First off... I AM SO SORRY, it's been like nearly 2 months. My bad. Things got crazy, and then there was CHRISTMAS and yea. I hope everyone did have an awesome christmas tho! And just think we're only a few more days until New Years!
Anywho to all my peoples you are awesome, thank you for reading this, anyone that has found this and even tho I haven't updated in like 2 months and if yer reading it, thank you.
My reviewers yer awesome and seriously I wish I could express more how much I appreicate you guys! I actually feel so bad for not updating because of you guys.
Asilla, in the new year I will make you my official editor. I promise, seriously I just wanted to update it now and let people know I was alive and I didn't want to note you with this sorta thing during the holidays but in the new year if yer still up for it I would be grateful.
Also COOKIES FOR ALL!
Also... I dumped my webcomic for now. So this is gonna take up most of creativeness, and also because I mostly did the webcomic to help improve my artsey skills, and as much as I like doing it, and I will go back to it one day, I don't have a lot of time to do pages. And honestly I love this story and I want to finish it. So yea.
Also... I have a youtube channel, a gaming youtube channel. I go under the name Fangzilla. So I'm making that and this my two main things atm. So yea come check me out be a dork while playing video games...
EDIT 03/30/2022: Fixed some typos and moving over to A03
Anywho... I'll shut up and let's MOVE ON WITH THE STORY!
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They had five days to get ready. Five days and they would meet Aurora face to face. They had a lot to prepare for. Gus would infiltrate himself into their little gang of nobodies that were everywhere in this damn city. Asif would be their sniper in case things really got out of hand. Robin and Sariel would be going in themselves. And Slade volunteered to be behind the computer screen, which made Gus a bit sad since that was normally his job.
In the meantime they had to plan their attack out thoroughly, all the while making sure that the ben Elohim were oblivious to the fact that they were planning anything at all. This proved difficult, since they had eyes everywhere. Jillian had assured her granddaughter however that the tactical room was state of the art, any plans should be discussed within those walls. Thus Sariel took her grandmothers words to heart and that tactical room became more lived in then most other areas of the apartment.
Now was even such an occasion. Gus had come to make a report as Sariel had sipped on some fresh coffee.
"I had to go and beat the living shit out of some poor kid... guy must of been like sixteen. What the fuck is wrong with these people?" the young man pulled up a chair beside his friend before sitting himself down.
Sariel looked to Gus, intrigued by his so called adventures getting into one of the little gangs around town.
"Why would they do that?" Sariel was genuinely intrigued.
"Kid owed them money... but damn. I get it, pay up. But it seemed kind of crude to make a newbie like me to beat the shit outta the poor kid."
Sariel frowned, the kid in question was probably borrowing money to pay for drugs, and the gangs were king when it came to any kind of drug deals. Shame really.
"You know once I fully get into this lil' club, you won't see my handsome face for awhile."
"I know, just be good, play along."
"Bastards will probably put me on call for everything..." he frowned at the mere thought of constantly being on call to do their dirty work.
"Do what it takes to get up there. Like last time with those jerks in France."
"Yea yea... I know the drill lady. Don't got to tell me."
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Slade stood there for a moment reminiscing, looking through this old building, a small but complex haunt underground. It had been a very long time since he had last been here. And the place held some good and some bad memories. The soldiers he had posted here were indeed just as Will had told him they would be. Terrified. He never visited, it was usually Will he sent out this way to check up on things. But never himself. So one can assume how all the soldiers felt the moment he walked in the door unannounced.
They scuttled out of this way as fast as they could when they saw him walking down the corridor. Their feet probably never moved so fast in their lives.
He would be lying if he said it didn't amuse him.
Overall the base seemed to be all in good order as expected. It was fully functional, and they handed their reports in on a regular basis. There was nothing out of the ordinary. Which did in a way worry him.
If this was the ben Elohim's hometown so to speak, then why hadn't any of his men noticed anything out of the ordinary? But he knew that if he had control over the city, he too would make sure it would seem that everything was normal. So normal that any private military in the area or even to go as far as the countries own forces wouldn't notice a damn thing.
In all honesty he didn't expect much during his brief visit to the old base. Berlin was more of an outpost where he sent new recruits, it was a city base, nothing abnormal was expected to happen. It was more for keeping eyes on the city itself, and the countries government and worldly activities. All information was valuable.
Slowly Slade made his way to what would be considered his own private area of the base. The men around him only spoke to him on a professional basis, probably too scared to do anything else. But soon enough he found himself alone, which he was thankful for. The men he kept around in his home bases knew him much better, they gave him respect, and while still somewhat fearful of him, they didn't scurry away at the mere sight of him.
Opening up a few cabinets build into the walls, he soon found what he was looking for. He pulled out the duffle bag, opened it and put it aside. He would be filling it soon enough.
He saw his own uniform waiting there for him and he was glad for it. Casual clothing, while still military, were somewhat getting to him. They were lighter colors, and Slade much preferred his black. And while he couldn't wait to don the mask again, there was something else that caught his eye.
His hand reached for it and he gingerly pulled it into the light.
A uniform for his apprentice.
Again the idea of Robin willingly wearing his colors put a smile on his face. The boy would make the news eventually that's for sure. And what would the dear Batman think of his former son wielding a gun? Killing people? He was sure one day they would meet again and what would the Bat think of Robins new outlook on life?
It was not something he would miss that was for sure.
Happily, Slade placed the article of clothing into the backpack, along with the metal guards that went along with it and the utility belt. The outfits design itself was new, and while it still resembled Slade's own, it was not a remake of the old one from Robins first apprenticeship.
Soon after Slade placed his own equipment and a few new toys into the bag before closing it up and throwing it over his shoulder.
When he left he was sure the soldiers were glad for it.
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Robin had more or less kept to himself and trained. The punching bag had sure taken more of a beating from him then it probably had in the past while.
His mind wasn't so much of a mess when training. Usually he was a bit stressed but for once he was not completely in charge of an operation, the lead this time being Sariel. But he still felt the pressure to make things run smooth, and since the very moment Sariel had launched this idea, he had been helping her smooth out the wrinkles. In a way, he put himself to be just as much in lead as Sariel. While it was her idea, the two of them were both calling the shots, or so it felt like. And while getting everything prepared was indeed stressful, it wasn't the same kind of stress he felt when leading the Titans.
There wasn't these huge uncalled for expectations.
The entire world's eyes weren't on him anymore, ready to object to anything he would try to say or do. That burden seemed to have been lifted from his shoulders.
And he didn't have to keep trying to prove himself to Bruce, over and over again to feel like he had failed time and time again. Slade so willingly accepted him for who he was, what he was, and that he had made mistakes. And told him that those mistakes can be rectified. It did kind of scare him how much he actually believed Slade for that.
If there was any stress, he would admit it wasn't coming from the operation. It was however, from any lingering guilt he felt for betraying Bruce, but yet at the same time... he couldn't wait to tell the Bat to shove it.
Robin would always carry a piece of Batman with him, the great detective did teach him some amazing things that would remain embedded until the day he died. And he knew that whatever Slade would teach him would also remain with him for many years to come. He wondered if in the end would he become some sort of villain with Batman's sense of justice wrapped around with Slade's logic.
"All in time." he thought. Later on down the road he figured he'd find out one way or another. Presently he knew he'd have to start making the best of this situation for himself as well. There wasn't any going back, not that he wanted to. But he also knew that in the long run he was going to have to make name for himself. Just being Slade's apprentice wasn't enough, while the title would give him all that he had wanted, for Slade he knew it wasn't enough. Slade didn't want a robot, he wanted an apprentice. He wanted a heir, someone to stand next to him. He wanted Richard Grayson, not Robin. Not the cape.
"Hey"
Robin turned from the punching bag to see Asif standing in the doorway. "Huh?" was all he could say.
"Slades back, he wants to see you."
Robin nodded, "I'll be there in a minute." Robin started to unravel the bandage from his hands.
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No leads.
Dead end.
Everyone he had talked to, even the ones that said they had seen Robin, didn't have any good leads on to where he went.
There was nothing. It was like he just up and vanished.
He felt hopeless, and for him that was something.
All that he knew was that Robin got on a helicopter and went... where? He didn't know. The helicopter was one of "theirs", it belonged to the people that razzed the city. From the looks of it, it seemed Deathstroke and the others Robin was with had stolen it and left. But from other reports it was said that the helicopter came to pick them up.
Was Robin with these terrorists?
Had they something to do with Deathstroke?
"If you were to go anywhere to get out of this area, to escape a civil war... to lay low. They couldn't have gone far."
Alfred was woken up again at an ungodly hour. But he never protested besides a few yawns.
"They would of escaped to somewhere else within the middle east sir."
"Seems logical."
"Hidden in plain sight."
"Hrmmmm... How long does a standard helicopter last in the air Alfred?"
"I would say about three to four hours sir. Depending on how much fuel they have."
"Alright so they would of probably left Yemen, and stopped for gas somewhere in Saudi Arabia. The next stop after that would be... Syria."
"And then where then sir?"
"If your going to escape one civil war, why not lay low in another?"
"And Syria is having difficult times indeed, do you really think he's there sir?"
"Only one way to find out."
Alfred nodded and yawned. "I do hope you are correct Master Bruce, the sooner we can get him home the better. I don't like to think of him out there."
"Neither do I Alfred."
"Be safe Master Bruce."
And with that Batman cut the communication, letting his butler finally go back to bed. The batwing was on solid ground at the moment, but it wouldn't be for long. After Batman would gather any last tidbits of information he would leave and head to Syria. Hoping to find Robin. To find his son, and bring him home.
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So the next time I'll post will probably be in the new year, I'm gonna try and sneak one in before then. Try is the keyword, but in the new year I'll be back at it.
Anywho let me know what you think, again this is kinda filler but soon we'll be seeing some action and Robin in a new attire looking awesome and flashy and shiny and sparkly... ok maybe not sparkly. That would be bad.
So yea PLS PLS review!
Love you guys, have a good one and be good!
-Fangy