Teen Titans Presents; Robin – Torn Legacy of a Prodigal Son –
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Chapter 6: Cowardly Lion
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Let's get crackin!
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Some few hours from now, Slade could drop his guard, get dressed for a big event back in the city's tech district and then?
Then, he wouldn't have to shoot the man to earn his trust.
~ If you build what, Slade? ~ Dick knew the man was playing on a famous quote or something. He recognized the flow of each syllable precisely as it had in a book from long ago, but Caesar? Was Slade such a mastermind that he had to act like one too??
Slade didn't try to shoot, that was a dirty trick that made the boy flinch again. He wanted to attack, yet the impact of whatever happened here…
Would lead to the loss of his allies. The Titans still were looking, and again Slade had tried to hide it.
That he knew what was going on in the city without his apprentice's input.
He wanted Dick out of the way, Bruce out of the picture?
Dick turned to change his posture. Slade was a perfect statue; hand on the trigger, like a hot shot killer that he was…
Slade's perfect profile; a figure without any flaws. Renegade in this universe apparently, he believed was "capable." In killing or wounding someone? Dick sped forwards as the bullet didn't whiz by until he was a few steps closer.
In a matrix turn of events, Dick did the only thing he could. He fell and swung his legs out to turn this goliath onto his back, yet Slade countered by stepping out of the way, leaping as Dick scrambled to rise and flipped out of the way.
"That would have been your spine; stay grounded."
"I can't." Snipped the kid, just continuing to dodge the shot, instead of taking the gun as he was ordered.
"If you can't handle me head on, Apprentice…. what makes you so sure you can maneuver from one shot from a total stranger. You need to come at me, or I will."
He raised the trigger from his arm. Dick almost mentally toppled from the return of such a device into his life.
"I still have this; and while I have your attention, circus brat..." Snarled the older criminal. "You'll not make things harder than they need to be. You've gotten this close – and you can't kill me in one shot, boy."
Dick recalled the files.
He just came back.
Again and again, and once more from the pits of God knows….
Dick was stuck on his feet, no longer willing to flit about as he'd believed he could. His rights had been taken, stomped on top of.
Slade was in the process of clipping those wings with a slow and steady reminder that Robin wasn't going to fly free, ever again.
And to finish that remarkable motion with one swifter to a degree, Slade fired his Eagle.
Right at his apprentice.
/
The boy had his hands up, but not in time as the bullet hit a wall, bounced and then fell uselessly to the ground by the same wall.
Slade's eye shone with that clever air about it; he seemed to revel in the trick. Slade wasn't one to use training wheels, but the kid thought he'd shoot a real gun? Ha. As for those rubber bullets, he'd decided to make sure that the bruises left his point across.
"A replica; did you think any of this was real?" Snickered the older male, seeing this as humorous, even when Dick was blabbering out his concerns soon after the mastermind's confession.
"Rubber…they still can hurt –
"If you aren't fast enough, but then that means." Slade raised the gun up again, clicking it not for show. "Then, you can stop me from firing another."
Dick was now aware he'd not run into the fire, yet, he had tested the waters with a few leaps into the ravine. Head first.
Slade had expected the kid to avoid a face off, staling and calling himself a victim. Even if he loathed the idea secretly.
Not so secret, actually. Dick got into a crouch. He was going to fly by and apprehend. Disarm, do something before Slade shot a real bullet at his skull.
"Get ready to duck." Slade fired it, and Dick sped back up. His feet left the floor as he flipped over Slade. His one arm unable to twist, the boy's hands were free to dismantle as he grabbed the –
He could get the trigger; it was right there! He…no.
Slade had it under his palm. There was always a catch, so his hand gripped the gun out of Slade's hands instead.
Until he was tossed off by the man's other arm. Flying and falling onto his spine as Slade only pretended to act casually. Calm about his counter move, he stood over the boy wonder. The gun never left his grip. "That all you got? Come at me. Again."
/
While Slade was taming his tawny scrawny apprentice, Starfire was busy analyzing the video on the Titans' main computer.
~ This is what they're not expecting; Robin, now a brand-new breed of anti – hero. How's it feel? …~
She bit her lip and floated a bit lower than usual.
Rewinding the clip.
~ …What they're not expecting; Robin, now a brand-new breed of anti – hero. How's it feel? …~
Rewinding again.
~ … now a brand-new breed of anti – hero. How's it feel? …~
Rewound once more.
~ How's it feel? …~
She wasn't satisfied.
~ How's it feel? …~
~ …feel? ~
"Starfire?" Raven was back and she looked, tired. Her hood was down, and it never was. She had less power to raise it even by her hand.
"I…was told by Cyborg to "go over the clips of the clip." Star forced herself to hold back a tall yawn with an even greater gulp.
"Any luck?"
"Not "the yet." Starfire shook her red mane. "He is cleverly being hidden under our very snouts, and of this change we have now witnessed –
"Slade knows how to change people." Raven came to Starfire placing a hand on the princess's shoulder solidly. Her assumptions just as painful to be, as they kept the goth on her toes. "Robin wants to come back, though with Slade…he doesn't want us to get hurt. He may try something." The empath frowned. "What was the location of that shot?" The empath started to question her previous visions.
"A…house of wares…" Starfire squinted…. It looked to be, but the floor level and how dark it was…it could be anywhere. Knowing Slade, it was anywhere in any city…. their city, included.
"Dudes!" Gar came in panting in his human skin, his eyes wide as he threw up his arm with the unit in it. "Big Mondo news, story! I know where they're gonna strike next!"
/
Very much in the same mindset as his allies and enemies, Bruce Wayne pulled into the front of his own sister building; the company that had God forbid, been the center of all the criminal underworld in Jump's attention. He'd brought some back up. Batgirl was in to riot – girl it out as a tag along with her detective skills.
Maybe to stump Deathstroke's new protégé.
IF he showed, which was unlikely since it was a little more than a month, not a year for Dick to have been "retrained" by that sadistic merc.
~ Have we spotted the other main guest of CEO Bruce Wayne's yet? ~
Bruce brought a hand to his ear; the piece there while Babs took care of things while inside on the top floor of the executive's offices.
"Not yet, Barbara. I need you to scale the inside; see if any explosives, cameras or –
The next limo was more a sleek, black suv as it pulled up two cars behind Al's old-fashioned memento from his early days. Vintage vehicles and means of transportation were all the rage this season in Gotham, yet Jump preferred electric cars and Cali sunshine by its solar powered building on every block of the district.
If a sun ever dawned, there only be a dark future to navigate.
The man coming out of the car had another gent on his arm, but that "gent" was with a mask as Bruce saw the attention to detail, a hand going up to his ear as he walked on towards the building, the board's guest right behind him.
That wasn't a person.
But a bot.
Then it was time for the Batman to get his detective skills cooking, while a young bat looked on and frowned only feet away atop an empty rooftop.
Binoculars in hand, this masked boy scout didn't know that he too was being watched by a third bird that had roosted to do just that.
/
The doorways opened as Cyborg and the team looked on from their roof. The bat guarded as his little helpers sneaked around undetected around the perimeter of the building.
That was still under repair; even after Slade's apprentice had fled the battle with his former teammates, the damage was still scarred straight across the roof of Wayne's sister location here in the Titans' city.
"Who are you guys?"
The Tamaranean blinked at a set of birdarangs as they were ready to pin her to the ground, yet Raven had sent Star and Cyborg to see to any potential threats while BB tracked down a rather intrigued and nervous Barbara Gordon on the top floor.
Snooping, of course for her boss.
"What ar -
"Hey! -
" Shussh!" She threw a hand over his mouth as he turned into a fly and buzzed a few feet off, before reverting to his human form.
"Are you with the enemy?"
"Enem….oh." Bb gulped. "Then, you're Batgi –
" Argh!…" The masked teenager threw a hand to her temples with a groan. "I…am on a mission, why are you here? A Titan, right? This isn't your forte. Believe me." She swished by and went to the table. It was a proposal…and a bribe.
"Why –
"We've been set up." She sighed as a few darkly clad assassins poked their heads out of the shadows. Gar bit back a yelp as one staff almost left him for dead. "What kind of board meeting is this??"
"An underhanded alliance from within the company, or not." Batgirl took out her rangs and got ready to fight back. "You in?"
"If I gotta, then heck yeah!" The falcon in BB came out, just as down the end of the hall – being it was sound proofed…
Another, wanted to send the boss's message in big bold letters.
"Am I really gonna…"
The security guards were left gagged and bound on the floor by their seats as a mysterious "face" swerved the chair round and got down to business.
His masked eyes saw what he wanted taken care of, and he clicked to enlarge the image of two broad shouldered men shaking hands, reluctantly.
The one blonde on the right bothered the ebony saint of this tower, as the masked perp only grinned back at the one, he was here to scare.
"Gotcha."
He clicked to zoom out, leaving the guards on the ground to report an absolute mess instead of being the ones to fix said mess.
"I'm gonna make sure you see me shine, pops." The character disappeared quickly down the hallway as more staff caught the door being open. And a note atop the guards that were bound, reading…
~ One Wilson Way. ~
/
"So …." Slade's guise for one had worked in the past, yet did Bruce already unmask the phony among hypocrites in this room?"
"The proposition through the company's management has been in decision recently to have a few new devices issued through STAR labs for production that could have a great impact in hospitals around the country." Bruce brought to the table, not the one that BB and Babs were fighting to save. That was all a feint in and of itself.
The actual meeting and presentation had been three floors below it, and boy. Did Slade know how to crash a board meeting with his solid alibi.
"We looked into Nano – probes and saw their potential as more than a way to repair damage caused by serious surgeries or from accidents that might have cost a low-income family to pay more than their available balance."
Bruce turned to his guest at the table posing as a secondary executive from a sister corporation "Ingenico" Industries. (Used it from previous arcs I did.)
"Mr. Olsen Delay is one of the few persons who understands the critical need to act, when costs are rising for hospitals to stay afloat on their level of care. The future is that we can make it possible, just as my father believed in chances not coming just once."
The man, Olsen stood and was clapped for his good "genius" at the table. Bruce just clapped slower, and slower, spanning out the time when he could confront –
"Sir!" A secretary of the building's floor burst through with wild eyes, panting as her glasses slid from her face rather easily.
"Sandra? What's wrong? I'm in –
"There…was a problem…. I –
"I don't think we should keep you, Mr. Wayne." Slade tried to coax the man to help out this poor soul, here Perfect timing.
"I can always call for Lu –
"Sir…you've been breached –
The scream was not even down the halls as a dozen or so foot ninja with their torture tools came out and tried to nab Sandra as she was pulled away from the door by Bruce's strong grip and quick timing.
"What's going on?? Ninjas?? This is insanity, Wayne! We're not in Gotham –
"I realize that, Mr. Cornell…" Bruce gripped Sandra as they went over to the desk, everyone on top of it or hunched into their chairs.
Not ready to die yet.
/
"There are too many hands in this filthy pot." Snickered a voice from behind.
A young one, and a mask of chainmail silver that followed.
Slade was first to turn his head round. "Y –
"Aha, the big boys all got together to pay up. My squad is ready to break down your damn door and make some noise." Grinned the gun toting teen playing hitman.
"I want…. this one!" He pointed to Slade or Mr. Olsen, who just stared incredulously at this toddler with a hand grenade.
Oh, boy.
"He's not even a part of your tea party, Wayne. You give up the goods and we let you finish your boring meeting. No one dies, no one. But him –
"No one is dying on my watch. This is my building and I'll gladly call –
"Did someone say…. Robin??"
The men and women executives looked at one another, blind to what Jump was. Who it had belonged to, had being the one word.
"Didn't you know, kid?" Slade turned to Grant as his eye shown with the fake one too glossy to tell.
"Robin isn't this city's hero anymore…."
Bruce squinted. How did he….
More than it seemed, he didn't trust that face as the character trying to haul Olsen away wasn't done taunting his catch of the day.
"I'm gonna take a note. But, he's still my target. Soo…."
"I'll pay. Whatever it is, I'll double the offer your employer provided." Bruce blathered out.
"No one is going. This is private affair, so please." Bruce pulled out his check book and scribbled down a number with so many zeroes.
If he is the one person I'm looking for, he can't go. I can't lose my son's trail.
Those were Bruce's thoughts. That Mr. Olsen had a deep tone that made Bruce wonder if his hunch; the man working with or…
He looked at the blue – grey eyes of Olsen's, and brought his hand across the table.
"Take it. Leave him, it's a lot –
"It's personal, rich boy."
"This is." Bruce responded. "Please."
The silver masked assassin plucked up the check, and he wasn't smiliing on pay day.
He took the check, and tore it into pieces as it fluttered to the ground, a gun to Olsen's skull. A grin, returning devilishly.
"No charity. It's my kill, big shot."
The ninjas scattered, Bruce's hands tied as Olsen was dragged from the room, the windows behind –
Bruce's eyes widened as a spark touched Olsen's.
Wait…
"Bye, buddy! Nice talkin' to ya." The assassin threw an explosive disc as the wall beside the shatter proof glass. "Too bad your deal never dropped. So…. Sayonara!"
/
The floor was littered, the ninja had left with the character stunt – man's hostage.
And the room, was in turmoil.
Bruce had been able to cool down their tempers, yet he felt…off somehow.
As if that look that Olsen had given.
Wasn't genuine. As –
"Mr. Wayne!"
Sandra had just come back from being interrogated by the police, though she'd also discovered the note atop the security squad's very alive bodies in the upstairs room that perp had visited.
"One Wilson…who wrote this? Brams! Take this down to the station. I wanna crack the code on our little hit – person."
Bruce was about to talk to Jump's head in charge of the crime scene, though he saw Babs in the doorway in her best dressed attire. Batgirl. Why was she….
Tim.
"Did…. Sorry! Just knocking on your door, a sec."
"Whoa…" BB gawked at the big guy at six foot in his wake…
"You're thee –
"He is, the man we came from Gotham to protect. Batman sent me here when we dug up some info of the hit. We fought..." Her nervous chuckle really was willing to explain itself.
"That was…upstairs."
"You had the wrong address?" Bruce turned to see Brams scratching his head. "Since when is that vigilante ever wrong about things?"
BB and Batgirl shrugged before excusing themselves quickly.
"We went in, but was that such a good idea?"
"You tell me." Babs bit her lip. "I came to get the data someone else was after."
"Did you?" Bb's ears perked up curiously.
"It was out of the vault." She gritted her fists. "That note was not the only one the jerk left for us to find." Fishing out a scrap of paper from her utility belt pouch, she opened it to show to Beast Boy.
"Rebel…. yell?"
"You tell me." She put it away. "Thing was…no ink. It was written in something else…"
"So, batcave duty?" Gar asked, almost wishing he could tag along in the bat jet.
"Yup. And then we see what this crook wants to lead us to. It can't be a coincidence."
She didn't stop there as the girl's grin was that of a true rebel at heart.
"Even better, now that B and I are unofficial partners again. So, yeah. Can't let down the boss…even after –
"Robin is out there, Batgirl. We aren't gonna give him up." Gar put a hand onto her shoulder, the girl turning to him with her eyes lowered. Worried about her true partner. As if…
"I cared, but…" She shook her head and bit the inside of her cheek with a sniff. "I'm not so sure he's ready to break his chains to come and see me." She told the Titan almost halfheartedly. Deciding of…them.
"So, wait…you and he…" Gar's mouth dropped open wide.
"No."
"Yes, and I called it. That's not why, though." She rubbed her arms and looked so vulnerable. Not like the Batman's eyes and ears at all. Gar cocked his head, listening as Batgirl lost her composure for only a minute.
"You know his identity." She turned her eyes up to him, nothing masked by the cloth that covered the girl's green orbs.
"We kinda had to." Was Beast boy's unfortunate reply. "Because I smelled him on Mr. Wayne when I shook his hand." Gar admitted. "I smelled the guy that took our Robin."
/
There was a monster under his bed for months after the HIVE had given Grant a fresh grating of hell over his al dente grains of life.
He hated being reborn with a skull full of vengeance, and yet it was so….
Liberating.
Slamming the old man to the ground made the other male giddy. He wanted to drive a sword through his enemy's chest over and over.
Get it back for torturing him with a false sense of devotion.
Yet the scrooge had to live, as Ravager just made damn sure that this Olsen "fake" was his to negotiate the life out of.
"You… nm…. had me, why not settle –
"Heh, and ruin your pretty mask a bit, papa?" Sneered the crazy child with a squint down at his old man. "You owe me, so." He removed his boot from the old timer's back.
"Try to run, and I go with the spear. Shock you out of an escape. I run the game, here! You'll let me make a damned demand this time…"
"Fine."
Grant frowned, pulling back his weapon.
"What?"
"I said, fine." Slade shuffled his shoulders, feeling somewhat uncomfortable from the landing.
"R – really? I…no. Wait." Grant snarled and dug his boot heel into the man's spine in frustration. Letting out his lacking trust in a man who'd never…
"I…wanted to fight." Grant still dug in hardest, teeth gritted like mad.
"You…got…. hurt…"
"I did, now? I'm just graced by good fortune. Can't waste it."
"The serum." Slade huffed. "Made you unstable."
"If I can shoot a moving target, thank you; then I think I'm sane enough to give your bazooka a –
"A wager…. I need, your help."
"You? Asking?" Grant dropped his weight a bit more, not hearing any cracks as he told himself it was fine to pester the old goat.
"Why not beg me for it, pops?"
"No, you'll work…but…"
"Not FOR you." Grant gripped the man's hair as he let his face dip beside dear daddy's good ear.
"With, and I want to help you whip that brat into shape. I want to take what's mine real soon. From him next."
"He…" Slade coughed in a bit of a spasm from the pressure to his ribs and spine. "Wants me dead…"
"Boy wonder?" Grant blinked with a gawking jaw. Ecstatic about the idea of being a secret training coach, to the bat's kid. Only, he'd fight for the crown once he could take the heat. Like, siblings in a bloody rivalry.
"Can I call him, bro then?"
"I don't see, gasp*…why not…"
"OH, sorry." Grant lifted his bot off; glad he'd gotten his fill after spooking a room full of Wayne's top executives. Batgirl was younger than him, but older than Robin…huh.
Didn't they have a thing in the news?
"You'll keep it between us." Slade stood up slowly, getting his strength back at the rate the serum would allow. "He won't get to chose his teachers. That responsibility falls directly onto me."
"What about, you know." Grant scratched his cheek. "Her?"
Slade shook his dyed mane at the ground, then at the air above Jump City. How he wished for that clean air back at the villa…city pollution was very bad for your complexion.
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Slade turned his eye to the boy, hand extended as he waited to shake on their deal. "Welcome to the bad batch, Ravager. To many more years exacting your vengeance."
"On you." Grant let off a soft laugh as he took that hand in lesser earnest.
"I already made my wish come true. Why not help out my fav new lil' brother? Joe won't mind." He smirked in the dim alleyway. "Not one bit."
/
This is it; a showdown in the future for Slade's throne. Grant will help on occasion to keep Dick on his toes, but he doesn't think that Slade will make Dick want to…. kill his son to cull the competition? It's all a game to Grant since the resurrection process drove him nuts – so, what about BB knowing who was in the room WITH Slade's scent? Is Bruce getting closer? Find out!
Also, nano tech? Ingenico? What's not to love! Read on for more!