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

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Chapter 41: For the Demon's Head; Scaredy – Cat

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This one part will get a little insanely cult – like so you have been warned.

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"Bruce?"

It was him, seating while Wilson remained behind a searing scowl in the corner of the room, Talia enamored by the return of her once forced suitor. "I've taken up some time to discuss…. what you wanted Ra's, and I believe that Talia had me convinced –

"Sir! This man is t –

"He is a guest…and not acting as you say, Slade…" Richard walked off to see that Jade was by the door, her hand calling him hither as Talia watched her once beloved's eyes lead over to her father in apology. "The city is falling apart because I can't fix that, yet I can gain the insight you granted before to…well, remedy the situation. Both the league and my partners won't understand why I came back –

"It is obvious that you…returned at an odd time, my darling…Yet this is no ploy, your eyes tell me you wish for more." She hinted, the others thinking it just his wooing word over Slade's since she'd not chosen him. Maybe for his genes, yet nothing else.

Slade called to his protégé as Bruce rejected the desire to act as if he was here for the kid. YET.

His inside connection was in the room, here to do his worst or else otherwise, Slade would have the Demon's head in his palm. Slade was jealous, that was for sure yet not as much as the fact that Renegade vied for his old teacher. "Renegade."

"Sorry, sir…coming." Dick played his part, seeing eye to eye with Bruce as the boy was masked even with those blue uncovered by a thin cloth. Bruce did not look, yet he did take note and nod. Dick understood, this was a part of the plan, so he had to cheat Slade's emotions. Just as Jade had taught him.

"Jade has agreed to a rematch to somehow cler her actions. You are to do it, fight her and this time see that she falls and can't get back up. Is that under –

"Sir, what about her connection to that person on the outside?" Dick wondered as Slade inwardly thought over who Jade was really loyal to. "I'll handle the aftermath, just put her in her place. The bat is next…" Slade saw Dick freeze as his feet jutted, the thought of attacking Bruce again making him dodge the idea, yet Slade was not going to allow any mistakes this time. "Don't worry, no guns will get through to him, child." Slade coaxed the kid to keep walking, Dick keeping his chin down as they disappeared down the hallway.

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Jade was in the dojo already as Slade opened the door, Renegade going in by himself as Slade handed the kid a small blade out of sight right before that whispering an order in the teen's ear.

"Make it look like an accident, that's your assignment this time." With a shove, Dick was feet from the mat, boots scraping off out of the custom and his guards as well coming off to make this fight fair.

"I don't want to fight you, Deathstroke and the darn cult grandfather turned my words into poison. I can't show my face and I know he's responsible."

"It still doesn't matter; Bruce got in, and if he ever gets me home…. the Titans are always my top priority –

"Dummy, I AM a Titan now!" She said and scrunched her brow at the ex – hero. The blade in his hand getting colder. "Roy is trying to create a time where I can do this, Batman is just a distraction. He's going after Slade, not Ra's and I'm not his only connection."

"Talia…" Dick gasped. "She, she and he are still…."

"Allies, for now. In fact, too much so but that is why Gotham is safe. You forgot about that didn't you?"

"I…I didn't think she would try anything with Slade being here."

"Well, she did." Shrugged Jade. "We have to make it look good, right? Make my death look decent, alright?"

"What?? I'm not killing –

"Course not." Jade snorted and threw her head to the side, sword glinting back as she unsheathed it. "I know you boy wonder; you give killing a bad name. Slade is lucky to be in the same place with the man that might one day break him."

"I can't, not until I'm able to get into his head…. like he has mine."

"He's under the skin of your friends, my team too." She noted as Dick shook off his worry for them. "You're not a spy, then why help out? Roy helped you before, I never thought you'd really go and…switch sides."

"The kind of relationship is, complicated. I'm looking for my sister, I told you."

Dick nodded, blade going up to eye level. "Then I'll try not to give you any wounds that show too deep."

"Ditto." She rushed in as he did, neither forgetting to bow as the blows made such music to the merc on the other side of the curtain. "How….do…. you intend to do it?"

Jade hinted the question to the insecure ex – hero. "Will that stick me? Did he want you to…ung! Skin me, alive!? This cat has nine lives, boy wonder. I hope you learned advance HUMAN anatomy one – o – one from the one-eyed surgeon in the next room…"

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Slade didn't move too far from the fight, monitoring what he needed to, giving his other eye that Dick went through with it. The squelch was transcendent as he jumped at the door, sliding it back to see…that… his eye could stay right where it was.

Jade lay on her back, hand to her gut as she moaned in pain, the fib not looking like a scam at all. That was her pooling blood on the boy's blade…

"You can't pull me into your twisted story, Cheshire. I know you aren't with them, or with us."

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Slade never plucked up the body, the bleeding body and had a feeling she'd need to be more convincing than that.

"Where did you cut her, Renegade."

"Stomach –

"You disappoint me, apprentice."

The boy was hoisted up by the collar and tossed to the side. "Again. WHERE did you inflict the most damage. Be honest."

"Sto -

"UNG!"

Jade's eyes squinted. This was a bad idea, avoiding a killing blow wasn't his homework, until the man had the gall to act.

"Finish it, Richard."

Jade's icy veins grew fridged all over again.

"Send her back to where she belongs for betraying the Shadows and your former teammates…" Hissed the man to his protégé. "NoW!"

"Sir, I …I can't –

"She is a spy, het rid of her or we'll leave now. No Batman and no rescue."

Dick scrambled to rise, the man dragging him by the scruff to the body on his knees. "Plunge it in and go, that blade won't matter. Do it and put this behind us."

Dick looked at Jade cautiously, the reminder that this was the plan, their plan they had staged….

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~ You told me his family is his weakness; what else do you know about Deathstroke, did you know Grant? ~

~Better, I met his little brother. ~ She'd grinned then, only when they'd been fighting and not how things had transpired so far. ~He's a psychic that has the power to take over a body, so this could be the time to spring our trap, get you home. ~

~How? I already said I won't hurt you. ~ Dick grunted and rubbed his neck, the full shuffle of their feet had him shift side to side a bit too easily. ~Listen, I planned this flawlessly. When you cut over here, blood WILL gush out but it won't be mine. Just remember, act like it was no big. Like I made you hate me so much that you couldn't resist…~

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"Dick." Slade brought the kid back with a tap on his shoulder. "You obviously aren't ready. Move."

Dick was pushed away as the blade and Slade's face came to Cheshire, her mask gone and her squinting eyes of a pained protégé to his own once – rival…. well, it was nice keeping the kid in line yet now was the end.

She braced herself, body as a victim, as a warrior once her wide, GREEN eyes woke Slade from a long dream.

Getting up, he gripped his skull and shouted, Dick rushing to Cheshire and realizing her wink as she fainted, acting like this was her moment to let the boy wonder shine.

He rushed her out, their inside man as stoked to undo a ploy that never should have come.

"Joey….no…. you… little…. how could you…." Slade gasped out as the child in his view, that phantom child had defied him to save a hero…it was foul, the stench. The distrust as Ra's men bounded in, seeing the trail of blood and Slade in agony as he steadied his skull, Ra's looking over and nodding from the door.

"Jade believes she's won. I intend to put that cat down for you. Save the bat for later…"

"He's all yours, once Jade is returned to us to punish." Ra's let the man go to reclaim his marked protégé, the trigger burning hot in his belt pouch. Oh, dear oh dear…Richard had AGAIN pushed his buttons. Time to show bad little brats what happened when one factor didn't fit. A blade on his back, he strode the path after a faint scent of pig's blood.

"Clever girl." Smirked the man. "You knew what would happen if I took things too far, but this isn't over…" Slade scowl was hidden below an extra face plate. Slade was Deathstroke right now.

The hunter, the tormentor and the witness soon to an unfortunate murder.

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Bruce sat by Talia until she'd had enough of sitting.

"Go after them, quickly beloved." She whispered, her pain etched onto her brow as he did as she commanded. "I won't let Slade harm your family as he has mine." He promised to her. She gave him a sad smile and shook her head. "He is trusted as my father's successor, unless you'd stay and…"

"It won't happen, I already made it clear. There is no "we" but Dick is my family, my son not just a hero to anyone…He's my responsibility –

"As is this empire my father acquired."

Bruce suddenly felt a pang in his throat. No, that ruse…she wasn't….

The man flopped into her lap; the worry erased from her brow. "I told you to leave, my beloved." She petted his dark mane as he was laid peacefully across her lap, his soft unconscious breath making her inwardly grin. "Just your DNA is all I require. That, and I'd like to see if our child can be as lovely as Slade's secret copy…Poor Bruce…" She continued to coo. "There, there…Slade will make that boy forget all about what he was, if he catches him in time…I certainly hope that he can stand to fight another killer."

(This is the Talia rapes Bruce fiasco but this isn't that, she's going to experiment on him, no raunchy soap stuff. More like Bad Blood dc movie.)

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Something up ahead looked familiar as Cheshire got up, her body better since the packet of pig's blood had fooled the merc below her uniform. She dashed after Dick, his feet in socks and having left their boots or sandals on the matt, the rest was a bumpy ride up to the cliff –

"Watch it! Too far, hero!"

"We can't stay; he'll kill us both."

"You, you'll lose your supper, I'll be tortured THEN killed." Jade threw her head back. She and Dick didn't have time to stop as a dozen Shadow foot soldiers were already able to track the scent of dried blood on their uniforms. "This is bad."

"Really? What about jumping a cliff!" Dick exclaimed. "You have to try –

"You won't get far, this cliff has a path."

"Right, I know. Not my first visit to the house of Ra's Al – Ghul." Dick grumbled as they started to find ground by the drifting mist covered path. "Don't get separated. We have cover enough to keep h –

"HAAA!!!"

Jade heard a rumble and looked up. Was he there now???

"You've gotten sloppy again, Apprentice. Give this girl up and you won't make me take back my promise to you." The trigger was there, mist didn't seem to bury it deep enough.

Jade got pissed and pulled out a throwing star, tossing it before the mist broke them up again.

"CLIMB!" She demanded, going faster than he could as a growl made Dick's world tilt like this cliff.

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"We can lose him if we just reach the –

" Jade?? Jade?!" Dick called out anxiously, the girl this close to her last step, the mist moved again, the view more frightening than he'd witnessed in a while.

Slade, and Jade fighting. She was so close to a deep fall off as Slade pushed, the mist moving as Slade's shouts and Jade's cries made his ears ring, popping as Dick stood on the other side, unable to go up as he went lower, waiting for her to show up.

What he instead saw, had him scream out into the mist at the end of this world.

" JAAADE !!!!! NO!!!!!"

She was tossed off of the edge, her body unconscious as the mist engulfed her while Slade moved, his face dispersed as a living ghost. Stepping back, Dick scrambled to the path, a hand coming to grip his throat as he thrashed, rocks tumbling down while the air grew even thinner. His eyes watered as the boy couldn't scream while Ra's watched from above the cliff and shook his head. That would be a problem for Sportsmaster after all, the Light certainly had lost an affiliate, unless she knew how to fly that was…

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Bruce's form was amiss as Ra's escorted Deathstroke and a pupil to the nearest plane for a safe getaway. "If he resists, call. I would love to bring that traitor Wayne down a peg as you say….get even after he tried such a trick on my family. Talia has taken care of that, and you took out the assassin spy. We'll have you whenever you need." Ra's bowed in thanks as Slade customarily did the same. "My apprentice was swayed, yet he's distracted too easily. A secluded haunt of mine is up and running again, this time where the Batman can't stick his nose."

"You have been busy, oh dear." Sighed the fellow anarchist. "Stay well on your journey. The Shadows are yours when you do decide to consider my proposal. I'd have no one else to carry my grandson."

"What about Talia's…. fixation." Slade wondered over his shoulder, the engine going as Dick never minded the sensation in his sleep. "Batman is her test subject, I only hope she'll understand what YOU want, Ra's. That woman may be your daughter, yet she's emotionally invested in a project that could turn her into a cape's latest success."

"With luck, that time will come. It is true." Ra's seemed to agree. "Talia has either to marry herself to the Demon's Head, or lose her own. That is the law of my world, Wilson."

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Starfire's cue was a scare, a great fright as Roy sat there, kneeling over the unconscious form of his princess in royal green. "She did it, she got the kid back in a way…." Red shuddered at the drop, the sight of a helicopter taking off by their heads up above. "Robin…. he again has…."

"Jade made sure of one last trick before she fell." Roy pulled out a Titans' unit with a blinking dot right on the screen. Kori clasped her hands together and yipped in delight, tears at the edges of her vision as she blinked them into the air. The mist was clearest on the ground as Jade groaned, her shock not as sever since she'd been caught while already knocked out by a punch from Deathstroke.

"I hope she'll be ok…" Roy gripped her hand as she gentle took his in her own, a smile on her lips for a moment. "I…. got em…"

"You did, and we'll find her too…" Roy cried over the form of his best friend. "We'll stop him and save Robin and Artemis…. I never said I'd give up…I never said it…" He was crying, the fear if they'd not been in time, if Joey's power had failed. But wait –

"What about B??"

Jay looked at his unit, nothing. "I can't leave him, Talia must have –

"You can't face them alone; he has to have a plan for going it alone."

~ Guess again, sweetheart. ~

Jay looked as a face of another two-toned menace reemerged as an X faced one. Red Hood asking himself if this was a joke…that was Robin's suit!

~ Hey, I'm just saving face, Jay. Cool it. Rose convinced me by the way. ~

"Grant??" Jason gawked. "You…you got the old suit on?? We were the same size, couldn't be a –

~ Shut up a sec, bro. She told me that the best way to get our old man up on himself was…to help the enemy. So, I'm in the lab with sis here. We are gonna bring him back. You three have got to keep that copter in view then send the coordinates once you do, cause B is gonna thank me. ~

Jason only saw the face of X's alter, not Rose thrashing the place with a blade to Talia's chin. ~ See you later, boo – boo. ~

Jason blushed, the two others and Jade partly all confused and…well, interested to know how long the couple had been keeping up with pet names. "Is…this is not your name, is it? Boo – boo?"

"No, uh…roomie stuff." Jay denied and ended the call. Grant the last to smirk as his crush put up his walls. (Yes, they got too close when Jay let Grant stick around so yeah…. represent! Only because Grant can use him, like father like son. Poor Jason…)

"Just, roommate crap, Kori…Sorry to burst your bubble." /

Have to stop but it will be in another country where Slade is going to be. Guess? No? Well, there will be one hint; in Titans series live action Jinx has an Indian heritage which is the first clue, the second is the movie Gotham Knight the anime batman and tantric style – look forward to it! Another step up for Dick's transformation into a killer through Slade's reprogramming approach. One thing he did though, was attack a Titan and stab them which he'd never do yet until he wasn't closer to home. Slade has his haunt up, but is it actually not where they are going? Find out and also Rose and Grant are thing one and two. They may make a mess, get info and scoot over to where Slade is pushing them into a corner – or they can take extra steps to ruin him from another angle. His lair, so then? Next chapter to come! And Kori was supposed to catch Jade. Remember when Raven was with Joey in Wayne Manor? They used a spell together to find out what was going to happen before Slade won anyway, all so they could scare him a little to slow the man down. Find out how he handles a fright by oct. Can't wait!

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