Teen Titans Presents Robin; Torn Legacy of a Prodigal Son –

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Chapter 40: The Sitting Duck and the Battering Ram

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Analogy or Action and in – action.

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To the dojo they went, right after supper where Dick was boiling under his skin as Slade pushed the ex-hero into the lonely room of hanging red and black walls.

He didn't speak as Dick looked around with a sagging vision; thinking that he should turn to say something, try to turn this into an opportunity as he'd been taught. To get answers. He shouldn't have as he was hit, Slade's face twisted in malice as he wiped his bloody knuckles and Dick of course snarled up at Slade. "I'm not –

Another punch, a smack to the mat as Renegade groaned, Slade's gloved grip keeping him bleeding into the tatami.

"You broke a very important promise, dear Apprentice."

Dick gritted his teeth, his back shoved down with the man's armored leg at his spine, as his arms were twisted behind his back. Just like old times. Dick grunted before the pressure threatened to leave a permanent dent in the small of his back. He let out a yell, Slade darkly chuckling by his ear barely as he allowed the kid a lesser relief.

"Scream all you wish, Renegade. Ra's Al – Ghul also punishes his own pupils the same way when they misbehave. This has to happen. Even when you knew the rules, you bent them. Made a mockery of my authority."

Dick sniffled and tried to squirm out, yet the man dragged his apprentice up by the arms and swung the bat to land on the other side his ribs, the bruises blooming above the surface as the punishment was simply a beating. A very messy one as Dick's torso got a kick, his teeth knocking together as he spat out blood. Great…more surgical tools needed for his face.

"Will you try it again? The Titans had your word that you'd keep them safe. I would gladly solve the issue and eradicate them AND your brother –

"N…NO!"

Dick growled into his battle cry and lunged at the man. The force of the hit to his shoulder had the kid staggering to stand. "That technique would normally have a person to black out, yet you won't." Slade dragged the boy wonder's collar of his top up to eye level, choking on his bleeding gums as Slade's protégé did something only a hero would do.

He spat that blood from his lips into Slade's face, the icy tone changing to deadly as it all looked to be the end.

No yet, enough to earn him another smack in the face for his obstinate behavior.

Stillness, and a cough as Dick was lowered to the floor, a hand to the blood dripping down his cheek and to it. He just, breathed, chest falling and rising as Slade circled him and began a new lecture. One that Robin wasn't prepared for. "If I leave you a wreck, you won't get to greet our real enemies. Ra's did you a favor, the bat won't be able to fix what I've created."

"I…was never yours, neither were they…. Rose, and the other boy…he got hurt because…of your temper…"

Slade dragged the kid's hair up with a wrenching grip of that ebony set of drenched strands. "You don't know anything, even if she told you what I was…who's to say the bat never knew? Leaving you here to rot while his only goal is to come after me…. you'd have been dead if you had stayed. The Titans live, and I have an apprentice I can discipline."

He tugged, the gurgle in Dick's throat not restrained. "No….you don't…."

"I do, for decades to come, and that Bat won't win you with more lies. That you could ever surpass him, or me unless you're prepared to lay everything dear at your master's feet right now?"

" Not…a chance…!"

" Watch yourself, Renegade." Slade snipped, eye narrowing as the pain only made his lip curl, dizzy from the blood leaving him and the pain, all of it to the tatami. "You're making messes wherever you go, we are quite alike. Just to have our way, we don't care who survives or not. Don't deny. She wasn't able to escape; Jade is still here." Slade let the kid go. "A Titan, that's new."

"How?"

"Your collar, did you forget? It receives signals." The man wiped off his hands onto a clean towel by the side of the main mat. "Not like the kind a scrambler from Sports – master's arsenal, like that has any ability to do what my technology is far superior in accomplishing."

"With…cough*…stolen funds and tech." Dick sniffed and rubbed his throat, the soreness ebbing as he ignored the egomaniac's ranting over how much better he was at killing a crime boss to get his dues. "Which you helped in acquiring, so very generously." Hinted the man with a tinge of glee in his voice, pride even. "You're accomplishing more than I had hoped, yet it is time to let the Titans rest – by the next time you dare to challenge my authority, Richard."

Dick stood, wobbling and using his top to clot the bleeding.

"Let's see about that jaw of yours, first."

"Yes…." He stopped and tried to think a second, pausing as Slade sensed the concern dripping in that sentence.

Sir was, not keeping him off his guard, butter him up? Was Jade giving him decent advice or was that from his experience in Gotham City? Dick wrung out his wrists and brought some air into his lungs. This, was going to sting far worse than a punch in the jaw.

" Yes, Master." Dick said with a swallow, his pride in pieces at this point until he was back below the cowl, star bolts defending it. Sonic canons singing, roaring lions of green and loyal as a friend of the world over, empathy in the form of something unknown, where darkness made its nest.

Where he had to be to be safe, with his friends…

"I'll do as you say, a- and… thank you…" He finished, feeling like dirt on the bottom of someone's shoe.

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The total darkness below had Jade turn to her inner senses, yet a torch lit the walls to reveal her enemy in the shadows, with the Shadows.

"Ah, the lady wild cat has awakened." Ra's waited behind the bars of a very dark cell wall, his hands clutching a strange staff. She saw sparks come out of the red gem at the tip as her eyes only gazed back, glaring at the maddest one of all. "Wilson still knows, so do I. Which of us SHOULD you be more afraid of exposing your little war – world?"

A dry cackle, he could have been from an era of kings and their advisors in another realm of fantasy. Yet her world, this one was the one situated in their reality with no possibility of an escape. Unless, that meant to suffer, grovel or die.

"Why ever did you lie to them, then? Sports – master had two children he'd trained for many years, yet you…. you spied not for THEIR sake, but for your father's. For the organization we have yet to assemble into one family."

"The Light. Top secret? I'm a dealer, a con artist with the best poker face money can embezzle." She said with a twisted grin. "Your club is finished. Once they invite Deathstroke to put his hat in the ring, I can have my life back. Your Shadows twisted my reality and for that!"

"We saved you, from the master that once let you go. You had no one else, child –

"I gave up on him once, but he gets it. You don't understand how WE operate." She lied through her teeth, the marks on her skin were all from that tyrant. "Too much pressure for the elites…and for this boy wonder to tick you off so much -

"Just the opposite, my dear…you forget he knows the Titans inside and out. If Wilson allows me to…. share any confiscated, information. To use those brats to get what I want…"

"You can go after the league…." She gasped. " Not going to work! Batman is –

"Far from able to pass to the other side." Snorted the king as he waved away that ridiculous image. "Even with the League, he won't bring the Kryptonian or any of those useful leaders to face me. No, he'd rather make this personal."

"Batman, you already did know he was coming. But…how?"

"He was not the only key towards knowing, actually." Ra's turned away and put a hand to his goatee to think and preen over his further intelligence in the matter. "That boy, yes. He's expecting to leave, yet if he's not trying to be rescued…what do you think we should do, Jade? Act with violence as our ancestors, or remain calm…ah, and therein lies the indecision I've been dealt." He shook his head, then turned back around, the staff pointed to Shiva as she appeared out of the dark wall to grasp it in thanks. "See to her reprogramming before the Bat breaches that wall." He commanded. "Wayne had denied his destiny before, so I will let Wilson take the crown and use it as I see fit as this outpost's temporary General. Be sure that not a dry thought remains inside that girl's that skull. We need her skills in combat."

"Wait!! I'm n –

She was sure that the staff was a magical one of alchemist – mumbo jumbo that…. could….

She fell, her face seeing the shadows at her feet as suggested words came out one ear and never left.

" You will live for the Demon's Head, Ra's Al – Ghul is the one you serve, no one else. You have been ordered to return for a ceremony of the greatest honor. Be sure that no one leaves the banquet hall…"

With a few more fine tunings, the magic was settled deep in her skull as Jade swayed in her chains. "Ra's…will be successful, he will destroy the Dark Knight…" she droned as Shiva nodded in approval.

" You have been ordered to return for a ceremony of the highest honor….be sure that no one leaves the banquet hall…" (Mainly borrowing the Airbender book earth ba sing sei brainwashing trick.)

Jade was let go as her arms wrung free of cold steel. Her twin fans enough as she was handed back her Cheshire mask. " For the Demon's head." Shiva said in the teen's ear. Jade clicked the mask into place and that smile had everyone looking forward to a good fight.

"Victory, for the demon's head shall be his…To the Bat, he shall be no longer a threat. I am ready to receive my rank, oh leader of Lazarus !"

(Cult talk, very messy.)

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Dick nonetheless eagerly stumbled to his quarters and drifted off, not before the day's crow of a rather large fowl had his eyes droop as his lip…. oh, right. Slade had so graciously sewn him together like a useless rag doll.

Sitting up, the pain still had him wince yet there was also some off-color injection that took away the ache. He, he didn't feel like a zombie, a robot?

A click at the door had the knob turning and Dick jumping back, before wondering if he should fix his messy bed instead. Sans the drool stains. Slade didn't come though, it was actually a change as in fact, staring him down was Jade, yet was it? She looked similar yet her hair was up and she wasn't wearing anything but a black outfit of Ra's line. His servant.

~ Jade is still here. ~ He heard Slade's warning and gasped, seeing that her dead eyes were much less enthused to see him. Maybe, his teacher was telling…no. No, Slade was the reason for all of this!

"Jade, Chesh –

"You're not to address a servant so informally."

Slade came to the other side, his face masked again as Dick wondered why Deathstroke had not been concerned for the reasons behind what looked to –

"She's just here to see you to your first hour of training. We'll be preparing for another guest in the meantime…" He moved his chin as Dick looked at the bed, flushing and going to fix what he could, including the drool or specks of any blood that remained.

"She'll take those."

Dick lifted the linens as Slade directed the boy to do as he was told, even if Jade right now wasn't in her right self to tell anything to the boy wonder. Not even to sync the word "help" upon her lips.

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Ra's was there in the courtyard as Dick looked to see who he'd be up against. Instead, it was a change of pace as the guest made Dick back away slowly.

"Bruce?"

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This is a bit rushed, but it is late here in NY and I just cleaned up the kitchen …. yawwwn….it was a late day so tomorrow promises to have and earlier start! I ebb around 930 unless I push for 12 midnight by typing and reading. Sigh, college now has swapped around things and by October I hope I can move this into the Bludhaven years since Dick will be unofficially seventeen if he Stays a Renegade! Like the one shot, yup. And so? Was it too hit or miss with the Light? I tried to not dwell on Dick's injuries as much since this is lagging into the middle. Need to prepare for a bit of drama! Will Richard be ok or will Bruce pull him alter back from the grave at the wrong time while Slade's hand is still on that trigger? Will Ra's go after DS to pull him into the role of an official of the Light? An organization that is like the Legion of Doom or Evil without the fanfare. More covert behind the scenes, so Jade and Artemis really were not missing each other or did her dad threaten to have Artemis as his pupil if Jade didn't comply to his terms as a possible member of the Light? Find out since they did mention that a telepathic link from a new Titan? Miss M. Duh, so find out in forty – one! Don't miss is and read on, stay curious for more!