Nightwing; Son of the Demon's Head – Wanted: Dead or Alive – Part Two –
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Chapter 5: Hidden Torture Device
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Damian knelt, struggling through a pair of cuffs on a rather uncomfortable seat on the floor in a dark dojo. The set of feet that entered were soundless, save for the clamping of a few tools.
This was not what he believed as Slade's unmasked face shone back from above, masked in disappointment as the case he carried as deposited onto a nearby stool.
"I would have had Tim of Dick do what I am about to do to you, yet your will is still as stubborn as your father's." The man hummed with a shrug. "Pity."
Damian wriggled through his fastenings, snarling as if he'd never been as brainwashed as Todd or Drake. "You're expecting me to beg?" He asked snidely up at the older man. "Well, I won't." Dami still spoke with an unyielding pride in his actions. "No one here takes orders from some inbred –
Slade whipped out something extra from his tool kit. Dami fell still. Wait…why was?...
"I managed to salvage a smaller copy of the same book that Grayson had been bound to resist, though there is no real index for torturing a victim in it. It can however be quite effective in rewriting one's memories."
"I thought you said I was too stubborn to be made into a simpleton; that my determination was almost identical to my father's." Damian frowned. He had to get DS to reconsider. Even…if that meant begging for it.
How his mother would weep.
"You'd be no better to me as a competent drone, yet I think a little heart to heart is in order. Just as I did for Richard –
"Wait, what if I call off my rebellion –
"You had one."
Dami blinked. "Tim, told you what I was up to…but I know about the experiment my grandfather was trying to stop." The boy recalled the white-haired creature in that giant vat of green ooze.
"I saw it. What was it for?"
"It's a secret. You don't deserve to know about what I plan to do with that item in the basement. It would have been for you as well to observe."
"I'm not interested. And I won't stay as your lap dog without having my own wits about me; I don't need to be brainwashed. It won't work."
"I didn't SAY I would do that, boy." Slade slipped the bound cord from the book's spine to set it open, splayed in his hand delicately. "It's nothing more than a basic shock treatment for your behavior earlier."
Damian pulled harder as the binds ripped at his young flesh. He didn't like at all where this was going.
"Dick needed to be more than my apprentice back then, he had to see my word as law. You however, don't, but I do want you to think for yourself at times. Not to seem so agreeable to every little command. It makes your company seem genuine as my new protégé –
"There is nothing here you can teach me that I don't already know how to handle." Snipped the snotty pre – teenager. "I was taught by my grandfather Ra's, and the greatest detective in Gotham the world has ever seen."
"Then why don't you still expect him to get to you in time. Why formulate a way to escape or help others when you forget; I'm superior when it comes to hunting others down." Slade flipped a page slowly with his hands still fully clad in his dark gloves. "I tore Richard and your family apart, and I'll do it again if you or your any of brothers try to resist me…" He leaned his face in closer, breath hot as smog and cinders set aflame. Dami squinted and had his gaze on target; this man had to perish for all he had done. He shouldn't get a real trial, only death. If that was an option for some hack – immortal demi God like Slade Wilson.
That lone eye bore into his flesh, making it prickle. Was he…. afraid?
"It looks like I was wrong about you, child."
Dami blinked and felt his jaw go slack as Slade's mouth began to move.
"You'll take your punishment, just as he did by my side." Damian gulped, trying to recover his bravest face. Something was preventing it as he felt his lip slightly wobble. ~ That book…~ He eyed the tome and struggled, his fear increasing as it began to spark and glow red, right in the palm of Slade's hand. The man's face did not change, yet his lips worded a question, an expectation that had Damian frozen with fear.
"Let's begin then. Shall we?"
/
Slade would have caught him by now. Tim was all messed up and obedient while Jason and Dick…were still trying to get out. Todd had, but for how long until Slade's troops came to steal them all up to the fort? To torture hiss family and do what the man had done…
Jason shuddered. To poor, Ubu. Dami had known that lug since he'd been alive and born to Talia. He'd never really shown how close they were until the lug took off his armor and ran across that beach. Dying with a heart set on fire.
"We cannot find a quicker way to the base." Raven phased over and through a portal to join her allies. She thought for Batman's sake that she could scan through Jay's head to find out more on their enemies.
"I'll volunteer, but only if missy here does not scramble my head up."
"I won't." Raven deadpanned away; a bit offended yet used to the remark in her line of work.
"Good." Todd huffed and let down his guard as her soul self got to work.
Bruce and Cy took to seeing if the beach had any more surprises or that the drones Slade had sent were down for good.
Changeling did the same, sniffing bodies for any way to see if they were useful by what they had around their waists. "What are we looking for, again?"
"Anything and everything." Batman huffed and leaped over a log and into the brush of jungle vines up ahead. "We are going to "scout" a part of the area." Starfire was getting much better with her linguistic abilities as Batman was a very simply speaker. Similar to how Robin was upon their first meeting.
The two wandered off as Kori found it wise to wait and listen, yet the other part wanted to ask one thing that was still on her mind. "Richard was never fully freed from the spell by that curse…Jason spoke of his actions being…strange, as before."
"Slade knows how to torture his victims." Bruce said with an acrid taste still in his mouth by the other man's name still spoken by it. "He would have had a back door; a way back in to control Dick, he was clear that he wanted revenge inside that prison cell." The Batman explained grimly. "If he does the same to any of the others, including Damian, even if he's killed or put away for the rest of his life, they may still act out his plans unconsciously. That book is created by dark magic, according to your friend. An ancient tantric relic that was used in exactly the same way Slade's using it on your teammate. And, my family…"
"I, am most sorry to have asked…" Starfire wondered if Slade still wanted Richard as he had said; to serve and be his. She shook her head. That would never come to pass. Dick wanted his freedom and that was all they could do. Make it happen, like a miracle in the underbrush.
/
The lights were out for hours, yet she kept her head down. Her heart was not where it wanted to be.
The door cracked open to let in some sunlight from some awful place on this island; once her home, but now, a grave site for so many kindred.
"You are the queen, right?" The boy who entered was a teenager. Older than her son, she recognized the high school graduate as Timothy, who'd also caught her father's attention when he'd not been such a pest. Almost as much an ankle biter as her…son.
"Won't talk, huh? Well…I have some bad news to deliver that you should hear. Majesty…"
Her eyes flew upwards, just as the door had sealed closed. All sunlight again leaving her in the dark as Talia awaited the treachery of her captor's ploy.
"Your Ubu is dead as a doornail, and the little prince…just was given his first strike. Not such a great mommy dearest if –
"My son has respect, unlike you. What are you fighting for, if not to save of yourself, Timothy?" She wondered with green eyes shining back. An actress who could cry at a moment's notice.
"He is fighting to save all of us, and I already know where his loyalties end and begin. His real father trained him to not stop, to process and evaluate a situation without hesitation, while I taught him to deliver the killing blow."
"Ah, pride. In him?" Scoffed Tim as his naked feet scraped the floor, pacing to and back to the doorway. Teasing that he might leave her here without a full answer. "He's impressionable as I am, you realize. He wants to save you? After what you did to him? Deathstroke should just kill you both and get it over with. I'd follow him because he's getting slow." Smirked the teen, his dark side uncapped.
"What do you mean?"
Right now, Tim was egging her into a closed spot. He could chew her up and spit her out.
"Why are you saying he is, slow….Deathstroke is many things. But, I do not believe –
"He's losing his grip. The book should tell you more...oh! And he has a back up plan for that. You know? The lab??" Tim grinned and skidded back towards the exit. "Don't tell anyone the old Timmy…. uhn….got lose…" Panted the boy, a hand to the side of his skull.
Talia watched Drake go as she wanted to get up and look out the door for what might become of that boy, once the drugs wore off again.
/
Tim stumbled down the tunnel; the outer part a cavern by how it twisted and turned, set below the base.
Burred as low as a bunker, he could only see the torches on the wall to light his way. Will – o – wisp as the drug in his system did as it had to Todd many times before his case had eased. Slade was using that, but he refused to fully "keep" Tim loyal until he was broken.
That, was when his flashbacks of sex and dynamic "washing" began.
After the high had dipped, it began to fade.
/
Timmy had always been ideally good, no dirty mags under his bed. He also had a bi – profile when it came to his love life. He was in a relationship and had no desire to press away from it. Bernard was a kid with a much smoother stride in his life. No heroics and no…no…
Tim was hurting all over, his eyes sore and tongue dry in his mouth as the withdrawal took over.
The face of a guard brought the kid to his knees.
He'd be…caught! His throat….his…he couldn't breathe…
" Shhh….You're ok, try to stay calm…good. You'll be ok…" The face was there, cloudy as his vision, it pushed sweaty strand after dark strand from Drake's eyes.
That voice was direct yet soft, so much that he yearned for it.
Crying like a helpless pup; a whelp into the shadow's shoulder, his breathing soon hitched. A pinch in Timmy's collarbone let his body fall limp into the other's arms. Tall, his protector wasn't much to gawk at from his angle. Tim breathed out and in, his blissful consciousness now slipping away into another pleasant spell. A new dream, as Dick Grayson bit his lip and lifted Tim further up into his own shackled arms, just glad his little brother was safe for the time they had left to be there.
Alive.
Fighting to go free.
/
~ He wasn't here at the lot. ~
"Really, Roman." Slade sat back and watched his unit flash on. A screen with Black Mask fully- masked was an annoyance. That he'd not trust a man like Slade Wilson to see what the crime lord had been hiding.
"I've decided to keep Todd for a bit longer. He's not ready to have…multiple owners."
~ Bull. Jay is my kid when he's in Blud's territory. We all know you have the hots for Wing. Or, did. ~
"There was never any doubt that he'd fear me, eventually…he might worship the ground I walked on. Had Robin not decided to go back to playing the hero."
Robin was done, and what remained was eventually to become his.
Only, his.
Heck, the book could be creating this state of avarice in Slade's mind. It was a possibility that Trigon's magic hadn't worn off on his libido.
Ah.
A perfect parting gift.
~ If you want, I can always make sure that Jay – boy is yours. It would be an honor to have him call you; the mighty Terminator, papa number one. I can do fer second best. Have plenty of fresh meat down here to keep me satisfied, as it is.~
"No, I think that however, the Court wished for me to ask that you spread the word to Gotham's underworld via your criminal network." Slade looked back at a dazed and moaning Damian in the background. He'd made this book act as a sure fire way to slow the kid before he could act out and get balsey. Not that kids his age could be so bold, unless you were a bat – brat like Damian Wayne.
~ You talked to those bird – fuckers?? Damn it! We could all go under…If Owl Man ain't your cuppa tea, then sure. I can try ta' keep my yap yapping'. ~ Mask chuckled. ~ All I gotta do is stir up a little fire in that shit cauldron that's good ole' Gotham. You'll keep my kid company while I do? ~
"If you have the guts to bring the bat family to head off the GCPD's squads, then yes. Tell your men and scouts to put forth a declaration for the Court. Make it anonymous."
Dami was coming to as he dragged himself to sit up. Slade's hand was to the boy's temples as he gritted his young teeth. Flashing that anger as his swollen eye said otherwise. Down he was plastered, right into the stone floor.
"Batman is stuck rescuing his boys, but I want to let down those walls so that you can find my daughter. Make sure you are out of that commissioner's sights." Slade warned the crime boss. "I will more than give you a jewel from my collection. It will be yours to do with as you wish."
~I'm getting a free ride with you, DS! When did you become such a dog? Ah, good times. Just ta' be clear, should I keep this from you – know – who? ~
Slade's eye narrowed at the screen. "DON'T tell that clown. Anything." He demanded it be done right.
"The Joker will find a way to reveal more than a few loose ends I have yet to sort through. Right now, the Court wants to stage an overturning of Gotham from the ground up. Without a permit, they have ways into that oval office as we speak."
~Oh. Shit…Gotcha. So, no Mr. J. ~ Gulped the criminal with a tug of his suit collar. ~ I got the damned dummies in Blud to hang. You're secret is safe with lil' ole me. I'll be waitin' to receive my incentive in the mail. Gift wrapped. Make sure you give him something ta' keep em mild for me. ~
" Should all go according to plan. ~ Slade nodded, then turned off the screen to see if Dami was still staying awake.
"Are you aware of what your father owes the Gotham elite AND his adversaries?" Slade nearly hissed in the child's lobe. Deep and dangerous.
"Father…cough….will see…you ….. hung!"
"That never works. A deprivation of oxygen to the brain, a slow painful death? Even a bullet to the skull is worthless to me, and with the right technology…" Slade smirked at his beaten protégé. He went for the lump he'd gotten upon the boy blacking out, including a pot of Arabic coffee. "You might join me, if you still wish to erase all I've wrought on your daddy's legacy. Just as he did mine." Slade took a sip, then threw a bundle of the supposed clothing to the boy who knelt bleeding on the floor. The cuffs clanked off to the ground. Dami had less energy to attack, he was powerless while magic remained this man's long whip. Dami really hated this voodoo garbage…
"Dress and follow me. We are about to address YOUR faction." Slade let his eye narrow at the word, especially since the prince looked like he'd fallen off of his highest stallion. (high horse.)
"Yes, Sir…"
Slade said nothing, yet his hands were curled to fists.
Dami gulped. This was the same shame that Grayson had lived through? Was it to be his…no! No. Stay calm.
"Yes, Master Slade." The boy's eyes sunk in, feeling a part of himself being dragged out to be beaten all over again beneath this man's steel toed boots.
"Better." Slade's fists unfurled as he relaxed, the concern dying as Dami was made to walk first out the door, once he was mostly presentable.
Slade leaned over the kid's shoulder while his other hand gripped the door handle to the underground torture room. Leering on ahead, was Dick. Standing there with knees buckling. As if that made poor Dami feel any less sore.
"Timothy is r- resting, m- m- master."
Dami blinked.
Oh no…
"What happened, pet?"
"M- master…Timothy's d- dose n-n-needed to be re- administered. I'm taking over for n-now. He's –
"Stop." Slade put up a palm. Dick was panting. Nervous, and forcing himself to speak as he was now.
It was so… sick! Rehearsed and hard on the ears as he might have assumed, Damian could only bring himself to let static clog up his eardrums. Nothing worked. That whorish breathing, Dick's flat chest rising…
"I'm s- s-sorry, M-master…" Dick's lip trembled. The damned marks on his skin yearned to be ripped apart and bled anew. Slade looked at his toy with longing in his eye… He knew Richard wouldn't mind making the rest up to him by this afternoon.
"You are forgiven, pet. Do not forget to alert me in the future. Come find me, from now on. No one else." That was a hint that later, he'd be below the man again, moaning and sucking him down as if it were a childhood delight to do so.
Dami felt his palms sweat by how their gazes made him want to vomit. And not in the Playboy Wayne kind of way.
The "pedo – is after your brothers and trying to kill us all," kind of dynamic.
Dick nodded to is master. His body was less jittery from the effects of whatever had him strung back together that quickly.
He'd been forced to have rough, painful scars dragged down his back.
He was a pet –
~ Ah! Grayson… of all things decent…! ~
As Dami watched Nightwing's time wane, this Wayne could not give in.
"Let us go to the main hall, together." Slade ushered his two favorites to come along, as they did so now without question.
While Dami did as his mother and kept his head down, only until the show was about to start.
A true, Al – Ghul till the end.
He would not fail them.
And Slade's glorified empire, would finally be no more.