Teen Titans Presents Robin- Torn Legacy of a Prodigal Son
/
Chapter 32: Trophy Life
/
This title is stupid but Dick kind of is a trophy, not wife mind this being rated t for "terrible masterminds kidnapping and blackmailing teen heroes." On with the tyranny and the location, I made it a tad worse for Dick but safe for the idea that TROPHY HUNTING SHOULD BE BANNED. Hoping this is, ok...also, we are going to see Slade traumatized Dick in the worst way without killing??? Find out!
/
Hot, it was….
Hot! Hot! Hot!!
Dick groaned and covered his face with his coat as their ride out of the city of Beira; the airport hub there had been more fans and less thick droplets of perspiration, as Dick realized how entitled he truly was.
Slade looked pristine, almost glowing and without his mask or suit to hide that childlike wonder in his one twinkling blue - grey orb. They both had taken to their civilian identities and Dick had the right to rest on their way to a rather interesting suburb of a sort.
(HIS ESTATE WAS RUINED IN KENYA (in the comics) AND TROPHY HUNTIG BANNED, BUT DID THAT STOP HIM? No! The guy has issues…jeez)
"I'm not unfamiliar with the area, we should try for daylight. You're due to getting some rest." Slade turned his head to the image of what was his new outpost and getaway – a white and wooden manor with twice as much space for his trophies. The ones he had replaced or salvaged…but this wasn't a hunting trip exactly. He'd let the boy refuel and rise by day's first light to have the whole space to explore.
Well, never unsupervised.
Dick breathed through his nose quietly, just hoping the man had ceiling fans the size of copter blades to make up for the fact he needed an extra-long soak before it was lights out.
/
By the doorway of the rustic looking estate, an aging man in a drab grey suit nodded to the jeep's passengers. Slade waved over briefly before sitting back down. They put the vehicle into park and the boy was led out to go before Slade, knowing full well who the butler at the door was as he trudged in his heavy boots, half dehydrated from the trip while Slade watched to be sure Dick was compliant with their terms.
"Will."
"Slade, you're back sooner than expected." The butler could put up a front, yet the two were actually very close. No more than during Dick's apprenticeship, yet he'd never realized that man had escaped before Slade in Jump at all.
"I didn't expect you for this hour, yet supper was prepared a day in advance." The man turned his back as Slade coaxed Richard through the door, his head down as…. oh, AC??
"You look relieved, apprentice." Slade chuckled as Will went to the kitchen to fetch a pitcher of ice water from it. "Did you not see the signs of dehydration, Slade? The poor boy was taxed, never by the Bat I imagine by how he's handled the altitude shift." The man servant frowned at Slade as he handed Dick a glass, expecting no need of a thanks in return. The boy furiously chugged the drink down as if he'd been dead without a drop for days, scaring poor Will who sympathized with the child greatly.
"Have a bath drawn and fresh clothes laid out for him, Will." Slade grumbled and moved past them both to head for the spacious kitchen, not bothering to look at Dick, who was a fast healer at his age. He..was he already with his own room? Slade must have made some calls ahead of schedule, Dick imagined to himself and downed a second tall glass from the pitcher's contents.
Slade didn't bother to think back on his folly, there was nothing to apologize for. Dick would learn to endure under his guidance anyway. " I'll handle lunch, I've got this."
Let that be enough, he sighed inwardly while Will brought the boy up to his room a single marble bath as well would be calling his name some hours later.
/
Dick was used to showers, but a bath? From what he saw while heading up the steps, the man liked to- no, loved to kill. Addictively so, so much…that Richard felt his acid churn at the thought of reciprocating the mens' kindness. He shook his head, dunking it under the watery foam as the large round tub was the least uncomfortable place he could be while Slade sulked down in the kitchen.
/
A knife in hand, Slade was about to cut up some fruit for a balanced pick – me – up. Will stood by and watched with a furrowed brow and a shorn look. "You dragged that boy here to see if he'd be ready to face the world, your world I take… are you sure that the billionaire won't go searching off of any new leads? He has Grant's trust to a point, and you recall how pig headed that child can be when trying out for a team at all." The butler rolled his eyes. That boy, a favorite and no a favorite menace after the incident that had left him for dead. He was surrounded left and right by truly muscle-bound idiots.
Yet, they were his idiots to tolerate.
Slade let his hand drop, the blade in the other as he sunk the fruit knife into the wooden board and groaned, a hand now to his scalp, messily combing it back. "Grant isn't doing this to help the Bat, he wants revenge on me the most, and if I took him back now, he'd want my full attention. I don't have time to play his games again, Will." Slade picker up the knife again and moved onto a pineapple, the mango already sliced plenty. "Got the melon out?"
"From the local market, yesterday. Right here." Will nodded a went to retrieve the cut up and very tender local fare that he'd packed in the fridge that morning. "How are we for meat? Anything fresh?"
"Fish sir, is always an excellent choice."
"Good, what type did you store for this time..." Slade chopped up some nuts as well, why not. More the merrier.
"Salted, more so the style for keeping them longest out, a lox spreadable brand from the market was new this morning, and imported." The merc could feel a memory forming. Ah, food was a drug, he missed eating a decent supper most of all...
"How I miss Europe, just a little." Sighed the merc, stepping it up with a papaya and a few Pao rolls to get cut into halves. "The rest is fair game sir; we may be called into action once your apprentice knows how to buckle his own chest holster correctly." The merc nodded in response to that pipe dream for now, as Slade went back to prepping their lunch.
"I'll leave you to it, then." Will left his friend to clean up his mess as well, expecting no less from the agoraphobic, hot headed male.
/
Dick changed into a much cleaner and lighter top; a woven fabric that kept the sun off, the bottoms too didn't make him perspire yet, even when he stuck his head out an open window. He couldn't leave, he could try but….it was, too wild. No tools, no cell. He was as good as Slade's mortal hostage as in Shanghai the next morning.
He still had the wrists' unattractive rug burned duo from the tape tattooed to each temporarily, and a burnt esophagus to prove he'd survived the man's earlier life lesson. Dick soon got tired of tormenting his sagging eyes and moseyed over to a dresser by the far wall that had just one photo placed atop it. There was a young boy in the photo which a dark brown-haired child…Grant…wasn't a natural blonde, huh? His eyes were green, that copy of Slade's was a fake of a fan boy… The boy beside him however, was though and those eyes could drag you into a whirlwind of emotions. Such curls…. wow. Afro, much?
Dick shook his head and decided he was in need of a quick bite. Be it Slade had eaten instead, so he'd not have to see the man's smug face like on their trip to the estate. It was a modern piece that didn't fit, that was just like a high – class mercenary from the state that the Kentucky Colonel had climbed out of - due to Slade's previous leaked bio. (Not sure if that is accurate but yes, Slade was originally out of Kentucky and likes his Whiskey in the comics so I've read. Took him as more of a gin and tonic or a vodka guy. Huh.)
Before that thought had been shut down, while Dick descended the steps to catch a rather interesting duel between a man, he paused against the balustrade and watched with a slack jaw.
And a dart board.
Dick flinched at the definite concentration on Slade's face as without weakness or faltering once. With an intake of harsh, cool breath the merc hit the bull's eye with all five darts. It should have looked simply non threatening, yet Dick knew better than to humanize a kidnapping killer and blackmailing agent of darkness as Beastboy might call Mr. Wilson. Slade looked to the board as his eye moved lazily to the side, head staying right where it was, neck not needing to turn to tell he was being watched.
"Did you freshen up yet, Richard?" Dick held the banister close, getting cold feet to reply when Slade had something of a weapon up his sleeve. Probably more darts, the kid swallowed.
Slade just grunted and walked to retrieve his impaled darts, each plucked as needles off a cactus from the cork – crafted board.
"Good; meet us in the dining room, past the kitchen… don't dawdle.," Without even so much as a nod or a reason to make any eye contact with the teen, the man left to go return to setting the rest of the table.
The knives were off limits to Slade until Wintergreen was ready to "fork" them over.
Especially the carving knife, which they'd not need to dive into a delicious bowl of fresh fruit.
/
Wintergreen stood nearby as Slade came to his side, the two practically related until Dick poked his head from around the corner to view the luncheon spread before his fifteen going on sixteen-year-old eyes.
"What's the special occasion, Slade?" Wintergreen scratched his head, puzzled by what this whole symbolism would lead to. If the boy were involved in why the man had cut up three whole mangos and made his kitchen sparkle, he'd bet his money on it being because of another trick about to be performed by that dare- devil of a maniac.
Slade motioned to a chair for Dick to seat himself, the boy gingerly accepted, nearly tripping over his confidence – it lacking as Slade, was being strange. Mondo messed up, Cy's words and not his.
Wintergreen was motioned to as well, yet not as close to Dick's seat. Further towards the other end since this was going to be between master and apprentice.
Richard really didn't like that humanized approach; the fact he made the boy's face turn red again. Not the other red, the "really embarrassed about your weird uncle" red. *(Not a slash!!)
"Was the bath water too hot?" (Still, not a slash story!)
Dick froze, shaking his head before retrieving the seat to sit himself across from the man at the head of the space, at the rather long table he was his right hand here too…
"No, sir." He replied in a lowered town, his flags going off. Yet…
The food looked, really too good to waste.
/
"The month has been, tedious for the both of us." The salted fish atop fresh Pao bread rolls, the fruit salad as colorful as Dick's Robin costume and the herb topped mixed greens with a dash of oil and Chevre cheese pearls with fresh cherry tomatoes; it all seemed…a bit light, ah…but very well done, no less to expect from a man with only one working eye. "You shut me up in a jet, blindfolded and knocked me out… with less air left than the car ride to get here." Dick deadpanned and bit into a chunk of his roll. "Nothing majorly boring about that." He chewed through his frustration, taking a breath through his nose, wanting Slade to lose his head.
"That is why I want you well fed for tomorrow, Dick." The man swallowed his bite first – did he just not…get mad?? He hadn't hit him? What was going on?? Dick blinked up over his lox – swathed pao.
"Why are you trying so hard to get me to care?" Dick put down the bread as his fists bunched at the tablecloth. His eyes over at Slade as the man took a sip of his ice water and didn't bother to stare the kid down either, not without reason to spook him. "You realize that even if they knew, if anyone found your location, they wouldn't go any farther than this. The grounds are, impossible to navigate for any local tourists."
Dick arched a brow, maybe he meant the wilderness around the place was dense or impassible without a guide, as in you had to be a pro at tracking. Batman was trained enough in all manner of this craft, but who else was he talking about? It didn't sound like a sideways hint to something else.
"I brought you here because as you see, my original plan was to make you, my apprentice. You know that already, but you also saw the heads on my wall?" Slade picked up a small fork, quizzing the kid as he staked his claim on a mango slice with a swift jam into the juicy, yellow – tinged orange delicacy. "What I do; how I'm viewed outside of my persona to the Titans, I've killed before. I know how the system works and to pass my knowledge onto you…I need you to comply this time."
Dick tensed up as Slade chewed the fruit and swallowed it down soon after, rather crocodile quick. "Tell me, or rather humor me; what was it you wanted to be when you grew up? A cop I think. That was what you'd said to me back in California, correct?"
Dick didn't answer right away, his eyes were focused on his plate as he barely risked a nod. Slade's memory was too sharp, he knew it was too late to lie his head off. "A police officer, a detective maybe." He murmured and debated between eating the fruit and not getting drugged up again. Seeing as baking opiates into bread sounded too time consuming anyway.
"And do you know what one of the requirements of that job is, Boy Wonder? Even if you have a criminal record by now, knowing that you might one day need to infiltrate a facility similar to a police precinct could come in handy. All cops on staff should know this." Slade lifted up his roll to lips and spoke first, the bite would come after. "That all officers must remember to be armed at all times, that includes with carrying a gun."
He bit into the bread, Dick's stomach sinking and mouth dry as he watched from the man's right. As he felt himself become molded into his wooden seat. Slowly drowning in those words. "Here in this rural destination, you'll get to practice regardless, if that dream of your former self will become your reality or not." Slade wiped his lip with a napkin as Dick bit his. How could Slade be so calm about what he was doing?
It didn't make –
"SO, I propose a separate, condition be met. I have something very promising planned for you tomorrow; that something does not include using bullets, but tranquilizer darts."
Too quickly, Dick almost stuttered out a protest and then gritted his teeth to reduce the desire to punch a wall instead. "Don't worry, this is not my first mock safari hunt." Slade made sure to keep the boy on his toes for now, not speaking unless he gave the okay. "This is just practice. I don't kill mindlessly unless the animal is a threat to any of the villagers around here, or if there is need to for survival. Such as in those days…"
Dick didn't feel like staying quiet again. This wasn't the way he'd pictured the man before his being "taken" away at all!
"I…I can't do that, why should I trust you?" Dick sputtered anxiously. "You knew about Jason, you lied to me that you…didn't know." Dick swung up his head to glare at Slade, his food barely consumed. At the rate the man had even prepped the rest for another day, he'd made too much. Such a hassle; how did Will manage it?
"How can I trust someone who treats me like that? I'm never going to be your partner, so then what good am I?"
"YOU already let me do what was needed to be done." Slade huffed, going lastly to see to the spread and what needed to be tossed or kept. "Besides, you haven't even tried to escape –
"How can I when you keep dragging me around like I'm dead weight to you??" Snapped the teen, his eyes carrying shadows from a restless transformation into what Slade required he become. Too soon too early to change back, Dick felt the world's arms crushing his dreams, his windpipe…
"You'll keep moving until I just, cave? Give you what you want??"
"THE OATH." Slade's one eye bore into the boy, an arrow through the gusto Dick had foolishly salvaged of his last identity as a hero. "You swore on it, and I intend to have you keep your word, or you'll not remember the Titans having EVEN existed." Slade lilted out a last sigh as he moved round the table, hands behind his back contemplatively. "I told you before Dick; you belong to me, as MY Renegade."
"I'm not yours."
"We'll be up at five am sharp, by first sunrise."
"NOT…-
Slade just kept making plans, zoning out the kid's cries.
"I EXPECT to see you ready to pack, you'll be summoned as soon as I'm ready to retrieve you for our trip to the reserve." Slade continued and later openly ignored him, just as he cleared the dishes, left Dick to do nothing but wallow on his own until it was quiet.
It was…so, dark out too…the sun was dipping through those glassy windows…breathtaking. If it wasn't such a grim thought stuck in his head whilst viewing the evening dusk light, Slade had not told him to go to his room yet, and yet he couldn't leave this room either. At night, walking alone anywhere was a danger for a mess of reasons, mostly…because this was a wilderness that Dick had no knowledge of how to traverse on foot. Not without getting lost in the Serengeti of lovely Mozambique, or coming face to face with another hot-blooded beast...He shuddered and curled up in his chair. He was cold, the draft no longer felt good…Or the authorities tracking him down…
It wasn't his home, yet he wasn't able to leave in one piece if he broke that oath. Nor would the Titans or what remained of them survive, if they ever lived to forgive him.
/