Richard sighed looking down at the clear, emptiness before him. He had just seen his parents death again and he wanted so badly to just wake up to see Roy, Wally and even Slade there waiting for him.
"You know, this reminds me of our first night on the job." A voice called out from behind him. Richard turned to see Robin standing there.
"Yeah, I guess." Richard responded weakly. Robin walked over to the ledge and smiled softly.
"It was the first night we could truly fly." Robin continued looking down at the city.
"I guess you're right." Richard stated remembering how it felt when he took down Zucco.
"You know, you have a tough decision to make soon." Robin said looking at Richard.
"About which path I'm going to choose right?" Richard asked as Robin nodded.
"Yeah, because right now, you're still loyal to Batman like I am." Robin replied with a grim smile.
"No I'm not." Richard responded gruffly.
"Don't deny it. You know if Bats hadn't agreed with everything that was said about you that night, you wouldn't be here." Robin said shaking his head.
"I'm taking it since you're here, it's time for me to begin my next trial?" Richard asked changing the subject. Robin merely nodded as Richard looked around. "Where's Nightwing?" Richard asked slightly suspicious of Nightwing's absence.
"Uh he's taking care of some business." Robin said quickly making an excuse. Richard raised an eyebrow. Nightwing was a part of him so what kind of business could he be doing while Richard was going through these trials.
Darkness soon surrounded them until they were barely visible.
"My name is Robin, and I was the partner of Batman until I left." Robin stated before darkness engulfed them. (I'm pretty sure I went into this in an earlier chapter so I'm going to skip it)
Nightwing stared down his opponent.
"What are you doing here?!" Nightwing growled at the young man who held a cat in his hands.
"None of your business birdboy, now where's the original at?" The boy asked stroking his cat gently.
"Somewhere you'll never find him Klarion!" Nightwing replied before getting into a fighting stance.
"Oh really? Well, we'll see about that, won't we huh?" Klarion asked in a mocking voice.
Slade looked down at Richard's body. The boy had been in a coma for 36 hours and he seemed to be struggling with something internally. Slade wasn't a man to get scared of anything but the thought of losing his precious bird really did scare him. He had come in every hour to check on his son and he didn't see any improvement.
"Stay away KLARION!" Richard's voice cried out. Slade's eyes widened at Klarion's name. He looked closely at Richard and saw there was a mystic symbol on his forehead that hadn't been there when he last checked on Richard. Slade growled before turning away and walking towards the door.
"Wintergreen, prepare my equipment, I'm going out on a hunt!" Slade commanded once he was outside the room.
"What kind of hunt are you going on, Slade?" Wintergreen asked immediately stepping into view.
"A magic hunt." Slade responded as Wintergreen went to fetch his equipment. "Also find out the location of Oath for me. I doubt I will be able to take on the light myself." Slade added after thinking for a moment.
"It shall be done." Wintergreens voice echoed in the hallway. Slade didn't know if Oath would help him but he knew that they cared for Richard just as much as he did.
Roy sat beside Wally, watching Richard's computer waiting for a message. 36 hours silent was definitely not a good sign and they were starting to get worried.
"Do you think he was discovered?" Wally asked as Roy looked at him.
"I sure hope not, because that would mean these past few weeks of undercover work would be meaningless and we'd have a very irritated bird to save." Roy replied trying to ease the situation. Ring. Ring. Ring.
"Hello?" Roy asked picking up his cell phone.
"This is Red Arrow correct?" A gruff voice asked from the other line.
"Depends who's asking." Roy replied in an irritated voice.
"Deathstroke the Terminator but you can call me Slade." The voice responded as Roy's eyes widened.
"Who is it?" Wally asked as Roy pulled the phone away from his ear and put it on speaker.
"H-how did you get this number?" Roy asked as Slade chuckled.
"It was rather easy after an hour or two of research." Slade responded as Wally gulped.
"What do you want?" Wally asked as Slade's chuckling stopped.
"Richard is in trouble." Slade said rather seriously.
"What makes you think we'd help you or that traitor?!" Roy asked with mock anger in his voice.
"Because both of you care for Richard so even if he did betray you, you would still help him, especially if his life is on the line." Slade stated as if it was a well known fact.
"You bastard! what did you do to him?!" Wally exclaimed into the phone.
"I have done nothing but help him." Slade began clearly irritated. "Klarion, on the other hand, has put him into a coma and he has been in it for the last 36 hours!" Slade continued attempting to push his anger down.
"Klarion?" Roy asked skeptically.
"Yes Klarion put him under some sort of spell and he fell into a coma while we were having a discussion." Slade replied not wanting to give information on the conversation.
"So what do you need us to do?" Wally asked crossing his arms across his chest.
"I need Oath to assist me in taking down Klarion because he is undoubtedly being protected by the Light." Slade replied making both boys look at the other.
"I thought you worked for the light?" Roy asked playing ignorant.
"I have only worked for the light because I wish to exact my revenge on them for what they did to me." Slade responded as Roy and Wally had a mental conversation.
"How do we know this isn't a trap?" Wally asked as Slade growled.
"Because I would NEVER joke about Richard's life!" Slade responded as Wally looked at Roy and nodded.
"Alright, meet us on top of the tallest building in BludHaven in exactly two hours and we'll talk further than." Roy said hanging up the phone. It was at that moment that Virgil and Richie decided to walk into the room.
"What's up guys?" Virgil asked with his traditional laid back attitude.
"Yeah, why so serious?" Richie asked as Roy and Wally turned to them.
"Let everyone know there will be an emergency meeting in exactly one hour. Be at the roof of the tallest building in BludHaven in exactly one hour and ready for a fight!" Roy commanded as Richie and Virgil looked at each other before facing their senior members.
"Got it!" They said in union before dashing up to contact their other members.
An hour and a half later all the superhero members of Oath were standing on the tallest roof in BludHaven.
"Alright boys, you better have a good reason to have called this meeting. I was supposed to patrol with Green Arrow tonight." Artemis said obviously irritated.
"Yes my friends, what is so big that you would call this meeting?" Aqualad asked as RA looked at Warp.
"In exactly half an hour we will be meeting with Slade to discuss something very important." RA replied sternly.
"Slade as in Deathstroke the Terminator?!" Static asked obviously shocked. (he he get it Static Shock?)
"Yes, Deathstroke the Terminator." Warp said nonchalantly as if they met and talked with Supervillains on a regular basis.
"Why do we need to talk to this Terminator?" M'gann asked upon feeling the stress coming off of both Warp and RA.
"Because Richard's in trouble." RA stated which caused Artemis to immediately lose her sour attitude.
"What happened with Richard?!" She asked immediately interested.
"I believe I can explain better than they can." A voice said from the shadows. Everyone turned to see Slade standing there. Everyone looked uneasy but Slade didn't seem to notice. "If it is alright with you I will tell you exactly what happened." Slade said as everyone turned to RA who only nodded.
Slade then proceeded to tell them what exactly Richard had been going through from his first day living with him to his encounter with Batman and finally to what happened before he fell into the coma. Of course, Slade didn't tell them about his and Richard's personal conversations because they were personal and that's the way they would remain.
"So, you're telling us that Klarion has cast a spell on Richard causing him to fall into a coma?" Gear asked as Slade nodded.
"And the only reason you know is because while you were checking on him he cried out his name?" Connor asked for confirmation.
"Yes, now if there are no questions I'd prefer we stop this meaningless discussion so we can stop Klarion from completing whatever plan he has in mind for Richard." Slade said as RA looked at the members of Oath.
"Team mind." RA exclaimed out of nowhere. M'gann and Gear immediately straightened up.
"Yea?" Gear asked looking at their leader.
"You two are going to monitor Richard while we take down Klarion in order to prevent any damage to his mind or body. Am I clear?" RA asked as both Gear and M'gann nodded.
"As long as you don't have any problems with that Slade." RA said a little bit of irritation in his voice. Slade seemed to wave this off because he nodded.
"Actually I think that would be the smartest thing to do. I will give you the coordinates for his current location and tell Wintergreen to allow you in." Slade said beginning to do his tasks.
Klarion laughed as Nightwing finally hit the ground.
"That was actually pretty entertaining." Klarion said moving to walk past him. Nightwing groaned as he grabbed Klarion's leg.
"I'm not done yet." Nightwing barely managed to say before Klarion curb stomped him before resuming his previous mission of finding Richard and doing his job.
Wow this is to make up for not updating in a few weeks. Oath and Slade working together? I feel bad for the Light at the moment or at least I feel bad for Klarion. Will Klarion succeed in his plan, whatever it is, or will M'gann and Gear arrive in time to help Richard? Stay tune to find out