I think this is by far the biggest chapter I've written. OMG now I'm tired. This took me a long while so Plleeaase enjoy! Anyways I made it extra long because this is the last one you'll get from me for a bit, going camping tomorrow for 5 days and tried to get this up before I go off and wander into the wilderness. Anyways enough of me rambling...

ON WITH THE STORY!

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Training got more difficult over the next few days, and not just for him. But for his team as well. It almost felt as if Slade was being more difficult than normal, giving him more challenging tasks. And because of what his master was putting him through, he in turn, took them all to a training room and began to put his own team through a variety of rigorous physical combat exams. If he had to be up to snuff, then so did they. They had to be ready. Failure was not even considered an option right now.

Seeing them all in action, he learned a few things about his team. There was definitely more to Ksenia than he imagined. She was trained in high combat situations; she was good with any weapon and adjusting her course to fit her needs. She hadn't spent a majority of her life on the battlefield however, but was still good with what little experience she had. Discord already was very, and he meant very, well trained with her abilities. However, she didn't like to take orders. Which, of course, was a problem. And Tank and her really didn't get along, but Discord and Ksenia seemed to hit it off. Tank, however, for his part, really tried to smooth things over with her. And while Discord was problematic for him, he seemed to get along with everyone else. He even suggested a few recruits. All of which Robin would keep in mind. But for now, he couldn't bring anyone into this mess. He wanted to have something to present when looking for more candidates.

As for Asif, well, he was in his usual spot, at his side. So odd how he went from the betrayer of the group to the two of them being so close. He was quickly becoming known as Robin's second. And to be honest, he wouldn't have it any other way. Asif had his way of getting all that good, forbidden intel. He could take orders and also defy them when he thought Robin was getting out of hand, and he was a solid person for advice. And while he knew he had Slade to ask his million and one questions, sometimes it was also good to get a second opinion. Plus, on top of everything, usually it was Asif that could put up with the banter longer than he could, which helped him to keep his own cool.

Until today, that was.

"This is getting... stupid."

Robin leaned down to stretch his legs. After his sparring session with Slade, he was a little sore, although he had no intention of stopping. A leader should always train with his team. "The bickering is normal. They will have to learn to work with one another."

"Sure... or they'll kill one another."

"Well, if it comes to thaaaat." A smirked etched its way onto his face. "I'm sure they'll figure it out, its another good reason why I'll be training with them too. Gotta keep an eye on them. You should come to. It is team training, you know that, right?"

Asif could only sigh before he pulled his shirt over his head. "Fine, but you remember I'm mostly good at firearms, right?"

"Ha, and if I remember correctly, you duked it out with Sariel in a burning building." Asif shrugged. He remembered how the ben Elohim saved him from the burning hospital, being on the verge of death, being brought back to life by Aurora herself. He never could really remember what they did to him, but whatever it was, it heightened his endurance, sadly for only a short period of time. As far as he knew, now he was just plain and normal Asif. "Yea yea," he countered. "And if I remember correctly, she still kicked my ass and damaged my arm."

Robin smirked. "Yea, she did, didn't she?"

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"Lots of bickering. There was never this much bickering between the Titans." Another kick, another punch, both of which Robin had dodged, but just barely. Richard chided himself for getting sloppy and performed a backflip to move out of Slade's reach. And within moments of landing, he braced himself for another attack. "I mean, there were always arguments, but not like this."

"You have to remember, Robin, these people are soldiers. They've seen war, crime, atrocities that were not, or perhaps never will be, presented to the Titans. There will be more differences between them all, different politics as it were. More things to squabble about. Think of it this way: they are all reading the same book, but are in various different chapters. You need to bring them to the end, where everything comes together, and you get that nice ultimate conclusion."

"That's a fancy way of saying that I have to get everyone on the same page."

"The problem is not only are they reading various chapters, some are closer to the end than the others."

"Your saying some feel that they don't need the training, because they feel further along. But they need to learn to work together."

"Ultimatums."

"Blackmail?"

Slade shook his head. "No, if they don't finish the book then they'll never know how it ends, but they have to put in the hours, the work. They think they are almost to that end, prove to them they are only halfway through. Build them up together. Make them respect one another or they can leave."

The mastermind took another stance. "Now You need to attack me, enough with the dodging. I know you can do better than this. You want to lead your team, then you need to perform." Robin only laughed at that. "Obviously," he stated before to taking another stance.

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Weeks now. It had been weeks since he took Slade's advice. He started to be a bit harsher with them. Although, not too harsh. He laid down the rules, and they would have to follow them. In took a while but he eventually brought all of his team down to one level. Now he was building them up. And what do you know, it worked. The bickering was still there, but it wasn't as annoying or as constant as it once was.

"Tank really..." Discord sighed as helped her up

"What am I do, eh? Leave you behind. We're a team now, as much as I hate to admit it, plus I guess you are kind of handy to have around with all your mind powers." Tank waved a hand over her head as she scowled at him. "Your lucky I know how to control them as well as I do." Tank shrugged and gave her a sheepish smile.

Ksenia chuckled. "You know, it seems like we finally, somewhat, kind of work well together now. Once we got you two to stop bickering with one another."

Discord shrugged, and Tank laughed. Whatever differences they had with one another involving a Clara were recently settled between the two. It would seem that Robin's new way of doing things had forced their hand, and either made them fix their relationship and how they worked with one another, or leave. And he clarified that if they left, then they weren't worthy of his time, or Slade's for that matter. So the two worked it out. End of story.

Robin overheard their conversation as he was taking the bandage off of his arm. He was a little more sore today than normal. Slade had gone hard on him, so when he came to train with his team, he was already a bit tender. But he insisted to train anyways. But he would not ruin himself. Therefore, today, after a bit of a workout, he made himself an exception to the rule and sat out.

Asif joined him as he guzzled down a bottle of water.

"You know you should take it easy out there." Asif capped the water bottle before looking at his friend. I can say the same to you, but I doubt Deathstroke knows how to go easy." The former hero chuckled, "Slade? Go easy? Is that even possible?" Robin rolled his shoulder before letting out a small gasp from the sharp pain. "I don't think he knows the definition of easy."

"You could always show up wrapped up in bandages." Asif suggested, mildly joking, knowing full well that when master and apprentice went to spar, they spared no expense, allowing at least Robin to go full force. He remembered a while ago that he was rather grumpy about the fact that Slade still held back, going only as far as Robin needed him to. His friend only laughed at the comment. "Yea, he'd still put me to work."

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"The book you mentioned?"

Slade stood off to the boy's side. Today was different. Today Slade handed Robin a gun and insisted on target practice. The man had a whole forest outside of the city set up. Apparently Slade owned chunks of land out in the boonies just for such occasions. "Yes?"

Robin shot the target. His aim was perfect now. He could shoot moving targets as well. But Slade now had him wielding various types of guns. It seems he wanted the boy familiar with an assortment of weaponry. He shot another target as it sprung up from behind a fallen tree, killing the blank wooden human shaped figure. "It looks like we're all on the same page now. Now it's just getting to that conclusion together."

"Do you remember how to dismantle the weapon?"

"Yes."

"Take it apart and place it back in storage then pick up that rifle." Slade pointed to Barrett rifle. "Do you believe they want to know the ending of the story?"

Robin nodded as he disassembled the gun. "I think so. They seem to work well enough together."

"The ending is surely in sight then."

"Soon enough I think."

"The world is already falling apart with Luthor's news. The information of what was in those files, the very idea of the hero's not upholding their own "values" is spreading around the internet like wildfire. Right now the Justice League is trying to get everyone back on their side, gain back their support, claiming that the accusations are false. With all this going on, we may be able to catch them unaware. Your team needs to be ready. I think it's time you show the rest of the world why I picked you as my apprentice."

Robin sighed. "Yea yea. I know," he muttered as he placed the weapon he had in the cabinet, and then grabbing the requested rifle Slade had mentioned. "You want me to go all big and crazy with my whole betrayal, right?" Robin smirked at the mastermind. Slade nearly rolled his eye. "What I want is for you to show the world what a threat you are, and that if the prodigal son of the Justice League decided to up and leave, then what is stopping the others? People may hate you, but others may think that you discovered some sort of hidden truth, hence your exit from the hero world. You won't win over the internet, but it will get people talking. And when they talk-"

"A movement, or rather more likely a debate, may begin that can get things off the ground. Someone such as myself leaving would cause quite the stir. Although the only thing I can think of is that suddenly I will be part of one big internet conspiracy theory."

"Perhaps, but people like a good mystery."

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A couple of months now. His team was ready. And there was nothing more he could teach them until they were actually on the field. They all already had a lot of field experience. And while they did work in a variety of units beforehand, none of them were placed in anything ever called "elite". Discord was hesitant in the beginning and while she still wasn't the best at taking orders, she bit her lip most days and did as she was told. Robin could tell she was still going to be a bit of a wildcard, but perhaps in the best of ways. She had grown somewhat loyal to the group. Perhaps if she disobeyed, it would be for the betterment of the unit. Or so he hoped. For now, he would simply watch over them. It wasn't long before he noticed Asif had taken a liking to them even and began to chat a little more with the team.

"You think Slade will accept the unit as is?" Ksenia stood at his side. Robin could only shrug. "I think we're ready enough. You guys have all had actual experiences on the field. You all have training. The only thing I could do is train you to work together."

"Is that what you did with the Titans?"

He smiled at the memories of his old friends. "Yea, they all knew how to fight. They just weren't very coordinated."

Her gaze went back to the other three members of the team. "I hope you're right. So, are you going to give the team some fancy name?" Robin scoffed and waved her off. "I don't think so. What elite unit has a fancy name that's not like numbers or something?"

"So no name then. Please don't tell me we're something as silly as Unit 69 or 666." Robin looked at her as he took a drink of water. After wiping the water from his lips, he laughed. "No... It's not for me to decide. It's usually the top brass that give you your unit number. We're not official yet. So when we become official, it's the head guy that gives us our unit number."

Ksenia seemed a little disappointed. "So Slade gets to name us." Robin nodded. "Maybe we might get lucky and Wintergreen will name us." Ksenia looked at her leader and frowned. "I don't know if that would be any better."

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"Three months, that's all that it's taken, to do irrefutable damage to the hero's egos. And while the League is still operational, there is a lot of disrespect being tossed their way. Funds have been cut in all directions. I think even the ben Elohim themselves pulled out." Luthor cracked a smile at his own joke and Robin would have laughed to if he hadn't known that the ben Elohim only used the League as a tool and could probably find or build another if they wanted to. Everything they built would have a purpose, and every purpose would eventually come to an end. Even if the ben Elohim truly cut ties, it wouldn't matter to them, it would just be another business deal. But he highly doubted they fully backed out. If any of the funding from them was indeed cut, it would have been from their more public corporations. Which really doesn't affect them or the League in the grand scheme of things.

The three men stood watching the video call. The room they used for this little meeting was rather dark, the only light coming from the screens before them. All five members of the society were now involved. Lex, Ra's, Slade and the two others that Robin really hadn't recognized other than from a few news reports. Two of the richest men in the world were also involved with a secret society. One from a wealthy family and the other was definitely more of the former military type, possibly even a former general. And while most of the original founding members of the family now stood in the background, he wouldn't put it past them that they still had someone they knew and trusted, while outside of the family, involved with their own affairs.

"Maybe it is indeed time, then, that we set our own plans into motion. The people clearly do not trust the hero's anymore, which is unfortunate in some cases." Robin knew Ra's was speaking towards his old mentor. The Bat would always hold a special place in Ra's heart, if he had one that is. "However, if we are to act, it should be when they are spread so thin tha-"

"It's not quite the time for that yet. " Robin looked to the far right screen with the General that dared to cut off the Demon's head. He didn't really catch his name, nor cared to at the moment. However, Slade agreed with the man. "We need a little more time. It won't be long, however. Timing right now is everything. And if we don't plan accordingly, we risk losing it all."

"Slade's right." Lex clasped his hands in front of him. "We need to be careful with this."

"Agreed. Might I suggest that we begin to move our forces toward the inevitable?" Ra's it would seem already had people standing by and Slade thought it best to follow suite. "I think we all should be better prepared."

Robin looked to Wintergreen. Slade's old friend was a normal sight when it came to the mercenary. Most of the members didn't give him much heed, many of them even having their own trusted companions in the background. "I suppose we'll be moving soon." Will nodded in the young man's direction. "As soon as we find out where they are, we'll be stopping by for a visit." Richard frowned at the thought of making a surprise visit to one of their bases. The last time they schemed against them and dropped in to say hello, he lost quite a bit. "We need to plan better if that's what we're going to do, better than last time."

A hand was placed on the boy's shoulder, and Robin looked up at Will. "Don't worry lad, this time I think we got them." Robin crossed his arms and smiled up at the older man that reminded him so much of Alfred. "So confidant?" Wintergreen chuckled. "Maybe we can plan for everything and maybe we'll still screw it all up. But isn't it worth trying?" Robin could only nod. And it felt it deep down in his bones, the answer to William's question. "Yes, I think it is."

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It was later in the evening when he stopped by to visit. And after receiving a concerning report from Cyborg, Batman found himself on top of the tower making a call. "Things are getting worse every day Alfred, even the Titans are getting attacked by civilians now." The Batman had come to do regular follow-ups on the Titans ever since the whole fiasco in Metropolis a few months back. And began to check up on them the following weeks after Lex Luthor spun out a web of lies telling the people that the Justice League was nothing more than a fabrication made to deceive the people. All the while they were also apparently constructs of a bigger web of lies telling the world that the League profited off of arms trafficking, wars and a variety of other disastrous things. All of it was slander however, but even he was dumbfounded by the lists and intel which Luthor had released to the world.

The older man let out a sigh. "I don't think any of this is going to get any easier, Master Bruce. For anyone. Do you think Master Dick was involved?" Batman gave the butler a curt nod. "I do. I think he released information, everything he knew. Our names. Everything." This wasn't easy for either of them. The betrayal still stung quite a bit. "He did this for a reason, to weaken the League." Both he and Alfred came to the conclusion that Slade was working with Lex Luthor and possibly others. Maybe they were making some sort of villain alliance. Was the Legion of Doom being activated again? He had no answers.

"You think they mean to destroy the Justice League?"

"Even with our funding being cut from the government and a variety of others, it would still be difficult to take us down. The ideology to send damaging information out into the open is meant to harm by having the populace have all of their eyes on us. It's a distraction. We can't move as freely as we once did. They want us out of the way, or in one place. In times like these, we need to be careful. They could come after us in full force, or..."

"Or what, sir?"

"One at a time." Batman stopped for a moment to reevaluate everything that had been going over the past three months. "What are we to them other than just the opposing side? What do they want, or rather, what would they get out of obliterating us?"

"That's obvious sir, if they wanted to take over-"

"I don't think that's the case. Making everything public, while it has been done before, there is no refuting the information now, it's to stuck into people's heads. People know our names. And while I wouldn't have put it past Luthor to do this if given the opportunity, something just doesn't fit. There is something else going on."

"Something else, sir?"

Batman shook his head. "I wish I knew. But I have a feeling we're not the ones they aim to take down. I'll be headed home soon."

Alfred nodded. "See you then, sir, and do try and take care of yourself." The Batman gave him a rare smile and told the butler he would before hanging up. It was a beautiful night. The skies were clear and looking up at the stars, he knew somewhere out there Robin was under the same sky. But he knew now he wouldn't be able to bring him home.

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The desert was always home. She could never leave it truly behind. It had been her nightmare and her sanctuary since she was a child, and it was as much a part of her as she was a part of these sands. She knew soon enough they would meet again, here where it all began between them. The desert, the beginning of his apprenticeship, and the beginning of her life on the battlefield all those years ago. Here it would begin again and again and again.

"Sariel!" The woman looked at the child that called her name. Endora. A child and a monster in one. She ran over to the woman with a happy stride in her step. The girl always seemed to be a bit more chipper when she was around. "What!?" she called out.

"Geist wants to see you. Something important." She sighed. The medium always did kind of freak her out, but after a while, and after being an ally for so long now, she kinda got used to him. Somewhat. "Alright" it was all she said as she walked past the girl and entered the building. The feeling of the AC on her skin was a welcomed one as she journeyed down the hall. Geist didn't have an office since he didn't have to do anything important, like paperwork. He was just wherever he needed to be. And apparently, where he needed to be was in one of the meeting rooms.

"Mr Reinhardt, you wanted to see me?"

Geist looked at her as if he was appalled. "Please, do not call me that, ja?" She giggled in return. "Fine. What did you want to see me about?" He smiled and Sariel nearly shuddered. "They are moving. Soon it will be time. We must begin preparations." Sariel nodded, knowing full well that soon enough this would all be over.

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Pls pls pls leave me a review, they make my day so much better and right now I really would love to hear from you all, it's been a rough past couple of months. Thanks again. Stay safe out there all!

-Fangy