*Gasp!* what's this? An update within two weeks of the LAST update? It isn't possible!

Thank you to all of you who are still supporting me; the five reviews I got for the last chapter really helped me want to write this chapter. We are in the home-stretch (two or three chapters left), so I'm hoping to continue updating on a mostly regular basis.

Disclaimer: I really don't think I own Young Justice, otherwise I'd probably be able to pay for college just fine . . .

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Chapter 23

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Unknown place,

May 26, 9:09 EDT

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Dick allowed himself a sigh of relief as he turned off his com, having convinced the team and the league that Deathstroke could probably track it- which wasn't a lie, even if he wished it was.

Wally had dozed off while sitting against a tree, and Selina was staring suspiciously back the way they'd come. She knew just as well as Dick that Deathstroke wouldn't give him up without a fight; he'd be following them, he probably already was. But they would be fine, Batman was coming. Robin estimated maybe four more minutes before his mentor was here; about five or six before the Flash joined them as well. Superman might be on his way, while the rest of the team and the league waited anxiously.

Dick wasn't nearly as technical as his Robin half. Right now he wanted nothing more than to go home to Wayne Manor and curl up on Bruce's bed with his dad, Tim, and Jason. The Robin side knew that no matter what, that probably wasn't happening. At the very least he needed medical attention first.

"We're being followed," Selina said. "Which you already know, of course."

"How close is he?" Robin asked, rubbing his forehead, and making sure that his mask was firmly fixed in place; Selina and Wally both knew his secret identity, but Deathstroke didn't, and he really wanted to keep it that way. If he had an assassin after him when he was a civilian, then he'd be unable to protect himself.

"He's—" Selina started to speak, but a fierce strike knocked her to the ground.

"He's right here," Deathstroke said, a fierce grin on his face. He glanced towards Wally, who was still passed out. "It looks like I don't have to take care of your speedster friend; starvation and exhaustion will do it for me."

"I'm not going back with you," Robin said, managing to keep his voice from shaking, but it was a near thing, and he felt a wave of exhaustion sweep through him. He was injured, Selina hadn't gotten up, Wally was out of it… there was no way he could win this fight. His only bet was that Batman would be here any minute.

"Keep telling yourself that, Apprentice, but you will join me; you will become the greatest assassin this world has ever known, and I will help you to destroy all that you care about. It is the curse of all great assassins to destroy their past lives, and it is their blessing that they are able to start anew."

"Do you even hear what you're saying?" Robin asked, almost choking on the words. "You think that destroying my own happiness— my family —is going to make me stronger?"

"Clearly," Deathstroke said coldly. "You will have nothing left to hold you back, nothing to be used against you."

"And absolutely nothing to live for!" Robin hissed. "Nothing to fight for."

Deathstroke frowned, and unsheathed his swords. "If you cannot live without those around you, then you are weaker than I thought," he said harshly, "but don't worry, Apprentice, I believe you are stronger than you give yourself credit for; now, who will you kill first? Your friend, or Catwoman? You seem to care about both of them, so I'm sure it will be a difficult choice."

"I'm not going to kill them," Robin said, feeling his terror rush over him. They'd been so close— so close! —to getting home, that he'd almost believed that it was possible. Of course, he thought bitterly, his luck couldn't be that good.

"If you don't do it physically, then you will have done it by default," Deathstroke said smoothly, stepping closer to Wally and pointing his sword towards the speedster's chest. "I will kill them in your stead, and the guilt of each death will still press upon you, as they do for me. You will know of my suffering, and you will understand why I kill, why I fight."

"You won't!" Robin yelled, flying forward before he knew what he was doing. His exhaustion, his fear, his anger, everything came to a head, and he drew his sword, which he hadn't yet discarded. Deathstroke blocked his strike easily, laughing.

"You think you can stop me, Apprentice? I see now why you fought so lightly against those sidekicks before— you are soft hearted, weak! I could finish you in one strike, before you even have time to react," Deathstroke scoffed. "What do you think you can do against my experience?"

"I can use my own," Robin said firmly, swallowing the exhaustion that was threatening to overwhelm him. "I may not be an assassin, but I'm proud of that. I've been training with Batman for years to defend others from people just like you. The only reason I have not fought you before, is because there were things holding me back, but there aren't now. You will never be my master, and I was never, nor ever will be, your Apprentice."

Immediately, he knew he'd gone too far. Deathstroke snarled in rage, leaping forward in a fierce frontal attack.

Robin reacted quickly, ducking under the strike and throwing in a couple of quick punches, before backflipping away, ignoring the blur of pain as his body protested his extravagant use of it.

Then he was moving again, dodging the knife that had been thrown at him, and breathing a sigh of relief as he remembered that Wally was on the other side of the clearing, not in the direction the knife had flown. And Selina . . . Surely she'd be getting up any minute now.

"How dare you!" A hissing voice proved him right, and he had a second to breathe as Catwoman launched herself at the assassin, claws bared. While Deathstroke was distracted, Robin ran to Wally, shaking him awake.

"Wha- Rob?" Wally's eyes flew open as he heard the sounds of fighting in the background. "What's going on? Is that Deathstroke? Where'sBatmanandFlashandwhyaren'twehomeyet?"

"Hopefully, they're almost here," Robin said grimly, standing again and pulling Wally to his feet. His unhealed injuries protested again, and he barely kept himself from wincing.

"Deathstroke attacked while I was out?" Wally said grimly, drawing the obvious (and correct) conclusion.

"Yeah," Robin said, then the two ducked as Deathstroke through one of his swords at them. Robin felt the rush of air as it brushed over them, sticking with a terrifying thunk in the tree behind them, "and it's not really going well."

"Wow, I hadn't noticed," Wally snapped, running the two of them farther from the fight, which Catwoman was losing. Robin could see now that there was a stain spreading across her side, and there was blood on her head and face.

"We have to help," he said, pulling out a batarang from the stash that Catwoman and Wally had given him earlier; how they'd gotten them, he wasn't sure he wanted to know, but he suspected that Catwoman had snuck into the Batcave the last time she'd gone to see Bruce.

"Yeah, yeah," Wally said, sighing. Robin sent his friend a glance. He looked just as tired and Robin felt, and he was probably having a hard time using his speed at all. He really needed a good night's sleep (and a feast), but it didn't look like that was going to happen for a while yet.

"Alright, go," Robin ordered, knowing his friend would listen to him, and the two split to attack from two different sides. Batman was probably in the area by now, Robin realized. He would have landed within a mile or two, and then continued on foot, so as not to attract any unwanted attention to the two younger heroes' and their location. He'd surely arrive soon enough to help them get rid of Deathstroke, or capture him, or whatever their goal was.

As Robin neared Deathstroke, the Assassin knocked Selina against a tree, pulling out a dagger, and looking fully prepared to plunge it into the woman's side.

Before he could, he was sidetracked by Wally, who zoomed up to him, kicked him hard in the chest, and grabbed Selina before running as fast as he could in the opposite direction. Meanwhile, Robin threw his batarangs in quick succession towards the assassin, who didn't dodge quickly enough to fully avoid them, or the miniature explosions they caused, temporarily disappearing into the smoke.

But Robin wasn't foolish enough to believe that the fight was over, and his senses agreed with him, causing him to leap out of the way as Deathstroke loomed out of the smoke. "I will destroy you!" Deathstroke roared, fury driving him forward. Robin responded quickly, pulling out his Eskrima sticks and blocking the sword Deathstroke had used to try and cut him in half.

"Not until I've seen Batman," he gasped, realizing with some trepidation that he was already out of breath. Normally he would have been able to fight all night, and then go to school all day, running on little sleep; his endurance had to be really good to survive the regime that he and Batman went through. But with weeks of inadequate sleep, lack of time to heal, and even a lack of sufficient food, along with the way he'd been pushed by Deathstroke, his body was nearly at it's limit.

"If I can't have you as an apprentice, then no one can," Deathstroke snarled, pushing even harder, as though he realized that Robin felt about ready to drop. Wally tried to come to help him, but after only a few steps he slowed, panting, to a walk; he was too drained, too empty . . .

Robin saw Deathstroke's left hand leave his sword, reach for something, and then thrust it towards him, and tried to move accordingly, but his reaction was too slow- delayed by fatigue and pain, and he couldn't stop Deathstroke from burying a knife deep into his side.

For a minute, it felt like the world stopped moving. Then a slow, burning pain started, blocking out the other aches he'd previously been feeling. It was throbbing, yet numb at the same time, and Robin, no, Dick, suddenly really felt like sitting down would be a good idea. He knew that if he was going to survive, then he needed to put pressure on his wound, stop the bleeding, but his arms, his legs, all of him, didn't seem to want to obey.

He thought he could hear someone yelling his name- thankfully Robin, not his secret identity -and he wished they'd stop. He wanted to reassure them, tell them it was fine, but he couldn't speak. Dick felt his knees buckle; as he fell, his vision began to blur, but he was sure he saw Batman charging towards him, while Flash and- was that Superman? -took on Deathstroke. The last thing Dick saw before his sight faded completely, was Wally, who had made it in time to catch him before he hit the ground.

Then there was peace.

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If you were hoping for a better chapter ending than the last chapter- oops! my hand slipped ;)

But no, really, you're welcome.

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