Slade's rage was a terrible thing to behold, and what was worse, he had no one to unleash his anger on.
The few lackeys and servants in his compound had long since been killed, several by the score a day. He had broken the necks of three when he realized that his apprentices had been compromised. After that flare up, his anger had struck him again at odd, random times. Each implosion ended with more dead bodies.
Robin and Wren had failed, spectacularly. They had embarrased him, and left him at the mercy of such foolish, insignificant people as the Joker and the Justice Leauge.
The only thing that kept him grounded and mostly calm was the satisfaction of knowing that no help or aide would come to either of them. Wherever they were, they were going to have to fight their way out of it on their own. But that was only part of their punishment for their failures.
He could get creative with the way that he taught them to be perfect and obedient, but that would not suffice for this. Beatings, they healed from. But there was one method that he had used only a scarce number of times, and he was positive that they had never healed completely.
Slade himself felt no physical attraction to his wards, in any way, nor any emotional attachment. But when he punished them in the carnal way, he gained two things from it- his own momentary gratification, and the lingering effects on their psyches. The extreme self hate, confusion, doubt, and trauma was the best lesson he could teach them, as it taught so much at once, and it was not easily or quickly forgotten.
But this time, it would be different. This time, he would attack their very cores. There was a reason he had left them together, instead of raise them separately. He had let them grow close to each other, creating another bond that he could bend and break at his leisure.
This time, he would make them watch the other receive him, and tear their very hearts to pieces.
«»«»«»«»«»»»«»
He knew it was a stupid thing to do, and he hadn't meant to do it, but even still, Robin ended up dozing off right in his chair. His body was healing, but still exhausted. The warmth and relative comfort of his cell had lured him into a false sort of security. The absence of Slade's malevolent presence was like a weight lifted off his shoulders. Even so, his dreams were dark and fitful, half memory and half childish fear that he hadn't experienced since he was a little boy.
Robin's chin rested on his chest, and he twitched slightly as he slept, lightly as a cat. His breath made his hair flutter like black fronds in the wind. His face carried a slight frown, but it was smoother then he when he was awake.
The hiss of the door woke him up immediately. His neck jerked up violently, pale eyes wide and alert. He jumped to his feet and crouched down almost inhumanly fast, muscles tense. The movement was nearly animal-like, instinctual.
Wonder Woman stood tall and proud in front of him, carrying a metal tray laden with steaming food. She arched a slim black brow at him and his fighting stance. A tinge of pink appeared on his face, but he didn't relax it. "And what do you want?" he asked, still managing to sound like he was perfectly in control. If he was intimidated by the warrior queen, he didn't show it.
Wonder Woman's lips twitched. "I want answers, the same as everyone else here. But I figured that you would want this as well." She hefted the tray, then nodedd at his chair, but Robin didn't move.
"I'd rather stand, actually." he said. Wonder Woman shrugged and sat the tray down.
"You should eat. You must be very hungry." she said.
Robin stiffened, mistrust flickering in his eyes. "You must think I'm an idiot. It's drugged."
"It's not." Wonder Woman argued, "but suit yourself. It's there for you if you want it." She moved to cross her arms, and Robin shifted into defense mode again.
"What's wrong?"
Robin sneered at her and clenched his fists. "You think I don't know what's going on? You're here to use that truth rope on me." His eyes flickered to her waist, but it was bare. He raised his own eyebrow. "Or are you?"
"No, I'm not. I could, but I won't."
"Why?"
"Because we want you to trust us."
Robin laughed out loud at that, but the sound was cruel and humorless. It shouldn't have come from a teenage boy. "Yeah, sure. Trust." But he did drop his stance, and he did sit down.
Wonder Woman frowned at him. "Yes, trust. I know that someone like you may not understand it, but it's important. If you trust us, we can help each other."
Robin openly rolled his eyes. "Why would you want to help me?"
"Because we want to help everyone."
"Bullshit." Robin snapped sharply. "I'm not a charity case. You want my help? Tell me where my sister is." He loved games as much as the next guy, but he was too stressed out by his worry for her to keep beating around the bush.
Wonder Woman scowled. "We can't do that. We don't know where she is." She exhaled and fixed him with a steely glare. "I don't think you understand the problem. This is no ordinary Kryptonite. This is Anti-Kryptonite, something the Kryptonians called Dark Kryptonite. It's poisonous if touched, inhaled, or ingested. It's explosive, and reactive to every known element. In the wrong hands, it could destroy cities like dominoes." She brushed a coil of long dark hair away from her face.
"But if you cooperate, we can help everyone, including you and your sister."
Robin leaned back in exasperation. "You missed your chance to do that, lady. A LONG time ago."
Wonder Woman reddened. "What do you mean?"
Robin sighed loudly. "You people are so full of it. Running around, showing up in a cloud of rainbow sparkles and good will to save the innocent." He swooned dramatically, then narrowed his eyes to icy slits. "But WE weren't important enough. WE were over looked, and you only noticed us when it was too late to do anything."
He leaned forward abruptly, shoving his face into hers. The anger radiating off of his lithe form was hot and tangible. His face was flushed with fury, and his fists trembled. "So don't give me that crap about trying to help me." he spat venemously. "You're as bad as Slade is. I don't care if that Kryptonite burns this city to the ground- You're not getting a thing from me!"
Wonder Woman recoiled from the poisonous heat in his outburst. "Is that why you hate us so much? You think we abandoned you to Deathstrike?"
Robin barked something that could have been a laugh or a curse. "You and your priveledged little pet sidekicks. You think you know what we go through, and you think you can save us from the monster you left us with. You have no. Idea. At ALL!" He blinked furiously. "You're a failure, Diana. And we're the result." He lifted his hands mockingly gesturing to himself, then dropped them and fell silent finally. He steamed with righteous anger, but he knew that he had said too much. Breathing heavily, he lowered his head and clenched his fingers tightly.
"I know." Her voice, quiet and resolved, made him look up again in shock.
"What?"
"I know." Wonder Woman repeated, staring him straight in the face. The pity and apology in her eyes burned him straight to his soul. "I know we failed you. And we're sorry for that. But we're trying to make up for it. And we need your help to do that." She turned and left without another word, leaving him to the silence of his own thoughts.
Robin could only sit, confused and stunned. His face felt cold, and his eyes burned. A strange sensation on his bare hand made him start and look down at the single droplet of cold moisture perched on his wrist. Dazedly, he lifted his arm and touched his face, hardly daring to believe it when his fingers found the warm wetness of tears.
«»«»«»«»«»
Later, in the living room of Mount Justice, the recovering sidekicks and the visiting members of the Teen Titans lounged on the couches and watched the giant screen in silence. The two tapes of the interrogations were playing, and all of their faces were collectively grim.
They didn't say anything until the recordings ended. Aqualad eventually turned it off, and still they sat there, thinking. Unsurprisingly, Wally broke the silence. "How long do you think he's gonna hold out?"
Miss Martian shifted uneasily. "I don't know. This might go on a while." Aqualad nodded solemnly, agreeing with her. "I think this as well. He is resilient, like tempered steel in the fires of a deep sea volcano. He will draw this out until it is too late."
"So...there's nothing we can do?"
"The Leauge forbade us from trying to talk to him alone." Raven reminded them, from her spot apart from the others. Cyborg spat angrily. "Who are they to tell us who we can't talk to? Their methods aren't getting anywhere."
Wally shivered. "I don't want to see what he looks like after Batman's had his turn in the ring." Everyone blanched at that. Starfire, who had been looking more and more sour by the minute, finally spoke up. "He is grieving."
"HUH?!"
"He is grieving!" she repeated, louder. "He longs for his sister. Do you not see this, my friends? It is wrong for us to not help her. You heard him- we abandoned him to Slade. We all did. And now we have abandoned her, too. We must make it right. Compassion is the way to reach Robin, not pain and trickery!"
"Star," Cyborg said slowly, as if explaining something to a slow child. "He is a criminal and a thief. So is she. We don't have to do anything for him. He should be lucky he's not in solitary confinement somewhere."
"He is not all bad! No one is purely evil. If we would just treat him as a human being-!"
"No."
The only one that hadn't been in the room watching the tapes strode forward slowly. Super Boy's face was wreathed in thick, gauzy bandages on one side, smelling strongly of antiseptic and bitter medicine. "No, Starfire. He's less than human." He clenched his hands by his side, nearly vibrating with contained fury. "He's vermin of the worst kind, and so is she. They're killers, and they'll always be killers. They don't deserve our pity or our help."
He glared coldly at the frozen screen, and the image of Robin's snarling face. "Tell me when Batman starts. Then we'll see what he has to say." He turned slowly, scanning them all. "And no one...NO ONE...speaks to him. Ever."
When he left, Meghan stood and excused herself without another word, wiping at her face.
The sidekicks stared at the silent tv, and then after their slowly disintegrating leader struggling to understand. Robin was a villain, true, but Kon El had never failed to show compassion to another person before.
"This," Aqualad started, "is not mere disdain for the criminally inclined. This is something...deeper. Darker. This is not Super Boy and the Boy Terror. This is Kon El and Robin."
Whatever Robin had done to Super Boy, it went beyond stealing the Kryptonite and mocking his creation. Conner would hate Robin no matter what, even if he helped them. Aqualad was right.
"I believe I understand why we have been forbidden to speak with him." The Atlantean continued. "It is not for our safety, but for Robin's. It is so that Conner does not kill him before he tells us what we need to know."
«»«»«»«»«»«»
'My name is Robin...'
The words circled like vultures in Bruce Wayne's head long after he heard them. Alone, staring at the giant screen in his Batcave, he allowed a pained grimace to settle on his face. The very name brought back all of the guilt, pain, and anguish he had felt the night Jason had been killed.
They'd never found his body.
And then Slade had introduced his apprentices to the world. He recalled how tortured Batgirl had looked when she reported her first encounter with them to him, about how the boy had stood gloatingly over her and pronounced himself the new, villainous Robin.
Bruce Wayne closed his burning eyes. That wretch wore his adopted son's title, but he would never be Robin. The things he did in Jason's name...They sickened even a hardened crime fighter like Batman. And he would pay dearly for his master's little joke.
Those who taunted Batman always regretted it.
«»«»«»«»«»
"Is this her, Mista J? This is Slade's Bird Girl?"
A voice like cracked metal bells trying to sound out a Christmas tune pulled Wren from her half sleeping state. The world swam back into focus slowly, and she winced.
"Yep, that's her Harley. Ain't she just the cutest thing?"
It was becoming common to wake up with a clown staring her in the face, but even still, it wasn't pleasant.
Wren glared at Harley Quinn as the woman inspected her. "Yeah, you're right! She is!" Harley grinned broadly and leaned down to nuzzle her face against Wren's. Wren promptly bit her on the nose, sinking her teeth in and drawing blood.
"YEOWCH! Ow, ow, ow!" Quinn shrieked and jumped away, holding her face. "You didn't tell me she was so mean, Mista J!" Seemingly from nowhere, the Joker appeared by her side, beaming. "All dogs bite, Harley. This is one of Slade's, just like you're one of mine. Only difference is, she's got a brain, and she likes to use it." He paused and smiled apologetically down at Wren. "Sorry about that. I'm a bit of an exhibitionist." His voice became a loud whisper. "Between you and me, I think little Harley here swings both ways!"
Wren spat a mouthful of bloody spit into his face. "Charming." The Joker frowned and punched her in the eye. Her head snapped back, and she grunted loudly. She instinctively lunged to hit him back, but the cloth securing her arms to the wall kept her in her spot.
"Now that wasn't very nice, was it?" The Joker asked, wiping his cheek. "I guess Deathstrike forgot to teach you some manners." He moved away from her, leaving her red faced and burning. "And I got just the thing..." Wren looked up as he came back, holding a bright purple box and a remote set with an overly large red button. "You ever hear of a joy buzzer?" Wren only glared at him through her rapidly swelling eye.
"Nah, I guess not. Lemme show you how this works. First, give me your hand. Harley, if you'd please."
Harley Quinn skipped behind her. Wren felt pressure on her left wrist, accompanied by a sharp sting on the back of her hand as she messily cut through the bonding and knicked her with the blade. Her left hand fell free, and she immediately swung it out. The Joker caught her and pressed his thumb into the vein under her palm until her entire arm went numb, and she was hissing in pain. "And now..."
He quickly strapped her hand into a harness made of thick wires. The harness was connected to the purple box in his hand. A queasy feeling started up in her stomach. The Joker strapped himself into the other side of the harness, connecting their hands. "This is what I call the Joy Zap deluxe. This thing here-" he held up the remote- "is connected to the Joy Zap. Every time I ask you a question and you snap your nasty little teeth at me, Harley will hit the button, and you'll be zapped with currents of pure, painful fun!" he cackled.
Wren blanched and frantically tugged at her arm. He was going to torture her with electricity, something Slade had done only once or twice in her life. She remembered with agonizing clarity the slow buzz that built into a sharp and shockingly painful tingle that had cooked her skin, turned her bones to water, and burned her hair. She had been red and aching for days. He had stopped short of seriously injuring her, but she knew the Joker wouldn't do that. He would stop short of killing her only.
"Ready?" He laughed. "Okay! So...where's the Kryptonite?" Wren shuddered and closed her eyes. "I can't tell you!"
"Harley?"
She heard the click of the button, and the loud buzz. Her skin cracked with waves of electricity that felt like freezing, burning needles. Her teeth sliced into her tounge to stop her scream.
"What's Deathstrike going to do with it?"
"I DON'T KNOW!"
It was ten times worse the second time. The currents lanced over her scalp. The scent of burnt hair filled her nose. Her eyes stung like acid, and she jerked spasmodically. This time, she couldn't stop her pained scream.
"AAAAHHHHHH!"
"WHOO! EHEHAHAHA! We're really having fun now!"