265. Break the Circle part 25

CL-CL-CLACKKKKK!

Red Aviary's blade sparkingly grinded against Robin's bo-staff.

Ashes and embers flew off the colliding metal.

The two adversaries met underneath the four spread legs of the rooftop radio antenna.

Deathstroke leaning his cowl into Robin's eyemask……..

Robin's face folding into a scowl……….

"Hckkk-clik-clik-snkkkkkkkt…..!" Red Aviary coughed crimson vapors into Robin's face.

The Boy Wonder winced…snarled…and shoved against Deathstroke: "HAAAAUGH!"

"Hckkk!" Deathstroke stumbled back, twirled his blade, and jumped forward….slashing low. SWIIIIPE!

Robin backflipped, flew dangerously high beneath a low-stretching cross-beam of antenna metal, and landed in a reverse slide.

FWOOOOSH! Deathstroke blurred at him. Red blade-swish-swish-swishing from side to side.

Robin spun his bo-staff like a vertical fan.

CLANG!CLANG!CLANG!CLANG! He blocked with a shower of sparks, spun, and kicked sideways into Deathstroke's chest.

WHUMP!

Red Aviary slid backwards, wheezing.

"YAAAAAUGH!" Robin twirled his bo-staff. THWISH-THWISH! And brought it down full-force into the top of Slade's skull.

THWACK!

….

It did nothing.

Robin leaned with his deathly rod impacted against Red Aviary's forehead. Eyemask wide. Panting….panting….panting.

"……….," Deathstroke all-but-sneered. "Hckkkk-snkkkt-CLIK!"

SWISSSSH!

The red blade spun up.

CLACK!

Robin gasped as his bo-staff was ejected from his grasp and went flying up through the webbing of the criss-crossing antenna beams.

"You'rrrre goingggg to have to-snnkkt—do betttttterrrrr than that, Robin….," Deathstroke hissed red clouds and raised his blade. "You've alwaysssss—hckkk-HAD….TO DO….BETTERRRR!"

CHIIIIII-IIIIING!

Robin looked at Slade. Up at the twirling staff. Back at Slade. Back to the staff----"!.!.!"---the Boy Wonder leapt up.

SLASSSSH!.!.!.! Deathstroke's swinging blade sliced through mid-air.

Robin went soaring upward, yellow cape billowing in the process.

"Snkkkt!" Red Aviary tilted his gaze up and glared at the acrobatic Titan Leader.

Robin flipped and twirled and flew from metal cross-beam-to-metal-cross-beam. He leapt, jumped, and swung from one steel reinforcement to the next. Panting. Grunting. Holding and exhaling his breath at key moments to hurl himself ever-upward towards the top of the antenna.

….and towards the twirling, airborne bo-staff.

Thw-Thw-Thw-Thwisssh!

The rod fell back down—

Snatch! Robin caught it in a free hand, swung around by his other, and came around in a half-perch two-thirds of the way up the radio antenna—

SWOOOOOOSH-PL-PLANT! Deathstroke teleported upwards and solidified on a crossbeam. Standing up straight across from Robin with red-murking balance. "Hckkkk-clik-clik-clik….."

"……..," Robin frowned.

Slade's one pulsing eye narrowed.

Robin planted himself on the horizontal crossbeam of the antenna's south side and twirled his rod into a nimble pose. Th-Th-Thwish!

"……..," he glared across at Slade.

Red Aviary twirled his sword—TH-TH-TH-THWISSSH!—and froze in a coiled position. Glaring. Hissing. "Snkkkk-kkkt……."

"…….."

"…….."

Robin advanced agilely across the beam.

Th-Th-THWISH-CLANK! He leaned fiercely into Slade with his two-handed rod pressing into the Terminator's blade. Limbs shaking. Muscles tight.

"Snkkkkt….hckkk….," Deathstroke leaned back, holding his blade against Robin's weight. He gradually re-tightened his red-and-black suited legs and thrust his butchered upper-body forward…pressing his girth down against the lengths of Robin's staff. Scraaaa-aaaaaape!

"Nnnnngh!" Robin sweated. Holding his own against the overpowering Deathstroke. He gritted his teeth…wobbled on the beam….clenched the rod tighter…..

…..and snuck his left leg outward—darting—to slap Red Aviary fiercely with a boot to the ankle.

THWAP!

Slade wobbled and teetered on the beam.

Robin swung his careening body around into a mad, horizontal cartwheel across the beam that ended with his leg and upper staff slamming down across Slade's chest.

WH-WHAM!

Deathstroke hobbled backwards across the beam.

Robin spun, brought the staff down in both hands, and slammed it towards Deathstroke's skull.

"Hckkkk!" Deathstroke held his red sword up in two hands—one at the hilt and one at the flesh-cutting tip. CLANNNNNGGGG! He held Robin's downswing at bay mere inches from his cowled face. He shook….billowed red vapor….pulsed a crimson power into his sword…and shoved against Robin with flaming-red-murk. "SNKKRAAAUKT!" FL-FLASSH!

"Augh!" Robin fell back with an icy chill. He flew off the beam….plummeting towards the rooftop several feet below. Gasping, he shot a hand out at the last second, grabbed another beam, swung down, sideways, and back up….vaulting his flailing body skyward.

"SNkkkkkt!" Deathstroke angled his upper body just right, positioned the sword, and swung to cleave the flying Robin in two.

Robin held his rod out in mid-ascent.

SLASSSH! SL-SLASSSH!

CL-CLANNNNG!

The mid-air impact of Deathstroke's blade to Robin's chest-protecting bo-staff sent the Boy Wonder plummeting backwards….again towards the rooftop between the legs of the antenna.

Robin's legs angled out, contacted a crossbeam below and across from Slade—kicked off—and vaulted him like a bullet upwards and towards Slade….swinging a heavy rod.

"Raaaaugh!"

SWISSSSSSH!

Deathstroke stood dead-still. Pulsed a red eye….and shot a gnarled hand of flesh-and-metal out.

SWOOOOSH-GRIP!

Robin was caught by the neck.

He gasped…choked….and flailed as Deathstroke spun perfectly around and flung him up high into the far-more-concentrated metal webbing of the antenna.

"Yaaaah!" Robin flailed until he slammed backwards into a cross-beam. WH-WHANG! "OOOF!" he exhaled and plummeted down till he draped over another beam…hanging for dear life.

FWOOOOOSSSH!

Deathstroke leapt and blurred across the interior of the hollow antenna. "HRAAAAAUCHKTT!" SWOOSH-SWOOSH-SLASSSH!

Robin gritted his teeth and swung his body down and up—

SWOOOOOSH!

--barely grazing up past Deathstroke's swing.

Slade landed on a cross-beam, standing upright. PL-PLANT!

"Hckkk!" He spun around…glaring up at Robin.

Robin soared upward, perched on a higher crossbeam, and spun to stare down at Deathstroke.

Red Aviary hissed and started hopping….leaping…jumping from one beam to the next to ascend the bowels of the antenna.

Chiiiing! Robin readied a glistening birdarang and tossed it down at Slade.

Sw-Sw-Sw-Sw-Sw-Sw-Swisssh!

"Snkkkt-clik-clik-clikkkttt!" Deathstroke swished his sword in the air and sliced the projectile.

SL-SLIIINK!

He blurred redly at Robin, swinging his blade hard. "HRAAAUCHKKKT!"

Robin backflipped off his beam—

SL-SLIIIICE! The metal support was shattered in half by Slade's blade of Destruction. CRAA-AAACKKK!

Robin fell, twirled, and flung two birdarangs up in mid-descent. "Yaaaagh!"

SW-SW-SW-SW-SW-SWISSSH! Deathstroke jumped and fell after him. Blurring past and around cross-beams. Swishing his blade and shattering the birdarangs into halves…pieces. CRACKKK! SLICCE!

Robin reached a hand out behind him, grabbed a beam without looking, twirled down, outward, and upwards, and launched his teenage body up at the Reaper with a tornadic spin of his blade. "NNNNGHHHAAAAH!"

SW-SW-SW-SWISSSH!

The plummeting Deathstroke held his red blade out. CLAK-CLAK-CLAK!.!.!

Sparks flew.

Robin spun past Slade and pressed his lower body—scrunched—upside down against another beam.

Deathstroke planted his legs into a bar beneath.

Robin vaulted downwards.

Slade vaulted upwards.

Bo-staff swinging.

Red blade slashing.

Th-Th-Th-Thwisssh!

SLASSSSSH!

CLANNNNNNNNNG!.!.!.!.!

The two met in mid-air.

In the nucleus of the towering radio antenna.

Their blades flashing upon contact…….

For….

For Deathstroke was channeling wave upon wave of deathly….Destructive energy into Robin's weapon.

And it pulsed an unnatural crimson that lingered aloft between their bodies.

Pulsing and surging into the doubly-crimson night.

And Robin winced…..twitching….

And Deathstroke glared…..hissing…..

And……

FL-FLASSSSSH!.!.!.!

Robin was tossed wildly back as Deathstroke descended with an icy column of pluming Destruction swishing earth-ward.

SWOOOOOOOOOOSH-SLIIIIIICEEE!

"HRAAAAAAA-AAAAAAAAUCHKKKKKT.!.!.!.!.!" Deathstroke screamed as he slammed the trailing red pulse into the rooftop in the center of the four antenna 'feet'.

"Aaaaaaaugh!" Robin flew back and—WHANGGG!.!.!.!—landed hard with his back against a cross beam. He gasped, jolted, and fell down….pinballing painfully off two more beams as—

CREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK!.!.!.!

The waves of Destruction issuing out from Deathstroke's sword and warbling into the four antenna corners swam murderously up the metal structure, snapped the inner columns of steel webbing into icy shards, and filled the air with a chilling hiss as the entire structure groaned and collapsed downward in an imploding spectacle of madness.

CRUNNNNNNNNNN-NNNNNCHHHH!.!.!.!.!.!

And Robin toppled…plummeted….and collapsed into the center of this murderous deconstruction.

CRA-A-A-A-ASSSSSH!

Ash.

Dust.

Gravel.

Bits of tar.

And red…red…red….vapor……

…..

…..

……

"Nnnnnngh…..," Robin moaned.

He stirred and got up.

Bruised all over.

Bleeding and scraped in a few dozen places.

The ends of his yellow cape were in split tatters.

His green short-sleeves tore at the seams.

A tear or two formed across his red tunic.

He bit his lip…clutched a shoulder with one hand….and propped himself up by the bo-staff with the other.

He panted….panted…panted…

……gasped(!)…..

…and looked around, desperately grasping his rod as he scanned for signs of Slade amidst the mangled, metal wreckage.

"…………."

…………..

"…………"

………….

"Hckkk-snkkkkt….clik-clik-clik….."

The hissing voice of Death issued coldly out from the red silence of night.

Robin shuddered.

He back-stepped with his rod in his grasp and slowly turned…turned…turned about. Eyemask thin. Glaring.

"Hckkk…..Hckkk-Your stupidittttty in persssssistence has ever….ever astounded me, Robinnnn…..hckkkk….."

Robin frowned.

Pacing through the metal debris.

Panting…..breathing firmer…firmer…firmer…

"…….It has perplexedddd me…snkkkkt—figurrring that a fool like you came from such a valued detective sssssuch as Batttttman……"

Robin came to a stop against a tall, vertical shard of steel. He rested against it. Panting…sweating….eyeing left and right under his mask.

"…….and then I realizedddd you werrrrre justttt a punk off the streetttt…..snkkkkkt—HCKKK—You arrrre a waif to the core, Robin. A street rat. Hardly….refined…..snkkkt—HCKKK!—Hardly…Hero Material…..jussssst a frightened child……hiding his pain and angssssst behind a mask….."

"……………," Robin gritted his teeth.

"….and how…..I am ssssso verrrrry intrrrrrigued……by frightened childrrrrren……."

Robin swallowed.

Robin nodded….

"Yeah…..well, we had gotten the whole 'masked pedophile' vibe long before even Terra showed up. Want to sing me a new tune, Slade? Or do I have to hammer it out of you?" He clutched the rod tighter and sneered. "Once I frickin' find you—for starters—you god damn ghost!"

"Robin……I would not be—hckkk—so quickkkk to jesssst…………………This is the night you die…This is the night that—hckkk—the two of us….become completttte…."

"Sometimes I wonder, Slade….," Robin looked around his shoulders….peering side-to-side about the shard he was pressed against. "….I wonder…..wh-what exactly you would do…..if I died……" He managed a crooked smile. "But….I-I guess I know……you would run around in circles with your head all but cut off! Going nowhere! Reaching no meaningful end!" Robin gulped. Sneering. "Like you did when the Carbonite explosion masked my escape from your clutches…"

"Snkkkkt-Masssked? I have alwaysssss…..ssssseen….thrrrrough your massssssk….Robinnnn….hckkk-clik-clik-CLIK!"

Robin froze. His breath came out in quick bursts. "Y-You mean…..You mean you knew that I….that I wasn't dead?.!.?.!"

"Snkkkkt….but of courrrrse, Robinnnnskkkt…..," the voice filtered outward amongst the rooftop sea of metal shards. "…..hckkk-clik-clik-clik….if you had been sssssseverrrred from this mortal coil….I would have felt itttt! Snkkkt—Hckkk-I am the DEATH….that Viperrrr could only have DRRRREAMED of becominnnggg……snnkkkkt—if only you could feel this mightttty power……if you could justttt taste of the ultimate end of all thingssss—Hrckkkk—and feel it COURSING….THRRRROUGH…..YOUR FINGERTIPSSSSNKKKkkktkk-HCKK! Oh yes, Robin….I knew you werrrre alive…..and I knew—snkkkkt—that the imposssster from the other dimenssssion would mosssst likely preserrrrve you….."

"……………," Robin gulped. "………wh-why…..?"

"….snkkt-Why whattttt, boyyyyy? Why did I not exerrrrt my powerrrrr on you when I mossstttt saw fittt? Snkkkt—Hckkk! Why did I not….KILL……YOU? Butttt I am….I AM….KILLING YOU, ROBINNNKKKT! One friend at a ttttime…..one Citttty at a time…..one secccond….at….a bloody….TIME!"

Robin fumed.

Breathing heavily.

Hugging the rod to his chest and glaring off into space.

Seething……

"………."

"Snkkkkkt—No…..I could nottttt end you immediattttely. You don'tttt desssssserve the gracccce I besssstowed so swiftly upon Deckerrr….and Gloverrrr…..the grace that I shall soon bestow on the Titansss—if I so choose--…and the Jussstice League….and Daggerrrrr…and all that has ever….snkkkt—EVERRRR….BRRRRREATHED….THE PUTRID…STAIN…OF LIFE…IN THIS CITTTTTY—HCKKKK-Clik-clik-Clik-SNKKKT!…..Forrrr your death….I have builttt up….so….SO REDDD…………I WILL BATHE THE GRAVESSSS OF HEROESSSS…IN…THATTSNKKKT—RED! FOREVERRRR….BURNINGGG DOWN THE GOD FORSSSAKEN BALANCE—SNKKKKT—THAT HAS ALWAYS….ALWAYSSSNNKKT-HELD MY POWER AT BAY!"

Robin shook his head.

"That's impossible, Slade. What do you and I know about the balance of ANYTHING?"

"Snkkkkt—Plentttttty…."

Robin stepped out.

Pacing with his rod…

"You and I are both poles! Extremes! Extreme good…extreme evil….there is no balance to us, Slade! You know what I think you want? All you want is all you could ever get. A balance by destroying me….and ending your shitty obsession in the process! Because when I'm gone….where will be the thrill of things for you, Slade? Huh? Answer that, you death-breathing psycho!"

"………..oh……therrrrre will be plenty of………THRILL…….Robin……….SNkkkt-clik-clik….once you are…..dead….."

"……..," Robin's eyemask thinned. "Oh yeah?"

"……………….I will have Starfire's despair to suck on……"

The Boy Wonder's breath left him.

…….in vapor.

Numb, he spun around—

"HRAAA-AAAAAUCHKKKKTTT!" Deathstroke's blade slashed straight at him.

Robin twirled to the side---

SWIIIIIISSSSH!

SLIIIIINK!

"AAAUGH!" Robin screamed as a stream of blood flew from a deep cut in his shoulder. The torso piece of his costume now bloodily flailed open, exposing his upper right arm and chest—

"SNKKKKT!" Deathstroke lunged at him.

Robin dove wetly towards the side, rolled, knelt, and held his staff out—

CLANGGG!

Deathstroke leaned in and hissed in Robin's face. "You shouldddd have hearrrrrd her screeeeaming….Robin……when you werrrrren't—THERE-Snkkkkt-HCKKK-TO PROTECTTT HERRRR!"

Robin shouted back in his face. "I will not let you TOUCH HER!"

His red eye narrowed. "Too lattte…."

TH-THWUMPPP!

Deathstroke shoved against Robin.

Robin rolled backwards over the debris, hopped up, screamed animalistically, and charged at Deathstroke—swinging—slashing—jabbing—twirling—thrashing with his rod.

CLANK! SMACK! CLANG! CR-CRACK! CL-CLAK!

"I….said….you will…..NOT…TOUCH HER!.!.!.!" Robin howled.

"I will not—SNkkkt!—be satisssfied….," Red Aviary hissed as he backtracked, deflecting Robin's blows. "…until I hearrr from you the unhindred shriek of fearrr-Hckk-ROBIN!"

A sneering Robin pressed his weight against Slade, shoved him back—THWUMP!—and murderously raised his bo-staff up high to strike down. "I am NOT…….THE ONE……WHO SHOULD BE AFRAID, SLADE!.!.!.!" He swung with a blood curdling scream. "RAAA-AAAAUGHH!.!.!"

Deathstroke effortlessly blocked and went on: "Hckkk-clik-clik-clik….you arrren't scared…..Robinnn?"

CLANG! SMACK! THRASSH!

Red Aviary suddenly twirled, shot his leg out, and slammed Robin in the gut.

WHUMP!

Robin hunched over—

GRIPP!

Deathstroke's metal and flesh hand closed around the Boy Wonder's throat.

Robin gasped…bug-eyed.

Deathstroke leaned in and hissed red vapors into the Boy's face.

"You….shouldddd be………..HCKKKK!.!.!"

THWOOOOOSH! Deathstroke flung Robin-by the neck---clear off the building top.

"YAAAAAAA-AAAAAAA-AAAAAAAUGH!" Robin fell, flailed, and toppled a street's length off towards the east till he plummeted into the glass facing of a building's clock-tower overlooking the old Downtown district.

CRAAAA-AAAAAAAAASSSSH!

Robin burst through the glass between the 'XI' the 'I" and the "II'.

SHATTTTTERRRR!.!.!

With a splashing sea of glass, Robin sailed into the clock tower of the old building and tumbled across a woodboard floor. TH-TH-TH-THWUMPP!

Dust, cobwebs, and ashes scattered from his tumbling body.

He came to a stop in the center of a halo of glass shards and red light. Wincing….hissing in pain. Cut in multiple places. Bruised in a dozen more. His cape and costume in tatters. His skin grazed and nicked where exposed.

"Nnnngh…."

All around him…the metal gears and axels and wheels of the huge clock grinded and clattered and grinded together.

Clik-Clik-Clik-Clik-Clik-Snkkkkkkkkkkkt-Clik-Clik-Clik-Clik-Snkkkkkkkkt!

Clik-Clakka-Clik-Clakka-Clik-Clakka-Hckkkklaka—Hckkkklaka—Snkkkkt!

Robin shook and twitched all over.

Gripping weakly to his bo-staff….

….he pushed himself up.

Standing on wobbly legs.

Gazing upwards…weakly through a scuffed-up eyemask.

Weakly eyeing the grinding cogs.

The twirling rods.

The wheels spinning….spinning….groaning.

With the axels and the pistons and the pendulums.

Aloft and hanging above him.

Shadowed….haunting.

Clik-Clik-Clik-Clik-Snkkkkkkkt-Clik-Clik-Clik-Clik-Snkkkkkt!

Clik-Clakka-Clik-Clakka-Clik-Clackka!

The boy in Robin gulped.

He shakily held his rod at one end and prepared to descend the wooden stairs of the antique interior—

SHATTTTTTERRRR!

Robin gasped.

He spun….eyes twitching blue beneath his mask.

"…………….?"

A stretch of mortar and brick away from the inverse clock face….one of two symmetrical, stained-glass windows stretched vertically. And a distinctly human-sized hole lingered in the glass frame. With shards peeling off and littering the floor in quiet increments after the entrance of….

Someone………

Th-Thwish!

Robin twirled his staff at ready.

He paced across the dusty, creaking woodboards.

Jaw tight.

Eyemask thin and scanning the creaking…groaning surroundings.

Clik-Clik-Clik-Clik-Clik-Snkkkkkt-Clik-Clik-Clik-Clik-Snkkkkkt!

Clik-Clakka-Clik-Clakka-Clik-Clakka-Clik-Clakka-Hckkkkt-Hckkkt-Clik-Clakka!

Beads of sweat trailed down the Boy Wonder's brow.

He paced….shuffled….crept across the interior.

Heading towards the rear stretch of stained-glass windows where a kaleidoscopic flickering of red and amber from an adjacent, burning building seared its way through the translucency of the clock tower and cast a dancing paranoia across Robin's steps.

"…………"

Dust.

Drifting.

Noise….

Clik-Clik-Clik-Clik-Skkkkt-Clik-Clik-Clik-Snkkkkt!

Clik-Clakka-Clik-Clakka-Clik-Clakka-Hckkkkt-Clakka!

"Tell me, Robin……."

Robin gasped.

He spun around.

He eyed the lonely shadows of the dusty, shadowed interior.

The inverse clock face ticking away.

The red night screaming through icily to merge with the flame-dance kaleidoscopically bathing Robin's backside as he paced…paced…paced….

Trembling.

Rod raised….

"……do you remember when you were my apprenticccce?"

Robin craned his neck.

He listened to the gears and axels.

Clik-Clik-Clik-Clik-Clik-Clik-Snkkkt-Clik-Clik!

Clik-Clakka-Clik-Clakka!

"…………."

The Titan Leader shuddered.

"Snkkkt……..oh how perfeccct you were. I almosssst believed in you, Robin….snkkkt….I almost believed that you would be…….IT."

Robin sneered: "Oh yeah? Be what….Slade?"

"…………….."

"Well?" Robin snarled. Staring up into the rafters. The grinding, rusted-metal mesh ghosts. "Come on! Out with it! You know you want to torture me with your supposed 'truth'!"

"Hckkkkk-Clik-Clik-Clik-Clikkkkt…..All I wantttted…..All I everrrr wantedddd……snnkkt—clik-clik-clik…….was the perrrrrfect SON!"

Robin panted…..gulped….and shuddered.

"And you got him, Slade…..," he murmured. A wave of sadness echoing through his throat. "You got him…..you just c-can't see it…."

"Snkkkkt….what I have…….is an accccidentttt…..hckkk…."

"And what of your other children?" Robin frowned. "Were they ALL accidents too?" He gripped his rod tighter and hissed. "And what of Terra's UNBORN BABY! Was THAT a mistake too, Slade? A mistake that you forced upon her for no damn reason?.!.?.!"

Clik-Clik-Clik-Clik-Clik-Snkkkkt-Clik-Clik-Clik-Clik-Snkkkkkkt!

Clik-Clakka-Clik-Clakka-Clik-Clakka-Hckkkt-Hckkkt-Clakka!

Robin waited.

Robin listened.

"………..misssstakesss…..don't bring ultimate purposssse……..you were oncccce a mistake yourselfff….werrrren't you—snkkkt—Robin?"

Robin bit his lip.

Backing up towards the burning stained glass stretch….

"Snkkkt…..your mother never wanted you…..your father never wanted you……you stepped into Misterrrrr Wayne's---snkkkkktt—by accidentttt….."

Robin gritted his teeth. "I will not have you dictate to me my worth! I was never……EVER defined by your psychotic reasoning, Slade!" He hissed. "Let's end this tonight! Not inflate it!"

Clik-Clik-Snkkkkt-Clik-Clik-Clik-Snkkkt!

Clik-Clakka-Clik-Clackka-Clik-Hckkkkt-Hckkkt-Clakka-Clik-Clackka!

"An end, Robin? Snkkkt…..," his voice hissed from the roaming darkness of the antique bowels. "Snkkkt….haven't we had this conversssation beforrrre?"

"…………."

"My childrrrren……I could end them…..ssssso quickly….I know thissssss….and they know thisssss. Terra's child…..was my punisssshment to her. For her child would neverrrrr be half as good as a boy you arrrrre, Robin. You've prrrrroven to me that I can'tttt end you overrrrnight. For as much of a misssstake you are……you hold worrrrrth. You…..challenge me. You exerrrrcisssse me……and when you couldn'tttt be my perfectttt son…..I decided to give Terra one……so that she…..so that ssssssomeone…. could understand….the banalittttty of wasted EXISTENCE!"

"SHUT UP!" Robin howled. Shaking his fist and rod. "SHUT UP! What you did to Terra was an ATROCITY! Don't you DARE pin that on me, you split-headed BASTARD!"

"Snkkkt…temper temper, Robin…..you forgetttt that you are going to die tonight. Like Abraham with Isaac….only the betttter ending. The ending where Abraham standssss up to the angel interceding on Isaac's behalf..……….and KILLS……HERRRR-SNKKKT!"

Robin gasped.

Eyes wide.

Clik-Clik-Clik-Clik-Clik-Snkkkt-Clik-Clik-Clik-Snkkkkt!

"You thinkkkkk what I did to Terrrrra was horrible….?….Snkkkt-clkkkk…..when you arrrre gone, Robin. When you arrrre gone and the essence of your converrrrted mistake of a life is ssssswitched over to DEATH…..snkkkkkkttt…..I shall…….burrrrrn that angel…..the one you've prrrrrrayed for…….I will burrrrn her until she wishessss for an end. Even an end that willlll foreverrrrr separatttte her from YOU!"

Robin seethed.

Shaking all over.

"Yesssss, Robin…..yessssss……..seethe with that passsshion….build yoursssself upppp to steammmmm….."

"You want steam?" Robin sneered icily and twirled his bo-staff into a firm grip. "Come here and tasted it, shitface."

"Arrrre you so eager….Robin?"

"……………," He glared into the shadows. Rod raised.

Clik-Clakka-Clik-Clakka-Clik-Clakka-Hckkkkkt-Clik-Clakka-Clik!

Clik-Clik-Clik-Clik-Clik-Snkkkkt-Clik-Clik-Clik-Clik-Snkkkkt!

Clik-Clakka-Clik-Clakka-Clik-Clakka-Hckkkt-HCKKKKKT-SNKKKKKT-CLIK-CLIK-HRAAAUCKT!"

Robin gasped. Robin spun—

SLASSSSSH!.!.!.!.!.!.!

SLIIINK!

"AAAAUGH!" Robin shrieked from a red river slicing down his forearm.

"HCKKK-CLIK-CLIK-SNKKKKKT!" Deathstroke charged at him. Blurring red feet cracking through the floorboards. STOMP-STOMP-STOMP-FWOOOSH! SL-SLAAAAASSSSSH!

The red blade swam, slicing through the splintery old wood and singing up at Robin.

The Boy Wonder grunted and rolled to the side—

SWOOOOOSSSH!

Cold red clouds and wooden bits flew up.

Robin jumped up to his feet.

Bleeding.

Wincing.

Deathstroke blurred at him through the fountains of red-trailing debris.

SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASSSH!

Robin jumped back, ducked, side-stepped, jerked left and right, and raised his bo-staff at the last second.

CHIIIING!

SLASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSH!.!.!.!.!

The red, two-edged blade swam down at him with a crashing explosion of red.

CRAAAAA-AAAAAACKKKK!

Robin's bo-staff cracked in two.

The Boy Wonder gasped…stumbling backwards.

Gripping separate shards of metal 'clubs'.

"HRAAAUCHKTT!" Deathstroke lunged at him.

Robin flipped, leap-frogged the reaper, snaked down bloodily behind him, spun, and twirled his hands up….holding the club-shards.

SL-SLASSSH! Deathstroke spun with a wide sweeping blade through the air.

Robin gritted his teeth, hunched back on bent knees, and blocked the slice with both clubs raised up.

CL-CLASSSSH!

Sparks flew.

Deathstroke snarled and kicked the Boy Wonder in the exposed chest with a blurring-red foot.

TH-THWOMP!

Robin gasped and rolled across the antique domain.

Clik-Clik-Clik-Clik-Snkkkkt-Clik-Clik-Clik-Clik-Snkkkkkt!

Clik-Clakka-Clik-Clakka-Clik-Clakka-Hckkkt-Hckkkt-Clakka!

Robin tumbled up to his knees.

CHIIII-IIII-IIIING! Deathstroke charged the Titan Leader, sword dragging by two hands to the hilt.

Robin held his breath, jumped up to his feet, and criss-crossed his club-shards in an 'X' right as Deathstroke raised his blade.

SLASSSH-CLANGGGG!

Robin struggled.

Deathstroke hissed.

Robin grunted and shoved down against Deathstroke's blade.

Deathstroke swung back, spiraled around, and slashed-jabbed-hacked at Robin.

SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH!

Robin spun a human tornado, with both arms outstretched, blocking and deflecting and parrying with a single-handed twirl of a bo-staff half at each rotation.

CLANK! CLANG! CLACK! WHANG! CLANG!

Deathstroke slashed, hacked, and stabbed at each twirling deflection that Robin performed….forcing him more and more towards the flat stained-glass windows of kaleidoscopic fire-dancing.

Robin knelt in front of the glass, crossing both shards again….this time struggling from the pressing weight of Slade down against him.

SCRAAAA-AAAAAAA-AAAAAAAPE!.!.!.!

"Hckkkk-Clik-Clik-Clikkksnkkkt!' Deathstroke hissed down at the boy. Pouring red smoke and cold crimson vapors down his arms, down his sword, and down onto Robin's scarred chest and arm….exposed. "Snkkkkt….give in, Robin. Give in……your releasssssed energy shall be enough by now….the Balance shall be broken….brokkkkken foreverrrrr…."

Robin struggled….sweating…..twitching all over. The wheels and axels grinded ahead. The ghostly sounds of an apprentice being beaten senselessly for the angel…..

The angel………

"This cirrrrcle is meantttt for you to completttte….snkkkktt….from….the nightttt…I FIRSSST….BREATHED….THE FRREEEEZING FIRRRRE….OF DEATH! THE TERMINATORRRRRR!.!.!"

Robin hissed.

Sweated….

….and growled up at Red Aviary.

"I'm not…..your son….Slade……and I'll be DAMNED if I'll be your pinnacle of existence either! You wanna die? You gotta learn that th-that's….snkkkt…a one….m-man…..job!.!.!"

"SNKKKKT!" Deathstroke slid his slicing blade towards Robin.

The Boy Wonder ducked his head, lost a few strands of black hair, and kicked his leg out—impacting Deathstroke's ankle.

TH-THWAPP!

"HCKKKKTT-TT!" the Reaper stumbled.

"NNNGH!" Robin shoved up against the red sword.

Deathstroke teetered….

Robin shot up, spun, ran up the stained glass—

"SNKKKKT!" SLASSSSH!

--vaulted up off it, dodged Deathstroke's horizontal swipe, backflipped with both shards in his grasp, soared high into the clock tower's interior, entangled himself in a grinding cog above, spun around—

"Clik-Clik-Clikkkkkt….," Slade turned to face up towards Robin.

--Robin twirled around on the wheel—Clik-Clik-Clik-SNkkkt—and leapt off, flipping, pouncing murderously down towards Slade with both club-halves stabbing heavily earthward with the shards screaming first.

THUNK!

TH-THUNKKKK!

In red splashes of blood and red vapors, both broken bo-staff halves dug deep into two spots of Slade's chest.

"HRAAAAA-AAAAAAUCHKKKKTTT!" Red Aviary flailed backwards.

Robin straddled his chest….pushing all of his weight into the two stabbing staff shards. "YAAAAAA-AAAAAAAAAAUGH!" he screamed heatedly into Slade's face and bloodily rode him back…back…back….

….through the stained glass windows.

SHATTTTTERRRRRR!.!.!.!.!.!

Robin and Slade flailed…..

….fell…..

……..flipped…….

……….and plummeted through the red air……

………….towards the burning building surging below…..

……………..a rooftop engulfed in billowing flames from hellseeker impacts and golem parts…….

THWOOOOO-OOOOOOOSSSSH!.!.!.!.!

The two burned their way through the curtains of amber-hot fire.

"HCKKKK-KKKKKT!" Slade absorbed the fires and boiled all over.

SP-SPLORRRCH! One of the two shards popped free of his bloody chest.

Robin twirled off with the one staff-half, his cape absorbing the flames and scattering them into ashes.

TH-TH-TH-TH-THWUMPPP! He rolled across the rooftop. Bloody. Scathed. Skin-red….

"SNkkkkkt-HRAAAUCHKKKK-KKKT!" Slade screamed from the flames surrounding.

Robin stood up in the halo of heat.

Sweating.

Panting.

Wincing all over as his vaporous breath melted and condensed in mid-air.

The ashes swam around them like glowing gold snowflakes.

The night's howling horror bubbling in an epicenter.

Entwining the two.

Entwining—

"SNRAAAA-AAAUCHKKKKTT!" Deathstroke burst out of the flame wall surrounding the rooftop. His cold red murk mixing with flesh-smoke. His cowl was singed—along with the rest of his black and red body suit. He surged a hot trail towards Robin, his feet leaking napalm and his sword slashing ashes and embers in its red-murder-swing at the Boy Wonder's cranium.

SLAAAAA-AAAAAAAAA-AAAAAASSSSH!

Robin ducked, jumped back, and wincingly deflected with the flimsy metal shard.

CLACK! CLANG! WHANG!

Deathstroke ever-advanced on Robin. Slashing. Hacking. Hissing. Shrieking.

Robin retreated. Hobbling backwards. Deflecting. Blocking.

The two immortal adversaries formed an endless silhouette of burning master and bleeding apprentice against the rising flames of mayhem billowing around and behind and beyond them.

The halo of flame.

The full circle engulfing, singeing, circumventing.

The blood-curdling shriek. The hunger.

The grunting. The weak defiance.

"SNKKKKT! HRAAAUCHKKKT! CLIK-CLIK-CLIK-SNKKKK-KKKKKT!.!.!.!.!.!"

Robin stumbled.

Robin fell to his knees.

He quivered and shook and held the friction-hot metal shard up against Deathstroke's pounding, relentless slashes of the two-edged sword.

CLAK! CLAK! CLAK! CLAKK! CLAKKK!.!.! CLAAAAK!.!.!.!

"SNKKKKKK-KKKKTT!.!.!.!" A vaporous, red-hissing sneer. A pulling back, coiling of the upper body. Limbs flexing…charging…redmurking. FLAASSSH! "HRAAAUCKKT!" SLAAAAA-AAAAAAAASH!

Deathstroke's blade shattered through the metal shield—CRAAAACKKK!—swam down---SLIIIIIINKKKK!—and barely grazed Robin's face…..tearing the eyemask to shreds.

SLASSSH!

Tim gasped.

His blue eyes wide and naked to Death itself.

"HCKKKK-CLIKKKSNKKKT!" Deathstroke swung again.

SLIIIIINK!

A slash of blood flew from Tim's chest.

"AAAAAUGH!"

SL-SLASSSH!

The back of his costume tore, and red liquid trailed down the boy's back.

"Nnnnngh!"

SW-SW-SW-SWOOOSH! THWACKKKK! The flat of the blade slapped Tim to the ground…upon which Deathstroke swiped at his sprawled legs, cutting a thin red line across the stretch of both of them and tearing the green tights apart above the ankles. SLIIIIICE!

"Aaaaa-haaaaaaaaaugh!" Tim convulsed and screamed into the ash-laden rooftop.

"HCKKK!" Deathstroke swung his red-murking foot back and—CRACKKK!—slammed the tip of his limb straight into Tim's ribcage.

Th-Th-Th-Thwump!

Tim rolled across the flame-showered rooftop.

He came to a shuddering stop.

Coughing.

Spitting up blood.

He curled into a fetal position and winced….his tightening face squeezing blue tears out of even bluer eyes as he shook and shuddered.

CH-CTHINK! Several feet away, the tip of Red Aviary's blade stuck into the tar…..and dragggggged allllll the waaaaaay slowwwwwly towards the grounded boy. Chiii-iiiii-iiii-iiiing!

"You alwaysssss had….and still alwaysssss have…. trrrrouble….with learrrrrrning respectttt-snkkkkt—Robinnnn….."

Tim sputtered….shook…..withered….

"How many timesss-snkkkkt—must I dissssplay my true powerssss…my perpetual…..utterrrr…STRENGTH compared to you—SNKKKT!—and here you have lowerrred to thisss sobbing creaturrrrre. You have returrrrned to the missstake that once ran around harmlesssss and powerless in the impoverisssshed streets of Gotham. Timmmmmmmothyyyyyyyy DRAKE! A motherlesssss….hopelesssss……WEAKLING….WITHOUT—SNKKKT—A PRAYERRRR! Angel or no angel….you arrrre a ssssshame of any obsssssesssion I may have sssspent my life on. And now you've come full circcccle to your pathetickkkkk rootssss afterrrr years of flounderrrring around in a superhero cossssstume. My killingggg of you will be asssss much a favorrrrr to the Balance of Moralssss as it shall be a TWISSSSTING of itttt-snkkkt!"

Tim shook.

Tearing.

Wincing and staring with weak, blue eyes up at Deathstroke. "For the love of God, what is it, Sl-Slade? What do you want from us?"

"Snkkkkt-Clkkkkkk…Hckkkk…."

Chiiiiii-iiiiii-iiiiiing…..

"If I'm nothing b-but a weak waste of l-life….then what k-keeps you coming back to---nnngh….t-t-tear apart our l-l-lives….?"

CHIIING! Deathstroke ended the blade right at Tim's figure. He leered over him. Hissing down red vapors.

"Snkkkkt….I wanttt to stand in the warrrrm blood of everrrrything you stand forrrrr, Robin, afterrr painting this coveted bird-cage you call a City WITH ITTT-SNKKKT!"

GRIPPP!.!

Deathstroke leaned down and hoisted Tim up by his metal-and-flesh fingers around the boy's throat.

"Hckkkk!.!…..I wantttt the exquisittte taste of your greatttest sorrrowsss come to lifffffe…clik-clik-clikkttt!" He lifted Tim to face him. Blue eyes to pulsing red eye. "I havvve founddd perfecttttion in Death—snkkkt—and yourrr ruination shallll complettte me…"

TH-THWUMP!

He tossed the maskless Boy Wonder down to the rooftop. And as flames and ashes splashed down over his smoking-red crown, he raised the blade up—almost ceremonially—in two twitching hands.

"SNkkkkt—the angel's part is being re-written. It isss the fatherrrr in the endddd….who must slay the SON! And you, Robinnn….have been my—snkkt—LAMB…from the START!.!.!"

Tim sat on his knees.

Bleeding.

Numb.

Staring into the flames.

His blue eyes thin.

Thinly inhaling….inhaling the smoke all around.

Black.

Black.

Charring.

"Burrrrrn, Robin…."

"……"

"Burrrn…learrrrn what it meanssss to burrrrn….and tell me—someday—what it is likkkkke…..snkkkkt-clik-clik-clik-clik-HCKKKKT!"

Tim shuddered.

Tim sat on his knees.

His arms drenched at his sides.

His chest and shoulder exposed.

His cape tattered.

Facing the fire.

The black oblivion beyond.

The end.

The End.

And Red Aviary raised his blade.

And Red Aviary brought it down.

Slowly…..slicing the air.

Slowly….billowing red flame.

Slowly trailing a crimson line of destruction straight into the back of the boy's black-haired cranium….

….and Tim breathed.

Calmly.

Squinting at the obscurity of the flame.

Meditating….

Meditating………

And he saw.

And he heard.

Singing to him through song-swish of death hurtling toward his ears….

"Run, Robin! Hurry!"


"Annie! No!"

Robin held his hand out towards the curdling mass of brown.

"NO!"

'Annie' surged in and out of Clayface's mass. Being consumed. Being swallowed. Being murdered.

Murdered.

That evil word.

That dark abyss that sloshed like an icy cloud over the Gotham Cityscape and brought with it the laughter and gaiety of its brother Death.

The burning traces in between.

The fires that singed in Tim's eyes.

As he sat on the fire escape outside his beat-down apartment.

Ignoring the soul-shaking shouts of his frustrated, drunken father.

Reaching a frail, tear-stained hand of fingers spread against the cold, gray horizon.

The filtered wintry melancholy of the endless death that was the Gotham sky.

And suddenly—as if in a flash—those tear stains matched the grayness of the horizon and reminded him of the paleness of his mother's arms.

As she engulfed him in a hug from behind when he was barely four.

Huddled in a closet while his father—angry from a bad stunt with Two-Face—stormed around the apartment and tore furniture and tables to shreds.

And his mother stroked his soft head of hair.

And shakingly kissed the back of his neck.

"I love you, Timothy. I have always and shall always love you."

Tim shook.

Tim shivered.

Quivering all over.

And hiding it under the callous welts from his father's fists.

The red wounds from where his bare feet stomped over broken glass in the Gotham alleyways while running away with someone's purse.

The stinging gas of the Joker during a raid with Batman.

The cold-shiver-showers that he took at age fourteen to chase the demons away with no luck.

The blows and the uppercuts and the kicks to the stomach dealt by Slade while dressed in his apprentice outfit.

The shadows from which he saw Starfire—obscured—like a freshly blown-out candle in the rooms of the Tower where he wasn't in.

Sobbing and rejecting his death in the fantasies of his mind.

Wounding…

Searing with guilt…

"Run, Robin!"

Annie shouted.

"Hurry!"

"…………," for once……the thirteen-year-old Boy Wonder didn't move. He didn't strike back at Clayface. And he didn't……

He didn't turn and run.

He just stayed where he was.

Perfectly balanced.

Staring at the consumed girl.

Contemplating……

"…………you are not real……"

Annie gasped.

Annie drowned.

Annie faded into mud.

"………I……I c-can finally see that, Annie…………y-you are not real………"

Clayface groaned.

Clayface dissolved.

The rusted catwalk and the metal mesh started to fade simultaneously away in Dali-esque haze and distortion.


"…………," Robin raised his hands and stared at them. Ungloved. Cold. A four-year-old on his fire escape who had finally……finally touched the horizon. The world on the other side of Metropolis. The sobbing alien girl curled on the bed beyond the glass in a pink room. "………I am not running anywhere………I………I-I am staying right here………"

Tim looked up.

His mother lie on the floor.

Pounding the carpet.


Screaming……howling at her abusive husband.

As Robert Drake screamed and shook his fist and kicked her.

"This……is where I've always been………running in circles……with or without the cape………this is……this is it, Slade."

…………

"But it does not have to be……," Tim's fists clenched. He was fourteen years old on the balcony of Wayne Manor. Growing. Changing. Contemplating. He clenched his jaw and hissed: "I know……wh-what I want it to be."

And he shuddered.

And he shook.

And then he sobbed.

The tears came down his cheeks and he laid back.

Leaning his head into the nook of Starfire's neck.

Who held him.


Who held him on that bench in the park after the visit to the skating rink.

The day Jericho freed him—if but for a moment—from the fiery constraints of the full circle.

And Tim sobbed.

"Th-This………is where I want t-to be………"

He rubbed the moisture from his eyes.

He stared breathlessly across the Main Room.

Cyborg and Beast Boy were making pancakes.

Noir and Raven bravely stood first in line to receive healthy helpings.

Tempest stood in the sidelines, arms crossed….saying something sarcastic that made Noir chuckled breathily and Raven roll her eyes.

Beast Boy added a joke……for which Cyborg nudged him and Tempest finally cracked.

And in the center of them……

Laughing the most.

Smiling the most.

Warm green eyes thin……searching……entreating……

A hand outstretched.

Amber skin.

Touching.

Searing through the glove.

The tears of his mother.

The adrenaline of crime-fighting.

Starfire's shuddering breath everytime Robin so much as hugged her.

Starfire……overtaken with Robin.


Robin's life.

And feeding back to it.

"My life has been running in circles………"

……

"Circles under the low ceiling of death……"

……

"I cannot escape this dark fate……"

……

"And neither can my friends……"

……

"And neither can she……"

……


"But……by God……she has something……"

……

"S-Something……a warmth……a-an absolute warmth. Sh-She has……"

……

"She has something nameless……"

……

"And that is where the bird flies free."

……


"Not in my legacy. Not in my past. Not in any way I can summon to fight back or mask away or run away from the pain."

……

"Everything lies in her. That……that perfectly nameless power. That center between life and death……that is ever perpetually………warm. But not burning. But not freezing. Just………indefinable………nameless……formless……"

……

"…………"

……

"It………It is so simple. It is so liberating. Like a climax without its punchline. A story without its plot. Like………L-Like something ludicrously beautiful………the n-name I was given before I was born………the sound of one hand clapping………"

……

"………why have I spent so much time………wasting this space I call a body…………over trying to understand that which is not meant to be understood………but to be seized and FELT?"

……

"There is no point for flight. There is no fear. There is no point for surrender. There is no defeat. There is no point for fighting……for there is no fight. Everything flows. My god……it flows. Why couldn't I accept it……why couldn't I--?"

……

"My god…she does accept it. She accepts it……and………she still can………"

Tim clenched his fists.

He snarled.

"And I CAN."

He shook and boiled all over.

Righteous fury mixed with the heat in his breath.

Pain and joy……life and death……agony and ecstasy.

It didn't mix. It didn't separate. It didn't do anything at all, for there was no dichotomy.

It merely dawned on the Boy Wonder that everything and everything was solid contributors to a whole. A circle. And they were as much that circle in that the 'circle' was an illusion. And everything………everything that Tim labeled and feared and hated suddenly ceased to exist.

And the energy in his system equalized. And he splashed into the neutral waters of the Balance of Morals to come hurtling back out black as the night and as loud as a siren.

"AaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"

SW-SWOOOOSH!

Tim's hands shot up, palms flat, and—CLAPPPP!.!.!.!—closed tightly over the flat sides of Deathstroke's blade.

Stopping it within a bare inch of his cranium.

TWNNNNNG-G-G-G!.!.!.!

"HCKKKK-SNKKKT?.!.?.!.?.!" Deathstroke recoiled on his end of the sword.

And Tim pulsed. And his blue eyes reopened. And when they did—as if rupturing with spastic epiphany—there was something very striking about them that fountained outward in a flickering BLACK!.!.!.!.!

FLASSSSSSS-SSSSSH!.!.!.!

A warbling wave of obsidian smoke ate straight up the trailing red vapors and exploded in mahogany fury against Deathstroke's hilt-grip.

FWOOOOSSSSH!.!.!.!

"HRAAUCHKKT!.!.!" Red Aviary recoiled wildly from the boy…

Tim sat on his knees. Arms draping down at his side. Trailing a needle-nose of black incense from every finger digit. He panted….panted…hissed through clenched teeth….flickered his eyes back to his natural normal blue, and shouted as he—THW-THWPPP!.!.!—vaulted his agile body upwards and flipped….flipped….flipped backwards over Slade in a drop-kick.

WHAM!.!.!.!

Tim's steel-tipped boot slammed down into Deathstroke's cranium.

TH-TH-TH-THWUMPP!.!.!Deathstroke went rolling wildly across the ash-laden rooftop till he rolled awkwardly up to his knees. Hissing in confusion….panic. His red-eye pulsing like a bicycle reflector.

"Nnnnnn-Nnnngh!" Tim growled and marched firmly…bleeding….towards the 'Reaper'.

Red Aviary stumbled up to his feet, hissed—"Hckkkk-Snkkkt!"—and jabbed straight towards Tim in a red-bladed lunge.

Tim snarled, raised a bare forearm, and blocked the serrated metal with an agilely twisting arm. As if his flesh was pure granite, Tim somehow—meditatingly—managed to avoid the slicing edge of the red metal, to twirl his arm about the length of the blade, and to shove into Red Aviary through Slade's very own bludgeon.

TH-THWAPPP!.!.!.!

Deathstroke stumbled back towards the fire….hissing….tripping over his undead self….

"You are NOTHING, SLADE!.!.!.!.!" Tim shouted. "You think Death is powerful? You think it rules over life and balance? Well I have news for you!"

"SILENCCCEE-HCKKK!" Deathstroke lunged again.

Tim effortlessly sidestepped, twirled, grabbed Slade by his shoulders, slammed his knee into the Terminator's gut, and flung him across the roof.

Snarling: "Everything is equal….for everything is unrelated! The only foil there ever is…..is who we are to ourselves!.!.!.!"

Deathstroke stumbled to his feet….snarled….breathed out red vapors, and slashed heavily down at Tim.

SWOOOO-OOOOOSH!.!.!.!

Tim rushed forward, ran under the blade, and gripped his left hand and right arm—locking—around Deathstroke's twitching neck. Bending him back painfully.

"SNkkkt-Hraa-aa-aaauchkKKKTT!"

Tim seethed through clenched teeth in Deathstroke's face. Lit by the halo of fire. Hissing. Shouting.

"The reason why you conceived—and then tortured—your very own kids is because they couldn't help you where you most wanted them to. The reason why you raped and impregnated Terra was for the same reason. The reason why….you've chosen me….and obsessed….over me….and raised all…MANNER…OF HELL….OVER ME….is that you, Slade, can't seem to immortalize yourself! And it shakes you to the very being because you are AFRAID…..OF DEATH! So afraid that you sought anything and EVERYTHING that could BRING YOU BACK from that burning fate of eternity that awaits you and you chose Noir's Spectrum to do it through! You made a PACT with DEATH ITSELF! Slade died…and in death he became Red Aviary! And still….STILL you CANNOT OWN THAT…WHICH YOU WASTED YOUR PUTRID LIFE FOR! YOU CANNOT….MASTER….ME!.!.!"

"HCkkkkt—You shall die, Robin…," Deathstroke hissed back. Red vapors ever-freezing to hide the sudden quiver in his undead voice. "YOU AND ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS WILL DIE!.!.!"

"You think I don't know that? You think I'm not PREPARED? Unlike you—you smoking assed son of a bitch—I'M NOT ABOUT TO THROW A SATANIC, DEATH-INCARNATE HISSY FIT OVER IT!.!.!"

TH-THWOMPPP!.!.!

Tim shoved Deathstroke back.

Deathstroke teetered towards the edge of the buildingside…..and the flames that curtained up beyond it.

"Nrggh—Hckkkt!" He looked up. Red-eye-pulsing.

Tim clenched his fists. "It's OVER, Slade! It was over the very moment Noir shoved his blade through your heart!" Tim screamed: "IT WAS OVER THE VERY MOMENT YOU FIRST LAID HANDS ON ME!.!.! I…..SHALL NOT BE…YOUR SOLACE FROM YOUR VERY OWN FATE!.!.!.! And neither….NEITHER shall be your CHILDREN!.!.!"

"Shut up and die…..Hckkkk-CLIK-CLIK-SNKKKT!"CHIIIII-IIIIIING! Deathstroke wielded the red blade with a vaporous scream and came madly charging. "SHUT UP AND DDDDDIIIIEEE!.!.!.!"

One last pulse of black in the Boy Wonder's eyes…..

…..and…..

TH-THWPP-THWACCCCK!.!.!.!

He madly uppercutted Deathstroke on the incoming before Red Aviary could so much as come within sword-range of the Boy Wonder.

"HRAAAAUCHKKKT!.!.!" Red Aviary flew back towards the flames—

POW! Swisssssssh-TH-THUNK!

--and suddenly snagged to a stop and lingered in the burning tongues of fire and plasma at the end of Robin's grappling hook.

Robin held his end of the corded device….keeping Deathstroke's teetering form boiling in the amber-red field of heat.

"The difference between you and me, Slade…."

"Nnnnskkkt-Raaaaucktt!.!.!" Deathstroke groaned and twitched and convulsed in the blood-hissing flames.

Struggling…helpless at the end of the cord suspending him in cooking Hell.

SSSSSSSSssssssssssss!

"…..the difference is that I can stop obsessing…."

"Hraaaa-aaaauchkkkktt!"

"….and from now on, I choose to be who I am…."

"Snkkkkkt—Nnnngh!"

"….born to die….dying to live…."

SSSSSsssssssss!

"Clikkkkssssnnntt!.!.!"

"….surrounded by my friends….and those whom I love…."

"Hraaauchkkt—HRAAAAUCHKKKT!"

"….ultimately satisfied that you—Slade—are going to be burning…."

SSSSSssssss!


"Nnnnnkkkt---"

"And you shall be burning….."

"—snkkkttt-nraaaAAAUGH!.!-"

"….for a very…."

"---AAA-AAAAHAAAAUGHNNNKKT!.!-"

"…..very….."

"RAAA-HRAAAAAUCHKKKKKT!.!.!"

"…FUCKING….."

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSsssssssss!.!.!

"…LONG TIME!.!.!.!"

CL-CLAK!

Tim let go of the cord.

PHWOOOOO-OOOOOO-OOOOMB!.!.!.!

And Deathstroke—now a burning pillar of mangled flesh wrapped around whirring metal parts…

….fell screaming.

Burning.

Deteriorating.

Evaporating….

Towards the distant, fatal height of the scarred City ash-laden below….

FWOOOOOO-OOOOOOO-SSSSSSH!.!.!

The nearby alleyway flashed with an explosion of heat and flame and organically-singed discharge from far below.

A bright strobe into the red holocaust.

Blanketing Tim with ashes.

And yet….soothing him at the same, morose time.

And the bleeding…..battered….bruised Boy Wonder fell to his knees.

Panting in the center of the ring of fire.

Panting….panting…..panting….

Shaking.

Clenching his fists.

Tightening his body.

Inhaling sharply…..

….and—

"RAAAAA-AAAAAAAAAA-AAAAAAAAAAAAGH!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!" he tilted his head up to the red sky and screamed a bellowing howl that blanketed his portion of the Cityscape…..numbing him….freeing him….

Under a baptism of tears….

The cold night air turning the corners of his eyes to frost.

And he slumped over.

Sobbing.

Hyperventilating.

Calming….calming….calming….

A final shudder in the center of the ring of fire…..where everything was actually combining into one solid line….one cohesive plume of smoke.

Nameless…formless….ever changing….

Tim shuddered…..sighed….

And all but collapsed in the ashes.

"…..my superpower……is th-the power to live….and die at the same time….and not st-stress over it………"

…….

"I'll choose that over th-the reddest bird cage anyday….."

And he fell silent.