Foxes Upon Foxes – Titans Stories - Snippets and Magical Girls Galore –
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This is a reflective chapter on how Slade actually met Anna before her powers activated, years before new gen arc. Find out! It by the way was mentioned that Anna was afraid for a long time of conflict and reacted strongly to it when a bank hold up in her pre teen years prompted Anna to lose her confidence altogether. Turns out that Slade was waiting for his ride in the same place she'd been waiting to go home and lie under the covers once Nightwing had saved the day. Find out why Anna tries to counter Slade saying she's "better" than that. All because of who she isn't yet. Manipulative bastard alert!
HEROES DON'T COWER
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The sirens went off, yet the ones saved by the shoot out and the swat…all of it had Anna Grayson seeing a stark outline of who she'd been saved by. Her dad's face had vanished in the crowd, but he was an officer. Why did he run?
"Are you by yourself, kid?"
On the bus's waiting area bench in San Fran, she had no idea what to say to her mom. Dad wasn't there, I didn't know how to act in a scary situation?
Her mother was a warrior and a beautiful person. Her siblings were brave, bright and outgoing. Anna, felt like the odd twin some days, so she answered the man with the oversized jacket and a rather sharp look in his….one eye that she could tell by his cap.
"I really don't know if I can talk to my parents…. or a stranger –
"I'm not one of either, my dear. You're the Grayson girl. Wayne's grandchild. What are you doing on your own in this city, anyway."
So, he wasn't just be nice to her. It was always WHO or whys with these stalker types. She'd had to train since day one to know when to blow the whistle….
Anna groaned and put her head in her knees, scrunched up like a paper wad and not a person. "You are defeated by something; did you come over some trouble?"
Why did he care? Why couldn't she walk away?
"I'm fine, never mind. Please let me do, whatever…" She stopped herself. "I'm finding my reasons on my own."
"Really." The man leaned and arm out as his appearance was less likely to make her squirm at this angle. He looked to be older than Grandpa Wayne by ten years maybe, the hair that gave it away, was not however the same as the obvious ruse of a person he was. Maybe into secur –
"I have to go."
"You said you'd figure it out. I won't stop you." The man shrugged then and pulled out his cell phone. She grumbled something and then sat up a little, as if this wasn't her real response to his technique of making her feel like they could talk some more. "You said you…. might know me, then what about my dad." She looked over with her hazel eyes as different as Anna could care to ask of her mother, who was a full-on emerald goddess. Or Ava, her older sister who had been born with a strange eye color, lavender. Aiden, her twin was more amber in hue, but she'd taken the trait from someone in-between. Her grandmother, Mary Grayson. She was not that kind or wise, she was still…not ready to push herself out into the real world.
"Are you ok to sit until my ride comes to get me? It will be a few more minutes, then you can have the bench back." She swallowed and tried to be less…. less, rude to an adult. He didn't think so, right? He was obviously not as bad…maybe just because she was thirteen, he must have not said a thing. "You'd be best to go home and say what you should to them. They raised you, and they know everything about you that you may not realize about yourself. If, you're not running away, I hope." The man leaned back and looked at the Cali afternoon air as if it could change direction by his, one eye.
"My oldest son, he ran away and came back. It didn't do him any good. He ran into some people who could have hurt him and the ones he loved. You should face your fears head on before deciding for yourself where you can turn to."
"I…. it's more complicated. I'm actually, super afraid…I'm not the one that could say my dad is a real good guy. In fact, he wasn't there when I needed him the most."
"The infamous son?" The man blinked. "Your father is no push over, kid. Don't you know what good he's done?"
"Just like a fan to call him out at being perfect…. but I know it…. all the galas so… blow. They get me all upset. No one is helping anyone. The money and the people "helping" can't even fight the worst crime in Gotham!"
"I see. So, you are trying to bring to question what his brand of justice is."
"I…." Anna bit her lip. "I guess, yeah. And that's why I'll go find a group of…."
"You can't be recognized as a minor to do anything legitimately, not unless you were able to do work around your community to start." The man quirked a small smile. Right now, Grayson was going batty over his missing girl. There was no reason to let the time be ruined while she vented out her frustrations to a mere stranger. Right? The time that Roku had stolen in him, it was very close. He had to be sure that this kid knew that a fight was what she'd have to never fear again. There would be others, and from what he saw…
"Not enough." She grumbled. "I feel like I could do more, more than pick up trash. People are the problem. Right? So, what dies that even do if no one gets the book thrown at them?"
Dick had done a shit job at keeping her aware. Anna was a sunflower in an atomic field. She was this close to getting mowed down without someone to help her propagate on her journey to a safer distance. "Trust your family, and when you eventually can make the choice to change your destination, come talk to me." He handed her a card, nothing fancy as he told her, and only her' "Hand this to your father; say it was from an old friend stopping by to chat."
The ride he'd been waiting for showed up. Anna watched as the man waved off and left, his phone still in hand as she pretended to not know what had just happened. An odd - ball stranger had sounded more like a pyramid scheme creep and she was sure they'd never actually talk again. How did he even know her dad?
"Ann!"
The voice shook her up, as Anna turned to look and see a panting officer in blue staring her down. "You….you should have stayed with the victims' unit. Why did you run away, sweetie –
"I can't stay near you, dad…" She frowned and wiped her eyes, red from the tears mostly trying and failing to peak out. "All I do is look like a joke in this family. You don't know what I need, but……you can't tell me to stay put."
"I know, it freaked out everyone. Nightwing came just in time…and, it's normal to be afraid." Dick told her with a calming voice. "Anna – bear. Let's go home. I'm not mad, you're hurt and I didn't see that then. I'm sorry."
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In his office at the Grayson/ Anders Residence, Dick picked the scrap of paper with "his" digits up and dialed right away. Anna was in her room, resting. She had it tough enough and in her emotionally distraught state, her age. Slade had played with it like he cared about something other than revenge.
~ Long time, no hear. Richard. ~
"I know that number was on a burner, but I want you regardless, Slade…." Dick hissed back, "To STAY away from my children, don't ever try to talk to any of them."
~She spoke to me, I just asked if she was on her own –
~That's worse! Are yo –
Slade waited on the other line for Richard's breathing to settle. He was sure it was a warning shot to go any closer to the kids that had lived because Dick was still on his own two feet. The kid knew he wasn't without Slade's transfusion to help him. That it had caught, and now…
Dick pinched the bridge of his nose. "You did that, but why. You can't have any of them. Not even to get back at me. Not even to satisfy R –
~ Guessing you can't even ask yourself who's really harboring a demon anymore. He chose to stay by you, kid. You and your emotionally damaged brats. ~
"He can't get out." Dick ground his fists. "You won't get him to start again, not while I'm still fighting men like you in broad daylight."
~Want to add to our little wager? In about, say a year. There is a chance that someone's powers will activate. I can't tell you who, and by this prediction, the fact I'm loped in with your shitty cursed dragon…you'll have to make the choice to tell them now, or someone else will. ~
"No way. The dragon wants the "golden dawn." He doesn't want –
~ He wants disorder, Dick. ~
"He wants freedom, Deathstroke." Dick snipped, his finger on the button as Slade waited for their call to end on the pair's usual terms.
~Haven't seen any headlines of you in Blud, decided to fly west for some warmer weather? ~
"Change the subject all you want; we are through with this. Roku is dead to me, and you just want one of my kids to hate your ex – apprentice. Grown up, Slade."
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Slade leaned back in his hotel bed and wondered if that was all it was. Maybe he saw Rose in those hazel eyes and challenged Anna in how she acted so open about her father. Maybe, or she could find him in his little costume one day and confront the cop. To recognize that her dear daddy, was always going to be playing the martyr.
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So…. Slade vaguely hates and respects Dick but his kids are a part of the prophecy by Roku's return in the new years part one and two arcs; that Slade caught up with Dick and saved his life with the serum, making Dick unable to get seriously wounded. (in the arc with spiral on hiatus.)
FYI, Anna shows signs of going to the dark side long before her eventual powers were unleashed by the prophecy and Ava.
But, back to our boy!
Thing is, Roku knows this and that's why no test can tell what's in Dick's blood. He's masked the reason and Slade just assumes it has to be the dragon that HE can't really fight. It's hidden to allow the dragon a chance to come back up. To take over, while Anna is not sure what justice is because her dad pulled a spider man/ superman and disappeared. He is…. well, he saved her as Nightwing but only Ava barely recalls that he is the same person. (snippet when ava has a bad night seeing spirits and Dick as Nightwing takes her home when her magic activates too early.) The kids have had no idea and think he's just a blue blood, and their mom is an ex – royal member of another race of alien inhabitants. That's all, as well as Ava and the others having been gifted to protect their world once they awaken. It's all in the old arc which one day I might fix. Maybe. Ah, so recall Anna hates conflict but became a special meta – ops team member of Sara Santiago's team? That Slade kind of has beef with the navy seal? Find out!
