Teen Titans; Renegade's Last Resort- Finding Pandora = Hope

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Chapter 22: Social Work

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( It's a play on social services or child protection. Slade will be. Questioned.)

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Dick rubbed his bruised cheek as he was tossed his staff.

"Get ready."

The dojo by the gym door beside it thrummed as his feet flew from the mat. Dick parried best he could, ignoring the smack he'd gotten after Slade had come to talk about the luncheon gone wrong.

Pam knew him, there was his hope. And if his hunch hit home as fast as a punch to the face, Slade was doing this to take his anger out on something other than a robot.

Dick hit his staff to clash Slade's as they danced. The room was large enough to contain the former acrobat as Slade made sure to move with just as much grace as a panther amid dark Amazon waters.

"Really thought you could win, didn't you. I told you, if the Titans are the case –

"I'll fight you, sir." Dick let a cry rip through him as he attacked on point. The man slipped back on the mat, flying in as the domestic violence continued. He was on his side, panting with the staff resending a walking stick. Slade twirled his with a triumphant sound. It hit the nat as Divkooled up, hair brushing past his ears as Slade knelt there to feel the tips between his fingers. "You need a trim. Why didn't you say anything?"

If it grew out, so did the dye.

"I…Forgot." Dick swallowed.

"UP, we'll have to do it before tomorrow." He had the boy hoist himself to another bathroom as Slade got out a barber's kit. He wouldn't dare parade his apprentice all over the city that might see this as a bit odd. Slade was already suspected of abuse by the downy red headed terror. He knew who to pole at for information later, yet that would be…a miracle if they only stayed in one place.

"She was looking through you, to keep her relationship with the bat." Slade pulled out the shears as the kid didn't move from the seat he'd been told to stay on. "Your arms are in better form. More muscle, noticed?"

Dick…wanted to say no. No, and he didn't care.

"With your legs to follow, you could one day surpass the rodent. Wouldn't that be interesting…"

He was pushing it as he tilted the kid's chin. "Answer."

"It, might, sir." Dick forced up, getting tilted again as Slade cut where the strands needed be butchered off by the enemy.

"More dye, but not yet. Last thing I need is a balding protégé." He chuckled. Dick, did not.

"Your contacts stayed in fine. I'm glad. If your original blue popped up in any tabloid photos, I might just get rid of the girl who's never even seen them yet. No one but us here, you're permitted to voice –

"She hasn't, but I didn't want that to be because of trust." Dick muttered back. "You wouldn't understand what ifs like, protecting those you care about."

The man stopped, hands to the boy's shoulders as they squeezed down uncomfortably. "Who says I'm doing this to protect only myself? You wanted a bit of freedom from his shadow. If you play by my rules, you'll get that. Maybe, a bit of trust dies go a long way, apprentice."

Dick pursed his lips and sniffed off to the side. "How, does it look?"

"Not perfect, doable. I'm only as hood as these chappy shears. You have thicker locks than I'd pictured."

"My family was a bit of a mix."

"Right, your heritage. I recall, Romani?"

Dick nodded. "Don't know why you care."

"It's in my best interest to know a little more than your endorphin levels, Dick." Slade patted his shoulder before ruffling the newly cut scalp. "You can look now, get up and stretch. I'm preparing supper tonight instead."

Dock blinked and wondered if it was because of…

"Your knife skills around the corned beef require some work." Slade huffed, having no reason to tell the kid to avoid the cabbage. The seventeenth meant a lucky start to their next. "And I'll permit one more thing; your birthday is the first of spring. The twentieth?"

Dick's eyes lit up behind the artificial green. "What? Why?"

"As a gift, for trying to change."

Dick's mouth snapped shut as his temper stayed down. "Sure, I want….if you're being generous, sir, for you to –

/

His head was splitting as Slade dragged him by the scalp, then threw him right into what looked to be not his room, but a closet.

"What!! You said, anything! I want them to go free, Slade! Stop this, or….Slade! Let me out!!"

Slade dusted his hands and decided at maybe ten he'd give the kid his scraps. Little shit, he'd asked Slade to go get bent and leave his friends the fuck alone.

The nerve. If Will had forced himself to stay, this would have gotten less ugly. Maybe he would have boxed Slade's air for that dirty secret of fucking the boy into the state he was now.

The kid wasn't afraid of him, that was what he wanted. He wanted Dick to stop guarding himself too hard. It only made him look vulnerable in front of the wrong people.

Corned beef. He had picked out a couple of good spuds but some recipes took longer. Now, where was Will's recipe box? /

Pam and Vicky were intentionally at the manor as Bruce slipped in through those doors – only as soon as their car had pulled up. Pam walked faster as Vicky caught on. "Day off, this remains private." Pam told Bruce as she handed him the material. "You have to watch."

In they went to his study as the disc was I'm, the feed of sound and the recordings all to an extent, there. She still wanted his piece as the man was blonde, same height, wearing well fashioned clothing of an elite and had a house to match.

~ Mr. Duarte.~

"Duarte…" Bruce saw as Pam had them stop the video. "There, see? He's reacting like an abuse victim, and the hair. It-

"Doesn't match."

He'd done it. Dock had left his signal so clearly. Slade was Duarte and the abuse was to over.

"He also…you see his face?" Vicky zoomed in to show the kid's cheeks. "From an impression, a fist."

"A fight, but was it…" Bruve wanted to say it was from sparring, yet that was still a problem. "He wore concealer and his hair was covering it , though I've never missed a story. This is –

"Abducted. And He's in Haven…"

"Haven, which is the new site for three new proposals. He wants to invite in investors to start more plants there. The ecosystem is already totaled but the fact that he keeps saying a 'fuel initiative…" Pam gritted her fists. "Men who say that usually are hiding what they really want to say to the people.."

"Only if they do, Pam. And yes, the reason is his new weapon. We're aware through a circle with Gordon, Lois Clark Kent and you and Pam and Bennett, I can't thank you enough."

"Bennie's here fir ya, Bruce. We've always been tight, so don't sweat it. I just wanna know that the Grayson kid is coming home soon. Batman or Robin , it tracks."

They agreed. "Lex is in real deep. I found out that his burns will take a year to clear if not longer. Whatever those crazy robots can do…"

"Imagine the destruction in Gotham. Let me call her-

"Harleen is…" Bruve scratched his cheek at Pam's request.

"We can't risk that she'll be too good and put us in a bind, but I do have an idea. She can pose as a witness protection case worker for child protective services." Bruce began. "I'll go as well, point out the response from Vicky, only the address won't be to your office. I'll keep him on that. Pam? Can you cover her in case he sends –

"If I can get one more for back up, yes." She smiled.

Vicky chuckled nervously. "You mean…she's going to pose as….what?? I'm going to be a new target!"

"No." Bruce shook his head. "Someone who saw the tape that doesn't exist. But at every turn if no one goes to find out from you who that was –

"That's too long and, you think your disguise won't fail like Pam's did?"

"He didn't see through mine, cause he doesn't know who I am personally. She's right though, I could ask Detective Yin to jump in on this. Gordon brought her up to speed, she's on our side. Since. "

"She knows you and adores you, cause I did the report on it."

"Front page invasion of privacy." Huffed Ivy. "You know that it could have been held against you as a big problem, she's a cop. He's-

"In the past. So, can you really do that, Bennie?" Vickie asked the African American officer.

"Damn sure am gonna try. I'll even be your body guard if the time comes that a robot wants my skin."

"They steal faces." Pam shuddered. "How is the other lil guy?"

"Jason is, starting to get restless more than usual. Alfred has made sure to take him on outings, to school."

"You sure he's safe doing that?" Bennie asked. "Slade is up our asses if we go and do this. If Harley is as good an actress, then go on and try it. But Jason needs to watch out. Is –

"The Titans are helping. For the chance to stay on this case, we made another agreement , so it's fine." Bruce explained. "Raven is a very good junior detective. Starfire is compassionate and powerful as her name and her heritage suggests so he's in very good hands, I think."

/

It's getting long but we ain't done.

/

The days closed by and the interview suggestions were numerous for a while. Dick pretended his way towards less smacks in the face, until…

A smooth black suv found the drive ways path while Dick and Slade weren't exactly in at the moment.

As Slade had said, Dick's roots were starting to show.

The people that existed the vehicle were not familiar; unless you counted disguises, then not a one.

The lead two had a mustache, a set of specs on the bridge of his nose and a cane, while the second was a woman with red hair in a bun with a tan coat in heels and a clip board in one hand. The other two were apparently the driver and someone taking down audio recordings.

This, felt like a breach in their privacy as Slade might have suspected it via the security out front.

Had they been in.

Slade's car wasn't out front and Ivy had noted that there was at least one the last time they'd come here on that interview.

The older model town car, even Bruce used a garage as they saw none here. Maybe out back where the merc went on pounding bodies into Mochi?

"He looks to have vacated early." The woman with the clipboard spoke in a whisper, her accent so clipped that she didn't even sound close to Irish by the way Harley had suggested to hid her own voice.

"Agreed. We'll knock."

That…oh, act normal. Normal people wouldn't play detective. They would act like trick or theaters. Or Jehovah's witnesses.

( Flipped some off for harassing my senior father in his car; it was epic. Cult.)

"Hello? Hello? We're from protective services and would like to have a word, Mr. Duarte."

The time it took was no more than thirteen minutes of getting cameras placed by the extra staff, as Bennett was just acting outside of the images via Bruce's instruction.

Pam was uncollected and went in to the back to see about an armory or worse. She turned on a light, to find the robots in their pods as it were. Hands closed over her mouth, her eyes didn't see what was behind her as Bennett pulled her out quickly. "He's done, we got the evidence."

Did they, as the holographic images now dismantled themselves and fire, spread through the room.

Pam pushed Bennett out as the car pulled up behind, shouting as the others called the fire department.

~ We saw them! ~ Two of the workers claimed after Vicky was forced to let Ivy take the fall, all according to plan. ~ I saw those robots! They exploded and started the fire. This man is a crook and should be investigated for –

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That was his in, as Bruce came to the rescue.

/

Shaking a death grip as the donations to rebuild poured in, Bruce had his sights on this crook and his ward.

Dick was malleable to a point yet whenever he tried to make eye contact, one night changed that just a day after the explosion. "We won't be staying while the renovations take place, yet I thank you entirely for supporting our family." Slade pulled Dick to his side as the kid sheepishly nodded. "Yeah, thanks a lot , Mr. Wayne." His smile was rehearsed as it broke Bruce's heart.

"You're still on the timer for that paper to be done by Friday, champ. Go. I'll see that our guest knows that thanks."

"Yeah, bye." Dick nodded as he ducked up the steps to the townhouse a few miles of this part of the city. Slade eyed Bruce was a small smile, sly dog enough. "Come, I'll tell you more about the –

"If it wouldn't be any trouble." Bruce stopped him, the cameras turned on both sides of the isle. "I'd like to discuss something else with you. In private."

/

They walked to a sparsely furnished room that acted as a study or work area. The green carpeting and the stucco walls had no nature being primarily new or old as Slade sat in the mahogany desk with the intent of ruling the world Bruce stood for.

"You called us into question –

"I did. And you didn't know that we'd be coming back without Dick to speak up like he did."

Slade tapped a set of fingers to desk as he smiled to sigh out the side of his teeth. "That kid, I told him to wear a better grin, didn't I?"

"Ot doesn't work, and your "project" is a false claim to stake out a new character here in my territory-

"As it stands, Blud has no heroes. No hallmark records." Shrugged the enemy. "And it irks me to say, you haven't done a very good job in promoting someone to office here that can get the job done. This land is taken because it needed to be, because I could do what you cannot."

His tone swapped to serious and envious while Wayne stood his ground. "Did you think this new alias wouldn't deliver? No, I think you did. How bias that criminals can't do good deeds, when half are working for you to take men like me, out of the races."

"You are buying up land to operate on it illegally."

"Wrong, Slade Wilson would be. But the Duarte family has always existed here. Just check the city records for that tidbit of a fact, Mr. Wayne."

"Names are beneath us." Bruce scoffed.

"Everyone is watching you admit that to me, Bruce. If I showed that footage to your boy…,what would he think of your valiant efforts of a rescue plan?"

"He'd do for it, because this was never his want, but yours…Wilson."

"Maybe." Slade waved a hand as he frowned at the idea that those moments could change. Should Bruce be out of his face for a while.

One could certainly dream, he supposed.

"Richard wants to defeat me all on his own. I might just even make him think he has a chance-

"Manipulation is your M.O as a turncoat, Colonel." Smirked the bat. "After all, if my cousin's family didn't want you around then, what makes you think you can take another's family to prove that you can still "care?"

"I cared enough to get that boy out of that filthy tower. Didn't I? If anything, I would put you up to trial for allowing a minor the right to run out of town without a valid I.D. I did something else as well, something that will have the kid begging to stay MY apprentice. But why would I tell you, a rival in finance and moral support to a child, that hates your face as much as mine?"

"He isn't your son , drop it." Bruce's fists gritted as Slade got up. He pointed with his thumb to a musket on the wall behind him. A gun from the previous owner.

"No toys, Wayne. I've kept my word to leave the Titans alone this long."

"You gave all of my ward's teammates an…uncontrolled CANCER, and continue to use the same control device as blackmail so MY ex – partner has less of a chance to get to safety. Away from you."

Bruce's knuckles needed this, yet Slade was a head taller than the billionaire. He could swamp him in a fight, and the only way to stop Slade was to tie him up. Tight.

They stood to each other, faces squinting back with such annoyance, anger and tension that it could have been miasma to any medium of the higher degree.

Slade smirked before stepping back and putting his back to the billionaire. His hands as an officer, one clasping the other he struck his pose of someone asking to get kicked around.

"Do you know why he didn't ask you for help, Wayne? He thought we were, similar. His team even made this correlation on their last mission together. It is hard to not compare it, but I'm more family than you ever have been in his near fifteen years. It should remain as my apprentice; he's going to learn to put your promises to rest, as with mine. I want a fighter, a strategist that listens and does think fir himself. I want a soldier to stand by me, even if the world burns. But this world, we need it. And so does what I intend to create with a new tool in my toolbox."

"The key, what is it to you?" Bruce took a step back to analyze this character through a different scope.

"A way, to what I am entrusted by the one that's chosen me to have it all. Even that boy, he might know –

"THAT ORB IS PURE CORRUPTION!" Bruce shouted. "Give this up, now, or –

"Your shots and mine by the way, I used a way to blick their signal. All you'll have is static." The door opened as a nameless bot simply helped to hold it. Bruce searched the bot, then Slade. "I'm not leaving just yet."

"You called protection services on a very influential man in town, Mr. Wayne." The adult reminded with a wag of his finger. "It's your reputation or the Titans. You can't save both. Now, go."

The billionaire seethed in a breath as he walked out, head heavy as he saw that Dick wasn't there. Upstairs, as he'd been told, he must have tried to block out the worry. Slade met him at the door as the thing was slammed from behind.

Lastly, adding.

"Oh, and if you come around again with another warrant, I'll have your Enterprises sold off to the highest bidder. Good day."

/

So….what just happened?? But first! Bruce got booted off the property of his new enemy! Dick is being put in his room to wait until another lesson comes up and Slade…blew up his own manor to hide the evidence??? With hologram bots, not the real ones.

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Slade watched as the construction of Robin's room was getting better along. He had a call fall through with the mayor and headed right over to this neck of Blud to find out if his one ticket had survived.

Digging it out of the one place none would think ti see to, the laundry chute as the bowls was cradled, the konpeito shaped device made Slade's eyes burn fir his lusting potential ignition of a new city. His city. There were no heroes, the bat wasn't allowed to step foot with that order given and by damn, Bruce would be back. Slade slipped the core into his pocket and went about his business with the construction crew.

That was why the holograms had worked and why they had given him an even more fabulous idea on how to ruin Wayne Enterprises.

Robin wasn't Robin anymore. He was Roland Duarte as of the day his parents or fake family would die in a plane crash. He made his wish, making sure to not hint if his plans to the boy until all hope in him was broken.

At least, for a little while.

/

Slade is working in the background and making Dick face another death via his character. His uncle adopts him, Slade vanishes in Wade and Bruce can't say a word unless his plans are foiled completely.

Will our heroes stop the next plan to steal the next orb?? Find out!