Slade offers Dick the offer of a lifetime; training his daughter and protege in the same manner that only Nightwing knows, yet Dick has no intention of babysitting for a villain who just showed up in his city - even if Slade is his go to intel dealer for a price (such as staying on his sofa or running from the law.) Slade offers to help Grayson stop a crime syndicate if he puts his best foot forward, and in this same moment, Dick thinks that Slade has a second reason for giving Dick the opportunity to tutor his pride and joy, The Renegade arc is not as sinister, so this version will have a more age deprived Rose a sixteen navigating a world that she's never known before. Find out! Next is how Kori is doing on Tamaran with her newly born M'ari.
Why Heroes Can't Sip Champagne and Apples are a Girl's Best Friend-
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Chapter 19: The Renegade Scramble – Some Roses Do Have Thorns
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So, Rose is going to be about sixteen in this, and Dick's Renegade arc is going to get pushed in here for the same of stopping a crime boss with Slade's help in Blud. As for the Kryptonite in Rose's eye? We're still working on that. Flare day today and this week was a monster- saurus of here to there, so here we go!
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He had a job with work again, only thing was…Richard Grayson; Officer Grayson couldn't put a dent in the case his "Comish" had placed in front of her hardest working officer of the law in Blud.
Yet, Nightwing knew where to get started. He'd boost his confidence and cut the workload in half by the next week. Or month, at the rate he was healing from his division between Kori, putting a restraining order on MN and…. where was Slade? He'd been in Blud again, as Nightwing stood by a loading dock in the dark of night to meet his informant face to face.
He'd come to gain a lot of that by Slade's…. negotiating tactics, even when as the night had ended, he'd have lost his memory of the alliance between both parties. Tonight, though he was later than the last. Dick took the time to tap his foot, and by the hour no go. He left, heading to his apartment when at the door he found it…
Unlocked, up to the security bolts and a flipping key card –damn it!
Dick jutted the thing as it swung freely forth. The sound of a pot of coffee brewing away and a hum of contentment as this trespasser dared sip java in HIS complex.
Dick was back in his day clothes, his head shook with a groan as round that corner, seated at his kitchen table, was not just one – yet TWO blue and orange wearing freaks.
"Slade, you told me you'd be at the docks." Dick raised his eyes to the other figure who was leaning an elbow on the table fiddling with a small dagger –
"Hey, that's! –
Slade let his mug; Dick's mug, hit the table top as the room went silent a moment. "I didn't expect you to believe that I'd officially help you with this case, Grayson. The information I have to give is useless…" He picked up his mug and sipped slowly, spanning out the time the two men had to debate their working relationship as the girl blew a strand of strikingly silver white hair from her face, bored for having to wait on the old timers.
"How…how did you – Why…. If you're not going to help me stop the one, I'm trying to put in a cell, then why show up at all, and in my house!"
"You're a giving bird, are you not?"
Dick rolled his eyes, the girl beside Slade at the table raising a brow as she set the knife aside and huffed quietly to herself. She really didn't know this man, only from his file did he seem formidable. Her dad had told her enough, yet her curious streak was not to be tested.
"For – giving, but not to trespassers and…. someone who just made a statement that I could let them mooch off of me."
"I have no intention of taking what's not owed, Dick."
Richard tensed at the sound of his name. "What do you want then, to get free takes on any shot fired in my city? I told you, not –
"I'm not here officially to have any hits on my clients 'men. Or women for that matter. I told you we'd stay in touch and I think it's about time I told you exactly why that needed to be the case."
He moved his arm and asked the girl to rise with a look, her eyes rolling back as the teenaged Ravager look alike only put a hand to her slender hip and frowned at her father's one adversary and frenemy for life.
"This is Rose, she's my second youngest and also like her old man, she's meant to train by my side…the only problem is that some of my maneuvers are, a bit lacking." Slade poured his drink and sipped his with a small sigh. His eye changing from the spot he sat as a smirk returned, plans whirring into motion as Dick knew that he couldn't face the man when he was on his A –game.
"That's where you'd come in. We have fought before too many times to name not to know each other so, very well . As Robin and now Nightwing, you might have me beaten in some departments."
'I, don't know what it is you're implying." Dick scratched his cheek, the nervous energy building as the time as a gym instructor or councilor at a youth center had him, worrying for what Slade was insinuating in front of a minor.
"It's quite simple. From now on, I want Rose to train the way you have taught yourself to act. As Wing, as the boy wonder, and mostly…"He leaned in as Dick's hairs stood on end.
"As Officer Dick Grayson of the BCPD. What do you say to this; if you help her to understand the ins and out of the job while gaining valuable experience on the side, I'll hand you the key to solving your "bust".
Dick's mouth twitched at the other adult.
"One week. Any longer or if your methods fail you too soon to count, Dick."
Dick stood, the furious beast's eye caught his own blue two.
"I'll call our partnership null and void, only after erasing you from the force, your life. You'll be mine to do with as I wish, Officer Grayson. "
/
"Can I just say –
"Rose, the adults are talking." Slade held up a hand as she nodded, going quiet.
"She's young and…a killer, I hope not?"
"Why wouldn't she be, Grayson?" Slade shrugged and finished a swig of his drink in one single gulp. Was that an insult, he wondered?
"Thank you for the offer, but Slade…you aren't exactly like me, and I'm not going to change my methods just to suit how... how thisis all done. I don't baby sit anymore if you didn't notice my apartment."
"You won't have to, Dick." Slade shook his head and rose to stand before his dearest prize of all. Rose ignored his height over hers, hoping she'd be as tall as Wonder Woman one day, though not because her real birth mother was any few feet of difference. Most men in her life her like that, they towered and expected her to "reach" their expectations… While, he…was something of a wimp. She frowned at the officer and crossed he arms over her suited chest. "Do I have to stay here, or can we still live in your getaway- safe house? I bet I won't get an ounce of sleep if I have to share –
She blinked at the mini – pitty until her cloth mask was pulled up and she squealed.
"She's sooo cute!! Can I stay? I mean, if I am…I -
"I…. Have to think about it, and talk to your father." Dick cleared his throat as Slade only nudged Rose to let go of Haley's puppy - belly rubbing ideas. "You are such a baby- face, yes you are! Yes y –
"ROSE."
She gasped, letting her hands fall as Dick just then, had an idea form. "You want Rose to learn from a hero, but can't I be one if it means teaching her not to…you know."
"That's the thing, you would have a partner for this case, and she'd earn valuable experience from just being present. Right, Rosie? What do you say, kid? Care to stick with the officer for a while, only for a few days."
"As long…." Rose sighed and got to her knees as Haley's mini– pitty sized tail wagged back over to the youth.
"As long as I can have this sweetie sleep in my arms tonight, I don't care if he tries to convert me to the House of Wayne! You…are….so cute!"
/
"Did you know –
"No." Slade ran a hand over his temples. "Rose, will help you with this case, just teach her how to know the underbelly as best as I know you can. It might also…take your mind off of any old –
"She's just a teenager, Slade." Dick snorted at the side of the building. Rose still inside with Haley and a very generous squeak toy.
"Rose had a difficult upbringing too, hero. Her mother was…not the best role model –
"You think?"
Slade growled under his breath before continuing. "She was rescued and retrieved from a brothel in Cambodia. The proprietor, her mother had passed on, so …. What you should know, Dick." Slade dropped the "sigh" bomb slowly. "Is that she has some of my abilities, and the proprietor was the person I met long before…she was not able to learn any of what I was before that country fell to ruin by a long, grueling war..."
"The white hair wasn't because of a cult following...it' s the gene." Dick sniffed, seeing the lights a bit brighter out of this side of Blud. "She's got healing abilities too?"
"No." Slade shook his snow-white hair and frowned. "Agility, some strength, yet mostly her precognition is what sets her apart from Jericho and my…. first born."
"Grant got what he wanted, with a price." Dick furrowed his brows in tough thought. "Are you still –
"That dispute will have to wait, for now." Slade interrupted, hearing a bout of laughter as both men headed up to see if Rose was not making things difficult.
Quite the opposite as even Dick, had to smile while Slade inwardly groaned at this perfect picture of innocence between enemies made real.
"Hales is a big mush, can I call you Richard? Dick is weird, I mean if I have to lay low and all. Right, daddy?"
Slade cleared his throat, the puppy waddling over to her dog bed in the living area and whimpering by its play time being interrupted.
Slade sighed with a huff. "She's a handful."
"Rose? Or my Haley?" Dick chuckled, seeing Slade do none of that giggling as Rose hid a small smile to agree.
Slade cleared his throat, this was…now awkward. "She'll stay the night. I can get her things so make sure she doesn't doze off before I'm back with a change of -
"Do not forget to bring, you know…." She hinted as Slade hung his head. "Yes, dear." Muttered the dutiful dad as Dick had to keep a straight face around his mortal frenemy. "Like I said, use a sense of courtesy while here. Do not have any late-night television sessions, or indulge mercilessly on garbage and snack foods. I will know if her curriculum is a mess by the middle of this week, Grayson." Slade pointed the finger sternly at Rose, as he went to put a hand back to the knob of the apartment's one doorway. "I'll be back, so don't make my daughter into a damn hippie by the time I've returned."
"Peace out, Will." Dick threw up a sign to tease, his energy better than the pervious and all because he wouldn't be eating alone for awhile. "So." Rose dusted off herself from the floor, her entire façade swapping as Dick wondered why she'd tried to ditch her papa so quickly. "What's on the agenda. Katas? Biology lesson? How about your treadmill? You are the teacher, so do you damn job!"
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Staying short here to span chapters, hope Rose being a total Tsundere like her daddy is worth it! And she's got a younger mind due to Slade's training and her past PTSD as a meta in a war-torn country in THIS universe. Will all be revealed. So, up to par? Lemme know! And Rose will get to meet Batwing as a side chapter, but for fun in this case. Also, Dick is Bi now so don't get too cozy, Rose is still egging on her dad to talk to Dick about a joint partnership in the future. Wait and find out!
And MN is on a restraining order, though Dick's daughter M'ari is somewhere in the multiverse. This is Slade's way of sharing to have the hurt reduced (my version is a bit less sinister; you'll see.
