Teen Titans Presents Robin; Torn Legacy of a Prodigal Son
/
Chapter 57: Moscow Reprieve; Enter the Super nova – Red Star
/
Controversy to this in the series. Red Star did survive in last fight against the Brotherhood. However! No Slade dying in a pit of lava equals Trigon's coming being delayed to be careful with your suspicions. Raven is still fighting him and for now everything is on their team to stop Slade from changing their leader for the worst. What else can they do? Batman bashed Raven and told her team to step aside, yet he's all but given up on the chase. Jason is more loyal to Dick than anyone. Let's find out if Slade gets there or not. Rolling! Also, mind if the Russian through Google translate is a bit by the book in here, as it were. Trying to do better! Thanks! Enjoy! Also, ending will show new enemy from the YJ series.
/
" Privet, kak ty segodnya?"
Dick let his leg bounce until Slade stared at him to quit it. They were headed after weeks of putting deer and rabbits to their death sentences, to the capital of Russia. Slade had decided that Dick could see what his Mercenary work put him through, in order to understand that not all jobs for any hero or villain were so black and white as that of the in between. The anti – hero, the unhinged and the most ruthless of the lot.
"U menya vse khorosho, spasibo, chto sprosili."
Slade's unmasked face was becoming a norm to Richard in their little habit. The snow men he didn't get to build, but the animals he was forested to decapitate.
Stay with me, Renegade." Slade steadied the kid as their ride was by an armored truck. This was an interesting trade off. Slade had what was asked of his employer; some government spy trying to get his hands on weapons of mass destruction while the people slept, and Slade. DEATHSTROKE. Dick just tried to ignore what he was about to do. What Slade was about to pull him into – despite Will's protests and Dick's many questions and vomit in the snow. Oh, the agony it had been to stop…
He swallowed back bile, trying. Getting cold feet as he instead, nodded.
Slade relaxed his arm and let go, his smile having faded after the boy's pallor had made his second this thought of having brought the boy against his best friend's wishes. It was too late to march back up that mountain. The vehicle was entering the city in the hour and Dick still was attempting to do his best to remember phases in Russian like an American amateur.
Yet, Slade's Russian was nothing to gawk at either.
" Khoroshiy. Vy mozhete poprobovat' yeshche raz, yesli khotite."
" Da." Dick spoke weakly, Slade finally getting ready to say something until the vehicles driver came to a halt by the bridge. (THIS IS RECOUNTING DEATHSTROKE COMIC NEW 52. JUST MAKING IT OUT TO WHAT I WANT SINCE IT WAS A LONG TIME AGO.)
"What's going on?" Slade's head shot back at the slots up front as the driver didn't speak right away, his head finally coming out of a nervous fidget as he spoke in broken English to his associate. "Mr. DEATHSTROKE. You have someone here to greet us…should –
"Don't. Stay in the truck." Dick craned his neck as Slade eyed his apprentice from the side. "You too, Renegade. This might be a problem. I'll handle the worst part, just have my cover."
"Da!" Dick clamped a hand over his mouth as the habit and stress seemed to lighten Slade's mood a minute. Slade grinned even and chuckled in a low tone. He ruffled the kid's hair before gearing up and donning a rather thick metal plate of both his signature mask and armor. Much more advanced by design that his uniform in Jump, Renegade sat up and stayed out of sight as the door opened, Slade exiting as his hands finally got moving. Richard dragged himself to see out the same grates of his small shack at the ones outside that Slade had to confront. In full armor and his swords at the ready.
Swords. Dick thought back to the lodge and recalled learning why the man was known as a ruthless mercenary in the first place.
/
"This mission to Moscow won't be clean for any known reason... your expectations had better match this, your hands have to adjust." Slade held a firm grip on his weapon as Dick was coaxed to take the first strike out on his master. With a yell, Dick didn't wait which resulted in his shoulder having to heal by a pointed blade dragging over his collarbone, just missing any vital parts as he laid down. Screaming, the Fakir's lesson dead to him.
The wound. Sticking it out of for a week and a half.
He could still feel the clench of squelching metal as Will tended to his wounds. While Slade…just.
/
A sound of a guttural yells and choking voices had Dick waking from his day dream, of a few ounces of metal down to the bone. The same sound of blood being spilt made his ears quake, then the door was unlatched, in no specific formula he could hope to recall as the person eying him also wore filth-stained mask of human avarice.
Or this, he could recount, maybe decades later. Deathstroke in all of his blood-stained glory, stood with his sword hung over his shoulder as if it were a staff and a pose meant to entice. Yet Dick knew better as the man spoke up. "Assassins and hit men, someone wants this job to fail." The mercenary sounded impatient as he wiped the blade to clean and sheath it back onto his suit. "Keep in mind, you may have to take a life or ten this week. I hope you're ready to protect my reputation with all that I've taught you, Renegade."
Dick nodded slowly; his only words uttered in shock of all of that red were unfortunate yet honest enough. His sagging complexion had just avoided this, yet he didn't try to stop it. Not while he was earning the man's trust, keeping his identity sacred until he was found with his enemy in cuffs.
Until that time came, he was just a witness to ten murders before his bloodstained, masked eyes.
"Da, he answered in an even weaker voice than when he'd started with, since the start of their journey into the city. "Da, sir…" Was all he could reply back to the lethal killer bent on making him participate in an act of manslaughter.
/
The country had been through wars before, but to avoid this one…
A scout in the city took his chances and fled before the old merc could drag him to lie with his brothers. Down dirty alleys, to hail a taxi later…
He arrived.
"Urge to news for General Donovich."
The black suited men at the door to the ensemble hall just stared, until the spy made sure to hint his reasons.
"THAT American has entered the city."
Doors swung back at his mere mention. The words about a slaughter hound enough to scare children for decades, the one in charge was in fact a corrupted war hero made into a scum of the earth. He'd also been meeting with a potential buyer of his country's resourced used to constructing doomsday devices.
"Dr. Light." The General was old enough to know a con, but this weirdo was no meta. "The requested materials would be difficult to place. You said you'd hire the mercenary to take him out. After he killed me son…. there was no way I could turn down the Light's plans to enact vengeance my own way."
Dr. Light gave a sly smirk as he shook the man's hand, the spy coming in just at the correct hour. "General, we have news from the front gates of the city. Deathstroke has entered, and he murdered every last assassin we had to gun him down."
"But, of course." Donovitch chuckled, knowing the other tyrant very well from a ways back. "Our old associate is welcome to stay, but do monitor him to not lose this opportunity, Alexikov. Keep up the decent work you do, and…is he by chance with any others to should mention to add?"
"We…. we picked up with our heat sensors over the vehicle. One driver….one, child. By the looks of it on the scope."
"Is it –
"General, if I might interject a moment." Dr. Light spineless knew he had to be quick, tell the truth and rat out the rat who had missed his opportunity to hire the man before. "That boy is Deathstroke's currently, new protégé. He's quite good but not one for shedding blood. Still a green horn at the task." Chimed the doctor, Donovitch chuckling and dubbing his elderly chin at the information. "He took from me, long ago." Donovitch muttered to his two cohorts. "Let us see how it feels to lose a child as I lost by his blade…would you not call that a decent exchange, Doctor?"
"He is here for you to do as you see fit, General." Light nodded. "As long as you supply me the power of your long-kept treasure, I don't care if you gag and tie up the boy to fool him for answers. That brutish mercenary needs to be taught a lesson in not stomping on another's family values."
Arthur had disowned his family long ago. Left a wife and child before recalling that he had such reasons to be ambitious. His daughter was almost the Titans' ages. Yet, he didn't have her participate in mindlessly killing off her competition. As far as he knew it, both tyrants needed to bring to light the reason of the strife. How alike they were, was almost indeed something chuckle by as he left the General to his day plans to capture one loose lipped Renegade.
After all, if the rumors were true, then the boy wonder under his new clothes and persona could certainly use a taste of his own medicine for once.
/
The men in suits were busy as bumbling bumblers. Yet there was a special force amid the snow and also, to the stars as they too readied for a magical journey home.
Home, to the watery planet where her tears could thrive.
"All Hail the Grand Empress, Starfire!"
She waved to her people, all clad in the wears of those wishing her well on her voyage back. As she spoke to Galfore and left the crown to him until Wildfire her brother was ready to take the throne, she smiled to her family. How Blackfire could not stop what they were. Heroes for the sake not of royal rites, but of hope for all of Tamaran.
She boarded the ship with her eyes never looking back. Word from Earth via their connection spoke of an ominous "War World" and how the drama had started on that small blue present. She had reason to know; she had only left the Earth to secure its located true heir. Her brother had a lion's heart. She however, had another family to return to. Earth, how she didn't have mustard or video games on her home planet. It had nearly been three years since…
She gathered a hand to her face, an eye growing wet as a fat drop threatened to crawl past her slender fingers and on to her lap. "Robin…. I do miss, the you and I….even apart for so long. I have never forgotten what you told me." She wept to herself and then the trip was near over. The tower in sight as she only hours later, let light speed take her down to hover overhead.
~ Jaime, an intruder has just entered earth's air space. I –
"No, scarab. No, wait…"
Bb padded in as a German Shepard while Terra, Raven and Joey as himself for a bit made sure to gather enough info to share with the rest from behind the Bat's cold shoulder.
"Donna? D'you recognize…. oh! Dudes!" BB leaped as they all ran out to see who this galactic friend or foe was or wasn't any longer.
She was revealed as the doorway opened to reveal a princess in purple…...with.
More left to cover! Cy covered BB and Jaime's eyes.
"Star?? Is that… why are you so underdressed?" Sadly, Donna was the first to cast that stone at the standing glass house that was the now defected princess of Tamaran. "Oh! I am most sorry for my appearance. On my home planet, this release of tension in the chest cover is quite –
"Ah…. let's just get you up to speed, sunshine. Star, it's been so long." Cy went to her and they hugged like old friends, everyone else joining in not to crowd her still highness. "Wildfire is bright trained by the Warlords of Okaara; they meant well to let me return to where my friends still thrive and are well."
"So, you're back for good?" Raven was sure there was a reason Kori had jumped the gun. Earth hated aliens and metas with a blinded passion. "Are you alright t –
"My old room! Has it been "snatched the up" by one of these new heroes I've learned so much about?"
Donna rubbed her neck at the praise, while Jaime blushed at the same comment made to them. "Eh, would you like us to give you the grand tour, princess?"
She smiled, Kori's long hair swaying as she looked to brighten up their lives with a single stare, minus the cut-out cleavage top. "I shall gather my belongings and move in for the time being – only temporarily!" She confessed and threw up her hands to explain a bit clearer. "My very true desire now that I am freed of my royal duties is….to go to the city and become…"
She twirled in mid air, letting a vibrant pose show it all as even Cy didn't cover his eyes this time. Though, the others were excited as she went along and told them her cover. "I am going to do some of the blending into the scene as, the next….super - model!"
/
That would be all fine and dandy, had the team not gotten alerts right through their devices of a global attack in…
Raven looked to Joey and Terra. "It has to be them." Cy was serious, yet Starfire sensed a tension she'd felt before leaving her second home for three years. "Who? Is it a –
"It's a threat, and super - weapons being stored in the city of Moscow. Just outside the range of anybody important to bang the gavel." Jaime and his suited friend agreed. ~ Jaime Reyes; will you not require more data before locating the source of this chaos? It could be something deadly, I won't have you defenseless –
"I know, scarab. A lot of people will be around so, you can't just decide to walk right in and…. how do we get into that city? It's super –
"It's the government at the moment." Terra suddenly brought up. "I know, I was right next door. The president was a war mogul before he settled with a more conservative dictatorship. People don't complain if they can help it but they are not safe if some jerk is swinging missiles in plain sight. I won't miss this."
"Ter, you're still not –
"I won't use my powers, no big deal." She crossed her arms and promised to her best green buddy. "I know a family there; they helped us when I was lost. It's like a second family there for me, that was where we used to visit our family when dad needed to get away. They helped us once, but this new guy is…he's just another glory hound wanting to keep things going his way. Because he can." She hugged back the memory to her chest as Raven finally spoke up. "If we let you join the team again, then you maybe have to…change what you appear like to them."
"I…I could cut my hair shorter. Dye it, use contacts." Terra pleaded. "Please, if I can see them, I'll know. I'll know that there is hope for a Markovia to come back to one day."
BB gasped at Tara's eyes. "Was….is…. are you trying to become a princess, there? Again? But, Bryon –
"He's still letting my uncle plague him with lie after lie." She gritted her fists. "If this is a war the Russian government knows nothing about, the people, then I want to let them hear it. The drums, because it could set Markovia free too. Finally."
/
However, the "war mogul" did not know about the enemy from within and those deadly pieces of equipment being smuggled into the country from right below. Where another shadow of the past slept; the power plant in the rural post-Soviet encampment being his roost, it was all but cursed by a beast. Every night, it fed and attacked, yet the whole story?
The story, was that a monster was angry at those that had wronged it after the war. That the locals and elders had created an enemy that could melt their bones and burn their huts to the ground. His name, was never stated for these past warriors knew of a man, un-aging. Unchanged by a gruesome transformation.
He panted in the snow, body burning up as his cell was there and waiting. The scare of a few days too late and he'd gone to the city to discover what the old General's men had planned to do. To steal him and use him to power their weapons of mass destruction. Well, he would not have it. No.
"I have had it with the corruption of my own people. The fear, it…is too much…." The man howled out as the power was sucked from him through long pipes that contained his energies into canisters of the highest materials. He'd been a brilliant scientist in the next life; if ever…. if ever someone noticed before he had.
The red headed man gasped and saw the gaping hole in his abode. His eyes darted to see, and he heard it roar.
"That monster…it will destroy their homes to the ground! I must not wait." To his left was a small device. A signal, a beacon. His hands moved to claim it as he tapped in code.
"Need heroes. Deadly radiation. Soon as possible. Russian town of…"
He went on, pacing and waiting until the door; he heard a knock upon it.
/
Raven was there with Kori, Terra and Jericho as Insight. Donna, Beetle, Cy and Gar had stayed away, the worry that they'd not know how to process this monster's will on their own, quite dire indeed as…a winded male came to the door. Fit as a board, he panted weakly until Raven reached out.
"Please. Do not try to help me. Many people are in danger…" The man kneeled in the snow and put a hand to his face, the shame not withheld to even a stranger.
"Who are you, and… what is it they call you." Kori touched his shoulder and for the first time, he did not burn under the flesh and bone he'd been granted by evil scientists. "I…am…. I shall tell you. Inside, quickly." He heard it, the sound of someone's tracks leaving tire lines in the snow. He'd been located, found.
"Hurry, in, in!" He seethed as the heroes could not protest. The droning getting louder as each made their way into the safe – shelter.
Meant for a meta to be locked up in.
/
Meanwhile in Star city, Jade and her sister Artemis had formulated a truce; one to learn of the Light's next plan at conquest, and…to find out where Slade would be striking next with his apprentice.
"Chesh. I'm in position. It's clear here."
~ Good. ~ Jade nodded atop a roof overlooking where Artiemis was forming a small distraction for the cat to break some glass ceilings at Kord industry's tech lab this time.
"Stay hidden." Cheshire told her sibling firmly. "I don't want us to be separated. It could be a trap."
~Dear old Sport's – Master could be their muscle for tonight. ~ Artie made sure to string her bows for that moment she'd get to put the old man in the gravel. "Art. This isn't revenge for us, it's espionage. Sort of."
~ Ah huh. Who said you weren't still one bad kitty cat, sis? ~ Grinned Artie as she slipped down with a set of swift and quiet boots. ~ I mean, I didn't stay on the Titans to find you and warn you about their plans. Cy won't even let bygones until I'm cleared of any –
"So? I'm always being attacked by my, boyfriend about where my loyalties lie. We're not heroes, not officially, but not villains anymore either."
~Then the vigilante, style works for you and Red Hood? ~
Jade rolled her eyes below the mask, getting ready to fling herself to join her sibling in a few sneak peeks of Kord's latest tech. Including one in collab with Cadmus. A bit more, interesting from the chat boards she'd stolen a second to get onto. "We can't bust the lock. Can you do the honors, miss techno – fiend?" Smiled the cat as the archer smugly got to work. ~ Way ahead of –
Jade didn't hear her sibling and knew this was a bad plan.
~It's ok…. I, found something else. From STAR labs….no wait, Cadmus? ~
Jade let her body move quickly as a cat to where the door…. the alarms being shut off prior, would not prepare them for…
"G – what is that thing? I…. that looks…"
"Just like Blue Beetle." Jade finished; her eyes hooked on the large, angry looking specimen in stasis.
"I'm contacting the league, now." Artemis, was on better terms with Roy and even Oliver had given her a reason to fight for the right side. She clicked the button, and the signal was sent.
/
So…. cutting it off for suspense. Dick will have to fight Kori in another country? Find out! What happened to Grant? Oh, I recall it. He was brainwashed as a sleeper agent of Brother Blood, so when things get ugly…. they will. Read on for more!
/