Nightwing; A Series of Doubts- Give and Take -

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So, after A Series of Doubts took a more somber turn for the worst (spanking lead to Cobb finding Dick and Faux Slade taking him ended the series by new years,) I decided to put up that what if – If Slade DIDN'T take Dick until March 21st like he'd initially told the boy wonder, if their relationship only got more involved after the Stockholm came up and Dick let Slade know he was ready on his own which is controversial. If the real Slade was not found until it was too late. Find out! Two part alt ending.

Takes place with Dick on those heavy painkillers as faux Slade watches him sleep…..

Revamp Alternative Ending: Part One

/

What had it been like, back in his time.

The Slade of another verse in the worlds beyond this one brushed a gloved finger over one pale cheek of his student's. He didn't learn that from me, was all he could think before pulling away, the kitchen timer going off and coffee also ready to pour at four am on new years day.

/

Right now, his limbs wouldn't listen as the feeling of them slowly awoke, as he awoke to a quieter place. No owls, no bats. Just one bird and –

Dick rolled over a bit to look at the door, thinking he was in someone's clutches. With watery, unmasked eyes, he let them check below to see…

He'd been stripped over everything, except his boxers and an oversized bedsheet.

Dick felt the caress of the sheets and shivered beneath them; mouth as dry as it had been. The scabbing brand…all of his memories were lost from the previous night…

The doorknob rattled as Dick laid unmoving near the bedside, his body moving, rolling instead and feeling every pop and spark of pain – a pain so bone – in deep, that no one could fix him. He barely managed to turn on his side towards the window and tried not to cry. Batman was already this close to killing himself in their fight. He had a target he'd never wanted, Nightwing had to take a rest. Dick Grayson, he sighed into his pillow, hand by his stomach as it roared away, the door creaking open as its prayers at least had been answered.

Some, which left as many questions as the imposter standing in front of his only open exit.

"What."

Dick croaked that question, eyes dim and sore. The transformation had been averted, he blinked his lids shut and sighed.

"Cobb is dead."

Dick dropped his guard, laid up and trying to grasp the memory of his rescue. "You got me out –

"Damn well, before the Court could have you." Slade shut him up, the growl in his gut not piercing as before. "I made us breakfast. You'll be having hot cereal, nothing with taste until you're well enough to cooperate."

Dick never even nodded his head. The order was absolute in order to bring him back from ruin.

"Yes, Sir." He responded softly, instead.

A moment no later than their conversation, a spoon was shoved into his mouth. Dick's head was propped up onto a mound of pillows as the float and gleam of his condition was still not perfect; he knew there was a chance he'd be hulled up, now that the court had gone back underground after the Bat, they had a chance to move. Moving, would be the hardest thing, Dick almost regretted everything as a tear track ran over his face, the food shoved away as he cried the rest of that time. Two days turned into nearly a full week, and he'd not even seen the rest of Slade's safe house. The apartment became partly his once he'd gotten over the painkiller vibe and wet dog chow.

More a baby, one for Slade to care for.

"You'll be here, just while I cook our meals." Slade directed the kid to a set of sofas and a TV table. His legs still had feeling, which was a big plus…. sort of.

"I want you to get used to sitting up, then you may sit at the table in the kitchen. Once you can do that, we'll try for teaching your body to move those arms a bit. Picking up your fork, the rest is up to you."

"Why…do I feel too weak? What…I can't remember what they did to me –

"What Cobb almost succeeded in; he was going to turn you into his kind, a Talon. No soul, all artificial." Slade dropped a newspaper into Dick's lap as he sat at the sofa. " Want me to turn the page for you, little bird?"

Right on the headline, yet Slade didn't stop to push even there as he reached for a remote by the flat screen the wall that Dick had failed to notice.

~ Reports have it – the Court of Owls and the Dark Knight were in a fight for the city just last week; GCPD officials state that the Owls of Gotham's legend could be nothing more than a false lead, yet we urge citizens to do exactly as they do every night. Don't walk around after dark. Lock your windows and doors, and don't talk to strangers in masks. This is Cathy March; Be safe, and thank Batman that the city is still standing, even today. ~

"So, this was all out of what YOU had asked."

Dick froze, Slade's one eye fixated on his seated form. "I…I was being beaten, and it wasn –

"I was there to try, Dick…Even if you think I'm not your original Wilson…"

"You knew, and you let things transpire." Shot back the hero, accusing the man of so much more. "To get me to this stage in my life, a life you already saw happen..." He sniffed and tried to lift his arm. To no avail, he was still within the confines of this man eating spider's web.

"The painkillers weren't what had you this way, Cobb's treatments almost killed every nerve ending in your body before I'd gotten the coordinates." Dick looked up at the man, his words not coming out this time.

"You…. you don't care!" Dick shouted, Slade just taking the blows as they came. "About anything I'm supposed to be! Why, if you're not him? WHY then try to save me at all? What if I'm not who you wanted me to be??"

Slade huffed, then a dark chuckle slid out from below his ruse of a smile. "You were always mine in MY universe, even if things weren't the way they are now. I made a promise that I couldn't have you. Not until March, little blue bird."

"I don't want you, though. And your Nightwing –

"Wanted me to stay."

Dick pursed his lips at the answer. "Well, this little blue bird wants you out of his life, I'm not finding anything working; if I keep having monster –

"I was the beast that saved your damned life !" Slade chucked the remote to the floor, in pieces as Dick didn't look away from the true beast's face. "You'll be the death of me…" Dick snarled. "I. Don't. Want. This."

"I'm staying, you made your city a promise."

"I was coerced into this, by you!!! Mainly by you toying with my body, my family…. you probably pissed off the Court so I'd come to you. You probably used a paralytic that won't DIE from YOUR future! Not mine!"

"Then why haven't I hurt you yet." Slade hissed back ."Why have I not taken you here and now, while you can't even lift a finger to shove me off." The man lunged, his whole body over the couch, caging in the song bird who just snarled and shook his head, eyes fiery as the first time in Jump that era ago.

"Want to get out now of our agreement, pet? Then, you'll let me have you…" Slade moved a hand to cup the hero's chin, coaxing him in for a kiss, until Dick's teeth tore at the man's bottom lip.

The flustered hero was a fighter to his last breath, and he'd keep this up until he was finally through. Slade pulled away, fingers to his mouth as the kid snarled back with sapphires on fire, both willing to taste an immortal's blood for a time back in the sun.

Until Slade knew he'd never reject the man, he'd have Nightwing of any era, even if this one did fascinate him so very, very much. He licked off the blood and stood up, hands moving as the blood was spat onto the rug. "When there is feeling in your arms again, you'll be cleaning that up. With your tongue." The man spat, the hero not moving, shoulders hunched and his cat's glare quite cute. Deadly, but cute.

"I'll fix up some soup, you can eat in seclusion for the rest of the night."

"I'm taking the table."

"Fine." So, he wanted to get used to feeling his own failure? Slade moved from the couch to the kitchen, the soup made earlier since…. well, he knew exactly how this was about to turn out. Even from the young hero's glower and scowl, he knew he'd need help tying his own shoes before long.

/

Dick growled and huffed as the spoon didn't want to cooperate. He was locked in his room until the man got the absolute gall to see to getting his ear bitten off this time. Dick had tasted blood before. Cuts, scars, scratches and of course, a bitten lip or two. He knew the tang of blood and he didn't care for Deathstroke's artificial hint of poison seeping down his jaw. He wanted the man to bleed, for his blood to have no greater meaning than to be given over to scientists for all he'd –

Dick forced back a sob. God…. was he turning into this over a false apparition?? He couldn't even think of what that, would mean for his future…. He'd be a killer with that anger, it had to be cut off. Slade was the trigger; he was the weapon's ammunition when used correctly.

/

Slade marveled and also mocked how Dick had one hand to his spoon, shakily as he brought the object to his lips in the next four days. He was the original, and this Slade would make him bag to be seen as he was. All of it, come spring.

Dick was up, his therapy included a few presses and chiropractic twists by the man who'd gotten them far away from anymore action. The papers were placed in Dick's lap every night, his eyes dimming as the thoughts of Catalina raping him or Cobb changing his mind were vivid representations of Nightwing's many failures. Yet, he still had his suit, a dream and a desire to fly high. Slade couldn't kill everything, especially an intangible instance.

It was no more to February and the physical therapy was keeping Dick in better spirits. It wasn't until Slade go another gift. The balance beam, a collapsible yet sturdy replacement for the one he'd had in the studio that Slade had blown up, and this was starting to feel like a remake of a bad movie.

A smut film that was about to reach the pinnacle of low star ratings.

After a shower, Slade left the door unlocked that evening. Dick padded out and found his nightshirt on the bed, as well as a visitor he didn't know had the desire to sleep in the buff. Which, thankfull, he did not.

"You've got until March" Slade reminded his bird. "Lay down, I'll massage your muscles before you can call it a night."

That went on for a few nights, and the presses grew warmer than others, Dick didn't flinch on night three, he'd even almost fallen asleep. No drugs, no alcohol from the black market, and no…no sex…

It, was fine, he'd use the man's hospitality until he was ready to set his escape plan into motion.

Just, until he was fast asleep, the man still kneading his back like a damned cat…

/

It was the mid of February when Slade proposed that they go outside for the first time in well, months.

"It is funny that you think you're still in gotham." Slade chuckled. His student looked out the window and his spirits somewhat flopped. "Where did you drag me to?"

"Stockholm (More Slade manipulation, warning!!)

Dick stood back. "Why wasn't the TV showing any –

"I had imports and only one channel, that was to help you adjust."

"Adjust?? I've been in a slack body while you've been feeding me through a straw, and you think that…Stockholm…the TV…this is my punishment, you're up to trying to train me to be your dog!"

"That, and the collar I had ordered to not lose you again was just shipped in yesterday." Slade moved past the boy wonder senior as he pulled something out of the hall closet. "Tada."

"NO!" Dick jumped back. "I'm not your pet! I'm a perso –

"It's to shock the bad puppy if he tries to get hit by a cab." Slade cracked his neck, arm twisting out to grip the hero as he was pushed to the floorboards, the metal clasp a very strange magnet with a voice activated lock as this Slade's beard brushed the nape of his neck to activate it.

"Activate."

"NO!"

Dick was shoved down with the man's boot. "Bad dog. You just came back and we haven't even seen to that floppy mane, why not get a decent trim? And clothes…I hate how that size is still too big." The man grinned; the store in Blud had Dick's cheeks red as twin cherries. "You'll be a good boy, and if you make not a peep to anyone, I'll reward you later with a surprise." Slade's grip was terrifying at his throat as Dick was let go."

"Try it out, run to the door. See if my merchandise is functional."

'Make me."

Dick should have never spoken as Slade kicked him only centimeters to the frame, when every nerve in his body froze and had him clench his stomach. A good cover, no shock waves. Damn!

"Future…. tech…" Dick panted, not really a question.

"Experimental, a steal even." Smiled the merc. "Up, you'll ruin your pants, and I wanted you to try on the best money can buy today."

"Not, in your lifetime, Ass…"

Another shock, Dick cringed in a mounting pain, this time throughclenched his temples. and spat out what was a hock, a dry cough. If he looked insane enough or sickly, the officers might take him in…the authorities in this city saw him like that out on a street corner while Slade remained anonymous, they'd try to come over and…

He'd get to have more deaths to gripe over.

Slade was giving him this life to teach the young hero, that he owed the man a debt of gratitude, or else he'd be ravaged and left to chains and whips at his back if he ever tried to cut himself loose from their terms.

In a small unclear voice, Dick's head rose. He bobbed his muggy skull, standing with a hand to his gut, a gut feeling that would only pass once he'd been treated like a pampered lap dog throughout the day as he was expected to remain. "Good boy, heel. We'll be leaving shortly, once I have my things collected…"

Things, Dick didn't need to be reminded as they finally did go, the man dragging the kid out by the scruff before their descent to the vestibule. The elevator was absent, the steps and the way down made his bones clatter. The lack of walking around like this was torture until they were on the street corner. Dick was escorted to a car parked outside, the bot disguised as a driver in a black sedan. Electricity spiked up his spine as Dick was worried he'd be stuck next to the man.

"You and I can seat ourselves in the back, come."

/

Dick was allowed to come out, yet he clung to the seats once their stop had been made to a tailor shop in the upper ends of the city. The nicer parts, yet he wouldn't heed it.

"OUT." Slade said under his jawline, the hero freezing as he recalled his family, and all of his memories as a kicked puppy by the hands of men like this Slade.

He missed the original, it was true now as the boy's collar only equated to him getting a prick instead of a strike of it. He and the imposter moved slowly to not draw attention, Dick's eyes on the fire escapes as he saw very few. Even if it was an old city, it was not Blud or Gotham. It was…cooler here and just as drafty as Blud in winter and no one was for small talk. A custom that meant to get close, you had to let time and yourself alone learn that nothing could be as you expected it.

Slade spoke Swedish very well, he could have been a local as the tailor at the desk looked over Dick's duds and immediately ran to the back with the boy to see to the mess he had yet to address.

Dick was his own mess, needles and thread couldn't very well fix him as Slade watched and waited for the man to tell him the price tag.

Four to five tailored dress pants, a jacket and the shoes would be later. He'd not told Dick but he had a job for him once he was ready to stick to the plan.

"You'll be joining the law enforcement in this town. I have set aside language courses and a curriculum to get your degree transferred. You already have one foot in the door." Smiled the man as the collar could have very well vibrated under Dick's black turtleneck. "I'll gladly wrench that other leg in if you allow it."

/

The surprise was a dinner out for a change, an interesting observation was that Slade was not going to put down a good time out with his bird for another hour. Dick didn't like how he was eyed across the round table, the ritz and glamour of the restaurant made his cheeks bleed red until he'd blurted out the worst excuse in a book of many lies.

"May I please be excused? I, have to use the rest room –

"But, of course." Slade picked up his menu, the hero saying his prayers in a low voice as he slunk off to wash his face and get himself back on track.

/

"He's doing this as a means of torture. That's all it is!" Dick sighed over the sink at his sunken reflection. "Whoa…did I, sleep at all?" Shaking his head, he knew stress and fear made the worst of him come to light. Such as the situation now. He saw a small window in the wall, a table and napkins.

Damn, he was going to get another spanking if this didn't work…

"I don't know the city, I could…."

No, he'd get a call to someone.

Someone, as he stepped onto the table, while the door swung back swiftly.

"Finished yet?" Came a curious drawl, as Dick lowered his eyes, voice timid as he took a step back.

"Yes, sir."

"Good, the food's arrived. Come join me for your next reward…unless, you think you still don't deserve it."

/

Deserve was far from it. He was tempted with cake and an apple in that past year, wine without knowing it was nothing but a black market drug. However, apples right now tasted as if he'd sealed his fate. One bite had him sobbing, a napkin in hand as he dabbed his face and kept eating. The cream was a sin, a sin for caring and being cared for by his worst enemy. He would have blacked out, yet the cake was just a torte, the man was just a man from another universe. Another place to settle. The cake took a while to finish, yet it was not wasted once the meal had to be digested with a walk to their car. Slade took his arm and draped it over the hero's shoulder as the endorphin haul, the sheer exhaustion and the worry in his gut made the hero tired. He was not aware of it as Slade carried him up to his bed, jacket off and collar as well….so he could dream of his birthday cake in vomit colors instead of the small apple torte that made him fall to pieces in some foreign city that was now his new cage.

/

Snow was falling and the installed treadmill was whirring indoors, Slade checking for jobs he'd taken and ones he'd already done. Dick was locked down with books to get the position of officer here, and to do so would require breaking the law. There was a ring on the man's cell as Slade dropped the laser(typo with the a) and gripped the thing to start the call. " God morgon." TYPO) He listened, a smile on his lips just cracking over the surface as thin ice over a pleasant winter's day. "Jag…. och, takk." (TYPO.)

"You've been granted the –

"Why here? Why not anywhere else?"

Dick's worried face was a bother but the sweat rag he was wearing was…well, soaked through.

"Here is fine, I have jobs and connections until you're ready to go back as Nightwing –

"Yeah, but he's dead. Or, should be."

Slade made a gruff sound through his nose, Dick having forgotten that the man was infatuated WITH the dead blue bird in his time. "I'll let that comment slide; you still have to master your ability to blend in better."

"I tried to climb out of a window and you dragged me like a child back to my seat. I'm almost nineteen. That would look weird to anyone." Dick rolled his eyes and tossed the towel from his equipment into a hamper in corner. "You want to see the sky, not the ground." Slade rose, Dick's sullen glance out onto the street was natural, only when he put out a set of fingers this time, Dick didn't shove them away, he cried instead. "I want to be free, Slade…why won't you let me go…"

"This is supposed to happen, Dick." Slade squeezed his shoulder a bit, the kid whimpering through buttoned lips. "You'll see that a lifetime as…we are, is best. You won't die again…" The man burried his chin into the young man's bare shoulder. "You won't die, that's all I ask…"

"You're going to turn back into the big villain on my birthday." Dick sniffed. "You know that your good guy routine is all fabricated."

"I know." Slade breathed out a sigh, the scent of cologne and musk of some special tree bark put the boy wonder out of commission for a moment. "Yet, if you'll let me turn this around, the collar can come off…you can still have Nightwing, like I want him to be. Right…here."

Dick nodded, looking out at the midday haze as snow kept falling over this old world city in the coldest reaches of the planet. He guessed that it would be impossible to run, not until he could. That was why Slade had given him the treadmill.

So he could chase him to the ends of this realm of make believe until there were no more unsaids. Only…

A dream to feel the sky, falling.

It would be tonight. It had to be, by tonight.

/

That would be dire circumstances only. Dick knew that this Slade from another universe was bent on having him not jump a ledge and that he could read his heart rate and breathing with a special device in the collar and maybe even under his skin.

Fidgeting in bed, Dick couldn't rest. It was either as Slade's pet, or to be free. He opened the door, a small light on as he shut it back.

Slade was up, the old him must have attempted the same suicide….No, no!

Dick slumped to his knees and begged in a whisper for something to take his life, any freak accident. This was terrible! To dread for two whole months the thought of being raped and brainwashed by a psychopath, was the same as being fattened up for the witch to have her fill. He was just being groomed to let down his guard, to feel that nothing could stop what was to come.

And yet, there was one thing that could as he recalled the information from that evening.

"Talk to him, get the job…find a way…" He breathed with mucus flowing from his nose in a drizzle. "On, how to KILL him."

/

A leap into February, the last day before the next month, as Dick had put on his badge, would be taking classes to brush up on his languages and he'd only be passing out tickets on the street by where he lived for now. The station was a few blocks off from their little niche, the best part being that Slade's "pal" Erik whom was in the precinct had been blackmailed by the man to let Dick in. As a result, Slade came to bring him a well packed lunch and Richard would crouch in the back, those eyes not of the loving kind. One such afternoon when everyone was on staff elsewhere and Dick was in his office rummaging through more reports of bike jacking thefts or just parking tickets, a knock at the door had the hero shatter in his quiet moment.

The handle turned, Dick's back hunched to the man as the file cabinet was so very tall, he felt smaller. Somehow, it all made him a few degrees warmer in that cool room.

"You were not answering my texts a few moments ago I came to make sure Erik kept his promise. Didn't turn his back on the plan."

The PLAN was to make Dick into Nightwing or something of an equivalent once he was comfortable being Slade's little puppet. Then only would they fight the bat, go to Blud and make him the king of his capital city once again. This time, not without playing hard to get. Especially Blockbuster's younger brother, or even Sionas.

Todd…the Outsiders, Raptor and….and whoever wanted to see what this little "bird" was made of. "Dick." Slade startled the hero, his hands pulling the cabinet forwards by mistake as he yelped, the man behind him holding it back up with a single palm. "Careful. You didn't have to fake an injury to come home." He chuckled.

"Y…You don't need to be here, not until after my shift ends " Dick flustered and went back to grabbing an arm load of file packets from the cabinet. Slade interestingly cocked his head to the side, hair somewhat masking his amusement as that golden eye glittered in the dim shadows of where he stood. "Maybe I should have you in bed for a few weeks." His arm started to lift, fingers changing to a claw as Dick gasped and gripped out at the man's muscle to stop him. "Go home! I need to finish my work….no more, I'll…I'll do whatever later. Even clean up the blood on the rug…" He swallowed. "Just, don't punish me…please…"

Slade hummed and sighed a bit bored, the cabinet back in place with a single shove back into the wall. Dick blinked at the man, worried he'd try to act in a manner most uncouth. He wasn't a significant other, yet this Slade had the brain of a twenty year old brat. Like he should be.

"You'll let me have you, tonight. No penetration. I'll keep to the day when I can see you suffer….right, here." Dick felt the man's hand at his groin and Dick looked away, not swatting it like he'd wanted to. The collar was off, yet he felt each charge as if this Slade had left electrodes below his skin…

With a near – nip by his lobe, Dick was finally again left to his paperwork. Slade had exited the building with Dick finding the cameras on a loop, as he realized how dangerous this place was for him to remain in. It was an extension of the cage; the one built and paid for by Slade, for this was just Slade's long term entertainment. And Dick, was the star of his own soap drama, being dominated by a demanding alpha male that wanted to take what was owed only to him.

/

There will be a part two AND I THINK LIKE MY REWIND ARC, I'LL MAKE IT THE NEW ALT ARC FOR A SERIES OF DOUBTS – Wait and see!