Chapter Text
It was irrelevant. All of it. No matter how many reports were handed to him, no matter how many times he had been told, it was irrelevant. Robin could not have died. There was no possibility in that matter. The boy was too stubborn to simply perish. Death didn't come easy for people like the Boy Wonder. And yet, the effects that had slowly been changing the kid over the past few months had done their job. It killed him, and Slade cursed the Court and Richards's bloodline at the same time.
The boy was dead. He had begun to notice subtle changes in Robin over the past few months and took it upon himself to do a little research into the matter. It figures that Robin, or rather Richard Grayson, would be the son of an acrobat, a member of Haly's Circus, John Grayson. A goddamn Talon himself, thus passing on the torch to his own son. Haly's Circus alone was a front for the Court's program to produce their legendary assassins, the Talons. And whatever his father had gone through to be leashed to the Court was now happening to his young nemesis, and Slade could hardly stand by. Only he had the medical team and technology deemed worthy enough to make an attempt at saving the boy from himself. So while the hero slept in his tower, he took him. But of course the boy woke up in the midst of him being situated into a helicopter. The two scrapped and in the end Slade had won. He knocked the kid out for a few hours until he could get him set up here. Now, if he had survived, he could only assume the fit of rage Robin would be having due to his current whereabouts.
Slade could only assume that whatever it was within his system that was making him into a Talon—the sickness, the pain—it was all a test to see if the boy could endure. And perhaps if he lived, he might be worthy of being one, or so Slade had thought. The man honestly didn't know anymore. The Court kept its secrets a little too well hidden. The process of what one goes through to become one of their prized assassins was all too unclear. The mercenary had made his way back to his office after the doctors and nurses gave up after their multiple attempts to resuscitate him. All of them were tired from a full evening of watching a kid go through his final transformation into that of a deadly weapon. But in the end, he had failed. And now he was left with a corpse and possibly the blame for killing one of the Titans, never mind Batman's sidekick.
"Slade." The man in question stood at his desk, going over various pieces of paperwork, all scrambled information he had gathered on the Court and its Talons. "Slade." He let out a sigh he didn't know he was holding. "Will."
"Slade, the boy—"
"I don't need your pity, my old friend."
"Shut up, Slade, the kid is alive."
The mercenary froze. "What did you say?"
William Wintergreen gave his old friend a good pat on the back. "I'm not joking; he gave everyone a good scare. He just... woke up. Jolted right out of bed. Now he's freaking out because he doesn't know where he is and..." Will gave him a bit of an irritated smile. "Kid is making a mess. It looks like he's not himself anymore. I mean the loudmouth, angry, angsty part is still there, but the super strength sure is new."
Slade looked at his old friend, confused. "Super strength?" Will only gave a shrug, "Perhaps it's those Talon powers." The mercenary narrowed his singular eye, and then, as it dawned on him, he rushed past Will, down the hall, through a few doors, and into the med bay. And there he was, alive and well. And angry, upset, frustrated, nearly seething actually, but he saw what others did not; he saw fear in his eyes. As he approached the boy, he took note that most of his medical team had scattered behind beds or doors to take cover from the boy's onslaught. It would seem in his fit of rage the hero had scattered the medical equipment throughout the room, some of it in pieces now, probably not even realizing his newfound strength and tossing it across the room. He sighed; the teen was now a threat to his staff. "Robin."
Instantly the boy's eyes found the man, and Slade had noticed a subtle change. Instead of the brilliant blue, he found deep golden eyes staring back at him; confusion rippled through his features, but it soon changed as fear became more intense on his unmasked face as his fingers traced the skin around his eyes, and shock became evident the moment he realized his identity was now out in the open. "I had to take the mask off; you had a nasty cut over your eye." The boy just stared at him, probably thinking about every possible lie he could twist and turn to help keep his identity safe. "I don't care about who you are, boy. I've known for years, but that is not a priority." Despite his attempts to reassure the youth, the hero seemed to become even more irate. However, Slade remained the calm and collected villain Robin had always known. "Tell me, Robin, do you know anything about the Court of Owls?"
The hero frowned, "No." Slade stood across from him, looking down on the young man before he let out a sigh. "Do you know what you are? What you have become?"
Robin cautiously regarded the man before him, baffled at the question. Probably bewildered that he would even ask such a thing. After all, this was not at all their normal repertoire. "What do you mean, "Do I know what I am?" Slade, what the fuck!? Why am I here? Where even is here? I tossed an entire hospital bed across the room! How? What the fuck have you done to me!?" The boy was looking at his own hands then, in anger, or perhaps in grief at losing one's humanity. At this moment he probably had more questions than any answers he could provide. "I did nothing. My only aim was to help you during the change."
The hero arched a brow. "The change?" Slade shook his head. "You do realize you were dead only moments ago?"
Robin's eyes went wide. "I was what?"
"Dead. Did I stutter?"
He watched as Robin looked around the room, his eyes finding the chaos he had created, and slowly he saw each doctor and nurse that was on the medical team, the ones that were probably only trying to help him, were now hiding from him. "I'm sorry." Slade began walking back towards his office, but he stopped at the door. "Robin, we have much to discuss." The boy gave him another glare, but a solemn look soon followed.
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"Where am I, Slade? The last thing I knew, I was in the tower, and now I'm here."
The mercenary only glanced at the boy over his shoulder. He noted that the hero's uniform was in tatters; he would have to arrange for someone to acquire some new clothes for the kid. "You don't remember the fight?" The hero looked at him in confusion. "I suppose not." The mastermind changed the conversation quickly, wanting to avoid any unnecessary bickering between the two. "As I said, I only wanted to give you a hand, as it were, during your change. As for what the change is, I'm not entirely sure. It's not easy getting answers regarding anything about the Court. However, specifically the answers you want, I will gladly give you what I do have, Robin. But the truth may not be what you want to hear."
Robin's face twisted in anger. He couldn't blame the boy. "Here." He opened the door to his office, and as Robin entered, he noted how the boy took in every detail of his enemy's personal space. Perhaps it was a bit of a shock to the kid; he probably didn't think of his nemesis as even human. Which again, he couldn't blame the boy for. He strode over to his desk, picked up some files, and handed them to Robin. "Everything you need to know. About you. Your family, your father John—" "Don't you dare say his name!" Slade let out a sigh. "All the info on the court that I have been able to find, which is not much, is also in there. There isn't much regarding your transformation, but I suppose something is better than nothing."
The boy scowled at him, "Why are you helping me? This isn't you, this—"
"You have a lot of potential, Robin."
"I'm not your apprentice."
"Perhaps not. But you still deserve my respect." Another scowl was thrown in his direction. "And one day that potential will amount to something, and I'd rather you not become a tool for someone else."
"Oh no, you'd rather I be your fucking weapon."
Another sigh, "Just read through the files."
"No!" Regardless of his words, Robin clutched onto the folders. "I want to go back to the tower now!" Slade placed his hands at his back and strode over to the boy. "You don't get to make demands in my home, Robin. You're in no condition to go anywhere. You don't know what you are, what you have become. You nearly killed my staff, Robin. Normally I would encourage such behavior, but not against the people on my payroll."
"I would never try to kill anyone. No one died, Slade; they were fine!"
"In a fit of rage, you THREW heavy equipment at them. The nurse there, whom you nearly impaled with a heart monitor, was adamant about taking care of you and kept checking up on you every night for the three full days you were in that bed. She's going to be traumatized for quite a while. I may even lose her. So while you didn't kill anyone, Robin, you came really close to doing so." The boy's eyes sunk to the floor. "I... I don't remember that."
"No." Slade took a step back. "I didn't think you would. Read the files, Robin."
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"That kid is going to be the end of me." Will patted him on the back, "At least he's reading what you gave him." The mercenary only shrugged. "But the real question is, will he take it to heart, perhaps even grasp an understanding?" Will crossed his arms. "That we don't have answers to. All we can do is wait on the kid and see if he figures something out for himself."
"He's going to have to stay here for a bit. He can't go back to the Titans as is."
Will shook his head, disappointment crossing his face. "Slade, you're not going to pull the whole apprentice thing again, are you?"
The mercenary scoffed, "That's on him, only if he wants it." His friend chuckled and asked, "What if he wants to go home?" Slade only shrugged, "Then we send him back to the tower. But only after we are sure he has a handle on his new abilities. What worries me more is the court itself. We are hidden here; once he goes back out there, the court will find him. He has to learn how to use his abilities and how to take a stand against the Court before he can be trusted to be out in the open once again."
Will only shook his head, "He's not going to like that."
"It's all we can offer him. For now."
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The boy had read everything he had given him and possibly sat around even longer, churning it around in his head. "Robin." The hero jolted to his feet. As ever, in a defensive state around the man. The mercenary shook his head. "I see you read everything I gave you." He eyed the folder that sat beside the boy. "You didn't just make all this up to fool me, did you?" Slade stood in place, surveying the boy; the anger and fury that were relevant the day before had evaporated. "No."
"What... am I?"
"A Talon—though the court does some heavy brainwashing on their Talons, you've had no such experience. So I suppose you're a bit different than the normal variety. You're going to need to learn how to control your newfound abilities, Robin. I can help with that." The boy snarled, "I am not your apprentice, Slade, so back off!"
"No, you're not. But at this time I am the only one that could possibly teach you how to maintain control over yourself and your abilities. You can't just go back to the tower, Robin. The Court will find you, and they will take you back to their nest in Gotham."
"But I—"
"They will kill the Titans to get to you, boy. You know this." Robin's shoulders dropped. "You need to learn how to be a Talon without getting advice from a Talon." Robin scoffed, "And how exactly do you propose I do that!?" The mercenary shrugged, "I suppose we will have to make it up along the way. No one outside of the court has ever spoken with a Talon, never mind a mentally stable one. I suppose that makes me the first." Robin rolled his eyes.
"What do you want from me?" The boy's serious tone cut through the tension like a sharp knife. "I'm offering to train you. Not as an apprentice, if you're still so worried. Think of it as an offering on my behalf." Robin narrowed his eyes at him. "Not saying I would do it, but what do you want in return?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"You heard me correctly."
"I highly doubt you want nothing." The mastermind sighed, "I'm all you have, Robin. Going back to the Titans puts their lives in danger, and we all know how the Bat will act if he finds out." Robin frowned. "You see... besides myself being a bit of a meta-human, I think I'm better suited to teach you a few tricks than most others." "You would." It came out more like a snarl, perhaps a bit more so than what the boy had intended. "Think on it, Robin."
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He let the boy sleep that night; he even checked on the damn kid to make sure he was alright. And after he left the boys room, he rolled his singular eye and scolded himself for getting soft. Robin had always been an important asset; he had great potential. Now even greater because he survived the transition. His mind wandered, and he couldn't help but wonder what exactly made a Talon, which was supposed to be a bedtime story, so scary in the first place. They couldn't be your run-of-the-mill metahuman. No, there would be something extra special about them. His feet took him back to the medical bay; it had been cleaned up and put back together for the most part. The boy had died, then just sprung back to life. Well after he was reported dead, his body had gone cold, and then suddenly he was back up and scaring the shit out of his staff by tossing heavy equipment at them; it was as if he lost his mind. Was it all part of the change? He did read that the Talons were at times like the walking dead. Could fall from great heights and then get up like nothing happened. What was it that the boy had become? At this point only Robin had the answers to that.
He let out a sigh and leaned against one of the beds. The room was dark, and the only light he did have was from the moon that peeked in from the open blinds. What was he going to do with Robin? He was amazed that he gladly took a room and even more amazed that he passed out so quickly, but he supposed that was a given with all the problems he had endured the last few days. The pain that he was put through during his transformation—he was unsure if even Robin remembered it, but he was sure his body did. That reason alone was why he had a passed-out boy wonder curled up in one of his base's guest rooms.
He was sure that his team was looking for him; maybe word even got out to Batman. And in the long run they could be a problem. But as long as he kept the boy here, in Mexico, he didn't see them becoming too much of a headache. Then there was the Court. He couldn't keep Robin hidden forever. He would have to face them sooner or later. In the meantime he would train the hero; he would have to start with the simple things first. Perhaps he should arrange for Will to buy a few cartons of glasses. It was the perfect test. Get Robin to hold a glass cup without crushing it; it wasn't about strength but about control. If he could control his strength, they might be able to move onto other things.
Slade put a hand to his temple. This whole ordeal was going to be a headache. But perhaps it would be worth it.
The next morning was full of scowls, snarls, and a few nasty stares. But reluctantly, Robin had agreed to the offer. He had hope that the boy had seen that he was speaking the truth, that by going back to the Titans he would only lead them to danger. And he knew very well what he would do for his team. He made a promise to the boy as well that he wouldn't be training him to be his apprentice. However, the promise to be upheld was that he would train Robin to control his abilities. Albeit, the opportunity to be his apprentice was still open for him, but only if he wanted it. He enjoyed the snarl that came his way after the comment.
Today was going to be the first long day of many. That he was sure of.