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

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Chapter 25: Lying Liars and Fraudulent Identities

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Wally shoved his phone into his pocket and nearly forgot to end the call. Thankfully, something in the area jammed the signal as he boosted what he had to go after the falling victim.

It wasn't a cat, far too big. It might be some creature, but no.

The thing started to change in his eyes before he shook his head, coming to the exact place it might drop into the street and go "splat."

Up on the terrace of Selina's townhouse, the unthinking eyes of Andrew looked over while not even Wallace saw who was hiding his features.

He'd gotten to the right people, yet it wasn't enough …

/

" So, can you help me find a wish, lady?"

Sge stood, dumb and purely as tired as a wet animal. There was only clear skies tonight, though the kid didn't habe anyone. "I need to…"

Sge could change, see to him getting home if there was a chance to drop him off. In her state, healing faster would be a big deal. She had to take the long road until her next morning had the feline good as new.

The kid had to get out of her way first, so she tried something else.

"I don't know what you mean. Little boy? Where is your mamma?"

"In another….ah! Do you have a tail! I wanna see it!"

"No, just a costume from a party."

"Who hurt you? You look sock, and old."

The dark haired woman lunched at the comment. "I…think you need to tell the police –

"Noo!" The little boy wailed. "The bad men will get me! My mamma said not to trust strangers, but you're not just any stranger. I can tell, yup!" This boy was either a psychic of a carefree idiot. He acted too happy, so definitely no Gothamite.

"You can't stay, and my place…"

"I'll pay you…um….one!" He held up a finger."

"One….of whatever you want! My daddy is loaded!"

She got itchy for that reward but it seemed too good to be for real. Anyone who made well on a promise that sweet had to be sour. Super sour, as in villainous and downright wrong to play around with any longer. "You're trying to butter me up, little boy. Don't you have anyone else?"

"I'm looking for them right now, but tomorrow I have to hurry. They may leave the city if I lose! Please, let me stay with you until tomorrow comes? It's cold, and…ah…ah…!"

The boy let out a kitten Ishtar sneeze as his big sleeves made him look far too tiny and defenseless. "Please, I've got nowhere else to go…."

She took off a glove and put it to his forehead. Pulling back, the kid was toasty. She got nervous, but ..this stray knew they had heart, deep down.

"Fine, if you promise it's only tonight. I'm going to make a can of soup when we get home so eat it all. Ok?"

/

The kid was on her back half the walk as sge made her way to her apartment on high and skid in wkth the lights still off. She found a lamp by the living area and set the kid onto a wad of cats that had clustered there. They gladly made room and hid or hissed at its presence. "What's wrong with you, Muffie? He's sick, sheesh."

She took off her suit in the next room as he shivered and was soon layered by a big fleece throw blanket. "I'm going to heat up some food. You can eat it later, kay?" Her instinct was, that kids were her cats. This kid was…why was she clinging to it like her own?

She pulled her hand from the edge of the blanket and set off to do as she'd told herself she'd do. Her night clothing had no allure to it, something more casual now that Bruce was not expecting a ring. That bat …

She held the can in her palm, he rub had stopped aching a while ago. All she needed was to rinse off, get under the covers and sleep. The soft of fair footsteps did not make her head turn as a hand pulled on her sweat pants.

A tiny hand.

She turned to see a dazed kid, the kid, as he was hot as fire with that fever.

"Soup?..."

"Yes, be patient."

A memory reminded her of her life, and how her grandmother had been the one of this exact scenario to tell her that.

But…

The steam started as the boy let go.

"You're going to make a pretty Mrs. Wayne…" The kid's voice changed as she looked to see him glowing a bit, silvery even in the dim light. "You can be so kind, but he's not kind at all. He loves you less than ever. Why is that?"

"Who are you?? You're not-

She didn't get to speak as the kid twisted into her gut with a hand that didn't go through meat and tissue, yet tore into her very soul as she was sent flying into the other side of the room.

She forced herself to see his burning eyes in the dark, the rapid boil of that crappy can was going to soil her tile floors.

"What….??"

"You took in a stray like me. What would happen, if you were his stray forever? Living on in his home like the pet you claim you'd never become? You afore him, but he now hates you. That man should be YOURS. Why not come with me and help me find my family?" The wish maker grinned cockily. "If you help me, I'd be happy to grant whatever you want. After all, you did help a former stray. This planet is so interesting-

"Alien? Time hopping? I already said to someone else that I don't want-

"You're lying to yourself, Selina. And, cats I've heard always land standing on all fours. is that true? I wanna see!" The boy ignored her shouts and a scream, as the window was opened to let the woman fall down in slow motion.

/

The boy laughed as she was soon up in a gush, his eyes cross. "Hey!"

/

Wally'd caught her. He did, but she…she was…

"S…You're –

Kyle, the activist on human rights in this city and former arm candy of Mr. Bruce Wayne. She also went under another alias as her eyes turned to him wearily.

"W…"

"Don't talk yet." Wally advised. "You…you didn't jump. Who pushed you?"

"A….little boy."

Wally looked up as the face above was gone for sure by now.

Andrew…no. Andrew had tried to commit a homicide??

Could, that be the same kid she was talking about?

"I'm gonna call someone. Hang on, Miss. Kyle."

She squinted up at the red headed teen. "Who…are you, again?"

He sighed, knowing the explanation would be in both their favors.

/

Andrew found one thing he'd been after, a burner cell to an old foe that Selina was supposed to have died for.

He sat her up as she was carried, half conscious while the call was sent to her life partner twice removed. Andrew could read that cat well. "Aww, I thought she'd make a pretty graffiti picture on the sidewalk." He grinned as the phone began to ring.

~ Hello?~

The number should have been right, so the boy became pleasant as he'd not recognized this name even via his ability to read others. So, he grew in ability, had tested it's worth. The receiving end.

It was a dud, he scowled inwardly while continuing to sweetly swap voices. "Hi, this is Mr. Kyle…I wanted to try over with….you know?" Her voice filled the line as Wintergreen looked to the line he was currently on previous to that call.

~ Miss Kyle, I don't know exactly how this number –

"Burner, Slade had a deal and I wanted in. Cat got my tongue until I decided it was with the fight even wanted apologize. He's asked me to bed a couple of times. Who could say no to that. Can we meet, talk? I was pretty dim to the whole idea of getting a wish, and heck! He has the power to send me to Bali if I'm so inclined. Are we still…?..."

~ I'll leave him your message, yet you'll hold onto this and not call again. To risk another finding out…this would be troublesome for Slade as you realize, Miss Kyle? ~

" I do, and to whom might I address…this call?"

~ Will, simple as such. I'll have your answer in a day. Please stand by until then.~

"Willing and ready, and Oh! Say hi to the little man for me. It's not like I'll get to say goodbye."

Will paused before speaking, his distraught eyes now visual to the interdimensional creature posing as Miss. Kyle.

~ I'll as I said, see to him contacting this number. Have a lovely evening regardless. Miss Kyle.~

"As to you, Will."

The line cut off and the kid let out a laugh.

"I'm coming for you…the one keeps calling, I…have to listen." He took off as rooms remained half pit. Half dark.

/

The hospital would take anyone, yet Wally waited in a back alley as a revving vehicle swerved round the corner to park. A man in a black turtleneck and black jeans popped out the door, his coat barely staying on as he swaddled her into it. "Master Wallace?" Alfred was there, his head popped through window of the old fashioned man's town car. "In you'll get. The manor will welcome her for tonight, Master Bruce?"

The two got Selina into the car as they tuned the radio to a little dropped hint from Duarte's newest interview.

As Selina stirred on her way up the steps, Bruce took her bridal style to a guest bed. "She's not bleeding, only stunned. Her ribs were healing up. Alfred?"

"Right away, sir. I shall fetch the bandages and antiseptic, as well as a surgical kit with thread."

Wally watched as the men acted meticulously at their jobs. "Wa – what about me? Come on…" Hos gut growled back while Alfred gave a side ways glance into the younger hero's green. "Heh…didn't eat lunch or dinner. Was…kinda on a train?"

"The kitchen, but don't touch anything until I've sorted out things with the Master." Wally saluted his support to their cause, that he'd be good as gold. In the kitchen he walked, seeing the T.V there as small and easy to read as an obsolete relic. Alfred surely was not that against the times, was he?

The tele showed Joker's face and the headlines that read as such "Joker recovered and held for suspected ploy, more on this story at ten."

/

~ In the news today as well, detained and locked up journalist "Pamela Reed Isely ( her enigma) revealed the secrets of a very different "Duarte family life." ~

~He abuses his only family, took all of us for granted and his factories are a danger to the people. What are they really building in there? No one is asking questions. We can't let this man do what he wants and he isn't even the original Duarte that is in the city's records. Wait a few more days and you'll find out just what he's really after with Gotham. And, with CEO and Billionaire, Bruce Wayne.~

Slade tossed the remote to the floor as Dick was too busy with his cooking on the stove to notice. "You're not to speak, understood?" Dick sealed his lip as the man sat back down. "After breakfast, I want you to get ready to go out. There is someone who's patience has reached a verdict."

Leaning into his bend fingers, Slade didn't bother to keep names in the open. "I want you to come along. I might need a set of knives on call."

Call?? Was he…

Dick flipped his omelet and took it off the heat a few minutes after.

"Your aim has been excellent so far, apprentice." Slade's prideful words made the kid nearly drop his pan, mid sentence.

"That, and I can re teach you a brand new technique that you aren't familiar with. It involves stopping the heart. Temporarily. You probably have heard of the body's many points. This is similar. Only, you are going to do one more thing." He turned to the kid as Dick slipped his omelet onto its plate. Reaching to carry it to the table, Slade kept talking.

"You are going to ask the orb, to make your new method one where a heart stops, yet the body still bleeds."

Dick's grip slipped as his gasp was thrown back in his face. The shattered bits and the food on the floor had the man staring before he spoke again. "If you're hungry. Don't waste. Pick it up."

Dick shook as the man would have force fed him the plate shards. He started to grab what he could, the food so hot as he tried to…

Slade was still staring. "Don't waste it. Eat."

Was he….like a dog?

"The seat –

"No time. Or you'll make a mess for no real reason but your ineptitude."

Starve he was saying, or eat on the floor like a mangy house pet.

Slade pointed a boot tow to the broken plate as Dick put his hand into the omelet he had so painstakingly perfected. He scooped up the mashed mess, his only relief and took it to his lips. Chewing, it wasn't the dirt or germs. He wasn't normal enough to get hurt by a little grit at this point. No, he was…ashamed. He didn't want to lose. The night he had bitched to Slade over his birthday gift which was coming up tomorrow, he'd been locked in a closet for an entire night. His tears tasted like wood and dust as the boy came out with a crater of a gut. He'd eaten a can of tuna and nothing else. Slade forbade him from getting more until lunch, where the intake was rice and boiled chicken. The dinner was lean soup and a slice of bread with olive oil and garlic.

The flavor was still bland, despite the herbal take on a sample meal. That stupid omelet as he chewed the ham, the greens and the provolone to stick to his fingers like a toddler, was his only meal that he coukd taste as he moaned softly into the taste.

"What do you say to me allowing you to cook again, apprentice?" Slade sipped his coffee as his foot turned to the kid, his body leaning over with a hand to the kid's re dyed scalp.

"Hm? On….thun…oh, sr?.."

"Enjoy it, eat."

The man was, smiling? Of course! The kid looked like a fucking dog! It was so wrong, but…food. He was so hungry…why?

He chewed as the cheese, salty and wetted made his body recall the Italian cuisine he'd had in the manor. Sometimes nothing tasted as it was listed which made it all the more interesting. The ham was rare for Slade to ever purchase. Bruce rarely liked eating pork unless it was a sausage link or a Christmas seasonal thing.

The egg was velvety as he'd recalled Al's method on how to add liquid with it to achieve this. The greens were wilted and added a pop of nutrients benefit to the very protein rich meal. He didn't need anything else as his body warmed over that and his hair being petted.

Just pike a dog, while wanting to cry at how long it had ever been to have so many pleasures in one place. As alien as it was bizarre, yet he recalled being Robin. Having Starfire hold him so close as they slept after a movie night gone well.

/

After he was clean, the dishes were clean, Slade coaxed the kid up to get ready to take the suv out for a drive. They didn't dress up at all, they didn't even try to remain anything less than paparazzi poison. Slade told Dick to remain as Roland while he didn't bother to disclose their next location.

The man made a quick call as Will picked up.

~ Did you receive the message regarding Miss. Kyle? I find it rather odd after what she did to you. Her claws were sharpest as her wit.~

"Richard will be here to see to her fits, maybe he'd be a better shield from her insults." Smirked the man. The boy was in the car on a child lock as Slade got back in and explained his side. That they had a lock on what needed to be said.

"An ally to our cause in the bat's city isn't as rare as I'd believed. Your job will be to make sure that they cannot back out of our deal. Understand, apprentice?"

Dick nodded, watching Slade drive into an underground parking garage.

He checked the location again, eyes squinting…wait a second…

Slade parked the suv and ushered for the boy to stay by his side. Dick started along until the scene changed.

"This is –

"Shush." Slade told the boy. "I know where this is. Someone else might know, too much."

They went down the ramp to a wall, Slade checking the hidden pad beneath his own handiwork. "Damnit." He cussed under his breath as they two went through the hidden panel easily. It closed behind them, Dick having been told to hide his weapons as need be.

"Stay close." Slade's brow knit as his face of Slade and not Duarte, was surely for this reason. Still, Dick's hair only set him apart. He'd been told to carry the contacts in his picket for another time.

The hatch to Slade's lair in Gotham was steps from them as the man kept curling his lip. He knew, damn it…

Dick wondered if they'd been caught, and by whom? The Titans couldn't pull this off, not without Slade reacting.

The man let the wall open as Dick squeezed his way in behind the mastermind Slade turned on the wall panel lights as part of them lit for the hall. They led to the main room, the room with screens tirbed down to sleep to reserve power. He hadn't remembered doing that, as the man turned to see his screens light up with the face of a hood wearing pre teen boy.

~ Hi…you ran all over, but I finally tracked you back to the scent of her blood. Where is the other one? My family?~

The boy's eyes were diamond sharp and lit like car headlights. Dick froze and saw Slade's hand grip to his other weapon. Dick did the same to get into a defensive stance.

"Who are you? Are you speaking to me?"

~ Everyone asks! How booring!~ The boy sighed aloud as he moved with his long big sleeves at his sides… looking...

Like tendrils.

Its true alien form. The key had come to take over.

~ I want MY core and your "Robin" is going to give it to me. Aren't you, puppet?~

/

"I…what is it talking about? Slade!"

"It connected, did you know?"

Dick shook his head. "I don't know who he is, I swear!"

~ He is lying. I chose him, but you took hold of my siblings and I want to assimilate the obsolete. You will give me the core and I will make it stronger. You can do that, besides…~ Grinned the tendril waving child. ~ You want me to make you able enough to destroy your enemies. I can do that, and I can make the child there, listen.~

"Slade…what is he saying to us? It sounds like mind control. Was this your plan all-

"Quiet, boy."

"NO!" Dick yelled at the mastermind. "You took my friends from me, made me attack my own …father, there us no way I'm going to let him use us! It's trying to trick –

Slade came at the kid and pulled out the trigger. "Shut. Up. I'm not finished negotiating."

The kid watched like it was overnight gossip. ~ Can I help??~

"NO." Snorted the man. "This is between you, me , and the orb that was acquired from wherever your people came from. You're not going to stay, in fact. I was hoping to turn you in for a bit of a time out. You know what I know?"

Dick watched as Slade pulled out the core. "You're a powerless brat. All 8f the forms you take, you can't get the power you need to assimilate the human race. You needed one person and failed at it."

~ I, did?~

"You're not talking to me, or whatever you wanted –

"Dick, stop."

Dick bit his lip , as Slade continued to down play the tension. "You're a copy, child. I hope you know. The real orb key was killed in another city. You're all but a fraction of what it was."

~ No…no…I'm better than them! I am, I am!!~

"See? Immature as one too. Dick wouldn't make a contract with you if you WERE all powerful." Slade wasn't grinning, was…Dick could not believe it. He was defusing this child solved time bomb!?

" Go back to your playpen. The orb doesn't want a "copy" to sully it."

~ Hun….uh….u….buullly!! Bully! You are so cool! Hahaha haha!!~

The kid reformed outside of the screens with a twirl. "TADAAA!! I WANNA JOIN YOU GUYS!"

Slade slipped out the orb as his lip.ticked up, the kompeito star'sake glow made the kid whimper. "Wh – wha...ahhh!!! Aaahh!!" Like the first key, this one was sucked right in. " No…no…I promise…I'll be good…Robin! Robin, help me!! Make it staaap!!" The boy cried with a wail as its entire body vanished in flakes of particles. The orb had an appetite as it again changed forms. The side of a softball, the thing was too big as Slade made a wish on it. "Small enough to travel with, please."

The orb did a faster change – o – presto.

Dick was…confused.

"How…"

"I told you to let me handle it." Slade smiled at the kid in a wily way. "You just broke a rule and should be punished once we've returned home."

Dick stuttered as he turned beat red.

"Come here, boy."

Slade had the kid by his arm as he wrenched the kid to his orb as Dick's ear was placed to the whirring tech. "Can you hear it?" He whispered to the teen, keeping him pinned. "N…o…?"

"Try again. Listen."

Screaming ….the pleas of souls trapped…what…was rather??

"Anything this monster has stolen. Memories, ideas or even the verification of life and the soul, it takes. As it takes, it gets hungrier. As hungry as it was for you, it said that it has already reached your mind. Has it? Tell the truth. Have him do it!"

"No!"

"The orb does for the bearer." Slade hissed as he took the kid to look into his eyes, a tear dropping as the man went to lap it up, transformed on the kid's fear of him. His tongue was red hot, the tip flicked over his lower lid as Dick tried to shut his eyes. The weird, wetting of his own face was not a kiss he could bare. Slade was not…

"You can't hide a thing from me. I've told you. Now, tell the truth, boy. Your tears are too delicious to waste on anyone else…"

Snake…was…what was he doing?? Was Slade this crazy all along??

"I…did….with…Crystal…." He sobbed, the man not letting him go.

/