Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.
"Robin was once my apprentice..."
Slade's tone was as soft yet sinister as ever as he quietly spoke. He gazed at the person who was stood before before where he was sitting on his throne. Lifting his hand from the armrest, he held up something for his visitor to see.
It was a photograph of Robin. It had been taken during the time he had been forced to become Slade's apprentice as indicated by the uniform which the Boy Wonder was wearing - as well as the resentful scowl on his face. Not even his mask could hide how much he hated having to work for such an evil tyrant.
"I took the boy in, taught him all I knew, even did my best to be like a father to him..." Slade's one visible eye narrowed. "And his friends ruined everything! They interfered and freed him from my ownership. The ungrateful brat went running back to the Teen Titans, leaving me without an apprentice."
Slade paused, taking a moment to keep his inner turmoil under control. He was still reeling from Robin daring to abandon him. Anyone would think he was the one who was being hard done by from having no one to help him cause chaos and terror.
"That's when you come in!" He pointed to the figure in front of him. "You have all the qualities that I looked for in Robin! In fact, I would say you bypass him! With your incredible potential, we will be a powerful force in bringing fear and destruction across the entire city! Not even the Teen Titans will be able to stop us?"
The visitor listened quietly, taking in all that Slade had to say about him.
"So what do you say?" Slade offered, extending a hand. "Will you be my apprentice?"
The visitor took a quick glance at Slade's hand, then stared directly back at his face, which happened to be masked like his own.
"Sorry." Red X shook his head. "Not interested."
"What?" Slade exclaimed, his tone raising with disbelief. "All I've just said about your worthy capabilities - and you don't care to serve me?"
"I don't serve anybody. I just do what suits me. Doing things for others is not my style."
"You're so selfish!" Slade thundered. "You won't offer to help me when you have the skills I could use to conquer the city!"
"It's like I told Robin," Red X said cooly, "I'm not out to cause harm or trouble for people. I'm just a thief who does whatever I want - and I don't want to help you take over the city!"
With that, Red X swooped away, his black cape flapping behind him as he made his exit from Slade's lair, leaving the Titans' sworn enemy bewildered and irritated by his refusal to serve him.
"Such a waste..."
Slade let off a sigh, clenching his hand into a fist turning to face another figure who happened to be standing in front of him.
"What about you, my dear? Would you care to be my apprentice?"
"Ha! Not one bit, old man! The only thing I care about is getting even with my sister!"
Blackfire took flight to soar out of a nearby window. She left Slade behind she headed out of his lair, preparing to decide what trouble she was going to cause for Starfire next.
"Stuck-up little-"
Slade cut himself off, shaking his head before averting his masked gaze towards the next possible candidate to serve him.
"What about you? Think of all we could accomplish with someone like you serving me! You can't possibly say you don't want to be my apprentice!"
"Oh yes I can! There is no way someone as powerful as I would waste his time and powers serving a has-been like you! With what I've got planned for the future, Slade, you'll might end up becoming my apprentice!"
Slade stared, shocked at the idea of a villain like himself having to serve someone else, then glared at the enormously vain figure.
"You'll only need an apprentice because you know despite being your daughter, Raven will probably rebel against you!"
"Just like how Robin turned his back on you when you tried to be a father figure to him. But no matter, with or without an apprentice, Trigon the Terrible will cause the ultimate devastation across the whole world! And since you're clearly not interested in being my apprentice, I'll just have to destroy you, too!"
With his booming evil laughter willing the whole building, Trigon took his leave - by blasting himself through the ceiling. Bits of roofing came crashing down onto Slade's throne. He yelped as he was buried himself underneath the falling debris as Trigon disappeared back to his home dimension.
Slade emerged from underneath the pile of rubble, his rage at boiling point. Not only was he feeling angry at having his job offer turned down by potential candidates, but he was irked at having damage done to his lair - having having no apprentice to fix it up.
"What does an evil villain like me have to do to get an apprentice?"
Slade held up the photograph of Robin which had been in his hand throughout this whole time. He stared with hatred at the young superhero who had temporarily served him - before tearing it up in his fury over all that had gone wrong since the Boy Wonder had abandoned him to return to where he belonged; with the Teen Titans.
"This is all your fault, Robin!" Slade growled. "All your fault!"
THE END