4. Trust?
It took several seconds for the team to fully absorb the implications of what Slade had just said.
"You can't be serious," Robin said, his disbelief obvious.
"I'm always serious," Slade replied easily. "I thought you knew that, Robin."
"So, wait, you're the contact?" Cyborg asked incredulously.
"No, way," Beast Boy growled, having reverted to human form.
"I don't buy it!" Robin snapped. "There are a hundred ways you could have found out that password."
"True," Slade conceded. "And there are probably also a hundred ways I might have learned that you were sent to this location by one William Wintergreen, on a mission to rescue a uniquely gifted young girl named Rose Worth from the clutches of Brother Blood and the H.I.V.E. Who are currently holding her at a location which…I also happen to be familiar with." His eye glinted in the early morning light. "But that does seem like an awfully long string of coincidences, don't you think?"
Robin heard Cyborg shift uncomfortably behind him. "Uh…I hate to say this, Robin, but it does match up with what the man told us…"
Robin clenched his teeth, still holding his staff poised above Slade's chest. "I still don't believe it. How do we know you didn't just capture the contact, and torture the information out of them?"
"You don't, of course," Slade replied. "But think, Robin. If this were all part of an elaborate trap…wouldn't I have sprung it, by now? Furthermore, the longer we delay here, the longer Brother Blood has access to Rose and her powers."
"We?" Robin repeated.
"Robin. Get off of him."
"Raven, you of all people," Robin began, twisting to look back at her, "You can not believe what he's—!"
He broke off as he realized that she was telekinetically holding the severed tree branch above them, aiming it down at Slade like a jagged, oversized wooden spear. He barely had enough time to dive out of the way, along with Beast Boy and Cyborg, before she flung it downward.
As for Slade, his superhuman reflexes allowed him to backflip out of the branch's path at the last moment, before it plunged several feet into the rain-soaked ground where he'd been lying a split second earlier.
"Raven!" Wonder Girl exclaimed, grabbing the smaller girl by the shoulder. "Calm down. This isn't helping matters."
Raven whirled on her, her eyes crackling with gray energy, but whatever she was going to say or do was interrupted by Slade's voice.
"Well. I gather there are still some lingering hard feelings, then?" the older man observed dryly, as he wiped the mud off his armor. "What a pity…ah!" He straightened up. "I see you've also brought my son with you. Excellent." And he held out a hand, to clarify exactly who he was referring to.
Except for Raven, all of the Titans turned to stare at Jericho with varying degrees of shock.
The blond musician frowned, then shouldered his guitar and calmly walked up to Slade, until he was standing directly in front of him.
"Hello, Joseph," Slade said. The two of them stood there regarding each other for a long moment, while the other Titans looked on.
Then Jericho threw a lightning-fast body blow into the taller man, and followed up with a roundhouse kick which sent him sprawling to the ground several feet away.
"Yeah!" Beast Boy exclaimed.
Slade used a nearby tree to pull himself back to his feet, rubbing his jaw. "Hmph. So, you do remember me," he observed.
Jericho glowered at him briefly, then turned on his heel and walked back over to where the Titans were assembled. Robin stepped in front of him, however.
"So, it's true, then?" he asked intently. "Slade is your father?"
The green-eyed youth frowned, then nodded reluctantly.
Robin ran a hand through his damp hair. "This just gets better and better…" he muttered.
"Oh, don't worry about him," Slade called to them. "He takes after his mother, I'm afraid. In fact, I haven't even seen him since he was a child."
"No wonder," Beast Boy said, giving Jericho a supportive nod. "I knew you were too cool to have anything to do with that creep."
"So what's your game, here, Slade?" Cyborg asked, crossing his arms. "Or, more to the point. Why shouldn't we just take you down, right here and now, once and for all?"
"You certainly have that choice," Slade acknowledged. "I doubt that even I could successfully fight off all seven of you, simultaneously. But of course, if you did that, you would then lose any hope of rescuing Rose and stopping Blood's plan."
"And why would either of those things concern you?" Starfire asked, her tone as reproachful as any of the others'. "You have never displayed the altruistic intentions, in our previous encounters."
"An accurate assessment," Slade responded. Then, he sighed. "Given our history, I don't expect you to believe this. But the truth is, having seen this world nearly brought to its End at the hands of Trigon, knowing that I was an active contributor to that situation, and subsequently working alongside you to reverse it all, has caused me to…reexamine certain things. I have decided to begin taking steps to change the direction my life had previously taken."
"You're right," Robin growled, "We don't believe it."
Slade nodded, undaunted. "As expected. In that case, perhaps you might find it easier to believe that I simply think the knowledge of future events is far too dangerous a gift to be left in the hands of Brother Blood…or his new associate, Psimon."
"Psimon?" Beast Boy repeated. "Wasn't he that geezer with a glass jar on his head that joined up with the Brotherhood of Evil, when they had their big supervillain recruitment drive? He wasn't so tough."
"You only saw the barest fraction of his power," Slade replied. "He deliberately held back in order to conceal his true strength from both you and the Brotherhood, biding his time and waiting for an opportunity…such as this one."
"And how do you know all this?" Cyborg asked pointedly.
"One of my spies has infiltrated their ranks, and has been feeding me information," Slade answered, pausing to pick up his staff. "Not the most original plan, perhaps…but what can I say, it's worked for me before."
A threatening growl issued from Beast Boy – and he was still in human form.
"So, what are they planning, then?" Wonder Girl asked quickly, before things could escalate further.
Slade retracted the staff and put it away. "Truthfully, I don't know precisely what their plot entails," he admitted. "But I think we all know enough about them to agree that for these men to possess a power such as Rose's can only spell disaster, and possibly for the entire world."
"Well, if you're so worried about it, why not go after them yourself?" asked Cyborg, remaining skeptical. "Why try to drag us into it?"
"Three reasons," Slade answered readily, and proceeded to tick them off on his fingers. "One…if memory serves, averting the plans of power-hungry evil-doers is something of a specialty of yours…is it not?"
"You would know," Robin said dryly.
"Indeed." Something in Slade's eye told Robin he was smiling again, under his mask. "Two…rescue missions aren't exactly my forte. As I'm sure Joseph could tell you…or not, things being as they are."
Call me Jericho, the blond hero signed, followed by something a bit less polite.
"Lovely. And third…I have learned that Psimon received his powers as a 'gift' from none other than…Trigon, himself. Which leads me to believe that the only person who is truly capable of defeating him, would be Raven."
Raven simply continued to stare icily at Slade, as she'd been doing for the past minute or two. But judging by the way all of the plant life in her immediate area was wilting, she couldn't have been in a very good state of mind.
Gritting his teeth, Robin turned back to the man he hated more than any other he could think of offhand. "What are you proposing?"
Slade's eye narrowed, and now Robin knew he had to be smiling. "Cooperation. Nothing more, nothing less. We have a common interest, both in rescuing Rose, and in stopping Blood and Psimon. If we work together, our chance of achieving those goals increases dramatically. It's that simple."
Robin eyed him suspiciously for a long moment. Slade stared back at him, as calm as ever, his gray eye unreadable.
"Give us a minute," Robin said finally, abruptly turning on his heel and walking away, aware of Starfire's inquisitive eyes on his back. As he passed Raven, he motioned for her to follow him.
With some apparent effort, she managed to tear her Death Stare away from Slade and followed Robin back to the tree line, out of earshot from the others.
He put his back to a tree, waited for her to catch up with him, and got right to the point. "What can you tell me about him?" he asked her.
"That we should tie a big rock around his neck, throw him in the ocean and go home," she replied curtly.
He ignored her sarcasm. "I'm serious. Are you able to gauge his sincerity, at all?"
She looked at him in disbelief. "You're not actually considering—!"
"I have to," he grated through clenched teeth. "If any of what he's said is true, it's too important for us to ignore. We can't just walk away from it. But you're the only one who can tell me if he's being honest with us. So, I'll ask again. What can you sense from him?"
She stared at him for a moment with something close to horror creeping into her eyes. But she quickly regained her composure, bit her lip and looked down, apparently concentrating.
He hated to make her do this, but he saw no other choice. For all he knew, their lives could all be riding on it.
Thirty seconds passed, then a minute. Finally, she shook her head and blew out her breath in a frustrated sigh.
"I've never been able to read Slade well, if at all," she admitted. "The problem is that most of his emotions are dead. And the ones that aren't…" She shuddered slightly, almost imperceptibly, but he caught it. "The fact that I hate him doesn't help, either."
"I understand that," he told her, "but I need you to try to set it aside, and focus."
She bit her lip. "The best I can do is vague impressions. I'm…sorry, Robin."
He grimaced. "Well, it's better than nothing. What kind of impression can you get about this story of his, about Brother Blood, Psimon and Rose?"
She pinched the bridge of her nose. "As far as I can tell…he believes it's true, or at least he's convinced himself that it is."
Robin pursed his lips. That was what he'd been afraid of, but also what he'd suspected. "Can you tell if he's hiding anything?"
Raven scowled at him. "He's Slade, Robin. Of course he's hiding things."
"You know what I mean. Is he holding anything back?"
She continued to glare at him, rain beading off her hood.
"All right, all right, I get the picture," he muttered. "Um…what about Jericho?"
Her annoyed glare reverted into her normal deadpan stare. "What about him?"
Robin fished around for the right words. "Is he…on the level? Can we trust him?"
She glanced down briefly, as if searching her mind for something, then looked back up. "He seems pretty open, actually. Sincere."
He frowned. "So did Terra."
"Yeah," Raven acknowledged. "But…this seems different. More genuine. He definitely doesn't trust Slade, I can tell you that much for certain."
"Well, I guess that's something." With that, he pushed away from the tree and headed back toward the others.
Starfire was about halfway between them and the rest of the group; evidently she'd just decided to come and check on them. "Is the situation…acceptable?" she asked hesitantly, as he drew near.
"As close to it as it's going to get," he answered grimly. The others looked up expectantly as they rejoined them, Raven straggling some distance behind.
"Tick tock, Robin," Slade said, his arms crossed imperiously. "Time's wasting."
Again, Robin had to resist a fierce impulse to punch him. But what he had to say next was even harder.
"All right, Slade…you've got a deal."
Beast Boy's and Starfire's jaws dropped.
"Excellent," Slade replied, as casually as if Robin had just agreed to buy him a sandwich. He pulled out a GPS device and punched a few numbers into it. "I'll meet you at—"
"Hold it," Robin cut him off, jabbing a finger at him for emphasis. "Let's get one thing straight: we don't trust you. And even if you do help us stop the H.I.V.E. and rescue Rose, you still have a long list of crimes to answer for. Until then, we're not going to let you out of our sight. You're riding with us."
To Robin's satisfaction, Slade actually looked somewhat taken aback. "Oh? Well, if you insist…assuming there's sufficient room in your vehicle, of course."
"Yeah, yeah, lucky us," Cyborg muttered, clearly not thrilled about this. "Come on, then."
He stomped off into the trees back toward the shore, followed by Raven, Wonder Girl, Jericho and Slade.
Robin was about to follow suit when Beast Boy abruptly stepped in front of him. "We'll catch up in a minute," he called after the others.
Robin scowled. He was not in the mood for this, but he hadn't expected it to go down smoothly either, so he waited for Beast Boy to say his piece.
"Okay, Robin," the green shape-shifter began. "Don't take this the wrong way or anything, but have you completely lost it?!"
"Save it, Beast Boy," Robin snapped. "I've thought this through. The decision's been made."
"Like hell!" Beast Boy practically shouted. "How can you even think about trusting him, after everything he's done?!"
"I don't trust him!" Robin shot back. "You just heard me say it, in front of everyone. But like it or not, right now he's our only way to get to Brother Blood and save that girl!"
Starfire, meanwhile, was standing off to one side and looking back and forth between the two boys, her expression growing more distraught as their voices rose.
"Yeah but this is Slade we're talking about, here," Beast Boy retorted. "How do we know this whole thing isn't part of some big complicated trap? In fact, I bet that Winter-fresh guy was even working for him, giving us this big, important mission just to get us on the hook-!"
Robin had wondered when Beast Boy would get around to the fishing analogy. "But, you trust Jericho, right? And he vouched for Wintergreen, and his information."
At that, Beast Boy hesitated. "Yeah, well…"
"Even though the information itself may appear to be in order," Starfire pointed out, "I cannot help but feel trepidation, merely knowing that Slade is involved with it."
"Believe me, nobody knows better than I do the kind of risks involved in dealing with Slade," Robin insisted. "But if any of it is true, it's too important for us to ignore. And we can't leave an innocent girl to die, or worse, just because he happens to be the only one who can lead us to her."
Beast Boy's shoulders slumped, though he still looked somewhat defiant. "Well…I'll go along with it, but don't ask me to like it. I'm telling you guys, somehow, someway, he's gonna stab us in the back. Just wait and see."
"Then we don't give him the chance," Robin told him, crossing his arms decisively. "The first step in avoiding a trap is knowing it's there. We watch him, like hawks. Think you can do that?"
"You better believe it," Beast Boy snorted, before taking wing as the raptor in question and quickly disappearing over the treetops.
As soon as he was gone, Robin sighed, feeling himself deflate a little as Starfire stepped closer to him. "First Raven, now Beast Boy. We're not off to a very good start, here."
Starfire blinked. "I fear I do not understand…what is your concern with them, and why is our start not good?"
She placed a supportive hand on his shoulder, and he gratefully covered it with his own. "Don't you think they've been acting a little bit…different, even moody, the past couple of weeks?" he asked her. "Especially Raven, she's been really distant since…well, since Tokyo, I guess. Or even before then. But that was when I started to notice it." He sighed, rubbing his eyes. "I don't know. Maybe I'm imagining things."
Starfire appeared to ponder this. "Perhaps you are correct…or, perhaps it is we who are different?" She began to look worried. "Could it be that they are displeased with the choices you and I have made, in recent days?"
"That's none of their business!" Robin snapped a little too quickly, then managed to rein himself back in. "Besides…they're our friends, Starfire. They were happy for us, weren't they? We all care about each other, we all want each other to be happy…don't we?"
"I thought we did." She didn't look very reassured.
They stood there in thoughtful silence for a long, uncertain moment.
Finally, Robin shook his head and squared his shoulders. "Well, if something is wrong, it'll have to wait. We have a mission to worry about. And with Slade around, we can't afford to think about anything else."