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

by INKblOt32

Dedicated to 1st fan, Lucia Chloris. The heroes lost, and Jump is overrun by Slade's eyes and ears on every block, bent on taking the city by storm. Overcome with the desire to remold his captured protégé, the test begins...but is Robin all for it, or is he living a big lie? When will an empty promise get to be too much, especially with the Titans' lives on the line? Find out!

50. Chapter 50

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

/

Chapter 50: Booming Sound Waves

/

He never didn't always have a choice.

Yeah, contradiction after contradiction blew away his excuses.

~ I sliced a man's trachea, with a scalpel. ~

Dick put a stiff gloved hand to the steering wheel as Slade directed the teen now to follow the stretch; the entire event in a loop for a cover, Slade just doing this for Dick to understand what he was willing to teach. Baby steps along, the truck was a smooth full – up, of his empty mind, not at all emptied of the lingering thought that someone would see him in a wig and dark sun glasses. The heroes….

"Look! It's Speedy!"

Speedy?

Dick just drove; still getting tense as his hands gripped the wheel of their less dangerous contraband.

"No…he looks weird. Is that a baseball hat?"

"And why is that girl dressing in the colors of the American flag in a…. a mini skirt?? I've never seen her before. Hon! Where are Superman and Super Girl?" A middle-aged woman called to her significant other, the two's faces looking so very -

Super…. girl? Since when? What was she?

Dick's heart was fluttering a bit now. The vitals registered onto Slade's armlet with the Titans' probes could sense it, he realized. Taking in a swollen breath, he attempted to slow his head a bit. Keep driving, get out of the loop around the corner and then –

" Wow!! Is that…a, big, blue… beetle-

Dick wasn't sure why but the signal in his ear from the comm link had him wake up. He was already trying not to come undone in his seat. The cheers, the memories. All of it stung as his fingers threatened to shake him off the road.

~ Apprentice. Calm yourself. They aren't here to bother us. Just stay alert and the rest will play out as it should. ~

Dick nodded with a grunt, the comm picking up plenty. "Yes, sir. Sorry." He cleared his throat. "I…I'll finish this." Dick bit his lip, gripping the wheel as he tried to ignore how wrong Slade was. Zatanna was outside, and she seemed to be searching for someone…

Him.

~ I can't finish her! ~ Dick finally halted the vehicle, eyes wide as the flashbacks made him nauseous. Well, so too did the sound of not fireworks in his ears as Slade yelled out to his apprentice –

But far too late as the truck was set ablaze.

/

Batman arrived in the Bat Mobile as Raven and Cy with Blue Beetle met up to devise a rescue plan. "No Superman, but she can put out the fires…right, Batman?" Blue Beetle ducked his neck as Bruce called to Kara. Her blonde hair swished in the wind as she'd just gotten a boy and his young sibling to safety. "I…I don't know that power yet!" She admitted with a sense of defeat. "What abou –

A tall order as it was, an arrow laced with a glowing green substance went flying by her ear as Kara didn't just know what that green glow meant, yet she fell right into the debris while a few more arrows without the glow came down in droves to distract the heroes.

And to explode with a bombastic display of colors and dust –

"Look out!"

Combustible powder. Slade went on his knees to find Dick, the mission a bust only when the contraband was taken. For them, it would be wise to wait and make their escape yet Dick was impossible to locate. "Where did –

Slade looked past his false other eye and saw Zee near a body that was quite damaged. No, he wasn't that badly…

Slade made his way over, his guise still on despite Dick's hair being more than off his ears.

"Huh? Is tha –

Slade swung up from behind and kept her down while the heroes fought on the other side of the overturned vehicle. "Say a thing and your travesty is your own. Leave us." He used a part of her neck as she fell quietly from a press to a pressure point his hands could guarantee wouldn't fail. Dick groaned in pain as Slade felt some pity, just a little. He got out the one thing in his belt he really didn't want to use.

"I'm sorry. Just wait, rest." Slade pulled out a vile with a light blue substance mixed with a special pain killer he used on missions. "Less than half, you won't change from this." He jabbed the thing into Dick's upper arm as the teen hissed, then twitched as he had to bite back a cry. "I won't let you fall short of a life; this one is yours. Keep it, we can't change what went wrong –

"No." Raven appeared from through the car, her eyes wider and white as snow in the deep north with all of its mysteries. "No more hiding, Slade." She stared at the unconscious Zee, then saw Dick in pain with him…fighting some artificial reaction.

"No more." Batman appeared as he rushed and leaped over the truck with his grapple, ending in a crouch with a look of crushed hope on his face, until that fear turned to an angry skull. " This, ends ."

/

"I, beg to differ."

Slade wasn't here alone as he'd said before. A blur of silver swooped down as two, a katana wielding princess and a staff carrying psycho of her brother. "Wanna dance, Bats?"

"Grant!" Exclaimed the dark knight.

"And a dear associate as of today. I needed some competition, and quite frankly? I don't think destroying my enemy is gonna change that." Grant raised up his staff as his new face and mask made the bat look to Raven with a not. "I don't care what your goal here is. I want my sons back –

"But he's my boy, now…" Grinned Jackal number two. "Red and I get along like soul mates. He does my dirty laundry, and I take out his trash!" Grant let the staff send a zap at Bruce, who tumbled out of the way as Raven got ready to use her powers.

"You're consumed by hate. Slade is nothing if not untrustworthy." Raven glared at the assassin. "You can fix this, do the right thing."

"Right hurts, but bad?" Grant pulled out a gun from his hip holster. "Feel oh – so, good!"

/

Cy and BB were there as well, Cheshire sending her deadly sai Roy's way as he tried to hold his own like old times. "Why are you on his side?? He's the one keeping secrets. Not us, Jade –

"I'm not interested in your pity over me, playboy." She dragged her leg out to kick his bow out of his hands, her Cheshire masked grin hiding how she was sure Artemis was not someone he'd put at the top of his list. "You were like him, but unlike Grant's problematic history… yah...He lets me take! This! Case...into my own claws ! For me ! For my sister's sake and I…am, so…. close !"

She danced her way to his face as her blades knew only that her heart was at stake, should she pity a fool like soft Roy Harper. "You couldn't save her, so I'm done."

"I did all I could to keep you away from the shadows. It was to protect you, Jade!"

"And that would mean that you could have left Artemis because you weren't as selfless as I thought."

"No, I didn't want a friend going after anyone for revenge."

"And I guess that makes three of us, right Jericho?"

Cy and Bb looked up to see their moles – only one was amiss.

"Jay? You said –

"Sorry T." Jason was still in his uniform while Jericho used his eyes to pin down the thug to talk.

~ Why are you letting my brother tell you what you should do? He doesn't care about anyone else –

"Well, you might be right about that…" Smirked Jay as he hit a spot on his suit, letting Joey go from his "contact" as Terra dove in to catch the kid, her real friends right beside her. "You…you knew we were going to stop being yours, but he'll just try to control you like Slade is with Richard." Terra warned the teen antihero. "Get away before –

"I have shit to finish." X pulled out X's that were glowing white, Bb rushing after Terra as she floated upon a rock with Jericho still as devastated as the rest.

"B can't help me, cause Dick is my brother too…take care of yourselves, heroes." The X was thrown against the truck where Slade had to turn his head to a more pointed angle, eye sharp while Bruce had no choice but to let Dick go to save the citizens still trapped in the crossfires. He glanced back as Slade took Dick into his arms and vanished, eye in some trance over what had gone wrong today. What allies he had lost to some old traitors in his circle.

Rose and Grant with Cheshire with Jason were left, while Terra and Jericho had kept quiet long enough. They returned to a safe place while the fires were put out, Raven stood before Batman as he watched the plan go up in smoke from a rooftop only feet before those dying embers and too many fire trucks for one chemical blast – all in hazmat gear as he crouched to take it all in. In defeat.

"Dick, Slade was about to inject him with his own serum."

Raven's eyes widened at how Bruce had known what was in Slade's hands.

"We failed him, Raven. Tell Cyborg and the others to stand down. The effects of the madness it might cause Dick –

"But you still want to –

"He won't be my partner anymore, not the ward he grew up as in my manor and you won't even recognize him…I'm sorry, Raven." The dark knight knew of Jason's pit – madness, but the serum that had made Slade a threat, that was something beyond what magic and drugs could heal.

"I have to make a call. See that Jericho and Terra are evaluated –

~ Why don't you ask the last of our moles that? ~ Jericho stood up as Terra let him walk to where Bruce turned to view the younger, fragile hero. "You took a risk with your powers; you told me Jason was –

~ He is on our side, Batman. ~ Jericho shook his head, disagreeing that Jason wasn't thinking about fixing things in his own way. ~ He wants to save his brother, but he's not Grant's or Slade's. ~

"They're killers, Jericho." Batman told the boy in a strictly wary tone. "What if your assumption is correct; Jason is out for vengeance, and none of the hero community can condone that sort of violent action being taken. Are you on the side of what's really just, or are you like him, wanting to punish your father for your own selfish reasons? Raven, Jericho will be benched until further notice –

~ I can help! ~ Joey shouted into Bruce's mind. ~ You're like me, you want your family to come home! I want to bring both of my family to justice, so no. I'm not like Jason or Cheshire. No one should be hurt like they were today…~

Bruce felt no regrets as he moved to access his grapple. "Until further notice, that's an order of by a member of the Justice League, Jericho. You can't fight with the Titans if you don't understand what it is we are fighting to prevent."

"Then we won't fight, Batman. Not beside you, like we always have." Raven came to stand beside Jericho.

"You're not in command. Stand down, that's an order –

"You can't protect us." Terra told the dark knight as she joined her teammates. "We'll start our own division, make things right because we know what it means to want to save others. Dick isn't the only one in need of an intervention."

Bruce squinted at her. "I'm not going to say this twice. Raven; your team is to disband immediately – any further action against the League, your responsibility will be in jeopardy, this isn't about what we want to happen. This is the law, and our careless actions JUST destroyed an entire city square while none of us were prepared to handle any counter measures. I failed Clark and my own expectations –

"It's not about –

"I'm done here." Shot the bat coldly over his shoulder. "Disengage, or you'll be branded as anarchists like Defiance. Make the right choice."

He flung himself to the next rooftop as the three heroes took one look at the destruction below. "We couldn't have stopped him, he's wrong!" Terra growled and clenched her fists, this time with her powers in her control. "We can't go against the League's diplomacy on our own." Raven turned to leave the roof to the stairs, Jericho tagging along. ~ What about another name? Another plan? We can't be Titans if he wants to ruin you because of what I forced him to admit."

"That he's afraid." Raven looked to Joey, who nodded with a set of brows now deepening in regret. ~ He was in pain, but I'm not going to become my brother or sister, like you said. Hate took them away from me, my dad was the fire that set them to burn full of it. ~

"A toxic person, to their lives." Terra rubbed her arms and recalled what Slade had been capable of. "Yeah, but revenge won't get anyone to change what they are, either. Rose is stuck thinking she needs to do this, but it's Grant. And I want to save her for all she did for me…being there even if it wasn't really all out of pity or sympathy."

"Then, we'll regroup." Raven agreed. "Find a loophole in Batman's system and while you two train to be heroes off the field." She smiled. "Thanks Raven." Smiled Terra with a small grin. "I'm sorry we gave you guys a start. No more covert until they need us. Until Batman knows we're not just some dumb kids with powers."

~ I agree! Well, call me "Insight, then. ~ Joey puffed out his chest as if he had a cape floating behind him. ~This suit's technology may come in handy, after all. ~ He said, noting that the Defiance gear still was his by design alone. He could fight fire with fire, but not in the same way anyone was expecting.

/

Slade sat by the side of the medical bed where Dick's vitals had stabilized. Head to his palm, the man's unit went off as he dug it out with a grimace behind the mask. Steeling himself for double the scathing comments, the door opened before Slade could leave his seat.

"I don't want you here right now, Grant."

"Won't be long." Grant's armored boots hit the stonework as the doors slid shut behind him, Rose's shadow vanished down the hall with her long white platinum hair. Slade couldn't help but let his eye wander out of caution for his real heir

"So, kid deathie made the cut? You reconsidering what…I told you, pops?"

"I'm your associate, not your caregiver." Slade sat back, his mask sliding off his face with a clack onto the man's lap. "Did you send the shot, did you use kryptonite residual dust to hit that truck Rene –

"No." Grant put a hand to his brow and shook his skull. "We had a stupid target on US."

"I was thinking the same thing." Slade crossed a leg over his knee. "Who do you propose it was who fired that arrow at Super girl. None of your teammates had that kind of equipment." Slade drew out, pausing for Grant to finish his thoughts before a real fight broke out. Not that either could break bones on the other, yet Dick would need his rest. He was far from over this mess, or Grant's idiotic demands.

"D-

Grant bit his lip, pacing and dragging a hand to comb over her scalp before biting his wrist with such anger behind his next few words…." Fuck…..you set us up!"

"Coming at the better link?" Slade snorted at his ex – son. "You've come so far. Certainly, it could be another enemy? Anyone with a weapon can make trouble, but that arrow had a destination. I'm as upset as you are. My apprentice was nearly burned to death."

"And yet, you kept a cooler head with him than me." Grant sneered at the sleeping sixteen-year-old in the cot. "Did you use it, like me?"

"Not, a full dose. His wounds weren't enough to warrant that." Slade told the teenager. "Batman thinks that the new dose will cause insanity, I guess I shouldn't complain."

"Oh, so want me to…." Jason could know, maybe they could both get what they wanted. Dick had something akin to Rose's powers now. Mellow, and Slade's new stuff was a long-term deal to prevent the madness in the kid's blood from taking him out in his sleep.

"Tell him, to give up the search and to join us. If he cares that much, he'll make the right choice." Slade watched as Dick's movements had him scoop up his own mask, Grant nodding as he saluted the holier – than thou piece of shit he'd come to…. respect.

"You saved my ass, not too great but…he'll still be our competition. You wanted toy soldiers?" Grant splayed out his arms and walked in reverse to the exit, a smirk on his face, a laugh Slade did not approve of.

"Well, unless one of us kills the other, you'd better train that little brat to surpass the great Deathstroke. I won't give up on the bet. He won't be the best, you know."

"I have yet to see you put your all into this deal; stick to finding our real enemy in the meantime."

"Yessir." Grant left the two, Jason running over as Grant's face swapped to one of remorse and sorrow. "I….I'm sorry, Jay…"

"D…dick….is he alive –

"Dad, had to change who he was, to save his life and…. he might not be the same for a while."

"What the fuck do you mean???" Not, himself??? Grant!" Jason shoved the dumb assassin into the wall opposite them, teeth ground and mask up so Grant could see his boyfriend's fear. " What did your fucker of a father DO to MY brother??? Why did you let hi –

"I just got here, baby…. I'm sorry, I really am…but if we kill him or find a way to get rid of Deathstroke all on our own, we can so get Dickie back…or, or?"

" Or??" Raged the teenaged punk from the streets of Gotham. "Am I a gamble to you, asshole??? What are you planning, huh? Take the ass – wipe's empire and train us bat – kids to be like h –

"I….am…..not….a stinking….copy." Jason was shoved back as Grant rolled his shoulders. "I told you, I want to be what he HATES. What pisses him off is competition. So, we think he's got Dick's best interests at heart. We think he's going to fit the bill, Jay….but you know, sweetie pie?"

"Don't." Jay prodded his finger at the rat in a suit of armor. "You can't change and he won't, but don't rope me into what you're about to commit to. Dick isn't staying with you psychos, but I might as well. After all, you wanted us both dead, at least anyone who got in your way."

"Jay, hon….I…I would never hurt you –

"Well." Jay scoffed and threw his arms up in the air, brow raised expectantly. "Ya did, dipstick. We are on hold until you stop playing the "spoiled daddy's girl." (Yes, it is sexist, fully aware.)

"That's not Rose's job?" Grant walked a bit away from the wall, not to get pulverized into it by a zombie that was technically still his boyfriend. "I want you to stop lying, so how is he? Dead? ALIVE?"

"He will not want to see us again, I can tell you that."

A pounding sounded by the walls as Jason bolted to the hospital ward. Dick was tangled in wires and monitors would not stop beeping. Two of the Slade bots had been be – headed as Jason stood in the door, Dick looking like a wild man in a hospital gown and nothing else.

"Stay back, both of you –

"Slade…what have you done –

"OUT." The slid of the door locked up electronically soon after; Jason pounding on the door with all of his remaining strength, while screaming out to the old Dick Grayson before Grant's words turned into a just truth.

~ DICKIE – BIRD! DON'T STAY HERE, YOU'RE GETTING WORSE…LISTEN! I CAN HELP! TELL HIM TO BACK OFF! PLEASE!.IT'S NOT RED, IT'S JAY…. Please…..hear me, Dick….I'm sorry, I'm sorry….please be sane you…..you….gah! ~

Dick crouched with his hands over his ears, eyes squeezed shut as he trembled, Slade's hand to his back felt like a magnet as he was pulled away from the doorframe. "J…."

"It's alright, this will all pass. Just, rest….you're doing fine… -

~ Dick!! Don't listen!! Dick!!! ~

"It's fine." Slade wasn't sure if knocking Dick out right now was a good idea, but it was better than…

The room got quiet again, and Slade did as he could while the dazed ex hero shook and was helped over to his gurney in pieces. "It'll be alright, sleep. The effects aren't temporary, Dick. This was just to keep you from the worst of it."

"Sir…. you…. you, saved me…why?"

"You're my apprentice, and that's all you need to know..." Slade told the teen as his eyes had begun to droop. The drip did the rest as Dick not only listened, but he was peaceful for a long time since the start of this blackmail – after all that time, this could be the phase Slade had been waiting for.

While, beyond the door, Rose and Grant took an unconscious Red back to their happy haunt of Defiance's last stand. Outside waiting, was a Slade Bot as the team moved forwards.

Across the city, another meeting was taking place however, upon rooftops too steep to scale.

/

Cheshire's mask was on, yet her enemy in the shadows had come alone tonight.

"Three years ago, I…took off without caring what he did to us."

"Three years ago, you made a mistake…we all did, sis."

Green uniformed and with a set of arrows to match at her back, Artemis didn't try to hide what her role was. She was free to make the choice to defy anyone she saw fit. As a vigilante on the rise, Cheshire could never understand the guilt of betraying who you thought had your back.

"He didn't train you to hold that bow."

"No." Artemis responded, despondently. "Roy did. And his mentor, they both…got me to safety when you…"

"He never told me, why did you shoot at a hero?"

"I left them too, got away and decided to stop the bad…he wasn't the enemy? He had a truck and it was rigged!"

"Wait, the truck HAD explosives on it before we got to the event??" Jade took off her mask. "Do you work with Sport –

"He's the prick I was glad could be left with nothing, just like how Deathstroke played everyone."

"To gain assurance. You….you were the one who leaked that information that someone was a double –

"Maybe, but regardless of whether your allies know about me, Roy couldn't tell you that I was supposed to, be a secret project to arm and retrain to go against the Light –

"What? They used….all this time, you were a hero and you gave that up??"

"When you got hurt back in Nanda Parbat, Roy and the others he was with dug a bit deeper and found where they were keeping me. Where I was being trained like Renegade is. That was him, in the truck?"

"Yes, and he got hurt because of your reckless shooting."

" Sorry, but we can't go back to get him. Not if Slade is already telling the –

Artemis, I'm the one who is not loyal to Defiance, ok?"

"Huh?" Artemis scratched her cheek, not knowing where to start. "So, lemme get this straight…"

/

"Wait, so..." Artie paced a bit as she thought about the details of their conversation.

"So, you joined Defiance because Roy let you down when he wouldn't help to locate me – but I with the league under their protection while they went after the Light, so now Slade is on their list to join? Well, ok then! Give the guy a damned medal! And! And!" She stopped her own rant to continue. "Robin was blackmailed to work FOR Deathstroke because he used some evil science – y tech on them if he doesn't comply – or he'll kill them? So, so Raven and the others all worked beside the new covert team Young Justice that Roy helps with – but that's not all!" She took a breath and more air came out than need be.

"Slade's son Grant has a grudge against anyone else his dad picks to be his "heir" and he's only becoming "Jackel" to scare Slade into doing what he wants? And Rose and Joey don't like each other but Grant manipulated Ravager number two to work with him in Defiance to take out the JLA, Titans and anyone that opposes them like Slade by working WITH him??? Ok, that is just –

"That's not all." Jade walked about the rooftop setting, clouds cloaking the moon to shield them a bit longer. "I'm not really on anyone's side." She grinned, desperate as she reached for Artie's two fingerless gloved combat – held hands. "WE have the intuition and tools to make it on our own! I can leave, you already did…Artie. Come with –

"I…can't."

"Why?" Jade's face fell, her eyes sunken and her hope washed away by that girl across from her and…and….

"Why not?"

"I can't trust you or them, you're still a mystery and…you didn't watch my back the first time." Artie dropped her eyes to look away into the ground, shutting them away with the memory of a time in her life that was the least sacred. "How an I trust anything you'll do from here on out? You're a killer, and i…just want to be away from that life already –

"We can be!"

"No, I, I can't. I have to find my own niche. You do too, and some help."

"That makes two of us." Huffed Jade, her eyes watering as her feet walked backwards a bit. "I love you, you have to know why I stayed with the shadows."

"You became like dad, but I didn't have that option." Artie brought her back to the older's eyes, trying to get out as she'd already promised. "Roy did help me realize one thing." Jade turned as well. "It was that my heart isn't so shallow, that I can open up to others….I only wanted to see you again, sis…"

"And I, guess I needed to say goodbye."

"Artemis!" She shot a grapple and the moon grew bright, a distraction as Jade gasped to see that her own folly of not trusting anyone or being the loving sister in times of crisis that she could have been, it had all been for naught as she wept into her fingers and wailed to the moon.

The children of the moon too, wept alongside her.

Artemis, the child of such a goddess was no longer one to write about for years to come.

Slade had rigged the truck; Slade had gotten Artie's attention. Slade had…had made it so his apprentice would never go against him again, now that he was never going to walk in the same shoes that he'd promised himself.

No, Slade was going to overpower them all, and the Justice league was too late to save one small brother or daughter of lady liberty.

Freedom, was for the dreamer and always. Always, could she dream?

Always, always…could she write her goodbyes in red ink?

Could he trust his secret to be kept for more than decades at a time?

Could an immortal be all he wasn't?

And would love find them, in such a hopeless, hopeless, place in time….

/

Next is a month or two later so try to keep up. Young Justice will be fixed on stopping the Light, and Slade will find that his new formula isn't what it appears once Dick's bloodwork comes back, abnormally strange? Also, to explain:

Grant is using Slade, and Slade is using Grant, both hate each other in a rivalry kind of way.

Dick is confused and feels regret for all of the things he's been forced to do to save the Titans, but the strain of being pulled away is making his feel LESS close. So, Slade tricks out a "fake" contract, like the detonator scheme and has it rigged to go off so he can say...tweak Dick's blood a bit with a solution that might make him more agreeable but also might be able to retain some of Slade's capabilities through his blood. Grant told Jason "he won't to see us anymore" because like Terra, Dick won't know who he's looking at because the Serum can have that effect. Now, in the past it was a full-blown procedure, it took time so this first dose will continue as long as it has to. Slade wants Dick and he fits even the bill to have the serum in him, making him once again the PERFECT apprentice. As this gets further from his teen years, Dick won't even know why he was fighting, just that he has to do as he can to keep others safe, even if he's forgotten their names. The pit madness is similar to this but Slade said it would pass which means the delirium that Slade dealt with (and Grant) won't happen as much to Renegade. Noted, Raven might help Joey and Terra start up a new team like Young Justice to get better data from the inside. Artemis never said she was on the side of a team that had the desire to stop her enemy, but we'll see if she gets tired of flying solo. Batman threatened the teens to "stand down" from their mission or he would retaliate as a result of the heroes' refusal to obey commands set by the League member. Artemis was let go by Roy since she took off, her motto is "leave me alone and I'll do just fine."

She shot at Kara because the truck was a threat, but she did not do so to scare anyone really just to warn them. The hit at Kara was to find a right path so she could deliver her info through a different arrow – we didn't put that in yet she's like how Red X was, for himself usually…unless he finds reason to work alongside another team.

Find out if the Light's decision is unanimous.

Also. Kori will be introduced later, not yet.

Find out! Read on.

/