. "Bruce does not kill because it is not up to us to decide who dies. The role of man is not to kill, but to save. We save lives, and get these criminals the help that they need, it's Gotham that spits them back at us. What we do is good, is it right."
The Owl leader chuckled quietly, "Such spirit you have," he said. "Tell me, Richard, is it right that the Joker has killed hundreds, and yet the Batman spares his life daily? You say that it is good and right to allow these… these murderers to live, and yet by allowing them to live another day, you are giving Gotham another chance to kill again.
"Say Gotham is the ultimate villain, and these killers are simply warriors sent out to destroy good, innocent people like your dear Mr. Wayne's parents were. You kill the warriors, the leader has no chance but to surrender."
"Where are you even going with this?" I asked. "I know I'm right, there's no changing my mind. Murder is wrong, and if we killed people like the Joker, or the Riddler, we would be no better than them, even if we're doing it to save others."
"Fine, you have your views, I have mine. I want to test something. Pretend I am the Joker, the Riddler… Deathstroke, any of them; whoever you resent most. Imagine I am one of them, and I have come back to kill again. How would you handle the situation?"
"What are you saying?"
"I want you to attack me, Richard. Attack me with everything you've got, while keeping to these… morals you seem to be so fond of."
"Fine," I said, then got into position, ready to pounce. I scanned the room quickly again, checking for anything I could use to my advantage. I prepared my attack plan, then made to move, when I was stopped by a sharp pain in my back. I stopped, fighting off sudden dizziness as pain radiated from my back. "What—"
"Warriors have soldiers who fight with them," the leader said, glancing behind me. The other Owl; I had almost forgotten about him. I wheeled around and saw him, a smile plastered on his face as if he greatly enjoyed himself. I reached behind my back, searching for the source of pain. And there, sticking out, a metal owl, and thinner handle, wider metal, thinner, then… He had stabbed me. He actually stabbed me in the back…
A/N: So, new chapter. I tried to make it a decent length, since it's been so long. I hope you guys enjoyed it, and now I have a favor to ask.
I need test ideas. Like, trials, training, tolerance building, stuff like that. I have the next chapter planned already, so I'll whip it together soon, but I need ideas of how to fill stuff in, and really build the story, so if you guys have anything, hit me up either in a review or a PM! Don't feel you need to shy away from blood or violence, cause if you've read my Walking series, you'll know I have no problem with that stuff. I am completely open to suggestions ^_^