Teen Titans Presents – Robin; Torn Legacy of a Prodigal Son
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Chapter 23: The World Turned Upside Down – Twin Swords
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Song from revolutionary British protest, somewhat fitting since Slade has gone back on his word to leave the Titans alone. Will Richard find out? Will Terra break from Slade's forcible control with a lasting rebellion? Here it is.
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He couldn't let her make her move.
Grant stumbled on his own to reach the tower, the heroes surrounding him as the teen kept his hands in the air.
Their powers fluxing as Cyborg left the order to "halt" the attack."
"You are…the Ravager…. yet, there are two of them, yes?" Starfire looked to Gar as his eyes did not reach hers. "I don't care. I wanna know what your boss did with Terra!"
"Which, is why I'm here!" Grant spoke to the team with a cautious glance at the beast child. "My half sibling, she's just as crazy with a katana – she's gotta be your target then. Slade kicked me out of his little haunt to train his new puppets."
"Terra's not a tool; we trusted her, and she was taken away." Raven said clearly with her eyes glowing bright in the daylight. "Your "associate" took control of her body, her powers. She just wanted us to help, and we failed – but no more!"
"Rae! Cool it!" Cy jumped on and grabbed the young woman's shoulder. "Hurtin' him won't bring us Terra or Rob -
"Forget him, he's the one who lied to us. He's only protecting himself!"
Grant jumped right in, seeing plenty of faults here as he spoke up for the titans to know the real story.
"Actually, elf – man; he's been trying to stay alive…And he was the one who threw me out of the place by force."
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Starfire held up her green – lit fists in protest.
"More lies! You do not have the right to speak ill about our friend, you of all the villains we have faced must know who you are the "dealing the with." Her gaze grew drawn in on her target. Grant hung his head before letting out a sigh and shaking his ashy- brunette skull at the alien princess. "Wanna bet? Check my pack. See if I'm not wrong about your perfect boy wonder."
"Should we?"
Raven turned to see that the bag had no seals or charms. Just, gear…for an invasion.
"Go on, it won't getcha." Grinned the Ravager - reject.
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Rose stood with her scope atop a warehouse overlooking their home, her precious prisoner's sanctuary. She nodded to the one by her side, body moving as gears to a toy soldier. Eyes golden as she lifted her fist to the heavens.
"Do it." Was how Rose responded to such record high obedience of a former enemy. "Blast it; get their attention, puppet."
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Slade saw through the reaches of his ow cameras what was to happen to his city, his claim on it.
In came one more to greet the mercenary, while his young apprentice wept bitterly in his closed of dreamscape.
"Red X." Slade turned in his dais seat to the boy at his doorstep as he was led in, in binds too thick to break.
"Call me, Jason." Sniffed the kid. "You took away my face. I thought we were legit. And what's with –
"You are one talkative brat for a reject of the bat's, noble family." Slade hummed and leaned into his palm, thinking deeply on what might wound the dark knight more.
Not losing a son, that had to have hurt the first time.
Slade, of course was aware of that phantom feeling.
"Not as noble as your genius mind can think, so…no." Snorted the teen. "I wanted to get out, but you went after my family too. I should have told you that your kid was on my ear, every step."
"Grant was just getting back at me for telling him the truth." Slade eyed the mask - less ex- hero, thinking his wit was getting to be bothersome up to a point. Or, eventually, it would be.
"He didn't want to hear it." Frowned the kid. "That's something we have in common; passive aggressive parents who control our actions, sometimes by force or drastic decisions to burn down a city –
"Grant is siding with MY enemies!" Slade growled at the brat to his face. "He's just as devious as Rose, yet she –
"Won't let you get in her business, if you didn't get the gist of why she's not asking for more –
"I won't stand for being mocked by a mole. You had your chance and blew it."
"And what happens when those, baby – soldier training programs go out of style in a few years?" X raised the question with a brow.
"You'll be unmarketable. Just as worthless as the kid you told to get –
"Enough!" Slade stood up as the gears clicked on.
"You've tried my patience, Todd. You could be belly up in the bay by now, yet Dick made a new deal to keep you in one piece. The titans, they'll be sure to send my message far enough once they've left this city."
"You're…oh, you're gonna kick them out?? Way to go! Cause the HIVE already tried that –
"They failed and lacked the initiative to put the Titans back underground." Snarled the man as he gripped Jay by the collar, hot fire on his tongue as Jason had been bitten by the Joker, Two Face. Slade was just a wannabe Sionas to him.
"I'm going to keep them away; struggling towards the surface. This city was built by me before the Titans ever formed their little team. Robin would be honored to join my cause once all of that becomes clear. What killing in my line of work means for saving a life."
"I know, I was Talia's fav for a long time before I ditched the cult of her dad's." Jay scoffed as Slade let him go. "You might be good material for keeping my apprentice on the straight and narrow, yet your risks taken were as defiant as Red X's role as my intel dealer. You had it; then, the bat came swooping in."
Slade turned to the screens as a face on a video recording came up. Jay gawked. "Stalker, much?? I thought -
"I never leave any openings in my defenses."
This was…. a feature that was EXACTLY after the Wayne Towers conference went downhill.
Rebel Yell. A cry for help, and he'd contacted Bruce. He'd gotten in to tell him what Slade's next move might be. Not, what it was…
"You did all of that snooping, behind my back." Slade's eye turned to a slit on that last word.
" Partner …"
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Tim had dug through cob webs; thinly woven over a box under the bed of one; Dick Grayson.
He pulled up the case, now under his bed. It had a lock, a secure one which genius Tim could crack any second.
A few minutes, and the case's security was breached. The metal, blast proof and fire proof silver brief case had what words could not describe.
Hope, lay within Pandora's case as Tim picked up a torn photograph of a boy in Kelly green tights with a wide grin on his face, beside a few others.
Family, Dick's real family.
He had no words, yet there was one thing that didn't match the mood of the contents. A slip of paper with a coded message.
"Looks promising." Tim smiled and got to work on what he did best.
Hacking for an answer.
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Starfire was on guard. Guessing her friends had already laid down the weapons.
But, no. Not she, for was a true supernova when need be.
For all of her allies, even a lone robin in the clutches of some evil "morblik."
"We can't trust another one of Slade's rats." Bb sneered while the containment room for interrogating suspects was fully functional. Bb and Raven worked the controls in case there was more to Grant's "dropping in" unannounced to the heroes' abode.
The were sitting ducks. Slade could strike and Ravager might be his way inside. Like Terra, only that was partly against her will. She knew right from wrong, yet…
This teen's identity, was warped as his personal agenda as a glorified hit man.
" Talk , tough guy. Why did you come to our tower." Cy played the bad cop, yet Kori felt obligated to fall into the same role as her temporary team leader.
"I came to warn you, that he's not gonna keep his word. He does, then he flips and gets on the nerve of the person he's screwed."
"Robin…" Starfire gasped, seeing Grant nod. "Name is Grant. I didn't just work for that policing piece of crap; he was, my superior, but his training could kill. I got what I wanted, just like him…I'm a super serum survivor because of him, but you can't let that –
"Slade…serum?" Bb shook his head.
"As in…." Cy blinked at the cutthroat son of a merc.
"Yup. Super – soldier, like my superior. Only I screwed up his company to get a taste so …. if you wanna use me to pull him from the damned sewers before he crushes this place ta; dust…"
Raven leaned in; he was making a proposal that they couldn't refuse.
A chance to defeat Slade, with a replica. A super – soldier made and born as…he was.
"Then, he does have a weakness?" Kori asked the teen, eyes praying for that answer to be drawn out onto the table.
"I dunno. I never really asked the guy if he even knew." Grant shrugged his shoulders to her question. Cy wasn't buying the smart guy routine, eyes scanning over this anarchist sell out.
"So, is Slade like "immortal" or something? Raven?" Yello??"
" Quiet." Raven hushed her puppy pal in the booth, sound seeping through as the two younger listened in.
"I'm ammo, nothin' more." Grant told the team. "Did your last leader tell you how many perfect – shaped bruises he'd gotten? Bloody knuckles, migraines from minor concussion –
"I do not wish to hear you spout terrible things. You seem to only speak ill of them. Never of what you yourself have done to the good people of this city!" Starfire shouted at the witty merc's son. "Grant? Do "grant" us the real reason why you came to our home. We will not spill blood if it is not necessary, yet our friends are being controlled by a criminal who controls you as well!"
"He can't get inside my head, prissy miss, because I don' let him!!" Snapped the assassin before Kori raised her bolt – lit fist to Grant's awe – stricken face.
"Then, do with the talking and tell us…what sewer is Slade currently hiding??"
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Batman was jetting it this time; he just hoped there was enough time before Slade –
~ Bat – man…zzzpp……got……evi…. den…ce……. need…...you…. con……tac……teen –
"Tim, I'm almost to Jump City. Why can't this wait. Are you st –
~ Li…zzppp…. en……zzzp……slade…. not……~
"Not, what??? Tim!"
The line went to drag on before dying as Bruce lost the signal through some cloud cover.
Bruce gripped the wheel before a projected image of Tim's unmasked eyes and fear…. what had he found out??
"Timothy, I need you to tell me what you found. Don't keep anymore secrets."
Tim wryly smiled at the bat. ~ Knew I was never pulling out back there. Was my acting that bad, B? Well, that makes two of us….and I found more. Like a file Jay slipped into Dick's room, the case? The one he let behind? ~
Bruce recalled no case of any sort leaving or entering the manor's walls. "Jason set it there for someone to find."
~ Right, Dick was pushed to go back to Gotham, but got caught. So, Jay's plan before Grayson's recovery was that he was supposed to find the data. About what Slade was building and may have up and operations since then. ~
Tim pushed the file, blueprints in Bruce's steely direction. "How much time before its activated. These are battle plans, Jason swiped them up to send to Dick. To –
~ Not only that; remember the micro dot data from STAR labs that went missing a few months ago? ~
Bruce grumbled a reply. "I don't. enlighten me." He had been away sorting out league matters at that time. Right before, Tara Markov had gone on her journey to stay with the Titans.
~ You have to get there and warn the kids. There is one more key player in all of this and I want to hope you don't get freeze framed from…~ Tim paused, trailing off. ~ I'll make sure to figure out how to shut it down before then. Get to the Titans. Tell them that they're not safe. None of us will be if we can't find the trigger. ~
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"Your apprentice wants to know if he may fight the Titans, sir."
Will waltzed in and Slade had already sent X off to keep him out of the way. Robin was…never, that bold.
"He's just pouting, tell him next time." Slade relayed to the old brit. His tea getting cold as ice as the two; Terra and Rose were readying to bring the party to them.
And…a heat signature…it had picked up one more body.
"Well, well…running away wasn't enough." Slade changed screens as he connected to Rose's comm.
~ Ravager; your new target isn't just the Tamaranean. ~
He sent her the image as her grin grew. "On it. Dead or alive, or just barely?"
Oh, she knew. What a smart cookie, as Slade chuckled. "Barely, my dear will do plenty..."
Grant was going to have a near – death experience in that tower once it went down to the ground.
~ Sir, we have company. ~
Terra…. how had –
Slade looked over at the sky line.
Big.
Black…
Jet.
Like bat wings.
His eye narrowed at the screen, yet a smirk graced his masked face. "Good work, Terra. Take him out of the air. I give you full permission." Looking down at his arm, he had a function for both teens to work them like puppets, yet her powers…
"And I would be happy to assist in doing the honors…"
Why he raised his arm about a platform and watched them go in sync, or how Rose readied another such trigger in her grip.
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"Ready." She said through the link.
Slade smiled as Terra lifted up a whirlwind of rock to combine with electrical and watery forces of the city. She had all the power, yet none of her complete control as Slade commanded the Titans…
~ Activate the detonation. ~
"Thought you'd never ask." Rose placed a device onto herself and Terra before letting her finger fall over the button.
To stand still, forever.
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Chro – no - ton! Terra's suit? All here! Dick isn't going to just watch Slade take over the city and destroy his mentor and team, he's going to be unable to view it from his cell. Like Slade's kept him in a bomb shelter. Rose and Terra will be able to move, but what about the heroes? We shall see! Next chapter – Say Freeze, Big Brother! Grant might be down, yet he still wants Rose out of his chair. Read on and stay curious!