Teen Titans Presents- Robin; Torn Legacy of a Prodigal Son
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Chapter 30: Over- Stepping Your Boundaries
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Slade looked to his hunched over protégé, then to Rose as her retina scanned info was wholly rejected.
"Richard, you're welcome to remove that neck plate if you find it uncomfortable. I'll allow it." The man stood and walked to the end of the room where the screens were in his face. Rose was being thrashed and held back by the Titans. Hush was attacking without mercy his own father…
While his son Grant had to be planning his revenge for stealing Jason's life away. Such tomfoolery between boy scouts. Slade's waiting eye watched as Dick removed the Bruce round his neck stiffly cracking and rolling it with a groan as Slade moved away into the shadows to stand again, right behind the lad.
"I think that's enough viewing their demise."
His palm went down onto a pulse point as the kid crumpled, Slade catching the boy's fall as he was scooped up and guided through to a second escape routes that would leave Rose to ruin herself for them.
That he'd believed her worthiness to be just that, a sham after all this time.
She'd ask the bat for help, make more of a mess to find her father like her half-brother Grant. That would create more of a landscape to help Dick by. He'd be competing once again, as long as it took.
The next route was to New Jersey, specifically to Bludhaven. Where the wary dare not go, Dick could up his training, and Hush would know where to look as long as he got away from the rodent in time. Or if Rose took after her competition long enough to get the memo.
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"No! You gah!! GET YOUR GODDAMN HANDS OFF!!"
She was cuffed and hit with a starboard, her nerves rattles by how the bots disintegrated to not leave a trace of her father's trail behind. Bruce had Jason cuffed, but it wasn't him. Or it was yet the last part of himself that he didn't want to see.
"Why."
"Why not. I lost, B." Shrugged the anti – hero with a grunt. "You should all back off and let me finish what –
"YOU WILL DESTROY NO ONE, ANYMORE." Starfire gripped her hand, glowing over his face. "Much harm has come to those who face Slade, he certainly shall pay 'the dearly…' yet his death will not solve what he has done. Where Robin right now is –
"THAT. IS WHY." Shook the enemy as Rose started to laugh, a dry cackle coming from her lips, her madness buried below the surface. "That…. boy wonder stole my rights!! That was my seat! Mine!! He should be castrated, not just my idiot daddy! They both are disturbing together…. I was too, we…. let me go!! I'm going to find him!! You can't-
Bruce took out an injector gun as she fell limp in Cy's arms. Both nodded as Rose was a true ravager. Losing her cool over the one that had made her this way. "Tara and Grant were giving their freedom back, but Rose won't be the last person manipulated by Deathstroke at the rate he's affecting lives…" The Batman summarized under his breath. "We need to regroup; in Gotham we can work out the next step to finding my ward. And saving them."
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"WHOA."
After bidding Titans East in Steel, a torn farewell, the heroes set off North to the city of the Bat himself.
Raven and a tall, older gent with a British accent greeted the heroes at the door of a rather spacious entrance. A manor atop a hill overlooking the city.
"You came, cool." Raven bobbed her head as Bb gawked, before seeing behind them an even tranger sight for sore eyes.
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"Hiya, guys!" Tara sat in what looked to be a uniform from some private school, while beside her was a kind and bespectacled woman in a white lab coat, and by the hall…a disgruntled jock.
"Grant." Tara frowned as he huffed and turned his head, Bruce coming by as himself this time. Suave and as easy to spot from his tabloid photos 9n candid camera throughout the city. "Are we ready, Cyborg?"
"I think so."
"Good." Bruce ushered them down the hall and to his study. "We won't be needing the cave for this; I'm sending work to the JLA and any heroes currently in the area that from Rose's rants so far, we are at a dead end."
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"What??" Tara gawked as Bb canevto he'd aid as a cat, she couldn't help but let him into her arms. Her blue eyes dashed at the news. "Then, what about Hush! He has to know something –
"Jason is unstable and frankly, very hurt by the things Slade did to him. He scarred his body by the use of the nanobots and only healed the parts he wanted. Jason is angry at his brother, so I'm sorry. Unless Slade had a prior idea –
"Check all his bags, cause you won't find thus one, I can assure ya."
Bruce turned to Grant as he just huffed out his response. "Does he have a plan B, Grant? You know something-
"SAFE HOUSE." Grant worded to the Bat. "He's off the grid, until you spot him moving about freely. Probably financing his new post."
"He…is just…. out there?" Starfire shook her head. "He cannot be, just there! That would not –
"You're wrong, Slade Wilson was more than a crime lord to the Teen Titans…" Terra let Bb to the floor slowly.
He looked up to her, eyebrows furrowed at his almost ex- girlfriend. "Ter…what do you –
"He was a soldier and a mercenary later, he helped make me... and my brother, Prince Brion. So, if you want to catch him, look at his history." She told the dark knight. "See who would ever help a mass murdering freak like that!"
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Slade changed them both up into civilization clothes, he even gave Dick contacts to make his eyes brown before they'd landed at the next port to swap to a jet. His own hair got dyed black as the ride took them to Blud, a few names he'd pull for in a couple of hours. The safe house, a place to rest was still his property…
As was the bat's scarred for life second mistake in Gotham. "We should wake him up, right Dick?" Richard was not conscious yet either, not for a bit longer as he was kept unaware of their routes. Slade moved to the item on his arm beside the probes' trigger. "Thought I'd save this for Grant, but you earned it…. now, give the bat a rare welcome."
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Jason gasped awake and spammed upon finding where he was, an examination table in the cave. His head splitting into a migraine…face…. Face.
He pulled to fi d his wrists and legs bolted back. Jason growled and let his gloves wriggle to remove that laser out if it. A Robin fan favorite.
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"Ter…. you knew, didn't you. That he had others…who trusted him."
"Look." Tara brushed a strand from her ear and sighed at BB, the innocence in them both long overdue. "Whatever you guys think he is, Slade was…is still human so he has to have more than just a family. A past…and I don't pity him. He can rot in a cave underground like he…." She bit her lip, the memories too much. "I just wanted to see Brion…I promised him, I …." Beast boy suddenly came and hugged her tighter than anyone he'd ever cared for. "I got you, Ter…it's OK, Brion has gotta be out there, and once Slade is back behind maximum security cell bars in the best place on earth to lock up psychopaths…we'll look for him together."
"You don't understand, Beastboy." Terra pushed him back an dragged out her cell to pull up a news page.
"They already found him."
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~ THE DUKE OF MARKOVIA HAD THIS TO SAY AT A PRESS CONFERENCE-
~ OUR PRINCES ARE FINALLY RETURNED; AND WITH THE ASSINATION OF THE KING AND QUEEN, I HAVE BEEN ADVISED AS A CLOSE FAMILY MEMBER TO THE ROYAL FAMILY THAT THE SEARCH FOR PRINCESS TARA IS STILL UNDERWAY, AND THAT SURVIVING PRINCE BRION HAS ACCEPTED THE POSITION UNTIL HIS ELDER SIBLING AND BROTHER RETURNS FROM NEGOTIATING PEACE WITH BIYALIA. THAT IS ALL. NO FURTHER COMMENTS. ~
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"I'm under international protection through the Justice League and Mr. Wayne…. that is, if decide to stay and never return home. The duke (using this as uncle) was the one who issued the hit on my mom and dad and he changed us, me and Brion with Slade making sure the process went, right." Tara told Bb as he sat beside her in the den. Just the two of them. "Slade was hired to keep me from using my powers, but he didn't stay long enough. The scientists got into a fight, a war started and…and I ran away. Let my brother suffer by himself and I almost…. caused so much…. I hurt a lot of people…. I felt nothing and just kept running…. I'm sorry…. about everything…" She wept into her hands as Bb pulled them away from her face.
"You got hurt, something like that… I get it. My family got a virus that killed them but they used a sample they'd saved to save me…. ever since, I just ended up making a mess wherever I went. Till the Doom Patrol." He pointed to his suit and blushed, it being a tough topic to talk about to a friend… " I owe it to them for saving my butt, just like how we can help you to do the right thing, stopping Slade and your uncle."
"I'm not a hero, Beastboy." Tara rubbed her arm nervously, sniffing back her tears. "I can't face him, not again. My uncle…. he's a really bad person. He manipulated the whole country, even my parents."
"Then help us to help you, in any way that we can. Please. I need you to trust me this time." BB sincerely pleaded in a soft voice. "The Titans have your back always, Tara."
She blinked. "You…never call me that…. why the sudden change?" She asked carefully. "Why do you still care so much?"
"BECAUSE!" Bb bounded up onto the sofa and to the floor with a proud smile on his face. "That's what friends do; they don't ask questions. They just know that when you need help, they'd give you every bit of the attention you deserve to do things, well… right! We can help, all of us….and…. maybe…"
"Maybe?" She smirked knowingly at the young Titan.
" Maybe, you want that too. To trust me, right?" He asked with a nervous chuckle.
"I may." She smiled back. "I just may do that."
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Slade picked up the burner in his hand and let it ring.
~ Hello? How did –
"Good afternoon, Sionas. Lovely day out, isn't it?"
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Black Mask, otherwise?
Roman Sionas, and a big fan of the Bat family back in Gotham.
With a picturesque grin that spoke of things to come, Slade got down to the nitty gritty with this secondary crime lord.
~ You recognize who this is, don't you. That bat certainly picks and chooses from his favorite list of con men. How's the city-
"How did you know if set up shop in the next town, Willy?" Scowled the suit wearing criminal kingpin. "Trying to get in good with Blud's underground? My guy, Desmond spotted your tight - wad ass moseying round the worst dives…you thought I'd let cha stay here? Rent free? That it?"
Slade paused and rubbed his chin, aiming for something other than a bribe or a baseless threat to come his way. ~ Funny, there aren't any heroes here in your sister city, Roman. I wonder why that is? ~ He puzzled a bit, thinking it never uncommon to have those in hiding as heroes in a city without order.
"ZIP. NADA. It's a bad guys' paradise out there. I could hook ya up, but what are ya in for? Some fishy settlement loan you gotta pay off? Some sharks beat you to the punch, or the almighty Deathstroke ain't running with the big boys…. that would be news to me."
~ Obviously, you don't read the papers, Sionas. ~ Chuckled the mercenary. ~ I was in Jump City at the time, and to my surprise, I became a bigger all-star than even Superman. Won't lie…. I found out that I had an, admirer. You need to take a look. Few months ago. Be quick, then we'll talk business as usual. ~
The line dropped as Sionas; ego to the max and narcissistic as all living day lights, opened up his web browser on his personal cell and looked up Jump City.
What came up, inspired him to make that call back to his newest pal in all of Bludhaven.
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This is going to go into mob boss territory and wait till you see! Read on and find out!