It's 5 o'clock in the morning. I haven't slept. If you find a typo Congratulations it was a scavenger hunt all along. I'm going to sleep.
Hey it's picture day!
I went to the warehouse where I planned for Robin to be held (why yes I do live in Los Angeles) and I took some pictures and wandered around the inside. Sadly the inside isn't what I imagined but the outside looks cool. Links to pictures will be in the Author's Note!
Bonus chapter madness.
It's technicality the 40th follower Bonus chapter. Chapter 7 was the 30th follower post, I'm so sorry I didn't write the names of the followers last time.
So here are the past twenty people who have followed Releasing the Demon! Thank you so much!
Red Sky at Morning SheWolf1616
When Dreams Become Reality Superherofan01
Marykatebooks Nevtanis
Bungholio Art chic 99
Drakerla Halfangeltje
Julie Long Nekobabt1997
Azhaeda SuperOtakuofAwesome
Supercasey Maranda111
Blueskyswclouds Grimangel1120
Lil'LordBrat LiquidCherry
Thank You all for your awesomeness. I would be nothing without you!
You no longer have to wait, here's chapter 8.
Chapter 8
Beyond
-Day 43-
Robin would have liked to say that the nanobots hadn't changed him, but couldn't because not only was that statement a lie but Slade had commanded him not to speak unless he was addressed directly. The past month had been the exact opposite of his first month. Where his first month had been filled with desperate rebellion and pain, this month was silent hate and monotony. The long days of forced movement had left his mind to think, and the only thing to think about was his escape. He had made plans before but never had he spent every waking moment contemplating the exact movements, step by step, for weeks on end.
It was exactly 6:30 in the morning when Robin's eyes opened, he leaped away from the bed like it had burned him and tried to curse violently. The curses sounded like a coarse exhale and the leap was more like an uncoordinated stumble, the action lacked grace but it more than made up for it in rage. He had been awake for hours and unable to do anything other than breathe and think, a prisoner in his own skin. It was Slade who had ordered him to rest and so it was Slade's name that made appearances in his swears. Robin was in the mood to punch the man's face in for giving him the order but the man wasn't even there, Slade Wilson was out and about killing people, or something along those lines.
It wasn't the first time the man had left him, Robin suspected it was probably the third or forth. Robin suspected the first time Slade had left was just after they had left Jump, when he was locked up in his cell-like room, the first time he was certain Slade had left him, was after he had gotten the collar. Slade's last trip had been about two weeks prior, when he had experienced the rest command for the first time and Slade had given him a schedule of independent training. He didn't try to figure out the reason why, because Robin honestly didn't care enough to do anything more than hate the command.
Robin felt the electric buzz, like a shock pen had gone off in his blood, and felt his body moving it's self towards his bathroom. Robin shook himself free of the nanobot's control and made his way to the bathroom by his own accord. It hadn't taken Robin long to figure out how the probes worked after they had been activated. One of the most important things he had learned was that if he carried out whatever Slade had commanded him to do by his own accord the nanobots would stop forcing the movement.
Robin walked into the bathroom, making sure to make a short stop at the dresser for some clothes. He showered absently and stepped out after a few short minutes. After he had gotten his underwear on he crouched down over is pajama pants. He picked them up carefully and exposed the inside waistband, he quickly found the hole in the stitching and slipped his finger inside.
Within a second, his white porcelain blade was in his hand, glinting brightly in the light of the bathroom. He smiled slightly as he admired his shank and it's small alterations. Shortly after he obtained it, Robin had determined that the porcelain blade would be most useful if he could keep it on him at all times but it had been too wide to easily conceal anywhere. He had been forced to painstakingly chip away at the blade, hoping the whole time that he wouldn't destroy it. In the end he had made a very deadly looking shank that was just over an inch wide, that he could easily slip into his waistbands. Later on, he divided the shard into two parts, the top 4 inches was a sharped blade and the bottom 2 inches was a makeshift hilt with grooves for grip. The end result was his pride, joy and life line to the outside world.
He slid the blade into the hidden waistband pocket of his new pants and stood up making sure the blade was concealed perfectly. He whipped it out a few times, to make sure his access was easy and the movement was seamless. On one of the draws, Robin caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and he was stunned. What he saw hadn't been the Robin he remembered. He turned slowly to confront himself.
The first thing he saw was his face. His lips and jaw were set and his hair hung down low, half covering the blood chilling stare of his blue eyes. The fat was gone from his face, defining his jaw. The cut on his right cheek might have needed a stitch or two judging by the way it had decided to heal open leaving a small gouge. Robin's eyes continued to roam taking in how the longest parts of his hair settled just around his neck and the collar. Robin's hand when up to the collar and he shifted the metal ring, revealing the dark skin of his healed burns. His eyes settled on his chest, that was more defined that it had ever been before, and noted how it was speckled with cuts and scrapes in various stages of healing and tender spots where bruises where healing. Robin couldn't help but wonder if that was all there was to this apprenticeship, strength and pain.
"Well, Fuck."
"Not helping." Robin growled back as he stared at the gun leveled right between his eyes.
The pistol with bullets, that hit hard and left welts and bruises in its wake, was being expertly wielded by Gears who had so far shown no mercy in the training exercise. At best Robin had about 5 seconds before he would be nursing a new bruise.
With his heart pounding out of his chest, Robin searched his mind for what techniques could apply. He would at least try to do it right before he improvised.
He strained, trying to come up with what to do and to his surprise Slade's face appeared in his mind's eye instantly reminding him of one of his many lessons.
Robin stood at ease, as he listened to Slade's endless lecture.
"Where do you point a gun, Apprentice?" Slade asked.
It could have been rhetorical but Robin felt the tightness in his throat lessen, allowing him to speak.
"I wouldn't know, Master." Robin said grudgingly with his eyes trained on the gun in Slade's hand.
Slade raised the gun and pointed it at Robin's chest.
"You are to aim a gun at your target's center of mass, your bullet is more likely to hit it's mark there. Your arm must be steady and you must not show weakness, you must not show emotion." Slade's finger tightened on the pistol. "And that." the hammer clicked and started to move backwards, "Is how." the hammer continued to draw back, "You kill." The hammer slammed forward and there was a crack.
Robin had flinched and his heart beat could have been compared to a mouse's. He felt like prey with the pistol causing his gut to do slow flips and Slade's eye making him want to curl up in a corner, and it was that reaction that made Richard recoil and attempt to crawl out of his skin and maul the man. Fear is not an emotion Richard deals with , the external effect of being scared out of your mind and having a sociopath digging his way through your being, was trembling like a leaf from the combination of fear and pain. But Robin tried not to let it show.
It was a shift of the gun that caught both Robin and Richard's attention, and made them freeze.
"But what would the benefit of this be?" Slade asked with the barrel of the gun now an inch in front of Robin's face.
Robin immediately jumped in his skin, breaking his stance to try and defend himself with his forearms.
"Brilliant example of my point, Apprentice." Slade said, with what Robin could only interpret as a disappointed sigh, like Robin had just failed some kind of test. "This position plays on fear. It turns your fear around on you and gets you killed. Remember, Apprentice, the shot will miss as long as you have a cool head, and react calmly."
Keep calm and act.
So he did.
Robin snapped out his hand, forcing the bot's gun hand away from him as he swung around in the opposite direction and landed a hit, where a kidney should be, with his elbow. Gears stumbled backward a few steps and Robin went for the gun. His heart was pounding as he grabbed the gun's barrel and twisted the gun in Gears's hand. There was a loud crack as the trigger guard caught on one of Gears's fingers and Robin broke it, mercilessly. The gun was in Robin's hands and he unloaded the entire clip into Gears's chest.
The whole exchange happened in a matter of seconds. Think, dodge, hit, grab, fire... and fire and fire. Robin stared dumbly at the gun, then his eyes did a slow pan up to Gears, who's breast plate was dented heavily. Robin's hand opened slowly and he let the gun drop from his clammy hand. It clattered nosily on the floor and all Robin could do was stare at it in shock. He had shot someone. Shot something. His mind couldn't tell the difference in it's shock. It had been too easy. Could he kill a person that easily? Had he just shot the bot because he could? Because he wanted revenge for his own bruises?
A sickening grind drew Robin out from his mind and he watched as Gears slowly attempted to retrieve the firearm to start another spar but the dent was too deep and it was hindering his mechanisms from working. So unable to function properly Gears made a keening noise as it sputtered and sparked uselessly. The noise was eery and painful and all Robin wanted to do was get away from it. Away from what he had done to the robot.
He raced away from it all and soon found himself in his room, huddled in a ball. Wishing more than anything that he could escape this reality and return to what he had before.
Robin dreamed lightly of washed out memories. He saw his friends, his home, Bruce and his parents. All of it tinted in gold, only seeing how wonderful it had all been. Which only made it that more devastating when he woke up. All the emotions swarmed about his head and heart, he was sad, upset, angry, spiteful and disheartened. He was unstable and his resident other noticed.
"Robin."
"Yes." He was exhausted, and so mentally strained he couldn't even bother to conjure up an emotion.
Robin was in an odd state of mind, similar to a person about to drop off to sleep, emotionless and dreary.
"Why don't you just let me come out. I'll take care of everything." Richard said, in a way that reminded Robin of a parent.
It was a close enough metaphor, if children were more like parasites and took over there parents's house when they were born and locked their moms and dads in the broom closet for the rest of their lives.
"Come on, Birdy." Richard coached.
Robin was spit, one half of him was thinking that this was a trick but the other really just wanted to curl up in the nothingness inside if his mind to get way from it all.
"Don't worry, Robin."
And Robin relented, deciding that he would retreat, but only for a little while and have his eye on Richard the whole time.
"Ok."
Robin slipped way and Richard replaced him in a seamless transaction. Robin had almost forgotten the sheltered comfort of his mind and he felt himself at ease there, like snuggling in a childhood blanket.
"You aren't going to do anything evil?" Robin asked.
Richard let out a sort of mental chuckle "Why would you think that?"
"I don't know. Why would you take over my body if you weren't planning anything?" Robin replied, watching as Richard maneuvered there body around the room.
"I think you forget that my number one concern is for our body. You, Robin, were on the edge of a break down and I was concerned what would happen to the body if that happened."
"I was not." Robin protested.
"Bird, you are horrible under stress. You haven't been thinking right for weeks."
Robin made a defiant noise even though he might have agreed a little.
"You panicked because you 'killed' a robot." Richard deadpanned.
"It..I-"
"And you have had the solution to your problem under your nose for weeks."
The problem Richard was referring to was the hole in every escape plan he had ever made. The collar and nanobots. He had no way to account for either, they could have trackers and Slade could possibly control them remotely.
"What do you mean."
"Just watch."
So Robin did. Robin watched as Richard entered the bathroom and drew the white blade. Richard walked over to the shower and crouched down. He worked the knife into the sealant, that ringed the bottom of the shower, and cut away a long thick strip. Richard put away the knife and went to the mirror.
"No way."
The face in the mirror smirked as it worked the rubber sealant in between his skin and the collar, effectively stopping any electric shocks from reaching his skin.
Robin was dumbstruck. The sealant, the freaking sealant. He had never even thoughy about the stuff before.
"But that's not even the best part, Birdy. Have you ever wondered why the nanobots could work as controlling devices now and they couldn't before?" Richard asked his smile growing wider and almost manic in the mirror.
Of corse Robin had thought of it! It was one of the only things he thought of outside of his escape plan.
"They get signals from the collar." Richard said.
Out loud.
And for at that, Robin had no reply.
Robin was lulled into a restful state as Richard pounded the shit out of a punching bag. Richard had been at it for hours and Robin was sure he could continue for hours more. Slade had trained him in endurance, having him spar for hours on end with multiple robot opponents, so compared to that a punching bag was nothing. Richard stopped, to down the contents of a water bottle.
"Hey, Bird."
"Yeah?"
"We need to eat soon."
"Okaay." Robin said, not really understanding where this was going.
"Take care of that."
And just like that, in the blink of an eye, Robin was sweaty, tired, out of breath and back in control of the body. Robin was extremely stupefied at Richard's actions until he remembered that sociopaths are mostly impulse driven beings and that he must have just wanted to avoid the feeling of being sweaty and hungry. Robin sighed and found his small towel on the floor and wiped his face with it as he walked down the hall to the stairs, but he stopped when he heard noise from a door behind him.
Robin turned and recognized the door instantly. He knew every door and what laid on the other side of all of them in the building but that door was one of the few that always remained locked. Robin flattened himself to the wall and focused on the door, his hand edging to his waist band.
The door handle jiggled a bit and Robin watched in silence as the door opened and a man stepped in with a breeze of fresh air. Outside air. The man had white hair like Slade but it was easy to tell that the man was not his captor. He had a handlebar mustache, short wavy hair and looked old. Robin was being drawn to the outside that was just beyond the man and he ignored the part of him that wanted to figure out if the man was a friend or foe. He was being given an opportunity and he would be damned if he didn't take it. The man was wrestling with something behind him so the man was oblivious to him.
Robin lunched his attack and he was back in the days of playing Assassin as a kid. He whipped out his blade with practiced ease and jabbed it at the man. The blade cut into the man's arm and he yelled, his eye's wide with surprise as he looked at Robin. The space beyond the door was small, just two short steps and then there was another door that led outside. The cornered white-haired man made a grab for the knife in a practiced fashion that spoke of combat experience. The man was definitely a foe, and in the back of Robin's mind he was glad that he hadn't just knifed a helpless old guy. Robin, not wanting to battle the man in the confines of the coset sized space simply rammed the man while shielding his knife from the grabbing hand. They both tumbled out onto the street, as the door that led outside hadn't been properly closed and simply opened when their combined weight hit it. Robin landed on his shoulder and the thud told him that the man had landed hard. As he got to his feet, he glanced the man sprawled out on the pavement and hoped he was just unconscious. Robin found a street stretching out before him, lit only by the dim light of dusk, and he ran. He crossed the street, stumbling on the buckled blacktop. He realized as he ran blindly away, from the building that had held him captive for so long, that he didn't have any shoes. The street was cold and painful as he sprinted over the cracked pavement and rocks. But he didn't stop. He ran blindly, his focus only on how far he could get from the damned building behind him. He came to a corner illuminated by the light from a window and what he saw stopped him in his tracks.
Over the roofs of low storage buildings, the pillars of a skyline stood tall with square glitters of light highlighting each one of the buildings. He stood alone in the dark and watched the distant skyline of Downtown Los Angeles.
-Author's Note-
*Singing* Thaaank yoooou Riichard, for saaveingggg this chaaaapter. *Does a dance*
Picture Time
The Warehouse is at 544 Mateo St. Los Angeles (just in case you want to look it up)
Change the 'dot' for a '.'
tinyurl dot com/RtDWarehouse1
tinyurl dot com/RtDWarehouse2
tinyurl dot com/RtDWarehouse3
tinyurl dot com/RtDWarehouse4
tinyurl dot com/RtDWarehouse5
tinyurl dot com/RtDWarehouse6
tinyurl dot com/RtDWarehouse7
CHAPTER SPOILERS PAST THIS POINT! Finish chapter before you continue.
The door Robin comes out of is the big arched one without the bars on the fire escape side.
FootNote Pictures
These are pictures for AFTER you have read the chapter! Do not go any further if you have not read up to the sections with foot notes!
Change the 'dot' for a '.'
(1) Robin POV (his path is the arrow)
tinyurl dot com/mza9f2o
(1) Alternate POV (Robin's path marked by arrow)
tinyurl dot com/kdd2479
(2) The View
tinyurl dot com/kagxldk
Side note about the pictures.
I would have liked to take these pictures at night but this area is kinda sketchy and I would never risk going out in that area at night. LA is a dangerous place kiddies.
See yah later (°v°)
-Missing Jay