Our Time in Reverse- What it Takes

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Chapter 49: How to Build a Bat….

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"Stand up straight."

~ I am.~

"Your left foot is exposed, pull it back in."

~ That wasn't me. ~

"That stance is sloppy. Fix your position, now!"

~ I'm not careless, I know, sir. Give me a chance. Please …~

"I didn't raise you to be this incompetent, boy. Show me what you've learned in our absence together…"

~ Never! I chose to stay, didn't I? Why can't you take my word?? I'll never leave, I promised…you… you promised. ~

"Honesty, that was almost, far too easy. You should be more composed than that."

~ I'm not through…. let me try harder…~

"Oh, Robin…Did the Titans really ruin my one, true protégé? I might have to see for myself how loyal you've remained to me…"

~ They…they didn't, I did what you said! Stop getting so angry….at me, you never did this before. Not now…~

"Renegade."

~ No more yelling…~

"Renegade...?"

~ I'M NOT YOUR ROBOT. I'M NOT ONE OF THEM. ~

………

……

…

" APPRENTICE !!"

/

Dick's head was swimming by the time his face leveled to rise and meet that man's cold stare on his fallen form. "You lost consciousness. Get up. I'm going to have you treated now."

Treated. Dick nodded slowly and let himself be dragged to the infirmary, with his master not caring how distant the boy looked to him. "Could be only a mild concussion." The man played on that weakness with a mutter.

Only, he said. Richard here, would take a few hours to realize there never was such a thing. As they went through the locked doors to a room littered in medical equipment and a few hospital tables, the metal was his chair as Slade commanded the boy with a wave to seat himself upon one of those cool slabs of steel. "Let me take a look. You'll probably need another injection. Brace yourself on my arm, boy."

He took a look and there was in fact that; he' need one dose of whatever was keeping Dick alive and with a fading black eye. He winced and seethed down while gripping the mastermind's upper arm for support. Slade took a piece of leather from the boy; his belt was used, as Slade had said to bite down.

Hard.

Dick might have blacked out had it not been for that warning. "The closer to completion you are, the more this solution will burn. By this year, you'll go through the proper last, phase, even if you've lost to the Titans. We can always continue hone your abilities, travel a bit. It will be a fascinating new project for us both." He patted the boy on the back as he was eased to stand up again on the concrete floors. "Sir? What's going on with my body? This is the serum that made you….but it killed-

"I've made some, adjustments, Robin."

Dick blinked. Right, he had begged, no…demanded that Slade keep the name. He'd be going back, as a victim of abuse. Not a hero.

What better way to weasel his way in.

"There however, was something that occurred while you weren't awake." Slade hummed and put away his equipment, his eye focusing on other avenues to exploit. "Tara was captured, and your little adopted brother is now helping the heroes. As their Robin."

"What…." Dick's eyes widened with the memories he'd only shared – was Jason doing Batman's bidding, or…did he hate him…. truly, truly hate –

"Don't quit on me, apprentice. I can make him leave only if you allow it. Would you rather do more to send our message?"

"Make him…" Dick gritted his fists and growled low in his throat. "Make him…. make him, disappear." Dick's teeth grit in a way that showed how he was now against going back and seeing the heroes questioning everything.

"Don't fret. Remember our little distraction?" Slade pulled up two remotes; the press of a button, for the probes, and the detonator for the Chrono ton detonator. The device that could freeze time.

Dick's face became softer as he wiped back his starting eyes to not show the man, yet didn't mind it. Dick was glad Slade was there for only him, as he wanted to be. "That's right, just focus on undoing their training and returning to my side one day. You will defeat those children; I have every faith that you cannot fail me. Renegade."

/

Starfire floated on angst, her anxiety bubbling while Jason explained some vile conspiracy to her team leader and co leader. "You almost, what??"

Cy lowered his skull as Raven clutched her hands within the folds of her long cloak. "We, wanted him to be second in command if…. if I set the role aside." Raven told the young bird.

"You didn't tell him that…" Jason mentally cursed himself for not feeling out the situation. "You didn't let him in, his…his whole thing was stealing anything he could for that man!"

"Richard, or whoever you call him, saved lives too. He we thought was being brainwashed. He couldn't keep inside the tower for more than –

"Idiots!" Jason threw up his arms. "Show me the laptop. I wanna see all the files he's leached off of. Why did you give it to him?? Why??"

"He wasn't a prisoner." Raven tried to say. "He was hurting, just like us. Like you."

Jason's masked eyes went dark. "That man's still out there, the one you thought had no part ta' play? He's called Deathstroke, and he's no CI- fucking A. He's a former Team Seven-member, military man, made mercenary and assassin through some experiment. Here's his file." Jason fished out a flag disc from the cave. "The drives were locked up, all I could get, you can convert it before I go –

"Go?" Bb bounded in with vegan nachos and one strand of non-dairy cheese strung at his lip. "But you just got here! What's with his deal, Cy. "

"Batman was hit. Just like all of you. I wasn't, I made sure to stay the hell away from those psycho robots. You had better phone the JLA on this." The boy stood up, hos anger fizzling as Raven sensed fear for someone below the surface by her powers.

"The big man in Gotham has no data on this. He's out if commission so I have to step up."

"You're just a kid…" Bb looked at the green and red clad hero. "How are you gonna stop all of Arkham's most wanted by yourself?? We could –

"Please, I'd be more worried about what you're gonna do with the earth moving asshole in your detent center, here." Scoffed the bird. "The data on Slade is updated, but feel free to edit more if you catch him. Or if he catches you. I'll send my part to the JLA and to Ray Palmer at STAR labs. He's cool. Get to a probe sweeper and screw Slade." The bird flipped the finger to his enemy as none batted an eye. "Friends, is our guest not –

Starforr flew into the room as she saw the bird hero leaving. "Wait! You must explain what has happened to our Robin!" She begged.

"You really wanna know, fine." Groaning, Jason bit his lip. "My brother was adopted, like me and the bat wouldn't have shown up then. Slade did, took him away cause both wanted Dick's parents killer to pay. Dickie was traumatized and Slade made him want to work for em. I'm guessing basing grooming into the role. At least I had a choice."

"Yeah, well why did he fight him, and not us?" Bb crossed his arms and demanded to know. "Tell us that, bat prince?"

"He was supposed to earn your trust, and that stupid earth mover is working wkth him, not for him. Dick, is doing the opposite. And his DNA was messed up by that man. You didn't know that??"

"Robin, he was affected-

"HE'S BEEN CHANGING RIGHT UNDER YOUR NOSES!" Shouted the bitty bat. Slade made him…like himself. He would kill you to make that official. Dick Grayson, your Robin is a fraud. This was his costume as a kid, but I chose to give his name meaning. He chose to take the easy way, the way towards villainy."

"He…. was hurting. We saw, he tried –

"Failed at it, to seduce any of you to listen."

Starfire eyes narrowed as she took his words into consideration. "Robin then, is not our friend….he is a thief! A coward, and we were made to believe that –

"WAIT." Jason stopped her. "Like I said, he was weaned on Slade telling him that he's got his vote, but if that man ever lied to him, made him doubt himself more than anything, you could get him back."

"Are…are you saying…" Cy blinked. "He might snap out of it if we talk to em? You just said this has been going on for years. Since he was a lil kid!"

"Yeah, yeah, it has." Jason rubbed her arm and said, "But I think. You did get through to something. He wants that man to care, bit he's finding that Slade is not what he was then, compared to why he's so corrupted by power, now. He used to live differently, be more human than this. He's lost it, so it's up to us. All of our resources to put Slade on trial for a good long time."

"And, Richard?" Raven added. "Will he recover. Slade is using that manipulation of his trust to…to train Dick to hate anyone else that isn't him."

"Jesus." Cy shook his head. "They said the court gave it an ok…never realized we were set up until…until things got weirder. The weird way he healed up, I thought that was nothing new. Like he was born with that power."

"Ain't a power, he's being treated with some stupid serum. Imagine how many beatings that kid's get from Wilson if he gets the full dose."

"No!" Starfire shouted. "He cannot! Richard will know the truth. We may have some of the time, you must tell us. These…. probes, why does Slade then hesitate to destroy us as he wishes?"

"Because, Starfire." Raven croaked out grimly.

"Slade hasn't told Richard everything about how he intends to get rid of us."

"Or if Richard sees the aftermath, he might change his mind."

"He's a strategist." Huffed Jason. "Nothing but a big fat timer on his wrist. When he activates it, I have to be by the bat's side."

"He was shot??" Yelled Bb.

Jason grunted under his breath. "Yeah, that's why you guys are making me miss my flight. If the bat goes down, our city is toast. From what data we got on these stupid robots, they create a lot of damage. Few parts are reversible, but a sweeper is being fixed up to deactivate em. If only temporarily."

"We got the drive for that, you said. I'll build it in a day. Tops." Cy nodded. "C'mon, team. Let Robin…have some space."

"I'll respond once the crisis is averted. You do the same."

"We won't lose contact." Raven replied. "Have a safe flight."

/

Calling that Robin, Robin…was eerie. Starfire was forced to keep watch and quiet her thoughts with Raven's help, while Cy had Bb help him to build the probe sweeping device to deactivate the little buggers through a high powered bit of magnetism.

"Sooo, the thing is super strong and just, kills them? Like a bug zapper?"

Cy stifled a breath as he put down his tool a second to answer. "Sort of. More like a meter. It registers and interferes with whatever program these things move offa. Hand me that." Cy pointed at the tool by Bb's boot. "Right, not a bug zapper." He sighed and forked over the thing to his genius of a best friend and leader. "Who's gonna fix em? We made a dumb promise to not let Batman take our Robin away…but, we knew Slade was really close. That je wants Dick to do what he says."

"I dunno. The JLA has a say in this now. If Gotham's Robin is that hard headed, he must have a clue. B, that. Come on."

Rolling his eyes, Bb ended up passing over tools to Cy as they worked into the night.

/

Slade was sure Tara could hear everything word. She was fed the info from those speakers through her own ear pieces. They had only shoved her in, but her suit was not removable by their hands.

"The suit is fused it think."

Tara's ears perked up.

"To her body? Dude….did Slade tell her any lies too? She must nor know about –

"Stop, one of us needs to get her to tell us more. I'll go."

"Raven…what if she was not made to control her powers? What if Slade expects her to blow this place sky high?" Cy scratched his chin as Tara's breath cane out in heavy puffs. She shifted in her suit, the shout of his every word infecting her, pulling her along as she rose and with teeth clenched, she was commanded to listen up.

~ Tara. Whatever you've heard, ignore it. I want you to destroy only where you are. I'll have my robots ready to escourt-

"You….trapped me? After all I did?? The fact I even looked you in that fat, one eye??" She seethed. "My suit…does it?? Are you the only person who can get it to come off?? You ….you did…" She gasped. "You lied, to keep me as yours….no…no…"

~ TARA. CALM –

"NO!"

Slade sighed on the other line. ~ Then, I'll have to demonstrate our other machine, earlier than anticipated. Drop your tantrum, you'll have your answer.~

She bit back her tears as the door opened to her makeshift cell for metas. "Tara Markov. Says you didn't run away, that you weren't always a bad egg."

"You're one to talk." She stared Cy in the eye while tried to shed her tears cautiously. "What else did that little bat – fink tell you guys? That I'm a mass murderer? An assault victim?"

"A princess, who experienced a nightmare." Raven followed with the questions. "We want to help."

"Aha, did trusting crazy teenagers really make your team that dumb? He said it right." Tara snorted. "The bird has more genius than even you and me put together –

"You're only wearing a mask to protect yourself." Raven responded. "You can let whatever you want out here." Cy went up to her suit and with his arm, the insults from Slade, ended. Tara, exploded at them.

"I SWEAR TO GOD!! THE JLA TURBED ME AWAY, I WAS TAKEN IN BY A PSYCHO TO ESCAPE THE PEOPLE WHO SOLD ME OFF! YEAG, YOU THINK YOU KNOW ANYTHING? MY BROTHER IS STILL IN OUR HOMELAND…." She gasped, an old accent poking its head out.

"Go on." Raven motioned. "Let anything out. He won't hurt you."

"You say this…. but I know of his tricks…" Tara's eastern European tongue as well spelled explicitly what she wished the Titans to know.

/

She was definitely an improved version of herself in her ability to mingle than ever before. She really didn't give up the past. Slade watched Tara from his hidden cameras, then turning to see where Starfire had sneaked off to.

The boy's old room.

Slade shuffle up to his dais and pulled up a projected keyboard as he got to work. Hacking into the boy's laptop meant shutting down any information that he could.

Wait…

She was there with a flash drive….

Slade pounded the keys harder now as she set his plans back a step. No matter. Hacking was a br –

The restricted access sign made him surge violently, with annoyance.

~ Robin, I have found the journal entries. Must I…~

Slade's eye narrowed at who she was connecting via the laptop.

The bat got to it first. Wh –

The earlier, visit to the tower.

Slade sat back, slack in his seat as he analyzed the kid's conversation.

~ The files are gonna come to us. Soon. Open it. I promise we put an amazing firewall even Slade can't hack to pieces on this puppy…~

"Sir?"

Slade pressed a button and all of the screens went dark.

"Yes, my apprentice." Slade tried to register how to deal with the bat's new protégé. In the meantime, …

"What…. what's my next task?"

He had his own to see to, and to punish for leaving breadcrumbs, unattended on the table.

"Come here, Robin." The man coaxed the child to nervously move at his slowest pace yet. "I'll explain what is expected, from here on out."

/

Slade lost his temper and Richard is being punished in the last scene. Yet he's congratulating Terra, but will that last - and Bruce earlier did get into Dick's laptop as did Jason. Cool right?? Find out!