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Will Slade’s Dream Come True?
1 reviewSlade has been dreaming of revenge since he regained his mortality; will he earn it tonight?
1Original
Will Slade’s Dream Come True?
A Teen Titans story by Dr T
*
Note: this is based on concepts from the 2003-2006 animated series, not the comic books, Teen Titans Go!, etc. And yes, DC et al still own all the characters, not me.
Continuity – right after ‘Trouble in Tokyo’
Slade has been dreaming of revenge since he regained his mortality; will he earn it tonight?
*
Tick-tock, tick-tock
It was nearly three years ago that he had died, just under two years since he had regained his mortality, and Slade was finally ready to exact his revenge on the Titans.
Slade was now past middle age, and he had built a small empire in the shady and shadowy underworld on top of his work as an assassin. He had desired, like many men do, to leave his empire in capable hands, although not his other work. His own children had disappointed him; so he had sought out a worthy replacement, and had found Robin.
Tick-tock, tick-tock
He had to admit that in some ways, Robin was both too much like him and his exact opposite. In the end, Robin had just not worked out; for one thing that he shared with Robin was their mutual determination not to be controlled by anyone. Slade had to admit that he should have known that if Robin was truly worthy of being his exact replacement, he wouldn’t give in to Slade’s demands or his later methods when he had infected the other Titans. In acknowledgement of his own error, Slade had not killed the Titans and had just moved on.
Yet the Titans had then given him a gift – Terra, who felt they had rejected her. As much as he hated to admit it, while he had nearly won, he had overestimated Terra’s abilities while underestimating her emotional weaknesses.
That had gotten him killed.
Tick-tock, tick-tock
Yes, he had made it back to the land of the living, and it had taken him over a year to restore his position within his empire. The last place he had rebuilt his position in was Jump City, which he had done from a distance. He had warily avoided the Titans; he wasn’t ready to wipe them out, but they did represent a number of failures on his part even after his attempt at Robin – especially his plans for Terra and work for Trigon – and so his ego needed them to be eliminated. Still, when the opportunity to assess one of them again came in the form of Beast Boy, sending one of his battle robots to test him out had seemed like a good idea. He had been surprised that the green annoyance had defeated it; he had judged him to be the weakest link. If Beast Boy was indeed still the weakest link, he would need better equipment as well as a stunning plan to eliminate them. Their work against the Brain and his crew had also shown that they could not be underestimated.
And now he had captured them. He gazed at his captives, awakening in their high-tech manacles. Cyborg was mostly depowered, and Robin would have no way out of these short of gnawing an arm off – and his head was secured to prevent even that. “Beast Boy, if you try and change, you will be ripped apart. Raven, those manacles are well-blessed against your powers. Starfire, yours will drain away any of your so-called ‘star bolts,’ as will the goggles you are wearing.”
Tick-tock, tick-tock
“What do you want, Slade!”
“Why Robin, nothing more than your deaths. You all represent unfinished business, and I need to clear that up before moving on. Somewhat stereotypical, I admit, to not just kill you, but I did want you to know who was beating you. The question I had was, what order to kill you in? I decided to kill Cyborg first; his energy is draining away and he should be dead in less than ten minutes. Hear the clock ticking away?”
Tick-tock, tick-tock
“After that, I think Beast Boy, Starfire, Robin, and then you, Raven. Perhaps your father will be pleased to have you back?”
“You were a fool to come back here, Slade,” Raven stated. He noticed she was the only one not struggling against her imprisonment.
“Really? How so?”
“Because I’ve been waiting for you to return to this area.”
Tick-tock, tick-tock
“And what makes you think you can do anything other than die, dear Raven?”
Raven smirked. “I already am.”
Tick-tock, tick-tock
Raven’s magic began to pulse, showing black energy starting to cover her body in time with the clock.
Tick-tock, tick-tock
On-off, on-off
“Those manacles. . . .”
“The manacles aren’t real, Slade. They are just an expression of your desires.” The manacles disappeared. “And my will, my mind, is much stronger than yours.”
Tick-tock, tick-tock
The other Titans disappeared, and then the room disappeared, leaving Slade and Raven in a grey, featureless expanse. Everything was gone but the two of them and the sound of the ticking clock. And then Raven transformed.
Slade took two steps back.
What she became was no more like her father than it was human – black formless masses, deep purple tentacles, two sets of red eyes, and teeth – lots of teeth, set into three wide mouths.
“You’re dead, Slade.” The dark mass drift closer to Slade, who realized that there was really nowhere to run, no weapon on hand for him to use.
Tick-tock, tick-tock
“It’s against your so-called code to kill, Raven.”
“No, you misunderstand. You are technically and legally dead. You died, Slade. The fact that you were able to use a dark power to reanimate yourself is irrelevant. You are dead and that body you are in is merely your reanimated corpse. I am banned from killing, but I am NOT banned from destroying reanimated corpses.”
“No!” He turned to escape, even if he had no idea where he could run to in this formless void.
Tentacles grabbed him and held his struggling form easily.
“This is your only warning. I registered your death with the Justice League and got their ruling. The only reason you have even this chance is because I would enjoy killing you too much.” The tentacles slowly squeezed the breath out of him; he gasped and tried to draw in air.
Tick-tock, tick-tock
“Yes, I would enjoy killing you too much.” The grips on him relaxed only enough for him to breathe shallowly – he was now in danger of hyperventilating. The tentacles holding his arms and legs were still cutting off his circulation as they prevented any movement, deeply bruising the flesh and nearly but not quite cracking the bones.
“I want you gone for many reasons – for what you did to Robin; for what you did to Terra and for what you made Terra do to us; for what those actions did to all of us, especially Beast Boy, and to innocent bystanders. So many innocents.” His chest was squeezed again, make him gasp in agony. “For what you did to me, for my father.” After a moment, and two slightly cracked ribs, he could suddenly breathe again. “That’s why you’re not being immediately sent back to death where you belong at my hands, or at least tentacles, tonight, Slade; because I would enjoy it too much.” The eyes were suddenly right before his. One of the mouths, the one underneath the eyes, were directly before his face; the others where next to his ears. “Still, you might yet die again tonight if you force me. If I ever come close to you again, your body will be destroyed and you will go back to hell. My father may or may not be gone. Even if he is, his minions will still want to have words with you.” The tentacles loosened, but Slade was too sore and frightened to escape them. “Run, Slade. Run.”
Tick-tock, tick-tock
The eyes and tentacles disappeared, and Slade dropped towards the floor….
And woke up in bed, screaming.
Breathing heavily, it took a moment for Slade to understand he had been dreaming. He had returned to Jump City to set his plan to kill the Titans into motion, but hadn’t acted on it yet.
It was just a dream.
So why did his ribs ache so much? Why was the circulation just returning to arms and legs that were deeply bruised?
Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock….
Slade’s eyes went wide and he glanced to his right. There was a simple, old fashioned wind-up alarm clock – which hadn’t been there two hours before when he had finally drifted off to sleep.
Worse, there was a hand-printed note propped against it.
‘Slade:
It wasn’t just a dream, and you are legally dead; your soul is merely inhabiting a reanimated corpse. I can sense you when you are within three hundred miles of me. If I sense you after 5:45 this morning, you will be visiting my father’s realm by 6:00.’
A glance at the clock showed it was just after 3:00. What should he do?
Suddenly, the note in his hand disappeared into a cold black shadow, making him jump.
Slade leaped out of bed. Under the circumstances, retreat was his best option.
Slade ran for his life.
*
Outside Slade’s highly booby-trapped lair in the mountains to the east of Jump City, Batman stood next to Robin and a meditating Raven.
“He’s getting ready to run,” she said tonelessly.
“Superman, Green Lantern, and the Manhunter are waiting for him, no matter which exit he takes. I have to admit, this worked better than I thought it could.”
Raven looked up at Batman, her eyes swirls of black, red, and purple. Looking into them was like looking at a path to infinite torment. Even Batman had a take a step back from what her eyes promised. The temperature around them dropped fifteen degrees. “You’ve never annoyed me, or threatened and deeply hurt my friends. Slade has done both.” She looked away, and said as she stood up, “Tell them he is going out the east entrance.”
Batman did so. Less than a minute later, Slade was reported captured and subdued.
Raven nodded at the information, and then walked into a black void that had suddenly appeared, which disappeared after she had entered it.
“When she does things like this, it only reinforces the opinion of people like Zatanna,” Batman remarked.
“Was she wrong? About Slade’s status, I mean?” Robin demanded.
“Technically, no. . . . .”
“But if she or Beast Boy actually killed his corpse again, while the League would accept it, it wouldn’t do us any favors with most people, including most of the League,” Robin said with something like a sigh.
“That’s very true.” After a pause, Batman asked, “Would she have?”
“Yes, if only to prevent Beast Boy from doing it, which he would without a second thought because of what he did to Terra,” Robin pointed out. “She still believes herself damned because of who her father is, no matter how much good she does.”
Batman merely nodded, and after a moment asked, “What else did she do to him? For that matter, how did she know he was here?”
“Slade might have been restored to his body, but his soul still has the Mark of Scath, the taint of Trigon, on it. She knew. As for what else she did, every night for the rest of his life he will be reminded that he can never escape her if he comes back.”
“I see.”
“You’d do the same to more than just Slade if you could,” Robin pointed out.
“I’d be tempted,” Batman admitted. After all, this was Robin, who knew him far too well to lie to about something like this. “Is that why she had you call us? So she could torture him, but not have to kill him? Is that why you did call us?”
Robin shook his head. “I needed him caught at least as much as she did. I wouldn’t want her to have to kill what he is now. And torture? It won’t be that bad; it’s just a reminder.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Robin stated firmly.
“Then nothing more needs to be said . . . or added to his file.” Batman turned to leave.
“And Raven’s file?” Robin asked.
Batman paused, but didn’t turn. “It will be noted that she was able to access him a she did only because he accepted the Mark of Scath; it’s not something she can to do just anyone. Considering the traps he had in his lair, Green Lantern might have been able to break in, but no one else could. Raven could not have physically broken in, either – and he had enough mystical protections to stop anyone like J’onn, Diana, or Superman, and just enough Kryptonite dust to stop Superman if he had somehow gotten in despite that. It was apparently only that Mark that allowed her to do what she did.” He turned back to face Robin. “She really can’t do that to just anyone?”
“She probably could, given enough contact, but it would take a lot of time,” Robin had to say.
Batman considered for a moment, and said, “Then it’s already adequately covered in her Justice League file.”
“Thank you,” Robin said simply. He knew it would still be added to his private files. “And thank you for coming. The League might have had to, but you didn’t.”
“If you call me, I will always come.” Batman turned again to leave.
“If you ever call me, so will I, and my team,” Robin told his back.
Batman stopped, and said without turning, “You are always welcome in the Cave, or the mansion, for any reason. And, if they are with you, so is your team.”
As Batman walked away, Robin smiled. Having the issue of Slade finally resolved was part of it, but he knew more had been revolved than just that.
A Teen Titans story by Dr T
*
Note: this is based on concepts from the 2003-2006 animated series, not the comic books, Teen Titans Go!, etc. And yes, DC et al still own all the characters, not me.
Continuity – right after ‘Trouble in Tokyo’
Slade has been dreaming of revenge since he regained his mortality; will he earn it tonight?
*
Tick-tock, tick-tock
It was nearly three years ago that he had died, just under two years since he had regained his mortality, and Slade was finally ready to exact his revenge on the Titans.
Slade was now past middle age, and he had built a small empire in the shady and shadowy underworld on top of his work as an assassin. He had desired, like many men do, to leave his empire in capable hands, although not his other work. His own children had disappointed him; so he had sought out a worthy replacement, and had found Robin.
Tick-tock, tick-tock
He had to admit that in some ways, Robin was both too much like him and his exact opposite. In the end, Robin had just not worked out; for one thing that he shared with Robin was their mutual determination not to be controlled by anyone. Slade had to admit that he should have known that if Robin was truly worthy of being his exact replacement, he wouldn’t give in to Slade’s demands or his later methods when he had infected the other Titans. In acknowledgement of his own error, Slade had not killed the Titans and had just moved on.
Yet the Titans had then given him a gift – Terra, who felt they had rejected her. As much as he hated to admit it, while he had nearly won, he had overestimated Terra’s abilities while underestimating her emotional weaknesses.
That had gotten him killed.
Tick-tock, tick-tock
Yes, he had made it back to the land of the living, and it had taken him over a year to restore his position within his empire. The last place he had rebuilt his position in was Jump City, which he had done from a distance. He had warily avoided the Titans; he wasn’t ready to wipe them out, but they did represent a number of failures on his part even after his attempt at Robin – especially his plans for Terra and work for Trigon – and so his ego needed them to be eliminated. Still, when the opportunity to assess one of them again came in the form of Beast Boy, sending one of his battle robots to test him out had seemed like a good idea. He had been surprised that the green annoyance had defeated it; he had judged him to be the weakest link. If Beast Boy was indeed still the weakest link, he would need better equipment as well as a stunning plan to eliminate them. Their work against the Brain and his crew had also shown that they could not be underestimated.
And now he had captured them. He gazed at his captives, awakening in their high-tech manacles. Cyborg was mostly depowered, and Robin would have no way out of these short of gnawing an arm off – and his head was secured to prevent even that. “Beast Boy, if you try and change, you will be ripped apart. Raven, those manacles are well-blessed against your powers. Starfire, yours will drain away any of your so-called ‘star bolts,’ as will the goggles you are wearing.”
Tick-tock, tick-tock
“What do you want, Slade!”
“Why Robin, nothing more than your deaths. You all represent unfinished business, and I need to clear that up before moving on. Somewhat stereotypical, I admit, to not just kill you, but I did want you to know who was beating you. The question I had was, what order to kill you in? I decided to kill Cyborg first; his energy is draining away and he should be dead in less than ten minutes. Hear the clock ticking away?”
Tick-tock, tick-tock
“After that, I think Beast Boy, Starfire, Robin, and then you, Raven. Perhaps your father will be pleased to have you back?”
“You were a fool to come back here, Slade,” Raven stated. He noticed she was the only one not struggling against her imprisonment.
“Really? How so?”
“Because I’ve been waiting for you to return to this area.”
Tick-tock, tick-tock
“And what makes you think you can do anything other than die, dear Raven?”
Raven smirked. “I already am.”
Tick-tock, tick-tock
Raven’s magic began to pulse, showing black energy starting to cover her body in time with the clock.
Tick-tock, tick-tock
On-off, on-off
“Those manacles. . . .”
“The manacles aren’t real, Slade. They are just an expression of your desires.” The manacles disappeared. “And my will, my mind, is much stronger than yours.”
Tick-tock, tick-tock
The other Titans disappeared, and then the room disappeared, leaving Slade and Raven in a grey, featureless expanse. Everything was gone but the two of them and the sound of the ticking clock. And then Raven transformed.
Slade took two steps back.
What she became was no more like her father than it was human – black formless masses, deep purple tentacles, two sets of red eyes, and teeth – lots of teeth, set into three wide mouths.
“You’re dead, Slade.” The dark mass drift closer to Slade, who realized that there was really nowhere to run, no weapon on hand for him to use.
Tick-tock, tick-tock
“It’s against your so-called code to kill, Raven.”
“No, you misunderstand. You are technically and legally dead. You died, Slade. The fact that you were able to use a dark power to reanimate yourself is irrelevant. You are dead and that body you are in is merely your reanimated corpse. I am banned from killing, but I am NOT banned from destroying reanimated corpses.”
“No!” He turned to escape, even if he had no idea where he could run to in this formless void.
Tentacles grabbed him and held his struggling form easily.
“This is your only warning. I registered your death with the Justice League and got their ruling. The only reason you have even this chance is because I would enjoy killing you too much.” The tentacles slowly squeezed the breath out of him; he gasped and tried to draw in air.
Tick-tock, tick-tock
“Yes, I would enjoy killing you too much.” The grips on him relaxed only enough for him to breathe shallowly – he was now in danger of hyperventilating. The tentacles holding his arms and legs were still cutting off his circulation as they prevented any movement, deeply bruising the flesh and nearly but not quite cracking the bones.
“I want you gone for many reasons – for what you did to Robin; for what you did to Terra and for what you made Terra do to us; for what those actions did to all of us, especially Beast Boy, and to innocent bystanders. So many innocents.” His chest was squeezed again, make him gasp in agony. “For what you did to me, for my father.” After a moment, and two slightly cracked ribs, he could suddenly breathe again. “That’s why you’re not being immediately sent back to death where you belong at my hands, or at least tentacles, tonight, Slade; because I would enjoy it too much.” The eyes were suddenly right before his. One of the mouths, the one underneath the eyes, were directly before his face; the others where next to his ears. “Still, you might yet die again tonight if you force me. If I ever come close to you again, your body will be destroyed and you will go back to hell. My father may or may not be gone. Even if he is, his minions will still want to have words with you.” The tentacles loosened, but Slade was too sore and frightened to escape them. “Run, Slade. Run.”
Tick-tock, tick-tock
The eyes and tentacles disappeared, and Slade dropped towards the floor….
And woke up in bed, screaming.
Breathing heavily, it took a moment for Slade to understand he had been dreaming. He had returned to Jump City to set his plan to kill the Titans into motion, but hadn’t acted on it yet.
It was just a dream.
So why did his ribs ache so much? Why was the circulation just returning to arms and legs that were deeply bruised?
Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock….
Slade’s eyes went wide and he glanced to his right. There was a simple, old fashioned wind-up alarm clock – which hadn’t been there two hours before when he had finally drifted off to sleep.
Worse, there was a hand-printed note propped against it.
‘Slade:
It wasn’t just a dream, and you are legally dead; your soul is merely inhabiting a reanimated corpse. I can sense you when you are within three hundred miles of me. If I sense you after 5:45 this morning, you will be visiting my father’s realm by 6:00.’
A glance at the clock showed it was just after 3:00. What should he do?
Suddenly, the note in his hand disappeared into a cold black shadow, making him jump.
Slade leaped out of bed. Under the circumstances, retreat was his best option.
Slade ran for his life.
*
Outside Slade’s highly booby-trapped lair in the mountains to the east of Jump City, Batman stood next to Robin and a meditating Raven.
“He’s getting ready to run,” she said tonelessly.
“Superman, Green Lantern, and the Manhunter are waiting for him, no matter which exit he takes. I have to admit, this worked better than I thought it could.”
Raven looked up at Batman, her eyes swirls of black, red, and purple. Looking into them was like looking at a path to infinite torment. Even Batman had a take a step back from what her eyes promised. The temperature around them dropped fifteen degrees. “You’ve never annoyed me, or threatened and deeply hurt my friends. Slade has done both.” She looked away, and said as she stood up, “Tell them he is going out the east entrance.”
Batman did so. Less than a minute later, Slade was reported captured and subdued.
Raven nodded at the information, and then walked into a black void that had suddenly appeared, which disappeared after she had entered it.
“When she does things like this, it only reinforces the opinion of people like Zatanna,” Batman remarked.
“Was she wrong? About Slade’s status, I mean?” Robin demanded.
“Technically, no. . . . .”
“But if she or Beast Boy actually killed his corpse again, while the League would accept it, it wouldn’t do us any favors with most people, including most of the League,” Robin said with something like a sigh.
“That’s very true.” After a pause, Batman asked, “Would she have?”
“Yes, if only to prevent Beast Boy from doing it, which he would without a second thought because of what he did to Terra,” Robin pointed out. “She still believes herself damned because of who her father is, no matter how much good she does.”
Batman merely nodded, and after a moment asked, “What else did she do to him? For that matter, how did she know he was here?”
“Slade might have been restored to his body, but his soul still has the Mark of Scath, the taint of Trigon, on it. She knew. As for what else she did, every night for the rest of his life he will be reminded that he can never escape her if he comes back.”
“I see.”
“You’d do the same to more than just Slade if you could,” Robin pointed out.
“I’d be tempted,” Batman admitted. After all, this was Robin, who knew him far too well to lie to about something like this. “Is that why she had you call us? So she could torture him, but not have to kill him? Is that why you did call us?”
Robin shook his head. “I needed him caught at least as much as she did. I wouldn’t want her to have to kill what he is now. And torture? It won’t be that bad; it’s just a reminder.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Robin stated firmly.
“Then nothing more needs to be said . . . or added to his file.” Batman turned to leave.
“And Raven’s file?” Robin asked.
Batman paused, but didn’t turn. “It will be noted that she was able to access him a she did only because he accepted the Mark of Scath; it’s not something she can to do just anyone. Considering the traps he had in his lair, Green Lantern might have been able to break in, but no one else could. Raven could not have physically broken in, either – and he had enough mystical protections to stop anyone like J’onn, Diana, or Superman, and just enough Kryptonite dust to stop Superman if he had somehow gotten in despite that. It was apparently only that Mark that allowed her to do what she did.” He turned back to face Robin. “She really can’t do that to just anyone?”
“She probably could, given enough contact, but it would take a lot of time,” Robin had to say.
Batman considered for a moment, and said, “Then it’s already adequately covered in her Justice League file.”
“Thank you,” Robin said simply. He knew it would still be added to his private files. “And thank you for coming. The League might have had to, but you didn’t.”
“If you call me, I will always come.” Batman turned again to leave.
“If you ever call me, so will I, and my team,” Robin told his back.
Batman stopped, and said without turning, “You are always welcome in the Cave, or the mansion, for any reason. And, if they are with you, so is your team.”
As Batman walked away, Robin smiled. Having the issue of Slade finally resolved was part of it, but he knew more had been revolved than just that.
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