Teen Titans; Severing Old Bonds – Sibling Rivalries –
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Chapter 5: Gathering Intel; Some Well Needed Shut – Eye Comes Las
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An empty stadium; open to only the sliest of dogs and dames, the best money and laundering could recommend on the underground criminals' "black market."
Grant grinned and surveyed the arena where Rose had promised every villain a good time. Well below that, was the coup de grace. The final act – or the start of a new bundle of later prospects for the pair to think about.
Grant had dyed his hair blonde; he'd toughened up his stance and could throw a javelin better than any ancient sports goer.
He raised his arms up to the sky dome. The very scenario he'd love to have just one more person to join them in.
"Thanks for the lessons in running an evil empire, pops!" He laughed and continued to imagine just how far HE could take their sibling run conquest. Grant was no longer a stooge for hire. He'd have his own soldiers to die for a much worthier cause, in due time.
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Robin had woken to a shaky entry into the next time zone. After dozing a bit on their trip across the globe, Tokyo sat below; twinkling zorka – flies of city lights sparkling as Kori called it.
"Oh! We are about to do with "the landing!" She was up and as excited as a wide-awake Raven and Jenny Sparks. Cy and Bb had a last second proposed they take a second smaller jet with Joe, Eli and Argent finally relenting at the start of their journey, mostly to watch out for her mates.
~ Are we cleared, Jenny? ~
Jenny shook her head; Cy had to ask, but she was a reckless sort of aerialist. She knew when also not to take risks.
~ Not yet. Arge? ~
"Oh, on it…" Groaned the elder Titan, her hands glowing red as she ejected herself from her seat.
"Get ready!"
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They'd made it.
Solid ground had never felt so good as Eli yawned into his palm, while the boy wonder stretched his arms to fully wake up.
"Are you familiar with this country, Titans?" Eli asked the group's veteran members.
"We were…. able to save it." Raven turned to Robin who could remember far better.
"A famous villain called Brushogun became an issue so we came to Japan to stop him. Brushogun, his powers were being used by a corrupt police officer called Daizo against his will to frame us." Dick recited the tale as they walked and floated towards the main streets.
Gar raised a brow suggestively to his leader. "Starfire can also speak Japanese because of that kiss –
"Bb, it was by lip contact." Cy tutted. " An' she an' Robin are –
"That, was something…?" Eli was interested in this ability.
"Can she do the same if another kisses her, or only if she makes the first move…"
Dick and Star turned red, bashfully hiding that answer back.
"Um…I do not understand the question –
"I know of a few languages by heart." Eli smirked, upsetting his team.
"And that's all we'll hear out of' you!" Argent and Jenny pulled Eli back from making any more enemies.
"Will we indeed be successful in locating the one we've come here to find. Robin?" Kori turned to her boy friend, who was still stuck in his thoughts over that question.
Mind manipulating…. Eli had another super power.
"We are, Star." Cy answered for their stuck leader.
"Bushido is like, still at his dojo. Right?"
"Yeah, and it's late. Where are we going to stay?" Bb scratched his cheek, but of course now his concerns made perfect sense to his team.
"I can always put towards my credits." Eli rolled his shoulders while Argent rolled her eyes.
"Is that "organization" going to mind?" She questioned the brat as he just looked up at the neon signs that littered their path. "They're paying me to stop chaos where it sleeps." Elijah shrugged and kept walking, looking cold as ice.
"The whole world could be at stake, so what's a few hundreds of yen compared to the lives sacrificed by two masterminds?"
"Two…. Wai –
Eli dashed off across the street as cars collected to mask his path to the hotel.
"No!" Dick gritted his fists, Argent running despite the traffic below her as she drifted off, Kori doing the same in mid air. He and Cy were grounded, as well did Jenny stay behind. Tinkering with one of her pieces of tech…
"What are you up to?" Cy frowned at the steam punk child.
"Nothin' to it. Eli is like…. water….and I am…" She set the dial a bit as a current buzzed, and a scream came from the direction that Eli had run in.
" Boomerang!!" Bb squawked while Raven and the others tried to grip Eli's arms so he –
" Incoming!!" Jenny shouted with a yell across the walk.
Eli yelled as he was swung back into the whacky woman.
She giggled and leaped happily by how her contraption had worked like a charm. His cheek run into the pavement as she just made his life more difficult for the right reason of halting the solo act.
"I'm water and you are glue, but electricity won't hurt you! We walk. Together. Kay?"
He moaned and sat up slowly. "YOU…. are impossible!"
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"You pulled him by a strong…. magnetic force??"
"He's got a metal plate in some part of his body that I can manipulate." Jenny grinned as they walked to their hotel choice of the week.
"Oh, wow." Raven blinked. "But…You could have hurt someone."
"Not unless it was busier."
"Yeah, but Eli's not a toy." Argent sighed. " I'm supposed to be your chaperone, but you keep on bendin' all the bloody rules."
"And he's paying the bill at what? Fourteen?" Cy threw a hand over his face. "That's gonna bring attention to us right away."
"And we can use a distraction." Dick thought. "Eli is a later Titan so he's not a real target to –
"Oy! Bat – whatever they call you!" Eli spat as his credit hit the counter. "Shut it and be a bit more concerned about the length of time we have remaining to save our own."
"Yep, definitely not gonna tease him again." Bb nudged Raven who grumbled something, going over to the sun shine princess and her bf. "What can we do about locating Bushido? Should I send him a message telepathically? I think Eli is right." She rubbed her arm. "We are letting them wait this long for a rescue."
"It won't be much longer." Dick reassured his teammates. "Star? I need you up bright and early with Beast boy to search the city and then to contact us if you spot anything suspicious. I'm going with Argent, Eli and Jericho to an old dive for some answers."
"This late?" Cy turned to their leader. "Eli's still just a kid! –
"I'm not really, but my mental age is much older if you'd wanted to know." Eli brushed Cy's arm as he rudely went to see to this new undercover task.
"Are you even gonna get caught?? We are heroes sure, but we don't get a free pass ta –
"It'll be fine." Dick told Cy with a weak smile. "I'll have us all back in one piece before tomorrow."
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He didn't stop. This wasn't Bushido and waiting for the sun to rise that made the boy wonder fidget.
He'd received much earlier a message on his unit. One that was for them to meet, in that seedy bar he'd come to once before.
But, how did that person know what had happened back then, or was it purely by coincidence? And why was he so sure that he already knew their face?
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Dick donned the garb of a street punk, white coat and shades to hide his eyes.
Jericho and Argent stayed nearby, though Eli just needed a darker wig. His face was unreadable enough to make this work, Dick had to admit that made it feel far more upsetting to be using the kid. He'd found out the Eli was right. In this universe, he was a kid. But, he was an adult in his real time, an that this was not his real age even mentally. Jenny was the same, and the organization they worked for involved a lot of secret plots and more than a bat son could hope to uncover.
They stepped into the bar as a few disgruntled faces stared up. The odorous stench of cigarette smoke made it impossible to forget this place as Dick took in a breath without choking.
Eli remained firm in his decision, as did the boy wonder with a second to none highest pain tolerance of his clan back in Gotham city.
Hands in his pockets, he stayed behind Eli. And then, he jumped in front as soon as they were about to be ambushed.
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Trapped, trapped in a dirty den while a figure was coming over –
" Ang !" The thug who'd tried to punch Robin or gut him with a knife was sent sideways with a split jaw.
Dick looked up with a prey's instincts taking over.
"Looks like your intel was wrong about this place." Eli snorted, letting his icy grip lessen as the figure that had saved Robin, moved in closer.
"Nice to see you face finally, Mr. Deathstroke." Eli smirked at the presumption, and the mask that shown back had Dick's heart to sink. He was still a damned good detective at fourteen in face.
"Nice to be back." Slade nonchalantly chuckled and stepped over too many bodies, just as a dozen sirens had begun to go off outside the bar's walls.
"Come with me. A Tokyo prison is a death sentence if you're not familiar with the system."
Dick's eyes narrowed. "Why?"
Slade did not stop and answer the question. Instead, Eli followed, leaving Argent to try to use Jericho to dive into the first person he could become "one with."
Robin froze up shook his head, then continued to walk over so many bodies that lay sprawled below his feet. A war zone and apparently, Slade had again come out on top.
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Slade took them behind to the back streets as his mask soon was taken down, hair as white as Eli's by comparison had the hero to stop and stare.
"Well? Do you want answers or would you rather get caught?" Eli was right as he mentally dragged Dick along, not knowing who Deathstroke really was. Or enough about what he had done to poor Robin.
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Slade had a safe house that was lower - key by the look of the security locks set in place.
Dick finally regained a part of himself to open his mouth and ask once they were inside.
"Funny seeing you in Tokyo, Slade. You did send that message, didn't you."
"I might have dialed you by mistake –
"He's lying." Eli blinked. Reading…oh no.
Dick jumped in front of Eli, but Slade stayed neutrally passive.
"We can't fight here, not a bad place for old friends to catch up on things, though." Slade went over to one large screen in the base and turned it on.
The city was much smaller from the angle, but it had caught Agent and one more going in behind Dick by the street they'd fled from.
"Is she with you now?" Slade turned to the hero, asking for only the truth.
"Why do you need –
"She's not." Dick interrupted Eli, who gawked impatiently as a child would.
"Jeezus! He's obviously expecting to make a deal with you, leader…." Eli slapped a hand over his face and groaned.
"Rather impressive that you could read my exact thoughts." Slade looked at Eli from over his shoulder. "You must be a Titan as well?"
"I'm just a detective, nothing unusual." Eli calmly stated. "Robin knows you, and I want to know what you have to hide."
"Skipping right past the preamble …humm." Slade wasn't impressed. "That is a rookie mistake, kid."
"Not a kid!" Eli made sure he was heard loudly as his wrist went up, ice now encasing Slade's armored leg.
"You train your dogs well, Dick??"
"Slade. This was your plan, not –
"I'm going after the one who made Rose make a fool of herself – It's my responsibility to make sure she's not killed off or taken in for a crime that she didn't commit."
"So, you do know."
"I was about to tell you enough of what I knew, but your pit bull was barking up the wrong –
" Don't try to pin your foul attitude on me!"
Eli did bark out over the criminal's excuses.
"I'm the only one with any real sense between the two of us. The fact that you led us off to a place that was familiar to Robin; whom you even know his identity for bloody well sakes…I imagine you also know what's happened to our lot? This, TITAN would like to know everything."
Eli twisted his icy grip to have Slade elicit a sharp, pained cry, even enough to make Robin wince for allowing this cruelty to continue.
WHO is the cruel one here?
"Or you'll be one limb short of a reprieve." Eli twisted again, and Slade dropped his head to his in a militaristic style of brutal submission.
"You have my word…" Slade panted through his clenched teeth. "I just want my children, back….please…"
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